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flydotnet · 1 year

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Bad Things Happen Bingo! The event where you send me requests according to this marvelous card! (Red cross is the completed prompt, character headshots are prompts I’ve already filled).

Stairs, a taser, Yuto's fist, and more stairs. What do they all have in common?

Oh look, this is my yearly Arc-V fanfic where I'm ignoring most of canon because who gives a fuck about the Arc-V canon past, like, the Synchro arc (YMMV) lol. Anyway, this is a catharsis fic where I combine all of my other vague changes to the canon so that stupid ship only me still cares about in 2023 A.D. and also where the stupid parasites are easily removable by a good dash of Raidraptor magic. This fic can also be called "the floor is actually writing the Duel" because I didn't want to burden myself with how godawful the Parasite archetype is, especially since I can't just copy-paste a Duel from canon. The one I'd have to plagiarize really... isn't that good too, we're just all biased because Yuto is badass.

The title is a bilingual pun between the English "volatine", which is a synonym of "explosive" or "unstable", and the French "volatile", which is a term used for birds. Y'know, like Shun. He's the two meanings of the word "volatile". The word was, in fact, invented to trip my foot over during translation classes and also for Shun Kurosaki from hit "lowest ratings on Nico Nico Douga" anime Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V.

Speaking of my favourite bird-wielding edgelord, post-Xyz Shun is always kind of weird to write too. He's not the same abrasive bastard I keep remembering as, but then I'm afraid I'm writing him too soft. I kind of tend to forget he's that angry, that destructive in huge part because of his bonds to other people. I don't want a Draco in Leather Pants situation, God knows I've bitched about when it was happening with Revolver VRAINS. Just... think that in this timeline I'm never describing Serena and he stuck around for much longer, like at least through Synchro, character dev' happened, or something, idk

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Volatile

Summary: Serena snaps back to reality in the middle of a Duel, only to quickly realize her spirit is fighting herself(?) and her body is fighting a rib-clutching Kurosaki. Nothing about this adds up, yet there she is, not even in control of her own body anymore.

Or: Shun came across a possessed Serena before his sister after losing her track back in the Xyz Dimension, this is the consequences of that forced encounter.

Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V Characters: Serena, Shun Ship: Peregrineshipping (pre-rel)

Wordcount: 3K words

Event hosted by @badthingshappenbingo

AO3 version.

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Serena wakes up on both her feet to the smell of gunpowder and the heat of a reactor.

Recent wartime experiences as a well-groomed doll turned soldier turned renegade have shaped her in a way that she doesn’t question how she got there, let alone why, and only on what’s in front of her.

She’s in harm’s way, so she sidesteps to avoid a chunk of shrapnel.

She’s near fire, so she steps backwards to avoid getting burned, or worse, outright set ablaze.

She’s in the middle of a Duel, which means she’s in the middle of battle, and needs to focus. Alas, no experience has prepared her for what she sees on the blade of her trusty Disk – and decidedly feels like a stranger to her own deck.

She doesn’t recognize most of the cards she’s playing. Most of them are bearing garish bugs clad in colours that only push her eyes far away, which she don’t quite pay a mind to. They’re mostly Monster cards, with the exception of a set Trap card and a Spell one that’s still active. It seems to affect an archetype known as “Parasite”, which she’s never played nor even heard of. Why the hell did she play that, before seemingly going to sleep? How did this even happen to begin with?

It only dawns on her then to look up, only to see a semi-familiar face that, if it had organic eyes, would have absolutely been staring daggers right into hers. Mechanic wings, reactors, the smell of ruin and gunpowder. No, there’s no mistaking it, she’s watched it ravage through opposite fields before, in person, on a screen… No doubt about it, it’s –

“Rise Falcon,” an even more familiar voice tells in a hoarse but firm tone, “reduce those bugs to—”

“Wait!”

Arm already risen in front of him, the individual on the other side of the field stops with a frustrated frown.

“What is it? Afraid of defeat?”

Her head hurts.

“What’re you doing, Kurosaki?! We’re on the same side!”

He tilts his head backwards just a little, one of his eyes twitches. He’s almost showing teeth now.

“I asked you that before you forced my hand into this bullshit.” He sounds so hurt, in a way that she hasn’t heard in so long, and her chest starts choking her too. “Don’t take me for stupid, asshole.”

It’s a downright migraine that she’s now stuck trying to shove back.

“What do you mean? I just… Why would I do that?”

His expression immediately softens.

“You were under the control of that… thing,” he points to the Parasite Queen in front of her, “and almost pushed me off that tower. Then you challenged me to a Duel.”

This sounds like an utter fantasy; but if there’s one thing Kurosaki doesn’t do, it’s lying, even to those he doesn’t trust, so there must be a rational explanation for this.

“What para—”

Don’t resist, Serena. Be a good girl.

She clutches her head now. What’s this voice? How did they get inside her head?!

“Serena?”

You’re my slave, now. Be a good girl and fight the Xyz remnant in front of you.

“Shit, Serena, snap out of it!”

And just like this, she loses contact with her own body.

It’s an awful feeling of dissociation, drowsiness and loss of control. Her foot don’t touch the ground anymore, leaving her floating inside her own consciousness. Her eyes don’t look where she wants them to go, more fixated on the cards than on the guy in front of her, for worse and no shade of better – because even through the haze of her controlled mind, Serena hears it, the wheeze and the rasp of his voice.

“You little pest,” her voice groans once even her cords have given back into the parasite’s clutches. “Back to you it is, bird boy.”

Kurosaki remains silent, the deep-set frown on his face enough to speak for him. Only now does she see, through the haze of glazed eyes, how battered he truly is, an arm wrapped around his chest and a trinkle of blood going down his cheek.

“I’m not leaving you in this state, not again, so don’t go thinking you’re out of the woods.” He clenches his teeth, spits back venom, “I’m not letting any of this fly by.”

He makes it sound like he’s here to save her – which doesn’t make sense. Kurosaki wanted to save Ruri, his other friend and his homeland. She wasn’t on the list. (Although Serena would’ve given her all to save him would have their places been the opposite, because she seeks redemption, because she wants to be a heroine, because she cares for Kurosaki less like a brother and more like a—)

“Oh, charming knight in armour, here to save the damsel in distress!” It chuckles. “You sound so full of yourself, for a miserable bug! You’re not the big bird of prey you think you are! Or did you abandon me back there? Didn’t just you faint from some small debris?”

“Tch.” He settles back into a deadpan. “I detach one Overlay Unit from Rise Falcon…”

It wasn’t small debris – it was a lot more than that. She watched him run to save a girl he knew from her trauma and whatever her own homeland was trying to pull off in the middle of a Tag Duel, and only thanks to Kaito’s help was she able to finish them off before it was too late. She was scared beyond her mind’s comprehension, back there, but unable to realize until much late how much that had been; because there was no time.

No wonder why Kurosaki was so volatile. He hadn’t processed much of anything. Even now, she doubts he has.

What’s also no wonder to her is why she got so scared back then and a part of what’s grounding her to her body despite the phantom pain. She wants to do the right thing and stop this Duel from continuing any further. She doesn’t want to continue being a puppet for whomever infected her in Academia, her first and alleged only home for so long. She can’t hurt Kurosaki. She’s supposed to reunite with him and help him.

And yet the Duel continues on without her, card after card sent to the Graveyard, Life Point after Life Point lost. Her “other self” has resorted to continuously bringing Monsters back from the dead to slap parasites on them, despite being unable to actually get a let up on Kurosaki despite having the upper hand in terms of cards on the field. He’s using all of his tools, constantly switching gears.

“You cheat,” that voice says. “You can’t beat me all on your own, can you!”

Kurosaki doesn’t reply, doesn’t even look like he’s hearing her.

“Action Magic: Miracle.” He smirks. “You could use them too, if you weren’t a coward.”

“You’re the coward, using you Lancers’ precious cards. You’re only delaying your oh so pathetic demise, Xyz remnant.”

To her surprise, even if it feels like it shouldn’t be anymore, Kurosaki chuckles at that.

“Oh, yeah, you’re definitely not there. The Serena I know wouldn’t say crap like this.”

“You don’t know me.”

“Obviously.”

The other her destroys Kurosaki’s field with Magic, builds its side with more parasites, all summoned in various ways her dizzied mind can’t keep up with. The Queen squirms, ever so content with the suffering on the field, and she has to watch the one person she’s gotten attached to pay the price for what’s absolutely, by now and without question, her own rash decision making. She was made prisoner and now tortures other people.

She wouldn’t have wanted to put anyone through this to begin with, let alone him. No, of course Kurosaki isn’t the only friend she’s made along the way (that’d erase Yuzu, and Tsukikage, and Yugo…), but she’d lie if she said they hadn’t gotten strangely close to each other, the Xyz renegade and the former golden child of Academia turned against them. The groomed soldier and the one who had to become one to survive. It’s awful, it makes all too much sense.

Another turn ended and he’s back to kneeling on the ground, hanging on by a thin thread of 200 LP.

“Oh-oh, having trouble standing up now, are we?”

“Shut it.”

“Hmph, I see you’re as unpleasant to talk to as always. You build yourself up so much yet struggle to do anything of substance once confronted. How does it feel, to be so useless, in the end? To be so powerless in the face of adversity?”

Kurosaki doesn’t respond, once more, only getting back to his feet.

“Tch. I set one face-down card and end my turn.”

Serena’s heart skips a beat when she sees what card it is, as brief as it is. The name is blurry, so is the picture, but the chuckle of self-satisfaction that escapes her is enough to be weary of what’s about to happen; and if that wasn’t enough, then knowing it’ll absolutely decimate both of their fields but at the cost of his LP first would do more than the job.

She has one turn to get control of her body back, if not less. It’s a Magic card, so it has less chance to be activated on Kurosaki’s turn, but it’s not enough reassurance in this game of minds and prediction. If she doesn’t do something before it’s too late, he’ll suffer the consequences; and that she simply cannot let happen. He’s already struggling to breathe as is.

“I activate from my hand Rank-Up Magic, Absorbing Soul Force. I pay half my Life Points to Special Summon Rise Falcon back to my field.”

“Then I’ll just destroy it again! You can’t win!”

“Shut up, I’m not finished. I Overlay Rise Raptor as Xyz material to summon two Ranks above its four.”

“Oh, of course, you Xyz users can’t get enough of your stupid Ranks. Come at me, I’ll just bury it six feet underground if need be!”

“Prideful falcon, spread your wings dyed in the blood of heroes, advance through the path of revolution! Xyz Summon, come forth! Rank Six, Raidraptor Revolution Falcon!”

“What’s the difference between that and the previous one? None, they’re all scum! Low filth of the Earth!”

Oh, a lot, but she’d rather let Kurosaki explain – who remains unfazed, if silently furious.

“I activate Revolution Falcon’s effect. By using one Overlay Unit, it can attack all of my opponents’ Monsters, once each.”

“Its Attack is inferior to Parasite Queen’s! Are you birdbrained?!”

Is he going to pull off the same thing he did back then?

“When this monster battles one that was Specially Summoned, that monster’s Attack and Defence become zero!”

But it scoffs and laughs, oh so amused by what’s in front of it, and she won’t have it let have its way. She’s putting an end to this battle that wasn’t meant to be now, no matter what. She’ll get back in control, at long last.

“Too bad for you, I’m ready! I activate—”

If she doesn’t do anything, this is going to be the bitter end—

No, I won’t let you!

“It’s over!” Serena screams with her own voice, finally, back in her body. All she has to do now is to…

Give it back to me!!

The pain is searing and it’s hard to think clearly, but one though is strong enough to pierce through it all.

“I’m not going to let you take over!”

“Serena?!”

She rises her hear to see an obviously concerned Kurosaki.

“Do it!” She yells at him, about to throw her own cards to the ground. “Finish this off!”

The voice screeches and burns inside his mind, claws its way out of a bottomless pit, everything burns burns burns.

He nods, takes a breath, and screams, “Revolution Air Raid!”

And like it did the first time they saw each other, exchanged what could barely qualify as words, bombs explode to destroy their common enemy. Every single parasite on her field disappears in a blaze, the sky turns white. She almost loses consciousness, doesn’t withstand the knockback of the wind; but gets up soon enough, ignoring tremors in her legs, to at least realize something has moved inside her head.

She can’t quite worry over that yet however, because as soon as Cross-Over disappears, he falls to his knees.

As if she hadn’t spent so long in her own pain, she rushes to his side, legs lighter than a feather. She doesn’t catch him per say, but decides to support him, concern tainting her every thought. From up close and through her own eyes, it’s evident that he’s taken quite the beating, a bruise already blossoming on the side of his neck and leftover hints of half-healed injuries speckle the few parts of his skin he leaves visible.

“Are you okay?” She asks, frantic, afraid she’ll lose him again.

Kurosaki doesn’t reply, exacerbating her pulse, but she soon feels something getting pulled from her ear. To her shock and disgust alike, through another dizzy spell, she watches him splatter an enormous bug under the sole of his shoe.

“You’re back, Serena?” He asks, his voice even raspier than it was before.

“Y-yeah. I was… controlled by that thing, wasn’t I…?”

“I think so, yeah. Scared the shit outta me.”

She too has trouble getting her breath back, but before she loses all strength, she drags the both of them to lean against the nearby wall. Exhaustion is sitting heavy on her limbs, despite an urge to keep on – and she can only guess Kurosaki, because he’s struggling to get up yet trying so hard to, is feeling the same.

It’s always been difficult to know what he thinks, because he’s so quiet, so closed-off and so off-limits to everyone but two people he hasn’t found again yet. What is even going through his mind, right now?

Wait, did he just say he was scared?

“You didn’t seem like it, though… Scared, I mean.”

“Only when you pushed me off the edge. After that, I was just focused on getting you back.”

His voice is gravely, his head is lulling on his shoulder, and it’s all too close to her, too warm, too welcoming. They’re soldiers in the jaw of the enemy, goddammit, is she this tired—

“Why didn’t you give up on me? I almost killed you, Kurosaki.”

He gives her one long, tired stare.

“You weren’t yourself.” He looks to the side next. “I wasn’t going to lose someone else again.”

“Am I really this important to you…?”

“What do you think the answer to that is?”

Dumb question… but it’s such a hard thing to believe. God, he surely sees her as his sister, or as a placeholder for her until Ruri is safe and sound again, that’s got to be it. She isn’t naïve enough not to know that now, that the world has never revolved around her and especially not his. (If only it didn’t hurt to think about).

“It’s hard to know, with you. I was your enemy at some point. You hate Fusion.”

“You’re not responsible for my homeland’s destruction, nor for Ruri’s disappearance. That doesn’t matter anymore.” He smiles a little, sends her back to flutter. “Plus, you did save me before. I was only paying you back so I don’t owe a debt.”

“We’ve talked about that, didn’t we? I was only seeking you for my own selfish gain. I said awful things to you, parading them as truth. I wasn’t exactly doing you a favour.”

He frows so, so deeply.

“Can’t you accept that I give a shit about you, or do I need to break a rib again?”

Her blood immediately ices over, adrenaline replacing it shortly thereafter.

“Did I break something?!”

“I don’t know,” he says with an undignified uncertainty that doesn’t sound like him and stabs her as a result. “It’s not like I was in that good of a shape before coming here.”

Right, the debris, the rushed recovery process, the turmoil of questions never answered… No rest, all stress. It’s taken its toll on all of them.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault if you’re in that state.”

“Skip the apology. I don’t want to hear it.”

“If I had been stronger, I wouldn’t have been infected by that… parasite.”

Vague memories she wants to ignore of a crazed man inserting something inside her mind, shivers that follow. It only ends when she feels pulled to him.

“I’m just glad you’re not gone.”

She nuzzles closer, for a moment uncaring of the dimensions, the Professor, the Lancers – all that matters is that they now breath together, that she doesn’t hurt him anymore, that they’re companions once more. It’s selfish. It’s insane. It’s easy.

“I’m relieved to see you again,” is all she replies. “We should… get going, though, shouldn’t we?”

“We should, yeah.”

She gets up, still dizzy and dazed, but nonetheless stable enough to give him her hand with a smile of her own. To her relief and joy alike, he gives it back to her as he takes it, gets to his own feet… and tilts forward just enough for her to catch him in her arms. If their worlds weren’t at stake, at the moment, she’d have relished in it, or let herself get overwhelmed by so much touch, so much closeness.

“I’ll support you,” she says, unsure of the extent to which she means it.

“I guess it’s fine, if it’s you.”

She doesn’t comment on it, yet in silence can barely contain all of the thoughts that dance through her mind. Instead, like the level-headed companion she wants to be, she pushes that aside and focuses on the way his arm sits on her shoulder, of the one she has wrapped around his wrist, and not to aggravate his breathing. She can decide what to do with her feelings once everyone is safe and back home, when she won’t have to feel bad after a moment of reprieve. For now, they have a world to save.

And there’s nobody she wants to do it with more than the guy who’s just saved her.

#bad things happen bingo #arc v #ygo #arc v serena #shun kurosaki #peregrineshipping #raspy breathing #bthb #you'll never get shusere out of my cold dead hands #i'm stuck with them since 2019 and that's just how it is #emotional support ship that's been accused of pseudoincest at least once!#otp: blood moon #happy early march 22nd

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raccoonskoodilypoopdungeon · 1 year

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My Duel Academy Life is Wrong as I Expected Chapter 2 - We Opened the Map of Youth and, on a Ship without a Compass, Headed to Uncharted Waters

Fandom: My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, Yu-Gi-Oh!

Series Summary: Having zero passion for Dueling or even Duel Monsters, Hachiman Hikigaya is the last person you would expect to even attempt to enter the most elite high school for upcoming Pro-Duelists and Card Designers in Japan and yet here he is. Wielding an Ojama Deck, this loser loner is forced to but into the lives of other students after his dorm Resident Advisor, forces him to join the Service Club along with Yukino Yukinoshita, the Ice Queen of Obelisk Blue. Together, their clashing personalities and viewpoints must compromise as they attempt to solve problems around Duel Academy Island.

Chapter Summary: Having passed the Duel Academy Admission Test, Hachiman Hikigaya heads to Duel Academy Island where he watches the school year's inaugural Duel between Yukino Yukinoshita, the freshmen representative, and Meguri Shiromeguri, the student council president, and the subsequent aftermath of such a Duel.

AO3 Link

Excerpt:

The Duel Academy entrance ceremony was the same as any other senior high school entrance ceremony: a long, boring speech by the superintendent and a long, boring speech by the person who got the highest score in the admission test.

“Thank you,” Yukino Yukinoshita, the supposed smartest and most talented student of our batch, concluded her speech. With icy blue eyes, stormy black hair, and skin like freshly fallen snow, there wasn't a single girl more objectively beautiful than her even if she was lacking something. Well, she was the most objectively beautiful girl in Duel Academy. I was certain my own super cute little sister cleared her by light years.

Just as people were beginning to clap, she interrupted them with an icy glare and a cold voice, “Now the inaugural Duel of the school year between me, the freshman student representative, and the student council president, Meguri Shiromeguri.”

Of course. This was Duel Academy.

She went off to one side, putting on her royal blue Obelisk Duel Disk and Duel Gazer, as a girl with shoulder-length brown hair in braids, with similar Duel gear, entered the stage.

Yukinoshita bowed her head, saying something.

The President said something back, smiling.

Yukinoshita twitched.

They both readied their Duel Disks as everyone put their Duel Gazers on.

“Advanced Duel!” they both shouted, as my Duel Gazer connected to their Duel and mics.

“The freshman always begins, Yukino!” the President said.

“Thank you, President Shiromeguri,” Yukinoshita said. “Draw Phase. Standby Phase. Main Phase 1. I’ll start by Normal Summoning Sky Striker Ace – Raye.”

A young blonde girl in a white school uniform appeared on her field.

“A Sky Striker Deck, huh?” the President said aloud. “That's a Midrange Spell Deck.” She closed her eyes, crossed her arms, and tapped her feet. “Something, something… a low floor but a high ceiling, huh?”

It was expected for our batch’s number one. The Sky Striker archetype is a Deck that truly discriminates. Its consistency and ability to have every out is nearly unmatched but virtually useless in unskilled hands.

Opening her eyes she exclaimed, “You really are Haruno’s little sister!”

I stared at the video feed of Yukinoshita, examining her. The way her eye twitched and her lips lightly pursed. The way she placed her hand on her chest as she lightly breathed.

“I’ll use Sky Striker Ace – Raye,” she continued, “to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku.”

A Link Circuit appeared over her Left Extra Monster Zone. Raye, instead of turning into a red arrow and going to the top right Link Arrow, jumped through the Circuit. She was suddenly wearing a white bodysuit as the Shizuku blue mech armour started attaching itself onto her body.

“I set four cards face-down.”

Her cards had Neko Mane King sleeves, a clear intimidation tactic.

“End Phase,” Yukinoshita declared. “I use the Monster Effect of Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku to add Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! to my hand.”

And now the combo was complete. Her set Spells would cripple the President and, next turn, Engage would get the exact card she’d need. Depending on what the President played, Yukinoshita basically already won the Duel.

#yahari ore no seishun rabu kome wa machigatteiru #yahari ore no seishun love comedy wa machigatteiru.#yahari ore no seishun rabu come wa machigateiru #yahari ore no seishun love come wa machigatteiru #yahari ore no seishun rabu come wa machigatteiru #yahari ore no seishun rabukome wa machigatteiru #yahari ore no seishun love comedy #my teen romantic comedy snafu #my teen romantic comedy is wrong as expected #my youth romantic comedy is wrong as i expected #my youth romantic comedy snafu #yugioh #ygo #fanfic #fanfiction #fan fiction #crossover

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novelmonger · 1 year

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Moments That Bring Me Joy: Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

I'm going through some of my favorite childhood movies and listing all the moments in them that bring me joy. I'm fully aware that many of the stories I loved as a kid are deeply flawed, but I just want to take some time to appreciate what they did well. Just because I'm focusing on the positive doesn't mean I'm unaware of the negative.

Note: I chose the word "joy" deliberately. Not all of the moments that bring me joy bring me (or the characters) happiness. Scenes involving death or pain might not be very fun or cheerful, but I find joy in a good story well told.

This one is a little harder for me to parse, because it came out when I was a teenager, after I'd mostly moved on to other fandoms. I still love it and have watched it many times, but it just has a different feel to all the other ones that I watched incessantly in my preteen years. I think a teenager enjoys movies in a different way than an eight-year-old does.

Love how it begins by throwing us immediately into the middle of a stunning battle!

Obi-Wan crash-landing his ship, flying out with a Force leap, then landing in a roll and coming up lightsaber swinging - woohoo, what a move! 8D

I love all the shenanigans and banter with the elevator XD

"Chancellor Palpatine, Sith lords are our specialty."

"Dew it."

Obi-Wan waking up, hanging over Anakin's shoulder and staring down an elevator shaft, then immediately clinging to Anakin ^_^

"Do you have a Plan B?"

"Not to worry. We are still flying half a ship." ... "Another happy landing."

I love the dramatic lighting in the scene where Anakin goes to Yoda for advice about his dreams.

*cradles the last conversation Anakin and Obi-Wan have as friends* The warmth of their interactions is so precious.... :')

I've always thought the people on Utapau look really cool. Also fun that the leader is the same guy who played the Mouth of Sauron!

I looooove the creature Obi-Wan rides on Utapau <3 Its cries are so cool, and it's so colorful and pretty! 8D

"Hello there." "General Kenobi!" Classic.

You know, Obi-Wan has always been a stellar fighter, but this movie really shows him at his prime. It's not just anyone who could face off against someone wielding four lightsabers at once and stand his ground.

"So uncivilized." *tosses blaster away*

That haunting scene where Anakin, waiting in the Jedi Council chamber, looks across the sunset-red expanse towards the room where Padme waits, looking across to him.... One of the most beautiful moments in the whole series.

Darth Vader's march upon the Temple--and all of Order 66, really--is heartbreaking, but cinematically perfect. So dramatic. So striking.

I really like that Anakin sheds a tear after killing the Separatist leaders. He's so far gone already, but there's still that sliver of the man he used to be. That he can still feel pain, even remorse...it's proof that, as Luke will eventually find, there's still some good in him. And as tragic as this movie is, that tear is actually rather reassuring.

The duel between Obi-Wan and Anakin is just stunning. The moves they use, the speed, the implications of what this fight means for both of them.... I still count the Darth Maul fight as my favorite, but this one is just *chef's kiss*

"You were the Chosen One! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them! Bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!" "I HATE YOU!" "You were my brother, Anakin. I loved you."

The juxtaposition of Darth Vader being operated on and Padme giving birth, both of them screaming, in a way both of them dying as a new life begins....

The sheer wonder on Obi-Wan's face when he learns that he might be able to talk to Qui-Gon again.

Padme's dress for her funeral is so pretty, especially with all the little white flowers in her hair.

The movie ending on a shot of the sunset on Tatooine. Beautiful.

#moments that bring me joy #star wars #star wars episode iii #star wars episode iii: revenge of the sith #revenge of the sith

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mell0bee · 3 years

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@kikithefox231 has the biggest brain

#anne boonchuy #marcy wu #sasha waybright #amphibia #sashannarcy #kiki said sasha duel wields so she can fight them both at once and she thought of this meme #so ofc i made it #this is scuffed. it’s fine #hello gay frog show fans. this is my sole contribution to the fandom.#bee post #only quality content here at mell0bee dot tumblr dot hell #calamity trio

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novantinuum · 3 years

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Fandom: Steven Universe

Rating: T

Words: 1.3K~

Summary: His family’s not present, the third time he runs away. They never see the creature he becomes.

Early corruption AU.

I’m back! Future updates are likely to be slower as I am starting a new job soon, but at very least I have now settled into my new home. I share some writer’s meta on the AO3 version.

If you read this and enjoy, I’d greatly appreciate your support through reblogs here, or kudos/comments on AO3 as well. Thank you! <3

____

“So, I’ve been doin’ a lot of thinking,” Amethyst begins one day, propping her chin against the raised lip of the lava pool as she lounges on the floor at the center of the temple’s burning room, which they’ve started to use as their meeting space again.

Pearl— standing beside one of the lower branches of crystal pipes— tiredly glances her direction, nodding for her to speak. Even Garnet’s head tilts in interest, which is quite an accomplishment given her recent uncharacteristic silence. She suspects that she’s been busying herself scouring through whole galaxies of possibilities, although she’s not sure what good that will do without any reasonable intel to guide that vision. It’s been well over a week and a half since Steven’s gone missing, and beyond the existence of what they suspect is a corrupted Gem and footprints leading towards the water, they have no further clues. No inklings as to where Steven might have disappeared to, no hits from Greg’s posters, not even any leading tips from Homeworld or any of the outlying Gem-inhabited planets. And as for this particular creature... they’ve only met a single eyewitness. A human, who briefly caught its silhouette against the backdrop of sunrise. Perhaps if it ran further inland it would’ve tripped one of their old corrupted Gem surveillance sensors, but they never placed any in the oceans. They barely have any means to survey the oceans.

“I’ve been talkin’ to all sorts of people the past few days, right?” Amethyst says, widely gesturing as she rolls onto her back. “All Steven’s friends. People in town who knew him pretty well. And pretty much everyone agrees that he was actin’ pretty weird these past few months. Sadie described him as overly-tense. I called up Lars on his ship, and he kept saying that he was genuinely worried about his mental health, or whatever. Greg told me the same thing. And Connie. And basically everyone else.”

Pearl rhythmically flexes her fingers in and out of a fist against her side, her features rapidly curling into a scowl. “And what does that have to do with his disappearance?”

“Uh, potentially everything?” she snips back, throwing her hands in the air above her. “Y’guys, you’ve been making so many assumptions, but we barely know anything! You can’t just blindly throw out the idea that the whole corrupted Gem thing and Steven are linked without at least considering it.”

She grimaces, not even bothering to filter out the full intensity of her bitterness in the audience of such a ridiculous, illogical notion. “Amethyst, we’ve talked about your little ‘theory’ already. And everyone agreed that it’s impossible.”

“And yet it’s true that Steven has defied the impossible before,” Garnet comments suddenly, adjusting her visor.

“Are you defending her?” Pearl gasps, turning towards her old friend with her mouth agape with shock.

She crosses her arms, evidently unbothered by the weight of her subtle betrayal as she lounges back against the entryway. “I’m not defending nor rejecting, merely acknowledging a possibility.”

“Yeah, see?” the younger Gem chimes right back in, quickly pushing herself to her feet to rise to her full height. (Which blessedly— if she’s aiming for intimidation— isn’t much.) “Garnet gets it! Steven’s different than us. Always has been. His powers just do what whatever the hell he’s feeling, right? He feels happy, he floats. He feels spooked, bam! Bubble. He feels like an old man, he literally turns into one. And recently, it seems like he’s been feeling pretty crappy, which probably wasn’t helped by us getting all up in his business after he crashed the van.”

She squints. “Is this going anywhere?”

“Yes,” Amethyst stresses, peering right up at her, her eyes flaring with an urgency and passion Pearl admittedly hasn’t seen her wielding in quite some time. “Because I also talked to Jasper the other day. And she gave me the last piece of the puzzle I needed.”

The quartz steps back to address them both, hands nervously fidgeting with the frayed stitching of her missing sibling’s wool jacket.

“I gotta admit, this isn’t easy news, but it has to be shared.” She inhales tightly, briefly closing her eyes as she does so. “I’m pretty sure the reason Steven had her in the bathroom is that he was trying to heal her with the diamond essences he keeps there. Because he shattered her, in a duel.”

Pearl freezes. The kinder reality she’s stubbornly nurtured within her mind ignites and burns to cinders in an instant, hard light thrumming through the thin circuitry of her extremities at such an unimaginable pace that her form barely manages to keep up with the strain. She nearly crumples to her knees upon the sheer anguish of the revelation, only narrowly catching her fall to remain upright. Across the room, Garnet appears to be on the brink of splitting apart. She... shards, her primary instinct screams for her to violently discard every last bitter tasting word Amethyst has spoken into the furthest recesses of her mind, to rot and decay there for the rest of this cursed eternity, and yet still her picture perfect memory chooses to taunt her with details of the recent past... with the hauntingly damning fact that— when she checked the bathroom after watching Steven warp away, the last moment any of them laid eyes on him— the bottles of diamond essence had indeed been sloppily spilled into the bathtub.

“Her words, mind you, not mine,” Amethyst continues, no amount of stabilizing calm in her tone able to mask the slight tremor under the surface. “You can ask her yourself, if you want.”

“No,” she whispers, hot tears budding in her eyes as she presses her hands to her mouth. “That’s not what happened, it can’t be...”

“So, returning to my theory, you have a kid who’s already feeling terrible, someone whose powers do whatever he’s feeling. A diamond. And then he makes the worst possible mistake: he shatters someone. Accident or not, it don’t matter. Because maybe then... he starts feeling like a monster. Becomes a monster.”

“No,” she shakes her head vehemently. “No, no. Corruption doesn’t work that way, you—“

“Like, think about it!” Amethyst interrupts, striding towards her again. “Really think about it! All we know for sure is—“

“Amethyst, you have to STOP, this—“

“—corruption was caused by the Diamonds, but besides tha—“

“—you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking abo—“

“—how it actually works is like a total mystery!”

“NO!” she explodes, plunging the room around her into a dreadful silence. “You weren’t there, but I WAS!!” The burdens of her personal history grow heavier still as she jabs a decisive finger square at the center of her chest, continuing her impassioned tirade with water trailing down her cheeks in thin rivulets all the while. “I watched as that horrid corrupting light slammed against the surface, nearly obliterating any living Gem in its path, I watched as my friends and allies lost all control over their forms and became a twisted shadow of their former selves, I watched all of that!! So you don’t get to tell me what I do or don’t know about corruption!”

Amethyst’s expression sobers considerably in the audience of her outrage. Pointedly, as if expecting rescue, she turns her gaze to Garnet, who has her arms hugged around her middle as if holding herself in one piece. Quite honestly, after the horrid news they’ve just become privy to, she probably is.

“We should move on to a new subject,” the fusion states frankly, once again avoiding any clear stance on the topic. “This is clearly making Pearl very upset.”

The quartz’s eyes alight in clear indignation. “Y’know what? Fine,” she spits, shoving her hands in her pockets and storming towards the doorway. “If both of you are gonna be that sensitive, I’ll take my ideas somewhere else. But just for the record?” she says, whirling back to face them mere inches before passing through the temple’s threshold. “The reason Steven keeps running away is staring back at us in the mirror. You just refuse to see it. And that’s not my problem.”

#su #su future #pearl #amethyst #garnet #su fanfiction #my writing stuff

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jackoshadows · 3 years

Text

While developing characters, writers use certain literary tools to add depth to these characters and advance the plot.

Literary Foils and Mirrors

This is arguably the simplest of the devices. Foil characters share few or no values or traits. Maybe one character is lazy and boring, and his best friend is energetic and a go-getter. These are foil characters. Put them together, and they’ll highlight each other’s strengths and weaknesses. The most common foil characters are the heroes and villains, who stand for different values and want to achieve separate goals.

Mirror characters are used for a similar purpose. They tend to share several qualities and are used to complement and highlight each other’s traits. Common mirror characters embark on parallel plots, sometimes to achieve a single goal, which tests them and highlights their traits in different ways.

Arya Stark and Sansa Stark for example are literary foils.

Arya was one of the first characters created. Sansa came about as a total opposite b/c too many of the Stark family members were getting along and familes aren’t like that. Thus, Sansa was created; he ended by saying they have deep issues to work out. - GRRM

GRRM SSM November 11, 2000

You may be as different as the sun and the moon - Ned Stark, AGoT

Foils have contrasting personalities, a different set of values and are often used to highlight a character’s particular qualities. Snobby Sansa is used to highlight Arya’s socializing with the smallfolk and non-conformist Arya is used to highlight that Sansa is a proper lady. Arya rushes to help the butcher’s boy, Sansa is more concerned for the prince.

And then we have the mirror characters who share similar traits and qualities, again used to highlight and complement our characters. They may have parallel plots, give hints and clues as to how one characters journey could end the same or be different to the other.

In ASoIaF, Arya Stark and Lyanna Stark are mirror characters, in that, the author is using a tertiary character like Lyanna to complement and give us more information about our main character Arya.

“Lyanna might have carried a sword, if my lord father had allowed it. You remind me of her sometimes. You even look like her.”

“Lyanna was beautiful,” Arya said, startled. Everybody said so. It was not a thing that was ever said of Arya. - Arya, AGoT

So here the author gives us some information about how Arya might look in the future as well as demonstrates Arya’s low self-esteem with regards to her appearance.

Lyanna is used to highlight Arya’s interest in wielding a sword:

Beyond, in a clearing overlooking the river, they came upon a boy and a girl playing at knights. Their swords were wooden sticks, broom handles from the look of them, and they were rushing across the grass, swinging at each other lustily. "Arya?" she called out incredulously. Joffrey glanced from Arya to Sansa and back again. "Your sister?" She nodded, blushing. - Sansa, AGoT

Now two children danced across the gods wood, hooting at one another as they dueled with broken branches. The girl was the older and taller of the two. Arya! Bran thought eagerly, as he watched her leap up onto a rock and cut at the boy. But that couldn’t be right. If the girl was Arya, the boy was Bran himself, and he had never worn his hair so long. And Arya never beat me playing swords, the way that girl is beating him. - Bran, ADwD

Bran sees a vision that parallels Arya/Mycah and even Arya/Bran with Lyanna and Benjen. Notice how Sansa is both incredulous and embarrassed at Arya dueling with Mycah - highlighting the differences between Arya and Sansa and at the same time paralleling Arya and Lyanna.

Horse riding.

You ride like a northman, milady,” Harwin said when he’d drawn them to a halt. “Your aunt was much the same. Lady Lyanna. But my father was master of horse, remember.” - Arya, AGoT

It hurt that the one thing Arya could do better than her sister was ride a horse. Well, that and manage a household. - Arya, AGoT

Notice how Arya and Lyanna are paralleled to highlight that Arya is a good horse rider, like the Northerners. And again, notice the contrast to Sansa. One character is a mirror here and one character a foil.

And again, with the flowers:

Ned remembered the way she had smiled then, how tightly her fingers had clutched his as she gave up her hold on life, the rose petals spilling from her palm, dead and black. […] “I bring her flowers when I can,” he said. “Lyanna was … fond of flowers.” - Ned. AGoT

Then to Sansa she said, “When we were crossing the Neck, I counted thirty-six flowers I never saw before, and Mycah showed me a lizard-lion.” - Sansa, AGoT

One day she came back grinning her horsey grin, her hair all tangled and her clothes covered in mud, clutching a raggedy bunch of purple and green flowers for Father. Sansa kept hoping he would tell Arya to behave herself and act like the highborn lady she was supposed to be, but he never did, he only hugged her and thanked her for the flowers. That just made her worse. - Sansa, AGoT

Text that is used to mirror Arya and Lyanna as liking flowers. We have Ned taking flowers to Lyanna and Arya bringing flowers to Ned. And again we have Sansa disparaging this. Mirrors and foils.

We have Arya and Lyanna stepping in to help people. Mirrors used to highlight Arya’s personality.

“Stop it!” Arya screamed. She grabbed up her fallen stick. Arya swung with both hands. There was a loud crack as the wood split against the back of the prince’s head - Sansa, AGoT

They shoved him down every time he tried to rise, and kicked him when he curled up on the ground. But then they heard a roar. ‘That’s my father’s man you’re kicking,’ howled the she-wolf.” The she-wolf laid into the squires with a tourney sword, scattering them all. - Bran, ASoS

Arya and Lyanna step in to help their father’s men and people like Howland Reed and Mycah. Sansa stepped in to help her Lannister prince.

Lyanna is deemed wilful and wild and comparisons are made to Arya.

“She was,” Eddard Stark agreed, “beautiful, and willful, and dead before her time.” - Arya, AGoT

And Arya … he missed her even more than Robb, skinny little thing that she was, all scraped knees and tangled hair and torn clothes, so fierce and willful. - Jon, AGoT

“[…] This willfulness of yours, the running off, the angry words, the disobedience … at home, these were only the summer games of a child. Here and now, with winter soon upon us, that is a different matter. It is time to begin growing up.” Arya, AGoT

So we get a warning for Arya that her predecessor with a similar personality had a tragic ending. Will Arya head down the same path or will she make different choices from her mirror character?

And then there is Arya’s relationship with Lyanna’s son Jon Snow. The fact that Arya, Jon and Lyanna all look the same - and have the Stark look.

I think the writing in the books makes it clear that Arya and Lyanna are literary mirrors and Arya/Lyanna are literary foils to Sansa.

In what way is Lyanna a mirror for Sansa? How does Lyanna in any way complement Sansa as a character? What information about Sansa do we get from the Lyanna call backs in the text? What can we glean about Sansa’s personality and how she would react from Lyanna’s traits? There is no information about any of this in the books.

Which is why it’s baffling when some sections of fandom keep talking about the many parallels between Sansa and Lyanna. There are no parallels here, none.

We first hear of Lyanna when Robert mentions that unlike his failed engagement to Ned’s sister, this time around, Ned’s daughter and Robert’s son can marry to unite house Baratheon and Stark. This is GRRM setting up the scenario to subvert tropes.

Readers expect that Lyanna is a Sansa like character but as we keep reading, it’s revealed that the daughter who is similar to Lyanna is Arya and not Sansa. Even Arya is surprised when Ned tells her that it is she who will have Lyanna’s beauty.

Lyanna and Robert do not get married because Lyanna went against the wishes of her family. Meanwhile Sansa wanted to marry Joffrey against the wishes of her father. Character foils. If anything the Robert/Lyanna and Joffrey/Sansa pairing demonstrates how much Sansa and Lyanna are as much foils as Sansa and Arya.

Lyanna could see through Robert, that not even his closest friend Ned could do. She was not taken in by appearances.

“Robert will never keep to one bed,” Lyanna had told him at Winterfell, on the night long ago when their father had promised her hand to the young Lord of Storm’s End. “I hear he has gotten a child on some girl in the Vale.” Ned had held the babe in his arms; he could scarcely deny her, nor would he lie to his sister, but he had assured her that what Robert did before their betrothal was of no matter, that he was a good man and true who would love her with all his heart. Lyanna had only smiled. “Love is sweet, dearest Ned, but it cannot change a man’s nature.” Ned, AGoT

Unlike Sansa, she did not believe that fairy tales were real. She was not idealistic about love. Contrast her with Sansa - who continued to love her sweet, beautiful prince after seeing him sadistically maul another child and try to harm her sister and after her own father warns her that Joffrey was not good

At first she thought she hated him for what they’d done to Lady, but after Sansa had wept her eyes dry, she told herself that it had not been Joffrey’s doing, not truly. The queen had done it; she was the one to hate, her and Arya. Nothing bad would have happened except for Arya.She could not hate Joffrey tonight. He was too beautiful to hate - Sansa, AGoT

“Once she had loved Prince Joffrey with all her heart, and admired and trusted her his mother, the queen. They had repaid that love and trust with her father's head. Sansa would never make that mistake again.” - Sansa, ACoK

Much is made of Lyanna crying over Rhaegar’s song. As if this is a quality specific only to Sansa in ASoIaF. Cersei talks about how Rhaegar made her weep with his silvery harp. Arya likes songs and Arya cries. Arya and Sansa just like different songs and we have no idea what Rhaegar’s song was even about. Arya named her direwolf pup Nymeria from the songs.

Arya named hers after some old witch queen in the songs - Bran, AGoT

Arya wanted to become an outlaw like Wenda the White Fawn in the songs.

Tom and Hot Pie resumed their song on the other side of the brook, with the duck hanging from Lem’s belt beneath his yellow cloak. Somehow the singing made the miles seem shorter. - Arya, ASoS

Ygritte cries over songs about the last of the giants and Ygritte reminds Jon of Arya. Again, Ygritte and Arya are literary mirrors to remind Jon of his sister and highlight Arya’s personality and other characteristics.

She reminded him a little of his sister Arya, though Arya was younger and probably skinnier. It was hard to tell how plump or thin Ygritte might be, with all the furs and skins she wore. - Jon, ASoS

"If you kill a man, and never meant', he's just as dead," Ygritte said stubbornly. Jon had never met anyone so stubborn, except maybe for his little sister Arya. Is she still my sister? he wondered. Was she ever? - Jon, ASoS

There were tears on Ygritte’s cheeks when the song ended. “Why are you weeping?” Jon asked. “It was only a song. There are hundreds of giants, I’ve just seen them.” “Oh, hundreds,” she said furiously. “You know nothing, Jon Snow.” - Jon, ASoS

Ygritte displays both grief and anger at the fate of the giants in the song - emotions that Arya often exhibits.

So GRRM compares two women who cry listening to songs with Arya in the text and yet the parallel here is somehow with Sansa?

Besides, let’s not forget Lyanna’s reaction to Benjen laughing at her crying:

The dragon prince sang a song so sad it made the wolf maid sniffle, but when her pup brother teased her for crying she poured wine over his head - Bran, ASoS

Who does this remind us of?

“You be quiet, stupid,” the girl (Lyanna) said, tossing her own branch aside. - Bran, ADwD

Who does this remind us of?

GRRM is deliberately writing in Lyanna Stark as a literary mirror to Arya Stark in the books. There are three possible reasons for this. One, to highlight and complement Arya’s personality and add depth to her character. Two, to highlight her strong connection to the North. And three, for a plot that he’s leading us towards, that will either parallel or connect to Lyanna’s story in some way.

GRRM sees no such need to connect Sansa and Lyanna because that is not Sansa’s story. Her similarities are with her mother Catelyn Stark. Her story has been revolving around Littlefinger for 5 books and Littlefinger is infatuated with her because she looks like Catelyn. The author has even talked about it.

My Littlefinger would have never turned Sansa over to Ramsay. Never. He’s obsessed with her. Half the time he thinks she’s the daughter he never had—that he wishes he had, if he’d married Catelyn. And half the time he thinks she is Catelyn, and he wants her for himself. He’s not going to give her to somebody who would do bad things to her. That’s going to be very different in the books. - GRRM

If there is an aunt that the character parallels, it is Lysa Arryn and not Lyanna Stark. Will Sansa fall to Littlefinger’s machinations and suffer the same fate as her mother and her aunt? Or will she forge a different path when facing same tests?

So why the obsession with Sansa and Lyanna parallels?

Sansa stans have this weird way of reading the text where everything is subconscious and not written on the page. This idea that what’s on page is not important but some sneaky, secretive subtext is what’s actually going foreshadow future events. So GRRM investing in Jon and Arya’s relationship in the text of the books means that Jon and Sansa are going to end up together. Or GRRM is making subconscious parallels between Lyanna and Sansa.

Sorry, but that’s not how GRRM writes. Everything that GRRM wants us to read and connect to is on the page.

“I’ve been planting all these clues that the butler did it, then you’re halfway through a series and suddenly thousands of people have figured out that the butler did it, and then you say the chambermaid did it? No, you can’t do that,” Martin reportedly said while addressing whether fan theories and online speculation influence his writing process for the “Song of Ice and Fire” series of novels on which HBO’s adaptation is based.

It’s easy to do things that are shocking or unexpected, but they have to grow out of characters. They have to grow out of situations. Otherwise, it’s just being shocking for being shocking. But this is something that seems very organic and natural, and I could see how it would happen.

Then there’s the misogyny. Beauty, songs, romance and love should only be associated with Sansa. Arranged marriages are only for Sansa, being used as a pawn for power is only Sansa. Only Sansa suffers the separation from family. Can’t associate any of that with Arya because she is ‘masculine’. Despite Catelyn arranging a marriage for Arya with a Frey and despite Ramsay marrying Arya to hold the North, only Sansa is the key to the North. Arya sees through Elmar Frey as easily as Lyanna sees through Robert Baratheon, but it’s only Sansa who is associated with an unwanted betrothal.

Every female character in this series has a betrothal plot, every female character is used as a pawn at one point - even Daenerys. We know nothing about Lyanna’s story - whether she was in love with Rhaegar, what she was doing in the Tower of Joy, why she eloped. We know nothing, just assumptions and headcanons. This is a character of whom we only get flashes here and there to add to Arya’s character for plot reasons and the mystery of Jon’s parentage.

In my opinion, this obsession that Sansa stans have with connecting the character to Lyanna arises from a need to prove Sansa’s Northern/Stark credentials. Sansa stans are fanatical about the North. Parallels to Catelyn and Lysa evoke Sansa’s Tully lineage rather than her Stark one and for people that are obsessed with the North, this will not do.

Unless it’s the idiotic Ned/Cat Jonsa parallels where they theorize that Jon is attracted to a girl who looks like the woman who emotionally abused him 😒. Of course, with the new batch of Sansa stans who ship Jonsa there is now an added reason for pushing the Lyanna-Sansa parallels as a connection they want for Jon and Sansa.

So, in the text of the story, the author writes Arya Stark and Lyanna Stark as mirrors and Arya Stark and Sansa Stark as foils. The author does not intend to have Lyanna and Sansa act as mirrors in my opinion. Rather, an examination of what little we know of Lyanna shows her to be a complete contrast to Sansa in all ways.

#Arya Stark #Lyanna Stark #Sansa Stark #GRRM #anti Sansa stans #fandom nonsense

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multisfabulis · 3 years

Text

Wayfinder’s Voyage

Oceanic (Chapter 1 | 2)

Word Count: 5785

I hope everyone enjoyed reading this! I'm honestly super anxious while I'm typing this because, not only is this my first fic in the KH fandom, this is also my first ship fic so I'm feeling a lot of pressure.

I want to apologize if the characters seem OOC in this, I was mainly going off of memory and a Wiki because I didn't want to sit through an entire LP of BBS just to get a few details accurate. It already took me a month and a half to write all of this and I didn't want to take up more time.

I do have more Terraqua fics in the works, as well as a couple other KH fics in general, but those will probably be posted way later. I just wanted to test the waters with this fic and see how I do so...

So some things to note:

*Both Aqua and Terra's first scenes in this fic were made entirely for the purpose of giving them build-up while not diminishing Ven's importance to them. I was already going to be fucking with canon a lot but I also didn't want to leave Ven to the wayside so I created those scenes. You'll see Terra's in the next chapter.

*I feel the need to apologize for the second half of the second scene because that still feels like word barf, even when I know why I wrote it like that. I hope the intention behind those words is still conveyed clearly but I'll understand if it's not.

*As for the last scene, I completely misremembered the sequence of events leading up to the end. I already knew that scene was going to be changed somewhat just for the context of the ship but I think it's pretty clear which parts I changed on purpose and which parts I was winging it. It's been years since I last watched that scene, it was super late into the night, this was my third rewrite, and I felt satisfied with my work before realizing I fucked up and decided to go along with it.

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Today started out like any other normal day. Aqua woke up, did her morning regimen, and set off for the great hall to begin her studies. She and Terra, her friend/rival, were to train under the watchful eye of their master Eraqus in the hopes of coming one step closer to fulfilling their lifelong dream. They would one day surpass the rank of apprentice and become Keyblade Masters in their own right, something she wished would arrive sooner rather than later.

Then came time for their daily duel. They would often spar with each other as a way of proving their capabilities in battle, seeing what areas they could use improvement in, and showing off the techniques they had learned from past fights. This seemed to be no different from their previous clashes.

She was on the defense, blocking and deflecting each blow Terra threw her way with relative ease. He managed to find an opening she didn’t account for and all but jumped on the opportunity. He charged in, his Keyblade held high, and she only had a split second to raise hers in an attempt to guard against it. Yet, whether it was due to a miscalculation on his part or her just reacting too slow, he ended up hitting her unarmored wrist. She quickly backed away, letting out a cry of pain as both Keyblades were dismissed in a flash of light. Eraqus rushed over to check if she was okay.

Terra was beside her with remorseful apologies spilling out of his mouth but she barely paid them any heed. Her eyes were focused on something much more alarming, something she knew Eraqus saw too. Emanating from Terra’s hand was an aura of Darkness, which vanished as soon as he noticed it. He tried to defend himself to Eraqus but the damage was already done.

Their master had an almost zealous hatred for Darkness, believing it’d bring nothing but destruction in its wake, and sought to rid the Land of Departure of any, even if some laid dormant in his apprentices’ hearts. This was a constant problem for Terra, who always seemed to harbor enough to fall back on, be it consciously or not. For it to flare up during training, that drew Eraqus’s ire.

It was hard not to feel sorry for Terra as he was being harshly scolded. It wasn’t like he was trying to use Darkness, at least not intentionally. She knew that it was only an accident but it wouldn’t help stop the shame he undoubtedly felt. He’ll probably curse himself for being too weak and letting Darkness in yet again once he thought no one was around, an occurrence she’s been privy to more than she had any right to be. She needed to talk with him once she had her wrist taken care of.

With a hand on her back, Eraqus began leading her out of the great hall. She looked over her shoulder to catch one last glimpse of Terra before leaving. He hung his head in shame as he clenched his fists in what she believed to be anger. It was just as she expected. She turned her head back to face forward, hoping he wouldn’t blame himself more than he already was.

They made their way over to the infirmary, where Eraqus gently took hold of her wrist to examine it. She could see now how bruised and swollen it was from the impact as she winced with every slight movement. He was able to determine she had a sprained wrist, which she regarded as a miracle. With the amount of force Terra had in his swing, she was thankful it didn’t result in a break. She was to keep it wrapped and iced for a couple days till it healed, something she had no problem with.

After it was bandaged, she was told to take it easy until then. She asked Eraqus about Terra and he said he’d have a talk with him once enough time had passed for things to settle down. There was an undercurrent of regret in his voice, made even clearer by the expression on his face. Their master may be strict but he still cared for them, similar in the way a father would for his children. This gave her some hope in that he realized what happened was an accident and he’d forgive Terra. Time would only tell.

She spent the rest of the day in the library. She figured she’d get some studying done if she couldn’t practice with her Keyblade for the next few days. Try as she might, though, she could barely focus on the words she was reading and that was if she didn’t reread the sentence to understand it. Her mind kept wandering to Terra, whether he was okay or not, and what he was doing right now. Worry gnawed at her heart until she couldn’t take it anymore. The sun was beginning to cast orange and violet hues across the sky when she decided and rushed out to find him.

He wasn’t in the great hall or his room when she looked in. Searching all around the building yielded no results, either. She wondered where he could be, her anxiety growing as she saw night quickly approaching. He had to still be in the Land of Departure and the only place she hadn’t checked yet was the mountain. She ran out to the Forecourt and then beyond its boundary.

Stars were twinkling into existence by the time she reached the winding path leading up to the mountain. If it weren’t for the lights set alongside the dirt road, she would’ve been stumbling about blindly in the dark. It was when she arrived at the overlook just before the summit she found him.

His back faced her as she saw that he was sitting on the edge of the cliff. Taking a few steps closer revealed him to be looking down below the mountain with an indiscernible expression. It was troubling to see him like this. What happened earlier today had to be weighing heavily on his mind.

Tentatively walking forward, she called out, “Terra?”

He stiffened and quickly turned around to face her, asking a barrage of questions like, “Aqua, are you okay? How’s your wrist? Is it bad? It’s bad, isn’t it?”

“No, no, it’s all right, see?” she replied, showing him her bandaged wrist. “Master said it was only a sprain and that it should be okay in a couple days as long as I took it easy.”

He let out a sigh of relief, no doubt feeling some of the guilt be lifted off his shoulders. “That’s good. I don’t think I would’ve forgiven myself if I managed to break your wrist.”

“Well, you didn’t, so don’t beat yourself up over it, okay?”

Silence fell between them. She noticed him staring at her wrist with clouded eyes, despite her assurances of being fine. Before she could think of a way to broach the issue at hand, he spoke up.

“Aqua, I’m…I’m sorry about what happened earlier. I swear, I didn’t mean to hurt you, it was an accident, and---”

“I know, I know! You don’t need to apologize, I know you would never try and hurt me,” she interjected, trying to comfort him. “I’m more worried about you and how you’re doing after Master had those…words with you.”

He averted his eyes from her. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen Eraqus scold Terra like he had before and those always left him feeling horrible with himself. She was used to being the one to get him back to normal but something told her this wouldn’t be as easy as previous times.

Turning away from her, he said, “I deserved it. Master was right, I could’ve seriously hurt you.”

“But you didn’t and that’s what matters,” she replied.

“I was wielding Darkness, Aqua!” he exclaimed, taking her aback. He ran a hand through his hair before continuing on, “I thought it was gone. I thought I had it under control but I guess I don’t. Maybe it never left.”

“Terra…” She walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’ll be okay. You’ve gotten rid of Darkness before, you can do it again. You just have to---”

He brushed her off. “What if I don’t? What if I’ll always have Darkness inside me?”

“What are you saying?”

“Maybe I’m not meant to be a Keyblade Master. Maybe I’m just destined to fall into darkness. It’s my fate to lose my heart and become a Heartless.”

“That won’t happen, Terra. You’re strong enough to resist it and---”

“What if I’m not, Aqua? How else would you explain why I keep having Darkness come out of me? You can’t, can you?”

To her horror, he was right. There was no way she could explain why Darkness lingered inside him, even with the numerous attempts to rid himself of it. It wasn’t because he had a weak heart, that much she was certain. So what was the connection between the two? Was Terra right in that he was destined to fall into darkness, either by losing his heart or some other means?

The thought rocked her to the core. She didn’t want to believe his fate was to be lost in a hellish abyss until he was put out of his misery. He was her dear friend and he deserved so much more than being reduced to a lowly Heartless. She refused to accept it, which was why she decided to do something about it.

“You won’t fall into darkness, Terra,” she affirmed, stepping around him to meet his gaze. “I know it.”

“How? How can you be so sure?” he asked.

“Because I won’t let you.” She took hold of his hand in a gentle yet firm grip. “I promise I won’t let you fall into darkness.”

He seemed genuinely shocked by her words. She meant what she said and she planned on upholding her promise. It may be hard and it may even be treacherous at times but it’d all be worth it if he remained in the light.

“And, if you do fall, I promise to always guide you back home,” she added, giving his hand a squeeze.

“...You have that much faith in me, huh?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Why wouldn’t I?” She cupped his cheek. “You’re my friend, Terra, and I know you’re strong enough to resist its temptation. I’ll just be there to remind you every so often.”

He said nothing, instead deciding to pull her into a hug. She was surprised by this, seeing as how he wasn’t a very affectionate person, at least in the physical aspect. She was about ready to question him on why he was doing this when she heard him whisper in her ear:

“Thank you, Aqua, for believing in me.”

Her heart fluttered in her chest from the sincerity in his voice. She could sometimes be slow on the uptake but this had to be a new record. It was only now she realized just how much her vow must’ve touched him and how badly he must’ve been feeling before she showed up. She was glad to have cheered him up some. Thus, she returned the hug and answered,

“You’re welcome.”

Terra wasn’t going to fall into darkness, not if she had anything to say about it. He won’t be led astray. She’d be his anchor to the realm of light. A promise is a promise, which she wholly planned to keep.

Aqua breathed in deep and touched the tip of her paintbrush on the small piece of glass sitting in front of her. Drawing it upwards left the top half in a pretty shade of cyan blue. She continued to paint with delicate and meticulous strokes until she was satisfied with her work. The bottom half was then covered in a dark blue, which almost matched the ocean she imagined in her mind. Once the piece of glass was completely painted over, she gingerly picked it up and set it aside to dry. One down, four more to go before she moved on to the next phase.

She was in the process of making her Wayfinder. She already crafted two others that happened to be sitting off to the side, one in amber and one in green. She hoped to give them to Terra and Ven soon once she was done creating hers. Seeing as how she and Terra were meant to have their Mark of Mastery exam in the near future, they were meant to be good luck charms and Ven was getting one simply because it’d be unfair if he was left out. They also had another purpose to them, something she thought was rather poignant and was the main reason she wanted them.

Wayfinders were said to be designed after star-shaped fruit called Paopu, which were also said to tie friends together. If they carried these on them, nothing would drive them apart. They’d even help find one’s way back to them if they were ever lost. It may be silly of her to believe in this but it struck a chord within her when she first heard it and, in some ways, she wanted it to be true.

The question of what would happen after she and Terra aced their exam had weighed heavily on her mind for some time. Eraqus had told them they could either travel beyond the Land of Departure and expand their horizons or succeed him and protect their world from Darkness. They hadn’t decided yet but she wondered what the aftermath of her choice would be. Would she choose to leave or stay? Whatever it may be, it meant Terra would have to contend with the other. Maybe the reason this was troubling her so much was because a part of her deep down was afraid of losing the two people she considered to be her best friends.

She knew she had nothing to be scared of yet she worried all the same. It wasn’t like the bonds she shared with Ven and Terra were so weak, they’d break upon setting foot outside their home. Their strength would remain steadfast, even if the three of them were far apart from each other. She just needed to remind herself of that whenever she was lost in her thoughts.

The last glass piece was painted and she put it beside the others to dry. With that out of the way, the next thing to do would be setting the five glass pieces into place and soldering them to the frame so they wouldn’t fall out when she held the Wayfinder facing up. It was too late to do it tonight but she would get straight to it after her training tomorrow.

She glanced over to where the other two Wayfinders were sitting. She stood up from her desk, reached her hand out to grab them, and sat back down. They shone brilliantly under the golden light pouring in from her window. A lot’s happened over the last few years.

She never thought Eraqus would take in another apprentice but it was at the behest of an old friend so that’s how Ventus came into the picture. Fragile was the best word to describe him when they first met, like he could collapse at any moment. It fit him even more when he actually did from Terra’s bombardment of questions, falling into an almost come-like state for several days. Her skepticism as to whether he was capable of becoming a Keyblade Master only grew when Eraqus said he was amnesiac and that was why he fainted. How could someone like him become Master when he was so weak, for lack of a better term?

Yet he managed to prove her wrong. The more time he spent with the two of them, the stronger he got, to the point he was able to keep up with them in battle. He wasn’t as powerful as Terra or as magically gifted as her but he made up for it with swiftness and sheer tenacity. The only reason he wasn’t taking the Mark of Mastery exam along with them was because of his age, though she believed it was also due to him needing to outgrow some things, like his rebellious streak for example. He’d be a great Keyblade Master one day, she was sure of it.

Terra’s changed so much over the years. He was no longer a child struggling to keep his head above water as he flailed his Keyblade about. He’s grown into a strong and capable man she was proud to call her friend and rival. He’d be her fellow Master in due time as well and then they’d stand together to protect both theirs and many other worlds from Heartless someday. At least, that’s what she envisioned before things somehow became different between them.

She couldn’t quite explain what changed between her and Terra. It wasn’t like the way they interacted with each other was different from normal. They still met up every day to talk and train so that couldn’t be it. The only thing she noticed was…well, things she had never really noticed from him before. Not that they were never there but they were only starting to make themselves known to her.

Before Ven, she’d only seen three sides to Terra. The dutiful pupil to their master, the reliable confidant to her, and the introspective self-doubter when he thought he was alone. It was only after Ven entered their circle she saw the kind and protective side of him, almost like he was an older brother to him. She always knew those qualities existed within him but it was different seeing them in action to someone other than her. It’s only now she’s really acknowledged them.

He was still her friend but there was a deeper meaning now. Her feelings towards him were different than her feelings towards Ven and maybe that was because she’s known him practically all her life as opposed to the four years for Ven. Maybe all this was was her growing up and becoming an adult, which meant changing feelings and realizing that things were going to be different for her now, whether she liked it or not. Throw in the anxiety of potentially drifting away from him and she was left with a jumbled up mess of complications she struggled to put a label on.

All this was doing was giving her a headache. She should be focusing on the road ahead instead of thinking herself into a corner and letting her mind run wild. She’s so close to accomplishing her dream and she couldn’t risk anything jeopardizing it. Whatever answers she wanted, she’d find them after becoming Master.

She looked down at the Wayfinders still held in her hands and pressed them close to her chest. She let out a heavy sigh as she tried to calm herself. Different was new but it didn’t have to be bad. Change was a part of everyone’s lives and she and Terra were no exceptions.

Things may be different between them but it didn’t mean they were bad. It could mean they were good and she just couldn’t see how yet. As long as they were together, nothing truly bad would happen. That’s what she hoped.

Aqua sat at the end of the dock, watching the sun set over the horizon. A warm, pleasant breeze was blowing through, carrying with it the strong scent of salt. She could hear the ocean’s waves rolling along the sandy shore and leaves from the trees behind her rustling. This was everything she imagined a beach to be like. The only things missing from it were Terra and Ven.

The Destiny Islands was what this world was called. She only stopped by with the intention of taking a short rest but it was after reality began to sink in she had to give herself something more than that. She needed a moment where she could think clearly, decompress, and just breathe. She needed this before going back out there and starting the whole process over again. That’s where she was now.

Where did it all go wrong? She finally managed to achieve her dream of becoming a Keyblade Master but it felt like a hollow victory when it turned out Terra failed the exam on account of his Darkness flaring up again. Then she was asked by their master to keep an eye on him in case he strayed too close to darkness, which she didn’t agree with but knew it was out of concern for him so she followed. It was through that she learned of the questionable acts seemingly committed by Terra and it caused her to doubt him and his resolve. When she met up with him and Ven at Radiant Garden and she revealed the truth of her being there, their trust in her was shattered.

Then she found out Ven was being hunted down by a masked boy, who had ties to Master Xehanort. He’d been pulling strings behind the scenes and he was dragging Terra along for the ride. An encounter with the masked boy in Neverland left her exhausted yet she still trudged on before arriving here. All she was trying to do was make things right so why did it turn out like this?

Maybe she wasn’t cut out to be a Master. They were supposed to keep the balance between light and dark, protect the worlds from malevolent forces. If she couldn’t even protect her best friends, the two people she treasured above all else, then what good was she? Eraqus was wrong in making her a Master, much less his successor. She never should have become one.

She took out her Wayfinder and just held it. The orange hue of the sunset washed away the once vibrant blue into something dull and dark. Her heart grew heavier the longer she looked at it, running her thumb over the token in the center. Nothing would drive them apart, huh?

It was never that she thought of Ven as weak or doubted his capabilities. It was never, ever that. She just wanted him to be safe, to be unharmed because she knew she couldn’t always be there to save him. There was a part of her that still viewed him as the fragile boy she first met who fell comatose from one too many questions. Sure, he’s grown much stronger since then, but she felt the need to protect him regardless. He was her dear friend and she wouldn’t know how to live with herself if he got hurt and she wasn’t there to help him. She’d rather have him hate her for being overbearing than risk losing him because she wasn’t cautious.

She wished she could express how sorry she was to Terra. She vouched for him to Eraqus, swearing he was strong enough to resist the dark temptations, yet hearsay was all it took for her to lose faith in him. Xehanort’s machinations framed him as someone he wasn’t and she fell for it so easily. It honestly pissed her off that he was manipulating and taking advantage of Terra and his trusting nature. While he wasn’t exactly innocent in this, it was clear as to who the real mastermind was. She wanted so badly to apologize to him, to tell him she should never have doubted him.

Her grip on the Wayfinder tightened as she felt her eyes beginning to burn. Did they have theirs still, she wondered. She wanted to believe they did but was it childishly naive of her to cling to that narrow hope?

She was a horrible friend to them. She caused one to lose faith in her and she may as well have betrayed the other. She may have pushed Ven too far away for him to come back and drove Terra further into the darkness. She wouldn’t fault them for wanting nothing to do with her anymore. She wouldn’t, either, if the roles were reversed. Were their bonds now severed?

No, they couldn’t be. The magic she placed on each of their Wayfinders was still active and she could still feel Terra and Ven’s hearts through hers. That had to be her silver lining in this. Even if the cord connecting the three of them together frayed till it was only a thread, that thread was unbreakable.

She needed to protect them. She couldn’t let Xehanort and that masked boy do whatever they wanted with them. They wouldn’t hesitate to save her if she were in the same position so she shouldn’t, either. They were precious to her, she’d do anything, even give her life, if it meant they’d be safe.

She stood up from the dock, Wayfinder still in her hand, and looked up at the now starry sky. She didn’t know where they were but she didn’t need to. Her heart was going to be her guiding key.

They needn’t worry much longer. She was going to find them and the three of them were going to stop whatever Xehanort had planned. Then they would share one more night under the stars, like they had all that time ago.

May they find a way to each other once more.

Aqua watched on in horror as the man in front of her stabbed his Keyblade into his chest. She wanted to cry out his name but she couldn’t find the strength within her to do so, having thoroughly exhausted herself from their fight earlier. His body went slack, his Keyblade vanishing into thin air, as a portal of swirling darkness opened beneath him. He fell back and, quickly realizing where it led to, she dove in after him.

She had to save him. It may not have been Terra, not completely, but his heart was still in his body, she just knew it. Why else would he have let her go when he was so close to finishing her off? She couldn’t leave him to wander in the Realm of Darkness for all eternity. Even if it meant bringing Xehanort back, she’d never forgive herself for doing that to him if he was still in there. She made him a promise and she was damn well going to keep it.

The first thing she noticed was how cold it was. It wasn’t freezing but it was still too chilly for her liking, evident from her shivering. She felt like she was stuck in an empty black void as she searched around for any sign of Terra. She was eventually able to find a dim light just a few meters below her, a light she recognized as his. Summoning her Keyblade, she changed its form to that of her Glider and raced towards the light, not once taking her eyes off it.

It didn’t take long to reach him. The light grew dimmer and dimmer the closer she got before dimming completely upon seeing him. He looked to be just sleeping, even when he was plummeting straight down to what she considered to be hell. She grabbed onto his arm and struggled to lift him onto her Glider, only managing to accomplish that feat by sheer force of will. Giving him a quick once-over revealed no visible wounds and he seemed to be breathing normally. Relieved that he was physically all right, she turned the Glider around and began heading back up.

She had him and he was going to be okay. They would be back in Radiant Garden soon and she was going to fix him. She and whoever else could help her were going to find a way to get Xehanort’s heart out of him. Then she and him would go home and wake Ven up, like she said they would. They’d be together again. Their master may be gone now but they’d have each other to lean on and support. The hope of them being reunited again was the only thing keeping her going at this point. After everything that’s happened, she needed this to come true. She almost wanted to pray to whatever power there be to grant her wish, to give her this.

Well, a deity or some other higher being there was heard her and sneered. Her heart dropped once she saw the portal they came in from starting to close. They were still so far away and it was shrinking with each passing second. It would be gone by the time they reached it, leaving them stuck in the Realm of Darkness with no way out. She looked over at Terra’s unconscious form and, knowing what had to be done, made her choice without any hesitation.

That was when it hit her. She finally found her answer and she wanted to scold herself for taking so long to realize it. She finally knew what Terra was to her and it was so easy, so simple to understand that there was really no excuse. He wasn’t just a friend to her, he was more than that, he deepened beyond that. It was only natural, in some ways, for her to have fallen for him.

She loved him. She loved everything about him, from his ability to want to see the good in people to his devotion to her and Ven. She can scarcely remember a life where he wasn’t a part of it nor did she want such a life. He was irreplaceable, someone she confided in, a man she could talk to about anything without fear of judgment. He was her rock, her dearly beloved. She loved him, which was why she was able to decide on her fate with little regret.

She was going to take his place. Her promise came out of a love different from what it was now but she planned to uphold it all the same. Her love for Terra was stronger than her hatred of the man possessing him and she couldn’t bear to leave him behind to die in a hellish wasteland. It only hurt to know she wouldn’t be there to help guide him back home, to her and Ven.

She disembarked from her Glider and went around to the side. Terra appeared to be holding onto the handles somewhat, which seemed to be the only reason he was staying on it instead of falling. She brushed the back of her hand against his cheek before resting it on his, giving it a gentle squeeze. She was going to miss him when she was gone but this was for the best.

“We’ll meet again someday.” She squeezed his hand again. “Even if so much time has passed, we’ll meet again.” She was giving both him and herself false hope. “I’ll always be with you, okay?” She didn’t believe she would find a way out. “Goodbye, Terra.”

Then she let go and began falling. She didn’t take her eyes off him once as she fell, even when it became too dark for her to see him clearly. She wanted him to be the last thing she saw if she were to possibly die in the next few moments. She only wished she could’ve amended things between her, Terra, and Ven before their grand battle in the Keyblade Graveyard but she was resigned to contend with this. She’d be okay with taking that regret to her grave.

Tears rolled down her cheeks but she smiled through them. She saved him from a fate of wandering the dark realm alone. She hoped Terra would win out in his fight against Xehanort and reclaim his body as the image of him finally disappeared from her sight. Maybe, just maybe, they’d meet again in the next life.

She closed her eyes as she let the darkness overtake her. It was then she heard herself say those three little words that carried with them so much meaning. Whether she said them aloud or she only imagined she did, it didn’t matter. All she wanted was for those words to reach Terra’s heart, to let him know why she did what she did. That was her last thought before succumbing to the cold.

“I love you.”

#airi's writing #terraqua #aqua #terra #ventus #eraqus #fanfiction #kingdom hearts #canon divergence

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morningdawnknight · 10 months

Text

My Duel Academy Life is Wrong as I Expected Chapter 2 - We Opened the Map of Youth and, on a Ship without a Compass, Headed to Uncharted Waters

Fandom: My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, Yu-Gi-Oh!

Chapter Summary: Having passed the Duel Academy Admission Test, Hachiman Hikigaya heads to Duel Academy Island where he watches the school year’s inaugural Duel between Yukino Yukinoshita, the freshmen representative, and Meguri Shiromeguri, the student council president, and the subsequent aftermath of such a Duel.

AO3 Link

Excerpt:

“Thank you,” Yukino Yukinoshita, the supposed smartest and most talented student of our batch, concluded her speech. With icy blue eyes, stormy black hair, and skin like freshly fallen snow, there wasn’t a single girl more objectively beautiful than her even if she was lacking something. Well, she was the most objectively beautiful girl in Duel Academy. I was certain my own super cute little sister cleared her by light years.

Of course. This was Duel Academy.

She went off to one side, putting on her royal blue Obelisk Duel Disk and Duel Gazer, as a girl with shoulder-length brown hair in braids, with similar Duel gear, entered the stage.

Yukinoshita bowed her head, saying something.

The President said something back, smiling.

Yukinoshita twitched.

They both readied their Duel Disks as everyone put their Duel Gazers on.

“Advanced Duel!” they both shouted, as my Duel Gazer connected to their Duel and mics.

“The freshman always begins, Yukino!” the President said.

“Thank you, President Shiromeguri,” Yukinoshita said. “Draw Phase. Standby Phase. Main Phase 1. I’ll start by Normal Summoning Sky Striker Ace – Raye.”

A young blonde girl in a white school uniform appeared on her field.

“A Sky Striker Deck, huh?” the President said aloud. “That’s a Midrange Spell Deck.” She closed her eyes, crossed her arms, and tapped her feet. “Something, something… a low floor but a high ceiling, huh?”

Opening her eyes she exclaimed, “You really are Haruno’s little sister!”

I stared at the video feed of Yukinoshita, examining her. The way her eye twitched and her lips lightly pursed. The way she placed her hand on her chest as she lightly breathed.

“I’ll use Sky Striker Ace – Raye,” she continued, “to Link Summon Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku.”

“I set four cards face-down.”

Her cards had Neko Mane King sleeves, a clear intimidation tactic.

“End Phase,” Yukinoshita declared. “I use the Monster Effect of Sky Striker Ace – Shizuku to add Sky Striker Mobilize – Engage! to my hand.”

#yahari ore no seishun rabu come wa machigatteiru #yahari ore no seishun love comedy #yahari ore no seishun love come wa machigatteiru #yahari ore no seishun rabukome wa machigatteiru #oregairu #yugioh #yu-gi-oh #ygo #duel academy #duel academy au #fan fic #fan fiction #fanfic #ao3

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unohanadaydreams · 4 years

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In your personal opinion, out of all the cast who is the most likely to be a yandere? And, who would be the worst one?

Well, considering the abundance of large personalities with poor respect for boundaries in Bleach, we’ve got some nice choices tbh.

FEATURES: talk of yandere, unhealthy relationships, possessiveness, ect.

My vote for the worst, in terms of how extreme, unapologetic, and violent, would be:

Kenpachi Zaraki -

He’s obsessive in canon, chasing after what he wants with no regard for consequences or other people. If he’s after a fight, for example, the other person saying no doesn’t compute. He just starts attacking.

He is offered and accepts genuine kindness and closeness from ONE person--Yachiru, who is also a reflection of his own soul. His ONLY primer for love of ANY kind is a little girl who is fucking obsessed with him and wants only what he does (with the exception of candy). Kenpachi views fighting as the only way to garner respect, power, and security--Ikkaku sticking around first and foremost because of Kenpachi’s strength and Yumichika sticking around first and foremost for Ikkaku lend me to leave them off this list.

Also, think about where he grew up and the way he is likely to hoard and protect with deadly prejudice the person he loves, like he probably did with anything he valued growing up. He lived in a world where no one gave a shit to give him a NAME--he had to name himself--, where everyone fought over scraps, and where protecting yourself probably meant treating everyone else as the enemy until proven otherwise. I mean, he fights fellow captains NO problem--the structure of captains of the gotei 13 being allies means fucking zilch to him.

When this man switches from apathy to care for a person (more accurately, when he REALIZES his care for someone), the table flips and fucking shatters. The rules change. Kenpachi becomes possessive of your time and attention because love is clingy and needs constant protection from a world where the strong live and the weak get left to bleed in the streets. Especially after the loss of Yachiru, he’d feel extremely motivated to keep you in a position where you could not leave him. He loves you and therefore you are a part of him. And he can’t lose another part of him.

Kenpachi is like the perfect storm of earnest feelings, poor emotional maturity, blatant disregard for people at large, and proclivity to violence imo.

I think the fandom at large has a tendency to really sanitize how little fucks he gives regarding the boundaries of others. As well as how little he cares about other people.

He killed the only person he ever admired for the SOLE purpose of strength--to have the chance to get stronger--to fight and prove himself the strongest. Maybe he felt something about it, but he still DID it, and his attitude toward Unohana leading up to that point could lead one to believe he missed Yachiru the opponent in that moment of her death more than he could ever miss Unohana the person.

That said, if we look at Yachiru, he does not mistreat her. He allows her anything and everything at the disregard of others. Yachiru can do no wrong and is, at most, annoying to him some times. She can undermine his words and yell at him and terrorize his district and he does not care. He loves her, so she’s above reproach. Partly because he loves her and partly because he simply doesn’t care about his or her actions affecting others!!! Even Ikkaku doesn’t dare really discipline Yachiru for all the physical abuse she throws at him.

Obviously there would be differences between how he treats a child and how he treats a romantic interest, but the jist is: He would express his love how he knows and be violently possessive. All the yandere boxes are checked.

Other ones I think just SCREAM most likely?

Izuru Kira -

The slope he finds himself sliding down to ensure you won’t abandon him is awful slippery. It starts small, of course. Some person he doesn’t particularly like invites you to a party through him--that classic ‘hey tell Reader they should come by tonight! and you too, Izuru-kun!’ Well. ‘Should come’ isn’t a formal invitation is it?

He starts falling from there. Starts being a more subtle two faced scumbag than his captain previous. Starts being more ‘grave’ than ‘sullen’. Izuru blooms a love strong enough to brave any person or obstacle and wields shears sharp and ready for anyone foolish enough to touch it.

A lot of his actions are less physical violence and more social and emotional harm to others. He gets away with stabbing a small fry and challenging a peer to a duel and leaving them with one less arm here, but for the most part he’s more covert.

Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez -

He’s really similar to Kenpachi in violent and obsessive tendencies. I think the main differences are 1. he is more self aware emotionally 2. he is much more violent.

And I think what keeps me from considering Grimmjow as the Worst is that he would be initially pretty shitty to his romantic interest as opposed to Kenpachi. There would be an initial fight within himself that would cause him to be prickly and mean, to scare them off and spare himself potential heart ache.

Mashiro Kuna -

For fucks sake, she gets mad when Orihime talks to Hachi. She is VERY possessive. The fact that she just got left behind in Karakura town severely blows my mind (I mean, I’ll digress on that because the splitting up of the vizards was just!!!!!!!!!!), but she is clearly clingy of those she cares for in canon.

She would be one who might try to hide her violence and threatening under a thin veneer of ‘oops, haha, that silly Mashiro threw a tantrum and accidentally clawed some dude’s eyes out after he cat called reader!’ She really leans into being viewed as a vapid, silly woman who acts too young for her age. For the most part it works. Or she doesn’t get caught at all.

There’s a reason she has the longest manifestation of her mask and it’s because she and her hollow stand united in fucking people up when they both don’t get their way.

Momo Hinamori -

Another victim of betrayal, like Izuru. The difference is that Momo knows when she falls in love that if someone like Aizen were to ever do to you what he did to her, she wouldn’t be able to recover. Her post breakdown revelation was this: no one deserves first chances.

If someone in your division puts their hands on you, two weeks later there’s news that person was a horrible person who got thrown into the maggot’s nest for conspiracy to harm the gotei 13.

Momo’s smart like that. Never outwardly that violent. Never one to reach for her sword first. She thinks. She plans. She ruins the lives of anyone so dumb as to fuck with you.

Unlike Izuru, she never lets her partner in on the game. There’s no begging for you to understand she’s doing this for you--she never lets any one survive or feel safe enough to tattle on her--none of that.

Giselle Gewelle -

Probably the most transparently there. The most likely. The reigning ‘she was practically one in canon so what did you expect’.

She will keep you by her side forever and ever even if you need to be a zombie for that to happen.

#thirst post tower #its not technically but its also not technically a headcanon lmaoo #bleach imagines #yandere x reader #yandere #mars made it #kenpachi zaraki

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ironwoodatl01 · 3 years

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RWBY: Start to Finish -

Introduction - What is RWBY without the blessings of the twin gods of fantastic animation, and Halo existentialism? It is a project that should have only survived until the next big thing to distract its creators. But RWBY has taken to life the way Frankenstein’s Monster took it. Not very well.

RWBY can never escape the drama of its famed creators, which in any case gives the show a twist of lemon that zests up the story. Depending, of course, on which side of the fandom one asks. But that begs the question; how does RWBY stack up for someone who is not invested in the legend of its creation?

RWBY -

In a world of Humans, Monsters, and Magic there are four girls. Four well-armed, deadly little girls training to slay monsters known as ‘Grimm,’ to protect a civilization that is a ‘Remnant’ of something greater that was destroyed long ago.

Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long. Together they form the titular team ‘RWBY,’ and these are their adventures.

A punchy premise. Simple, yet solid enough to build a story upon. Complexity should only be a product of the story, not its selling point, and for the worse RWBY gets complex as the story progresses.

But for now, let’s start with Chapter 1.

Chapter 1; Ruby Rose

While a mysterious couple debates the merits of a Simple Soul and its effect on a ‘victory’ of some sort, we are introduced to Remnant. More specifically, a city in the wider world of Remnant. A very modern city with modern criminals, wearing sharp suits and wielding guns.

A gang of these sharply dressed ne’er do wells attempt to rob a store for its ‘Dust,’ but their crime spree is halted by the show’s Protagonist. A little girl in a red riding hood named Ruby Rose.

Shenanigans ensue, a rooftop chase leads to a rooftop duel, followed by a rooftop magic duel between a ‘Huntress’ and a Mysterious Female in a red dress. The fight ends with the Mysterious Female winning since she manages to escape.

Ruby Rose is a Huntress fangirl though, so she chalks it up as a lucky escape on the Mysterious Woman’s part, and tries to get the Huntress’s autograph.

Ruby gets interrogated instead. With cookies, compliments on her skills, a career talk, and an enrollment form into Beacon Academy. Where Ruby Rose gets a chance to follow in the footsteps of the very people she idolizes.

In the end, we learn that the criminal Ruby fought was Roman Torchwick, the Huntress Ruby first met was named Glynda Goodwitch, there was a civil rights thing for Faunus, and that Ruby could see Signal Academy from the airship she was riding to Beacon Academy.

Thus, the adventure begins.

Problems -

There are several problems from the start of this episode which could all be summarized with a general umbrella under which the show tries to hide from any criticism about its story pacing, and world-building. This singular, lampshade issue could incidentally be resolved with three words.

Keep. It. Simple.

RWBY’s first episode suffers from complexity. The bad kind of Complexity. Now, while both good and bad Complexity makes people think, the good kind of Complexity makes you think about the facts of life.

Bad Complexity makes you rethink your life’s choices.

There are a few points in this episode that illustrate my point on complexity, and I will talk a little about each below:

The Opening Narration -

The opening narration was wordy. Pretentiously so. But more importantly, it sets up a world of fantasy. A world that is a ‘Remnant’ of something that came before, a world where its inhabitants grapple with infinite darkness composed of fangs and claws using primal magic. Magic manifested in Dust, a material dug up from the earth of Remnant. The very flesh of the world aiding its inhabitants in the war against the darkness.

The narration sets up an adventure in a world that is highly fantastical. But the first scene of the episode involves men in modern suits, wielding modern weaponry. Followed by the minimal display of this vital material called Dust, and no sign of the darkness called Grimm.

Okie Dokie.

Huntresses -

A tiny girl in a red cloak pulls out a giant scythe and beats up grown men.

Roman; I sleep.

Older woman with a tiny stick.

Roman: wE gOT a HUnTrESS!

Granted, Glynda does pull off some impressive magic. But what identifies a Huntress from any other fighter with a giant scythe? A Cop pulls out a badge, wears a uniform, and identities himself as a Cop in action. How does Glynda identify herself as a Huntress to criminals like Roman?

The Faunus Rally -

Toward the end of the episode, a few minutes is dedicated to talking about the Faunus and their rally.

This is all I could tell you about them since nothing in the opening narration or the fight with Roman alludes to either the presence of Faunus or their place in the world of Remnant.

Taking each problem together -

Is nearly impossible because each point raised above is individually so distinct, there is no clear way to connect them into a coherent whole.

The opening narration sets up a high fantasy story about people fighting for their survival against vicious monsters.

The fight between Ruby and Roman, where a lone girl with powers battles modern criminals and stops robberies like a superhero comic.

Then there are the Faunus.

There are thus three distinct stories instead of a singular narrative focused around the girl named Ruby Rose, neither of which are properly developed. This is not surprising since there are only 12 or so minutes for the episode.

As a result, instead of an episode and an introduction to the story. I get three separate scenes written by different people. Solely united by the character of Ruby Rose, who is wholly inadequate for the task.

Ruby Rose -

A rose by any other name would be just as dull.

A character’s complexity is something that should not be decided upon at the start of the story. Complexity, and a character in general, develops over the course of a narrative and is fully grown at the end. At this point in the show, all we really need to know about Ruby Rose is her goal as it would be the main reason the audience would follow Ruby’s story. However, Ruby’s goal is not to be a Huntress.

Sure, Ruby says she wants to be a Huntress to help people. But nothing we were shown through the episode indicates that she wants to be a Huntress. Ruby Rose doesn’t do anything to become a Huntress. She fights Roman because of coincidence, her training has nothing to do with being a Huntsman since Huntsmen use Glyphs to fight. If Glynda was any indication. Ruby Rose may idolize the Huntsmen, but that doesn’t show passion toward being a Huntsman in the first place.

A contrast to Ruby would be Izuku from My Hero Academia. Izuku wants to be a hero, so he studies up on the pro heroes in his area. His education is focused on becoming a professional hero once he graduates Middle School. More importantly, Izuku's values and his heart is set on walking the path of a hero, and when given the chance to save his bully’s life? Izuku takes that chance and proves himself to have the heart of a hero.

Altogether, Ruby only becomes a Huntress by chance. While Deku was waiting for a chance to become a Hero. The latter is what makes a Protagonist’s desire and goal interesting for the audience.

Conclusion -

Ruby Rose, both the episode and the character, are kinda dull.

The first episode has set up three distinct story set-ups without formatting them into a coherent narrative. The Protagonist also fails to bring the episode’s three major plot elements together into an interesting story. This is especially egregious since a reasonable audience doesn’t need a very big hook to get them interested in a story. The attention span of the audience of ANY show is equivalent to a shoal of Mackerel. We just need a picture of a hook that says ‘Hook’, and we’d be flapping on the end of a line.

In conclusion, Ruby Rose the episode is confusing, conflicting, and saddled with a very tepid Protagonist who is so bland Gordon Ramsay is waiting in the wings to tear your walk-in apart.

Better shows were canceled for less.

#rwby spoilers #RWBY #RWDE #anti rwby #pro ironwood #writing #rwby review #reviews

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alectoperdita · 4 years

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Fictober - Day 25

prompt: “sometimes you can even see” fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters pairing: Jounouchi Katsuya/Kaiba Seto rating: teen warnings: none a/n: look, i’m not sure what i wrote for Kaiba’s birthday here. but it includes both established relationship and a dimension-hopping Kaiba from a parallel universe | Kaiba had always been his own worst enemy.

His feet slowly descended onto the floor. He sensed it was carpeted before the bright blue haze of the protective field generated by the Dimension Emulator cleared. The familiar sight of his office greeted him. Well, maybe not his specific office, given the shiny barrel of a handgun he was currently staring down.

"Who are you?" the man pointing the gun demanded with fury blazing in his narrowed, blue eyes. "What are you?"

Kaiba raised one confident hand, his arm adorned with the active Duel Disk and pushed the firearm aside. "That should be obvious. I'm you. From another dimension."

The other man slowly lowered his gun, but not his guard. In dead silence, they scrutinized each other at length.

Kaiba supposed this was definitive evidence of the many-world interpretation because he was staring at another version of himself. This world's Kaiba—Seto, he mentally amended to avoid confusion, was dressed in business formal, a slim tailored suit that accentuated his tall, lanky body. Seto's shoulders were not quite as broad as Kaiba's, and not all it was due to their difference in attire. The pistol that Seto wielded, though, was identical to the one Kaiba kept in a biometrically locked drawer at his own office desk. He must keep it for protection in the same way Kaiba did. But looking at Seto's face was like staring into a mirror: same sharp eyes, same long nose, same thin lips.

Same voice and paranoia too as he glared at Kaiba. "Why should I believe you?"

"Whether you believe me or not isn't my problem," sneered Kaiba.

They glared at each other at a standstill—neither willing to back down out of either sheer stubbornness or paranoia.

A cheerful ringtone that Kaiba didn't recognize shattered their awkward silence. Without releasing his gun, Seto fished his phone out of his jacket pocket and brought it to his ears. He barely glanced at the name on the screen before answering, "I'm busy."

But hearing whoever was on the other end of the line caused Seto's shoulders to relax a fraction. Kaiba would have missed it if he wasn't studying his other self so closely. "No, everything's fine... No, I'm not hiding anything. Just leave me for a few hours. I'll explain later... Don't come to the office under any circumstance. I mean it—"

Seto pulled his phone away and gaped at the screen. Evidently, the other person had hung up on him. Steeling his expression again, Seto returned his attention to Kaiba. "As you can see, the role of Kaiba Seto is already occupied in this dimension. Now leave."

"If I could, I would already be gone." Kaiba raised his arm to display his latest Duel Disk fitted with a portable Dimension Emulator. "I'm attempting to return home, not take a jaunt through the surrounding dimensional neighborhood. But something here must have thrown off its ability to lock onto the home beacon."

Unable to resist the tech, Seto stepped closer to examine the device on Kaiba's arm. "Where were you returning from?"

"Aaru." At Seto's confused expression, Kaiba clarified, "The afterlife."

Seto laughed. So that was what it sounded like when Kaiba mocked others. "The afterlife? Why the hell would you want to go there?"

That was where the first key difference between him and Seto became evident. Part of Kaiba was curious to uncover where they diverged. Surely, Seto had met Atem. Much of the office was arranged as it was in Kaiba's home dimension with shelves full of Duel Monsters curios and various Duel Disks models from over the years. There appeared to be significantly more photo frames on the shelves closest to the desk, but Kaiba stood too far away to make out any of their subjects.

Seto finally drew away and crossed the room to put away the gun. From behind his desk, he regarded Kaiba imperiously and barked, "Tell me how it works. The sooner we figure it out, the sooner you'll be gone."

Reluctantly, Kaiba gave a top-level overview of his prototype. If he was going to trust anyone with the secrets of his invention, it might as well be another version of himself. But the more he explained, the more it became apparent that Seto shared no great interest in the subject other than scientific curiosity. Kaiba quickly learned that there was no Quantum Cube, no Duel Links Solid Vision System, no Crystal Cloud Network, and no space station in this world.

Before he could dig into these baffling differences, the office door burst open with a bang.

"Alright, enough of this stupid moping shit!" exclaimed a voice that Kaiba hadn't heard in nearly a decade.

Seto swore as Kaiba spun to face the newcomer. Jounouchi Katsuya, grown into a man as Kaiba had never seen him, stood shellshocked in the doorway, jaws slackened as he gaped at the two men inside the office.

"What the hell is going on? Why are there two of you? Please tell me he's a hologram or something!" Jounouchi screeched and jabbed an accusing finger at Kaiba.

Briskly, Seto rounded his desk and crossed the room. He grabbed Jounouchi by the elbow and dragged him across the threshold before slamming the doors shut and locking them again. "I told you not to come up here," he hissed.

Jounouchi tore his incredulous gaze from Kaiba to meet Seto's gaze. "I thought you were just being weird about your birthday again. Didn't think you were having a meeting with your clone or whatever."

Kaiba glanced at the digital clock on Seto's desk, noting the date and time as 20:30 on October 25. It was indeed their birthday. He addressed the two other men with a sneer, "Your barking's as loud and obnoxious as ever, deadbeat. I assure you. I'm neither a hologram nor a clone."

Fists clenched, Jounouchi glared at him. "What the hell is going on?!"

Seto sighed, but curiously, he'd yet to release Jounouchi's arm. "He's supposedly the Kaiba Seto from another dimension."

"Shut up! You for fucking real?"

Seto leveled a flat and severe expression at the blond man, which seemed to finally convince him.

"Well, he's certainly got your bad attitude," Jounouchi grumbled unhappily.

Kaiba and Seto shared an equally disgruntled look.

-x-x-x-

For some reason that Kaiba couldn't fathom, Jounouchi hung around after that. Nor did he understand why Seto tolerated the man's presence. Granted, the deadbeat kept his mouth shut most of the time, seemingly casually lounging on the office couch while surfing the web on his smartphone. But Kaiba could tell that Jounouchi was as much on-guard as his counterpart. It felt like Kaiba had been flanked by suspicious parties from all angles.

After another hour of scrawling diagrams on printer paper and going so far as to open up Kaiba's prototype to make sure the inner circuitry hadn't fired on his hop over from Aaru, Seto excused himself to check something in the labs located in the building's sub-basement levels. He wasn't keen on leaving Kaiba in his office but was even less keen on inviting Kaiba into the labs.

"Watch him." Seto had ordered Jounouchi before he glided out of the office.

Jounouchi sighed and slid his phone back into his jean pockets. He rose from the couch and approached the desk to investigate all the drawings and schematics that the two Kaibas had penned.

Meanwhile, Kaiba put some distance between them and placed himself near the window to gaze out onto a wholly unfamiliar skyline. This was not the sprawling metropolis of his Domino, lacking the sleek high-rises and technologically-advanced infrastructure he'd singlehandedly financed in his hometown. This Domino was quaint with its suburban creep. It was positively backward in his eyes.

Jounouchi appeared beside him. His alien presence felt wrong and grated against Kaiba's nerves.

But Jounouchi was oblivious as ever when he spoke up, "It's gorgeous, ain't it? The night view gets me every time. Sometimes, you can even see—"

Kaiba whirled on the other man and loomed. "Why are you here?" This was one mystery he was determined to solve before he left this strange dimension.

Jounouchi met his eyes without fear. "At least I belong in this dimension, unlike someone here."

"That's debatable, deadbeat. You certainly don't belong here in this office, though. My office."

At the challenge, Jounouchi's hackles visibly rose. "Yeah, well, that shows how much you know. Shit, I forgot how much of an asshole you can be."

Kaiba wondered if Jounouchi was addressing him or Seto. He decided to press his advantage and stepped into Jounouchi's space. But instead of hitting Kaiba or pushing him away, Jounouchi froze and stared helplessly into his face with rounded eyes, enthralled by his presence in a way that Kaiba had never seen. His breath even audibly hitched.

In that instant, the pieces fell into place. Jounouchi had sought Seto out on his birthday of all days. He had called Seto's direct number, and Seto had answered in such a way that Kaiba had assumed he'd been talking to Mokuba. He had access to Seto's locked office and navigated it with a familiarity that could only come from frequent visits.

There was no way that any version of him would... Would he?

There was a way to confirm his suspicion.

Kaiba grabbed Jounouchi's shirt, yanked him forward, and swallowed his startled yelp by crushing their mouths together. Jounouchi's lips were soft, warm, and tasted like mint chapstick. For the briefest second, he started to lean into Kaiba's kiss on instinct before catching himself and violently shoving him away. Wide-eyed, Jounouchi stumbled several steps back and gaped at him. Kaiba responded with another sneer and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"You two are fucking each other," Kaiba declared.

Jounouchi pursed his lips unhappily at the description, exposing an opening so wide that it could be seen from miles away.

Kaiba laughed. Oh, this was rich. The him of this world was not only sleeping with the deadbeat, but the deadbeat appeared to have caught feelings. Well, he would do himself a favor and set the idiot straight. Crossing his arms over his chest, he regarded the other man with a superior smirk.

"He'll never return your feelings. You'll never be more than a third-rate nobody. But ]you must fuck better than you duel because I can't imagine why he'd put up with—" A right hook out of nowhere caught him by surprise, and he hit the window with such force that the glass rattled. Clasping a hand to his aching chin, he straightened and glared at Jounouchi. "How dare you—"

"Shaddup!" shouted Jounouchi. "You don't know what you're talking about. You're not him." Before Kaiba could argue, Jounouchi reached under his shirt collar and pulled out the thin chain tucked under the fabric. The platinum band hanging off the chain glinted in the light as he lifted it into the air. "As for Seto's feelings, I think I know better than you. We're engaged, fuckface."

Engaged. The word struck him like another physical blow across the cheek. "Impossible! You're lying!"

Jounouchi snorted. "All this tells me more about what kinda sorry asshole you are in your world. You've already pushed everyone away, haven't you? I noticed you aren't wearing the locket. Seto never takes that off. When was the last time you spoke to your Mokuba?" A note of pity had crept into his words by the end of his speech.

Kaiba was seized by rage and shock. How dare this nobody see through him so easily?

This was the tense scene to which Seto returned. In his arms, he carried a glowing device that reminded Kaiba of the homing beacon he'd built in his dimension. His eyes darkened when they landed on the bruise that'd begun to stain Kaiba's jaw. Jounouchi stormed across the room, but Seto stopped him before he could reach for the exit. "What happened?"

Without looking back at Kaiba, Jounouchi loudly declared, "I'm going home! And when you come home, it'd better be because this asshole's fucked off back to whatever hell he crawled outta." He ripped his arm out of Seto's grip and slammed the doors shut with an ear-splitting bang.

As Seto approached, Kaiba noticed the thin chain peeking out of his open collar. No doubt, another ring hung off Seto's necklace. Kaiba's blood boiled at the realization. Part of him wanted to confront his other self and demanded to know why and how'd he'd lost his mind. But he already sensed that would be a long argument that would satisfy neither of them. Instead, Kaiba focused on the device that Seto had returned with.

Thankfully, it didn't take long to confirm that Seto's device, a long-range communication prototype, operated on the same dimensional frequency as Kaiba's homing device. It wasn't an identical wavelength, but it was close enough that his Dimension Emulator had attuned itself to this dimension. Turning it off should allow Kaiba to get a lock on his home dimension.

As Kaiba reassembled his Duel Disk, Seto worked silently behind his desk. Any appetite Kaiba previously had to get to know this world's him had died. The knowledge of Seto's engagement sat sour deep in his guts. When he finally dared to look at the photos on the shelves, he caught a glimpse of a man who had been surrounded by family and friends. Images of Mokuba growing up and smiling stabbed like knives in his back.

This Kaiba—Seto was weak. He'd settled for people when he could have attained unimaginable power. Pathetic.

When he was finished, he donned the prototype again and rose to his feet. Seto copied him.

"It's done. Turn that thing off," he ordered.

Seto's hand lingered on the case and made no move to power down the device. "I should shoot you for touching my fiancé," he growled as he locked eyes with Kaiba. "Or maybe I should invert the frequency when you try to leave and hopefully scatter you to the dimensional void."

"Ah, yes, you checked the CCTV footage," Kaiba snickered. Seto's venom, though, he welcomed. Even if it came from a misguided source. At the very least, the vindictiveness proved they weren't as far from one another as he initially feared.

"I did. He's off-limits. He's mine, and you're not me."

"No, I'm not." For the first time, Kaiba wasn't 100% sure that was a good thing.

With a firm nod, Seto turned off the device. Kaiba's Duel Disk beeped. It had locked onto a different dimensional wavelength. Without a word of goodbye, Kaiba activated the Dimension Emulator and vanished in a shower of blue lights and particle effects.

Alone again, Seto collapsed into his chair and ran a hand through his bangs. What a mess the evening had turned into. He spared a glance at the prototype and made a mental note to shelve the project. He didn't want to turn it on again if it drew that doppelganger back to this dimension again. He didn't know if he could stop himself from shooting the bastard on sight the next time.

He retrieved his phone and dialed his fiancé. "Katsuya? He left. I'm on my way home now."

Check out other puppy/violetshipping ficlets I’m writing all #fictober20 long

#fictober20 #violetshipping #puppyshipping #kaijou #my fanfiction #my love-hate relationship with DSOD!Kaiba continues #Jou saying fuckface fills me with unfathomable joy #i'm as confused by this thing as you probably are #i wanted to write fluff or smut but the prompt just didn't lend itself to that #happy birthday you dragon nerd #sorry your other selves are such an ass on your birthday #yugioh

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29-pieces · 4 years

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Whumptober Day 12 - The Musketeers

Day 12: Broken Bone Fandom/setting: The Musketeers (BBC), toddler!dauphin era but King Louis is still around Read on AO3 Read on FF.net

~*~

Porthos wasn't a huge fan of babysitting duty, though it was vastly preferable to standing at attention in the hot sun for hours on end, waiting to make an impression on visiting dignitaries. At least he could still move about. Besides, it was the Queen. Porthos was only too happy to stand watch from across the lawn, conversing with his brothers with one eye on them and one on their precious charges as they enjoyed the fresh morning air.

"Aramis," d'Artagnan growled under his breath after asking the musketeer the same question twice, only to find him not listening.

Of course he wasn't listening, Porthos thought with a snort. With the Queen and the Dauphin only just across the lawn, how could Aramis have anything else on his mind?

When the marksman didn't respond, Porthos took it upon himself to give him a good kick.

"Ow!" Aramis gasped, whirling towards him with a glower. "What was that for?"

"Put yer eyes back in yer head," Porthos muttered from the side of his mouth, glancing around at the maidservants and other palace staff milling about. "Unless you want people to talk."

"And you don't want people to talk," d'Artagnan added helpfully. "Maybe a sparring match would bring you back to earth?"

Aramis huffed with a short roll of his eyes, but he did turn his attention back towards them. A crooked grin poked across his face. "Seems to me the last time we sparred, my good Gascon, you were sorely defeated."

"Well then," d'Artagnan replied, also grinning as he drew his sword, "it sounds like it's time for a rematch. Unless you're afraid."

Porthos chuckled and stepped back from the pair with his hands up to show he was going to leave it between the two of them. He glanced over his shoulder again at the Queen. The first clang of steel on steel from their swords had her jumping slightly in surprise, but it was a fond look she cast towards the dueling pair. Porthos shook his head. Honestly, she and Aramis were meant for each other—or would have been, if not for the inconvenient fact that she wasn't a woman, she was the Queen, and Louis would have all their heads.

His eyes dropped to little Louis next, toddling about with the same happy-go-lucky nature as his father. In spite of the heat and his boredom, Porthos found his face softening into a warm smile at the little tyke.

The smile vanished a second later at the first sound of crashing footsteps emerging from the bordering woods. Porthos barely had time to wonder what was happening before a pack of ruffians burst through the trees. The weapons they wielded spoke nothing but malice towards the Queen and Dauphin.

"Aramis!" Porthos bellowed, taking off at a full sprint towards Anne, who scooped Louis up in her arms and backed away with wide, frightened eyes.

There was no time to draw a weapon, not with the ugly fellow who'd broken off from the others raising a wicked looking cudgel in preparation to strike them both.

"Death to the monarchy!" the man shouted.

Everything slowed down. Somewhere behind him, Porthos heard Aramis yelling in desperation, but most of the attackers had veered towards the other musketeers to block them from coming to the Queen's aid. Porthos's eyes tracked the raised weapon, saw it start to arch down, saw Anne twist her body to more fully cover little Louis. He didn't stop to think. Raising an arm, the musketeer leaped in between the Queen and her attacker.

The crunch was so loud that Porthos could hear it over his own agonized shouts as the cudgel missed its intended target and struck Porthos's upraised arm instead. He felt the shatter of bone, heard the shrieking of the toddler prince, saw the shock and rage of the attacker. Porthos dropped his arm with a gasp, now useless to him. There was no way he could draw his schiavona, and the few short seconds he had before the attacker recovered from the deflected blow weren't enough for him to get to his pistols left-handed.

Instead, ignoring the throbs of pain shooting down his arm, Porthos pulled his left hand back into a fist and smashed it into the man's face. He was rewarded with another shout of both pain and surprise, though it wasn't enough to put the man down. Whoever these people were, Porthos thought with gritted teeth, they were determined and probably fanatical, and that was a bad combination.

Young Louis was still screaming behind him; Porthos considered shouting for Anne to take him and run for the palace, but if any of the others were able to evade Aramis and d'Artagnan in pursuit then she would be unprotected. Tightening his jaw, Porthos crouched slightly, trading glowers with the man intent on killing his Queen.

"Get out of the way," the attacker hissed.

Porthos barked a short laugh; like that was going to happen. "Attackin' a woman and a child," he snorted. "How brave. Try me on for size."

With a snarl, the man wielded the cudgel once more. Porthos watched it swing through the air, once again shooting his hand up to meet it. This time, he caught it before the attacker could put much weight into the blow. Yanking with all his might, Porthos tore the weapon free of the man's grip. Deftly, he flipped the cudgel to grasp it by the handle, then the musketeer swung it with all his considerable force.

Anne screamed as blood sprayed them both, but the attacker went down and would never be getting back up. Porthos skewered his dead body with a glare but spared only a second before spinning to plant himself between the royals and the rest of the mob. It seemed they had believed only one would be needed to dispatch the Queen and Louis; the others were focused on preventing the musketeers from coming to their aid, but d'Artagnan and Aramis were more than a match for them even outnumbered three to one. Before Porthos could even consider the choice between protecting the Queen or assisting to finish them off, Aramis was yanking his sword out of the last one and then sprinting towards them with utter fear in his eyes.

"Your Majesty!" he cried, stumbling to a halt in front of them as Porthos stepped aside to show him they were unhurt.

Forgetting, of course, that his bulk hadn't prevented all of the blood spray from reaching her. Aramis gasped.

"You're hurt?" he demanded, already reaching up to her cheek before Porthos could remind him that wasn't exactly proper.

Not that it mattered too much, he realized, looking around to see the rest of the courtiers and staff had already fled.

"I got 'im," Porthos assured his friend in a low voice, watching Aramis swallow back emotions that couldn't safely be expressed out loud. "Aramis... Aramis, they're alright."

"Thanks to my brave musketeers," Anne said, understandably shaky but as regal as ever. "Porthos saved our lives." She gave him a watery smile, twisting so that a still whimpering Louis could peek up at him from his mother's hip. "Say thank you."

Porthos smiled as much as he could at the muttered words from the toddler prince, but his arm was throbbing with increasing fervor as adrenaline drained away. When Aramis gratefully grasped his arm, Porthos couldn't stop from gasping aloud at the stabbing pain. Aramis's eyes widened, as did the Queen's.

"You've been wounded!" she protested, twisting to see who was nearby. "The physician- someone..."

"I'll go," d'Artagnan volunteered, extending a hand to the Queen and Dauphin. "Your Majesty, you should get back to the palace. I'll escort you."

Porthos watched as the three retreated swiftly, then let out a low whistle as he gazed out at the number of bodies littering the royal lawn. "Who were these-"

"Porthos."

Aramis's face was drawn, almost haunted, as he carefully took Porthos's good arm in his hand. "Thank you," he whispered hoarsely. "Thank you..."

Despite the pain of his broken arm, Porthos softened. "You know I'd protect 'em with my life," he said simply.

It was their duty, of course, as musketeers. But it was more than that, and they both knew it. Not only had Anne repeatedly earned the respect and loyalty of "her brave musketeers", but... it was Anne. And little Louis... Porthos could no more let anything happen to him than he could Aramis. He would die first, to protect the son of his best friend in all the world.

None of this could be said, though, not out loud. Aramis nodded nonetheless. He understood. He always did.

That was family for you.

#whumptober2020 #no.12 #broken bone #the musketeers #bbc musketeers #fanfiction #hurt porthos #protective porthos

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