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unexpectedreylo · 4 years

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My Fanfics: Behind The Scenes

This year I’ve cranked out two long-form Reylo fics, “Love Is Stronger Than Death” and the just-completed “The Lost Princess.” Generally I write short one-shots and while these longer fics aren’t quite novel-length, they are the longest stories I’ve written in over a decade.

I got the title for “Love Is Stronger Than Death” from a song by The The. It popped into my head in the aftermath of TROS, particularly the lines, “Here come the blue skies/Here comes springtime/When the rivers run high & the tears run dry/When everything that dies/Shall rise/LoveLoveLove is stronger than death.” The fic itself was a fix-it for the movie, specifically the way the film handled Ben Solo’s death. Like a lot of Reylos/Ben Solo fans, I felt the error of omitting Ben’s Force ghost opened the possibility of him being in the World Between Worlds. And like a lot of Reylos, I wrote my own spin on how this possibility could reunite Ben with Rey. In my case it was a mystical bond incapable of true separation, the fundamental basis of which was the powerful love between them (as well as the love for/from their unborn baby). It was kind of like an eternal marriage, forever bound and not even death could truly separate them. The trick was writing something metaphysical and high concept in a way readers could follow along.

I had a “road map” for where the story would end, and basic events in between. The rest I winged from chapter to chapter. The challenge was remembering what had happened before, whether I’d left any dangling threads, and bringing characters in and out of the story as necessary. But I figured the secret was to keep the story simple and don’t go off on tangents that drag on for several chapters or to worry about side plots that don’t matter. My only goal was reuniting Rey and Ben, so that’s where I focused. I’d decided to bring in the Guardians of the Whills to give Rey access to knowledge she wouldn’t have learned from the Jedi. Plus I liked the idea of different groups devoted to the Force working together.

One last note...I threw in a few references from Twin Peaks. To me, the World Between Worlds could be a bit like the Black/White Lodge and the room where Rey and Ben meet there was inspired by the Red Room on the show. The golden sphere that shows up was lifted from the eighth episode of “Twin Peaks: The Return” (2017) which features some of the greatest cinema ever. It’s 20 minutes explaining the origins of both the woodsmen and Laura Palmer without a single word of dialogue. Whenever George Lucas talked about pure cinema, this is what he was talking about. David Lynch is a genius.

“The Lost Princess” came about around the same time as “Love” did. One day in January 2020, I thought to myself “I can’t believe they made Rey the Star Wars version of a Romanov impostor.” Then I thought, “Aha!” I wrote out a “road map” and the first four chapters the winter of 2020 but I decided to hold off on posting the story until after “Love.” I did rewrites and additional chapters beginning around June. I was going to start posting “Lost” right after I finished posting “Love,” but lots of people were still reading “Love” so I held off until August. In the meantime I posted a short canonverse one-shot.

Half the fun of writing “Lost” was researching the Romanov family, the Russian community in London, and life in 1921. For example, for the Paris chapters I watched on YouTube a silent travelogue from that era. It gave me ideas for settings, like the colonnade folly where Ben proposes to Rey. Because I am not Orthodox, I had to read up on Russian Orthodox traditions. I even watched on YouTube an entire Russian Orthodox wedding ceremony. I left out the “betrothal” part of the ceremony, where they exchange rings, because I figured it would be more interesting to start the scene during the most unique part, the “crowning.”

I generally do not write alternate universes, even though they are very popular among Reylos. The challenge of writing an AU is keeping the characters true to their canon counterparts, otherwise you could be reading about anybody, not Rey and Ben and company. What was additionally challenging was making Rey an impostor who’s still sympathetic and writing Ben as mostly Ben, not so much as Kylo Ren. I figured Rey had to not know she was an impostor. That’s where Snoke came in. The next challenge was making Rey a victim of Snoke’s manipulations without making her seem weak (I hope I succeeded). Anna Anderson’s story was very helpful. Anderson was the most famous Anastasia impostor and until she was proven not to be a Romanov by DNA testing, there had been for decades a question as to whether she was the real thing. She’d turned up in an insane asylum in Germany in the early 1920s, suffering from amnesia, and claimed she was the princess. Some of Anastasia’s real extended family and associates believed--or wanted to believe--it was her. (This is where “Duchess Holdova” comes into the story.) Some people even coached Anderson on details about the Romanov family. There had been several movies, documentaries, t.v. shows, and even a Broadway show about Anastasia impostors who turned out to be the real thing. Given that all of the Romanovs were accounted for by 2007, I did not want to go that route. My goal was for Rey and Ben to end up together even though she was not Anastasia. So I had to think about how that would be possible.

I made Ben an orphan at the outset, his parents victims of the Russian revolution, because I thought bringing them into this would’ve dragged the down the story. I figured he went through a Kylo phase after the deaths of his parents and Rey gave him a new lease on life. As a side note: I originally thought of this being an “explicit” story but as it went along, the tone was kind of more of a gentle romance so the planned smut got toned down.

When I was writing “Love,” I wondered if I was spent too much time in libraries. In “Lost,” I wondered if I spent too much time talking about newspapers. But a century ago, that was the main way information was dispensed. Even radio was new technology in 1921. I remember they made a big deal out of that newfangled “wireless” on “Downton Abbey.” So there was a lot of talk about newspapers.

In any case, the thing I learned from writing “Lost” is that AUs should be like dreams where you encounter the familiar in different settings. Will there be more AUs in the future We shall see!

#reylo #reylo fan fiction #reylo fanfic #reylo fic

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nikkzwrites · 4 years

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(They Long to Be) Close to You | Dark Fix-It Fic Series Part 2 | Chapter 1

A/N: This fic is one that I started with my OC because honestly, I personally didn’t like how season 3 ended. So I am rewriting all of Dark with my OC Annalise Dahlheim. I hope you all like it. Some things will be expanded more on just for more depth to Dark that season 3 kinda skipped over so…. yeah. This is part two of the series! You can start the full series here!

CW: Canon Typical Triggers: Smoking, Sex, Language, Drugs, Drinking, Death, Violence.

Word Count: 5.7k

[Next Chapter]

If we knew how things would end where our journey would take us would we still make the same decisions? Or would we choose a different path? Could we escape our fate? Or would what is deep within us lead us to the same end, like an invisible hand? Does it matter which path we choose? If we end up facing ourselves again and again?

A strange man with a cleft lip walked into Sic Mundus’ office followed by a girl already known to us, yet somehow very different from how we saw her last. They stared up at the painting of ‘The Fallen of the Damned’. His lantern squeaking as it swayed with each step they took. They both looked around the office as if searching for something. When the man found the plan for the time machine. He carefully folded it into his pocket. Annalise, walked over seeing herself laying dead on one of the couches. The body looked so painstakingly cared for. It was as if she was supposed to be preserved for eternity. She reached over in a mystified horror and moved the hair from her face and plucked a petal of one of the roses stuck within the wound at her waist. The breathing girl stared at the dead girl in a lovely white dress with red roses sticking out of her. She crumpled the petal in her hand and turned to the man nodding. Her face dripping with tears. Two more people then emerged from the shadows into the room. A young boy and an old man who looked exactly like the man walked in with lanterns. They all looked at each other before setting the room ablaze. After setting the room on fire, they all surrounded the girl to give her a gentle embrace. Annalise watched as her soft innocent dead mirrored self in Adam’s world became engulfed into the hellish flickers.

That morning, Annalise ran down the steps of the Nielsen home. She was going to be late to being early if she didn’t hurry. That nightmare from last night certainly didn't help her. Who was that boy and why did Martha seem different? She shook her head. She really wanted to make it to school so that she could talk to her crush privately without the rest of the group there. It wasn’t like everyone, well besides maybe him, didn’t already know that she had an interest in the boy, but she wanted to be able to have an excuse to be alone with him. Right as she reached the bottom step, Ulrich scooped her up into his arms and swung her around.

“Where are you going in such a hurry,” Ulrich laughed, setting the girl back down. He smiled at the young girl that had grown to be like a daughter to him and Hannah. It was nice to sometimes pretend she was actually Martha and that his kids didn’t fully hate him. But, she was just Annalise, his children’s best friend. So at least she was somewhat of a connection and a reason to see them.

Annalise smiled and laughed as he swung her around. After having lost her own father, it was nice to have a surrogate one, even if he was the estranged father of your best friends. She smiled up at the man as he put her down, “To school. I’m going to be late if I don’t leave now.”

Ulrich looked down at his watch, “No. No, you won’t. School doesn’t start for nearly another hour.” He walked with her through the house.

Annalise nodded and shrugged, “Yeah, well… If I walk, that only makes me twenty minutes early and I…”

Ulrich smiled a knowing smile, “You wanted to meet someone, didn’t you?” He was never early like that back in the day unless he was going to meet Katharina and Annalise had that same lovestruck look on her face. Her hair and outfit basically screamed for someone to take notice of her.

“I did not,” Annalise blushed and hit his shoulder, “I just had some projects I wanted to prepare for so I wanted to go in early.”

Ulrich laughed and grabbed his keys, “So nothing to do with that rich boy you’ve been staring at?”

“His name’s Bartosz,” Annalise defended forgetting she was supposed to be in denial for a second then turned, “But no! It is not because of him. I have to drop off a few papers and start practicing my speeches.” She followed him to his car, “I will see you later.” She started to walk down the driveway.

Ulrich shook his head, “Jump in, I’ll drive you.” The man started to tease her once again, “We don’t have to continue talking about Bartosz if you don’t want to.”

Annalise playfully sneered at him then got into the car with him. She really couldn’t say no. She knew this was possibly the best route to take if she wanted to catch up. While they drove, she looked out into the woods.

Bartosz walked to school. He wanted to get there early to prepare for his speech for his class today. He was still a bit nervous about it. His paper was actually on the same type of work his father ran so why wouldn’t he have been nervous to present it. He stared down at his work as he walked until a car slowed next to him.

Annalise saw Bartosz and told Ulrich to stop. She gave the man a quick hug and told him that she would see him when he got home. Then she hopped out the vehicle. “Hey,” she greeted him with a wild smile. The girl was very excited that she caught up to him and didn’t actually pass him up.

“Hey,” Bartosz greeted. Seeing that it was just Anna, he went back down to his notecards.

Annalise pouted, “Bartosz.” She stood in front of him trying to get the boy’s attention. She laughed, “I guess I have to forgive you. I am a foreigner so my German can still be bad.”

Bartosz blushed. He bit his lip for a second. “Yeah.” he quickly looked up after realizing what he was agreeing with, “You’re German isn’t bad.” He shook his head trying to explain himself to the girl next to him.

Annalise smiled and laughed, “Oh now you’re going to pay attention to me? I have to insult myself for you to look up?”

Bartosz turned his face away, “It’s not like that, Anna.” He tried to keep his eyes from making eye contact with her or even looking at her outfit. His heart fluttered as the girl started to play with his scarf. Did she really have to wear something so enticing to school, he thought to himself, it was as if Anna was begging for him to make a move. He felt completely bewitched by her and her antics. He just wished he had the courage just to grab her and hold her in his arms. He let out a huff trying to feign annoyance.

“Is it not,” Annalise teased and leaned closer towards him. After getting a few centimeters from his face, she backed away giggling. She threw part of his scarf over his shoulder so that it was actually being used as a scarf. She wished that she knew how he felt so that way she could use it and the pompous jacket he always wore to pull him down and kiss him. Instead, though, they just walked to school while the girl teased him and tried to get his attention.

It wasn’t long after they were in school and put their things away in their lockers that their friends had arrived. By that point, Annalise had tossed on her headphones and was listening to music knowing that she was probably not going to be talked too much.

Martha looked at her foreign friend. She tapped her shoulder and waited for her friend to acknowledge her. “You didn’t walk with me this morning,” she complained, “where were you?” Normally they always went to school together, but lately, her best friend had been acting really weird.

Annalise shrugged, “I just walked to school with Bartosz. Right?” She lied. The girl really didn’t want to tell the truth that Ulrich had offered to drop her off that morning. She thought that he must really have missed his kids because he was pouring all of his paternal instincts into her. She really didn’t want to tell her friends about that though because she thought it would just bring up what they both had been suppressing for a long time. Annalise really didn’t want to deal with that this morning. So she looked towards her friend pleadingly asking for his help in the deception.

Bartosz nodded, “Yeah. Sorry about that.” He gave Martha a small chuckle and shrug before going back to his presentation cards.

Magnus laughed. He greeted Bartosz with their handshake and leaned over to tease so that only Bartosz could hear, “You two should just fuck already.” He pulled away to see his friend fumble his cards nearly dropping them to the ground while his face was completely red.

Martha looked at the boy and asked, “Have you seen Kilian?” Her heart slightly broke seeing Annalise so sweet to Bartosz. She loved being the closest person to Annalise. Yet since Bartosz got back from his leave of absence after his mother’s death, the girl’s attention was back on that boy. She couldn’t blame her too much. She did start dating Killian pretty recently too.

Bartosz shook his head, “Nope.” He focused back on his cards that were now terribly out of order because of Magnus’s comment. Annalise must have noticed as well because she started to help rearrange them back with him.

“Why all the effort,” Magnus turned to continue his conversation with Martha, “We all die in the end.”

Martha rolled her eyes, “Are you sure you’re not adopted?”

“Are you sure you don’t have a stick up your ass that needs surgical removal,” Magnus countered as the group walked up the stairs.

Kilian walked down the other flight of stairs and greeted Martha, “Hey Martha.”

“Kilian,” Martha greeted. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss while Magnus and Annalise started to text. She opened one eye slightly to peer at the other girl to see if she was going to have a reaction.

Awkwardly, Bartosz asked, “Is there any news about Erik?” He knew he still had lingering feelings for the girl making out with the boy in the hallway. He looked towards Annalise who was still texting and listening to music making her too busy to notice. He felt glad. He knew those feelings for Martha were all for not and he would hate to have Annalise give up just over the remnants of a soul mate who wasn’t supposed to be.

Kilian pulled away from his girlfriend and held her hand, “No.”

The group all started to walk again leaving Bartosz and Annalise in the back. Magnus spoke up, “It’s all pretty creepy.”

“Good morning,” Katharina’s rang through the halls, “We request all grades to gather in the gym for first-period assembly.”

The group stopped and huddled together. Magnus looked towards Kilian, “It’ll be about your brother.” He tried to warn his sister’s boyfriend just in case it was going to be a sore subject for him so that Kilian could just skip it if the boy wanted to.

“It’s been two weeks already,” Killian explained, “He’s never been away this long. He’d always send me a message whenever he couldn’t stand it at home anymore.” He sighed, “But this time, nothing.”

Everyone else awkwardly shifted. Martha leaned a bit towards Annalise while she and Bartosz leaned towards each other. Magnus shifted towards Bartosz but commented, “Let’s go. Otherwise, Mom will be angry.” He turned to leave with Killian and Martha. Annalise started to leave, but noticed that Bartosz was lagging behind again, so she waited for him in the hall. Bartosz turned to stare at Erik’s missing poster and silently wondered what happened to him.

“It’s all going to happen again,” Helge whispered to himself, “It will happen again.”

Peter looked on at his father mumbling to himself. When he heard the door open and close to reveal his wife, he leaned towards her and whispered, “It’s all he’s been saying since this morning.” He turned to Charlotte and asked, “How’d it go at the doctor’s?”

Charlotte shook her head, “Fine. Just a check up.” She looked to her concerned husband and said, “I have to go. I’m running late. I just forgot something.” She walked back out of the house.

Jonas jogged out from the cave that this new Martha had dropped him in. He trekked his way home to find it was not as it seemed. Instead, what he found was that the rest of the Nielsen’s lived there. He jogged up to his room to a very different sight. He looked at the taped pictures on the wall. One with Martha, Bartosz, and a boy Killian from his school. The other of Annalise and her making cute poses in different polaroids, one of which was them kissing each others’ cheeks. He shook his head in confusion. This was entirely strange. How could a place so similar be so different?

Ulrich gave a meeting about Erik’s disappearance to the police station. He made a face as he spoke. He was reminded of Mads as he tried his best to try to find any leads he could get his team to work.

Hannah was vacuuming in the house as Ulrich and Annalise were at work and school. She walked to Ulrich’s dirty hoodie from that morning and went to put it in the laundry. When she lifted it up, a blonde hair caught her eye. She lifted it up with her brow furrowed. The pregnant woman lifted up his jacket and sniffed it. She placed it down deciding what she needed to do was to investigate Annalise and Katharina about this matter.

“Well a black hole forms when a central region collapses in upon itself,” Bartosz anxiously explained to the class, “and it contains neutrons. Well, more like neutron matter. But not enough of it. So when the light of a star three times the mass of the sun goes out…then it explodes… No sorry. It implodes. And that is a black hole.”

Martha sat in class doodling without paying attention. She only looked up when a strange blond boy walked into her classroom. He was dirty, sweaty, and had a noose scarring around his neck.

“Can I help you,” The teacher asked the boy. When he didn’t respond he tried again, “Hello? Are you new?”

Jonas turned and told the teacher, “I’m Jonas.” The shock that he was in an entirely new world where no one knew him still lingered. His mind was not entirely clear enough to understand that in this realm, he did not exist.

The teacher reached for his planner, “Are you sure this is your class? I wasn’t notified of any new students. A signature is missing.”

Martha turned to Killian. Something ate at her about this boy. There was this feeling. As if she knew him from somewhere. She just couldn’t place where. There was something missing about him. Martha couldn’t figure any of it out.

Jonas just walked to the back of the class and sat down. Everything about this was strange. He could recognize everyone, but yet everything was so different… Almost opposite of how he remembered things.

With that, Bartosz continued his speech as the new strange boy stared at Martha, “So then we have a black hole. And it has a huge gravitational pull. Everything flying around the hole is drawn to it and somehow dragged inside.”

Suddenly, the door opened again. This time it revealed Annalise. Jonas’s breath got taken away. There she was, yet she seemed so different. Her outfit was… more outgoing… showy. Her lips looked as if they were gnawed at. Her hair was shorter and wilder. He watched as her eyes first met Bartosz’s causing them both to blush. Jonas’s heart started to sink. She bit her lip before the teacher interrupted their moment, “Ms. Dahlheim. To your seat please.” Annalise nodded and went to walk to her seat.

The world stopped when she spotted the boy. Her heart froze in place. Her breath refused to exhale or inhale. She was there. Locked in fear. There he was, in the flesh. Annalise turned back to the teacher, “Sorry. I’ve…” Her body wretched seeing him. The small breakfast she had with Martha right before going into class burned coming back into her throat. Her hands rushed to her mouth as she ran back outside.

Jonas stared down at his bloody hands. His heart raced. He shook his head as the memories of what happened just basically an hour ago, for him, rushed through him. He shook as he listened to Bartosz who had turned towards the teacher. The man’s voice replied, “After your presentation Mr Tiedemann.”

Bartosz started to rush through his talk as Martha turned to look at the boy who made Annalise turn and run like that, “Other stars, planets, and even light. The gravitational force is so strong that even light is pulled into it. Nothing can escape it’s inside. Basically no one knows what’s behind it/ Maybe nothing. Or maybe a new world. A world in which nothing is as it is in ours.” Jonas started to panic as he noticed Martha’s and Annalise’s reactions to him.

“All I’m asking is to review your employees’ shift schedules,” Charlotte told Aleksander, “Erik was last seen on the forest road. The schedules will allow us to check employee vehicles with the tire treads we found.

Aleksander asked her, “Do you have a court order?”

Charlotte raised her brow, yet shook her head, “This is a request. Not an order.”

Aleksander sighed and handed her his card, “I’ll have someone search them out.” He also made a note to himself to keep him reminded.

“How are you,” the woman asked.

Aleksander sighed and placed down his pen, “Holding up.”

“Okay then,” Charlotte said standing up. She then turned and commented, “I was wondering… Do you think Erik could have made his way onto the grounds? The caves are partly located under the nuclear power plant.”

Aleksander shook his head, “That’s impossible. The access point was sealed up years ago. No one can get in that way.”

Charlotte nodded and walked out of the man’s office as Aleksander turned to look at the pictures of his dead wife on his desk.

“A quick reminder that all afternoon activities after four o’clock are canceled due to the parents’ meeting,” Katharina’s voice echoed through the school from the intercom system. Hannah stood in the hallway listening to the woman before going to talk to her. Annalise had texted her about her throwing up and Hannah was actually worried now. Katharina’s voice continued, “Except theater, which will go on as planned, but vacate the auditorium an hour earlier. The school newspaper will meet in the youth cafe today under the supervision of Mr. Hopf.”

Hannah walked to Katharina’s office just as the blonde was walking out, “Katharina.”

Katharina held her folders in front of herself and asked defensively, “What are you doing here?”

“Annalise texted me. She’s sick,” She said, taking out her phone to show her that the teenager did text her about vomiting. When Katharina seemed to accept this answer, Hannah saw her opening to also tell her, “I also wanted to see you.”

Katharina nodded. Of course Hannah would have some alternative motive, the woman thought. Aloud, Katharina said, “Uh-huh.”

Hannah shrugged and told her, “I don’t know. I know you and Ulrich… Ulrich and the kids… I know they’re a part of him. And I want you to know I won’t stand in the way of that.”

“That’s very generous of you,” Katharina said snidely. She walked away upset trying to forget this happened.

Hannah asked Katharina, causing the woman to stop, “Did Ulrich stop at your place this morning? He wanted to bring something by.”

Katharina shook her head, “Bring by what? Couldn’t he have had Annalise bring it?”

“I don’t know,” Hannah admitted, shaking her head and looking down towards the ground, “Something for school. For the kids.”

Katharina started to smile at the irony of the situation. She turned back fully to face the woman, “No.” She was very pleased now. This was all that she needed to feel better. The woman that took her husband away as her own, was now being cheated on by that same man. It was so cathartic.

Hannah swallowed and nodded. She tried to cover everything up by saying, “Then maybe he forgot. Can you help me find my daughter please?”

The bell rang signalling to everyone that it was time to leave for their next class. Bartosz had already rushed off to try to find which bathroom Annalise had ran off to while she was sick. The rest of the class just shuffled trying to get ready to head out. Martha was still in a daze. She looked down at her phone and texted the other girl asking if she was alright and asking where she was. The teacher told the class, “Please don’t forget to turn in your presentations by next week. No exceptions!”

Jonas slowly approached Martha. He stared at her trying to figure out the words. Martha looked up at the boy confused. She shook her head at him and asked annoyed, “Something up?”

“You didn’t tell me why I’m here,” Jonas’s brow furrowed as he talked to her.

Martha shook her head, “Do we know each other?” She waited and turned to him, “Do you know Anna? Or rather should she know you?”

Jonas swallowed and said aloud without thinking, “You have no idea who I am.”

Martha stared at him. The space around them froze. She couldn’t quite understand anything that was going on, but there was something pulling her towards him. A feeling. A sense of knowing. Her phone beeped signalling a text from Annalise had just came through. Both of their eyes looked down at her phone. As she looked down to read it, Killian interrupted.

“You coming,” He asked the girl. He glared over towards Jonas’s direction.

Martha looked towards him and grabbed her raincoat. She walked towards him leaving her play behind. She followed Killian but kept looking back at Jonas.

Jonas stared at the book. He was just about to pick it up when he remembered Annalise and Martha’s blood still was evident on his hands. He rubbed them off on his pants and panicked.

“Jonas, right,” The teacher asked, walking up to the blond boy, “Is everything okay?”

Jonas walked over to the man with a realization and asked, “What day is today?”

The man shook his head, “November 4th.”

Jonas licked his lips in thought and asked, “What year?”

“2019,” The man replied. He looked at the strange boy, “I don’t understand…”

Jonas interrupted his comments by brushing past him and storming into the hallway. He was back on the day it all started, yet everything was so different. He walked down the steps and looked around the cleared out halls for something familiar to him. Anything.

Hannah, having found Annalise, walked ahead of the girl. She was ready to get out of there. She felt as if everyone was staring, judging her. She readjusted her purse as she walked. Her eyes turned to see the lone boy in the hall.

Annalise slowed down seeing the boy in the hall as well. Her heart raced again. She started to hyperventilate. Her head started to spin. She leaned against the lockers trying to steady herself. Her eyes closed trying to stop the whirling. All that flashed through her mind was that dream. The boy leaning over her sobbing trying to have her stay alive as her midsection bled all over them. Her blood painted over her hands and all over his face and hands. It's almost as if some of it was still left on his face.

“Are you sure everything is in working order,” Aleksander asked. He walked around the accelerator that the woman he was speaking to had talked him into installing. She had told him that even if the power plant needed to shut down, the particle accelerator and her research would still keep the town alive. His hands traced one of the machinery components.

Mary turned to him. She smiled gently. It lit up the room in a dusk like state. Her gentle voice danced through the air as she spoke, “Don’t you trust me?” She laughed and said, “I’ve been working with you for so long and now you want to be afraid? You silly man.” Mary shook her head. Her sunset-like smile parted to let out a giggle, “It’s working perfectly, Mr. Tiedemann. Now, is this really all you wanted to discuss with me?” Her dementor slowly changed to one of sly and knowingness. Everything was going right as planned. Soon, he would leave her alone once more and she would be able to go with Noah to grab who they needed to continue the cycle once more.

“Mom,” Jonas called to Hannah who was just trying to leave. His jaw shivered as he tried to hold in his tears.

Hannah turned to the boy, “Pardon?” She looked towards Annalise who seemed to be having a moment herself. She looked back at Jonas and noticed a tear rolling down his face, “Are you okay?” She walked a bit closer to him. Something about this boy made her want to help. He reminded him of someone, but she couldn’t place who or from where. “Can I help you,” She asked. Jonas shook his head and watched as Hannah turned to leave. She looked to Annalise and back at him, “May you tell her that I’ll be waiting outside for her? I need to get some fresh air.”

Jonas nodded and turned to see Annalise shaking against a locker. From what he could hear, the girl was mumbling to herself. He slowly walked over to her. He placed a hand against her cheek. He whispered to her, “Lise?” When she didn’t reply, he placed his lips against hers. She tasted like strawberry chapstick. That was new. He held her face in his quivering hands.

The taste of iron brought Annalise back out of her thoughts. She blinked. The girl shoved the blond away. “What the hell,” She yelled as tears ran down her face, “Who the fuck even are you?” She could just punch him yet she couldn’t. There was something stopping her. Something called to her to rush back to him and kiss him again, but the large space between them held them separated. It was a comfort to her, as if it knew that they needed Space’s large interruption. Yet, it angered her. It felt as if it was keeping them from their destiny, from exactly where she needed to be. Bewildered tears fell from her quizzical eyes.

“I’m Jonas,” He whispered to her. He tried to close the gap between them, but his feet refused to move with the rest of his body for a second. He pushed through it and rushed to her. He held onto her shoulders. Tears ran down his face, “Lise, please. I know you recognize me. Please tell me why I’m here.” His voice a raspy whisper as he quoted to her, “Just like me, they long to be close to you.” He rested his forehead on her shoulder as he cried, “You have to remember. Please tell me you love me and this is all some cruel joke. Please. I love you. Please just...” One of his hands brushed where her bullet wound once was.

“Love you,” She asked, “Love me?” She shook her head and told the boy, “I don’t even know you.” She ripped herself away from him and walked out of the school. Annalise, as she started to get away, started to run out the doors. She panted once out the doors and looked up at Hannah.

Upon hearing the doors burst open, Hannah stood up. Seeing Annalise’s face, she rushed to the teenager. “Anna,” She wrapped her arms around the girl, “Are you alright?” She kissed the girl’s forehead, “Come on. Let’s get out of here and grab some soda. Just don’t tell Ulrich I did this, okay?”

Annalise slowly nodded and walked, still embraced by the pregnant woman. She turned to look at the boy staring at her. She turned to Hannah and asked, “What were you going to name your little son again?”

“Jonas,” She smiled and shook her head, “Why? Are you just trying to ground yourself with things you already know?” Hannah pet the teenager’s head lovingly. She adored having this girl around. Annalise was the one person in town that Hannah felt was truly on her side and understood her.

Annalise nodded as they put more space between her and the other world’s Jonas, “Yeah. You can say that.” Part of her, though relieved, felt sad. Her eyes squinted. There was something he said that brought her to an unfamiliar feeling. She shook her head, why… those were lyrics… why did she know that?

Charlotte walked back into the police station. She walked with Ulrich into the file room. They walked into one of the more private parts of the room to talk. He slowly approached her with a devilish smile. Knowing that look on his face, Charlotte whispered to him, “We have to stop this.”

Ulrich slowly closed the gap between them and told her, “That’s not what you were saying this morning.” He slowly pressed his lips against hers. He put his hands on her hips and pulled her closer to him.

“Ulrich,” Charlotte whispered as she pulled away from him, “Not here.”

Woller burst into the room looking for his coworkers. He watched as Ulrich jumped away from Charlotte. He shook his head, “Oh… I’m sorry.”

“What is it,” Ulrich asked as Woller tried to close the door and leave.

The man opened the door once more and explained, “Oh… Uh… The tire treads. Forty-seven cars and two trucks… In Winden alone there are 21,000 registered vehicles.”

Ulrich nodded, “Yes. What do you want me to do with that?”

“I…” Woller stuttered, “No idea…”

Charlotte nodded, “I got the power plant shift schedules. We can run a check.” She walked away from Woller. As she walked out, she called to the man who had interrupted her and her boss asking for him to follow her.

Annalise kicked a few rocks outside in the garden. Hannah started to have some cramping so Annalise had helped her into a bath. The girl also figured it would be best to go outside for some air. She stared at her phone waiting for a response from Ulrich. Annalise shook her head and sighed. She should have known. She shoved her phone into her pocket again and went to sit on the deck he had made for Hannah and him to have for when the new baby was going to arrive. Getting quickly bored, Annalise took out her phone again as she lowered herself to lay down against the wood. She tried to text Martha. She completely had forgotten the other girl had rehearsal today and that it wasn’t cancelled for the parents meeting later that night.

“From then on,” Martha said in her monologue on the stage, “I knew that nothing changes.” Jonas watched as the girl wrapped red yarn around her arm as she spoke, “That all things remain. The spinning wheel turns. Round and round, in a circle.”

Annalise heard a strange noise near her. She sat up and looked towards the sound. There in the grass not too far from where the deck stopped was Martha, yet she was so different. The girl had much shorter hair, as if chopped in a haste. There was a scar beneath her eye. Seeing this, Annalise hurried up onto her feet and ran to the other girl. She grabbed the girl’s face and studied it, “Martha! What happened?” Annalise panted in fear. Her eyes looked deeply into the other girl’s eyes.

“One fate tied to the next,” Martha continued with her practice of the play across town, “A thread, red like blood, that connects all our deeds. One that cannot unravel the knots. But they can be severed.” She finally took notice of the boy from earlier sitting in on her practice. She tried to put him out of her mind for the moment and press on, “He severed ours with the sharpest blade. And yet…”

The short haired Martha intertwined her fingers with the other girl’s hair. Her face full of sorrow and just yearning. Once her hand was fully behind Annalise’s head and tangled within her hair, Martha pulled the girl’s lips against hers. She wrapped her other arm around Annalise’s waist to keep Annalise from pushing her away too quickly.

“Something remains behind that cannot be severed. An invisible bond.”

Annalise froze at first, but slowly started to melt into the kiss. She wrapped her arms around Martha’s neck and pulled herself closer. The girl deepened her kiss with the other whom she thought was her best friend. This wasn’t exactly unexpected. There was always some sort of chemistry there between them. This only confirmed her thoughts and feelings on knowing what was going on.

“On many a night, he tugs at it,” Martha continued, “And then I wake with a start knowing that nothing ceases to be. All that remains…”

The two girls slowly pulled apart. Annalise gasped for air. The short haired Martha started to huff as they pressed their foreheads together. They stayed like that for a while with their eyes closed. Their hearts beating in sync with each other’s. There was no space between them. Nothing could pull them apart from that moment. Martha looked into the other girl’s eyes. She pulled her hands away to start up the clockwork sphere, “Please come with me.”

#(they long to be) close to you fanfic #close to you fanfic #dark fanfic #dark netflix #dark (netflix)#dark (netflix) fanfiction #dark (netflix) fanfic #yesterday once more fanfic

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chelsfic · 4 years

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Chapter 3/18 - Safety - Bucky Barnes x OC Soulmate AU

Masterlist

A/N: I wrote this fic over the course of 2017-2018 and it was originally published on AO3. Recently, I decided to do some light revisions in order to fix inconsistencies in the POV, some awkward diction and typos. Please note–I’m aware that a lot of people love this fic just as it is. This is not a rewrite, I won’t be changing major plot points and I’m purposely leaving most of the writing alone. Just sprucing it up. Since I wrote this before I started posting fic to Tumblr, I decided to take the opportunity of posting the revised chapters here as I edit them. If you got to the end of this A/N: thank you!!!

Summary: Soulmate AU! Bucky/OFC. Our soulmarks appear at the moment of our soulmate’s birth. The Asset’s mark appears in the Spring of 1987. The words imprinted into the skin of his forearm. “Please! Don’t hurt me…”

Warnings: Kidnapping, Angst, Violence, Eventual happy ending

---

Sophie trudged through the door of her apartment feeling like her feet were made of lead. She was exhausted, confused, and emotionally wrung out. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be. When you meet your soulmate you’re supposed to fall into each other’s arms, laughing, crying with the relief of finally finding one another. This was just...awful. She’d met her soulmate and lost him all in the span of ten minutes. She could feel the spark, the stirring of their nascent soulbond fluttering in her chest. But without being near each other she knew the bond would fade and die.

She spent a day and a half as a “guest” of S.H.I.E.L.D. After her nurse discharged her from the medical ward she was shuffled promptly into a glorified interrogation chamber where she spent hours answering questions about the previous day’s incident. They wanted the exact words spoken between herself and the “subject” as well as the nitty gritty details of her life leading up to this point. She sat in an uncomfortable chair, in a dimly lit room for hours while agents regularly shuffled in and out, repeating the same questions over and over. After about an hour of this Sophie grew defensive and demanded to know why she was being treated like a criminal. By the end she gave up, replying to their queries in a dull monotone until they finally released her. She was packed into a nondescript sedan and given a ride back to her apartment building.

Before she left her interrogators she joked, “So...I’m not getting the job am I?”

Once she made it inside her apartment she used her last remaining strength to lock the door behind her. She staggered over to the living room couch, collapsing downward and pulling her fuzzy throw blanket over her body before promptly falling into a deep sleep.

---

The agent dispatched to watch the girl’s apartment stood in the hallway dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt. A tool box sat at his feet. He twisted a screwdriver through his fingers and waited, feigning interest in a broken light fixture whenever someone stepped out of the stairwell. He knelt to quietly rummage through the box, checking the ammo on the Glock he had stashed inside. He was crouched with his back to the wall and still the assassin got the jump on him. The Winter Soldier slid out of the stairwell soundlessly. He barely even disturbed the air of the hallway as he stalked toward the SHIELD agent. The scuffle that followed was almost totally quiet, like a fight scene in a silent movie. The end result was the agent’s unconscious body hastily stuffed into an unlocked supply closet.

The assassin turned and stalked toward the door of the woman’s apartment. She’d decorated it with a floral wreath, the cheery shades of orange and pink at odds with the soldier’s black tactical gear. He flexed the metal digits of his left hand around the door knob, releasing the lock with a jarring crack before stepping inside.

The apartment was small, made even tinier by the placement of bookshelves along the walls of the living room. The shelves were stuffed to overflowing with books, magazines and various knick knacks that had no other home. The soldier’s long dark hair nearly brushed the ceiling, his hulking form seeming to fill the small space. He tensed, his muscles rigid in anticipation as he evaluated the space for potential enemies and escape routes. In a matter of seconds he had mentally cataloged and cleared the space. He pushed further into the living room and regarded the sleeping form of the woman whose words were imprinted into his flesh.

She slept on her stomach, one arm and leg dangling off the side of the floral print couch, a purple blanket tucked haphazardly around her. This was his soulmate? This tiny, soft, weak thing who slept through a breaking and entering? How? Why? Even as he mentally sneered at being tied to such a woman, the Soldier couldn’t deny the pang in his chest as he looked down on her. Soulbond. The word came from the recesses of his brain--from a time before.

He was considering the likelihood that she might sleep through an extraction when he felt the sudden flare of recognition in his chest. She was waking up. She curled in her limbs and released a mammoth yawn before opening her eyes.

---

Sophie emitted an undignified squeak upon waking to find a six-foot-something assassin, decked in tactical gear, innumerable weapons and a murderous facial expression, standing in her living room. Her heart hammered a mile a minute even as the tiny tug in her belly reminded her that this dangerous man was--apparently--her soulmate.

She opened and closed her mouth a few times as her brain struggled with the concept of language. For a long moment she simply lay there, curled on her side, the fuzzy purple blanket clutched in her hands. She counted four different lethal weapons strapped to his body and that was just what was obvious to her untrained eyes. Anxiety churned in her stomach even as she felt the warmth of the soulbond blooming within her. She was in no way certain of his intentions.

Finally, she sat up and spoke, “Hi.”

Well...at least it was something...

The man--the Winter Soldier, if her interrogators could be believed--didn’t respond. Sophie’s nerves went into overdrive as she waited through his silence. She watched quicksilver thoughts flash across his face. Finally, he relaxed his stance a bit and actually sat down on the edge of the couch beside her. She sucked in a breath, almost overwhelmed by his physical presence. He was so...big. And stern.

“You’re going to come with me,” he said, his voice gravelly and pitched low with just an echo of an accent that she couldn’t place.

“Oh um…” she trailed off. Her eyes flicked beyond his face to take in her front door leaning awkwardly ajar, the door knob hanging askew. She was in so far over her head. “Actually, um, we should probably get to know each other, right? A few of my friends have already met their soulmates and they all say it can be awkward at first--”

He let out a scornful breath. She didn’t even know breath could be scornful! He seemed to be struggling with his words, like he wasn’t used to having to explain himself.

“You’re going to come with me,” he repeated before adding. “You’re...not safe here.”

With that he leaned forward to take hold of her, apparently considering the discussion over. Sophie tensed up and curled further into a ball. She could feel the confusion and aggravation rolling off of him--the bond already growing in just the few moments they’ve been near each other. She wondered if he could feel her fear.

Apparently, yes, because he startled back as if scorched by the air between them.

“I’m not safe here?” she echoed, skepticism clear in her voice. “You’re the one who broke down my door while I was sleeping!”

Again with the stern silence. Finally, “You’re...mine. They’ll try to take you away and keep you from me.”

Sophie actually shuddered at the thought. Even if she was still partly afraid of this man--even though they’d known each other so short a time--the thought of being kept apart made her stomach twist. She felt an inexplicable bloom of affection and thought, not for the last time, How weird are soulbonds?

“Who’s going to keep us apart? S.H.I.E.L.D?”

He nodded. He seemed about to speak again when his head suddenly cocked to the side. His eyes narrowed and he unclipped a pistol from the holster on his belt. “We have to go now.”

He dove forward and threw her over his shoulder. This was getting ridiculous.

Tagged

@watsonwise

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x oc #winter soldier #winter soldier x oc #james bucky barnes #james bucky barnes x oc #chelsfic #soulmate au #sebstan

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lolas-writings · 4 years

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Ahh I’m so sorry that happened! But here’s me, asking for your project details again lol

(Man I hate Tumblr a lot these days... Copy and paste here we go)

Oh buddy, you’re getting a real treat today. I’m putting this under a cut because it’ll be quite long. Enjoy!! All songs have a link included so you can listen to them. (Here’s a preview)

Ships Included:

DabiHawks

TodoDeku

ShinDeku

(Very possible TodoShinDeku)

Single Character Studies Included:

Dabi/Touya

Shouto

(Villain) Izuku

Ship Based Fics:

What A Time (Trilogy):

For this one, I won’t give too much detail because it’s already being written but I will give the general overview

A Hawks Betrayal and Dabi/Touya Rehabilitation concept. Also a mix between a ship based fic and a character study of Dabi

Part 1: [Already posted!! Read here if you’d like] Deals with the immediate aftermath of Hawks betraying the league and getting them all arrested. From Dabi’s POV (the entire trilogy is in Dabi’s POV) he begins to question his and Hawks’ relationship while Hawks is a mere ten feet away acting like they don’t even acknowledge each other’s existence. Maybe 65% angst due to present times and 35% fluff due to flashbacks

Part 2: A few months after Dabi began his rehabilitation. Discusses his therapy, goes into more detail about what exactly the rehabilitation program entails, and Dabi has a major breakdown due to an unexpected visit from Hawks. 100% angst, there is no happiness in this installment.

Part 3: About a year and a half after the league was arrested and Dabi Touya began his rehabilitation. He’s doing a lot better, both mentally and physically, and is slowly accepting his new life. Hawks in under major fire in the news, and Touya decides maybe it’s finally time to talk things out. I’m estimating about 25% angst and 75% fluff for this installment because I’m putting these boys through the wringer, they deserve to be soft. (Also, happy ending guaranteed)

Before You Go:

A childhood friends AU where Keigo and Touya are part of the same hero program. They become good friends and are practically inseparable until Touya has a training accident and is presumed dead (by accidental suicide).

I’ve actually already talked about this in much more detail in this post here so you can just read that. That post is also quite long

Rewrite the Stars:

I’m gonna call out @call1998 because I just woke up one day, sent her this song, and said that it’s such a DabiHawks song. And then we created a fantastic soulmate AU together so she helped co-create this idea <3

So, as I said, this is a soulmate AU, but DabiHawks are not each other’s soulmate.

Hawks met his soulmate back when they were kids. Merely 12 years old and under the commission’s care because they were both part of their hero program. Hawks was the one to notice first, getting excited when he met his soulmate and wanting to get to know him. But they only got that one day together, because the next day his soulmate was gone and never to be heard from again. The commission had him believe that his soulmate moved to America and entered a different specialized program, but Hawks finds out the truth when he’s around 20 years old and snooping around the commission. He finds old files that they wanted buried, and he learns the commission actually killed his soulmate because they saw them as weaknesses, and since Hawks was the “better specimen” he was allowed to live.

Dabi’s soulmate is an abuser who works for the commission. And since Dabi is Touya, of course, he grew up watching his mother be abused by her own soulmate and thought “oh hell no.” After Dabi meets his soulmate and realizes how abusive he is (not only to him but also the wife and kids his soulmate already has) Dabi tricks him into believing Dabi actually likes him. When he’s able to, he brings his soulmate back to the league and has him turned into a Nomu, because while he’s an abusive piece of shit, his quirk is really powerful and could be of use to the league.

Now, for the DabiHawks part. Their relationship is more of a friends with benefits ordeal, but of course they wind up falling in love eventually. They never mention their soulmates until one day, after a mission left them both tired, Hawks decides to confess. He’s sitting behind Dabi, applying a special salve to the fresh burns that Dabi can’t reach himself because he can’t bring himself to confess if he’s able to be seen. When his feelings are finally out in the open, the only thing Dabi asks is “What about your soulmate?” Hawks recognizes it’s not a flat out rejection so some of the tension in his shoulders dissipates, and he tells Dabi how they met when they were just kids and how cruel the commission is for killing him off, solely to groom the perfect hero.

And Dabi? He’s vulnerable and hesitant, because the man he was supposed to “end up with” was a garbage piece of human trash, so he’s reluctant. And self deprecating, because he doesn’t believe he deserves to be loved. So he tells Hawks about how he killed his soulmate, omitting the very important fact that his soulmate was abusive just like his father was to his mother. And he uses it to try and drive Hawks away. But the thing is, Hawks knows that Dabi is a critical thinker and wouldn’t act without reason, that all of his actions have a purpose. So after that night, he searches. They don’t touch again, either, their meetings reverting back to being strict information swaps, but it only drives Hawks to uncover the truth. And he finds it, and he even remembers who Dabi’s soulmate was because he was one of the people in charge of the program that Hawks grew up in. But he keeps it to himself, he has to make sense of things first.

Then one night comes, where Hawks just has to let Dabi know, let him know that he’s not the bad guy he’s trying to paint himself to be. But when Hawks reveals what he knows, Dabi just tries to deny everything, because he truly doesn’t want to talk about this. And then he snaps, yells at Hawks about how he witnessed the abuse his mother went through, how his father broke her in more ways than one, how he vowed to never allow someone to do the same to him. That he accepted the fact that he was meant to wind up alone after he killed his soulmate because the universe is a cruel place to once kind people.

Hawks is having none of that, though. He stops Dabi, tells him he doesn’t have to be alone anymore, that they’re not explicitly tied to “fate” anymore and can in fact rewrite their own story. It takes a lot of back and forth between them, but ultimately Hawks’ end goal is convincing Dabi that they, the two of them who no longer have a soulmate, are no longer tied to whatever fate was “chosen” for them. That they’re free to go their own route, carve out their own lives how they see fit. And eventually, Dabi gives in, because in truth they both know that they love each other, so why not give it a go?

More Hearts Than Mine/Like We Used To (duology):

Okay, this duology is centered around both Shindeku and Tododeku and in the end one of y’all is gonna hate me and I’m okay with that. As a multishipper, it is so hard for me to chose which ship gets tanked in the end I’m so sorry. ((But honestly, I high key have thought about ending it with all three of them being in a poly relationship and like, ya girl likes poly. It’ll most likely happen to be completely honest))

Also, quirkless AU!!

MHTM: This is the first half of the duology. In this half, it depicts the rise and eventual fall of Izuku’s initial relationship (either with Hitoshi or Shouto, it’s so far undecided). They get together, fall in love, and genuinely have a good relationship, but it all goes downhill when they eventually have to break up due to different life interests and Izuku’s boyfriend having to move away for a few years. They knew long distance wouldn’t work, so they decided to end the relationship, and this fic ends with the aftermath of their breakup and how not only Izuku, but also his mother and step father are hurt by the breakup.

LWUT: In the second half of this duology, this fic will be from the perspective of whichever boyfriend had to end things with Izuku. He returns from his travels a few years later, but he doesn’t tell Izuku just yet. Instead, he’s trying to deal with being back and constantly reminiscing what once was. One day, while getting coffee, he sees Izuku and his new boyfriend sitting at a corner booth and overall acting very in love. And it hurts, seeing Izuku with someone else, and he gets jealous. But as the fic continues, he eventually comes to terms with the fact that him and Izuku did fall in love, but at the wrong time and while they may not ever get a chance again, he just hopes Izuku is happy with his new boyfriend. (And then they meet again at that same coffee shop, and Izuku realizes his first love is back in town and invites him to sit with them. And he does, and it’s awkward, but when Izuku’s current boyfriend leaves to use the restroom, he tells Izuku that he’s glad he found someone. And this is only the beginning of the start of all three dating because while writing this out I’ve decided, yea, I like happy endings too much so they all three fall in love.)

Single Character Study Fics:

King for a Day (warning, kind of screamo):

Dabi/Touya character study.

He’s already a villain at this point, and this fic would be a character study of his feelings throughout his mental collapse, his rise as Dabi, and his thirst for revenge.

I actually don’t have as much for this idea compared to some of the other songs on here, but the basic outline is almost your standard “Touya died then became Dabi, his mental stability is compromised, and his primary goal is bringing down Endeavor”. This song is actually more of a “hey this fits a story that already exists” than using it to create one, that’s why I don’t have much on it.

I do, however, want to share my favorite line that I’ve matched with a scene. “Dying is a gift so close your eyes and rest in piece.” Dabi says this to Endeavor because he believes he deserves to live the rest of his life rotting away in prison, but he has to kill Endeavor to make sure he gets punished. Since Endeavor is rich and famous, he could probably get out of prison with minimal damage to his reputation and life, and what would be the point then? So Dabi believes he has to die.

Modern Loneliness:

Shouto character study.

The title alone I think suits Shouto fairly well, but if you listen to the song it’s about felling alone in a room full of people. About not knowing how to connect to others. The first line alone is very much in line with Shouto. “I’ve been thinking ‘bout my father lately, the person that he made me, the person I’ve become.” I don’t even need to tell you why that line fits so well.

So this fic would be centered around the time the UA students move into the dorms, because I feel that Shouto would still be wary and not understand how to truly connect with his classmates. In the end, eventually he’d come to find that it takes two to put in the effort a relationship requires, and though it’s new and scary, he’s willing to do it.

Let Me Be Myself:

Another Shouto character study.

Again, the title alone already very heavily aligns with Shouto’s character. And, as we all already know, Shouto hates when people compare him to his father or only acknowledge him as his father’s son, and this song is about being allowed to break free from past restraints in order to live your life how you see fit.

With Izuku’s help, Shouto is able to come to this realization sooner and grow the confidence needed to finally fight back and regain control of his own life.

Lovely:

Villain!Deku character study.

I’m not even gonna lie, I saw that multiple people have done animatics of this exact concept and it’s very intriguing to me. I’ve never written villain Izuku so I think it’d be interesting to explore that kind of mindset.

That being said, I just wrote down “villain Deku = lovely” in my phone’s notes and never actually plotted anything so I have nothing more to share on this

And that’s it so far!! Realistically, I probably won’t get around to all of these, and it would take me forever to actually make a dent in this, but I’m having a lot of fun with this project. Also, these don’t go into nearly as much depth as my notes, because I basically annotate these songs in order to create an outline so, this is like the lite version.

#dabihawks #shindeku #tododeku #todoshindeku #dabi is touya #dabi is a todoroki #todoroki touya #mha hotwings #takami keigo #shinsou hitoshi #shoto todoroki #todoroki shouto #midoriya izuku #lola writes

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breanime · 6 years

Text

Rewrite the Stars (Part One)

My pity-party turned into a short series and my first Caspian fic! This is based on the gorgeous song Rewrite the Stars from “The Greatest Showman” soundtrack--I am obsessed with this soundtrack, so you can blame this fic on @teacuplotus because she introduced me to that damn movie!

*gif not mine*

Caspian was staring at you again. You tried to ignore his stare, but it felt like his eyes were boring a hole in the back of your head. You kept your glance down and tried to concentrate on your task. Reepicheep had asked you to look over a few maps for the Dawn Treader’s next voyage, and as Caspian’s first mate and member of his kingsguard, of course you said you would. To be honest, you had some mixed feelings about this next journey; it was hard enough to keep your feelings for your king in check without being stuck on a boat with him.

You heard Caspian’s laugh behind you and felt yourself grow warm at the sound. It took everything in you not to turn around and watch him, watch the way his smile lit up his whole face, watch how he stood—regal and yet approachable—it was intoxicating. It was trouble. You had absolutely no business ogling the King—he was royalty, the Telmarine who saved Narnia, destined for greatness and you… You were the daughter of a lowly blacksmith who someone worked her way to becoming worth something. Your father had made sure you learned how to defend yourself as a child, and you had a knack for it, but no one would take a woman warrior seriously. You were no Queen Lucy, and you damn sure were nowhere near a Queen Susan—but Caspian had seen something in you. He had insisted on you getting a place on his kingsguard—not just in his army, but a part of his personal security. You were the only woman in your position, and Caspian had even allowed you to start training local women and girls who wanted to learn the art of the sword in your free time. He truly was a phenomenal man. He was meant to be with a princess, a queen, or some kind of heavenly creature—he was so far out of your reach, it was laughable. His fate and yours were tied together in that you would both do anything for Narnia and its people, but that was where the thread ended. The stars had been written, and his love was not a part of your story.

“Lady Y/N,” Caspian was directly behind you, and you had to keep yourself from jumping when you realized how close he was, “I was wondering if perhaps we could discuss the route for our journey?”

“Of course, my King,” you said, turning to face him. His hair was longer than it had been when you first met him shortly after he’d been crowned king. He had a beard now and walked with more confidence, spoke with more authority. Women fainted over him—literally—and he sat by their bedsides until they woke up just to make sure they were okay. This was the man you…had feelings for. You gathered up your thoughts and your maps. “Shall I fetch Reepicheep?”

“That won’t be necessary,” he smiled at the ground before looking back up at you, a nervous glint in his dark eyes, “Actually, I was hoping we could speak in my chambers, if that would be alright with you.”

“Sure,” you agreed.

Caspian held his arm out and you laughed. You took it and let him escort you out of the courtyard and back into the castle. He was surprisingly good at treating you like a soldier, a sailor, and a lady when most people couldn’t even cope with you being one of those things. He led you through several corridors, and you chatted about the weather and the look of the tides as you walked. Even though he was your king, Caspian had always been easy to talk to. You had been drawn to him from the moment you met, and you counted yourself lucky that he even spared time to speak to you. You were talking about your first voyage together—a rather length trip that involved pirates, murderous mermaids, and living rocks—when you entered the main sitting room. Several ladies were sitting about, reading and sewing and talking quietly. A few of them stood up to bow to Caspian (a thing you knew he wasn’t fond of), while others greeted him more naturally. You tensed when you saw a few glare over at you. A beautiful woman with white-blonde hair turned to an equally beautiful Telmarian girl and whispered in her ear. The Telmarian giggled, looking you up and down with distaste. A third woman, wearing a gorgeous gown that put your white shirt and leather pants to shame, scrunched up her nose when she saw your arm in Caspian’s. You pulled away from him and stepped back so that he could properly greet the ladies. He glanced back at you with a quizzical look on his face, but you stayed back.

“Well,” he said after saying hello to each girl, “if you’ll excuse us, Lady Y/N and I have matters to attend to.”

You didn’t miss the fake smiles and downright hateful looks the ladies sent you as Caspian took your arm again and led you away. He took you to his private library—one of your favorite places in the castle—and shut the door behind him. You heard the women’s giggles even as the wooden door closed.

“Now then,” Caspian smiled warmly at you, “would you like something to drink, Lady Y/N? Or I could get you something to eat, if you want.”

You sighed. “I wish you wouldn’t call me that, my King.”

His eyes widened. “Call you what?”

“Lady Y/N,” you busied yourself with spreading the maps on the large table in the center of the room, “I’m not a lady.”

“Of course you are,” he said, shaking his head, “But if you don’t want me to call you that in private…” His cheeks reddened. “…perhaps I can simply call you Y/N?”

You couldn’t keep the smile off your face. He called you just by your name all the time, especially when you were at sea, but the way he asked for your permission now was just so…sweet. “I would like that, my King.”

He smiled back. “Then you should call me Caspian,” he declared, “whenever you’d like.”

“Okay,” you licked your lips, “should we look over the possible routes…Caspian?”

His answering smile could have outshone the sun.

You and Caspian spent hours in the library pouring over the various routes and paths you could take. You stood shoulder-to-shoulder, heads pressed close as you debated the best way to go. Caspian insisted on making sure you ate and ordered food to be delivered straight to the library. You had a private dinner with the King, who made you laugh so hard you got tears in your eyes. It had always been easy to talk to Caspian, but this was different—it felt much more intimate and natural than your other encounters with him had been in the past. You had his complete attention; he hung on your every word as you told stories about your childhood and gave your opinion on the different choices you had for your voyage. He looked at you as if you were the most spectacular thing he had ever seen—even though he had been face to face with Aslan and the Kings and Queens of Old—and he spoke to you as if your words mattered, as if he needed to know your thoughts on things outside of your role in his kingsguard. It wasn’t until one of his advisors peeked his head (and horns) through the door that you realized it was well past midnight.

“I can’t believe it’s so late,” you said once the advisor had left, “We barely even got anything done!”

“I think we accomplished quite a bit,” he said easily, “We narrowed our choices down to three main courses.”

“We were supposed to pick one, Caspian,” you deadpanned. You put your hands on your hips. “Reepicheep is gonna have my head.”

Caspian laughed. “I’m sure he’ll be lenient. You are his favorite, after all.”

You scoffed. “That can’t be.”

“It’s true,” Caspian replied, “He was one of the first to vouch for you when you first joined the kingsguard.”

“Was he?” You smirked. “Who was the first?” You asked, thinking it must have been one of Reep’s cadets. He always took their opinions when making changes to the kingsguard.

Caspian looked over at you, a strange expression on his handsome face. His eyes were so soft, like he was looking at something precious, and he was smiling almost shyly at you. “Me,” he answered, “I was the first one. I…” He cleared his throat. “I wanted you from the first moment I saw you.”

Your eyes widened as you tried to process his words. He…He couldn’t mean… You just weren’t hearing him right.

He flexed his hands at his sides, a sign that meant he was nervous, you had learned. “I hope I’m not making you uncomfortable or overstepping…”

“No,” you shook your head, heart beating a mile a minute, “but I think I may be misunderstanding you…”

“Then let me be clear,” he took a step towards you, but stopped before he got too close, keeping his distance, “Y/N, I have been trying to think of the right way to tell you that I have feelings for you for months now… I think the world of you, and I would hate to make you feel uncomfortable, but… I’ve seen the way you look at me.” Your mouth dropped open, but he smiled as he went on. “I think, maybe… Maybe you might have feelings for me as well?” He looked at you hopefully.

You closed your mouth. This was…impossible. And improbable. “But you’re the King,” you said, voice soft.

He chuckled. “Yes, and I’m also a man. I’m not—I would never make demands of you as a King, not for this.” His eyes bore into yours. “So please don’t think of me as your king. Don’t give me an answer you’d think a king would want. I’m just Caspian.” He took a breath. “I’m always just Caspian when I’m with you.”

You shook your head. “But you’re not,” you said, heart breaking even as you spoke the words that were breaking his, “You’re the king, and I’m just a nobody. There’s no way—we could never—” you took a steadying breath “—It’s impossible. You’re meant to be with a noble woman, not some…It’s impossible.”

“No,” he took another step towards you, but stopped when he saw how quickly you backed away, “Y/N, it’s not impossible. No one can say what we get to be, it’s up to you, and it’s up to me.” He swallowed. “You say I’m meant to be with a noble woman, but Y/N… I think you were meant for me, and I was meant for you.”

You felt your eyes water, but you had to stay strong. Caspian was right—you had feelings for him, you loved him—which is why you had to protect him. He would be making a mistake if he chose you over the noble women who had a rightful claim to him. “We can’t,” you said, voice shaking, “It’s not in the stars.”

“The we’ll rewrite the stars,” he said, moving so that he was directly in front of you. His dark eyes were burning with determination. “Nothing can keep us apart, Y/N, not fate, not the stars—everyone can see that we’re meant to be together.”

Everyone? You shook your head again, feeling your hair hit your cheeks. “How can we rewrite the stars?” You asked. “We can’t just—”

“—Do you love me?” Caspian asked.

You froze. He was staring at you, eyes blazing, and all you wanted to do was run into his arms. You knew you should lie, deny your feelings, maybe even run off—but you couldn’t. You were rooted to the spot. You were standing completely still, but you felt dizzy with emotion. Caspian was waiting for your reply. He looked so earnest, so genuine… You took another breath, blinking back the tears. “Yes,” you whispered, “I love you.”

Caspian’s face broke out into a smile, and he engulfed you in his arms before you could stop him. You fit perfectly against him, as if you were two pieces of a puzzle that was only complete just now. He pulled back a bit, still holding you in his arms, and you felt like the most important creature in creation. Slowly, he put a large hand against your cheek. His touch warmed you to the bone, and you shut your eyes, reveling in the feeling. “I love you, too,” he whispered back.

Then he pressed his lips to yours in a soft, magical, world-shattering kiss. You kissed him back, pulling him as close as you could. In that moment, there was nothing else in the world but you two; no Narnia, no Dawn Treader, no nobility, no social obligations—just two people in love holding each other close. It was perfect.

It was heartbreaking.

You felt the first tear hit your cheek when you pulled back, and the smile that had been on Caspian’s face vanished when he saw that you were crying. “I love you,” you said, voice breaking, “but we could never be together.” You took a step back, feeling empty now that you were no longer pressed against him. “It…This isn’t easy for me, Caspian,” you tried to explain, “please don’t think that I don’t want to run to you—I do. I do so badly,” the tears were flowing freely now, “but there are mountains keeping us apart, doors we can’t walk through…”

“Y/N—”

“—I know,” you took another step away from him, putting a hand up to stop him from mobbing any closer, “that we’re able to be just Caspian, just Y/N when we’re together, but that’s not how things work. Once we go outside, you’re going to wake up and see that this,” you gestured between the two of you, “was hopeless after all.”

His wide eyes were watering, and it broke your heart. “Please don’t say that,” his voice was barely above a whisper.

You took in another shaky breath. You felt like you were made of glass and on the verge of breaking into a million pieces. “I love you, but I can’t have you. My—our hands are tied.”

“No,” he shook his head, “Y/N, I—we,” he flexed his hands, and you could see his chest heaving, “You’re my destiny. I know it. Please—”

“—I’m sorry,” you said, turning and running out of the library. You heard Caspian call your name, and you should have obeyed your King and stopped, but you had to get away. He didn’t follow you.

You ran out of the castle doors and into the garden, collapsing against the wall and sinking to your knees. No one could hear you cry, so you sobbed until your chest and head were aching. After you had run out of tears, you made your way back to your chambers, fell into bed, and cried some more until sleep finally brought you some small sense of relief.

*************************************************************************************

Please tell me what you think of this, the more feedback I get, the more I feel like updating, and you guys know that about me! Haha! (But I do want to know how my Caspian came off?) Oh, and let me know if you want to be added to my “everything taglist” or if you want to be tagged in this lil series. Thanks for reading, guys!

EVERYTHING TAGLIST: @banditthewriter @teacuplotus @elanor-of-imladris @ymariejp @drinix @something-tofightfor @whitewolfssilverfox

#caspian #narnia #caspian x reader #caspian imagine #narnia fic

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sawamura-daichis-thighs · 4 years

Note

16 & 18 for the fanfic asks!!!!!!

thank you Liv!!! 🥰💕

Behind the Scenes Fic Ask

16.) What is your most underrated fic?

Oof maybe take me away (anywhere with you)

but i may feel that way bc i know how much research went into it 😅 i was exploring a different style as well so i had mixed feelings at the time of posting but i recently reread it & i quite enjoyed the route i took with it!

18.) What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

so this is from a WIP but when i finished my hxh rewatch i had a lot of feelings about post CA-arc Gon, specifically that this poor traumatized kid needs a fcuking hug, man. so i decided to give him one. i imagined this particular scene while contemplating his character on my commute to work & as soon as i parked the car i was scrambling to jot it down in my notes app for later. i had to kind of build the fic around this scene bc it’s what came clearest to me & i’m still working on the ending, but overall it’s remained fairly unchanged through 3 rewrites lol so i’m proud of myself for capturing the scene in my head the way i wanted when it arrived 😊

“The trees grow sparse around him until they open up to a steep hill, a worn footpath leading directly to his weather-worn house at the top—and there, he sees the figure of Aunt Mito. She’s at the clothesline hanging the laundry, fading light glinting off her auburn hair in a copper reflection of the sunset. The sight is so ordinary, so achingly familiar, that Gon can’t help but call for her.

She turns immediately, almost before the words have left his mouth, as if on instinct. Even from here he can see the way her eyes widen in surprise before a warm smile breaks over her face the way the sun breaks through the clouds after rain. She drops the shirt she’s holding in favor of gathering her skirts to rush to meet him, his name a cry of joy on her lips.

And it’s that—the sound of his name, his name, in the sweet accent of his mother’s voice, and the sight of her now, how happy she clearly is to see him—that causes the dark, putrid void that he’s been desperately ignoring, shoving down down down, to bubble up like tar between his ribcage. The belt is back, constricting his throat now, choking him as his eyes burn and suddenly the meager distance still between them is too much. Gon tosses his rucksack to the side and sprints as fast as his legs can carry him until he’s crashing into her. Her arms come around him instantly, pulling him tight to her chest as he buries his face there and sobs.”

#kat answers #storybookprincess #sorry for the wait!! i had to wait until i was home to answer the second question since this WIP is on my laptop #my gosh that MH fic is almost 3 years old alskdja H O W

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aleinnilatibae · 5 years

Text

Trouble in Álfheima, ch 1

Okay so this is my extremely ambitious LazyTown/Benedikt Búálfur crossover fic that I am REALLY excited about, I don´t even have a summary yet but I wanted to put the first part up here for you guys to read bc...i just finished this rewrite and have no self control. I will put it up on AO3 very soon, hope you like it! @greykolla you were certainly a huge inspiration for starting this, and I especially hope you like it <3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The carpet was brown this time.

Brown, and close-cropped to the ground like a buzz cut.

Stephanie preferred longer carpet, sinking her fingers into the long strands and pushing them around like wind over a grassy plain.

But, if there was one thing she had learned in her four years of life so far, it was to make the best of changes, so she ran her hands over the new carpet in circles until her fingertips tingled pleasantly.

Taking a look around, the walls were bare, and most likely going to stay that way for the few months they would live there, to make the packing up easier later.

Wait.

Where was Daddy?

She whirled her head around, back and forth, looking in every corner of the one-room apartment, but he was nowhere to be found. Where was he? Daddy was supposed to be WITH her for the WHOLE DAY on the first day of moving in, where did he go?

Suddenly, the door busted open and Daddy came in from the outside, carrying a gigantic box. Stephanie breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, he was just unpacking more of their stuff! He set the box down by the windowsill and opened it up, pulling potted plant after potted plant out of it.

He looked up to see that Stephanie was looking at him, and he grinned at her. “Hey, my little Pixie,” he said, “Are you ready to ROCK?!”

“Yeeeaaaah!” she said in response, pumping her fist in the air.

“Good, because we got a biiiiig day ahead of us,” he said, spreading his arms out as wide as he could, and pointed out the window.

Out the window, in the night sky, were a million multicolored stars, and Stephanie’s vision zoomed into them, stars whizzing past her vision, and the mundane sounds of the apartment faded as she heard a voice calling her name, people yelling, people screaming, an evil LAUGH-

She awoke with a start and sat up abruptly in bed, heart pounding.

She took stock of the situation.

No brown carpet, no bare walls, only pink furniture and pink bedcovers.

Right. She was NOT in an apartment with her dad.

She was in her own room, in LazyTown, and she was ten years old, not four.

Plus, her dad never owned a big box of potted plants, that was silly.

Even so, the transition really disoriented her. The dream was so…real, right down to the feeling of the carpet under her fingertips, and it’s not every morning that you age six years just by waking up.

Plus…for just a split second, before she was fully awake, she thought she would see her dad when she opened her eyes.

But no.

He was still travelling the world with his job, and she was still in LazyTown without him.

Stephanie sighed, and stood up, trying to shake off the soul-crushing disappointment. Her life before Lazytown involved a lot of packing up her life into the same suitcase or two, moving from daycare to daycare and public school to public school, after school program to after school program, chaos littering the way…she definitely didn’t miss that part.

But she DID really miss her Daddy.

She got dressed, and slipped out the door. Maybe playing with her friends could make her feel better.

She had slept in a little bit late, the rest of the kids were already up and playing when she walked out the door—Trixie and Stingy playing a one-on-one game of basketball, Ziggy sitting on the bench eating candy, and Pixel was…doing some sort of test, both he and Sportacus tapping at their wrist computers.

Intrigued, Stephanie walked up to them.

“Did you get the route?” Sportacus was asking.

“Yep! Locked and loaded!” Pixel said excitedly.

Sportacus put down his goggles, and prepared himself to run.

“On your mark, get set, go!” Pixel yelled, pressing the button on his computer.

Sportacus shot off down the path, jumping and flipping as he went.

“Watcha up to, Pixel?” Stephanie asked.

“Oh, hi Stephanie! I’ve come up with an automatic flip counter!” Pixel said excitedly, “I’m testing its limits on Sportacus right now! Look, it attaches to the software that Sportacus already has, and it can count flips, jump ropes, and anything else numerical that has to do with exercise! That way, we never have to worry about losing count ever again!”

By the time he was done with that sentence, Sportacus was already racing back, doing his last few final flips before he landed, hands on hips, right where he started.

“What number did you get?” he asked, slightly out of breath.

Pixel pressed a few buttons, and gasped. “SEVENTY-FOUR?!”

“Yes!” Sportacus said, fist pumping, “That is what I counted too!”

“You did SEVENTY-FOUR flips just now?!” asked Stephanie, jaw hanging open.

“And Pixel counted them accurately!” Sportacus said, gesturing to the beaming boy, “That is a fantastic invention, you should feel very proud of the work that you have done!”

“Th-thanks, Sportacus,” Pixel said, looking up at him with wide eyes, “I’m gonna go put it in the computer right now! You know what they say about technology, it can always be improved!”

Sportacus chuckled as Pixel ran off, looking fondly after him.

That look suddenly reminded her of her dream, and she deflated again.

“What’s the matter, Stephanie? You look a little down,” asked Sportacus, a note of concern in his voice.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” she assured.

“Stephanie, you know you can ALWAYS talk to me, right?” he said, nudging her with his elbow.

She DID know that. And what harm would it be to talk about it? She had come out here in the first place to try to make herself feel better about it, and here Sportacus was, offering to do just that.

Stephanie fiddled with her bracelet. “Sportacus…you aren’t from around here, right?”

Sportacus chuckled.

“Yes, I suppose you could say that. What was your first clue?” he asked, exaggerating his accent for comedic effect.

She giggled, but sobered quickly as she continued her previous line of thought.

“Sportacus…I love it here in Lazytown,” she began, “It’s the only place that I have ever lived in for two years in a row, and it’s the first place that I have ever felt at home.”

“It is a great place,” Sportacus agreed, nodding.

“But…my dad and I, we never settled down in one place for very long. No place ever felt like home, but having HIM always did,” she said, tears coming unbidden to her eyes, “And I know he sent me here because-because his job made it…made it really hard for him to take care of me, and I could be h-happier,” she swallowed hard.

Sportacus put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Go on.”

“What…what do you, um, do when you’re homesick for f-family?” she asked, on the verge of tears.

Sportacus tugged her in for an embrace as the tears spilled over, patting her comfortingly on the back as she sobbed into his chest.

“It is…sad, when you must go somewhere without the family that raised you,” Sportacus said carefully as she continued to hold onto him, “But, if you keep your heart open, I swear that you can find home, and family, anywhere. Then, wherever you go? You will NEVER be alone.”

Stephanie pulled back from him, lip still wobbly.

“Let me put it this way,” Sportacus said, “Is there anyone here in LazyTown that makes you feel welcome, and safe? Is there anyone that you would do anything to help, and that you could count on their help in return?”

Stephanie sniffed. Everyone in this town, in one way or another, was exactly how Sportacus described. Her uncle who always took care of her, Bessie who answered her every social question no matter how stupid it sounded, her friends who always made her feel included in LazyTown since the first day of that fateful summer, even Robbie Rotten, he made sure that none of their days were ever boring.

And here was Sportacus, helping her right now.

“Thanks Sportacus,” she said, wiping her eyes, “Sorry for crying.”

“Oh, no no no NO, Stephanie, it is very important to your health that you express your emotions!” Sportacus encouraged, clasping her hand in both of his, “And, I understand completely. I have not seen my family in many, many years.”

Stephanie was taken aback. “Really?”

Sportacus nodded. “Being without them? Makes me feel very sad, at times. But when I do feel sad, I think about all of the family that I have here, in LazyTown,” he smiled. “And I count myself lucky that I have so MANY family members, in different parts of the world.”

“I guess…I guess we are the lucky ones, having such a big family all over the place,” Stephanie grinned.

“Yeah,” Sportacus said, and they high fived.

“Remember, Stephanie, I, your uncle, and even Bessie are all here if you ever need to talk to somebody. That is what family is for!” he ruffled her hair.

“Yeah, I know that,” Stephanie said, flattening her hair back out.

Suddenly, Sportacus’ crystal went off.

“Someone’s in TROUBLE!” Sportacus gasped, stepping away from Stephanie.

“I will see you later, Stephanie,” he said, and did his signature move. “Be good!” he called, and he raced off, flipping as he went.

Stephanie waved after him as he went, glad she came outside today.

She DID feel better.

“Hey, Stephanie,” said Pixel, walking back over, “Check it out.”

He pointed to his wrist computer’s screen, where a little icon version of Sportacus was rushing across a digitized map of LazyTown, picking up speed as his airship did in real life.

“Nyoooom,” Pixel said, giggling.

AS Sportacus’ airship continued north, Stephanie was struck with a horrible thought.

“Oh no, he’s heading towards the ocean! I hope it’s not Uncle Milford and Bessie on their beach vacation!”

Pixel shrugged. “Even if it was them, we know that Sportacus will take care of it, in a snap!”

It didn’t stop Stephanie from worrying, however, as Sportacus headed towards where she knew the ocean to be.

“Look, his ship is turning! See, it’s not them,” Pixel said, pointing out at the airship making a left turn.

Stephanie exhaled. Of course, Sportacus sometimes went to OTHER towns, saving people that they didn’t even know.

“Sportacus has probably saved somebody from EVERY single town in the country,” Stephanie mused aloud.

“But we are his FAVORITE town!” exclaimed Ziggy, “That’s why he keeps coming back to us!”

“You know what, Ziggy? I think you are right,” said Stephanie, smiling, as she watched the airship turn to a tiny speck in the distance.

Morning turned to afternoon, and afternoon turned to night, and night turned again to morning…and Sportacus was still not back.

That particular morning, Trixie and Stephanie were playing a little one-on-one basketball, while Ziggy, Pixel, and Stingy drew with chalk on the blacktop.

“I can’t believe that Sportacus is STILL gone,” said Trixie, dribbling the basketball and passing it to Stephanie.

“I know,” Stephanie said, looking up at the sky, “That emergency must have been somewhere pretty far away.”

While she was looking, a tiny moving speck caught her eye.

A BLUE speck.

“Hey, is that Sportacus?” she asked, squinting up at it.

Her question got the interest of the boys as well, and they all crowded around to look up at it.

“No, it’s a paper airplane!” Trixie said, as the speck continued to glide downward.

Sure enough, a paper airplane soared through the air above them.

A BLUE paper airplane.

Stephanie dropped the basketball on the ground.

“FOLLOW THAT PLANE!” she yelled, pointing out at it, and they all raced after it.

As it dipped lower and lower, it seemed to move faster and faster. Stephanie ran after it with all of her might, and she was catching up!

“It’s…too…high!” Stephanie panted, as they ran underneath it.

“You gotta…JUMP, Pinkie!” Trixie gasped, holding her side.

Stephanie steeled herself, and prepared to jump as high as she had ever jumped in her entire LIFE-

When a butterfly net swung itself up, caught the paper airplane, and swung back down to the ground.

Stephanie skidded to a stop, seeing a smug Stingy holding the pole of the net.

“Stingy,” Stephanie said, breathing hard, “Why…do YOU have…Robbie’s butterfly net?”

“Oh! It’s not MYYYY fault that he leaves it just…LAYING AROUND for anyone to find!!” he protested in a huff. “All that matters is…we got the letter!”

The kids celebrated with a HOORAY!

Stephanie carefully unfolded the paper airplane, and they peered at the contents inside.

“Ugh, why does Sportacus always have the WORST handwriting?!” Stingy complained. “I don’t even know if those are WORDS!”

“Don’t worry, I can read it,” Stephanie said, waving a hand at him and squinting at the near-illegible scribblings that seemed to be even WORSE than usual.

“This letter is for Robbie Rotten!” Stephanie said in surprise.

“What does it say?” Trixie asked.

“’Robbie,’” Stephanie read aloud, “’I have reason to believe…that there is something very dangerous going on in….alf…heima?’”

“Alf-what?” chorused the other four kids.

“I don’t know, look, the A has a little accent,” She said, showing the weird word “Álfheima“ to the others.

“Ohh, go on, go on, what does the rest say??” asked Stingy, still clutching the butterfly net’s pole with a death grip.

“’If this message reaches you, then that means that…’” Stephanie gasped, heart sinking into her stomach, “’I am in danger as well!’”

A collective gasp came from her audience.

“How could SPORTACUS be in danger, huh?? Is-is that even ALLOWED??” asked Ziggy, genuine worry in his voice.

“Wait, guys, there’s more-'Please, don’t tell the kids. I don’t want them to worry. -Sportacus,’” Stephanie finished, heavy finality in her voice.

“Well, it’s too late for THAT,” Stingy remarked bitterly.

“What…what should we do?” asked Ziggy.

Stephanie put the message on the bench and thought back to what Sportacus had said yesterday.

Is there anyone that you would do anything to help, and that you could count on their help in return?

“We have to go save him,” Stephanie said decisively.

“What?”

“We can’t just…HAVE this information, and then do nothing with it!” she said, voice cracking from emotion, “Sportacus ALWAYS helps us, Sportacus always SAVES us from dangerous situations, and now HE needs help! HE needs to be saved! Sportacus is our FAMILY, and we can’t just leave our family in danger!” Stephanie declared.

“Yeah!” the other kids chorused.

Stephanie felt a fire coursing through her veins.

“Now lets go save Sportacus!” she threw her fist up in the air.

The kids all cheered their agreement.

“Pixel!” Stephanie exclaimed as a through struck her, “can you find out where Sportacus is, right now, with your computer?”

“Yeah!” he said, pressing a few buttons, “Just have to find Sportacus’ last known coordinates…”

They all gathered around him with bated breath as he tracked Sportacus’ movement over the last day.

“Got it! His last known location was…” he watched as the display zoomed in on the map, “here! In the middle of Iceland!”

“ICE-land?”

“Wow, that WAS far away,” Trixie said under her breath.

“Great!” Stephanie said, “Pixel, lock onto those coordinates and find us a route!”

“On it!”

If Sportacus was in another COUNTRY, Stephanie reasoned, they would have to find something that would get them there FAST…

She whirled around and looked at Trixie next.

“Trixie! Go get…the rocket!”

“Yes ma’am!” she saluted, and ran off.

“Ziggy! Take that candy out of your mouth!” Stephanie ordered, “It’s time for business!”

“Right!” he exclaimed, furrowing his brow and tossing the taffy over his shoulder.

“Stingy! Go get our rocket suits!”

He balked for a moment at being told what to do.

“Fiiine, if it will save SPORTACUS,” he said, grumbling. “But what are YOU going to do?”

“Me? I’m gonna…prepare for the WORST,” she said, narrowing her eyes, and dashing over to the nearest apple tree.

There was untold danger waiting for them in this mysterious place called Álfheima.

They were gonna need a LOT of sportscandy.

#lazytown #benedikt búálfur #im so tired but i just...wanted this out there

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seyaryminamoto · 7 years

Note

How far do you plan ahead when writing Gladiator?

Well, it’s been a wild, non-linear ride with Gladiator. Other things have been much easier to plan, but plotting Gladiator is a process that never seems to end.

The first thing I planned, solidly, was the conclusion of Part 2 (I split the story in three parts in my head: Part 1 ends at chapter 101, Part 2 is where we are now, Part 3 will be… the utterly insane resolution of everything). It must have been on the third day of pondering ideas for the fic that I came up with that, and while a lot of my plotting has changed, that particular idea for Part 2 hasn’t. I had no clue what the lead-up would be, or what would happen later, I hadn’t worked out all the details, but I’ve always known we’re headed towards that major peak in the story, and the process has mostly been about building my way towards it.

Part 1′s conclusion was also something I planned relatively early, at the behest of my beta asking when would Sokka and Azula seal the deal and how xD I was unsure at first, but eventually I realized what was the right way to make it happen. I needed it to happen at a culminant moment, something big, and the idea of it happening as the aftermath of a fight with Toph also was what led me to realize Toph was the perfect rival gladiator for Sokka, and thus, I started planning Toph’s involvement in the story, partnership with Iroh, and so on.

So, one thing led to another, slowly I started drawing out ideas on what I needed to do. The people close to the development process asked me questions about certain points of the story, or character developments, or even suggested plot ideas in case I was stuck someplace, and that helped me get the whole story into shape.

I think it took… well, I don’t know, months or even a whole year before I knew where the story was headed for real. One big plan I had for a while was for Ozai to take Sokka as his own gladiator eventually, choosing to take him away from Azula as to punish her (for the obvious, yes…). Then I concocted that Azula could end up sponsoring Katara as the two of them fought to get Sokka back, while Aang and Zuko worked to defeat/kill Ozai…

… I say all this freely now because practically every bit of this idea has been discarded in favor of something that makes waaaay more sense than that xD

I pondered so many things, opened doors and closed them, took steps in a direction and then backed down. I confess I even considered the Zutara route at the start, very briefly, as Aang would have been a 12-year-old while everyone else was older. That would have made a Kataang outcome kind-of extremely awkward so I pondered the obvious alternate possibility.

But when a certain Zuki whisperer offered me a few ideas on how to make Zuki happen in the story, I chose a completely different direction for Zuko’s development, and honest to gods I’m thrilled I did. Without my awareness, Zuko’s story ended up serving as a major subplot that will eventually play a great part in the main plot, once his story collides with that of our main characters again. And when I think about it, I couldn’t have done this if I had chosen a different direction.

In all seriousness, I think it must have taken me about a year to finally make up my mind about where we were headed for good, in regards of Part 3. I had to really ponder it, and not take it lightly. I couldn’t just go with whatever felt right, because in the end this story isn’t quite a melodrama (which is what that outline with Ozai sponsoring Sokka would have been, major melodrama, this ain’t a soap opera!). The more I built it, the more loose ends I would have to tie. I opened a ton of possibilities from the get-go, and I plotted things without much connection at the very start, knowing that whatever couldn’t get tied in would have to be discarded. But this wasn’t just a capture story, star-crossed lovers, all we know and love. Gladiator was shaping up into an epic, and it didn’t deserve to be plotted as anything other than that.

So, my crazy aspirations and subconscious decisions brought me to make this story more than just the ship tale I originally had been thinking of. Because why lie? I came to this fandom to gush about my ship, first and foremost. Back when I was still writing The Reason I saw the big stories on FF.net, the crazy chapter counts, the length, the review counts, and thought to myself “That’s a lot of dedication, I wish I had it in me to come up with a story like that”, I honestly never believed I’d end up joining those stories, AT ALL.

But Gladiator has become something much bigger than me and than anything I could have anticipated. I certainly didn’t think I’d get the huge response I got, because it was way bigger than what I got for any of my other fics, even at its earliest stages. The Reason had felt huge for me, but it took around 16-17 chapters for it to get to 100 reviews, whereas Gladiator hit that mark at chapter 10. I had considered it could get more popular than my other stories, I knew it was on a different league from everything I’d ever written, but I never expected the response to be quite as overwhelming as it was.

Still, I did know Gladiator was going to be ridiculously long and much more ambitious than anything else I’d ever written. I got the suggestion for this story from Chaosconetic, but for about a month I didn’t really make up my mind about writing it. I thought it was okay, a possible story if I got tired of my main storyline at the time (The Reason), but I didn’t give it much thought until one night I went to bed and the thought of that gladiator story came back into my head. The next thing I knew, I was lying wide awake as I was overwhelmed by the possibilities of writing a story so big that I’d have a chance to basically feature everything I ever wanted to see from my OTP. Eventually, the possibilities widened further: I could also develop a lot of things that the original show didn’t explore thoroughly, and even rewrite a few things into what I would have liked to see from the show instead of what we got.

I went to my beta, to my closest friends at the time (of whom there’s still a few around, to this day), and I told them about this story. My beta’s response in particular was what pushed me forward because as soon as I was done giving her the concept she as good as shouted “WRITE THIS!” and I simply couldn’t even consider saying no xD I was daunted… but I wanted to give it a shot anyways, and see how it would go.

So yes, the massive story is almost five years old and, believe it or not, still under construction, plot-wise. As I said, the plotting process is absolutely not linear, and even to this day I’ve been pondering certain story arcs, listening to suggestions and possibilities for the future of the story. The general concepts usually remain more or less in place, but sometimes I find myself tweaking ideas and changing directions, but while always making sure I can get to where I’m going.

So, how far ahead do I plot? As far as my mind will allow it. I pretty much know what the conclusive scene will be, while also knowing what I’ll have in the epilogue. But I can’t say I know every single scene that will lead us there, despite having outlined most of what will happen in the future. Some story arcs are more obscure than others, some major events are still too tricky to figure out completely, some I go back and forth with (I was about to discard an upcoming story arc before realizing it would work really well if I changed a single factor in it…), some developments occur to me exactly as I’m writing them. It’s a complicated process in general, one I try to keep track of on a document where I have tried to organize my ideas properly, but even then it’s impossible to anticipate to the twists the story could take on its own.

In any case, I’m always plotting, pretty much. It really feels like a never-ending process and tbh, I think I’m going to feel terribly lonely when I finish the story and no longer have something of this magnitude to work with. It’s been such a massive part of me for so long, and every part of the writing process has been essential for Gladiator to be what it is. Plotting it has turned into a pleasure that never gets old, really. Every new idea worth writing feels like finding money in my pockets that I’d forgotten was there.

Anyways, that got long xD But I hope you understand my plotting process a little better now, at least.

#itsreapers-arts #gladiator

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nerdierholler · 7 years

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Thoughts on Writing The Broke Apprentice

This is mostly for my benefit, to gather my thoughts on it, and why I was sort of frustrated by myself while working on it. I don’t think there are any deep insights on the writing process here other than general writers ramblings about our brains deciding to do things of their own and we just have to go with it.

Under a cut for length because it got realllly long. I rambled a lot.

So Why Was I Frustrated?

I wasn’t planning on writing anything. I picked up The Arcana just because I’d seen posts about it floating around here. Played through the prologue a couple of times to see how they did different choices, picked Julian, started his route. I knew there were paid choices, it’s an in-development mobile app, they need to fund it, but they insist you don’t need to take them. Your romance will succeed regardless. However for something focused on romance, things were seeming pretty unromantic for MC. Part of that is Julian, I picked the guy with commitment issues and going into Book VIII, I’d flirted a little, took a nap together, and been dumped. No kissing and only one scene of emotional closeness, depending on your choices. This did change in Book VIII, they finally got to kiss yay!

But somewhere along the way my brain went, how do you make this work? Assuming the extra stuff never happens, how can you still make a romance with the bones that are left? What would that look like? Damn it brain, I don’t have time for this. But as so often happens, the seed was planted and wouldn’t go away until I did something about it.

Then I Wrote A Lot. Like a lot, a lot, for me at least. It came in at about 8400 words. I started it round 8AM on Thursday, finished it by 2AM Sunday, so just under 3 days. During that time I also had work, run errands and because I got tired of cross referencing youtube videos for stuff, I typed out 50 pages of transcripts. For something I wasn’t planning on doing and hadn’t felt particularly passionate about.

When I write for DA or ME, it’s usually about filling in the blanks, writing scenes we don’t get in game. I told myself this was an exercise at writing because I didn’t want to fill in anything besides emotional blanks. I didn’t want to make a bunch of new scenes or conversations (though I did add a couple). It had to work within what the game provided. See a writing exercise, yeah, that’s it.

BUT, I’m not a prolific writer. I write in little chunks, I’m happy if I can get more than 1000 words out on something, so cranking out 8000+ words in three days was a first. I didn’t know I could do that. Were they good words *shrug* I hope so. Again frustrating because I struggle to write for things I do care a lot about, and here I was flying away on something, I kept telling myself, I wasn’t invested in as a fandom.

How Did I Write So Much? This is what I want to know. I want to bottle that up so I can apply it to my other fics. I’d love to able to writing that much about Ithlen (the WIP I put on hold to do this) or Shepard or Taavi and Nora. And I guess I have some thoughts on that too.

I’m Not Invested. I love my DA and ME and they’ve been part of my life for almost 10 years now. I’m invested in those worlds and characters. I’ve been lurking in fandom for that time, dabbling in writing, reading fic from others. But I’ve done almost nothing for the Arcana, I wasn’t even sure how much I was interested in keeping the app on my phone after killing a few hours playing it (spoiler alert, it’s staying).

Maybe writing was easy because I didn’t feel any particular pressure. I hadn’t read other fic for The Arcana, I wasn’t comparing myself to anyone else. For me this was going to just going to be a stand alone thing that got thrown out into the void and I moved on. If it sucked, who cared, I was going back to DA and ME and wouldn’t hang around long enough to get upset over the crickets that would follow.

I Had a Limit Structure. Because of the rules I set for myself, maybe the writing flew by because I wasn’t worrying about all the inbetweens. The game gave me all the dialogue and enough description that I just needed to expand on it, mold it to fit my needs. The hardest part was trying to figure how much of that to include, I didn’t want to re-write the game almost word for word, but I wanted it to be clear what choices my character was taking and just fill in emotions and descriptions.

I feel like I succeeded there, but honestly, I don’t know. It’s probably the thing I’d want feedback on the most. Did I manage to turn those limits into something interesting? Did I make a convincing story of emotional investment where physical contact was lacking? Or did I just change a few game words around, add an extra description or two and basically waste my time on a glorified transcript/rewrite?

It’s A Small Fandom. There are a little over 300 works on AO3. Some are long, lots of series of prompt fills, but still nothing like DA or ME numbers. It seemed a little less intimidating to jump into, there was less competition. I didn’t need to stand out from the 50 other fics posted that day.

Of course, the flip side is fewer readers, fewer hits and kudos, all the tasty tasty reinforcement was going to be small. Plus I decided to write against what seems to be popular, I used a male apprentice, a custom one at that, and I was intentionally skipping the steamy bits. What was an interesting exercise for me and the type of fic I was looking for, was probably going to be most other people’s snooze fest. But I wasn’t supposed to care and I wasn’t supposed to have any expectations.

But Then I Did Care. Damn it. I was invested. I’d put in the time and the effort and now I was starting to worry that this throw away what-if what actually going to be terrible. It’s the most complete thing I’ve ever managed to put out and by far the longest. Didn’t I want it to be as good as possible? ‘Maybe’ was still the best I could do. If it was a writing exercise, make it a good exercise, get the most out of it. But it still wasn’t what I’d planned to work on and while I am more invested in the characters and story now, it’s still no where near DA or ME levels. It’s slightly above average casual interest for me. Do I keep polishing or do I move on?

I gave myself a couple of days of light editing, then let it go. Maybe I’ll regret later than I didn’t put more into it if it’s the only complete thing beyond a string of prompts that I can point to. Then again maybe it’s the starting point for being able to create longer fic. I don’t know. I started with mixed emotions. I finished with mixed emotions, just a different mix.

How Do I Do This Again? Is it about not caring or trying to stick out? Did it have to do with the way it was structured? Is there anyway I can ever hope to write that much on one story for DA or ME and not have it take months and months. I don’t expect I’ll write so much in a short span again, but even bottling a small part of that would be wonderful. Guess we’ll see.

#writing #and rambling #so so much rambling #The Arcana #life at nerdy holler #nerdy writes #I hope I can keep up the momentum on other projects #long post

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nikkzwrites · 4 years

Text

Yesterday Once More | Dark Fix-It Fic Series | Chapter 7

CW: Canon Typical Triggers: Smoking, Sex, Language, Drugs, Drinking, Death, Violence, Suicide Mentions, Cutting, Violence.

Word Count: 3.7k

[First Chapter] [Previous Chapter] [Next Chapter]

Helge woke up in a child’s themed room. It was blue with foxes and hedgehogs. A very weird chair sat in the middle. The young boy studied it as his ear bled. This was the memory old Helge woke up to that morning. It helped him remember everything.

Jonas woke up in an enclosed log deer stand. He checked to see if the letter was still with him before he climbed down and started on his journey to go find Mikkel. He first needed to start at the school. He saw a frizzy-haired brunette in the hall sitting by herself in the hall. He decided she was probably the best to ask, “What day is it today?”

“Pardon?” Regina pulled off her headphones.

Jonas repeated, “What day is it today?”

“November 9th,” She answered.

Jonas sighed and admitted, “I know this sounds crazy, but what year?”

“1986,” She shook her head in confusion. Jonas thanked her and started to walk away, but got called back by the girl, “Wait! Are you looking for someone?”

Jonas stared at the girl confused on how she would know this, “Yeah. A friend. Michael Kahnwald.”

Regina shook her head, “Never heard of him.”

“Ines Kahnwald’s son,” He tried to clarify.

“The nurse,” Regina asked. She shook her head, “She doesn’t have any children.”

Defeated, Jonas then asked, “Do you know where I can find Ines?”

Regina reached for her bag after hearing the bell, “The hospital probably.” She smiled at him, “Well, see you.” As she tried to leave, she got pushed and bullied.

Jonas stared. His heart went out to his friend’s mother. She, in some way, reminded him of his Annalise. She was kind, sweet, and would help out a random stranger. He wondered silently if that’s why his best friend was always giving Annalise a hard time. He shook his head, he couldn’t focus on that right now. He had to make it to find Mikkel then get home.

Egon sat in his office when he got the file from his superior about the power plant. He sat and silently wondered if Ulrich was involved at all in this.

In the present, Ulrich looked around in the files about Mads scattered in Mikkel’s room as if like a summoning circle that he could get all the information from some specter.

Woller, at the same time, walked into Charlotte’s office with the power plant search warrant. Charlotte quickly hung up the phone and grabbed it to head to the power plant.

At the same time 33 years ago, Egon drove to the power plant. He was greeted with the face of Helge. Just the man he wanted to see.

“Anything I can help you with,” Helge asked with a smile.

Egon shook his head, “It’s about the missing Nielsen boy. The night he disappeared, you were on your shift, right?”

Helge looked as if he needed to think back, but honestly, he was just confused and concerned that the man had found out about him, “Yes.”

“Martin wants to document and corroborate the routines and times of everyone who was near here that night,” Egon explained to the man.

Helge nodded in understanding. He checked his watch then told the police officer, “I have to do my rounds and check the blocks now.”

Egon nodded, “Okay, let’s arrange a time you can stop by the station then.”

Helge stared out into space for a moment then asked, “The day after tomorrow?”

“Tuesday?”

“Is 10:30, okay?” Helge asked the man.

Egon nodded, “That works. Sorry for the trouble.”

Helge shook his head and chuckled, “It’s no trouble. I just didn’t see anything. What I mean is… Everything was totally normal.”

Egon nodded and asked, “Your shift ended at six?”

Helge nodded, “Yes, that’s when the night shift starts.”

“Did you take your car,” Egon asked.

Helge nodded, “I took the state road.”

Egon looked up confused, “Were you heading somewhere else? Because you took the state road instead. Isn’t the forest road shorter?”

“Yeah,” Helge conceded, “I just picked something up for my father.” Helge nodded towards the officer and said, “I’ll see you Tuesday.”

Egon interrupted the other man’s leaving and said, “One more question. Did you see his brother anywhere that day? The older Nielsen boy, Ulrich.”

Helge shook his head, “Nope. Til Tuesday.” He closed the gate.

In 2019, Ulrich spotted this note in Egon’s day planner.

Aleksander walked out followed by a bunch of armed guards. Charlotte stared at him annoyed. She really did not enjoy this show of force. She held up the warrant for him to see. Aleksander, without a word, motioned for the guards to open the gates for her and her crew.

Hannah slowly pulled herself away from Annalise and out of bed. The rain and thunder had woken her up from her deep slumber. She walked into the kitchen and started to make breakfast. She was happy that she hadn’t woken the girl up yet. And as much as she loved her son, she was glad to be able to talk to Annalise alone. The woman slowly brought breakfast to her bedside. Hannah sat on the edge of the bed and gently rubbed Annalise’s shoulder, “Hey. Annalise.”

Annalise shook herself awake. She looked at the woman smiling down at her. Annalise smiled, “Oh is Jonas home?” Annalise sat up and yawned.

“No,” she explained, “But I think he will be back very soon.” She cupped her cheek gently then pulled away to motion to the food, “I actually made you breakfast. To thank you for being in Jonas and I’s life.”

Annalise smiled gently. She gave the woman a hug. The girl asked, “Can I stay with you until he gets back...I…”

Hannah smiled, “If that’s what you want, but I don’t think Ulrich will come back to hurt me.” She pet the girl’s head and said, “You have a large heart. You remind me very much of my husband, because of this, I can tell you love my Jonas very much. Thank you so much. We both need someone like that in our lives again.”

Back in 1986, Jonas walked through the rain trying to get to the hospital. He was just following the road huddled beneath his yellow raincoat. He started to panic when the police car had noticed him.

Egon, seeing a boy walking through the rain, couldn’t just leave the boy there. He lowered his window and asked, “Can I help you?” He watched the boy shake his head. Then Egon asked, “Shouldn’t you be in school?”

Jonas tried to quickly come up with an excuse, “I’m sick.”

Egon nodded and said, “You look fine to me.”

“I hurt my arm,” Jonas tried to come up with a cover, “I’m headed to the hospital.”

Egon nodded and motioned to the boy, “Get in. I’ll drive you there.”

As Ulrich tried to investigate more in the 33-year-old files of Mads, he noticed that Helge had no statement about what had happened that night. He then called Charlotte and explained. “Did you know that in 1986 your father-in-law was to be interviewed in my brother’s case?”

“No,” Charlotte said tailing the canvassing team.

Ulrich then told her, “I searched through all the files. Helge was supposed to be questioned on Tuesday, November 11, 1986. Exactly 33 years ago, from the day after tomorrow. But there is no statement. He didn’t show. There’s just a note. ‘Why not forest road?’”

“So you think Helge abducted Mads in 1986,” She asked the man, “And now Mikkel and the other boys 33 years later?”

“Where is he now,” Ulrich asked.

“In a nursing home Ulrich!” She sighed, “He’s 75 years old. He has dementia and the evening Mikkel disappeared, Helge was with me.”

Ulrich argued, “But the evening before Yasin vanished, Woller found Helge in the forest.”

“And took him back to the nursing home,” Charlotte cried, getting annoyed. He was sounding more and more paranoid with every passing day.

“Somehow this all has to do with Mads,” Ulrich claimed.

Charlotte shook her head, “You are barking up the wrong tree.”

“Maybe,” Ulrich admitted, “but maybe not.” He ended up hanging up on his boss.

Charlotte turned, noticing a route through the field that went into another part in the woods. She started to follow it to try and figure out more.

Jonas rode in the car with Egon. He was honestly just wondering how his mother and Annalise were holding up with him suddenly gone without much of a word. Did Lise think he was out with Martha right after having everything happened? Was she wondering when he was going to be home? Was she cry-

“What’s your name,” Egon asked, pulling the boy from his thoughts.

“Jonas,” he said without much thought as he turned to the man.

Egon then asked, “And why didn’t you have your parents drive you?”

Jonas shrugged, “My mom is at work. My dad’s dead.”

Egon then asked, “Where does your mother work?”

“At the power plant,” Jonas explained knowing that was an easy out for him.

Egon nodded, “The power plant has changed Winden. This place used to look different.” He looked towards the boy for a second, “What’s that there?”

Jonas pulled out his earbuds from out his pocket and showed it to him, “Earphones.”

Egon laughed, “Those aren’t earphones.”

“You just put them in your ears,” Jonas explained.

Egon shook his head, “Now I’ve seen it all.”

In 2019, Charlotte ended up following the path. She found the gated cavern that Claudia herself was once led to. She knew she had to talk to Aleksander about this.

Egon, soon, pulled up at the hospital just 33 years prior. He let Jonas out of the car, but not before asking, “Among you teenagers, Is Satanism a thing right now?”

Jonas laughed. “No idea,” He was so grateful for the laugh before he realized the officer was serious. He shook his head and replied, “No, I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

Egon then advised, “Call your mom to pick you up, it isn’t the best time to be walking through the woods alone right now.”

Jonas nodded. He exited the car thanking the officer. He slid his bag back on his back before walking into the hospital. He walked to one of the nurses and explained, “I am looking for Ines Kahnwald.”

“She was just outside with the boy,” She explained.

Jonas shook his head, “What boy?”

Her brows furrowed. She studied the boy, “What do you want Ines for?”

“I am visiting and I locked myself out,” He lied.

She shook her head, “Ines didn’t mention a visitor. Are you related?”

“Yes,” Jonas said, “You could say that.”

She motioned towards the back doors, “Maybe she’s still out back. Otherwise, I’ll tell her when I see her.”

Jonas shook his head, “No, I don’t want to be in any trouble.”

33 years after that encounter, Ulrich snuck into Helge’s room. He walked over to the man to whisper to try and wake up the older gentleman. When Helge woke up, Ulrich introduced himself, “My name is Ulrich Nielsen. I am a police officer. Don’t be scared. I just want to ask you a few questions.”

Helge started to panic seeing the man he had nightmares every night since he was a child. He started to shake his head terrified.

“In 1986, a boy from Winden Vanished,” Ulrich stated ignoring Helge’s reactions, “Mads Nielsen. Do you remember? You were summoned to the station for questioning but there’s no transcript. What does ‘Why not forest road’ mean?”

The heart monitor screamed out of control for a nurse to check in on the older man. A nurse finally burst in to see Ulrich leaning over the man repeating the question over and over while Helge just tried to communicate. She walked over to the man and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“It’s him,” cried Helge.

Ulrich tried to explain, “I am a cop. I want to ask a few questions.”

Helge struggled out the words, “I know you!”

“What did you say,” Ulrich asked as the nurse tried to pull him away from Helge.

“I can change it,” Helge mumbled, “I can change the past and the future.”

The nurse called out to try and get someone else to help her remove Ulrich from Helge’s room so that Helge could continue living in peace.

“What did you say,” Ulrich asked as the nurses soon surrounded him and started to carry him out, “Where’s Mikkel? Where’s my son?! Where’s Mikkel?”

Meanwhile, in 1986, Jonas walked out the back trying to find Ines so that she could help clear everything up. That is when he spotted them, the younger version of his grandmother and there next to her sat Mikkel. Behind him, the older Jonas, scarred and rugged by his many adventures through time, stated, “How little we understand of the world.”

Jonas turned to him and asked, “Is this real? Or am I crazy, just like my father? Do you even exist? Or are you the hallucination of a lunatic?”

“You are not crazy,” the wiser Jonas stated, “Neither was your father. Sometimes it’s hard for us to grasp things that go against all that we are conditioned to believe. How do you think people felt the first time they were told that the Earth was round?”

Jonas swallowed, “Yes it is. It’s totally insane.”

“And if it’s not?” the older him refuted back.

“How can that be,” Jonas asked with an insane smile on his face, “Is there a breach in time in the cave? So Mikkel hangs out here until he becomes my father?” He must have hit his head in the caves.

The older Jonas, annoyed, replied, “Even if you don’t want to believe it, that is your father.”

Distraught, Jonas looked back at the younger boy and said, “That means...That Ulrich is my grandfather and…”

“Martha is your aunt,” the man who went through this before replied.

Jonas growled, “That’s bullshit.” He was growing more and more annoyed. None of this was right. He just wanted to go home and have everything go back to normal. Martha and he doing this weird dance along the edges. “I’m taking him back and putting this right,” Jonas spitefully spat at his older self.

Knowing exactly what his younger self was thinking, Stranger Jonas pushed Jonas against the back of the car, “Don’t you get it?! If you take Mikkel back, you’ll be meddling in the course of events. Your father will never meet your mother, they won’t fall in love or get married. And you won’t be born! If you take him back now, you’ll be erasing your own existence. The role you play in all of this is much bigger than you think.” He pulled away thinking of a moment that will come to pass for his younger self not too far into his future. His heart ached as he explained tearfully, “But every decision for something is a decision against something else.” He panted as the memory unfolded for him. He could tell his younger self wouldn’t understand but was still terrified at the implications. He further explained, “A life for a life.” He started to calm himself as he asked, “What will you decide?” He wished that the outcome would change, but he knew it wouldn’t. If it had, then he wouldn’t be here as he was with a memory that would haunt him forever and a necklace in his pocket to keep her close to him.

Jonas tearfully watched as the older version of himself walked away. He then turned to watch Mikkel continue eating the green jello Ines had gotten for him.

Charlotte sat on her desk in 2019 as she scolded Ulrich. Ulrich only used this to explain his, correct, theory that the dead boy, Mikkel, and the other disappearances had something to do with Helge. Charlotte tried to sympathize with him, but there was no feasible way this had anything to do with her father-in-law.

Back in 1986, Helge opened up his glove compartment and grabbed the raider bar out so he could eat it.

Mikkel, himself, got hungry around the same time, so he hobbled his way down the hall to the vending machine.

Jonas quickly followed in toe to watch Mikkel. He wasn’t completely convinced not to do anything. He was just about to approach when he saw the younger version of his mother walking up to the boy. Jonas quickly stood back just out of sight to watch. He could see them talking. He wondered if anyone had come back to do the same for him. He pulled out the letter and stared at it. Jonas then decided that he knew what he had to do.

Helge walked to the bunker. He looked around to make sure no one followed him before going inside.

Jonas crawled his way through the caves back home. He, then, made his way into his home. He snuck in quietly without anyone noticing. He wanted to first visit his mother. He walked over to her bedroom to notice something strange. There was a smaller body on the side closer towards the door. There, fast asleep, lay Annalise. He blinked for a second before shaking his head and going to his mother’s side.

Hannah, feeling a dip in the bed, quickly jolted awake. She groaned a bit expecting it to be the girl, but instead saw her son sitting there. He was dirty and sweaty, but he was finally home. “Boy, you startled me,” Hannah complained in a hushed tone to make sure she didn’t wake Annalise, “Where were you?”

Jonas just stared at his mother. He didn’t know what to say, or do for that matter.

“What’s wrong,” Hannah asked, sitting up more in her bed.

Jonas stared at her and asked, “Do you believe in fate?”

Hannah looked down thinking about how to best answer this question. She had never lied to Jonas before, so she really wasn’t going to start now, “I… I don’t know. Maybe it’s my fate that men leave me.”

Jonas stared at his mother in sorrow. He hated seeing his mother like this. He silently wondered if something had happened while he was gone. “I think Dad loved you very much,” Jonas told her.

Both of them stared at each other, tears filled their eyes as they thought back to Michael. Jonas slowly pulled his mother into a hug and held her as she started to sob. This woke up Annalise.

The girl was so excited to see Jonas back home that she nearly pounced to give him a hug, but then she heard it. Their soft weeping. She slowly sat onto her heels and waited for them to be done. When they pulled away, Jonas looked towards the girl. She gave him a warm, tender smile before motioning up to say she was going to head upstairs.

Jonas nodded and mouthed that he would see her there in a moment. First, he had something he needed to do. The boy shut himself in his father’s studio with a bucket in front of him. He pulled out the letter and a lighter. Jonas deliberately set it aflame and dropped it into the metal bucket. He started to cry knowing that he was just destroying one of the last offerings of his father. He felt his presence in his life start to fade as the letter burned.

Ulrich walked into Helge’s room to find him missing. He looked around hoping to find a clue to where he had gone. There on the table rested that clue. ‘The Journey Through Time’ by H.G. Tannhaus with a necklace made of a coin from 1986 tied with a red sting. He knew he was on the right path. Hearing someone close a car door far too easily, Ulrich checked the window. That was when he noticed the sliding door was open. He walked out to see Helge pacing his way to the caves. Ulrich quickly called Charlotte and updated her letting her know that Helge was a time traveller. He watched as Helge went to the crossing and followed him.

While 1986 Helge climbed out of the bunker with the poor boy’s body. He dragged the body to the caves while Noah cleaned the floor. His back tattooed with Sic Mundus’s mark.

After he burned the letter, Jonas changed into his sleeping outfit. He looked to his bed. When he saw that Annalise wasn’t there, he crept down the hall to find her in her bedroom. The boy gently knocked on the door to let her know that he was there.

Annalise sat up more in the small bed. She watched him. Jonas didn’t have to say anything. She knew what he wanted, what he needed. She moved closer to the wall so that he could crawl in with her. When he didn’t quite move, Annalise tilted her head but moved more to the other side so he could have the wall side.

Jonas slowly made his way into the bed after she crawled to the side he wanted her on. Tears ran down his face. He adored that he didn’t have to talk with her. Somehow she just knew. He rest his head on her pillow and turned to his side so that he could hold her close to him. He pulled her to him leaving little space between them. As he clung onto her, he grieved and bawled into her pillow.

Annalise stiffened up as she felt him pull her so close to him. Not that she didn’t want to spoon with him, she just didn’t expect him to do so. She reached behind her and stroked his head. She lowly started to shush him, her voice staying hushed and compassionate to help calm him. Annalise didn’t know how long it was, but she kept caressing him and calming him until he had fallen asleep. His whimpering slowly turned to tempoed breathing. His hold never let up though. It was as if he was clinging onto the last possible string of hope he had in the world.

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