#if it wasn't made clear enough ash did die in that fire

[stil-lindigo]

scorched earth.

a comic about a princess who died in a fire.

(this is a sequel to bite of winter, a comic about Snow and what became of her after her death.)

--

creative notes:

--

all my other comics

store

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Ok, So, We're Doing This

One of these days, I swear I'm actually not going to do a thing I say I'm not doing. But today is not that day. This review isn't going to be as in-depth as usual, mostly because I just honestly don't have that much to say about it, and what I do have to say is...less complimentary than I shoot for on this blog. So all that said, I guess we're talking A Fire in the Flesh.

CONTENT WARNING: Some brief discussion of sexual assault. Always take care of you first; this book is not worth triggering or retraumatizing yourself over and we will happily see you next time if you need or want to bow out from here.

My biggest critique of this book is that it is generously half a book stretched to 600-odd pages. Like, you could have easily condensed the timeline, nixed about a third of the overall angst, and made this a really strong half of another book. The endless dragging out of Kolis releasing Ash and the agonizingly slow negotiations between Sera and Kolis could have paced faster without losing the stakes or the weight. Honestly, losing some of the dragginess might have ADDED to the weight, because honestly this book hit a point for me where you can only sit in a cage agonizing over whats-ifs and wherefores for so long before I am screeching at the book to *move the fuck on already*. There was too much of this book. Take some back, please.

Now before I jump into the conversation this book clumsily tried to have about sex and consent, I want to make one thing crystal clear:

Consent is important. Talking about consent is important. People knowing that they can choose to revoke consent literally at any time is important. Knowing what isn't consent is also important. This is an important topic and it deserves page time.

That said, maybe the king of "my dick wasn't actually inside you so it doesn't count" and gaslighting's court is not like...the best place to have that conversation. Especially with the mean girl primal (yes, she has a name, I don't care) actively going "I got off so its not rape" and making Sera question her own feelings about Kolis's assault on her. Gaslight is probably not the vibe you want in a romance book.

And yeah, the book tries to have nuanced conversations about this, but I didn't find them particularly well handled. The pacing and bloat of the book might have had something to do with that, because honestly I got tired of the repetitive nature of all of this. Again, brevity and speed might have strengthened an otherwise weak attempt at dealing with the absolutely fucky relationship North America has with sexual assault and its propensity to minimize, victim blame, and gaslight. And again, THIS TOPIC IS IMPORTANT. This book just wasn't well structured and paced enough to pull off the conversation it wanted to have, and then it also threw in the scene where Sera breaks a glass dildo in half and murders a guy with it. That is FARCICAL. Pick a tone and stick with it when you're trying to have a weighty conversation.

I will say that the ascension bits at the end and Ash full-on going "if you die, I'm dragging the world to hell after you" was entertaining, in a twisted kind of way. I did also think that it was an extension of the last two books' "Ash and Sera can't communicate if their lives depend on it" problem, but I'm starting to think this series is treating that like a feature rather than a bug, so... *shrug*.

That's more or less my take on this book. It was too long, it was too slow, and it could easily have been the first ten chapters of a stronger book. I wish I could say it was at least a dumb fun read, but the pacing just absolutely killed the reading experience for me.

[phenomenal1500]

What If We Had The Choice? | Resident Evil Village

Summary: What would have happened if Ethan had sided with Heisenberg? Unfortunately, Capcom didn't give us the chance to make a choice, so for the enthusiasts.... this would have happened if we had had been given the choice.

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

Ethan stepped foot inside the dark, dusty factory with a bad premonition. He kept his gun in front of him at all costs as he carefully pushed the first rusty door he encountered open and when he noticed the coast was clear, he also made his way through the badly lit hallway that had appeared from behind the heavy door. He was so close in having his daughter back that he couldn't back down... not now. Another nasty hallway followed and finally, when he took a turn to his right, he spotted an huge curtain hanging ahead of him in a square room. It seemed to hide the wall and table behind it and Ethan struggled with the thought off shoving it to the right to peak behind it or to just leave it be. With his curiosity taking over he pulled the curtain from the beam to which it was attached to and small photos appeared.

Some of them were old pictures of the lords, scratched through with a red marker, while others were pictures of the incidents that had happened around the village since Ethan had arrived there. The pictures reflected in Ethan's eyes and one stood out to him. "Mia?"

"Truth hurts, don't it?" Ethan turned with a quick motion, spotting the man Ethan had met earlier who now stepped out of the shadows directly behind him. The dark and round glasses covered the man's eyes as well as his fedora hat that slightly slanted over his left eye and the long tattered coat fluttered behind him as he took a puff of his Cuban cigar. Ash fell from his cigar as thick white smoke floated around the man's almost completely covered face. "Let me guess." The forth and strongest Lord continued after puffing his cigar once more. "You're thinking take me out like the others, and then you get to go and safe Rose, right?"

"I'm healing my daughter." Ethan bit back.

"Look, y-...you've got this all wrong-..." Lord Heisenberg signed with his hands up in the air to strengthen his words, but he then was cut off by an horrible loud sound coming from under them. "Dammit, I'm talking here!" The man whined, pinching his noise before storming his way towards the hatch to pull it open with ease. "Shut your fucking hole!"

Ethan had no idea what to except or where this conversation was going, certainly not with someone different than the other mutated humans he had met. Alcina Dimitrescu had already some hatred towards men like him, perhaps even all men in general, and was conspiring with Miranda so of course she wanted him dead from the beginning. Donna Beneviento seemed more reasonable and neutral about the situation, but was still crazy as fuck and was also still under Miranda's control. Same goes for Salvatore Moreau, except for the fact he wasn't just following and conspiring with Miranda. He saw Mother Miranda as his real mother and he was so desperate to prove his worth to the other house lords and Mother Miranda that he unfortunately also wasn't able to negotiate with.

However, Lord Heisenberg was someone different. He came across Ethan as more controlled than the other Lords despite being a bit of a direct man. "Sorry about that." The man apologised as he straightened his back. Ethan, still confused whether he had to have patient and listen to the man or take action while it was still possible, stood in the room watching the man in doubt while he snatched a chair from beside a cupboard to place it by the hatch.

"Take a seat." Heisenberg ordered and Ethan stayed in his place, not obeying his competitor. "Listen, Ethan. You're being played."

"What are you talking about? You think this is a game?" Ethan hissed through his teeth meanwhile the lord put out his Cuban cigar, pressing the burning side onto the small table. Ethan had expected some sort of answer from the mutant, but to his surprise Heisenberg aggressively tossed a knife towards the wall covered in pictures and pushed Ethan into the unsteady metal chair instead... the chair almost staggering over the edge of the big hole by all the force falling down onto it.

"I said sit!!" Heisenberg backed off a bit afterwards and continued his story. "Lady super-sized bitch..." The knife stabbed the wall as it made its way to the picture of Lady Dimitrescu. "Ugly-ass psycho doll...." The knife again marked the wall, now resting in the photo of Donna Beneviento and Angie Beneviento. "And that moronic freak." The knife made one last change in direction, the picture of Salvatore Moreau. "Don't you get it? It's a test, to see if you're strong enough... to be part of Miranda's family."

"I don't want to be part of Miranda's family."

"Neither did I! But here we are." Heisenberg raised his voice and Ethan took in a deep breath. "And I'm next in line, right? Kill me, move up the chain! Well, fuck that!!" The knife carved the wall as it was forced through the image of Mother Miranda, messing it up.

"I don't give a damn about your personal issues! I just want to fix my daughter!" The lord laughed in response.

"So do I! Do you have any idea how powerful that kid is? Even Miranda is scared of her..." For a second time there was a very loud engine sound hearable and the man deeply sighed in frustration. "Last time, you freak, I swear to god!"

Afterwards making his way to Ethan, Lord Heisenberg gave away his green and grey eyes by removing his glasses and held his chin up, the hat moving a bit upwards to reveal his full face. Scars were located all across his face and he smirked.

"You and me, Ethan! Together we go save Rose, and then we can use her to grind Miranda to paste." Heisenberg closed his fist with strength, acting like he was squeezing a bug to death. Ethan stood before a tough decision; Fight Lord Heisenberg and then hope he could safe his daughter from Mother Miranda all alone... or collude against Mother Miranda with the help of Heisenberg and save his daughter that way. He knew it was wrong to work together with someone who was once his enemy and was willing to use his daughter as a weapon, but it gave him more certainty to actually succeed and get his little girl back. Ethan stood up from his chair and swallowed before nodding.

"When do we start?"

~~~

Heisenberg had taken Ethan to his lab to explain what he'd been up to all along and both men now faced each other while sitting down onto different obsolete metal sofas. "Most of this was already put in working before I decided to show up here to save Rose?"

"This is my fucking lifework. Years I have been creating these soldats to deal with Miranda once and for all. It's time for her to die." The man passionately spoke up and pointed at the soldats hanging from a conveyor belt that ran through the factory. "So, Ethan Winters, what do you say?"

"The plan sounds good to me."

"Well then, lets get to work. See you on the other side... Ethan."

Ethan knew exactly what to do because Heisenberg had explained in detail what the plan was. Ethan was going to disturb the ceremony that was taking place so that the lord could launch a surprise attack on Miranda with his invented army. Although, before it could work, Ethan first had to stop by the Duke to restock his ammunition and healing juice. Fast traveling over the stone bridge towards the elevator in the altar, he returned to the Duke.

"Ah... Ethan Winters. I feel like this will be the last time we meet again... It was quite some news to hear you joined Lord Heisenberg's side." The duke folded his hands together, somewhere deep down noticeable that he was delighted to see his loyal customer and good friend back alive.

"Yeah, well, I didn't have much of a choice, did I?"

"You had a choice, but knew that this settlement would be most effective. Now, I suppose you have to act quickly so feel free to peruse." Buying ammunition and healing juice with the last money Ethan had, the friends said their last goodbyes and carried on their separated ways. This would be it. This would be the moment where Ethan would finally get his daughter Rose back. Shoving himself through the filthy black strands know as mold, he saw the blond woman in her black and gold robe shouting for Eva, her dead daughter she lost to the Spanish flu, to be reborn. The moment Ethan wanted to fire his first shot with his M1851 Wolfsbane Magnum, there was a sharp sound audible and then loud rock music followed.

"What the-....?" Ethan cursed under his breath, not knowing what the fuck was happening, but the distractive music seemed to caught Miranda off guard and the chamber of mold crumbled down around them. It looked like Miranda had lost her focus. The distraction gave Ethan a better shot and Miranda jerked her head towards him, glaring deathly at him as he pulled the trigger. The bullet didn't do much to her, but the arena was now free from the mold and it was possible for Heisenberg to step into the destroyed area, which he did. He was still secretly jamming to the loud rock music that was playing on his speakers back in the factory and Ethan wondered what the actual limit of the volume was because it was so terribly loud, even from where they were now.

"Heisenberg! I should have known you were planning an rebellion against me. Unfortunately for the both of you, the ceremony will be complete once dawn breaks and I will become her true mother!" Miranda shouted dramatically and opened her arms widely, letting her six wings stretch out before her mutation took place. Heisenberg just scoffed and threw his Cuban cigar to the ground, stepping on it.

"I'm not letting you get away." Ethan yelled, shooting a few more times at the orange eye that was visible in the upper center of her face. It probably was her weakness. In the meantime that Ethan was busy shooting at the six winged dead looking woman, Heisenberg simply just leaned on his hammer. His head was banging to the music while he watched the scene for a moment, but that was until he forced himself to participate into the battle as well. Putting his thumb and index finger close to his mouth, he whistled as noisy as possible and immediately an army of Lycans and soldats joined him. Miranda was amazed at what was happening before her eyes, but managed to kill several soldats at once with the mold spearing them. Heisenberg groaned in frustration, understanding that his life creations perhaps weren't fully prepared for these kind of attacks coming from her.

Heisenberg sighed and closed his green, grey eyes. It was time... time for him to mutate and face Miranda together with Ethan. He had to defeat her. That was what he wished for all these years after all. Heisenberg listened to the guitar solo in the background as his mind started to control and use the metal scrap from his broken soldats to continue his mutation. Ethan couldn't be distracted by the creature Heisenberg had become and so he kept his attention strictly on Miranda, ready to hit her again. Sadly, he was out of luck. His M1851 Wolfsbane Magnum ran out of ammo and while Ethan tried to block her next attack, Heisenberg seized the opportunity to knock her to the ground before she had the change to launch herself at Ethan.

Heisenberg accelerated his actions and grabbed Miranda tightly before pressing her against one of the broken stone walls. With his other metal arm he activated his saw and wounded her body, but soon found out she could regenerate herself. Her spider legs turned into wings, bigger than before, and she hurled the flames she had summoned when Heisenberg wasn't paying attention. He was blinded and was pushed back by the blow. The lord quickly realized that his mutation was quite easy for Miranda to defeat because of the length and width of his mechanistic form and he turned back to his human form. This way he could use the metal scrap for a shield and dodge all her attacks faster.

"Ethan! Bring your ass over here!" The man growled, seeing that Ethan was laying somewhere on the floor, being completely useless, and Ethan raised to his feet... stumbling a bit, but not giving up.

"I don't have any fucking bullets left!"

"Well good luck keeping her focused on you then!" His gravelly voice yelled over the rock music for only Ethan to hear and he shook his head in confusion, though, he had no time to understand it because Miranda immediately jumped right in front of him. The lord had time to create a stairs of the floating metal with activating his abilities and he ran to the top, hoping Miranda hadn't seen this shit coming or else they both were certainly doomed. Ethan, meanwhile, was fighting off the woman and it was the perfect timing for Heisenberg to put his second plan in working. Heisenberg dropped himself from the stairs, his hammer above his head and aiming at the weakness of Mother Miranda. Hitting her, her back was blown into the floor and she screamed in agony. The combo of the shots of the M1851 Wolfsbane Magnum and the terribly heavy hammer had managed to defeat her.

"My daughter.... My Eva!" She held her arms high and went numb, her body falling apart and turning into ash.

"After an eternity.... that bitch is finally gone." Heisenberg laughed enthusiastically and turned around to face Ethan only to see him crumbling down with Rose in his arms.

"I think we finished each other...."

[kwonhoshi0]

𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 | fic

navigation | requests : open | 12th march 2021

pairing : dabi x fem!reader

genre : fluff, angst

word count : 3.1k

warnings : fire, death, trauma

themes : strangers to lovers, mutual pining, denial, story changes,

summary : you had to get away from the toxicity that is your father and the hero society. after 17 years of being trapped, you finally have a chance to escape but with a man you didn’t really expect to help. you wondered why he helped you, you don’t know it’s because you don’t question his looks, you saw him not his scars.

you didn't plan for this, you didn't expect him to save you.

the corrupted superhuman society, the toxic society you lived in angered you. maybe things would've been different if your quirk, or your parents weren't who they are.

they wanted to mold you into the perfect weapon against villains, were the villains really the bad guys? who had the right of calling people heroes and villains. what separated them.

those thoughts you asked yourself each day growing up, if you could even call it that. 

everything was okay at first, you felt loved, but once your quirk manifested that changed, drastically.

training everyday until you couldn't move, the tears, the bruises. when would it be enough, is this really what it took to be a hero, to be deemed worthy of such a title?

you had already had to endure 12 years of training constantly, for your dad. you always wondered what is would've been like, to grow up in a stable happy home.

your father had been rejected by the superhuman society, his views were called sick and twisted. he wanted, needed to make you the best. that would've been okay if he let you have a childhood, if he trained you like a daughter not a robot. 

your fathers quirk is jet fire, he can quite literally make jets of fire with his mouth. the green haired man wasn't always bad, he didn't always push you or bruise you. you remembered there was a time, he would hold you, he’d spin you around. 

your quirk is the manipulation of fire, with the particles around you, you can create fire and other gases like smoke. it was a literal merge of your parents quirk, except you don’t breathe fire you create it with your hands.

your mother hasn't talked to you properly since your father started training you at the age of 5. maybe it was the guilt, she never questioned her husband, he had left another woman for your mother, personally you thought she was the last thing holding your fathers sanity together. the guilt of ruining you, corrupting you had haunted her so much she didn't even notice the scars and bruises on your body.

you had never had a real mother figure to show you how strong women are. she would never tell you this but she wondered where you got your anger and courage from.

everyone has a breaking point. yours was when you realized your parents would be living your life for you until they die. that terrified you more than you'd like to admit. the thought of living your life as a hero, a hero you didn't believe in or want to be. an entire lifetime in someone else’s shadow.

did you really live 17 years for this.

you thought about this as you stared up into your ceiling. it was 1am and you couldn't sleep, again.

you had had an argument with the green haired man you were cursed to call dad. it got heated and you locked yourself in your room, you had a bag packed full of clothes and money. staring at it you thought, is it worth it, will all this be worth it.

heroes and villains, you scoffed, they're all the same.

hearing loud steps coming up the stairs, you panicked standing up quickly and shoving the bag into your closet.

“y/n!”

“what” you looked at your door where the man stood, putting your book down next to you. 

“training in 1 hour” you stared at him incredulously, it is 1 fucking am and this lunatic wants me to train, Now.

“no” you deserve sleep, you only finished training a couple hours ago.

“you will train with me in one hour, or else i’m taking your phone and you’ll be training until tomorrow night.” you sighed frustrated and angry as he slammed your door shut. of course he’d take away my one fucking escape.

your eyes darted to the bag peaking out the corner of your closet, maybe today is the day.

you stared at it for a minute before grabbing the bag and checking everything was in there before grabbing a couple more items of clothing and your charger cable. you quickly got changed out of your training clothes and shoved on some baggy jeans and a black turtle neck with some boots. ‘fuck okay, we’re doing this’

you grabbed a pillow and shoved it under your sheets to make it look like you’re sleeping and opened your window, your room was on the second floor so you weren't worried about the drop, you jumped down using smoke to soften your fall and you ran through the alleyways of the city.

after an hour of running you leaned against the wall of an alley and checked your phone to see 30 missed calls from your father. before leaving you made sure to turn off the tracking app and restrictions on your phone.

as you turned to run through the alley you felt eyes on you, a cold breath made the hairs on your neck jolt up, yelping slightly you jumped forward to see.. some sort of sludge monster?

‘fuck’ you breathed as it backed you against the corner, throwing your bag to the side you floated up a little with your quirk and blasted fire at it, it parted where you aimed the fire before molding back together, ‘strong, worthy of me’ it breathed and it collided with you making you scream out in pain, it was agony, it felt like it was ripping you apart inside out.

you could hear voices coming closer but you were a little preoccupied. you had an idea, you slowly created as much fire you could with your hands, the creature shrieked pushing you away as you gasped air filling your lungs again.

you noticed a circular black matter at the end of the alley where the sludge monster appeared from, before you could inspect it it shrunk until it was nothing.

the same voices you heard earlier yelled as the sludge monster slipped through the drains “she’s valuable, she defeated that monster” a man said coming closer to you, you looked at him with furrowed eyebrows “touch me and you die” you breathed standing up from the dirty alley floor. “feisty too” he chuckled.

you were outnumbered, it was 6 to 1 in a small alleyway. before the men could come any closer a voice behind them made them turn, ‘the people you wanted dead are just that, where’s my payment ’ you couldn't see his face so you attempted to look around for an escape, you noticed a drain pipe leading up to a sturdier metal one, if you could jump onto the electric box and swing your up you could make it onto the roof, you just needed to time it perfectly.

one of the men turned to keep an eye on you, “we’ll have your payment in a week” the man in the middle scoffed turning back to you, “you know that’s not good enough, the payment, now or i’ll burn you to ashes” he said with venom laced in his voice, one of the 6 men had moved to the side, you had a clear few of who they were talking to you, you felt as your face heat up at him but you shook it off.

you raised an eyebrow at him signalling to the metal bar, you weren't sure if he’d help you but he’d probably help you if it was for his benefit as well. he flicked an eye between you and the metal bar immediately smirking at your plan. 

you took his smirk as a confirmation and grabbed your bag from the floor and lifted yourself up with smoke from your feet and jumped swinging yourself from the metal bar to the roof, before you could fully push yourself onto the roof you felt a hand gripping onto your leg, you tried shaking the man off only to feel blue heat take over the alley beneath you.

your eyes widened slightly as the scarred man continued burning the men below you, “stop it!” you yelled as he raised an eyebrow at you the blue flames dying down to nothing.

you sighed in relief rolling onto your back, the men scurried away, burnt but alive.

“why’d you stop me?” he asked, you supported yourself on your elbows as he climbed up onto the roof, he didn't look mad, it was a genuine question. “i don’t know maybe i didn't want to see anyone die.” you deadpanned sitting up dusting the dirt off of your clothes.

he looked at you as if you were the most confusing person in the world, you hadn't asked about his scars or flinched when you saw him, or stared at the purple marks around his face and body. he wanted to know why.

“what?, do i have something on my face” you pouted slightly running a hand through your hair. “no, just surprised” you pursed your lips as if waiting for him to say more, you stood up and grabbed the bag full of your belongings you mumbled a “thanks”.

“what was that smokey?” he smirked, a nickname, really. you rolled your eyes at his remark “you should be thanking me as well, without me you would’ve been cornered” he nodded a little at your words “hm well, what’re you doing out here”.

“ran away” you said quickly as you stared at the missed calls on your phone screen. “i need to get away from here” you added as he watched your every move as if trying to decipher you.

“well, you wanna go to hosu?” you looked up at him in disbelief, “what’s in it for you”, he looked conflicted you weren't great at reading people, its not like you had friends or anyone other than your parents around growing up. 

“might change my mind” he grinned before motioning you to follow him, you cautiously followed his steps along the rooftop. “wait i don’t even know your name”. he turned around for a split second before jumping onto another roof, you did the same, “what’s yours”.

“y/n mido- just y/n” if you were really going to leave this world behind then this is where to start, leaving behind your fathers name.

“names dabi, why did you run away” he’s intriguing, besides you needed to get as far away as possible and he’s willing to help so telling him this isn't exactly a danger to you.

“my dads a dick, he’s trying to train me to become the greatest hero but if this is what it takes to have the fucking honor of being called a hero then i don’t want it. i don’t want to be controlled my whole life, or live a life i don’t want”.

“huh, sounds familiar” he joked leading you out of the alleys closer to the lit up streets of the city. you smiled at his joke before jumping down the building as he did using smoke to soften your fall again, he zipped the trench coat up around his mouth and let the hood cover his hair, his piercing blue eyes and nose were the only facial features visible, you laughed slightly at the sight making him roll is eyes at you.

you moved to peak around the corner of the alley, dabi stuck out a protective arm before peaking out as you tried to do a couple seconds before. he let his arm fall to his side again before motioning you to join him, you walked beside him. 

the large lights and billboards made your eyes go wide, “what you never seen the city at night before?” he joked watching your expression stay the same, you looked like a child seeing fireworks for the first time, it was endearing yet sad. had you really been isolated like this, never even seeing something as simple as lights in the darkness.

“i told you, my dad trained me most of my life, so I've never had the luxury of seeing this, never mind at night.”

he hummed at your words as he turned another corner grabbing your arm and dragging you in at the last second making you yelp, a couple motorbikes and cars stood in a line along the small street. the man eyed each of the bikes, you watched as he grabbed a key from a pocket in his oversized trench coat and placed it into a black and blue motorbike before throwing a leg over the seat and turning a head to you. “you coming or not?”.

you grinned before jumping up into the seat.

the world blurred past you, lights buildings and people became one, it really was beautiful, your wide eyes tried to catch everything as you sped past. “where are we going!” you yelled over the noises of traffic and people. “1 day in the city, then hosu city”.

you had never felt more alive, of course you were taking a risk going somewhere you didn't know with a stranger but this was better than being trapped in a house you couldn't call home. 

you gripped his waist as he sped up slightly, he probably didn't how much you hadn't seen, or how much you'd been cut off from the world you thought, in reality he knew more than anyone.

he was busy in thought as you sped past the lit buildings, he watched in the small metal mirror at your expression.

she’s the type to fall in love with everything unreachable, just like i once did.

maybe this was a bad idea, i could’ve just told them i lost her.

the sun started rising a little after you left for the centre of the city, the sunrise you knew all too well rose, sleepless nights led to you watching the sunrise on the rooftop of your house. it was lonely, being alone wasn't something you thought about often. people are disappointing is what you had been taught through experience but however much you wanted to be okay with loneliness you knew you’d find someone to change that, a friend.

“aye you still awake?”,

“mhm”, he grunted in return as you asked him about how much he’d seen of the city, the conversation went onto talk of your family. 

“my mother, she was so in love with the idea of my dad that she kind of just ignored how he treated me, they were good parents at some point, but somewhere along the line that changed”

the day was the most fun you had ever had and much to his disgust you went shopping, you were taking a while “fucking hell, yeah that’s fine”, you frowned at his tone before grinning “hm ill find something better”.

“No, no that is good, yeah its great stick with that”, you laughed at his annoyance before going to pay, “i’ll pay” you shook your head a little grabbing the card you put your fathers money on. 

he rolled his eyes before shoving his own card in the machine and punching in a couple numbers, you thanked him and took the bags resting them on your arms. 

the day went by faster than you liked, you soon found yourself heading towards the motorbike, the black haired man followed next to you eyeing your every move.

she’s going to hate me.

you followed the road out of the city towards another, the lights slowly becoming only dim streetlights. the bright yellow lights of the city were far behind you but even within the peace something was off, you could feel the tension between you and the male, even if you were to ask its not as if he’s going to tell someone he’s known for a little over a day.

“where are we staying in hosu?” you tried to fill the tension with small talk, the man sped up a little before answering “with a couple uh friends, they’re weird”. you nodded as if he could see you, just as you were about to ask him about his ‘friends’ you felt a drop of water hit your cheek.

as the rain slowly got heavier you giggled feeling the drops slide down your face, “what’s so funny smokey” he turned slightly to look at you, you blinked the rain out of your eyes to look at him not expecting to see his bright cerulean eyes looking straight into yours, your breath hitched slightly but you didn't look away, his eyes averted back to the road again and you let out of a breath you didn't know you were holding.

he found himself somehow jealous of the fact that the rain got to touch you, your eyes lit up as you watched the lightning flash across the night sky.

he huffed in anger at himself for even feeling these things, whatever, shes gonna hate me after this anyway.

with only an hour left for hosu you felt yourself getting tired and you grabbed a monster from your bag, you opened the can shuddering a little at the cold you chugged most of the acidic down your throat before hearing the boy in front of you elbow your knee, his hand was held out for the drink, you rolled your eyes pouting slightly and handed him the drink, the rest of the sugary drink drained down his throat. 

something about him intrigued him, maybe it was his mysterious nature, mystery had always drawn you in, it was fun figuring out mysteries and conspiracies, so why is he so difficult to figure out. his eyes were the most mysterious to you, his bright ocean filled eyes. they held so many stories, so many emotions you couldn't decipher.

“hey i asked you a question” you shook away your thoughts and asked dabi to repeat it he sighed shaking his head before smirking for a split second, “i asked how much you hate villains”, you furrowed your eyebrows at his question.

“i don’t hate villains.” you said simply he looked back at you as if asking you to carry on.

“its unfair how quick people are to decide the difference between heroes and villains, most heroes aren’t even good people, they're just fakes hiding behind the mask that is saving people, you hurt people in secret your whole life and then save a couple people and you’re suddenly a hero?, i don’t hate villains, i hate people who think get can choose who’s a hero and who’s a villain just from their appearance”.

he thought for a couple minutes before his lips curled into a small smile, she really gets it huh.

“i’m not stupid, i know you’re deemed a villain dabi, but you don’t seem one to me”, his smile softened a little as if you said the most meaningful words to exist, he felt his walls slowly breaking for you, worst part is he let it happen.

he turned one final corner before parking outside what looked like an abandoned warehouse, you hopped off the bike and followed the man to the door he sighed slightly, he let you go in front of him, you stopped at the door and turned around to look at him questioning his sigh.

he inched closer to you as your back pressed against the door, your eyes widened as his former comforting smile turned into a sad smile, as if he wished this could last.

your breath hitched as his face got closer, he grinned for a second his nose brushing against your own, just as you thought he was going to kiss you he pulled back slightly and lifted his hand which was clenched as if he was holding something, his hand stopped level to his mouth, he opened it and blew the powder into your face making you immediately collapse.

you didn’t expect him to save you anyway.

A/N : damn so part2? DJSF

FUN FACT : manga spoiler : when he said “ she’s the type to fall in love with everything unreachable, just like i once did.” he was talking about his desire to become the greatest hero with his quirk but because of his body is was unreachable.

taglist : @todoroki-shoto-is-life @blazedbakugou @luluwiie @blue-gold-demigod-clouds @gazelle-des-pres

[signofwolf]

Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas – book review

Series: Throne of Glass #7 Genre: YA, Fantasy Theme: Fae, magic users, war Warnings: mentions of torture, imprisonment Star rating: 0,5/10

Why did I pick this up?: I wanted to end this horrible series once and for all.

[Heavy spoilers ahead]

To make myself clear, before this book I quite liked this series. It wouldn’t place in my top 100 books, not even close, but it was a pleasant pageturner to listen to in audiobooks when working.

Language

Let’s start slow. I lack the words to express how much I hate the words ‘male’, ‘female’ and ‘mate’ after this series. Not even gonna try to express my trauma. But these 3 gems aside, Sarah J. Maas needs a dictionary. Or compress her work to a manageable size. Everything sang, Everyone melted, Every man roared, Every woman trembled, Everyone was unleashing themselves at least once a chapter (number of chapters: 122) ). And now I know definitely too much about Yrene’s ‘womb’. I know so much…

Dynamism

I thought that was a book about a war with heavy action content. Oh boy, I was wrong. This 984-pages monstrosity has maybe 5 pages of action. If you squint.

Every sequence, where by design action should take place was followed by one of two scripts:

Few sentences of action and then a few pages long internal monologue. Often repeated with the same character after the next few sentences of action, or with the next character and then the next (sometimes the first character made a second appearance and then everything would go all over again). And the word ‘character’ used in these sentences is not because I’m rambling. This book is written that way!

Few sentences of action and then action stops, and we are graced by a few pages long conversation. In the middle of a battle. Or spying. Or in Erawan’s chambers, when his castle is going down, and he is running up the stairs...

Time

Leaving alone the fact that apparently all series took less than a year (till this book I estimated the plot for about 3 years, Wiki told me it was 2, but Maas knows best), because that is a can of worms in itself. Time in this one? I honestly have no idea. There were many ‘few weeks of travel’ parts with two main groups of POVs. Personally my only time indicator was ‘Orynth won’t fall till Aelin gets here’. But nothing just fit. And I saw Lost Song when in the last episode we as the audience realized that our two POVs parallel storylines are in reality millennia apart. Lost Song made sense.

Emotional loading

… there wasn’t any. Really, it was like reading a milk label. Every time the scene was potentially emotionally impactful, Maas went ahead to overexplaining EVERY. GOD. DAMMED. THING. And it was abso-fucking-lutely everything. ‘Emotional dilemma? Let’s current POV explain it! 2 pages should be enough… Damn maybe it wasn’t enough. I know! I’ll switch POVs and explain it through the other character!’ <= My impression of Maas’ thought process. I’m fairly sure that the record was 7 POVs explaining the same thing in the row, but I was blacking out a little, so I cannot be sure.

And if that wasn’t enough, this book had a second way to defuse tension: random-plastic-repetitive-badly_written-smut. Really badly written and really repetitive. How could you not feel the spicy bits, when Manon (cruel, self assured 100+years old witch-queen) reacts the same in bed as Elide (20years old, virgin, ex-slave). And the rest of them were the same, there weren’t ANY distinctions.Just copy-paste.

The next point in current case: Someone died, it was impactful, I really liked the character, so I got sad. But then 2 of our characters came out of the room with a body, and after a paragraph of grieving they started making out, and then I was regaled with 2-pages-long description of melting cores. That was the place then this book stopped being badly written, and started being distasteful.

Characters

Remember when I was writing about switching POVs (which is 15(!!!) In the whole book. Oh and an omniscient narrator in places when our current POV was grieving too much to overthink something, but Maas still wanted to inform us about something)? They were all savagely murdered in the worst way: character mutilation. Somewhere between books our maybe-not-that-original but colorful and interesting characters became carbon copies of each other. I have no idea how many times I didn’t realise there was a POV switch. The only indicator was a change of pronoun, or when Maas was telling us the name of a current narrator. These were the only ways. And if you can't distinguish if you are in Dorian’s head or in Manon’s, that is the sign of a really BAD writing.

Romance

…there wasn't any. In all this book there wasn't any naturally progressing romantic scene. There were Maas’ endgame pairings which were sexing or pinning. As the author Maas loves to write about soulmates. And it’s not a bad thing itself. When I want some fluffy story I often tag ‘soulmates’ in AO3 and voila, +10 to good mood. But God above, it is not cute when every pair you write about are ‘true mates’ just BECAUSE. It is the only way Maas sees a relationship, as a fated pairing, written in the wake of the universe by the God himself. There is no choice, nor the work to put in it. They are the author's OTP and that means that they are perfect and they should have children right now. Point in case:

Guy was treating a girl like a shit on his sole, including throwing her naked out of tent, on a snow, with their friends present, all the while abusing her verbally in a worst way. But it’s okay, because when she almost died he realised his mistakes and apologised. Two scenes later, he was forgiven, because... fated mates?

The pathos

I know that many people don't like this type of scenes, but it's not my case. I’m reading by picturing images and not repeating words. I like sequences that I can imagine to be grand and glorious, even if they are a little corny. That said, the pathos scenes were the most disappointing ones for me. Maas likes to write parts that are more picturesquely exalted than logically possible [point in case: meeting of 5 armies/forces in the random patch of sand in Empire of Storms, and it being painted as ‘an Aelin’s great plan’. I laughed myself silly at that. But not taking logic and all the plot holes into consideration that was a nicely looking scene. In Kingdom of Ash that wasn’t the case. I would say that the author wanted to paint us a renaissance painting every 20 pages or so. In my opinion, every time she failed miserably. Each and every of those scenes was or to farfetched to be even remotely realistic, and evidently written only for a sake of the picture, or just plainly stupid.

Example, and it’s so priceless a scene, that I just need to share it: Battle of Orynth, 25th day or so (time in this book doesn’t exist), the 13. sacrificed themselves (like thousands before them but hush). And then, time stops: grieving Manon is going through the city, they open the gates for her (yes, the siege is still on), she goes to the place where they died, after her come out all of our main heroes, and half the city itself with ‘flowers, rocks and precious possessions’ and they lay it there in a tribute to these brave (evil till 2 months ago) witches. I honestly can’t remember when was the last time I saw such an abstract scene. It’s a material for an essay in itself. No, I could not take it seriously.

Additionally, it's hard to make an impact as every damn sentence is grand and lofty. In the end it became truly pathetic, Aelin vs Maeve was unreadable.

Character deaths:

Let's make a quick count: main characters in a series at the start of KoA: 12 secondary characters in a series at the start of KoA: 20ish minor and total background: a lot more

Death count: main: 0 secondary: 3 minor: 2 (11 if we try very hard)

Resurrections: 1 (possibly 3, but not gonna analyze it)

Did you feel emotions of this impossible war against this all-encompassing, all-powerful, invincible, immortal, cunning Evil with armies from 3 continents and 2 worlds? No? Me neither.

Oh well, but there were a lot of deaths of ordinary soldiers. I’m quite certain that all of Terrasen’s army was at least twice brought back to life for them to die in these numbers.

Logic or lack thereof

Oh, and let’s not forget about the Deus ex machina army of unbeatable, magical elves on wolves, from legends, living for the past thousands of years in the unreachable lands of the north, because they managed to run from the surprise attack 10 years earlier. Did I mention that they came from portals, which the whole book was telling us were impossible to make in this scenario? After the previous saviour army was already fighting there for a day? And that Aelin didn’t know they would come for sure (how did she contact them again?)? Even though they were waiting in the full armours for these portals? Ah, and also: that army didn’t do anything. They just came and fought for maybe 4 minutes. And there were just so many things like that!

And if we’re on the topic of armies I present you: ‘My favourite absurd-list in the series: allied armies’.

(As a comparison, in A Song of Ice and Fire by J.R.R Martin, in 7 kingdoms of Westeros, at the peak of war there were 7 forces present, but not all were even engaged in a war.)

First the ones that made sense:

Armies of Terrasen’s Lords (counted as one, not gonna nitpick)

The Khaganate army (also counted as one)

Galan Ashryver’s armada

Whitethorn fraction

Rebel Ironteeth witches

…should Dorian be counted as an ‘army’?

And there were some that did not:

Ansel of Briarcliff’s army

The Silent Assassins

Mycenians

Wild Men of the Fangs

Army of magical elves on wolves

And the ‘I don’t even know’ category:

Crochan witches

Overpowering and overreaching

Section title tells it all. The stakes were too high. I was honestly waiting for Aelin to become Super Saiyan and start to throw planets at Maeve and Erawan. I won’t spoil if this happened.

In my opinion it could be a really great series, if our list of villains ended with Arobynn and King of Adarlan, and the list of Aelin titles with an assassin and a princess. We could have had two main fight plots: one emotional with Arobynn, when Aelin would have to face a damage he had done to her, and overcome it. And the second one, with freeing Terrasen from Adarlan’s rule. That’s it. There was an asshole, power hungry king, who feared magic and wanted to rule the East part of a continent. A lot of plot, but not so much that we stopped to care, or didn’t have time to cover everything. We could really get to know what Terrasen and his people were like and not JUST GET TOLD that it was ‘the greatest place in the world’ every damn 20 pages.

Plus…should Dorian be counted as an ‘army’? It's a REALLY valid question.

Climaxes

IIf I have to write a list of things that disappointed me in this book, this review would be thrice its current size, but one of the worst grievances I have is the complete lack of acknowledging the plotlines that had been started. This book series has overall 4 372 pages (not counting novellas) and 12 main characters (still not gonna address this). All of them had their storylines and arcs but if they weren't tied up in the previous instalments they wouldn’t be in this one. I get it, Maeve and Erawan got beaten (in an extremely unsatisfactory way) but they were only a background in this series' plots.

Aelin Well, Aelin was one of 3 people (+2 paragraf-long insertion from Nesryn and Chaol) who got their own POV’s after the battle (second was technically Rowan, who was ‘Aelin’s POV outside of Aelin’.The third Dorian, who got almost a full two pages). And from this we got that: she got crowned, Aedion got his bond and that Maas have no idea how the city looks after weeks of siege. In her case what angered me the most was ‘Terrasen is my home’ subplot. Only in this tome we read at least 3 times that Aelin will be okay with dying, if only she gets to see Terrasen one last time, or if she get to die on Terrassen soil. But you know what? Maas forgot to write the scene where Aelin actually ‘comes in’.

Mannon Didn't get her own POV after the battle, but here’s what we’ve got: She is going to the Wastes with Croachans and Ironteeth. Whait. What? Yes, that was the ending of this 500+ years of feud. They fought together and they decided to unite their two species, completely forgetting more than half a millenia of slaughter. I can only hope that there were at least some talks behind the scenes… NO! F*** NO! This isn’t how it works!

Rowan, Dorian, Chaol, Yrene, Lysandra, Aedion, Lorcan, Elide, Nesryn, Sartaq Lived happily ever after

Secondary minor and total background characters Survived (I acknowledge that they would be ignored in most books’ epilogues, but this abomination is almost 1000 pages of nothing!!).

Good Scenes

That saying, this book actually had 4 good scenes:

Crochan witches go to war - gathering-forces-to-fight trope, which is my *love-always trope* so I’m not even sure if it was relatively good, or if I’m just a slut for this trope. It was still only a paragraph long though.

[recurring] The children’s tale Aelin repeated to herself to remember who she is.

‘Lorcan Lochan’ - the only marginally funny scene in the whole book

I actually found Darrel making Evangeline his heir charming. Even if circumstances were far-fetched at least.

But the words crime of this book? It was agonisingly, mind-numbingly boring. If the overexplaining and repetitions were to be taken out I highly doubt that there would be 300 pages left.

For these 33 hours of audiobook I suffered through I give it half a star. Because Abraxos exist.

Please see my garishly accurate cover on my instagram! You can also like it there :D

instagram | goodreads

[stellar-imagines]

SCENARIO REQUEST: ❝malaise pt 2.❞

[ Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia ] [ Characters: Bakugou Katsuki ]

「 After supposedly leaving Bakugou alone in the apartment, you holed yourself up in your office. You distracted yourself by working instead of asking questions about whether what you did was right or wrong. On the other hand, Bakugou regrets everything and is too ashamed to even face you. Until an opportunity arises.」

Angst ahead!

[ Part 1 || Part 3 ]

BAKUGOU KATSUKI

"You know that eating all that isn't good for your health, right?" 

There were boxes of takeout around your table, some still had its contents while the others were empty. Your colleague, Irino, bend down to pick up the plastic bags that had nothing but trash in them. The office had became your home now after running away from your shared apartment. Ever since you left, you made the office into your temporary home. It had a kitchen and to be honest, it was spacious enough since there were only a few people using the space. The girls you worked with didn't seem too bothered by it. In fact, they were really concerned when you greet them in the building in your pajamas. When you left the apartment, you considered crashing at one of your friend's place but you didn't want to bother anyone so you ended up at your office.

You had cried through the entire ride to the office. It was on a day off that you decided to leave and the office was vacant. There were already a lot of facilities available for you. And so, you spent an entire day buying the necessary items to make this place into a place you could live in. There was a couch that you could use, a clothes rack that you often use to hang random items. Not to mention, you have a coffee machine, water dispenser and a stove. It's also a plus for you because you don't have to worry about coming late to work.

"It's just temporary, Irino! There's a few things I need to fix and I need to get it done by tomorrow." you replied, putting aside the mochi you had been eating the entire time. The girl sighed, making her way over to her own work desk and began her own work of sorting files. The other employees were already present, busying themselves with their own task. She seemed a bit bothered by how you were living right now.

Now, Irino didn't know much about your relationship with Bakugou Katsuki, a well known Pro Hero. She has only seen him come by the office a couple of times and mostly saw him through the screen when the news was centered around him. From her observation, he was a guy who doesn't do well with the press and she highly doubted that he could properly stay in a relationship for a very long time. She wasn't one to judge people by their looks too. Seeing you always talked about him as if he was the best man on Earth, she could tell that he wasn't what she thought he was like. Then again, she still couldn't believe what happened between the two of you. For a few days, you looked pretty much like a zombie.

"You're so forgiving, [First Name]-chan." 

"Well, if you've known Bakugou Katsuki for a long time you'd understand why I forgive him. Even though I said I forgive him, he completely lost my trust after what he did." you mumbled, lifting the mug of hot chocolate to your lips. Your eyes studied the liquid sitting in the mug. It was still warm, proven by the feeling it gave your fingers.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be able to forgive him."

"Yeah, yeah, never mind all that. Where are the blueprints that you wanted to give me, Irino-chan?" you extended your right hand while you munched on some mochi that you were holding onto with your left hand. Irino could never understand how you were feeling but she knew that she was in no position to tell you what she thinks. All she can do was support you.

"Once you're done, let's so eat some yakiniku together." she offered with a smile.

You nodded, giving your okay before going back to work. The television was on and there was news about the most recent villain attack. You turned your attention towards the television, stopping your work. There was Kirishima, Bakugou, Ashido and even Midoriya was there. Four of the former students of UA who you're acquainted with were in the news. You wonder what Bakugou could be doing at this time of day.

"Hey, Bakugou! How are you doing these days?"

"Shut up, Shitty Hair. I don't have time to fucking chat." Bakugou grumbled angrily, scribbling down a few things on the sheet he was given. Kirishima put down a cup of coffee in front of the ash blonde. He raised his head, eyes landing at the cup before grabbing the handle and taking a sip.

"I know that you got a lot in your mind and you know, I'm here if you need to talk about it." Kirishima's eyes soften a little. Bakugou frowns and it wasn't the usual frown, there was sadness behind it. The ash blonde had heard from Ashido who heard from you about what happened between the two of you. Kirishima strongly believed that Bakugou was a loyal man and a bit relieved when he didn't hear that they had an affair or actually had sex. But in the end, the damage is done and this was what the two of you settled with.

It was a few minutes after the two stopped talking that the phone rang. Being the closest to it, Bakugou picked it up.

"What?" he mumbled. His voice was hoarse and gruff, but the voice from the other side is clear and loud, accompanied by loud noises in the background which were akin to explosions.

"Ground Zero. We need you and Red Riot on the field right now. We've got 3 heroes on the field, there's civilians in the area that need to be evacuated."

"We're on our way."

When the two arrived the scene, everything seemed to be in chaos. A building was on fire and the civilians were panicking and making their escape. Sirens were heard in the distance, followed by the sounds of metal screeching and people screaming. Bakugou and Kirishima went further where the smoke was thicker. Both were used to the thick smell of ash from smoke but the limited visibility that comes with it always proved to be a hindrance. The two waved the smoke until they reached closer to the building. There stood the hero who had gave Bakugou a call.

It's when he saw you that he stopped.

The smoke made it hard for him to identify people but he can't really forget how you look and it only took a second for him to recognize you. After all, it isn't easy to forget the person you love. You were still oblivious to his presence, helping the injured civilians and providing them with breathing masks that were specially made for this very situation. You finally noticed him once the hero carried the people you were tending to away. Your eyes landed on Bakugou and your lips twitched a bit. You wondered what was the right thing to say now. It had been days since you last saw each other and it was a bit awkward to be meeting in such circumstances.

"Hey." you almost want to slap yourself but coming out with just that. No matter how many times you saw him appear in the television, it's nothing compared to seeing him in real life. He inhales, how long has it been since he heard your voice. Bakugou avoids your gaze, looking a bit ashamed after what he had done. He wanted to say that he was sorry again, tell you to come back but a loud explosion caught both your attention. It came from another building that was further away.

"I want to talk.....later." he mumbled.

"Just the two of us." he added.

"Yeah, I'll be waiting." you nod.

Throughout his entire battle with the villain and evacuating the civilians, all he could think was you. What should he say to you? Would you even come back to him if he asked? 

"This is Alpha from Position 1, we've captured all villains and evacuated everyone. How's things in Position 2?" a nearby Hero spoke through the communicating device in their ear.

"The building is starting to crumble and we need more heroes to help the injured civilians. We need back up! As much as possible and as fast as possible!" Bakugou could pick of the conversation since he was also equipped with the device. He pressed a hand over the small earbud, picking up the conversation.

"Shit, we deployed a lot of heroes here since the villain appeared.....Who's doing the evacuation at the moment?" 

"Most of them are already back except for [Last Name]-san! She went in to assist with evacuation and hasn't come back. We need someone to go—"

"This is Ground Zero. I'm on my fucking way." Bakugou rose to his feet and moved faster than anybody and used his quirk to get to the crumbling building.

The smoke had already cleared but the building had crumbled down. You did all you could to evacuate everyone and even went to do a check. But you got caught between the rubble. It crushed your legs and your body was bleeding from the sharp stones that pierced through your clothing. You could barely register the pain. There was no feeling in your legs and you didn't have energy to get out. Your communicating device had fallen out of your reach. And you were sure that you'd die alone.

His eyes grew wide and he makes his way over, pushing aside all the rubble and pulling you out. He laid your head on his lap and looked at your legs. Biting his lip and cursing out loud, he blamed himself for not coming faster.

"Katsuki.....?" your voice sounded strained and fragile as if you'd break.

"Fuck, your legs need to be tended to in a hospital....." Bakugou shrugged off the cloak that he had been given earlier, ripping the material carelessly. He was panicking. There was so much blood and you were breathing heavily.

"I feel sleepy." you muttered breathlessly.

"Shit, shit! You gotta fucking stay awake! You hear me!? Talk, say something!" Bakugou pleaded, seeing how the light was starting to face from your eyes. You gazed up at him, he looked desperate and scared. You had never seen such an expression before but when you recalled the day he left you—you thought to yourself, it was the same. He was scared of losing you.

"I missed you....."

"You know.....Even though I knew, I was a coward and didn't want to say anything......! Because even though you were with that woman, you still came back home so I clung onto that, thinking that you still love me. Did you stay with me because you pitied me?" your eyes were drooping and it was almost hard to focus on his face anymore. Bakugou who was supposed to do whatever he could to stop the bleeding, had stopped to listen. He shook his head, ripping parts of his cloak to cover your wounds.

"Anyway, I hope your life with her is good.....Well, I saw her picture when she messaged you by accident......She's really pretty, prettier than me, that's for cure. She makes you happier than I do right? Ah.....does she make your favorite food? I was always struggle—" you broke into a fits of coughs, blood spilling from your lips and coating your costume.

"Enough, stop talking already!" his lips trembled, watching as you wince in pain. He never contacted with that woman anymore, too busy wallowing in regret. Bakugou meant it when he was sorry. He was fucking asshole and he didn't deserve you but he wants you so desperately.

"You know, if you wanted someone else, you could've just ended our relationship."

His eyes sagged and he felt his heart clenching painfully. Bakugou cursed out loud, telling himself that he was so fucking stupid. He can feel the pain and betrayal in your words and seeing you in this state made him suffocate. He really didn't deserve you at all. Yes, he did miss you so fucking bad. Waking up alone on the king sized bed that the two of you had picked was so damn painful. Eating breakfast without hearing your excited chatter in the morning was just unbearable. Coming home to a pitch dark apartment with no warmth and no one there was just excruciating.

All of a sudden, he remembers all of it. How you praised him on the day he was accepted to dream agency, when he rose to the top. The way you kiss him, make his favorite dinner, massage his muscles after a long day at work. Every single time you cuddled him, listening to his angry rants about his annoying co-workers. He was blessed to have such a caring, patient person like who you put up with his bullshit.

"But if you're happy then it's okay. I want what's best for you. Even if it's a future without me in it, because you're actually a nice person."

"What are you saying!? I'm not a nice person and you can't fucking die before me! You're the nice one! I was a fucking asshole......! You're all I need!" he screamed.

"Tha....nk you.....Katsu....."

Your entire body relaxed and your eyes fell shut. It was as if your entire body shut down to get sleep. Tears streamed down his face, crying in anguish and screaming at the top of his lungs. Midoriya was first to find him, with a few doctors following him and running over towards where Bakugou was. The ash blonde kept his hold on you, being extremely protective and even refused to hand you over to the paramedics.

"Deku-san, do something about this! We need to get her to the machine to stabilize her heartbeat, there's a chance that she's still alive." one of the paramedics announced. Midoriya somehow managed to pry you off Bakugou's arms and hand you over to the paramedics.

"Kacchan, calm down!" Midoriya grabbed hold of the ash blonde's arms, making sure he wouldn't go on a rampage. Droplets of tears started to pour down onto the ground. Bakugou's vision was blurry with tears but he could see the lights of the ambulance and barely make out the figure of paramedics carrying your body into the car.

Once again, you slipped from his grasp. The first time you did, he wished he could pull you back, plead you to stay and not leave him behind. He regretted it so much. And so, just like the first time he saw you slip away from him, he could only cry in anguish.

Total: 2439 words Published: 12.11.2019

Thank you for requesting! *｡٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و*｡ Hello, please don’t kill us me for making it so angsty. Malaise is back by a popular demand! A lot of people actually replied saying if it was a part 2 and here ya go, our lovely, beautiful amazing and absolute beautiful reader! It’s just the beginning of my second year and honestly, it feels like the end of the year.  (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞ We hope you enjoyed it!  ― author Hibiki/LouThank you for requesting! So we didn’t really decide whether we wanted to end with angst or not? And honestly, it depends on the request and our mood. Lou was the one who originally wrote Malaise and this time I was in charge of Malaise pt 2. Lou was the one who made the ending and clearly, she’s stressed and overwhelmed. Because she texts me at 4am asking me if she could live with only 3 hours of sleep. Okay, let’s end the boring story about us. We hope you liked it. ― author Natsuki

Please do not mind the grammar mistakes and typos.

[blegmarveden]

A Blade of Grass

It was cold, and clammy. It was ALWAYS cold and clammy. The cobblestone and minuscule hole in the ceiling corner made sure of that. And yet, that morning, Mell couldn't help but smile.

Because it was golden hour. Happened once in the early morning, happened once in the late afternoon. It always made her feel just a bit better about her situation, watching the gold light shine in through the bars of her holding cell–it reminded her of the warmth she used too know, before the cold and clammy isolated prison seeped through her bones.

She ran her finger over one of many scratches on the wall; tallies, of the number of days that have passed by. She took a quick recount–yes, today was the day. It'd been a whole year since she'd been sentenced, and the day had finally came. She'd been dreading it, occasionally hesitating before she made the mark. Almost as if not cataloging the passing of time could make it stop.

It couldn't. She closed her eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun as it continued to rise, higher and higher into the sky. Mell loved Earth, and that was the one thing she could say with absolute certainty. Even the cold cobblestone, despite the biting chill it supplied.

She had that going for her, at least. She would get to die on Earth, and from the looks of it on a bright and clear day. She stood up as she heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Standing on her tiptoes, she took one last look of the outside world. It was hardly a view; it showed the bottom of a hill, looking over some sort of factory. She frowned... of course the last thing she'd get too see was something against the planet she held so dear.

But she did see the grass, the bright green grass. Soft, supportive. When you had no one else in the world, not even yourself, the grass would always be there to support you. Silently rooting for you, Mell liked to imagine.

The door unlocked with the latching sound of finality, and a guard stood in the door frame. "It's time."

Mell nodded with a sigh. She wouldn't put up a fight–she had already decided to go out with grace. She began walking behind him, stretching her arms out. She soaked in the sights of the hallways, the last things she would see. The last bits of Earth she'd remember.

The execution room wasn't too far, though the walk over felt like an eternity. It seemed normal enough, a standard metal door in a standard prison hallway. But there was a single window, and Mell could tell by the outline of light on the door. She turned to look towards it, causing the guard to raise his gun.

"Relax, I'm just looking." Mell said, rolling her eyes. "But... I do have one request, if you don't mind."

"Should've thought about that before you blew up those factories." The guard replied, the apathy in his voice sharp.

"Its not like it'll kill you, pun unintended." Mell said with a soft smile.

The guard glared. "What? What could you possibly want?"

"Well, I was wondering if I couldn't grab a piece of grass from outside."

"What?" The guard said, raising an eyebrow.

"A blade of grass." Mell repeated, unfazed by the question.

The guard squinted–he didn't think he should do that. Then again, this was basically her dying wish. With a sigh, the guard held the gun up to her head, and Mell flinched as the cold steel came in contact with her temple. "Fine, but be quick."

Mell smiled brightly, and opened up the window. She bent down, and selected an average piece of grass. Not extraordinary in the slightest–just a beautiful, perfect piece of Earth. One final reminder of what she'd be leaving behind, and the new beginnings Earth would make without her. She gave it a gentle kiss, and held onto it gingerly.

"Ok, I'm ready now."

As Mell was strapped into the chair, she held the blade of grass in between her index and middle finger.

As the guard stepped into the room too pull the lever, Mell looked down. She could see a bit of loose wires, and the plate that shouldve covered them to its left.

"Any last words?" The guard asked dryly.

"Oh, just two. Thank you." Mell said, smiling at the guard.

"Anytime." The guard said, his tone laced with sarcasm. He then pulled the lever, right as Mell dropped the blade of grass into the wires.

***

The damages resulting from the fire in Westfiled Detention Center were severe. The fire spread through the entirety of the city, taking several buildings with it; including the factory down the hill.

From the ashes would grow several plants and flora, assisted from the resulting forrest fires.

The End Beginning

(3/11/20)

[winxwannabe]

Let Me Pull You From A Sea Of Starlight

Word Count: 1479 Pairing: Sparxshipping  Rating: T Summary: She had been travelling...somewhere. It didn't matter; she needed her body to behave. She had to get up. She had to do something because she knew that voice. Also available on FFN 

"We must stop meeting like this."

Bloom gasped, or tried to. The sensation of air rushing into her lungs was a drastic shift from the vacuum of space, and she choked on the oxygen. Her memory was a haze. She had been travelling...somewhere. Maybe it was important. It didn't matter; she needed her body to behave. She had to get up (when had she fallen face first onto rock?), she had hone back into her powers.

She had to do something because she knew that voice.

That didn't seem to be in the cards, though. Her stomach rolled inside her torso and tears spilt from her eyes (the oxygen deprivation, part of her mind insisted, the adrenaline, it's a natural reaction). It wouldn't have made a difference if she wasn't crying - her vision was blurry, desperately trying to readjust to light after being in nothing but darkness. All she could see were colors; reds and blues and purples from the never-ending expanse of space that lied beyond the hunk of rock she was currently on.

And two long, brown blurs. Coming closer.

"What a routine: you and your little friends do something incredibly stupid, you get separated, you almost die alone, I jump in and save you…"

Bloom kept trying to force air into her lungs, but this time she inhaled a fair amount of dust from the surface she'd been thrown onto. Her throat burned, and the edges of her vision began to go red (but not the kind of red that came from her powers). The fearful thoughts that had been with her faded, leaving only one clear:

This is it. This is how I'm going to die.

"Though apparently much closer to death than before...my sincerest apologies. Let's see…"

Something warm wrapped around her back and pulled her to a sitting position. That, for some reason, seemed to be all she needed. Her fight to regain breathing tipped back in her favor, air rushing into her lungs and staying there. The red receded from around her line of sight, leaving the dark reaches of space in its place. Stars were out there - Bloom saw them - but for some reason they didn't seem to be shining.

"That's it, breathe for me. In and out...deep, now. Good..."

She listened, counting the stars as she did. Four for every inhale and exhale. Something was running up and down her back, helping soothe her. It kept up the ministrations until her lungs were finally placated and her vision slid back into focus.

It was only then, when her eyes fell on a pair of worn, brown leather boots that Bloom remembered why she'd been so afraid in the first place. Her eyes snapped up.

A pair of ice blue eyes. A man's face - angular, now closer to her in age than the last time she'd seen it. And it had been so long since she'd seen it in person.

"Baltor."

He smirked, and a pang of familiarity shot down Bloom's spine. It was a look she had forgotten entirely, and the feelings associated with it came rushing back.

"Hello, Bloom."

There were literally dozens of thoughts rushing through her head, so many things she wanted to say that ranged from sarcastic to borderline obscenities that would've gotten her detention back in school. But instead what came out of her mouth - sounding partially disbelieving and partially awed - was: "You're alive."

His smirk widened, and he reached a hand out to push her hair out of her face. It was a gesture etched with familiarity, and for a moment Bloom could smell saltwater. "Surprised?"

"It's...you can't...I felt your Dragon Fire go out! I made sure of it! My fairy dust -"

"Did exactly what it was supposed to do, and extinguished my power." His look went from treacherous to thoughtful, and out of the corner of her eye Bloom saw him wind a strand of her hair around a finger. The gloves he once wore were nowhere to be seen. "But you of all people should know how easy it is for a fire to be rekindled from smoldering ashes."

Bloom stared at him for a few moments until she realized how close they were. One of her legs was pressed against Baltor's, and she could still feel his hand on the small of her back. At some point she had reached for him, and that hand was gripping the lapel of his jacket. Bloom yanked it back as if it burned her. "Why now?" She asked. "It's been years. Everyone thought you were dead. Where have you been all this time?"

Baltor smiled, letting the strands of hair fall from his fingers. He withdrew the hand from her back and stood, brushing dust off his pants. "You've impressed me, Bloom. Resurrecting our home planet, bringing magic back to Earth...I truly underestimated you when we first met."

He offered a hand to help her up, and Bloom pointedly stared at it instead of reciprocating. "I'm not dumb."

Baltor raised an eyebrow, drawing his arm back to his side.

"I remember what happened the last time you showed me an ounce of kindness," she continued, getting to her feet on her own. Her stance was a bit wobbly, but not laughable, which was all she could ask for at the moment. "You blinded one of my best friends."

"Well I don't see any of your friends here now, do you?"

"Because you sent those things after me!" Bloom gestured to the little fledglings on dark edges of the asteroid, their golden eyes focused intently on her. They growled at her in unison like single creature (and for all Bloom knew they were - she had seen them morph into one), but made no move toward her. And they likely wouldn't unless given the go ahead from their master.

Baltor's eyes slid in their direction. The growling stopped, and to Bloom's surprise they retreated into the darkness. "I admit they didn't do as clean of a job as I would've liked -"

"Stop! Just stop with the games!" Bloom snapped. "What do you want, Baltor?"

He chuckled. "Always so perceptive."

Bloom's eyes snapped back to Baltor, recognizing that tone. The smirk that had been on his face was gone and his eyes were cold, reminiscent of their later battles when it was clear he had started to resent Bloom and her powers. It made her limbs go cold. She started to say the beginning of an offensive spell in her head, but it was too late.

Chains of fire bursted up from the ground, first encircling her ankles, then her knees, and finally her shoulders. The ends wound around her wrists, pinning them behind her back before diving back into the rock, leaving her unable to move. They were bright red and hot; uncomfortable, but not enough to burn. She tried to finish the spell in her head, or any spell, but the magic was too powerful. And, Bloom realized to her horror, that was because the magic encasing her was light.

"I couldn't help but notice your handiwork on Lumenia."

She looked back to Baltor, slowly stalking back to her, his face worryingly devoid of emotion. "I thought you'd appreciate it," Bloom finally found her voice, and it came out much steadier than she felt.

"Hmm," Baltor's eyes trailed over her, and Bloom stopped struggling in the chains. "I'm busy enough - I really don't need to waste more time destroying you and your friends."

"Because that worked so well last time you tried to take over the universe?"

Bloom had enough common sense to know that probably wasn't the best thing to say while tied up with magic far more powerful than her own by a man who had, on multiple occasions, tried to kill her. She braced herself, expecting the chains to start burning, or something painful to hit her.

She didn't expect the light touch under her chin, carefully moving her face back to his. The look Baltor gave her wasn't longing, exactly, but there was something wistful in it.

"It's such a pity. We would be so good together."

Bloom opened her mouth to protest, and then stopped. Because as much as she wanted to fight, to yell about how she would never jeopardize the safety of her friends or the magic dimension, she knew what he meant.

"Yeah," she finally said, surprised by how soft her own voice was. "We would be."

The hand left her face, and Baltor straightened up as if he was composing himself. When their eyes met again, that blank look was back. "This is your only warning, Bloom."

There was a flash, and when Bloom could see again she was lying on the grass in Alfea's courtyard, dust on her clothes and her skin still warm where Baltor had touched her.

[words-writ-in-starlight]

Omg plz plz write a fic where Trevor Dumb-As-Shit-Genius Belmont, Not-Actually-The-Heir Belmont, Was-Actually-Training-To-Just-Be-A-Smith-Or-Something Last Belmont deals with being one of the Chosen Ones etc etc and how much he hates the handsome prissy elf vamp who actually knows more than he does about monster hunting!! Because, he wasn't actually trained for this! he was just mama's smart boy!! I would love to read that ahem

See, here’s the thing.  Trevor had an older brother and two older sisters and, yes, his baby sister was only just fourteen but she was an absolute prodigy, so...no one really minded that the second-youngest Belmont was no great shakes at studying.  He was good in a fight, no one ever questioned that, but hunting monsters involved more than just killing things.  If it had just been killing things, Trevor could have gone toe-to-toe with any of his siblings, because Trevor’s always had a good head for combat and a good hand with weapons.

It wasn’t, though.

There was a lot of studying, in House Belmont.  The family bestiary was one book in a thousand, filling a library larger than some people’s houses, and Trevor just can’t sit still long enough to read the goddamn things.

You need a translator?  Trevor could speak six languages.

On the other hand, he could barely be bothered to read English and he was nowhere near literate in any of the others.

The family didn’t much mind, because House Belmont was forty people strong just at the main manor, and only half of them were even physically fit for combat anyway, so if Trevor wanted to learn how to forge his beloved weapons instead of how to read Greek, they weren’t going to stop him.

House Belmont was dead, though.  It burned, and all those forty people with it, except for Trevor, and now--

“What do you mean you don’t know how to kill one of these things?” Sypha shouted as the three of them sprinted toward the center of an abandoned town.

“I thought I’d been pretty fucking clear!”

“Left,” Alucard snapped, and they hung a sharp left into an alley.  “Up the wall,” he ordered, and cupped his hands to catch one of Sypha’s feet and toss her through the air as if she was nothing but thistledown.  She clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle a shriek, and hit the roof hard--Trevor thought he saw a flicker of darkness cross those narrow golden eyes.  “You too, Belmont.”

“I can climb a damn wall.”

“As you say,” Alucard said, and jumped.  It looked like someone hopping over a low fence, and carried him two stories straight up, so quickly that he blurred.  Trevor didn’t pause to watch the way Alucard landed, crouched with one hand on the roof in one of those inhuman catlike movements of his, and instead took a run at the wall.  

Bracing one foot against the wall, he launched himself as high as he could and caught a windowsill, then pulled himself up onto the next story, then the eave.  

“What is that thing, then?” Sypha hissed, panting as she dragged Trevor down to kneel beside them.

Trevor watched the wolf lope toward the mouth of their alley--bone-thin and black, as big as a horse, and fearless in the wake of the Night Horde, where mortal animals ran from the demons like a forest fire.  He tried to remember what Lizaveta told him about werewolves, tried to unravel the books he had read into some sense.

Lycanthropes were humanoid, he remembered that, and varcolacul were never thin, but--

It had been so long since he’d set foot in that library.

“Pricolici,” Alucard said after a moment.  “I’ve never seen one before.  I didn’t think they went after groups.”

Trevor gritted his teeth and considered the merits of pushing Alucard off the roof.  He’d probably just hop right back up, the little shit.  “Maybe,” Trevor said evenly, “it got cocky since Father Dearest opened a gate to Hell.”

Alucard looked at him, flat, and Trevor gave him a grim smile in return.

The pricolici turned down the alley--he thought its vision was probably poor, its head sweeping from side to side and its nostrils flaring.  It might not know they were there, atop their roof, but then again, it might be able to climb for all Trevor could recall.  He had meant to ask Lizaveta about her hunt, her first kill, but the fire--

“My sister killed one of these.”  Trevor didn’t realize who had spoken until Alucard and Sypha both looked to him in surprise.  He thought Alucard was surprised, at least, but then maybe the emotionless marble mask was a vampire thing or maybe it was an Alucard thing, but either way it was a pain in the ass.

“Alone?” Alucard asked, and--not just surprise, but admiration.  A quick lash of bitterness was swallowed up in a rush of guilt.  It wasn’t Lizaveta’s fault that she had been a prodigy and Trevor had been a brawler.

“You have a sister?” Sypha asked, and she was always an open book, her shock plain on her face.

“Had,” Trevor said through his teeth.  “And yes.  I don’t know how she did it, though.  I didn’t have the chance to ask, not before--”

“Did a Belmont die killing one of these?”

Trevor gave a short huff of laughter at that, watching the pricolici prowl down the alley.  “Belmonts die killing all sorts of things, but no, she didn’t.”  He cast about for something, anything, and a faint memory of his mother’s necklace--silver, pure and strong--caught at him.  “Silver,” he said aloud.  “I don’t know about pricolici, but silver is usually good against werewolves.  Do either of you have anything?”

“Speakers don’t wear jewelry,” Sypha said.

“The hilt of my sword has some silver on it, but I’m not particularly interested in beating that thing to death.  Any further thoughts, Belmont?”

Something in Trevor’s chest snapped.  Weeks of traveling, searching for Dracula and trying not to get killed by the Night Horde or by the civilian population, being looked to for answers, answers that Lizaveta or the twins or, Christ, even his useless older brother who could barely hold a conversation without going for his sword, could have given in a heartbeat.

It had been a bit of a fucking test for his temper, is all.

“No,” Trevor snapped.  “In case it fucking missed your notice, I wasn’t exactly my family’s crown jewel, and it’s just too goddamn bad for Wallachia that their stupid prophecy landed on the only Belmont who was probably going to end up as a fucking smith, because there’s nothing I can do about it.  If I could get you my sister or the twins or, shit, my mother, I would, but no such luck, so if you don’t mind, I’m just going to try to cut its head off.  That usually works all right.”

Trevor dropped to hand from the eave, then onto the ground, while the others were still looking at him.

It turned out, after a fashion, that between beheading and burning, silver was nonmandatory for killing pricolici.  Wrinkling his nose at the stench of burning fur and blood, Trevor poked at his face to investigate the severity of the cut he could feel on his cheek.

“Here,” Sypha said, holding out a folded bit of cloth.  Trevor couldn’t tell what it was, but it looked clean, so he took it and pressed it to his face.  “Is he going to become a werewolf from that scratch?” she asked Alucard.

“No,” Alucard said, swaying out of the way of a thrown spark with the easy grace of a reed in a high wind.  “People don’t become pricolici that way.  To be fair,” he added, considering, “I don’t think enough people escape pricolici attacks to make a judgement, but we do know how to kill them now, just in case.”  He gave Trevor an ironic little nod of his head and Trevor made a rude gesture with the hand not occupied with tending his face.

“Good,” Sypha said with a sigh.  “I’m going to go see if I can find anything we could use in this town."

“Find me something to drink,” Trevor said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I absolutely will not,” she replied, and left.

It was silent over their little pyre for a moment, and then Alucard said, “Your sister must have been quite gifted.”

“Prodigy of House Belmont,” Trevor confirmed, staring at the fire.  It had smelled like burning hair when they burned down the manor, too.  “She was only fourteen when she killed one of these things.”

“You had other siblings?”

“Twin sisters and a brother.  All older.”

“You don’t talk about them.”

Trevor looked up, eyes narrowed.  “Yeah?  Tell me about your mother, then, vampire, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know about the fallen House Belmont.”

Alucard’s eyes threw back the firelight like no human thing ever could, and he inclined his head slightly.  “Fair enough.  They were killed by the Church?”

“Traditional solution to excommunicants who won’t fucking leave.”  Trevor kicked a stray piece of wood into the fire and said, “Burn them out.  They caught every single one of us, except for me.  You know, I noticed that you’re still asking questions.”

“My mother was burned as a witch,” Alucard said emotionlessly.  “You know that already.  I was merely observing that we have something in common.”

“We don’t have a goddamn thing in common except that we both want your father’s ashes on a plate.”

“Perhaps,” Alucard allowed.  He started to walk away, and paused when he was level with Trevor’s shoulder, cutting a considering glance at him.  “You would have been wasted as a smith,” he said, just as cool as ever.  

“I swear to fucking Christ, I will absolutely throw you into this fire.”

Alucard had the sheer balls to laugh.