#if you comment “ugh how did you win” i will hunt you down and kill you

[amaianita]

splatfest memories and unexpected wins

a collab with @scivious @nyxo-lotl and @t0m4t0-b0i + editing by Anni! thank you all so much, it was very fun!!

the picture we used as a base!

[generallynerdy]

Uncalled they come to me, and told, they still won’t leave me (Din Djarin/Soulmate!Reader)

Spoilers for Chapter 9 (S2E1) of the Mandalorian

Summary: After the ambitious Toro Calican turns on you, his hired mechanic, in hopes of winning favour with the Guild, the mysterious Mandalorian saves your life. Now that you owe him a life debt, he’s stuck with you until you can save him back. It’s not so bad, having a free mechanic and babysitter for the kid, but things take a turn for the worse when both of you realise you might be catching feelings. For someone that might not even be your Soulmate.

Requested by Anon: Hello! How’re you doing? May I please request a Din x reader soulmate au? The one where you don’t see color until you touch your soulmate? It would be very difficult for Din to find his soulmate and I’ve always wanted to see how it played out. If not that’s ok! Thank you and have a wonderful day ❤️

Key: (Y/N) - your name, (h/c) - hair colour, (e/c) - eye colour Translations: vode - siblings, Ret’urcye mhi - goodbye (literally: may we meet again), mirshmure’cya - brain-kiss (Basic term, is Keldabe kiss. This is the soft one as opposed to the literal headbutt term) Asked to be tagged in this disaster: @pearlll09 Word Count: remember when i said this would be 4k? Yeah. It’s 6,478 words. What. The. Fuck.

Author’s Note: this is way longer than I intended it to be but I think u deserve it since u were the only one who saw my post begging for mando requests and actually sent one hksjlfdkj tysm!! I’m so happy I got to write a Soulmate AU for him tbh. Btw, I have it in my head that Yodito would’ve given him the ability to see green, as a familial Soulmate bond, but it wouldn’t work for this if your eyes are green so I just left it out. (Also wtf is up with the Cobb/Din shit, Cobb is clearly in a dedicated relationship with the bartender Weequay. I named them Sala :D) The title is from The Teller of Tales by Gabriela Mistral.

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*

“Do you wear those gloves all the time?”

The Mando gives you a look—one that you can’t read, obviously, but you get the idea that it’s drier than the desert you’re in.

Calican snorts, but you shoot him a glare and he shuts up. You’re only here because he’s paying well for your mechanical skills, enough that his request of an extra hand on his first bounty seemed reasonable. Finding out that he’s hunting Fennec Shand was...less than pleasing, but now that the Mando is onboard, you’re not quite so worried about the outcome. They’re supposed to be fearsome warriors, after all. And he was smart enough to figure out how to wait out Shand, which is what the three of you have been doing for hours.

“I’m just saying,” you continue, “between the armour and the gloves, it must be damn near impossible to find your Soulmate.”

He shrugs. Sort of. It’s kind of hard to tell, to be honest.

“Haven’t you heard the stories?” Calican asks, flopping back onto the sand. “Mandalorians don’t have Soulmates. They start seeing colour after their first battle; war is their only destiny.”

You roll your eyes. They’re folk tales, really, and ridiculous ones at that. Every sentient has at least one Soulmate, romantic, platonic, familial, or otherwise, and there’s no reason for Mandalorians to be any different. Still, the stories make their rounds. There are specific ones, too, like the one about the Mandalorian Jedi who made the Darksaber; he was said to see colour when he lit his weapon for the first time. Fett, too, was said to have seen a new colour with every clone that was decanted—which is mildly ridiculous.

“Maybe the Mandalorians of old,” Mando comments with a scoff. “Not many of us see battle these days.”

“Well, if you’re looking for it, I know a krayt dragon a few hundred klicks away,” you suggest lightly.

He snorts. “No thanks. I’ll take the assassin.”

“Speaking of,” you said, “you guys know I’m just a mechanic, right?”

There’s a pause. Calican nods, but the Mando is still.

“What?” he asks, displeasure in his voice.

“I mean, I’m pretty good with a blaster, but I’m gonna be useless against Fennec Shand.”

Mando whirls on Calican. “You paid a mechanic to be your back-up? Are you insane?”

He shrugs. “(Y/N) has a mean right hook.”

“That’s not reassuring,” Mando huffs. He looks over at you and you can almost feel him glaring through the visor. “Are you crazy?”

“I’m broke,” you scoff. “Same thing. Oh, hey, do you need repairs on that hunk of junk you pilot? I’ll be more thorough than that lady at the hangar.”

He hesitates. “We’ll see.”

You grin. That’s not a no.

*

“You’re a prick, did I mention that?” you hiss over your shoulder.

Calican shoves the blaster into your side. “Shut up and keep walking.”

The Mandalorian stands on the other side of the hangar, waiting for Calican to make his move. Seriously, this day could not be going any worse. After killing Shand, Toro Calican, certified dumbass, decided that kidnapping you and the Mandalorian’s—pet? Child?—passenger was the best way to go. Whatever the little weird thing that’s in your arms is, it’s pretty cute, and you’d rather he shoot you than the baby holding tightly onto your shirt. In fact, he probably will, because the kid is his ticket into the Guild—you’re just dead weight.

“Looks like I’m calling the shots now. Huh, partner?” Calican asks the Mando. “Drop your blaster and raise ‘em.”

The Mandalorian puts his hands behind his head. Next to you, Calican pushes Peli forward and instructs her to cuff him. With a huff, she moves behind the Mandalorian with the intent to follow orders.

“You’re a Guild traitor, Mando,” Calican begins. You consider sighing. This sounds like the start of a villain monologue. “And I’m willing to bet that this here is the target you helped escape. Fennec was right. Bringing you in won’t just make me a member of the Guild, it’ll make me legendary.”

In a burst of light, the Mandalorian sets off a flash grenade.

You yelp and tuck the little thing into your arms before tucking yourself over into a roll down the ramp of the ship. You fall into the sand just in front of the Mandalorian, who’s moved to fire a shot at Calican, sending him flying off the other side, smouldering.

Breathing heavily, you sit up, the child still in your arms.

“Are you okay? Is the child?”

You look up. The Mandalorian has his gloved hand held out, offering to help you up. Hesitantly, you take it and pull yourself off the ground.

“We’re both okay—I think,” you say hesitantly, holding the baby out to him. “Is he—?”

“Dead,” the Mando confirms, taking the child from you.

You frown. “Good riddance. Thank you,” you tell him hesitantly, though your tone is genuine.

“It’s nothing,” he murmurs.

He distracts himself by checking on the child, who coos up at him contentedly. You smile a little at the interaction, but put yourself back into focus.

“It’s not nothing,” you say firmly. “I owe you a life debt.”

He freezes. “What?”

“Where I come from, if someone saves your life, you owe it to them. Until I can save your life, I owe you,” you explain.

“That’s—you don’t need to do that,” he says quickly.

You cross your arms. “It’s like your Way. It’s my culture, my honour on the line. You’re stuck with me, Mando.”

“What? No. Can’t you...pay me, or something?”

“I’m broke, remember?”

“You saved the child’s life, doesn’t that count?”

Your eyebrows shoot up. “I rolled with him. You did the work, so, no, it doesn’t count, even though he’s your…” You hesitate, remembering the word. “...foundling.”

“You know, you’re kind of getting the better end of the deal here,” Peli pipes up, directing the thought at the Mandalorian. “A free mechanic, babysitter, and an extra blaster? That’s a bargain.”

“Uh...pre-warning, I don’t know much about child care,” you warn immediately.

He snorts. “Neither do I.” After a moment, he sighs deeply. “Fine. But we’re going to work on those blaster skills before you become a liability.”

“Fair enough.”

*

Sticking with the Mandalorian is probably the worst decision of your life.

Almost immediately after Tatooine, in need of more funds, he drags you into trouble with another group of bounty hunters and the New Republic, of all groups.

“Who is this?” someone asks, her voice sing-song as she enters the Mandalorian’s ship.

You don’t bother turning around, continuing your repairs on a hull panel. “The mechanic. Don’t touch anything.”

“You have a personal mechanic?”

A few people enter the ship, making you finally turn around. The first speaker is a Twi’lek woman and the second a Human, who squints disdainfully. From behind him, Mando pushes past their little crew—including a protocol droid and a massive Devaronian—to approach you, deciding to stand next to you rather than them, which brings you immense pleasure for some reason.

“No. (Y/N) owes me a life debt and, apparently, credits don’t cut it,” he explains shortly, sounding frustrated and exhausted.

You nudge him companionably—it’s an argument you’ve had a few times, the paying of your debt. He doesn’t want to be free of you, per se, but he doesn’t want you to be in his debt. Having that kind of power or hold over you makes him uncomfortable, you can tell, as every time it comes up he gets twitchy.

“Kinky,” the Twi’lek snickers.

You grimace. That would explain why Mando sounds like he wants to die. “Fun group. What’s the job?”

“One of theirs got caught. We’re getting him out,” he says. “And we’re using our ship.”

Our ship. Maybe it’s a slip of the tongue or maybe he’s making it clear that you’re with him, but either way, it brings a smirk to your face. The Twi’lek looks disgusted.

“Well, at least my hard work won’t be going to waste,” you huff.

“Mando,” the Twi’lek interrupts, “you haven’t introduced us.”

You can feel him rolling his eyes. “(Y/N), meet Mayfeld, Burg, Xi’an. Mayfeld is running point, the droid is flying, and the target is a New Republic transport ship.”

“Ugh. You guys better be good; I’m not getting arrested.”

“Mayfeld’s former Imperial,” Mando says before any of them can answer.

You scoff. “A stormtrooper? My shitty blaster skills would be better than his.”

“I wasn’t a stormtrooper,” Mayfeld spits, annoyed enough that he must’ve said it once already. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

All but the droid stay, scattered around the hull. Mando follows soon after the jump to hyperspace, having hovered over the droid while it set their course. He stops Burg from getting into the weapons cache right after he hops down the ladder and the two look like they want to kill each other.

“Someone tell me why we even need a Mandalorian,” the Devaronian grunts.

Mayfeld huffs. “Well, apparently, they’re the greatest warriors in the galaxy. So they say.”

“Then why are they all dead?”

They all laugh at that—Xi’an with a particularly nasal one, which is irritating beyond belief. You frown deeply, but try not to show how pissed their laughter makes you. That sort of shit isn’t to be made fun of; a dying race. It’s all too familiar these days, what with the death of Alderaan and the crater on Scarif.

When you come back into focus, Xi’an is talking in low tones.

“See, I know who you really are,” she says to the Mando.

You roll your eyes. Unlikely.

(Something in your brain goes: I do, which is stupid. You don’t know who he is, under that helmet, sure, but you’ve seen a lot of him through his actions. He’s reckless, terrifying, and a badass, but he’s also patient and...kind, in his own way. The way he treats the child is like nothing you’ve seen in another bounty hunter. It’s gentle, caring. The kid has really grown on him, you think. And the way he treats you is just straight up polite, even though you’re practically his servant in terms of a life debt. Still, he treats you like a person and doesn’t ask you to do unreasonable favours just because he saved your life. He doesn’t hold it over your head.)

And then they start goading him about the helmet.

Burg actually goes for it, which Mando beats him back for. You jump forward, but just as you do, the door to the sleeping cot flies open, revealing the child.

Instead, you rush to the child, pulling him into your arms.

“What is that?” Mayfeld asks, approaching.

“Back off,” you hiss.

He looks between you and Mando. “Wait, did you two make that?” When you scoff, he frowns. “What is it, like a pet or somethin’?”

“Yeah. Something like that,” Mando says quickly.

Xi’an frowns. “Didn’t take you for the type. Maybe that code of yours has made you soft.”

You snort. Soft. That isn’t a word you’d use to describe him, ever. You haven’t seen very much action since Tatooine, but you saw enough there.

Mayfeld reaches for the child and, without hesitation, you lift your blaster. The way he’s looking at the little guy makes you uneasy.

“Fuck off,” you warn instantly.

“Aw, c’mon, I just wanna hold him,” he teases.

Over the comms, the droid’s voice echoes. “Dropping out of hyperspace. Now.”

The entire ship shudders and shakes, sending everyone flying off their feet. You happen to ram into beskar, your face slamming into the metal, which makes you yelp. The baby wails in your arms as gravity makes to tug you away again. Before it can, Mando grabs your arms and holds you in place against him until the ship is steady once more.

“You okay?” he asks, helping you to your feet—again, you think miserably.

“Ugh, no,” you groan, putting a hand on the left side of your face. “That’s gonna bruise.”

Mando takes the child from you. “Sorry. We’ll deal with it after.”

You wave him off. “I’ve had worse. You worry about the job, I’ll watch the kid,” you say, taking the child back. You can’t help but smile when he coos happily.

“Right,” Mando mutters. For a moment, he watches you both, considering.

“Mando!” calls Mayfeld. “Let’s go!”

Before he goes, he puts a hand on your shoulder. “Be careful. I have a bad feeling about this.” You nod, which seems to appease him, and watch him leave.

Petting the child’s floppy ears, you wonder if he meant that to be as comforting as it was.

*

I should’ve known, Din thinks when Qin walks out of that cell.

I definitely should’ve known, he decides, returning to the Razor Crest to find a sparking droid corpse and a shaking child in your arms.

He tosses the cuffed Twi’lek to the side and rushes to yours, stepping over Zero’s limp form. You look relatively unfazed, for someone who’s just ripped a droid’s head off with their bare hands, but the child is rather distressed. The kid squeaks at the sight of Din and, much to his surprise, lifts your hand to show him.

It’s bleeding.

“What did you do?” Din questions, crossing the hull for his medical kit.

“I...may have tried to punch the droid,” you admit hesitantly. “It didn’t work.”

He scoffs, returning to kneel in front of you with bacta patches in his hands. “No karking shit.”

Your face falls as he reaches for your hand, pulling it toward him so he can patch it up. “It was gonna hurt the kid.”

“You did good,” he murmurs. “Stupid, but good.”

It never occurred to him that you might save the child again. You’re here out of necessity, after all, because you owe him, because your honour depends on paying that debt. The child is just another being in the vicinity, but you still saved him. Again. You’re either very stupid or very kind and he can’t decide which one is more concerning.

“Maybe you should teach me a bit of hand to hand, too,” you suggest warmly, wincing at the bacta’s sting.

Din makes a noise that’s sort of a laugh. “I’ll add it to the list.”

He moves to put bacta on the bruise his beskar gave you—He feels ridiculously guilty for that; here you are, paying off a life debt to him, and he still manages to hurt you—but with a hand, you stop him.

“Don’t waste it,” you say immediately. “I’ve had worse bruises, seriously.”

He frowns. “It’s not a waste.” Before you can protest, he puts the patch on top of the bruise.

You huff. “You’re a worrier, aren’t you, Mando?”

“Apparently,” he replies dryly. He hadn’t realised it, either.

“Will you stop flirting and get us out of here!?” Qin shouts from the other side of the hull. “The New Republic will be on our asses!”

You roll your eyes. “I hate to say it, but he has a point. Where are the others?”

“Dealt with,” he says simply. “It was a double-cross.”

“Well, I figured,” you shoot back with a knowing look. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

The drop is easy enough, especially since Din knows that New Republic signal is beeping steadily from Qin’s pocket. He escapes quickly, dipping back into the Razor Crest, where you wait at the top of the ramp, the child hanging onto your boot.

“Let’s go,” he declares, the ramp shutting behind him as he enters.

“Already?” you question with a raised eyebrow. “There are a few repairs I could make out of hyperspace that might be useful.”

He waves you toward the cockpit. “Later. We need to leave.”

“Oookay.” You frown but do as he says, plucking the child from off your foot. “C’mon, little guy,” you mutter to him.

Din waves away all your questions as he starts the take-off. Finally, when the Razor Crest is a safe distance away from the space station and X-Wings appear out of hyperspace, he glances back at you.

“Holy shit!” you cry as they open fire. You look back at him with a slack jaw, which makes him smile underneath the helmet. “That was you, wasn’t it?”

He shrugs half-heartedly, but it’s enough of an answer.

“You’re a maniac, Mando,” you laugh, watching the scene through the transparisteel.

Din thinks over it, staring at you for a long moment. There’s light in your eyes—maybe it’s the reflection of the explosion, but it’s captivating.

“Din,” he says.

You look over. “Hm?”

He clears his throat, trying to shove aside nerves. “My name. It’s Din.”

“Oh. Oh,” you repeat, eyes wide. Then, you smile, more genuine than he’s ever seen from you, he thinks. “You’re crazy, Din. You know that, right?”

He laughs—and that’s the first time you’ve heard a proper one from him. “Yeah. Yeah, I know.”

*

When Din drops a pair of gloves in front of you, you laugh.

“You’re telling me the gloves are out of convenience?” you ask him disbelievingly.

“The more skin you cover, the less likely you are to get cut up by a vibroblade,” he replies dryly. “Put them on.”

You raise your hands in surrender and take them, slipping them over your fingers. “Surprisingly comfy.”

It occurs to you that this is...sort of a big deal. You’ve kept your hands bare for as long as you can remember, mostly because you’re a romantic and finding your Soulmate has been at the forefront of your mind for a long time. But now, you think, it’s not such a big deal. You have a debt to pay and, besides that, you’re pretty happy with how things are now.

Life isn’t exactly nice with Din and the kid, so to say, but you’re content. You love the child and he adores you. The Razor Crest feels more like home than any planet ever has. And Din is...well, he’s something. Being around him is mildly addicting and whenever he’s gone, something feels incomplete.

“Better?” you ask, lifting your gloved hands.

“Much,” he says. Then, he holds out his own hand. “C’mon, up.”

You take the hand without thought, but before you know it, he’s swinging you around and shoving you to the ground.

“Ow!” you cry. “What the hell, Din?”

He huffs. “Lesson 1: Never take anything for granted.”

“Rude.” You hit his arm meaningfully, but he just rolls his eyes; just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean you can’t tell it’s happening.

“You’ll thank me someday.”

“But not today.”

“Nope. Today, you’re gonna hate my guts.”

*

He’s dying.

It feels unreal, what with everything you’ve watched him survive so far. A newbie bounty hunter, a group of pissed off bounty hunters, lots of bounty hunters, and the New Republic but a group of stormtroopers is what gets him?

Moff Gideon is what really gets him, though. The bastard that helped destroy his people is going to destroy Din Djarin. Hearing him speak Din’s name makes you nauseous, furious, even. He gave you that name in confidence, trusted it to you, the only one of his handful of friends to even use it, and Gideon decides to declare it to Nevaroo in its entirety. It makes your blood boil, enough that you get out of the initial firefight mostly unscathed.

But Din doesn’t. And now he’s dying in your arms and you feel like you failed.

“Go with them,” he tells you, all croaky and half-assed.

“No. No, I’m not leaving you here,” you declare, carefully leaning him against the rubble.

Flames flicker all around the room and the child is crying. It’s not loud or consistent, but it’s enough to break your heart.

“You have to go,” Din says again. “You’ll die.”

You laugh ruefully. “That’s kind of the point. A life debt means I save your life or I die trying.”

A pause.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” he hisses through the pain.

“Afraid not, dumbass. You’re stuck with me, remember?”

He grasps your arm, his hands still gloved. If you’re going to die here, maybe you should ask him to take off the gloves. A part of you has wondered…

“C’mon, tell me it’s transferable—some ‘dying wish’ shit like that.”

You nod, though the action sinks uncomfortably into your chest. Leaving him here...that doesn’t sit well with you. But if he asks, then you’ll do it. “Yeah, you name it, but it’d better be a big one, something equivalent.”

The breath he lets out is one of relief. “Take care of the kid. Go find his people and return him to them. Protect him.”

“With my dying breath,” you swear, the words holding an air of ceremony.

Din grasps your arm tighter and pulls you down, your forehead meeting his helmet. You’re not sure what it means, but it must mean something because he mutters words in his own language, which you’ve never heard him do before.

“Ret’urcye mhi.”

May we meet again.

Din does what little he can in saying goodbye to you, as deeply as that cuts. You’ve grown on him, a little too much maybe, and it kills him to think that you’ll be without him now. You still can’t hit a headshot, he realises, suddenly worried for how you’ll fare.

And so he gives you what he can: a Keldabe kiss and a goodbye, instead of the action he wants to take. He wants to take off his gloves and see if he can figure out the colour of your eyes. On the other hand, though, he doesn’t want to leave you with that, of all things, to leave you seeing the red of his blood and the blue-tinged orange of the flames before any other colours.

You take the child in your arms and, with one last glance at Din, leave the room for the covert’s tunnels underground.

The child whimpers up at you.

You look down, sniffling, and pet his ears gently. “I know, little one. I’m so sorry.” You place a gentle kiss to his forehead.

Cara appears, tugging on your wrist. “C’mon,” she says gently. “We need to get out of here.”

It occurs to you, as the three of you and Greef move on, that Cara might help you with the child. For Din, obviously. She’s a good person and, frankly, she and Din seem pretty friendly. The second she saw you, she’d offered her bare hand and bemoaned the fact that her vision was still black and white, much to your amusement. It was all in good fun, but Din had looked a little uncomfortable, for reasons you didn’t know.

“(Y/N),” Cara says quietly, calling your attention back.

You shake yourself from your thoughts. “Sorry.”

She smiles sadly. “It’s okay. Just keep up.”

The small group turns a few corners before footsteps sound from behind. You immediately place the child in the bag hanging from Cara’s shoulder and draw your blaster, watching her and Greef do the same.

From the distant hall, two figures approach: IG-11 and—

“Din!” you half-cry, half-breathe out. Holstering your blaster, you meet them halfway to take more of Din’s weight from IG. “How—?”

“No living thing can see me without my helmet. IG isn’t alive,” Din says dryly.

You laugh, a partly manic sound. “Thank kark. You’re not getting out of this that easy.”

The noise he makes is both amused and resigned. “Wouldn’t dream of it. Where’s the—?”

“He’s with Cara,” you say, finishing the thought before even he can, in his groggy state.

It’s safe to say that when the Armourer gives him his sigil, Din almost considers correcting the Clan of two to a Clan of three. He doesn’t, reminding himself that you’re here because of a debt and nothing else, but the thought is there.

*

The months after Nevarro are more peaceful than the first week of your time with Din. 

You finally get to pull a proper sleeping space together for yourself. Well, it’s a hammock in the hull, but it’s better than the seats in the cockpit. The child gets his own hammock, too, though it’s in the cot space with Din. He loves it, so much so that he squeals when he sees it. That’s your proudest moment, for sure.

Most days, you tend to forget that you still owe a life debt. To be honest, it just feels like the three of you are normal. Din takes bounties, you take short mechanic jobs on different planets, and the two of you trade off on child-duty. It’s pretty regular, more than what your life used to be, anyway.

Din is still training you in hand-to-hand and blasters, of course. You’re getting better with the latter, but the first is difficult. On the way to Tatooine, where there’s supposedly another Mandalorian, he decides to have another training session.

“Fists higher, do it again.”

Huffing, you wipe your wrist across your sweaty forehead. It’s easy enough to obey the order—the first part, anyway. Getting into his guard is difficult, though.

One hit, two blocks—there. You slip under his guard and make an abrupt drop to the ground, sweeping his legs out under him with a fierce movement. He goes down in a tumble of beskar, joining you on the floor. As soon as he’s down, you flip over and straddle his hips, an arm over his neck in false threat.

He barks out a laugh. “Much better.”

“I’m not entirely hopeless!” you declare joyfully before bursting into snickers.

Leaning down, you thunk your forehead against his helmet. The gesture is fond, you’ve learned, something shared between close companions—or at least you think. Din told you that it’s called a mirshmure’cya in Mando’a, that it doesn’t have an equivalent word in Basic.

(Which is technically true. Literally, it means brain-kiss, but the outsider term for it is Keldabe kiss. It can be used for close companions—vode in arms, family—but it’s also used for romantic partners, so he’s mildly horrified at the idea of explaining its cultural significance to you and having to face his feelings for someone that may or may not be his Soulmate. He hasn’t gotten up the courage to ask if he can check. Or try to do it discreetly.)

A distant beeping starts up, coming from the cockpit. It’s the approach warning, which means the training session is over.

“I’ll get the kid,” you say, climbing off Din and offering a hand.

He takes it without hesitation, dragging himself up and making a beeline for the cockpit.

Tatooine is about what you remember. That is, it’s dry, sandy, and the worst planet you’ve ever been on. Stepping out of the ship and into the hangar makes you smile, though, at the not-so-distant memory of Din saving your life. It hasn’t been that long, but it feels like it’s been years.

“Oh, hey!” says Peli, after greeting the child—which is fair, he’s adorable. “You’re still with him! Haven’t repaid that debt yet, huh?”

Your face falls. “Uh, no, not really.”

On the way to Mos Pelgo, your thoughts linger on the life debt. One of these days, you’re going to save Din’s life—then where will you be? Will he want you to leave? What will you do if you have to leave? Your old life was nowhere near as interesting as this, nor did you have anyone close to what Din and the child are to you.

The dreary grey slopes of sand only make it easier to think of the worst possible outcomes. Now you remember why you hated Tatooine so much.

You don’t even realise the speeder is approaching the small town until Din taps your arm, which is wrapped around his waist. Jumping at the touch, you loosen your grip sheepishly and glance at the child, who looks like he’s enjoying himself immensely.

After the speeder comes to a stop, you take the kid while Din enters the cantina.

When you enter yourself, you find that he’s about to shoot someone, while the Weequay behind the bar looks rather distressed.

“Perfect timing, as always,” Din remarks without a glance.

You raise your free hand. “You’re the bad luck charm, I’m just here for the ride,” you retort teasingly.

“You brought a kid to a gunfight?” his opponent asks, raising an eyebrow.

Finally, you glance over at him and see why Din looks ready to kill him. He’s in Mandalorian armour but his helmet is off—clearly, he’s not Mandalorian. “You’re wearing beskar and you’re not a Mandalorian, buddy. I think you’re in more trouble than the kid is.”

“He is,” Din gets out, a twinge of viciousness in his voice.

Before they can even reach for their blasters, though, the ground starts to shake.

You grab onto the doorway for support, eyes wide as you grip the child. Din and the Mandalorian poser move toward the door, joining you and staring out at the street outside.

The entire planet feels like it rumbles and chaos reigns outside.

Something is moving the sand—coming toward the town.

“Holy fuck,” you whisper as it goes by, shifting the sand like it’s an ocean rather than earth. It flies out of the ground, sharp teeth the only thing you see as it consumes a bantha whole.

When it’s gone, the poser huffs. “Maybe we can work something out.” He turns to you, offering a hand, which is covered by fingerless gloves. “Cobb Vanth. I’m the Marshal here.”

You take it hesitantly, glad that things are still black and white when you make contact. “(Y/N).”

He notices your hesitation and chuckles. “The Weequay in there is Sala, my Soulmate. I’ll see if they can’t whip up something for the kid; I’m sure he’s starving.”

“Very,” you say, just before he goes to leave.

When it’s just you and Din, you look over at your companion. “Krayt dragon, huh?”

“Yep,” he sighs, already sounding tired.

You laugh. “I know I said I could bring you to one when we met, but I was totally kidding.”

He looks over at you and you can feel the low-level glare behind the visor, but it only makes you snicker. “I hate you.”

“You’re so full of shit,” you retort immediately.

*

You finally get to repay your debt.

It’s not what you’re thinking about when you shove Din out of the way of the krayt’s projectile venom, but it’s repaid nonetheless.

Din doesn’t think of it immediately, either, as he’s rather more concerned with the fact that you’re sent flying across the desert into a pile of debris and sharp rocks.

“(Y/N)!”

Before he can run to you, Cobb grabs his arm. “The dragon!”

To be honest, killing the dragon feels like a bonus when he pulls himself together and figures out a plan. When the great beast explodes, the Tuskens and the villagers cheer, but Din races back to the place he saw you last. He pushes aside the remains of one of those massive weapons they built to find you, laying on the ground. For a moment, panic clutches his heart, but then you groan.

“Am I dead?” you ask.

Din lets out a breath, hardly managing it, as he kneels next to you. “Dumbass.”

“Because it feels like I’m dead.”

“Dumbass,” he repeats, ripping your shirt away to find a deep cut in your side, just above your hip. “Of all the ways to pay your debt—”

You sit up, wincing. “Oh,” you say, as if you hadn’t realised it, “I guess I did that, too.”

Din’s heart is still beating a million klicks a second at how close you were to being dead, but for a second, it flips, realising that you hadn’t saved him just to pay the debt. And then, as he’s helping you off the ground and bringing you toward the others, who have bacta patches ready, his heart sinks.

Your debt is paid. You don’t have any reason to stay with him and the kid. As soon as you get back to the city, he’s going to have to watch you leave.

Shit. He didn’t think this through.

Meanwhile, you’re on the same train of thought. Does he really think you saved him for the debt? Does he want you gone that bad? It makes sense. You’re a pain in the ass, with all the training you need. But...well, you thought he might’ve—

“I’ve changed my mind,” you declare.

Din, terrified, attempts to sound neutral. “About?”

“The worst job we’ve ever taken. This is definitely it,” you huff as he helps you down onto a smoother boulder, taking patches from a Tusken.

He goes to use them, but you raise a hand.

“If you even think about getting near my wound with those nasty gloves, I’m going to skin you,” you threaten.

Frankly, Din is too shaken to even laugh. The silence lays there, stilted, as he removes his gloves and sits somewhat behind you, on another close stone. You’ve taken yours off, too, seeing as one is ripped all the way through.

He’s careful with the bacta patch and his bare hands, making sure not to touch your skin.

Now, of all moments, would be the worst time to find out that you really don’t have a reason to stay.

While he works, he thinks, briefly, that he should say something. “(Y/N),” he starts to say. “I—”

But that happens to be the moment he’s putting the bacta patch on. You suck in a sharp breath through your teeth, wincing. Your hand flies out, reaching for something to ground you. Of course, because something out there has it out for you, you grab his hand, forgetting that his gloves are, for once in his life, not there.

You realise, ridiculously, that his hand is warm.

And then the world around you explodes into colour.

The faded yellow of the surrounding desert is overwhelming with how it burns into your eyes alongside the brilliant blue of the sky. The surrounding Tuskens are in browns and greys, simple things, but so, so beautiful to your new sight. You breathe out, a shaky action.

Behind you, Din comes to see the same, but his gaze is stuck on the back of your head—the (h/c) of your hair and how the light catches in it, despite it being a complete mess.

You barely have the breath to gasp, but you do, whirling around to face him.

His beskar is beyond what you’d pictured: a shining, sparkling silver that could stand out on a star. No wonder rooms fall silent at the sight of him.

Din has the same thought about your eyes. On death’s door, all he’d wanted was to know what colour they are and now he knows, but it feels so useless now. He doesn’t even know what to call them. Sure, (e/c) would work, however weakly. You are...something else. You always have been, but now it’s like he can see it, the beauty of who you are so plainly painted into your features.

Din doesn’t even have the time to be afraid of your reaction before the words are slipping out. “I don’t want you to go.”

You just stare at him for a long moment, words processing.

It...kind of freaks him out.

He jumps when you fling yourself at him, arms wrapped around his shoulders in the tightest hug he’s ever gotten. Immediately, he responds, clutching the back of your shirt like it’ll save his life.

“Thank the Force,” you breathe out, just beside where his ear is under the helmet. “I don’t wanna leave.”

Din lets out a breath of relief and tugs you closer so you’re practically sitting on his lap. It can’t be comfortable, but you don’t seem to mind. When you do finally pull away, it’s to press your forehead against his helmet. It sends a swell of affection through him again, your constant Keldabe kisses. He taught you something important to his culture, to him, and here you are, using it without thought.

“Is it too late to tell you that this is the Mandalorian equivalent of a kiss?” he murmurs, more than a little embarrassed.

You laugh softly, arms reaching to rest around his neck. “And I thought you were so cool.”

“I just blew up a krayt dragon,” he argues.

“Oh, you’re plenty badass, Din,” you tease back, “just...not smooth.”

He huffs. “I’m gonna kick your ass next training session.”

A grin comes over your face and, for a second, he can’t comprehend why that would make you smile—until he realises that he just promised a next time. You’d genuinely believed he wanted you gone and Din thought you wanted to leave, but neither of you were right. 

A whine from below catches both your attention.

The child reaches up from the ground, making grabby hands.

You laugh, a noise Din echoes quietly, and pluck him from the ground, holding him in your careful hands. “Hey, buddy. Feeling left out?”

He squeaks a confirmation, his little hands—green hands, you realise, deeply amused—reaching for Din’s helmet. Once he has a comfortable hand, he bashes his head against the helmet.

Din yelps, not out of pain, but concern, grabbing for the kid, who wobbles dizzily.

“Oh, shit—” Din says.

“Woah, woah,” you get out between wheezing laughs. “Don’t do that! His head is much harder than yours.”

The kid makes a weak huff and curls against Din’s chest stubbornly.

“I think that was an attempted kiss,” you suggest to Din.

Underneath his helmet, he grins. Petting the child’s head with a gentle finger, he looks back up at you. “It was cute.”

“Very,” you agree.

Without prompting, Din reaches for your hand again, a little hesitant. You take his gladly, running your thumb across his knuckles, which makes him shiver.

“Clan of three,” he whispers.

You lift your gaze. “Hm?”

“The Armourer, she said, ‘Clan of two’ when she gave me my sigil,” he explains. “I wanted to correct her then.”

The smile on your face is beyond words. “Clan of three has a ring to it. You’re stuck with me for good now, Din Djarin.”

He snorts and raises your hand to his helmet, touching it briefly to the metal in lieu of kissing it.

Tatooine might be the worst place in the universe, Din thinks that it doesn’t matter so much where he is. Sitting here, with you and the kid, he thinks that this might be home.

*

River’s Tags: @hahaboop & @mystoragehatesme

Masterlist

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

Hey! I literally love your last post so much but I'm confused about the rebels bit (never watched it). How does Rebels criticize the jedi? Thanks!

Aw, thank you! (Lol, this is such an old ask I don’t remember what that post was, but here goes).

Well in s2 Ahsoka, Kanan (a survivor from Order 66) and Ezra (his Padawan) all go to an old Jedi Temple to talk to Yoda about Vader and his Inquisitors (Darksiders who hunt the few remaining Jedi and kidnap Force sensitive kids). Yoda is only there spiritually and the three of them get different visions. Ahsoka sees Anakin as Vader, and Kanan has to fight several enemies and eventually admit he can't protect his Padawan from the world, only guide him (which prompts the vision to finally make him a Jedi Knight, as he survived Order 66 as a Padawan.)

And Ezra... Ugh. Ezra had a previous encounter with Yoda, in which he got his lightsaber crystal. Basically Yoda asked him why he wanted to be a Jedi, and Ezra had to do some self-examination and eventually realized that helping and protecting people made him feel alive, which greatly pleased Yoda who told him he might become a Jedi after all. That's a really great exchange and I love the character development Ezra gets, as he starts by saying he wants never to feel powerless and eventually realizes that's not the right answer.

But in this second encounter, as Ezra asks how they can defeat the Inquisitors, Yoda basically says that fighting is rarely the right path. And to illustrate that, he says that line about the Jedi being arrogant and joining the war swiftly "in their arrogance," which really bothers me. He also says they were "consumed by the Dark Side", which is why they're now gone. In all fairness, he also mentions that they were motivated by fear, which is partially true. 

Now, I write analyses and I try to be intellectually honest about them, because ignoring contradicting stuff weakens your argument instead of helping you. Except this time, I really can't accept this quote. I have an excuse, Lucas wasn't involved in Rebels so it's not the highest canon in my opinion (the 6 movies + TCW are, here are the quotes justifying my position), and I feel like that assertion is out of character for Yoda, ignoring his ST ghost appearances, and also plainly factually incorrect.

I understand that Ezra really needed to be taught not to always seek to fight. At this point, he's still an emotional kid who occasionally struggles with the Dark Side. Not fighting is important to a Jedi's path, so I can understand Yoda's intention. But the example he uses? According to Lucas, the Jedi were drafted in the war. That's not jumping into a conflict out of arrogance, that's literally being dragged there against your will. And sure, there’s Geonosis, but how exactly is rescuing a bunch of your people that’s getting slaughtered by a Sith Lord the same thing as arrogantly jumping into a fight? Like, what’s the option here? Not go, and let an innocent Senator and a bunch of Jedi be murdered?

It's like Rebels!Yoda isn't acknowledging that the war was fake and that a Sith Lord engineered it as the perfect trap (which is recurring problem in Rebels; at one point Ezra, Kanan and Rex have to fight an old Separatist tactical droid and Ezra "solves" the Clone Wars by pointing out that nobody won except the Empire, so really they were on the same side all along, and he gets praised for doing what "a bunch of Jedi, senators and Clones couldn't do," ie getting both sides to talk to each other – except wtf??? setting aside that the Jedi and Rex were aware of the war being fake by the end of it, and that the Separatists were openly led by a Sith Lord and attempted to commit genocide several times in TCW and did commit mass murder, and reduced like several worlds to slavery or starvation and were backed by the worst big corporations you could imagine, the war would NOT have ended if the two sides had tried talking it out. 1) The Senate made it illegal 2) the big corporations arranged for terrorist attacks on both sides the one time they tried to negotiate so the war would drag on and they'd get more money out of it 3) Sidious. Was. Controlling. Everything. What. The. Heck. Would. Have. Been. Accomplished. By. Negotiating.)  Plus the question of whether or not the Jedi should even fight is like... constantly raised by the Jedi during TCW, so I really can’t see it as “oh wow we didn’t even take the time to think and we got killed because of it, we really sucked.” 

Seriously, there’s this S6 quote: 

MACE: Are you sure we are taking the right path? YODA: The right path, no. The only path, yes. Designed by the Dark Lord of the Sith, this web is. For now, play his game, we must.

Like yeah, totally rushing in and being eager to fight lol. Nothing to do with being boxed in and having no alternatives. 

So yeah that's bothers me and I don't think it jibes with the rest of canon. I don't remember Yoda telling Luke (who, in the beginning, is as eager to fight as Ezra is) that the Jedi "disappeared" because of some fault of their own, or because of an eagerness to fight. (Seriously, pussyfooting around the fact that the Jedi were slaughtered grates me.) The OT never, ever, ever implies that the destruction of the Jedi Order was their fault - and unless you assume that the OT is “pro-Jedi propaganda” (*laughs in dumb youtube comments*) then I don’t see Rebels weaving it into its narrative as legitimate.

Again, choosing alternatives to fighting is a great lesson on a personal level, but it doesn't work on the scale of the Rebels/Empire conflict - or the Jedi/Sith one. Ezra should often choose not to fight because of what it'll do to his soul. The Rebels should not stop fighting because there is no cohabitation with something as evil as the Empire. Imo Yoda is always presented as wise enough to know the difference. 

The last thing that makes me think it's out of character is Yoda's spiritual journey in TCW s6. He gets all of his flaws thrown into his face and has to conquer them – he has to face his literal Dark Side and he wins. And yet at no point during that arc is he ever made to conquer his ‘Jedi arrogance’ or whatever. He has to face his worst fear (first vision, all the Jedi dying), let go of his attachments (second vision, him having to accept that he can’t live in a perfect world where everything is beautiful and no one is dead), and reaffirm who he is as a Jedi (third vision, refusing to give up on Anakin and trying to save him rather than to kill Sidious) but at no point is he ever made to recognize that wow, the Jedi are the worst for fighting. 

I’d argue that the very purpose of the visions showing him Order 66 and Anakin falling are to make him accept that these things are completely beyond his control - and as such, not his fault. He doesn’t get to fix things, because the fate of the Order is not in their own hands. It is, in fact, in Anakin’s (from a thematical/narrative standpoint). Yoda has a hard time with it (actually he almost shuts down when he first sees everybody dead and his first reaction is to say that he failed them, so I can’t accept Yoda blaming his grandkids for dying) but he accepts it in the end, when he tells Mace and Obi-Wan he’s not certain one ever wins a war, but they might still find ‘victory for all time’ (referring to balance aka Sidious’ death in RotJ). 

So anyway that’s my beef with Rebels!Yoda. Not hate on Rebels though, there are many parts of it that I really, really love - but some of them kinda infuriate me, and this is one of them. 

[fantasticstoryteller]

New Amsterdam Chapter 34

“Peter, Jamison wants you in his office,” Beth announced as Peter arrived at the Bugle.

Peter paused. The last time Jamison wanted him in the office he introduced Peter to the guy who (for who-knows-what-reason) wanted Peter’s job. “Did he say why?” he asked timidly.

Beth rolled her eyes behind her brightly painted eyelids. “I don’t know.”

Peter ducked his head, face burning. Talking to Beth was hard. “O—okay,” he stammered.

She rolled her eyes as he made his way to Jamison’s office. He knocked to announce himself before opening the door, his spider sense tingling at a low level. When he opens the door and sees Eddie there, he understands. “Y—you wa—wanted to s—see me?” asked Peter nervously. His glasses began to slide down so he pushed them up with the heel of his hand.

“Parker, get in here. don’t make me stress myself. And close that door; this is a private conversation.” Timidly, Peter did as he was told and the other man turned to glare at him as he stood near the desk. “Eddie,” said Jamison as he crunched the candy, “seems to be under the impression that we’re a competition.”

Peter mastered the urge to snort derisively. He didn’t need Eddie hating him more than the other man already did. He wondered what he’d ever done to Eddie to warrant the animosity. He tried not to make enemies as Peter Parker; he made more than enough as Spiderman.

“So, I thought; let’s have a competition. There are gangs all over this city; bring something on one of them that I can sell.”

On one of the gangs? That would put a target on his back, on the backs of everyone in his life—not that there were many, and Harry and MJ had all the protection that money could buy—but not everyone did. He opened his mouth to protest.

Jamison, who probably knew more about his employees than most of his staff guessed, waved the objection away. “It will be anonymous,” he said firmly. “Your identities will be protected by the paper.”

Eddie sneered. “I need no ‘protection’,” he said before turning to leave.

Peter turned back to Jamison. “Um,” he said nervously.

Jamison shrugged. “He has no friends or family to put in danger, and he’s an MMA champion,” the older man said. Then he snorted. “And he assumes he’ll win. Since the masked menace is off the street, I expect you to devote your energy to this, Parker.”

“Ye—yes sir.”

“And Parker?”

“The printer’s clogged again,” Peter supplied wearily before leaving the office.

Beth looked up. “Are you okay?” she asked, concerned. “Eddie just strut through here saying that he’ll have your job.”

Peter laughed nervously. “It—it’s too soon to tell,” he said before heading back to fix the printer.

Getting information on the gangs of New Amsterdam was a risky business. Even Spiderman would have trouble—and Spiderman was, for the moment, on hiatus. First and foremost, he didn’t want any of them tracking him home. A lot harder to do when he couldn't web himself across the city.

Then again—he could focus on the Snipers. The police didn’t see them as one of the more threatening gangs in the city (if the street children weren’t counted they had a low kill count outside of territory disputes), but Peter knew better. He knew the gang was borderline cult, and—on top of all of that—they hunted the street kids. If he could get something on them, something Jamison would print—he might be able to get the police interested in the gang. At least enough to take the pressure off the street kids.

The thoughts occupied his mind until Wade swept him up in a hug. “Petey-Pie!”

Peter grinned. “Wade!” he said happily. He started to snuggle back—until he realized he was still wearing the over-alls. “I’ll stain your suit!”

“Wouldn’t be the first time!”

“What?”

Wade made a dismissive gesture. “Not important. Don’t let stains come between cuddles! Cuddle time is important!”

Peter chuckled and rubbed his face in Wade’s chest. “You’re so strange,” he said fondly.

“Coming from you, that doesn’t sound like an insult.” Peter looked up to see Wade staring at him, smiling through the mask (how did he make the mask so emotive?).

“It’s a compliment,” Peter said firmly. “How was patrol?”

Wade squealed with excitement. “Oh, Petey-Pie, you won’t believe what happened!” A pause. “Of course he will; we’re the ones telling him. No he wouldn't! No, you are!”

Peter let the soothing noise wash over him before he pulled away. “Let me change back into my clothes,” he suggested, “and on the way home you can tell me about it. And I’m making dinner tonight,” he added firmly. He’d gotten a foolproof recipe from a foodie blog in preparation.

“We’re going home together?” asked Wade.

Peter flushed. He hadn’t thought—he’d just assumed. “I—if you wa—want to,” he stammered shyly.

“Oh, Baby Boy, of course I want to!” gushed Wade stemming Peter’s insecurity. “And, while we’re waiting, what did you do today?”

“I fixed the printer again,” Peter offered softly. He quickly ducked into a corner and pulled off the cover-alls before putting his pants on. “Before that Jamison said that Eddie and I are competing? He wants me to get a story about gangs.”

“Oh, Petey-Pie, that’s a dangerous road to walk.”

Despite the fact that Wade was merely voicing Peter’s earlier fears, Peter felt his resolve harden. “I can handle it,” he said firmly as he went back out to see Wade.

“You’re cute when you’re annoyed.” Wade’s gloved finger tapped his nose. “Boop!”

“Wade!” Peter felt his nose wrinkle at the tiny assault, but smiled anyway. “I just need to clock out.”

“Oh, cuddles!” Wade grabbed Peter and tucked him in close. “Can you walk like this?”

“Um, yes?”

“Then onward, Intrepid Reporter!”

“I’m just a photographer Wade,” complained Peter as they made their way into the office.

Wade snorted. “You’re not ‘just’ anything,” said firmly. One of his swords dinged a hanging light as they made their way across. “Those things are dangerous,” he announced.

“Then maybe,” said Beth tartly from her post, eyes flashing, “you should put them away.” Wade turned to look at Beth, body very still. Beth glared back at him, unconcerned.

Beth had dealt with police who tried to badger the paper into giving up its sources, armed thugs who tried to force the paper to print what they wanted, terrorists who planned to blow up the Bugle and all its content, and people who wanted the Bugle to pay “protection” fees. She wasn’t frightened of a random man in a mask—particularly not one currently plastered to the back of the office nerd.

Who had never, as either Spiderman or Peter Parker, asked Deadpool to take off the swords.

“I like you,” Wade suddenly decided. “You have sass girlfriend!”

Beth’s only comment was to snort. “I’d better,” she said cryptically. “And Peter?”

“Yes?” asked Peter nervously.

“You’d better kick Eddie’s ass.”

“I—I’ll try.”

As they were walking to Peter’s apartment building, he was stopped by one of the street kids. “Mr. Parker, are the two of you dating?” asked the kid.

“Maybe?” asked Peter. What actually constituted “dating”? Going out—well, they did that a lot (especially as Spiderman and Deadpool), and had for a long time. They ate together all the time. Peter was even planning on cooking that night. They liked spending time with each other in and out of the masks—even if Wade still didn’t know that Peter was Spiderman and would probably freak out (and maybe hate him) about it. Peter looked up at Wade. “Are we dating?”

Wade froze. He was absolutely still—Peter couldn't even hear him breathing. Suddenly his breath rushed out. “Do you—want to be?” he asked hesitantly.

Peter smiled at him. “I—I’d like to,” he said softly.

“Ugh. Get a room.” The street kid rolled its eyes at them—but was still grinning as it slipped into an alley.

[365days365movies]

January 12, 2021: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) (Part 1)

Hey, uh...

I can’t remember if I’ve seen this movie or not.

OK, HEAR ME OUT HERE. I was 9 years old when this movie came out in the USA, and I vividly remember the buzz around this movie when it came out in theaters. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, for those of you who don’t know, is the movie that really introduced wuxia to the United States in the modern century. Directed by Ang Lee - y’know, this guy...

...buuuuuuuuuut, also this guy...

AND YET, still this guy...

- this movie has won a HELL of a lot of awards, and was the critical darling of 2000. And again, I know some of you Tumblrites (goddamn Zoomers DO YOU EVEN REMEMBER NICKELODEON ORANGE AS A COLOR??? Kidding, by the way, y’all are cool) may not be old enough to remember that time, but lemme tell you: this movie was a Mandarin-language movie nominated for Best Picture. Not just Best Foreign Language Film (which it WON), but BEST. PICTURE. Trust me. It was a big deal at the time. 

The film actually did win Best Original Score, Best Art Direction, and Best Cinematography. And as I watch this, I’m going to be remembering both the time period it came out in, and the film that actually won Best Picture that year. What won Best Picture that year, you ask? Well...

Yeah. But is CTHD better or worse than Gladiator? Well, that’s what I’m gonna try to figure out, as well as whether or not 9-year-old me saw this movie already. I don’t think so, so that’s why I’m watching it now. 

So LET’S GO BACK TO THE YEAR 2000, PEOPLE! We just got over that whole Y2K thing (only for the ILOVEYOU virus to pop up), the election was TOTALLY NORMAL (that’s a joke, it...it was not), AOL was the most successful internet company ever (HA! Classic. And Ask Jeeves is gonna last forever, I’m sure), and the below movie would win Best Makeup at the Oscars.

Yeah. Yeah, that’s an Academy Award-winning movie. How the hell does THAT make you feel? Makes me feel conflicted, I tell you what. ANYWAY MOVIE TIME SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat, the man himself), a member of the Wudang sect of swordsmen, is retiring. He goes to his old friend (and maybe more), and leader of a private security group, Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), who asks her to deliver his personal sword, Green Destiny. Shu Lien goes to Beijing to deliver the sword to an ally of theirs, Sir Te (Sihung Lung), while Mu Bai goes to the grave of his master, who was killed by an assassin named Jade Fox.

In Beijing, Sir Te and Shu Lien talk about the whole “more than friends” thing between her and Mu Bai, and they go to store the sword in a study. There, Sir Te’s granddaughter, Jen (Zhang Ziyi), speaks to Shu Lien about the sword, and about the nature of swordsmanship. This serves an introduction into the world of wuxia swordmanship...and I am GODDAMN HOOKED IN

So is Jen, it would seem, as she speaks with admiration about the freedom that comes with the Way of the Sword (which is distinctly different from the Way of Sarah (Blessed Be Her Fall)). See, Jen’s about to get married, in that arranged way, and she’s not a fan of the whole marriage thing. I get the feeling that she’s planning on doing something about that.

But no time for existential crises now! Someone’s trying to steal Green Destiny! A ninja sneaks in and succeeds in stealing it, but Shu Lien attempts to stop them. However, the thief is trained in Wudan, much to Shu Lien’s surprise. A rooftop chase occurs, giving us the first display of the rampant wire work and loose physics characteristic of this genre, and GODDAMN IT FUCK YE-NO

Keep it together, man, you gotta treat this film critically and seriously, not like an excited little kid watch some kickass martial arts shit. Even though this fight scene is AWESOME, holy shit...

The thief succeeds, but only because a second assailant appears with a dart, distracting Shu Lien. In the morning, the night guard says it was someone from Governor Yu’s household. In the street, the attacker is believed to be the mysterious Jade Fox, who would covet the sword of the man she killed so long ago. Ugh, this movie already rules so hard. Anyway, Shu Lien comes to see Jen again, who’s currently writing calligraphy.

Shu Lien comments that calligraphy writing is similar to swordsmanship. Jen quickly notes that she wouldn’t know. She expounds again on her regrets on marriage, and Shu Lien explains that she was engaged to a fellow swordsman who died. And although Shu Lien and Li Mu Bai love each other, they both feel bound to their fallen friend, and do not act on their feelings. Oh my God, I’m digging this fated romance shit SO HARD

NO. Professionalism. Breathe...focus on the year 2000...Napster...Survivor and Fear Factor...Harry Potter...Pokemon the Movie 2000...Pokemon the Movie 2000: The Power of One...

...Whew. OK. Back to CTHD.

Jen rests in her home, while two people spy on the...Yus. Wait, Jen’s name is...Yu Jen. Um...it’s her. The ninja is Jen. You couldn’t see it in the GIFS, but the ninja could easily be a woman, no question. It’s totally Jen, acting on her desire to be a true swordsperson. I mean, look at her stare at that sword earlier in the movie. Calling it now, it’s her. But...who threw the dart from the rooftop?

Looks like it’s Jade Fox, as a man from earlier explains. See, he’s a police chief from another area, looking for Jade Fox. He believes that she’s somehow infiltrated the Yu household, possibly arriving with them to Beijing. Jade Fox killed the policeman’s wife, making this personal. Together, the policeman Tsai (Wang Deming) and the Night Guard Bo (Gao Xi’an) team up to find her.

They aren’t the only ones, as Li Mu Bai just arrived to Beijing to talk with Shu Lien, and finds out that Jade Fox ha returned. Remember, Jade Fox killed his master, so he has some stakes in this. Meanwhile that night, Tsai and Bo (Team Law) meet Jade Fox, AKA...Jen’s governess! NICE.

Jade Fox (Cheng Pei-pei) fights the...wait...wait WHAT DID I JUST TYPE???

CHENG PEI-PEI FROM COME DRINK WITH ME IS THE VILLAIN OF THIS MOVIE???

And now Chow Yun Fat is fighting one of the first wuxia film stars? OH MY GOD

Chow Yun Fat’s about to kill her to avenge his master, and then the mysterious ninja (AKA probably Yu Jen) saves her from him. The two of them fight, and Jade Fox kills Tsai just before they escape using a streamer HOOOOOOOO IT’S REAL HARD STAYING PROFESSIONAL RIGHT NOW

The next morning, though, Yu Jen learns more about Jade’s crimes, and expresses guilt about taking Green Destiny. Additionally, Shu Lien claims to know who the culprit is, and threatens them with punishment unless the sword is returned. Essentially confirming my suspicions, the ninja returns that night to put the sword back, and Mu Bai is waiting there for her.

Yet another physics-defying rooftop chase occurs, although this one is less frought. They actually refer to the gliding technique as “flying,” and as a technique of Wudan. Interesting, engaging, cinematical, movielian, I love it. I need more of it, MORE PLEASE.

Looks like I might get what I want. Mu Bai offers to be Jen’s teacher, as he sees great potential in her. But she shuns the ways of Wudan, allows Mu Bai to take back Green Destiny, and returns to Jade Fox. Jade Fox is trained as a Giang Hu fighter, a more brutal lifestyle. 

And yet, Jen isn’t really into that either. Turns out that she’s been studying the Wudan manual on her own, and has EFFORTLESSLY surpassed her illiterate former master. With nothing left to teach her, Jade Fox leaves with a veiled threat.

The next night, a man visits Jen, and they embrace passionately. He’s a bandit from the Gobi Desert named Lo, AKA Dark Cloud (Chang Chen), and the two met when his gang ambushed her caravan travelling through the desert. He stle her comb, and this girl just GETS ON A HORSE, GRABS A BOW AND ARROW, and HUNTS HIM DOWN LIKE A DOG FOR THAT COMB. She faces down the gang of bandits, and Dark Cloud leads her away, gives her water, and she KICKS HIS ASS!! But she asses out from exhaustion, and he takes her back to his Cave of Wonders.

He cares for her, and as soon as she regains her strength, she just knocks him out. Cold-blooded, goddamn. But she gets lost in the desert, and passes out again. Lo brings her BACK to the Cave of Wonders, and cares for her AGAIN. My dude is a PRINCE. I mean, he’s a thief and probably a murderer, and definitely a bad person, BUT NEVER MIND THAT FOR NOW.

As you probably guessed, Stockholm/Lima Syndromes set in, and the two fall in love...like you do?

But Jen’s nobleman father is looing for her, making trouble for Lo and his people. He vows to go legit and make himself worthy for her love in her father’s eyes. He tells a story of a boy who leapt off a mountain to save his parents. A literal leap of faith. In their last night together, she gives him the comb that brought them together, saying to give it back when they’re together again.

But now...Jen’s fated to marry, and it can’t be avoided. Lo gives the comb back to her, as she tells him to leave. And I...I need a break. If I don’t take a five minute break, Imma explode from how much I love this goddamn movie.

PART 2 COMING IN A FEW!!!

[purpli-writes]

Danganronpa: Locked and Reloaded (Chapter 2: Problematic Workouts For The Aspiring)

Summary:

Stuck in Hope's Peak Academy in a cruel killing game, class 78 is forced to either kill or stay trapped forever.

Makoto Naegi, the Ultimate Lucky Student becomes friends with an unusual pair... of people?

Who would've thought discovering who murdered someone would get him two boyfriends.

Spoilers for Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc (somewhat)

You can read it on AO3 here

Makoto couldn’t shower. 

Physically, nothing was preventing him from showering, but seeing Leon’s dead body in his shower only a day prior still lingered in his mind.

True to his word, Monokuma had cleaned up any trace of Leon’s body. But you can’t erase memories.

Or at least Monokuma hadn’t.

After the execution of Sayaka, no one dared to say anything for a few minutes. It was all so painfully real.

Makoto remembered leaving the trial room and heading straight to his dorm. He felt so numb.

They had lost two people in one fell swoop. Both of them had died for nothing. 

But Makoto still kept the belief that all of them, well the rest of them, could get out of Hope’s Peak Academy. 

Even if it was useless, it was better than just accepting fate.

So Makoto slowly made his way to the cafeteria.

Unsurprisingly, everyone was there. Makoto couldn’t bother to care that he was late.

“Did that really happen…?” Aoi asked quietly as Makoto sat down at the table. He didn’t need to ask to know what she was talking about.

“Obviously,” Byakuya snapped back. “Why bother asking such stupid questions?”

“There’s no need to be cruel,” Kyoko responded, “it’s only natural someone would ask that question in a situation such as this.”

Byakuya frowned at Kyoko’s response but didn’t reply again. The tension was thick even as the morning discussion droned on.

“What did we gain from the deaths of Sayaka and Leon?” Makoto asked suddenly, causing everyone at the table to look at him.

“What do you mean, ‘what did we gain’ Mr. Naegi?” Hifumi asked, voicing the group’s confusion.

“I mean,” Makoto began, “when we were given our motives, we were told we would be given something in order to inspire us to kill. But none of us here committed murder, so do we gain anything from their deaths?” 

“That is a good question,” Kyoko muttered, putting her hand on her face. “I think it would be safe to assume that we’re getting something out of the deaths of the blackened and the victim.”

“What exactly could we gain from the deaths?” Celeste asked, “I mean, we did not fulfill the motive requirements, no?”

“Maybe it’s something different,” Sakura added, “something we can benefit from but the blackened wouldn’t.”

“What could we benefit from? We only want to escape, right?” Aoi asked.

“That’s superficial,” Kyoko responded. “We’re not only wanting to escape, as shown by Sayaka murdering Leon.”

“Yeah well, it’s not just fucking superficial,” Mondo said. “I want to leave this place as soon as fucking possible.” 

“Well, I think I see what Kyoko meant,” Makoto said. “There’s got to be something to keep us motivated or else we wouldn’t exactly be interesting to watch.”

“Ugh, I still can’t shake how odd it is to be constantly watched,” Junko added, crossing her arms.

“Y-you’re a m-model, don’t you l-like to be c-constantly watched?” Toko accused.

“I like getting paid to look pretty, I never signed up to be watched day and night without end,” Junko responded annoyed.

“W-well, you’re probably g-getting off to it!” Toko accused again, and Junko sighed before responding.

“ I’m getting off to it?! Are you sure you’re not the one fantasizing about it?!” Junko shot back, glaring at Toko.  

“Ugh, will you pigs shut up?!” Byakuya said, voice cutting through their fight.

“Who are you to tell me to shut up?!” Junko yelled, taking her anger out on Byakuya instead of Toko.

“I’m Byakuya Togami and I’m set to inherit the Togami corporation! Who are you-” Byakuya began before he was interrupted by Kiyotaka.

“Everyone! Such a fight is unacceptable in a school setting!” Kiyotaka yelled.

“Taka…” Makoto mumbled, "I don't think they care about what's welcome in a school environment."

“Well, they should! Just because we are trapped in this school doesn’t mean we can resort to becoming mindless animals!” Kiyotaka responded.

“Hey,” Mondo said, apparently annoyed from Kiyotaka’s comment, “school ain’t the most important in the world.”

“What?! How can there be something more important than your studies?!” Kiyotaka asked, completely floored.

“I dunno man, have you tried  living ?” Mondo responded.

“I have! What a completely pointless question!” Kiyotaka said, not getting Mondo’s sarcasm.

“I’ll show you a completely fuckin’ pointless question!” Mondo said, as he started to get up, presumably to punch Kiyotaka.

“Everyone, settle down,” Kyoko said, crossing her arms. “We still haven’t answered the question of whether or not we’re getting anything from the class trials.”

“I just don’t understand what else we could get, other than our lives…” Aoi said.

“I don’t think it’s important,” Byakuya muttered. “After all, you’ll all be dying for me, anyways.”

“Uh, I don’t think so…” Makoto said, earning a glare from Byakuya.

“Tch,” Byakuya said as he adjusted his glasses. “You’ve just made yourself a huge enemy, Makoto.” 

“Well! It looks like this breakfast has been very informative!” Monokuma yelled, appearing once again out of thin air.

“Ah!” Makoto screamed, falling out of his chair. 

“I’ve been hearing your theories about the class trials, and I’m very intrigued!” Monokuma said, starting to sweat.

“Are you going to answer our questions, or are you going to be a nuisance?” Celeste asked.

“If you ask nicely you might get the answers you so desire…” Monokuma replied, still sweating.

“I’m starting to think we don’t want the answers,” Junko muttered, staring at Monokuma in disgust.

“Aww! You kids are no fun!” Monokuma pouted. “I guess I’ll answer your burning questions anyways! Since I’m so nice, y’know?” 

“No,” Kyoko said. “You are not exactly ‘nice’, Monokuma.”

“Anyways! After each class trial, if the class remains, a new area of the school will open up!” Monokuma explained.

“Huh? A new area of the school?” Makoto asked.

“Yup! I hope you didn’t think that this school was only a couple of rooms! The stairs aren’t just for decoration!” 

“N-new areas, huh… I s-suppose that isn’t s-so bad…” Toko muttered.

“Mhm! I’m not so heartless, you all need to give me some credit!” Monokuma replied proudly.

“The only credit you’ll get from me is when you die,” Byakuya said plainly.

“Ouch! My heart! I can see the  brats don’t need me here!” Monokuma replied before disappearing.

“Well, I guess that answers that question,” Kyoko said, looking at the others. “I suppose we should all explore, try to see the new area we ‘unlocked’.”

“Oh! This is like a video game!” Hifumi added.

“Tch,” Byakuya said as he got up. “If this is a video game, I’m intent on winning.”

“I think we all are…” Makoto said, once again earning a glare from Byakuya.

“There’s no use in fighting,” Celeste said, getting up as well. “We might as all work together to achieve our similar goals, no?”

“Yeah!” Aoi added. “If we work together, we’ll all get out just fine!”

“I agree,” Sakura said. “The sooner we explore the new area the better.”

“Then let’s get to it!” Kiyotaka yelled. “Together we can accomplish anything!”

With that, the class dispersed. It didn’t take long for them to discover that the second floor was accessible. They all slowly made their way upstairs. 

“Woah!” Aoi said, suddenly.

“Huh? What’s up Hina?” Makoto asked, confused.

“Don’t you guys see it?! There’s a pool!” Aoi responded, excitedly.

“And what’re we supposed to do with that information?” Byakuya asked, crossing his arms.

“Ugh! Some of us like to have fun, jerk.” Aoi responded, crossing her arms.

“I think it is interesting,” Sakura added. “At least we have something to occupy ourselves with.”

“Hm, if you are inclined to that, I suppose so…” Celeste muttered. “Some of us would rather stay dry.”

“Still!” Makoto said, “at least we have something to do, right?”

“Huh,” Yasuhiro said. “I didn’t expect a pool!”

“T-that’s because y-you’re not a very good p-psychic…” Toko muttered.

“Hey!” Yasuhiro responded, clearly insulted. “I have a success rate of 30%!”

“Y-yeah well I’d guess that’d be good f-for a s-scammer..!” 

‘Well then let’s explore the pool a little bit.” Makoto said.

The other students and Makoto went into the pool area.

“Puhuhuhu! Welcome to Hope’s Peak Academy Pool.” Monokuma said, as he appeared.

“What’s up with the gun’s by the door…? Are they for hunting g-ghosts?!” Yasuhiro yelled.

“Nonsense! They’re probably for decoration!” Kiyotaka responded.

“Nope! The weapons are 100 percent genuine!” Monokuma said. ”If you try to be a pervert, well, you’ll get more holes in you than swiss cheese!”

“Also, if you try to scan your e-Handbook to open the door of the gender you are not, the door will not open!” Monokuma said.

“S-so what happens w-when two people e-exchange e-Handbooks? How w-would you stop that?” Toko asked.

“Easy! We have a rule against that now…” Monokuma said. “Exchanging your e-Handbook with someone is now illegal! Don’t break that rule if you don’t want to get punished!”

After saying that, Monokuma disappeared, and the bickering began once more.

“Break it up,” Junko said, annoyed. “We still have other rooms to explore.” 

“Couldn’t we check our e-Handbook maps for the other rooms on this floor…?” Chihiro asked, pulling hers out.

“Huh,” Mondo said. “I guess that is fuckin’ smart.”

“Tch,” Byakuya said. “I already thought of that.”

“Well then,” Celeste said, staring straight at Byakuya. “What exactly awaits us on this floor?”

“Hah, you think I would be stupid enough to share information with the likes of you?” Byakuya asked, looking away.

“Huh…?” Makoto asked, staring at Byakuya confused.

“We’re all enemies,” Byakuya explained. “Only one of us can leave this school alive, so what’s the point of sharing information?”

“Still,” Makoto responded, “wouldn’t it be wiser to work together and combine our knowledge? We’re less vulnerable in groups than we are separate.”

“I don’t depend on anyone, Makoto,” Byakuya snapped back, seemingly insulted. “I am a Togami, I need no one other than myself. You’re all a waste of space here.”

“You seemingly forget that we are trapped here together,” Celeste responded coolly. “If the Togamis were so powerful, they would’ve rescued you, no?”

“Ugh,” Byakuya said. “I don’t need rescuing, I’ll win this game myself.”

“Hm,” Kyoko responded, “so you are confessing to a murder you haven’t yet committed? I don’t think that’s a very wise move, Byakuya.”

“All of you…!” Byakuya said as he clenched his fist. “Get out of my sight…!” After saying that, Byakuya went into a room with twin doors.

“Maybe we should follow him…?” Makoto suggested.

“The room he is in is the library if the icon of books is to be believed....” Chihiro responded. “We might get information from the library, so it would be smart to go…”

“Then it is decided!” Kiyotaka yelled. “We shall head to the library!”

Soon, the students made their way into the library. Makoto wasn’t exactly impressed with the library, it certainly wasn’t the largest one he’d seen. And this one looked a little dusty, had it not been used in a long time?

“Why are you all here?” Byakuya asked, voice seething with anger.

“We’re exploring the second floor, remember?” Aoi responded, crossing her arms in a mocking fashion.

“Ugh, don’t waste my time, look around and just leave.”

“Hey… what’s that on the table…?” Chihiro asked, slowly walking to the front desk.

“Is that… a computer…?” Kyoko asked.

“Woah! Access to the outside world?! We’re saved!” Yasuhiro yelled.

“Um… bad news…” Chihiro muttered. “It’s not exactly working right now…”

“Awe, seriously…?!” Yasuhiro said. “Just when I thought we were saved.”

“Chihiro, aren’t you the Ultimate Programmer?” Makoto asked.

“Um… oh…! You’re asking if I could fix it…?” Chihiro asked, frown on her face.

“I mean, it’s in your fuckin’ title, yeah?” Mondo replied before Makoto could.

“In theory, yes… but we don’t know what damage has been done to it…” Chihiro said. “If we could power it on, that’d be a good sign…”

“Well, let us power it on, yes?” Celeste asked, staring at the computer indifferently.

After messing around with the computer, the class was successful in turning it on.

“Woah! Looks like we  are saved after all!” Yasuhiro said.

“Uh… I’m sorry… but that isn’t true…” Chihiro said, staring sadly at the computer.

“Explain yourself,” Byakuya replied, crossing his arms.

“There’s no internet connection… it seems the mastermind thought this through… I’m sorry!”

“It’s not your fault, right? You’re not the internet god, are you?” Junko replied, crossing her arms. “If anything, this can just serve as entertainment!”

“E-entertainment…? Y-you mean like porn…?” Toko asked.

“Ugh,” Junko responded, “you are so disgusting.”

“Anyways,” Kyoko said, ignoring Toko and Junko. “Maybe we can use the files on the computer. It is after all branded Hope’s Peak.”

“Oh…! You’re right, there does seem to be some files on here…” Chihiro said. “Although they seem to be corrupted…”

“Corrupted?! Wait… what does that mean…?” Aoi asked.

“They’re getting paid off?! The mastermind can pay off computer files?!” Yasuhiro yelled. “Oh no we’re doomed!”

“Not exactly,” Kyoko said. “How long do you figure it’ll take to uncorrupt these files?”

“I could make a program…” Chihiro muttered, mostly to herself. “But it could take a few days… I’m sorry…!”

“It’s fine,” Kyoko said. “Just try to get it done as soon as possible.”

“Alright…! I promise you I won’t let you down…!” Chihiro said, eyes filling with determination.

“We do not doubt your abilities, Ms. Fujisaki!” Hifumi said, trying to keep the light in Chihiro’s eyes.

“Oh… uhm, thank you…!” Chihiro said, smiling brightly at Hifumi.

“With a smile that cute, I might want to date you, but I’m only into 2D so…!” Hifumi said, puffing out his chest.

“Thanks for sharing,” Junko said. “Anything else you’d like to say, creep?”

“I’m sorry that you’re jealous that someone like me will never date someone like you!” Hifumi shouted.

“Ugh, you…!” Junko said, clenching her fist in annoyance.

“We do not need to fight in a library such as this!” Kiyotaka yelled, interrupting Junko and Hifumi’s soon to be war.

“Taka’s right,” Makoto added. “We need to work together, this computer could very well give us the answers we need!”

“Or it could just be nothing,” Byakuya added.

“It’s best to look at the positives, no?” Celeste responded. “Some of us do not have people constantly attending to our every need…”

“I agree! We should use this computer as a symbol! Something to look forward to!” Kiyotaka yelled.

“Look forward too? For all, we know this computer could just be fuckin’ porn!” Mondo said.

“I-in a school environment images of that nature wouldn’t be very appropriate…!” Kiyotaka replied, face turning a tomato shade of red.

“In a school environment murder isn’t exactly good either, but look where we fucking are!”

“There’s no use fighting over the computer,” Kyoko said. “But Taka is right. It’s better for us to view it as something hopeful than to think it is just junk.”

“I think it might be useful to us anyways,” Hifumi said. “For all we know a bunch of 2D girls could be there, just waiting for us…!” After saying that, Hifumi began drooling immensely.

“Or,” Junko said, “there could be a bunch of restraining orders all dedicated to you, creep!”

Before Hifumi could respond, Byakuya cleared his throat.

“Is there anything else all you plebeians need or can I have the library to myself now?”

“Well, actually…” Makoto muttered, “there is the other door in here.”

“Huh? What other door? Makoto, are you feeling alright?” Yasuhiro asked.

“You know, the door right near the monitor…?” Makoto responded, staring at Yasuhiro worriedly.

“Oh! That door…” Yasuhiro muttered, “Aha, I was just messing with you. Of course, I knew that door was there!”

“What could be in there…?” Aoi asked. “More books…?”

“Maybe that’s where they store the manga!” Hifumi added excitedly.

“M-manga…? Don’t be childish, t-this is a library, they only s-store real literature in here…” Toko stuttered out.

“‘Real’ literature…? I’ll have you-” Hifumi began but was interrupted by Byakuya.

“That’s the archive,” Byakuya explained tersely. “I don’t think I have to explain an archive to you plebeians.”

“An archive of what exactly?” Makoto asked.

“Anything really,” Byakuya answered. “I of course already know most of the things archived in there.”

“W-well, I d-don’t think we’ll get a-anything out of it…” Toko said.

“Maybe it has archived information about the school,” Sakura responded, “in that case, it would be in our best interest to look into it.”

“B-but, if B-byakuya has already looked into it, I-I’m sure t-there’s nothing of i-importance in there,” Toko said, looking at Byakuya longingly.

“The stuttering one is correct,” Byakuya responded. “I already looked under everything labeled Hope’s Peak, there wasn’t anything that stood out.”

“Well, maybe your eyes are broken!” Aoi shouted. “Because this whole killing game thing is not normal…!”

“Shut up,” Byakuya said. “Nothing in the files indicates that a killing game was the original plan.”

“Was there anything at all to suggest something malicious?” Celeste asked.

“There was one interesting thing,” Byakuya admitted. “But I don’t see why I have to share it with any of you.”

“It would be in your interest,” Kyoko said. “After all, having information others may want puts a target on your back.”

“Tch,” Byakuya replied, crossing his arms. “Like I have anything to fear from the likes of you.”

“Hm,” Kyoko responded. “Maybe so, but you cannot guard yourself against multiple individuals all seeking information.”

“Fine,” Byakuya said. “Here, it’s a notice.”

Byakuya handed the paper to Kyoko, who read it before passing it to the other members of the class.

“Notice of closure…?” Chihiro asked, staring at the paper.

“How come we never heard of that?” Makoto added.

“Maybe they were keeping it secret…?” Yasuhiro replied, scratching his head in confusion.

“That doesn’t make any sense…! Any respectable school should notify it’s incoming students about any closure!” Kiyotaka yelled.

“Fuck man, no need to take it personally,” Mondo said, crossing his arms.

“Hm,” Celeste said, “so something did happen, yes?”

“T-that seems to be the c-case…” Toko replied.

“What could cause a school like Hope’s Peak Academy to close…?” Aoi asked. “I mean, it’s a really big school, right?”

“The same thing that could cause a killing game,” Junko replied. “But we don’t know what the hell that even is…!”

“Something horrible,” Hifumi added. “Like canceling Princess Piggles…!”

“P-princess Piggles…? I-is that a k-kid’s show…?” Toko asked, crossing her arms.

“No…! It’s only the best anime in the world…!” Hifumi said, defending his prized TV show.

“Pretty sure that’s still a kids show.” Junko responded.

“Anyways,” Celeste said, crossing her arms, “until we can figure out what is on the computer, I suggest we shouldn’t entertain ourselves with mindless conjecture.”

“I suppose Celeste is right,” Kyoko said. “There is no use fighting between ourselves now that we finally have hope.”

“Finally have hope? This is just a fuckin’ computer!” Mondo complained.

“It’s not just a computer,” Kyoko countered cooly, “it’s our first piece of outside information. I don’t believe the mastermind is careless, but they want us to at least have a fair shot.”

“How can you be so sure of that?” Junko asked, staring at her nails.

“They’ve made the game fair, or at least as close as it could get. Class trials exist so the non-blackened at least have a shot of surviving another trial. Accomplices are useless, since there is no achievement for working together.”

“So, you’re saying… they’re trying to bring hope into us…?” Makoto asked, trying to figure out what Kyoko actually meant.

“Perhaps,” Kyoko replied dryly, “after all, you must have hope to succumb to despair.”

“D-despair…? W-where’d you get that from…?” Toko asked, staring at Kyoko as she started to bite her nails.

“When Monokuma first introduced himself, he claimed that he loved to see our faces full of despair. It is only a natural conclusion that he’d give us some sort of hope only to take it away.” Kyoko said, looking away from the computer.

“So,” Celeste said, “you are saying that we’re only given this computer so that it could only lead to our despair?”

“No,”  Kyoko said, looking Celeste in the eyes. “I believe the computer has information we need to inspire us, but the catch is that Chihiro would need to be alive in order to extract that information.”

“So you’re saying that the mastermind creates ‘holes’ in their plan, but only if certain people survive…?” Junko asked.

“Perhaps,” Kyoko said, closing her eyes. “This is all just a theory, afterall.”

“Seems like a pretty fleshed out theory,” Aoi added. “You must’ve thought this out a lot, huh…?”

“No,” Kyoko said. “It only seemed to be the natural conclusion, like I said.”

“Huh,” Makoto said dumbly. “I don’t think any of us could’ve put that together on our own! You’re a real genius Kyoko!”

“Huh…?” Kyoko asked, “what an odd thing to say.”

“Is it really…? I was only saying how I felt…” Makoto said. 

“He’s right, Kyoko! That was a genius conclusion!” Kiyotaka added.

“If you’re both so sure,” Kyoko responded, face coloring for only a short moment.

“If you’re all done here,” Byakuya cut in. “Can you please leave me and the library in peace…?!”

The class stared at Byakuya for a moment. His annoyance was quite clear as he clenched his fist.

“Ah, we should probably get out Byakuya’s hair…” Makoto laughed sheepishly, trying to ignore the murderous look on Byakuya’s face.

“Funny,” Byakuya responded. “That’s the first smart thing you’ve said all killing game.”

The class, excluding Byakuya, slowly shuffled out of the library. The air was thick with tension. 

Byakuya had a knack for ruining the mood.

“Huh,” Aoi said, crossing her arms.

“What’s wrong Hina?” Makoto asked.

“That guy, he thinks he can just walk all over us just because he’s Byakuya Togami or whatever…”

“I mean, it’s not really his fault…” Makoto added, crossing his arms.

“Huh? What do you mean Makoto?” Aoi asked, staring at Makoto intently. “Last time I checked no one was forcing him to do anything.”

“I mean, he’s had a different upbringing then the rest of us.” Makoto said, touching his face as he tried to think of a way to explain his thinking to Aoi. “He’s a different breed of people, and because of that he doesn’t know how to exactly interact with us…”

“Hm,” Aoi responded, “that may be true, but it doesn’t give him the right to boss us around like that!”

“Maybe,” Makoto agreed, “but I think everyone in this school is a little extra…”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!” Aoi yelled, suddenly insulted.

“I didn’t mean it as a bad thing…!” Makoto responded, caught completely off guard. “It’s just, you ultimates are a lot different than normal people.”

“You mean, we’re as bad as Byakuya…?” Aoi asked, confused.

“No,” Makoto responded quickly, “just a lot harder to understand than other ‘normal’ people.”

“Hm,” Aoi said, “I mean, I guess… but I don’t think we’re in a ‘normal’ situation, if that note in the library is true…”

Makoto nodded, he supposed that his classmates were under a very specific strain of stress. He had no way to discern their true personalities whilst they were trapped in the killing game.

“So… Makoto…” Aoi said suddenly.

“Yeah?”

“You wanna hang? I mean we’re done exploring, right…?” Aoi asked.

“Huh…? Sure!” Makoto responded excitedly.

“All this exploring has totally gotten me fired up, if you know what I mean!” Aoi said suddenly.

“Huh…? What do you mean, Hina?” Makoto asked, staring at Aoi confused.

“What do I mean?! It means I need to get all this pent up energy out!” Aoi yelled, causing Makoto to flinch slightly. “Let’s race, Makoto!”

“I don’t think I could win a race against you, Hina…” Makoto replied sheepishly. “I wouldn’t have much of a chance.”

“Huh… I guess you’re right…” Aoi admitted, “Well I’ll just run by myself and you can watch!”

“Wait!” Makoto yelled, “I mean... uh, you always seem so pumped up Hina…”

“Huh…?! Is that supposed to be an insult, Makoto?!”

“N-no of course not!” Makoto said, putting his hands in front of him as a defensive position. “I’m just impressed, that’s all.”

“Really?” Aoi asked, crossing her arms. “I mean I used to know this one guy, who was always telling me ‘Hina, you’re like, a super spaz!’” 

“A super spaz…? What did he mean by that…?”

“I dunno, like he’d always see me wearing shorts in the winter and he’d just say things like that…”

“You wore shorts in the winter?!” Makoto asked, shocked.

“Yeah, if you lose to the cold it just means you weren’t dedicated enough!”

“Wow, you did that without getting sick…?”

“Getting sick is for the weak! If you’re truly dedicated all winter outfits should be lighter than normal! It’s part of your training, y’know…?”

“T-training…?”

“Uh, you aren’t the type of guy who gets sick easily, are you…?”

“Actually, I am…”

“See! You need more training!”

“What do you mean…?”

“I’ve got the perfect remedy to keep you healthy no matter what the weather…!”

“Perfect remedy…?” Makoto echoed uselessly.

“I do this myself every morning! You just strip down to your waist, then take a dry towel and start rubbing down your bare skin…! I called it… um… uh…”

“Is it towel treatment or something similar?” Makoto offered.

“Oh my god! Makoto, that’s it!” Aoi said, happily. “I love going out on my apartment balcony, stripping down, just feeling the wind on my skin… I never miss a morning!”

“You do that on your balcony…?!”

“Yep! Makoto, you should give it a try! If you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything! I’d hate to see you catch a cold or something…”

“Thanks, Hina…” Makoto said.

“Huh… it’s been a while already, hasn’t it?” Aoi asked.

“I guess time flies when you’re having fun, right…?”

“Mhm! Well, we should get together sometime again. I’d like to see progress on your training, Makoto!”

“M-my training…? You’re going to become my personal trainer…?!”

“Uh, is that the word…? I mean, I guess…”

“B-but personal trainers are supposed to get paid…! I really can’t take up your time if I don’t have anything to offer you…!” Makoto said, trying to get out of training with Aoi.

“Hm, payment, right…?” Aoi said, putting her finger on her chin and closing her eyes. “Well, you can pay me with something…”

“H-huh…?!”

“You mentioned that the ‘ultimates’ don’t act normal… right…?”

“Well like I said, I didn’t mean it in a bad way…”

“Still, maybe you could teach me how to act normal in return for me training you.”

“Hina, I really didn’t-”

“It’s a deal, Makoto! Tomorrow we’ll meet up here and we’ll get you into tip-top shape in no time! I promise!”

“H-huh… Hina w-wait…!” Makoto yelled, but it was too late, Aoi was already walking away, not paying attention to Makoto’s refusals.

Makoto sighed, well at least he would become closer to Aoi if anything was to come out of this. 

Aoi was right, it was late. How long was their conversation? He had to get to the dinner hall before it closed, he didn’t want to starve after all.

Making his way downstairs to the cafeteria, he could already hear a commotion.

“Ugh, will you fuckin’ shut up about the damn school rules already?!” Mondo yelled, and as Makoto got closer he could see Mondo’s opponent in this fight was none other than Kiyotaka Ishimaru.

“The school rules are everything! If we have nothing else, then let it be our ability to be good students.”

“Good students?! Are you out of your fuckin’ mind or something? Did you forget about Sayaka killing Leon?! Or is that part of your ‘studently behavior’ or whatever…?!”

“I doubt you mind! You’re a delinquent, I’m sure you murder people all the time…!” Kiyotaka yelled, tears already springing in his eyes.

“Are you accusin’ me of fuckin’ murderer?! You’re a glorified hall monitor, what right do you have?!”

“Excuse you…! I’m the Ultimate Moral Compass, I’m sorry you can’t be held to the same standards as everyone else! Last time I checked, I’m not punching our classmates!”

“It was one fuckin’ time…! You can’t act like you're any better than us!”

“I don’t have to ‘act’ like I’m any better than you, you have no respect for the rules and therefore deserve no respect!”

“Will you two shut up?!” Byakuya interrupted, glaring at the two with murder in his eyes.

“What gives you the right to interrupt us?!” Both Mondo and Kiyotaka yelled at the same time.

“At least they agreed on something, no?” Celeste teased, taking a sip from her milk tea.

“I don’t think this fight is very school appropriate, now, is it?” Junko added, crossing her arms.

“Huh…?!” Kiyotaka yelled, as his face started to flush. “You’re right! I am very sorry, I shouldn’t be setting a negative example for the rest of you! I hope I can be forgiven for my transgressions!”

“Whipped.” Mondo snorted under his breath, which went unnoticed by Kiyotaka who was now yelling apologies.

“I think you can be forgiven, Taka…” Makoto said, “I mean, it wasn’t like you did anything  bad …”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Makoto…! I need to be the best example for the class, I will not let any of us fall to the fate of Sayaka and Leon!” Kiyotaka replied. Makoto flinched slightly at the mention of Sayaka and Leon. He still hadn’t exactly accepted it.

“I’m sure you will,” Makoto replied half heartedly. It still hurt to think about the two of them, what-ifs floated around in his head. He didn’t have the bravery of any of the other students. He couldn’t have stopped Sayaka because he believed in her too much.

And because of him, both Sayaka and Leon had died. Painfully.

“Makoto? Are you alright?” Aoi asked, scaring Makoto out of his train of thought.

“Huh…? Yeah, I’m alright. Just a little tired, I guess.”

“Did you not get enough sleep last night?” Aoi asked, worriedly.

“Makoto! Sleep is very important for growing boys like you!” Kiyotaka added loudly.

“I’m fine,” Makoto repeated, “and Taka, we’re the same age…”

“Well, as long as you’re saying you’re getting sleep, we’ll believe you.” Aoi said, smiling at Makoto. Makoto appreciated the gesture behind Aoi’s words, but smiling back at Aoi just hurt.

He could’ve saved Sayaka and Leon if he tried, he thought. Even if he couldn’t, he could at least delude himself into thinking it was a possibility. He resolved to try harder, even as he went back to his room and stared at Sayaka’s nameplate for longer than needed.

He tried to shower, before the night time announcement and barely made it to the door. He saw Leon’s dead eyes staring back at him, open unlike how they were closed before.

“Because of you,” Leon’s voice accuses, “I’m dead.” Before Leon’s ghost can say anything more, Makoto slammed the door. He leaned against the door of the bathroom and closed his eyes. 

He told himself he wasn’t crying.

But, in that case, he was just as much of a liar as Sayaka was.

When Makoto woke up, he was still on the floor. Monokuma’s grating morning announcement rang in his ears. He was exhausted, he knew this.

He needed to shower, he resented this.

As if on autopilot he grabbed clothing from his drawer and left his room. He made his way to Aoi’s door and knocked on it emotionlessly.

Aoi answered the door, confused.

“I need to use your shower,” Makoto said simply. Aoi stared at him for a moment, before moving slightly.

“Alright,” Aoi says, “just like, don’t tell Taka. He’ll make it weird, I think…”

Makoto nodded, his head felt heavy. 

Aoi’s shower was almost identical to his, all hers was lacking was the dead body. Makoto tried not to think about that.

He finished the shower quickly, he felt bad taking Aoi’s shower.

“Sorry,” he said, mustering all the emotion he could manage. He hoped he was coming off sheepishly, if he wasn’t, Aoi didn’t say anything.

“Huh…? Did you waste all my hot water or something?!” Aoi accused.

“N-no…! Of course not! I mean for coming to your room so early.”

“Huh, is that weird?”

“Of course it is…!”

“Well, then maybe you can’t teach me how to act normal then, huh…?”

“About that…” Makoto began but Aoi cut him off with a laugh.

“We can talk about my payment later, we have to get to the morning meeting. I don’t want to get yelled at by Taka.” Aoi said quickly before running out of her room, leaving Makoto standing dumbfounded.

“Alright…” he muttered to no one but himself, as he slowly followed Aoi to the cafeteria.

“Aoi, Makoto!” Kiyotaka yelled as Makoto entered the room. “Why are you two so late…?!”

“Sorry…” was all Makoto could muster.

“Makoto’s hot water broke, so he had to use my shower… no need to get all serious, Taka…” Aoi said, crossing her arms.

“You showered in her room?!” Kiyotaka yelled, scandalized.

“Hey! Don’t accuse either of us of being creeps! I didn’t watch or anything!” Aoi yelled, uncrossing her arms and putting them up near her jacket.

“Ugh… it’s just unwholesome…!”

“Taka, like Hina said, I just asked to use her shower. My hot water wasn’t working and I didn’t want to come to the morning meeting unclean, I feel like that would be worse…” Makoto added, staring at the food he had in front of him.

“Hm, very well! As long as you two keep it school appropriate and don’t make a habit of coming late, I do not mind!”

“Thanks…?” Makoto replied, confused.

“Anyways…! Let us commence with the morning meeting!” 

“It’s not like we have any new information to share,” Byakuya said looking away. “Honestly, why do I bother with this?” 

“If you don’t want to come, then don’t, no?” Celeste responded, once again sipping milk tea.

“It’s just useless, even idiots like you should be able to see that.” Byakuya said, crossing his arms.

“I disagree! As students-” Kiyotaka began but was interrupted by Mondo.

“It’s our duty or whatever, who the fuck cares, let’s just get this meeting over with.”

“Well, um, did we discover anything?” Aoi asked.

“Not since the library, no,” Kyoko said simply, looking at her food, bored.

“Speaking of the library,” Sakura interjected, “Chihiro have you gotten any information out of the computer?”

“N-no…! I’m sorry, the computer is probably gonna take another day or so…” Chihiro responded quickly.

“Hm,” Junko said, “as long as you’re not using it to look up porn, we can wait.”

“U-um…”

“Miss Fujisaki would never do anything like that!” Hifumi said, defending Chihiro before she could get a word in edgewise.

“Is there anything else we can talk about?” Aoi asked, “I mean, some of us have things we want to do.”

“Like what? You’re not planning on killing anyone are you, Hina?!” Yasuhiro accused.

“No…! I’m just gonna hang out with Makoto, that’s all.”

“Hina, you are hanging out with Makoto again?!” Kiyotaka yelled, switching between staring at Aoi and Makoto, completely scandalized.

“Huh, yeah…? Is there something wrong with that?” Aoi asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“If you’re in a relationship it’s best for you two to just state it now!” Kiyotaka said, eyes filling with tears.

“Uh, it’s not like that, Taka…” Makoto mumbled, “we’re just going to train together.”

“Oh! Ahaha, of course…!” Kiyotaka replied, “neither of you would ever do something so unwholesome...”

“Anyways…” Junko said, flipping her hair out of her eyes, “I think that’s all the information we’ve got, huh?”

“But we didn’t say anything new…?” Yasuhiro asked.

“That’s the point idiot. We don’t have any new information.”

“I’m assuming these meetings will be pointless until next murder, correct?” Byakuya cut in.

“In all likelihood, yes.” Kyoko answered before Kiyotaka could.

“In that case, there is no need for me to continue to come.” Byakuya said plainly.

“But the bonding! You cannot just-” Kiyotaka began to interject.

“I don’t care,” Byakuya said as he got up to walk away. “There is no point in conversing with people who are soon to be dead, anyway.”

“Did he just leave?!” Aoi yelled, crossing her arms.

“Hm,” Kyoko said, “I suppose there is no use in talking to him, then.”

“Perhaps he knows something we do not,” Celeste said. “We do not know what he has read in that library. Has he found something that would give him an advantage?”

“I doubt it,” Makoto replied. “If anything, I think he would taunt us about it.”

“Y-you think he would w-waste his time t-taunting the likes of you?” Toko asked, suddenly insulted.

“Well yeah…” Makoto replied. “He hasn’t shown any reason for us not to believe that, if we’re being honest…”

“Y-you would be so lucky if that w-were to happen…!” Toko said, looking away.

“Huh? Why would he be lucky…?” Aoi asked, tilting her head slightly.

“B-Byakuya would never waste his t-time on the l-likes of y-you all…” Toko sniffled, looking away from the group as if disgusted.

“Hey! Is that supposed to be an insult?!” Aoi yelled, “It’s not like you’re anything different from us anyways!”

“Why is Toko’s comment bothering you so much, Hina?” Celeste asked, taking a sip of her tea.

“Huh…? You mean you aren’t bothered at all?”

“I don’t feel the need to be, if they don’t want to survive with us, it is important for us to not care about them…” Celeste said, looking away with a sigh. “It is best not to get attached to them, because surely they will die at the rates they are going.”

“H-huh, d-die…?!” Toko said, looking back at the group. “Y-you think s-someone as w-wonderful as B-Byakuya could just d-die…?!”

“It seems to be an eventuality at this point,” Celeste said, smiling morbidly. “After all, this game is based on alliances, no? Surely, making an enemy out of everyone isn’t the smartest thing to do.”

“B-but…!” Toko replied, preparing to go on a tangent before Kyoko cut her off.

“It doesn’t matter,” Kyoko said. “As long as we agree not to hurt anyone, Byakuya shouldn’t come to any harm.”

“Yeah, Kyoko’s right! Let’s all agree to get out of this killing game alive and well!” Aoi yelled, putting both her fists in the air.

“With that attitude…” Junko began, “fuck yeah, let’s do that!”

“I usually don’t agree with cursing but… if we can all agree to following the school rules, I agree with Hina’s sentiment!” Kiyotaka said.

With that the group’s mood brightened, even after Byakuya’s sour department.

After the meeting ended Aoi walked up to Makoto.

“So, you wanna hang now?” Aoi asked, smiling widely.

“Uh, about that… I’m not so sure I want to train with you…” Makoto answered sheepishly.

“Hey! Are you letting Taka’s comments about us get to your head?” Aoi accused, glaring at Makoto.

“No, it’s not that…! I’ve just been feeling down lately, so I don’t know if I’d be that good to train.” Makoto explained.

“Hm, well then we could just hang out?” Aoi offered. “I mean, that’s all I really wanted to do anyways.”

“Huh…? You just wanted to hang out?” Makoto asked.

“Yeah! Is that so surprising?!” Aoi puffed out.

“No, I guess not.. I’ve just not been feeling like myself, after Sayaka and Leon…”

“So, do y’wanna talk about it?” Aoi asked.

“Yeah, but can we take it somewhere a bit more private?”

“Oh yeah, sure!” Aoi said, leading Makoto upstairs.

The two split off to go into the changing rooms before meeting back up in the pool.

“So, do you want to talk about it or…?”

“I don’t know where to begin,” Makoto admitted. “I trusted Sayaka, I mean who wouldn’t…?”

“Isn’t it kinda scary…? I mean who would’ve seen it coming?!” Aoi added. “She had us all fooled I guess…”

“Maybe,” Makoto admitted, “but I refuse to believe it could be just that… it just didn’t seem like the Sayaka I knew…”

“Huh…? You knew Sayaka…?”

“Kinda, haha… we knew each other from middle school.” Makoto explained. “I always had a crush on her, so I was really excited to see her again.”

“Could you have been blinded by love…? That’s a thing that happens, right?”

“I don’t think so,” Makoto said, “or at least I hope not…?”

“Well then spill!” Aoi said, trying to egg him on.

“When she got her motive video… I think it changed her.” Makoto said, remembering Sayaka’s vacant expression. “It was like something inside of her snapped, and not for the better.”

“Well,” Aoi said, “it’s not like you could’ve done anything to stop her.”

“Maybe if I noticed… maybe I would’ve been able to save Sayaka and Leon…” 

“You can’t blame yourself for the actions of other people!” Aoi scolded. “You’re not the Ultimate Clairvoyant like Hiro is! And the fact that you feel bad is a good thing!”

“Huh… what do you mean Hina?”

“You really cared about them, despite the fact that you don’t need to. I think that might be a good thing…”

“Is that really such an odd thing…?”

“Yep! And they said I was the super spaz! Well I’m glad to tell you Makoto, that title is yours now!”

“Hey!” 

After talking for a few more minutes, Aoi decided to do some laps in the pool. Makoto watched wordlessly, becoming nauseous at how fast Aoi was going.

“You… definitely earned your title…” Makoto commented, face a bit too green.

“Yep! Hey… wait… Makoto, your face is looking a bit-”

“I’ll be fine, just remind me never to watch that again, alright…?”

“Huh… why?”

“I just have a weak stomach, that’s all.”

“Hm, alright then!”

After getting changed into their regular clothes Makoto and Aoi parted ways, promising to meet up again later.

“Hm,” Makoto remarked mostly to himself, “I wonder what I can do now....”

“Makoto, are you busy?” A voice yelled from behind him, Makoto turned around and saw none other than Kiyotaka Ishimaru.

“Huh…? No I’m not really busy. Why, do you want to hang out?” Makoto asked.

“Haha, of course!” Kiyotaka answered. “That’s what friends do, right?”

“Yeah, let’s just hang out, then,” Makoto said. 

“So Makoto! As long as we’re talking, let’s REALLY talk.”

“Huh…? Yeah sure, that’s fine.” Makoto answered.

“Excellent!” Kiyotaka said. “Then let’s get down to where we stand on the important issues! Where are we starting, politics, the economy or international affairs?!”

“Wait… you’re not serious are you…?” Makoto asked.

“Of course I am! This isn’t a joking matter!”

“Can’t we just have a regular conversation…? That’s the best way to learn about people, I think.”

“‘Normal conversation’...? What do you mean?”

“Well, what do you do in your free time?” 

“Study, of course! I’m a student, afterall.” Kiyotaka began. “A student must be a studying professional!”

“Do you do anything other than study…?”

“Of course!” Kiyotaka answered. “My duties as the chairperson of the morals committee keep me quite busy!”

“Um…” Makoto said, trailing off. “What do you do when you have free time…?”

“If I have time to kill, I study!”

“Oh…. I see…?”

“Haha! This is fun!” Kiyotaka said, suddenly. “Alright my turn! Makoto, what do you like to do in your free time?

“Well, normal things…” Makoto said. “You know, watch TV, play video games…”

“Huh?!” Kiyotaka yelled, “And this is helping you study…?”

“N-no...?” Makoto said. “It’s not about studying, it’s more about having fun.”

“But doing things ‘just for fun’ serves no purpose!” Kiyotaka yelled. “There’s got to be more merit in it!”

“You’re right!” Makoto quickly exclaimed, surprised at his own volume. “Having fun helps give you something to talk about to other people!”

“Something to talk about…?”

“Like when you see something awesome on TV, or some awesome game, and you want to share it with someone.” Makoto explained. “You’ll find other people who feel the same and that’s how you make friends!”

“Wh…?” Kiyotaka began. “Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh—!?”

“Taka…?” Makoto asked. “Are you okay…?”

“I was blind, but now I see!”

“H-huh…? What the heck?!”

“That kind of thing has plagued me for years,” Kiyotaka began to explain while crying. “I’ve tried making friends, but it would die out once I attempted to make conversation… But now I finally have my answer!”

“Your answer…?”

“I need to study more games! More TV shows!”

“N-no, you don’t exactly ‘study’ them...” Makoto attempted to explain but it fell on deaf ears.

“I’m so ashamed of myself! If there was a hole around here, I’d totally go and hide in it! I never realized the blind spot of my studies…!”

“Taka it’s-”

“I’m a complete embarrassment! I’m not qualified to be on the morals committee, let alone lead it!”

“I don’t think it’s really that big of a deal, Taka.”

“Thank you, Professor Makoto!”

“Huh…?! P-professor?!”

“You’ve taught me a most valuable lesson! You’ve earned my respect and the title of professor!”

“Taka, this is making things super awkward…!”

“Haha! There’s no need to be modest, Professor!” Kiyotaka said, smiling. “I can’t wait for your next lesson!”

“I don’t think you need-”

“Until then, I will strive to learn as much as I can on my own!” Kiyotaka continued, giving Makoto no time to interrupt. “Well then, Professor, I’ll see you soon!”

Kiyotaka ran off before Makoto could attempt to speak again. 

“Well, I guess the title of professor isn’t too bad…” Makoto said to himself.

Makoto decided it was time to get some dinner before the cafeteria closed, he didn’t want to go to sleep on an empty stomach.

Makoto heard Mondo and Kiyotaka before he saw them, they were fighting, once again.

They noticed Makoto, and Mondo was the first one to speak.

“C’mon, Makoto. You’ve got to be our witness!” Mondo said, glaring at Makoto.

“Huh.. your ‘witness’...? What does that mean?”

“This guy’s been talkin’ shit about me since we first got here. Callin’ me a coward and other shit.” Mondo said, as if that helped explain at all.

“You are a coward!” Kiyotaka interrupted. “You turn to violence to solve your problems, making you a coward!” 

“Wha-?!” Mondo yelled, but Kiyotaka was beginning a tirade.

“You can’t do what society asks of you!” Kiyotaka yelled, pointing at Mondo. “That’s why you walk around dressed like that!”

“The fuck did you just say?” Mondo asked. “You dunno shit about me.”

“You’ve already lost to yourself, but you’re such a coward you can’t even realize it!”

“So you’re sayin’ you’re not a coward?” Mondo asked. “You think you’re tougher than me? Is that it?!”

“I know that I am a coward!” Kiyotaka admitted, loudly. “At least I can admit that, unlike you.”

“Okay, then let’s throw down!” Mondo said, balling his hands into fists. “Prove that you’ve got somethin’ that I don’t got!”

“I accept your challenge!” Kiyotaka declared.

“So Makoto, that’s what’s goin’ down.” Mondo said. “You’ve got to be our witness!”

“You’re gonna… ‘throw down’...?” Makoto asked, worriedly. “You’re not going to like, start punching each other, right…?”

“There’s a bathhouse on the 1st floor of the dorm, right?” Mondo asked.

“Yeah…?” Makoto replied, not really getting Mondo’s point.

“It has a sauna inside? Right?” Mondo asked, once again.

“Ah, so I see.” Kiyotaka said. “You want to have a simple endurance contest?”

“An ‘endurance contest’... in the sauna…?” Makoto asked.

“We’re going to see who can stay in the sauna the longest, right?!” Kiyotaka yelled, ignoring Makoto.

“Goddamn straight!” Mondo yelled.

“Are you sure that’s safe…?” Makoto asked, staring at his two classmates as if they had gone insane.

“Of course!” Kiyotaka replied. “This coward will back out before it gets too dangerous for us!”

“You think I’m going to back out first?! Are you fuckin’ insane?!” Mondo yelled.

“Hey… guys, let’s get to the sauna first, alright?” Makoto said, trying to calm the feud. 

Makoto led Mondo and Kiyotaka into the sauna where they started going at each other again.

“Are you guys really going to go through with this…?” Makoto asked.

“Of course!” Kiyotaka yelled. “I have to show this coward his place.”

“As if,” Mondo replied. “I’m gonna show you that I’m fuckin’ better!”

“People like you are all talk!”

“Like you’re any better…!”

Kiyotaka began to undress but Mondo stayed in his outfit.

“Aren’t you going to undress…?” Makoto asked.

“Nah,” Mondo said. “I don’t need to.”

“Th-that’s idiotic!” Kiyotaka yelled out.

“Just shut up already, let’s get this fuckin’ over with!” Mondo yelled.

The two clamored into the sauna, they both held determined expressions on their faces.

“You know,” Kiyotaka said. “You can take off your clothes.”

“Unlike you, I don’t need to do that.”

A short pause before Mondo decided to say something to Kiyotaka.

“Y’know, your face is lookin’ pretty red,” Mondo said. “Are you sure you don’t want to give up?”

“It just so happens...I was born with a red face…!”

Makoto waited outside, mostly bored, as the two held steadfast against each other.

After hearing the night time announcement Makoto decided that he was done “witnessing” their contest. He didn’t even get his chance to eat, he might as well sleep until morning.

Makoto awoke drearily to Monokuma’s Morning announcement. His stomach ached with the promise of eating, but Makoto wanted to shower to first.

Makoto took one look at his bathroom door, the room seemed daunting, but Makoto was determined to shower quickly and eat.

He slowly opened his bathroom door, half expecting to see Leon’s body staring right back at him.

There was nothing dead in Makoto’s bathroom, thankfully.

Makoto made his way to the cafeteria in relatively good spirits.

“Hey Makoto,” Aoi said, stopping Makoto before he could go into the cafeteria.

“Huh…?” Makoto asked.

“I wouldn’t recommend going in there right now,” Aoi said. “Taka and Mondo are acting pretty weird in there.”

“Acting weird…?”

“Yeah! All buddy-buddy!” Aoi explained. “One moment they hate each other and the next moment they’re besties!”

“Is that a bad thing…?” Makoto asked.

“No,” Aoi admitted. “But I just find it really weird, y’know…?”

“I wonder if it has something to do with last night…” Makoto said, 

“Huh, last night…?”

“Are you two just going to just stand in front of the cafeteria or are you going to go in?” Junko interrupted. “I mean I approve of gossip and whatever, but some of us want to eat.”

Makoto and Aoi moved out of the way and Junko smiled at them before going in.

“I guess we should eat now, huh…?” Makoto said.

“Yeah, but let’s keep our guard up,” Aoi said. “We have no clue what happened to them!”

Makoto and Aoi went into the cafeteria, and Makoto saw that Aoi wasn’t wrong at all.

“Hahaha! Bro, you’re so right!” Kiyotaka yelled.

“Ah, you don’t really mean that…” Mondo replied, sounding bashful.

Aoi was right  , Makoto thought to himself.  What had happened to Taka and Mondo…?

“Makoto!” Kiyotaka yelled suddenly. “Where did you go last night?!”

“Huh…?” Makoto began. “Oh, I heard the night time announcement and didn’t want to stay up too late…”

“Well, thanks for being our witness anyway.” Mondo responded.

“Ugh,” Junko said. “Kinda wish I didn’t come here at all.”

“What?!” Mondo yelled. “Do you have a fuckin’ problem with our friendship?!”

“Yeah,” Aoi said, speaking for Junko. “It feels gross.”

“Feels  gross ?! Hell no, it feels great!”

“Forget them, bro. Girls like them just wouldn’t get our manly bond!”

“M-manly b-bond…?” Toko asked. “S-seems like another w-way to say r-relationship… You a-aren’t l-lovers, are you?!”

“No…!” Kiyotaka yelled. “Friendship between men is stronger than blood! A woman could never understand!” 

“Bro,” Mondo said. “What you said was cool as shit!”

“I’m glad you think so, bro!”

As the rest of the class came into the cafeteria except for Byakuya, it was quite clear that Mondo and Kiyotaka’s friendship wasn’t going to get any less public.

As Makoto went to leave the cafeteria he was stopped by Junko.

“Hey, Makoto,” Junko began. “Do y’wanna hang?”

“Yeah,” Makoto said. “As long as we can keep away from Mondo and Taka…”

“Yeah sure,” Junko said. “But why, are you jealous of them or something…?”

“No!” Makoto said quickly. “But I have to agree with Aoi, their friendship just feels a bit  wrong …”

“‘Wrong’...?” Junko echoed. “Oh my god, Makoto, I think you’re totally jealous!”

“Huh…?!”

“But listen, just because I’m offering you an out of your jealousy doesn’t mean I want you to get the wrong idea about any of this.”

“Wrong idea…? Now I’m sure I’ve got no clue what you mean…”

“I mean I hope you’re not expecting anything from me,” Junko explained. “Gotta keep my virtue safe, ya get?”

“Wait…!” Makoto yelled. “N-no way am I expecting anything like that!”

“I figured. You’re totally not that kind of guy, right?” Junko said. “Yeah, you’ve got that total ‘omega male’ vibe going on.”

“Huh…? ‘Omega male’ vibe…?”

“Yeah, but still, y’know I gotta keep my guard up,” Junko said. “The tamest guy can turn into a wild animal or so they say.”

“Don’t ask me why,” Junko said. “But I just seem to attract guys like that.”

“Um… it might have something to do with the way you dress.”

“Yeah, but even still! They have no respect!” Junko complained. “They call me up super super super late and are all like ‘Hey, let’s hang!’. Like I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean!”

“Oh! You just meant hanging out.” Makoto said.

“Huh? Did you just come to a decision or something…?”

“Oh, haha… no, just uh forget it.”

“Anyways, so we all get together, but they’re all fucking dumbasses!” Junko said. “Keeping creepos like that away is like a full-time job, ya know?”

“Yeah, must be really tough.” Makoto replied. “I mean, you’re a model, so you must be really popular.”

“Wow, Makoto. You… actually get it.” Junko said. “You do get it, right? You totally get me!”

“Huh… I do…?”

“So listen, about your Taka problem, I can introduce you to some of my friends sometime!”

“My Taka… problem…?”

“So judging by you picking Taka you’re into someone aggressive…” Junko said, thinking for a moment. “Yeah, I think I know someone who’s perfect for you!”

“N-no really it’s-”

“I’ll set you up with the perfect girl as soon as we get outta here!” Junko said with a smile. “Ehehe! I hope you’re as excited as I am!”

After saying that, Junko skipped off as Makoto could only watch in confusion.

Huh, guess there’s more to look forward to once we get out . Makoto thought to himself.

Makoto decided to head to his room, but before he could unlock the door he could hear Monokuma’s loud ahem.

“Attention students! I have a surprise waiting for you all in the gym!” Monokuma said. “I hope you all will find this surprise enlightening!”

A surprise  , Makoto thought to himself.  This isn’t going to be good, is it…?

Makoto went to the gym, like usual he was later than all his other classmates.

“Puhuhuhu!” Monokuma began. “Now that Makoto has arrived, we can finally begin!”

“You haven’t explained anything at all!” Aoi said, glaring at the bear. “What are we supposed to be ‘beginning’...?”

“Well… we can’t have a murder without motive, right?” Monokuma said. “Luckily your headmaster is very thoughtful and thought long and hard about this…”

“Here you go everyone!” Monokuma yelled, as he threw mirrors at everyone.

“Huh?!” Yasuhiro yelled out, barely catching his. “A-are these mirrors filled with g-ghosts or something?!”

“Yeah!” Mondo yelled out. “What’s the fuckin’ deal with these things…?”

“Mirrors reveal appearances, correct?” Monokuma said, starting to explain. “Thus, these mirrors reveal the one thing you don’t want to see about yourself.”

“Bear,” Byakuya said. “What exactly do you mean?”

“These mirrors are tailor made for their owner!” Monokuma explained. “They show you exactly what you try to hide from the world.”

“Is that even possible…?” Aoi asked.

“Look for yourself!” Monokuma responded.

Makoto checked his mirror and was surprised when the image changed to a younger Makoto and a wet bed. 

So that’s what I hide from the world…? The fact that I wet the bed up until 5th grade...?

Makoto stared blankly at the mirror before realization hit him.

Wait… if what I’m hiding isn’t serious, I can assume the other’s secrets aren’t that bad as well, right…?

“Puhuhu! There’s something else I should mention before I forget…” Monokuma began.

“Well, get on with it,” Byakuya said. “Some of us don’t have all day.”

“Before going to bed at night each student is supposed to put their mirror in the holder located in classroom 1-A!” Monokuma explained.

“Is there anything else?” Sakura asked.

“Awe, am I being pushed out so soon…?” Monokuma said, fake pouting.

“N-no one l-likes you h-here,” Toko sneers.

“Alright!” Monokuma said. “Have fun kids!”

“Hm,” Kyoko said. “This is an interesting motive.”

“Maybe we should share our motives!” Kiyotaka yelled. “It won’t work against us if we all come out now…!”

“About that bro…” Mondo said. “I don’t really feel comfortable airin’ all my secrets, you know?”

The class hummed in agreement, leaving Kiyotaka no choice.

“Well if my bro says so…” Kiyotaka said. “Then we’ll keep them to ourselves.”

“Well, there’s no point in staying here, no?” Celeste asked.

“Exactly,” Byakuya said. “Don’t expect me to share my ‘secret’ with the likes of you.”

“Um… no one is expecting that from you…?” Aoi added.

“Shut up.” Byakuya said, before turning and leaving.

Toko followed quickly after Byakuya.

“So uh, Makoto,” Junko said, walking up to Makoto. “You gonna talk to Taka before Mondo steals him away?”

“H-huh…?” Makoto asked. “I already told you, it’s not like that…!”

“You sure?” Junko asked, tilting her head. “If you wait too long, Mondo’s gonna sweep him off his feet like some weird rendition of a fairytale.”

“What do you mean?”

“You heard how they were like this morning,” Junko explained. “‘Bro’ this and ‘bro’ that, they should just get a fuckin’ room at this point.”

“Y-you really think that they’re going to get into a relationship…?” Makoto asked, not understanding his sudden curiosity.

“Makoto, it’s only a matter of time,” Junko said, flipping her hair. “Don’t be an uber omega, just at least feel the situation out, y’know?”

“I’ll at least talk to him,” Makoto said. “B-but not because I like him, just because I’m worried for him… as a friend…!”

“Yeah sure,” Junko said, laughing as she walked off.

Makoto gathered his courage, surprisingly Kiyotaka was without his ‘bro’ Mondo.

“Hey, um, Taka, do you think we could talk…?” Makoto stuttered out.

“Huh… oh sure!” Kiyotaka said.

“So, are you worried about the motive?” Makoto asked. “I mean they are pretty personal right…?”

“Makoto! Are you trying to hide something unwholesome…?!” Kiyotaka yelled.

“N-no…! I’m just saying, if Mondo and the others were refusing to share the images they saw in their mirrors... “

“My bro would never do something like murder!” Kiyotaka yelled, suddenly offended.

“I wasn’t implying anyone would!” Makoto said back, defensively. “I’m just worried about having to do another class trial.”

Kiyotaka’s eyes softened, “That’s very honorable of you Makoto!”

“Huh…? Not really,” Makoto said. “The situation wasn’t very pleasant for anyone involved.” 

Sayaka’s screeches of betrayal, Leon’s dead body in his bathroom. So many things had gone wrong in their first few days here. Was it so odd Makoto wouldn’t want to go through that again?

“I assure you, my bro and I will do our best to keep everyone safe!” Kiyotaka yelled.

Junko really wasn’t kidding when she said that all Taka would talk about is his ‘bro’...  Makoto thought.  Hey… why am I thinking so hard about this… I’m not jealous, right…?!

“Anyways Makoto, I’d love to stay and chat more but I promised my bro I’d hang out later!”

“Y-yeah, okay, I’ll talk to you later,” Makoto mumbled.

Ugh, this motive must just be messing with my head… I might as well just put away my mirror and head to sleep now.

Makoto went to classroom 1-A and deposited his mirror. He realized he was the first person, which made sense because it was way before the night time announcement.

“Hey,” Kyoko said, intercepting him as he left. “Are you going to sleep early?”

“Yeah,” Makoto said. “I haven’t been feeling too well and I don’t really want to break any rules…”

“Feel better,” Kyoko said, before walking into the classroom.

Makoto made his way to his room without any further interruptions. Throwing himself onto the bed without a glance towards his bathroom he fell into a dreamless sleep.

Makoto awoke to the annoying noise of Monokuma’s Morning announcement. Getting up, he opened his bathroom door in annoyance. 

If Leon was there for a sickening second Makoto acted otherwise.

Making his way into the cafeteria Makoto noticed he was second for once, the first person being there was Kyoko.

“Ah Makoto,” Kyoko said. “You’re here early.”

“Same to you, Kyoko,” Makoto said. “Did I miss something or is everyone oversleeping…?”

“Not that I know of,” Kyoko said. “It seems everyone might’ve stayed up later than usual.”

“Ah…” Makoto said, getting what Kyoko was implying.

“Just be careful, okay?” Kyoko said. “We should expect everyone to be on edge.”

As more people gathered into the cafeteria, Makoto noticed Aoi and Chihiro were missing.

“Perhaps they’re skipping the meal?” Celeste offered. “I don’t understand why but that’s a reason, no?”

“Aoi skipping a meal?” Sakura asked. “That’s very unlikely…”

“Miss Fujisaki missing a meal as well?!” Hifumi yelled out. “This is extremely worrying!”

Makoto’s stomach filled with dread, he had a feeling he already knew where this was heading.

“We should investigate immediately!” Kiyotaka yelled. “We should assure the safety of our classmates!”

“Shouldn’t we warn Byakuya as well?” Kyoko asked. “This information might interest him.”

“There’s no need,” Byakuya interjected coldly. “I already know where you’ll find one of them.”

“W-what do you mean…?” Makoto asked.

“That swimmer girl,” Byakuya said. “She’s doing the dead man’s float in the school’s pool.”

Sakura got up immediately. “Show us, now.”

Byakuya led the group to the second floor. Makoto could immediately notice scratch marks on the pool’s first door.

“Signs of a struggle,” Kyoko commented quietly.

Each person scanned their Monopads to get into the changing rooms. Quickly exiting to find that Byakuya wasn’t wrong in his original assessment.

Monokuma’s body discovery announcement rang and Aoi’s cruel fate was revealed.

Makoto was sure he was going to be sick when they discovered Aoi’s body, but he underestimated how sick he was going to feel.

“Makoto,” Kyoko said, kneeling down to where he had fallen onto his knees. “You need to get up.”

Makoto nodded, numbly.

“Hm, we must assume the worst has happened to Chihiro as well, no?” Celeste asked.

“Miss Fujisaki… dead…?” Hifumi asked, heartbroken.

“It seems likely,” Kyoko said. “The fact that Chihiro hasn’t been seen and we discovered one body…”

“Maybe he’s hidin’ because she’s the fuckin’ murderer of Hina!” Mondo yelled out.

“Bro…? You might be right…” Kiyotaka said.

“... Is it really possible for someone like Chihiro to do this much damage to Hina?” Sakura asked, voice low.

“Comparing their statures,” Byakuya said. “It seems unlikely.”

“Then we must find Chihiro,” Kyoko said.

“We still need two people to stay here and guard the body…” Makoto mumbled.

“I’ll stay with Hina,” Sakura said. “At least until Chihiro is found…”

“I’ll stay as well,” Mondo said. “It’s not like I’ll be useful anywhere else.”

“Then let’s split up into groups and look for Chihiro.” Kyoko said.

Before leaving, Makoto and Kyoko were stopped by Celeste.

“Hm, sticking with you two might be the best bet, no?”

“H-huh…? What do you mean, Celeste…?” Makoto asked.

“Are you really not aware of how you acted last class trial?” Celeste asked.

“So you’re sticking with us for a better chance in the class trial?” Kyoko asked.

“That as well as safety in numbers,” Celeste said. “The situation we’re in isn’t the most comforting, no?”

“No,” Makoto said. “This is the farthest thing from comforting.”

“Well, we should work under the assumption that Chihiro is at least unable to leave her current location.” Kyoko said.

“Hm,” Celeste said, tilting her head slightly. “Perhaps we should check her room, maybe she overslept?”

Makoto and Kyoko nodded in agreement, and the three made their way to Chihiro’s dorm.

“It’s closed,” Makoto noted. “But where else could she be…?”

“Are we sure it’s locked?” Kyoko asked. “The door looks a little, off…”

Kyoko tried the door, and to the surprise of Celeste and Makoto it opened with ease.

The air felt heavy and Makoto could only hear static in his ears. Chihiro was staring lifelessly ahead, hanging from her neck on the light in her room.

Monokuma’s body discovery announcement played again, mockingly. 

Makoto shook himself out of his stupor.

“W-we need to tell the others,” Makoto stuttered out. “This… this is different.”

“I’ll get them,” Celeste said. “I suppose it was best to assume the worst.”

“Once the others come,” Kyoko began. “We’ll need to get her down to examine her body.”

“Isn’t it obvious how she died…?” Makoto swallowed out, trying to block out the dread that was quickly morphing into panic.

“Maybe,” Kyoko admitted. “But we won’t know if it’s a murder or suicide until we can see the neck wound.”

“There would be a difference…?” Makoto asked.

“Yes,” Kyoko said. “It would be quite obvious, actually.”

After a few minutes Mondo, Hifumi, Byakuya and Celeste entered the room.

“So,” Byakuya said. “That solves that mystery, doesn’t it?”

“It’s pretty obvious about what happened here, right?” Mondo asked. “It’s pretty obvious Chihrio fuckin’ hung herself, right?”

“Miss Fujisaki was murdered!” Hifumi yelled out. “There’s no way she would’ve willingly done this to herself.”

“You didn’t know Chihiro as well as you think, then.” Mondo replied.

“Now that everyone is here,” Kyoko began. “I think it’s in our best bet to examine the body thoroughly.”

“Do you need any help?” Makoto asked.

“No,” Kyoko said. “I’ll be fine.”

Kyoko stood on Chihiro’s table and untied the white wire connecting her neck to the light. Afterwards, Kyoko moved Chihiro’s body to the floor.

“First thing we need to do is remove this wire…” Kyoko said, slowly untying the wire.

“That’s odd,” Byakuya said.

“W-what is…?” Makoto asked.

“Nevermind,” Byakuya replied. “If you can’t notice it that’s your own fault, not mine.”

“Could you all turn away for a minute?” Kyoko asked. “I want to see if Chihiro has any more wounds on her body…”

Everyone turned away, and Kyoko gasped in surprise.

“Huh,” Kyoko said. “That’s unexpected.”

“You can all look now,” Kyoko said. “It seems that Chihiro’s big secret… nevermind.”

“I doubt this is the actual crime scene,” Kyoko said. “It looks too clean for a murder to have happened here.”

“That’s because he hung herself, remember?!” Mondo said. “I wouldn’t count suicide as fuckin’ murder, would you?”

“Then there’s nothing of note here, then,” Byakuya said before walking off.

“Makoto,” Kyoko said. “Perhaps it’s best if we leave here and examine Hina’s body.”

“W-wait… shouldn’t there be-” Makoto began, but was quickly cut off by Kyoko.

“I’m assuming you two will be keeping an eye on the corpse?” Kyoko asked, staring at Hifumi and Mondo.

“You can count on me!” Hifumi yelled. “I’ll make sure no one bothers Miss Fujisaki!”

“Might as fuckin’ well,” Mondo said. “But no one is going to touch the corpse of a murderer.” 

Kyoko led Makoto out of Chihiro’s room, leading him to the hallway before stopping again.

“Chihiro was murdered,” Kyoko said plainly. “The wound on Chihiro’s neck proves that.”

“The wound on her neck…?” Makoto asked.

“When someone hangs themself their neck is broken, if not completely at least in some parts,” Kyoko explained. “Also the marking on Chihiro’s neck is horizontal, if a person is to hang themself, it’ll be more ‘V’ shaped.”

“So you mean whoever killed Hina also killed Chihiro…?” Makoto asked.

“Yes,” Kyoko said. “And I believe it ties in directly with the motives that we were given yesterday.

“It ties in with our motives…?”

“Last night, twenty minutes after the night time announcement I checked who returned their mirrors,” Kyoko said. “There were three mirrors missing, Chihiro, Aoi and Mondo.” 

“H-huh…?!”

“Of course,” Kyoko continued. “Until we get the Monokuma Files, that information could just be a coincidence.”

“Puhuhuhu! Lucky for the both of you, your headmaster pays attention to everything that happens in this school!”

“W-where did you come from?!” Makoto yelled.

“I don’t think you want to know that, Makoto!” Monokuma said, cheerfully. “Anyways… you two are the only students missing their Monokuma File!”

“I suppose you’re here to give them to us,” Kyoko responded.

“You  bear -ly needed to ask!” Monokuma said, before handing the both of them a Monokuma File...

“You kids should be  bear -y grateful that you have me to help you!” Monokuma laughed before disappearing.

“Hm,” Kyoko said. “This is where we part ways, for now.”

“W-wait…! When you said you looked at the mirrors did you mean you-”

“If it makes you feel better, my mirror also showed something embarrassing.” Kyoko responded before turning away.

“Wow Makoto, ditched again, huh?” Junko asked.

“H-huh… when did you get here?!” Makoto screeched.

“Jeez, you’re easy to scare huh?” Junko asked. “Anyways, I figured it would be easier if we investigated together. Y’know pack mentality or whatever they say.”

“Huh… yeah, I guess you’re right.” Makoto responded.

“So,” Junko said, “have you examined Hina’s body yet? Everyone’s crowding over there, but I’ve heard there’s nothing interesting with Chihiro.”

“Yeah,” Makoto agreed. “Chihiro’s room is pretty normal other than her body being there. Kyoko believes it was moved.”

“Do you believe that Chihiro was moved?” Junko asked.

I don’t want to believe that someone could murder Chihiro,  Makoto thought to himself.  But I don’t want to believe that Chihiro would kill herself either.

“I think she was moved, yeah,” Makoto said. “I’d like to believe Kyoko on this anyways.”

“Well, then we should probably go to Hina’s corpse,” Junko said. “Hopefully the vultures have cleared out.”

“V-vultures…?!” Makoto asked. “How are there-”

“Makoto, dude, I was joking.”

“Haha…  sorry, I’m just a bit on edge…” Makoto admitted.

“It’s fine,” Junko said. “It’s not everyday you find two dead bodies, huh?”

Makoto nodded, both Junko and Makoto went upstairs to the second floor.

“Hey, Makoto,” Junko said. “Do ya notice anything weird about this door?”

“Huh…? Oh yeah, there’s scratches on it...” Makoto said.

“I suppose that means that someone was struggling,” Junko said. “Maybe it’s time that the Monokuma File is actually useful.”

Makoto checked his Monokuma File, Chihiro’s autopsy stated that besides the injury of the neck there were no other things of note. It placed the time of death at around 1 AM. Aoi’s autopsy report was a bit different, the cause of death was noted as drowning, but it did note a head injury. The file also noted that her nails on both hands were broken and bloody. Her death was placed at around 1:30 AM.

“Well, let’s get to seeing Hina’s body,” Junko said.

Makoto and Junko went into the pool area and the separate changing areas, they met up again at the pool.

“Makoto!” Yasuhiro yelled, “It’s terrible!”

“Huh… what is?”

“Hina’s body…! It’s all bloated, I think she was possessed by a g-ghost!”

“Where is Hina anyways?” Junko asked. “She’s no longer in the pool, right?”

“She’s over by Sakura… Kyoko wanted to examine her or something.” Yasuhiro answered. “I think she might be checking for ghosts.”

“You can’t be that stupid, can you?” Junko asked.

“Maybe we should leave Kyoko and Sakura alone,” Makoto said. “At least until we can examine the area.”

“Smart idea, Makoto,” Junko said. “Let’s see if anything catches our attention.” 

“That dumbbell near the pool,” Makoto said, as he walked towards the dumbbell. “The Monokuma File said that Hina had a head injury right?”

“Yeah and this thing has blood on it,” Junko noted. “It’s small enough where I don’t think it would kill someone but it would definitely knock someone out.”

“So, do you think the blackened attacked Hina here?”

“Yeah, that’d make the most sense,” Junko said. “I mean, no need to bring the murder weapon with you.”

“I think we should check the changing rooms,” Makoto said. “We need to find out where this dumbbell was taken from.”

“Alright, make sure not to perv out in the boy’s one or anything, alright?” Junko said.

“H-huh…?!”

“Just kidding, you’re not that type of guy.”

Makoto went into the boy’s changing room, to his dismay he noticed that a smaller dumbbell was missing.

The blackened has to be a guy then,  Makoto thought to himself.  The mastermind is very strict on not letting the opposite gender get into the other gender’s changing room.

As Makoto went back to the pool, he was surprised to see Junko hadn’t come out yet.

“Hey uh, Makoto,” Junko said as she got out of the changing room. “The girl’s changing room is a total mess, almost looks like a guy’s room.”

“What do you mean it’s a total mess?” Makoto asked.

“I didn’t really notice before, with Sakura pushing all us girls and whatever but that place got trashed pretty bad.”

“So you mean the blackened and Hina probably fought in there?” Makoto asked.

“I dunno, but whatever happened was pretty rough.” Junko said. “Anyways, looks like Kyoko’s done ogling up Hina or whatevs.”

“I’m not so sure that’s what she was doing…” Makoto muttered.

“Eh, probably,” Junko said. “You gotta admit though, her body obsession is pretty weird.”

Makoto and Junko walked up to Hina’s body.

“Hina drowned,” Kyoko said. “That we can truly ascertain.”

“So the Monokuma File isn’t wrong about that then…” Sakura said.

“Is there anything odd about her body?” Junko asked. “Any other injuries that weren’t mentioned in the Monokuma File?”

“No,” Kyoko said. “The head injury is her only other injury.”

“What was the point of the head injury? Why hit her if you’re going to throw her in the pool…?” Makoto asked.

“It could be for various reasons,” Kyoko said. “The reasoning though is likely clear if you examine the other places the victim was at.”

Sakura hummed silently.

“I don’t think we’re going to find anything more useful here,” Junko whispered to Makoto. “I think it’s best we just explore somewhere else.”

“Yeah,” Makoto whispered back. “There’s something that’s been bothering me about Chihiro’s body.”

“Oh?”

Makoto and Junko left the pool and the changing rooms.

“You mentioned something weird about Chihiro’s body,” Junko said. “Now I’m curious.”

“The thing that was hanging around Chihiro’s neck, I think I’ve seen it before.” Makoto said.

“Oh yeah, that wire, right?” Junko asked. “I wonder where we’ve seen wires like that before.”

“Maybe the library?” Makoto said. “That’s the only place we’ve seen any technology.”

“Well we’ve got no other leads, so let’s go!” Junko said.

The two made their way to the library, Junko looked around at the books and Makoto noticed a desk lamp.

“Hey… shouldn’t this lamp be connected to something?” Makoto asked as Junko came over.

“Maybe it’s battery powered?” Junko offered.

“I don’t think so… it has an opening which you could probably plug something in to…” Makoto said.

“That might be the murder weapon for Chihiro’s murder,” Junko said. “I mean we can assume that since this wire is missing it’s at least related.

“Yeah…” Makoto said. “There’s something else that has been bothering me, but I don’t know if there’s anything I can do to clear it up before the class trial…”

“Huh?” Junko said. “Tell me and then we’ll investigate!”

“Wow, I sounded cool for a second there, didn’t I, Makoto?” Junko asked.

“Haha… yeah,” Makoto said. “The dumbbell was from the boy’s changing room but the girl’s room was a mess… Is there a way to get into both?”

“Huh,” Junko said. “Yeah, if you scan in someone’s ID you can get into both…”

“How would you get someone’s ID?” Makoto asked. “Isn’t it against the rules to trade your e-Handbook with someone else?”

“Yeah, it’s one of the newer rules,” Junko said. “But there’s probably a loophole somewhere.”

“Maybe,” Makoto said. “But is there anything we can do to prove that?”

“I dunno,” Junko admitted. “But I do have an idea on where we can check.”

“Huh…?” 

“For once Makoto, let me lead the way!” Junko said. “And damn, I sounded cool as hell again!”

Junko led Makoto to the main hall, where e-Handbooks of the deceased students lay in a mailbox.

“Here’s where our handbooks go to die, after us of course,” Junko said. “So let’s check ‘em and make sure that it’s only Sayaka’s and Leon’s.”

Makoto attempted to power on a handbook only to have it not respond.

“Hey, Junko?” Makoto asked.

“Yeah?”

“Did your e-handbook power on?” Makoto asked.

“Yeah, Sayaka’s handbook is up and running,” Junko said.

“Huh,” Makoto said. “This one is refusing to turn on at all…”

“Leon’s probably broke when he was getting murdered, then,” Junko said.

“Hey! You can’t just call my handbooks weak and get away with it!” Monokuma yelled, as he appeared.

“Well they are pretty weak,” Junko said. “This one is obviously broken.”

“Well if it is, it didn’t break during a murder!” Monokuma said.

“What do you mean it didn’t break during a murder?” Makoto asked.

“They only have one design flaw!” Monokuma said. “And don’t ask! Because I’m not going to tell you!”

“But you’re telling us it couldn’t have broke during the murder?” Junko asked.

“Yep!” Monokuma said before disappearing. 

“Hm,” Junko said. “That lead us nowhere, which is fuckin’ lame.”

“I don’t think so…” Makoto said. “We learned that the e-Handbooks broke, but we know it broke by a student…”

“Yeah…” Junko said.

“Hey… wait a second…” Makoto said. “Is there another handbook in there?”

“Huh…? Holy shit… You’re right…” Junko said.

Makoto reached into the slot and pulled out a handbook. It turned on quickly. It was Aoi Asahina’s handbook.

“So the blackened must’ve known about this then…” Makoto mumbled.

If Junko was going to respond she never got the chance because suddenly Monokuma’s voice started announcing it was time for the class trial.

“I think we can do this!” Junko said, smiling.

Probably  , Makoto thought to himself.  But do I really want to do this all over again?

As Makoto made his way to the elevator, he hoped that no one else would die. But he already knew that death was in the cards for at least one of his classmates.

“Puhuhuhu! I’m glad to see everyone is here!” Monokuma said.

“It’s not like you give us any other choice.” Byakuya responded, coldly.

“There’s something I would like to ask before we start the trial,” Kyoko began. “Is there a limit on how many people are killed per murder-session or is someone free to kill all of us?”

“I’m glad you asked!” Monokuma said. “Committing more than two murders is a punishable offense!”

“So,” Kyoko said. “We won’t ever experience any more than two dead bodies in an investigation?”

“I never said that, did I…?”

“Well then! Let the class trial begin!” Monokuma yelled.

“Let’s begin with what we know,” Kyoko said. “The two victims of this case were Aoi Asahina and Chihiro Fujisaki.”

“That swimmer girl was the first body we found.” Byakuya said. “Chihiro’s body was hidden in her room, disguised as a suicide.”

“How do we know it wasn’t a suicide?!” Mondo asked. “I bet that guy fuckin’ killed her and just couldn’t live with the guilt!”

“No, that’s wrong!” Makoto yelled. “Chihiro’s neck wounds don’t fit in with hanging! According to Kyoko’s examination of her body the neck wound on Chihiro should be ‘V’ shaped but instead it’s horizontal!”

“So?! What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Mondo yelled.

“It means that Chihiro didn’t hang herself and that she was strangled!” Makoto explained.

“The worst sort of criminal.” Hifumi muttered. “Attacking an innocent and defenseless girl…”

“So now that we’re all on the same page on Chihiro,” Junko said. “Where are we supposed to go from here?”

“Someone who would murder two girls…” Celeste said. “They do seem very dangerous, no?”

“Two girls…” Kyoko said. “Are we sure the reasoning is just that…?”

“Maybe they killed Chihiro after throwing Hina in the pool!” Yasuhiro yelled. “You know, to get rid of witnesses! That makes sense… right?”

“No that’s wrong!” Makoto yelled. “According to the Monokuma Report, Chihiro was the first death and Hina was second.” 

“Huh…? But we found Hina’s body first, so obviously she died first, right?!” Yasuhiro responded.

“No,” Sakura said. “If anyone witnessed a murder, it was probably Hina…”

“Huh…? Hina witnessed the murder, that doesn’t make sense!” Yasuhiro yelled.

“No, I agree with Sakura as well,” Kyoko said. “But I don’t think it matters who died first, at least it didn’t matter to the blackened.”

“H-huh…?” Toko muttered. “W-what do you m-mean the o-order d-didn’t matter to the b-blackened…?”

“That’s exactly what I mean,” Kyoko said. “To the blackened it didn’t matter  who died, the blackened just wanted people to die.”

“Now that doesn’t make any sense at all,” Byakuya spat. “Of course the order matters, if one of them witnessed the crime they had to go as well.”

“Yeah yeah, that’s great and all but arguing about the blackend’s motive isn’t going to get us any closer to discovering the blackened themself…” Junko said.

“Well, I think I might have a few hints on who the blackened might be…” Makoto said.

“Well Makoto it’s your duty to share this information with the class!” Kiyotaka yelled.

“Well, we know that the dumbbell that injured Hina was from the boy’s changing room, right?” Makoto asked.

“S-so you’re implying that o-one of the g-guys did i-it right?” Toko asked. “W-well M-makoto usually you’d be my f-first bet but you’re all t-too scrawny.”

Thanks for that, I guess. Makoto thought.

“No man would ever harm a girl, right bro?!” Kiyotaka yelled.

“H-huh…? Oh y-yeah.” Mondo said.

“But are we so sure that both victims were females?” Kyoko asked. “We’ve been running based off that assumption but, is everyone here really so sure?”

“Huh… why would we assume anything else?” Makoto asked.

“Are you implying that Miss Fujisaki was not a girl?!” Hifumi yelled.

“I’m just saying we should be prepared for the possibility,” Kyoko said. “But that’s not a pressing issue. What is, is the motive…”

“The m-motive…?” Toko asked. “W-what would that have t-to do with a-anything right now?”

“Everyone’s motives were interesting,” Kyoko admitted. “But there are some I have yet to discover…”

“You saw our motives?!” Byakuya said, enraged.

“Hey! Haven’t you heard of privacy?!” Yasuhiro complained.

“Please don’t get the wrong idea about me from it!” Kiyotaka yelled.

“Interesting the lies the mastermind would create, no?” Celeste asked.

“What do you find so interesting about the motives, Kyoko?” Sakura asked.

“The motives themselves all fit the theme,” Kyoko said. “Or that’s what I would say if I saw all of the motives…”

“What?!” Kiyotaka yelled. “Was someone breaking the rules?!”

“No that’s wrong!” Makoto yelled, “I think I know what Kyoko’s talking about…”

“Huh…?! How could she not see all the motives if someone was not breaking the rules?!”

“Kyoko told me that twenty minutes after the night time announcement she checked the mirrors. Apparently, Mondo, Chihiro and Aoi’s mirrors were all missing…” Makoto explained.

“That’s interesting, is it not?” Celeste asked. “We know Chihiro and Hina never got the chance to put away their mirrors, but what is your excuse Mondo?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I couldn’t fuckin’ sleep.” Mondo said. “The motive thing might’ve been total bullshit but it still bothered me.”

“Hey, wait a second… if you attempted to sleep, wouldn’t you still have to put your mirror back?” Yasuhiro asked.

“I-ignoring the i-idiot, can we discuss something e-else?” Toko said.

“Aw, and I thought I was onto something!” Yasuhiro complained.

“Hm, we’ve been discussing Hina so much but I think we should go back to Chihiro.” Junko said. “There’s something that’s not sitting right with me and that chick.”

“Other than the false suicide?” Byakuya asked.

“That ‘rope’ for example, what kind of wire was that?” Junko asked.

“It was probably the library desk lamp’s extension cord,” Makoto said. “When Junko and I went to the library we noticed the desk lamp missing its extension cord.”

“Surprisingly, you’re correct, Makoto.” Byakuya said. “Chihiro was hanging from the extension cord.”

“There’s something else that’s uber important,” Junko said. “How did the killer get into both the boy’s and the girl's changing rooms. Unless they’re dual wielding, that should be impossible, right?”

“H-huh…? T-the killer g-got into both c-changing rooms?” Toko asked.

“Yep! The girls changing room was totally trashed and the boy’s changing room is missing a dumbbell.” Junko said.

“Y-you’re such a w-whore…! H-how else would you k-know that the d-dumbbell is missing f-from the boy’s c-changing room…?!”

“I’m the whore? Makoto just told me that it was missing!” Junko yelled.

“W-well I-I’m sure y-you two w-were enjoying y-your private t-time together,” Toko said. “W-were you g-giving him your m-model special?”

“Hey! You don’t really think Junko and Makoto would do that... do you?” Kiyotaka asked.

“Huh…?!” Makoto yelled. “This has nothing to do with the case at hand!”

“But it does bring up an interesting point,” Kyoko said. “How did the blackened get into both changing rooms?”

“It has something to do with our e-Handbooks,” Hifumi said. “Miss Fujisaki was quite handy with hers, maybe they modified the blackened’s e-Handbook!”

“Unlikely,” Junko said. “Wasn’t she like super busy with that project we assigned to her or whatever?”

“But perhaps it does have something to do with the e-Handbooks.” Kyoko added. “Has anyone seen anything weird with them as of late?”

“Yeah, actually, I have,” Makoto said. “Monokuma says that all of his e-Handbooks are unbreakable except for one flaw…”

“Yet?” Kyoko asked.

“Yet, in the mailbox where all the dead student’s e-Handbooks are stored one of them was broken…”

“S-since we’re b-bringing up our e-experiences with broken e-Handbooks I m-might as well j-join in…” Toko said. “I-in the s-sauna I f-found another broken e-Handbook…”

“You actually went into the sauna?” Byakuya asked. “Surprising, but you already mentioned that.”

“You weren’t going to share that information with us?” Kyoko asked.

“I feel no need to better the rate of your survival.” 

“Your survival relies on us, dude.” Junko said.

“Inconquestential.”

“Wait, you found the broken e-Handbook in the sauna?” Makoto asked.

“Y-yep, is t-that so s-surprising?” Toko asked.

“Then wait,” Makoto said. “Monokuma, is the e-Handbook’s weakness heat?”

“Aw… you guessed it!” Monokuma said. “Now that you know you better not make a hobby out of destroying them! Because I’m not going to replace them!”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that, Monokuma.” Celestesaid. “We value being able to access the pool.”

“Alright, so we’ve discovered the e-Handbooks weakness but why was there such a mess on the door of the pool?” Yasuhiro asked. “Did the ghosts do it?!”

“Someone like Hina probably didn’t want to die.” Sakura said. “Since we know she died after, we can assume she tried to fight the blackened.”

“Maybe it was Miss Fujisaki!” Hifumi added. “Someone like her wouldn’t go down without a fight either.”

“From the evidence,” Kyoko said. “It was likely that Hina was the one fought back.”

“What makes you so sure?!” Hifumi yelled.

“She’s probably talking about Hina’s finger nails being broken.” Makoto explained. “If she was scratching against the door it probably would’ve broken her nails.”

“I suppose I must concede to that point,” Hifumi said. “But I’ll fight for Miss Fujisaki’s honor with my life!”

“Dude, she’s not here to thank you.” Junko said.

“I think it’s honorable, just like my relationship with bro!” Kiyotaka added.

“Yeah, our bond is fuckin’ powerful.” Mondo said.

“I think Chihiro’s and Hifumi’s bond emulates Taka’s and Mondo’s relationship more than what was originally expected.” Kyoko said.

“H-huh… what do you mean by that?!” Mondo asked.

“Chihiro Fujisaki was not in fact a girl, but actually a guy.” Kyoko said.

“What?!” Hifumi yelled. “You’re lying, Miss Kirigiri, I refuse to believe you!”

“In fact,” Kyoko said. “If we checked Chihiro’s body we’d find more male features than female.”

“That would explain how he never wanted to hang out with Hina and I despite wanting to train.” Sakura said. 

“Miss Fujisaki is a Mr. …? I can’t live like this!” Hifumi yelled.

“Suck it up, buttercup,” Junko said.

“If we’re assuming that our blackened knew Chihiro’s true gender, then I think it’s pretty clear who the blackened is, isn’t it?” Kyoko asked.

“No…! Not at all!” Yasuhiro yelled.

“You’re talking about the mistake in pronouns, aren’t you?” Byakuya asked.

“Exactly,” Kyoko said.

“Mistake in pronouns…?” Makoto asked. “What do you two mean?”

“The blackened already knew Chihiro’s true gender, and because of that they’ve been switching pronouns in order to keep the secret,” Kyoko explained. “I think that’s pretty obvious.”

“Huh…?” Junko said. “Are we supposed to be paying attention to everyone’s little mistakes?!”

“Yes.” Kyoko said.

“Wait…” Makoto said. “I think I know who you’re talking about.” 

“Really? You were able to piece that out with the nothing she gave us?!” Yasuhiro asked.

“Mondo, you’ve been acting really weird this whole trial.” Makoto said. 

“Huh, what the hell are you talking about?!” Mondo yelled.

“I think this whole mystery could be solved if each of us just showed our e-Handbooks.” Makoto explained.

“What use would they have in this situation?” Celeste asked.

“The blackened knew about the way the e-Handbooks could break. Therefore, they had probably broken theirs in the sauna.”

“That would make sense, but why specifically Mondo?” Celeste asked.

“Mondo and Taka had an endurance contest in the sauna. From what I can remember Mondo didn’t take off his clothes…” Makoto began to explain. “Mondo probably kept his e-Handbook on him, and when he left the sauna he discovered that it was broken.”

“So that e-Handbook we found probably wasn’t Leon’s but Mondo’s…?” Junko asked.

“Maybe,” Makoto said. “This can all be cleared up if we just show each other our handbooks.”

“There’s no need!” Kiyotaka yelled. “I already know bro is innocent! Bro would never kill someone!”

“Give it up already,” Mondo said. “There’s no point in trying when you’ve already lost.”

“Bro?! What are you talking about?” Kiyotaka yelled. “If you just show Makoto you’re innocent he’ll stop accusing you, I promise!”

“But he’s not wrong.” Mondo said. “And it’s time I owned up to it, as well.”

“No! You’re lying!” Kiyotaka yelled. “I refuse to believe it!”

“Makoto,” Kyoko said. “How about you explain it in full detail so that everyone might get it.”

“It all started when we got our motives,” Makoto began. “Mondo like everyone else was hesitant to share his motive.” 

“After the night time announcement Mondo still hadn’t went to bed, I think we can all safely assume that Mondo wasn’t planning on sleeping without committing a murder.” Makoto said. “I think he encountered Chihiro working out in the pool area and went and got the extension cord from the library.”

“After getting the cord, Mondo strangled Chihiro to death but unluckily for him Hina had decided to go to the pool at the same time.” Makoto said. “Hina tried to get away but Mondo caught her just as she made her way to the door.”

“She probably wasn’t easy to contain. She was fighting him every inch of the way there, but when he saw Chihiro’s dumbbell he knew what he could do to stop her.” Makoto said. “He hit her once, knocking her out before throwing her into the pool.”

“But he wasn’t done yet, he still had to move Chihiro’s body,” Makoto said. “Luckily for him, everyone was asleep at the time.”

“He hung Chihiro’s body up and left the door unlocked, leaving Chihiro to be discovered. But now he had two e-Handbooks that he didn’t have any use for,” Makoto said. “He threw Chihiro’s into the sauna so his true gender wouldn’t be discovered, and he put Hina’s handbook in the mailbox where he found Leon’s and Sayaka’s.”

“That’s what happened, right Mondo?” Makoto said.

“Y’know those two were braver than I was,” Mondo said. “Chihiro was trying to get stronger to accept himself and Hina was trying to improve her craft.”

“Yet I couldn’t accept what I saw in the mirror, I thought getting’ out of here would be the easiest way to move on.” Mondo said. “But it seems that I’ve just taken two more lives with me.”

“Bro! Don’t accept it! You just have to prove him wrong!” Kiyotaka yelled.

“There’s no point,” Mondo said. “He wasn’t wrong.”

“Well well well, it seems the facade of Mondo Owada has finally come to an end.” Monokuma said. “He couldn’t face what he saw in the mirror and took it out on others instead.”

“Why?” Sakura asked. “What was so worth it that you had to kill them to run away?”

“Let me tell you a story,” Monokuma said. “And pay attention because it’s  bear -y important!”

“Long ago there were two brothers, and they were happy for a time.” Monokuma said. “But the younger brother lived in the shadow of his older brother. And oh did I mention this was about the Owadas?”

“Anyways, Mondo’s brother led the Crazy Diamond’s biker gang and Mondo was his right hand man,” Monokuma said. “But Mondo wasn’t content in living in his brother’s shadow, so he challenged him to a race!”

“It was going pretty badly for Mondo and he had to stoop to desperate methods to win the race,” Monokuma said. “But oh no! Mondo ends up in front of a truck coming straight at him! What will he do…?!”

“The answer is, nothing. Mondo’s brother hits him out of the way and takes the truck head on instead.” Monokuma said. “Does Mondo’s brother survive this incident? No. Does Mondo live with the guilt forever? Yes.”

“You know what’s even worse?” Monokuma asked. “He died on the day of his retirement! Well I guess that’s one way to make it more permanent…”

“Now here’s a sadder story about a young man named Chihiro Fujisaki…” Monokuma began. “Chihiro Fujisaki was a boy with a feminine frame, and like any boy with a feminine frame he was bullied relentlessly for it.”

“Now instead of standing up to his bullies like his murderer could, Chihiro folded like a stack of cards!” Monokuma said. “He decided to ‘embrace’ aka hide behind his femininity even if it made his skin crawl!”

“He wanted to become a stronger person, so he decided to work out.” Monokuma said. “Unluckily for him he picked a very bad time to improve on himself!” 

“Mondo decided that if he couldn’t be happy, no one could be happy!” Monokuma said. “So he took Chihiro’s strength away from him, permanently!”

“And finally our witness Aoi Asahina.” Monokuma said. “Talk about a comedy of errors!”

“First, Aoi looks into her mirror and sees that she’s not feminine enough,” Monokuma said. “‘Fine’, she thinks to herself, ‘I’ll just go swim that’ll make me feel better!’. Oh how wrong she could be.”

“So she heads to the pool and what does she see?” Monokuma asked. “Oh you know, Chihiro being strangled to death by one Mondo Owada.”

“Of course she tries to run away but Mondo is gaining on her quick.” Monokuma said. “She almost makes it to the exit, barely opens the door before Mondo’s grabbing her like there’s no tomorrow!”

“She scratches, she kicks, she breaks things, but it’s no use, she’s back at the pool in no time.” Monokuma said. “She’s causing too much trouble so Mondo hits her! Wham! And then she’s in the pool like nothing ever happened.”

“You’re lying you son of a bitch!” Kiyotaka yelled. “Shut the hell up!”

“I promise you that as your headmaster I would never lie unless it helps me!” Monokuma responded.

“Well,” Mondo said. “I guess you should get it over with then.”

“Don’t you feel sorry? Don’t you feel any remorse at all?” Sakura asked.

“Of course I do,” Mondo said. “But that doesn’t change anything.”

“You can’t bring back the dead with your apologies,” Makoto said. “You can’t bring back anything at all.”

“I hated my reflection in that damn mirror, but I guess Taka wasn’t wrong when he called me a coward,” Mondo said.

“No bro you’re not a coward-” 

“It’s over,” Mondo said. “I think it might even be for the best this way, even if it doesn’t seem like it yet.”

“Enough with the sentimentality, it’s punishment time!” Monokuma said.

“Wait no, stop you son of a bitch, stop!” Kiyotaka yelled out.

It was too late of course, Mondo was already being led away to his execution. 

Mondo’s shows up tied up to a pink motorcycle, it’s being driven by Monokuma. Around them is a circus with two cardboard tigers surrounding a metal ball cage. Monokuma starts up the motorcycle and jumps out just as they land in the ball cage. Mondo is left spinning when the cage closes as the cage starts to electrify. 

In front of the ball cage is another Monokuma hula hooping as the volts grow brighter the hula hooping gets faster

After the volts clear up, the motorcycle is still spinning sans Mondo. The hula hooper is sitting down exhausted. A machine makes a beeping noise and out comes a tub branded “Mondo Butter”.

“W-what did w-we just witness?” Toko asked.

“Jesus christ, did he just get turned into fucking butter?!” Junko cried.

“It’s what he deserved,” Sakura said.

Kiyotaka stared, silently, eyes showing only resignation.

Makoto gulped, he didn’t want to do this again. More ghosts weighing heavily on him. He had lost his good friends Aoi and Chihiro and he didn’t want to lose Mondo as well.

It always has to end like this,  Makoto thought.  It’s us before them, but how can they put their lives before others…? Am I supposed to do the same? 

[grxywxrn]

Alive part 1

Neil Abram Josten was dead. He had never lived, but he was still dead and gone and absent and dead.

Dead, dead, dead.

It was a familiar word, playing like a broken record in Andrew’s head. A broken, dead record in a broken, dead mind.

Andrew imagined his mind like a smashed mirror, fragile and blood stained, unable to give a clear image to those who gazed upon it. This was all because Neil Josten had been fine.

Andrew hates many things, the words family and please, bitter tastes, people, but on that night a whole bunch of things were added to the list. The number zero made Andrew violent, thank you was torture to hear and Exy made him homicidal.

He still played it though, so Kevin wouldn’t die either. He didn’t care if Kevin died, he didn’t care if he himself died. Andrew didn’t care at all. The one thing that had made him feel disappeared like a tea light candle flickering out in the wind.

“Andrew?” Came a cheerful voice. Andrew looked up from his phone to see Nicky Hemmick, his all to happy cousin, smiling at him. “What are you doing in Germany? Especially unannounced?”

Andrew didn’t answer, he saw no reason to.

Nicky, after years of experience, let it slide. Six years ago, he may have pressed on, but Nicky eventually took the hint four years ago that Andrew was now a whole new type of broken.

Nicky played it off like Andrew had replied. “Well, it’s crazy to see you again. Erik and I were just grabbing stuff for dinner. His parents are looking after the girls for the day.”

Andrew has never met his nieces, Nicky and him had silently agreed that it would never happen. As soon as one of them started crying, Andrew would have done something that Nicky would regret.

“Hey, you should join us!” Nicky exclaimed. Andrew started walking away, trying to find his favourite ice cream in the frozen section of the supermarket. “Okay, sorry, bad idea, you’re right.” Nicky was still following him.

“How’s Aaron?” Nicky attempted to make conversation. “Is he getting used to the married life?”

In truth, Andrew didn’t know how his twin was, like everyone, Andrew didn’t care enough to care. Andrew grunted and that made Nicky ecstatic.

“And Kevin?” Nicky asked through the frosted glass door that was opened right in front of his face. Andrew got his ice cream and walked away again. “Fine, I’m guessing, with the recent win.”

Andrew skipped checkout 0 even though it was the shortest line up and headed to number 6 which was significantly longer.

“What about you, are you doing okay after Neil’s-“

Andrew whipped around, his fingers crushing the windpipe in Nicky’s throat.

“You have no right to say his name, Nicolas.” Andrew growled out Nicky’s full name because he knew it reminded him of his parents, or mainly his lack of them.

“Andrew, it would be nice of you to put down my husband.” Andrew cast his eyes lazily over the the man speaking German at him. Erik looked like he was playing it cool, but his fist was tight around the handles of his shopping basket.

Andrew basically threw his cousin at Erik, telling him to drag Nicky away with the most venomous glare ever. As Andrew paid, he heard Nicky saying things like, “It’s my fault, I over stepped my boundaries again.”

Andrew carried on with his plan for the day; get his cash changed from American to German because his was running low on cash, buy a new charger for his phone, went to the key smiths and went to get a haircut.

That’s where is all went wrong. A haircut was usually a bad experience, for both the barber and himself, but this was worse.

His hair was bright purple, messy and curly, his eyes were icy blue and his smile was so wide.

Neil Josten, age nineteen and Exy prodigy goes missing after game

After two years, Neil Josten is presumed Dead by authorities

Hunt for Neil Josten closed, body found in building foundation by demolition team in England

But Neil didn’t look dead at all, in fact, he look more alive than he ever had. There were no bags under his eyes and his complexion was tanned. He had a burn scar on one cheek and three lines down the other.

Andrew blinked, but Neil was still there. He held his eyes shut, rubbing them like Neil would disappear again.

Alive, alive, alive. So damn alive.

“Nathaniel!” Someone scolded of him and Neil turned away from the voice, holding in his laughter as his co-worker pulled funny faces.

Neil noticed Andrew, smiling at him. Neil came out from behind the front desk, ripped jeans paired with a red over-sized hoodie.

“Guten Tag!“ Neil greeted him in German. “Wie geht es dir?“

Andrew knew what Neil had asked him, he knew how to answer, but he just stared.

“Herr?” Neil reached for Andrew but let his hand hover. “Wie geht es dir, Herr?”

“Nicht so gut, Neil.” Andrew stood back, world tilting as he moved.

“Maybe you should sit down.” Neil guided Andrew towards a chair, in the mirror Andrew was ghost white, chalky skinned and eyes wide. “Can I get you something to drink...”

it was too late when Andrew realised he was waiting for a name.

“How are you alive?” Andrew asked in English and Neil looked taken aback.

“I don’t know- Sir are you high or drunk or-“ Neil was taking a few steps back.

“Neil, Neil Josten.” Andrew said, he didn’t know why. He hadn’t said that name in six years, Andrew had almost forgot what it sounded like on his own tongue.

“Alright, would you like me to help you find him?” Neil pulled at his hair.

No, he’s dead. You’re dead. Andrew wanted to grab this Neil by the shoulders, shake him until the nightmare subsided and he woke up in an empty and cold bed.

Andrew shook his head.

“Okay. Okay. Just breathe and I’ll be back in a moment.” Neil returned with a biscuit and a mug of coffee. Andrew didn’t touch the coffee because it looked to bitter but he ate the biscuit. “What is you name?”

Andrew choked.

“Andrew Minyard.” Neil smiled like he knew something Andrew didn’t. Maybe he did. “Can I get a trim and highlights.”

Neil let his face fall slack for a moment before nodding.

When Andrew got home, he could almost see the red marks on his skin from where Neil had touched him.

When Andrew went back to the shops the next week, Neil’s hair was black until his eyes and then snow white.

Andrew observed from a coffee booth, spying from over his mug. Neil was good at doing hair, and he liked to catch with his costumers.

Andrews phone hummed in his hand. Renee was the only person who called him.

It was a simple ‘are you treating yourself good?’ Like every question was around this time of year.

‘Come home soon, Andrew. I don’t want you to be alone.” Renee said, stopping mid-sentence with the sound of sizzling bacon in the background.

“Why?”

“You know why.” Renee didn’t beat around the bush with this. “Andrew, Neil’s-“ Andrew flinched “-anniversary makes you dangerous, not only to yourself but to others.”

“Shut up.”

“I want you to be happy.” Renee pleaded.

“Well I can’t be!” Then he hung up the phone.

The booth lowered beneath Andrew as someone took a seat next to him.

“Is everything okay?” Neil sipped his coffee gently like it would be too hot.

“Give me your phone.” Neil gave it over. Andrew tuned on Sir and said into it, “Neil Josten disappearance.”

Hundreds of articles came up at that search, Andrew found one without a photo of Neil.

“You follow Exy?” Andrew asked.

“Ugh,” Neil growled, “I hate that sport! It’s so stupid.” Andrew couldn’t help but scoff. Neil Josten saying Exy was stupid was just to ironic.

“Well, I play for New York with Kevin Day. Used to play for PSU in collage, for the Foxes.”

“I’ve heard of them, a friend follows it like a religion.” He seemed to loath Exy more than Andrew. “He’s obsessed with Day, and that dwarf bodyguard of his.” Andrew gripped the knife beside his coffee on the table. “Oh, wait. That’s you isn’t it?”

Andrew grunted, Neil laughter brightly. Neil snagged his phone back and read the article that Andrew had found.

“Hey, he went missing seven years ago today! Did you used to play with him?”

“In more ways than one, yeah.” Neil snorted, then laughed loudly. Andrew’s chest aches like hot coals replaced his lungs.

Alive, alive, alive.

“I hated him. Oh, I hated him so much.” Andrew hated that just voice shook on the word hate. He knew that word had a different meaning when it was directed at Neil. Andrew’s fist shook, he wanted to punch something. “I never knew why he was killed, Kevin wouldn’t tell me. But sometimes it feels like he’s still alive.”

It was weird. Andrew was talking to someone, and not just anyone about anything. He was talking to Neil about his own death that he couldn’t seem to remember.

Dead, dead, dead.

Alive, alive, alive.

“Well is that why you’re here? Was he buried here?”

“No, parts of his dismembered body were found in building foundations over in England. He wasn’t buried. I don’t actually know what happened to him.” Neil flinched, smile gone.

“If you want to talk-“

“I have already said to much.” Andrew started to leave but a hand gently wrapped around his wrist.

“Come around to the shop around three, it’s when I get off for the day. We can grab a coffee or something.” Neil smiled and let Andrew go. Andrew’s skin was on fire. “Oh, and my names Nathaniel Wesninski.”

Andrew’s hotel was big. He earned a lot of money playing Exy so he spent it all on stupid things. This hotel had a ball pit. It was three stories and the pinball machine room was where he spent most of his time. Alone.

Andrew walked down the hall on the top floor, passing Kevin in the gym. Andrew wasn’t going leave Kevin in America by himself so he dragged him to Germany with him. They hadn’t talked the whole week they had been in the the country and Andrew liked it that way.

He had a beer in one hand and ice cream in the other. When Kevin saw his unhealthy idea of lunch, he rolled his eyes.

“You can’t actually eat that for lunch.” Kevin commented.

“I can and I will, now shut up.” Andrew was about to walk into the games room.

“I invited Nicky over.” Kevin told him. “He told me about what you did. You’re lucky no press saw you.”

“Don’t care.” Andrew really didn’t. “I’m going out later anyways, so it will just be you two.”

“Where are you going?” Kevin got off the treadmill, bringing his shirt up to whipe the sweat off his face. “Not to do anything dumb or illegal?”

“I don’t know. I’ll figure it out in the car.” Andrew replied. He wasn’t going to tell Kevin about Neil being alive. If Kevin knew he’d tell Neil everything and try to get him back into Exy.

“Andrew,” Kevin sighed, “look, I know you don’t care or feel anything about anything, but don’t do anything to ruin your life. Neil wouldn’t want-“

“Neil is dead, Kevin!” Andrew threw his beer bottle at Kevin’s head, missing by a millimetre. But Neil wasn’t dead. “He’s been dead for years and he can’t want anything!”

“Andrew, it’s okay to feel pain.” Kevin told him. He stepped forward, hands raised like he was approaching a deadly animal. “We all lost N-him that day, but you deserve to feel sad or grief because you lost someone you love!”

Andrew slammed the door shut behind him. He threw his bowl of ice cream then smashed the glass on one of the pinball tables. Then it was time to leave.

When he got to the barbershop, Neil was putting foils into a mans hair. He was smiling and saying something about loving the shade of red the man choose to dye his hair.

Andrew pushes past a girl asking if he wanted to make an appointment and walked to the back of the shop where Neil was. His hair was now green at the ends and not white.

“Andrew!” Neil exclaimed when he noticed the tiny blond approaching him. “Have a seat, I’ll get you a drink. Extra sugar.”

Andrew sit next to the man who watched him in awe.

“Can I help you?” Andrew arched an eyebrow.

“Oh, it’s just,” the man beamed up at Andrew, “you’re Andrew Minyard!”

Neil had returned with a grin, placing the sugary milk down in front of Andrew.

“No, I am his twin.” Andrew said. The man just laughed, clearly not aware that there was two Minyards. “Aaron.”

“I knew an Aaron.” Neil began, eyebrows furrowing. “Have no idea where from or how, though. Funny thing is, I’m pretty sure he had a twin brother.” Neil laughed. Andrew wanted to bottle that sound.

“Small world.” Andrew muttered. His phone rang so he fished it out of his back pocket. “What do you want, Day?” He grunted into the phone and the man squealed. Andrew realised that this was the freind Neil had been talking about earlier.

Kevin slurred something into the speaker and Nicky screamed in the background somewhere. They were drunk as frat boys at three o’clock in the afternoon.

“You know, Drew,” Kevin slurred, “the way you spoke to me earlier was...was mean!” Andrew didn’t care. “I was just trying to help. Neil was...was my...friend tooooooo!”

Nicky started crying in the background, saying something like, “sweet Neil!”

“Kevin. You are drunk. Leave me alone and drink water and try not to fall off the balcony.” Then Andrew hung up the phone, heart aching. Why did it feel like Neil was everywhere, every time Andrew turned around he saw him. Some days he wished he had never met Neil at all.

Neil brought him back to reality when he leant over the back of the chair Andrew was sitting in to whisper, “I put some scotch in the coffee.” Then he went back to putting foils in his friends originally blond hair. Andrew drunk the coffee in one breathe and Neil giggled.

“I’m not supposed to give that to costumers but your tecically not buying anything.” Neil shrugged. It didn’t taste to good, it was just sweet milk and scotch but it was greatly appreciated.

In the time Andrew was sat in the shop he had four more of those drinks, learnt that the friend was called Nico and sighed a piece of paper for Nico to get tattooed.

Nico payed, spent ten minutes talking to Neil about Laura’s birthday present with a smirk and the kissed Neil goodbye.

Andrew almost took the scissors off the bench to stab Nico with.

Neil laughed, though, rubbing his cheek with a fake disgusted face.

“Sorry about him,” Neil turned to Andrew. “Nico’s a bit...special is the word I’d use. We are just friends though, he’s got a girl, Laura.” He pronounced Laura as Low-ra when he talked. “Still insists on kissing me goodbye every time though, say just because I’m ace doesn’t mean I don’t deserve some love.”

Neil shook his head, hair floating like a merman’s underwater. He was smiling quietly as they both fell into step beside each other, walking to seemingly no where.

“You’re ace?” Andrew asked after a moment of silently contemplating it. When Neil had first come to the Foxes he had said the same thing, I don’t swing, and all that. Kevin later said he was probably demi and hadn’t had a chance to figure out what he wanted.

“Yeah, is there a problem, Andrew?” Neil didn’t ask out of irritation, but genuine concern.

“No, the guy I used to date was demi.” Andrew made a point about say ‘guy’. Neil nodded. They didn’t look at each other, but they walked until they reached a coffee shop. Tooth Café.

They were about to sit down when Andrew spotted a camera pointed his way. Damn the press.

“Put your head down and walk to the nearest exit.” Andrew murmured. Neil didn’t ask why, he did what he was asked. Andrew put a hand on Neil’s back, fingers gripping the printed button up that Neil wore as he guided him away from the press.

The press chased after them, just behind them now and asking questions. Andrew suddenly pulled Neil around a corner. He grabbed the back of Neil’s neck to face him.

“Black car, number plate 157 RRT, floor two, seconction G. Run.” And Neil was off, running with the speed of the striker Andrew had once known.

The press had caught him, sticking a mic in his face.

“Andrew, Andrew. Who was that man?”

“You don’t need to know.” Andrew walked the opposite way to where Neil had ran.

“A lover?”

“Does Day know you’re here?”

“Who was the man?”

“Andrew, any comment on the rumours regarding your sexuality?”

“Since you played for the Foxes, how do you feel about Neil Josten’s death?”

“Who’s death?” Andrew retorted. The reporter gasped.

“Your old teammate-“ said someone at the same time somebody said “your late lover!”

“How would Neil feel knowing that you are moving on?” A reporter said next to his left ear. Andrew lashed out, punching the man in the throat.

The press launched back, some ran away. On lookers gapped as Andrew walked away.

Andrew found Neil sitting on the hood of his black Mercedes, scrolling through his phone.

They got in before anyone could see them together.

“Someone posted a video.” Neil whispered.

“Kevin’s gonna scold me.” Andrew pulled out of the car park and on to the open road.

“The reporter deserved that though, for what he said.” Neil was testing the waters of this conversation, now that he knew how angry Andrew could get. “He had no right.”

Andrew was silent.

“I watched one of your games, well two actually.” Neil started a new conversation. “Neil’s last game and yours, Andrew.”

Neil’s last game.

Thank you, you were amazing

0

He had ran around that stadium so many times, he didn’t find anything except the bag.

Andrew swiveled the car back onto the road when he started to go into the next lane. Someone cussed at him from a different car.

“Andrew, the way you shut down the goal is incredible. Maybe you could teach me a bit before you left?” With that, Andrew changed direction towards his hotel. When he arrived, he told Neil to stay while he ran upstairs.

Upstairs in one of the living rooms, Kevin was passed out drunk while Nicky was certainly on the way. Andrew grabbed two sets of gear that Kevin had made him bring with them and stuffed it in a bag. He raced down to the car with a pint of ice cream and two spoons.

“Every time I do anything remotely Exy-ish, i eat a whole one of these. Kevin hates it.”

Andrew had to wait for Neil to figure out how to put on the gear, because it wasn’t like Andrew was going to help Neil dress.

Neil looked like Neil in his armour. A green haired Neil.

“Alright, just try and take a shot in on me.” Andrew said. When Neil took the shot, the ball fell a few feet in front of Andrew.

Andrew got the ball in his racket and threw it down the court to where Neil would have been waiting for him seven years ago.

This present day Neil gapped in shock.

“Woah!” He exclaimed. “You are amazing!”

“You’re not allowed to say that.” Andrew glared Neil down.

They tried again and this time Andrew caught it. Then they tried again and Andrew reached for it. The next time Andrew was too distracted by the muscles moving in Neil’s thighs to block his shot.

“OMG!” Neil cheered. “I won!” He struggled to take off his helmet. “I got a goal in on Andrew Minyard because he was checking me out!”

“Was not.” Andrew argued but it was ignored by Neil screaming into a phone.

“Nico!” He started telling him all about what just happened. When Nico didn’t believe him, Neil switched the FaceTime camera to Andrew. “Told you!”

Andrew let them talk and eventually Neil calmed down. Andrew just watched him talk into the camera from goal.

He missed Neil.

He hated Neil.

Andrew launched a ball down caught, it seemed to pass Neil on flames. That ball carried only a small part of his anger. So he threw another and another. Neil ducked away, ending the call.

Andrew threw the whole bag of balls across court, still seething. When he was done, Andrew was shaking. Neil looked up at him from the floor to which he dove to when balls seemed to be aiming themselves at his head.

“Andrew-“

“Shut up!” He slammed his racket into the wall, snapping it in half. “God, just shut up! Stop looking at me and shut up!”

“Andrew- look at me-“ Andrew couldn’t. He couldn’t look at Neil without breaking. He had gone seven years without breaking, it couldn’t be now. “Shout at me. Tell me everything you want to tell him.”

Andrew grabbed him by the hair.

“Why didn’t you tell me anything? You knew they were coming for you, why didn’t you let me protect you?” Andrew screamed at Neil who look just about ready to cry. “You knew they were coming for you and you still played, you still made me feel something about you! You knew it wasn’t nothing so why did you let me fall knowing you were going die?”

“Andrew,” Neil gasped.

“What!”

“I don’t think I am ace after all.”

Pink. Baby pink.

Renee was going to be so happy.

Andrew wasn’t sure how Neil had managed to get Andrew’s hair that shade of pink, but the media loved it. The first time they had seen it was when Andrew was leaving the New York airport with Kevin Day at his side.

@TheJeanKnoxMor

@AJminyard not bad, Jeremy did call you a baby though

@offcialJeremyKnoxM

@AJminyard @TheJeanKnoxMor did not! Please don’t kill me, Andrew!

That was the most liked response. Some fans speculated why he would have dyed his hair such an unAndrew colour.

One fan said something along the lines of mental breakdown and Andrew wasn’t sure that was wrong.

Renee had liked it, she had called him cute. Aaron said it made him look gay, Andrew had kissed Kevin in reply. Thea had laughed at that.

Nicky kept texting him, even after there was no reply.

One morning Andrew woke alone, like every morning or sometimes afternoons.

The first notefication was; @NathanielWes04 is following you

Neil had sent him a dm over Instagram.

Heyyyy, Andrew! I looked up what time it is over in NY and I am sorry if this wakes you up!

Andrew almost smiled. Almost. Andrew called him, too tied to type a text. Neil picked up after the fourth ring.

“Drew,” he mumbled gently. Andrew had woke him, but he didn’t care. Because Neil wasn’t around, Andrew allowed himself to feel something.

“Hello.” Andrew said back. It was all silence.

“Why don’t you ever say my name, Andrew?” Neil slurred sleepy at Andrew.

Because it hurts.

“Your name is stupid.” Neil laughed at that.

“I share it with my dad.” Neil smile was evident in his voice. “Or at least I think I do. I don’t remember.”

“Don’t remember?” Andrew prodded.

“I was found in a dich somewhere between Cornwall and London, I think that where it was. Anyways, around five years ago a jogger found me minutes from death. I don’t remember anything from my birth to a week after I was found.”

Minutes from death? They had tried to kill him, but stupid Neil Josten survived. Of course he did.

“What colour is your hair?” Andrew asked when his chest felt too tight.

“Ash.”

They were silently listening to each other breathe and Andrew was reminded how alive Neil was.

Andrew imagined Neil lying in his bed in Berlin, on the left side of the mattress like he always used to. He saw his messy ash hair splaid out on the pillow and eyes hooded with sleep.

“Come to America.” Andrew shocked himself when he said. “New York, I’ll pay airfares.” Neil didn’t say anything, softly breathing instead. Actually, he was asleep again. “I hate you, Neil Josten.”

“I know.” He mumbled in his sleep. Andrew hung up and threw his phone at the wall. It shatter but Andrew didn’t care.

This meant some part of Neil knew who he was, right?

Andrew thought about kissing Neil again, it made his muscles ache so he blocked out the thought and got ready for breakfast with Renee.

“Andrew, that is amazing! Oh, my goodness, when does he come back to the US?” Renee was taking the news perfectly, at least in her mind.

“Never.” Andrew Said when he finished his bite of pancake. “Neil doesn’t know who he is and I intend on keeping it that way.”

“Why?”

“Because, it’s not Neil.” Andrew complained. “He’s a hairdresser with a new colour every week, let’s his friends kiss him goodbye and wears cropped shirts and short-shorts to the gym.”

Renee laughed softly like she always does.

Andrew wasn’t complaining about the later. Following Neil on Instagram was torture when he was trying to forget his lust. Andrew let his mind see a photo of Neil squatting with one leg stuck out, then pushed it away when Renee’s mouth started moving again.

“Andrew, this could be your chance for a happy life, take what you deserve.” Renee sipped her tea. Her hair was in need of a touch up at the roots. “Besides, he’s going the find out eventually.”

“Whatever.” Andrew finished his pancakes and coffee in silence. Renne didnt say anything for the rest of breakfast and Andrew almost thanked her.

Kevin was texting him, asking where he was because he was late for practice. They had come back to America a few weeks ago and Kevin basically slept at the court. In the month they had been in Berlin they hadn’t practiced together and that made Kevin even more enthusiastic.

Renee said goodbye to him out the front of the coffee shop and they went their separate ways.

Andrew headed to the court, hating every second of it. When he got there, Jean and Jeremy with talking with Kevin in the middle of the court.

“You didn’t say the newlyweds were going to be here.” Andrew said over the loud speaker. Kevin jumped a bit, but found Andrew scowling at him from the commentators box. “And Kevin, Jeremy is married now so back off.”

Andrew caught Jeremy snicker but Jean didn’t look to pleased. Kevin flipped Andrew off with an embarrassed look towards the couple.

Andrew loved to make fun of Kevin celebrity crush on Jeremy.

Andrew came down to the court, the only one not dressed in armour and he intended to keep it that way.

“We are going to be training with Jean and Jeremy.” Kevin told Andrew. “They were in town for the weekend so-“

“You thought, ‘let’s practice instead of hanging out like normal people!’” Andrew quirked a brow up at Kevin. He didn’t reply so Andrew started to leave.

“Andrew, wait.” Jeremy called after him. “We need someone to guard the goal.”

“Cool, call Sean.” Andrew replied. Sean was the other goalie on the team. He wasn’t as good as Andrew and couldn’t shut down the goal as good as Andrew, but he was alright.

“Andrew, it would be greatly appreciate if you would help us.” Jean asked. “I mean what else were you going to do?”

“Get drunk.” Andrew replied.

“It’s nine in the morning!” Kevin exclaimed.

“You’re right.” Andrew said. “I’ll hit someone up to drink with, never drink alone.”

Part two

[rosalind-of-arden]

Ink and Bone Reread Chapters 12-13

Hunting for interesting bits involving Morgan, Wolfe, Santi, worldbuilding, and whatever else catches my eye.

This is the fucking train of male nudity. So far, we’ve had Jess in the shower, Jess’s robe falling open, Wolfe and Santi half-naked, and now here’s Dario shirtless. And Jess wants to hit Dario very hard while Dario is shirtless. Boys, boys.

Santi requests backup troops specifically from “the nearest available base with a commander I can trust.” Sounds simple enough, but there has to be a fair bit of planning behind this. Now I don’t know how much information about local High Garda commanders Santi could pull up from the Codex in this sort of situation. Maybe he looked up who was nearby. Maybe he had to research this ahead of time, knowing the train route and finding out what allies might be along that route in case he needed them. Either way, Santi has connections going through the High Garda not only in Alexandria, but also in France, at least. At a bare minimum, he knows enough about French High Garda commanders to know by reputation who he can trust. I get the feeling that this is a thing Santi has thought about quite a lot, and wherever he and Wolfe go, he has a “what if the Artifex tries to kill Wolfe” plan including potential allies.

Wolfe and Jess running into the burning train together to rescue Morgan. Jess is an idiot teenager in love, but Wolfe knows exactly what he’s getting into. Notice that Wolfe doesn’t seem all that surprised to learn that Morgan is alive: he accepts the news very quickly. More relieved than surprised, I’d say. It’s probably a possibility he considered. Interesting parallel here to how he reacts to the news that Thomas is alive: he suspected, he didn’t think he could do anything about it, but the minute he can do something, he’s jumping right in.

Wolfe knows where to find that mask. Again, seems like he’s pretty familiar with this train.

Dammit Jess, quit being so disoriented and obsessed with Morgan and not seeing how Wolfe got out of the train. Santi carries Morgan out and Thomas carries Glain. Dario and Khalila have no serious injuries and get themselves out. So did Wolfe wake up long enough to drag himself out of there and then pass out again? Did one of those unnamed and vaguely numbered soldiers help him? It would be very interesting for Santi to leave Wolfe there and take care of Morgan first.

Wolfe and Santi, bane of Medicas everywhere.

Jess missed another conversation between Wolfe and Morgan, in which Wolfe told Morgan about the rescue.

Ugh, missed this when I was doing the timeline: “It was a pretty blue-sky day outside, with a crisp turn of autumn in the air.” Argh. The time gaps are vague enough in this book that it could totally be fall here. November, probably? Maybe very early December? But then this throws off the other books. If it’s November here, it’s May, June at the latest in Paper and Fire, but then it’s fucking fall in Ash and Quill, and I have no fucking clue how that works. Time to go play with the timeline.

Santi has once again arranged for them to go with a High Garda commander he trusts. Really thinking he has put some time and effort into figuring these things out.

Wolfe hasn’t been wearing Scholar’s robes “for some time.” Is that just the 6 days in France? It didn’t really say what he was wearing in Oxford, maybe the same gold coats the students wore? I’m assuming it would be that or Scholar’s robes at the train station since he was on duty as a Scholar there. So why is Wolfe skipping the robes here? My theory is he and Santi were considering running away and leaving the Library, maybe even bringing Morgan with them (other students who might be considered at risk as well?) I can see either one of them being the one to suggest leaving, and either one being the one to decide to stay; it could be something they both felt conflicted on.

Wolfe also describes the class as “a year’s class”, but I will ignore that for timeline purposes, as it does not necessarily indicate that the class would occur over a full year (I don’t think we can push the time gaps quite that far). Even if the class was supposed to last a year, there’s no reason to think that this terribly irregular class did.

Morgan and Jess are the last ones to join in the students’ show of gratitude and respect for Wolfe. Does Morgan have the tracker back on at this point? The timing isn’t clear on that: Jess wonders if she has one while he’s still in the Medica tent, but it isn’t confirmed that one is on her until dinner later.

Wolfe and Santi are guarding Morgan closely here, but it doesn’t seem like they were before, during the 6 days of Jess and friends hanging out and playing chess.

Drunk Wolfe! He’s on his third bottle and Santi still doesn’t start looking worried until he starts making anti-Library comments. This is definitely an unhealthy coping mechanism Santi is used to dealing with.

“as it broke ours years ago.” Is Wolfe just talking about Rome here? It’s been around 2 - 2 1/2 years at this point since he was arrested. Or does he mean other things also?

“If you don’t care about your future, think of theirs. Think of mine.” This is probably a reminder to Wolfe of how their discussion of running away ended, and also a reminder of fights they’ve had about Morgan and the other students. Going back to Alexandria means Wolfe is making himself completely dependent on Santi to maintain good enough standing with the Library to keep them both safe. Possibly financially dependent as well, unless gold band Scholars get paid even when they aren’t working. They’re putting everything on Santi’s career in the High Garda, and that’s got to be tough for both of them.

“We’ve all got scars. Don’t show them here.” Hey, it’s a line that could possibly refer to Santi being tortured when he looked for Wolfe. Yes, yes, among about a million other things. Also, here’s another case of Santi encouraging one of Wolfe’s unhealthy coping mechanisms: Wolfe suppresses memories and feelings related to Rome, and here he was potentially starting to open up and talk about it. Sure, he was drunk and doing it in a terrible context, and from a strategic and survival perspective, Santi absolutely could not let Wolfe keep talking here. But still, another case of their bad habits feeding off each other in the absence of better options.

Morgan’s tracker was “double-locked by an Obscurist.” Where did they find an Obscurist to do that? Can it be done remotely? Wolfe: Dear Mom, Fine, you win, you can have my student. If you can keep her from taking this tracker off, that is. Are they lying about this?

We’re down to 5 soldiers out of an unknown number who went into Oxford (Jess saw 80 when they got to England, 12 died in Oxford, Jess observed not many were left, now only 5). We’re looking at potentially a lot of deaths among people Santi cares about and feels responsible for. He may be used to this sort of thing considering his 20+ years in the military, but still.

Santi is awfully angry when he confronts Jess about Morgan. Jess thinks Santi is drunk here, but we already saw that Santi didn’t have a lot of wine with dinner. Two possibilities: He’s not drunk, he’s just that upset, or whatever conversation he had with Wolfe after they left, or after they got the message about Morgan, inspired a lot of drinking.

Wolfe and Santi were going to let Morgan get away. They set up the opportunity for her very well, really. Put on a show of watching her and reminding her about the tracker, conveniently not be there when she gets away. Have the troops ordered to catch her, but not necessarily placed to actually succeed.

Santi thinks Morgan has no journal because her father is a Burner, but he’s wrong. She had one back in Alexandria, which she was probably writing very carefully in. The real reason she doesn’t have one is presumably that she can see the mirroring scripts.

“They can do anything they like. To anyone.” Hey, look, another line that could be about Santi’s torture. Yes, and lots of other things too.

Santi interrupts Jess and Morgan kissing to arrest Morgan. Revenge for their cockblocking on the train?

Glain has been chatting with Wolfe and Santi about Jess and Morgan. Why must Jess miss all the good conversations?

Here’s the Obscurist stabbing Thomas in the back to advance her own schemes. Risking Wolfe, too. Mother of the year material right here, I’m telling you.

[snappedsky]

Borderlands: Skies the Bodyguard 1

The story starts to align with Borderlands 2 here, as Skies recounts the start of Jack's plan. Previous! Next!

Chapter 10

           Skies’ eye is closed as she focuses on keeping her breath steady. She’s not looking for sleep- that was never easy to find even when she was in proper shape- she’s merely looking for rest.

           She’s disturbed by what sounds like paper rubbing together. She opens her eye and sees Tiny Tina leaning over her glass cell-turned-bed, measuring her one leg.

           “Uh what’cha doin’?” Skies asks.

           Tina tosses the tape measure over her shoulder and looks at her innocently. “Nuttin’. What are you doing?”            Skies smiles wearily as she lifts her head. “Actually, I was just wondering what you plan to do with me.”

           “Huh?”

           “You got me in a pretty sweet spot right now. Immobile in this busted cage, feeding me crumpets and tea. I’m essentially your pet hamster.”

           “What’s a hamster?”

           Skies sighs. “The point is I’m useless. You can do whatever you want to me. So what’s your endgame? You gonna turn me over to the Crimson Raiders?”            Tina stares at her, seemingly perplexed. Then she shrugs theatrically. “Dunno. How bout you keep telling your story and I’ll decide later.”

           Skies chuckles and sits up. “Alright.”            Tina squeals happily and hops into the old cage to sit across from her. Skies rests her chin on her hand and considers how to begin.

           “Okay. I think you’re gonna really enjoy this part.”

             Being a space station, Helios doesn’t exactly have night and day. However, it does have nighttime hours and daytime hours, so that workers have proper times for working and sleeping.

           During those early days, I also worked those hours. I would spend nighttime hours in my penthouse apartment and daytime hours with Jack or in his office.

           One morning, when I got up to start the day, he sent me an urgent message.

           “Skies, before you come in today, be sure to grab some drinks and lots of pretzels,” he ordered, “oh and popcorn.”

          I didn’t think much of it. Jack often ordered me to pick up snacks. So on my way to his office, I stopped in the Hub of Heroism and picked up everything he wanted, as well as a couple things I wanted.

           I entered Jack’s lobby carrying grocery bags. Wilhelm was in his usual spot, still as a statue, but he always seemed to perk up when I walked in.

           “Morning, Wilhelm,” I greeted, “want a snack? Oh, wait, do you even eat?”

           “Eating is for chumps,” he grunted.

           I responded by stuffing a handful of gummies into my mouth. “Maybe. But I sure enjoy it.”

           I left the lobby and went through the hallway into Jack’s office. He was leant back in his chair, staring intently at his computer, a giddy smile on his face.

           “Skies! Perfect timing!” he exclaimed.

           “I got everything you wanted,” I said as I dropped on the bags on the desk.

           “Excellent. You are going to love this,” he grinned excitedly.

           “Hello, Skies,” a familiar voice rang through his computer.

           “Oh, hello, Angel,” I smiled, “nice to er hear you.”

           “Okay, okay,” Jack said impatiently. “You remember those Vault Hunters? Well, last night they rode a train to begin what they thought was gonna be their new job. But really it was just the beginnings of my masterful plan.”

           He giggled like a schoolgirl. “The train blew up and soon they will wake up somewhere in Windshear Waste. They’re gonna think they survived out of ‘pure strength of will’ or something and come looking for revenge. But they won’t know that I planned it this way. Ha ha! I am such a genius. Aren’t I a genius?”

           “You are very smart, sir,” Angel said while I tried not to roll my eyes into the back of my head.

           “Sir, I’m picking up new ECHO signals,” Angel stated.

           “Awesome. Connect us,” Jack ordered, leaning forward in his chair. I grabbed the guest chair and dragged it around the desk to sit next to him.

           The holographic computer screen lit up, displaying a split screen of four different views. They were all looking at a Claptrap.

           “I thought you shut down all the Claptraps?” I questioned.

           “That one survived,” Jack grumbled with disgust.

           “This Claptrap Jack modified to be a Vault Hunter a few years ago,” Angel explained, “he wants revenge on him too.”

           As the perspectives looked around, we got a look at those four Vault Hunters: Maya the Siren, Axton the Commando, Salvador the Gunzerker, and Zero the Assassin. As well as two others…

           “Wait, wait, wait,” Jack said quickly, “who are they?”            “Uh, sir, I’m picking up two other ECHO signals,” Angel said.

           “Connect us.”

           Two other perspectives were added to the screen. The owners appeared to be a teenage girl and a Psycho.

           “Who are they?” Jack demanded, “where did they come from?”

           “Seems there were two stowaways on the train who really did survive because of pure strength of will,” Angel said.

           “Hey, I know that kid,” I said, pointing at the girl. “Her name is…Gaige? I saw a video of her on the ECHOnet. She created this killer robot that killed one of her classmates. It was awesome. And-.” I pointed at the Psycho. “Whoa, that dude is buff. And seems to have a thing for the Siren. He’s got good taste.”

           “Ugh,” Jack groaned, aggravated as he rubbed his hand down his face. “Alright, whatever. They wanna join the party? Fine. It won’t make any difference.”

           The now six Vault Hunters, almost half dead, followed the nattering Claptrap through a blizzard to what appeared to be his home. He kept going on and on about something that I barely listened to before a giant bullymong broke through the ceiling and tore out his eye.

           “I never liked Claptraps,” I commented as the Vault Hunters looted Claptrap’s house. “They were always annoying me and getting in my way. I was so glad when they all deactivated.”

           The Vault Hunters followed the blind, whiny robot back outside, seemingly to help him find his eye.

           “Oh oh, watch this,” Jack said excitedly, “I’m gonna screw with them.”

           He giggled giddily for a second before clearing his throat and pressing a button on his keyboard. A microphone icon appeared in each section of the split screen.

           “Hey, kiddo. Jack here- President of Hyperion,” he said, “lemme explain how things work here: Vault Hunter shows up. Vault Hunter looks for the new vault. Vault Hunter gets killed. By me. You see-seeing the problem here? You’re still alive. So if you could just do me a favour and off yourself, that’d be great. Thanks, pumpkin.”

           He turned off the mic and leant back, looking pretty damn proud. “You see what I did there? I made it look like I don’t want them alive. Heh, I’m so clever.”

           “Very clever, sir,” Angel said while I again tried not to roll my eyes into the back of my head.

           The Vault Hunters, seemingly unbothered by Jack’s message, found the giant bullymong and fought it for Claptrap’s eye. I have to admit, it was pretty cool to watch. I couldn’t stop myself from getting into it.

           “Yeah, nice shot!” I cheered when Axton got a clean shot to the bullymong’s head, finishing it off. Jack looked at me accusingly.

           “What?” I questioned, “don’t you want them to win?’

           After the Vault Hunters got the robot’s eye, they continued to follow him through the snowy waste until they came upon a town.

           “Okay, watch this,” Jack grinned, nudging my shoulder, and pressed another button on his keyboard. This turned on a different part of the screen that read, “Broadcasting: Pandora.”

           “Attention, people of Pandora! Handsome Jack here, offering a million bucks to whoever brings me the head of the Vault Hunter who just arrived in Liar’s Berg. Oh, and I’m still offering a reward for Roland, the mass-murdering leader of the Crimson Raiders. Good hunting, bandits!”

           As the Vault Hunters arrived in this town called Liar’s Berg, a small army of bandits ambushed them, chittering excitedly about the reward. I rubbed my chin thoughtfully.

           “You…do want them to win, don’t you?” I questioned.

           “Yeah, my whole plan hinges on them,” Jack replies, “but I’m not gonna make it easy on them. If they can’t handle this then they’re useless to me anyway.”

           I leant back in my chair, watching him curiously. “And what is this plan? You never did share it with me.”

           He grinned. “I wouldn’t wanna spoil the surprise.”

           I eyed him suspiciously, wondering just what sort of convoluted plan would need a bunch of Vault Hunters to seek vengeance against you.

           But I didn’t wonder long as I looked back at the fight and quickly got sucked in. I figured might as well sit back and enjoy the show.

[invisibleanonymousmonsters]

Heritage - Part 3

Description: Steve Rogers wakes up in the 21st century to learn that he missed more than he could ever realize.

Pairing: Steve Rogers & Y/N [Platonic]; Bucky x Reader … eventually

Word Count: 2,703

Previously On...

Y/N was speed-walking through the halls of SHIELD. She'd got the call from Nat in the middle of the night.

Nick Fury was dead.

She didn't get many details. Nat was short on the phone.

Y/N was on her way to Secretary Pierce's office. She knew Steve was there talking to him.

But Y/N came to a halt when she saw someone walking in her direction.

"Sharon?" Y/N gaped at the woman who immediately looked guilty. "I thought you were in London. When did you get back to DC?"

"I'm sorry, Y/N. I was undercover. You know the rules." Sharon struggled to make eye contact.

Then Y/N narrowed her eyes, slowly putting it together. "You were there when Fury was hit at Steve's apartment. You're the cute nurse next door." 


Sharon didn't say anything. 


"God damn it, Sharon! We're family! You couldn't tell me that you were assigned to watch Steve?!"


Sharon was Y/N's cousin. Well... second cousin, technically. Peggy was Sharon's great aunt. Sharon was a few years older than Y/N and convinced her to join SHIELD after she did. 


"I didn't want you to have to keep it a secret from him. You know I would've been compromised." Sharon urged. 


"Who ordered this? Pierce?" Y/N sighed, rubbing her face. 


Sharon frowned and looked at the ground. "Fury did." Then she studied Y/N's face carefully. "He didn't ask you for obvious reasons."

Before Y/N could say anything else, Steve was walking out of Pierce's office. He glared at Sharon. She took that as her cue to disappear down the hallway. Her family relation to Y/N would be a discussion for another time. 


Steve walked to Y/N, but glared after Sharon. 


"So you heard?" He finally asked Y/N. 


"I came as soon as I did. You okay?" She asked gently. 


He nodded.

Y/N's eyes flickered around them. "Something's not right, Steve. This doesn't add up." Her voice was barely a whisper. She knew his superhearing could pick it up. But she needed to make sure no one else heard.

Suddenly she saw Rumlow walking toward them with a couple other STRIKE members. He eyed the two of them.

"Meet me tonight. I'm doing some digging." She muttered before gripping his arm and walking past Rumlow.

Steve pushed the elevator button and was joined by Rumlow.

"So you and Agent Ainsley, huh?" Rumlow stated with a little bitterness.

Steve's jaw clenched at the comment. He'd seen the way Rumlow looked at Y/N. His interest in her was rather obvious. Steve didn't appreciate his lingering gazes or how his eyes focused on certain parts of her body. He assumed Y/N wasn't oblivious to it either, but she was too focused and professional to ever bring it up.

"We're friends," Steve replied curtly, making it obvious he didn't want to talk about it further.

But suddenly Steve's senses caught on to something. He started looking around the elevator as more and more people piled in. Something wasn't right. 

-----

Y/N was hacking into a computer system at SHIELD when she heard the alarm go off. She brought up the video footage to see that they were locking down the bridge and a quinjet was going up.

"Steve..." She muttered in quiet panic when she saw the video of him racing down the bridge on his motorcycle.

Y/N saved the files she was hacking on her hard drive and jumped up. She had to find Natasha immediately. More importantly, she had to get out of SHIELD. They were on the hunt for Captain America now and she wanted no part of it.

-----

THE NEXT DAY

Steve was staring into the floor of the van as his hands were cuffed together.

“It was him.” Steve muttered. “He looked right at me. He didn’t even know me.”

“How is that even possible?” Sam questioned. “It was like 70 years ago.”

“Zola.” Steve explained darkly. “Bucky’s whole unit was captured in ’43. Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall.” His eyes finally met Sam’s as he came to a realization. “They must have found him.”

“None of that’s your fault, Steve.” Nat managed to urge as she continued losing blood.

“Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky.”

Sam looked over at Nat’s bleeding. “We need to get a doctor here. We don’t put pressure on that wound, she’s gonna bleed out right here in the - ” He was cut off by one of the agents in the riot control suits as they surged some electricity into their baton.

But to everyone’s surprise, she knocked out her comrade with it instead. A third guard took off her helmet at the same time as the first.

“Y/N?” Steve’s eyes widened.

“Ugh. That thing was squeezing my brain.” Agent Hill groaned as she took off her helmet too.

“Don’t look so surprised, Steve.” Y/N said. “You really think you were on your own?”

Nat smirked, but they could still tell she was in a lot of pain.

Then Maria eyed Sam.

“Who’s this guy?”

“He’s a friend.” Steve stated firmly.

Steve watched as Y/N’s face lit up. “A friend? Hi, I’m Agent Ainsley.” She shoved her hand forward to shake. Then she realized that Sam was still handcuffed. “Oh, right.” With one pull of her hands, she broke the metal.

Sam’s eyes widened. “Did - Did you just break those with your barehands?”

She cringed at her exposure. “Yep. It appears so.”

“Sam, this is my granddaughter, Y/N.” Steve nudged. But everyone could tell he was still jolted by the realization that his best friend was alive.

“Granddaughter?” Maria and Sam said in unison.

“We can explain later. We’re about to hit our jump point.” Y/N announced as she used keys to unlock Steve’s high-powered cuffs.

-----

Y/N watched Steve carefully as Maria and Fury explained the situation with the hellicarriers. She didn’t see Bucky herself, but she heard enough in the van to understand what had happened. Steve was doing a good job at hiding it, but Y/N could see that he was struggling.

It wasn’t until after his outburst with Fury that Y/N found him standing on the bridge outside, staring out into nothing.

“I’m sorry… about Bucky.” Y/N said quietly as she stood beside him.

“I let him fall and I never even looked for his body.” Steve mumbled.

“Don’t go down that road, Steve. You’re not going to find anything good. There was no way you could’ve known. You can’t blame yourself.”

“I …I can’t help but think about how different things could’ve gone if I found him. He would’ve been alive. Maybe…maybe I wouldn’t have gone under.”

“Yeah. Yeah, things could be very different, Steve. But you’ll make yourself crazy getting lost in all the what-ifs. You can’t change the past. It’s about time you accepted the present.”

Steve nodded, knowing she was right. He still found it amazing how wise Y/N was for her age. Wasn’t the grandpa supposed to be the one giving all the advice?

He finally turned away from the view and looked at Y/N before sighing. “I can’t talk you out of going with us, can I?”

“Nope.” Y/N smiled.

“That thing in the car. I didn’t realize… You never said my serum effected you and Grant.” Steve looked a little guilty, like he had turned the two of them into some kind of freaks.

“We’re not as strong as you.” Y/N shrugged like it was no big deal. “But I can definitely do more than the average man.”

Steve nodded his head slowly. “I told your dad and Peggy I’d keep you safe.”

“Steve, you’ve been with SHIELD for a couple of years. This has been my life. Peggy help build it. And now Hydra is trying to ruin everything it stood for. I can’t let that happen…and you know it. I can handle myself. You know that too.”

“I had a feeling your going to say that.” Steve sighed. “Be careful.”

Then they saw Sam walking towards them. Y/N decided to give them a moment alone while she went to change into her stealth gear.

Sam looked over his shoulder at Y/N’s retreating figure.

“Granddaughter, huh?”

“Don’t even think about it.” Steve warned.

“Right.” Sam nodded and cleared his throat.

-----

Y/N was racing out of SHIELD’s hangar and onto the platform.

“Sharon’s rallying the loyalists. That speech of yours really did the trick.” Y/N joked. “Guess I should’ve paid attention in my public speaking class.” Then she saw the fleet of quintets appearing in front of her. “I’m getting you two air support.” She screamed into her comms and she continued sprinting.

“Roger that.” Steve replied.

“Hey, Cap… How do we know the good guys from the bad?” Y/N heard Sam ask.

“If they’re shooting at you, they’re bad.”

Y/N chuckled at his response.

“Be careful, Y/N.” Steve told her through the comms.

“Yes, grandpa.” She teased just as she started getting shot at. But she easily dodged their bullets, serpentining and doing an aerial flip when she got closer to confuse their aim.

She shot at the people who she once called comrades. Everything had been a lie. Her greatest enemy had been hiding right next to her, disguising themselves as friends. But she couldn’t think about that now. It was kill or be killed; save the world or let it fall into to hands of Hydra.

Y/N saw SHIELD loyalist pilots walking onto the platform. They were the only air support Steve and Sam could get. Y/N made sure to shoot down any Hydra agents that were aiming their weapons at them.

Suddenly a grenade launcher was shot, destroying a quinjet and killing a few pilots.

That’s when Y/N saw him appearing out of the smoke.

“Bucky,” Y/N whispered. “Everyone get to the jets!” She yelled the order to the pilots.

“Cap, he’s here.” She stated into her comms.

“Y/N, stay away from him. He’ll kill you.” Steve barked.

Just as he said it, Bucky turned his attention to Y/N.

“Ugh… not an option.” Y/N started walking backwards, but shooting bullet after bullet at Bucky. A part of her was purposely aiming wrong. Y/N couldn’t kill him. Bucky was Steve’s best friend. He was everything to him. Y/N couldn’t take that away from him. There was still a chance that Bucky could be saved.

Y/N skimmed his thigh with a bullet. But that didn’t even slow him down.

“Y/N, run!” Steve yelled.

She turned off her comms. There was no way she was going to win a fight against a brainwashed weapon, no matter how strong of a fighter she was. She didn’t want Steve listening to her die.

Bucky still calmly marched to her. Why didn’t he just shoot her?

Y/N had backed into a quinjet.

“Bucky,” Her voice was gentle and calm. “This isn’t you. I like to think you’re in there somewhere.” She said slowly. “Please, Bucky. Don’t make me kill you.”

He blinked rapidly at her when she kept saying his name. Then it seemed like he had caught something in her eyes.

Their stand-off was interrupted when a Hydra agent shot Y/N in her right shoulder. She cried out in pain and gripped her shoulder as blood started pouring out. She felt the warmth of it on her left hand.

To Y/N’s shock, Bucky whipped around and fired his gun at the agent, landing a bullet in the middle of their forehead.

Y/N watched him with shocked andl wide eyes.

Bucky stared at her, his eyes flickering over her body as if he were looking for other injuries beside her shoulder. His eyes looked frantic and torn. Then his face changed and Y/N knew someone was saying something to him in his earpiece.

Y/N was breathing heavily as she clutched her injury. She was completely at his mercy.

With one final look, Bucky ran away and jumped onto a quinjet, shooting the pilot and then ripping them out of the cockpit to replace them.

Y/N’s eyes flickered as she tried to process what had just happened. The Winter Soldier had saved her life and then spared her. She smirked: Bucky was still in there.

Groaning in pain, Y/N moved to one of the final quintets that was left in tact.

Other Hydra agents had grabbed quinjets and it was now her job to shoot them down before they could get to Sam and Steve. Y/N was one of SHIELD’s finest pilots. She twisted and turned with a grace that other’s envied. The Hydra pilots didn’t have a chance.

But when Y/N finally shot down the final airborne Hydra agent, she relaxed against her seat. Y/N had been running on adrenaline that she hadn’t realized how much blood she’d lost from her wound. The bullet was still lodged into her shoulder, making it impossible for her to stop the bleeding or put pressure on it.

Suddenly Y/N’s vision was getting blurry and her grip on the steering loosened. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she could hardly hear the panicked alarms of the quintet losing altitude. It started spinning out of control.

Y/N blacked out before her jet crashed into the Potomac River. 

-----

Y/N somehow heard the soft breathing of someone next to him over the sound of the Trouble Man soundtrack playing.

She winced as her eyes opened. The hospital light burned her eyes and she was instantly met with a raging migraine. She glanced over to see Steve sleeping in the bed next to her. He looked worse than she expected she did. He had stitches on his face and more tiny cuts than she could count.

“You trying to brainwash the poor man, Sam?” Her voice was dry and raspy.

Sam, who was sitting in a chair between their two hospital beds, jolted in his seat at the sound of Y/N’s voice.

“Oh, thank god.” Sam sighed. “Cap would’ve killed me if you died.”

“Don’t worry.” Y/N practically groaned in pain as she tried to sit up. Sam rushed over to her to help. “I’m very much alive. But wishing I wasn’t with how much pain I’m feeling right now.”

“Let me call the nurse to get you some pain medication.” Sam panicked.

“Don’t bother. My metabolism will burn it off before it does me any good.” Y/N said.

Sam squinted in confusion.

Y/N smirked at him. “One of the side effects from being related to Captain America.”

“I…I didn’t realize… how much it affected you too.” Sam stuttered.

“I’m not as enhanced as he is,” She pointed in Steve’s direction. “But it’s enough to still be advantage in the field.”

Then her eyes saddened at the sight of Steve all beat up.

“Sam, what happened?” He explained everything she missed while she had been shooting down Hydra jets left and right, said they succeeded and the hellicarriers were now sitting at the bottom of the Potomac River. Fury and Natasha had thankfully saw Y/N’s quintet spiraling out of control and were able to scoop her out of the aircraft before her unconscious body could drown in the river.

“He pulled him out of the river.” Sam said darkly.

Y/N didn’t need for him to clarify who.

“He’s still in there, Sam.” She whispered. Then she continued to tell him what had occurred between her and the deadly Winter Solider.

“Why didn’t he kill me?” Y/N thought aloud in a whisper.

“Maybe he knew somehow.” Sam shrugged. “Knew that you were his family.”

Y/N sighed and rubbed her face. “Did they find him?”

Sam shook his head. “I just hope Hydra didn’t get him back.”

But there conversation was interrupted by Steve stirring slightly.

“On your left.” He managed to mumble. Y/N looked at Sam, who was smirking. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“Inside joke.”

——

Part 4

Sooooo I called this a min-series, but I think I’ve lost control and it’s gonna be way longer. LMAO

[julesthequirky]

No Alpha of Mine -Three-

Summary: You’re saved from your fathers compound by Sam and Dean. They’re both Alpha’s and so if their angel friend, with whom you become close to. You’re an Omega and Castiel’s betrayal cuts deep within you, he reveals you’re his Omega. You hate him, but how long can you keep denying the truth to everyone and especially yourself?

Warnings: SMUT, knotting, omega heat, alpha rut, language, angst

A/N: Story is in first person. Feedback is GOLD! If you like it, reblog it! Don’t be afraid to leave a comment!

Work is unbeta’d so all mistakes are mine.

A claimed Omega. Other Alpha's would sense it, Beta's too. Which fucked me over. No one would touch me for fear of getting their throat ripped out by my Alpha. If an Alpha was denied, well, that meant outcast for the Omega.

Omega's who denied their claim quickly became news to the community. And not good news.

I still had time to choose. I was Omega and like hell would I let other Alpha's dominate me. Sam and Dean were softer than most but hell, if I didn’t obey a direct order things quickly turned south.

I walked into the war room. Dean and Sam both grinned at me. I gave them the finger.

“Well hello to you too, Little Miss Sunshine.”

“Hey, have you set a date yet?”

I stopped and turned.

“What?”

“A date for the wedding.” Sam said casually.

Weddings usually meant you accepted being your Alpha's mate.

I growled.

It had taken them a week to allow me to see them and even longer to come back to the bunker. Any time they neared their Alpha side would dominate from sensing my heat.

I began to walk away up the stairs towards the entrance.

“Hey, come on, we were only teasing.” Dean said.

“You’d think she’d be a little easy going considering.” Sam commented.

My hand tightened its grip around the metal rail. Fuck those guys.

“Aww, come on, Y/N, he’s only messing, come on down.” I hesitated. I knew if I left I would never hear the end of it. I headed down the stairs to Sam and Dean.

“Besides, Cas told us to keep an eye on you. You’re on research.”

My mouth fell open in an ‘O’. Shock and anger flowed through me. What the fuck. I shook my head, hair flying everywhere.

“Fuck no! I’m always in field!! Always! Guys!”

They looked at each other.

“It’s out of our hands Y/N.”

“Why did you agree to it?!!”

“Because you’re his Omega.” Dean said.

“And he didn’t want to get his ass kicked.”

Dean shot Sam a glare.

“I hate this.” I grumbled

“Better get used to it, honey. Cas has got you on lock down.”

It was true. Alpha angels were the worst. They were ten times more protective than any other Alpha. Especially when it came to their mates.

I scrubbed my hand over my face.

Why? Why did it have to be Castiel. Why couldn’t it have been Sam? Sam was my best friend. He and I became close when Dean and Cas were trapped in Purgatory.

Sam got up and walked towards me. I sat down and he sat down beside me.

“I can tell something is off and not because the mating heat suppressants have put you off whack. Is it to do with the fact that Cas knotted you?”

“Ugh why you have to say it like that. So vulgar.”

“Cause that’s what it is.” Dean stated.

“I know you’re scared. I can see it in you since we’ve been back. You’re jumpy. You keep yourself to yourself. You banished Castiel from your room.”

“And whatever the hell you guys did in the kitchen is just wrong.” Dean said gruffly.

I glared at Dean.

“I challenged him. I told him he wasn’t my Alpha.” I crossed my arms.

“What?!!” Their collective shouts made me realise how grave the situation was.

“Why would you do that?” Sam asked.

“Because he killed my father.”

Sam sighed. He knew I was still struggling with the loss of my father. As my best friend he had been there, either at the end of the phone or in person, comforting me. He bowed his head saying nothing.

“Then he took me on the kitchen counter.”

Both boys shifted uncomfortably.

Sam gave me a reassuring smile.

Their scents shifted slightly. I tilted my head to one side trying to figure it out.

“We know Castiel is a bit more confident after Lucifer possessed him. And clearly that’s having an effect on your relationship.”

He learnt a few things all right. I grunted in agreement.

“But you gotta give this a chance.”

I looked at Sam.

“What?!”

“Y/N.” he warned.

I stood up.

“I suppose you would say that, cause you’re an Alpha. You have no idea what it’s like being knotted! You have no idea what it’s like for an Omega! Omega's get chosen Sam, I can’t choose my Alpha! If I had it would have been you!” I yelled, my hands balled into fists.

He looked at me with wide eyes.

Uh oh.

I closed my eyes in instant regret and backed away from the two Alpha's. When I opened my eyes, both Sam and Dean were looking straight at me.

“Well this just complicated things.” Dean commented.

“Sam… that’s not what I meant.”

“Then what did you mean?” He crossed his arms as he stood towering over me. He wanted answers. His whole demeanour screamed that he demanded them.

There was only word for him right now. Alpha.

His scent overloaded my nostrils and I had to step back for my own sanity.

“I, uh, I-” I stumbled over words

“Well?!” he barked.

Fuck.

It was on the tip of my tongue. Dying to be spoken.

He took a step closer.

My breathing quickened as his Alpha scent engulfed me. Sandalwood, old books and cedar. I balled my hands desperately trying to keep it together. The longer I made him wait, the more my head felt like it was going to explode.

“Alpha!” I yelled.

Everything happened in slow motion.

Deans eyes widened and he turned to Sam. Sam’s eyes darkened. My stomach flipped.

“What the fuck did you say?”

I whipped my head round. My heart stopped as I looked into the eyes of my Alpha.

Fuck. I had called Sam Alpha and Cas had come running.

I was up shit creek now. There was no way I could come out of this without getting knotted by either Sam or Cas.

Dean pulled Sam away, wanting to end this without things getting bloody. Sam growled and pushed him away. He walked towards me with hunger in his eyes.

“Sam!” Dean yelled.

“She called me Alpha.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, grimacing. I could feel both Sam and Castiel’s Alpha in them rearing to butt heads.

“Hands off. She’s mine.” Castiel growled warning Sam.

I opened my eyes and saw them facing each other, sizing each other up. Sam had been a softer Alpha than Dean but hell I did not want to mess with him now. Just when I thought Sam would win this stand-off he broke eye contact.

“Touch her and you die. Find your own mate.” Castiel snarled.

He looked at me.

“Mate.” His eyes roamed down my body and back up. It made my panties moisten and I wasn’t even in heat. He smirked and disappeared.

“Come on Sammy, let’s hunt.”

*

Dean couldn’t bare to look at me. Sam had been given an official warning from Cas. Once the Winchesters had gone I showered and made a plan of action. First up I needed scent neutralisers. That way no one would be able to tell. It was safer this way.

I dialled my doctor and demanded them.

“Y/N, you do realise that means your Alpha won’t be able to recognise you?”

Even better.

“When can I pick up my prescription?”

“I’ll write it up and have it ready within half hour.” she sighed.

I ended the call and relaxed. Being Omega definitely had its low moments and this was one of them.

 I drove to my doctors in Castiel’s car. I wondered if the scent neutralisers would shut off Beta and Alpha senses. Cas’ scent overwhelmed me as I drove. By the time I got there I was a hot mess. A few Alpha's glanced at me and I growled at them. I pushed open the door and I let the receptionist know I was here to see Dr Kline. She smiled at me and I sat down.

After a short wait, Dr Kline called me into her office.

I sat down and waited for her to hand them over.

“Y/N… before I hand them over, I want to know if you are absolutely sure you want this.”

I looked at her concerned face.

“Of course I’m sure. I wouldn’t have asked otherwise.”

“I know, I know. But you’ve been claimed.”

Claimed. Still that word built such anger in me.

“You want to tell me how that feels?”

The memory of him knotting inside me hit so brutally I had to clamp my thighs together.

“Violating.”

She interlaced her fingers together and looked at me quizzically.

“I couldn’t stop my body from wanting him. I begged.”

“Please.” The memory haunted me. I hated myself for begging.

“Are you denying your claim?”

“I just want to be left alone, and not have others harass me, because , apparently I have an Alpha.”

She nodded.

“Has anyone told you you’re an Omega with Alpha tendencies?”

I looked at her.

“Y/N, you’re Omega through and through, that’s obvious, but you’re short tempered and irritable. Being claimed is bringing those traits out.”

I was always like that. Worse now since Cas had marked me.

“I called another Alpha, Alpha.”

She gasped.

“I set off his rut.”

Her fingers touched the bridge of her nose and she looked pained.

“Why did you do that?”

“Because I wanted to get to choose.”

“Y/N you just told this Alpha you wanted his knot.”

I shook my head. Sam didn’t see it that way, surely?

“You need to be careful.”

“Well won’t these neutralisers hide my scent, won’t they help the Alpha's?”

She nodded. “But it won’t stop theirs.”

My shoulders slumped.

“Tell me why you want to hide your Alpha's?”

“Because it makes me weak. I can’t do anything without wanting his touch.”

“Wanting your Alpha is a sign of companionship.”

“Or just to fuck.”

She sighed.

“I shouldn’t sign these over without permission from your Alpha…”

My eyes blazed at her. What the actual fuck.

“But something tells me you’ll bite my head off if I don’t. See how you do with these. Should you need more, you know where my door is.”

I sighed in relief as she handed the prescription.

Outside, I popped those pills like they were candy.

No Alpha of Mine Tags:

@one-to-beam-up @koithings

Castiel Fic Tags:

@goobykeding @greenappleeyes @mypassionsarenysins @sugarcookiedean​

EVERYTHING! Tags:

@curly-haired-disaster

[loading99percent]

Exclusive 1/3

Pairing: LYJ x OC (Melanie/Li Xiangjun) || CXK x OC (Serena/Jiang Yingyue) Genre: slice of life, college!au, fluff Word Count: 4,389 Summary: Lin Yanjun openly flirts with Melanie, yet she’s tired of his games and can’t take him seriously. Cai Xukun and Serena chill on a daily, but there’s gotta be more than that between them. Eventually enough, the boys just want the girls exclusively to themselves.

part one.part two.part three

Warning: matured content as in college related stuff. swear words. NOT MOBILE FRIENDLY! not sure why, but it has all the breaks and stuff while on a desktop. (teach me if mobile is different and it can be done!)

Here is my second one! Not requested, but will get to the one that I did receive! Also this is going to be split into parts because I had a commentator complain about the length that they had to scroll, but like I can’t do anything about that if you’re on mobile besides give a warning. Anyways, so yeah, this is part 1 of and happy reading! kthxbai, Admin Lia~

"Alright, fellas. Tomorrow's the start of our annual one day scavenger hunt." Yu Bin, the president of Iota Phi Theta, announced to his fellow members. "I know there hasn't been any incidents as of yet, but don't break any laws or school's rules while obtaining the picture or video proofs in completing the list." Yu Bin reminded them. "I-P-T ain't like that and we're not going to start now."

"So when it hits midnight you guys can start on the list." Li Junyi, the vice-president of IPT, spoke next. "You have until eleven-fifty-nine P-M to return back to the house. You'll be disqualified if you're not back before then and your points won't be added to Iota Phi Theta's End of the School Year raffle. Or for the chance to be I-P-T's center for the End of the Year photo and host of the last banquet. Or the monthly prizes."

"Let's all remember it's all for fun so there's no real competition except if you wanna win the raffle and center and host positions, of course." Zhou Rui, the secretary of IPT, informed them with a smile. "An entry with your name is added to the raffle for every thirty-five points you earn. So make it count if you're aiming for that." His gaze then scanned the many faces before him. "If not, then you can still turn your points in for awesome monthly prizes."

"Don't forget your placards needs to be present in the picture or video as it will indicate validation." Kaihao, the treasurer of IPT, concluded. "We ask all of you fellow brothers to represent Iota Phi Theta with respect and anyone or something else involved with respect, too." Kaihao looked at the other three for approval as the trio either nodded before gazing back at the members. "Meeting adjourned. Have a good night, fellas"

Serena abruptly woke to Melanie's ring tone going off. She sat up in bed to glare at the sleeping figure who wasn't disturbed by the sudden sound at all as it continued to ring and vibrate simultaneously. Serena let out a huff as she felt about her bed for something to throw at Melanie. Once she felt one of her stuffed dolls she chucked it at Melanie across the room, but it missed its target.

Serena reached once more around her bed, found another doll a second later, and threw it. It made contact with its target, but it surely didn't wake the sleeping girl. Serena groaned while rubbing her face in annoyance, but lied back down when the ringing stop.

Closing her eyes once more, Serena groaned when Melanie's phone went off again. "I swear this bitch has selective hearing even while asleep."

Serena let out a sigh as she rose from bed and made her way over to Melanie. Shaking the edge of the bed with her foot, Melanie didn't budge from the action. Serena moved her foot and tapped on Melanie's feet, but still nothing. Serena rolled her eyes and placed both hands to shake Melanie's figure roughly which jerked the other girl awake.

"Hmm?" Melanie hummed in a half-awake and half-asleep state.

"Answer your phone. It went off twice and I'm sure who's ever trying to contact you is gonna call again." Serena said in a tired tone just as Melanie's phone went off again. "Answer it or I'm chucking that shit out the window."

This woke Melanie as she brushed off Serena's threat. "Yeah, yeah, go back to bed, Rina."

Serena huffed to indicate that she was still annoyed, but returned to her bed while Melanie checked to see who it was and silenced the sound to not annoy her friend some more. Melanie noticed the two missed calls as well as several text messages from three people. Not wanting to deal with it at the moment Melanie silenced her phone until it was placed for only alarms to go off which would be at around 9ish AM and went back to bed.

Serena did the same thing when she felt the first vibration upon settling back in bed. It was only twenty-one minutes passed eleven, but she needed all the sleep she could get before attending her 8AM class tomorrow. The other person can totally wait until then. Or not. Depending on her mood.

"You have got to be kidding me." Serena said in disbelief upon arriving early to her 8AM class which was apparently cancelled for the rest of the week. "You think by now I would check the stupid thing." She scolded herself before sighing afterwards while running a hand through her hair.

Serena heard a chuckle from behind her and turned around to see her classmate and friend, Cai Xukun, standing there with two bubble tea drinks and an amused expression upon his face. "I knew you'll be here since you hardly check your phone or the school's app."

"Oh you're so smart, KunKun." Serena mockingly stated as cast him a tired look. "What are you doing here anyways if you knew class was cancelled?"

"Well, I knew you would show up and thought I would make your morning better after realizing there's no class this early morning." He grinned as Serena rolled her eyes. "Oh wow, the great and mighty Cai Xukun gracing me with his royal presence."

Xukun's excited expression dampened a bit. "Gee, thanks. I was going to give you this taro milk tea to make you feel better, but instead I'll enjoy it myself." He smirked as he took a sipped out of the purple drink. "Ah, so delicious."

"Go ahead." She shrugged as she walked right passed him. "I'll buy myself something else and kill time before my next class."

Xukun followed after her with a pout. "You know it was for you."

"I do, but you put your nasty germs on it and so I don't want it."

"But you share things with everyone else though?"

"I know, but you're a different story."

"Then you can have the other one." He offered her the yellow drink.

"No thanks. I don't really like passion fruit."

"It's not like I have cooties, YingYing."

"Um, KunKun, have you forgotten that you're a bit of a germophobe? That's why I said you were a different story." Serena eyed him as Xukun shrugged nonchalantly. "A little bit, but it's not that big of a deal. Really."

"Yeah right, next time say that in front of your fangirls because I don't wanna get killed by them which I realized right now and am definitely surprised that there are none lurking around sending me death glares."

"Stop. I don't have fangirls. They're just..." Xukun trailed off as Serena cast him a knowing look and repeated her previous statement. "Fangirls."

"Whatever you wanna call them, they won't kill you. You're my friend and I haven't seen them give you any dirty looks."

"Because, one, they're two-faced because when you turn around their so-called angelic face appears. Two, I'm a female friend that's closer to you than they'll ever be to which to this day I still don't know how we're friends, honestly. We don't really have that much in common."

"Friends don't always have to have similar interests, Ying. It's mutual respect and a connection. Anyways, is that supposed to be a good thing or a bad thing?" Xukun interjected upon hearing the friend part

"You can take it however you want." Serena chuckled before continuing. "Anyways, I guess that's true about not having similar interests. Maybe that's why you're a brat and always copy my homework and sit next to me in class when you can literally sit anywhere else."

"Because you have better handwriting and you don't stare at me constantly."

"I wonder why." She rolled her eyes before shooting him a look. "Psh. And here you say they're not your fangirls." Serena then took the purple drink from him and took a sip. "Thanks though, but you still owe me something to eat from last time."

"Yeah, yeah. I know. You won't stop reminding me. Anyways, forget about them. They're not important." He dismissed the topic about the fangirls. "I'll meet you in the library at our usual spot then." Xukun informed her as the two split in different directions.

Melanie was peacefully sleeping before it was disrupted by her phone going off. At first she didn't hear it, but eventually after the third time it went off, she woke and stared at her phone in confusion.

"Didn't I put it only for the alarm?"

She chucked it and realized she didn't and only assumed that she did. She let out a sigh when her phone went of again.

"Hello?" She answered sleepily not even checking to see who the caller was.

"Hey, do you have a bra that you no longer use and are willing to give it up. No questions ask?" The person on the other side asked causing Melanie to open her eyes with furrowed eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

"I want your bra, JunJun. Give it to me." He demanded seriously and Melanie finally looked at her mobile screen to see who the caller was and rolled her eyes before sitting up in bed. "Shut up, Fen. The last time I gave you my bra you gave me back another girl's bra."

"I said I was sorry."

"It wasn't even the same size or color."

"I said I would buy you a replacement."

"Which I'm still waiting for, my dude."

"I'm working on it, but I really need it." There was a pause before another voice spoke. "Can you make it two, Jun?"

"Ugh, BoBo. I thought you were better than this."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Both males asked a second later as Melanie groaned. "I'm going back to bed. Talk to me after I wake up."

"Fine. We'll see you in class." The duo responded and Melanie hung up on them with a sighed. "So annoying."

Serena was casually making her way towards the library and before she could walk up the steps towards the building she suddenly and loudly heard her nickname, Yue Tu which meant Moon Rabbit, being shouted from behind her. Just as she had turned around to see who it was she was suddenly tackled to the ground with the person on top of her while her drink fumbled away from her.

"Smile!" The male announced happily as he held up his phone with one hand while the other hand held a placard to take a self-portrait of himself and Serena whereas Serena partially blocked her face in time while trying to shove off another friend and classmate of hers off of her. "Get off, Qin Zimo!"

Zimo chuckled nervously as he obeyed while backing away from Serena with a good amount of space between them as another friend and classmate, Jing Peiyao, joined them a moment later while catching his breath.

"Sorry, Yue. I would have stopped him, but once he saw you he ran so fast that I couldn't keep up." Peiyao said once he caught his breath before a cheeky smile appeared on his face. "Also, I wanted to see what would happen and the outcome was hilarious."

"You're a brat, Yao." Serena scoffed while fixing herself, but shot the two a friendly look. "What are you two doing out and about?"

"Trying to complete the scavenger list." Zimo answered as he held up his placard. "I really want that anime figurine set although I have no idea which anime figurines they are."

"Of course." Serena rolled her eyes before it landed on the boba that Xukun had given her. "You owe me a drink, MoMo."

"I will if only..."

"If only what?"

"Basically Zimo wants you to help him out with gaining points." Peiyao answered with a blank look. "That's why he ran so fast to catch you."

"The last time I helped I still didn't get my reward."

Zimo nervously rubbed the back of his neck before casting the female a pleading look. "I will double the reward, for sure this time, just please help me out, Yue Tu, especially since your a Nu Chi Phi member and it'll double or even triple the points."

"Ugh, fine, but I'm only doing two with you since you tackled me." She then glared at him. "You already took one, so you're left with one now."

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" Zimo thanked her while wrapping his arms around her in a hug. "You're the best."

"Yeah, yeah, just tell me one of them that you need to do."

"I don't get why you put up with it, Yue, when you know that you don't want to do it." Peiyao stated as Serena shrugged. "I dunno. I guess you gotta give good karma to receive good karma."

"Wow. So it's basically for your own selfish gain?"

"Sure, why not? Don't judge me, Yao." She narrowed her eyes at Peiyao. "How come you're not doing any?"

"Because I have enough points to get what I want already." He answered with a smirk. "Besides, I would rather enter the raffle then collect now."

"I see."

"Anyways, I already did the 'Tackle the opposite gender'. Let's see what else I can do." Zimo muttered loudly as he checked his list and marked off the ones that he had already done. "Oh, how about this one, Yue Tu?"

Zimo showed Serena the option as Serena nodded. "Sure, MoMo."

Zimo happily got his phone ready to take the picture as Serena endured the Iota Phi Theta's scavenger list for the sake of friendship while partially covering her face since she didn't want to get exposed either. She ended up doing a few more. The things she does in wanting to help out Zimo since the subjects weren't breaking laws or humiliating towards the members or others. Something she gave Iota Phi Theta credit for while being a fraternity.

Peiyao laughed at the scenes before him as he knew this wasn't Serena's thing, but she still went with it just for the sake of being a kind friend. Of course Serena glared at Peiyao when the camera wasn't in her face because she knew his taunting laughter was just to tease her. After that the trio bid good-byes with Serena picking up her wasted boba drink to toss before making her way inside the library.

Melanie was woken again by her phone, but by a different person. She ignored it the first and second time, but grew annoyed when her mobile went off again and she gruffly answered the caller.

"What?"

"Sheesh. Who peed in your cereal this morning?" The male responded.

"That's nasty, Jing." Melanie replied as she sat up in bed knowing she wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep and should've silenced her phone after Qin Fen had called her. "What do you want, You. Zhang. Jing?"

"Wow. Seriously, Li. Xiang. Jun." He mimicked the way she said his name before speaking normally again. "Why are you so grouchy, huh?"

"Because I can't go back to sleep now. People been bothering me with phone calls all morning. Like you."

"Rude. I was gonna invite your fellow fat ass out for breakfast, but since you're being such a morning bitch, Xiang, I'll leave you alone."

"Breakfast where?"

"Oh, now she wants to play nice."

Melanie rolled her eyes hearing the sarcasm in her friend's voice. "Shut up, Jing. You still owe me from last. Four times."

Zhangjing groaned. "You're still keeping tabs on that? That was like weeks ago."

"Yeah, because your bitch ass supposedly forgot your wallet those four times."

"I did forget it. What?" Zhangjing hurriedly changed the topic to avoid facing Melanie's annoyance tone once again. "Anyways, XiangXing, I got you, girl. I won't forget my wallet and I'll even treat you. Whatever you want."

Melanie grew suspicious. "What's the catch?"

"What are you talking about? There's no catch."

"Yeah there is. You never offered to treat me. And you also never say 'whatever you want' so there's more to this than you're telling me."

"That part was an afterthought, Xiang. Don't get so analytical." Zhangjing scoffed. "So yes or no to breakfast?"

"Yes. Text me and I'll meet you."

"Already did."

"Brat."

Zhangjing laughed as he hung up and Melanie went to get ready for the day.

Xukun entered the quiet area where he and Serena met often in the library and hung out while spotting his friend sleeping with her arms folded on the table and her head using them as a pillow. He chuckled at the sight while placing a bagel sandwich with ham and cheese along with a Starbucks coffee by her things.

Once Xukun settled in the chair next to her while taking a sip of his own Starbucks drink did Serena stir awake and looked over at him sleepily while scrunching her nose at the aroma of the drinks. "Gah, I hate the smell of coffee."

Xukun's eyebrows furrowed. "I thought you like coffee?"

"I actually don't like coffee at all." Serena answered as she pushed her coffee away and towards Xukun while picking up the bagel to eat. "Thanks."

Xukun stared at Serena questioningly in mid-bite of his own bagel sandwich. "Wait a minute, YingYing. Are you telling me that you hate coffee despite me buying it for you every time we have study sessions together since we've met?"

"Uh, yeah, basically." Serena answered with a sheepish laugh. "Sorry, not sorry?"

"Dude, why didn't you just tell me? You honestly finished it every time or leave a little bit and I didn't think anything of it."

"Because you genuinely looked pleased every time you gave it to me and I just didn't have the heart to tell you or throw away a majority of it since you used your own money to buy it."

"I can't believe you didn't tell me."

"You'll get over it. Anyways, KunKun, now you have double the coffee for your day today."

Xukun side-eyed her while taking the other drink back and taking a quick sip from it. "What else are you hiding from me?"

"A lot of things, KunKun. A lot." Serena answered nonchalantly as she bit into her sandwich while not expanding further leaving Xukun to just leave it at that for now.

When he brought out his materials to study, a loose piece of paper floated to the ground and Serena went to retrieve it instead before Xukun could. Upon closer inspection she realized that it was the same IPT scavenger list that Zimo had.

"I forgot you were in Iota Phi Theta. " Serena said while placing the paper on top of his bag. "So you're doing this, too?"

"Something like that." Xukun answered as he picked it up to scan it. "I haven't really started, but I don't think I'm going to do it either."

"Why not?"

"I don't have time. I really need to pass my classes this semester. I barely managed last semester."

"It's easier to do with a friend. The scavenger hunt list, I mean. I'm sure you have some."

Xukun rolled his eyes. "I do, Ying. I'm not completely as anti-social as you, but my schedule doesn't correlate well with theirs."

Serena glanced at him dismissing the comment about her being anti-social. "Do you want to complete the list?"

"Well yeah, I do, but I don't have the time to do so."

"What do you get out of this list if you complete the whole thing?"

"Well the points I accumulate will give me entries to the End of the School Year raffle."

"But there's something else that you want, right?"

Xukun smiled embarrassed as the thought of what he wanted popped into his head. "Yeah."

"And that is?" Serena tried to get it out of him. "Tell me and I'll help you."

"You will?" He asked shocked before eyeing her suspiciously. "Wait, why? You would rather be in bed right now than doing anything really productive."

"I have my moments, Kun, and I feel like doing something productive today besides school stuff at the moment."

"Y'know there's like fifty things on that list."

"True, but it's mainly to help out a friend. Also I know that you want this. So what is it?"

"If I complete that list or score the most points out of anyone for that list, then I get to be center for the group photo when school's over."

"That's it?"

"Yeah. Oh and I get to host the final house banquet this school term and the first house banquet next school term."

"Okay, that's good."

Xukun looked at Serena unsure. "Are you sure you want to help me?"

"I mean, not really, but I don't mind helping out others from time to time." Serena shrugged with a small smile.

"Alright, thanks, but I do need a date though for the banquet."

"And I'm sure that won't be a problem."

"Could I ask you in advance since you won't be all..."

"Fangirl mode."

"Yeah."

"See, even you're thinking they're fangirls now."

Xukun rolled his eyes, but looked at her with hopeful eyes. "So what do you say? Will you be my date?"

"I'll think about it."

Xukun scoffed at her response as Serena chuckled. "Anyways, let's go make you center, Cai Xukun, and a banquet host."

Melanie was currently messaging Zhangjing asking him how long he'll be since she's been waiting at Little Tangerine for at least ten minutes now when she heard the chair across from her scraped against the floor and assumed it was her friend.

"About ti-" She paused when she saw Lin Yanjun instead of Zhangjing and mentally strangled Zhangjing in her head. "I knew it was a set up."

Yanjun chuckled as he glanced at her. "What's a set up? I thought we were all meeting for breakfast?"

"Zhangjing didn't mentioned a third party."

Yanjun shrugged with a smile. "He mentioned you to me."

"I bet." Melanie rolled her eyes before roaming her eyes over to the male before her. "Anyways, then where is the one that invited us?"

"Dunno."

"You guys are roommates."

"Doesn't mean I keep tabs on him."

"Mmhmm."

Melanie leaned back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest shooting Yanjun a knowing look. Yanjun imitated her posture, but he had on an amused expression instead. The two stared at one another for a good few seconds before Yanjun broke the silence.

"Don't give me that look, Melanie."

"What look, Evan?"

"The one you're giving me now."

"What about it?"

"Stop looking like you wanna kill me."

"Oh, it's not you I wanna kill, today. It's your friend."

Yanjun rolled his eyes as he casually leaned forward. "He's your friend, too, but don't kill him yet. I still need him to pass this semester and you can kill me after I graduate."

"Fine." Melanie rolled her eyes, but relaxed her posture. "Anyways, what are you doing here when you and I don't ever hang out?"

"Zhangjing invited me of course, Xiangjing, but really I came for the bread." Yanjun grinned as Melanie shook her head with a laugh. "You can buy bread anywhere, Yanjun, and say no to the invite."

"But I love the ones here and why would I say no when I get to see your lovely face."

He grinned at her as Melanie made a disgusted face before brushing off his rights. "Right."

Silence fell between them again with neither of them wanting to get up and make an order. The duo continued to wait for Zhangjing who was still running late. Yanjun broke the silence once more.

"Hey, so I was wondering if-"

Melanie interrupted him. "No."

"But you haven't even heard the whole thing yet."

"I don't care."

"But you don't even know what I was gonna ask you."

"After what happened last time, Evan, I don't wanna be involved with whatever you got going on for the fourth time." Melanie narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm going to put a restraining order on you the next time you you want a crazy psycho bitch of a fangirl to stop bothering you."

"Look, they all have their moments." Yanjun tried to explain, but Melanie held up a hand to stop him.  "Save it. I don't care because I'm not gonna let you use me again for a fourth time to which I didn't even agree with the other three times. You basically forced me and put me on the spot each time."

"Okay, Melanie, okay. I get it. I'm sorry." Yanjun apologized with a genuine expression. "I know it was selfish of me to use you as my pretend girlfriend to get these girls off my back, but you happened to be conveniently there at my time of need all those times."

"So were practically twenty other girls, Lin. Yan. Jun."

"I trusted you the most."

"We're only mutual through mutual. We're technically not even friends if I was to be honest. Hell, even Yirang, Fu Jing, Manjun, and Niyi were there and you know them better than you know me and you could've used them over me."

"You were closer." Yanjun reasoned as Melanie rolled her eyes giving up on trying to pull the truth out of him while standing up and collecting her things. "Whatever. I'm gonna order and sit at another table so that I don't have to deal with you further within the morning."

"Oh, c'mon, Xiangjun. My company's not that bad."

"Not really you, per se, Yanjun, I think, but those involved around you just gives me a headache with all the bullshit that surrounds you."

"Wow."

"Okay, bye!" Melanie happily told him while making her way towards the front counter as Yanjun looked after her with a defeated expression before his phone pinged indicating he received a message.

He checked it and saw that it was from Zhangjing. 'Lin Yanjun, zero. Li Xiangjun, nine thousand'. Yanjun glanced around the shop and spied his friend across the room in disguise while eating a bag of chips and waving at him mockingly.

'Better sleep with one eye open tonight, buddy'. Yanjun messaged Zhangjing back before shooting him a smirk and Zhangjing stopped his little antics and hurriedly left Little Tangerine without Melanie noticing him.

[marcoacesabo]

Reverse Roles: Ace’s secret

Ace stared at Sabo, watching as the other man relaxed against the railing. The blond had his eyes closed, tense in a way that proved he was ready to jump, a small smile forcefully on his lips.  Everything about him screamed wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

And yet right. 

He was different than before. He wasn’t as confident, wasn’t as strong but he wasn’t broken either. The bond had survived the ordeal, with a lot of scars but he lived, maybe out of pure spite but he made it out.

Eight months. Had it really been eight months since that awful night?

When the bells had rung, Ace had stumbled out of his bed a little confused. He was still a newish commander with only a year under his belt and that bell was rarely used even with the ten years his lived on the Moby. It took him a minute to realize what it was.

When he did, he was one of the first on the deck, sprinting passed his multiple siblings that poured out of their rooms like a well armed and ready army. When he arrived at the scene, the scent of copper was so powerful he almost gagged. 

It’s been years since he last smell so much blood or seen so much. But the amount pooling around Thatch had been horrifying and for one second, one moment of weakness he froze. 

Unsure of what to do, he stood rooted to the spot watching the other commander die.  It was Haurta- the second commander on the scene beside him- that started barking orders to the confused and disorganized pirates. 

Thanks to him Thatch had been saved. Ace had only stood there, what a great commander he was. 

Sure he was strong, but strength isn’t everything a leader needed. Maybe that why he’s been so nervous to take the position when it was first offered to him. He’s been with the family for years, but he didn’t think he was ready to lead them.

It didn’t help that it had been Marco who nominated him.  The first Commander was the one who claimed he was perfect, pointing out his good work as a cabin boy and as a valued member of the crew for the past two years. He stood before the other commanders watching wide eye as Marco sang him praise after praise, and the nods his words created with a little bit of flattered awe.

It made him feel horrible for the small part of his heart that didn’t like the commander.

Ace had a secret. 

For three years he had his eyes on a man that fought against Pops, on a man who was guarded but so very vulnerable, on a man who looked at him like he knew everything about him and yet knew nothing at all.  

On a man who sleeps in the same bed as the First Commander.  Sabo was…amazing, there was no other for the man. Their relationship wasn’t very smooth at first seeing as the blond wanted him to remember a past they shared and he had forgotten. Feelings were hurt left and right eventually, more often than not Sabo’s eyes were dyed a light pink, with puffy edges and he felt horrible about it.

Ace for the first time in his life needed to regain his memories. He had spent seven years of wondering, of questioning who he once was and maybe he wouldn’t like who he may have been but he wasn’t a man who ran away, not even from himself. 

Sure Ace didn’t actively look for answers, at least not as hard as he should have and that’s why even to this day he still couldn’t remember the stories Sabo told him about.

And that hurt Sabo so much. 

Marco always seems to make it better though. Of course, he did. He was the big brother of the crew, if anyone was sad or in need of help Marco would be there. Maybe that’s why Ace didn’t really worry after finding them in bed together. 

He may have overreacted the first time but obviously, they were just sleeping and Marco was known for dragging siblings to bed and force them to sleep, it shouldn’t really have been a surprise.

Ace had been satisfied with letting them get closer.

Then the nicknames started. “Marco’s boy.” Or “Marco’s pretty boyfriend” was coined by Thatch one day after the young blond stumbled into the dining hall late due to arriving very late the night before, wearing a very familiar purple shirt instead of his usual one and it just sort of stuck.

 It boiled his blood to hear his siblings call Sabo that. The blond would flush but laugh the comment off. Ace took it as him saying it wasn’t true and that made him feel better but it didn’t stop the green monster from poking his head and hissing whenever Sabo would go to Marco first.

Wasn’t he the one Sabo lost? Shouldn’t he be the one the blond would be so eager to see?  But no, whenever Sabo came to visit the family on his mini-vacations from the Revolutionary Army the first to know was always Marco.

Sabo told Marco everything, his fears, his dreams, his stress, his enjoyment and even his secret desires, in turn, Marco did the same. Ace knew they did because he once heard them talking when he had been, ugh wandering outside their door. (He may have heard Sabo like North Blue Red wine and well he managed to get a bottle from a mission so he thought the other would like to share it with him)  

There was only one person on the ship he told his frustrations about the blond’s closeness. Luckily Thatch can keep a secret when you asked him to. The other man acted like nothing was happening, but he did tune down the teasing about Sabo’s and Marco’s relationship around him. 

Ace was grateful because sometimes it was hard to know if Sabo and Marco really weren’t together. 

It was a real eye-opener when that secret was almost taken to the grave. 

Ace had sat by Thatch bedside willing his brother to wake. He had been a coma always on the verge of slipping into the never awake stage and the whole family had been terrified of what it could have meant. 

Especially with Thatch’s desperate words right before he slumbers.

“Teach...got....bo...he..lp...bo...” 

The crew had assumed he meant “The enemy got Teach help.” and like the fools they were they wasted time trying to find a lead on the mysterious enemy that held one of their brothers worried out of their minds for that fat traitor.

Months passed until someone spotted Teach somewhere in the Grandline. The family had rejoiced that he managed to get away from the bastard who attacked them- they were still investigating who that might have been- but were puzzled with why he hadn’t tried coming home or even calling for help.

It wasn’t until Thatch opened his eyes six months later, screaming “Sabo! Sabo! Someone help! Sabo! He’s got, Sabo! Teach got Sabo!” that they realized what had happened. 

It took them two months to find where the twisted man took the revolutionary but it wasn’t much of a surprise that it took that long,  after all, Marco had been vivid and danm determined to find the blond.

 He hardly rested those two months flying ahead of Ace almost all the time looking. Marco even missed meeting Luffy- who still clung to him crying each time they meet even though Sabo had dragged him to the Moby from the Revolutionary Based to meet more times than he could count-  claiming they could cover more ground if Ace went to Alabasta while he took flight just in case Teach had switch course. 

The freckled man thought he was watching a commander of the greatest fleet using years of tactics to find and capture enemies. 

Ace should have known he was watching a desperate man searching for his love afraid of not being able to find him.

“Ace?” Sabo’s voice calls out to him hesitantly almost as if he’s afraid of Ace. If that doesn't make his blood boil, doesn't make him want to hunt down Teach and kill him but Dragon made it clear that he would be handling the traitor’s punishment.

Ace still shuddered at the way Luffy’s dad fought. That man was definitely, not human. 

“Hi, Sabo. I...I thought you may want to fish with me?” He smiled at the blond man holding out a line. Blue wary eyes blinked up at him, making him wonder if acting like everything was okay was the correct move before Sabo took the fishing rod in his hand.

He weighted in one hand, arm straining just a bit and Ace bite back the question Are you okay? knowing he didn’t need to hear it. Sabo had only been recently released from his bonds in Marco’s room. He would obviously be a little weak after that.

Ace hovered behind the other man ready to reach out and help him onto the railing but when he noticed how tense he realized what a bad idea that was. He took a few steps to the side making sure Sabo could watch him from the corner of his eye, pretending he wasn’t aware of the blue eyes on him.

Once Sabo sat Ace tested how close he could get by placing his rod on the railing pretending to set up. He moved it around as he opened his bait box, watching as Sabo’s shoulder relaxed when it was a nice distance away. 

Satisfied he finished tieing the weights to his line and jumped on the railing sitting right were his fishing pole had been. A good arm length away on his right. It was closer than he let others near him and that shouldn’t make his heart skip a beat.

“Thanks, Ace...for you know helping me...and being so nice,” Sabo whispered gently jerking his rod allowing the line to fall down below. He was watching the waves but Ace could see the smile- a real one- on his face.

“Of course. I love ya.” As soon as the words left his mouth Ace wanted to kick himself. Luckily Sabo didn’t take it that way.

“You're the best brother ever.” He laughed a little bit hollowed. Sabo reeling in his line just a bit arms shaking. “I’m so glad Dragon gave me leave and I can be here. You and Marco have been so patient with me”

That green monster was hissing again but Ace pushed it away. Marco was right. They needed to focus on making Sabo okay again. They had two years to make help him.

And then Ace would confess. 

“No problem bud. Now shush you’re scaring away the fish.” 

Sabo’s laugh was lighter this time and Ace counted that as a win.