#it even got her name in the exact same spelling what are the odds

[kurohaai]

I love like a smoking gun

Ripped a shot, then I hid and run from the scene

You sick of your life, I don't lie

The ones we need.

[eight-cats-in-a-box]

hi, can you, please, write about a (female) reader, who performs as a singer, and Megatron (secretly) attends her concerts and has romantic feelings for her?

Ooh! This is super cute, absolutely!

TFA Megatron x Singer/Performer! Reader

I tried to make it femme but it came out mostly gn I'm sorry 😔

Megatron watched from the shadows in the concert hall as you performed. Times like these, he was glad Shockwave had perfected the holoform technology.

He had been there for one of your very first shows, your sweet, saccharine voice casting a spell on him from the very first notes. He'd shown up at every single show after that, even taking the time to actually purchase a ticket for each one. Even though he could simply materialise the holoform inside the concert hall, it would attract too much attention.

That, and he wanted to support you.

You knew him now- not by name, of course- but you knew to look towards middle left and he would be there. You always looked so excited when you managed to catch sight of him. It was a lovely sight to see, your bright eyes shining ever-brighter with the excitement.

The few times he had managed to snag your attention after your show to have a brief conversation, he had found you witty, charming, and with a sharp, wisecracking humour quite similar to his own. You were even more gorgeous up close, the way your hair framed your face haunting his dreams even now, megacycles later.

You were performing something new tonight, something a bit slower than your usual. It had a nice tune to it, and Megatron already knew that he'd be humming it under his vents for decacycles to come. The program called it "Your Songbird", which he found rather cute. He couldn't be certain that it was from his nickname for you, but a mech can dream.

His songbird. Oh, what he'd give to call you his. The temptation to snatch you away was strong, but he wanted to see you happy more than he wanted to call you his. And you couldn't be happy, caged away in the Decepticon lair. Megatron knew that much.

He would woo you properly, court you, and perhaps eventually, he would show you his truest form.

__________________________

You spotted him, half-hidden by the shadows of the concert hall, and the happiness that bubbled up in your chest followed. He had been there at...oh, your third show? Yes, that was it. He had seemed so enraptured that evening, and it seemed he wanted to hear more.

He's shown up at nearly every one of your performances since, and every time he's sat in almost the exact same place- middle row, slightly to your left. It helped you find him, and you suspected that's why he did it.

He always insisted on paying the highest price possible for a ticket as well, which seemed odd to you- normally people would harass you for discounts, not jacked up prices. But he always insisted.

You had talked after your shows a few times, and he seemed to be a true gentleman. Smart, alluringly so, and with a sharp wit that was a perfect match to your own. It helped that he was hot as hell, with longish silver hair and a dark beard that framed a weathered, handsome face. You'd never caught his name- you could've seen from the ticket sales, but that felt like cheating.

You were performing something you had written for him tonight, something that you'd named after the nickname he'd given you. "Your Songbird", and his you were indeed- if not in reality, then certainly in spirit.

You would try to talk to him after the show, see if he got the message. You hoped he did.

You didn't even know his first name, but you hoped you'd take his last eventually.

Masterlist

[kyanitedragon]

This has been bothering me for ages, what with Viz's odd translation, and even the fan translations varying, but I managed to find the raws so here it is for reference!

Kaneki actually does say "Kanaki" (カナキ) instead of Kaneki (カネキ), but still gives the correct kanji spelling*.

(*The kanji 金 can be read both "kane" and "kana", among other pronunciations. It's not incorrect for him to say "Kanaki", just a bit odd to me that he wouldn't give the real pronunciation of his name.)

When Eto repeats it back, she also pronounces it "Kanaki", as seen in her furigana.

(Which also further explains her "Kanagi Town" fun fact a little more. Not only are they written exactly the same (金木), but Kanagi & Kanaki are only one syllable off, versus Kaneki & Kanagi being two off.)

Hide gives his full name "Kaneki Ken" (カネキ・ケン) with the exact pronunciation, and then uses the same explanation for how to spell it as Kaneki had done.

(The "Ken" being included is the difference for later in :re --- Hide's copy includes his given name; Kaneki's copy doesn't and only has his surname.)

And then in Chapter 114, when Eto meets with Hinami in the cafe, she once again calls him Kanaki-san. (She's clearly just playing along now, having heard Hide give his real name and now Tsukiyama and Hinami talking about Kaneki just minutes before.)

When Hinami uses Kaneki's name, she has to pause and catch herself and say "Ka...naki-onii-chan".

So I guess Kaneki really did give Eto a fake name!

But I wonder why. I never really got the sense otherwise that Kaneki was trying to hide his identity?

Also! While I was on chapter 109, I also always wondered Kaneki's exact wording in this funny little scene:

He uses the word 地毛. He's saying "This is my real hair."

[zelenbug]

more rayman headcanons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i wrote a LOT here

some general descriptions of like 31 whole characters in my headcanon lore. at least those i had much of note to say about. so like, some pretty important characters are missing sorry

rayman - hes cool and a doofus at the same time. hes also a little bit stupid. he values having friends so so much and has no clue what romance is because hes never felt any kind of romantic attraction. he was raised by his fairy mom (betilla has her exact r1 design btw.) and theyre still on good terms : ) favorite activities: inventing ridiculous fun new things to do with globox

globox - he is exactly like in rayman 3 aside from the odd parts in the first map of hoodlum headquarters. silly idiot with a big ego, plays himself up to be mega competent and awesome at everything despite also being a coward. loves his family and haveing fun and his friends. hes good at coming up with ridiculous stupid conclusions. he dislikes glutes (I MEAN THE BIRDS IT IS WHAT THE BIRDS IS CALLED) because they kept biting him and stealing his lunch when he was a kid. he is terrified of rabbids. hes a red wizard but hes bad at being one (due to being tall, bald, not red (anymore) and not much of a wizard (he knows like 2 spells (hes really good at making rain happen though!!!))). his parents dont like him very much for being too much of a silly idiot

uglette - basically globox 2 in a lot of ways. not a coward but is averse to adventuring so she doesnt do that (also isnt as arrogant). kicks your ass if you threaten her kids though. not as much of an active participant in various fun activities despite being fully supportive of it BUT DONT GET IT WRONG she is still also a silly idiot. she doesnt like math either but is surprisingly good at counting which is the only reason her and globox know how many kids they have (globox was barred from helping out with counting, hes so bad at it which is why they were miscounting as over 650 for a while, its really just 651). uglettes parents dont like her very much for unclear reasons (hwy do you think shes named that)

their kids - allowed to run everywhere and have as much fun as possible which includes them punting every other glade inhabitant they can get to like the ball. they are UNRESTRICTED MENACES. if confronted about it (usually by murfy) both globox and uglette would go "its good parenting". at worst they get told off like "hey dont be mean please". andre is one of the kids btw

murfy - he is exactly like in rayman 3. hes actually really good at different voices which is why hes really squeaky at times (he puts on an act and pretends to be nice when polokus is around, that includes making a stupid squeaky voice). has flirted with rayman who remains completely oblivious to this. attempted to date a lot of people otherwise, didnt go so well, one of them was a literal girl with great big eyes though (a mosquito). also he would rather pursue acting than whatever his job ended up being

goth teensy - i wrote a post about him already. nice naive little man. his memory is awful for no reason. he doesnt remember how he got this watching over the dead door job either and he barely does it because he keeps getting distracted (and justifies it with "well how likely are the nightmares to get out anyways?")

raymesis - his one goal in life is to be raymans greatest rival and make sure everyone knows how bad rayman is (raymesis fails horribly at this. when he pretensd to be rayman literally everytone can tell that is not rayman). he is a giant cringefail loser. he wears cringy gamer shirts (like. over his hoodie) at home, which is a horrible dingy apartment. has several other embarrassing interests he doesnt even let glombrox know (who basically lives in his apartment due to constantly finding new ways of breaking in)

glombrox - claimed by raymesis to be his sidekick, actually just goes along with it because hes smart and can also kick raymesis in the back once his own plan goes awry. raymesis is both his favorite target to mess with and the closest thing he has to a friend. he smells horribly and hates baths, he loves beating up people for fun, he writes in cursive so fancy its legit unreadable. he was also an asshole as a kid (hes no longer allowed anywhere near his relatively normal family) and found more company with darktoons who only slightly influenced him. somehow everyone keeps thinking hes globox. he hates it. he can eat mold

teensy queen - honestly kudos to my friend for coming up with most of this because this is like really good. teensy queen is just kind of nuts and also a giant drama queen (lmao), like fake fainting with back of hand on her forehead. her targets of attraction consist exciuslvely of women and rayman. she has probably spoken with ghosts

andre - unfortunately for him, stuck at globoxs village permanently after being turned back into a black lum at some point (during rrr's events). globox and uglette and their kids literally all consider andy a family member, he hates it and he hates everyone here. he doesnt even try to escape anymore because SOMEONE will inexplicably get him back there (ie his siblings catching him in a bug net. they kick him around too btw). hes still trying to plot some evil plan that he hopes to execute eventually. hes terrified of rayman more than literally anyone else in the glade

ales mansay - NOT the magician, just pretended to be him to try and get on the heroes' good side. ales is slightly taller than him actually. anyway ales likes mr dark very very much (this is not reciprocated whatsoever). hes really bad at magic for a teensy (his organ thing that works with magic just doesnt work right?) and he got bullied as a kid relentlessly for it, he was already mean but this just made him worse. hes the closest thing the glade can get to a techbro (if he makes all hte tech himself). was even more mean to goth teensy in particular (who was just trying to reach out and become friends maybe) when they were classmates

polokus - hes seen even by the other gods as a weird little silly man. he can shapeshift between pretty much any kind of look (he has to remain beige though) but the design in origins is his "true" form i guess. he created the glade and its inhabitants long long ago and set them loose, he created globoxs spcecies in his own image but thought itd be funny if they didnt have legs. when hes not vacationing god knows where (like himself) (anyway he went there during rayman 3) hes pretty easy to talk to and become best friends with. he is divorced (over teensies)

voodoo mama (NOT THE NYMPH this is literally not what the nymph is called ignore raywiki IM TALKING ABOUT mama hite) - God's Ex. she thinks hes too much of a silly idiot too. she literally only likes one teensy (romeo patti), thinks all the other ones are ugly as hell. nowadays (aside from hanging out in land of the livid dead briefly before getting kicked in the eyes. yknow. big mama.) lives at the sea of serendipity with red wizards, offering her weird concoctions and whatever else to people, usually they do some magic effect they want (ie how rayman recolored himself like globox for fun) but with Side Effects. all the red wizards are convinced shes just some tall lady thats really good at magic and not literally, like. another god. even though she doesnt bother to hide it that much. sorta acted like a better mom to globox than the one he actually had, it took him a long time to also learn she was, in fact, God's Ex

LIGHTNING ROUND,!? the (unique) BABYS!!! brainox is obviously the smart one, a polite little guy, he has albinism and thus doesnt like sunlight, looking at it OR being in it. so hes more nocturnal bimbette is just cutie pants (from fancy pants) basically. she is a huge brat. lacks eyelashes for some reason zikox (remember hes the yellow one this is a canon name from the dreamcast localization file) pursues rap sure he secretly really likes poetry. wouldnt let anyone know. oktette is obviously the other smart one but shes REALLY smug about it. she literally looks down on people shes the tallest of the babys. (actually theyd be like teenagers by now almost?) hardrox isnt mean but hes just annoyed all the time by everything. he has a cool rock band, his dad is the only other member (as you know globoxs rayman arena desc says he likes rock music) catastrox is confused about everything constantly he has a hard time understanding anything. actually one of the least chaotic kids. he also just didnt really understand robo pirates were bad because he didnt know morals yet (also bc he hatched with the pirates somehow)

flaming teensy is the cool old (not that old, hes in like his 40s equivalent) man. despite appearances (and whatever happened in mini) hes actually pretty nice. looks over the tricky treasure as a job. hes in a relationship with another teensy but hes from the cold part of gourmand land this time

(i didnt intend to pick images of both magicians (i guess. you can see i refuse to call ales that) with no hats on. i just thought they were funny. this one is from an educational game btw)

the first king is the actual old. hes oldest teensy that has ever been alive, he refuses to die out of sheer stubbornness and just constantly complains about "kids these days". hes like cranky kong with less video game references

jano - one of the more minor gods, only one created by polokus (it was an accident). then he made a mess and now nightmares and the scary part of land of the livid dead exist. hes gotten more neutral over time, but not exactly nice and he doesnt regret making nightmares happen. nowadays he actually guards the way to land of the livid dead (cave of bad dreams is just a part of it), which is a somewhat different job from goth teensy

(side note r3 and origins land of the livid dead exist in the same "space", but the origins one is in a sort of pocket dimension. pocket dimensions have mostly been created by group efforts of powerful teensies for convenient travel purposes, ie the highways or the hall of doors, or some other purpose like the tower also in (r3) land of the livid dead. anyway nightmares reside in the origins land of the livid dead. and it wasnr created by teensies just to be clear, its that most of the other pocket dimensions were)

dark globox - nobody invited him to these races one time he just showed up. everyones scared of him, hes not even mean or evil he just throws people into walls for some reason. he speaks in BFGKBLFBDKFHMMDFKS but hes like, a sapient person with thoughts in SOME form? still the same species as globox but hes the most weird shaped one. everyone just called him that due to approximate similarities to the only other competitor who was also the same species (unless you count globette) anyway dark globox is literally the only person glombrox genuinely respects

tily - like a cat (full of mischief) that can fly. unstoppable, chaotic, bites people (mostly globox. for no reason). if caught in the act (for example, pushing fragile objects off tables for no reason) she acts like shes entirely innocent and hasnt done a single thing wrong or bad at all. which keeps working, every time. but she can be persuaded to stop for a little bit with some treats of candy (thats a difference from cats, cats cant taste anything sweet at all!). i dont know what her relation to ly is but theyre both cats in some way

the magician (the real one this time) - has always been a rayperson. hes a grown man but is shorter than most teensies for no reason. obviously great at magic but anything involving technology confuses him to no end. hes maybe just a bit mischievous at times, hes nice he just messes with people a little bit sometimes for fun. Ok so i can really only describe this best with an image also from an educational game

red wizards arent like. one character but i could go into more detail on them. so they live mostly around sea of serendipity and mystical pique. at least the older ones are absolutely committed to being always serious and never having fun or being silly ever, and they hope to also teach the same values to god with their boring mantras. you can understand why globox didnt fit with the other red wizards like at all. ALSO red wizards gossip a LOT, htey end up knowing about everything remotely adjacent to them (but nothing outside of that, they had no idea there were robo pirates at all for example)

romeo patti - why did he decide to live in land of the livid dead?? anyway he kind of has the easiest job in the world because most of his patients are already ghosts and you cant do much about that. so he spends all his time smoking all kinds of stuff, thats kind of why hes the only teensy voodoo mama likes. hes also one of the tallest known teensies, its hard to tell because he also has the worst posture of all the known teensies

TOOK LONG ENOUGH TO GET TO MINIMUSES I GUESS? talking in plural because i think its mostly a set of teensies that steal the crown from one another. being The King is mostly meaningless but it makes them feel important and they get to shout commands at people. only one of them was brave enough to participate on some fun adventures with rayman and globox and goth teensy, he acts like the leader of the team which makes the other three go "?"

sir globrax - he keeps getting stuck in absolutely unreal situations. nobody knows how he does this. murfy for a time got assigned by polokus to watch over this poor chainmail wearing idiot and, while he wouldnt show it, murfy has never genuinely hated anyone more than this guy and his penchant for trapping himself in ways nobody on the planet can decipher. meanwhile his view on murfy is like. My assisant murfy who helps me when im in trouble : )

globteen and teensy ray together i guess - theyre like. friends but they mostly focus on being the number one biggest fan of whoever their respective favorite guy is. and they both run fanclubs but the globox fanclubs only members are globteen and globox. teensy ray will try and fight anyone who is mean to rayman, also hes one of the few teensies that isnt bald (he made himself not bald)

globteen is a funny little guy overall. his age is a mystery. most people find him kind of weird and a bit nuts so he doesnt have a lot of friends but he doesnt seem to mind that much. hes actually REALLY pale for a teensy for some reason, being a very light yellow color. its a bit hard to tell because he never goes out without his face painted blue (like globox). also he is literally this

might do more of this if i come up with things to write about other characters

[kierancampire]

Just to say in advance, I played a fair bit of this game ill and tired, I still am currently ill and tired, and I struggle with spelling, names especially, at the best of times, so please excuse any misspellings of characters and places, I will try my best, I just can't be bothered to keep repeatedly Googling each one to check if I have it right. Anyway, with that said, here is my experience/thoughts on God of War Ragnarok, major spoiler warning as I'm going over everything:

I was smiling like crazy at the beginning, it was such an awesome opening and really captured the changes in all the characters. Though I immediately was said as it just started fighting Freya and I thought, I don't want to kill her, I actually got into a lil debate with a friend who hated Freya and wanted to kill her due to her threatening you after killing Baldur, so I was dreading it.

I literally cried when Fenrir died, like, had genuine tears come down my eyes and was sniffling, I know we never knew him but god it got to me.

While it was awesome finally seeing Odin after GoW and all the stories on him, I felt conflicted. In my mind I was picturing a sorta Zeus like Odin, maybe slightly muscular cause it's GoW after all, but just the beard, taller, a more powerful presence. I was kinda taken aback by this smaller, meaker man without the epic voice, but at the same time, that made me realise how deceiving and manipulative he could be/appear. I should say right now, outside of what is said and shown in GoW and maybe the odd popular thing, I know nothing of Norse mythology.

I thought the game was so incredibly beautiful! I am playing on my PS5 with a 4K TV and it is just gorgeous! It truly is such a beautiful game! I also loved how large the worlds were! There felt like there was so much more to them this time! While I tried to avoid everything about the game, some things did slip through, like knowing you go back to the same realms, and I was apprehensive but they are like whole new worlds, and the actual new worlds are incredible! Svartleheim was such an awesome first world, I loved it!

When you first play as Atreus I was freaking out so much! I had no idea there were Atreus sections of the game, so I lost it! Although his gameplay isn't perfect, it is fun, and obviously him transforming with rage makes it so much better! (I did suspect he was the bear at the start, one of the exceptionally few things I know about Norse mythology is Loki can transform)

The jelly fish creatures in Alfheim were so beautiful! Once I released the first I just sat there watching it "swim" in the sky, so pretty!

It was *SOOOO* awesome going to Jotunheim and seeing more of the world and the Giant side of it! I loved going there and getting to explore more of the actual world! It was so awesome seeing Angrboda and her grandma too! Just learning more of the Giants and their story was so great!

I couldn't believe we got to visit Vanaheim! After hearing so much about it, it was so cool getting to actually go there! I must admit, the plants drove me fucking crazy, but I loved the rest of it!

Hearing about then seeing that Freya had a brother was so cool! Though him being called Freyr and it being pronounced the exact same way was confusing, very handsome though! Their own things of Yngvi I forget Frayas was a lot easier to tell who was who.

I absolutely loved getting to break Freya's curse and how it was done! It was sad that the ancient creature had to get sacrificed for it, but I loved finally setting her free.

Finally getting to actually visit Asgard was so awesome! I must admit, it woulda been cool to get to explore it more, and I was expecting something grander, but I did love finally going there and seeing it!

Seeing the Nonir people was awesome too, like knowing they even existed was cool, but seeing them was cool! They were insufferable know it all's but I guess that was the point! The Kelpie was so beautiful!

I was really sad you had to kill Gorm, the Hel wolf, as he was only just freed. So I love that Atreus not only found a way to save him, but to keep Fenrir alive! That was lovely!

It was SOOOOOO awesome finally seeing, ah, I think it's Skal and Hati? The wolves that chase the sun and moon? I was expecting more celestial type things, but it was awesome meeting them!

The Heimdall fight was really bittersweet. I found him insufferable and wanted payback for all his shit, but at the same time, he didn't deserve death, and Kratos repeatedly says how much he doesn't want to kill him or return to his past life, so it was sad it happened anyway.

Atreus seeing the Aesir really conflicted me. On the one hand, the whole time in GoW you hear these horrible stories of them and the atrocious things they've done, Thor and Odin especially, and you want to bring them down to avenge all the fallen, like Thor was to the Giants as Hitler was to the Jewish. But then you kinda can't help but get connected to them, see their human side, and see that they all are being used and manipulated by Odin, and Thor has suffered. I especially never wanted to harm Thrud, she was just a child and a pawn of a pawn, but then harming the ones she loves is harming her.

One of the biggest moments I lost it was Brok/Odin. I had *NOOOOO* idea Odin could transform too, and had no inclination that he was really Tyr! Do when it did the huge reveal that Odin was really Tyr all along, I lost it! And immediately my mind was racing like, did the dwarf set us up by giving the location of "Tyr", Odin knew that whole time with Atreus, everything with Freya was bullshit. But then I had no time to think as he just instantly kills Brok, I kept expecting something to happen to save him, but then he was really gone, and I just couldn't believe the game did that! Though I do love how in his final moment, what Brok did was stand up to Odin by himself and caught on before anyone else.

So playing GoW twice before this game, I was looking forward to so many things the game said would happen around Ragnarok (though the wolves never ate the sun and moon?), and one of those things was seeing Surtr! It was so awesome finally meeting him! And that area where the realms meet was SSSSOOOO beautiful and pretty! I loved it!

So like, I thought Ragnarok was an event, I had no idea it was a "person" so seeing a physical embodiment of Ragnarok was bizarre.

I felt so conflicted on Thor! On the one hand, I wanted to kill him for all he had done in the stories and just who he was, an abusive, dead beat dad who was an awful person. But at the same time, he is so easily manipulated, besides Odin, Atreus is able to manipulate him, then immediately after his wife manipulates him against Atreus, then even Kratos sorta manipulates him, but then you see he realises Odin used him and sacrificed his family, and Thrud loses her dad, so it was so conflicting when Odin killed him.

So I didn't like that Odin's soul was being kept alive in a ball, so when Sindri smashed it I was very happy, also, yeah, everyone in that room had a right to kill Odin and I am glad Sindri did. Though with his anger, the blood and dirt, torn clothes, you can see how much he has lost it with losing Brok and I hurt for him. Like he hates Atreus, blames him, and has been so nasty to him, and that just isn't Sindri.

So I had no idea the game ended with Atreus leaving! It really made me wished I finished side quests and stuff with Atreus that felt more fitting! I also was so sad he left! I was happy for him, but sad for me/Kratos.

I really enjoyed doing optional stuff, all the side quests were super fun! And just exploring the lands and getting optional locations/labours was really fun! Though I did find trying to get to some locations really confusing and tedious at times, but doing the Crater in particular was great!

So when Atreus put the soul in the snake and Angrboda said it was growing like crazy, even after only recently playing GoW twice, I thought that meant the snake was transforming into a giant Giant and thought nothing of it! It wasn't until Freya practically spelled it out in Midgard in a conversation that I realised it was the great snake! I had my mind blown!

I am glad I finally eventually managed to kill all the Valkyries, including the queen, as yeah, they are all so plot important that it woulda felt odd never having done it on my save file, so the story was more cohesive because of that.

So I still have Gna, the Beserker King, a few Ravens and the odd lore/loot to get, otherwise I think I have done pretty much everything? I also still haven't really touched Valhalla, so I need to do that, I just don't massively enjoy that style of game.

I really loved the more detail and life this game had over GoW, like the insects and lizards on the walls, the birds and other creatures in the sky, the animals and such around the world, I loved all the little touches to bring more life and realism into the world.

I really liked how we see a more emotional Kratos finally. Even through everything, the only emotion he ever really shows is anger, and he speaks of sadness and heart break but never really shows it. So having multiple scenes where his voice breaks and he's clearly really emotional, I really loved seeing that finally. I guess I should add here I also loved finally seeing Faye, seeing her as a living character, and then hearing more about her past and who she was.

So one thing I struggled with a lil was combat. For like the first half of the game, fighting felt really tedious and boring, enemies were just unpleasant to fight, and I never really felt like I struggled, but the repeated respawns of enemies just felt like it went on for too long, this did all eventually improve/stop though. Another thing I struggled with was difficulty. I played the game on normal, but it just felt all over! I would say a majority of the game felt way too easy, I never really struggled, and staying on top of health, breaking and avoiding enemy attacks was super easy. But then there were random points were it would just get really difficult out of nowhere, or, even if it wasn't "difficult", you'd be stuck in multiple forced battle encounters, or bosses that went on for ages, and I would just die from not having the skill to keep dodging and attacking for the length of time the game required me to do so.

Another thing I struggled with was the game itself. So even though at points I had only been playing for like, 15-30 hours. I think where I did so much in every world, I felt a lot deeper into the game than I was, so the story kept going and I just had no idea where I was in the game! Like I had no idea if I was near the final mission or if I still had 8+ hours left! And even though it is called Ragnarok, due to this timing issue I kinda was expecting the big battle to be in a third game! So it was odd eventually doing it.

In GoW I felt like I had no real glitches, but this one I had a few. Like, with Atreus (and this only happened with Atreus, never had this issue in any other game either), if I would hop over something/get down from a ledge, occasionally he had this issue where my controller would sorta stop working, and he just glided and wouldn't move correctly, I'd have to give it a minute before he we fine again. There also was another issue that in Asgard, it kept repeatedly showing I could pick up items I already picked up in the closet even though nothing was there. Also with Kratos, sometimes either the compass would disappear entirely and I just had to wait for it to randomly appear again, and no, I wouldn't be in a fight or even near enemies, or other times the compass would be motionless and not show me where to go, or it would take me down routes I couldn't go down, so I spent many areas blindly trying to find my way around which is awful when you have my sense of direction!

But anyway, yeah, here's what I "finished" the game on. Unlike GoW I felt no need to wear a matching armour set, and I know that the curass I have on has no perks, but it's stat buffs to everything was insane! Also, even though I had done everything to get all the Chaos flames, including the Beserker and Muspleheim, I am one short from fully upgrading them and I have no idea why? As the rest are story ones thus I can't miss them? So no idea why I couldn't fully upgrade the blades! Gotta be honest, never touched the spear beyond using the R1/R2 abilities, I found I took more damage than I dealt trying to use it, I greatly preferred the blades and axe. But yeah, the exploration and combat options were great either way! Over all I loved the game and had such a great time playing it! I just am sad I will never get the experience again of the Tyr, Brok, and Atreus plot twists for the first time again! Though I guess when I replay it I can maybe experiencing things in a new way knowing these twists!

Oh just editing on, the writing in the game was fucking great too! There was so many deep and complex lines, so many that struck with me and got me kinda emotional, like, the writing was great! But there were so many hilarious lines too! Like Mimir was fucking hilarious the whole game! "Chuck me at him brother, horns first!" "All-Fucker!" "What the fuck is an olive?" and so many more, but other characters had great and funny lines too! There just is too many to quote! Some entire conversations are great, like I love when Mimir and Freya roast Kratos over Lunda's orb :') Also I am quite sure that Thor does a Will Smith reference during his final fight!

[amadnessofwords]

i finally saw a picture of the woman who destroyed my relationship! So that’s fun. In the 5 years he’s been living with her I was never allowed to see how she looked or know anything about her. Everything having to do with the two of them was hidden, all i knew was that she was his roommate and i once saw a post saying that they were best friends or something like that even though he always told me they left each other alone and did their own thing which i knew wasn’t true.

Anyways.

 I guess now that I’m out of the picture she can 1. be all over his Facebook page again and 2. post pictures of herself.

I do find it really strange that their doing everything in sync, he changes his name to Norse runes then she dose the same, he changes his picture to a Viking theme a day later she dose the same. The day after his birthday he posts a picture of himself then a day or two later she dose to. 

like why are they in doing everything in sync? it’s so wired. i don’t get it.

there’s a lot that i don’t get about their relationship though and honestly when it came to this whole situation i felt like i was going a little crazy.

i also find it odd that when I called one of his aunt to ask what was going on with something once, all she would say to me was “he’s living with another woman and her two kids and that’s all i have to say to you” and when i told her how long I’d been with him and she was like “I’m not getting involved” and hung up. she was very rude to me and pretty much was like get lost.

It makes me wonder if my gut feeling was right about the whole thing and something is really going on between them and maybe that’s why she tried her hardest to get me out of his life.

like she made my life a living hell the entire time he’s been living with her.

I’d never understand what kind of person hacks someone and pretends to be that person, sends themselves the message and leaves their devices open so the other person in the house with see it. 

or curses a person for making one or two mistakes. I even apologized after i made the mistakes and told her i’d leave her alone but the damage was done already. 

The mistake was me asking if something was going on between them since she was all over his Facebook page saying a lot of odd things like ‘the best thing in life is staying up until 4am playing uno with your best friend laughing to the point where all you have to do is look at them and you start laughing again cause you know what there thinking at that exact moment” or “it sucks when you are trying too sleep and your phone plus the persons phone who is sleeping next to you keeps going off” or “starting the next chapter of my life with the three people i love most him and her to kid with a heart at the end” and other things like that then she was always in the comments of his posts and answering them for him sometimes.

I honestly still don’t know what to think of all that. they both said nothing was going on but what was being posted was just wired and i’m confused by all of it now.

 she once tried to give me ‘relationship advice’ to it was pretty much only talk to him once a week on skype or something like that and only for an hour a day. she also told me to go find other boys to go bother and play with once and called me a catfish even though i had known him since i was in high school. i also got slut shamed a few times for having a intimate relationship with him.

she also tried casting a spell on me Halloween 2018  try to get rid of me out of there lives and tried manipulating my emotions multiple times with magic.

honestly since he’s been living with her I’ve felt like I’m walking on egg shells, every time i did something she didn’t like i would be attacked or if she couldn’t do that she would hack me.

i guess the one good thing that’s come out of all this is that i don’t have to deal with her anymore. 

these last 5 years have  having a third person in my relationship has not been fun. i’ve hated it. I even told him what she’s done to me to and he never once believed me. i was just being insecure and jealous and he’d  shut down any conversation about  it when i tried to bring it up and tell him how i was feeling.

honestly i’m still so confused about this whole situation any thoughts on it would be great. what do you guys think?

also this is her

[prose-for-hire]

Kiss me quick

Pairing: Spike x Summers!reader

Request: Hi! Can I request a Spike x Summers!reader, where the reader is trying to keep their relationship on the downlow since none of the Scoobies really approve, but after a big win the reader finally kisses him in front of everyone, proving that they do care deeply for one another and everyone just has to accept it.

Requested by: Anon

Warning: Reader gets injured but nothing serious. sex references/implication of sex.

You looked out into dimly lit street, the dark had surrounded you now but ever since you had been meeting this way you couldn’t help but smile whenever the sun began to descend from the sky. You were stood, under a streetlamp, three streets away from your house. Just far enough where nobody from your household would catch you meeting him this way. You had been meeting like this for a while now.

He got a kick out of coming up behind you and immediately pressing you against the nearest wall and crashing his lips to yours. His favourite greeting entailed leaving you breathless and ready to pull him closer no matter what your surroundings were. He often mumbled his hellos through stolen kisses. His passion never died, he was all in. Completely yours.

You couldn’t shake this feeling. That you were completely in love. You had silently tried to fight it to begin with, knowing that those around you wouldn’t approve. That Spike himself may not even reciprocate your feelings. But soon it became clear that there was no hiding these feelings that always bubbled to the surface whenever he was near.

You had started fooling around to begin with, before it all changed. For the better, both of you agreed. Your feelings had taken hold of you both, fuelled by the touch of skin. The depth of mind. Unspoken emotions kept the two of you in a chokehold before you finally spilled your feelings for the other.

Ever since you quit college, you had spent all of your free time sneaking around with Spike. It was, honestly, as thrilling as it was annoying. As much as you wished you could just tell everyone how much you loved Spike - how amazing he was with you, you couldn’t. You had to hide it, the implications of your friends and sisters finding out would be a fate worse than death. In fact, for spike it may mean actual death this time.

Unfortunately, you were the middle child. You were a year younger than Buffy and she never let you forget about it. Meaning, Buffy thought she was the boss of you. Not to mention Dawn basically clung onto your leg to stop you from leaving the house (and thus, preventing you leaving her behind where she couldn’t follow you around). This meant that, often, you didn’t get much spare time for sneaking around with Spike. But, God, did you make it your biggest priority. After… saving the world… obviously.

When you did manage to share these intimate moments, it was everything. It felt as if you were the only people in the world. The only people that had ever felt anything close to this. Nobody had loved this deep. Cared this much. You were both so sure. These feelings, they were eternal. He vowed it to you, one early morning you had spent with your naked bodies pressed together, baring your souls well into the night.

Any emotional scars you harboured seemed to heal just by speaking to him. By having that soothing voice share his own darkest moments with you in return. How that voice, those eyes could have seen and done so much and still make you feel undeniably safe you weren’t sure. But, you trusted him. Even if danger appeared to surround him at every turn. You wouldn’t change him for anything. You loved the good, the bad and the oh-so-attractive parts of him.

Vulnerabilities turned to strengths when you were together. Rough edges appeared smoother. Promises held meaning. You adored him and he confessed to you that he had never been so comfortable in a relationship. He could be himself, could express his feelings without being concerned you would turn away from him.

The first night you invited him into your home made him elated. You had to make him swear not to tell Buffy because you knew she wouldn’t take it well. Like, at all. As much as he would have loved to rub it in the slayer’s face that he had been given access to her house – he loved you too much to even think to upset you in this way. So, you carried on this way, unable to keep your hands and lips from each other for more than an evening at a time. This meant mostly, he stayed at the Summer’s residence or you left to the crypt. Sometimes, you even went for real dates – so long as you were sure that everyone else you knew would be busy elsewhere.

Tonight, you were going to the Bronze together. It was a little more of a risk than usual, but he had insisted on taking you somewhere he knew you would enjoy. Muttered something about not keeping you in the shadows before taking your hand and leading the way. The truth was, Spike was in fact just very smitten with you. And he pretty much wanted everyone to see that you were with him. This was ‘everyone’ except the scoobies and any family members you happened to have crawling out of the woodwork. It was safe though, everyone else was going to some college party and Buffy had told you that it was uncool to have her younger sibling come along.

Buffy was the only one that viewed you as the ‘younger sibling’ the others were friends with you because they were fond of you. Because, well, sometimes you appeared more mature than Buffy did – not that they would ever say that to her face. Although there was always that slight worry that if they hadn’t been friends with Buffy they wouldn’t have been as close with you. You were barely a year younger than Buffy but she was still incredibly protective of you as she was the oldest.

What you hadn’t banked on, whilst you rubbed Spike’s thigh under the table, was that Xander hadn’t been invited to the party. He saw you immediately and made his way over to you with Anya close behind. You almost choked on your drink as you saw them come up behind Spike. You snapped your hand away in shock much to Spike’s displeasure.

“Hey, Y/n-” he started and then stopped when he saw Spike’s presence, “He bothering you?”

“No, he’s just-”

“Warming you up, right pet?” His eyes glistened as he spoke, an eyebrow raising which made Xander scowl. You tried your best to hide the smile at your boyfriend’s words as Xander looked between you both. Xander liked to think of himself as your older brother and had decided you needed defending. You opened your mouth to say otherwise but ended up being cut off by a very urgent ex-vengeance demon.

“It doesn’t matter that they’re dating right now, we are all going to get ripped into pieces if the demon finds us!” Anya shouted. You hadn’t been as secretive as you thought then.

“An!” Xander hissed, sharing a look. At the exact same time you and Spike shared a look too. You wondered who else had seen straight through your sneaking around and longing glances you shared through scooby meetings.

You were sharing looks for different reasons though. They had obviously discussed what not to say beforehand and Anya had characteristically ignored his warning. There was some kind of demon threatening the town. Again.

“What’s going on, Xander? Anya?” you tried for your ex-vengeance demon friend when Xander didn’t speak. There was definitely something odd going on. At her name being called, despite Xander’s warning, she launched into an explanation.

“Xander got annoyed at our sex-spell and ripped a page out of my very rare copy of ‘magic, sex and me’ which ruined our entire evening!” She scowled and crossed her arms before continuing, “Now we have to kill it instead of having our sexy time” she pouted.

“We’ll pretend we didn’t hear about a sex spell-”

“Well, I want to hear about it. Can’t get it up, mate?” Spike taunted which only made Xander redden further after Anya’s admittance. Xander stepped as if to hit your vampire but you stepped in the way and wheeled Xander away, changing the subject.

You asked instead about what this demon was like. Anya explained that it was a Scorn-demon. Ridiculously hard to kill and bound to the pages of a book as no mortal prison can hold it. It looked as if you were in for a long night. Which is exactly what you and Spike had planned although for a very different reason.

“If all of us are looking, we’ll find it quicker” You offered, Xander had been embarrassed to explain because of the reason they were doing a spell. But now Anya had told anyone anyway, he was grateful of the help. You got to your feet, ready to follow them out as Spike got up beside you.

“Looks like no bugger’s getting any tonight” Spike muttered, rolling his eyes as you apparently volunteered you both to assist your friend.

“Just working ourselves up… right?” You offered which made him smirk. God, he had been rubbing off on you. You almost felt yourself mirroring his smirk at your words. He wanted to pull you in and kiss you until you admitted just his presence could get you worked up enough alone, but he knew the importance of hiding this from your friends. Which, really was the only reason he didn’t take you right there in the middle of the Bronze.

Instead, you just trailed behind Xander and Anya’s bickering and tried to locate this demon. You called Buffy’s cell and left a message. You knew this was probably going to end with a battle you were unequipped for. You just hoped that you ran into your sister before you ran into the demon. By all accounts he sounded nasty.

As you walked, you and Spike kept sneaking glances at the other when you hoped the others weren’t looking. It was hard, having to maintain this distance when all you wanted to do was reach for him. Show him your affection freely. When you caught the other’s eye, you couldn’t help but smile. You felt so lucky, to have someone that cared so deeply. Someone who wasn’t afraid to share their love so freely.

You wanted to slide your hand in his, tell him just how lucky you felt. Just how much you felt for him, although you were sure he must be sick of how often you told him you loved him. He never was, of course. It was the sweetest music hearing that phrase from your lips. He kissed them a thousand times just to catch the remaining sweetness from your tongue. With those words, nothing should be wasted. He wanted to savour every syllable of your love.

You kept walking until you had to come to an abrupt halt. Dawn turned a corner and crashed straight into you. Turns out, your hopes came true: you did come across your sister first. It just happened to not be the one you expected.

“Oh, I didn’t know you guys were ready for, like, double dating yet” Dawn teased. She, too, had decided that you and Spike had to be dating. She often brought it up to annoy you but she believed it all the same. Spike never corrected her and you had stopped bothering too. You would only come off as defensive and she would tease you for that. You honestly couldn’t win living under the same roof as Dawn, she could be relentless.

Spike leaned in to whisper something in your ear, his lips so close to your ear you could imagine the way they would feel if he leaned in further and pressed against your skin. You smiled at his comment, he always made you laugh. He liked to hear your laugh and it passed the time while he waited for the fight that was coming.

When you looked back up, Willow and Tara had caught up with your group. They gave you a knowing look at how close you were stood to Spike. You wanted to lean on him, inhale deeply and press kisses against the curve of his neck. You loved the way he gripped you closer when you did that. But you had to snap yourself out of this thought at the arrival of your sister. Buffy immediately started giving orders, not before she gave you a warning look for letting Dawn come with you after she scowled at Spike for his mere presence.

“I brought the research – I think there’s a spell, but we’ll have to weaken him first” Willow muttered, frowning at Anya and blaming her for this spell and putting her best friend in danger. 

“The spell needs lovers to complete it. Do you think you could help us Anya? Xander?” Tara asked softly, “But I’m not sure if that’s enough to hold him”

Because the demon was attracted to love and sex, couples were needed to cut off his power at the source. It fed from lovers and by concentrating that power it could reverse and thus weaken the demon within a certain spot.

“Well, if we need couples we have at least three pairs here. Maybe that would be enough?” Willow asked. Making everyone look around to count the pairs. Everyone’s eyes then landed on you and Spike. The last to look was Buffy who raised an eyebrow between you both.

“Does everyone know we’re dating?!”

“Pretty much, sweetie” tara nodded.

“We just didn’t wanna embarrass you. It’s… Spike” Buffy cringed at even the thought of it, “I, uh, thought you would have kinda got it out of your system by now though” Buffy hitched her nose up at the idea of the two of you, but shrugged. She saw it as a meaningless relationship. The kind she had with Parker in her first year of college but more often.

From what you gathered as they didn’t correct her, nobody really thought Spike capable of any kind of meaningful relationship. And with him not being able to actively harm you, they just decided to avoid the topic entirely until one or both of you got bored of the sex. The only one that hadn’t thought anything of your sudden proximity with Spike every time he turned around, was Xander. He really would have said something if he had known. But he still wasn’t convinced now – no matter how often Anya insisted.

You slid your hand into his, now that everybody appeared to know that you were together at least. He smiled at this, looking down at your hands back to your face. This smile, it was softer than he would usually show in front of the Scoobies, it was one only for you. Where he felt such genuine happiness. Such adoration.

As usual, nobody really wanted to discuss your love life (rather just ignore and hope it went away) and so began to look away from you and discuss the demon again. You began following the trail of destruction. He wasn’t so hard to locate really and Buffy immediately attacked him as Willow and Anya set up in a large triangle around the fight. Each couple was at each point of the triangle as the recital occurred. A flash of light surrounded the demon and Buffy before it faded, showing the demon now fighting sluggishly.

You tried to protect Dawn the best you could while Spike and Buffy took it in turns to throw punches at the now marginally weakened demon. You and the others helped when you could but he was so strong even now the spell had worked, that humans barely affected him.

Somehow the demon broke from Spike’s hold and started for Dawn - who he had sensed as the weaker member of your group. You charged in front of your younger sister to try and distract him. This lead to him twisting you and throwing you into the air and crashing into a nearby storefront. You were flung straight against the wall and hit your head quite badly. He watched you falling like a ragdoll, appearing limp due to the blow.

His gut dropped. He left Buffy to the fight. All that mattered now was that you were okay. He had never been so scared. Spike rushed over to you, dropping to the floor so that he could cradle your head in his lap. There were a few seconds where he didn’t know what to do.

But then just as he thought he may have lost you, hope was restored again. You open your eyes, your smile a little dazed as you looked at him from your position in his lap. He looked up to the sky in relief, as if silently thanking the powers. His eyes danced with emotion as he looked back into yours. He wouldn’t know what he would do without you. Couldn’t even imagine it less his heart would begin to ache with phantom loss.

He was so overcome by the thought of losing you that he immediately caught your lips with his. Pouring every single feeling he had ever experienced for you into that one kiss. His hand cupping your cheek, the other on the small of your back – pressing you closer to him. As if this kiss may well be your very last. You reciprocated without hesitation, your lips felt as if they had been moulded just for this very moment. This kiss, it said everything. Promised everything and you smiled into it. Your lips moving against his urgently, insisting he feel your love for him. Even in your weakened state, all of your energy went into kissing him.

In the same moment, Buffy managed to finally slay the beast and Tara and Willow muttered some words that sent him into the book he would now again call home. Buffy whipped around to catch you both kissing so desperately. The rest of the group stopped still and staring too. Every mouth agape in shock. At just how much you appear to feel for the other. This wasn’t just a quick shag when the feeling struck. One wasn’t taking advantage of the other. This was love. The truest kind. And nobody could deny it now, not even Xander.

After you parted, reluctantly on both parts, he took on your weight as you all walked back, everyone except him in silence. He doted on you, pressing a kiss against your temple every few paces – just because he could now in this company. He wanted to offer you all of the comfort he could. He was whispering to you trying to make sure you didn’t fall asleep. He was sure you had a concussion (I mean, you kissed him that way in front of all of your friends without any worries after all).

Buffy didn’t even object when it appeared that Spike was walking their way home. She didn’t know what to think anymore. Everyone could see just how deeply you cared for each other. It was undeniable, even to your older sister.

Spike was just pleased you would make it and be okay. And… he began to get smug that he was finally able to show the slayer that he could access her house this entire time.

[mllekurtz]

WIP WEDNESDAY

A few days ago (September 26) was the anniversary of my first Shadowgast fic, a better man than me. I was determined to celebrate, and then life happened! Still, I'm proud of that fic, and also grateful, because it led me into a wonderful fandom full of lovely people, some of whom have become dear friends.

So I decided to post the first paragraphs of chapter 1 of the sequel, set a year after the ending of a better man, as a WIP Wednesday treat! The wizards are in Port Damali, trying their best to live a normal life despite--well, you'll see.

(tagging @floatysparrowthing and @kmackatie who are kindly betaing this, and also @annundriel and by extension @marsastronomica because this is the wip I was telling you about!!)

~

The Hidden Pearl, a little shop of enchanted curiosities and books in the Beaded Alley, is — as the name suggests — a lovely, quaint place. The selection is a bit generic, but Caleb is sure there are worse ways to make a living. Port Damali is a place for merchants more than scholars, but there’s always some traveller in need of magic items, or looking for an odd bit of literature.

And Caleb is, most of the time, happy to help.

The half-elf woman in front of him knows what she’s looking for. She even looks a bit bored as she explains to him the exact kind of enchanted spyglass she wants. As Caleb brings out and puts back one spyglass after another, none of them meeting her increasingly detailed requirements, he can almost hear Pumat’s voice. He wonders where the actual owner of this shop got all his patience when he had to deal with him and the other chaotic chuckleheads who called themselves the Mighty Nein.

When the bell above the door rings, announcing the arrival of another customer, Caleb thinks that he might just kiss them. He glances at the door and fights back a smile at the irony of the situation, because the man who just entered wouldn’t in fact be opposed to that.

Essek’s usual disguise is fairly transparent, if one knows where to look. The small, tan-skinned human has sapphire-blue eyes, and his hair has the same length and texture as the real deal, but it’s dark brown instead of white. Not enough people in this city are familiar enough with the Mighty Nein to make the connection to Jester’s eyes, Beau’s skin tone or Veth’s hair colour, but Caleb is, and he does.

It wasn’t easy to persuade the monks at the Cobalt Soul to let Essek leave the Archive annex where he’s been living for the last year. He’s supposed to stay tucked away in there, as a sensitive political figure, both for his protection and so the Soul can keep a close eye on him. And as far as cages go, that’s a properly gilded one, with a stunning view of the sea and unlimited access to the Soul’s library. Still a cage, though, and Caleb can’t blame the man for rattling at the bars and missing freedom.

While they were all waiting for the other shoe to drop, though, weeks passed, then months, with the Dynasty either failing to do the math and realise Essek was still alive, or deciding he wasn’t worth the trouble. No Soul operative could probe deep enough to ascertain which it was, but the fact that Essek’s lot didn’t seem to be discussed at all was encouraging in a ‘no news, good news’ kind of way.

So the former Shadowhand of the Kryn Dynasty was allowed a daily walk, provided he Disguised himself and returned within an hour.

As he turns towards his half-elf customer again, Caleb lets his thoughts wander. The first and only time they broke the Soul’s curfew, there was a very unimpressed monk waiting for them back at the Archive. They hadn’t said anything, they just levelled a disappointed, put-upon look at the both of them. The Disguise spell had faded at some point during the night, and neither of them had cast it again. The night was warm, the vintage excellent and the company lovely, and they were both inebriated on the wine and each other. Being treated like unruly teenagers by a monk looking half Caleb’s age had been hilarious and humiliating at the same time. They thought it best not to stretch those boundaries again.

Essek’s Disguise hasn’t altered his height nor, as far as Caleb can tell, his clothes, which are the ones he wears in the Archive: a sleeveless blue surcoat over a white shirt with wide, billowing sleeves, turquoise trousers, loose and comfortable but tight around the ankles, and black shoes that look more like slippers, embroidered with shiny silver thread. It’s as far from Dynasty fashion as it can be, and he doesn’t look out of place in Port Damali, but then again nobody really does, in a mishmash town like this.

As the door closes behind him, making the bell ring again, Essek tilts his head towards him in polite acknowledgement, then turns around to peruse the shelves. Caleb has to wait another whole minute before the half-elf finally settles on a spyglass and leaves.

As soon as she disappears down the street, Caleb circles the desk and walks up to Essek in two long strides, pressing a kiss on his cheek. “I wasn’t expecting you,” he says, breathing in his scent: brine and sweat from the walk, something dusty and pleasant classified as ‘library books’ in his mind, and then a faint flowery note.

The last one jogs something in Caleb’s memory, but it’s just beyond his grasp. He’s determined to figure it out before he admits his defeat and asks Essek, whose features — a close match to his own, if a little less sharp — soften visibly when Caleb pulls back and smiles at him.

He’s always a little surprised by how Essek, who used to present such a closed-off, warded demeanour when they first met, now just soaks up physical affection like a sponge, always craving for more. Still, there are limits to what can be done in a public establishment, and despite what someone at the Archive might think, they’re not always behaving like lovestruck teenagers.

“How was your walk?”

[pregnant-piggy]

Silver lining ~ one

George Weasley x fem!reader

masterlist // playlist

warnings: i believe none, but let me know if I missed something!

A/N: so here’s the official first part! I am quite nervous to post this, but also very excited to start this series! As the start of this series, this part is still without the angst. Fun fact: I actually wrote this with my copy of Deathly Hallows next to me as reference.

word count: 2.6k 

Resfeber, the start

It was only ten minutes after closing time when George and Fred ran into the flower shop you worked in.

Your boss had just left, leaving you with cleaning and closing up. You had put all the flowers on water and were sweeping the floor while listening to the music that softly played in the space. It had been a good day; there had been a lot of people and for a moment it had seemed that the war was nearly to an end.

Little did you know that that was not far from the truth.

Years later you would still remember the exact words that could be heard on the radio the moment the Weasley twins stepped hurried into your store.

Our moments don’t last forever,

But I’ll always cherish them.

It was a lousy wizards’ band and you didn’t even know the name of, or the title of the song. But that line would stay in your mind forever, as the beginning of what would be the most terrifying moment in your life.

By the look on Fred’s and George’s faces you realised that there was something going on. They looked scared and energetic at the same time. And when they spoke to you, you felt the same.

‘It’s starting,’ Fred said, his voice quivering from the tension. ‘Lupin sent us a message.’

You didn’t need to hear more. That was it. The battle that would put an end to it all and change the world forever. Whether good or bad, you didn’t know yet, but you’d be damned if you didn’t put all your efforts in.

‘Where?’ you asked, running to your coat behind the register.

‘Hogwarts,’ George answered, his eyes scared but his posture full of courage.

‘How do we get there?’

‘Disapparate in the basement of The Hog’s Head,’ Fred replied, looking around suspiciously in the street as the three of you stepped out of your store.

You locked the doors with shaking fingers and turned to the two twins. They were looking at you and you could see the hesitance in their eyes.  

‘Don’t you dare think you can leave me here!’ you said looking from one to the other. They nodded solemnly, but you could still feel they weren’t happy to put you in danger with them.

‘Ready?’ Fred asked.

He put out his hand and you and George grabbed it both. You felt the heat of the boys’ hands on your own cold hand. The nerves were rushing through your body and your stomach was turning upside down already. But you knew you could do this.

‘Ready.’

Diagon Alley disappeared and the grey stone walls of The Hog’s head built up around you. In flashes you saw faces around you and after a second they became clearer; you had arrived.

The basement was crowded. Apparently more people had been messaged about the happening. You bumped into a small witch with a big red head when you tried to turn around to look for Fred and George. Their two ginger heads were floating in the crowd of people not far from you. Squeezing yourself between strangers and familiar people you reached the twins. You grabbed George’s arm and he spun around quickly in surprise, nearly throwing you over. He swiftly caught you and placed you back on your feet.

‘Sorry, didn’t see you there,’ he mumbled with red cheeks as he kept his arm around your waist.

‘Don’t worry,’ you muttered, your attention shifting to the hand in your waist, that didn’t exactly help your nerves.

The basement was filled with excited chatter. Some people were begging their friends to stay safe, others were practicing spells, someone was walking around the room handing out healing potions, but most people were looking around curiously, trying to find someone or something that would lead them into the castle.

After three minutes, Aberforth Dumbledore walked into the basement, making it silence immediately. His face looked annoyed, like he was not happy so many people had showed up to help.

‘Okay, everyone. Shut your mouths please! Right,’ the owner said and he looked lost for words.

‘Is he gonna give a speech?’ Fred whispered, while he stared at Aberforth.

‘I really got nothing to say. In a minute this painting will open and a passage to Hogwarts will be revealed. Please don’t all run in together!’ And with that Aberforth Dumbledore disappeared back upstairs.

‘That was motivational,’ Fred whispered.

‘Well, I’ve always thought that that man was a little odd,’ you muttered.

You turned around in George’s embrace to the painting and his hand slipped from your waist to your stomach. When he realised he was still holding you he quickly let go and stepped back, on the feet of Kingsley, who happened to have just walked up to the three of you. He said nothing but grimaced, making George blush and mumble an apology.

‘Good to see you here, Fred, George, (Y/N),’ Kingsley spoke with his deep, warm voice. His voice had something soothing. It made the nerves in your body calm down.

‘What happened?’ Fred asked.

‘Neville informed us that Harry had come to the castle and that he had said he wanted to find something. He didn’t say what or-’

Kingsley was cut off by the opening of the painting. The small crowd in the basement sighed as one and then started to enter the portrait. This was it. There was no turning back now. Not that you wanted to, but the option would be nice.

‘C’mon,’ Fred whispered and took you with him to the portrait.

His hand was wrapped around your wrist tightly and you felt he was nervous. You were too. Though you had been a member of the Order for a year now, you had never actually been on dangerous missions. You weren’t that ‘deep’ in the organisation; your role was being prepared if there would be a fight. Like now.

The tunnel was long, dark and narrow. Fred was walking in front of you and warned you about the bumps on the floor, warnings that you passed on to George, who was walking behind you. The longer the tunnel lasted, the more nervous you got.

Finally, after what felt like an hour, there was light at the end of the tunnel. As Fred stepped out of the passage, giving you a better view, you found yourself in a space you had never been seen before.

The room was big and full. On the sides of the walls were bunkbeds and students were sitting on them. The middle of the room was decorated—if you could call it that, as there wasn’t much decoration—like a living room. There were a few big couches and three simple armchairs around a big table. The room looked cold, with the grey walls and no windows, but it was filled with people and the sphere was not cold at all. Friends were reuniting, there was excited chatter and it felt like it was a family-reunion.

Fred and George ran to their brother and sister and you sat down on the armrest of one of the couches. Next to you sat a boy that must be a student, but you didn’t know who he was. He looked young; he was definitely not passed his fifth year. As you looked around you saw that more of the people were as young as the boy next to you. Besides the members of the Order, the room was filled with… kids.

‘Where are we?’ you asked the boy next to you.

‘Room of Requirements,’ the boy answered politely. ‘We’ve been staying here since the common rooms aren’t safe anymore.’

Your gaze slid over all the excited faces of the students in the room. They were all so young. You knew you were young too, but they were just kids. They should be worried about exams and boy- or girlfriends, not about their lives. You were filled with an intense hate for everyone that tried to destroy those kids’ lives. The boy must have noticed it, because he slowly slid away on the couch.

On the other side of the room you saw Hermione and Ron. They were talking with Lupin and Shacklebolt. You searched for Harry but you couldn’t find him. You thought that Neville had said he was at Hogwarts?

‘How you holding up?’ Fred asked as he sat down next to you.

‘Fred, these are students! They shouldn’t be here! They are so young and…’

‘Innocent?’ Fred chuckled. ‘You haven’t spoken to Ginny yet. These kids have been terrorizing Hogwarts for the past year. I agree that they are not even half capable of fighting death eaters, but they are determined. It’s their choice.’

‘I know,’ you sighed, still wishing there was a way to protect these kids.

You looked at George on the other side of the room. He was laughing with some students that were even younger than the boy you had scared a few minutes ago. The students looked nervous, but George brought a smile to their face.

‘You would make a good couple,’ Fred said.

‘Fred!’ you cried out and hit him on his shoulder.

‘Oh, come on! There is chemistry between you! You make each other laugh and you have no secrets for each other!’

‘So? I don’t have any secrets for you either! Do you keep secrets from me?’ you asked with a smirk.

Fred looked at you with a glint of mischief in his eyes that made you laugh. ‘Just think about it,’ he said, while your gaze went back to George. ‘After this is all over…’

You shook your head and watched as the portrait that hid the tunnel opened again. Mrs and Mr Weasley stepped out, followed by more elder Order-members. Mrs Weasley immediately ran over to Ron, whom she hadn’t seen in so long. Fred walked over to her and his father and left you alone.

After just five minutes someone else entered the Room of Requirements. But not from the portrait. The wall on the other side shaped a door that opened. The room silenced as one and watched the door close again without anyone walking through it.

Ron and Hermione ran to the door, while everyone else watched it suspiciously. But while Hermione and Ron made their way, suddenly Harry and Luna appeared from nothing. Everyone cheered happily and the tension was gone.

‘What is happening?’ Lupin asked as he walked over to Harry.

‘What are you doing here?’ Harry asked confused; he had been gone while everyone had come.

‘Neville sent messages to the Order,’ Fred answered.

‘What are we doing, Harry?’ George asked from the other side of the room.

‘Well, the students are being gathered in the Great Hall by McGonagall. Snape fled away,’ Harry explained. ‘We’re gonna fight.’

There was a loud roar from everyone in the room and people started to leave the Room of Requirement through the same door Harry had entered. You were dragged along by the crowd and lost sight of your friends. You only managed to get loose after a while and by then you had already walked so far, you figured it would be easier to blend in with the students and go with them to the Great Hall.

The Great Hall was filled with students in their pyjamas, all wondering what could be so important that they had to get up in the middle of the night. In front of the teacher’s table, McGonagall was standing, with all the other teachers behind her. Most of them you knew, but there were a few new faces—it had been a few years since you had been at Hogwarts. Even the ghosts had assembled. They were flying over the heads of the unknowing students.

You watched as the people that had come from the Room of Requirements as well filled the empty spaced in the hall. You tried to spot Fred or George, but you didn’t see them. Where were they?

McGonagall started to explain what was going on and when she mentioned Voldemort, some people wailed. Two first-years who were seated opposite of you looked terrified at each other. Their faces had gone white.

‘It’s gonna be fine,’ you whispered to them. ‘We’ll get you out safe. I promise.’ You received two little smiles from the eleven-year olds before they continued to listen to McGonagall.

Harry entered the Great Hall, looking just as lost as you felt. His gaze slid over the tables as he walked forward. Most students looked around and started to whisper to their neighbours as they saw him.

‘We are taking the most protective measures,’ McGonagall went on. ‘But they won’t last long. It is of great importance that we get you to the point of evacuation in as little time as possible. Please, anyone under the age of seventeen or not wanting to fight follow the Head boys and girls to-’

McGonagall’s voice was drown out by another voice. High-pitched, clear and dark. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. From inside your own body and outside the castle.

‘I know you want to fight. But resistance is useless. No one can defeat me and I do not want to spill the blood of so much pure wizard blood.’ The two first-years in front of you broke down in tears as the voice cut through their own thoughts. ‘Give me Harry Potter, and I will leave you unharmed. Give me Potter, and I will leave your precious school alone. Give me Potter, and you will be rewarded. You have till midnight.’

The voice stopped as abruptly as it came. Everyone in the Great Hall was looking at Harry, who was standing in the middle of the Great Hall, frozen by all the gazes.

Outside lighting stroke on the dark sky, waking up everyone from their haze. McGonagall ordered the minors to follow the teachers to the evacuation point. The Great Hall emptied until there were only a handful of students and the Order of the Phoenix left.

‘It’s only half an hour until midnight,’ Shacklebolt spoke calmly. ‘We have to be fast…’

While Shacklebolt explained the plan, the Weasley family entered the Great Hall. Relieved you sighed and a little smile broke on your face as Fred and George sat down on each side of you. You watched the rest of their family and noticed there were some changes.

‘Where’s Ginny?’ you asked. ‘And… is that Percy?’

‘Ginny’s in the Room of Requirement. Mom wanted to send her home, but Ginny refused,’ Fred spoke.

‘And Percy decided to come back just in time,’ George added.

‘…and we need someone to protect the secret passages,’ Shacklebolt said and Fred immediately volunteered.

‘Sounds like a job for me and George!’ Fred exclaimed and Shacklebolt agreed.

‘It does. (Y/N), would you lead a group of students?’ Kingsley asked, gesturing to a group of four seventh-year Ravenclaws.

‘Sure, I would,’ you said and got up. You turned around to Fred and George and looked at them strictly. ‘Be safe, alright? And don’t have too much fun without me.’

Fred just nodded, but George suddenly put his arms around you. Taken aback by the sudden embrace, you looked shocked at Fred over George’s shoulder. He laughed at you and shot you a smirk. You rolled your eyes and patted his back.

‘Be careful,’ George whispered in your ear.

‘I will, Georgie.’ 

- - - - - - 

taglist: general HP: @harry-pottery-barn​​​ @potters-heart​​​ @kingalrdy​​​ @missswriter​​​ @figlia--della--luna​ @aspiringsloth20​​​ @awritingtree​​​ @bi-andready-tocry​​​ @lilulo-12fanfiction​​​ @ananad1​​​ @treestarrrrrrrr​​​ @your-hispanichufflepuff​​​ @thefandomplace​​​ @theeicedamericano​​​ @girllety​​​ @moonstarrnghtsky​​​ @swearingsolemnly​​​ @weasleydream​​​ @secretsthathauntus​​​ @amixedwitch​​​ @izzyyy-1​​​ @gryffindorgirl​​​ @kitkatkl​​​

‘general HP’ will be tagged in every part, but let me know if you want to be added to the series taglist!

MASTERLIST

[ushiwakaout]

A merry little christmas

Iwaizumi x Fem!Reader

Summary: Durring the holidays all of Iwaizumi, Oikawa, Matukawa and Hanakami gathered around with their former teamates, but you, their former manager have been pretty quiet for the past two years. Nothing would go wrong if the main four just happen to come to your home unanounced, right?

word count: 2K +

warnings: some angst? some crack? fluff ending! and bad spelling

On a winter day, Iwaizumi Hajime had been contacted by Oikawa Toru of his sudden holiday arrival and had to pick him up at the airport. “You couldn’t call someone else to pick you up?” He teased, bringing his best friend into a hug. “No one else had answered the phone but you Iwa.” The two laughed into the hug, knowing for fact that, that was not true. “How’s Brazil?” Iwaizumi asked his best friend. “Good! Miss her already. It way to cold in Japan.” Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, “I told you, don’t know why you thought a long sleeve and shorts would be a good idea.” He patted Oikawa on the back and pushed him towards his car, “Come on, lets get going, i’m freezing my balls off here.” Oikawa winced at his words, “How vulgar...” He noted before climbing on the passanger seat.

Oikawa arrived late on the 23, meaning that the next morning they would get ready to celebrate christmas. “What are our plans for tonight?” Oikawa asked, blow drying his hair in the bathroom, as Iwaizumi got dressed in his room. “Matsukawa and Hanakami arranged some kind of reunion with the team, we are heading to a bar tonight.”

Oikawa nodded, fixing his har to the side, “It better be fancy.”

And fancy it was. By a miracle, Matsukawa was able to get the last private room due to his good looks (or so he says). Iwaizumi patted him on the back and raised a glass for the small christmas miracle.

Meanwhile you raised the last cup that needed to be cleaned at your local bar. Your christmast miracle was that you had a stable job and where able to leave work early today. “Mori- thank you so much for covering for me.” Mori nodded and patter your hair. “Of course y/n, go on and head home for the night and say hello you your little bug for me.” You nodded and quickly handed him a boxed gift and a kiss on the cheek. “Marry christmas Mori!” You called while running out the door to rush home. 

“Kiyoshi? Where are you bug?” You locked the door behind you and looked around your small apartment. Kiyoshi peeked his head out of his bedroom and his eyes glistened. “Mommy! You’re early!” He cheered running up full sprint for you to pick him up and twirl him around. “Of course! Mommy need’s to shower first and then she’ll start making dinner, alright?” Kiyoshi quickly nodded and ran into the livingroom where he had seemed to be hanging out in until you unlocked the door. You locked yourself in the bathroom and sighed happily, seeing the smile on Kiyos cute little face was enough to brighten your day. You stripped from your clothes and heated up the water for a second before you got in.

“Thank god.” Oikawa cheered as the appetizers came rolling in. “This looks delicious.” He thanked the cute waitress and winked at her. Iwaizumi rolled his eyes and smacked him behind the head. “What? Y/n-chan isn’t here to tease so I just picked the next big thing.” All of the teams head popped up at the name. “Y/n- where is she to be exact?” Oikawa asked, and all the boy’s kinda tensed up while looking at Iwaizumi. “What arou guys looking at?”

“IWA-CHAN WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SWEET Y/N?!”

“I didn’t do jack shit!” Iwaizumi barked back before Hanakami cleared his throat. “She’s been hiding from him for the past four years because-” Matsukawa and Kunimi elbowed his hip. “-Ow! Fucking hell-”

“-She has her hands full.”Matsukawa and Kunimi both said at the same time. Iwaizumi raised a brow, what the hell is that supposed to meam? “On christmas? I don’t think so.” Oikawa shook his head and sat up, “Can I get the check please?!” Matsukawas eyes widened and pulled on Oikawas shirt to sit back down, “What are you doing?” He hissed. “Us five are going to see Y/N while the rest enjoy their food, let’s go now.” 

Matsukawa and Kunimi both looked at eachother, the knew for a fact that once they got their- Y/N was gonna give them a good scolding.

“Kiyo! Come on, dinner’s ready!” You carried a hot bowl of soup to his little place on the dinner table and he quickly sat down. “Cold soba noodles?” For some odd reason, Kiyo very much liked to have cold soba on the side and then dip his noodles so they arent super hot. “Thank you momma.”

“Of course bug.” You ruffled his dark hair and kissed the crown of his head. 

You sat down momentarily before your doorbell rang. You rose a brow, the only person that was supposed to be coming was Kunimi and Matsukawa, but not until later tonight. “Y/n-chan! Open the door!” Oikawa sang from the outside and your heart dropped. “C-coming!” 

“Who is it mommy?”

Oikawa and Iwaizumi both rose a brow. “Mommy? Who the hell-”

You swung the door open and smiled, “I’m sorry.” Matsukawa mouthed before giving you a good squeez and slipping past you. “We tried.” Kunimi and Hanakami both muttered, patting you on the back, Kunimi giving your arm a small squeez. “Y/n-chan! Where’s my hug?” You chuckled as he picked you up to twirl you around. “It’s been so long!” You giggled in his ear. “Yeah it has.” The brunett dropped you on your feet and smiled. “You look good, mind if i come in?”

“My home is your home...” Oikawa ruffled your hair leaving you outside the hall with Iwaizumi. The second you had opened the door, he was fasinated by the way you looked. You hair was cleaned up nice and your white sweater dropped close to your chest, complimeting the red necklace you wore. “Hey ‘Waizumi...”

“H-Hi... Hello. It’s been a while.” He tumbled over his words, making you more nervous. He leaned in and gave you a hug. Had your breast gotten bigger from the last time you saw eachother. Iwaizumi fought the urge to squeez you closer to feel you but he could tell that you where a little different. You let go of him and leaned back, “You wanna come in? We go a lot of catching up to-”

“Mommy Uncle Issei is being mean!” You chest thightened before turnign around quickly as if Iwaizumi wasn’t there. “Ah- ah Kiyo, what did I tell you about running.” The little boy that wrapped his arms around your legs peeked up to look at the man who stood in front of your door. “Who’s that?” Kiyo pulled on your jeans before picking him up. “Just a friend bug, come on, ask uncle Kunimi to rough him up, yeah?” Kiyo nodded and pushed himself away from you to jump to the floor and run to Kunimi and then run to punch Issei- before running away giggling and hiding behind Oikawa. “Y/n....” 

Your chest tightened again before turning around to see that Iwaizumis eyes followed Kiyo around the room. “How old is he?” He asked, not knowing if he wanted the answer to be what he thought it was. You sighed and leaned against the neerest wall, smiling at Kiyo as he giggled with Issei. “He just turned four in November.” You muttered, “He’s getting really big- and he’s getting really restless too... He’s been running around trying to fight bugs and get ditry at the park.... He uh- he.....” you chuckled at yourself, “He reminds me of his dad...” You glanced at Iwaizumi who was already looking at you. “Four years.” He spoke, you can see that he had already connected the dotts. 

“Iwaizumi you where leaving to California I couldn’t have-”

“I-I know.... I get it, I just... I just need some time.”

“Iwaizumi-”

“Merry Christmas, Y/n.” Iwaizumi turned around and walked out down the hall towards the exit, leaving you at the front door. You sighed, rubbing the bridge of your nose before entering the door. “Where’s Iwaizumi?” Matsukawa asked with Kiyo upside down in his arms. “He uh- he left... When running out the door, basically.” You laughed sadly. “I shouldn’t have kept it a secret... I’m so stupid.” The four boys heart sank when you began to lightly sob. Kiyo wiggled in Matsukawas arms and ran to bring his small arms around you, “Mommy don’t cry, it’s christmas! No one cries of christmas!” Slowly Kiyo began to cry, “I- I dont wanna see m-mommy c-cry!” He hiccuped, seconds before you picked him up from the floor. “You really are a sponge for emotions huh, kiyo...” The boy began to cry uncontrollably in your arms. “I’m gonna go talk to him.” Matsukawa informed, ruffling Kiyos hair and then kissing your head. “You don’t have to- I know it’s a lot to take in.”

“Y/n you literraly told me the day you gave birth- I think he’ll be fine.” You shook your head at him and continued to coo Kiyo as he calmed down in your arms. “Would you like to inform me into all of this?” Oikawa asked sitting next to you with a soft smile. “Sure...”

While you told Oikawa your side of the story, Matsukawa watched at Iwaizumi paced back and forth otuside in the cold weather. “Iwaizumi-”

“Four years... Four fucking years Issei... She hid this from me.”

“I know-”

“How could she? Four..... What do you mean, you know?”

“I mean, I knew.... I’ve known.... The whole time.” Matsukawa shoved his hands into his pockets. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Matsukawa scoffed, “How could I? She begged me not too because you where out living the california dream while she stayed at home.” Iwaizumi shook his head, he couldn’t even be mad, he was glad you had him to confide to. “The bugger is a lot like you, so don’t worry, she’s not lying.” Iwaizumi laughed, “I knew the second I looked at the kid... Looks exactly like a replica of me and her... just really small.” He laughed again, crounching down on his knees. “I have a kid... I have a fucking kid.”

“You won’t have a fucking kid or a damn partnert who would love you as much as she would- if you don’t go back into her appartment, and tell her that you want to be apart of that kids life.” Matsukawa said, pointing back at the apartment complex. “What if she doesn’t-”

“Stop right there- Iwaizumi, she was crying the second you left... She still loves you-”

“She loves me?”

Matsukawa looked at him widded eyed, “I didn’t say that-”

“You just said she loves me, not LOVED but loves- two completely different things... She loves me?”

“I swear you’re the stupidist mother fucker alive. God she’s gonna hate me and take away my Kiyo rights but.... She’s been in love with you since highschool and-”

“You knew?”

“Yeah... I knew.”

“Issei, your so fucking lucky I don’t punch you right here- right now.”

“I know.....”

The two of them stood quietly before Iwaizumi pulled him into a hug. “Thank you for taking care of her... I don’t deserve this.” He muettered a Matsukawa scoffed, “You absolutely don’t.... But I’m sure she’s willing to give you a chance.”

Iwaizumi and Matsukawa walked back to the apartment with minimal chatter before they stood back in front of her door. When the walked in, Oikawa, Hanakami and Komori laughed to themselves quietly as you sat in front of the christmas tree with a dead asleep Kiyo in your arms. Matsukawa looked at the three and nodded to them, they caught on and once walking out the door, patted Iwaizumi for some sort of confidense. You turned and caught a glance at Matsukawa before the closed the door, he winked at you and mouthed ‘good luck’ before dashing out.

 Iwaizumi slowly made his hay towards you and sat down... “So... He’s my kid?” You lightly glared at him. “Sorry, I- I had to ask.”

“I think you know the answer.”

“Y/n-”

“You don’t have to stay... I know Cali-”

“I’m not going back to California, y/n... And if you’d let me... I’d like to say.”

Your chest thightened up like the first time you saw him at school... His green eyes where inticing as ever. “I’d- I.... I’d like that.” You felt a wiggle on your shoulder. “Does this mean I get a dad for christmas?” Kiyo muttered lazily, rubbing his eyes from being in a deep sleep. “Kiyo! What did I tell you about snooping?”

“Don’t do it... Unless it’s juicy?”

“No Kiyo-”

“What the hell have you been teaching him?”

“That wasn’t me! Matsukawa comes over way too often and teaches him this shit.”

“Shit!”

“NO! KIYO! BAD MOUTH! I’m gonna put soap in your mouth mister!”

“MMMMM... SHIT!”

“Oh god....” Kiyo rushed out of your arms and ran hiding into his room before yelling shit one more time. “I’ll just blame it on Issei...” You laughed, looking back at the christmas tree. “Speaking of Issei... He told me something while he came out?”

“Did he finally tell you that I love you?”

“No he.... What did you just say?”

“I love you? You really didn’t know? I thought I was being blunt in highschool?” Iwaizmi shook his head. “God, you’re so stupid... I hope Kiyo doesn’t have your thick skull.” The two of you sat in silence. “I’m sorry I hid him for so long... If it weren’t for this, I think I would have never told you....” Iwaizumi rose a brow, “Really?” You nodded, “Um... Issei was doing a pretty good job being his dad for the time being..... I think he told Kiyo about you, he just knows how to pretend really well thanks to him...”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” Iwaizumi apologized, reaching out for your hand and kissing your fingers. “I wasn’t your fault... you didn’t know.” You informed, “But I know now and I’m not going anywhere.”

You smiled softly at him as he kissed your cold fingertips again, “Merry Chirstmas Hajime....” A blush crept on his tan skin, it’s been a while since you called him by his first name. “Merry christmas Y/N.”

a/n: definetly didn’t go as planned but I wanted to put something out for christmas :)

[emerald-amidst-gold]

Why have I done this?

So, as per a conversation with @little-lightning-lavellan, I was blessed or maybe cursed, with this idea about Fane. As such, I had to write a short story about it that I think will be like four chapters long because...yeah. XD

Anyways, enjoy part one! (Look at what you’ve done. IT’S GLORIOUS!)

***

Anatomical Observations - Chapter 1

It had happened once. Short lived, quick, and barely noticeable as many things were more pressing, the world teetering on a crumbling edge. But it was hard to ignore such small things when voices were all you could hear when one was trying to work.

Solas was highly divested in an article of research. A basic magical theory in concept, minor amplifications of lesser spells, but it still required his mind to bend, to become flexible much like his magic when he had first awoken. As such, he had not heard many people come and go through the rotunda, he had not even heard the doors leading in and out slam shut or creak open, nor a polite greeting or scurrying messenger. That was how deep he was in his bubble of concentration. However, one--no, two voices from directly above were currently making it incredibly, and he meant incredibly, difficult to remain focused. 

“I do believe that is my chair you are sitting in, Inquisitor.”, a male voice with a distinct Tevinter accent floated down from above, indignation and slight amusement laced within it. 

“I don’t see your name on it, do I?”, another voice, far deeper and like rolling thunder with how it always held a slight growl. It always made Solas involuntarily shiver, and the same remained true now, making his focus splinter further like cracked ice. “Anyhow, it’s Inquisition property. Got a problem, talk to Josephine. I’m off duty.” A sound like a page being harshly flipped made his ears twitch. 

A gasp. “And work her harder than she already is? Absolutely not!” Solas could tell the line was meant to be a jab, but it only held the telling of a joke within its haughty vibrato. 

“Then I guess you’ll just have to sit your ass on the floor until I’m finished.”, that rumbling timbre came once again, a shifting sound and a loud thud signifying someone’s boots had been slammed down onto something. 

“The floor? Me?!”, another indignant squawk, actually making Solas let out a frustrated sigh as he lifted a hand to pinch at the bridge of his nose. How much longer was this going to go on for? It wasn’t unusual for this type of banter to sound, but right now, he had work to complete.

And this was not helping accomplish that.

“Yes, the floor. Yes, you.”, another harsh flick of a page ruffling through the air. “Now, can you leave me alone? I’m busy.”

“Oh, yes, you’re quite busy stuffing your face with tea cakes!”, the Tevinter accent rose a pitch, as if in disbelief at what it was saying. “The crumbs! Have you no etiquette, Inquisitor?!”

“Nope.”, the gravelly voice responded with a heavy air of indifference, actually sounding a bit muffled as if it were eating something. “If Vivienne and Josephine can’t knock the elf out of me, no one can.”, Solas could just hear the sarcasm and roll of eyes in that statement. It almost made him chuckle, but he was still too miffed to push one through.

“Most elves I’ve met are very well mannered!”

“I’m not like most elves.”

“Well, that much is apparent!”

“Thanks for noticing. I’m so happy.”, the tone voicing that statement dripping with concealed disdain. Solas knew where that bitterness originated from, and hearing it always made his heart heavy. Heavier than it already was, even.

“You are a truly stubborn man! Fine, I’ll sit on the floor! The cold, cold floor!”, a scoff following right after those words as the sound of leather and, most notably a body, plopped down onto the stone. 

Solas let out a heavy, heavy sigh as silence finally followed that exchange, letting his head hang down to where his chin nearly touched his chest in defeat. It would seem his attention was severed as much as the world’s magic was. He would not be getting back into his rhythm anytime soon. 

“Perhaps I should find a quieter, more secluded place to do my work..”, he mused, lifting a hand to rub at his face slowly. “One of the lower chambers maybe..”

Solas sighed again before letting his hand fall back down to his desk with a light pap, eyes absently roaming over the pages of the tome before him. Maybe if he stilled his mind, found his anchor, he could try to decipher this line of text. The glyphs were a no go, however. Just trying to look at the faded lines was making his vision go blurry. Sadly, the theory he was trying to prove was reliant on those patterns, and they were far more convoluted than he remembered. Perhaps more things had adapted than he originally thought? Or did the older methods  have to be reworked, seemingly forgotten like so much else? He, frankly, did not know. He couldn’t focus, but he would have to try.

“A ward..?”, Solas muttered under his breath, brows furrowing as he traced a sigil with his finger. “No..it is more akin to a summoning circle. Or perhaps a rune?”, he continued, slowly feeling how his mind began to bend and think, the lines of the glyphs becoming clearer, more defined. “Ah! The outlining symbols are for--”

His musing was immediately cut off, much like the frayed line of his focus, as a shout had him freezing and quite literally jumping in surprise.

“Fasta vas! What are you doing?!”, a squawk, the curse in Tevene elongated between the two words for more flair.

“Would you calm down?! Dammit, my ears are fucking ringing now! Ugh!”, the rolling thunder voice no longer indifferent as its volume rose to make the very stone quake. Once again, it made a light shiver run down Solas’s spine despite his tensed up form. What was going on now?

“How can I be calm when you...you do that!?”, furious shifting sounded as if someone was flailing limbs about. 

“One, I don't know what the hell you’re going on about, Dorian!” The sharp snapping of a book making the ravens up above in the rookery flap in agitation. “Two, you can have your chair back because I’m not getting anything done with your needling!”

“I believe you need a needle, my friend! That looked incredibly painful!”

Solas felt his slowly relaxing body tense up at that, mind awakened, but for a completely different reason than trying to get magical research done. He lifted his gaze from where it was fixated on the pages of his book, looking upwards to search the railing that outlined the library for the source of the voices that had shattered his hour of contemplation. He knew them both, but the exclamation housed by one had him wanting to see the other.

Where..? Solas thought the question, eyes roaming every inch of the circular area before stark white had his gaze halting immediately. Ah. There we are. 

He would spot that messy head from anywhere, even in snowy regions like the Emprise. Though, the body that that hair was attached to did a fine job of location as well. Occasionally, he would find his eyes lingering, or searching for less...conventional reasons. However, this wasn’t the time to be thinking of such things, especially as his mind still reeled with what the unaccounted voice had yelled.

Fane was currently along one of the bookshelves, a gloved hand firmly pushing a book back into its place with a typical scowl plastered on his otherwise smooth face, the faded green lines of his vallaslin making an already striking face look more so. Solas felt his body relax as he took in the sight of the man, or rather, the dragon.

His dragon, to be more precise, but not in a way of physical possession. It was more fond, more willing than that. It was not a bond of slavery. It was a vow. A centuries old one, to be exact.

Solas almost called out to the other, a sense of fondness and curiosity as well as mild concern invading his mind, but he clamped his mouth shut when he saw Dorian stride up to the snowy haired man with a look of wide eyed fascination. That was an interesting look, and truthfully, a worrying one. Such looks harbored questions, and he knew Fane did not entertain many inquiries.

And for good reason.

“Wait, what? You can’t be serious?”, Dorian said with an airy laugh. “You do that, and just walk it off?”, his tone rose pitch in disbelief. 

Solas caught the glint of ebbing gold as Fane rolled his eyes, turning his larger frame to face the Tevinter mage more directly. His eyes zoned in on how the reluctant Inquisitor was tentatively rubbing at his jaw, working it back and forth slowly as if it were locked up. Dorian had said something about something being painful, hadn’t he? Was that what he meant?

“Again, I didn’t do anything.”, Fane growled out in denial, the hand upon his jaw shifting so he had it pinched between two fingers to where it appeared he was trying to fit it into place. “I was eating, and I bit my tongue because you pissed me off!”

Solas smirked faintly at his dragon’s typical usage of foul language despite the way he watched his odd movements like a hawk. Fane was incredibly eloquent, cryptic, even, but when irritation or just general boredom took hold, the dual being was a sailor. It always fascinated him rather than disgusted him. For a dragon, an ancient dragon, to latch onto common parlance as if it were the most natural thing to their being was intriguing. Then again, Fane had lived in this world for twenty-four years without knowing he was a dragon. That, would perhaps, be a more justifiable reason, but it still piqued Solas’s interest. Everything about the dragon turned elf was a point of interest. Especially now, with the way he was still nursing his sharp jaw and glowering at Dorian as if he was trying to work something out in his head.

“I’m sorry, but that was not you biting your tongue!”, Dorian exclaimed, shaking his head with that same look of disbelief before it morphed into a thoughtful look, hand coming up to absently stroke his mustache. “Though...if what I saw was..well, actually what I saw, then I have questions and curiosities regarding it.”

Fane’s expression went deadpan as he stared at the other, the golden light in his eyes all but extinguished as he turned on his heel to go the other way. Solas blinked a bit, even as his eyes followed the dragon’s retreating form.

He disengaged. Solas thought with certainty and familiarity. Unsurprising, but still worrying. He only resorts to that level of disregard when he is hiding something.  

His eyes never left Fane’s stalking form, noticing how his brows were furrowed deeply, but could see one of them twitching with nervous energy. Broad shoulders were raised much like a shield, narrow nostrils flared with attempts at dispelling whatever heat had invaded a snowy disposition, partially gloved hands flexed, tendons underneath leather bindings apparent from how much force was behind its pull.

And golden emerald eyes were now fighting for dominance - dancing and bashing against each other as abilities that had laid dormant for too long began to try and enable themselves in an attempt to mitigate the, no doubt, myriad of emotions coursing through a draconic mind. 

Solas felt his concern towards the ancient man mount at all those observations, but also, he felt slightly exasperated. The latter was only because he knew this strategy of deflection that Fane always used as his Queen upon the chessboard of his mental battles. He bounced, side stepped, and outright threw a verbal wall up when he did not wish to cross a specific square. It wasn’t that Fane was lying out of malicious means; he was doing it to protect himself and others. But Solas knew it only caused more harm, more warped perceptions.

It hurt Fane, and he knew all too well how much it hurt to keep the truth hidden, even if it was necessary for the long run.

That is the secondary explanation for this flight. Solas mused silently, eyes never leaving the dragon’s form despite his long strides. Whatever has happened puts his mask in jeopardy.  

So lost in his own thoughts and the duel of veridium, Solas didn’t notice how Dorian broke out of his look of repose as he noticed the other striding away with purposeful steps.

“Where are you going?”, Dorian called after the white hair elf, but not making an effort to chase after him with how far the other had already gotten from him.

“To beat the shit out of a dummy before I beat you.”, Solas heard Fane growl out lowly, dangerously, and for a moment, he easily caught the flickering of his eyes as they met with his own. He met that gaze with ease, reading them as no other could. The message they conveyed had him instantly seeking more as the shifting of deep emerald had his eyes narrowing in concern.

“What happened?”, Solas mouthed to Fane as he was unable to communicate precisely how the other did without it being perceived incorrectly. He noticed how the man had slowed to keep their gazes longer. There was such volume in them that Solas nearly wanted to tear his own away, but also delve deeper like he thristed for their color bound words, their fathomless depths amid a thin world.

Fane’s eyes flitted to the door that led to the balcony the Enchanter always occupied, and then down, to signify he was taking the adjacent stairwell from there to bypass the Great Hall before he disappeared from the edge of the railing, the sound of door slamming issuing his complete departure. 

Solas let out a quiet sigh before nodding, pushing himself up with his arms to stand straight. Well, it would appear he was most certainly not getting an ounce of work done today, and oddly, he was okay with that since concern was overriding his need for magical answers.

There were other, more pressing, questions that needed attending to.

***

[four-loose-screws]

FE8 Novelization Translation - Chapter 10, Section 2

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I call this a “section” because it is not a separate part of the chapter in the book, but divided from the rest of the chapter by a scene break.

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Chapter 10: The Secluded Sage (con’t)

Everyone pulled out torches from within the convoy.

Because they did not want to have too much luggage, they’d prepared as few supplies as possible. Their thought was that it would be best to stock up on what they lacked in towns along the way, but that plan had now backfired.

Still, a little was better than nothing. A few soldiers grabbed the torches they had, and were tasked with maintaining a consistent field of vision.

The dim light shone throughout the fort and revealed the disgusting sight of vines snaking up its crumbling walls.

‘If only we had just a few more torches….’ As if someone had read Eirika’s thoughts, a bright light suddenly shone from behind her.

She whirled around in surprise, and was blinded. When she raised a hand over her eyes, she was able to confirm that the light was shining from the tip of Natasha’s staff.

“I apologize for surprising you…”

“Natasha, what is that staff…?”

“I thought maybe it might be helpful… Um, is it perhaps bothering you?”

“No, on the contrary, it’s very useful!”

It was a much appreciated staff that made up completely for their lack of torches. Because Natasha couldn’t go out on the front, it was decided that she would light up the rear line, and the army ventured inside of the fort.

The inside looked exactly as they’d predicted. While it had been originally built to fight against monsters, ironically, now it was a monster den.

Ewan darted around while shouting, “Whoa… it wasn’t like this in here when I explored it at all! It was totally empty and abandoned… How could this have happened in so little time!?”

“Ewan!” Tethys had heard what he was saying and ran up to him. She looked terrified, and grabbed his arm. “What are you doing!? You know it's dangerous to be out this far on the front, right!? Stay with me on the rear line…"

"I’m going to fight! I want to show everyone the magic my teacher taught me!”

“You can’t! It’s still too dangerous!”

“No it’s not! Just watch me, Big Sister!”

“Can’t you hear what I’m telling you? When did you turn into such a bad child? If anything ever happened to you, I…”

Tethys buried her face in her hands, and her shoulders started shaking. Any observer would know that she was faking it, but Ewan took her very seriously. 

He was horrified, and hugged her tightly. “I’m sorry, Big Sister! I understand. I’ll do as you say. I’ll stay on the rear line with you.”

Ewan guarded Tethys, who was still pretending to cry, as they retreated to the rear line.

Eirika was surprised at this unexpected side of Tethys. When she was with Gerik, she seemed so carefree. She didn’t seem like the type to be so concerned about family, but she completely spoiled her little brother.

Gerik saw her expression, and laughed. “You look surprised. Didn’t think she was so kind… did ya?”

“No, that’s not it…”

“You don’t have to be polite. I was taken aback the first time I saw her like this, too. It felt like the woman I’d seen dancing at the bar was a different person. It seems that they lost both of their parents very suddenly, and were living all on their own. Ewan’s all the family she has left.”

“Really?”

The young sister and brother, surviving by protecting one another, had no doubt struggled through a lot together. She must have worked so hard to develop her exceptional dancing skills so that she could raise him. And perhaps he’d decided to study magic at such a young age because he wanted, from the very bottom of his heart, to help out his sister however he could.

Eirika was silent, so Gerik worriedly whispered to her, “Hey, don’t look so sad! Tethys’ll rip me a new one if she figures out that I blabbed about her tragic past! She hates it most of all when people pity her.”

“I understand. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear anything.”

The battle had already begun on the front line. The nauseating and rotten smell of the monsters was all around them, and the monsters’ shrieking cries of death pierced their ears. Eirika and Gerik both withdrew their swords and started slicing up the monsters coming towards them.

The group nesting here at this fort was far stronger than that in the Za’ha Forest. 

This time, even Gargoyles, a pure black, winged creature, was among them. They wielded iron weapons likely stolen from people they’d previously fought with, and attacked at terrifying speeds. 

As Eirika had expected, both Lute and Artur played a huge role in this battle. They rushed around to back up all the soldiers who were having difficulty fighting. The effects of Artur’s light magic were particularly great. He defeated almost all of the monsters he fought with one spell.

“Lady Eirika, I have troubling news!” Franz, who'd been fighting on the front line, rushed up to her in a panic. 

'No… is someone injured?' Eirika wondered, but that was not it.

“There appear to be people inside of this building!”

“People…?”

"Yes. They are blocked off from us by monsters and we cannot get close, but we can hear their voices. They seem to be travelers who lost their way and were then attacked...”

"Understood. Let's make saving them our top priority."

When Eirika went in the direction Franz had told her, she also heard voices.

"Aaaaargh! There's no end to these monsters! What in the world happened to this fort!?"

“Please rest, Lady L’Arachel! I’ll take care of them from here!”

“No, Dozla. I will not be the only one to save myself from this danger! This is yet another trial sent to me by the gods!”

The voices were ones that Eirika did not expect, but remembered hearing before, causing her to stop in her tracks.

They belonged to a very odd lady and her retainer.

‘That’s right, she said she was going to take the land route to Rausten.’ She must have chosen to take the same route through the mountains as Eirika’s army.

L’Arachel sounded annoyed, but also like she still had strength to spare. Eirika and her army followed their voices as they cut down the monsters.

L’Arachel and Dozla were fighting in a small room, though it was more accurate to say that Dozla was the only one in direct combat with the monsters. L’Arachel rushed around behind him, waving her staff around. She seemed to be the same as Natasha, a healer who only knew how to wield staves.

They were one person short, so Eirika couldn’t help but wonder if Rennac had been killed. This made her even more worried, and she shouted out, “Miss L’Arachel! Are you alright!?”

“Oh my, that voice…? Aren’t you the person from the other day? So we meet again! We seem to be bound by fate!”

“Please retreat to a safe place! We’ll take it from here…!”

“Oh, you have no reason to be that worried! We are still on our journey to cast judgement upon all monsters! This lot is no trouble at all! Now see how magnificently we fight!”

“Miss L’Arachel, there are injured people on the rear line. If possible, I’d like you to please use your staff to heal them. They need you.”

Eirika’s plea immediately got through to L’Arachel. She cheered up and rushed straight to the back line, allowing Eirika to fight without worry.

L’Arachel’s companion Dozla was exactly as strong as one would imagine he was at the sight of his hulking body. He swung around a huge battle axe that any normal person would have trouble lifting with ease, and sliced through each and every monster with all his strength. He could even shrug off minor attacks with his muscles of steel, and took little damage from them. He was truly a warrior to be feared. 

The fog slowly thinned out as they fought, so the battle did not go on for long.

L’Arachel played a huge role in caring for the injured. She was a bit rough compared to Natasha, and even yelled at them a few times, but aside from that, her healing abilities were the real deal.

When the battle was over, Eirika sheathed her sword and called over to L’Arachel. “Thank you, Miss L’Arachel.”

“You can just call me L’Arachel… Um…” She tried to call Eirika by name, but cut her words short and tilted her head to the side. “Oh dear, now that I think about it, I haven’t asked you for your name yet. What is it?”

Eirika laughed. It already seemed like L’Arachel was an acquaintance, so it was strange that she didn’t even know her name yet. 

In a case like this, Eirika always used the alias “Eilis the Mercenary,” but she didn’t want to lie to these two, so she didn’t feel the need to do that. “My name is Eirika.”

Seth looked like he wanted to say something, but Eirika cut him off. “It’s okay, Seth. These two aren’t bad people. I don’t think we have to hide anything from them.”

L’Arachel stared straight at Eirika for a moment, then whispered, “I’ve been told that the princess of Renais’ name is Eirika! And that after the palace fell, she fled to Frelia, has been fighting ever since, and…”

“Yes. That is me.”

“Oh my, you’re the princess of Renais!? That is only logical. I knew all along that you were someone very refined. Didn’t you think so too, Dozla?”

“I did indeed think the exact same thing, Lady L’Arachel!”

“It is an honor to meet you! When I heard of another princess like I, traveling to each country while battling the evil rampaging the world, I wanted to meet her at least once!” L’Arachel took Eirika’s hands in her own, and squeezed them tightly.

“N-Not at all. I didn’t necessarily start traveling for that reason…”

“And we even got lost on the same rugged mountain, bringing us even closer together!"

It seemed that L'Arachel hadn't planned to climb the mountain, rather, she'd simply gotten lost. No ordinary person would climb such a steep mountain simply because they'd gone the wrong way.

"No, we didn't get lost. Actually…"

Eirika told her everything that had happened since they split up in Carcino, including Carcino’s betrayal, Pablo's surprise attack, the battle at the previous fort, and the village Ewan had told them about, Caer Pelyn. 

L'Arachel was deeply interested in the story from start to finish, and when Eirika was done talking, she said with conviction, "We were guided to meet here by fate! Please let us go with you, Eirika."

"Huh…?" Eirika had no idea what to say to the enthusiastic L'Arachel, and simply stared at her.

She'd seen L'Arachel and Dozla's abilities in action firsthand during the last battle, leading Eirika to very much want them to lend her their strength. However, they had no connection to neither Renais nor Frelia, and did not seem to be victims of Grado's violence, either. They were different from Eirika and her army, and had no reason to go on a dangerous journey.

L'Arachel noticed Eirika’s sigh, then pleaded passionately, "Please consider it! We're on completely different journeys, yet have met three times already! It is no coincidence! It is our fate to fight together!"

 “But as I just explained to you, Miss L’Arachel, we are being pursued by both the Grado Army, and now Pablo’s men. If you travel with us, I can’t even imagine just how much danger you’ll be put in…”

“Ha, do you think I fear danger? Since the day I decided to devote myself to the extermination of all monsters, I have been ready for anything! No matter how dangerous it is, everything is a trial sent to me by the gods. Helping you is a duty they have bestowed upon me!”

“I… I see…” 

As someone who was not a very devout religious believer, she couldn’t understand what L’Arachel’s excitement was about at all, but it moved Dozla to tears, which he wiped away with his giant fists.

And that is how it was decided that L’Arachel and Dozla would travel with Eirika’s army.

Eirika then asked about something that had concerned her since she first saw them in the fort.

“There was someone else traveling with you, correct? I believe you called him Rennac…”

“Yes. We lost him.” L’Arachel shook her head in disappointment. “He has no sense of direction, so he must have gone down the wrong path. It’s such a shame…”

She was completely blind to the fact that she herself had gotten lost. But knowing that he hadn’t been killed by a monster gave Eirika a sense of relief. “I hope you’ll be able to meet back up with him soon.”

“I really hope so too! It’s very inconvenient not to have him with us. He may be lazy, but because he’s greedy, if there’s a reward in it for him, then he’s excited to do anything. He’s as adept with his hands and as cunning as a thief, so he’s been very helpful to me…”

L’Arachel clearly had no qualms about speaking her mind. Although Eirika felt bad for Rennac, she didn’t feel that L’Arachel meant any harm, so it made her smile. “How do you three all know each other? Dozla seems to be devoted to serving you, but…”

“Yes, you are right. I am actually…”

“Lady L’Arachel!” Dozla placed one of his short fingers on his lips, signaling to her not to tell.

“But I’ve already become allies with Eirika! She is a kindred spirit, fighting to rid the world of evil, and bring peace! I’m sure everything will be fine if I tell her…”

“Do you forget what the bard Saga said? According to him…” Dozla whispered something in her ear.

L’Arachel nodded deeply in agreement. “You’re right. The truth is a secret that I cannot speak of casually, even to my allies… And that is much sweeter in times such as these! Thank you for reminding me, Dozla!”

“‘Tis nothing, Milady!”

“And that’s the situation, Eirika. I am an envoy of justice sent by the gods to exterminate evil, Dozla is my faithful servant, and.... Rennac is a lazy, greedy employee of mine… please accept that for now.”

“I will… I suppose…” She was probably in a position where she did not want to tell anyone. Eirika decided not to question L’Arachel any further.

-

Eirika’s army quickly left the fort, and headed for the sage Saleh’s house.

The remaining path was as steep as it had been the entire way up, but the fog had cleared. They no longer had to worry about not knowing what might be under their feet, so they were able to climb faster than before.

They arrived at Ewan's teacher's house before sunset. It was a simple house hidden among the trees on the mountainside.

Ewan ran in excitedly and slammed the door open without knocking. “Good afternoon, Teacher!” He seemed to always be this energetic, no matter the situation. However, no one answered.

Eirika peeked in from behind him. The only furniture inside was a small desk and a bed. His teacher seemed to live a simple life.

And, as far as she could tell, he had left without locking the door. It was unlikely that any thieves were ever in the area, and even if a bandit did get in, there wasn't a single thing they could take, so there was really no need to do so.

Ewan turned around with a disappointed look on his face. "I think he's out."

"Perhaps he's close by? We can wait here, in case he might come back soon…"

"Hmmmmm… I dunno. He travels a lot."

"He travels a lot!?" Colm exclaimed so loudly that his voice echoed through the house. He continued on, shouting at Ewan, who drooped his head, “We worked our butts off climbing all the way up here, and he’s out on a trip!? Give me a break! You can lead us the rest of the way on your own, right!?”

“I do know the road, but… I won’t be able to convince the people of the village on my own…”

“So we won’t be able to get through to them? Then what are we gonna do? Come back the way we came?”

“I’m sorry…”

“You sure talked big, but you just made a fool of us all! Seriously, after all this, he’s not here…!?”

“Colm!” Neimi nudged him.

While it got him to stop yelling, he still looked very displeased.

Ewan was so sad and dejected that it was nearly impossible not to feel pity for him.

Tethys said kindly to Colm, “I’m so sorry. He was just trying his hardest to help everyone… He’s always been treated like a child, so he wanted to do something all by himself, but instead, he made things more difficult for everyone. I don’t know what to say…”

“No… it’s okay. I didn’t really mean to attack him… Not even a little! I swear! I-I mean, it’s nice to go mountain climbing every once in a while, right?” When the bewitching Tethys apologized to him, Colm completely lost the last of his composure, even forcing a smile that was entirely unlike him.

Neimi still looked sad, so she didn’t seem to notice at all.

Eirika comforted the disheartened Ewan. “It’s too bad, but there’s nothing we can do about it. It wasn’t your fault, so please don’t look so sad. For now, let’s talk to everyone about what we’re going to do next…”

He looked up at her, tears in his eyes. But when his eyes darted past her, he gasped. “Teacher! Yay, you came back!”

“I told you not to come here, remember? I’m usually out.” A man appeared and scolded him in a harsh tone.

Eirika turned around and was so surprised that she couldn’t respond immediately, because she had seen Ewan’s teacher before.

The man did not notice her, instead trying to go around Ewan and enter his house. “I will leave again soon. If you want to master magic, then please find another teacher.”

“Um…”

When Eirika started to talk to him, he turned around with a stern look still on his face. He seemed to remember her as well, as he looked like he was trying to remember something.

“We met before. In the border town Serafew… You were looking for a lost child, if I remember correctly.”

“Yes.”

He seemed to remember now, as he was nodding his head. She wanted to ask him if he’d found the child, but he didn’t seem to be in the mood for casual conversation. 

He was probably still very young, but had a calm composure that did not fit someone of that age. To Eirika’s eyes, used to seeing unusual mages like Lute, he seemed to have a much more mysterious aura, one that most anyone would expect from a mage.

‘So this is the sage Saleh.’ For Innes to have known his name, he must possess such great power that even Frelia’s spies could not ignore gathering intel on him.

But Ewan clung to his teacher. He completely disobeyed what Saleh had told him to do, and said in his same tone as always, “So, uh, um, Teacher! All of these people want to cross the mountain to reach the country on the other side. So I decided to take them to Caer Pelyn! I can get there okay on my own, but I think it would be even better if you were with us!”

Judging by how disappointed Ewan had been before, it hadn’t seemed that he was confident he would be able to guide them the rest of the way. But now, he sounded completely confident in himself. 

Eirika thought that Saleh’s response would confirm he was a grouchy person, but contrary to her expectations, he nodded immediately. “That should be fine. I was about to return there myself. You can all come with me.”

“Really? It’s okay!?” Ewan asked without thinking.

Saleh replied bluntly, “We do not aim to keep outsiders from getting in. People simply do not try to interact with us. However, the sun is already setting. Let’s rest here for the night, then depart once it is light out.”

“He’s right.” Innes nodded. “Everyone is tired. And if a large horde of monsters like the one we just fought appeared, then there would be nothing we could do. It would be best for us to rest and focus on keeping our morale up.”

Everyone followed his suggestion, and it was decided that the soldiers would camp around Saleh’s house for the night.

While the soldiers were setting up their tents, Ewan said, "Should I go ahead and explain everything to the elder? If we suddenly show up with a group this big, we'll probably surprise everyone in the village."

"But it's already getting dark, Ewan…” Eirika tried to stop him, however, the speedy boy had already run off. He turned around once, said, "I'll be fine!" with a wave, and soon disappeared between the trees.

"Grrr, he's so naughty.. !" Tethys was worried, and tried to run after him.

But Saleh said, "Ewan knows these roads very well. You should let him go."

Tethys still looked concerned, so Innes said, "It’s not that I don't understand how much he wants to help. He cannot fight so well on the battlefield yet, so he wants to make up for it in other ways."

Ewan had teased him the entire way up the mountain, putting him in a bad mood the whole time. For him to say that he understood how Ewan felt was unexpected.

But Eirika put herself in Prince Innes shoes and imagined how he felt. He was proud enough for two people, and hated losing. He probably hated the memories of whenever someone took him lightly as a child.

The soldiers had removed their armor, and quickly set up camp. Now, those on cooking duty were making a hot meal, and those who were hungry hovered around the pot. Their grueling climb up the mountain became a funny story, and the entire area was filled with cheerful laughter.

When it came time to sit in a circle around the campfire, as they always did after dinner, everyone was far too tired. They all decided to quickly retire for the night.

-

Eirika’s army set out early the next morning. At almost the exact moment that the sun began to rise, Saleh came out of his house, ready to start moving.

When he saw Eirika's army was still fast asleep, he frowned. The soldiers on guard duty all shook everyone awake in a panic. The commotion also caused Eirika, sleeping in the same tent as Tana, to awaken.

"Wow, mages sure get up really early. Oh, but Lute usually sleeps in. I guess that means there's mages of all types?" Tana grumbled, still sleepy. 

Because Saleh was the one who would guide them to their next destination, they had no choice but to go with him. Everyone was still rubbing sleep out of their eyes when they started following Saleh further up the mountain.

Before they had even made any progress, Colm suddenly yelled, "Hey, something's coming this way! But it's not a pegasus. Its wings sound much stronger than that."

Eirika looked up. She saw three shadows in the sky. "Are they…?"

The shadows gradually became larger and larger, until everyone could tell what they were.

Seth whispered, "Dragons! I can't believe it… They’re imperial dragon knights…”

The knights atop the dragons were undoubtedly dressed in the empire’s colors. They were both more powerful than pegasus knights, and harder to damage. It was likely that they had been flying around the area to search for Eirika’s army. 

They’d decided to climb the mountain to avoid any enemies, but had been found even in a place like this.

The group only seemed to consist of the three knights. No matter how strong they were, it was far too reckless for just three knights alone to take on Eirika’s entire army. It was too difficult for her to judge what their true intentions were, so all she could do was stare at them as they approached her.

The dragons quickly descended. Seth stood in front of Eirika to guard her.

The knight leading the other two jumped down from his mount, then glared at Seth with a stern look on his face.

He was a young man with bright blond hair and a strong, masculine face. 

The moment she could make out his face clearly, Eirika gasped. “General Glen? It is you, isn’t it!? Everyone, I’ve met him in the Grado capital before…!”

The young man nodded lightly, the stern expression still on his face.

She had met him before, however, it was only once during a trip to Grado’s capital city. He sometimes passed by when Eirika and Ephraim were chatting with Prince Lyon, but one day, Lyon called him over, and introduced him to the twins. 

-

Glen had a very serious personality, and it showed in his greeting to them. Ephraim tried to joke with him, but Glen, standing at attention, did not even smile. That amused Ephraim all the more, etching the event into Eirika's memory.

He wasn’t very sociable, but politely answered a few questions she had about dragons. His manner of speaking was very boorish, but within his voice seemed to be hiding a very kind personality, so Eirika liked him.

When Glen left, Lyon whispered a secret to Eirika and Ephraim. “He’s really strong, and works very hard. If I was as tough as him, I’m sure I would enjoy combat training too, but...”

-

When Eirika remembered how Lyon felt about his frail body, she still didn’t know what to say.

Ephraim’s teacher General Duessel had also considered Glen like a son, and praised him as one of the youths who were Grado’s future. At that time, Ephraim was bitter that General Duessel would tell him his spearmanship couldn’t yet compete with Glen’s, and declared Glen his rival. When Ephraim told them he would kill Glen one day in a fit of rage, both Lyon and Eirika found it amusing, and looked at each other and laughed.

When Ephraim said “kill,” he of course actually meant that he would defeat Glen in a duel with set rules. None of them thought that a day would ever come where they must go to war and divide people into allies and enemies.

The feelings of nostalgia were still warm in Eirika’s heart as she looked up at Glen. “I never thought I would meet you here like this...”

“I didn’t want our second meeting to be like this, either. However, His Majesty has ordered it. Eirika, for the crime of massacring Carcino citizens, I must punish you.”

“What…!?” The next words to come out of Glen’s mouth were the last she ever would have expected from him. “I massacred…? What do you mean, I…”

“If you can explain yourself, then I will listen. However, your actions were unjustifiably cruel. You suddenly attacked the port town of Kiris, and slaughtered a great number of the citizens who were desperately trying to escape. You and your army were supposed to be Frelia’s allies! How could you unleash such cruelty upon the people of Carcino, who trusted you!?”

Eirika stared at him, mouth wide open. She didn’t know how to respond to a story that was so completely different from the truth. And he was not making false accusations against her. He really seemed to believe that Eirika’s army had committed a massacre. His chiseled face was twisted in a look of anger and hatred.

The one who answered for the bewildered Eirika was Innes. He chuckled and said, “Don’t be stupid. I thought you were General Glen, one of Grado’s famed Three Imperial Generals. You cannot be this foolish.”

“...What?” Glen furrowed his eyebrows. 

Innes’ tone became even more and more scathing as he continued, “We were the ones betrayed by Carcino. They hired mercenaries to attack us, so we had no choice but to fight back. None of the ordinary citizens should have been harmed. Try investigating on your own before you open your mouth next time! How dare you say something so foolish as Eirika committing a massacre! This was all orchestrated by the Grado Empire, was it not?”

“What did you just say!?”

“Amazing! So you did really believe those idiotic lies! I'm amazed you managed to become one of the Three Imperial Generals…"

“Stop it, Innes!” Eirika finally regained her ability to speak, and scolded him for provoking Glen. She then looked back at Glen, who seemed to be understandably offended. “Sir Glen, what Prince Innes just said is correct. We did not harm the villagers. But if you believe the emperor’s words over ours, then there is nothing we can do. I don’t want to fight because of a misunderstanding like this, however…”

Confusion appeared in Glen’s eyes. His intent to fight vanished entirely, and he became lost in thought.

Eirika waited. Glen was a smart person. She believed that he would surely reconsider everything.

Finally, he opened his mouth. His voice was much softer now. “I understand. You’re right. I don’t know anything about the damage in Carcino. I will come again after I have confirmed what happened. If what you are saying is correct… then what His Majesty told me is a lie. I must ask him what his true motives are.”

“So you believe us?” Eirika breathed a sigh of relief.

Glen looked at her again. He still had a harsh look on his face, but the anger he’d originally showed was gone. “No, this doesn’t mean I believe you. I will simply withhold judgement until I can confirm the truth. If I find out that what you told me is the lie, then prepare yourselves.”

“We will.”

“Sorry for bothering you.” Glen climbed back atop his dragon. 

The other two dragons following behind him also softly spread their wings and flew upwards. Their powerful wings sliced through the sky, and in the blink of an eye, they became tiny specks.

“I can’t believe the emperor would tell such a lie…”

Eirika heard a voice say from beside her. She looked to see who it was, and saw Amelia staring up at the dragons. On her innocent face was an expression full of regret. “Maybe… Pablo was the one who spread the lie, and tricked His Majesty… Yeah! I’m sure that’s what happened!” Amelia said to convince herself, then nodded.

Seeing Amelia like this hurt Eirika’s heart. She may be a member of their army, but she was originally from Grado. Her respect for the emperor was likely to still be very strong. Eirika understood her desire to think there was some sort of misunderstanding.

But Eirika was sure that this wasn’t some plot of Pablo’s, but a path the emperor had chosen for himself. He was the one who’d ordered the sudden invasion of Renais. No matter how horrible his methods became, nothing would surprise Eirika any more.

“Amelia, this actually gives me a sense of relief.” Eirika said.

Amelia looked at her with her mouth wide open. “What… do you mean?”

“General Glen said that he was going to go confirm the truth. So long as there are people like him, then there’s still a possibility that we can talk this through. There’s also the rumor going around that General Duessel is against this war, correct? They’re both central figures to the empire, so everything can still be okay.”

Because the emperor had planned his strategy poorly, he may have actually dug his own grave. Anyone who investigated into the truth could quickly figure out that Eirika and her army had not committed a massacre. Glen was unlikely to trust an emperor that lied to him. If they were able to convince someone like him, who had such a huge influence over the military, there was even a chance that it would mean the beginning of the end of the war.

Amelia’s expression also brightened.

And so, Eirika’s army continued to follow Saleh, beginning to walk even higher up the mountain.

[grabtherain]

Zach Stone's Last Laugh Pt. 3

It had been a few days before either young adult found the courage to text the other, not that they were worried of texting too soon, but more worried about the awkwardness that was the two of them. While Genesis waited for either of them to grow some balls... she decided to watch a different showing of 'What'- you know what you do when you wanna relive the best moments. Thankfully, they released a version of 'What.' onto Netflix that she could watch five times a day for the rest of the week. She tended to hyperfixate sometimes.

"Popcorn. Blanket and-" Genesis jumped at the sound of her phone dinging from the couch, interrupting her listing off of 'essentials' she needed for her third viewing today. She grumbled incoherently under her breath as she made her way to her phone and grabbed it off the soft cushions of the love seat. Her phone automatically unlocked with the view of her face and she tapped into the message notification. "Hey Genesis, I'm in the city again today and was wondering if you wanted to meet up for that coffee." She read out loud in utter confusion- her face even scrunched as she continued to ignore the name of the messenger. "Who the-" Zach Stone idiot. "Holy shit!" She yelled as she almost dropped her phone from how stupid she felt. Gathering herself as quickly as she could since she knew her read receipts were on- she typed up a response she believed wasn't too eager but showed enough interest.

Genesis: 'Hey Zach! Yeah sure, my schedules all free today so I'm totally down to meet.'

As she reread the message she had sent, Genesis felt the need to facepalm herself, realizing she didn't bring up any location.

Genesis: 'There's a little coffee shop in the mid city know about. Want me to send the address?'

If Genesis was any younger, she would be worried about double texting- but even back then she didn't mind it. Hell that's how her brain worked most of the time. In short spirts, one after the other. Like these sentences.

Either way, she quickly tossed her phone down back on the couch so she could get back to what she was doing previously. Totally ignoring the fact that she might have to get ready to meet Zach, she didn't want to totally jinx the situation by putting too much thought into it- so with her text sent, she settled down into her maroon love seat and clicked play.

She was about 20 minutes into the show when it seemed that everyone in her contacts wanted to say hi. Harini was now texting her about how the meeting with Zach went, and it felt odd reading 'Bo Burnham' and knowing his real name was Zach. It wasn't unusual for her to meet people with stage names, though less common in Hollywood, she never got quite use to it when meeting music artist and now Zach. Peaking up around 10 minutes later, there was Zach on her flat screen TV, pretending to jerk off. DING. Quickly glancing down, it seemed that the same Zach decided to respond to her messages at the exact same time as well. She puffed air into her upper lip in total restraint, "You're a 24 year old professional actor Yiles- this isn't." She burst into laughter at her own self talk, covering her mouth as she doubled over. If anyone were to be watching her right now, somehow in her house, they would be thinking she was the crazy one. She was crying as she panted out, typing out the ironic situation to Harini- knowing the other would respond about how immature Genesis was. She could care less a this very moment. "Lord-" She giggled as she shakily wiped her tears, also tapping onto Zach's contact so she could tearfully read the message.

Zach: 'Sure. I can meet you before my next show tonight. See you at 2:30?'

Genesis: 'See you then!'

She was surprised she didn't have any spelling errors, since she at the same time was doing breathing exercises out of her nose. "Get a grip Gene." She groaned out loud as she stood up, playfully glaring at her TV like it was the reason she had terrible humor. "I'll get you back some day." She laughed softly again as she then strutted up the stairs and to her bedroom to get ready. As Genesis made her way up, she clicked her phone on to check the time- noting that she only had 4 hours to get ready, in her mind not enough time.

"Don't worry Genesis, you've got this."

Zach on the other hand, did not have this.

This had probably been the worst morning he had had, in a while. Besides the fact that he had another terrible panic attack after the show last night, he had found out that Amy- his girlfriend, wanted to breakup their long distance relationship. Amy was the only thing that kept him going these days, besides his dreams of fame coming true, she kept him from total insanity.

"What are you talking about Amy!? I think about you everyday, you can't just assume that I don't love you anymore..." Zach yelled into his cell phone that was held against his ear. He had locked himself into his hotel room when Amy's caller ID popped up onto his phone, considering the fact they haven't been able to call the last few nights. "Is this really about me or did you-" he paused, scared of his own words, "find someone else?" It was an old fear he had, that had kind of dissipated the longer they stayed together, but Zach would always be Zach.

"Oh shut up Zach! You've been saying that to me even before I left to work in Washington. When in reality, you have been looking at other girls since before I left for college." Amy said sternly back, since she never yelled, but it was even more deadly and scary. Confusion ran across Zach's face.

"What the hell are you-"

"You think I didn't watch the videos you made during the summer before college? Zach. Netflix made a whole documentary out of it!" Zach stayed silent, and it seemed that Amy took it as an opportunity to keep going. "Labeling me as the back up option for Christy... ignoring me when other girls were around, and now you're meeting famous actresses after your show-"

"Actresses?" Zach questioned the accusation, before slowly connecting the dots in his totally clouded brain. "Are you talking about Genesis Yiles? Amy, we met to talk strictly business." He explained simply, in the back of his mind thinking about how 'Amy simply didn't get how being famous worked'. Thoughts he had pushed down for years.

"That's the only thing you picked out of that entire thing Zach? Really? You have no excuse for anything else?" Amy was giving him the opportunity to explain the harsh words he used against her, words that simply objectified her in his own world, and made her seem like just another factor in him becoming famous. He didn't take the chance...he didn't know how. "This is why I'm breaking up with you." She whispered after a few moments of total silence from the other end of the line, "I wish you the best of luck Zach Stone." She finished choked sobs as she hung up. She sobbed into the heels of her palms, her roommate beside her gently rubbing her back in reassurance.

Zach on the other hand was alone, just like he was when he started this journey of fame. Though people always had surrounded him, seemingly with love and kindness, in Zach's mind he was lonely. Kind words meant nothing to him in the past if they hadn't been caught on camera, and now kind words meant nothing if you weren't a fan or agent. He was never able to fully change, only realize that fame wasn't what he thought. It was terrifying, made him shiver, and cry sometimes- but it still gave him the attention he believed he deserved all along. He had built his whole career off shock value, the people he met, and most importantly- his own self doubt, so he couldn't understand why Amy had to be so selfish. Yeah that's what she was, selfish. Not him. Her.

Zach now had to look through his closest for clothes that said, 'hey gorgeous actress, I am single.' At least that's what his brain told him to wear, in reality he didn't want to even go out anymore, but this was for economic gain. If Genesis could get him into a movie with her or even allow him to write jokes about her, then he could grow in popularity in seconds. "Snap out of it Zach." It was small trigger in his mind that slowly made his eyes open to the real situation. He was meeting another human to get coffee and talk work, he needed to remember who she was.

That night that they had met, Zach though not in the best mood, had a strong feeling that him and Genesis could be good friends. Not just business friends as she, he assumed, suggested without putting too much thought into- but more like actual friends. Something he needed. She could tell he was practically dying on stage, it would be safe to assume that the women could also tell that Zach at the time wasn't very enthusiastic about a random meet up- and he found that refreshing. Someone who could not only read his emotions but accommodate to them seemed perfect to befriend. "Think casual but you," He mumbled to himself as he pulled out black jeans and a plain maroon t-shirt. Sighing, he set the clothes on his hotel bed and gripped his unlocked phone tightly in his hand, looking down at it with curiosity. "Is it weird to google her-" he thought out loud and practically slapped himself at how bad that sounded. However, he would open safari and look up the young stars name anyway. He knew the basics of who she was and all the amazing films Genesis had acted in, what he didn't know was the things she was doing outside of film. Donating and advocating for women and different bodies specifically, he found it cool that she stuck within things she would most likely experience daily with her work- noticing how she didn't talk over voices but instead...amplify them. Scrolling through her twitter, it was pretty simple while her instagram contained the usual winter photo and aesthetic undertones. She was a mix of everything, he didn't know if he could technically write any good jokes about her- "stop!" He yelled inside his own head, realizing he was dipping back into that mindset he snapped out of a couple minutes ago.

"God, I need to stop being weird and just get dressed." He whispered as he placed his phone on the bedside dresser, he slipped his old clothes off and got the new ones on. Plain and simple like he was. A pop of color, which psychologist might point out to be Zach's true self- but Zach would say was to make sure he didn't look too unapproachable.

With that he sat around for another hour before being able to walk to the coffee shop Genesis had sent him, pushing away the nerves that bundled inside him as he closed his hotel room door. Of course after hearing the door click, Zach would rummage his pockets to make sure he had his key and his wallet- thanking God (or cheez-its) that they were in his back pocket. He guessed he had worked on auto-pilot, grabbing his wallet and stuffing it in his back pocket as he hurriedly had left the room. With such reassurance, he was able to calmly walk to his destination, the cold brisk air that filled New York City making his cheeks red and his nose even redder. Zach was sure at some point he would get wind burn, but he would never bring it up to anyone living here because being pestered about it would annoy him to death. The other person would think they are so funny when in reality they are suffering from state form of patriotism that made them ignorant to the world around them. His head would raise in resistance to the wind to glance at the store signs, his eyes squinting to focus in on them to make sure he wasn't passing by the small shop. "There it is." He thought as he quickly made his way to the door, one hand that was deeply tucked into his coat- coming out to grip the long handle and pull the door open easily. Hearing that sweet bell jingle instantly locked him in on the mom and pop style shop, grinning as he allowed the door close behind him.

"Welcome in! Sit anywhere you'd like young man." One of the baristas behind the counter called out, Zach could tell they had been working there for a long time- noting the worn down expression on their face. Zach simply nodded in acknowledgment and looked around the shop for the dark haired women he was meeting.

"Zach-" He heard a short, whisper call out from behind him- causing him to snap his head in that direction. It caught sight of Genesis, wearing a simple black turtle neck, long sleeve- paired with black jeans that fit nicer than Zach's own. He grinned in admiration as he stayed in his place, his body reacting to the call out in a small wave he would other wise be embarrassed of, but Genesis wave back and giggle after- made it seem worth it.

[poorly-drawn-akira]

Jojo’s Bizarre Fantasy Lore Masterpost

Locations:

Kimyonah- Name of the Pangea-esque continent where the majority of people live excluding small island populations and populations beneath the oceans. Cities: Bohken- A relatively centrally located city-state. A central hub for trading of all kinds and neutral ground for diplomatic meetings. It hosts the Council of Races, a collection of representatives from a handful of Kimyonah's races who wish to view policies as a collaborative effort.

Orinoco- An underwater city of the Moringua people. Their ruling city. It is the only settlement of the Moringua Empire that is partially above water. This part is the hall where the king receives foreign dignitaries, diplomats, guests, etc. Nalion- A small, peaceful kingdom open to all, regardless of past or race.  Was founded by a man named Erikson, but is currently lead by his son.  Though officially labeled as a kingdom, Nalion functions more like a closely knit town. Its western border is lined by the coast, and its northern, southern, and eastern borders are lined by forest. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux) Vyliesi- A western kingdom that is mainly populated by humans.  It's customs are fairly old-fashioned, though the current king is trying to change this.  It is said that this land is home to pegasi, and its terrain is fairly mountainous. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux) Hilonia- A desert kingdom that not much is known about. It is said that the inhabitants are all 'wild animals', and most who try and travel there never return for one reason or another. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux) Ashen Grounds- A medium sized, recently discovered place that resides within a decrepit forest. The kingdom got that name because when it was discovered, the whole chunk of it had seemingly no live fauna, making it hard to breath, the ground permanently stained with ash, there are barely any buildings except for the jagged pikes of stone, and large castle of obsidian. The only “living” things inhabiting there are the king himself and these sentient constructs made out of ash and fire magic. (by kalos-absurd-crusade)

Riposo:  A fortress city that was originally used as a strategic point to intercept other nation invasions.. Now though it houses many adventures and their respective guilds.  A place that is always bustling with people with requests for adventurers.  With requests being as simple as gathering herbs, to battling the most fearsome of monsters. (by asknerdizzy)

Cielo:  A city in the clouds that is mostly populated by avian like species.  It is a city that rarely ever lets anyone enter.  The residents who choose to leave can’t enter again unless on urgent business with a seal of approval from a ruler.  This is all due to a massacre that happened when someone brought in an unknown individual who seemed to know the city’s layout beforehand without them ever entering it.  It was suspected that one of their own was behind it, so this rule was set in place.   It’s highly guarded, with mages working around the clock casting anti-intelligence magic.  The city is filled with high class individuals, and relics of the Gods that most be protected at all costs. (by asknerdizzy)

Villages: Morven- A small village located in the Kaldae Mountains inhabited by humans. Winters can be rough, but it is sustained by snow runoff in the warmer months, which allows the villagers to store enough food for these winters. Due to it's isolation, they rarely trade. Malik-Kei is worshiped as a guardian of the village who protects it’s inhabitants through the tough winters. A shrine to her resides on the south side of the village. It houses her stone.

Aether- Tree bound village of the Gruidae people. Due to a near genocide that only halted 30 years ago, Aether was established as a magically protected city for Gruidaes.The main temple of Crah-Dia is located in it’s center, and there are several members of the Fellowship of Everyday Miracles who live within Aether who serve to protect it. Wasamond-  A small village under the lake of Bridgegar Thicket for merfolk, it's mainly women and children but there are mermen. It's a place to avoid the unstable conflict of the seas. (by moriohs-little-demon) Rootwood- A small village built and inhabited by the Elzen people. (by dio-of-shadows)

Landmarks: Kaldae Mountains- A large mountain rage in the north-east of Kimyonah. It contains the isolated village of Morven. Morven is located on one of the lower peaks, Malik-Kei, named by the people of Morven for their guardian spirit of the same name. Bridgegar Thicket- A forest with a large lake in the middle. The forest is bordered by nigh impenetrable thick, thorny brush. Due to being unable to see past it, most creatures write the forest off as nothing of value. Openings to the forest are only passable by taurfolk and nature spirits. (by moriohs-little-demon) Thalai's Grove: named after a rumored dragon that was laid to rest there, the grove is home to a large lake with an under ground cave system. In the caves, there is a shrine to the god of health, Taymos, where Elves would pray for good health and leave gifts of food, wine and gold. (by hold-my-flowercrown) Eternity Graveyard - A desolate wasteland was a battlefield where warriors from several different nations clashed for supremacy. It now serves as the home base of The Brotherhood of Eternity, and has been the sight where many adventurers meet their end. (by dio-of-shadows)

Battaglia:  An underground  Coliseum lays under the city of Riposo.   It was once, and still is, used as a shelter to the people in times when the city is under siege.  The Coliseum itself is protected with many Magic runes lining its walls that makes it difficult to destroy from most magic.  When the city is not under attack the Colosseum is used to advertised adventures and their skills.  Usually battling other adventures or caught monsters in the ring.  Some common folk come down to watch the spars for entertainment, some watch to find new people to join their groups, and some bet on the battles.  These bets are what largely helps with the financial upkeep of the Colosseum.  The inner hallways of the Colosseum are filled with many stalls for blacksmiths to advertise their wears to the people. The more powerful weapons are bought here. (by asknerdizzy)

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Races:

Humans: Humans are as the name implies. However, they can possess varying levels of magical ability. Witches- Humans who have above average magical abilities. White and black witches exist. White witches may form guilds in order to train others and to more effectively do good, but it's not uncommon to encounter lone white witches. Black witches tend to chose to be alone, although rumors of a guild exist. Black witches may not actively seek to do harm, but what sets them apart from white witches is a desire to grow their power whether that be through deals with demons, rituals, etc.

Half Bloods: Demons- Half demons are typically the result of a masculine demon and a feminine mortal creature (usually humanoid). Half demons tend to possess some level of dark magic and horns of some kind, although these horns tend to be smaller in size compared to a full demon. Other indications may include odd body markings, animal body parts such as legs or paws, and, very rarely, extra eyes or wings. Half-Demons are considered to be rare. They also often gather a following from cults, and they can become immortal and maintain this immortality if they consume the souls of the damned at an extremely high rate. (added by dio-of-the-shadows) Dragons-

Humanoids: Arisen- A blanket term for any creature brought back to life by necromancy. Typically, an Arisen was human, but most humanoids can be subjected to the process. An Arisen will maintain their personality and memories without additional spells being applied. An Arisen cannot heal themself when injured and has no need for sleep or for food. If an Arisen is taken too far from who resurrected them, they will begin to decay.  Their creation is frowned upon, if not outright banned and/or punishable by execution, by most settlements and races.

Gruidae- Tall humanoids who can take the form of a crane. In their humanoid form, they have small feathery tufts resembling small wings where other humanoids would have ears. Over the past few centuries, they were nearly wiped out entirely for their feathers and blood, both of which were widely used in potion crafting. The remaining population resides almost entirely in Aether, and allow themselves to be governed by the Council of Races, of which they have a member in. Whoever is elected for the Council also serves as Aether's governor. Akumaoni- A race that is considered to be the guardians of the afterlife.  They are humanoid in appearance, though they typically have horns, sharp teeth, and their pupils are always little more than a slit.  They are said to work beside the gods, and even are considered a part of the Renian Pantheon, and their numbers are few. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux) Komoriberi- Humanoids with the ability to transform into bats. While in humanoid form, they retain thier wings, fangs, and have bat-like ears. Their diet mainly consists of fruit and small animals, and though they are often mistaken for vampires the sun has no more affect on them than it does on a normal human. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux) Dragons- Humanoids that have the ability to transform into a... well a dragon.  The exact type of dragon can vary (as can size), and most have some sort of elemental affinity.  While in their humanoid form they will not have access to many of their abilities, though they will usually have horms and some may have wings as well. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux) Divine Dragons- Similar to dragons, but have an extended lifespan and divine powers as they are considered to be gods. It is possible for a dragon to only be half divine if only one of their parents is of the divine lineage, in which case they will have little divine powers if any at all. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux) Dryads- An all female species of spirits that reside in the forests. They punish trespassers and keep peace in their forest by any means necessary. While they aren't immortal, they do have a very extended life expectancy compared to humans, about triple that of the average healthy adult human male. (by moriohs-little-demon)

Angels:  A Humanoid race that has the only avian trait of wings sprouting on their backs.  They are more adapt with the magic affinity of light and fire than some species and have a longer life span than humans. (by asknerdizzy) Okami- A race of wolf folks. They keep themselves away in the woods and the outlands of the continent. Being canines, they are actually omnivorous, and hold no ill will towards other species. However, during full blood moons, they become irrational and feral, attacking anything in sight (by moriohs-little-demon) Werewolves- Infected creatures who take on the tails, ears, and rough warm furlike hair of the Okami. However, they keep most of their original race's appearance during the daytime. They experience feral instincts more often as they are not raised to overcome the animal instinct to hunt, happening every full moon. (by moriohs-little-demon)

Elves: Elzen- Elves recognizable by their pointed ears and mastery of magic. Once every 100 years there is an Elzen oracle who is able to look into the future. (by dio-of-the-shadows)

Merpeople: Moringua- An entirely male race of eel mermen who live in temperate oceans. They are immortal, but not invulnerable (weapons kill them, but time won't). They are known for their bloodthirsty, warmongering natures. Due to this, they are governed by both a King and a General. The General overseeing military plans, training of forces, and the overall making sure the other elected officials are doing their jobs. King serves to handle diplomatic affairs with other races and to oversee reproduction. Reproduction is a closely guarded secret. Several theories exist on the subject, but no definitive answers have been given by the Moringas.

---------------

Factions:

Paladins and Soldiers: Order of Hamon- A paladin order who work out of Bohken. They modeled themselves after folk heroes of human lore such as Jonathan Joestar. They resolve themselves to uphold the laws of the land and to protect innocents without question. This does lead to some of their members making lawful stupid choices. Their patron deity is Sol, the God of the sun.

White Lily Platoon- A small army hailing from Vyliesi, lead by the royal knight Sir Jacain.  The lord that this platoon serves is unknown, as is their current objective. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux)

The Bladed Roses- A small traveling group of do-gooders, lead by a knight named Taiana.  The group is quite odd-ball in terms of composition, but is almost always accepting new members. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux)

Clerics: The Fellowship of Everyday Miracles- A cleric order who's main temple is located in Aether. They travel about, healing people where needed. They will often stick around a town for a few weeks, accepting shelter and food in return for healing, before leaving again. Some may chose to travel with questing groups if they come across them, or if asked by said group. Their patron deity is Crah-Dia, the God of healing.

Assassins: Bloodwater Assassins guild- A small group of assassins that has been known to do even the dirtiest of jobs.  However, it is rumored that a few members have been committing traitorous actions as of late. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux) Bandits: The Brotherhood of Eternity- A cult of bandits that worship the one true ruler of hell and earth. They are known for stealing from various kingdoms and pitting other countries against one another so they can collect the spoils. (by dio-of-the-shadows)

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Deities:

Gods and Goddesses: Sol- The God of the sun. He is associated with the sun and shining light on hidden things. This last aspect is what the Order of Hamon focuses on: Bringing what is in the dark into the light. Certain mortals are said to be blessed by Sol, and this gift is known as Hamon: The ability to deliver the sun's energy through their hands. Taymos- A God of health. (by hold-my-flowercrown) Crah-Dia- A God of healing. He is associated with healing through magic as opposed to medicine. His temple is located inside of a large, hollow tree in Aether where a spring with healing properties resides. The World Serpent (Deceased)- A deity of the abyss of the unknowable night and proclaimed Father of monsters; this foul snake sought to swallow the world in order to propagate - claiming that in its bowels it’s followers would be eternal and emerge in the new world as saints. When slain by a band of unspoken heroes, this dark god cursed the cowards and weaklings who did not fall upon the invading blades to save their god and master. What has become of this cult remains mostly unknown… (by BD-Handystand) Renian Pantheon- A group made up of many of the Nalionian and Vyliesian gods, many of which are considered to be divine dragons.  The main gods names are as follows: Shoza, Naoto, Fionei, Kaisho, Aiota, Aogei, Juniji, Synia, Altitha, and Yomeinu. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux) Shoza- The original divine dragon, he is known as a god of the skies. However, he turned his back on mortals long ago, and now has little involvement in their affairs despite still being a major religious figure. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux) Hina (deceased)- A divine dragon known as the goddess of love, she gave her life to avert a great tragedy.  She was wed to Shoza, and many speculate that her death lead him to become bitter and cold. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux) Naoto- The son of Shoza and heir to the divine throne, though little is actually written of him in religious texts.  He is said to wield a divine lance, and to travel the world in an attempt to bring peace. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux)

Fionei- A dragon whom ascended to godhood upon marrying Naoto, and is said to bring good fortune to those who practice the arts. As she was not born a god, she has no true divine abilities. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux)

Kaisho- Son of Naoto who inherited all the powers of the divine.  He is a god of knowledge who is believed to have rejected godhood. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux)

Aiota- One of two twin gods, who is also the daughter of Naoto and considered the goddess of rebellion.  It is said that she only inherited one divine ability, but little else is known besides that and her name. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux)

Aogei- The other twin god, who is also the son of Naoto and considered a god of nature.  It is said he can heal others and control the growth of plants, but not much else besides that and his name is known. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux)

Juniji- A fell god said to be Shoza's brother. Supposedly had only one divine ability, and the power he gained from it drove him mad. Little else is known. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux)

Synia- An Akumaoni goddess who rules the afterlife, though she often more-so acts as the guardian to its gate.  Is said to take on a role similar to the Enma. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux)

Altitha- A human who ascended to become the goddess of strength and vengeance after losing someone to Juniji. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux) 

Yomeinu (deceased)- Former god with the power to raise the dead. His species was unknown, but many feared him due to his powers. In reality, he only ever used them to hold a yearly festival in which families could give their loved ones a final send off. (by daily-rubbersoul-redux) Mylia- A worshiped deity of the Dryad race. She is said to be the creator of the Bridgegar Thicket to protect the bounty of nature from the likes of war, pestilence, and death. When prayed to, one may expect health, luck, and bountiful hunt in their future, so long as they do not waste the gift life has brought them. (by moriohs-little-demon) Demons and Spirits: Cake- A minor demon of wrath. Malik-Kei- The alleged spirit of a young woman who died in the cold waiting for her fiance to return. According to the legend, her body turned to stone and her spirit remained as a guardian of the mountain. A sacrificial ceremony that involves a mock wedding to the Malik-Kei stone is preformed by the village of Morven during years of unsatisfactory snowfall. An unmarried man between 16 and 30 is chosen by lottery to be sacrificed. The "groom" is then dressed in traditional wedding garb (which is very light as weddings are traditionally done only in summer). The sacrifice is tied to the stone so that he is kneeling next to the stone, and a wedding ceremony is held. The sacrifice is then left out with the belief being that if he is frozen to death overnight that the sacrifice was accepted. Black Mages- Considered to be great wielders of magic in the mortal realm, and are extremely well known for diving into the darker arts. They are only known to be demons and half demons. (by dio-of-the-shadows)

Corrupted Spirit:  Spirits generally are apparitions of elements, such as nature.  Several of them have some form of sentience. However a corrupted spirit is one that was tampered with either by magic, great tragedy, or the desire of the spirit.  Turning it into a physical manifestation based on the intent of the spirit, magic or tragedy.  The spirit can be corrupted  by a cleric or paladin. (by asknerdizzy)

[lov3nerdstuff]

Voluptas Noctis Aeternae {Part 3.3}

*Severus Snape x OC*

Summary: It is the year 1983 when the ordinary life of Robin Mitchell takes a drastic turn: she is accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Despite the struggles of being a muggle-born in Slytherin, she soon discovers her passion for Potions, and even manages the impossible: gaining the favor of Severus Snape. Throughout the years, Robin finds that the not quite so ordinary Potions Professor goes from being a brooding stranger to being more than she had ever deemed possible. An ally, a mentor, a friend... and eventually, the person she loves the most. Through adventure, prophecies and the little struggles of daily life in a castle full of mysteries, Robin chooses a path for herself, an unlikely friendship blossoms into something more, and two people abandoned by the world can finally find a home.

General warnings: professor x student (however no underage romance), blood, violence, trauma, neglectful families, bullying, cursing

Words: 5.6k

Read Part 1.1 here! All Parts can be found on the Masterlist!

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"You've got to be joking…" Robin groaned to herself more than to either of them and rolled her eyes in exasperation. Right… this still was a public place, even at night. After a second of collecting herself, she put on her game face and continued her way towards Snape's desk, where he mentioned for her to sit down as well. Honestly, she was only glad that she didn't have to sit at her own desk like some idiot in detention, and that probably was the exact reason why Snape made her sit up front with him now. At least Robin chose to read that intention into his actions now.

"Hey, why doesn't she have to write a stupid three page essay on valerian root?!" David complained a second later, with clearly more of a pout to his tone than would leave any room for dignity.

"Because unlike someone I'm not in detention." Robin replied neutrally but with a deathly glare. "Now shut up and do your work."

Surprisingly enough, David actually looked quite intimidated in return, but Robin had the faint idea that this might be more due to Snape's glare than her own. Huh, maybe she should have let him handle this… with him being… the professor… and all that… Robin looked down at the book in her hands and took a deep breath to counteract the heat burning on her cheeks.

"McGonagall found him sneaking around the hallways with one of her own students. A second year girl, who should be serving her own detention with Minerva right at this moment." Snape said, much to Robin's surprise. She hadn't expected an explanation for the ongoings, and certainly not coming from him on his own account. But she also couldn't help the barest hint of a smirk that came to her lips.

"So that should be the infamous tall-and-older girlfriend he keeps bragging about? I must say I'm disappointed… Is she tall at least?" Robin mumbled, hiding her smirk by looking down as she placed her book on the desk between herself and Snape.

"No." He replied in perfect indifference and Robin had to snort, however very quietly and very shortly.

"Pity…" She brought out in almost the same level of indifference that for her as well as for him was but a mere charade at this point.

"I can hear you, you know that?!" David complained, and this time Robin remembered her place for once and kept quiet.

"You already have two weekends worth of detention, should we make that three, Mister Thompson?" Snape asked with that particular expression that literally gave every student the jitters in utter terror. Well, every student but Robin, but he hadn't used it in her in a long time, so who knew how she'd react… Robin wasn't too keen on finding out. David looked back down to his work, probably intimidated just as much as angry, but at least he seemed to stay quiet this time.

"So, uh, yes…" Robin started to get back into work mode and effectively stop herself from getting tempted into sassing Snape. With David around, he surely would scold her rather than smirk, and she didn't have the nerve for that tonight. So back to the facts it was. "As I was saying earlier, I haven't memorized the entire book. But while flipping through the pages on my way back down here, I came across something interesting on page 132."

Without a word, Snape moved to flip to the mentioned page, and his frown melted away as he read over the text. However it returned once he reached the next page, and Robin hoped she hadn't suggested something entirely stupid and unrelated. Only once he'd read all three pages of related information, he finally looked back up at Robin. "Have you read the entire instructions?"

"Well, I hardly had enough time for that on my jog back here." She shrugged. "I read the description of the functionality, not the instructions or additional information."

He looked minorly surprised at that. "And that sufficed for you to believe that it might be of use?"

"I suggested it because it looked promising." She corrected. "One has to start somewhere. If it's rubbish, we at least know what we're NOT looking for."

"Interesting approach." He mused, and Robin felt momentarily stunned by how close that comment had gotten to an actual compliment. "I believe you discovered something that might very well be worth a try."

"But… maybe we should look through the rest of the book as well? Maybe there's another spell that fits even better?"

"Obviously." He rolled his eyes without any annoyance in them, and went to flip to about the middle of the book. "Up to which point do you sincerely remember the contents?"

"The last page I can remember for sure was about… repairing broken spines… it had a very peculiar picture in the top right corner. Somewhere in the 70s or 80s…" She sighed and gave him an apologetic half smile. "I always remember the contents and the layout better than the page numbers."

After a few seconds of flipping through pages, Snape pointed to the page Robin had described. "This one?"

"Yes! Page 78… I wasn't too far off then." She smiled to herself for a moment. "Up to that one I remember what every spell was about."

"Good." He merely said and started scanning every page from that point on. Seems like Snape put an odd lot of confidence in Robin's memory… but she really was certain about the contents up to that point. It was all very basic, short-term restoration and spells for every-day practical use. The one about broken spines on page 78 was the first one that was a bit more complicated and unusual in its use, and that is the only reason why Robin had remembered it. It was the first one she didn't care to remember.

For a moment Robin watched Snape reading, but then she felt stupid looking over his shoulder, even if only figuratively. He could assess these spells way better than she could, and if he found something suitable for the occasion he would probably show it to her. Maybe.

With a silent sigh she let her eyes travel over the almost empty room. It was an odd perspective to be looking out over the class from this side of his desk… but one could really see almost everything from here. Everything, happening in front of you. Nothing in your back. Yeah, Robin felt comfortable sitting here. Then she studied the desk itself, along with the few things on it. Perfectly organized chaos, as always… but for once she actually understood the system behind it, which pleased her quite a bit. She'd happily trade desks with him any day, and that even though she couldn't even imagine switching seats with someone in class. She'd been sitting in the same spots in each of the classrooms for over two years now… and she doubted that she'd ever willingly sit elsewhere. The great hall however was a different issue, she'd never had a specific seat there, so she was fine with switching tables in there. But this was a classroom, and she felt oddly comfortable in a space that wasn't her own. Huh…

Her eyes then fell upon the mysterious tome this entire fuss was about in the first place, and she was grabbed by curiosity. "May I… take a look at the book we aren't currently working with?" She inquired carefully, prepared to be right about being denied but equally prepared to be surprised.

"Be careful, it is… delicate." While delicate didn't seem like the word he had wanted to say, and she got a decent idea about why he didn't speak his mind once she heard David quietly groaning over his essay, Robin still understood the sentiment. This book was important, somehow. So she gave him a small nod with a sincere and serious expression, before she carefully moved the heavy thing over to her end of the desk.

The first few pages looked decent enough; there were handwritten descriptions of spells, some strange symbols and drawings… nothing that stood out in particular. But once Robin had actually read a few pages, she couldn't help the deep frown that creased her forehead. "This is absolute gibberish! It may look valid, but anyone who spends at least a little time studying this book would realize that these aren't even workable spells."

Now that got Snape's attention immediately, and seeing as he had finished skimming over Robin's book anyway, he turned his attention towards her entirety. "How did you come to that conclusion?"

"You see… for once, the actual words for the spells aren't even given. Not one single time! I mean alright, one could argue that the book is meant for wizards so advanced that they don't need words. You know… people like you." She regretted saying that the moment it was out. But maybe he would overlook the accidental compliment if she just continued. "However, what definitely strikes me as odd and leads me to the conclusion that this isn't even meant as a proper spell book is the technical terms used throughout the descriptions, as well as the names of the people mentioned."

Now he definitely looked curious, deeply intrigued to be exact, and even people who weren't practiced in reading his microexpressions would be able to see that. "What, pray tell, do you mean by that?"

"I'll gladly tell you in a moment, but just answer me one question first, please… because otherwise I'll feel really stupid in my assumption." Robin said quietly, not because she felt insecure, but because she couldn't have David hear this in case she made a fool out of herself. "When do you think this book was written?"

"I assume the manuscript itself is from the second half of the 16th century, but it was obviously rebound several times up to this point, which makes the binding by far younger."

"Okay. Okay…" Robin nodded to herself for a few seconds as her brain tried to make a coherent line out of the many different strings of thought in her mind. Then her eyes lit up as she started to explain. "So, the thing is: most of the terms, all the ones I know at least, are directly taken out of Renaissance culture. It's a colorful mixture of philosophy, architecture, literature, music… And the names, I recognize them from this time period as well. But they all have nothing to do with magic, not even the slightest bit. It's like… putting numbers into the alphabet!"

Snape seemed genuinely interested in what Robin was saying, and he looked up from the book to meet her eyes. "How exactly did you come to know Renaissance culture?"

"I had a lot of time two summers ago and attended some classes. At a muggle university. I know, not very appropriate for a Slytherin, but oh well… I was horribly bored. To be honest, I had already forgotten most of the things I learned, but reading these names and terms now definitely brings back a lot of it. I mean, I at least know that they're things from the Renaissance." She shrugged with one shoulder, as she felt like the biggest nerd in history and yet the biggest failure for having forgotten most of those classes already. "Anyway, if the manuscript was written in the 16th century, that would explain the Renaissance influence. Now, I do have some more… theories, about the book. But I wouldn't want to bore you, sir, I'm sure you already know all of this and I'm just… babbling. Sorry."

"In fact, I was previously unaware of this connection to muggle history and culture, and I dare say I would not have learned about it without your babbling. So please, do enlighten me about your theories." He said calmly, giving her one of those still entirely unreadable looks. "You have my fullest attention."

"Well…" Heat rose to Robin's cheeks once again, and she couldn't quite believe that she had discovered something he hadn't yet noticed. "The book is basically a spell book written with muggle terms… and it surely requires extensive knowledge of both worlds to write something like this. So my first assumption is that the author was a half blood… or a muggle born. But it doesn't matter, actually. The thing about knowing both worlds really leads me to believe that the author knew what they were talking about, and thus the gibberish was intentional gibberish. And if the gibberish is intentional, it makes me wonder what the intention of this book is in the first place. You say a page is missing… What if the entire book was merely created to hide that one page?"

Going by the look Snape was giving her once she had finished her sentence, Robin had just said the dumbest thing in the existence of nonsense. Great. Insecurity finally showed on her face as she still held his gaze. She just wanted to help him, to solve this mystery…

"I agree." That was what he finally replied, before briefly gazing at the still working David and then looking back at Robin. "Your theses… will serve as a decent basis for any further efforts."

What?! He thought she was right?! Robin's lips curved up into a small smile. "Uh, if I may ask, sir… did you find a spell for restoring the page? If it really is the sole purpose of the book to hide whatever is written on it, I'm actually even more curious to know what its secret is."

"Likewise." He mused, quietly enough so that Robin could barely pick up on it, but then he spoke up in a normal voice. "I still consider the method you suggested the most suitable." Upon Robin's frown, he added, "Page 132."

"Ah… Maybe I should consider reading the entire thing then." She smiled and carefully closed his book, while switching its place with her own book on the desk. Only then a thought caused her heart to sink in an instant. "I mean… you surely only asked for my assistance in this because I have literature spells in my possession. I… could lend the book to you, if you'd like that."

"Indeed, my intention was to borrow this particular book from you." He said with the gravest expression he had worn all night, and Robin found her heart hollowing out even more. Of course he wouldn't want her to actually partake in any of this… she'd merely been lucky to be included up to this point. But… it was hard to let go of such a great mystery. Of the illusion to be useful, the illusion to do something important for once. That was until he spoke on. "However I cannot deny the fact that you improved my understanding of this book immensely. And… neither can I deny that you are the most reliable assistance I have. Could you imagine yourself to-..."

"Yes." Robin cut in before he could even finish his sentence. "I… sorry for interrupting, but I would very much like to keep assisting you."

She actually got a not-smirk in return. "In that case, I suggest you to read those three pages now."

With a nod, Robin picked up the book and leaned back in her chair while flipping to the correct page. She wouldn't allow herself to get all too excited about this… she was, but this situation required a certain professionalism, and she would do her best to display that now. It didn't take her long to read the three pages, twice even.

"It's… a potion?!" She finally stated with an incredulous expression. "That's weird…"

"Why do you think it is a potion instead of a spell?" He asked then, but this was a professor-question, not a Snape-question.

"Well, seeing as you said a simple restoration spell wouldn't work, it certainly has something to do with the fact that spells aren't strong enough to counter or reverse the magic used to remove the page in the first place. The magical properties of various ingredients combined in a potion however should be strong enough for that." Robin replied without thinking much about it, and placed the book back on the desk with a shrug.

"Good." He looked fairly pleased with her reply, which pleased Robin in return. "You have studied the list of ingredients required for this task, yes?"

"Yeah, I've studied the entire procedure. Twice."

"There are… a few required ingredients I currently do not have in my possession." He kept it vague, eyes flicking to David for a second before returning to Robin. She understood. "We have to get our hands on those first, before we can start on the potion. You are aware of the time it will take to prepare the procedure?"

"Yes. I am." She stated in determination. "No problem with that." The potion would take two months to make… honestly, if anything, she was sad that it wouldn't take longer. Who knew if Snape would ever allow her to help with something again once this was over?

Before either of them could continue, they heard a quiet snoring coming from the Slytherin boy, who had literally fallen asleep over his essay. Robin snorted, and Snape rolled his eyes in return.

"I truly cannot say Minerva could have picked a worse time to drop him off with me." He muttered, grabbed a random journal off the stack at his end of the desk, and then rose to his feet to walk over to the sleeping David. With an unforgiving glare, he smacked the boy in the head with the journal. "This is detention and not your bedroom, Mister Thompson."

"I-I'm sorry, sir…" David immediately brought out as he startled awake, frightened eyes looking up at his professor.

"Seeing as it is well after midnight, you may leave for now. However I expect you to return right to this spot after breakfast."

"Yes, sir…" David sighed in defeat as he rose to his feet, and jumped once Snape snatched the essay from his hands. "Goodnight, sir…" With that, he shot one quick look at Robin before scurrying out of the classroom.

"I hate that child." Snape muttered as he returned to his desk, and Robin couldn't help laughing at the dry honesty. She really couldn't agree more… but she knew it wasn't her place to comment on it.

"So, where will you get the missing ingredients?" Robin asked instead, while he sat back down. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Seeing as I will be stuck with Mister Thompson for the entire weekend, I would highly appreciate if you could indeed… run a few errands."

"Yes, of course! What do you need me to do?"

"Tomorrow is the fourth Saturday of the term, correct?"

"Yes?"

"That means you will get to go to Hogsmeade for the first time, and I ask of you to go indeed. There is a small shop that sells various ingredients for rare potions to anyone who pays enough, off high street obviously. A black building with a golden inscription over the door. I would like you to go there tomorrow. Follow the second alley going to the right off high street to its end, then turn left and you should come across the shop after a minute's walk." With that he turned to face the desk rather than Robin and got out a snippet of parchment to scribble a quick list on it. Then he handed the paper to Robin. "If I'm not mistaken, you should be able to get all of this in Hogsmeade. Tell the man in the shop that I sent you, and you shouldn't be refused nor expected to pay straight up."

"I will do my best, sir." She answered with what she hoped was a positive expression of professionalism and not an overly excited smile. Going to Hogsmeade hadn't really been on her agenda up until this point, but it also wasn't like she had any other plans for tomorrow. After all, she still was only too glad to get to help with this entire mystery. Surely running errands for him would be better than whatever she would've come up with, for nothing that had to do with the potions professor was ever short of interesting in the first place.

"Certainly I do not have to tell you that this entire endeavour is to be kept between you and me. Furthermore I expect you to take your involvement in this as seriously as I do."

"Of course I take this seriously!" Robin gave him an incredulous look that probably let on a bit too much of her hurt expression along with it. "Have I ever given you a reason to doubt that I'm absolutely serious about my work and studies?"

"No." His reply came fast and with certainty. "I am well aware of your dedication for all matters you concern yourself with. However you ought to know that in my terms there is no casual participation. I take your involvement as seriously as my own, and I expect you to do the same."

"You're my professor, of course I take you seriously!" Robin still didn't quite get what he was aiming at. Maybe she should consider going to bed soon… her brain was getting slow.

"Not me, Mitchell!" He rolled his eyes in that exaggerated annoyance once more. "You have to take yourself seriously! I do not have the time or nerve to listen to a self-deprecating speech every time before you voice a thought of yours. Speak your mind and I… will refrain from scolding you, should your comment be redundant."

"Promise you won't yell at me when I say something stupid?" Robin inquired carefully, even though she finally grasped where he was coming from with that statement. Actually, it was rather nice what he was saying. He took her seriously, and demanded for her to be in this completely or not at all. That's really all Robin could've hoped for.

"I do not make promises." Snape answered with a frown as he leaned back in his chair. "But I tell you now that I will not yell at you unless it is absolutely necessary."

"Good enough for me." Robin smiled ever so slightly, feeling both incredibly excited for this private project but also incredibly worried that she will somehow screw it up and make him regret that he put enough trust in her to allow her to assist in the first place. Well, she would just have to be better. Better than she was now, and better than he expected her to be. Just… what did he expect of her to do, exactly? For now, running errands. She wouldn't let him down right on the very first task (nor on any other, actually).

"You look exhausted." He stated then, perfect indifference with a hint of a sigh. "You should go to bed. There isn't any more to be done until tomorrow anyway."

"Yes, sir." With a small sigh she got up and made her way over to her backpack on her own desk, grabbing it on the go as she continued towards the door. Really, she was indeed exhausted and doing herself a favor rather than following his order by heading to bed now…

"Your book, Miss Mitchell." His voice stopped her a few steps away from the door, and Robin turned around to him once again.

"You should keep it for now… with the other book I mean. Isn't that what you would prefer anyway?"

"It is indeed." The not-smirk was back, and so was the lifted eyebrow. "I should assume this is more than fair after lending books to you for two years."

"It surely is." Robin smiled, tiredly, but sincerely nonetheless. "Goodnight, professor."

"Miss Mitchell?" Again, his voice stopped her just before she could open the door, making her turn to him yet again with a question on her face. He spoke on before she could voice it. "Hogsmeade certainly isn't a dangerous place by any means, but since students are rarely seen venturing off high street, I would still advise you to be careful when going to that shop tomorrow."

While he looked perfectly indifferent in that statement, rising to his feet and gathering up the two books from his desk with an expression of utter boredom, the very attempt to hide anything from his face that could have given off the impression of concern or care actually was what gave him away. Just having noticed that made Robin's smile brighten inevitably.

"I will be careful. No need to worry about your precious ingredients." She couldn't help adding that second sentence with a small smirk, and upon receiving a small glare and a not-smirk in return, Robin finally made her way back to her dorm.

… … …

If Robin had felt like she was anything more than just a third year student last night, Saturday morning definitely had every intention to put her back into her place.

First, she had decided to actually make somewhat of an effort in terms of dressing for being errand-girl today (seeing as she hadn't forgotten what Snape had said about her representing the Slytherin house and his own person), and thus she'd ended up with the same old, large and black turtleneck jumper she fancied, tugged into some blackish drainpipe jeans and kept in place by a black belt with an admittedly very scratched silver buckle. Oh well… concessions had to be made. Her mom always said black was classy and staid… and while Robin didn't agree on the 'staid' part, she still wanted to appear classy today.

Her choice of wardrobe however led to the first instance that tried to put her back into her place, namely her fellow students, who didn't cease to make comments from joking to mocking to insulting during breakfast. Well, in comparison to the other third years, with their colorful shirts, patterned dresses and generally average thirteen-year-old style of clothing, she did stand out a lot. Robin looked quite a lot more like some of the sixth or seventh years, if anything… But she suffered through the comments in silence on the outside, and just a hint of doubt and shame on the inside. Maybe she should make an effort to fit in more… but then she looked at everyone again, seriously, and the thought flew out of her mind to never be considered again. Nope, not gonna happen.

After breakfast, the real issues began. Equipped with her trusty leather backpack that was (as always) stuffed with anything she could possibly need, ranging from parchment and books over snacks to a rain jacket, and of course the list of ingredients she was to acquire, Robin stepped out into the courtyard in sincere appreciation of the dark grey clouds in the sky. Way better than sunshine… that only ever made her eyes hurt.

"And where's your permission slip, Miss Mitchell?" McGonagall asked then, eyebrows risen and clearly expecting something Robin wasn't sure about.

"My… what?" Thus came her very eloquent reply.

"The permission slip signed by your parents for this instance? Allowing you to leave the castle grounds in groups of at least three students to go to Hogsmeade?" McGonagall prompted again, and a new existential dread overcame Robin upon the professor's words. Fuck.

"I… I didn't think to let them sign it. I… thought it was more one of those 'for your notice' kind of things." She replied in a faintest hope to somehow fix this situation. "I mean, I traveled the entire country of England by myself over summer! Well, not the entire country, obviously, but I traveled by myself, alone, WITH their explicit permission. They would probably laugh at me if I asked them for permission to go on a fifteen minute walk away from home now!"

"I'm sorry, Miss Mitchell, but rules are rules."

"But that's ridiculous!" Robin couldn't help the exasperated sigh, nor the inevitable rolling of her eyes, as she threw her head into her neck to angrily glare at the sky.

"I do not make the rules, but I'm still obliged to follow them. As are you." The professor pointed out, then added a bit more kindly, "If you are so certain that they will allow you to venture out on your own, you can always send them a letter before the next Hogsmeade Saturday in two weeks and have them sign their permission."

An idea sprung to Robin's mind immediately, born both of McGonagall's words and her own refusal to accept her fate. "So it does not have to be the specific slip given to us before term, but a handwritten approval would suffice?"

"In my eyes, yes." The professor frowned. "However I…" Her voice trailed off as she watched how Robin took off her backpack and dug her arm into it to the shoulder.

Upon seeing the professor's astonishment, Robin merely said, "Extension charm… helps with carrying the books." Then she took out a piece of parchment and a ballpoint pen she usually didn't use for Hogwarts business, and wrote a quick note. It read: 'Hereby we allow our daughter Robin Mitchell to leave the castle grounds in groups OR by herself at any time not officially prohibited by the school rules.' Then Robin handed the paper to McGonagall.

"If my parents sign this, would it suffice for me to be allowed to leave the school grounds also by myself whenever we are officially allowed to go to Hogsmeade?" She asked the still astonished professor, and put her stationery back into the bag while waiting for an answer.

"Usually students simply break this rule instead of asking for permission. It merely applies to third years anyway, to ensure they get used to the new freedom before abusing it." McGonagall finally replied with a doubtful expression.

"Well, I'd rather change the rules to fit my needs than break them, to be honest." Robin shrugged. "That's usually less stressful for everyone."

Now McGonagall straight out looked incredulous and yet undoubtedly humored. "In that case, if you get your parents to sign this piece of writing, then yes, you may go on your own this year as well."

A smile spread on Robin's lips. Part one of her plan had worked, at least. "Great. Where can I find you in approximately twenty minutes, professor?"

"I have absolutely no idea what you are plotting, Miss Mitchell, but I can assure you no owl will be that quick."

"I'm not planning on using an owl, professor… I'm planning on bribing a house elf." Robin replied with a hint of mischief in her tone that even she could hear herself. "They are very nice, actually, if one is respectful and kind. And as far as I know, there is no rule against asking them for a favor."

"Indeed there isn't… However they are not a replacement for owls in any way."

"I have no intention to make them do anything they don't want to, which is not to say that I could in the first place. But I think I can offer them something in return that may convince them to do me this one favor." After a few seconds of silence, Robin added, "Please, professor… I really need to go to Hogsmeade today. And seeing as the only thing holding me back currently is a missing signature from my dad, I have come up with a perfectly by-the-rules plan to get you just that. Just because it's not commonly done this way doesn't mean it's any less legitimate."

"You certainly are creative in your sheer determination to make it to Hogsmeade today." McGonagall sighed. "I'm heading to the teacher's lounge now, should your efforts lead to the desired result."

"Thank you." Robin gave the professor a bright smile, then made her way towards the kitchens as fast as she could without running. This had to work… she would not stop even one second before those damned ingredients were on Snape's desk.

It took Robin a good ten minutes to convince her favorite house elf, who she had gone to for chocolate cake in the middle of the night more often than she liked to admit, to do her this favor. Not because the female elf (whose name Robin had learned to be Buttercup) would've refused Robin, she'd never do that, but because Robin had to convince her to accept a bar of Twirls in return. Finally, after explaining the advantages and necessity of fair trading to the entirety of the kitchen staff, Robin could get the young elf to accept the trade. Five minutes later, after apparating from the Hogwarts kitchens to Robin's family home in Oxford and back again, Buttercup happily exchanged the now signed permission slip for the chocolate bars Robin was handing her. Really, bless the house elves for being able to apparate in and out of Hogwarts, and bless Robin's brain for remembering that at such a convenient time.

After saying thank you and making sure Buttercup actually liked Twirls, Robin was on her way to the teacher's lounge in an instant. For once a plan of hers was actually working out the way it was supposed to, and honestly the feeling of success sufficed to gather up enough confidence to knock on the door and ask for McGonagall. The professor didn't actually seem all too surprised anymore when Robin handed her the now signed note, and without further ado she allowed Robin to head to Hogsmeade at last. If Robin wasn't mistaken, she even saw McGonagall smile in amusement for a brief moment when she finally turned to leave.

______________________________

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[halothenthehorns]

TLTNL- THE HEARING

Remus had to swallow hard to force himself into getting started. All of them were still wanting to go out and start smothering someone for what they'd tried to do to Harry, but this nasty hearing had been hanging over their head long enough, and Remus wanted an answer done with already, was Harry really going to pay a price for saving someone's life?

Harry was not encouraged when he stepped inside and recognized the exact room he'd once seen people sentenced to Azkaban in.

"That's an encouraging start!" Sirius squeaked while Lily continued shaking her head in disgust of Harry having to do this down there.

Dark stone benches rose high, the room only lit by torches and casting eerie shadows on the rows of occupants.

Lily had her head cocked to the side as her eyes continued narrowing in on this. She couldn't imagine why there would be an audience at a thing like this, but that would still make far more sense than...

The door closed with an ominous bang behind him, as a cold voice announced he was late.

"And who's fault is that?" James huffed.

Harry apologized, saying he hadn't realized the time had been changed, while the same voice responded that was not the Wizengamot's fault.

Lily felt her mouth open with a little pop that went unnoticed as the other boys shifted uncomfortably. They didn't need her to tell them this just couldn't be normal, had Harry stepped into the wrong room?

  An owl had been sent to him this morning.

Remus opened his mouth furiously to comment on that, but Lily quickly waved him silent and begged him to just keep going no matter how much she already hated where this was.

Harry dropped his gaze to the chair in the center of the room, the arms of which were covered in chains.

Sirius felt his teeth locking into place already, swearing he'd rip up something if those actually lashed Harry into place.

He sat gingerly on the edge and only felt slightly better they didn't bind him down, so instead he looked up at the watchers all of which were wearing plum coloured robes with a W embroidered on. Most had expressions mirroring Fudges, while others just looked confused.

Harry wished he felt more curious than nauseous like he did now thinking of this place. He'd never liked being watched, now he had a crowds sole attention with the distinct feeling he still wasn't going to walk out of there very happy.

In the middle sat Fudge, on his right a woman Harry didn't know wearing a monocle, and on the left someone sitting so far back the face was in shadows.

James' temper of this not withstanding, he still couldn't just sit there watching Harry sweat so he worked hard to pitch his voice in a silly whisper saying, "dramatic."

It worked for a whole four seconds while Harry grinned at him before turning back, his face somehow even darker upon hearing of this shadowed person.

Fudge testily got started by saying now that the accused was finally present they could begin, looking down the row a bit. An eager yes sir was his answer, and Harry felt a jolt as he recognized Percy Weasley.

"I'm not sure if I'd refer to him as a Weasley much anymore," Sirius grumbled.

Harry looked at Percy, expecting some sign of recognition from him, but none came.

"I think I'd be more offended if he did acknowledge you," Remus snipped, thinking that Percy meeting Harry's eyes and then Harry seeing any sort of smug expression there would only hurt him worse right now.

He instead was looking only at his notes, quill poised.

Fudge began by stating the time and date, Percy's quill at once moving along at high speed to keep up.

'He really has to write all that down?' the thought wildly flickered through Harry's mind as he found himself grasping such odd details, but still deciding he found this slightly more comforting than if he'd seen another Quick-Quotes Quill there.

Fudge was speaking of the reason they were all here, to discuss the break in the Decree, then Harry and his place of residence. Interrogators were himself, Amelia Susan Bones, and Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister,

'Well she got a promotion,' Lily randomly noted, only knowing her now as a woman who'd just been promoted into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. She hadn't heard a lot of good things from the work she'd been trying to pass along so far, and now finding she'd been stepped to an even higher position was not at all encouraging for how this was going.

as well as Court Scribe Percy Ignatius Weasley-

as well as witness for the Defense, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, the man himself cut in.

"Oh thank Merlin," Remus actually sat back in relief.

"I was starting to think you were going to have to handle the lot of them by yourself," James agreed.

Lily honestly did feel just as relieved as them, she couldn't have asked for a better defense than Dumbledore showing up and reminding them they couldn't be the ones to get Harry kicked out of school for the mess he was in, but that still didn't cover the pure outrage still simmering in her that her son was having to sit through a full blown trial for one act of underage magic! Just what had happened to her society!

Harry turned so fast he put a crick in his neck as his headmaster came sweeping into the room. The members of the Wizengamot were not as pleased, most looking annoyed, some even frightened, though a few in the back row waved.

"Brave of them, considering I half expect Fudge to turn and fire them on the spot after all I've heard," James huffed.

A powerful emotion had risen in Harry's chest at the sight of Dumbledore, a fortified, hopeful feeling rather like that which phoenix song gave him.

The four of them could remember this feeling all to well, it's how they used to feel in the middle of this war whenever they were at meetings and things were starting to look bleak. One glance at their leader though and somehow they felt just that little more assured of their task at hand. Even now, in the face of what all they feared and thought he'd done to their life in this future, that feeling still didn't leave them now as he came swooping in to Harry's rescue.

Harry tried to catch Dumbledore's eye, but he only held Fudge's attention as the man blustered that the Headmaster had gotten their message of the time and place changing then.

Lily now had the nasty suspicion that this whole thing may well have been done to in fact make it so Dumbledore wouldn't be in attendance any more than Harry. It did make his arrival all the more satisfactory at least.

Dumbledore corrected he had not received any such message, but as he'd happened to be here hours early, it was a lucky happenstance.

Still shuffling his papers in annoyance, Fudge barked at Weasley to go fetch the man a chair then, but before he could move Dumbledore drew one himself that fell beside Harry and sat himself down.

Fudge, clearly derailed, had to think a moment before going on track with the charges.

Sirius chuckled meanly to himself that the mere presence of Dumbledore had completely diminished Fudge into a dithering idiot again.

It took him a moment to go back and read out the full charges against Harry James Potter in breaking the Statue of Secrecy in the presence of a Muggle, reading out the whole section of where that could be located, before confirming Harry was this same person.

James had an odd look on his face, longing to mock the logic of this question being asked after the charges and not while the people's names had been read out, but still angry enough at this situation he didn't really want to be laughing at much of anything.

Harry agreed at once, and was reminded he had also received warnings against doing this same thing three years ago.

Harry agreed yes, but-

Lily caught his eye worriedly, wishing she were there to warn him that he would get his time to explain himself, and for now it would have just been best to answer simply and possibly more politely. Yet Harry was also being tried by the whole Wizengamot for this, so clearly societal rules had been torn to shreds for this meeting!

The back and forth continued with Fudge pressing in on all of his wrong doings, all while Harry agreed it was true, but-

When it got to the part of his full Patronus having been produced, he was this time cut off by the witch with the monocle booming it was fully-fledged?

"That's what she caught on!" Harry finally burst out angrily in here. "Not why I'd done the spell!"

"Well to be fair, that really is a feat of magic you seem to underplay a lot," Remus said conversationally enough while Harry rolled his eyes for Remus actually agreeing with this woman.

A corporeal Patronus?

Harry opened his mouth to ask about that now, but Remus shook his head slightly to show he'd be asking at that time.

Harry was distracted by asking what that even meant, and she elaborated that was the name for the animal your Patronus would produce. Harry impatiently agreed it had been a stag, it always was, and she cut off again to ask how many times he'd done this. Harry began that Professor Lupin had taught him back in third year- and was again cut off by her saying he'd been doing this since he was thirteen? That was impressive.

James honestly would have laughed at this under any other circumstances, but Harry continually being cut off from saying that very important reason just wasn't any kind of funny.

Some of the wizards and witches around her were muttering again; a few nodded, but others were frowning and shaking their heads.

"Well I'm so sorry it couldn't impress the crowd," Sirius sneered.

Fudge snapped back the more impressive the magic all the worse in front of that Muggle!

"A muggle who knows full well about magic with me living with him, doesn't that give me any leeway?" Harry demanded.

"Not really, no," Lily wished she could think of more to comfort him with, but so far this whole entire thing had only cemented their fears of Harry being railroaded in this place.

Those who had been frowning now murmured in agreement, but it was the sight of Percy's sanctimonious little nod that goaded Harry into speech.

"I'd like to do more than talk with him around," Sirius got out through gritted teeth.

He shouted for all to hear he'd done it because of the Dementors!

That brought a heavy silence down on them all as Madam Bones prompted what he meant by that?

"Do they really not know when they're around!" Harry burst out in exasperation.

"Sadly not," Lily shook her head. "The Ministry likes to pretend they've got tabs on the species, but in reality there are more than just at Azkaban and they go rogue running into Muggle neighborhoods from time to time. It doesn't excuse the absolute odds of them running into you," she finished with an eye roll.

Harry really wished he could get more clarification on what magic could and couldn't do, as apparently you could track when a specific spell was being used but not a specific creature?

He finally explained there had been two that night after him and his cousin.

Fudge gained an odd smile as he began looking around for someone to join in his joke and saying how he'd thought it would be something like this.

"If you actually thought Dementors were involved, things never would have gotten this far," Remus said, clearly joining in the laugh with his mocking tone.

Madam Bones began to say she did not understand, so Fudge explained for her how nice a story Dementors made as Muggles couldn't see them.

"I didn't know that at that time," Harry muttered, real fear starting to creep up in him. If they thought he was lying, than this premonition could be all too real, and he wasn't going back to school...

Which was entirely convenient. Harry burst back that there had been two of them, coming from opposite ends of the alley way when his cousin took off-

but was cut off by Fudge saying he was not going to listen to this rehearsed story.

"He still gets to tell his side of the story whether you believe it or not," Lily had to force everything in her not to shout that. "The rest of the Wizengamot get to decide if he's telling the truth!" She wasn't succeeding very well by the end.

Dumbledore cleared his throat causing the man to fall silent as Dumbledore pointed out there had in fact been a witness to this other than Dudley Dursley.

Harry scratched his mind in confusion on who this could be, and realized the only other possibility was Figg. Could Squibs see dementors? He supposed he was about to find out, and didn't bother asking as no one seemed remotely confused on this.

Fudges plump face seemed to slacken, as though somebody had let air out of it.

"I'd like to deflate several things on him," Sirius quipped.

He stared hard at Dumbledore before insisting no one had time to listen to dribbles from any old person, he wanted this dealt with quickly!

"Well it's not for him to decide how quickly something gets brushed to the side, thank Merlin," James said in clipped tones.

Dumbledore cut in that by their own laws, the defense could call for a witness, which Madam Bones agreed was true.

"She couldn't have said that before Dumbledore had to interrupt?" Lily seethed, finding Arthur's advice before about how fair this Bones woman was didn't seem to accurate if she was willing to let Fudge pummel her son until Dumbledore stepped in to say otherwise. James still had his arm tight around her waist and gave her a comforting squeeze, knowing her harsh words shouldn't really be taken full force now as she just wanted to be the one to protect Harry at this trial she should have had a hand in.

Fudge gave in and sent Weasley to go let whoever this person was in, and Mrs. Figg came shuffling inside looking more batty and scared than ever. Harry wished she'd at least changed out of her slippers.

"I suppose Dumbledore told her to come comfortably," Sirius amazingly had a twitching smile trying to creep up on him in the face of all this, but he couldn't seem to stay that mad with her back. He was to busy picturing her calling Fudge much worse than a useless lump.

Dumbledore offered her his chair and duplicated another for himself while Fudge barked at her for her full name.

"Least she didn't have to sit on the chained one," Harry huffed, half wishing he'd thought to ask Dumbledore for one of those as well, as the menacing clinking noise hadn't really stopped behind him this whole time.

She proclaimed herself as Arabella Doreen Figg of Little Whinging.

Madam Bones corrected that no wizard lived in the area, that had always been a closely monitored situation.

"That, is a really terrible oversight," Lily suddenly blinked as she realized this for the first time. "Is she living there now? I have no idea honestly, but the fact that we don't keep a record of where Squibs are living- I mean even if they aren't a magical threat I don't see why we wouldn't as they could be in just as much, honestly more danger from-" James cut her off with another squeeze, while she continued shaking her head for this glaring problem no one had ever seemed to realize, or care about.

Mrs. Figg said back she was a Squib, so she wouldn't be on any of those lists.

Fudge watched her curiously for a moment before turning and asking those around him if Squibs could even see Dementors?

"Why would he look at them, when she'd be the one to answer?" Harry demanded. Even not having a particular like for Mrs. Figg, he still found that beyond rude, quite a feat considering everything else the Minister had done of late.

"Confirming from a source he doesn't believe is a liar," Remus sighed after he guessed that.

She said back quite indignantly that yes she could.

Fudge gave in and told her to begin her story, and she prattled off as if from memorization the date and time of when this took place.

Lily winced for that, fearing Fudge could still throw this testimony out if he did claim this was rehearsed and given to her by Dumbledore.

She'd spotted the Dementors running- but was cut off by Bones pointing out no Dementor could run, they glided.

She quickly corrected herself that's what she meant,

"She's allowed to be a bit confused," James said sympathetically. "She did see Dudley running, and she's about to account for two things going on at once."

and then Bones cut in again to asked what they looked like?

She began that one was very large and the other rather skinny-

Remus had to fight hard not to release a snort of mirth, but failed and began giggling anyways along with both his friends to his rising pleasure. It was the first time he'd seen Sirius actually crack a smile while the mention of dementors had been brought up in here, so he knew he'd give Figg a thanks just for that.

No, no, Bones corrected, not the boys, the Dementors, she wanted them described.

Mrs. Figg began unsteadily that they were big and wearing cloaks.

"Well she's not wrong," Sirius said fairly even if he could feel that nasty twitching just below the surface of his panic again at the thought of feeling around those things for the next twelve years loomed over him again.

Harry could feel himself begin panicking at this, as she was doing a terrible job of putting into words that hopeless feeling that engulfed the very air around Dementors.

Sirius gave Harry a mock pat on the head, ignoring the fact his hand was shaking to hard for the gesture to come through right.

The audience wasn't any more convinced as Harry spotted two smirking and rolling their eyes.

"Well I'm so glad at least someone's enjoying the show," Lily said icily, wishing for more descriptions so she'd know who next to curse at work.

She continued on, adopting the proper shaky manner when speaking of those things and how they'd made her feel and remembered the most dreadful things, then her voice did shake and die.

"At least she got that part right," Remus said in relief as he tried to keep going with more confidence now the woman had established some credibility in this.

Bones' expression was unreadable as she asked what happened next, and she began to say the Dementors had gone for the boys. One of them had fallen to the ground while the other was trying to repel one with only smoke so far, that was Harry.

Lily pinched James to stop him making some dumb comment about how she could have gotten the boys swapped.

He tried twice more, and finally on the third time his stag came to his defense and chased them off, and that was what happened she finished a bit lamely.

Sirius was thankful he didn't have anyone in his immediate vicinity to stop him giving a polite little clap for that thrilling tale, so Lily compensated by chucking a pillow at him, not even trying to deny that she always did feel slightly better watching these two idiots make light of this as clearly it was giving Harry a distraction and he didn't look quite so pale while watching them.

Fudge began aggressively that's what she'd seen?

Mrs. Figg repeated in earnest that was what happened.

"Really do just love her for this," Remus agreed.

Fudge dismissed her then and she only left after a quick look at Dumbledore. Once she was gone Fudge began how unconvincing that was, while Bones corrected she'd gotten the properties of a Dementor down well enough and the woman had no reason to make anything up.

Fudge snorted it meant nothing as the odds of this happening to a wizard were astronomical.

"No one was trying to deny the possibilities," Lily agreed grimly.

Dumbledore lightly reminded no one found it a coincidence.

The two who'd been smirking before now stopped doing any such thing, and the person in the shadows gave an uneasy twitch as all attention was back on Dumbledore.

"What was that?" Harry asked sharply, not exactly wanting to turn his full attention back to Fudge doing this to him, but that had done it.

"Someone twitched," Sirius tried to pacify Harry's sudden intensity by giving a very obvious leg spasm that 'accidentally' hit Remus, and Harry lost track of his thread as Remus gave him an absent nudge back while still going.

Fudge barked what Dumbledore could mean, while he reminded that someone must have sent those Dementors there.

The Minister snapped back there was no record of any such thing happening!

While Dumbledore agreed, that meant that all Dementors were not under Ministry control as he'd always claimed.

Fudge gave a nasty retaliation that Dumbledore had made his views of that quite plain, but the Azkaban guards had still been doing their job!

"Including everything you don't ask them to," James said stiffly, he still hadn't forgotten the ones that had nearly gone after Harry, and to a lesser but more effective degree had done to Barty Crouch Jr., and no consequences had ever seemed to come from that.

Dumbledore went on more quietly but still calmly that everyone must ask themselves then what those Dementors had been doing there if not on Ministry orders.

Harry could feel himself starting to shake slightly, the now familiar pain of a memory ready to pounce leaving him sure this was no fallback excuse. Dumbledore had been wrong before, but was right now, but who on earth-

He was distracted by the flash of red hair from his mother shaking her head in disbelief, along with the boys rolling their eyes at Dumbledore's time for a joke. Clearly they at least had faith the Ministry would never fall that far, so he was probably misinterpreting something in him.

Only silence followed this for a beat before the person in shadows finally sat forward, and Harry got a look at her appearance for the first time. A wide, flabby, pale face that had bulging features along the eyes and mouth leaving the impression of a toad. Even the little black bow she wore on her head impressed a fly about to be snapped up by a sticky tongue.

"You truly have the loveliest descriptions of people," Lily rolled her eyes, wanting to scold him absolutely none of that had been polite, but as it was his private thoughts she resisted since she knew her son had better manners than saying that to a woman's face.

Fudge recognized her position to speak as that of before as Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. When she did begin, her voice came out in a girlish high-pitched way, causing Harry some surprise as he'd been expecting a croak.

Sirius couldn't resist anymore and snorted with laughter, all of the boys giggling childishly at Harry's thoughts now.

She began politely to inform Professor Dumbledore that she was being silly as it sounded like he was implying the Ministry of Magic had set an order to attack this boy.

Harry was swaying just slightly as memory of this woman tried to crowd him in on all sides at once. Her appearance, her words, her very attitude screaming at him right now to get a spit ready to roast her alive, but a hard shake from his head managed to clear the worst of it while Sirius gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze, all of them worried Harry was fixing to pass out from stress for this still hanging over his head.

"This woman isn't leaving a very good first impression," James felt some of his amusement at Harry's description of her dying as clearly his son was getting a bad vibe from this woman, and that automatically put her in his bad books. The last person who had received that kind of intense look had been Marge.

Dumbledore explained their own logic, that if the Ministry had control of all Dementors, and the Dementors were there, then someone had to have done something for this chain of events to occur, otherwise there really were Dementors-

Fudge's face was turning burning red as he shouted back there were no Dementors outside Ministry cotrol!

"He is literally contradicting himself," Remus sighed as he never thought he'd meet someone so stupid to not take even the smallest out Dumbledore was trying to offer. He was going small, trying to give the man just a pinch of room in saying there could have been just a few rogues, but no, the man couldn't do anything that wasn't idiotic it seemed.

Dumbledore acknowledged this with a bow of his head before pointing out that this matter would then be looked into.

Fudge snapped back that was no longer Dumbledore's decision for the Ministry to be looking into anything!

"I feel like at some point it should be," Sirius snarled, as Dumbledore being Minister would solve at least a few problems at this point, Sirius' status included.

Dumbledore agreed mildly, and then pointed out his confidence that this matter would then be investigated.

Fudge said back none of this was relevant to the current charges! They were not here to discuss Dementors that were more than likely a figment of that boy's imagination, but his offence against the Decree!

Dumbledore said simply the matters were one in the same as Clause Seven clearly stated magic could be used in the presence of Muggles to save lives which was the exact occurrence-

but Fudge cut off to say they were all well familiar with Clause Seven!

"Clearly not, as the existence of this trial proves you need a look back!" Lily hissed.

Dumbledore pointed out that so long as that was true, this matter was settled as all agreed Dementors fell under this law.

Fudge still tried to say he didn't even think this had happened, and Dumbledore said to call the witness back then, she'd be more than happy to repeat herself.

Fudge was blustering now in frustration as he shouted he didn't have time for that, he wanted this over with!

"No one gives a damn about what you want!" Sirius barked.

"He's not even being subtle about showing how badly he created this just to do the worst he can to Harry," Remus agreed viciously.

Dumbledore's response was to point out the time shouldn't matter if the alternative was a serious miscarriage of justice.

Sirius let a bark of laughter escape him, and to his absolute pleasure saw the others get a bleak smile as well for Dumbledore's choice of words whether intentionally or not.

Fudge roared at the top of his lungs serious miscarriage his hat!

"I don't think I can have a miscarriage of anything," Sirius said as he glanced down in confusion at his stomach.

"You just ruined whatever amount of funny that once was Padfoot," Remus told him conversationally without looking up.

Had anyone been keeping track of the amount of stories this boy cooked up!

Sirius couldn't resist and began ticking on his fingers, "Dobby, then Marge, now this. Not counting what Arthur did while there, that's actually only three. I know of at least one Muggle-born who got at least as many," he finished with fluttering eyes at Lily who only grinned indulgently in response as she didn't bother to deny it.

Harry was still intrigued enough to hear about this, far more than his life in his opinion, but Remus was still to invested in finding out if Dumbledore could really win this thing as it was looking like he was doing and so didn't give Lily the chance to say anything, for now.

That Hover Charm three years ago had just been the start-

but Harry cut in to say it had been a house-elf who'd done that.

Fudge gaped at Harry before shouting that was his point! A house-elf in a Muggle house he says!

"It's not my fault these things happen to me!" Harry threw his hands up in exasperation.

"Apparently you're going to be hard pressed to get others to believe that," James sighed with true pity. In all honesty, if he hadn't sat here and heard the accounts himself, he'd think Harry was pulling his leg with some of these stories.

Dumbledore calmly said that the house-elf in question was employed at Hogwarts and could be here in this second to give his own evidence for that night.

Fudge had to stutter for a moment before saying he didn't have time to listen to a house-elf!

"He keeps going on about how he's too busy to be dealing with this," Lily sneered. "I can't wait for someone to point out how he created this problem by setting up this whole courtroom to be there for this, wasting everyone's time!"

He'd blown up his aunt for crying out loud!

"You do have to love the irony of it all though." Sirius sighed. "He overlooked that instance, and now he's trying to get Harry expelled for something of honestly lesser reason."

Harry gave a bleak, obligatory laugh no one felt.

Dumbledore reminded no one had pressed charges then as all had agreed at the time even the best wizards could lose their temper and emotions.

Fudge completely ignored this and tried to go on into what he got up to in school-

"Which in no regards is held in the Ministry's decision," Lily cut in with blistering tones, making Remus shrink back into his seat slightly and her anger wasn't even directed at him. He'd never had a problem chatting with Lily about politics, but he was starting to be very afraid for this book if it kept pushing her buttons on this topic.

Dumbledore sternly reminded now that the Ministry had no say over Harry's behaviour inside school.

Fudge gave a mean little laugh as he asked Dumbledore if he really thought so?

Harry felt a nasty tingling at the base of his spine at that.

Dumbledore kept his cool tone that Fudge had been given his evidence that nothing had happened on that night that did not fall perfectly legally under their own laws.

"I really think at some point the politeness is just another level of smugness," James shook his head.

"Least Dumbledore did what he did no matter what attitude he used," Lily sighed.

Fudge said savagely that laws could be changed!

Dumbledore gave this a slight head incline as well of acknowledgement before pointing out that for now they were what they were, such as those being used to hold a full criminal trial to deal with a single matter of underage magic.

Lily made an agitated noise that still managed to sound triumphant, finally someone other than her had said it.

He concluded that no laws had been broken, therefore no punishment should be placed, and it was not this court's decision to decide on every bit of magic Harry ever performed.

"Oh please stop giving him ideas," Harry muttered.

This specific offense had been presented and defended, now all that was left was a verdict.

Harry felt a thrill of fear as he realized Dumbledore was telling them to get a move on with a decision, when he'd hardly had a chance to say anything. This was too fast!

"I disagree," Remus frowned, "this is honestly a good thing him being quick about this. Let Fudge keep going much longer and he'll start trying to bring up things you don't have anything to do with but he'll still try to blame you for."

Harry gave an uneasy nod as he tried to believe Remus was right and it was high time he got his answer for this no matter how much he felt like vomiting in the meantime.

Harry tried to look at Dumbledore with a million questions, but again Dumbledore seemed oblivious to Harry's attempt to catch his eye.

They all got a little frown on their face for that. Was Dumbledore really so busy watching Fudge he couldn't spare a moment to glance at the boy he was defending?

He instead looked to his feet, his heart pounding away. He'd expected this to last longer, but in his opinion he hadn't made a very good impression so far.

"You really couldn't have even if you came in wearing a Support Fudge badge," Sirius sighed.

He hadn't said very much.

"True Dumbledore and Figg got your side out for you, but that's probably a good thing," James said fairly. "It's been made obvious nothing you say will get through to them, at least Dumbledore still holds some weight with his reputation you just don't have son."

Harry wasn't entirely sure he agreed, but as he'd always preferred action rather than letting others do this sort of thing for him, he doubted he'd ever fully agree.

He ought to have explained more fully, how both he and Dudley had nearly been kissed . . .

They all flinched as hard as Sirius at remembering that nearly happening to their Harry, again!

He fought with himself to add this on, but every time he got close he could feel the fear cutting off his words and instead kept a firm eye on the pattern of his laces,

"I found that a good idea when faced with McGonagall," Remus winced, "I imagine this is significantly worse."

until Bones declared the question all in favor of clearing all charges?

Harry's head snapped up just in time to do a quick count, of more than half!

Finally they all felt a breath of relief pass through them again. This had been dragged on far to long, they couldn't believe this had been a real threat on Harry and he'd barely escaped by the skin of his teeth!

Bones asked the opposite question of conviction, and while Fudge, and a dozen others voted so, including the smirking pair of before,

"I need names," Sirius said flatly, and Harry now had the absolute certainty Sirius was not joking, and was almost thankful he couldn't be of help with that.

it was not enough, and Fudge had no choice but to declare Potter was cleared of all charges.

Dumbledore stood abruptly, vanished the two chairs he'd created, and said how excellent this was while bidding them all good day. He then swept out of the dungeon without a backward glance.

"Hey!" They all yelped in protest.

"What's Dumbledore playing at?" Sirius demanded as he snatched the book from Remus.

"I know this wasn't a time to be sitting around congratulating each other," Lily agreed, "but would it really kill the man to at least escort Harry outside and say, anything!"

Harry sunk back into his seat heavily, his temporary moment of thrill and excitement he was free to go back to school at once dimmed by what he considered a very bad omen for the rest of this to come.