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d3-iseefire · 3 years

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Nevermore Chapter Five

There was no warning.

Bilba had barely opened the door to her tiny apartment when arms grabbed her and yanked her inside. The door slammed shut and she was shoved against it, a heavy body blocking her against the thin wood.

She caught the impression of blond hair and blue eyes set in an attractive face before he leaned in to try and kiss her. Bilba turned her head and fought the urge to vomit. She put her hands on his chest and tried to push him away, but it was like trying to move granite. Granite so cold it seemed to leach into her fingers and spread into her veins like poison.

“Aw, come on, Sweetheart,” Lotho whined. He tried to kiss her again, but Bilba turned her head a second time. His mouth grazed her chin, wet and sloppy, and the way her stomach wrenched nearly made her gag. “How long are you going to stay mad at me?”

For the first time, Bilba looked him in the eye. She was shaking, and could already feel tears tracking down her face. She hated crying in front of him, hated him knowing how much he terrified her. “Lotho,” she whispered, her voice wavering. “You killed my parents.”

His face twisted into something dark and hate filled. He slammed his fists into the wall on either side of her. “Damn it, Bilba! When are you going to understand I did it for you?”

Bilba screamed. Her legs buckled and she tried to scramble past him, but he grabbed her arms and held her in place. Plaster dust from the holes he’d just punched in the wall rose about her and she started to cough as it made its way into her lungs. She was sobbing by this point, and her shaking only grew more violent as he drew her into an unwilling embrace.

After a few seconds, he released her to grab her face between his hands. Bilba froze, knowing he could easily crush her skull by accident.

“Sorry,” he whispered frantically. “I’m sorry. I just – I love you so much, you know? And you just won’t see it and it drives me crazy sometimes!” His fingers dug into her temples and he leaned in until his face was barely an inch from hers. “You understand that, right? That everything I do is for you? Don’t you? Your parents had to go, Bilba. They were in the way.”

Lies. Her parents hadn’t even known about him. Bilba had been too young to date, so she’d kept it secret. Lotho had been angry that she’d broken up with him, and angrier still that she’d gone to the movies with Priscilla and a few of her guy friends that night. Those two guys had disappeared shortly after, never to be seen again, and Priscilla…

Bilba knew she should agree to placate him, but she just…couldn’t. It was all lies. He always did this. He’d do some awful, horrid, selfish thing and then just…rewrite it. Suddenly, he was the hero and she went from being his victim to his princess, locked away in a tower awaiting rescue.

Lotho grinned at her. Once, when she’d been young and blind, the look had made her heart leap in her chest. It made her believe all the lies he’d spew at her. How she’d misunderstood something he’d said, or what she’d thought had happened never had. She was supposedly insecure, worried that she didn’t deserve to be by the side of someone as amazing as him.

“I have a surprise for you.”

Bilba flinched. “That’s okay,” she managed to get out. “I don’t need anything.”

“You always say that.” He jerked her away from the door, opened it, and then half dragged her out. The landing outside was narrow, just a strip of weather worn wood with a rickety, waist high railing that overlooked the darkened parking lot below. The only light came from the guttering bulbs of ancient light poles, the only sound was the rush of distant cars zipping along the highway that ran behind the building.

Lotho pulled her toward the stairs. The grip he had on her arm was far too tight. She’d have a bruise the next day, one more to add to the growing list of injuries she’d sustained at the hands of Lotho’s brutal and unpredictable mood swings.

They reached the parking lot and Lotho steered her to a tiny, nondescript red sedan parked under the sole, dying light pole in the parking lot. There was a sticker on it for a college she didn’t recognize, and the license plate had a rhinestone encrusted frame surrounding it.

Lotho pulled a set of keys from his pocket and hit a button. Bilba heard the quiet beep and saw the trunk pop up an inch or two. A deep sense of foreboding sank over her. Her breathing quickened, and she dug in her heels, resisting Lotho’s pull.

He wrapped his free arm around her waist, lifted her feet off the ground and carried her forward. “Now, now, don’t be like that. I went to so much trouble to surprise you, the least you could do is show a little gratitude.”

He set her down at the back of the car and reached for the trunk lid. As he did, the sleeve of his shirt slid back and Bilba caught a brief sight of the soulmark on his wrist, a small raven with its wings outstretched in flight. It looked…different, a light gray instead of deep black, almost as if it were…fading.

Lotho smiled brilliantly, teeth flashing white in the dark, and pulled the trunk lid up, exposing what was inside.

Bilba looked in, and began to scream.

***

Bilba sat up sharply, breath coming in hard, throat burning gasps. She shut her eyes, clenched her hands into fists and gritted her teeth as acid soured her mouth.

So much for not having nightmares. Though, to be fair, that hadn’t exactly been a nightmare, had it?

Nightmares weren’t real.

She opened her eyes and glanced to her side, hoping she hadn’t disturbed the wolf.

In the next moment, her body was reacting without conscious thought. She shrieked, and then was scrabbling backwards, right off the edge of the bed. She hit the ground hard, pain spiking through her tailbone. She barely registered it as she continued to backpedal, until she hit the wall and there was nowhere left to go.

Her entire chest seemed to clench, and it suddenly felt as if she were trying to suck air in through a straw. A horrific, grating sound came from her own throat as she fought to breathe. She was having a heart attack, she thought frantically. She was having a heart attack and was going to die right here and now, and wouldn’t that just serve Lotho right?

She wrapped her arms around her torso, closed her eyes, and sagged forward on her knees until she could press her forehead into the floor. Breathe, she told herself desperately, just breathe. It’s not a heart attack, it’s a panic attack. You’re having a panic attack. Just relax. Focus. She tried to call up happy memories, five years and another lifetime in the past. Memories of laughing with her parents, spending time with Priscilla, simply being able to live in a world without fear.

It took ages, or felt like it, before her heart stopped trying to beat its way out of her chest, and her throat relaxed enough to let her breathe. She opened her eyes and focused on the floor, counting the individual carpet fibers until she felt back in control.

“Okay,” she whispered. “You have to get up.” She let out a breath, closed her eyes again, and then pushed up so that she was on her knees with her arms still wrapped around herself. “Please be a mistake,” she whispered. “Please be a mistake.”

She held her breath, opened her eyes, and promptly let out a strangled whimper.

There was a man in her bed.

There was no sign of the wolf, and the door was still barred shut by her dresser so the wolf couldn’t have gotten out and the man…how had he gotten in? Through the window? But then why hadn’t the wolf reacted, and where was it now?

“Who are you?” Bilba managed to get out weakly, digging her fingers into her forearms. Way to go, she immediately chided herself. Very brave. He must be quaking in his shoes. She turned hopefully toward the bathroom, but it was empty. No wolf hanging out and waiting for her to notice him.

The man hadn’t answered her, but also hadn’t moved. Not when she’d screamed and fallen out of bed, and not through the entirety of her panic attack. She could see his chest rising and falling from where she knelt, so he was alive at least. He was lying on his back, head turned away from her. She could see he had slicked back, dark blond hair and was dressed in jeans, and a denim, button down shirt.

He was also big. Like, really big, his body taking up most of the half of the bed he was lying on.

He still wasn’t reacting. Was he just the world’s deepest sleeper who happened to like breaking into women’s homes to fall asleep next to them in bed? She frowned at the door, still barred shut, and then the window over her head which also appeared to be firmly shut and untampered with.

There was a suspicion forming in her mind, hazy and nebulous and she wasn’t anywhere near ready to deal with it so she proceeded to ignore it entirely.

She chewed on her lower lip, trying to decide what to do. Calling the police was out of the question. They’d want to make a report, and it’d go into the system. Given the circumstances and general oddity of it, it might even warrant a story on the local news. Lotho already had the ability to track her wherever she went, somehow. The last thing she wanted was to shine a veritable beacon for him.

So, no police, which left her two options. Stay right where she was in the desperate hope that the situation would somehow, miraculously resolve itself or…figure it out.

She steeled herself, let out a breath in a feeble attempt to settle her still jangling nerves, and forced herself to start shuffling forward on her knees. She reached the edge of the bed, and froze, hands clasped in front of her in silent prayer.

This close, she could now see things she hadn’t noticed from back against the wall. His breathing was labored, chest raising and falling faster than normal. Bilba hesitated and then, slowly, crawled onto the mattress. She curled her legs under her and sank down on them, staying so close to the edge that her feet nearly hung off it.

He never moved.

Bilba shook her head. She should be running. Move the dresser and get out. Go to her safe space and wait in the hopes she’d come back to find him gone.

She should be doing that.

Should…but…he hadn’t hurt her, and he’d had plenty of chances. And, more than that…

She was thinking that…that perhaps…

He moaned suddenly, and she tensed. He turned his head toward her, and she could see he was young, maybe a few years older than her, and that his expression was twisted in an unconscious grimace of pain. There was a sheen of sweat coating his face and his hair and his shirt had damp spots.

Bilba scooted forward, close enough that her knees touched his side. Heat radiated off him, burning through his shirt and spreading over her skin.

“Are you all right?” Bilba whispered. She raised a hand, hesitated, and then carefully put it on his chest in a vague attempt to shake him awake. The suspicion in her mind grew and, as strange as it might seem, it wasn’t as insane as it might have been five years ago.

After what she’d seen with Lotho, after what she knew about him, it made sense, didn’t it? Lotho was…different. He hadn’t always been that way, but he’d gone away one summer and when he came back…when he came back, he was different. Unnaturally strong, freezing to the touch, and she could swear his heart no longer beat in his chest.

No one had ever believed her, but she knew it. Knew he wasn’t human, and if that was true then didn’t it make sense there might be others? And others of different…kinds or whatever it was? Beings who were unbelievably cold…and perhaps beings who could change their form?

Maybe…change from a human into a wolf, and then back again?

“Is that it?” she asked him softly. “Are you a…”

Werewolf, her mind supplied. A massive werewolf that had come to her aid, showed her nothing but kindness and support, and now lay sick and suffering in her bed? Granted, it hadn’t been a full moon the night before but perhaps that part of the lore was simply wrong? It certainly explained where the wolf had gone, and where a strange man had suddenly come from.

Even the fact that the wolf had been feeling ill and now this man was clearly unwell.

It was like that thing she’d read in a Sherlock Holmes book once. “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”

It wasn’t possible that the wolf had somehow moved, and then replaced, the dresser to get out, or that it had opened the window and closed it behind him. It also wasn’t possible that the man in her bed had somehow done the same without waking her up. It was possible that he’d somehow, someway, gotten through the window but that didn’t answer any of the other questions.

Which left only one possibility.

She’d come home with a werewolf who, at some point during the night, had changed back from a wolf into a man.

An extremely sick man.

Bilba chewed on her lower lip. Her eyes darted toward his shoes and she carefully moved to the foot of the bed. It took her a few seconds to orient the wolf to the man but, once she had, she slid off the edge of the bed and reached for his foot. He was wearing combat boots with a zipper and laces and it took a few minutes to get everything undone and then to, carefully, ease the boot off.

A blood caked sock came into view, along with a stench of infection that nearly made her gag. Bilba grimaced and then gingerly worked it the rest of the way off, revealing the bandages she’d put on the wolf the night before, now poorly fit on the man’s foot, and equally soaked with blood.

Werewolf, it was.

Bilba retrieved a pair of scissors from the bathroom, snipped through the bandages and eased them off his foot. The sight of his mangled flesh had her shutting her eyes and swaying as dizziness assailed her. She didn’t know why it seemed so much worse on a human versus a wolf, but there it was.

She swallowed a rush of bile, grimaced at the acidic taste, and then went to the bathroom to get a damp towel to clean the blood off. As she cleaned his foot, she was surprised to see the damage wasn’t as extensive as she’d thought. Or…at least it wasn’t anymore. There were areas on his foot that were scabbed over as if from an old wound, and others that looked simply like a scar but all of it was clearly part of the same injury from the trap.

Bilba paused, studying it in confusion. She’d read stories as a child about werewolves. They always had things like super strength, and super healing, but then they’d also always turned under the full moon and were virtually feral. They didn’t chase away creeps and let scared women cry on them.

Bilba’s face flushed as she suddenly remembered everything she’d said and done the night before. She’d thought she was talking to a well-trained wolf, but now it was apparent she’d pretty much bared her soul to a strange man…who she’d then pleaded to get in bed with her.

“I’m surprised you didn’t go through the window after all that,” she mumbled. “You must think I’m completely out of my mind.

And, who knew, maybe she was. It was hard to tell anymore.

“So what?” she asked out loud, not expecting an answer. “Do you have healing powers or not? Are they broken?”

She glanced up at him, and nearly jumped out of her skin when she realized his eyes were open and staring blankly at the ceiling. She put the towel down and shuffled her way up to stand next to him.

His eyes, half-lidded and dazed, rolled toward her. They were silver, Bilba noted. Had they been silver the night before?

The image of the silver trap that had been on his leg suddenly flashed through her mind, along with another bit of werewolf lore she’d read.

Werewolves and silver were a deadly match.

“Is that it?” she asked him. “Was that trap silver? Did it get in your wound?”

He moaned, his eyes closing before opening again. They focused on her, hazy, and his brow furrowed. “Kili?” he mumbled. “Kili?”

Bilba shook her head. “Who’s Kili?” Oddly, the name sounded vaguely familiar. Like something she’d heard in passing and absentmindedly stored away in her subconscious. “What’s your name?”

It was too late. His eyes had rolled back in his head and then he was unconscious again.

Bilba studied him for a few seconds, hoping that a miracle would happen, and he’d wake up and just tell her who he was. When he didn’t, Bilba steeled herself and gingerly reached for his pants pockets. “I’m just…. going to look for a wallet? All right?”

There was nothing in his front pockets so, with a soft apology, she quickly checked the back ones before looking in the pocket on his shirt and then his other boot in the hope he might have shoved an ID down there.

Nothing.

“Okay,” Bilba said with a sigh. “That’s…unhelpful.”

She crossed her arms and studied him in concern. She had no idea what to do. She couldn’t take him to a vet, and if she took him to the hospital…what? Tell them he was a werewolf, and he might be suffering from silver poisoning?

With no plan in mind, she returned to his foot and finished cleaning off the blood and infection. Blood had begun to ooze out of the areas where the wound was still open, so she pushed the dresser away from the door and went to retrieve the bandages from where she’d left them in the kitchen.

The clock from the microwave caught her attention. She’d only been asleep for two hours. Two hours since she’d met the wolf at the park and...

Her thoughts slid to a stop and the bandages dropped from her suddenly numb fingers.

She’d met the wolf in the park.

The same park she’d met the creep who she thought was her soulmate…

Because he was the only other person there…

Except, he hadn’t been.

There hadn’t been one other person there…there’d been two.

The creep…and the guy now in her bed.

Did werewolves even have soulmates?

Lost in thought, Bilba retrieved the bandages and returned to her room. She stopped in the doorway and studied the man where he lay on her bed. There was no sign of a soulmark anywhere she could see, which meant it either wasn’t there, or it was covered by his clothes.

Bilba went and began to rebandage his foot.

Did she want him to be her soulmate?

She shouldn’t.

He didn’t deserve that.

As she tied off the bandage, he moaned again, eyes fluttering open briefly before falling shut again. He needed help, and more than what she could give him.

He must have people out there. Family, friends, a pack or whatever werewolves called it. People who could help him.

She just needed to find them.

Follow on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27298015/chapters/66695635

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vengfulfate · 4 years

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Both of Them, and Only Them, Final Chapter

Story Summary - Melanie and Miltiades Malachite have trouble with love. They share everything, and this has either scared people away or made them think their relationship was more open than the twins would wish. Then along came Ruby Rose… could she be the one the sisters have searched for?

Chapters: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven

---

The Malachite twins couldn’t believe their eyes. First Yang breaks some kid’s leg, swearing up and down that he attacked her. And now Penny… one of Ruby’s closest friends lay in literal pieces on the arena floor. They could only stare along with everyone else as the horror filled the arena. The screens turned bright red with the image of a black queen chess piece.

“This was not an accident…”

As the speech droned on, the twins didn’t know what to think. The words made sense, but… they knew Yang. And Penny. And Pyrrha too, to some extent. Something was just off about all of this.

“Ruby.”

Neither twin knew who spoke first, but the one word grounded them both. Ruby had left before the match about wanting to ‘check something out’. Now Penny was gone, and the voice on the screen was inciting people’s fear and anger. As the Grimm began to attack, Melanie and Miltiades bolted from their seats to begin a frantic search for their girlfriend.

---

A lot had happened in what felt like a very short amount of time. Since Penny’s…. Since… Penny’s…

Ruby chocked back another sob at the thoughts she didn’t want or need right now.

Since Penny, Grimm had invaded the school, a giant nevermore had been destroyed, and Ruby had launched herself onto Ironwood’s flagship, sent Neopolitan flying, and watched Roman Torchwick get eaten alive by a Griffon. She dispatched the Griffon quickly, accidently sending it through the airship’s drive core. The warship began to fall from the sky, and Ruby had to escape the wreck quickly. Using Crescent Rose’s intense recoil, it was easy to safely fall to the ground.

Ruby may have escaped the crashing warship, but it seemed she didn’t escape her own bad luck. She finally landed on the fairground right in the middle of a pack of Beowolves. The dark beasts all turned to look at the human that had appeared between them. Ruby readied herself for combat. The three weakest – and most impatient – lashed out immediately. Ruby was ready, swinging her scythe in wide, powerful arcs, slicing clean through each beast and destroying them in single strikes.

The next few Beowolves were older and subsequently stronger. One charged forward, and Ruby dealt two heavy cleaves across its chest. It swung it’s claw in retaliation. Ruby anticipated this and fired Crescent Rose to empower her counter, severing the attacking claw. The red reaper spun her scythe around her to bring the blade quickly around the Beowolf’s neck, aimed at another Beowolf behind them. With a single pull of the trigger, she decapitated the first while blowing a hole in the second’s head.

One Beowolf was left, the oldest of the bunch. Not quite an Alpha, but certainly no slouch. Ruby prepared for its charge. She began swinging her scythe as it neared, pulling the trigger halfway through the swing. The tip of her scythe embedded itself in the monster’s side… and stuck there. Ruby panicked, realizing quickly why Crescent Rose didn’t slice right through. Her scythe didn’t get its extra propulsion because her magazine had already been spent. She had forgotten about the bullets she spent slowing her descent from Ironwood’s warship.

She was out of ammo.

She tried to wrench her weapon free, but the beast was faster. The back of its hand came down and knocked Crescent Rose away. The same claw used that motion to rear back and attack Ruby, sending the girl across the field. Ruby found she could only watch as the Beowolf charged her one last time…

Shlick

Shinnk

Thud

Two blurs of color and a flash of silver, and suddenly the beast was bisected at Ruby’s feet. The Beowolf dissolved away, and Ruby turned her eyes to her saviors. “Girls?”

“Ruby!” Miltiades rushed forward, throwing herself down and wrapping her arms tightly around the redhead. “We’ve been looking all over for you! Ever since Penny… Ever since Pyrrha…”

“Ever since the match ended,” Melanie took over tactfully. She kneeled down next to her sister, drawing them both into her own arms. “Are you okay?”

At those simple words, Ruby wanted nothing more than to break down and weep into her girlfriends’ arms. Instead she steeled herself, pushing them away so she could stand. “I’m not okay. But I can’t be not okay here, or it will just draw more Grimm,” she explained. “We need to get to the airship pads.”

“We’re with you, Gem.”

“Always.”

“Thank you, girls…” Ruby wiped the small hint of tears from her eyes before she could break. “Let’s go.”

It didn’t take long for the trio to reach the airship pads. Zwei saw them first, his barking inciting Weiss to turn. “Ruby! Melanie, Miltia!” the heiress ran forward to meet them. “Are you all okay?”

“We’re fine,” Ruby told her. She didn’t miss the look of sorrow in her partner’s eyes. “What is it? What’s going on?”

Rather than answer with words, Weiss simply stepped to the sided. Behind her Ruby saw Blake sprawled out with heavy bandages around her gut. She also saw Yang, unconscious and missing an arm. “Yang…” Ruby reached out feebly, not knowing what to do.

Sun stepped forward to assure them, “hey, she's gonna be okay. The soldiers have a ship ready to take you guys to Vale.”

“But Jaune and Pyrrha are still missing!” Nora argued.

Ruby’s attention snapped away from her sister’s injury. “What!?”

“Look, guys, that giant Grimm is circling the school!” Sun shouted. “Even the White Fang are pulling out! We all have to go, now!”

“We're not leaving!” Ren tried to stand valiantly but succumbed to his own injury and collapsed.

Ruby’s scan told her one thing above all. No one was in a position to go running off after the missing pair. No one… except her. “I'll find them. I'll find them, and I'll bring them back.”

“No,” Weiss stood at her partner’s side, “we will find them.” She turned to the larger group, “look after each other. We’ll be back.”

Ruby and Weiss started to run back toward Beacon. They were interrupted when a hand gripped Ruby’s wrist. The redhead looked back, right into worries emerald eyes. “Take us with you,” Miltiades insisted.

Ruby frowned, “I can’t.”

“We’re not just letting you go!” Melanie argued.

Ruby took a deep breath, placing her free hand over the hand grabbing her. “I love you girls. And I appreciate you coming to help earlier. But right now, you’re civilians and I’m a huntress in training. You don’t have the training I do for this, and I will have my partner. I won’t be going alone. You two need to evacuate into Vale. Please.”

As hard as it was to accept, the pair knew Ruby was right. Melanie looked to Weiss. “You better keep her safe.”

“If you think I’ll be keeping her safe, you really don’t know how strong she is,” Weiss smirked. Her teasing smile fell as the moment passed, “regardless, I’ll do my best.”

Letting go of Ruby’s wrist was the hardest thing Miltiades had ever done. The huntresses-in-training ran into the fray and were quickly swallowed by the chaos. The twins filed into line for the airships, taking several minutes to reach the front. As they were about to step on, they took one last look toward Beacon tower. Just in time to see a massive silver light explode across the sky…

---

Two weeks later

Ruby stood shaking across the street from Junior’s Club. Her fingers gripped the straps of her backpack tightly. She was nervous about what was next.

Jaune stepped up beside her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Are you sure about this?”

Ruby took a deep breath a relaxed her grip. She was nervous about what was next. But she knew it had to be done. “Yeah.”

“Alright,” Jaune accepted, retreated back to Ren and Nora’s side behind her.

Ruby took those tentative steps across the street, approaching the man guarding the door. “Lil’ Red! You’re awake!”

“Hey, Javier,” Ruby smiled. “Are the girls in?”

“Yeah, I’ll go get them,” the bouncer offered. “They’ll be happy to see you. They’ve been worried sick.”

“Yeah…” Ruby muttered to herself, her hands fidgeting. “I’ll bet they have…”

She was nervous about what was next. She knew it had to be done. But that didn’t make it any easier to do.

“Ruby!” The twins called in unison. Before the redhead could respond, she was cocooned by four arms wrapping themselves tightly around her. “We were so worried! We kept every ear out for news of you!” Miltiades explained.

“We even visited Patch after you were recovered,” Melanie informed her. “You were still asleep, though, and we could only stay so long…” The white-dressed twin finally spotted Ruby’s friends across the street, along with the bags they all wore. “What’s going on?”

Ruby lightly pushed the girl’s off, avoiding their eyes while she explained. “Atlas didn’t attack Beacon. We all know that, but the rest of the world doesn’t and they’re not looking for other assailants. I do know who attacked Beacon, though… and their trail leads to Haven. I think they want to do to Haven what they did to Beacon. And no one else is trying to stop them. No one else even knows…”

“You’re going to Mistral, then?” Melanie crossed her arms. “And this… is a goodbye?”

“I’m sorry,” Ruby pleaded. “But I have to do this. Not just as a huntress, but as Ruby Rose. What happened on top of Beacon Tower… my eyes did something. I’m not sure what it is, but I know I can help. So, I have to go help. Whatever is going on… it’s bigger than all of us.”

“So… there’s no way we can talk you out of this?” Miltiades asked.

Ruby’s only response was to repeat, “I’m sorry.”

Melanie and Miltiades looked to each other, having another of their legendary silent conversations. Ruby had seen enough that sometimes she could follow along. This, however, was not one of those times. Miltiades turned around without a word and nearly ran back into the Club.

“Miltia!” Ruby cried out, not wanting to see the girl in pain.

“Don’t worry about her,” Melanie told Ruby.

Ruby frowned at the implication.

“She’ll be right back down with our bags.”

Ruby blinked. “Uhh… What?”

Melanie turned up her smirk, aiming it right at the young leader. “You didn’t really think we were just going to let you go, do you?”

“But… it’ll be dangerous,” Ruby reminded them.

“Exactly,” Melanie shrugged. “And with Cross-Continental Communication down, you can’t call us. How are we supposed to know you’re okay if we don’t come with?”

“You guys don’t have the training we do to last in the wilds,” Ruby argued.

“So teach us,” Melanie countered easily.

“T-teach you?” Ruby’s confusion climbed ever higher. “I-I don’t…”

“Ruby,” Melanie captured her girlfriend’s attention with a genuine smile. “We love you. You are the best thing that has ever happened to us. And because of that, we refuse to let you leave without us. We’re not just going to sit back and worry about you while you go to war half a world away.”

Ruby didn’t know what to think. “If you come with us, there might not be any turning back.”

“We’ll follow you to the end of the world,” Melanie assured. “We love you, and we’re not letting you go.”

Miltiades emerged from the club with two backpacks and a large envelope in her hand. She approached her sister and her girlfriend with a serious look on her face. “What’s the verdict?”

“I think she’s coming to terms with it,” Melanie answered her sister.

“Good,” Miltiades turned to Ruby with a smirk, “because you don’t get a choice this time, Gem.”

As her mind came around to the twins thinking, Ruby couldn’t help but chuckle. “I love you two so much.”

“We love you, too, Gem,” the twins replied in unison. The trio walked across the street to the others waiting for them. Nora’s smile was getting bigger and bigger.

“I TOLD YOU!” She suddenly cried once they were all grouped up. “I knew they would come with! Pay up, Ren!”

“Nora, no one took that bet,” Ren reminded her.

Nora huffed. “Well, I should get something for calling it!”

“How about new gear?” Miltiades offered. She held up the envelope, “Junior gave us our final pay along with what he called a ‘good-fucking-luck bonus’. We’ll all need traveling clothes at the very least.”

Nora’s eyes went wide. “I knew I liked you two for a reason! Let’s go!”

“Nora!” Ren tried calling after the hyper girl, but she was already halfway down the street. He turned to the twins, “I apologize pre-emptively for whatever Nora may do. Welcome aboard.”

“Yeah,” Jaune smiled, “we’re all glad to have you. Maybe not as much as Ruby, but glad nonetheless.”

“Jaune!” Ruby blushed. The twins laughed.

The group made their way to Vale’s market for their new gear, with Ruby, Melanie, and Miltiades trailing slightly behind. “As worried as I am, I’m glad you two are coming,” Ruby spoke up. “Thank you.”

The twins smiled.

“Thank you, Ruby,”

“For everything you’ve done for us.”

None of them knew what the future held. But all of them were all the more confident now that they would be facing that future together.

---

The main reason this is ending now is because anything beyond this would just be a re-telling of canon with the twins shoehorned in at every opportunity. There may still be unique scenes worth exploring in this world, but if I do so they will be self-contained one-shots. This is the official end of Both of Them, and Only Them as a story.

I would like to take this moment to shout out @malachite-isms. While I never had a conscious thought to drop this story, I almost never finished chapter three because I thought no one was reading it. Malachite-isms started a swell of support, and their love for my story has been one of my main motivations to keep writing it. Just wanted to let them know I appreciate their support.

I hope you all have enjoyed this work, and I hope you consider checking out my other stories on Fanficiton and Archive of Our Own!

- Vengfulfate

#rwby #fanfiction #rwby fanfiction #ruby rose #Melanie Malachite #Miltiades Malachite #malachite twins #Ruby x Twins

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razorblade180 · 5 years

Text

The F Word

{Lasting Embers AU}

[Cult Base, currently on fire]

Yang:Adam can I ask you something?

Adam:*disarming a bomb* Ummm can it wait?

Yang:I missed a lot with Yujin so I was wondering if you could just rapid fire anything about her or your overall experience with her?

Adam:Uhhh, not much to say really.

Yang:You’ve trained her for years and there’s not much to say!?

Cult members:* run in* Freeze!!!!!

Adam:Can you-

He turns around to see Yang grab a member and throw him into another one. She proceeds to backflip into a heel drop, sending another member right into the floor.

Adam:Damn, I don’t miss being that guy.

Yang:*still fighting* Come on dude, give me something!

Adam:Yujin is like you. Stubborn, skilled, hotheaded; at thirteen she freaking out over zits. Teenage stuff.

Yang:Did she ever mention me?

Adam:Through the years it got less frequent, but yeah. All she wanted was to know more about you.

Yang:What’d you tell her.

Adam:The truth; you’re the cream of the crop in terms of fighting.

Yang:I’m flattered. *drop kicks a man*

Adam:*disarms bomb* Got it! Can you do me a favor?

Yang:What?

He clicks a button and throws it at her. A timer for ten seconds appears and panic immediately sets in. With a kick she launches the bomb down the hallway where it explodes near more members.

Adam:See? Anyone else would’ve messed up and got blown away.

Yang:Sometimes I feel like you’re still out to get me.

Adam:Sometimes I feel like I’m still the guy drowning in a river. I guess that’s life.

Yang:......

Yang:Hey, I’ll never be sorry for that, but I am thankful for the things you did for my family. It honestly means a lot; especially learning that you were managing your own.

Adam:That credit goes to Jacquelyn. I just try to be there when I can. *peeks into hallway*

*troops running at them*

Adam:I knew I should’ve set it for fifteen. *grabs sword* Yang, Raging Bull.

Yang:I still don’t like that name.

She grabs Adam by the left arm and gives him a good spin. At the end she launches him forward which sends him flying towards the enemies. Before they can even do anything they’re mowed down by his sword and the flares from ember celica. He lands into a tuck and roll that has him sliding into the next room where a Paladin awaits with a cultist.

Adam:Seriously?

Yang:Hey you took out like- woah, that’s a big boy!!!!

Paladin:*fires rockets*

Yang:*blasting her own* So how are your kids?

Adam:I don’t remember you being this chatty.

Yang:On missions like this you tend to learn how to pass the time. On your left.

Adam:*shoots a guy* My kids are fine. Sienna decided to follow and my footsteps and join the shadows.

Yang:Good for her, cover me please? *reloading*

Adam:Yep.

Paladin:*shooting bullets*

Adam:*deflecting them all* Honestly I wish she did something less dangerous. Her life’s been rough and frankly I think it robbed her of any real childhood experience. I couldn’t persuade her to change occupations.

Yang:That sounds relatable. Could’ve grounded her.

Adam:I tried that. *moonslices guns off* She threatened to be an escort.....

Yang:*snorts* I did a similar thing when my dad didn’t want me to be a huntress. Good to know that tactic is timeless.

Cultist:Are you even taking this seriously!!?

Adam and Yang:Not really, no.

Yang:Honestly the bomb gave me more anxiety.

Adam:I know right? I think they’re getting desperate.

Paladin:*charges at them*

Yang:I think you’re right.

Adam locks his fingers together and boost Yang into the air towards the machine. Metal fists collide to create an immense shock wave that pushes it back into a wall and Yang doing the same. Luckily Adam catches her before the impact and puts her down.

Yang:I swear those things get harder to break.

Adam:Maybe you’re getting old.

Yang:You’re older than me! Also we’re not even that old!

Adam:Stop crying, I was joking around. Afraid your hair might turn gray or something?

Yang:Don’t wish that on me. Oh, tell me about your other daughter! The one Yujin’s age!

Adam:Hmmmmm, they have the same birthday.

Yang:Really!?

Cultist:Stop ignoring me! *charging laser*

Adam:Yeah she was premature; also some medical issues.

Yang:Heart problem right? That has to rough.

Adam:Man sometimes she scares me with how much she acts like me. Jael is really good kid and unfortunately she’s too feisty for her own health; reckless too. I hope she’s taking her meds right.

Yang:*smiling*.........

Adam:What?

Yang:You sound like my dad. It’s weird but refreshing all at once. Both of them mean the world to you huh?

Adam:Of course, *smirks* they’re my girls.

Yang:*stetching* I guess that means we should pick up the pace so we can go home then?

Adam:Took the words right out of my mouth.

Yang:Nevermore.....

A massive blue beam is fired right at the two that engulfs the entire room; bringing laughter to the cultist. He watches is handy work proudly until the blue light slowly gets smaller and is soon replaced by the red of Adam’s sword. What’s worse is Yang is entirely missing.

Cultist:Wh...what?

Adam:Nothing personal but I have other things to do.

A boom from the back of the robot catches the cultist of gaurd. The camera inside shows Yang smiling hard as ever as the punch knocks him off balance. Soon after, the entire right torso of the boy is cut clean through the Paladin and the wave of power makes it way towards a guarding Yang. Her whole body erupts in flames as her fist reels back and slams into the left torso; shattering it. A single flare makes its way through and back to Adam’s sword as he watches the man free fall.

Cultist:I should’ve used more bombs.

Adam:You really should’ve. *raises sword*

Yang:Wait......*turns around*

Adam:What are you doing?

Yang:I still don’t like seeing people die like that. *covers ears*

Adam:......

Patiently she waits for the familiar sound of the moon slice and the uncomfortable wet sound of it hitting its target, but it never came. Instead a loud bang echoes through the room that instantly makes her jump and turn around. Before her laid the cultist member on the ground and smoke coming from Adam’s gun.

Yang:You....shot him?

Adam:Yeah, I......didn’t feel like wasting anymore aura. *sheathes blade*

Yang:.....Thanks.

Adam:Don’t thank me for that; it feels wrong. I’m just atoning is all.

Yang:*holds out robo hand*.......

Adam:*shakes it*........we should regroup with the others. *walks away*

Yang:.......(I can’t believe I’m gonna say this) Hey ummmm, Adam?

Adam:What?

Yang:*walks passed him* I think atonement between us ended awhile go. Far as I’m concerned........we’re friends now. So.... I got your back alright.

Adam:......Hmph, now I know I must be old. I think my mind is playing tricks on me. *rubbing his head* Thank you; looks like Yujin gets her heart from you as well.

Yang:If you tell anyone I’ll deny it.

Adam:Same here; I just might lose all credibility if this gets out.

Yang:Pfft, I’d make you cool and you know it.

Adam:I guess Yujin gets her cockiness from you too. Let’s go.

Yang:Yeah!

The two of them run off side by side; ready to take on whatever happens next.

#rwby #rwby lasting embers #yang xiao long #adam taurus #rwby dragonslayer

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strxga · 5 years

Text

Nevermore Analysis

I just really enjoyed the song so I figured I’d break down the lyrics for the fun of it.

So obviously this is a song about Blake and Yang’s triumph over Adam. There’s some thoughts and opinions regarding how that went that I might discuss some other time but the song also gives us some insight as to Adam’s past and his personality. I’ll be using @elusive-lamb‘s lyrics and there are some that are not complete, but I think they’re good enough to make an analysis out of! All lyrics credit goes to them.

Nevermore, nevermore Will I be afraid or will I run away It’s behind me Freedom is finally here You may have taken the lead but I’ll even the score You won the battle you won’t win the war Not now and nevermore

The Chorus clearly addresses Blake finally resolving her issues and no longer running away, because she’s put it behind her and now with Adam no longer tailing her and freed from the White Fang’s influence she’s finally able to be herself without worrying about endangering others. The chorus mentions how Adam ‘took the lead’ likely referring to how she was under his control and looked up to him, but their conflicting ideals led them to cross blades when they no longer saw eye-to-eye. He ‘won the battle’ the moment she led her fear of him control her actions, which led her to run away, but ultimately Blake overcame this now and forever, or as the song puts it, nevermore.

You talked of subjugation I answered your violent plea Youth and infatuation Kept me too blind to see

This clearly refers to Adam slowly losing grip over the White Fang’s goal and instead focusing on the subjugation of mankind to pay them back for how they treated the Faunus and how they treated him. Blake, young and enamored with Adam the freedom fighter, was unable to see how vicious Adam’s goal was and how it would only further hurt the Faunus in Humanity’s eyes. She was blind to the hatred that fueled Adam.

You think you’re someone’s hero Your heart it won’t ?? I challenge you with a ?? The blood of the savior is not to be lionized

Again, this refers to Adam. He saw himself not just as Blake’s hero but as the hero of the Faunus and the White Fang, the one who would liberate them all, but his heart was filled with anger and hatred and his goal was only for himself. He was no savior but he was seen as such and he was lionized. Adam was first shown to be regretful of his actions when taking human lives in his short, but Sienna and the White Fang celebrated his actions. Him being lionized is what set him on the path of destruction in the first place, but now he’s gone too far and he’s to no longer be lionized or celebrated.

Back when it started I thought that justice was your goal Then in the darkness You lost your mind and I lost my soul That’s in the past and I won’t be controlled

This is an interesting because again, it shows that originally, justice may have truly been Adam’s goal, but the way Humans treated him - treated the Faunus and the things they did and said, him being humiliated by the S.D.C. for an unknown amount of time or years, he lost himself in the darkness he was plunged into. He lost his mind and Blake in turn, for blindly following him, ‘lost her soul’ and became ‘controlled’ by him by genuinely believing in him and his violent ideals. But that’s the past and she’s not going to let him talk her into following him again. She’s free of the darkness that controlled him and intends for it to stay that way.

You had me down, defeated A state that I can’t allow It’s over my fears retreated I’m more like an army now

This is self-explanatory. It mainly talks over how Yang suffered defeat at his hands and wallowed in depression. But she had to get over it again and now that she’s finally had time to think it over and the support of her friends, she has overcome her fears. It is about how she is the same unstoppable Yang that we met all the way back in Volumes 1 and 2.

You offered hope, salvation Gave me a place to be But your version of liberation Was all about you it was never applied to me

Adam took Blake in and offered her hope and salvation and talked her into joining the White Fang even when her parents had left it. It just comes around again to how Adam’s goals for the Faunus were motivated by his selfishness and his desire to make Humans pay for what they did to him. Blake disagreed once she no longer felt like she wanted to take part in this, she ran away, as seen in the Black Trailer.

I won’t stay a martyr It’s my turn to take back what you stole And this time I’m smarter

Again, Yang. She’s taking back what he ‘stole’ which can apply to many things, but personally I think it refers to how he stole her drive and determination and plagued her mind with fear of her. By defeating him she took herself back from the nightmare he plunged her into and she can finally be herself without fear of seeing him again.

I made a vow, I’m not alone Not dying now we’re protecting our own

Blake again with what she said in canon. She’s not alone because, unlike Adam, she didn’t push others away for her own sake and her goals. Instead she’s allowing herself to be protected by others and protecting them without running away like she’s done many times before.

There’s no cause to celebrate Another soul consumed by hate and spite Another destroyed life

This line is directed at Adam and how, despite how the FNDM sees it, Adam’s death is not something to celebrate. It’s horrifying, it’s terrifying and scarring to see how much he must’ve been pushed to believe Humanity needed to serve the Faunus rather than the other way again. His life was destroyed because he was forced beyond redemption by Humans and thus, his life was destroyed not just by his hand alone but by the way he was treated for the majority of his life and by the encouragement of those who saw violence as the only effective tactic.

There’s no pleasure, there’s no joy It’s just the story of a boy who lost his way

Pretty self-explanatory. There is nothing happy about Adam’s death or about Blake and Yang having to take a life. It’s, again, the story of a boy who lost his way. Again, this heavily-implies that originally Adam did not want to enslave humanity or that he was abusive with Blake during the time they were together. What pushed the two apart was not that he physically, emotionally or sexually harassed Blake because he did care for her while they were together. It’s their clashing moralities and ideals and how he was swallowed by darkness, a darkness he couldn’t escape. The song itself is a testament on how a Faunus who experiences pain and torment of unbearable degrees like Adam did is bound to become a monster that fights what once tortured him.

Into shadows strayed To see the light of day Nevermore

He lost his way, he went stray and lost himself in the shadows, and now that he’s gone because of his hatred, he won’t get to see the light again. Nevermore. Adam Taurus made his choice and unfortunately it led to his death.

Again, just stating this because I don’t want to get hate telling me to kill myself, this is just an objective analysis. It is nice we get more Adam characterization through the lyrics and to know he once believed in the cause but being rewarded for being violent ultimately led to the man we got to know in the show. While it’s a bit iffy how the show portrays that it’s okay for the protagonists to commit crimes like treason, murder and breaking of authority because they’re the good guys, overall this was an excellent soundtrack to end the volume with.

#rwby #volume 6 #rwby volume 6 #rwby 6 #spoilers #song spoilers #nevermore #rwby song analysis #adam taurus #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #bumbleby

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saykouyakiimo · 5 years

Text

Adam is related to the god of darkness, as much Ruby is related to the god of light.

Or at least, I found something interesting (parallels you know)

I warn you immediatly, don’t expect anything of me. This theory is absolutely garbage... And tbh i’m scared to post it, because I’m affraid about comment people comments... Yeah RWBY’s fandom is terrifying. Please be kind I’m autistic. Before to start you have to know that english isn’t my native language... Sorry for my mistakes... Oh I wanted to thanks my best friend who translate 50% of my theory in english.

AND ALSO. Don’t tell me that wanting Adam to come back is harmful for abused survivors. I’ve been victim of child abuse, and I kept suffuring until my 20 years, due to my past abusives bests friends. So please stay cool.

Why hope his return despite confirmation?

It may be a long time that Kerry confirmed the Adam’s death, it remains a lot of points to brought up. During the interview, it’s important to know that everything is subject to interpretation, and some details didn’t escape me to make me pick over factors that go in my direction. In the first place, before say that he were really die, he answers to that question : “Was there ever doubt that Adam was an unredeemable character or was there a chance that he could have been redeemed ?” It’s pretty funny that Kerry doesn't employing the past when he answers. He doesn't said “he WASN'T irredeemable” no It’s different. He litteraly said : (paraphase for the first one) “I think he's redeemable” and “I wouldn't say he's unredeemable”. Use time present for a dead person is strange. Then he adds everybody has the right to have a second chance but that the circonstances in which he ran into with Blake didn’t help him at all. At the moment where he had to reveal his potential death, Kerry forced a smile and took a big second to say « yes ». After being interrupted, because on of the animator rejoiced of the news, he right away resumed to output on the tone of joke : “yes he's dead, unless with do a Darth Maul. (character who survived to fatal injuries) Ah. Nah he's... We. [Interrupt]. He fall in water fall, there is no body, but like. He got stabbed twice, and hit his head on the way down, like... He's dead." (Paraphrase cuz I don't fully understand why he's saying) "Now the fanbase hate me, that's fine." The fact that the creator make a reference at the character of Darth Maul, it customs clearance of a thing : he’ll not lie. If our beloved faunus comes back, Kerry will already warned us. He wasn’t obligated to say this sentence, mostly that he introduced it after beint interrupted. Furthermore, he sorely insisted on the manner he was killed, to the extent that he looked hesitant in the choice of his words. Others will interpret it like « yes but for him it was so evident to think him dead, that he feels confuse to explain why ». The words of the co-writer are absolute, he wasn’t obligated to do that. I’m not saying is lying, on the contrary. Just because Adam is dead, doesn't mean he stays dead (it sounds stupid, but you'll understand). For the case of Roman and Pyrrha, it had a sens to exclude them psysically. It had repercussions on their entourage. For the case of Adam, it’s the same with Yang and Blake… But not totally. Fans say that by taking away his life, they finally got rid of their demon and that they don’t have to feel haunted anymore. However, even the song « Nevermore » confirmed this, it’s not a victory. They maybe have the feeling of being free of this monster, but something else going continue to curse them : the fact to take a life. As inhuman a person is, we can’t not be affected by this act. However, if they aren’t affected, it’s a huge idleness and a very bad writing lmao. These two girls maybe consider themselves happy to get rid of him for the present moment, but I expect that the karma come to hit them at Atlas. I can't blame them to have kill him, he was a threat, i'm aware of that (btw I've nothing against Bumbleby dw). Which gives hope a sequel for this character, it’s one of « Nevermore »’s passage :

“Another soul consumed by hate and spite Another destroyed life There's no pleasure, there's no joy It's just a story of a boy who lost his way Into shadows strayed He'll see the light of day”

It isn't without know that the musics of Jeff Williams & Casey Lee Williams have a canonical aspect. The best exemple before anything else, it’s Divide and Sacrifice. The « He’ll see the light of a day » can’t be overlooked. I already see some purists come back for the reinterpretation of this passage, because the refrain start with « Nevermore ». This will implies « Nevermore he’ll see the light of day ». In the literal meaning it’s true, but as it happens, we speak about the fact that he lost his way, and that in this shady way he’ll see the light of day. « Lost his way » is related to the fact that he’s consumed by the revenge and the hate, but he never came out. The last sentence refers to the fact he’s going to come out of it. Add « Nevermore » is stupid, because he always lived in this state of mind. He can't nevermore see the light again, since he has never seen it. Second reason for which this interpretation is wrong, is that it breaks the structuring of the verses. For the first choir it works because it gives « That’s in the past and I won’t be controlled ー Nervermore ». But for the second… « Not dying now, we’re protecting our own ー Nevermore ». It lost its sens, and it implies that they will never protect each other. If a schema applies for one, it should be the same for the other. Another reason to doubt of his definitive departure of the series : the lack communication around the character and of the « final » episode which concerned him. I’m not saying that like « they don’t give enough attention to the character », no it’s really something. Why Adam doesn't appear on the promotional poster, when everyone knew he was coming back? Each episodes are review by guests like comedians, at the exception of one : the 12 one, where Adam die. Even for the season 4 they hadn’t done something like that. Strangely, for the occasion they could have invited the one who’s playing Adam, Garrett Hunter, considering that it will be the last episode where he’ll act. It’s the end of the character that he incarnates. Fans could learn more on the dubbing actor, or the antagonist himself, but there was nothing of that. Cause yes, it stays questions withouts answers. Why Adam can’t use his semblance without his weapon ? How his semblance can project such complex shapes ? Why showed the mark SDC to already expel it ? And as we know, CRWBY never confirmed the type of faunus he was… I’ll come back on this subject. In addition of that, Garrett Hunter didn’t address any thank you messages for those who followed him in the whole series, I want to say that it’s truly strange.

Udapte about Garrett Hunter (Adam’s VA)

Garrett Hunter doesn't confirm Adam's death, people think he probably doesn't know anything about it, but I doubt it. During a live of Mega64, somoene talk about performing as Voice Acting. And then, Garrett talks about his “death”. He uses words like “I was killed, I think”, “No body, no deads”, “I keep my fingers crossed”, but at no time does he says “Adam is dead, he will not come back”. On the contrary, he adds “never say never” and he pretends to pray for his return. VAs know things about their characters. Pyrrah's VA knew that her character was going to die from the beginning of the story, and Yang's VA knew she would lose her arm, and that as soon as she was used to her voice. And what's very encouraging is that the VA Pyrrha had confirmed in an interview and Twitter, the death of his character. And there, Garrett mentions word for word that Kerry released during the RWBY Rewind: Darth Maul (twice) But if there was no hopes, he would say he is dead. In this case, we have not learned more. And if he knows of his return, why tell us? And Kerry either did not confirm 100% his death, basically he declares “He died, unless maybe we decide to bring him back”. Another contradiction with the voice actor of Adam. The guy had the balls to says clearly, that the antagonist he embodied, was killed without them using his potential. But , when his buddy reply “everyone is it saying that your death was bullshit”, Garrett says he loved the scene about his confrontation between Yang and Blake, because it was a retaliation of the two characters on him. It's just a big mind fuck at this point. My guess is that he likes this scene because karmas are finally shared between Adam and Bumbleby, and he knows what will happen to his character. Why would he says that Adam's potential was not used, while he loves his death scene? Because he will be able to make a fresh start. That's my thoughts. I know that he must have trouble with his character, because this one receives ALL the salt of the fandom on the face, and there, they will offer him a way to make his character appreciable. And pretending not to know what will happen to the former White Fang leader is completely stupid. The VA know the fate of their character. Kerry and Miles must have planned his come back in advance, they can't hesitate when they’ll write it in the script, because the situation requires it. Why ? Because his branding S.D.C. directly link to the volume that is focused on Atlas, in the one that will arrive in a few months.

Confirmation of VA about Pyrrah's Fate Confirmation of the VA in about her death

and she declares this just after the first view of the last episode of volume 3.

Mega64 podcast with time code (17:52) : https://youtu.be/YKQ242Pd6Fg?list=WL&t=1072

Seriously, if it had been his final scene, they would have shown us one last time moonslice...

Update 05 july : Does Garrett confirmed something ?

No.

Why bring him back to life ?

Adam is THE faunus who stands out the most than the others, there isn’t two like him. In terms of discrimination, it’s the one who suffer the most. His hatred pushed him to ignore that humans had the same rights of him. He’s blind to the extent that he wants to submit them at his own race, the reverse the role of the one who is tyrannized. He has all the reasons of the world to hate this species, nobody could blame him (even if it doesn’t justify his actions of course). He maybe served his purpose with Blake and Yang, he can always serve others. I mean... He just serves to a plot device and that's it... and that's why I feel so frustrated, cuz there so many things to do with him...… First he could go to Mantle and settle squares up with his old executioners, facing directly the Schnee Dust Company (AND WEISS CAN SEE HIS MOTHER FUCKING BRAND). Secondly, we could send another message : « people can change ». The conclusion of Adam was sad because, finally, nobody really deter him to continue in his way, not directly at least. And when they tried to do it it was too late. Never they're told him « what you’re doing is bad, you should live for another thing than revenge ». Blake implied that she was against the murder, but it didn’t go further that. When he was scolded by Ghira, Sienna rather encouraged him after. As soon as we acclaim him, Adam had a click. Him who was treated like a property, an animal, a sub-category being, finally discovers the feeling to be « lionized ». For him, it was the climax of his existence. Also Goldi reminds me that “Adam hated huntsmen and was so set upon destroying their academies bc they're supposed to protect people but they didn't protect him from the scd and in the end he is killed by two (one human) huntresses”. And this end is so bad for his character... Logic would have wanted Blake and Yang to stop this cycle of violence. And there, the writers decided to repeat it by killing him. Bumbleby didn’t deserve to do that, as much as Adam didn’t deserve to die from their hands. This « death » can make him take a new start… Maybe that Blake and Yang didn’t kill him physically but they’ll kill him psychologically. At the moment when he was stabbed, we can see his face slowly decay. He realizes the fact that he just be stabbed and it hurts. He isn’t the one that he believed, this final point shows that he has nothing, and that the one who’s alone it’s him. And in my opinion, it's a trait that presents him as someone who can have a redemption, because he realizes how wrong he was. Yes he is redeemable and >THIS< show why, and why Adam wasn’t able to get one before. Returning after that, he’ll loose what made him a redoutable antagonist : his confidence. His power, he extracted it of control, but to have control being confident is necessary. Now that the one who he manipulated turned against him, and furthermore it’s one of his kind, he’ll gonna doubt of everything. Adam is weak, with this break, he risks to become a completely different character. The most important point is his similarities with Raven. Seriously I need to detail ? Imageries, fighting style and ideology, they share far too much in common. To the extent that it’s frustrating to see that Yang didn’t make a connection. If you want to spend time, I refer you to a thread which makes you a summary of all the parallels. With so much in common, it’s legitimate to ask if they’re not related. Not by blood because they don’t share any physical similarity, but to be honest, I can see Raven as a teacher.

> Parallels of Adam & Raven < + this one

Grimms masks, Asian style, chokuto x nodachi, same color scheme. It's a bit big anyway lol. AND THEIR FUCKING DARWINIAN SYSTEM

And your theory you piece of shit ?

I’M SO SORRY. I needed to expose thoses points before to can begging it. First, I would like to recall why people thought that Adam Tarus had Silver Eyes. (For this part, I’ll take what said >here< because it’s really borring). This faunus isn’t only assimilate to Raven but with Ruby too, and it’s perfectly justify. The similarity of their symbols, imagery of the rose and the moon. It seems weird says like that but there is another person with Silver Eyes who’s assimilated to the same scheme : Summer Rose. It’s the principal element which supports this theory, since she’s directly inspired of a fairy tale « The Dead Moon ». If you want more informations on this subject, consult this post. Basically, it demonstrates the fact that the personified moon’s light repulses the monsters, like the Silver Eyes, and she was « killed », like the moon in RWBY. This ability is destined to protect the life, cherish people we love. But in the case of Adam, it’s all the opposite. He’s only destruction, hate and rancor ; it’s the opposite reflection of Ruby. But with what we saw in the series, the faunus doesn’t have Silver Eyes but blue eyes. With this, all of this wonderful theory falls in the water.

in the opening 2 of RWBY, Ruby fall since the moon lol

However, with all that I resumed and what we learnt in the volume 6, I asked : is there something else ? We learnt that the eyes light came for the God of Light (GoL/Creation Dragon/…). In my opinion, Silver Eyes are a present of the God to defeat Salem, cause they affect the magic. A considerable help given to Ozma. But could it be possible that the younger siblings, the God of Darkness (GoD/Destruction Dragon/…), offered another thing to our professor, to help him in his quest ? It’s not impossible, since there must be a complementarity. If it’s the case, in what form doest it manifest and how ? I have my idea. First, you should know that RWBY never let something randomly, its foreshadowing is clearly what’s make the charm of the saga. The moon has been destroyed by GoD to restart a new era. Silver Eyes and faunus appeared after this period (HOW STRANGE), it’s a thing to know. Without transition, I’ll go to the point where I would like to reach. Actually i sought differents types of horns, just to try to identify those of Adam. Every faunus has animals characteristics. But in the heap, I didn’t see only one faunus have attribute which couldn’t be identify. Adam has the imagerie of a taurus, but at no fucking time his horns correspond to those of a taurus, not even to goat (even if I found this joke funny). And my issue, is that RWBY already shown a bull faunus.

I mean. No. This isn’t a bull. And there’s no point for him to be a goat (besides jokes)

His horns start in forehead, point back to go inside. And I have only seen one person share those similarities for this characteritic, it’s the God of Darkness/Destruction.

What I insinuate here ? That Adam has dragon’s horns. The theory is completely shitty lmao, I told you.

:thonk:

But It would explain this. Oppositions between Adam and Ruby.

If we assume that Adam is the nemesis of Yang Xiao Long, which means Little Dragon Sunshine, Adam will be related to the one of darkness. And I tell myself that AS BY CHANCE, the dragon of light is Chinese style, like the name of Yang. And seriously, I’ll give you pictures together, and keep in mind what was said on the faunus and Raven.

Just find this here

The dragons are reflected in the world map of Remnant, as it happens at the top we have the God of Darkness and the one of Light on the right.

And looking at the episode 7 of volume 3, I realized that Adam had the map of Remnant behind him. And strangely, the firts plan we have of him, is this one :

Nothing is left to chance in RWBY. It surprises me that there is EXACTLY this continent behind him. The dragon is at the middle of the plan with Adam in font of it. The head and the wings are claerly apparent, the others pieces of lands don’t appear whole, I seriously doubt that this angle haven’t been chosen involuntary… Because when they had to built the scenery, decisions have been done, I tell myself that it’s not innocent. The guys could restricted to this, but no. They continue all along the scene, knowing that Adam walks when he listens the deal of Cinder…

He could stop everywhere, but they chose to structure the scene like this.

Adam only aspires to destroy, like the God of Darkness, counter to his brother, who him search to preserve the life. Amond their powers which have been exposed, we could see that silver light, and specific forms of thaumaturgy. But what will the power of Adam be, if he has dragon’s horns ? I think it will be a form of incomplete immortality, or which needs some conditions to be activate. It’s not impossible, like I said, the concept of life and death can be reverse with magic. Furthermore, if we associate Raven and Adam, it’s not improbable. You know why ? I tell you. In the episode 6 of Volume 5, something caught my attention. Amount of screenshots in coming :

Raven doesn’t believe in what is said to her, there is no reason for her to take literally what Oz told her. She needs to see to believe it. So she saw someone come back alive in front of her eyes, to come and declare the fact that she knows people who can come back from the dead. She can’t have seen Ozpin being killed, since he has not reincarnated in the meantime. Salem, I doubt that she could see her being hurt to return to life, because you have to beat her already. It’s very possible that it is Adam, since this whole scene, is to build in the same way as when the faunus was in full deal with Cinder. The guy stands right behind the fucking dragon of destruction. And what do you think Raven does?

She looks at the dragon of destruction on the fucking map. It’s more complicated to discern because she doesn't face to the protagonists because we do not see what she looks, but her eyes are focused on the continent. In addition, we have a sequence where the camera slides gently on the map, to finish on the continent in question, implying that we are through the eyes of Raven. And some plans show that it pays particular attention to the parcel of land.

Beside, in the Black Trailer of RWBY, we see a crow... Someone told me it was Qrow who was looking for Amber, but I made some searchs on internet, I didn't find any confirmation of CRWBY. For me, the fact that it's could be Raven would make so much more sense. After all, she seems almost omniscient and she can be here, from the beginning. And that reminds me of what Barbara says about “some things could be planned from the beginning”. And I remembered something in Volume 3 DvD commentary : “The idea for the Maidens was thought up by Monty Oum in between Volume 2 and Volume 3 and worked into the story.” So... This isn't suppose to be Qrow looking for the Fall Maiden, right ? Cuz Monty hadn't this idea yet. When he puts this crow, he was thinking to something else, right ? The last option is Raven...

Otherwise, remember well that the God of Darkness destroyed the moon. And what is the name of Adam’s semblance ? Moonslice.

Observation

Apart from these facts, there is something that who intrigued me. All the characters with a red aura, are more or less related to thaumaturgy... (As a reminder name ≠ aura color) Qrow : Crow transformation with magic Raven : Crow Transformation with Magic + Spring maiden Pyrrha : Was in contact with the aura of the Fall Maiden + was killed by the Fall Maiden Ruby : Silver eyes, which are connected to the God of light Adam : Could potentially have dragon horns (why would he escape the rule?)

For those who will tell me that the color of Raven's aura is orange, it's wrong. Originally she is red. It is clear when flames glow from her eyes and she uses her semblance. It's because she received the power of the Spring Maiden that she is orange. When Pyrrha agreed to assimilate the power of the former host, the aura of the Fall Maiden that enveloped it and it was indeed orange, instead of turning red. If Pyrrha had become a maiden, his aura would have undergone the same transformations. The fact that Raven's aura is orange would be incoherent. Because in no case we see this amber in her design, or even in her name ... We would see this pre-configuration somewhere.

Or it’s due to the dust after the fall... Cuz we can clearly that the power absorbed is red, and it belongs to Raven

Some shitty arguments (don’t take it serioulsy lmao) : - Adam’s name means humanity. And that made me think about the new erea, and all this things about gods... - The precious stone associated with the name of Adam, is the ruby. It’s kinda funny when you know that the show is called RWBY, and the main character wears the name “Ruby”. I think it’s more a coincidence, but I have to put this somewere.

This was my shitty observation, bye.

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osakaso5 · 5 years

Text

The Observant Celestial Pilgrim - Throne Of The Stellar

Chapter 23 - Mistero, The Star Of Beginnings

Chapter Index

Lazu: Milord. The Star Sphere room has been opened.

Carnelian: You certainly took your time. Did the priests put up a fight?

Lazu: Somewhat. We've managed to subdue most of the guards, but it seems some escaped.

Lazu: However, we've seized control of the Star Sphere room. The fragment is already within our grasp.

Carnelian: I see.

Carnelian: ........ Lazu, can you hear that?

Lazu: I know not what you speak of.

Carnelian: The voice of the Star Sphere.

Lazu: ...My apologies.

Carnelian: No, it's fine...

Carnelian: The first time I heard its voice was when Father died, and I held Alba's fragment.

Carnelian: "...Unite the Star Sphere, and I'll grant you a single wish."

Carnelian: Ever since then, the Star Sphere's voice has echoed inside my head.

Lazu: ...Do you hear it now?

Carnelian: Yes.

Lazu: .........

Carnelian: I wonder why it spoke to me.

Lazu: .......... Are you really sure about this?

Carnelian: ...Hmph. It's rare for you to assert yourself around me.

Lazu: My wish is for my king's wish to come true. ...That is all.

Carnelian: You never change. That's all you've ever told me, since the day we met.

Lazu: No. I...

Carnelian: What's wrong? I'll finally be able to make my wish come true.

Carnelian: Finally. ...The day I've waited for so long...

Carnelian: Let's go, Lazu.

Lazu: Yes.

- - - -

Hope: Damn youuu... Let me go!

Alban Soldier: Hey, quit struggling! Our king is here in the Star Sphere room right now!

Hope: I'm not just gonna sit here! Even Mistero's fragment... I told you to return them!

Alban Soldier: T-this guy..!

Thud!

Hope: Ow..!!

Alban Soldier: Stay still!

Hope: .......

Hope: ....! My necklace feels hot again.

Hope: Why..!? It feels like it's going to burn me..!

Carnelian: Stop your pointless resistance. You'll only hurt yourself.

Hope: Your Highness!

Hope: ...Please, reconsider putting the Star Sphere back together!

Hope: You might end up destroying the world, and that's...

Carnelian: It won't be destroyed. It'll simply be reborn into a new, peaceful world.

Hope: ....... Lazu! Stop him!

Lazu: .......

Hope: Lazu, are you really okay with this!?

Hope: Once the Star Sphere is complete, I... And King Carnelian, we might both die!

Lazu: ...My wish is for my king's wish to come true.

Hope: Lazu...

Carnelian: Hm... How ironic.

Carnelian: For the king of Alba to wish for a peaceful world before the king of Eterno.

Hope: .......

Hope: You've been calling me that for a while now, but there's no way that I'm...

Carnelian: Hmph. If you need confirmation, take a look at your chest.

Hope: Huh... What is this!? The stone on my necklace is glowing..!?

Hope: And it's even stronger than when we were on Bestia..?

Carnelian: All of the Star Sphere fragments have been gathered in this room. I'm sure the fragment you have must be resonating with the others.

Hope: ...Fragment?

Carnelian: Do you see now? The fragment I'm holding is shining in the same manner.

Carnelian: The stone hanging from your neck is Eterno's fragment, Hope.

Hope: You're lying..!

Carnelian: Of course I'm not.

Carnelian: I knew you had Eterno's fragment from the moment we met.

Carnelian: Because I, too, have Alba's fragment on me at all times. It tells me so many things.

Carnelian: The Star Sphere fragments are more powerful when they're with their kings.

Carnelian: The fact that Eterno's fragment is now glowing on your chest is definitive proof of the fact that you're its king.

Hope: So, I'm really...

Hope: Eterno's king..?

Carnelian: Embrace it. That is your destiny.

Hope: Destiny...

Carnelian: As long as you're born into the royal family, you can't escape it.

Hope: ......!

Carnelian: ...Lazu.

Lazu: Yes.

Hope: .......! My necklace..! Give it back!

Carnelian: Give up, Hope.

- - - -

Hope: .......! The Star Sphere's light..!

Carnelian: At last... All the fragments are together..!

Carnelian: Heh, hehe... Hahahahahaha!!!

Carnelian: Star Sphere! I've done my part. Now, it's turn for you to grant my wish!

Carnelian: ...Create a world that shall fight nevermore!

Carnelian: So that none may ever experience the torment I went through..!

- - - -

Rumble...

Hope: W-what!? The ground is shaking..!?

Carnelian: The contract is sealed. The planets are trying to unite like the Star Sphere did.

Hope: No..!!

Carnelian: Ah... Finally...

Carnelian: Finally, it's quiet...

Lazu: Milord...

Fang: ...King Carnelian!

Fang: The Star Sphere is whole... We didn't make it in time..!

Alban Soldier: Ugh..!

Thud

Erin: Hope, are you okay?

Shinkai: He doesn't appear injured. Thank goodness...

Hope: Fang! Everyone..!

Capella: This is..! ...The Star Sphere's power has been invoked.

Capella: It appears a wish has already been offered to it...

Fang: ...Such power. It feels like all the hairs on my body are standing up...

Carnelian: If it isn't Lord Fang. You're awfully late.

Fang: We hit a pretty big obstacle on the way.

Carnelian: That's unfortunate.

Fang: I'm guessing I can't make you take back the wish you just made by asking nicely.

Carnelian: Hah.

Fang: Do you really think asking the Star Sphere fragment for a world free of wars will work?

Carnelian: .......! How do you know about...

Capella: I told them.

Capella: He has witnessed both your past, and your wish.

Capella: "He"..?

Coda: Amber..!?

Carnelian: .......!

Carnelian: You... You couldn't possibly be... Coda?

Carnelian: ...How, how are you... Alive...

Lazu: .......

Coda: ....... ...Sorry!

Coda: I heard from Capella. ...I didn't believe it at first, but it really is you.

Carnelian: Coda... Then, it's really you..?

Coda: It's me, Amber. Coda.

Coda: ...Though I guess your real name is Carnelian.

Carnelian: Coda...

Coda: I promised I'd protect you when we were kids, but then I left you all alone.

Coda: You've been suffering all this time, haven't you? And I didn't even know...

Carnelian: .......

Coda: This time, we'll go together! Though I know it's been a while since then.

Coda: If you still feel the way you did back then, I'll take you with me, Amber. Doesn't matter if you're a king or whatever!

Coda: I'll never leave you behind again!

Carnelian: .......

Carnelian: Heh...

Carnelian: Hehe... Fuahahahahaha!!!

Coda: What's wrong..?

Carnelian: So what if you're alive!!! I... My wish...

Carnelian: I swore... To create a world without war, without suffering!

Carnelian: For that purpose... For all these years, I've..!

Carnelian: It doesn't matter whether you're alive or not!!!

Coda: Amber...

Mistero Guard A: Stop King Carnelian!

Mistero Guard B: Withdraw the wish that was made!

Mistero Guard A: Uaaaargh!

Carnelian: ......!

Lazu: Milord! Stand back..!

Stab!

Mistero Guards: W-we did it..!

Lazu: Urk, guh..!

Hope: ...Lazu!!!

Coda: Lazu..! You're bleeding..!

Carnelian: .......

Lazu: ...Milord, are you... unscathed...?

Carnelian: Yes... But...

Lazu: My, apologies... For failing to protect you...

Carnelian: ...That's enough. Don't speak.

Lazu: My... apolo, gies...

Carnelian: I told you not to speak! That's an order!

Lazu: ...No.

Carnelian: ......!

Lazu: Just this once... I will not, obey...

Lazu: I always, wanted to apologize....

Carnelian: ...For what? You've always served me obediently, working on my behalf.

Carnelian: You've done nothing to apologize for..!

Lazu: I was the one... Who told the king about your plan to run away...

Carnelian and Coda: .......!?

Lazu: ...That was, truly foolish of me.

Lazu: When I heard the guards were looking for your friend... for Coda, I managed to at least let him escape Alba...

Lazu: However, I made you bear a great burden...

Coda: Why, Lazu? ...Why did you tell him?

Lazu: At the time, I thought it was for the best to our prince... To the royal family... not to let him run away.

Lazu: ...No.

Lazu: The truth is, I simply... Didn't want him to leave Alba.

Lazu: Like Coda, I wanted to embark on a journey by your side... Such an unforgivable thought..!

Carnelian: Lazu, you...

Lazu: My wish, is for my king's wish to come true...

Lazu: I wanted... to grant your wish for you...

Lazu: ...But, if I'd really had your best interests in mind... I wouldn't have confined you... I would've stopped you from doing this...

Lazu: I should've shared your burdens, all this time...

Lazu: ........

Carnelian: Lazu... Lazu!?

Carnelian: Open your eyes..! Lazu!!!

Rumble..!

Fang: ......! The quakes are getting stronger.

Capella: We need to stop the Star Sphere's power quickly...

Hope: Aaaaargh!

Fang: Hope! That's Lazu's sword!

Hope: Break the Star Sphere! That way, everything should go back to normal..!

Cling

Hope: Whoa!

Clang!!!

Coda: Hope!!!

Erin: What was that? The Star Sphere threw Hope off!

Fang: Are you okay, Hope!? ...We can't get close to the Star Sphere like this..!

Shinkai: Such amazing power... There are many unseeable walls around the stone.

Hope: ...Doesn't matter!

Hope: Uaaaaagh!

Clang

Hope: ...Whoa!!!

Coda: Stop it, Hope!

Hope: No!!!

Coda: ......!

Hope: ...King Carnelian!

Carnelian: .....!

Hope: I think your wish is really important.

Hope: ...Of course it'd be better if there were no wars.

Hope: Eterno would be an easier planet to live on if Alba hadn't attacked it.

Hope: It would be great if nobody ever fought wars again!

Carnelian: Then why are you trying to break the Star Sphere?

Carnelian: ...Why do you keep running to it over an over again?

Hope: Because I don't want to make it happen by sacrificing lives!

Hope: Everyone here, Curse... I want the people I care about to live!

Hope: ...You said I was the king of Eterno, didn't you?

Carnelian: Yes.

Hope: If that's true, then I want to be friends with Alba's king... With you!

Carnelian: .....! What are you saying..?

Hope: Let's be such good friends that no wars will happen.

Hope: If you really wish for peace, then shouldn't you be working towards that goal as the king!?

Carnelian: .......

Carnelian: Heh... Making friends in order to stop wars. You talk like a playful child...

Hope: But..!

Coda: So what if he does.

Carnelian: ...Coda.

Coda: The time I spent with you as a kid really saved me, Amber.

Coda: Maybe making friends is childish, but to me, every moment we spent together was special.

Coda: Did you not feel the same way, Amber..!?

Carnelian: ........

Carnelian: I... Back then, I...

Carnelian: I... What I really wanted was...

Coda: ........

Lazu: ........

Carnelian: ...I thought I'd get it if all wars were eradicated.

Carnelian: Playing games with Coda like a normal child...

Carnelian: Going out and decorating the city with Lazu during festivals, moments like that...

Carnelian: That's all I wanted...

Coda: Amber...

Hope: .......

Carnelian: I was the real fool...

Carnelian: .......

Carnelian: Star Sphere. I won't make you whole. Break into six fragments.

Carnelian: You don't have to grant my wish.

Carnelian: ...I'll grant my wish by myself!

Hope: King Carnelian..!

Sheen

Carnelian: ......!? Ugh..!

Coda: Amber! Are you okay!?

Erin: What's happening? The Star Sphere isn't breaking!

Rumble...!!

Fang: Ugh..! This oppressive atmosphere is getting worse..!

Capella: ...The Star Sphere seems to have become whole.

Hope: What!?

Fang: Is there any way to reverse this?

Capella: No. That is already beyond human abilities...

Capella: I suppose we have no choice but to share in the fate of the planets.

Hope: No...

Carnelian: ...What have I done...

Erin: This sucks! I promised our king that I'd return to Lama right away!

Coda: Is now really the time to be saying that!?

Shinkai: ........

Shinkai: The wind...

Hope: ...Wind?

Fang: .......!

Fang: What about the wind, Shinkai!? Do you feel something?

Shinkai: ...Yes. A gentle wind is coming...

Fang: Gentle..?

Gyoooh..!

Capella: .....!

Coda: What's that sound!?

Hope: Wind..? It sounded like a roar...

Shinkai: It's here. The strong and gentle, white wind...

White Serpent: Gyoooh...!

Shinkai: How beautiful... A pure white serpent. It must be...

Hope: A white serpent...

Hope: The Watcher of Stars.

To be continued...

#idolish7 #celestial pilgrimage #translation #extra

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travllingbunny · 5 years

Text

The 100 rewatch: episodes 3x11-3x16

This post contains reviews of the following episodes:

3x11 Nevermore

3x12 Demons

3x13 Join or Die

3x14 Red Sky at Morning

3x15 Perverse Instantiation, Part One

3x16 Perverse Instantiation, Part Two

And with this, I’ve finally finished season 3. It took much longer than I planned, because I got behind with these write-ups due to actual work, and had to write a bunch of them at the same time. But the good thing is, since, like so many other fans, I’ve already seen 6x01 and 6x02, I can now give myself more time to finish my rewatch - two more weeks, before 6x03 premieres. 18 days should be enough for 26 episodes, I hope. It’s also a good thing that I’ll be able to talk about the first 2 episodes of season 6 in my season 5 write-ups.

In these posts, I spoil all of the first 5 seasons, but I won’t talk about season 6 before it officially premieres.

3x11 Nevermore

More literary allusions: after Dante, we get an Edgar Alan Poe reference – and of course an episode focusing on Raven Reyes would be named after a quote from “Raven”.

Timeline: This episode starts pretty much immediately after the end of 3x10 (Jasper, taking a rover to save Raven and run from Arkadia, runs into Clarke) and takes place during one night, during which our group of friends stay at Niylah’s place and try to free Raven from ALIE’s control, while ALIE is trying to find out their whereabouts, because she wants to find the second AI, which is contained in the Flame/chip that’s currently in Clarke’s possession.

This is where the season finally has a big upswing in quality, and it really helps that this one and the following episodes are focused on the original characters from season 1, whose bonds with each other have been developed since the start of the show, but who have mostly been apart, not just physically and emotionally but also narratively - as part of different storylines – during the first part of the season. It also helps that it’s so focused and that it is not all about the plot, but about the characters’ emotional states.

The interactions between Jasper and Clarke are just as unpleasant as you could expect, knowing that Jasper blames Clarke for Maya’s death and for pretty much anything ever, which he does throughout season 3 and at least some of season 4. It’s understandable and annoying at the same time – he’s being very unfair most of the time, but he’s also in a bad place, struggling with mental illness, so I can’t really blame him.

Just as Jasper is blaming Clarke for everything, Octavia is blaming Bellamy for pretty much everything, and that also continues throughout season 3 and a lot of season 4, but I’m struggling more with this – after all, Jasper may say harsh things to and about Clarke, but he hasn’t beaten her up. Octavia sums up Bellamy’s actions in season 3 this way: "You were hurt and you lashed out, because that's what you do"… which is not wrong, but it’s also ironic she says that, because who does that also remind you of…?

Jasper also has a moment where he calls Bellamy out (which is a really rare thing for him, since he’s usually focused on blaming Clarke, except for an occasional moment when he blames Monty), when he gets annoyed with Bellamy for trying to calm him down and telling him not to get angry, and reports: “When you are angry, people die” Which reminds me of Bellamy’s angry words to Clarke in 3x05: “When you’re in charge, people die”.

There’s also the 4th time, by my count, that Clarke’s friends tell Clarke she doesn’t have the right to give them orders (Bellamy, Raven and Octavia did that at various points in season 2) – this time it’s Jasper. But while Clarke normally does have a tendency to take charge when there’s a problem, this time it makes perfect sense for her to be telling them what to do since she’s the only one with a clue what’s going on.

Good thing Clarke noticed one of the Delinquents’ wristbands at Niylah’s place in 3x01, since they turned out to be crucial for disconnecting the chip and ALIE’s influence from Raven (through some technological mumbo-jumbo I won’t even try to understand). But until they do, ALIE uses the opportunity to use Raven to taunt the others and try to torment them emotionally by trying to get to what she thinks are their secret fears and insecurities, so they would lose their cool and maybe reveal theie location to ALIE. However, since ALIE has never been inside Clarke’s, Bellamy’s and Jasper’s minds, this has to mean that the things ALIE!Raven says are at least partially the things Raven has thought about her friends or that Raven thinks would be a good way to hurt them. And while Raven normally wouldn’t say such hurtful things, she can certainly be b*tchy at times and say harsh things to her friends – but this is way exaggerated beyond what normal Raven would say.

When it comes to the actual things ALIE!Raven says to taunt them, the first two things that always came to my mind were: it’s all kind of sexist? Just compare the way she tries to undermine Clarke’s confidence - telling her she’s “poison” to everyone who gets close to her, including blaming her for Finn’s death not just because she mercy killed him but because she previously “broke his heart” (because it’s a woman’s fault when a guy does awful things because of his feelings for her, even though she did nothing wrong and definitely never wanted him to do any of those awful things? Let’s blame her “feminine wiles” or whatever instead of the guy who chose to do these things?) to how she tries to do it with the men – calling Jasper weak and calling him out on failing to save his girlfriend; trying to undermine Bellamy’s sexual confidence (that was the first thing she went for, but it didn’t seem to do anything), later implying that Bellamy is in subjugated position to Clarke and is taking her orders? Which is BS. If she wanted to make a case for Bellamy being a “follower”, citing his relationship with Pike would have been a much better argument. But what’s worse for a man than to be taking orders from a woman, right? I choose to interpret that as ALIE being sexist or thinking that sexist ideas are what humans believe in, so that’s how she should get them, because otherwise I’d have to think that either Raven is sexist (which I don’t think is true – in spite of her bias in how she blamed Clarke for Finn’s failings, which is more of a reflection of her blind spot regarding Finn and her bitterness over him falling in love with Clarke and loving her more) or that the writers are.

And secondly, while some of what she said may sound like “harsh truths”, it’s actually mostly very skewed, unfair or just pure BS. I would hope that there aren’t many people take these things literally. But, unfortunately, I know that there are portions of the fandom who do take some of it as gospel truth, in spite of what source is comes from. I think (or at least hope) that there that there aren’t many people who really think Clarke is to blame for her father’s or Wells’ or Finn’s or Lexa’s deaths (blaming her for Finn’s death especially gets me angry, because of all the reasons above and because she has already been blamed for that and for Finn’s murder spree in season 2, which was the biggest bull*hit ever and angered me the first time as well). And whatever Jasper is, he’s certainly not a coward, as ALIE!Raven calls him. But I can see a lot of people in the fandom agreeing with her when she says “we’ve all lost someone – you don’t see us falling apart” – which is an unfair argument as people simply react to trauma differently; some people break, but that doesn’t make them weak and annoying, and some people can endure and soldier on, but that doesn’t make them insensitive. Or, for instance, she blames Bellamy not only for deaths he directly caused, but also those he indirectly caused (the culling) and even his mother’s death – because he tried to do something nice for his sister. This is a small child’s – or an android’s - view of how morality works – only the consequence of actions matter, not the motivations, intent and whether you even know what would happen, or whether your action was good or bad in itself, all it matters is what the result was. (Which is, for instance, why small children can’t understand why an attempted murder is a worse crime than accidental killing.) But some fans will cite statistics from the 100 wiki as to how many deaths this or that character “caused”, directly or indirectly, as if context and motivation don’t matter. And then there’s another thing that a lot of fans definitely take too literally…

“A good little knight and his queen” – This line is interesting for more than one reason. First off, it’s the first time anyone in the show has ever tried to define the relationship between Clarke and Bellamy in any way – except for the general reference to Bellamy as one of Clarke’s “friends” or her “people, and vice versa. (The fandom, reviewers, people working on the show may talk about them as friends, best friends, platonic partners, non-romantic soulmates at the moment, etc. but on the show, Clarke and Bellamy have never actually defined their relationship or put it in words what they are to each other. Most of the time, neither do people around them. ) And it’s a romantic reference – “knight and his queen” invokes the Courtly Love tradition. (The other time someone on the outside – in that case, not a close friend, but someone who’s just met and observed them – puts a label on their relationship, it’s Diyoza in season 5, who assumed Clarke was Bellamy’s girlfriend.) In case someone missed that, ALIE!Raven also taunts Bellamy by comparing his feelings for Clarke and his feelings for his now dead girlfriend: “Too bad you were never that devoted to Gina”. Bellamy says she has no idea what she’s talking about, so he may not be thinking of his relationship with Clarke in the same terms, though, not at this point. I don’t think he has really defined what Clarke is to him, at this point. (He doesn’t stay silent and look guilty, as he does in season 5 when Octavia calls him out on loving Clarke.)

But there’s also the implication that Bellamy is supposedly subjugated to Clarke and is a “follower” – (“She has just returned and you’re already taking orders”), which a lot of people in the fandom have cited (usually to bash Clarke and Bellarke). And I’m asking, when? How? This may be what Raven/ALIE senses Bellamy fears or is insecure about, maybe what he really is insecure about – but I really don’t think it’s the objective reality. Bellamy and Clarke have always had an equal relationship; sometimes they work together and consult and support each other, other times they disagree and even get into conflicts, and things don’t go as well then. They were co-leaders in season 1; in season 2, Bellamy got demoted, but that wasn’t because of Clarke, it was because Kane and Abby and the other adult elite from the Ark came down and took over. Clarke only had some say because she was the Chancellor’s daughter. Then Lexa, and with her the rest of the Grounders, saw Clarke as the leaders, which allowed Clarke to take the power away from her mother – and Bellamy was already on his mission in Mount Weather at the time. Mission which was always his idea and his plan and that he insisted he wanted to. (Something that many fans, oddly, tend to forget.) Then she left and he was the one who was looking over the Delinquents, though with Abby and Kane as the official power in Arkadia. (Which was the objective reality, even if Bellamy had wanted to challenge that status quo, he didn’t have Grounders behind him to stage a coup like Clarke did in season 2.) ALIE!Raven even asks him if he’s upset that he doesn’t get “credit” for the “genocide” at Mount Weather – I think he was upset because he wanted to share that responsibility, but Clarke kept taking it all on herself. But as to the reason why Clarke was called “Wanheda” and considered her the only one responsible – that’s simply because Grounders saw her as the leader in season 2, and Grounders tend to assign all responsibility to just one person that they see as the leader (because they can’t imagine a power structure that isn’t as hierarchical and based on obedience as theirs is). Bellamy was in subjugated position to the Chancellors, and one can certainly argue he started acting like a follower in season 3 with Pike, and to the lesser extent Kane previously, but Clarke? She already came back in 3x05, and she couldn’t Bellamy to do what she wanted, at all (she had much more success with getting Lexa to do what she wanted). And now that Clarke is back again… well, as I said, the fact is that she’s the only one (except Raven) who knows what’s up with the chip and the Flame and what to do, so it makes sense for people to listen to her. (And in season 4, when Clarke is the leader in Arkadia, she is consulting with Bellamy the same way he did with her in season 1, when he was more in the semi-formal leadership position.) Frankly, I think this is something similar to the phenomenon of people thinking that women dominate conversation if they talk 30% of the time, let alone 50%, because women being in power = shocking, conspicuous, OMG, let’s all talk about it. But Clarke was shown listening exactly at this point, so she may have been thinking, is this how Bellamy, Raven and the others see her, as someone who just goes around and gives them orders and acts like some sort of a tyrant?

Also, regarding the “knight/queen” thing is a pretty big oversimplification of their relationship, since Clarke has done at least as many things to save/protect Bellamy as vice versa, (Not to mention, if we’re talking Courtly Romance, the Knight’s “subjugation” to the Lady was basically a poetic convention, a pretend thing, not actual social reality – in reality, it was the Lady’s husband who usually had all the social power.)

Bellamy was the only one out of the three who did not lose his cool, no matter what ALIE!Raven was throwing at him – and she kept throwing various things and changing tactics. But he later showed anger when he left the room, so at least some of it was actually upsetting him. I would say that most of all, it’s the guilt over his recent actions and killing people, because that’s what actually bothers him - making mistakes that cost lives, causing deaths, failing to save people. I don’t think he loses much sleep over the rest.

But ALIE gets lucky because, while Bellamy didn’t crack, Niylah overheard the part about his role in the killing of Lexa’s army. And, as she told Clarke earlier in the episode, her father was one of the warriors who were killed – but Clarke claimed that none of them had anything to do with it. So not only does Niylah find out one of Clarke’s friends she brought with her was one of the people responsible for her father’s death, but she finds out in a really bad way – so it’s no surprise she loses it and lets ALIE see her, which lets ALIE know where they are.

I was a bit uncomfortable the first time I watched season 3 with the way Clarke was treating Niylah – not that it was ever malicious or callous, it was the situations she was in, but she was kind of using Niylah whenever she needed something, first she found a place to stay when she was roaming around on her own, some comfort and casual sex in 3x01 when she was only able to get intimate with someone she had no stronger feelings for, then she left without goodbye, and only returned now that she needed help with Raven and brought a bunch of friends, and then lied about Bellamy because she was scared they wouldn’t be let in (understandable, but not right), which Niylah called her out on. And Niylah just told her she lost her father recently, but Clarke is instead spending all the time worrying about how Bellamy feels and trying to comfort him. But to be fair, at least Clarke never pretends to feel anything stronger than she does – Clarke may be manipulative, but she’s never using love or sex or friendship for that purpose. Instead, she gets people to do what she wants by appealing to who they are – like telling Niylah she knew she isn’t someone who would let an innocent girl (Raven) suffer. And I feel better now that we know Niylah was eventually pretty chill about all of it, as we see in season 4, and didn’t expect anything from Clarke emotionally that she knew she couldn’t give her (if she had some feelings of that kind in season 3, she certainly got over them), so no one was getting hurt.

Bellamy being confronted with Niylah was a very important moment for him, because seeing someone who lost a loved one because of him made him confront his guilt the way he hadn’t before – not just saying “I’m sorry” to Niylah (an apology which she wasn’t ready to take– though later she seemed to not have a problem with him, though we’ve never really seen them talk to each other again since), but to really question his whole mindset and change it. This is where he realized “I was just trying to save my people” is not a good enough justification, if you end up hurting/destroying other people. It allowed him to progress beyond that mindset.

Another callback to season 2: “What do you do when you realize you may not be a good guy?” – Bellamy questioning everything he had believed in. He was where she was before. And Clarke’s answer is Abby’s line “Maybe there are no good guys”.

Like Bellamy, Clarke also gave an apology that wasn’t accepted – to Jasper, for Maya’s death.

Bellamy/Clarke moments in this episode are quiet, subtle and, at first, somewhat awkward. It’s the first time they see each other after their last, explosive confrontation, and at first, they just stop in their tracks and look at each other. If this was Clarke from seasons 1-2, I would have found it weird that she wasn’t even somewhat upset with Bellamy over the way he treated her that last time, but she’s been much mellower this season and more forgiving in general, and after she forgave Lexa for a massive betrayal in just a couple of days, it’s not surprising that she’s not showing any anger at Bellamy. Especially since she is still worrying whether he is still angry at her, feeling bad that she hurt him by leaving after MW, and feels relieved that he doesn’t act like he hates her. They are not ready to talk about any of it, but while they’re wrapping each other’s wrists, the physical touch looks a lot more meaningful and feels like the first step towards reconciliation (and visually recalls and feels like a contrast to the handcuffing scene).

After being freed from ALIE, Raven smiles at Jasper and apologizes for the things she told him. (We don’t see her apologizing to Clarke or Bellamy, though.) Those two have always had a sweet friendship.

Speaking of sweet friendships, Octavia and Monty’s friendship never got a huge focus, but it has some of the nicest moments between Octavia and anyone. These two go on a mission to the dropship to get an important piece of technology, and run into Monty’s mother, chipped and determined and almost unstoppable, the way chipped people are, due to not feeling any pain. Monty has always been the unsung hero of The 100, but season 3 is when we really get to see his quiet strength and heroism. He suffers some of the biggest losses and has to make one of the biggest sacrifices, when he is forced to kill his mother to save Octavia.

Earlier, Octavia wanted to leave and said she feels like she has no home because she lost Lincoln, who was her home. But Monty reminds her of the bond she shares with the rest of the original 100. This bond was something that was severely tested and almost broken for all of them. He gets through to her – in the end, she changes her mindset and tells the others that they will survive together.

But Monty and Jasper’s friendship is still in a bad place, and this time, Jasper tried to offer Monty comfort for his mother’s death, but Monty didn’t want to accept it. Maybe he felt angry because Jasper is always showing his pain, while Monty swallows it and soldiers on.

When Octavia thanks Niylah before leaving, it’s the first little signs of the friendship between Octavia and Niylah, which is going to develop in season 4.

They come pretty close in this episode to destroying the Flame (and this is not the last time this happens – see: fake Flame-smashing scene from season 4). What saves it is Clarke not wanting to destroy it because “it’s Lexa”. Kind of? I’ve never been sure how exactly the Flame is supposed to work, but this is another thing that the fandom tends to take too literally – a version of/remnant of Lexa may be in it, but so are Becca and a bunch of other past Commanders, so whatever it is, it’s not exactly a person, or not one person. In any case, it’s fortunate they didn’t destroy it this time, since they needed it to defeat ALIE, but at that point, they still weren’t aware of it. But there was also the fact that they needed it to expose Ontari and get her away from power – another good reason for Clarke to not want it destroyed.

Body count:

Hannah Green, killed by her son – another character still “alive” in the City of Light.

Rating: 9/10

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3x12 Demons

I like the way the opening scene plays with the horror genre tropes. It happens at night, Miller tells a creepy ghost story to Harper and Bryan, and then they all get abducted in what looks like a scene from slasher movie. In fact, the entire episode plays out a lot like a slasher movie, with creepy atmosphere and an initially threat/monster abducting the characters one by one.

Most of the episode is about Emerson’s attempt to get his revenge on Clarke by watching him kill her friends before killing her. It was always obvious that letting Emerson go would result in him returning to cause more trouble, and kill more people (poor Sinclair was the victim - RIP). But at least he’s finally dead. All the leading figures of the Mount Weather regime were evil, but none of them were as annoying as Emerson had become by season 3. I have zero sympathy for his obsession with revenge, because dude is a major hypocrite. Here he was doing things like using his dead son’s toy/music box (IIRC) as a distraction and symbolically, because it’s supposed to make Clarke feel bad for the deaths of the children at MW, including his son. I kind of wish someone had told him that they feel sorry for his son but not at all for him, which is how I feel. Dude, you were killing and torturing people in cold blood for years and tried to kill all of Clarke’s people, and you have the gall to blame them for defending themselves when you pushed them into a corner and left them no choice? F*ck off.

Emerson again says that Clarke “murdered 381 people” – which is a wrong number, but as I realized after 3x06, the writers were clearly lazy and didn’t bother checking the numbers of Mountain Men still alive by the time of season 2 finale.

Before the whole Emerson thing goes down, our heroes go back to Arkadia, now completely empty. They find Lincoln’s body and his things.

Clarke explains the whole Nightblood and Flame thing for everyone and why they have to look for Luna to achieve both goals – expose Ontari and remove her from power, and defeat ALIE. Octavia finds a drawing in Lincoln’s sketchbook that includes a drawing of the map to Luna’s place.

Becca’s journal, which Clarke took with her together with the Flame, proves useful, as Raven reads it and starts figuring out how to activate the Flame. It has a password, as an actual computer, and Sinclair is the one who figures out, thanks to his knowledge of Latin, that it’s Ascende superius” – “Seek higher things”. This proves especially important later when Clarke uses the Flame to kill Emerson, because it kills non-Nightblood people it bonds with. (BTW, the Flame looks creepy AF when it starts connecting with someone’s head – it looks like the computer version of a parasite or the Thing.) So, in a way, Sinclair gave Clarke the means to kill his murderer.

Raven says that the Flame’s program got degraded over time and that parts of it have been lost. This may be a way for the writers to try to explain the plot holes such as, why did the Grounders lack all of Becca’s technological knowledge? But then we later see that Madi does have some other Becca’s memories…? Also, it’s weird that this has never come up since.

In any case, we know from 3x11 that Clarke genuinely thinks, at least at this point, that Lexa is really in the Flame, and this episode and at a couple of other late season 3 episodes have moments when she tenderly looks at the computer chip (she even says “Sorry” to it in 3x15 after not being able to find it a host), and little moments when Bellamy notices her looking at it. It’s only been about 2 or 3 days since Lexa’s death (and the rest of season 3 finale takes place over a few days, so the season 3 finale happens less than a week since her death), so that wound is very raw.

Just like with the Flame, there’s some debate over whether people are still “alive” in some way in the City of Light. When Monty wonders if his mom is still alive, Raven says “that depends on what you think is alive”.

A lot of nice relationship moments in this episode:

Seeing Octavia grieve, Jasper tells her he knows how she feels. It’s the first time they’ve interacted since 3x02, when she was offering him comfort.

Sinclair and Raven try to save each other (and trying to save Sinclair is how Raven gets caught).

Even though Bellamy and Clarke have not really made up yet, they work together and reaffirm the trust and care they have for each other: Clarke entrusts Bellamy with taking the Flame to Luna, because she plans to offer herself to Emerson for their friends. She says blames herself for letting Emerson go and feels responsible for Sinclair’s death, and says she won’t let anyone else die for her mistake – which is almost the same as what Bellamy said earlier in the season (when she was not around) “I won’t let anyone else die for my mistakes”. But Bellamy, of course, says there’s no way he’s letting her risk her life herself, and this time he does suggest something else when she asks him to give her another plan, to attack Emerson while she distracts him. But unsurprisingly, this fails the moment Emerson uses Bellamy’s ‘weakness” and threatens Octavia’s life.

How many times throughout the show has Clarke offered her life for her the lives of people she cares about? How many times has she saved them? Count this episode on the list.

Before Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia and Jasper leave to find Luna, while the others stay in Arkadia, they have a funeral/cremation for Sinclair and Lincoln, Bellamy says “Your fight is over” in Grounder speak.

The B-plot takes place in Polis and is mostly about Murphy and Emori.

Emori has learned that Murphy was Ontari’s new Skaikru “Flamekeeper” and believes that he’s running a really good scam. He kind of tries to explain to her that things aren’t exactly like that and that Ontari is crazy (“and coming from me, that says a lot” – good line), but doesn’t tell her the whole story or or the fact that he’s her sex slave.

Memori have sex for the first time (that we know of) – in Becca Pramheda’s shrine.

They have a talk about Becca, and it turns out that Emori had no idea how Commanders were made, Murphy had to explain it to her. I find this really hard to believe, that ordinary Grounders would know so little about their whole tradition/religion/succession rules.

Unfortunately, Emori has already been chipped, so their relationship is, at this point, mixed with betrayal, because chipped people would do anything ALIE tells them to. It turns out that Jaha is planning to chip Ontari. Murphy’s hatred for Jaha resurfaces as he hopes Ontari would kill Jaha, but she instead almost kills Murphy for revealing her secrets to Emori and this way to Jaha. Murphy is locked up again, while Jaha wins Ontari over, convincing her that he can make her a “real Commander”.

And with this, all our season 3 villains have fallen by the wayside as ALIE becomes the one and only threat.

Body count:

Sinclair, killed by Emerson

Emerson is FINALLY dead, killed by Clarke using the Flame as a weapon, which connected to him and made him bleed internally (certainly an original way to kill someone!)

Rating: 8/10

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3x13 Join or Die

This is by far my favorite season 3 episode, and this is in large part because of the flashbacks. I always love getting flashbacks to the life on the Ark before the timeline of the show (so far, there has been four such episodes – the previous ones were 1x03 with Clarke’s flashbacks involving her father, mother, Wells and Thelonius Jaha; 1x07 with Bellamy’s flashbacks about his relationship with Octavia, going as far back as her birth; and 2x08 with Raven’s flashbacks that showed her relationship with Finn, what really happened with the ‘spacewalking’ and how Finn ended up imprisoned, and Sinclair deciding to give her a job as mechanic in spite of her health issues).

But this time they don’t only help give more insight into Pike and who he was as a teacher of “Earth skills” on the Ark, they are also a nostalgic look into the past – very recent past, technically, as they set only six months before the present day due to the show’s compressed timeline, but it feels so distant. It’s a reminder of just how much everyone has changed, including the show itself. Nothing highlights the difference more than the brilliant show motion scene in the last flashback, with the Delinquents walking towards the dropship, set to the Koda slow, plaintive cover of “Radiactive”. It’s one of the best uses of music on the show, with a stark contrast to the energetic, poppy original by Imagine Dragons, which played in the Pilot when the kids landed on the planet – and which seemed to promise a relatively light-hearted teen soap.

Quite a few of the dead Delinquents made a comeback in the flashbacks: while Finn was not there (he was presumably in another group, since 98 students in one class would be too much), we see a lot of minor characters like Roma, Dax, John Mbege (died in season 1), Fox (season 2) and Monroe, who died very recently in season 3. (There’s one other guy called Jones, but I had to look him up and we never saw him die.) We also get to see Octavia, Jasper, Murphy, Harper and Miller with their season 1 looks and remember the way they used to be then, which is a stark contrast in the case of Jasper and Octavia.

There’s also non-chipped, rational Jaha, Kane and Abby at the time when they still didn’t get along because Kane was a bit of a d1ck back then.

How convenient that there were 99 teenage prisoners they were initially going to send to Earth, two weeks before the Pilot (including Clarke, who was in solitary still, as she had been for a year, because Jaha didn’t want to risk her telling the population the truth about the Ark dying) - so when Wells got himself arrested for something so he could follow Clarke, just a day before they were to leave (just how much more obvious he could be?), he made up the nice round number of 100.

Some people have argued that Pike’s flashbacks should have happened much earlier in the season, so viewers would get a more complete and sympathetic picture of him, but for me, they only confirmed what I figured in the first place, that he is a fighter and was someone who genuinely wanted to protect his people, but that this eventually led him down a dark path. You can see his basic character traits in the flashbacks – that he wanted to protect the kids so much that he begged Jaha to let him go with them, and his final and main lesson to the kids – to “keep fighting at all costs, against all odds” is very much in character. You even see him resorting to questionable methods in desperation – like hitting Murphy to get all the kids to fight against him, in order to teach them to stick together and fight, since he wasn’t allowed to tell them the truth that they were going to be sent to the ground, and they didn’t take anything seriously since they didn’t know the truth. (Ironically, he decided to play the role of a villain in that ‘graduation’ class to spur them into action.)

The last flashback also includes an unconscious Clarke being carried onto the dropship, while Kane has a moment when he’s nice to Abby and tells her he’s sorry about Clarke; and Bellamy barging in pretending to be a guard and dragging a random girl by the hand - which happened to be Roma; the same girl who would later become one of his friends with benefits and a part of the group who went to rescue Octavia and died at the hands of the Grounders in 1x06, which Bellamy felt guilty about, because he knew she only came along because of him. The last flashback is a reused shot from the Pilot, with Clarke awake on the dropship, and brief glimpse of Wells

The flashbacks were nicely intertwined with the present day scenes, which highlighted the contrast between the characters as they were then and now – e.g. between the old Kane, and the new, idealistic, bearded and Jesus-like Kane, who gets literally crucified for refusing to take the chip. ALIE observes that Kane is strong (as she had previously said about Raven), and Jaha agrees: Yes. Always has been”.

The initial attempt to have chipped Abby seduce and manipulate Kane into taking the chip fails, because Kane knows her well enough to see the difference between chipped Abby and the way she is when she is herself. He withstands torture, but eventually caves in when Jaha threatens to kill Abby. Threatening loved ones is one of ALIE’s methods to get people to do what she wants – that’s how she got Abby to take the chip (to save Raven’s life), it’s how in 3x14 she gets Luna’s husband to take the chip (by threatening Luna) and how in 3x15 she tries to get Clarke to tell her the password, to save Abby’s life, but that time she failed.

The scenes in Polis were generally horrific, with ALIE’s army of chipped, almost mindless slaves, blood in the streets, and crucified people. The cinematography was interesting: ALIE’s red dress deliberately stood out in, while everything and everyone else was in muted greenish-yellow colors.

This is where the unlikely alliances of everyone not-chipped start, with the really unexpected partnership-by-necessity between Indra and Pike. But first, after they found themselves in the same big cell with Murphy and a few others, Indra starts having her revenge by doing the “300 cuts thing”. Pike is also being himself and going “so get on with it” and enduring it, as she apparently does quite a few cuts (but conveniently, those are mostly surface cuts across his chest and not the horrific scenario Lincoln described in season 2 as something that would happen to Finn; actually, we didn’t see that scenario – mutilation, gorging eyes, etc. – with Gustus, either, for obvious reasons, it’s CW) that didn’t disable him, before Murphy and another Grounder woman changed Indra’s mind (just as she was about to kill Pike) and convinced her that they need Pike, as a strong fighter he is, to fight their way out and fight ALIE’s chipper army. Murphy asks Indra: “Do you want revenge or do you want your people to survive?” and she decides she wants both, but “I’ll get my revenge but not today”. Getting that pragmatic is a sign how much character development she’s had since she was introduced in early season 2.

(But since Indra used a rusty nail she pulled from the wall to cut Pike, realistically he was going to get an infection if Octavia hadn’t killed him in the S3 finale.)

Meanwhile, Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia and Jasper find the way to Luna’s place but are confused since it’s a beach with some rocks, but with some luck and help from Lincoln’s notebook, they find a way to signal Luna’s Boat people. They spend most of the episode on the beach before Luna’s people show up, but it is an opportunity for some important character moments.

I was glad to see that Bellamy has finally had enough of Octavia’s constant blaming, and that he stands up for himself a bit, by reminding her of the fact that he came to her and offered help to get Lincoln out, and she declined it. But as he starts to say: “If you had trusted me...”, he stops himself, probably realizing what he’d be saying and that it’s the last thing she needs to hear - that Lincoln’s death was partially her fault. It is much easier for her emotionally if she just blames him instead. So he just turns and walks away, while Clarke is looking at him, concerned.

I think that their confrontation in 3x05 made Clarke realize how hurt Bellamy was because she left, and chose to deal with her Mount Weather trauma on her own, instead of letting him support her emotionally and supporting him emotionally, so she is now very attentive to Bellamy’s emotional needs, and she now believes they can only get through their traumas together. It’s a bit funny that Bellamy starts by trying to act tough and telling her he doesn’t need her help, even calls her Wanheda and tries to talk as if he did in 3x05, but as she just keeps looking at him in the same caring, compassionate way, it all falls away in 2 seconds and he starts confiding in her about his problems with his sister. This is a dynamic that continues well into season 4 – Octavia still blaming Bellamy, Bellamy unhappy over it, Clarke trying to comfort him about it.

Bellamy says “Forgiveness is hard for us” – and some may see it differently, but I think he means himself and Octavia. Clarke has, in fact, become one of the people who forgive fastest and most easily, and she rarely even holds grudges the way she did in season 1 (against her mother, Wells, Finn to an extent). Octavia definitely finds it hard to forgive; Bellamy is debatable. He can hold grudges, but he’s also shown an extraordinary capacity for forgiveness. But at the same time, that does not have to mean full forgiveness. After all, he already has had a pseudo-parental relationship with Kane – but he’ll still throw it in Kane’s face in season 4: “You floated my mother”. The fact that by season 5, not only is Murphy one of his best friends, but Echo is his girlfriend, says a lot. But it did take him 3 years of being stuck with her on a ship with just 5 other people to forgive her. He forgave Clarke at the end of season 5 pretty quickly, as soon as he realized how she felt about him – but whether it is full forgiveness in his heart… that’s another matter. Back to this episode – he tells Clarke “I was so angry at you for leaving… I don’t want to feel that way anymore”. It’s not that he’s not angry anymore, but that he tries to work on not being angry. And he’s certainly right about his relationship with Octavia, as she is the one person he is refusing to forgive as of the end of S5.

When the Boat people turn up, their Captain calls them “Skaikru are Bringers of Death” – which is something we saw a Grounder say in season 2. So, that term (which I’ll never stop rolling my eyes at, since it’s obvious that Grounders had lots and lots of death in wars between clans and at the hands of Mountain Men way before any of the Sky people landed) has been a thing for a while, we don’t know how it started – maybe because of those llares that ended up burning a village. But how did the Boat people hear it, when they seem so isolated from everyone?

Octavia is the first to go with it and take the pill that makes people lose consciousness (but that, as far as they know, may as well be a poison) – saying “I trust Lincoln”. Jasper does it next and says his repetitive catchphrase “See you on the other side” (which he first said in the Pilot, and which will never sound again after you have seen 4x11).

Sorry, but it’s almost funny – these Bellamy/Clarke scenes are some of the most romantic-looking stuff I’ve seen: the incredibly intense and long hug, where both of them seem to lose themselves in the physical comfort of it, and which only ends because Luna’s people interrupt them; the way they drink the potion at the same time, gazing into each other’s eyes and repeating their catchphrase “Together”- “Together”(it’s the second time they are using it, the first one was in the season 2 finale). It’s almost as if the people making the show are running some sort of a social experiment to see how far they can go and still have many people argue “What? It’s just how BFFs act with each other!”

Luna finally makes an appearance, after being talked about since season 1. The rising music and everything in the scene makes it look like it’s going to be a big moment where she says yes to Clarke’s suggestion to take the Flame and become the next Commander, but she flat-out says “no”.

The episode ends on the reveal that Luna’s people live on oil rig. (Which is the second time that an episode ends with a reveal that a Grounder location is actually something we recognize as a piece of modern technology.)

Timeline. The present day events seem to take place over one day, as most episodes of The 100 do –they start during daytime (when Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia and Jasper get to the beach), continue during that night (which the four of them spend on the beach) and it’s morning/daytime at the end of the episode when they wake up on the oil rig. Most of the action in Polis scene takes place during the night. Which should mean that it’s been about 3 days since Clarke reunited with her friends, or about 19-21 days since the start of season 3.

Flashbacks: The first flashback is set six months before, which is two weeks before the Pilot. This is the first time we get a clear info on how much time has passed since the 100 first landed on Earth. The last flashback takes place at the time when the 100 plus one are on the dropship, five and a half months before the present day action. Season 1 probably lasted a little over 3 weeks, season 2 even less than that, then there was a time jump of almost 3 months (86 days) between the seasons, and with the 3 weeks that season 3 has lasted – it makes up almost 5 and a half months (a little less, actually).

Body count: An unknown number of people in Polis-(some are seen crucified, blood is in the streets) – presumably the 3% who refused to take the chip, so it depends how many people lived in Polis to begin with

Rating: 10/10

===================

3x14 Red Sky at Morning

According to The 100 wiki, the title comes from an old saying that goes:"Red sky at night, sailors' delight. Red sky at morning, sailors take warning". I suppose that’s a way of saying, dangerous waters ahead for our characters?

Luna was one of the most interesting and charismatic characters on the show, and her Boat People are a refreshing new addition – as the first Grounder group we see that doesn’t have the warlike way of life and doesn’t believe in Blood must have blood and all that stuff. They’re unique so far, almost like an isolated hippie commune, who accept orphans and try to help people in need, and maybe the only community in the show that seems like they’re living a good life.

Clarke and Luna discuss Lexa briefly, and Clarke says that Lexa was “special, she was working towards peace”. I get why Clarke says that, since she had fallen in love with Lexa and Lexa died just a few days ago, but it’s a pretty simplified and idealized picture. Lexa only worked for peace for the last few days of her life, after Clarke convinced her; before that, she spent most of her life and rule adhering to the traditionalist views of war, and revenge, ruthlessness in service of your people – so it’s ironic that Clarke is saying that to Luna, who had rejected violence all on her own when she was a little girl.

Luna’s history, which we learn here, is also fascinating – that she was traumatized by being pitted against her own brother in the Conclave and killing him, and then ran away from that terrible custom not because she was afraid of losing, but because she knew she would win – killing other kids and getting to be the next Commander. Lexa was the one she was supposed to meet in the next round, which I guess was why Lexa was reluctant to talk about Luna.

Clarke’s decision to force the Flame onto Luna is something that initially quite upset me, because it’s obviously wrong and a serious violation. I was agreeing with Octavia, who was against it. Bellamy wasn’t too happy about it, but since he (just as in Mount Weather) couldn’t come up with a better plan when Clarke asked him to, he agrees with Clarke’s decision. This is one of the reasons why I don’t understand why so many fans argue that Bellamy convincing Madi to take the Flame in season was OOC, which was motivated by the same things that this was – a pragmatic move to save your people by making a new Commander who will have the authority among Grounders to oppose a tyrant.

Well, this time, the Sky people did end up being the “Bringers of death” – because ALIE was following them, and found the Boat people that way, which resulted in several deaths – including Luna reliving her trauma and having to kill her husband Derrick, after he had been chipped (which he agreed to because ALIE made other chipped people torture Luna).

A minor in-character moment: Bellamy is naturally the one to immediately look to the little girl, Luna’s daughter, and make sure she’s safe.

Jasper meets a new love interest, only to lose her immediately because of ALIE. This brief moment of hope and the way it is crushed made his emotional state even worse and more vulnerable – making him take the chip (which is only hinted in this episode and revealed in the next).

I used to like Luna a lot (I still do quite a bit), and I was upset when she had her sudden character turn in 4x10, going from her non-violent philosophy to “everyone should die”. But now on rewatch, her flaws are more obvious to me. She gives good anti-violence speeches to Octavia (immediately reading Octavia and summing her up: “You know only of fighting and death”) and she makes good points to Clarke that she has become too ruthless, too ‘end justifies the means’, which is indeed a problem with how Clarke has changed because of everything she has had to do. But when she said: “You believe that to defeat an enemy that will stop at nothing, you must stop at nothing… How is that different from blood must have blood?” – I was thinking: but it is different… because one is about revenge, which is not necessary, and the other is about doing whatever it takes to save the world and stop an absolute disaster, such as ALIE making everyone into brainwashed slaves. By refusing to get involved, Luna is basically shirking responsibility and letting the rest of the world go to hell, even though she has the power to save it, because she doesn’t want to get her hands dirty again. She prefers to keep her moral high ground and judge others, like Clarke, for ruthless things they do to save people and the world. But Clarke is the one trying to save the world. Maybe Luna’s eventual turn is not so out-of-character after all – it was the ultimate expression of her judgmental views of people: either they are perfectly good and don’t engage in violence or any ruthless actions out of necessity and desperation, or they don’t deserve to survive and should all die.

Seeing the outcome of this plotline – after pretending to agree to take the Flame, Luna makes the group drink something to lose their consciousness and sends them back to the shore after the boat has left – makes all of this like a huge waste of time. After all the build-up, Clarke, Bellamy and Octavia are left where they started, wondering what to do to stop ALIE. But knowing Luna’s role in season 4, the story had a purpose.

In Arkadia, Monty had two huge things happen to him: the beginning of his relationship with Harper, and having to “kill” his mother for the second time.

Marper would become one of the healthiest and happiest romantic relationships on the show, but it starts more or less out of the blue, with very little build-up (except for Monty defending Harper in season 1 when Jasper called her “low hanging fruit”, and a few scenes of Monty caring about Harper’s life in season 2). Harper decides to make a move and Monty is pleasantly surprised and goes for it. It seems like a “we could all die, so let’s have sex” kind of thing. But Harper says in bed that she hasn’t felt happy and safe in a long time.

Raven is determined to find a way to shut down ALIE for good, instead of waiting for Clarke to come back. It’s personal for her at this point – she even tells ALIE “I’m coming for you!” But Jaha again has an idea how to get to people – by using Hannah against Monty. (Jaha has been a huge asset to ALIE because he understands humans, which ALIE probably does not by herself.) But Monty stays stronge even after his mother’s consciousness tells him “I love you” – he says “I love you, too” and deletes her code. This is probably one of the two best scenes in this episode.

But just as Raven was preparing to hit the kill switch, ALIE withdraws, It’s one of the rare moments when Monty loses his temper (and they all happened this season – the last one was after he had to kill his mother in 3x11) and takes it out on Raven, blaming her and asking her if she wants to take the chip again.

The best moment in this episode and one of the best lines belongs to Emori. Unlike her brother and Gideon, she did not change her body in its digital version in the City of Light. When Jaha tells her she could correct her defects, she replies “I would, if I had any”. She has not internalized ableism, her disability is something she accepts as a part of herself – she just would love to change the fact that the world treats her as an outcast over it.

Timeline: It has been two days since 3x12 (Harper says: “Two days no one has been trying to kill us”), so I guess it’s been 20 to 22 days since the start of season 1.

Body count:

Shay, because all of Jasper’s love interests must die.

4 people in Polis controlled by ALIE: 2 killed by Indra, 2 by Pike,

4 Boat People controlled by ALIE, killed by Luna – including her husband/partner Derrick and the Captain

A Polis sentry who got to live on in the City of Light. Interesting that everyone in the City of Light modern clothes, including the Grounders – though the guy still has the Grounder tattoos.

Arguably, the consciousness of Hannah Green

Rating: 8/10

=========================

3x15 Perverse Instantiation, Part One

I prefer this first part of the season finale to the second, because it has some strong and tense emotional scenes, especially between Jasper and Monty, and between Clarke and Abby.

Roan is an interesting character, and it’s fun to see him again. He has an fun dynamic with Clarke and Bellamy, and there’s even a rare light-hearted moment when Bellamy shoots and lightly injures Roan to make sure he’s not chipped – taking an opportunity to get him back for the knee injury in 3x02 – and Roan comments: “Now we’re even”.

The fact that Clarke is now ready to put the Flame into Ontari shows just how desperate she is to stop ALIE. After the Luna plan failed, she thinks she can either do that, or go looking for another Nightblood throughout Grounder villages. But the latter might make ALIE destroy another community and they could still fail.

But plans keep failing – the plan they come up with fails because Jasper is chipped and ALIE has all the info about it. Roan gets injured and everyone is captured by Jaha and ALIE’s other slaves. The plan was for Clarke to tell Raven the kill switch, but now that it failed, Raven wants to find a way to kill ALIE herself.

In Arkadia, the reveal about Jasper being chipped comes right after a too-good-to-be-true scene in which Jasper seemed happy and at peace and apologized to Monty for all the trouble he had caused. But he was happy only because of the chip. ALIE-controlled Jasper goes on to stab Monty and knocks out and takes Harper hostage, trying to stop Raven in her plan to shut down ALIE. Monty, Raven and Harper have to find a way to defeat their friend.

Jasper reveals the full depth of his hopelessness in this speech where he says to Monty: “They sent down here to see if the Earth is survivable… from what I can see, it is not” and starts listing all the Delinquent deaths that happened since they landed. (Some of what he says is factually wrong – he’s skewing facts the same way a Clarke hater fan would: for instance, he says Clarke killed Dax, when it was Bellamy, and it was in self-defense after Clarke saved Bellamy’s life; he also says “death by Clarke” as a cause of death of Atom and Finn, not mentioning that both were mercy kills.)

Clarke is captured and tortured by ALIE, chipped Abby and Jaha, trying to make her tell them the password that ALIE needs to access the Flame. Clarke tries to do the “mom, I know you’re still in there” thing, but it doesn’t work – you can’t just talk down a chipped person.

After Clarke withstands torture, Abby tells ALIE that she was right when she pointed out that Clarke is more likely to break if someone she cares about is tortured or threatened: “Her friends are her weakness… Start with Bellamy Blake”. This is the second time it’s been implied that Bellamy is Clarke’s “weakness” – since 2x09, when Clarke first heard that “Love is weakness” and tried to not let her feelings for him interfere in leadership decisions, so she wouldn’t be “weak”. Abby is right that a danger to Bellamy’s life is the easiest way to get Clarke to agree to something – as we’ve seen in 2x12, 3x02, and later in 4x05. Clarke is terrified and in tears at the prospect of Bellamy being tortured or possibly killed if she doesn’t give up the password. But it never comes to that, since Murphy, Pike and Indra come at the right moment and save Bellamy and the others.

Instead, Abby decides to threaten/take her own life to make Clarke fold, so she hangs herself. It’s a very intense, emotional scene, where Clarke is crying and begging her mom to stop, but somehow manages to stay strong and not give up the password, knowing she would be condemning the human race to being brainwashed and enslaved.

Octavia showed concern for Bellamy when they were about to take him away, which is one of the very few times she shows warmer feelings for him in season 3b and 4.

There’s some snark between Murphy and Miller, and then Bellamy and Murphy have their first conversation since season 2. It’s kind of awkward, because Bellamy doesn’t trust Murphy yet and is confused as to why Murphy is doing anything heroic. Murphy is like ‘you’re welcome” – but he should understand that saving people doesn’t mean you don’t have to apologize for the crap he did in the past (and he will realize that and start really trying to do better in season 4). He compares Bellamy’s concern for Clarke for his concern for Emori, saying “You’re not the only one trying to save someone you care about”, but he’s still doing putting on the antiheroic, cynical front, saying he will stop doing the right thing after this.

The reunion between Bellamy and Pike also may be slightly awkward, since Bellamy turned him over to the Grounders the last time they saw each other, but Pike doesn’t seem to particularly care about this. He’s still his old self, but now focused on the new threat (or rather, the threat whose importance he failed to realize back in Arkadia when he was in power and Jaha started preaching about the City of Light, but Pike doesn’t tend to question himself or look in the past, as Bellamy does).

There’s a lot of fighting in this and the next episode, but at moments, it was hard to see what was going on, because it all took place inside the tower, in half-dark.

Indra has finally started using guns! She also gets to fight chipped Kane and saves him.

Bellamy tells everyone to try to not kill any of the chipped people, but Pike and Indra don’t care about that and kill them anyway. Bellamy only does it when he’s forced to in order to save Murphy’s life, even though it is obviously difficult for him now and that he feels bad about killing someone again.

Octavia can’t stop thinking about killing Pike, even though Indra tells her they have to focus on fighting ALIE’s slaves instead. Octavia again expresses how hopeless she feels without Lincoln, saying “he was my home”.

As they finally get to the throne room, Murphy saves Abby, while Bellamy gets the Flame, but the plan to put it into Ontari can’t work because Jaha hit her on the head with a hammer ,which left her braindead.

Is this the only time in the entire show when an episode has ended with “TO BE CONTINUED”?

Timeline: This episode seems to take place over roughly 24 hours – during daytime, night, and the daytime of the following day. Which means, by my count, it’s been 21-23 days since the start of season 3.

Body count:

9 chipped people: 1 is killed by Roan, 5 by Pike and Indra (2 Grounders, 2 Arkadia guards, 1 Delinquent - ?), 2 Grounders shot by Pike, 1 Arker shot by Bellamy

Ontari is braindead, which made me incredibly relieved the first time I watched season 3.

Several other people were injured – Roan was shot and injured, Pike and Bryan were by Kane, Jaha shot by Bellamy (again!), but all the major characters except Ontari survived.

Rating: 8/10

==============================

3x15 Perverse Instantiation Part Two

This is the only The 100 season finale I’m not a big fan of. The first time I watched it, it was one of my least favorite season 3 episodes. The fact that, after all the tensions and complicated conflicts in the previous part of season 3, everything turned into “let all fight together against the evil robot” felt dull and anticlimactic, and it didn’t help when so much of the finale was Matrix-lite. After all, it’s not like the viewers were ever in any doubt if they were going to defeat ALIE or not. Yes, we could guess they were going to defeat the Mountain Men in season 2, but what was shocking was how they had to do it; season 1 finale wasn’t that surprising, but the shocking part was what Clarke had to do to save the Delinquents. There was no real sense of danger in this fainel. The only thing I really found exciting was the reveal about the upcoming Praimfaya.

I liked it a bit more this time, but not much more, because I didn’t expect anything from it this time, so I could focus on the good moments.

After all the talk about how only people with Nightblood could take the Flame, it feels like a bit of a cop-out that, as it turns out, one can temporarily bond with it if they simply get a transfusion of black blood – though, of course, it’s still a risk. And of course it’s Clarke who takes it upon herself to have a transfusion from Ontari, take the Flame and take the chip in order to defeat ALIE.

The Matrix-lite scenes in the City of Light were moderately OK, but nowhere near as good as many other virtual reality storylines I’ve watched. It was a nice touch to see Clarke having the hair and clothes more like those from seasons 1-2, instead of the ugly Grounder-style pseudo-dreadlocks (WTF was that even about?) and an equally ugly dress that looks like a cheap reject that no one wanted to buy at a Goth clothing store, which she has been wearing throughout season 3. But there’s just not enough interesting things happening:

Clarke sees a bunch of people who don’t see her, I liked the part where Clarke meets Jasper eating an ice-cream.

Then they see her, after ALIE alerted them, and she is chased by them.

Then Flame!Lexa appears, fights them and saves her, and they kiss and Clarke tells her “I love you” for the first time. It says a lot about how messed up Clarke’s love life has been, that she’s only ever said ILY to people who are about to die (Finn) or already dead (Lexa). The only time she’s managed to say ILY to someone who’s alive and likely to stay alive was not romantic - it was to Madi in season 5. I used to think this Lexa was very OOC, because she was much warmer, nicer and more open than real Lexa was ever when alive. But I suppose Flame versions of people are different – maybe that’s what Lexa would be like without the role of Commander, without power and responsibility.

However, where are all the other Commanders? Why do we only see Lexa and Becca? Aren’t the others at all interested in what’s going on with ALIE? Also, for some reason, Flame!Lexa repeats the line about her spirit choosing wisely – even though it doesn’t make sense. Her spirit didn’t choose anything – Clarke chose to have the transfusion and the Flame and the chip so she could save the day. That line never made sense once we learned about the Conclave, anyway: previous Commanders didn’t choose anything, it was a bunch of kids fighting and killing each other.

Then Clarke meets Becca and ALIE and they have a talk, which is supposed to be the climax of theseason, but I still find Becca to be an insufferable megalomaniac and don’t care about her. Clarke argues with ALIE about pain and happiness, and that pain should not be removed, as ALIE believes – one must overcome it. Clarke admits that she tried to run away from pain, and this should be a great moment that rounds up her season 3 arc. This would work if Clarke had a great, well developed arc in season 3 about learning to overcome her pain, but unfortunately, I don’t see it. She did start off running away from everyone and ended up getting back and acting more like her old self, but what was in the middle felt plot-driven and ships-driven more than it was about any deep characterization. I see really good character arcs for other characters in season 3 – Bellamy, Jasper, Monty, Raven, even Octavia, but Clarke, not so much.

In the real world, Octavia lets her desire for revenge overtake the need to fight the chipped army, and gets Pike in danger, before Bellamy saves him. Bellamy has two conversations that are supposed to be resolutions of his character arc in S3. To Octavia, he says that she shouldn’t let the desire for revenge overtake her, and that his own “need for revenge” made him to awful things. But that line doesn’t work, because that’s not what actually happened – back in 3x04-3x08, Bellamy was not motivated by revenge. At no point was he like “Grrr, Grounders killed my girlfriend, now I want to kill them!” No, he was motivated by the desire to protect his people in a better way, and his fear that trusting the Grounders again would make him fail them and make the same mistakes that he did when he trusted Echo in 3x03.

The talk between Pike and Bellamy is better-written. They argue about whether they chose to wrong side – and Pike says it wasn’t the wrong side and brings up the likelihood that the Grounder army would have attacked Arkadia the moment Lexa was killed and Ontari took over. Which is a good point. That’s the thing with Pike, he makes some good points, but his solutions are all too extreme and unlikely to ever lead to any positive outcome, just a constant cycle of war and violence. Pike doesn’t question himself or feel guilty, which is a huge difference between him and Bellamy, who thinks of the people he killed and replies that all he knows is that he has to live with the things he has done.

One really bizarre minor moment is when Abby makes Murphy massage the heart of his braindead former rapist, so the transfusion could work. And hey, how funny is it that we literally get to see Ontari’s black heart?

In the final moments of fighting, there was a mayhem where Pike saved Octavia’s life, while chipped Kane almost strangled Bellamy. After ALIE is defeated, everyone is relieved, except Jasper, who is again in pain and desperate, while Monty tries to comfort him, and they apologize to each other for the violent things they did to each other while Jasper was chipped. Clarke tells Abby to go to Kane (she’s picked up on her mom’s new relationship pretty quickly – maybe she had already figured out before that something was going on there). Clarke and Bellamy have a moment, but he sees that she doesn’t seem like someone who has saved the world, and she replies that the world is not saved, because she’s learned about Praimfaya from ALIE.

And then the last moment of the finale is Pike about to make some sort of a gesture of respect/”you fought well”/bygones, and Octavia stabbing Pike. It says a lot about how bored I was with this finale the first time I watched it, that I was glad this happened even though I didn’t hate Pike or want him dead. I was simply glad to see at least one character not singing Kumbaya like everyone else was doing. I didn’t want all the tensions and conflicts of season 3 – even if they were badly done – to be simply forgotten because the evil robot was defeated. And Octavia was being in character; that’s who she is, and you always knew that’s what she was going to do to the person who killed Lincoln. In hindsight, it was a necessary moment in Octavia’s arc. I’m neither upset nor happy about Pike’s death – he simply had Pike “had” to die not because his crimes were too bad for him to live (I mean, come on, even Echo, who was worse and less developed, got to survive and get a so-called ‘redemption”…) but because Octavia would never spare him.

Timeline: the entire episode lasts a few hours, and season 3 on the whole between 22 and 24 days, at most.

Body count:

Four chipped Grounders, 2 shot by Bellamy, 1 killed by Pike, 1 shot by Abby (I took this from The 100 wiki, there’s no way I would have noticed how many people were being killed in all that mayhem.) This is the first time Abby has killed someone.

ALIE, terminated by Clarke.

Ontari, braindead and then presumably dead-dead after Murphy stopped massaging her heart.

Pike, stabbed by Octavia.

Rating: 6/10

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technicallyoneofakind · 6 years

Text

Devout Protector

Author's Note:

So… Here's the thing. If there's anything that I love about the thief, it's his steadfast dedication to his friends and family, even going so far as to correct his younger self on Marcassin's behalf. Even the official website underplays this fact about the guy.

In wanting to write more of this, I may have included some implied but justified violence in this one. Fair warning.

Shout out to Malecxx for reviewing this on Archive of Our Own. Thank you for the encouraging words!

Enjoy some brotherly antics, will ya?

Disclaimer: I own the rights to my ideas. Real talk, this one's inspired by two other fics besides Wherever Girl's "Like a Brother": "Return of the Porcine Prince" by Moonbird and "The Makings of a Scoundrel" by DuckofIndeed. Go and check them out.

~.~.~

A bright light shown in the palace halls and a young boy about fourteen stood in front of a pig-themed fountain. It had been nearly a year since they had saved the world… twice. To be honest, the young wizard missed the thrill of it all. Getting back to having a normal life was hard- everything was so mundane compared to what he'd been through.

"We'll go somewhere dangerous- for old time's sake," he remembered a friend of his saying before he had tried to leave the first time. While his attempt was completely botched, the boy was going to hold that man to his promise.

He ran through the halls, the first stop being the young ruler of Hamelin's chambers. If anyone knew where to find the thief, it would be Marcassin. Oliver knocked on the doors to his majesty's inner sanctum.

The door cracked open to reveal a face the young hero didn't recognize- well at first. The man who had answered the door had tan skin and thick wavy side swept brown bangs covering the forehead of a long, filled out face with a rounded, but average clean-shaven chin.

"Um… Excuse me-," Oliver began, looking slightly up at the man. He had grown a couple of feet since his adventure. Who was he? Why was he in Marcassin's room?

"Wait, Oliver? Is that you," the stranger asked with a familiar voice, grinning with excitement. "You've certainly changed in a year."

"Huh," the wizard asked, taking a half step back, unsure of how this man knew him. He squinted, trying to place the identity. He looks kind of like… Oliver thought, looking into the other person's eyes. They looked tired, almost world-weary for such a well-kept individual.

He opened the door wider to reveal a lanky upright frame adorned with a red tunic, a dark green cape with a magenta stripe at the hem, a wide brown belt, a pair of dark blue pants, and a pair of brown buckled shoes. While neater than it once was, his brown curly hair still fluffed up at the ends, reaching shoulder length. "Oh, don't tell me that you've forgotten," he bitterly remarked while swaying his head back and forth, wounded at the lack of recognition. "It's not like I didn't help you lot save the world." The man leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed and shook his head.

"Swaine," Oliver asked, the gears in his head finally clicking into place.

The prince huffed, glaring at the boy. He couldn't be too mad. A lot happened over the year. For one thing, he had been eating fairly well. He almost didn't recognize Oliver, himself. The hero's boyish features were starting to give way to a young man's- that and he was wearing normal clothes from his world, the traveler's clothes being too small for him, obviously.

He finally shrugged and roped his old friend into a bear hug. "Come here, you!" He tossed the boy's red hair teasingly with one hand, the other gripping his back.

For once, the former thief didn't smell like dirt and motor oil, a smell that he had come to know the man by. It was almost alien. The wizard let out a small laugh when he pulled away, admiring how much Swaine had changed. Without the constant hunch, he seemed a whole foot taller and somehow even more proud than usual. "You look like a real prince! What happened," Oliver asked curiously.

"Well… I'm sort of co-ruler of Hamelin now. My brother doesn't know much about how machines work and let's just say he needs a fresh perspective on the state of the world sometimes." He ran a hand through his brown locks, chuckling. "How it all came to pass is a long story, really. I'll spare you the details," he acquitted, waving his right hand away.

The wizard nodded. He smiled proudly at the newfound royal. "That's really cool," he shouted. He paused, the smile fading a little. He ran his hand through his hair, looking at the floor of the hall. "So… I don't suppose you have any free time to go on an adventure, huh?"

Swaine pressed his left hand to his hip and looked up in thought. "Well…" He placed his right hand on his chin and for a moment, to Oliver, he looked like the thief he had traveled all over the world with. He glanced over at the wizard with a smirk. "I do have to go into town and observe the state of things… I don't suppose it would hurt to have some company."

"But… You said we could go somewhere dangerous," the wizard pouted. He'd been to Hamelin several times over the course of their adventures. The place was as peaceful as could be by comparison to some of the wastelands.

The ruler chuckled wryly, shaking his head once more. "Only those who've never truly explored this kingdom would think it's completely safe," he stated almost sagely. "This place is as full of danger and thrills as Old Smokey or even Nevermore if you pry enough. Besides…" He placed a hand on the kid's shoulder. "You've always wanted to get a closer look at how the city works, haven't you?"

That confident rebellious look the formal prince had in his eye was as alive as ever. His looks and appearance may have changed, but underneath it all was the same underhanded, good-natured thief. Oliver finally accepted the man's invitation with a nod.

Swaine told his friend to wait there for a moment, casually mentioning changing into something less "high-class" as he put it. When he returned, he had dawned a familiar outfit- the old tattered clothes that had seen many a battle. His hair had been tossed about, even to the point of resembling his former self to some extent- only with a full face and a clean shave.

He returned to his slouch, his transformation into a beggar complete. Seeing a sense of eager recognition on his young friend's face, he smirked. "Was this who you were expecting to see," he asked coyly. He began to walk down the hall, only catching a nod from his scouting companion.

A guard was near the inner secret exit of the palace, so no one would catch on. When he saw the hero and the prince approach, he stood at attention. "Going out to check on the citizens, your liege," the guard asked, nodding out of respect. He looked at Oliver and raised an eyebrow.

"What is it," Swaine groaned, eyeing the guard.

"Won't he draw attention to you, Prince Gascon," the guard asked in a hushed whisper, leaning closer to his superior.

The prince shook his head. "I used to travel looking like this all the time with this kid. The only way anyone outside of these walls will ever know is if one of us squeals."

With that, the guard nodded and moved aside, watching the two begin to walk through the tunnel. "Do return safely, sir," he wished, only receiving a silent wave in return.

The mechanical city of Hamelin was monstrous. Oliver couldn't believe so many buildings could fit into one area. He made sure to follow Swaine closely, trusting the ruler's innate knowledge of the city.

"This place sure is big...," the boy observed as they sat on the steps of a building just next to one of the city's shopping district. They had decided to take a short break from all the walking and talking, the former thief explaining the mechanical aspects that constantly changed the city over time.

The man who sat nonchalantly on the step above him, his hand resting on his knee, nodded in response. "Yeah. You've got to be careful in a place like this. There are people who will do just about anything to get their way here. One of the curses of this blasted mechanical monster I call home," he warned. He looked at the shopping district and noted the type of wares they were selling. Shopping district three… the prince thought, remembering its primary source of income.

He nudged Oliver's shoulder. When he got his attention, he jabbed his right thumb over to the bustling businesses. "Looks like this one sells functioning models and machine parts. Maybe we could check it out."

"Neato," Oliver responded, getting up. Soon, the pair were entering the throng of customers and vendors alike. They kept a keen eye on each other for the most part, enthusing over various models and parts they saw- bonding over their mutual fascination with machinery.

Then… Oliver couldn't find the former thief. He had seemingly vanished. Perhaps he didn't hear him say they were leaving the area to check something else out. He began to panic, forgetting for a moment that he could use magic to travel to a safe location. And when he did… he remembered he had left his wand back at the palace. At least he thought he did. The boy couldn't remember in his frantic state, but he knew he didn't have it on him.

Mentally kicking himself, he ran and ran through the alleyways adjacent to the shopping area, tears of frustration fleeing his eyes. Where is he? He thought, hoping to see a glimpse of that old tattered green jacket. That was the most comforting thought at the moment. That's all he wanted to see.

Finally, tired of running, the boy sat on the ground of one of the many hallways of the mechanical metropolis, his head in his knees. At that point, he just wanted to go home. Sure, he was the hero of the entire world, but what good was he without his wand? There was the creature cage, but unless one of them had the nose of a bloodhound, there was no telling whether he'd get back to the palace at all…

At least I have something to keep me safe, he thought, looking up from his fetal position on the dusty metal ground.

Even as this small consolation began to comfort him, a hand slapped over his mouth, a cloth muffling his terrified scream. He was yanked up as his hands wrapped around an arm much larger than his own two.

"Well," a deep, sinister, and even slimy voice began, it's owner's breath foul smelling. "What do we have here? The savior of the world?"

Oliver struggled, trying to break free from the foul-smelling brute, but to no avail. He heard his captor hush him quietly. That alone made a shiver run up the wizard's spine. "Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you… yet," he greedily snarled. "I'm going to take you with me and keep you locked up… I bet the rulers of Hamelin- nay! The rulers of all the kingdoms would pay a hefty amount for your safe return."

He heard the fiend chuckle and breath into his ear sarcastically, "Oh great and powerful savior."

The wizard whimpered in fear. He couldn't focus. He couldn't clearly command his familiars to come out. He sensed the other arm of the brute rise, fist clenched, ready to knock him out with one blow.

A bright light blinded them both, suddenly. Oliver felt his captor release him as a gust of air brushed by. He scrambled away, but fell in his haste, facing the direction of his hostage taker. When the light cleared, the boy, to his joy, saw a familiar well worn, green jacket.

"S-Swaine," he called out, relieved to see the thief standing guard over him. He took in the sight further. His gun was drawn. He had Vemahl, the Aye-Aye Sir, out at his side, its tail twitching in anger and agitation. Blood dripped from the man's left fist.

"Oliver," Swaine asked in a calm rage. "Are you okay?" Even as he asked this, he only made eye contact with the musclebound, grime-covered criminal. He found it hard to accept that this type of ilk lived in the very city he ruled, despite his own past. Hero or no, Oliver was still just a kid. It made his stomach turn.

The wizard nodded as he rushed to his feet, regaining his focus once again. He began to call on his familiars.

A sleeve adorned arm halted him. "Allow me to take care of this," his friend protectively warned, staring down disgustedly the thug. There was no need for familiars for such a pathetic man. The emperor even withdrew the lemur at his feet, it's job done well.

The brute holding his busted jaw looked up at the disguised prince from his meager position. "Jusht who do you thrink you are," he asked angrily, though muffled from the damage. "This kid'sh bodyguard?!"

Swaine pressed his Highwayman's Handgun to the ruffian's head. "Listen here. You'll leave this kid alone from now on, got it?" He seemed to push the brute back with the threat of a gun. "If I ever see you lay your hands on him again, this gun will be the last thing you ever see." He paused. "Do I make myself clear," the former thief snarled coldly.

The thug, trembling at the threat on his life, turned around and ran off into the maze of alleyways, frantically escaping the lanky royal.

A sigh escaped the older man as he slowly lowered his gun. He turned to his young friend, frowning. "Y'know…," he began, shrugging.

"When I said this place was dangerous, I was hoping we'd get into trouble with some giant mechanical monster cooked up by Hamelin's engineering division. Not nearly get ourselves kidnapped," he quipped, holding his hands out almost openly, his right still loosely holding the gun.

Oliver gratefully looked up at the prince. "I- Swaine, I'm sorry- I didn't mean," he began to stammer, tears beginning to form at the corners of his eyes. "I panicked- I should have stayed in the shopping district- I didn't have my wand," he continued, still shaken up by the whole ordeal.

After replacing his gun into the holster on his belt, Swaine held out the wand, Astra, to the boy. Rubbing the back of his head, the thief informed, "Yeah, you kind of dropped this. I turned around to get it, but you were gone when I returned."

"Huh?" Oliver looked dumbfounded at the wand, taking it. He shook his head, looking down. "I-I'm sorry… I should have been more careful." He began to sob, disappointed in himself, clutching Astra.

For a moment, Swaine looked away from the sight. He hated seeing the kid cry- even worse, he hated seeing him hurt. Finally, he pulled the boy into a comforting embrace. Dammit, I'd die for this kid… he realized, still attempting to sooth the distraught teen. "It's alright, Oliver…"

The wizard shook his head, rubbing against the man's chest occasionally. "I-it's not," he argued. "Y-you shouldn't h-have to save m-me," he continued. "I sh-should be stronger than this."

"Hey, kiddo," the former thief began, placing a hand on Oliver's head. "Listen, we all have our off days. No need to get your knickers in a twist about it." He grabbed the boy's shoulders and put himself at a distance but didn't let go. He smiled at his friend reassuringly. "Hey, look at me," Swaine gently coaxed.

The wizard, hesitantly, looked up, still shaking.

"I'm not going to let you down. Not ever. You're way too precious to turn a blind eye to," the former prince admitted, almost moved to tears himself. It was his turn to be hugged as Oliver wrapped his arms around him, wand in hand.

"Swaine," Oliver asked after a moment or two, having calmed down quite a bit.

"Hmm?"

"'Love you," the wizard admitted, gripping the man tighter.

A chuckle escaped the prince and he tossed the kid's hair fondly. "Heh. Love you, too, kid." He coughed, remembering that they were still in an alley. The thought of what people would think slipped into his head. "But we should probably get out of here," he suggested as he pulled away, turning his back to his friend. "We'll get some ice cream. My treat."

And so, they did, heading back to the palace afterward. For old times' sake, the two managed to persuade the guards to release a Porco Grosso tank into the main hall for them to fight- reliving the thrill of facing the porcine armament for the first time.

~.~.~

A/N:

Welcome back. Just want to say, no. I don't "pair" Swaine and Oliver together. Sorry if you got that impression. It was something I worried about writing this one.

I've always kind of put the thief in the role of a dedicated older brother or even father figure, especially since Oliver doesn't have a dad. In all honesty, Swaine is old enough to be the kid's father when you meet him in Castaway Cove. He doesn't look it, but he ain't exactly a teen himself. A lot of people guess he's in his early thirties, late twenties, too. If Oliver is 10 or in his tween years in the game, there you have it.

Either way, after all the stuff they've been through, they'd have to have a pretty tight bond.

Edit: I fixed up the last bit a little. I hope the changes are welcome!

Hope you enjoyed. Do review.

#Swaine #Protective Swaine #I think I went a little overboard #Oh well.#Oliver #Protect the boy #Oliver is capable but really needs magic to fight #Ni No Kuni #Ni no Kuni Wrath of the White Witch

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megwritesfanfiction · 7 years

Text

The Lies We Told (Beast Boy/Raven , Chapter 6/??)

Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. This is a work of fiction that I am not making a profit off of.

Author’s Note: Few more chapters to go, and I can wrap this fic up and get to another rewrite. I think I am going to tackle “Let Go” next.

Need to catch up? I got you fanfic fam!

Past Chapters: Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5

Chapter Six: Still Into You

“I wanted you first.”

Rachel’s eyes fluttered open as she tried to slow her breathing. Lifting her head from his shoulder, she cupped his face gently. She never realized how green his eyes were. “What?” She asked panting.

Gar rested his forehead to her own. “I wanted you first.” He whispered, eyes drifting closed as he shivered in the aftermath. He pulled her closer to him, groaning as her legs tangled around his waist again. “I think I fell for you after I got to see all the different sides of you in Nevermore.”

She smirked at the all most forgotten memory. “I just think you liked the fact that Happy laughed at your jokes.”

“I did.” He chuckled breathily. “I got to see the girl beneath the cloak, and I loved all the pieces of her.”

Violet eyes opened slowly. She rested her head in the crook of his neck and him tight against her chest. Her hands traced patterns up and down his back as she enjoyed the feeling of his warmth.

“I still love her.” Gar confessed softly.

Rachel ignored the stab of guilt at his words. The warm delusion her orgasm provided was slipping away as reality flooded her veins. “I love you, too.” She confessed sadly. Placing her arms on his shoulders, she pushed him off her. Rachel slide off the counter, collecting her clothes from the kitchen floor. “It’s too late though.”

“What?” Naked and stunned, he stood by the counter.

“It’s too late.” She sighed, pulling her shirt back on. “You’re getting married in four months.” Pulling her pants back on, she walked over to the sink to splash water on her face and rinse her mouth out.

“So?”

Rachel froze eyes wide. “So?”

“I’ll break up with her.”

“We’re supposed to be stuffing and addressing envelopes tomorrow.” She scuffed, wiping her face off with a kitchen towel. Frustrated, she threw it across the room. “And, we’re working on centerpieces, the menu board, seating chart-“

Gar leaned against the counter, folding his arms across his chest. “Well, I think it would be better if I called it off before the invitations go out.”

“How are you so nonchalant about this?”

“How am I supposed to be?” He answered.

“Upset, angry, confused…” Rachel paused, feeling her adrenaline and panic rise. “Distressed!?”

“How can I be anything but happy finally knowing the woman I love, and have loved for years, loves me back?” Gar explained tenderly. “Especially, when I’d given up on the idea of us. I moved on with Terra because...” He shrugged. “What else what was I supposed to do?”

“I’m not going to pretend I have the answers for this.” Rachel ignored the excited butterflies at the thought of a future with him. “You’re engaged.”

“And you’re about be engaged.”

Ouch. “That’s my point.” Rachel gestured. “We’re not able to explore this option.”

“Who says?”

“I’m done with this conversation.” She decided, picking up his clothes and tossing them at him. “I’m going to go shower. And by the time I come back to my kitchen to get a glass of wine, you’ll be gone and back with your fiancée, and we can forget this happened.”

He called out, trying to stop her from walking past him. “Rae-“

“Goodbye Garfield.”

“You better be bloody dying.”

“No.” Rachel sighed, rolling to her back as she clutched her phone to her ear. After she’d kicked Gar out of her apartment, she showered, eaten a box of freezer burnt mozzarella sticks, finished the bottle of wine she’d bought and plus one she had in the cabinet, then tried to sleep without her guilty conscious nagging her. “But I think I’m going to hell.”

“Have you forgotten you’re half demon?” Though sleepy, Toni’s wit was still sharp. “I’m pretty sure it’s a guarantee.”

The violet haired woman decided to ignore her friend’s sarcasm. “I think I actually may have earned my spot.” She sighed. “Pretty sure Trigon still thinks nepotism for the weak, even in hell.”

“I’m halfway around the world. I can’t help you hide the body, just teleport it to another dimension.”

Rachel wasn’t sure how to respond to this statement.

Toni yawned, shuffling around. “If you wanna dunk it in acid or something, we can do that when I’m in town for the wedding.”

“Seriously?” Rachel paused, shaking her head. “We’re really having this conversation?”

“You said you’re going to hell…”

“So you jump to murder?!”

“What the hell am I supposed to think?”

“You’re not supposed to think I’m a murderer.”

“Honestly Rae,” Toni started. “What am I supposed to think? You’re calling me panicked, rambling, and crazy ass early in the morning. I’m going to jump to murder. I’m your best friend, so I am the person you’d call to help you hide the body.”

The violet haired woman dragged a hand over face, stressed. She didn’t have time for witty banter. Normally, this would be amusing. “I fucked up.” She sighed. “I fucked up, and I don’t know what to do.”

“Oh god,” Toni gasped softly, hearing the severity of the situation. “Did you cut up Terra’s wedding dress?”

“Metaphorically,” Rachel confessed. “Gar and I had sex.”

Toni paused. “You mean Garth, your boyfriend. Your boyfriend who’s been emailing me pictures of engagement rings because he’s trying to pick the perfect one out for you.”

“No I meant Gar as in Garfield, who is not my boyfriend.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”

“Toni…”

“Nope.” Toni insisted. Rachel could imagine her shaking her head. “I want no part of this. I trust you’re going to do the right thing.”

Rachel was tempted to ask what exactly was the right thing. She was torn between what felt right and what she was expected to do.

“After the ceremony, we can go out and get drunk,” Toni assured. “My treat.”

“Thank you so much for volunteering to do this.” Terra smiled, setting the stack of envelopes in front of Rachel. “I tried to hire a calligrapher, but the rush fee cost more than getting the invitations printed!”

“She didn’t volunteer.” Jinx snickered, stuffing envelopes from her seat across from them.

“True.” Rachel shrugged with a small smirk on her lips. “It’s not my fault I know calligraphy,” She looked at the list of guests, dipping her quill in the gold ink. “And I am happy to do it.” She decided her penance was to, happily, do everything within her power to make sure this wedding happened.

“Doesn’t hurt that you got laid last night.” Jinx grinned, sneakily.

The violet haired woman felt her blood go cold. She was thankful Jinx made that little remark after she finished the name on the envelope.

“Celebratory?” Kori grinned, from her seat. The redhead was assigned to working on the seating plan.

“There isn’t a ring on her finger.” Terra commented, without taking another look.

“That doesn’t mean anything.” Kori insisted as she continued writing. “It could need to be resized.”

“I am not engaged.” Rachel informed, them moving to the next envelope.

“Yet!”

“And I’m just in a good mood, is that so unusual?”

“Yes.” Terra and Jinx said together.

Kori grinned sheepishly. “I would have to agree.”

“You also have a hickie on your shoulder.”

“It’s not a hickie.” Rachel insisted. “It’s a bruise from aerial yoga. I decided to check out a class last night and one of the straps got caught on my shoulder.” If they didn’t buy the lie, Garth wouldn’t. Good thing it was still cold enough for thick sweaters and turtlenecks.

“Ouch.” Terra confirmed, reviewing her lists.

“Looks like a hickie.” Jinx pressed.

“Because you’re a pervert.” Rachel quipped back as she continued to write.

“Pervert,” Jinx shrugged, smiling cheekily. “Free spirit- Whatever. I appreciate good work that looks like good work.”

“Exercise injury.” Rachel reminded as she continued to work. “Didn’t get laid. Garth worked late last night, and I went to yoga.”

“That’s depressing.”

“Hey leave her alone.” Terra defended, pointing her pen at the pink haired woman. “Gar and I haven’t had sex since the engagement party. At least she has something to relieve stress, wedding planning doesn’t do the pinch.”

“Geez.” Jinx flinched. “That was over two months ago.”

Rachel looked to the envelope she was working on, ignoring the guilt she felt.

“You guys are busy with wedding stuff.” Kori assured. “Richard and I went through that. Wedding planning is stressful, and the boys work crazy hours.”

“He didn’t get home until six this morning.” Terra commented. “He showered, changed his clothes, and went to the gym.” She sighed. “I think he’s getting cold feet.”

“I don’t think so.” Rachel added. “This,” She gestured at the plethora of wedding materials around the small living room. “Is a lot.”

“It’s not like he has to do anything.” Jinx snorted, sitting another envelope in front her Rachel. “He just has to pay people-“

“Steve and Rita are taking care of the venue and reception costs, thankfully.” Terra added.

“Well,” JInx drawled. “All he has to do is get a tux and show up.”

“That is the groom’s job.” Kori giggled. “I did all the planning for my wedding. Richard really didn’t care. I promise, the day after the wedding you both are going to breathe a big sigh of the relief.”

“Whoa.”

The women looked up to see Gar stopping in the doorway with his gym bag on his shoulder. His living room was littered with color swatches, faux flowers, vases, bags, and many little trinkets.

“Speak of the devil.” Jinx laughed. “Welcome to the party.”

“Party?” He questioned, stepping over the pile of papers and walking over to the table they sat at. “What is all this stuff?”

Rachel could feel his eyes on her as he pressed a kiss to Terra’s forehead. She continued writing.

“Centerpiece ideas, tablecloth and napkin swatches, wedding favors, invitations-“

“I thought we were going to wait a couple weeks to send those out?” Gar asked, picking up one of the invitations. “The wedding is four months away. We’ve got plenty of time.”

Terra shook her head. “Less than four months. We didn’t send out save the date cards and the caterers a count for plates, so these need to go out preferably as soon as possible.”

“Yea, but I thought you wanted a calligrapher to address them.”

“Calligrapher would have to charge a couple hundred for a rush order, and Rachel graciously offered to address them for us.” Terra smiled, pointing to the woman’s handy work. “I figured if we could get these addressed before the weekend is over, I could mail them out Monday.”

“Let’s wait until the end of the month.” Gar pushed, leaning between Rachel and Terra as he pretended to examine Rachel’s calligraphy. “These look nice.”

“Gar, some of these have to mailed outside the country.”

“We could just to digital invites.”

“No, not for a formal wedding.” Kori frowned from her seat.

Gar sighed. “Can we-“

Rachel knew where this conversation was going. She quickly dipped her quill in the ink, jerking her arm to send the gold ink spilling across the the table and splashing on the blonde man’s shirt. “Shit! I’m sorry. I was rushing.” She interrupted, throwing paper on top of the ink she spilled.

“It’s alright.” Terra shrugged. “I got another bottle just in case.”

“Thankfully, the invitations are okay.” Kori noted, moving the ones that had been completed across the table.

“I’m gonna get some salt.” Rachel commented standing up. “That should help get the rest of this ink.”

“I think the paper got it all.” Terra checked the table.

“You should probably wash your hands too, Midas.” Jinx joked, looking at her gold covered hands.

“Think it will get it off my shirt?” Gar asked following Rachel into the kitchen.

Rachel walked over to the sink, flipping the faucet on with the back of her hand. “Are you insane?” She whispered, knowing the sound of the water would drown out their conversation. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I told you,” Gar whispered. “I’m breaking up with her.”

“We can’t be together.”

“You said it yourself. It’s not an option right now because we’re both in relationships.”

“Exactly.” She emphasized.

“So, I’m trying to make this work. I am getting out of my relationship.” He pleaded, scrubbing at the front of his shirt. “I want to be with you.”

“You don’t know me!” Her voice was low but harsh. “We’ve barely said anything to each other since we’ve moved out of the tower, and yet you’re willing to end an engagement over a one night stand?”

“It was more than that.”

“We had sex.” Her voice dropped, her eyes shifted to the doorway to the room where his fiancée and their friends were. “A lot old emotions came up.”

“So, let’s deal with it.”Gar pushed, tossing the rag into the sink. “Let’s see if we want this.”

Rachel sighed, shaking the water from her hands. Hands pressed on the edge of the sink, she hunched over. “So, what? Let’s date?”

“How else are we going to know?”

“Sure, let’s date while my boyfriend is about to propose to me and you’re getting married in a few weeks.”

“I am trying to break it off.”

“In a room, full of her bridesmaids and in front of the bridesmaid you’re cheating on her with? Classy, Gar, real classy.”

“Then what do you want me to do?”

“I want you to think about this.” Rachel furiously scrubbed her hands. “Really, really, think about what we’re doing. You can’t break this off.”

“This situation is already shit storm, let’s not make it more complicated by dragging it out.” Gar sighed. “But, fine,” He shrugged. “I won’t break if off.”

She breathed a sigh of relief.

“But, I’m not giving up on us either.”

#teen titans #teen titans fanfiction #beast boy #raven #garfield logan #bbrae #bbrae fanfiction

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