#like joe did for him (which was a ruse)

[maxwelljacobfriedman]

actually though it's so funny joe faked getting hurt and specifically said, 'tell Max not to go out there,' knowing Max would be stupid and try to fight anyway

[riacte]

Yeah yeah TNT trap but one bit of the stream that absolutely fascinated me was the neighbours solidarity between Ren Iskall and Beef. Ren and Beef freaking out over Iskall running back and targeting False if they ever let sight of him. Ren's brain having dived into a "it's us against them" mentality and being anxious around the mountain people because of course he does that, it’s his favourite hermit’s life on the line. Of course he would see as some sort of war even though nothing happened. Ren naming their voice chat group something boring and nondescript like “neighbourhood planning” so no one would join. He’s both still Ministering and keeping up with the theatrics by pretending to be in a so painfully boring meeting. Neighbourhood mafia boys trying to kill Bdubs (for False). Iskall being like lmao you guys are stupid. Lol. Anyways.

And it was so funny how when the trap was done, they were like ahhaha lol see you guys later. Or never. We never knew each other.

AND THEN BDUBS LOGGED ON.

Which naturally freaked everyone out. And what was fucking funny is that other people like Grian, Joe, and Hypno were online and aware of the scheme. They even made references to it in chat. Grian and Joe at least were watching Ren’s stream, because of course he was streaming a top secret operation (and Beef later was like WHY ARE YOU EVEN STREAMING and Ren was like 🥺 this is why I’m a bad reaper). But I don’t think anyone snitched. Everyone acted normal, if not nosy.

The part of the stream that charmed me and gave everyone the impression of “oh, we’re REALLY in it now” was when Ren was alone in his Gigahut and someone whispered to him about Bdubs being on. And those three neighbourhood members met up in Ren’s hut and just sat there panicking and talking about Bdubs. It was so tense. They were the image of three scared whimpering people huddled together on a sofa in the relative safety of their neighbourhood (far away from Bdubs’ trap). (On a side note, I’m always glad when builds are somehow the backdrop for dramatic and tense moments because the build instantly feels lived in and the space feels used. Like there’s a core memory attached to the build now.)

And in the end, they decided to venture out to spy on Bdubs. Which they did for an hour. With spyglasses and crouching. And Ren, good old Ren, was pushed centerstage because he was the second reaper to ever exist and still hadn’t gotten a kill AND he was dead set on supporting his False, and since it was the final two, Bdubs has to go.

Watching the hermitchat go by while those three were intensely studying Bdubs like a nature documentary was hilarious. Seemingly nondescript discussions. The trio panicking and then Grian sent out “have faith”, which might be in reference to G’s own fishing thing but the trio took it as a double message for their own plan (since G was watching the stream). All the whispering. It’s killing me. And False logging on, mostly unprotected (because they were all away!!) and Cleo being like yayy I have no allegiance to False I’ll blow up whatever <3 And False saying she needed a miracle and those three were like WE ARE TRYINGGG (False was aware the three were trapping). Ren’s refusal to say something in chat because he’s a red name and he’s tense.

Ren had to be the one to activate the trap (even though Beef was the one who suggested it and Iskall laid out the redstone). SO the other two had to leave him alone while they engaged Bdubs in discussion so Ren could sneak in and blow them up. Our poor reaper had to fly solo with 2.9k people on his stream. “It’s just you and me, chat”. He’s sat there for three hours. He’s missing dinner.

AND BEEF YELLING AT REN TO ACTIVATE THE TRAP WAS SO STRESSFUL. Even when the ruse was up, and even when Beef and Iskall were like hahaha Ren you SUCK so bad, Ren continued with his last shred of hope and absolute last shred of dignity. He lied. And Beef was probably like 👀 Ren hasn’t given up yet! Gotta distract Bdubs more!

I haven’t watched much Beef before this but now I’m quite charmed with him. He’s great with improv, fucking hilarious to bounce off with, and kept calm and steady throughout the operation. I love how him and Iskall had to hold Ren back from charging in like a madman and blowing himself up because doggy self sacrificial tendencies. Beef was the brains and common sense. And I love how supportive he was of Ren the entire time.

🥺 Beefrenskall. The trappers. The neighbours. Flying high their banner for False. Wanting to be a miracle for her. 🥺🥺🥺

[stokesy55]

You guys have to stop watching soap operas xD

Wait, wait, we already used the arranged marriage AU for VK/Pat, so Shubman/Harry need to have a new horror, just so it isn't repetitive 😜

Presenting 🎺🥁 the dreaded Indian soap opera trope of the Replaced Bride/Groom! 🤣🤣 It's a really dramatic trope, used a lot in many soap operas where a character is supposed to marry another, but due to certain unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances, the bride/groom is replaced on the day of the wedding itself, to allow everything to go forward smoothly, as planned. 😭🤣

Now, let's have Virane and Stoot as the established ships for the purpose of this AU, because I'm very partial to them. 🤭 Vi is married to Kane-- their adopted sons are Shubman, Rachin (Ravindra) and Yashasvi. Shubman is the eldest and first in line to inherit his trillionaire fathers' business empire.

But wait there's a snag! Shubman can't inherit the empire, and become CEO of all his dads' industries unless he gets married! Shubman grudgingly agrees to his dads finding a match for him. He consoles himself with the fact that he can continue sleeping around even after marriage, after all the contract only made marriage a compulsion, not faithfulness.

VK and Kane set out to find a suitable match for their wayward son. They find the perfect solution in the adopted kids of their childhood friends, Joe and Ben. Their kids are Ollie, Zak and Harry. The two sets of parents fix Shubman's marriage with Ollie, because it would be great for their heirs to combine and expand their empires.

But of course, Ollie's been secretly dating someone else and plans to marry them. Maybe Sam? So ofc he doesn't want to marry Shubman. From here, it can go two ways.

Scenario 1: Ollie elopes with Sam on the day of the wedding. Shubman is absolutely pissed, so is VK. Shub couldn't give less of a damn about Ollie, it's not like he's desperate to marry him, but he won't be jilted and made a fool out of like this. VK says the same to Joe and Ben. "If your son loved someone else, you should have said so. We would've chosen another person for Shubman. Did you call us here only to humiliate us by having your son and his lover run off?" And ofc, VK spent a bomb on this wedding, so there's no way he's letting all that go to waste. 🤣

So VK coldly tells Joe and Ben. "I will not let your impertinent son mix my family's reputation in the mud. There will be a wedding today. You have two other sons, summon one of them right now to take his place. You have ten minutes."

Joey and Ben just grab poor Harry and push him forward like, "Clean up the mess your brother made."

OR

Scenario 2: Ollie is still in love with Sam, but he knows nothing good will come out of this romance, because his parents will never let them marry. He makes peace with his future and gets ready to marry Shubman. But Harry can't bear to see Ollie sacrifice his love, he knows how much Ollie loves Sam. So on the day of the wedding, Harry just takes Ollie's place as Shubman's groom, so Ollie isn't stuck in a marriage with a man he doesn't love, will never love.

How they pull off the ruse, you ask? Well, if they're getting married Indian style, the groom wears a sehra throughout the ceremony. A sehra is a traditional Indian headdress, a turban with strings of flowers dangling from it's front. These flower strings hide the groom's face. The purpose being that the groom and the bride aren't allowed to see each other before the wedding rituals are complete, and also to ward off the evil eye. So let's say they get married Indian style, and Harry is wearing a sehra which hides his face, so nobody knows it's actually him behind the turban, not Ollie. 🤣🤣

As for how they don't notice the difference in height and build, let's just say Shubman was never bothered enough to see/meet Ollie before the wedding, nor check out his socials. Their wedding day is the first time they're meeting, so Shubman has no idea what Ollie even looks like, much less tell him apart from Harry 🤣🤣🤣

After the wedding rituals are done, and all the guests are fed and watered, they depart for Shubman's mansion. Here the first post-wedding ritual takes place: the mooh dikhai, literally translated as showing the face. So basically, the bride kicks a bowl of rice over the threshold of her new home, to symbolise bringing prosperity with her. Then she steps over the threshold. Her mother-in-law lifts her bridal veil to reveal her face to her new family.

See where I'm going with this? Harry kicks the bowl of rice over, steps inside, heart thudding against his chest, knowing his ruse is about to be discovered. Because even if Shubman doesn't know him, VK and Kane have at least seen Ollie before, so they won't be stupid enough to mistake him for his brother. VK reaches up to remove Harry's headgear. The sehra comes off, and his face is revealed. Cue dramatic music and 10,000 closeups of everyone's shocked/distressed faces as they realize it's not Ollie who Shub just married. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Which scenario do you like better? Haha this is such a disaster, I really should stop watching soap operas 😭😭😭🤣🤣🤣

... I mean I'm being serious - there's some great comedies or dramatic TV out there xD

[wherepond]

Gaza ceasefire exposed as a SCAM

Cruel blow as Gaza ceasefire exposed as a massive scam

The ceasefire that sadly isn't a ceasefire, but will be at best a temporary pause has been exposed by Israel's own media.

Right, so it’s a bold claim to make whilst everyone is celebrating the passing a ceasefire, even if many are indeed advising caution over it and well they might given how many times, how many talks it’s taken to even get to this point, but unfortunately there’s evidence to point to that actually this entire ceasefire is a scam a ruse and at the centre of it is Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing determination to keep himself in power.

Agreeing to a ceasefire seems counterintuitive to that however, given it has been his own hard right ministers and coalition partners who have been threatening to pull the plug previously if he agreed to such a measure and that threat hasn’t gone away, so what has superceded that to concern Netanyahu even more?

Well the answer to that is Donald Trump. Trump wanted a ceasefire in place before he became president. It makes him look good, which is all that ever matters to Trump, but it also matters to Netanyahu that Trump is on his side and where he led Biden around by the nose, giving many the opinion Netanyahu was in charge in the US and not Genocide Joe, Trump is far less predictable, for more shallow and far more narcissistic and it looks horribly like this ceasefire is a sham cooked up between the two of them and I’ll explain exactly why, because it’s all come out.

Right, so the ceasefire passed yesterday, much cause for celebration an achievement so many of us couldn’t see happening any time soon with the treat of Netanyahu’s horrible pair of hard right misfits Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich permanently threatening to pull the plug on the government if a ceasefire was ever agreed to. Both Ben Gvir and Smotrich are utterly beholden to the settler movement, they support their hard right parties, so the fact this ceasefire passed, due to Smotrich evidently not pulling the plug even as Ben Gvir begged him to should trigger alarm bells that all is not as it seems. These are not people who make idle threats on such things. Why did Smotrich not pull the plug? Well he still might on one hand as Israeli outlet Yedioth Aronoth has explained, in this excerpt:

‘Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth reports that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's Religious Zionist Party is contemplating leaving Israel's coalition government following the Gaza ceasefire and exchange deal.

Party members, including Israeli Knesset member Tzvi Succot, express concerns that halting military operations is a setback and are seeking assurances from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the war will continue.

Smotrich reportedly fears that the deal could damage his reputation, drawing parallels from Israeli politicians and past agreements like the 1993 Oslo Accords.

Internal pressures mount as the party debates its position, with some members criticizing other coalition partners for supporting the cease-fire.’

As I said, he owes everything to the settlers, they are his base yet still he allowed this ceasefire deal to pass, so perhaps he’s waiting for something?

[crazyyanderefangirlfan]

I just thought of a fun albeit stupid lets be honest idea:

So Jac, Jack, Joe, Joseph, Aya, Nadia, Jane, and Janet are all hanging out and Aya finds a few picture of one of the many recruiter swaps they've done when Jac complains about hating his soon test of a subject not only did Jack pass but loves and Joseph complains he can't stand his dad and step-mum for another second and desires a break. Then Janet's the one who offer to simply trade places for three days (ie so she can beg Jane to help her tell Maria how she feels/know if she feels the same way and Jane's secretly like: "Seriously?")

Oh, boy.

Like the other headcanons before, they had to put some ground rules, with Jack and Joe heavily emphasizing that should NOT do drugs or weed, especially since they’re mom has an uncanny ability to differentiate scents, especially weed.

Jack has to put Jac in a death grip and hissed that to not be a slut, threatening to cut off his manhood if he doesn’t.

He also told Roxy beforehand to be safe, to which the girl got her pepper spray ready.

And so it begins.

Janice honestly felt this was no different with her uncle. Jane's dad has an inkling feeling she wasn't his daughter but he can tell she's a good kid and treated her like his own

“Again? Really?”

Valerie was beginning to see through this ruse but was honestly tired at this point seeing how much trouble she gets with their guardians.

Nevertheless, she still treats them like her children. The three of them had a good time, though Grim hissed at them every time they got near. But still it was relaxing, especially for Joseph.

Until they had to do the morning workouts.

Jac and Joseph were on the floor, begging for mercy as they felt their arms like lead and panting heavily.

Vince was hiding his smirk behind his sports bottle as Zuri looked down at them in concern. Cece was openly laughing at them while Malachite was trying to help them up and Nadia giving them water. Valerie shook her head at them.

Meanwhile with the others.

Jack had a hard time in getting into Jac's character, the man was a known flirt and promiscuity. He was glad his adoptive mom is kinda cool though a little hotheaded.

He steeled himself and got to the classroom, he managed to avoid his admirers and flings. When the test started he answered thoroughly, he made sure to get a few wrong to not arouse suspicion.

Joe was starting to see why he dislikes his dad and step-mom so much. There wasn't a time where her remarks want to make him punch her and the dad wasn't helping.

So he does what he does best, getting blackmail and sure enough they was plenty of it. Turns out the step-mom was in some illegal business and had some enemies, Joe wondered if Joseph knew.

On one particular dinner, the usual remarks started and Joe did his best to stay quiet, then one of them said something that triggered him he couldn't remember who but all he knew was rage.

When his head was cleared, he found the dad on the ground with his face black and blue with his nose crooked and his hand on the step-mom's hair with her screaming a bloody murder.

The step-mom tried to call the police but Joe threaten to expose her business if she does.

Step-mom: Your bluffing!

Joe: Maybe I am, wanna find out?

The smile he gave unnerved both of them, they never seen him like this.

In the end she didn't but now both are wary of him, Joe just hopes Joseph will forgive him.

Jane was having a great time!

The house boat rocked and her uncle reminded her of her dad. Working at the diner was fun and got to learn new recipes.

One day as they were out shopping, they passed by a family with two girls and three boys, at first she thought nothing of them but she could hear them whispering and saw them glancing at their direction with disdain in their eyes.

Jame merely raised an eyebrow at them and continued shopping. She glanced at Janice’s uncle and noticed how on guard he seemed and how he kept glancing at her.

???: She’s as disgraceful as ever, and just as disappointing.

???: What do you expect from her? Of course she is, that’s all she’ll ever be.

It took a while but she realized those comments were directed to her. It pissed her off but she wanted to be the bugger person and ignore them.

Until they said how ‘she’ and ‘her uncle’ should have died on their trip.

Everything was blur but she can feel Janice’s uncle holding her back.

Once her head was cleared she saw the family cowering in fear, the father and brothers were bleeding heavily and one of the brothers was unconscious. The mother was crying and the sister were just plain petrified.

‘Sorry Janice, but I think I made you into a criminal.’ thought Jane.

Once the swap was done, everything was seeming back to normal until Joe and Jane got frantic calls from their counterparts asking what the fuck did they do.

[randomvarious]

Today’s compilation:

The Sun CD Collection: Rock & Roll Originals Vol 1 1987 Rockabilly / Rock & Roll

Utmost respect for Sam Phillips and the early rock & roll and rockabilly empire that he was able to build at the Memphis-based Sun Records in the 50s. His label had Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty, Roy Orbison, and Carl Perkins all on its roster during that decade. Just a total murderers' row of 50s rock that was highly integral to the history and evolution of popular music as we know it. Really can't beat it.

But this 1987 CD isn't just some tired, cash-grabbing retrospective that consists of some of Sun's biggest hits, although some songs on here, like Carl Perkins' "Blue Suede Shoes," did achieve great commercial success. What this release does is gather eleven separate 45s from the Sun archive that originally came out in the mid-50s and provide them on CD, many of them for the first time ever. So, purely for the sake of posterity, this is a pretty important disc.

However, while I'm sure these songs sounded fresh and newfangled when they first arrived, most of them don't really seem to have that same sparkle and luster today that they had six-plus decades ago. There's really just a lot of rock and roll and rockabilly on here that now sounds rudimentary and unimpressive. It's sort of like that scene in that Will Ferrell basketball movie, Semi-Pro, when he participates in the first ever alley-oop. It was quite a feat when it first happened, but you can see a bunch of alley-oops every night during the NBA season now. Those plays might not even make a highlight reel anymore. And lots of 50s rock compositions have a way of feeling similar as time passes on.

Some of these tunes still have the juice though, like both sides of Sonny Burgess' 1956 debut record, "Red Headed Woman," which was backed with "We Wanna Boogie." Burgess was given the nickname "The Wild Man From Arkansas" for a reason. He was responsible for making that 50s-type of rock and roll music that I love: the raucous, trashy, unpredictably raw kind; the primordial ooze that would go on to fuel to garage rock and then punk. Burgess' two songs here exemplify that freewheelingly nutty rock and roll spirit to a T. Plus, there's a uniquely froggy and gravelly fullness to his somewhat bizarre wailing. And he screams too. Gotta love it.

And another song worth talking about here is Smokey Joe's "The Signifying Monkey." It's the A-side to the only release he ever put out on Sun. Sam Phillips signed him because he thought his gravelly rasp could appeal to a black audience, despite the fact that Joe himself was white. And apparently it ended up fooling a lot of people, because the guy got invited to perform the song at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem! Imagine how that phone call must've went down when the jig was finally up 😂. And what appears to have made the whole ruse even more convincing is that Joe derived the story in his song from African folklore. Still though, despite all the controversy behind this novelty that'd get you lickety-split canceled if you tried to pull a fast one like it today, it's still a well-made early rock & roll tune.

Not blown away by most of the songs on this CD, even though over a third of them come courtesy of two of Sun's most important artists—Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison—but still managed to find a few that I can rock with almost 70 years after they were originally rolled out.

Highlights:

Smokey Joe - "The Signifying Monkey" Sonny Burgess - "Red Headed Woman" Sonny Burgess - "We Wanna Boogie"

[bohrapbois]

Oooh ooh ooh if you’re taking Drabble requests can I get something along the lines of a sneaking around Hardzello during BoRhap filming, and something (😉😉) happening sneakily under the cape by the other trying to be all subtle while they’re under there with their mates? But they get caught?

Oh this was a fun one to imagine 😉 Sorry I couldn’t make this one longer, otherwise it would’ve turned into absolute filth ahha

It wasn’t even going to be in the film, but it was promotional photos. The Borhap Boys were all laying together on a gym mat and made to shuffle together, a pretty heavy cape laid over them. It’s been a day like this, actually, each member brought away and having their own individual shots and then a few group or duo shots. It can get pretty boring, takes up a lot of time surprisingly, and, well, who can really blame Joe when he eyes up Ben in that god damned vest, or blame Ben when he ogles up Joe in vibrant green trousers.

That’s one of the problems of being secretly together - it’s harder to keep your hands off eachother. It’s like a forbidden fruit (and no, Joe won’t let him live it down when Ben called his ass that) that is too tempting. When the cameras weren’t on them and they could sneak away, it was hurried make outs and cursing at being rushed.

And it was as they were coming to the end of the day, laying on the floor mats, that Ben sees the glint in Joes eyes and knows he has an idea. They’re told to shift around, try different orders and lays in different positions, but the time comes where they’re spooning eachother - which they all giggled about because come on, the photographer didn’t need to say they needed to spoon intermediately - and Joes in front of Ben. It only takes a certain angle of his hips, subtle enough, but he rubs his backside against Bens front, who, in return, shifts his hips forward. Joe picks up the hike in the blonds breath and knows he has him, hook line and sinker.

Live Aid outfits on, Ben is more than thankful he has some joggers, because he’s sure he’d have been in a pretty painful situation if he’d had those leather trousers on he did before. He can’t really do much in return, there’s too many people here, but he jerks his hips forward and sees Joes smile turn upwards, them both knowing that this is purposeful teasing. And it turns out that laying under a cape ends up having a bunch of positions. Much more than you’d expect.

With each subtle shift and change in Joes hips, Bens heart rate picks up and he sweats at the temple. By now, Joe can most definitely feel Bens hardon, and he can most definitely tell that the blond is getting needier and more desperate, so of course the American keeps it going, but more teasing and with purpose. Slow enough that no one can see or think it’s casual readjusting, but hard enough that Ben has to gulp and lick his lips. Hes a goddamned actor though, he can keep his composure in difficult situations. Or so he thought.

It’s when a broad hand tries to slip under the cape that their ruse is given away. A hand grips Bens bicep, and he quickly turns to look behind him with a small gasp, only to see Rami shaking his head.

“Don’t you start that,” Rami muttered, but his eyes flashed with humour. He waits until Ben moves his hand back up over the cape, which is when he gave it a small nod. “You guys aren’t as subtle as you thought,” he whispered carefully but still with laughter.

Ben groaned, looking back forward again and burying his head in Joes wig, Rami laughing at his reaction, Joe blushing at being caught by his long time friend. They’re never going to live this down, and are only grateful that no one actually saw.

[norman891]

...

@sleightlyoffhand

Having washed all of the crew’s dinner ware and mugs, Edward dried them and put them in their cabinet for several hours rest before midday meal was served. He dried his hands and went up on deck for some fresh air before he and Victor began preparing that meal.

Victor was already above deck, enjoying his pipe during the brief time between cooking. Edwards nodded politely at him before heading up the quarterdeck stairs towards the captain’s cabin. He knocked, as always, awaiting the “Enter”, which came moments after his knocking.  

Hook looked up from raised an eyebrow, surprised but not disappointed to see Edward. “And what does my finest shot aboard need?” he questioned Edward, almost cheerfully.

“Just a few moments of your time, sir,” Edward replied.  “I may hae committed an offense against you,” he said, hanging his head.

“You?” Hook asked incredulously. “What could you have possibly done?”

“Well, sir,” Edward hesitated. He did not ever want to be a disappointment to Hook, who had never let him down.  “This morning during the fight I noticed that Mr. Haigh had nae firearm among his weaponry.”

“This is true,” Hook acknowledged. “He prefers knives. They kill silently, and Haigh is, rather was previously a mercenary, an assassin. Firearms and stealth do not blend well.”

“As I was saying sir,” Edward continued, “I noticed he had no firearms at all and after breakfast,” he took a deep breath to steel himself. ��I gave him that forty-five I took off one of the officers on the Flora.”

“What?!” Hook said, shocked. “Why?!  What were you thinking?”

Edward felt his heart sink into his stomach. “Maybe I wasn’t,” he replied, forlorn. “I feel every man should hae a firearm, if only for dire circumstances. I now realize I should hae asked you first. I beg your forgiveness.”

Hook sat at his desk looking up at Edward. The man had the countenance of child who had been very naughty, and his own guilt had driven him confess to his parents. He could swear that he saw tears forming in Edward’s eyes.

Hook rose from his seat and slowly walked around to Edward, turning the younger man to face him. He was sure there was no malice in Edward’s action. The fellow was incredibly kind to every member of the crew and Hook was sure it was this innate kindness that had motivated Edward. He tilted the man’s chin up to look in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, sir,” Edward wheezed. “I am ready for whatever punishment you deem necessary.” He wanted to hide his face against Hook, but stood motionless, awaiting Hook’s wrath. It would not come.

Hook took his thumb and wiped away a tear that was about to escape one of Edward’s eyes. “There now,” he soothed. “I am neither angry nor disappointed with thee.” He sighed heavily. “I only question the wisdom of your decision, which I’m sure was made out of an abundance of kindness.” He opened his arms invitingly and Edward threw himself against Hook.

“Punish you indeed,” Hook snorted.

“But I should nae receive special treatment than if I were any other member o’ the crew.”

Hook looked at the man, aghast. “If you think for one moment I would have you flogged over such you do not know me well.”

“But….”

There is no but,” Hook continued. “It took an incredible amount of bravery and character to come to me and confess what you had done. I doubt any other member of the crew would be so honest, and certainly not so brave. You are forgiven, and I shall deal with this Haigh problem should it become an issue.”

Edward lifted his head from Hook’s chest, both relieved and ashamed. “Thank you, sir. If it’s any consolation, I made him swear tae never use it against any member of the crew.”

“-Well, let’s hope Mr. Haigh is as honorable as you are, my Edward.” Hook kissed Edward on top of his head. “We do have to make an outward appearance of my wrath in front of the crew, if you understand my implication.”

Edward nodded. “I think I do sir.”  

The door to Hook’s cabin burst open and Edward stumbled backwards. Hook followed, appearing furious.  “In the future should you ever do anything like this again, I shall have you flogged at twice the prescribed number of lashes. Do I make myself clear, Mr. Butcher?!” he roared.

“Aye sir” Edward assured, sounded as frightened as any man faced by an angry Hook. “It shall nae happen again, sir.” He started backing down the stairs.

“It had best not!” Hook boomed, turning on his heel and stomping back into his cabin.  The door slammed resoundingly, and Hook smirked to himself. Maybe he should have pursued a career in acting. Not that he was pleased about Haigh possessing a pistol, but he would cross that bridge when he came to it.

Edward made his way back down to the galley where Victor was slicing up some venison tenderloin for a dish his father had been especially fond of. Edward had no clue how to help other than to act as sous chef for Victor: dicing onions, mincing dill weed and garlic, sifting the weevils from the rice Victor intended to serve this dish over.

After that, Edward began to prepare dough for several loaves of bread, having to again sift weevils from the flour.

“So,” Victor finally broke the uncomfortable silence, “Do you still have an ass left or did Hook chew it all off?”

“I haven’t had the nerve to look,” Edward joked.  Victor looked towards his posterior.

“I think you have a little left.” He laughed. “I told you, you should have asked him first.”

“He made that abundantly clear,” Edward nodded.  “I believe I hae learned my lesson. Tis a miracle I was nae flogged. He threatened as much.”

“Not that I want to see you flogged,” Victor asked, “But why didn’t he?”

“Because I went tae him and confessed my sins instead o’ him finding out through gossip.” Edward replied, breathing a heavy sigh of relief, for effect.

“Well, that’s good to know,” Victor mused, adding some goat’s milk to his concoction.

Edward put his bread in the oven to bake. Hook’s ruse had worked perfectly and so long as Haigh abided by their agreement all would be well. There was a tapping on the galley’s door frame and to Edward’s surprise, Joe Haigh was standing in the doorway.  

“Mr. Edouard,” Haigh began. “May I speak with you?”

“Of course,”, Edward replied. “Victor, will ye make sure my bread does nae burn?”

“Da,” Victor answered, making shooing motions.

Edward followed Haigh up top. “Well mate, what’s on your mind?”

[saiilorstars]

Rise Up

Ch.8: Losing My Head

Previous Story: It Had To Be You || Current Masterlist

Pairings: Barry Allen x OFC

Chapter Summary: Belén discovers the recent string of robberies Datura and Poison Ivy have been doing. She spends a lot of time trying to figure out what the purpose of the robberies could be for, so much that it puts her out of sync with the rest of the team, including Barry.

Pronunciation of OC: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.

Taglist: @ocfairygodmother @anotherunreadblog​ @maaaaarveeeeel​

[If you’d like to be part of this OC’s taglist, let me know!]

Out in the reserved training area of STAR Labs, Cisco stood at a safe distance from Belén, holding a tablet in both hands. His fingers danced over the screen while his eyes flickered from it to the targets he'd set up for his friend to hit.

"Ready?" he called.

Belén nodded her head. "Bring it, Cisco."

With a small shrug, Cisco activated said targets. The three targets released several tendrils of vines that shot with rapidness to get her. Belén did her best to dodge them all and send back her own vines. However, being so focused on the vines she forgot the most important detail of fighting Datura.

She had more than one power.

One target shot electricity that blasted Belén a good amount back. Her body came to a stop eventually, but when she raised her head off the cement she looked close to screaming in frustration.

"Sorry!" called Cisco who quickly turned everything off.

"That's the fourth time!" Belén exclaimed, smacking a hand on the ground before she got up. "Clearly, I'm not getting this!"

Cisco sprinted towards her with the intention of calming her down. "Hey, we've been at this for a while now-"

"-two hours," Belén bitterly said. "And we've been doing this for a while now so why the hell am I not getting it? Datura's going to kick my ass - again - in 10 seconds flat if I keep this up."

"You can't expect to have this in a week, Bells," Cisco said softly. "You just need to keep training."

"But will it really be enough?" Belén folded her arms, eyes darting to the side. "I only fought Datura once and it was only because she decided to go that I'm still living, technically. What's going to happen the next time she comes?"

"You'll fight her with everything you've got," Cisco answered.

"But if this is all I've got then I might as well just let her stab me."

"Bells, you're just tired. You've been helping Barry and not sleeping like he and the rest of us asked you to-"

Belén raised a hand to stop him from talking. "The fact you all thought I would leave Barry while he's literally getting back on his feet is still hilarious to me," she said so deadly serious it was almost scary. "Though I should be more offended."

"I'm just saying, and I think I speak on behalf of the others, including Barry, it's okay to take some time for yourself," Cisco took a step back for good measure. No one had been brave enough to say it to Belén to her face.

Belén opened her mouth when they both heard their phones going off back at the table. Belén immediately assumed it had to do with Barry and his progress. "Can't do that," she told Cisco before darting for the table.

~ 0 ~

Barry knew that everyone around him was just trying to help him, but it really didn't make it better when they were all crowded around him like hawks as they watched him struggle to take a decent step. He held that in while Joe helped him take his first step down the cortex. But he felt like a goddamn child, and not even a self-sufficient one at that.

"All right, I got you," Joe reached for the cane given to Barry for support until he could walk on his own. Barry wearily let go of the cane and took a deep breath to begin his steps on his own.

He pushed his feet forwards and swallowed down a mild jab of pain he felt shooting up his legs. The third step was the last step he felt he could take. "Okay, I can't do it right now, all right?" he let himself fall on Thawne's old wheelchair with a big sigh.

"Hey guys," Belén walked in a moment afterwards. Cisco came right behind with a small greet. "How are we doing with the walk?" Belén came straight to Barry.

"We're making so much progress," Iris answered first and ignored the sour face Barry was making behind. "Right?" she looked to Caitlin for some backup.

"We are," Caitlin nodded, hoping to encourage Barry.

Of course, their words were cancelled out when Barry spoke up using full sarcasm to ridicule his own progress. "Yep, six whole steps. Someone get me a Bozo button."

"Hey, give yourself some credit. You just broke your back," Cisco thought he needed a reminder of the gravity of his situation.

"Yeah, a normal person would've been paralyzed the rest of his life," Belén reached for Barry's hand. "You're doing amazing."

Barry found that hard to believe. It had been days since he fought Zoom and while he was somewhat back on his feet he knew there were already some losses that he could never get over. Yet, no one was - ironically - mentioning anything from that part. "How long until I'm fully healed?" he asked from Caitlin.

Caitlin went behind the desk to pull his x-ray scans up on the screens of the walls. She thought if he saw his progress he would be less hard on himself. "The initial MRI I took a week ago showed a complete dislocation at the T12-L1 interspace of the thoracolumbar junction. But that's the MRI I took this morning. It's remarkable, but you're almost completely healed."

"I'm still having trouble breathing…"

"That's totally normal with a spinal injury. It should clear up soon."

Barry looked back at his suit sitting on display. Belén knew where his thoughts laid and gripped his hand in hers. "You'll be back in that suit in no time, just watch." Her words didn't seem to make an effect on him.

"What are we gonna do about Zoom?" he asked instead.

"No sign of him since Cisco nailed him with that tranq dart," Joe said rather happy about it.

"And I haven't vibed since then. Maybe Zoom's not coming back," Cisco's eyes drifted to the rest of the group. They all knew the chances of that happening were slim.

"I highly doubt that," Harry came into the cortex with his jacket on and gun in hand. "Which is why I'm gonna go do something about it."

"And what, pray tell, does that mean?" Belén wearily glanced at the man. Instead of helping them out with Barry's situation, Harry had decided to be reclusive and bitter.

"I need access to your breach room and your speed cannon," Harry declared, mildly surprising the others.

"Why is that?" asked Barry.

"Because, Barry, it's time to go home."

Joe shot Harry an incredulous look. "So, you show up on our Earth, you screw everything up, and now you want to go home? Sounds very familiar."

"Again, that wasn't me. I need to go take care of Zoom once and for all before anyone else gets killed."

"Exactly how do you plan on doing that?" Belén didn't want to be rude and remind him that he was only there in the first place because he hadn't figured a way out to stop Zoom in his own. She hoped she would be subtle.

"I'll think of something. Ramon, if you'll escort me to the speed cannon," Harry didn't wait for an answer and started out of the room. He had enough of this wallowing in grief stuff. Datura was waiting for him to deliver Belén's suit tracker and since he wasn't going to actually do it, he needed to get the hell out of Earth 1 before she returned. At least on Earth 2, she couldn't force him to continue sneaking around Earth 1 STAR Labs.

"No, no, you can't go through the breach!" Caitlin hurried to stop Harry, not that the man seemed any less inclined to slow down.

"Yeah, he can," Joe said, forcing Caitlin to pause and turn back. "Jay taught us how to send people."

"That's not what I mean," Caitlin warned them to be quiet for a moment and then looked up to Harry.

Cisco shot Caitlin a confused look. "What are you doing? If Harry wants to go...bye," he wiggled his fingers.

"Look, like it or not, Cisco, we need his help."

Joe was quick to disagree. "I'm not sure another plan from Wells is what we need."

"Yeah, I mean, the last bright idea he had nearly got Barry killed," Iris didn't think they needed a repeat of that.

"I know, but Jay's gone, and Dr. Wells knows Zoom better than anyone, so until Barry is back on his feet again, we need to keep Wells around in case Zoom returns."

"Caitlin, if he doesn't want to be here, then we're better off without him," Barry shrugged. "Let him go."

Belén dreaded to voice her opinion that she actually agreed with Caitlin. As much as they hated to admit it, Harry was the only one left who knew everything about Zoom and Datura, not to mention Harry was frikin brilliant. Caitlin, on the other hand, would not hide hers.

"I can't do that. Not yet," she shook her head and walked out.

Soon as she walked out, an alarm went off.

"Oh, snap, metahuman attack!" Cisco broke into a run for the desk. However, the alarm turned out to be nowhere near what they believed. "Nope, nope, my bad, that is just an alert for me," Cisco apologized with a meek smile.

"What?" Belén frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, it's just a reminder. I have a date in an hour, so…"

"Oh, with who?" Iris asked, still in the dark of Cisco's newest girl.

A great big smile broke across Cisco's face as he replied, "With the lovely Kendra Saunders, the barista at Jitters. Oh, she makes a mean latte. I think we're gonna go out for dinner and a movie, and then, I don't know-" he coughed and mumbled, "-maybe some breakfast."

"Wait, breakfast?" Barry played dumb, even putting on the best face of confusion that he could. "Why breakfast? I don't…"

Cisco's smile faded as he bought into the entire ruse. "Yeah...cause, you know, you go home…'' he would think he wouldn't need to explain this.

"Cisco…" Belén smiled a bit at the cluelessness of her friend. He was probably so smitten with Kendra he couldn't pick up on anything else right now.

"He's messing with you," Joe was close to laughing as well. Iris was being polite by looking away to laugh.

Cisco narrowed his eyes on Barry who was smiling rather cheekily. "Oh," Cisco frowned. "Not cool dude!"

"It's okay Cisco," Belén couldn't help but go in and defend him, at least this one time. "Barry probably did need an explanation because he wouldn't know anything about having 'breakfast' so…"

It seemed to help Cisco alright.

"Wha - Belén!" Barry gaped at her completely, his face already flushing red.

"Hm," Cisco strode out with a great, big smirk on his face.

"You had it coming," Belén turned to him with arms crossed. "Don't mess with poor Cisco like that right before his first date with a cute girl."

"Yeah, alright, but did you really have to go there? In front of...?" Barry made a not-so-subtle nod towards Iris and Joe, both of whom were still struggling not to laugh out loud.

Suddenly, a second alarm started blaring in the room, those remaining collectively rolled their eyes thinking it was another of Cisco's "date" reminders.

"Anyone know how to turn that feature off?" Iris decided to ask for future references.

Belén scoffed as she moved for the desk. "I don't think that'll be enough to stop him - oh my God it's not a date reminder it's an actual alarm!"

"Where?" Barry decided to move quicker than he was physically able to and suffered the consequences. His groan echoed in the room and before he could keel over, Joe caught him. "I'm fine! I'm fine!" Barry angrily waved a hand to shoo Joe away.

"Please don't do that again," Belén warned while she located their newest meta. "Not until Caitlin says you can at least."

"So, where's the meta and what's it doing?" Iris positioned herself beside Belén.

"It's a break-in at Mercury Labs," Belén said with a frown. "And that's a bit confusing because, no offence, but, most of our criminal metas are idiots."

"With the exception for a few," Barry's words carried a significant meaning. "Who is it?"

"I don't know," Belén left Iris at the computers. "But I'll let you know in a bit." She then looked at Iris. "Keep Nina on standby just in case."

Iris nodded. "On it."

Belén hurried towards her suit but stopped by Barry to kiss his cheek. "I'll be right back."

"Please be careful," he said, wishing he could be more useful to help her. The city had been solely relying on her for all their trouble and that was a load to carry, he would know. But, with his legs just barely able to sustain him he'd only get in the way.

~0~

The scene at Mercury Labs was a usual one when it was under fire. The first floor was a mess, furniture turned over and a couple shattered windows on the ground. What wasn't so usual were the two culprits standing at the center not doing anything.

Until they heard the steps they wanted. The Azalea had arrived.

The brunette first looked over her shoulder before making a motion for the ginger to go forwards. She then turned around completely to give full display of her smugness that shined even under her mask. "Do you honestly think you're ready for round 2?"

Belén raised her head in silence. She'd honestly been expecting this to just be a regular robbery, but that wasn't the case with Datura. It could never be.

"Belén?" she started to hear Iris' through the comm. in her ear. "It's her, isn't it? Datura?"

"Bells…" Barry's voice was full of concern.

"I'm fine," Belén said in an almost mumble.

Datura chuckled from her spot. "Let me guess, they're worried about you? Well, I mean, they should be."

"What do you want from this place?" Belén decided to go in a different alternative. She knew that if she listened to Datura's mocks it would only make her doubt herself even more.

"Things," answered Datura. "But I have to say I'm a little disappointed in how little advanced Mercury Labs is here."

"Sorry, next time I'll let them know we need better equipment for you to steal," Belén found herself being easily sarcastic.

"That's all I'm asking for," Datura went with it and even did a mock bow for show. However, just as she raised her head she struck a hand forwards, firing a deadly red energy that threw Belén backwards against the open entrance door. Datura's eyes flashed a golden yellow as she watched Belén pick herself up with wobbly legs. "You should always expect the unexpected," Datura's voice was overlapped with a second one, both terribly snappy.

Belén tried not to groan as she picked her head up from the ground, but that really did hurt. That bitch. And the fact Datura was smirking so smugly wasn't helping either. Belén planted a hand on the floor and let thin vines creep underground until they were directly underneath Datura's feet. Datura didn't feel the vines attack her ankles until they slammed her flat on the ground. Now it was Belén's turn to smirk. "You're right, you should always expect the unexpected," Belén got up and raised her hands to lift the glasses from the entrance door to start throwing at Datura.

Datura rolled to the side and shot Belén a glare. "The hero trying to cut me with glass? That's really unexpected."

"Shut the hell up!" Belén had no interest in playing Datura's game. Yes, she was mad at hell because Datura knew exactly how to press her buttons. The mere presence of the woman reminded Belén how she'd lost so easily against the Earth 2 metahuman. So yeah, maybe she was trying to play the game like Datura was.

Datura briefly smirked before charging for Belén. Her eyes glowed a piercing white before firing lasers from them.

"Belén?" called Barry through the comms, but of course all he and Iris heard were the crashes and groans from the two women. "We're calling Nina-"

"-no!" Belén managed to say while avoiding one of Datura's lasers from cutting through her leg. "I can - OW!"

Datura had caught her thigh and that hurt. Belén looked down at the opened wound and scowled at the culprit. Datura smirked and tossed a sphere of white energy between her hands. "You can't beat me."

It was just four words, four words, and they had that added that much more anger to what Belén was already feeling. Frustrated, Belén ran towards Datura with all powers ready to go. The spheres of energy dissipated from Datura's hands in time for the woman to combat Belén. The two went at it and as much as Belén hated to admit, Datura seemed to either be on the same level as her or was better than her.

"Belén!" Barry called, or shouted, in vain. He tried rigging up the security feed to see exactly what was going on. "Iris, hit that one!" he frantically pointed to the keyboard at the edge of the desk. Iris scrambled to do the task and seemed to do it on time.

Datura was catching Belén's hands each time the latter attempted to strike. Datura smirked as she got to see a close up on Belén's frustration. The ombre-blonde was close to snapping or crying out of pure frustration. And yet, it was no surprise for Datura. She knew this would happen and she would enjoy every minute of it.

"Datura, let's go!"

Well, almost every minute of it. Datura pushed Belén away from her and threw Poison Ivy an irritated look. "Seriously? Now!?"

Poison Ivy held a couple devices in her hands and she merely raised them to remind Datura why they'd come to Mercury Labs in the first place. "Let's go! Now!"

Datura groaned. "Fine! Until next time, Azalea."

Belén glared at Datura. Her entire body ached and she was frankly out of breath. Even as she raised her hand to attempt at stopping them, her powers didn't release as they usually did. Datura and Poison Ivy made another clean escape.

~ 0 ~

"Well this is really great," Cisco sarcastically went on with gestures going between Belén and Barry, "Not only is our speedster down, but our Azalea is too."

If it was possible to kill with a look, Belén would have murdered Cisco in that moment. She sat on the edge of the medical bed while they waited for Caitlin to stitch up an open wound on her neck. She'd already stitched up the wound on Belén's thigh. Yup, there were multiple stitches this time.

"I'm not down, Cisco," Belén said in what sounded more like a warning for Cisco to stop with that.

"Belén, could you stop..." Caitlin trailed off and nodded down to Belén's hands. The latter realized she was gripping the edges and adding on pressure to her neck.

"Sorry," Belén mumbled as she let go. She put her hands - which had some red spots on her knuckles - on her lap and kept quiet while the others went on.

"What was Datura looking for at Mercury Labs?" Iris asked her father since the CCPD had already visited the scene.

"They took some prototypes of a few devices," Joe answered, "But the odd part was they were all being used to alleviate sleep and dreams. Some new market McGee was trying to get at."

"Sleep and dreams?" Barry repeated, frowning, as were the others. "What does she want to do with that?"

"Give us wicked nightmares, I bet," Cisco said with widened eyes, already terrified at the thought. "Because she isn't already giving it to us in real life."

"She's not going to win for long," Belén scooted off the bed once Caitlin was finished. "I'm going to get her."

"You need to take it easy," Caitlin told her in that doctor-ly tone that left no room for arguments. "You have multiple bruises - I just stitched up two decently wide, open wounds - and look at your hands? You're lucky you don't have a concussion."

"I get it, she kicked my ass," Belén snapped, though not specifically at Caitlin. She was just upset in general. "Again."

Caitlin sighed. "That's not what I meant to say-"

"-I know," Belén moved to leave.

"Belén, where are you going?" called Barry, wishing he could catch up with her but he was lucky if he could spring two steps without falling on his face. Perhaps that was the reason she stopped and turned back.

"To train, where else?" she, again, snapped. "You saw what she did to me!"

"Yeah, but you heard Caitlin-"

"-and you heard the part where Datura won again, right?"

"We don't know where they are anyways," Cisco chimed in to take some of the tension away. "Even if you train right now, it won't make much of a difference. And, hello, you need to rest!"

Belén cringed with frustration. "I'M NOT -" but she stopped midway with her hands in the air. Slowly, she brought them down and un-clenched them. "If I keep letting Datura get away, she'll just keep hurting people and stealing things. I have to do something." She dared them all with a look to say she was wrong. When no one said anything, she tilted her head as an indication of 'I thought so' and left the room.

"Someone's gotta keep an eye on her," Barry rubbed his face, probably just as frustrated as Belén was. "I'd do it, but..." he made a languid gesture at his legs. He really felt so useless and it just kept getting worse and worse.

~ 0 ~

When Belén went to pick up her nephew from preschool, she was surprised to find her mother already in custody of Axel by the front gate of the school. Not wanting to cause a scene, especially in front of Axel, Belén came up to the two with a polite smile across her face.

"Mom, you're here...what a surprise," she said in mildly strained tone.

"Auntie Belén!" Axel excitedly hugged her, completely missing the flinch his aunt did.

"What's happened to you?" Veronica didn't miss anything. She was appalled to see her daughter's hands red and the clear stitches across Belén's neck made nothing better. "Are you okay!?"

"I thought we agreed I would pick Axel up today," Belén attempted to go down the road of ignorance. She didn't want her mother hassling her for answers.

"Calm down, I only came to find you," Veronica raised her hands to show she'd come in a peaceful stance. "But that was before I saw...you. Belén, honey, you have to tell me what happened to you. Did someone hit you? Was it Ba-"

"Mom, for the love of God, don't finish that sentence," Belén wearily pleaded.

Veronica pursed her lips together. She had to agree silently that Barry didn't look like the abusive type. But that still left the question of who was hurting her daughter. The bubbling rage she felt under her skin got no better with Belén's evasiveness. "Belén, I am begging you to tell me what is going on. Please. I know we have our differences but...honey, someone is hurting you. They're causing you physical pain and I want them brought in."

Belén felt her shoulders shake. Crying was not an option. No sir. "I can't, Mom. Was there a reason you came here?"

"Why can't you just be honest with me?" Veronica asked in a hurt manner.

"Because I can't. And it's not because I'm mad with you, it's just that I really can't. It's better this way." And yet somehow, Belén wasn't entirely sure that was truth anymore. Would it be better to keep her mother away from all this metahuman stuff?

Veronica shook her head. "It's things like these that don't make me stop my investigation, Belén. Because you can deny it all you want but we both know there is something going on that you're not telling me." Veronica allowed her words to sink in Belén's mind before adding on. "And I know that Joe and Barry are involved in this, so don't think this is over. I do love you, you know, and I just want to know what's going on in your life. So if you won't tell me, I'm just going to keep looking until I get the answers I need."

"Auntie Belén," Axel tugged on Belén's purse once Veronica had gone. "Why do you and grandma fight a lot?"

Belén should've known that by now Axel would catch on to the fact neither she nor his grandmother were getting along so well. She took Axel by the hand and started walking in the opposite direction where she parked her car.

"Um...your grandma and I...are just...having little problems. But you don't have to worry, sweetie."

"Okay," Axel shrugged it off like any four year old would. "Are we going to STAR Labs today? I wanna throw things into the holes!"

"Dammit Cisco," Belén mumbled under her breath.

"Can we!? Can we!?" Axel grew more excited by the minute.

"No more throwing things into holes, first of all," Belén clarified. "And right now isn't a good time to go."

"Why not?" Axel stopped his hops and frowned.

"Because, well…" Belén thought of the simplest way to put it, "...Barry is a little bit...sick, and…"

Axel gasped and covered his mouth. "Oh no! Are you going to be sick too?"

Belén chuckled at his thoughts. "No, Axel, I'm not. It's not contagious, I promise. So, what do you want to do today? We don't have to be back at grandma's until eight."

Axel grinned slowly as he got an idea.

~0~

"It's been a while since you visited, Belén," Dr. Baeva offered the young woman a kind smile. By the looks of Belén's appearance, she could use one.

"Lot's happened," Belén made a weak gesture at herself, not that she wasn't aware Dr. Baeva hadn't taken her appearance in. "I've been a bit busy dealing with our city's newest metas."

"Oh yes," nodded Dr. Baeva. "I've seen them on the television. How's our Flash doing?"

Belén's face wasn't a readable one. "Physically, he's getting better. Mentally...well, that's another thing. But I'm sure you know that."

Dr. Baeva nodded again. "And how are you, Belén?"

Belén automatically heaved a heavy sigh. "Not well. Long story short, I keep getting my ass handed to me by Datura, featuring Poison Ivy on occasion. And then to top it off, my mom and I are still not getting along. And it's not even because of our mother-daughter relationship it's because of all this secret meta stuff I'm dealing with." She took in another deep breath after her long ramble. "So, no, I'm not doing well."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Dr. Baeva said. "Would you like to expand on those things? I think taking it piece by piece would be a good idea to prioritize between the bigger problems and the small ones."

At this point, Belén was ready to try anything. "I mean, the Datura problem is a really big one. She can travel between worlds at her beck and call and...Dr. Baeva, she's a siphoner. She has countless powers at her fingertips and she can alternate between them."

"She sounds incredibly strong," Dr. Baeva agreed based on the facts presented. "But I have reason to believe so is the Azalea."

But at that comment, Belén scoffed loudly. "See this?" she pointed at her exposed neck stitches. "She did that. And I have another one on my thigh. I have multiple bruises on my body and look at my hands!" she turned her hands over and over.

"Belén, I'm going to ask that you take a deep breath," Dr. Baeva calmly requested. "Your rambles can turn into anxiety."

Belén took several breaths until she felt confident enough to speak at a normal pace that didn't involve so many hand gestures. "Datura...is a big problem," she began again. "I've fought her several times now and she keeps beating me. If I don't come up with something soon, she's going to kill me. So, yeah, I'm prioritizing her as a huge problem, actually."

"The good thing is, Belén, that you don't work alone. Your team members can offer new ideas and perspectives that you haven't thought of."

"I know, but...I can't help feel like it's all on me, you know? Datura is coming for me, so I should be able to handle it. I should be able to handle her on my own."

"I have to ask if that's the same for the Flash? Is Zoom something he needs to take care of on his own?"

"Well, of course not, but..." Belén paused and watched Dr. Baeva smile at her, "Okay, I get what you mean by that. Maybe Datura isn't my problem, but...I'm the one who has to fight her."

"Yes, but everything you do to fight her is not solely dependent on you. Your team is there to advice you. Don't forget that."

Belén nodded slowly. "Okay. Still a huge problem, though."

"And what about your mother?"

Belén pursed her lips together while she thought of all the disagreements she had with her mother so far. "It started out with Axel's custody. I gave it to her and we were doing fine until she met my boyfriend. She didn't like him because he broke up with me and all, but once she got over that...she started to notice all these secrets of mine."

"The metahuman side of you, you mean?"

"Yeah. She's suspecting and I have to give her that I would do the same in her place. But telling my mom that I'm the Azalea...that seems like a bad idea."

"Can I ask why?"

"Because it would put her in danger," Belén said automatically. "I've seen what this life can do. I don't think my mom is cut out for that."

"She's not, or you aren't ready for her to join you at STAR Labs?" asked Dr. Baeva with a knowing smile on her face. "It's completely normal. You have been estranged from your mother for a good part of your life. Letting her into the deep part of your life is not something that comes easily."

"I can't be sure," Belén answered honestly. "And therefore, I can't say if it's a big problem or not. I love my Mom, however weird relationship we have, I do...but I don't know what to do on this one."

~ 0 ~

Barry could say that he could at least now attempt to run on a treadmill. With the passing of the days, he had more endurance and definitely more strength to keep himself from falling. The only problem now was that every time he tried to push himself more on the treadmill, he would start remembering his last encounter with Zoom. Once he heard the crack of his spine he felt it was over again.

"You done for the day?"

Barry stopped drinking water and put the lid over his bottle. He turned back and saw Belén standing at the doorway, holding two bags of Big Belly Burger.

"Peace offering?" she put on her best smile, hoping it was enough to at least get into the room.

Barry smiled at her. "You know that's like a snack for me, right?" He ate way more than 2 bags and she knew it.

"I forgot my credit card at home," she shrugged and came in. "That or Axel hid it from me 2 days ago. I'm sure it'll pop up somewhere around here."

"Is he with your Mom, tonight?"

Belén nodded her head. "Yup. I think one afternoon in STAR Labs is more than enough for him, don't you think?"

Barry chuckled. Having Axel around was definitely a mood lifter. Cisco sure seemed to love the kid being around. "You should see what he drew for me." He moved towards the table against the wall and picked up a piece of paper.

"Oh my God," Belén laughed at Axel's scribbles that did have a shape of a person.

"It's supposed to be me, the Flash, running," Barry pointed at the red blob representing himself. It warmed his heart when Axel gave it to him, especially when it came with the four year old's "You're still a hero" comment.

"He drew that with me in the afternoon when I brought him here," Belén remembered it as one of the dozens of pictures she and Axel did together. "I just wasn't sure which ones I threw away and which ones I didn't."

"I love it," Barry put the paper down on the table. "At least someone still sees me as a hero."

"Not true," Belén levelled him with a look. "I do too. And everyone else here too."

"Yeah but the city's another thing..."

"And I think they're way more afraid of Zoom so trust me, they really want you back." Belén handed him the bags of food. "And I'm sorry for not being there to remind you of this."

"You don't need to apologize, Bells," Barry put the bags on the table in order to take Belén's hands. "I know you've been dealing with other things too and I'm sorry I haven't been able to help you."

"I think we've both been a little bit out of sync, huh?" Belén offered one weak smile for their troubles. Barry had to agree. It wasn't that they were angry with each other, but it was the same frustration each felt that kept them apart for a while. In a sense, they were mad at the world.

The two took a seat on the edge of the treadmill, forgetting dinner while they talked.

"Datura has kicked my ass twice, and she's made it seem like she didn't break a sweat," Belén lowered her gaze to the floor.

"Believe me, that's not what Iris and I saw," Barry had to disagree there. "You guys were following each other's moves."

"But that's the thing," Belén raised her head to sigh, "It's like no matter what I pulled, what I strategy I used, Datura knew it. It's like she expected each of my moves. I couldn't best her."

"And she couldn't best you at times," Barry once again added.

"But I didn't know what moves she would use. I got lucky. And it kills me that she knows she can one-up me each time."

"I know," Barry nodded. "Zoom knows that about me too. He practically destroyed me. He showed everyone in Central City what he could do, and that I'm powerless to stop him," Barry shook his head. "They gave me a key to this city! I'm supposed to be their hero. I'm supposed to be the guy that can protect them from something as evil as that, and I failed in front of all of them." And that was the image that tan over and over in his head. Because, of course the news had spread throughout the city that the Flash practically was nothing. "When they think of the Flash, all they see now is someone not strong enough to protect them."

"Not true," Belén could say honestly. "I think they see someone who will fight for them. But I get what you mean. Our self esteems aren't very high at the moment, but maybe that's what they want." She knew Datura was playing a mind game with her. It was clear in her smugness and her taunts. She knew she was the better fighter, but perhaps that wasn't always going to be the same. Of course if Belén continued to think Datura was better, she would be better and thus give Datura the clear shot to win.

"Guys!? Hello!?" Cisco's urgent voice blared from the speakers. "Guys! We have a problem!"

Belén and Barry looked at each other with the same curiousness. They needed to get back to the cortex and see what else had gone wrong with their group. Once they arrived, Cisco told them (in a quick ramble of panic) that Caitlin had punched him in the face and walked out like nothing. It only took him a couple minutes to realize she must have been mind controlled, and the only one with those types of powers was...

"I can't believe we have to deal with that gorilla again," Belén scowled.

Cisco looked up from the computers where he was currently conducting multiple searches for Grodd's possible whereabouts. "There's nothing on Caitlin or Grodd."

"Okay, so...are there any ideas on why Grodd would come back from the dead just to take Cait?" Barry tried to think on his own but he couldn't find a good reason for the sudden return of Grodd.

"I don't know," Cisco replied. "It doesn't make any sense. She was always so nice to him."

"Yeah but remember what Joe said," Barry said, reminding them that the CCPD had already found several leads on the return of the gorilla from the previous days. "Grodd mind-controlled two lab technicians to steal chemicals that enhance intelligence. He wants her for something."

"He wants to make something," Belén shrugged, finding it the most logical reason. "Caitlin is pretty good at that."

"Well, looks like he left his bachelor pad in the sewers," Cisco gave up on searching through the sewer cameras.

"Right, but it's not like Grodd can just waltz through downtown in the middle of the day without anybody noticing," Belén gestured with a hand. "Someone had to see him at some point...right?" her eyes flickered from Cisco to Barry for some confirmation she was on the right track.

"Right," Cisco snapped his fingers at her, making her beam, "And if there's been sightings, then we might be able to approximate his location."

"We can get the CCPD's help with that," Barry thought of. "I'll call Joe."

"Good," Cisco nodded. "We gotta get her back."

But unfortunately, their night would not bring them any successful results. Caitlin wasn't anywhere in the city streets, and it didn't appear like she would be coming out any time soon.

The next day, Barry had woken himself up to begin another session of running. If Caitlin was at the hands of Grodd, he needed to get back in the field. He felt that if he wasn't at least trying to get a little better at running then he was wasting time. But then when he was running, like he was at the moment on the treadmill, he would get the images of his failed fight against Zoom and suddenly everything became senseless to him. What was the point to keep fighting if he knew he would lose?

Barry reached to the side and turned off the treadmill. He'd gotten to that 'it's senseless' part again.

"Keep that chin down, slugger," he heard a familiar voice behind.

Barry turned around to find Henry coming into the room. "Dad!" he came rushing off the treadmill to hug his father, not realizing till that moment how much he needed his father.

After getting up to speed, as much as was possible anyways, Henry took a good study of his son's records from the accident. As he pulled several exams on the screens, he was easily able to conclude there was really no problem anymore - physically. He didn't have to be a genius to know where the problem was coming from. Behind him, Barry sat on a stool watching the records he himself had gone over countless times.

"No spinal cord edema. I don't see any subacute hemorrhaging. Bone fused beautifully. You're all good, Barry," Henry finally said and turned sideways to see his son who was looking more or less displeased. "I'd give you some physical therapy, but you don't need it."

Barry acknowledged the words but didn't want to keep talking about it. "I'm really glad you're here, Dad."

Henry smiled. "Me too. You know, I tried to call, but you can't a cell in Granite Peak National Park, so…"

"Granite Peak... what are you... You went camping by yourself?" Barry was truly surprised seeing as his father hadn't been one to camp.

"Yeah, yeah, I got a tent. I went fishing every day. I have had my fill of largemouth bass for a while," Henry chuckled. "Sometimes you just have to slow down to get back to where you want to be."

"Yeah. Look, Dad…" Barry began but really didn't have the right words to explain himself. Luckily for him, someone came into the room. He was relieved to see that it was Belén, whom he'd hadn't seen since yesterday despite her promise to be back from wherever she had to go.

Belén was surprised to find Barry with his father and immediately felt like she'd interrupted. "Oh, I'm so sorry…" she grabbed her purse from the desk after a second of putting it down. "I thought...there was...no one, but - I'll just find Cisco!"

"Bells!" Barry went after her (as best as possible on his slow pace) while Henry called 'it's fine!' to her. Belén was stopped by Barry just by the threshold. "Hey, it's fine, really," Barry took her by the hand and led her back inside the room.

"I'm sorry," Belén sheepishly told Henry once they were face to face. "I-I didn't know you were going to be in the city."

"Iris called me in and explained the situation to me," Henry explained. "I couldn't just ignore it."

Belén's eyebrows raised together, suddenly remembering that she had meant to help Iris come up with a decent solution to Barry's problem. How could she forget that? "I'm happy she did that," Belén smiled lightly, truly meaning those words. She was only upset that she'd not helped like she was meant to. Where was her head lately?

Cisco came in hollering something about finding Caitlin. "I don't know why I didn't think of it before," he said as he fiercely got into the computers. "It's so King Kong!"

"Cisco, no offence, but what the hell are you talking about?" Belén came up beside him, dreary looking.

"I'm ignoring that because we don't have the time," Cisco responded calmly and gave a 'yahoo!' when he pulled up three different belltowers in the city. "Grodd has to be in one of these bell towers. The only reason we couldn't find him on any cameras underneath the city before was because he upgraded from a bachelor pad to a penthouse, like a baller."

"Okay, so we know where he is," Barry slowly joined him and Belén. "We still don't know how to get her."

A wide smile spread across Cisco's face, signaling that the second part of the plan had already been thought of. "We got a plan for you."

"That smile means it's something stupid or just...plain wrong," and for that, Belén took one step away from Cisco.

"What's the plan?" Barry asked.

Cisco did not answer as Wells came into the room, dressed as the Reverse Flash. "We use me."

Barry did not attempt to control himself and sped Wells out of the cortex and right against a wall.

"No, Barry! That's Harry!" Cisco went after the two. Belén and Henry did the same, but both were just as confused as Barry. "That's the other Wells! Barry. Let him go!"

It took a moment for Barry to grasp the concept of the idea. He awkwardly let go of Harry and took a step back, hand in his hair. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"You're still here," Belén blinked at Harry. "I thought you were going home."

Harry kept silent because he didn't really have a response for that. One moment he was sure of what he needed to do - which was to leave - and then the next Caitlin comes in with words that made him doubt where his place was.

"We found another suit in the Time Vault," Cisco moved beside Harry.

"Bit sinister, don't you think?" Belén could not stop staring at Harry and think about Eobard. It gave her shivers.

"I thought he was dead," came Henry's input which reminded everyone that he was not up to speed with the situation.

"He's dead," Barry made sure to clarify. "This is... this is Harrison Wells from Earth-2."

Henry was still just lost. "Earth-2?"

"Whole other story that includes multiple universes," Belén briefly explained.

"If we can get Harry to convince Grodd that he's Wells, that he's his father, maybe we can convince him to let Caitlin go," Cisco finally just shared the entire plan.

"I'm not gonna be able to help if anything goes wrong," Barry needed Harry to understand that. They needed to get Caitlin back but everyone needed to be on the same page of the risks.

"That's a chance I'm willing to take," Harry nodded.

"If worst comes to worst, I'll go," Belén volunteered, earning herself a very dreadful look from Barry. She met his gaze with a small smile. "I'm not going to hide when people need my help."

"We won't need you," it was Harry who had spoken up this time. Belén threw him an incredulous glance, probably confounded with his risky choice. Harry just thought that maybe if she didn't use her suit, he might be able to extract the suit tracker and make another one identical to it without use. Let's see Datura do her plan with that.

~ 0 ~

However odd and risky their plan was...it worked. And that came as a shock because of the aforementioned details. Grodd had been subdued and would be relocated somewhere to be determined.

Caitlin, who'd remained completely unharmed, tended to Harry who hadn't had the same luck. She worked to wrap a gauze on the side of Harry's stomach in one of the side rooms.

"Thank you for rescuing me by the way," Caitlin said to him, thinking he had it very well deserved. Despite having problems amongst the team, at least they could say Harry was truly on their side.

"Well, we're a team, right?" Harry gave a tiny smile through his sore limbs.

"I'm impressed," Cisco came into the room, along with the rest.

"I think we all are," Belén corrected, patting him on the arm as she walked in.

"Yeah, well, we need to do something about Grodd," Joe got them moving along to the problem.

"Like what?" Caitlin asked.

"Like get rid of him for good."

Caitlin finished her work in time to freeze in her spot. "You want to kill him?" she blinked, clearly surprised.

"Considering how many people he's killed, yeah."

Caitlin looked at the rest for some help. "This isn't Grodd's fault. He's only like this because Wells made him this way."

Barry could understand that her affection for the animal may have been a contributing factor for her opposition, so he tried being as kind as possible to make her see the issue. "Yes, but, Cait, he kidnapped you and you could have died."

"You didn't see what I saw. Grodd's getting smarter. He's lonely and sad," Caitlin argued softly. "He wants more apes like him."

"What are you saying? He wants kids?" Cisco made a face stricken with horror. "Cause I'm pretty sure one telepathic Grape Ape is more than enough for this city."

"I can see where you're coming from, Cait, but...you can't make more smart gorillas," Belén said, but then paused to think, "...can you?"

"No," Joe said sharply, hoping that no one got on that idea.

"I know somewhere we could send him," Harry suddenly said, getting up from the bed. "When the singularity exploded and I discovered the breach in S.T.A.R. Labs, I ran similar tests and discovered the same thing, 51 additional breaches." He made a beeline for the desks in the cortex and started up one of the computers. "The difference being the breaches in Central City are scattered all throughout the city whereas counterparts in my world most definitely are not."

"And you know where they lead?" asked Barry.

"Well, I was in the process of figuring all that out when Dr. Snow so gallantly convinced me to stay, but if I am correct, this breach-" Harry pulled one specific breech profile up on screen for them to see, "-is gonna get Grodd as close to home as he's ever likely to get."

"Okay, even if you're right, how do we bait Grodd to go through it?" Joe knew that the police were definitely out of this mission.

"My son'll do it," Henry answered, startling everyone but no one more than Barry. "Won't you, Flash?"

Barry's eyes widened and for the first couple of minutes he said nothing.

Belén cleared her throat quietly. "We could always, also, call in Nina. I figure she'd probably be more useful than me."

Barry swallowed and shook his head. "No. Grodd is going to have to face me now. It's about time."

~ 0 ~

It didn't take much to bring Harry's plan to life. In a couple of hours, they were ready to go to bring Grodd into the new world.

"Cisco's at the spot," Iris reported from the desk and looked up Barry who was, after many days, finally back in his Flash suit. "You ready?"

"Caitlin, just be careful," Belén said for the third time to the brunette. She felt it was too early for Caitlin to get back in the field, and so close to Grodd. "And Barry, please, please, be careful too."

Barry gave a small nod. "I will be back in one piece, you'll see."

"You better," Belén meant to be warning but her concern didn't allow for that.

"I will," Barry promised, slightly amused, and moved to Caitlin. "Ready to go, then?"

"Yeah," Caitlin spared her friends another look then let Barry take her away.

Belén then hurried to the desk where Iris was. When Joe and Henry rejoined them, Barry had already begun the game of chase with Grodd.

"How's it going?" Joe asked the two women, peering between them to get a look at the computers.

"Caitlin's safe and Barry is currently running away from Grodd," Belén replied.

"So Barry's gonna lure Grodd in front of the breach?" Henry asked just to be sure he understood the plan of the group.

"Yep, and once he gets him to the right spot, Cisco's gonna blast him into Earth-2 with his…" Iris failed to come up with the right word to describe Cisco's device.

"Thingamajig," her father finished for her, and the four had a small laugh.

"I think he said it was a speed canon," Belén tilted her head in thought. "He hates when we don't remember the names of his devices."

"Well, things have gotten a lot more complicated since I got out of prison," Henry remarked, giving a shake of his head.

"Mm-hmm. Man, you have no idea," Joe agreed with a hum.

They waited a couple of more minutes then switched to the street footage where they could see the breach Grodd was meant to go into. Grodd soon caught up with Barry and immediately inflicted his telepathic powers on the speedster. He effortlessly threw Barry across the street.

"Oh, my God!" Iris gasped, everyone beside her doing the same.

"I should have gone," Belén told herself repeatedly.

Henry took the comm. Microphone between her and Iris. "Get up, Barry. Now!"

They could see Barry was indeed doing his best to get back on his feet. However, it was a loss when Grodd put one of his heavy foot over Barry.

"You need to let him go, Grodd!" Caitlin's voice managed to draw the gorilla's attention for a moment. She was standing in a precise location - a spray-painted white circle.

"Flash is my enemy. Now you, too," Grodd declared, but Caitlin didn't falter.

"No. He was trying to save me from you. We didn't understand what you wanted, but now we do. I can give you what you want. I can give you a home. You just have to trust me."

Grodd lifted his foot off Barry and started coming at Caitlin. As soon as he was within the circle, Cisco activated the breech and Barry sped Caitlin out of the circle. Grodd was somewhat trapped by the breeches' force but there wasn't enough strength to snatch him entirely.

"Guys, what's going on with that full power switch?" Belén called to Cisco and Harry. "Two smart guys didn't think to invent that?"

"Uh, I'll have you know it is at full power," came Cisco's indignant response.

Henry took the microphone again. "Barry, you can't let Grodd get free. Conquer your fears, son. Believe in yourself."

"Did I mention I'm like really glad you're here?" Belén looked up at the man. Henry smiled back at the woman.

Barry had performed his famous sonic punch which was enough to push Grodd into the breech and leave him trapped on Earth 2 for the time being.

~ 0 ~

After everything, the Reverse Flash's suit remained intact and literally standing on its own inside the cortex.

"That is just creepy," Belén said from the main desk, preferring to be far away from said yellow suit. "Make it go away." At the same moment she spoke, her phone vibrated in her pocket. Silently, she took it out to see a text.

"Before we do anything, maybe we can see how to get it back in the ring first," Barry dropped the old ring of their Wells into Cisco's palm. It would be a very useful thing to learn that trick. "Might be nice to have something like that instead of carrying around a bag all the time."

"I can help you with that," Harry raised a finger and immediately got all the looks from the group. "What? I know a thing or two about micro-technology."

Cisco shook his head. "Yeah, you know a thing or two about a lot of things."

Henry moved up the man in question, looking truly grateful. "Well, as long as what he knows keeps my son and these good people safe, the more you know, the better. Pleasure to meet you, Harrison. Again."

Harry shook hands with him. "Dr. Allen."

"Good to see you," Henry then said to Caitlin and Cisco.

"Let's go," Barry motioned to his father to lead the way out. On his way, he stopped by Belén to see if she was ready as well.

"Hm?" Belén quickly lowered her phone, an action that Barry didn't miss.

"You said you would come to lunch," Barry reminded, eyeing her phone suspiciously. "Are you okay?"

Belén nodded her head and put her phone away. Her mother was really a relentless woman. "Yes, of course. Lunch, then?" she pointed and started walking as well.

~ 0 ~

After making sure her phone was completely off, Belén allowed herself to enjoy a nice lunch in the West residence along with Barry and his father. She even became more upbeat when Iris got sly and whipped out old albums of young Barry Allen throughout his years.

Henry had himself a good laugh after picking up a picture of a pre-teen Barry with some sort of experiment behind him. "Oh, this one is definitely a keeper!"

"Oh my God, what is that?" Belén tried making out said experiment and fully failed.

"Oh, yeah," Joe laughed as the memory came back to him. "He could've done your standard vinegar and baking soda volcano, but no, Barry wanted to do a molecular structure of chocolate and nougat."

"What the hell is that?" Belén shot Barry a weird look.

"My favorite candy bar, that's what," Barry responded. "Make a mental note of that, okay?"

But Belén only made a face that had Iris laughing. "How you manage to keep me I have no idea," Belén promptly said then reached for another album nearby. Iris needed to laugh louder. "Honestly, who does this stuff?"

"Why, a true science nerd," Henry added on, making both women laugh. "Like father, like son, I suppose."

"You mean it's heritable?" Iris nudged Belén on the side. "I feel for your kids."

While the idea had both Belén and Barry sporting blush faces, Belén still had courage for a loud scoff. "My kids will be adorable."

"What - hey!" came Barry's fully offended input.

"They are," Belén gave a shrug of her shoulders. "Because they're my kids."

Barry thought about it for a second and started to smile. "Yeah, if they're yours then they would be."

Belén smiled and passed another page of the album before suddenly gasping. "Oh! Do you know what you haven't seen yet?" she looked at Henry. "Your son is actually really good at karaoke singing!"

It took less than a second for Barry to become terrified.

Henry laughed at the idea. "Is he now?"

"Yes! Oh my God, I have the video if you want to see it!" Belén started reaching for her purse when Barry lunged for said purse and stuffed it behind his back.

"Dad, I think it's time to go," he then said promptly.

"Yeah," Henry agreed through his second laugh. "Joe, can I have…?" he raised the picture he'd kept of Barry's middle school experiment.

"Yeah," Joe of course agreed.

"Thanks," Henry got up and began to say his goodbyes. "Iris, thank you so much for reaching out to me. I am so glad you did."

Belén's upbeatness temporarily faded as she remembered how it had been Iris who'd done the right thing and call Henry in. Belén blamed herself for not being more attentive, but she would never hold it against Iris.

"Me, too," Iris smiled.

"Joe, there are no words, man. Thanks," Henry gave a hug to Joe right after Iris. "And Belén, really nice seeing you again."

"You should come by more often," Belén moved up and gave him a hug. "Then I could show you the video," she whispered.

"Belén!" Barry exclaimed.

"In secret," Belén added and sent a smirk towards her boyfriend.

"Bells," Barry handed Belén her purse back, now serious, "Mind if I stop by your place tonight after I catch up with some of my work?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," Belén agreed though wondered if it was really for the best. There were so many things going on with her she doubted if she would be able to keep it all in for another night.

"Great, I'll see you later, then," Barry gave her a chaste kiss on the lips and got going with his father.

"I have to go too," Belén slung her purse over her arm and helped stock the albums on the coffee table. "Need to have a talk with a mom."

"Still having problems, then?" Iris asked, and with a sigh Belén gave a nod.

"I have to figure something out or else she's going to keep sticking her nose in things and figure out secrets. Which reminds me," Belén turned to Joe, "she keeps looking into cases that you and Barry have had a handle on."

"By those I assume you mean metahuman cases?"

"Yeah. She's convinced there's something fishy about them. She's gone as far as getting Patty involved."

"Is that why she's so jumpy?" Joe chuckled.

"Working for Veronica Green does that to you," Belén shook her head.

"She can look into the cases all she wants but she's not going to find anything wrong with that. I promise," Joe raised a hand.

"I've no doubt about that, but thank you for telling me," Belén gave a warm smile to the two and took her leave.

~ 0 ~

As Barry had promised, he stopped by Belén's apartment later that night. She was already dressed in her pajamas, in case she fell asleep somewhere that wasn't her bed.

"You look extra tired," Barry had to remark once he got a good look at her.

"I feel like it," she shrugged and let herself drop onto the couch. "So many things..."

"I know," Barry took a seat next to her. "Joe told me about your Mom? Is she really that suspicious about our meta cases?"

"That and pretty much everything else," Belén sighed and brought a hand to rub her forehead. "My head's spinning and it's not leaving room for anything else. That's why it had to be Iris who thought to bring in your father. I was too busy and forgetful that Iris needed to fulfill my duties of your girlfriend."

Had it been any other moment, Barry would have laughed at that logic. Seeing Belén was truly upset thinking she somehow messed up, he knew he needed to deal with this delicately. "You can't always ignore your issues and your necessities."

Belén nodded her head to show she was understanding his points, but her face scrunched up with clear guilt. "But I love you, and I always want to be the one that helps you."

"I know that - believe me, I know know," Barry cupped her face. "But you should never have to feel like your things come after mine. Talk to me. Tell me what's going on in your life and let me me try to help you like you want to help me."

"She's my mom, I should be able to handle her," Belén shook her head and pushed Barry's hands off her face. "But it's difficult when she doesn't understand you. She wants to know things about me that I can't share."

"You know, if it's about...the Azalea...you can can tell her," Barry wanted to make sure that Belén didn't feel like she needed to hide all about STAR labs from her mother. He knew well how that made people feel, as well as how it ended when the person figured things out. "You can tell her about you, about STAR Labs, about me, anything."

"Thank you," Belén said first then sighed. "But I'm not sure I can. I'm just not sure how she'd take it."

"Okay, but in the meantime, what do you want to do? She's not going to stop asking questions…"

"I know…" Belén trailed off, hoping to come up with a solution to all her problems right there and then. "But I don't know," she croaked her last words before her emotions caught up with her. "I don't know anything except that I feel like I'm drowning."

"It's okay," Barry had pulled her into a hug. "We'll figure it out, I promise." Belén nodded but kept her head buried in his chest. He wrapped his arms tighter around her and kissed her hair. "Let's get you some sleep tonight and then...we'll start working on it." He knew that a full rest would definitely help bring up Belén's spirits.

It was a start.

~ 0 ~

Datura brought to life one of the small devices she'd taken from Mercury Labs. It sparkled white that could blind one if used properly. But, this time, Datura wasn't looking to kill. That wasn't the purpose her newest idea.

"You should have seen it," Poison Ivy sat at the edge of a rusty table. "They went up against one of those sentient gorillas."

Datura rolled her eyes. "They have those here too? Annoying. How'd Belén do?"

"Don't know. She didn't fight," Poison Ivy smirked when Datura stopped working to look back. "Yeah, she wasn't there."

"Hmm, maybe my game is working faster than I thought," Datura smiled to herself. "I can play some good mind games and she probably already knows it. Though the poor idiot probably doesn't even understand why I can play these games so easily with her."

"If she has half a brain then she must already suspect," Poison Ivy's remark didn't affect Datura in the least.

"Please, she'd never guess," Datura took in a deep breath and pulled her hair behind her shoulders. She took off her mask and chucked it to the side. "Now come help me finish this damn thing already. I want it done as soon as possible."

[dopescotlandwarrior]

Beauty Chooses-Chapter 10

                 Special thanks to @statell​ for all your help and wisdom

Previous chapters at AO3

Chapter Ten- Remember Me (NSFW)

We all watched the snow fall, each in our own thoughts. Jamie put his arms around me and said something remarkable.

“We should make haste to build a fire pit for the barn, remember startin yer wee fire for the freezing animals Sassenach?”

I whirled on him with a smile and shook my head yes. “There’s nothing like a snowstorm to be outside. I will use the rest of the light to search for rocks, Glavia will help me if Misses Crook will take Faith.”

My sweet little girl reached her arms up to Misses Crook who would be her slave for the next hour. We all bundled up and went to our task. It wasn’t easy finding the rocks under a layer of snow, but we kept bringing them into the barn and Murtagh would send those back that were too big or too small.

On the next trip back, Jamie was laying on the roof cutting a section out to vent the fire. The string was tied, then he dropped it down into the barn before he gasped and grabbed the side of the hole to keep from sliding off the roof.

“Murtagh, I’ll be needin yer assistance to keep from fallin off the roof. If I let go, I’ll slide straight off.”

It took Murtagh about ten minutes to secure a rope around one of the supporting structures and toss it to Jamie who used it to control his descent on to the ladder. My heart was pounding in my chest and I stood at the ladder until Jamie was on solid ground again. I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him, so relieved he wasn’t hurt. His eyes were so blue against the white snow he took my breath away.

The pit was ready and Murtagh called us inside to carry out wood once we warmed up. I put my cheek against Faith’s and made her squeal from the cold. Glavia stayed to help Misses Crook get dinner ready and we went out to finish the pit and light the first fire.

I admired the tight-knit stones that were even and level at the top. Baritone came in hunched over from the cold and asked about the pit. Jamie explained what we had done and told him we still need to find a cover to keep the embers in.

“Why not put a heater in here? It’s safer and warmer I’m sure.”

I smacked my forehead feeling like an idiot. Jamie looked at the column of snow coming through the vent hole and half smiled declaring it one of the drawbacks of the vent. I hustled everyone inside because I was freezing.

I slipped away after dinner to look for a hardware store in Edinburgh. I got there with ten minutes to spare and explained the barn interior to the salesman. As they were locking the store for the day I was paying for the heater and an industrial power cord. I raced back to Lallybroch.

It was dark when I pulled in and I ran around to the back of the jeep to pull the heater out. It was far too heavy, so I spun around running smack into Jamie’s chest. I kissed him and told him not to worry about the firepit, I may have solved the problem. I asked him to pull the heater to the inside of the barn while I ran the power cord to the exterior sockets.

Jamie’s eyes were huge as he felt the radiating heat almost immediately. He checked the heater for stability and safety and was satisfied. He pulled me to him and I could feel his ardor building as we kissed. He pulled me against his erection and I felt ice go through my veins from fear.

“Come Sassenach, I need ye lass.”

I tried to linger in the shower, calming my nerves and bracing for the pain, but Jamie reached in and pulled me out. He could hardly wait for me to brush my teeth and dry my hair. Instead, I was flat on my back feeling him invade my body, made worse from my tense muscles. It was painful and quick leaving me alone and violated once again. It took forever to fall asleep and my sobbing did not disturb the giant Scot. What has changed you so much I wailed in my head.

I saw Jamie’s face loom above me and panicked. I tried to stop it, but Jamie was holding me down, pinning me to the bed. He moved over me and I was thrashing, trying to break free of the oncoming assault. I kept pleading, no, no, no Jamie, please don’t hurt me.

Jamie was startled awake by Claire’s thrashing body, locked in her nightmare. He heard her pleading cries not to hurt her. When she said his name his heart nearly stopped. He reached to shake her awake and heard enough of her begging to know she was terrified of him. He grabbed her and held her close until her shaking stopped. When she was deep in her dreams again, he laid in the dark trying to understand what she was afraid of. He recognized the pattern of pleading like she was trying to hold off an attack on her person. It didn’t take much time to piece together the only scenario. When he had sex with her. To him, it was a woman’s duty, like putting supper on the table, washing clothes, and laboring through childbirth. It was the woman’s role his father told him, and everyone knew that. How could she be so loving to him and so terrified of that?

He didn’t sleep much the rest of the night. He felt protective of the Sassenach but could not see an alternative to meeting his needs. He was torn and tried to remember sex before he was taken. Try as he might, he could not bring a single memory to mind which troubled him further. He wanted to put his arm around her to ease her discomfort but when he did, she jerked away from him and pulled the quilt around her.

Jamie checked on the horses at dawn and the barn was comfortable and warm. He sat on hay bales and continued his deliberation about his fearful wife. Claire bounded in fearing the heater had malfunctioned and was burning the barn down. She was five feet inside before she saw Jamie sitting there in his misery. Their eyes met and she saw all his questions on his pained face. Do ye still love me? Why do ye fear me? How have I hurt ye? He saw her wide eyes struggle to rally and get right with his presence and that broke his heart.

“Ye’ve been pretending to love me Sassenach?”

“What? No of course not. Why do you say such a thing, Jamie?”

“I can see ye puttin yer mask on, hiding some truth from me. I know yer terrified of me because ye dream of this fear and plead with me to stop.”

Jamie’s brutal honesty was disarming. I could not pull it together quickly enough and he would not look away from me. I was caught, as it were, and my heart pounded in my chest. I gave up trying to rescue the ruse of happy, untroubled wife and hung my head still standing in the middle of the barn.

“Come here, lass. Yer my reason for livin and I promise we will find an answer so ye dinna live in fear anymore.”

That sounded so ominous I couldn’t move a muscle until he came to me and walked me back to the hay bale. I tried to breathe and slow my ramming heart, but it wasn’t working, and I fell further into my surrender. This was the exact opposite of what Joe told me he needed but I couldn’t stop it now. I took a deep breath and looked at him.

“Have ye lied about loving me lass?”

“No.”

“Do ye love me less because I was taken?”

“No.”

“Do ye want to live separately?”

“No, no, no Jamie! I love you more than the day we wed, and I was ready to die with you rather than live with the pain. I bartered to die to make the pain stop, wanting to follow you to the next realm, wherever that is.”

“I’m certain of yer love for Faith. You would leave her to Glavia to follow me?”

“My pain would have killed me anyway.”

“Why do you plead with me to stop hurtin ye when ye dream?”

My tears were falling, and I felt myself surrender to telling him the truth. “Do you remember the night I found you in the barn, the first time we made love?”

He struggled with that and I could tell he didn’t remember.

“What about our wedding?”

“A grand affair it was.”

“What did my dress look like?”

He sputtered and moved his hands through the air and finally gave up. “I dinna ken.”

Here we go I thought. “Jamie you suffered terrible injuries at Culloden and untold emotional injuries before and after. You have lost part of your memory because of it. Joe says it will come back if you live in a healing, stress-free environment. I have been trying to provide that.”

“Go on Sassenach.”

“You have forgotten how we used to touch each other and how generous you were when we made love. You have forgotten it would take hours sometimes because you touched me and kissed me everywhere. You used your hands, your mouth, and your body to arouse me and then push my release before finding your own.”

I was sobbing with my truth and clinging to him. The greatest threat from revealing the truth is it would change nothing, meaning Jamie was suddenly heartless, a product of his time when women did not matter during sex. It was hugely important to me and once was to Jamie as well. I wouldn’t have fallen in love with a heartless man so how could I love him now? A cold calm came over me chasing my fear and broken heart away. When I realized that Jamie had the power to restore us or ruin us, I took a breath and waited.

“Ye have mentioned meeting me in a barn, late at night, the first time I touched ye. Would you tell me about that, every minute of that meeting? Please Sassenach.”

I told him the story, burned forever in my mind as a turning point in my life. The night I fell in love. I described every moment, every touch, every truth we whispered to each other and how we made love so sweetly.

His eyes were burning into me when I looked at him and feared I had piqued his arousal with my recounting. He held my hands and told me to relax, he had no intention of throwing me to the floor and pushing into me.

“I know ye were orphaned at five years old, that ye took money from me to help Jenny, that ye left yer life in this time to risk walkin through the stones to be with me. How can I remember all that and not the times I loved ye as ye described?”

“I don’t know Jamie. It sounds ridiculous but loving each other in that manner was our cornerstone. We craved each other, taught each other, and never had enough. Somehow, it was in every look, every touch, every greeting, and farewell. It was like breathing to us. It must have been a crippling memory as you prepared for battle at Culloden. Maybe you put me away in your mind so you could fight, I don’t know.”

“But I remember you from before Culloden and I loved ye dearly Sassenach.”

“Do you remember the intruder that tried to rape Glavia? I hit him…”

“on the head with an iron pan and tied him up!” Jamie looked triumphant.

“After all that we went to wash with new soap.”

“I remember that too Sassenach. I carried ye to the water and rode ye home on my back.”

I encouraged him to remember being in the water with me when my body wouldn’t open for him and later seduced him into a particularly erotic night of sex. The intimate moments when our hearts were open and we could see the other’s soul by looking in their eyes. The most extraordinary joining of two hearts had all been forgotten.

I exhaled and stared at nothing while Jamie sat mute beside me.

“Sassenach, without the events you describe would yer path have taken a different turn?”

“Yes,” was my exhausted whisper. I stood and walked slowly out of the barn and into the house.

Jamie came in eventually and I sat everyone in the living room to watch a documentary about the two queens, Mary of Scots, and Queen Elizabeth of England. It was fascinating and a good starting point to bring them through history.

I tried to relax but felt Jamie’s eyes on me the whole time. I was emotionally exhausted and when the second movie started, I climbed the steps with effort and collapsed on the bed. I slept deeply, rousing slightly when Jamie laid down. I felt myself sinking into peaceful blackness and the relief I would not have to speak to anyone.

Large warm hands wrapped around me and then softly found each button of my shirt and pulled it away. I moaned my complaint, not wanting to wake up and when the warm cocoon came back, I slept.

Jamie was aching to touch her the way she described but too afraid she would storm out of the room leaving him alone. She pushed back when he removed her shirt, so he just cuddled her and fell asleep beside her.

There is a hand running down my leg, coming up the backs, and caressing my butt. It moves up my stomach to cup my breast before I feel a warm mouth with the tongue flicking across my nipple. I heard myself moan and turned toward the hand as Jamie’s mouth came down on mine. His kiss was soft at first but when my arms encircled his neck the kiss became demanding. His hands were on my breast and he went from mouth to breast stirring my passion. I knew I was dreaming and felt no fear from him even when he pulled my jeans off and rolled me onto my stomach.

His warm hand moved down my back and over my butt and then dropped lower between my legs. My heat was throbbing, and I moaned when a finger found my bud and caressed it. The mouth kissed down my back as the finger brought my release.

My eyes shot open as he turned me over, kissing my abdomen and moving lower. When he pushed my legs open, I could feel a hot tear squeeze out the corner of my eye. He was doing everything I told him about and he was the king of men again and I a slave to his pleasure. My back arched as he drove his tongue into me. I pulled on his shoulders begging him to take me. He kissed me deeply as he moved into me with a moan. He made it last until I was pushing on his butt to deepen his strokes. My legs came up at his sides and I told him deeper, faster. He was making my head spin and I felt ready to tear him apart.

“I love ye, Claire, I love ye. Tell me ye love me lass.”

“I love you, Jamie, with all my heart.”

He drove himself into me and stiffened for several seconds. He was panting, telling me he loved me while I kissed his neck and face a dozen times. When he fell next to me, he reached out and pulled me closer.

“Was that more like it Sassenach?”

I could see his hopeful eyes; I smiled nodding my head yes. His moves were different, a bit clumsy, but he was trying and I loved him so much at that moment. I napped in Jamie’s embrace and felt his love like I used to. I hoped this was an end to the torture.

The following day I woke up smiling at the world and couldn’t wait to kiss Jamie and Faith. When I breezed into the kitchen Jamie and Baritone were seated with Faith on Jamie’s lap. I smiled at him and he did a double-take, looking into my eyes, he smiled and blushed. I kissed Misses Crook, I kissed Glavia and Faith, and I kissed Jamie on the mouth. I moved toward Baritone and dropped into my chair.

“Ew, not you.”

Baritone laughed at me and mentioned I get more like the old Claire every day. That brought a cheery laugh from everybody, but it made me wonder, was I so different since I left them two years ago?

Whenever I met Jamie’s eyes, I saw them sparkle. He was exuding that boy charm that made me weak in the knees. After morning chores, we played with Faith until she yawned and rubbed her eyes. I nursed her, knowing I should get serious about weaning her. Jamie was pulling me to him, I could feel it. When I handed a sleeping Faith to Glavia I went to the kitchen for another cup of coffee.

Jamie came and leaned against the counter. I asked him about the barn temperature this morning and he said it was fine.

“I need to check the feed and place an order today.”

“I’ll help ye Sassenach.”

We bundled up and he put his arm around me as we walked to the barn. His happiness was unbridled this morning and it made me giggle when he threw me over his shoulder and bounced me to the barn. Once inside he let me slide down the front of his body and I caught my breath when I looked at his face. Our kiss was one for the record books and I panted when I could tear away from his mouth.

“Let’s count the bales, shall we lass?”

I struggled not to fall over when he let me go and cleared my throat hoping to clear my head. I followed him as he counted and then he turned quickly and asked how many that was. My eyes shot to his face, wide-eyed, not understanding what he asked me.

“Hmm?”

“Now Sassenach, this is a team effort so ye must pay attention.”

I heard him counting and then he turned to me again. “How many bales do we have.”

His eyes were extraordinary, and I wanted to fall into them so I never had to look away.

“Hmm?”

“Yer makin this hard on me lass. I want to see ye naked in my arms makin yer wee noises and beggin me to love ye.”

He crushed his mouth to mine and I felt him pick me up. He chose the back stairs to the second floor and lowered me to our bed locked in a sensuous kiss. He laid next to me and pushed the hair off my face and ran his hand from my neck to my ankles.

“Forgive me lass, but can I see what is under yer shirt?”

He held my collar out and tried to see inside my shirt making me quake with laughter.

“That didna work so well.” He unbuttoned the top of my shirt and looked at me. “I might be fine to see with just one more button?”

He was so disarming with his charm and I was feeling my heat as he played with me. I smiled encouragingly and ran my hand down his arm.

“I know ye will give me a peek if I take my shirt off, no one wants to be left out, Aye? Give me two, sweet lass, they are so small.”

He took a peek inside my shirt and got three more buttons open, looking very proud of himself. He moved the fabric away from my breast and sucked my nipple, quickly letting go to caress it. Having just been drained by Faith I didn’t worry about drowning him in breast milk.

He ran his tongue from my collar bone to my ear and watched me pant from his efforts.

“I could do exactly what I did to ye yesterday, or ye could show me other things ye like. It would be a poor lesson if you had all these clothes on.”

I felt him pull my jeans off and lift my upper body to pull my shirt away. I inclined my head toward his jeans and they did a disappearing act. The smile had not left my face and I pushed him back on his pillow and ran my hand down his stomach coming dangerously close to his erection. I could see his chest expanding with each breath.

“Would you like to see what you loved the most?”

“Aye, I would.”

He watched every move I made and when my mouth came down on him, he sucked air and pushed me away as he tried to get some distance from me. “Lass, what are ye doing?”

I laid on his thigh and touched him. “Let me, Jamie. I’ll show you what you loved.”

I moved toward him again and put him in my mouth. When I heard him growl, I released him and was flipped under him in an instant. He looked at me closely, like a starved man and brought his mouth down on my fold. His movements were more experimental today and he was fascinated by my anatomy. He would touch my bud and watch my reaction, smiling confidently that he found the sacred place. He was lost in my body, moving my legs, touching my core, licking my bud until I was losing my mind.

“Jamie, I can’t take it anymore, please come here and love me.”

He watched my face as he pushed carefully into me. Three strokes watching me and he suddenly froze. “Wait, ye havena… ah …ye havena…”

“Not yet sweetheart.” With that, he dropped to my core and licked me until I saw the fourth of July going off behind my eyelids. I moaned his name for what seemed a full minute and my body shook with it.

“Come back to me Sassenach, I need ye and I dinna want to hurt ye.”

I pulled him to me and lifted my legs at his sides pressing his butt, driving him into me. I felt out of control and told him deeper, faster. When he rammed into me with his release, I followed him with another earth-shattering orgasm.

I felt him all around me. Arms, legs, hands pulling me to him, mouth kissing my face and neck. We seemed suspended in time, alone in our world, so close, so utterly happy. He held me and told me he loved me.

“Yer a rare woman Sassenach. If there were more like ye I would have heard of this. Ye love like a man, chasin yer release. I did not know it was possible for a woman…”

I kissed him quiet and cuddled him for a mid-day nap. I smiled thinking I was reliving our earlier lovemaking when Jamie was curious and experimental, so intent on pleasing me, so terrified of the overwhelming pleasure I could give him. I vowed to show him the promised land of oral sex although I might have to handcuff him to the bed so he couldn’t stop me.

We were back in our sacred place where touches throughout the day were a memory and an invitation, and I was so happy. Jamie started leaving with Murtagh, just like they used to. When there was nothing to mend or build at Lallybroch they would often lend a hand to a neighbor working on his fence or building a barn. They would come home for dinner and Jamie would look at me like I was the only woman on earth.

Joe came back to Lallybroch during the holidays and we had four glorious days with him and Baritone. He surprised me one morning with his plan to take the whole group to see an animated Christmas movie and then treats afterward.

“It’s my Christmas present to our visitors and to you and Jamie, four hours alone Pet.”

I kissed his cheek and ran for a bath where I would make a plan to spin Jamie’s head in a house to ourselves.

We waved to everyone piled into the jeep and watched them disappear down the road. My heart was already pounding and I looked at an unsuspecting Jamie, and wanted to purr.

We laid on the couch in front of a roaring fire. Jamie kissed me sweetly and moved me to lay on top of him so he could knead my butt. His hands found their way under my sweater and I was about to lose it, so I pushed up and left the couch. He laid there watching me with hungry eyes.

“Come back Sassenach.”

“If I do, you will probably remove my sweater?” I pulled it over my head and heard Jamie gasp at my lace push-up bra. A treat I acquired tagging along on Baritone’s shopping trip. He stared at my breast pouring out of the lace.

“Come lass.”

“So you can pull off my pants Jamie?” I rocked my hips and pulled my jeans away to reveal a matching thong that was next to nothing.

“Now, lass.”

I got on my knees and unbuttoned his jeans asking him to remove his shirt. When I pulled his jeans and boxers away I almost swooned at his beautiful body taking up the whole couch. His eyes were drilling into mine and he reached for me. I put his hands to the couch and told him to watch me as I licked his balls and held his erection toward my mouth. He stiffened when I put him in my mouth, and it was so erotic I had to struggle to breathe. Jamie was moaning and pushing himself to my throat and suddenly I was lifted off my knees and dropped onto the couch with Jamie inspecting my bra and thong.

“No fair, you are stronger than me.”

“Aye, a good bit stronger lass and I intend to leave the earth with ye today, not by myself.”

He took his time pulling me up to the begging stratosphere. When he pulled my panties and bra off, I thought I might expire from a lack of oxygen because my heart was ramming in my chest. I could see Jamie was struggling by starting something then changing his mind. It almost looked like he was fighting himself and I wondered if my little strip tease got him too hot for control.

“Jamie,” I panted, when I’m like this it’s okay to be forceful, I like that. “I’m going to come the next time you touch me and then you can let it go, and I will like it. Please let it go.”

He pushed me over the edge and sent me careening into the erotic wind. Before I opened my eyes I heard him apologize, he didn’t want to hurt me. I promised, he wouldn’t hurt me and in the next minute the beast was with us, bending me into positions that threatened my sanity as he devoured me. My second orgasm was more than Jamie could handle as he was held tightly by undulating muscles.

“Jesus, lass!”

He held me to him as he pumped himself into me, panting and watching where we joined. I held my arms open for him to drop into. With his head on my chest, I stroked his back and kissed his forehead. He asked if I was alright and I purred, “never better.”

I was preparing dinner when the jeep pulled up and everybody piled out with huge smiles on their faces. Joe saw me through the window, and I smiled my thanks as they all came through the door talking about the miracle they had witnessed. I couldn’t help laughing at the description of multicolored people who were one-hundred feet tall, but nice, and funny. I hugged Joe and Baritone and announced dinner was ready.

Misses Crook dropped into a chair and looked a bit green with beads of sweat on her forehead. She launched herself toward the bathroom and forcefully expelled the four boxes of candy she had eaten. Poor Misses Crook. People in this time learn that painful lesson before the age of ten. It would be harder for her. I put her to bed with a cool cloth for her face and said goodnight.

It was after Hogmanay I noticed Jamie getting restless and looking for things to do during the day. His mood would swing from cheerful to depressed in a matter of minutes and he would go into the barn just to stay away from us. I felt terrible because I couldn’t help him. By the end of February, he was locked in his head most of the day. Alone in our room at night and he would lavish his love on me a brief escape from the depression.

When the house was dark and quiet, Jamie laid on his back, suffering like never before. He was disciplined, he was a warrior, and he laid perfectly still as the images tormented him. He saw his men cut down right in front of him. Their bodies nearly cut in half by a British blade. He saw three men hit by cannonballs flying through the air, already dead from the impact. And then he saw Claire, asking to see him and the hungry look on her face when he was naked. He saw her laying on a bearskin rug and new it was their wedding day.

The images of the battle and making love to Claire were intermingled in some tragic way and he felt a tear slide down the side of his face. He held a young soldier, no more than fifteen or sixteen. He was dying and cried for his mother. He was back on Culloden Moore as that boy slipped away and he lost it. His body shook with his sobs that he tried to quell. It was terrifying. He heard the voice of his superiors taunting him with their place on the list to rape Claire describing how she screamed his name when they dragged her from Lallybroch.

He saw her face in front of him, begging him to love her. A fancy carriage on her knees pushing him deep against her throat, taunting and defying him until he ripped the clothes from her body then gorged himself.

He couldn’t take anymore; it was killing him to remember and he would do anything to make it stop. He started to get up when he felt Claire’s warm hand on his stomach. She looked up at him and asked to be held and warmed up. His heart melted at her innocence and love, so he eased his body down next to her and wrapped her in his arms. Holding her like this he relaxed and sleep mercifully came for him.

Jamie was locked in his torturous head in the morning. He felt a strong urge to get away from everyone, to hide from them. There was enough snow melt for him to wander in the woods for the day, so he got up and dressed. Claire was already up making him feel even more off. When he walked into the kitchen Misses Crook was handing Claire bags of food that she put into the jeep. She kissed Faith and hugged Glavia and Misses Crook before taking Jamie’s hand and leading him outside.

“What is this then,” Jamie almost looked afraid to ask.

“We are going on holiday. We are getting some alone time and might be back tomorrow or maybe the next day. Who knows. Faith is fine with my stored breastmilk and juice in her sippy-cup, so we can relax.”

I handed him a steaming mug full of oatmeal, we buckled up and headed for town. Jamie complained a bit but when I didn’t entertain his complaints he went back to his oatmeal.

“Stay right here, please. This is a surprise.”

I jumped back in the jeep and drove around to the back of the hotel before pulling him inside the room and closing the door.

“I want to hear all about it. No one is around, no one can hear you. I will not leave this room until you have let me into your ravaged mind. Look at this Jamie.”

I pulled my sweater sleeve up high on my arm and flexed the muscles I had been building. He put his warm hand around my bicep and looked so sad.

“If only it were enough to keep me safe from my own head.”

“Your mouth will save you, love. When you share the horrors that are crippling you the healing will begin. I watched you last night, grapple with your thoughts and tears, memories that are too hard to bear. I will hear them all before we leave and I have enough food for a week, just sayin.”

Claire was talking softly telling him everything was fine, they were alright. Jamie put his hand up to cover hers and struggled not to leap off the bed and run to a safe place where he could hide from the dawning memory of his life after he was taken. He grabbed her and held her close to him as he sobbed with the memories flooding into his consciousness.

I held onto him as tightly as I could. Something was happening to him that was locked in his head and scared me to the bone. It broke my heart to hear the gut-wrenching sobs and feel him shake with it. Little by little his shaking stopped, and I kept telling him all was right in our world. He turned the light on low and looked around the room and then at me. I pulled him down to lay his head on my chest while I stroked his hair and scratched his scalp. He was relaxing, slowly, and his breathing returned to normal. I hummed a relaxing melody and held him close. When his grip on my arms let up, I knew he was asleep. I didn’t move for the next hour, standing guard against his nightmares in case they returned.

I felt his heartbeat ramming in his chest. He had not moved or spoken but something was driving his racing heart.

“Tell me what you see, Jamie.”

“Almost home, I was almost to Lallybroch, to you and Faith. I had been runnin for two days, not sleepin. When the bullwhip wound around my legs I fell forward. I was caught and tied to a horse, forced to walk behind or be dragged. I was helpless and exhausted and the worst was yet to come.”

“What was that sweetheart?”

“Forty lashes, double the first time I escaped. They posted men to guard me day and night and my hope of gettin to you had vanished. I worked the lads hard for the next week, they werna ready and I felt my guilt about that.”

“Why guilt?”

“I had no intention to fight and my mind was busy with a plan to escape, not train men for battle. I tried to make up for what I hadna taught them and I prayed for their safety.” He raked his hand through his hair. “That wasna the worst of it,” he whispered, “the captains taunted me with what they would do to ye if I refused to fight.”

Jamie's tears came down and I held him close to me. “They never had me, sweetheart.”

“If I had kent that I coulda won the battle single-handedly, with my relief alone. But it tortured me and on the night before the battle, I saw but one road ahead. To save yer life by fightin as best I could. I put my sweet memory of ye away, locked it away so I could fight and fight I did, for ye Claire.”

“I understand you forced my memory away so you could fight, and save my life.”

“I took several cuts deep into my muscle and watched the blood poor out but it wasna enough to save ye and I kept goin, wonderin if I was dead already and didna ken it yet. My men were cut down like babes before the British blades. If I saved one from an advancing attack another would come to cut the lad in half.”

He wept at the memory of mere children sacrificed for a lunatic prince Charles and his lust for glory. Jamie cried and gripped me to him. He couldn’t speak so I just held onto him. I was horrified at what he went through wondering how he was able to keep breathing until we found him.

The description of his men dying went on through the afternoon. I cried with him at the suffering, fear, and waste of life. He tried so hard to save me by fighting fiercely, to save his men by killing those who were advancing on them, all with multiple wounds that would have finished a lesser man.

By nightfall, he was exhausted. I got as much food into him as possible before he laid down and passed out. I laid next to him and stroked his back lightly so he would know I was there. By midnight I was homicidal wanting the blood of those who would torture a man to such a degree. At one point I jumped out of bed and paced the room, fists clenched at my sides. I was breathing hard visualizing what I would do to those who hurt him like this. Not realizing my own exhaustion, I had worked myself into a murderous rage. When Jamie touched my back, mid-pace, I whirled around with my fist in the air to strike the enemy.

Jamie caught my hand easily and looked at it curiously.

“What did ye have in mind for this, Sassenach?”

“I will kill them Jamie! All of them, as soon as we go back. I will not stop until they are all dead,” I shouted. “I have fancy rocks. I can pop in, slice their throat, and pop out.” My feet were moving toward the door as visions of murder danced in my head.

Jamie was chuckling and picked me up to hold me in his lap. I fought him, willing to gamble everything on my revenge. He said nothing, just waited for me to empty myself of energy and rage. I laid in his lap panting and crying. He pushed the hair off my sweaty face and looked at me with such love it made my heart hurt.

“I must tell ye Sassenach. I fought hard to get back to ye and ye’ll no be popping anywhere away from me. Is that understood lass? I see yer no convinced and still want the blood of my tormentors. Easy lass. They are all dead. Those who survived the battle were shot, or hung, as traitors. I imagine their families also went to the gallows. There is no one to fight, love. Promise me Sassenach, if I let ye go ye stay here with me, forever.”

I heard my own gasp realizing how crazy I sounded. I could feel my chin quivering as my resolve to hurt and maim faded. When Jamie let me go, I scrambled up and pressed into him holding him fiercely and sobbing. I couldn’t get close enough to him but felt his hands stroke up and down my back as his beautiful Gaelic filled my ears.

He dropped to the bed and pulled me away so he could look at my face. He spoke slowly while pushing my hair behind my ear.

“I feel lighter lass. Empty of my thoughts of the battle. Ye did this for me and I am grateful. I hope I can learn to live with the memories, and they won’t choke the life out of me. I need to forgive myself and move on.”

Jamie kissed my face over and over as I gripped his arms. It had been seven or eight hours of horrific memories pulled out and described in bloody detail. He looked different somehow or maybe it was my fatigue.

“Yer dress was black velvet with pure white lace underneath. It was flared from yer wee circles of wood tied to ye. Yer hair was up at yer temples with two or three big curls down yer back and wee curls around yer face. Ye were breathtakin Claire. When I came to the house ye laid on a bearskin given by Letisha. Yer dress was off and ye wore a shiny corset and magic stockins. I felt like the luckiest lad in Scotland at that moment and when I loved ye, yers was the sweetest surrender.”

He remembered our wedding! I was so happy and dared to hope the rest of our lives came back to him. Our intimate lives.

“I have a vivid memory of a fancy carriage rolling through the crowded streets of Paris and the most beautiful lass on her knees in front of me. And holding ye close, slowly pushing deep into yer body while ye gasp. So much love between us, physical and emotional and I remember it all Sassenach.”

I pushed back on my tears, so sick of crying all the time. I thought about how much we had overcome. The pain, the wounds, the fear, and death itself. Our future might be unknown, but now I knew we would live it together, like the warriors we were.

[moonlightwinterdxxix]

MOONLIGHTWINTERDXXIX! Ready for another request attack!? 🤣 I'm here for Sutabaa Zaimoku identity shenanigans the SEQUEL! 😎✨ Somehow Kara's weird nice guy habits had actually worked?! He got on the good side of a visiting Sutabaa's overseas higher up by sheer luck and when they arrive to Sutabaa for whataver they mistaken Totty as Kara. Will Totty abuse this chance for nepotism to rise from his janitor position? Or will customer Kara unexpectedly arrive in all his glory and threaten this ruse?!

@yisongye For #make Karamatsu smile—the Bullied boys now have time to shine outside TVV xD

For those who are new, this is the continuation of this fic here.

~~~

Leaving its slanted position from the angle it was creating from the floor, Todomatsu raised the mop vertically and glared. “Stop laughing.”

“Pfft...! Okay, first you told me to stop talking,” Atsushi confirmed through snorts, shoulders rocking, “now you want me to stop laughing. What do you want me to actually do, Todomatsu? Make up your mind.”

“Leave. Go home. I don’t want you in here anymore. You’re making it a billion times worse.”

“Alright, come on. This is the thing, Todomatsu,” Atsushi said, resting his elbows on the table and raising a smug eyebrow that made Todomatsu want to punch his face so badly. “It wouldn’t have been so bad if you were being casual. Just a casual joe that’s cleaning tables, mopping the floors, doing his job, basically. But wearing your brother’s tacky sunglasses while working is what made you a sight more painful than him himself.”

“It’s his fault this all happened!” Todomatsu exclaimed, spreading a hand. “You have absolutely no idea what he said to the manager, and if you did...! If you were in my shoes, you’ll live with embarrassment for the rest of your life! He told me everything! I didn’t even want to wake up the next day after what he told me!”

“You’re overreacting,” Atsushi said, taking a sip from his latte. “I’m sure it wasn’t so bad. If he was pretending to be you, he couldn’t have possibly broken character enough that he’d make you look like a painful—”

“Then the sun, that glorious sun! Oh, it was the rose’s guardian angel, sending it a spirit for life and the will to fight forward! Oh, and it would now attract all the butterflies that followed a path so similar to it’s!” Todomatsu mimicked, posing with Karamatsu’s flair and voicing the lines with the lowest his voice can drop. Dramatically.

Atsushi burst out laughing.

“H-Hey! Shut up!”

“You’re right! It’s embarrassing!” Atsushi guffawed.

“Oh, wait until then!” Todomatsu snapped, resuming his work as he cleanly ridded the spot where a baby had spilt its mother’s drink. “The time will come when the same humiliation will happen to you. Don’t think that just because you have money and riches your life will be all fine and dandy. I promise that you will find failure soon. Just you wait.”

“Ooh, scary,” Atsushi drawled. “Doesn’t help that you’re wearing his glasses though. Why are you even doing that? To hide your identity? Everyone in the Ward knows of that face belonging to a sextuplet NEET, Todomatsu. That does nothing to your case.”

“Better safe than sorry. It’s better than having my own identity out in the world. Have Karamatsu instead—he’s the one most associated with failure.” He blew a raspberry, rolling his eyes. “You’ll eat your words soon, dumbbell,” Todomatsu vowed, grabbing a water bottle from his belt and spraying the floor. “I swear to Cod, you’ll eat your words and—”

“Todomatsu Matsuno?”

Someone suddenly was in front of the employees’ door of the establishment against the wall, and both Todomatsu and Atsushi were stunned to find a beautiful girl standing there, her eyes shining like those of the universe, all planets aligned and the sun at its brightest.

She had long, wavy brown hair that touched all the way to her waist, a bangs that brushed her eyebrows before parting at the sides, overlapping her ears. She had a large bust, which grabbed their eyes, but she also had long legs that they could see through her khaki pants. A notepad peeped out of the apron of her Sutabaa work uniform.

“Todomatsu Matsuno?” the girl echoed, smiling faintly, almost relieved. “Was that you? Oh, I never thought I’d actually see you! I heard snippets of your interview the other day, and I didn’t think I would be able to see you again. Anyway, I think I need to introduce myself formally to you. My name’s Sen. And I’m gonna be a co-worker of yours for the entire month.”

Todomatsu did nothing else but look at her, cheeks reddening as the sunglasses went askew on his nose.

“I’m the Sutabaa manager from Paris, see? But still a Japanese native,” the girl—Sen, went on. “I recently decided to take a trip back to Japan so I can see how the employees do their tasks here. And I was just in time too. A made a recent notice of the lack of appeal in customer service and entertainment, but I can associate the opposite of that with the fanfaronade you put on. At least, what I just heard right now and the other day. I assume that really was your interview, wasn’t it?”

“Y...Yeah,” Todomatsu breathed.

“Great! Because I think I might be considering lifting your position off being a janitor if that was the case,” Sen told them, taking out her notepad and pen. Her fingernails were decorated with fancied stickers of the Eiffel Tower. “With your flow of words, we might be able to attract more customers to the establishment. Imagine being talked about as that cashier man with a Shakespearean dictionary in his vocabulary. Wouldn’t that spark interest?”

No. Yes? Perhaps? Todomatsu didn’t think a Karamatsu persona would’ve sparked any interest from anyone or anything? Not even an ant’s or a cockroach’s.

And yet...If this meant not being a janitor anymore...

“Of course, only if you don’t mind,” Sen said, jutting down on her notebook. “If you aren’t willing to act so in front of customers, we won’t force you too. But your gentlemanly manner when you speak might make some progress in this building when it comes to getting people to come. It’s a suggestion I’ve already spoken to your main manager about. Now I want to ask you! Are you willing to do it, Todomatsu-san?”

“E-Eh?!” Atsushi squeaked, and Todomatsu continued to stare at her.

Then he blinked beneath the sunglasses. Then his lungs refilled with air, and his imagination lit up with his proud-to-behold Todomatsu Matsuno wisdom. He smirked, transferred the mop to his other hand, using his free one to touch his hairline with two fingers. “Of course, my dear! And I’d be happy to perform more Shakespearean might you give me the opportunity to! After all, I am Todomatsu Matsuno, master of the fine art, a man of theatre through-and-through!”

“Oh!” Sen expressed (cutely to the mens’ eyes), eyebrows rising.

“EEEHHH?!! O-Oi! Todomatsu! What the hell are you doing?!” Atsushi demanded, rising slightly from his chair.

Dropping the mop, Todomatsu slid over to Sen, a finger-gun following the shape of his jaw as he grinned narcissistically. “My, what ever is the problem, Atsushi? Can you not see that I’m being as normal as I can be? I am flattered by this woman’s suggestion, and all I want is to make her feel welcome in these crowded, sorrowful Tokyo streets. You are quite a foreigner yourself, in a way, are you not, sweetheart?” He knelt down, grabbed her hand. “I apologize for the inconvenience, dear. You make my heart melt.” He kissed her hand—it was so soft. Like, so, so soft that it was impossible for something to be that soft.

She chuckled.

Atsushi sputtered.

And Todomatsu wanted to as well. Because he wanted to scream so badly and yank his soul out of his body for the stupid idea he had concocted. Because...Because...BECAUSE LOOK AT THIS! He was posing with that stupid grin of his stupid brother while wearing those stupid glasses and was talking in that stupid accent all because Karamatsu had ruined Todomatsu’s chances for work with a stupid mistake because of his stupid brain and—!

Okay, keep it together, Todomatsu. Look on the bright side. He was a janitor, he was cursed with this hex of Satan since the day Karamatsu left the womb. And this was unacceptable, more than being a baby brother that everyone looked down on! This woman...She could change that. Hell, she could turn him from a lowlife into the manager himself! If Todomatsu followed her guidelines, matched her standards, made himself the appealing man she wanted to view...Yes, this was going to be his debut as the boss of his own life!

And so what if Karamatsu was the key to that?! Karamatsu was the key to success, and no one cared for Karamatsu’s own failure! These NEETs were selfish bastards after all!

Heck, Todomatsu was that desperate! Yes! Yes! But he didn’t care, for everyday he was already dying with the thirst for change! Change in his life, change in his pathetic, why-am-I-alive existence! He had no friends—only acquaintances who would never stay longer than twenty minutes! His life was littered with five matching levels of garbage, sharing his bed and face that made him look as terrible as them! But he wasn’t! And he wasn’t going to be defined like that any freaking more!

Yes! Hell yes! This was the true form of this Todomatsu-sama, the one who will be the first of his NEETy brothers to find love alongside work! So what if he was a cursed janitor?! He was an official graduate from the status that had once colored him at the bottom of the caste system, and this woman was going to be his diploma! Hell yes, he won!

And there was even a plus. This girl was into this, and if he continued this painful persona he might have a chance to actually keep her. No more virginity for this youngest dirty monster, because he was going to be able to smash her and make her his by acting his part as the best boyfriend she could ask for! So what if she was a princess?! A lady of romance and theatrics and the arts?! She was still an unattainable woman who any of these stupid NEETs would pine for for ages! Lifetimes! A keeper to the max despite maybe bad taste in vocabulary, but that was besides the point!

Todomatsu could keep her. Hell, he can keep her. If he was this perfect cashier, he can keep her. Beat the hell out of his brothers, and become the true role model that Choromatsu and Osomatsu were far from being! All because he was a loser, therefore there was no one else he could grab! Because Iyayo and Chibimi were plastic dolls and Kinko was a woman of true culture...Because Totoko hated them like scum and Homura was in love with someone else...!

Hell yeah, there was so much he could gain, this baby demon of the Matsuno hellhole...All he needed to do now was act the part. Act the part.

What would Karamatsu say, and how can it be said for this woman’s attraction? Hm, he needed to summon his inner Karamatsu, if there even was one. Because just like the rest of his brothers, having an inner Karamatsu was like saying that they had a tree growing over their heads. It was impossible. Because having an inner Karamatsu was one of the things they as NEETs did not want to have.

But this woman. She wanted a Karamatsu.

Todomatsu smirked. Fine. For her, he’ll play the part.

“Have you always been a theatrical one, Todomatsu-san?” Sen asked, tucking a few collective strands of hair behind her ear after hiding her notebook and pen again. “Or is this a new thing after graduating?”

Hmm, how was he going to answer this? Should he be honest and tell her that the only thing he’s ever done involving theatre was dunk bird turd on someone’s script, or should he go with the Karamatsu flow and tell her that acting has always been a hobby since the day he could walk? What would this woman want to hear? Todomatsu pondered, forced his brain cells to click and tick and turn their gears...Hmm...

Then—

Todomatsu posed, raising an arm and bending another. “I had no plan!” he announced.

Sen’s mouth formed a tiny circle. Atsushi face-palmed.

“Heh, I’ve always went with the flow of my own wind, dear beautiful Sen,” Todomatsu enumerated smoothly, dropping the octaves of his voice, which wasn’t so hard. He was already gifted to have a deep voice whenever he yelled (something Choromatsu once mentioned to him, that rising, fapping loser), and so mimicking Karamatsu’s original tone wasn’t that difficult as an activity. That, and this woman had never met Karamatsu in person, so he had the safety of a thousand nets and trampolines to catch his sky-high fall.

“Theatrical arts, drama, cherry blossoms in the wind, a heart of blue.” Oh god, Todomatsu wanted to slap himself so hard, wanted to slice his tongue with a cleaver and haul it into the mouth of hell. Speaking Karamatsu was speaking the language of agony. If this was what being the childhood best friend of Karamatsu resulted in, then maybe it was better if none of that ever happened at all. “It was my mind, cured with the peacefulness of my being, that opened my existence in a fantasy worth exploring. The unknown. Skies and trees that breathe the air of purity that is being wiped from this earth. It tears my soul and rips my being into shreds.”

Atsushi snorted, turning away. That goon, Todomatsu was gonna deal with him later.

“Ooh, how poetic,” Sen commented, her hair bouncing as she tilted her head. “How did you gather your vocabulary?”

How did Karamatsu gather his vocabulary? How did Karamatsu gather his vocabulary? HOW DID KARAMATSU GATHER HIS VOCABULARY? When they were freaking kids, Karamatsu wasn’t even able to determine the differences between ‘limbs’ and ‘limbo’! How the hell did he come from that turd of an idiot into a man with a dictionary built into his throat?!

“Heh, by being myself,” Todomatsu answered painfully, trying not to reach over to wipe the sweat pooling behind his ears and running down his nape. “I’m a natural at my strengths, the best of my kind. Because I’m a loner, but at the same time I have my own hands to support me might I fall. Heh, I’m a tower of storms.”

“You definitely are. Very destructive too,” Atsushi chortled, eyes directed elsewhere but the killer’s promise of a glare on Todomatsu’s face.

“Wait a minute,” Sen said, a finger touching those beautiful lips of hers. “Todomatsu-san, have I seen you before? I thought you looked familiar and remembered that I saw someone looking like you yesterday. Were you at the park yesterday taking a swim in the river dressed in a yellow baseball uniform?”

Todomatsu flinched so hard that his soul felt like it had just poked the waves of an ocean made of lava. “No, that wasn’t me! It was a stranger, surely! I hate baseball, always have!”

“Only since today,” Atsushi muttered. Todomatsu was internally sending him two of his middle fingers which tips had holes for bullets.

“But the other day, I thought I saw you too?” Sen asked. “Wearing red this time. Playing at Pachinko? And you had a very large bruise on your face while you left the parlor crying. I assume you lost the gamble after getting into a fight?”

Shit! Damn you, Osomatsu! “Nope! Pachinko is not my turf in the slightest!” Todomatsu lied, puffing out his chest because he felt like deflating into an airless blob of rubber.

“Yet you won yesterday,” Atsushi stated quietly behind his hand.

“And also, in the mixer? I saw someone in pink looking like you leave it recently,” Sen followed up, crossing her arms. “Well, not to defy you or anything, but are you the mixer type really, Todomatsu-san? With your flair and all, your humble personality, I don’t think you need a mixer to determine your acquaintances and your friends.”

“Heh, fret not, my queen,” Todomatsu schmoozed, wanting to stab himself for each ‘heh’ he had to gag out. “This man here is still as packed with friends as a man can be.” Which was half true and half lie. Todomatsu was one with peers, but Karamatsu was a member of the trash gang. Meaning, friends were flies, and peers were the dirty streets that only cats were willing to walk because they too were stupid enough not to understand anything in life.

Sorry not sorry, Ichimatsu.

“Oh, alright then,” Sen said, then bowed. “I guess I was just thinking about your successful interview too much then.”

“Oh, it is quite fine,” Todomatsu fibbed, planting very sweaty hands against his hips. “I am alone in my features—there’s no one else like me at all. If there was, it’s probably a doppelgänger signaling death that looms over me. Therefore I am the one and only, Sen-chan. Todomatsu Matsuno.”

Atsushi turned away, shoulders shaking.

Sen chuckled. “If you say so, mister Matsuno. So, are you up for it, Todomatsu-san? Would you accept my invitation to be a cashier instead of a janitor?”

“Yes, my sweet! I am glad to oblige!” Todomatsu hollered, spreading out his arms. “I shall prepare myself for all the hi’s and hello’s I can offer to any passersby for this fine establishment! Give the word and I shall motion with the swift energy of lightning!” Smirking painfully, he posed, spreading his legs out, resting one of his elbows over his other hand, and he flicked his bangs before sending Sen a finger gun. “Like lightning. Bang.” He inched his fingertip.

Atsushi exploded into full-on laughter.

“Alright then,” Sen said, nervously cutting Atsushi a look as she slowly retreated into the staff room. “I’ll let them know, so wait here. Let me make the arrangements for you, alright?”

“Heh. You are the true Samaritan, dearest Sen,” Todomatsu gritted out with the flawless character of his brother.

Then waving, Sen closed the door behind her.

Todomatsu snapped.

“What the hell is wrong with you, you turd-hole?!” he yelled, gripping Atsushi’s dark collar and shaking him with the mercy of a madman. “Stop making me look as transparent as I already am! It’s bad enough that I need to be that stupid-as-hell brother in order to win back my pride, moron! And don’t question how I can impersonate the goon, and I too want to straight-up murder my past self for ever thinking that being friends with that painful Shittymatsu was a good idea! So shut the hell up!”

“Yo, Totty!” Atsushi called out, still smiling through the force shoving him back and forth. “Why didn’t you just tell her no? You don’t have to put up a Karamatsu everyday if you don’t want to! Be a janitor in freedom! It’s still worth it!”

“And let myself still look like an effing NEET in the process?! Not a chance!” Todomatsu fumed, releasing Atsushi and pouting, folding his arms. “You won’t understand. You have everything already. Why not just be a comrade and let me have this? I know it sucks and it hurts and it’s painful as fu—!” Pausing, he doubled over, and he vomited a waterfall of glitters onto the floor. The Karamatsu was really getting into him.

“I’m not telling you anything,” Atsushi said, shrugging casually as Todomatsu straightened up again, wiping his lips. “If you want to or not, it’s your choice. You’re the only one balancing on your own lifeline. Each choice you make affects you, and there’s no one else that can do anything about it.”

“Meh, I guess that’s true.” Finally, Todomatsu had the urge to pull Karamatsu’s sunglasses off his face to look at. Just the blue of them reflecting the light from the restaurant made him want to snap them and toss them out into the Bermuda Triangle. “Still though. If it makes me get more than what I already have, Imma be up for the challenge. Time to be Karamatsu-niisan.” He returned the shades. “I dunno how long I can pull this off—if I do at all.”

Atsushi snorted. “Wish you luck. How long you can keep this up will color me curious as well.”

~~~

One week. It was one entire week of painful dialogue and flamboyant posing. It was one week with Todomatsu being responsible for those awful sunglasses that Karamatsu had been looking for whenever they came back home after days under Akatsuka Ward’s sun. It was one week of heh’s and hm’s, and each time Todomatsu wanted to throw a fit and dump on a table the same way Ichimatsu would. He was angry, he was embarrassed, he just wanted to end his suffering with a knife to the chest or whatever lame shtick.

“You’re doing great, Todomatsu-san,” Sen would tell him, and it was kind of true. Customers did seem very satisfied with Karamatsu’s dialogue floating to their ears, and it made Todomatsu question humanity in its intelligence. It was either he was dumb or the world was dumb, and he voted for the latter due to his excessive pride. That, and he needed reassurance of something, because working as a cashier mimicking his older brother didn’t deduce the NEETiness he felt like was still sewn into his system.

He didn’t answer any questions from anyone else though. If it were Aida and Sachiko that were close by in their shifts, Todomatsu would be able to cut away the sheets of Karamatsu’s ghost long enough for him to be normal, the same Todomatsu ‘Totty’ Matsuno that the two baristas knew. As for his brothers, he was always mopey when taking orders from them if they ever came, and they always left Sutabaa with knowledge only on the purchased drink rather than the persona that broke loose with other customers. Todomatsu was glad of the stupidity of Jyushimatsu and the lack of comment from Ichimatsu.

And then...The day came.

“One strawberry latte for Nishimiya,” Sen announced, scribbling the name on a large cup with a black marker.

“Heh. Blueberry cheesecake for Shimizu,” Todomatsu added, wanting to let a large portion of glittery vomit escape his throat again. “Kindly help yourselves to table four, my dear. You wait there for the meantime—your hunger will be satisfied momentarily.” He lowered his sunglasses, winking. And when the customer smiled at him in appreciation, it was obvious she didn’t notice how much pressure Todomatsu had to put into his muscles just to make himself appear his way.

“Right, Totty, right?” Sen left the table, handing the cup to him. “I’ll be on my break now. Can I leave it to you?”

“Heh. If that may assist thy fatigue, I’d be willing to move mountains for you.” Shoot, shoot, SHOOT! Just kill him already, Akatsuka-sensei so he didn’t have to do this bullhooey anymore! But this ‘bullhooey’ seemed to deem him fine for now as Sen bobbed her head, entering himself into the opposite room as she closed her door.

The bell above the Sutabaa entrance chimed.

A sigh.

Time stopped for Todomatsu, and for a moment there was nothing he could do but transform into a frozen block of ice. But his recovery was swift, and before notice Todomatsu took off his sunglasses as a pair of leather-sleeved elbows propped themselves on the counter.

“Good morning, Todomatsu,” Karamatsu said, smiling sadly at his brother. Sadly? Why sadly? Shoot, that meant he was going to blow up into painful monologuing territory that will be sure to either end his life, or Todomatsu’s. Bullsh—“I’d just want a coffee, please. Extra sugar, maybe?” Karamatsu went on, devoid of joy.

Todomatsu gulped. “Ah, right. Wh...Why are you here, Karamatsu-niisan?” His gaze darted through the area, hoping for no familiar faces to question him and his conversation with his lookalike brother. Thank goodness the timing had Sen leaving for a while before anything else bad could happen, because Todomatsu swore to Cod, bad stuff was indeed going to happen.

“Need a little time to think, perhaps?” Karamatsu said, lowering his own blue sunglasses. It was a fun thought, Todomatsu imagined, to continuously rid Karamatsu of any of his glasses by breaking them in half or tossing them into a gorge, but a spare would always find themselves on his face the following day. Wonder how many he had tucked in their closet? His entire allowance, most likely. No wonder he has only his 10% chances of winning in pachinko.

Karamatsu continued, “Because there was this very beautiful woman, and for a while I might’ve called her mine, but...” He gripped his elbows with opposite hands, fingers sinking into his sleeves, “she rejected my confession,” he squeezed out.

Todomatsu remained unfazed. Alright. So? Todomatsu didn’t give a dang about Karamatsu’s tragic love story. “So you thought that coming here to mope would be a good idea? Why not just follow Osomatsu-niisan in Pachinko or go fishing with Choromatsu-niisan?”

“Heh. They had their own activities planned for this lonely afternoon,” Karamatsu told him, and Todomatsu felt the horror of old English penetrating through him. “And is it wrong that I wanted to spend time with my dear littlest brother? I missed days where we trekked the world solo. I guessed that maybe time with him again would lift my soul from the pits in where it has fallen into. Crammed with skeletons...O-Oh, Totty! My heart is weeping, my brother!” He extended his arms and tightened them around Todomatsu, pulling the younger man towards him before sobbing on his shoulder.

Todomatsu went rigid, praying to everyone in the skies listening not to have anyone barge in during this absolutely humiliating moment of Todomatsu’s probable fall from grace.

“And she was a delicate flower too!” Karamatsu wept, clinging to Todomatsu with all his might. Cod, the counter edge was digging into Todomatsu’s stomach...! “Beautiful and compassionate and oh! Such an ideal diamond, brother! And yet I was not anything to her!” He wailed, breathing jagged as he mashed his face onto Todomatsu’s collar, letting it absorb his misery.

“Ugh! Keep it down, Shittymatsu!” Todomatsu hissed, prepping his hands over Karamatsu’s chest in preparation to push him away. “I’m at work, for crying out loud! And what kind of idiot customer walks up to the cashier to cry? Are you that stupid?”

Thankfully preserving the need for Todomatsu to do the deed himself, Karamatsu released his younger brother, leveling Todomatsu’s gaze with confusion setting as the emotion in his tear-filled eyes. “Umm...Cashier? I thought you were a janitor?”

Oh, Cod-damn it. Todomatsu cringed. Karamatsu didn’t know yet, couldn’t know, will never ever know...! If he knew who knew what kind of shtick Todomatsu will have to put up with and what kind of life he will forever be living with regret and—!

The staff room door opened. “Totty! I think I forgot my wallet here and—” Sen paused, staring at the brothers before flinching. “Oh! Sorry! I didn’t think there was a customer! Please, carry on, sir! You...!” Her eyebrows furrowed as she trailed off, gears clicking in her head. “...look exactly like Totty. Are you brothers? And he’s got a leather jacket and...Huh?”

Karamatsu blinked, thick brows curved questioningly. “Yes, I’m his brother. And are you...? Totty, are you alright, my dear brother?”

Holy crap! Cod, crap-crap-crap! Todomatsu felt his blood run dry. “Ah, yeah! Karamatsu! Sen-chan! I, um, heh!” He suddenly grabbed Karamatsu’s wrist and dragged him off, not waiting for anything else as he led Karamatsu out the Sutabaa door and outside the building to its side. Behind a wall, where no one sale might see them. Might. Because no one important was going to need glancing at a pair of brothers that looked closest to being members of slavery in the caste system.

Which they were, mind you. But not Todomatsu, if Karamatsu decided not to screw things up.

“Huh? Todomatsu, what’s going on?” Karamatsu asked as Todomatsu parted his grip on Karamatsu, massaging his temper and tingling veins for tranquility that didn’t want to come.

“Look. I can explain some other time, but for now, just effing follow my lead, got it, niisan?” Todomatsu ordered lowly, cautious for stares. Sen, the manager, Aida, Sachiko, or any of their foolish brothers. “I am the cool one, you’re the same loser as you always were. Picture yourself when you were eighteen, or just think about your heartbreak. You’re a goner from life. And you have no idea how to speak with your normal, flashy speech patterns.”

Karamatsu was nothing but confused. “Eh?”

Scoffing irritably, Todomatsu snatched the glasses from Karamatsu’s face and put them on himself, then proceeded to take off Karamatsu’s leather jacket from his brother’s body. That stupid shirt had the painful man’s face on it...! Alright, he can find a way around that. All he needed to do was be creative. Karamatsu was already an actor of some sort, so there was no need to...! Bah! Freaking heck with it! Making up stories was never difficult when you grew up as a liar!

Todomatsu flipped the leather jacket over his own shoulders and lifted his chin at Karamatsu.

“Todomatsu?” Sen called out. “Are you two over here?”

Just in time. Todomatsu elbowed Karamatsu’s gut, and after a grunt from him, Todomatsu said, “Follow. My. Lead. Or I’m going to burn all of your clothes before you even blink again.”

“Eh? Uh, ‘kay,” Karamatsu hesitantly agreed.

“Totty? Ah, there you two are.” Sen made herself visible as she stepped out of the corner turn. And being able to now see them openly, she stopped walking, for good reason. “Um, is this a bad time?”

“No, not at all,” Todomatsu said, speaking with an impression of his brother as he tried to wave a hand with dismissal. Cod, he could already smell the cologne. “It’s my brother here. It’s not much, but I find it quite unruly of him to root through my clothing without my permission. I’m just trying to set him straight for it again. Apologies, Sen-chan.”

“Eh?!” Karamatsu half-gasped, only faltering when he saw the stiletto aimed at him in Todomatsu’s glare. “Ah, yeah, sorry about that,” he said lightly, timidly. “I was, uh...Going through a phase? I wanted to be, uh, like him.” He pointed at Todomatsu limitedly. Todomatsu jerked his head slightly. Doing great, you lame actor. Karamatsu-niisan.

“Ah, I don’t think I should be here then,” Sen amended, backing away from them with a light flush and an apologetic smile. “If this is something personal, the last thing I want to do is walk in on your talk.”

“Heh, we’re fine, my dear. Kindly decrease your pressure on our situation,” Todomatsu soothed in a baritone, Karamatsu’s jaw lowering beside him as his eyes dilated. “We will report back to the main cafe shortly. My brother here, must only receive a brief scolding. We will be fine, such as we always can be. Right, my dear brother Karamatsu?”

Karamatsu sniffed, taking his palms to the corners of his eyes. “Cod, you’ve adapted so much...!” he sniveled proudly, and defeatedly, to Sen’s ears. “I’m so proud of you, Totty!”

Todomatsu felt a vein bob under his skin. When they were alone, he was going to kill this man.

But for the meantime, he said, “Oh, do not weep, brother! Forgiveness is always a virtue in our bloodline! I will not hold your prejudices against you! Instead, come into my arms as I will blanket you with comfort that will leave you spellbound in my affection!” And as much as he didn’t want to do it, Todomatsu spread out his arms, which were immediately touching not the air anymore but Karamatsu as he threw himself against Todomatsu’s chest.

“You sound like me! I’m so happy!” Karamatsu cried, though gratefully softly enough for Sen not to hear.

“Can it, niisan,” Todomatsu hissed in reply. “If you mess up the act none of us will be able to walk this earth again without regret dragging our ankles. Just continue being this emotional and we’ll be fine. Make me look cool here.”

“Okay, brother. I...Wait...If you’re acting like me and telling me to make you look cool...” Karamatsu hiccuped. “Does that mean you think I’m cool?” he sobbed out desperately.

Todomatsu choked, his entire body warming as his face fell red. “N-No! You’re not cool! There’s a reason for all of this and I—!”

“I’ll just leave now,” Sen said, wagging her hand as her shoes planted themselves on the ground behind her. “You two sort yourselves out. I’ll be glad to cover you for a bit, Totty, if you need time to settle things out.”

“Your heart truly was mantled from Hephaestus’s golden chamber,” Todomatsu rasped, his body and mind matted with sequins on wounds.

Karamatsu buried his head in deeper, squeezing Todomatsu tighter as Sen dipped her head and vanished from sight. Only then did Todomatsu grind his teeth together and shove Karamatsu off him, making the older man stumble back and catch himself by a pillar, blinking wetly at Todomatsu.

“Okay, enough,” Todomatsu said tersely, eyelids weighing down unamused as his arms interlaced parallel to his torso. “Karamatsu-niisan, can you please not tell anyone of this, ever? I’m gonna tell you everything, but swear to me that all this is to be kept between us. If anything comes out, your head will be what our brothers will see at the dinner table later tonight.”

“Of course! If there’s a secret, I promise of sealed lips that I would take with me to my tombstone!” Karamatsu vowed, a fist connecting to his left breast. “Reveal all you need to, my brother! I await your words.”

“Cod, that’s so painful,” Todomatsu wheezed, then cleared his throat afterwards, lowering the sunglasses for solid eye contact. “I was given the chance to become a cashier because they thought I was you. Or at least, you were me, but I think you might have an idea. They really liked your speaking patterns from the interview, and wanted that to be the first thing that customers heard when entering Sutabaa. So assuming I was you, and wanting to rise from a crappy janitor, I pretended to be you so that I can achieve that higher position. It’s my rise in the caste system, honestly. It’s all I ever wanted.”

“T...Totty...” Karamatsu breathed.

“Iya-ya, it’s not much,” Todomatsu promised, gesturing for emphasis. “But I thought it was the only shot I got. I understood you enough that it wasn’t really hard to be like you, so that was the least of my problems. But of course, it was painful as hell, since the entire week had me trying to be someone I’m not. I guess I...I...” Then the realization, for the first time, hit him, and he wrinkled the leather jacket in his hands, smacked it to the ground, and turned to walk away.

But then there was a hand clamping around his wrist, and Karamatsu had stopped Todomatsu from going any further with his promising hold. “Oi. You aren’t going without finishing that sentence, Todomatsu,” he said sternly.

“They like you more than me,” Todomatsu spat out brokenly.

Karamatsu’s reply was his muteness.

“Think about it, niisan. If it were just you trying to be me before, it would’ve landed me as nothing but a plain old janitor if nothing at all,” Todomatsu blabbered, a finger pushing up the shades as he averted his gaze to his feet. “But when you broke into you, I got the chance of being a cashier again. And now the only reason I’m keeping the job is because I’ve been trying to be you. If I were being me, what would I even be contributing to society? Nothing. Maybe that’s why I lost the job in the first place.”

Karamatsu was still holding him firmly.

“Never mind. I’m babbling nonsense you won’t understand. Sorry, Karamatsu-niisan.” Todomatsu used his free hand to rescue his eyes from the blue lenses that were casting his surroundings in aqua. Then he took Karamatsu’s other hand and pressed their surface on them, securing his fake identity with its true owner once again. “I’ll just return to work now. Pretend that you finally won over me so that they don’t ask why I’m me instead of you.”

“Totty.”

Todomatsu exhaled softly. “Hm?”

“Is that why my glasses have been disappearing all week?”

“...yes.”

“So I guess...It’s best you have your own pair, right?” Karamatsu chuckled, handing back his sunglasses. “You still need to pretend to be me, right? And I still need to pretend to be someone else?”

Todomatsu inclined his head, surprise painting him. “Eh? What do you mean? I’m giving you back your identity, you dimwit, trying to live with mine. Are you so agreeing that it’s better I fake myself instead? Is that how much I suck to you?”

“Far, Todomatsu,” Karamatsu stated steadily. “It’s because I learned before that you can learn when you pretend to be someone else. By being in someone else’s shoes, you come to realize how much there is to love about yourself. Is that not true? Is my painful personality not something you cannot stand? It is, and that’s why you even think of yourself as better than me. The last thing I want is you to think of yourself so lowly because of my accomplishments.

“Todomatsu, you were sick the day I came to the interview as you. But remember, that was the second interview. Sutabaa managed to accept you once, and was willing to do so again after you dropped out when we humiliated you. If they had seen you for who you truly were, then I’m certain that they would still be ready to welcome you again as the real Todomatsu Matsuno as you are.”

“Then...Why did you want to give me these...?” Todomatsu gasped out, trailing his thumbs over the dark blue lenses of the shades.

“I wanted to teach you that lesson,” Karamatsu said, shrugging casually with a small smirk. “But I just explained the mechanics in my agenda, so there’s no use for that now. I think it’s best you just return to Sutabaa again as yourself instead of a clone of me. Because, brother. You’re surprisingly good at it.”

“Gee, thanks,” Todomatsu said, his heart finally softening free from whatever claws had once gripped it. “I’m sorry I threw your jacket like that.”

“There’s always the laundry. Don’t worry about that.” Karamatsu laughed. “Come now, brother. I still have my coffee in the waiting, do I not? Please treat your brother to something to warm his insides from the Antarctica waters in which it has drowned.”

“Ugh, fine,” Todomatsu said, but not harshly, before looking down at the shades. “Are these really mine now though? I think they match your face better than mine. And I think they will miss you if they were gone.” Grinning, he hung the sunglasses from Karamatsu’s top, then stood back with satisfaction, hands pressed to his waist.

“Heh. Thank you, Todomatsu,” Karamatsu said, chuckling.

Then together, they went back to the entrance of Sutabaa, opening the door as Todomatsu cried out, “Sen-chan! We’re back! And we have a coffee pending for—!”

“Oh hey, you two!” Osomatsu greeted, hands in the pocket of his hoodie as he stood in front of the counter, Sen at the other side. “I was actually gonna ask where you were, Karamatsu! I heard you were working here in Sutabaa and I was curious to know if it was true!”

Todomatsu and Karamatsu gaped in unison. “Eh?!”

“But I guess I was wrong,” Osomatsu said, rubbing his nose with a finger. “Totty’s wearing the uniform. Now you make me wanna ask about the rumors: why was I hearing of a Sutabaa cashier who uses Karamatsu slang every time he gets an order? I didn’t wanna believe it, and I still don’t, but maybe I should be realizing that since it’s both of you involved! Of course Totty would have the best impersonation other than Jyushimatsu—you two were besties as kids, right? So it’s safe to say that you were looking up to Karamatsu for a while, Totty!” Osomatsu laughed.

Todomatsu’s stomach coiled. “B-But—!”

“Is that true, Todomatsu-san?” Sen asked, frowning a little.

“It’s gotta be, right?” Osomatsu continued. “Totty would do anything to get what he wants. If being a ‘Karamatsu’ would help him in his salary, then he’d do it. Just like he’d lie to other Sutabaa employees that he was from a university so big when all he was was a NEET. It’s simple—he’s a demon for a reason.”

“Wait,” Sen said, frown deepening. “Does this mean that it wasn’t Todomatsu at the interview? But Karamatsu?”

“Hah? Totty never went to any interview,” Osomatsu exposed obliviously, unaware of the jaws on the floor from the two brothers standing next to him. “Ha-ha! Sen-chan, right? You’re making me laugh here! Don’t tell me you mistook Karamatsu for Totty! I mean, I might, but they’re brothers, so identity thief shenanigans is a thing and so cheating is not hard!”

Sen stared. So did Karamatsu. Todomatsu felt his entire body burn into ashes.

~~~

Todomatsu’s butt slammed on the sidewalk from the force of the hands that had previously shoved him out of the building.

Karamatsu immediately went to his side. “Totty! Wh-What did they tell you, my brother?”

Todomatsu clicked his tongue. “I got fired.”

Karamatsu’s face fell.

“Welp, all in a day’s work, right?” Osomatsu said, spinning his heels and going ahead. “Hey, I won a bit in pachinko, by the way. Wanna try using that in some of the races? We might get half as much if I use my detective brain again to read between the lines!” He laughed. “Just like I did with you two idiots.”

Todomatsu ground his teeth. He really was surrounded by demons.

[toku-explained]

The Master Swordsman's Goal

SSSS.Dynazenon: And from their own perspective, here's Anti, now going by Knight, and Anosillus the 2nd, both have clearly aged. This is evidently not Akane's world, but another one they've come to protect due to Kaiju emerging endangering it. GridKnight attacks Bullbind, after using a GridKnight Storm the Eugenecists opt to retreat, and then he turns his attention to DynaRex, before powering down when he hits his limit. Dynazenon is pretty beat up, and Koyomi suddenly rushes off. The rest split off to seek Bullbind, Gauma regretful for letting it get damaged. Anosillus tells Knight to watch for now. The Eugenecists don't know what to do, Mujina is still different. Koyomi stops at a wrecked car he spotted, where Arata is injured, and decides to leave him, but remembers words with Inamoto-san when they reunited, and realises he has to help him. Gauma drags Yomogi and Yume for food, Onija iterates to Mujina that there work is to destroy humanity, not satisfy grudges. Chise finds the others, they agree to wait together in case Bullbind appears. Koyomi finally arrives in a dark mood when Knight and Anosillus appear, Knight berating them for their poor battle earlier. They go by the GridKnight Alliance now. Knight explains who he is, and acknowledges Dynazenon isn't a Kaiju, Gauma immediately refuses an offer of alliance, he and Knight rub each other the wrong way. Between themselves, Knight and Anosillus refer to Dynazenon and others as like a world's antibodies against Kaiju. Koyomi explains to Gauma that he went to save someone he thinks he hates, Gauma commends him though and offers wisdom from the person he's seeking, Chise listens in uneasy. When Yomogi asks about Yume's toy she opens up more about how distant her relationship with Kano had been, and she has no idea if Kano did kill herself, and if she did why she smilingly asked her tobthe recital, Yomogi winds up crying and insists they keep trying to find the answer, and she seems to sincerely smile. Chise's seed seems to be sprouting. After a long night of Mujina and Onija powering it up, Bullbind rides. Dynazenon battles, struggling with the damaged leg. Knight joins the battle, with a reprise of humanlove. Anosilus uses their one Fixer Beam to repair Dynazenon. It's a proper team up to defeat the enemy, but both sides seem surprisingly optimistic in the end. The GridKnight Alliance head off, Yomogi and Yume head off to school, and Koyomi gets a grateful phonecall from Inamoto-san before just sitting with Chise. Yume' next step is to find Futaba.

Heroes' Odyssey: Z continues the story, describing Sevengar, Windom and King Joe STORAGE Custom battling Destrudos, Haruki saving Yoko, and Z, Haruki and Beliarok battling Destrudos. Afterwards, Zero acknowledges Z as an Ultraman, and they part ways.

Saber: When Touma hugs Luna for a moment all his books, and Wonder Story glow. For a moment the 3 friends are all children again, but Kento returns to his fatalistic attitude just in time for Sabela to grab Luna. He knows where it will end. Ryoga is still unhappy about unsealing Bacht, but Master Logos does point out he needs Kyomu and Eternal Phoenix. Touma awakens after a night haunted by Kento's words. Rintaro, Ogami and Daishinji arrive where the Worlds connected twice before, Master Logos, the Shindais and Luna then appear. On a table they have Genbu Shunwa, Hanselnuts to Gretel, King of Arthur, Lamp do Alangina, Kin no Buki Gin no Buki and X Swordman, and a tree contains Gekido, Ikazuchi, Suzune and Saikou. Blades Tategami Hyoujuu Senki faces Durandal, while Storious arrives to watch. Touma leaves Mei and Sophia behind. Desast senses what's happening and informs Ren. Sabela takes Ogami and Daishinji hostage, which lets Durandal beat Rintaro, Nagare flies to the tree and Lion Senki and Tategami Hyoujuu Senki to Master Logos' table, he groats. Kento arrives, telling him his ambitions will fail, and uses Jaou Dragon, seals all the Seiken in the tree. Bacht arrives, swiftly defeating Durandal and Sabela, Master Logos casually places Ocean History and Konchu Daihyakka as Kaiji and Noroshi fly up, telling the siblings their work is done, Ryoga stopping Reika from lashing out. Falchion clashes with Caliber when Kenzan arrives, seeking to demonstrate his strength by defeating everyone, asserting he rejects Kento, Desast watching. When Falchion attacks a down Kenzan Caliber defends him, losing Kurayami and Jaaku Dragon and giving Master Logos eleven Books, Kento admitting he can't help himself from protecting his friends. A lashing out Kenzan is quickly beaten by Falchion, giving Master Logos Sarutobi Ninjaden and Hayate. Touma and Mei arrive, starting with Elemental Dragon Saber to battle Falchion. As Luna awakens, Master Logos opens the Book of Ruin, drawing out the Dragon of Love and Dragon of Pride, which also brings out the Dragon of Courage from Saber's books, combining into Emotional Dragon, Saber using it. Falchion tells him his power will bring more conflict, Touma swears to protect, defeating him and giving Master Logos Eternal Phoenix and Kyomu, he gloats as Bacht falls apart for possibly good. Master Logos thanks Touma for being a pawn and attacks, sending Rekka to the tree and giving him Brave Dragon, Dragonic Knight, Primitive Dragon, Elemental Dragon and Emotional Dragon. 18 books, 11 Seiken. Adding his own book, the spell starts, the books and Seiken flying into the portal, as Storious notes the needed spell components. Luna is forcefully dragged up and Sophia arrives, choosing to act as her replacement, but Master Logos drags her down. The Original Book appears. Luna calling for Touma manages to create a bridge which lets him reach her and pull her free. Kento notes the future is changing, but Master Logos doesn't care, as energy from books in both Bases flows out to restore the Original Book. Touma pulls Rekka free and destroys the spell, the Seiken and Books fall to earth and Yuri appearing from the fallen Saikou. Everyone reclaims their unsealed Seiken and Books, Kento erring briefly between Ikazuchi and Kurayami before choosing Kurayami, while what remains of the Original Book turns into a Wonder Ride Book and falls to Master Logos. As the Northern Base members prepare to fight, a Golden Seiken appears to Master Logos, which he uses to grant everyone a taste of what Kento has seen and escape. Storious leaves. An exhausted Luna vanishes, but hopes she will be back. Kento leaves, leaving Ikazuchi and Lamp do Alangina, while Ren and Desast sneak off.

Zenkaiger: Kaito and Vroon spot Flint and the twins, who are arguing over Buns when Onigokko World appears, Riki and Katana intend to settle there argument by beating him, but are made into the Oni by Onigokko World, forced to tag others, with everyone tagged also forced to be an Oni. Zenkaiser and ZenkaiVroon try to fight at long range, but the twins ambush Vroon, Zox grabs Flint right as the twins ambush her, then the others arrive, Gaon shooting Vroon and Magine creating a slingshot to lose the twins. Zox promises to save the twins. At Colourful a plan is made between Kaito's skill and Magine's magic, but Vroon arrives, tagging her and Yatchan, forcing the others to flee. Kaito runs into Flint, who blames herself for the Twins situation now and what happened in SDtopia, due to her not stopping their arguments, Kaito offers some advice from his parents before they're ambushed, they flee for a moment before splitting, Flint having an epiphany. Onigokko World starts tagging more when the Zenkaigers arrive, all changing even as Magine and Vroon chase the others. Unable to shoot through the crowd, Zenkaiser uses Goseiger to Tensou Windrive Card, getting the Oni away, but the twins get Gaon, and Onigokko World uses rocket tag to get Zyuran. As Zenkaiger runs, Twokaiser jumps from CrocoDaiOh above, in the air using the Gekiranger Gear to give himself the SaiBlade and hit Onigokko World, ending the game. Flint has made new gears for Zox based on Kaito's, showing those for Kakuranger, Megaranger, Patranger, Zyuohger and Ryusoulger. Twokaiser then uses Hurricanger for the Senben Knocks attack, Secchan noting the same gears cause different effects for Twokaiser. The Zenkaigers finish the job, then Dai Onigokko World arrives alongside another Kudaitest. ZenkaiOh ZyuraGaon leaps into battle, and is forced into Bomb Tag. Thanks to ZenkaiOh VrooMagine they tag the Kudaitest just in time. With the twins wanting payback, they grow, CrocoDaiOh separating into the Katana ridden CrossSkyOh and Riki ridden CrawlingOh. Dai Onigokko manages to tag one of them, the pair tagging back and forth, but ambush him at the last second, the fight a ruse. Flint thanks Kaito for the inspiration. Ijirude is finishing a project.

Dogengers Nice Buddy: Ohgaman explains the timeline of what's just happened, and it's evident from looking at them that the Great Z at the show is just a guy in a suit, and he leaves after the audience is teleported away, while the real one wails on Yamashiron and Fukuokaliber. He then uses his drones with the Affect System to show a DX mecha commercial, summoning the Great Daizenshin Robo, entering it and attacking the assembled heroes, seeming to consider the Marou Kaijin collateral. Tanaka finds himself not changing, the suddenly present Shuraomaru pointing out his changer's absence. A final attack is stopped by the arrival of Kitaqman Metal, and Shuraomaru ninja smoke bombs them away. Great Z has some kind of attack and Great Daizenshin fades, he's still struggling. At base the Marou Kaijin are on their own, while the Dogengers seem quite despondent over something Great Z said. Maid Shitsuji, Shuraomaru and Metal waiting for them to speak. Metal explains he and Shuraomaru had been fighting when a broadcast showed them recent events up to episode 3, and they agreed to help out. Metal shows a Great Z CM, most recover but Yamashiron is bothered, presumably because he picked a fight with a normal person. After Yabai Kamen is brought up Metal devises a rescue plan, putting the established pairs together, and having Maid Shitsuji and Shuraomaru team up to save Yabai Kamen, he'll be support and the Marou Kaijin will take care of the base. Yamashiron, Aoiron and Daidairon are still despondent, Ohgaman gives some words before rolling out, Fukuokaliber and Yamashiron left behind. The stage show Great Z comes over to the ailing real Great Z, checks if he's ready for this, asvthe stage show Great Z removes his helmet, revealing himself to be Riku.

[superman86to99]

Action Comics #692 (October 1993)

In this issue: Superman goes to the doctor and finds out why he's not dead anymore! But, before that, he's clearing some of the debris left by his fight with Doomsday when he finds... Clark Kent? Lois Lane is very happy to see Clark again, but Superman himself doesn't look very thrilled in these panels.

Turns out Clark wasn't dead as everyone believed, he was simply trapped in the basement of a collapsed building! The basement happened to equipped with plenty of food and gym equipment (explaining why he's still jacked, like Superman), but unfortunately not a single pair of scissors (explaining why his hair is now long, like Superman's).

Later, Superman bumps into Lex Luthor Jr., who demands to know where Supergirl is, but Superman gives him the runaround. Hmm, where could Superman's good friend who can change shape and pretend to be other people be? Anyway, Superman then meets Lois and Clark and... holy crap! Mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent is secretly Supergirl!

So yeah, Supergirl pretended to be Clark for a while just so he and Superman would be seen together and no one would question why both are suddenly alive again. Then Supergirl leaves and we move on to the second dilemma solved in this issue: How the hell is Superman alive again? To address that question, supernatural DC character (and fellow Jerry Siegel/Joe Shuster creation) Doctor Occult appears out of nowhere and rudely teleports Lois and Clark to a black void, where he replays moments from Superman's life... and death.

Occult explains that Doomsday DID punch Superman's spirit out of his body, but there was still solar energy keeping the body just barely alive. Superman's ghost ended up stuck between the living and the dead, attracting some nasty soul-eating demons. Fortunately, Pa Kent happened to be dying of a heart attack at the same time, so he and Superman teamed up to fight off the demons (as seen in Adventures #500). Superman’s soul returned to his near-corpse, which was taken to the Fortress of Solitude by the Eradicator and lovingly nursed back into health. (Okay, more like “coldly,” but you can’t argue with the results.)

Anyway, the point is that Superman's resurrection happened due to a convoluted series of events that could never be repeated, unless someone's willing to sneak behind Pa Kent and blow an airhorn in his ear or something. As the mystical exposition dump ends, Occult teleports Lois and Clark to Smallville, and the issue ends with the Kents finally reuniting. A tender moment...

...until two seconds later, when Ma smacks Clark in the back of the head for taking two whole issues to come see them (or that’s what I’d do).

Plotline-Watch:

Doctor Occult reveals that the moment when Bibbo shocked Superman’s body with a hyper-charged defibrillator in Adventures #498 actually helped keep him alive. Once again, Bibbo is the real hero of this saga.

Supergirl has a lot of experience posing as Clark, since she was stuck in that form between 1989 and 1992. That was also her in the only other photo of Superman and Clark together, taken in Superman #34.

While Superman is being interviewed by a news crew after rescuing "Clark", that lawyer from Action #689 barges in and demands that they stop calling Superman Superman, since that name is now trademarked by Superboy's manager. Damn, maybe he's gonna have to start calling himself "Supreme" or something?

Aww, Lex is happy to see Superman again. Sure, it's only because he wants to be the one to kill him, but still.

S.T.A.R. Labs is examining the Eradicator's corpse when they realize he's alive! Sort of. Later, Doctor Occult remarks that the Eradicator sacrificed himself "in mind, if not in body". Hmm. The doctors overseeing his condition are Kitty Faulkner, who can turn into an orange She-Hulk called Rampage after a workplace mishap, and a new character called David Connors, the only S.T.A.R. employee without superpowers. So far.

The JLA returns from the little space vacation the Cyborg sent them on, and we get the first instance in all of comics of Guy Gardner admitting he was wrong. Character growth! Don Sparrow says: “Nice to see some follow-up to the characters around the DCU and how they react to Superman’s return. No mention of the fact that they got suckered into a mission into space that went nowhere.”

When Doctor Occult shows up, Superman is like "aw, not this guy again!", referencing that classic tale of Superman's first encounter with the supernatural... which hasn't come out yet. Don: “It’s a neat forward call-back (is that a thing?) when Superman references his first encounter with Doctor Occult, given that we won’t see it happen until 1995, when DC does a line-wide ‘Year One’ series of stories. And wouldn’t you know it, that story is written by none other than Roger Stern (and even involves tentacles, as in the thumbnail image)!” #rogersternplaysthelonggame

Don Sparrow's section, on the other hand, can be read NOW, after the jump!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow​):

We open with the cover, and it’s one of the top ten best of this era, for sure.  Drawn by Kerry Gammill and Butch Guice, DC used this drawing on the “Return of Superman” cards.  I tend to favour simpler, iconic covers, even when they don’t necessarily represent the story within, but in this case, it’s showing exactly what the heart of the story is about: Clark Kent is back. 

Inside, we open with a full page splash of Superman’s shield, through tons of rubble, and it’s a great image, but without the face, it allows us to focus on the title of the story, a callback to the speech introduction of the old Fleischer Cartoons.

I don’t know if it’s from the writing, or the artist, but Action Comics has always seemed the most romantic of the Super-titles, and this one is no exception, as Clark and Lois have their hands all over each other for basically the whole comic. While it is a bit weird to remember that it isn’t Clark that Lois is caressing (more on that in a bit) in the early part of the story, it always feels intimate and romantic more than it feels graphic or titillating.  A tricky balance that this team pulls off well, particularly in their “reunion” on page 3. [Max: Every time I read this issue I think it’s Martian Manhunter posing as Clark and when they start flirting I’m like “ew”. Then I remember who it is and I’m like “nice”.]

I always enjoy seeing Superman flying upside-down, which I consider to be a Byrne innovation—I don’t remember him doing it pre-Crisis. It always seems so joyful and carefree, and it’s nice to see Superman savouring his powers. 

Jackson Guice uses tone very well in the scenes with Lex Luthor II in his aviators, and I quite like the sense of motion to Superman’s pose as he approaches the helicopter—almost like he’s swimming in the sky rather than floating.

It’s a good drawing of the Eradicator getting the post-Hoth Luke Skywalker treatment, with David Connor and Kitty Faulkner getting an eyeful.  My copy has a slight colouring error that makes it look like the Eradicator is awake in the tank, even though he’s supposed to be catatonic. [Max: Still looks like that in the collections. Maybe he’s one of those people who sleep with their eyes open?]

Superman embracing Lois after the ruse of “Clark Kent” is very cutely drawn, as is the Ghost-like backward embrace on the following page.  

The entire sequence replaying Superman’s death and rebirth is drawn well throughout, especially the dreamlike staging, and the darkness as Lois knocks the flashlight away.  It’s also moving that Superman can see the heroic lengths that Bibbo went to try to save him once Superman succumbed to his injuries.  

Lastly, it was wonderful to see Clark reunited physically with Ma and Pa, especially with the nice touch of the poem by DH Lawrence as the only narration.  Stern was always the best at referencing secondary texts in his stories, and it’s well used here.

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

Is it me, or is Matrix/Supergirl a little too into this Clark Kent act?  I get that making their performances light and funny keep it from seemingly overtly dishonest, but “Clark” is pretty tender in these scenes. Lois does a good job of playing along, but it’s hard for me to fully forget that all this canoodling is actually with Supergirl.  So as a helpful tool, I created these graphics: [Max: Nice.]

It was cool that Lois specifically mentioned that Jimmy got a shot of the returned Clark Kent next to Superman, I always like it when that can happen.

In previous posts, I’ve talked about how creepy it is that Luthor has a sexual relationship with Supergirl/Matrix, when she is in so many ways (mainly mentally) a child, and I can’t help but read the scene where Lois chooses Superman over “Clark” this way.  The laughing and clapping has a whole different feel if you think of her as mentally diminished somewhat.  

So it’s not exactly a continuity error that Clark says on page 13 that he has to call Ma and Pa to let them know that “Clark” is alright (even though he already called them in a previous issue).  It could be that they want to tell the Kents the cover story of Clark’s return has now taken place, and they can act like their son is alive again when they go to the corner store, etc. [Max: Yeah, that’s how I took it. It would be awkward if their neighbors saw them all cheerful while their son is still “dead”.]

 I like to imagine that Dr. Occult looks and sounds like Robert Stack. [Max: It’s impossible for me to hear him as anyone other than Humphrey Bogart after Lois calls him “Sam Spade”.]

We’ve mentioned previously Jackson Guice’s tendency to use photo reference for his characters.  In this issue, Superman looks a lot like Jason Patric to me, who would have made a pretty great Superman had there been movies being made in this time.

I also appreciated this issue explaining both the physical and metaphysical reasons Superman was able to return—and that there’s no back door to the story—if Superman ever died again, he would be unable to return.  

[kitariauthor]

And then there was seven.

//Soooo this has been sitting in my WIPS since the dawn of time. I’m trying to do most of them but taking enough breaks in between as well.

This happens after they find Ryo again in his route and manage to get him back. 

Basically what happens is that while Ryo’s heading down with the guys to the stage, a bunch of reporters swarm the guy (some dude gave em a tip off I dunno) asking if he was Ryo.

All of a sudden, some guy with an orange Revance-style uniform walks into the hall and calls out in a soft voice to Nagito-

“Nagi? Where did you go? You told me to try this on and then you just left me in there-”

All the reporters turn around and see this other Revance member?

Who the heck is this?!

And thus reporters give chase and this mysterious (maybe this guy is Ryo?) member and can’t seem to find you inside the building. Most of them get detained by the police since they were causing a havoc running around.

Fastforward after the concert, the reporters were able to snag a couple of pictures of this person. Couldn’t get a clear shot of the face because of the visor. 

Fast-Fastforward and later on in an interview Revance revealed that they had two people that made up their lyrist. 

My MC here is named Rei because I wanted to combine Makoto and Rei’s names to make Ryo (even though Makoto isn’t his real name) to encourage the ruse.

Needless to say, Ryo wasn’t allowed to work at his coffee shop job anymore.

Headcannons about Rei!MC and the gang (below because it’s hecka long).

Rei!MC; Rei’s a gender-neutral name. Rei!MC has long brown hair like the original MC does. Additionally, this MC is flat chested and short. Rei!MC retains a couple of things the original MC likes and does, like loving oranges (hence the color of the uniform), spacing out, writes screenplays, has a monster mode concerning said screenplays, and more.

You and Ryo are joined at the hip. He is your closest friend out of all the guys and the one you’ve bonded the most with. 

You have a very interesting knack for unravelling everyone’s pasts and feelings. You had figured out and solved so much before you managed to get Ryo back with the guys.

Somewhat shy but when something’s disagreeable you seem to guard up like a lion and make loud comebacks. 

Can and will die for Revance.

Revance sees you as their lil sibling and cherishes you in their own typical ways.

You and Ryo work on lyrics together and will lose all sense of time in the process.

The guys will say that you are like a combination of Ryo, Takashi, and Nagito. You space out a lot, a talented writer with a ferocious monster mode (that barely comes out which makes it all the more terrifying), but will stop at nothing to pick the guys up and make them feel like they’re on the top of the world.

You take great pride in the works you and the guys created. Like big pride. There isn’t a concert you haven’t been in where you haven’t cried in pride and joy at seeing the guys performing at their best.

And if they aren’t you’d know. You always know.

Makes screenplays under and alias and Ryo’s trying to make a new one. Since his face wasn’t directly seen, he’s thinking of going back into the world again like you.

Takashi had grabbed you and Ryo in a hug after they got him back, glared at the guys and specifically said; “Both of them. We’re keeping both of them’.” He likes you.

Iori and you fight a lot about the pettiest things. He doesn’t like oranges so seeing their existance multiplying in their kitchen has been annoying.

However he respects your determination and work ethic, if not, fears it for you seem to love to cost your health of it.

Kyohei is like a charismatic and boundary setting older brother of yours. Will constantly scold you for overworking and has carried you out of your room so you can retain bodily functions to survive. For some reason fights Little Yamanda for your attention.

There isn’t a game you and Kota hasn’t competed over. The fact that you’re holding a candle to him irritates and impresses him at the same time. 

You two also make the same reactions at the same time whenever watching Joe Watabe movies. You and him geek over the movies after they’re done, then fall asleep next to each other.

It’s been known to never put you and Nagito in the same stressful situation because 9/10 times you both will be crying because the other’s crying.

Both of you share sweets a lot, especially ice cream. You two are a chaotically sunshiney duo that shouldn’t be reckoned with. Together you both can make even Iori and Takashi genuinely smile.

The Ena brothers took you in one time and had been bombarded by how to properly take care of you and if they didn’t, there would be consequences.

You take great care not to really complain about living with them in fear the guys might do something...reckless to them.

Fumito has the same feelings about you as Takashi does.

Ritsuto, at first, joked about keeping you to spite Kyohei, but that will soon change, however.

Your monster mode has made Nagito cry once and everyone avoid you for a lil while and you’ve been keeping it under wraps since then.

However, it wasn’t uncommon that in the rare situation where something bad was happening to the guys while you were on set that you haven’t snapped at them.

You and Ryo (in this AU) never show your full face onstage. You coil your hair into a bun and hide it up in your hat. Ryo’s was a lot more difficult to hide, so his just hangs on his shoulders. You two are to wear your visors whenever you guys are in popstar mode, if not, your full uniform. They want to protect your identites as much as they can.

Yes, Ryo also has a visor.

Both you and Ryo are a high demand on stage, but both of you are infamously soft spoken and had been revealed to not sing very well.

Over time with you guys given some vocal training with the guys, it had been discovered that you and Ryo are good at rap duos since you two are good at assembling words to match a rhythm.

When you and Ryo finally get a knack for singing, you both make the most beautiful harmonies.

No, seriously, you made Takashi cry when he first heard you guys nail it down.

//if you guys wanna see more, don’t be afraid to ask~

//I’ll be making more random stuff, just wait...

//I had forgotten how to draw proper eyes-

[skylarmoon71]

Nick Amaro x Reader- Chapter 5

“Ugh!” you dropped your head on the stack of forms in front of you. Nick chuckled from his seat. 

“Bet you’re regretting getting out of the hospital so early.” you turned your head to the side with a nod. 

“Definitely.” A few days after your little fainting spell and you were good to go. When you heard what the doctor told Nick and the other’s you were uneasy. 

You knew they just assumed it was faulty tech, and the thought comforted you, but there was just an inkling feeling that could have very well found out about you. This was the main reason you avoided hospitals if you could help it. When you were aware of your capabilities you steered clear. Caitlin was the only doctor you felt completely safe around. 

“Looks like you have a lot on your mind.” Nick’s words pulled you out of your own musings. 

“Just tired I guess, it’s been a tough week.” 

“You’re telling me.” He added. He was handling his share of documents. Earlier in the week you’d manage to take down an entire drug cartel, as well as free more than a dozen teenagers that were being trafficked throughout New York. 

The look on those girls' faces were forever embedded in your mind. This was the hardest part. With all that you could do you knew you could have permanently dealt with those horrible men. You’d almost lost control when Olivia interrogated the boss. He had such a smug look on his face, like he’d never be caught. For a while it even looked that way. But you had faith in Olivia, and in the end it all worked out. You were scared though, scared of what you would have done if he got away. 

You were glad that you had people like Joe West and Barry Allen to help you navigate between the lines of right and wrong. You were a cop, it was a part of the job. Still, there were times where you wondered if getting rid of all these awful people wouldn’t help the world. You raised your head off the table, eyes moving to Nick. 

You had partners before, but something was different about him. Nick was shouldering so much in his life. A month or so he’d told you about his ex wife and daughter, granted he was partially hammered. It was such a sad story, you could tell how much he loved his daughter. After that wild night of drinks though, he assured you that things were going great with her. Well as great as it could get with his limited visiting hours. You just wanted him to be happy. 

Carisi walked in just then, a man in handcuffs in his possession. “Caught this punk flashing his junk in the park.” Nick laughed, leaning back in his chair. 

“Maybe an overstay will help clear his head.” the guy was obviously drunk, he was barely keeping himself upright. Carisi nudged him in the direction of the cells to help him clear his head. “Is that common here?” you inquired. Nick raised an eyebrow. “Why, you wanna go sightseeing.” You flushed. 

“W-What NO! That’s gross!” you protested with a huff. Nick was laughing once again. “You’re way too easy to rile up (Y/N).” you pouted. Another thing that annoyed you was the way he treated you. You could tell he respected you, he really did, but maybe it was in a little sister sort of way. The very thought made you cringe. You did not see him that way at all. “It’s not like anything’s going to happen between us anyway.” 

The unspoken rule of the universe was to never date anyone you worked with. It always complicated everything. So even considering getting into something with your partner was out of the question. You didn’t have the slightest idea in the dating department anyway, so you weren't that worried. Olivia walked out from her office, dropping a file on your desk. 

When you saw it you groaned and she smiled. “I knew you’d come to your senses.” She teased. You wore a wry smile. “I had to at some point.” you shifted back into the chair, only turning when you saw Amanda walk in. It took you a second to realize she had a strained look on her face, There was also someone else behind her. His hand was on her back, and when he gave one last shove you noticed something. 

“Everyone freeze!” he yelled. All the officers braced immediately, drawing their weapons. You could tell now that there was a gun pressed to Amanda’s back.In his other hand was a phone. The man holding it pulled his shirt to the side. Your eyes grew wide at the bomb strapped to his chest. 

“Everyone drop your guns, NOW!! Or I’ll send this place up in flames. “ The officers present looked skeptical. “It’s okay, listen to him. Put down your guns.” Olivia was the first to drop hers. One by one everyone followed, reluctantly. 

“You have one hour to get my brother, John Hesley out of police custody. I want ten thousand dollars and a private plane out of New York City, if not.” He pressed a button, and a light flicked  on his chest. Your fists tightened. 

“Then everyone here is going down with me. “ Your mind was reeling at his threat. The guy he was asking for was the man in charge of the drug cartel. You turned to Olivia who looked just as lost. Your eyes caught sight of Rafael from his office. He’d obviously noticed the commotion. He was typing furiously on his cell. You sighed a bit relieved. At least help would be alerted. 

“Listen to me, what’s your name.” Olivia was trying to negotiate. 

“It’s James, I’ll make sure you never forget it. Give me your phone.”  He pushed against Amnada’s back and she stumbled slightly forward. 

“Okay, take it easy.” Olivia reached into her pocket slowly, pulling out the phone.  “Now get on the phone and get my brother out now!” 

She shook her head. “A request like that is going to take time James. “ 

“I see, you still don’t think I’m being serious.” he pressed another button and the hour had now become thirty minutes. Everyone flinched, bodies still.

“Okay! I’ll see what I can do.” She dialed a number, talking to who you assumed was a higher up that could make James request a reality. 

Barba was still hidden in the office, which you were thankful for. When he caught your eyes he nodded. You returned it.  At some point Nick had made sure to stay close to you. Carisi was background seething, you knew he probably wanted to kill the guy for taking Amanda. 

You were still staring at the bomb, it was down to twenty-five minutes minutes now. With your abilities you were positive if you could just get outside, you could easily get it far away from any civilians. The task was convincing this psycho to take you somewhere alone. 

“I was the one that arrested John.” James’s head whipped in your direction, his gun was now aimed at you. Nick’s eyes hardened. 

“What the hell are you doing!” you ignored him, walking closer to James. 

“I cuffed him, he was a coward. A sloppy one at that. He got what he deserved.” 

“(Y/N)!” Olivia warned. She caught on to what you were trying to do. 

James looked like he was about to put two bullets in your head. He didn’t though. A sick smile made its way on his face. 

“New plan. I’ll be taking little miss sunshine over here. “ he shoved Amanda and moved over to you. Nick stepped forward, blocking his path with a dangerous look. “Touch her and you die.” you’d never seen him so enraged since you started working there. 

“Move.” James instructed. Nick didn’t budge and James clocked his gun, pointing it at Nick’s head. He didn’t even flinch. You stepped away from Nick, and he gave you a look of disbelief. You couldn’t risk anyone getting hurt. This was something you had to do. The chances of them actually getting what he wanted was slim, if push came to shove you knew you could handle yourself. 

“Seems she’s tired of you.” he grabbed your shoulder roughly, dragging you along. As soon as the both of your were out of sight behind the elevator, everyone grabbed their guns. 

“Secure all exits, if he leaves with her it’s all over. I don’t want anyone other than necessary personnel in the building. Everyone else needs to go.“ 

Olivia instructed. Barba ran out of his office, immediately going to Olivia. 

Carisi was also now rooted to Amanda’s side. “You okay?” she nodded, eyes moving to where you once stood. Amanda looked back at Nick who was clenching his jaw. 

“She was doing what she thought was best Nick.” She placed a hand on his shoulder but he shrugged it off angrily. 

~~~

You were in the basement of the building. James still had a gun on your side. He opened a door, all but throwing you forward. 

“Some act you tried to pull. I guess it was stupid of me to think they would actually give up my brother. “ Your eyes narrowed when he shut the door. He still had the gun pointed in your direction, but he was unstrapping his vest. When he took it off completely, the light shut off. He dropped the phone in his hand, smashing it under his feet.

 “It was a fake..” you stated in confusion. 

“Why the hell would you take such a risk.” You thought you’d grasped the situation, but apparently you were wrong.

“See, I know what John is in for. There is now way the police would have let me walk out of here with him, not after all the evidence against him. Even if I threatened to blow up an entire precinct. What I did know was the rookie cop that caught him. I read up on you, dedicated, passionate, selfless.” 

The reality of your situation was kicking in.

“You knew I would try to minimize the damage. You played me..” His goal was never to rescue his brother, but to punish you. This whole ruse was to get to you.

“And you fell for it, hook line and sinker. I thought I would have had to just grab you, but the brave little detective just offered herself. How lucky could I get.” 

You snarled at him, backing into the wall as he approached. 

“Now, I’m going to have a little fun with you, when your squad finds you, there won’t be much left for them. “ he started unbuckling his belt. 

“Your brother was a monster, just like you, and you have the gall to get revenge. What about all those girls? Do you even care about all the lives you destroyed!” you snapped at him. 

He was moving in on you. “Who cares, we gave those whores food and shelter. You think for a second they didn’t like what was happening. They enjoyed it. Just like you are going to love this.” Your blood was boiling. You closed your eyes, pulling in a breath. 

He must have assumed it was out of fear. He cackled, standing right in front of you now. “Now lie down like a good girl and I just might leave your pretty face in one piece. “ You smirked. He didn’t get why you were smiling in such a situation. 

“Get on your knees bitch!” you opened your eyes and he gasped, staggering back at the glow around your orbs. 

“W-What the hell!” Your eyes moved to his hands and the gun flew from his grip. You could see the terror now on his face. He was scrambling for the door, he didn’t even have a chance. You lifted his body into the air, his screams encasing the room. You dropped him, and the crack of a bone in his body was heard. 

He was breathing heavily, wailing as he tried to crawl away from you. Your back was to the door now. “Now, whose is the one that’s cornered like an animal. How does it feel, being helpless, unable to protect yourself. Are you enjoying it like they did!!” you yelled. His body raised into the air again, your glowing eyes marking him like prey. You gritted your teeth, eyes blazing. 

“HOW DOES IT FEEL!!” 

He shouted in fear, eyes wide, completely horrified. You slammed him into the opposite wall this time. His body crashed and he grunted at the impact, falling to the ground. He was now curled into a ball, crying his eyes out. 

“Please don’t kill me I won’t do it again I promise please!!”

You scoffed. “When they begged you to stop, did you? Did you care when those girls were screaming for their lives as you stripped every piece of their innocence. “ he was still cowering. 

“PLEASE DON’T KILL ME!!” you sucked in a breath and raised your hand. You weren’t going to kill him, but you would make sure he felt every bit of pain that those girls suffered. 

“(Y/N)!!” you turned when you saw a torch light pointed in your direction. 

“N-Nick!” your hands lowered and the regular color returned to your eyes. Nick scanned the area, stepping in. 

“They're in here!!” he called someone. It wasn’t long before  a S.W.A.T team was piling into the room. James was still on the ground shaking. One of them took the vest, scanning it to make sure. 

“It’s fake.” you stated a bit uneasy. They pulled James  off the ground, bounding his arms. Nick holstered his weapon rushing to you. 

“Are you okay? Did he touch you?” Nick was badgering you with questions. When they walked James by, he started screaming as soon as he saw your face. 

“NO!! GET HER AWAY SHE’S A DEMON!! GET HER AWAY!! SHE’S GOING TO KILL ME!! LISTEN!!” he kicked and shouted. Nick watched as they escorted him out. One of the members looked at you with uncertainty. 

“You sure did a number on him.” you looked down. “I-I was trying to survive.” you answered. He nodded. “I don’t think anyone one of us is going to lose any sleep over that.” he held out his hand for you. “Thank you Detective.” you shook his hand. “Yeah no problem.” When there was no one else but you and Nick in the room, your nerves kicked in. If he’d just gotten there a few seconds earlier he could have seen. You had no problem with James knowing because they would probably just think he was insane. You were scared to look at Nick. He didn’t say anything, but you could tell he was staring at you. 

When the silence became too much you spun around. 

“Listen Nick I-”

He crashed into you, and you almost fell. He pulled you into his arms, holding on so tightly. You shrieked in surprise. “N-Nick!” his hand held your head securely in place as he embraced you. After a while, you gave in, returning the hug. “Don’t ever do that again.” he ordered. The low tone of his voice could make the strongest officers relent. You nodded slowly. 

“I won’t, I promise.” 

It was stupid to make such a promise, but you wanted to give Nick a piece of mind. He must have really thought he would lose you. You buried you face into his neck, reveling in the warmth of his skin. 

“I’m sorry Nick.” 

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

Will you be willing to do a prompt on Misao/Yamato/Marvelous, any number?

Absolutely I would! There’s a cheek kiss in here but it’s pretty minor; the showcase is what I’d call a firm kiss. Also, this prompt follows directly on this one.

The apartment door opens, and the first thing that happens is that Misao punches Marvelous in the face.

Marvelous reels back against the walkway railing and falls on his ass, cursing sulfurously. Misao flexes his hand, wincing, and then kisses Yamato on the cheek and nods cheerfully to the other Gokaigers. "It's nice to see all of you, it's been a while. Please, come in."

They all stare at him, shocked. Slowly, Joe says, "Ah. What was that for?"

"I owed him one."

"...Marvelous?"

"No, he's right, I deserved that." Marvelous takes Misao's offered hand and stands up, wiping a trickle of blood off the corner of his mouth with his thumb. "We even now?"

"I don't see why not, as long as you don't kick me in the stomach again." Misao turns so that everyone can file inside past him.

"You've changed a lot."

"Thank you."

After a bit more blinking and staring, the other Gokaigers make themselves comfortable, although Marvelous stays on his feet. It's not a large apartment; five additional people make the space tight enough that Ahim perches neatly on Luka's lap instead of finding her own seat. Yamato puts away groceries and puts on water for tea, and Misao leans against the wall next to the door and says, "So what brings you back to Earth?"

"Oh, didn't I mention?" Yamato's head pops up from behind the refrigerator door. "Marvelous owns it."

"Owns what?" "Earth. He's the prince of the, uh..." "Saiyan Empire," Doc offers helpfully. "Don't bother asking where it is, I made it up."

"That! Yeah, his harem is here, he kissed me in public and everything, it was very dramatic. No, no, it's fine, it was a whole thing, they were running off some guys who wanted to strip mine the planet for--you said tin, right?"

Doc nods. Luka, only recently recovered from her gales of laughter at the original ruse, looks like she might start laughing again.

Misao eyes Marvelous warily for a moment. "And did you need to kiss Yamato specifically?"

Marvelous shrugs. "Well, not specifically, but I appreciated him being there, I prefer kissing people I know to strangers."

There's a long pause before, "He's a good kisser."

"I mean, yeah, I think so, I'd assume you do too if he's living with you now."

--

Midway through dinner, Luka gets a text message that makes her raise her eyebrows, and which, when shared with Ahim, raises Ahim's eyebrows as well. They excuse themselves not long after the meal, Ahim murmuring something to Marvelous as Luka shakes Yamato's hand firmly, and then Misao's slightly more firmly, and tells him, "That was a good punch, sometimes he needs it."

Doc and Joe stay for coffee, but then they go too, Doc saying something vague about never having any quiet to read in. Joe pulls Marvelous out onto the walkway for a moment, but Marvelous doesn’t leave with him.

As soon as the door closes behind him again, Misao says, “So Yamato’s part of your harem.”

“It’s not just him, technically it’s the whole planet.” Marvelous smirks. “Anyway, Doc made that up, and like I said, I just didn’t feel like kissing some stranger who’d probably try to hit me.”

Misao nods. “That seems reasonable. Also I imagine he was the most attractive prospect available.”

“Oh, definitely.” A beat. “You do know that’s not the first time I’ve kissed him, right? That’s not coming as a surprise to you?”

“Yes, I’m aware that it’s happened before, but previously you weren’t doing so in a deliberately public setting.”

“No, it was pretty private.”

Yamato goes very still where he’s fussing over the dishes, ears turning bright red.

Marvelous continues with, “So did you want me to stop kissing him? Or I could kiss you, that’d even things out.”

“I did punch you in the mouth earlier.”

“You know, I actually think that’s an attractive quality.”

“And I generally trust Yamato’s opinion on people.”

There’s a long silence behind Yamato. He stares into the dirty plate in his hand before looking back over his shoulder to see Marvelous gripping Misao’s chin firmly and tipping his face up into a kiss. Misao’s brow is furrowed, the same expression he gets when he’s making something and wants to get a small detail right; Marvelous, despite being the one taking the initiative, has the same sort of surprised look that he got when Yamato bandaged his hand at their first meeting.

After a moment Yamato says, “Come on, Marvelous, you should at least dip him, it’s not fair to him if he doesn’t get as much of a kiss as I did.”