#like she pulled a bunch of stuff from the attic and anything my brother left up there has to have been put up there over ten years ago

[rogersstevie]

howwww many times do i have to tell my mom anything my siblings (mostly my brother) left behind they do not remember or care about it

[yo-im-a-bisexual]

This is my first time writing and i'm definitely no writer. English isn't even my first language. It is kinda long but I swear it's going somewhere. I just really love them and this will only work untill we get a new kieutou clip so whatever. Hope you enjoy. And I'm sorry if it sucks. constructive criticism is always okay but I will probably not take it into account because I am already depressed. Enjoy!!

Basically what I wish happened today for kieu my.

'but we'll definitely see each other when you come back?' 14:31

Kieu my stared at fatou's text notification on her phone, not knowing what to answer.

She still didn't know how to feel about their interaction on Tuesday, it all happened so fast and the last thing she wanted was to fight with her girlfriend.

At the time, leaving seemed like the best solution and Kieu my had every right to feel conflicted about what fatou said.

"you're the only thing distracting me from everything else at the moment"

The words resonate in her head. It hurt. Kieu my couldn't hide that those words are the ones that kept her up that night. And obviously, also the crazy situation they were in right now.

"Kieu my?" The words broke her out of her trance and she looked up from her phone to see Zoe looking at her with a worried look on her face.

"Are you okay? You've been checking your phone every five minutes since we got here" Zoe added getting closer to her

"yeah, I'm fine. I'm just... Forget it." She answered her best friend. "We're gonna lose the guys if we don't keep up" she said looking straight ahead.

Zoe didn't push her and just agreed. Kieu my put her phone back in her pocket. They jogged a little to catch up with their friends and they just kept walking.

She looked at the small group and laughed dryly to herself, which earned her a weird look from Constantin. Somehow her tall dumb friend got himself all the way to fricking Brandenburg and couldn't remember how. When Ismail told her about a 'Consti-emergency' she figured they would have to go get him from a ditch somewhere, she just would have never guessed it was from the countryside, one (1) and a half hour away from Berlin.

On the way there Ismail had told them that Constantin had called them completely trashed asking for help.

Kieu my really hasn't been keeping up with what's been happening in her friends lives. She felt bad. But at the same time, how could she? She's had so much to deal with between her parents and the shop and school and... Fatou. There she goes again. Even when she tries to be mad at her she just can't keep the skater out of her head. She reaches for her phone in her pocket when she hears a commotion ahead.

When she looks up she sees Contantin throwing up in a bush. She looks away not wanting to throw up herself.

"You guys go and head back i'll take care of... This" she hears Ismail say and when she turns back around she sees them patting the blonde's back

"are you sure?" Finn asks them and when they only nod their head 'yes' he looks at Zoe.

"yeah... okay let's go then" Zoe finally says after a minute of staring at the ground. "Text us if you need anything and when he... Calms down." She adds with a tight lipped smile. Zoe grabs her boyfriend's hand and her Best friend's arm and they start walking away.

"well that was... Unexpected?" Kieu my says after a few minutes of silence.

"yeah/yeah" both Finn and Zoe answer at the same time. "I'll text my brother and tell him we're coming back" Finn adds.

They got lucky this time around. Last time, they had to drive an hour to go get Constantin and drive back to Berlin in the middle of the night. But luckily Finn's brother somehow lived in Brandenburg so they didn't have to drive all the way back. When they got there and found the passed out boy they decided they all needed a break.

After about a twenty (20) minute walk and a small bus ride they finally got to the small house. It was cozy. Kieu my really couldn't complain. She got to share a room with her best friend while the boys would have to try and fit on the couch in the living room. Although she's pretty sure she's gonna sleep alone because Finn somehow managed to find another bed in what seemed to be the attic and with some good arguments managed to convince Zoe to sleep with him in there. But she's also pretty sure she won't be able to sleep anyway.

Like every winter day, night falls pretty fast. It's past 8 p.m and they already ate. Constantin is passed out on the couch and the others are talking about all sorts of things in the kitchen. Kieu my takes it as her queue to go to her room.

"I'm gonna get some rest. I need my beauty sleep" she tells them. They all say goodnight and she's left walking to her room alone.

It's only ten (10) minutes later when someone knocks at her door. "Can I come in kieu?" It's Zoe.

"yes, please"

"so are you ready to tell me what happened with Fatou or not?" Zoe asks nonchalantly.

"how did you even-" she gets cut off

"Come on Kieu, you're my best friend... and I saw the dozen texts she left on your phone" Zoe drags out

Kieu my falls on her bed and zoe sits next to her playing with her best friend's hair.

"I feel like I messed up... Like somehow I did something wrong and now she's pulling away from me" she starts and even before Zoe can say anything she continues. "But I just wanted to help her and she..."

"she what?"

"she said I was a distraction. And that I should leave her alone and she just got angry at me and I didn't want to fight with her so I... Left. Oh my god, I shouldn't have left right? Now she's gonna think I was there only for school stuff. She probably needed me and I left... Am I a terrible person Zoe?" She let out in barely one breath.

"See now you're spiraling. Take a breath, okay? No you are not a bad person. You were just upset and Fatou probably was too but those kinda things happen in a relationship. Me and Finn argue all the time and most of the time it's because one of us misunderstood something the other did or said" Zoe reassured her

Kieu my took a few deep breaths and sat up in the bed. She started playing With her fingers like she always does when she's feeling things.

"I guess I'm just scared that right now she's into me because I'm a good enough distraction but the moment she doesn't need me anymore... She'll just move on to someone more experienced or more interesting." The words leave her mouth with shaky breaths. Kieu my's eyes start shining but she blinks a couple time to keep the tears away.

"oh Kieu, you are such an idiot sometimes" the blonde laughs while kieu my looks at her dumbfounded. "Fatou is not like that. Nora once told me that one time, when the girls had a sleepover Fatou couldn't stop talking about you for the entire afternoon, so much so that when she fell asleep she was still saying your name" she continues. Kieu my blushes at the statement, thankful that the light is dim enough for her friend not to notice. Before Kieu my can say anything her very talkative friend continues. "She's smitten, Kieu. Maybe she just as some stuff going on. I mean don't we all" she adds wich earns a small laugh from her friend

Before they can continue their conversation someone knocks at the door and comes in without waiting for an answer. It's Finn, with a big smile on his face.

"hey girls!" He says way too excitedly. "I was wondering if Zoe.." he says looking at his girlfriend. "..Would like to come join me in our fine chambers?"

Zoe looks at her friend who is smiling at her. "Duty calls. Sorry. But if you wanna keep talking-" Kieu my cuts her off.

"Go, don't worry I'm fine. Thanks for the talk"

Zoe smiles one last time before running out of the room hand in hand with Finn.

Kieu my lays back down and closes her eyes. She can't help but think about Fatou. How does she manage to always be on her mind, it's unrealistic. She thinks about their date at the museum. Their date. She smiles to herself and covers her face with her arm to hide it. She thinks about how she nerded out to her and she just answered with something as nerdy. About how at that moment she kissed. About how well their lips fit together. About how happy she was that day. Maybe Zoe was right maybe she was spiraling.

Her phone rang and snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked at it for the first time since they got back. She gasps

It's Fatou. Of course it's Fatou, she probably thinks she ghosted her again. The moment she picks it up it stops ringing. Kieu my hesitates but puts it back down. She gets a text and as fast as she put it down she picks it back up. It's a text from Fatou. She also notices she's got some texts from her mom and a missed call from Ismail.

'hey, I just saw on your Insta you're doing a 'social media cleanse', sorry for calling you it's probably against that whole thing' -21:37

Right, Kieu my thinks, the social media cleanse.. that was Zoe's idea honestly. Another text.

'you looked really good in those pictures tho, real 'twilight' vibes🧛 -21:38

Kieu my smiles at her phone and starts to write an answer when she remembers that they haven't actually resolved their issue. And yes Fatou apologized but Kieu my expects something better than a text. On another hand she did tell her girlfriend to call her when she calmed down.

'can I call you again' -21:40 'please?' -21:40

Her phone rang again but this time she picked it up and answered. She waits a few seconds.

"hey.." she hears her girlfriend's tired voice from the other end

"hi." She says back, trying to keep her composure even behind the phone.

"how are you? I saw your posts and got worried"

"I'm.. fine, it was all pretty last minute" she answers

"Oh okay, It's good to hear your voice"

There's a silence, it's not awkward, somehow it's sad.

"Fatou?"

"yes"

"are you..." She begins but can't find the strength to finish.

"i'm not" she hears more than sees the sad smile. "I got fired"

"what- Why? When?" Kieu my asks

"Saturday. I messed up a bunch of times. Was late even. I don't know..." Fatou sounds so defeated

"I'm sorry. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know.. it's not your fault"

"Fatou. I just want you to know that I didn't come to your place just for school stuff. I wanted- I want to help you and I just feel so helpless because you can see right through me and I can't seem to understand any of your problems. I'm sorry." Kieu my starts rambling but gets cut off by Fatou laughing dryly.

"Are you serious? I was the asshole and you feel bad. I'm the one that should be sorry and I am. I am sorry. I don't have an excuse I shouldn't have snapped at you like that" Fatou says and Kieu my thinks that they don't have the same definition of snapped.

"Look, I don't like this, you being mad at me and us not talking so if you just give me a chance to really explain myself I would really like it if you would come and meet me when you get back" the skater girl continues

"yeah, I would also like that" she says with a small smile

"oh okay.. great.. well would you be up for a date at a ping-pong table bar then?"

"definitely"

"great, okay then I guess I'll just leave you to your cleansing"

Kieu my laughs

"goodnight Kieu my"

A pause

"goodnight Fatou"

She hangs up.

Kieu my knows that their conversation isn't over but for now she'll take it. For now it's good.

"was that Fatou?" A voice startles her from the doorway. It's Ismail.

"Shit- you scared me." She paused "Yes it was Fatou"

"Great cause I couldn't handle your sad moping face anymore. What'd you guys talk about?" They ask

She ignores his question. "I do not have a moping face." She says with a hurt look across her face. They look at her.

"Was it that obvious?" She asks with a frown

"Yes! Babe come on even Consti could have noticed if he wasn't puking his soul in the bushes" Ismail says dramatically. "Now come on give me the details. I need to know everything that is happening between my bestie and the mother of my tortoise" they sit next to Kieu my.

"you're so dramatic" she laughs. "Relax, we had a... Quarrel on Tuesday and she apologized and asked if we could meet up to talk about it" she tell them

"a quarrel? Okay m'lady... About?"

"some stupid school stuff" she lied.

"well you're a terrible liar because I overheard that entire phone call so what's up inside that little head of yours"

"Ismail, boundaries, please"

"oh please I've seen you at your lowest miss vu. There's literally nothing you can hide from me now."

She hesitates but starts talking anyway. "You know how I told you about me officially 'meeting' her friends last week" they nodded. "Well when she got there she was visibly upset and I didn't know why and then she got a text and got even more upset and now she just told me she got fired." She takes a breath. "And I just feel bad because those are all things I'm supposed to know about my girlfriend you know? Except she doesn't talk to me about that stuff and I don't know how to get her to open up.." she finishes breathless.

"you poor disaster" Ismail smiles and shakes their head. "You ask her" she's about to cut him off but they put their finger in front of her. "You find the right way to ask her. Love language Kieu my... Love language." They stand up and put their hand up like a shakespearean poet and goes on. "Give her time to open up, this is Fatou Jallow we're talking about. And remember communication is key." They finish, winking and walking backwards to the door and closing it behind them.

Kieu my was about to laugh at her friend's theatrics when the door opens up again and Ismail walks back in.

"no, but I just wanted to ask if I could sleep here cause Constantin has taken the whole couch and he smells like a dead body so...?"

The both of them laugh and Ismail slides next to Kieu my in the bed. "I'm gonna take that as a yes" they say.

"sleep well, ice queen" they mumble already falling asleep

"shut up" she smiles.

That night she dreamt about her girlfriend. She remembers all those weeks ago when her friend sleeping next to her asked her how the dreamy skater girl made her feel. At the time she hadn't known how to put her feelings into words. At that time her girlfriend was just a silly crush. Except Kieu my vu never got silly crushes. But she had instantly known Fatou was different. She was different then and she's different now. And with that thought she drifted into a peaceful sleep. Her insecurities forgotten for the night. She should have never worried about any of this in the first place. Soon she's gonna see the girl she loves again and everything will be alr-

*record scratch*

She woke up with a gasp.

"I love her"

She panted

"congrats, you're the last one to know" she heard Ismail mumble in their pillow.

She smiled to herself, feeling dumb for realising this just now. Looking at her phone she saw 5 a.m. deciding she deserved a little bit more sleep she closed her eyes and with a content sigh drifted back to sleep.

"when I get back we'll definitely see each other" she thought

Okay so I'm too lazy to read this and check for any mistakes so if there are any point them out and i'll fix it. Hope you enjoyed and if you took the time to actually read all this thank you I appreciate. Should I make a part 2? Or Fatou's pov maybe?

Update: the response as been amazing. Like I'm actually shocked by how nice some people can be. Thank you so much.

Re-update: I had my exams this week and am really fucking exhausted and i'm just gonna wait and see what happens tonight. If it's a sad clip i'm probably gonna write the version I would've wanted to happen but i guess we'll see. Sorryyy

[totallysharkycomplete]

Waiting For You Part Four (Ford Pines x Reader) Our Year

Before the twins arrived she helped Stan set up the attic for them. She also made sure there was plenty of food and snacks. Also, she helped make sure the shack was tween proof, and there were no signs of the supernatural or paranormals.

Stan had hired help in the gift shop for the summer, which was new. Besides Soos who had been around for a few years now. He claimed it was because you were both so close to getting Ford back, and the kids would be enough work.

Life wasn’t much different with the twins around, maybe more fun, but not too different. Mabel decided to call her their honorary Grant. The only difference being having to wait until the kids were asleep before she and Stan head down into the basement.

She tried to distance herself at first, allowing time for Stan to bond with his grand niece and nephew. When Stan told her he was going to take the kids fishing she decided to stay home and work. A few days after that there was a loud crash and Soos announced that he had found a random hidden room.

Everything in her started to panic that he had somehow found Ford’s room, but was relieved when she saw it was those creepy wax figures Stan had forgotten about.

“Why are these in here?” Dipper asks.

“They stopped attracting tourists so Stan put them away. Also,” She leans down to Dipper to whisper. “I think they were kinda haunted.” She only half jokes. They had always given her the creeps.

“I thought you didn’t believe in stuff like that.” Dipper quirked an eyebrow.

Stan and her had agreed to play off all the weird stuff in Gravity Falls to try and keep the kids away from it.

“I don’t.” She lies.

---------- When Mabel announces she has been spending time with Gideon she advies her against it. “Mabel, not to be rude, I know he’s only a child, but he’s kind of insane. Also, he’s kind of like your Gunkle Stan's nemesis.”

Mabel ignores her warning. A few days later however she came back to admit she was right.

“Mabel, I know you’re very boy crazy at this age. You’ll quickly learn that if a guy makes you feel uncomfortable or creeps you out you shouldn’t force yourself to be around them.” She offers Mabel a Pitt Cola which she happily accepts.

“He was really nice until he was really creepy.” Mabel sighs.

“Some boys are just like that.” She tells her.

“What about you? You’re so beautiful and nice. Why don’t you have a boyfriend?” Mabel sits up, excited for an answer.

Her thumb comes up to fidget with the back of her ring. “Well, Mable, I…”

“Oh my gosh!” Mabel jumps up. “Is it because you’re in love with Grunkle Stan?”

She can’t help but laugh, causing Mabel to frown. “I’m sorry, Mabel, but no. I love Stan, yes. But I have absolutely no romantic feeling for him.”

“Don’t worry, by the end of this summer I’ll find you a boyfriend for sure!” Mabel doesn't listen as she protests, and scurries off. ---------- For some reason unbeknownst to her Stan decides to throw a party at the shack. When she asks him a reason all he replies with is, “Money!” Which seems about right to her.

She avoids the party for the most part. Taking the opportunity to sneak into the basement to tighten bolts and detangle wires. It's really all she can do at this point until the other journals are found.

When the party is over Stan makes his way to the basement. “You been down here all night?” She nods. “I could use some help cleaning up from the party.” She agrees to help since there is nothing left for her to do.

She starts throwing cups in the trash can and sweeping up. She unconsciously sighs.

“What’s that for?” Stan asks.

“What’s what for?” She replies.

“The sighing, am I too boring for you?” He jokes.

She stops cleaning and looks at him. “What else can we do, Stan? I feel like I’m just sitting around twiddling my thumbs waiting for something to happen. I’ve spent hours in the woods looking for the journals, hours looking around town, in the shack, but I always come back empty handed. I just don’t know what to do next.”

Stan walks over to her and takes the broom from her hands and sets it to the side, then wraps her in a hug. She hugs him back. “All we can do is keep on living our lives. We’ve done all that we can. I’m not saying we should give up or nothing, but right now we just have to live in the present ya’ know?”

She sniffs. “I know. It’s just so hard to, when it feels like we’re so close.” She put her chin on his chest to look at him.

He smiles. “I know what you mean.” He pauses for a second. “But right now, how ‘bout a dance? Didn’t get one all night.” Stan moves to turn on a slow song, before moving back to her and taking her hands.

She laughs but doesn't argue, laying her head against his chest. They slowly sway to the music.

“This year will be our year, promise.” Stan whispers. ---------- She’s sitting on the dinosaur skull talking to Stan when the twins come barling into the room arguing about having separate rooms. She can’t but smile and wonder if Ford and Stan were like this as kids. Right as Stan is explaining there’s not another room there’s a loud crash and Soos announces, yet again, he’s found a secret room.

Everyone makes their way to go see, and to her dismay she sees it’s Ford’s room. She watches as Stan walks in and grabs Ford’s glasses and tucks them into his sleeve while lying about not knowing what the room was.

She’s so lost in thought that she doesn’t even remember experiment 78, and how she had spent the day in Ford’s body before they figured out they could switch back.

She's leaning against the door frame watching as Stan tells the kids he’ll give the room to whoever sucks up to him the most. Even though she’s feeling upset seeing this room for the first time in a year she can’t help but laugh at Stan’s antics.

As the kids are off scrambling to reshackle the roof she sits across from Stan at the table. “Really?”

He smirks. “What? Just a little friendly competition among siblings.”

She lets out a laugh. “Were you and Ford like that?”

Stan looks at her smiling, but frowns a little before pulling a fake smile. “We, uh, we were best friends our whole childhood. As inseparable as kids can get.” He thinks for a second. “Did you ever want to have kids?”

She looks down at the table wistfully. “I did,” she says with a sad kind of smile. “We did,” she corrects herself. “We had talked about having kids once we weren’t so busy with work.

Stan can’t help but feel guilty. Maybe if he had never answered his brother letter her and Ford would be happily married with a family of their own.

“Don’t think like that Stan.” She frowns.

“Like what?” He tries to play dumb.

“I’ve spent almost every moment with you the last thirty years. I can read you like a book, old man.” She smiles at him now and reaches across the table to hold his hand. He grumbles but doesn’t pull away. “You know I love you, Stan. I don’t hold anything that happened against you, I’ve told you before.”

She pulls her hand away as Mabel runs into the room and starts talking to Stan. She gives him a smile before leaving the room.

Later she finds Stan sitting in his arm chair in front of the television. His favorite show is on, but he’s focused on the object in his hands. Ford’s glasses. Silently, she walked to sit on the dinosaur skull beside him and wrap an arm around him. They both look down at the glasses in silence. ---------- At first, she finds Dipper’s Guide to the Unexplained charming. He reminds her a lot of Ford. Charming, until he starts to point the attention to her.

“She’s lived without Grunkle for who knows how long. They aren’t married or romantically involved, yet she wears a wedding ring. Could she actually be the ghost of a lonely widow who died in this house?” Dipper came up with a whole bunch of crazy theories. He followed her around with a camera until she finally had to tell him to stop.

She pulled him aside to talk to him. “Dipper, listen. Your grukle and I are friends, and roommates. We live together because neither of us want to live alone.”

“But your ring.” Dipper begins to ask.

“My ring,” she gives him a sad smile. “Dipper my fiance gave me this ring and he’s… no longer with us.”

Dipper’s face turned white as he began apologizing.

“Dipper it’s alright. I’m sure you’ll find a real mystery in this town if you keep looking.” ---------- A few days later she's reading in her room when Stan calls her and the kids to the living room. “I need you to laugh at this with me!” He motions to the little Gideon commercial on the tv.

Her heart sinks as the commercial shows the Mystery Shack being destroyed by the tent of telepathy.

Dipper asks if they should be worried about that but Stan assures him the only way Gideon could take the shack was if he snuck in and stole the deed. There’s a loud crash and Stan gets up and you follow to find Gideon had actually broken in. Stan ends up chasing him out with a broom but Gideon gives a grave warning about how when he gets the combination to his safe, Stan will never see the Mystery Shack again.

She stops Stan as he locks the safe again. “Is it really safe? Should we move it to the basement?”

He put a hand on her shoulder. “The combination is in my brain, sweetheart. There’s no way he can get it there.”

For a second her mind thinks of Bill, but he’s been gone since Ford disappeared. She decided against mentioning it to him and trusts Stan to know what he’s doing. Unfortunately, she's asleep in her room when Bill invades Stan’s mind and the twins and Soos enter his brain.

While in his brain Mabel opens a door to see Stan slow dancing with their ‘honorary Grant.’ “Are we sure they aren’t in love?” She questions before moving on.

She came into the living room to see everyone cheerful, Dipper had his grunkle in a choke hold, and she smiled. Suddenly there was an explosion knocking everyone backwards. Gideon walked in with the deed in his hands.

Dipper looks confused and says something about Bill. Her heart drops at the thought of the twins having to have had to deal with him.

They flee from the shack and all they can do is watch as a wrecking ball knocks over the sign for the Mystery Shack. ---------- The new living situation was less than ideal. Staying with Soos and his grandmother was only a temporary solution until they got the shack back.

While Gideon held a press conference Stan, the kids, and Soos watched from the front, she tried to sneak in the back. However they were both caught and thrown off the property.

Back at Soos’s house she stood in the kitchen with Stan while he called the twin’s parents. She watched as he blatantly lied to them. He hangs up the phone with a sigh and she walks over and pulls him into a hug.

“What are we going to do, Stan?” She whispers.

“We’ll do what we have to.” ---------- She was right by his side as he explained to the kids that he had to send them home. It broke your heart just as much as his to see how upset they were. She was surprised to hear him say Gideon won before he stormed out, she followed him out the door.

“You didn’t mean all that.” She confronts Stan when she catches up to him. “I know you didn’t. Stan we’re so close.”

“What do you want me to say? What can we even do? We’ve lost the shack, the kids have to go home, and we’ve lost the portal!” He shouts but not loud enough for anyone else to hear.

“We can’t just give up.” She sniffs.

Stan calms himself when he sees she's about to cry, and gives her a hug. ---------- She gives both twins a teary goodbye before boarding the bus. “I love you two. Thank you for making this summer so memorable. I’m sorry it got cut short.” She plants a kiss to each of their heads before they board the bus.

She stands with Stan as they watch their bus drive away.

Back at Soos’s house she scribbles down ideas on how to get the house back, while Stan sits on the couch to wallow in his self pity. He grumbles something about hitting rock bottom and having no friends, no family.

“What am I, chopped liver?” She jokes, biting her pen in thought. He apologizes.

He stares at the Gideon pin in his hand before announcing he knows Gideon's weakness and tells you to hurry up as he runs out the door. ---------- Stan exposes Gideon for the fraud he is. They get the shack back and the twins get to stay. Even better, Stan tells her he’s found journal number two. She can’t stop from crying when he tells her.

Stan checks on the kids while she's checking on the portal. She doesn’t come up all night, until Stan comes down with journal number three.

“Is this real?” She asks in disbelief. “All three? We have all three journals after one day?”

“We have them all.” He confirms and flips them open to the corresponding pages. She watches as Stan examines the pages and presses some buttons, and the portal lights up. “It’s working!” He exclaims. Running towards the portal and she follows.

“Here we go.” ---------- It’s not long until gravity anomalies begin to happen.

“It won’t be long now.” Stan stated.

She smiled wide and nodded. --------- The next day when government vehicles showed up she tried her best to keep her calm. Stan kept his cool and they left.

“I thought this would happen.” She confessed when they’re alone. “The gravity anomalies happened back in the 80’s when we got the portal working but the government was less observant then.”

“Don’t stress it. Soon we'll have Ford back and we won’t have to worry about the government.” Stan grunts.

She tries not to stress but it doesn't really work. She decided to help distract herself by helping Stan set up for the party. They deserved to celebrate getting the shack back. However, she can’t but notice Dipper sneaking off to Stan’s room. She goes to tell Stan right away.

She agrees to keep an eye on the party while Stan goes to check the portal. Everything is going well until the earth starts to shake. It’s not time for this yet, she thinks and checks her watch. Everyone runs off and she makes her way over to stand by Mabel, when Dipper comes running around the corner a hoard of zombies behind him. She orders everyone inside and keeps the zombies away from the kids the best she can without a weapon. They end up trapped in the gift shop and one grabs Dipper. Before she can do anything Stan shows up to save the day. When they are almost safe in the attic Dipper says there’s no way you and his Grunkle Stan can deny the thing that goes on in Gravity Falls anymore.

“Kid, I’ve always known.” Stan confesses. Dipper looks at you and you nod.

“We thought the best way to keep you two safe from it was to deny its existence. We see that was wrong now.” She frowns.

After the whole karaoke ordeal is over Stan has the twins promise not to go looking for problems, Stan lies and promises he has no more hidden secrets. ---------- She stands by Stan as he pours the fuel into the machines.

“Everyday it’s getting stronger.” He comments as his pen, mug, and notebook fly through the portal. She grabs his arm and steps back. Her eyes were wide.

“Haha, yes!” Stan shouts and raises his hand up. A stray metal bar flies up and hits him in the hand.

“This is so dangerous.” She sighs while bandaging his hand.

“I don’t care if it’s dangerous. I don’t care how long it takes. We’re gonna pull this off, and no ones going to get in our way.” He says determined.

She nods, just as determined. ---------- Stan and her work countless late nights. Finally Stan poured the last of the fuel into the machine. “That should be just enough to do the trick.” Just as he says that the timer begins.

The two of them put the final touches on the machine and Stan hits the button. The portal lights up and begins to whir into life.

“Yes! This is it!” His hat began to rise off his head.

She grabs on the nearest desk to keep herself on the ground. In a few seconds gravity returns and she lands back on her feet. “Just eighteen more hours?”

“Eighteen more hours and this will all have been worth it. Stan straps on his watch with a synced up timer. “Finally, everything changes today.”

They share a smile together. ---------- Stan says he’s going to spend the day with the kids, but she refuses to leave the basement. The kids ask where she is and he just says she’s not feeling well so she’s laying down in bed.

She's standing near the portal but at a safe distance. “Just ten more minutes.” She fidgets with her ring. While staring at the portal she doesn’t notice Soos and the kids. They don’t notice her right away either.

She checks her watch. “Two more minutes. Where the hell is Stan?” Looking around she looks back in the control room to see the kids and Soos. “What the hell?”

They walk into the portal room and gasp. “Kids, Soos, you can’t be here. You need to leave now.”

“There! Dipper yells and runs to the override keys.” Before she can run over and stop them, they turn them.

She moves to stand in front of the emergency off switch. “Stop! You don’t understand!” Soos grabs her and holds her to the side. She tries to wiggle away but can’t get out of his grasp. “Stop! Please!” She cries as Dipper almost hits the button.

Stan burts into the room and stops him before he does think. Dipper begins to argue with Stan when gravity fails.

They’re all lifted into the air. She's holding onto the timer as Mabel makes her way to the kill switch. She is frozen in fear, but Stan launches himself forward and convinces Mabel to trust him. There’s a blinding light and a figure steps out of the portal.

“The author of the journals. My brother!”

[chaosangel767]

Business Vs. Pleasure Pt. 2

Fandom: Obey Me

Pairing Lucifer/ MC 

Type: Angst 

Pt. 1 Here

Warning: Swearing 

*****The next Morning***** 

You wake up slowly, a massive headache forming from all the crying last night. You felt like you had been hit by a truck. You locate your DDD to see tons of messages from the night before when the brothers found out you went home sick and Belphie telling them that you were sleeping and to leave you alone. Almost all the brothers personally texted you to make sure you were okay. Lucifer called you a bunch of times too. There was a lot of commotion in the group chat as well.  

House of Lamentation Chat.

Lucifer: Y/n wake up, breakfast 

Beel: Lucifer she wasn’t feeling good last night let her sleep 

Asmo: Y/n what happened? Are you up 

Belphie: Clearly not or she would have responded by now.

Mammon: I’m going to wake her up, it's almost afternoon

Beel: MAMMON LEAVE HER ALONE SHE IS SICK

Lucifer: Mammon I will hang you upside down if you disturb her 

Y/n: I’m up guys, why are you screaming Mammon

Lucifer: hey sweetheart how are you feeling 

Y/n: Like I got hit by a truck, my head is pounding 

Beel: Want me to make you anything?

Lucifer: Take it easy Y/n don’t push yourself to much 

Satan: Lunch will be ready in a couple hours if you feel hungry

Y/n :I’m not hungry right now, maybe I’ll come down for lunch

After confirming you were okay you crawled to the shower and started it. While waiting for the water to warm up you look in the mirror and notice your mark missing on your neck. You shake your head before calling Jack. As soon as he picked up he knew something was wrong, I told him everything that happened last night and he just sighed heavily. He talked to me and offered to make me a new dress so that I didn’t have any memories. I gladly accepted and  sent him pictures from last night that Asmo had taken of me dancing with the brothers. He got me laughing like he always does and encouraged me to keep my head up. I hung up with him and took a shower feeling better now that my emotions were straightened out. I threw on a comfy outfit ( your choice) and noticed that Satan had announced lunch was ready. I walked out of my room and went to the table slipping in the free spot between Asmo and Beel. Lucifer looked up at me and shot me a smile. I attempt a smile back, but it comes out strained. I drop my head in my hands. 

“Y/n would you mind going on a date with me tonight?” Lucifer asked, bringing me out of my daze. I struggle to think of an excuse, not ready to face him.

“She can't, we had a meeting with Simeon and Luke” Beel cut in quickly. I sigh and look to Lucifer.

“Beel is right, I have to head over to Purgatory hall.” I muster my best apologetic smile to Lucifer. 

“Don’t forget we have a spa night planned” Asmo sings to me leaning over and cupping my cheek. “ It will help you relax since you aren’t feeling well” I nodded at him, feeling a little upset that I have to keep smiling.  I stood up from my Lunch and took my plate to the kitchen. 

“You barely ate Sweetheart. Are you sure you don’t want more?” Lucifer asks, catching me as I walk by. I look at him and shook my head, being with him was hurting too much. Beel and Belphie stand up. 

“Ready Y/n we should head over soon if we want to get done before dinner” Beel tells me and I nod. We rinse our plates and Belphie whispers to me

“Let me know if you need anything okay?” I nod back and Belphie heads towards the attic while Beel and I head out of the house. 

“You okay?” Beel asks once we are away from the hall. I shake my head and feel tears start to form. 

“ I have no idea how I am going to make the next 6 months, all I see when I look at him is him pounding a Succubus. It won’t go away.” I said the last few words in a whisper, tears threatening to fall. 

“Wait, why do you see that?” I hear Satan behind us, he was walking behind us to Purgatory hall. I gasp and Beel throws eyebrows at Satan. 

“What are you doing following us?” Beel asks and now its Satan’s turn to raise his eyebrows at us. 

“Solomon and I have to work on a project, so I am going over.” Satan explains. We travel the rest of the way in silence until we walk into Purgatory hall. Simeon and Luke greet us. 

“Y/n how are you feeling, are you okay, did you talk to him?” Luke fires questions at me as he hugs me looking worried. I shake my head and sigh, Simeon takes my coat and Satan looks even more confused. Solomon comes in. 

"Y/n why did Jack call me threatening murder and wanted me to go check on you?" Solomon looked concerned and I look at him sadly, trying not to cry right here.

“Y/n were you really sick last night or did something happen at the dance?” Satan questions me hanging up his coat and glaring at me. 

“Perhaps we should talk about this over something to drink in the living room.” Simeon offers you shoot him a grateful smile and nod. We go to the living room and Simeon and Luke sit with me on a couch while Satan and Beel sit on the other couch. Solomon comes in with some tea and cookies for us and sits in a chair.

“What happened last night Y/n”  Solomon breaks the silence first. Luke takes my hand and rubs circles into it calming me. Taking a sip of my tea I look up and meet everyone's eyes.

“Beel and I went looking for Lucifer last night during the party and found him doing some things with a couple of Succubi. I have some evidence and left without me seeing him. I ran into these two and they stayed with me until Beel and Belphie took me home. My mark kept burning last night too, but when I woke up this morning it was gone.” I explained, my voice starting to crack again. I couldn’t control the tears starting to fall down my face. My neck felt strange without the usual buzz from Lucifer’s mark. Usually when I touched it I could feel his warmth and heartbeat, but now my skin was cool to the touch and was like any other piece of skin. Simeon placed his arms around me and served as my anchor until I could control my emotions. Satan and Solomon looked at me shocked. 

“Y/n are you sure your mark is gone?” Satan asked wide eyed, I nodded and pulled down the shoulder of my shirt showing that the mark was missing. Satan shook his head and swore. He was shaking  trying not to switch to his demon form,  a battle he quickly lost. He got up and was shaking in fury. You get up and wrap your arms around him.

“Satan please calm down, it was my fault for believing him” I quickly try to calm him down and Simeon walks over and places a hand on Satan’s shoulder helping calm him down. Satan calms down slowly and sits back down, fury still prominent in his eyes. You know he cares about you and has proven to be insanely protective of you in the past. You and Simeon sat back down on the couch with Luke.

“How are you feeling now?” he asks, looking worried at me. 

“Drained and betrayed” I replied honestly,Satan looked at me sadly. “It's going to hurt more than normal for some time, your body is also dealing with losing his mark so you will be a lot more tired than usual.” Satan explained, he sighed heavily. “I’m so sorry Y/n, I can’t believe he did this, I wish there is a way to help.” Solomon just sat there and watched what unfolded with sympathetic eyes. After talking for a little bit longer, Solomon and Satan went off to work on their project and you watched movies with Beel, Simeon and Luke. 

Suddenly your phone starts to blow up with texts from Lucifer.

Luci

Luci: Sweetheart are you feeling okay?

Y/n: I’m fine

Luci: Are you sure, something in our bond doesn’t feel right

Luci: What are you doing?

Y/n: We are studying with the angels 

Luci: Why not study with Mammon or me?

Y/n:Simeon  wanted to study with me and Luke made sweets 

so Beel tagged along

Y/n: now excuse me I have work to do

Luci: Do not take that tone with me Y/n 

Y/n: I have stuff to do Lucifer

Luci: Y/N!

Luci: We will talk when you get home 

Y/n: Goodbye Lucifer 

Luci: I love you Y/n 

Y/n: …

5 missed calls from Luci

“Everything okay?” Beel whispered and I shook my head leaning on his shoulder.

“I may have just told Lucifer off, there is going to be hell to pay later” I reply, he groans and took my DDD reading the messages. He shuts off my DDD when Lucifer doesn't stop calling me. We continue to watch movies until Satan comes down from Solomon’s room. 

“I’ve held off Lucifer for as long as possible. We need to go home” Satan informed us. I growl and stand up, Beel stands up a little slower. 

“ If you need a place to get away Y/n you can always stay with us. “ Simeon offered and Luke nodded giving me a hug. I nod at them gratefully

“ I’ll keep that in mind, but for now I am going to  confront a cheater” I told them, putting on my coat and walking out of the dorm with Satan and Beel. While on the way home I filled Satan in on my fight and he snorted at Lucifer getting possessive. 

We walked into the house and it was eerily quiet. I walked into my room with Satan and Beel to see Lucifer sitting on my bed. 

“Beel, Satan please leave.” Lucifer commands rising from my bed. Both brothers look at me and I nod, they turn around and walk out of my room shutting the door. I sigh and look at Lucifer. He closes the gap and grabs my shoulders. 

“How dare you talk to me like that” He growls out, I glare at him and slowly feel anger built up. 

“How dare you cheat on me and act like everything is okay the next day?” I growl back, I saw him visibly tense. 

“ What did you say?” he asks again. I look him dead in the face. 

“You heard me Lucifer” He pinned me against the wall. 

“ DO NOT TALK LIKE THAT!!! I WOULD NEVER” He yells at me. My door flies open and the other brothers come in. 

“Lucifer let her go,” Beel said warningly, and Satan is pissed. Luci released me. 

“I SAW YOU LUCIFER. IT WASN’T ONE BITCH BUT TWO” I yelled back letting my anger finally go. I didn’t care that the other brothers had entered not knowing what was going on. 

“YOU SAW NOTHING!” Lucifer grabbed you again. 

“ I FUCKING SAW YOU, YOU WERE FUCKING ONE BITCH AND KISSING ANOTHER” I yank myself out of his grasp, tears finally spilling over. Lucifer looked at you shocked. 

“What are you talking about human?” Mammon asked me. He and Levi looked so confused, I sigh and decide to tell them what happened. 

“Last night I saw Lucifer cheating on me with 2 succubi.” I filled them in. 

“ Y/n dear that doesn’t sound like Lucifer”  Asmo was quick to defend Lucifer breaking my heart a little. Mammon and Levi quickly agree with him, clearly not believing me. Lucifer smirked at me. 

“Enough Y/n, you need to calm down and tell the truth. You have been cheating on me with Beel.” Lucifer crossed his arms and the brothers all looked at me. I snapped, seeing red and realizing that he was enjoying himself. 

“I have done no such thing” I defend, Lucifer’s eyes go narrow and he transforms into his demon form. He goes to hit me but Beel blocks the hit. Belphie and  Satan transform into their demon form and stand protectively  in front of me. Belphie wraps his arms around me. The other brothers look in shock. Lucifer looked shocked that they would stand up for me. 

“I was there last night Lucifer, I saw you cheating on her. I don’t know why you did it and I don’t care, but you do not hurt her because you couldn’t keep it in your pants.” Beel told him as he released his hand and Lucifer backed up. 

“ Wait, Lucifer is this true?” Asmo asked in doubt, the fact that the twins and Satan are defending you is making them rethink. I decide to tell Lucifer about my mark and then escape to the library before things escalate more.

“You told me you felt something was wrong with our bond, well it's true, funny you just did not realize it.  My mark is fucking gone because you of you. But now i know what it means when my mark burns, you have never been faithful.” I pulled down my shirt revealing the healed spot. Lucifer’s eyes widened and he sits on my bed, clearly dazed by the fact my mark had left and that I found out his secret. I turned and left my room with Satan and the twins. 

I fled to the library and Satan put up his hexes so that no one could enter and made the library soundproof. I sent the group the video of Lucifer cheating just to make sure everyone knows and turned off my DDD. I tried to keep the tears at bay, but eventually they spilled over. The twins pulled me into one of the library nooks and let me cry. Satan looked at me sadly and sat in the nook with us. Beel pulled me onto his lap, Belphie was on one side and Satan as on the other. Satan started to read poems to me and Belphie started to play with my hair. The boys held me until I fell asleep. 

 These three boys and the angels become my anchors the next 6 months, as I heal and finish the exchange program. Luci tried multiple times to get back with me, but I held my ground against his advances. Even Lord Diavolo told him to give up. I had learned my lesson, never mix business and pleasure, even though the lesson came too late. 

[inspired-by-the-music]

Missing the shinee universe guys. What kind of place do you think each couple would move into first? Who would wait until they were married or engaged first? Who would live in a condo, apartment, fixer upper home? -SLA

Ahhh, shinee universe! I had every intention of revisiting the shinee universe before I dedicated my whole life to the ever-expanding For You universe, so thank you for this question! feel free to send more!

Once Aimee and I sat down to talk about this, we pumped out our answers pretty quickly. A big chunk of the delay in answering was due to the fact that I re-read the shinee universe to get the answers canonically correct, so you should probably prepare for a novel, SLA! As always, pls feel free to tell me what you think! -Ash

It’s so weird to write these answers out of order, but I decided that it would be best to do this in the order in which the members get married!

Minho

It’s already established that Minho is total husband material, so it’s probably not shocking that he’s the first in this bunch to get married

Minho and his significant other don’t move in together until wedding plans are underway

They move into a house that isn’t technically in the city, but everything is still accessible on the frequent occasion that Minho wants to take his lady out on a date 

Minho encourages his fiancee to make all of the fun decisions about decorations for the wedding and for the house while he deals with what he considers “boring adult stuff”

Although he tries his best not to show it, Minho gets so stressed from all the planning that he decides within himself that he’s NEVER moving again

So he picks a house that has every feature anyone could ever need. He even thinks ahead to make room for any future children. 

All in all, Minho wants to settle into comfortable domestic happiness with the person he loves. Obviously, he’ll still be fun and competitive and exciting, but he doesn’t try to prove that by moving into a new, bigger, fancier house every other year or by making constant home improvements

Plus, he’s a little too busy helping Jinki to start his own projects

Jonghyun

Canonically, Jonghyun and his girlfriend live together in an apartment before they’re married

Although he is the second to get married, he wasn’t in any particular rush to propose until a few years into the relationship when his gf marries off the main characters in her newest best-selling novel

She had never written about a wedding before! Knowing that writing is where she explores her dreams, Jonghyun immediately goes into town to buy a ring after finishing the book. 

(He left in such a hurry, in fact, that he left the book on the park bench. His heart dropped until he found it still sitting where he left it, guarded by a kind old lady who was feeding the birds)

He’s a pretty creative guy himself, so he doesn’t exactly copy the proposal from the novel or from any movies or dramas. 

Very little changes in their daily lives after marriage since they were practically living as a married couple soon after their first hello. 

The wedding rings aren’t the first matching rings Jonghyun and his girl wear to express their love, but there is something special about them that even Jonghyun can’t express in any song-- something that his wife can’t describe in any book

Onew

Jinki is shook because his girlfriend brings up marriage first

His response id delayed not because he’s afraid of commitment but because, “Wow, I didn’t think I’d ever get this far in dating!”

Then, he laughs as he reminds her about their catastrophic iconic first date, and she laughs too, and somehow it’s decided that this is an adequate proposal. 

Jinki still buys her an engagement ring because “She deserves it!” It’s probably blue and beautiful. 

On one of his days off, Jinki gets lost in one of those home renovation marathons on tv, and decides, “I can do that!”

He realizes very quickly that he cannot do that, but he’s already bought a new house that’s in desperate need of renovations so he can’t turn back

Minho and Taemin are the only people who respond to his SOS texts. Place your bets on who steps up to build that house from the ground up!

Onew and Taemin aren’t entirely useless. Onew helps with some heavy lifting, and Taemin. . . well, he makes good playlists, and his awestruck stares fuel Minho’s superhuman strength

Onew has a distorted sense of his contribution to the construction of his house. He brags to everyone, “I built my home with my own to hands!” 

And he also constantly tackles home improvement goals that would never be accomplished without Minho’s help. 

Taemin

While Taemin is one of those “live in the moment” people, he’s also one who believes in destiny. It was never a matter of if he would get married to his girlfriend; it was a matter of when. 

Never truly afraid or embarrassed, Taemin told her outright very early in their relationship, “I’ll marry you one day-- when we’re al grown up!” He meant it, and she knew it. Neither of them is rushing to grow up, though. 

In the meantime, they enjoy each other’s company. They don’t technically live together, but she stays at Taemin’s apartment most of the time because his balcony provides the best sight of the moon and stars she has ever seen

Their favorite pastime is pestering his group members. 

Because Minho is her brother, he is the first target. Uninvited, they invaded his kitchen one morning, knowing well that neither of them knew how to cook to save their lives. Minho would have scolded them then and there when he barrelled down the stairs in his pajamas, expecting to find a burglar, had his wife not smiled so fondly at their effort to play house

Next came Jonghyun, but he wasn’t a satisfying target for any pranky because he always welcomes Taemin and his girlfriend with open arms. He even invites them to spend the night on the pull out sofa in the living room. His hospitality sends them onto the next victim. 

If anything, though, they are Jinki’s victim. When he isn’t insisting on giving them a tour of the house he built with his own two hands-- the house Taemin watched Minho build-- or forcing them to watch home renovation marathons, Jinki asks them with a broad smile, “So, when are you two gonna get married and make me a grandpa?”

Key is the only satisfying target. Taemin and his girl were able to spend an entire weekend in Key’s attic undetected!

“What’s making that noise up there?” Key’s girlfriend asked on the literal day that she moved in.

Key joked, “It’s the demon!”

Determined to prove Key wrong (or right by terrorizing everyone), Taemin stomped on the floor and screamed, “I’m not a demon!”

Suffice it to say that Taemin is lucky to see his wedding day after the beating scolding he received from Key

Key

Key doesn’t really plan to get married. He’s not opposed or anything, but he would only do it after a series of serious conversations with his significant other

He’s not one to judge, but he feels like most people rush in their relationships, and he’s not really about that life. Lowkey thinks Jonghyun is a maniac for moving in with his gf just a month into dating but anyway

His house isn’t a mansion or anything, but it’s obviously too big for just one or two people. He likes to live lavishly. His bathroom is practically a personal spa. 

The first time she visits, his girlfriend thinks he’s kinda weird for living in such a big place without a roommate, but she hides that behind compliments about the interior design or something. 

Key is the least likely to fantasize about living with his significant other. Like, no offense, but his house is his sanctuary. He likes having his own space. Also, he’s kinda particular about his living habits(and he doesn’t really want to share any of his closet space). 

Key only invites his girlfriend to live with him after they’ve been together long enough for him to decide that they can live together in harmony

This is somewhat unrelated, but I imagine that Key hired a housekeeper for a while, but he’s that kind of person who always went through the rooms to reorganize/clean things to his own (admittedly high) standard. So one day he wakes up like “What am I paying this person for?”

Key likes to complain and get under his gf’s skin, so she’s probably not counting the days until she gets to move in either tbh

They definitely 100% bicker the most out of all the couples, but that’s just how they communicate. They make up for their many petty arguments through the week with frequent ‘self-care’ nights wherein they watch dramas while wearing mud masks and sipping wine. 

[officially-a-bee]

"Are you sure we should be doing this, Jason?" Cristal asked nervously, glancing around. "I mean, it's really not good to mess with this stuff. . . especially not tonight."

Jason scoffed. "Nothing's gonna happen, Cris. It's just an old book. A game. We'll be fine."

"NoooOooOo, but Jase, Cristal's right!" whined Brandon in a sarcastic falsetto tone. "It's Halloween, and a blue moon, so obviously we can't do anything fun today or else we'll all kill each other!"

"Yeah, lighten up, Cris," said Emily, bumping Cristal's shoulder lightheartedly. "It's just a game. Let's have some fun with it!"

"Okay," said Cristal, still unconvinced. "If you guys say so."

Jason slapped the old, musty book sitting on the table in front of them. "Awesome! Let's see what this bad boy has to say!" He pulled it toward him and flipped open to a random page. "Ooooooh, demons! That sounds intriguing."

"Keep looking," Brandon urged, looking over his shoulder. "We should find something really freaky."

"You know it, bro." Jason kept flipping through, muttering various bizarre phrases under his breath. "Oh. Oh, this is it. Guys, I've found it. There's not many details, but whatever this is, is specifically only to be used for a night like tonight - Halloween, on a blue moon. It's perfect! We have to!"

"Um, what? How can we do some mysterious spell out of an old book from your dead grandma's attic if we don't even know what happens?" Cristal's face was white.

"It's okay, Cris," Emily tried to comfort her, but Brandon interrupted by bursting out into laughter.

"Oh, my God, Cristal! It's fake! It's all a joke! If you don't like it, you can leave! God, you're such a nerd!"

"Hey, shut up, Brandon!" Emily snapped. "It's not Cristal's fault if she's superstitious! Give her a break!"

"Thanks, Emily," Cristal muttered, staring at the tablecloth.

"No problem, babe." Emily patted her on the shoulder. "But really, it is a joke. No worse than saying "Bloody Mary" three times in front of a mirror. You don't have to play if it scares you, but nothing's gonna happen, I promise."

Cristal balled her fists and steeled her nerves. "No. I'm fine. You know what? I'll even do the spell. Give me that." She snatched the book from Jason, spinning it around as it slid across the table. "We need a metal bowl, and a bunch of herbs."

"Now we're talking!" Brandon rubbed his palms together. "My mom's got an herb garden, what do we need?"

Cristal listed them out, and Brandon grabbed his coat and dashed out the door for his quest.

"And we need blood. It doesn't say whose, but it should be enough to write down this incantation thing."

Jason, returning with the bowl, set it down on the table and shrugged. "We can use mine, I don't care. How much we need? I'll get a knife."

"I don't know. A bit. Probably not much."

"Whatever works," Jason said, barely audible from his kitchen.

"What can I do, Cristal?" Emily asked.

"Oh." Cristal looked back down at the book and saw that there wasn't much left to do after this. "Uh, you can get maybe a paintbrush and some paper? You're the best artist here, you can paint the words on, okay?"

"I have to paint in Jason's blood? Gross. It's probably filled with the bacteria of all the nasty stuff he eats off the cafeteria floor for money." Emily wrinkled her nose, but her eyes were playful.

Cristal grinned back. "Sorry. Try not to touch it, and you should be okay."

"Got it. I'm gonna have to burn that paintbrush when I'm done." Emily wrapped an arm around Cristal's shoulders. "Thanks for playing along, Cris. This is gonna be fun, I swear."

Cristal squeezed back. "But not for Jason."

"But not for Jason," Emily echoed. Then she let go, and wandered off to find the supplies.

Jason returned, smaller bowl and knife in hand, just as Emily got out of view. "Somebody say my name?"

"Yeah, Emily and I were just saying how not fun it's gonna be for you. Because of the blood," Cristal explained.

Jason shrugged. "It's no biggie. I bust up my knuckles worse than this on the punching bag every week."

"Your knuckles?" Cristal echoed curiously.

"Yeah, that's where I was gonna cut. Hurts less than my palm, y'know?"

"Fair enough."

He lifted the knife. "Should I do it now?"

"I don't see why not."

He lifted the knife, and Cristal turned away. She could manage demon rituals, but she wasn't a fan of blood. Just then, Emily returned with her supplies, setting them down on the table.

"Ugh, Jason, how deep did you cut? That thing is pouring."

"I dunno. Figured the more the merrier, y'know?"

"That's for people, not your own blood. I could have made do with half that and it's still going!"

"Hmmph. It is what it is."

"Let me get some bandages," said Cristal, standing up abruptly. She left for the bathroom to do exactly that, and when she returned, hands full of medical supplies, Brandon had come back as well, knees scuffed and dirty, with various muddy plants scattered across the table. Jason had a bloody paper towel wrapped around his knuckles, and the small bowl was half full with his blood. Cristal handed him the supplies, then glared at the mud-spattered herbs. "These need to be washed."

"On it," said Brandon enthusiastically.

"Should I start painting?" Emily asked.

"Sure!" Cristal picked the book back up and set it in front of Emily, pointing out the few phrases of Latin she had to copy. She read the instructions a bit further over Emily's shoulder, and upon seeing it required them to burn the bloodied paper alongside the herbs, left to get matches. When she got back, Emily was half done with the writing, and Brandon was using a ladle to crush the freshly-washed herbs in the bowl. She surveyed the sight and smiled a little to herself, if only because this was the first time she'd spurred any number of her friends into action. Her hands shook, though, and she stuck them in her pockets to hide it. There was no turning back now. They'd probably never talk to her again if she tried to back out.

"Done!" Emily announced, holding up her handiwork to show Cristal.

"Awesome, good job! Brandon, those look sufficiently shredded. I think it's time to start." She took the paper and book from Emily, setting the first in the bowl and the second open on the table in front of her. "Apparently I have to recite this, so hopefully my Latin pronunciation is okay." 

Cristal read it slowly, rhythmically, in a quiet, monotone voice, making an effort to be dramatic. As soon as she was done, she struck three matches on the box and dropped them all into the bowl at once. It caught quickly - much faster than she anticipated - and burst up inches from her face. Seconds later, the contents of the bowl was nothing but ash, and all the lights went out.

A chill went down every one of their spines.

"I'll check the circuit breaker," Jason said, uncertainly.

"There's no need to do that!" Brandon shouted. "It was her! She's a witch! What did you do, Witch, I'll kill you!"

"Cristal isn't a witch, it was everyone's game!" Emily yelled desperately.

"I just did what the book said," Cristal whispered shakily.

"I still think you're a witch," Brandon snapped, "but whatever. I'll go check the breaker with Jason."

Just then, the church bells tolled midnight a block away.

"Wait a second." Jason said, sounding genuinely scared now. "Didn't that already happen earlier?"

"Yeah, it did. It was like 2 AM the last time I checked." Emily pulled out her phone, its glow lighting up her face. "That can't be right. This says it's midnight."

"What?" Cristal furrowed her brows.

Emily tilted her phone towards Cristal, and sure enough, the display read 12:01.

Brandon shoved her out of the way to see, and his face contorted. "No. I know it's later than that. I remember texting my mom about her herbs at like 1:45." He pulled out his own phone and unlocked it, and made a strangled noise when he saw what popped up. "They're gone. My texts. Like I never sent 'em at all. What did you do?" He turned his fury back towards Cristal, slamming her into the nearest wall.

"I don't know," Cristal squeaked. "I was just playing along. Like you guys. I did what the book told me to. I swear!"

He lurched back, and Emily shoved him away with a huff. "Leave Cristal alone, you bully. It's not her fault. I'm sure this is just a mistake."

"My phone says it's midnight, too," said Jason nervously. "I don't think just a mistake could change the time on all our phones. And even if it was about daylight savings time, that only goes back one hour, and they wouldn't ring the church bells twice for that."

"Or cut the lights out," Emily muttered.

"So what now?" Cristal asked.

"Circuit breakers. You two start calling parents to let them know." Brandon declared, then stalked out the door, Jason close on his heels.

Cristal brought out her own phone, and saw that it, too, now read 12:04. She swiped it open, then pulled up her mom's contact. It went right to voicemail when she dialed, so she backed out and tried her dad. Voicemail. 

She got voicemail again from all three of her grandparents, as well as her older brother and both her aunts.

Heart in her throat, she lowered the phone and looked slowly over to Emily, whose face mirrored her own terror.

"Voicemail," they both whispered at once.

Emily, stirring out of their frozen terror first, took five strides to the front door and shook it - but the handle wouldn't move. Cristal darted across the kitchen and living room to the sliding back door. Also stuck.

Jason returned from the basement, shaking his head at Emily, the first person he saw. "It was like new. Everything was fine. But nothing did anything when I flipped the switches. I don't know what happened."

A high scream rang through the house, far too close, cutting off too quick with a gurgled cry. 

All the blood drained from Jason and Emily's face, and they bolted through the kitchen and living room to see a tall, darkened figure standing with a knife. Jason turned on his phone to light up the scene, revealing a blood-spattered Brandon standing over Cristal's immobile form on the floor.

Brandon's hands shook, and he dropped the knife. "I told you. It's her fault. She's a witch."

"Did you kill her?" Emily said, with a freakishly calm demeanor.

"Yes," Brandon replied, seeming equally calm everywhere besides his hands, visibly trembling.

Jason swore.

"I'll kill you too, Brandon. With God as my witness I will kill you."

"Okay," Brandon said, "that's fair. But can we at least see if things go normally now? I just want to know if I was right. Then you can kill me. I don't care."

Emily stared him down, her face a perfect void of emotion. "Fine. You have two hours. Until 2 AM passes. Then you're a dead man. Give me that knife."

Brandon picked it up off the floor and passed it over wordlessly.

"Jason, go get some rope."

Jason's eyes flick back to life, and he walks out of the room, calm as anything, and certainly in shock. He knew this, but he didn't really know how to deal with it. Nor did he know how to deal with the fact that he'd just seen his best friend kill one of his other best friends. So he was just going to listen to Emily, because at least she knew what she was doing.

When he returned to her with the rope, she took it with steady hands and pointed to an armchair. "Sit."

Brandon obeyed, and she tied him tightly - hands together, then feet to the legs, then back to the back. She finished by shoving the remaining length of rope into his mouth and tying it around his head, effectively gagging him.

When she was done, she surveyed her handiwork and then looked to both of the boys. "Okay, listen to me. We are in a time loop, yes? I think that's clear enough from the disappearing texts and the church bells. So if 2 AM comes around, turning back into midnight like before, and Cristal gets back up, you walk too, and you leave her and everyone else alone. If she doesn't and things continue after 2 AM, you die. Is that clear?"

A few lonely thoughts occured to Jason. "What if it goes back to midnight and she doesn't wake up?"

"Then he dies. Whatever else happens, if Cristal stays dead, he's dead too. Very simple."

"But what if you get caught?"

"I cannot express to you, Jason, exactly how much I no longer care about that anymore. When we have signals again, you can call 911 and report me yourself if you like."

"I don't want to do that, Emily."

"Then don't. I'm not about to put the phone into your hands."

"Okay. So what now?"

"Now we wait for 2, or the bells."

"Okay."

Brandon made a muffled noise of affirmation, nodding.

"So it's agreed." Emily sat down on the sofa across from Brandon, not five feet away from Cristal's immobile body. "We wait."

Jason sat, too. No one said anything, but the time seemed to pass quickly. Soon enough, Emily lit up her phone again, and showed it to the room. "1:56 in the morning. It's almost over."

"Or all over again," Jason murmured.

The last two minutes dragged on. All three waited with bated breath. Just when Jason sat up to call the continued passing of time ---

Bing, bong, bing, bong.

They checked their phones - midnight again.

They looked to Cristal.

But she stayed still.

The room was motionless.

Until Emily stood and plunged the kitchen knife into Brandon's gut in a single smooth move.

He tensed up and struggled against his bonds, crying out soundlessly, but she twisted the knife and pulled it out. He went limp, blood pouring to the carpet.

Jason stared at Emily, openmouthed. "I didn't think you'd actually go through with it."

Emily spat at Brandon's still-twitching feet. "He killed Cristal."

"I - yeah." Jason didn't know what to say, so he sat silently again, staring at the expanding pool of blood. "What now?"

"I don't know," Emily admitted. She stepped gingerly over Cristal's body and tried the back door again. "Still stuck."

"Maybe it'll be different this time. Maybe time will keep going. Now that the one who did the spell and the one who killed her are both dead."

"I just said the doors are still stuck."

"Yeah, because we're still in the loop." He checked his phone. "I mean, 12:14 already happened twice now. But maybe when 2 comes back around, it'll keep going. We could leave. You should run."

"I don't know, Jason," said Emily. "We don't even know what that spell was about. And we all helped somehow. Your blood was in it."

"Then, maybe me dying will fix everything. But you did the least, you just painted it. I think if either of us has a chance of getting out, you do. But I also just have a feeling that this is the last one."

"I don't know," Emily repeated. "Let's check the book?"

"That's a good idea, but we don't understand Latin. Nothing on that page said anything about what the spell does."

"We have Google Translate."

"No signal."

"No, I've got data." She showed him her phone. "I just don't think we can contact anyone. It blocks us."

"Try it, then."

Emily pulled it up, and typed "hola" into the text box. "Hello" appeared next to it, so she turned it to show Jason. "See?"

"Oh. Cool. Let's go, then."

They went into the kitchen together, where Emily sat down and carefully typed in the phrase she'd copied earlier. As soon as she hit "enter", though, the phone turned hotter than fire in her palm. She dropped it and it fell to the ground, shattering on impact. She swore and stomped on it, but it was still burning-hot even to her socked foot, making her swear more. Jason watched her in concern, and grabbed her hand to check for damage.

"It doesn't even look burned," he muttered.

"It FEELS burned, JASON," Emily yelled, pushing him away.

"Sorry! Did you catch any translation before it fell?"

"Of course not! It didn't even show anything!"

"Jesus, okay, sorry."

Emily rubbed her unburned palm grumpily, then she flicked her eyes back to Jason. "So what time is it now?"

He checked his phone. "Almost 1:30."

Emily scrunched up her face. "These times are all messed up. Like, even more than usual. Me typing that shouldn't have taken more than fifteen minutes. It must be part of the spell."

Jason shrugged. "Yeah. Don't know what to do about it, though."

"Don't know what to do about any of this," Emily whispered.

"Hey." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders."We'll figure something out."

"Like what?" Emily demanded. "Live alone in this house forever, our only company the two corpses in the living room?"

"I don't know, Emily! It just seemed like the right thing to say!"

"Well, it was wrong. You shouldn't have said anything."

"I'm sorry! I was just trying to help."

"It didn't work! Just leave me alone!"

"Fine, I will!"

"Fine!"

Jason stomped out of the room and up the stairs.

Emily started to cry.

A few moments later, the bells tolled again, signaling midnight, and Emily cried harder.

Then, a muffled thud came from upstairs, and her heart stopped.

She kicked back her chair and took the stairs four at a time, ending at the room she knew to be Jason's. Throwing it open, she was forced to take in the one scene she dreaded the most: her last friend, lifeless on the floor. She screamed and pounded on his chest, begging him to get up, but it was too late. His faintly glowing phone beside them had just two things on its almost all black screen - the time, 1:53, and a single word: DIE.

Emily sat back and sobbed. She picked up the phone and threw it across the room; it hit a wall, fell to the floor, and broke with a terrible smash. 

She had no idea how long it took to stop crying, but when she did, she looked up - 

- and saw that the phone had shattered a window.

Her mouth fell open, and she shot across the room to stick her head out the window - and it went! She could get out!

Her arms followed, then her torso, and finally after tugging one leg after another through, she was free. Traumatized and criminalized, but free. She could run far away, until her only memories of her former friends were faded, but fond.

She shimmied down the roof until she was far enough to let herself drop, and then she took off running, fast as she could. There was a section of woods just by Jason's house, if she made it there maybe she'd be able to escape.

She could see it, she got to the treeline, she stumbled and fell but it was okay because she was under the cover of the trees -

- and then, far away, she heard the church bells chime.

@krystal-prisms

[mxtantrights]

✹ PART TWELVE

HAWKINS, INDIANA

NOVEMBER 12, 1983

"Jessie your brother wants to speak to you!" My mother's voice is distant, coming from the other part of the house.

I shuffled in my bed for a minute before getting up, all rugged and sleepy looking, and heading downstairs to take my brother's call. I haven't been able to get that much sleep last night since the boys left me at the Wheeler house.

I was worrying about my brother and the boys, and El. And when he finally came home last night I got drilled for letting him wander off all alone. Now I've got to spend the day in house lock up with him. Both of us confined to the house while the crazy shit with El is still happening.

My mom is holding out the phone for me to take and I do.

"Dayton?"

"Finally Jessie, I called yesterday and no one picked up."

"Yeah we were at a funeral." 

"What?! Who's funeral?!"

"No- it's this kid in town. Will. He was missing and they found his body in the water. He and Mickey were close, and I hung around them a lot."

"Wow, I'm so sorry. Tell Mickey I'm sorry too, yeah?"

"Yeah," I watch as my mom leaves the kitchen- finally! Wanted her to leave so I could ask Dayton how his love life was going! "So how's it going over there with the, you know, ball and chain."

I hear him chuckle on the other side.

"It's good. We're good. I was actually calling about you Jessie."

Me? I repeat the same question to myself as I try to think about what could possibly be going on with me?

"What about me?"

"You don't notice mom and dad acting weird do you?"

I hold the receiver to my chest and peer my head out a bit to see if my mom is lingering around. It's in her nature to do so.

"Not more than usual, why?" I ask him, suddenly trying to remember if any of them said anything or did anything that was suspicious.

"Okay I want you, to secretly- you hear me Jessie? secretly? - check the family photos for me. There should be one of just me and mom and dad. A year before you were born."

What was all of this for? As if I didn't have anything else on my plate to deal with?

I shrugged my shoulders. "Okay and then what?"

"I need you to keep it safe for me. Somewhere that only you would know. I'm gonna need it."

"Thats it just safe guard some-"

"Don't say it out loud. Secretly Jessie!"

"Alright! Alright! Just that then?"

"Yes. Remember, secretly."

"I'm gonna hang up now because you're being annoying. Bye."

I hang the phone up on the wall. And just as I do my mom comes from around the corner. Lingering as she does best.

I am not however in the mood for it. I still need some sleep and I'm not going anywhere anyways. Unlike my mom who's headed off to work. While she's gone I'll look for Dayton's photo and keep it someplace safe. Maybe I'll even study for one of my classes.

I don't say a word to her as I head back up stairs.

- 

The attic in our old house was less scary than this. This attic is like giving me creepy chills. Like something is gonna pop out of the corner and bite me. Maybe I've been hanging out with the kids too much with their D&D theories.

I  bring forward the box that says family stuff.

Opening it, I sift through it until I find the only photo album. Most of our prized pictures are framed anyways I guess.

I open it up and start flipping through it. At first it's just a bunch of my parents pictures before we were born. They're kissing, they're hugging- and they're kissing again! I flip even faster to try and get away from that.

My eyes catch a young Dayton. Okay, getting somewhere.

If it was a year before I was born. I flip a bit further and see him grow up a bit. He's only older by two years so I shouldn't have to go too-

WELCOME TO HAWKINS, INDIANA

My mother and father are holding Dayton in between them.

They've got birthday hats on.

"What the fuck?!" I mumble under my breath.

Still staring at the photo, I try to take it in. Our move to Hawkins wasn't random. They've been here before. With Dayton. Funny how my parents were acting like they weren't here before. What the hell is that about?

I slide my hand under the plastic and take the picture.

Why does Dayton need this? And why doesn't he want mom or dad to know that he wants it?

I guess that's a question for when I let him know the mission was a success. Now I have to put things back the way they were and make it look like I was never here. I close the album and set it back to where it was in the box.

Fold the box closed.

Push the box back.

I get up from the floor and slip the picture into the back pocket of my jeans.

-

The phone rings from downstairs and I have to travel at the speed of light to get it. We should really have more than one phone for the house, maybe one in my room. But I know my mom wouldn't allow that.

I answer it before it gets to the last ring, out of breath.

"Hello?"

"Jessie, I might be a little late coming from work. Just let your dad know alright?" My mom asks of me. Well, looks like mother dearest just gave me a great idea. Can't let her catch on though.

"Yeah sure. Look I've got to finish studying so I gotta go. Bye."

I hang the phone up.

If she's working late, that means me and Mickey can sneak out and check on El and the boys. I know he's been skin g to since he came home last night. He didn't even come out of his room for breakfast- he must be really mad.

Or he-

"Mickey?!" I yell out loud as I dup back up the steps.

My hand grabs his door knob and I waste no time in swinging it open. And to no avail his room is empty. No Mickey. No walkie-talkie. No backpack.

Shit.

"Crap. Crap. What the hell am I gonna do?" I mumble to myself.

I close his door and head into my room. Getting out a jacket I throw it on and race down the steps. Now I've gotta go and look for my little brother. And not alert either of my parents. My dad's shift could run a bit late along with my mothers.

Maybe I can pull this off.

-

He's no where to be found. None of them are.

And the white vans are not a good sign. Nobody could ever need that many repairs. No one.

It has to be the same people that El is running away from. They're looking for her. And somehow they know that the boys were helping her. So they're looking for them. All the boy's houses have white vans in the vicinity.

Except for me and Mickey's.

There is one place I haven't checked.

The Byers house. It's the last place I can think of. And even if they're not there maybe Ms.Byers to Jonathan are. Maybe one of them know where the boys ran off to.

Alright. To the Byers house it is.

-

The lights are on but it's really dim inside.

Maybe this wasn't a good idea. Coming here after Will's funeral and all and asking about the boys. My timing sucks! I already knocked on the door-

It swings open and Hopper is on the other side.

I look at him- part scared, part relived. If he's here then maybe he can help me. "Hi- I need to find my brother, have you seen him? Or any of the boys really? My mom is gonna-"

He opens the door wider and wider. Until I can see more into the house. My brother. His friends. El. Nancy. Jonathan. And Ms.Byers.

"You a part of this too?" Hopper asks as I step inside.

I unzip my jacket and look dead at my brother. "With these kids? Of course."

[a-winchester-fairytale]

Villisca

Summary: Strange things are happening in small town Iowa, where a family was murdered in their home over 100 years ago.  Can you and the Winchesters work together to solve the mystery behind the Villisca Axe Murder House?

Word Count: 5,914

Warnings:  mentions of the murders (nothing graphic)

A/N:  This is for @pinknerdpanda​ 1K Challenge and @dancing-the-hellfire-rumba​ Out of Context Challenge.  My first prompt was the Villisca Axe Murder House.  I tried to stay as close to the research I found as possible, but I took a little liberty when talking about the inside of the house (just because I couldn't find that many pictures). 

In order to have an additional storyline, I included the idea I had for Helen's challenge.  My prompt was "I just wanted you to fight for me for once, just once."  I did bold that in the fic.  I know that both of you extended your deadlines to the group and I want to say Thank You.  It helped me give this the time I wanted it to have.  **warnings in tags**

Feedback is always welcome!

“Shadows, the sound of boots walking around, a woman’s scream…?  Sounds a lot like a bunch of kids playing pranks.”  Sam said, setting the newspaper article down on the table and looking up at you.

“That’s what I thought too, but I went there anyway.  There is something going on in that house.  I swear, Sam.”

“You know most of those places that claim they have ghosts are just a hoax to sell stuff.”  Dean said dismissively.  He set his coffee down and took a chair across from you.

“I know what I saw.”  You snapped at him.  “If you don’t want to go, fine.  I’ll take care of it myself.”  You added, getting up.

“I never said we wouldn’t go.”  Dean snapped back, reaching up to grab your arm to stop you from walking away.  “I’m just a little surprised you would call us.”  He added, his tone calmer.  You sighed and sank back down into your chair when Dean released his hold on your arm.

“Honestly…that makes two of us.”  You said, rolling your eyes and turning your focus back to Sam.

“The article says that people have been living in that house for years and they never had anything strange happen.”  Sam said, ignoring the mounting tension between you and Dean.

“True, but now it has been restored back to the way it was when the Moore’s lived there, down to the lack of electricity.  Now it’s a museum and people can even pay to spend the night in the house.” You told him, pulling up the website for the house online.

“Let me see that…”  Sam said, turning the computer screen and reading the options aloud.

“Wait a minute, you’re telling me that people pay several hundred dollars to spend the night there?”  Dean asked.

“According to this, yes.  They are almost completely booked for the next month.” Sam answered, leaning back in the chair and running a hand though his hair.

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.  People are crazy.”  Dean mumbled.  With a sigh he stood up and started down the hallway.  “We’ll leave in half an hour.”  He called out to Sam over his shoulder.

Sam waved off his brothers words and started packing his laptop into his bag.  “I see that the last six months has done nothing to cool things between you and my brother.”  He muttered.

“Did you really think it would?”  You asked him, surprised.

“I had hoped.”  He answered.  “Why did you call us?”  He pressed.

“Because I knew you would believe me.”  You replied.  “Besides, regardless of what happened, there is still no one I trust more on the job than the two of you.”  You added after a pause. 

Sam just grinned and shook his head.  He stood and placed his hand on your shoulder. You looked up at him, wondering if you had made the right choice by coming to them for help.

“Good to have you back.”  He said before he walked away to pack his own bag for the case.

“Thanks, Sam.”  You whispered to the doorway he had just disappeared through.

An hour later, you were pulling into an old gas station with the impala close behind you.  As Dean pumped gas at the pump across the parking lot from you, Sam climbed out of the passenger seat and walked to where you stood next to your truck.

“I’ve got some bad news.”  He said calmer than you had ever heard him. 

“What is it?”  You asked, concerned.  Sam looked down and kicked at the cement with the toes of his shoes.  “Sam?”  You pressed.

“We just picked up word that there was an incident last night in Villisca.”  He began.  “Apparently, a couple of teenagers snuck into that house last night and one of them disappeared.”

“Damn it!”  You exclaimed, hitting the side of the truck with your hand.  You shook your head, your eyes squeezed closed.  “We can go by the motel first so you guys can put on the FBI gear and then I’ll take you out there.”  You added, shoving the gas handle back into the pump and hopping into the driver’s seat of your truck.

Sam had barely made it back to the impala before you pealed out of the parking lot.  Dean followed suit, unwilling to be shown up and he laughed when Sam grabbed the door to keep from being flung across the seat.

+++

“What’s the story with this house anyway?”  Sam asked, gesturing to the sign outside that welcomed them to the Villisca Murder House.

“On the night of June 9, 1912, Josiah Moore and his wife attended an evening church service with their three sons and daughter.”  You began as the three of you stepped into the house to look around.  “Afterwards they returned to their home, along with two of their daughter's friends from church.  The next morning, they were all found murdered in their beds with an axe that was left on the property.  Rumor is that the killer was hiding in the attic until the family went to sleep.” 

“What kind of sick mind does something like that?”  Dean asked, looking at the pictures of the family on the wall.

“There has been a lot of speculation about that over the years. It is still considered one of America’s greatest unsolved mysteries.  There were several people suspected, from a serial killer with the same MO to an elected official paying off someone to do the job for him.  At one point, they even accused the preacher.”  You answered.

“You mean they never found out who did it?”  Sam asked, surprised.  You shook your head.

 “Well, that would do it.  Sounds like a vengeful spirit to me.”  Dean said. 

“The detective said that the incident last night happened at exactly 12:45 am.” Sam said

“That’s  the approximate time that the 1912 murders happened.”  you said.

Dean stopped in the doorway to the dining room and tapped Sam on the shoulder to get his attention.  He gestured to where a uniformed officer was interviewing a teenage boy.

“That must be the brother.”  He said quietly.  “Let’s go see what he knows.”

“You guys go ahead.  I want to make friends with that detective to make sure we get copies of his files.”  You offered. 

“Can we have a moment with the kid?”  Dean asked the officer as he and Sam flashed their FBI badges.  The officer nodded, and with a quick glance at the kid he walked away. 

“I’m Sam and this is Dean.”  Sam began as the two of them sat down at the table.  “You’re Trevor, right?”  He asked and Trevor nodded.

“Okay, Trevor.  Why don’t you tell us what happened?”  Dean encouraged.  Trevor nodded and took a deep breath.

“It was just a dare.”  He began.  “We were out at this party with a couple of friends.  We had a few drinks so we decided to just walk home instead of calling our parents for a ride.  We passed by the house and the next thing I know she was climbing in an open window and daring me to follow her.  At first I didn’t want to, but she was teasing me and I did.  When I got inside, I couldn’t find her anywhere.  She wasn’t answering me and then I heard a scream.  I ran into the room and all I found was this.”  He said, holding up a scarf.

“Was that Kate’s?”  Sam asked. 

“She was wearing it when she climbed in the window.”  Trevor answered, looking up at Sam. 

“Is it possible that she went out another window or the back door to scare you?”  Dean asked.  Trevor shook his head.

“She would have come home by now.”  He answered. 

“Okay.  Thanks, Trevor.”  Dean said, and the two of them stood up from the table.  Trevor reached out and grabbed Sam by the jacket.

“Please.”  He begged.  “Please find my sister.” 

Sam and Dean looked back at each other, neither of them wanting to admit to the kid what they already knew was likely. 

“We’ll do everything we can to bring her home.”  Sam promised instead. 

+++

You slid down in the passenger seat of the impala as far as you could so the officers standing in front of the house wouldn’t see you in the dark.  You glanced quickly at Dean as he concentrated on their every move, trying his best to hide his impatience at having to wait for them to leave before the two of you could break in. 

“Good, they are finally gone.  Let’s go.”  Dean whispered, as he watched the two police cars drive down the street and turn the corner to head back to the station.  You got out of the car as quietly as possible and followed him up to the porch.

 You stood guard while he picked the lock on the front door.  The door creaked as he slowly pushed it open and you momentarily cringed at the sound.  With a last quick look down the street, the two of you slipped inside and closed the door to the world behind you. 

You clicked the flashlight on and made your way down the dusty hallway with Dean covering your back.  You almost jumped as you rounded the corner when you saw the shadows cast on the far wall by your light.  Silently you wished that Sam had come with you when you heard Dean choke back a laugh at your expense.

“Very funny, Dean.”  You whispered. 

“I don’t remember you being so jumpy, Y/N.”  He teased and you felt your blood pressure rising. 

“Your memory has never been that good anyway.”  You snapped and Dean let out a disgusted huff.  He didn’t say anything else, instead he moved along the wall to where the other bedrooms were. 

Before you could follow him, you heard a thumping sound in the small room to your right.  You called out his name in a whisper, but Dean didn’t hear you before he entered the master bedroom.  Still annoyed with him, you turned and followed the sound instead of him.

You entered the room slowly, but didn’t see anyone at first.  Shinning your light on the memorabilia, you realized that this was the room the two sisters from down the street had slept in.  You gently touched the edge of the bed sheet, your mind thinking of the little girls that died here.  You couldn’t stop thinking about the sister that everyone suspected was awake and struggled with the killer before he took her life.

As though on que, you felt a cold chill on the back of your neck and you turned to see a little girl standing in the corner of the room.  She was covered in grim and there was blood on her clothes, but she was barely visible.

Before you could ask her anything, you heard the sound of boots on the floor walking toward the room and her head snapped fearfully toward the doorway.  You followed her glance, and when you turned back to her, she had disappeared.  Moments later, Dean stepped into the doorway.

“There you are.”  He said.  “I didn’t find anything in the….”  He was saying, but paused when you didn’t move.  “Y/N?  What’s wrong?”

“One of the little girls was just here.  She was right there, but she disappeared when she heard you coming this way.”  You replied, pointing to the corner of the room.

“Well, I can’t say I blame her for being a vengeful spirit.  I’d be pretty mad too.”  Dean muttered.

“She wasn’t mad though.  I don’t think she is the one doing these things.  She seemed….scared.”  You explained.  Dean glanced around the room and nodded.

“Okay, well she’s gone now.  Let’s go see if Sam found anything.”  Dean offered.  You nodded and started to follow him out of the house.  You glanced back once more before walking out of the room.

“I’m going to figure this out and help you.  I promise.”  You whispered to the empty room.

+++

“I’m telling you, she wasn’t an angry vengeful spirit.  She was afraid of something.”  You insisted as the three of you sat around a table covered in research at the motel.

“Afraid of what?”  Sam asked.

“I don’t know. I want to go back to the house to see if I can find her again.  Maybe she can give me a clue as to what is going on.”  You explained, getting up to grab a water out of the fridge.

“By yourself?  No way!  I’m not going to allow you to do that?”  Dean exclaimed, pounding a finger on the table in front of him.

“Oh yeah, you and what army?”  You challenged.  You had always hated when Dean got like that.  It went against every independent bone in your body, and he knew it.

“Guys!”  Sam shouted.  Both of you stopped and looked at him, surprised by the outburst.  “Can you guys just table it for one night?”  He begged.

“Fine.  Do whatever you want.”  Dean said and stormed out of the motel room.   You let out an exhausted breath and sank down in the chair next to Sam. 

“I know he can be overbearing and over protective.  Believe me, I’ve caught my fair share of that too.”  He said, opening the laptop in front of him.

“But…?”  You encouraged and Sam chuckled.

“But….I also know that everything he is doing, is because he loves you and he doesn’t want anything to happen to you.”  Sam finished.

“I know.”  You admitted.

“Do you want me to talk to him?”  Sam asked, sympathetically.  He had always hated to see the two of you fighting.  You glanced at the door Dean had stormed out of and shook your head.

“I would never put you in the middle like that, Sam.”

“But that’s exactly where I am, and where I have been for a long time.”  He reminded you.

“Let’s just go the files and see if we can find out what is going on at that house.”  You said, picking up a folder full of papers.

“You think this might be about whoever killed that family?”  Sam asked.

“It’s worth a shot.” 

+++

You went back to your own motel room after you and Sam felt confident that you had gone through every newspaper article and police file you could get your hands on from that night.  You both finally had to admit that you were having trouble focusing on the words through tired eyes. 

You laid down on the bed and tried your best to sleep, but you just kept tossing and turning under the sheets.  Between your thoughts of the little ghost girl and the feelings you still felt for Dean, you couldn’t seem to shut your brain off long enough to do more than doze on and off.

By the time you heard the impala pull up outside and Dean go back into the room he shared with Sam, you were up and heading into the shower.  The hot water did little to relax the tension in your muscles, but you still took a little longer before you got out, hoping the water would rinse away more than just the dirt from that old house.

When you got dressed, you heard their muffled voices through the thin walls of the cheap motel and you headed back so the three of you could plan your next move.  The moment you walked back into the motel room, Sam was sitting at the kitchen table with Dean.  He stood slowly, looking hesitant to say what was on his mind.

“What is it?”  You asked, the look on his face making you more nervous.

“Go ahead and tell her, Sammy.”  Dean said when Sam paused.

“We just heard over the police scanner that they found Kate, the girl that went missing.”  Sam said.

“Well, let’s go talk to her.  Maybe she can tell us…..”  You started, but stopped when you saw Sam’s face.  You glanced back and forth between the two brothers, not needing either of them to tell you what was wrong.  It was written all over their expressions.

“Y/N..”  Dean started, but you cut him off.

“She’s dead, isn’t she?”  You asked and Sam nodded.  You cursed and stormed out of the motel room.  Dean tossed his car keys to Sam.

“Go see what you can find out.  I’ll catch up.”  Dean said as he ran out of the door after you.

You almost jumped out of your skin when he pulled open the passenger door of your truck and hopped in before you could protest.

“What the hell are you doing?”  You asked, glaring at him.  “I don’t need a babysitter.” 

“Never said you did.”  He replied, but he didn’t make a move to get out of the truck. 

“Fine.”  You growled and threw the truck in drive.  You knew him well enough to know he wasn’t going to give up easily and all you wanted to do at that moment was drive away.

You ignored the smirk you saw on his face when you started driving.  Neither of you said a word.  You just drove out of town until you found an old abandoned bridge.  You parked the truck and got out.  You walked and sat on the edge of the bridge, throwing rocks into the river below.  You heard Dean get out and walk up to you, but you didn’t react to him at all.

“Remember when we used to sneak down to the river in the middle of the night, before Sam knew about us?”  He chuckled.

“I try not to.”  You said without looking up at him.  You heard him sigh, defeated.

“You really hate me that much?”  Dean asked seriously.  You looked at him, and then back at the river.

“No.”  You said simply.

Dean pulled a flask from his jacket pocket and took a sip.  You looked back at him when you heard the lid turning on the metal.

“Do you mind?”  You asked gently.  Dean raised an eyebrow, but held out the flask to you. 

You took a deep breath and took a drink.  You had never been much of a drinker, and you tried your best to hide the burning you felt in your throat as the liquid slid down.  You handed the flask back to him and didn’t say a word when Dean sat down on the edge next to you.

“We are going to figure out what happened to that girl and stop it before anyone else gets hurt.”  Dean told you, his eyes still looking out at the river below.

“How do you always say that with so much confidence?”  You asked, the smallest hint of sarcastic laughter in your tone.  You couldn’t figure out if it was comforting or frustrating that even now you believed him.

“Because…its what we do.”  He answered simply. 

“Seriously?”  You asked, looking at him. 

“What?  You were expecting something deeper?”  He smirked, a little shrug of his shoulders.  You shook your head, chuckling slightly under your breath.

“From you?  Not a chance.”  You teased and he laughed, relieved that your voiced lacked the hostility you usually had when you talked to him. 

“Come on, let’s see if Sam got anything from the crime scene.”  He said, climbing to his feet and holding out a hand to help you up.  You glanced up to his face and rolled your eyes, but you took his hand and allowed him pull you to your feet anyway. 

“Thanks.”  You murmured quickly as you walked past him and back to the truck.

+++

That night, once you were certain that the brothers were asleep, you snuck out of your motel room and drove out to the house.  The whole block was quiet, just as it had been the night before, but from the moment you got out of the truck you couldn’t shake the chills you felt on the back of your neck.  You almost climbed back in the truck and drove back to the motel, but you didn’t want to admit that Dean might have been right.

Your pride practically pushed you through the front door of the house and once you were inside, there was no turning back.  You made your way, carefully, down the hall and into the small bedroom at the end.

“Lena?”  You whispered her name a couple of times as you glanced around the room.  Finally, she appeared in the corner of the room.

“You have to go.”  She insisted, lowering her finger from her lips and shooting a panicked look toward the door.  “If he finds you here, he will take you away like he did the other girl.”

“Kate?”

“I don’t know her name.  I tried to warn her, but when she saw me she screamed and he heard her.”

“What about the others that were in the house?”

“They got away a long time ago.  We should have left with them, but I just couldn’t leave without my sister.”  She answered, looking down.

“Where is she?”  You asked, looking around the room but seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

“He is keeping her away from me to stop me from leaving.”  She whispered, a sniffle escaping behind her words.

“Listen.”  You began, kneeling down in front of her.  “I am here to help you.  Tell me who is doing this and I promise you I will find a way to get your sister back to you so the both of you can move on from this house.” 

She looked up at you, wanting desperately to believe that it was possible.  Your heart broke for the child before you, whose life was taken too soon and too violently.  Suddenly, you heard footsteps on the floor above.

“Go”  she insisted and then she disappeared. 

 +++

When you arrived back at the motel, Dean was sitting outside waiting for you.  You bit down on your lower lip before getting out of the truck in anticipation of another argument.

“You went back to that house?”  Dean accused the minute you stepped out of the truck.

“Yes, I did.”  You answered defiantly. 

“Y/N, we don’t even know what we are dealing with yet.  You could have gotten yourself killed going back to that house alone.”  Dean told you, concern replacing the anger you normally heard in his voice.

“Stop treating me like a child, Dean.”  You said.  “I saw her again and it worked. I know what is happening.”  You added, followed by a brief description of what the ghost had shared with you.

Dean ran a hand over his face, torn between being happy to have the information and concerned at the lengths you went to get it.  You waited patiently, not really wanting to fight anymore.  It seemed like all the two of you had done was fight.

“You’ve never been this reckless.  What’s gotten into you?” Dean couldn’t help but ask.  

“This is all my fault.”  You practically whispered as you started to walk away.

“Hey!” Dean said forcefully, grabbing your arms to turn you to face him.  “This is not your fault.” He insisted.

“How can you say that?  I knew something was up with that house.  If I hadn’t come to get the two of you, I would have been there and Kate would still be alive.”  You argued, your voice breaking a little as you spoke.

“You don’t know that.”  He said.  You tried to turn away, but Dean forced you to look at him.  “I know how you feel, believe me.  I’ve been there.  Sam and I both have. But you can’t go around blaming yourself for the past.  All you can do is take things as they are now, and try to keep it from happening again.”

“Look, I appreciate what you are trying to do, Dean, but I’m not yours to fix anymore.  Just let me go, okay?”  You practically pleaded.  Dean reluctantly released your arms and watched you walk away.

+++

While you were gone, the brothers researched everyone that had been accused of the crime.  Of course all of them had passed away.  Some were cremated at the time of their death.  One was buried several states away and Sam had serious doubts that he had been the killer based on the alibi he was able to provide.

“This isn’t going to get us anywhere.  It would take days to search out each of these people and burn the bones.”  Dean complained, shutting the book in front of him in exhaustion.

“Maybe we are looking at this wrong.”  Sam suggested, handing a newspaper article to Dean.

“Its an article about the house being redone as a museum.  So what?”

“Read the last part.”  Sam said, pointing to a section near the end.  Dean rolled his eyes but read it anyway.

“No way.”  He said out loud.  “You think?”  He asked, glancing back at Sam who only nodded.

“What did you find?”  You asked when you came back to the motel and saw the two of them loading their shotguns. 

“I found out that the axe in that house is the same one that was used in the murders in 1912.”  Sam explained, grabbing an iron bar from his weapons bag.

“You’re kidding.” You said, disgusted.  “That’s so morbid.”

“It looks like when the house was turned back into its original state for the museum, the axe was added as an artifact.”

“And you think that’s what the killer is attached to?”  You asked and Sam nodded. 

"It would explain why this didn't happen before then"

“Okay, let’s go set an artifact on fire.”

You turned and left the motel room to gather a few things from your own room next door.  Dean immediately set his shotgun down on the bed.

“I’ll be right back.”  He told Sam before he chased after you, stopping you in front of your room.  “Are you okay?”  He asked.

“I will be once this is over.”  You told him.  “Thanks for the things you said earlier.  I know I’ve been pretty mean the last few days.”  You added.

“I hope you know I meant them.”  He told you, hoping that maybe the two of you could at least be friends again. 

“I do.  You’re a lot of things, Dean Winchester, but a liar isn’t one of them.”  You said with a smirk and he laughed.

+++

“You guys check the house.  I’m going to take a look in that wood shed.”  Sam said, pointing out the small shed near the rear of the home. 

“Be careful.”  Dean warned his brother.

“You too.”  Sam said.  You nodded and headed toward the front door with Dean behind you.  The first place you headed was the bedroom where you had seen the little girl.  If nothing else, you thought she might be able to tell you where the axe would be.

Suddenly, you felt a force brush past you and shove Dean out of the room and into the adjacent wall.  You barely had time to realize that Dean was okay before the door slammed shut, trapping you in the bedroom.

 “Y/N!!!!”  Dean’s scream carried through the door.  You heard him slamming into it on the other side, trying to make it budge.

“I’m okay, Dean.”  You called back. 

“I’m going to get you out of there.”  He promised. 

“It’s no use.  Just go help Sam find that axe.  Once it’s gone, the force holding the door closed won’t be able to anymore.”  You said.  You heard the slamming stop, but you knew he was still on the other side.  You could almost feel him.

Dean rested his head against the door, hating that you were right.  “I’ll be back.”  He promised finally and you heard him heading down the hall.

You closed your eyes and silently prayed that it wouldn’t take them long.  You hated being cut off like that, and feeling so helpless.  You turned to see the little girl standing behind you.

“Hey.  We’re here to help you, okay.”  You promised.  She looked nervously at the iron bar in your hand and then back up to your face.  “I’m not going to hurt you.”  You said, setting the bar down on the night table next to the bed and stepping away from it and you knelt down on the floor so you could be eye level with her.

None of this changed the terrified expression on her face.  Wide eyed, her hand raised slowly, a finger pointing behind you.  You spun around and saw an axe raised above the face everyone had wondered about for years.

“You….” A whisper escaped your lips before you flinched at the axe swinging toward your head.  You heard a sinister laugh and then a scream as the figure, and the axe, burst into flames.  You let out a loud shaky breath and looked back at the child ghost.

She was no longer covered in grim and blood, but instead wore a smile on her face.  Standing next to her, holding her hand, was her sister.  With a quiet “thank you” and a bright light, they both faded away into a cloud of smoke that floated to the ceiling before vanishing from sight.

You barely had a moment to realize it was over before Dean burst through the door and pulled you into his arms, his own relief washing over you.  You hugged him back, the tension in your body releasing immediately.  Sam stepped in the doorway, but when he saw the two of you, he smirked and made his way out to the impala.

“When I couldn’t get to you….”  Dean said, cutting himself off before he said too much.  You smiled against his chest, his heartbeat getting closer to a normal rhythm in your ear.

“I didn’t like being separated from you either.”  You admitted.  “Truth is, there is nowhere I feel safer than I do when I’m with you.”

You felt his hand stroke your hair.  “At least that hasn’t changed.”  He teased.  You pulled back to look at him.

“A lot of things haven’t changed.”  You told him, your voice soft.  He just nodded in acknowledgment, his hands falling back to his side as you stepped back.  The two of you walked out of the house and headed back to the motel.

+++

Back at the motel, you took a long hot shower and then pulled out the bottle of wine that you had packed away in your suitcase.  You poured a glass and sat on the bed, your legs pulled up beneath you.  You were surprised a few moments later when you heard a knock on the door.  An even bigger surprise was seeing Dean standing on the other side.

“I just wanted to let you know that Sam and I will be heading out first thing in the morning.”  Dean explained.  “We would go tonight, but Sam said he wanted to catch a few hours of sleep first.”  He added.

“I’m not really tired, if you want to come hang out in here while your brother’s asleep.”  You offered, holding the door open. 

Dean looked up at you, the shock on his face almost making you laugh.  You bit down on the inside of your cheek to keep from doing it.  Dean glanced around, almost like he was waiting for Candid Camera to come out of the bushes. 

“Yeah, thanks.”  He finally said and stepped inside.  “Wine, huh?”  He teased when he saw the bottle.

“Don’t knock it til you try it.”  You replied, sitting back against the headboard and flipping through the movie channels.  Dean chuckled and sat on the other side.

“I’ll stick to the hunter’s helper.”  He told you, holding up the flask from his jacket pocket before opening it and taking a sip.

You settled on a movie and the two of you watched without saying much.  It was comfortable to be with him like this, almost like the last 6 months had never happened, except that the two of you would have been wrapped up like a burrito by now if it hadn’t.  You found yourself sneaking a glance or two at him when you thought he wasn’t looking, and you even caught him doing it once.

“I’m sorry.”  Dean said, his voice barely a whisper as the credits rolled on the TV.

“For what?”  You  asked, confused.  Dean paused and you leaned on your side to look at him.

“Everything.”  He answered finally, his eyes shifting to the side to meet yours.

“Dean…you don’t have to…”  You whispered, but Dean held up his hand to stop you.

“I know I don’t, but you deserve to hear it.”  He began.  “I shouldn’t have pushed you away like I did.”

“I get it.  I really do.  You fight so much every single day. You fight against monsters and the evil in the world, you fight against demons and angels, even Lucifer himself.”  You said.  “Its just….”

“Just what?”  He asked when you paused.  You took a deep breath, struggling to find the right words to explain what you felt.  Dean just watched and waited patiently.

“I just wanted you to fight for me for once, just once.”  You explained and his face fell. 

“Sweetheart… I will always fight for you”  He swore, reaching out to hold your face in his hand.  “If I ever made you feel different I am so sorry.”

“You mean that?”  You asked, searching his eyes for the truth.

“Hell yeah.”  He answered and you let out a giggle at his enthusiasm.  “You and Sam are the most important people in the world to me.  There is nothing I wouldn’t do for either of you.”

Dean reached down and cautiously placed his hand over yours, your fingers dancing with his until you were holding hands.  Your anger was gone now, replaced with a comfort that only Dean was ever able to give you. 

You felt it in everything; his touch, his scent, his warmth, his heartbeat, even the way his chest moved with every breath he took.  He made you feel safe, allowing you to completely relax.

You could feel your eyes fighting to stay awake, but wine always did relax you and make you sleepy.  It was why you had poured the glass in the first place.  You needed a little help after the events of the past few days.  You felt Deans finger tracing your face as he moved a fallen strand of hair from your eyes.

“I’ll let you sleep.” He said, and pulled back to get up.  He stopped when he felt your hand on his arm.

“Don’t go.”  You pleaded, your eyes opening to look up at his face.  “Stay with me, just for tonight.”

“Is that just the wine talking?”  He asked teasing, but wanting to know honestly.

“No.  It’s me.”  You promised.  Dean laid back against the pillow again and you scooted closer until your head was on his chest and his arms were wrapped around you.

“I missed this.”  You whispered.  “I missed you.”

“Truth?”  He asked, and you nodded.  “I never stopped missing you.  I still love you, Y/N”

You leaned your head back so you could look at his face, only inches away from yours. His words surprised you.  Before you even realized what you were doing, you pressed your lips on his.

“I love you too, Dean.” 

 Tags: (let me know if you would like to be added or removed)

@just-another-busy-fangirl @imagining-supernatural @aubreyreadsstuff @jensen-jarpad@your-modern-shakespeare @wildfirewinchester @jpadjackles @wonderfulworldofwinchester @akshi8278 @tamtamlov @aubreystilinski  @wildatheart15 @notnaturalanahi

@aprofoundbondwithdean@ thing-you-do-with-that-thing @nichelle-my-belle @notnaturalanahi @impala-dreamer @deathtonormalcy56 @samsgoddess @spn-fan-girl-173 @deansleather @whywhydoyouwantmetosaymyname @waywardjoy @mrswhozeewhatsis @imadeangirl-butimsamcurious @kayteonline @supernatural-jackles @quiddy-writes @babypieandwhiskey @wi-deangirl77 @deantbh @deanwinchesterforpromqueen @chaos-and-the-calm67 @memariana91 @plaidstiel-wormstache @chelsea-winchester @fandommaniacx @revwinchester @castieltrash1 @supernaturalyobessed  @ruined-by-destiel @winchester-writes @evilskank-inthemegacoven @maraisabellegrey @faith-in-dean @winchestersmolder @bennyyh @clueless-gold @deanwinchesterxreader @winchester-family-business @4401lnc @there-must-be-a-lock @just-another-winchester @canadianjelly @realgreglestrade @thedevilinthedetails

[vaguely-concerned]

UNCHARTED 4 REACTIONS

- uuuh can I just… find out who the FUCK looked at tiny beautiful baby boy Nate and decided to leave him with a bunch of nuns who don’t get why other kids telling him his mom’s in hell because she committed suicide would upset him??????? Like I don’t know who his biological father is but I feel a strong need to divest him of his kneecaps. (C’mon Sully with your con man expertise and my vengeful nature we could figure this out between us)

- Sam reminds me a lot of one of my uncles. I’m not sure what to do with that except applaud Naughty Dog on their eye for people ha ha. I guess everyone has that slightly sleazy and self absorbed yet periodically charming and decent man in their lives. (Can I point out how amazing his costume design is, in a way you rarely see? He’s one of those dudes who look rumpled wearing pretty much anything, everything is so unflattering on him it’s a miracle. Contrast his and Sully’s outfits in the Scotland section — what they’re actually wearing isn’t that dissimilar and Sully is like twice Sam’s age but looks a) stylish, b) warm and c) Incredibly American somehow while Sam looks like a bum and it’s  h i l a r i o u s.)

- When bb Nate’s face already does the thing where he goes from genuinely upset to dissembling smile… no… ow…  

- “You only pull something like this when you’re trying to make up for something” lasjfdlsakjfslkdjfalskj my soul has left my body and I am crying hot saltwater tears

- a) Nadine is just so incredibly, vibrantly beautiful and I feel like sending a thank you note to the offices of Naughty Dog for putting her face and overarms on my screen, b) she’s already completely done with everything and we’re not even halfway through the game, c) she’s awfully uppity about Chloe’s methods for someone whose instinctual approach to archaeology is ‘dynamite’

- NATE PLAYING CRASH BANDICOOT

THE MOST PRECIOUS SHIT

I’VE EVER LAID MY EYES ON

“THIS IS TAKING VERY LONG” THIS BLESSED ADHD BOY

- OKAY NAUGHTY DOG YOU’VE GONE AND DONE IT I’M ROOTING FOR THE HETS

- the note from Chloe in the attic :( :( :( I feel bad for her even though she eventually upgraded big time on the spouse material, she does like him a lot even if they didn’t make each other very happy.

Can you imagine if Nate and Chloe had actually stayed together tho. They’d have the smartest, snarkiest, most-unprepared-to-deal-with-emotions children in history lol just as well things worked out like they did, probably

- did u guys know… that I would die for nathan drake… I mean you all probably do by now because I never shut up about it but it bears repeating… I would….  

- oh no… nate no… don’t lie to elena she not only tolerates you she loves you despite the warning signs don’t throw this away

- It’s very impressive that they’ve managed to show that Sam genuinely does love Nate a lot while also making it clear how easily he tips into being a toxic influence — it makes all the psychological sense in the world that he’s trying to emulate the relationship they had when they were at their closest and only had each other, but purposefully trying to drive Nate away from the other people who love him is just… so perfectly the worst possible thing to do to him, jeeeeesus christ. No wonder he and Sully don’t get along — Sully is wonderfully protective without being possessive

- When Sam asks Sully why he’s there and it’s like… because… he’s HIS FUCKN DAD SAM???! YOU NUMBSKULL???!!? YOU ABSOLUTE FOOL??!?!

- All my fanfic wants for these games are so lame and low-key… like ‘the first time a teenaged Nate comes back to the hotel drunk as a total emotional mess, and Sully being like ‘oh wow… oh god… help… he’s like a tiny puppy I need to protect him being a parent is terrifying’... ‘Nadine and Chloe have a nice night in and make sweet character developing love, maybe braid each other’s hair and get in a fist fight with some dude’... ‘the gang go to an amusement park, have a good time, Charlie gets cotton candy and makes fun of Nate’...

(actually what I really, really want is a fic of Sully surreptitiously picking up the pieces of Nate after Sam ‘dies’, but, y’know. The heart wants what it wants and mine wants Nate to be taken care of)

- Sully’s face when he drops them off in Scotland… goddamn it he loves that boy so much ;___;

- The only illustration of Sam’s personality that matters is that he thinks  S u l l y  of all people might screw Nate over while thinking he can work with Rafe without it all going to hell

Just… the worst judge of character ever lol how’s that projection working out for you Sammy boy

- I played some multiplayer and Elena really has just the warmest, most reassuring presence, I absolutely see what Nate sees there ha ha

Also I love what they’ve done with her clothes, all her outfits are plausible and non-sexualized and look so chill and comfortable

- Nate’s high-pitched nervous laugh is everything to me, such a deeply endearing character tic

- Sam… you dumbass… when will you learn that the real treasure… is your little brother and his happiness…

- I have to applaud Troy Baker for his work here — he matches Nolan North’s speech patterns and timbre as Nate so well, you absolutely believe they’re brothers. (Also between them they’re like… 90% of all male characters in video games, it’s a wonder the fabric of reality isn’t fraying with two giants in such close proximity)

- Shoutout to my boy Charlie for getting one (1) whole reference in this entire game! Naughty Dog may have forgotten you but the face you pulled at Nathan in the scene with the torches will stay with me forever, you big British lug <3

- I LOVE that Nate and Sam still use ‘Father Duffy’ like you would ‘Goody Two-shoes’ or the ‘dad’ in a sarcastic ‘thanks, dad’, it’s an authentic-feeling kind of in-joke

- Nate’s journal entries are SO FUNNY in this one oh my god. I’m so happy they’re acknowledging that he’s actually an excellent artist, I hope he ends up with a sideline in making illustrated children’s books. (I have since learned they were drawn by Naughty Dog artist Alexandria Neonakis. From the bottom of my heart: thank you for everything, especially Lemur Sully)

- Gideon Emery is wasted — WASTED — in the role of ‘random goon #43’ yet again,  but whatever, at least I got to hear his voice

- Sam’s supremely shitty tattoos give me life

- I realized during the Madagascar opening that in all likelihood the person who taught Nate to drive was Sully and can I just say… this reinforces my theory that Sully is the real hero of the Uncharted games because can you imagine taking on that responsibility for Nathan ‘Adrenaline Junkie Whoops Everything I Touch Explodes and Collapses’ Drake? No, because you and I don’t have what it takes to live that life but Victor Sullivan does

- It feels like they went a bit more naturalistic with the dialogue and characterization in this one? (As naturalistic as you can go with great big undiscovered cathedrals/pirate recruiting hubs under Scotland, anyway. Scotland ain’t that big, yo, pretty sure someone would have spotted it lol) I actually enjoyed it — U3 is still pretty much an Indiana Jones-esque adventure story with some purposefully discordant notes when you get to know Nate’s real backstory and stuff like that, but this feels all round a bit more grounded in reality and characters and it works

- Sully ineffectually keeping a grip on Nate’s shirt while he’s scrabbling to get back into the driver’s seat after the car goes off the cliff ascended my soul to a higher dimension. Big mood.

Also genuinely laughed for five minutes at Sam, lapsed Catholic and born opportunist, getting in as many Hail Marys as he could just in case he was about to die. I’m an atheist from a half-halfheartedly Protestant country but even I am pretty sure that’s not how it works buddy

- Nate’s continual refusal to think ahead enough to carry his own matches (and being saved by surrounding himself with smokers) is one of the most satisfying running jokes in the series

- “Lemurs, Sully!” “Rabies, Nate” fsdajfkljdaskjhasjkhfasjdk

*cries helplessly like a little baby because I love everyone in this bar*

- I must say the clock tower felt like one of Nate’s most catastrophic onsets of… Nateness. That delicate complicated piece of machinery was still functioning perfectly after four hundred years and yet… Nate’s in there for five minutes and it crumbles like paper. I guess technically sinking the entirety of a city into the sand beats it, but… I keep coming back to the image of the cracked bell and then *high pitched giddy voice* “Hi Sully” JFC Nate ha ha

- *screams as Nate sends Sully and Elena away, literally turning to the adrenaline/treasure hunting madness he used to cope with trauma before he managed to work up to emotional intimacy with people who care about him because Sam is a jackass who knew exactly what buttons to press and is weirdly possessive of his little brother*

- You know… forgiving Sam is so hard when he repeatedly doubles down on his lies, making up further details unprovoked, because he knows it keeps Nate hooked and feeling guilty? Like Nate is far enough along in his character development at this point that just waving some treasure under his nose alone wouldn’t do it, you need that illusion that he’s saving someone he loves — the first person he ever relied on, who he thought he lost once because he failed him — to make him keep going, and Sam knows this and uses it and it’s so horribly, calculatedly cruel? I think there are a few times where he kind of wants to come clean (uh already too late because what the HELL he’s already fucked up all his relationships lol) only to be interrupted by Action but in the end it’s a deliberate, long con of assholery that it’s extremely difficult to look past. Ah well I guess he’s stuck as my ‘I will mercilessly yet affectionately mock you’ character, that’s something.

- Aaagh the scene where Elena’s like ‘who are you’ is so good because it must be such a blow, knowing this man she loves and (bravely, because he is a disaster magnet) made the choice to try to make a life with for the second time still thinks he needs to lie to her, like he’s been lying to the world at large for most of his life — his name is a lie, so much of his outer identity is invented, but hey she wouldn’t have married him if she didn’t think they were past that this time and trusted each other with honesty… and then out of the blue a dead-yet-still-somehow-smoking-a-sketchy-cigarette brother???? Normally the ‘what else have you been lying about’ line makes me roll my eyes but she is ABSOLUTELY right to wonder about that and it breaks my heart

as does Nate going ‘I’m just me’ in that voice aaaaaaauuuuuugh he does try but he’s not completely at the point where he thinks he can be acceptable and loved as he is, no need to hide the broken things, still that kid learning that it’s better to not be seen or tell the truth because it just makes things worse

(I feel it’s a good balance between ‘protagonist making some DUMB SELF-DESTRUCTIVE CHOICES LIKE AN IDIOT’ and ‘makes perfect, tragic sense considering their history’, ending up at sympathetic but still in the wrong and in need of getting it the hell together in a hurry. At least he clearly realizes he’s fucked up pretty much immediately, which is something I GUESS)

TL;DR Nate, listen to Sully and go talk it out with your wife, I’m real upset now I’ll go make myself a cup of tea ;____;

- Sam was straight up going to shoot Nadine in the head, huh. I mean… wow. I wonder why she doesn’t like you very much, bro lol

- I’m a Black Sails fan so whenever Anne Bonny shows up I’m like *golden retriever face* HI FRIEND HI sorry about the... poison

- ...is it weird that I want to write fix it fic for Evelyn and Ken

All his letters are so  c u t e  and loving and I am devastated

Puzzling their story together like that was super effective too — it was so cool that if you know what to look for you could find the Tokugawa armor he mentions in the first letter before any other clues, I was going ‘Oh she totally married that beautiful nerd’ right there and then ha ha. Evelyn’s design was wonderful, you could tell the force of nature she must have been in her prime.

Bonus points for Nate looking up at her like a puppy who’s found someone really cool to aspire to. Also their father looks nominally less of a rampant unrepentant asshole if he sold Cassandra’s things specifically to her mentor. Microscopically. I’d still like to kick his ass tho.

- I guess Sam is three to five years older than Nate, then, if he remembers (vaguely) going to Windsor before Nate was even born? Bit hazy on the timeline here, because Nate’s memories of their parents — especially their mum — must be quite hazy if, like Marlowe states in U3, he was surrendered to the state at the age of five and they moved around with their dad a lot even before that.

- Nate was the most tired-looking twelve year old I have ever seen and it hurts me

The fact that Nate started off looking exhausted and a little snub-nosed and grew into a very handsome and charming young man (ssssh I’m in no way biased here just because he’s my son) while Sam was sweet and bright-eyed as a teenager and now looks like someone who is low-key dealing drugs around the local high school… this game is truly a tour de force of character design

- So apparently Shoreline was already off to a bad start when Nadine took over? That makes it doubly sad that she’s judging herself so harshly for losing it when her father had already left it to her as a mess :(

- THANK YOU ELENA AND SULLY FOR SAVING THIS WONDERFUL FOOLISH BOY YET AGAIN. “I left my life for you”  D: D: D:

Also slightly sad that Sam has… literally nothing except Nate and Avery’s treasure? On the other hand that’s entirely his own fault so. Less sad. (Makes me immensely thankful Sully and then Elena found Nate when they did)

- Nate… using his words… cautiously expressing how he actually felt… Elena mulling it over… realizing part of why she loves him is that weird restless brain of his doing its thing……. coming up with a solution where they can solve it as partners in the ending………... I am clinically ded, go on without me

- Realest GPOY moment: Sully’s flat immediate ‘no’ to Nate going off to save Sam on his own. He’s so scared!!!! And so was I!!!! My soul bond with an American con man three times my age continues to be unbreakable

- Relieved that my sister was in control for the fencing bit, because I don’t know if I could handle being responsible for Nate’s safety like that

That said, how destroyed was I that Nate didn’t really start fighting back before Rafe threatened his family? Completely, though it does force me to take the words ‘ludonarrative dissonance’ in my mouth for the first time in my life — no way does he kill as many people in the reality of the story as you do in gameplay if he’s still this hesitant to respond to someone openly trying to murder him lol. I realize this is a game and they need some kind of pretense to keep it from being a movie with the occasional QTE, but Naughty Dog you can’t just… repeatedly show that Nate has a hard time killing in cold blood and then have him take out an army in the next breath

(Naughty Dog: We did and you’re completely willing to go with it lawl. Me: Oooooh I hate that you’re right)

- Nadine stone cold leaving those bitches behind Worked for me, you do you you beautiful disaster, see you next game with your excellent character development. Another wonderful thread they continue into The Lost Legacy: Sam being forever relegated to the back seat. Yes good.  

- Sully promptly semi-adopting a second Drake brother, arguably the tougher case. A power move if ever I saw one.

- I deeply respect Naughty Dog’s decision to make an epilogue to let me know everyone is safe and happy and it all turned out okay, but I also wish they wouldn’t have ha ha. The last scene with Elena and Nate perfectly set that up for me already, specifically spelling out one happy ending among the many that could have happened actually somewhat cheapened it for me? The ‘flash forward, now they have children, get immediately invested!’ move is already suuuuch a hard one to pull off and I think it did it about as well as they possibly could, but somehow I also begrudge Cassie for her position in the narrative and that’s not how I want to feel about it, y’know? Actually it’s fine, I’ll accept it, because their dog is named Vicky and Nate writes in his journal that he’d call his pet lemur Victor and it made my entire week

- Having played three of the games I can still say that Uncharted 3 is definitely my fave, but then parts of that seem genuinely tailor made specifically for me, so that’s not really a surprise ha ha

- Thank you, Uncharted, for being the emotionally intelligent yet light hearted adventure story with lovable characters I needed in this dark cold winter and making me spill over with so many flaily happy words. 

[askullinajar]

The Shattered Frame (Part 2/7)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

Fic info: this is a sequel to my previous fic, The Living Ghost so go read that or this won’t make sense. Rating: General. Pairings: Lucy/Lockwood, Holly/Rani. Ao3 link: here.

A cluster of hauntings in a decrepit manor and the dripping spectre of a woman dressed all in black hits a little too close to home for Lockwood & Co’s newest member.

Part 2 – A New Case

“We’ve got a case!” George declared as we walked through the door, laden with shopping bags that he made no move to help us with. “A big one! Reckon it’ll take all of us to sort this out, even you, Skullykins.”

Skully glowered at the nickname. “Sleep with one eye open, b–”

“What’s the case?” Lockwood interrupted as he made his way upstairs to dump the bags in Jessica’s-turned-Skully’s room; so much for using it as a guest bedroom. “We’ve still got a lot of other cases lined up, remember?”

“Oh, but this is gonna be good, trust me,” George insisted, following us up the stairs. “Not to mention it’ll get us some serious spending money. More than all our recent cases combined. I’ll be able to get that new scientific equipment I wanted.”

“Keep it well away from me or watch your research burn,” said Skully.

“Why will it make us so much money?” said Holly, before George and Skully could get into an argument. With our recent fame, cases had been coming in by the bucket load, and our purses were much heavier as a result.

“Because, this guy is loaded,” George declared. “He rang up this morning. There’s this huge manor that he recently inherited. It’s been left abandoned because it’s so teeming with visitors, but he found out if he does it up it’ll be worth a fortune, and we’d be in for a cut of that if we helped clear it!”

“Interesting…” said Lockwood.

Holly held the bedroom door open for us to carry Skully’s new belongings in; her arm was still healing from our run-in with the Orpheus Society, so she wasn’t carrying as many bags as us.

Where the other bedrooms in Portland Row were cluttered with our personal belongings and decorated according to our personality’s, Skully’s was bare. It made me want to buy him a bunch of useless trinkets for his birthday, maybe draw him something as well, just so he had something of his own to display.

We dumped the bags on the bed, which looked like it hadn’t been slept in last night. Incidentally, it hadn’t; it had become a common occurrence that Skully slept on the floor in my attic bedroom by the window. He said it was because he missed annoying me at night, but I knew his newly living brain gave him nightmares, not that either of us said anything about it. I didn’t mind so much; my mind wasn’t so nice to me at night either, not after the things I’d seen. Our impromptu sleepovers gave me some comfort.

On the nights he wasn’t there, and I’d woken up from a bad dream, I’d creep downstairs to the library. Sometimes I’d draw in my sketchbook until my thoughts quieted, other times I’d find Lockwood there too, and we’d curl up on the sofa together and just talk. Occasionally about what we’d been through and what we’d seen on the Other Side, but mostly just random things – families, the cat that kept visiting our garden, the time Lockwood actually caught George in the act of stealing his Choco Leibniz… It was nice and helped clear our heads enough to fall asleep, propped up against one another until we woke up the next morning to a camera flash and I had to chase George around the house.

We left everything on the bed to sort out later, though Rani had to drag Holly away from trying to sort it all out, and gathered in the kitchen. At some point, while we were out, Kipps had returned and let himself in, something he did quite often but no one mentioned. I’d almost forgotten he didn’t actually live with us.

“So, what’s the deal with this mansion?” I said.

“According to the information Mr Taylor gave me,” George started, “there seems to be a cluster of hauntings caused by one powerful Visitor. And, boy, it seems like a biggy. Pretty much anyone who’s spent the night there over the past fifty years was found drowned by morning. The place is full of their spirits.” “Drowned?” said Kipps, alarmed. “How?”

“Well there’s a swimming pool outside,” George explained, “but the weird thing is it’s been empty for decades, yet a fair few people were still found at the bottom of it with their lungs full of water.” He removed his glasses and cleaned them on his shirt. “Aside from that, bodies were found near sinks, bathtubs… basically anywhere with pipes.”

I grimaced; I wasn’t a huge fan of water after my mother had taught me and my sisters to swim by throwing us in the deep end of the local pool.

Lockwood hummed thoughtfully. “Well, obviously we’ll need to do some research before we…”

“Actually,” George interrupted, “I already got that covered, seen as you lot took so long at the shops.” Skully sent Holly a dirty look which she pretended not to notice.

George quickly darted to his desk in the office downstairs and retrieved his research, which he then spread out on the kitchen table. Lockwood took a seat and examined the papers while I stood behind him, peering over his shoulder and absentmindedly rubbing my hand up and down his arm; this case made me a little nervous.

George wasted no time excitedly delving into the history of the manor. “Ok, so back in the late 1800s, Redwood Manor was owned by a Lord Arthur Moore, who lived there with his wife, Elizabeth, and their two daughters. Now, here’s the thing about Elizabeth –” He pushed up his glasses which flashed in the light as he grinned sadistically – “She used to be a maid working for the Moores family before she fell in love with young Arthur, here. Arty got into a lot of trouble with his family after that, and they carted him off to live away from the rest of the family, so he wouldn’t be such a disgrace. None of that stopped him from marrying Elizabeth, though…”

“How romantic,” said Holly, smiling softly.

“Disgusting,” said Skully. I elbowed him.

“Anyway,” George continued, “Elizabeth here didn’t have such a great childhood. Had a lot of siblings, but most of them didn’t make it past the age of nine, and both her parents died when she was fourteen. Fortunately, she was already working as a maid by then. But then her brother vanished…”

“What happened to him?” said Rani.

“No one knows,” said George. “Most likely starved in the streets or something. Elizabeth tried to look for him, but the police didn’t want to waste time looking for some random orphan.”

“That must have been awful for her,” said Holly.

“What was the brother’s name?” said Skully. It surprised me that he was actually paying attention; he usually zoned out.

George shrugged. “Dunno. Wasn’t a lot about her life before she got married. This stuff’s all I found out. Anyway,” he continued, “it gets worse. See, she settles down with Arthur, has a couple of kids, everything seems to be looking up, right? Except in 1890, her husband and daughters were involved in a fatal accident when the train they were in derailed, and Elizabeth, basically driven mad with grief, went and drowned herself in the pool.”

“Oh, god…” said Kipps.

“So, you think Elizabeth Moore is our main ghost?” said Lockwood.

George nodded. “Track down her source and we stop the other Visitors too. Then hello new chemistry set.”

“Sounds riveting,” I said. “Where exactly is this manor?”

“About that…” said George. “It’s kind of way up north. Near the seaside.”

Lockwood gave him a look.

“Hey!” said George, defensively. “Just goes to show how big this company’s gotten, right? They’ve heard of us even way up there!”

“And how exactly do you plan to get us up there?” Lockwood said. “What with all our equipment.”

“You could borrow my car,” said Rani. “Holly’s insured on it. And it’s a family carrier, coz I have to pick up all my siblings from school sometimes, so you should all fit.”

“Are you sure that’s alright?” said Holly.

“Yeah, yeah,” Rani replied. “I can always get a cab if need be. Just make sure you don’t get yourself killed before our anniversary; that wine was expensive.”

Holly stuck her tongue out at her.

“I don’t know, George,” said Lockwood, unconvinced. “It’s such a long way away for one case.”

“Trust me, Lockwood,” said George, “you’ll want in. Mr Taylor’s pretty desperate to have this place cleared; a lot of other agencies have failed. Here, I wrote down how much he’s willing to pay us.” He pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Lockwood.

Lockwood stared at the paper. I leaned over his shoulder and gasped. “Did you… did you miss a decimal point or something?”

“Nope,” said George, grinning. “I triple checked.”

“Well,” said Lockwood, still staring at the paper, “I guess we’ll be having a company road trip to the seaside.”

Previous Next

[of-another-broken-heart]

today was... long. 

once I finally got to sleep, I managed to stay that way until like... 3 pm? I think? 

I got woken up because the kids’ father put on some DVD that was just a bunch of loud music videos or something. It was a song that reminded me of lil sis, though, so my first assumption was that she was blasting music because she was home “alone.” I thought mom was at work, bro was at a friend’s place, and the kids’ father was out of the house. The only part of that I got right was mom being at work. 

I ate the last of the leftover stew for lunch. I was scared it had spoiled, but it seemed to be fine after I reheated it. 

I made myself a cup of coffee, which went wrong in pretty much every way possible. Tried to measure out the coffee grinds - almost put a whole extra spoonful in. Poured water into the reservoir and pressed “ON” - then realized the coffee filter basket was sitting on the counter. The maker gurgled its way through “brewing” which I had to help by unclogging the drip hole - which kept getting blocked up by grinds that were directly in the drip area instead of suspended a little bit above in the filter basket. I had to carefully wait for the whole thing to drain, remove my cup, unplug it, disassemble the top lid, rinse it all off/out, replace the filter, use a second cup, pour the coffee through the filter, rinse my cup, transfer my coffee back into my cup, and then re-rinse the filter basket and other cup. THEN I went to add some creamer, only to find the bottle hadn’t been opened yet and the foil seal was fucking SUPERGLUED down. I literally had to use a pair of needle-nose pliers to unpeel the damn thing. Like a sardine can, y’know? I grabbed the “pull tab” and then rotated backwards 

I barely drank any of the coffee all day. The cup is still down here, still half full. 

I used some compressed air to clean out some of the dust in my pc tower. Then I slapped it back together (it’s very easy access actually - one screw, and the side panel is free to unclip and slide off) and got to settling my desk again. I decided to plug my speakers back in. I also decided I didn’t want my USB hub on my desk any more, so it’s being stealthy behind one of my monitors, chilling on top of my tower. I went ahead and plugged in my webcam again. Didn’t really have plans to use it, but figured “why the hell not?” 

Then I tried to test it out. 

That went poorly. 

Trying to use the Logitech software to Quick Capture with it gave me a BSOD. 

Twice. 

(I wanted to make sure it was the same thing causing it, and not, y’know, my hard drive actually failing)

Took to google, and it seems to be a combination of Logitech’s software and drivers being buggy as hell and at odds with some sound settings/drivers I have set to have precedence over the Logitech ones. I think, specifically, it’s because I keep my condenser mic plugged in, and set as my default sound input device. Logitech webcam w/ built-in mic doesn’t like that. 

Freaked me the hell out and I was super stressed and shit, but an hour or two of research had me simply resolved not to try to use my webcam any time soon. At least, not while my mic’s plugged in. Probably. 

I tried to clean a bunch down here, too. I made... some? progress? I guess. I put all my dirty laundry in a basket, vacuumed a little, put some trash into recycle piles, reorganized my pantry and snack stashes, played with my violin a bit (I really need to save a bit of money to take it to the music shop in town and get it tuned and/or restrung... I’m still missing the D string I broke the last time I tried to tune it myself) and started trying to put some more clothes away. 

Then I found out why the bottom drawer of this one dresser squeaks so horribly when I try to use it. 

The entire back of the bottom came unstapled and was chilling on the ground. And it didn’t like the idea of getting shoved back up to fit through the drawer hole. 

If you build a dresser, and each drawer can’t handle being full of folded jeans, it’s a BAD DRESSER and that shit needs to be fixed. I am so damn tired of this particular feature in dressers. Like, sure - the sixty-buck particle board one I got from Walmart? I get it. Understandable. I got what I paid for. This particular dresser, however, is fucking solid wood and hand-made and it’s supposed to be the good shit but it’s just being shit. UGH. 

I pulled the whole drawer out, emptied it, flipped it over, and stacked all my jeans on it to try to un-warp it. My jeans weren’t heavy enough. FUCK KNOWS WHY - they were heavy enough to bust it DOWN in the first place, but not enough to bring it back???? FUCK. So I stacked my “end table” basket on it, too. (the basket is mostly sleep aids, pain killers, and hand lotion - shit that would be on/in a side table if I had a ~complete bedroom~ or whatever). That brought it most the way down. 

I was going to make my bed again, and do some tote shuffling. I bought this giant tote about a year ago, designed for holding an artificial christmas tree and decorations. It’s got wheels and snaps together really well - so I figured it’d be great so mom could stop using the beat-to-shit boxes she has to juggle up and down from the attic. But, she said this tote is too big, and never used it, soooo I was gonna use it. First I had planned to put some MH stuff in it. But, I don’t want to unpack anything from the boxes I carefully Tetris’d already. So I figured I’d put all my blankets and sheets in it! Because the tote I have for that is currently cracked open because it has wimpy clasping power. And also I own more bedding that I need. Like... 4-5 complete sets?? Two of them I’ve had since middle school. Anyway, they don’t fucking fit in that tote, and I’ve actually had a small pile (from my giant laundry fiasco) that never got put away at all. So, big tote seems a fine candidate for all that. 

Except I didn’t get that far. 

I ended up bringing my bro over to one of his friend’s houses a little after 6. I spent three bucks on myself at McD’s. Got a burger and fries. Ate in the parking lot, in my car. 

Tonight was also the memorial/fundraiser. Mom checked in with me to see if I wanted to go before she left, but I was still in the middle of tidying some things up, hadn’t brushed my hair or changed out of my pajamas... and I really couldn’t afford the $20 entry thing, and probably would have felt really out of place and/or depressed as fuck there. So I declined. Didn’t go. 

I guess I kinda zoned out off and on today, too. I’m not sure. Maybe not? I kept busy for the most part... 

Mom got back home around 11. She ended up winning some of the fundraiser items - a starbucks basket, and an “Italian” one (some wine, some pasta, some sauce) - so that was neat. I went to pick up bro at that point. I’d been on standby since 10, waiting for a message or something because I’d asked how long he planned to be over, and he’d said probably until 10. I didn’t know if he was allowed to stay later, or if I was being an asshole adult by leaving him there an hour past the time he was welcome... but I figured better late than never, and it’s not a school night, so if they were having a good time, and the adults involved were cool, and extra hour was fine. 

Turned out his friend’s brother(? - I think) was going to give bro a ride home, but I got there before they left. Oh well. 

Here I am 3 hours later and I feel like I just auto-piloted to this moment, and have been slowly going through my rechargeable batteries and getting them all juiced back up. 

But I’m going to try to sleep now. Soon. 

The women’s march today was... a thing. I cried at some of the news. In joy, mostly. Also in guilt. Regret. Shame. Inadequacy. Feeling a lot of ways all at once. More than usual, I mean. 

[ecotone99]

[SF] My Dreams Are Not Normal

***\*

I originally posted this story in r/Wholesomenosleep but decided it was more appropriate to post here, since it's not really scary

***\*

​

Let me start off by telling you a little bit about myself. I am an only child and I have a mother who loves me more than life itself. I don’t know if this is a good thing or bad thing, only that I can’t always control it. Usually at night, when people go to sleep, they’ll have dreams, wake up, and then vaguely remember them. The same happens to me, only not quite. When I sleep, I travel into the past. Sounds cool, right? But here’s the thing, I can’t always control where and when I travel to. Sometimes I get nightmares, too. In these nightmares I involuntarily travel to the worst possible times and places to be. Let me tell you, waking up in a Nazi occupied Germany wasn’t fun in the least bit.

Now that you know a little about me it’s time to get onto the reason I’m here. I feel that I’ve done a terrible thing and I have to get it off my chest.

My father passed away earlier this year due to a heart attack. And to be honest, my mother hasn’t been taking it well at all. Ever since that day, she hasn’t been herself. She’s quieter, she likes to be alone, and she stopped doing the things she has always enjoyed such as gardening and holding her book club meetings.

About a week ago, I knocked on her bedroom door, only to walk in on her sitting up in bed, just staring at the window. This is how most mornings have been for a while now. I was just checking in on her to tell her that I finished preparing breakfast and afterward decided to resume moving around a bunch of my father’s stuff around in the attic as we have been trying to organize some boxes. One thing you need to know about my father is that he was very old school. He saved newspapers, and kept a journal which he wrote in daily.

So I went upstairs and starting moving boxes when I noticed one of them was slightly open with a piece of newspaper sticking out of it. Curious, I opened the box and pulled out the newspaper. The headline read: “October 9th, 1990: Plane Crash Kills All Passengers on Board”.

“Jesus Christ” I thought to myself.

I continued reading the article until I got to a list of confirmed deaths. What shocked me about this list was that among the deceased, there was someone named Elena who shared the same last name as me: Decker. My parents had never told me about any aunts or cousins who had passed away so I was surprised to see someone with my last name had died in a plane crash. What stuck out even more was that my father kept a copy of this newspaper. Inside the box was my father’s journal. He wrote A LOT and had a journal for every year. I grabbed his 1990 journal and flipped through the pages until I got to the date on the newspaper. I skimmed down the lines, tracing the words with my finger until I got to the middle of the page.

“I wish I could have stopped her from getting on that plane. When Elena was packing up that morning she had misplaced her ticket and I helped her find it, just in time. A moment later and she would have missed her flight.”

I flipped through the pages, skimming the lines for anything else about Elena, but I couldn’t find anything. Maybe there was more, but I wasn’t going to read through this monster of a journal to find it. At the very bottom of the box, I found a physical copy of Elena’s obituary. From it, I found out that at the time of the plane crash she was 17 years old. She was a senior in high school, a cheerleader, and one of the top of her class. I didn’t want to ask my mother about it, but I knew exactly where and when Elena could be found.

I kept the newspaper article and later that night I was in bed, thinking about Elena. I leaned over to grab the article off my nightstand and read the date one more time.

“October 9th, 1990”

I thought to myself that if I could experience the American revolution to pass my history test, I could go meet this Elena girl, right? So I shut my eyes and focused on that date. I’m not good at focusing my travels, but I’ve been getting better at it lately. Honestly, it’s a hit or miss but there was no harm in trying. I cleared my mind and closed my eyes, patiently waiting to fall asleep.

After I don’t know how much time, I woke up. It was day, and I was in the middle of a football field. There were guys running and cheerleaders practicing their routines. Cars were driving by on the street and I tried to take a moment to absorb in the scenery and where I was when suddenly, a football hit me in the back of the head. I fell to the ground and a big guy runs up to me, laughing.

“You gotta keep your eyes open, you’re in the middle of a football field, man” he said

“Maybe you should watch where you’re throwing the ball, Brad” said an unfamiliar female voice from behind me. I turned my head, only to see one of the cheerleaders there, she had her hands on her hips and seemed irritated, like this isn’t the first time something like this has happened.

“Sorry Elena, Will and I were playing catch and it turns out Will only knows how to catch, not throw.” said Brad.

Jackpot.

Brad went back to playing football and Elena helped me up.

“Are you from around here?” she asked

“Nope, my family just moved here. I’m still trying to get used to the city.” I replied, trying my best to come up with a fake backstory.

“Oh I see. So what’s your name?” she asked

“Romeo, I think I got that your name was Ele-” as I tried to answer, I heard thunder.

It was raining when I went to sleep and the thunder was literally ear shattering. As it continued, I began to pass in and out of this period in time. In order for me to stay in the current point in time, I have to remain asleep. I once was in Salem and my alarm went off. I was labeled as a male witch and I think you can infer how that went. Anyway, eventually the thunder stopped and I stopped slipping between the past and present. Elena however, gave me the most wide-eyed look I’ve ever seen in my life. Shit, I thought to myself.

“You’re a time traveler” she exclaimed

“What? How do you know?” I asked

“Because I am too, and the same happens to me. Did your alarm clock go off?” she asked

“Oh” I began to chuckle “nope, there’s just a lot of thunder” I explained

For the rest of the day Elena and I just talked about our time adventures and she took me to one of the best burger places in the city.

“So, when did you first find out about your powers?” Elena asked

“I’ve known for a while. It’s so much of a big deal to me anymore. I haven’t told anybody.” I replied

“Good, keep it that way. If people knew what we could do, then we wouldn’t be having adventures anymore. Everybody has regrets. If someone you loved died, and you knew your best friend could easily go back in time and save them but didn’t, how would you feel?” she said

I looked out the window and a car pulled up, I looked through the tinted window to see the driver. It was my dad, but a lot younger. My heart skipped a beat to see him, so full of life.

“Hey, that’s my dad. I gotta go.” she said.

Suddenly all the pieces came together. Elena packed grabbed her things and was putting them into her backpack. My dad honked the car three times outside.

“I’m running late to the airport. You should travel here more often, or maybe we could go somewhere else” she said

I got butterflies. My first instinct was to tell her, and spare her a cruel fate. However, one rule I stick to when I travel is to not change anything too much. This was something more significant to me. If I saved her, I could change everything about my family, including my own existence. Would my parents still have me? Would my parents be different? Would it be for the better or for the worse? Either way, I stopped myself. My throat was in a knot. I just swallowed, looked her in the eye and said:

“Yeah, see you around.”

Elena left through the front door and I watched her through the window, getting into the car, and talking to my dad. He pulled away from the curb and as they drove off into the distance, my alarm went off. I woke up, it was morning the sun was up. My first thought: I just killed my sister. I don’t know how to feel. I keep telling myself that it was to ensure my own existence but at what cost? I got up to open the curtains slowly.

“I love it when the sun shines after a thunderstorm” said a female voice behind me

I turned around, to see Elena in the doorway.

“Elena you shouldn’t be here” I started to say.

She walked toward my bedside, and picked up the article.

“Shit.” I thought to myself

“Don’t worry, I’m asleep on the plane right now." she said.

In this moment I really didn't know what to say to her. All I could do was look her in the eyes as they began to water.

"I noticed you looked a lot like our dad. So I thought to myself, why would my brother from the future travel back in time to meet me, seemingly for the first time.” she explained, looking up at me.

“I wanted to tell you, I really did.” I said

Elena slowly put the newspaper article back on the nightstand.

“The past is the past. If I can accept it, then so can you.” she said, tears beginning to flow down her cheeks. I walked up to her and gave her a hug, she hugged me back, a lot harder. As we embraced, she began to slowly fade from this point in time and I was left there, alone in my room.

submitted by /u/jaydom28 [link] [comments] via Blogger http://bit.ly/2HJ805N