#like you know the throne mu had in the finale

[down-with-the-mafia]

Heroes

@hatstacheweek day 2 🧡

fanart for The Way Time Twists by @robyn-goodfellowe

[silvantransthranduiltrash]

Entirely mu AU and self indulgent:

Noldo elf: so how did the silvans and avari stay out of the war with morgoth.

Legolas: hm? Oh, we brokered a truce.

Noldo: so? We did too, that didn’t stop him.

Legolas: yeah, but, unlike you, we actually had ✨power✨ backing us up that forced him to back off untill further notice.

Legolas: also, our diplomats made it very clear that if he didn’t comply, he would not like the outcome. Very agressive, 10/10.

Noldo: ok, well, how did it go, because Maedhros didn’t even get to morgoth, he was ambushed.

Legolas: weeelllll-

*flashback to beginning of the first age*

The silvan ambassadors *shows up at morgoth’s throne room without notice* we’re here make sure you don’t do something stupid like declare war on our people.

Morgoth, amused: oh, and how are you going to do that? For that matter, what’s stopping me from killing you here and now.

Ambassadors: what’s stopping you is the fact that, if we do not come back within the next hour to where we have to check in, the silvans will assume that you killed us and thus has made a declerarion of war. If it is assumed you have declaired war on the silvans, the long standing alliance between all the avari and silvan nations, pertaining to the terrorism and violance commited by a member of the ainur, will go into affect, and all our international grievances will be put on hold untill we’ve dealt with you-

Morgoth:

Ambassadors: to put this into context: not only will you have attracted the attention and wrath of the silvans, elves who are masters of espionage and assassination and magically above average and a people who’s known for their warrior culture which has amassed over a total of 4000 years with a fully stocked and experienced army, but you will also have the might of the Arctic Empire, who’s succesfully taken over the world, the Okrean kingdom, who’s become completely independent from all things magic, the Agtep Nation, ruled by an elleth known as the God of War, the Bali’tsa Empire, home to the largest army of all the avari nations, the Qitian Empire, who produce some of the deadliest weapons known to this realm, and the Fawneli Tribes, who have the strongest elves in existence, bearing down on you like a rabid dog. And unlike the Noldo and the Sinda you so love to bully, each one of these Nations have a full 4000 years of military history that they will not hesitate to unleash on you like a dam that finally broke. Mind you, that’s before we even take into considerarion the many other smaller elven societies who won’t hesitate to join the slaughter, hell, even the Edireths have thrown their hat in the ring, and they’re particularly known for eating ainur for breakfast. Literally.

Ambassadors: so what will it be? Time is ticking, and you’re almost out.

Morgoth: fuckin- fine. But i won’t lay off forever.

Ambassadors: oh we know. And we’ll be preparing our armies for when that time comes. I suggest you do the same.

*back in the present*

Legolas: yeah, let’s just say they really went in there with a “fuck all” attitude.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix Recap: Atlantica (Part of Your World)

Upon unlocking Magnet, you automatically unlock the next “episode” of Atlantica’s story.

You’ll see no immediate change upon disembarking to Atlantica’s only save point.

To begin the next chapter, you must speak to Flounder, and agree to try and move the statue again.

So begins “Chapter 2: Part of Your World”.

After the chapter title fades out, the camera pans down to Ariel, despondently drifting near the shipwreck while looking up at the surface.

“Ariel!” Sora calls out, before swimming up alongside Donald and Goofy.

“We’d like ya to come with us, Ariel,” Goofy invites.

“Have we got something to show you!” Sora entices.

We next see Ariel and Flounder swimming into Ariel’s grotto. The trident imprint that revealed the Keyhole in the first game is still there.

But more importantly, the statue of Prince Eric is now in the middle of the room.

“It’s a pretty cool statue, huh,” Sora remarks.

“It looks like some kinda Prince,” Donald adds.

“A prince!?” Ariel questions as she examines the statue.

Sebastian, meanwhile, is quietly stressing out in the background.

This song’s musical challenge is to score five or more Excellents in a row.

You get an Excellent by pressing the button prompt with near-perfect timing, when the timing gauge is in the yellow.

If you get a Good or a Bad, the combo will be broken.

“Part of Your World” does NOT reuse any of the audio from the original movie. It instead uses an entirely different instrumentation, though Ariel’s VA does a great job of reciting the lyrics. Don’t know if she also voiced Ariel in the movie or not, even if the Kingdom Hearts series has a pretty impressive track record with the (still living) original voice actors. Remember how the first game had Alice and Wendy’s VA reprise BOTH her roles?

Ahem, regardless, while the gameplay’s still pretty bad, this version of Part of Your World is still a good song to listen to, and the cutscene that accompanies it in the background is endearing.

“What do they call ‘em? Ah! Feet!” is now accompanied by Ariel grabbing onto Goofy’s flippers, for example.

But back to the gameplay once you’ve hit the target combo at least once, you don’t need to worry about any further misses, unless you want to reach the objectives recorded in Jiminy’s Journal for completion’s sake. Such as unlocking the Secret Ending.

There’s also still bubbles to pop, but they don’t function any differently than regular notes, and thus the only purpose they serve is to cause a hilarious animation hiccup in a later game. I’ll tell you about it when we get to Melody of Memory.

After successfully completing the song, Sora reminds Ariel that they’re here to help her out, although Sebastian urges the Junior Heroes to stay out of it.

“Look who’s talking,” Sora snarks.

“Yeah, you were gonna tell her dad about it!” Donald reminds him.

“Oh, what am I going to do?” Sebastian wonders as he grips his head.

Ariel continues to admire the statue.

Later, King Triton and Sebastian meet in the former’s throne room.

“You’re late Sebastian,” King Triton points out via text box, “Is something?”

“No. Nothing, Your Majesty,” Sebastian assures him, before swimming up to him.

“That’s good,” King Triton notes, “So tell me – how is the song for the musical coming along?”

“It is finished, Your Majesty!” Sebastian exclaims, before the camera cuts to an angle looking up at the ceiling from behind the throne, “And it celebrates all de wonderful things found here in de ocean. It will be my finest work!”

“Will it get Ariel’s mind off the human world?” King Triton asks.

“Er, yes… well… Probably… Possibly…”

King Triton glares at him.

“I-I mean, most definitely!” he corrects, “Excuse me, Your Majesty, but I must rehearse… you understand.”

Sebastian hurriedly swims off.

Back in the Undersea Courtyard, Ariel is still lost in thought as Sora, Donald, and Goofy look on.

“This is terrible!” Sora observes, “We’ve got to do something.”

“She can’t be in the musical like that,” Goofy points out.

“I’ll sing her part instead!” Donald offers.

“No way! Not a chance!” Sora shuts down, apparently sharing the fandom’s opinions on Donald’s singing voice in this game.

“What? Why not!?” Donald asks, either unaware or uncaring of the pain his singing voice causes in this game specifically. Seriously, what’s with that? Donald’s sung in PLENTY of other works, but it’s only THIS game where it sounds grating to me!

“Hey, it’s Sebastian,” Goofy points out.

The crustacean of the hour swims up with a scroll in one of his pinchers.

“Dis will never work…” Sebastian despairs.

Sora asks what’s up, and Sebastian reveals that he’s composed a perfect song for the musical.

But he thinks it’s gonna be too complicated for the Junior Heroes.

“Aw c’mon!” Sora replies, “How hard can it be?”

The camera fades to black.

When it fades back in, a completely befuddled Sora, Donald, and Goofy are struggling to make sense of the directions they’ve been given.

“Uh oh…” Donald helpfully remarks, before the screen fades to black.

Upon getting booted back to the Gummi Ship, you are alerted that you’ll need the Drive Gauge to be 5 or more before the Junior Heroes will be able to play their parts in the musical.

However, you can also return to Atlantica, swim past all the NPC’s in the Undersea Courtyard, and go through the Loading Zone to access King Triton’s Throne Room, where King Triton is swimming around, and there’s two Puzzle Pieces to collect, one above each of the “torch” things behind his Throne.

I’m only alerting you to this because you CANNOT access King Triton’s throne during story events, and thus I was always under the impression that the Undersea Courtyard was the ONLY visitable area in Atlantica.

With that, we’ve got one more Disney World to go before returning to Traverse Town.

All I can say is, you’d better Be Prepared.

-

So we’re still in the middle of the little mermaid story but other stories are more complete. Inch resting.

Also re: that last bit: Ohoho?

[sublimecatgalaxy]

Can you do Daryl Dixon with the AU Angel/demon with the prompts “you didn’t just break promises, you broke me” and “I hate the way that I don’t hate you and I so desperately want to.”

This one was so hard to do because I couldn't think of like a location so I hope this is good!

He looks almost fearful as he shoos his men out of the throne room, his hands raising to rest on his hips as he ushers me into the room. My heels click against the tile floor as I look around the dimly lit room, unshed tears already lining my eyes.

"What's up?" He asks, sitting down at his desk as I step up to the wooden piece, reaching out to trace my finger against the map of heaven and hell alike, wondering if I'll regret what I'm about to say.

"I want to go back." I mutter, not meeting his gaze as I feel his eyes trace over my frame and the wings tucked neatly behind my back. "I've been so alone here and you've been so busy-"

"What can I do to get you to stay?" He asks sternly as if I were one of his devoted men, working by his side but I'm not. I'm supposed to be his wife, his partner, his best friend- but instead I'm almost a prisoner. "You promised to love me and you don't so you didn’t just break promises, you broke me." My lip wobbles with every word that I allow pass my lips, Daryl's attention finally lifting to actually look at me.

"I'm sorry that I've been busy. What can I do to get you to stay- tell me and I'll do it." He begs simply and my heart aches at the weight behind his words. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he actually cared.

"You took me from my family, you married me, you keep me in the same room every day- I'm on watch. I'm miserable." I mutter, looking down at my hands that shake in my lap. "You were supposed to love and take care of me like The Father asked and you haven't."

"Y/n-"

"I'd like to go home before I'm hurt anymore." I conclude, watching his face whiten in realization that he's lost me, that I'm finally done. "I've spent days trying to tell you this but I couldn't find the time to even meet with you because you've prioritized everyone above me and what's pitiful about it is-" I gasp, reaching up to brush the tears from my hot cheeks. "I hate the way that I don’t hate you and I so desperately want to.” I cry, my body shivering from a mix of anxiety and anger- I had so much hope, so much excitement for my new life here, with him, and for it all to go to hell- literally- it's heartbreaking.

"Do you really want to go home?" He asks, clearing his throat as he looks away from me and I swear I can see tears shining in his eyes as he sniffles lightly. When he sees me nod sadly, he places his hands on his desk and stands abruptly. "I'll make it happen then."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o- Taglist: @bubblebuttwade @rafelover2405 @leslienjazzy @sorceresss @grxnde-dwt @alex–awesome–22 @bunnietoof @niyamar1e @serialghost @plantlungs @geniusohn @akaliltimmytim @lilaalouuxx @xshariex @elliotsbeigeguitar @elle4404 @lelieja @srhxpci @joselyn001 @taysirene @spinkspanther @thedivineuphoria @peter-maximoffs @tsukishimawhore @poohkie90 @szlaco @distantsighs @nstyles4299 @wolflover384 @givemefoodandlovesstuff @vane28282 @yeswhatever33 @amirrahfranson @vvaalleennttiinna @f-mu @yaspillz @jeyramarie @skylievin@abbybarnes17 @jointherebellion215 @visiondaddy

@steezysimfinds @its-ya-gay-boi-luigi @crunchytoenailsyum@glizzymcguirex @beth123lg @melovesmut @rafecameronswhore @ariianelle @write-from-the-heart @vampviolets@haylee-e@popehaywardssecretgf @honee-chai-tea @lokiandbuckywife @smoke-and-fire @officiallyunofficialperson@heyaitsklaudia@rosepetalsparks @bluetreecloud20 @scenesofobx @double-shot-of-tequila @1dluver13xx @colbysbrocks @iamasimpingh0e @smoke-and-fire386 @loveshineslikethesky @id-3-kbro @diorsitgirl @errorfound101-allideasburnedout @neverwillknowme18 @ellyskey @taylors-folk @loversjoy @myaloveee @thyris-is @lagataprrr @aaaaslaaaan @minjix @luvrosee @storytellingwitht @savageneversaw

[sapphiretaehyung]

♡Immortal♡Hwang Hyunjin♡3♡

Genre: Historical au, highschool au

Pairing: Hyunjin x OC

Warnings: none

Word count: 1.3K

"I don't know, I heard her sister Cheonmyeong had a much more interesting life, despite never being the queen herself" I suggested slight shocking the three boys as they all turned to look at me.

"In what way" Seungmin finally responded as the the other two stayed quiet.

"Well first of all there is the fact that no one knows whether she was the oldest sibling and that her love life was rather different" I explained as they all looked at me.

"Okay well I like it" Hyunjin was the first to answer, showing a smile again. We began planning out the project, starting with what we actually wanted to focus on.

"I quite like the idea of her love story, as cringe as it is, because everyone would just think of writing about how she was the next kings mother or why she never became queen herself" Jisung explained, I was quite glad being put in this group because I knew a lot of guys wouldn't want to do a project on some dead woman's love life.

"You seem to know a lot Sohee, do you want to be in charge of the facts and research?" Seungmin asked, we voted him as the group leader as out of all of us he had the best skill set for the job.

"Yeah sure" I just quickly said as they began picking out all of their roles too.

"So do you like history then?" Hyunjin asked looking towards me. "Well you obviously know a lot, so is it like your best subject" He quickly added realising I wasn't going to answer him all that quickly.

"Nope, actually least liked subject" I said bluntly, probably confusing them all. "Why do I want to constantly talk about the past and all the bad things that happened" I added on then went back to ignoring the conversations as I continued doodling on the notepad I did early.

"Alright everyone, start finishing up now" The teacher said loudly, taking everyone out of their individual conversations.

"When are you guys all free to work on the project?" Seungmin said pulling out his diary to look at dates, he really seemed over prepared for everything.

"I can do any day" I heard Jisung say and Hyunjin agree as they all looked towards me.

"I'm quite busy most of the time "I said not making eye contact with any of them.

"Well here" Seungmin said handing me a sticky note. "Give me your number and I'll create a group chat that we can discuss it on" He said sitting a pen next to the sticky note. I was hesitant at first, but I knew I had to at least try be a normal student, so I grabbed the pen and quickly wrote down my number before handing it back to him.

"Great, I'll make it after school" He said before grabbing his books and standing up, with Hyunjin following after him.

Honestly it was my luck that the day I started this dumb school that I was forced to work with people. I really just wish I could spend my time out looking for Kyungho rather than writing a damn project on mine and my siblings pasts. As much as it was one of the best lives we all had, loosing Cheonmyeong was pretty hard on me, and I was starting to regret suggesting her as the topic, although it probably would be easier than writing about Seondeok.

"Please make sure you write me plenty of letters" Cheonmyeong told me as she helped me pack up some of my many dresses, preparing for moving to Baekje with Mu.

"You know I would never ignore you Cheonmyeong" I smiled over at her as I began folding another one of my dresses. I knew unfortunately this would be one of the last times I ever saw Cheonmyeong, knowing I would have to fake my own death to eventually get out of Baekje. She always looked the most put together out of the three of us, always having her having her hair done to perfection, never being seen when not wearing one of her gowns, it was obvious to us that she was the real Royalty in the family, but she chose love over the throne.

We were both slightly startled when there was a knock upon my door, that soon followed with one of the servants coming in and bowing to us.

"Princess Seonhwa, Princess Seondeok has asked if you please meet her in the courtyard for a few moments" They said before bowing and leaving the room.

"You go ahead, I'll continue in here" Cheonmyeong said as I turned to her and gave her a thankful smile.

The courtyard was just outside of the room, so it only took a moment to see Seondeok standing on one of the many bridges, looking out over the small stream that passed throughout the palace. The stream had many small fishes and animals swimming around, and was always one of my favourite sights within the palace.

"Seondeok" I said loudly as I approached her, making her turn to face me with a smile. I quickly walked over to her and stood next to her waiting for her to tell me why she wanted to see me.

"Are you sure going to Baekje is the best decision?" She suddenly questioned me, she knew I would do anything to make her reign as easy as possible since it was put upon her after Cheonmyeong refused it.

"Of course, I want there to be peace between the Kingdoms, if anything it will make everything easier for you" I explained to her and she gave me a quick nod. By this point all of us siblings knew, despite our human ages, that we were all mature enough to make our own life decisions as long as it did not negatively affect each other.

"Okay I trust you on this, but we need a plan on where to meet up after we are all ready to move onto our next life" She explained, we were able to have these kind of conversations out in the open as all the servants knew to keep their distance from us when we were together, unless we said otherwise. I nodded to her, hoping she would be the one to come up with a plan.

"Once news spreads of me being ill or dying, I need you to fake your own death, obviously the news will take a day or two to reach here so how about the four of us meet at the next full moon after on the path connecting Silla and Baekje" She explained to me as I listened closely.

"Now I want you to know that everything I do politically between here and Baekje has nothing to do with you, if all goes badly between us it will be my council who I listen to" She told me, I knew she would have to mention this. Despite my whole reason for leaving being peace I knew it wouldn't last forever between the two Kingdoms.

"I know, I have already decided I will not be participating in any such decisions" I told her as a smile grew upon her face.

"Now I want you to go there and live great life, don't constantly think about the next one, just focus on what you have now and be happy. I know how you are Seonhwa, you never live in the moment, so just try be mortal" She told me, I understood her though. I never really tried to make friends or find any kind of love knowing that this life is just temporary and before I knew it I would be onto the next, leaving everyone behind.

"I will try" I told her with a small smile upon my face.

"Now you head back to Cheonmyeong, and I will see you at your departure" She told me as I gave her a smile before heading back over to my room.

"Sohee" I heard breaking me out of my thoughts, It was Jisung.

"You were daydreaming, I just wanted to say it's lunch if you want to sit with me" He offered, I quickly stood up and followed him to the lunch hall, which he obviously understood as me agreeing.

Prev  Masterlist  Next

[skriveting]

Music for writing MASTERLIST

updated 28.12.21. all links are to spotify.

Music is a wonderful source of inspiration and can serve as a useful tool for keeping a consistent tone in a scene or the story overall. Below is a list of songs that can serve as inspiration for writing, categorized as follows:

Songs with lyrics

Instrumentals / Movie scores

Classical music

Songs with lyrics:

⚜️ Midas Touch, Aurora (2021, Pop)

oof

"I'd find you on your knees And you'd beg for me to be The woman on your throne But I'd rather be alone" !!!!!!

🌊 Heathens, Aurora (2021, Pop)

the DROP ON THIS TRACK- Unmatched.

wild vibes

❄️ Once Upon a December, Pentatonix (2020, A capella)

magical, mystical

longing

grand

💘 It's Been A Long, Long Time, Pentatonix (2021, A capella)

ethereal, peaceful

slow dancing

reuniting with a loved one

❤️ Mitt Hjerte Alltid Vanker, Ingebjørg Bratland (2008, Hymn)

this is a Norwegian Christmas song, but I imagine it will sound quite magical (perhaps especially) if you don't know the words, too

I believe the English version is called My Heart is Wandering

there are many versions of this song, but this is one of my favorites

Here's another version I really like: Mitt Hjerte Alltid Vanker, Sissel (1987)

❤️ Mu Váibmu Vádjul Doppe (version 1), (version 2), Mari Boine (2001/2013, Hymn)

the sami version of Mitt Hjerte Alltid Vanker

magical

brings me to thoughts of nature on a dark winter night

🔪 Cutthroat, by Imagine Dragons (2021)

MASSIVE duel vibes

badass

fight-to-the-death vibes

👑 The Tradition, by Halsey (2021)

Grimey, bleak, dark

Gives me protagonist fighting the system-vibes

It’s a tough world out there, you have to do what you have to do to survive

🍾 I Feel Good, by Pitbull, Anthony Watts, and DJ White Shadow (2021, Pop)

something about this song just screams blasted in a club with flashing lights and I can’t stop laughing

let ur characters cut loose and make stupid mistakes !!

“I don’t know about you, but I feel good” 😎

⚔️ Warriors, by 2WEI and Edda Hayes (2020, Cover of Imagine Dragons)

this was made for writing big battles with a slow build-up!

epic all around, really immersive

makes me want to write a scene built around it even though I have no project like that going on at the moment

🔲 Blank Space, by Taylor Swift (2014, Pop)

an iconic song about the push and pull of relationships

the song is a world/story in and of itself, great to build off of

catchy

(this whole album could be on this list)

😳 Tucked, by Katy Perry (2020, Pop)

a song made about how we fantasize about people

makes me write some saucy romance-longing

just a fun track honestly + kinda unique

🌗 Phases, by PRETTYMUCH (2019, Pop)

a song about sticking with a partner as they go through different phases in life

holding out for that special someone, giving them room to grow

really sweet

👑 Crown, by Stormzy (2019, Hip hop/Rap)

reminds me of a rainy city

bleak

heavy

a gang-leader type of vibe

🌆 Slacker Friends, by Way Down the Rainbow (2019, Alternative)

a slow burn, but worth every second.

a beautiful song for reminiscing about friendship

looking back on youth and savoring every moment

👭 Glad He’s Gone, by Tove Lo (2019, Alternative/Indie)

finally, your friend broke up with her man

reuniting of friends

friend love > romantic love

😫 Baby, by Clean Bandit ft. MARINA and Luis Fonsi (2018, Dance/Electronica)

this song inspired me to write in a medieval setting for some reason lol

makes me think of flamenco dancing (as a non-Spaniard) or some other passionate dance

just a bop, had this on repeat

🕺 Give Me the Night, by Georges Benson (1980, R&B/Soul)

a time-capsule to a different time

smooth

makes me want to roller skate on retro skates

📓 Coolest Guy on Campus, by RebMoe (2021, Indie)

the perfect song for an admiring-from-far-away situation

upbeat

sweet

🖤 Hearts a Mess, by Gotye (2006, Alternative/Indie)

a masterpiece, an experience, a revelation

what a ride

emotions in audible form

🪢 It’s Nice to Have a Friend, by Taylor Swift (2019, Pop)

just friendship? hmm??

a kids-to-adults-growth concept

upbeat, airy instrumental

Instrumentals / Movie scores:

🐐 A Narnia Lullaby, by Harry Gregson-Williams (from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. 2005)

short

unnerving

🌫 The Blitz, 1940, by Harry Gregson-Williams (from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. 2005)

boy oh boy did Harry Gregson-Williams write a lot of good music for this movie (but it's Harry Gregson-Williams so why are we surprised)

TENSE

the sound of the bombers flying by?? wow

🦢Dance for Me Wallis, by Abel Korzeniowski (from W.E., 2012)

the piano on this track-

dramatic, everything coming to a head

one of my favorite tracks ever, I think

🦇 Is She With You?, by Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL (from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, 2016)

Climax-music

Big drums, fast tempo

🔪 Brother’s Keeper, by Henry Jackman (from Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, 2016)

⚓️ Safe Now, by Henry Jackman (from Captain Phillips, 2013)

📻 A Hidden Life, by James Newton Howard (from A Hidden Life, 2019)

🐱 The Puss Suite, by Henry Jackman (from Puss in Boots, 2011)

this track has no right to be as good as it is, but that's Henry Jackman for you

¡olé!

⚡️ The Roundhouse, by Henry Jackman (from Pokémon Detective Pikachu, 2019)

this track just goes hard idk what else to say

🍒 The Comedown (From the Apple Original Film “Cherry”), by Henry Jackman (2021, Instrumental)

been OBSESSED with this (my #1 played song on spotify this year)

perfect for moody/subtextual/emotional stuff

a world all of its own

just such a good track. please check it out

Classical music:

🪄 Prospero’s Magic, by Michael Nyman (1991)

there’s something so haunting and emotional about this, please listen to it

🎼 String Quartet No. 3 in F Major, Op. 73: III. Allegro non troppo, by Dimitri Shostakovich/Dmitrij Sjostakovitsj (1946)

this piece makes me nervous, but in a good way

🎹 Piano Concerto No. 22 in E flat, K.482: 3. Allegro - Andante cantabile - Tempo I, by Mozart (1785)

🎭 Cello Sonata in G Minor, Op. 19: II. Allegro scherzando, by Sergei Rachmaninov

[dragonotaku-justineverything]

Rich Arc AU: After delivering the Lawsuit but before the case goes to court, the world reacting to all this. Special attention to Jaunes friends (some of them will be miffed that he didn’t pay for stuff) and White Fang and Beacon and Atlas (specifically Ironwood and Wonter).

In Mistral with Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren:

"WHHHHAT!? Jaune- Jaune's suing Weissy's family?!"

Ren uncovered his ears, now feeling a bit safer from Nora's shout. "Well... I believe it'd be more accurate to say that Jaune's family is doing the su-"

"AND HE'S RICH!?!?"

Ren got the full blast from that shout and leaned away from the louder girl, trying to get some distance for his already ringing ears before any more damage was done.

Pyrrha caught her male teammate before he fell all the way backwards. "I-It would appear so Nora. But I wonder why..."

"Well why wouldn't he tell us this stuff!?! Ever since he left us over break with Weissy, he barely talks to us!"

"Maybe he just doesn't feel comfortable talking about his family's wealth? And it is a break to be with Weiss and his family, I can understand if he's busy or preoccupied."

"But still! He can talk about anything with us! We're a team!"

Pyrrha sighed. Nora really had missed talking to Jaune daily like she used to, but it'd only been three days since they last talked. It wasn't that long really. "I'm sure he'll explain himself when we speak with him again. In the meantime though, my mother was wondering if you two would like to go out to eat tonight."

At the mention of dinner, Nora's eyes lit up brightly. "Oooh! Yes please!"

Ren raised a hand with a thumbs up in agreement with his childhood friend.

On Patch with Ruby and Yang:

The two sisters stared at the TV in their living room in absolute silence. Or at least until Yang finally spoke up a full two minutes after the breaking new report ended. "Ummmm Rubes?"

"Yeah Yang..."

"Did you know that... ummm..."

"That my first friend at Beacon was super, ultra, mega rich?"

"Yeah... that."

"No. I didn't."

"Okay... Cause if you hadn't shared that with your big sis, your single, big si-"

"YANG!?"

"Kidding!"

Belladonna household in Menagerie:

Blake stared at the TV with total interest, which was somewhat out of place with the introverted cat faunus. Her book was closed and forgotten on the tea table in front of her. She hadn't even marked the page before she slammed it shut so she could watch the news.

"Oh well I'll be. I never would have expected this to come about. Well, I had been wondering how Nicholas and Juniper had been doing. I suppose they're still doing well though if they're doing something like this."

Blake's mind came to a halt and her eyes snapped over to look at her Dad. 'Wait... what?'

Blake's mom rolled her eyes and took a sip from her tea. Kali set the cup down on the table and looked over straight at Ghira. "Well if we hadn't lost their contact information, we'd have been able to check in with them sometime during the last 15 years."

The mountain of a man groaned under her gaze and rubbed his forehead with his fingers. "How many times mu-"

Blake interrupted her parents right there. "Wait... you both know members of Jaune's family? The Arc's?"

Kali looked over to her daughter. "Why yes, or at least we did. Their family were some of the biggest supporters of the original White Fang. And very old friends of ours before that."

...

"What?!"

White Fang Hideout:

Sienna stared at the newspaper in her hands, feeling conflicted as a range of emotions ran through her head. Joy at seeing the Schnee's being taken on by a giant even bigger than them, curious at what made the Arc's act out like this after so long of being silent, and a mix of both shame and regret for what she had accused them of all those years ago and losing their support.

"Leader Khan?"

The tiger faunus looked up from the paper and down the stairs in front of her throne. The same messenger that had brought the newspaper in was standing there, nervously petting his own tail. "What is it?"

"W-will you be needing anything else from m-me ma'am?"

...

Sienna glanced down at the paper's headline once again. "Actually... yes. Send out word to all our members to stop all raids and missions unless they are utterly necessary. I believe we should get some old supporters back."

Headmaster's office in Beacon:

Ozpin sipped his coffee, not the least fazed by the reveal. After all, he had been around when most of the Arc's started their first businesses.

"It's safe to say that things will surely become a lot more interesting for Mr. Arc."

General Ironwood's office in Atlas:

"Specialist Schnee..."

Winter saluted her superior. "Yes, General Ironwood?"

Ironwood lowered his scroll, the latest news headline still on the screen. "...I suppose you had some knowledge of this prior to the news reporting it? Is that why you seemed a bit off a few weeks ago? And seemingly aren't very surprised by this?"

"S-sir?"

Ironwood sighed. The tone in her voice was a dead give away. "No matter, I suppose. I guess no matter what I do, the people of Remnant will always have something up their sleeves to catch me off guard. But tell me this Winter..."

Winter looked at Ironwood with total attention. "Yes sir?"

"... Is Jacques going to be an even bigger headache in the near future?"

"... I believe so sir."

Ironwood pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. Of course he would be.

[foxcantswim]

“I Dagger You.” - Sylki

Lots of Loki & Sylvie cuddles! Sylvie thinks about how she's never had anyone to call her own. Loki holds her.

(Established Relationship - Set way after Loki S1)

-x-

Flashing lights were seeping in through the small windows of the bedroom, Sylvie let out a small groan as she tried to ignore the commotion coming from the TVA.  She tried to pull the covers further up to cover her eyes. Loki had insisted that they stay at the TVA, both Mobius and Ravonna had offered a place to stay and fresh food whenever they required it. 

Sylvie wasn't too happy about staying in the place that took her away from her own life... but she realised that staying here was better than going out there into the unknown. Loki always made sure to stay by her side, he'd leave her with Mobius if he was unavailable for whatever reason.

Sylvie sighed as she felt Loki pull her closer, her back pressed snugly against his front. She could've swore that she felt his lips plant a small kiss against the back of her head. His arms were secure around her, not willing to let go. Her thumb gently caressed his arm, a soft smile appeared on her face.

She focused on the sound of some sort of alarm ringing throughout the TVA, she was curious as to how Loki was able to sleep through this. It wasn't loud, but it was just enough to tick Sylvie off. She took a deep breath before doing her best to get comfy without waking the man behind her, her eyes slowly opened as she realised that she wouldn't be getting anymore sleep. A look of annoyance appeared on her face as she tried so hard not to focus on the alarm.

Her eyes landed on the clock, it read 7:40am. Time wasn't exactly a thing at the TVA, but Mobius decided that it was best if everyone followed the same flow of time - So everyone at the TVA had their clocks set to the same time. Loki had set their alarm to 8am, one hour before he had to attend a meeting with Mobius and Ravonna. 

She had barely noticed that one of her hands was gripping Loki's arm with some force, she relieved her grip slightly but she made sure to hold it close to her body. A sad smile appeared on her face as she felt Loki tighten his arms around her, she never used to accept physical contact but Loki had somehow managed to break down her walls and creep on in. She would stay in his arms forever if the 'sacred timeline' allowed it.

Sylvie took a deep breath as she thought about how Loki had slowly but surely grounded her. He was always there for her, he always managed to bring her back to reality when she's panicking, he somehow knew what to say to make her feel okay... And he was hers. Finally. She'd never had anyone to love like this, she'd never had anyone to love her like this. Her heart ached, she felt like she was living in some kind of dream and that one day she would wake up and be alone all over again. People had told her that she deserved to be alone... Loki had been doing his best to destroy that thought within her. She deserved the universe. And he was her universe.

"Mmm, Sylvie..." Loki's hushed voice invaded her ears, sending a shiver up her spine. His legs moved to tangle with her own as he placed a soft kiss on the back of her neck, "Please tell me it isn't time to wake up yet..."

Sylvie turned in his arms to face him, "Soon, darling," she allowed a small laugh to escape her.

Loki's eyes opened to meet hers, his soft smile dropped and a look of concern crossed his face. He moved a hand up to her cheek, his thumb wiped away a stray tear. Sylvie wasn't even sure when that had happened, "What's wrong?" he asked, simply.

Sylvie bit her lip and looked down, wanting to avoid his gaze, "I... I'm not sure."

Loki's fingers gently came up under her chin to make her look at him, "What are you feeling?" he cautiously pressed a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth, causing Sylvie to freeze in shock. He offered her an encouraging yet shy smile.

"W-What are you doing?" she questioned as he placed another kiss on her forehead.

"Giving you affection because it looks like you need it," he replied in a whisper, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in. She happily obliged and rested her forehead against his chest. Had his heartbeat always been this soothing? Her own arms circled around him, never wanting to let go, "What's going on in that pretty little head of yours?" his hand cradled the back of head, his fingers running through her hair.

A small sniffle escaped Sylvie before she whispered a single word, "Alone," she clutched his shirt, suddenly feeling weak and vulnerable.

That was all Loki needed to hear, he pressed a soft kiss to the top of her head, "You don't deserve to be alone. You will never deserve to be alone," he felt her grip tighten in response, he knew that he would have tear stains on his shirt, 

"You deserve to feel loved, Sylvie. I've never been the best at expressing myself..." a nervous chuckle escaped him, "You deserve the universe, you're amazing."

Sylvie released a shaky breath, her thoughts drifted to their time on Lamentis-1... The moment where she realised that maybe she didn't have to do everything alone.The moment where she realised that someone actually cared for her.

“I already have the universe, Loki," she whispered.

"Oh?" he questioned, pulling back to look at her face.

Sylvie allowed the weakness to take over, she felt like jelly within Loki's arms and she adored it. The vulnerability she was feeling made her anxious, but deep down she knew that Loki wouldn't judge her for it, "You're my universe, Loki. I don't want... a throne. Only you," she smiled sadly at the memory of the Citadel.

Loki laughed, "Look at you. What turned you so soft?"

"Piss off," she groaned, trying to pull away - she decided that she hated being vulnerable, it made her feel like an idiot.

He simply continued to laugh before pulling her back in, "I'm Sylvie's universe~" he sang, endlessly teasing her.

"Loki!" she exclaimed in annoyance.

"Oooh," he smirked at her, keeping her in place, "I haven't heard you say my name like that since... Well, since last night," he winked at her.

"Oh, I hate you so mu-"

Loki cut the woman off by pressing a soft kiss against her lips, it was much too short for Sylvie's liking. The pair sat in silence, Loki smiled warmly at her as Sylvie tried to fight the blush from appearing on her cheeks. She couldn't stop her own smile as Loki gently rubbed her cheek with his thumb.

"You're my universe too, my love," he assured her, "You too have made me soft." His lips barely brushed hers before a loud ringing sound startled the both of them. 

Sylvie quickly jumped up from the bed and grabbed a dagger from the bedside table, she immediately got into a defensive pose - her dagger held up into the air ready to strike.

Loki couldn't help but laugh at the sight, "Ah, my darling. It's just the alarm," he had the biggest smile on his face causing Sylvie to groan. He leaned over to turn the alarm off, sending them into silence again... Well... Apart from the constant ringing noise that was echoing throughout the TVA.

Sylvie cleared her throat before tossing the dagger onto the end of the bed, "Sorry," she muttered, embarrassed by how she had acted. She sat on the edge of the bed, her back to Loki.

"Sylvie," he sighed, "It's okay. I'm actually impressed with how fast you reacted. Look at you, willing to be my knight in shining armour," he was getting way too dramatic. He quickly decided to shuffle across the bed and sit behind Sylvie, he pulled her into his arms without warning causing her to squeak in surprise.

"Loki!" she exclaimed in annoyance. He pulled her further onto the bed before pushing her on her back, he quickly straddled her hips effectively pinning her down, "Get your stupid ass off me!" she ordered, trying to move. He grabbed her hands with his and pinned them above her head, this caused her to freeze and stare directly into his eyes.

"What's the matter?" he asked as he pecked her softly on the lips, "Loki got your tongue?" he winked at her.

"I still hate you," she said, trying her best to glare at him. He saw right through her.

He pouted down at her, "Aw... Does that mean Sylvie doesn't want my affection anymore? Now who will I take all these kisses to?" Sylvie bit her lip in response as her eyes flickered down to his mouth. A smirk slowly formed on Loki's face, "Gotcha."

Sylvie tries to move her hands but Loki managed to keep a firm grip, he leans down and allows his lips to press softly against hers. A sigh of relief escapes Sylvie from his touch, she tilts her head to deepen the kiss.

Loki licked his lips upon pulling away, he places a small kiss against her forehead, "I would love to stay here all day with you," he sighed, sadly, "But... Mobius would kill me."

Groaning, Sylvie slammed her eyes shut, "When are we going to get a day together? Just the two of us?"

Another teasing smirk appeared on his face, "Oh? The big bad Sylvie wants a day all alone with me?"

"Shut. Up," her eyes opened to reveal a fire within her.

He chuckled, "Okay, okay. I will ask Mobius to see if he can give me a day off tomorrow," he promised before sitting up and releasing her hands, he stood up from the bed and headed over to the wardrobe, "Are you joining me today?" he asked over his shoulder. Sylvie tended to join him, she always sat in the same room as him. Sometimes next to him, sometimes on the other side of the room - she got nervous when he wasn't around so he started taking her everywhere.

"You know I will be," she sighs, upset at the lack of contact from Loki. She had had plenty of touches from Loki recently... but she still craved more. He was her safe space, he was the only one she could properly trust. The only one she could properly love.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he smiled turning back to face her, she was now sitting on the edge of the bed again. She had her eyes on the floor, a frown upon on her face. Loki walked over as he buttoned up his shirt, "Why so sad, my dear?"

Sylvie looked up at him, "I... I'm not sure," she admitted again.

He offered her a hand to help her stand, "And that's okay," he assured her before pulling her into a hug, his arms secure around her waist, "We'll get through this, Sylvie."

"Thank you, Loki," she muttered, her arms tightened around him.

He sighed happily, one his hands came up to cup the back of her neck, "Hey, Sylvie?"

She hummed, "Yes?"

Another laugh escaped him, "I dagger you."

"You're an idiot," she failed at keeping her own laughter at bay, she pressed a kiss above his heart before looking up at him, "But... I dagger you, too."

Loki didn't intend on being dragged back into bed for more cuddles... But it was impossible to say no to this woman. Even with Mobius threatening to kick the door down, he stayed there for a couple more hours before he finally decided to go out and finish his duties.

Sylvie simply smiled innocently at Mobius. He let them both off the hook...

[shijiujun]

Okay if y’all have read my top 2020 danmei list from a week or two back, you’ll know this is currently my favourite danmei (outside of Qi Wei Shang + 2ha hahaha), so here’s a proper, full rec!

- Part of Min’s ‘Why You Should Read’ Series -

Summary:

Ji Yan Ran is the Emperor’s brother and wields military power in the novel, and it starts with an object being stolen from the palace. Ji Yan Ran has to retrieve the item secretly, and so enlists the help of Feng Yu Sect’s Sect Master, Yun Yi Feng, who heads the martial arts world’s one and only information trading post. Yun Yi Feng does not deal in business that involves any royalty, but Jing Yan Ran offers him something he cannot refuse - the Blood Red Lingzhi, a rare and mystical herb that is rumoured to be able to treat his life-threatening condition.

Yun Yi Feng was used by his shifu when he was younger to test out all kinds of poisons and cures, and since then, his body flushes dangerously hot and cold frequently, with bouts of severe coughing fits in between. Throughout the first mission where he spends time with Ji Yan Ran searching for the stolen object, he allows Jing Yan Ran to take care of him. Their relationship is pretty flirty and touchy right off the bat, with Ji Yan Ran knowing really clearly that he wants to take care of Yun Yi Feng. When Yun Yi Feng goes anywhere without a coat, JYR always has one ready. He promises all his riches to him, even his mother hahaha (but that’s because he knows he deceived YYF with the Blood Red Lingzhi and is willing to give YYF everything else while also continuing to look for the lingzhi for him). 

Of course, they have to uncover a plot and conspiracy against their enemies who are plotting to dethrone the Emperor, and also reveal the secrets of Yun Yi Feng’s birth.

Read:

Novel (Online) | Novel (Print) - Not Available | Novel Translations | Manhua

Characters:

1. 云倚风 Yun Yi Feng (right) - The revered Sect Master of Feng Yu Sect as his sect controls the flow and movement of information. People from all over buy information or hire the sect to help them get information, and is considered a neutral sect within the wuxia world. Very intelligent, a cool-headed strategist who also loves riches, whose eyes light up at the sight of treasures and money.

He was a child remnant of a war, and picked up by his shifu Gui Ci, who brought him to this island to live with other kids he picked up. His first few years were spent rather happily there, but then one day the man gave all the children bowls of what they thought was soup but ended up being poison because Gui Ci wanted to test out his new concoctions. At the end, only YYF survived after multiple ingestions of poisons and experimental cures. Because he was the ‘strongest’ out of all the other children, Gui Ci began testing out all sorts of poisons and cures on him after. If someone came to him after having been poisoned, Gui Ci would poison YYF in the same way as a test subject to use cures on, and only after they worked on YYF would he use them on the patient. 

His shifu is considered a mad man, and the last straw was when he locked YYF up with several scorpions for a few days and YYF was the closest thing to death at that moment, and afterwards, realizing that he’d gone overboard, Gui Ci is more careful about poisoning him, allowing him to have a slightly more normal childhood, but because of this YYF’s body would flush hot and cold frequently and unbearably. He manages to escape from Gui Ci and sets up Feng Yu Sect.

He only has 5 years left to live if he doesn’t find the Blood Red Lingzhi, when he meets Ji Yan Ran and his request. After meeting JYR he realizes how sweet life is, to have someone who always thinks of him, who cares about his well-being, who wants to make him happy, who buys and gives him everything he wants. In the beginning he is unable to reciprocate knowing he’ll die soon, but they get together anyway after a close call, as JYR tries to find the Lingzhi for him.

He also loves to cook and play the zither, but is so bad at both!! He’s so terrible that every time he approaches the kitchen or the zither the servants themselves try to redirect him subtly and chase him away because they CANNOT stand his dishes or his music hahahaha.

2. 季燕然 Ji Yan Ran (left) - Army commander/general, and a prince. Close to the Emperor, who’s his older brother, and takes a liking to YYF the moment he meets him. He bluffs YYF, says that he has the Blood Red Lingzhi, and then realizing how much YYF needs it, he feels more guilty and guilty for lying to him, and once admitting it, he promises to do whatever it takes to find it for him.  

He’s very smart as well, has eyes only for YYF and is willing to indulge him in every single whim he has. If YYF complains that he doesn’t have anything to wear (even in jest), JYR has the garment stores in the whole city send 10 outfits each for YYF to pick. And even though he hates YYF’s cooking and playing of the zither, he lets him do it anyway, fond but exasperated while everyone is staring daggers at him for not stopping YYF.

A few years ago, a close friend of his and the Emperor’s died, and JYR suspects that their father had something to do with it. It’s something that has been troubling him for many years and it’s a dilemma for him because he has to balance between questioning the Emperor but also trusting him and being a good brother/official to him, as clues keep pointing towards the Emperor and his father being involved in shady deals/decisions. His relationship with the Emperor, his brother, can be described as close, but of course even though they are close and trust each other to a good extent, there is still room for a tiny bit of doubt that both brothers are well aware of due to their positions, not that this affects their relationship.

Openly is affectionate to YYF in front of everyone, including his mother, who likes YYF alot as well. YYF once worried if the Emperor would oppose his relationship with him, but JYR said that their relationship should put the Emperor even more at ease, because the world and other officials would not recognize an Emperor who liked men and didn’t have any children, meaning that JYR becomes an even smaller threat to the throne.

3. 暮成雪 Mu Cheng Xue - An assassin who keeps popping up throughout the novel, and is a frenemy to YYF especially because he stole the cuteass snow leopard that was supposed to be YYF’s and refuses to return it. Not good nor bad, he does whatever he’s paid for.

4. 江凌飞 Jiang Ling Fei - JYR’s godbrother, who didn’t have a good childhood with no one to protect him in the Jiang family, one of the big wuxia families in the novel, as he had no parents and was technically brought up by his scheming uncles/cousins etc. He befriended JYR when they were younger and acknowledged JYR’s mother as his godmother because she was truly and genuinely good to him, and spends a large part of his days running in and out of the Jing manor. He’s JYR’s right hand man, but his dream is to be a bum wandering through different parts of the world, having fun whenever instead of being boggled down by duties to the Jiang family and other things.

Amazing Scenes:

YYF unceremoniously using JYR’s arm as a pillow while he’s talking 

Basically YYF fainting and getting sick a lot and JYR always there to catch him ;-; To dote on him!!! Ahhhh my heart

Other Things I Like in the Novel:

The first time YYF plays the zither in the Jing manor, JYR’s mother, shaking, goes to JYR and asks, “Is Yun-er learning some evil cultivation music?��

YYF tends to go out to the markets and will buy back 2kg of flour for example, while all the servants shudder in the fear and cry in front of JYR, who can only sigh but indulge him

YYF’s favourite things include JYR’s mother taking his blankets out to soak up the sunlight in the day so he has fluffy, warmth-filled and fresh-smelling covers everyday to collapse into

JYR once asked YYF if it’s a good thing that he met him, and YYF says, “Of course it’s a good thing I met wangye, because of you, I now know that life can be sweet and warm too.”

YYF carves out what he thinks the Blood Red Lingzhi looks like based on some bogus description JYR gave him and because he’s so hopeful and happy about finally being able to have the lingzhi, he carves it out and wears it like a pendant, and everytime JYR sees it he wants to slap himself for being such a motherfucking asshole and deceiving this man

YYF keeps forgetting his cape/coat, so JYR always gives him his, but YYF keeps taking and not returning and on the fourth time it happens, YYF looks at JYR expectantly, and JYR says, “You’ve already taken three, this is my last one, I’m gonna freeze to death, left without a cape if I give you this one”

JYR always tempts YYF into doing things by giving him treasures, and jokingly promises YYF his army commander ring, which symbolizes his authority and power, and YYF unceremoniously takes it knowing what it is, and refuses to return it to him - After a few times this happens, JYR makes a replica of it so they matchy matchy ;-;

They travel South in a holiday for a few months after the first arc is wrapped up, knowing that YYF doesn’t have much time left to live, and every single day is painful for JYR as the time YYF spends conscious decreases day by day

YYF asks for some oil/salve to use as lube from the army camp’s physician, a night before JYR is due to go off for war, and the physician scolds the messenger for having the time to think about such thoughts, and when the messenger says it’s for YYF, physician is like “... oh. okay, here you go, give this to him” without another word HAHAHAHA

[life-rewritten]

Manner of D*eath (MOD); The Little Mermaid and The Warped Prince

This is a fun one, I promise. MOD  continues to be a ride with excitement, worries, and more questions to bring. But you know what after major rewatching and analysis, I have come to terms with how I think the story will go—the whole reason one; word Little Mermaid. I've written a past suspect list (here) before about who I thought the culprit is from episode 1. There's been a few changes to that, but I think I can finally guess who the culprit is that took Jane's life. And it's because of this foreshadowing with Little Mermaid. I'll explain even more. Little Mermaid not only helps me bring up my final suspects, but I also think it is a base for the romantic relationships in the show as well. So without further ado, let's dive into this analysis.

When writing my suspect list, I stated that there were many apparent hints to who the suspect is and why they could possibly do it. I didn't want to believe in my simple theory because it seemed too easy to guess and too simple to be. But after thinking about it, I also said that it's not about who's the suspect that matters but how we get to that information. The show has littered many plotlines making sure we don't feel comfortable about our feelings on who we think the suspect is. We've questioned Tan's involvement, That, Pued, The Mayor, Jane her self and others. So even though the suspect may be easy to guess I think with the way the writers and director made us go through loops slowly revealing the information and leaving some clues that can't be fully vouched for, or 100% agreed on, the reveal will still be shocking and fun to see how it unveils and ends, and there might be a forgotten person that surprises me. The issue I had with the show at first since I hate mysteries was if the plot wouldn't leave enough clues or subtext for us to understand what's going on and the reveal will be out of nowhere. But to my surprise, Jane already mentioned who killed her and why because of her mention of one book Little Mermaid. Let me explain more;

The warped Prince and the Little Mermaid

Little Mermaid, not the Disney one, the one (apparently an allegory to a gay unrequited love by the writer who is also important later for the base of the couples) where we have a depressing ending, betrayals and sacrifice. Here is a summary of that one, and the things we should focus on when reading it.

 Little Mermaid is about Ariel (that's not her name in the original, but I'm going to call her that), Ariel falls in love with the prince after saving him. She is determined to be with him and lets her self be changed to human to join his world, there's a list of rules, she has to be mute, she can't return back to the human world once she takes the potion, and she must make the prince fall in love with her. She goes through a lot of pain once she takes the potion, reunites with the prince who never saw the girl who saved him but someone else, if she wins the heart of the prince she'll obtain a soul, but if he marries someone else she will die with a broken heart and dissolve into sea foam. Alright great, so you're starting to see the difference with the Disney one right? Let's keep going. 

 The prince begins to like being with  Ariel, who is beautiful; their relationship becomes the best. Still, he does not have feelings for her romantically (I know I was shocked, why haven't I read the full story of this before. Poor Ariel she got friend-zoned) But the sad thing is the prince does love Ariel (the girl who saved him that he can't remember). He believes that the person who saved his life is a girl from the temple, the girl who found him when he woke up (sigh), so when his family tells him to marry the temple girl, the prince agrees. All of Ariel's sacrifice goes in vain. She is broken and is denoted by her sisters to eliminate the prince in vengeance to come back to the sea. However she can't do it, she loves him too much, and so she ends her self instead. Luckily the story doesn't end all too bad for Ariel; she obtains an immortal soul and goes up to heaven for her love and selflessness. The end.  

You're probably wondering why on earth I had to read this out to you. But bare with me, listen to the things that you need to see: 

The Little Mermaid sacrifices her self to get to the world of the prince. Her love for him makes her willing to be in pain, bleeding on her feet, stay mute, and lose her home because of him.

The prince is not in love with the little Mermaid despite her sacrifice. He loved the temple girl because he thought she was the person who saved him, and he was pressured into marriage with her by his family too. There's a love triangle.

The little Mermaid feels betrayal at the reveal of who the prince loves. She is forced to wait for death because she cannot speak or go home. 

The little Mermaid is told to get revenge by her sisters and get rid of the prince. But she wants to do the right thing.

She dies for love and selflessness.  

Are you seeing where I'm going with this? Let's look at Jane and how she fits this storyline.

Sacrificing her self for love; 

One of the biggest reveals of the show is that Jane was in love and happy with Pued. They had been a couple that was the talk of the town until one day they weren't. Jane went through a miscarriage that got her to fall into depression. No one knew why or understood why she and Pued ended. We discover that Pued coerced Jane into selling her body to the mayor and others so that he could stay prosecutor and have power. 

One, Pued is a warped version of the prince. The prince was indebted to Ariel for his life just as Pued was indebted to Jane for her acceptance to help him stay in power. Pued viewed his wealth and power as his life. Second, Jane let her self get assaulted, drugged and abused to make sure her boyfriend stayed on his throne. This is the same as the little Mermaid who lost everything of her, her tails were transformed forcefully (bleeding each time) to legs, and she had to deal with that on her own, she lost her voice, and she also lost her home. She gave up everything for the prince. 

It gets worse, Jane got pregnant and was forced to bleed (see the visual?) through her legs by getting a miscarriage. Pued and her broke up then. We can assume, she wasn't okay with what happened and her depression consumed her, I think there's more to it. Just as Ariel lost her voice and right to speak (her tongue was also taken, I know right? this story is wild ), Jane was forced to keep quiet by the higher-ups and the world of Pued. 

Now let's pause, Ariel had to lose her world and her home to go into the prince's. Pued's world was the same as Tan and Por; it was the mafia organisation. This probably was funded and supported by the mayor and the corruption of the justice system. The organisation put each of its members in a high position of power and status as long as they did something for them. Tan is Dam; he's a puppet as I wrote about in my past essay. He didn't mean to go into this life, but his mother wasn't alive, and his father was the one who roped him into taking care of his brother Pued. It's important to see why Tan had to hide and help Pued go into hiding. He didn't know the full details; he was told something different by Pued. I will explain what I think he thought was the reason soon.  Like the little Mermaid for love, Jane joins Pued's world of corruption without knowing how deep and dangerous it was.  She only notices the errors of her ways when another girl is eliminated due to mishap with the miscarriage, and that's Nat. She couldn't as a teacher stay still anymore. But it's more than that as well. Although she's a martyr, I think she also wanted revenge. Why? Let's go into point two.

2 There's a love triangle

You didn't see this one coming, did you? I mean I'm guessing people are starting to jump on the train with this. The first time we saw Jane, she was with Tan, so we assumed the love triangle was between her, Pued and Tan. This was further hinted at when Tan punches Pued because of how he grabs her and spoke to her (we didn't know). Tan protected Jane like a  girlfriend, but he didn't show any signs of remorse when she was removed. He went and covered up the truth instead. Still, moments after her demise, he speaks fondly of her she and him were friends, he did care about her and did miss her despite needing to ensure why she left was hidden. 

He's just a puppet under Pued's lies and instructions. The other love triangle was foreshadowing what we thought in episode 1; Tan, Bun and Jane. Bun thought Tan was straight, and in a relationship, we saw him go through remorse and sadness when he discovered the guy he wanted was already taken by his best friend. However, this love triangle isn't the reason why Jane took her life (or why she was removed because of love). There's one more we haven't seen, but it's been there. And it's upsetting and frustrating. In my first episode 1 suspect list, I wrote that Rutingwa was not to be trusted, but I was going to trust her for now because I didn't understand how she could be the one to pull Jane up the rope etc. However, I did notice her overreactions and over emotions when she walked in and saw her sisters demise. She was in the same clothes as the day before at the event. I found it odd.

 The second thing I called out and remembered is the terrorising of Bun only started to happen when she ominously asked him to keep updating her on her sisters MOD, Bun had gone to her first to say the MOD wasn't sui*cide, but it was actually mu*rder. Lastly, she again showed even more interest and anger once she discovered how the cops were hiding her sisters MOD (it's a red herring she couldn't care less, I'll explain soon) and she vowed to find out what happened. In the current episodes, she showed up again determined to know what Bun knew about the case, and she claimed she didn't know about her sister's reasons for depression. 

She didn't know anything about Pued and her sister's relationship just what others know.  So here is where you hear it from me first; Rutingwa is the person who is the suspect. I'll explain how she did it and how she is involved. But she's the temple girl, the person who misleads the prince into thinking she saved him. If the prince is warped in the show as Pued, then the temple girl is also warped. And it's the biggest betrayal. See why I think Jane had more reasons for why she was desperate to reveal the truth. She wanted to do it for justice (selflessness of the Mermaid) but because of revenge. The prince chose a girl from his world, and I think Runtingwa is also part of the corruption ring, and she is aware of it. 

3 The mermaid victim

Ariel, once she discovers the prince's betrayal at first isn't angry at him. She's just depressed, she cries and cries and waits for her demise. However, that's important to note because Jane also went through her fair share of depression. The reason why Ariel cried was because of loss of her self, and the sacrifices she made for this man, she felt stupid, heartbroken and defeated. She understood he didn't love her, but it felt like she had wasted everything for him. The reason why Jane went into depression in my theory is that she found out about Runtigwa and Pued. 

Her depression stemmed from her miscarriage, but she started to want to say the truth, the reason why she stayed with Tan to be protected because she knew of her sister's betrayal. She may have found out during the period of her depression and Pued may have told her it wasn't the case, but I think what drove her the most to want to reveal the truth at first was revenge. What led to her demise was confronting both Rutingwa and Pued that same night after discovering the truth. However, she kept quiet at first because of Pued telling her not to say anything, and the higher-ups threatening her to be quiet. I believe Pued made Tan keep an eye on her (he didn't know the real reason). 

4 Vengeance and Selflessness

But it's more than just the anger at the betrayal that probably made her break up with Pued. It was also the other factors. She knew what was happening to Nat and she couldn't say anything. She knew about the world of corruption and how it was taking her students and others, and she had kept quiet not because of love but because of fear, once Nat was hurt by the botched miscarriage, she couldn't stay silent anymore. 

I believe she not only uncovered the betrayal of her sister which led her to more anger and determination, to tell the truth, but her sense of responsibility as a teacher made her feel it was no longer acceptable. This is her little Mermaid's choice to be selfless. Instead of choosing to hurt the .prince at first after her sadness (she didn't choose to say something because of the betrayal at the end,  but she had the thought and probably started to gather evidence then), she decided to put her self in danger and unveil the truth about the corruption. (hence risking her life).

 The only issue is because of love for Pued she told him what she was going to do. He didn't take it lightly and warned her not to. She realised who he really was and he lost his temper and hurt her.  Remember that Ariel wants to get rid of the prince because her sisters give her that idea, just like removing the girls she cared about made Jane more determined, to tell the truth.  This is why Tan came and punched him; he didn't like what his brother said or did, even if he has to be a puppet Jane was his friend. This again shows you Tan didn't know what was really going on; he had to follow orders underneath Pued begrudgingly. The reason why he thought he had to cover up Jane's MOD was because he was misled. 

I won't be surprised if he knew about Runtingwa and Pued's affair and that's what he thought Jane was going to unveil and why Pued told him to keep an eye on her. He knew Pued was involved in Jane's demise, but he thought because her MOD would reveal the organisation he has to hide and protect his family, he had to keep their jobs intact. He was a puppet under orders which only started to realise the gravity of the situation once he fell for Bun. 

5 D*ying for love and selflessness 

So Jane, like the little Mermaid, decided to sacrifice her self and reputation. She decided to expose the higher-ups. However, on that night, she didn't expect that Pued would follow through with his warnings and come and try and convince her. Remember how I said I didn't know how Rutingwa would do all this to her sister, or where she got the strength to hang her sister? (Not that women can't be strong) it's because I think she and Pued both got rid of Jane. Now despite Pued being warped and cruel to Jane, I still think parts of him cared for her. The prince cared and felt indebted to the Mermaid; he saw her as a close friend. I don't think Pued meant to end her life. I think he went to warn her and scare her to stop like he made Tan do to Bun. 

I think Rutingwa, however, is the one who convinced him to make her demise look self-inflicted (trying to avoid words is so hard but I have to use all these synonyms not to get flagged on Tumblr haha). Rutingwa knew about Jane's MOD; she was involved in it; she also came to warn her sister. She even stuck by Bun's side to ensure evidence was taken care of, to keep him quiet by snitching. 

Pued went into hiding to avoid being seen as a suspect he faked his kidnap. Rutingwa could get away with hers by feigning ignorance. Now I really tried so hard to prevent a girl from being a villain in another BL, but I think Rutingwa is a brilliant villain. She has shown that she's heartless and determined to get her way if she is the villain. She's a plot twist because she's been hidden under layers and layers of other red herrings as we uncover the plot, and she and Pued hardly interact. When she feigned her ignorance about her sister's condition, it made sense to us seeing her fight for the police to expose her sisters MOD, but that's because she knew he was one of the corrupted people involved. They had planned to get Bun of their case. To make her self seem innocent. It's fantastic. 

The most obvious clue is that she is the closest person to the victim, just like Bun said in episode 1; it's always the ones closest to the victims that are the suspect, he just didn't deep how close it was, he was right it was her boyfriend, but it also was her sister who was putting on a show, in clothes she wore the night before and was acting naive about her sister's depression and spiral to her demise. Rutingwa is someone to keep an eye on. She'll go to lengths to be seen as innocent, and I think she's the main head of this, not Pued. Pued is just as Jane said spineless and weak, he's just spoilt and wanted to stay in power, he didn't care about Jane enough because he was in love with Rutingwa and they both sacrificed her to let him stay in his position and she in hers as his lover. It's messed up, but hey it's a brilliant plot. 

To Love or Not to Love: Little Mermaid a foreshadowing device for the couples 

So that's the first way the little Mermaid is connected to the foreshadowing of the plot. The second is the base of the romantic couples.

Two worlds apart; the little Mermaid and the prince are prevented from being together because of separate worlds until she joins him sacrificing her self and voice and then life for him to be there. 

To k*ill or not to k*ill. After discovering his betrayal, the Mermaid has to choose to save herself, go back to her world, or leave for love. She decides to sacrifice her life for love.

Misunderstandings and Regrets: The prince misunderstood the temple girl as his saviour he couldn't move on from that mindset, and so he didn't let himself love Ariel. Until the end, he never knew Ariel was the one he truly loved. 

Two worlds apart: Justice vs Corruption

As you can see, one of the themes of the love stories with everyone who is in a romantic relationship on the show (not the subtext ones) is being two worlds apart. Let me explain. 

Jane is torn by her ethics as a teacher vs her love for Pued, and she chooses to sacrifice her self to get to his world and be with him. 

Bun is torn by his morals as a pathologist and determination for justice ( due to past experiences with the police) vs his love for Tan who is part of an organisation that does crime and is linked to corruption. He sacrifices his suspicions and fears to get to his world and be with him despite being afraid he could be just like the people he hates. 

Sorowit is torn by his innocence and also determination for justice to his friends vs his blooming love for Tat who is connected to violence and the corruption ring that hurts him. He sacrifices his worries and resentments (because Tat even injured him when they first interacted for his friend) to get to his world and be with him. 

In all these love stories, the characters end up unveiling a betrayal, which makes them feel used with wasted hearts and love because their love was never real. In my theory, Jane discovers that Pued is not just spineless and heartless, but he also didn't love her, he loved her sister, and before she could do what was right she was eliminated. 

Bun has to come to terms that Tan may be the suspect and has lied and used him just to hide the evidence and the truth. Their love was never real, and he wasted his trust and heart on him. Sorowit will also come to the same terms when he discovers that Tat may be working for someone who knew about the corruption that is affecting all his close friends and Jane. (Nam, Nat, Jane). He also would force himself to question if Tat has a heart because of how cruel he can be. Bun is the person to warn him about Tat. 

Whilst Pued is warped prince, That and Tan are puppets forced to follow orders of an organisation that they can't escape. Without meaning, they both fall in love with Bun and Sorowit despite the danger and the fact that they're meant to stay emotionless and unfeeling since all they can do is be loyal to the organisation to remain taken care of. Tan has had no choice in the matter, and because Tat works for him, he also didn't have a choice and was probably forced into it at a young age. 

2 To maim or not to maim. 

The issue is that all couples had entered a dangerous situation, in order for one of them to survive in their world; one must be removed. For Jane, to return back to her world of responsibility and justice, Pued has to be exposed, and his reputation had to be ruined. If she told the truth, the whole town would be ruined. It had to be a decision between her and him and the rest. She chose to go to him selflessly, and he decided that she was the one that had to go. 

This is why it's a sad foreshadowing at some point Tan will have to make the same choice. Bun's life or His. And Bun will have to do the same after discovering the truth. They are both in a situation where one of them can't survive if the other does. If Tan survives, the organisation survives, the higher-ups win and the town is not ruined. But Bun is silenced. If Bun survives, Tan will be hurt and taken care of by the higher-ups and framed. Tat and Sorowit are the same. Sorowit's curiosity has got him involved in this too, the more he knows and stays with Tat the more his life is also in danger, the more Tat would also have to follow orders to get rid of him. Sorowit has to decide like Bun if he can sacrifice Tat for the truth to be revealed. In Little Mermaid, you know what path she chooses, she chooses love. Bun and Tan will choose love; what that means? I don't know, Tat and Sorowit are the same. 

Misunderstandings and Regrets

That's why we're in a sad predicament. Right now, the misunderstanding and lack of recognising Tat and Tan's innocence is going to drive a wedge in the relationship and case. Bun will believe Tan is the suspect, and Tat was the one who threatened Bun. They're both going to get framed. Just like little Mermaid was framed in the opposite as not the person who saved the prince. There's a lack of clarity happening at this time that could lead to fatal consequences; unfortunately, same as what happened with the prince and the Mermaid. For Pued and Jane, I wonder if Rutingwa framed her, could Rutingwa have been the person to make Pued stop loving her or trusting her? I don't know how, but like I said, she seems to be the strongest and scariest villain/suspect. She does what she wants to get what she wants.

 Could Pued have loved and cared about Jane the way the Prince cared about Ariel and the girl who saved him but somehow got lack of clarity on who she was in his life? Did Rutingwa seem more like the better person to help save his life and career? If she's involved in the corruption ring then yes. She probably seemed like a better wife or choice. But again Pued is the warped prince, Tan and Tat aren't. Their love is genuine and authentic. Bun and Sorowit will later come to terms with that, and choose to be the ones that sacrifice everything for them I believe just like the Mermaid did. Luckily the little Mermaid may not be a happy ending for Jane in the way she wanted, but it is a happy ending in the tale. She is rewarded for her love and selflessness. Jane's reward is the truth getting uncovered by Bun. Saving more girls from the situation she was in.  I also believe Tan and Bun whoever sacrifices would be rewarded, I believe this will have a happy ending, but that's just me.  They'll reunite at the end, finally unveiling the real villains and surviving. That's what I believe. 

So Manner of Death is about to become my favourite just from seeing the next episodes unfold. I could be wrong about this, but I don't see how yet, there are so many clues hinting to Runtingwa as the badass villain she is, as much as I hate girl hate, I commend her on her villainy, she's stone-cold,  if she is, she doesn't mess around, and I like seeing flawed women sometimes. I just want her to be the head of the whole thing, not just doing this because of love for Pued. But because of power and greed and determination to have a good reputation. I want her to be more cunning and stronger than Pued as a villain, even if he's the person who did it, I want her to be the one who suggested it. I don't know sometimes I like seeing women in this role, she's not an ex-girlfriend of the Bl couple who is determined to ruin them, she's not even the villain because of jealousy Pued wants Jane, she's doing it for power and reputation. Like Yes, you show how evil you are, and you own it. She'll be a great villain if she is as cunning as I think she is. Pued in my mind is a wimp, even if he hurt Jane, I don't think he meant to do it. But we'll see how cruel he can be.

I know the mayor, and police detective could be the ones, but with their reveal now, I don't think Jane was tricked or eliminated by them, they are red herrings to the story. Disgusting corrupted people who have power and control, but it's a puppet who did it because of fear. It's Pued. But maybe I'm wrong, and it is them, it wouldn't make sense with the foreshadowing of d*ying for love. They didn't eliminate Nat; she was eliminated because of the botched miscarriage, that's what I believe anyways. Let me know what you think? Any other suspects I'm missing?  You can check out my other analysis of the show in my masterpost. Let’s discuss about the show.  

[spockandawe]

ANYWAYS LET’S TALK ABOUT THAT FISH BOOK

Okay, I finally finished the silly thing. I don’t know WHY i stalled out for so long, twice, but I DID IT. As of writing, Hanji is up to translating chapter ninety-something, but I finished on mtl because I have the patience of a toddler.

And... let’s see. I’m not going to rehash the entire plot when I’ve done that before, but I definitely enjoyed it VERY much. I enjoyed it most in the first half of the book, I think, when things are at MAXIMUM batshit levels. I was there for the chaos of an ancient chinese prince falling in love with his pet fish. I wanted things to be as ridiculous as possible for as long as possible.

To be clear, the book never stops being ridiculous, but it does get a lot more.... sedate and less-silly as it goes on. It makes sense, as the relationship is firmed up, the characters keep fewer secrets from each other, and Li Yu is established as a major part of this high-ranked nobleman’s household and is formally married to him. It’s only natural that there are fewer hijinks where he slaps the Emperor’s favorite concubine in the face, or foils assassination attempts by sneaking into Jing-wang’s bed. 

The book did come... close to losing me for a while, probably somewhere around the 80% mark. I won’t go into too much detail, but spoiler warnings for the last major plot obstacle, and one of the side characters. So, after Jing-wang and Li Yu are married and come back to the capital, there’s attempted sabotage and then an attempted rebellion from inside the imperial palace. It gets thwarted, thanks in large part to Li Yu’s supernatural fish powers. After this point, Jing-wang’s path to the throne is pretty much locked in stone. But... there are some side characters who didn’t do anything wrong and got dicked over by the actions of the traitors. And then, there’s Chu Yanyu, who was Jing-wang’s spouse in the original novel, and who in this novel has been THOROUGHLY rejected.

(full disclosure: mu tianchi/li yu/chu yanyu ot3. will i explain myself ever? can i explain myself? we just don’t know, but i stand by it)

Anyways, Chu Yanyu had been held in limbo slash semi-prison at Jing-wang’s estate after the sixth prince (who he loved) handed him over as a gift. When Jing-wang went to go do military things, He was miserable. Chu Yanyu was freed, and returned to the sixth prince, who had just married a lady. Chu Yanyu was kinda jaded and was like ‘mmmmm, you could just give me to your dad as a gift’, and the sixth prince was like ‘really? :O’ and did so, though what they did was get the Emperor drunk and steer him towards Chu Yanyu’s room, so that when he woke up in the morning he thought he’d done something, and made Chu Yanyu a concubine because that’s the ancient emperor version of doing the right thing, I guess.

But after the rebellion, Chu Yanyu realizes that even if he tried to win the Emperor over, the Emperor is getting old, and after he dies, what is Chu Yanyu going to do with himself? Live in seclusion forever? He’s still young, with his whole life ahead of him?

So... he tries to get ahead by sabotaging Jing-wang and Li Yu. Which, dick move, bro. But also, the things he says aren’t WRONG. Chu Yanyu makes some VALID POINTS. But the others see through his plan and make him look like a liar anddddd then he gets beaten sent to the Cold Palace, where he has no allies to support him, most of his valuables get stolen while he’s injured from the beating, and then he can’t afford decent medicine and his face and one of his legs don’t heal right. and he has to eat candles because he doesn’t get enough food. THE END. (for chu yanyu). So that...... upset me! I was not stoked about that! And the story then steered itself towards ‘it sucks that widowed women are shamed out of remarrying, can we fix that?’ which, slightly uplifting i guess, but not the wacky hijinks I signed up for.

Fortunately, the book ends on a DELICIOUSLY wacky note. I’m going to continue calling it fishswap, because homestuck is buried deep in my brain by now, but Li Yu finishes the main quest the system gave him, and gets the opportunity to visit his original home for two days. The kids are still too young to safely bring them all, so he brings...... Jing-wang. But he wakes up in his house with no husband there, and has to go looking for him. He doesn’t find him as a human, though. You’ll never guess what animal Jing-wang is. You’ll NEVER GUESS XD

Anyways, that was legit delightful, and reminded me of everything else I love so much about this book. Because I do really love it! It’s so much fun, even if it does get less balls to the wall crazy as time moves on. It’s such a BIZARRE premise, and I’m still genuinely + pleasantly surprised that such a wild idea was written out in a way that was so sincere and silly at the same time. The end of the Chu Yanyu storyline will never not depress me, but there is a LOT of very, very sweet other stuff in the book that brings me joy. Even when the children show up, they’re not the same kind of madcap fun that you had at the beginning with just Li Yu and Jing-wang, but they bring a different and charming blend of humor to the table. So I recommend it a lot! I plan to keep following along with Hanji to see everything I missed through an mtl lens, and I plan to keep recommending this book to people until they tell me to shut up XD (my friend did recommend a different book to me the other day, and apologized for it not having any fish romance in it, and i was like GIRL, PLEASE, I HAVE STANDARDS)

[abraxos-is-toothless]

Undercover- Throne of Glass AU (8)

Um, this one is a shortened update, not even 2k words. Thats because I took some off an moved it into 9:) Ren and Connall’s ship name is now Renall. I might write content on these two in other AUs as well?

A/N: If you read Surprises, the chap will come but I messed it up and I’ve had to redo things. And I’ve also had a few issues at home but I’m promise to get it to you as soon as I can<3

Undercover Masterlist.

Full Masterlist.

----------

Gavriel, Vaughan and Rowan were walking through Hyde Park, coffees in hand. It was early morning, grass still covered in dew and their breath could be seen on the air. A few days ago, Aelin had told them that Arobynn had a few men who stayed in the area a lot and she needed people to come down to see if they could spot anyone, taking all of their findings back to her. Rowan had offered himself up for the job, along with Vaughan and Gavriel. The two of them had agreed but Gavriel knew it was just to get them alone, could see it in the way his Boss was very adamant that the three of them could do it. So here they were, silently walking, seeing absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

Rowan nodded towards an empty bench, gesturing that they should sit about twenty minutes into their walk. Rowan and Vaughan sat, but he chose to remain standing, facing them so they were covering all angles. The former was fiddling with the lid of his coffee cup, sighing when the latter turned and raised a brow at him. “Come on Ro, spit it out. You know something.” Vaughan just stared, waiting, and he felt himself go still when Rowan finally opened his fucking mouth.

“She’s Rhoe’s daughter.” Oh, for the ever loving fuck. Oh gods.

“Tell me you’re joking.” He whispered it, knowing what the answer would be, but he was terrified anyway.

“I’m not joking, Gav.” Rowan was looking at him, worry etched all over his face, but he didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what to do. This was all so unbelievably fucked up. Vaughan’s only sign of being shocked was the way his eyes widened just a fraction. Despite that, he was probably running over everything in his head, trying to figure out how he missed something so important. “Rhoe Galathynius, the man who led this gang before her, had a daughter. There is no information on her anywhere, absolutely nothing. But she was around what, nine or ten when he was killed, so her parents must have set something up in case the worst happened, making it look like she never even existed.” He felt sick. If he hadn’t left, if he hadn’t listened to Eliana, then maybe he could have done something, could have kept Aelin from Arobynn. Could have kept her safe.

But Eliana, his beloved Eliana had made him go, to keep him safe and their son, their Aedion. She had known who Gavriel was, why he was with them all of those years ago. It was his task back then to take down Rhoe and the whole organization, but she had shown him that they weren’t bad, not really. They were the ones trying to keep the city safe. Gavriel hadn’t meant to fall in love with her, but she was just so good, so pure and so fucking beautiful. He had left before it all went to shit, telling his bosses he was compromised, though Eliana would have never hurt him. He had walked away from the love of his love, his son. And now he was finding out he’d walked away from his niece. Which she was really, although Eliana and Aelin’s mother were cousins, they were sisters in all the ways that mattered. The realisation knocked the breath out of his lungs, his knees going weak, almost dropping to the ground before Vaughan was by his side, holding him steady. “Fuck Gav, what the hell is wrong?”

“She’s my niece.”

Rowan was confused; his tell was the way he scrunched his nose a little. “You fell in love with Eliana on that assignment we know, and she fell pregnant, but that doesn’t make Aelin your niece Gav.”

“It does because I married her.”

The sudden silence between them was deafening. He’d never told either of them this. Suddenly Rowan was glaring at him, slowly standing so that they were level with one another, face to face.

“I’m sorry; I thought you just said that you married her. This by the way would make you related to them, which would mean in the end, you’d go down with them.”

No going back now, the damage was already done. “I married her, Rowan. I took her last name and she had the marriage certificate. I didn’t think at the time and then everything happened...I didn’t think I’d ever be back here.”

“Fuck! Why have you never mentioned this before?!”

“I’ll always protect her, I’ll always protect them. Lia knew who I was, what I was there for. I told her once, that I’d leave it all behind, but she made me go, so that maybe one day I’d get to know my son. That they’d find me when the dust settled.” But it didn’t end that way. Rhoe, Evalin and his beloved were all gone and his son lost. It took him years to find Aedion and when he did, he was a coward, never approaching the boy, the man now, that he’d kept tucked close to his heart. Vaughan was now swearing, in multiple languages and Rowan was just staring at him, pine green eyes burning holes into his skull.

“One of them is going to piece together who you are eventually, Gav. Aelin asked how I hadn’t noticed how similar she and Aedion were. We need to start moving faster but I don’t know how to do that. They’re just so...” Rowan trailed off but he didn’t need to explain more. Gavriel understood perfectly, having been through this already. It was hard getting so close and going so deep undercover because the lines always blur one way or another.

You just have to figure out which side you’ll be on when it disappears completely, before it’s too late.

oOoOo

Aelin sat on the sofa in the living room, her legs tucked underneath her as she watched Lorcan, Elide, Manon, and Dorian play twister. She laughed as Lorcan, giant brute that he was, collapsed and began grumbling about how stupid the game was. “Oh come on, Lorcan. No need to be a sore loser.” Fenrys goaded him from his spot on the chair, bag of peanuts in hand. Lorcan simply flipped him off and Fenrys chuckled, throwing a peanut at his forehead. Manon had an unfair advantage, Aelin thought, considering how fucking flexible the woman was. She was somehow weaved in between Elide and Dorian and didn’t look bothered by the way she bent. Chaol flicked the spinner again, calling out a ‘right hand, blue’ just as Rowan, Gavriel and Vaughan walked in. All three men looked amused by the sight before settling themselves around the room. Vaughan moved towards Lorcan, still looking like a kicked puppy and Gavriel towards Fenrys, who frowned when the older man began stealing his snacks. Rowan however, he moved to sit beside her, a strong thigh pressed against her feet.

Aelin ignored the urge to press against him more and asked, “See anything interesting out there?”

Rowan shook his head, watching as the three idiots on the floor collapsed into a pile of limbs when Dorian moved wrong. “Nothing. It seemed oddly quiet though, I don’t know how to explain it.”

“We’ll just have to keep an eye out then.” All he did was nod. He seemed quite sullen and part of her desperately wanted to ask if he was alright but thought better of it. She still didn’t know what she felt about him and wanted to keep it between the two of them for now.

“Where’s Aedion?”

“Lys wanted to go shopping, again, and she took Asterin too. I made Aedion go so that he could keep an eye out.” Lysandra thought it would help Asterin feel better to get out of the house, to go and do something for herself. Manon had wanted to go with them but decided to let them be, to not overcrowd her friend. There was a rustling of plastic as the Twister mat was flattened again and Connall, Ren, Fenrys and Chaol started playing. Aelin didn’t miss the way when Gavriel called out ‘left foot, yellow’, Ren slipped just a little and brushed against Con, making the other man’s face flush. They stared at each other for a minute, abruptly looking away when the next move was called. Aelin let a little knowing smirk slip, just in time for Ren to catch her eyes. He had the balls to look at her dumbly, as if he hadn't a clue what he’d just been doing. They all forgot how attentive she was to things and thought they were being sneaky when they weren’t. She would be happy if they made a go of things, once they both stopped being idiots about it. Ren and Connall suited each other.

Yrene walked in from the kitchen with a small tray of food, murmuring gently to Rowan, Gav and Vaughan. It was now noon after all and they boys had been gone all morning. Vaughan walked to where she placed it on the coffee table, giving his thanks as he reached for one of the sandwiches. Yrene only smiled back at him and was just pulling herself back up to normal height when she let out a shocked, “Oh gods fuck.” Aelin stood instantly and Chaol abandoned the game, rushing to his wife’s side.

“Love, are you alright?” She nodded, one hand on her back and the other on her swollen belly. Everyone had stopped what they were doing now, all on alert as they watched.

“Yeah, yes, just fine. Uh, no need to panic.” Very reassuring. Aelin moved to stand in front of her, placing a hand on top of Yrene’s. The woman leaned back a little to look at her, wide eyes blinking a couple of times.

“My waters just broke.”

Oh gods fuck, indeed.

------

Again, I’m sorry it’s short but this is how I wanted the chap to end soooo:) Give me a shout if you want to be added to the tags!!!

Tags: @bryaxisthefaceofnightmares @lila-baard @empress-sei @acourtofterrasenandvelaris @tswaney17 @queen-of-glass @thesirenwashere @awkward-avocado-s @b00kworm @http-itsrebecca @eatmysandwiches @poisonous00 @flowersinvegas @julemmaes @mu-si-ca-l @spyofthenightcourt  @sis-it-dont-add-up  @mad-madeline-ace​ @df3ndyr  @jesstargaryenqueen  @notyournymphetish @carbconnoisseur @aelinfeyreeleven945tbln  @superspiritfestival @alyx801 @silentquartz @tillyrubes10  @dayanna-hatter

[shypotato-translations]

QTVW Chapter 16

Showbiz* Sexy Queen (III)

----

Aunt Wen saw Mei Mu Lan's instantly happy and smiling look and silently looked down and poked the cake in her hand.

She said in a slow tone,

“Mu Lan, do you really like that movie star called Ling Yi Yao that much? Auntie Wen used to think that you were still young and is just a momentary obsession, but now that you have graduated from university and are going into society, you should know that she and you are not from the same world.

Aunt Wen has privately investigated, this Ling Yi Yao is actually the daughter of the boss of the giant Ling family in the entertainment industry, and is also the only proper heir of the Ling family, the background of the Ling family is not clean, such a woman is too far away from you.”

When Mei Mu Lan heard this, the smile on her face dimmed and she whispered,

“I know all this, but I don't want to regret later that I didn't pursue it hard enough and just give up, at least let me give it a try, no matter if it's a good result or a bad one, at least I have no regrets.

Auntie Wen, thank you, you have been looking after me all these years, I promise you that if there is really no hope, I will let go completely.”

Mei Mu Lan said, curled her lips into a smile and murmured,

“Let me at least give it a try, I want to visit her and give showbiz a try.”

Aunt Wen slowed down the pace of poking the cake in her hand, she placed it on the coffee table, then drew out a tissue and looked down to wipe her white fingers, a few dark glints flashed in her eyes.

After she had done this slowly and methodically, she said to Mei Mu Lan in a gentle tone,

“Now that you've made your decision, Auntie Wen will definitely give you a hand. I'll call director Wang Ye later and check the time to meet him, so you can have a good talk when you meet. You can find out about the film called 《The Burial Man》online first so you can give the director a good impression.”

Mei Mu Lan smiled brightly in spring as she nodded vigorously and said,

“I'll go check out the plot and characters of the film, thank you Auntie Wen.”

She stood up and gave Aunt Wen a hug before immediately striding off towards the bedroom.

Aunt Wen stiffened in place and said helplessly,

“Why can't they behave better, both of them?”

With that, she pulled out a cigarette and slowly stammered the smoke ring, dialing the director's number.

After turning on her computer, Mei Mu Lan remembered that she had to do something, she logged on to Weibo and Twitter, and a username called "Zero One Fan" appeared.

"Zero One Fan" is an alias for Ling Yi Yao's fans, and the origin of this alias is also related to the original owner.

The original owner created the first posting forum and micro-blog for Ling Yi Yao's fans. Before Ling Yi Yao's movie was a hit and before Ling Yi Yao became a movie queen, Mei Mu Lan had already become her backbone fan, making the posting forum and micro-blog a success, attracting a large number of people who initially fell in love with Ling Yi Yao, and by the time Ling Yi Yao became famous, the posting forum and micro-blog had been officially certified and became the only authentic fan communication platform.

The original owner was the founder and senior administrator of Zero One Fans.

The original owner's daily task, apart from singing and practicing a Peking Opera passage, was to log on to the two platforms every day and post the latest information she had gathered about Ling Yi Yao on the website, or to put out a large piece of factual evidence to those who came to scold her, so that they would leave without any success.

The original owner was a calm and sensible fan most of the time. When confronted with a black fan, she will be generous enough to listen to the suggestions; but when in secret, she will put on a small vest to track down the black fan and call the black fan names that she doesn't even know.

Her username "Zero One Fan" has also become the most famous of Ling Yi Yao's fans.

Mei Mu Lan looked at the record of the original owner's speech with a black line on her face, the big username "Zero One Fan" spoke more ably. Like:

Confronting black fans – “The new era advocates people's freedom of speech, you have the right to choose to speak, we also have the right to choose to block you, I hope you will be a calm fan and become a strong backer of Ling Yi Yao.”

Confronting a scandal – “About Ling Yi Yao having dinner with other male celebrities, I think this matter is very common in daily life, don't you guys have dinner with the opposite sex? I hope everyone understands and doesn't catch wind of it.”

Confronting plastic surgery – “For those who say Ling Yi Yao is a face-lifter, you can look at photos of Ling Yi Yao when she started out and photos of her life as a child, and then go to a plastic surgery clinic to see if Ling Yi Yao's face has shown any signs of change.”

The countless small vests, similar to "Ling Yi Yao I love you", "Kneel down to Ling Yi Yao", "Lord Ling Yi Yao I want to have babies with you", etc., with more direct usernames, will have an impact on the The above questions, so back to:

Confronting black fans – “Your head is half water, half rice, and together, it's called paste; your IQ is not online, please come back after networking; it feels like talking to you is pulling down my evolutionary time history.”

Confronting a scandal – “凸(艹皿艹) , Who is this man? He's a white boy who wants to take advantage of his position. Don't stop me, I'll take a bottle of acid and destroy his face.”

Confronting plastic surgery – “When you were born, you accidentally landed face first, go blame the midwife, don't come out to get back at society!”

The original owner took the split personality and elevated it to the level of life.

The corners of Mei Mu Lan's mouth twitched as she copied and pasted all of the statements that had been made on those ponies into the relevant part of the message, and after doing so, two hours had passed.

She couldn't wait to turn off Twitter and posting and instead opened the novel 《The Burial Man》and read it word for word.

《The Burial Man》, a novel set in 1916, a time of warlords in the country.

At that time, there were intense conflicts between warlords in various regions and frequent wars in the country, and at a time when everyone was actively fighting, an aged and well-known scholar deciphered a historical tablet that had been handed down for more than 4,000 years. And a shocking message was told to the present generation by this stone tablet.

That is, 4,000 to 5,000 years ago, in the time of the gods and goddesses of the West, an elixir called "immortality" was introduced, in fact, historical mythology also tells this point, that is, the well-known story of Chang'e, who stole the elixir to run to the moon in order to preserve her beauty.

On this stone tablet, however, this event is used as a lead-in to the fact that there are still burial mourners around the Kunlun Mountains in China who have been guarding this elixir of immortality for generations, waiting for the right person to come and obtain it.

The story has a slightly mythical setting, but the word "tomb raiding" is already closely associated with various myths and ghosts, and just as the scholar is about to make the news public he is murdered, in an "impossible" type of homicide for no apparent reason in front of a public audience, with his body intact and his blood tested for poisoning. But when the forensic pathologist performed an autopsy, his brain and heart were missing.

The incident caused an uproar, but it did not get out and was kept secret by the local warlord.

They sent relevant tomb raiders to Kunlun Mountain to raid the tomb, their actions were carried out in secret but there is no impervious wall in the world, the news was soon known by many other forces and sent people to investigate this matter one after another.

And so the story unfolds.

Ling Yiyao plays the female lead, the only undertaker in the film, and the other undertaker is her brother, the two of them are considered immortal and have been guarding the place for almost a thousand years.

The decrypted monolith brought in other forces which they fought against in a fight for life and death to guard the place.

Countless people died here, but this did not stop people's quest for immortality, and the blood-stained Kunlun Mountain Road finally opened this mysterious tomb.

Those who have entered the tomb are true experts, including tomb raiders from families with a heritage of more than 3,000 years, international mercenaries with the best skills, warlords and female agents who have entered undercover….

The traps inside the tombs killed countless people, but there were also many who remained at the end, and only a dozen people arrived at the end of the tombs after the great wave.

After a fight to the death, the male lead is killed by an undercover lineage girl from a family of tomb raiders, the blood stains the throne on the tomb and opens up the fantastical inner space of the mountain, fantasy and mythology come into play one after another, ghost soldiers and demons started killing them, and after all these battles, the only ones left are the nine-year-old child from the family of tomb raiders, and the undertaker female lead.

The child, chosen by the tomb mourners as the "best choice in history", swallowed the elixir of immortality and remained in the tomb forever, becoming the latest generation of tomb mourners.

And it is only here that the mystery of the matter is unveiled, and it turns out that the so-called stone tablet and the decryption are all traps set by the female lead.

Thousands of years ago, she was also a tomb raider who, together with her brother, swallowed the elixir of immortality, but at the cost of guarding this place for eternity and never leaving it more than a metre away.

And now, after more than a thousand years, she feels tired and weary, so, as she did a thousand years ago, she recruits a large number of people to raid the tomb and choose a new successor from among them to guard this place in her place for eternity.

The story ends with the female lead, dressed in an ancient outfit, singing a song from a thousand years ago, leaping from the throne of the tomb into the endless abyss inside the mountain.

After reading this story, Mei Mu Lan felt a shock in her heart that this was indeed a well-written novel and worthy of being followed and interpreted by so many people.

The production team has invested unlimited funds to produce an absolutely profitable production that will be passed on to the next generation; Wang Ye, a national and international director; Ling Yiyao, a movie queen, and Gu Junxi, a movie star in the lead roles; an international design team to create the costumes; and even the supporting characters are chosen from stars with millions of fans.

A lavish star cast, top-notch processing and production, a mysterious story background, and a large number of fans of the books could indeed make this film the top production of the year.

Mei Mu Lan closed the novel's webpage, opened the section on roles, and then found two supporting actresses who had "accidental" problems, so she guess it wasn't really an accident.

She looked at the two characters vacated above, one was the undercover agent of the tomb raiding family who killed the male lead, pure and bright looking, simple and innocent. It didn't fit her image at all, so she passed on the role.

The other character, an undercover female agent, is explicitly the mistress of a powerful warlord, a sultry-looking Shanghai beach dancer, but is actually a high-ranking intellectual undercover agent from a family of emerging powers.

She looked at the role and recalled the characteristics of the character and felt that it did resemble her. She could not help but curl her lips and smile, thinking: good, this is the role, she will be chosen.

Aunt Wen told her at dinner about the casting call to the Yokohama outside the suburbs in three days' time. Mei Mu Lan nodded when she heard that and started to arrange the plan.

Three days later, wearing an exquisite cheongsam, Mei Mu Lan slowly stepped down from the top-class sports car.

Her figure is sublime, her features are charming, her hair is curly as was popular at the time, and her make-up has a twenties and thirties flair.

She approached the Yokohama store on her thin, bare-backed heels, swaying like a weak willow.

Just like a real 1930s singer-songwriter, she walked slowly from the cabaret of Shanghai Beach to the eyes and hearts of those present.

At the moment of her appearance, everyone on the set stopped moving, the sound faded away, and everything was fixed on this woman who had stepped out of history.

A bearded man in his early thirties approached, a roll of scripts squeezed tightly in his hands, and then said in surprise and amazement,

“You're Miss Mei Mu Lan, right? I knew you were the one I was looking for when I saw your picture! It's you, no need to look any further,”

With a broad stroke of his pen, he wrote down Mei Mu Lan's name in the character field undercover agent.

Then he blushed and said,

“My name is Wang Ye and I'm the director.”

The corners of Mei Mu Lan's mouth are smiling, her lips are slightly hooked, and her charming phoenix eyes are slightly narrowed, slender and upturned, charming and seductive.

She exhaled softly,

“Hello, Director Wang Ye.”

The voice is so soft and mushy.

After greeting Mei Mu Lan, her eyes involuntarily fell on a woman in an ancient dress with a long green dress.

The woman didn't turn her head to look over like the others did.

She sat quietly in her recliner, her white, slender fingers tracing the pages of the script slowly, with gentle, yet harsh movements. At this moment she had her head slightly hung down, revealing a perfect and delicate side face.

Mei Mu Lan could not restrain the emotions that were violently evoked in her heart, she walked up quickly and reached the woman. Seeing her slowly look up, the perfect face that she had seen countless times before, officially entered her eyes.

Mei Mu Lan's breathing stopped as she desperately tried to control herself, but her body reacted with instinct.

Her cheeks burned red like the dusk sky, her beauty was startling, and her voice trembled slightly as she said,

“Hello Ling Yi Yao, I am Mei Mu Lan.”

She paused, then suddenly said aloud,

“I ...... I want to do prop play with you!”

Mei Mu Lan: "......"

Ling Yi Yao: "......"

Director Wang Ye, who followed her: "......"

The crew silently watching: "......"

[minmotl]

Chapter 54: How Sui Zhou Ends Up Managing Tang Fan’s Salary (& How Tang Fan Lets Him)

Context: After the events of the case in the previous chapter, the case is wrapped up properly. While the White Lotus Sect is still in the wind, it was revealed that the Nan Cheng Bang’s case is connected to Wan Tong (Royal Consort Wan’s brother and Sui Zhou’s superior) and the man is punished (lightly). Wang Zhi is praised by the emperor for handling this well, but Consort Wan chides him for not protecting/helping Wan Tong.

On the other hand, even though Tang Fan contributed the most to this case, he does not get rewarded (because the emperor is not fond of him), while Sui Zhou is promoted for his part in solving the case.

Embarrassed, Tang-daren says, “We’re not even halfway through the month yet, but my salary is almost gone.”

So that’s what it is. Sui Zhou is a little speechless, and the tension on his cold face is palpable.

“… where did your money go?”

Introduction Post | Masterpost

—

Highlights under the cut

Originally, Deng Xiu Cai would have had to go through a ‘waist cut’ penalty, but because he was frank and honest, an exception was made for him to first die by ingesting poison. A suicide void of pain, and they would behead him after. A waist cut is incomparably excruciating, so in order to die comfortably, Deng Xiu Cai spared no effort in spilling everything he knew.

Before Ah Dong and the children, who knew how many other children landed in their hands? Even that puppet Ding Yi Mu was also heavily involved. No one knows how much fresh blood stains their hands, so it is hardly a travesty that these people are put to death.

Everyone’s efforts as they busied themselves working through most of the night were not in vain, and the case finally came to a close. They can almost call this a perfect ending.

Throughout this whole case, aside from those injured in the battle against the members of the Nan Cheng Bang, the person who was injured the most is definitely Tang Fan.

He was first knocked out with a wooden stick to the head and it was verified after, that he did bleed from that. Then, when his hands were restrained back in the cellar, he bled then too, and after that, Xin Shi Tou shoved him once. His hands were still tied then and he was unable to move, so his knees immediately suffered from abrasions as they bruised and bled, and then he was cut by the porcelain piece on his neck and more…

Although not severe, Tang Fan can be considered as marred with injuries all over his whole body. Thankfully, he was injured on the job and thus, Tang-daren is able to request for half a month’s worth of medical leave with a peace of mind, and also help Sui Zhou to celebrate in this time.

Yes, Sui Zhou has been promoted yet again.

This time, however, is purely an accident.

After heading to Jiang Xi previously to deal with the Huang Jing Long case, Sui Zhou was already promoted to fu-qianhu and technically would not be eligible for any promotions in the short term, but due to the missing children’s case and with the Emperor upset at Wan Tong for colluding with the bandits, he invited Yuan Bin back to lead the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

And Yuan Bin’s background - His meritorious contributions include saving the Emperor, and the person he saved was the previous Emperor.

That year of Tu Mu’s Rebellion, Yuan Bin accompanied the Emperor, protecting Ying Zong. He was even caught hostage together with Ying Zong and took care of him. The both of them went through so much hardship and thus, their relationship was not like that of the relationship between the Emperor and other officials. Afterwards, Yuan Bin helped the previous Emperor to regain the throne, and thus, can be considered to have made major contributions.

Due to this history, when today’s Emperor ascended to the throne, he too, treats Yuan Bin with immense respect. The only thing is that as Yuan Bin grows older, he no longer handles any actual tasks and was the Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guards in name only. This time however, the Emperor intends to teach Wan Tong a lesson, and thus invited Yuan Bin to return to his former post.

With Yuan Bin’s accolades and reputation, even the Emperor of today needs to show him some respect. This is something that Wan Tong, this cheap relative, will never be able to amount to no matter how much he tries to flatter his way into the Emperor’s good graces.

These years, because of Wan Tong, the Embroidered Uniform Guards is now a place rife with corruption where despicable men can do as they like. Those who pander to Wan Tong will be able to become the Wan family’s important and esteemed guests, while those who oppose him, Wan Tong uses the power he has in the Embroidered Uniform Guards to pressure and attack. For example, the supervisor that Sui Zhou spoke of previously tried to impeach both Royal Consort Wan and her brother, and this led to his family’s demise.

Once Yuan Bin arrived, the atmosphere suddenly changed.

Although Yuan Bin is old, he is still in good shape and is firm in handling things. The moment he arrives, he gets rid of the Embroidered Uniform Guards’ Southern and Northern Administrative Courts leaders, who are also Wan Tong’s trusted men. Wan Tong grits his teeth in resentment, but is unable to do anything to him. He is unable to complain in front of the Emperor as well, all because Yuan Bin was sent by the Emperor precisely to reform the Embroidered Uniform Guards.

With this, no one dares to say anything when they see Wan Tong now. All those troublemakers naturally have to back off and turn over a new leaf obediently, lest they be implicated and dragged into more trouble.

Although it seems as if these happenings have no direct relevance to Sui Zhou, due to his position and how competent he is, he quickly loses the ‘fu’ in his title, and rises to become a real qianhu.

Qianhu is a Rank 5 title, but don’t look down on the rank or his role as a military official, as a qianhu from the Embroidered Uniform Guards has no small amount of power. There are five official posts under both the Northern and Southern Adminstrative Courts, and qianhu commands one of them.

More importantly, because Yuan Bin recently removed the previous Northern Administrative Court in-charge, the position currently sits empty, so Yuan Bin let Sui Zhou take over the role temporarily. This is also out of consideration of Sui Zhou’s sudden promotion as Yuan Bin is afraid that the other men in the Embroidered Uniform Guards would not acknowledge or recognize Sui Zhou’s authority, so the man did not directly push him into the position. Instead, Yuan Bin is giving him the role as a deputy.

Things are indeed different once a veteran like Yuan Bin steps forth, and even on matters such as these, he is meticulous - if Sui Zhou performs well, he can expect to formally transition into his new position in the near future, but if he does not, Yuan Bin can remove him at any time. There are no lack of people eyeing his position, and this inadvertently serves as motivation for Sui Zhou to work his hardest.

So Sui Zhou is now receiving that of a Rank 5 qianhu’s salary but sitting in that of a Rank 4 position. The speed at which is he progressing at is met with the red eyes of jealousy by others, but what Sui Zhou is about to face are multiple obstacles and pressure that comes with thinking about how to win the loyalty and hearts of others, how to convince others and get them to acknowledge him, and how to ensure that people working under him will listen to his orders.

Regardless, this is still something worthy of celebration. In order to celebrate for Sui Zhou, Tang Fan and Xue Ling, together with some of Sui Zhou’s long-time subordinates, decided to host a meal. Not in Xian Ke Lou as it is too expensive there. Since everyone is familiar with each other and there are a lot of restaurants in the city, they do not have to head to an expensive one.

Tang Fan chose a time-honoured food stall called Yang Ji Mutton. The mutton here is most famous and he reserved a room in advance, called a few of his colleagues from Shun Tian Prefecture, and along with Sui Zhou, Xue Ling and some others from the guards, they gather around a table to have hot pot mutton.

There are four pots on the table and four large plates of tender and fat mutton slices on the side. In addition to that, there are green vegetables, mushrooms, noodles and assorted side dishes, garlic, soy sauce, spring onion, sesame oil, pepper and other condiments. Everyone can personally customize and do it themselves as they get into the food.

This time it is not just Sui Zhou, but Xue Ling and the others, because of Yuan Bin, were promoted as well, and this is naturally cause for joy.

On the other hand, Tang Fan, who solved two consecutive cases and made two meritorious contributions - firstly helping Royal Consort Wan to prove her innocence and secondly finding the children of those officials, heading into the bandit’s cave and battling the Nan Cheng Bang with both courage and wit - as he spared no effort and even putting his own life on the line, did not get even the slightest bit of a reward. His rank remains unchanged. Tang Fan does not think much of this personally, but close friends of his find this unfair for him.

After indulging well in both food and alcohol, Xue Ling stands up from his seat, walks over and pats at Tang Fan’s shoulder with great force, assuring him, “Run Qing, I don’t think that you are this unlucky. I’m sure you’ll definitely be able to become a high ranking, major official in the future, do not be discouraged!”

“That’s right!” Pang Qi adds, “It’s just your time has yet to come, don’t be upset.”

Both Xue Ling and him are still working under Sui Zhou at present, but they have already been promoted to baihu rank, going further in their careers as officials. Not just the both of them, but also Sui Zhou’s long-time subordinates, they have all risen up the ranks. With this, everyone knows that if they follow the big boss, they will be taken care of, and thus are now even more loyal to Sui Zhou.

Sui Zhou sees that Xue Ling has drank too much, and is now leaning unsteadily on Tang Fan. He cannot help but reach out and pull him away, and chides lightly, “Stand properly!”

They are not currently on duty and everyone has indulged in some alcohol, so Xue Ling is unafraid of him. Instead, he giggles and jokes, “Da-ge is really so good to Run Qing-xiong, even us brothers who have accompanied you for a long time cannot compare to him!”

A chorus of ‘that’s right’ rings out amongst everyone else.

Sui Zhou says, “I still have some empty space at my place, how about you move over and stay with me, and I’ll be good to you everyday?”

Xue Ling laughs sheepishly, and immediately shuts up.

What a joke; although he has not yet married a wife, he has concubines at home too, not to mention his frequent visits to brothels. If he has to face Sui Zhou’s stoic face every day, it will probably be more miserable than death itself.

Tang Fan laughs, “Everyone wants to be promoted, but I would not want that.”

Xue Ling yells, “You obviously do not mean that, who would not be happy at a promotion?”

“That’s right!” they chorus.

Tang Fan pretends to be pained, “Just think about it. I’m only Rank Six right now, and already I have to infiltrate a bandit’s nest, be struck with a wooden stick and almost died. If I inch even further upwards, wouldn’t I have to confront the White Lotus Sect leader myself? If that happens, by this time next year, none of you will be able to sit with me and have a drink!”

His explanation is indeed interesting and everyone bursts out in laughter. They intended to reassure him initially, but seeing that he is so open-minded about this, everyone does not say anything more.

After the banquet and celebration, everyone heads home and goes on to do what they are supposed to do.

On the way home, Sui Zhou sees that Tang Fan’s brows are tight and troubled, and thinks that while Tang Fan presented himself as rather nonchalant earlier, he must still be bothered by it on the inside, and says, “Sometimes good things can come out of bad things, and in the same way, bad events can lead to good things. You may not have been promoted this time, but it may not be a bad thing, and who knows, better opportunities are lying ahead of you.”

“I’m not worried about this…” Tang Fan says.

Sui Zhou asks, uncomprehending, “Then what is it?”

Embarrassed, Tang-daren says, “We’re not even halfway through the month yet, but my salary is almost gone.”

So that’s what it is. Sui Zhou is a little speechless, and the tension on his cold face is palpable, “… where did your money go? You guys treated me to a meal today, and the portion you contributed was only a few hundred coins?”

Helplessly, Tang Fan replies, “Yesterday, Pan-daren looked me up and the both of us had a meal outside, and who knew that when it was almost time to pay, my shixiong said he was having a stomachache and ran to the toilet, and so I ended up paying for it all first. He wanted to pay for his portion when he returned, but how could I have taken his money?”

“You guys couldn’t have gone to Xian Ke Lou to eat, could you?”

“Of course not. It was at a dumpling stall near Shun Tian Prefecture’s court, we had fish dumplings and pork and cabbage dumplings. Speaking of which, that stall’s skills is comparable to those located in the north of the city, and now that the weather is getting colder, when spring comes, there will be dumplings with chicken fillings, that is truly a delicacy…”

“… you have gone off-topic.”

Tang Fan goes ‘oh’, and continues, “This meal came up to a 100 coins or so as well.”

Upset, he adds, “But a few days ago, when I visited a colleague’s house, I realized that he was so poor that he couldn’t come up with his next meal, and so I treated him to one. I spent 50 coins on this… it is not as if I used a lot at one go, why does it feel like I spent everything at once?”

The more Sui Zhou hears, the more suspicious he gets, “Didn’t you receive 500 taels from that White Lotus Sect lady? Even if you gave me half of it, you couldn’t have used up 250 taels that quickly?!”

This is something that made Tang Fan feel happy for at least half the day. He didn’t tell anyone else about this, only Sui Zhou, and he ended up splitting the money up with him, the both of them each getting a portion.

Sui Zhou refused to take it, but Tang Fan insisted and shoved it into the other’s hands, forcing him to accept it.

Speaking of this, Tang-daren becomes even more embarrassed, “I saw how terrible the conditions were at my colleague’s. He has four children along with elders waiting to be fed, and the rent on the house he is living in is due very soon, but he is unable to come up with the money, so I ended up giving him all 250 taels.

Sui Zhou, expressionless, says, “You’re really generous.”

Thinking that Sui Zhou is praising him, he says humbly, thick-skinned, “Not at all, not at all. Helping the poor is the duty of people my age, and anyway, the money came easy, so it doesn’t pain me to spend it.”

Still expressionless, Sui Zhou continues, “How did this money come easy, did you go steal it or rob someone?”

“…”

“Did you forget that you almost lost your life in the bandits’ cave? No matter how difficult your friend’s situation is, giving him 100 taels would have been more than enough. How are you so intelligent at everything else but on your own matters? You do things without planning and spend money too easily!”

Tang-daren, being lectured as a child would be, does not dare to raise his head. Ashamed, he says, “Yes yes yes, I’ll get Ah Dong to supervise me when I go back!”

Seriously, since Sui fu-baihu became Sui-qianhu, and also gaining power over the Northern Administrative Court, his authority grows increasingly day by day. Before this, Sui Zhou was already rather adept at lecturing others, and now when he gets this fierce, Tang Fan does not dare to make a sound.

Sui Zhou says, “How will Ah Dong be able to restrict you? From now on, after you exchange your salary for cash, submit half of it to me, I will keep it for you. Next time, after you finish spending the money you have and need more, you will have to tell me, and only after I agree can you use it.”

He has never liked to put his nose into someone else’s business, and the only unrelated things that Sui Zhou interferes in are mostly Tang Fan’s. And fortunately they are this close in their relationship, otherwise if outsiders heard him, they would definitely find him hard to understand and may even get into an argument with Sui Zhou.

However, for an eccentric person like Tang-daren, he instead nods gleefully, “That’s great! With you watching me, I will no longer be such a spendthrift!”

And since then, aside from dealing with the tasks of the Northern Administrative Court, Sui-qianhu now has to handle Tang-daren’s finances when he gets home. He commands power both at home and in public, and also the envy of others.

===

Notes:

*副千户 fu qianhu

Qianhu is the rank that Sui Zhou officially bears, while fu 副 means vice.

*仙客楼 xian ke lou

This is the very expensive restaurant that Wang Zhi brought Tang Fan to in previous chapters.

*万通 Wan Tong 

As Royal Consort Wan’s brother, he is head of the Northern Administrative Courts, but is demoted due to his involvement in the missing children’s case.

[shijiujun]

“you know you’re singing to your headphones out loud, right” au for moshang plz sqh singing modern songs that mbj doesn't know and being hella confused 🥺

Featuring karaoke-loving Shang Qinghua who gets a bit too drunk at a Cang Qiong mountain gathering, and he goes all out. 

Or when Mobei Jun wonders why Shang Qinghua is singing about another man called Liang Shan Bo.

---

Sometimes, he thinks about his old life before he ever had the misfortune of landing in a world of his own creation, with an annoying gaming AI system of sorts hounding his every move (in the beginning) or turning up at the most inopportune times just when he thinks it’s finally gone and left him alone (more recently). 

Shang Qinghua remembers not having many friends when he was still Shang Qinghua, when ‘向天打飞机 Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky’ was still merely his writing Weibo account moniker and when he had millions of people looking up to him for his crucial contributions in writing this amazing story about his son Luo Binghe and the way he overcame all odds to become a success with a harem of gorgeous women at his feet (damn you, Peerless Cucumber bro!).

Back in those days, he lived off cup noodles and instant coffee. If he didn’t have to leave the house, Shang Qinghua would simply curl up in front of his laptop, either writing for his novel or watching shows (clears his throat) - actual shows! Chinese period dramas were his favourite, where a skilled and intelligent consort in the harem would outwit all the other women to be with her one true love, the Emperor, who falls irrevocably in love with her.

And when he got bored, he switched from the laptop to his television to engage in his second most favourite hobby - Chinese karaoke. Going out to a karaoke bar would require some level of socializing, and also a few friends so he gets more bang out of his buck from what he pays for the room, but at home? 

With advanced technology and a tiny ass microphone in either shining gold or silver, Shang Qinghua’s home entertainment system was his very own personal karaoke room, His tiny mic even had that echo-y effect on.

Shang Qinghua has a thing for classic Chinese songs - ‘The New Butterfly Dream’, ‘Liang Shan Bo and Juliet’, The Moon Represents My Heart‘ - and contemporary karaoke must-haves, like Wang Fei. For an embarrassing few days, the Chinese version of Baby Shark was a veritable earworm as well.

After transmigrating into his own story set in ancient times, where he lives without technology, Shang Qinghua would be lying if he said he didn’t miss the Internet. Laptops would be incredibly handy, and so would switches for lights, definitely indoor plumbing for toilets, and induction stoves. Phones too, that would be nice, rather than having to ‘send word’ with letters. 

Of course, there is no karaoke bar or machine for him.

Not all is bad though. At least he transmigrated to Shang Qinghua in this world as a baby, so it’s not as if he was surviving on Internet and technology one day and left to do everything manually the next day since someone was always taking care of him. Peerless Cucumber bro, of course, wasn’t as lucky, but the man has definitely taken to this world (and his son!!) like a fish to water.

And as for himself, Shang Qinghua does not need to envy Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe either, because somehow, he has gotten the man of his dreams too, even if said man was a little cruel and rude to him in the beginning.

He has the love of his life (coughs coughs) and they’re stuck in this world for the rest of his life. What more is there to want? Not to mention how his cup of instant noodles betrayed him at the last moment, resulting in his death! It is slightly safer, ironically, to be in this world instead.

All is good except... well...

===

Shen Qingqiu marvels at the sight before him, torn between wanting to step in to stop Shang Qinghua, or watch this farce unfold. 

He sometimes forgets where he, or where Shang Qinghua, who has been in this world longer than he, came from. They don’t always talk about the past when they meet, and aside from the occasional meetups, Shen Yuan is a part of him that doesn’t surface, not when he is with Luo Binghe. 

Shang Qinghua, on the other hand, grew up here, and aside from referring to Shen Qingqiu by his Weibo account name, he seems otherwise well-adjusted, no hint of modern online writer Shang Qinghua in sight. It doesn’t feel as if he misses their original world either.

This evening, however, memories of modern times slap him in the face, quite literally.

“Shizun!” Luo Binghe calls, frantic, tugging him back into his embrace out of Shang Qinghua’s way. Once Shen Qingqiu is safe in his arms, his eyes narrow at the bumbling, drunk idiot causing a scene in the dinner hall, “Shang Qinghua...”

Shang Qinghua stops where he is, and then before any one can stop him, he picks up a pair of chopsticks, brings it to his mouth, and begins bellowing his way through-

-Jay Chou’s Hair Like Snow.

“Shizun, are you alright?” Luo Binghe fusses, his hands coming up to cup Shen Qingqiu’s face when his Shizun doesn’t so much as respond to him. “Were you hurt? Did he hurt you? How’re you feeling? We’ll go back home now-”

“What is he singing?” Qi Qingqi frowns in disgust.

They all wince when Shang Qinghua attempts to hit a high note, but fails miserably.

Fuck me, Shen Qingqiu thinks, his eyes impossibly wide, who knew Airplane bro was such a karaoke fanatic?

“... maybe he is possessed by a malevolent spirit? Or perhaps this is an unidentified curse?” asks Ming Fan. 

“Or is this some new form of cultivation?” asks Ning Yingying, curious.

Yue Qingyuan, seated at the front of the dining hall, cannot help but be concerned for him as well. “Shall we call Mu-shidi to take a look at him-”

They’ve gathered for their annual meeting - a condition that Yue Qingyuan has set in place a few years ago after Luo Binghe ‘stole’ (married!) him away from Cang Qiong Peak - and although Shang Qinghua said he didn’t mind that Mobei Jun was unable to accompany him today, he spent most of the dinner drinking alcohol while in a melancholic state instead.

Who knew that Shang Qinghua was a singing drunk?!

Hence their current predicament.

At the Sect Master’s words, Shang Qinghua suddenly turns around and looks at Shen Qingqiu. HIccuping twice, he then beams, “Cucumber-”

Shen Qingqiu has never moved that fast in his life. Within a fraction of a second, he has his hand pressed over Shang Qinghua’s mouth, holding onto him from the back.

“Cucumber?” everyone choruses in confusion.

“I believe your Shang-shishu has had a little too much to drink,” Shen Qingqiu clears his throat, nodding at everyone else. “We should... send him back to Mobei. Isn’t that right, Binghe?”

His disciple, his husband, still has on an affronted, murderous look for how Shang Qinghua almost brained Shen Qingqiu with his flailing arms in his drunken fit. The moment Shen Qingqiu asks, however, his expression morphs into something so soft and full of love that everyone who sees it chokes.

“Of course,” Luo Binghe smiles, devotion apparent in his eyes. “Anything Shizun wants.”

===

The words that are tumbling out of Shang Qinghua’s mouth are entirely incomprehensible, and so are the tunes he’s humming into his ear.

Mobei Jun thought he had gotten used to Shang Qinghua’s eccentric mannerisms, and also thought he knew everything about his husband, so many years later. Shang Qinghua is mumbling Chinese alright, but none of the characters put together make any sense.

Who is Liang Shan Bo? And who the hell is Juliet?!

His mood taking a turn for the worse, Mobei Jun hoists Shang Qinghua up further on his back.

After getting so drunk, the idiot had the gall to demand for a piggy-back from the throne room to their bedroom. Mobei Jun has never once suffered such indignity in his years of living. A bridal carry? Of course, anytime. A piggy-back? As if he was some beast to be tamed? 

Well this definitely has to be a first.

While he was stewing in his thoughts, Shang Qinghua switches from that song to another one, and a stream of ‘du du du lu du lu’ emerges from his lips... AND something about... a sha yu? What the hell is that?!

Shang Qinghua lazily lifts his right hand as they approach their room, balls it into a fist and puts it to his mouth, as if he’s holding something, and whatever monstrosity Shang Qinghua is singing, his voice gets even louder.

Mobei Jun tosses Shang Qinghua off his back unceremoniously and onto the soft bed. Interrupted, Shang Qinghua blinks, his vision blurry, and is about to catch his breath and start singing again when his husband climbs in after him. Trapping Shang Qinghua with his entire weight, Mobei Jun seals his lips with a kiss.

“... My king...” Shang Qinghua murmurs in a daze, when Mobei Jun pulls back a few minutes later, his breaths coming out as short, harsh pants. “My king...”

“That’s right,” he says with a glower. “I’m your Da Wang, your husband.”

Mobei Jun doesn’t know who Liang Shan Bo is, but he’s going to make sure no other man’s name ever leaves Shang Qinghua’s lips again when they’re together.

And when his husband finally sobers up, he’s going to have a lot to answer for.

---

Songs Mentioned (YouTube Links in Comments):

The New Butterfly Dream 新鸳鸯蝴蝶梦 － A Chinese classic, sung by Huang An but done beautifully by legendary god of singing Fei Yu Qing and singing partner for the song A Yun Ga

Liang Shan Bo and Juliet 梁山伯与朱丽叶 － A Taiwanese contemporary classic of sorts by Genie Zhuo, most Chinese millennials would definitely have sang this at a karaoke once in their lives - Song is inspired by Liang Shan Bo and Zhu Ying Tai, the Chinese version of Romeo and Juliet to some extent - They both die in the end and become butterflies, so they’re also called the Butterfly Lovers.

The Moon Represents My Heart 月亮代表我的心 － ANOTHER CLASSIC CLASSIC!!!

Baby Shark (Chi. Ver) － ˆThe baby shark hype did move to China, and it’s pretty hilarious LMAO and in Chinese, shark is 鲨鱼 (sha yu) but I’m assuming that in this world, there isn’t a shark kind of animal of sorts? So Mobei Jun and everyone else except SQQ wouldn’t know what a shark is or looks like?!

Hair Like Snow 发如雪 － By Jay Chou, another classic that all Chinese millennials would have sang in a karaoke bar 

Wang Fei 王妃 － Jam Hsiao’s version is known best, and it’s pretty epic, not that anyone can reach any of the high notes in the chorus, but does that stop us from trying?!! Hell no!!!

---

Notes: My first Moshang?!! That didn’t really have a lot of Moshang time?! But thanks anon, hope this sort of works?!

[idreamofplaid]

Fallen - Chapter 2

Summary: Sam thought he had found happiness, but now his past is back to haunt him. Lucifer has claimed the throne of heaven, and it is his intention that Sam should finally fulfill his destiny as King of Hell.

Characters: Sam x Reader; Dean; Ruby

Word Count: 2621

Warnings: Non Con; Heavy Angst

A/N: This is a series I started some time ago. It has become the first in a project I’ve taken on that I’m calling “Finish the Series”. Each chapter of this one is based on a song. The song for Chapter 2 is “Hallelujah” by Rufus Wainwright. 

I’ve heard there was a secret chord that David played, and it pleased the Lord

Reader’s POV

The pain you felt was sharp and stunning in its intensity. In this moment, the love you felt for Sam was tearing you apart. You put your hand over your still unchanged stomach and thought about the baby there, the baby you couldn’t feel yet but already loved. You carried a child that, for now, was yours alone.

You moved your fingers lightly over your abdomen trying hard to process what you had just seen. Could you ever forget how Sam looked with another woman’s hand down the front of his pants? Could you forget how he reacted to what she was doing to him?

A wave of nausea came over you; you sat down, leaned your back against a tree, and hoped it would pass.

Well it goes like this, the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift

Dean had been silent since Sam and Ruby first emerged from the barn. He had been so quiet, crouched next to you in your hiding place, you’d almost forgotten he was there until he held your hair back from your face when you got sick. It was a few minutes before you sat back against the tree again. Dean pulled a black and white bandana from his back pocket and handed it to you. It felt soft and worn in your hand as you gingerly blotted your mouth with it. When you were done, Dean reached in another pocket and pulled out a wrapped peppermint. He held it out to you.

The plastic crinkled in your fingers when you took the little piece of candy. “Do you always carry these?”

“No. Mint settles your stomach. Thought it might help. Your morning sickness has been pretty bad.”

You opened the mint and slipped it into your mouth. The clean sweetness of the candy was welcome on your tongue. “How do you know what mint does, Dean?”

“Researching ingredients for spells, you learn a lot of things.” Dean worked his bottom lip. “Y/N, I know that looked bad. Really bad.” Dean rubbed the back of his neck. “He just... he wouldn’t turn his back on you. I know it. Sam wouldn’t do that.”

Your eyes glazed over, and your voice came out weak and broken; the sound of the wind blowing through the trees almost drowned out your words. “He did it to you. Because of her.”

Dean covered your hand with his. “That’s different, Y/N. Listen to me. Sam is in love with you. Forever kind of love. I don’t know what that was, but it damn sure wasn’t what it looked like. Sam’s stronger now than he was before. And smarter. There’s nothing she could do to make Sam forget you. Not a damn thing.”

“I wish I could believe that, Dean. Addiction makes you do things you wouldn’t normally do.” You stared hard at the empty candy wrapper in your hand. “I know I threw a fit to come with you, but I don’t want to go in there. I can’t. I can’t see what’s in there.”

Dean let go of your hand. He looked at you, and then dropped his eyes quickly from yours. When he looked back at you, his expression was steady and determined. “I’m going in there to get Sam, and I’m going to kill that bitch...again. So dead, she’s going to stay that way.”

The baffled king composing Hallelujah

Sam’s POV

I wanted Ruby to just stop talking. For the past three weeks, she’d gone on and on about me taking over the reins of hell as the new king and how strong I’d be. Every time she talked about me taking over the throne, it was accompanied by her pawing all over me and pumping me full of more demon blood. Her hands on me brought back all kinds of memories I’d kept buried so deep they couldn’t hurt me. I didn’t know if I could deal with them if I let them come to the surface.

I couldn’t push them aside now. The guilt was the worst. I’d started the apocalypse because I believed her lies. I’d needed her. Not out of choice, but because there wasn’t anything else. Everything is different now, but my body doesn’t know that. I got hard, and she loved it. She enjoyed the fact I couldn’t control it, couldn’t stop it from happening.

She was grinding on me now. “Sam, you’re everything I remember, only better. Aren’t you ready to show me just how much better?”

She closed her hand around my cock and started to stroke. There was evil in her eyes. I should have seen it before. Her hand got faster, and I squeezed my eyes shut. I wasn’t going to come. That, I could control. I refused to give her the satisfaction.

Her hand was pistoning on me, and her expression was filled with malice. She was going to try to wring the orgasm out of me. “You can’t fight me forever, Sam. You are going to give in. This is what you’re meant for.” I clenched my teeth hard. “I won’t let my Lord down, Sam. I will make you into who he wants you to be. I will deliver you to Lucifer strong, ruthless, and ready to be a king.”

I felt a resolution inside me sharper than any I’d felt before. “I’ll never be who you want me to be. Don’t you get it? This isn’t me. The part of me that matters is still in that bunker with Y/N. And you can never have it.”

Ruby’s eyes flashed fury before they went black. “That’s it, Sam. I’m done playing nice.” She flung my still hard dick out of her hand, grabbed a syringe filled with demon blood, jabbed it into my arm, and pushed the plunger down.

I thought I had won, but she pushed my open jeans down my hips. My erection was standing out over the top of my boxer briefs. “You’d better start fucking me, Sam, unless you want to find out all the fun things I can use to fuck that little slut of yours.”

I closed my eyes against the battle raging inside me. Your face was stuck in my head, smiling and beautiful the way I remembered. I reached out and grabbed her waist with my hands. Then I let them fall. I couldn’t do it. She wrapped her hand around the base of my dick and squeezed while she rolled my balls in her other hand. I was so hard it hurt. “No. Don’t.”

“Is that your final answer, Sam?”

Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah

I kept my eyes closed. I wasn’t going to look at her. Any second now, she was going to sink down on me. I’m sorry, Y/N. I’m so sorry. “Sammy!”

My eyes flew open. “Dean!?”

Dean was pointing a gun at her, his eyes full of rage. “Make one more move on my brother, you hell whore, and I’ll change my mind about killing you fast.”

Dean had been carving devil’s traps into bullets again. He took one shot at Ruby, and she fell to the floor immobilized. The last thing I remember before I blacked out was Dean sinking the demon blade into her.

Your faith was strong, but you needed proof

Reader’s POV

When you walked into Sam’s room, he was sitting on the side of his bed. His shoulders were slumped, and his forearms were propped on his legs. He sat up when he saw you. His expression was strained and his eyes looked tired. You knew his back between his shoulder blades was filled with knots. You’d loosened them up so many times after a hunt, massaging and rubbing your hands over all the tight places until he melted beneath your touch.

The urge to go to him was strong, but the uncertainty was stronger. Dean had explained to you that Sam wouldn’t start withdrawal from the blood for another few hours, but that wasn’t what scared you the most. Sam started to smile when he saw you, then stopped. He bowed his head, and you watched his hair fall over his cheek.

Sam’s voice was quiet. “Will you come closer?” He looked back at you, and you took a deep breath as you searched his eyes. “I won’t touch you. I just...don’t want...to forget how you smell.” He dropped his head again.

You could feel tears stinging the back of your eyes. You took three steps toward him and stopped. “Sam, I...I don’t know who you are.”

He lifted his head. As he talked, tears filled his eyes. “I won’t hurt you, Y/N. I would never hurt you.”

Tears ran down your cheeks. “You did, Sam. I saw you with her, outside the barn. I saw what she did.”

Sam started shaking his head. He was crying now too. “I was faithful to you, Y/N. She wanted me to cheat; she tried to make me cheat, but I didn’t. I let her do that because she threatened you, and I had to keep you safe.”

Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you

You closed the distance between you and stood before him. You brushed the hair back from his face, and Sam looked up at you, tears still in his eyes. “Please believe me, Y/N.”

You’d picked up the habit of wearing layers from Sam and Dean. You slipped out of your over shirt and held it out to Sam. He took it from you, tightening his fingers around it. “I love you, Sam, but until you’re sober; I don’t know what’s true.”

You backed out of the room. Sam watched every step. As soon as the door closed behind you, you collapsed against it.

She tied you to a kitchen chair, she broke your throne, and she cut your hair

It had been going on for two days. You hovered outside the door listening to Sam calling your name. He didn’t sound mad, just alone and in pain. Dean had been careful to put Sam in a room far away from yours while he detoxed, but no distance between you could stop you from hearing Sam’s voice in your head.

You were outside the room now, on the floor with your back against the wall, listening to Sam’s cries. Dean came walking down the hall carrying a bottle of Gatorade and a straw. He stopped when he got to where you were sitting. “You okay?”

“Dean, how long is he gonna be like this?” You could hear Sam moaning on the other side of the door. Dean contemplated the bottle in his hand pulling his bottom lip into his mouth and dragging his teeth across it as he released it. “I can’t take much more, Dean.”

Dean gentled his voice. “He doesn’t have as much blood in him as last time. If.... I don’t know, Y/N. I just don’t know.”

Baby, I’ve been here before; I’ve seen this room, and I’ve this floor

Sam’s POV

My mouth was dry and another cramp was twisting through my stomach. My hands were shaking, but I held onto the shirt you gave me. I pressed it against my face and breathed in. It smelled like vanilla and some kind of flower. You. “Y/N. Y/N!” You wouldn’t hear me. If you could, I’d tell you how sorry I am and beg you to forgive me. I’m a junkie again. Regardless of why I did it, it got me here. Without you. I closed my eyes and curled into a ball holding onto all of you I had, your shirt and my memories.

Love is not a victory march; it’s a cold, and it’s a broken hallelujah

Two Months Earlier

I was pulling at your bottom lip, kissing you, wanting you. The taste of you and the sweet sounds you were making filled me up with wanting you. I pushed my tongue deeper into your mouth; you moved under me, and I felt myself get harder. Your skin against mine was warm, soft. Touching you filled me with the promise and the hope that we’d have this always.

You lifted your hips, and I knew you were ready. I pushed into you a little at a time. Your muscles tightened around me, and my breath caught in my throat. You gave yourself to me, and I lost myself in you. I came that night whispering, “I love you.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I opened my eyes to stare at a brick wall in a room that wasn’t mine, in a bed you’d never been in. Your shirt was still in my hands. I brought it to my nose, smelled it again, and closed my eyes willing my dream to be real again.

The Holy Dove was moving too, and every breath we drew was hallelujah

Reader’s POV

You sat in the middle of the bed in Sam’s room with the blankets wrapped around you making a cocoon that was a feeble attempt to block out reality. This room was where you’d known your greatest joy. It was the place where you and Sam had slept in each other’s arms, where you had woken up to his smile, and where he’d first told you he loved you. It was where you had conceived your child.

You ran your hand over his pillow, remembering. It wasn’t hard to picture him there, golden skin against the white sheets. It wasn’t hard to remember the sound of his breathing, steady and peaceful. You saw his hazel eyes every time you closed your own.

A knock at the door pulled you out of your thoughts. You clutched the blankets to your chest, bracing yourself for whatever was about to happen. “Come in.”

Maybe there’s a god above

Dean looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Maybe he hadn’t. “Y/N, I think you should see Sam. He’s too weak now to do anything that could hurt you. We might be losing him.”

“No, Dean, no.” You shook your head, held onto the blankets, and the tears came again.

It’s not a cry you hear at night...it’s a cold, and it’s a broken hallelujah

Nothing could have prepared you for how Sam looked. Helpless wasn’t a word you would have ever used to describe Sam, but that’s how he looked now. You sat down next to him and gently pushed his damp hair off his forehead. His skin was hot to the touch. The fever had made him almost non responsive.

“Y/N?” Sam tried to raise his hand; it fell back down on the bed.

You took his hand in yours. “I’m here, Sam. I’m here.” You stroked your thumb across his cheek in an attempt to comfort him. “Dean, he needs new clothes. Bring me some. Second drawer in his chest on the right side. And bring some water and a washcloth.”

It didn’t take Dean long to return with the things you’d asked for. He helped you undress Sam so you could bathe him. The only sound Sam made was a soft whimper. When he was dressed in fresh clothes, Dean left you alone with him.

You took Sam’s hand in yours again. “Sam, please hear me. Come back to me. I love you, and I need you. We’re going to have a baby, Sam.” You raised his hand to your lips and kissed it. “Come back to us.” You put his hand down by his side, and brushed his hair back from his forehead. One of your tears landed on his cheek. “Sam?”

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