#mistake epilogue

[susartwork]

Group hug fanart to celebrate the end of the comic "A L I V E" ❤

Go check it out if you haven't already! It's really worth it (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

A L I V E belongs to @tatatale Art made by me

[disguisedcheezed]

i don't trust people who see hs2/hsbc as canon. it's more or less the same as the paradox space comics, pesterquest, and friendism.

official ≠ canon. it's as simple as that.

the hs epilogues started with people saying, "don't like, don't read," and it's CLEARLY labelled 'dubiously canon' and formatted like an ao3 fanfic. hs2 is on an entirely different site to homestuck.

[sasukeless]

imo the main reason team 7 sucks as a trio is because its so plainly obvious from the start that team 7 is kishimoto's way to make naruto and sasuke bond. he had these two guys that have a "rivalry" going on and they need to look like they dont like each other yet it is still needed for them to communicate so they can bond somehow and what better way than for them to be stuck in a group together?

the first and quite literally the most defining arc of the entire manga is the land of waves which is an arc totally focused on naruto and sasuke and the meaning of bonds and having a precious person for whom you would do anything. its this the arc that gives the whole premise to what the series will be about and it completely leaves sakura to just stand in the sides while sns' relationship unfolds (which is why her character is like that too in future arcs) because team 7 was never meant to be a main trio in the way most trios act in other types of media and it completely shows.

normally, trios in general are made of people that are equally important to the plot and to each other, or at least the mc is more important because he is the mc but the other two hold the same importance. with team 7 that's not the case because the whole focus in the story keeps re-directing to naruto and sasuke and their relationship only and the only times team 7 as a team is brought is because that was where their bond "officially" started. sasuke's feelings post timeskip is the biggest example because the second he leaves the village he cuts his ties to sakura and kakashi and doesn't care about them anymore; he's even ready to leave them to die and every time he faces them his only interest is naruto because thats the only one that he still holds dear.

this is also why team 7 relationship looks so dumb and dysfunctional compared to other trios is naruto itself. the others' relationship were formed after and mostly as a way to equal team 7 for like the chunin exams or draw parallels kakashi/obi/rin etc but because kishimoto precisely had thought of them as a package they actually work well and the relationship doesn't look like a mess. in the end kishimoto tries to give team 7 moments that would make them look as a functional team too like the final second defeating kaguya but its already late to do that because sasuke still has no bond to sakura and kakashi anymore so the closure of the story goes back to him and naruto at vote; his two final monologues are only about his feelings for naruto; even the last frame in the last chapter is them saying goodbye and on

[cha1cedony]

Just mouthed ‘aww’ to myself while writing about a grown ass man snoring. Mortifying. I need to explode

[davekat-sucks]

Monkey's Paw is: your ship or headcanon is confirmed and happens in the post canon but it is so bastardized that you no longer look at what you liked with love but with hatred and deep sadness - said by me, a GamJane fan.

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

DELIGHTED to report that, on page ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVEN, i yam FINALLY typing one (1) of what i thought would be five (5) scenes of Jorge Short Story!!

[recitedemise]

"Ah. I see you've come upon the many offerings of my aspiring pupils." Gale sets the tea down. Comfort and leisure... it wears handsomely on him. By the closed doors of the terrace, curtains drawn back and velvet-thick, those dwindling rays of sunlight quietly wanes. The hearth's freshly crackling, its mollifying glow strewn golden on the floors, and up the handle of a mug, it glimmers like tanzanite. A whole host of mugs. Maybe ten of them. Twenty. His tower looms gargantuan, all old books and star globes. Doctor Dekarios, it would appear, is abundantly loved.

And that is new--refreshingly so. "Feel free to take one on your way back home, though I hope that won't be for a while yet. I hardly entertain enough guests to be outfitting the pottery business as lavishly as I am. I've looked forward to this, you know. You look well."

OPEN.

[humanmorph]

i think asepsis could make lyke so much worse

[randomnameless]

The explanation given as to how Sothis interacts with Byleth at the end of 3H if she's S-supported seems weird to me:

“She states that when she granted her full power to them, her soul had permanently bonded with them. When Byleth points out she said she could no longer speak to them, Sothis only replies that she also said they would always be together, and that she decided to come back to them in this way because Byleth was lonely.”

So… Byleth wasn't lonely right after she gave them her power, or at any point during the war? Like, this line seems to imply she could literally have come back whenever she wanted but only did so now because Byleth was lonely, but what about this instance was so special that she felt the need to do so now instead of before?

Also, lol at the explanation given for how she does this even in CF:

“Even in the Crimson Flower route where Byleth loses the Crest of Flames, Sothis states that she no longer requires it as she is bound directly to their soul.”

Guess the edelstan argument that Byleth becomes fully human at the end just got debunked; Sothis will forever and always be a part of Byleth's soul, so there goes the supposed “Byleth becomes more human and that's good and a fundamental part of their character arc in CF” aspect of the route. They're always part-Nabatean no matter what, if this stupid little confession is anything to go by.

TBH Billy being able to marry Sothis always felt like a weird easter egg/kink/nod/thing -

Sothis, as a character, would really have benefitted from not appearing at all and "disappearing" to a higher plane or something after the fusion dance, because it makes the rest of the game completely bonkers if she's here -

Sure she wants to make sure Billy will follow their own path... as they hack her very own daughter (and Nopes, fwiw, showed Sothis doesn't like people who kill her kids!) or follow Clout and Deemitri around their respective plots, when the maniacs who dismembered her kin have her daughter and are most likely working on dismembering her too - nah, sorry, but especially after Nopes, I think it'd be more IC for Sothis to tell Billy to rescue her daughter asap, worry about Cichol and dote on Cethleann rather than help Claude deal with Acheron or liberate Firdhiad.

And I can see a point being made about how, in FE16, with those epilogues (and the reveal she had always been there), some people could believe Sothis thinks Billy's path and future is more important, to her, than her children (Rhea, Cichol'n'his bros, Cethleann) surviving the aftermath of a genocide which blows because 1/ it cements her as the Worst Mother ever + 2/ plays in the orange suckling fest of FE16 about the player stand-in completely warping the verse as they always are the "most important" person to someone, regardless of that someone's preexisting net or web of relationships.

But it's, imo, actually 3/ this situation arises because Billy is a non character in FE16, as in they cannot react to events or even say anything -> from the characterisation and clues given in the non-Fodlan games (FeH, FE17, even Nopes to a small extent) if Billy was allowed to be a character and not a ferry for the player, the second they learn Rhea is captured in Enbarr and is Sothis's daughter, they wouldn't ask her to pick between them (and their lord) and her family, they'd obviously ask her to help them save both.

Also, Sothis being able to marry Billy in Tru Piss is imo the finest cup of Hresvelg Grey out there - you slaughtered her daughter (and son and granddaughter?) but she can still marry u bcs uwu your souls are binded niw and it's all roses and uwu, and not something à la Fomortiis were Sothis will hijack and curse and "destroy" Billy little by little to gain a body to wreck devastation upon the world ; and yet, there's still something hilarious about dumping Supreme Leader, on her uwu route, to marry the Goddess she hates!

[sunset-peril]

Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule & Zelda Characters: Link (Legend of Zelda), Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Impa (Legend of Zelda), Urbosa (Legend of Zelda), King Rhoam Bosphoramus Hyrule Additional Tags: Pre-Calamity (Legend of Zelda), Secret Marriage, Revealed Secret Marriage, Original Hylian Character(s) - Freeform, King Rhoam Makes Things Way Harder Than They Need To Be, Pregnancy, But honestly Zelda is not doing herself any favors here, the Royal Family makes things harder on themselves, Zelda's temper is her own worst enemy Series: Part 4 of Hyrule's Final Stand Summary:

Her father had cornered her in a way where the only way to save herself, and the life of another, would be to condemn herself and her born-in-exile bodyguard, Link. So that's what she must do.

And pray to Hylia that her father follows Hylia's law about such matters.

[griponthenews]

no because that meme of someone watching a streamer play their favourite game but they misunderstand it horrendously. That’s literally me with Not for Broadcast. I have yet to see a streamer play it and use like their actual brain and critical thinking skills when choosing whether to side with Advance vs Disrupt. Like the point of the game is nuance and the grey morality of both sides but these people will just assume everything Advance do is bad while supporting Disrupt without questioning any of their actions because Advance are the government and therefore automatically pure evil? Say what you will about Julia’s government, but early game Advance genuinely have some stellar policies. But every streamer I’ve seen play this game always goes fully pro-Disrupt as soon as they have the option to do so, without considering the actual good things Advance are doing at that point, like the Menu Centres or the Assets and Wealth Act. I’m not forgetting about their inexcusable actions later on in the game (if you’ve played it then you’ll know what I’m talking about), but even then that was mainly Julia’s decision rather than Advance’s (can’t remember which ending it is but there’s that tape where Peter is very clearly against what Julia did). Arguably the best epilogue of the game happens when the public is in favour of Advance over Disrupt. But because typically in dystopian fiction the rebel faction is the morally better choice I guess people assume Disrupt must be too? Despite all this the most annoyed I’ve ever been watching someone play this game was when at the end the guy said (in a roundabout way of complimenting her I guess??) that Megan’s actor did a good job at making you hate her. How someone can come out of this game hating MEGAN WOLFE of all characters is beyond me.

sorry for how incoherent and badly formatted this post is I just have to rant about Not for Broadcast or I’ll explode.

[fenharel]

omg durge who embraced bhaal but didnt take over the netherbrain probably has the most fucked up epilogue huh

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

Alt Ending, Part 12

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@solangelo252 @animegirlweeb @frieddonutsweets

Marinette had discovered three things since starting therapy:

1. Therapy sucks

2. Therapy sucks (again)

3. THERAPY SUCKS (but this time capitalized)

You see, every time she went into Dinah’s office to talk, she would end up crying.

She is very well adjusted. She knew this for a fact, for she only cried (due to emotions, physical pain doesn’t count) once a year. Could someone that was mentally unstable do that? Didn’t think so.

Therefore: therapy sucks.

Most of the time she didn’t even know why she was crying. Once, she had been talking about a show she had been watching with Cass and Duke and how the main trio had a really cute friendship… and then she had started sobbing into her hands. Make it make sense!

Dinah tried to make sense of it (because it was her job). She thought that she was lonely or something, as Marinette found out when she lip read the conversation Bruce and Dinah had had outside the car later that evening.

Her lips twisted into a scowl. She wasn’t LONELY. She had people watching over her every time she dared to leave the house, cameras trained at her at all times, and she even lived with two people! Every single bat was at her beck and call, and if she so much as sent a text that even suggested that she wanted to hang out with them, she would find them at her doorstep within minutes. She didn’t know what the problem was, but it was NOT loneliness.

But… she had to admit, when she heard a knock on the door and found Chloe and Adrien standing just outside…

Well, she wouldn’t deny that it was nice to see someone else for a change.

She beamed at them. “Holy shit, it’s been AGES,” she said, before immediately latching onto Adrien’s arm. “We should go shopping.”

Adrien blinked at her a couple of times, looking mildly perturbed by the change in eye color the Pit had caused, before breaking into a grin of his own. “We look like siblings now.”

“Don’t tell the bats that, they’ll get jealous,” Marinette said, shaking her head with a playful smile.

Adrien either didn’t get the joke or wanted to play it safe, because he glanced around warily. “So, the mall, right? Sounds fun!” He said, making sure his voice carried into the apartment.

Marinette and Chloe exchanged mildly amused looks, but were generous enough to allow for the change in subject:

“I heard your wardrobe’s gone to shit,” Chloe said, resting her hands on her hips. “And, honestly, they’re right. I mean those colors…” She shook her head. “How far the mighty hath fallen. Remember when you were one of my mom’s most promising talents?”

She pouted and looked down. She had thought the colors matched pretty well, but now she was too afraid to ask what ungodly combination she was wearing. “Well, I’m kinda colorblind now, so I think I have an excuse.”

“Don’t colorblind glasses exist?” Adrien said, a little too quick, clearly desperate to change the subject…

But now that she thought of it, annoyance prickled under her skin.

“Remind me to kill B.”

“I’m pretty sure we’re supposed to discourage that,” Adrien said lightly, dragging her away from the apartment.

She groaned. “Buzzkill.”

“I’m pretty sure being a buzz-kill is Chloe’s thing.”

“Marinette, we should drop him off in the nearest alley. Give him a proper Gotham welcome.”

“Agreed,” she said, nodding.

Adrien made an offended noise and pulled Marinette further into his side as they walked. Possibly for protection against Gotham alleys. She might have clutched his arm tighter in return, but she would never admit to it.

~

“Marinette, do I remind you of Harley?” Dinah asked during a lull in the middle of one of their usual sessions.

Marinette jolted up to sit more fully, the ball she had been casually tossing from hand to hand smacking her in the face in her moment of distraction. But she hardly even noticed. It didn’t hit her new glasses, at least, so it didn’t hurt in the slightest.

Besides, she was more concentrated on other things.

A blush spread across her cheeks as she looked down at her hands. “I mean…” She cleared her throat awkwardly. “Maybe a little? I mean, you do look kinda the same… I think,” she said, chancing a quick glance up through her bangs. With the color-correcting lenses, she looked rather different from Harley did. Her skin wasn’t as pale, her hair was more gold, the blue of her eyes was brighter. But it was still too close for some reason she couldn’t name.

Dinah didn’t let her expression give anything away. “Is that all?”

“Uh…” She bit her lip. “You’re both therapists…”

She nodded encouragingly.

She twisted her fingers in her lap. “And you both wanted me to hurt Bruce for a minute there.”

The woman glanced away, something complicated making its way across her face before getting smoothed over. “Well, it was very brave of you to admit all that. And it’s okay to feel that way, it’s very common. It’s a phenomenon called transference, where you ‘transfer’ some of your feelings about someone onto your therapist.”

Marinette gave a jerky nod.

“Now, I’d like you to tell me how seeing her in me makes you feel.”

“Good,” Marinette said.

Her therapist nodded slightly. “Care to explain further?”

And this was where she hesitated.

Because putting words to the feelings were more difficult than she wanted to admit. It was easy to say that she felt ‘good’ when thinking of Dinah as Harley, that the moments where she accidentally mixed them up mentally were some of her favorites even if they were quickly crushed when reality set in again… but as for the cause? How could she explain something even she didn’t fully understand?

“I miss her,” she admitted quietly, barely resisting the urge to bite her cheek. Dinah had said that that was an unhealthy coping mechanism/grounding technique, and that she should instead find things to focus on. She picked up her ball again and started attempting to flatten it between her hands. “I – I know I shouldn’t, you all have already explained how she wasn’t all that great to me, but… I really do.”

“There is no ‘shouldn’t’ when it comes to feelings,” Dinah reminded her, gently. “Sometimes we feel things that aren’t rational, it happens to everyone, it’s just how you choose to go on from there that matters.”

But how was Marinette supposed to go on? The weight of all of her contradictions was beginning to get suffocating, and she wanted nothing more than to retreat to her bed and disappear under the covers, never to come out again.

“And as for us telling you that she wasn’t a good caregiver…” Dinah gave a tiny sigh. Marinette stiffened. But then she gave a slight smile. “It is okay if you don’t believe it yet, don’t understand. But I will continue saying it until it finally sinks in: you didn’t deserve for that to happen to you, what she did was wrong.”

“She just wanted me to help her,” Marinette said, curling in on herself.

“It stops being ‘helping’ when someone forces you to do it for them. Then it becomes ‘coercion’.”

She nodded numbly.

The timer went off, and Marinette all but leapt to her feet, more than ready to switch out with one of her siblings.

“Marinette,” Dinah called.

She cringed and glanced back, her grip on the doorknob tight enough that she could practically feel the brass bending beneath her fingers.

“I’d like to give you something to think over until our next session: why did she let Scarecrow test his toxins on you?”

Marinette slammed the door shut behind herself.

Jason blinked behind his glasses. His were the horse miraculous in disguise, but they, too, had color correcting properties. Probably better than her own, as his were magical.

Yeah, no, neither of them were ever going to let Bruce live down the fact that he, with all of the money and knowledge the world had to offer, never thought to try and cure their colorblindness.

He raised an eyebrow at her, carefully pocketing his phone.

“You alright?”

She pointed at the door. “Your turn.”

~

Marinette stitched in time to the music blaring in her headphones, but she wasn’t really concentrating on either.

The bats, upon Dinah’s request, had allowed Marinette to start up a tailoring business. She could no longer design, for color correcting lenses could only do so much, but she had still wanted to work with clothes. So: tailoring. A thoughtless task that she could do with her eyes closed if she so wished, and the familiarity of a fabric under her hands and tiny pinpricks of blood welling on her fingers – for she wasn’t the kind of coward that used a thimble – was more relaxing than she wished to admit.

She mulled over Dinah’s words.

Why HAD there been so much fear toxin involved in her time with the Rogues?

Sure, she understood they were ‘evil’, and that Jonathan Crane had wished to know what would happen, wanted to know how effective his new formulas were… but it wasn’t like they couldn’t find unwilling participants on the streets like they always did. She had always kind of assumed it was for the sake of convenience, after all why go through the effort of kidnapping a whole different person, but…

What if it wasn’t?

What if it was more sinister?

Jason had always argued that it was about making Marinette associate Harley with safety, as she would always come once the toxins were cleared from her system, would always bring her water to soothe the way her throat ached from screaming, would always hug her tight and comfort her…

And Dinah had mentioned that the woman might have been using it to look for preexisting complexes to exploit. Hadn’t Harley always said the exact right things to get her riled up?

Her needle pricked her finger and she hissed, dropping everything so she could stick it in her mouth.

But… there had to have been easier ways. Why would they go through all that effort if that was all it was? Surely, there was another explanation. She just hadn’t figured it out yet.

~

As the leading expert on miraculi, and perhaps as a treat for participating in therapy as much as she was, she was allowed back in the batcave to help out with the case of her stolen earrings.

Marinette hung upside down from the balance beam, squinting at the picture of Selina Kyle – of Catwoman – wearing her earrings.

They were dull in color, but they were still undoubtedly the ladybug miraculous.

She closed her eyes. “Well, if it’s been this long then she probably can’t use the miracle cure anymore, so you should be able to apprehend her as normal. And, if she’s somehow managed to save up, then there would only be, like, one last ditch miraculous cure before it’s used up for good until Dami uses Plagg,” she prattled off.

She could hear the bats murmuring amongst themselves.

“Why do you say that?” Jason said after a moment.

“Well, beyond experience using the ladybug without an active cat…” she hopped off the beam and landed neatly on her feet. Cass clapped politely, and she sent a grin her way before turning back to the projector. “She’s not using the suit. But she used to, that’s how you figured out she was using it in the first place, right? So, it’s safe to assume she’s out of power.”

“It could be a different design for the suit,” Tim pointed out.

Marinette shook her head. “Nah, the ladybug spots are necessary. It’s a stipulation of the miraculous. Trust me, there is no way around it.”

“So… we have to catch her once or twice… and then they’re no longer invincible?” Dick clarified, looking relieved.

She nodded, beaming. “Exactly. And then I get my miraculous back.”

There was an awkward silence.

Marinette’s smile didn’t waver. “What? I never said I wanted to be a vigilante again or anything. I just want my friend back. Can’t I?” She turned to Bruce, giving her best puppy dog eyes.

The man didn’t flinch. “We will discuss it once Harley is behind bars.”

All of the other bats immediately started talking over each other in their haste to argue, but she didn’t pay it any mind as she made her way over to the water cooler. Honestly, getting him to say they’d talk about it later was better than she’d thought she’d get.

She knew she would never be allowed to be a miraculous-holding vigilante again. They didn’t trust her – not truly. Not because of her, because of what had happened. But that didn’t change the fact that they would never allow her to have that kind of power and training, because they weren’t the type to take risks, and she was a risk now. A liability. A person that could easily ‘relapse’, as Bruce put it, and end up using her power for the wrong side.

She would argue that she would never do that to Tikki… but she had worked for the Rogues using Kaalki, so that argument wouldn’t convince them.

So, it became a question of whether she cared more about being a vigilante or being a miraculous holder. She couldn’t be both, she needed to choose one.

In the end, it wasn’t even a question, not a true choice. For being a vigilante had never been healthy for her – she wasn’t dumb, she knew that all of the things she told Adrien about being Chat Noir very much applied to her as well, and even if she HADN’T realized before the sessions with Dinah certainly would have forced her to – and being a miraculous holder was how she accessed one of her best friends.

So, she wanted her earrings back. She wanted her friend back.

~

She leaned against the batcomputer, her head leaning against Duke’s shoulder as the pair of them watched the screens. It was nearly time for Duke’s shift as Signal, and his suit wasn’t all that comfortable to lean on, but she was too tired to really care. Her eyes drooped as she watched Tim take down an asshole that had decided to attack a poor elderly woman.

Bruce strode in, pulling his helmet from his head. He glanced at where the pair sat and sighed a little, before walking over and moving to ruffle Marinette’s hair.

She groaned and attempted to push Duke in the way. “No. You smell. Shower.”

“Stop trying to sacrifice me,” Duke complained lightly, but he valiantly waved off the hand reaching for them nonetheless.

She giggled. “This is what you get for throwing out my coffee, you bitch.”

It was a nice moment.

Until it wasn’t.

A familiar groan met their ears and, instantly, all three sets of eyes snapped back to the screens. Tim was on the ground, the grandma standing over him. But she wasn’t a grandma at all, for she pulled off her wig and tossed it aside, letting it join an empty, broken syringe on the asphalt.

Harley Quinn.

Marinette’s breath caught in her throat. She snapped to attention, her exhaustion fading like it had never been there at all. She found herself leaning closer to the screen, greedily taking in everything about the woman. Her clothes, her stance, the new wrinkle between her brows.

Vaguely, she registered a hand on her shoulder, but she shook it off without even sparing the person a glance.

Harley leaned down and dug the comm out of Tim’s ear. A terrible crackling noise met them, and they watched Tim’s arm reach for it in a weak attempt to get it back, but Harley stomped on it without hesitation and he let it fall limp with a quiet hiss.

The mugger stepped into frame – Joker, judging by the bright green hair and deathly white skin – and smiled too widely as he stuffed the ski mask he’d been wearing into the purse he had just been ‘stealing’. He waved for the camera as he waited for Harley to figure out the controls so they could both speak to and hear the bats with ease.

“Now, Batsy,” Joker began. He moved his hands a lot when he talked, something that was made threatening by the fact that he had a loaded gun in one of said hands. “I assume you’re already sending your little birds over, so let’s make this quick: we want a trade.”

“Harley,” Bruce began, his voice surprisingly calm. “Let him go.”

Joker and Harley both looked mildly surprised by the choice to address Harley instead, but Joker, bravely, continued on:

“Give us Marinette back and we might just return this one in one piece.”

Tim made a sound Marinette had never heard from him before. She could see him try and curl in on himself, but Harley pressed her foot under his chin, nudging him to make sure they were still in view of the camera in his domino.

“She knows where we’ll be waiting for her,” Joker said.

And then Harley kicked Tim between the eyes, effectively cutting the camera feed.

A high whining noise filled the room as the comm was crushed.

But that was nice, for the room would have been so QUIET otherwise.

Marinette was the first one to break the silence that had come over them all:

“They want me back?”

~

She screamed as she was forced back into a cell. This one wasn’t as nice as the others, wasn’t the bland white room that she had never thought she would miss until she was forced into this one. It was made of bulletproof glass that allowed her to watch her family rush around on the other side. Trying to find Tim’s location. Yelling at each other. Gearing up.

Everyone kept looking back at her, as if expecting her to break out at any moment.

She certainly felt like she could, with the way anger curled beneath her skin and made her see GREEN. She stalked her cage, eyes flicking from place to place in search of a way out even if she KNEW that it was flawless. Knew that she would only be getting out if they let her out.

She pushed up her glasses to wipe her eyes, wishing she had never said anything.

“Where do they want to meet?” Duke asked, his gaze fixing on anything but her. “They said you’d know.”

“Let me go with you and I’ll be happy to lead you there,” Marinette said, giving a smile that was really more of a bearing of teeth than anything.

He groaned and rested his head against the glass. “Mari, please.”

“No, YOU ‘please’. All of you act like you care, but do you really? Or do you just want to keep me? I have done EVERYTHING you asked. I played good, I went to therapy, I tried SO fucking hard to go back to ‘normal’. And all because you said you knew what was best. Because I trusted you to care. But do you? Because I’m fucking MISERABLE, and all of that therapy I’ve been getting has been telling me is that the people that care aren’t supposed to do that to you!”

It was quiet, now.

The anger drained out of her.

“You’re not better just because you don’t kill,” she said, her eyes finding their way to the ground. “There are fates worse than death.”

No one seemed to have a response to that.

The Zeta tube buzzed, snapping them all out of their stupor abruptly.

Superman walked in, the smile he normally wore noticeably missing as he zipped over to the colony of bats.

“Kon-El is off-world,” Superman explained hurriedly. “But I think I can find him for you. Kon described his heartbeat pattern to me. Give me an hour.”

Bruce nodded once and that was all it took for Superman to disappear.

He turned to the rest of the bats. “Everyone spread out. Hood, stick back with her.”

And then she was left.

Jason sighed and slumped against the glass, tipping his head back against it. He slowly slid down.

“Shit,” he groaned.

Marinette gave a humorless laugh. “Tell me about it.”

He gave an attempt at a smile, and then looked down at his hands.

They stayed there in silence for a long while. Time passed like sand in an hour glass, trickling away, the sand’s descent and yet over so suddenly that you begin to wonder whether you had really turned the hourglass over at all.

Jason groaned again, louder this time, and pushed himself to his feet.

He slammed his palm against the scanner next to him.

She watched on, her mouth falling open as the door to the cell did the same.

He didn’t give her much time to process this as he pulled the horse miraculous from his face and tossed it at her. She fumbled it a little.

“Make the decision you think is best for you.”

Her eyes widened. She held the glasses close to her chest as she looked up at him, analyzing his expression. He was looking away, but she could still tell there was no trick this time. No taser on his suit, no hidden backup. Just a genuine offer.

“Thank you,” she breathed, already rushing to put them on and transform.

He gave a pained grin. “Just… don’t say I never do anything for you, eh?”

She wrapped her arms around his middle in a hug.

He patted her on the head twice.

And then he gave her a tiny push to dislodge her.

“Do what YOU want to, okay?” He said.

She nodded once, firmly, and then opened up a portal underneath herself.

~

She popped into existence in the abandoned warehouse they had first stolen her in.

Or, rather, below it, where a secret facility lay.

Talk about adding insult to injury.

She looked around the empty halls, quietly getting her bearings, and then headed towards the room she had spent the better part of half a year in.

Tim was tied up in the corner, his body shaking just a little too much for it to be mistaken for simple fear. Indeed, he was smiling through his gag, and bulging eyes didn’t even seem to register the sudden addition to the room.

She looked away. To the people that she had come to meet.

She barely caught sight of the Joker’s expression – had just enough time to think that it was slightly off – before she had been gathered into a hug by Harley.

Marinette’s knees felt weak. With shaky arms, she hugged back.

“Oh, darlin’, I missed you SO much! We started trying to get you back the moment one of our lookouts said he saw you out with those two blond kids!”

A few tears escaped. They’d never stopped looking. Her hands balled in the woman’s shirt, clutching it tightly with intents of never letting go.

Joker made his way over, his expression still odd. “You were right, Harls. The good ones always make their way home eventually.”

“They do,” Harley said, her tone as soft as the hand combing through Marinette’s hair.

And then it was blissfully silent, allowing Marinette to melt into the woman’s touch.

Other than Tim’s quiet choking.

She worried her lip. “So… we’re letting him go, right?”

Joker cackled. “No, no, of course not!”

She glanced at Tim. He still didn’t show any signs of seeing her as he continued to laugh into his gag. His lips were tinted blue.

Harley used the hand in her hair to tuck her face into her shoulder, forcing her to look away. “How would you feel about a brother? We can all be a happy little family, y’know.”

“All united under a single goal,” Joker continued dreamily. “Messing with the bat…”

His expression soured, briefly. He glanced over the three of them. But then he was grinning again, perfectly happy with the situation.

“It’ll be perfect,” he said. Firmly. As he could speak it into existence if he simply believed it hard enough.

“Yeah…” Marinette said, trying to sound enthusiastic but just ending up sounding strained.

Harley, of course, noticed.

“What’s wrong, darlin’?”

There was a beat as she considered the question. Mulled it over in her mind. Wondered whether it was worth ruining what she had right then if it meant knowing the truth. Wondered whether she wanted to ruin the past few months with the bats if it turned out they were lying. Wondered which would hurt more.

“What would you do…” Marinette began, hesitantly.

“Yes?” She prompted, reminding her so much of Dinah that it hurt a little.

She took a deep breath in to steady herself.

“What would you do if I said I wanted to take him and go home? That I don’t want anything to do with you anymore?”

Harley frowned and pulled her closer. “I’m not sure what they told you while they had you, darlin’, but we’ll work past it, okay?”

Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. Why didn’t the hug feel good anymore? Why did it feel like the arms around her were trapping her? Why did the nickname she used to love remind her of what someone would call a pet?

Why was everything wrong? Was it her?

What could she change to fix it?

She sniffled and let her legs give out entirely, unsure how to feel when Harley caught her with ease.

And then she was walked over to Tim and sat down beside him in the chair.

She curled up there, pressed against her brother’s side, wishing the folds of her dress would swallow her whole.

~

The door splintered (quite a feat, considering it was plastic) and Superman took only a moment to set down Bruce before zipping off with little more than a murmur that he was going to get the others.

The man’s eyes zeroed in on the pair in the corner. His lips pulled into a thin line.

“Superman,” he said, seemingly speaking to the air itself. “Don’t bring them.”

He turned his gaze onto Joker and Harley, who were both smiling unpleasantly. Marinette squeezed her eyes shut tight.

“Harley,” the man greeted, though the way he said the name made it sound like a curse. “Let them go.”

“‘Let them go’?” The woman mocked. “I mean, say what you will for little Timmy over there, I guess, but Marinette came all on her own. I’m not holding her captive or anything.”

“Harley,” he began.

She ignored him. “And, of course, given enough time, I’m sure the poor boy will see the light.”

The man began forward, his footsteps heavy on the tile.

Harley wasn’t at all put off as she said, “Marinette. Now, if you will.”

She quietly did as she was told, calling upon the kwami’s magic and trying to envision a place far enough away to give them time to recuperate. Superman’s appearance would make things difficult, but she just needed to find a place lined with lead. Lex Luthor probably had some stuff. They’d need to drop by his office for an address –.

“HARLEY –!”

A gunshot rang out.

Marinette’s eyes flew open.

Harley’s body fell to the floor with a thud.

Joker blew the smoke from his gun before turning to Bruce, smiling wider than she had ever seen. “Great, now that that DISTRACTION is out of the way, Batsy, let me…”

He trailed off.

For Marinette chose that moment to get out of the chair, her clothes rustling as she pushed herself to her feet.

She tipped her head to the side, smiling in that exact way that her ‘parents’ taught her to do when she wanted to throw someone off.

“Yes, now that that ‘distraction’ is out of the way…” She continued for him, her eyes narrowing just slightly. The Pit thrummed in her veins, calling for blood. She refused to give it any. “I guess it’s time to focus on what’s really important: you.”

The man looked like he was torn between agreeing and doing the actually smart thing that people called groveling. Not that it would have saved him.

She never gave him time to decide.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Superman can never find you. Just like you wanted.”

The man disappeared in a flash of blue light.

Marinette, finally, fell to her knees.

[godkilller]

          headcanon.  Whilst Rangiku was pregnant with Keiko later on in my canon-divergent Redemption verse, Gin absolutely was attached to Rangiku’s hip. She’d never be beyond a mile away from Gin at any given time if/when he ever left her side for any reason. There’s a protective Kido placed onto Rangiku (without her permission, he’ll apologize later) that allows Gin the ability to locate her instantly, always, like a tracker. It will also activate a barrier if she’s attacked by an offending reiatsu that’s higher than her own -- taking a few pages out of Aizen Sousuke’s extensive Kido skillsets, particularly that modified Kido the man placed for the nape of his neck. Gin later uses a similar, albeit modified Kido onto his daughter, too, with specifications that activate an automated Sentan Hakuja that brings Keiko directly to wherever he is ---- if her reiatsu ever indicates injury beyond a knee scrape. He places that onto Keiko as she enters her young teenage years and keeps it into her adulthood. It’s a hard sell to ever try and convince him to remove it.

          All in all, Rangiku’s pregnancy is a tip-toeing type of ordeal for them. Shinigami in general aren’t often able to produce children, and Rangiku’s missing soul piece hasn’t been recovered at the time, so it was difficult and nearly impossible for her to become pregnant. Gin’s worry focuses around ‘if something good’s happening to us, something bad will find a way to ruin it’ and thus takes on an extremely protective role. Expect hell itself to manifest if your character ever attempts harm towards a pregnant Rangiku (or Keiko, for that matter) because Gin’ll strike in a heartbeat. He’ll strike fast and hard, and he’ll have no mercy. Mama bear Rangiku can be terrifying, yes, but Gin becomes a whole different beast. Gin doesn’t fucking care about being on good behavior for his reinstatement in the Gotei 13 if you’re threatening a pregnant Rangiku or his child ---- he’ll lop your head off in a blink.

          Happy late Father’s Day to him.

[sonicdjam]

URETHRA!!! i just got a theory for another dimension

another dimensions time either flows really weirdly or just doesnt. (its like the new worlds case where time flows differently there than popstar) you wonder how magolor came back in such a short time in krtdl’s credits? and also in kirbys dream collection where magolor returns… jsut to make.. a … theme park.. too????

i think it might be a case where another dimensions (and the new world too) time flows very differently. with the new magolor epilogue proves that He Indeed is in between dimensions (i think so). since these dimensions time passes either quickly or slowly to the point that time doesnt even flow. to my estimation he took 10-20 minutes to escape these dimensions (in planet popstars time where its time flows the same as earth i think)

oh and also magolor epilogue has a new combo system so what else i can say but PLAY DODONPACHI RAHHHHH

[st-guliks-fnord]

Well, “Wyatt unknowingly eats bread baked with his father’s ashes” wasn’t on my ‘Recognitions prediction bingo card but honestly that’s on me