#on death's door is such a rad translation

[bakuhatsufallinlove]

Katsuki's Danger Sense

I've seen a lot of people talking about this line, so I wanted to mention, fun fact: the Japanese line in the anime is identical to chapter 293's script, and there's something pretty special about it.

Katsuki says, 「死地での危機感」 (shichi de no kikikan)

The subtitle in the anime screencap is more or less a literal translation. Shichi is nearly certain death, an incredibly dangerous place you might not come back from--its kanji is literally "death ground," as in the dirt you're gonna die on. Kikikan is a sense of danger or impending crisis.

Caleb Cook, the official translator for MHA English releases, chose to translate this line with the poetic English term, "on death's door," which I think is a great choice. This line is really visceral and vivid, and he did well capturing that.

But! There is a secret parallel I don't think Cook noticed.

Because the word Katsuki uses here, 危機感, is also part of the Japanese name for the Fourth's Quirk, Danger Sense!

Two chapters later, in chapter 295, Izuku realizes AFO mocking Katsuki's sacrifice triggered Danger Sense.

The Quirk is called 「危機感知」 (kikikanchi). The first two kanji, 危機 (kiki) mean danger or crisis; the second two, 感知 (kanchi), mean perception. These two words are nouns all by themselves, but 知 itself is also a word meaning knowledge or wisdom. To put it simply, this phrase can be interpreted as kiki kanchi or kikikan chi.

We see Katsuki think kikikan to himself while remembering his sacrifice for Izuku, and then two chapters later we see Izuku, also thinking to himself, say that the Quirk's name is kikikanchi.

To me, this parallel frames Danger Sense as literal knowledge that Izuku gains from Katsuki acting instantaneously to save him. And by extension, that kind of makes you think Katsuki's instinctive, just-in-the-nick-of-time rescue of Izuku was only possible because of some invisible bond between them.

Katsuki experiences kikikan and through that he saves Izuku; as a result, Izuku now experiences kikikan--the sense of impending danger.

There are theories out there that Izuku and Katsuki's bond is so strong that One For All--the Quirk that connects people's hearts--acts upon both their bodies, and that it may even be harnessed by both of them at once.

I'm just saying, the subtext is there.

[pwblogarchive]

February 2004

February 2, 2004

“it's tough times for dreamers”

lasvegas played our luck. (in)famous. (mis)fortune. got to hang with atticus boys. played a fun show. lots of singing and dancing. saw a rough cut of our video- looks pretty rad. i watched amelie in the van- why did i never give this movie a chance before? it makes me feel better to be alive.

sometimes i miss you so much it hurts to breathe.

peter

February 3, 2004

“if I give you the chance you'll play dumb, if you give me the microphone ill play tragic”

Sometimes it feels like noone can wrap their head around my mind. And don't try. I got love for you and ALLEVE (everything is a treasure, everything is a headache). Slow down. Stop and smell the roses on the way to hell. I'm sorry but I won't be calling you anymore.

Arizona- full report tommorrow. Sorry to anyone who got hurt at the show tonight. Sorry we had to stop in the middle of a song. Other than that you couldn't have been sweeter.

she said "besides you're my favorite lost cause"

P

February 3, 2004

“we want failure, in no un certain terms.”

Sometimes I figure I could spend the rest of my life with someone, then I remember I am just some kid.

Peterpumpkineater

February 10, 2004

3:55 am.

“for the record”

playing atari reminds me of you

i want our feet to look the same for some reason

February 10, 2004

sometimes I wish it never even began. 

My name is pete. I play in fall out boy. I am writing this from milemarker 99 on the I-5. I am not sure what I am supposed to write in here (but even writers block couldn't touch me). This is the place where I will whine and complain. Polish my ego. State my opinions as fact. Do grudge maintinence. Tell you about how I wish you knew what it was like to fall asleep next to your big eyes. This is where I will take my bad day out on you. and let you swing with my moods. Let out a couple secrets and then try to take them back. I am sorry my sarcasm doesn't translate that well on the computer screen (you can download a new program to help you if you are having problems and have windows 98 or better called: I don't care). 

Also, maybe ill let you know some stuff about fall out boy and what we've ben up to. 

Ill leave you with what I've been listening to lately: 

The academy "the author" 

Unbroken "lifeloveregret" 

The cure "b-sides" 

June "demo" 

The terror "demo" 

Nightmare of you "demo" 

Some girls "all my friends are going death" 

Sometimes it feels like I'd die with out all the attention. 

Pickupthephone. Tellmehowitgoes. Fallasleep. Dontdreamofthis. Crashyourcar. Tellthedoctorstomailmetheblood. 

See you soon. Peter

February 11, 2004

A day in the life: andy calls wakes us up in the hotel. Stumble out the door and into the van for more sleep. Phone will not stop ringing for interviews and I miss you mores. Drive until the hunger outweighs the disgust of the food that will fill it. Tell jokes and fight in between sleep and watching dvds. Get to the club, (avoid) load stuff on stage. Make phonecalls home and try to not show my mom how much I am missing her. Play, each show has been amazing and different. Call up hey chris and tell him he is a dick for sitting at home instead of hanging out with me. Write. Stuff you'll probably never get to see. Work on the new songs with patrick. Eat. Go to hotel. Shower if I am feeling too much like a vagrant. Play atari. Fall asleep. Repeat.

- petey

February 16, 2004

Sometimes if you think hard enough don't you think you could will somebody into emailing you. 

Ill be waiting 

We wrote some new songs. One is gonna be called: ima get all tore up tonight. 

Think about it. Lets fall in love.

- petey

February 19, 2004

Its so much better and worse than you'd ever think. Write one to make my heart and lungs slow down. Wrote the best one ever least night, I hope you get to read it one day. Saw the triplets of bellivelle- they have captured a feeling. Then I went out and spent 130 dollars on a transformer (I am going to hell). The new somegilrs record is the only noise that drowns out my headaches. There are cobwebs on the zippers of all my jeans (why don't you give a fuck). Wring me out of this drought. Tour is amazing. It is uneventful but heartfelt. It is surreal to watch the kids surge and yell back words, but it is has made me fall in love with them. I am sorry this reads so jumbled. But that is how it goes inside my head. Hope to see your brilliant smile soon. This is how it feels to be homeless. I am a gypsy only without the gold and curses. 

"Tell the world to leave me the fuck alone. Ie, world please find me a home."

- petey

[tofumedic]

Brothers + Diavolo w/ a selectively mute GN!MC

summary: how well the brothers would be able to deal with you being selectively mute and how they respond to you talking to them !

Lucifer

Other than Diavolo, he may be the only one to know beforehand as helping in the organization of the RAD program, however it may only be overlooked if it is not present in any kind of record like schooling or medical.

When you first come into Devildom, your D.D.D. may be used as a sort of translation object between you and those present.

He is a little peeved in the beginning before you are able to explain it, he would regain his calm but would see it as a small setback to how he expected orientation to go.

Other than that he quickly learns about you and how you work so that he can work with you while trying not to dote on you!

The one that would gift you small portable whiteboards and markers if you had a preference over it for typing, professional though only dark blue and black inked markers <//3

Your first words to him are probably about answering a question or a summons, he does a lot of both but don't call him out for being clingy okay

Anyways

If this man is standing or getting up to greet you expect him to stumble, just slightly catching himself on the edge of his office desk or resting a hand against the wall

When he meets your eyes you can see there's a pinch of panic of "you did not just see that please tell no one" that melts back into "oh my god???????"

He's quick to relax back into what he wanted to talk to you about, not wanting you too feel anxious or guilty for however long it took for you guys to have a mutual trust and safety net.

For the rest of the day his face remains in this pleasant smile and everyone except Asmo and Beel are suspicious, Mammon being especially on edge.

If they call him out on what has him so happy today he will brush them off for being nosy about what isn't their worries but the small blush that rises to his face as he crosses his arms does not help his case.

Mammon

He is all of your noise

He gets forgetful and will try to have conversations across the house by yelling at you only to barge into your room in his petty fake anger just to see your face either amused at him or completely deadpan and he just ....🧍‍♂️

He gets anxious about leaving anywhere without his D.D.D. now what if his human needs him while he's not "bothering" you

Takes extreme pride in helping you order food when you go out places whether with his brothers or just alone, he loves it. Not only does he get an excuse to sit by your side and lean into your shoulder to see what menu item you're pointing at but it means he also has less worry about, he likes being close by to help you just in general.

Your first words are probably involving some drama he was mourning over earlier that day, probably with Lucifer or being the butt of the joke with another brother.

If Lucifer would stumble, expect this man to fully fall. God forbid you two are walking down the stairs instead of him rolling off the edge of your bed or just plopping on the carpet.

He would be so excited, his cheeks are burning even though you may have not even complimented him those words are gonna be ingrained to his memory maybe even written down in his notes app.

But he will downplay how happy he is that out of all of them he was the first you talked to, because of course it would be him the great Mammon and your first man it just made sense.

He's over the moon he won't flex it unless you start being verbal with more of his brothers he doesn't want them to pressure you into speaking no matter how much the urge bubbles up while Asmo is talking about how you would rather match outfits with him that others

Leviathan

He doesn't mind that much, at the beginning of your relationship he is very shy and doesn't really start talking unless something reminded him of one of his shows or games

Will gain a habit of just texting you instead of asking you a question outloud, just because he thinks its more polite and understands as in sometimes it's too much energy to open his mouth to speak

Teaches you phrases from his games, basically call outs, as an extra layer of code to let you know if you're camping out in his room that he is gonna leave for a package (going to spawn camp) or food (healing) etc

He does get jealous saying it's unfair about Mammon helping you order stuff in the "irl" while absolutely being too nervous to do it for himself as well

You two have your own codes for entering each others room, knocking to the tune of a popular sound effect from a game you play together for the ease but he enjoys when you try to do the beginning of an ost or girl group song and he tries to guess it

Your first words for him are probably you entering his room with some snacks or having picked up a package for him from his door, his response to you entering would be asking you to hold on this match or episode was almost done

So when you give out hum and either let him know you're staying or you're signing off (leaving) it's an insta-death, his attention is caught so fast

His posture extremely straight from his hunched focus as he speedquits his match closing every tab back to desktop before standing up on his wobbly legs and giving you the most affection he can handle of having that without warning

He gives you a small headbutt, pushing his forehead into your shoulder as he controls his breathing. He can't handle it that's like finale love interest marrying the protag and you hit him with it so lightly.

He wouldn't change his preference of texting you questions as it's something he's still comfortable with and you speaking to him makes him feel like he's reached masters rank without losing any matches

Satan

He is your best bet for knowing sign language, he finds it interesting that there are so many regional variations has tucked his knowledge of them into his big ol head

His movements would be hesitant as he's mentally dusting off the memory of practice but he is very good at it, though he wouldn't be more than only a pinch disappointed if you didn't prefer that way.

He be more interested in you in the beginning before learning about your magical presence and the pact hunt, it's unusual to him and he likes the study

Picks up small things that are unnoticeable to everyone but you about small habits and things that barely make it easier, like remembering to rebuke Mammon when he goes to order but forgets you don't like a certain ingredient and asks for it to be removed himself.

Would ask if you would like to learn Devildom's concept of sign language, maybe just quick easy signs for going about RAD tasks and classes

Your first words are probably said to him in the safety of his study, surrounded by books or even your homework while he reads

MC i love you very much but i feel like it would be something really stupid or cursed along the lines of

"I'm tired of people making Frankenstein's creature ugly he's literally written to be sexy" or "Why are people so attracted to Dracula he's supposed to ugly af >:/"

He would be.. very nonchalant about the fact it was you speaking to him and acting like he was talking to one of his brothers and going against you in the argument until he picks up those books to prove his side to be like "oh."

He needs a moment after such a not so public embarrassment so it would be later while you're both laying in your respective rooms and he's going over it in his head and then it hits him. It also hits that it was perhaps the most unromantic way it could have gone but it makes him smile into his pillow.

He has it as a secret weapon against Lucifer but he likes knowing something his brother doesn't

He can't look at you for too long the next day but will use the two figures of your mock argument to lightly bully you being soft on you in the comfort he wanted you to know was returned

"In case of argument, you would make a very good creation made in such a pleasing image"

Asmodeus

He is willing to fill up space for conversations for you also, he has a lot to say but will still ask you questions and for your input so you're included

He thinks the whiteboard concept is very cute! He would be the one to get you little accessories like a bag just for that and your markers or a strap for it. He would also be the one to get you more marker colors, you having just black and dark blue is unforgivable

Enjoys asking you how you're feeling, in a way that's easier if you didn't want to write or type it all out is giving him a number between 1-10. 10 is for your absolute worst like if you are having a day that you can't get out of bed or 1 where you're feeling really good like nothing can hurt you.

Doesn't force you to go out and party with him in case it's bad for your nerves or there's a worry demons will rude about "their advances being ignored."

Likes being close to you, so you can write in a notes app or use some other alternative other than texting where he might not see it getting buried by other messages.

Asmo would enjoy either holding hands or wrapping his arm around yours of your non dominant side, he makes good by staying on that side when he's going for affection or just to be in your bubble.

You talking to him for the first time would probably being during an outfit review or ordering new face masks off of Akuzon.

And he would melt, pelting you with kisses smothering every empty inch of your forehead, your cheeks, the bridge of your nose he's so happy

Whatever you were doing or looking at becomes his favorite, a fit he wears when he feels down to keep him happy, or using a specific brand of nail polish or face mask specifically due to the memory

Would find any lisp or rasp overwhelmingly adorable, of course it fits his angel you sound undeniably perfect. Loves how conversations sound with your two voices mixing together.

Beelzebub

He wouldn't completely understand but he isn't rude about it, his actions remaining normal to how he usually acts

If you wanted to learn their version of sign language he would try with you no matter if it was a struggle to fit into his schedule between the gym and spending time with Belphie and RAD and anything else but wouldn't want you to do it alone

He would keep you safe from anyone who had a problem with it, he's used to Belphie not wanting to talk to people other than him so he would be able to handle it especially if you two had similar gestures you used

Beel is also quite quiet in his own other from rumblings or dislike about being yelled at, he's good at still talking and holding his ground in arguments too but affection with him would be extra quiet compared to extra brothers

Your silence other than shuffles or small laughs, it's comforting like a sense of calm. It makes him think of your human dream catchers always quiet yet supposedly helpful and healing

You may verbally ask for a treat or some of his snack he brought for you two instead of a small gesture if your arms are trapped in the cuddle position you've been stuck in and any food he was eating would pause. Giving him a second he would easily give you all that was left

"Not hungry anymore" he would say his eyes warm before closing with his warm smile, he melts more into you like a jacket to let you feel how warm his heart was.

You were always special even if as an agent of chaos with some of the phrases you would drop, and he would adopt into his vocabulary and even further speaking for you in situations you couldn't

Belphegor

Belphie when you first met would give you a different gaze, in a slight squint almost breaking his image of being a helpless human but he would override it, continuing on like normal

At the beginning he may have even less belief in you getting pacts with his brothers but you still prove you're capable and things are normal for how he would treat you, not really changing just like Beel.

For a man (demon) to say actions are stronger than words, he certainly strains his ears just in case you answer his question in that way not that you would know and i certainly did not let you know ok??? cool cool

Other than that he really doesn't mind!!! You and Beel are really his top two people he has interest in being with and you being mute wouldn't change anything ! He may seek you more for naps outside of his room or the attic you don't move as much as Beel does as long as he doesn't curl up over your arms

In the privacy of one of your rooms- whether Asmo and Mammon are out on the town or in his while Beel is at the gym or somewhere else- is your first words spoken as softly as you can to him

Him laying across you with his head resting with his mouth close to your collarbone and ear resting almost on your neck he can feel the vibration in your vocal cords, you were probably asking him to move

Which you probably thought he was doing but any movement was so he could be closer to that feeling of your words if you spoke again, his knees tucking up while his toes curl

You wouldn't be able to fully process just how important that action was to him, you trusted him and felt safe and could let words out to him, after everything that was real forgiveness.

Diavolo

Him just looking over and encouraging you being chosen by Lucifer, he probably would not know unless again it was strongly present in your transcripts

He would find it interesting, it was your first surprise to him and filled him with mirth at the concept of seeing Lucifer tense in confusion his feathers absolutely ruffled

Though while you were already human which meant your interactions were sure to be interesting to him, the way you interacted was also completely different from Solomon, he would love giving you his time no matter how Barbatos would sigh already seeing it before it went into motion

It may mean a little extra work for Lucifer but he wouldn't complain he did a good job picking you for Diavolo to enjoy your company so much even if he was slightly worried on your influence on him

For doting only predict help with fixing the RAD program and making your class experience more accessible, if he tries to help too much someone would certainly have a word with him

He's known being compassionate, he just wants it to be easy for you as it is probably hard enough on you between the brothers, school, and being selectively mute

He barely uses his D.D.D. but if you prefer using that it's no problem though do give him awhile to type out his long messaged questions instead of asking them on call

First words with him may be said on a trip out to explore or in his castle during a private moment in the retreat or in his office

No matter the context it would be a mood booster, he would compliment you you're voice is perfect to him it matches the image you've shown so far

It's a delight, you never fail to surprise him he may repeat your words in his own voice laugh resting on his breath. He'd ask you to stay a little longer if he can get away with it, and if he can't he surely will try

[mouse-fantoms]

Easier Than Speaking

I just want to say that this only popped into my head because I saw @16fandomlover’s post about this. I’m the type of person to where if an idea is had then my brain will just start writing on it’s own and then I can never get it out of my head until it is written down. So without further ado, here it is!

Julie sat on her bed, criss-cross, using her binder as a hard surface to write on as she did her homework. Her dad was very clear about the whole “school-first” rule when it came to being in her own band, which was understandable. She was only in high school and she did miss the first three hours of school the night of the dance when the boys... well... ghosted her.

Once finishing her homework she could down to the garage and either hang with the guys or rehearse with them depending on if they had a gig to practice for or not. If Alex and Reggie weren’t in the studio and they didn’t have to rehearse for a gig that would be prime time for her and Luke to write together.

As she wrote the answer to the latest math problem on her paper, her phone light up besides her. A message from Flynn. She took a small moment away from her work to text back her best friend. Flynn had asked about what she saw Nick and her talk about earlier. Julie texted back and informed her of what happened about how he had asked her out but she politely declined. She saw the ‘Delivered’ message turn to ‘Read’ immediately upon sending. The light gray 3 dots appeared for a second then disappeared. She set her phone back down next to her expecting to get a reply later. When she sent it down she saw one of the guys poof to the foot of her bed from her peripheral vision.

“Oh you’re home.”

She looked up seeing it was Luke. “What are you doing here?”

“Wanted to see if you were home yet so we could write.”

“Well I am but school first.” She guestured to her homework. “Unless you want to help me with givens and proves then you can stay but until then you can wait.” She didn’t expect to get an answer.

“Givens and proves? Ugh, that’s-” the words seemed to trigger a memory for him. “Those are so annoying. If you want math help go to Alex.”

“Really?” The guy’s lives before meeting her never really came up.

Sure, she was curious but there was probably a reason for it not coming up that often. Unless it came up in conversation she knew not to press for information. She knew to keep her boundaries (unlike some people).

“Yeah and if you need science help go to Reggie, even though he says he’s not that good, he was always better at it than Alex and I ever were.”

“What about you?”

“I was always decent at English.”

She nodded in agreement. “That makes sense.”

He raised an eyebrow. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well with how you write your songs and how they turn out I can see how that could translate into an English class.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, “sometimes writing is easier than speaking.”

“Speaking of writing, you can try to write something with one of the guys.” She suggested instead of him just having to wait for her.

He shook his head. “Reggie mainly wants to write country songs.”

“...Is that a bad thing?”

“What is with you two and country songs?!”

“Just give Home Is Where My Horse Is a chance.”

“He showed you it didn’t he?! I thought you would be strong.”

“Come on! Riding through trees by the river, Feel the summer breeze smile gettin’ bigger. Those are some killer lyrics.”

“It’s not even-“ he decided to let it go. “Oh! Speaking of lyrics,” he pulled something from his pocket, “I was meaning to ask you-”

She saw him unfold the paper that was folded into fourths. Her eyes went wide as she realized the writing. The handwriting on the back side of the paper was readable (so not Luke’s) and was scribbled and rushed. As if it was written in a hurry to get it out of a mind.

“Where’d you find that?” She asked hurried.

“It was on the piano.” He responded. “Was it a quick little song inspiration before school?”

“Uhh... yeah. Song... inspriation.” She agreed.

“These lyrics are-”

The anticipation for his next word worried her. Did he figure it out? He probably did. The song was very obviously about him.

“-killer.”

Oh ok, that was fine. That didn’t entirely mean that he figured it out.

Just then Julie turned her attention to her left where she heard someone poof in.

“See I told you he would be here!” Reggie told Alex next to him.

“I knew he would be but she told us to stay out of her room.” He answered.

“At least one of you understands boundaries.” She said to herself.

“What are you two doing here?” Luke looked up to see the pair.

“Seeing if you were here and not to bug Julie because she has school first to do.” Alex replied.

“Yeah I do! That’s right! I should probably finish and if I could also have that song back too,” she grabbed it from his hands, “I accidentally left it out at the piano it’s not even that... good.” She folded it back into fourths and put it on her nightstand for the time being.

“Not that good? Seriously!? What are you talking about?”

She hoped he would stop mentioning it. It made her anxious that at any point he would figure it out.

“Whoever that’s about is so lucky! If it is about anyone.”

“If?” Alex still couldn’t believe he hadn’t realized. “Really you still-” Julie gave him a glare that could rival the one of when they intruded on the family dinner the first night they’d met. “Yeah,” he immediately switched topics, “who ever that song is about is really lucky.” He ended up agreeing with Luke.

“We’re heaven on earth, melody and words” he began to sing, “Those are rad! That’s exactly why you’re a star!” She could see the look in his eyes whenever he talked about music. The fire and the passion. Also the way he lit up when he talked about her. It was one of the qualities she’d learned about him.

“...like a bright and burning one.” Reggie said under his breath which in response Julie gave the same glare she gave to Alex. Meanwhile, Luke asked what he said because he didn’t catch it.

“Uhh...” Julie giving him the death glare did not help as he thought of a response to tell him, “like always! Julie’s always a star like you always say! Yeah, always.” He looked to Julie to see if he did good and she let out a small sigh of relief.

“Always.” He gave his Luke smile to her. He finally moved away from her bed to the boys who had poofed by her closet.

As he walked over to them the front door being opened was heard and then running up the stairs which turned Julie’s attention toward her open bedroom door. Within seconds she saw Flynn rush into her room, passing right through Luke, about to start one of her rants to her.

“Woah... that is weird.” He looked to Reggie in response to being walked through. It wasn’t like last time when Julie and him were in the kitchen and she walked through him with her sandwich ingredients. It was sudden and quick.

“Right!”

“She’s determinated.” He could feel.

Flynn took a seat on Julie’s bed with her. She began going on about school as well as about band stuff to her friend, meanwhile the boys were still in her room overhearing the conversation. Considering she was talking about some stuff referring to the band maybe she would mention some other things too and it was easier staying instead of having Julie bring it up to them later.

“Speaking of that,” Flynn continued on about what she was talking about as her friend just sat and listened, “onto the other, well MAIN reason I came. Please tell me you did not decline a date with an actual person, and the actual person being Nick of all people, because of the whole Luke thing.”

Julie’s eyes went wide. “Flynn...” she said worried hoping she would hear and get the memo to stop talking.

“Luke thing?” The one who’s name was mentioned raised an eyebrow at.

“You’ve waited for it to happened for how long? Only to decline him for what? Some air-”

“Air?” The statement offended him. He turned to his friends next to him. “Am I just air?”

“Well on the techinal side-” Alex bumped Reggie in the arm alerting him to look at Julie to show him that this was not the time for their antics. She had a flustered expression as she just wanted her friend to stop talking but was not getting the memo just going on and on.

“-oh no sorry “cute air” to quote you-”

“...Flynn.” She pleaded starting to put her head in her knees.

“-like I said Luke is next level to crush on. I mean you have liked Nick for how long? And then he gets up staged by this random ghost guy. I mean don’t get me wrong they brought music back into your life and that’s amazing but to decline Nick over some dead guy. Although I get that you two clicked but you could have also had that with Nick, but I mean it has been awhile. If he asked you before class the other day, when the whole time instead of dancing with Nick you were imaging Luke, would you have said yes then? He really just has bad timing all the time now doesn’t he?”

Julie sat with her head in her knees wanting to curl into a ball from... well... a lot of things.

“Jules?” She asked. “What’s- ...the guys are here aren’t they?”

Still with her head in her knees she nodded.

“...all of them?”

She nodded once again.

She hoped it wasn’t as bad as what she thought. “...Including-”

“What else does all of them mean?” She picked her head up to look at her, trying to disregard the ghosts she saw from the corner of her eye. “There’s only 3!”

“...you know...” she sat up from the bed backing up towards the door, “I think I hear your dad calling...” when she backed up against the wall close to the door she turned around, went out the room and rounded the corner going down the staircase.

As much as she didn’t want to, there was nothing else to do but look to the boys. Alex and Reggie gave the same look of uneasiness. Meanwhile Luke was, well, stunned to say the least.

“...it’s not so bad.” Alex tried to help.

The response in the form of a look told him otherwise.

“Reg, something tells me we overstayed our welcome.”

“...yeah... hey maybe you could hang with Ray and-” Alex poofed away before Reggie could finish. “Guess it’ll just be me and Ray then.” He concluded before poofing away himself leaving the... interesting pair alone.

“...cute air?” Luke finally found the words to say.

Julie groaned as her head went to the ceiling and her body fell into the pillows behind her.

“You know that song makes a lot more sense now.”

“Yeah...” she sighed, “it does. Sometimes writing is easier than talking.”

She felt the end of her bed go down. She picked herself up to see that he had taken a seat at the edge.

“...it’s still a pretty rad song.” He kept his space from her guessing her emoions. “Reggie and Alex seemed to put it together pretty quickly.”

“I don’t get how you didn’t.”

“My guess was it was about that Nick guy.”

“I wish.” She then realized how bad that sounded. “That’s not what I-”

“It’s fine I know what you meant. Falling for some ghost probably isn’t on your bucket list.”

“Well it wasn’t but then you guys showed up.”

“Well do be fair you did call us cute.”

“You also thought I was a witch.” She brought up.

“There were chairs on the ceiling. What else is the logical explanation?”

“Maybe tying them there for storage.”

“Reggie had a very convincing arugment.”

“Argum-” she paused, “it’s Reggie! What arugment?”

“Alex said that witches don’t exist then Reggie said how they say ghosts don’t exist but here we are now.” He gestured to himself.

They shared a laughed together. This was nice. Not having any tension in the air. No akwardness. Just Julie and Luke being... Julie and Luke.

[drawing-way-outside-the-lines]

2, 5, 11, 15, 16, 18 aaand 31 for the story teller asks.

Gotta stop here before i send all of them xD

Oh man! :D Thank you so much! I'm very excited to answer these! :D 2. Describe your story in three words or less Chaotic.... but loving. Not that the story is written chaotically, cause I don't think it is, but I think from an outsiders perspective, specially considering I sorta started sharing the story publicly almost 300 chapters in, I'm sure it at times can seem rather chaotic? Or maybe I'm the chaotic one? 5. How do you choose your characters’ names? Hm... it's many different ways really. For the most part I recall a name I really like for whatever reason, or see a name somewhere in the passing, like a tv show or an online article? Sometimes I use Google, let's say I want a very "bohemian" type of name... I'd Google that, cause I know shit nothing about that. And for the McKinney's I Google a fair bit. They all have Irish/Scottish names (well 99% of them do) and since I'm not Irish/Scottish, and I don't want everyone to end up with the most mainstream names, well, Google is my friend. Also specifically for the McKinney's, their names are chosen because of their meaning. Raven's birth name is Brandubh, which essentially can be translated to little black raven. Ronan, his brother, means seal, and he is actually a key that can seal the doors of hell. Eonan is knight... he was a knight of hell. Aedan (Andy and Raven's son) is born of fire, Andy has a power to control/create fire, that not many knows about. The McKinney brother's fathers name is Alroy, which means red haired (cause he simply has red hair, *snort*) And I could keep going. But I'm sure I would bore everyone to death. Anyway, point is, all McKinney's have a name that has something to do with either their powers or their appearance. 11. Why have you decided to tell this story? are there any messages or meanings within it? First it never meant to be a story for anyone but myself. It started as an RP. But when the RP ended, I had all these characters with elaborate personalities, living and breathing inside me. It felt empty to just drop them there. So I continued writing the story for myself. It was never meant at first to continue for years, I actually continued with the thought that I'd maybe write 5-10 chapters or so, and simply writing an ending of the story. Yeah, that was at least 275+ chapters ago. The story fast became a way for me to live a life I had to at the same time face I could never live out in real life. So I suppose my decision to keep writing, was a way for me to pull through a lot of things, I'm not sure I otherwise would have been able to pull through. There are a lot of "hidden" messages and meanings in the story, but I wont sit here and spoil them all, it's up to the readers (now that the story is actually being posted... here <- to interpret it for themselves.) However, I'm always up for answering questions about it. What I can give you is the message of loving people for who they are, not what you want them to be. To love yourself, even if you aren't the version of you you wanted to be, you can still be a pretty rad person. A message that we can overcome much more than we believe, as long as we keep fighting. And last but not least, a message of never giving up, and following your dreams. And to never give up on love. But above all, the message is simply love. I chose to write a story that heavily weighs on love, simply for the fact that I more than ever, believe what we need most on this planet, is love. And lots more of it. A lot of our issues could be solved by simply loving each other more, and loving the planet we live on, before there's nothing left to love. It sounds cliche maybe, but it's my opinion, and you don't have to agree. 15. What have been the highlights of creating your story? Definitely getting to know everyone, watching their characters unfold and grow. It has kept me to my writing. Back in school, my Danish teacher told me to never give up on writing, cause in her words, I'm good at it. She told me to 'always write, whether I would be bubbly happy or breakingly sad, write

write write'. For many years after I finished school, I barely wrote at all, so I was insanely rusty when I picked writing back up. My story helped me with that, and I found my way back to writing. Another highlight is definitely all the hard times my story has gotten me through. Doesn't mean I am smooth sailing my way through life, but it keeps me from drowning completely, and that's something. I still need to make some major life changes, but till that's possible, I'm holding onto my story, and it keeps me above water. 16. What about the process do you enjoy? *Snort* I think if people has followed this blog more than a month, it's already clear I enjoy creating characters, and as a result post some of the most lengthy bio's on Tumblr. But I enjoy just as much to see the scenes unfold in front of me as I write, feeling the emotions of the characters, often so intensely that it affects my own mood. There's just something in it, that makes me feel like I'm a part of the story, like I'm literally in there. And that's enjoyable to escape into for a time. 18. Choose a song that reminds you of your story A? A song? Like in one? ONE song for a circa 300 chapters story??? How??? How do I cram such an elaborate and still growing story into ONE song??????? Ghost-boi.... pls.... I'll have to get back to you on that *goes into full on panic mode searching through albums in my head* 31. Drop some random trivia about your story Pffft.... First chapter that actually made it into the story (cause there were a couple loose ones before that, that never made it) was actually written under different names, as I was considering sharing it online, but didn't want to annoy my previous RP partner, so I changed everyone's names. Andy was Alexander. Congo was Connor. Evan was Ethan. And there you also have the original poly relationship, that ended up in so much more. Well.... at the very beginning of the story, Evan and Congo still wasn't dating, but it didn't take many chapters. Adrian was originally made as an attempt to create something different, look-wise. To get out of my comfort zone and play with new features. While making him, I sat there looking at his face thinking 'this is me'. I simply connected not only with his looks, but also the character I started seeing growing in front of me, so writing his bio was probably one of the easiest ever to write, and he was very easy to adapt as a main character in my story. He just swept his way in there like a cool breeze on a way too hot summers day and the main cast was like... keh... cool... So he actually sorta became the main focal point of the part of my story I am sharing on my story blog, where Andy is the main focal point of the main story. Akin, the Alpha wolf, was originally supposed to never be a fully developed character. He was "just" a doctor that popped by here and there, but the two readers of my story back then, liked him a lot, and started expressing seeing potential in him. So I started developing him. As I expressed how he looked (he was originally extremely tall and a bit like a rugby player) they strongly disagreed and told me he was definitely slender and with semi-long dreads XD And that made Akin look more or less like he does today <- About that song though... if I have to choose just one song for such a BIG story, I'd have to simply choose a love song. But not a sugary sweet one. A haunting, emotional, longing, breathtaking, yet deep, passionate and warm song. I'd go with <- Witch is also a song from the movie Romeo + Juliet, by amazing Baz Luhrman. So basically a story about teenage suicide. In that aspect it doesn't fit at all. But it was the first song that came to my mind.... Sooooo.... I'll quietly leave this as well, on the way out <- (which is probably a much better fit anyway, both regarding lyrics and music video) 

[obeymeluv]

Under Siege

The first and probably last time I will do something like this. It’s a choose your own adventure! This is like the set up; leads up to your first choice.

It goes like this: Set up -> choice -> ending.

Each choice goes to ONLY one brother, and maybe not the one you think ;).

Each choice has its own ending (one ending per choice).

I’ll make a mini masterlist as I finish the parts. I won’t be able to link anything, though. I tried to link things when I first started this blog and they didn’t work. They looked link but wouldn’t open up into anything.

I guess it’ll just help people find the choice they want? Sorry :/

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵ ︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Imagine the Devildom being stormed by an outside army during the school year. It could be an army composed of secret children of the Demon King (Daddyvolo Sr.), or just different groups of lesser demons who feel they should have more power than they do. Think naga demons linking up with criminal lesser demons, summoners, dark elves, and dark fae. Just non-standard demons that are probably minorities in the Devildom or maybe used to call the Devildom home before it was solely for devils/demons.

Death comes by land and by sea. Some on creatures you’ve never seen before, some that were surely the inspiration for “And I looked and behold: a pale horse. And his name, that sat on him, was Death. And Hell followed with him.”

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵ ︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Horror movies and apocalypse-style movies only kind of prepared you for what’s happening around you. It’s the first time you realize everyone really has been treating you with kid gloves. Out any window of RAD the sky is impossibly dark, the sky speckled with yellow and red---piercing eyes of creatures humans were never meant to see.

Probably the last thing you’ll see, because it is only when you realize how focused and murderous those eyes are that you hear the deafening sound of wings. Possibly thousands of wings. Hooves follow close behind, thundering across the land, and there’s a distinctly helpless feeling of being swallowed whole.

RAD, which is basically a castle, will be stormed and toppled.

A chorus of demon cries echo in the inky night, a sound that chills you to your core. It’s fear incarnate, something that strikes the most primal chord in your human body. The sounds aren’t human by any measure, but your brain translates the unmistakable I’m coming for you and the death therein.

Students with wings are unfurling them and warming up to shoot out windows in tornados of claws and fangs. Summoners are calling upon old favors from even older friends, pact mates that have served their families for generations. Others are casting charms on their friends and tearing pages out of books to cram in their pockets. Those capable of non-verbal magic are drawing sloppy sigils on anyone they can touch.

You’re struggling to recall any spell you’ve learned, to just not panic as you try to understand how everyone can be handling this so calmly. It helps being alive for thousands of years, doesn’t it? The absence of sirens or anything human-related that justifies the panic somehow makes things worse.  

You hadn’t been in the Devildom long enough to run any drills, but the demons around you seem to know what to do. You’re swept out in a wave of bodies, the general idea of moving out of confined spaces (the classrooms) into more open ones is most important right now. Bricks give away behind you—the demon forces are busting through the classroom walls. A haze of brick dust forms as students break off to fight or are physically separated by fliers. Someone in front of you is grabbed by a meaty fist easily three times the side of your head, and you’re surprised they have enough bite force to rip off a finger.

Between their bite and your terrified scratching, the student breaks free. You’re half-tossed by an impact that doesn’t quite break the stone. Or maybe that was a gust from nearby wings. Your head is spinning as you try to figure out who is friend and who is foe. Stone bits stab you in the hand as you stumble to your feet, tripping over one of the once-mounted iron torches someone tore off the wall.

Magic crackles in the air, a taste of lightning in your mouth. There is definitely fire, the burning smell seems to consume everything else. Your heart is pounding because any second someone will realize you’re just a human.

Will you be a war prize? A meal?

Your mind screams for you to summon one of the brothers. Any of them—all of them—but you can’t remember the words. You start running, lungs burning, and huge chunks of the incantation come back to you but you’re too scared to say them with your dry throat lest you summon something else. Two of the demons from Beel’s wrestling team force an orc-demon hybrid down and start tearing it apart with their bare hands.

It vaguely reminds you of the time the brothers idly mentioned choking demons out like it was nothing. Something is snapped off of it—a tooth? A horn? A claw?—and one hands it to you when they notice you’re still standing.

Anything is better than nothing for a human.

Your shaky fingers play along the thing—bigger than your forearm and almost impossible to grip all the way around—until your heart settles a bit. Your grip tightens, comforted by a semblance of preparedness. There’s chaos all around—screams of anguish, battle cries, spells firing off in the distance—and it hits you that no one would hear you if you cried out for them.

Hell, you can hardly hear yourself. The only reason you know your heart’s beating is because it takes up your whole body. You scoop up a fist-sized chunk of wall and duck a flying body as you try to reorient yourself. Something cuts across your back and the sting is enough to make you arch and cry out. Instinctively, you grip that chunk of wall and turn around in one swing.

It’s a demon with bloody claws and an unhinged jaw—part naga?—and you vaguely wonder if Beel can do that as you swing and keep swinging. Your brain is trying to focus and absorb everything at once. Did the blows land on its teeth or the face? Are you bleeding?

Something in you stops, captivated by the firelight and spells glinting in its teeth, and you’re gripped with absolute terror when you realize it paralyzed you. You looked at its eyes, not its teeth. Or maybe you were looking at its teeth and it moved its head down. As your hand grows heavy with the stone, your body relaxes into the tail coiling around and around your body. It lifts you towards its cracked, bloody teeth but before you’re swallowed something darts between you with lightning speed.

Blood sprays across your face and you don’t know if you wince or not. The snake demon falls one way, you fall the other way. Whatever it is, it sliced the demon snake’s throat and severed the tail just below your feet. Cussing and wriggling out of the coils, your heart stops again when you’re plucked from them like they’re not dead weight muscle. You’re grabbed by the front of your uniform and struggling to pull black-painted nails apart when gold tattoos catch your eye

Diavolo doesn’t apologize for the way he grabbed you, his blood-speckled chest heaving a little less than yours. His golden eyes shine with relief but no levity. It’s unusual and off-putting to see him so serious. So calm and calculating. Aware of the threads popping under his fingernails, Diavolo hauls you along like luggage as gold-tipped wings lash out like whips to clear the way.

He’s taken twists and turns as old as the castle itself. Ones only he knows, probably. The echo of chaos isn’t far away, and it won’t be long before someone finds the two of you. Diavolo pulls a female statue from the wall, setting it gently to the side. It melts into the section of wall, stone backing sliding away to follow it.

The bronze door looks old as time itself. There are several languages carved into it. He rearranges the languages until they resemble something you saw in Basic Sorcery and Sigils. “You’ll find whatever you desire here, and you’ll be safe.” Diavolo shoulders the door open, ignoring the dust and age that seeps out. You’re shoved unceremoniously into the room as he screeches at something down the hall; the very sound shakes your bones and is the epitome of do you dare challenge me? There are dull thumping sounds and crunching sounds.

Squishing sounds.

Then, nothing.

“I will come for you when it is safe. I do not lie.” He says through the door before absolute silence sets in.

You can’t hear as much from this room, whatever it is. It looked like little more than a storage closet, honestly. There were tables and shelves full of dusty things. Things in jars, piles of books, cloaks, sets of armor that seemed to span the centuries, and various weapons mounted along the walls.

The screams aren’t as loud but being separated and doing nothing is still hell on your nerves. “What if I want to help?!” you yell at no one, starting to feel the anger bubble up in you. You were angry at yourself for being able to do nothing besides run. Angry that you were stupid enough to fall for snake charms when the first thing Asmo told you was to never look a demon in the eye unless you absolutely trusted them. “WHAT IF I WANT TO HELP?!” you yell again, throwing the hunk of tooth-nail thing at the door.

The door groans on impact and your heart squeezes at the idea that you’ve somehow popped it open. Surely it would take more than that to undo Diavolo’s magic, right? What kind of room did Diavolo need to unlock with magic, anyways? The tooth-claw thing failed to leave a scratch but somehow you’ve awakened the languages again. They spin furiously and come together like mismatched newspaper ransom letters: Then pick

The room is alive. Books are sorting themselves, armor is assembling, and you squeeze yourself into a corner as all manner of items fly into the air. Tables separate from each other, leaving one to drag itself into the middle of the room. You approach to see a bejeweled dagger wrapped in red velvet and gold twine, an onyx necklace that shone with blue and green tones when held up to the light, a bundle of dried herbs wrapped in thorn braids, and a bramble crown flecked with gold and tangled in what appeared to be gilded bark gauntlets. As your hand hovers over the gauntlets a bow and arrow launches from the wall, skidding across the table and spinning to a stop.

You nudge them apart, too afraid to pick it up directly. Sensing space, a pair of strappy leather sandals walks from the back of the room and hop onto the table. Some kind of slip joins it, pouring over the shoes to reveal blades that had been coddled in the folds.

Wary of anything else coming to life, you browse the surrounding tables. Anything you reach for slides away. You try to pick something up and find it impossible. The mounted weapons hum in disapproval when you so much as move your hand over them. “Just the table then.” you say out loud. “Cool, got it.”

You look over the items again. There’s a dagger, a necklace, a bundle of herbs, a crown with gauntlets, a bow and arrow, and some magic shoes with accessories. Six things. “Almost one for each of the brothers,” you muse. Seven was a common theme in the Devildom, after all.

A beautiful gold sword drops from the wall and drags itself to the table. It has a celestial blue stone embedded where hit meets blade. The handle is wrapped in the same twine found with the dagger.

The door rattles violently and your heart leaps in your throat. Have you been found?!

It continues to rattle, and you can’t tell if it’s from the languages rearranging themselves or something trying to get inside.

NOW CHOOSE…

Time is running out. What do you grab?

[fallowdoe]

All roads lead to hell

MC gets kidnapped and has to make their way through Hell to reunite with everyone.

GN!reader x everyone (can be treated as platonic/romantic)

Trigger warnings for this chapter: touchy religious themes, death

I apologise for the quality of writing however this is a translated version of my fic.

If anyone is interested in that I was listening to Dr. Fletcher and the World, the whole Split soundtrack is my big inspiration for this story. I’d advise onto playing it in the background while reading.

Tags: @kashasenpai​ @lamemexicant​ @lana0937

⇐  Chapter 3 - The Door  ⇒

”Limbo?” They stuttered.

The man in front of them had a soothing look on his face. Something about being in his presence felt incredibly calming. A warm, gentle light was radiating from behind him.

”Limbo is the first circle of Hell. We’re in the castle which houses the seven gates.” His silvery voice echoed through the building.

”Circle… You mean Dante?” Something about the stranger felt almost familiar. 

MC couldn’t exactly tell why but their gut was telling them that he was trustworthy. It was almost like he radiated all of that calmness.

”Something like this.” He smiled.

”But I don’t understand. Why am I here? What happened?” They rambled. ”And… and who are you?”

Only now they noticed that the way he was dressed resembled how Luke and Simeon did. The stranger had light-brown braided hair and was quite tall. His silhouette seemed to be entailed with light. White and golden robes were sprawled around his feet.

”My name is Micheal. I hope I did not startle you.” He gave them a kind smile.

”I don’t think I could be anymore scared.”

”I am terribly sorry that we meet in these circumstances.” He spoke softly while gazing at them. ”And even more – I am sorry that you are here.” He gestured around the hall.

They took a quick glance across the room but it was empty. On the other hand, the conversations didn’t stop filling their ears. All the words flowing through the room were a little distracting but now the knowledge of their origin lifted their spirit up a bit. Every single information about this place seemed to ease their mind and slowly all the puzzles were coming together.

”I… I keep hearing voices. Who are they?” The fright filling their voice made the man scrunch his eyebrows. This shouldn’t be happening and he couldn’t fix it which filled him up with frustration.

”You can hear souls who reside here. They for a change only can see you. I imagine it must be confusing for you, however, I need you to focus now. This is the castle of seven gates, each one of them represents one of the seven heavenly virtues.” He explained. ”I have no idea who or why brought you here but I will do everything I can to help you get out.”

”How do I return to Devildom? To them?” They spoke quietly. Their throat was sore from all the previous sobbing.

MC was to occupied to think about it previously but now they realized that everyone must’ve already noticed that they’re gone. Mammon and Beel probably searched for them after they didn’t come back. They weren’t sure how much time had passed but it must’ve been at least a few hours. Were they looking for them? Would they save them? Mammon was probably blaming himself…

”You will have to go through all nine circles of Hell to reach Devildom.” He said after a second.

”Me? Alone? But that’s impossible! Isn’t there another way? Maybe Lord Diavolo can help me? Or Lucifer? Or anyone?” They pleaded with a shaky voice.

”If it was an option I would’ve notified them immediately. Despite our… personal conflicts, your safety remains an important matter to me as an angel.”

Having a random human sent to limbo was… unusual and definitely not in his favour. Wherever they would go after their death, their presence here was concerning. No human had a key to the first circle, therefore the perpetrator must’ve been a powerful demon. But why send a living human here? Unless it wasn’t a random pick…

”But… How am I even supposed to do that?!” MC’s question brought him back from his thoughts.

”Follow me. I’ll show you.” He stepped further into the chamber with MC following, the orbs peacefully floated behind them. ”You see if there existed a possibility of having anyone help you I promise you’d be back to Devildom already. But there isn’t. I can only go as far as the first circle since this is the heavenly castle. But next levels… Nobody but souls are capable of going there. I can’t take you to purgatory or any other realm, so you are trapped in Hell. The only way seems to be going down, through all nine circles. Then you’d be able to reach Devildom.” Fear filled them again as he spoke. ”I don’t want to be dishonest with you MC…” Micheal hesitated. ”Crossing the nine circles is no easy task. It’s almost impossible.” He watched their face darken. ”I will provide some aid, but I can’t do much.” He trailed off. In all of his angelic glory and power, now, in front of a terrified human, he had to admit that he couldn’t help them. It wasn’t fair for them to be here.

”What am I supposed to do?” They took a deep breath trying to steady themselves.

In front of them rose a giant glass door.

”Nothing. Like it has never happened.” Solomon concluded. He and Satan just arrived at Diavolo’s castle after checking RAD multiple times. They cast countless spells to help them find at least a single trace, but all for nothing.

”That’s impossible. Surely, no one is capable of magic this powerful that it leaves no trace.” Lucifer was quick to argue. He sighed and scrunched his face, a headache was troubling him for a few hours now.

”If you want to you can go see yourself. I’d rather not waste any more time on what we already know. RAD was empty. There are no traces or trails of anything. We better start searching for a solution rather than the cause.” Satan’s temper was getting better of him. He couldn’t believe how easily Lucifer was taking the whole situation. His worry seemed to only go as far as the exchange programme did, when everyone else, including Diavolo, was genuinely concerned for heir friends wellbeing.

”How are you expecting to find a one if we have no idea what is going on?” Lucifer was beginning to gro irritated as well as if Satan’s attitude towards him was any help.

”Have you found that spellbook?” Solomon interrupted them.

”Not yet, we already checked most of the library.”

”I could cast a searching spell.” He offered. ”That could speed up the search.”

”In here? Absolutely not.”

”Then you do it, Lucifer. Stop wasting time.” Satan hissed.

”What is your problem?”

”The problem is that you don’t give a shit about this whole situation! You don’t care about anything besides your work! You don’t care about MC or anyone else!”

”And what exactly is giving you such an impression?!”

”You have done absolutely nothing to help! Even Mammon’s worrying is more helpful than your prideful ass telling everyone to calm down! Now excuse me, I’m going to actually do something which will hopefully bring them back! It appears so that no one else will!” With that Satan stormed out of the room and left the castle.

”Shall we help with the search?” Solomon didn’t comment on their argument.

”Come.” Lucifer turned around and lead the way.

The library was settled underneath the castle. An enormous, round chamber was filled with many levels of bookshelves serving as its walls. Ladders and stairs were connecting the floors. Thousands of colourful volumes were lit up by candlelight generated by a spell. A crystal chandelier shone high up from the ceiling. Underneath there was a big, round table filled with tons of volumes and papers.

Solomon whistled at the sight. ”Impressive.”

”Indeed.” Diavolo agreed. He was standing next to the table and browsing through books laid on it. Every each one of them seemed to be a higher grimoire. Some must’ve been older than the demon himself. ”Spellbooks, grimoires, magic volumes from all across the three realms.”

”Alexandria?”

”A few. Why do you think we’re underground?” He answered not lifting his eyes from the book he was currently holding.

”Have you found anything?” Lucifer sighed.

”We have our suspicions.” Barbatos approached them carrying more books. Some floated behind him. ”Were any traces found at RAD?”

”No. It’s completely empty. If not for Mammon and Beel witnessing the charge we wouldn’t even know anything happened.” The sorcerer spoke while studying the items on the table. He noticed a few familiar covers. Single sheets of paper with magic circles on them took most of his attention.

Lucifer listened to them but the growing pain was too much of a distraction. He took a glance at Diavolo who put down the book he was holding. His gaze fell empty on the table as the Demon Lord must’ve been lost in his thoughts. He wondered who was this even possible that of all people, he, the future ruler of this realm didn’t know what went down at his own academy. Hell, it wasn’t that MC wasn’t already endangered just by being in the Devildom, but someone actually daring to do something like this and not being afraid of facing wraith of all of them… That, someone, was confident enough to do this…

”Lucifer?” The sound of Solomon’s voice brought him back. Everyone was looking at him, he must’ve got lost in his thoughts.

”Yes?”

”We were just discussing the possibility of reaching MC through the pacts they have with you and your brothers.”

”That would require a lot of preparations.” Barbatos mentioned. ”MC isn’t familiar enough with magic, they might not pick up the contact at all.”

”Either way I don’t think we have much choice here. Unless we find out more about the spellcaster or MC’s location we can’t do anything more. All we know is that they never left our realm and that they are alive.” Diavolo exclaimed. It wasn’t as obvious but his hands were tied there. He genuinely had no clue what could have happened to his exchange student. It was almost as if he was reminding himself that they have at least some information about them and their wellbeing.

”I’ll begin the preparations immediately.” Solomon confirmed.

”We have most of the ingredients and items needed for it here.” Barbatos mentioned. ”Should we go and get them?”

”Yes, once we’re ready we’ll fetch everyone and try our shot on it.” Diavolo decided.

Mammon was laying on his bed and gazing at the ceiling for an hour now. His empty eyes were trying to memorise every single curve, colour or shadow on it. He couldn’t stop thinking about them anyway, about how he failed everyone and how it was his fault. He was the one to protect them, and he was the one to lose them. What was he even thinking? It was so obvious that they weren’t safe by themselves! That’s the reason why he was meant to be there! To prevent such things from happening! His fists balled and his breathing was getting quicker as all these thoughts were spilling from him, the sadness and sorrow were marking the white sheets.

After Lucifer, Solomon and Satan left he couldn’t figure out what to do. The guilt overflowing him with every second was making him choke. He wanted to help. He wanted to help but he had no idea what to do. He wanted to help so badly. So he took their textbook and said he’ll put it in their room. He wanted to do something.

He didn’t even notice that he went to his room instead. So now the textbook was somewhere on his bed. He just tossed it onto it, angry that he couldn’t focus enough to do something so small.

The bed creaked softly when he moved to get it. He turned around and there they were. Laying next to him and scrolling through their D.D.D. Smiling at something they saw. He stopped and just looked at them with his eyes wide open. His hand slowly reached towards them.

”Mammon, check this out.” Their voice sounded so soothing. They handed him the device.

But when he looked down it was the textbook that they were holding. When he looked up they were gone. A plain sheet of paper slipped from between the pages and feel onto the sheets.

”This is the gate to the next circle. Lust – the second one out of nine.”

”What is it like?” They breathed out.

”Souls of those who reside there are… not peaceful at all. They’re serving a sentence I’m not sure what will you have to do to cross it but I know it’s possible.” His words echoed. ”I have no knowledge of what they actually look like, you’ll have to be prepared for the worst. Staying alert is crucial here, don’t let anything distract you.” His expression was pained.

”I want you to be honest with me. How hard is it actually? What chances do I have?” They were too numb to cry more.

”I don’t have enough knowledge to tell you this MC. It’s behind this door where the real hell is. I can only wish you luck.”

”Okay.” They whispered and tried to steady their breathing. ”I’ll go in.”

Mammon put down the textbook and instead lifted up the paper.

”It’ll be hard, no doubt. But it’s not impossible.” He reminded them as the door opened. Behind them was pitch black void. ”I’m sorry MC. I’m sorry that it happened to you.”

His words faded behind them as they stepped into the abyss.

”Lucifer! Where’s Lucifer!” Mammon screamed barging into the living room.

”Why are you screaming? He’s still at Lord Diavolo’s castle.” Asmo glared at him.

Him, Beel and Belphie were doing their own research while waiting for others to return. Leviathan left earlier mumbling something about marine. Sprawled across the floor were random books that they found in Satan’s room and the library.

”Solomon was wrong!” He almost cried out. ”That paper ain’t empty! Look at it!”

He carefully passed the sheet to his brother. It was now covered in different glowing patterns.

”Fuck…” Belphegor mumbled. ”Those are pretty complicated spells and summoning phrases.”

”We should go to meet others immediately.” Beel spoke.

Asmo scrunched his eyebrows. Something was oddly familiar about the patterns, but he couldn’t decipher them. ”Let’s go then.” He said and marched out of the room.

[animalfalls]

Never Good Enough

Leviathan X GN!MC (Angsty and unedited)

Warning: this is really angsty and there is a lot about self-hate so if you are easily triggered I don’t recommend this fic for you.

Word Count: 1813

AN: OMG wow I actually finish something lmao. It includes a phrase in Japanese, I don’t speak the language but I did take a few classes a while back. If it isn’t used right or I was WAY off with it’s meaning please let me know lol. I got it off of a site that explained how in Japanese they aren’t direct with speaking so instead of “I love you”, “I like you” would be more appropriate for this situation. Plus to me it fits Leviathan’s personality.

You know you should’ve seen this coming, yet no amount of preparation could he stop the tears from flowing. Your blank eyes stare back into the piercing gaze of the unnamed demon before you. No matter how strong you are physically one thing always hurts more than anything else. A tinge of pain began to stew in your chest, festering up and choking you out. A clawed hand pressed to your throat in a death grip. You knew this would be your fate as soon as you stepped through the gates of RAD. A school of demons was no place for a powerless human. You were surprised how you managed to last this long.

This was not what caused your tears to overflow and flood your face. Nor was it the sharp edges of the claws ripping into your skin causing blood to trickle down from your neck and seep into the clothes on your chest. Not even the growing suffocation of disruption of air to your lungs. No, it was far worse than any physical pain that could be brought upon you. It was those words that made you lower your guard and give in to your fate. You knew you stood no chance once those vile words flittered off of the lips of this demon. You will never be good enough for him.

It was as if the demon had a paralysis spell over you, your body declining any thoughts of running or fighting back. You knew it was true already, but you never wanted to face the truth. Leviathan… He was too good for you. Any fight you had given up to this point had since coming to an abrupt halt. What were you thinking anyway? You were only a human, you had no right to even hope he would view you as anything more than an annoyance. You were just a burden to all of the brothers and you knew this so well. Yet for a moment you thought you could actually belong somewhere. With others that would understand you and maybe even enjoy your company. What a stupid thought, nothing but the fleeting hopes of a useless human. Pathetic human, you really think he could ever love you? No, but I hoped he could.

The world seemed to be so colorful when Levi was around, a smile from him could send a beautiful warm feeling through you. Listening to him go on about any one of his shows was blissful. He would get so excited at times his demon form would emerge and the way his tail shot straight up as he would go into great depth about his favorite parts. That boy’s passion for anime and video games was second to none. You always liked how he would lend you his manga without you having to ask for them. He’d often leave them in a box outside of your door with a note on them in the middle of the night so he didn’t wake you.

You kept every single note, they were your treasures, he may not have the most legible handwriting but it was adorable to you. The last one he gave you had a phrase on it, it was in Japanese and you hadn’t been able to translate it properly yet. It was a shame you were going to die before you could translate it. The characters still haunt your mind. 好きだよ You curse yourself for never finding the answer, you almost wish you would have just asked him. Now is far too late for that though.

Your attention now returns to the demon in front of you, some low life demon you have never even seen around the school. Not like anyone would really remember you to begin with, despite being fairly outgoing you could never fit in here like you had hoped. You were just too weak and helpless to be able to survive in this world. You were just a burden to the brothers, you understood that it would be annoying to have to look after you. So you opted to go alone to most places, it may be dangerous but it was better than pissing off powerful demons like the brothers.

The world started to fade and finally your instinctual will to live kicked in, you claw and struggle with all your might to remove the vice that clamped shut around your throat. Despite all your effort it wasn’t enough to save you, you were so much weaker than this demon. The most you could do was scratch their hand, your vision starts to fade out and you can feel the pain starting to reach your limit. You shut your eyes tight the only thing you wanted to think about now in your final moment was Leviathan. 好きだよ

This was the last thing the third eldest thought he would see on his way back to the House of Lamentation. He had thought he heard the sound of MC’s voice coming from a well-isolated alleyway so he went to investigate. They should already be home so he thought it was strange that they would stop here of all places. He still hadn’t heard back from them since that last note he left with the latest edition of “I am in love with a human but they won’t take a hint and I am too scared to say anything because I am a yucky otaku.” Maybe they couldn’t translate it properly, they were a normie after all. 

Leviathan’s heart stopped the moment he saw you laying there. He had never understood how Satan could lose control to his wrath so easily. This made him learn just how easy it was to let rage control you. Pinned under some demon who would never be missed and being choked out of their life was his beloved MC. They lay there barely able to hold onto the demon’s hand little lone try to pry it off of them. Their eyes shut tight whispered his name and before he knew it Levi was holding you close, you were alive but barely. He hadn’t remembered how he got to this point or where that pathetic waste of space that hurt his MC had ended up. That didn’t matter at the moment, but the blood-covered walls were enough of a hint that the demon wasn’t going to make it far.

Leviathan clung to you tightly, he never thought he would feel so concerned for someone who was 3D, nor a normie at that, yet his heart ached as he called out to you so desperately. Pulling himself together the best he could, he scooped you up into his arms and ran, ran as fast as his legs would allow him to. He knew if you were going to continue to live he had to act fast and get you medical help, not knowing where else to turn to he took you back to the House of Lamentation cursing himself for not finding you sooner.

As your eyes fluttered open the first thing you noticed was the ceiling of Leviathan’s room, the soft glow of the fish tank lit up your vision. Your head was still groggy and you couldn’t remember how you had gotten here. Trying to sit up sent pain shooting through your body, but also made you well aware you were on a bed, not in Leviathan’s bathtub he called his bed. When did this get here? Why was it here? Wait… Why am I here? Memories of what happened before you were about to die hit you like a tsunami. Your breath quickly picks up and you start to lose control of it, your body starting to shake violently. That is when you feel a weight lift off your stomach, and feel a hand in yours holding it tightly.

“I thought I lost you… MC never scare me like that again!” Leviathan cried out to you, quickly pulling you into a warm embrace. His sobs where half-muffled by the crook between your shoulder and neck. “Why wouldn’t you call for my help?! Our pact would have let you contact me! I don’t even care if it wasn’t me! Why didn’t you call anyone?!” He seemed so desperate for answers and he bordered on being hysterical. As you tried to answer him your voice failed you and all you could do was hug him back running your fingers through his hair. This seemed to calm him down enough to stop the never-ending stream of questions. They could wait, right now he had you in his arms, no amount of self-doubt would pull him away at this moment, he needed you to know how he felt. “好きだよ (Suki da yo), it’s what I wrote on the last note, it means I like you… MC I know you will probably never like a yucky otaku like me but I had to tell you. No matter what you feel for me I want to protect you. Even if you can’t be mine I will try to keep my jealousy to a minimum if that means I can just be there with you!” The poor boy had already assumed he’d be rejected.

“Why would you like a useless human like me?” These words hurt him more than any rejection could ever. He was prepared for any type of rejection MC could throw at him no matter how brutal but those words cut deeper than anything he could have imagined them saying. MC thought they were useless… Why would someone he came to treasure so much think they were useless? They were nothing like him, yet they thought they were the one undeserving of him. Leviathan’s heart shattered, he was at a loss of words. His sobs came to a stop right then and there, his grip loosened and he pulled away enough to look into their eyes. He knew these feelings all too well, this wasn’t fair. This wasn’t fair. THIS WASN’T FAIR!

“MC! Why would you think like that?! You mean everything to me! I wouldn’t trade any of the time I have with you even for a limited edition Ruri-Chan figurine! Although that would suck losing the chance to get it... You are so precious to me! You are my Henry and I would be stupid not to like you! Even if you are a normie!” You have never seen him blush so hard, and it was taking everything in him not to flee after saying something so embarrassing. The only thing you could think of to do was pull him into a kiss, your hands cupping his face and you took one last glance at him before shutting your eyes and melting into the kiss. While you weren’t sure if you could ever get rid of these feelings of self-hate, for a moment you had hope that maybe you two could work together to be more confident.

“I like you too Levi.”

[penniesforthestorm]

Castle Rock, Part 2

“Be Your Own Hero!”

  Episode 4: “The Box” Episode 5: “Harvest” Episode 6: “Filter”

Hello, and welcome to the second part of my Castle Rock coverage! Now that the major expository groundwork has been laid, I want to spend a little time talking about the characters. Let’s start with Dennis Zalewski, the Shawshank guard who discovered The Kid. Zalewski, who has a pregnant wife to support, is unhappy in his job, lamenting to Henry Deaver in a previous episode, “Do you think I’d be working here if there was a Wal-Mart within sixty miles?” At the beginning of Episode 4, “The Box”, we see Zalewski arriving for another day on the job, accompanied by the gritty strains of Tom Waits’ “Clap Hands”. Every time one of the prison’s doors shuts behind him, we realize that he feels just as trapped as the men he’s guarding. Zalewski’s coworkers don’t seem to share his distaste. An oily representative of Shawshank’s new corporate owners pays The Kid a visit, and describes, with relish, how he and his Army buddies tortured an Iraqi prisoner who wouldn’t give up his name. In response, The Kid intones a passage from the Book of Revelations: “He has a name written on him, which no one knows except himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood and his name is called The Word of God.” The Kid stands up as he speaks, looming forbiddingly over the other man.

And what’s Henry Deaver up to? First of all, he and Alan Pangborn go up to Bangor, to make arrangements for Matthew Deaver’s coffin to be delivered back to Castle Rock. Henry, hunting for more clues, stumbles across a name in an old news article about his own disappearance—a man called Desjardins, who lived just a mile from the lake. He decides to pay a call on Desjardins, and finds a whole lot more than he bargained for. The house is in utter disrepair—an old piano has crashed through the kitchen ceiling, and there are broken boards everywhere. Its elderly inhabitant, Joseph Desjardins, seems oddly delighted to see Henry. He brings Henry back to his bedroom and digs out a water-stained cardboard box containing Henry’s police file. It’s a relief when Henry leaves unscathed, goes to visit Molly, and ends up spending the night with her. The next morning, though, Henry calls Zalewski and says that he’s leaving Castle Rock. Zalewski had agreed to be deposed at a hearing regarding The Kid, and earlier in the episode, he stopped by The Kid’s cell and promised him that soon, they’d both be free. He even offered The Kid a friendly fist-bump. Now, after listening to Henry’s voicemail, Zalewski goes into his office. He removes his pistol from the safe, climbs the stairs, and shoots his way up to the warden’s office, as Roy Orbison’s “Crying” (another aria, of sorts) swoons over the soundtrack. Henry is there waiting, and Zalewski manages to say, “I want to testify”, before a smoke-bomb goes off behind him and he is shot down by another officer.

Episode 5, “Harvest”, opens with Henry at a clinic in Texas, undergoing a cognitive exam. He is asked to repeat five words, which he does: “Boat, white, church, dog, family.” It’s about the mysterious ringing in his ears that’s plagued him since he was young. We see him cringing in the aftermath of Zalewski’s shooting spree; clearly, having a gun go off right by him hasn’t helped. Back at Shawshank, Warden Porter is getting chastised by her boss. She sighs about being ‘thrown under the bus’; it’s the second time this idiom has been used in her presence. The first time was in conversation with Henry, regarding the late Warden Lacy, when she sneered, “That’s where you throw dead perverts”. Speaking of Warden Lacy, we get a flashback of him and The Kid together down in the cage. Lacy admits that he has always felt some doubt about what he’s done, even though God told him The Kid would ‘drag evil behind him everywhere you went’. He touches The Kid’s hand, then his face, with a gentle, sad expression. In the present, The Kid is released. He undergoes a similar exam to the one Henry had; his five words are, “Face, velvet, red, church, family.” Henry and Molly put him up at Molly’s office, and instruct him to stay hidden. That night, The Kid slips out. He finds a boy's birthday party in progress, and sneaks in to watch, but as he lingers in the shadows, the party devolves into a screaming match between the parents, and a baby wails inconsolably. The Kid retreats into the night, pensive and alone. Now it's time to talk about Alan Pangborn and Ruth Deaver. Scott Glenn and Sissy Spacek have wonderful chemistry on screen—you fully believe that these people are used to each other's rhythms. Alan grouses about having to attend a bridge-dedication ceremony in his honor, and Ruth teases him, her blue eyes full of mischief. At the ceremony, Alan begins a laconic speech, mentioning that he wanted to be a magician, but was hampered by the necessity of 'telling a story' to distract his audience. But he's interrupted by the barking of a large dog, and the sudden realization that Ruth is not in her seat. She's up on the railing of the bridge, and then aloft, heading straight for the river. Henry rushes over and jumps in to save her. And this brings me to the other major character I haven't yet discussed: Jackie Torrance (Jane Levy)—assistant to Molly Strand, sardonic expert in Castle Rock lore. When Jackie heads to Molly's office, she discovers The Kid lurking upstairs, sans clothing. Jackie takes this entirely in stride, rustling up some hand-me-downs and bringing The Kid up to speed on Castle Rock's historically bad luck. She even drops a reference to her uncle, who tried to ax-murder his family, back in the rad, bad old '80s (yes, that Torrance). This spooks The Kid, who flees to the nearest convenient rooftop, and Jackie calls Molly for help. Molly tries to console The Kid, but he tells her mournfully, "I shouldn't be here." The echoes of human misery in The Kid's (and Molly's) mind reach a crescendo. So Molly takes him to the Deaver house that evening, and Henry reluctantly leads him out to the old workshop in the backyard. Inside, on a dusty piano, The Kid suddenly picks out the classic hymn, "O God Our Help in Ages Past". "I remember…" he murmurs. Henry nods in approval and bids him goodnight. But our Kid has other ideas. He wanders out to the woods, and finds himself in direct confrontation with Alan Pangborn. Alan remembers him from the night Lacy claimed to have trapped the Devil in his trunk. Awed and frightened, Alan declares, "I can't remember my own dead wife's face, but I never forgot yours. 27 years, and you haven't aged one day." This seems to spark something in The Kid. He tells Alan he can help Ruth, and then says, "You have no idea what's going here, do you?"

In Episode 6, "Filter", The Kid sends Alan on a mysterious errand to Syracuse. He also continues to explore the environs of the Deaver house, clothing himself in a shabby grey suit and putting on a record. (Keen listeners will notice that when The Kid walks, he's frequently accompanied by the fwip, fwip of a record skipping.) Perhaps most intriguingly, he finds a repository of video tapes featuring Henry as a child out in the woods, clearly filmed by Matthew Deaver. Henry, for his part, has called for his teenage son Wendell (Chosen Jacobs) to come up from Boston, to see his grandmother. Wendell comes off the bus absorbed in his phone, but he's polite and amiable, particularly to Ruth. The three of them are making lunch when Ruth stares out the kitchen window in shock. The Kid is out there, in his grey suit. Something seems to pass between him and Ruth, even through the glass and the distance. In a panic, Henry runs out and whisks The Kid into the car, carting him off to the nearby psychiatric facility. Later that night, Wendell asks Henry why Ruth and Matthew adopted him. Henry mentions that they lost a child some years before, but insists that they are his "real parents". The next day, Henry goes marching off into the woods with the old camera, queuing up the footage of his younger self to see if he can discover what, exactly, Matthew was directing him to do out there. Ruth and Wendell sit down for a game of chess, with Ruth's copy of the famous Lewis chess set—a gift from Alan. (The original pieces, carved from walrus ivory by Vikings sometime in the 12th Century, currently reside at the British Museum.) Wendell notices that some of the pieces are missing, and Ruth relates a significant secret. She believes that she has become unstuck in time. "This conversation—we've been here before. We'll be here again." The chess pieces, scattered through the house, are her way of anchoring herself to the present—her breadcrumb trail. Henry could have used a breadcrumb trail of his own; as the dusk gathers in the woods, the camera's battery dies, and Henry gets lost. He finally discovers a campfire, guarded by another soft-spoken young man with wild eyes. An older gentleman comes out of the trees, and begins signing rapidly, while the young man translates. His name is Odin Branch (Ruth's Norse-mythology expertise would come in handy here), and his jumpy companion is Willie. Odin explains that he knew Matthew Deaver, and that the two of them shared an interest in what used to be called 'the music of the spheres'—a vast, universal sound, that some people hear and others do not. The theory is that the sound is the multiverse trying to reconcile itself—other realities knocking against each other like thunderclouds. Before Matthew's death, he had made a blueprint for a chamber he called 'The Filter'—a noise-proof room where the sound, which Odin calls the Schisma, might be observed in pristine condition. Odin has built a replica in his trailer, and, somewhat less than cordially, he invites Henry to observe for himself, slamming the door after him. The episode ends with Alan returning from Syracuse, to find The Kid sitting on the front steps of the Deaver house. The object Alan was seeking was Warden Lacy's car, and he has arranged for it to be brought down. Then Alan notices that The Kid is bleeding. "There will be a monument,"The Kid proclaims through clenched teeth, "to Warden Lacy, and to all who helped put me in there. Why did you do it, Alan?" Alan rushes past The Kid, up to the house, calling for Ruth. Whatever he finds there, we have the distinct feeling it won't be good.