#planned the entire thing while walking naga and then. here we go

[koheletgirl]

[id: clips of rebecca bunch from “crazy ex girlfriend”, set to "anti hero" by taylor swift /end id]

it's me! hi

[sword-brainrot]

hENLO ITS ME AGAIN SORRY TO BOTHER YOU, THE HEADCANONS YOU MADE WERE BEAUTIFUL IM ACTUALLY SOBBING GIJGUIHDUGH. anyway its time to go apeshit, it angsty time. Lets say the saniwa is a self-sacrificing type of person and took a hit for someone during battle and is in critical condition (THEY FINE ITS OK THEY RECOVER) how would hasebe, kashuu (romantic), and sayo (platonic) react? seperate of course dearie~! THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU <3<3<3

Heshikiri Hasebe,  Kashuu Kiyomitsu, and Sayo Samonji Reaction to a self-sacrificing Reader (GN Reader)

♡  It wasn't too common for their master to go into battle with them but sometimes the mission calls for it. This being the case. It was an understanding situation but stressful nonetheless. Hordes of enemies swarming the group of swords and their master. Everyone was holding them off while you were going to break the charm on the shrine... But things didn't go exactly as planned.

♡  You hear a loud yell as one of your precious swords, Hasebe, mutters the words he normally does when he gets a severe injury. "It's not over until I die!" His hand gripping his blade and blood flows out of his wounds and onto the cold, hard ground. The enemies seem to notice that the poor sword no longer had any troops on him and one more shot could easily knock him down. More begin to pile over to him, ready to finish him off.

♡  Frantic hammering of your heart in your ears overtook your senses as you sprinted towards him. You could also come back to this time in history to save the shrine but you couldn't get back your sword that you grew to love. Even if you resmithed him, he wouldn't remember you or the memories you share. You can't leave the sword that made you so happy. So your legs carried you until you were right in front of the badly wounded man.

♡  His expression contorted into one of pure terror when he saw you were the one that ran to his aid. Why... Why did it have to be you? Why would you put yourself in such danger for a sword like him?

♡  "Get away from me!” His words fell to deaf ears as you dashed in front of him, and released a crystal colored barrier in front of you both. You were sure that it would hold off the enemies that were hammering against it. You saved him. You were sure. You just had to hold them off until the other swords could rush over and help you two.

♡  Everything was going smoothly until you heard the words that would stay with you forever.

♡  "NAGAE YARI IN FRONT."

♡  Just like that, the Kebiishi lunged forward with it's spear, crushing your barrier and impaling you in all but one strike. White sparkles that was once a shield now floating up into the sky and disappearing as you fell to your knees, clasping the spear in your gut. When did the Kebiishi get here...? Were you their target all along because you were also messing with history? How did this go so wrong...?

♡  Hasebe’s entire body was wracked by sobs as you lay curled in a ball on the ground, writhing around in utter agony. His own injured body slowly hobbling over to your and grasping you tightly. His tears falling down and painting your cheek. The Kebiishi had already pulled out their spear and went looking for more healthy targets to take down.

♡  The pain was too much to bare. All you could do was stare up at the sword that looked so broken.

♡  “You can't leave,” Hasebe whimpered in the highest tone you’ve ever heard from him. He sounded like a child with the way his raspy voice cracked. His grip on you was high and you could feel every shake that went through his body as the sobs broke out. "You can't leave... I have just learned how to open up and love again... Don't you dare leave. Don't abandon me."

♡  "It's all my fault... I should of been stronger. I should of taken that hit.. I-... I love you. Don't go." He hiccuped through strained wheezes for air.

♡  Although your vision was spotting and blurring, you could see Hasebe tremble where he sat. His body was rocking the two of you back and forth. He didn't care about what was going on around you. Nothing mattered if you weren't okay. He didn't matter unless you were okay. You made him feel love and appreciated. You reminded him that he was a sword worth having by your side. A man you loved for who he is. If he lost that, he lost everything that mattered to him.

♡  With one final, ragged breath, you closed your eyes and succumbed to your injuries. Hasebe didn’t scream like you thought he would. He watched you drift off to sleep in utter silence, almost holding his breath in hope it wasn't actually happening. The only sound that came from him was sniffing back tears and coughing sporadically.

♡  By the time you awoke, you were in the infirmary of the citadel. Yagen and two swords who were on the mission with you, Tonbokiri and Horikawa Kunihiro, sat by you. Your eyes opening bought smiles to their faces. Horikawa wiping away the happy tears that suddenly rushed out when he finally saw you open your eyes.

♡  Your body ached all over but it was tolerable compared to what you had just faced before. Your abdomen tightly wrapped up. It was Tonbokiri that explained that they were able to get out when a few of them awakened and rushed over, using the charm stone and teleporting back to the citadel. You were rushed to the infirmary right away and you stayed unconscious for three days.

♡  "When you are feeling well enough... I think you should head over to your room. Hasebe locked himself in there and hasn't came out since coming back to the citadel... We haven't been able to get him to eat or even talk to him." Horikawa explained.

♡  When you felt well enough, you adventured over there. Swords stopping you on the way to express how happy to see you up and okay. They expressed how worried they all were when you came back in such a condition.

♡  A series of knocks on the door were greeted with silence. The static sobbing from the room paused for a moment, then resumed.

♡  Taking out a key, you unlocked the door and slowly walked in. You could see Hasebe in total darkness as he held the picture frame of you two to his chest. His body not even turning towards you.

♡  "Don't you dare come into this room only to tell me something I already know. Get out now before I cut you down."

♡  "Hasebe... It's me."

♡  You could see his body visibly tense and stop breathing. Approaching him with caution, you kneeled onto the bed beside him and placed your palm on his cheek. He leaned into your touch, his face stained with tears. One hand releasing the frame and grasping your hand tightly, as if he was scared that if he let you go... You would disappear right then and there.

♡  "It's really you," he would whisper as his violet eyes slowly locked with yours. It was only then he would fully release the frame and instead grab you, embracing you in the tightest hug you have ever experienced. He would only let up when you winced in pain from how tight it was. His body shaking as he bawled his eyes out.

♡  Hasebe pressed chaste kisses all over your face, making sure you knew he loved you no matter how he acted. "Don't ever do something stupid like that again. I will make them all pain for what they did to you. I won't let a single one walk this earth. I will make them feel the pain you felt times a hundred. I will make them beg to-"

♡  "I'm okay, Hasebe." You would calmly say as you stroke his cheek. "You look exhausted though... Come, let us rest for some more. I won't leave your side, not again." You both would settle down and he will gently hold you close to his chest. His red eyes slowly closing and a small smile present on his face knowing that he finally has you back.

♡  It was the Ikedaya incident. The moon was high in the sky and the cold skin gently bit at everyone's cheeks. For normal people of the time, they were not even aware of the killing going on near them. However the swords and their master were aware. They were planning for this event for a while ever since the History Revisionists came to this time in history.

♡  Most of the swords were inside, dealing with enemies to make sure that no one gets to the top of the stairs where Okita, Kashuu's and Yasusada's, was to meet his end. It was there you stood, at the stop of the stairs, stealing off the door to make extra sure that only people of that time could enter.

♡  Everything was going well... Until you felt the charm on your sash dissipate. You had only given it to one sword... The one sword that was not in the building... The one who was directly involved with this incident... The one sword that claimed that he rather not be muddied with Okita's blood again instead of saying how he didn't want to witness his master and his old sword self die again. The one sword that stolen your heart, Kashuu Kiyomitsu.

♡  You quickly finished the barrier before hearing a yelp as you ran down the stairs, jumping over the last few. Your legs pumped as you quickly dodged enemies and tried to make your way outside where Kashuu was surrounded by enemies. Your skin crawled as you saw Kashuu barely be able to stand and the enemies, with their ruthless gaze, advancing on him.

♡  "Uwa!? Heavy damage...!?" Kashuu managed to rasp as the enemy slammed into him and brought him to the ground. One more hit and surely he would be broken. You could hear the pain in his voice even though he tried to mask it. His body trembling as he was slowly coming to terms that this night was a cursed night for him. No matter if he was human or sword... He dies constantly on this day in history.

♡  He was in danger and didn't have much time left. You quickly took out your ofuda charms from your poach as you called for help to the swords still inside the building, dealing with enemies. It didn't take long before two of them came out but by that time, you were already gone.

♡  You had already run off into the crowd, tagging as many enemies as you could. The tags slowly melting them and making them transform into black dust... But there was far too many for you to handle by yourself. You just had to make it to Kashuu. You just had to make sure he was safe...

♡  "You idiot! Get out of here." Kashuu screamed as he noticed you were trying to make yourself through the crowd to him, all by yourself. You ignored his cries and slid to the side, dodging one of enemy’s strikes.

♡  All things considered, you were able to dodge all the swings coming your way. You were doing well! You just had to make it to him and cast a barrier over the you of you and-

♡  A sword was brought down right as you were about to dodge and landed right against your back. The impact brought you to your knees, only a couple feet away from your lover. Blood pooled underneath you and you gritted your teeth, the pain overriding your senses and bringing tears to your eyes.

♡  You clutched your fists, wincing as crimson bloomed on your shirt. Panic hadn’t filled your veins yet.

♡  Your eyes snapped up to meet Kashuu’s as the enemies loomed over the two of you, ready to finish you off. . Anxiety began to set in, your movements growing more sloppy as you desperately tried to crawl over to your lover. Kashuu slowly reaching for you as well.

♡  "Stop moving, idiot. Just take deep breaths, all right? Just look at me. You're going to be okay... I won't let anything happen to you."

♡  You felt your body grow numb as you lost more blood. You could no longer feel the cold ground under you or the wind brushing against your face. To you, everything was cold. You scooched closer to Kashuu and extended a hand. Though still far apart, he grasped it back and squeezed tightly so you knew he was there. "Kashuu... I'm cold."

♡  “You’re gonna be fine.” He was lying through his teeth. Kashuu could see the glassy look in your eyes. The hand quivered in his, he could feel the life draining from it. Your voice wasn’t a comfort to him anymore, every word you spoke was full of agony and he wished you would stay quiet as to not worry him more.

♡  His own hand was shaking. This night was truly a cursed one. The past him was taken to this place to watch his master die and get covered in his blood only to break in battle. Now he held onto his bleeding out master/lover and couldn't do anything to stop them from slowly fading from consciousness. His lover was bleeding out in front of him and there was absolutely nothing he could do. He tried so desperately to hide the fear from his face, but a single tear slid down his cheek and his expression sunk when he felt you begin to fade away. The last thing you heard as your eyes began to close was Kashuu screaming at the top of his lungs your name.

♡  You were awoken by the sound of someone rushing to your side. Bright light blinding you as your eyes slowly adjusted and you were met with a familiar sight. The infirmary room that you often went in to visit your precious swords and your boyfriend, Kashuu. His own body had be bandaged up and he met you will a smile. "Good morning, sleep well?"

♡  "What happened?" Your voice faint and raspy as you slowly sat up, your back stinging you along the way. But with the help of Kashuu, you were able to fully sit up and get handed water to help your very dry throat.

♡  "Before I answer that... Let's get you cleaned up. As much as I love you, you're a mess." He would give you a teasing grin as he helps you stand. Leading you over to where he can draw a bubble bath for you so you can wash and clean yourself.

♡  He would sit on the side and help you clean up, making sure to extra careful of your back and making sure to massage your scalp as he washes.

♡  "Yesterday... Don't do that again. You know how I feel about Okita's death. I don't need that happening to you. I don't want to lose another person I care about. This citadel needs you so don't go running into a crowd of enemies for just one sword and almost getting yourself killed. You're lucky Hyuuga and Akashi arrived on time or else we would of both vanished from existence."  His hands maneuvered around your body with precision and care as he washed away all of the dirt and dust that marred your skin.

♡  "You're important too, you know." You replied as you leaned into his touch, "I didn't go into danger for nothing. I went into it because of you. I don't want to lose you as much as you don't want to lose me. So next time... When you are in trouble, call for us. I will come running for you right away."

♡  This hands will stop moving and he would laugh from the pit of his stomach. This causing you to turn to face him. Small droplets of tears appearing out the side of his eyes as his laughter calmed down. "You act like if I break, I won't fall for you all over again. You can get me back but I can't get you back. So don't ever try that again, stupid." He would finish off the conversation with him leaning in and pressing a soft kiss on your forehead.

♡  Labored breaths escaped you as you ran in the dark forest. The stems of the tree sprouting from the ground to constantly trip you up... and it was working. You constantly found yourself tripping and having to push yourself off things to keep going. You couldn't stop... They were gaining on you.

♡  This all started when you went undercover to gain information on what was changing in this time in history. It was suppose to be safe! You were suppose to get information while the boys left and dealt with the History Revisionists. It was a trap... They wanted you all along.

♡  You had signaled to them that the enemy was by you before you began your big chase. There had been no sight of them and your legs were beginning to burn. Tripping became more constant and you can hear them getting closer and closer. There was many of them... More than you could handle by yourself.

♡  Your luck was beginning to run out until one last stem tripped you and sent you to your knees. Your ankle shooting pain up your leg when you tried to move it. Fear painted on your face as you looked behind you and saw the glowing eyes in the dark. The blades gleaming from the small sunlight between the branches. Your luck had run out.

♡  Your held your ankle tightly as the enemies rose their blades towards you, ready to end you here and now. Your eyes shut tightly as you awaited for your final breath to come... But it didn't. Instead you heard pains of agony. When you finally found the courage to open your eyes, you saw Sayo standing in front of you with his dagger in hand. Holding off the enemies. He must of been the only sword to be quick enough to make it in time.

♡  As much as you wished to be happy to see your precious sword... There was far too many of them. Too many for one tantou risking his everything to protect his precious master. The both of them were well aware. Maybe if Sayo could hold off until that others get there, everything will be alright!

♡  That was the hopeful thought until a tantou enemy got the sneak attack on him and he received a critically blow. His body crumbling to the ground in front of you as he muttered, "I understand... I don't care how things will turn out...!" His blue eyes glaring at the horde of enemies in front of you two. His body dragging himself upward, planning to protect you to his death.

♡  However, you had another plan. You weren't going to just sit there and let him die for you. He has come so far on his journey of accepting himself, you weren't going to let these monsters take that away from him.

♡  Right as the blade was began to come down and finish him off, you embraced him and turned your body so you would take all of the impact rather than him. Sharp yelp was released from your vocal cords as you held onto the short sword and protected him from the pain.

♡  Sayo couldn't believe his eyes, he stood there tense and wide eyed. "M-Master...?" His voice had always been on the quiet side but this voice sounded scared and barely escaping from his tensed throat. "Why would you..."

♡  "Sayo, you have... So much to live for. You are so much greater than you give yourself credit for. I am proud of you every day, so don't throw yourself away... You are more than the revenge that haunts your heart."

♡  His lips trembled and tears streaked down his cheeks as he held your body that was going limp in his arms. "Don't leave! I don't want to be left alone again. Please don't leave me, aruji!" He would scream at the top of his lungs, shaking you and trying to get you to wake up... But sleep whispered into your ears and sent you into darkness.

♡  Before you even opened your eyes, you could feel pressure on your hand... Were you asleep on it again? Slowly opening your eyes and blinking to adjusted to your surrounding made you realize that you weren't in your bed in your room... but rather the infirmary. Your body was bandaged all over and the memories of what happened in the forest returned to you. The team must of got to you in time before you completely vanished from existence... But what of Sayo then?

♡  Your body jolted up against the pain that was attempting to hold you down. Anxiety rushing through your veins, preparing to look sight of any clue of what happened to the small tantou after you passed out.

♡  Your search didn't last long, for the pressure on your hand slowly shifted and caused your eyes to wandered down to the boy who was clasping your hand tightly as he slumbered. A smile slowly rose itself on your face as your free hand gently stroked his hair. It seemed as he hadn't left your side since recently. It warmed your heart that a sword that often times was very antisocial treasured you so much that he didn't want to leave your side.

♡  "D-Don't leave me." A small whimper of a cry would come out as he tightened his grip on your hand. His shoulder shaking ever so lightly. The fear of losing the people he cares about haunting him even in the dream realm. The fear of his masters being killed in front of him and being stolen piecing him in his heart to leave scars to all of time.

♡  "I won't leave." You soothed, "I'm right here, Sayo. I'm so proud of you. I won't ever leave your side again. I promise you. Now rest well, dear. You needn't worry any longer. I swear to you for all eternity, I will remain right here." A small smile will be barely visible as he leans into your hand and his body slowly calms down before he find a peaceful sleep at last.

[reinerispretty]

reminiscence. (? x f!reader) pt6

THANK U FOR BEING SO PATIENT i am so excited to get back to this story!!

pt1

pt5

pt7

“That’s not how you do it.”

Asami furrowed her brows at her. “Oh yeah? Then show me how you knead dough.” (Y/N) rolled up her sleeves and began pressing into the dough with the heel of her palm, at first gently, but then with some effort.

“It’s like raising a baby,” (Y/N) said. “You have to be soft, but firm.”

It took (Y/N) quite a few days to recover. She shivered in bed the first night, retching violently into the trash bin Jinora had kindly placed at her bedside. She had given her a worried smile, which (Y/N) weakly returned. Falling asleep was difficult because of how cold she felt. When sleep finally did grace her, it was littered with dreams of empty blackness and monsters licking at her heels. She woke up every few hours, sweat beading down her neck and a scream threatening to rip at her throat. She felt like her heart was beating too fast to be contained by her chest. Her first night of illness was undoubtedly the worst. 

Knowing this, Korra had moved a cot into her room the next night. She knew what it was like to be ill and how isolating it felt, so she thought (Y/N) could use the company. Especially when her fever had risen to a temperature near scalding. Korra bundled her in her warmest blankets from the Northern Water Tribe, tucking (Y/N) into the fabric. She looked so small and weak, nothing like the bright, curious girl that Korra had come to know over the past few days. Naga slept protectively at the girls’ feet. (Y/N) slept most of the night and well into the next day. 

But when she awoke, the rest of the household was surprised to find her walking into the dining room, one of Korra’s blankets still wrapped around her shoulders and the color returning to her skin. “Could I have something to eat?” Her voice was hoarse from lack of use. Pema insisted that she go back to bed and rest, that dinner would be brought to her, and although she hadn’t known her very long, (Y/N) knew better than to argue. 

Quickly, she made her way back to her room and crawled back into bed, her stomach eagerly awaiting the arrival of food. 

Korra entered a few minutes later, shocked to find (Y/N) looking so chipper. “Someone’s feeling better. Pema made your favorite.” (Y/N) cocked her head to the side. “Bolin told me. Soup dumplings.” (Y/N) held in her squeal of excitement as Korra handed her the hot bowl and chopsticks. 

“So,” Korra began as she scarfed down her dumplings. “I have a plan. We,” (Y/N) liked how Korra included her in the ‘we.’ “Will take a ship to the South Pole and enter the Spirit World through the portal. Then we’ll ask the spirits if they know anything about you.” 

(Y/N) finished her last dumpling, her mouth burning comfortably from the hot food. “Is that it?” Korra let out a surprised laughed at her boldness. 

“Did you want more action?” (Y/N’s) face flushed. 

“No, I just mean that it seems really easy.” 

“If all goes well, it will be.”

--

(Y/N) was bundled up so tightly for their trip that she could hardly move. Pema hadn’t like the idea of them leaving before she was feeling her best, but (Y/N) insisted that they left as soon as possible. The thought of getting her memories back made her heart race. 

She stood in the courtyard of the Air Temple, Tenzin and his family standing before her. “I can’t thank you enough for your hospitality,” She said. “I hope one day I can repay you for taking care of me.” 

“You have to come back and play with us!” Ikki begged, jumping up and down as she clapped her hands together. “Please, please, please!” 

“Yeah!” Meelo interjected. “You were too busy throwing up to play with us!” (Y/N) laughed as Tenzin blanched at his children. 

“I’m sorry, Meelo. I promise I’ll come back and play with you guys soon!” She glanced at Tenzin and Pema. “As long as I’m welcome, of course.” 

“You are always welcome here,” Tenzin reassured her, and (Y/N) smiled. Korra walked out of the house then, both her and (Y/N’s) bags slung across her shoulders. 

“Ready to go?” Korra questioned, and (Y/N) nodded. She waved goodbye to the family and walked down the stone steps to the dock, where their ship was pulling up. (Y/N’s) eyes widened at the sight of it. “Ship” was an understatement. It was huge, twice the size of any boat she had seen in her almost three weeks of memory. It was white, with thick blue stripes painted around the edges. 

“Is that yours?” She asked Korra. 

“It’s Varrick’s,” She called back to her. “He’s a super rich guy. Kinda sorta a friend of ours, a guess. I called in a favor.” 

“You’re sure he doesn’t mind?” 

Korra turned around and flashed her a smile. “Varrick tosses money around like it’s leaves. If anything happens to this boat, he’s got ten more.” (Y/N) smiled back at Korra and tried to ignore the statement, “If anything happens.” 

When they reached the dock, one of the most beautiful girls (Y/N) had ever seen stood at it’s edge. She waved at the two of them, her dark hair fluttering behind her in the breeze. Korra dropped their bags on the dock and enveloped the girl in a hug. “Asami!” She cheered. 

Asami squeezed Korra tightly and gave her a kind smile. “It’s good to see you again!” Her green eyes fluttered to (Y/N). “You must be (Y/N). Korra’s told me so much about you.” She extended her hand and (Y/N) shook it firmly. 

“I guess that’s not very much,” (Y/N) joked, eliciting a laugh from Asami. 

“Where are the guys?” Asami asked, and Korra shrugged. 

“Probably running late, as usual.” 

“I want to say thank you to you both,” (Y/N) said suddenly, wringing her fingers together nervously. “I’m sure you both have heard some pretty bad things about me, but I’m so thankful you’re willing to help.” 

“Mako has a bit of a flair for the dramatics,” Asami said as she waved a hand into the air. “As far as we’re concerned, you’re a completely different person.” Korra nodded in agreement, flashing her white teeth at (Y/N). 

Mako and Bolin joined them only a few moments later and the five of them boarded the massive ship. Varrick had sent along an entire crew to accompany them, which everyone was very thankful for. As much as Team Avatar trusted their abilities, none of them were very keen on the idea of steering a ship for a whole week. 

They departed from the bay outside of Republic City and (Y/N) watched from one of the enclosed decks as the skyscraper buildings faded into nothingness. A nervous pit fit itself in the bottom of her stomach. This was really happening. She would get her memories back. 

The majority of her was absolutely ecstatic. She hated not knowing anything about herself and couldn’t wait for her life to get back to normal--whatever that meant before she lost her memory. But a small, miniscule part of her enjoyed what was happening right now. If it hadn’t been for losing her memory, she would not have become friends with Korra. (Y/N) feared that once she got her memories back, there would be some things she didn’t want to remember. 

Asami appeared at her side, offering (Y/N) yet another kind smile. “How do you like the ship?” 

“It’s huge,” (Y/N) said. “I can barely feel the water underneath us. I was worried that since I was sick, I wouldn’t feel well, but I feel fine.” 

“Korra mentioned that you hadn’t been feeling well. I’m glad you’re okay now.” 

(Y/N’s) eyes trailed to the middle of the room, where Korra, Mako, and Bolin talked to each other. “Have you known them long?” 

“Only a few months,” Asami said. “But they’ve become my best friends.” (Y/N) felt a tug at her heart. She wondered if before everything, if she had had a group like this. “Are you feeling hungry?” 

“A little,” (Y/N) admitted. 

“How about we make something in the kitchens? Just you and me.” (Y/N) nodded excitedly and followed Asami down two flights of stairs, where the kitchen took up the entire floor. The staff was scarce, considering that dinner would not be happening for a long while, so they both rifled through the pantries trying to find ingredients. “We could make a pizza!” 

(Y/N) poked her head around the pantry door and stared quizzically at Asami. “Do you know how to make a pizza?” The dark haired girl shrugged, gathering ingredients into her arms. 

“It can’t be that hard.” 

It turned out it was that hard, but they had found a cookbook with their desired recipe and managed to at least get the dough started. Asami slapped it against the counter as (Y/N) giggled. “That’s not how you do it.” 

Asami furrowed her brows at her. “Oh yeah? Then show me how you knead dough.” (Y/N) rolled up her sleeves and began pressing into the dough with the heel of her palm, at first gently, but then with some effort. 

“It’s like raising a baby,” (Y/N) said. “You have to be soft, but firm.” Asami laughed at her comparison. 

“How do you know so much about making dough?” (Y/N) paused for a moment before turning back to her work, kneading into the dough harder. 

“I’m not sure,” She admitted. “I guess there are some things left in there.” 

Bolin stood in the entryway to the kitchens, not yet noticed by the two girls. He watched as (Y/N) taught Asami how to make pizza dough. It brought him back to a memory he reflected on often during the years of her absence. 

Years ago, after (Y/N) and Bolin had taken each other out on many dates, there was the night that he decided to ask her to be his girlfriend. He was incredibly nervous, his palms were a sweaty, clammy mess, but (Y/N) had stared at him kindly. 

“I want to show you something,” She said as they walked down the streets of Republic City, their hands intertwined. If she noticed how slippery his hands were, she didn’t acknowledge it. Like he did in all things, Bolin followed (Y/N) with no questions asked. 

She led him to Kwong’s Cuisine, which had closed for the night hours ago. She pulled a silver key from her pocket and led him to the backdoor. She unlocked the heavy metal door and pushed it open with her shoulder, her fingers still interlocked with Bolin’s. 

“Are you sure we should be in here?” He asked the darkness. (Y/N) flipped a switch and bright, white lights illuminated the silver fixtures of the kitchens. 

“I’m the owner’s daughter,” (Y/N) said with a teasing scoff. “What are they going to do, fire me?” She pulled open the fridges and began gathering her ingredients. Bolin had never seen her move like this before. (Y/N) always seemed so confident, but here, she seemed liked she owned the place. He guessed in a way, she did. “I’d like to make you brownies,” She said to him, pulling out a metal stool with her foot and gesturing toward it. “Sit.” 

Bolin obeyed and watched with fascinated eyes as she mixed the batter together from scratch. “Are you doing this all off the top of your head?” He asked. She nodded. 

“Mom always made me cook when I still lived with her,” She said, offering him the spoon so he could get a taste of the batter. He took his finger and swiped it into the chocolatey mixture before licking it. 

“These are going to be the best brownies I’ve ever had! You should be a chef!” (Y/N) laughed. 

“Maybe one day,” She said. She put the brownies in the oven and set the timer. As they waited, they talked about their days and the events of Bolin’s latest pro-bending match. When the timer buzzed, (Y/N) hopped up from her seat and pulled the brownies out. 

“I’m too excited to wait,” Bolin said, grabbing a knife and slicing into the gooey brownies. 

“Bo, be careful you’re gonna-” 

“Ow, ow, ow,” Bolin complained as he held the scorching hot brownie, but he tossed it into his mouth. He tried his best to chew. “It burns but it’s so yummy,” He mumbled as he tried to breathe hot air out of his mouth. 

“Your girlfriend makes pretty good brownies, huh?” She asked, and Bolin nearly choked on his hot piece of brownie. He doubled over as he coughed and tried to swallow it down. “Oh my goodness, are you okay?” 

“Girlfriend?” Bolin asked once he had righted himself. (Y/N’s) face flushed. Had she calculated everything wrong?

“Yeah, girlfriend. I thought that girlfriend is okay.” Bolin nodded, his hands wrapping around the small of her back to pull her close. 

“Girlfriend’s okay!” He said. “As long as boyfriend’s okay, too.” (Y/N) smiled brightly up at him. 

“Boyfriend’s okay,” She said as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Bolin leaned down to kiss her and she could taste the hot brownies on his tongue. 

“Bolin!” Asami called to him, breaking his flashback. “You want a piece of pizza? I think (Y/N) should be a chef, because it’s amazing!” 

Bolin stepped into the room, giving (Y/N) a tight smile. She smiled back at him as she chewed on her piece of pizza. “What kind is it?” 

“Pineapple and pepperoni,” She said, and Bolin twisted his face in disgust. “No, no! You have to give it a chance first, please?” He conceded and took a bite of pizza. It did taste amazing. 

“Not bad,” He said with a teasing smile, and both Asami and (Y/N) rolled their eyes. 

Once the three had finished devouring the pizza, (Y/N) moved to leave the room with Asami, but Bolin called out her name. She turned to him, her eyes staring up at his quizzically. “I just wanted to say,” He cleared his throat. “That, even though I know that you know that things didn’t necessarily end well for us, I don’t, uh, have hard feelings.” He could feel his face redden. “It was a long time ago, and I know I can’t tell you anything yet, but I’m sure you had a reason for doing certain things, so I don’t blame you.” 

(Y/N’s) eyes shined so brightly in the kitchen light that Bolin was sure tears would spill over any moment. “Thank you,” She said quietly, an uncertain smile making its way across her features. “I, um, want to apologize for whatever it was I did. You seem very kind and great and whatever happened between us, I’m certain you didn’t deserve it.” Bolin nodded, his own eyes prickling at the backs. “Could we start over? Just be friends?” 

Bolin nodded perhaps a bit too eagerly. “Yeah, I’d like that.” 

(Y/N) smiled up at Bolin and felt that maybe she had been wrong. Maybe things would be okay. 

When she left the kitchens, she wondered if everyone had been planning to gather down there, because she ran into Mako as she was walking away. “Sorry,” She said, refusing to meet his eyes. She would never admit it, but Mako intimidated her. His dislike for her was always apparent and (Y/N) hated it. 

“Bolin told me what he said to you,” Mako said as she began to walk past. She turned back to look at him. 

“So?” 

“He’s forgiving, but I’m not. What you did, it was cruel. You were cruel.” 

“As if you don’t spend every waking moment reminding me,” (Y/N) said with a sigh. Mako narrowed his eyes at her. 

“If you do anything--” 

“You’ll do what, Mako?” She snapped. She had enough of him thinking that he could talk to her whatever way he pleased. “Hurt me?” 

He blinked in surprise, as if the suggestion was ridiculous. “Just stay away from him, alright?” 

“How about you stay away from me? The ship’s big enough.” With that, she stormed up the stairs and joined the rest of her friends. (Y/N) hated Mako. Absolutely hated him. The flush of her cheeks and her racing heart proved that.

---

Tag List!

@beifongsss , @realimbo , @lavendercrystals , @tomshollandz , @zukosvice , @itsivyberry , @awesomelupe , @musicalkeys , @aroyaldarknessblr , @ilovespideyyy , @zukostan221 , @nataliahaslosthershit , @dailytrashypanda , @marvel-ing-at-it-all , @astralsaf , @ryleyrooroo , @yuhaino , @hotgirlazula , @thefandomimagines , @blondie0458 , @kairiririri , @writeido , @foenixphire , @realimbo , @mycollectionofnuts , @wingeddemonclub , @gingersnap126126 , @aangsupremacy , @davnwillcome , @bolinmorelikebabe-lin , @pointlesscoconut , @shells-bells-ringding , @someoneovertherainboww , @buttholland , @hstott , @breadqueen95

[dzamie-oc]

06 - Mech

Ah, aren’t Synths wonderful? Modular, and you can make them do gender and sexuality in whatever way you please.

Length: 2200 words Rating: M (no sex actually happens, but genitalia are discussed a lot) Summary: A woman and her robo-derg go shopping for some parts to spice up their bedroom activities.

Minors DNI, please. It’s rated M for a reason.

-----

Lauren and her Synth, Haskell, stood at the entrance to the robotics store. It wasn’t an official outlet for his manufacturer, so they would technically be voiding his warranty, something that might have concerned them if he had still had one. As it was, however, the reason they simply stood there was less robotic and far more human.

[I told you for weeks, I’m only going in after you,] Haskell said, his primary lights a mirthful yellow against his blue and light grey plating, [watching your face go through so many emotions is well worth the delay.]

The human gently shoved him, her face hot with a blush. “Shut up, I’m getting to it.”

[Would it help if you pretended we were here to look at different parts?] The synthetic dragon took a couple steps forward, peering at the shelves. [I wonder if they’ve got a simulation link set up for a naga lower half. Oh, don’t worry, Lauren, it’s well outside of our price range, I’d only be demoing in VR. You won’t have to worry about my tail wrapping you up in your sleep any more than it already does.]

This did not in any way help Lauren’s blush, but she did stomp forward and stubbornly cross the threshold into the store. Haskell’s visor displayed blue carets for his eyes as he followed her inside. On a side thread, he bragged to other synths in their IRC chat room how positively adorable his owner looked after some well-placed teasing, and he received some encouragement, and a link to an image of a synth with a hand at the end of her tail giving him three thumbs up.

“Hey, you two!” one of the employees, a two-tailed fox, called, “good to see you again. Haskell, how’s that projector module treating you?”

“Oh, hey Shay!” Lauren replied, her nervousness instantly abated. “It’s been real useful. Now we don’t have to settle for my desktop’s monitor to watch stuff together.”

[Or my visor.]

“That was ONE TIME. Anyway, thanks for the recommendation, and... half un-thanks for telling Haskell that it’s so port-neutral.” The human jabbed a thumb towards Haskell. “Nothing quite like walking back from the bathroom to see this guy on the bed, zero legs, with a My Little Pony AMV projecting out the bottom of his torso onto the opposite wall.”

Shay looked on the verge of laughter. The blue and grey Synth scrossed his arms and turned his head up and away, while his visor displayed a gentle U shape on each side. [My taste is far beyond you organics’ comprehension. Time will vindicate me.]

“A blast and a half, I’m sure. Anyway, what brings you two back in? Looking for hardware or software?”

“Oh. Uh, hardware,” Lauren said.

[In more ways than one,] Haskell added, to a returning and deepening blush on his owner’s face.

The fox furrowed her brow, then a look of comprehension crossed her face. “Ohhh... well! Let me go grab Conny, and she’ll show you to that rather special workshop.” She strode over to a door behind the counter, stuck her head in, and shouted, “Ay Conny! Got a customer for the fun stuff! Come and get ‘em!”

A few seconds later, a synth head popped out from behind the door, pale red around a dark visor featuring a slit-pupil eye display. “The fun stuff? Oh, must be the human lady and the blue bot. Come around and follow me.”

Haskell and Lauren shared a look at the prospect of walking behind the registers, but after a moment, Haskell shrugged and followed the other Synth through the employees door, with Lauren behind him, mindful of his tail. [She pinged me over short-wave, said it’s standard enough for this sort of thing,] he explained.

Conny turned out to be not only a pale red, but an entire slightly-desaturated rainbow from head to foot. Her tail had fewer segments than Haskell’s, but was the same length, so he assumed it was some storage model. When she turned from the hallway into a side room, something rattled in her tail, and he mentally congratulated himself on the guess. The human and Synth also stepped inside, and were immediately surprised at what they saw.

It was clearly a Synth workshop, with a sturdy table, a selection of mechanical and electronic tools on one wall, and a number of wires for fast data transfer. But what was unusual to the pair was a solid half of a wall featuring artificial penises and vaginas. Haskell quickly switched his primary lights to a reddish pink to fit the room, same as he saw Conny do. Many of the genitals were clearly modeled after other species; Haskell quickly identified pairs resembling those of dolphins, wolves, nagas, and several kinds of dragon. But some were purely fantastical, or even designed to look congruous on a Synth. On the opposite wall hung various erotic chestplates, although those weren’t nearly as varied in their design. Haskell’s attention did linger on a pair that featured a port on each breast where the nipple would be on a human or anthro, and the thought spurred him to link a photo to the IRC, followed by “consider: boobs that can grab you back.” To his surprise, one of the other denizens shared that she had a model like that, and joked that she’d share photos for five bucks.

[So! My name is Delilah Conagher, but you can call me Conny,] the rainbow Synth said, [and this is where we keep the lewd. Now, you don’t have to answer this, but this is gonna be for you two? Or has...] A request for information appeared in Haskell’s comms; he let her see his name and pronouns. [Or has Haskell come with his owner, but plans to use this stuff on someone else?]

[Oh, I sure hope this is for us. Otherwise, I’m gonna be pretty let down after all that flirting we’ve done to each other.]

[Faaaaan-tastic. Now, what’re we kitting you out with?] Conny’s eyes curved up and a few twinkling stars blinked in her visor, a common sign that a Synth thought they were about to be very funny. [Are you getting a dongle, port, or rack?]

Haskell laughed, but Lauren, though smiling, looked mildly perplexed. “Isn’t it obvious?”

Haskell laughed louder. Conny, however, just shook her head, though her lights fading to yellow as she did so signaled her amusement. [I could guess, but the guess with the highest accuracy is only 72%. If Haskell was using she/her, that drops all the way down to 43%.]

Now it was Haskell’s turn to be confused. His visor showed eyes looking up and away with one brow slightly down, as he remarked, [43 sounds low for four... well, five options with rack only. Surprisingly even distribution.] Lauren turned to him with a clear question on her tongue, so the Synth answered it for her, counting off on his fingers. [Dick or pussy, each with and without tits. Plus a fifth for just the tits. I’m still on the default “pan” from when we installed the sexuality software, so I happen to have saved plenty of examples to show you if you don’t believe me. Not all Synths, even. Only most.]

The human shook her head. “N- um... maybe later. But, Conny, we’re getting him a... a penis.”

Without audio, Conny sent Haskell a message saying, “Assuming only one between the legs or one set on the chest is sensible, but inaccurate. A good mechanic can do wonders.” Aloud, she addressed Lauren. [Wonderful, those are fun! And all of the designs here are made to be pleasurable to the giver and receiver - trust me on this - so there’s no bad answers, although there may be some better ones for each Synth. So, anything you’re looking for for your first one?]

“First one?”

[We’re modular,] both Synths said at once.

“Oh, right. Uh... well, I think I’ll pass on the... fleshy-looking ones. I think they’d clash with his body, and feel too different than- uh, nevermind.” As Lauren’s voice trailed off, Haskell put on a rather smug and pleased look.

Not missing a beat, Conny grabbed a small selection of more robotic-looking schlongs from the wall and set them out. [Now, this one here’s a great one, both as a first time and in general. It’s not the simplest, but it’s got a vibrate function that’s insulated from the rest of the body.] She then picked up one that looked more obviously draconic, but still with a robotic aesthetic: silvery top, glossy black underside. [And this one is far and away my favorite, both in shape and novelty. Bit on the higher end for price, though, I’ll be honest with you. Doesn’t stop it from being popular with my return customers, though.]

Lauren tentatively reached out, and Conny handed the penis to her, letting her turn it over in her hand. “I mean, it’s certainly nice, but what gives it that price?”

In reply, the rainbow Synth popped one hand off, took the dildo back, and slotted it in. After a few seconds to recognize and prepare the device, the glossy black underside revealed itself to be an RGB light, slowly fading through a few colors. Haskell stared at it. Lauren, on the other hand, had a different reaction. “No. Absolutely not. I know you, Haskell, and there’s no way I’m giving you even half a reason to try to fuck me to Caramelldansen.”

[It’d be funny, though.]

“Not happening.” She pointed to one of the others. “That one looks nice, though. Haskell, how do you feel about that one?”

The blue and grey Synth nodded. [I think I’d look rather good with that on me. If you think you’d feel good with it in you, we should give it a shot.]

Conny looked between the two of them, then nodded at Haskell. [Then just hop up on the table and I’ll get you set up. Oh, that reminds me: I can also modify your lower chassis - a couple hundred, same as other port additions - to get you a proper crotch mount or two. Assuming you’re pretty standard, the best I can do is essentially a workaround where I plug it in the rear, behind your tail, and give you some fittings to secure it around your legs and/or waist.]

“It’s not necessary, though, right?”

Haskell laid down and soon felt the weight of his tail vanish, followed by a system notification that a module had been detached. The Synth mechanic kept talking. [No, but without it, Haskell will probably need or at least want your help to get the penis on and off.]

[Sounds worth it to me,] Haskell said.

“It’s not your $200.”

[Sure it is. You did tell me I could have my own account for stuff on the side. Remember, because I was ask- whining for- hold on. I was ask- whining for video games.] He gave Lauren a flat stare. [Really?]

Lauren held her hands up. “In my defense, I had forgotten I’d done that before I promised to stop touching your admin controls without telling you. But yeah, that’s fine then. Get yourself some penis compatibility.”

[Great! Alright, doc, fix me up!] Haskell said, then slipped himself into Safe Mode.

-----

[Oh, that looks fantastic,] the Synth said, admiring his new dick, [thanks for matching it to my colors.]

[I’d be a pretty poor mechanic if I couldn’t,] Conny replied, [but thanks. Now, go ahead and disable sensitivity in the device settings, or at least drop it as low as possible.]

[Huh? Doesn’t that go against the point?]

[Some modules can be equipped in public. This is not one of them. And trust me, you don’t want that thing anywhere near the default levels when you remove it, at least not until you’re used to the sensation.]

Lauren glanced down the hallway. “Yyyyeah, let’s not traumatize whoever’s in the store and potentially find out which of us is legally liable for you going streaking.”

Haskell nodded, and after a couple seconds, pulled the penis out of its socket, then fit a grey plate over the port, hiding it.

[And this should go without saying, but there are no returns on this sort of thing. If something goes wrong, you might get a partial refund if you send us the diagnostics, but once that dick is out of the store, we don’t want it back in here.]

Lauren took the cock and gave it a curious squeeze before placing it in the bag Conny had provided. “Fair enough. And will Shay ring us up out there, or...?”

[Yep! Alright, you two, have fun out there.]

As the two left the store after paying, Haskell linked a photo of the purchase he had taken earlier to his IRC friends. Some congratulated him on a well-chosen mod, a couple of them asked him to DM photos of it equipped, and one person floated the idea of attaching two of them to that pair of breasts with ports.

All in all, a productive day, and a precursor to a hopefully unforgettable night.

[giant-sketches]

Guardian Naga Chpt. 6

Alright everyone after this chapter there will only be one more to go before this story comes to an end. I know you all will be sad to see it go, but I already have another series in the works so get hyped for that one!

Make sure to comment or send a ask if you’d like to be added to the tag list for the finale. :3

Chapters: 1/2/3/4/5/

This chapter also contains a VERY special surprise inside you just have to read to see! Honestly, it’s such a big surprise I may just post it as it’s own thing too, to get this fic a bit more attention. Anyway, I worked super hard on it so enjoy:

Previously, at the castle prior to Roman encountering the Naga at the lake:

“Your Majesty I’ve brewed you a pot of your favorite tea. Would you care for a cup to clear your mind?”

Roman hadn’t returned to the caves for three days now and continued to lose himself in thought over the Naga. Had he been alone all this time? To be alone for 500 years, Roman simply couldn’t imagine it. Not only that but to be betrayed by the people he helped and to lose the man he loved all at once. Roman winced in pain as his heart cried out. This pain, what does it mean?

“Your Majesty?”

Snapping back by his friend’s concerned tone, he stuttered,

“Oh! Ye-yes a cup of tea would do me well, thank you Patton.”

“Of course Your Majesty!”

Happily, Patton poured Roman a cup of pomegranate white tea paired with apple scones. Roman smiled and took a sip as the flavor eased his nerves. The scones filled his empty stomach with comfort as he sighed. What had he been doing hiding himself away in his castle? He needed to figure these feelings out and soon. He wanted to see the Naga again.

“Patton...um you and Logan are together correct?”

“Yes Your Majesty. Logan and I are together. Why do you ask?

“I-can you tell me how you knew?”

“How I knew?”

“Yes, how did you know you loved him?”

Patton blushed in surprised, but kept his composure as he gently set down the tea pot and walked over to Roman’s side.

“It would appear right now you need a friend to talk to more than a butler. Now then Roman, tell me what’s on your mind. Why do you want to know about Logan and I?”

“It’s not that I want to know about you two specifically, just how you knew that the feelings you had for him were...love.”

Roman was so flustered with his embarrassing line of questioning that he instinctively covered up his face as Patton inched closer, kneeling down in front of him. He pulled Roman’s hands away from his face and set them down on the King’s lap.

“You just know. You get this tightness in your chest when you’re away from them, they fill your thoughts, you find pleasure in those simple moments you share, and you hate the thought of losing them.”

That was exactly how he felt. Did that all really mean he was in love?

“Does any of that help? Are you perhaps in love with someone?”

Patton gave Roman a patient look. Warm tears streamed down from his face as the truth sunk in.

“Yes, yes I-I’m in love.” he sobbed, throwing his face into his lap.

“That’s wonderful!”

“No, no I-we...oh God!”

“Why are you crying? This is good news Roman! Who is it that’s stolen your heart?”

“Th-the Naga.” Roman whimpered.

Patton froze. Did he just hear that right?

“THE NAGA?!” he was in disbelief.

He knew Roman had been meeting with the creature on a regular basis, but to think he would fall in love with it during their time together. Patton was momentarily lost for words as he pondered what to say next to comfort his weeping friend.

“Oh Pat what do I do? He’s so beautiful and kind, but I’m nothing but a human who wants to use him for something terrible. I can’t tell him how I feel and it hurts so much knowing now how I truly feel. I hate this! I want to be with him so bad, but I’m scared.”

Patton teared up and curled against his solemn friend. “It’s going to be okay. If the Naga is the way you say it is then you need to tell it.”

Roman jolted upwards in protest, “I can’t! Patton, he-he lost everything because of humans, but even though he has the power of a God he...he never healed his eye.”

That’s right, that gaping hole in the Naga’s head was a constant reminder of what harm the humans were capable of. How could Roman confess knowing full well the pain his kind had caused him.

“Roman, you love him don’t you?”

Roman’s already bright face turned completely red as he nodded. He did, he loved the Naga so much!

“Then go. Go right now and tell him.”

“Bu-”

“No buts mister! I’m sure he’s waiting.”

Could that really be true? Was the Naga waiting for him like always? He had to find out!

“You’re right! Thank you Patton.”

Lightly, Roman placed a kiss on his friends cheek and called for a horse from the window to the guards below. There was no time to lose!

---------------------- Currently at the lake with the Naga cooling itself off and Roman walking back towards them:

“What I want to tell you can wait until you’ve calmed down. I’m still not sure why you were so upset, but I definitely hate to see you like that.”

The Naga was still acting skittish with Roman moving closer towards him. Why was this human so persistent with throwing himself into danger? Slowly the Naga began shrinking, but his size was still massive compared to the tiny human. Once at a manageable size the Naga rested it’s head on the side of the lake and sighed with relief. He really had overheated, but now he could relax; or so he thought. Letting his guard down allowed for Roman to sneak up on him until he was face-to-face with the colossal creature. The Naga wanted to yelp, but held his tongue as Roman planted his hands on his face.

“Looks like you’re doing a lot better now.”

Roman kept rubbing his hands on the Naga’s face in a calming motion he learned from Patton. The Naga enjoyed the sensation of those tiny hands dancing on his cheek. He flicked his tongue in pleasure only to quickly retract it in fear. Why did I let myself get caught up in his pace? I’m lucky he hadn’t fled before at the mere sight of me. Roman stopped his movements as he noticed the pained expression on the Naga’s face.

“Did I do something wrong? Was that...unpleasant?”

“No, no you...you could never do anything wrong little one.”

Sulking, Roman changed locations to right in front of the Naga’s missing eye. The Naga flinched as he saw where Roman had wandered off to. Why was he touching there of all places? Wasn’t he afraid?

“That’s not true, I’m human after all.” he carefully brushed his fingertips against the rim of the open space. “This is what humans do, they hurt you.”

Tears had surfaced on Roman’s face. All those thoughts of the Naga’s centuries of loneliness had finally hit him as he stared into the void. He was here to confess, but how could he when he knew it may only end up hurting his beloved. The Naga on the other hand hated the sight of Roman crying. He shifted slightly to allow his right hand to reach over and pick the tiny man up.

“Roman, you are different from those humans. I know you would never harm me. So please cease your tears.”

“No I-I’m just like them. I’m horrible!”

“You are no such thing! Why would you berate yourself so?”

“I plan on using you for war, how could I not be a disgusting and selfish human?”

“It’s not being used if it’s what I wish to do.” The Naga smirked. “I had no idea you cared so deeply about my well-being though.”

“Of course I care I…” Roman paused, wiping away his tears. “I love you.” His eyes were soft, but serious.

Had he heard that correctly? Love? Roman loved him? The Naga was stunned as his mind went blank.

Roman smiled as he repeated himself, “I love you Naga.” this time with confidence.

Instantly, the Naga felt his face boil as a full blushed painted it. The heat was so intense he shot up thirty feet as if still basking in the Sun's rays. This time he yelped in surprise and instinctively turned his attention to his tiny passenger. Fear in his eyes.

“I-I-” He could feel the tears coming on.

“You’re beautiful.” Roman whispered as he planted a kiss on the Naga’s palm. That was now another thirty feet as he cursed the heavens.

“How big do you intend to make me with your flattery?” The Naga hissed, while lacking in hostility. He was simply concerned for his every down-sizing friend.

“Until you tell me how you feel about me.” he smirked.

Roman’s remark caught him off guard. Was this real? Could he actually believe that a monster like him was loved?

“D-do you truly love me? Even like this?” he motioned towards his towering form with a sad expression.

Wanting a better look The Naga raised his hand closer to his face so the both of them were nearly eye-level. His enormous yellow iris perfectly reflected Roman’s figure back at him. All he could think about was how beautiful the Naga looked up close. The scales on his face shimmered in the light like stars and his black hair resembled silk as it fluttered in the wind. How could he not love him? Though he was gigantic, the creature was gentle to a fault.

“I love you more than anything in this entire world.” He projected proudly!

Once again the Naga could feel a powerful surge of heat course through his body as he rocketed upwards, jumping a whopping seventy feet. His body now engulfed the entirety of the lake that once housed him.

The Naga whimpered, this was starting to get out of hand. “I can’t Roman. I’m nothing but a monster, you deserve someone better.”

That was not the answer Roman was looking for, but he could tell he was getting somewhere. It was now obvious the Naga did have feelings for him, it was just about dragging them out.

“Your size only shows your true feelings so why not submit my darling. You and I both know that I will never come to fear you no matter your stature.” he teased.

Darling?! The Naga scowled as he continued to expand higher above the landscape. Why was Roman such a smooth talker, he cursed? The growth spurt went on for what felt like forever as the once large lake below took on the appearance of a puddle. The Sun was also beating down on his skin causing his growth to accelerate. Eventually, the Naga stopped at a terrifying new height of three thousand feet. Roman appeared as a mere speck in his palm. His gaze was met with low hanging clouds and the sight of the kingdom nearby. The creature's tail had knocked down a multitude of trees as it now imitated the look of a mountain range. Completely overcome with fear the Naga looked to Roman with pleading eyes. Their little game had become a big problem!

Roman raised his hands in surrender. “You win. I can tell how scared you are.”

With a heavy sigh the Naga cupped his hands together over Roman to keep him safe as he moved to find a bigger watering hole, aka the ocean. Due to his size he easily traversed across the now flattened terrain until he arrived at his intended destination. Without hesitation he dove into the water, creating a tidal wave that left many helpless fish beached on the shoreline. Keeping his hands above sea-level he could feel Roman’s size shift in his grasp. Successfully, the titan Naga had returned to his normal height of one hundred and fifty feet to his merriment. Roman smiled in delight at his adorable sweetheart. While still lounging in the Naga’s hand, he waved to garner the creature’s attention.

“Glad to see you smiling again.”

The Naga blushed, but this time he had more control and water to keep him cool. His true feelings had been exposed and all that was left to do was to say them out loud.

“Are you certain Roman? It’s not that I don’t believe you it’s just that...I can’t stand beside you like a human partner could. We won’t be able to be together all the time or do...specific activities that normal lovers do.” he mumbled, covering his face in embarrassment.

Roman giggled. “I can assure you this is what I want. I love you for you and your love in return is all I need.”

“Then you shall have it. I love you Roman. I’ve loved you for a long time now.”

“Really?”

“Yes, but I was in a constant state of fear that one day you would finally see me for the monster I truly am, but you...you looked past my grotesque exterior and found the beauty within.”

“That’s not true at all!”

“Wha-”

“You’re beautiful inside and out, don’t you ever believe otherwise!”

The Naga couldn’t help but laugh at his own foolishness to underestimate the King’s love. At that moment he really wanted to kiss Roman as a thank you. Gingerly, he lifted his hand up to his face and waited in anticipation. Ecstatic, Roman jumped for joy as he practically leaped into their first kiss! Yet, Roman had no plans of stopping at just one and delivered a barrage of kisses to the Naga’s soft lips.

More waves crashed onto the shore as the Naga’s tail squirmed in the water. The Naga could feel Roman’s entire face pressed up against his lips. Warm tears began to drip from his eye. Finally he could be happy with someone special beside him. Sadly, it was now time for him to return home,

“Roman, I hate to cut the moment short but seeing as I’ve properly cooled down it’s time I make my way back to the caves.”

“Ah, you’re right. Can I accompany you back to your humble abode then fair princess?”

Hissing playfully, “Sure, but princess is unnecessary.”

“I will continue on my quest to find you a suitable nickname then!” Roman proclaimed with a bow.

The Naga flicked his tongue in amusement. Roman couldn’t help but think that little quirk of his was adorable. During their journey back the Naga took the time to use his powers to revitalize the flattened Earth he had crushed in his enlarged state. To witness such an event in person was baffling as Roman found himself in sheer awe. Trees sprang back to life and large masses of earth reformed themselves instantly. This carried on until they reached the caves and the Naga slithered right inside, Roman still in his hand.

“Rest here for a bit, I have something I want to give to you.”

Gently setting his beloved down in his nest made of collected leaves and twigs. He wrapped his massive frame around the tiny man, careful not to lose him in his tail. Roman was now surrounded by a wall of beautiful scales he easily gawked at, though, he had no idea what was going on. Surprisingly, the Naga then reached down and plucked out one of those scales and handed it to Roman.

“I-Is this for me?” He sheepishly reached out to grab onto the scale that was the size of his entire torso and a bit more.

This was such a grand gift, could he really accept it? Concerned he titled his head upwards to convince the Naga to reconsider, but paused at the sight of the creature’s face smiling down at him. He was beaming! This was too much. Not only was this the scale of a God, but it was one of the gold ones too. He couldn’t help himself from breaking down crying.

“Roman? What’s wrong? D-Do you not li-”

“I LOVE IT!!! GOD I-I….love you!” startled at the sudden outburst the Naga crept in closer.

“If you like it then why are you crying...darling?” Oh gosh that was embarrassing to say.

Roman blushed deeply at being called darling. That was his shtick!

“I just don’t know how to feel, or it’s like I’m feeling too much...this is precious.”

He paused and looked at the golden scale. He could see his face reflected back at him. It reminded him of that moment a few hours ago when his image was shown in the Naga’s eye. That’s right, this scale looked like his eye. Roman pulled the scale close to his chest,

“Thank you. I’ll treasure it.”

“I have more you know. I assumed it would be helpful in paying for supplies to assist in the upcoming war. There’s only a month left, correct?”

“NEVER! I would never think to sell one of your scales!”

“You can be more greedy Roman, I know you have no ill intent towards me.”

Roman shook his head and stared fiercely at the Naga. He wasn’t going to budge on the matter.

“Kind as always. Fine, you win. I can see you are going to remain stubborn.” he sighed.

Removing his tail the Naga opened up a path for Roman to exit from.

“Off you go, before you worry your people.”

Roman really didn’t want to leave, but knew he had too.

“I’ll come tomorrow and everyday after that. I promise!”

The Naga only smiled and gave the tiny King a nudge forward with his knuckle. Slowly, Roman made his way through the cave and out into the lowering daylight. He gave a whistle for his stead, hoping she was still kicking. Luckily, he heard a joyful whinny as the house trotted towards him. With that he raced off back to the castle now content that he had confessed and more so in that his feelings were mutual.

In the caves the Naga lied down to rest with uneasy thoughts in mind about what the future would hold for the two of them.

“Maybe it’s time to move on.” he whispered while touching the hole on his face. Slowly falling asleep, hoping for sweet dreams this time around and not the usual nightmares.

Chapter 6 End

@soviet-speck​ @notkolaidoscop​ @crystalk17​ @valentin0vkc​ @legendsgates​ @thenaiads​ @sparrow-flightninggale​

[guigz1-coldwar]

'Next move' : New chapter for "Redemption in a Spirit in a Cold War" is out !

'Next move'

"I can say that....you're an very lucky girl, Yirina Grigoriev !"

Chapter Summary : After the unexpected rescue mission of the recon team, Yirina and the team could finally have some rest before starting to planify the next moves against Naga.....

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : +3200

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In all the odds of the world, no one was going to tell me that the first day I will spent in Laos was going to be me and the others having to rescue an recon team constitued of Song, Mason, Sims & an woman called Rivas in emergency and literally no one thought that I will have to be the co-pilot of an Huey and then, its pilot on the way back. I don't know how I was able to know in an few seconds how to fly an helicopter in my life, maybe my fake memories did help me....or I've got an uncovered real memory about it, I can't tell.

I can say that my skills on piloting an helicopter did surprise Woods & also Park as I talked about her of my flashs of my 'old times in Vietnam' and to be honest, I think that she wasn't believing at first that I was really going to take the commands of an american helicopter, trying to evade an Perseus-affiliated Hind above the Laotian jungle. Thanksfully, Wolf managed to destroy the Hind with his so-called 'Death Machine', an minigun and thanks to that move, we were finally in safety and good to go to return to base.

On the way back, I wasn't speaking so much in the entire group that was chatting about what they did while Woods were giving indications of where to go and to check the controls for me like I did on the first flight. Park was also silent in the group, also in her thoughts and then after minutes of flying, we finally arrived back at base where I could land the Huey without too much damaging it, thinking that I would mess that up but none of it happened when the helicopter skids got on the ground.

"Well done, Yirina." Woods congratulated me once the helicopter's engine was shut down, stopping the loud noises we've been hearing since we got away from here. We did also cut off the music before arriving here too. "Didn't know that you got flying in your blood."

"Me neither." I breathed, removing my headset off my head, amazed by myself to be honest. "it was good but I don't think I will do this again for an long time."

"As you wish." Woods told me as he make some friendly tap on my shoulders before he looked behind him, his eyes on everyone. "Okay, we're going to patch you up, you're taking some rest and then, we'll make an briefing." He suggested and everyone nodded.

"Let's get out of that helicopter." Wolf exclaimed as he was helping Sims to get out while the others were also moving from the chopper but me, I stayed in the cockpit, the headset in my hands and looking at the group, leaving the helipad.

"Yiri." I was surprised when I heard that Park was still in the Huey with me in the transport bay. "How do you feel ?" She asked me, seeing me happy but confused at the same time.

"To start, I'm surprised that I managed to fly that thing and I wonder how I did this." I expressed, still looking away until I feel her hand on my shoulder, causing me to look at her.

"You were great !" She affirmed again to me, moving to get closer to my seat. "It's seems that you're an woman with many talents." She added, getting her both hands on my shoulders.

"Well, I can say that." I said, not wanting to brag myself about that talent I just discovered about me. "It's not everyday that I'm piloting an Huey above the jungle." I sniffed, looking away for an few seconds. "I guess that 'Bell' is maybe proud about it." I continued, trying to laugh about it but I couldn't.

"I'm proud of you." She moved her arms around my shoulders, getting her head on it. "I'm still sorry to have obliged you to be Woods's co-pilot." She apologized again for that but now, it was okay.

"It's fine." I whispered, putting away the headset to get my hands on her arms. "Next time, you're the one flying that thing !" I scoffed as I thought about it during the way back as an little lovely revenge and the only thing she did was to kiss me on the cheek.

"You didn't see me fly then." She stated, making me look at her eyes, thinking at first that she was lying. "What ? We learned how to fly too in the MI6." She exclaimed to me, realizing that she wasn't lying at all to me.

"I'm curious to see that." I mumbled before I decide to kiss her, this time, on the lips. "What's the biggest helicopter you used to fly with ? Tell me !" I demanded, holding her hands in mine, feeling her touch on my skin.

"I flied an Hind !" She replied and my eyes went wide again. "We had an mission in 1980 in Afghanistan with Garrett, Greta....and also Stone & Megan." She added, taking an breath. "To say that I flied it with Stone as the man who controlled the guns..." She thought.

"I would have been very curious to see that." I offered an grin, knowing that talking Stone was not an good idea even if he was now lying dead somewhere in the world. "Well, to see you fly an Hind." I corrected myself to that and that put an smile on her face.

"If someday, we had no choices but to use one, I'm the one taking the commands." She proposed and I know that she would be great so I nodded.

"Excuse me ?" We were both surprised when we heard Woods knocking loudly at the pilot's door and also coughing in purpose to get our attention.

"What do you want ?" I asked him in an semi-serious voice.

"Well, I preferred to see you back at your desk instead of staying in that helicopter." He responded, putting his hands on his waist.

"Come on, Woods, we're just having an discussion." Park protested, sounding in an flirty voice that wasn't appropriated right now with Woods.

"Yeah but I don't want to have you start to do your things in that." He told her back, finally opening my door by itself. "Don't forget my warning though."

"You maybe need to....chill out, Woods." I suggested to him and his only moves was to narrow his eyes to me, looking almost deadly and wanting to put his hands on my neck. "You know, we were in an discreet place, away from the others." I gestured at him as me & Park finally decide to get out.

"I know but an Huey isn't very discreet while it's in the middle of an CIA base." He admitted, making us take an look around. "So, get yourselves back in the hangar to have some rest before someone like Hudson found you two in an akward position." He scoffed at the end of his words,  laughing a little while me & Park rolled our eyes around.

"As you wish, Woods." I expressed, using his same words that he used moments earlier before we walk away towards the hangar.

We came back to our desk inside, stripping ourselves from the equipment that we used....well, I didn't use my pistol or even my MP5 in combat because I had to fly an helicopter in an combat zone, meaning that I was the only one who didn't fire an single bullet. To be honest, that allowed me to keep my equipment in perfect shape and still having enough mags without asking Park for others and now, we were awaiting.

We had to wait for the other to get healed up as apparently, they were out of the base for two days straight for an big recon mission that Hudson ordered and hopefully, Song, Mason, Sims & Rivas weren't wounded too badly, having only some scratches on their arms or faces but nothing too badly for them. However, that wasn't the same thing for the other part of the recon team, having reported an lot of wounded and killed in action, including the pilot and the co-pilot of their team.

From their mission, they managed to get their hands on some intels about Naga but Woods preferred that everyone was up and good to be back on action to make an proper briefing and for that, we had to wait at the beginning of the evening, that's meaning the whole day until everyone were finally able to assist the briefing, fully operational.

"Everyone." Woods called everyone near an dashboard, meaning the beginning of the awaited briefing, we all took an seat on chairs that was put there. "Rivas, you might want to make the topo on the intels you found." He demanded to her, that wasn't seated.

"Good." She nodded to him as she was moving next to him. "For 2 days, we managed to discover some outpost Naga is using for his activities."

"And what is he doing ?" Garrett asked her.

"Naga is the supervisor of Nova-6 supply lines around the Golden Triangle." Mason replied to him, getting up to join Rivas & Woods as he was also there. "These outposts are used by Naga to make sure the supply lines are still there." He added.

"So, Stitch is still in producing his nerve gas." I spoke up as I didn't heard about it since last month....since that disaster in that mall in New Jersey. "If he's asking Naga to supervise his supply lines here, that means he's preparing something big." I suggested.

"And with Adler in his hands, it's sure that this 'something big' is really big." Sims stated, taking back my words on the subject. "We don't know what's Stitch planning with Adler but it's sure that he's really bad for us."

"Do you think he could kill him ?" Song questioned Sims about it.

"The two is having an hatred for each other but Stitch is maybe willing to make Adler suffer like he did to him years ago." Sims answered to her question, crossing his arms. "But we can finally advance now." He gestured to Mason.

"We finally found where's Naga main HQ is in the jungle." Mason said, pointing his hand towards an map that they got during their mission.

"I guess it isn't going to be easy." Park stated, looking at the map.

"You're right." Rivas nodded to her.

"We found intels that Naga's HQ is surrounded by AA guns, meaning that any incursions in chopper are impossible." Song stepped in to get next to Mason & Rivas, watched by Garrett with an smile. "The thing is the camp is very far from here and we had to use an chopper."

"So, we took an Huey and we land on an safe place to continue our travelling by walk." Park guessed right about it as Mason nodded.

"We can do that but we don't have any intels about what we could find on our way." Rivas told to us, looking at the map that was incomplete at some parts.

"May I propose something ?" Garrett raised his hand towards her. "As we have some Hueys that are from the Laotian Air Force, maybe two people with an pilot can make an recon in the skies without getting too close of Naga's HQ." He proposed and everyone start to think about his idea.

"That could work, who volunteers ?" Woods questioned everyone and no one was volunteering.

"Well, since it's my idea, I have to do this." Garrett breathed before I suddenly raise my hand.

"I'm with him." I told everyone with Park's surprised reaction on me before she nodded in approval even if she know that the two of us will be separated for an while.

"Good, I also thinking that I could go with an team in advance to try to secure the landing zone." Rivas suggested and to say, it was also an good idea : having two people in the skies, securing the way for the team on the ground while she took an team to make an advanced recon before we arrive.

"And when you will be leaving ?" Wolf demanded.

"As the place is far by walk, I will be leaving tonight." She answered to him, hands on her waist before she look at Woods who agreed.

"Take the men that aren't wounded with you." He ordered to her as he took an deep breath. "Well, I think that we will do this tomorrow, everyone can have an break." He added as we could finally got up from our respectives seats.

"Woods ! Mason !" An loud voice came inside the hangar, revealing Hudson himself, arriving with an satellite phone in hand.

"What do you want ?" Woods asked in an lazy voice.

"We have to talk....it's personal." Hudson replied to him and by the tone of his voice, it was really personal. "Got an call from home." He added as Mason & Woods look at each other in confusion.

"We're following you." Mason whispered before the two move away from the dashboard, following Hudson to an isolated place away from everyone who still got our eyes on the three.

"Shit, if Hudson talk like that, it's...strange to say." Sims said, an bit confused about the situation. "Anyway, I think that's not our business."

"Don't we have an drink to celebrate ?" Garrett recalled about the words from Park after the end of the rescue mission.

"Oh yes !" Wolf exclaimed as he moved to get to his desk, getting in his hands an bottle. "Who wants some Bourbon ?" He questioned but we didn't have to speak that we moved to his desk, ready to have an little celebration.

I should have thought that Wolf has bring some of his Bourbon in Laos with him and seeing that bottle in his hands showed that he was really loving it. He prepared some glasses for everyone and we all cheered to that little rescue mission we did today and our next move for tomorrow. Of course, we all took only one drink as we wouldn't want to be totally drunk on the field and after taking an sip of that drink that I missed for an month, we make an little talk about ourselves and like always, I let the others talk.

Even if some people around knows of my state and what happened to me, no one wanted to bring the subject on the table, thinking that it was an bad idea to talk about it. Instead, they talked about their lifes, how Garrett met Song on an mission in 1983 in Seoul, how Wolf got enlisted in the Delta Force for his 18th birthday and how Sims actually met Russell Adler during the Vietnam War.

Rivas also told us about her backstory, fighting against the Menendez Cartel in Nicaragua for an large part of her life and I was really impressed by it, discovering more the woman that I just met hour earlier, that story....it was nice but also sad to learn about. We did spent an good time, listening to each others story.

"Yirina, Park !" Woods finally arrived one hour after we began our little celebration party but he was sounding low and...kinda troubled, not exactly in the same mood of everyone.

"Yes ?" We both said in unison with Park.

"We...well, we need to talk...in private." He responded, still sounding troubled, there were something wrong in his voice. "Not here, outside."

"Something's wrong ?" Park asked.

"Just...follow me, okay ?" Woods told us as he start to leave and in an second, we slowly got up from our chairs to follow him outside the hangar, wondering what he would say to us. We then stopped in an hidden place, out of sight from everyone.

"Woods, what's the problem ?" I finally demanded, worried about him.

"I know that it's maybe not your business but Mason wanted me to tell you about this." He said in an low voice, his hands on his wait and looking sad. "Mason received bad news from home."

"Bad news ?" Park whispered and we start to fear the worst.

"We just learned that....his wife died." He said, his voice cracking by the emotions to talk about this. "She had an brain tumor and it was incurable." He added to us, making us shocked to hear that from him and feeling so sad about learning about it.

"An brain tumor ?" I repeated, my voice sounding very low.

"Yeah, she's been fighting it for months with Alex's help but...him been forced to leave to get back on the fight, it didn't help at all." He stated, passing his hands through his face. "Now, his son, David is alone."

"What will happen now ?" Park questioned him.

"Hudson is sending him home, Mason already packed up his things discreetly...it was better for him." Woods was like on the verge of not crying and he was struggling to not cry in front of us. "He wanted you both to know about it even if it was not your problem, David need his dad while his uncle is leading an group to save an CIA agent." He said, revealing that he was the uncle of Mason's kid.

"I....I...I think it was an good choice from him." I thought as Park slowly nodded, approving my words.

"It's better for him to get back to his son." Park added to my words, taking an deep breath.

"Yes, it's the only thing to do for him, Hudson wasn't going to let him here." Woods admitted to us. "Shit...to say that's my fault to have him come back." He continued.

"Woods..." I started, putting my hand on his shoulder. "You're not the one to blame, he thought that it was an good choice because he's your friend." I told him, not even sure of my words to recomfort him. "No one is to blame here." I added.

"I want to think of it but what's done is done." He whispered, joining his hands together. "Listen, this discussion is staying between us, if the other ask, don't tell anything about it." We nodded to his order, it was very important and we couldn't talk freely about it.

"Don't worry, Woods, we will not tell anything." Park affirmed to him as she made an very little grin to him.

"Good, I'm might need to take some rest before tomorrow." He snorted before taking an breath. "Take some rest too." He added before he start to walk away slowly from us to get back inside the hangar while me & Park were completely frozed in place.

"Damnit, I never thought...." I started to say before I stop myself, losing my words and then, I sit on the ground, crossing my legs. "Fuck...."

"You couldn't know, Yirina." Park said in an low voice, sitting in the same position as me in front of me. "I'm like you right now : shocked and sad about it." She breathed, meaning her words by seeing her look and voice. "Mason wants to live an normal life, away from what happened to him and I'm sure that you want too."

"I just want to able to live free and away from all of this and for that, I need you !" I told her, looking at her with eyes that was slowly filled with tears before Park slowly moved her hand towards my cheek.....

"And I know well that you're always there for me !"

[echoes-of-the-clockwork]

Book Four: War (Gladiolus x Reader) Chapter Twenty-One

"Will this really work?" Prompto asked, unsure of their plan.

"Only one way to find out," Noctis said.

"Just stick to the plan, blondie," Gladio stated.

"This will work," Ignis reassures the worried marksman.

"Are you all ready?" Death questioned.

Gladio nodded. "Lead the way."

She summoned her scythe and emerged from their hiding spot. She casually strolled up to the dullahan who had yet to notice her presence. Once it did, it raised its whip and released a battlecry. The Horseman dodged each and every attack it sent her way. She remained on the defensive, trying to evaluate the monster's newly acquired strength and what method would be safest to extract (Y/n).

Noctis, Ignis, Prompto, and Gladio soon joined the fray with their own weapons drawn. They focused their attacks on the dullahan's steed while dodging and deflecting the whip. Prompto fired a few rounds into the horse's chest, causing it to rear up with a neigh. He watched with hopeful eyes to see if the rider would fall off. However, it remained steady on the animal's back.

Ignis was still trying to get used to being unable to see. He used his ears to listen to the horse and the rushing air created by the whip to understand where the enemy was at all times. His daggers became inflamed as he attacked the adversary. He threw one of them directly at the horse, the sharp, flaming blade embedding itself into its side.

Noctis and Gladio focused on the steed's hind legs while Death did her best to protect them from the whip. She gripped her scythe tightly when the whip wrapped around it. The dullahan tried to disarm her, but she stood strong and yanked back. It lost its balance slightly, making her grin. When the prince and his shield managed to cause the horse to lose its balance, its rider came tumbling off.

As planned, Prompto dealt the killing blow to the horse. He giddily grinned when seeing its body disappear. "Yes!"

"We're not finished yet!" Noctis shouted.

Death yanked harder on her scythe, which still had the dullahan's whip wound around it. She caused it to stumble before slicing the whip in two. The monster hadn't anticipated its weapon breaking and pulled too hard when it broke. Its momentum from pulling resulted in it to tumble backwards and land on its back.

"Noctis, now!" Death hollered.

At hearing the girl shout, Noctis activated the armiger. He flew towards the dullahan, using the royal arms to pin it to the floor. The weapons pierced its arms and legs. It howled out, struggling against the weapons.

Knowing Noctis couldn't support the armiger for long, Death and Gladio acted quickly. They rushed over to the trapped monster and leapt onto its body. The sable-haired girl switched her scythe out for (Y/n)'s sword and handed it to the shield. "You cut, I'll pull."

Gladio caught the blade and followed the Horseman's instructions. He jammed the blade into the dullahan's chest just far enough to cut its rotting flesh. Using her hands, Death pulled the skin back. The dullahan's black blood covered her hands and was burning them. She fought against the pain and pulled as hard as she could. She gritted her teeth when her own blood began mixing with the monster's.

When Death could see her sister, she told Gladio to cut a little deeper. She ignored the dullahan's wails as she grabbed (Y/n) and freed her from its body. She dragged her sister away from the monster while Noctis and Gladio leapt away. The monster recovered once the royal arms vanished.

"Now can we target the head?" Noctis asked.

"Your attacks alone won't do any damage," Death said, her eyes focused on War's body. She held a hand against her sister's chest and used a healing incantation. She watched as the redhead's wounds healed, sighing in relief.

When the dullahan regained its bearings, Gladio dispelled (Y/n)'s sword and returned to using his greatsword. "We'll keep it occupied."

"I appreciate it." Death held her sister close, praying to the Six she would come to. She continued to provide healing until it nearly exhausted her. "C'mon, Sis..." Lifting her head, she saw the boys struggling against the dullahan. Her eyes widened in horror when Noctis was knocked back by the monster. She went to rejoin the fight, but stopped when hearing a groan from War. Looking back down, she smiled as the redhead's eyes opened. "Welcome back."

(Y/n) weakly pushes herself out of Death's arms. She was confused and was going to ask a barrage of questions, but she held herself back after seeing the boys were facing off against the dullahan. She saw it was overpowering them and used her remaining strength to make her way over to the monster. Death tried to stop her before it spotted the redhead, but War didn't listen. She summoned a dagger and tossed it, impaling the dullahan's back. She warped to the blade and promptly grabbed the head attached to its hip.

Before the dullahan could react, War raised the head up to eye level and used inferno corruption. Her eyes turned black as she stared into the monster's eyes. It wailed out, its body and head slowly turning to igneous rock. Once its entire body was turned to stone, it started to crumble and turn into ash. With a final cry, its body was no more. Her dagger slipped from its back and clattered against the ground.

(Y/n) fell to her knees, breathing heavily. She was on the verge of fainting. Her eyes slid close, falling unconscious. Her upper body began to fall, but Gladio caught her. He kneeled beside her, resting her body against his leg.

Death trotted over, glancing down at her sister with disapproval. "What a careless thing to do..."

"That's the same thing (Y/n) did to that naga!" Prompto shouted. "What was that?"

"Inferno corruption-an ability only War can use. Each Horseman has their own special ability. But whenever we use such an ability, it takes a toll on our bodies."

"She's fine though, right?" Gladio asked.

The pale girl nodded. "Yes. She just needs some rest."

"Didn't we pass a dormitory on our way here?" Noctis questioned.

"Indeed, we did," Ignis answered. "We all would benefit from a break to compose ourselves."

"To the dormitory, then." Gladio lifted (Y/n) up into his arms and carried her the way they came.

They found the dormitory they passed earlier and entered the room. Gladio placed the redhead down on one of the beds while Noctis and Prompto claimed their own mattresses. Ignis sat down in a chair as Death remained by the door.

"I could use a good nap," Noctis sighed.

"Me too, buddy..." Prompto huffed out.

"Rest would do us well," Ignis stated. He carefully maneuvered over to a vacant mattress and laid down.

Gladio pulled up a chair beside (Y/n), which didn't go unnoticed by Death. She strolled over and patted him on the shoulder. "I'll watch over her. You get some rest."

"There's no way I-" He started.

"Don't even think about it. You'll need your rest. Get to bed, now."

The shield couldn't help but chuckle. "You and (Y/n) are almost the same." He pushed himself out of the chair. "Fine, I'll sleep. But make sure you wake me if she wakes up."

"Deal."

<--------------<<<<<

After an hour, (Y/n) regained consciousness. She looked around the room and saw the boys were asleep. Deciding not to disturb them, she walked out of the room and joined Death. "Hey, where's Famine and Pestilence?"

"Well, look who's up," Death replied. "Pestilence is busy searching for ingredients for the blindness remedy and Famine is fighting off daemons somewhere in the Keep."

"Daemons? But..."

"A lot has happened since you were captured. One of those things is the Oracle was slain by the empire. Nights are becoming longer and the daemons are bolder than ever. They no longer fear us."

"That means King Aeshema's in danger," War muttered.

"And that's why I'm heading to Hell. Someone has to watch over him while his subjects run rampant." Death pushes herself off the wall. "What're you planning to do?"

"Me?"

"The dullahan's dead. You've no need to stay on Eos any longer. Are you planning on returning to the Inner Sanctum?"

(Y/n) immediately thought of Gladio and casted her solemn gaze to the floor. "I...I don't know."

Death walked over and took her sister's hands in hers. "Listen, you don't have to return to the Inner Sanctum if you don't want to. What you have with Gladio is special and you deserve to spend your time with him, especially because of your past. With what's to come, he'll need you more than ever. I think King Aeshema would agree with me."

The redhead recalled her conversation with the daemon king in Lestallum. "It's like he knew from the start..."

"What do you mean?"

"King Aeshema visited me in Lestallum and was teasing me about if someone special were to keep me here on Eos. Guess he was right."

Death smiled sweetly at her. "I'm so happy for you. Just make sure you tell Gladio your honest feelings. Your tongue won't fall out if you tell him you love him."

"I...will try my best."

"Good!" Death released War's hands. "Well then, I leave these four men in your care. I'll see you soon, Sis."

"Be careful out there, Death."

"Always am!"

(Y/n) sighed once her sister was gone. She combed a hand through her crimson locks, wondering what their next move would be. While lost in thought, she hadn't realized the door opened behind her. She wasn't aware someone was behind her until she heard the door slide close behind them. Turning around, she came face to face with Gladio. She hadn't seen him in nearly a month due to being captured by the empire. "It's been a while, hasn't it? You don't look-"

Gladio didn't allow her to finish her sentence. He shoved her back, pinning her against the wall. "Shut up," he said.

She blinked in surprise before glaring up at him. "Excuse me? What the hell is wrong with you? After all this time apart, you're acting like an-"

She was unable to finish her sentence due to Gladio silencing her with a heated kiss. She was utterly shocked at the intimate kiss for a few seconds before she kissed back. Her hands found their way up to his bare chest. Her fingers caressed a portion of his tattoo, eliciting a moan from him.

After a minute, they pulled apart. (Y/n) stared into Gladio's amber eyes, wondering what to say. Before she could utter a word, he wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her flush against him. He placed his hand on the back of her head, cradling it against his chest. Holding her close, he rested his chin on top of her head. "Damn, I've missed you."

She welcomed his warmth, winding her arms around his torso as best as she could. "You've no idea how much I've missed you," she confessed.

"What happened to you?" He asked.

"Ardyn happened. Do I need to explain more?"

"That's all I need to know. Damn bastard..."

They were both silent for a short while before (Y/n) spoke up. "The dullahan's dead and I now can return to the Inner Sanctum, but..."

"But what?" Gladio questioned.

"I don't wanna go back." She gripped the back of his leather jacket tightly. "Will you...let me stay with you?"

His chest rumbled with a chuckle. "You don't have to ask. It's not like I was gonna let you go, but it looks like I don't have to worry about trying to convince you to stay."

The two remained in each other's arms until they could hear Prompto's panicked voice. The couple separated from one another and wandered back into the room. When they walked back inside, the blonde sighed in relief. Noctis groaned in disbelief, having been awoken in such a rude manner. Ignis wasn't bothered by the marksman's shouts since he knew they had to get moving. The five discussed their next plan of action once everyone was awake. They covered most of the details before leaving the dormitory.

Gladio stopped the group a little ways down the hallway. "Hold up."

"What is it?" Noctis asked.

The shield turned to (Y/n) and held out his hand. He summoned her crimson-bladed sword and passed it to her. "Thought you might want this back."

She sighed in relief. "Thank the Astrals you found it. This so happens to be my favorite weapon."

"Really? Couldn't tell," Gladio chuckled sarcastically.

War rolled her eyes. "You clearly haven't changed in the time I've been gone..."

The group continued forward. They walked through the halls of the Keep until they reached a hangar area that nearly resembled the one where they fought the dullahan. There, they examined the area and immediately stopped in their tracks when the large doors at the other end of the hangar begin opening. They heard Ardyn's voice over the loudspeaker as a corrupted Ravus entered the hangar.

The group summoned their weapons and fought against the demonic Ravus. It was a tough battle, but one they were victorious after working together like a well-oiled machine. They watched the high commander's body disintegrate with solemn expressions.

Suddenly, daemons began flooding into the hangar. The five cut down enemy after enemy, but their struggle was useless. For every daemon they slaughtered, more took its place. (Y/n) created a large, fiery vortex and sent it towards the horde of daemons. Because of her powerful spell, there was a large enough opening for Noctis to pass through.

"Go, Noctis!" War shouted.

"What?" Noctis' eyes widen in shock.

"If you can obtain the Crystal's power, we may yet turn the tide. Elsewise, we are all likely to perish here," Ignis said, slicing through a single daemon.

"Iggy's right. It's our only chance," Gladio stated.

Noctis looked around at the faces of his friends. "But what about you?"

"We'll manage somehow! Just get moving!" Prompto bellowed, aiming his pistol at a nearby enemy.

With no other choice, Noctis did as his friends told him to do. He made his way through the opening the Horseman created and ran to the elevator. Gladio, Prompto, Ignis, and (Y/n) kept fighting off the daemons while Noctis desperately tried to reach the gate before it closed.

In the middle of the fight, Prompto was close to being skewered by a daemon. However, he was saved by Famine when she manifested out of thin air and struck down the enemy. She casted him a smile. "Mind if I join?" The sharpshooter's eyes filled with joy as Famine joined them.

Now with a new member of the team, the group created a small dent in the horde of daemons. They continued their efforts for what felt like hours until exhaustion was starting to nip away at their bodies. Famine tried to heal them, but her previous battles with more daemons left her magic weak.

(Y/n), unable to stand the daemons any longer, accessed her deepest reserve of power and activated her armiger. While remaining in one spot, she manipulated the many weapons with her hands and killed one daemon after another. Her (e/c) eyes were a bright crimson as she wielded the power of those her ancestors conquered.

By the time the armiger vanished, War had defeated the last daemon in the horde. She felt lightheaded due to using such immense power for a prolonged time. Pressing a hand against her head, she closed her eyes with a groan. "Dammit..." She was still exhausted from being feasted on by the dullahan and using her special ability to kill it.

"You good?" Gladio asked after seeing her unfocused gaze and hearing her groan.

"I still haven't fully recovered. Using the armiger was careless of me..."

"But you did take out all the daemons, meaning we can catch up with Noct." He supported her body with his when she stumbled slightly. "C'mon, firecracker, hang in there a little longer."

(Y/n) threw her head back while grumbling, "Damn you and that ridiculous nickname..."

The group made their way to where the Crystal was located inside Zegnautus Keep. When they arrived, they couldn't find Noctis anywhere. However, they did see Ardyn standing in front of the Crystal. The chancellor turns to them, gestures nonchalantly at the Crystal before beginning to walk away. Gladio released (Y/n) and swings his greatsword through Ardyn's head, releasing a puff of dark smoke from where the blade strikes.

Ardyn falls back a little, but maintains his balance and holds onto his hat to keep it from falling off his head. He then continues walking away. Prompto was the next to try and attack the man. He shoots Ardyn in the back before he can take more than a couple of steps, releasing another puff of dark smoke and hurling his body onto the floor. The chancellor's hat rolls away and lays still for several seconds before his hand suddenly reaches down to collect it and place it back on his head. Once more unharmed, Ardyn is again standing. The twisted man smiles at Ignis, revealing corrupted daemonic features as he does so, but they go unnoticed by the advisor due to his blindness. Famine knew it would be fruitless to attack the man and simply gave him the cold shoulder as he passed by her.

Ardyn walks away, leaving the group behind to mourn the loss of their King.

[judgmentofcorruption]

Episode 6–The Sinking Story; Scene 2

Judgment of Corruption, pages 181-189

As the name suggested, the “Misty Mountains” that sat at the border between Asmodean and Lucifenia would, depending on the season, be shrouded in a deep mist. As a result it was not a place that people often went to, for fear of being stranded within.

Gallerian, Tony, and Shiro had made their way to the mountains via an automobile driven by Bruno, however given the fog and the steep road they had to abandon it midway and continue ahead by foot.

“Hey, Gallerian. Is this really the right road?”

At the head of the group, Tony turned around, but the only ones behind him were Bruno and Shiro.

Gallerian was walking so much farther behind as to be lost in the mist.

“Huff…You guys…walk too fast…don’t leave me behind…” he grumbled when he finally caught up to them, out of breath.

“You’re too slow. What’s the guy with the map doing walking all the way in the back? …Geez, no wonder you’re always doing desk work—”

As Tony was getting put out, Gallerian handed over the letter from Ma on which the map was drawn.

“Maybe you should…hold onto it until we get there…”

“I guess so—Hmph, so this does appear to be the correct road…Unfortunately it seems like the fog has gotten considerably thicker. It might be dangerous to keep pressing on recklessly like this.”

“…But…turning back now could also be…”

“This fog doesn’t look like it’ll clear up if we take a rest. So then what to do—Hm, what’s wrong, Shiro?”

Shiro had been quickly tugging on Tony’s sleeve, and now she pointed ahead.

"There is someone…on the other side of the fog."

“What? –Are they an enemy? Do they have any weapons?”

"I can't tell. …Sorry…"

“Right. Well then, Officer Netsuma. I’ll have you do reconnaissance--have you got your gun on you?”

"Y-yes…"

Shiro hurriedly drew the revolver that she had in her side holster.

The moment that she had her favored “Naga E895” in hand—Shiro’s eyes seemed to sharpen.

“—Roger that. Shiro Netsuma, beginning reconnaissance of this uncivilized region.”

She moved forward into the fog at a crouch, wary and yet at a rapid pace.

Gallerian looked on, dumbfounded.

“…Her attitude changed to something more confident so quickly…”

Bruno gave a smirk. "Didn't you know? Shiro's personality changes when she's holding a gun. –Or rather, this may actually be her true self. It’s just that her usual social anxiety is too severe.”

“…Well, I guess if that wasn’t the case she wouldn’t be in the military.”

“I always thought you knew, my lord. Since you made her the leader of PN—”

“Hel is the one who recommended her. At first I wanted to make her into the leader of PN. But she apparently hates being in positions of leadership or being at the top of anything. So I just went with it…”

"On the battlefield and in places of strife at least, there is no one more reliable than Shiro."

“It looks that way—Oh, she’s coming back.”

Reappearing from within the fog, Shiro nodded slightly to Gallerian and company.

“It is not an enemy. The identity of the target is ‘Postman’—an ally.”

Postman appeared shortly after her.

“So, it was you who brought us the letter after all—where is Ma?”

“…”

In response to Gallerian’s question Postman said nothing as usual, but instead they turned around and slowly started to walk in the other direction.

“I guess we’re supposed to come along?”

“Let’s follow. If they get too far away we’ll lose sight of them.”

Gallerian nodded, and pressed on with everyone else tagging along.

.

Eventually the troupe arrived at an old stone ruin.

It seemed as though at some point the fog that blanketed the area had thinned a bit.

In front of an altar that sat in the center of that ruin was Postman and--

Ma, who looked almost as though she hadn't changed from 14 years ago.

"Ma!"

When Gallerian called out to her, Ma smiled in response.

"You came. --It's been a long time, Gallerian."

“What are you doing so deep in the mountains—No, before that!” Gallerian abruptly flew into a rage. "Why did you suddenly leave me fourteen years ago?! You didn’t say a single world—"

"…I had become a little bit tired. Of associating with other people.” Ma said, giving a fleeting glance to Bruno behind Gallerian.

"Is that possibly…because of me?"

“No, that’s not it. It was nothing that you did. …It’s just. I was never all that comfortable being in front of people, and I’m a very fickle woman. So I figured that it might be nice to live in some remote place like a hermit.”

“Have you been living here all this time?”

“I mean, it’s not like I’ve been here for the entire fourteen years. I was in Elphegort’s forest, and a few other places besides. These ‘Misty Mountains’ are where I ultimately ended up. This is a good spot. People seldom come here, and surprisingly enough I don’t want for food either.”

Ma took out a basket filled with edible wild plants and showed it to Gallerian.

Bruno walked up to Ma.

“So then…why did you send a letter to Gallerian? If you stopped interacting with other people, why would you…!?”

“—Don’t make such a scary face, Bruno. Didn’t I just say? I am a very fickle woman…all of a sudden I just wanted to meet her.”

“Her?”

“Michelle. She must be—what, sixteen now? I imagine she’s grown up a bit. She was so cute when she was a baby. I’m sure she’s become a lovely young girl…All that just sort of came to mind, and so I just wanted to see what she looks like.”

“…Aren’t you a complete stranger to her? The young miss would have no memory of you.”

“That’s what’s great about it. That’s precisely why I was wanting to see her all harum-scarum like that. Such is the impetus for my return to associating with people.”

“I don’t understand.” Bruno sighed, shaking his head. “—If what you’re saying now is true, why go out of your way to call us here by letter? You could have just returned to Levianta yourself.”

“Actually, I had a little favor to ask of you,” Ma said, pointing off to the side a little ways away.

She was pointing to a carelessly piled stack of books.

“While I was wandering here and there, I found some rare books and wrote a few new screenplays and such—Before I knew it, I had a ton of luggage. Since you’re already here, I was thinking you could carry these in your car.”

“…Unfortunately, the car is at full capacity. There was already four people on the way over here—we can probably get at least one more person in, but when it comes to Postman and the textbooks—”

“You don’t need to worry about Postman. They said that they’d walk back alone.”

“By ‘said’ do you mean that you can talk with—”

“Ah, pardon. I phrased that a bit poorly. I mean that they wrote to me.”

Tony and Shiro had been standing in wait a behind Gallerian and the others, but they approached the altar now.

“If that’s the situation, then the two of us can get back home through other means. There’s a military garrison down the mountain, right by the Babul Desert. We’ll just borrow a military vehicle.”

Ma’s expression grew faintly suspicious. “Shiro and—who are you?”

“Ah, forgive me. I am Tony Ausdin, major general of the USE allied forces. I’m an old friend of Gallerian’s. I came here because there was something I needed to speak with you about, but…perhaps it best we save that for after we get back to Levianta.”

“Someone of the Ausdin family, huh? My my.”

“We have met once before, but…Well, I suppose you don’t remember. At the time I was just a simple part-time security guard, ha ha ha—Anyway, I’ll be seeing you.”

Tony and Shiro bowed.

Then Bruno turned and started speaking to Gallerian.

“Sir, you should go with the two of them and head back to where the automobile is waiting. I have to stay here to package and carry over these texts.”

“Will you be alright by yourself? I can help if you want.”

“Given your strength levels you’re likely to pass out partway through carrying all of this, hahaha. Don’t worry. I can handle this much. I’m quite used to carting around heavy things.”

Ma added on, “I’m going with Bruno as well. I wouldn’t be able to bear it if he were to damage my precious books, after all.”

“I see…Alright, I’ll wait ahead at the automobile,” Gallerian said, leaving the ruin with Tony and Shiro.

--Postman had disappeared at some point too.

That left only Bruno and Ma.

“Now then…Let’s start packaging these.”

Bruno took out some wrapping cloth that he had on hand and started to neatly pack up the piled books.

Ma spoke to him from behind. “—You don’t need to worry. I have no intention of doing anything with Gallerian at this stage.”

“…I suppose the way that you remained formal while speaking with him just now made your intentions on that clear…That’s how I’d prefer it though, yes.”

“It’s been fourteen years already. I can’t see Gallerian wanting to re-ignite any old flames either.”

“…I would think Gallerian didn’t notice because you were standing in fog, but…how do you plan to explain the fact that your appearance hasn’t changed at all?”

“As for that—Well, I’ll find some way to cover for it.”

“…That’s not reassuring. At any rate…just don’t be anything more to Gallerian than a friend. And…when you two are together, you are not by any means to get him to drink anything. That’s all I want to say to you.”

“—Roger.”

Ma and Bruno, carrying the wrapped up books, descended the mountain and met up with Gallerian who was waiting by the automobile. The three of them then returned to Levianta.

<<prev------directory------next>>

[grumpy-zane]

((Had a ninjago fan season idea that takes place after s13 and semi centers around Kai ninjago. This seasons theme: Vacation gone wrong! I have segmented it into episodes for convenience. I uh, may or may not dedicate some time to drawing content for this thing, so I apologize in advance. ((also it is. a long post.

Episode 1 - Answering machine going off and its’ Ronins voice over the machine: 'Looks like I’m gonna run late.. ugh this whole thing is falling apart isn't it. But we'll make it work. I got you a ferry to take you there, one of the cruise ships. It was the least I could do for now... I'll meet you there, I promise.'     >Cuts to Dareth on the boat, taking him and the rest of the people to ‘Aves Isle’.    >While everyone is getting off, Dareth helps a naga lady with carrying some of her stuff because Dareth ninjago.    >Naga ladys' name is 'Olive', she is a semi native. She starts talking about the islands' history. 'there used to be a temple but we don't know what happened to it, but it sunk into the ground.    >two investigate the area because Dareth has time to wait on Ronin.    >Upon finding whats’ left of the area and entering, the atmosphere changes and inflicts a weird curse or whatever.    >Dareth starts getting progressively more pushy Episode 2 - After s13 Wu wants to do more adventures so the bounty is just flying wherever the wind takes it I guess w/e {{Also realized I didn’t write much for Wu this entire rest of the story so I am assuming he’s having a grand ol’ time being on vacation}}    >wow it is night time, the bounty is flying in    >The crew ask where they are and Zane starts to go on his normal informative spiel before getting cut off.    >Oh there’s a thing on the radar. What the heck is that thing flying towards us OH GOD THAT’S A BIG ANGRY DRAGON    >Bounty has two smaller 'runner' boats? I guess? marketing. Two of the ninja hop on those and fly off.    >Zane and Jay distract the dragon so the bounty can safely land but it turns out there are two dragons and Jay gets taken down first. Yay soft landing.    >Bounty makes it safely over the fences that are on the island    >Zane gets taken out.    >Cuts back to Dareth and Olive still rooting around. activates something and wow a lava fountain. the ground is glowing in weird markings!    >Dareth snaps at Olive and she wells up and runs away and Dareth snaps out of it temporarily like 'oh crud why did I do that I didn't mean to be so bossy' and goes after her    >Olive gets overtaken and now: pointy.    >Dareth tries to stop her but she jumps into the portal lava whatever? hole?? not sure.    >He, of course, jumps in after.    >Fire Dareth.    >Random golden-looking platform chained to the bottom of the hole they are in. ominous voice: hey how about you get these locks free and we'll rebuild the temple? nice.    >Temple platform rises    >Zane gets tossed into an area? park? fenced in something or another??    >oh hi Jay    >oh community service sorting trash from recyclables? can do.

Episode 3 - The remaining ninja visit the two who are in 'time out' before deciding to have a look around the island.    >They take a nice walk down the beach Cole reminisces about the time Kai was extremely afraid of water    >Kai frowns as a laugh track is played. Claims he has gotten better at it but screams when Nya splashes him.    >Zane and Jay are done with service and its like 'okay how about we try to get out again?’    >Zane suggests doing it in the broad daylight since the dragons went out at night and may be nocturnal    >they try    >they get taken out again    >another round of community service    >sees another aircraft fall out of the sky    >guard: wow more property damage.    >sundown. lloyd notices that something strange is happening with some of the residents randomly getting more nippy and then not. strange. (Ninja get into an arguments with the locals or whatever)    >Stop by community service area    >Jay is now frustrated    >rest recuperate at where they parked the bounty    >Nya: well nothing is really going on here we can probably leave once the two are done breaking the law     >Ronin shows up to the area and is greeted sourly by Jay ninjago

Episode 4 - The ninja are ready to leave when they notice a weird ominous structure that wasn't there before.    >Crew investigate    >oh its hot. you can go in, Kai ninjago    >kai enters    >oh frick fire dareth    >kai ninjago, walking out and is krispy: there is a problem.    >three get out of service    >ronin asks if the little runner ships are 'truly' important    >hekcin steals their engine or whatever    >regroup at the bouty    >Kai: hey uhh, Dareth is peeved haha, I don't get it though he and I hang out every now and then.    >Ronin, internally: oh god he's really mad I didn't follow plans to a T-    >the ninja exchange awkward glances of guilt    >decide it'd be best to talk to him tomorrow, or try to. Also, more people are randomly getting upsetti, Jay is still frustrated.

Episode 5 - jay still has a bad attitude. lloyd is also starting to get upset. Cole tries to diffuse the situation but it causes the two to point their noses up at each other in silent anger. great.    >Kai enters in the temple again, which is even more built than it was before.   >Dareth being snarky   >kai apologizes and tells him he wasn't aware of it, and that he thought the two were good friends, reminding him of the times they hung out outside of mission things.   >Dareth calms down a bit   >finds a reason to be mad again.   >Ronin shows up   >'ronin?'   >''Told you I'd meet you here, what didn't you believe me? not really much of a vacation. How about we get some fresh air?"   >Dareth approaches   >oh no he's really hot.   >cheek caress with the robotic arm. gae.   >two head out. Room is no longer unbearably hot. good!   >squad enters in. goes into one of the inner chambers   >oh look the towns people overtaken by rage are building. nice.   >oh no jay and lloyd are fighting again.   >grabs attention of workers.   >the ninja get their butts handed to themselves, and lose Jay and lloyd in the process. nice   >cuts to Ronin and Dareth walking on the beach.   >Ronin smooth talking, normal Ronin behvior   >Flames and whatever fade from Dareth and he snaps out of it completely and immediately starts pouring out how he feels bad about being rude to Olive and whatever the bad guy is and what the plans of the temple are.   >Ronin: maybe we should tell the ninja. I don't want us to get involved anymore.

Episode 6 - Ronin informs the ninja of what's up.   >Nya: oh no we gotta stop this !   >Dareth: I want to help.   >Ronin: no we are on vacation we shouldn't have to; leave it up to them.   >Dareth: no I started this, this is my fault, I have to make it up to Olive and everyone <:(   >Ronin: :/   >Zane: we should focus on. not making the locals angry because that seems to draw them towards the temple.   >Ninja proceed to do good deeds, while part of them break off to do research   >learn about the bad guy dunn dun dunn!

episode 7 - Kai ninjago somehow is the one keeping the most level head out of everyone here and things get tense again. is it potentially out of character? Well he's mad that lloyd and jay are overtaken but he's doing a good job at self control.   >cuts to lloyd and Jay   >lloyd: this is dumb! why are we helping!? We're supposed to be stopping this!   >Jay: we're helping because YOU dragged us into this with your plan!   >argue. great   >bad guy laughing or whatever, oh the voice has a physical form that's manifesting from the heat of the temple. 'Good, soon I will be reborn and reclaim the island!'   >Olive inform him that Dareth has broken the spell   >bad guy furious and confused but is also like 'whatever we have a lot more important things to worry about'   >Nya and Zane are stepping on each others' toes.   >ronin and Dareth relay what they learned.   >kai sitting in the bounty looking disheveled   >'Human pinata makes the kids happy'. Horrifying.   >story about how the bad guy was dispersed after 'other beings' landed on the island and taught he locals the importance of peace and not war or whatever. It was probably some Oni and dragons chillin.   >Cole: oh! I mean we have two 'other beings' and those are the dragons, but they seem really angry and territorial   >Kai: maybe they want something and just haven't gotten it? ((Id have to mention one of the festivals known as the 'laughing dragon' festival or whatever but it's fallen into obscurity due to the dragons not being happy. Mention that sometime during episode 3))   >investigation time part 3.   >learn that there's a fruit that the dragons like, but the recipee was lost on how to make the disk for them   >well gang, time to get cooking! thank goodness Zane is on our-   >just kidding Zane and Nya are gone now because they got too angry at each other and went to 'get space' but they're probably at the temple now.

Episode 8 - Gotta do the cookin by the book!   >the ingredients are gathered.   >Dareth insists that they used a very speicific brand of exctact.   >Cole has no idea how to cook well   >Kai starts putting things together.   >Cole: when did you learn to cook?   >Kai: Well I had to take care of my sister buutt.. I dunno I think being the master of fire, cooking comes easy. ;)   >Cole: if there's any way I can help just let me know.   >kai: oh, yeah, bust open those things.   >Cole literally smashes open the fruit sending bits everywhere   >good ol happy comedic moment.   >first try   >Cole: . looks. uh. strange.   >Ronin: I am afraid to taste it.   >Dareth: oh I'm sure it can’t be- -face scrunch-   >Kai: <:)   >Dareth: well... I swallowed it.. at least..   >cuts to temple again   >bad guy is like 'we need more people how come everyone stopped coming?? someone needs to go out and start beating people up >:('   >Olive reports that the ninja were gathering ingredients for something or another   >Bad guy is like 'okay send some people there and stop them'

episode 9 - after the 5th attempt it's much more palatable so they make a larger batch and stick it in a boat all fancied up and now have to deliver it   >oh god angry people   >why are they looking at us hhh   >fite   >Kai: we legit cannot let any of this spill otherwise I'm going to scream.   >only way to get it away from the people is to go by ocean   >Ronin: we'll do what we can but you gotta do this kai. You're tough.   >kai: ahaha I still don't like water but!   >boat on water   >gets to the part outside of the gate   >oddly silent.   >kai proceeds to put it on the beach and starts calling out for the dragons and starts making noise or whatever. "im gonna kick your sand! haha! what are you going to do about it??'   >Dragons emerge, ready to fight   >sees the offering. Kai: it's okay it's okay, this is for you.   >backs away from the boat   >lets the dragons have it.   >the smaller one is curious about him and approaches him after   >good ol’ kai dragon interaction. yay confidence!

Episode 10 - wow I sure do hate this sorting plant by now, thinks Ronin ninjago.   >tossed in the sorting plant Cole: this isn't too bad. Dareth: yeah I thought we were going to be burned by the stake, haha! Ronin: oh you'll hate it soon enough.   >Dareth and cole exchange glances. Cole: oh I know, how about we do a song, get a beat going? I'm sure kai has things under control! Dareth: good idea! Keep the spirits high, huh?   >Olive informs that the offering made it out into the ocean   >bad guy says 'no fear the ocean probably will swallow it', both unaware that kai was on the boat.   >temple is nearing completion.   >the angry ninja attempt yet again, to try to make a plan to stop him.   >everyone has a different idea   >they don't work together and go do their own plans.   >lloyd tries to go after him directly   >jay attempts to use his powers to get the workers to stop and go after him   >nya yells at jay   >Zane attempts to take out Olive, with mild success, kicks her out of the temple.   >olive decides to visit in on the captives   >glares at Dareth   >Dareth proceeds to apologize profusely   >Olive is stunned and snaps out of it, sorta. moment of clarity   >apologizes for stopping their plan about the dragons. gives more detail about the situation inside the temple before getting ready to head back.   >ronin. heckin. kidnaps her w/e He wants answers, and also doesn't want her relaying the information she gathered back to the bad guy. Dareth: oh my GOD did you KILL her?? Ronin: :B no messengers.

Episode 11 - The dragons fly overhead and do their little dance and show and yaay, the people are happy!   >people working on the temple stop and notice in awe and decide to go outside to have a look.   >bad guy takes notice and a n g r y, number of the workers stop and go enjoy the show. Some even going to their work areas and getting snacks and things like a festival. Bad guy: where is my messenger?! How did this happen?! steppin out. that's it, I'll deal with this personally.   >bad guy stands on his temple top whatever. Starts blasting fire balls.   >kai ninjago shooting fireballs back to deflect Locals: wow firework show!   >even more stop their progress.   >lloyd notices   >the rest of the ninja notice. lloyd: woah kai ninjago..! Nya: I don't know how long he can last doing that.. Zane: the power comes from the temple.. Jay: so we have to sink the temple!   >sink time   >as the temple starts to submerge again the fire balls become weaker   >bad guy adverts his attention to the ninja and decide to try to take them out   >Kai ninjago shows up and they have a fire bending battle not ripped from avatar at all Jay: kai you gotta get outta there the temple is collapsing! Kai: I will give me a minute!   >This is sparta kicks the dude into the portal thingy lava(?) and gets the heck outta there before everything falls in again.   >yaay, we won!   >mini celebration that's more like we gotta recover

Episode 12 - partially filler episode? w/e   >actual festival held   >good ol relaxing for real this time.   >Dareth: that was fun!   >Ronin: so much for a vacation, seems like trouble is always following you around.   >Dareth: thank god I have you to protect me from it all, huh?   >Ronin: wow gay   >Dareth: also why did you run late?   >Ronin: weeeeeell... that's a long story. B) I'll tell you on the flight back.   >Olive: how did you find the recipe for the thing?   >kai: I didn't I just... I mean, Well, when you have flare like me you tend to know how to make a good dish B)   >Cole: he guessed and messed up 5 times.   >Olive: oh-    >kai: >:( c o l e   >the ninja can actually leave now   >FFIV victory fanfare

[d2kvirus]

Dickheads of the Month: March 2021

As it seems that there are people who say or do things that are remarkably dickheaded yet somehow people try to make excuses for them or pretend it never happened, here is a collection of some of the dickheaded actions we saw in the month of March 2021 to make sure that they are never forgotten.

It was brainless enough when the Metropolitan Police suggested that Sarah Everard’s death could be blamed on her for walking home alone at night - but when it turned out that it was a police officer who murdered her, who had also been previously let off at least one case of publicly exposing himself entirely because he was a police officer, brainless left the table and instead we found ourselves noticing they were trying to blame the victim while had covered up for the eventual perpetrator

...while we also had the angry men of Twitter respond to Janie Jones’ clearly not serious suggestion that if a 6pm curfew for women were to be introduced then she would call for a 6pm curfew for men with all manner of bile, shouting, finger-pointing, and comments which the police might just so happen to want to look into

...while smirking bully Priti Patel also managed to get her oar in, as various Reclaim The Streets Vigils were shut down by the police (which is a good look, all things considered...) using the legislation that Patel rushed through a few days earlier to combat BLM protests several months after the BLM protests happened

...but then the Metropolitan Police managed to pivot the focus back onto themselves with their heavy-handed tackling of a vigil on Clapham Common that ended up with them handcuffing various women who were there - which they weren’t so keen to do when Kate Middleton was there - before releasing a statement that boiled down to “Look what you made us do” and then rushing to protect a statue of Winston Churchill for no reason whatsoever but making sure to have lots of photos of them protecting their precious statue anyway

...but then the Tory government demanded they get the last word by bulldozing through their boot stamping on a human face forever policing bill that bans all forms of protests due to it causing “annoyance” as if protesting against the ills of society is the same thing as somebody cutting in front of you in the supermarket queue or not holding open a door

...although the Metropolitan Police did try and regain their title as Biggest Dickheads the following week when an anti-lockdown march featuring professional victim Lawrence Fox and fecal enthusiast Gillian McKeith was met by the police letting them walk in a large, huddled mass without a mask between them and didn't lift a single finger

...and there’s nothing sinister about how the BBC failed to broadcast a single item saying the bill had been bulldozed through, while the piece on their website was buried instead of being on the front page

...and then at the buzzer Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services published a report saying that the police acted appropriately at the vigil, in spite of a wealth of evidence and eyewitness testimony saying they absolutely fucking didn’t

Of course we can trust the Tory government when they publish a report stating that racism isn't a systemic issue in the United Kingdom, even when various people cited as experts for this report were very surprised to hear that they were part of it given they were never asked for their input

So it has been found that proven liar Boris Johnson misled parliament over the Covid contracts being doled out by the Tories, which I’m sure will lead to widespread calls in the media for his resignation - or are we to believe that the real reason for the British media calling for Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation is down to something different?

To sum up the British press completely losing their minds about the Meghan Markle interview, we had various royal correspondents responding to some of the more serious allegations with a combination of vicious smears that don’t debunk a single thing she said or outright misrepresenting what she said to try and tip the narrative in the Royals’ favour, while the Press Gazette issued a statement rejected her claims of bigotry in the British media that can easily be disproved in seconds with photos of various front pages of The Sun, the Daily Mail and the Daily Express on whichever subject you wish to choose - which was supported unintentionally by Ian Murray trying to shout down criticism having been presented with examples of such bigotry live on air - and in response to Murray’s hapless showing, the Society of Editors put out a mealy-mouthed nonpology that pretended that nobody ever said anything about bigotry...before suggesting Murray bugger off

...although Piers Moron Morgan picked up the baton for nastiness by first accusing Meghan of making up that she had suicidal thoughts and immediately after the interview aired it was announced that Meghan’s estranged father was lined up for an interview, although it does have to be said he was far from the only person to respond by throwing that at Meghan like a rock - only to then flounce out of the Good Morning Britain studio when called out for his bullshit, shortly before being told to hand in his resignation or else

So after Keir Starmer tore up the ballot for the Liverpool mayoral election last months, you would expect him to name a new list of candidates that was more to his liking - which is cynical enough - right?  Wrong, instead he backed the government's plans to seize control of the city, meaning that Keir Starmer handed over the Labour stronghold of Liverpool to the Tories with no fucking questions asked

Further enhancing public trust in the police was Andy Marsh of Avon and Somerset Police claiming that several of his officers suffered broken bones and one a punctured lung dealing with the protests in Bristol - which turned out to be a complete lie, a lie told by the Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Police, as not a single officer was treated for any of those injuries

...and a few days later Avon and Somerset Police apparently had to deal with mindless thugs attacking police batons with their faces and seated protesters holding up their hand throwing themselves into their riot shields.  Oh wait, that isn't what happened, instead they waded in swinging batons and using blading tactics with their shields

Nice to know that the Tory government are so in control of the Covid pandemic that somebody with the Brazilian variant got through the tough measures of testing people on arrival by simply not filling out the form - and it was three weeks before the Tory government admitted this had happened

...and the main response appeared to be Chris Philp posting a lot of tweets pointing the finger at Croydon council for something completely unrelated the same day it emerged the person with the Brazilian variant was in Croydon, which looked like a blatant attempt to game Twitter’s search algorithm

Smirking bully Priti Patel ended up having to pay off Sir Philip Rutnam to make his claims against her go away after an expensive court case with the taxpayer footing the bill, which I’m sure will lead to widespread calls in the media for his resignation - or are we to believe that the real reason for the British media calling for Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation is down to something different?   

Nice guy Rishi Sunak wowed people with his Budget, where he gave NHS staff a 1% pay raise that, in some cases, amounts to £3.50 a week which won’t even cover the fees to park at their place of work, claims that he wouldn’t raise taxes while sneaking in tax hikes, bunging an additional £15bn to Serco for their woeful Test & Trace system, and also pretending that the UK could pursue freeports now that they're out of the EU in spite the UK having seven freeports between 1998-2012 - but we’re supposed to ignore all of that because he paid to have ludicrously self-aggrandising videos of himself made

Smirking bully Priti Patel not only somehow managed to pay £5400 in a single trip to Primark, nearly £7000 in two trips to a restaurant, and £700 on cupcakes,  but also claimed the lot on her expenses - however she most certainly did not spend £77,000 on having her eyebrows done, as that business was wound up  2018, meaning she spend £77,000 somewhere - which of course led to widespread calls in the media that she resign

So nice of proven liar Boris Johnson to say how glad he is to hear that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is being released from prison in Iran.  Yes, that would be the same Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who was imprisoned in Iranian prison due to proven liar Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, who was then Foreign Secretary, not reading his brief and then blurting out of she was guilty of the charges she was being held under which then led to her being given the prison sentence she has just been released from

In response to the Georgia shooting Fox News really read the mood of the nation when the debate was about anti-Asian hate and incel terrorism by doing their damndest to make sure the message told everyone who the real victim was: the shooter, that poor white boy that he is

It was so nice of proven liar Boris Johnson to arrange a charity gala to...hang on, let me check my notes, raise funds so that Carrie Symonds could redecorate her Downing Street flat

According to Andrew Pierce he doesn't see Meghan Markle as black.  Apparently it didn’t occur to Andrew Pierce how that sounds, a.) Really fucking bad, and b.) Like Andrew Pierce has reached the next level of Whitesplaining, which shall henceforth be called Whitekeeping

There’s something definitely sinister about the BBC seeing a clip where Charlie Stayt made a quip about known swindler Robert Jenrick having a huge photo of The Queen and an (upside down) union flag in his office, yet their response was to demand that Naga Munchetty publicly apologise for giggling

As if David Cameron fucking up the country in a failed bid to gain political advantage isn’t enough reason for him to be banned from going within five miles of Westminster, him calling up Rishi Sunak to see if he could get some people in the Treasury make the financial problems that Greensill Capital, who Cameron just so happens to have a stake in, certainly counts as another very good reason

Fish fetishist John Redwood reacted to the US removing trade tariffs on British cheese and British Scottish whisky by proudly crowed from the rooftops that this would not happen if we were still in the EU.  Three hours later the US removed trade tariffs on all EU cheese and alcohol exports

In another bout of Keir Starmer uniting the Labour party he decided that Anneliese Dodds would be removed as Shadow Chancellor for failing to effectively communicate the party’s vision as if it was Dodds’ fault for the poor poll results - only to do a quick 180 and back Dodds when the main response to this reason was “What the hell?”

The only surprise about The Core being exposed as a dodgy grift that was being secretly bankrolled by the deep pockets of Tim Rutherford-Browne is that it actually took so long for somebody to expose this - because it sure as hell wasn’t a surprise that Twitter account for The Core, plus the accounts and sock puppets run by Rutherford-Browne, very quickly vanished

Of course The Daily Mail and The Sun would both devote far more time and column inches to Angela Rayner claiming expenses for her air pods and rile their readership into an all too predictable frenzy than they would ever devote to, say, tens of billions of pounds worth of taxpayer’s money being siphoned off into the pockets of various Tory MPs’ mates no matter how unqualified or ill-equipped those people happen to be to fulfill those contracts

Clag peddler Gilson B Pontes demonstrated how ill-equipped they are to deal with fair criticism of their god-awful games (which Sony somehow keeps allowing on their store) by abusing Youtube’s copyright system to try and get Jim Sterling’s account terminated - and failed, thus drawing far more attention to Pontes trying to abuse the system, and Youtube doing fuck all about it even though this issue has persisted for years by this point

Are we going to hear about how Andrew Beattie is the latest victim of “cancel culture” or are we going to hear that Beattie could have started his message about how inclusive Beattie Communications in a better way than literally saying “At Beattie Communications, we don’t hire blacks, gays or Catholics”?  Gee, let me guess which one...

...and then Burger King make the exact same error by trying to tweet out a message of inclusivity on International Women’s Day, which was doomed when the first tweet of the chain said just five words: “Women belong in the kitchen”

There’s something perverse about Electronic Arts being hit with a scandal involving FUT cards from the FIFA series not because they’re clearly a form of gambling that the company have gotten away with for many years outside of a few countries who call it what it is, but because it turns out an EA employee has been selling the rarest FUT cards on the black market for several hundred pounds per bundle to many willing players who want to cheat the system.  The system of gambling.  Which is what FUT cards are

The Tories reached peak flag shagger when James Wild posed a series of questions about the lack of union flags in the BBC Annual Report, as if that means a goddamn thing

Sleazebag and alleged wrestler Joey Ryan thought he could pull a fast one and just so happen to improve his image for when the next round of SLAPP suits goes before the judge by organising an event called Wrestling For Women’s Charity - only for the entire grift to fall apart due to it being held by the company he owns, the charity itself having more than questionable backing, and the fact that Ryan was dumb enough that he tried to sneak his own face onto the poster and thought nobody would notice.  Coincidentally, once the poster was out, a lot of people noticed and the event was rapidly shut down.  Funny, that...

In the latest attempt by Gab to try and make themselves seem relevant they tweeted out some intense batshittery about preserving our way of life featuring a heavily-armed family (including the dog, which was also packing) around the barbeque.  There was one teeny tiny issue with this image: it was stolen art from the indie game The American Dream which actively satirises America’s obsession with guns, and all gab did was remove the watermarks from the picture (which they took without permission) for their rallying cry of “remember us?  We used to be where all the edgelords hung out before they went to Parler”

Once again Manchester United fans responded to a loss not by suggesting that the opponents played better but with racially abusing one of their players on social media, with Fred bearing the brunt of it this time in the wake of being knocked out of the FA Cup by Leicester

Forgotten 90s comedian Lee Hurst continued to be the face of angry white men on Twitter who think they’re funny by posting a tweet about Greta Thunberg that managed to be creepy, misogynistic, showing a remarkable failure to understand what condoms are made of, and worked out so well for him that Twitter promptly suspended his account 

And finally, irritatingly, we have Donald Trump and his proclamation that he won’t be creating a new political party for the 2024 election as he worries that he’ll split the Republican vote.  But Donald, you told us you were so popular, so surely both Republican and Democrat supporters will flock to your new party?  Or are you worried at losing two elections in a row?

[therainroguefanfiction]

❉ 139 Dreams (Naga) If the World Ended…

📑 Table of Contents

Genre: Angst ☁

Word Count: 2,650 ☁

Pairing: Reader x Naga ☁

World: Beelzebub ☁

Author’s Note: Angst. So very much angst. I almost cried a few times while typing this out but I’m also a sensitive lil’ bitch, so.

WARNING: This fic contains the death of an original character.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: . ☁

Your eyes widened at the two demons that had appeared to help Hecadoth. Your heart picked up speed, hammering in your ears. You heard Zenjuurou talking, but it was a blur within your mind, your eyes glued to the short demon standing on Hecadoth’s right.

‘Why is he here?’, you found yourself wondering, but you knew the answer already.

The three demons rushed forward to attack and Zenjuurou countered, the sigil on his hand glowing brightly in the night. Naga realized the power dynamic was not in their favor, so he activated the teleporter on his wrist. Before they vanished, his blue eyes met yours and widened in surprise. It felt as if time slowed down and you resisted the growing urge to step backward.

Time finally resumed and the three demons vanished into thin air.

Your heart was aching. It had been five years since you last saw the blue-haired male and you had only just forgotten about him last year. Now he’s back in your life and, worse, he’s your enemy.

“Y/N!” A rough hand grabbed your shoulder and you jumped, instinctively grabbing their wrist and kicking at their shin, sending them to the pavement as you twisted their wrist to a near breaking point. “Ow, ow ow! What the hell are you doing, idiot?!”

You blinked down at Oga before releasing his wrist with a sheepish grin. “Oh, sorry, Oga.”

“Come on, we need to get Hilda some help.” He scowled at you before heading over to Kunieda and the wounded Hilda. You made a move to follow, but you met Zenjuurou’s gaze and your body froze up. You didn’t know why, but it felt as if he knew there was a history between you and Naga. You could feel it in your gut and it unnerved you.

It took everything within you to tear your gaze away, helping to lift the unconscious blonde onto Oga’s back.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: . ☁

You sighed deeply as you walked down the street, hands stuffed into your pockets. You had woken up that morning intending to go to school, but your head was throbbing painfully and your back was sore from the previous night’s fight. You tried going to the arcade to blow off some steam, but the noises made your headache worse.

After aimlessly wandering around for a while, you decided to stop off at the park, falling onto the bench that sat in front of the fountain. With kids still in school and parents at work, the park was nearly deserted. Birds chirped cheerfully as they hopped around the grass looking for food. The water bubbled up through the stone fish in the middle of the fountain before splashing over.

You took a deep breath and your body started to relax, but it didn’t last long. A familiar presence appeared behind you and your body reacted accordingly, tensing up and preparing for a fight. Your hands clenched around your jeans, ‘Calm down, Y/N! Maybe you’re just imagining things…’

But you weren’t.

“How long do you intend to ignore me, Y/N?”

You released the breath you had been holding, trying to keep your voice steady and monotone. “I thought you left the human world,”

Naga stepped around the bench, but you refused to meet his rich blue eyes. “I broke free of the teleport at the last moment.”

You scoffed, crossing your arms over your chest. “That’s not smart, isolating yourself from your lackeys. You can’t even beat us as three, you think you can beat us as one?”

“That’s not why I stayed,” His eyes narrowed at you and you shifted nervously. You never understood why, but you hated it when he stared at you. It was as if he could look into your very soul and you hated it. Naga’s voice softened, pleading. “Look at me, Y/N.”

You finally lifted your head, eyes slowly trailing up his body and you noticed that he was injured, holding his right arm across his chest. As soon as your eyes met, time seemed to stop. Everything around you disappeared and you briefly wondered if it had ever existed, to begin with. It was just the two of you in the park.

Your lips parted and words tumbled out despite yourself. “I missed you so much, Naga…”

His gaze softened and he quickly turned his back on you. “It isn’t safe to talk here in the open. Where is your home?”

Something deep down inside told you that bringing a high ranking demon to your home was a bad idea, but you didn’t care. You stood up, walking past him and in the direction of your home. His footsteps echoed behind you as he followed you, but neither of you said a word.

‘What would Oga think if he saw me with Naga?’, you wondered. You certainly didn’t want to find out the answer, so you picked up your pace. Even though Naga’s legs were shorter than your own, he easily kept up with you. As you reached the front door, you hesitated for a moment before pushing the door open.

Being alone with Naga made you feel nervous, but you weren’t entirely sure why you felt that way. Though he was easily stronger than yourself, you doubted that he would ever hurt you. Now that you thought about it, what benefited him more – you being alive or dead?

Naga followed you into the kitchen, settling himself at the table. “I never would have thought that you would be one of those who supported Beelze-sama.”

You pulled open the fridge, trying to keep some distance between the two of you. “You, uh… you want some water? Or something,”

“Yes, please.”

You grabbed a bottle of water and a can of soda before shutting the fridge harder than you intended to. You debated on just tossing him the bottle, but figured it might not be the best idea with his injured arm, so you just set it on the table. You glanced at his arm, wondering how bad the injury was beneath his coat.

“I’m fine,” he answered the unasked question, carefully removing the lid of the bottle and taking a drink.

“And I’m the fucking queen of England,” you scoffed, debating with yourself for a moment. “Take off your jacket,”

Naga raised a brow. “You really shouldn’t talk to a demon like that,”

“Just do it and stop being difficult,”

“As fearless as always,” he murmured, standing up to do as you asked. His coat slid off his lithe form, falling to the chair behind him. Beneath the coat was a suit jacket, which he slowly unbuttoned, allowing it to fall from his body. Beneath that was a long-sleeved, white button-up shirt.

“For fuck’s sake, why the hell are you wearing so many layers?”

Naga raised a brow at you, but you ignored him, grabbing his wrist and carefully pushing the sleeve up to his elbow. His right arm had a large burn upon his skin, from the wrist to the elbow, the darkened skin a stark contrast to his porcelain complexion. The teleporter on his wrist had been cracked and melted in several places. With a frown, you gently ran your finger across the length of the burn.

“It’s not nearly as bad as it looks. Demons heal fairly quick.” He commented, carefully watching your face. “You need to stay out of this war, Y/N. It doesn’t concern you.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit,” you narrowed your eyes at him, grip tightening on his wrist. “Oga is my friend, my family, and you bastards come here trying to destroy us because En is scared of a little competition from a fucking infant.”

Naga’s eyes flashed with anger and his hand shot up to grip your shoulder, his fingers digging into your skin. “Watch your mouth, Y/N.”

The fear and nervousness you had previously felt was starting to morph into anger. You shoved his hand off of you, standing tall. “Or what? Just gonna kill me and walk away? Go ahead. I know how strong you are, Naga. I’ve seen it first hand, but I don’t care. Even if it kills every last one of us, we will fight back against all of you and you can bet your ass we won’t make it easy for you!”

“Are you done?”

Your eyes narrowed, offering him a challenging look.

Naga sighed, slipping his clothes back onto his body. “You and I have a bond that is absolute. I won’t harm you, no matter how much you taunt me. However,” he paused in the doorway, glancing over his shoulder at you. “You may be loyal to those humans, but I am loyal to En-sama. I won’t hold back against them.”

As soon as the door was closed behind him, you sunk down to the floor. You knew that all along, but it hurt to hear it, more than you had thought it would. Your body started to shake as you pulled your knees to your chest, burying your face in your arms.

Five Years Earlier

You watched your older brother fighting a gang from another school. He was outnumbered but easily managed to take out the thugs surrounding him. You stood far back away from the fight, half-hidden by the trunk of a thick tree – you didn’t want to get in his way or distract him.

Someone snuck up behind you, arm tight around your throat as he pressed a blade to the side of your face. He half dragged, half shoved you toward the fight, his cracked lips next to your ear. “Go on, scream for help. Call out to your precious big brother.”

You refused, keeping your lips in a firm line. No matter what he planned to do, you refused to cry out and distract your brother from the fight.

The man scowled before stabbing the knife through your hand, which was clutching the arm around your neck. You cried out before biting hard on your lip to muffle the sound. Tears stung at your eyes. Your effort was in vain when your brother noticed you. He screamed your name, not noticing the thug that approached him from behind. You screamed his name, thrashing against the man that held you, but it was too late.

A knife was thrust into his back, the tip breaking clean through his chest. Before he even hit the ground, the group rushed at him, stomping and abusing his body. A metal bat was brought down and you heard a sickening crack over, and over again.

The man holding you laughed and you slammed your head backward, colliding with his face. His grip loosened, giving you enough room to slip free. You screamed as loud as your lungs would allow, trying to shove the men away from your brother, but they were much too strong for you.

“Stupid bitch,” one of them kneed you in the stomach hard, throwing you to the ground. You coughed up blood, clutching your stomach as the group laughed. Satisfied, the group dispersed, giving both of you a kick as they passed.

You crawled over to your brother, hand clutching around his blood-soaked shirt as your head came to rest on his chest. His body was silent – no heartbeat, no breathing.

He was dead.

The realization hit you like a semi-truck and you screamed in pain until your throat was sore, tears pouring down your red cheeks. Pain mixed anger and sadness, swirling around your body like a hungry beast. Footsteps slowly approached and you threw your body over his as some form of protection – it was all you could do.

“Do you desire revenge?” Came a calm, male voice.

You could only blink as you looked up at the blue-haired man through blurred eyes.

He kneeled in front of you, his voice soft as if he were speaking to a child. “I can make you stronger. Strong enough to take revenge on those that took your brother from you.”

You looked back down at your brother’s body, fresh tears stinging your eyes. The man’s words rattled in your brain and you furiously wiped away the tears, turning back to look at him. “I’ll do anything,”

He held out his palm, running his index finger across the skin which then split open, blood dotting from the wound. “Place your injured hand against my own,”

You glanced down at the hand, covered in blood from the stab wound you had been given. Slowly, you raised your hand, fingers brushing his as your palms met. The blood mixed and mingled as a black aura surrounded his body, slowly crawling around his arm like a snake. It continued until it was tightly wrapped around yours, as well, and you felt intense pain within, as if your insides had been set on fire.

Your hand tensed, pushing hard against his own as your head fell back, eyes widening up at the dark sky. The dark aura continued to spread until it cradled your entire body, squeezing you tightly.

His voice was soft and muffled from the blood pumping through your ears. “Our blood is now bound and my power is yours,”

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: . ☁

It took an entire month before you were able to get used to Naga’s power enough to wield it as your own. In that time, you had kept close tabs on Yusuke Haraba, the man that had stabbed your brother. He was still with the gang and they spent most of their time hanging out in an abandoned building on the outskirts of town.

“Are you ready, Naga?” you questioned, sparing him a glance. He nodded and the two of you approached the building. Your foot connected with the metal door, kicking it from its hinges. The lower-ranking thugs rushed at you with various weapons and you fought your way to the basement. With Naga’s power within you, they couldn’t hold a candle to you.

You screamed angrily, throwing one of them down the basement stairs. The group inside was alerted, grabbing weapons and rushing to battle. The black aura covered both of your fists, increasing your base power, and they didn’t stand a chance. When everyone else was down for the count, you turned your attention to Yusuke, who was cowering behind a chair while his brothers and sisters fought.

“Haraba!” You barked, fists shaking as the aura spread to the rest of your body, reacting to the anger and hatred within you.

“P-Please!” He begged, tears streaming down his face. “Don’t kill me!”

You grabbed the front of his shirt, cocking back your fist. “This is for my brother!” You put all of your power into the punch, slamming his body into the ground and forming a crater within the concrete. He cried out, spittle and blood leaving his lips as his body twitched before finally stilling as the light left his eyes.

You fell to your knees, body shaking as tears rolled down your cheeks. It felt as if a weight had been lifted off your shoulders and you wondered if your brother was in peace in whatever afterlife there was.

Naga kneeled beside you, awkwardly patting your shoulder. You didn’t hesitate to throw yourself against his chest, clutching the jacket he wore. Even though it had been only a month, the two of you had gotten quite attached to one another, but he knew that En would soon be sent to destroy the human world, leaving him feeling conflicted.

His arms gently wrapped around your shaking form, holding you protectively to his chest as he rested his chin atop your head. “If this world should ever come to an end, I won’t allow you to burn with it, Y/N.”

At the time, you barely even recognized the words he had spoken to you. Maybe if you had taken them to heart, you could have been strong enough by the time the war began.

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: . ☁

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[dimensionwriter]

Wrapped Around Your Finger: Valentine Edition

M! Naga x Genderless Reader

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Every year, it's exactly the same thing. Friendly smiles as people say the same thing and the day just seems to move even slower.

The day consisted of watching as people walk around with gifts as they walked next to their signifcant other. But you, well you just stood by in the loner corners staring at them with envy and jealousness. You didn't hate them. You just hated how it was rubbed in your face how single you were.

Which was your primary reason for trying to break down your neighbor door.

"Jesus, what's with you trying to break apart my house? I just got the window fix," Corel whined almost slamming the door open. He seem to have just woken up from nap considering his attire.

His black curls were splayed across his head covering up his dark green eyes. A dark purple streak went around a single curl of hair, something the two of you did because you were bored. His torso was covered by a black muscle shirt that seem a little tight. For pants, he just had on a simple pair of black basketball shorts with a purple trim.

"I dont want to be alone, so we are going to spend the rest of the day together," you demanded walking past him into his house. You were instantly hit with a wall of a sweet smell.

"Hold up," he said running in front of you. Your entire view of the house was blocked off by him. "Umm, how we hang at your house for now then we can come back later?"

He put his arm against the wall behind you causing you to back up towards the exit a little. His hair had moved showing that his eyes weren't green but were the yellow snake eyes.

"Why would we do that? We are literally in your house now," you said emphasizing your point with your hands pointing to space the two of you were occupying.

"Well-um. My house is a complete mess," he said with his eyes shining with relief. He does realize that he's an open book to read and sucks at lying.

"It looks fine to me," you said leaning over to see under his arm. His living room looks almost spotless, like he had cleaned it. The only thing that looked out of place was one pillow laying down on the couch. Probably where he fell asleep.

"Nope. It's disgusting," he yelled blocking your view with his body. "I've been shedding and there is skin on almost all surfaces. You just can't see it with your human eyes."

Your eyes narrowed at the last statement. "Don't snakes have horrible eye sight," you asked remebering doing some research over snakes when you found out about him.

His cheeks slowly turn red as he looked away from you. "Shut up. I have pretty good eyesight. I just have some trouble seeing certain things," he grumbled with his cheeks puffing out. You stuck you finger out a poked his soft cheeks.

"Shut up about your blindess and tell me the real reason why you don't want me in your house?" you asked crossing your arm. He usually just let's you in and just hang out with you.

"No reason. I was... just joking. How about you come in so we can watch a movie and you can tell me why you are upset?" He said quickly moving behind you. His large cold hands gripped onto your shoulders as he led you to his couch.

He gently pushed you onto the couch with this uneasy smile on his face. Why is he acting so weird?

"Corel you have a bunch of beautiful smiles, but that one is not one of them," you said giving him an quirked eyebrow. Corel cheeks started to darken again as he avoided your eyes.

"Sorry. But can you please stay here and don't move. I will be right back," he said holding his hand out as if you were some sort of dog. He's only making you more curious, but guess you play along.

You shooed him off with you hand as you snuggled down into his couch. His couch is the most comfortable thing you have ever felt. No wonder you always fall asleep on it.

"I'll be back quick," he rushed out walking backwards before turning around and sprinting towards the kitchen door. He burst through it causing it to swing wide open. You tilted your head back to get a peak of anything that he could be hiding, but he stopped the door from swining in all the way with his feet.

Corel has been a little odd since you find out about him being half snake. But it has never been this bad. At first he avoided talking about anything reptile. After a while he grew okay with it, but struggled to be his true self around him. It took a couple of tickle fights and compliments fest for him to be okay. Some days he has high confidence and other it's a pain for him to even see a scale.

"I brought some pop corn," he yelled behind you. You looked behind to see he was sliding across the floor. His black iridescent scales seem to mix in with the darkness of his house.

"I see you changed," you joked pointing at the tail. He let out an akward laugh as he sat down beside you. His tail slowly slides up the couch and started to curl into a pile. From the new angle, you could see the dark purple underneath peaking out.

"It seem like you like my tail more than me. So , be happy," he said letting the tail unwind and slide over towards you. The tail slowly laid across your lap letting you feel the cool sensation through your clothes.

"Well, who can not want to look at this beautiful thing," you said picking the tail up and shoving it in his face. A smile covered his face as you could hear laughter rumbling in the back of his throat.

"I know I'm beautiful, but please do contain yourself," he said using the tip of his tail to tap your chin. You eyes narrowed at that stupid smirk on his face.

You open the palms of you hands causing the tail to fall from your grips and slam into you thighs. Corel's body jumped as his pupils turned to slits.

"Hey careful. You're working with delicate material," he hissed playfully at you. You suppressed your laughter as you tried to keep up the act.

"It feels cheap to me," you bit back. He let out a dramstic gasp as he looked at you with the most offended glare. The laughter escaped you at your best friend face.

Corel let out a deep laughter, finally breaking with you. He lifted up his arm and threw it over your shoulder. He leaned you towards him until you were laying on his chest.

Valentines may not have ended with you in the arms of a lover. But being able to joke and have fun with your best friend is good enough.

Tired, confused, and slightly hungry, you woke up to hear a bunch of footsteps and whispering around you. You open your eyes to see you were laying down on Corel's couch, but the whispering you were hearing didn't belong to Corel's.

You looked down to see that the door was wide open. You could see the outline of Corel leaning over with his human legs back. There seem to be a man on the other side that was doing the whispering.

You stayed still as you strain you eyes to see what's happening. The man moved away what looked to be a clipboard and Corel nodded. The newcomer reached behind him and handed something to Corel. He gave Corel a friendly wave before walking away.

Corel spun around to reveal that he was holding a boquet of red roses. They were wrapped in a black and purple ribbon with clear plastic covering the ends of the roses.

Who were those for? Did Corel already have plans for tonight? Maybe that why he was trying to get you out of the house? You really just force Corel to deal with your lonliness instead of being with his significant other. How bad of a friend are you?

Corel's eyes drifted over to you. His pupils turned in slits as his eyes widen. With lighting speed, Corel hid the bouquet behind his back.

"You're awake," he squeaked out before coughing. He used his left arm to cover his mouth as his eyes drifted anywhere, but you.

"You could have told me you had some plans," you grumbled feeling like crap. You sat up and a blanket slowly slid off you. He put a blanket over you while you slept. Here he is being the best friend and you've been nuisance for him. "I'll leave."

"Wait, no," he yelled running front if you. You jumped at how fast he moved. He really moves like a snake, even when in human form. "I don't have plans for tonight."

You eyebrows dropped as you obviously moved your eyes to boquet of roses peaking out behind him. Why would he buy a thing of roses for? Maybe his mom?

"Well, I mean. I do have plans with someone, but they're already here," he mumbled giving you a shy smile. He brought the roses forward and held them out to you.

Fresh water, soft perfume, and earthy scent all hit you at once. You looked down to see the most perfect boquet of red roses ever seen. But in the center was a single black rose with slight purple ends.

"I-I-what?" You squeak feeling heat travel up your face. You looked up to see Corel and his dilated pupils staring down at you with the biggest smile ever.

"They're for you. I was gonna surprise you with this stuff later today, but you came over earlier than I expected. And then you feel asleep, so I tried to be sneaky, but I failed at that," he rambled using his free hand to nervously scratch the back of his neck.

"You got me roses," you mumbled starring at them. He pushes them more towards and you took the silent hint. You reached forward and grabbed them slowly, scared that if you moved too much, you make wake up from this paradise. "Why?"

"Well, because you stayed with me even after learning I'm not completely human and didn't call Area-51 to take me off," you laughed at the joke as you hugged the flowers," and you're my bestest friend in the world. I wasn't gonna let you feel lonely on the day of love, when you deserve all the love the world can offer."

You bit your lip to stop yourself from crying. When was the last time someone was this considerate of you. When was the last time someone put this much effort for you.

"Corel, I don't know what to say," you croaked out trying your hardest to keep down that tear. You were not going to be that person that cries over a bouquet of flowers. Even if they are very thoughtful and the best thing in the world.

"Wait, I'm not done. Follow me," he said with his smile widening. He reached down for your arn and gently pulled you up. He turned around and kept his grip on you, but it slide down to your hand.

He started moving towards the kitchen with you trailing behind him with your hand wrapped in his. He stopped in front of the door and spun around. He seem to be so giddly to show you what's behind thr door.

"Before you enter, I just want you to know that baking videos are a lord savior to me," he joked giving you a swift wink. Before you could question what that statement meant or why your heart skipped a beat at the wink, he pushed open the door.

The entire kitchen was decorated with red hearts and candles burning in the corner, prooducing a soft mood. But on every surface was your favorite sweets along with some of your favorite food.

You didn't even try to stop the tears that fell from your eyes as you looked back at Corel. His gazed soften as he looked at your tear stained face. His pupils expanded to the point where you couldn't see any of the yellow, but that didn't matter. Because standing infront of you was the best person in the world, not matter what species in the world.

"I love you so much," you choked out as a smile made it's way to your face. A pink hue spreaded rapidly over Corel's cheeks as he stared at you.

"Love you too," he said opening his arms. You didn't even think twice before running into his arms. Your face slammed into his firm chest as your arms wraoped around his torso.

You tried to think of the roses in you hand, but you felt so many emotions that you were trying to express with this one hug. But it won't do.

He wrapped his arns on your waist an pulled you closer to him. You could smell that cologne that you always loved on him along with his natural smell. It smelled right, it smelled like home.

"Happy Valentine, love," he whispered placing a kiss on your forehead. You closed your eyes as his cool lips pressed against your warm face.

And a Happy Valentine it should be.

Part 3

-*-*-*-*--*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

I apologize if this is crap. I've written this while tired. I felled asleep twice just copying pasting onto his. I hope I didn't mess up anything. Anyway, Happy Valentines.

[platonicone]

Devotion - Story of the Oracle and her Shield

Chapter 22 - Chains that binds us

Why is the price for doing the right things always pain? I wonder…

The Naga attacked, but the shield held it off. Instead of attacking again, the Naga started circling them patiently waiting for an opening.

Luna was quickly running out of energy and her barrier would disappear any second now. She knew the end was nigh.

A swooshing sound cut through the air and a spear impaled the Naga.

“Sorry, I am late,” said a familiar voice. Luna finally smiled upon hearing that voice.

“Aranea!” Luna had never been happier to see her.

Aranea leaped high and unleashed another powerful attack on Naga. Not wanting to fight two on one again, the Naga slither away.

“Are you okay, Luna?” Aranea asked, walking towards her.

“Thanks to you, now I am,” she replied happily. “How did you even find me here?”

“I had some help for Gentiana,” Aranea admitted while using an elixir on Luna. “My, my, who do we have here?” she wondered, looking at a man being cradled by Luna.

“He is Leon,” Luna said. Aranea just arched an eyebrow wanting to know more. “It’s a long story. Let’s just say he is a friend.”

“Just a friend? I wouldn’t say that by the way you are holding him,” she remarked with a wink.

“I think we should get out of here first and talk later?” Luna proposed.

“Are we taking him with us as well?”

“We can’t just leave him here. That would be cruel, don’t you think?”

Aranea saw Biggs and Wedge entered the scene from the corner of her eye. “What’s wrong with him? Why is he asleep in the middle of a battlefield?” Aranea inquired.

“I don’t know. I woke up and found him unconscious,” Luna replied.

Aranea kneeled down to check his pulse. “His pulse is weak.”

“Lady A and Lady Lunafreya, are you okay?” asked Biggs, closing in.

“Yes, but we have a guest who is not okay. We need to carry him out of here,” Aranea summed up the situation.

“Leave it to us, Lady A,” assured Biggs.

The whole entourage made their way towards the exit. Aranea clearing the path as the rest followed behind.

They were greeted at the entrance by Gentiana. “It is good to see the lady survive the trial of Ramuh.”

“Thank you, Gentiana, for bringing Aranea here on time. Without her aid, I wouldn’t be here.”

“She was already looking for you, I just pointed her in the right direction,” Gentiana replied with her eyes closed. “What happened to the visitor? Is he okay?”

"No, he is not okay. I don’t know what’s wrong with him,” she said with sadness evident on her face.

“He is not okay now, but he will be,” Aranea said reassuringly. “We need to go now.”

“Where are we to go?” asked Luna.

“Your brother dear was worried sick about you so he had sent me to find you and bring you back to Tenebrae. Based on a recent shift in weather we knew that Astral must be involved, and that meant you must be involved as well. We knew you were in this area in general, so we had the patrol set up. But it was Gentiana who showed us your actual location,” recapped Aranea.

“Hold on, why are we going back to Tenebrae? I need to go to Altissia to awaken the Hydrean.” Luna protested.

“Lady Lunafreya, your mortal body will not survive another covenant in this state. You need to recover your strength before you take on another Astral,” Gentiana said, even before Aranea could get a word in.

“Besides, I am under a strict order from your brother dear to bring you back to Tenebrae. Like it or not, that is what I intend to do,” Aranea said with her military tone.

“No, I need to go to Altissia. I don’t care what happens to me. It is my duty to awaken the Hydrean,” she refused stubbornly.

“The Empire knows that you are on the move. They have ordered the army to swipe through the entire Lucis to find you. It is not safe for you here anymore. Moreover, they know that you will go to Altissia to awaken the Hydrean so they have shut down all maritime and air travel to Altissia. Tenebrae is the last place they would expect you to be. You must return there at least until we find an alternative route to get you to Altissia.”

“But--” she said hesitantly before being cut off by Aranea, “Also, your friend needs a doctor’s attention so Tenebrae is your only choice at this point.”

“Fine,” she surrendered. “So, what’s the plan?”

“Biggs and Wedge will escort us to the train station. We’ll take a transcontinental railway, Magna Fortia, to Tenebrae.”

After looking at Leon, Luna inquired, “Can’t we just take the airship? It would be much quicker that way.”

“Unfortunately, that is not an option. All the ships were deployed to Lucis. If one ship suddenly makes the trip to Tenebrae then it would raise suspicion,” Aranea reasoned.

“Oh, I see,” she said with a hint of disappointment. “My life is in your hands, lead the way.”

The entire area was shrouded with dark clouds and torrential rainfall drenched every inch of dry land. Ramuh had truly awakened.

Aranea, Gentiana, Luna, Leon, Biggs, and Wedge embarked on a journey towards Magna Fortia. Being under the protection of Aranea, Luna did not have to fear the Empire. After about half a day’s travel, using various modes of transportation, they finally arrived at the train station around midnight.

Biggs and Wedge hauled Leon to one of the passenger compartments. Luna decided to stay in the same compartment.

Aranea, after taking care of some important business, boarded the train at the last minute. Biggs and Wedge went back to man the airship and would continue to follow the assigned route.

At midnight, the train left the station. “Get rest, we can talk about everything tomorrow. There is a lot of catching up to do,” Aranea stated, standing by the door. “My cabin is next to yours. Don’t hesitate to wake me up if you need anything.”

“Thank you, Aranea. I really appreciate everything you have done for me.”

“Mention not. Rest well princess,” she said with a wave and made her way to her own cabin. Luna stood up and gently closed the door. She came back and looked at Leon, peacefully sleeping. Just looking at his scars and bruises filled her eyes with tears. She was too drained physically and mentally to process anything at this point, so she forcefully averted her eyes from him. She sat on her berth with her back flushed against the cabin wall. She retracted her legs closer and wrapped her hands around them and rested her head on it. She looked like a small child badly in need of a hug.

As the train ran along the tracks, the rhythmic sound it made was oddly soothing to her. A lot had happened today. She was happy that she forged a covenant with another Astral and was now one step closer to fulfilling her duty. However, she was hurt by the fact that she almost traded Leon’s life for it. It was an emotional roller coaster for her. Subtle metronomic movement of the train combined with rhythmic sound soon puts her to sleep. The lights in her cabin were still left on.

She slept like a baby for a couple of hours. The vision of Ramuh attacking Leon mercilessly started haunting her dream world. Her refusal to fight, the stab of betrayal in Leon’s eyes, him getting rid of his rubber hazmat suit to accept his fate, Leon’s limp body bouncing off the wall, the blood on his face, his scream of anguish, it all hunted her. Ramuh hurled the lightning and Luna screamed and looked away, it was that moment when she woke up with a scream. Her breath was shallow, heartbeat through the roof, and she was perfusing heavily. It took her brain some time to realize the difference between dream and reality.

She looked at the clock and it was a few minutes past 2 am. She got up to turn off the light and returned to her berth. She tried to go back to sleep, but it would not come so easily this time. After tossing and turning for almost half an hour, she decided to take a little stroll in the train, thinking that some fresh aid would help her calm down.

She quietly opened the door and stepped out of her cabin. Much to her surprise, she saw a familiar face leaning against the railing, looking out of the windows at the tiny lights from a distant town.

“The Lady cannot sleep?” Gentiana asked, without looking at her.

Luna joined her by the railing and looked out of the window. Even though it was dark, you could see the general terrain passing by. “Yes, sleep is rather elusive tonight.”

“The Lady has been through a lot. Her mortal body would require rest to recover,” she pointed out in a soothing voice.

“Yes, I am aware of that, but the body does not heal well with a weary mind and a broken heart.”

“Perhaps your familiar could be of any assistance?” she asked, finally opening her eyes and looking at Luna.

“Gentiana, I don’t think I can do this anymore.”

“What might the lady mean?”

“I had no problem sacrificing myself for the sake of my duty, but now I have started to sacrifice others for it too. This is a burden I cannot bear.”

“And yet, you did.”

“And I feel like a monster for doing it. Every time Ramuh struck Leon, I had wished it was me. Every time I heard Leon’s scream, I prayed that I would feel his pain. But no matter how much I wished or prayed; the reality was that it was I who had put him in that situation to begin with. It’s not fair that he has to suffer so that I can fulfill my duty,” she said as tears streamed down from her face.

“The Gods work in mysterious ways. Humans don’t live long enough to face consequences for all their actions. Hence, their karma carries over to their next life. What might seem like senseless suffering of an innocent often has an untold and a justifiable history behind it. The visitor’s suffering was part of his redemption. While it may seem like it was caused by your own volition, rest assure that you were merely a catalyst in the process. Ironically, it is because of you that he passed his trial. In your absence, he would have succumbed to the darkness as he did last time.”

“While your words may ease my mind, my heart will forever be scared.”

“Human emotion is something I’ll never fully comprehend,” Gentiana confessed.

After a few quiet moments, Luna spoke again, “Gentiana, what do the Gods have against Leon? When we fought against the Titan he said, ‘The Fallen has risen? How? He was erased. Matters not, for he shall fall again.’ I thought it was strange that Titan said that, but now his words carry a meaning that I do not understand. Even Ramuh spoke at length on how Leon had defied the Gods last time. What exactly happened last time?”

“The Lady need not concern herself with the trivialities of the past,” she shot down her curiosity with the coldness of Shiva. The way she said it would send chills down the spine of an ordinary human.

“It is too much of a coincidence that his journey to redemption is the same as my journey towards my destiny. I can’t help but wonder if I was part of this ‘last time,’” Luna persisted, ignoring her cold response last time.

“The lady is very perceptive,” she replied with her eyes closed. Gentiana stood straight, opened her eyes and looked straight at Luna, “We refer to ‘last time’ as Omen. Omen was a failed timeline where the prophecy failed and the world was plunged into the darkness. He failed us all and for that he must repent. I am not at a liberty to speak beyond this.”

“What was my relationship with him?” she asked with boldness unseen in her eyes every before.

“I cannot answer that. You must look inside to seek the truth,” she said, placing a finger at Luna’s heart. “But I can tell you this. Your tale is as old as time itself. Your fates have been intertwined for eons. How will your story end this time? I too am curious to find out.”

Gentiana turned around and swiftly started walking in the opposite direction.

“Gentian!” Luna called from behind.

“Yes, my lady?” she paused in her steps.

“Thank you,” Luna said with a bow.

“Anything to put my lady’s heart at ease,” she said with her usual eyes closed. “My lady, your burdens are many and your sacrifices are numerous. But if anyone can deliver our Star from impending darkness to the eternal light, it is you. Never forget that.”

Luna nodded in acknowledgement.

“What happens to Leon?”

“I had warned you at Taelpar Rest Area that a great tragedy awaits you. How you come out of it, is up to you.” Before Luna could ask anything else, Gentiana disappearing into the thin air, leaving behind small particles of ice lingering in the place where she stood.

Author's notes:

Please leave a comment if you have enjoyed the story so far. Would love to chat with some of my readers. Or at least say 'Hi' so I know someone is readying this. Thanks :)

[wafflesrock16]

82 for Fathomless Depths and 88 for the Naga AU? :)

82. “If you don’t start getting undressed I may just rip your shirt in half.”

No matter how many times he used the Selkie Serum, sprouted legs, digi-grade feet, and clambered ashore, Garrus still felt as though he were entering a new, forbidden world. 

The sights and smells of the Citadel were a feast for the senses and he an unrepentant gluten. Everything was exotic and wonderful on land, but nothing more so than his ravishing mate. 

This evening, the Alliance had thrown a naval gala for its officers in an area known as the Presidium. He’d expected Jane to wear her standard dress uniform and had nearly forgotten how to stand all over again when she’d appeared on the beach at the merian visitor gate clad in a stunning gold dress.

Back-lit by the melon orange glow of sunset, the sensuous fabric of her gown clung to her curves and muscles as greedily as a lover; as himself when in the throes of passion. She was radiant, effervescent, his.     

He’d unapologetically had a hand on her the entire evening; lightly gripping her elbow, wrapped around her lithe waist, or, when no one was looking, sliding down her lower back to cup her toned rear. 

Rather than shirk off his advances, Jane had teased him, purposely adding a sway to her hips when she walked, ‘accidentally’ brushing a foot along his inner thigh under the table. 

By the time they’d returned to the sea, Garrus was already out of his plates. His passions only intensified once he had his fins and tail. 

He pulled Jane into a heated kiss, urgency and lust in every stroke of his tongue and subvocal moan. 

“Somebody’s eager,” Jane smirked against his mouth, hands moving to squeeze his sensitive waist. 

“If you don’t start getting undressed,” Garrus muttered, eyes still closed as he licked a heated trail along the column of her neck, “I may just rip your dress in half.”

“This was an expensive dress,” Jane hummed, even as her nimble fingers flew to unseen clasps, the fabric quickly pooling to the shore. “You wouldn’t dare.”

Garrus growled at the sight of her naked body, glowing hot and wanton in the pale moonlight. As they came together in the surf, igniting the wildfire in his belly into an inferno of desire, he privately admitted that he’d never destroy her dress. Besides, next time he came ashore, he planned to be the one to take it off her.      

88. “You know you don’t have to try so hard with me, right?”

Jane wasn’t entirely sure when it had started – actually, she was. He’d begun going out of his way to ‘help’ her almost as soon as they’d woken up; untangling themselves and washing the remnants of last night from their skin and scales.

He’d rushed to finish cleaning himself so that he could immediately gather figs and begin cooking them for her breakfast. While the fruits were cooling he then insisted on helping her get dressed, carefully running his talons through her hair to comb out the knots. 

She’d initially chalked  his behavior up to some sort of cultural thing – wanting to dote on her after their first night of intimacy – but hours later the bowing to her, constant checking in to see if she wanted anything, and incessant offering of his canteen, vest, and even his bracelet at one point got to be too much. 

“You know you don’t have to try so hard with me, right?” Jane told him as they rested in the shadow of a looming sand dune. “I mean, I’m not going anywhere.” She chuckled, glancing around them. If not for the prince and his knowledge of hidden wells and oasis’, she’d have died from dehydration weeks ago. 

Garrus made a soft whining sound in his chest. ‘It’s not that I think you’d run off,” he said, mandibles flapping gently against his face in an expression Jane had come to associate with embarrassment. “It’s just… In Cipritine, I have everything to offer you – silks, food, entertainment – but out here…” He trailed off. “I love you,” he all but whispered. “I guess I was just trying to show you that since there’s nothing tangible I can currently give.”

Jane sucked in a breath, eyes feeling suddenly moist. “Garrus,” she said standing so that she could run her hands along his beautiful face. “I love you too. You’ve already shown me how much you care. I don’t need anything else from you. I just want… you.”

He wrapped his coils around her, a musical purr vibrating through his body as they embraced. “You have me,” he breathed against her lips. “But, I’m still going to spoil you when we reach Cipritine.”

Jane smiled as she pressed against him. A little pampering might be nice, she decided. Just a little. 

[ggungabyfish]

Snow Day

@melonbiscuit asked for Korrasami snow shenanigans. And I deliver!

I take a deep breath as we draw closer to the harbor of the South Pole. I've got a few days off and I've been meaning to come home.

There's the sound of someone shivering. Asami comes up beside me, dressed in what might be the warmest jacket she has.

"Cold?" I ask, trying not to chuckle.

She shoots me a glare at that. "Yes. Yes, I am and I'm not enjoying your pleasure at my discomfort."

"Aw, I'm sorry, babe." I put my arm around her and pull her close. "But don't worry, I promise this will be worth it."

She finally smiles, leaning her head on my shoulder. "Worth freezing my butt off?"

"Mmm, yeah, though I'd hate to see that luscious behind of yours suffer." I reach down and pinch a little.

"Hey!" She squeaks, pinching me in the side.

"Ow! Okay, I'm sorry." I press a kiss to her forehead. "But I think you'll like the first activity we do."

----

After we get ourselves settled and say hello to my parents, we're now walking down towards Sokka Park.

Asami has warmed up a little more now, and I can't help but watch as she exclaims at the architecture of the city. Man, my girlfriend is such a nerd.

We come up to the park where the statue of Chief Sokka shines in the morning light. Already I can hear what I'm looking for.

The playground looks about the same as it was when I was younger. There are kids everywhere swinging on the swings or throwing snowballs or building with snow.

Asami looks at me, raising an eyebrow. "Why are we here?"

"You'll see." Then I put fingers to my lips and whistle.

All the kids stop what they're doing and look up at the sound. Then a little boy with a gap tooth leaps up, points and yells "It's Korra!"

The next minute I'm almost pulled down by a multitude of children, all of them cheering and yelling.

"Hey, hey, one at a time!" I say laughing; finally they all calm down long enough for me to speak.

"Hi, guys. It's been a while; have you all been behaving?"

"Yes!"

"We have!"

"Teacher told us to!"

I grin. "That's excellent!"

"Are you gonna play with us today?" Asks one girl--Zavi, if I remember.

I get down on one knee. "I will, but on one condition."

I turn and point to Asami who's been watching the whole thing. "You see the lady over there? Her name is Asami."

"She's really pretty!" Tako, Zavi's brother pipes up.

I smile. "Yes she is. Can she play with us?" I lower my voice conspiratorially "She's really good at building stuff!"

There's a unanimous vote of yes, and Zavi runs up and grabs Asami's hand. "Are you good at watchtowers?"

She laughs prettily. "Well, I've only designed them but I'll do my best!"

"Yay!" They all cheer.

For about an hour, we build a snow fort that I think anyone would be proud of. Asami throws herself into the project: sketching out a small plan in the snow and directing kids. At one point she's got a boy on her shoulders as he pats snow into a wall of a watch tower.

Finally we finish, stepping back to admire our work.

"Best snow fort ever!" Tako exclaims, smiling.

I nod. "Yep. I gotta say this is really cool."

There are groans at my horrible joke. "Man, you guys are a tough crowd," I say shaking my head.

Asami chuckles. "That was pretty bad, though."

"Yeah!" Several children chorus.

I pretend to take offense, hands on my hips. "Whose side are you all on?"

Then the teacher comes up. "All right, children. Back to school."

"Awww!" They all groan but they line up dutifully. The teacher turns to Asami and I. "Thank you for keeping them occupied; they've been asking when you were coming back, Korra."

I beam. "My pleasure. I missed them."

She smiles and turns back to her kids. "What do you all say to Miss Korra?"

"Thank you!" They all say.

"And thank you, Miss Sami!" Tako says.

My girlfriend smiles. "You're welcome!"

----

An hour later, we're both drinking hot tea at a small shop near the park.

Asami blows on her tea, takes a sip and asks me "So how in the world did you make friends with that entire class?"

I sip from my cup. "Well when I was healing up, one day Katara wheeled me to the park; they were there for their recess. I guess I was looking really sad because some of them came over and asked me if I wanted to play with them. I had Katara and Mom wheel me here every day; then when I could walk I came here to do exercises and they would cheer me on." I smile and say "I told them that when I came back I'd play with them."

She grins. "And bring your girlfriend, too."

"Hey, you had just as much fun, admit it."

"I did." She puts her hand on mine. "Thank you, sweetheart."

"Oh we're not done yet."

"We aren't?"

"Nope. Ever hear of penguin sledding?"

----

"This is insaaaaaane!"

I whoop with joy as our penguins go around a sharp curve. "Whoo-hoo!"

Asami yelps right behind me, laughing and shouting at the same time. "You didn't mention it would--whoa!--be this fast!"

"Faster than a racecar!"

We take a jump and land. At one moment, I turn to look back at her.

Her hair is flying back behind her and she's beaming like the sun.

'Wow...'

I'm so engrossed in this vision that I don't see the little bump.

The penguin hits with a squawk and I go flying; I quickly bend a landing pad of snow.

But I'm still winded as I land on my back.

Ow.

Okay, that's gonna hurt later.

There's a sound, and Asami's face comes into my vision. "Korra! Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I think so. Sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

"What?"

I can't help but smile, reach up and brush hair from her face. "You looked so beautiful."

She furrows her brow, and then laughs. "So I distracted you?"

"Yeah, but I wouldn't mind if you distracted me more."

She bends down and kisses me, her lips surprisingly warm despite the cold.

I consider myself incredibly lucky that I get to kiss this gorgeous woman every day.

She pulls away, her breath puffing in little clouds. "Anything broken?"

"Nope."

"Think we can walk back?"

"Yeah."

----

After a long trek back to the palace, Asami and I sit in front of a roaring fire, Naga snoozing right behind us. We're wrapped in blankets with steaming cups of tea nearby.

I take the marshmallow off of the toasting stick and pass it to her. "Here you go."

"Thanks." She places it onto the cookie and takes a bite. "Mmm, this is good."

I make one for myself and finish it in one bite. "*gulp* Glad you think so."

She leans against me, weaving her fingers into mine. "Thank you for bringing me here, Korra."

I stroke her hair. "Thank you for coming with me. It would have been boring if you weren't here."

She giggles. "Well, just as long we end it with this, I don't mind."

"Good."

"Korra?"

"Mmm?"

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

We doze off in front of the fire. I can't think of a better way to fall asleep.

[sunnyvaiprion]

Hi! I have a question (two actually) So how do you use Mr Dark Prince in battle? And is there a 4th mysterious member along your Julius/Reinhardt/Child!Azura team? (I love these interactions of them you draw btw~)

Oh, thanks!! 

About the team: yes! Since it’s a primarily AR team, there are two more! One of them is basically defaulted to Eir, but more often than not she stays as far away as she possibly can from any action (she has a nice heal though. Also she can throw Julius into enemies if he cant walk there fast himself). And second is a wildcard that varies from team to team (it was supposed to be a bonus unit, but it seems like Eir will stay for quite a long time), but my “main” now uses Bride Ninian for… no apparent reson besides being a dancer and me liking her. I will most likely change her for someone else/heavily alter her build because it’s actually pretty wacky with this team, but for now she stays (because she can fulfill her main purpose which is assisting trap removal in tight spaces). 

And now, About Julius: Ranged units can be a major pain. Sometimes (more like nearly always) you cant initiate on one and run without the rest of them scattering like dust particles if you blow on them all across the map with their dancers (especially now with Lazura), and to bait them you need someone who can take entire triangle and probably physical damage too, all at once. Use a dragon? Yes… a dragon.

Due to it being a somewhat lenghty text, I am putting it under the cut. 

If someone else thought about using him but was afraid that he isnt “a good unit” or “not favoured by meta” - I’d recommend you read into this too!

I have my Julius with Loptous, Reposition, Iceberg, Distant Defence, Guard, Attack Ploy, and another Distant Defence. which is - a wall. I place him in a space where he can be targeted by units I want (nearly any ranged, tbh. IF there’s a melee frontiline unit - Reinhardt has a message for them.) so he can kill them or hold them in place, and make sure my team can give him maximum amount of drives without putting anyone in danger. (oftenmost it’s just Azura and that’s it but still). 

Pros:

It’s VERY hard to kill him during EP. Even blue mages and bows/daggers with high attack struggle to deal non-zero damage to him, especially pre-dance. TA blue mage dancers included, as they usually dont break 50 attack mark by much.

No specials. Unless a special is pre-charged on turn 1 (or 2CD with Heavy/Flashing blade after dance), no luck trying to damage him with one either while guard is up and have fun offing it. Glimmer still deals a 0. Moonbow most likely a single digit.

He has high attack but without QR he will unlikely kill a unit coming at him on their first initiation (unless its low res green OR Reinhardt)…. which will waste a dancer’s turn to dance them instead of dancing some out-of-range thing you DONT want to attack, like a melee fast sword in that far-off corner.

On second initiation (if danced, alternatively someone else if the first unit died or didnt get a dance) that unit is guaranteed dead, though, because Iceberg hits like a truck especially with his already nice attack and STUPIDLY HIGH RES especially on EP. If they somehow survive this (Aversa with res wave on comes to mind) - its not a crazy PP unit so their damage is definitely a hard 0, so no biggie. Also works with a fast dazzle staff or if first enemy fails to double, since CD is 3.

With his res he can atk ploy virtually any unit of his choice, making the most dangerous unit to him (usually a physical or Ophelia) less dangerous at least pre-dance (when they have a chance to land more attacks).

His speed is actually not THAT bad. He usually doesnt mind getting doubled, but still. If you throw some speed buffs on him he can deny even some fast units their doubles. This might come in handy when fighting aforementioned units.

He is a lot easier to actually obtain and merge than similar units (Micaiah, Deirdre, Kliff maybe?) due to not being a 5-star locked or even limited unit. Unless you are a whale, and I dont judge, but for me it’s a big plus right there. Skills I have on him are also all widely available (I got DD off Garon).

Ranged anti-dragon weapons are all green (= normal blue for Julius, multiplier-wise). After Nagas got refines I actually started seeing them on defence maps. Guess what, still 0 damage. Daggers are trickier but a lot rarer and still manageable. They added an inheritable one just now but… why would anyone actually use it on heroes except it’s native user (who is also green) ?? Either way you wont see much of that.

See that Surtr? Julius will take care of him for you, too, with his high attack. In a single hit, if you pre-charge his Iceberg on something else. I know that almost any red mage can do it, but I heared some people still struggle. He can take a DC-hit from him too, if he runs one.

He can tank Ophelia, but be careful. For her he needs res buffs, especially the visible one, because of her initial AoE. Atk ploy her. If she can get an attack buff, It’d be great for you to have panic ploy too (right now there’s a lot of options, including Panic Manor). On a positive note, there should be plenty of mages on the same team as her, probably red and green, which wont really bother him afterwards.  

That’s Julius. We love our possessed lord.

Cons:    

While he takes little to no damage from any ranged source, Poison Strike-esque damage will get him good. Pain+ healers arent particulary dangerous because they cant deal any more damage to him no matter what, but units like firesweep bow double poison lyn are not very nice for him to face head-on (yes, I hate her in particular with burning passion), especially if she gets danced, receive a buff and attacks again, while there are other non-zero damage units in the back. But unlike a melee unit in the front line, it’s not always an option to snipe her (or any other unit like her) prior to Julius getting in range. This is, honestly, your worst nightmare. Be very careful with things like that and calculate damage dealt to make sure he wont die. … even though I think it’s not just his problem. But he doesnt easily solve it.  

He is reliant on team support to fight ranged physicals. Not going to lie about it. Def Tactic (or a wave if you’re into them) and 1-2 drive defs (ideally distant guard) should do, which is by no means too much investment, but it should be done.

His player phase leaves a lot to be desired. But like… what’s new? He’s enemy phase per advertisement. He still can Iceberg someone to the ground should he have it ready, or finish off someone previously mangled in EP, though.

He’s likely to deal more than 50% HP in one hit to PP heroes, especially ones that dump res or run LnD, which will activate wings of mercy, and a WoM melee unit can warp to his face and smack him. BUT usually dancers run WoM, and those have lower-end stats, so he should be okay at the very least. The only lancer dancer in the game is OG Azura, but …when was the last time I’ve seen her…  anyway, be careful with WoM.

He’s going to get Chill Res’d. He will get Chill Res’d every time every day of the week cause you wont find any ally with more res than him to “bait” chill res. It’s not like he will die from it though.

He’s infantry, so unfortunately, no easy fortify/wards for him. But if he was any other movtype - it’d bring it’s own problems, so… maybe it’s for the best. Also distant guard is a thing now.

He wants to stay above 80% hp and it’s very easy until he starts taking 5+ damage per hit. If it’s the case - you need to start paying attention to enemy specials again, especially longer CD ones.

Alternatives: While I am happy with how he does his job for now, I am planning make one adjustment, which is - give him Steady Stance 4. (once I get the fodder Surtr, which is not so soon). It will allow him to use his entire HP pool more effectively, and will give him extra survivability against physical threats, even if by a little bit. Additionally, it will protect him againt melee units too (like a WoM dancer teleporting to him) for safety measures and it will open up B slot! Losing 6 res (and 3 Iceberg damage) is not a big deal compared to all those benifits, ESPECIALLY since staying above 80% would be no longer needed.    

I .. dont really have a plan what to put in B slot then, because I intentionally want to avoid QR for a reason I explained above. But hey, I’ll figure something out when the time comes. However QR is also a viable option if you want him to kill everything in one go.

Iceberg is also, in theory, could be replaced by Glacies, if you want more damage. But I personally decided against it, because Iceberg’s cooldown is easier to manage and it’s damage is already enough in most cases. Also Iceberg is a lot better with QR should you want to use him for insta-kills.

And for the love of Loptyr himself, dont try to build him player phase or give him Fury. There are heroes with a lot better stat spreads for PP (yes, I’ve seen a PP Julius), and Fury is a fastest way to turn off Guard/QR and ruin his excellent ability to take zeros from most things. I tried it while I didnt have DD to fodder, and I didnt get much out of it. 

Now, he fits on virtually any map, but here are some examples of AR maps which he absolutely murdered.

I rely on my dragon! I’m very glad I decided to pick him up, even if he’s not that popular of a unit.