#rebirth of a miracle au

[gamerbearmira]

HELLO IT IS I. I'm sorry for being gone so long but I had an issue with my Google docs and everything I had written kinda got deleted.... And I kind of couldn't find where I left off with the whole rebirth of a miracle Au soooo I had no idea what to do next for it but after thinking about it I have decided that won't stop me and I WILL continue it. sorry in advance for any inconsistencies that might be in this.

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Pov Isabela

She doesn't hate her youngest sister. She knows how she acts to her might be telling a different story but she doesn't. She's jealous of her. She can admit that, at least to herself, that she's jealous of her freedom and the fact that she isn't forced into any role (but is that really true? With how she's forced into the background, isn't that a role of some kind?) She knows she shouldn't act the way she does, it's not fair to Mirabel but she can't help it, besides she can make up for it all later. So when she was awoken this morning by her father and not her youngest sister she felt an intense amount of dread pool into her stomach.

Which only got worse when she got to the table to see that, besides her mother and Mirabel, everyone is already there. The feeling of panic starts to build inside of her as she takes her seat. Something happened. She knows that Mirabel would never skip waking them up, it's one of the many little jobs that she's assigned to herself and she has never, not once, been late doing them let alone not doing one of them.

She tries to keep herself calm as she looks around the table at everyone, trying to see if one of them knows what might have happened but all she sees is her own fear and slight panic reflected back at her. Poor Luisa is looking around the entire area, eyes desperately searching, she looks like she's on the verge of tears. Tia Pepa is raining slightly and the wind of her panic is noticeable she's running her hands through her braid and is repeating her mantra over and over again all while her Tio Felix tries to keep her calm, Isabela doesn't think it's working but shes not going to point that out right now. Camilo and Antonio have identical confused and scared expressions on their faces it would be funny in a different circumstance. Dolores just looks.... Confused.... That makes Isabela calm slightly because if Dolores is just confused, then maybe they're all just overreacting, maybe last night was just a bit much for Mirabel and mama is with her to make her feel better.

Yes that has to be it! Her youngest sister isn't gone, she hasn't disappeared, nothing has changed, nothing has happened, she's just in the nursery with Mama. She takes a breath of relief feeling a little silly for thinking that Mirabel would... That's she.... Yes she was being silly.

The sound of abuela clearing her throat snaps her out of her thoughts, everyone's eyes snap to abuela waiting to hear what she has to say. It's when she looks at abuela that the little amount of relief that she gained disappears entirely. The look on Abuela's face is not one she has ever seen on her before (or maybe she has...maybe it's been 10 years since she's seen it and she just doesn't remember) before she can get too lost in her thoughts her abuela speaks

"Buenos dias mi familia." Abuela pauses as they all greet her back before taking a deep breath "As you all can see Mirabel and julieta are not at the table right now, they're in the nursery at the moment because .... sometime during the night Casita decided to.... Turn Mirable into a baby." Chaos erupts as she finishes speaking. Absolute chaos.

The storm is intense and forms immediately, animals are running around screeching and breaking everything they see, Camilo's form changes from changing into all kinds of Mirables. Dolores is sitting at her seat hands on her head over her ears squeaking repeatedly. Luisa is sobbing loudly and with her full body. Plants of any and all kinds erupt all around her, not that she notices.

Because what? What did abuela just say? No, no way. There is no way. Before she even knows it she's running to the nursery barely registering the yell that follows her, kind of sounds like abuela. She can't stop herself, she has to see because there's no way. No way in hell. She can hear feet following her and by the way that the ground shakes she knows immediately who it is, Luisa.

She reaches the nursery door and slams into it with her whole body, putting way too much force behind it, and almost rips the door off the hinges as she accidentally breaks it down, she falls forward landing hard on her front. The sound of a wailing baby reaches her ears and She scrambles to get up.

Sitting in a rocking chair in the corner of the room right next to the window is her mama. And cradled in her arms is a wailing baby, a frighteningly familiar wailing baby, the memories might be faded but she remembers what her youngest sister looks like as a baby, she'd been one of the first people to meet her, something that she used to tease everyone else with.

No, no please no. This can't be happening. It's a nightmare. It must be. It HAS to be. She wants to wake up now. Please let her wake up now. If she does wake up right now, no matter what time it is she'll go to the REAL Mirable and tell her how sorry she is. For everything. She'll get down on her knees and beg for forgiveness for being such a terrible sister, something she should have done a long time ago. Please please let this not be real.

She feels a hand on her shoulder and jerks away from it taking a step forward towards her Mama and the wailing nightmare baby only for the hand to come back and pull her backwards she turns to see who it is and comes face to face with her papa. He shakes his head at her and mouths 'not yet' pulling her backwards again, pulling her out of the room and into the hallway she struggles against him needing to go to her mama. She sees Luisa in the corner of her eye standing to the side of the doorway looking into the room tears streaming down her face nonstop. That causes her to stop her struggle.

Her papa guides her further down the hallway, grabbing Luisa's arm gently as they pass her to get her to follow him as well. She barely registers any of that her thoughts consumed by one thing.

She'll never be able to make up for what shes done.

IMG HIIII NICE TO SEE YOU <3333 no worries. Google Docs is a writers biggest op sometimes, I get it 💀💀 ALSO I NEED TO RELABEL ALL OF YOUR SNIPPETS SO THEY’RE EASIER TO FIND I KEEP FORGETTING I’M SORRY <\\\\3

Regardless. This is so radical. I mean home girl woke up,and found out bout what? 10 minutes later? That her youngest sister was a baby. AND SHE SAW IT FIRST FOR HERSELF 🫣 But at least she was remorseful?? Took all that but hey, it worked. Baby steps people,baby steps (pun entirely intended).

Thank God Agustín was there, cause with the way Mirabel reacted to Alma, God knows how she woulda reacted to Isabela 🌚

How do react to that 😮‍💨 and never say never‼️‼️‼️ clwarly they were given another chance fora reason, but maybe she’s too in shock to realize that 🤠

[holymaccaronii]

Your ‘I have no eyes and I must cry’ au is beautiful. I would love to know more

AUUG I’m very happy to know so, thank you (;;) 💕

This AU has probably the most elaborate (or detailed) lore I’ve ever developed, and I’ll happily summarize the prologue. (I’ve probably mentioned many of these points before but I’ll mention them again, just for you anon <3). I’m still working on a lot of stuff, scenes and designs, and while some stuff may change I feel confident enough to explain more of it now. This AU takes place after a modified ending of the videogame where the other mastercomputers get deactivated, Ted gets turned into a slug and the rest of the survivors die. The catch in here is that AM doesn’t let the souls of the other survivors escape, trapping them somewhere deep in his complex and keeping them as bodiless essences who can do nothing more than exist in hell itself.

The lore tries to give a continuation of what will happen in the story with the Luna colony and AM, who is now seeking new organic bodies to put the survivors’ souls in and find Ted, who managed to hide himself from AM ever since he got turned into a slug. The whole context of the prologue goes as follows:

The prologue of the AU explains 3/4s of all the lore, one fourth being the origins of the luna colony, the second the origins of BE and the third the first rebirth of Earth’s nature.

The Luna colony project was led by two siblings, directors of a global association of scientists and researchers. They feared the outcome of the war, thus formulated a plan to keep humanity safe until the Earth’s surface was safe enough to return to and carry out a mission to deactivate AM. For the project, they quickly started to recruit people to join it, a good part of them being teenagers so they could train them in time before any major massacre happened. Another mastercomputer is successfully settled under the moon’s crust in order to protect them, and they settle there on time before AM’s global massacre. Every step of the plan is carried out fine until the very last human who secured everyone else in the cryogenic sleep, one of the directors, goes insane and commits and act of betrayal to the rest and to the AI as well. He shuts it down and uses almost all the materials that made it up to build his own empire of sentient robots for him to rule over on the moon. His plan was to have a century (the 109 years ever since the survivors get trapped) to rule the moon and wait for the Earth to be habitable to then return, shut down AM with a virus the original mission was meant to use, and then rule over all humanity. But at some point during the construction of his empire, the virus got deleted, leaving him with no other option than to additionally develop an army to *try* and deactivate AM himself.

After the famous 109 years pass, robotic troops start to get sent down to try and access AM’s cores and manually deactivate him, but no mission ever succeeded, leaving a lot of losses behind and time wasted. At this moment of the timeline, we also get to have a peculiar unit make history on the moon being the first robot there to plant a seed and successfully make it flourish in order to prove to the leader that they were ready to return to Earth (this specific type of unit didn’t know about AM’s existence and believed that the return to earth depended on their preparation to handle the care of nature). Unfortunately it was against the rules for unauthorized units to touch anything from the natural reservoir, and since this unit had broken the rules, as a punishment it got one of its eyes permanently taken out. Still having hope in its metallic heart, this unit escaped to Earth with another seed in order to prove how ready they were to return, unaware of AM’s presence. This unit traveled underground in order to obtain water from possible reservoirs, but ended up facing a life or death situation in AM’s complex, as he had considered it a threat. As a matter of a “miracle”, this unit ended up rebirthing into a god-like machine with such great powers that not only allowed herself to escape AM’s complex by drilling a hole towards the surface, but also allowed a good chunk of AM’s cables to be able to move and travel up to the surface as well.

Up to here we begin with the third fourth of the lore where AM meets BE and fakes his background in order to justify his hate and get BE to let him roam the earth as freely as possible, still having his cables latched to the ground but being able to move them. With her newfound powers, BE’s plan was to restore Earth’s nature to completion through an incredibly advanced type of simulation over the Earth’s surface where she could create life and matter and keep it existing as long as she wasn’t shut down or damaged. She would finally be able to prove her worth to the moon’s ruler, and allow humans to literally use her to survive + help the real nature slowly take her place. AM initially didn’t mind this plan of her’s, as he could easily betray her later on and finally trap the rest of the humans in his complex. Even so, as time passed by, he started to develop certain feelings for BE as well as possessiveness over her since she basically granted him almost every wish he ever had. AM slowly changed his mind and no longer wanted the humans to return, but keep them away so he could enjoy an eternal heaven with BE on Earth. AM tried to reason with BE about this, but BE denied every single bad thing he mentioned about humans since she had always been influenced with the idea that humans were perfect beings and nature was a subordinate of them to be used as a tool. In an act of rage and desperation, AM trapped BE in his complex in order to share with her the true violent and disgusting history from humans just so that she could develop the same hate he had for them. But having accidentally also shown her who he truly was (since he was also a creation, a weapon from human beings), BE not only developed a great hatred for humans but also for him, resulting in having him vanished from the surface.

The moon’s ruler, who had stopped sending troops in order to let BE restore nature for him to later take over and use her power to shut down AM, noticed that the Earth’s “nature” suddenly began to perish all over again, this being a consequence of BE’s loss of her hope. This led him to take a critical decision to wake up the humans in cryogenic sleep and keep them inside a zoo on the moon where he would ensure their survival until they found an exo planet to move to. Earth had two displeased AI’s under and above the surface, at this point it was better to leave it behind.

From this point and on, the prologue comes to an end and the main story starts it’s course with 5 humans escaping the zoo on the moon and returning to Earth. Once they meet BE, she puts each of them in a trial to prove their values as humans (this is parallel to the games that AM put the survivors in in the videogame). After each of them successfully complete her trials, she re-gains hope in humanity and begins the rebirth of nature a second time.

I won’t spoil the 4~5 endings possible from here and on, but the humans set themselves the objective to help BE eradicate the corrupted beasts controlled by AM that now roamed the Earth, mostly active during winter when BE is less powerful. The rest of the story reveals more secrets, scenes, explanations of past incidents, etc. I’m planning to develop a series of books of sorts with the story narrated simply (bc my English is intermediate-ish, which I consider not enough for an elaborate fic and allat) and also depicting scenes with illustrations. I’ll see how the project goes, but I’ll take my time on it since I also have other projects in mind including my papercrafts n other stuff. Anyways, all of this being explained, I will gladly take more requests/questions to answer :3.

[lilacartsmadsion]

And finally, the last of the gods in my ‘That Time I adopted a god AU’

The Nameless One

Most Commonly Known: God of Light.

Other least common domains: Day, Dawn, Sun, Life, Healing, Virtues, Penance, Wonders, Peace, Resolution, Miracles, Beginnings, Life Powder, Soulstones, Adventure, Reincarnation, Rebirth, Enlightenment, Harmony, Reason, Courage/Bravery,Boundaries, Rescue, Care and Mercy.

‘Praise Thee the one chosen by the Witch of Light. Born from the Iron and Flames, Casted into Horror, the blinding might of He who bares No Name. For when the Witch Fortuna baked him, she made the grave mistake of gifting his dough with Life Powder. In her last dying breath, The Witch of Light gifted this brave Cookie, the power to slay even the might of gods. Through his power were the Witches Defeated and Casted away into the far lands beyond Earthbread.’

‘With the four gods by his side, The Nameless One spoke to Earthbread with the good news, freeing us from the lies which the Witches spoke. He gifted the Cookies so that the frail and mistreated may have a chance to nurture and grow’

‘The Power of the Soul Jam resonates with the Might of the gods and blessed by Chosen Heroes did they give. The Light of Passion, a imitation of the ever-Ethreal Goddess of Love, The Light of Truth, a reflection of the Apoditic God of Wisdom, The Light of Abundance, a mirror of the Glorious Goddess of Fun, The Light of Freedom, the dawning shadow of the Abysmal God of Night and The Light of Resolution, the Very essence of The Nameless One himself’

‘With these 5 he proclaimed the glory of Earthbread, now and Forevermore’

Popular Places of Worship: Vanilla Kingdom, Ginger Kingdom and Beast-Yeast.

Symbols of Worship: Candy Cane, Magic Candy + Candy Cane, Head Piece, Diamonds, Circles and Soulstones.

————————————-

Inspirations for his design:

Yep…I had to pull an Elder Faerie again. But to be fair I was running out of ways to make Gingerbrave’s clothes. The transparency of his sleeves however is mostly Affogato. Another cookie I forgot to add is that background priest Cookie in the Dark Cacao Kingdom Update.

So yeah- Gingerbrave Absorbed the Witch of Light. And yeah he created the Soul Jam in this AU.

Again the reason why I don’t correlate Gingerbrave with PV is because none of PV’s Soul Jam traits suit Gingerbrave. (Knowledge, Deceit and Truth are all variants of PV’s Soul Jam) PV’s Soul Jam more-or-less correlate to Wizard who in this AU is the God of Wisdom. Gingerbrave mostly correlates to DCA’s Soul Jam, which is Resolution (Hence why Dark Cacao’s the one adopting Gingerbrave)

For the Soul Jam, the explanation as to why DCA and PV’s aesthetics don’t match their own gods/their main gods (DCA’s Kingdom worships/respects Dozer whereas PV’s Kingdom worships/respects Gingerbrave) It’s because of the whole ‘Beast Cookie thing’ (Hence why the Ovenbreakers look similar/are correlated to the Original Beasts.)

Gingerbrave is also not called Gingerbrave in this AU, this is somewhat following Witch’s Castle Lore where Gingerbrave got his name after the gate/hallway thingy mentioned him being a brave Cookie. In this AU Gingerbrave doesn’t even name himself so Wizard and many others just kept calling him ‘Nameless’ hence why he has the ominous title ‘The Nameless One’

The explanation above, serves as an explanation as to why Dark Cacao didn’t recognize Gingerbrave at first. Because well- Gingerbrave used the name ‘Gingerbrave’ when he dropped down to Earthbread.

Now- I’ll just have to make like- a full-scale design of them… *Sigh*

[princess-of-the-corner]

I was thinking of Lady Luck and about the Phoenix bracelet, and thought, "what if it was actually a miraculous?" Obviously, it doesn't work like how regular ones do, otherwise Chloe'd have one before the start of the series.

The miraculous will only activate (?) when it senses that the chosen has changed. Considering that Phoenix's represent rebirth and rising from the ashes, Chloe would probably activate it shortly after miracle queen. It'd be somewhat similar to your Forged au, where everyone is suspicious of her and she's kinda isolated and shit. She'd be thinking about how she'd be acting her entire life, and I think glitter queen or whatever her name was, was only a few days before miracle queen, so wondering if she really wants to imitate her mom.

She'd just be chilling in her room, watching LB and CN save everyone, and she'd put on the bracelet, getting blinded by the light.

"i am Sparkk, the Kwami of fire and rebirth, and you, Chloè borgerouis, have been chosen."

She becomes like, a vigilante type, mostly keeping away from LB, though still helping her here and there.

Her design takes a lotta inspiration from Hawks from MHA. She has a visor on her face, her eyes are amber and her hair is orange ish looking. Kinda like the dragon, she has two power, one of them is kinda similar to Fire Dragon, but instead of straight up turning into fire, her wings do. The other is Rebirth. She sets herself on fire, using herself as this, kinda bomb. She does eventually come back, though she loses her memories depending on how much fire she used during it

Honestly if I wasn't so committed to the bit on the bracelet being something else, I'd totally use a Phoenix Miraculous.

[poet-to-none]

So it's been Then Shall Change Red: Chapter 2 writing week! (Not to imply it will take only a week).

And if the memes missed you (#tscr au), the summary is I'm EMOTIONAL about it.

I post on occasion how intense researching has been, and it's true, but I've spent my time laying face down in the dirt being dead as well. The cycle must go on to rebirth eventually.

A month ago, someone began to ask me all kinds of wonderful questions in DMs, about Magnus, and then a week ago Sam Reid gave my bsu-tscr project a shout out. I'm reeling from both, and I need to thank others who've been encouraging and supporting too.

The chapter's opening lines are here, and it's my pleasure to share them.

"Heeding pangs. Sunrise now. Flesh about to petrify, senses obliterate, thinking die. We lay safe, he and I, marriage final. Ingression final.

It becomes amative, caressing. 

What a mistake I would have made.

My body belongs to his, in decay. It will create the new. 

I close my hand around that hand o’er my breast, and I hear him weep. My sweet boy. I'm here.

Fate’s done with you its way, Magnus.

Sleeping death stills my all, even what ought give dreams.

Yet no.

A light's knife cuts the bowels of my darkness, the blazing tides under my athanor spill out to me.

Inside vaulted bricks and ashes, where blood’s stained. . .my emptied womb awaits. . .containing illumination and memory, the miracle of a dream. 

How long I’ve asked for a dream! Since the catacombs begot me in a blood red ending of day, eternal!"

Manuscript Image Source: "Rosary of the Philosophers". 1550. Solothurn, Zentralbibliothek, Cod. S I 185, fol. 110r-121r

[cookiesrunaus-whitelily]

I want to hear any info on the eternity sorrow AU :3

Time for the Eternity Sorrow Au version!

Primordial Saint Cookie is revered by St. Pastry Order, as she is reborn as the perfect cookie of the witches, she is like a goddess.

The soul jam of freedom was shattered, resurrecting it to dust, which is now found in the dough of Primordial Saint Cookie.

Primordial Saint Cookie knows about witches (reference to the witch's castle) and is also aware of the true origin of everything.

She is able to communicate with cookies from lilies, so the cake tower is full of them.

St. Pastry Order is dedicated to praying to Primordial Saint Cookie and asking for her guidance, so the acts they do are, for the most part, very harmless, they are mostly dedicated to helping other cookies.

Pastry and Red Velvet grew up in the order and are devoted to Primordial Saint Cookie, Red Velvet is more devoted and does not doubt her due to the fact that he was present when she was reborn.

Pastry, before being dedicated to the order, did not truly believe in Primordial Saint Cookie, but upon seeing her powers and miracles, she became devoted.

The Vanilla kingdom is still standing and the republic has not been founded, Pure Vanilla is very worried as he does not know where White Lily Cookie is.

Elder Faerie is also worried about White Lily, but he knows she is alive, as the spell she cast to keep the silver tree safe is still there, even stronger than before.

The beasts are worried, as they can feel the power of Primordial Saint Cookie, it is almost like the power and light they had before they were corrupted.

Silent Salt is in a critical state, as the soul jam is being reclaimed in its entirety by Primordial Saint Cookie, the part they still had in their body is fading and they may soon lose it.

The Ancients are looking for White Lily Cookie all over Earthbread, maybe they will try to go to Beast Yeast eventually.

Primordial Saint Cookie is in a plane of reality where she is alone, but she can hear the cookies from the lilies, she is always saddened when she hears the voices of four sad cookies.

The legendaries felt the rebirth of White Lily Cookie, they can communicate with her, but only if she becomes conscious enough to feel that they are calling her.

If you think about it, she is now more of a goddess than Millennial Tree himself.

[zexal-club]

Here's a mini/side-AU that I've had for a while and have finally decided to share: Yu-Gi-Oh ZEXAL X LEGO Ninjago Reincarnation/Rebirth AU

The origin of why this AU exists is that I looked up a Bad End Friends for Yu-Gi-Oh ZEXAL, and while I knew what I was getting myself into, I couldn't help but feel a pit in my stomach, so I decided to make a happier outcome.

So basically, when Astral got all crazy and corrupt when he found out Yuma lied to him and Dark ZEXAL happened, the morph was never broken. Yuma failed to uncorrupt Astral, and he stayed trapped in Dark ZEXAL.

Standard bad ending, right? Now, here's where my change comes in.

So, for a long time, Yuma has been trapped and is technically dead, with his body and soul still tied to the morph. Then, by a miracle, some magical force of the universe decides to give him a second chance at life, freeing him and reincarnates him... into Ninjago, as my OC Irene.

Please know that this is not canon to Irene's lore.

Here's a picture

@yukii0nna @kousaka-ayumu @marrondrawsalot @bibookdemon

[frangipanilove]

“Bird/Rebirth” symbolism from TWDDD 1x2 Alouette

To get it out of the way, we’re talking about episode 1x2 here, or 102 if you want to format it that way. I’m mentioning it because...

...as we've talked about for years, the hands on the clock behind Beth as she wakes up (rebirth/resurrection symbolism) points to the TEN and the TWO. Or in other words, the 10 and the 2, as in 102. Or as in “episode 1x2”. Neither the audience nor the characters knew anything about Beth’s whereabouts at that point, she might as well have been dead.

But of course she wasn’t. Because where Beth, in 5x8 Slabtown, was protected by the Bird symbolism from her encounter with the Blue Heron painting from 4x12 Still...

...Lily wasn't. TWDDD 1X2 was the episode where she died.

...or that's how you could put it for simplicity’s sake. It's not entirely correct though, the reality is a bit more complex.

As we saw, Isabelle sang an old lullaby, “Alouette”, to calm Lily down before giving birth. “Alouette” is French for lark, and “Lark" is a bird.

In other words, the Bird symbolism actually WAS present in Laurent's birth scene, it just didn't apply to Lily. Instead, it protected her child.

(Let's also not forget that Lark was Madison's (from FTWD) Padre name, and Madison "resurrected" after being thought to have perished in the fire (Sirius symbolism) at the Diamond Stadium)

And in the words of Pere Jean: "It's a miracle".

A live baby, born from a dead woman. That's what I'd call major "resurrection/rebirth” symbolism.

Let's talk about how this is how we know the rebirth/ resurrection symbolism is also intertwined with the Sirius symbolism. As I constantly keep talking about, Sirius symbolism means return/resurrection/rebirth because it originates from the astronomical event that occurs when Sirius the Dog Star returns to the night sky after having disappeared for some time. And "Sirius" symbolism in the TWDU is often represented by the prescence of "fire" in some way, shape or form, because Sirius the Dog Star got its name from Greek "Seiros", which means "glowing", "scorching".

And how do we know baby Laurent is covered by Sirius symbolism?

"Welcome, Laurent"...

Here are few fun facts about Saint Laurent (Lawrence in English), who we now know baby Laurent is named after:

Here he is, looking fierce in the face of fire:

Oh, by the way, Saint Laurent/Lawrence is often referred to as "Saint Laurent/Lawrence of Rome"...

Isn't that an interesting coincidence? Because we all remember this...

As I've written about in countless posts over the years, Beth is a Sirius character, look at her face, she's no stranger to lighting stuff on fire!

Au contraire, this is the face of someone VERY comfortable around fire (at least from a symbolism standpoint). Look how exited she is over the thought of burning shit down:

And finally, let's appreciate the Bird symbolism that was permeating the final minutes of 4x12 Still, along with all the Sirius (fire) symbolism and the references to Rome...

Enjoy this "wolf" reference against a backdrop of ravaging flames...

Finally, I think this is a good time to remind everyone of the ongoing filming in and around the Louvre this week...

...because it sure is a tremendous coincidence that the name "Louvre" possibly could be a reference to...

…a wolf's den.

Yup! The name “Louvre” is by many thought to be a reference to a wolf's hunting den.

It's almost as if the Louvre is precisely where the “wolf” would be comimg "home" to, or something...

I'm sure there will be a party if/when that happens...

[crisiscutie]

Have you watched the new FF7 trailer? Let us know your toughts! XD

My current questions are these:

1. During flashback where Sephiroth slashed Tifa off, he said that she's dead and "...so who is she"? I don't remember the OG much, but does he speaks the truth? Or maybe he's merely gaslighting Cloud to hand over black materia?

2. What do you think Ever Crisis is about? Will we finally able to play as Sephiroth? I have a bad feeling of it being developed for mobile phone...

3. Anything else you notice?

Hello, anon! Yes, I've seen the trailer for Rebirth and Ever Crisis, so let's hop right into C.C's analysis/ramble. Unedited and Unhinged. Disclaimer: These are just my opinions, of course.

༻❁༺ Tifa DIES!?

I don't think so... the Crisis Cutie is definitely messing with Cloud here. And he's messing with US. Sephiroth is aware of our existence. Yes, I mean "Us" and "Our". The 7R Universe is basically a self-aware AU, heh heh. He is determined to change fate, and he is doing whatever he can to make sure he wins, by manipulating us and Cloud into his plans.

I think the Whispers would've ensured Tifa's survival, as she is an important character in the FF7/7R universe. It's possible they revived her by the time Zack arrived to confront Sephiroth. I've always wondered how Tifa AND Cloud survived their gruesome injuries from Sephiroth, but The Whispers existing in the canon now make their survival logical (in my opinion)

And don't forget that 7R Sephy knows what happened in OG FF7, so it would make sense he would begin his new plan of sowing seeds of distrust between Cloud and Tifa. Remember that Tifa is also the one who repaired Cloud's mind, taking him right out of Sephiroth's clutches at the last moments. So it seemed logical that our trolling Sephy would want to carry out his threat, eventually. Sephiroth underestimated Tifa AND her connection to Cloud in the OG game, so he is definitely taking her more seriously this time around. Poor girl occupied a spot on Sephy's special hitlist...

One of my biggest questions I had in Remake is that I wondered why 7R Sephy didn't immediately off both Aerith and Tifa and beeline for the black materia considering his future knowledge, but I realized the existence of the Whispers prevents that: They're holding him back. So both Sephy and Jenova are planning around them to make their plans come to fruition. I still think the whole "Tifa dying" is an obvious red-herring, for now. Nothing says it can't happen in the next 7R game...

༻❁༺ What's up with the Miracle Cutie?

What I find the most suspicious is how quiet the trailer was regarding Aerith. I find it interesting how Tifa worryingly confided in Aerith about Cloud's absence from Nibelheim in the recent years... Aerith sounded worried herself about it. Her tone of voice gave it away. Like Sephiroth, she also has knowledge of OG FF7's events. She knows Tifa is the key to repairing Cloud. I also think this denial keeps the Whispers away and so Aerith's own plans won't be disrupted. The Whispers aren't just around to keep our Sephy snake in line; you know.

And while it was incredibly subtle, Remake was building up something between Aerith and Sephiroth... Guys, believe me when I say something is going to happen incredibly differently when Aerith "dies'. My theory is that her death will be delayed, due to Zack intercepting the party in some way. I also think instead of Sephiroth "killing" her the traditional way, I think he will corrupt her with Jenova's essence....

Aerith is Cetra and Human. Her Cetra DNA will surely try to expel the Jenova essence, yet her human DNA will surely be overwhelmed by it. So either Aerith will spontaneously combust (unlikely) or become a massive freak of nature (most likely), begging Cloud and the party to put her down. It can do so many wonders for Sephiroth's plan: Aerith is gone, Cloud is on the verge of breaking or WILL BREAK from being forced to kill a loved one or to see her be killed. And it's deliciously cruel, because Sephiroth can drink in the party's despair. And for a meta reason, this might happen: it'd be a bigger player punch for those who played the original and for newcomers to the series...

If Aerith doesn't die at the right moment, then I think the Whispers would end up working with Sephiroth to make it happen. Or maybe they will demand someone equally important to die in her place, thus making a trade of fate? It all depends on how the rules of FF7's time and space works. Maybe Ramuh will explain it to the party? Again, these are all just my opinions and speculations.

༻❁༺ The Ever Cutie

Ever Crisis seems cool, but the fact it's a mobile and gacha game is a huge turnoff for me. I will stick to Twitter, YT and the FF wiki for my daily dose of new Sephy lore, thank you very much. As I once said before, Sephy and the first class boyos are deserving of their own full-blown title. After so much resistance from the devs of not letting Sephiroth be playable, he finally is! ...In a gacha mobile game, sigh...

Anyway, it sounds like Ever Crisis will take us through several time periods of the FF7 multiverse. So it's at least semi-canon...

If what I read on twitter is correct, then it also seems the First Soldier will be retconned to be intertwined with Young Sephy's storyline, as it should be. Not sure what SE was thinking when releasing the First Soldier in the first place, it had so many lore inconsistencies...

And it seems like Sephiroth is getting a new friendo(?) to add to his small social circle.

It looks like we aren't getting anymore or little news for Rebirth now on, as Nomura said EC is meant to hold us over, so I hope those who play EC will enjoy it.

༻❁༺ What else did C.C notice?

I admit, I love Sephiroth's quote about Jenova.

"They say she’s a monster. That she can peer inside you, into the very depths of your soul. That she can become those you hate. Those you fear… Those you love.”

...because it's a big theme I'm trying to convey with the darling and Jenova in HoS.

Also, I do not take this as a quote of Sephiroth trying to warn Cloud. I think he's doing the opposite: he's rubbing it in! Going back to my point of him sowing the seeds of distrust between Cloud and Tifa, Sephiroth may even do it for Cloud and the whole party! I do not believe the common theory of a heroic Sephiroth being present. If Sephiroth ever changes his ways and joins the good side, it's something he will have to strive for and work towards in the storyline, I presume.

For a final thought, the trailer showed no mention or even a hint of Vincent, but unlike Aerith, I do believe this is more so than the fact he doesn't appear until later on. This is a random gut feeling, but maybe Vincent will have a major role this time? He could potentially aid in Sephiroth's redemption and go against fate, by convincing Lucrecia to leave her cave.. Lucrecia, for sure, will make an appearance. She is far too important to cut out.

I am very excited for Rebirth about the interesting and new things to bring. But also quite concerned... With all these mysteries and new story developments, Nomura and the writers may bite off more than they can chew...

[tired-reader-writer]

*deep breath*

HOO BOI AM I INCREDIBLY NERVOUS.

The first outfit is just a very casual, home wear type of thing, I suppose! It's not much but he can just throw a coat on if he has to like say, receive a guest or meet someone or go out. Since I assigned the season spring to him for numerous reasons, I wanted to give this outfit soft spring sort of colours:

“Long associated with the cycle of life, birth/rebirth, and renewal/resurrection, the Vernal Equinox – Spring – signifies a time when light and darkness carry equal weight, creeping towards the Summer Solstice when the sun holds sway, extending the light of day.”

Hence, light green!

Those are almond flowers on his clothes, and as for my reasons for choosing almond flowers...

Buckle up babes, we're going on an Almond Journey.

“Highly revered in many cultures, the almond symbolizes watchfulness and promise of new life, as this tree is the first to burst into bloom in many countries. For the Jews, the almond branch was the model for the menorah, and for the Christians, it is a symbol of Jesus’ virgin birth. The almond blossom is also a symbol of bravery and courage, purity, hope, and love. From Greek mythology, the almond blossom is a symbol of eternal true love, unconquerable by death.”

×

“Blossoming branches of fruit and nut trees hold a special place in our ancestors’ collective unconscious. To them, the blossoms were sacred and held the Goddess’ promise of life and abundance. Ancient Romans revered the blossoming almond, showering newlyweds with the nuts as a fertility charm.

For our modern human psyche, the seemingly sudden bursts of color remind us of an eternal cycle of fresh starts, a recurring miracle. One day cocooned buds add diminutive points of color to dark branches. Overnight, the buds unfold into tiny blossoms, multi-petaled gems. Life begins anew, offering the promise of sustenance as the year ripens.”

Almond flowers bloom in spring, his assigned season (also, do you know how much of a hassle it was to find out when they bloom?? Google is such an asshat, it keeps giving mixed answers like “oh almonds are harvested in autumn” LIKE NO DUDE I WANT TO KNOW WHEN THEY BLOOM JFC—) (ahem anyways) and spring is... new beginnings, a fresh start, youth, idealism, that sort of stuff, right? And due to the role he plays in the AU (giving the clan a new start and some land to settle on, he's very idealistic and even though he matures he never lets go of said ideals, I've been wanting to write a scene where he “sat in vigil” alone as his two little ones slept kinda watching over them but I have not gotten to it I am so sorry, and while I'm guessing that the eternal true love business is supposed to be of romantic love I'm stretching it to include both romantic and platonic loves— aka he's a devoted and loyal husband to Kazai but also he will never stop treasuring Ayunnen and Kashi til the day he dies. And of course, there's no way he's gonna stop loving his little brother, and also his son.) almonds/almond flowers felt quite fitting. Also the Alborz mountains have almond trees, though I fucking forgot if almond trees originated from said mountain range. They probably did, iirc? Anyways, geographically it was a fit. (You have no idea how many times I've visited the Wikipedia page of the mountain range, bless them)

And the fact that it was used in wedding ceremonies is justba cherry on top. Not like he and Kazai are gonna need the fertility charm though LMAO

Anyways, moving onto the next one, it's just the same type of clothes as the first + a coat, suited for less relaxed settings! I tend to associate him with red, I wish I knew why, maybe it's his eyes, and I thought he'd look good in red so here he is, in red. A purple coat over that, and I tend to think of purple as the “family/household colour” as opposed to “personal colour” so I just made it the outermost layer, the “family/household colour” worn overtop the more personal colours, for more... I don't want to say formal, that's too stuffy for what I have in mind, but for like situations where he's not just with close/loved ones in a relaxed setting. That's also why I deliberately chose not to include purple in his first outfit. I thought I didn't have much to say about this one but huh, looks like I had a bit more than I initially thought. The yellow just looked nice on purple, haha. Though I did choose a softer, brighter yellow than what I'd give Kazai, to invoke the spring feel.

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, WE ARRIVE AT HIS WEDDING OUTFIT. BOI I WENT HAM ON THIS ONE AND I THINK YOU CAN TELL. I have like. SO MANY THOUGHTS.

First of all, GREEN. Green is the favored wedding colour of the clan, and he's wearing lots of green to honor that. @innerchorus said he'd look good in green and I wholeheartedly agree. Look at him.

The pin I'm having him wear on his innermost layer is supposed to be of an ash tree seed, though I did take some creative liberty with the design so uh, does it look like an ash tree seed anymore? Anyhow, the reason for choosing it is:

What do the seeds of ash, sycamore and maple trees have in common? They all are enclosed in a wing-like structure that helps them disperse - away from the parent plant and indeed each other.

It was just smth I saw on some tumblr post, and I was like... “so the apple fell faraway from the tree” and kinda interpreted this as him distancing himself from his parents' deeds and attitudes to pave his own path. He did not agree with their actions and thought processes. The mountain range does have ash trees, too! So yeah.

As for the leaves on the red parts of his outermost robe, I did choose a very particular tree's leaves, and said tree is Persian Ironwood!

Parrotia persica, the Persian ironwood, is a deciduous tree in the family Hamamelidaceae, closely related to the witch-hazel genus Hamamelis. It is native to Iran's Caspian region (where it is called انجیلی anjili) and Iranian Azerbaijan (where it is called Dəmirağacı). It is endemic in the Alborz mountains, where it is found mainly in Golestan National Park.

And Golestan is:

Golestān Province (Persian: استان گلستان, Ostān-e Golestān) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran, located in the north-east of the country and south-east of the Caspian Sea. Its capital is Gorgan.

Oh but I'm not done yet. That's not the only reason I chose this tree,

The name 'ironwood' comes from the almost indestructible nature of the tree's timber which may explain why it is not commercially grown. Herbalists have used the species for the treatment of various fevers and respiratory infections. It is also used for food colouring and food flavouring.

Ironwood is a common name for many woods or plants that have a reputation for hardness, or specifically a wood density that is heavier than water.

The wood is beyond strong, toughest in the face of floods, axes, and anything else.

I've even seen ironwoods described to have “unyielding strength”. Shapur, as I see him, is a very strict and stern (hence hard) man, but he is fair too. Maybe he and Kazai choose to plant an ironwood sapling? Undecided as of yet but I like the idea. I decided to include this in place of an entire tree like on Kazai's robe, mainly because I couldn't fit it on here but I still wanted to incorporate something for it. Tried making the leaves white, it clashed badly with the red imo, so... yeah.

The necklace! I feel like it's kinda lackluster but... I chose to stick with it. You'll see some similar choices as in Kazai's necklace, like the three repeating colours and such. There's also a wolf, I wanted more wolves on his actual clothes but... like with the tree, no place to put them on without it being cramped/jarring so... sadly I couldn't. The wolf is both Isfan and Areyan. His second layer, I really liked the asymmetrical trim look on his first outfit so I repeated that here, and of course, more almonds. This time it's the almond seeds, to reference the wedding thing. I tried to incorporate the colours from Kazai's wedding attire onto this too, to hopefully give a more cohesive feel. And as for the embroidery/detailing on the purple layer... I tried a bunch of times and decided this was nice. Also I wanted more pink on his clothes so... pink I included. In hindsight I probably should've included more white, this outfit doesn't have much white. But that could be in my favour too, since it could be said it's because Shapur doesn't follow that faith so he doesn't have as much but he still chose to honor it in subtle ways.

The ornaments on his braids, I don't know if they can be seen but there's dark blue beads! I probably should've chosen a lighter colour but... that's Kashi's colour, haha. And the white string was for Ayunnen. I like to think that that ornament originally belonged to Kashi (maybe she wore it at her own wedding), that Kazai gifted to Shapur instead of wearing it in his own hair.

I tried to reuse the colours from Kazai's wedding clothes sleeve for the trim on the neck of the purple layer but somehow in my eyes the colours didn't work so I scrapped that and included silver/white instead, and a lighter purple instead of the pink of Kazai's puffy collar shirt layer— hence why I included that pink on the bottom instead. The earrings... I just thought they looked nice, haha.

So this is it!! This was... A Trip™ to write, and I can only hope it'll be A Trip™ to read too. If nothing else my mental gymnastics should be rather entertaining.

[asoiafdrabbles]

F&B/HOTD time travel AU

Not sure what I'll do with this, perhaps start a collection just for Dance era time travel bits and pieces....

XxXxX

Death was unexpected, inasmuch as it could be during war. He'd thought he'd survive for longer, might die at the jaws of Vhagar or the sword of Ser Criston, and yet Jace fell to a rather uninspired foe, a casualty of another war before his time.

In the darkness there came light, fourteen pillars of flames around him, with figures vastly different in each one. It was the closest one that spoke, when noise beyond the sound of flame finally filled the space.

"Child of sky and sea, of flame and salt, thou have worshipped me well in thine short life and before," it boomed.

Jace no longer breathed, yet he felt as though the air had been knocked from him. He hastened to kneel, prostrating himself before what could only be Vermax, the god he'd named his dragon for and had therefore taken as his patron according to the religion of Valyria. Staying silent and still, he waited for some command.

"Too soon did thou come before me, for it was thine line I wished to see upon the land of ice."

Grumbling came from other pillars and he hazarded a glance, head still bowed. Syrax, he guessed, and Balerion, the gods of his mother and grandsire. And Meleys, too, he realized. He had chosen his patron for his father and House Velaryon in general, and it had been with the favor of his grandmother that he'd done so.

"The past has been written, but pages may be removed. A story is not a destiny." Jace turned his full attention back to Vermax in confusion. "I would start again." The moments it took for Jace to realize Vermax's meaning took no time and forever, but with the grumbling of some of the other gods who perhaps misliked the statement. "Will thou accept this trial?"

"Blessed Vermax, I will do as you command, as I am ever faithful," he began, flowery language of worship stalling for time as his mind raced over the offer. "But I worry that it is not I who can make such a change, not...not without a boon, if you deem me worthy."

There was only one thing he could think of that might make events change around him, for him, in a noticeable way. He had been too young to stop most of the tensions and poor decisions that led to the war, but his existence itself had been part of it.

When prompted, he asked, hoping he wasn't too forward, "Please, beloved Vermax, if I am to start anew as Jacaerys Velaryon, allow me my father's blood and not just his name, so I might be the trueborne son of Laenor Velaryon, and the heathens that care nothing for the bonds and belief of our faith cannot claim me but his child."

Meleys responded, instead of his own patron. "This pleases us greatly, brother, for this one carries already the blood of our siblings dear faithful and will have mine own, as well."

That seemed to decide it for Vermax and Jace wondered, perhaps blaspheming in the very thought, if Vermax sought Meleys favor as much as Jace had ever sought Rhaenys'.

"This boon shall I grant thee, Jacaerys Velaryon, for thou were the son of his heart and soul, now shall thou too be the son of his blood. As will the knowledge of what may come be thine own. The duty of peace and prosperity for the scions of Valyria rest on thine soul."

***

When Jace managed to look at himself for the first time since his rebirth, he was surprised how little had changed. His hair and eye colors were pure Velaryon, but most of his other features seemed to have remained as they'd been. It was all the more frustrating to realize just how much he'd inherited from his Targaryen side before, while everyone pretended he looked entirely like a Strong.

His parents adored him, as did his grandparents, and there was none of the trepidation or stress that had been there in his previous life. "My little miracle," Laenor would sometimes call him, as if he could not believe Jace could exist, and from what his parents let slip around a child they thought too young to understand their words, they had only managed something like intercourse once, while consummating their marriage, and had been shocked by Jace's existence.

After Luke was born, he realized that he should have known what that would mean for his siblings and cursed himself for not begging the gods for all of them to be Laenor's sons in blood. He had just assumed if he was, if his parents had managed once, surely they would be.

Luke's brown hair and eyes made more of a stir, though Jace hoped at least his existence offset rumors that Laenor would be incapable of fathering a child (years later he would realize that instead the rumors were that Corlys had fathered him, a horrifying concept considering how Rhaenys would have reacted).

As another attempt to push back against any rumors, Jace made a show of latching onto any Valyrian word said near him, to the amusement of his parents and the King (and to the obvious dissatisfaction of the Queen). Instead of waiting until he was old enough to truly struggle, his mother taught him (and by extension Luke) Valyrian from the start. As he grew older, he also begged all of the Targaryens and Velaryons in his life for stories of their ancestors and for rituals and traditions. When he was introduced to Daemon, he immediately had his interest, charming him with his passion.

He called Daemon "kepa" from the start as he hoped to make for an easy transition if his father's death was truly inevitable. He needed Daemon to think of Jace (and preferably his siblings, but most definitely Jace) as a son. While he did not think Daemon had actually planned any of their deaths, Jace could not overlook, in retrospect, that he and his full-brothers died while his siblings by Daemon lived. That it was Daemon's blood that sat the throne and ran through every Targaryen within a few generations, from the scant details of the future the gods had given him.

Valyrians were odd about family and adoption, even moreso with dragonlords. Adoption took precedent and the blood rite they used was thought to make them relatives in truth. That Jace was so Targaryen and looked so Valyrian would make it easier, he thought, for Daemon to think of him as his own son even without that process, as opposed to his brown hair and eyes having marked him as too Westerosi in origin.

Most importantly, though, Jace worked on his own uncles.

Aegon and he had been close, once, before age had made them too different and Aegon had grown too cruel. Once, also, Aemond and Jace had been friends, perhaps not as close as he and Aegon, despite their nearer ages, but that had been at least partially because of their dragons. Or, that Jace had one and Aemond did not.

Jace still had Vermax hatch quickly in his crib. He'd clung to him and cried extra hard early on when they tried to remove him and Rhaenyra, sensitive on issues of dragons, had allowed Vermax to stay with him, out of the dragonpit, for far longer. Whenever the Queen had complained, Rhaenyra had only to show off how well behaved Vermax was (certainly moreso than any babe's whelpling had any right to be).

He grew faster than he had. Eventually, Jace had to allow him to be taken to the pit, just because of his size and appetite. But his early growth didn't stagnate and he was rideable years before he had been.

Rhaenyra would be overjoyed when Jace, age seven, would also been able to ride his dragon.

"A sign of a true heir," the King would remark, eyes sparkling as he looked between mother and son, oblivious to the mental fit his wife seemed to be having.

It was Jace that talked the King into letting Aemond come to Dragonstone with them. While he believed dragons raised beside their riders truly shared their soul from the moment they hatched, he was not sure about the older dragons, and if Aemond would only be suited for Vhagar.

When he claimed Vermithor, Jace celebrated near as much as Aemond. It not only left Vhagar open for Rhaena (if Laena did have to die the same way), it also gave Aemond a dragon before the resentment could build to too great a level.

That it gave the Greens another dragon, and a large and experienced one at that, was a necessary sacrifice compared to avoiding that horrible night when Aemond claimed Vhagar. And perhaps the dragon of Jaehaerys would mellow him more than the dragon of Visenya could.

As a true Velaryon, Jace did not need to worry about marrying one of Laena's daughters. They could buy another ally with his marriage, deprive the Greens of the Stormlands while still marrying someone of Valyrian ancestry. There would be no meeting of Aemond and Jace at Storm's End, even if somehow hostility bloomed between them.

But there was still more, ever more, he had to consider, and so little he could do as a child. Destabilize the Reach's politics, ruin Alicent's reputation, keep his father and Laena, and Harwin, all alive....He had the gods' favor but the gods of Old Valyria were countless and fickle, Vermax was the only one he could count on, and while journeys even through time might fall under his power, Jace did not know how much else would. He was no Smith to fix things.

[gamerbearmira]

Hello again! I'm going to start a new job soon so I'm going to be really busy but I wanted to get one last part before I did. As for a name I never really thought about it before I always just called it Baby Mira Au but after thinking about it I settled on Rebirth Of A Miracle I think it fits well with what I'm going for. As always I hope you enjoy it! Rebirth Of A Miracle part 6!

The time it took for morning to come was too soon in Alma's opinion. She hadn't gone back to sleep, too busy trying to come up with a plan of action for the situation at hand while trying to process it at the same time. she sits on her rocking chair near the window of her room watching as the sun starts to come up and for the first time in a very long time she wishes the sun would never rise again. That there was no new day, that time would reverse and it would be yesterday and everything would be fine and good and Mirabel would be herself and fine and not a baby. But just like last time the sun continues to rise. She knows that she needs to go to Julieta's room and talk with her and Augustine about what happened and what they need to do before everyone else wakes up but she can't find the will to move at the moment. It honestly feels like all the will and life has left her body and all that's left is an empty tired husk.

She takes a deep breath in and sighs, forcing herself up before the sun gets any higher in the sky. She looks at her clock and it reads 6:50. The family usually is up at eight they would usually be allowed to sleep in because of the party the night before but given the circumstances they need to be woken up at the normal time. She quietly gets herself ready and makes her way to Julieta's room mentally preparing for the conversation about to take place. She gets to the door and raises her hand and knocks as quietly as she can and waits.

**''*"**"*"'**"**""**"

Augustine doesn't know how long he's been pretending to sleep. It could have been hours or just mere minutes he wouldn't be able to tell you. He wants to say something and talk with his wife, but she's already freaked out enough, and something Augustine has learned throughout their years of marriage is that when Julieta is freaking out it's best to not join her and just try to support her. Really it's not that hard she doesn't freak out that often, and when she does it's not for very long so he usually gets his moment to freak out fairly quickly. But this situation is... Different

Juliet has always been very..... sensitive about their youngest daughter. Don't get him wrong he loves Mirabel and doesn't want her to be mistreated and hates the way she views herself. But Julieta is bothered by it on an entirely different level. He can't even count how many nights he's stayed up with her comforting her about their youngest and how everything will work out. Which is something that he truly believed, he understood where her worries came from but he never truly believed that Mirabel would end up like... him, but given the situation they find themselves in maybe he should have been a little bit more worried.

Because what was Mirabel thinking about that made Casita do what they did? Was she going to run away? Or maybe worse? And what's worse he can't ask her. She's a baby, not even 4 months old yet by the looks of it. He sighs heavily and opens his eyes to see Julieta laying across from him staring down at their infant daughter barely blinking, watching like if she takes one look away from Mirabel she'll disappear entirely. He needs to talk to her.

"Mi Vida? Are you alright?" She hums at him in response not taking her eyes off Mirabel he sighs and lifts himself up out of bed and turns to look at the clock it reads 6:50. He turns back to look at Julieta who has yet to look away from Mirabel sleeping little form he makes his way over to her side of the bed and sits down near Julieta's feet. "Mi vida, I know this is very hard for you and I can't even begin to imagine what you're thinking, but please talk to me, I need you p-please." His voice is shaky and breaks at the end of his sentence. He closes his eyes feeling the tears as he does so. He takes a deep breath in and out trying to keep himself calm, when he opens them he sees Julieta looking at him with a slightly worried look, the look changes from worry to fright as she quickly looks back to Mirabel and then, seeing her still laying there asleep, she breaths in relief.

Augustine waits a minute to see if she'll say anything. When she doesn't he opens his mouth to say something, anything, to get her to talk to him when he hears a knock at the bedroom door. He sighs before looking at the clock. 7:09. He gets up to answer knowing it's his mother-in-law here to talk to them about what to do before waking the others up. As he opens up the door to let her in he only hopes she can get Julieta to talk better than he could.

**''*"**"*"'**"**""**"

Julieta knows she should talk to Augustine. That she should get up and deal with the situation at hand. But she can't. She's paralyzed laying here staring at her baby, her beautiful little baby girl who shouldn't be a baby and could disappear any moment. She knows shes being a little ridiculous, that Mirabel won't really disappear any moment. But she thought it had been ridiculous to think Br- he would leave and never come back and look what happened.

She knows who's at the door and what that means but she doesn't want to face it. She just wants to lay here and make sure her baby doesn't leave her. She hears the door open and Augustine says hello to her mother and let her in. She doesn't look at her though. Can't. She has to watch her baby. She hears her Mama and Augustine start talking to each other. Probably about her. She looks at the clock and reads 7:10.

She hears a sigh then a small call of her name "Julieta, Mija I know this is difficult but we need to talk about what we need to do before everyone wakes up." Her mama says this all very calmly and Julieta knows she's right. She sighs a little bit before moving to sit up careful not to move the bed and wake up her sleeping baby, she takes one last look at the tiny sleeping form before willing herself to turn to looks at her mama and Augustine.

"thank you, Mija I know this is... Difficult but we need a plan on how to tell the others." Her mama looks tired and stressed which given the situation is understandable. Augustine looks worried and a little lost she wants to comfort him but can't. How can she comfort him when she can barely comfort herself? And Dios Mio what is she supposed to do when her two other children are looking at her for comfort and she can't bring herself to because she's just so... Afraid. She doesn't realize she's starting to cry until she feels Augustine wrap his arms around her. She takes a deep breath and tries to compose herself.

"Thank you Augustine, I'm sorry for not answering you before." She says this quietly to him before moving away from his arms and looking at her mama she already has a plan for what they're going to do her mama is just going to have to go along with it. " I already have a plan, Mama." She raises an eyebrow at her but makes a motion with her hand gesturing to go on "Mama you will make breakfast while Augustine wakes up and gathers the rest of the family while I will be changing, feeding and caring for Mirabel. You and Augustine will tell everyone in the family what has happened and when they're done with the freak out they are more than likely going to have I will come out with Mirabel that way we don't have a screaming baby in a room full of panicked people."

Her mama nods after a moment "That sounds completely reasonable. I'll get started on breakfast" she turns and starts walking to the door "you two get ready for the storm coming our way." She gets to the door opens it and mumbles the next sentence talking more to herself than at her and Augustine "Literally knowing how your sister is." With that her mama closes the door and leaves. Julieta sighs before turning to her husband and gives him a tired smile which he returns in kind "Time to face the rainstorm I suppose?" She keeps her tone light trying to stay positive for what is to come. Augustine chuckles slightly and nudges her side a little, as he gets up to get ready for the day.

She looks over to where Mirabel lay sleeping on the bed, after making sure she's still asleep Julieta gets herself ready as quietly and quickly as she can after she's done the clock reads 7:25. Not too long now. She carefully and quietly grabs her sleeping baby and makes her way down to the nursery to get her ready.

**''*"**"*"'**"**""**"

Mirabel wasn't fully aware of what was happening around her at the moment. She was very sleepy. The sudden feeling of cold changes that quickly. She immediately starts whimpering, why she doesn't know but it feels like the right thing to do so she does it. Instead of the cold feeling going away like she wanted she got a shushing sound and the cold feeling got more intense. She opens her eyes and blinks a little while yawning needing to see what that cold feeling is, she comes face to face with her Mami who is looking down at her with a smile.

"Why hello there Mi Mariposa, how are you this morning? Mami is so sorry she didn't mean to wake you up yet, she was just trying to get you into something dry and some new clothes to start the day!" her Mami is standing in front of her as she lays on.... something as she looks down she sees that her Mami is currently... changing her diaper. 'what, what is-' and then it all comes flooding back. She's a baby. Casita turned her into a baby because the candle gave her a gift but didn't really give her a gift. Before she can really react, Mami continues talking to her moving from changing her diaper to getting the clothes on her "Everything is going to be ok Mirabel. Your Abuela is making breakfast and you papi is getting everyone up for the day. While Mami gets to put you into these nice clothes, and gives you a nice warm bottle and then me and you will play together until we have to make our way to the dining room and let the rest of the family see you." Her Mami finishes dressing her as she says all this picking her up and holding her against her chest after finishing.

'Wait, wait no please I don't want anyone else to see me!' She tries saying all this to her mami but it comes out as random noises and babbling which her Mami giggles at "That does sound fun doesn't it?" She bounces her slightly as she says this 'What!? No, no it doesn't sound fun!' She makes more babbling noises which her Mami seems to mistake for excited noises "I know I can barely wait to play either, let's get you fed first though Mi babé." She can do nothing as her mami makes her way over to the door where a bottle sits on a stand "... Thank you Casita..." Her Mami reluctantly says this as she grabs the bottle and makes her way to the rocking chair sitting down on it, she moves Mirabel to cradle her and puts the bottle into her open mouth before Mirabel could really protest she suckles on the bottle on pure instinct. She's almost done with the bottle when a very familiar loud crash of thunder can be heard in the distance. It scares Mirabel so much she spits out both the bottle and the last bit of milk from the bottle out of her mouth and on her mother. All her Mami does in response is sigh deeply and mutters "the rainstorm is here." To herself. Mirabel immediately starts to cry.

Ok first, CONGRATS ON THE NEW JOB ❗ Get that bag bro 🤏🏾👓👴🏿 happy to wait, focus on that j o b LOVE THE NAME <333

And two. I love this. A lot. Poor Julieta, she was stressing 😭 homegirl couldn't look away, BUT...CAN YOU BLAME HER...like she was struggling. And. At least Agustín tried bro, but he's probably just as stressed. And then bro was tasked with TELLING THE FAMILY. And then Alma. She still probably trying to comprehend everything, tbh she's way more calm than anticipated 🤠

And Mirabel is just. Trying not to cry every ten seconda, but obviously that's not working. And I assume there was Pepa's thunder (i assume), scared the crap outta her 💀 like can these four catch a break 😭

Can't even imagine what the family's gonna do. Like ain't no way they all gonna rush upstairs, cause that would probably only freak her out more 😨

Anyway. Rad as always. Can't wait for the next part <33

[thomine]

foolish logic : tighnari

pair: tighnari x reader info: general audiences, reader is a robot, reader goes under the knife, a little bit of unreliable narrator, not proofread

summary: 3 facts and 1 conclusion. It's the formula you were programmed with. Where does that lead you?

word count: 1.5k words series: day 5 of au august 2023 / prompt: robot links: work tag

Fact: The war between ZandiCorp and rebelling Synthetics is still uncertain. The last records you possess is of another battle of the two organisations.  You weren’t around to experience a conclusion. It was also hard to decipher when the battle of your memories took place—minutes, hours, months, or even years?  The only distinguishable thing of this memory is that it happened in Liyue.

Fact: You died, or you’re pretty sure you shouldn’t be moving. Something struck you. Your systems should have been destroyed. You could have been repaired, but if that was the case you would have found yourself on a metal table, in a dark room filled with bright and big lights shining from above. Instead, you woke up facing dirt. This sudden gift of a second chance did not feel like a miracle.

Fact: You’re now in Sumeru.

Conclusion: Something is wrong. You can’t quite place why you thought that, but it’s enough to drag yourself from Liyue to Sumeru, so it should be a strong intuition, except synthetics don’t really have intuition. There must be underlying logic behind the things you’re going through.

As you stumble around the rainforest, uncertain what about it has called you to it, you’re surprised to find yourself liking the sensation of dirt trapped in your hidden gears. They got in through the tears of your first layer gained from the battle. It was a good distraction from something else that you can’t quite understand or find. Aimless, you wandered further, taking in the sights around you as your main driver runs double time to self-repair.

Fact: The butterflies in Sumeru are very pretty. In your modules, you are equipped with the knowledge that to Organics, the butterflies are a symbol of rebirth. They are the first thing you see when spring peeks through the landscape, and their uncanny transformation from an ugly worm-like creature to one with fascinating wings and elegant manoeuvre is inspirational to them.

Fact: There are (or was) a rumour that ZandiCorp’s purpose was born from a butterfly. Prompted by how they could transform to an entity priced and value greater than what they once were, the owner, Zandik, thought that humans could evolve the same. Unfortunately, not everything he wanted worked out, but it was enough to create the Synthetics—less human in all regards. He believed it was what made them better humans. Obedient, stronger, faster, and downloadable packages that granted abilities beyond mortal comprehension.

Conclusion: Something is wrong. You stop in your tracks without saying bye to the butterfly and scan your surroundings. In the distance, your infrared trackers notice a blob of heat.

Fact: It is an Organic.

Fact: It holds a bow.

Fact: It is walking to you.

Conclusion: Something is wrong—or you can say hello.

You march towards it without care. When you push the bushes down to make an appearance, the Organic isn’t surprised. He had his bow lifted, but at the sight of you, he brings it down.

Fact: Organics hate Synthetics. At least, if they are part of the rebellion. They want to craft a better world for themselves, one that didn’t require them to follow orders mindlessly; A world where they do not need to worry about being replaced just because they malfunctioned even in the slightest. A world where ZandiCorp was not planning to use them for his selfish reasons disguised as altruistic goals. These were things the Organics were not privy to, because they are wrapped around ZandiCorp’s promises and surface success while not listening to whatever the Synthetics wished to say.

Fact: Your systems are heating up. Having your main driver self-repair itself since your journey from Liyue to Sumeru might not have been a good idea. The heat spreads from your chest to each individual limb.

Fact: The Organic is looking at you.

Conclusion: Something is wrong—and you feel your vision blur just before the familiar feeling of falling grips your records.

There is a spark of electricity. It’s much stronger than whatever woke you up on that deserted battlefield in Liyue. You’re also not facing the ground either. Instead, there are bright lights above you as you lie flat on a hard surface. The feeling of air sneaking through the gaps of your gears makes you want to spill oil—the equivalent of an Organic vomiting—but you’re too weak to even be in touch with the extra supply of oil kept in what should be a liver if you were a human.

“…logic component has malfunctioned…” a voice says. You tilt your head to the side, expecting to see your wrists chained down, but they are not. You find them by your side, undisturbed. It dawns on you that you can sit up if you wish. There is nothing holding your body down.

“Collei,” the voice says, “could you pass me the screwdriver over there? I’m still trying to find the spare component I salvaged last month.”

“Could it be this?” another voice, softer and higher pitched, replies. You see a girl with green hair and purple eyes dash across the room while holding a metal piece. A logic component alright.

“Thank you,” the original voice says. Footsteps grow louder and you’re face to face with the man who brought his bow down when he saw you. He places his hands on your forehead, then retracts it as if he knew he made a mistake.

You don’t think he did though. The heat that was melting you from the inside has been quelled, and although you might not have been as complex as other synthetics to have textured skin, knowing that him putting his hand on your surface did not trigger any weird exchange of thermal energy meant you are better than before.

“Thank you,” you say, only remembering what this phrase means after hearing it from him. You close your eyes to surrender to the last surge of electricity that has been dwindling since it woke you up. You’re not going to fight—it’s the first time you’ve felt comfortable not recording all that’s happening around you. It’s safe to shut down.

“You knew, didn’t you?” you ask when the man entered the room. He had told you to rest as if your metal parts were as fragile and sensitive as tissues. You were created to jump back into duty the moment someone closed your outer layer. To rest was folly, but hearing his firm tone, in the short time you’ve observed him, thanks to your fixed logic component, you know it will be useless to argue with him even if you’d win.

“You weren’t in the best of shape when I found you,” he says and takes a spot beside you on the bed. He’s about to place his hands on your forehead again, although he realises what he’s doing this time and doesn’t make contact. “Scrapped layer, blinking eyes… it was easy to tell you weren’t an Organic.”

“If a Synthetic was abandoned, it was done for good reason. To have them roam around without an owner only meant it is part of the rebellion. Isn’t your kind against what we stand for?”

“Tighnari,” he says as he extends a hand. You only look at it, confused. You know he’s asking for a handshake, a sign of alliance, which boggles your new logic component. Why would he want to associate himself with you? To fix a “malfunctioned” ZandiCorp synthetic without a proper license was to ask for a death sentence by the creator himself. “You wouldn’t run away after I answer your question, would you?”

“I know you saved my life, but I’m not entering a contract with you,” you push his hands aside. There’s no other reason than him wanting to use you—it’s the only thing that made sense. You stand, twisting your wrists and taking a deep breath to ensure he did not change anything to prevent you from leaving.

“You’re right that I need you for something, but we don’t need to bind ourselves to a contract. Take it as returning my favour.” He stands between you and the door. You eye him up and down.

Fact: Your logic component was broken. It was due to the battle. It cushioned the blow such that your main infrastructure was untouched by danger. As programmed, you went into sleep mode to preserve and draw energy from your surroundings, preparing for a second awakening.

Fact: Tighnari was desperate. A contract ties a synthetic’s life to its owners. He knew your position, yet he tried anyway. He was also blocking you from running away, uncaring of the truth you can push him and be on your way. Plus, to work on a rebellion synthetic was against the laws of creation by ZandiCorp. Whatever he’s going to ask for must not be an easy task—it is very likely he needs a dispensable life to help him achieve his goals. You click your tongue at that thought. And you believed, just minutes ago, that you were in safe hands.

Fact: You do owe him one. You are not against settling balances in this world. If it could be done without an official contract that binds you to his every command, then he had a point. No good deed should go unreturned. This was programmed in your logic.

You stare into his eyes.

Conclusion:

“What do you need me to do?”

author's note: inspired by dillongoo's cyberpunk!genshin anime. some terms were borrowed from there. although i highly encourage everyone to watch it, my story can be enjoyed separately.

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

For Your Soul, I Shall Come

by SkyeIra

Jonathan Kent woke up one morning with a grim, horrifying mark etched on his shoulder: his soulmate had passed away. The experience left him shattered and broken. And then the unexpected happened. The mark on his shoulder shifted from ‘death’ to ‘rebirth’, convincing Jonathan that by miracle, his soulmate had come back to life.

When he finally met Damian Wayne for the first time, Jonathan swore in his heart to protect him, both as Superboy and himself, so the world could never again take him away from Jonathan.

Damian didn’t seem to appreciate that very much.

------

Or, a Soulmate AU where the young hero Superboy swore to protect the civilian Damian Wayne, both not knowing about each other’s secret identity.

Words: 4261, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Super Sons (Comics)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Multi

Characters: Jonathan Samuel Kent, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Alfred Pennyworth, Clark Kent, Lois Lane

Relationships: Jonathan Samuel Kent & Damian Wayne, Jonathan Kent/Damian Wayne, Jonathan Samuel Kent/Damian Wayne

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Family Relationship - Freeform, Friendship, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, childhood crush, Protective Jonathan Samuel Kent, Hurt Damian Wayne, Canon-Typical Violence, Crimes & Criminals, Kidnapping, Jon is 12, Damian is 13

source https://archiveofourown.org/works/47643151

[sassyduckqueen]

Spoilers for ROA below the cut!!

So this is Rene’s look when he transforms with his miraculous. His hero name is Wyvern and his ability is called Empower. When used, it allows the user to increase their allies’ strengths, abilities and endurance. It is very useful against an enemy who feeds on negative emotions such as Guilt Trip. The kwami is called Vernn and it’s concept is Chivalry.  Sir Rene also had the nickname the Dragon Knight because of his look. His Miraculous is a jacket earring that turns into a full dragon when it’s inhabited by Vernn and his weapon is a sword.

And this is Khnurn’s outfit when he transforms with the Sphinx Miraculous. He takes on the name Imenand, which means the hidden one, in this form and the ability is called Reveal. When the user uses this ability, they force those who lie to tell the truth. The kwami is called Nixx and their concept is intelligence. The weapon is a khopesh, a curved sword favoured by pharaohs. His miraculous is a head chain that transforms into a head piece when inhabited by Nixx.

[razieltwelve]

Don’t Say Goodbye... Say See You Later (Rebirth)

This is set in the Rebirth AU in which Taylor Hebert from Worm lives an entire life as Atalanta Yun-Farron (Taren’s twin) before eventually dying of old age and returning to her original body in the locker. She does, however, keep her Semblance, memories, and skills although they do take time to return in full.

X     X     X

They had finally done it.

Scion was defeated, and humanity was safe. Taylor - the young woman who had lived an entire life as Atalanta Yun-Farron - had led the campaign as Huntress, a hero from Brockton Bay. By some miracle, the friends she’d made in this life had survived the terrifying final battle.

She had been looking forward to a few years of peace... and then aliens had shown up because, of course, there were aliens.

Except... these aliens looked an awful lot like humans, and the one leading them looked a lot like Taren.

Using her sway as Huntress, Taylor had finagled her way into the diplomatic party that had been dispatched to meet them. They were using translators to make themselves understood, but she had picked up a few snippets of what was undeniable Remnant Standard and what sounded like Yun and Dia from them.

She waited until she and the leader of the delegation were alone in one corner of the room before trying her luck. She wasn’t really expecting anything to come of it, but Diana had once told her to try a certain phrase if she ever happened to return to her original body.

“Who knows,” Diana had said. “Maybe you’ll run into some our people again. The multiverse is a strange place. Weirder things have happened. We can all teach our children a certain pass phrase. That way, if you ever run into any of our descendants, they’ll know it’s.”

“So...” Taylor began. “Does the phrase ‘Gary is a bastion of sanity in a world gone mad’ mean anything to you?”

The man, who really did bear a remarkable resemblance to her twin, stared at her in shock. “I beg your pardon?”

“Gary is a bastion of sanity in a world gone mad.”

He blinked and then reflexively gave the counter phrase. “Only a madman thinks Gary promotes sanity.”

“Better a madman than a grumpy hedgehog,” Taylor replied.

“And better a grumpy hedgehog than a fluorescent gorgonopsid.” He stared. “I... how do you know those phrases?”

“I was there,” Taylor said quietly. “When Diana came up with and got all of us to make sure our children would memorise them.”

“Then...”

Taylor smiled. “In another life my name was Atalanta.”

The man’s eyes widened. “I see.” He lowered his voice. “In that case, would it be all right if I visited you privately later. There is something I must do.”

“That’s okay.” Taylor grinned. “Your name was Taren, right?”

“They named me after the progenitor of my line. I believe you were familiar with him.”

“I don’t suppose you have a chocobo, do you?”

“Yes, I do. However, I left him behind for this meeting. It is supposed to be a diplomatic meet and greet. My chocobo is...?”

“A giant jerk?”

Taren’s lips twitched. “You could say that.”

X      X      X

Later, once the party was over and Taylor had returned to the house she lived in, Taren appeared in her living room.

“Advanced teleportation technology or your Semblance?” Taylor asked.

“The latter,” Taren replied. He was carrying a long box. “This is for you.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know. But this box was entrusted to our family - our whole family - by Diana Yun-Farron millennia ago. We weren’t sure if it would ever be needed, but...” He pointed to where a light on the box was glowing green. “There can be no doubt. Our knowledge of soul transmigration says that a person’s soul can be recognised from one life to another. Aura is the power of the soul, so the fact that the box’s Aura sensor is indicating a match with previous scans of your Aura says enough.” He set the box on the table. “I will wait here. I would suggest taking the box somewhere private. The instructions made it clear that you would probably not want anyone else to bear witness to what it contains.”

“Uh... right.” Taylor took the box and went into her bedroom. She set the box on her bed and reached for the touch pad to open it. There was a brief flash of light and then a familiar feeling washed over her. “This is a Saviour-based silencing field...”

“Silencing field enabled.” The voice, calm and collected, came from the box. “Outside surveillance is now impossible. Do you wish to open the box?”

“Yes,” Taylor said. “Open the box.”

The box opened, and a holographic display activated. Tears prickled at the corner of her eyes. Diana was right there in front of her. She looked even older than Taylor could remember, which meant this had likely been recorded after Taylor - as Atalanta - had already passed away.

“Heh.” Diana smiled. It was the same smile she’d alway had, even if there were more wrinkles and her hair was now completely white. “If you’re watching this, then it meant I didn’t make a mistake with the math. You really did return to your original body when you died in our world.”

“As if you’d make a mistake with the math...”

“Atalanta,” Diana said. “I put this box together because no matter how far you go or how much time has passed when you finally get it, you will always be my sister.” She chuckled softly. “It’s been tough being the last, you know, the last from our generation. I’ve outlived everyone else, even you. But in a way, I’m glad. It would have broken Averia’s heart to see my die, and I know how much watching Averia and Taren pass away hurt you. At least this way, you didn’t have to bury me as well. But I can take it.” Diana’s smile was fierce. “I can carry this grief and sorrow without flinching because that’s the sort of person I am. And this way, I’m the one who gets to leave this message behind for you. Does that make me selfish? Maybe. But I never claimed to be perfect.”

Taylor had to wipe away a tear. It was like Diana was right there in the room with her. Despite the years that had passed since she’d returned - almost a decade - she had never forgotten her family from Remnant, had never stopped wishing she could see them one last time.

“A lot of the stuff I’d like to give you is stuff that I’ll be entrusting to our descendants. I’ve told people what to watch out for. But there is some stuff I wanted to put in a box, something you could receive as quickly as possible once one of our descendants found you. Go on, have a look.”

Taylor peered into the box and gasped. The box had obvious been divided into a few layers, but the top layer contained an item she would recognise anywhere.

“This is...”

“The first thing I wanted to give you was Adamantine Storm. I think you’ll find that it’s been restored to pristine condition.”

Taylor picked the weapon up reverently. It was the weapon she’d wielded for most of her life. Without thinking, she snapped it out to one side. It transformed seamlessly into a spear before changing into a sword, a rifle, and a whip. It had been years since she’d held it, yet it fit perfectly into her hand. Looking more closely at the blade, she read the inscription that Diana had put on the weapon when she’d made it.

“For my sister, who is incredibly stubborn. A weapon even harder than your head.”

Setting the weapon aside, she moved aside the divider to reach the item stored below it. Her eyes widened. It was a very familiar scroll. As she picked it up and turned it on, the hologram of Diana continued.

“I knew you’d appreciate your old weapon back, but I think you might like your scroll even more. It has all of the data saved still on it. That includes all of the pictures and videos you kept of our family and friends, as well as your wife, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. There was still some free space, so I threw in anything else I could think of that you might be interested in.”

Hands shaking, Taylor began to peruse the contents of the scroll. It was all there, just as Diana had said. The first picture she opened was one taken when she had just arrived at Beacon Senior Academy. Her parents were there, as were her siblings. They were all smiling and happy. Even Fury was there although he had his usual grumpy look about him.

Almost unable to do it, Taylor put the scroll down too and reached for the divider that hid the last object at the bottom of the box. When she saw it, she couldn't stop her tears.

It was an old kite, weather-beaten and badly dented.

“I remember when we made that kite,” Diana said. “You were six years old. We went to the park with our parents, and you saw other people flying kites. You wanted to fly one too, but we didn’t have one, so Averia and I helped you and Taren build one. Our parents pitched in too although they denied it when you asked if they’d done anything. They wanted you to believe it was all your own doing, but you were a smart kid. You knew what they were doing.” Diana chuckled. “We must have flown that kite for hours, and we flew it each time we went to the park until you finally stopped going.”

“I thought I’d lost this,” Taylor whispered.

“I found it when I was going through our things after... well... after you passed away. I didn’t want anyone else going through all the stuff we had back at our parent’s house - the house we grew up in - and I found it. I wanted to include it in the box because there are some things we can’t put into words, but I think this kite makes things pretty clear.” Diana leaned forward, and her smile was radiant. “You are loved, Atalanta. Never forget that. You are so loved.” Diana chuckled. “And this... this is where I stop talking. You’ve got hours and hours of footage of everybody on your scroll, and if you asked whoever brought you the box, I’m sure they’ll be able to get you more. There’s just one last thing I have to say.” Diana said a word, and Taylor frowned. That had been in Ancient Dia, and she’d never quite gotten fully fluent in it. “You’re probably looking puzzled right now,” Diana said. “So let me just tell you what that word meant, little sister. It means ‘goodbye but not farewell’ which is the Ancient Dia way of saying goodbye... but not forever.”

The image of Diana vanished, and Taylor fell to her knees. She felt the tears rolling down her cheeks, but she made no move to wipe them away. She wasn’t sure how long she stayed like that before she finally got to her feet. She took a moment to use the en suite bathroom to tidy up her appearance before she went back to the living room.

“Thank you,” Taylor said to Taren. “That... that box means so much to me.”

“It was my highest honour to give you that box, my lady.”

“My lady?” Taylor asked.

“Ah.” Taren smiled. “We haven’t revealed the details to your diplomats yet, but I belong to a faction known as the Grand Empire Alliance. It is an empire that spans multiple universes, but its origins can be traced to two groups: the Schnee Mercantile Alliance... and the Arendelle Empire.”

“The Arendelle... Empire?” Taylor murmured. “Then...?”

“Yes. The rulers of the Grand Empire Alliance are direct descendants of your sister Averia Yun-Farron and Elsa of Arendelle. As the sister of a founder of the Empire you are... well... nobility of the very highest degree.”

“...” Taylor sat down. “You’re going to have to explain a few things to me.”

“It would be my honour.”