#scott giving up his own life for an ally who died next

[legally-allowed-to-slime]

secret life finale was so good it couldn’t have been better scripted.

first tango dies, as per tradition. everyone is making tentative last minute alliances, setting traps, strengthening defences.

skizz, betrayed by impulse, goes down, killed by what seems the lurking power of mounders + gem n scotts. etho is killed by an increasingly unhinged scar.

the pace quickens. martyn goes out, invisible and defenceless, the last big dog. bigb’s silver tongue goes still, and the heart foundation is lost.

cleo dies at her son’s hands, and so does grian at gem’s, but not before he leaves gem and co. crippled, ensuring that they can’t win. and that’s the last of the roomies.

it’s the mounders, gem and the scotts, and scar. 3v3v1. joel’s firework sets off the chaos, and scar finds himself, confusingly, with the mounders.

impulse sinks, the anchor to their band, leaving gem and scott hurting and confused. they kill off the other two mounders, leaving pearl, who doesn’t want to win, and scar, who needs to.

and then scott gives up his life for gem, and now it’s just the leaders of the two strongest alliances on the server… and scar.

gem’s angry and sad and grieving (she doesn’t know how this works, cleo said, she doesn’t know about loyalty), and as she swipes her sword uncertainly pearl junps in and scar deals the final blow.

and now it’s just scar and pearl, retracing seasons past, a battle both sides know who wins.

a cactus ring in the desert, a stack of tnt on a hill…

and the fifth winner stands, laughing and scarred.

the villain won.

[melodiclune]

The theory that winners are the only ones who remember the happenings of the games is one that really sticks with me.

Grian going into the first game, with nothing except the whispers of a life he has elsewhere, and the murmurs of the Watchers in his mind. One thing leads to another, and his game ends with blood on his hands and tears in his eyes.

He falls. He dies. But he remembers.

Because then he spawns into a new game with the same people and- and nobody remembers anything. They're all lost, forming alliances and enemies in such stark contrast to everything they had the previous time. Grian is the only one who remembers, and all he can do is watch, like he's always doomed to.

Scott wins, and Scott remembers now. He remembers the flower fields, the burns of betrayal and war and distrust from his own game- and now his own ally from before, Pearl, remembers none of it. He can only watch as they abandon each other, nothing like the first time. Pearl spirals down, down, down- and Scott is the one who remembers how different things used to be.

And he still cares for Pearl. So he lights the TNT, and gives her the blessing (the curse) of remembrance.

Pearl, exhausted, betrayed and tired has no luxury of ignorance anymore. She only has the same people with blank memories to connect to all over again. And she's much more calm this time round, because she remembers the games before her own, too. Allies have been had before, and all she can do is trust, hope, that they will happen again.

(They do. She wants to lead them to the very end.)

And this time- she's killed by her own ally. (No, that's wrong, they were only allies two games ago, and conflicted in the previous- what are they now? Friend or foe?) She can't hold it against him though, of course she can't. They both understand too much for it.

Martyn wins- and he remembers all his past loyalty. The cold of the Red King's rule, the Southlanders and his foray into a game with soulmates with no connection to his own. He has the clutches of betrayal and the corruption of the Watchers guiding him into their next game, and all he can do is listen, as the others make new friends and foes all over again as though nothing before ever existed. The loyal alliances are but an echo of his betrayal and victory.

(Have you ever noticed how winners hardly ever team up with each other? They're all so focused on supporting their allies, after they win, and they hardly cross paths with the previous winners. It's like they know, that the memories leave their connections in confusing pieces. Nobody knows where they lie with each other anymore, and they don't have the blank bliss to take comfort in. Grian never did.)

Grian can only watch, like he's always doomed to- as Scar dons a cloak with poppies and lilacs embroidered, and he's the one who remembers. He's the one who knows what those flowers mean, and Scar is all alone this time round. Pearl throws herself into fire if it means her allies have a shot at winning. (They all fall before her, and all she has is an ally she makes on the same day.) Fighting Scar at the very end is like fighting herself from the past- she's grown so much, since then. She can only hope Scar does too.

Martyn has no one but himself, now that Jimmy's gone, and yet he's betrayed no one this time round. Scott holds his head down as he lets Gem take his final life- he already has the curse of remembrance. For Gem, with such a strong will to win and things to prove, it would mean the world to be the last person standing. She has no memories to recall. It would be far easier on her, than anyone else.

And yet, it's Scar who wins. And he remembers. The burning sun of the desert, the cold winds of a forgotten and lonely mountain, the pandas and the dripstone, the clocktower and a family of old.

All he can do is stare, at the blood on his hands and the quiet stillness of the world. Every other winner understands, the cruel irony of their final stand being the one that reminds them of every other game. The cold clutches of terror when they realise nobody else remembers the way they do.

Maybe that's why they're so understanding, so self sacrificing, and so true to their allies the second they get them. Throwing themselves into each game time and time again, not because they want to win again, but because that's easier than bearing the brunt of the trust and betrayals of the past.

[bigb-enthusiast]

3L bigb is so aghhghfhfhh i do remember seeing someone say they wouldn’t recommend his pov to anyone cause it was just mining like yea. Yeah he did do that and yeah he was gone with the “important” session so hush and also consider you can DO stuff with him staying in the MINES. The isolation, the loneliness of the constant dark of being buried underground for your own materials to live that you’ll lose in the end. His interactions also are interesting, martyn Literally calls him a canary then through out the series he is in the mines. Yeah no one talks about it but i do!! His interactions are also so augh owie but augh awwg. Him being frightened by skizz but still telling skizz he’ll protect and shelter him in his home when skizz needs help. And skizz saying hed protect bigb with his life only for skizz to die next session, bigb unable to save him like he promised. Then the session bigb returns skizz is dead so hes also unable to save bigb like HE promised. Also him being forced into dogwarts?? And him being the LAST dogwarts?? HIM DYING BY ARROWS ALL 3 TIMES. HIM TRICKING BDUBS SCAR AND GRIAN INTO SAYING HIS FINAL WORDS BUT ITS REALLY HIM TRYING TO KILL GRIAN BEFORE HES SHOT AND KILLED BY BDUBS. HE KNEW HE WOULDNT WIN BUT HE DIDNT GO DOWN WITHOUT A FIGHT. Then despite him screaming in his final moments he’s then silent. Quiet as ever as others cheer and boo and laugh and chuckle hes silent. Watching, watching the three stand then two stand then the one stand In LL bigb starts off isolated again but gets to talk to others, him and cleo later agreeing to team and then they live together, they gift eachother stuff and care. They team with lizzie then team with ren, bigb cares for cleo more than the other two by far. Even showing hed fight a redlife joel for them if joel tried to hurt them. But then he gets boogey, he doesnt want to hurt his allies he doesnt want them scared so he lies. But then by the end of the session he realizes he has to kill and he killed cleo but apologizing it all hes apologizing for it all and gets their stuff and puts it away and tries to defend himself from jimmy and martyn who are berating him for what he did unknowing of the full story. Later again cleo gets on red and blames and threatens bigb and bigb due to this refuses to sleep and also gets so scared he tries a new identity aka terry he discovers this doesnt work so he gives up that shtick and sees cleo burn fairy fort and he tries to be normal with this stuff, he fails and later its just him and ren after lizzie dies. Lizzie appears and tells bigb he was her downfall and kills him. Him noticing ren didnt even try to help. Bigb later dies again due to a tnt chest and is on red. He is with scar and apologizes and tries to kill ren but suddenly more greens appear and hes killed with an arrow by cleo, he dies and is silent once again watching as martyn and cleo celebrate his death and he ends off that episode there. DL he joins and says how he hopes cleo is his soulmate, he is happy despite what shes and hes done. He also says he hopes jimmys his soulmate. In the mountain he is mining in cleo appears and they try for soulbound and discover its not eachother. Bigb mines more before he decides to look for his soulmate, he asks the frogs to lead him to where they lead him to a cave with joel, scott, etho, and cleo. He tries to see if cleo is his soulmate again and is sad once again tries with scott then tries with ren and discovers it is after miscommunication happens. The two team and build box! Bigb also shows he cares for pearl deeply but is scared of her also with the deaths and all. He slowly becomes more sad seeing ren talk with martyn more and believes ren will abandon him for martyn, thats why he agrees to the secret soulmate thing. He just believes ren would leave him. This also fails as grian leaves him too and ren finds out and kicks him out of box. But bigb dies again and bigb wants revenge but before that he talks with ren but immediately ren goes to martyn as he tries to explain everything When ren returns he explains the revenge

[peppered-moths]

Ooh we’re doing song gifts? Try Jericho by Celldweller! There’s definitely vibes there for something I’m sure!

SCARIAN. sorry. i can't help it. i also refuse to stop (specifically life series scarian)

"You feel so safe inside / The walls you fortified" - it's 3rd life. grian just wants to have some fun! he... he really didn't mean to kill him. let a creeper kill him. he pledges his first life- only his first life. as soon as he's yellow, he's out. no need to get attached.

"You build 'em up / You layer stone on stone / You build 'em high / To keep out your enemies" - grian doesn't want scar. not as an ally. but there's really nowhere else to go. dogwarts hates them, and he's already broken any trust he has with any other faction. so he doubles down instead, proves his loyalty. he sticks close to scar. out of necessity, of course.

"An unhappy ending to your final fantasy" - oh. that. that wasn't how it was supposed to end. maybe secretly, he had dreamed of the desert. of a life, maybe. something that wasn't survival. something that was them. but, well. there's- there's blood on his hands. it's sticky, and- grian doesn't think he wants to stick around much longer.

"Supremacy implied / Who dares to overthrow? / Arrogance justified / Self-importance amplified" - the southlands is powerful, one has to admit. largest faction on the server, bold enough to hand a life around like a piece of paper, distrustful enough to watch with eyes like a hawk. they build the walls high. grian tries to pretend there isn't anything pulling at his heart beyond the walls. because there isn't. he dreams of a desert.

"You're looking down / And feeling so profound / You're so impressed by your own false humility" - dulce et decorum est, pro patria mori. it is sweet and proper to die for one's country, so grian does the opposite. the southlands... well. there's always something to give up. he dies as he lives, running, though perhaps not from his heart this time.

"An unhappy ending to your sense of deity" - fine, then. he kills scott. strikes him down with a bolt of lightning, reveling in sharp-sweet power. is this what you wanted me to be? he sees the way scar- scar's ghost- looks at him. like there's still blood on his hands. ghosts cannot dream of deserts. never again.

"You sit alone / Up on your lonely throne / You're so oblivious / To your own frailty" - if the universe wants to screw him over, fine. see if grian cares! he's powerful on his own. he doesn't want scar. he doesn't remember what blood feels like on his knuckles. he doesn't dream of deserts. he wants his own choices for once!

"An unhappy ending to the life you've glorified / To the life you've glorified" - he doesn't even get to say i'm sorry. there's no closure. his eardrums ring. he thinks he should've died in the desert, when scar kissed him for the first and last time and he pretended it didn't matter. there is only the end. there is only the potential for another game.

"We'll all enjoy the show / It's down you go / Can't wait to see you go / When your walls fall like Jericho!" - we do enjoy the show, don't we? we watch them. we see things even they do not. did you watch the barriers falling? did you watch them come back up, deadly and thorn-covered? i think we all know how the next season ends. can't wait to watch.

[darkleweather]

We’re here again, Jimmy thinks, as they all stand in an awkward circle and say their first false-bright “Hello!”

And then it’s an awkward laugh and everyone turning and running away as fast as they can, because they know the drill by now. They all know what happens. You punch wood and you gather supplies and you build a place that can be defended if need be—don’t worry about making it pretty, only Scott cares about that—and you can’t trust anyone. Not even the ones who say they’ve allied with you.

(This time is supposed to be different. There’s supposed to be one person you can trust, one bond above any other. Except Jimmy had that before, and look where it landed him?)

We’re here again, he thinks, as he digs down trying to find iron.

There’s one other thing that will happen. Has always happened. Will probably always happen, in every cycle and every game, despite his struggle against it.

Jimmy dies first.

Oh sure, Scar has died before him, but not when it counted. Not on his red life. No, that’s always Jimmy, grayed out and red eyed and falling, falling, falling, first into that infinite blackness until the game is done and they’re sent back home.

It’s his curse, he’s come to realize. His death curse. Sometimes Jimmy wonders if he should just step back, keep away from the others before his curse inevitably reaches out with cold fingers and drags them down with him. (It’s happened before.)

Maybe he shouldn’t find his soulmate. Maybe if he doesn’t acknowledge them, admit the bond that now irrevocably ties them together, they’ll be safe. Jimmy looks down at his wrist. The first time, there were just the life gems, green yellow red, embedded in his skin. The second, there had been the boogeyman curse, a blackened heart on the back of his hand. And now, there was another addition—a faint red thread, tied in a knot and trailing off into mist. He wondered if he could pick apart the knot and loose the thread and let his soulmate live.

And then, he feels a sharp, hot pain against his back, knocking him forward, his inventory scattering across the ground as his vision fades to black. There’s just enough time to see the death messages:

>TangoTek blew up<

>SolidarityGaming died<

We’re here again, he thinks, and in the blink of an instant, he’s lying on his back at spawn, blinking up at the bright sun.

“Man, I am so sorry,” a voice says, and a shape stands over him, offering a hand up.

Jimmy takes it and studies the man he’s now bonded to for the rest of this game. Tango looked disheveled, his bright yellow flame-like hair sticking up in all directions, a smudge of soot on one cheek. He’s still jumpy, twitching as he looks over his shoulder at a sound in the woods.

“What happened?” Jimmy asks. This feels weird. This is a guy who builds death games inside of death games. Tango used to seem comfortable and casual about death, but two rounds of this and he’s obviously changed…

Because he’s kind of like Jimmy. Who died fighting for a lost cause, and then again at his own failed trap. The one who, you might say, had a death curse of his own. Who died to his own mistakes.

“Creeper,” Tango says. “Man, Jimmy, I’m so sorry. I’m an idiot.”

“No. No, you’re not, it’s okay, I’m used to dying,” Jimmy blurts out, not really thinking through what he’s saying.

Tango gives him a startled look, but Jimmy’s already moving, already going through what he needs to do next. He needs to find his stuff. Tango needs to find his items as well. Maybe make a hidden chest for backup gear at spawn. He’s saying it all out loud, not really expecting an answer, used to talking to himself out of habit, and he’s surprised when Tango starts answering, telling him the ideas are solid, that they should definitely do all of those things.

We’re here again, he thinks, and this time there’s a cold comfort there knowing that at least he wasn’t bound to someone like Scott or Grian, someone who had unbelievable luck and could use it, someone he would drag down (again). Maybe he and Tango could cancel each other out. Maybe they could both work against their curses and figure out a way to survive against the odds. Or maybe it would drag them down faster.

Either way—at least he has someone he can count on again. At least there’s someone who will go down fighting beside him. Better than that—someone who thinks he has good ideas, someone who listens, someone who doesn’t crack jokes and understands the curse they both now shoulder.

And that’s a bit more than cold comfort—that’s a spark of hope.

[stxleslyds]

Also, the writers' failure to understand, every crime Jason committed had a motive. Attack other criminals? Holy warrior destined to purify the world of evil. Attack Bruce? Joker's still alive. (Oh, Jason, it's much worse than that.) Attack Tim? A parody of what he once was. He wasn't just a "bad boy". He was dangerously insane.

Hi, Anon! Yup, there seems to be a lot of things that writers have gotten confused about Jason Todd/Red Hood and the biggest one is his motivations to kill certain criminals.

Let’s be honest, Judd Winick set a golden path for the upcoming Red Hood writers. But each and every writer that used Red Hood in their stories completely missed the point of Jason’s character. All of them. It’s so incredibly wild to me that every other writer read UtRH and came up with whichever version of Jason they came up with.

Let’s list the writers that completely missed the point.

Geoff Johns in Teen Titans vol.3 #29.

Geoff Johns was one of the first to completely mischaracterize Jason, why on earth would Jason go to the Titans Tower to beat up Tim? This is not me saying that Jason would never do that because Jason thinks of Tim as his brother or a friend or the person that he can trust the most from the Bat-Clan (can you believe Lobdell tried to sell us that one?), this is me saying that Jason wouldn’t have done that because he couldn’t have given less of a fuck about Tim’s existence.

When Jason found out that Bruce had another Robin he wasn’t bothered by his “replacement” he was mad at Bruce for having another child playing hero after he lost his life as a fifteen-year-old. Jason didn’t even think of Tim as his replacement as fandom likes to make us believe, Jason called Tim “pretender”. And that was that, but to go from minimal recognition to go out of his way to beat him up at Titans Tower is a massive mischaracterization.

Paul Dini in Countdown (to Final Crisis).

Paul Dini in Countdown did absolutely nothing with Jason, I am sorry but that’s all he did. Him writing Jason was like watching a dog trying to catch their own tail. He started with a pretty basic take on UtRH Jason, then he added a bit of Jason being an annoying man with Donna, then we had the jealousy arc because apparently, Jason had the hots for Donna but she didn’t want anything to do with him and he was all angsty when she paid attention to Kyle instead of him, and then, later on, he had that whole Red Robin bullshit (I am sorry about this, but I absolutely hated that, it was so dumb, I am so glad it didn’t last long because it was just too bad), and after all that mix of just not interesting stuff he went right back to the Jason that he had at the very start. It was a waste of time, but I guess that he had to be there because he was an anomaly and all that. I just think that was DC’s first try at making Jason Todd/Red Hood something more than just a street-level vigilante and they failed miserably.

Tony S. Daniel in Batman: Battle for the Cowl.

Even though the first two did make mistakes with Jason’s characterizations, this man was the first to just throw UtRH out of the window and make up his very own version of Jason Todd. And his version was horrendous, that Jason had no problem with attempting to kill children and innocent people, he also really wanted to be Batman because Gotham needed a Batman and he wanted to be the person to wear the Cowl and he was looking for a Robin for himself.

I know, the whole concept is the perfect opposite of what Jason Todd and Red Hood were in UtRH. Every aspect of BftC Jason is based on nothing.

Jason wanting to be Batman because Gotham needed Batman is just the beginning of what’s wrong in this book. Jason became the Red Hood (in part) because he believed that Batman and his ways weren’t what Gotham needed so he made a better version of Batman with Red Hood (according to him) because Red Hood did what Batman refused to do. Another thing that is just wrong is Jason wanting, Damian, Tim or Dick to be his Robin, there is just so much wrong with this, first of all, Jason wanted Batman to stop having Robin because child soldiers ran the risk of dying at a very young age and that’s exactly how he saw the whole thing because that was what had happened to him. Second, if Jason was mad at Bruce for getting another Robin why would he now want one of his own to team up with his Batman? Damian was a child, Tim was someone that apparently Jason hated (because Jason beating Tim was mentioned in this event), and then Jason actually asked Dick Grayson, Nightwing, to be his Robin? Listen, there is no way that was Jason, nothing about him makes sense, even taking into account that Jason had beaten Tim already in this event Jason actually tried to kill both Tim and Damian (it might have been just one of them but yeah, it still doesn’t make sense).

I just don’t think that Tony S. Daniel knew who Jason Todd was, maybe he got confused but the thing is, his “villainous” and deranged version of Jason Todd allowed a villainous and deranged version of Red Hood to happen with the next writer that I will be talking about.

Grant Morrison in Batman and Robin vol.1 #3-6.

This was the birth of the villainous, deranged and bloodthirsty Red Hood. There is absolutely no trace of UtRH Jason here, not even if we are looking at the opposite of things like we could do with Daniel’s Jason. Grant Morrison wanted Dick and Damian to have a villain to match their Batman and Robin and they decided to give us a red-haired-pill-headed-red hood. Everything from Morrison’s characterization of Jason is crazy, from the red hair (hello pre-crisis) to the awful Joker’s Red Hood looking suit, everything was just weird.

I still don’t believe that was Jason, to be honest, I would rather think that version of Jason was actually a rouge Skrull that came all the way from the Marvel Universe and lost his way in Gotham City. Maybe when he made the jump between universes, he got too much information and got confused and took the form of the wonkiest Jason Todd he could come up with.

This Jason was absolutely deranged, he knew exactly what he was doing and he didn’t care if innocents died. This Jason was the one that got locked up in Arkham. This is the Jason that Dick put in Arkham for Jason and everybody else’s safety.

Dick putting that Jason in Arkham wasn’t a bad thing or something that anyone can use to shit on Dick Grayson (not on this house). This Arkham was reformed and that Jason knew that if he stayed in that new Arkham he would stay away from trouble, but here is the thing, that Jason loved trouble, so he took all the tests to prove he wasn’t insane and asked to be transferred to Blackgate (where all the Red Hood’s enemies were). That Jason didn’t ask to be sent to Blackgate because the Joker was a cell away from his in Arkham, he did it so he could go on a killing spree in Blackgate (which he did when he got there).

Skrull Jason was just bloodthirsty and nothing like UtRH Jason, he had no motive other than just killing for fun or whatever. He didn’t want to protect Gotham and he couldn’t have cared less about the drug trade in Gotham. In Batman and Robin vol.1. Jason Todd was unrecognizable. And luckily, we never saw him again.

Scott Lobdell in Everything that he ever wrote about Red Hood.

This one is pretty self-explanatory. Lobdell was the king of overpowering Jason, he was the one that drove Red Hood farther and farther away from his street-level vigilante status. He continuously added more to him, he was a big deal because he was meant to take down Ra’s al Ghul, he was a big deal because he was the only human to train in the All-Castle and learned to summon the All-Blades.

This Red Hood’s morals and ideals were kind of gone, there just wasn’t any kind of interest in Jason to get rid of drugs or try to control its trade in Gotham, he just had no interest in street-level threats, everything was extraordinary in both New 52 and Rebirth. If he wasn’t in space he was in some mystical land. His friends and allies became even more and more powerful, his level of power was completely off compared to the others. His personality was ever-changing and quite honestly you could barely see the Jason that he once was.

This Jason also was very inconsistent in the way that he felt towards people (obviously because Lobdell is a shitty writer), he wanted to follow Batman’s rules and was shown as someone that still had fond memories of his life with Bruce before he died but was also willing to let those memories go, to move on? Maybe? I don’t know. But he changed his mind about Bruce and following his rules or not for a very long time. Jason was also a little bitch about Dick, and he was a little bitch because he (Lobdell) never gave the reader or anyone a concrete reason as to why he hated him so much and then in Rebirth he decided that Dick wasn’t that bad. Also, Jason went from “Willis Todd, abusive husband and father that deserved to die” to “Willis Todd abusive husband and father but he sent me letters when he was in prison and Penguin had him killed so now, I really want to avenge him”. Yeah, I don’t really know why that happened and like most of Lobdell’s arcs and stuff it was never really completed or well thought out.

Lobdell’s Jason characterization was a mess for ten years and that’s the prime reason why Jason is a character with no solid background, story or future.

James Tynion IV in Red Hood and the Outlaws.

Tynion’s Jason Todd was a hero, he was like a mini Tom King Batman. Everything he did was right and there was just no way that you could bamboozle him. This Jason was able to hold to Blades that drained his soul as well as hosting the Untitled in his body (that were able to drain his soul too) and on top of all that he completed his journey of the Chosen One by making those ancient martial arts moves that he learned before he was Robin even though Talia hadn’t been able to master it yet.

Scott Snyder, Tim Seeley in Batman Eternal and Batman and Robin Eternal.

A mess, this was pure New 52 levels of bullshit and they all just wanted to push the “Batfamily” and while Dick was gone, they were trying to make Jason fill the void that Dick left in Batman events. It didn’t work at all and all they did was mess around with Jason’s characterization more.

Geoff Johns in Three Jokers.

I have talked enough about Johns’ takes on Jason Todd and Red Hood, but let me tell you something real quick, if a writer thinks that the best they can do with a character is make them give up their morals/ideals for an unrequited love interest, then they can keep that idea for themselves. Geoff Johns wrote a book that was absolutely not needed and then proceeded to butcher every characterization that he could, Three Jokers was three issues long and he managed to add more trauma to Jason’s torture, push the narrative of Jason being at fault for his own murder and make Jason’s motivations to be the Red Hood weak enough to make him want to give up his work for a woman that he barely knows (and doesn’t like him at all).

Joshua Williamson in Future State: Red Hood and Robin #5.

Now, with Williamson I have issues only when he writes Jason, not because his stories are bad, don’t get me wrong, I would have completely enjoyed FS: Red Hood if it weren’t for the completely unnecessary Rose/Jason side plot he had going on. Jason was clearly working undercover for some people that he hated working with. He had to arrest or kill “masks” (vigilantes, just like he “used” to be) for the Magistrate.

His ideas were pretty solid, Jason did the job but he never killed the masks and actively didn’t trust the Magistrate but he was working there to tear them apart from within, and that’s amazing if Williamson had given us Jason Todd/Red Hood working undercover to dismantle an organization I would have been really happy.

But that’s not all he gave us, even if I just forget about his failed attempt at giving Jason a relationship, I can still see that Williamson is the kind of writer that wants (or is just following DC) to make the “Batfamily” happen no matter how dumb and out of place it looks in comics’ canon. So, I am a little bit weary, any writer that leans too much towards making Jason and Bruce work together and become a family makes me want to scream, but I do understand that is just me, many people want those two to be buddy-buddy, I, personally, would love to see Jason kick Bruce in the balls and tell him to lose his number.

Chip Zdarsky in Urban Legends: Cheer.

Ah, yes, I remember the days in which I thought that this could have been something good. Well, I was utterly wrong and I suffered all the way through this mini. I feel like now I can safely say that Zdarsky only wanted to write a Batman book but DC told him, “Hey you can write Batman but it has to be within a Red Hood story, but don’t worry, you don’t have to know much about the Hood guy, just come up with something and write Batman around that”.

I know that’s what happened because I read that story and all we got from it was horrible characterizations for pre-Robin Jason, Robin Jason, Jason Todd and Red Hood. I don’t know how he did it but yes, he managed to mess it all up.

From Jason not really wanting to be Robin and acting recklessly every step of the way, to secret desires of a perfect family with Bruce and so many other people that he couldn’t care about, Urban Legends: Cheer is the perfect book to avoid at all costs if you believe that the concept of “Batfamily” is the biggest lie, DC is trying to profit off this time around.

Zdarsky also nerfed Jason in ways that I thought DC only wanted to nerf Dick Grayson. But I was able to see that I was wrong. Zdarsky’s run also pushed some of the most disastrous narratives that DC really wants readers to believe like: Robin Jason wasn’t good at his job, he was too reckless and ultimately his death was his own fault. Yay! I want to cry!

I will give Zdarsky two points for at the very least showing that Red Hood wants to protect children and that he has a huge issue with how the drug trade is controlled and abused in Gotham City, it had been a while since we had seen that aspect of Jason’s Red Hood make an appearance.

-

It’s just too many writers completely missing the point of Red Hood’s character or simply writers agreeing to destroy Jason’s uniqueness in the DC Universe so DC (as the publisher) can further push the abomination that is the “Batfamily” in comics’ canon.

I do agree with you Anon when you say that Jason isn’t just a “bad boy” but I also don’t think that we can call UtRH Jason “dangerously insane”. Personally, I will only use that last description for BftC and Batman and Robin Jason, those two were dangerously insane indeed.

UtRH Jason was very meticulous in who he wanted dead and who got to live. He entered Gotham’s most dangerous world and he had to make a big entrance, he invited the eight most prosperous street dealers to a meeting, showed up with the decapitated heads of each of their right-hand men and an AK-47 and said:

“I am offering you a deal. I will be running the drug trade from now on. You will go about your business as usual. You will kick up forty percent to me. That is a much better deal than the Black Mask will give you. In return, you will have total protection from both the Black Mask and Batman. The catch? You stay away from kids and schoolyards. No dealing to children, got it? If you do, you’re dead.”

This was Red Hood! Red Hood wanted to control the drug trade in Gotham because he knew that Gotham is far too corrupt and filled with drug lords for him to just want to eradicate drugs from Gotham. If he had tried that he would have been a dumbass, but he wasn’t. He didn’t want to start a gang war and get innocent people killed because of it, he wanted to set the rules of his new Empire and he had to start with the street-level drug dealers, from there he grew until he became a major pain in Black Mask’s ass.

We went from Jason wanting to control the drug trade and take over Gotham’s underworld so people like Black mask couldn’t have people work for him (or being dependent on him) when they were still in high school or were in a vulnerable position, to Jason fighting a war for a mystic land because he was their “Chosen One”. DC really wanted to do something grand (yet boring) with Jason instead of sticking to a street-level vigilante that could have become a Drug Lord to control the drug trade of a city that is so filled with crime and corruption that it can’t be saved by anyone.

Batman doesn’t eradicate crime, he “controls” it, puts a blank it over it, lets it nap up until it wakes up once more to make more mess.

Red Hood had other plans, certain criminals didn’t get to nap, or, better said, they would get to nap forever.

So, no. I wouldn’t call that “dangerously insane”, I will call that “vigilante that believes himself judge, jury and executioner” of a city that is drowning in crime and corruption.

Anyway, I hope you have a really nice week Anon and thank you so much for sending me this ask!

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

soooo... can we get a what might have happened if Jimmy's worst fear came true and Dogwarts tried to sacrifice Scott?

okay this ended up being kinda self indulgent lol hope that’s okay

...

Scott is starting to regret letting the Dogwarts trio take him and Jimmy back to their base, but he can’t exactly back out now. It’s his own fault, really, for asking if there’s anything else he can do to support Dogwarts from a distance, rather than putting up their banner.

He shoots a sideways glance at Jimmy, who seems even more nervous than him. Scott resists the urge to reach out and take his hand.

Finally, they arrive at Dogwarts. Scott is more than worried to see that a new platform with torches surrounding it on all four corners has sprung up in the middle of the carrot field. It looks innocent enough but something about it gives it an ominous vibe.

Unfortunately, this is exactly where Ren leads Scott.

“What is this?” Scott asks warily, putting one foot on the step up.

“This is the Altar of the Black Heart,” responds Ren ominously. “For Dogwarts to truly achieve full power, it requires a sacrifice. The death of an outsider.”

Scott’s eyes widen as he realises what this means. “Whoa, whoa, hold on a second!”

He backs away a few steps but bumps into Etho, who takes hold of him in a surprisingly strong grip.

Jimmy starts forward with a gasp but Martyn grabs him and pushes him down, holding him in place. “Scott!” Jimmy cries uselessly.

Ren stands on the hill just above the altar as Etho drags Scott into place and tries to hold him down. Scott struggles against Etho’s grip, causing Etho to backhand him across the face.

“LEAVE HIM ALONE!” Jimmy screams. “SCOOOOOOTT!”

Blood trickling out the corner of his mouth, Scott coughs and tries to fend Etho off again.

“I’d stop resisting if I were you, Scott,” comes Martyn’s cold voice.

Scott glances over at him. His heart freezes as he finds Martyn holding a sword to Jimmy’s neck. “No!” he gasps. “Don’t!”

“Then hold still.”

After a moment, Scott squeezes his eyes shut and falls still, letting Etho push him to his hands and knees in the centre of the altar.

“Scott…!” croaks Jimmy. “No…!”

Scott forces himself to meet Jimmy’s terrified gaze. “It’ll be okay, Jimmy,” he whispered, just loud enough for Jimmy to hear. “Just stay strong for me, okay? Stay strong.”

“A sacrifice must be made!” announces Ren, spreading his arms to the skies. “Do the honours, Etho.”

Etho nods and raises his axe.

Jimmy looks away, starting to hyperventilate. He can’t watch this.

Scott closes his eyes.

“STOP!”

Everyone freezes.

Scott dares to look up and spots Grian standing a little way off, fists clenched. “I don’t know what the hell is going on here but it stops now!” Grian shouts.

Taking advantage of his distracted state, Jimmy wrenches free from Martyn and dashes to hide behind Grian.

On the altar, Etho pushes Scott further down to the ground and holds his axe threateningly over his back. “It would only take one swing,” he warns.

“Stand down, Grian,” commands Ren.

Grian holds up a block of TNT in one hand and a flint and steel in the other. “Let Scott go now,” he orders. “Don’t make me blow this place up.”

“How much damage do you think you’re gonna do with one block of TNT?” Ren scoffs.

“Who said anything about just one? We snuck in here while you lot were out and planted TNT all over this place. All it’ll take is one little lit block and the whole place goes up.”

Ren narrows his eyes. “You’re bluffing.”

“Am I?” Grian says challengingly. “Do you wanna find out? I’m sitting pretty on my green life but you? You’ll be taken out in an instant.”

Everyone present knows the implications of this. Ren is the leader of Dogwarts and he put himself down to red on purpose. If he dies, the Red Army will become nothing. It will negate everything Ren’s worked so hard to build up. Grian may die too if Dogwarts explodes but that’s nothing compared to what Ren will lose.

“All you want is for us to release Major?” asks Ren after a moment.

Grian nods. “That’s right. Release Scott and let him, me, and Jimmy leave this place safely.”

Scott can feel himself trembling, not daring to lift his head to look at Jimmy. He has no idea if Ren will agree to this or not. Even if he does, Etho could choose to end him anyway.

After an agonising pause, Ren says, “I will release Major if you promise not to blow Dogwarts up.”

“I agree to your terms,” Grian responds.

Scott and Jimmy simultaneously let out a breath of relief.

“Etho, let him go,” Ren orders.

Etho releases Scott, who climbs to his feet and takes a few cautious steps away from him.

Just as Scott jumps down from the altar, Etho whips out a block of TNT, lights it, and tosses it. It lands in front of Scott, who scrambles to the side to avoid it. The resulting explosion sends him flying into the wall of Renchanting. He hits the ground at the base of the wall, unconscious.

“Scott!” Jimmy yells, dashing to his friend’s side.

Grian curses under his breath. Ren may have called his bluff but Etho didn’t. Now he’s been exposed. There’s no TNT under Dogwarts. And they’re all in incredible danger.

Etho darts forward.

“SCAR, NOW!” Grian shrieks.

A second later, an arrow flies out of nowhere and hits Etho in the leg, sending him down.

Grian dashes over to Scott and helps Jimmy lift him up. Carrying him between them, the two flee out of the gate and down the hill towards the desert.

Scar appears at their side moments later, carrying a bow. “I shot Ren, like, twice in the arm,” he pants. “I think that’ll slow them down.”

Grian doesn’t waste his breath in responding.

Luckily, the Red Army seem not to be following them, and they manage to make it to the desert with no problems.

As the group head up towards the desert house, Scott awakens with a quiet groan. Jimmy hears this and his heart leaps, but he can’t quite summon the energy to speak yet.

Grian and Jimmy lower Scott down just outside the house. No sooner have Scott’s feet touched the ground than his knees buckle and he collapses into Grian, who helps him sit down against the side of the building.

Jimmy immediately drops to his knees beside Scott, using the edge of his scarf to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth and his chin. “Are you okay?” he asks urgently, his voice shrill with panic. “Did you hit your head? You’re still bleeding! How badly did Etho hurt you? Are you-.”

Scott cuts him off by grabbing him in a tight hug. Jimmy hugs him back, both of them trembling from adrenaline and fear.

“I’m okay now,” says Scott in a hoarse whisper, before glancing up at Grian, who’s standing a few blocks away, trying not to listen in. “Thank you for saving us, Grian. How did you know we needed help?”

“Actually, we were just on our way to plant a load of TNT under Dogwarts when we saw your predicament,” says Grian. “I know we’ve never really been allies but I couldn’t just stand around and let them kill you like that. What were they even doing?”

“Oh, god knows. Either way, I really appreciate it. If you ever need help, just call on us and we’ll be there.”

Grian nods back. “Thanks, Scott. Same to you.”

Jimmy turns his head to glare back towards Dogwarts. “They’re barbaric,” he growls. “I-I can’t believe I almost lost you.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” Scott clasps Jimmy’s hand reassuringly. “I’m okay and so are you. We’ll get them next time, okay? Side by side.”

After a moment, Jimmy nods and squeezes Scott’s hand.

“Side by side.”

[bigskydreaming]

I absolutely hate that the most popular Melissa ships are with Chris and the Sheriff, the first of whom pointed a gun at her son multiple times, while the Sheriff used Scott to track down criminals but didn't give a crap when he was kidnapped and taken to Mexico. Melissa might have had her flaws, especially after finding out Scott was a werewolf and in season 5, but she deserved better than that, and Scott definitely deserved a father figure that actually cared about him.

Oh wait, he had one. Wonder why no one ever shipped Melissa with Deaton. It's a real mystery.

RIGHT???

I will literally never stop being a screaming little ball of rage that the show was so oblivious to the trauma it heaped on its main character that it never even OCCURRED to them that maybe the woman who kicked her FBI husband to the curb for drunkenly knocking Scott down a flight of stairs as a kid MIGHT not be keen to hook up with a guy who had knowingly and with intent:

threatened her son at gunpoint at multiple times, told him he was a monster, told him part of him wanted to kill him because his wife died (after taking her own life due to getting bitten by Derek defending Scott from HER murder attempt), had broken the window of Melissa's car and dragged her son OUT THROUGH it in order to threaten to kill him if he ever caught him with Allison again, had held Scott choking by the throat against his fridge while threatening him again, had shot Scott through the arm the very first night he was a werewolf and hadn't done shit to anybody in direct contradiction to Chris' insistence that he only ever hurt werewolves who had ALREADY hurt people...

And all without Chris ever saying an ACTUAL word of apology for ANY of this to Scott, but its okay, because Scott forgave him and looked up to him and trusted him and that means its all good, and not that Scott just has shit self-esteem due to being abused and traumatized left and right by all authority figures in his life except for Alan, the Clear Untrustworthy Asshole Adult in all of this.

Like, maybe Melissa might have had some THOUGHTS on all of this, if the show had ever considered it remotely a priority to have someone fill her in on the laundry list of shit Chris had done to her son before like, pointing her towards Chris and telling Cupid to take the shot.

And we don't acknowledge Melissa/Stilinski around these parts, nope. He can choke after the whole "sure, Scott only went to hell and back to be my literal ONLY ally at various points of 3B, as invested if not more invested than I was in keeping Stiles alive no matter how many people wanted him dead, but let's leave his kidnapping to the authorities who have absolutely no idea about anything supernatural and who even if they COULD deal with the berserkers and Kate, would be just as likely to freak out and take a shot at Scott themselves if they saw so much as a hint of fang because idk, maybe he might be traumatized or not in a great state of mind whilst kidnapped."

I mean, lbr, I hated him long before that, but yeah that was the point of no return, lol.

In conclusion, yes Alan Deaton is the only worthwhile adult man on the show except for Ken Yukimura who is spoken for and happily committed, and he and Melissa could have made a great couple and even failing that, like, even in the Teen Wolf universe I'm sure Tinder exists, she had options. Keep those other two a No-Fly Zone, thank you, next.

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

Hypothetical TV shows: “Agent Jimmy Woo”

Spin-off series centered on Marvel’s lovable FBI agent, Jimmy Woo (Randall Park). Plot breakdown:

Episode 1

This is mainly an introduction to Jimmy Woo. We learn that he’s a lonely man, living by himself, doesn’t really have that many friends, and is not close to his family. The closest friend he has is Darcy Lewis, continuing their friendship from “WandaVision”. Throughout the episode, Jimmy gets these weird flashbacks that we have no context for. The flashbacks are to establish that Jimmy has some sort of dark past that we haven’t seen. 

Most of the episode is “normal”, until Jimmy receives a strange letter to his office. When Jimmy opens the letter, he sees that it’s a picture of a dead man, with the words, “REMEMBER ME, JIM?” smeared in blood in the background. Jimmy immediately realizes who did this and flees the building. As he’s running, he bumps into Darcy, who is here because they were supposed to go out for coffee. Jimmy tries to come up with an excuse, until he sees a couple of shady people approaching him. This leads to a thrilling, John Wick-style fight scene, in which Jimmy takes down all the assassins sent after him.

The episode ends with Darcy staring at him in shock, wondering who is this man standing before her. 

Episode 2 

This episode picks up right after the end of the previous episode. Jimmy and Darcy are on the run, fighting their way through hordes of assassins sent to kill Jimmy. We get a close-quarters combat fight scene, a gunfight, and a car chase, all in the first half of the episode. Eventually, Jimmy and Darcy reach this mysterious location, where they meet a woman who seems to recognize Jimmy. The woman introduces herself as Monica Chang (played by Yunjin Kim), a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and Nick Fury’s ex-wife.

Jimmy says he needs to get out of the country since “Golden Claw” has somehow come back from the dead and is out to get him. Monica then arranges a transport to Madagascar for both Jimmy and Darcy. This is where we get the big reveal; Jimmy Woo is a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who went underground after the events of “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”. Golden Claw was Jimmy’s arch-nemesis who he thought he killed years ago. 

As Jimmy and Darcy make their way to Madagascar, Darcy asks Jimmy for the full story. Jimmy figures he has nothing left to lose and starts to recount his past, leading to the next episode.

Episode 3

Flashback episode, set before the events of “The Avengers”. Jimmy Woo is a high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who is close friends with Phil Coulson and Monica Chang. We learn that Jimmy is hunting down Plan Chu, the Golden Claw (played by Joe Taslim). Golden Claw is considered the “Kingpin of Asia” and rules over all the crime syndicates in the continent, from the Yakuza to the Triads to Madripoor. To emphasize this point, although Sharon Carter/Power Broker rules Madripoor, she answers to Golden Claw since he’s the one who helped her take control of the nation.

Due to how powerful and dangerous Golden Claw is, S.H.I.E.L.D. began targeting him, with Jimmy leading the charge. In this episode, we see the end of Jimmy’s operation; S.H.I.E.L.D. leads an assault on Golden Claw’s mansion, which eventually leads to Jimmy facing off against Golden Claw one-on-one. The two men fight, which ends with Jimmy tossing Golden Claw off a cliff. Claw is presumed dead since his body is never found.

Cut to several years later, Jimmy goes underground due to Steve Rogers exposing HYDRA’s existence in S.H.I.E.L.D.. With Nick Fury’s help, he scrubs away his past and takes on a new job as a FBI agent. The episode ends with Jimmy meeting with Scott Lang in “Ant-Man and the Wasp”. 

Post-credits scene: After being tossed off the cliff, Golden Claw is found by Sharon Carter, who was part of the S.H.I.E.L.D. assault. She decides to nurse him back to health, indicating that even before she became the Power Broker, she was a double agent working for the Golden Claw. 

Episode 4

Golden Claw-centric episode, focused on his origin story. We learn Plan Chu was actually born during the First Opium War (1839). He grew up poor and angry at the British for their attacks on China. Eventually, he ends up becoming an apprentice to a mystic/alchemist and learns how to develop elixirs that can grant him special powers. One elixir in particular prolongs his lifespan, explaining how he’s still alive in the modern day. Plan Chu’s master eventually dies from old age. Using the skills he learned, Plan Chu creates his criminal empire and earns the nickname “Golden Claw”. 

In the modern day, Golden Claw, who has fully recovered from his battle with Jimmy Woo, starts targeting all the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who were part of the operation to kill him. Sharon Carter provides him the names, leading to a sequence where multiple former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are killed by Golden Claw’s mercenaries. Although Jimmy Woo manages to get away, Golden Claw moves on to the next step of his revenge; finding out who ratted him out to S.H.I.E.L.D. in the first place, leading to the assault on his mansion. 

Golden Claw learns that the one who betrayed him was Suwan (played by Ali Wong), his grandniece and a leading member of the Triads. Although that’s his family, Golden Claw puts a bounty on Suwan’s head. 

In the B-story, Jimmy and Darcy arrive in Madagascar, where they meet Derek Khanata (played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), A former Wakandan special forces operative, a S.H.I.E.L.D. ally, and a friend of Jimmy Woo.

Episode 5

In Madagascar, Derek takes Jimmy and Darcy to a hideout in order to discuss battle plans. Derek tells Jimmy that Golden Claw has already killed most of the original S.H.I.E.L.D. team that was sent after him, which enrages Jimmy. Wanting revenge, Jimmy asks if they have any leads on Golden Claw’s whereabouts. Although he’s reluctant to go after Claw, Derek suggests going after M’Demwe (played by Barkhad Abdi), a ruthless warlord who has ties to the Golden Claw. 

Most of this episode is focused on Jimmy, Darcy, and Derek hunting down M’Demwe while avoiding the authorities and Golden Claw mercenaries that are in the area. Eventually, the trio manages to capture M’Demwe, leading to a thrilling car chase. After the chase, M’Demwe says he has no idea where Golden Claw is...but that they can get Golden Claw to come to them. When Darcy asks what does that mean, M’Demwe says that Claw put a bounty on his grandniece’s head. If they get to Suwan first, that could force Golden Claw to come out of hiding. 

Jimmy realizes this is about Suwan, indicating that they had a prior relationship. Jimmy asks M’Demwe where Suwan is and M’Demwe reveals that she’s in Montenegro on vacation. He then has Derek arrange a flight to Montenegro.

In the B-story, Suwan is seen gambling at a fancy casino in Montenegro. Suwan’s bodyguard tells her about the bounty placed on her head, which she waves off. She then says something ominous, that no one can touch her on her property.

Episode 6

Jimmy, Darcy, and Derek arrive in Montenegro. Golden Claw arrives around the same time. This is mostly a character development episode, in preparation for the final showdown. The following interactions occur:

1) Golden Claw meets with Suwan and tells him that he knows she betrayed him. Suwan demands to know why Golden Claw won’t just kill her himself, which Claw can’t answer. Suwan then confirms to herself that Claw can’t bring himself to kill her since he still loves her and that the bounty was his way of pushing the guilt onto someone else. Golden Claw doesn’t say it but he sees Suwan as one of his daughters, which is why he can’t just kill her himself.

2) More Jimmy and Darcy bonding. We learn more about Darcy’s family life and that she hung out with Jimmy for the same reason he hung out with her; she doesn’t have many friends outside of work. 

3) Jimmy meets up with Suwan and reconnects with her. Jimmy says he’s here to protect her but Suwan says he’s here to use her to reach Golden Claw. We learn that in the past, Suwan was sent by Golden Claw to kill Jimmy but ended up falling in love with him. That’s also part of the reason why Suwan betrayed Golden Claw. 

4) Golden Claw meets with Darcy, who doesn’t recognize him, and the two bond over a game of Texas hold’em. This scene is meant to humanize Golden Claw, that he’s not just a power-hungry criminal mastermind. 

5) Suwan and Darcy bonding. This is mainly played for laughs, with Darcy being curious about what this incredibly dangerous Triad boss saw in Jimmy. Suwan interprets Darcy’s interest in her past romance with Jimmy as jealousy, leading to a hilarious misunderstanding.

Episode ends with Jimmy, Darcy, and Derek’s covers being blown, leading to everything going south. Golden Claw and his troops corner the main trio, forcing Suwan to have her guards confront Golden Claw’s mercenaries. With everyone pointing guns at each other, the episode ends on a massive cliffhanger. 

Episode 7

Picking up right after the previous episode, the Mexican standoff between Suwan, Jimmy, and Golden Claw turns into a massive shootout, resulting in several casualties on all sides. Golden Claw’s army is forced to retreat, giving Suwan and Jimmy time to recover. This is the episode where we reach peak John Wick since right after Golden Claw’s retreat, Suwan takes Jimmy into her office in order to prepare for the second wave. Jimmy arms himself to the teeth, leading into the next attack.

Most of this episode is the battle between Suwan’s side and Golden Claw’s side. The battle is seen from these perspectives:

1) Jimmy and Derek at the forefront, fighting against the highly trained Golden Claw mercenaries

2) Darcy going off on her own in order to contact the Montenegro authorities (there’s a subplot where Darcy learns that Golden Claw managed to move the Montenegro police away from the area) 

3) Suwan directing everyone from her office and coming up with the battle plans. 

The big fight in this episode is between Jimmy Woo and Golden Claw’s top mercenary, Harold Kenkoy (played by Michael Bisping). Harold is the series’ secondary antagonist, with his role being similar to Brock Rumlow in “CA: The Winter Soldier”. Jimmy kills Harold after a brutal, one-on-one fight.

The battle ends when Darcy comes through with her mission to contact the Montenegro authorities. Unfortunately, Golden Claw manages to flee and retreats back to Madripoor. Not wanting to go through this again, Jimmy, Darcy, Derek, and Suwan decide to follow him. 

Episode 8 - season finale

As the big finale of the series, Jimmy and friends reconnect with Monica Chang, who brings a team of other former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to assist. On the other side, Golden Claw meets with Sharon Carter and tells her that he’ll be taking over Madripoor while he regroups from his previous loss. Sharon angrily states that he can’t just take her throne, leading to a “betrayal” scene. However, just when you think Sharon has the upper hand, Golden Claw reverses the situation when Sharon’s mercenaries turn against her. Claw says that he’s the one who gave her power and that he could easily take it away. 

Sharon fights through her former mercenaries and joins up with Jimmy Woo. They form a temporary truce when Jimmy tells her that he’s only in Madripoor to stop the Golden Claw once and for all. With Sharon’s help, Jimmy’s side forms a plan to trap Golden Claw. 

Of course, the plan goes awry, leading to Golden Claw closing down the whole country in order to trap Jimmy’s team. With nowhere to go and all the criminals in Madripoor gunning for them, Jimmy goes off on his own to corner Golden Claw. In the midst of all this chaos, Darcy is captured and taken to Claw. Darcy, having bonded with Claw earlier, tries to appeal to his humanity and convince him to give up his revenge quest. Claw refuses and says that he’s justified since S.H.I.E.L.D. was the one who instigated this whole situation. 

After a series of incidents, Jimmy Woo eventually confronts Golden Claw. The two fight, mirroring their fight from years ago. Jimmy wins after managing to fatally shoot Claw in the chest. As Claw dies, the two acknowledge each other, with Claw glad to have been killed by a worthy opponent. Sharon takes back control of Madripoor and, to thank Jimmy for stopping Claw, allows everyone to leave. She also rescinds all the bounties that Golden Claw set up. With that, everyone goes home.

The rest of the episode is just wrapping up the story. Suwan goes back to Montenegro, Derek goes back to Madagascar, and Monica tells Jimmy that she’s founding a new spy agency to fill in the space left by S.H.I.E.L.D. This ends up being the Atlas Foundation, which we’ll see in a future series. Jimmy says he’ll consider joining but for now, he’s going back to his job at the FBI. Season ends with Jimmy and Darcy getting coffee. 

POST-CREDITS SCENE: Jimmy Woo is with Darcy at the coffee shop when he’s approached by a messenger. The messenger tells Jimmy that he was named the sole heir of Golden Claw’s empire. Jimmy says that can’t be true but the messenger confirms this by showing him a copy of Claw’s will. Jimmy stares at the will in shock as he realizes that he’s become the new Kingpin of Asia.  

[thehermitcraftqueen]

Nobody - Angst, Scott x Jimmy

Another angst songfic, and despite the angst, I really enjoyed writing this one. This one is the hobbit husbands, for @/jubilee__line_ on Twitter.

The song is 'Nobody' by Mitski.

My God, I'm so lonely

So I open the window

To hear sounds of people

To hear sounds of people

Arrows were flying from both sides as the battle raged. One particular Red Army member drew his bow and let an arrow fly. It sped through the air and into the bunker, hitting Jimmy. He collapsed, vanishing as the death message appeared. The fight continued, but Scott could feel himself breaking.

That scene kept repeating itself in Scott's head ever since the event. It haunted him, sending him into a mindset of grief, regret, and hate. Scott constantly asked himself if there was some way he could've changed the outcome, put his yellow life before Jimmy's red somehow, but he didn't know. Either way, he felt guilty, as if it was his fault. Every moment he spent at the base he used to share with Jimmy hurt, but at the same time, he couldn't bear to be away from it. It was all he had left of Jimmy, and he'd miss it too much if he tried to leave.

And Jimmy he missed with every breath. His soft brown eyes always sparkling with excitement or mischief. His wide smile, usually accompanied by the laugh that Scott adored. His touch, that on its own could make Scott feel reassured. His lips and the world of new feelings when they kissed. Even his eye for trouble. Scott missed everything.

Maybe it was just him being too hopeful, or even being lonely, but at times Scott could almost feel Jimmy's presence. He couldn't see him, but it was like he could feel his touch again, sense Jimmy standing next to him, even catch what he thought was an almost inaudible whisper. But he was never sure, and he didn't want to give himself false hope.

Scott sighed, turning his tear-stained face to the window. It was a nice day, but he hadn't been outside in a while. Maybe some fresh air would do him some good. He pushed open the window and leaned against it as cool air rushed inside. It felt good, but it didn't cure the deep feelings of grief and loneliness.

Suddenly, Scott realized he could hear people shouting in the distance. He had a sneaking suspicion as to what was going on, but he headed outside to investigate anyway.

Venus, planet of love

Was destroyed by global warming

Did its people want too much too?

Did its people want too much?

Scott climbed up the hill over his house and gazed over at the Crastle. A battle between Team Crastle and the Red Army seemed to be going on. The Red Army had the castle surrounded, while arrows rained down on them from the people in the castle above.

What was the point of all this? To kill each other? Scott didn't even know how he thought the idea sounded fun at first, but now he hated it. He lost Jimmy because of this war. Part of him knew that he'd see his love again, but at the same time, a deeper part of him couldn't help but worry how true that was. Death wasn't something to be taken lightly. What if Grian had messed something up with the server, and those dead would be dead forever?

Scott didn't want to win anymore. He didn't know why anyone else would either. If this was what he'd have to go through, it was too much.

And I don't want your pity

I just want somebody near me

Guess I'm a coward

I just want to feel alright

Even so, Scott couldn't help but feel slightly guilty as he watched his allies fighting. He should be over there, helping them. But he didn't want to fight anymore, not if Jimmy wasn't next to him. He wanted to go back in time, back to when everything was peaceful and Jimmy was alive. Back when he felt alright.

Scott clenched and unclenched his fists as he watched the battle. The Crastle people kept taking hits from the Red Army below, and even from afar it was clear they were getting worried. Guilt and anger made Scott's blood boil, and when a death message flashed that was the last straw.

"I'll see you soon, Jimmy," Scott whispered, before pulling out his bow and charging down the hill.

And I know no one will save me

I just need someone to kiss

Give me one good honest kiss

And I'll be alright

Scott began sniping the Red Army members, focusing on Ren. At first, the so-called king didn't turn, but after a moment he seemed to realize he was being shot at from a different side and whipped around. Scott's heart leaped into his throat as Ren began sprinting over to him, but he pulled out his sword and faced his enemy bravely.

Their swords clashed. Scott struggled to hold on, but his skills lied in a bow more than a sword. In little time, Ren had overpowered him. Scott tried to run, but he wasn't fast enough.

Pain flooded through his body as Ren hit him repeatedly. Rapidly, his hearts drained to nothing, and his death message flashed as his world went black.

He opened his eyes to find himself in the air above where he'd died. It was like he was viewing it through a red filter, and the 'respawn' button floated in front of him. He went to hit it, but something stopped him. Without even thinking why he turned around to see Jimmy standing behind him. He was partly transparent, but it was Jimmy.

"Jimmy..." Scott whispered.

Jimmy smiled softly and offered his hands. Hesitantly, Scott placed his hands in Jimmy's. Jimmy's hands phased through his, but Scott could feel them as if their hands were really touching. His eyes pricked with tears, and he glanced back up to look into Jimmy's eyes. They were sad, but he had a reassuring smile.

"The war's not over yet, Scott. But we'll see each other soon, I promise..." Jimmy whispered.

Scott opened his mouth to reply, but he blinked and Jimmy was gone. He bit his lip, struggling to hold back tears as he pressed the 'respawn' button.

Nobody, nobody, nobody

Nobody, nobody

Ooh, nobody, nobody, nobody

It took Scott several minutes to collect himself after he respawned. When his tears had ceased enough for him to think, he made his way back to the Crastle. The battle had ended. The Red Army was gone, and Team Crastle was outside, picking up the items of those who had died. Impulse was now red, Scott noticed, but miraculously the other reds, Tango, Bdubs, and Scar, had managed to survive.

“Oh, Scott, you’re back,” Bdubs said. “Your stuff is in a chest over there,” he added, pointing to a chest near the spot Ren had killed him.

“Thanks,” Scott replied, heading over there and opening the chest. He collected his gear then turned back to his allies. “Well, I’ll be heading back home now...”

“Actually, we were wondering if you’d like to stay with us in the Crastle?” Tango asked. “Y’know, so that you don’t have to run here next time Ren attacks, and you might be safer.”

Scott paused and thought about that for a moment. It would be a good idea, but he didn’t want to leave his base. He felt closest to Jimmy there, and he would rather be there than the Crastle, despite all the memories and pain.

“It’s a nice offer, but I think I’m going to stay at my base,” Scott said.

“Memories?” Scar asked, surprisingly softly.

“Um—yeah,” Scott nodded.

“That’s understandable. Just be careful,” Scar said.

Scott nodded, deciding not to question Scar’s gentleness. It was Scar after all, and he was a mystery to anyone. “I will.”

Casting one last glance at the others, Scott turned and began walking back home.

I've been big and small

And big and small

And big and small again

And still nobody wants me

Still nobody wants me

A few days passed with no fighting. Scott stayed in his hobbit hole mostly, occasionally going outside to get some fresh air, but he didn't see anyone. He did, however, feel Jimmy's presence more and more as time went on. Scott wasn't sure how he felt about this. Being able to feel that Jimmy was there but never see him caused almost more pain than when he'd lost him, but at the same time, Scott preferred that over losing Jimmy completely.

Scott remembered what Jimmy had said about them being together soon and wondered if that meant his time was coming. He knew the final battle was close; would he die then? Honestly, he didn’t mind if he did. He’d go down fighting, an honorable death, and any end to his constant grief and pain would be a welcome one.

Finally, the time came. Impulse showed up at Scott’s door, injured and breathing heavily as he informed Scott that the Red Army was attacking again.

And I know no one will save me

I'm just asking for a kiss

Give me one good movie kiss

And I'll be alright

The next events happened in a blur.

Scott returned to the Crastle with Impulse, raining arrows on the Red Army. He got several hits, maybe even a death or two. He didn't know. He didn't keep track. His mind was a mess the entire battle, and several times he thought he saw Jimmy's ghost fighting beside him.

Etho's sword came out of nowhere.

Scott gasped as the blade stabbed into his stomach and he stared into the wild, mismatched eyes of his attacker. Etho said nothing aloud, but Scott knew what he was thinking:  This is revenge.

Scott understood that completely; he wanted it too.

Pain surged through Scott’s body as Etho stabbed him again. Scott raised his sword to fight back, and he did decent damage to Etho. However, his attacks weakened as his energy depleted. His life flashed before his eyes as Etho landed the final hit. Letting out his last, ragged breath, Scott closed his eyes and let himself fall into darkness.

Nobody, nobody, nobody

Nobody, nobody

Ooh, nobody, nobody

Nobody, nobody, nobody

He floated into the air a moment later as a ghost. A sigh escaped him as he stared down at his corpse. He lifted his head and turned as he felt a familiar presence.

"I've missed you."

A smile spread across Scott's face as he turned to embrace his husband.

Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody

Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody

Nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody

Nobody, nobody

Nobody, nobody, no

[justactsupernatural]

We’ll Never Leave You Alone Allie

Warnings: mental health issues, possesive behavior and implied murder

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He was their baby, their mother’s last gift before dying.

How could the world expect them to give him up?

                                         ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 Alan was three years old when their mother had died, having survived the avalanche that had threatened to take them both because of their mother’s protective embrace, taking the brunt of the snow to save the child.

After the accident, their father went MIA on them and focused solely on his work, leaving the five brothers to fend for themselves. This had a major effect on their whole dynamic, starting with the fact that the youngest Tracy needed constant care.

Scott grew up too fast for a boy his age, running himself ragged in his attempt to take care of his younger brothers. He helped with homework, with getting dressed, making dinner and breakfast, and keeping everyone alive. At only 13 this certainly wasn’t something he should be worried about, but with their father practically living at the office someone had to keep what was left of their family going.

Even though he was raising four younger brothers, he could always feel a deep connection with Alan. Granted, he had a connection with all of his brothers, but the youngest Tracy was different; the three-year-old was innocence itself and the little firework kept them all going during that dark time.

Which was probably why they all freaked out when the world threatened to take him away for the first time.

                                          ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 The mystery car arrived at their around nine months after the funeral, it was a Saturday, and all the boys were in the house. Scott, John and Virgil were awake and picking up the discarded toys and dirty dishes of the night before while Alan and Gordon slept upstairs. Their father never got home the night before.

Scott had just finished putting the dishes in the dishwasher when Virgil called his name near the front door. Going to see what was up with his brother, the brunette left the kitchen and approached his nine-year-old sibling, John at his heels.

“There’s a car outside” said Virgil when the older boys got to him, pointing out the window to their front lawn where a car with that blasted symbol was parked. The woman coming out of the car had a folder on her arms and was making their way to the door, the sound of her heels unheard because of the distance but each step marking the beat of Scott’s heart.

Child Protective Services.

The lump in his throat was making it almost impossible to breathe. They were going to take his brothers away, tearing apart his family and giving them away like some kind of sick fair prize.

The curse that left John’s mouth told the oldest Tracy that he knew what the symbol in the car meant, even if Virgil didn’t. After telling the dark-haired kid to go to Alan and Gordon’s room and stay there until he was summoned, he turned to his other brother and told him to go unmake their dad’s bed.

John didn’t question him, he was smart and knew that if that woman thought their father wasn’t home enough they would be in big trouble. Someone looking at their private mess of a life wasn’t ideal, but Tracys aren´t stupid, nor are they weak and the threat to their brothers and what could happen to them if they failed was enough to motivate the both of them into action.

Going to the kitchen, Scott mentally steeled himself for what was to come and waited the few seconds it took for the woman to reach their door. Making his way to open it, only one thought was going through his mind: ‘I’m not letting them take my brothers away’.

                                           ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 Everything had been going just fine, the woman looked around the first floor and asked some questions that both Scott and John handled perfectly, using the excuse that their brothers were sleeping to explain their absence. Creating scenarios where their father had been present in the last five months was easy when they were memories already existent, only slightly altered; the CPS lady seemed to be buying it and was about to leave when it all went wrong.

After spinning tales and asking well hidden questions, the brothers found out that a neighbor had called to make sure they were all right, out of worry that their father was neglecting them. While it was true, the anger Scott felt was indescribable and he thanked God that John had spoken some bullshit story about the person responsible for the call only wanting fame for “saving” the kids from their “evil, rich father”, because he would have yelled his heart out and probably would have blown the interview if he so much as opened his mouth to breathe.

She said her goodbyes and that they probably wouldn’t have to hear from her again, a blessing that Scott was willing to take and forget the moment she crossed the threshold.

But then Alan, sweet, innocent and blissfully ignorant to all the bad in the world Alan, came running down the stairs asking for Scott and came to a full stop in front of him, holding his pijama clad arms up, demanding to be held. Never one to deny his baby brother anything, Scott complied and picked the blonde up, letting him rest on his hips and turning to slam the door on the CPS agent’s face to get her to leave.

That was, until she decided to smile at Alan and turning to look at Scott with a questioning glance before asking if she could ask Alan some questions. Without any other option, the brunette gave a forced smile and nodded turning to go back into the living room, thanking that Virgil had listened to him and stayed upstairs with Gordon.

Sitting down in the couch with John at his side and Alan on his lap, Scott waited for the woman to sit down only to have her phone ring and her excusing herself to the kitchen to talk. But she was talking loudly, and Scott could clearly hear her saying words like “only a kid”, “taking him away” and “the Johnsons”.

By the tension in his redheaded brother’s shoulders Scott figured he heard it too. The Johnson family lived three houses down from theirs and had always been way too interested in the lives of others instead of their own. If they had been the ones to call CPS and Alan got taken away, he would make sure they paid.

                                           ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 In the end, Alan fell asleep after only a few questions and the woman left, repeating that there were no problems and that she wouldn’t bother them again. With his heart trying to beat out of his heart, Scott closed the door and hugged the sleeping Alan closer.

And when he saw the Johnsons standing in front of their house, he talked with John and planned. They would pay.

                                           ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 Four days later the Johnson house burned down, a gas leak caused a fire, according to the firemen. No survivors.

                                          ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 There were many times when others tried to hurt or take Alan from them.

That one psycho nanny that their dad had hired, who though she could get rough with Alan and they wouldn’t find out. She tripped on the street and fell in front of a bus a week after they found out, Virgil telling the police what he saw before going home with news for their father that they would need a new sitter.

A business partner of their father’s who came to eat dinner at their house and made Alan cry after calling him stupid and pushing him out of his way. He had a heart attack that night; apparently, he had an allergic reaction to the piece of pie he had eaten in his house after dinner, the rat poison that had been on their kitchen in their neighbor’s trashcan.

The old man who cat-called Alan on the street when he and Gordon were on the mainland, getting some supplies for the Island. He was mugged and stabbed in an ally three hours later.

CPS again, saying that a nineteen-year-old could not be Alan’s guardian after their dad’s death. Tracy Industries had the best lawyers money could buy and the CPS agent in charge of their case had a newfound habit of driving drunk, according to the police after the car crash.

Their father, who tried to send Alan to school on the mainland and keep him away from them and the protection they could give him. His plane had crashed on its way to a meeting on New York, no survivors found.

Many others had tried, no one ever succeeded.

                                          ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 Sixteen-year-old Alan was lying in bed, shivering and covered in blankets despite the fever running through his body. His brothers by his side, doing different things to keep entertained but keeping him company.

John was sitting on the beanbag at the right side of the bed, typing away at his laptop, probably working on his new book. Virgil and Gordon were playing Go Fish on the floor in front of the bed, making as little noise as possible as to keep from disturbing their sick brother.

Scott was on his left side, sitting next to him on the bed and putting a wet towel on his forehead. Standing up, he went to fetch the medicine when a hand on his wrist stopped him in his tracks.

“Where are you going?” asked Alan, looking up at his brother with scared eyes. His heart clenching at the sight of his miserable brother, Scott sat back down and ran a hand through the blonde’s soaked hair. ”I’m just going to fetch your medicine Sprout”.

“But you’ll be back right?” asked the teenager, looking up hopefully at his brother. Scott gave a soft chuckle and smiled at his baby brother before stroking his hair again.

“Of course I’ll come back” he answered, voice soft and reassuring “We’ll never leave you alone Allie”.

                                           ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 He was their baby, their mother’s last gift before dying.

Did the world really expect them to give him up?

[square-blunt]

You're in my heart, in my heart, in my head.

chapter two fucking finally. take it. fucking take it.

TW- MCD (major character death), suicide, like the fic ends in suicide and it's not good. Angst. there is so much angst-

WC: 2034 Ao3: :) First chapter: :)

Jimmy didn’t tear his eyes away from Scott once.

After they got ripped apart, all the neurons in his body were screaming at him to stop struggling and to go limp- he could feel the muscle in his back ripping apart but he had to. He didn’t feel the physical pain. But his heart was hammering so hard and he was screaming much louder than he thought was possible- screaming to Scott, praying and hoping that he could hear him over Joey- and maybe he did.

Because Scott never stopped looking at him.

And then, Scott smiled at him.

It was sweet, and weak, and it was tired. It should have been full of life, but instead- Scott used all his energy to give Jimmy that smile. It was sickeningly comforting- Scott, who was about to be sacrificed, about to have a knife through his heart- was comforting him, and Jimmy couldn’t sob any louder. He knows his screams and sobs and pleas won’t do anything to stop the inevitable. But with a sound that Jimmy will never be able to get out of his head, the inevitable comes to fruition. As the knife falls, Jimmy does too. The hooks that held onto his back retract and Jimmy crashes to the ground, rocks cutting into his hands. Part of him is grateful that he fell when he did. Whatever higher power was looking out for him must not have wanted him to see the knife going into Scott’s chest.

But that doesn’t mean he can’t imagine it.

As soon as he hits the ground he looks back up, just in time for Joey and Xornoth to disappear into smoke, and for the obsidian altar to crumble into dust- and Scott's body to roll off. Jimmy catches sight of Scott's limp hand and he turns away, holding his side, trying not to throw up.

He focuses on that.

Trying to keep the contents of his stomach down, swallowing thickly, he focuses on the burn of his head, his throat, and his heart.

His heart hurts.

It hurts more than any weapon could ever come close to inflicting.

After looking at Scott for so long, promising himself that he'd never look away, it's funny that now he physically can't bear to look up.

It's because Scott was alive then.

And now he, and possibly everyone else, is dead.

But he can't stop himself from crawling, very painfully, over to Scott. Only then does he notice how much blood there is. His, Scott's, it doesn’t matter- or it did.

Because Scott's blood should have stayed in his body.

Why didn't Jimmy speak up?

Xornoth had told Jimmy everything.

Their plan, why they were doing it- how they knew it was going to work.

They told Jimmy about a past life- a past three lives to be exact. And Jimmy remembered. It was like Xornoth had a key that finally gave Jimmy what he knew he was missing. And of course, he had fallen in love with Scott.

Of course, it was Scott.

Of course, it was Scott who came to his rescue. Everything else was a blur, of pain and hurt, but the kiss. Jimmy knew he had to. He had to let Scott know that he knew- that he remembered.

It was worth every second.

And even now he can feel the phantom of Scott's lips on his own, Scott's hair between his fingers, he can feel it more than the dull throbbing of his heart and his back. Physical pain couldn't reach him, his mind was already too busy imploding on itself to register anything else.

He feels the phantom of Scott's warm hand in his own.

He reaches out and takes his cold, real hand again.

Jimmy brushes away the dust and the blood, rubbing his thumb over the knuckles, and he stops at the ring finger. There's a simple silver band.

Jimmy spawned into Empires with a matching gold ring.

Only now does he know why.

He gently slips the ring off Scott's finger. He knows he shouldn't, but if it's all he can have of Scott- he's gonna take whatever he can get.

He moves up, noticing the detail on the sleeve of Scott's shirt. He wasn't wearing anything fancy, but he was still the most beautiful living thing Jimmy had ever seen. Scott had been wearing a sky blue t-shirt and brown pants- one could die in a more regal manner, but Scott still looked more amazing than any star in the night, any bird in the air… any flower in the field.

"It felt right," Jimmy says, voice unrecognizable even to himself. It only makes him cry more. Scott was his everything- Scott completed him. And Jimmy doesn't know who he is without Scott. He knew he was one half of a whole but didn’t know whose half, and now he has to live as a half without his other.

His communicator buzzes.

He doesn't care.

It's probably a death message.

He hopes Xornoth won't torture his family the way they did his lover.

He knows they probably did.

It buzzes again.

He grips Scott's hand tighter, maybe if he squeezes hard enough, it'll squeeze back.

Please, please, squeeze back.

Jimmy takes a deep breath.

At least Scott's eyes are closed.

His communicator buzzes again.

He still doesn't care.

He thought he'd be more distraught.

Looking down at Scott, his perfect, sleeping face, he thought he’d be screaming at the skies, clawing at his heart- trying to scratch the pain away, but he’s not. He should be mad, he should be trying to find Joey, at least, and hurt him as much as he had been hurt, but he’s not. He should have tried to swap back, but he knew his life wasn’t the end goal. He should be crying, letting the tears wash away all of the dust and dirt and blood but he’s not. He’s not doing any of it.

His communicator buzzes.

He’s holding Scott’s hand.

He’s holding Scott’s face.

He’s kissing his forehead.

He’s smoothing out his hair.

His communicator buzzes.

He notices Scott’s necklace, and that’s when he cries.

It’s a gold poppy flower- crudely made, rushed, unpolished, it was something Jimmy made. Jimmy himself was crudely made, rushed, and unpolished, so it makes sense that anything he made would be too.

His communicator buzzes.

He had given it to Scott a few hours before they arrived on the battlefield and Scott spent the next minutes staring at it while Jimmy got some things together.

Jimmy spent those minutes staring at him.

And then he died and lost everything.

Scott’s his everything.

And he’s lost it again.

His communicator buzzes.

He cradles Scott's head in his lap, staring down into his face.

He closes his eyes.

The ground under him changes. Rocks stop digging into his knees, and instead, there's soft wool. The smell of dirt and blood is replaced with clean linen and firewood.

What's worse, he can't feel Scott in his hands anymore.

Jimmy's eyes snap open.

His communicator buzzes one last time.

He's kneeling on cyan and yellow carpet, this must be somewhere in Rivendell. But it feels suffocating. It feels wrong.

Jimmy looks up and sees why.

Outside the windows the sky is red- this really is the end of the world. But the elephant in the room is that Xornoth is standing right in front of him. One of the last living things on this planet. Jimmy doesn't give them the victory of meeting their gaze.

"Codfather, Solidarity, sweet swamp boy- you hold many titles, don't you, Jimmy?" Xornoth says, manic glee in their voice. It makes Jimmy want to throw up.

"Just kill me. Please." Jimmy whispers, pain raw in his voice.

"No. I won't kill you, and you can blame your beloved Scott. The whole "can’t hurt you" condition in his heroic sacrifice doesn't feel heroic now, does it?" Xornoth looms over him, a shit-eating sneer of terrifying joy on their face. “Besides, why would I kill you? You were the key to the lock, the final piece to the puzzle, the gear that made this entire plan work- I should be thanking you. None of this could have happened if you weren’t there. He would still be alive if it weren’t for you- they all are dead because of you. Thank you, Jimmy. You seem to be often thanked for causing things that you stand against in the end. But that’s the way of life, is it not? People taking advantage of you for one reason or another, and then rubbing it in your face when they use you to get what they want. But don’t worry, no one will ever be able to use you again. Isn’t that what you wanted? You were pushed around by everyone, and now both you and I are free.”

“I’m nothing like you,” Jimmy says, maybe if he pisses them off enough they’ll just kill him anyway.

“No, you’re not. I am powerful, you are pitiful. I am armageddon, you are a disappointment. If death is theater, then I am Shakespeare, and you are a prop, a pawn. You were meant as something to be used. I was trying to offer a hand because as much as you hate yourself for it, you were the only reason why this plan worked. But if you insist on continuing to pretend that you have even a sliver of honor left then I will leave you to rot. But I promised not to lay a hand on you. In hindsight, not being able to kill you might have actually been a bad thing. See my plan was, Jimmy, I was going to kill you after all this, but your death would be instant and painless, but it seems that Scott has fucked something else over for everyone else. I was going to show you mercy, I wouldn’t torture you with a long and painful death or make you watch as- well, I guess I already did that, huh.” And they laughed . They laughed and laughed like it was the funniest thing in the crumbling world. They laughed at Jimmy, at his pain, it echoed off the walls of the dying church, sucking the last good out of the air to fuel the hysteric voice of insane victory.

Jimmy’s hope was flooding out with it.

Xornoth snaps their fingers, still laughing, and the world around Jimmy changes again, soft carpet to hardwood floors, still air to blistering wind- he's in his alliance tower.

He takes the heads down without looking at them, he can't bear to look.

He goes straight down the tower without looking.

It's a good thing he didn't.

He would have seen the bodies of everyone- ally and enemy- swinging from the rafters.

At the bottom of the ladder, he finds a rope of his own.

He doesn't even question it.

He silently finds a nearby tree and gets to work.

The Empire is deathly quiet- even the wind has died out.

He feels eyes. They're watching him. It feels familiar- watching a final soul end it all after everyone he knows is long gone.

He finishes the knot, throws the other end up and over the tree to tie it off.

He decides to build his own gallows as well.

Three blocks should be tall enough.

He puts the noose over his head like a medal- a winner's medal. That's what he was.

He won.

He takes the step.

And he's back in Scott's arms.

Finally.

[cracked-pean]

Not Knowing Pt.1

Characters: Derek Hale, Female! Reader, Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall, Lydia Martin, Peter Hale, Erica Reyes, Vernon Boyd, Isaac Lahey, Kate Argent, Deaton (small appearance)

Word Count: 4,951

Warnings: Kidnapping, Torture/Punishments(?), Angst.

Part 2

Masterlist

A/N: So it’s been a while. Um, this really came at me out of nowhere and turned into a whole damn novel, not really but it was LONG. So cut them down to two parts. There’s one scene from two shows that inspired this and I just to write it. One is from ‘Criminal Minds’ and the other is from ‘Leverage’. I’m sure y’all have figured them out by the warnings I posted but hope y’all enjoy them. Sorry for any errors and any warnings I missed (let me know if I did so I can tag them) Leave me your thoughts. Ok, enjoy!

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

The door to the loft made a loud noise as it slid open and made contact with the wall. The small group of friends stopped mid conversation as they turned their attention to the sound. A look of confusion written on their faces quickly changed to concern. Stiles appeared barely holding himself up against the wall, his left arm wrapped across his torso holding onto his right side and slightly out of breath. Scott being the closest to him, quickly made his way over and caught him before meeting the ground. Stiles was in bad condition. He was covered in dirt and his shirt was torn in random places. There was a nasty bruise forming around one of his eyes. His bottom lip had a gash across it and the werewolves could smell fresh blood on him. There were wincing sounds coming off him as he tried to move.

"Stiles, what happened? Who did this to you?" Scott asked, helping guide his best friend into the loft. A small groan escaped his lips as he took a seat on the red couch in the living room, the others slowly making way over too.

Derek being up in his room quickly finished getting dressed after hearing the bang of the loft door open. Thinking that the two friends had arrived with the food made his way down the spiral staircase, but the alpha's face instantly hardened. Everyone was surrounding the long couch with an injured Stiles laid across it, and Scott beside him gripping one of his hands drawing out the pain. But their female friend was nowhere in sight.

"Stiles, what happened? Where's [Y/N]?"

Derek walked over to them and stood in front of the pair, arms crossed. The worry was there, but right now he had to remain calm and figure out why there was an injured pack member and another missing.

Stiles kept his eyes on the ceiling not wanting to look at them. Throughout the whole drive to the loft, was filled with nerves and fear. He thought of how he would explain to his friends that he had lost their friend.

"Stiles," the boy winced at Derek's tone of voice.

Letting out a shaky breath, sad whiskey brown eyes made contact with concerned dark green ones.

"They came out of nowhere. I wasn't able to save her."

-

The two friends turned the corner of the store making their way to Stiles’ Jeep with a cart full of groceries. It was Friday and their turn to do the supply run for their weekly get together. Not like they see each other almost everyday already but who could stop them.

“You think we have enough?” [Y/N] asked as she neared the vehicle.

Stiles scoffed and grabbed a few bags, “[Y/N/N], we basically purchased the whole store. I think we’ll be fine,” he assured her.

Once they had finished loading, she offered to take the cart back to the rack by the doors while he started up the Jeep. Stiles buckled in and looked out his window seeing [Y/N] turn the corner to put away the cart. He glanced down to his phone, ready to text the pack they were on their way, when the passenger door opened and closed.

Still looking at his phone he spoke, “That was fast. Did you ru-” He turned to look at his friend but was greeted with something worse.

Kate. They hadn't seen her since Mexico. They thought she had bled out by the nasty cuts Derek had given her. But then, Argent had informed them that he and a few of his men had seen her down in New Orleans. That was 4 months ago. Somewhere along the way, the hunters lost track of her. She most likely caught onto them and hid. Now they didn’t know where she was. They didn’t pay much attention to her, thinking the Werejaguar wouldn’t make her way to them, but still stayed alert and asked Argent for updates just in case.

“Aw, what’s the matter Stiles, not happy to see,” she gave him a pout.

“At the moment, no. But who ever is really,” he bit back.

She made herself comfortable in the seat. Stiles watched her every move, not really sure what her intentions were. "You know it wasn't very smart of you to park beside the building. Where it's dark and away from the public eye." She gave him a knowing look, “I’d be careful if I were you,” she glanced at the outer rear view mirror. “We would hate for your friend to get hurt.”

Realization dawned on him. [Y/N]. He glanced at the rearview mirror and saw her trapped in the arms of a large guy, with his hand over her mouth. He quickly scrambled out of the Jeep and stood near the rear. Her eyes were wide with a few tears running down her cheeks. She had a few scratch marks on her cheek, Kate's doing most likely and the knees of her Jean's were dirty.

"Let her go you big lug," a pair of hands came up behind him holding on to his arms, keeping him in place. Stiles glanced at the guy, knowing well that there was no chance he'd win that fight but he would sure as hell try. Kate came into view and made her way to [Y/N] and her minion. She leaned closely to the scared girl's face and grinned. She brings up a hand to caress her hair as [Y/N] shuts her eyes flinching and tries to move away.

“Now isn’t she a pretty face. I see why the big bad wolf is fond of her,” she smirked.

Stiles noticed two more guys appear from behind the building. He was out numbered and had no chance from getting out of the guy's grip, “Just tell us what you want.”

A cackle left her lips. What she wanted? What she wanted was for them to feel the hurt and loss that she went through. She obviously couldn’t get her old life back. She lost her niece, her home, her family. And these rugrats got to live on with their lives as if nothing had ever happened.

“What I want, you can’t give to me. So I'm going to do the next big thing,” she gave a look to the guy holding on to the boy and then a slight nod. Stiles was thrown onto the ground following a kick to the stomach. [Y/N] thrashed in her captor’s grasp as she tried to get out of his hold to get to her friend and help, but was no use. She winced as they began to kick and punch him. Blow after blow and all she was able to do was watch as the look on Kate’s face showed satisfaction from the outcome. Once the blonde thought he had had enough, she made her way to him, the men stepping aside as she kneeled down to his level. Kate placed a hand below his chin and made him look at her.

“I lost my niece to you monsters. Now it’s my turn to make you feel my pain,” she leaned closer to his ear, “but worse.”

-

After Stiles had explained what happened at the mini mart, it was safe to say the group was pissed. The wolves more than anything. They had called over Deaton to check on him to make sure he didn’t have any sprained or broken bones. He had a few bruised ribs and some deep cuts on his head and on his arms, but nothing that a few stitches and some rest couldn’t fix. He shortly fell asleep on the couch after the vet had cleaned his cuts and given him some pain killers and left.

“Why would she only take [Y/N], why not both,” Malia questioned glancing at Stiles.

Lydia slightly rolled her eyes, “She was clearly keeping tabs on us. [Y/N] is the glue of this group, Kate must have known it would hurt us more if she went after her. Also, didn’t you hear what she said? She obviously knows [Y/N] is Derek’s weak spot even if [Y/N] herself doesn’t know it.”

The group took a glance at Derek, he was standing by the window looking out with a frown on his face and arms crossed. It was true. Derek did have a soft spot for the girl. She was his weakness and she didn't even know it. The pack knew he had feelings for her, but Derek chose from the beginning to not act upon them. But he was whipped. The small glances he made her way when she wasn't looking. When the pack would train together, Derek was still strict with the rest but just a bit less with her. He would always seem a bit lighter when she was present in the room and it took for her to be gone a whole week visiting family for the pack to notice his change in behavior and connect the dots. During fights, no matter what, he would always try to keep an eye on her. Making sure she was holding her own and at the ready to jump in if needed to. But like Kate and his friends said, he had a soft spot for her. He didn't want to act upon his feelings and have something start between the two of them for this very reason. If word got out that the alpha of The Hale Pack had a significant other, then everyone, allies and enemies would use her against him. Now, even when not getting together he had failed to keep her safe.

Derek closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh. Standing here and moping wasn’t going to help [Y/N] and the pack in locating her. He uncrossed his arms, got into alpha mode and made his way to the metal table where they were all gathered. He needed to treat this situation with a calm and clear mind, even if he was equally as scared as the others on the inside.

“Let’s split up and search the area for her," he began. "I’ll go check the store’s parking lot to see if I can catch her scent. Scott, Isaac, go to Argent’s house and see if you can get any info on Kate. Her last known location, previous ones, contacts, properties, anything. Malia, Peter, you check the woods. You’re more skilled in the outdoors, they could have taken a path through there. Erica and Boyd, you search the edge of town. Maybe Kate’s scent could be caught if she did leave the area. Lyd-”

“I’ll stay with Stiles and keep an eye on him," the redhead finished for him.

He gave her a slight smile and turned towards the others with a determined look.

"We'll find her, and bring her home. Now let's go."

-

[Y/N] woke up in a cement wall like room on the cold floor. After the whole parking lot incident, Kate and her goons had knocked her out and tossed her into the trunk of the car. She was in and out in between so she wasn't able to tell how long they were on the road or where they were going.

The room wasn't very spacious. The door was made of metal, bolted shut with no way of opening it from the inside. Typical. There was a small dirty cot in the corner. A single light bulb hanging from the ceiling flickering and slightly swinging back and forth. The walls had markings all round it. [Y/N] crawled closer and her blood ran cold. Claw marks. It seemed like this wasn't a normal room. There wasn't a window or any way for outdoor light to get in. They must have used it for other wares, keeping them locked in on full moons, which could explain the claw markings.

What the hell was going on? Why would Kate take her? Out of everyone in the pack she chose her. Not that she would want one of the others to be in her position. But, it just didn't make any sense.

"I see why the big bad wolf is fond of her."

Big bad wolf? Derek? No. She's probably working for someone else and was referring to them. Yeah that's it. Not Derek. But, this is Kate. She doesn't take orders from others, she makes them.

"-it's my turn to make you feel my pain, but much worse."

Much worse? How could she make it worse than death?

[Y/N] was still on the floor when the metal door opened. The same guy that had beaten Stiles walked in. There was no emotion on his face, it was just stone cold. Her eyes went wide and she slowly crawled backwards until her back hit the rough wall.

"Oh stop it Daryl, you're scaring her," a female voice made itself known. Daryl stepped aside. God, how she wished he hadn't.

Kate stepped forward with a menacing grin plastered on her face. There was seriously something wrong with her. Peter really should have made sure she was dead.

"What do you want with me?" [Y/N]'s voice shook a bit.

Kate began to stroll around the room, "Do you know what your part in all this is? The pack I mean," she asked. The woman glanced at the girl on the floor and saw fear written on her face. When she didn't respond, she continued.

"No? Well lucky for you, I've done my research. What I've observed is that you're an ok fighter. Not bad with research. But the main thing," she kneeled down close to the girl. [Y/N] tried to scoot further away but the wall wouldn't allow her to. "You're the alpha's weakness."

A confused look appeared on [Y/N]'s face. Her? Derek's weakness? That can't be true? Can it?

"Oh. You had no clue? Huh," she stood back up.

"They'll come after you, you know."

"Oh I count on it. But they won't find you anytime soon. Not till I say they do." With that, she and Daryl exited the room.

[Y/N] was left with her thoughts as so many unanswered questions loomed in her mind.

-

Three months. That's how long it's been since [Y/N] had been taken and held captive by Kate Argent.

The whole time had been miserable and just plain torture. Literally. The first few days [Y/N] fought. She’d fought and rebelled against them. They asked her questions about the pack, Hale secrets, the vault, everything they thought she'd know. In truth [Y/N] did know, but she would never talk. But it had all gotten too much for her. She no longer had any fight left in her to fight back against them anymore. When she wouldn't answer their questions or gave a snarky comment, she would get punished. They'd chain her up which would leave her wrists red and sore. There would be days where they wouldn't feed or give her water and make her starve as punishment or for their own amusement. They'd tie her up in a chair and make gashes on her skin, with either knives or their claws. The cruelest thing they've done was, in the secluded area where the house they held her at, they would set her free giving her the chance to escape and while they hunt her down. And it was always at night. They'd even take her out on full moons so the wares had something to do and let out their energy.

[Y/N] would be running in the dark, barely able to see anything. Tree branches would scratch her, logs and rocks would be tripping her and worst of all she'd be barefoot. Her shoes had worn out after the first few times. The weather hadn't been kind to her at all though it all. She'd run in the rain, nights were cold and the wind would be blowing, causing her scent to the wolves be more easily tracked.

She'd climb tree branches if she was able to and hide behind bushes, but she couldn't hide from them long before either red, yellow or blue glowing eyes came into view. That was another thing. Kate was never present while the others had their “fun” with [Y/N], always had her men do it for her. What [Y/N]’s noticed is that, no matter what damage they cause her, what pain they’d make her feel or just by simply being in her presence, they’d always be shifted. Claws and glowing eyes visible, staring right at her.

The light bulb had gone out a while back, must have been an old one if it burnt out so soon, so the only light that could be seen was from underneath the door from the lit up hallways outside. [Y/N] was shivering on the cot and the thin blanket provided for her wasn’t helping at all, especially not after being chased again in the rain the previous night. Or was it earlier this morning? There was no clock to tell time nor windows in the room to tell if it was day or night. [Y/N] was just wasting away, at least they had given her some food before the chase. But didn’t last long in her system as she threw it up between runs. Though today was different.

She hardly sleeps nowadays so when the loud noise of the padlocks from the door were heard, she didn’t flinch anymore like before. Kate had told her goons that once they were done with chases to give [Y/N] a rag and a bucket of water to at least clean herself. So when those very items were presented before her, she wasn’t surprised and gladly took them. Though she had noticed the person handing them to her was not as built and rough looking as the others. [Y/N] hesitantly looked up and straightened up a little. Kate hardly ever came by to see her. She must have come by three times, not counting the time when [Y/N] first got situated in the room that first night. This wasn’t going to be good.

“Wow, they really roughed you up good out there didn’t they.”

There were a few twigs and leaves in her hair, too tired to care she left them in not bothering to pick some out. Her right cheek was scraped from slipping down the tree trunk while climbing up, and her feet were never in good condition since the loss of her shoes. Believe it or not, this was nothing compared to previous one’s. She had a sprained ankle and a broken arm once, all in the same night.

“Well, go on clean up. Wouldn’t want your boyfriend and friends to see you all messed up now would we.”

[Y/N] was about to dampen the rag when she let what Kate said fully sink in. To see me? She looked up in Kate’s direction and let a look of confusion appear on her face.

“What do you mean,” her voice croaked. It came out raspy, hardly ever needing to use it since she never talked or made any noise. “To see me?”

Kate grinned and leaned against the wall with a foot propped up behind her. Her silhouette could only be seen as she was near the door where most of the light was let in from the hallway, but her feline, green eyes were the only thing that could be seen.

“Today’s your lucky day, Dorothy. You’re going home.”

[Y/N] froze mid wash. Home? Really?

“You’re Lying.”

Kate smacked her lips, “I could be or not. Up to you if you want to find out.”

[Y/N] continued to wash herself with her captor in the room while contemplating over the idea. [Y/N] didn’t know what to do. Of course she wanted to see everyone again, she missed them so much. But this was too easy. Kate couldn’t easily just hand her back over to them, she must have something in store for her and her friends. At this point [Y/N] didn’t have much to lose though, she in a way is already dead while not being so. Whatever Kate’s play is on this, [Y/N] was going to risk it. She had to try.

So [Y/N] set aside the rag and bucket and looked at Kate, “Fine. I’ll do it.”

Kate uncrossed her arms, pushed herself off the wall and made her way to stand in front of [Y/N]. She had this look on her face mixed with amusement and curiosity. The girl had guts Kate will admit.

“You sure? This could be all some trick of mine to kill you without even knowing,” she leaned closer to her face. “You willing to risk your life?”

[Y/N] glanced up and looked her straight in the eye, “Yes.”

Kate grinned. She began to walk away but turned around and made [Y/N]’s vision go dark.

-

Three months. It’s been three months since the night their packmate was taken and the pack wasn't able to find much information on Kate or [Y/N]. They for sure knew that she wasn't in Beacon Hills anymore.

The night [Y/N] was taken, Erica and Boyd were able to track down her and Kate’s scents on the edge of town. But after 3 miles, the scent was gone. They assumed they were taking her East, where the land got more deserted.

The pack was on edge. Lydia and Stiles worked with Argent most of the time, trying to figure out Kate's location. They would get in contact with some of her old hunting buddies and try to get any information they could get their hands on. Some would talk, others wouldn't, in fear of what Kate would do to them if she found out they blabbed on her.

Malia, Scott, Erica and Boyd would make calls to other packs they have come across in their times traveling and inform them on their situation. Hoping they may have seen Kate or [Y/N] wandering around their areas, or seen anything suspicious relating to the werejaguar. All they would get were that there were no sightings of such but would keep an eye open. Some had seen Kate but kept their distance not wanting to engage, but had commented that it was months ago before kidnapping [Y/N].

Derek was the one pushing himself too hard. Having the feeling that this was his fault, was searching none stop. He would look up surveillance cameras everyday, hoping to get a glimpse of the werejaguar or one of her men. He would drive to neighboring towns and do a few rounds sniffing out empty buildings in hopes that Kate might have planted something or slipped up in some way that would lead them to finding her. But had no luck. Peter began to worry about him going alone and decided to join him on these searches.

It was 10:45 at night and the two Hale men had just pulled up to the loft, finishing up a search that had taken them all day and night to drive from. Derek shut off the car and leaned against the steering wheel, letting out a sigh. He was beginning to lose hope in ever finding them. Kate was smart. She would never leave any tracks behind. This was her game, with her rules. She was probably watching them right now laughing at their pain and they would never even notice.

Peter hated seeing his nephew so broken. They may not get along much but pack was pack. As much as he hated to say it, their friend had grown on to him. She was the youngest after all, following Stiles by a few months, so he felt more protective over her.

Peter glanced at his nephew, and looked back out the front window, “We’re going to find her nephew. She’s pack, surely we would have felt her loss through the bond at some point these past few months,” there was a pause “especially you.”

Derek sat up and turned to his uncle, “Why? Because I’m the Alpha and it’s my re-”

“Because you’re in love with her,” Peter gave him a stern look cutting him off.

Derek’s eyes widened but returned back to their normal gaze. In love with Donnie? He couldn’t be, right? Sure he liked her, but Love? Love was a sensitive subject for the young Alpha, never did give it much of a chance. Not after Kate. He had thought she was his forever but when he found out she was just using him, the simple thought of finding his forever partner was just not in the books anymore. Thinking back on it, Derek never did feel anything of the sort that would indicate Kate was the one, let alone love her. The need to protect them, the constant worry when they weren’t in sight or near them, the slight tug in their chest being drawn to them. None of that was felt with Kate. However, when [Y/N] came into the picture, that’s exactly what Derek would feel when the thought of her would cross his mind. She was everything he didn’t know he needed. [Y/N] was playful but knew when to get serious, was cuddly and very loving but stepped back when need be, and was just a light in Derek’s dark world. So, maybe he was in love, just didn’t want to believe it. Didn’t want to risk his heart and end up being broken again.

“I know that you were aware of that detail and were hesitant about getting close to her for this very reason. But you have to understand. Even if you had initiated something, something was bound to happen. Whether to her or the pack, danger is all around us dear nephew,” Peter began to remove his seat belt and turned to him. “I know we haven’t had it easy, especially you. But don’t let the unknown stop you from trying to find peace, to be able to find love and happiness again. It would only make you more miserable.”

The young Hale stared ahead as his uncle got out of the vehicle before he followed after him to the building’s entrance. Halfway up the stairs to their floor, a familiar scent made them stop and look at each other. The two sped up the stairs and paused in front of the door. With a slight nod from Peter and claws drawing out, Derek pulled open the door.

“You really should get a new security system,” a mental box with wires stringing out of it was tossed at their feet. “This one’s broken.”

They followed the direction it was tossed from and their gaze was met with a certain blonde that they had been tracking down. There laying on their couch, as if she hadn’t just taken one of their packmates hostage, was Kate Argent in all her glory giving them a playful grimace.

In one quick sudden motion, Derek had lunged at her and pinned her to the wall by her neck. Peter was left there in shock, debating whether to let the man do damage to the woman or pull him away to figure out her play.

The woman chuckled, “Oh, now this brings back memories.”

“Where is she?” Derek demanded. His claws extended around her neck, canines barring at her, along with his crimson red eyes.

Kate batted her eyes at him, “Whatever do you mean Derek, I just came by to say hello.”

“Don’t play any games here Kate. Where the Hell is [Y/N]?”

“Derek, as much as I would prefer you to continue. But, you need to let her go,” Peter slowly made his way to his nephew, but stood back a few feet. “She has [Y/N], we need her alive to figure out where she is.”

Derek’s gaze never shifted from the current anger he held towards the woman. Nothing would satisfy him more than finally getting rid of Kate from his life. But, Peter had a point. [Y/N] was more important right now. So in defeat, Derek let her fall to the ground with a little more force than needed to be and walked away from her taking out his phone in the process. She wouldn’t be going anywhere, not without giving them answers, so the rest of the pack had to be here too.

Kate rose from the floor while rubbing the soreness away from her neck, “Always such a gentlemen.”

Half an hour later, the others had arrived and had kept their distance from the woman, but still a watchful eye on her as they discussed how they would go through with this.

“We could always beat it out of her.”

Everyone gave Stiles a look.

“What? She’s done it to all of us, what’s wrong with giving her a taste of her own medicine.”

“What’s wrong is that she wouldn’t break. It’d be useless on our part,” Lydia pointed out.

“I could always tell you where she is,” the pack looked at her. She was leaning against one of the wall windows, picking her fingernails, well claws.

They all returned their gazes back to each other, “Seems too easy if you ask me,” Erica spoke.

“She came to us,” Stiles glanced at Kate, giving her a death stare, over everyone’s shoulders while Peter began. “There must be something in return she wants. Something we all aren’t going to be willing to accept so easily.”

There was a cackle, “Old man’s right. But, you all better decide quickly.” Kate strutted her way near them and placed her hands on her hips. “Clock’s ticking. Not sure how long she’s got left, before little ole [Y/N] goes night night,” she bared her canines at them. “For good.”

[asterekmess]

(I was gonna save this for tomorrow, but FUCK IT) Eyyy, still being salty over here. Pls block the tag ‘rant’ if you don’t wanna see anymore of these. Or maybe ‘anti-scott mccall’ though, tbh, I’m not sure how much fun it would be to follow me if you aren’t anti-scott mccall. I’m pretty vocal abt disliking him.

ANYWAY.

I wanna talk about the concept of Derek being a ‘creeper’ because of all his wandering around the lacrosse field, at lydia’s party, etc. And by talk about, I mean ramble about incoherently. By which I mean, please know that I’m not trying to insult or fight anybody who makes this joke or uses this concept in fic or whatever. I’m just ranting bc I love this boy and his trauma makes me sad.

ANYWAY. (This is insanely long, so I’m adding a “Read More”)

I just have a lot of feelings about people seeing Derek as a stalker/creeper because he keeps showing up at lacrosse practice and in Scott & Stiles’ rooms, etc. It gets mentioned in loads of fics (I see a lot of “Creeperwolf” which I think is supposed to be an endearment?) (And there’s lots of fics that talk about how ‘you used to be/are really creepy, following us around’ Again, not judging) (Dude it’s even a whole tag on AO3 ‘Creeper Derek Hale’) and it’s joked about a lot in fandom (the vine with the ‘every step you take’ song and the swans on the building comes to mind). I see it a lot, and dude, it hurts me.

Let’s look at Derek’s current mental state and what he’s been dealing with, going all the way back to Paige. (Or, tbh, his birth) Derek is a werewolf. He was born a werewolf, to a family of werewolves. He grew up within the supernatural world, in a whole different culture to humans (honestly, my fury at the lack of werewolf culture/history/worldbuilding is worthy of its own post. Let me know if by some ungodly chance, you actually wanna hear my thoughts on it.) and presumably the number one rule in all of werewolfdom is “Keep the Secret.” Now, Derek’s fuckin’ 14/15 (I put his birthday on Christmas, like most of fandom, and if his house burned down when he was 16, in the spring, and he was dating Kate for a while before, he would’ve dated her when he was 15, and we don’t know how long there was between paige and kate, but let’s give him a summer of mourning. So. 14ish with paige) and he starts dating this human. He’s kinda shit at keeping the secret, implying that either he’s only dated werewolves before, or she’s his first girlfriend ever (also implying that maybe some of the people on his basketball team are werewolves, bc they don’t seem to notice his weird way of talking [pack members maybe? fuck, my heart]) and he’s maybe not as careful as he should be. (More implications arise, and we begin to build our own history. If Derek was never taught not to say dumb shit like ‘i caught a scent’ then was he even in public school before freshman year? Were the Hales all homeschooled before high school to help keep the secret? How soon do wolfy abilites arise? Do they hit with puberty? Fuck, I digress.) He says some dumb shit, and Paige gets suspicious. Of course, he doesn’t know that, and he has some kind of meltdown about her eventually finding out his secret. We hear from Peter (who’s villainized, so we’re not supposed to necessarily believe what he says, but what we see in the flashback doesn’t make a huge amount of sense either so *shrug*) that he enlists Ennis to bite Paige, believing that if she is bitten she won’t spill the secret and she’ll be more inclined to accept that Derek is a werewolf. Now, she fucking dies. Paige dies in Derek’s arms because of this, and he finds out at the last second that she already knew the secret. He feels guilty enough abt getting her killed but now he’s got a whole new batch of guilt from finding out that apparently he’s so bad at keeping the secret of his ENTIRE SPECIES that she found out he was a werewolf. She could’ve exposed them all at any time. He had to be terrified. Next, he’s 15/16 and he meets a gorgeous older woman who presumably showers him in affection, and all the horrors that go with that whole situation (I don’t wanna go into detail, because obviously). But again, whether Derek tells her himself or she just knew or she finds out, whatever it is, Kate knows Derek and his family are werewolves. AND SHE KILLS THEM ALL. Derek has no clue what the fuck is going on. All he knows is he is the only link between Kate and his family, which must mean that it’s his fault she knows about them. Once again, he’s revealed the Big Secret and people Died. He and Laura bolt to NY for six years, where presumably they live in hiding thinking the Argents are coming after them to finish off the Hales. Then Laura gets sent a funky letter and goes back to Beacon Hills. Now, we have a lil more confusion (i’ve got a whole buttload of issues with the timeline, but let’s not get into that now) because he says he came looking for Laura, but later he mentions that he knew she was in Beacon Hills and was searching for...whoever burnt down their house...that whole plotline confuses the shit out of me (derek knew kate did it. he blamed All the argents, but he knew kate was involved. So why was Laura looking for the pendant. and if he didn’t tell her then why was he looking for the pendant?? And what did the pendant have to do with the deer and the spiral?? Halp.) but whatever. He shows up and finds his sister dead, the hunters arrive in town the next day, and suddenly there’s an angry alpha Attacking Humans.

We’re finally in the present. Derek has lost what little family he had left, except for a catatonic uncle. He already has two instances in his past where the worry of keeping werewolves a secret has caused deaths. And now there’s this teenager. No, actually, two teenagers. One who was bitten, and one who shouts out “You’re a werewolf!” in the middle of the preserve, instantly figuring out a centuries-old supernatural secret. Derek is fucking terrified, and things are only getting worse. This kid who got bitten? Derek follows him to see if he’s really a wolf, to find out if he knows what’s happening to him, if he believes the other teen. He finds the kid JUMPING OVER PEOPLE’S HEADS in broad daylight in front of everyone. Derek might’ve had a couple verbal giveaways but this is just ridiculous. Then, even better, the kid goes on a date on the FULL MOON with THE YOUNGEST ARGENT. There’s about a billion reasons to follow Scott to the party. It’s a FULL MOON, for one. HE’S WITH AN ARGENT for another. And of course he can’t just walk into the party. He’s fucking 22 for fuck’s sake. This is a high school party. He’d get arrested. And of course he doesn’t introduce himself to Scott beforehand. He has no way of knowing if this kid is on the Alpha’s side. He’s the Alpha’s Beta, it would make perfect sense for him to be obeying the Alpha. OR since he’s with the Argent, maybe he’s working with them. Maybe he’s a plant of some kind. a hunter pet. Laura was used as bait to catch Derek, why not Scott too? But he sees quickly that Allison has no clue what’s going on, at least with Scott, and he takes her home and steals her jacket to lure Scott into the Preserve where he can’t hurt anyone. Then, when he sees Scott get chased by the hunters, with no Alpha coming running to protect him, he decides “Alright, guess this kid’s my ally. Gotta protect him.” Yeah. He says some weird shit. But the evidence points to Derek not knowing much about bitten wolves. He tells Scott that he doesn’t know how to train a bitten wolf, but he does know how to help Scott recover memories (the memory loss appears to only happen in the early days of shifting, which lends more credibility to the possibility that born wolves don’t start shifting properly until later in life [puberty being the most likely milestone] and he therefore has experience with that, but not with the kind of control Scott needs, that he’s known his whole life). Born a werewolf, he’s never considered the bite anything other than a gift. He also just lost his entire family, so sue him for trying to find some kind of connection between them. (It honestly makes total sense for him to use the term ‘brothers’ bc he KNOWs Scott won’t understand the concept of ‘pack’ yet) So, now that’s decided to help Scott, to protect him, he goes back to the school. SURELY now that Scott knows what he is and how dangerous he is when stressed, he’ll reign himself in during lacrosse, or even just back out of it altogether. There are lives at stake here, be them human, or if Scott exposes the secret, werewolves. SURELY this kid wouldn’t put everyone in danger over a fucking game. But no. Not only does he keep flaunting his abilities, but he SHIFTS ON THE FIELD. If Stiles hadn’t Dragged Scott out of there, the entire supernatural world would be EXPOSED by this ONE KID. Derek passed Terrified about a hundred miles back. He’s gotta be fucking out of his mind with fear. I don’t blame him even a little for threatening Scott. If Scott’s not gonna do the right thing on his own, then threatening him is worth it if people don’t DIE. Then, bc Scott’s a pissy baby and goes to shout at him and be a fuckwad, and Stiles is nosey and neither of them have boundaries (I love Stiles, but fucking seriously, digging up a grave?) Derek gets ARRESTED. He pleads with this lanky teen who is brave enough to climb into the cruiser with a WEREWOLF. Who’s FRiends with a Werewolf. Who figured it out so quickly. He pleads with him to understand how dangerous this is, to stop his friend. And Stiles looks like he’s gonna, but Scott bolts bc of the wolfsbane (Which...listen if I’m being really salty, a deep bitter part of me genuinely wonders if he was that freaked out, or if he overheard Derek beg Stiles not to let Scott play, and Scott ran away from Stiles so he wouldn’t get told no, bc he wanted to play.) and by the time Stiles finds him he’s already dressed for the game. And DEREK WAS RIGHT. Scott DID lose control. He DID shift on the field. At LEAST one human saw him shift, and the coach for the other team knew something was up too. He DID expose them, and he did it further bc Jackson is suspicious now. Now, I’ve reblogged a gifset of it before, the moment when Derek shows up at the lacrosse field and finds Jackson standing in it after Scott’s run off, staring at a glove with a claw hole in it. He is watching his worst nightmare come true. Scott has exposed them and Jackson is going to figure out werewolves, just like Stiles did. He knows right that instant that people are going to die. I’ll reiterate what I said in the tags on that gifset. It’s extremely likely that Derek bit Jackson out of self-preservation. Jackson had been threatening to tell the hunters and the entire world if he didn’t get what he wanted. The safest thing to do was give Jackson the bite so that at least he would be putting himself in danger too if he exposed werewolves. He forced Jackson to have to keep the secret for himself because he knew Jackson wouldn’t do it for anyone else. (And he knew Jackson had some self-preservation, compared to Scott, and wouldn’t want to expose himself.)

Listen, I just. I just get so sad watching Derek sneaking into people’s rooms and standing on the edge of the field and showing up in the locker rooms. He’s trying to help. He’s trying to protect. He wants to be there in case Scott does something stupid (which he does, again and Again) to protect him, even after Scott REFUSED to help him stop a SERIAL KILLER because there wasn’t anything in it for him. Even after Scott fucking blackmails him by leaving him hanging on a grate with wires plugged into his side and his abuser on their way back to hurt him, he still helps him protect Allison (who watched him be tortured and did nothing. [He still has the capacity to acknowledge that it’s not her fault. That she couldn’t save him. He doesn’t blame her for it and he certainly doesn’t want her to die.]) He wants to keep his Betas safe. He stands in the parking lot waiting for them to test Lydia because he doesn’t want them to have to go through with killing her alone (and he only tries to kill her because she DOESN’T pass the test [although I admit it’s a dumb test] and because the kanima is KILLING people. More people have died and I don’t know how the fuck Derek manages to keep standing, let alone having such capacity for empathy and optimism and sarcasm after everything he’s dealt with. He’s constantly being hunted by hunters or humans, or fuck even Scott himself, since every time Scott gets upset he blames Derek for everything (I’m still fucking disgusted that he turned up at Derek’s place and accused him of murdering his own sister.) And STILL he shows up. No matter how many times he’s shoved away and ignored and yelled at. He shows up and he stands on the fringes and he waits for the chance to help.

And what’s creepy about that?

[egelantier]

Yuletide Recs

Having had two days of more or less nothing but reading fics, I come bearing recs!

First of all, my amazing gifts:

The Goblin Emperor

For Thy Principles

The nohecharei of Edrehasivar VII were unparalleled in their defense of his person, but there were limits to even their prowess. When Maia first developed the fever, Cala quickly determined that it was not the end result of a magically-based assassination attempt – and from there it had to be left to the court physicians.

Maia falls ill, and Csethiro protects him as best she can.

Beautifully gentle Maia sickfic, with Csethiro holding him together. For me all for meeee.

Benjamin January Mysteries

Dry as a Bone

“Oh. Well, I’ve been better, maestro, been a hell of a lot better to tell truth.” Shaw stared at him for a long moment, and he was stunned to see honest to God grief in his eyes. Even when Shaw had just lost his brother he had been so much more himself than this lost man currently standing before him. “Not that I mean to put anything extra on your shoulders, I’m sure you’ve got enough of your own shit going on at present moment, but it seems like I’ve just lost my job.”

Shaw loses his job, and finally confronts Ben about trust (and lack thereof) between them. It’s GREAT.

The Tarot Sequence - K.D. Edwards

A Distraction Worth Losing

They may never be together, but the gods would have to move heaven and earth to split Rune and Brand apart.

Brand, Rune and The Kiss incident. (Poor messed up babies, somebody save them.)

And fics of the collection:

17776, Astreiant, Raksura, Frederica, The Gentlemen, The Goblin Emperor, Hades, Innkeeper Chronicles, Jeeves, Kate Daniels, King Arthur the movie, My Next Life as a Villainess, Nirvana in Fire, No. 6, Psmith, The Secret Garden, The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty, Swordspoint, The Tarot Sequence, Teixcalaan Series, The Temple of the White Rat verse

17776: What Football Will Look Like in the Future

so far, so fast

When Manny gets a craving for some fancy meal he had once, over ten thousand years ago, Nick decides he’s gonna fulfill that craving, no matter how hard it is. Because real romance is about making the impossible happen for his husband.

Goddamn transcendental.

Go Get It

Sometimes you start out just planning to get some groceries with your husband, and next thing you know, you’re committing to join the most hopeless team in college football.

Nick and Manny decide to play. It’s perfect.

Afterlife

A young man dies six months before the end of human death; his loss saves five lives, which end up much longer than anyone expects. (A series of worldbuilding vignettes about original characters in the 17776 setting.)

Made me cry, in a very cathartic way.

Astreiant Series - Melissa Scott & Lisa A. Barnett

April dressed in all his trim

A quiet evening in spring.

Sweet little slice-of-life with lovely sensory details.

Books of the Raksura

The Second Consort

“When Glow arrives, be friendly and welcoming,” Ember said. “Not scary.”

“Why does everyone think I’m going to scare him?”

Chime said, “They can see your face when you look at him.” He paused, glancing over at Moon. “That face, that’s the one.”

Ember sighed. “I remember being in his position. It’s pretty nerve-wracking coming to a new court and not knowing what’s going to happen to you there - whether they’re going to welcome you or shun you, whether you’ll make new friends, whether a queen is going to claim you…” He came and put a sympathetic hand on Moon’s shoulder. “Glow is probably worried about all of those things, and missing his home and clutchmates, and it’s our job to try and help him relax.” For a moment Moon thought he was just being soft-hearted, until Ember added, “He won’t open up and tell us what’s really going on unless he’s relaxed.”

Jade takes in a new consort, on Moon’s permission, and everybody is delightfully adult about it.

Frederica

Lady Alverstoke

Frederica commences her first Season as a married woman by planning a ball, promising most straitly that her husband will have nothing whatsoever to do …

Sweet and funny slice-of-life post-happy-ending for canon.

**The Gentlemen (2019) **

Even

The week after he intercepts Fletcher, that squirrelly little cunt, outside the London Miramax office, Raymond reluctantly ventures down to Brixton.

Under normal circumstances, Raymond tends to give this part of Brixton a wide berth, but he has unfinished business that needs attending to. Of course, that doesn’t mean he has to like being accosted by the overwhelming smell of greasy fish and chips when he pushes the car door open, doesn’t mean he has to be pleased about stepping into a piece of chewed-up gum the moment he sets a foot on the kerb.

But then, he can always take a shower after an errand in Brixton. The deep-seated discomfort of unfinished business doesn’t wash off that easily.

Raymond tries to pay Coach back for saving his life, and it doesn’t quite go as planned :D

The Goblin Emperor

The Archduke’s Discovery

Prince Nemolis goes on a journey, and learns a bit more than he wanted to know.

Really great point of canon divergence, and true and precise character voices.

Hades

all the spaces between us

For a place full of the dead, crammed with ghostly shades and nothing but the endless lull of eternity unchanging, gossip sure travelled fast in the Underworld.

Or, Zagreus mulls over his relationship with Thanatos while the rest of the Underworld get overly invested.

Slow, slow, slowest of burns.

Innkeeper Chronicles - Ilona Andrews

A Quick Trip

“It’ll be a quick trip,” Maud said, more to herself than to Arland. “No one will even notice we’re gone.”

Pirates are plaguing an ally, just outside of vampire space. Maud and Arland don some aesthetically beat-up armor and try to get more information from the pirates themselves. Of course, plans only last until you meet your enemy. Or your enemy’s giant alien attack boar.

Excellent canon voice, action/adventure sprinkled with badassery and hilarity.

Jeeves & Wooster

August Thirteenth

Discovering that this is not the first August thirteenth that he’s lived through, that certainly was a head scratcher. Luckily Bertie has the stalwart presence of his man’s man, Jeeves.

Very, very great and satisfying use of the time loop.

Kate Daniels - Ilona Andrews

lookin’ like a snack (cake)

It took Barabas a while to figure it out, because he wasn’t used to not being taken seriously.

Barabas considered several ways to phrase it, and finally settled upon, “Do you have a thing for twinks?” Christopher knocked his head back against the headrest: once, then again. “Is that a yes?”

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)

When Goosefat Bill finds himself in a difficult situation, the last thing he wants is the King to show up and “help”, in his own unique and unexpected way.

Goosefat Bill does not need to be rescued by his King. But he might just enjoy it a little.

My Next Life as a Villainess (Anime)

All I Have To Bring Today

Catarina and Sophia had been discussing the latest in the Devilish Count series, and Sophia had mentioned how romantic the surprise picnic the count had planned for his lover was and how she wished for someone to surprise her like that.

“What about you, Catarina? Have you ever wished for someone to sweep you off your feet?” Sophia had asked.

Catarina makes a choice! As sweet and as hilarious as the canon.

Nirvana in Fire

Adverse Event

What a pitiful man must he have become, if the only thing he could provoke in bed was a monologue on his character flaws.

: or, the famous strategist mei changsu plays xanatos speed chess against truth serum: the fic.

Mei Changsu gets hit with an accidental truth serum; it doesn’t stop him from lying to himself, but it does buy Jingyan a clue.

Records of the Land of Xiang

There was something of Xiao Jingyan there, in the firmness of his jaw, the unforgiving slash of his brows, and most clearly in the eyes that neither saw nor conveyed deception. But Long Zhan was not Jingyan, could never be, no matter how much Changsu might wish otherwise, because Jingyan was dead.

In service to a very-much-alive Prince Qi, Jingyan dons a Jianghu-typical disguise and infiltrates the Jiangzuo Alliance to suss out this Mei Changsu fellow and see if he might be useful in helping them re-open the Chiyan conspiracy case. Basically, a slightly ridiculous premise where everyone is running around the Jianghu with masks, multiple identities, and secret agendas.

Fascinating and fun AU scenario that delves, among other things, into Mei Changsu the jianghu chef, not Sir Su the court schemer.

suffering as I suffer you

The first time Jingyan stays the night at Su Manor, he discovers an uncomfortable truth about Mei Changsu.

Excellent extrapolation of Mei Changsu’s illness into his nightly routine - with Jingyan watching…

Here, In Our Arms

With the world put to rights, however briefly, Xiao Jingyan and Mu Nihuang take the opportunity to make a fuss over their beloved Lin Shu, and will not take no for an answer.

Sweet moment of comfort.

Find the Coals Amid the Ashes

Despite Changsu’s assertions, Lin Chen is a well brought up person. He would never violate his host’s privacy during a social call. It would be inexcusable, for example, to break into a marquis’s private alchemy lab in the middle of said marquis’s birthday party, in order to search said alchemy lab for certain hard to find medicinal herbs, which one has reason to believe can be found therein. These would be the actions of a man without honour, of a man who has only desperation to his name.

Lin Chen crashes a party and makes a new friend.

The best team up ever :D

Dead Letters

Mei Changsu isn’t the only schemer in Da Liang.

Fei Liu fixes things, in the most Fei Liu way imaginable, and it’s great.

No. 6

All Good Things

In the midst of a crisis for No. 6, Nezumi returns to Shion’s side.

A reunion! And cuddling.

Psmith

The Psky Is The Limit

“As this ship’s Orator, my mission is still as it was in the beginning and shall ever be, world without end. It is to hail any message sent by comrades from outer space and pass it on to you verbatim. Well! The hour, I say, has come. The Word has come into being. Here comes Psmith, bearing news of great mirth: the intercom has spoken.”

(A Mike and Psmith Space AU)

Psmith in space! Hysterically funny Psmith in Pspace, at that.

Psmith Pops In

Psmith reached over and solicitously loosened Mike’s scarf, his fingers brushing the skin of Mike’s neck, and that young man, to his horror, felt heat creeping up from where gloved fingers brushed his bare skin. Really, this blushing nonsense was getting out of hand. Ever since Psmith had tried to take the blame in the case of the painted dog, Mike had developed an inexplicable habit of turning hot and cold around him, and these odd responses had become more and more frequent.

Very funny! And then very tragique! And then jussssst right.

The Secret Garden

The Space Garden

When Meri La Nix was sent from the Mars colony to live with her aunt at Missiles Wait Manor, nobody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen. But some of them thought it.

Beautifully inventive space retelling - with gardens, still.

The Sleuth of Ming Dynasty

The sky spinning above him

In which there’s a jewellery thief on the loose, Tang Fan plays dress up, gets a mild concussion and also a boyfriend.

Frothy, sweet, well-grounded and hot. Also hilarious (check the end note!)

truth in fiction

Three days after Wang Zhi leaves the capital, bits and pieces of his extensive library begin arriving at Sui Zhou’s house.

Sui Zhou is really committed to research and accuracy in Tang Fan’s porn. It’s delightful.

Time don’t fool me no more

“The electrician is a Tang dynasty spy,” he says, dumping some of his eggs in Tang Fan’s bowl.

Tang Fan nods, shovels more food in his mouth, and starts talking again.

Past or future, Tang Fan has Priorities. And Sui Zhou is weak.

Meeting at the End

Sui Zhou knew he never should have let Tang Fan go alone. He knew he should have gone with him.

Really, really great and desperate whump. Super satisfying.

clever boy

Tang Fan never spares a smile for any of the girls at Wang Zhi’s establishment, he’s noticed. That’s alright, though. It means Wang Zhi gets his attention for himself.

Wang Zhi falling, falling hard; it’s delightful.

a bold and brilliant sun

“You’re sure you didn’t do something to it? They don’t usually stall out,” Sui Zhou says. He looks away from Tang Fan, out the windshield at the endless rust-red of the planet.

Tang Fan pouts at this, and slumps down on the edge of the console, feet propped up at an absurd angle against the pilot’s seat. “You think I’d fake a mechanical issue just so that they’d send a sexy Fleet crewman out here to rescue me?” As soon as the words are out of his mouth, he giggles. “Okay, I would do that, but I promise that this time the problem is real.”

Space AU! Most excellent space AU condensing all there is to love about the canon in one perfect package.

Blind Taste Test

Wang Zhi invites Tang Fan to evaluate Joyous Brothel’s chefs — but it’s Tang Fan and Sui Zhou who are really being tested.

Wang Zhi, ever helpful :)

Authorial Intent

Sui Zhou and Tang Fan end up in hot water yet again. Kinky sex ensues.

Hilarious, kinky, heartfelt, and in character.

Swordspoint Series - Ellen Kushner

Chrysopoeia

It struck Alec that this would have been much easier if their positions were reversed. Richard would have known what to do if he’d been dragged back here with a hole in his gut. He was quite simply not supposed to be the one on this end of the equation. In fact, it was possible he had done something very bad to deserve this.

Richard is wounded, and Alex is coping. Excellent h/c and excellent bloodplay and sharp, painful slice of Alex’ POV, excellently rendered.

At first — this was just like him — he thought he was hearing god. But it was only the man in the bed, whose face had turned toward him on the ragged pillow.

The Tarot Sequence - K.D. Edwards

Third’s a Charm

Addam asks a favor of Brand.

Addam asks Brand for help, which ends up being exactly what Brand and Rune need.

Pretty good

Five times Brand crawls into Rune’s bed and one time Rune crawls into Brand’s.

Brand and Rune, through the years.

Teixcalaan Series - Arkady Martine

Also in the Act of Reaching

When Three Seagrass arrived at Lsel Station, she was, officially at least, traveling as a private personage. She had missed Mahit and the possibilities they’d both chosen to turn away from. She also had– would always have– a gaping hole in her life where Petal had once stood.

It was simply that, left on her own, Three Seagrass wouldn’t have let either absence drag her to the ass-end of beyond.

Reunion, metaphors and realigment. Subtle and clever and just right.

The (concept of the) World Was Wide Enough

Yskandr Aghavn comes to the world like a drowning man comes to shore, but he is living on borrowed time. Teixcalaan has so many wonderful things to choke on.

Teixcalaan has had his heart for all of his life, has elevated him, corrupted him, and discarded him.

It is Lsel that he thinks of as he dies.

Temple of the White Rat Universe - T. Kingfisher

If Grace Is Too Much

Zale is given a case by Bishop Beartongue which turns out to be more complicated and personal than a holy advocate-priest would prefer.

Clever and sweet and carefully shocking, but in a very right way.

Outreach

“We don’t generally assess the… cursédness… of objects, trees or otherwise,” Beartongue said.

Utterly delightful.

[writing-reading-inspiring]

Discovering Truth (Mob!Tom Holland X Reader) - Chapter One

Summary: One can say that (y/n) doesn’t have a normal life. Then again, anyone who’s father is the leader of one of the most feared English mobs probably wouldn’t. One day, her life gets turned upside down when a letter arrives from her uncle stating that she is a target of her father’s rival mob, the Hollands.

Chapter One  ~  Chapter Two 

I’ve always understood that I wasn’t a typical teenager. I mean, I’ve been exposed to that idea since I was a 7 year old girl shooting a glock 17 at a moving target during my father's “protection training”. I feel like a part of me even understood that when I was waking up to the blaring of an ambulance and the sharp beep of a heart monitor when I was 4. My life is complicated and simple at the same time, which isn’t just confusing, but really sucks. 

To understand how I ended up here, I have to tell you about my family and what I know of my past. My father is Harold Chimaera, leader of one of the most feared English mobs. My mother was his wife, Eleanor Chimaera. She was an amazing wife and an even more amazing mother, at least from what I can remember. My father sent her away to Corinth, Maine when she was pregnant with my brother, Scott, and me in order to keep her safe from any harm that could befall us. Sadly it wasn’t his enemies that hurt us, but a truck driver on Mccard Road who had a bit too much Bourbon to drink. My mother and twin brother died that cold winter’s night. 

When my father found out, he immediately came to the United States to bring me home to London. From there, he moved most of his operation to Cambridge, a place where he can keep me safe from accidents and anyone who would want to harm us. 

I was drawn out of my thoughts by a light knock on the door frame. The gruff voice of my father's right hand man, Abel, followed after it.

“Ms. Chimaera, you’re father requests your presence in the living room.” He adjusted his black suit jacket and scratched at his 5 o’clock shadow that he seems to have forgotten to shave.

“Of course Abel,” I curtly replied. “I’ll be right down. Just give me a minute to put my easel away.”

He nodded towards me before disappearing from my view. I got up and looked at the blank canvas that was taunting me. I’ve been unable to draw for the last 2 weeks and it’s really starting to get on my nerves. I’ve already painted the roses in the garden, the birds in the aviary, the butterflies that flutter just outside the windows, and even the creek that runs next to the house. 

My home may be considered luxurious in it’s grand stature, pristine marble floors, exquisite design, and exotic fauna; however, it lacks inspiration for me at this point. After 15 years, things start to seem boring and you start to get claustrophobic, even if you have a generous amount of room to move around. 

Being caged and unable to leave the grounds of my father's estate may keep me safe, but it stops me from being alive; I’m only existing. I know I’m luckier than most, and I’m grateful for it, but I can’t help how I feel.

I begin to put away my painting materials before heading through the door of my art room. 

My father gave no worry to buying me whatever I wanted. This would explain the highly functioning studio I have next to my room, the stocked kitchen that holds any ingredient I could imagine using, and the $800 camera I have in a hard case on my dresser in my bedroom. 

The walk from upstairs to the living room is brief due to my father wanting me to be able to escape as quickly as possible if needed.

“(y/n)! There you are. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about your thoughts on how I should get Mulligan to back off of our exports. But first of all, have you painted anything new for me to hang in the gallery?” My father got up from the couch and walked to the staircase while speaking to me.

His question caused goosebumps on my arms. He has been asking me for a new painting everyday after I told him I had nothing to work from.

“I haven’t been able to paint anything new yet, but I’m thinking about painting the garden again, except this time it would be in the morning,” I replied to him while looking down.

“That sounds absolutely wonderful, my dear. Now, about that plan of yours. I enjoy the part about messing with Mulligan’s investigation, but why exactly do you think he would go after another mob all of the sudden,” my father inquired.

You see, my father has been trying to prepare me for when I take over the mob when I’m older. At least that’s what he tells me. Personally, I believe he’s trying to make sure I’m smart enough to take care of myself if I need to. Nevertheless, I put my input in on subjects such as how to increase profits and how to get nosy detective’s off our scent.

“Dad, Mulligan has been chasing us for years, which means there’s a low chance that he has been doing other cases. His chief must be pretty mad at him for ignoring his other duties. Giving ‘evidence’ that can bring down another mob permanently would put him in good graces with his boss. He would be an idiot if he doesn’t take the bait,” I explained to him. 

“That’s my smart girl.” He came over to give me a hug.  

When he pulled away he spoke again, “Oh, I almost forgot. Rosetta put together the mail and apparently there are quite a few pieces for you. How many colleges did you apply to?”

“Maybe about 15. I wanted options,” I said. 

This wasn’t technically a lie, but it also wasn’t technically the complete truth. I wanted a good amount of options, yes, but I also wanted to be able to get as far away as I can. Not because I hate my life, but because I want to feel free. 

“Sweetheart, I can get you into any school you want with one phone call, so why did you need options?”

“I wanted to get in on my own, and I’m sure I did with my markings.”

“Of course you did, darling.” He checked his watch and a pained look came to his face. “I hate to do this sweetie, but I have a meeting in five minutes. The mail should be in your room. Tell you what, how about we have a movie night tonight? Say 8 o’clock?”

“Sounds perfect. Now, don’t be late to your meeting because of me. I’ll see you tonight. Love you.”

“I love you too.” With that, he departed from the living room towards the north side of the estate, which is where his conference room is.”

I made my way back upstairs to my bedroom. I might as well see what letters I was able to get today. 

You see, the mail that we receive is gone through and assorted at another location in case of dangerous substances or tricks. It’s also a way for my father to see who was trying to contact me via mail (he already has my computer's searched and monitored 24 hours).

Once I get to my bedroom, I immediately spotted my mail placed on my mahogany desk as it is every day. I grabbed the stack and sat against the headboard of my bed, having to push myself back a couple of times due to its size. 

University of Oxford ... accepted.

University of Cambridge ... accepted. 

University of York ... accepted. 

Université de la Sorbonne ... accepté. 

Harvard University ... accepted. 

Letter from Elijah Wilson ... that’s a new one.

I immediately push the other packages aside and look at the small white envelope that managed to get to my room. I’ve never had mail from a person I’ve never heard of, especially one bearing my mother's maiden name. 

The mail crew must have not seen this because it wasn’t already opened. Slowly pulling apart the unopened seal, I pulled the crisp, white paper out of its sleeve. 

Dear (y/n),

Hey kiddo, it’s your Uncle Elijah again. I don’t know if you’ve even been getting these letters, but that doesn’t matter. I still have hope that I’ll be able to see you again. You must be about 19 now, right? Last time I saw you, you weren’t even to my knee, but you had tremendous spunk for a 4 year old. If you’re anything like you were when you were little or anything like your mother, I believe that you’d get along great with my daughter, Elizabeth. I’m sure you’re living a great life in Cambridge with your dad, but I really do need to see you, sweetie. I understand that talking about what happened with your mother and brother must be a difficult thing to do. I could hardly speak about it for at least two years, but it’s been 15 now. Not only do we miss you in Maine, but we want to try to help you as much as possible too. I’m sure your father has some of the greatest protection set up just for you, but even Fort Knox has breeches in their security system. I’m sure he already knows about the Hollands trying to get to you, but I’m just worried that you won’t be ready for when they do come. Though I hate to say it, there offense has gotten stronger and they had corrupted more mobs that I can count. There are probably enemies that you think are allies coming in and out without any strain. These men have already killed Eleanor and Scott, I don't want to see them kill you too. I know coming to Maine didn’t work that well last time, but we’ve grown since then, we’re more prepared. Please come, or at least respond so I know that you’re safe.

With love and the best intentions,

Uncle Elijah