Chapter 2: Welcome to Gotham!
Warnings: A little bit of blood, breakdown and emotional distress.
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Chapter 1! | Masterpost | Chapter 3!
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After finally closing up the last wound, Clockwork took a moment to look over his work. All of the young Halfa’s wounds have been sealed and treated with diluted ectoplasm. It was only enough to make the injuries look a week old at best but it will have to do.
The Ancient lifted his staff and in one swift movement ripped a hole in the fabric of reality. CW then carefully cradled Danny in his arms. Then both the Ancient and the Halfa stepped into the portal.
On the other side, they were met with an emaciated woman clad in a red and black Victorian dress accompanied by a small rose decorated matching hat. In her hand a small umbrella made of lace and what seemed to be black clouds.
Her delicate snow white skin furrowed by ink black veins. Her blood red lips striking against the pallor of her face were pursed in worry. Her eyes, even while covered by her laced black veil, didn’t hide her apprehension.
The woman’s dress’s neckline was fashioned in the silhouette of a bat. Pearls scattered like falling stars across the red and black folds of the garment. Her waist encased in a tight bodice was embellished by small golden coins and feathers. The red fishtail spilling on the ground lazily trailing after its mistress.
The woman bowed her head, greeting the Ancient and his charge.
“Lord Clockwork.” Her raspy yet somehow suave voice resonated into the night.
“Lady Gotham.” He responded while slightly dipping his head down.
The city spirit glanced at the boy in the other’s arm. His bandaged form and torn clothes were not what first captured her attention. What truly horrified her was the state of the young Halfa’s core. Wrapped and cracked, barely a breath away from breaking and ceasing to exist.
Her own aching at the view, screaming at her to take the boy, wrap him in a bundle of blankets and nurse/guard him until at full health.
Being ended was reserved to the lowest of the low. It was a last resort that should only be used should the offender be irredeemable and too dangerous to be contained. To think that this almost happened and still could to her own king and one so young.
It was nauseating.
Lady Gotham forced herself to look away, turning her attention back to Clockwork.
“I assume he is the charge you want to bring into my care.”
“He is.” Clockwork responded.
The woman nodded, the smoke and black clouds in her umbrella spreading around her.
“Then if you will follow me.”
Lady Gotham faded and became one with the smog. The black mass zooming towards Midtown Gotham, the ancient of time on its heels.
They soon arrived in front of a small but clean apartment building. The two ghosts phased through the wall of the top floor only to be greeted by the view of a spacious yet cozy loft.
The unit was furnished with all the necessary furniture, non-ecto-contaminated food already stocked in the fridge. The space was designed in order to facilitate Daniel’s recovery. The boy would already be going through hell with his recovery and grief; it was best not to add insult to injury.
The city spirit having taken back physical form, leads Clockwork towards the bed on the second floor of the loft.
Once inside, the Ancient carefully sets Danny down on the bed and slowly covers him with a soft blanket. He then produced a pen and a neon green notepad from who knows where and started writing.
Lady Gotham approached the ghost.
“Lord ClockWork, pardon my intrusion, but wouldn’t it be best for you to explain the situation to the young king face to face.”
Clockwork paused.
“Young Daniel is too unstable to be dealing with the emotional distress my presence would bring. He has been hurt enough as it is.”
“Those excuses are nothing but the words of a coward.”
“Pardon me?”
“You are not. Are you truly running away in order to protect the boy or are you doing so to save yourself?”
“…”
“Tell me, Lord Clockwork. When the young king awakens, would he prefer to be met with an insincere apology letter from a coward or the genuine words of a man admitting to his mistakes?”
Clockwork couldn’t even utter a word.He didn’t have any excuse to defend himself. The city spirit was right.
“Your words are as sharp as ever, old friend.”
“I speak nothing but the truth, Master of Time. However, it seems to me that you are already set on your decision.”
“I-”
“I hope in your interest that you made the right choice.” The Lady snapped.
The woman turned away but not without leaving a few departing words.
“Or that at least you are prepared to face the consequences.”
Lady Gotham disappeared in a whirlwind of smog.
Clock work turned back to Daniel watching as his face scrunched up when the old ghost brushed a strand of hair away from his face.
His old core flared with parental love.
He looked so peaceful, as if nothing ever went wrong. However, In just a few hours, he would wake up and reality would come crashing down.
His bright and joyous protegee. The one he couldn’t help but adore every version of. The one he subconsciously adopted as his own child.
Clockwork couldn’t. He just couldn’t bring himself to face the hatred and pain his pupil would inevitably direct at him.
Gotham was right.
The Master of Time set down the notepad on the night table
He was a coward.
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*A few hours later*
As the first few rays of sunshine broke through Gotham’s thick smog, a young black and white haired boy slowly woke up from his slumber.
It was comfortable, the soft fluffy blanket brushing against his achy skin. The warmth that comes with being cocooned in the safety of your own bed. Danny didn’t want to open his eyes. But he needed to wake up, in just a few moments Jazz would come knocking at his door to drag him to school.
The soft familiar knock never came, but the memories sure did.
Danny snapped his eyes open. Tears threatening to fall.
Clockwork -LiaR- ,the reveal, the capture -BeTraYaL-, the experiments -PaIN-, Jazz, Sam, Tucker,-PAINPAINPAIN mY FauLT- the wails, blood, explosion, death -MurDEreR!-, pain, Core breaking, burning, melting- PAIN PAIN PAIN! I ShOuLD be DeAD!-.
The Halfa now fully awake kicked the blanket enveloping him away and tried to get out of the bed.
His legs still injured and unable to support his weight gave out and he collapsed on the wooden floor in a heap.
The sharp pain of jolting his injuries and face planting further cemented to Danny that he wasn’t dreaming and that the nightmare was fully real.
“...no…NONONONONONO! Please, no! Please! I BEG YOU! PLEASE! JAZZ, TUCK, SAM PLEASE! DONT BE REAL! PLEASE!” Danny tried to say, but the only thing that came out were erratic breaths that could vaguely be associated with words. His damaged throat made it impossible to even breathe without it flaring in pain.
Choked and pained sobs filled the once silent room.
The young Halfa still collapsed on the floor cried , slowly curling up on himself hugging his knees.
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Chapter 1! | Masterpost | Chapter 3!
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See you next time!
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Zosan headcanon (set either after Whole Cake Island or during one of the pre-timeskip arcs)
One night Sanji has a bad dream (about his childhood, his trauma, his fears...) and suddenly wakes up gasping and heavy breathing.
He doesn't want to wake up his crewmates, so he just gets up from the floor where he usually sleeps and leaves the room. But Zoro is on lookout that night and sees Sanji running into the kitchen (his comfort place). He knows that something isn't right by how panicked his breathing sounded and how confused he looked around, so he decides to check on him.
He finds Sanji in the darkness, sitting on the floor, with his back leaning on the counter, covering his head with his arms and sobbing like he never heard him do. (In his own mind, it that moment Sanji is still a child, left alone crying in the darkness by his father).
Sanji sees Zoro on the doorsteps, lit by the moonlight. Because of his pride and his rivalry with the swordsman, he doesn't want Zoro to see him while he is so vulnerable and tells him to go away, but of course Zoro is way too stubborn to do what he tells him to and wants to know why he's crying.
Sanji thinks that he wants to make fun of him, so he just stays silent, suffocating his sobs, waiting for an insult or a joke. But instead Zoro sits next to him and tells him that he envies him, because he's able to let all his emotions out and to cry freely without feeling judged (by his own self) or "less masculine".
Sanji is obviously surprised by that glimpse of Zoro's sincerity, but doesn't want to tell him why he's crying. He doesn't want to burden him with his story. In that moment, he just knows that Zoro's company is comforting. Their shoulders slightly brushing while sitting next to each other in the darkness, Zoro's slow breathing, the warmth of his body... Everything about that makes Sanji cry even more. He isn't alone anymore. He doesn't have to bear all his sufferings by himself in a loop of poisonous thoughts.
Without even realising it, he finds himself leaning his head on Zoro's shoulder, feeling the tears running down his cheeks and soaking Zoro's shirt. He quickly starts sobbing again, covering his face with his hand. Zoro wraps his arm around him and pulls him closer, letting Sanji bury his head on his chest.
Zoro patiently waits, while Sanji cries until he's too tired to even let out a single hiccup and they both fall asleep holding each other.
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do you have like,, any wriolette headcanons to share,, please I’m hungry,, I need wriolette food!!
Oh definitely, some of these are more wrio or neuvi specific tho but let me go off ok
Wrio has this one spot a lil far off from Meropide's entrance that he sunbathes in whenever he has the time. Its this lil cliff right here. It has a long stretch of beach, near the otter spot (TM), there's mobs to fight if he needs that, and it's not near any roads
Perfect spot for him to frostwalker/ice skate too
Neuv in one of his walks would find Wrio in his spot and Wrio would tell him this is where he goes to relax, Neuv would sometimes then use this spot too to relax in, Wrio welcomes him whenever they happen to meet here
I think Wrio never goes to the overworld until he is called in for that first meeting as Meropide's administrator, when he does step out he underestimated how much he truly missed the sunlight, the sea breeze, and the grass. It's not a big deal, he insists
Wrio would prefer sunny weather than rain, but the coldness of rain is more lively and refreshing than the cold of the fortress
Neuv can walk on water Furina style, he just chooses not to say whenever Wrio offers to skate with him. Basks in the feeling that he trusts Wrio so much to keep him from falling in
Neuvillette is a pianist while Wrio is a violinist (and does have a violin in his office) because every pairing in my book should be able to piano-violin duet the Merry-Go-Round of Life
Wrio is extremely observant, a skill he picked up from serving his sentence, it's how he's able to study and read Neuvi's tells and body language. It's very helpful whenever neuvi is too tired to talk or unable to drop the professional iudex face.
Neuvi learns by observation and attempts to pick up Wrio's tells in turn no matter how many times Wrio insists that he shouldn't worry about him <- fuck you gets loved back
Whenever they get engaged/married, their rings are simple white gold bands. Wrio replaces one of his rings with it, while Neuvi has his hooked to his cravat pin. It's so they're not too flashy and attract attention while still being with them even in work hours
Neuvi feels over the ring whenever he misses wrio
Wrio buries his face into Neuvi's neck so that he can hear Neuvi's purr of contentment better
Neuvi can get jealous but instead of cutting the convo short like Wrio does, the next time they are alone Neuvi just rubs his cheek all over Wrio's until he's happy
Wrio is touch averse, significantly more than Neuvi. While he and Neuvi had subtle touches before, getting together had pressured him to show more affection (because it doesnt bother him, he can love, so that he can be loved) Its one of the first times Neuvi was able to tell Wrio's tells correctly and to reassure him it isn't necessary and they can begin with... what they had before
They show affection primarily with holding or touching hands (ex. : holding hands when they sleep like otters, brushing knuckles and fingers when they walk, Wrio lifting neuvs hand to bury his face in it, etc.), a reassurance that the other is there with them, and they want to hold on just as much
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