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cozage · 9 months

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The Daughter's Return: Part 3

Chapter 3: Changes

Start From Beginning | Next Chapter | Table of Contents | Read on AO3

Characters: female reader x Portgas D. Ace Word Count: 3.2k

Ace was with you in your dreams, standing and staring at the sea.

“Where do we go from here?” you asked, looking at him.

His brows knitted together in confusion. “What do you mean? Dinner’s on the stove. The baby is still asleep, so-”

“The baby?”

Ace laughed. “Our baby. Don’t you remember?”

“I-” Canonfire in the distance cut off your sentence, and you could see fear all over Ace's face.

“Go hide,” he said. “I’ll hold them off.”

You raced to the house in the distance; somehow you knew it was yours. You felt nauseous at the thought of being so careless. Of leaving your child alone.

You were at the front door, stomach churning full of worry, when you woke with a start. Unfortunately, the nausea carried over from the dream.

Ace woke to your clamoring over him, racing to the bathroom. You barely made it before you began dry heaving into the toilet, only bile coming up. You had thrown everything else up the night before.

Ace quickly joined you, patting your back and holding you steady.

“Y/N,” Ace said.

“I know.” A pit formed in your stomach. You knew what was coming, knew how your life was going to change. “Let’s go see Marco.”

He gave you a smile of relief, thankful he wasn’t going to have to fight you on the matter.

But it didn’t really matter anymore. You knew what was making you sick. And there wasn’t a cure for it. Not an easy one, at least.

The two of you walked hand in hand to the clinic, where Marco was working in his office.

“Hi,” you said, smiling at him nervously. “You can run your stupid tests now.”

“You’re still sick?” Marco asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion.

“She threw up last night after dinner and this morning,” Ace answers, helping you sit on the examination table.

Marco sighed, and you could tell he was disappointed that you let this go on for so long. “Any nausea?” He snapped on his gloves and prepared some vials for blood drawing. “Fever?”

“Yes,” you answered. “To both, I think.”

Marco raised an eyebrow, shooting a look at Ace, but Ace only shrugged.

Marco handed you a sea prism stone to hold while he took your blood, and you suddenly felt very drained. The sea prism was the only way for devil fruit users to get their blood drawn effectively, but you still hated the process.

He hooked you up to a monitor, and gave you a liquid IV to help with your fluids, and then drew some blood from your arm.

It was quick and painless, but you could feel your stomach churning with anticipation at the results. Your life was about to shift. And there was nothing you could do to stop it.

A piece of you was still hopeful. Maybe it was a fluke. Maybe you really were just sick. But on the other hand, a baby was something that you could be excited for. And dread. You weren’t sure which answer you hoped for, and you considered flipping Izou’s coin to find out.

“Should have preliminary results in about two hours. So just rest and-”

“Marco!” A panicked voice screamed as a man entered the clinic, his eyes desperately searching for the first commander. “We need you. Now.”

The urgency in his voice made your heart rate spike, and the monitor next to your bed began to beep excessively.

“What’s going on?” He asked, turning off the machine. An eerie silence covered the room for a moment.

“It’s bad,” he said. “It’s Thatch. He’s-”

You didn’t hear the rest of it. You ripped the wires and tubes from your body and took off across the ship, sprinting as fast as you could across the deck.

You followed the crowd, pushing your way through and burning people to force them to let you through. You were heading for the commander’s hall. The sea of people got thicker, but you continued pushing, pushing, pushing.

Suddenly you saw Izou and Curiel standing in front of the crowd, blocking anyone from going any further.

“What’s happening?” you yelled, trying to make your voice heard over the panic happening around you.

“Turn around,” Izou said strictly. “Go back to the deck and wait.”

“Like hell!” you screamed, pushing past Izou. “Let me through! Let me see him!”

Curiel grabbed your arm and pushed you back into the sea of people. “Go back!” he shouted. “Just listen for once!”

“No!” you screamed, pushing again. This time when Curiel grabbed you, you turned your temperature as high as it could go, burning him the instant he touched you.

You took the split second he pulled away to dart between the two men and broke through their barrier, rushing towards the commander's hall. Rushing towards Thatch.

Fossa grabbed you as you sprinted through the common room, racing for Thatch’s room. You tried to burn him as well, but he resisted your heat with armament haki and held you firm in his grip.

“Trust me kid, just stay put.” His voice was tight, and it made you pause. You had never seen Fossa show fear or pain, but it was written all over his face now.

You couldn’t move. You couldn’t breathe. “What happened?” you asked.

Jozu and Vista emerged from Thatch’s room with solemn looks on their faces. They shook their heads.

“He’s gone,” Vista said. “Looks like it happened last night. He’s been like that for a while.”

“Dude,” Fossa hissed, tightening his grip as you tried to break free.

“Let me go,” You shrieked, and everyone seemed to simultaneously realize you were there.

“Fuck, kid.” Jozu’s eyes widened. “What are you doing here? How’d you get through?”

“Thatch!” you screamed, still desperately trying to pull free from Fossa’s grip. “Let me go! Thatch!”

Marco suddenly appeared behind you, and Ace following closely behind him.

“Where is he?” they both asked, searching the crowd.

“Marco-” Vista glanced over at you. “He’s in here. Let’s talk somewhere else.”

“How bad is it?” Marco asked.

Vista and Jozu just shook their heads, and Marco’s entire body deflated in defeat.

No. If Marco was giving up, then it was bad. Your heart rate drummed in your chest, sending your body into survival mode.

You kicked Fossa in the shin, and then punched him in the stomach. You knew you should’ve apologized, but you didn’t care. You only cared about Thatch.

His grip slackened from the pain, and you yanked your arm out of his grip, dashing towards Thatch’s room.

“No!” Jozu shouted, trying to grab you. But you were too quick, and you skillfully dodged away and in through the door.

The moment you stepped inside, you could smell death. You froze, your blood running ice cold, but your eyes scanned the room.

It was a scene of horror, you quickly realized. The blood across the mattress was dark and partially dried. And Thatch…oh Thatch. His once jolly and bright face was now pale and dull, his skin looking more like wax than flesh. Deep lacerations covered his entire chest, his shirt covered in tears and cuts. This was a personal and brutal attack. An attack against a person you loved so dearly.

It was too late. You knew that. You weren’t stupid. The amount of blood alone was enough for you to know. Thatch was dead. He had been for a while.

“No,” you whispered, tears filling your eyes. “Who did this to you?”

You sat next to him on the bloodied bed, not caring about dirtying your clothes. Nothing mattered. Thatch was gone.

“I’m pregnant,” you whispered, tears streaming out of your eyes and down your cheeks. “I think. Ace doesn’t know. We were about to find out, but then-” you choked on your words, starting to sob now.

“Where is he?” Your father’s voice boomed as he stepped in the door. He saw you sitting on the bed, sobbing as you looked over at him. You quickly wiped your eyes, trying to pull yourself together.

“Please don’t make me go.” Your voice broke as you spoke, your eyes silently pleading with him. “Please let me stay.”

Your father looked at you for a few moments, and then nodded in acceptance.

He turned to the men at the door. “Everyone needs to report to their rooms and stay there until further notice. Commanders, enforce it. Anyone who disobeys is disobeying a direct order from me.”

Fossa and Vista stared at you, waiting for you to move and follow orders. But you couldn’t move away from Thatch. You couldn’t leave him.

“She’s fine,” your father said. “Leave us.”

The men left you alone with your father, who said nothing as he watched you.

It was all you could do to keep it together. You couldn’t start crying again. If your father had any suspicion you wouldn’t be able to handle this, he’d send you away. And you couldn’t leave Thatch.

“He was alone all night,” you whispered. “Nobody even knew.”

“Curiel said he heard some commotion late last night.” Your father sighed, covering his face with his hand. “He just thought it was Thatch coming in drunk.”

He was crying. You had been around him enough to be able to tell from the slight change in his voice. But you didn’t say anything. If you spoke anymore, you probably would start crying again as well.

Instead, you reached out and grabbed Thatch’s hand. Even if he was gone, you wanted him to know you were here.

That’s when you found it. A few black, wiry hairs, firmly gripped in his fist.

You let out an involuntary gasp, pieces starting to click into place. You had passed the murderer last night, and he had said something about a dream. A dream that involved a devil fruit.

“Teach.” You breathed out. “It was Teach.”

Whitebeard stared at the hairs. “That’s a big accusation, Y/N. You might want to go off more than-“

“We passed him in the hallway last night,” you said. “He said something about being closer to his goal. He-”

You scanned the room, and then got up and began searching all of Thatch’s drawers and cabinets.

“It’s not here,” you mumbled, your voice raising in panic. “It’s not here!”

“Y/N,” Whitebeard said. “What isn’t-”

“Thatch’s devil fruit!” you screeched, your hysteria rising. “His devil fruit is gone! The one he found!”

There’s no way Teach would kill for one fruit. There were plenty of them on the Grand Line. You had found one and offered it to him once before, but he turned it down. What could he want with a simple purple fruit?

“He killed-” you broke into a sob, unable to contain yourself, still slamming drawers as you searched. “He killed him over a fruit? No. No! There has to be more! There has to be another reason! His death can’t be so meaningless that it’s over a stupid fruit!”

You fell to your knees and covered your face and cried, unable to contain yourself. You could feel your body temperature rising, steam emitting from you. You could feel yourself gasping for air, just trying to breathe. The room was closing in on you.

None of this was fair. Thatch was a good person. And now he was dead. There had to be a bigger reason.

“Marco! I need you in here!” Your father called, and the medic rushed in. You saw him stagger at the door as he assessed the scene that laid out in front of him, and then he kneeled down next to you.

“We need to get you out of this room, kid.” Marco said. His voice was even, but you could see tears in his eyes. “It’s not good for-”

“I can’t leave him,” you sobbed, pulling away from him and trying to crawl back towards the bed. “He never left me. I can’t- Marco. I can’t-'' You clutched at your chest, your breaths becoming low and rapid. You could feel yourself hyperventilating as you began to think about your future without Thatch. He had always been there. You didn’t know life without him. You didn’t want to.

You knew you had to calm yourself down. Slow, long breaths were what you were supposed to be doing, but you couldn’t get enough air to do them. If you kept panicking like this, you wouldn't be any help to anyone. And yet, Thatch was dead, and you felt like your heart was going to explode.

“Ace,” you heard your father call, and your eyes waited at the doorway for him to appear.

Ace suddenly appeared, his eyes focused on you. “Yes sir?”

Marco took out a needle and flicked it a few times. “This might pinch a little bit.”

“She’ll be fine. Go look in your division cabins for Teach,” Whitebeard said. “I want an immediate report.”

Ace nodded. You could see his eyes full of pain before looking back at your father. “Yes sir.”

You felt a small pinch, and the world went black.

Only a few minutes must’ve passed, because when you woke up, there was still chaos. You were now out in the commander’s common room, laying down on the couch. You kept your eyes closed at first, trying to listen for any reports.

“Pops, I know what they both said they saw, but Teach is one of our oldest members,” Blamenco whispered. “And he was under division two. There's something to be said about-”

“Blamenco, son.” Your father’s voice was dangerous. “Be very careful about how you proceed with that sentence.”

“Well-” Blamenco stammered, trying to backtrack. “I wasn’t insinuating anything. I was just…”

“Division One is accounted for,” Marco said. You could hear his footsteps approaching you. “Is she awake yet? I didn’t give her much.”

“Not yet.” Ace’s voice was soft, and you almost flinched. You hadn’t realized he was there. “So every division is accounted for except for ours.”

“And only one person is missing from your division?” Your father clarified.

“Yeah. Teach.”

“I’m going,” you groaned, rubbing your eyes as you opened them.

“Now hang on-” Marco said. “Nobody said anything about-”

“Teach didn’t follow the rules, and he killed a commander. He killed a brother.” Ace stood to his feet. “I’m going to make it right. I’ll be back soon.”

You grabbed his hand as he walked away, pulling him back to you. “I’m going,” you said more firmly.

“I dunno, Ace.” Your father looked around the room nervously. “I think we need to let it go. I’ve got a bad feeling about this one.”

So did you, to be honest. Something felt off. But you had to get justice for Teach. If you showed even a sign of doubt, Ace would go without you.

“We can’t let Teach get away with this,” you argued. “It’s our code. There has to be consequences.”

Your father frowned, looking at the two of you. “It’s a bad idea.”

“So Thatch will never get justice?!” Ace shouted. He was finally starting to crack, you could see it. But you wouldn’t comment on it until later, when you were alone.

“Please, dad,” you begged. “The two of us can do it.”

Ace whipped his head around and looked at you, baffled by your words. “You are not going.”

“Like hell! Yes I am!”

“No. You’re not.”

“Yes I am!” You scoffed. “What happened to being equals like you promised?”

You saw your father and Marco shoot a look of “I told you so” to Ace, but they said nothing.

Ace shook his head. “I’ll take care of Teach. I’m his division commander.”

“And I’m your strategist. So unless you have a plan, I’m coming.”

“I’d actually feel better if the two of you went,” your father admitted, but his eyes were directly on Ace. “Just keep each other safe.”

“Deal,” you said. You understood what he meant. Ace was reckless and preferred to do things the dangerous way. It would be up to you to protect him. You could do that. You would keep him alive, no matter what.

The two of you quickly prepared a small amount of rations and clothes and grabbed a few thousand berries, and then you jumped into Ace’s Striker. You just had to get into the water, and then those results from Marco’s tests wouldn’t matter anymore. You could ignore them for another week or so. This would probably be your last mission for a while, but at least it was with Ace.

“Let’s go,” you said, and you began to be lowered down.

Marco’s eyes widened as he saw you leaving, realization hitting him. “Wait! Pops, hang on! Don’t let her go!”

“Stop!” Your father called. “Marco, what it is?”

The ropes stopped their descent. You knew if Marco saw those results, you wouldn’t get off the ship again for at least another year. You couldn’t bear the thought of Ace doing this without you. You needed to do this. For Thatch.

You reached up and burned the ropes, dropping you and Ace down into the sea below. Ace shot you a confused look as the two of you struggled to hold on to the small boat as it collided with the water.

“Did you forget we’ll drown if we fall in!?” Ace shouted.

“Go!” you yelled back. Ace heard the urgency in your voice and immediately obeyed, roaring the engine to life and kicking the two of you off into the horizon.

You couldn’t look back. You knew you’d only see disappointment, and people arguing whether they should stop you or not.

You managed to keep your nausea under control, only throwing up over the boat once, so discreetly that Ace didn’t even notice it. It was clear he was deep in thought, his mind a million miles from you.

The two of you were silent for almost half the day. It wasn’t until the sun was setting that Ace spoke.

“Wanna tell me why you burned the ropes?” He pulled out a sandwich and handed you half, but you declined. It didn’t feel right eating food that wasn’t made by Thatch, and you still felt sick to your stomach.

You knew you had to tell him. It wasn’t fair to keep this information from him. Even if you could keep it from the crew, you couldn’t keep it from Ace.

And yet, you knew once he found out, everything would change. He would be angry and hurt, he may not even want you around anymore. You weren’t ready for the repercussions of that yet.

“Marco wouldn’t have let me leave if he checked those test results. And I need to be on this mission. I need to-” your voice broke, and you couldn’t bring yourself to continue talking about it.

The boat engine died, and you could feel Ace’s eyes on you, full of worry. “You’re really starting to scare me,” he said. “What’s going on?”

“It might be nothing.”

Ace bit his lip, clearly wanting to argue, but he decided against it. “There’s an island not too far from here. We’ll reach it by tonight. We’ll go to the clinic first thing tomorrow to have a doctor check on you.”

“Okay,” you whispered. A pit in your stomach formed, knowing you couldn’t keep up your facade much longer. You could only hope that Ace wouldn’t loathe you when he found out.

Tag list! @taeyoge @teiza @tojislawyer @trafalgardnami @bloopbopsblog @dancingnewcat @dxestyi @flooofity @nyxthedragon01 @deadsnothere @h-rhodes1598 @morgyyyyyyy @trafalgardvivi @fiestynatureweeb @frogpogjoghurt @beepboopcowboy @ms-portgas @luvyallbabes @appalost @zuchkaa @saybeyonce @stray-npc @kitsunechan707 @theyluvmesblog @heartysworld

(if you'd like to be included in the tag list, just comment or send me a message!)

#one piece #one piece imagine #one piece scenario #one piece x reader #one piece x you #portgas ace x you #portgas ace x reader #portgas d ace x reader #ace x y/n #ace x reader #portgas d ace #portgas d. ace #cozage #✧˚ace✧˚

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shmorp-mcdurgen · 2 months

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Recovered Black Mesa Documents from the incident, #1 of ____

(Text on the pages below in case it’s hard to read)

(Pg. 1)

[CENSORED TITLE]

Project Codename: Free Man

Subject: Gordon Freeman

Sector: Anomalous Materials Department

Age: 27

Clearance: Level 3

Physical Description: Six Foot four inches (193.04 cm) Tall caucasian male, brown hair, green eyes.

Current status: Alive; No abnormalities.

Project Administrator: [CENSORED NAME]

Purpose of the experiment: testing revival and healing technology; Preparing for the possible event of a Resonance Cascade.

Time of test: Scheduled for December 13th, 1998 at 9:30 AM MST

Planned duration of test: 3 days (72 hours)

Current Status: Preparations complete. Awaiting subject arrival.

This test is the Second human test of our new revolutionary Life Support System, which is capable of both healing typically fatal wounds, and even bringing back an individual from the dead. This technology has caused multiple unforeseen side effects on its users, however with advancements made by Black Mesa engineers and the Lambda Team, we believe this test will prove that the technology will be in a suitable enough state to be used without consequences.

We have been approached regarding this technology from [CENSORED TEXT], which means that our new sponsors will be able to help develop this technology further and even fund future research. This new Sponsorship, the possibility of preventing death in Black Mesa staff during highly dangerous expeditions, Along with possible commercial use in the coming years, are more reasons for this test to be taken seriously, and more importantly, be done correctly and quickly. The following documents will be the results of every test, and there will be logs of all injuries and even deaths our subject will experience, and more importantly how the Hazardous Environment Suit will repair said injuries.

(Pg. 2)

Section 1: HEV Suit Integration

The Hazardous Environment Suit (HEV) Mk. 5 is a vast improvement from the standard HEV suit Mk. 4, with its main difference and technological improvement being the HEV Life Support system. Unlike the Mk. 4, this Life support system contains a specimen known as [CENSORED TEXT] from our latest expedition to [CENSORED TEXT]. This Specimen has properties that are known to heal even life threatening wounds, and thus has the potential of even bringing an individual back from the dead. This has proven true with previous testing, though it is to be noted that the HEV suit Mk. 5 is the best, and most promising version of this technology put to use as of current date. However, Dr. Freeman is to be noted as the first test done with this suit to test its revival capabilities.

-Dr. Freeman had received the HEV Mk. 5 at approximately 10:00 AM MST on December 13th. Due to a small hold up, being worsened by a single security personnel delaying Freeman’s arrival, Freeman had arrived at the testing facility around 30 minutes past schedule. However, despite this small change in schedule, Gordon had accepted the HEV suit without suspicion, even despite not being told of the Suit’s properties, including the slight painful sensations of the suit attaching IV tubing and blood monitors to Freeman’s skin. Freeman seemed to move on quickly however, and proceeded to the test chamber containing the Anti Mass Spectrometer (AMS), beginning the first test at around 10:16 AM MST.

Notes:

Freeman appears to have had no problems resulting from the HEV suit’s integration, not even during the suit’s Life Support startup. This is promising, considering the negative effects the technology had on previous subjects. (See Incident log #32; Subject Shephard)

Conclusion of section:

-Despite Freeman remaining unaware of the test, it is best to inform any and all staff participating in said test to not disclose any information that Freeman does not need or could affect the results.

-Continue to Stage Two: Resonance Cascade Simulation (RCS)

#Project: Freeman (half life au)#Subject: Gordon #half life #Gordon freeman #shmorp writes sometimes #???? I dunno what to tag it as cause. it’s not art #HEHEHEHEH I love fake science documents #I wanted to make these cause. I feel like they tell the story in a more interesting way than just. saying it #is it the best? does it accurately show what the scientists would be saying down to exact word usage?#no. no it doesn’t. but I don’t care I wanted to make it anyway/VLH #so. here you guys go

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tomorrcwz · 1 year

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the prettiest; robertson

pairing: andy robertson x fem!reader

warnings: pregnant reader

rina's masterlist

Walking through the house in search of you after being out and about with the boys, Andy had grabbed a tube of your favourite ice cream from the freezer and two spoons. Your kids were at his parents home for the next few days as you decided to enjoy a bit of alone time; two daughters were everything he could've wished for, they were smart and shared your best facial features, but also loved playing football with him — which always melted your heart whenever you saw the three of them play together.

Andrew didn't expect you to be outside; you had texted him earlier, claiming that you had just gotten off work and your shared home was dirty, but nonetheless he liked seeing you laying on a lounger under the warmth of mai. Coming closer the man smiled softly — there you relaxed, no worry clung on you body, hands protectively holding your stomach beneath the t-shirt, you had definitely stolen from him.

For the third time you'd give him the best gift mankind could wish for — a baby.

You only had found out a month ago while vacationing in Italy. The four of you had been on a beach, eating one too many gelato when suddenly you looked him in the eyes, asking him to buy a pregnancy test to check if your suspicion was correct. And it had been. Missing your period was the death giveaway as you always had it regularly and to be quite frank, Andy had been over the moon. It wasn't planned but honestly it made both of you incredibly exited.

He gently strock a stray strand of your hair behind your ear, letting his hand rest against your cheek, kissing you lips slowly. You immediately reply by kissing back and laying your much smaller hand in his.

"Hi darling", the footballer greeted you after ending the kiss.

You flutter your eyelashes at him, happy to having him home. "Hello Bear, had fun?"

"It was alright. Virg was in a mood today and talked lots of bullshit but that's nothing new", he replied dryly, making you laugh. The Dutch often trashtalked, bringing the people around him to grin brightly (though he wasn't on the Scotts).

Looking in each others eyes, you relished the peace and after a while you had rested your head against his chest, drawing circles. Then you spied the ice cream and as much as loved being hold, you broke free and snatched the tube of the table besides the lounger. Happily you took a spoonful of the icy food, groaning at the delicious flavour. Andy hadn't made a move, keeping his hands on your hips as you sat eating in-between his legs.

"You're pretty", he whispered, eyes roaming along your body and stopping at your stomach. Blinking a few moments, you weren't sure if you heard him correctly, too invested in the ice cream beforehand.

"What am I?", you questioned.

Your partner gently grasped your chin to turn you around, watching your slightly confused face. His thumb swiped a drop of the melted good from the coronor of your mouth away, to suck it into his mouth.

"I said you're pretty."

"Just pretty, Bear?", you exclaimed, playfully hitting his shoulder. The action made the both of you grin widely, however he then turned serious.

"You're the prettiest."

#football imagine #football x reader #football blurb #footballer one shot #liverpool imagine #lfc #football fic #andy robertson imagine #andy robertson x reader #andy robertson blurb #football fluff

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icu-fetish · 1 year

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Evelyn in ICU. Part 3.

I heard rumors about this clinic... Abductions, illegal experiments. Therefore, I decided to check everything myself. This should be my first article. But everything happened very quickly. The documents did not arouse any suspicions in me, so I signed everything. I was taken to the office, changed and taken to the room in a wheelchair. I was immediately alarmed by the amount of medical equipment near the bed. However, I ignored my intuition and allowed nurse to inject me. I immediately felt weak and fell asleep, and when I woke up, I saw her... Dr. Cohen, who changed my life forever.

I panicked after she described the procedures that will be done to me.. They decided to use me as a test subject... My body was already almost paralyzed, and I couldn't do anything. They gave me an injection and I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I realized that a lot of time had passed. I was still paralyzed and unable to feel my body, but the noise around me confirmed my suspicions. When I was able to open my eyes, I couldn't believe it... First, I was frightened by the valve that connected the ventilator hose to the tube that was inserted into my throat. The huge machine on the left pumped air directly into my lungs. I was deprived of the ability to both speak and breathe on my own. Another tube was inserted directly into my stomach. I couldn't see all the sensors and catheters, but the effect of the drugs was getting weaker and weaker, and I felt everything more and more.

I was made completely dependent on these devices. I started to feel my body fully, but I still couldn't move. What did they do to me? Is it the effect of drugs or the result of some surgery? Looks like I'm staying here for a long time. Maybe even forever...

#tracheostomy #ventilator

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miscmonstro · 1 year

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The Uno Reverse Adoption Saga 9

AO3 Link: here

First: Chapter 1

Previous: Chapter 8

Current Characters: Jason Todd, Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, Danny Fenton, Jazz Fenton

Summary: Forced to attend a gala by her parents as she is every year, Sam Manson was resigned to suffer through the stifling three-night gala until something pulled at her core. The something turned out to be a someone. Just who is Jason Todd and can the trio gain enough of his trust to help him before his struggling proto-core collapses?

JPGPV = Jazzy-Pants Ghost Proof Vehicle

Warnings: Cursing. Discussion and description of the death picture and the portal incident. And technically someone steals an organ?

👻 {Chapter 9 Below!)

Jason was perturbed.

A lot had happened over the past week or so and it could be summed up as goddamned history coming to haunt him.

His history with the pits, his history with Bruce. History repeating itself in the form of three undead teenagers.

Jason let his head fall and he clutched the glowing camera a little tighter.

He had no doubt the picture he’d found was of something sinister . Honestly, he wasn’t sure how they’d survived something so horrific. Manes’ hand was literally melting . Not to mention the boys…

(Halfa. Half human, half ghost. He had a suspicion and he prayed he was wrong. His nightmares were going to feature screaming kids, dying kids, for a while; he could already tell.)

Why were they in a lab? It had to be intentional. Why else had Phantom been in lab coveralls? Why else would Manes have been documenting it? Were they sent into that tube to test it, whatever it was?

And the green.

He’d know that green anywhere.

History, over and over.

Dramatic irony unfolding.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he wondered if this was what Bruce had felt like, loath as he was to think it. Seeing those kids and knowing they could do better if he steered them right… knowing that they were going to get themselves killed (again?) without him.

He was despairing, he knew, about how unfair it all was. While their situations seemed too similar to be comfortable, their attitudes couldn’t have been more differed than his own. He didn’t see himself in them so much as he saw three versions of Dick. Optimist. Hopeful. Helpful. Unlike his dear older brother though, these kids were utterly alone.

Usually he wasn’t so doubtful. He’d always been a decisive person. Acting with impulse and anger wasn’t the best approach for everything, he knew, but not once had he been called hesitant. It was just that this would be a huge deviation from his norm, not to mention he would have to hide the ghost thing from the others on top of the kids. He’d have to change nearly everything; his schedule, his tactics, his habits, and the list went on.

God damn it. He was lying to himself. He wasn’t still considering it. The minute he offered the gremlins advice in the attic some part of him knew that he’d already decided to take them under his wing until he cleaned up whatever the hell was going on.

He just didn’t want to accept it. How long had he raged at Bruce for taking on young sidekicks? How much of a hypocrite could he be?

Then again, the situation was totally different, what with them having to fear for their safety in a way even he, a crime alley kid, never had to. Gotham was rough, but the dark city would be kinder to them than Amity. Even the government didn’t so much as breathe in Gotham without the damned Bat’s say so.

The problem, overwhelmingly, was that not only did he have no idea who they were as humans, but they seemed to take their haunting of Amity very seriously. Something told him that they would never compromise on defending their city.

He could admire that.

Jason set the camera down on the empty couch next to him.

He could also despise it.

He ignored the part of him that sneered at himself. What could he possibly teach them when he had so thoroughly failed to even keep himself alive?

He wasn’t perfect- hell, nowhere close- but he’d be damned if he let the trio go off on their own unless he was completely, 100% positive they could handle themselves.

Glancing to the clock, he wondered when exactly said trio would appear. They’d hastily promised transport before they’d left but had denied to mention a time. He didn’t know if the waiting was making his apprehension worse.

He was about to go into a whole other dimension.

A canyon that ate people? A dark forest that claimed the lives of any who dared to approach? A series of shifting dunes that would swallow any hapless wanderers whole? All contained on crumbling, floating islands beneath a green sky?

A truce in that hellscape?

It was too surreal to picture.

It was also surreal to think he had a ghost core, but considering the fucking circus that was his life, he shouldn’t have been surprised. He was still vainly hoping that there was some kind of a mistake.

A line appeared in the air.

Jason stared at it.

It grew in size and light, eerie green light, began to spill from the forming cracks. Jason tensed as a bleached begloved hand reached out and then groped around the empty air for a moment before clasping onto the edge of the crack. It flexed and then a familiar head of pale wispy hair stuck through the growing hole that had materialized in the living room.

“Hi,” Phantom grinned toothily.

Parts of the portal’s border crumbled and fell to the floor and the kid grimaced apologetically. “Sorry about that, I’m new to the whole portal thing.”

“It’s fine,” Jason dismissed. He’d gotten worse than portal crumbs in the carpet.

“Well, come on. We have a few hours before we have to be anywhere but I figured you’d want to explore a little first.”

Jason hesitantly approached the giant crack hovering in the air and Phantom offered his hand. Jason wasn’t going to take it initially, but the kid seemed so serious. Hiding his grin, he took the offered hand and Phantom nodded very solemnly.

It was kinda adorable.

“Ok. We’re going through the zone to Amity, where you can hang out. Then later we’re going to go through either the fruitloop’s portal or the Fenton portal to the zone and meet the yetis. Hang on tight, I don’t think you’ll want to fly on your own here.”

Jason couldn’t fly, but he could grapple just fine. He wasn’t going to let the kid attempt to carry him. But Phantom didn’t try to. Instead, he held onto Jason’s hand and helped him up into the portal.

The first thing he saw, besides Phantom, was an endless expanse of an unnatural green.

It was a world of Lazarus.

Ghouley had said as much, but seeing it was a whole other thing.

And as he looked around at the disembodied doors and isolated islands, Jason knew there was no way a grapple would do anything. Ghouley had made it sound like neighboring islands were a skip and a jump from one another.

Then again, maybe they were when flight was factored in.

“I can’t fly,” Jason admitted. He’d need Phantom’s help to get anywhere.

“Not yet,” Phantom said, eyes twinkling with mirth. He pulled Jason the rest of the way through the portal and it closed behind them. Instead of plummeting to the abyss below they hovered, suspended in the foreign air.

“Anyone can fly in the zone, even humans. It takes some getting used to, but we have time.”

“Not worried about a ghost snatching me up?” Jason snarked.

Phantom hummed. “Not really. Manes and Ghouley are running interference.”

He tugged Jason, who realized the kid was still holding his hand. It didn’t feel like they were moving and Jason had no way to tell if they were.

“So firstly, the Ghost Zone, or the Infinite Realms, isn’t like space. In space there is microgravity because everything naturally produces a tiny amount of gravity. It’s because particles are like that and they have levels of attraction- eh hem. There’s also time in space and there is a connection between the gravitational field and the perception of time and- uh. Anyway, there is no microgravity here unless the object or person is from a living world, and there is no time.”

“Seems simple enough,” Jason said sarcastically. “No gravity and no time. Got it.”

Phantom nodded. “Yes, you have to keep that in mind. And now the fun part, flight!”

It was not fun. Phantom, for all his enthusiasm, was dreadfully awful at giving instructions.

“You gotta feel like you’re moving.”

“Maybe pretend everything is magnets?”

“Have you ever flown? It’s like a weightlessness. Picture that…”

“Think of a line graph.”

“Tilt forward? I mean you don’t have to, it’s more about what you think moving is like.”

He’d pictured soaring through the air, he imagined free falling, he remembered the little moments of weightlessness he’d experienced throughout his life.

Phantom was stupidly earnest with his instructions and relaxed the longer Jason struggled. He even started smirking, the shithead, but at least he didn’t make any comments.

After at least two hours of struggling, he still could not fly (much to his irritation). He couldn’t even vaguely float in the direction he wanted to go. Phantom assured him it was fine, that he’d learn in time.

He would admit, he was pretty pissed he made absolutely no progress. There wasn’t time, the appointment was today . And if he couldn’t move, how the hell was he supposed to escape ghosts?

Phantom hovered, watching him with an unnervingly unblinking stare. “Let’s head to Amity. There’s plenty to do there,” he suggested.

Amity. Fuck, he forgot that’s where the kids were from. They probably had people they were ignoring while he tried and failed to get his ass in gear.

“Sure,” he agreed unhappily. He didn’t want to, not really, but he wasn’t going to make the kids miss out on Christmas.

Phantom blinked slowly, “We don’t have to, you know. We can keep working on flying.”

“I think I’m done with flying for now.”

Phantom’s eyes lit up, literally, and he grabbed Jason’s arm. “Come on,” he said, pulling Jason, “we’ve got to stop by the Nasty Burger. It’s always open.”

“No holiday plans?” he asked carefully.

Phantom shook his head with a sour expression. “Just avoiding my parents.”

“Damn.”

Interesting.

👻 {Boo!)

The ‘fruitloop’ portal was very different from Phantom’s portal. Where Phantom’s portal was more akin to going through a broken mirror the other portal was smooth and the rim was circular… it looked like a boom tube made out of Lazarus waters.

“The fruitloop is very distracted,” Phantom said smugly. “So we’re free to go.”

They slipped through the portal and Jason was met with the visage of a lab.

“Oh shiver me timbers,” Phantom spat not three steps in. “You need to hide- Shulker got away.”

He ushered Jason into a- very menacing- tube shaped pod and shut the side almost all the way before dashing back to the portal. And he wasn’t a moment too soon- a large figure walked through the wall and immediately locked eyes with Phantom.

“Whelp,” the robot with a fiery green mohawk said.

“Shulker,” Phantom returned. He seemed to glow brighter for a moment and then-

Something crashed over him, something cold and ridged and hefty. But… it felt good, even if he didn’t know what it was; it felt refreshing, not unlike a mint.

It felt solid.

It felt strong.

It felt safe.

“Just passing through,” Shulker grumbled, glowing a bit brighter himself.

Beneath the cold was another feeling, something cool and smooth and metallic with sharp edges. Belatedly, Jason realized that the two sets of impressions were from the two ghosts staring each other down.

Phantom squinted distrustfully at the other and then nodded. “It is truce day,” he said.

“Otherwise I’d have your pelt,” Shulker sneered in apparent agreement. He cast an equally suspicious look at Phantom before making his way to and through the fruitloop portal, the feel of sharp metal vanishing with him.

Phantom’s glow paled and the heavy cold vanished immediately. He flew back to the pod and opened the door. “I’m so sorry, I know it can be uncomfortable to be around heavy moods but I needed to make sure Shulker didn’t notice you and would leave,” he grimaced, biting his lip.

“It’s fine,” Jason said, voice more strained than he would have liked. “The moods are…?”

“Oh. Like, uh, ghost auras. But we call them moods.”

That didn’t really explain anything but Phantom was more concerned with getting them out of the lab. He took Jason’s hand again. “Here, I’ll need to hang on to you just a bit longer, okay?” He didn’t wait for a response and the strangest feeling spread over him. Phantom summarily plunged them through the wall. It was disorienting, to say the least.

It made sense because ghosts, but come on .

They went through the wall, down into the floor, then through dirt before finally popping up on a grassy patch outside of the back of a mansion.

“Looks like our ride is here,” Phantom said cheerfully, motioning to a car (if it could be called that) which looked like it wasn’t legal to be on the road. A large acronym, JPGPV, was printed on the side, though it failed to hint at what exactly the vehicle was.

And were those tank treads ?

“Is that safe?” he asked dubiously. He’d been in a lot of vehicles and never had he felt so vaguely threatened by one before.

“Jazz is driving,” replied Phantom. That didn’t explain anything.

They approached the car (if one was being generous) and Jason ended up in the back seat next to Phantom. The driver’s seat was occupied by a young woman, presumably Jazz, who was probably at the tail end of her teens. The passenger’s side had a dark-skinned boy with glasses who was fiddling with a futuristic looking sci-fi gun.

Jason did a double take.

(He almost didn’t recognize the face he’d spent the morning studying without the pained contortions.)

“No trouble?” Jazz asked, looking at Jason through the rearview mirror.

“Nope,” Phantom said, popping the p. He buckled into his seat.

Jazz nodded. “Great. That’s good. Anyway, nice to meet you Jason. I hope the trip wasn’t too bad. The zone can be overwhelming the first few times.”

She started the ignition and began backing out of the mansion’s rear driveway.

From the pointed ears and fangs, he was going to guess she was a meta.

“Nice to meet you too,” he said awkwardly. “And the zone was fine.”

“He can’t fly,” Phantom butted in gleefully.

The kid in front, who had to be Ghouley, snorted.

“Hey, it was his first time! And Danny, human,” Jazz said.

There was a flash as the rings manifested and the messy haired boy Jason had glimpsed the other day sat slouched in the seat next to his.

(This kid might have died, a nauseous part of him whispered. If he was right then this kid had died. He’d died screaming .)

“Sorry, forgot,” Phantom, Danny said.

That was progress.

“Danny, huh?” Jason said.

“He didn’t even introduce himself?” Jazz grumbled. “He’s Danny, or Phantom as I believe he introduced himself as. I’m Jazz, his older sister. And this is Tucker.”

“I’m Ghouley,” Tucker said, never looking up from the little output display on the gun. “Manes- er, Sam, can’t go human with the fear stuff or she’d be here too.”

Danny, Tucker, and Sam from Amity Park. Now he was getting places.

They’d tried to lie about it at first, and now they were being so open about it. He wondered what had changed.

“What you got there?” he asked, motioning to Tucker.

The kid grimaced. “An ecto gun. It’s specialized for tagging anything with a signature and doubles as a tracker. I’m trying to sabotage it but I need some more… stuff.”

Danny perked up. “I can take a crack at it.”

“Mom and Dad’ll be in and out of the lab all day,” Jazz reminded them. “You’ll have to distract them or steal the tools from Vlad’s.”

“Wait, no. I think you still have the emergency ghost tool repair kit from your birthday, right? There has to be a calibrator in there.”

“A calibrator would work but I was thinking of uploading an alternate signature directly to the gun, it would seem more like a mistake on their part…”

The three began chatting about the methods and logistics of sabotaging the gun and while Jason was no slouch, he couldn’t really follow along.

“Why does this gun need to be sabotaged?” he asked during a lull in the conversation. “I’m birthday cake confused.”

The car burst into snickers.

“You tried to curse, didn’t you?” Jazz asked, amusement dripping from every word.

Tucker twisted in his seat to see Jason. “Welcome to Amity, a nice place to live. You can’t curse, can’t say the ‘w’ word, and can’t live without ghost insurance.”

“The ‘w’ word is wish. Don’t say it, there’s a ghost genie named Desiree who grants the ‘w’ word monkey’s paw style,” Danny stage whispered.

“Wait, so I can’t strawberry curse? That’s rocky road!”

He was never letting anyone know about his time in Amity. The things coming out of his mouth were humiliating .

The snickering continued.

He noted that they didn’t answer the question.

👻 {Boo!)

There was something wrong with Amity Park.

He grew up in Gotham, had died, was revived, got trained by assassins, and to this day spent his time running around with a mask to terrorize the city’s criminal underbelly like some kind of bad dream. Gotham had a lot on the daily, had seen a lot in her past, and so in theory he really shouldn’t have found something he wouldn’t have been able to handle.

In theory.

They’d picked up some food from the Nasty Burger before sitting down on a little building overlooking a park. From this one vantage point there was more than enough to force him to reevaluate that theory.

There were floating buildings. What the fuck was that about? Buildings didn’t float, not even the magic ones he’d seen. The sky was tinged green and the soil had purplish tints, not unlike the ghost realms or whatever the hell the Lazarus dimension was called, and there was an ambient lighting that didn’t seem to come from anywhere. And something was off. But… the grass was swaying gently, the sun was shining, and no matter how he looked about, something uncanny and just out of reach mocked him.

He set that aside and continued to observe. It seemed like Jazz wasn’t the only one with mutations- the people he saw at the park had mutations, all of them. Fangs and pointed ears and ash tinged skin, like they were teetering on the edge of oxygen deprivation. Glowing, sometimes flashing eyes. Pointy fingers. It was a city of vampires.

People would walk and flicker, as if they weren’t entirely there. The shadows moved on their own. There were a few cars without drivers. Ghost birds perched next to living ones on the power lines.

Hence his conclusion: There was something wrong with Amity Park.

While at the end of the day he was categorized as a vigilante, he was also a detective.

“Amity is the most haunted place on earth,” Tucker shrugged when he asked what was going on with everything.

“How does haunting equate to all this?” Jason motioned to everything around him.

“In layman’s terms? Ghost juice.”

“Ghost juice,” he repeated flatly before casting his drink an overly suspicious glare.

It had the intended effect when Danny laughed lightly. “It’s everywhere. Food, water, air. Ectoplasm, I mean. It’s seeped into everything, not to mention that this world and the Ghost Zone kinda have joint custody of Amity? Everyone’s liminal at this point.”

Liminal. He’d read that word not too long ago when going over the Anti-Ecto Acts.

“Liminal? As in… ectocontaminated..?”

The whole damned city? That was sobering.

Tucker sighed. “Pretty much. Ectocontaminated… no one calls it that except hunters. Speaking of, I don’t think I need to tell you that if you see the GIW, you need to run.”

“Sure, won’t make me look suspicious or anything.”

“Everyone runs now,” Danny commented morosely. “No one wants to risk being captured.”

Something tightened around his neck, something like a noose. “They just… take people?”

“We break them out,” Tucker supplied easily, like the government kidnapping people wasn’t a big deal. “They’ve never gotten too far. We won’t let them.”

We won’t let them. Firm. Unwavering. A statement that brooked no room for failure.

Fuck, he hoped the kids weren’t in over their heads.

The kids were very obviously in over their heads.

“I can feel the depression from here,” Manes said, phasing up through the roof. Jason couldn’t see her and made a show of looking around like a civilian.

“She’s staying invis. Can’t have Manes Phantom hanging out with Fenton and Foley,” Danny said, taking a bite of his burger.

He tucked away the names for later. “I thought you were Phantom?”

“And I thought you’d grab me something,” grumbled Sam.

Tucker, nose wrinkled, pulled out a burger, partially unwrapped it, and held it aloft as though it had personally slighted him. “One veggie burger,” he said with clear distaste.

Sam snatched it up.

“We’re sorta all Phantom?” shrugged Danny, answering his question. “We’ve got Danny Phantom, Manes Phantom, and Ghouley Phantom. It’s because no one knew our names at first and then we all kinda responded when people called for Phantom, so…”

“That’s not confusing at all,” Jason said dryly.

“We know who people are talking to, unless they don’t know,” Sam said.

Good awareness then, he noted. He’d have to see how much, if any, of that translated to spatial awareness in a fight.

“Huh.”

Yeah, they definitely weren’t going to leave their city. And he couldn’t leave Crime Alley…

He’d propose the idea of sparring later. Nothing fancy, just some hand to hand to gauge how much they knew. Danny could make portals so it wasn’t unreasonable to hope that they could swing by Gotham or that he could pop into Amity for a few lessons.

He didn’t want to mimic the old bat, but it had become commonplace for mentors to do their patrols and cases with their protégés. It was a tried and tested method. Briefly, he contemplated setting something up. He was a known ‘contact’ of Red Hoof after all, but if he let them shadow him on patrol… they could ‘feel’ his core from what Sam had said and he had no clue how to hide it. They’d know he was Red Hood in a heartbeat so… he’d have to tell them who he was.

Red Hood was an anti-hero for a reason. He killed people. He didn’t think what he was doing was wrong, harsh maybe, but justified. Never had he shied away from violence.

Never had he given a psychopath the opportunity to hurt people, over and over again.

How could he tell three half-dead, possibly murdered, kids that he thought killing was okay?

(How many ghosts had he created?)

Yeah, no. He couldn’t tell them. He’d just have to do as regular old Jason. Besides, he wasn’t planning on sticking around for more than a few months anyway. Just however long it took to clear up the acts and whatever was wrong with his ghost side. There was no point in breaking the big identity rule.

Jason shuffled the thought away and went back to his mental notebook. He’d made a lot of progress. Now he had names to investigate and since he was inside Amity, well, a little visit to the public library was in order.

He side eyed the kids. The three were completely silent and the boy’s faces were eerily blank as they stared out over the park.

Hm. Alright.

He had a few things he wanted to do.

1- break into the library. Comb through the newspapers and then hit the computers

2- find out more about the kids. Preferably, who set their deaths up and where it happened

2.5- make sure the kids were competent; if not, give pointers

3- figure out if the lab from the picture was related to the League of Assassins and Ra’s. There was no way that much Lazarus was a coincidence

4- destroy the lab of whoever had the tunnel (again, no one should be messing around with Lazarus waters. No one.)

The list would not be accomplished in one visit but Jason was confident that he’d be able to work through it.

He stuffed the rest of his burger into his mouth, grimacing on the inside. That was his unhealthy treat for the week. Still, Danny had been so excited to swing by the Nasty Burger he couldn’t really say no.

It wasn’t as good as Bat Burger, but it wasn’t as bad as the name might have implied.

Swallowing, he looked at the still frozen kids. They were still occupied with whatever so he took the opportunity to stare a little.

Stemming from the fingers on Danny’s right hand, just barely visible, thin grey lines radiated out like vines.

He had never seen anything like it.

(He’d seen the same pattern glowing in negative, sharp against the halo of white engulfing the boy.)

Jason sighed heavily. He needed to focus.

Step one: get to the library. The lie spilled from him too easily: “Hey. Uh, I figure I’ll wander a bit, you know, see the sights. You kids should go spend time with your families or whatever you do today.”

There was a pause, so slight that it would’ve ordinarily been dismissed. Then, the boy’s faces quickly adopted expressions.

Jason wondered what that was about. He added it to his ever-growing list of ‘weird fucking ghost shit’.

“I don’t celebrate Christmas,” Sam said blithely.

“I wish my parents didn’t,” Danny said miserably.

“You’re always welcome at my place,” Tucker offered. “My cousins are kinda annoying but hey, no ghost traps.”

Danny grimaced and bit a fry in half.

“How about this? It’s already three. Jason can explore till nine. We’ll meet back here and then head to the zone,” Sam strongly suggested.

No one objected.

Six hours was good enough for him.

👻 {Boo!)

The library was laughably easy to break into.

Maybe it wasn’t wise, but with all the flight cancellations, who would expect Jason Todd to be in Amity Park when he’d been spotted less than three hours earlier in Gotham?

He skimmed the layout and made a beeline for the periodicals. Depending on how far back he needed to go he might end up having to break into the archive too.

A green sticky note was slapped on the topmost paper. He was going to ignore it, at first, but something about it grabbed at his attention.

‘ It is not necessary to show others you have changed; the change will be obvious, ’ it read.

Clearly it wasn’t anything important. Maybe the librarian was into scavenger hunts. He put the note aside and out of his mind, turned to the complication of papers, pulled out the first one, and began to read.

👻 {Boo!)

Five hours later Jason still hadn’t gotten to the computers.

The papers were chock full of information. Ever so slowly he made his way backwards, watching as the eldritch city transformed from something inexplicable and alien to a scarred city that held wounded history in every crevice.

The widespread liminality? An ongoing ectoplasm exposure issue that initially stemmed from an outbreak at the local high school three years ago.

The ‘don’t step on people’s shadows’ rule? There were shadow ghosts, notably the Halloween spirit, that you didn’t want to piss off.

The little shrine of new books in the library labeled ‘Do Not Touch’? Tales to entertain a ghost that liked to trap people in fantasy stories and read to the children on occasion.

The dreamcatchers hanging literally everywhere? A peace offering to the ghost god of dreams, or a warding away of the entity, but they prevented him from trapping you in an unwaking slumber in any case.

The frankly bizarre two mailbox system? A set up to prevent the box ghost from tampering with and or stealing packages en-masse.

The greenish sky and purplish soil? After effects of the city being pulled into the mother fucking Lazarus dimension for a whole god damned month.

How the hell had something of this magnitude flown under the radar?

And the kids.

Holy hell he had never been so right yet so wrong before.

They weren’t just in over their heads, they’d been drowning in a tsunami and somehow managing to stay afloat at the same time. And as much as the papers said, there was a whole lot they didn’t say. The sheer number of documented altercations put his number of confrontations to shame and he had no doubt there were plenty of fights the papers didn’t know about. Fights aside, so many pieces were still missing. How had the Phantoms been created in the first place? Had it been intentional? Where had the ghosts been four years ago, five, six, seven? Why only the past few years?

It was like every time he set a timeline for associating with them something cropped up and pushed the deadline back further and further. It was going to be a quick association at first, then a commitment, and then a long-term commitment that just kept getting longer.

He rested his head in his hands and closed his eyes.

It wasn’t so much about his help being good or not, rather that he was going to help at all. They needed any help they could get.

How could he sit here and plan to walk away?

(He was exactly like Bruce, wasn’t he?)

👻 {Boo!)

His despondence dawdled and did not help with his apprehension regarding the yeti visit. Deciding to leave the library early, Jason put everything back where it belonged and removed all traces of his presence before heading back to the rooftop overlooking the park.

He had a lot to chew on.

Around quarter to nine Danny as Phantom flew up to him, glowing in the dimming world around them.

“Hey Jason! How did the exploring go?” he greeted cheerfully.

Jason quirked a brow. “Well enough. You seem to be in a better mood.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “So here’s the plan. We’re going to be going through the Fenton portal and then heading to the Great Star Bridge Sera- er, it’s basically a mansion. Super pretentious name, if you ask me.”

Jason couldn’t help but wonder why it had to be there. He didn’t really like the idea of going to a mansion but didn’t bother to say anything about it.

“Alright, let’s get going. Are Manes and Ghouley…?”

“They’re at the portal.”

Danny then took his arm, turning them invisible and flying up and towards some unknown place.

Flying like this was different. It should’ve been impossible, supporting his weight just with one arm. It was as though Danny had turned gravity off for just the two of them.

Their destination became apparent as they approached a building with a giant glowing sign labeled ‘Fenton Works’ alongside an arrow oh so helpfully pointing down to the building they were perched upon. He’d read about them in the papers.

He could only imagine the portal was nearby.

Jazz had made it sound like she, and possibly the trio, frequented the other dimension. One of the newspapers had an interview with a ghost named Kitty, who claimed that the Phantoms took wayward ghosts back to the zone. It wasn’t unreasonable, given the amount of ghost fights he’d read about, that the Phantoms spent solid chunks of time in both dimensions. Jason didn’t like the idea of having to sneak by people who hunted him to get home every day on top of all the regular vigilante crap. It was exhausting for him and it could only have been the same for them.

The kids probably had been caught off guard before, trying to pass through.

How badly had they suffered?

“Nervous?” Danny asked, slowing to a stop.

Maybe he was wrong. Maybe it hadn’t happened. Maybe they were still…

“Are- did you die?” Jason asked in a rush. Immediately, he wanted to take the words and stuff them back in his mouth.

Danny was quiet for a moment. “Why?”

Scrambling for an answer, he meekly offered a thought that had occurred to him yesterday on patrol.

“I mean- are they gonna ask me about my…?”

Would he have to explain his own demise?

He would if he had to, in the barest sense, but it wasn’t information he was going to volunteer.

“Ok. So, don’t do that. Ever,” Danny gently admonished. “Real quick lesson in ghost manners. You don’t ask about death. It’s a sensitive topic among ghosts. And to answer your question, yes, I did die. I can’t say what the yetis will ask but one of us will be right there at all times, okay?”

Danny, even as Phantom, was dwarfed by Jason. He was sure that he could punt the kid pretty far, so small he was, and he still had baby fat clinging to his cheeks.

Would he ever get to grow up?

Or had that been ripped away from him?

Jason cleared his throat. “Right.”

Danny took them down to the street right in front of Fenton Works and then phased them through the floor and into a stairwell.

“Ready?” he asked.

Manes poked her head out of a doorframe at the bottom of the stairs.

“As I’ll ever be,” replied Jason.

Danny floated them down the stairs and through the doorway. Tucker was inside with Sam and they split with Sam taking point and Tucker covering the rear.

The wall of the lab they directed to was shockingly familiar. If one took out the blast doors and the active portal, the setup was identical to that of the picture.

Danny confirmed he had died.

Sam had referred to the boys as Fenton and Foley earlier. It didn’t matter that he didn’t know which was which; one of them was Fenton, and that was enough information.

With sick horror, it dawned on him that one of the boys’ families owned this lab. One of their families hunted ghosts. One of their families hated the Phantoms. One of their families had killed them.

The Fentons had killed their own child and his two friends.

They had died right here , in this very portal.

Why the hell were they here?

“Jason? Is something wrong?”

“No,” he said shortly.

What were the kids playing at?

The three seemed to silently agree on something.

“Jason,” Tucker said, putting a hand on his shoulder, “we’ll be with you, alright? If something’s up we can handle it. We can help.”

“How can you be here?” he asked a little desperately. “This is-”

He couldn’t even think about the warehouse.

Danny hugged him slowly, and then Sam, and then Tucker joined them.

It didn’t matter that they were pressed up so close he could feel their bones digging into his body because there wasn’t a single pulse among them.

The kids had died.

“You saw that picture, didn’t you?” Tucker said lowly. Jason didn’t deny it.

“It’s mildly uncomfortable but we had to deal with it pretty early on,” Sam explained. “We’re largely used to it by now.”

Anger that had been silently simmering began to boil.

“You had to deal with it?” he repeated shrilly.

Of course, he thought bitterly. If the Fentons had killed the kids, likely with the intention of collecting their ghosts for some fucked up study, then the trio would’ve been forced into the lab at one, or several, points. But why come back at all?

The portal they died in. It was one of the only stable portals. They’d have to deal with it if they wanted to use the portal to herd the ghosts out of Amity.

Unwilling to dislodge the kids and possibly hurt them, he couldn’t move. Not with all three pairs of arms wrapped around him. But goddamn it, he was tempted to break something.

“… it’s not that bad. We’re fine. We’re not going to make you confront your death, alright?” Danny said.

“ My death? What about yours? This is cookies and cream awful. Who the hell made you deal with it? Chocolate Raspberry. Who ?”

“We did because it was the right thing to do. It’s a story for another time, okay?” Sam said a little desperately.

Danny lifted one arm and wrapped it around Sam.

Tucker pressed his head against Jason’s shoulder. “Jason. I know this kinda sucks but there’s nothing you can do. It’s in the past now.”

They had given up on themselves.

It was all too common with heroes, wasn’t it? To save everyone else? But what about them?

Oh, how he wanted to rage.

But he couldn’t.

Keep it together for the kids, he scolded himself. He made progress. He had the lab. He discovered that the Lazarus water thing was actually the Fenton portal. He found out more about the kids.

He made progress.

Inhaling quietly, he focused on the oscillating edges of the portal, moving in and out in a mockery of breathing.

His breath hitched.

The kids weren’t breathing . Their chests were still, their diaphragms didn’t move and never would again, up and down, in and out. Their lungs-

- were vibrating?

The pure confusion overrode everything for a moment. The kids were vibrating. And there was a sound quite similar to purring, though it felt as though it reached all the way down into his soul.

“… are you kids purring at me?”

“No,” Danny said, continuing to purr.

“Is it working?” grinned Sam.

“We’re ghosts, not cats,” Tucker scoffed.

“We could be engines.”

Danny groaned and thunked his head against Jason’s arm. “One time.”

“One time’s all it takes,” snickered Tucker.

“Danny overshadowed a car once,” Sam explained. “But he wasn’t really, he was in the engine and didn’t realize it. He was stuck as a car for almost a full day.”

“It was an anti-ghost vehicle too, mind you,” Tucker added.

“Stooop,” Danny complained.

“It was his sister’s car.”

“Guys, I’m already half dead, please don’t kill me the rest of the way.”

“Jazz-”

Danny reached past Jason’s head to presumably clamp a hand over Tucker’s mouth. “Okay! That’s enough for today! We’re going to be late!”

👻 {Boo!)

Jason avoided the manor.

That wasn’t atypical, not really, but missing his phone call to Alfred was. Especially on a holiday; especially on Christmas.

He wasn’t at his official residence, nor his unofficial one, and so the only thing to do was to go through his safe houses. Easy enough. If there was one good thing about the whole mess with Dr. Crane, it was that they had more time now that their civilian identities were “hospitalized”.

One of the safe houses, located in an old apartment, showed signs of Jason being there recently. Why hadn’t he gone back to his actual apartment?

There were no real clues- nothing to hint at his home being compromised, nothing to indicate why he’d come to this particular apartment. The perishable food indicated Jason was residing here now, and had been for a few days as his suit from the gala was here, as was an assortment of gear Jason never left behind. Among them were his prized handguns.

So why were they here when Jason wasn’t?

There was only one other thing out of place. One clue that might lead to an answer instead of more questions.

Laying on the couch was an odd camera. It didn’t look like the kind of camera someone could buy at a store, no matter how high end. Some of the parts were standard, others looked custom, and none of them looked over a day old. Someone took good care of this camera, and if there was something he knew, it was cameras.

Jason had never been interested in photography and there was no way he knew how to care for a camera. So, to whom did it belong?

Well, if he left it here he’d never get answers. Jason might be bitchy for a while but the answers would be worth it. Besides, he’d get it back. Eventually.

Red Robin picked the strange camera up, tucked it into one of the dozen pockets on his person, and left the apartment.

👻 {Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it.)

Taglist time! If you want to be added, just say so!

@depressed-bitchy-demon @dp-marvel94 @birbtails @mr-lancers-english-class @miraculousandmore @iglowinggemma28 @manapeer @azzysflowergarden @notwhat-i-seemtobe @whobee7 @trippingovermyfeet @stormhaven257 @imsociallyanxiousgetoverit @passivedecept @lovetheryu @ever-after-aaa @mysteriousooze @wegetitethan @cyber-geist @t-nayira @wisteriavines @starscreamlover @recently-diagnosed-lady-knight @thescarletcryptid @jaguarthecat @blankliferain @crimsonaccent @terzatheunderscorerima

#Halfa trio pretty much from DarkNymfa's Third Time fanfic #dp x dc fanfic #dp x dc #dpxdc #danny phantom #danny fenton #tucker foley #sam manson #halfa!trio #halfa!trio au #halfa tucker #halfa sam #halfa biology #fanfiction #miscmonstro writings

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rliabl-narrator · 8 months

Text

Microphone and Test Tube and Trust

For the last few episodes of inanimate insanity season 2, we see these two clash. I’m going to be focusing on Alternate Reality Show, Mine Your Own Business, and Hatching The Plan respectively, but before I get into that I want to talk about their characters leading up to these episodes.

Microphone: Started her alliance with Taco and already has a few disagreements with her methods, seemingly just floating through the game.

Test Tube: Not social at all, mainly focuses on helping the people around her and herself

EP. 12: ALTERNATE REALITY SHOW

So, Mic and Taco at the vending machine because Mic wants to return a taser that Taco had stolen from Test Tube’s lab at some point. I’d also like to note that, before this, neither of them had really interacted with the other team, aside from the maze.

Mic goes down and Test Tube immediately does not trust her, calling her a Jeebweezer, which means “An individual of high suspicion or idiocy.” Test Tube accidentally reveals her Time Machine, piquing Taco’s interest. Then, Lightbulb, wacky hijinks, they get portal’d away. Mic is clearly freaking out after, but Taco frames it as taking out two competitors. They steal the invisi-bow ties and leave.

Not much else happens that episode. Test Tube and Lightbulb come back safe, Knife finds out about Mic and Taco’s alliance, but it does show Test Tube and Microphone getting off on the wrong foot.

EP. 13: Mine Your Own Business

There’s only a few key things this episode. Test Tube is mostly focused on other’s (Lightbulb, Baseball, Fan) safety, while Mic is focused on Knife and trying to get him to join the alliance.

At the end, Knife warns them about Test Tube and Fan analyzing everyone, which now shifts their focus onto them. So, using the bows, they lead Suitcase straight to the gem just as Fan and Test Tube arrive. Using her dart blaster, Tets Tube tries to hit Suitcase, but she ends up hitting a invisible Microphone.

So, not only does she see Mic with one of her inventions that she stole, she sees that she was actively working against them. So going into episode 14, they are already on negative terms, plus Test Tube is a little um shaken after taking the egg in the Fantube divorce.

Also, they fucking left Mic in the mines paralyzed and that is so very funny to me

Ep. 14: Hatching The Plan (A.K.A Peak Fiction)

So Fan gets captured, Test Tube paralyzes an entire spaceship, it’s all cool. Test Tube is very clearly distressed and unhinged through all of this. Mic suggests that her secret lab could help them, and Test Tube becomes overdramatic and sets off literal fireworks. She makes a little quip about Mic stealing from her, and they move on.

So, while their building the vending machine ship, Microphone is sitting off to the side, and I’m assuming Test Tube made her because she doesn’t trust her at all, and clearly states so multiple times. Taco, of course, forms a plan of sorts, and tells Mic to buy her time, so now Mic is actively working against the ships success (both the literal rocket ship and Testmic) and Test Tube again, putting them at odds.

Mic almost accidentally kills Test Tube, but the ship goes up. Mic doesn’t really know what Taco’s plan is but she make’s her promise no violence, and guess what. Taco immediately kills Test Tube with a gun that she probably made and I think that’s when Mic finally stops, turning on Taco and stepping in front of the gun barrel. She cuts ties with Taco immediately after the challenge is over.

Unfortunately the damage was already done and Mic saves Fan, winning the challenge. She brings him back and everyone is cheering. aside from Test Tube, who is just staring in hurt and disbelief. Mic is completely silent throughout this whole scene as everyone applauds her, and when Test Tube tries to explain what really happened, no one (aside from LB) believed her, and Fan wasn’t conscious, so he couldn’t back her up.

“I hope it was worth it.”

And then Microphone quits the game.

And then Test Tube is eliminated.

And then they become roommates at the hotel (this isn’t canon but c’mon yes it is)

I find it so interesting how despite Test Tube knowing she couldn’t trust Mic before Hatching the Plan and showing nothing but irritation towards her, she still felt like Mic had stabbed her in the back. Because yes, Test Tube knew she could steal, and cheat, but she didn’t know Microphone would go that far to win the stupid challenge.

And Mic is just so sorry for everything she did, leaving them in a place where they should be able to patch things up but Test Tube just doesn’t want to hear it, why would she ever trust anything Mic had to say?

#inanimate insanity #ii test tube #ii microphone #ii lightbulb #testmic #ii taco

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villain-school · 6 months

Text

Chapter 3: Old Friends, New News

An old friend visits Proton, but she's unaware of his current situation...

(crossposted from ao3!)

It had been a few days since Caesar joined Proton and Switch’s friend group. They had all quickly gotten acquainted with each other, and now they were hanging out at the local mall’s food court.

“So, Caesar, I gotta ask,” started Switch. “What’s it like being the son of two super-famous villains? I mean, your parents are the Rogue and Maelstrom, right? That must be insane!”

Caesar shrugged at the question. “I mean… To me, they’re just my mom and dad. Sure, we have a bit of fame and more money than a lot of people, but…other than that, I have a pretty normal home life. I guess sometimes they get a little busy, being professional villains and all, but they make time for me still.” He gestured back to Switch. “What about you? You’re…interesting, to say the least.”

Switch sat up a bit. “Oh, me? Well, both my moms are scientists, and I wanna be just like them when I grow up! They actually created me in a lab all by themselves!”

That sent a shock through both Caesar and Proton, their jaws dropping.

Proton was the first to address it. “Switch, you’re a test tube baby?!”

Switch simply giggled and winked. “Yeah! Hehe!”

Proton rubbed his neck. “I mean… I guess that checks out, now that I think about it…”

“Proton?”

A voice from behind Proton caught his attention. He swore he recognized it. Wait, could it be…?

He turned around, confirming his suspicions. Standing a little ways away was a girl about their age–she wore fairly neutral clothing, including a pair of glasses and a hijab. Proton knew exactly who this was, and he lit up visibly. “No way! Winnie?”

Winnie smiled as Proton made his way over to her, and they hugged.

“It’s so good to see you!” Proton said excitedly. “I haven’t seen you since sixth grade! How have you been?”

Winnie smiled as they stepped away from each other. “Oh, you know! Just fine. I’m in town for the weekend. I’ve missed you since you moved! How have things been with you? I heard you finally started hero school!”

Proton suddenly seemed a little awkward at that, but he played it off.

“Uh… Yeah, haha! In fact, I want you to meet a couple friends I made there!” He turned around and gestured to his friends at the table. “Winnie, this is Caesar and Switch.”

Caesar nodded to her. “Hello.”

Switch gave an enthusiastic wave. “Hidey!”

Proton was very happy to introduce his old friend. “Guys, this is Winnie! She’s my childhood best friend. She moved away when we were in sixth grade, but we’ve been talking online ever since to keep in touch.”

Winnie waved back to them. “Hi there! Proton says you’re his hero school friends? What’s it like there?”

Caesar and Switch exchanged glances, and Caesar was the first to speak up. “... Uh…”

Switch chose to hold up his finger to correct her. “Well, actually–”

“Uh, hey, Switch, weren’t you working on something cool?” Proton interrupted quickly. “Why don’t you show Winnie?” He turned to Winnie. “He’s sort of a scientist.”

Winnie seemed interested. “Oh, cool.”

Switch blinked, suddenly remembering his project. “Oh, right! Thanks for reminding me!”

… He then proceeded to pull an actual for real bomb out of his pocket. It looked pretty haphazardly thrown together with mismatched parts here and there, but it also looked very functional.

“I actually built this bomb with things I found lying around the house,” he explained. “I need to go test it out before it expires. Time to find a toilet to blow up!”

As he got up and ran off to find a restroom, everyone else watched in confusion. Proton looked more horrified than confused, though…

Winnie also looked a bit concerned. “Uh… Is he going to blow up the bathroom?”

Proton tried to save face. “Don’t worry, he’s just joking! He’s the, uh, local prankster. It’s not actually a real bomb.” He hesitated. “It’s uh…a bath bomb?”

Winnie didn’t necessarily buy that completely. “It looked pretty mechanical for a bath bomb…”

Proton grimaced a little. “He’s…creative. A-anyway, why don’t I get us some snacks? I’ll be right back!” And with that, he hurriedly made his way to another part of the food court to get something to share with everyone. Maybe he could just avoid talking about this until Winnie wanted to leave.

Winnie took this opportunity to sit down with Caesar at the table. “So, how did you and Proton meet? Do you share a hero class?”

Caesar just sighed. “Not exactly.” He decided that if Proton wasn’t going to say anything, he’d have to do it. “Winnie… I think Proton’s a little nervous to tell you what’s going on, so I guess I’ll have to be the one to break it to you.”

That only served to worry Winnie. “Why? What’s wrong with Proton?”

“Nothing’s wrong with him,” he reassured. “It’s just…he’s not actually enrolled in a hero school. In fact, it’s the opposite–he goes to a villain school. All three of us do.”

Winnie was confused by this. “Huh…? How did that happen? I swear, all he ever talked about was how he wanted to become a hero. Did something change?”

Caesar shook his head. “No, actually. He’s still planning to become a hero. For the record, so am I. We both kind of got stuck in villain school one way or another. But, trust me–he’s more determined to become a hero than anyone I’ve ever met.”

Winnie frowned just a little. “Then why would he lie about that…?”

As if on cue, Proton returned with a tray of loaded fries for the table. “I got us some cheese fries!” he announced. When he saw the look on Winnie’s face, he slowed to a stop. “Uh… Is everything okay?”

“Proton, why didn’t you tell me you were in a villain school?” Winnie asked gently. “That seems pretty important.”

Proton looked like he’d seen a ghost. Then, he sighed, deflating. “Sorry, Winnie,” he apologized. “I guess I just got nervous about what you might think.”

Winnie looked a little surprised for a moment, but then she smiled warmly. “What do you mean? You’re my best friend. Anything you do, I’ll be behind you no matter what. Plus, Caesar tells me you’re still trying to be a hero even in a school for villains. That’s amazing!”

Proton looked up from where he’d been gazing at the ground. “You think so?”

“Of course!” Winnie reassured. “Don’t ever be afraid to tell me things, okay? I got your back, even if we’re far apart!”

That made Proton smile with relief.

However, that relief was short lived, because there was suddenly a huge explosion from the restrooms off to the side. Eventually, Switch returned to their table covered in debris, giving a thumbs-up.

“It worked awesomely!” he confirmed with satisfaction. “We should probably leave now, though.”

Proton just kind of laughed nervously at Winnie, who warily smiled back at him. Caesar just covered his face in exasperation.

–

Later at school, Switch was walking to one of his classes with a tall stack of books in his arms. He seemed to be in a hurry, but he was careful not to drop any of his haul.

Suddenly, a foot jutted out of nowhere and unfortunately tripped him, causing him to drop every single book he was holding. He fell onto the ground as well, and he sat up in confusion. It wasn’t long before he realized who had tripped him, and that it was definitely on purpose.

Above him stood Cindy Rockette, the local school bully. She was smirking down at him with her arms crossed, satisfied with the outcome of that action. Behind her stood her lackeys Lizzie Evermore and Sol Draconia, who were both giggling.

Cindy stuck up her nose at him. “Going somewhere, lab rat?”

Switch nodded. “Uh… Yeah! To class!”

Cindy rolled her eyes. “It was a rhetorical question, idiot. You’d think someone with super intelligence would know that.”

Just then, Proton suddenly stepped in to defend his friend. He looked serious.

“Hey, back off!” he said sternly. “What’s your problem, huh?”

Cindy seemed interested to see him. “Oh, there he is–the hero kid. Come to save the day?”

Proton clenched his fists. “I’ll say it again–back off, or I won’t hesitate to shock you.”

“Oh?” Cindy lifted her head in amusement. “I’d like to see you try. C’mon, give me a little static and see what happens.”

That garnered a frown from Proton, but he decided she was giving him no other choice. This was to defend Switch!

He stuck out his hand and shot a little bit of electricity at her–it wasn’t a lot, and it was just to make her go away. However, her form was suddenly engulfed in rocks, which totally surprised Proton. She had become some sort of rock creature, and Proton’s electricity had no effect.

“Don’t you know?” she teased. “Electricity can’t hurt stone.”

“But wind can.”

Everyone looked to the side as Caesar made his entrance. He stepped between the two groups, giving Cindy and her friends a threatening look. “Stand down, or I’ll erode you away without a second thought.”

Cindy scoffed, but she returned her form back to normal. “Tch! The mighty Caesar Truth defending some nobodies? I guess you really are a loser after all.” She gestured to Proton, who was glaring. “You know Sparky here is spouting nonsense about being a hero, right? You look crazy hanging out with him.”

Caesar took in a breath, which sort of made his chest puff out. “If he’s crazy, then so am I.”

He proceeded to raise his voice just a bit so that anyone in the near vicinity would hear him. “I’m going to be a hero, too!” he announced confidently. “No matter what anyone thinks!”

Everyone around them seemed rather shocked to hear this coming from the son of Maelstrom and Rogue, but Switch and Proton only looked at him with proud smiles. Cindy didn’t really know what to make of this, but she ended up backing off finally.

“Fine,” she said lowly. “I can’t wait to see your reputation crumble to dirt.” With that, she turned and walked off with her group.

Caesar let out the breath he’d apparently been holding. He was a little nervous about what would come from his confession, but he’d made his decision, and it was final. He turned to his friends and smiled at them, and he and Proton proceeded to help Switch pick up his books.

It seemed as though a new wind was blowing through the school, and these three were the source of it.

#villain + school #ch3

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utmvarchive · 3 months

Text

Echotale: a summary.

...It seems that in "Echotale," Dr. Gaster never [REDACTED], Sans' HP is in fact high, Frisk has visions of other timelines without experiencing them for themself, they are one of the descendants of the wizards who cast the Barrier and they were the only fallen human after the one who haunts them, the royal foster Chara.

Dr. Gaster, his son Sans and their lab partner Alphys were still coworkers when Frisk came to warn the kingdom that the villagers they lived with wanted to destroy the whole mountain. Her majesty Toriel escorted them all the way from the ruins to the lab so as not to cause a panic, whereupon after warming up to the scientists, they willingly went into the DT extractor.

It soon became clear that it would have to be remodeled. The first time, the extractor did not pick up much Determination from them at all, but after Sans suggested that they recall the resolve they felt when they came to save monsterkind, Chara took temporary possession in response to feeling Frisk's Determination and the extractor picked up the differences in their DT output.

Frisk stayed in the lab while the remodeling ended up taking four years, meeting Papyrus, becoming a family together... watching anime together and reading comics found by Alphys, including Victor– a personal favorite of Frisk's they weren't allowed to look at back where they came from, featuring a smoking byronic hero with a facial scar on the cover. Between them and their passenger, they would reflect upon these times as simultaneously brightening the light within Frisk and deepening the darkness within Chara.

...At some point, there was an incident with Papyrus, after which Frisk was detained with chains at their own request until the DT extractor was ready for them to try again. There was a scuffle with Chara before its next test run, but Sans let them loose and Frisk was able to regain control...

...Only for the clashing motives between Frisk and Chara affecting their DT's behavior in the extractor to the point affecting the CORE. It had developed sentience and felt internal conflict in response to theirs, which somehow triggered a chain reaction that would SHIFT reality around them.

Home and New Home intersected unnaturally. Snowdin and Hotland both overlaid Waterfall, causing snowballs to become fireballs when thrown and for lava flows to be as cool as the water channels despite still being molten. Sudden occurrences of snow, the spread of echoflowers to the point of overtaking golden flowers completely.

Everyone being [REDACTED].

As it happened, Dr. W.D. pleaded with Sans to hold onto a pivot point to keep himself anchored. This ended up being Victor; amidst the chaos, he'd noticed the issue that had been entrusted with Alphys for safekeeping until after the extractor was done running.

...He... and Dr. Gaster... they both survived the SHIFT, but not as themselves. They had been rewritten, becoming one skeleton who'd retained Dr. Gaster's fissures but otherwise heavily took after Victor. This crude fusion, who'd named himself G, only recovered the memories of their two former, separate identities days later when they wandered into the enclosure of the only other survivor. Frisk, who'd similarly been rewritten, had spawned back in chains within what remained of the lab as a young adult with a ripped crop top over a tube binder.

The two continued to wander the kingdom together, observing the effects of the SHIFT and searching for wherever the CORE could have relocated itself. They observed more anomalies, such as Resets' inefficacy on the SHIFT, Sans' stations spawning cigarette packs, the echoflowers' proliferation, the discrepancy between G's own impression of Frisk and the memories of the two who pushed him forward, the rising suspicion that G was in fact a whole new person and not just the fusion that created him, and ultimately the discovery that the CORE was responding to Frisk's wishes and using the echoflowers as cognitive storage, which Frisk inadvertently reawoke by singing to them.

After letting Chara take control in the throne room to reminisce on warm memories, they'd come to a truce, and G encouraged Frisk to enter the CORE now that it finally showed itself. This time, Frisk and Chara were able to harmonize with each other and the CORE responded in kind.

The world was untangled, setting it on the same course as UNDERTALE, and everyone, including Sans and W.D. Gaster, were brought back into existence, However, the CORE went one step further and preserved G even after the SHIFT was undone, randomly spawning him on the surface under the bed of a human child before he fled out the window.

...And life went on.

#g #echotale #undertale #utmv #archive #ua #ap #ex-sans #rewritten reality #grisk #frans #summary #txt

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mod2amaryllis · 2 years

Text

ok so i stumbled home after work and errands and the worst traffic I've seen in months to find Ladybird literally just staring at a dead shrimp so i got it out and tested her tank and it had a nitrite spike and i went ok oh shit oh shit uh oh uh oh full panic water change water change oh god oh shit 5x seachem prime dose ok fuck fuck fuck then could only pace nervously around the kitchen thinking ok this is a chicken and the egg situation did the shrimp die because of the nitrites or did the shrimp dying cause the nitrites, watching Ladybird with growing suspicion as she tooted normally around her tank, did she kill the shrimp?? the body was intact she didn't eat it but it was the fish equivalent of walking in to jason standing over a deceased teenage girl looking blankly down at her not comprehending the concept of "death" or "murder," she's always been chill but she's a predator it's in her tiny bones, i watched her for twenty minutes straight and caught her sort of mildly chase a shrimp a few inches to its left and i pointed accusingly at her tank like "WOAH WOAH WOAH MISSY THAT'S IT" so then i evacuated the 3 shrimp into the 40 where they'll be a) safe from potentially hungy betta and 2) less of a hazard if they freaking die anyway, and at that point it'd been maybe an hour since the water change so i retested nitrites knowing it wasn't enough time for them to nullify then spent a good 10 minutes swiping back and forth between comparison shots of test tubes and asking a very supportive Jose "it's lighter now right? it's a shade lighter??"

so yeah I'm normal I'm good I'm fine I'm not suddenly having more fish problems than usual right before a long trip hahahahaha and you? you guys are good everyone's good? :-) hm?

#cyditisittixgxclyarariaaruRUadajzgxkxyoyfufxtxti but yeah goodnight #fish tag #m2a

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tamelee · 2 years

Note

Do you think sarada was a test tube baby or was her conception just shady? Sasuke and especially Sakura's behaviour make them look so weirdly guilty

There is no answer to that I believe?

I think Kishimoto used Gaiden as a last attempt stab at ‘Boruto’ with more questions than they can answer that they’re now trying to “fix”.. hence the shitload of marketing attempts.

I think she is the result of “things not always going as planned” during that time skip without Naruto.

What fueled Sasuke during the time skip anyway? Who wasn't there?

I noticed something else about Sasuke.

Sarada screams the word “papa” idk how many times, but Sasuke has only referred to her as ‘his child’ once at Orochimaru’s hideout. Any other time he includes Chocho and says “the kids.”

Same with Sakura. He never refers to Sakura or uses her name, (or show concern when she gets taken away by the enemy for that matter.. although neither does Naruto)- however he calls her his “wife”, right? I dunno about you, but I noticed he did this twice.. and ONLY to Orochimaru and ONLY when necessary. Think about that one, because I’m telling you that’s deliberate. Why wouldn’t he use their names around him specifically and why did Kishimoto choose to let Sakura and Sarada spout “papa” and “husband” over and over again while Sasuke avoids it? Food for thought.

Sarada questions about the relationship between her parents are never answered despite the “happy ending”. (Not fully anyway.)

The story will do everything in its power to raise suspicion and make you believe that Sarada might be one of those ‘Uchiha Shin’ clone children or perhaps a clone related to Sasuke with his genes made by Orochimaru in a ‘this is WAY too obvious, so of course in the end she wouldn’t be’-manner. Which is interesting, because in that so-called “happy ending” too many details are left unsolved.

Whatever you suspect, in the end it was all a misunderstanding.

So.. case closed. We went full circle, all is good.

Except, I’m still not convinced completely.

And Kishimoto is very careful in that regard. For example when Naruto talks to Sarada he makes sure to mention Sarada’s connection to “her mother and her father”, but not mention anything about the connection between Sasuke and Sakura. When he starts to console Sarada he speaks very highly of Sasuke, but he never mentioned Sakura.. at all. (Good qualities.)

Then we have Shizune.

We know there is nothing about Sarada’s birth documented in the hospitals of Konoha. Which is strange, because even if Sarada was born in Orochimaru’s hideout, you’d think Sakura, our great medic ninja, would’ve made sure she would be AT LEAST properly identified/documented in Konoha as Karin for sure has that.. alongside the umbilical cord for some reason. Even worse.. Shizune has no counterargument and looks distraught. Is “you were born outside of the village” such a secret? Is there literally nothing Shizune could’ve said?

Then we have the big question: “what was Sasuke going to say?”

Sakura arrives during the battle with ‘Uchiha Shin’ and Sasuke’s first reaction to that is: “What are you doing here?” To which she apologizes to Sarada “I meant to tell you properly”.

I think because leaving the village to find her dad because Sakura refused to tell her anything is dangerous and with that I’m guessing Kishimoto refers to some of the questions Sarada launched at Sasuke when she met him:

“Why won’t you be with mom?”

“Do you think it’s okay to forget the face of your child?” (Why won’t you be with me?/us?)

“Who is the girl with the glasses?” (Karin)

+ Mom won’t say anything, I don’t believe your relationship, you’re never around and yes, we have a lot of problems.

But Sasuke says Sakura doesn’t have to apologize, because no matter what “it’s his fault” as if Sarada was some sort of mistake. Sakura staying silent for so long/lying causing Sarada despair, is her fault since Sasuke… wasn’t around lol. So.. I’m thinking, just the fact that Sarada exists at all he believes “is his fault”. He agreed to something (Sakura ever-too-willing) and looks regretful since “no matter how we look at it”, he abandoned the aftermath of that decision up until that point.

But why? He isn’t connected to Sakura directly, because Sarada is in between, “because we have you.. Sarada.”

Since ‘Boruto’ had to happen anyway, why did Kishimoto choose to go this route for Sasuke’s future in Gaiden? He obviously went back to the War Arc.. so.. I did too.

So.. let’s take a look a Naruto’s reaction:

This is a “simple memory” of him thinking about Sasuke explaining his hypothesis about these Uchiha Shin clones and how it could connect to the white Zetsu being a byproduct of Madara using Hashirama’s flesh for that statue (to create that army) if I’m not mistaken. Uchiha Shin daddy ended up being Orochimaru’s old experiment. (Interestingly, Sakura brought him up before he did.. in her mind clone = Orochimaru.. also food for thought, but it could be because of Mitsuki, don’t know.)

But anyway, look at Naruto’s expression. Here he looks at a crying Sarada after she’s been told “this has nothing to do with you” by Sasuke in response to all the questions she shot at him. Which part of this is making him look so sullen?

Naruto has shown zero concern for Sakura or the “connection” between Sasuke and Sakura throughout Gaiden even when it was implied that Karin is possibly Sarada’s mom. The concern is seeing Sarada being in pain because of it/being lied to.

.. and left out.

Because indeed, the mission has nothing to do with Sarada as it is “top-secret”.

“A bright future is always better..

.. don’t you think?”

Am I the only one who’s not feeling that one from Sasuke?

“You stay in the village and protect it, Hokage..” “You deal with the things you have to do. And I’ll do what I have to do. Isn’t this the ‘cooperation’ that you wanted?"

Is it, Naruto? I highly doubt it. (Indicating that something isn't right here + Sakura's eyes.)

If you’d ask Kishimoto if Sarada truly is 100% a human child his answer would be: “Yea, sure :)”

You will get a straight up answer, enough to get the shippers gloating on socials with “proof”, but it’s as convincing as Sakura saying “..I’m sure our feelings are mutual…”

Regardless.. why does Sasuke feel like Sarada’s existence is his “fault”?

If you go back to the War Arc (as Kishimoto did too) Sasuke observes the conversation between Madara and Hashirama who talk about leaving the future to the next generation and “Madara’s dream coming to an end”. Both Naruto and Sasuke were willing to give up their goals for each other. Goals that ARE NOT JUST THEIR OWN. As Sasuke had said, “it’s especially true when it comes to bigger things.” Also meaning that.. even though Naruto said he was going to be a “Ninja in his own way” instead of just becoming Konoha’s “tool”, whatever future he had planned for Kohona.. if he even had one, he was willing to give that up too.

Think about it.

For whatever generations after them, whatever “bright future” they had planned, it was never more important than each other. If Naruto wanted a better life for all the children of Konoha and was determined to make that happen, then not even that was more important than Sasuke.

Naruto’s goal to become ‘Hokage’ and wanting the Shinobi’s to work together theory-wise was kind of vague, but he wanted to do it with Sasuke if they were going to be alive anyway.

And these dumbasses who love each other so much were reduced to these miserable looking fellas and I just think Kishimoto took the opportunity to make use of that as much as possible. Mocking the situation as obvious as he could without straight up saying it like only he can.

“Sasuke and Sakura have a child? Lol, I’ll make the reader as suspicious as possible without actually truly revealing anything.. as always hihi.”

Bastard.

“And then in ‘Boruto’ they can try and clean up my mess, but the damage is already kind of done, no?”

I love him.

In the famous words of Uchiha, Madara:

“Then it might have been impossible from me from the start. I hated having someone follow me from behind.”

But in the end Naruto and Sasuke are equals. Only Naruto can understand Sasuke on an emotional level and vice versa. Only they can balance each other out, everyone else..

Perhaps.. Sasuke saying

"A bright future is always better...

.. don't you think?"

In that almost sarcastic way.. was about Sarada (being a parent/family with Sakura) which only Naruto and Sakura understood and not so much about the mission, because that pause right there? Is not convincing and if Sasuke was truly speaking to better a future for the Shinobi world he would be much more determined.

But no one looks happy even though Sarada has her happy ending so leaving those questions open I think is just deliberate mockery.

#asktamelee #gaiden #gaiden manga #sns #gaiden analysis #naruto rant #kishimoto

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