#the answer to what she'll be is captain of the guard

[chimchiri]

Build A Lesbian (poll 19)

Poll 17 voters decided, the femme gets to have freckles! And with that, the appearance polls are done. Plus names are already running in parallel.

What's left is the setting and their background/roles. Even our two ladies are wondering where they'll end up.

Personally I LOVE a fantasy AU. It allows for mythical creatures, knights, beautiful gowns... Though I'm not above a modern or futuristic setting and would give interesting ideas.

-> What's definitely clear is that the butch will be some sort of guard, captain, protector - anything of that kind with some form of armor and weapon. I'm open if that's a medieval/fantasy setting or something modern/futuristic. Though if fantasy/medieval wins, I already know what she will be.

[the-fiction-witch]

What are you doing here!?

Media The Artful Dodger

Character Jack Dawkins

Couple Jack X Reader

Rating Sweet

I held my dress as I slowly approached the tall stone walls, with high metal gates. The flames of lanterns flickered on the gates, I heard the few soldiers who were on guard tonight as they paced about on their guard. I snuck myself over and spotted the tree close to the wall, so I climbed it and got myself over the wall. Gave myself a graceful adjustment as I landed, I heard into the house being careful not to be spotted. I know Captain Gaines was away on business, and he'd left only his wife Peggy here with a couple of guards to protect her. This was to be a walk in the park.  

I headed into the house, and I made sure not to be spotted by the five guards, 

As I headed through, I looked around the place to try and find the payload, 

Hummm... Now? if I was a military payload? where would I be hiding? 

I made sure my steps were silent and my dress left no trace of me as I headed deeper into the house,

Ahh ha! 

My personal favourite, Durack Jensen. 

And such a lovely green shade, I headed over and took out my little tool from my pocket having a sweet listen as I spun the lock, 

Little left.

Little right.

and... Boom.

The safe then unlocked but it was empty

"Damn it" I sighed,

"This way." A voice whispered, and I heard people coming so I safe spot behind some curtains and hid myself away,  

I heard people come in and chatter quietly, 

"Durack Jensen."

"Bloody Durack Jensen. Neither of us do safe did you not think to check that!"

"I can't plan everything" 

"It's empty."

"I noted that."

"Someone hit it before us." 

I tried to use this as my chance to scamper but the sounds of more feet came, and these figures went to hide, I could barely see but I saw one hide close to the bookcase, he seemed to look at me and I noticed my shoes poked out so I quickly hid them as a soldier came in, 

luckily he was already bad and bolted due to some sickness, 

"Fagin?"

"What?"

"So you're not-"

"It's just shadows, Jack, pilfer's best friend." 

One began to leave but the other came close to me, 

Ohh no I've been spotted! 

I tried to run but he grabbed me and immediately both of us were shocked. As I was suddenly faced With Jack Dawkins, he saw me and looked as alarmed as I was to see him.

"Y/N!" He said quietly but still shocked,

"Jack!" I whisper yelled, 

"What are you doing here!?"

"Never mind me what are you doing here!?" 

"I asked you first."

"And a gentleman answers a lady first." 

"Will you two stop havin' a domestic so we can figure out where this damn payload's gone." Fagin sighed already annoyed with us, 

"You don't have it?" I asked,

"No, you don't have it?"

"No." 

Suddenly we heard someone else coming, 

"Scarper," Jack said and of course, the three of us bolted around the room in various directions, I tried to get back to my curtain hiding place but Fagin stole that, and there certainly wasn't room for both of us and I sure as hell wasn't gonna try and squeeze to share with him, Jack tried the other door but it was locked, I tried the window but locked, "The screen?" he offered as we heard footsteps getting closer running out of time to find a place,

"No, she'll see you."

"The bed." He said grabbing my hand and tugging me under the bed with him, given the space we had no choice but to lay down together inches from each other to make sure we weren't spotted, 

As Peggy came into the room, unfortunately, she was not alone. She had Darius with her. 

The two make out heavily and lustfully remove each other's clothes, the two moaning. 

"Ohh god" I whispered,

"Shit-" he whispered,

as we had no way out of this, without them noticing us. 

"Come here my wild mare!" He yelled throwing her on the bed and then himself, the mattress above us moving inches from our faces, as they screamed and made passionate, at times aggressive love. 

"You had to pick the worst spot didn't you," I whispered luckily their screams covered our conversation,

"It's not my fault."

"Ohh yes hide under the bed that's a bloody good idea, Jack." 

"Well how the hell support know"

"ah yes hide under the bed like she wasn't gonna come to bed and then we'd be fucked anyway."

"I didn't hear you shouting a better idea darling"

"Oh, so it's my fault." I sighed, "My own stupid fault I don't know why I listened to you, why should I trust the man who came to rob a payload with no clue how to crack the damn safe."

"I didn't know it was in a safe"

"Ohh so a military payload is just gonna be sat on the damn countertop?"

"I don't know do I."

"did you plan at all?"

"Of course, there wasn't a plan Fagin came up with it."

"Ohh that's a surprise, I don't know why you listen to him"

"...Honestly neither do I" he sighed, "I should have just come done it with you,"

"yes, you should." I rolled my eyes, "It's fine Jack, you wanna do this stuff with Fagin I get it."

"No... I do wanna do it with you, you know what he gets like. he's a bloody pigeon who sees something shiny and goes at it." 

"Umm reminds me of someone else."

"Hey!" He complained,

"I didn't mean you," I said glancing at the two on the bed,

"Ahh yeah fair enough." He sighed, "At least you know how to crack a safe, You really don't have the payload?"

"No, the safe was locked when I came in, I cracked it but it was empty." 

"You cracked a Bloody Durack Jensen in less than ten minutes?"

"yeah? like it's hard." 

"That's why I need you. you're actually useful." 

"so you didn't take it?"

"No, we got here after you."

"Then who did?"

"I don't know... no one here before you?"

"I didn't see anyone,"

"How'd you get in?" 

"Up the tree over the wall, How'd you get in?"

"Fagin Drugged the guards we went in the gate."

"Now if we were drugging guard I'd have liked to have known, I climbed that dirty tree for nothing." 

"Sorry, I had no idea you were trying this."

"I didn't know you where." 

"Sorry... I should keep you in the loop more with this stuff, I keep forgetting what an asset you are."

"Thank you, I'm sorry too I should have said I was, maybe next time I'll tag along instead of Fagin you can be a pretty good asset too Jack." 

"You're sweet." He smiled taking my hand and kissing it given we had little space to do much else as the bed above us continued to bounce and they both screamed, "They gonna be at this all night aren't they."

"I get the feeling to yes."

"Extraordinary." He sighed, 

Finally! After god knows how long they finally gave in for the night just before the rooster crowed. Which actually woke us up, as Jack and I had fallen asleep nuzzled with each other or as much as we could be under a bed, my head basically on this shoulder and his arm around me. Luckily Fagin had an actual use and told us it was clear they were asleep, so we snuck ourselves out, having no time to search for the missing payload we all simply scampered heading out the way Fagin and Jack and coming in, through the unlocked gate In the gentle early sun, 

"I need some damn sleep," Fagin complained, "I didn't have the luxury of having a kip under the bloody marriage bed like you two!"

"Back to the hospital for you then?" I asked,

"I should, But I am... fucked."

"I think Peggy was fucked, Jack."

"true. But I'm out of it, I need a proper bed for a while." 

"Alright," I rolled my eyes,

"What?" 

"I can take a hint." I laughed holding his arm, he smiled and happily held my arm back, 

"You go on, I'll see you later." He told Fagin, 

"Ohh I see nothing like being laid under someone else's courtial business to get you two in the mood is it?" 

We ignored him and I took Jack home with me, making him a cup of tea from the kitchen and letting him have a lay on the sofa in my living room, 

"Ohh you're an angel." He cooed, as he happily took the tea,

"So? You plan on telling me why you and Fagin were breaking into the barracks for the military payload?" 

"Only if you tell me why you were?"

"why else Jack? Money talks I need lots of it. A lady need's to pay her way in the world, if I wanna stay out some old cunts bedchamber," 

"Fair enough," He nodded, "Aren't you comfortable though?" he asked as he looked around house,

"Could always be more comfortable."

"True."

"Why were you there?"

"Fagin heard about it and thought it would be a good score."

"That all?"

"No."

"So why else?" 

"...I need Twenty-six pounds, by Wednesday." 

"Particular reason why? You just fancy it?"

"... I lost a bet."

"Ohh here we go," I Rolled my eyes a little, "To?"

"Darius."

"From?"

"Cards."

"He'll cut your hand off."

"Strangely enough Yeah I know." 

"You need your hands to do your work."

"yeah, I do!"

"one-handed surgeon ain't much good to nobody."

"Yes! I know!" he said, "sorry..."

"It's fine, I'm used to you," I smiled and pinched his cheek a little, but he pushed me off. "You know he's not bluffing, I'll have your hand and He won't be quick about it."

"I know."

"How do you keep getting yourself into these situations?"

"I'm good at cards, and I need to have some kinda money around, I get paid in buttons and thimbled Y/n. Besides I'm risk drunk and have been my whole life, The issue is when he's a dirty rotten cheat."

"You know he cheats, and yet still you play with him."

"He's the only one around here with the kinda money I like playing with," 

"When do you need it by?"

"Wednesday.

"Two days?"

"Yes." 

"And you have?"

"Two pounds, eight shillings and fourpence." 

I rolled my eyes, "Alright."

"What?"

"Fine." I sighed, I got up from my chair and went across the room to my bookshelf searching the spines till I found my poetry book "Ahh here we are." I smiled coming back and sitting on the sofa with him, he quickly sat up moving his legs to make space for me. "Just what we need."

"A poetry book?"

"Yes" I smiled sitting it on my table,

"Is the uhhh... poetry book going to help?" 

"You don't want my help?"

"No no, I want help..." He said, "I just uhh don't quite know how a poem is going to help?"

I rolled my eyes and opened the book flicking the pages to reveal where I had hollowed the pages and hidden a lock box, 

"Oh... see that's the kinda book I like." He said, 

I took the key from around my neck and unlocked my little box revealing the various things I wanted to hide, 

"Holy! What is this stuff?" he asked picking up a necklace

"My treasured things," I smiled taking it from him, "Twenty-six you said?"

"Yeah,"

"Jolly good," I smiled getting my little Russian resting doll unscrewing her head and taking the money roll packed tightly out of it 

"OHhh my god- So that's what you do with your 'earnings'" 

"Yep but this is between you and me, I see this book has moved an inch I will personally cut your hand off." I warned, I removed the twine and began to count making sure none struck together "Twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five and Twenty-six." I counted plus an extra few pounds I took out, returning the rest to the doll, and locking up my little box, shutting the book up tight. "Twenty-six pounds." I smiled handing it over, 

"You're quite serious?"

"Yeah,"

He smiled widely and gave my lips a soft kiss before he took it, "You have just saved my hand you know that?" 

"Well you need it," I laughed taking my book back to the shelf, "Besides, I get an awful lot of use out of you're hand" I winked, 

"I suppose you do," He chuckled, putting the money away in his pocket. "Thank you y/n. Really."

"You're welcome Jack, just take note please I can't keep doing this every time you dig yourself a hole you can't get out of." I told him sitting beside him, 

"I think I've got a few more chances."

"No, you don't"

"ohh come on you've got hundred's in there."

"yes, and it's mine you cheeky sod," I argued, 

"What are you saving it for? Why not live large and spend it while you have it?" 

"Because that's your mindset, Jack. Mine is to save and scrimper."

"Like a squirrel" 

"Joke all you like this squirrel just saved your hand."

"You did, but really what are you saving up for?"

"Life is expensive Jack."

"I know," he sighed, 

"But someday, I want a nice big house, with a pretty garden, and a pantry that never empties, rooms filled with sweet things, and one filled with toys, and little ones to play."

"That really all you want? you could buy a ship and make a whole life as a lady somewhere."

"No, Just a little house, with food, and toys and flowers to grow." 

"It does sound sweet," He smiled,

"Here." I simply took the spare few pounds I took out, "I know you don't make money at the hospital so, I like taking care of you." 

"You don't have to,"

"I want to, god knows you need a new shirt at least"

"Thank you Y/n" he smiled taking it,

"You're welcome, Jack."

"Do you think... in this little house of yours, could there... ever be room for me?" 

I smiled, "I'm sure I could... find some space for you Jack." I smiled laying on his chest, he happily held me close and laid back on the sofa stroking my hair, "Perhaps in the attic room."

"Hey!"

"What?"

"I'm not going in the attic."

"Well, where else would you fit?"

"I thought I'd just... make a go of it, in your bed?" 

"My bed already has me in it." 

"Yeah, I'm sure I'll fit in with you. we just managed to sleep under a bed together I think we can fit in a bed together."

"Well.... I suppose so."

"Good," he smiled kissing my head, "Who else wee you planning on having in your bed?"

"no just me."

"Then who was gonna father the little ones?"

"I don't know, doorstep?" 

"I could do it... if you wanted me too?"

"I'd like that," I smiled giving him a kiss, "Come on let's get some rest."

"Yeah, let's get some sleep night y/n."

"Night jack." 

[outsideratheart]

Too Much Teasing (Mapi Leon x reader)

A/N: You guys voted for the Mapi fic so here it is. I hope you like it!

Based off this request.

Life worked in mysterious ways and the past couple of years proved that. In a shock transfer you left Arsenal, your childhood club and the team that brought you up through the academy, for Barcelona.

The Spanish game came very easy to you but life off the pitch was more of a challenge. You are naturally a guarded person but there was one girl that managed to knock down your walls within the first few weeks. You and Mapi bonded over your shared love of tattoos, art and late night walks around the city.

You would see each other everyday which made being back in England for the Euros that much harder. Due the Barcelona's schedule you left for camp the morning after the Copa De La Reina final and you wouldn't be returning to Spain till August, should the tournament end with the Lionesses lifting the trophy.

But the thing about playing in Spain is that it sometimes felt like you lived two lives. For example, your England team mates had no clue you were dating the Zaragoza native. You were planning on telling them during the Arnold Cup but it was your first tournament as Captain and Mapi wanted you to focus. You were keeping the most important thing in your life from some of the most important people in your life.

You missed your girlfriend dearly and whilst you wanted nothing more than to drive to Marlow to see Mapi on your days off you know you couldn't so you settled for phone calls, more specifically late night phone calls. You walk aimlessly around the Teddington compound talking to Mapi about everything and anything. The sound of your girlfriend's voice had the power to distract you from the pressure that came with being the home favourites.

"Te quiero mucho baby"

You end the phone call and try your best to enter your room quietly as not to wake up your room mates.

"I take it i'll meet your secret girlfriend when I come to Barcelona?"

Lucy's voice makes you jump in your spot. Like every other night, you expected her to be asleep. You decide to ignore her question, choosing instead to get ready for bed but the defender continues her questioning whilst you’re in the bathroom.

"Will I meet her over dinner or at a team meeting?"

"Team meeting. Now no more questions" you warn her but she doesn't care.

"Am I going to be playing against her on Thursday?"

You freeze. Yes you were aware that England would be playing Spain in the quarter finals but what didn't register is that you are going to be playing against, and possibly beating, some of your closest friends.

"No way! You're dating Alexia!"

"What? No"

"It's just that you didn't answer"

"Because i've just realised that the next game we play will destroy mine and your team mates dreams of winning the euros"

"I thought you knew that. Isn't that the reason why you have been sad when you don't think people are watching?"

"I miss her a lot. This is longest we have been apart in a while and i'm finding it hard not being around her" You felt lighter having said out loud what you have been feeling for the last week.

You really wished that you could see Mapi before you play each other in Brighton. The fact that you wouldn't led to you being in a sour mood the next morning and it seemed to give the some of the players the perfect opportunity to make your mood worse.

"Hello grumpy, did somebody not get enough sleep?" Meado pokes your cheek as she sits down next to you.

"What can I say, Lucy snores like a pig" you know it wasn't your best work but hopefully it would change the direction of the teasing.

"No I don't!" Lucy argues "your grumpiness has nothing to do with me, it's because you miss your girlfriend"

"LUCY!" you glare at her from across the table.

"What?" the defender is no where near awake enough to realise what she has just said.

"Y/N has a girlfriend" Ella sings

"Who?"

"Is she english?"

"No she'll be Spanish"

"Is she hot?”

"Of course she is, look at Y/N" Alessia casually says.

"Lessi, you think i'm hot?" you ask the blonde knowing that she will get embarrassed.

"What, no" her response earns a scoff from you "no, I didn't mean that. I mean that you are, well you're you, we all see the way the fans obsess over you and some even flirt with you even though you don't back which I think is strange"

"It's because she has a girlfriend" Georgia turns the attention back to you.

This time instead of them asking questions they start guessing who it could be. They name the entire Spanish national team as well as the more known players in the league. Hempo is the one that guesses correctly but no way are you letting her know that.

In the end you walk away from the table, not that any of them have realised. Their attention was now on the non Spanish players playing in Spain. You make yourself another cup of coffee hoping that it will do one of two things, wake you up and ease the interrogation that you will be returning to.

"Y/N"

"What!" you snap.

When you turn around you are met with Ellen who has your phone.

"Your phone kept going off" The older forward passes you your phone. When you glance at your screen you see the name and a photo of the two of you which was taken over the Christmas period in Zaragoza.

"Mapito?" Ellen question.

"I called her it once, she changed the name of the contact" you explain.

The look on Ellen's face isn't one you recognise. It's similar to when she is happy about something but this expression has a hint of something else.

"I'm proud of you Y/N. I used the think you would never allow yourself to have a life off the pitch"

It wasn't what you were expecting her to say but you feel a warmth grow inside of you. She was right, for a long time you was solely focused on your career and everything else came second to that. Now you have someone who you will happily spend the day with and not give football a second thought whilst you are with her.

"Oh and one more thing" Ellen says "You don't have to worry about me telling them but please make sure you don't let it cloud your judgement during the game"

"Thank you Ells and you don't have to worry about that, I won't let them go back to Spain with bragging rights"

You try and think of the best place to call Mapi back, as you wander the ground you choose the garden at the front of the hotel. Butterflies flooded your tummy as you wait for her to pick up.

Mapi picks up but before she acknowledges that you have called her, you hear her shouting at Leila, then the other defender's voice comes through the phone.

"Y/N, you need to sort your girlfriend out. She is a sexually frustrated mess and only you can give her the pleasure she needs" Leila blatantly tells you.

"Yeah Y/N" your hear Pina's voice "Mapi is so in love with you that she seems to hate all of us when you're not here"

You found a tiny bit of comfort knowing that your girlfriend was subject to the same teasing you were getting.

"That's not true. She just loves me more now please give her the phone back"

You hear the sound of the line change and you know that one of them has put the phone on speaker.

"She's counting down the days until she can kiss away your sorrows when we beat you" Patri joins in.

"I admire your confidence or maybe it's your stupidity. Besides from what Mapi has told me, Jorge has been working you to the bone so it will be my pleasure to send you home so that you can all have some time off before pre season"

"I hate it when you do that"

Now you heard the voice of the woman you originally wanted to talk to.

"What's that maps?" you ask her.

"You say something mean but you do it in the nicest way possible"

"It's one of my many skills"

"I prefer your other skills"

"Mapi! There are kids around" you say referring to her younger team mates, who you happen to be close with as well.

"I'm alone now and I really wish I wasn't" you could hear the frustration in her voice.

"Maria Leon, do you always have sex on your mind?" you tease her.

"Sex, no. Sex with you, yes. Can you honestly say you don't miss me or that you don't crave my touch?"

"No, I can't. I miss you and everything that comes with you"

"We are not leaving our apartment for a week when we get home" Mapi's promise was something you looked forward to but it was also unrealistic.

"I wish that was true"

"Me too"

The line goes quiet and for a second you think she has hung up but then you hear her breathing and it worries you.

"We'll be ok after the game won't we? I know one of us will lose but it won't affect me and you will it?"

"You mean our relationship?"

Mapi hums in response.

"Of course not. I love playing football but nothing in this world means more to me than you. Is that what's got you so stressed out?" part of you knew something bigger was going on with your girlfriend. To most of the world she has this tough exterior but it couldn't have been further from the truth.

"The girls keep saying that if we beat you then you will break up with me"

"Which girls?" you asked the question even though you had your suspicions.

"Leila and —“

"I'll speak to her" you hated that the girls were teasing Mapi despite knowing how sensitive she can be "As for me breaking up with you, well the chances of that happening are lower than you beating us and that is very low"

"You know that playing against me will be harder than playing against any other team"

The cockiness in her tone was back and although you knew you could beat her, doing so would be very difficult.

"Oh yeah, why is that?"

"Because I know how you think and how you play. I know your mind and your body"

You hated thinking about the power Mapi had over. She was right when she said you knew your mind and body, at this point it practically belonged to her. Your mind was at it's calmest when she was around and your body yearned for her whenever you were away.

A short distance away you see Ella and Alessia hiding, no doubtedly eavesdropping on your call and whilst most people would end the conversation you are about to have or at least steer it in a different direction, you saw the chance to teach the young forwards a lesson.

"You do? What is my body thinking right now?"

Their eyes widen at your words but they don't move. It's as if the stare you give is causing them to be frozen in place.

You try to keep the rest of the conversation as vague as possible but Mapi makes it very difficult because for every reply you give she responds with a suggestion that makes you want to drive all the way to Marlow.

In the end Mapi gets called away which ends the call a lot sooner than you wanted but you know you are in for quite the teasing, that's if Ella and Alessia have the guts to share details of your call with the rest of the team.

"My little devils, what am I going to do with you?" you put an arm around each of their shoulders.

The three of you walk back through the hotel in silence. It is clear the younger girls don't feel comfortable discussing what they heard on the phone. That is until you reach the breakfast room where some of the players are still lounging about.

"Y/N was having phone sex with her girlfriend" Tooney shouts.

"Ella!" Me and Alessia say in unison.

It wasn't that you didn't expect her to say anything, it’s more so the fact that she announced it to the whole room as soon as she entered.

"And you did it in front of the kids?" Jill jokes.

Jill then proceeds to console a scared Ella but you couldn't care less.

"The kids happened to be eavesdropping and I was enjoying my phone call way to much to stop on their behalf"

Some of the younger players fake gagged at the thought but the older players knew you wouldn't have said anything that bad given that you had kept your relationship a secret, so your sex life wouldn't be any different.

"Give me three clues" Leah asks when you take at a seat at her table, which also sat Lucy, Keira, Georgia, Millie and Rachel.

You expected better from your co captain but you knew the clues you would give and your friends would hate them.

"Fine" you reply much to the table's surprise "3 clues. She's from Spain, she speaks Spanish and she plays for Barcelona"

The first two are obvious but the third clue let’s them narrow down their list of names.

"Did you really have phone sex knowing they could hear you?" Millie asks.

"God no. Do you really think I'm going to have that kind of conversation in public where everyone can hear me and where I can do nothing to satisfy the urges that come with it?"

"Y/N!"

"Just saying"

When the team arrive at the stadium a few days later, they watch you and wait to see if you will give away the identity of your Spanish girlfriend. You on the other hand start to get nervous about what this game means and what it will take in order to reach the semi finals. You would have to outplay the people who you, for the most part, train with every day.

You wanted nothing more than to skip right through the pitch inspection. Since finding out you were dating a Barcelona player, the team have been teasing you relentlessly and you didn't have the energy to go toe to toe with them today. When you walk out onto the pitch you see that the Spain team are already there and when you see a certain defender you remember that you need to talk to her. The team watch as you and the Spanish national walk away and you can hear them shouting things but given the eyes around them the don't say that much.

"Y/N" Leila wraps her arms around you "I've missed you chica"

The conversation you had with Mapi kept replaying in your head. The seeds of doubt that her friends had planted began growing and you couldn’t doing anything to stop them, not right now anyways.

"Leila"

"Am I in trouble?" you nod your head "Why?"

"Do you know why Mapi is worried i'll break up with her?" from where you stand you can see your girlfriend bent down at the centre circle doing her own inspection, something that is part of her pre match routine.

"It was a joke which now that I see your face I realise isn't funny"

"She is one of your best friends, you know how sensitive she is. Just think before you say things that will stick in her head. Now we're going to see her so that you can apologise"

"You just want me to come with you so that your team doesn't get suspicious"

There’s no need for you to respond, she is right and she knows it.

"Hi"

Mapi's head snaps up at the sound of your voice.

"Hola bonita" she stands up and gives you a hug, one that doesn't last no where near as long as she wanted.

No words are exchanged, both of you break out in a smile, just being within touching distance is enough for now.

"Is this my punishment? Being made to stand here whilst you eye fuck each other?" Leila groans. She is used to be the third wheel in Barcelona having joined you and Mapi on date night more than a few times but the tension between the two of you makes her feel a little uncomfortable.

"Punishment?" Mapi looks to see you with a smug grin plastered across your face.

"Right, yes. Leila is there something you would like to say?"

"I'm sorry for saying Y/N would break up with you when we destroy the lionesses"

"Destroy?" you laugh slightly at the defender's optimism.

"You know I love your confident side but Leila's right, we will go back to Spain victorious"

"I know don't what's worse, the fact you think you're going to win or that you just said Leila's right"

Leila asks if you'll walk back with her stating that she had something she wanted to talk to you about. The conversation ended with you walking back into the tunnel with your arms wrapped around her shoulder whilst your hand rested on her waist.

Your team mates takes you spending most of the time with the brunette as confirmation, they are determined that you are dating Leila Ouahabi. In the locker room you got question after question about how your relationship starting and it didn't both you in the slightest, how could it, they had the wrong person. Once you re entered the locker room after warm up the teasing stopped and the game faces appeared.

The match ended with England going through to the semi final but you couldn't bring yourself to celebrate. This would go down as the worst win in your career but being the captain came with duties that you couldn't get out of. You thanked the fans and did your interview but neither of those could keep your focus because no matter where you were on the pitch you could see your friends in red consoling each other.

"Aren't you going to console your girlfriend?" Lucy asks.

"You know what, yes I am" you had watched from a distance for long enough.

Lucy who had been joined by Keira watches are you walk towards the group of Barcelona players. Like Lucy expected you went to Leila first but for you it was because she was the closest person to you, funnily enough Mapi is the last person. You had seen her wear a brave face for the sake of her team mates but it is only when she is in your arms does she drop the facade.

"I'm sorry" you subtly kiss her neck.

The embrace between you is different than the one you shared with your other team mates. When you lift you head up you see Lucy watching with shocked expression. When you unclasp your hands that are settled on the small of Mapi's back, you send Lucy the middle finger. The action let's her know that she was wrong and in doing so you tell her who you're dating.

"What's that about?" Keira asks.

"You'll find out when you join me in Barcelona"

"Shhh" Keira shoves her girlfriend "I told you it was a secret"

You stay out on the pitch as long as the Spain team does. You have no intention of celebrating the win and you hoped the fans and your team would understand this. When the stadium starts to empty, the players leave the pitch.

"Do you they know about us?" Mapi asks as she walks in sync beside you.

"Ellen does but the rest think I'm dating Leila"

This causes Mapi to stop in her tracks. Her eyes go wide in shock and she finds herself getting angry. She didn't like the act the world didn't know you were hers but your team mates thinking that you were with Leila, that she really didn't like.

"I'm not ok with that"

At this point you are practically in the tunnel so you grab her hand and pull her into one of the treatment rooms. You were grateful for the privacy it gave you and under any other circumstance you would be up for having a little bit of fun but you can tell by Mapi's face that she is very serious about this.

If her face didn't give it away, her choosing to pace the small room instead of sitting with you on the physio bench with you did.

"You're my girlfriend, not Leila's, and I don't want your team thinking you are dating my best friend"

To see Mapi care this much about people, who to her are strangers, is a rarity. You didn't care much for other people's opinions so whether the team knew or not, didn't matter. This was something you thought Mapi agreed with you on but her reaction tells you otherwise.

"Mapi" you voice is soft as you try to get her attention.

"I know that it's me who chose not the tell them at the beginning of the year but that was a mistake. They should know that you are mine and not hers"

Now she is getting territorial, a side which rarely ended well in the past. Mapi didn't like to share but this isn't sharing, your team don't even think of Mapi when they think of your relationship which makes it worse.

"Maria" you hope using her birth name will make her stop but it doesn't.

"Y/N I love you and I don't want them thinking you love Leila. You love me"

"Yes, I do"

Fatigue was beginning to set in. After playing 120 minutes of football your legs were getting heavy and given that Mapi had the job of keeping up with you for the game, you knew she would be feeling the same yet she continues to pace back and worth as she worked through her frustrations.

"Do they think Leila makes you happy? That she can love you the way I do? Make you feel the way I do? That—"

"Maria Pilar Leon Cebrian"

"Yes" she stops pacing when she is in line with you.

Using your index finger you signal her to come close to you. Her face changes and you know it's because she has finally noticed you are in a room together, alone. When she is close enough you take a fistful of her shirt to close the remaining distance between the two of you. Mapi’s hand cups the back of your neck as your lips crash into each other. The time you spend away from each other never get’s easier and it makes the reunions that much more intense. Nothing else matters in that moment other than to rid Mapi of the insecurities she is clearly feeling. When you pull away it is only for a second to catch your breath and then you are leaning back in, hungry for more and by the way Mapi mouth moves in sync with yours she obviously misses the connection you shared just as much as you did.

You are so caught up in the moment that you don’t hear the door open, nor you do you hear the voices that belonged to your team mates. At first they say nothing, they simply stand there and watch the two of you. They didn’t know what to do, they didn’t want to move in case they made a noise and it was clear that the two of you didn’t plan on stopping any time soon.

It is only when you start to lift Mapi’s t-shirt do they make themselves known.

“Sorry to interrupt but this is the treatment room and some of the others are on their way here” Chloe gives you a heads up.

What they didn’t see is that you already have your shirt off and Mapi being mapi, she didn’t bother putting hers on fully, instead it stays hung around her neck.

Just then another door open, one that you didn’t even notice was there and given the commotion that you can hear on the other side let’s you know it connects to the lionesses locker room. Your suspicions are proven true when you see Ella and Georgia, their eyes widen at the sight in front of them, you half dressed and Mapi not that much better

“Hempo!” Georgia shouts “You were right. Y/N’s secret girlfriend is Mapi Leon” 

Mapi still stands in between your legs and shows no sign of moving. You rest your head against her chest hoping that if the two of you stay still and quiet then the team will leave you alone but that doesn’t happen.

“How do you know?” Beth comes into the small treatment room followed by a couple more of your team mates.

You thought the teasing was bad before but now they know the identity of your girlfriend they have a lot more material to use against you. Something that is surprising is that a few of them tease Mapi even though they haven’t really met her other than on the pitch.

You tap Mapi’s sides indicating her to move away so you can stand up and put your shirt back on and help her with hers. You quickly peck her on the lips before taking her hand and dragging her into the Lionesses locker room. If you introduced her properly then maybe the night back at the hotel won’t be complete torture.

“Mapi meet the lionesses, girls meet Mapi my girlfriend”

You can see the grin that spreads across Mapi’s face upon hearing you officially introduce her as your partner. She had been waiting for this for months and you had too.

“Wait” Rachael interrupts the questions that the girls have “I thought you were dating Leila Ouahabi, their number 15”

“No, she is not’ Mapi corrects her rather abruptly “She is my girlfriend” 

You had just managed to settle down her territorial side and now, without knowing, Rachael had woken it back up.

“But Y/N spent all her time pre match with her, not you” Millie joined in and by the smirk of her face you know that she, for some reason, felt confident enough to tease the spaniard.

Mapi is ready to fight for you even though it is unnecessary and you really didn’t want her going back into her changing in a foul mood given that most her team will be feeling rough because of the final score.

“You sure you want to tease her millie?” You know Mapi wouldn’t hurt a fly but there is a reason why she got ‘looks can be deceiving’ on her neck.

Mapi picks up on the game you are playing and she changes her face. Safe to say Millie steps back without saying another word.

You lead Mapi out of the changing room but one of your team mates can’t help themselves. They had to tease your girlfriend on last time.

“Sorry we beat you and sent you back to Spain” Alessia says confidently.

Mapi knew she was one of the players you had taken under your wing but she can’t let the young forward get away with it.

“It’s ok. We’ll beat you in the champions league. Oh, wait, no we won’t. You didn’t qualify” 

At the mention of United Ella stands up ready to defend her club and after the game you had just played you really didn’t have the energy to play mediator between your girlfriend and the devils.

You push Mapi out the door but pull her back for one more kiss.

“I’ll see you tomorrow for breakfast before you go back to Barcelona” 

Mapi deepens the kiss and you don’t have the will power you push her away, not at first anyways. It is only when you hear a mixture of wolf whistles and fake gagging do you end the kiss. 

“I’ll see you in the morning. Te quiero Y/N”

“Yo también te quiero” 

Upon re-entering your locker room you see all eyes on you. Let the teasing begin, again.

[jelzorz]

155.

@cakeanon is claiming that jellybug was named for me and I'm owning it

Barius has, probably, the easiest go of it. The rest of the council is made up of Ezran's closest friends and family, and they go out and about on their adventures, risking their lives and their limbs for the good of the kingdom on a somewhat regular basis, and though he and Opeli are the ones who stay and hold the fort, Opeli just has more on her plate (in a manner of speaking).

Barius' official title is a bit of fun: Minister of Crusts and Jellies doesn't imply much, but in truth, he's really more of a head of staff. He manages the maids, the kitchenhands, the cleaners, the groceries, the wine, the harvests, the hearths—and though it sounds like a lot, he is not, in anyway, in over his head. It's not like Soren, who is Captain of the Crown Guard and adventurer, or Corvus, who is Crown Guard and reconnaissance, or Opeli, who is High Cleric and regent and babysitter all at once. Barius' job is simple: keep the castle running, make sure meals go out on time, give the kids someplace warm to come home to after all their heroing and adventuring.

It's a good amount of work. It keeps him busy. Most days, he rather likes it—

And then the kids come home from their latest adventure with the shining prison of the most dangerous elf who has ever lived and three baby glow toads in tow.

(If you asked Barius which of those was more menacing, Barius' answer would very much depend on the day).

He will be honest: His hands were full in the old days, when all he had to do was bake and chase Ezran and Bait out of the kitchens. He is busier now, and that isn't counting Ezran, Bait, and the three little baitlings who keep finding their way into the stores. The little orange one is the worst. The blue one, Hat, he thinks, is well named—he lives happily on Soren's head and doesn't cause too much trouble. Sneezles, the runt, is always congested, always clingy, not too much of a hazard in the kitchens except for the handful of times he's sneezed into a whole bag of flour. But Jellybug—

Barius groans at the thought of her. She's got a bigger sweet tooth than even Ezran had when he was younger, and Barius has had to increase his jelly and jam production two fold just to keep up with her.

"She'll bankrupt us if she's not stopped," he complains to Opeli. "The harvests won't be enough to keep up with her."

"That's a little overdramatic, I think," says Opeli, although from the way she wrinkles her nose, Barius knows he isn't wrong to be concerned. "I don't think you could convince His Majesty to get rid of her, though."

"I wondered if you might talk to him, actually." Barius shuffles his feet. "You hold sway over them all."

"So do you," says Opeli. "You are King Ezran's Minister of Crusts and Jellies, Barius, your concerns are valid and Ezran will hear them."

It's not a of lot reassurance, but it's better than none. Barius steels himself for it, knowing he's never been good at keeping Ezran out of the kitchens, and that Ezran is a boy before he is a king, and it seems unfair that he should be deprived of the few childish things he allows himself.

Then Jellybug herself appears in the kitchens one evening, blue eyes wide and unreasonably large, chin covered in jelly as always, and Barius huffs tiredly and plucks her from the bench.

"You can't be in here if you're going to eat our stores," he scolds. "That jelly isn't for you."

Jellybug trills happily, obviously unaware of what Barius means to ask Ezran. She nuzzles against his fingers, smearing purple jelly—grape?—against his palm.

"Don't even try it," says Barius sternly. "I'm not falling for that. You're still a menace."

Jellybug squeaks and lolls her tongue out at him.

Barius humphs.

The next morning, he heads into the council chambers with an open jar of jam in one of his apron pockets and Jellybug in the other. When Ezran spots him, he grins.

"Barius!" he greets. "Opeli said you wanted to talk? Is everything okay?"

Barius snorts and glances down at the Baitling in his pocket. "Yes, Your Majesty," he says. "Everything's fine."

[dutchessofcaladan]

Pirates of the Caribbean: Wrath of the Kraken

My 1st Pirates fic! And before you ask: No. I didn't abandon Ghostbusters: Soul Resurgence. My hyperfixation wheel decided to spin and somehow landed on Pirates of the Caribbean (I blame Geoffrey Rush).

Anyway, this fic (and possibly others, we'll see how this goes) will be a continuation of the PotC franchise (not a reboot like Disney so stupidly decided on) and will feature new and returning characters as well as take inspiration from previous films and the mobile game Tides of War.

And just like Ghostbusters: Soul Resurgence, a bit thank you to @phantomoftheparadise0002 for beta-reading this!

Summary: When Jack recruits Smith to help him find the lost relics of Cortez, their mission doesn't go as planned when they run into terrors and joys from their past, ultimately witnessing the resurrection of the Dutchman...and her beloved Captain.

TW: Some language

Jack smiled as his face became illuminated by the moon, its light shining through the parting clouds.

"Mr. Gibbs!" He shouted from the helm.

"Cap'n?" Gibbs responded, turning to Jack.

"Prepare the Pearl for docking!"

"But Cap'n, where be the dock?"

"Look through the mist, Mr. Gibbs." Jack smiled.

As if by magic, the mist faded, revealing the fortress that had been built into the side of a mountain.

"El Silencio en el mar Caspio." Jack all but sighed, as if he was returning home. "The Silence in the Caspian Sea."

As the ship got closer to the dock, Jack hopped down to the main deck, Cotton having taken the wheel.

"ALRIGHT STEADY! STEADY!" Jack shrieked as the ship aligned itself.

A terrified look covered his face as a loud snap echoed from the front of the ship.

Turning back to Cotton he shouted, "No matter! Everything's fine!" Pulling Gibbs to him he whispered, "Let's just hope she'll go easy on him otherwise we'll need a new helmsman."

Gibbs turned to him in shock. Before he could ask who they were here to see, Jack had hopped off the ship and started down what was left of the dock.

"Oi!" One of the guards shouted, blocking Jack's way. "What do you think you're doin'?"

Jumping back slightly, Jack looked at him in confusion. "Have we met before?" He questioned bluntly.

Before the guard could answer, Jack snapped his fingers, delight painting his face.

"I've got it!" He slurred. "You're one of those guards from Port Royal!" Leaning in close he asked, "Have you learned to swim yet?"

He jumped as the guard let out an angered huff.

"Let's just forget that last bit, shall we?" His eyes widened slightly, seeing that the guards expression hadn't changed. "How 'bout this: I'll go wait in that tavern over there, have a few drinks, while you go get your Captain for me."

Before the guard could answer, Jack pushed past him towards the tavern.

"Pirate, nay. Privateer."

"I'm disinclined to acquiesce your request. Means no."

"Aye. But that's a gamble of long odds, ain't it?"

"There's no guarantee of comin' back. Passin' on, that's dead certain."

"Too long me fate has not been in me own hands. No longer."

"Do ya mean grass? On a farm? Milkin’ a cow? Makin’ cheese? While they sink me treasure?! I'm a Pirate. Always will be."

"You know the first thing I'm gonna do after the curse is lifted...eat a whole bushel of apples."

“For too long I've been parched of thirst and unable to quench it. Too long I've been starving to death and haven't died. I feel nothing. Not the wind on my face nor the spray of the sea. Nor the warmth of a woman's flesh.”

“You best start believing in ghost stories Ms. Turner. You’re in one!”

"I'm the master of me ship. Not Blackbeard. I'm the master of me fate. Not Blackbeard. So I did what needed done. I survived."

"Nay, belay that! Let ‘er run straight and true!"

"Brace up yards, ya cack-handed deck apes! Dyin' is the day worth livin' for!"

"I feel...cold."

Smith awoke in a cold sweat to someone banging on her door. Standing up, she went to open it.

"What do you want, Mullroy?" She growled, glaring daggers at the guard who'd been banging on her door.

"Pardon me for awakin' you, Captain, especially at this hour, but," the look on her face told him to get to the point, "there's a man, in the tavern. He requested that I bring you to him."

Grumbling, Smith slammed the door, only to reamerge moments later fully dressed, motioning to Mullroy to take her to him.

As Jack downed his 4th mug of rum, the door to the tavern opened.

"Jack Sparrow." Smith smirked.

"Smith! It's been too long!" Steadying himself as he stood. "Hasn't it?"

"Aye." Her smile was strained. "9 years."

Heading to the table and pulling up a chair, Smith leaned close to Jack.

"What the hell are you doing here, Jack?"

Leaning forward, Jack slurred, "I've heard stories. Of a great treasure that lies at the bottom of the Atlantic. It's said to be one of the relics of Cortez himself."

Sensing she wasn't paying attention, he poked her in the forehead.

"'re you alright?" He asked.

"I've been having these...dreams." She sighed. "Every night for the past 9 years. Every single one about Hector. It's like he's calling to me."

"Tis not Barbossa who calls to you."

Swiftly turning in the direction of the voice, Jack aimed his pistol while Smith readied her sword.

Jack's eyes widened.

"Calypso." Smith's eyes narrowed.

"In de flesh." The Sea Goddess smiled, black teeth shining in the dim light of the rising Sun.

"What do you want?" Smith held her sword more firmly.

"Not'ing more dan to give you a gift."

"A gift?" Jack questioned. "Did you bring me a gift too?"

Calypso shot him an incredulous look, causing his smile to fall.

"Tis more of a...repayment, den a gift."

Smith's eyebrows furrowed. "A repayment? For what?"

Stepping closer, Calypso smiled. "In time, you and Jack will venture to dah sea. Dehn you will fallow Deh Map No Man Can Read. Dehr you will find your repayment."

"Repayment for what?" Smith repeated.

"You'll see."

As quick as she'd arrived, Calypso vanished.

"The Map No Man Can Read." Smith repeated, turning to Jack. "You don't think-"

"Think what?"

Before he could get an answer, Smith fled the tavern.

Placing her hands upon the wheel of the Queen Anne's Revenge, Smith let out a shaky breath. For the first time in 9 years, she stood at the helm of her ship. Her. Ship. Those words felt wrong. No. This was Hector's ship. He had been the one to take it from Blackbeard. He had been the one to make the Revenge what it was today.

Taking a deep breath, she pulled her sword from its sheath and thrust it into the air, the tip of it gleaning in the newly risen Sun. As she did so, the wine colored Sails were released from their bonds, the early morning air filling them. Thrusting the sword towards the bow of the ship, she watched as her crew tumbled down the deck at the sudden burst of acceleration.

Returning the sword to its sheath, she addressed her crew. "All hands! Ply to windward! Get crackin' ye bloomin' cockroaches!" She let out a laugh as her crew joined. "The Crown served me well! But now, by the Gods of sea and sky, make way for Tortuga!" Her crew cheered as the ship continued on.

Smiling as he heard the cheers of Smith's crew, Jack whispered to himself, "That's my girl."

[dark-frosted-heart]

Things from Harrison Gray’s Blind Love Route Chapters 21-25

The romantic route

*This is not a full summary or translation*

Chapter 21

Kate hears a tapping on her window. It's Harrison. Kate opens the window; he climbs in, and gives her a pat on the head.

Before the two go confront the Privy Council and the 3 eagles, Harrison asks Kate one more time if she's willing to be his accomplice and fall into darkness with him

Yes, she wants him to make her his accomplice and they'll fall into darkness together

She can be unexpectedly bold and might be useful to him in some way. And he knows that

Harrison asks Kate if she knows what the other members of Crown are doing tonight. They're supposed to be at a warehouse to destroy a drug trafficking ring that’s smuggling herbs. He tells her that the mission's a fake one set up by him so that no one suspects anything unusual is going on.

But since no one knows about Kate's connection to Crown, Harrison has a mission for her. To go to the warehouse and bring the members of Crown with her to the ship (Rorqual) Harrison's going to board before it leaves. He'll be having dinner with the Privy Council and 3 eagles as a new recruit.

Because Crown's currently suspicious of Harrison, he needs Kate to get their help. Kate will something to negotiate with them then. Hopefully it doesn't mean emptying her wallet again, Kate jokes.

Kate assures Harrison that everything will be alright. She'll be able to round Crown together. Except William and Victor who are out of the country. And Jude who's still recovering.

Harrison asks Kate to let him "embrace" (have sex with) her when this is all over. Something that'll motivate him to stay alive and come home safely. She's not against his request, just surprised

Kate heads to the warehouse, gun loaned from Victor and a report she wrote as fairy tale writer in hand.

Meanwhile, the five at the warehouse are confused and realize that their mission was a fake

Enter Kate who asks them to let her explain everything Harrison's been up to for the past 3 years. Yes he's been lying to them, but he's also been working alone. Kate bows her head and asks for their help.

Roger starts by saying that he won't help and then asks Kate what she would do if they said and meant it. She answers that she'll go alone. She doesn't want to leave Harrison to fend for himself anymore.

Roger admits he asked the question like that because Kate looked like she was about to cry. But he believes that Harrison had Kate get them under the assumption that they would agree to help in the first place. Liam's not going let Kate go alone.

Roger's gonna experiment on Harrison as a favor for lending a hand. Ellis will go if it makes Kate happy. For Alfons, it sounds amusing, sorry, he means of course he'll help a comrade in a pinch. Elbert too

And off to the docks they go

Chapter 21

There's 6 guards at the docks, but it won't be a problem. Ellis will be back.

Ellis just walks up to them and uses his gift to bind the guards. Next is Alfons' turn...after he has Kate plead him. Now the guards see them as the captain of the ship.

On the ship, Roger takes the lead. Liam has Kate walk behind him; he'll be her shield. But she doesn't want that because Liam getting hurt will make both her and Harrison sad. He's Harrison's partner and means a lot to him, it even makes Kate a bit jealous.

They'll protect each other

Harrison's dining with the Privy Council and 3 eagles on the deck

A Privy Council member brings up an old case he suddenly remembered. The one where the 3 eagles did away with a police officer while disguising it as a result of murder case. The eagles don't remember though as for them, it was just another person in their way for them to get rid of

An aloof smile remains on Harrison's face and Kate resists the urge to cover his eyes and ears.

The eagles claim to be justice ridding the world of evil and Harrison asks if that includes innocent people. No, those people have committed the crime of threatening absolute justice.

Elbert's disgusted.

The eagles and council complain about Crown. The eagles propose a toast to the destruction of Crown in the name of absolute justice. The toast is interrupted by a glass shattering on the floor from Harrison

Harrison wonders if the eagles recognize his mint-colored eyes. Likely not since they don’t even remember his dad.

He tells them that the man they murdered and covered up as a a serial murder case was his dad. The eagles understand what’s going on now. Harrison's here for revenge and this was all a trap laid out by the Privy Council

The eagles thought there were only eight members, including Victor but then realizes that this plan’s been in the works for a while now.

The eagles remind Harrison that if he does something now, it’ll lead to the destruction of Crown. Harrison replies that he doesn't care. They're not friends nor family. He was just using them to get to where he is now

Harrison points his gun at the eagles and asks why his father had to go. What crime did he commit against them?

Minewhile, Kate and Liam are shaking with anger. Kate wants to beat the shit out of them. But they wait for whatever Harrison's planning

The eagles say that his father with his useless sense of justice was too foolish to remain silent.

Harrison will be bringing them to hell with him. But before he can pull the trigger, the eagles all point a gun at him.

A gun is fired

Chapter 23

Harrison falls to the ground and groans in pain. Just kidding. He gets back up as if nothing happened and reveals a bulletproof vest that he borrowed from a certain long-haired geezer's armory

Kate: (That liar! But I'm fine with these kinds of lies)

Harrison had thought he wouldn't care what would happen to him as long as he could bring the eagles down, but there's someone that'd cry

Getting back on track, Harrison can now use the vest as evidence against the police. The eagles laugh; that can't be used as evidence. Well Harrison has something else too, a stack of documents that prove that the 3 eagles were bribed by a foreign healthcare organization to allow human trafficking. They’re also receiving bribes from the gambling den. And that case with the boy who killed a bunch of people, the case didn’t make the papers because of the eagles.

The eagles have covered up a bunch of other crimes too. And he has proof of the Privy Council sabotaging Crown too

The two groups point their guns at Harrison. They'll kill him and burn the documents. It's fox hunting season

Kate's thinking it's time to step in. She has one last piece of evidence. Her report

Roger lets her go. He'll be waiting to shoot if she's put in a tough spot. Ellis will be standing by too. Liam will join her while invisible

Kate interrupts them and a council member recalls her being assigned as the fairy tale writer by the Queen

Kate informs them that getting rid of Harrison will be useless since her report for the Queen also has all the evidence against them. Well now the guns have turned to her. She tells them that getting rid of her will be useless too. No matter how many they try to erase, more will pop up

Kate tells them that they can't call themselves justice and the eagles ask if she's saying her last words. Barking like a dog with her useless sense of justice. The eagles shout to kill her

Harrison tackles Kate and Liam to the ground as a shot rings out

Of course Harrison knew Liam was there. How long have they known each other and been partners in crime?

Guns are pointed at the three of them again to kill but this time, terrifyingly cold voices speaks out. Elbert and Alfons won't let them. The two use their gifts together on the Privy Council

Roger approaches the eagles from behind and punches them

The sound of heavy footsteps are heard among the cries of pain. It's Jude who complains about not being able to smoke on a ship. He's here for because of the lovely gift they left him

Jude smiles as if he had emerged from the depths of Hell and grabs a Privy Council member by the hair.

They were dumb enough to use bullets specially given to them by the Queen. They also left fingerprints on the corpses they left at the mansion

A council member bursts into laughter and calls out to some armed men that were in hiding

In that moment, a voice calls out from the darkness that orders everyone except from Crown to drop their guns. They do as they’re told.

Two people remove their disguises, revealing William and Victor. Apparently Victor was disguised as the captain

Victor: How was my driving?

Victor will be reporting everything to the Queen. But first, he wants Harrison’s opinion on what their punishment should be. He wants all those involved to be fired. And for Victor to monitor the two organizations after they’re restructured. Lastly, he proposes a truce among the Privy Council, the police, and Crown. Victor will bring his proposal to the Queen

Chapter 24 (normal avatar route)

Harrison will leave judgment up to the Queen and the rest of the police since Crown isn't suitable

Kate surprises Harrison by thanking him when he should be the one thanking her

Crown return to the castle unnoticed thanks to Alfons' gift

And Liam breaks out the wine once home

William and Victor were on the ship before them thanks to Victor's network

Harrison tells the rest that since he's lied to them for the past 3 years and is the one that got Jude injured, they have to right to judge him

Jude says Harrison owes him, with plenty of interest. Jude'll work him hard.

Ellis calls Jude mean and Jude tells him to shut up, he's not his mother-in-law. Plus Harrison's not the only one that's lied.

Apparently Jude was bluffing when he told the Privy Council that he had the bullet as evidence. Roger threw it away after he pulled it out.

Roger adds that finding fingerprints on the bodies was also a lie. With all that blood there's no way they'd find fingerprints

And of course, Harrison knew they were lying

Victor comes back, announcing how sad he is about having missed everyone making up. Now to start the party

Victor reminds Kate that it's been a month already and she remembers how she's revealed her position to outsiders. She's anxious about what her punishment will be when she tells Victor, but she has no regrets

Harrison interrupts Kate's confession by telling Victor that he saw nothing. Liam agrees. Ellis too.

Remember that Crown was to keep an eye on her in case she did reveal herself. And they've all said that nothing happened. So she's succeeded in keeping her secret and is free to do as she pleases after the day is over.

At the realization that Harrison made sure she could return to her original life, Kate holds back her tears because she had promised not to cry.

Harrison tells Victor to hold the party tomorrow and carries Kate away to her room

Harrisons confesses that he got close to Kate to use her and doesn't like her at all. She's too honest and good, and was a pain in the ass to look after. She's got a weird sense of justice and energy which was a nuisance. Yet no matter how much he lied and kept his distance, she never left him alone.

Harrison struggles to say that he hates how Kate looks at him. The way that she could expose his lies when no one else could.

Kate takes a hold of his hand that was stroking her cheek and asks if everything he had just said was a lie. Harrison smiles and tells her to stop seeing through him. And then kisses her

Kate reminds Harrison what he had asked for earlier that night before he left for the ship

Kate asks Harrison what he's going to do with his life now. He wants to help those that can't be saved by ideals and empty words. There are many things only someone who’s fallen into darkness can do.

It's all thanks to Kate that he's able to do this. Before he never thought this far, even thought his life would end with his revenge

Kate thinks back on the times Harrison protected her and kept her in the light.

She asks for a reward for getting better at seeing through his lies. She'd like to be able to see him again

Harrison says she can whenever she wants. He'll always be there.

Chapter 25

The next morning, Kate finishes up her final report as fairy tale writer.

Harrison's her first and last love.

Kate has to say goodbye to the darkness to ease Harrison's worries

One night, several seasons after Kate left the castle, Victor and Harrison finish up a mission. The two look over the city when Victor brings up a night when he met a policeman. Harrison's father

Marco had believed that the police and Crown were two sides that could help protect the country together.

Victor then tells Harrison something Kate had written in her last report. She didn't believe that fate couldn't be changed. An individual's own thoughts and feelings can shape their destiny. That's what she learned from the cursed fox. And so she hopes that his life will be filled with happiness.

For Harrison, it's not enough for him to just let Kate see him when she wants to. He wants to see her too.

Victor offers to give him a piggyback ride to Kate's place. Harrison declines

Victor's been lying to them since the day they met. But Harrison believes there's some reason behind it so he'll put his trust in him. With that, Harrison takes off

It's already dark out by the time Kate's finished up work. As she trudges on home, she thinks about how she'll be able to buy tickets for a play this month is she continues working hard.

She thinks about Harrison and how he's probably living lies again. His eyes are probably clouded with darkness again.

Kate suddenly stops in place as her chest tightens. She thinks back to her last night with him, how she wanted to stay by his side. How she wanted to tell him to leave Crown with her. To live in the sun together. But she couldn't do that to him. She just prays that his eyes remain clear

Kate's been carrying the tin of mint candy Harrison gave her. As she's about to remove the lid, a familiar minty scent hits her nose.

Kate turns around and sees Harrison covered in blood. She runs to him

Kate apologizes for being weird or awkward. She's just surprised to see him. Harrison's gaze softens and he pulls her into a hug.

Harrison assures Kate that he's fine. With her as his sun, he can walk in darkness his whole life. Kate will do her best to be his sun.

He asks if she's cry and she replies that she's not. He doesn't even have to look her in the eyes to know she's lying. Her brave front won't work on him

Harrison tells Kate that he'll come and see her again and again under the cover of night.

Pulling away and wiping her tears, Harrison looks at the tin of candy and tells her that mint's his favorite flavor. He wasn't planning on telling her that, but tonight's special.

Harrison's pretty sure he's the one that fell in love first. She's like the sun without lies. She's the only one that can see through his lies so she should expose them from now on.

He looks the happiest Kate's ever seen him been

Epilogue

Kate's in her room in her flat above the bakery writing a letter to Harrison. The stuff she writes is full of nonsense but she commits them to memory so that she can talk about it with him the next time they see each other

She misses him but they agreed to live separate lives in order to protect each other

She seals the letter and addresses it to Victor

Harrison and William are playing chess with Liam watching in confusion when Victor arrives with a letter in hand.

Since it's addressed to Victor, perhaps it's a love letter to him. Harrison calls him a liar and asks for the letter. Not before Harrison agrees to have lunch with Victor.

Harrison: Damn it. Fine, fine. Hand it here Victor: YES, negotiations success! Here you go

Liam wants to read the letter but Harrison doesn't let him

After reading it, Harrison forfeits the game and goes off to see Kate. Also tells Victor and Liam they're not allowed to come with

He was in such a hurry that he didn't even bother with calling them out on their lies that time. It's kind of cute, Liam thinks.

Liam thanks Victor for Harrison becoming more considerate of others since he's the reason Kate became Harrison's fairy tale writer.

William asks Victor how much of this he planned out but Victor replies that love works in mysterious ways. Only those involved can do anything about it

Kate's been checking her mailbox since sending the letter. She's been head empty, no thoughts, only Harrison

One night in her room, after saying out loud that she misses him, she hears a tapping on her window

Kate: G-ghost? Harrison: Of course not, dummy

Kate parts the curtains and sees Harrison who enters her room and comments on how easy it is to climb up a tree to get in

Kate replies that there's nothing of value and asks why he's here all of a sudden. He holds up the letter

He assumes she wrote what she wrote to get him to smile but it didn't contain her true feelings so he came to see her under the cover of night.

Harrison asks if he has to remind her that her feelings, regardless of what they are, aren't insignificant. Kate starts to spill her heart out.

Kate: I missed you, Harry Harrison: Is that all? Kate: And...Thanks for coming by Harrison: You're welcome. And? Kate: Can I...touch you? Harrison: Sure, if you let me too.

The two kiss and Harrison pushes her down onto the bed. There's no one else around at night

Afterward, Kate's embarrassed by how loud she was

Harrison then remembers something else he needed to do. He's been meaning to ask if she loves him.

Kate asks Harrison if he wanted to see her too. Who knows, he replies. Kate can see that's a lie.

Kate tells Harrison that she loves him and Harrison hums in response. Not bad, he says. Kate translates that to "I kind of love you"

Except it's wrong. "Not bad" means "I love you"

Harrison laughs at Kate's shocked expression and hugs her close. She laughs along with him

But the two know that this moment won't last forever. Darkness spreads with each step Harrison takes. The two can only love each other in the dark. But as long as they can have moments like this where they can laugh together, it'll be fine.

[darkershining]

DarkerShining's thoughts on Pretty Cure: Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure

Hey everyone! It's time for me to share my thoughts on Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure.

The story begins on the birthday of Skyland's princess, Ellee. However, the infant princess is kidnapped by a purple pig man named Kabaton, working with the Undergu Empire. Sora, a Skylandian girl who had just arrived in the town with the intent of joining the Azure Guard, sees what is happening and rushes in to try to save Ellee. During their chase, Sora and Ellee wind up falling through a portal to Sorashido City, where they meet a girl named Mashiro. Kabaton chases after them, and as Sora explains her wish to be a hero, Ellee grants Sora the power to become Cure Sky, allowing her to fight off Kabaton.

Mashiro takes Sora and Ellee back to her place, where they soon learn that Mashiro's grandmother Yoyo used to live in Skyland, and she allows Sora and Ellee to stay with them until a way to open a portal back to Skyland is prepared. Along the way, Mashiro becomes a Pretty Cure herself, fighting alongside Cure Sky as Cure Prism. They are later joined by Tsubasa, a bird-like fairy who can take on human form, who becomes Cure Wing, and Ageha, a childhood friend of Mashiro who is working towards becoming a nursery school teacher, who becomes Cure Butterfly.

Together, they protect Ellee, discover what it truly means to be a hero and try to uncover what caused the conflict between Skyland and the Undergu Empire.

And with the basic summary out of the way, there'll be spoilers for the entire series under the "Read More".

(Previous parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)

Sora Harewataru/Cure Sky

Our lead Cure for the season. Since this season tries to mix up the usual formula a bit, we have a blue Cure instead of a pink one as the leader. In addition to this, Sora is a native of Skyland rather than Earth like most previous lead Cures. She is quickly established to be an athletic girl with ambitions of becoming a hero, rushing in to save Ellee from Kabaton. We later learn that Sora's desire to be a hero stems from an incident in her childhood, where she was rescued by Captain Shalala of the Azure Guard, inspiring her to become a hero herself someday. Sora was initially on her way to the town to apply to join the Azure Guard, but while trying to save Ellee, ended up getting sent to Sorashido City.

Sora writes down the things she learns about being a hero in a notebook, her initial notebook getting torn up by Kabaton shortly before first becoming Cure Sky, before Mashiro gets her a new one while showing Sora around the city. Since Sora didn't have a lot of friends when she was younger because she spent so much time developing her athletic skills to become a hero, Sora ends up becoming quite attached to Mashiro. Sora also has difficulty at times opening up about her feelings, keeping things to and trying to figure it out herself in attempts to not worry her teammates. When Mashiro becomes Cure Prism, Sora is initially reluctant to let her join the fight out of fear she'll get hurt, but Mashiro/Cure Prism eventually manages to get through to her that they can work off of each other and support each other in battle.

Sora also has a tendency to occasionally rush in without thinking, which a few of the villains take advantage of to lure her into traps. She's also not that good at keeping Skyland a secret from her classmates or others who don't already know about it, often requiring Mashiro's help to maintain her cover story. Over the course of the series, Sora often struggles to find the answers to what it truly means to be a hero. Over the course of the show, she gradually discovers the strength within herself, and how much she can accomplish with the support of her friends and allies.

I like Sora. She's a fun protagonist, and it's nice to see them experiment by having the lead Cure not be from Earth for once, as well as having her be one of the rare non-pink lead Cures. I really like her designs both in civilian form and her Cure form. I particularly like her Cure form's color scheme and the blue cape thing on her left shoulder and how it resembles Captain Shalala's cape. She's pretty cool, and I think her character arc is pretty good.

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Mashiro Nijigaoka/Cure Prism

Next, let's talk about Mashiro, the first person that Sora meets upon arriving in Sorashido City. Mashiro is out on an errand for her grandmother, Yoyo, when Sora and Ellee fall out of the sky. Both Mashiro and Sora initially wonder if their encounter is a dream, until Kabaton arrives. After Sora becomes Cure Sky and fights off the Ranborg that Kabaton summoned, Mashiro decides to bring Sora and Ellee back to her place since they don't really know where else to go. Yoyo has no issue with them staying over, having secretly found out about their arrival through her Mirror Pad.

Over the next few days, Mashiro learns that Yoyo originally came from Skyland, making Mashiro 1/4-Skylandian. Mashiro and Sora bond as Mashiro helps Sora out, showing her around the city and helping her pick out some new clothes to help her fit in around Sorashido. Mashiro grows to admire Sora for her courage, while Sora appreciates Mashiro's kindness. When Kabaton manages to lure Sora into a trap and prevent her from transforming, he also picks on Mashiro's insecurities, but thanks to her friend Ageha's encouragement, Mashiro is able to find her own resolve and with Ellee granting her the power, Mashiro becomes Cure Prism and is able to save Sora.

However, Sora is initially reluctant to let Mashiro join her, having nightmares about Mashiro/Cure Prism potentially getting hurt in battle. However, after Cure Prism confronts her about it and gets her to open up about how she hasn't really had any close friends until meeting Mashiro, she manages to reason with Cure Sky, pointing out they both want to protect each other and so they'll be stronger by fighting together. This also grants them the ability to use the Updraft Shining finishing move together.

As the series continues, Mashiro tries to figure out what she wants to do with her life and who she wants to be. As her friends encourage her to try new things, she discovers new sides to herself and she is eventually inspired to start writing picture books to help teach Ellee concepts such as sharing and the joy of making new friends. As she gradually becomes more confident, she also comes to realize that her kindness remains her greatest strength.

I really like Mashiro. She's such a sweet girl, and I like how they sort of made her the audience surrogate, but still manage to give her a fairly solid character arc, realizing that everyone has different strengths and coming to understand what her strengths are. Her design is really nice, and I particularly like how certain elements of Cure Prism's outfit are sort of a match with Cure Sky's outfit, having touches of pink and blue in it much like Cure Sky's has touches of white and pink. Also, it's been a while since we had a Cure with white as her theme color, so that's nice too. And as someone who likes to write myself, I also naturally got invested with Mashiro's arc involving her discovering her interest in making picture books.

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Tsubasa Yuunagi/Cure Wing

The third Cure to join the party is Tsubasa, who while not the first male Cure seen in the franchise, is the first male Cure to be part of the main team. He's actually a member of the Puni Bird tribe, a type of bird-like fairy from Skyland that long ago traded their ability to fly for the ability to shapeshift into human form. However, one day, Tsubasa's father managed to temporarily regain the ability to fly in order to save his son from falling out of the sky. Ever since that day, Tsubasa gained an interest in figuring out a way to fly himself, but the other Puni birds had no faith in him and his father couldn't figure out how he managed to fly that one time.

Eventually, during one of his failed attempts to achieve flight during a storm, Tsubasa wound up falling into an opening leading to Sorashido Town, where Yoyo found him and brought him home. Thanks to the Mirror Pad, Tsubasa was able to stay in touch with his family back home, but he chose to remain in Sorashido for the time being in order to study aerodynamics and air planes in hopes of getting closer to achieving his dream of flying. He and Yoyo also developed a close friendship during this time.

When Sora and Ellee move in, Tsubasa befriends the young princess in secret, until Sora accidentally spots him and mistakes him for an intruder. Even after Yoyo explains the situation, it takes a bit longer for Sora to warm up to having him around Ellee until the two spend a day babysitting her together, during which he opens up to her about his reasons for staying in Sorashido, leading Sora to realize they some things in common when it comes to pursuing their dreams.

When a Ranborg starts attacking the city, Sora and Mashiro leave Ellee in Tsubasa's care while they go to deal with the situation. However, Ellee decides to follow the Cures, so Tsubasa has to chase after her. By the time Tsubasa catches up to her, Kabaton has noticed Ellee's presence and is trying to capture her. Ellee refuses to leave Tsubasa behind and save herself, leading to both of them getting captured by the Ranborg. Kabaton tries to throw him off the Ranborg, but using Ellee's flying cradle to stop his fall, he manages to get back inside and has to figure out what to do next.

Waiting for the right moment, Tsubasa manages to take Ellee back from Kabaton while he's distracted asking the Empress about his reward for bringing Ellee to the Undergu Empire. Once they make it outside, Tsubasa once again tries urging Ellee to go on without him, but she refuses. Ellee's flying cradle can't fly well with both of their weights, so Tsubasa tries letting go so Ellee can get away, but she catches him with her powers. As Kabaton attempts to capture her once more, Tsubasa's wish to protect Ellee causes a new Mirage Pen to begin forming, with Kabaton rushing to catch Ellee before Tsubasa can gain the ability to transform into a Pretty Cure.

Luckily, Cure Sky and Cure Prism, having been having trouble reaching the Ranborg due to it being so high up, manage to interfere, allowing Ellee to grant Tsubasa the power to become Cure Wing. Gaining the power of flight in his new form, Cure Wing finally achieves his dream of flying, and is able to take down the Ranborg.

After becoming a Cure, Tsubasa dedicates himself to protecting Ellee and starts looking for a new goal to pursue, eventually discovering ways he can use his knowledge to aid Skyland with the help of Yoyo and the other Cures.

I really like Tsubasa. For starters, it's cool to have a male Cure who is part of the main team. I like his dorky personality, being really intelligent and kind, trying his best to look good as Ellee's knight and yet often getting easily flustered when praised for his skills. I like his various designs too, as a cute chubby little bird, as a human and as Cure Wing, him also being one of the rare orange Cures in the franchise.

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Ageha Hijiri/Cure Butterfly

Next is Ageha, an old childhood friend of Mashiro. We first meet her when she stops by for a visit while in Sorashido City to apply to be a student teacher at a kindergarden. Over the course of the series, we get the details on Ageha's backstory, and how her parents divorced, with Ageha being split up from her sisters when her mother took custody of her while her father took custody of the sisters. When Ageha's mother then got a new job and had to move away, Ageha didn't want to be separated from Mashiro as well, and tried to run away, but Mashiro managed to make her feel better simply through being her kind self.

After meeting Sora and Ellee, Ageha soon learns about the Pretty Cure when Kabaton attacks and captures Sora, preventing her from transforming. When Kabaton makes Mashiro doubt herself, Ageha manages to snap Mashiro out of it by reminding her of how she tried to put on a brave face for Ageha when she was about to move away despite not wanting her to leave either. By helping Mashiro realize the strength of her kindness, Ageha helped Mashiro become Cure Prism so that she could help Sora.

Ageha continues making visits to the Cures, helping cheer up Sora while Mashiro is at school and giving her advice on what to say to her when she returns, leading to Sora deciding to attend school with Mashiro, and later befriending Tsubasa after he joins the team. Ageha is generally a cheerful and energetic young woman, but sometimes she also puts on a smile to hide her worries, which the other Cures start catching on to.

When Battamonda attacks the kindergarden Ageha is working at, Ageha ends up becoming Cure Butterfly when the other three Cures are trapped and unable to fight, and Cure Butterfly uses her newfound power to protect the others with her butterfly-shaped barriers. During this battle, one of the children at the kindergarden, a young boy named Takeru, ends up witnessing Ageha becoming a Cure, the two becoming closer as he agrees to keep her secret.

After becoming a Cure, Ageha ends up moving in with Mashiro and the others to make it easier for everyone involved. She continues to act as an older sister figure towards the other Cures and working towards her goal of becoming the best nursery school teacher, often putting her knowledge to good use when it comes to understanding what Ellee might be thinking.

I really like Ageha. While not the oldest Cure seen in the series, she is at the age of 18 the oldest to be part of the main team of Cures, being one year older than Yuri Tsukikage from HeartCatch Pretty Cure. (while Cure Earth from Healin' Good may be physically 20, she was basically born partway into that series.) I like her energetic personality, that she's good with kids and how well she plays into her older sister-like role among the Cures, usually having the intuition to know what she needs to do to get them to find ways to solve their problems. Her design is great, and it's cool to have a pink Cure who isn't the leader of the team for once. I also like how well her backstory explains why she is the way she is, having been inspired to become a nursery school teacher thanks to the kind teacher who looked out for her during her time in kindergarden after she had to move away from her sisters and Mashiro.

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Ellee/Cure Majesty

And for the final member of the team, we have the adorable mascot herself, Princess Ellee. After being kidnapped by Kabaton and rescued by Sora, she is able to grant the Cures their powers, in the same way it was believed that one of the past princesses of Skyland did for the Legendary Cure. Since they can't return to Skyland right away due to Yoyo lacking the necessary ingredients to open a portal, Sora, Mashiro, Yoyo, and later Tsubasa and Ageha end up looking after Ellee. The Cures are at least able to make contact with Ellee's parents via the Mirror Pad to let them know Ellee is safe.

While Ellee is scared of the Undergu Empire's generals, she also proves to be protective of her friends, refusing to let Tsubasa sacrifice himself for her sake and using her powers to save him during Kabaton's attempt to capture her with the drone Ranborg. While Ellee is generally a friendly toddler, she can have occasional moments of selfishness and is shown to be somewhat picky when it comes to picking out new clothes for her.

After the Cures save the King and Queen after they were rendered comatose from one of Battamonda's attacks, the Cures learn from them that Ellee isn't actually their biological daughter. She was born from the Morning Star shining over Skyland, which delivered her to them while telling them of a prophecy that Ellee's power would be needed to protect Skyland from a certain threat in the future. After revealing this, the King and Queen request that the Cures continue to look after Ellee until she has fullfilled the prophecy and saved Skyland.

When Skearhead eventually makes his first move, he nearly succeeds in bringing Ellee to the Empress, dropping her off in the Undergu Realm while going to finish off the rest of the Cures to prevent them from chasing after her. However, as she watches the battle take place, her desire to save her foster family allows Ellee to escape on her own, granting herself the ability to take on an older form and become a Pretty Cure herself, Cure Majesty.

After her initial transformation, it takes Ellee a bit longer to figure out how to make it happen again. But once Ellee recalls her desire to protect her loved ones, she manages to gain her own Mirage Pen, allowing her to transform into Cure Majesty once more and join the team. Shortly after gaining the power to become Cure Majesty, the Cures are summoned to Skyland to investigate a mysterious ruin that appeared. Ellee is able to guide the others to where the Majestic Chroniclon is. However, while fighting a mind-controlled Minoton, the Cures can't activate the Majestic Chroniclon due to Cure Prism still having some reservations about letting Ellee fight alongside them. After she and Cure Majesty talk it out, they manage to unlock the Majestic Chroniclon's power and purify Minoton.

Towards the end of the series, Ellee gains the ability to take on her teenaged form even when not transformed into Cure Majesty, after Elleelain decides to pass on the remainder of her power to her as a Christmas present of sorts. This also allows her to use Cure Noble's finishing move "Magic Hour's End" as Cure Majesty along with a general power boost.

Ellee is adorable! I'd say she's probably one of the cutest baby characters we've had in the franchise so far. It took me a while to piece together that she'd be the fifth Cure, but once I put together the pieces, namely that the name of the fifth Cure was Cure Majesty, along with the theme colors of each Cure this season being based on the sky at different times of day, meaning the fifth Cure would most likely be a purple one, I realized it had to be Ellee. I like the design of her older form as well, and she looks good as Cure Majesty. I particularly like the little touch of her skirt having images of the Morning Star on it.

Ellee is also one of the youngest Cures in the franchise, being a toddler who can transform into a Pretty Cure. She's not the youngest Cure in the franchise, however, since there are a few other Cures who like her were born under mystical circumstances, and while they are physically older than Ellee, they're still technically younger than her, such as Aguri Madoka from Doki Doki Pretty Cure (physically nine, was born shortly before the events of that series) and Asumi Fuurin from Healin' Good Pretty Cure (as mentioned earlier, physically twenty, but was actually born during the events of Healin' Good).

I like how while she is mostly a sweetheart, she does have those moments of selfishness and stubborness, reminding us that while she may be quite intelligent for her age in some aspects, she's still a toddler who may act up at times due to not knowing any better.

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Princess Elleelain/Cure Noble

There's one more Cure to discuss before I move on to the next category, since I feel it makes the most sense to include her here. Namely, the Legendary Pretty Cure, Cure Noble. When the Cures initially learn of her, they are lead to believe that one of the past princesses of Skyland granted someone the power to become a Pretty Cure, much like Ellee did for them. However, when the power of the Majestic Chroniclon gives Sora, Mashiro and Ellee a look into the battle between Skyland and the Undergu Empire 300 years ago, they discover that the princess and the Legendary Cure were in fact the same person.

While in the past, Ellee ends up coming across Elleelain while briefly wandering away from Sora and Mashiro, before the two catch up to her. After meeting Elleelain and realizing what has happened, the two decide to explain the situation to her and what will happen in the future. While Elleelain finds certain aspects of their story to be difficult to believe, she chooses to trust them and lets them stay the night at her castle.

When the Undergu Empire lead by the Undergu Emperor attacks the town, Sora, Mashiro and Ellee help out evacuating the people of the town despite not being able to transform into their Pretty Cure forms while in the past. As Elleelain prays for a hero to arrive, she becomes Cure Noble. With her new powers, she is able to fight off the Ranborgs invading the town, with Sora, Mashiro and Ellee continuing to assist her.

Eventually, she meets Empress Undergu and saves her from a pair of shady birds harrassing her. After the Empress reveals her identity to her, Elleelain decides to hear her out, learning how the Empress has grown to dislike fighting. Agreeing with her that strength isn't everything, the two decide to figure out a way to resolve the conflict peacefully, with Elleelain relaying this information to Sora, Mashiro and Ellee. She makes plans to meet with the Undergu Emperor and try to talk things out.

However, during the meeting, the Emperor reveals he had no intention of backing down peacefully, as Skearhead releases a bunch of Ranborgs into town. Enraged, Elleelain transforms into Cure Noble and a fight breaks out between her and the Emperor. The fight continues, until the Empress, having been trapped in a forcefield to keep her from getting caught up in the fight, breaks free and blocks Cure Noble's attack on her father.

Cure Noble is horrified when she sees what she has done, but she manages to help the Emperor find a way to save his daughter. With this, Skyland and the Undergu Empire declare peace. However, the friendship between Elleelain and the Empress doesn't last long, as sometime after Elleelain's birthday, the Undergu Empire suddenly cut off all contact with Skyland, with Elleelain not knowing what happened.

Many years later, towards the end of her life, Elleelain decided to leave behind her power with the Majestic Chroniclon to aid the Cures in the future, likely remembering the warning from Sora, Mashiro and Ellee, and knowing they would need its power. After her death, Elleelain's spirit became the Morning Star, watching over Skyland. Eventually, she would send Ellee to the King and Queen of Skyland, sensing that her power to protect Skyland would be needed soon.

Finally, Elleelain's spirit decides to pay Ellee a visit during Christmas to grant her the remainder of her power, before finally deciding to move on and entrusting Ellee and the other Cures with finding a way to resolve the conflict. After saying her good byes, the Morning Star disappears as Elleelain's spirit moves on.

While we only really got to know her for a few episodes, I really like Elleelain. I like how while she looks similar to Ellee, who is essentially her daughter, there are some differences in their designs. I think Cure Noble's design is really cool as well, and again, I like how it's different from Cure Majesty's design.

I think the reveal of Elleelain herself being both the Legendary Pretty Cure herself and the Morning Star was well-executed. And while she does only appear in a few episodes, she's one of the most important characters in the story, considering the stable time loop caused by Sora, Mashiro and Ellee going back in time allows Elleelain to ensure that the Pretty Cures will be around to protect Skyland in the future.

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The Villains

Since Ellee is the mascot of the season, and I've already talked about her, I guess we can just move straight on to talking about the villains. This time around, our villains are from a place known as the Undergu Empire, a realm in which strength is everything.

The first villain we're introduced to is Kabaton, a vulgar and greedy purple pig-like man. He tends to employ dirty tricks when it comes to his plans and his fights, whether it's using his farts to momentarily stun/distract enemies or trying to disguise himself to get closer to his targets. He kidnaps Ellee on orders of Empress Undergu, but thanks to Sora's intervention, he's unable to bring her back to the Undergu Empire.

He continues trying to kidnap Ellee, often disguising himself (poorly) to try to get close to the Cures. Despite repeatedly being defeated by them, he still refuses to acknowledge the Cures' strength. Shortly after Cure Wing joins the team, the Empress loses her patience with Kabaton, giving him one last chance to capture Ellee. He challenges Cure Sky to a one-on-one battle, promising to give up on kidnapping Ellee if she wins. Of course, Cure Sky does win, but Kabaton goes back on his word and makes one last attempt to capture Ellee. Failing once more, the Empress prepares to have him eliminated via lightning strike, but Cure Sky intervenes, saving his life. Kabaton finally acknowledges the Cures' strength after this, and resolves to make a new life for himself in Sorashido City.

We eventually find out he moved into an apartment, and took on a few different jobs, including running a sweet potato stand and working the night shift somewhere.

Kabaton is an okay starter villain. Nothing too special, but he does come up with a couple of clever plans that mainly fail due to Cure Prism and Cure Wing gaining their powers. He also does get a few funny moments, particularly when the Cures after a few episodes of dealing with him start treating him as more of a minor annoyance than anything else.

The next villain we are introduced to is Battamonda, a more humanoid member of the Undergu Empire with a bit of a grasshopper motif. He tries to come across as calm and collected, but when things don't go according to plan, he'll quickly lose his composure. He is also quick to establish himself as more dangerous than Kabaton, creating a giant Ranborg-bomb that threatens to spread Undergu energy all over the city in Skyland, putting the King and the Queen of Skyland into a coma, and the bomb-Ranborg nearly killing Captain Shalala of the Azure Guard, who Battamonda then goes on to trap inside of another Ranborg.

Over the course of his confrontations with the Cures, his goal seems to go from kidnapping Ellee to getting back at the Cures for outsmarting him and such. When he reveals to Cure Sky what he has done to Shalala, he manages to break her spirit to the point where Sora loses the ability to transform. However, once Sora regains the will to fight, the Cures are able to put a stop to his plan and rescue Shalala.

Battamonda disappears from the plot for a few episodes after this, but we soon learn that he went into hiding in Sorashido City to avoid the wrath of the Empress, taking on a human form. We find out he's living in an apartment, in the same building as Kabaton in fact, and he's trying his best to make ends meet. While he tries putting on a pleasant persona in public, we see his inner thoughts that he secretly looks upon everyone with disdain and he still wants revenge on the Cures.

When he happens to encounter them again, he tries approaching Mashiro in his human form, pretending to be an art student named Monda. He plots to ruin her confidence in her ambition to be a picture book writer, but ends up unwittingly giving her actual useful advice, helping her realize that not everyone is going to like her stories, and that that's okay. As he interacts more with Mashiro, we gradually learn how Battamonda's life was back in the Undergu Empire, and how he was looked down on since he's not as strong as Minoton or Skearhead, which clearly took a toll on his self-esteem and made him grow bitter. Mashiro's empathy and kindness gradually starts getting to him, even if he won't admit it.

Eventually, due to Skearhead tracking him down and putting pressure on him, he reveals the truth to Mashiro and steals her Mirage Pen after tearing up a picture book she wanted his opinion on. While Mashiro is initially hurt by the revelation, she can tell that not everything Battamonda told her as Monda was a lie. When the Cures later confront Battamonda again, he informs them he doesn't have Mashiro's Mirage Pen on him due to Skearhead taking it from him. Battamonda is reluctant to use the Undergu energy that Skearhead offered him, knowing it'll turn him into a mindless beast. However, when Skearhead shows up again, he pressures Battamonda into accepting it, turning into a monster.

Mashiro refuses to back down, having had a conversation with the other Cures earlier that has strengthened her resolve and made her realize that only she can decide her own self-worth. Mashiro's words seem to get through to Battamonda, who tired of being bossed around by Skearhead, manages to regain his sanity long enough to turn on him and get Mashiro's Mirage Pen back before the Undergu energy overwhelms him once more.

During the fight, Cure Prism is able to unlock a new power, Prism Shine, which allows her to get through to Battamonda so the Cures can purify him. After the Cures rescue him, Battamonda decides to start making an effort to become a better person and apologizes to Mashiro for tearing apart the picture book she showed him earlier.

I really like what they did with Battamonda. He starts out establishing himself as a much bigger threat then Kabaton was, threatening all of Skyland, putting the king and queen into a coma and nearly killing Shalala and turning her into a Ranborg. However, once Shalala has been rescued, Battamonda goes into hiding and the next time we see him, we see how far he's fallen after losing his place in the Undergu Empire, with his next few schemes simply consisting of trying to make Mashiro lose confidence in her picture book writing and trying to ruin the Cures' reputation by dressing up as one for Halloween and going around stealing everyone's Halloween candy. And not only do his schemes fail, but in the former case, he ends up achieving the opposite of what he intended to do since he ended up actually giving Mashiro some decent advice.

I also like how they handle his redemption arc after he reaches his low point, where we can see that Mashiro's kindness is starting to get to him, but he continues to deny it, needing a lot more convincing to finally put the past behind him and work towards improving himself. And I do like his designs.

The next villain we meet is Minoton, a strong bull-like man who spends a lot of time training. It is quickly established that he's quite different from the previous villains once he gets into his first fight with the Cures, as Minoton actually has a code of honor, actually protecting Ellee from his own Ranborg, since he wants a fair fight against the Cures before he takes the princess. He's also the only one of the villains who is willing to give innocent civilians nearby time to get to safety. He does also seem to have a tendency to jump to conclusions, such as assuming the Cures went to an airport to try to escape him, when they were in fact there to wait for Mashiro's parents to arrive.

However, the Empress' patience is starting to run out, so after a few episodes, she has Minoton forcefully sent back to the Undergu Empire and sends Skearhead out to deal with the Cures. The next time we see Minoton, we discover that Skearhead had him turned into a Ranborg. Under Skearhead's control, he's no longer abiding by his code of honor. The Cures manage to purify him, only for Skearhead to drag him off and turn him back into a Ranborg later.

The second time the Cures fight Ranborg!Minoton, he keeps infusing himself with more Undergu energy, in a process that seems quite unpleasant for him. Thankfully, the Cures are able to save him for real this time using the power granted to them by the Majestic Chroniclon, and the Cures part way with Minoton on good terms, with him acknowleding their strength.

As you might know, I tend to like the villains in Pretty Cure who have their own code of honor, and Minoton is no exception. After the two villains before him, its sort of refreshing to have a villain who isn't just a jerk. Plus, with the Undergu Empire's focus on strength, I feel it makes perfect sense for there to be at least one member who is like him. I like Minoton's design too.

Now, let's talk about the Empress herself. She's the one in charge of the Undergu Empire, and towards the end of the show, we discover that she used to be quite a sweet person in the past. During the conflict between the Undergu Empire 300 years ago, she grew disillusioned from watching the battles take place, noting how the fighting only seemed to make people miserable and starting to feel like the belief of strength being everything was wrong.

After meeting Elleelain, who shares her views, the two plan to find a way to put a stop to the fighting. However, when the Emperor (likely having been talked into it by Skearhead) launches an attack on the town, a battle breaks out between him and Cure Noble, while the Empress can only watch after her father traps her in a forcefield to keep her safe. Despite not being as strong as her father, the Empress, not wanting either him or Elleelain to get hurt, manages to free herself from the forcefield and interfere in the battle, taking a hit from Cure Noble meant for her father.

Wounded, the Empress notes with relief that if she was able to pull this off despite her lack of strength, then maybe she was right about strength not being everything after all. Wanting to save her, Cure Noble manages to help the Emperor work out a way to use the Undergu energy to close his daughter's wound. Thanks to the Empress' actions, Skyland and the Undergu Empire decided to declare peace.

Unfortunately, it would not last. Sometime after Elleelain's birthday, while the Empress and the Emperor were discussing what the Undergu Empire should believe in now that they've put the idea of strength being everything behind them, Skearhead, still believing in it, snuck up behind them and fatally stabbed the Emperor with an energy lance in front the Empress. Skearhead then used a device to manipulate the traumatized Empress' memories, leading her to believe that it was Cure Noble who killed her father and thus starting up the conflict between Skyland the Undergu Empire once more.

The Empress spends most of the series in the Undergu realm, leaving most of the heavy work to her minions, which may be partially due to her old wound being at risk of opening if she were to battle herself. She is also willing to punish the others for their repeated failures, with the exception of Skearhead, her tutor. However, after the other three villains quit, she doesn't try to do anything else to them.

Eventually, the Empress does decide to confront the Cures herself, threatening to send an army of Ranborgs into Ellee's hometown. Sora, Mashiro and Ellee learn about the Empress' past from the Majestic Chroniclon up until the point where Skyland and the Undergu Empire declared peace, leaving them wondering what happened after that. The Empress isn't in the mood to tell them, however. After a fight breaks out, the Empress' old wound opens up, so Skearhead takes her back to the Undergu Empire to recover.

After Skearhead is seemingly killed in his next battle with the Cures, the furious Empress breaks out of the device Skearhead put her in to speed up her recovery and goes to confront them once more. She tells them why she's doing this, with the Cures realizing something must be wrong since her version of what happened doesn't match up with what they heard from Princess Elleelain's spirit. The Empress takes the Undergu energy into her body, giving the Cures' their most difficult challenge yet as they have to find a way to bring her back to her senses and protect the city, splitting into two groups to accomplish this.

They finally do manage to get through to her, but before they can talk, Skearhead suddenly stabs the Empress with his energy spear. As another fight breaks out between the Cures and Skearhead, the Empress manages to recall her repressed memory of what really happened to her father. Skearhead admits the truth, revealing that he never truly cared about her, and was only invested in her potential as a vessel for the Undergu energy. The Empress is nearly broken at this revelation, being left wondering if there's even anything left for her to believe in. However, the Cures refuse to give up on her.

Skearhead drags the Empress back to the Undergu Realm in order to lure in the Cures with the intent of making Cure Sky into his new vessel. As Cure Sky and Cure Prism reach her, the Empress attempts to warn them about Skearhead's plan, but he interrupts her. She watches the battle between them unfold, until Cure Prism helps Cure Sky overcome the Undergu energy and even heal the Empress' wound from Skearhead's attack in the process. As the other Cures catch up to them, Skearhead makes one last attempt to possess the Empress, but now knowing his true colors, she rejects him immediately.

I really like the Empress. She has a cool design, and her past self is adorable. The glimpses we get of her throughout the series certainly make her seem intimidating, but once we learn her story, we realize she's not the true villain. Poor girl was manipulated by Skearhead into believing someone she had befriended ended up betraying her and killing her father, basically brainwashing her into becoming a ruthless ruler all for the sake of making her into the perfect vessel.

So it's really satisfying when she rejects Skearhead's final attempt to use her as a vessel, and seeing her find something new to believe in by accepting the Cures' offer of friendship, along with the other three former villains deciding to stay by her side to reform the Undergu Empire.

And then there's Skearhead, who initially appears to be the second-in-command to the Empress. He's much more stoic compared to the previous three villains, and is quickly established to be the strongest of them all. He claims to do what he does because he cares about the Empress, and refuses to elaborate when the Cures try to get more answers about the conflict between the Undergu Empire and Skyland out of him.

The truth, however, is that Skearhead is the embodiment of the Undergu energy itself. He originally manipulated the Emperor into attacking Skyland, and also acted as a tutor to the Empress. His true motive was to find a suitable vessel for his energy, having initially planned to use the Emperor, before deciding the Empress' heroic act during the duel between the Emperor and Cure Noble would make her the best vessel. To ensure that she'd become his ideal vessel, he killed the Emperor and rewrote the Empress' memories to make her believe Cure Noble did it. He even goes as far as fake his own death in battle against the Cures towards the end of the series.

When the Cures manage to bring the Empress back to her senses, he reveals himself to still be alive by literally stabbing the Empress in the back. Declaring her a failure, he soon sets his sight on Cure Sky as his next potential vessel. Dragging the Empress back to the Undergu Empire, he explains his plan to her as he waits for the Cures to come after him to rescue the Empress.

With Cure Wing and Cure Butterfly, and later Cure Majesty splitting off from the rest of the group to deal with threats along the way, Cure Sky and Cure Prism reach the deeper parts of the Undergu Empire where Skearhead awaits them. Having fought him enough times to know his usual strategies, the two initially seem to handle the situation well, but they soon begin to grow weaker as a result of the strong concentrations of Undergu energy in the depths.

Taking this oppurtunity, Skearhead threatens to throw Cure Prism into the abyss, telling Cure Sky she might be able to save her if she accepts the Undergu energy. He temporarily succeeds in turning Cure Sky into a darker version of herself, taking control of her body. However, his plan falls apart when he tries to have her attack Cure Prism, as the bond between them is strong enough to let Cure Sky regain control of herself, allowing Cure Prism to return her to normal and force Skearhead out of her body.

As the rest of the Cures arrive, and begin to overpower him as he takes on his dark serpent-like form, he makes one last attempt to possess the Empress, only for her to reject him. In desperation, he flees to Sorashido, with the Cures soon following. The Cures tell Skearhead he won't find another vessel, and together they finally defeat him, after which he disappears to an unknown fate.

Yeah, Skearhead's the true main villain of this series, and I think he does it pretty well. I've noticed some interesting paralells between him and Butler from Tropical Rouge Pretty Cure. Both of them are seemingly working for a female villain, but are secretly manipulating them and the other villains for their own agenda. However, while Butler actually did care about the Witch of Destruction despite taking advantage of her failing memory to try to get her to fullfill her original goal that she abandoned a long time ago, Skearhead on the other hand only saw the Empress as a means to an end and only pretended to care about her.

Since he barely shows any emotion throughout his appearances, the sudden shift in his demenour when he thinks he has succeeded in securing Cure Sky as his new vessel is quite unnerving. It's unclear what happens to him after the Cures purify him in the end, but I guess with the Undergu energy gone, he's no longer a threat regardless.

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Other Characters

All right! Now that we've got the main heroes and villains out of the way, let's talk about the supporting cast. I think it makes sense to start with Yoyo Nijigaoka, Mashiro's grandmother. She quickly agrees to let Sora and Ellee stay with her and Mashiro when they are brought to her house, and it quickly becomes apparent that Yoyo knows more about the situation than she's letting on. She soon reveals that she originally came from Skyland, but ended up settling down in Sorashido fifty years ago after coming there to study Earth as a scholar. She uses the Mirror Pad to check in on what's going on in Skyland from time to time, and she offers to help make a portal so Sora and Ellee may return home.

She is also close friends with Tsubasa, taking him in after he ended up falling through a portal in Skyland during a failed attempt to fly and helping him study. Throughout the series Yoyo offers her support to the Cures, and often gives them a little nudge in the right direction when they're trying to find their way, trusting them to figure out the rest on their own.

I really like Yoyo. She reminds a bit of past Pretty Cure characters like Kaoruko from HeartCatch Pretty Cure and Otokichi from Suite Pretty Cure, who are also a grandparent to one of the Cures who is aware of their mission and helps support them in some way. Unlike Kaoruko and Otokichi, Yoyo hasn't previously fought the villains the current Cures are dealing with, but she still manages to provide good support through her knowledge and intuition. I also like how she trusts the Cures enough to know they'll be able to figure things out on their own if she just gives them a slight nudge in the right direction.

Next, let's talk about Sora's family. When Sora first brings them up, we learn that in addition to her parents, Sora also has a younger brother. We get to see glimpses of Sora's parents in the flashback of when Captain Shalala saved her, and we eventually do get to see them when Sora returns home after she loses confidence in herself after discovering what happened to Captain Shalala.

Sora's father, Shido, seems to be somewhat stoic, but clearly understands Sora quite well. Sora's mother, Remi, seems more gentle and doesn't want to pressure Sora, gently telling Tsubasa and Ageha to give her some time to herself when they come over to check on her. When Sora regains her dream after reading a letter from Mashiro, Shido and Remi see her off with a smile.

Sora's younger brother, Red (not to be confused with a certain character from Happiness Charge Pretty Cure), is an energetic young boy who clearly admires his sister and wants to be a hero like her. When she briefly gives up on her dream, he is initially upset and not knowing what had happened, accuses her of being a coward. He is happy when Sora manages to regain her powers and resolve.

Since they don't really have any major roles in other episodes, mainly showing up for smaller roles, we don't really get to know much else about them, but I do like them from what we do see. I feel we get a solid glimpse of the family dynamic.

Next up are Mashiro's parents, Akira and Mahiru Nijigaoka. Most of their appearances are made through video calls with Mashiro, as the two are working overseas. It is clear that they both really care about their daughter, and they can tell if Mashiro has something on her mind, even if Mashiro can't always share all the details about the Pretty Cure stuff and all that. One of them is also half-Skylandian, but it isn't ever revealed which of them it is. If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably Akira, since he seems to have the same eye color as Yoyo.

They eventually do come home to visit Mashiro for a weekend, but we only really get to see the visit through a montage since most of the episode takes place at the airport waiting for them to arrive, with Tsubasa befriending the young daughter of one of the pilots and the Cures later getting into a battle with Minoton that threatens to delay the flights.

I like them. It's clear that they're loving parents to Mashiro, and I sort of wish we'd gotten to see more of their visit in episode 26 and how they interact with Mashiro's friends. I still liked what we got to see, but it would've been nice to have had more of the episode dedicated to it.

Next up, Tsubasa's parents, Kakeru and Puwa. Like Tsubasa, they're from the Puni bird tribe who are capable of taking on human form. They're loving parents, although Tsubasa sometimes feel they can be a little too affectionate. Kakeru is also an artist, and proves to be quite brave when he tries to rescue a free-falling Tsubasa in the past, temporarily regaining the ability to fly in the process. However, he's unable to figure out how he did it, but the event inspired Tsubasa to find his own way to fly.

I like them too. They have some funny interactions with Tsubasa, when it comes to him being embarrassed when they get overly affectionate, or them initially mistaking Mashiro for Tsubasa's girlfriend when they first meet her. Again, might've been nice to see more of them, but what we got is still nice.

We never actually meet Ageha's parents, so let's talk about her two older sisters, Maria and Kaguya Saotome. When Ageha's parents split up, the sisters were separated as their father got custody of Maria and Kaguya, while their mother got custody of Ageha. Because of this, they have different surnames, which is why the other Cures don't initially realize they're related to Ageha when first meeting them.

When they happen to meet up, we learn that the two of them are models. We also learn that Ageha also had a brief stint as a model with them, with their manager asking if Ageha would be interested in taking it up again. With Ellee taking an interest in a dress they made for a line for children's clothes, the two ask if the Cures would be willing to let Ellee model the dress for their upcoming fashion show. When Ellee gets nervous up on stage, Ageha goes to calm her down, and since she's already up there, decides to join in on the fashion show with her sisters introducing her as a special guest.

After the show (and the Cures having to fight off the Undergu empire when they inevitibly interrupted the show), Maria and Kaguya comment that seeing how well Ageha was able to help calm down Ellee earlier, that it's clear that Ageha has made the right career choice in deciding to become a nursery school teacher.

Once again, I like what we got to see of these characters, but I wish we could've gotten a little more.

All right, next up is the King and Queen of Skyland. The Morning Star sent Ellee to them, asking them to look after her until the right time. Continuing the tradition of Pretty Cure characters letting the mascots who are babies name themselves, they name the baby Ellee based on her verbal tic. After the Cures and Yoyo manage to establish contact with them through the Mirror Pad to let them know Ellee is okay, they recognize Yoyo and trust her and the Cures to make sure Ellee makes it home safely.

When the Cures finally do open the portal to Skyland, the King and Queen are happily reunited with their daughter, and are willing to offer the Cures any reward they might want in exchange for having kept Ellee safe. However, after Battamonda unleashes a Ranborg that threatens to explode and spread Undergu energy all over the town, Battamonda eventually gets into the castle and puts the King and Queen into a coma, his attempt to kidnap Ellee in the process only being thwarted due to Cure Sky's intervention.

The Cures spend the next few episodes gathering the energy from purified Ranborgs in order to make a cure that can wake up the King and the Queen. Once they finally have enough Kira-Kira energy to make the cure after saving Captain Shalala, the Cures are able to wake up the King and Queen. Shortly after, a sudden burst of energy from Ellee leads to the King and Queen deciding to tell the Cures the truth about Ellee's origins, and asking them to look after her a bit longer.

I like these two. They may not have the biggest role in the story beyond what I've already mentioned, but they do what they do well. They have a good dynamic, with the King occasionally being sort of a goofy dad, particularly whenever waiting for Ellee to show up when the Cures travel to Skyland, and the Queen being a bit calmer, albeit occasionally showing she's not so above it all either.

Now that I've talked about the Cures' families, let's move on to Captain Shalala. She's the captain of the Azure Guard, and said to be the best swordswoman in Skyland. She once rescued a young Sora in the past, leading Sora to be inspired to become a hero herself. Sora also gave Shalala a heart-shaped Sky Jewel she had found as a thank you for saving her, which Shalala had made into a necklace and kept with her since.

When the Cures finally get the portal to Skyland working and bring Ellee home, Sora also reunites with Captain Shalala, who still remembers her. Sora is given the chance to join the Azure Guard, although one of its members, a girl named Beryberie, has some doubts about letting Sora join out of the blue. After Sora proves herself in a battle against Beryberie, Shalala explains to Sora how much Beryberie had to push herself in order to finally join the guard, even while recovering from a hand injury. While Shalala suggests giving Beryberie some time to herself, Sora insists on going to find and apologize to her.

Shalala sees great potential in Sora, and has her help out the Azure Guard both in her civilian form and as Cure Sky. When Battamonda unleashes the time bomb Ranborg on Skyland, Shalala seemingly sacrifices herself to give Cure Sky and Cure Prism enough time to purify it, going missing shortly after. However, she left Sora a letter to encourage her, along with the necklace made from the jewel Sora once gave her.

Shalala's fate is left unknown, until it is discovered that Battamonda had her turned into a Ranborg. The revelation leaves Sora quite shaken, knowing there's a chance Shalala might die from her wounds re-opening if they purify the Ranborg, or that the Undergu energy she's being exposed to while trapped in there might finish her off first. It is only after Sora temporarily loses the will to fight, and later gains it that the Cures are able to defeat and purify the Ranborg Shalala got turned into, just barely managing to save her with the healing power of the Mixing Palette.

After she recovers, Shalala urges Sora to start finding her own path as a hero instead of just following in her footsteps. Shalala has a few minor appearances after that, but has a supporting role in episode 42 when she goes to Sorashido to hear about the research Tsubasa has been doing on finding ways to help protect Skyland, making the town a safe space by creating a barrier, and making new equipment for the Azure Guard that will allow them to purify Ranborgs on their own.

With Tsubasa needing some time to finish his research materials before giving them to Shalala, the Cures decide to show her around Sorashido City to pass the time. After the tour, Shalala invites Sora to train with her, claiming she wants to try out the track suit she bought while the Cures were showing her the mall. She admits she noticed something was on Sora's mind and asks her about it, with Sora explaining what happened during the most recent battle with Skearhead. Shalala hears her out, before the other Cures step in. After receiving the research material from Tsubasa, Shalala then returns to Skyland.

During the final battle, she's seen leading the Azure Guard against the Ranborgs invading the city, instructing them on when to activate the new mode of their weapons to let them purify the Ranborgs.

I really like Shalala. She has a cool design, and I really like her role in the story, being Sora's inspiration to become a hero and all that. I guess her character also sort of feels like a contrast with Fennel from the previous season, Delicious Party Pretty Cure, in that Fennel initially seemed like an ally, but was evil all along. Shalala on the other hand, is just as heroic as she appears to be, even if there were some theories she might secretly be working for both sides.

I personally didn't think so, but when she went missing after the battle with the time-bomb Ranborg, I assumed she'd likely been captured and would eventually turn up as a brainwashed minion of the Undergu Empire at some point. And I was sort of right, except she got turned into a Ranborg instead.

Speaking of the Azure Guard, there are two other members of the guard I feel are worth mentioning. First is Ariri, the second-in-command to Shalala. He seems fairly serious, and takes charge of the group when Shalala goes missing until her return. His serious demenour occasionally slips when he gets into little arguments with Beryberie.

I don't have that much to say about him, since he doesn't really get his own episode dedicated to getting to know him or anything. But he's all right, he does his job as the second-in-command well.

Anyways, let's move on to Beryberie. When she was younger, she suffered an injury that caused her to fail the test to join the Azure Guard. It took three failed attempts and a lot of training before she finally got accepted. When Sora initially joins the guard, Beryberie is skeptical at first, questioning how big of a role someone that young really played in rescuing the princess. To prove herself, Sora accepts a duel against Beryberie.

Beryberie puts up a good fight with her electric glove, but Sora ultimately wins. Sora later learns Beryberie's backstory from Shalala and goes to apologize for a comment she made after their duel, while Beryberie trying to calm herself down has an encounter with Battamonda, who turns her glove into a Ranborg.

Cure Sky comes to Beryberie's rescue, thus earning her respect. After this, Beryberie comes to see Sora as a friend and worthy rival.

I really like Beryberie. I like her friendly rivalry with Sora, and her electric glove is pretty cool. Before I concluded that Ellee would be the fifth Cure, I briefly wondered if Beryberie might be a candidate for their identity, but I soon realized it probably wouldn't be her. Still, she's a cool supporting character.

Next up is Takeru, a young boy attending the kindergarden that Ageha ends up working at. After Cure Wing rescues him from a Ranborg, Takeru comes to admire him and the other Cures. After Ageha lets it slip that she knows the Cures, she delivers the kids' fan letters to them and then the Cures' replies to the kids. However, in trying to be like Cure Wing, Takeru ends up taking the wrong approach and being too harsh on his classmates for misbehaving. Ageha tries to reason with him, but he still doesn't get it.

When a Ranborg attacks the kindergarden, Takeru gets separated from the other kids, and witnesses the Cures getting trapped. When the Ranborg threatens him, Ageha steps in to defend him. Her wish to protect the children leads her to become a Pretty Cure herself, and from witnessing this, Takeru realizes what being a hero really is about. He also promises to keep Ageha now being a Cure a secret from the others.

Takeru plays a role in another one of Ageha's focus episodes, when it is revealed that his family will be moving away soon, leading Ageha to trying to figure out how to handle the situation and make him feel a little better. After a few failed attempts to reach out to him due to Takeru trying to avoid everyone, Ageha eventually comes across him trying to finish a tunnel in the sandbox he started making with a classmate. While helping him out, Ageha opens up about her own feelings, allowing her to get through to him.

In an interesting coincidence, Ageha later discovers that Takeru's grandmother happens to be the teacher who helped her out back when she was in kindergarden, inspiring Ageha to become one herself. When Takeru is leaving with his family, Ageha, as Cure Butterfly, goes to use her Mix Palette to put on a little light show of butterflies for him to see him off.

Takeru's a sweet kid. I really like the friendship he develops with Ageha and how they help each other grow a little.

Most of the remaining characters are one-shot characters, and while there are a few more characters that come to mind, such as the two baseball club members Sora ended up helping out in one episode, I don't think I can really think of much to say about some of these characters.

There is one more character I sort of do want to talk about, though. One episode has the Cures accidentally getting pulled into the Mirror Pad when Ellee accidentally activates a hidden function, where the Cures encounter an enthusiastic little pig-like fairy named Pinkton, who offers to train them. Each Cure pick out a training course that suits them, but Pinkton accidentally mixes up Sora and Mashiro's, as well as Tsubasa and Ageha's courses.

After some initial trouble with the mixed-up training courses, the Cures each take a moment to consider how the other Cure would solve it, gaining a better understanding of how the other thinks as they each make it through the training courses while Pinkton offers moral support. After the Cures all clear their training courses and prepare to return, they discover there are in fact multiple Pinktons, and that it wasn't just Pinkton putting on different outfits to coach each of them. Also, Pinkton accidentally turns the exit door into a monster, giving the Cures one final challenge to clear before heading back.

I guess the reason I wanted to talk about Pinkton is, well, I sort of feel like the end of the episode sets up for her to appear again, with the Cures promising to bring Ellee along next time they decide to use it to train, but we never see them do this. I guess the line was just one of the bits of foreshadowing towards Ellee becoming a Cure herself in the near future. Might've been interesting to see what kind of training she would've done.

As for my thoughts on Pinkton as a character? She's okay, I guess. Just sort of a quirky and kind of clumsy little coach who lives inside the Mirror Pad.

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Overall Thoughts

I really enjoyed this series! I really like the animation style, and the soundtrack is great too. A lot of the recent Pretty Cure series have done little twists on the formula in their own ways, and in this one, they try to take it a step further, like having the leader Cure both be a non-pink Cure and being from another world, and having a male Cure as part of the main team. In addition to this, they also bring back certain plot elements we haven't seen in a while.

For example, in most series since Go! Princess, the Cures have in some way just stumbled upon their major group attack power-up, some common ways being gaining it through some character development, or being given it by someone significant. And it usually doesn't take long for them to figure out how to use it either.

Here, the Cures must go on a quest to find the Majestic Chroniclon and then prove that their hearts are united in order to activate it, basically testing them before they can unlock its power. It's been a while since we had them do this, and I'm glad they brought it back for this series. Also, the Cures don't get a new outfit with their power-up like they have been getting in the recent series, which I'm also fine with. In fact, for the first time since Yes! Pretty Cure 5, the Cures don't get an outfit upgrade with any of their power-ups. I have to respect them for that.

Also, it taking until episode 18 for Cure Butterfly's debut, and then Cure Majesty not making her debut until episode 31, reminded me of HeartCatch and Suite Pretty Cure, which both had one mid-season Cure join at first, and then a second one at some point after the thirty episode mark. Of course, it does it a little differently from those two series, as Ellee only then becomes a Cure, while in the former two series, Cure Moonlight and Cure Muse were already established, and had some things they needed to sort out before joining up with the other Cures.

And like you'd expect from an anniversery series, this series also has a lot of other little nods to previous Pretty Cure series. All in all, I think the mix of old and new story elements make for a pretty good series that explores its themes of heroism and what true strength really is pretty well.

Of course, it's not a flawless series. In my personal opinion, at least, I feel that the show tends to focus too much on the pairs of Sora and Mashiro, and Tsubasa and Ageha, giving less time to explore certain other character dynamics within the team. At least this show isn't the worst offender when it comes to that, and they do at least show some interaction between every possible combination of characters in the main team to give us some indication of their relationship. Plus, I do understand that the bonds of these pairs are a major plot point, particularly the one between Sora and Mashiro, but I'll get back to that a little later.

I also felt that the school that Mashiro and Sora attend in Sorashido was underutilized. We only really get two episodes focusing on Sora's school life, namely the episode where she transfers in and the episode where she ends up helping the girls' baseball team prepare for an upcoming tournament. I really wish we could've seen more of Sora and Mashiro's interactions with their classmates, and more of Sora's life at the school. It might've made the scene where Sora says her good-byes to her classmates in the final episode as she prepares to return to Skyland a little more impactful if we actually got to see her spending more time with them.

Getting a few more interactions between the villains might've also been nice, since the interactions between the various villains in the franchise often gives us some insight into their characters or some funny moments depending on how well the villains get along. While the show does get a little better about this later into its run, giving us at least some idea of how the villains see each other, with the other villains sort of finding Kabaton annoying or Battamonda developing a bit of a complex because he's not that physically strong compared to some of the other villains. It's still pretty cool seeing the reformed villains turn up during the final episodes to help defend Skyland, having apparently put their differences aside off-screen and learned to get along better.

Speaking of the last few episodes, I like how everything they've built up to plays out. With Tsubasa's research allowing them to put up a barrier around the town, the Morning Star being revealed to be Elleelain's spirit, who grants Ellee the ability to change into her teenaged form outside of being Cure Majesty, Cure Prism developing her Prism Shine move for freeing those corrupted by Undergu energy and the reveal that Skearhead was the true big bad all along.

When the Cures then take the fight to the Undergu Empire after learning Skearhead's true intentions, we get a pretty epic moment when Cure Sky is momentarily possessed by the Undergu energy in order to save Cure Prism. We have not have gotten a last minute outfit upgrade power-up, but I think Dark Cure Sky makes up for it, since I didn't expect it and her design in that form was pretty cool. And how she returns to her senses after the Undergu energy overwhelms her is pretty amazing too, with Cure Prism not needing to do anything else except simply trusting in the bond between them as Skearhead tries to force Cure Sky to attack her.

Once Cure Sky returns to her senses after refusing to attack Cure Prism, it only takes a small amount of Prism Shine energy to fully return her to normal. And she even manages to heal the Empress' wound while at it! Once the rest of the Cures arrive, we get a pretty cool sequence of the Cures fighting off Skearhead in his serpent form, and at this point, it's clear that Skearhead is starting to realize that he has lost, since he first makes one last attempt to possess the Empress, which as I mentioned earlier, she rejects right away, not letting him manipulate him anymore.

And once he heads to Sorashido, the Cures spell out to him that he won't find a vessel there either. After the battle is over, the other three redeemed villains decide to stay by the Empress' side, forgiving her for what she did due to Skearhead's manipulations, with the Undergu empire seeming much more tranquil now that Skearhead and the Undergu energy has been purified for good.

Sora, Tsubasa and Ellee have to return to Skyland, saying their good-byes to their friends in Sorashido, but at least they can visit each other whenever they want. Even knowing this, it's still a little hard for them to say their good-byes, particularly for Sora and Mashiro, but in the end, they manage to part with a (tearful) smile. Mashiro decides she'll write a picture book based on her adventure with Sora and the others.

The final scene is of Sora, Tsubasa and Ellee showing up for an unannounced visit, Tsubasa sheepishly admitting it feels a little awkward since they literally just said their good-byes yesterday, but Mashiro and Ageha are still happy to see them and invite them to join them for breakfast. The end credits also feature drawings for the picture book Mashiro is now working on based on the Cures adventure, giving sort of a nice little recap in a cute way to wrap things up.

I think I like this series better than both Happiness Charge and Hugtto Pretty Cure, which celebrated the tenth and fifteenth anniverseries of Pretty Cure. While I did enjoy those too, there were certain plot points in those two series that could occasionally be a bit too... distracting. I'm not sure how high I'd rank it when it comes to which Pretty Cure series in general are my favorites, but then again, trying to figure out how I rank each series is a tough decision in general.

At this point I think I've said everything I wanted to say, so I'll wrap this up now. Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure was really great, and I'm curious to check out Wonderful Pretty Cure. I've got a little bit of catching up to do, since I once again decided to finish up this post before I moved on to the next series. From what little I've seen about the premise, I'm guessing Wonderful Pretty Cure will have a more light-hearted tone, continuing a sort of pattern of the more serious Pretty Cure series storywise usually being followed by one with a more light-hearted tone.

But I'll find out soon enough, and share my thoughts after I watch each episode as usual. Looking forward to seeing how the Pretty Cure franchise may continue to evolve in the future!

[magmacannon]

5, 12, 23 forrr Yarrow Tova and Dee

Day 2 of questions and I'm VERY pumped for these... I already answered 23 for Yarrow so here's the others pff

Yarrow

5. How far is your OC willing to go to get what they want?

pretty damn far I think! Yarrow's got an elf lifespan and so far unending drive, which leads to some pretty thorough and solid plans for his own future more often than not. He wouldn't want to hurt most people while trying to achieve his goals though. Most times that isn't necessary, but if it's a possibility for whatever reason be does his best to work around that risk for his own wants.

12. Is your OC self-destructive? In what ways?

He used to be far more self destructive! Yarrow's historically had a few times (many times) where he got in less-than-stellar relationships, took a dangerous amount of drugs, started drama, got in fights, and generally isolated himself from deeper relationships to self-destructive degrees. A lot of therapy and a huge desire to MOT do that on his part has minimized those tendencies to being a little bit of a shit-stirrer with the guards in the city he's in (they don't like him much) and still being guarded to a degree that doesn't always benefit him, though most of the time it's just maintaining boundaries he enjoys having nowadays.

Tova

5. How far is your OC willing to go to get what they want?

Tova used up a large portion of her determination to get Exactly What She Wants when becoming a ship captain at a relatively young age. She'll still doggedly chase after things for her job and for really big wants, but for minor things (perfect sailing pathways Always, exact meal specifications, workload on the ship, and sometimes but not always relationships) Tova tends to be more "if it happens, it happens" in nature

12. Is your OC self-destructive? In what ways?

Yes! In respone to extreme stress while at sea or on land she'll drink too heavily and regularly for it to be safe. She knows it's a bad habit and will likely hurt her before too long, but she's not exactly an expert at emotional processing so she's a little resigned to this.

23. What emotion is the hardest for your OC to process? How about express?

This one was a bit hard! Tova has a hard time processing and expressing a lot of emotions besides like... confidence and Battle Thrill (if that counts?) as she has to be strong Always as a captain. I think sadness or grief is likely the hardest for her to process and express, though. Fear of loss drives a lot of her self-destructive tendencies as well as her desire to keep moving as long as she can. It's something she knows she'll have to face eventually, though.

AND Dee

5. How far is your OC willing to go to get what they want?

Well! Dee's way is slow and steady and unbending to nearly anything that would get in their way. They have a heart in there somewhere but have lost most of their sympathy and empathy to time, and don't view the loss of life as a big loss for anyone they don't care massivly about.

12. Is your OC self-destructive? In what ways?

Sort of! Dehiscence is the type to lay down and quite literally let the detritus cover them for years if they're in a Certain Mood. They neglect their appearance to the detriment of their range of motion sometimes as well (mushroom overgrowth can block arm movements).

23. What emotion is the hardest for your OC to process? How about express?

Dee has a difficult time expressing most emotions! Not much inspires a big response in them anymore, as much as they used to be lively (a long time ago). As such they have a hard time expressing emotions in the typical ways, tending to communicate through touch and staring more than words or facial expressions. They have a very hard time processing disgust though, I suppose! They don't feel like many things (specifically physical things associated with rot as the most obvious option) are gross anymore

[bubbles-the-banshee]

Hey, Lindsey! Happy STS!

Who would be your OC(s)'s godly parent? Feel free to pull from any pantheon you'd like!

Back at it again with the awesome questions, Tori! Thank you <3

There is actually an in-world pantheon for Goddess Dead; however, I'm still buffing out a lot of the details, so I won't use them for this ask, but I will talk about them just a little.

I only have two "deities" so far. They go by many names, but—for simplicity's sake—we'll call them Mother and Moon. Only Mother calls herself a god, and only because that's what others have called her in the past. (She's the whole reason the book is named Goddess Dead.) Imagine: your own mother, even if you never had one. She is sitting in a garden. She is the garden, and a crown of antlers grows out of her eyes. She is bark and stream. She is the trees, their canopies, their roots, and their rot. She is always their rot. She calls your name, whispers it, and it feels like a cataclysm.

"Does a fire want to burn. Does a flower want to grow.” She speaks not in questions, but statements—as if uncertainty is the answer. “For now, I am content to rest and dream of what comes after.”

Moon is Mother's child—born of the violent moment when molten, space rock colided with molten, space rock. They are genderless and/or omnigender, and Mother loves them very much. In fact, lycanthropy was Mother's gift, so that Moon would not feel so alone. Imagine: a massive wolf made of starlight, comets dancing over their midnight fur—a supernova for a heart, and asteriod belts for teeth. A single, pupilless, gray eye reflecting the light of the sun.

"Be warned, little morsel: your own, sapien nature will be your unmaking, and this is a gift."

Now, on to the actual question (Who's your Greek Pantheon parent starring Eliott, Acon, Aisha, and Lea):

Eliott = Dioynsus. I don't know why this makes sense, but it 100% does. When I was a creative writing undergrad, and Eliott was just a little seed in my brain—I lovingly imagined them as that one classmate who shows up to lecture late with Starbucks™, wearing sunglasses, and a tailored suit. They are a dirt-poor hedonist with a 9-5 job. Peel back the trauma and self-inflicted purpose, and Eliott would love nothing more than to spent their days getting blasted at The Silken Sun.

Acon = Hades. Once again, we're going primarly based on vibes. Hades' name means "The Unseen One," and he's associated with weath and cunning, and I feel like there's a certain amount of structure/control involved in the domain the death which Acon would appreciate. Not cold, or particularly cruel, but certain. Certain, even and especially if you're not.

Aisha = Athena. Aisha enjoys presenting herself as a ridiculous jokster, but don't let her fool you; she is Captain of the Arcane Court's Guard for a reason. She earned that title by being a certified badass and strategic genius. She doesn't wear armor and carry a sword for pagentry's sake; she doesn't want to hurt anyone, but she'll start and end a war to protect those she loves.

Lea = Apollo. While Athena would be a good pick for Lea based on her profession as a librarian/archivist for Hervaskor's Arcane Court, Lea's particular brand of intellect has less to do with wisdom and more to do with truth. She isn't a particularly creative person (Aisha's the poetry-lesbian in their relationship), but Lea has a tendency to just kind of know things. Maybe it's magick. Maybe it's luck, or coincidence. Either way, she's a light in her loved one's lives.

[memento-morri-writes]

Happy Blorbo Blursday, Morri !

For the character who is most plot important what is his or hers or theirs relationship to a character who is a side character or significantly less important?

~ love, leia

Hi Leia!! Thanks for the ask!

Ooh, this is a fun question!!! Gives me a chance to talk about two relationships between side characters and Fallon.

Fallon and Captain Blackthorne:

Captain Blackthorne (Fallon's captain of the guard) has known Fallon since she was born. Literally her entire life. Because of this and also his good friendship with Rosalynn, he has a sort of fatherly love for her. And because of that, he really, really wants to protect her. The worst thing he can imagine happening is something happening to Fallon, and him not being able to do anything about it. (Like what happened to Rosalynn.) For her part, Fallon does love Captain Blackthorne. After her mother's death, he was literally the only person she trusted. She asked him to stay as her captain of the guard, and he did. However, since Wymond was basically completely absent from Fallon's life growing up, she's not used to having that kind of protective or fatherly love. (Not to say Rosalynn didn't love her, because she did. She adored Fallon. But her love was different from what Wymond's should have been, and what Blackthorne's is.) Because of this, Fallon sometimes feels vaguely smothered by Blackthorne, despite the fact that he genuinely means well and has her best interests at heart. (Not to mention that he's usually right.) And because of her tendency to push away the people she loves when stressed, Blackthorne often got the brunt of that. (See after Lavinia's attack when Fallon tells Blackthorne that she is his Queen, not his daughter.)

another relationship under the cut!

Fallon and Duncan:

I know I've mentioned some of this before, but Duncan is vitally plot important. A lot more than you would think, to be honest. I've half-jokingly said you can trace all of the problems of ATQH back to Pierre Pelle, and similarly, a lot of things happen because of Duncan. (not all bad.) Duncan is the Duke of a province in western Anvia, right along the border with Oryn. He's kind, caring, and puts his people first. Everyone loves him, from the citizens to the other nobles. And so when Fallon reopens the Palace and announces that she'll be open to receiving suitors, everyone assumes Duncan is the logical choice. He's well-loved by the people, handsome, Anvian, a hopeless romantic, plays the piano, and to top it all off, as a lovely singing voice. Oh, and he has a massive crush on Fallon. To everyone, it seems like he would make her perfectly happy, and be the ideal Prince Consort. And Fallon does respect him immensely. He's the kind of person that Fallon wishes more people were: honest, kind, and dedicated. She is very impressed and happy with what he's done with his province even in the first few years as Duke. But there's one problem. Fallon doesn't love him, at least not romantically. She's not even remotely attracted to him, either. She cares about him, and loves him as a friend, but she has no romantic feelings for him. So when he proposes, she lets him down slowly. Weirdly enough, this triggers both The Incident, and also Lavinia's assassination attempt. (For different reasons, but also not really.) Also, Duncan doesn't really trust Kristopher. He's from Oryn, and Duncan's province has been the most affected by the rebel raiders. And also, he can be arrogant at times, which Duncan doesn't like. But he's too nice, too kind, and too much of a pushover to do or say anything. Several years down the line, however, peace is made after Kris gets fucking poisoned and almost dies near Duncan's estate. :)))

Thanks for the ask, Leia!! Hopefully you like this answer!

[summoner-kentauris]

writing doodle with novel ai. hidden zacal backstory, with a surprise ending. retrospective angst

-

He is the most beautiful man you have ever seen, but you don't know that yet. You don't yet know that a single smile from him feels like a blazing beam from another, nor that the skin on the back of his hands is sot and he likes to let you touch him. You don't know he is the love of your life - you won't know that until it is far, far too late.

All you know now is this:

Someone is trying to kill you.

It's just a shadow in the corner of your eye, at first, then a small dark spot on the floor where someone should not be standing. Then it moves, and you are both fascinated and horrified by the way the shadows shift around its form as though they were dancing away from something. It makes no sound save for a soft creaking noise, and then nothing else. For every time you look at it, you see different things; at first glance, it looks like one of those strange fairies you've always heard about but never seen before, but when you stare long enough to make out more features—a face, a nose, a mouth, short, pale hair-

It's a person. No, it's a *child*. Like you.

You should be afraid. No one save your servants and your family are allowed in these chambers. No one.

Well, they and your guards.

Who are absent, now, as it is deep in the night.

The shadow - the child - stares. There is something there; a faint glow in the darkness, a colorless light. A voice, speaking a language you don't understand.

Then it says two words in the same tongue. Two little syllables. Three if you count the accent: "Kill him." And then the light vanishes, leaving only the darkness, and the creak of some old chair, and the shadow on the wall.

And a small child, crumpled on the ground.

It takes you three days to realize what has happened.

Three days. Three nights. Three mornings, three afternoons where you wake up with your blankets pulled off, or find yourself alone in bed while the rest of the household sleeps.

This was what Father calls an assassin. ''Kill him,'' he said.

He meant you.

-

You find your way down to the dungeons with effort. A prince has command of his castle; but you are prince in name only, for now, a child to be coddled and cared for and kept away from the things even adults dare not to think on. When you get to the dungeon, however, you find the door open. You enter.

The cells are empty. The places where prisoners were, you assume, supposed to have stood are bare stone. There are no chains, no spikes, and no corpses on the floor. No blood.

The story books you read, and sometimes have read *to* you if you're feeling patient, all agree on the point - dungeons are awful torture-y places where bad things happen to bad people. You're not sure, but you're fairly certain an assassin is a bad person. Even if he is a child. Even if he did faint.

Even if there was something familiar about his eyes.

''Kill him.''

Those two syllables, uttered in a strange accent. They must mean something.

Something terrible.

"I suppose," you say aloud, turning to face the empty cell opposite you, "that I ought to go and talk to my father."

There is no reply.

You turn back again, and walk out of the dungeon.

-

Truly, though, you know better than to ask your father for anything. He is a just, reasonable king. He wouldn't take nicely to the empty-headed wanderings of a child. He's busy. You can't take up his valuable time.

If you are going to find the child, you're going to have to do it on your own.

(Even then, you spare no thought that he might be dead. Somehow, you've never once quite believed that.)

First, you check the kitchens. If anyone is hiding in the shadows of the pantries or lurking in the corners of the ovens, they hide well. You search the house as thoroughly as you are able, calling for the boy, asking if he is hurt, but no one answers.

You have to be careful when checking the armory. If Captain Anna sees you, she'll ask what you're doing. You can't lie to her, which means she'll find out, which means... well, probably that she'll tell your father. You wouldn't want that. Besides, you find no one in the armories either.

You check the stables for someone hidden under the hay, but you find no one there. You search the woods and the gardens. You look in every room, and in every closet. You check every nook and cranny, and then you check them again. You wonder how many assassins lurk in the castle, armed and ready to fight. You are climbing up the outside wall of the castle, trying to get a view of the moat when it happens. You slip. Your foot catches in a broken tile, and you tumble.

Some moments last a lifetime. Waking up the morning after laying a sword at a friends neck, and realizing with horror what you'd done. Watching a town you were meant to protect go up in smoke behind you. Reading the funerary rites of a world you've never known before. These moments will haunt you, endlessly turning over and over again. They will last lifetimes each.

Falling from the parapets is over in a second.

You are standing, you are wondering, and then you are lying on the ground below, surrounded by cobblestones, dirt, and bits of moss. It's late afternoon. Perhaps later. Your head is ringing with pain, and there's a large lump forming above your temple. Someone is holding your arm and someone else is saying something. Something about a healer.

A hand touches your forehead.

"Hold still," says a voice. You were sure you were looking at sky a moment ago. Now, though, in only a heartbeats space you seem to be looking at broad wooden rafters of the healer's ward. Teleported? No. No, you would have noticed.

Someone is pressing something cold against your brow. "How do you feel?"

Your lips move, and you try to speak. But nothing comes out right. You squeeze your eyes shut and shake your head.

The Captain's voice, from nearby. You turn your head but something stops it. A brace? Pain? Things are starting to fuzz.

The captain is talking. But, not to you. No. NO.

You recognize the voice she's talking to.

Your father.

"I don't care," he's roaring, "That's not what I asked!"

You have to see her. To know that someone who cares about you is suffering, *because* of you, because of your foolishness, your weakness-

Your neck spasms. The pain jolts down your spine.

"My liege, please... I didn't mean—"

"Shut up! What do you think this is, some kind of game? Do you think I'm amused by this?"

She sounds like she's crying. That must be wrong. She cannot cry at such a time. The Captain is strong, and brave, and careful and looks out for you and for your sister and, oh gods, if Father ever sends her away—

You wrench your head another tiny bit. You squint through watering eyes. You see the edges of the Captain's hair, the glint of your father's ceremonial axe, your neck is screaming but if you could only - just - a little bit - more...

You twist one last time, gasp at the pain, and then at the surprise.

There, on the bed beside yours, is the shadow. The child. The assassin.

He's sleeping, but not well. He's breathing, but not deeply. There are numerous glowing glyphs pressed into skin that glow starkly through his simple healing shift. Worse than that, though, is the smell. Not a sick odor, but an old, familiar one. Blood and sweat and fear and despair all rolled together in a single horrible scent.

You look at him with a mix of amazement and dread.

There he is. And there you are. And in that moment, the two of you are exactly the same.

-

You won't remember that moment. The bump on your head will take care of that. Neither will he. He will be taken away for several weeks to work on a gate whose existence you won't learn about until much later. When he comes back, he will be tired, and ill, and will be returned to the healer's ward without a second thought. You'll end up there eventually, too, and will strike up a conversation with the healer's aide who looks so terribly familiar.

And it will go... well. Even though your father is furious and screams about the whole affair, even though the Captain will scold you repeatedly afterward, and your mother will fret and worry and finally, after much hesitation, tell you to go visit the boy and bring him gifts. Even though the child will be terrified of you when you arrive, and will start trembling as soon as you sit down next to him, and you will wonder if you should simply leave. Even though he will stare at you with wide, frightened eyes as you tell him a story about the heroes of old, and will stare, and stare, and then eventually shake his head and say you've got it all wrong and will tell *you* the story instead.

And eventually, you will find yourself sitting with him, listening to him laugh, and laughing with him, and you will realize that the boy is a brilliant, brilliant child, and that the world is a brighter place because of him.

And eventually, it will be the first time he told you a joke, even though he'd been born into a life of agony and death.

And eventually, it will be the last time.

...I tell you of these things because for you, it is not yet too late. For now, there are moments left. Moments where you can save us both.

For you, there is hope.

You, and you alone.

[captain-of-silvenar]

✨🧠🍀 for kerasil? 🥺

I screm, thank you for the ask!

---

✨ - How did you come up with the OC’s name?

So funny thing. I made Kerasil after I had made Yera who is her daughter. I was trying very hard to figure out a good mouth feel of a name. So I just went with my usual method of keysmash, making noises, until something felt right. 'Kera' was a good ring and 'sil' had a nice flow out.

And that was that! Except. Except that Yera has a secret full name which is 'Yerasil'. Sil meaning 'soul' in dovah. And

And

I JUST TYPED YERASIL BUT SWITCHED THE 'Y' WITH A 'K'.

And now all of China Tamriel knows my secret.

🧠- What do you like most about the OC?

Oh man, what's not to like about Kerasil? She's the most Bosmer of all Bosmers I've made. She's stubborn to the point of moving the moons (literally). She deeply loves life and will always forgive if it meant that someone will be alive and learn their lessons (hopefully). She is the foundational character that gave reason to why Yera acted a certain way.

She also is the first TES character I had that wasn't really the main hero, even though she's my main on ESO. So I got to explore what that mean in a world that was constantly going through world ending stuff.

She's also the most mom character ever. She adopted a whole ass man (looking at you @quartervirus) once she realized how much of a lonely wet noodle he was. And she'll do it again. None of you are free from adoption. She's Captain of the Guard in Silvenar, she can get that paperwork signed and done in a heart beat.

🍀- What originally inspired the OC?

As said before, she was just a character that was supposed to be "Yera's Mom". But then I had to think, "what kind of mother would influence and raise a person that would grow up to be the Dragonborn?" So I had to work backwards. If Yera had a temper that matched a dragon, where did she inherit it from? Dragon soul, or her parents?

The answer turned out to be her mother since the events of ESO and doing all the faction quests and such started to shape Kerasil. She was getting her development the more I played ESO and I am really happy with how she turned out!

So funny how I went backwards on the family tree. Starting with a child, then backwards to the mom and dad. Lets add a sibling. Oh maybe she has extended family. Uh oh, surprise uncle that adds new depths to Yera hehehehe.

Thanks for the ask! This was a lot of fun to do!

[successionmanga]

Chapter 9:

Just a reminder:

Because I am NOT typing it out again.

Anyway, Eco says that even if Dietrich put weird ideas in his head, he hopes his words would keep Belca safe for a while. He knows that Belca might be happier as Dietrich's puppet but...that'll be no fun for a little stinker like Eco. Then he hears a bunch of noise from outside...

But the Captain first! He can't relax in the mansion while the Amontel are attacking so he walks outside the room. Then he sees Belca confront the Amontels outside. When Belca is shot at, he manages to dash down and take the arrow for him, protecting his precious Mariebelle.

Then the captain sees his pendant, finally (actually) recognizing him. Tenrou thinks that, with Belca's fancy clothes, he's the young master of this place so he wants him to take him to where the slaves are. But Shingetsu tells him to wait, saying there's a signal from the bank of the lake and that means Dietrich's men already knows they're there. They do a Pincer attack on them, they're screwed. Tenrou says oh well, they got all the information they need from the maid. They can just take Belca as a hostage instead and get out of Dodge. The Captain tries to protect him but ends up with an arrow through his ankle, courtesy of Shingetsu. Belca tries to protect him but he's outmanned; they give him a choice: come with them or the captain and the maid dies. Despite that throwing a wrench in his "return to Orcelito" plans, Belca agrees, becoming a hostage.

Captain is thrown into the waters and the Amontels board a boat with their new hostage. They tell the maid to send a message: they're return with Belca later, offering his life for their comrades.

Later on, Dietrich gets word that Belca was kidnapped, the Amontels cleverly outmanuevering them by going someplace where they weren't expected to show up and thus taking advantage of the lack of guards there. Dietrich's attendant guy says that it's kind of a good thing that this happened before word was sent back that they have the prince in their custody. Dietrich says the prince must be rescued; he can't miss this chance to get a connection with Lord Lagen!

Shingetsu and Tenrou are greeted back at their meet-up spot by another Amontel, Belca in tow. Then the Captain walks up, having swam after them to save Belca. Then he passes out.

Back at the jail, a maid comes with Eco's blanket and heater (Oh, he was serious about that...). Eco recognizes her as Annette, a maid who's been working in the mansion for years. She's happy to be recognized and gives him his blanket...and his missing poem book, knowing how much he missed it. Eco is so happy...which is a feeling he'll want to hold onto as much as possible because Annette then tells him Belca was kidnapped.

Eco demands to be let out to rescue him but Annette says that's impossible. Dietrich has the keys and if she steals them, she won't just be flogged...she'll be subject to the experiments, just like the Amontel!

Wait, what?

Yeah, that's what Dietrich has been using the Amontels for, shooting them up with drugs and stuff like that. Eco asks if he's working with Lagen on that and Annette confirms it, asking how he knows about that. Instead of answering, he asks Annette to do him another favor...

Meanwhile, Hostage!Belca wakes up against a giant fox in a cave somewhere. Shingetsu greets him, currently dressing the Captain's wounds. Belca tries to push him away, thinking he's attacking him, only for Shingetsu to take out a knife and throw it at him...hitting the rat about to pounce on him. Apparently the rats in this setting are venomous...he then tells Belca that because he's their hostage, they're not gonna hurt him because they need him for the exchange. Until then, he should get some rest. His giant fox doesn't bite. Also, the captain's wound is (somehow) shallow and the shot was just meant to scare Belca. Some herbs have been applied on the wounds so he should be fine in 2 to 3 days. Belca is awed that these monsters are behaving in such a surprisingly rational manner. He still wants to leave...but the Captain has a fever so it's impossible to move him. He sighs and calls the Captain an idiot, asking why he had to pull such a dumb stunt for him...

Outside the cave, an Amontel named Izayoi comes in and is briefed on the situation. Then he finds the pendant the Amontel swiped from Belca, horrified that they KIDNAPPED THE FUCKING PRINCE.

Now, at the Royal Prefecture in Neue Favrille, Kiliko and Lagen's men are trying to locate pages from the Rovisco Documents as well as decipher them. Turns out Lagen's family are called the Guardians of History and this is their main duty. Then they find some controversial literature, including some text explicitly speaking out against the royal family. The missing pages were most likely taken out by someone who is against the crown which also means someone else knows about the secret backroom...

Tenrou stomps back into the cave when we cut back to Belca, demanding to know if the latter is actually the Prince. He then comments if he's Hector's brother, he's his exact opposite. That pisses Belca off and he charges him, screaming that it's the Amontel's fault that Hector is dead because he wanted to treat them as human beings and the elders killed him for it. The other Amontels are shocked to hear this...and so is the Captain who just woke up. Tenrou recovers quickly, glad that they can now do a hostage exchange with the Stone Capital's King. Belca laughs at him, saying there's no way that the kingdom will bargain for a troublemaker like him. Sure, the elders want him but that's only because he knows they killed Hector. The Captain tries to get Belca to stop talking but Belca goes on, saying they wasted their time and that the kingdom wouldn't want to negotiate with a bunch of evil disgusting creatures like them anyway.

The Amontel are about to fuck him up but Shingetsu stops them, wanting to ask Belca a question: did he see it? You know, when the Evil Deity that created the Amontel...did it? They were just minding their own business in the mountains and then the Stone Capital guys came in and started colonizing. Being hunted, treated as slaves, eaten like food...they keep calling the Amontel evil but the way the Amontel are treated is evil in of itself!

So...on the Western Trail at the Florel Town Outpost, Musca is being prepared for her stay. While there, she overhears rumors that Orcelito is indeed acting strangely and some think he has been replaced with someone else. Musca thinks to herself: her mom's dead, her dad's sick, Hector's "gone away" and Belca is missing...she's the only one who can save her older brother. But how is she going to get back to the palace?

Enter Ossan.

It's his last day in Florel and he's about to head to Lobnec Peninsula, having already submitted his resignation. The chapter ends with Musca seeing him...

[eric-the-bmo]

15, 36, 49 for the OC ask game!

aa sorry if this isnt very good i am. tired and in a bit of achey pain but lets go

15. which ocs are too self-sacrificial? Ooh, I think I answered this one before! I'd go with Apollo, Ios, and Ophelia. With both Ios and Apollo being in cults, and Ophelia being captain of the guard, they all put other people first. Apollo is probably the most self-sacrificial between these three, though, since he's in a ☆one-sided codependent relationship☆ with his god, and he doesn't really see himself as a person anyway, his wants don't really matter.

36. which ocs want/have pets? what pets are they? Sasha had a pet cat in his first draft named Rita! He's going through a rewrite, so I don't know if she'll still be there or not. Gel has canonically tried to bring pets (aka random wildlife) into Moira's tower before, so they definitely do want a pet. I like to imagine they get a dog after their adventure.

49. which ocs will let a device run to low battery? which ocs will charge a device at 80%? Most of my characters exist in places where technology doesn't exist, but Ven would probably charge his device at 80%. John would be the same, if he ever gets a cell phone, and Theodore lets his run low. I don't think Sasha would? It's a bit hard to figure out given how he has cybernetics, do those need charging? Either way, I think he'd be a bit nervous about letting his devices run out of juice- he's in a cyberpunk setting! Public places probably charge you a lot of money for charging your phone out there!

[dysfunctionalmaki]

To Remember

Previous part: To Realize

Main Masterlist

Pairings: Natasha Romanoff x Fem!Stark!Reader

Summary: Natasha's been connecting all the dots about how she feels about you, it's up to her to how she'll handle the situation.

Warnings: none, let me know if there's any.

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You wake up alert and on your guard when you feel someone touching you, and manage to calm your nerves as soon as seeing the redhead and pair of green eyes looking at you. "God, I thought you were dead," Natasha says before sighing.

"Well, obviously, I am pretty much alive." You retort, yet the worry and concern didn't leave Natasha, and you notice the two of you shivering due to the temperature. Taking both her hands, you blow air on her skin attempting to make her feel better. "I think we should change our clothes, we're soaking wet." You comment, and she agrees.

"When you said it wasn't after us, what is that psycho after then?" You ask her as you stand up from where you were laying down, attempting to dust off the dirt that's already clinging to your clothes. "It's after this." She told before taking something inside the pocket of her hoodie, revealing a bunch of vials with something red.

"What is it?" You ask once more, Natasha shrugged and now showing you a photo of her probably around 10 or 11, she has blue-dyed hair and there's someone younger than her. You look at her and she seems taken aback, seeing her old photos.

"She's my little sister…" Nat didn't say anything more, you don't want to force any information about her at this time, you offer your hand yet hesitated before holding on to it. "Are you alright? I'm sorry I couldn't help, I barely felt my body after the explosion." You confessed.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked you to come along to get some gas." She apologized, you look at her with furrowed brows. "It's alright, it's not every day you get an RPG launching towards you while driving a car." You tried to joke about the situation, and you managed to make her smile a little.

"But, I could have gotten you killed." You roll your eyes, quickly placing her hand on your chest for her to feel your heart beating. "Well, I'm alive, save that for another day." You say, then Natasha stayed silent.

"Let's just go, we're going to Budapest." She says as she takes her hand back to herself, not holding your hand anymore, kinda hurt when the two of you walk back in the forest and into the caravan, not mentioning a word about the kiss that happened earlier.

Changing clothes, and managed to get all the necessities in a bag, then the two of you left the place as if no one stayed there recently. There's nothing but complete silence between the two of you, she occasionally asks if you're okay then there's nothing more, not even small talk.

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The two of you got off the train, the two of you didn't initiate a conversation during the whole trip, all she said was the two of you would be heading to the Budapest safe house. You tried to ask what she and Clint did here in the country. Her answer was short and simple. "I'm only removing my last defect on SHIELD," she said.

Now the two of you are outside the door, you have your handgun out while she tries to pick the lock, then a voice comes from inside. "I know you're out there." The female inside spoke. "I know you know I'm out here," Nat replied, then finally opened the door. "Whatever happens between me and Yelena, you don't do anything, alright?" She quickly says before heading inside.

The two of you have your guards up then Yelena speaks again. "Then why are you and your friend are skulking around like you're in a minefield?" Natasha chuckled sarcastically at the comment. "Because I don't know if I can trust you," Nat commented.

"Funny, I was going to say the same thing." Yelena finally revealed herself, a blonde female in her 20s, and she has a gun pointed at Natasha. The redhead looks at you signaling that it's time for you to back away, you place your gun back at your holster raising your hand where Yelena can see them.

"Didn't expect you'd bring a friend," Yelena says, her eyes never leaving Natasha's figure, then the two of them still have their guns pointed at one another. You decide it's best to leave the two alone, and you look around the flat, not touching anything and still careful while wandering around.

You started hearing dishes getting broken, somebody getting thrown on the ground, door, probably kitchen cabinet too. You trust Nat and decided to stick to your word that you won't do anything if something happens, maybe this is how they greet one another? You're not going to be surprised actually.

Then the noise died, you've decided to check both of them, and they were choking each other with a curtain, the place is absolutely trashed but none of them seems to be injured. Both of them turned red until Natasha called for a truce.

"You've grown up," Natasha says, Yelena stood up then looked at you as she replied to Nat. "No shit." Then the blonde heads into the kitchen and chugging vodka straight out of the bottle. "This is how you guys greet each other? Wouldn't say it's sweet, but you guys do your thing." You asked Nat.

Natasha shook her head. "Haven't seen her in like 20 years, trust issues, y'know?" You chuckle at her answer, then the two of you follow Yelena.

"You had to come to Budapest, huh?" Natasha says as she takes a drink in a shot glass, Yelena shot her a look before speaking. "I came here because I thought you wouldn't." Then her eyes trailed at the walls. "But since you're here, what bullet does that?" You and Nat look at the holes in the wall.

"Those are arrows." You answered Yelena, and she seemed to be content with it. "If you thought I wouldn't come here then why did you send me this?" Natasha says before placing the vials along with the picture on the table. "You brought it back here?" Yelena says with worry in her voice.

"Well, tell me what it is," Natasha commanded, then Yelena talks about it being a synthetic gas that has something to do with altering their mind. "In English, please?" Nat says with confusion on her face. "это противоядие от контроля над разумом (it's an antidote to mind control.)" Yelena spoke, causing you to chuckle.

Natasha looks at both of you before commenting. "Real mature." You furrow your brow with what Nat has said before defending yourself. "It was funny? Your sister has humor, Nat." You say now crossing both of your arms.

"Why don't you take it to your super scientist's friends, her dad?" Yelena asked while pointing at you. "We're actually on the run and we're federal fugitives as of the moment, sorry." You replied to Yelena, and you haven't noticed that Nat changed her shirt.

"Well, where's an Avenger when you need one?" Yelena spoke, and Nat glared at her sister, holding Natasha's arms when she walked towards Yelena. Stopping her from probably starting another fight, and she seems like she wouldn't so you let go of her.

"You could've gotten both of us killed." Natasha raised her voice, then you looked away trying to avoid the conversation. "What was I supposed to do? You're the only superhero person I know." Yelena spoke, and you felt bad for Yelena when Nat almost shouted at her sister.

"You know, I keep on checking the news about Captain America taking down the Red Room," Yelena says and Natasha looks at her surprised, you are confused since she and Clint already took down the Red Room, they always joke about Budapest. "What? Dreykov's dead, we almost blew up an entire building just to take him down." Nat spoke.

"Who's we?" Natasha rolled her eyes and answered. "Barton, we stayed here for 10 days before even leaving the country," Nat explained, yet Yelena isn't even convinced. "Then tell me exactly what happened, tell me the full details."

Natasha didn't speak as if she was holding something back, you were sitting down on a chair watching the tense scene between the two. "Did you check for Dreykov's body?" Yelena asked once again.

"There was no body left to check," Natasha answered, and Yelena scoffed as if Nat wasn't speaking the truth, then silence filled the room. Until the three of you heard footsteps outside, then Natasha pulled you to hide in safety.

Suddenly you and Nat heard the window crash and footsteps going in your direction. "You alright?" Nat asked, you just nodded trying to be silent, then Natasha's eyes went searching for Yelena.

Now she sees Yelena going across the room, turning some switch and causing a continuous explosion, then the three of you used the advantage of it and fleeing the building, you and Nat followed Yelena since she seems to be headed somewhere.

"Where are we supposed to go?" Natasha asked while the three of you were running for your lives. "East side of the building! Motorcycles!" Yelena answered, now the three of you managed to get on the roof. A lady is wearing a similar suit to what Nat would usually wear chasing all of you, seems like she's not hesitating to kill you all too.

Now there's nowhere to go other than jumping on the chimney and probably hoping for the best, you and Nat removed some piece of metal that connects the chimney to the roof, as soon as the both of you removed it. The three of you hopped on and held tight, suddenly the lady decided to join, yet she missed.

Natasha managed to hold the lady, trying to knife Nat's hands then she slipped from her grasp, causing the stranger to fall, the chimney now crashed on a building, you and Yelena fell and crashed in a window.

"Who are these people?" You ask Yelena, helping her to stand up, and two of you catch your breaths before heading to Natasha. "There are other Widows, trying to retrieve the vials and return it to Dreykov." You nodded with her explanation.

"Let's get to Natasha and free the widow chasing us," Yelena says, taking out one of the vials in her bag, then the two of you rushing down the stairs, and you wish that Natasha is safe, probably doesn't have a broken bone too.

"I believe you must be exposed to the gas then?" You ask her once again, Yelena looks at you. "Why do you think they're after me too?" She answered sarcastically. "Yeah, right… dumbass." You muttered to yourself, as soon as the two of you reached the ground floor.

The both of you kicked the door open, to see Natasha kneeling on the ground. "Do you believe me now?" Yelena asked, seeing the widow chasing the three of you lifeless on the ground, she slowly took back the vial in her bag. "How many are there?" Natasha asked, her back facing the both of you.

"Enough, let's go," Yelena says before heading to fetch her motorcycle, you don't usually feel this type of adrenaline in your body, considering the fact that your father would only allow you into in and out missions.

After lots of running and ducking to avoid getting shot by other widows, the three of you finally get to the motorcycle, of course, it's a two-person vehicle. "Which one is yours?" Natasha asked Yelena. "Black, brown seat." She quickly answered.

You heaved a sigh before taking the motorcycle next to it and hot-wiring it. "Looks like Stark isn't such a good girl, what do you think?" Yelena commented, before hopping on her motorcycle and letting Nat drive.

Once you've finally powered the vehicle, the three of you are being chased by an armored car. "Y/N! Follow us!" Nat shouted, of course, you're going to follow them. It's not like you'll survive having a psycho who copies your friends and being chased down by a trained assassin would do you any good.

Managing to lose the armored vehicle, there are other widows on the bike too, you're actually surprised of what they are capable of, it seems like Nat really must be one hell of an assassin.

Everything is going well until the three of you are welcomed by traffic, and suddenly a widow shoots the wheel of her motorcycle, while Natasha and Yelena crash into a car. You got out of your vehicle and followed the two, seeing Yelena pointing a gun at a man to make him get out of the car.

"You can't just steal a guy's car?" Natasha commented while Yelena got in the car first, then you're all panicking and shit, you followed Yelena inside and realized you sat down on her lap. "Well, Stark stole a bike earlier." She says while looking confused with you on her lap.

"I am panicking, it's my first time experiencing all this." You defended yourself, Natasha finally got inside and started to drive the car. "Y/N, are you alright?" Natasha asked, rolling your eyes by hearing that question for the nth time.

Suddenly you get dizzy, is it because you're probably panicking too much? Or the fact that all you've done the whole week was to run either from authorities or trained assassins. Your vision started to get all blurry, and you can't understand anything that Nat or Yelena was saying at the moment.

And you passed out due to the stress you've been feeling.

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You felt a sudden pain in your left arm and that woke you up, quickly sitting down you notice you're in a cramped and small space, is this the morgue? Are you dead? You placed a hand on your chest and released a relieved sigh when you felt your heart beating.

"It's been a year, Stark, you passed out while we're on the run," Yelena spoke, a hand on your shoulder trying to comfort. "What? No, that can't be-"

"Yelena, stop." As soon as you hear Natasha's voice, you feel safe, and you didn't notice that you were laying your head on her lap when you collapsed. "What happened?" You ask the two.

"Psycho comes back and shoots another RPG, hence why you're injured and we're hiding in this air vent." Nat simply explained and ran your hands on your hair. "How long was I out?" Asking once again. "Less than 10 minutes," Yelena answered. "I'm sorry…" you softly spoke.

"It's alright, it's normal that you reacted the way you did." Natasha comforts you, then to your surprise she takes your hand and intertwines your fingers with her. "I'm glad that the two of you are safe." You say as you hold on tight to Nat's hand.

"It still doesn't make sense, I killed Dreykov, dropped an entire building on him," Natasha spoke, Yelena looked at her before scoffing. "Truth doesn't really make sense when you only omit key details, what happened to Dreykov's daughter?"

"She was collateral damage, I had to take her down too," Natasha admitted. You felt the guilt in her when she admitted, then you suddenly remember how she and Clint would joke about Budapest.

"Wait… you and Clint joke about exploding a child?" You look at Natasha who's looking at the floor. "Sometimes using humor to cope helps, Y/N," Nat says, then you remember how much your father joked about what happened in New York, you think it's quite… valid?

"This is quite cozy for some air vent." You say trying to change the topic of the conversation, you moved your ass to sit down next to Nat, your head subconsciously resting on her shoulder. "Clint and I stayed up here for 2 days." She says, fiddling with your fingers and resting her head on top of yours.

"I'll see if we're good to go." Yelena says before opening the entrance of the vent, then she went back in the subway, now you and Nat are alone. "Are you ok–" Natasha was about to ask the same question she asked you for the whole day.

"Nat, no, I'm actually not, I'm fucking scared, and I feel like anytime Ross is going to be here or that Dreykov's special project is after us or the other widows." You let out, Natasha looks at you, then noticing that you just shed a tear, you are scared. Fearing that one of you get to be thrown in jail, or get killed because of some mind-controlled assassins.

"Y/N, you're doing great for someone whose first time being on the run, I know it's all hard to take in and if only we went our separate ways, you wouldn't have been dragged into this." She lets go of your hand, instead, she places her hand on your cheek once again, wiping the teardrop on your skin.

"If we've gone our separate ways I wouldn't last a day without you, I'm probably chilling with Wanda and Clint, I'm not saying they're not good company, but I don't want to be in jail." You say, and Natasha nodded. "I know what you mean, Y/N, I know…"

Then you notice the distance between the two of you, faces an inch apart, the two of you can feel each other's breath once again, and your eyes trailed down on her lips which Natasha noticed.

"That's also me saying I wouldn't last a day without you." You confessed, before resting your forehead against hers, Natasha was expecting you to kiss her, but being this close to you, she doesn't really mind, as long it's you she's doing it with.

Natasha stayed quiet, as she enjoyed the peacefulness of this moment, then she slightly pulled away from you to place a chaste kiss on your forehead, and she held both of your arms, wrapping them around her neck, now her arms made their way to your waist.

Burying her face at the crook of your neck while she holds you tight and close, you shut your eyes as the two of you embrace each other. While in the middle of the calm and serene moment, the lid of the air vent came off then. "We're good to go and we've got to be quick!" Then the two of you get off each other, if Nat gets to kiss you before you fall off the bridge, pretty sure you can kiss her before getting off the vent.

"Nat, wait…" You hold her arm since she's about to go down first, and she looks at you over her shoulders, you move closer to her before crashing your lips against hers, you softly bite her lower lip before slowly pulling away, and you see a smile on her face as she hopped down.

"Did you two just?" Yelena looks at Natasha, cringing with what her sister just did, Nat waits for you to get down before following Yelena. "Do we not talk about that too?" You ask Natasha before following her, and she looks at you with a smirk.

"Depends on what you want to talk about," Natasha replied, then you raised a brow at her response, you jogged leaving her behind and catching up with Yelena. "I will act like you didn't just kiss my sister a second ago so that we can communicate without me remembering that," Yelena says.

You chuckle, yet you smile at what she just said. "Is your sister usually annoying like that?" You ask Yelena while pointing your thumbs at Natasha, then the two of you look over your shoulders to see her.

"Ah, yes, I don't know what runs through her head," Yelena replied, while Natasha on the other hand, looks at the two of you not knowing what the hell you two were talking about.

Let's say that she's hoping and praying that Yelena doesn't say something about her in front of you.

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After staying in the vent and managing to run away from the Task Master, the three of you ended up in a convenience store in the middle of nowhere, you bought some alcohol, and bandages to properly care for your wound, and Yelena looked around the store for an alcoholic drink.

"Where is the Red Room?" Natasha asked while she's washing her hands on the sink, Yelena shrugged and shook her head. "I don't know, every widow is sedated at every entrance and exit for maximum security," Yelena replied, as she took a look at some bottled alcohol, then tossed it to you.

"Where do you think I was after all this time?" Yelena asked Natasha, the latter faced her younger sister, and she looked at her. "I thought you're living a normal life," Natasha answered, you take the items they took and head to the cashier to pay for them.

"And you never bothered to check on me?" Yelena says, Natasha followed you at the front, yet she didn't leave the store yet. "I thought you never wanted to see me." She told Yelena, and the latter rolled her eyes then scoffed.

"Just say you don't want your baby sister to tag along and save the world with the cool kids," Yelena says with a smirk on her face, and Natasha clenches her jaw. "You're not really my sister–"

"And the Avengers aren't really your family, well… except for Stark, she stayed with you after all this running," Yelena commented, and suddenly she changed the topic. "Why do you always do that thing?" And Nat looks at her with a questioning look.

"Oh, that thing!" You butted in, then you do the infamous Black Widow pose, Yelena nodded giving you a thumbs up for knowing what she means. "You're a poser, Natasha," Yelena commented, then Nat raised a brow. "I'm not a poser." The latter says.

"It's okay if you're a poser, it's just that you think that everybody is looking at you." Natasha retorted, and you chuckle at the bantering between the two. "All the time I spent on posing, I was doing something good, to make up for all the pain and suffering we've caused." The mood changes real quick, now you stay silent.

"Well, pain and suffering is every day and we'll always be the trained killer that we are," Yelena says, the guy at the cashier hands the plastic bag containing all the items you bought, and you leave the store first. Natasha followed after and taking the bag from your hands, you looked at her who seemed exhausted from all the events happening.

"Do you want something to eat or drink?" You nodded, Nat signs you to follow her, and after a little bit of walking, with Yelena behind the two of you, the three of you arrived in a small food place.

You sat down then Natasha went inside, ordering cheeseburgers only for you, and beers for all of you, she sat down next to you, while Yelena settled in front of you two.

"An older widow freed me, and I killed her," Yelena says as she takes a sip from her beer, Natasha unwrapped the cloth on your arm, and she tends your wound while listening to Yelena. "Did you have a choice?" You ask her, and she only shook her head as an answer. "Then it's not your fault," Natasha says.

Yelena's eyes shifted at the family going home across the place you three are drinking, she seemed to like the view of what seems to be a happy and functional family. "Have you ever looked for your parents, the real ones?" Natasha looked at the latter as soon as she finished putting a bandage on your wound.

"I got abandoned on the street like garbage, I don't think I have a reason to look for them," Natasha says then she takes a good sip at her drink before asking Yelena the same question. "Well, they ruined my birth certificate so I made a new one." She said with a smile, and Nat seemed to brighten up.

"It says that I still live in Ohio, I have an older sister who moved to the west and she works as a science teacher, but she started working part-time when she had her son, and she has a husband who is a construction work–" Natasha halted Yelena speaking when she chuckled at her story. "That's definitely not my story," Nat says, then Yelena leaned back on her seat.

"Yeah, what is your story?" Yelena asked, and without you knowing, Natasha looks at you while you're spacing out. "Well, I don't really have a story, I don't have much to think about it alone," Nat answered. "But if I'm pretty sure it involves another person, who's a Stark?" Yelena teased, and with the mention of your last name, you look at the latter.

"What about you? What is your story?" Yelena says, then you wipe your mouth with the tissue before speaking. "Well, I was created because of my father's one of many hookups, lived with my grieving mother while I was an infant and she's grieving cause Dad won't marry her, so she left me at his doorstep, we did DNA tests to prove that I was really his and now he loves me more than anything." You say, smiling at the memory of your father who did everything he could to raise you.

"Then why aren't you with him?" Yelena asked once more, you look at Nat for a bit before answering. "Because I chose to do what I think is right, and probably did follow my heart." The blonde chuckled, noticing that Natasha was blushing at what you've just said.

"I have a plan." Natasha suddenly spoke, you and Yelena looked at the redhead. "Is it killing Dreykov and taking down the Red Room?" Yelena told Nat, and she earned a nod from Nat. "Even if he's way too slippery to kill and Red Room's impossible to find?" She nodded once again.

"Sounds like a shit load of work," Yelena says, making you and Nat chuckle. "Yup," Nat replied and Yelena took another sip at her beer. "Could be fine though." You say as you take the final bite of your burger. "Yup,'' Yelena said.

"I saw where he put the keys," Natasha says as she looked at the car, that the man of the family parked in the garage, the three of you smiled before speaking in unison.

"Top drawer green cabinet."

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Next Part: To Make Action

taglist: @snooy245 @madamevirgo @nightingalxx

[writteninkat]

iv - carnival tickets

word count: 2,246

warnings: mentions of blood and dead animals

"I'ma break you off, let me be your motivation"

index

Today was the day you and the rest of class 1A can finally try out their hero costumes. You smiled, looking at yourself in the mirror, giving yourself butterflies as you do so.

Your hero costume was a simple black bodysuit type. Garters attacked to the clothing helped keep your thigh high boots up. The top covered your entire arms, hands and fingers- you designed it this way so your palms wouldn’t be littered with callouses given that you deal with weapons like swords and scythes every time you use your quirk.

The bodysuit is a title neck type that showed off your shoulders. Your costume is finished off with a full face black kitsune mask with glowing blue paint around the eyes, it makes up the whiskers as well as a little nose of a fox.

You keep it up on your head, not wanting to put it on unless you're engaging in combat.

You close your locker, joining the girls who are hyping each other up in what they’re wearing. You all step out of the changing area and you can’t help but feel giddy as you approach your teachers, excited with the activities for today.

Everyone begins freaking out at the site of All Might- which you don’t get at all. He’s blond, has a freakish smile and a built body. So what? “Who’s he?” You whisper at Mina who looks at you as if you’ve grown two heads.

“What?”

You sigh, “Who’s he? And why is everyone freaking out about him?” You ask again and Mina gives you that same look, but much worse. She’s acting as if you’ve just asked a very stupid question. “That’s All Might.” She answers, tone unusually calm and soft.

“I meat who is he?”

“The number one hero.”

You furrow your brows, gaze scanning the man who’s busy talking in front of the awestruck class. You tilt your head to the side, “That’s your number one pro hero?” You ask, pouting.

“You sound a lot of things- underwhelmed? Disappointed? Dissatisfied?” Bakugou says from behind you, the look in his eyes catching you off guard. You pause for a moment, choosing your words carefully to make sure you’re not offending anyone who’s within earshot.

“You look up to him?” You ask and he raises a brow at you as if you’ve just asked the most obvious question in all time. “He’s been my hero since forever. I look up to him more than anyone in the world. He’s my inspiration and the one of the biggest contributors to my dream go being a hero.” Your eyebrows lift in shock, you’ve never heard nor seen Bakugou respect a person so much. And by the looks of Mina, Kirishima and Denki, they haven’t seen this side of him either.

Your heart breaks as you return your gaze to the number one hero in front of you, smiling sadly. You don't know how or why, but your judgement tells you that the seven-footer man in front of you isn't all that powerful- not anymore at least.

"Here's the breakdown. There will be four teams of two- half of them will be heroes and the other half will be villains. The hero team can win in two ways; you can either capture the villains or retrieve the bomb. The villain team wins if the hero team is unable to do any of the tasks within the time limit." He explains quite clearly and thoroughly.

You feel your heart beat against your chest, you're feeling very giddy. Your excitement causes Bakugou's lips to twitch upwards, carving out a soft smile to which he hides almodt immediately so no one can see him.

All Might pulls out a draw lots box, letting fate decide which teams everyone belong to. You end up being teammates with Aoyama and Mina who you happily greet.

Everyone is asked to stay inside a monitoring room to watch and observe their classmates in battle. When All Might announces Bakugou and Izuku's team being up first, you don't think before walking up to the blond and placing a hand on his shoulder. He turns his head to the side, raising an expecting brow.

"Good luck out there." You smile softly to which he scoffs at. "I don't need luck to win." He punches his palm as he sets of his quirk, "I already know I will."

You roll your eyes, walking towards Izuku to wish him good kuck as well before following the class to the monitor room. Your eyes scan over the wall of monitors, finding it closely similar to the monitor room your house has back in the US.

As you watch Bakugou and Izuku in battle, it's clear to see that there's something going on between them. There seems to be a conflict between them that you can't quite point and as much as you wanted to ask Bakugou about it, you decided to wait until he'd tell you.

Why on earth do you think he'd tell you?

You shake your head and clear your stupid thoughts, stepping away into a corner and sitting down to mentally prepare yourself. As you try to meditate, you don't realise how much time has went by until you're being called by All Might for your turn.

You scan the room but don't spot an angry blond nor an angel look-a-like green haired boy. You pout, hoping to at least see thosep pretty vermilion eyes before the activity.

As you take your steps towards the building, a small smile stretches across your lips when you see Bakugou's familiar back towards you, only for it to smile when you see just how upset he looks like.

"C'mon, Y/n! We're the villains right now we can't be late!!" Mina calls out to you, waving her hand up. You look back at Bakugo one last time, your gazes catching each other before you step inside the building, pulling your mask down to cover your face.

"Hey Mina? Can you let me take charge of our group?" You ask as the three of you make your way towards the room where the fake bomb is. "Alright! We'll be at your command!" She salutes to you a little too enthusiastically to which you chuckle softly at, making sure to smile with your eyes to make sure she sees you're smiling despite the mask covering your face.

After All Might makes sure each teams' statuses are a go, he commences the activity. "Alright. What would you like for us to do, captain?" Mina asks. You stay quiet for a moment, summoning two katanas in each of your hands. You move them around, making sure your wrists are loose and flexible before actually using them.

"You guys can stay still and guard the bomb." You say, adjusting your gloves before turning around to face the only entrance and exit of the room. "I'll have to go and hunt me some heroes."

"It's been a few minutes since they started and when Y/n suddenly disappeared like that. What do you think the villains are planning?" Tsuyu asks, eyes on the screen as the class continues to search for you in every monitor in the wall, but to no avail.

"I've been seeing a few mice here and there. Do you think that's Koda's doing?" Kirishima asks, to which Denki asks back, "Are the mice you see dead or alive?"

Kirishima furrows his brows at the blond, about to explain how the mice are alive but stops himself when he looks back at the screen and sees the mice he was looking at just a few seconds ago was now dead, body sliced in half. He checks the other monitors as well and his confusion rises even more at the sight of multiple dead mice all over the floors.

"Time is ticking, heroes. You better get to the bomb or if this was a real life situation it'd have blown up by now." All Might says into the mic which puts pressure on the two boys.

The class watches in anticipation as the two steps into a wide and open room, somewhere similar to where Bakugou and Izuku were fighting in a while ago.

"No one's here." Sato states, turning around. "Then, there should only be one room left-"

"Leaving so soon, heroes?" You ask, body leaning on the closed door with one foot pressed on it and your arms crossed across your chest.

Sato and Koda raise their guards, stepping into a fighting stance as theylook at you with such focused eyes. You chuckle, "Your little friends running around the building were pretty hard to find. Not to mention there were quite a handful of them which caused me to reach my speed quirk's limit."

"So it was Y/n who sliced all those rats? But we didn't see her at all. There were no movements in any of the cameras." Sero points out, confusion evident in his face. "Well, she did use her speed quirk. And if what she stated was true, then she'll be no longer to use that quirk of hers, at least during this fight." Iida voices out.

"Two guys against one girl? Isn't that too unfair for her?" Mineta asks, receiving a growl from Bakugou. "If you think her being a girl puts her at a disadvantage you're wrong. If you wanna be a hero, it doesn't matter what your gender is, as long as you're strong."

Despite being in a foul mood, Bakugou still found himself wanting to fight for you. He didn't like the thought of people lookibg down at him, but he found it weird how he preferred it when people not look down at you instead.

"Come on boys. I'll keep this quick and short for you so we can end this activity already." Fingerless boxing gloves appear in each of your hands, they're black but with neon blue accents. You get into a fighting stance, "I really hate sweating."

Sato charges at you, throwing a naive punch at your way to which you dodge easily- scoffing. What was he trying to do, intimidate a little child? As you moved your body to the side, dodging his immature punch, you punch him in the gut, eyes on Koda as you do this.

You hear Sato wheeze before his body falls to the ground. You crack your knuckles, walking towards Koda who begins to panic, using his quirk to call in all sorts of birds and squirrels.

"Koda, this is as scary as being chased by a street gang of kittens." You say, stepping towards him. You step to his side, bringing your hand up to his forehead and flicking it, the contact causing him to tremble before losing consciousness.

Your mother's body guard taught you this- it was a skill he said that most assassins he worked with knows about. He never clearly explained to you how to do it, but as long as your opponent had the slightest bit of fear for you, it will end up working. For Koda's case, he looked like he was about to piss his pants, so it worked out a little too well for you.

"Y/n's team wins this round." All Might announces as the rest of class 1A stands behind him, unsure of what they had just seen.

As the day comes to an end, you learn from Kirishima and Mina that Bakugou has been feeling off since the fight lately. "We tried to stop him from leaving, but he just wouldn't listen. Izuku went and ran after him too. If you go now you should be able to catch up to the both of them." Urataka explains, setting the stack of books she's carrying on a desk.

You run out of the classroom, jumping down flights of stairs to get to the entrance of the highschool as quickly as possible. By the time your eyes finally caught sight of the two boys, they were already talking with each other.

"I wasn't hiding my quirk from you. It was given to me by someone else, recently."

You raise your brows, quickly hiding yourself from the both of them. You place a finger gently on your lips as you stared at the floor, listening as Izuku explained to Bakugou.

The next thing you know it, Bakugou was now yelling at the green haired boy. He sounded so upset, as if he wanted to cry. It was clear as day that the blond didn't like losing, not to anyone and especially not to Izuku.

You took a peak, eyes widening as you see Katsuki Bakugou looking so vulnerable with tears in the corners of his eyes, his brows knitted from being so upset with himself. He walks away, slouching as he wipes his tears with the back of his hand.

You step out of your hiding spot, Izuku's expression growing nervous when he sees you. "O-oh hey, hey Y/n! I didn't... ummm... did you..." He looks down, scratching the back of his head. "Did you hear something?"

You stare him down for a moment, unsure of what to answer before sighing. "I'm not going to say anything to anyone nor ask you about it. But I will tell you this." Your words causes Izuku to look up at you in anticipation. "The second you master that power of yours, you have to fight me with everything you've got. Alright?"

Bakugou grumbles to himself, kicking at a rock, watching as it rolls into a canal. He huffs, annoyed. "I'd tell you you look ugly when you're mad, but then I'd be telling you you look ugly everyday." You yell at him from behind, causing him to turn around.

"School isn't over yet." Bakugou furrows his brows as he watches you make your way towards him. "And yet here we are." You point out, smiling as you put your hands behind your back.

He sighs, adjusting his bag on his shoulder. "What do you want?"

You take out two pink carnival tickets from your pocket, shoving it at his face and waving it in front of him. "I've always went to this carnival with my mom back in the US and I'm feeling kind of homesick. I accidentally bought two tickets too so now you gotta go with me."

You begin to pull at him to which he pulls back, a bored expression resting on his adorable face.

Adorable?

"No." He grunts.

You smile at him, "I wasn't giving you a choice."