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kiribaku-queen · 4 years

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Home [8/10]

Pairing: Bakugou x reader, Kirishima x reader

Fluff, angst, werewolf!au

Word count: 3.5k

A/N: Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist! Let me know what your predictions are for the end!

Summary: Being called the beauty of the clan isn’t as nice as it sounds. The beauty of the clan is supposed to exude confidence, power, and well, beauty. You were quite the opposite, only possessing one of those traits. Yet, the older you got, the more you fit into the role you were given. After your brother and all the boys of age come back from their training period, it was time to find a mate. But who will steal your heart? Is it Bakugou, the rising leader of the pack, or is it Kirishima, the personal guard and the strongest in the pack?

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17 year old Kirishima was ecstatic. It was his first time exploring the clan’s boarders. Usually, teenagers aren’t allowed to help patrol so early, but since Bakugou was going to be the next alpha and Kirishima was supposed to be his personal guard, this was an exception. Bakugou didn’t show it, but everyone could tell that he was just as excited. As they were all in their wolf forms, Kirishima couldn’t help but show how excited he was by his wagging tail. Even if he wanted to stop, he couldn’t. It was annoying Bakugou because his tail kept hitting him so he had to physically hold his tail down with his paw.

Patrolling the boarders was fascinating to Kirishima. He learned where not to cross and what parts were their territory. He learned different scents to look out for and what to do if you do see something. But going over boundaries once wasn’t enough for him. No, he needed to do multiple rounds so that the trail is embedded within his memory. So, he snuck out in the middle of the night to go over the tracks again.

The grass felt good under his paws, the cool, night breeze tickled his muzzle, and the view of the whole clan light up in his eyes. Now he could get used to this every day. All he had to do was train for two years, get a ripped body for all the ladies and he would live his dream out. Kirishima was so immersed and excited that he forgot all the basics that he learned earlier that day. He didn’t even notice or smell two others that were watching and following his every move. While he was too distracted by everything around him, the two mysterious strangers who were way bigger and way stronger than him attacked him from behind. They pounded on his back, making Kirishima unable to react properly. It all happened to fast. By the time that he knew what was going on, it was already too late. They were taking him far… far away. Farther way from the town. Far enough where the lights started to dim out and can no longer be seen. Far enough where even if he screamed, no one could hear him.

He was doomed, he thought. They were either going to cut him up and kill him, even worse eat him! Or they were going to sell his body to a slave trade and his friends and family would never see him again. The two strangers tied his hands behind his back and put a muzzle around his mouth to prevent him from attacking. Not like he could do much to them anyway. He didn’t know how to fight yet. At least not for serious occasions. There was a feeling of nervousness in the pit of his stomach that just would not go away. He was getting anxious and fidgety not knowing what was going to him. The strangers weren’t even talking. Just silently dragging him to wherever they wanted.

It wasn’t longer until Kirishima could spot lights up ahead. Hope started glimmer in his eyes. Perfect, they weren’t taking him somewhere shady or taking him somewhere to kill him. At least, he hoped. They were entering another clan. This clan had a whole different vibe compared to his. His clan was always bright with lights. No matter what time of day it was, buzz and chatter was always happening. Everyone was so friendly with one another and it was almost like the clan never sleeps. This clan was like the opposite. Although there were lights lit, it was very dim. No one was out and about. The aesthetics of this clan was more sophisticated than what he was used to back home. The strangers took him inside this gigantic building, bigger than Bakugou’s house. But how could anything be bigger than Bakugou’s house? His house was the biggest in all of the clan? And to know that someone here has an even more massive house, they must mean business.

The strangers took him to this room and pushed him forward, causing him to fall straight on his face. He was going to feel that in the morning. He got up and rested on his knees. He looked up to see a girl, probably around his age, sitting on a throne-like chair with her legs crossed and a bored expression on her face.

“Kirishima Eijirou?” she questioned. Kirishima cocked his eyebrow in confusion. She knew his name? How? He had never met or seen her in his life. He couldn’t speak due to the muzzle that was still on him. Without saying another word, the girl on the chair gestured with her finger to the two strangers. They went up to him and set him on his feet, taking the muzzle away but still keeping his hands tied together.

“Do I know you?” Kirishima questioned back once the muzzle was taken off.

“No,” she replied curtly. “But I know you. Upcoming personal guard of Bakugou Katsuki, son of the current alpha of your clan.” Shit, how did she know all of that? Before anything could makes sense, she continued. “I have a proposition for you.” Oh, he knows where this is going.

“I will not kill my best friend!” Kirishima screamed determinedly. He’s seen this in movies. The villain kidnaps the one closest to the main character and forces them to kill them or else they would do something horrible like kill their family, torture them or take their loved one! How pitiful. It was a shame that he had to go like this.

“Cute. But that’s not why I called you here,” Kirishima looked even more confused. And not gonna lie, a bit disappointed. Look like he wasn’t going to be a part of a real life movie. “I’m going to marry Bakugou Katsuki and I need your help.”

“Uh sorry to burst your bubble but Katsuki is taken.”

“Hmm,” the girl faked a pout and went to dig for something. She took out a picture of you and then Kirishima was on high alert. “I’m assuming by this? (y/n), was it? Yeah she’s going to get in the way, but that’s where you come into play. And it’s as easy as pie, make her fall in love with you.” When she showed him that picture of you, panic and anger started to rise in him. But when she told him to make you fall in love with him, then he got flustered. What kind of demand was that? Sure he had a bit of a crush on you for like a 12 years but never in a million years would he backstab his friend to get the girl… right? And even if he did, you were head over heels over Bakugou so he didn’t even have a chance. She got sense how hesitant Kiri was by the slow response which ticker her off. Rolling her eyes, she threw your picture aimlessly on the floor.

“Well if you don’t, I’ll just have to kill her myself,” she smirked when Kirishima finally reacted in pure rage. He leaned forward but was pulled back by the same people who kidnapped him and served him a few punches to the face to calm him down.

“You’re going to kill her all for some guy?!” Kirishima yelled even though he was in pain. She laughed out loud, obnoxiously and over the top.

“Aw you don’t get the big picture. See, when I marry Bakugou, I’ll be the alpha’s wife and our two clans will be united. And all I have to do is get rid of him and I will dominate both clans and have all the power!” The brown haired girl laughed and smiled at her own, devilish plan. So no matter what he chose, one of the two people he cares most about is going to get hurt. “Help me and you’ll also get the girl. It’s a win-win situation really. But if you don’t, your precious little love will be dead by sunrise.” she made it seem like it was an obvious choice. She didn’t him much time to answer because she was already beckoning for those two guys to do the deed.

“Wait!” he managed to get out. This was all too much for him. All he wanted was to do his job to protect his people by going over the clan’s boarder but now he had to chose who he wanted to protect: the girl he likes or his best friend. Bros before hoes but it seemed like your life was in more serious danger at the moment. “Fuck…FUCK! Fine, I’ll help you. Just, don’t touch (y/n) alright?” he said, defeated. She smirked, having known she won and her plan was coming along.

“I knew you’d see it my way.”

And so from then on, Kirishima worked on trying to make you fall in love with him. He knew you loved eye candy, no matter who it was. So throughout those two years off at training, he tried his hardest to have the best body at camp. It was easy to work out with a goal in mind but hard because he had to compete with Bakugou. Everything he did, he matched that or tried to one up him. And it never got noticed because Bakugou loved a challenge. It was also common for the two to do everything little thing together cause they were so close. Shredded body? Step 1 complete. Step 2? In progress.

If Kirishima wasn’t in this dilemma, he would still admire you from afar while Bakugou has you all for himself. Of course, he wouldn’t miss the opportunity to flirt with you once in a while, but that’s as far as he could go. And if you fell for him on the way, then a plus for him. He wouldn’t intentionally try to steal you away from his best friend. Now this was a different story. Although his feelings towards you never changed, his intentions did. It didn’t feel right at first. But the more and more he purposely tried to make you fall in love with him, the more he wanted.

When you were crying when you first heard about the engagement to Uraraka, he comforted you like a friend. And only as a friend because he didn’t know how to flirt with someone who he had a major crush on. But he knew he couldn’t chicken out because if you were still in the picture by the time Uraraka and Bakugou were to be wed, then she would come after you herself. That’s the last thing that he wants. So he got more bold with his actions.

The first time, it was the promise. He pulled you in for a kiss to seal the deal, but backed off. Push and pull and they will always come running back to you. His heart jumped when you blushed at his actions. Did you really just get flustered with him? His confidence level surged. But he was going to go step by step to not scare you off. So he spent as much time as possible with you. He followed you around and did things together so that you could be comfortable around him. He would touch you here and there so that you could get comfortable with his touch. He sat on your bed and did your laundry so that he could leave his scent wherever you are. When he saw that your reactions were going to become a regular thing, he bumped it up a notch. Staring at you until you noticed and smirking when he got caught. He was told that really got the ladies. He tried it and what do you know? It worked like a charm. You stared at him right back. He got lucky that day too because he had the perfect opportunity for a kiss. He leaned in to kiss you because he knew that you would get flustered. But god, how he really wanted to kiss you. But he had to remember the push and pull method.

As days go on, he was falling for you deeper and deeper each day. Honestly, forget about the deal that he had with Uraraka. It really looked like you were forgetting Bakugou and started having feelings for him. Even if he was treated as a rebound, if it turns something pure then it would have been worth it. Hell, even if there was no deal, he would try to protect you at all costs. At the market, it was pure coincidence that they were there at the same time as Bakugou and Uraraka. Kirishima knew that Uraraka smelled them a mile away and wanted to take this opportunity to mess with them. But he avoided that to protect you.

When he goes to kiss you again in the kitchen, he wasn’t going to take advantage of you like that. He wanted to do this properly and wanted for you to make the first move. Because if his suspicions were right and you were falling for him, you kissing him first would confirm it. He get up boundaries and restrained himself. He was going to make you fall in love with him, with or without this mission.

Back to present day, Kirishima has to sneak out once a week to meet with Uraraka to give her updates on his progress. It was dangerous and risky but if he didn’t comply, Uraraka always manages to threaten something. Not only did he almost get caught a few times by you sneaking out in the middle of the night, but Uraraka wanted to meet at Bakugou’s place. She was too lazy to meet him anywhere else and whatever she says, goes.

“Hes so easy to toy with,” Uraraka is satisfied that her plan is almost complete. “Tell me, have you made her fall in love with you yet?” she raises an eyebrow but Kirishima stands there tall, arms crossed behind his back.

“No,” very blunt and straight to the point. Uraraka knows that Kirishima isn’t very fond of her but who cares? He was hired for a job not to be friends.

“Still? I’ve given you enough time. How much long do I have to wait?” she massaged her temple with one hand. She was running out of patience and was getting more irritable by the second. “Where do you two stand?”

“Just a… just a kiss.” He was shy to admit it to someone who wanted to kill you.

“Well, speed up the process! Our time is coming to a close and you know what will happen if this wedding fails, right?” Kirishima gulped because he knew what was ahead of him if this mission didn’t succeed. You could die. Or Bakugou. Even worse, both of you could. Hell, he could too if he didn’t play his cards right. But it started to feel wrong. He was feeling guilty about forcing you to love him when he knew you were in a difficult position. But it was too late to back out now because they were already too far in.

It was hard sleeping that night. You were confused. You thought you were doing so well without him but then he shows up in your life again, telling you how much he missed you and that he still wanted you? Dumb feelings. You don’t even know what you want anymore.

You woke up feeling groggy. Even if you went to bed early, your mind was up all night. Thinking about the past, the future. What could have been. What would have been if you two were still together. But it broke your heart every time because you knew you couldn’t be together. He was engaged. You would just get in the way of his success and his bright future. There wasn’t a better match for him. Sighing, you finally got out of bed and the first thing in sight was a red rose sitting on your windowsill. You were surprised and all thoughts of Bakugou were gone. Your mind drifted off to Kirishima and the kiss you shared. Did he do this? How sweet of him. You blushed and pulled the rose to your nose to give it a good sniff. A smile grew even wider on your lips. How did he know that roses were your favorite? This didn’t just happen once. It happened day after day after day after day. Every day you woke up in the morning, a new rose would be sitting there, waiting for you. And every morning you would gush at how cute Kirishima was for doing such a romantic gesture. Day after day, your collection of roses was just getting bigger. You didn’t confront Kirishima about it because you knew he would get shy. And you were afraid that if you did, he would stop doing. So you secretly enjoyed it while going about your day like usual.

Kirishima was getting bolder ever since you gave him that little kiss on the lips. He was pulling you in closer and being more handsy but you didn’t stop him this time. You enjoyed it and actually flirted back. He was giving you more attention that ever but at the same time, he looked distracted. Like something was eating at him. But you were sure that was just your imagination. It’s been a long time since you felt comfortable around someone that made you feel like you were on top of the world. Like you were the only person who mattered. And it felt really good to be wanted again.

Your dad needed help with chopping up fire wood so of course, manly Kirishima comes in hand. You were setting out plates for dinner while your mother was finishing up the food and Sero was setting out napkins and utensils. Standing side by side with your brother while setting up the table, Sero nudges you with his elbow.

“Hey,” he whispers. Weird, why was he whispering. It’s only us that are listening. What did he not want people to hear? Pushing your initial thoughts out of the way, you elbowed him back because damn, his elbow poking hurts because of his stupid quirk. “Hey (y/n)! Are you and Kiri… you know,” he was making weird hand motions and you slapped him on the shoulder.

“Stop that. If you’re asking if we are together, no we’re not.” You firmly state.

“Yeah? Well do you like him?”

“Eh? Uhm… Yes? No? Maybe?” you side eyed your brother and he was just nodding his head slowly, a small frown could be seen on his face. “What’s with that look?” you asked, little concerned about that face he was giving you.

“Nothing,” he simply says but you know that’s a lie.

“No, what is it? Why are you looking at me like that?” Sero sighs and thinks a bit before speaking.

“Just… make sure you are 100% of your feelings for him before you guys are official, kay?” You tilt your head to the side, confused. “I don’t know! I just don’t want you using Kirishima as a rebound, you know?” he continues.

“I am not using him as a rebound,” you tried to defend yourself but Sero thinks otherwise.

“Not intentionally. But from what I see right now, you kind of are,” he admits and goes to put food on the table. Before you could retaliate or even think about it, Kirishima and your dad burst through the door ready to be fed.

“Who’s ready for food because I’m starving!” your dad erupts, kissing your mom on the cheek and sitting down at the table. Kirishima follows suit, glancing up at you, giving you a charming smile. You smile back. You weren’t using him as a rebound, were you?

Bakugou made it his mission to get you back. After that night, he knew he approached it the wrong way. He was too forward and too aggressive. You didn’t like that. You like romantic things. Things that are seen in TV shows and movies. He was going to do just that.

Every morning, he would tag along with the morning pack to patrol boarders because that would give him an excuse to visit you. But from afar. On the way, he would pick up a rose and lay it on your windowsill while you were still sleeping. Then he would wait in a nearby tree, where he could see your room clearly, to see your reaction when you woke up to a rose waiting for you. He knew he scored the jackpot with that move because the way your face brightened up at the sight of something so romantic told all. So he continued to do that everyday until you physically couldn’t hold any more roses in your room. He was determined to make you his again and do anything to make you gain his trust again.

Tagged: @goodpop9 @superblyspeedydragon @tspice283 @marvelobsessedteen @rosetheshapeshifter @cabbagesquadfam @bnha-iamhere @theartsydoodler @taehyungbbe

#bakugou x reader #kirishima x reader #bnha bakugou katsuki #bnha kirishima eijirou #katsuki bakugou #Kirishima Eijirou #bakugou imagine #kirishima imagine #bnha imagines #my hero academia #boku no hero academia

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peppersonironi · 4 years

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For @duketectivecomics‘s Duke Week Day Six: All in the Batfamily

Summary: Duke gets woken up at night and is roped into a strange initiation ceremony into the bats. Despite initial chaos, Duke finds that he is actually enjoying himself, and that maybe being a part of this family isn’t such a scary thing. Throwing a glitter bomb at Batman is definitely scary though.

“Are you ready?”

Duke opened his eyes, to find Dick Grayson hovering a few inches away from his face. “Gah!” Duke let out, scrambling backwards on his bed till he hit the headboard. “What are you doing?”

“Poor reflexives,” Duke looked past Dick to find Damian frowning at him, “And he should have known we were present before waking.”

“Settle down, kid,” This time Jason spoke, “Not everyone is as freaky as you.”

Duke blinked the sleep away from his eyes, and surveyed the scene before him. Dick was still by his bed, grinning. Damian and Jason stood behind, along with Cass, Tim, and Stephanie. Wow, when was the last time he’d ever seen all these guys together in the same room without killing each other? Duke had a worrisome feeling that he was the reason for this strange behavior.

“Um,” Duke asked, “What’s going on? It's 2 am.”

“We’re welcoming you to the family!” Dick’s grin grew impossibly wider.

“But I’ve been here four months?”

Tim shook his head. “But you haven’t had a proper welcome, yet. We had to wait till everyone was here, and Steph insisted she be a part.

“Heck yeah!” The blonde teen said, “I’m a part of this family, whether you like it or not! Bruce even gave me an allowance!”

“You tricked him into giving you his credit card,” Jason replied dryly.

“Like you haven’t done that before.”

“I don’t bother tricking him.”

Duke looked back and forth at the exchange, trying to wrap his mind around what was happening.

“That doesn't answer my question.”

Damian sighed. “In order to truly be a Wayne, you must go through the initiation period.” “That's not ominous at all.”

“Tour,” Cass said, “You learn things. Not bad, fun.”

Duke nodded. “Thank you, Cass.” He was still confused, but at least she was trying.

“If you would get dressed, we have much ground to cover.” Damian sniffed, but even Duke could tell the kid was excited.

Dick backed away from the bed. “We'll be right back, Duke, get ready!”

*****

Five minutes later, Duke found himself hastily dressed and standing in the entrance hall of Wayne manor. His siblings were arrayed in a semi-circle before him, all of them in weird red robes. They had managed to set up tiki torches at intervals around the room, adding to the atmosphere of doom.

“We are gathered here today to celebrate the bonding between two families. That of the Thomas' and that of the Waynes.” Duke blinked at Tim. “Why are you making it sound like we're getting married?”

“Shh!”

“In this great ceremony, We accept you, Duke Thomas, into our fold. After this day henceforth, you will be one with the bats.” Tim took a deep breath and continued reading from the scarily large book in his hands. “The bonding day is set in three parts. The first, a display of power. You shall be shown our places, and our things, so that you are made privy to the goings on in the lives of Gotham's most secretive family. Next, You shall be given tasks by each member of the clan – excepting Bruce – that you must complete. Fail even one, and be warned.” Tim stared Duke down. “You have been warned. The final and most dangerous stage of all …” Tim stopped reading, and every single one of the gathered Waynes began to stomp their right foot. This went on for several seconds. “Is … Cake. Do you accept the challenge, Duke of the Narrows?”

Duke sighed. He didn't quite like the sound of this, but he might as well. “Sure.”

Jason whooped, and even Damian cracked a smile.

“Well,” Steph said, “let's get on with it!”

* * * * *

“And it was in this room that Dick broke his first chandelier.”

Duke paused, staring at Jason who had taken over as tour guide after Tim started foaming at the mouth. “First?”

The now recovered Tim grinned. “Yup! He's broken twenty three and a half in his fifteen year stay at the manor.”

Duke nodded. “Alrighty then.”

“Over here are some pictures of Bruce's great-great-great-great-great-great-great something aunts. If you look closely, you'll see the outline of mustaches. Bruce made us erase them.” Stephanie bounced by, pointing out exactly which paintings she had decimated.

The tour had been going on for almost an hour now, and Duke would be lying if he said he wasn't having fun. Sure, he had seen most of the stuff here, but the stories that went along with them were amazing. It was sweet to know which room Dick insisted they have a family movie in, back when it was only him, Bruce, and Alfred. It was hilarious to find out that the strange purple splotch on the love seat in one of the east wing's drawing rooms was from the time Damian insisted on trying slushies. Or the many tails that arose from the kitchen. From Bruce attempting to cook (He'd always wondered why Alfred had banned him) to the time Jason sleep walked himself into making beignets.

Cass had insisted they tour the air vents (He didn't know you could get into them, let alone that they could fit people, and wasn't quite sure what to do with the information) and trying to get Jason squished in was a highlight of the night. Cass also showed Duke the best hiding places in the manor, in case he ever needed to hide during a prank war. Or Bruce.

Stephanie knew the places with the thinnest walls, and also other tricks for listening in on conversations. She said she'd never had to use the information, but Duke wasn't convinced.

Dick explained the pros and cons of each chandelier in the manor, along with a very detailed instruction pamphlet on getting yourself onto one. Duke promised himself he'd never try.

Tim knew all the best wifi spots in each wing. Somehow, the wifi wasn't the exact same in every part of the house.

Jason knew the best sniper perches, and how to get there. Also, the coziest spots in the library, primed and ready for any avid bookworm. (Duke was actually excited for the second. He really did enjoy reading, but usually stuck to his room)

Damian was very solemn as he brought Duke to random places around the house that were apparently Alfred's (The cat's) and Titus' favorite hang outs. “In case you need a friend who is not as fallible as humans.”

The tour ended on the roof, each sibling taking to their claimed section. Duke was permitted to choose his own, and did so. He ended up picking a quiet outlook on the forrest, over the west wing.

Duke was given a few minutes of peace, not noticing till a little ways in that he was alone. Huh, he thought, this is kind of nice.

“Alright, Narrows,” Duke turned to find everyone staring at him, “You ready for the fun part?”

* * * * *

“Now lift up your left foot two inches … got it!”

Unfortunately, the first challenge that was given to Duke by Dick, had him breaking his earlier promise to himself. For you see, Duke Thomas now found himself wrapped in the crystal and gold of Wayne Manors largest chandelier.

“Are you sure this is safe?” Duke asked for the seventh time.

“Perfectly!” Dick replied, but the snickers and filming phones of his siblings made Duke question the acrobat's words.

Duke shifted on the chandelier and heard a soft cracking noise. He froze, terror rushing through his entire body.

“That was just me!”

Duke looked to down to find Stephanie pulling a couple twigs from her hair, and snapping them in two. She had a manic grin on her face. Oh, she knew exactly what she had done.

“Just don't do it again!”

“Don't worry, Duke,” Dick called, “You're almost done! You just need to chill for a bit longer. I'm gonna toss up this candy bar, and you need to eat it. Just try not to look like Superman when he sees kryptonite. If you don't catch it, you fail.”

Duke took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Okay, I'm r-”

The candy bar was flung up a second before Duke expected it, causing him to fumble and reach out a bit to far to grab it. The chandelier swung dangerously, and Duke let out a scream. A moment later, however, the swinging calmed down, and Duke paused long enough to register the roaring laughter coming from bellow him.

“Stop!” Duke said, “This isn't funny!”

“Yeah, it kinda is.” Tim was the first to speak, after having to lean heavily on Steph. “You forget, Duke, that each and every one of us had to go through this. It's great to see someone else panic. One of the few pros to Bruce's adoption addiction.”

Duke glowered. “Just stop laughing.”

“Chill, Duchess,” Jason grinned up at him. “Just eat the candy and you can come down.”

Duke sighed and unwrapped the kit-kat that had given him the worst fright of his life – and that included everything he saw on patrol. He gingerly broke it in two, put on a gruesome grin, and took a bite.

Everyone cheered, and Duke's grin became slightly more genuine. “You have completed the first task,” Tim said in a solemn voice. “Let us move on.”

Everyone filed out of the room, and Duke started to panic. “Hey wait! How do I get down!”

* * * * *

“I don't know if I can do this.” Duke sat in the batchair, Alfred having moved graciously to allow Duke to complete his task.

“It's simple Narrows,” Jason said, “Just press the button and ask the question. Simple.”

“But does it have to be … that?”

Jason looked very serious as he answered, “yes.”

Duke sighed. “Here goes nothing.” he reached forward and press the unmute button. “Hey, B?”

Batman's growl came through the speakers. “What are you doing awake, Signal? It's the middle of the night.”

“But you're awake.”

“I'm part of the night patrol. You're not. So what are you doing awake?”

“I need to ask you a question.”

Bruce sighed. “Go ahead.”

Duke sighed and looked back at his sibling who were all grinning maniacally. He turned back to the computer. “Does Santa exist?”

Bruce let out the most long suffering sigh Duke had heard that week. “One of your siblings better not have put you up to this.”

Duke looked at Jason, who was frantically shaking his head. “No, B. It's just, the freaking devil is real, right? And the greek gods, and a whole bunch of other stuff? So why not santa?”

Bruce sighed. “Good night, Signal,” and he logged off.

“Not our best,” Jason said, shaking his head, “next time we should ask how babies are made.”

“NEXT TIME?!?!?!!?”

* * * * *

“You can get it down in one gulp if you try hard enough!”

Duke looked over skeptically at Tim, who was making Duke drink a special blend of espresso, five hour energies, and Monster.

“You just need some ambition!”

Duke gulped. “Ambition to die?”

Tim sighed. “Just do it. If you don't, you'll fail the challenge, and you DON'T want to find out what happens then.” His point was emphasized by every single one of the bats unleashing their personal batglares upon him.

Duke grimaced, grabbed the venti Starbucks's cup, and gulped it down. He swayed for a moment. “I'm never sleeping again.”

Tim grinned, “Nope!”

* * * * *

Damian's task was relatively simple. His pets had to approve of him. They'd already gotten Alfred's, Titus', and Bat-cow's approval, and they were outside trying to find Jerry the turkey.

“Got him!” Stephanie called from bushes, and a loud squawking ensued. She walked over, carrying the bird and placing in front of Duke.

Everyone stood still for a moment, then Damian spoke. “He approves.”

Duke grinned. “Great, what's the next challenge?”

Damian smirked, and Duke's stomach dropped. The eleven year old turned around and whistled sharply. Large wing beats sounded from far off and a huge shape appeared on the horizon. As it approached, Duke could make out what appeared to be a large, fuzzy dragon. The animal landed right in front of Duke, and Damian continued.

“Thomas, meet Goliath.” the tiny terror turned to the beast. “Goliath, decide his fate.”

* * * * *

“So, what do you have for me, Cass?” Duke asked warily. He knew Cass was the nice one, but he wouldn't put it past her to choose something … questionable.

Cassandra smiled sweetly, leaned forward, and whispered in Duke's ear, “hug Jason.”

Duke sighed. That wasn't too bad. He turned around and faced Jason head on. “So, what did she sa-”

Jason was cut off by Duke launching forward and wrapping his arms around Jason's huge chest.

The young man sighed. And wrapped his arms around Duke. “Eh,” he said when he saw the looks he was getting, “Duchess isn't too bad.”

Dick grinned. “Does that mean I get a hug?”

Both Duke and Jason tensed. “On the count of three,” Jason whispered, “We run.”

Dick grinned and opened his arms.

“One.”

He took a step forward.

“Two.”

Dick smiled. “Come on, guys!”

“THREE!! RUN!!!”

* * * * *

“Now pour delicately, Master Duke,” Alfred said as he instructed Duke on how to properly have tea. Everyone had insisted on going to Alfred before Stephanie's challenge, which had Duke worried slightly, but he honestly enjoyed having tea.

“Don't forget to have good posture,” The butler continued. Duke frowned slightly. Maybe this would be longer than he thought.

* * * * *

“Now a tad more glitter. You can never have enough!”

Duke followed the instructions, finishing up the glitter bomb which Stephanie had taught him how to make. He wasn't sure what it was going to be used for, but he knew it wasn't gonna be good.

“Great job, Duke!” Stephanie grinned, then turned to Dick. “How much longer till Bruce gets back from patrol?”

Ah. Yeah, this definitely wasn't going to be good.

“Five minutes,” Dick replied, “Everyone in position!”

And so Duke found himself dragged into the Batcave, glitter bomb behind his back, and a hastily memorized instruction to throw and run in his mind. Five minutes later, the batmobile rolled into the cave. Bruce jumped and and came over to Duke.

“What are you still doing up?”

“Bruce, would you ever disown me?”

Bruce frowned and pulled off the cowl. “No, Duke. Of course not.”

Duke nodded. “Would you ever break your no-kill rule just for me?”

Bruce smiled and shook his head. “Never.”

“Okay, most important question,” Duke paused and took a deep breath, “Would you ever blame me for something that isn't my fault?”

“Not if I can help it, I promise you that.”

Duke took another deep breath and nodded. “Alright.” He then in one swift movement pulled out the glitter bomb from behind his back, and threw it at the Dark Knight of Gotham. The Caped Crusader. The Batman.

Duke turned and bolted, leaving a stunned Bruce Wayne in his wake. Once he was in the stairwell, he turned in time to see Bruce completely covered in purple glitter. He looked down at himself, then up to the heavens.

“STEPHANIE!!!” He yelled.

* * * * *

“That was legendary, Narrows!”

Duke grinned back at Jason. Sure, lobbing a glitter bomb at the guy who was currently giving you a home (not to mention said guy was THE BATMAN) had been one of the worst experiences of his life, but even he had to admit it was funny.

“Seriously, Duke,” Tim replied, “I don't think I could have done that.”

“And the dialogue leading up to it!” Dick grinned as he sat next to Duke on the couch.

“It was worthy of cake,” Damian replied, a smile on his face.

“Speaking of cake!” Stephanie announced as she strolled into the room, a large cake in hand. On the top read 'one of us'. She set it down on the coffee table in front the sofa.

Cassandra grinned as she handed Duke the cake knife. “One of us,” she said, and the chant was soon picked up.

“One of us! One of us! Once of Us!”

Duke grinned as he sliced through the cake. Everyone cheered.

“So how do you feel, Duke? Got the crazies yet?” Stephanie asked as she collapsed on the sofa.

Duke grinned. “Not yet.”

Jason laughed. “Give it some time, kiddo.”

Duke settles back and took a bite of his cake – blue velvet – and pressed play on the movie. Everyone settled down, eating cake and enjoying The Incredibles.

* * * *

A few hours later when Duke was the only awake, Bruce quietly walked into the room.

“How'd initiation go?”

Duke sighed contentedly. “Good.”

Bruce smiled. “Get some sleep. You did well tonight.”

Duke didn't bother trying to figure out the implications of that sentence, opting instead to settle back into the cuddle pile. Cass, tucked under his arm, Damian on his lap, Dick wrapped around his other side, Stephanie atop Jason, and Jason and Tim woven into the chaos of limbs. It was warm and strangely comfortable.

Duke sighed, smiling. It's nice, he thought, belonging.

#dukeweek2020 #duke thomas #batfamily #sibling bonding #batsiblings #dick grayson #jason todd #tim drake #damian wayne #cassandra cain #stephanie brown #bruce wayne #alfred pennyworth #being part of the family

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thejakeformerlyknownasprince · 4 years

Note

I have seen many, MANY discussions/debates about ca:cw and I have never seen anyone mentioning that Rhodey's injury was a metaphor. How did you get that idea?

Short answer: I’ve actually read a lot on the subject. I’m teaching a media studies class right now called “What Can Superheroes Tell Us About Psychology?” (because that’s the kind of shit you can get away with at giant universities) and hoo boy are superhero narratives More Ableist Than Average. Anywhoo, a few of those readings:

I’m quoting hard from the chapter “Hyper-Normative Heroes, Othered Villains: Differential Treatment of Disability in Marvel” in a book on disability studies because it’s free. A relevant passage:

“These metaphorical portrayals all fail to engage with disability as a social category and as an individual identity, thereby ignoring its context… Nick Fury’s missing eye does not change his aim with distance weapons (e.g. Captain Marvel) or piloting software. Instead, it recurs in the films largely in metaphorical lines such as Fury’s commenting on the death of a friend with ‘I just lost my one good eye’… One character in Avengers even questions the lack of accessibility in Fury’s multi-monitor computer console, and Fury’s assistant simply answers that he must turn his head more often to compensate. The franchise thereby emphasizes that Fury’s missing eye is only a metaphor for his discernment and ability to see details that others have missed, rather than a truly integrated part of his character or even an accurate portrayal of that disability.

“8. This treatment of disability as metaphor persists throughout the MCU. In Captain America: Civil War, superhero War Machine incurs a permanent spinal injury while fighting on behalf of his best friend Iron Man. Later on, rival superhero Hawkeye… ‘You gotta watch your back with this guy. There’s a chance he’s gonna break it.’ The film then equips War Machine with a fantastical prosthesis that essentially nullifies his disabled experience through giving him the same range of motion as his non-disabled [abled] teammates, entirely without side effects or need for maintenance. The MCU films thus present disability as a metaphor for inner morality and characterization. War Machine has few experiences of being a disabled man through his spinal injury, but is instead emotionally ‘disabled’ by the damage to his social standing he has incurred through his friendship with Iron Man… The MCU thereby offers no critique of ableism or inaccessibility, instead continuing to localize disability as a problem with the body and the individual.”

Death, Disability, and the Superhero: The Silver Age and Beyond by José Alaniz is also a fantastic resource, and you can buy it for money here or hopefully find it at a library if you have no money. A few of the relevant points from his book:

Superhero stories often treat disability as a “problem” that must be “solved” through in essence nullifying the disabled experience of the character(s) through superpowers that run directly counter to the disabilities and/or fantasy “cures,” e.g.

Daredevil is blind BUT navigates the world in a way similar to sighted people due to his “radar sense,” meaning that he doesn’t get to have a lot of the lived experiences of blind individuals

Don Blake is mobility impaired and uses a cane BUT his cane transforms into mjolnir and imbues him with the power of Thor, meaning that he spends most of the story moving like a nondisabled person

Hawkeye is hard of hearing sometimes in some of the comics, BUT he often gets magical cochlear implants from Tony Stark that cause him to stop being hard of hearing

Characters that are disabled and remain disabled tend to be villains whose villainy is either implied or stated to come directly from their bitterness over being disabled, e.g.

Doctor Doom hates that he’s scarred by an explosion so much that he wants to take over the world to get revenge on the Fantastic Four

The Lizard only transforms himself because he ignores all scientific and ethical boundaries in his desperation to stop being disabled

Doctor Poison is described by herself and other characters as a “monster” for failing to (unlike Wonder Woman) conform to White Western conceptualizations of female beauty

Characters like The Thing, She-Hulk, and Bizarro have the potential for some really interesting disability narratives. However, the same publication pressures that prevent permanent injury or death to the characters also prevent the inclusion of “serious” “real-world” issues like discrimination unless it’s metaphorical (e.g. anti-mutant fearmongering as a metaphor for anti-AIDS prejudice).

The Big Damn Foundational Text on the intersection of disability studies and media studies is Narrative Prosthesis: Disability and the Dependencies of Discourse by David T. Mitchell and Sharon L. Snyder, and you can pay money for it here but it’s also available at a lot of libraries. Anyway, a couple of relevant points from that book include:

Disability portrayals abound in literature going back to pretty much the dawn of history, but most of those portrayals suck ass because:

Most disabilities are treated as metaphors rather than demographic characteristics, which means that the disabled character doesn’t get connected to other people with disabilities (including those in the real world) and offers no commentary on ableism — if Richard III’s spinal misalignment is just a metaphor for him being “twisted” inside, it doesn’t allow readers with spinal misalignment to identify with him

Disabled characters tend to exist to teach lessons to nondisabled characters rather than having their own journeys — Tiny Tim isn’t a person in A Christmas Carol, he’s an object lesson for Scrooge

Many disabled characters either get “fixed” so that they look outwardly “normal,” or their “ugliness” is used to make concrete the abstract “ugliness” of their personalities

Disability is treated as a “problem” that demands an explanation – Captain Ahab’s prosthetic leg and Joker’s facial scarring are treated as automatically demanding the question “why are you like this?,” even though no one would ever ask the same thing of their nondisabled co-characters

Authors’ implicit ableism tends to come out in their horror of disability, such as when they portray disabled characters preferring death to disability, going to extreme lengths to avoid or nullify disability, and/or declaring themselves “worthless” or “burdensome” in light of disability

Discomfort with disability — another form of implicit ableism – also comes out when disabled characters are overwhelmingly “killed or cured,” meaning that they don’t get to end their stories as living individuals who are still, in practice, disabled

ANYWAY, that’s a long-winded way of saying that I also haven’t seen any critics specifically talk about Rhodey’s disability as a metaphor first and a part of the character second, but that that doesn’t mean the shoe don’t fit. When someone asks about the Accords in Infinity War, Rhodey also says he supported them but then “I’m pretty sure I paid for that,” and gestures at his own paralyzed legs. He also also says in Endgame “I wasn’t always like this… but we work with what we’ve got” when talking to Nebula, BOTH about the fact that he’s disabled and about the fact that half the universe is dead and they’re all struggling to cope with that fact. It keeps getting used as a metaphor and keeps NOT getting used as a part of his identity. LET THE MAN TALK TO SOME OTHER DISABLED VETERANS FOR TWO SECONDS, FOR FUCK’S SAKE.

A couple of other (free!) readings that talk about that general problem of “we love superheroes and we hate ableism, now what?” even if they don’t mention Rhodey specifically:

“Reevaluating the Supercrip” by Sami Schalk connects media portrayals of the paralympics to media portrayals of Captain America and the Doom Patrol. (I swear to god it makes sense in context.)

“Seven Roads to Justice for Superheroes and Humans” by Mikhail Lyubansky gets into the glaring (for me, anyway) question of “why the fuck are sci fi psychologists all so evil and useless?” by explaining why Harley Quinn must be evil for Batman to be a vigilante.

“Superhero Comics as Moral Pornography” by David A. Pizarro and Roy Baumeister (again, I swear it makes sense if you read it) discusses the evolutionary tendency to judge people based on disabilities and why it’s so popular in superhero stories specifically.

Anyway, you probably weren’t looking for an entire annotated bibliography in response to that question, but I’ve never been one to use five words when 500 would suffice.

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foreverwayward · 5 years

Text

“Wayward Hearts” Season 3 Chapter 12: No Rest for the Wicked Part 2

Summary: After the Devil’s Gate had been opened that fateful night in the graveyard, the hunters are forced to face a new war. Countless demons now run rampant, hungry for blood and power. It’ll take everything the three have to survive when darkness once again knocks on their door. But, with only a year before Dean’s deal comes due, Sam and Riley will stop at nothing to save him; to save their family.

Masterlist

Word Count: 6380

Content Warning: language and violence

DISCLAIMER: any words or phrases in bold in the story are not my own and are credited to the writers of Supernatural.

**GIFS ARE NOT MY OWN**

As the song faded away, the Impala hummed its way down the dark road, its left tail-light busted.

A siren broke the silence that caught the hunters’ attention. They all looked behind them to see flashing lights from the police car that reflected inside Baby over their still bruised and beaten faces.

“We getting pulled over?” Sam asked.

Dean looked into his side-view mirror. “I've got a busted tail-light. It's not like we're in a hurry or nothing,” he said sarcastically.

The car rolled to a stop with the police unit right behind them. Dean rolled down his window as Sam gathered the license and registration from the glovebox. The officer walked up to the open driver-window with his flashlight in hand. “Problem, officer?”

Plainly, the cop ignored his question. “License and registration, please.” Not peering back up at at him, Dean handed the man the necessary papers. The officer looked them over as he talked to Dean. “Do you realize you have a tail-light out, Mr...Hagard?”

After a beat, Dean glanced up, only for his face to immediately fall. The cop tilted his head and shined his bright light on him.

“Yes…yes, sir.” Dean seemed out of sorts as he fumbled for the right words. “Uh--you know, I've been meaning to…take care of that.” Slowly turning his head back toward the road in front of him, Dean’s eyes dodged back and forth to the officer.

Riley could feel Dean’s anxiety build and she whispered from the back seat. “...Dean?”

Ignoring his girlfriend, Dean continued on with the cop. “As a matter of fact…” He suddenly opened his door fast and with force, hitting the officer in the stomach. Dean rushed out of the car and charged at him.

“Dean!” Sam and Riley shouted in surprise.

The two hurried out of the car as Dean punched the cop three times in the face. Sam tried to run around the car to stop him as his brother reached down to take the blade from his belt. Dean didn’t hesitate as he thrust it into the jaw of the officer, the knife exposed inside the demon’s gaping mouth.

Bobby’s old car pulled up behind the patrol unit as the cop’s face flashed with light. Sam and Riley knew it had been a demon in disguise all along.

As Dean pulled out the knife, the body fell dead to the ground. He stood over him, panting after the brawl.

As the old hunter ran over to the young hunters, Bobby looked down at the dead officer and then back to Dean. The others just stood in shock trying to absorb what they had just seen.

“What the hell happened?” Bobby was already out of breath from concern.

“Dean just killed a demon,” Sam answered in disbelief. “How'd you know?”

Still breathing heavily, Dean stared down at the corpse at his feet. His face was pale with worry, the words unable to come out of his mouth.

As the tension began to die down, Riley’s attention focused solely on Dean as she read him clearly. “Oh, my god. You--you could see it, couldn’t you?”

“I could see its face.” Still rattled, Dean’s voice was almost weak. “Its real face under that one.” His stressed expression gazed back at the others as his heart raced with fear.

If Dean could see demons, what other nightmares awaited him that night?

------

The hunters had moved the patrol car into a more remote part of the woods off the road. They tore large branches off nearby trees to cover the vehicle as best they could so nobody would find it.

“So, what--now you're seeing demons?” Sam asked incredulously.

“I've seen all kinds of things lately but…” As Dean continued his work, he shook his head. “Nothing like this.”

Bobby shrugged. “Actually, it's not all that crazy.”

Taken aback, Dean stared down the old man, “how's it not that crazy?”

“Well, you've got, just over five hours to go? You're piercing the veil, Dean. You're glimpsing the B side.”

“A little less new age-y please.”

“You're almost Hell's bitch,” Bobby snarked. “So, you can see Hell's other bitches.”

At first, Dean appeared surprised, but then his face fell to more of a look of ‘fuck you’. “Thank you.”

As Riley placed her final branch, she tucked her hands back into her pockets. “Makes sense. I mean--this could actually help us, Dean. God knows my ability to sense demons is useless and all over the damn place.”

“Oh, well, I'm glad my doomed soul is good for something.”

“Well, yeah. You think Lilith doesn’t have demons everywhere? The cop was probably even one of hers. They’re gonna sound the alarm if we’re not careful. If she finds out we’re here, we’re fucked.”

“Well, this is a terrific plan,” he snarked. “I'm excited to be a part of it. Can we go, please?” Dean began to walk away and the others shared a look before they followed.

------

After following their lead on Lilith, Bobby, the Winchesters, and Riley found themselves on a quiet suburban street. It was after nine o’clock at night as the minutes continued to tick away. They all hid away in an empty house left for sale, staring out the window to the lit-up house across the street.

Dean looked through a pair of binoculars to see a family at their dinner table. A man and woman sat with a blonde little girl as they served her cake and ice cream. An old man sat at the end of the table with his head lying in his plate, his eyes wide; he was dead.

Lowering the binoculars the Dean groaned. “It's the little girl. Her face is awful.”

The binoculars passed between the others as they studied the family nervously.

“Alright then,” Sam started with an anxious breath. “Let’s go. We're wasting time.” He walked past the others and moved for the door before Dean grabbed a hold of him to stop him from leaving.

“Wait!”

“For what? For it to kill the rest of them?”

Riley was still fixated out the window. “Sam, we gotta be careful or we’ll all end up dead like grandpa over there.”

Dean pointed across the street to the right. “Look--see the real ‘go-getter’ mailman on the clock at fuckin’ nine P.M.?” The others followed his glance to see a mailman sorting the mail at the back of his truck. “And Mr. Rogers over there…” he said gesturing to another house nearby. An elderly man was reading a book as he smoked a pipe in front of his large front window.

“They’re demons, aren’t they?

“Yes.”

“Ok, fine. We--we--we…” Sam stumbled over his words, worried as they were running out of time. “We ninja past those guys, sneak in.”

“Then what? Give a ‘Colombian necktie’ to a ten-year-old girl, come on!”

“Look, Dean, I know it's awful...”

“You think?” Dean questioned with large eyes.

“I don’t like it either,” Riley stated. “But, Dean--Sam’s right. This isn’t just about us saving you, we’re here to stop Lilith...for everyone’s sake.”

Bobby looked at Dean hoping to get through to him. “She's gotta be stopped, son.”

Contemplative, Dean looked to his family and then back out the window. “Oh, dammit,” he grumbled.

------

Still standing behind his truck, the mailman flipped through his deliveries. A loud sound came from across the way and the man looked up to see Dean, his face scared as if he’d been caught. The eyes of the mailman turned demon-black as he took off after the hunter.

Dean ran as fast as he could back the way he had come from with the demon following close behind. As he rounded the corner of a house, the creature charged after him.

Only a second later, he ran into Sam holding the demon blade as the Winchester plunged it into his body. Dean grabbed the demon and put a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet as the creature’s cries muffled into the hunter’s hand.

Sam yanked out the blade and the demon flashed with light a few times before Dean dropped him to the ground. Both Riley and Sam grabbed his arms to drag his lifeless body out of view and then quietly hid beside Dean.

Not far away, Bobby chanted in Latin as he held tight to a rosary. “Exorcizo te, creatura aquae. In nomine dei patris onmipotintes.” He dropped the necklace into the opening of the water pipes and it was carried away by the running stream inside.

All the while, the young hunters continued their silent attack on the evil that guarded the block.

Riley leaned down and grabbed the knife that had been stuffed into ‘Mr. Rogers’’ chest as the old man laid dead on the ground.

She stood to her feet and wiped the blood from the blade onto the arm of her jacket while Dean drug away the corpse.

The three split up without a word, moving like a perfectly oiled military operation. Sam stayed to keep watch as Riley and Dean darted off in different directions.

Dean ran through some nearby trees and came up to a chain-linked fence where Ruby suddenly appeared. She shoved his face into the fence and held him there at her mercy.

“I’d like my knife back, please. Or your neck snaps like a goddamn chicken bone,” she seethed.

The demon froze feeling cold steel at her throat only to hear Riley’s voice behind her. “He doesn’t have it...”

Ruby put her arms up slightly in surrender as she released Dean. Sam had snuck up close behind and shoved the demon off to the side away from his siblings.

“How the fuck did you get out?” Dean asked in frustration.

“What you don't know about me could fill a book.”

Dean’s face changed as he reacted to seeing Ruby’s face. He moved his head back and away with wider eyes. “Whoa.”

“What?”

Not wanting to look at her horrible face anymore, Dean turned to the side. He reluctantly glanced back at her one or two more times, grimacing. “Nothing. I just--I couldn't see you before, but you're one ugly ass broad. Holy shit…” he muttered to himself.

Exasperated, Ruby turned to Riley. “Give me the knife before you hurt yourself.”

“No way,” Riley retorted. “I might consider giving it back when all this is over.”

“It's already over. I gave you a way for Sam to save him.” Her tone was more than irritated as she stared down the young Winchester. “You shot me down. Now it's too late--he's dead. And I'm not gonna let you die too.” She shot Riley a nasty look from head to toe. “Well, some of you are expendable.”

Riley rolled her eyes and crossed her arms with the blade still tight in her grasp.

Sam’s face scrunched with rage as his jaw twitched. “Try and stop me, and I'll kill you. Bitch.”

“Hit me with your best shot, baby.”

Looking in the direction Dean had been running, he and Riley shared a worried look.

“Guys, guys!” Dean whispered trying to get Sam and Ruby’s attention. “Hey. Have your little catfight later.”

They all followed Dean’s line of sight to see a man and his son standing outside on their porch staring back at them. One house over, stood a man with a briefcase, his attention locked on the hunters as well.

“Oh, shit…” Riley uttered as the eyes watching them turned pitch black.

“So much for the element of surprise.”

Realizing they had no other option, Sam forced open the gate and ushered them all out quickly. “Go. Go. Run. Run!”

In a full sprint, they all rushed for the house where Lilith had been hiding. The numbers of the possessed continued to grow into a swarm of evil as they chased the hunters.

Dean grabbed Riley’s hand to keep her at his side as they ran as fast as their legs could carry them.

Sam reached the house first and began to pick the lock on the door. Ruby, Dean, and Riley came up behind him, anxiously peering back toward the lawn as more demons charged in their direction.

Dean tucked Riley behind him ready to protect from the hoard. “What the fuck is taking Bobby?”

“I'm trying!” As the herd of demons grew larger by the second, Sam was still having problems picking the lock.

When one of the evil creatures reached the lawn, the sprinklers turned on. She began to flail, screaming as the water burned her. Bobby had turned the block’s water into holy water and effectively made a barrier with the sprinkler system. Another demon rushed into the water and cried out in agony.

Breathing heavily, Dean smiled at the turn of events. It was a close call, but that was the first win they had had in far too long. Sam finally got the door open and hurried Riley and Ruby inside.

Dean laughed victoriously at the demons and followed quickly behind the others.

The older brother closed the door behind them as they as they stood over a rotting body in the foyer. It was an old woman, most likely the grandmother. Her body had clearly been there for several days as the flies and maggots ate at her flesh, curdled blood surrounding her corpse.

“You think Lilith knows we're here?” Dean looked down at the woman and then all around them.

Even Ruby looked terrified. “Probably.”

As they continued into the house, they entered the living room. Sam went in first, holding the knife out ready to take on whatever came his way. Ruby let him lead her in, closely followed by Dean and Riley.

A door creaked and movement came from behind Dean. He quickly turned around to see a man coming out of a cabinet. Immediately, Dean put one hand up to cup the man’s mouth as he shushed the scared stranger.

“We're here to help. Okay?” Dean whispered. “I'm gonna move my hand, and we're gonna talk nice and quiet, okay?”

The man nodded his head frantically as his breathing was muffled by the hunter’s hand.

From off to the side, Sam asked, “Sir, where is your daughter?”

“It's not…” the father trembled as tears filled his eyes. “It's not her anymore.”

“Where is she?”

“Upstairs. In her bedroom.”

Putting out a gentle hand, Riley tried to keep her voice soft and soothing. “Listen, we need you to go downstairs--hide in the basement and wait. Use salt to put a line at the door and close it behind you. Got it?”

“Not without my wife.”

“Sir, please…”

“No, not--”

Knowing the man wasn’t going without a fight and how little time they had, Dean punched him hard in the face, knocking him out. He then picked him up and slung him over his shoulder before shooting the others a look.

“I’m coming with you,” Riley told him in a hushed voice.

Dean nodded in understanding as the two left with the unconscious man to get him to safety.

There was no time to waste. Sam and Ruby tiptoed up the stairs, their backs against the wall moving as stealthily as possible. Sam led them on with the knife in front of them. At the top, they both looked around a bit and hesitantly checked inside each of the rooms only to find nothing.

Once he reached the final door on the left, Sam leaned against the wood, trying to listen for anyone inside. After a beat, he opened the door as silently as possible and slipped inside. Sam’s hand shook as his grip tightened around the knife’s handle.

He realized he had found the little girl’s bedroom. Everything was pink and thin drapes hung around the bed in a canopy. Ruby walked in and the two shared a nervous glance. When Sam nodded to her, she then closed the door behind them.

As he rounded the corner of the bed, Sam shifted the knife in his hand, ready to strike. He pushed aside the draping as quietly as possible and the rings on the metal softly clinked.

On the bed laid the little girl and her mother. The woman was breathing heavily, scared, as her ‘daughter’ was nuzzled into her, asleep on her chest. She looked up at Sam and trembled at the blade above the body of her little girl.

“Do it!” the mother whispered almost inaudibly.

Sam slowly raised the knife, looking down on the child that was possessed by Lilith. She moved a bit in her sleep and it forced Sam to finally realize he wouldn’t just be killing Lilith, he would be killing a little girl.

“Do it.”

He tried to collect himself knowing he had no other choice. If he was going to save his brother, the girl had to die.

“Do it!” she whispered as she wept. As her daughter stirred from her sleep, the mother grew more and more afraid. Her only hope of escape was if the strange man at her bedside killed her sleeping child. She panicked as their only window to ending her nightmare was passing her by. “Do it! Do it!” As the girl woke up and began to rise on the bed, her eyes slowly opened. “Hurry!”

The girl screamed at the top of her lungs in terror when she opened her eyes to see Sam lunging at her. At the very last second, he was stopped by Dean who grabbed his arm.

“It's not her!”

Horrified, the little girl’s breath grew rapid and heavy from what she had awoken to. Ruby and Riley stood behind the brothers waiting to see what would happen.

Dean could finally look the girl in the face without being afraid. “It's not in the girl anymore.”

The girl cried for her mother and sobbed as the woman cradled her, seeing it was her daughter once more. “Mommy's here. Mommy's here. It's okay.”

“If that’s not Lilith…” Riley started. “Then where is she?”

------

The hunters and Ruby led the mother and daughter down the stairs in a hurry as Dean guided them to the door by the kitchen. “Alright, no matter what you hear--you, your husband, and your daughter stay in the basement.” Once she was inside, Dean followed her down the steps.

“Well, I hate to be the one to say, ‘told you so’.” Ruby sniped as she, Riley, and Sam continued on down the hallway.

“Alright, Ruby,” Sam’s voice cracked with worry. He was sweating, afraid of what was to come. “Where is she?”

“I don't know.”

In the living room, Riley peered out the curtains to see the group of people outside the barrier of the lawn sprinklers. Their eyes were black as death and honed in on them. “She can’t get past the sprinklers, can she?”

“Above her pay grade. She ain't sweating fuckin holy water.”

Sam was out of breath as the seconds continued to pass. He turned to Ruby with pleading eyes. “Okay, you win. What do I have to do?”

She scrunched her face curiously. “What do you mean?”

“To save Dean.” As his big brother came up behind him, Sam began to beg. “What do you need me to do?”

Riley’s heart began to race as she looked at the clock on the wall. “Oh, god.” Her stomach turned realizing they were down to their final seconds. “No...no, no, no.” Something in Riley snapped as she shoved Ruby against the wall and held her there by her throat. “Tell me what to do! Tell me!” she growled angrily.

Dean grabbed Riley from behind, trying to turn her away. “What the fuck do you think you're doing?”

“Dean! No! We’re out of options. I don’t care what I have to do!”

They all began to talk over each other as tensions rose and panic consumed the room. Feeling everyone’s pain and torment had Riley wondering if she would lose her mind from it all.

“You had your chance,” Ruby told her plainly before looking over to Sam. “You can't just flip a switch--we needed time.”

“Well, there's gotta be something,” Sam pleaded frantically. “There's gotta be some way, whatever it is, I'll do it.” When Dean came up behind him and grabbed him, Sam tried to fight against his hold. “Don't! I'm not gonna let you go to Hell, Dean!”

“Yes, you are!” the older brother shouted sternly. Dean’s tone fell and with love in his voice as he looked at Sam. “Yes, you are...you both are.”

Riley’s body nearly went limp at his words and she released Ruby from her grasp. She and Sam just stared back at Dean as their eyes ached with tears.

“I'm sorry. I mean this is all my fault, I know that,” Dean told them gently. “But what you're doing, it's not gonna save me. It's only gonna kill you both.”

A quick sob escaped Riley’s throat and she covered her mouth as she trembled.

Dean went to her, his hand reaching out to tip her head up to look her in the eye. Tears pooled in her eyes as her crystal blue irises pierced through him.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Dean said sweetly as he drank her in. He wanted to memorize every line on her face, every rogue freckle, every fleck of color that danced in her eyes. No one could ever convince him that she wasn’t the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. “I know I haven’t been what you deserved…”

“Don’t say that,” she interrupted weakly.

“It’s true. I’ve never been good at relationships--never knew how to say things I should have said.” Dean’s thumbs brushed away her tears as his hands held the sides of her face. “I should have told you every day how much I love you, how…” He swallowed hard feeling the swell of their connection between them. “...how much you mean to me.” With a loving touch, Dean swept the hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear. He leaned in slowly before pressing a tender kiss against Riley’s lips. She whimpered at the impact and her hands desperately clung to his jacket. “I love you, Rye...”

With her lips quivering and her body ready to collapse beneath her, Riley stared into the green eyes she loved so much. As their foreheads came together, the two closed their eyes and let their bond take them away to a world that was always just theirs.

Rapid flashes of their time together flipped through their minds; brief images of laughter, nights alone in bed, Riley’s final breath in his arms that terrible night, the first time they kissed, and countless more reminded the couple of what they had found in each other.

For that fleeting second, the two lost themselves in their memories.

Riley knew nothing would ever come close to the magic that lived and breathed between them. So, with her heart breaking in ways she never imagined possible, she whispered through her tears, “I love you, Dean.”

When Dean turned to Sam, his little brother could barely meet his gaze. Tears flooded his eyes and his face ached as he fought to hold himself together. “What am I supposed to do?” Sam cried softly.

Dean paused and forced his best smile. “Keep fighting, take care of my wheels.” He then looked to the two people who meant more to him than anything else. “Take care of each other.”

There was a moment between the brothers where their eyes locked. Their entire lives had been spent at each other’s sides. They were more than brothers, they were two sides of the same coin; neither knowing how to exist without the other.

With his final seconds drifting away, Dean tried one last time to be the brother he always wanted to be. “Sam, remember what Dad taught you...okay?” Sam nodded, wanting to be brave for Dean as tears he could no longer hold in began to fall. “And remember what I taught you.” Dean was about to fall apart as he struggled not to break into a sob. He refused to show the incredible fear that coursed through him or the grief that was eating him alive. Dean needed to be strong...for them. Because if Sam ever needed his big brother, it was then and there.

The ticking of the grandfather clock on the mantle went silent before the gut-wrenching sound of the stroke of midnight echoed out, practically rumbling in their chests.

Sam, Dean, and Riley all eyed the clock knowing what it meant, Dean’s time was up.

*gong*

“No…” Riley whimpered as tears poured from her eyes.

*gong*

Dean and his family exchanged loving looks as Sam’s face glistened with tears spilling down his cheeks. He gave them both a feigned little smile as his lips trembled. Whether it was the thought of Hell or an existence without them that terrified him most, he didn’t know. It took every ounce of strength he had not to fall to his knees and weep in desperation. Dean felt himself begin to shake, fear pulsing through his veins and tearing into his gut as the clock continued to announce the end of his final hour.

*gong*

Ruby sighed. “I'm sorry, Dean. I wouldn't wish this upon my worst enemy.”

*gong*

Howls came from the distance and hung in the night air.

In an instant, Dean’s face went white as he heard the growl of a Hellhound only feet away. He felt his heart stop as panic overtook him; nausea building from the unbearable fear. “...Hellhound.” Dean uttered through a shaky whisper.

“Where?” Sam asked through ragged breathing.

His voice was soft and scared like a child in the dark as he looked to the corner of the room. “There.”

The growling intensified and Dean bolted out of the room followed by the others with the Hellhound on their tail. They scrambled into the office and slammed the double wooden doors, right in the face of the demon dog.

Ruby, Sam, and Riley used all their strength to hold the doors to keep them shut. The Hellhound roared and pounded ferociously against the entrance.

Dean ran over and threw himself down to the floor by the door and frantically started to pour out goofer dust. The rattling and banging suddenly stopped and for a second, it all went still.

Riley yanked the bag from Dean’s hand as she flew to the window to pour out what remained of the dust on the windowsill.

“Give me the knife,” Ruby told Sam. “Maybe I can fight it off.”

Confused, Sam peered down at her. “What?”

“Come on! That dust won't last forever.”

Dean turned around and looked at them from behind Sam. After a few seconds, Sam took out the blade and was ready to hand it to Ruby.

“Wait!” Dean yelled.

“You wanna die?”

The older Winchester’s eyes grew wide with worry and he shook. “Sam, that's not Ruby. It's not Ruby!”

As Sam looked back to Ruby, she waved her hand and an incredible force flung him hard up against the wall, pinning him effortlessly. He dropped the knife and it clattered on the wooden floor.

With determination, Riley ran toward the weapon, knowing it was their only hope. But, she too was tossed like a ragdoll and grunted at the impact against the wall.

The demon’s hand shot out in Dean’s direction as her powers flung him backward and onto a nearby table. He was trapped and struggled to hold his head up so he could see what was happening. No matter how hard he fought, Dean couldn’t move. “How long you been in her?”

Ruby’s entire facial expression changed and became almost childlike. “Not long.” It was clear, Ruby was no longer in that vessel. Something much more evil and sinister was sharing the same air as the hunters. She looked down at her body as she spoke in a feigned innocent voice. “But I like it. It's all grown up and pretty.” Her eyes went stark white as she looked back at Dean.

“And where's Ruby?” Sam panted.

As her eyes returned to normal, she glanced over at the trapped hunters. “She was a very bad girl, so I sent her far, far away.” Lilith tilted her head to the side and her neck crunched with each little motion.

“You know, I should have seen it before…” It was hard for Dean to get his words out as he still attempted to free himself. “But all you bitches look alike to me.”

Lilith snapped her head in Sam and Riley’s direction as she slowly walked toward them. “Hello, Sam. I've wanted to meet you for a very long time.” She grabbed a tight hold of his chin, forcing him to face her. Against his will, she gave him a kiss and there was an audible sizzle from the contact of their skin. “Your lips are soft.”

Sam moved his head up and to the side, trying to get loose from her hand. “Right, so you have me. Let my brother and sister go.” He peered down at her, hoping and praying that his offer would be enough to entice the demon.

“Silly goose. You wanna bargain, you have to have something that I want.” Lilith clicked her tongue in a mocking disapproval. “You don't.” Trying not to show his fear, Sam stared her down until her attention moved to Riley. “And Riley...you know--I don’t think I like you very much.”

Riley’s jaw clenched. “The feeling’s mutual.”

With her abilities running out of control, Riley could feel the evil seeping from the demon. It made her skin crawl until it almost made her physically sick. Her eyes watered as she listened to Lilith speak. It was as if with every breath, the screams of every child she had ever eaten echoed in Riley’s mind.

“You want to kill me...don’t you?”

“Oh, I’m going to kill you. Believe me.”

“Why? Because you killed a big bad demon before?” Lilith teased with a cocked head. “It’s really sad, you know--how you think you killed the demon that took your daddy. Because…” she smiled. “You didn’t.”

“What are you talking about?” Riley seethed.

“Your daddy made a deal with Yellow-Eyes. Azazel was the one that got to drag him to Hell as he screamed.”

The hunter shook with hate and fury. “You’re lying.”

“No...I’m not. But…” Lilith replied in a fake sweet voice before motioning with her finger, slicing open the skin at the base of Riley’s neck. The hunter grunted at the pain as she felt her skin burn. “You’re powerful, that’s for sure. But what I wanna know is...what are you?”

“I’m gonna be the last thing you see before I send you straight back to Hell, you whore!”

“I don’t think so.” Again, an invisible force cut into Riley’s flesh and she cried out. “Azazel wanted you for a reason. I say, we cut you open and find out why.”

Dean grew angry with the demon’s games and barked at her. “So, is this your big plan, huh? Drag me to Hell, kill Sam and Riley--and then what? Become queen bitch?”

Lilith peered at him from under her lashes. “I don't have to answer to puppy chow.”

Clearly in pain on the table, Dean tried with all his might to hold himself up against her restraint.

Slowly moving away from Sam and Riley, Lilith eyed Dean as she made her way to the door. Dean’s terror-filled eyes followed her every step as she took hold of the door handle.

While still staring back at the doomed Winchester, Lilith gave an order with an evil grin. “Sic 'em, boy.”

Both Riley and Sam’s hearts leaped into their throats as their heads snapped in Dean’s direction. With a final glance at his family, Dean quivered as his focus returned to the door.

Lilith opened the large wooden doors with a disgusting look of pleasure on her face as the goofer dust blew away at the hot breath of the demon dogs.

Laughing with glee the demon watched as the Hellhound charged at Dean who was still pinned to the table. It grabbed him, its ferocious teeth digging into his legs as it pulling him to the ground. Dean began to scream, tears pouring from his eyes as his right leg was ripped open.

Desperate pleas filled the room as Riley and Sam begged for Dean’s life. Their throats ached from the sobs and shouts ripping through them.

“Stop it!” Sam cried out as he watched his brother suffer, his flesh being torn to ribbons.

Riley’s muscles knotted as she released blood-curdling screams. As she witnessed the slaughtering of the man she loved, his pain became her own. It felt as though knives were ripping through her body; her screams becoming a mix of emotional and physical torture.

With a sinister grin, Lilith proudly watched the two hunters in utter anguish. She looked down at Dean who writhed on the floor, struggling to breathe and to free himself.

The Hellhound began to tear into him as it shredded the meat from his body. Dean’s screams only grew louder as the agony became too much to bear. He turned over onto his stomach, trying to crawl away, but the evil hound continued its ruthless attack. Massive claws slashed the hunter’s back and shoulder as Dean groaned loudly through his sobs.

Fangs punctured him before the Hellhound flipped Dean over, only to slash deep into the muscles of his chest. Blood gushed from him and splattered like raindrops over his face, the rest pooling around his flailing body.

With nothing left in him to fight, Dean’s cries fell silent as crimson red continued to flow from his open wounds.

“Stop it!” Sam begged.

Using what breath she had left, Riley screamed. “No!! Dean!!”

All Riley and Sam could do was watch helplessly in horror. Whatever they had imagined that moment would be like could never compare to the devastation of the reality.

Dean’s final shallow breaths were passing his lips and he began to grow still.

“Stop it!”

Blood continued to pour from Dean’s chest like a sputtering fountain until he wasn’t screaming anymore.

“No!!”

A proud Lilith smirked at Riley and Sam. “Yes.” She stretched out her hand and suddenly a blinding white light erupted from it. As it built up, the two turned their heads and closed their eyes.

Once her light was retracted and the blinding brightness had faded, her dead white eyes returned to their normal state as she stared at the siblings in utter shock.

Both hunters were on the floor, huddled in a corner together next to a cabinet, holding each other. As it grew still they looked back up to see that nothing had happened and nervously helped the other stand.

Afraid to her core, Lilith held out her hand again as a warning while her scared voice cracked. “Back.” Sam and Riley began to walk toward her. “I said, back.”

The two seemed more hateful and determined as ever, knowing she had no power of either of them. Sam bent down to pick up the demon blade while Lilith grew more terrified with the hunters’ every movement.

“I don't think so,” Sam declared as he pulled back his hand, ready to plunge the knife into her chest.

Left with no other choice and knowing she had lost the battle, Lilith abandoned Ruby’s body. A massive cloud of black smoke erupted from her mouth as she screamed horribly.

The loud sounds of suffering died off as the smoke disappeared into the slatted vents on the ceiling and Ruby’s vessel collapsed.

Sam and Riley’s attention fell to the floor as they fixated on Dean’s shredded body. Tiny droplets of blood peppered his face like his freckles. His eyes were open but vacant with no life left in them

Dean was gone.

Breathing heavily, Sam bent down beside him to pick up his big brother, pulling him into his lap as he cradled his head. To Sam, Dean wasn’t just a brother, he was a father figure, his partner, and his very best friend. The one that had raised him, protected him and taught him everything he knew had been stolen from him; the pain of his loss making him ache for death himself.

Sam and Riley wept with unimaginable grief feeling as though a piece of them had been taken along with Dean. They knew it was a part of them that they would never get back.

“No…” Sam whimpered as his voice broke. “No... Dean…”

Riley fell to her knees in defeat beside Sam, her gaze locked on Dean’s green and motionless eyes. Her hands trembled as she took Dean’s hand and clasped it tightly. His skin was still warm as she brought his knuckles to her lips, kissing his bloodied hand tenderly. Tears dripped down her face and onto Dean as they slid down his arm.

Riley gasped for a deep breath as she felt the emptiness between her and the man she loved; it was deafening. A deep hollowness consumed her and she could have sworn her heart had been ripped from her chest. She was no longer whole.

“Oh, my god...” she whispered almost inaudibly, her throat raspy from her earlier wailing. “...Dean.”

The two mourned Dean as they both wrapped their arms around him in a tight embrace as they all held each other one last time.

------

Chains stretched from place to place in a vast void as thunder and lighting roared. Dean’s screams echoed into the nothingness surrounding him while the metal links held him in place by his arms and legs. He was soaked in blood and sweat; rusty hooks pierced through his shoulder, leg, and abdomen.

“HELP! NO! SOMEBODY HELP ME!”

No words could express the terror Dean experienced as blood filled his mouth, his teeth coated in a dark shade of red. He sobbed through his pointless cries for help as his torment raged on. The seconds that passed felt like days that would never end.

With all he had, Dean shouted at the top of his lungs. His cries went unheard and reverberated into the darkness.

“NO!!”

Dean’s eyes darted frantically in every direction only to see that Hell had swallowed him whole. There was no escape, there was no hope, there was only suffering.

Horror consumed him as his skin began to sizzle and burn from the unbearable heat around him. Alone and afraid, Dean choked on his own blood as it slowly drowned him. All that remained were the echoes of his screams for mercy as he cried out...

“RILEY!! ...SAM!!”

------

S4 Prequel: Out of Tears

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bigskydreaming · 5 years

Text

Thank you for the boosting and the donation! Got the rest of the rent there now, which let me sit down and whip out my first commission, yay! Someone who said they didn’t need to be credited asked me for 2K about the idea of “what do I think Dick’s opinion would have been of the Felipe Garzonas situation at the time.”

Which is a fucking awesome premise, and not one I’ve spent a lot of time thinking on, but it hit me right away....like, you know I’m always talking about how Jason and Dick have a lot more in common than most people think, IMO, and also that Dick isn’t nearly as incapable of understanding the impulse to kill as he’s normally assumed to be.....but thinking about Jason as Robin and whose side Dick would fall on that, if he’d been asked to weigh in....and given that he was still on iffy terms with Bruce and thus probably more inclined to side with the kid in his literal shoes, who he could remember being in certain ways, at certain times...

It made my mind jump straight to Robin: Year One, and how when Bruce fired Dick as Robin that first time, after the Two-Face incident, he kinda pinned the judge’s death on Dick, like as a direct result of Dick’s choice there...and this definitely affected Dick throughout the entire rest of the mini...which all culminated in him being trained at Shrike’s Vengeance Academy and literally holding a gun on Two-Face himself, having been ordered to kill him by Shrike, and wanting to...because of how Two-Face had so recently hurt him, and in Dick’s eyes...also been the direct result of his fallout with Bruce, the thing that made Bruce run away.

And so with all that in mind, here’s what I came up with. It’s open-ended, because my commissioner said they would rather me leave it unfinished if I felt there were more places I could take it, if other people wanted to commission further additions to it or I wanted to finish it myself later when I had time.....so here’s 2,695 words of Dick and Robin!Jason in the week immediately following the Garzonas case. I got in a groove with it so went over the commission mark, lol, (I don’t charge extra for that, FYI, lol) but also I wanted to make sure I left it in at least a somewhat place for a break, rather than just in the middle of a thought.

This is definitely something I’d come back to on my own, just to finish it, no further commissions required, but like.....being able to use the commission to pay towards food or rent instead of waiting until I have the time and energy to bang out actual fic, like...definitely would make that a sooner rather than later thing, not gonna lie. LOL. I mean hey, I wrote this in the last hour.

(Which also means its unbeta-ed, but they said that was okay and I think it still reads pretty cleanly as is). Anyway!

********

UNTITLED FOR NOW

The way Jason Todd warily eyed the device in his hand, one might think it was an instrument of great and terrible destructive power, rather than just…his own personal cell-phone.

To be fair, he was Robin, and pretty used to the idea that even the most unlikely of things could be used for evil in Gotham. It could’ve been stolen and replaced at some point by a henchperson of Mr. Freeze, and using it could unleash some kind of cryogenic freeze ray that would turn him into a Robinsicle. Mad Hatter could be up to shit again, and dialing the phone at this very minute might mean syncing it up with a remote radio signal that would override his natural brainwaves and turn him into Tetch’s mindless minion of like…doom and stuff. Or…or…

Or sometimes, even in Gotham a phone is just a phone, and Freud is still a dumbass. And neither of the above possibilities had anything to do with why Jason was being a giant freaking pansy about entering the last digit of the phone number he would never ever admit to having had memorized for months now.

Nightwing had said to call if he ever needed to talk. He wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t actually want Jason to call, right? Like, its not as if Jason had remotely been expecting him to do that, so its not the sort of thing someone did just because it was ‘expected’ or shit. He was pretty sure. Rich people manners were weird though. Had to factor that in.

But Nightwing had also even made a point to say not talking to people about stuff was Bruce’s problem and that Jason shouldn’t let it be his problem too, and even though months ago Jason had been a starry-eyed dumbass who was totally drunk on the Bruce is the Bestest Kool-Aid or whatever, ‘Wing had definitely known what he was talking about there. So maybe he’d get it, and having this conversation with him wouldn’t be. Like. The actual worst idea in the history of ever.

Deductive logic said that Jason was getting worked up over nothing and there was no rational reason for him to be this nervous about dialing a fucking phone number. And he’d gotten pretty good at the whole deduction shit, given all the work he and Bruce had put into training his mind to view the world through entirely new paradigms, so Jason was pretty sure his math on that checked out. But on the other hand, Bruce was a hypocritical asshat that Jason was currently not speaking to, so what the fuck did he know about anything?

Aaaaand he was back to square one. Well damn. This was excellent. Very productive. Good hustle out there, Jay.

Sighing gustily, Jason flopped back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling and trying to pretend he hadn’t gotten used to how luxurious and cushion-y his ridiculously expensive mattress was. He’d gotten soft, he told himself. Then he scoffed at the idea that the past year and a half of rigorous Robin training and patrols had made him less tough than the pipsqueak he’d been back when living on the street, getting his ass kicked by bigger and badder on the regular. That hadn’t been hardness, that had been bravado.

But it had gotten him this far in life, so maybe there was something to be said for it after all?

Ugh. Decisions were hard. He objected on principle. He also really wanted to understand why he was this nervous…if he could literally fill the guy’s shoes and kick supervillain ass as Robin, what freaking sense did it make that he couldn’t even call him up on the phone?

Maybe you just know better than to ask him questions you don’t really want to hear his answer to, a smug voice said in the back of his mind. It sounded suspiciously like Willis Todd, which was all kinds of weird and fucked up, cuz Jason was damn sure his abusive a-hole of a deadbeat dad had never said anything that insightful in his life.

Which meant it was his own screwed up subconscious - presenting in the voice of his not so dearly departed douchebag dad, no less - that had Jason reacting out of spite, entering the last number and hitting Talk, all while totally on autopilot. Because apparently we’re all making healthy life choices in this Chili’s tonight, Jason snickered somewhat hysterically while his phone rang once, twice, three times.

Ugh. Was he always this fucked up in the head and he just never noticed, or was it a side effect of running around rooftops in a cape. Inquiring minds wanted to know.

“Hello?” Someone said then, answering on the fourth ring. Jason sat bolt upright, his nervous humor vanishing as quickly and unexpectedly as it’d hijacked him in the first place. For all that he’d only actually interacted with the older man a few times, his voice was instantly recognizable. As was his slight confusion.

Right. Because why would Nightwing have the untraceable number of the latest burner phone Bruce had given Jason, when the ever paranoid Bat had him swapping out phones every freaking week? Duh, Jay.

“Uh, its me,” Jason said hastily, as if he could somehow catch up to and overtake the epically long ten second silence he let lapse before his mouth started making words again. “Jason?”

“Jaybird! Hey! What’s going on?” The older vigilante’s tone instantly morphed into one of surprised delight, so apparent even across the phone that Jason actually pulled it away from his ear and stared at it, as if that could explain Nightwing’s inexplicable giddiness. He’d literally only met the dude three times. Give or take a concussion he was forgetting about maybe? Weird.

Then again, the older man was a circus performer from birth. Might just be good at faking being super excited to hear from people? Whatever. Still weird.

“Uh, you said to call if I was ever having, I dunno, issues with Bruce I guess? So I kinda had a question? I mean, if you’re not busy or anything.”

Just one question? Willis’ voice asked snidely, echoing in time with the rapid tripartite beat of Jason’s heart. Since apparently everything Jason said was trying to come out with a question mark attached to the end of it at the moment. Ugh, fuck you, subconscious, Jason thought forcefully, even as he ransacked the recesses of his mind for that bravado he was thinking about earlier. It had to be in here somewhere…

“No worries dude, I’ve got time. Hit me!” Nightwing said cheerfully. His lighthearted cadences were so at odds with the sweat suddenly breaking out on Jason’s forehead, the younger teen couldn’t help but wince in anticipation of its inevitable change once he got his actual question out. This was a bad idea, he decided, way too fucking late for it to make a difference. He had a hunch Nightwing wouldn’t be content to ‘just forget it’ or whatever even if Jason chickened out now.

So he took a deep breath, shrugged and did what Jason Todd did best. Said fuck it, put pedal to the metal, and drove at full speed for the metaphorical police barricade that was his way of picturing all the things telling him He Should Definitely Just Not.

“Do you think I’m someone who could kill somebody in like, cold blood?”

Aaaaand there went the lightheartedness. Well, he’d definitely stone cold killed that, Jason thought grimly into the silence that followed.

“Huh,” Nightwing said at last. “You’re gonna have to give me a second to switch gears here, Jay. I was kinda expecting something along the lines of ‘how do I avoid Bruce giving me the safe sex talk.’”

Jason flushed and nodded jerkily, not that the older man could see it. Still, it’d been enough of a workout just getting to this point. He didn’t trust what might come out of his mouth next if he kept trying to force it. Thankfully Nightwing didn’t make him wait too long before continuing.

“I think anyone’s capable of killing somebody in the right circumstances,” Jason’s predecessor began carefully. Except that was not remotely what he wanted to hear. Or helpful.

“I’m not looking for platitudes,” Jason grit out, not angry at the other vigilante so much as the whole fucked up mess and his inability to think about anything else at this point. “It’s just a simple fucking question. You’ve met me, do you think like, I’d be capable of just killing somebody or not.”

“I’m not offering platitudes,” Nightwing continued calmly, as if he wasn’t phased by the younger boy’s interruption or sudden aggression at all. “And its not a simple question at all. Speaking from experience, most people wouldn’t think of an eight year old as a cold-blooded killer, but that’s what I could have been if Bruce hadn’t stopped me from killing my parents’ murderer when I first tracked him down. And yet that’s still totally different from when I held a gun on Two-Face barely a couple years later, about to shoot him because somebody else told me to, and because I wanted to hurt him like he’d hurt me. Wouldn’t you agree those are two different situations and two different ‘kinds’ of cold-blooded killer? Context is kinda a big deal here.”

Huh. First off…what the fuck? Jason stared blankly up at the ceiling, trying to hurry up the processing functions of his brain because, again, what the fuck? He was like ninety nine percent positive none of that had been in the Dick Grayson Is The Greatest and Here Are All The Reasons Why brochure he’d had read to him every time someone new found out he was Wayne’s newest stray, and like. Uh. Yeah, that part would have definitely stood out. Because once more, with feeling:

“What the fuck?”

Oops. That hadn’t been supposed to be out loud. Bad mouth. Bad.

Nightwing just did a weird kinda half laugh half sigh combo. Rueful, Jason would describe it, if he were describing it to someone else, which it kind of felt like he was, relaying the conversation to himself now that it’d taken a hard right turn into the surreal.

“Blindsided you with that, huh? Sorry, should’ve figured neither of those are the kinda stories Bruce would want to share with you. Then again, I don’t really have any idea what Bruce has told you about me.”

“Not much,” Jason admitted. Which was a major source of irritation, if he was being honest. The much sung praises of Dick Grayson came from literally everyone he met except for Bruce. Who usually just got a pinched expression whenever Jason brought him up, and a rapid subject change that was not nearly as subtle as Bruce seemed to think it was.

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” Nightwing sighed. “I hope you haven’t put too much stock in anything else you’ve heard about me then. I’ll admit to a bad habit of enjoying my mystique, so secondhand hearsay tends to lose my best nuances.”

Despite himself, Jason’s lips curved up and he let out a rueful huff of his own. “I mean, this definitely isn’t where I saw this conversation going.”

The older man chuckled. “Thought I was going to just assume the worst and chuck the book at you?”

“Well. Yeah.” Jason shrugged, even though he knew it wouldn’t come across. “Bruce did.”

Nightwing heaved an exasperated breath. “Yeah, that’s kinda the thing about B. Sometimes, he’s great. Other times, he’s an ass. Its kinda an either or thing. He’s never really mastered the art of finding a midpoint between two extremes. Mostly because he’s never seen the point of aiming for middle ground.”

“Well its not like he’s ever really had to,” Jason griped. It just slipped out before he could stop it, leaving him feeling guilty for bad-mouthing B when he wasn’t around to defend himself. Especially since he knew Nightwing wasn’t the guy’s biggest fan these days. But he couldn’t deny it also felt good, in a way.

To his surprise, Nightwing just laughed. And not even in a malicious, spiteful kind of way, but almost relieved.

“God, thank you. You’d think that ‘hey, so my billionaire guardian kinda has entitlement issues’ would be a water is wet kind of revelation, but try saying something like that to pretty much anyone else…”

“And they look at you like you’re an ungrateful asshole?” Jason finished for him. Not that he’d ever actually tried saying that to anyone before, though he’d definitely thought it a time or two. But he could all too easily imagine the reactions he’d get, which was pretty much why he’d never gone so far as to speak the words.

“Yup,” Nightwing drawled, dragging out the p and popping it with emphasis. “And its not about being grateful or not, its just…there are some parts of everyone that just aren’t up for grabs, for other people to weigh in on or take charge of, you know? And a lot of people just don’t get that…because nobody’s ever tried it with them, or had to deal with expectations that…overstep, let’s call it?”

“Is that why you left?”

Jason winced the second it left his mouth. Too far. Definitely way too far, but he’d just gotten unexpectedly comfortable with the back and forth, and now he’d done the overstepping thing himself and was left with just dead air.

But ten seconds of heavy silence stretched into twenty, and went no further, as Nightwing sighed into his side of the phone again.

“The spiteful part of me wants to say it was more of a push than me just up and leaving,” he laughed again, but this time with unmistakable bitterness. “But even while that’s true, its not really the right answer to your question, because no matter how much of a clusterfuck that was at the time, its not…I mean, I knew at the time how to fix it. Where and how I needed to cave in order to make up with him and let things get back not quite to normal, but at least close enough.”

The pause wasn’t as heavy or tense this time, as Jason could almost sense the older man gathering his thoughts, trying to put them into words. He bit his lip rather than risk any more unexpected utterances escaping. This might not have been where he’d thought his phone call would lead, but now that he was here, hearing the answers to questions he’d wanted to ask for over a year and finding them almost comfortably familiar, he wasn’t going to risk distracting Nightwing or shutting him up for well. Anything.

“But it would have meant me caving. Settling in ways that I just…couldn’t. So in a way, yeah, I did leave, it was still my choice. And all of that was definitely a big part of it. I love Bruce, I do. I just couldn’t live with him anymore. Not without feeling like I had to give up my own autonomy and just be what he wanted. Or what he’d expected me to grow up to be, back when he first took me in. And as grateful as I am to him for that, I can’t honestly say I would have stuck around back then if I knew that was the price tag attached. I’m not…I don’t do well with people trying to force me to stick to one place, one thing. I was born on the road, you know? When I was a kid, I expected to spend the rest of my life living like that. Home was people. Not places. And so Gotham…its never fit me quite right, the way it does him, or even Barbara. Its not like I was miserable there, its just.”

“It wouldn’t have been your first choice,” Jason finished again, quietly. There was silence again for awhile.

“No. No, it wouldn’t have been. Not then.”

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do-your-socks-have-holes-in-them · 5 years

Text

Til the End of the Night / Ch17: In which Logan makes some plans

Previous / Masterpost / Next

Summary: Logan thinks fast. Virgil yells at the void, otherwise known as Roman. Patton just wants to go home.

Warnings: mentions of previously existing injuries, mind control & captivity, angrily breaking things, hypothetical mentions of death/killing someone

A/N: honestly not sure anyone is even reading this fic on tumblr but I’m not just gonna stop crossposting a few chapters from the end even if it’s completely unnecessary so here we are lol

AO3

~ ~ ~

Logan ran down the spiral stairs as quietly as he could, dragging Patton by the hand, while the latter struggled to maintain their invisibility. He’d caught on much faster than Virgil, thanks to more… immediate motivation… and Logan whispering instructions in his ear, but still…

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” Patton hissed, trying not to stumble. “Is it working?”

“I believe so,” Logan replied just as quietly. “I can’t see you, at least. Can you see me?”

“No… I guess it’s working, then.” He could only tell Logan was still with him by his grip on his hand, which was, to be honest, a little frightening.

Logan merely nodded and continued pulling him along. They needed to get as far from here as possible before the witch came after them. Fortunately, there was at least one point in their favor: the Dragon Witch seemed like the kind of person who considered herself too dignified to flat-out run through the halls, whereas Patton barely knew the meaning of the word “dignity” and Logan had accepted the loss of his own sometime in the nineties. Then again, it was probably balanced out by Patton’s leg still being injured, which brought them back to “most likely doomed.” Logan realised he was only discouraging himself. Less thinking, more running.

After all but sprinting down the first hallway and making a few sharp turns in whatever direction seemed like it would take them away from the tower, Patton’s strength was flagging. He tugged on Logan’s hand, too out of breath to tell him to slow down, but Logan got the message. He cautiously opened the nearest door, and sighed in relief when it led to an empty room- well, not empty; it contained furniture and the like, but there were no people inside.

“Thanks,” Patton sighed, once the door was safely shut behind them. He sank onto a very expensive-looking chair. “Sorry about… you know. Slowing you down.”

Logan shook his head. “There is no need to apologize, Patton, you’re injured. Actually, may I see your leg for a moment? I want to make sure it’s healing well, now that I have the supplies to re-bandage it afterward.”

“There isn’t time.” Patton didn’t quite feel confident about the safety of the room they were in, no matter how quick he thought he could be. He also really didn’t want to try and explain the bruises Logan would surely see if he rolled up his pant leg to check on the one wound he knew about. “What, uh, what are we doing?” He tried to smile, tried to sound like he wasn’t really scared, and did not quite succeed at either of those things.

“Right. You’re right. We can’t stay here long- I suppose what we’re doing first is… looking for a better hiding place, where we can come up with a plan. First, though, let me help you with that necklace. I didn’t get to teach Virgil how to use it properly, but it should be able to keep us both invisible and muffle any sound we make without putting too much strain on you, if you follow my instructions.”

Patton already felt a little strained, but maybe that was just because of the running. He nodded and wrapped a hand around the pendant, listening carefully as Logan explained the correct way to use it.

~ ~ ~

As the Dragon Witch stalked through the halls of her castle, everyone she passed barely resisted the urge to flee. (It helped that they knew she’d be even angrier if they… y’know, stopped doing their jobs in favor of running away from their employer.) She made straight for the dungeons, revived the guards Virgil had knocked out, and then shouted at them for letting it happen. As she left, they began spreading the word throughout the castle: there were two escaped prisoners still loose, and they needed to be caught, or at the very least not allowed to make it outside. Who knew what kind of annoyance they could become if they made it to one of the towns her army hadn’t yet taken over.

She didn’t trust her guards to actually catch the two, of course. If they could slip away from behind her without catching her attention, they could certainly evade the useless idiots who worked for her. The important thing was that every exit was sealed, leaving her free to hunt them down at her leisure- play with them a little, if she liked; they didn’t stand a chance of actually getting away, no one could get away from her, but it was more fun when they didn’t know it.

~ ~ ~

Since dragging Virgil into the tower room and letting the door close behind them, Roman hadn’t really moved. He had at least released Virgil once the door was securely locked, which he appreciated, but other than that? He was just standing near the wall, practically at attention, with a thousand-yard stare straight ahead. It was downright creepy.

Virgil paced the room until he didn’t feel on the brink of a panic attack, then returned to Roman. He waved a hand in front of his eyes- no reaction. “Hello? Roman?” He cursed under his breath; it was the sort of curse that shattered an empty glass on the table, left over from Roman’s previous meal. It seemed like profanity wasn’t allowed in this world, but breaking things was more satisfying anyway, as it turned out. “I don’t even know if you can hear me like this, but, uh… let’s see if this works?” He took a breath and hissed, “Prince Roman Sanders, snap out of it already.”

Nothing happened. Virgil cursed again, louder. The rest of the dishes broke.

He resumed pacing, this time back and forth in front of Roman. Even if he couldn’t hear him, it was better to talk to him than to admit he was just talking to himself, trying to calm down. “Okay. So that’s not gonna work. I guess that makes sense, I mean, you know your own name, so if it worked like that you could just snap yourself out of it by… thinking it really hard, or something. It’s fine. Pat and Logan got away, they’ll figure something out… assuming they don’t get caught. Although if the witch killed them, they’d be back home and they could wake Thomas up… but what if she doesn’t kill them? What if she just throws them back in the dungeons or- or something worse?” He didn’t want to think about what that might be, much less say it out loud, much less say it to a mind-controlled Roman. “Still, though,” he continued, trying to think positively despite a serious lack of experience. “Morning will come eventually, no matter what, and Thomas will notice we’re gone. We can’t actually be trapped here forever.”

Roman, predictably by now, remained silent and unmoving. Virgil stood in front of him with a sigh, searching his blank eyes for any hint of consciousness. He turned away after a few seconds. As he sat down on the bed- the chair being slightly dangerous after all that cursing- he realized his hands were sparking with frustrated magic. He’d already tried using it to break out, and it had just bounced off the walls a few times before absorbing harmlessly back into his body. So he wouldn’t be trying that again. It may not have done anything to the room around them, but he probably needed to be careful about…

He looked up at Roman. He looked back down at his hands.

“I… I don’t know what you would want,” he said to what may as well have been an empty room, a note of despair entering his voice along with a slight echoing quality. He cleared his throat to get rid of both. “I could… you’d be out of here, at least. I hate seeing you like this. But… I don’t think you’d want to give up, as long as there’s any ridiculously tiny chance of beating her.”

He took a deep breath, and the energy swirling restlessly around his hands retreated.

“Let’s wait and see what happens. Maybe Logan and Patton will… save the day, or whatever.”

Still… it was a good thing to keep in mind. Just as a last resort.

~ ~ ~

Logan and Patton set out into the hallways again as soon as Patton had a better handle on the use of the invisibility necklace. It was somewhat slow going, but eventually they found a room Logan deemed reasonably safe to stay in, since there were no guards patrolling too close by. Although neither of them knew it, it was the same room from which Virgil had retrieved Logan’s bag.

“We still need to be quiet,” Logan whispered, “but it doesn’t seem as though anyone comes in here regularly.”

Patton nodded and sat down on the floor with his legs crossed, which required nudging a few weapons out of the way. He had let them become visible again as soon as the door was shut behind them. “I’m tired,” he very nearly whined. “What are we gonna do, Lo?” With that, he rested his head against the wall behind him and shut his eyes, not truly expecting Logan to have a good answer. At least not right away- he did still have some faith in their ability to get out of this situation.

Logan sat a short distance away from him, close enough that he could reach out and grab Patton’s hand if someone walked in unexpectedly. “I need to think about it,” he admitted. With a cautious glance at the door, he opened his bag and laid out some components on the floor, mixing them together into little bottles without bothering to explain to Patton what he was doing. “The Dragon Witch’s control over Roman is the most pressing issue we need to deal with- if we break the spell she has him under, Roman himself will likely be able to take care of the rest. However, I… do not exactly know how to do that. Not without killing her, at least, and I’m not at all confident that we would be able to do that on our own- or even with Virgil.”

“If we just got him away from her, she couldn’t control him anymore, at least,” Patton suggested without much hope- he didn’t know how they would be able to do that, either, and it wouldn’t actually do anything for the state Roman was in.

“Oh, that’s… that’s actually not a bad idea.” Logan brightened. “If we were to return Roman to the real world, he would presumably go back to normal. We don’t have to play by the rules here, since our ultimate goal is not to defeat the Dragon Witch, but simply to get Roman out.”

Patton opened his eyes and looked at him. “Do you know how to do that?”

“Well… if I’m remembering correctly, the portal we used to enter the Imagination should still be there. It would be… difficult, but not impossible to take Roman back to the place we arrived.”

“Oh!”

“If the witch hasn’t moved them already, Roman and Virgil should still be in the tower room. I’m sure I have a set of lockpicks somewhere in this bag, so all we need to do is distract or incapacitate the guard, possibly restrain Roman in some way if the witch’s control makes him unwilling to go with us, and then find a way out of the castle.”

Patton couldn’t even pretend that sounded like a plan that would go smoothly, but it was the best one they had, and they shouldn’t waste any more time in case the witch did decide to move their friends elsewhere. “Okay… let’s get going, then.” He gave Logan a nod, hoping he looked more confident than he felt.

“Follow my lead.” Logan packed away his things and stood up. After a moment’s thought, he picked up something that was either a small sword or a big knife and strapped it to his waist, just in case they ended up needing such a thing, then reached for Patton’s hand. Once they were both firmly invisible, he stepped forward and slowly, carefully opened the door.

The Dragon Witch was standing right in front of them.

“I know you’re in here,” she sang, blocking the door. Oh, this was bad. Logan froze, tightening his grip on Patton’s hand in case he was thinking of doing anything impulsive.

…She wasn’t looking at them. Her eyes were flitting around, searching for something to give away their location. She may have known they were in the room- or that someone was in the room, at any rate, and who else would be sneaking around invisibly and hiding in storage rooms?- but she couldn’t see them. Logan had an idea, and it might have been a bad one, but he used it anyway.

“Don’t let go of the pendant,” he whispered to Patton, knowing that if she couldn’t see them, she wouldn’t be able to hear him either. There was no time for further explanation. He used his free hand to grab a small item from his bag, then slipped the strap of it off his own shoulder and moved it carefully over to Patton’s. Finally, in one movement, he pushed Patton away from him, let go of his hand, and ran at the witch as if trying to push past her and run out the door. As he did so, he let the object he was holding fall from his hand- it hit the floor at his feet and shattered. He could only hope Patton got the idea and escaped, because he certainly wasn’t going to.

~ ~ ~

The Dragon Witch almost laughed at the alchemist’s frankly sad attempt to knock her out of the way. She stumbled back a step, merely because she hadn’t been expecting such a reckless move, but it didn’t take more than a second to freeze him in place with her magic.

“Did you really expect that to work?”

He sighed, experimentally attempting to move his fingers. “I knew it wasn’t likely, but felt it preferable to simply surrendering myself.”

She rolled her eyes. “Heroes. Never able to admit when they’ve been beaten.”

Logan hummed in what was almost agreement, thinking of Roman.

“Now, where’s the other one- the healer? I know you were together.”

“We… split up a while ago,” Logan said, hoping she couldn’t tell he was lying. “I don’t know where he is now.”

“Of course,” she muttered. “I take it he has your bag of supplies, too?”

He’d been hoping she wouldn’t think of that. “…Yes.”

“Well… no matter, he’ll be caught soon enough.” After all, he was only a healer, and injured himself- even if he had the alchemist’s bag, she doubted he knew how to use what was in it. He didn’t pose much of a threat. In fact, she wasn’t even sure if capturing him should be her top priority right now- it was almost a waste of time and effort. Let him wear himself out, running around trying to escape the locked-down castle.

Logan looked down and said nothing. She took this as a sign that he knew there was no hope for his little friend, but didn’t want to admit it.

“Incidentally, don’t think I’ve forgotten- what was that thing you dropped on the floor? Not some foolish attempt to resist me, I hope?”

Ah, he’d been waiting for this. Logan put on a mask of frustration and explained, “It was an invisibility charm.”

“Like the one the Sorcerer had? Don’t lie to me, I know you have no magical abilities.”

“Of course not, but I happen to be very intelligent,” he said indignantly. “If you must know, it was modified to work from an internal power source- I came up with it myself. And if I hadn’t dropped it…”

“You still wouldn’t have gotten away,” she assured him with an almost comforting pat on the shoulder. “A little invisibility wouldn’t have stopped me from catching someone who ran directly into me, don’t be insulting.”

He sighed again and slumped. “That’s… probably true.”

“I’m glad we agree. Now, back to the dungeons with you- or, no…” She held up a hand, stopping the guards who’d arrived to take him there. “Actually, I want you to see this.” The Dragon Witch smiled, and there was nothing pleasant about it. “I think it’s time to make my victory public.”

#sanders sides #sanders sides fic #logan sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #roman sanders #my post #my writing #til the end of the night

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ladyrevanhalin · 5 years

Text

TWISTED MORALITY (PART III of ONLY LIGHT CAN CAST SHADOW) CHAPTER THREE: SEEKING SHELTER FROM THE STORM (PREVIEW SECTION 4 OF 16)

[Author’s Note: This is a Preview section from an incomplete chapter]

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Three days had passed since the destruction of the Endar Spire. Carth Onasi sat polishing his blaster in that little run-down apartment on Taris. He was beginning to grow impatient with the situation. The Sith forces would surely be searching for Bastila Shan, and he needed to make sure that the Republic got to her first. After the space battle, the Sith blockade had ordered a planetary quarantine that prevented any ships from entering or leaving the planet without special access codes. The situation just seemed to be getting worse and worse. Without Bastila’s battle meditation, there was little help left for the Republic, and without his crewmate regaining consciousness, he had no one to help him look for the Jedi.

That day, however, would prove different than the previous three had. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye and holstered his blaster pistol before moving over to check on her. She was panting, and thrashing about again. He’d learned by now from the previous experiences of being whacked in the face not to get too close when she was in this state. He only hoped though that this time, she would finally be waking up for good.

His hopes were fulfilled when this time he saw her sit fully up in the bunk. She continued her panting a few moments longer as she braced herself back against the mattress with her hands before her breathing finally slowed to a normal pace and she looked slowly about the room. The woman’s eyes stopped and grew wide when they landed on him, and she frantically seemed to start feeling about for something. When she was seemingly unable to find whatever it was she was looking for, she stood, facing him.

Carth managed a rather sheepish smile in return to her rather startled gaze. “Good to see you up instead of thrashing about in your sleep,” he said, placing his hands where they were clearly visible in front of him so she understood he meant no harm. He had seen her react in fear onboard the Endar Spire, and thought it best to make it very clear he posed no threat to her. He could only imagine how startled she must have felt waking up in a completely strange place like this after having been in the state she was for several days. “You must have been having one hell of a nightmare. I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to wake up…”

He watched her, waiting for some sort of a response, but the woman seemed to be at least partly in shock still. He sighed and ventured stepping toward her. The woman flinched at first, but looked to Carth’s hand as he held it out to her. “I’m Carth,” he said, introducing himself, “one of the Republic soldiers from the Endar Spire. I was with you in the escape pod… Do you remember?”

He watched her, still holding his hand out to her and hoping she would accept his gesture. There were no signs that he had seen so far of any other survivors from the attack, and he needed her help and cooperation if they were ever going to find a way to get off of this planet and back to the Republic.

“I had a… strange dream,” she murmured, her blue eyes growing more distant now. “Like a… a vision, or something…”

She didn’t seem to be looking at him anymore. Carth cleared his throat a little in an attempt to recapture her attention. It seemed successful because her eyes shot upward and alert to meet his own. “I'm not surprised. You took a serious blow to the head. You're probably having all kinds of strange dreams. I wouldn't worry too much about it,” he assured her.

Carth felt himself take a breath in relief when she finally took his hand and shook it. “Carth… the one on the communicator. I remember…. I’m Gwen, by the way. Gwen Dakaal….” she looked around, letting his hand go. “How did we get here?”

Carth’s smile softened. He was glad to know it seemed as though Gwen was going to be okay after all…. “Well, you've been slipping in and out of consciousness for a couple of days now, so I imagine you're pretty confused about things,” he said. “Try not to worry. We're safe… at least for the moment. We're in an abandoned apartment on the planet of Taris. We were overhead when the Sith fleet attacked the Endar Spire. You were banged up pretty badly when our escape pod crashed, but luckily I wasn't seriously hurt. I was able to drag you away from our crash site in all the confusion, and I stumbled onto this abandoned apartment. By the time the Sith arrived on the scene we were long gone.”

“I guess I owe you my life then,” Gwen said. “Thanks…”

Carth shook his head a little. “You don’t need to thank me. I’ve never abandoned anyone on a mission yet and I’m certainly not about to start now… Besides, I’m gonna need your help.”

Gwen raised an eyebrow and folded her arms as she sat back down on the bunk, crossing her legs. “What sort of help?”

“Well,” Carth said, scratching his head, “Taris is under Sith control. Their fleet is orbiting the planet, they've declared martial law and they've imposed a planet-wide quarantine. But I've been in worse spots. I saw on your service records that you understand a remarkable number of alien languages. That's pretty rare in a raw recruit, but it should come in handy while we're stranded on a foreign world.”

“Yeah, well I work in cipher,” said the woman. “Being familiar with a variety of languages is kind of a requirement. Truth be told, once you know a few of them, you start to notice that everything’s related one way or another… Well, almost everything…. Anyway, is it just a translator you need until a rescue party comes?”

Carth shook his head. “There's no way the Republic will be able to get anyone through the Sith blockade to help us. If we're going to find Bastila and get off this planet, we can't rely on anybody but ourselves.”

“Wait! Wait… Backup a moment? Bastila? You mean that Jedi from the Endar Spire?” Gwen had unfolded her arms, making frantic motions with her hands in emphasis of her words. “Why is it so important to find Bastila?”

Carth looked at her rather confused. “That smack to your head did more damage than I thought,” he remarked, quickly regretting his words when he saw Gwen’s eyes narrow into a leer. He chuckled nervously, hoping to ease the situation. She was rather… odd. Carth couldn’t help but to recount the moment on the Endar Spire when she’d pointed her blaster at him upon reaching the escape pods. “Bastila was with the strike team that killed Darth Revan, Malak's Sith master,” he said in an attempt to defend his comments about wanting to find the Jedi. “Bastila is the key to the whole Republic war effort. The Sith must have found out she was on the Endar Spire and set an ambush for us in this system. I believe Bastila was on one of the escape pods that crashed down here on Taris. For the sake of the Republic war effort, we have to try and find her.”

“Forget it!” the woman said, standing firmly and folding her arms. “I’m not risking my life to try to save her.” With this, she made a move as if to walk away. Where to, Carth was unsure. After all, she’d not seen any of the surrounding area and there could very well be Sith patrols around, like earlier. Not to mention the fact that she’d been unconscious for days and had just gotten up. She was likely to end up fainting from fatigue before she got very far.

He reached out, catching her by the arm. “I don't think you understand the situation,” he said. “We can't hide on this planet forever. Eventually, the Sith will find us… and you don't want that, believe me! Getting off this world isn't going to be easy… we'll probably need Bastila's help. Not to mention that without her, the whole Republic war effort is doomed.” He added the last part on for good measure, hoping to appeal to some sort of patriotism. After all, Gwen must have joined the republic military for a reason. If he could manage to touch on that, then perhaps he could convince her of his side of things. It was, after all, in both of their best interests.

Gwen sighed, causing Carth to relax his grip on her arm. It seemed, at least, like she wasn’t going to straight-up walk out on him. “Look,” she said, “how do you even know that this ‘Bastila’ is still alive?”

“I don’t,” Carth admitted. “But Bastila has a strong command of the Force. If we survived the crash, it doesn’t seem too farfetched to think that maybe she did too. Besides, what’s the alternative? If she’s dead, then there’s no one who can stop Malak and the Sith from wiping out the Republic. All things considered, I’d rather operate on the assumption that she survived.”

Carth watched Gwen’s face. She seemed to be giving thought to his words. Maybe…. Maybe she changed her mind? “You make a fair point,” she said, her eyes lifting to meet his. “What do you suggest we do next then?”

Her answer gave Carth some degree of relief. It seemed as though Gwen Dakaal was willing to cooperate with his plans to find Bastila and get off Taris and back to the Republic. “Well, I doubt any of the Sith are looking for us specifically. We’re not that important, at least not in comparison to Bastila. That being said, if we’re careful, we should be able to move around the planet without attracting any unwanted notice--a luxury that Bastila isn’t likely to have.”

Gwen shook her head a little. “You know, if Bastila is as great as they say she is with her Battle Meditation, then how come the Sith managed to completely obliterate the Endar Spire?”

“Well,” Carth shrugged, “the attack on the Endar Spire happened so fast she probably never even had a chance to use her power. I'm guessing she barely got out alive, and now she's trapped here just as we are. The whole planet is under quarantine. No ships can land or take-off. So if Bastila's going to escape Taris, she's going to need our help. And we'll probably need hers.”

“I guess you have a point... Any idea where we should start looking for Bastila?”

“While you were out I did some scouting around,” Carth said. Since his first little expedition out, he’d managed to gather slightly more information. It still wasn’t a lot to go by, but it was all they had, really. “There are reports of a couple escape pods crashing down into the Undercity. That's probably a good place to start, but the Undercity is a dangerous place. We don't want to go in there unprepared. It won't do us or Bastila any good if we go and get ourselves killed.”

Carth winced internally at his choice of words in the last part. He’d meant it to come out as a joke, but it hadn’t quite played the way he intended… Dammit… The sound of Gwen’s voice, however, interrupted his internal berating or himself.

“I’d like to ask you some questions, if you don’t mind,” she said.

“I'll tell you whatever I can,” Carth said, “though I don't know how much help it'll be.” It was natural for her to have questions about the whole situation, given how long she had been out for. As the senior officer in this situation, it was his duty to answer any questions regarding their new mission. Even so, he was still very much playing the situation by ear himself.

“I’d like to know some more about you, Carth, seeing as you’ve read my service records.” Her question caught him off guard for a moment. He chuckled, wondering for a moment if he could avoid the question. After all, they had a lot to do if they were going to find Bastila and get through the quarantine. Beyond that, Carth didn’t really enjoy much talking about himself, and now really didn’t seem like the time for long, drawn-out introductions. Her expression, however, made him realize that he wasn’t about to get out of the situation so easily. He’d not seen a look like that from someone since…

Carth swallowed, pushing the thought aside. Now wasn’t the time. Instead, he forced a smile at Gwen before he risked a reply. “I understand why you want to know more about me. I, uh…I kinda get the feeling we'll be spending a lot of time together over the next while. But this isn't really the best time for long introductions; we should stay focused on the task at hand. There'll be time for that later, promise.” He knew it wouldn’t allow him to avoid her questions forever, but he hoped it would at least buy him time.

His companion let out a slightly frustrated sigh and placed her hands on her hips. “Fine,” she said. “Later then. Let’s get a move on. After all, the sooner we find Bastila, the sooner we can get off of this planet. Maybe while we scout things out a bit, we can find something to eat. I’m starving…”

Carth couldn’t quite tell if she was joking or if she was being serious. Gwen was an odd creature, that much was certain. “Right. Uh… We can use this abandoned apartment as a base, and we can probably get some equipment and supplies here in the Upper City. Just... remember to keep a low profile. I've heard some grim stories about the Dark Jedi interrogation techniques,” They’d warned him especially when he’d been assigned to act as a guide for Bastila’s special mission, but even before then, he’d heard rumors. “They say the Force can do terrible things to a mind. It can wipe away your memories and destroy your very identity! But I figure if we don't do anything stupid we should be okay. I mean, after all, they're looking for Bastila, not a couple of grunts like us,” he grinned a little to show he was trying to stay positive.

Gwen’s face showed that she didn’t seem convinced. And maybe she was right. The Sith would be looking for any survivors at all, and the ship that had attacked the Endar Spire…. It had been the Leviathan. And if her crew were the same, they might very well start searching for him too if they knew he had been aboard...

The woman shook her head and walked passed him to the little table where he’d set their supplies, taking her pistol and holstering it and the couple of grenades she’d had on her previously and clipping them to her belt elsewhere. “Ready when you are,” she said, turning back to him over her shoulder.

Carth cleared his throat. “Alright, soldier, let's move out!” he said, trying to sound authoritative as possible. Lieutenant or not, barking orders like that in this situation felt odd, especially since he was pretty sure it wasn’t a ground soldier he was with…

Once he’d gathered his own weapons and supplies, the two ventured forth from the apartment. He had hoped that it would be relatively quiet. After all, with the Sith Patrols out and searching the Uppercity for survivors, they had to be extra-cautious. However, today was not so very quiet as the pilot had hoped for.

“Okay you alien scum, everybody get up against the wall! This is a raid!”

Carth instinctively put an arm out, stopping Gwen when he heard the voice from a bit further down the hall.

“There was a patrol here just yesterday, and they found nothing!” came a Duros voice. “Why do you Sith keep bothering us?”

“Let’s head back and wait for them to pass,” the pilot whispered to his companion.

No sooner had he spoken to her than blaster fire sounded, echoing through the corridor.

“That's how we Sith deal with smart-mouth aliens! Now the rest of you get up against the wall before I lose my temper again!” The voice belonged to a Sith Soldier who was accompanied by two battle droids. One of the droids seemed to have picked up the two humans on its sensors, because it made a sound, causing the soldier to shift his attention toward them.

“What's this?” the Sith Soldier said. “Humans hiding out with aliens… on Taris? Republic fugitives, perhaps?”

‘Dammit,’ Carth thought. There was certainly no chance now of them slipping away from the situation without a confrontation. Things were likely to get messy….

Before Carth knew what was happening, a blaster fired from beside him. Gwen had drawn her weapon and opened fire on the Sith soldier and droids. “Dammit!” he exclaimed, aloud this time. He made a mental note to berate her choice of acting without waiting for word from her senior officer when they ever got out of this. In the meantime, he drew his own blaster pistol and also opened fire.

The whirr and flurry of fire from both ends was relatively short. Luckily for them, the Sith soldier had been alone other than his droids, and it seemed that the alien locals weren’t particularly fond of him. Carth could have sworn there had been some extra shots fired at their common enemy from a few of the perhaps bolder among the alien refugees there. He sighed and holstered his pistol before turning to Gwen.

“Next time,” he said, “you should wait for my order before firing.”

Gwen’s brow raised and her eyes widened and she let out a single laugh. “Excuse me?! He would have shot us dead if he had the chance to fire first. Doesn’t take a genius to figure that much out.”

Carth raised a finger, opening his mouth as if he wanted to say something in protest, but was unable to find the words initially to do so. She did make a fair point. It wasn’t so much that he disagreed with her assessment of the situation so much as it was his duty to try to make such assessments. He gave another sigh, more frustrated this time and then shook his head a little as he brought his finger down. “Look, I know you mean well, but just… try not to act too much on your own. We’re a team here. Neither one of us can get out of this situation alone…” “Poor Ixgil,” came the voice of a Duros. Carth and Gwen both turned to look to find a Duros male approaching them. “He should never have talked back to that Sith. Thankfully you were here to step in and help us humans. This isn't the first time the Sith have come in here to cause trouble for us, but hopefully it will be the last.”

“Just happy we could help,” Carth said to the alien creature.

“Won't someone come searching for this patrol?” Gwen interrupted.

“Don't worry about the bodies,” the Duros said. “I will move them so it looks like they were killed elsewhere. That should throw the Sith off the track. With any luck, they won't be bothering us again for a while.”

“Thanks,” Carth told him before turning to Gwen. “We should head out before any more Sith see us. Humans hanging around aliens is a strange sight on Taris. We’ll be safer to avoid sticking around here unless we’re back inside the apartment.”

“Right,” Gwen agreed with a nod. “Besides, we won’t find what we’re looking for here.”

The two were in agreement, and with their goal in mind, left the apartment complex to begin their search for the lost Jedi.

><><><><><

#KOTOR #kotoredit #kotor 1 #knights of the old republic #star wars #star wars the old republic #Revan #Female Revan #revan carth #Carth Onasi #female revan and carth #fanfic #fanfiction #Jedi Civil War #taris

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smolgreenboi · 5 years

Note

Is/Was BB rich like it's implied in the comics? What about now that he's with the Titans? Does anyone know? Does he like to spend money? On what?

[ EDIT: apologies for terrible formatting, tumblr asks are apparently having a glitch that i didn’t know about when i posted this. i’ll clean it up once this whole garbage can is resolved! ]

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

tl;dr answers: yep. yep. debatable to no. ehh kinda. gifts.

idk where he is comic-wise as far as new 52 & rebirth go ( because to be blunt, i don’t care lmao ), but from what i do pull out of the comics pre-reboot for my own writing gar being rich is something i include. that’s basically the only reason nicholas galtry wanted custody of him after he was rediscovered... he was gonna wait around until gar was old enough to inherit his parents’s estate and then kill him. because, you know. gotta get that sweet, sweet cheddar ( you can’t see me but i am rolling my eyes, using hella sarcastic tones and overall wanting to strangle an asshole with my stringy hands ).

ANYWAY

the way i write gar, specifically, he IS rich but he definitely doesn’t flaunt it. this is partially due to not... really knowing what the hell to DO with all this money he just finds himself sitting on for no other reason than his parents are dead ( *bruce wayne voice* awesome ) and also i think it comes from wanting actual friendships instead of surface level bullshit. y’know? he’s already a freak by society standards, a bit socially inept due to years of being isolated and/or abused, and he knows it. i think he has a string of underlying suspicion with a lot of first impressions buuuuuut his eagerness to befriend people and desire to believe in the good of humanity rather than the bad overrides that string. flaunting or making it publicly known that he’s rich would just add to that because when you got money, suddenly everyone wants to be your friend and shit’s shallow and it’s probably exhausting and he just... no thanks. he’s already got a lot of internal hatred whispering in his ear and he doesn’t need another voice muttering “they only hang out with you for your cash”.

i would say that the doom patrol knows if not just because rita and steve are his parents/legal guardians, and larry and cliff would know through them. steve’s also richer than bruce wayne, apparently, so lmfao amazing.

as far as his friends/the titans, i don’t think anyone KNOWS outright, but i would say those closest to him and who are observant might have suspicions ( or if you’re a bat-family member, you may have done some digging and found all the legal paperwork and whatever and do know outright but just don’t think it’s important to bring up in conversation, idk ).

for the most part, i would say gar isn’t much of a spender. the animated series can fucking fight me on this ( miss me with that “my goal is maximum couch time” bull ), but i think he WOULD want to get himself a job and earn a modest living on his own whilst setting aside all that money for emergencies, donations, or a Treat Yo’ Self sort of day when you’re like “fuck, i just got through a garbage can of a week and life is short, i’m buying that video game i’ve been staring at for the past two months”. i know that he’s cool with not being ‘normal’ and that being weird is something he’s not only accepted but is very proud of, but i also think he would want SOME sense of normality when it comes to just... day to day living, you know? having a day job, having a little apartment or something, and earning his own money would provide some of that.

( unrelated: i know gar wants to be an actor in the comics and i know/understand/respect why that’s important to him but... i’m also super sick and tired of shapeshifting being synonymous with acting as a profession, so i don’t really write him with having any desire to be an actor; instead i write him working at various animal sanctuaries NOT due to his powers but due to animals providing him a source of comfort and wanting to give back to them/teach other people about conservation and welfare and all that jazz )

when gar DOES spend money for the sake of spending money, it’s usually on friends. HEY, you guys want pizza? it’s on me! (uuuh don’t ask how or whyyyy i just uuuh--foUND THIS random $20 in the park after Dr. Light knocked me into a bush! weird, huh??). HEY, VIC, it’s your birthday, check this COOL NEW GADGET I GOT YOU (i’ve been totally saving... stuff for MONTHS, yeah, definitely didn’t just waltz into the store and grab it because i saw it and immediately thought of you or anything??). yo, raven, LOOK, i found that third book in that series you’ve been reading, you want it???

... this answer has gotten stupid long and i need to go get dell some ingredients for her dinners this week so i’mma end it here BUT IF I NEED TO ELABORATE ON ANYTHING, LEMMIE KNOW?? thank c:

#;silly bird lady (mun answers)#;a garbage can. but it's pretty cute. ( SPECIFIC HEADCANON )#[ i have a LOT of thoughts/feelings on how gar handles his finances and his 'professional' journey ]#[ like job-wise and all that jazz ]#[ maybe it's because i'm an adult myself but i think about it a lot xDD ]#[ WOOO ADULTHOOD AND SHIT. ]#nvertoolate

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phantomwarrior12 · 5 years

Text

Surprise!

Prompt: Sam and Isaac work together to protect the people of Chorus

Words: 1,200

Warnings: Canon style swearing, petty bickering

Summary: There’s a world to protect but sometimes two mercs and an army aren’t quite enough.

A/N: Hey folks!

What we have here is a new series where y’all are dropped smack dab in the middle of the plot. It’s gonna be a little confusing to start, but as we go, I’ll be explaining the universe and filling in the details.

As always, please leave a like/comment and let me know what you thought! :)

Enjoy!

~ Phantom

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

"Does this guy ever quit?"

"Evidently not."

Isaac's shoulders sag as he tosses the empty DMR off to the side, opting for the assault rifle on his back, "All right, you want the MANTIS or the pirates this time?"

Sam starts towards a higher vantage point, "You're on the MANTIS."

"Right, because you can't snipe it to death." Isaac grumbles, checking the rifle's clip.

"Get moving."

There's a roll of the eyes before he turns to the soldiers behind him, "I'll handle this, you guys get back to the capital and tell Kimball and Doyle what's going on. Hargrove has all long-range communications jammed...again."

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"And might I add, sir? You're doing a fantastic job of protecting our planet!"

"Go, Matthews!" Isaac snaps, turning back to the approaching robot.

"Just a little closer..."

The shot echoes in his ears and he tears across the barren ground. The MANTIS has begun to turn towards Sam's position, but a volley off rounds redirect its attention back to Isaac.

He dives to avoid a rocket, tucking and rolling to find his footing before launching a plasma grenade towards the cockpit.

It's automated. He knows that, but maybe enough damage will short circuit the controls so he won't have to board the damned thing.

Another volley of rockets, followed closely by the automated rail gun and he has to deploy his shield, driving a path straight towards the monstrosity of metal and murder.

The blood pounds in his ears as he deflects another rocket, the missile spiraling off and colliding with stone. He's a few feet away and he can see the glint of Sam's scope lining up his final target.

When the shot fires, that's when he lunges, assault rifle already on his back, energy sword deploying in his other hand. He swipes at the chest plating, knocking the MANTIS backwards a few steps.

He hooks the sword on his hip as he dives between its legs, turning to begin his rapid ascent up the back, pausing just above the control panels.

Energy crackles the moment he jabs the weapon through armor plating and overloads the core, temporarily paralyzing his target.

"Tell Hargrove I said hello," he pulls the pin and shoves the grenade into the panel. Then, he jumps, tumbling and sprawling as the mech explodes behind him.

When the ringing fades, he dares to lift his head just enough to see the billowing flames consume the metal frame.

"Nice work."

"Eh, I have a flare for the dramatics." Isaac offers a pitiful thumbs up towards his partner before dropping his head back into the dirt, "now, come help me up. I think I landed on something."

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

"Goddammit!"

"Felix, if you'd just hold still, this wouldn't hurt so much."

"Maybe if you were a better doctor this wouldn't hurt at all!" Isaac bites back, knuckles white from the vice grip he had on the medical berth.

"Felix," Sam chides from his perch by the door.

"This fucking hurts!"

"You have metal shrapnel in your side, sweetie. It's going to hurt." Dr. Grey interjects, gauging the extent of the injury, "you should be more careful in the field."

"I jumped off of a fucking robot, doc."

"Precisely my point. You ended up with robot shrapnel in your side and while I enjoy a good challenge, picking metal out of a mercenary isn't as thrilling as it sounds."

Isaac rolls his eyes, cringing ever so slightly when she presses the gauze against his side, "fine, I'll try to be more careful." It's to appease the doctor, a vain attempt at ensuring the pressure she applies when bandaging him up doesn't make his eyes water.

"Good," she nods and gently guides him to a seated position before beginning to wind the cloth bandages around his waist.

Isaac levels an aggravated look towards Sam, expressing every emotion in a single glance as opposed to words that will doom him with the doctor.

He's sulking until he notices Vanessa Kimball and Donald Doyle approaching behind Sam. Suddenly, he's sitting up a little straighter, brown settling on Kimball's stern expression.

"Generals, what brings you down to the medical bay?" His smile is cocky, a mask to hide his racing heart and sudden mood change.

Sam arches an eyebrow, but shifts out of the doorway and allows the leaders of Chorus to enter the room.

"We didn't think you'd be up to making the trek to the war room, so, we brought the meeting to you." Doyle smiles, peering at the bandages being secured around Isaac's waist.

"How thoughtful." Deadpan stare.

"You can start with what happened out there." Kimball adds, folding her arms across her chest.

"We encountered a patrol of Hargrove's forces. Communication was cut off, we sent the squadron back to the capital to report. Felix and I then handled the patrol."

"Hargrove has his men running around the planet like they already own it. If we don't think of something soon--there isn't going to be anyone left to fight for it." Isaac adds, biting back a yelp when Grey tightens the bandage, a solid disagreement with his statement.

"I understand your concern, but I don't see how--"

"--he has a point. We need something--anything to shorten this war in our favor." Kimball interjects, glancing between the three men, searching for any trace of inspiration--a fragment of hope to cling to.

He can see the desperation bleeding from her eyes, glistening violet as they drift across sullen features, meeting brown with a glimmer of hope.

"Well, Charon's pulling ships down, right? Why don't we raid one of them? Hijack it for some supplies and maybe an intact comms unit."

"We don't have nearly enough men for that!" Doyle protest, "Vanessa, please tell me you're not even considering this!"

"We don't have much of a choice at this point, Doyle. Either we start taking some risks, or we won't be around long enough to see Chorus free."

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

"For the record, I hate this plan."

"It's your plan, Felix."

"Which is precisely why I hate this plan! I didn't think Kimball would actually go for it!"

"We're here now. Focus." Sam crouches behind cover, scoping out the valley below, "there are survivors..."

"What? How?!"

"I'm not sure, but somehow they survived the crash and subsequent days that followed."

"Can you tell if they're friendly?" Isaac crouches beside him, attempting to steal a glance through Sam's sniper scope.

"From this distance? No." Sam returns, swatting absently at Isaac's approaching fingers, "hands off."

"I want to see."

"No."

"Buzzkill."

"Just contact the Generals."

"Dick," it slips out under his breath before he opens the comm channel to the two generals, "Kimball, Doyle, you're not gonna believe this."

"What?" Genuine curiosity.

"That ship they pulled down a week ago? There are survivors."

"How?! Charon Industries has always been pretty thorough, they've never missed any survivors!"

"Well, they did this time." Isaac returns, casting a triumphant glance back towards Sam, "and this time, Charon's gonna regret not killing these guys."

"And why would they do a preposterous thing like that?" Doyle's almost afraid to ask.

"Because these guys are supposed to be heroes."

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

Wanna be here? Send me an ask!

Tagging:

RVB Mercs: @antsyserpentine

RVB Forevers: @loveliestoflunchboxes @mamma-dragon

Bonus Tag: @miles-superus-117

#red vs blue #rvb #felix rvb #rvb locus #the chorus trilogy #isaac felix gates #felix mcscouty #felix #isaac gates #samuel locus ortez #samuel ortez #sam ortez #locus #rvb fanfic #phantom writes #altered realities series

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yukiwrites · 6 years

Text

Diving into Their Feelings

Thank you so much for commissioning me again, @breeachuu! Thank you for your patience, as always!

Summary: Two years after Nidra acknowledged own her loneliness, Henry joins the Shepherds. His upbeat attitude despite being from Plegia clashing with everything Nidra’s ever believed in... How will they get along, grimleal and manakete?

Commission info HERE and HERE!

Carrion Isle. A 'poor venue should things go sour', as Sir Frederick the Wary commented a week before they arrived.

So much happened in so little time, it left Nidra dizzy: at the Plegian Castle, they found out that not only someone with the same face as Robin was a hierophant for the GRIMLEAL of all people, Nidra had to breathe same air as people who worshipped the Fell Dragon.

Stressed and conflicted with the whole situation, Nidra was the one patrolling the camp they've made near a bridge when a Risen ambush attacked.

"One thing after the other!" The manakete transformed, her dragon form towering over the marauding Risen. "Sir Frederick! We are under attack!"

From afar, the knight acknowledged Nidra's call and soon after she could hear Chrom barking orders left and right.

"Equip anyone who can bear arms, and tell them we fight for our lives!" The prince yelled, unsheathing his sword, protectively pulling Robin behind him.

From above the hill she had located the first Risen archers, Nidra looked back to the center, as people flocked all around their leaders, their weapons ready.

Honestly, Nidra wasn't worried -- although the Risen seemed much stronger than usual, so were her friends and comrades. Still, the sheer number of undead swarming the camp could be a problem if they weren't dealt with quickly.

She had to hold her position by the eastern cliff, but she could see how many more enemies were spawning southward, and felt a pang of worry and pain in her heart.

It was then that a deformed, purple blast dismembered two Risen about to attack the weaker side of the Shepherds formation, its sender someone cloaked behind a storm of crows.

For a quick moment, Nidra's heart skipped a beat, thinking of how cool that mysterious savior had been just then.

But it soon faded moments after Chrom scattered away the birds. "You know, I thought you were all right... Turns out you're all FRIGHT! Nyahaha!" A young dark mage wearing grimleal garbs let out a carefree laugh, as though the dead weren't walking all around him.

Nidra's dragon shoulders sagged, her unamused gaze turning back to squashing a Risen who grazed an arrow over her scales.

The young man seemed to understand what the birds were saying -- something regarding being trapped and watching out for the magic circles on the ground, where new Risen would spawn from -- and that piqued Nidra's interest in him once more. Though now she knew what to expect out of him: morbid jokes and no sense of self-awareness.

He had introduced himself as Henry and, surprisingly, asked to join the Shepherds after the battle was over. Something about being very good at killing and telling jokes.

However, him joining wasn't the most surprising thing that happened that night, no, far from it.

After saving Chrom from a lethal blow, Marth, the woman who had been popping up every now and then to help their campaign, revealed herself to be no one other than Lucina, Chrom and Robin's child. She had come from a doomed future, lost to the Fell Dragon, Grima.

Immediately did Nidra feel like walking up and hugging the young girl; her small shoulders already so tired of fighting against an enemy stronger than darkness itself. Nevertheless, the manakete simply watched from afar, letting Robin be the one to hug her little girl instead.

Cold.

Nidra felt her entire body freezing, her mind blaring every alarm it could find. She felt her fangs grow and her eyes spin.

Grima!! Finally he had made his appearance!

Trembling, the manakete held both of her own arms, trying to calm herself down; the memories of a distant past plagued by that very same Dragon haunting her every thought.

Lucina had had no chance against Grima -- so much was his destruction that she chose to rewind time itself so he wouldn't be awakened again.

Nidra wouldn't allow that to happen, not in this present, nor in any future! Grima would be stopped, no matter the cost.

"Hey, you alright there, buddy? You're trembling like you've gotten cursed or something!" The young man called Henry wandered around, already making himself comfortable despite the serious air revolving the camp. "Ohh, you're a dragon, arentcha?! Cool! What's your name? I'm Henry!"

Breathing with difficulty, Nidra lifted her gaze to the apparently friendly mage extending his hand to her. A glance to his cloaks made her stiffen her jaw. "Did you know about this?" She hissed.

"Huh?" He tilted his head to the side, never losing his smile, "oh, we're not shaking hands, then? Okay." He lowered his hand, his thin eyes looking from the manakete to the family reunion happening across the stream. "Time travel, huh? I KNEW it was possible! Maybe I can try to replicate it..."

Nidra stomped her foot on the ground, which shook with the sheer intensity of her feelings. "Answer me, grimleal!" She growled, the shadow of her dragon self looming over her humanoid form. "Did you know about Grima's revival?!"

"Oh, wow! Dragon! Dragon!" Henry widened his eyes, smiling cheerfully as he took a step back to place his hand over his tome. Nidra's heavy breathing and growling made his own heart boil; he loved fighting! He was ready to have a go at it, but then, he blinked. "Oh, you asked me a question! I thought you were raring to fight, nyaha!" He scratched the back of his head, putting away his tome. "Well, reviving Grima is pretty much all the rage between the grimleals, right? We never know when it's gonna happen, but it's something they want to happen!"

Seeing the mage ready himself for battle and immediately switch back to being friendly took the winds out of Nidra's rage, making her shoulders sag and her dragon shadow placate inside her dragonstone. "Hah..."

Henry scratched his chin in thought. "No good, huh? Hmm... Lemme put it this way," he raised his index, "The hierophants are always preaching that they'll bring Grima to life, but it never happens, see? Most of the common folk who kinda worship Grima just assume it's wishful thinking from the priests and stuff just so they can gobble up their tax money, nyaha!"

Blinking in confusion, Nidra's breathing returned to normal. "The common people 'kind of' worship Grima?"

"Oh, that's the part that caught your eye, huh?" He nodded. "Well, yeah, you don't go seeing around the streets of Plegia the random person just going 'wooo, I want the Fell Dragon to come back and destroy everything, mwhahaha!' you know?" He gestured and changed his voice and everything. "But since Plegia's Church has more power than the King -- actually, only people who are part of the Grimleal church can become Kings after being selected by their council and stuff --, they dictate everything back home. Being grimleal is just, you know, consequence of being born Plegian and stuff! Interesting, right?"

It took a few moments for Nidra to absorb everything Henry had said. "So you are telling me that a person isn't a grimleal by choice and that... not all grimleals want the end of the world?"

"Yep! I guess being an immortal dragon made you very smart, huh?"

The manakete sighed. "Back to horsing around, I see."

"More like DRAGON-ing around, nyahaha! Oh, slay me!" He laughed. "I still don't know your name, though! Kinda rude, now that I think about it, huh?"

Nidra's brow flickered. "... I am called Nidra, Henry. Next time, when asking for someone's name, try being more polite about it."

"Ohh, is it NiDRA because you're a DRAgon? That's neat! But hey, I gave my name first and everything! You're the one who almost ate my limbs or something!"

"Ahem," Nidra uncomfortably cleared her throat. "I suppose I did let my emotions get the best of me, so I apologize. And I thank you for the valuable insight regarding the... inner workings of the grimleal."

"Hey, no biggie! I'm glad to be of service!" He said, staring at her with his never-fading smile.

"Is there something on me?"

"You! Your ears! Your hair! You even have this otherworldly glow in you and everything! Hey, can I touch-"

"Keep your hands to yourself."

"Alright, no touching! Noo prob." He circled Nidra, wanting to get a good look at her. "So this is a manakete, huh? Mind if I stick around you for a while? I wanna learn more about you!"

Nidra clutched both hands over her chest, feeling somewhat embarrassed with all the staring. "I-I do not mind answering your questions, but do stop ogling me; it's making me uncomfortable."

Henry covered his mouth in surprise, though the movement was so extravagant it seemed fake. "Really? And people usually tell me to OPEN my eyes, but see? They're ALREADY OPEN! They're just thin, that's all, nyaha! I guess I won't have this problem with you, though, Nidra!"

Oh? She thought, no honorifics from the start? I suppose it's easier than to tell him to call me by my name after being called 'lady' this or 'lady' that. "Indeed. I would also like to ask you more about the... good... grimleal you spoke of." She felt a lingering bitter taste in her mouth.

"Wooow, you don't even hide your distaste for us, huh?" He joked, turning around so as not to stare much. "Sure, I'll answer everything you ask me!"

Not understanding the reason why he started talking with his back turned to her, Nidra simply tilted her head to the side and concurred. "I shall do my best to answer your questions, as well."

Despite the dizzying pace their army was moving, at least one thing remained certain: Henry was a man of his word. He DID stuck around, more than Nidra was used to around humans.

One time, she fell asleep in the middle of marching, falling straight on her face. Since he was walking beside her, he watched in amusement as the march went on without them and stayed by her side until she woke up, three hours later.

"Ouch, my neck-- ouch, my nose." Nidra complained, drowsy. "How long was I out this ti- WAH! Henry?! What're you doing with your face so close to me?!"

The dark mage simply stared in amusement. "Hoh... So that’s what they meant by 'narcolepsy' when I heard people talk about you. I thought you just got tired and decided to take a nap."

"By falling on my face? I think not." She sighed. "Rather, why did you not wake me up? Manakete or no, I'm still part of the army, and should not be sleeping around the clock." She got up and patted the dirt away from her clothes and face.

"But you looked so peaceful! With your face in the dirt and all that." He snorted, still crouching and simply observing what she was going to do next.

Nidra blushed, turning her face away from him. "I assure you: I was not peaceful. Now my neck hurts from sleeping in this awkward position."

"Pain?" He placed his index under his chin in thought. "Pesckla-pesckla, kablammo!" He got up with a jump, pointing to Nidra's neck. "How is it now?"

"Wha- the pain is gone! What manner of sorcery- You don't even have a staff!" She turned to him, touching the area that hurt previously.

"It's easy-peasy! I just directed a deadly curse to your pain instead than to you! The pain literally 'died', nyaha!"

Conflicted about being helped by a curse rather than by a healing staff -- and by someone with such uncomfortable smile to boot -- Nidra pursed her lips to the darkening sky. "Hah... Thank you for your assistance, Henry. But next time, please wake me up. And don't curse me, either."

"Alllright!" He saluted. "But I can't cast anything at all? Not even if I find a cure to your narcolep-thing?"

The manakete's shoulders sagged as she sighed. "I've learned to live with this condition my whole life, and for over two thousand years, no one has been able to rid me of it. You need not concern yourself over it."

"Weeelll, I wasn't there two thousand something years ago, was I?" He opened one eye, a mischievous smile making way from his usual cheerful one.

Nidra felt her heart skipping a beat. Partly because of his ridiculous confidence, partly because she felt that that had been the first true smile he'd flashed her.

Not realizing how much time it took her to process what he said, she simply saw his smile grow through his cheeks. "Now who’s the one staring at me, huhh?"

"Wh- I-" She cleared her throat, quickly turning her head away lest he saw her blushing cheeks. "I, er, thank you for your assistance, Henry, but I do not think you should trouble yourself over this."

"'s okay! I like trouble and learning new things!" He rested one hand over his hip, pointing his index at her. "And this is a very new thing and trouble I'm willing to study!"

Nidra fought a smile, biting her lower lip so as not to be influenced by Henry's easygoing laugh. "Alright, do as you wish. For now, we must catch up with the march."

"Ohh, right! I guess we'll be running all night, then? They're probably in feroxi lands by now."

"Silly," she took her dragonstone out of her pouch. "I can fly, remember? It's not always that I offer a human a ride, but I suppose this a needed course of action, hm?"

Henry's smile froze on his lips, his eyes slowly widening (even at the widest they could, they were still very thin, how adorable). "Ride? On a dragon? IN THE SKY?!" He trembled with excitement. "HELL YES, LET'S GO!" He jumped on her, eager to be one with the clouds, not realizing she hadn't transformed yet.

"Haha, clumsy human!" She laughed as they rolled around the grass, his funny, nasal laugh setting her off. "Give me some space so I can transform and climb on my shoulders when I do, alright?"

"Whatever you say!" He huffed in anticipation, sitting on the grass as Nidra once again got up after they disentangled themselves from each other.

"And hold on tight, we are in for a short, but fast trip!" She said as a smokescreen of petals covered her body, revealing her dragon form right after.

"This is gonna be AWESOME!" Henry did as Nidra said and held onto the larger scales of her long neck while she took flight. "WOOOOHOOOO!!!" He yelled atop of his lungs once she was in the air, his entire body shaking.

"Haha!" Not minding his excited shouts, Nidra made sure to fly carefully, despite his eagerness to 'dive and do a barrel roll'. "Some other time, perhaps!"

"REALLY?! We can fly again?! I'll hold you to it, you hear?!" He kicked his legs, his laughter oh so very pleasant to listen to Nidra almost passed the Shepherd camp just so she could hear it for a bit longer.

After that day, Henry stuck to Nidra almost like a glue. He helped her with her chores (she was especially bad whenever it was her turn to cook, so he always brought exquisite cooking books so they could learn together) and made sure to wake her up if she fell asleep during the day.

The first time he did, though, he shouted very loudly on her ear, making her almost breathe fire on him due to the shock. "A slight tap will do, Henry! I almost roasted you to death!" She placed one hand over her thumping heart.

"Oh, really? I thought it was a deep sleep, sorry! Okay, no more shouting." He nodded.

For someone with such an... inclination for a bloodbath, he was a rather obedient young man. He did whatever he was told and always behaved whenever people were scolding him for this or that.

For example, on the fateful day Robin had that blasted idea of using half of their fleet as catapults to set the Valmese fleet on fire, Henry tore the arms off of an enemy soldier. Him and Nidra were part of the group selected to disrupt the chain of command by boarding the Commander's ship, but it seemed that he had no qualms or whatsoever regarding another human being's life.

"Henry! What're you doing with that poor man?" Nidra quickly finished off the soldier who wailed in pain.

"Huh? I was just taking my time in killing him! We're gonna burn everyone alive anyway, so why not?"

Nidra's heart hurt. He was completely disregarding himself from other people -- as though he was simply tearing wings from flies. That, coupled with how unnatural his cheerfulness looked, made Nidra wonder if he had trouble connecting himself with his feelings.

She opened and closed her giant jaw, looking down at the mage whose garments were covered in blood. "We are not here to have fun by other people's expenses. We are fighting so we can live, not to make other people suffer needlessly in death."

That put him to think as his gaze fell downwards to the charred corpse of the man he disarmed previously. He looked up again. "Not even one finge-"

"No!"

He pouted, turning back. "Alllright. I'll play nice and kill cleanly."

The manakete watched him go with sadness in her eyes, her heart washed over by worry. She, too, had had trouble with dealing and understanding her own feelings in the past -- it was thanks to her human friends and companions that she was able to scold Henry like that in first place.

Perhaps now it was her time to be the teacher instead of the student.

"Though I thought that, I still don't know how to proceed... And it's been two months already." Nidra grumbled by the edge of camp one evening, patrolling beside Robin.

The tactician let out a wolfish grin, looking at her friend from below. "Hoooh? Could Henry be The One? The guy I couldn't find for you no matter how hard I tried?"

"Wh- Robin!" Nidra blushed, pushing her laughing friend away. "I simply... enjoy to spend time in his presence, that's all."

Snorting, the Queen managed to stop laughing. "I know Henry was the last one to join us, not five months ago, but I also know that you're the one closest to him, aren't you? Haven't you noticed anything different in his behavior? Does he act in a different way with you than with other people?"

"We DO spend much time together... He is so easy to talk to, Robin. Whatever topic I ask him about, he'll lunge headfirst and research it so we can talk about it more later. He's dedicated, eager to learn and not in the least shy to call someone out if they did or said something wrong."

"Go on..." Robin teased, making Nidra narrow her eyes.

"We are at a very busy time during this war -- Walhart breathes down our necks at every turn we take and poor Say'ri... Her brother..."

Robin looked down, but then shot her head up. "You know, you're acting like I did before I married Chrom."

Crossing her arms, Nidra stopped walking. "How so?"

"We were in the middle of the war with Plegia too, weren't we? And there I was, wanting to hold him so much my heart ached. I wanted to be there for him, to console him and to tell him to rely on me, even after Lady Emmeryn sacrificed herself. I felt terrible. How could I wish for anything more than he's already given me? I should concentrate on the war instead of on my own feelings." She smiled bitterly, raising her hand up to the starry sky. Her golden ring shone with the moonlight. "I made any excuse I could to avoid seeing the truth of my heart. Did you know that I had all my luggage packed and ready to go the moment the war was over?"

"What-?!"

"Yep... I felt that my role was going to end with the war, and I didn't want to be around Chrom lest I acted on impulse and ruined the friendship we had. Our bond was so beautiful! We were open with each other about everything... I didn't want to tarnish it with my, er, 'earthly desires'." She scratched her cheek in embarrassment.

"Robin..."

The Queen laughed awkwardly. "I'm mostly rambling now, but do you see where I'm trying to go here? You're treasuring the time you two spend together and might want to keep this on instead of evolving it to something more out of fear. Of course, that's just me saying what happened to me, but-"

"It's okay, Robin. Thank you for your insight." She raised one hand to stop her friend from apologizing. "It IS true that I am comfortable with how things are now. Comfortable enough that I would not mind this routine we both have even if it lasted one thousand years."

Robin coughed. "And I know you actually mean one thousand years when you say that."

"I do." She slowly breathed in. "I do not know how to differentiate these feelings from simple friendship, at least not yet, but I have time."

"... You may have time, but Henry doesn't."

"..." That felt like a bucket of cold water on Nidra's face. She even looked the part when her eyes met Robin's next.

"I can't begin to understand how manaketes deal with feelings within their almost immortal lifespan." Robin went on, unapologetic, remembering the entire week it took Nidra to figure out that she was lonely in the past. "And I'm also not here to tell you how to live your life, but maybe... jumping head-on for once might help?" She scratched the back of her neck, giggling. "Look at me, I'm sounding like Chrom, heehee."

Nidra smiled as well, bobbin her head to the side. "It would be a very... human-like thing to do. To act before thinking it through."

"Hah, yeah, tell me about it! Chrom's entire proposal was something he thought up on the spot, despite having drafted a lot of different ways to tell me." Robin giggled, then blushed furiously, realizing how nonchalantly she spoke of such an intimate moment. "Or- so he told me, a-anyway."

"Oh, how you glow, Robin!" Nidra laughed, opening her arms and flopping down on the grass. "Do you truly think I glow as you do? Though I claim to be a very attentive person, I cannot see myself the way other people do. I cannot see if I am in love."

Smiling, Robin placed a few strands of hair behind her ear as a draft ran through them, sitting beside Nidra. "I can tell that you're much happier and cheerful than before, but only you can take a look inside yourself to understand what's in your heart. Why not think more of this the next time you meet Henry?"

Feeling somewhat free, as though she was flying in a cloudless sky, Nidra closed her eyes, her heart beating comfortably. "Food for thought. Thank you again for listening, Robin."

"No problem, Nidra. I'll be here for you." She held her friend's hand. "And be sure to tell me first if anything happens-"

"Robin!"

"Haha, I'm only half joking!"

In the next few weeks, Nidra took it upon herself to observe Henry more attentively. How did he act around other people? And around herself?

She didn't really need to look hard, honestly. He played around in the slopes with Nowi, making Nidra wonder just how MUCH stamina did he have to be able to be on par with a young manakete as herself.

He trained hard under Frederick's command, and sometimes would go to Nidra straight after morning practice, his entire body aching.

On those days, he would lie his head on her lap without asking, as though it was the most natural thing for him to do. Equally naturally, she would caress his silky, silver hair to enjoy the breeze.

It was as though the battles never occurred whenever they were by themselves. The time they spent together was so pleasant, nothing else seemed to faze Nidra.

Henry would pick up books under Miriel's indication and read beside Nidra as she slept under the shade and sometimes drift off himself. He would ask to touch her scales and translusent skin from time to time and Nidra... wouldn't tell no as she did the first time they met.

For someone who previously didn't have any consideration for another human being, his hands could be so soft and careful whenever he ran his fingers through her hair.

For someone who was so obedient, he could be very obstinate in saying that he would rather do whatever she wanted instead of mingling with other people.

For someone whose smile was so fake before... his endearing flushed cheeks more often than not made Nidra want to caress them and bring them close to her body.

She could hear how altered his heartbeat became whenever they met, and how his breathing seemed more relaxed only by being by her side. Even his studies were focused all on her -- he dived right into finding a cure for Nidra's narcolepsy, and would spend hours at a time discussing methods with her, Miriel or Tharja.

Nidra couldn't say how much time passed -- they were marching back to Ylisse after defeating Walhart -- but she couldn't hold the words back anymore.

"Henry, you love me, don't you?" She blurted out one evening as they got ready to head back to camp after spending the day under a pleasant shade.

The dark mage blinked, looking at Nidra's dragon form for a whole minute before touching his chest with one hand. "Oh, wow. I guess I do! Woow! How did you know that, Nidra? I really, really love you! Ouch ouch, my heart's hurting now..." He got up, clutching his chest. "Is this how love feels like? But it's hurting..."

"Silly," she nuzzled his face with her snout, shifting back to her humanoid form right after. "It's because I feel the same towards you." She nuzzled his warm cheek, finally having it to herself.

Astonished by this new discovery, it took Henry a moment to wrap his arms around Nidra's waist, then another one to dig his face into her shoulder. "Be prepared, okay? My feelings are really heavy." He said in a joking tone, but Nidra could feel the truth beneath them.

She hugged him back, breathing into his smell. "I'll be here for you. From now on and always."

He tightened the hug. "Don't ever leave, okay? I don't wanna be abandoned again."

She caressed his hair, humming in response. She would wait for his own time to tell her everything.

It didn't take long, however. "When I was a kid, you see, I was abandoned by my parents. They never really cared much about me, so I was basically raised in the woods by a really caring wolf. She was everything to me, but the village hunters..."

"Henry-"

"They shot her with so many arrows. So, so many arrows." His voice was heavy, as was his touch. He squeezed Nidra with everything he had. "They paid back in blood, oh, they did. I wiped the village out of the map, but that never brought my wolf back. Nothing I ever did, did. Don't be like my wolf, please? I can't bring back the dead yet..."

"What are you crying for, silly human? You'll be the one to leave me first..." She sniffled, lifting her shoulder so they could look each other in the eyes.

He wasn't crying. Rather, his body wasn't; but she could hear the pain in his voice, in his soul. He had been hurting for a long, long time. But it was over now. Nidra would be with him and never leave him.

"Well, I don't know how to bring back the dead, but I may discover the secret of immortality! Can I use a bit of your blood for tests?"

"Silly!" She laughed, bonking her forehead on his. "Let's enjoy our time together instead of focusing so much on what's to happen! To... dive in headfirst, like you humans do." She smiled softly, brushing her nose on his.

"Ooh, I know a thing or two about humans..." He chuckled before the impending kiss, Nidra's soft lips melting into his.

Henry couldn't yet grasp the depth of his love for Nidra, but oh well! He had his entire life by her side to figure it out, after all.

#chrobin #fire emblem awakening #henry #fanfic commissions #henry fire emblem #my writings #fatesona #Yuki's Commissions

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fangzeronos · 6 years

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SDCC 2018 wrap up

Ok now that SDCC is over, I feel like I should do a little wrap up for the weekend. I got to sit and wait for all the trailers and news to come out since I couldn’t afford to go, so this is gonna be strictly from the “Nerd on the Couch” perspective. I’m putting a read more in case anyone wanna skip this.

Titans: The trailer was alright. Robin’s in a bad place because of Batman so his “Fuck Batman” line is justified. Starfire and Beast Boy could still use some work, but it was only the first trailer, so we’ll have to reserve judgement until the show comes out. I’m looking forward to it anyway.

Young Justice Outsiders: It’s actually real. I thought for the last two years we’ve all been thinking it’s not coming and that we’ve all been living in a dream about wanting it back. I was in the middle of the store when I saw the trailer and my heart stopped. Two minutes of Season 2 recap, including Wally’s ‘death’ (HE ISN’T DEAD ALRIGHT!? HE’S JUST IN THE SPEED FORCE AND NOBODY CAN CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE DAMMIT!!!) before we get the new footage. The new characters look amazing, Geoforce looks like he’s going to be a good character, hopefully we’ll get Terra since she’s “been missing for two years”. Still waiting to see M’gann, Kaldur, Beast Boy, and the rest of the season 2 cast, but I’m excited for this one more then Titans.

And since both shows above are going to be on the DC Universe Online service, I can see paying $75 a year for it if we’re going to get more Young Justice. With all the shows coming out on DCUO, like Harley Quinn, Stargirl, Swamp Thing, Doom Patrol, and all of the older shows like Batman The Animated Series, Wonder Woman, the older DC movies and the comics, I can justify paying that much for a yearlong subscription.

Supergirl: Season 4 looks like it’s going to be interesting. Agent Liberty seems like a decent antagonist, but with the way this show has done in the past, hyping a villain for the first half and then swapping it with a generic bad guy for the second, I don’t have much hope. It looks like they’re toning down the relationship drama from season 2 and 3, which is good. I’m honestly thinking they’re going to screw Lena’s character development and have her go evil Luthor judging by how season 3 ended with her “We can begin phase two” line and having the Harun-El made up that she gave to Alura. A few quick shots of Alex as Director of the DEO sporting a new haircut, nothing too revealing except for the Supergirl spacesuit at the end. I saw it and my mind went to the first Injustice 2 game trailer from 2016 with the armored look. I’m looking forward to the new season, not keen on it being on Sundays before the Charmed reboot but have to get the viewers for a remake somehow.

Arrow: Oliver Queen in prison. That’s a hell of a concept for the season. We know something’s going to change and he’s going to be out by the fourth or fifth episode, possibly earlier. Decent shots of the other characters, Dinah wearing SCPD riot gear was a nice touch, Laurel-2 denouncing vigilantism makes for an interesting idea considering what the hell she’s done in the last seasons. Diaz is fine, not enjoying having him around again but since he didn’t get killed at the end of the last season, it’s fine. Longbow Hunters might make for interesting fodder, but we can’t be sure until the show starts. I’m sick of Felicity, but that arguments been done to death. We all know it was Roy in the Green Arrow suit in the end of the trailer. If it had been Diggle, we’d have seen his face and since we know Roy’s back, it doesn’t really give us many options to choose from. I’m glad it’s on Mondays now so I can watch it and keep up instead of being behind.

Legends of Tomorrow: It looks great. This one has become one of my favorites on the network and I’m glad to see they’re getting more episodes. Hopefully this season doesn’t get shafted and end up getting thrown to a different night or time or cut in the middle for a different show. Bringing Constantine back for a regular spot is a good move considering what they’re going to be dealing with thanks to the fallout from killing Mallus. Dragons, demons, all sorts of magical and mythical creatures. “Couldn’t we be heroes just a little longer?” made me laugh and it’s that sort of thing that makes Legends stand out to me. It can be dark and gritty but still lighthearted and fun. It’s what Flash started to be and it’s what Arrow needs to be. I’m glad it’s going to be on Mondays along with Arrow.

Flash: Coming off of the reveal that Mystery Girl is actually Barry and Iris’ daughter (which I’d had a feeling about anyway since she was so giddy at the wedding in the Crisis crossover), Nora seems to be a fun addition to the cast this year. I’m honestly looking forward to seeing what she messed up, why she came back, and why didn’t she learn from Barry’s mistakes about screwing with the Timeline. Cicada looks to be interesting, and I hope he’s going to be the main villain for the year. I want to know more about how Caitlin was Frost before the Accelerator and Flashpoint happened, or is it a side effect of Flashpoint two years later? Guess we’ll find out in October.

Aquaman: The trailer looked amazing. This might just be part of what the DCEU needs to get its shit together and stop being so grimdark. Wonder Woman proved DC movies can do fun and lighthearted and still hit some dark themes and notes, and this looks like it’s going to do the same thing. Jason Mamoa looks as badass as he did in Justice League, Amber Heard is beautiful as Mera. Atlantis looked amazing. I’m thoroughly excited and December can’t come quick enough to see this.

Shazam!: One of my favorite DC heroes, man. Zachary Levi just killed it in this trailer and I was laughing the whole way through. If the movie keeps that same energy up, I’ll be damn happy. March release for this one and I’m ready to go!

Godzilla: King of the Monsters: It’s frigging Godzilla, fighting his own list of bad guys. Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah, all classics that should have been in the first one instead of the MUTO. I’ve always been a Godzilla nerd, so when I saw this trailer I was geeking the fuck out. I’m definitely excited for this one.

Now, you’re probably wondering, “Hey, where’s Voltron in all of this?” and you’d be right that I haven’t talked about it yet. I have spent three days milling over the reveals from the Voltron panel and been trying the right ways to word things, so I don’t seem like I’m being an asshole and damning myself with what I’m going to say. Now, with that out of the way.

The season 7 trailer looked good. We’re going back to Earth, so who knows how much time really has passed since the only indication we’ve had was the week that Kuron was in the Galra fighter before Keith and Black found him back in season 3. I’m sad to see that season 8 is going to be the last of VLD, but I can understand why, since they were only approved for so many episodes. Going back to a 13-episode season is the best thing they could have done. Keith piloting Black still kind of irks me, but with Shiro only having one arm, I guess it makes sense. I would much rather have Allura in Black, put Lance back in Blue, and give Red back to Keith, but that’s a whole other post.

The big thing people took away from the panel was “You’ll meet Shiro’s significant other, Adam.” When I saw that on Twitter, I was…. I’m not gonna lie, I was disappointed. You’ve had six seasons of moments between Shiro and Allura, the Hand Touch, the way she looked at him when he said “You found me” at the end of the season, how adamant they are about saving each other every time they’re in danger, Shiro’s resolve to get her back in Season 1 after she threw him into the shuttle and got taken by the Galra. And now it’s all thrown out of the airlock?

No offense to the writers, Josh Keaton who gets mad credit for keeping this close to the chest and not revealing anything, the fans that are a fan of this plot point for the next season, but I’m not a fan. Don’t get me wrong, LGBT representation in animation/kids’ media has come a long way in a few short years. Look at Steven Universe. One of the main characters is a literal fusion of two she-pronoun using space rocks. I just feel like this is shoehorned in like a checkmark on an RPG character creation. “PTSD? Check. Missing limb? Check. Male POC? Check. What else can we check to make people happy? OH! Gay! DOUBLE CHECK!!” is what it feels like to me. To me, this feels like the writers have been shadow stalking Tumblr, AO3, FF.net, everywhere else Voltron is big and made their choice but what the popular ships were in the search results.

Make Shiro gay, fine. Make him bi, that’d be a better option because then we can ship him with whoever we want and not get comments that say that shipping Shiro with Allura or any other female member of this show is gay erasure. By saying “Shiro’s gay”, you’re shooting all of the other Shiro ships in the face. Shieth shippers are over the moon, Shallura shippers are sitting in a corner, Klance shippers are looking between the two going “WTF”, and the rest of the internet’s like “Why is it a big deal?”

I feel like I should stop there about this. This is already more then a page in my word doc.

SDCC 2018 was fun to watch from a distance. CW brought some good trailers, DC killed it with 8 trailers, and Voltron is what it is. Now begins the countdown for SDCC 2019.

#SDCC 2018 #Titans #Young Justice Outsiders #Arrow #Supergirl #Flash #Legends of Tomorrow #Godzilla #Aquaman #Shazam

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whatarubberchicken · 6 years

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Day 3: Kwami Swap

@mlrarepairmarch

I had way too much fun with this one. I think I’m gonna rate it a “T” for safety. There are some suggestive comments, but nothing too bad. Also, some spoilers for season 2.

Pairing: Adrien/Alya (Alyadrien) or Rena/Chat (what are we calling this one? Chatna? Rechat? Team Toe Beans?)

“REEEEENAAAAAA!!”

…was the only warning she got before she was glomped from behind by an overgrown cat. Laughing, she twisted and struggled to get out of his death grip, while he continued to nuzzle her and purr as loudly as he could. She supposed she should be used to it by now. She’d been greeted by him the same way ever since Ladybug had given her the Miraculous back, this time to keep.

“I was worried you’d changed your mind!” he said, finally disentangling himself from her.

Rena laughed again. “And miss the chance to see you out of costume? Never!”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Chat tsked. “No reveals. That’s the deal.”

“WHAT??” she gaped at him. “Then how are we gonna do this, kitty cat?”

Chat grinned at her and made a twirling motion with his finger, indicating he wanted her to turn around. She pouted.

“Really? REALLY??” she whined.

“Really,” he confirmed. “Unless you want Ladybug after both our tails for putting our security at risk.”

“Point made,” Rena sighed, turning around. Still, she grinned. It wasn’t like an opportunity like this came around every day, after all! “You ready, tomcat?” Chat came up behind her and turned as well, so they were back-to-back.

“Remember, it’s just for a few minutes—”

“—just to see what it feels like,” Rena finished. “I got it, I got it.”

She heard him chuckle. “Oh, I’m also curious to see what you look like with claws, foxy lady,” Chat said.

“You keep talking like that and I’ll show you right now,” she teased right back. He snickered.

“On three, then?”

“Yeah!”

“One…”

“Two…”

“Three!!”

They both released their transformation. True to her word, Alya refused to turn around and look at him, feeling Chat’s comforting presence still up against her back. She heard Trixx giggle at her as she reached up and removed the chain around her neck.

“You still okay with this, Plagg?” she heard a soft voice say behind her.

“As long as I get that extra cheese you promised me, I really don’t care,” replied a much higher voice.

Alya looked at her own kwami. “You’re good too?”

“Ha! I endorse this kind of thing!!” Trixx giggled.

“Ok, the ring’s in my left hand,” Chat said. Alya quickly put the necklace in her own left hand, and they swapped Miraculouses at the same time.

“The transformation phrase is, ‘claws out.’ Yikes, how do you hide this thing?” Chat asked, obviously putting on the necklace.

“Mad skills,” Alya snickered as she slipped the Cat Ring onto her own finger. A tiny, black kwami appeared in front of her. She gasped, her jaw dropping in delight—

“I am the living incarnation of destruction,” the cat kwami deadpanned. “So, your first words had better not be—”

“YOU’RE SO CUTE!!!”

“—yeah, that,” Plagg said, rolling his eyes. “Well, come on, let’s get on with it. I know you don’t have any cheese for me,” he sighed.

“Rena, I think I wanna keep your kwami. He’s nicer than mine,” Chat called.

“Fine, but you get to explain things to our fearless leader!”

“Eh, hard pass. What’s the transformation phrase again?”

“Let’s pounce!”

“Are you serious??”

“Hey, don’t mock my kwami!” she mock-scolded. “He’s gonna be dressing you in a moment!”

Trixx snickered evilly behind her.

Alya grinned at Plagg. “Make it good and I’ll bring extra cheese for you next patrol.”

The kwami raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. “I think I’m gonna like you, kid.”

“That’s the spirit!” she said, jovially, unable to hide her eagerness anymore. “Ready, kitty cat?”

Chat snorted. “Isn’t that my line now?” She could almost hear the smirk in his tone.

“Plagg, claws out!” Alya cried.

“Trixx, let’s pounce!” Chat called out behind her.

Alya had often likened Trixx’s magic to a warm wind rippling through her. Soft and mischievous, but with a lingering sense of utter doom if riled up.

The Black Cat Miraculous was nothing like that.

Now, black lightning shot through her veins, just short of being painful, and she could literally feel herself being encased in the armor she’d seen so many times. It was a powerful, heady feeling—she was pretty sure she could do anything but fly!

Damn. No wonder why Trixx called the Ladybug and Cat Miraculouses the most powerful of all. She felt invincible!!

“I’m beginning to see why you take so many stupid risks,” Alya commented, looking down at herself. “They don’t seem so stupid all of a sudden!”

Ooo, she looked good, if she did say so herself! Somehow, the lines of the outfit had been cut to hug her curves better, her tail-belt definitely looked more feminine than Chat’s had been, and her steel-toed boots were now knee high (and super sexy!). Best of all, the top of her zipper now ended in the middle of her chest, allowing just a hint of cleavage, but still enough coverage to be tasteful! She approved.

She reached up and grinned. Her hair was still down, and flowed around her new kitty ears easily. And apparently, her bell had been transferred to a choker around her neck. So cute!! She felt both powerful and sexy.

“Hey, Chat, I need you to take a picture of—” her voice trailed off as she turned around.

Oh. My lord.

The blond looked good in her colors. Like, damn good. Trixx had mimicked his old costume on the collar and boots, but had tossed his hair into his eyes in a roguish fashion. The tail had a straighter, more masculine cut to it; it almost looked like a cummerbund. Like he was the perfect combination of gentleman and rogue. (Which actually described Chat to a “T,” now that she thought about it.) And his black gloves cut off at the wrist—

Gloves that suddenly flew up to cover his mouth as his eyes went wide.

“Chat?” she asked. “What’s wrong??” She looked down at herself as he continued to stare at her. “Is something wrong with my outfit?”

“No,” he squeaked, before clearing his throat. “You-you look fine. …like, really fine. I just, uh, had the sudden urge to scream at you for some reason.”

Alya smirked at him. If he hadn’t bothered to do some research on foxes before they attempted this, well, she wasn’t going to enlighten him. Yet. As it was, she was feeling the urge to rub up against him herself.

“See something you like, handsome?” she purred, sauntering towards him and giving him a turn.

Chat gulped. “Y-yeah… um, you look…. Oh, Plagg, you are getting so much cheese,” he muttered under his breath. “Just…. Damn.”

“Right back at you, tiger,” she giggled, tapping him on the nose. His smile brightened and he turned to look at himself again.

“Yeah, this is pretty cool,” he admitted. He grabbed his own tail and stroked it. “Ooo, fluffy!”

“Fluffy is good,” Alya admitted. “But there’s something to be said for a bit of slink, no?” she added, twirling her own, much thinner tail.

Chat licked his lips.

“Something wrong, handsome?” she purred, slipping her arms around his neck. Up close, she could see the way his blonde hair was tipped in white. Mmm, that looked good. To her delight, he didn’t pull back, and didn’t look uncomfortable. Well, except for the way his eyes continued to dart down to her lips. Teasingly, she licked them.

“H-have I ever told you I have a thing for powerful women?” he asked shakily.

“The black leather’s really doing it for you, huh?” she laughed.

“Y-yeah, I—oh, screw it.” He leaned down and fastened his lips on hers, one arm going around her waist while the other hand buried itself in her hair. Alya responded eagerly, winding herself around him and purring. She’d been wanting this for so long.

Still, they had a time limit. If Ladybug happened to transform tonight and catch them, she was gonna be pissed at the apparent breach of the rules. So, reluctantly, Alya pulled herself away from the heat of his lips.

“C’mon,” she breathed. “You still gotta teach me how to handle your baton.”

“You—,” Chat groaned, pulling her back in for another kiss… or three, “you’re trying to kill me.”

“Don’t tell me you don’t wanna teach me how to push your buttons.”

“Oh, I’m looking forward to hitting the right note with you,” Chat smirked, regaining some his swagger as he pulled out the flute. Alya snickered at him and pulled away to examine her own new weapon. But she was still close enough to hear him say:

“Sooo much cheese, Plagg.”

WaRC.

#mlrarepair2018 #alyadrien #alya #adrien #ml spoilers #ml season 2 #rena rouge #chat noir #kwami swap

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ya-boi-hawkeye · 6 years

Text

Second In Command

While the men prepared the base, Kane sat outside, watching the night sky as the stars circled overhead. A few of the men noticed and sat out with them, all waiting for the same thing, yet none of them speaking a word.

Kane knew Stela wouldn’t come, that there was no way for her to come. She didn’t know which base he had chosen, nor that this base had even existed. She had insisted she not know. In case Kylo Ren broke her.

Ren. Kane grit his teeth at the thought of what that monster did to Stela. He couldn’t stop his mind from trying to fill in the blanks, from trying to figure out what must have happened, or what was happening. Had Ren killed her outright, arcing his blade up and through her body, like a machete through a young vine? Had she been taken prisoner; could she still be alive?

Kane shook his head, trying not to think about it. Stela would die before she’d break, before she’d let herself be brought in like a prize. If she didn’t find them by dawn, then there was little doubt in Kane’s mind that his friend was dead. It had been a suicide mission from the very start, and they both knew it. Stela had given her life so that the militia could survive.

The night was tense, it was long, but Kane didn’t want it to end. So long as the sky was still dark, he could pretend that Stela was on her way. But when the sky turned orange, and the sun peaked up over the horizon, he couldn’t lie to himself anymore, and he stood up. Without Stela to lead them, it was up to him. It’s was his duty as her Second.

“What will you tell Martin?” One of the men asked, and Kane’s heart began to break all over again. First James and now Stela, and that meant he was all Martin had left in the world.

“I’ll think of something,” Kane said, before splitting off to go find the boy.

Martin, when Kane found him, was in one of the common areas, asleep on a small pile of blankets, with Victory curled around the boy like he was her own pup. Under any other circumstances it would have been a wonderful sight. But now all Kane could do was wonder if having the Vornskr with her would have spared Stela.

Shaking his head to try and clear that thought from it, Kane bent down and picked the child up, earning a huff from Victory and a whine from Martin.

“Martin,” he said quietly. “You need to wake up.”

“What about Mommy?” Martin asked, rubbing at his eyes. “Is she here yet?”

“No,” Kane said. “She’s…”

He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t tell Martin what had happened to Stela, how his mother wouldn’t be coming. He knew Martin would find out one day, would learn what had become of his mother, but not yet. Kane wasn’t ready for that yet.

“She’s gonna meet us here,” Kane lied. “Later. She’s just finishing up at the old base. But if this one isn’t ready by the time she gets here, I’m gonna get in trouble.” Martin believed him, thankfully, though the boy still struggled to wake fully. When it became apparent that Martin was still very tired Kane resigned himself to just carrying the boy to his new room. If nothing else, it gave him something to focus on other than Stela.

———-

Three days passed, things were starting to get up and running again, yet there was still an atmosphere of grief hanging over the militia. The only life lost had been Stela’s but there wasn’t a single person in the Militia who hadn’t known and, if not respected, at least cared about her. Of everyone they could have lost, her death hit the hardest.

So really, Kane shouldn’t have been surprised when three men approached him, looking like they had business.

“Sir,” the first one said. “We would like to request your permission to search for the Commander’s body. It’s been a few days; the base is surely cleared. We…it’s not right to leave her there.”

Three days in the heat, with the bugs and scavengers. Kane wasn’t sure how much would be left of Stela’s body, if he’d even want to see it, and yet…he could understand their reasoning. She deserved a funeral at the very least.

“Be careful,” Kane said. “If you see anyone, retreat. Stela wouldn’t want you dying just to find her body. But…you have my blessing. Bring our girl home.”

“Yes sir,” the three said, before leaving on their mission.

When they returned, it was empty handed. Kane’s heart lurched; stupidly he had gotten his hopes up that he’d at least be able to bury his friend.

“Maybe…” one of the men started, before stopping, struggling to find his words. “Maybe they took her prisoner? She could still be alive?”

Oh, how Kane wanted to believe that. That Stela was off in some First Order cell, being grilled for intel yet still alive. Except he knew better, and he shook his head.

“They’ve been trying for her for years,” he said. “If they had her, they would have announced it. Made a spectacle of it.”

“Maybe she escaped?” Another suggested, and Kane’s hands clenched into fists at his sides.

“She would have met us if she had escaped,” he said. “No, they killed her, and then took her. Because that’s all they know how to do.” Killing her wasn’t enough, Ren couldn’t have even left them her body. Kane had heard stories, that the Knight liked to take trophies from his enemies, and there wasn’t an ounce of doubt in Kane’s mind that’s what had happened.

“We’ll build an altar for her,” Kane said. “Next Dia de los Muertos, we’ll do right by her.”

———-

“She brought it on herself.” Kane’s head snapped up at that, his blood starting to boil. He pushed himself up from the table and walked towards Mile and the group starting to form around him.

“Say that again,” Kane said, his fists clenching. “Say that again, because I must have misheard you. Because I know you didn’t just mean to imply that Stela deserved to die, Sol.” Miles scowled at that, standing tall to meet Kane’s challenge.

“Don’t you dare,” Miles said. “Don’t you kriffing dare, put words in my mouth. Stela didn’t deserve half the shit I’m sure that monster did to her, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t bring it on herself. Stela took a risk, she made a mistake, and it killed her.”

“Miles…” Kane whispered, going pale. Miles blinked and turned around, only to see Martin, who had been attracted by the yelling, standing there, tears starting to well in his pale eyes. Before any of the adults could say anything, he turned and ran.

“Martin,” Miles said, helpless. “Kane, I didn’t…” Kane grit his teeth, fighting the urge to punch the other man.

“I should have told him,” Kane finally admitted. “I should have told him, but I didn’t. I didn’t want…I don’t know what I wanted.” He sighed, slumping in defeat. “I’ll go talk to him.”

He found Martin in his quarters, sobbing into Victory’s side. The vornskr’s tail thumped gently against the ground, and she licked the boy every so often in an attempt to soothe him. Kane stepped forward, sat down on the ground beside the pair, and reached out to place a hand on Martin’s back.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I should have told you, but…your mama ain’t coming back.” He took Martin into his arms, holding the boy close as he cried.

“She said she’d come back,” Martin said. “She promised.”

“I know,” Kane said. “And it broke her heart to lie, but she had to keep you safe. Your mama loved you so much.” He closed his eyes, starting to cry himself. “I’m here, though. I promise I won’t leave you. And I mean it. I won’t.”

———-

The scout was panting and red faced when he reached base, struggling to regain his breath. That alone made Kane’s blood run cold, and he feared that the First Order, that Kylo Ren, had found them. That Stela had given her life in vain, because they were all doomed to be destroyed anyway.

But the scout was smiling, which didn’t match tone of Kane’s worst fears.

“Report,” Kane barked, growing impatient as well as anxious.

“The Commander,” the scout said. “I sighted her near the Northern edge of the lake. She’s alive!”

“You saw her?” Kane's heart stopped at that, the whole world slowing down to a grinding halt. “You can confirm?”

“Absolutely Sir.” The scout nodded. “Muñoz went to go assist, I came back as soon as I could to give word. She looks… she looks bad Sir.”

“Kriff.” Kane couldn't believe it.

Stela was alive.

“Get to medical!” It buzzed under his skin, the first wash of relief followed by the register of what the scout had said. “Tell them to prep!”

Kane watched the scout rush off, his brain running a mile a minute. The northern lake, that’s where he needed to be. He took off running in that direction, ignoring the folks he knocked out of his way, and their startled questions. Those he answered with an urgent wave, feet crossing the camp and bringing him towards the lake.

It was then that he saw her.

The sight of Stela hit Kane like a freight train; she was bloody, and covered in dirt, her clothes torn and her hair a crazy nest…

But she was alive.

Kane was struck by a strong urge then, either to hug her or choke her, he couldn’t be entirely sure. Both, probably?

“Stela!” She sagged her weight against him, one arm slung around his shoulder as her legs nearly gave out. “Damn girl, what the hell happened to you?”

Did Kylo Ren do this to you?

Kane couldn’t ask that question, not yet. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer. Though… he couldn’t imagine that Kylo Ren would let her survive if he was able. Granted, the man had been in pretty rough shape, dehydrated and malnourished. It had been a week though, who knew what could have happened?

“Ran into some First Order patrols, a pack of vornskr.” She coughed, breath coming out in rough pants. “Fucking finding this place.”

“You told me to pick a spot you didn’t know.” Kane pointed out. “Stop talking for a second we need to get you to medical.”

There were a million questions that he wanted to ask, questions that he needed to ask, in terms of safety. But they would wait, they would wait until the medics could get a look at her. Make sure that there wasn’t anything serious. It looked bad, it all looked bad, and he could feel the strain of her trying to hold herself together.

“Kane.” She squeezed his shoulder, an urgent look in her eyes.

They were close, the techs running out to get to them, offering a helping hand. “I told you to stop talking.”

“Kane, where’s Martin?” There was an urgency in the question, wild eyed fright. “Where’s my son?”

Who’s Martin?

In all that time, that week where they didn’t know whether she had lived or died, hoping for the best but expecting the worst, it occurred to him. Stela didn’t know either. She didn’t know who’d survived, if anyone.

Whoever he is, I think I’ll kill him when I get loose.

She blamed herself, Kane didn’t need the Force to know that.

I think that you’re getting desperate; you and your men are going to slip up one of these days and when that happens I’ll make my escape. These binders won’t hold me forever and when I do get free—and I will—I won’t rest until I’ve collected all of the heads of your little Militia. I think I’ll arrange them in a nice pyramid and maybe I’ll put Martin’s at the top.

“He’s fine.” Kane assured her quickly. “He’s taking a nap, we’ve been keeping him busy a lot lately. Victory hasn’t left his side but, kriff, Stela, he’s gonna be so happy you’re back.”

“I want to see him Kane.” She leaned forward, almost immediately being gently pushed back by the attending.

“You might be my Commander, but right now you’re also my patient.” He scolded gently. “You don’t want it to be like this. Let us get you cleaned up first.”

“He’s safe?” Stela asked, allowing the medics to treat her wounds.

“He’s safe.” And likely Martin already knew.

He probably knew that Stela was back before any of them. It was a huge relief, to see her there, a little roughed up, sure, but still alive. Still surviving. It was like an immutable constant in a way, that Stela was always alive and always there and so long as she was, it was easier to believe that everything would be alright. Which was more than a little fucked up, putting that kind of pressure and those sorts of expectations on her he knew—but what about their situation wasn’t fucked up?

She relaxed at that, slumping back into the bed. “Go on, say it.”

Oh, he was going to say it.

“I told you this was a bad idea.” He snapped, moving out of the way as the others worked around him.

She looked worse than she was, he thought, looked better now that they were actually able to get her cleaned up. Which made him feel less bad about yelling her.

“I told you it would be better to just kill him and get it over with. We didn’t need the information that bad. And then you go and decide to face him by yourself!” Kane’s voice was raising, and he knew objectively that it wasn’t helping.

“What was I supposed to do, Kane? I couldn’t ask any of you to face him, you could have been killed.”

“So could you.” The words rang out between them like an accusation. “For kriff’s sake, girl, what part of that do you not understand? You’re so kriffing valuable to this militia, more than me, more than anyone else. You can’t just go throwing yourself at danger at every turn—I know that you want to fight for your home, and for all of us, but we need you to make sure you come back. I don’t want your damn job, and you can’t help anyone if you get yourself killed doing some reckless shit.”

“You’re right.” The words came out small, tired and almost defeated, and Kane didn’t know if that was worse than the arguing he’d expected.

“Fuck, you don’t. I thought I was going to die.” She shook her head, reaching out for him. “I was so scared, I thought this would be it, this would be the last time that I would get to see my son, or see you, again.”

“Stela.” He sighed, giving her hand a squeeze and pulling her into a gentle hug. “Damnit.”

“I know.” She gave him a small laugh, leaning against him. “I’m sorry. I really am. But I’ll do anything to keep you all safe.”

“You can do that better by staying alive.” He replied a little waspishly.

“I know.” She said again.

Kane let out a shaky breath, holding his best friend, letting himself feel that she was there and alive. “Your job sucks.”

That earned a laugh, and a gentle poke in his ribs. “And here I thought I might convince you to let me go into early retirement.”

“Not on your life, girl.” He said seriously. “We’ve already decided, I’m retiring, hiring a pool boy, and raising my rats in peace.”

“I didn’t consent to this—“

“Mommy!” And there was Martin, which really wasn’t much of a surprise, with Victory right on hand.

“Martin! Hey baby!” Stela brightened at that, shifting to the edge of the bed and opening her arms for him. “Oh, hi sweet boy.”

“I missed you! They thought you were dead but I knew you’d come back!” There were tears running down his face as he launched himself into her arms.

Kane knew he’d have to bring that up, he’d have to tell Stela about the disagreement between himself and Miles, and what Martin had overheard. It was a conversation for another day, tomorrow maybe, when they got the chance to settle back into a normal schedule.

Right now, he just wanted to sit here, and enjoy this moment between them.

#ren is a dick and stela needs a strong drink #everyone needs a hug #this just in folks they're all stressed out #kane loves his best friend #LOADed with Sin #theload #submission

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linestv · 4 years

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Top 10 New Shows of 2019

Luckily, 2019 turned out to be a much better year for freshman TV than the year before. Cutting down the list to just 10 was a hard enough task, and that is with me still missing some great stuff that I didn’t manage to finish in time. I had a total of 26 new shows to choose from, which is 24 down from last year. Turns out this list is better than last year’s, so quality over quantity?

10. Perpetual Grace, LTD (Epix)

Perpetual Grace, LTD was given a chance just because it existed on Epix. Get Shorty managed to find itself in the #2 spot of returning shows last year, so it was only natural I should try out some of their new offerings. Good thing Perpetual Grace did not disappoint! Led by a fantastic cast, the story is truly one of the most insane things I’ve seen on TV. Not even necessarily because the story beats are unique, but because the presentation is unlike anything else. Fantastic cinematography and directing gave this it’s very own look, and I loved every second of it. Add some Ben Kingsley giving amazing monologues here and there in his typically psychopathic speech pattern, and you’ve got a winner.

9. Catch-22 (Hulu)

Catch-22 was a real breath of fresh air. It’s not often I’ll try out a show set during a World War, as that is not usually my cup of tea. I went against my instincts with this show though, and I am so glad I did. Catch-22 is not at all your average war show or movie. It has such a different tone to it that I haven’t seen in any similar show. Some really clever writing throughout, and some of that elevated by Kyle Chandler’s incredible performance. It’s a short show to get through, but it’s a great watch. I’d love to see more of these somewhat light-hearted shows set in times and settings you wouldn’t usually see them.

8. Undone (Amazon Prime)

How could you not give Undone a shot? Just one look at its gorgeous animation should be convincing enough that this is worth the small amount of time it asks of you. Rose Salazar turns out to be a great lead, and Bob Odenkirk is as charming as always. The way they play into the story with this unique style of animation is stunning. The story, it’s the type of mindfuck that I absolutely adore. Not only are you traveling through time, experiencing timeloops and entering potentially different universes, you’re doing all that with amazing visuals and performances to boot. It got a surprise renewal for season 2, but I’m not complaining!

7. Doom Patrol (DC Universe)

Doom Patrol might sound all doom and gloomy, but it really is not. In fact, it’s probably the most ridiculous superhero show or movie I have ever seen. And I mean that with all of my possible affection. This show does not seem to give a fuck in all of the best ways. It’s constantly surprising you with whatever weird shit they try to do next, and almost always easily succeeding. Diane Guerrero anchors the whole show with a compelling and believable turn as the personality-changing Crazy Jane, but all the others characters are a total hoot as well. Normally I would argue a show is too long if it’s 15 episodes of roughly 60 minutes, but every minute here was enjoyable.

6. Harley Quinn (DC Universe)

A second animation show to add to the list! Harley Quinn more than earns its spot. As if a show starring Harley Quinn wasn’t amazing enough, it turns out to actually be great on its own as well. Always hilarious and constantly cracking jokes, it’s hard not to enjoy a single second of this show. Kaley Cuoco does a brilliant job at portraying Harley Quinn exclusively through her voice work, and her relationship with Poison Ivy is easily the standout of the show. Enter lots of cameos from all kinds of DC characters too, and you know you’re in for a good time. They also swear a lot. Fuck.

5. Encore! (Disney+)

A reality show?! First a documentary show on last year’s list, and now we’re doing reality! Encore! easily deserves it’s #5 spot. Not often does a show bring you this much joy. I’m a big fan of musicals overall, and seeing these people go back to their high school lives and give an encore performance of one of their high school musicals is just too fun. It brings me tears of happiness. I have cried. Many times. It’s a shame Kristen Bell decided that she didn’t want to show up anymore, because that’s the only thing that could’ve made this better!

4. Why Women Kill (CBS All Access)

Why Women Kill was a total surprise. Sure, I was always gonna watch a Marc Cherry soap show. I’ve never seen more than one episode of Desperate Housewives, thanks to its terrifying length, but that doesn’t mean I have to miss out on his new projects! Glad I decided to not miss out on this. It’s a genuine soapy spectacle that had me rolling as much as it had me tearing up. Ginnifer Goodwin and Lucy Liu’s storylines are a total blast, and while the Kirby’s isn’t quite as good, it doesn’t let down the show in the slightest. Add some really fun production design and an incredible directed finale, and you’ve got a soap for the ages. Also, that intro!

3. The Morning Show (Apple TV+)

Probably my most anticipated show of the year, and while it didn’t quite manage to get to first on my eventual ranking too, third is pretty damn respectable. It’s hard to pass up a show starring both Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston, who are both masters of the ACTING here. It manages to balance its more light-hearted storylines as well as it’s very serious and touching storylines very well. They also made Aniston sing Not While I’m Around, which is as if someone looked into my brain and knew exactly what I would want.

2. The Other Two (Comedy Central)

This show came totally out of nowhere. The Other Two suddenly got these great reviews, and I was like: why the hell not? Turns out to be one of my best impulsive decisions of my TV career. Heléne Yorke gives an astoundingly funny performance was Brooke, and genuinely might end up in my comedy hall of fame if she keeps at it like this. Not just Heléne makes the show though, because the writing of the show is as sharp and funny as anything. Molly Shannon makes for a great supporting role too, so really you can’t go wrong with this show in general. Easily was my favourite of the year until...

1. Watchmen (HBO)

... until Watchmen happened. I’ve already got a soft spot for Damon Lindelof, okay? I’ll admit it. The Leftovers topped my returning shows of 2017 list, with good reason, and now Lindelof returns with Watchmen to once again top a list of mine... with good reason! Watchmen is an incredible miniseries. Twists galore, top tier performances, sharp writing and huge standouts such as A God Walks Into Abar and This Extraordinary Being is probably the best way to summarise the beauty of Watchmen, but no words will truly do it justice. Do yourself a favour and just watch it already.

The top 10:

1. Watchmen (HBO) 2. The Other Two (Comedy Central) 3. The Morning Show (Apple TV+) 4. Why Women Kill (CBS All Access) 5. Encore! (Disney+) 6. Harley Quinn (DC Universe) 7. Doom Patrol (DC Universe) 8. Undone (Amazon Prime) 9. Catch-22 (Hulu) 10. Perpetual Grace, LTD (Epix)

Honorable mentions:

David Makes Man (OWN) Evil (CBS) Unbelievable (Netflix)

My hope and prayers from 2018 came true. 2019 ended up being a fantastic year for TV. Would I have expected most of these shows to make my list when we started? Probably not. It’s always best to be surprised however, and I hope that 2020 will have many surprises in store for me as well. Let’s not alternate between good and bad years, let’s make it all great.

#top10 #2019 #TV #ranking

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