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probssomethingorother · 9 months

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🚨NEW CHAPTER! 🚨

Back & Forth: a the last of us fic

post-episode 8 Silver Lake hurt/comfort

Ellie & Joel, both riding the struggle bus, canon compliant

Rating: Mature for dark themes, nothing more than the show

It was Joel who stumbled first.He had felt the strength seeping out of him with every step so viscerally it was like his body was a container with a slow leak. His gate would falter and his hand would slip further down her shoulder, power waning. He would cough in his throat and blink forcefully trying to reignite the spark of energy that had carried him to Ellie just hours ago, but it was all a losing battle. And eventually, he lost it.It was Ellie who moved first after that.

chp 1 | chp 2 | chp 3 | chp 4 | chp 5 | chp 6 | chp 7 | chp 8 | chp 9| chp 10

CHAPTER 11!!!

read on Ao3 with the link above or below the cut ⤵️

❤️ remember comment where you can! ❤️

Her eyes were stuck on the back of the door.

It was a nauseating shade of yellow with flakes of ancient paint curling away, exposing fissured grey wood beneath. It was bleak and bland, yet Ellie found her eyes glued to it, silently urging it to swing open again. She harbored a flickering hope that Joel would reconsider, that he would come back, that he wouldn't venture out there alone—or at least, not without her.

Seconds stretched into agonizing minutes, but the door remained still.

Ellie was alone.

Her breathing was uneven, her chest rising and falling silently in the chilly bathroom, the icy tiles biting at her bare feet and goosebumps blossoming on her exposed legs.

The glance had been quick as Joel had dragged her down the hall, but she had seen enough: flames greedily nibbling at the couch's base, devouring dust and aged fabric, scorching it with too much ease, spreading upwards and onwards. And now she could smell it.

One time, a records room at FEDRA went up in flames and she had to help bring water buckets to it. For some reason, it smelt just like that, almost to a T. It was smoky, yet also had a musty sort of aroma with faint hints of wet logs and old paper.

Ellie's fingers nervously palmed her switchblade, flicking it open and closed in a rhythmic pattern. Her mouth was going dry and her throat was beginning to feel tight as she envisioned the progress of it all, flames now hungry and angry, consuming everything in its path.

She hoped not everything - not Joel.

Joel - who was now braving the flames that were spreading across the living space, licking up the walls, cascading across the floor.

His eyes darted around, trying to suddenly make sense of the situation, which wasn’t really all that hard of course: their shelter was on fire.

Actually no - it wasn’t just on fire - someone had lit it on fire. Someone was lighting it on fire.

A targeted attack to flush them out, or hell, just burn them alive.

With a lung-searing breath, Joel hastily gathered their rifles and their packs, sidestepping hot fiery pools of flames. His head was on a swivel as he tried to see what else had been left in the room, what could be saved - they had so little now, they couldn’t afford to lose any of it.

The blaze spread rapidly, growing as it joined their once small corner fire. Running along the perimeter, flames enveloped the thin curtains, transforming them into fiery veils. Smoke filled the room, stinging Joel's eyes and clogging his lungs, the heat pricking his skin like countless tiny pins

Squinting, Joel zeroed in on Ellie’s jeans and boots by the couch. When he took a step forward to retrieve them, his foot struck an object, sending it rolling. With time he didn’t have, he paused for a moment, eyes following as it traveled across the floor, coming to a halt against the baseboard of the wall a few feet away.

A wine bottle, stuffed with cloth, somehow unbroken.

Fucking molotovs.

He knew that’s what they had been throwing, but seeing the evidence of it made anger in his heart smolder just as hot as the flames in the room, and it pounded with equal parts rage and urgency as he tore his eyes away and clenched his jaw.

With a pained groan, he hastily reached down to grab Ellie’s stuff, their packs, and his rifle almost slipping off his back in the process. The moment he was straight again, he heard it - another crash, this time followed by a distant holler - words indistinguishable.

They were coming for them.

If fear hadn't already tightened its grip on his chest, it did now - viscerally enough that it was painful.

He stayed eerily still for a moment, waiting for another crash, another yell, but the only sounds to fill his ears were the pops and snaps of the growing fire.

Carefully, he crossed the living room to an unbroken window and brought his face to the glass, nose hitting the now warm pane. The sun was making its way up the horizon, bathing the outside in a warm glow that eerily matched the color of the burning living room. He could see the light of the flames refracting off, creating dancing shadows across the white snow.

It would have been almost pretty if it wasn’t a sign of something so deadly.

He scoured the treeline, searching for whoever was out there.

He knew it had to be the people from the resort, but couldn’t wager a guess about how many. By the rate at which the Molotovs had been thrown - at least two. But, there could be so many more - a fucking resort’s worth.

Taking down a couple had been a strain - more? - jesus fuck.

Joel held his breath as he stared and waited as long as he could, hoping to catch a glimpse of what was lurking out there. Sweat mingled with soot on his brow, the intense heat making his skin tingle uncomfortably, each breath becoming harder against the smokey air as his eyes moved around, scanning relentlessly.

His heart was torn between the instinct to flee and the possibility of bringing Ellie out into danger - out into a potential ambush. They could run, but neither were in much condition to make it far. Not in the cold. Not with injuries like there’s. Not trailed by people who knew the terrain far better than they did.

He couldn’t even make it away last time without passing out.

A fucking failure.

No part of him could say for certain that wouldn't happen again. Ellie would be forced to go at it alone - stare down a mob of men by herself - which he also couldn’t say for certain didn’t already happen once.

“Okay look at me. There are men coming, okay?” Her voice drifted through his head almost hazily while his brain supplied a vision of her mouthing the words. He hadn’t been able to draw his eyes up to her at the time, exhaustion and delirium sticking his gaze to her lips instead.

“ I’m going to lead them away from you.”

Another crash jolted him back to reality.

Another bottle. Another burst of flames, this time through the kitchen window.

He was running out of time.

He couldn’t afford to linger and worry about what could happen next - not when it would mean their death.

Joel quickly turned away from the window, his eyes casting a final lingering look back as he made his way out of the room.

Just before exiting, he made a split-second decision and turned, ducking into the kitchen, and plucking the quilt from the ground. It was dangerously close to a pool of fiery alcohol creeping towards it, which had him leaning awkwardly and covering his eyes to avoid the sting of the heat. His teeth were clenched so hard that his side stung with the movement, almost to the point he thought his molars might crack.

The second the fabric was in his fingers, he was on the move again. As he turned to head down the hallway, he bunched up the blanket into a bearhug hold against his chest, holding it firmly alongside Ellie’s boots and pants.

His gait was uneven but hurried as he made his way back - a plume of smoke eagerly trailed behind him like a competitor in some twisted race. A race he felt like he was losing.

Knew he was losing.

Without giving Ellie any warning, Joel burst back into the bathroom, the door urgently swinging open enough to hit the counter behind with a thwack.

Startled, Ellie’s instincts took over, and her hand shot out, gripping her switchblade tightly as she braced for the intruder, nostrils flared, stance hard. Her heart raced in her chest until she recognized Joel's disheveled appearance just a moment later. As relief washed over her, the tension in her shoulders eased, and she lowered the blade, allowing him to enter the bathroom completely. Joel released a long breath as he closed the door with his foot, a wisp of smoke slipping in behind him and skimming along the floor before it sealed shut.

The moment it was closed, Joel dropped their belongings to the ground, shrugged off their packs and the rifle, and ripped off his coat. He wiggled it down his arms with haste and threw it to the floor, the weighty fabric landing on the cold tile with a modest thump. Ellie watched, wide-eyed and tense as he used his foot to shove it up against the doorframe, pressing the fabric firmly against the gap, sealing out the smoke that was sliding under.

“It’s bad?”

He turned around and nodded hard, not trying to sugar-coat the truth in the slightest.

“Can’t stay,” he grunted, his voice low and resolute, locking on to her and looking her straight up and down.

Every time he sees her now, his stomach continually drops like it somehow doesn’t have a bottom. His brain kept forgetting how he found her - expecting her to look like normal old Ellie - rosy, cheery, personality bigger than her body, not battered and broken.

She was still pantless, her sweatshirt riding up to her hips, no longer covering her thighs as before. Her wet hair hung in odd clumps, dripping down onto her shoulders. It left two massive wet spots on both sides of her collarbone, making the tan fabric turn dark. Her sweatshirt was still speckled in blood, and, of course, there were also the black soot stains from the last fire she had managed to escape.

Shaking his head and gulping away the dryness in his throat, Joel grabbed Ellie’s backpack, turned toward the vanity, and plopped it into the sink. His hands stumbled to grasp at the zippers, his fingers surprisingly shaky.

“Need’ta get clothes on you,” he said firmly, just as he was finally able to grasp the metal pull fastener, the zipping sound promptly scratching through the air and punctuating his sentence.

Her backpack wasn’t all that big, but he did have to dig toward the bottom, pulling out her walkman and notebook and tossing them on the vanity counter so he could better see what else she had in there. Her metal water bottle was thrown aside too, a hollow clanking sound filling the air as it hit the counter and rolled.

“Hey watch it, that’s my shit,” Ellie scolded, arms crossing in front of her chest with a flicker of a pout. She knew he wasn’t trying to be rough - he was just rushing. Yet, she couldn’t hold the comment back. Her emotions were getting a bit jumbled - she always met fear with snarkiness. Growing up in FEDRA had her masking emotions from a young age; otherwise, she would have been eaten alive.

“Your clothes in my bag?” Joel asked quickly, hands meeting the dirty bottom of hers without finding anything more.

Confused, she replied, “What?”

“Your spares - ain’t here.” He patted and squeezed at the sides, checking the outer pockets - not that they could fit clothes anyway. He then paused, looking up to meet Ellie's eyes in the mirror’s reflection. “In mine?” he suggested, raising his own brows.

She took a tentative step toward him, arms falling limply to her sides. A defeated expression gradually overtook her features as she peeked around his shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of her bag.

"Oh... um..." Her voice wavered with uncertainty, her words faltering, as relayed, "They should've been in there."

“Are you sure they ain’t mine?” Joel began, turning to retrieve his bag to investigate, “didn’t you just get- ”

"Yeah. I just fucking just did," she replied, annoyance briefly cutting through her words, a sharp edginess to them. “Those assfucks probably just took them or something.”

Joel heaved out a shaky breath, anxiety rearing its head monetarily. He knew that was the truth, but it was still not a reality he wanted to have to face, but, there was also no time to dwell on it either.

“It’s fine I’ll just put back on the -” Joel instantly began shaking his head at her suggestion, causing Ellie to leave the rest unsaid.

When he had picked up her pants in the living room before, they were cool to the touch and damp, the heat of the room doing little to melt away the iciness still somehow clinging to the fibers.

“Your pants are too wet; you’ll freeze when we get outside. I got an extra - will make that work.”

Joel leaned down for his backpack, movements surprisingly brisk as he hoisted the bag off the floor and to the counter, landing it with a thud on the edge of the sink. His hands dove inside the worn weathered bag, fingers dancing across its contents until they found what he sought, going on touch rather than sight. Dragging his arm up, he pulled the pants out from the very bottom.

They certainly were not the cleanest, grimy in fact, but they were dry - which really was all either of them could ask for right now. Without a moment's hesitation, he balled and flung them back towards Ellie, not even glancing her way, his focus entirely on his pack, lost in finding the next thing and planning their next steps.

The denim struck her chest and nearly slipped through her arms, its abrupt arrival catching her off guard. “Joel, what the fuck, dude.”

The list seemed endless - clothes, protection, exiting, running, cover … god forbid he would need to fight them off. Every new thing his brain remembered made the air feel even thicker in the bathroom - chest squeezing and squeezing and squeezing - barely able to grab air.

"Put‘em on." His voice was clipped - rough and urgent- as he rubbed a soothing hand across his chest for a second. He felt like he could hear the ticking of a clock, counting them down until it was all too late - until the situation was finally one of complete failure.

And no matter how fast he was trying to go - trying to get them to go - it wasn’t going to be enough. They were losing the race.

“Are you serious?”

He didn’t dignify it with a reply - they really didn’t have the time.

"Dude, these aren't going to-" Ellie began to counter, but Joel silenced her, his frustration finally spilling over, voice tinged with exasperation:

“Just- Goddammit Ellie!”

It came out with an unintended force that made Ellie flinch - left foot sliding back, body shying away, the click of her switchblade firing open on instinct. She was jumpy down to her bones now - ready to fight, always.

The silence was thick for a moment as the ring of Joel’s voice lingered in the air, bouncing off the tile and settling between them. He hadn’t met to yell; but like the flames surely biting at the door by now, dread and fear and frustration were burning hot inside him.

“Sorry…just..,” his hands found the edge of the counter and gripped it hard, knuckles going white while he dropped his head and lowered his voice. With a steadying breath, he continued, “Please listen to me, okay?” He moved his head to the side, balancing his chin on his shoulder as he glanced back at her. “Don’t got time to do this.”

She gave him a long slow nod before holding the jeans out in front of her and eyeing them up and down. “Sorry,” she mumbled as she gently placed her switchblade on the counter, freeing both her hands to put the pants on. Tears pricked at her waterline, and she pretended it was just because the bathroom's air was gradually thickening with smoke, a hazy veil forming. She whipped Joel’s jeans in the air, fluffing out the pant legs as she backed toward the toilet, sitting down to put them on.

Turning back to his bag, Joel muttered, "can't find my spare socks," - more to himself than to her. His fingers dug through the pack, moving aside items in a desperate bid to find them, eyebrows scrunching closer and closer every second he came up empty-handed.

“My extra socks? You put’em somewhere?”

“Used’em. For when you got stabbed. I didn’t have gauze,” she told him flatly as she wiggled her feet through the long pant legs, focusing hard on getting them on.

Joel let out another deep long sigh, learning they were down another crucial item - this time without a replacement.

Nothing could be easy.

“Okay,” he muttered softly, taking out an undershirt and flannel and putting them aside before zipping both his and Ellie’s bags up.

His gaze shifted back to Ellie, concern etched in his features as he watched her struggle with the oversized jeans. Even though she was sitting on the closed toilet lid, her movements were labored as she gathered the excess fabric up her legs. Each bend and twist seemed to draw a silent wince from her. The bruises on her ribs protested under the strain.

"You okay?" Joel asked, although he knew the answer - clearly could see it.

Ellie nodded, biting her lip as she worked through the discomfort.

Briefly, he returned to his task, grabbing the crusty yellowing shirt, and, with a slight grimace, clenched the fabric between his teeth and tore, ripping two sizable pieces - the sound of the tear piercing through the air. He placed them on the counter and then quickly turned his attention back to Ellie just as she stood up from her seat.

She had managed to pull the jeans up to her hips, but they were comically large, the waistband gaping and slipping down.

“They’re not going to stay,” she muttered, a note of frustration in her voice as she gathered a handful of fabric at the waistband to keep them in place and then looked up at Joel.

Within an instant, he was taking off his belt, not having to think longer than a second about it. The leather whipped through the air with a sharp snap, the sound echoing in the small bathroom, just as the shirt had done seconds ago.

He handed her the belt, and she began threading it through the loops of the jeans as Joel stepped around and crouched in front of her, bracing on the sink cabinet to lower himself to the floor with a prolonged wince of pain. His hands quickly came to the bottom of the jeans and began rolling them up, cuffing them several times until they were the proper length.

Ellie leaned to the side, reaching for her switchblade with a grimace. She tried not to move too much, mindful of Joel's hands still busy with the fabric at her ankles. Her fingers wrapped around the blade, and she began to carve a new hole into the leather - the existing ones too few to keep the pants tightly in place.

Bending her head down and keeping it there, even just briefly as she drilled a new hole, sent a wave of dizziness crashing over her. The pressure in her head-mounted, concussion flaring up.

Suddenly unsteady, Ellie swayed, her balance faltering. She sat back down on the toilet- a soft thump marking her descent.

Caught off-guard, and hands still on her pants, Joel almost toppled forward, barely catching himself from falling out of his crouch as he moved with her. He quickly flicked his eyes up to her, a silent question in his gaze, but she was already focused back on the belt - determined but clearly uncomfortable.

He wasn’t thrilled she was sitting back down - didn’t bode well for what was coming next - but he kept that to himself. Pants cuffed, Joel straightened up - shakily.

“Get your boots and socks on,” he instructed as he glanced toward the door. Ellie gave him a nod as he crossed over to it, his movements quick and tense. Holding his breath, he reached out, cautiously touching the wood and the doorknob, checking for any signs of heat.

It was cool, but that did little to quell his anxiety.

“We need to hurry.” He pressed, looking back towards her.

“I’m not trying to be fucking slow,” Ellie pushed back.

Her blade finally pierced through Joel’s belt and she threw it back onto the counter and she fumbled to close the buckle. Her head was really starting to pound again, clearly over-irritated; and maybe it was the addition of the smoke, but it was coming to the point where her throat felt tight, nausea mounting.

“I know you ain’t- just- gotta keep goin’ okay - can’t slow down.”

She screwed her eyes shut for a moment, so hard the little crow's feet scrunched at the sides of her face. It numbed the pain for a second, but not completely.

“My fucking head is making that a little hard,” she admitted.

Seeing the pained look on her face, Joel was moving to help her before she even had time to protest, hands digging into her boots and retrieving her still-damp socks, balled and cold. He gave his head a small shake as he unraveled them, chastising himself for not laying them out by the fire after stripping them off her before.

Carefully, again, he bent down in front of where she sat.

“So we’re just going to run?”

He scrunched up the fabric, stretched out the opening, and slipped it onto her foot with a fluidity that was surely born from years of practice.

“Don’t have much else of a choice.”

“It’s still snowing right?” She asked, tone tinged with a subtle sense of worry.

He paused for a fraction second - an image of her going hypothermic again, but he quickly cleared the intrusive thought away.

“It’s slowing down,” he said with a curt nod. He hoped it was true.

When both socks were on he leaned and grabbed her boots. His fingers plucked at the laces, loosening them quickly, before hastily and roughly wedging them onto her feet, little care for any possible discomfort. Ellie’s face scrunched as she tried to help, pushing her feet down into the stiff boots - practically semi-frozen.

“I don’t have a coat-“

“-You’ll take mine.” He replied firmly and quickly- answer already in mind. He pulled hard at her laces - the sharp sound punctuating the end of his statement as he synched the boot up as tight as it would go.

Ellie’s eyes followed his hands as they made work of her laces. Despite Joel’s best efforts to keep them steady, they were shaking like a leaf, barely able to keep the ties from fumbling out from between his fingers.

“They - the people from the town - it’s them right?” She asked, voice dropping softer than it had been, true emotions finally starting to peek through.

Joel looked up through his brows briefly, catching her eyes with his. He nodded slowly, with an affirmative hum as he tucked both the pant legs into her boots as best as possible.

Ellie exhaled hard through her nose, enough to where Joel could feel the warm air hit his forehead.

“It’ll be alright - ain’t nothin’ we can do about them ‘sept run, but first we need ta focus on gettin’ outta here, okay?”

“Okay,” she whispered in a soft reply.

Once both boots were snugly on, Joel rose to his feet, wincing slightly from a sharp pain in his side. Ellie mirrored his action, gingerly supporting her ribs with a protective arm. Joel swiftly grabbed his spare flannel from the counter, shaking it out before gripping the sleeves firmly. He approached Ellie, extending the shirt towards her. Confusion flickered across her face as he moved closer, her eyes narrowing and eyebrows knitting together in a silent question.

But, there wasn’t any time to ask what he was doing - movements purposeful and fluid. Quickly, he placed the shirt over her hair, and brought the sleeves down the sides of her face and under, carefully tying the flannel like a headscarf, securing the knot under her chin.

Suddenly, the sound of another crash echoed through the door, followed by distant hollering that seeped in through a small crack in the bathroom window. This time, although still coming from outside, the voices were much more clear - “We know you’re in there!”

Ellie’s eyes flicked toward the window, following the sound of the voices, eyes blown wide.

“You look at me, Ellie-”, Joel said forcefully, grabbing at her chin, pushing her eyes to meet him instead. They were drowning in apprehension, but he desperately needed her to focus.

“We get out there, you keep runnin’, you understand?”

Even held firm in place by his hand, she managed to give her head a small defiant shake side to side. She didn’t want to leave him.

“Keep goin’ even if you don’t see me, okay?” His voice softened just slightly - a contrast to the hard set of his jaw and the worry etched deep in the lines around his eyes.

“But-”

“You keep goin’ til you can’t run no more then you find somewhere small. Tuck yourself in and hide, real small.”

Joel’s hand trailed from her chin and to the side of her face, fingers skimming the edge of the flannel. Gently, he tucked a stray piece of her cold wet hair beneath the fabric as his thumb rubbed gently at her cheekbone.

“You can do that right?”

Her eyes were prickling with tears now, beads of water pooling at the edges. She couldn’t think of anything worse than leaving him.

“You won’t-”

“- I’ll find you. I found you last time. I’ll do it again.”

He didn't know what else to say to make this any less scary.

Swallowing down a lump in his throat, Joel turned away and took the remnants of his shirt, now reduced to scraps, and dampened them with the last of their water. It wasn't much, but it was enough. He handed one piece to Ellie and wrapped the other around his face, fashioning it into a makeshift bandana.

"Do the same," he instructed, his voice muffled behind the cloth. Ellie did.

As he put the back and rifle over his shoulder, he gave her the plan - raising his voice so it was clear even blocked by the cloth.

“We’re goin’ to try to go out the slider in the living room.”

“Not the front?”

“Think they are trying to push us that way. So I need you to do what I say when I say it alright? Don’t have time for questions.”

Ellie gave Joel a nervous look but ultimately nodded hard.

He stooped to pick up his coat from the floor, the fabric heavy and stiff. He held it open for Ellie, guiding her arms through the sleeves and zipping her in. He then did the same with her backpack, ensuring it was securely on her shoulders.

He couldn’t help but pause for a second and look at her - bundled to the nines, everything too big. Despite their best efforts, Joel’s pants were bunching and hanging weirdly out of the tops of her boots. His coat hung off her shoulders and stretched all the way just past the middle of her thighs, a short dress of sorts. Even his flannel covering her hair and the half piece of shirt over her mouth looked too big - out of place.

And peaking through it, were her eyes - big brown orbs that he had never seen so filled with worry. They were the most out of place of it all.

Joel took a breath.

“You trust me?”

“Yeah, just -” she said, bending to grab the quilt from the floor and handing it to him, shaking her head instead of finishing her sentence with words. He took the fabric from her with a sympathetic nod.

“I know you're scared.”

“I’m not scared,” she lied, voice gaining a higher pitch as a red flag.

“I ain’t going to let anything happen to us,” Joel offered - it was perhaps a lie too.

Turning around, he approached the door once more, palm pressing against its surface, testing the safety of the other side. The wood was still cool to the touch - a small mercy. He cracked the door open, and tendrils of smoke immediately pushed in, hitting his eyes, and he shut it. He took a step back, blinking hard, and then opened the door again, more prepared this time. He quickly popped his out checking the hallway was safe before closing the door a fraction of an inch.

“Ready?”

Ellie nodded.

“Ready.”

With a firm but reassuring grip, Joel took Ellie's wrist. He opened the door fully, and pulled her through, moving quickly. The fire blazing in the living room was encroaching on the beginning of the hallway, casting long, orange ominous shadows down to them.

He had them pause at the doorway to the living room, taking in the now heavy inferno of crackling flames and suffocating smoke. It had progressed more than he thought it would have - slider almost too far away.

Joel's eyes darted around, seeking out a viable path through the blaze, but nothing was all that much more clear than anything else.

“Joel,” she called out anxiously - taking in the same sight as he was.

“I know, I know,” he replied, voice laced with urgency. He gave her wrist a gentle reassuring squeeze before ushering her in front of him, dragging her by the same grip. “Get in front of me,” he said, positioning her so close that her backpack dug into his stomach. If his brain and body weren’t so preoccupied with reconciling the fact it was about to walk through fire, the pain of her bag hitting his stitches probably would have sent him to the ground. Instead, he sucked in a startled pained breath which only had him coughing, despite the wet cloth over his face and nose.

Recentering, he continued: “You’re goin’ to have to stay real close, okay?”

Joel took the quilt, draped it over his back, and then extended it over her, enclosing them both inside the fabric.

“Take’em… hold ‘em from the inside,” he instructed between lingering tickles of a cough, holding out the blanket’s edges for Ellie to grasp onto it.

She gave a brisk nod and took the ends for him, one hand still grasping her switchblade and the other shaking, but still managed to hold the quilt in place around them. Joel’s arms snaked back towards his center, stopping at Ellie’s head and pushing it down - chin to her chest- before ultimately landing on her shoulders. He could feel she was shaking.

“I’ll lead ya - just stay tucked.”

Ellie responded with a small nod, Joel’s flannel on her head scratching against the fabric of the quilt. It was better like this- she didn’t want to look at the flames anyway.

Joel inched forward, his steps deliberate and slow, navigating through the inferno with a protective vigilance. The heat was intense, a pressing force against their makeshift shield. The crackling of the fire mingled with the sound of their labored breathing, creating an almost rhythmic cadence amidst chaos tearing away at the living room.

The quilt got tighter, Ellie's grip on the ends increasing at the front.

A loud crack resonated through the room as a burning chunk of the ceiling crumpled, plummeting down toward them just inches away. The sound had Joel's instincts kicking in immediately, and with a swift movement, he turned Ellie to the side, ducking them both out of its path. Narrowly avoiding the falling debris, they were enveloped in a shower of sparks and embers as the remnants hit the ground - white-hot grains hitting the quilt instead of their clothes. Hesitantly, Joel raised his head and straightened up, heart beating fast as he appraised the status of their path forward now. The large piece of plaster on the ground was definitely in their way, but thankfully, was not blocking the entire way forward.

A small miracle.

With renewed determination, Joel guided Ellie away toward the open route, shuffling to the side past the hot burning couch. The heat was almost unbearable now, and the smoke made it hard to see and breathe. Joel was finding it hard to even keep his eyes open.

"Nearly there," he murmured, half-lost in the roar of the fire. He wasn't sure if he was reassuring Ellie or himself. He could feel the tension in her body, the slight shivers that weren't just from the heat. It was fear, raw and unfiltered, but she was holding on, just as he was.

His hold on her shoulders tightened, pulling her closer, ensuring she was as shielded as possible from the flames. The perimeter flames were more intense than those engulfing the furniture in the center, and despite knowing it necessary - a small part of Joel couldn’t help but wonder if he was making the wrong decision.

Suppressing a set of coughs, Joel pressed on, the tips of his boots colliding with Ellie’s heels as they shuffled the last few feet, his gaze fixed forward on the reflective glow of the sliding glass door. When his hand finally came to the handle, he threw it open with expeditious force. The frame bounced off as it hit the end of the track and the glass crackled as it broke apart more- the hole Ellie had put in it acting as an epicenter to a full shatter.

He urged Ellie out first, following immediately behind and slamming the glass slide shut. Together they took several hasty steps forward, almost tripping each other up still wrapped in the quilt, before Ellie finally released her grip on it, dropping it into the snow, and freeing them both.

For a moment, neither of them moved - caught off guard by how warm the outside air felt against the exposed bits of their faces- not bitterly cold like it should have been. The promise of crisp cool air would have been a prize for making it out - and now, the fire took that away too.

Ellie raked in a breath, the fabric of Joel’s t-shirt sucking into her mouth with the heave as she blinked several times, trying to moisten her dry eyes. Joel did the same, breaths deep, chest rising and falling as he stood behind her. He wiped the remaining smoke from his eyes as they dissected the treeline of the backyard, not allowing himself much time to catch his breath at all.

Joel's body tensed, his stance shifting subtly, eyes narrowing.

His hands found Ellie's back, landing squarely between her shoulder blades. With a firm push, he propelled her forward.

“Run.”

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nieru07 · 6 years

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Hoshino Kureha Side Story Chapter 1 & 2 [English Translation]

Heeyyy guys!! Since i finished translating sutapare’s short comics & 4 comas, i’m going to translate Kureha’s side story now!

His story gonna be ‘a trip of feels’ so prepare your tissues and cry together with me :’D

Are you ready for a trip of feels? :^)

Chapter 1 : “Let’s record a Self-introduction!”

???: “Rescue him first instead of me!”

Kureha: “when it’s raining, i always remember it…”

Kureha: “I’ve always regret it since that rainy day…”

Kureha: “Even though i’m not the one who should be rescued first..”

Kureha: “He always said that “I’ll definitely become an idol!””

Kureha: “That’s why…. I’ve made a resolution to carry on that dream”

Aoi: “AH--!”

Yoichi: “Aoi-san, you are noisy”

Aoi: “Yoichi-senpai, i want you to look at this! I found this when i were surfing on the internet just now..”

Yoichi: “...it’s a self-introduction video from other school”

MC: “This is something that used to increase popularity in Play Star, right?”

Yoichi: “I think it’s probably a strategy to increase some popularity by having the club members introducing themself one by one like this”

Subaru: “It’s indeed will left an impression~”

Toya: “Damn! How dare them became standout ahead of the great me!”

Aoi: “That’s right! Even though Toya-san is the coolest person in nationwide… no, in worldwide! I can’t forgive them for getting ahead of Toya-san!”

Kureha: “Hmm… then, let’s try taking a self-introduction video too!”

Kureha: “I think it’s better if we can do a self-introduction since we are an idol, along with practicing it too, how about it?”

Subaru: “Pass. It’s bothersome~”

Kureha: “Eehh!”

Kaito: “Rather than that, isn’t it better if we polish our technique more”

Kureha: “I see. It’s impossible for Kaito to do a perfect self-introduction because Kaito is unsociable, huh~”

Kaito: “Don’t joke with me. I can do it better than you.”

Kureha: “Eeh~! I wonder if it’s true~? Then let’s do it to proof what you said!”

Yuhi: “I’m…. not good… in front of camera..”

Kureha: “But if we became an idol, we would be in camera, you know? That’s why, we are going to do a special training now!”

Toya: “I’m in! I’m going to fully show my beautifulness, pureness, and toughness!”

Aoi: “Then i’m going to promote Toya-san with all my might!”

Toma: “I also want to take it ♪ Make it perfectly cute, okay?”

Subaru: “Eeh~ Everyone gonna do it? Hey, Yoichi-kun stop them please~”

Yoichi: “Then there’s no helping it if everyone want to do it. And just as what Kureha-san said, i thought it’s not going to hurt if we practice doing a self-introduction.”

Subaru: “You betrayer~”

Yoichi: “Who did you call a betrayer. Manager, can i ask you to record using smartphone?”

MC: “Of course!”

Yoichi: “Then, the first one is Kureha-san”

Kureha: “Ehh!? I’m first?”

Yoichi: “You are the initiator after all, I want you to take a responsibility and become the top batter”

Kureha: “Alright! I’m going to cheerfully introduce myself so, take a cool video for me, okay? Manager”

MC: “Leave it to me! Then, please start after i said 1, 2, 3, okay?”

Kureha: “Roger!”

Toya: “Kureha, do it perfectly and show your manliness, okay!”

Kureha: “Got it!”

Kureha: “Yosh, Manager, i’m ready”

MC: “Then, i’m going to record it, okay. 1, 2, 3…”

Kureha: “Everyone’s smile is my source of power☆ Seika Gakuen First Year Idol Club, Hoshino Kureha! Please take care of me!”

Chapter 2 : “My Speciality is Magic Trick!”

Kureha: “Everyone’s smile is my source of power☆ Seika Gakuen First Year Idol Club, Hoshino Kureha! Please take care of me!”

Kureha: “Entering Seika Gakuen Idol club where i am now, and winning Star Live is my dream since a long time ago!”

Kureha: “My speciality is magic trick! I’m quite popular for it in my family. Even myself think that maybe i’m really good at magic trick”

Kureha: “On my day off, i’m doing a self-training for singing or dancing… When the weather is good, i often went for cycling”

Kureha: “Starting now, i’m going to do my best on aiming to be an idol that can make everyone smile, so please rooting for me!”

MC: “Alright, that’s OK!”

Toya: “Ohh! As a top batter, you are doing pretty well!”

Yuhi: “Really.... Amazing…”

Subaru: “But it looks like he still continue, you know?”

Kureha: “My favorite subject is National Language, my weak subject is English. And then…”

Subaru: “Even though the recording is already over, he hasn’t stopped yet”

Kaito: “He is really an idiot”

Kureha: “My favorite food is mushroom, the food that i dislike is….”

Yoichi: “Kureha-san”

Kureha: “Y-yes!”

Yoichi: “Since the recording is already over, i think it’s okay even if you didn’t introduce yourself more than this”

Kureha: “Eh…. but, i got the feeling that no one said OK yet….”

Aoi: “Manager has said OK, you know”

MC: “I’m sorry. I should said it more louder”

Kureha: “Ah, it’s okay! I also sorry! I became too absorbed when talking and didn’t hear you properly”

MC: “Putting that aside, i’m glad we can know about Kureha-kun’s hobby and speciality in this video”

Yoichi: “Indeed, not only for advertisement for the people outside our club, this is also effective to deepen our friendship”

Subaru: “I never thought that Momiji-kun can do a magic trick~”

Toya: “Hey hey, even the easy one is okay! Please show it to us!”

Toma: “I also want to see it”

Kureha: “............”

Kureha: “HMM?”

Toya: “It’s not “Hmm?”. You are trying to dodge it by smiling, right?”

Kureha: “............”

Kureha: “HMM?”

Toya: “That somehow pissed me off”

MC: “C-come to think of it, Kureha-kun also cycling, right”

Kureha: “Ah, that’s right! As expected from manager, you paid attention to the good part one!”

Kureha: “The wind feels good when you ride a road bike, you know”

MC: “To think that you have a road bike… that’s really authentic”

Kureha: “At first it was a normal bike but, i wanted to ride a road bike as well so i saved my new year’s allowance and bought it!”

Toya: “...He ran away, huh”

Toma: “Indeed”

Aoi: “Indeed”

Subaru: “Indeed~”

Kureha: “I-i’m not running away! Doing a magic trick require various preparation so…”

Kaito: “You ran away”

Kureha: “Uugh, even Kaito too… Aren’t you my ally?”

Kaito: “Instead, what made you think that i would become your ally?”

Kureha: “sobs…. You are cold as usual…”

Kaito: “I’m going to change my clothes and going on a running soon”

Kureha: “Ah! Wait! I also want to go~!”

To the next stage...

calm guys. the feels attack hasn’t begin yet ww

[Next chapter]

#starry palette #hoshino kureha #translation #the feels attack begin at chapter 5 onwards #im not sure if im going to be okay when i reach that chapter *laugh nervously*#*preparing myself to cry for the second time*#スタパレ #スターリィパレット #sutapare

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tiramisiyu · 3 years

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【恋与制作人】 MLQC: Chapter 36 “The Battle of the End” Summary

Translation Masterlist

Summarized Chapters: [to be updated]

Spoiler alert: Please note that all content in this post is content that has not yet been released in the global server.

36-1

In a place with the “dial of the endpoint of time” and innumerable stars, Victor opens his eyes, seeing the planets rotate like usual

Victor hears footsteps pass by but ignores it, watching planets as they appear, then fall

Victor suddenly sees a faraway, shining one rise, and reacts, with the pocket watch clacking in his hand. Someone standing in the light is bowing to him

???: Are you returning now?

Victor: It’s almost time.

A glittering glass cup appears before him, but when he touches it, it shatters

The dial makes the first ticking sound it’s ever made; the time door starts activating

Victor passes by the dial hologram and walks to the end of the path

MC is walking amid white mist in a dream. There’s a massive dial turning and she hears footsteps accompanying a large figure

MC: You’ve returned?

>Though I knew I was in a dream, I wanted to see his face again.

But the figure vanishes in mist again, leaving a bell sound

36-3

MC wakes up at dawn to a bell sound, which seems to vanish after

There’s a melodious tune echoing; MC wonders where it’s coming from

There’s only a few tents in the plaza, when the plaza was filled last night

The bell sounds again; MC searches for the source of the music, which seems to be a tent

Right when MC plans to touch the tent to get in, it – and several other tents – deflate. There’s no one in the tent, only a machine with a flashing signal light that’s playing the music

Kiro suddenly appears, saying that he’s coming to deal with this

Kiro: This melody was published online by several hackers last night. When you listen to only this, it’s a tune with no significance, but when a bell rhythm is added to it, then it’s not that simple.

Kiro turns up the volume; MC hears a password, then sees “error” onscreen, followed by an accelerating countdown

Kiro hacks the countdown, stopping it, then stopping the music

A metal strip with a crystalline bell also comes out of the machine, and Kiro gives the ball to MC, which has “A” written on it

When MC touches the ball, she sees Black Queen on a throne, surrounded by people; when she listens to the ball, she hears Black Queen say “Here, witness my coronation and the restoration of this world…”

MC: The purpose of her coronation is to replace me, but why is it so sudden?

Kiro: I’m guessing that it’s because the plan was wrecked. Last night, she started using the hackers that had been controlled by the black cards to transmit the melody. They split up to different places and used different channels to transmit the sound of the bells, which can achieve her objectives within the shortest time.

MC: I get it. She wants to use this sound to tell those who have been controlled by the black cards about the coronation time and location.

MC notes that there must be multiple bells; Kiro says that he has already dealt with it all

MC asks to take the bell; Kiro agrees, calling it her admission ticket, then says that he’ll have to go get his admission ticket

Kiro: Miss Chips, I’m heading off now. See you later.

MC: Wait, Kiro, promise me that you’ll stay safe.

Kiro: Don’t worry. Didn’t you say before that I’m your all-capable superhero? There’s nothing that a superhero can’t do. You, though – you also have to be careful, got it? I will go find you very soon.

Kiro then heads off

36-5

MC goes into the BS building, thinking that “if everything started here, then it would also end here”, and heads up to the top floor

There, she sees a central throne surrounded by people, which MC blends into

Black Queen appears, declaring that the disasters will stop and they will all become normal people after this night

Black Queen also says that Black Swan will be here to witness the de-evolution, as the pioneers of Evol evolution

Helios walks out

Helios: Tonight, I will lead Black Swan to accept the de-evolution of the Queen. Black Swan has acknowledged that Evols have brought disaster. We have decided to stand behind the Queen and save humankind from danger together. Under the leadership of the Queen, everything will recover, and everyone will arrive at the endpoint of evolution. We usher in an eternal peace.

MC is very surprised by Helios’ words, realizing it’s Anole, not Kiro

Suddenly, Kiro appears

Kiro: Who allowed you to use that face to kneel to a counterfeit?

36-6

A dagger stabs fake Helios’ clothes in place

Kiro leads a line of people forward; Anole and the people attack, and Kiro puts the dagger at Anole’s neck, drawing blood

Kiro: You should be grateful that you’re an Evolver, and thus still have some worth.

Kiro: I command you – from now onwards, live using only your own face, and never appear in front of me again.

Anole reverts to his original face and jumps out a window

Black Queen: Whether something is real or fake – is that important? Helios, I welcome the joining of the real Black Swan. The Evol you all have given me will obtain the thanks of all humankind.

Kiro points the dagger at her, but Black Queen is unfazed

Black Queen: Would you really hurt me? You won’t. We all know that this world is almost at its end. You need the existence of a Queen, and I can bear this responsibility. To you, there is no difference between me or her. We have the same memories, and I remember all the past with you. In the future, we’ll also build a world of normal people, a world without conflict. Isn’t that good?

Kiro gradually lowers the dagger

Kiro: … Alright.

MC runs up, but Kiro signals to her, so MC attacks Black Queen with her white light power

But this does nothing the Black Queen, who attacks with a black ball; Kiro rushes to tackle her, putting the knife at her neck

Kiro: I command you, return all the power you have plundered.

36-7

Black Queen is unable to resist, and the black light in her hands enters her chest to de-evolve her powers

MC feels that her actions look like she’s acting, then notices that Kiro’s golden eyes are becoming blue – and then Black Queen attacks Kiro with a black whirlpool, to which MC counters with her white light

Black Queen backs up into the shadows

Kiro says that what happened with him just now was Evol waves, and her Evol can affect all Evolvers now

MC suggests giving chase to Black Queen; Kiro stops her, saying that she has to take the initiative to attack

Kiro hands a position locator to MC, linked to a chip Kiro just placed on Black Queen

Kiro carries MC on his back as MC deals with their attackers using her power, the two of them talking when the attackers are cleared

Kiro: I won’t leave you behind and go alone. So don’t worry.

MC: I won’t worry, because even if you go to another world, I will find you, just like how you found me.

Kiro: Those are your words. Although, I’ll only protect a world with you in it.

They arrive at a dark door; MC goes through it as Kiro fights off the crowd behind them, noting that before the end approaches, he had something more important to do

36-9

MC heads down the stairs, entering a coronation room that’s exactly like the one before

Black Queen signals the crowd to attack MC, as MC uses her power to defend, not daring to do anything bigger without knowing the situation

Black Queen: Did you really think your own power was enough to beat me? Unlike you, I’ve never waited for miracles. If only one Queen is to exist, that can only be me.

MC: Though I dislike this identity, I definitely won’t hand it over to you!

MC tries attacking Black Queen, but her power seems to have been swallowed when it nears her

Black Queen escapes; MC chases, but finds herself in an identical scene, again and again

MC notices that Black Queen might’ve set this up to expend MC’s stamina, and has been sucking up MC’s power to collect it

MC also notes that there’s something crystalline that’s been accumulating in Black Queen’s hand - a crown

MC strikes the crown before it lands on Black Queen’s head, then hears a resounding clock chime as she seems to see the dial of a clock tower split and hear the sounds of a violin and voices

Victor appears before her, pulling her into his arms as the crowd backs up

36-10

Black Queen: I didn’t think you really would return.

Victor: I thought you’d already learned when to shut up.

Black Queen: Noticed that she can’t beat me, so you returned to deal with me?

Victor: I won’t help her deal with you. You are her problem. As she is right now, she completely has the ability to deal with you.

Black Queen: Then I look forward to how she “deals with” me.

Black Queen vanishes again; MC attempts to pursue, but Victor says that she needs time to recover power

Victor holds the crown up to MC, asking why she broke it; MC says because the queen can only be her herself

When MC asks him where he was, Victor says he went to the Time Administration to deal with some issues, with only one very important thing left to deal with

Time starts to reverse at Victor’s command as they walk, restoring MC’s energy (to her surprise)

They arrive at the original location at the top of the building,

Victor: Have you thought about what to do?

MC: I’ll make this ritual end completely. She won’t have a chance to repeat this again, and I won’t give her the chance to hurt this world again. Every person can have the same or different views on every matter, and she does not have the right to control them.

Victor: In this world, I only acknowledge one Queen.

The crown scatters into pieces in Victor’s hands, as do the black cards in the hands of the crowd, who begin to regain their senses

36-12

MC walks up to the round platform, announcing that everyone can leave

MC: This ritual was just a deception, but de-evolution is real. It’s just that de-evolution will not bring anything good for the world. After you leave this place, you can choose to resist Evols, but I hope you will make a judgement after you have gained a full understanding on the matter.

MC: I don’t know if having Evols is a good or bad thing. But I’m happy to be an Evolver, that I have the power to protect those who are most important to me.

MC shatters the throne with her power

MC: The deception has ended, but our lives will still continue. After tonight, I hope to see you all being truly proud.

The crowd gradually leaves, including No. 93, who MC catches a glimpse of

MC walks off to face Black Queen as Victor waits for her

36-14

MC finds Black Queen looking at the little crown in her hand

MC: Why are you doing this?

Black Queen: Isn’t this what you want to do? You’re the one who can’t refuse the weakness and escapism in your heart. I want a world where Evolvers have been de-evolved – in essence, this is what you want. After experiencing enough pain, who wouldn’t want such a world… A world where everyone is normal, lives a stable life, where there are no Evolvers. And all they need to do for this is give up something little…

MC: It is precisely because I’ve experienced enough pain that I’ve given up such thoughts. I’ve persisted up till now, not to sacrifice anyone or anything in exchange for so-called typical stability. Instead, it’s because I hope to have the power to walk until the end.

Black Queen: Do you really think that?

MC: Yes.

Black Queen: If you are sure that these are your true thoughts, then try it. See if your persistence and so-called power can hold on until the end in desperate times.

MC reaches for the crown, and when she comes in contact with Black Queen, a feeling of darkness and despair rushes at her

She then sees the fusion of the two worldlines of light and dark, and destruction in Loveland City, then sees “him” –

36-16

At the end of the end, I saw him -

⊳ Victor Li Route

MC finds herself in darkness, her body in severe pain. Sensing someone get near, MC sticks out the knife in her hand on instinct and hears that person grunt in pain – it’s Victor

MC: Victor… why didn’t you dodge?

Victor: I won’t let you get hurt again.

Time stops as Victor pulls MC into his arms

Victor: Urk… don’t be scared. Don’t cry – perhaps this is the price that I should pay. So you were in this much pain back then.

MC desperately shakes her head

Victor: It seems like it has been a long time since I was with you in such quietude. A dummy like you is always running around, unable to stay by my side quietly. Having you listen to me really is the conundrum of the century.

MC: I won’t run around in the future…

Victor: But your promise is too late. MC, if this is our ending, are you scared?

MC: I’m not scared.

>I shook my head, and my tears fell in my mouth, with the taste of incomparable anguish.

MC: I’m always chasing your silhouette, and I’ve never been scared. Because I know that you will always be waiting for me there. Victor, if you really disappear… then I will accompany you to be forgotten by this world together.

Victor: Still such a dummy at the end. That’s also fine, I can’t be at ease if you’re alone… This time, I won’t leave again.

Victor’s voice becomes weaker and the knife falls, as MC no longer has the strength to hold it

The warmth surrounding MC vanishes as bits of light dissipate into air

MC collapses and closes her eyes

>Victor, we once stepped over innumerable timelines and futures and embraced each other. If everything will eventually obliterate time, we’ll disappear like dust into the wind. But luckily, we still have our final promise.

Before MC loses consciousness, she hears the sound of seconds ticking

⊳ Lucien Xu Route

MC is in a rainy place and witnesses a truck collide with the road guardrail

Suddenly, she is embraced as a sudden force knocks them over; MC sees that it’s Lucien, his eyes closed, his face pallid, not breathing at all

Lucien opens his eyes and reveals a faint smile

Lucien: Silly… were your scared?

MC: … No.

Lucien: Then why… do you look like you’re on the verge of tears?

>A simple sentence, yet it seemed like it took all his strength to speak each word. In the dark night, the fresh red blood pooled under his body, staining the rain on the ground wet, startling to behold.

MC: Be-because I…

>What answered me was a kiss that he dropped on my hair, gentle yet cold, staying like so for a while.

Lucien: Everything you want to say – I understand it all. So don’t be afraid. I will be with you… This is not an ending – instead, this is us, walking to the end. Don’t cry anymore, be good.

A light comes from Lucien’s palm, lighting up the raindrops around

>A warm light fell on my body, slowly dispelling all the anguish and unease in my heart. That familiar yet fierce feeling surrounded my heart again… like a silent confession.

Lucien: Now, it seems like I can finally embrace you without misgivings. MC, I like how you look when you smile. Promise me, alright?

>I replied with a sound, but I didn’t hear Lucien’s voice again. His hand on my back slid off, and the lights shrouding our bodies gradually became weak and dissipated. The breath on my head had nearly disappeared too. The frigid rain fell without stopping on our bodies, as the strength in my body drained out. The muddled sirens of ambulances, firetrucks, and police cars grew near, and I faintly glimpsed the light of dawn on the edge of the sky, and the shadow in my heart was also illuminated. I used my last sliver of strength to embrace him, and my eyes slowly closed.

>So it turns out, at the end, all memories related to you are dazzling and beautiful.

MC: Lucien… thank you.

⊳ Gavin Bai Route

MC finds herself in a burning room and calls Gavin’s name

Gavin appears before her, blowing away the fire near her, but this makes the fire grow bigger

Gavin holds MC in his arms, promising to take her away from here

Suddenly, the ceiling collapses, and Gavin only has time to pull MC to dodge

MC sees Gavin on the ground in pain, but his eyes still look comfortingly at MC as his wind weakens

Gavin stands up, moving bit by bit towards MC

>What hurt me more than facing death was seeing Gavin injured in front of me again. Perhaps this time was the end. After a few long minutes, he finally arrived by my side, raising a hand to wipe my tears. His fingertips brushed past my face, his movements gentle… just like wind. In an instant, my tears fell more fiercely.

Gavin: I’m sorry. I couldn’t save you and take you out of here.

>Amid the glimmer of tears, I saw his amber eyes shine in the sea of fire, like they had really become gems. I slowly moved my neck, wanting to shake my head to tell him that the one who should apologize is me. But the hot, smoky air had already taken all my ability to breathe and think, and a burning pain that gouged at my heart invaded my thoughts, leaving me unable to move again.

MC: I’m sorry, Gavin, I couldn’t do as I promised to you…

Gavin: You don’t need to apologize. MC, regardless of where, I will always be with you…

>His words sounded like a farewell.

>The intense fire finally reached my back, and my last breath was thus engulfed by fire. The leaping flames blurred my vision.

>Chaotic overlapping images of Gavin’s face appeared before me, and the fire climbed up his windbreaker. I reached out, wanting to grab onto something at the end.

>At the same time, he reached out, pressing lightly against the back of my fingers, as if making a silent promise to me.

MC: Here with you, this ending is already enough…

Gavin: Our ending will be a new beginning.

Something collapses again as MC closes her eyes

Gavin: Sleep. I’ll be with you for tonight’s dream…

⊳ Kiro Zhou Route

MC wakes in a surgery room, her vision blurry – as she wonders why she’s here, sudden pain makes her black out

Kiro: Since you were deprived of your Evol, I will return mine to you…

MC feels a power accumulating in her body, but dissipating at the same time; power melts into her blood, followed by more pain

Doctor: … A severe rejection phenomenon occurred… Experiment failure! Start final rescue measures…

MC can hear the sounds in the surgery room, but can’t hear Kiro

Suddenly, he holds her hand

Kiro: Don’t be afraid, I’m alright. Don’t be afraid.

>Not the slightest bit of panic or despair, comforting me just like normal.

Strength flows back into MC’s body, and she sees Kiro

Kiro: I’m sorry. The experiment wasn’t successful.

MC: That’s alright…

Kiro: I promised that I would do lots of things with you. It seems like I’ll have to break the promise.

>Strange – even in this moment, there wasn’t the slightest bit of gloom or frustration at me in his eyes. They were clear as a endless sky. As if he had long accepted this ending.

Kiro: Don’t be sad. You’re… the Miss Chips that I want to be happy forever. I’ve said before – I will always be with you. So MC, wait for me. I will find you very soon.

MC vision darkens as Kiro’s voice seems to get farther

Kiro: I have always been chasing the light. Finally…

MC blacks out, hearing nothing more

>I was still surrounded by the familiar aura, like all the times of pain and despair in the past. At least we can embrace each other at this end. Kiro, this time, we… finally did not miss out on each other again.

36-17

MC opens her eyes to the Black Cabin, seeing Black Queen standing in front of a door

A light releases itself from MC’s chest, and Black Queen closes the door before her, which then disappears

Black Queen: Do you truly feel that you can save the world?

MC: This world belongs to each life on it, not us.

Black Queen: Perhaps. Looks like I’ve lost this time. I hope you can always protect your beliefs – otherwise, shadows will eventually befall again behind you.

MC: But shadows will never affect the light.

MC illuminates the Black Cabin, and Black Queen begins to look blurred. MC tries to reach out to her, but only feels nothingness

Black Queen: Regardless if time goes back or forwards, doomsday approaches. He recorded this a long time ago…

Black Queen’s voice fades as light fills the space

MC wakes at home in front of her mirror, realizing that it’s just like the first time she met Black Queen

MC says goodbye to Black Queen, noting that this world will only have “this” version of her now

MC sees a little crown on the table, as if indicating that everything she just experienced was real, and places it in the drawer

Anna calls, telling MC to check the news – it’s about how Loveland is starting rescue projects against the unusual disasters, led by STF, Ultima Bioresearch, LFG; KEY will also be helping, as well as Black Swan leader Helios

MC suddenly experiences an earthquake, and rushes out to see a crevice in the ground – the natural disasters haven’t stopped

The news ends by saying that this plan is called the “New World Project”

A blue-eyed man walks up to a door, from which a mechanical voice says, “Please enter the New World Project clearance password.”

The man enters “For My Queen”

#mlqc #mr love queen's choice #mr love victor #mr love lucien #mr love kiro #mr love gavin #mlqc translation #love and producer #it's the angst filled chapter

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snkpolls · 4 years

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SnK Chapter 130 Results

The chapter poll closed with 1775 responses. This month’s poll results were brought to you by u/staraves, Crunchwrap, Luna, Momtaku and Giovata! Thank you to everyone for your support!

RATE THE CHAPTER

Maybe it was finally getting Eren’s POV, or maybe it was finally seeing the rumbling in nine glorious double page spreads. Either way “Dawn for Humanity” was very well received with close to 70% giving it the highest possible rating, marking this the most acclaimed chapter since chapter 123.

Beautifully drawn and written. I like the teasing of Eren's PoV

Good to see some Eren and Historia (finally!!) but the lack of answers is really hurting my heart, cmon yama!!

Epic chapter, amazing artwork. And astonishingly, with 5-6-7 chapters left i still don't know where this is going.

Definitely in my top ten best chapters. The ending was gloriously horrifying to read. Also, we finally got some Historia content, which is a big plus.

Cool as hell chapter.

I feel like this chapter wasn’t that great. It kind of gave way to more speculation without giving many concrete answers. The things that it DID answer felt like stating the obvious.

Tease me more, daddy Isayama

This chapter most likely is the best i've ever seen. So many answers and sooo many questions left behind. This chapter directs us to think about the previous chapters and obviously ISAYAMA'S THOUGHTS. That thing makes me happy. I'm very grateful.

Death is on its way, ladies and gents. Also the end is almost here. What the fuck is going on? I just want some answers about E V E R Y T H I N G (especially about Eren's psyche).

Is there a singular word for the feeling of a mosquito bite?

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT?

“The revelation of Eren’s freaky final boss form” was our favorite moment (22.7%) followed by “Eren’s POV finally! Sort of?” (15.8%) and “The rumbling! At last!” (13.4%). “Historia and Eren’s tense discussion on the farm” came in fourth (11.6%).

Fuck yes! Erens back!

Our Queen has finally returned!

The whole chapter was building up to the reveal of Eren's titan form, and I enjoyed it.

Finally back at our one and only true hero Eren.

SWIMMER TITANS ARE NOW THE GOLD MEDALIST FOR THE SWIMMING CATEGORY IN OLYMPICS 2020 special edition

FINNALY HISU POV, even if it’s just a flashback. Honestly I’m just happy to see her again, becuase she’s my favorite character, and even if the flashback gives more questions than answers.

loved zeke-eren bro talk

everyone who thought that Floch was lying in charter 125 are 🤡🤡🤡

reiner tiddies

WHO WAS THIS CHAPTER'S MVP?

“The colossal synchronized swim team” made an impressive showing (28.5%) but their majestic moves across the ocean were not enough to topple Eren (53.6%) for chapter MVP. Historia (8.1%), Zeke (5%), and Annie (3.5%) also received some love.

EREN IS THE GOAT

Eren is the worst boy in the world.

EREN JAEGER GENOCIDAL MANIAC

I really missed Historia, so it was nice to see her.

can the rumbling start a synchronized aquatic dance?

WHAT DOES THE CHAPTER TITLE "DAWN FOR HUMANITY" REFER TO?

I thought of it as some sort of "End of the world" titling.

Dunno; but it doesn't really work if the rest of the world gets rumbled, does it?

I want to see the japanese title to decide

Eren wants to kill “animals” to give a new life to “humanity”

A dawn, or a beginning of a new day, has arrived. Whether this new day is a good or a bad one for humanity, we do not yet know. Everything is still possible, but once this day is over, the world as we know it is no longer here, for better or worse.

A new age for humanity is incoming. The story will end as a tragedy with Eren achieving his goal.

Dawn means the start of the day. So I think the start of the rumbling will be the start of humanity for this world. I think we started to see this with the world fleet being there to try stop eren. I believe every country is helping people flee regardless of race. Maybe I'm just too idealistic.

Ce chapitre fait reference au fait qu’eren est pret a tout pour sauver ses amis

Eren will achieve his goal (end the cycle of hatred)

Hope for humanity outside the walls. Dawn for me is something like hope, even if today was a bad day, tomorrow, after dawn, things might get better. Maybe the Warriors-Paradis alliance will somehow reach Eren and stop the Rumbling?

dunno but got the vibes of ‘it’s darkest before the dawn’ might be a tip for a change coming

Eren has now officially started eradicating the world and also it's dark ideas against people on paradise and conquering freedom for his people and that is why this moment onwards is "the dawn of humanity "

Dawn for Eldians to be exact. Dusk for Marleyans.

Finally defeating Eren, ending the curse of Ymir and freeing everyone from the shadow of Titan powers.

Dawn of Terror? Dawn of "What The FUCK Is That??" Dawning that the remaining places of humanity are to be trampled?

It could refer to a ""dawn"" for the alliance, who intend for neither side of the conflict to be eradicated, as they believe everyone is part of ""humanity"". Despite their deliberation at the beginning of the chapter, the fact that they're finally setting sail to stop Eren is testament that they've not lost their hope in the pursuit of this ideal, hence they can be interpreted to be the ""dawn"".

Eldians in Paradis Island being free from the wrath of outsiders and being avenged

I think it refers to a new beginning a new start for the eldians living on the island or it can be used as an ironic way that the humanity outside the walls is going to end so it's complete destruction hence the beginning of the new cycle

The Rumbling & Historia's child, humanity's destruction and its rebirth

Continuation of "End's Eve" as this is the dawn of the day where humanity fights for its continued existence

"Dawn" refers to Humanity's realisation of many things. Eg: how Eldia is not a weak nation, how the Rumbling wasn't a lie, how people are people and they are all the same - wanting to live and shedding the same blood no matter what nationality they have. "Humanity" refers to those still alive and realizing these things.

Dawn of the final day - 24 hours remain

WHAT ARE THE FUTURE IMPLICATIONS OF ANNIE DECIDING SHE'S TIRED OF FIGHTING AND NO LONGER WANTS TO STOP EREN?

Despite learning that her hometown is doomed, just over half of respondents feel confident Annie will stay the course and continue to work with the alliance. Among the rest of responses, 27.4% think this will trigger Annie’s exodus, selecting “Annie will leave the alliance and try to be with her father,” 16.9% believe this will cause Annie to do something stupid resulting in her death, and lastly 4% of the fandom believe this bad news will trigger Annie’s homicidal instincts causing her to switch sides and join Eren.

Annie saying she didn't want to have to be prepared to fight mikasa, Connie, armin, jean, Reiner and eren again made me feel sad for her ;-;

I just wanna say that it wouldn't make any sense for Isayana to bring Annie back and then write her out so it's obvious she will continue in the alliance lol (but I don't really agree with any of the options offered, I think she will decide by herself to stay)

Poor Annie's breakdown made me feel terrible for her. I still think she wants to leave but I think there are chances of the Warriors and/or Armin convincing her to stay and fight. As one of the nine shifters, she kinda has the responsibility to fight, even if she doesn't want to, and I get completely why she doesn't want to, poor thing. I have a sneaky suspicion that she might choose Porco's way out and we might yet see a new holder of the Female Titan power. :(

WHAT WILL BE THE FATES OF THE ELDIANS IN LIBERIO, SPECIFICALLY THE WARRIORS' FAMILIES?

When asked about the residents of Liberio and the fate of the Warriors’ families, a combined 58% believe that they are alive for the moment selecting that they were evacuated (39.3%) or else managed to escape (18.4%). Close to 30% aren’t so optimistic, believing Liberio is flattened and they are dead. We also had plenty of write in responses:

They are going to die, but I can see Annie meeting her father and die together in each others arm by the rumbling. It's sad I know, but it would be a fitting end for both of them :(

They are probably arrive. Either they overcame the Marleyan authorities that tried to surpress, or The Rumbling avoided Liberio entirely. I just doubt they would kill off Mr. Leonhardt offscreen.

They may have started to fight the Marleyans and then ended up flattened by the titans since they didn't escape earlier.

They took a ship to the south and we will meet them including Reiner's family and Mr. Leonhart.

Am I supposed to feel sorry for these people? I don't. The Warriors don't deserve happy endings for everything they have done.

Bands of survivors have made it out but Annie will meet her dad when he is dead or dying

some died while revolting, some are alive, annie's dad is wounded

They're currently fineish because Eren didn't go where Hange was expecting, hence why all their estimations have been off

I mean, they must be alive somehow. It seemed that there were only soldiers in Liberio and the others evacuated so I'm hopeful that at least Annie's father survived

I want to have hope ;-;

I just want Annie to see her father again, and for Reiner to get what he wants.

What if the city Eren attacked isn't Liberio? I feel like it's too important to be flattened just like that (thematical resonance + too many side-characters like Eren's own grandfather are there) and we're being misled about the place Eren is attacking.

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT HISTORIA'S STANCE ON THE RUMBLING?

Many of us had expectations about Historia going into this chapter. Her initially disagreeing outright with the rumbling but seemingly giving in was a surprise to 8.4% who thought she would have been all for it all along, and 19.9% who never expected her to agree with it at all. 6.4% of you expected her to do the opposite of what is implied, with agreeing at first but changing her mind in the conversation, while 23.3% reported expecting the exact turn of events. However, a huge 41.5% of you aren’t taking everything at face value and do not believe Historia does or has ever supported the rumbling.

DO YOU BELIEVE EREN IS THE FATHER?

After almost 2 years of the fandom fighting over the identity of Historia’s baby daddy, this chapter has finally definitively proven that… we still know nothing. Nonetheless, the narrowly winning belief (37%) is that Eren is the father, closely followed by those who believe he is not the father (34.4%). Some are unsure what to make of the situation (18.2%), and some of you don’t care enough to speculate (10.4%).

there is a TON of hints, him being the father makes prefect sense.

i will bet on my freedom that eren is the father

Historia x Eren ftw!

Eren being the father would be the most meaningful for both the story, as well as for Eren and Historia and their chemistry together if you ask me, though I can accept otherwise.

Whoever disagrees eren is the father doesn't read the manga seriously

I have not any positive thoughts about Eren-Historia's flashback. Just pain, I feel pain for her. I don't get the point to destroy her character like that.

I really hope Eren isn’t the father — it just doesn’t seem right.

I don't believe Eren is the father since it will contradict what he said to Zeke: "I'm only left with 4 years"

Sorry shippers, I don't think we'll ever get a straight answer about who's the father. But I kinda prefer it that way, because then we'll each get to decide what we thinks is correct.

IF YOU DONT STOP THIS I WANNA MAKE BABIES WITH YOU

Still don't care about who's the father

Who is the father?

HOW HAVE YOUR FEELINGS ON THIS CHANGED DUE TO THIS CHAPTER?

35% went into the chapter thinking Eren was not the father and 30% believing he was, with this chapter doing nothing to change their minds. For those who were affected, this chapter influenced 14.2% to join the team #DaddyEren and 5.6% to burn their membership card. The remaining 15% don’t care enough to speculate.

If Eren is the father, I think it's possible Historia wanted his baby to keep a part of him with her after the rumbling is over, or perhaps it was an attempt to make him want to come back when he's done or even not commit genocide.

why does everyone keep saying Eren is the Father confirmed? There is literally no evidence to support that, and it actually contradicts Erens statement when Zeke discusses Mikasas feelings towards him.

I just want Eren to be the father

Historia's pregnancy smacks of her own plan but I'm not sure Eren is on board with it.

I want confirmation on the father cause if it's not eren ima be pissed off

don't care who the father is, whole world is ending.

I can't stand the mystery surrounding Historia's pregnancy anymore, this is worse than serum bowl.

WHO THE FUCK IS THE FATHER

SO THEN WHAT'S THE REAL DEAL WITH HISTORIA'S PREGNANCY?

“What’s the deal with Historia’s pregnancy?” Jerry Seinfeld asks. But we cannot answer – we can only sustain ourselves on memes and ship wars. Despite Eren and Historia’s somewhat uneasy conversation, a solid third of you are still pretty sure that Eren is the baby’s father. A little over a fifth of you think she did the dirty with Farmer-kun instead. And another fifth is convinced something else is going on (watermelon baby?), but aren’t sure what. Some of you scream to the sky, sick of all the drama. And a few of you wouldn’t rule out a baby created through PATHS. It might be Ymir’s doing! No, not that Ymir. THAT Ymir.

Historia is playing 5d chess I just know it. I just don't know how yet

Why'd Historia act like that if Eren wasn't the father?

ymir is the father

Eren has to be the father for the good dev of eren & historia characters

I really hope the pregnancy thing is just a red herring, but it wouldn't be the first-time Isayama appealed to fan-service if not.

If I see more speculation on whether Eren is the father I'm gonna puke. I mean how about focus on the real story? Like how the world is about to be destroyed??

We need more Historia. We literally need her POV for the story to make sense right now. I can't believe that with ""5% of the plot"" left Isayama is *still* pulling this all this time? There *has* to be more.

I always knew Mikasa was the father

WHY DO YOU THINK HISTORIA IS PROPOSING A PREGNANCY?

Despite a majority of respondents believing the pregnancy is authentic, there is no consensus as to why Historia would propose it. The most popular answer when asked was “I don’t know” (32.2%). The remainder of the fandom is split between Historia proposing the pregnancy in support of Eren (23.1%), as part of an alternative plan (21%) or as an act of defiance against Eren (17.6%). Only a small percentage (6.1%) believe she actually wants a child.

What the hell is the pregnancy for? It doesnt make any sense for Historia to suggest that all of a sudden

How did getting eren and historia's conversation make things more confusing😔Like what went through historia's mind when she thought of having a baby i-

What if the "what if I have a child" scene with Historia actually happened EARLIER than the rest of the conversation? It would explain why they switched places, and if Eren really is the father, would explain why he feels he has such a say in Historia's child's future ("even if you agree, I don't" ) , and why when he spoke about the MPs he said "WE have two options: fight or run". It would also give him a motivation to oppose his friends, since they are trying to stop him.

I don't see his conversation with Historia in romantic light. She was scared of him and Eren was trying to manipulate her with her own words about being ""the worst girl on the world"". We still miss some important parts of their conversation, but if she agreed to help him because he reminded her how ""the worst girl"" she was, then I would be very disappointed. I saw her as strong woman and I hope she will not turn to be a mild sheep who isn't brave enough to follow Ymir's wish and ""live her life with pride"" (or ""live sticking her chest out"").

I have no idea for which purpose Historia want to become pregnant, but I'm glad that I was right that she decide it for herself and doesn't get forced at all!

Historia has a trick up her sleeve and I can't wait to see what it is.

WE LEARNED WHAT ZEKE REALLY TOLD EREN ABOUT THE ACKERBOND. ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH EVERYTHING WE HAVE LEARNED ABOUT THE ACKERMAN CLAN?

75% of the fandom wants more resolution to the Ackermysteries with 38.4% wanting MOAR and 32.3% wanting at least a little more. Only 22.3% are satisfied with the ackercrumbs we’ve been tossed and 7% have no opinion.

love guru zook

ackerman bond means LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!! sweet for all ackerman related shippers ohhhh

I'm satisfied to see yet another example of people trying to pin eren's BS onto zeke (with the ackerman theories) be proven completely wrong

Mikasa's charachter wouldve been a lot more interesting if her ackerman genes had an effect on her decision making and her trying to overcome them would be a lot more intriguing to see. Instead it turned out to be some lovey dovey pancake bullshit. I mean what would Zeke even know about Mikasa??

WHAT IS UP WITH HISTORIAS PREGNANCY AND ACKERMANS BLOOD AHHHHH

I think the fact that the Ackermans can access the Paths without being shifters is going to be super relevant. My pet theory is that Mikasa will be able to cross into the Paths dimension to kill Eren and truly free Ymir Fritz, but let's see how that goes.

HOW ACCURATE WAS ZEKE'S ASSESSMENT OF MIKASA'S FEELINGS TOWARD EREN?

One of the few areas of agreement in this chapter was with Zeke’s assessment of Mikasa’s feelings towards Eren. Close to 80% think that despite having never met Mikasa in person, Zeke correctly understands that Mikasa’s concern for Eren has little to do with genetics and everything to do with reasons of the heart. However, the majority of people who took the option of writing in their answer cited both as a factor in Mikasa’s bond.

Eren, when your sadistic and bloodthirsty big bro can see how much Mikasa loves you, you probably should take it seriously lol

Zeke. Is. Big. Bro

He's a lying liar who lies.

usually when panels sway to the right, they are true, so I believe this is the case.

Did anybody honestly not already know this? We learned nothing new from this as far as I'm concerned.

Mikasa really cares for Eren but the Ackerman genes amplify her love for him.

Everybody's emotional attachments have some basis in biology. It doesn't make them any less real or meaningful

we learn Zeke ships eremika 🤔unexpected but naice

The ackerman blood does boost her physical abilities but i believe it doesn't affect her mentally (she probably has ptsd and seperation anxiety)

What is between Eren and Mikasa?There is something we still Dont know.I wish for more Mikasa....

I think the bond itself is clearly related to her trauma but the intensity of it probably has more to do with her Ackerman genes

Both ? Even tho Ackerman genes could have a big part in it

I think Mikasa loves Eren but it's not JUST romantic or JUST familial.

Her devotion is strong on its own- but her Ackerman abilities definitely have played a role in her saving his ass all these years.

Very accurate, he is Love Master Zook.

Only a fool believe that shit regarding Ackerman bonds and so on. [...] The hate speech I believe is some kind of Eren pathetic attempt to release her of her feelings towards himself, just in case the worst scenario is coming up in not too far future.

The Ackerman instincts amplified her love towards Eren.

Zeke was right [...] As much as Mikasa being ready to snap titans necks in two for Eren is due to her love for him, Eren being willing to go through with a world genocide to prevent Historia's sacrifice definitely results from his love for her.

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT THE PLACEMENT OF FLASHBACKS DURING THIS CHAPTER?

The majority of the fandom really enjoyed the inception-like flashbacks, but 1/5th just found it confusing as all hell. A sixth of the fandom is just fed up with Isayama blue-balling us. We’ve been in this relationship 10+ years, Yams, it’s time for you to give it up!

Loved the interwoven flashbacks, and made sense considering a lot of the "unknown" conversations(Eren with Yelena, Floch, Historia....) all tie into each other. Made sense to them like this, and plus there is still some mystery from his talk with Historia.

E-H convo should've been shown months ago; now is not the time for flashbacks.

Just Yams trolling the shippers

The confusing flashbacks also reflect Eren's state of mind. The placement was well done.

I don't mind it, but i feel Isayama was, to a certain degree, struggling to work all of this information organically into the story, so he was forced to choose this flashback method to get it out there.

The juxtaposition is very purposeful, while I don’t necessarily like what it implies, it is indeed impactful.

The way the flashbacks were placed would look amazing in the anime, but in manga format it looks a lot more confusing!

People might say this is Isayama being mysterious and showing us everything but revealing nothing as he always does, and yeah and if this was 10 chapters ago I might see that as a positive, but this late into the series it feels like it was just a waste of a chapter.

They were good because they connected with each-other; though I had to reread the chapter several times to distinguish who was talking because it flipped so much.

These kinds of chapters are slightly annoying in the moment, but are more than worth it in the long run.

The Historia flashbacks are confusing af

WHAT IS THE MEANING BEHIND EREN IMPLYING HE "WANTED THIS", REGARDING THE FUTURE OF THE RUMBLING?

Continuing Eren’s ongoing theme of the question of free will and determinism, this chapter presented us with the possibility that Eren wanted everything that has happened from the start. Depending on your interpretation, of course. The majority of respondents to this question (54.7%) believe that Eren has been convincing himself there was no other possible future due to seeing said future play out in front of his very eyes, and 17.1% somewhat similarly believe Eren did not want this in the conventional sense, and he is an unreliable narrator. A smaller 12% believe this is confirmation that Eren’s vengeful nature caused this, closely followed by 9.5% of you who just think he is a lunatic.

Despite him talking as if this future was fated to happen he still seems aware enough that his own decisions still led to this outcome. From his perspective all of this was meant to happen because he already saw his future memories, but he doesnt deny that the path he took was still by his own will.

Eren said from the start he would, "destroy them all." He hated being a slave. I think he *does want this. He wants whatever will guarantee freedom.

Both future can't be changed AND Eren is a fucking lunatic

Even if the future could be changed Eren preferred the full rumbling

He literally had no option from the very beginning , his actions is definitely justified .

it's probably all the attack titan's will, not his.

he's trying to fool himself into thinking he never changed

Eren has accepted that the future cannot be changed, and has realized that the unchangeable future is the future that he has always wanted

Eren is so close-minded & immature

I've given up trying to understand Eren's logic. It's just too bizarre. I will wait until the story is finished to form any opinion about him.

Eren was bored in his original universe and wanted humanity to have a threat so he made the aot universe via Ymir and became that threat himself.

Even if a significant part of Eren wants to eradicate his enemies out of rage/revenge, really deep down it’s been shown he wishes there was another solution but right now he doesn’t want to admit he’s surrendered to his destiny. So Isayama’s going to come back to this by having Eren admit to himself he isn’t really free/this isn't what he wants, which will be the culmination of his character arc (what will he do then?…).

Eren kinda forgot about the mothers

THIS BURST OF PANELS SHOWS A VARIETY OF SCENES FROM EREN'S POV, BUT SOME SCENES APPEAR TO BE FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE OR ENTIRELY NEW SCENES. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Nearly 45% of the people who voted, thought it was a deus ex machina move from Founding Titan by Proxy, which granted Eren a glimpse at all Eldians’ memories. Almost a third think that Eren was actually able to control their memories. 14% of all voters are just “wtf…? I dunno” at all the Pathsnanigans.

I don't know and I don't like it. Hope it isn't another pathsfuckery while all I want in life is KRUEGER'S POV.

Eren's path shit also implies the story has always been bending to that moment too. From the pigs, to even Dina from that Bert shard. If it's ever revealed he orchestrated Carla's death to stimulate Grisha and Eren's hatred, the whole demonisation of RBA gets turned on his head.

I don't like the idea that Eren controlled the Smiling Titan but it's starting to feel more and more likely...

The second one except it WILL come up again cause it’s fucking Isayama like tf do you expect lmao

The new POV scenes are definitely intentional but I hope the explanation isn't some magical PATHS stuff where he orchestrated characters (like Dina's) actions or is suddenly an all-seeing almighty being. Grisha was enough pls.

DUDE, THIS MEANS THAT BIRD HAS P A T H S!

dumb answer choice

FT/Ymir lets Eren see the memories of all Eldians. It will come up again. I don't get some of the angles/perspectives though.

It's possible some of these things haven't happened yet, or that Eren has access to the memories of more shifters somehow. For example, Berthold might be a memory Annie or Reiner have and Eren will receive if he eats one of them while they try to stop him.

I have absolutely no idea what the deal is with the Falco and Bertolt memories but I'm sure they're not inconsistency errors considering the care that went into showing that the Mikasa/Grisha/Levi etc. panels are clearly from Eren's POV. I expect answers really soon (and no, I do not think he controlled Dina’s titan to kill Carla, that would be pure character assassination). Hange's panel looks like it's from the future, as well as Mikasa's unfamous 'see you later'. The geese are also interesting but I have no mindblowing theories about them unfortunately..

Excited to see from where Hange without glasses memories from though.

Eren is the air, the trees, the birbs, everything

Marcel is more like to come back from the dead before I ever understand half the shit inside Eren’s head.

If Eren somehow got his mother killed that'll be the ultimate bruh moment

THIS CHAPTER SHOWED US ANOTHER MEMORY OF FEZ-KUN, FINDING HIMSELF IN TROUBLE AGAIN. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE MEANING BEHIND HIS HIDDEN STORY?

The mystery of the Fez persists once again, with this being the tenth chapter since he was first shown. Though by a small margin, the consensus is that the purpose of his story is to reaffirm Eren’s determination to wipe out the world at 44.8%, with 33.4% of respondents believing he will be a tie to Eren’s compassion and remorse for what he is doing, and 17.1% believing it highlights Eren’s inherent hypocrisy for caring for him even though he will die by his actions later. Many write-in options expressed confusion at who this kid is.

Eren believes that suffering and oppression of minorities will never end just by small acts of kindness and simular "passive" acts, like what Levi did, it does not provide a long term solution or prevent Fez-kun'sfrom furder torments, which is why Eren feels like the extreme solution of the rumbling is his only option

Eren gave a mission to Fez-kun

Eren using another kid to get his way without caring about his life. What else is new.

He's the "even someone on the street" part of Kruger's advice to love someone to break the cycle of tragedy.

He’s showing that little boy he has to fight to survive, like he did with Mikasa when they were kids.

I think he found himself in trouble again (he looks to be bruised on the cheek in 120) and Eren will come to his rescue. However I think Eren will not just save him by beating up or killing the Marleyans, but inspiring the Fez kid to take action and "fight" just like he did with Mikasa. This arc has had a lot of focus on the almost inhumane level of violence Eren showed as a kid when killing those kidnappers, so I can see that being for the purpose of a direct parallel where Eren pressured the kid with the fez to stand up for himself.

I think Eren saved Fez-kun of those guys, but then he will kill him later, showing his own hypocrisy (those guys can't do bad to a child but I can).

I expect his shard(s) to contrast the other previously unknown panel from 120: Historia’s shard was revealed to be yet another instance of Eren manipulating a friend by putting his desires above her own, thus robbing her of her free-will. I hope that Fez-kun symbolizes the "beauty in a cruel world"

It show that Eren just have an other plan and not just kill everyone for no reason???? Lest not be that blind :) what esle u want to understund thats an option too? you want isayama to told u?

maybe eren intends for some people to escape when he announced the rumbling which allows people to prepare themselves, idk.

Eren will save their family and he told Fez to lead his family to a certain location that the rumbling won't reach?

What are all these crappy options? He represents Eren’s journey to changing his viewpoint about everyone being an enemy, as he told Reiner.

Just thought he was part of the collage of events, no further meaning.

Who’s Fez-kun

SWIMMING TITANS?

88% of you welcome your Swimming Titan overlords, but 12% aren’t so convinced - there’s a pretty even chance it’s because the image is just too absurd, too terrifying, or a pants-wetting combination of both.

SWIMMING TITANS

swimming titans

Seeing those colossal titans was crazy

The panel of the titan swimming underneath that ship haunts me in my dreams.

HELL YEAH FUCKING SWIMMING TITANS

WHEN THE MILITARY SIGHTS ERENSAURUS AT THE END, RATHER THAN CALLING IT THE FOUNDING TITAN OR EREN JAEGER, THEY RECOGNISE IT AS THE ATTACK TITAN. WHY?

Despite the threat of Eren Jaeger previously being referred to by name or as “the Founding Titan”, this chapter encapsulated the horror of the allied forces as they recognised it as the Attack Titan. The plurality (40.3%) is that this was just for the purpose of Isayama being able to drop a “Shingeki no Kyojin” in this climactic chapter, though a close second option (34%) is that there is historical information to distinguish the Attack Titan from the others. 15.2% of you believe the Attack Titan is the Titan Bogeyman for Marleyans, and 10.4% attribute the naming to the fact that it’s attacking them, duh.

I think the Maryleans/World Forces knew it was the Attack Titan bc of the Eldians in Marley (like Annie's dad) warning them ahead of time. I think once they realized The Rumbling was happening, they asked for more deets from the folks who heard Eren's message in the Path's Realm.

I wonder why the rest of the world was only using Mikasa ships instead of various ships lol

IT CAN'T BE STOPPED ANYMORE

NOW THAT WE FINALLY GOT TO SEE EREN'S SPINE-CHILLING (BADUM-TSS) FORM, WHAT DID YOU THINK?

This manga has turned into a horror show, and y’all seem to be loving it, according to over fifty percent. Thirty percent are aghast at the sight before them, and nearly a tenth of you don’t really know what to think of the Grim Reaper titan yet. Some of you wanted something more fully formed, but this creepy crawly is freaky enough, isn’t it? Let’s just be glad none of us live in Marley right now.

My jaw dropped when I saw Eren’s titan form. Horrific.

I love Erensaurus a lot. This chapter gave the same level of anxiety that Zeke's attack in Shiganshina gave me. Good

YEAH EREN IS SCARY AS FUCK I LOVE IT MORE FREEDOM MORE FREEDOM MORE FREEDOM

Eren's titan looks a little like the earth devil

Did Eren pick the design of his new Titan or did Ymir just give it to him?

Really interested in where it is going especially because Eren's Titan got lips which could be an indicator for it to have the ability to speak

Eren’s Founding Titan form looks like something out of Silent Hill

I'm not saying anything about Eren's titan. What even the actual fuck, Yams

Oh lawd he comin

WHY IS EREN'S CURRENT TITAN FORM A SKELETON WITH NO FLESH?

Eren is looking awfully spooky right now. That’s a good sign, isn’t it? I guess looking like a death metal album cover is better than looking like whatever Rod Reiss was supposed to be. 34.9% figure that as this is probably the largest titan ever, it’s just too big for flesh. It’s not like PATHS sand is infinite, after all. 34.6% think that the form is incomplete because of the missing titan powers; this is only a third of his potential scariness! 23% think there’s no real reason he looks like this. Not an in-story reason anyway. Finally, 7.6% think Eren is still not done forming this devilish beast.

Eren's upper skeleton body thing looks like wings of freedom...

The reason Eren's body was like this, if he was muscular, he would radiate a lot of heat, so the Allience's couldn't reach him. But now, no muscle, no heat. They can reach easily.

Eren's form is creepy as hell! I also think he might be dead/dying/the titan now.

Seriously, how the fuck does Eren's Titan move?

When a shifter generates a titan body, they need to have a special task or purpose in mind. Is Eren's titan meant to be a bridge between Paradis Island and the continent?

WHAT IS ISAYAMA TRYING TO SAY WITH THE PUPPET-LIKE MOTIF OF EREN'S TITAN?

Many have noticed the puppet-like strings connecting Eren’s torso and head to his stegosaurus spikes in the final panel (though not in the first shot we get of Eren -- we’ll just ignore that), but what does it mean? Him being a slave to himself (38%) just edged out him being a slave to fate (36.7%), with a slim minority (3.3%) believing Ymir could be the true puppeteer. Of course, there are the 21.9% of you who are remaining steadfast in the belief that Eren is NOT a slave, he is FREE.

He is a slave to the future memories and instead of trying to find a different way, he is convincing himself that this is what he wants from the start to compensate for how little freedom he has.

He's trying to justify to himself that he isn't a slave

Eren is a slave to that sweet sweet feeling of self-righteous rage.

Ymir might be acting through Eren.

I think eren has become a vessel for ymir and it's ymirs will that we're hearing.

WHERE IS EREN'S HUMAN BODY MOST LIKELY RESIDING?

The results for this are a mixed bag, with the three most popular answers extremely close in votes. It’s most agreed upon (29.1%) that Eren has no human form, and has merged with the Titan on some level, with a close second (28.8%) being him being separated from the Titan but not in the conventional sense, and using the Warhammer Titan power to operate it from the ocean. 27.9% of you believe he is in the standard position of the nape, and only 14.2% of you believe the head of the Attack Titan could be his true location.

So, does Eren now only have his head left or was he fully healed thanks to Ymir?

where is Eren (No,not his titan)? There is no nape on that thing, just bone

I NEED TO KNOW HOW EREN IS TRANSPORTING HIMSELF

THE CHAPTER ENDS WITH CHILD EREN'S DETERMINATION TO "DESTROY THEM" OVERLAPPING WITH ADULT EREN COMMANDING THE RUMBLING. WHICH STATEMENT IS THE MOST ACCURATE REGARDING THIS COMPARISON?

This curious panelling choice ends the chapter, giving us a peek at Eren’s inner monologue – but in true Isayama fashion it’s not clear exactly what it means. 45.6% believe it shows that Eren hasn’t fundamentally changed the way he views the world, his will and titan powers giving him the means to influence it. 26.4% think it’s a reminder of Eren’s tragic tendency to believe that peace cannot exist without the complete elimination of an opposing force. 16.8% think it demonstrates Eren’s willing or unwilling continuation of the cycle of hatred and revenge. Finally, 9.1% think there’s a hint here that Eren’s childhood self was cursed with thoughts from his future mind.

ALL OF THE ABOVE

All of the above, minus the P A T H S.

I hate eren do the same thing as what he had been through

It's Eren's tendency to lose himself to the desire for vengeance, which in the mange is always depicted as leading to a catastrophe in the end.

His childhood trauma comes back to him when he sees a loved one die / about to die and feels the powerlessness of having been unable to do anything because of being weak. Then pain and anger return for this reason

It's a parallel showing his determination to fight back against those who would deny he and his comrades their freedom.

It is once again Eren reassuring himself he's doing what's right, by telling himself that the cycle of hatred is what's causing this and that he needs to break it

The thoughts are child Eren, simply overlapping with the current situation. It may not be adult Eren’s thoughts.

THIS BITCH CRAZY.

I just want to say that the history is repeating its self . What we thought it was the past it's actually the future

He is using this memory of his mother being eaten to motivate himself, like a main drive. It's not the first time. Anger/Rage was always the main drive that he used to keep fighting/seeking for freedom

This is already similar to some of the options presented, but I like the idea that this is showing deep down he is driven by his childlike rage, and as much as he tries to convince himself it's for his friends, he really just wants to revel in violence because he's broken and he thinks wiping everyone out is the only way he will be at peace.

THIS CHAPTER ALSO PRESENTED US WITH TWO ALMOST DICHOTOMIC MOTIVATIONS FOR EREN, BETWEEN LOVE FOR HIS FRIENDS AND HATE FOR THE ENEMY, BUT WHICH DO YOU BELIEVE IS THE STRONGER DRIVING FORCE?

The two most powerful and conflicting emotions driving Eren right now have the fanbase somewhat split over what pushes him further. It seems that most are optimistic about Eren’s prime motivation being the wellbeing of his friends at 59.7%. Meanwhile 40.3% believe that Eren’s love for his friends has been eclipsed by the roiling hatred and thirst for vengeance within him. Even at this point in the story, it’s hard to be absolutely certain – safe to say Eren is a real menace when he feels this strongly about anything.

I feel like I finally fully understand Eren's mindset, even though there is probably still more to his POV. He just wants his friends to be happy and live long lives, so he had to push them away especially after Sasha's death.

This chapter Eren can't disentangle love from fear/hate/loss due to what happened to his mother, which is why his feelings about his friends now manifest so destructively.

Eren's memory chain went from remembering his friends smiling, to Sasha's death and Fez-kun being beat up, and eventually to his mother's death and his vow to kill all titans, showing that deep down he knows his motivation to protect his friends is bullshit and that his "enemies" are mostly innocents, but he keeps moving forward due to hatred and revenge.

Eren has never healed his trauma. It was "eating" him slowly and turned him into this he hated the most - a devilish monster.

I think the chapter settled very well that revenge surpass even his wish of protect his friends

The transition to Eren's pov and the fact we didn't learn anything new beside some basic confirmations, is really strange. And if Eren ends killing the friends he wanted to protect, he will be a complete disappointment. I really am afraid of SnK's ending.

"I want my friends to live long happy lives" he says after treating them like shit, breaking their spirit, and partially ruining their home island with millions of titans. I hope he doesn't act surprised when they show up to stop him (assuming they can catch up of course).

I don't believe the word "animals" align with Eren's current perspective, nor how he sees his "enemies". He holds the same ideals as he did as a child, but realises the nuance of his enemies and how people on both sides are ultimately the same. He just believes this radical action is the only necessary way to end an unstoppable inter-generational conflict in his lifetime so these problems aren't handed down to future generations anymore.

he's being driven both by hatred and love, but right now his rage is winning and he's using the safety of his friends and Eldia as an excuse to appease his conscience.

ON A SCALE FROM "SECRET PLAN" TO "KILL 'EM ALL", WHERE DO YOU STAND ON EREN'S TRUE INTENTIONS?

This chapter all but confirmed that Eren indeed plans to wipe out the entire outside world for most of the fandom. The majority are skewed towards the opinion of Eren definitely rumbling everything, with less and less respondents holding onto hope that Eren has an alternate plan.

Eren wants this rumbling and he's ready to sacrifice others to get what he wants, even his friends.

I gotta say, I thought Eren would've had a real plan that wasn't just massacring everyone else on the planet. I was already against the plan, but I suspected he'd walk the other side of the ocean and then announce to the world that the existence of titans was no more and destroy all the titans as proof, and all the shifters would just be normal people again.

His goal is to wipe the titans out of this world, and not to flatten it.

I support the rumbling, cause Marley deserved this by trying to eliminate Paradis, but at the same time there are so many good people there(including eldians themselves) that haven't done anything wrong. Military and leaders of marley should be eliminated, but not the poor people that had no choice.

This hateful world is needed to be purged and I support Eren for this. And when Rumbling is over that beast piece of sh** must die by Levi's hand.

I thought eren had a secret plan for the rumbling but after getting his pov this chapter looks like he really is going for it

Somehow, I can't shake off the feeling that we still haven't seen 100% of Eren's plan, there is still some twist waiting. I am not trying to justify Eren's current actions, it's more like ""if there is something that will throw this whole scenario upside down it better come up soon, because right now IT DOESN'T LOOK GOOD"".

I want to believe thtat Eren has a secret plan in the rumbling but the chapter says that this is what he wanted, he had always been like this, he was always “free” sadly, he’s enslaved by his beliefs of freedom that he resorts to these drastic measures.

I think that this chapter confirms two things: one, the Rumbling is Eren's true plan [...] BUT two, there is "something beyond that hell", which is the "scenery" Eren says he saw in ch. 121. I think it's the endgame after the Rumbling is stopped (no way is it going to be completed), and it's what caused both Grisha and Historia to go along with his plan in the end even though they didn't agree with it and thought it was awful. Eren's "everything is still ahead" and the weird cut in Historia's flashback are too... strange and seem to point to this being a game changer and the final plot point of the series.

If the rumble will succeed, then I've spent 7 chapters seeing characters do nothing to accomplish nothing. I don't wanna feel my time wasted.

I unironically want Eren to kill everyone outside the walls. Nuff said.

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE REPEATED BIRD IMAGERY?

Birds are a focal point of this chapter, with the combination of a four-panel tracking of a soaring seagull and a flash of a memory of some nearby geese. The majority of respondents (62.5%) believe the birds simply tie into the theme of, and likely Eren’s motivation of freedom. In a distant second (20.9%) is the answer that it relates to the idea of everyone being connected under the same sky, a fitting motif amidst this chapter’s exploration of the conflict as well as unity of different groups. 12.7% of you are hopping on board the “Eren is a bird now” train, and 4% of you just really don’t like birds.

The two birds from the Paths panels appear in episode 1 of the anime iirc, not sure about the manga though.

Eren is bird confirmed thank <°^°>

I like the Bird Theory that says he’s transferring his consciousness to a bird. yeah it sounds a bit odd but it’s interesting and I’m willing to accept anything at this point

The birds are secret surveillance cameras

I like birds

idk man this shit is confusing as hell.as for falco thing i think eren has become the bird. anything can happen at this point.

Eren is the Eagle we see in the chapter 91 that Falco says to fly away lmao

THIS CHAPTER HAD SOME AMAZING ART, SHOWCASED IN THE MANY DOUBLE SPREADS (EXACTLY 9... OH GOD WHAT DOES IT MEAN ISAYAMA??) WHICH WAS YOUR FAVORITE DOUBLE SPREAD?

Whether it was the break back in May, or Isayama’s dedication to highlighting this chapter’s importance, the art has definitely taken a step up and blown us all away. Though it is very split, the final double spread showcasing the commencing of the rumbling garnered the most votes (18.2%). At second (15.7%) was the imposing silhouettes of colossal titans rising from the ocean, and at a very close third (15.5%) was the very next spread, of these titans wiping out the battleships as casually as if they were wading through seaweed. If there’s one thing to make of this from what the winners have in common, we have all definitely been waiting to see the rumbling for a while.

Isayama's improvement as an artist it's inspirational.

the art is god tier

Those Rumbling pages are so gorgeous they make me wanna say "Kill them all, Eren ! Destroy the fucking world !"

Mappa has their work cut out for themselves

MAPPA's fucked lol I hope they're up to the task.

That Attack Titan spread has the single GREATEST bit of shading in this entire manga.

Solid Art, phenomenal design and usage of double spreads

I just wanted to add that this is visually one of the most beautiful chapters I've seen in a while. The colossals, holy shit. I can't wait to see this animated. All of those double-page spreads were pretty fantastic but I have to say there's nothing quite like the chill that runs down your spine when you see all those colossals emerging from the smoke and the mist, where you see for the first time how huge and terrible they are (and also when you realise the first line of defense is already down). I had legit goosebumps.

CHAPTER 130 MARKS THE END OF A VOLUME, WHICH HAS BEEN FILLED WITH ALLIANCE-FOCUSED CHAPTERS. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS NOW THAT WE'VE FINALLY RETURNED TO EREN?

After six consecutive chapters focusing on the alliance with no Eren, the majority of you (57.6%) are relieved to finally move beyond the alliance, though have enjoyed the recent chapters, with 20.4% being completely over the alliance. 7.4% say they were originally sceptical but the chapters did well to make the alliance likeable to them, and 14.6% are open to more chapters just focused on the alliance.

Please for the love of God more of this and less of the alliance, the alliance was so rushed and as it's continued it hasn't been developed much further beyond plot convenience. The less of that I have to read before I get to read amazing stuff like 130 the better

i wanted more on the alliance, not flashbacks smh

it was something enjoyable after a while. Especially 126 made me grimace all over the volume till 130 came up. Not saying I was waiting for Eren but it was so cheesy.

Eren chapters are written worse than Alliance ones

This chapter single handedly made up for the below average, cringe-inducing chapters 126-129 Alliance bullshit. I have faith Isayama will create a very satisfying ending for this series now.

This chapter was legit a great way to end the volume off, it truly feels like its really the beginning of the end

DESCRIBE THIS CHAPTER IN ONE WORD

The top 5 write-ins are below, followed by the average chapter score for each description. This months’ average chapter score was 4.59.

Amazing [4.89]

Epic [4.84]

Eren/Ereh [4.69]

Rumbling [4.46]

Confusing [3.88]

Honorable mention: Ragnarok

We’d also like to mention that there were a lot of write-ins related to genitals and coitus… seems like y’all were really hyped up by that first fanlation >.>

WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER?

Despite this chapter theoretically giving us everything we had hoped for in a while, the responses show that we still want to have WAY MORE answers (34.6%), MORE Historia (16.9%) and MORE rumbling action (14.5%). We’d also like to know where on earth Zeke is and if Floch is going to be the little troublemaker that we know and have strong feelings about. Will the boat make it to Odiha? Will Levi do a thing? Stay tuned!

There's still some mystery that have yet to answer and I want answers

Where the fuck is Zeke

WHERE. IS. LEVI.

i want more eren, historia and zeke. They're interesting. I don't care about the alliance.

"Zekey-dekey-doo, where are you?" ...I'm so done with you guys.

need update on zeke and historia's situation.

I want it to end soon #TeamEren

I expect in the next chapter something more around the alliance and maybe (hopefully) Floch's comeback!

Enough of Hisu, she is just a side character.

Want more Rumbling

All I can say is, I'm beyond anxious to see how the series ends, and it's eating me up inside.

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES?

Most of our lovely respondents are rambunctious Redditors as usual, followed by a fair few from the flock on Twitter, distinguished Discorders, and discussors who want for nothing. Then there are some ravishing real-lifers, titillating Tumblrites, ...aaaand the rest (you’re all great). We’re still side-eyeing you Snapchatters though.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER?

Honestly I just wanna let it out, but not on google Poll for obvious reasons

Not about the chapter... but you guys always come up with funny answers that I feel compelled to chose even if it’s not really what I think. I love to answer this. Thank you!

Zeke the relationship expert, huh?

This chapter went through far too many dodgy translations for its own good, and even the official typeset had one big mistake in it even though it conveyed the mood of the convo between Eren and Historia far better than all the others.

this is all so confusing I miss erwin

I don't want genocide to be how this ends. I believe Isayama doesn't intend a story this complex to send a message that genocide is great. Considering some of the mindscrews he's already pulled via Paths, I'm hoping the best mindscrew is yet to come.

Reiner was a snacc

Historia the Antifascist Queen

This is the best chapter

this series is so great man

This whole chapter was a certified Bruh moment (in a good way)

This whole chapter was about Eren dehumanising. And he killed his mom. I wouldn't be surprised if he'll eventually want to kill all Eldians and his friends either.

Loved everything except for Historian's forced reluctant pregnancy.

Here's to 3 more weeks

I hope Eren doesn’t love anyone from the series.

I feel like Isayama is still increasing the pressure to help his final plot twist, I’m still lost as I really don’t agree with Eren’s actions while I see the fandom going crazy over him. Maybe I missed something, maybe I’m wrong, maybe I don’t fully understand Eren. This chapter felt good, I don’t hate the Alliance because they’re part of what I think is the right choice for humanity, but we all honestly wanted to know Eren’s thoughts or a bit of it, as we didn’t see him for a while. English isn’t my first language I’m sorry in advance, loved your poll

I honestly have no idea what's going to happen and the whole time I was reading it I was internally screaming.

Ok I know Ymir (the lesbian) has been dead for years but I miss her so much. She was the dad. Forget Farmer-kun, forget Eren, it was all Ymir.

okay no offense but where’s Levi ☹️

One big tease of erens pov and who the father is

One of the best chapter I ever read! Love it!

Didn't expect the Eren POV but welcomed it anyway. We now have confirmation he wanted everything that happened to happen and even the implication he orchestrated the death of his own mother. That's very tasty

Eren's pov has been hidden for too long and right now I don't think the payoff is worth it

eren exhibits bird behavior & he killed his mom 😕

Eren is a bird confirmed or some shit

Eren later takes Ymir's place in Paths as a sacrifice for many years to fix everything, learning everything he needs by traveling around as, say, birds, as needed to send to his past self to guarantee "that scenery"

Eren is in control of more than we previously thought and this shows evidence of a timeloop scenario

Eren can see the future and can probably manipulate the pure titans at different points in time like the Founder does. It's also likely he's gonna fuse with more shifters to visit other pieces of memory.

Eren is able to use the full power of the FT, that why he can see not only his own memories, but also the memories of other Eldians. All of them are connected to him after all.

He will turn into a bird in the end

So exited that we finally got to see Eren in his Founding Titan-like form!!!! Can’t wait for next month (AoT fan from Japan)

Enjoyed the chapter due to a return to debating the morality of the Rumbling, and seeing it in progress. Also tend to enjoy interaction between Eren and Historia. However, I think the chapter is slightly let down by being cryptic. It's hard to tell what is going on with Eren due to how scenes from this issue and others can be interpreted.

nah mate do people actually read this?

This chapter marks something that has changed everyone's thoughts. Not just about Eren, but Annie, Historia, Zeke, etc. We heard them speak differently, and got a few answers to our questions. We got to see that Annie does indeed have emotions. That Historia did not want this. That Annie never really wanted to kill, nor does she want to anymore. That Zeke actually cared for Eren. That the father is most likely farmer-kun. It's one of the best chapters we've had. Each chapter we get, we get closer to the end of this wonderful story. I can't wait to see what Isayama has planned for in the final chapters. Truly hoping for the best!

reiner's tits dammit

Despite the devastation, I now feel like there is meaning hidden beneath the madness

Creepy and interesting chapter. The official translation confirms further that Eren is going to destroy the world. I’m hoping that the next volume shifts focus to Reiner a little more. I’m also excited for more loose ends to be cleared up.

Damn, only 5 more to go before the end of the greatest story of all time

Enjoyed it but I’m really hoping for some more insight into what’s going on with both eren and historia, I’m not a huge fan of the pregnancy subplot

eren just wants to see if marleyans are made of cake

Eren makes the most amazing villain ever. Will go down as one of my favorite characters ever if the story ends how I hope it will.

Everyone forgets Historia saw her dad’s memories without eating him, without being a shifter, and without touching Eren. We’re still waiting for the payoff...

Fantastic chapter, though it felt really short

Floch was Eren's lieutenant all along, he was his representative, and his actions are therefore Eren's responsability all the same. Get fucked those who didn't want to believe that Eren would consciously choose Floch, believe in him or to set things up for Eren in Paradis.

I'd like it if the Ackerbond was not as supernatural as it was claimed before. Not because of EreMika, MikaHisu would be much better than both options of this chapter. Now we know that Levi or Kenny's loyalty were real, and it warms my heart. Also, my bastard wasn't lying! He knew about the plan.

It confirmed everything we already knew: Historia didn't support Eren's plan, Ackerman weren't slaves, Mikasa's feelings for Eren doesn't have to do with the fact she's an Ackerman and the fandom is stupid for still believing Eren is the father despite him literally telling Zeke that he can't answer Mikasa's feelings, because he only has 4 years left to live.

My heart was beating so hard during Eren and Historia's conversation because I just couldn't believe we were actually seeing her again, it had been 2 years since we got anything this relevant from her and I also just really wanted Isayama to get on with it and tell us who the damm father was so that we could finally move on to other things. I still don't believe it's Eren, but I'm done with that theory, man. No more teasing, please. Two years is far more than enough.

Chapters like this one, which perfectly captures the culmination of Eren's entire journey, make me glad to be alive at this moment in time to experience Isayama's masterpiece. I'm not ready for this story to end in just one more volume.

The ending of this story will not be a gentle tapping of the brakes but a screeching halt followed by hydroplaning and crashing into a ditch

What if the rumbling is all one big sex reveal party for Historia's baby and the Colossal Titans are arranging all the corpses into a female symbol or something.

For 8 months I have been waiting for Eren Jaeger. My favorite fictional character ever. He comes back in best way possible, wow.

Great chapter, too bad half of this dumb fandom misunderstood it and are falsely claiming it confirmed Eren as the father. *facepalm*

Obligatory mention that eren is a manipulative bastard and is a little too far gone in his goal

Ambiguity: The chapter. More questions than answers, no way this ends in 4 chapters. Overall we are all going "Wuh?" like Historia after this chapter.

We are being fucked with.

I cry, eren has been one of my favourite characters in the AoT universe

I didn't think it was possible for Eren to get any worse, but he always manages to surprise me.

I don't care about eremika or erehisu. I just need my rivaere (: haha

i don't care for the alliance and the ship-baiting was making me weary. I just want more eren, zeke and historia. They're the interesting ones.

‏I don't know what the end will be but i know it will be sad ending!..We all suffer and I mean the world of AOT and the fans who read manga... I will accept all probabilities and the death of heroes, but please do not make Mikasa kill Eren..I mean after all this love that will kill him .. I read many analyzes of the possibility of this happening and I see it as a very bad and irrational end..It is not logical at all..If you did it, the AOT would be one of the worst deeds and to the landfill..Isayama If you have suffered a lot in your life and childhood, we have also suffered in our lives, but please do not bring this suffering into the AOT world

I dont want this to end @ isayama

I hated what direction this story was taking, now I really hate it.

I just feel Isayama hasn't answered so much stuff yet and has also raised the stakes so high that I can't possibly imagine how the story will end. I believe Mikasa's slowly been established as the character who will defeat Eren, but I have no idea how she'll do it... But at least there were beautiful Mikannie crumbs, so I'm happy af and hope they'll have more scenes together now that Annie's about to give up (I mean, there are parallels™ everywhere when it comes to our wonderful lost girls...)

I just hope it's building up to a really good ending.

i just wanna know what's gona happen next man this shit be driving me crazy

I love everything! I hope floch dies though

I love you eren

I need answers!!!

I need Zook back

I really hope this series doesn’t end with a message like “genocide is necessary for peace” I hope someone stops Eren

I really loved the art and double spreads, and seeing Eren's POV after a while

I think it's the 2nd best chapter we've gotten this arc. The 1st being 123. I loved it. I also think it's putting to rest the secret plan theories regarding Eren. I've made my final prediction for the series. I think it's a tragedy that will end in Eren destroying the world & manipulating everyone's memories except for Historia & Mikasa & a new age for humanity will begin.

I'm so glad my girl's back, but I'm confused as hell. There's definitly more to her meeting with Eren and her choosing to be pregnant, we'll see. Also Zook being a love conselor and having a Ackerman phd was hilarious, I love him even more. Erefloch canon.

If he wanted to protect his friends why didn’t he just forge some Marleyan passport/citizenships for them, god wtf

If you think about it we actually didn’t learn anything that wasn’t already heavily implied

im shook

Isayama gave more than i wanted my heart can't take it.

it was very good thank you for asking

It's finally moving forward (as isayama likes to say)

It’s a good chapter but I still with doubts.

JUST DO IT EREN

Just wanna see ZEKE

Kiyoger Theory!!!!!

l'm glad we got to see a bit from Eren's POV. But I still need more answers ;_; why choose rumbling, Eren??? not looking for justification for his actions here but i just want to know /why/ he did it. Still feel like theres a missing link somewhere tbh.. I just hope the ending of snk wont be a disaster like game of thrones where Daenerys' switch came out of nowhere. At this point I just want the series to end asap, the tension build up is killing me lol.

Leaks for 131 when?

Let’s get rrready to RUMBLEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

Loved seeing the rumbling but I wish we could have gotten more character driven moments

Loved this chapter! I'm glad we finally got to learn more of Eren's POV and finally learn what was Historia's role in all of this (or at least beginning to learn her involvement in the plan). Seeing him initiate the Rumbling was epic. The destruction is about to begin!

my brain is too small to understand some of these theories

Now we know that Eren and Floch just pretending to follow Zeke's plan ever since from the beginning but I want to gain more explanations of Eren's secret plan

Oddly placed Eren flashback, but I'll take it

Something's up. I'm still not convinced we can take any of this at face value.

So many flashbacks were a bit hard to follow, but it really seems like the series is gonna end soon and I’m a bit nervous about how well any ending will play out

thank you Isayama for this masterpiece

THE ART IS JUST AMAZING but for me its so short 😭😭😭

That Eren with mid long hair is baby

the alliance has come together way too fast and theyve only really had 1 dispute so far. there needs to be more conflict to make it more realisitic. I think annie saying that they won't be able to/don't want to kill eren is foreshadowing this.

the Art is amazing but flashback scenes were a little mess

The chapter was full of messy memories, so it symbolized Eren's brain well :)

I think that now I understand Eren better. I used to believe he had some secret plan, but the true was always there - Eren is not any master mind. His plan was simple - destroy the whole world. The trauma he had after losing his mother has never been healed. It was always in him, growing bigger and bigger. He still cares about his friends, but he is also lying to himself saying that ""he is doing the rumbling because he wants to see them having long, happy life"". He is doing it because his hatred to the ones who are responsible for Carla's death took control over his heart. Eren is adult, young man but deep down he is still the same, hurt crying child who bears painful memories of losing his mother.

The cycle of war and hatred is saddening. This ain't something fictional, it's something we have always been observing from the earliest human consciousness :(

We all got a big storm comin

We are NOT ready for this shit

we need annie to live longer pls

Well here’s our proof eren is actually going through with the rumbling.

What it would feel like to be Eren right now

what kind of eva BULLSHIT

what the hell is going ON

Where is Floch

where is LEVI

Wheres zeke?

Yams, you're so diabolic. You just want to make the real-life's rumbling with all that "confusing' ship tease xD

Yooooo, we need more explanation about maybe, everything? But amazing and bomb ass chapter though

#snk polls #snk poll #snk poll results #snk chapter 130 #snk 130

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threephasebird · 4 years

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Hello friend, it's Nicole from TAD discord, so sorry for awkwardly & randomly sliding into your dms. I've noticed that you've been reblogging a lot of The Untamed recently and I have just finished The Untamed & literally cannot think about anything else. I'm obsessed. Anyway, I've also noticed from your blog that your favorite seems to be JGY and I find that *fascinating*. He's very much not my fav, but he's such a complex character that I would love to hear your thoughts & feelings & analysis?

And to be completely clear, I will never try to debate with you or say your opinions are wrong or immoral or anything. I'm not an anti, I've stanned plenty of villains in my time. I'm just genuinely curious. I think the fact that you have such different feelings about this character is part of the beauty of stories and a testament to how complex and smart this particular story is.

Hello friend! First of all, thank you for your ask -- I love talking about my fictional faves, so there’s no need to apologize at all! There are definitely people out there who have already posted much more cohesive and succinct character analysis for JGY, but I’ve sat down for a bit to find an answer to the question of why I, personally, like him so much. I ended up finding six possible ways to answer this question, which I’ll list below and then go into (a lot) more detail under the cut. Hope you enjoy!

1) I like him because his motivations as a villain are complex and understandable

2) I like him because there’s no easy solution to his conflicts

3) I like him because he interacts with the story in a unique way

4) I like him because when we see him on top of his game, it’s fun to watch

5) I like him because LXC likes him

6) JGY is very small and has dimples

So, onward! (2.7k)

1) I like him because his motivations as a villain are complex and understandable

One possible way of looking at JGY is that throughout the entire story, his end goal is to eliminate all of the Jin family and come out on top as sect leader, chief cultivator and most powerful person in the cultivation world. However, I personally find it more intriguing to think that his specific plans shifted throughout the story and that he didn’t follow a long con the way NHS did, but that the common ground in everything he does is that he’s motivated by wanting security. Then, everything that he does afterwards is a step-by-step escalation when no matter what he does and how far he comes, his goal is always dangled right in front of him, but ultimately impossible to reach.

When he joins the Nie clan, on a superficial level it seems that this place could offer him the security he wants and needs, especially with NMJ protecting him -- but on the flip side of the coin, no one apart from NMJ and NHS seem to respect him, and his security entirely depends on NMJ’s goodwill. It’s an exteremely fragile position that could probably only ever last for a limited amount of time. Even if JGY never killed the guard captain and wasn’t thrown out of the Unclean Realm, how would the future have looked like for him? NMJ’s life expectancy was low to begin with, and once he had died (of natural causes, in this hypothetical case), NHS wouldn’t have been able to hold the same protective hand over JGY as his brother, and JGY would have become the disrespected advisor to the disrespected clan leader. (On a side note, I personally don’t think JGY released XY to get the yin iron -- I think it makes more sense that he wanted to use XY as bargaining chips against WC, seeing how he goes to free him immediately after WC asks for NMJ to release XY, to save the Unclean Realm and, in extension, his own ass.)

After JGY is thrown out, he’s basically out of options -- it’s go big or go home, because which other clan would take him in now? So he sets his sight on being recognized by JGS once more, and in order to succeed, he derives the plan of becoming a spy under WRH and do something so “heroical” that after the war, JGS has no other choice but to accept him into his clan. And at first, it seems like he succeeds and that he finally gets everything he wished for -- his father recognizes him as a son and gives him a position, he’s part of the Jin clan, he has power, he’s secure! But then it turns out that he was wishing on the monkey’s paw. His father doesn’t truly recognize him, and even in the Jin clan he’s disrespected (by JGS, by Madam Jin, by Jin Zixun), he doesn’t truly hold power (he just has to do whatever JGS tells him to), and he’s not secure (JGS instrumentalizes him because he’s useful to him right now, but does that mean he’ll be useful forever? So there’s a constant threat there).

I think the only reason JGS officially adopts JGY is that it allows him to claim the victory over WRH for the Jin clan and to expand his own power. Instead of JGY being recognized, JGS instrumentalizes him from the very first second and to make it worse, he makes JGY his attack dog the same way WRH did. I think the things JGY does under both WRH and JGS are absolutely horrifying, but I can’t help but also feel horrified for him. Under WRH, I think he tells himself that whatever he does is the lesser evil because it’ll end the war quicker, and that it’ll all be worth it in the end, and as a result, he loses parts of his own humanity there. And then under JGS, it’s the same fucked up shit again, except that this time, he also wants so very badly for JGS to value him, and in addition, he’s also completely out of options now. Without wanting to excuse the things he does under JGS, the only alternative at this point is for him to leave the Jin clan and the cultivation world as a whole, and I do think there’s a definite possibility that JGS would have him killed if he did because he knew too much about JGS’s plans.

Without passing judgment on his involvement in JZX and JZX’s deaths, as well as him killing NMJ and JGS for now (the latter being the one thing that I’m personally most horrified of), I don’t see JGY as a villain who enjoys being the villain the way XY does. I think he’s constantly horrified at himself and compartmentalizes to a degree where he’s actually derailing his own plans. Him throwing out XY immediately after killing JGS reads to me as him wanting to close the chapter of everything they did under JGS -- I think he must have acted out of a visceral emotion there or else he wouldn’t have left XY to die at the side of a road so carelessly (and, in effect, allowed for someone to live on with detailed knowledge of his own deeds). After rising to power (and finally, seemingly, really getting the security he’s always wanted), he doesn’t use that power to become WRH 3.0, but instead to do genuinely good things (such as building the watch towers). That’s not supposed to mean that him not being a cruel despot makes up for everything he’s done, but I find it interesting to think about from the perspective of, what kind of person could he have been if this opportunity had been given to him freely -- if his own class and social standing didn’t prevent him from that? I think he’d have become an incredibly powerful cultivator and clan leader if he’d have the same privilege as JZX.

In a way, I see JZX, WC, and JGY as narrative foils. WC shows us who JZX might have become if JGS treated him the same way as WRH treats WC. But, JGS doesn’t -- he shields his own son from this part of the Jin clan, and basically allows him to live in a completely different reality as JGY! JZX’s whole character arc is one of personality development, and becoming a hero, and falling in love -- he doesn’t have a clue about his father wanting to get his hands on XY and the Stygian tiger amulet and arguably about at least part of the war crimes he commits against the Wen clan. It’s not part of his life. In a way, JGY is the sacrifice being made to allow him to live his life unaware because in him, JGS found someone else to do his dirty work.

2) I like him because there’s no easy solution to his conflicts

Sometimes, when you want to be a villain apologist, all you need to do is point at one or a few bits of the story and say, “well if they hadn’t done that...”. (See, for example, Anakin Skywalker -- you wanna write a RotS canon divergence fixit? Just have Obi-Wan come back approximately one hour earlier and you have it, because before Anakin kills the Jedi even the Younglings he’s basically completely redeemable.) With JGY, you don’t get to have that. There’s no single turning point where you could say, “if he had picked the other option, he could have had a happy ending”. And part of the reason for that, which makes him a tragic character in my eyes, is that he crucially lacks options at many turning points.

In order to write a canon divergence AU for JGY where he comes out unscathed and redeemable, you’d have to go pretty far back in the story, and even then, you’d have to work hard to find a solution to his story that doesn’t a) rely on someone saving him (such as: LXC brings him to Cloud Recesses, or: JGS has a change of heart, frees his mother, and sends them a comfortable monthly pension), b) having him be dependent on someone else’s goodwill (such as: staying in the Unclean Realm in a delicate position).

If we don’t want to go back right to the very beginning or change fundamental parts of the story, well... As I’ve mused about above, if we let him stay in the Unclean Realm, he’d have never reached his goal of security either. If he never became a spy during the Sunshot Campaign, he wouldn’t have been accepted into the Jin clan and would have been out of options. If he never committed the atrocities for JGS, JGS would probably have kicked him out or killed him. (I do think there’s a lot of truth in what JGY tells NMJ in the empathy flashback, on that instance.) If he didn’t kill NMJ, there is a distinct possibility that NMJ would have killed him -- we see him try three times on screen, after all. (I’m leaving out the parts about him being directly responsible for JZX’s and JZX’s death in the show, as well as for controlling the corpses at Nighless City and JYL’s death, because it’s not in the book and I think it takes away from WWX’s character. As for QS’s and their son’s deaths...I personally do not see strong motivation for him to kill them, but in the end, we just don’t know which is, on a side note, a thing I really like about The Untamed/MDZS! Sometimes we just don’t know because the only people who know for sure can’t tell us anymore.) One option could be for him to confide to JZX, bring him over to his own side, and non-violently overthrow JGS, which would be a good and satisfying ending both to his and JZX’s character arcs -- but I also think there’s a high possibility JZX would hold JGY responsible for what he and JGS did, and never trust him with power again.

(Again, one thing I really do not wish to excuse away is how he killed JGS, and I just. Desperately wished he didn’t.)

I’ve been going over and over the possibilites for fix-its and canon divergence AUs, but in the end, I’ve arrived at the conclusion that the only real choice JGY has throughout the story is whether to remove himself from the narrative or stay in it. He could make the choice to give up his mother’s dream, reject his father, and leave cultivation world (and, on a meta level, the story!) to become a “nobody”. (Small side note, though -- living on which skills?) If he doesn’t -- well, as soon as he enters the game, the cards are stacked against him.

To pick up on the meta level comment, I do find it fascinating that in a sense, JGY not only has to struggle for respect and recognition within the story, but that what he does also serves to keep his character part of the story. He could choose to give up and leave (and thus come out of the story redeemable), but then he wouldn’t be part of the story anymore.

3) I like him because he interacts with the story in a unique way

Continuing with the last point, JGY interacts with the story in two unique ways that distinguish him basically from all the other characters. He’s not actually supposed to be part of the story, but that he basically claws his way in. But that also means that his class and social status cannot be removed from any of the conflicts he encounters in universe -- they’re at the heart of all of them. In the empathy flashback, he says to NMJ, “You always scold me for indecent scheming. You always say that you are just and straight [...] A decent man shouldn’t resort to devious stratagems. [...] You’re of noble birth and have profound cultivation. What about me? How can I be the same? First, I don’t have the foundation of cultivation. No one has ever taught me that since I was a child! Second, I don’t have any background. Do you think that my position is very solid in the Jin clan of Lanling?” What I find so intriguing about this scene is that he’s right when he says he’s different from the others both in text and on a meta level because most of the other characters are never faced with the same decisions and have a natural place within the story (apart, to some degree, WWX and XY, where also interesting parallels can be drawn). And the other characters are, in a way, self-righteous to judge him when almost none of them come out of the story without blood on their hands -- WWX’s revenge, JC torturing demonic cultivators after WWX’s death, and so on...The entire cultivation world (even NMJ! even LXC!) were complicit in the war crimes against the Wen. But when the cultivation world turns against JGY, they are the most appalled by the things I as a viewer would be the most lenient towards (murdering JGS), and don’t care at all about the thing that horrifies me the most (murdering the sex workers).

There’s an interesting post by @pumpkinpaix analysing how class dynamics work in the story, which I highly recommend! I don’t want to repeat what has been said there already in much better ways than I can, but among other things, it makes some really interesting points about how much JGY’s class is tied with his motivations.

4) I like him because when we see him on top of his game, it’s fun to watch

Aside from any analysis, part of the reason why I like him so much is that when he’s acting as a villain, he’s just so much fun to watch. When WWX breaks into his vault in paperman form and JGY has approximately 5 minutes to get rid of the head, the torture bench (?) and anything suspicious, contact and inform Su She, run to a different building and come back, and nonetheless he manages to convince everyone but WWX and LWJ that he’s the victim in this situation, it’s just. Peak entertainment? For a short time, he’s on top of the game, and then he’s backed into a corner and becomes sloppy, and finally loses it all due to sentimentality (if he didn’t want to take his mother’s body with him and say goodbye to LXC, I’m sure he could have fled the country). I think Zhu Zanjin did an amazing job as an actor to portray how JGY is constantly assessing everything, how 23638 emotions flicker over his face in half a second, how his whole body language shows the constant anxiety and pressure and stress and fear he’s under, and how we actually get to see in his microexpressions when JGY chooses a path and commits to the acting and emotional manipulation to follow it through.

5) I like him because LXC likes him

Here’s a secret: Actually, LXC is my favourite character. And LXC loves JGY a lot. So I’m kind of contractually obliged to at least love JGY a little bit as well?

On a more serious note, I’m very intrigued in their relationship because I do think what they had was genuine. I view it as two people being very open and honest and true with each other, while placing a lot of things outside the brackets and crossing them out. LXC even says that he was aware of some things JGY did (which ones? how? I need to know) but that he justified them to himself. I think they both realised that they could have had something very special, but under the given circumstances, LXC wouldn’t have been able to help JGY (see: point 2) even if he knew everything. Still, they were obviously very close and trusted each other as much as they could. I think in the end, when LXC seemed to have decided to stay and die with him, JGY pushed him away because he was the only genuinely good part of his life, and he felt like he couldn’t rightfully deprive the world of LXC. It’s all very tragic, and I’m very intrigued to explore what they could have been in a slightly softer world.

6) JGY is very small and has dimples

I can only speak for myself, but when I was watching, I was so prone at any point to believe in him no matter what was revealed. Look at him! Could this man do something wrong?

#buttercup-the-bard #ask #jin guangyao #the untamed #cql #meng yao #mdzs #my post #cql meta

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lake-arrius-caverns · 4 years

Text

Nerevarine Rising

Chapter 5: Breaking Point

happy valentines <3 here’s a slower-paced lowkey fluffy chapter for the occasion

summary After his disastrous mission to Arkngthand, Fahjoth's confidence has taken a kicking and his mood has hit rock bottom. Can he find the courage to face up to his next task?

content warnings none

tag list @boulderfall-cave , @padomaicocean (lmk if you’d like to be added!)

read under the cut or on AO3, cheers 👍

:: First :: || << Previous << || >> Next >> || :: Masterpost ::

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Antabolis, at least, had been grateful for Fahjoth’s delivery. He had taken the cube with enthusiasm and offered for Fahjoth to return at a later time, when Antabolis may be able to give him a key to delve deeper into Arkngthand. Fahjoth had politely declined; the last thing he wanted to do was return there anytime soon. In fact, he would die happy if he never had to go near another Dwemer ruin ever again.

He didn’t bother to attempt to read the notes that Antabolis gave him, nor was he even listening much to what Antabolis was saying. He was desperate to return to his bed and collapse into it, and in his current state of feeling constant aches and pains he found that he couldn’t care less about Sixth House or Nerevarine cults, whatever they were.

By the time Antabolis finally bade him farewell, Fahjoth felt just about ready to drop. I’ve just got to get back to Cosades’, he told himself as he staggered through Balmora’s quiet streets under the dusty cinnamon sky, clutching Antabolis’ papers tightly in hand. As he paused to look up and watch the first stars begin to twinkle dully from behind the light evening mist, Fahjoth supposed he would have to meet Ribyna for that drink tomorrow instead. Finally, he reached Cosades’ house and let himself in.

Cosades was sitting at his table, drink in hand as he perused the pages of a dusty old tome. He glanced up as Fahjoth entered, raising a brow at the state he turned up in, but offering no comment on it. Wordlessly, Fahjoth approached and passed the papers over to Cosades, already staring longingly over at his bed on the floor of the corner of the room.

“These notes are from Hasphat Antabolis? Excellent. I trust he didn't work you too hard for them,” Cosades said, though the look on his face as he surveyed Fahjoth confirmed that he already knew the answer. As Fahjoth began to remove his armour, he couldn’t help but grimace at the poor condition it was in now; he would definitely need to take it to be repaired tomorrow.

But as he was about to get himself settled for the night, Cosades spoke up.

“I'll look these over in more detail later, but now, I have some new orders for you," he announced. Fahjoth felt his heart sink.

Already? After casting one more glance towards his bed, he turned his attention back to Cosades and nodded to signify that he was listening.

“I've glanced at Hasphat Antabolis' notes,” Cosades continued, a mild frown on his face. “They cover the Sixth House admirably, but not the Nerevarine cult. So. I’m going to need you to pay a visit to someone who can fill in the gaps. Hop on over to the Mages Guild and get Sharn gra-Muzgob to tell you what she knows about the Nerevarine. She'll have some silly errand for you, but do what she asks. And report back when she's given you the information.”

For a few seconds, Fahjoth was struck dumb. There was a searing heat growing in his chest, one where he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to scream or break down and cry, but instead he swallowed and jerked his head in a nod. “Now, sir?”

“Better had,” Cosades agreed, “before it gets too late. She won’t thank you for that.”

“Right.” Fahjoth’s voice was flat and somewhat husky in his attempt to keep his emotions bottled up, and he scarcely said goodbye to Cosades before he turned and strode back outside into the chilly dusk air. There was a lump in his throat as he walked, and though he knew it was exacerbated by his exhaustion, Cosades giving him yet more orders had been a crushing blow. All of his doubts came roaring back, playing on his mind and reminding him that he wasn’t good enough, and he certainly couldn’t keep up with the tasks he had been given. Yet, what choice did he have but to try? Fahjoth began to wonder whether this job would be the death of him as he paced onwards to the Mages Guild, bracing himself to be given a task that would nearly get him killed a second time.

—————————————————————————————

Sure enough, the irritable Orc that Fahjoth encountered in the depths of the Mages Guild had not given up her knowledge freely. In return for the information Cosades was seeking, Sharn gra-Muzgob ordered Fahjoth to collect a skull from an ancestral tomb, requiring him to retrace his steps back towards Seyda Neen.

While in theory this didn’t sound too taxing, Fahjoth was more than wary of what he might discover in an ancestral tomb. The stories he’d heard from the locals had been more than enough to sow worries into his mind; instead of crumbling ruins and murderous thugs, curses and ghosts and the walking dead would be the hurdles he would have to overcome this time, which had been all but confirmed by the enchanted sword that gra-Muzgob had lent him for the errand.

Fahjoth felt almost numb at this point. He was terrified, of course he was, but he was too physically, mentally, and emotionally drained to deal with it. He could barely even spare the energy to think about what lay ahead, nevermind try to process his feelings towards it. He paused as he reached the southernmost bridge spanning the Odai River, turned his gaze up to the stars, now set against a deep indigo sky, and wondered whether it was too late to meet Ribyna for that drink. Well, there was no harm in checking in. So he changed direction, heading for the South Wall Cornerclub rather than returning to Cosades’. Even if he couldn’t find Ribyna, perhaps a drink would help to steady his nerves.

As he wandered down to the bottom floor, sure enough, he spotted a familiar figure nursing a bottle at an otherwise empty table in the corner of the room and made a beeline for them. Ribyna looked up as Fahjoth approached, initially grinning at the sight of her twin, but once she fully registered the mess that he was in her face fell into an aghast gape instead.

“What the fuck happened to you?!” she exclaimed without so much as a greeting beforehand. Fahjoth sighed as he parked himself down at the table, dropping his head on his hands and preparing himself to recount the long, miserable tale.

“So then I got back to the bridge, and there’s this old man who’s just stood there, and for no reason he just goes fucking nuts and attacks me,” he concluded once he had covered the rest. “Conjured a fucking skeleton and everything. I fell down the... the chasm thing, then when I got back up, I just legged it.”

“Holy shit...” Ribyna mumbled, staring at Fahjoth in astonishment. “Had a hell of a day then, didn’t you?”

“That barely even begins to describe it,” he scoffed. “I feel like I’d have had an easier time if I just went to Oblivion and back.”

To Fahjoth’s shock, Ribyna bit her lip, evidently trying to hide a grin. That couldn’t have been further from the reaction he had been expecting. “What?” he asked, a wary frown on his face.

Ribyna hesitated, as though struggling with whether to speak up or not, but after a moment of pause she blurted it out. “Oh come on, all that shit happening— it’s a bit funny!”

“Funny?”

At once, any hint of laughter on Ribyna’s face vanished, as Fahjoth felt a spark of anger ignite in his chest.

“I nearly fucking died today and you think it’s funny?!”

“I never said that—!” Ribyna protested, but Fahjoth was already livid. All of the frustration, shame, and terror he had felt that day had compounded with relentless exhaustion, and now an intense stab of hurt from Ribyna’s reaction had been enough to light the fuse.

“But it’s funny, you said!” Fahjoth snapped, struggling to force himself to remain seated at the table as he ranted at his sibling, while his voice rose in volume and attracted more than a few stares from the other punters. “It’s funny that I nearly died, it’s funny that I couldn’t handle the one job I was given, it’s funny that it went so fucking tits-up and you probably think it’s funny that I’ve got to go back out and do the same thing, and probably get myself actually killed this time!”

“Fahjoth—” Ribyna started, shuffling her chair around so that she was sitting beside him, but Fahjoth cut her off.

“‘Cause— ‘cause that’s what’s gonna happen! I’m gonna do a ‘favour’ for someone, maybe not this one, but maybe the next time, or the one after that, but— sooner or later it’s gonna kill me!” The lump in his throat had firmly lodged into place, and Fahjoth felt his eyes burn as tears threatened to spill. He was less enraged now; all he felt was distress and fear, flooding his chest with a dull, unyielding ache.

“I can’t keep up with it, Beebs,” he choked, his voice breaking and his face crumpling as he finally began to cry. “I can’t do this.”

He dropped his face into his hands, his vision blurry with tears as his shoulders began to shake with suppressed sobs, but seconds later he felt himself being pulled into a tight embrace which he did not try to resist.

“Hey, hey, come on,” Ribyna said, her voice low and soothing as she rested her chin on the top of his head. “You’re okay. Deep breaths.”

As he struggled to get his erratic breathing back under control, Fahjoth was much too choked up to speak, so he simply remained silent with his head leaning on Ribyna’s shoulder. Ribyna continued to talk, hugging him tightly and gently rubbing his shoulder all the while. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh at you,” she apologised. “It’s just... well, it’s just your fucking luck, innit? Only you could end up dealing with that much bullshit in one go.”

Fahjoth managed a watery chuckle at that. “They say guarshit, here.”

“Ooh, well, pardon my Cyrodiilic,” Ribyna jeered, putting on the poshest accent she could muster. The tiny laugh that his sibling had inspired granted him enough of a mood boost that Fahjoth finally felt calm enough to sit up again, though the churning of apprehension in his gut remained and tears still slipped from his eyes on occasion.

“I’m sorry as well,” he said at last, glancing over at Ribyna with regret. “I didn’t mean to snap at you like that.”

Ribyna waved his apology aside with a flick of her hand. “Don’t worry about it. Right, let’s backtrack a bit.” She leaned on her elbows, staring up at Fahjoth with a light frown. “What d’you mean, you’ve got to go and do the same thing?”

Fahjoth sighed, feeling a knot of trepidation settle in his chest once more as he anticipated the task ahead. “Basically what I said,” he explained. “I’ve got to do a favour for someone else in exchange for information. Only this favour involves me stealing a skull from an ancestral tomb down by Seyda Neen.”

“Yikes...” Ribyna lapsed into thoughtful silence, her gaze falling on Fahjoth’s hands for a moment before she got to her feet. “Hold that thought,” she said, trotting off towards the bar. Fahjoth watched with idle interest until Ribyna returned, clutching two bottles under one arm and a plain cup and cloth in the other. She returned to her seat and placed the goods down on the table, pushing one of the bottles towards Fahjoth as she settled. “Here’s that drink I owed you. Mazte. It’s alright, give it a try.”

After giving the bottle a curious sniff, he threw caution to the wind and knocked back a mouthful — only to immediately cough as the unexpectedly spicy aroma overwhelmed his senses. But as he swallowed, the liquid filled his chest with a potent heat that seemed to spread all the way down to his toes, temporarily washing away all of what ailed him in an instant. “Fucking hell,” he remarked, “that’s not bad at all.”

“Innit?” Once Fahjoth had put his bottle down, Ribyna reached over and pulled one of his hands towards her. She squinted as she examined his skinned knuckles, her brows furrowing into a consternated frown, and Fahjoth felt a twinge of embarrassment that he hadn’t cleaned the blood off before now. He watched as she dipped the cloth into the cup — which turned out to be filled with water — and dabbed it gently but firmly onto his hand. Fahjoth grit his teeth and breathed hard through his nose as each brush of the fabric against the tender skin incited a sharp stinging sensation, but he kept quiet as Ribyna spoke. “Anyway, if what you said is true, then getting away with just fucked up knuckles seems like a bit of a result to me.”

“I suppose...” Fahjoth admitted. “I’m pretty sure I just got lucky, though. I mean, what if I come across something worse next time? What if I’m not lucky enough?”

“Fahji, you’ve just had a hell of a bad day,” Ribyna pointed out. “Look, I’m sure it won’t be so bad next time. Live and learn and all that. You’ll be fine.”

Fahjoth could feel his anxieties beginning to grow again and tried to mentally take a step back, as the last thing he wanted was to break down in tears for a second time that night. “I really don’t think I can do it, Beebs, but... I don’t even know what’ll happen if I try to pull out. What if they send me back to prison? And—...”

“And?”

Feeling very self-conscious, his cheeks flushed slightly as he prepared for his next confession. “And I really wanted to try and make this work. It’s a real opportunity, innit? This could be our only chance of ever doing well for ourselves.” He paused, nodding towards Ribyna. “Not that you seem to be having any trouble with that, mind...”

Ribyna was quiet for a moment, the tip of her tongue peeking out from between her lips as she concentrated on cleaning up Fahjoth’s hands, finishing the first and then moving onto the other. Finally, once she was satisfied, she let go and picked up her bottle instead, sipping some mazte before responding to Fahjoth. “Are there any rules about going by yourself?”

“Uh... no, I don’t think so,” Fahjoth replied, perplexed by the sudden change of subject. “Why?”

“Then there’s the answer,” Ribyna replied, grinning at Fahjoth from over her mazte. “I’ll go with you!”

“What?”

“I’ll go with you,” Ribyna repeated, a little more insistently this time. “With two of us, there’ll be a way smaller chance for you to... y’know... die. Or get fucked over in general.”

Fahjoth’s mouth fell open slightly at Ribyna’s offer. “Are you sure, Beebs? It... it probably won’t be easy. I dunno what we’ll find in there.”

“Course I’m sure. As if I’m gonna risk letting my brother go and get himself killed,” she scoffed. “That’s my job, innit?”

Fahjoth stared at Ribyna in disbelief for a moment or two, before he began to laugh with sheer relief. “Fuck, you’re a lifesaver. Right, are you ready to go?”

“What, now?” Ribyna exclaimed, and it was her turn to glare incredulously at Fahjoth. “A, I haven’t even finished my drink, and B, you need to rest. We’re not going anywhere until tomorrow at the earliest. Those are my terms.”

Fahjoth opened his mouth to protest, but Ribyna cut him off. “Seriously, what’s the rush? Travelling at night isn’t a great idea even when you’re in perfect condition. And like I said, you need to rest, you look like you’re about to keel over any second. If Cosades has got a problem with that, tell him to take it up with me!”

“I’m sure he’d be quaking in his boots,” Fahjoth quipped, but he couldn’t argue with Ribyna’s logic. “Since when has my little nuisance been so sensible?”

“You know you’re in trouble when you’re calling me sensible,” Ribyna snorted. As she watched Fahjoth rise to his feet, she seemed prepared to spring up at any moment. “D’you need a hand getting back to Cosades’?”

“Nah, I think I’ll be alright,” Fahjoth replied, wincing as he gingerly put weight back on his feet, his sore muscles already stiff from the brief period of inactivity. He leaned down and pulled Ribyna into a tight hug once again. “I’ll come get you tomorrow, then? Once I’ve got myself sorted out. And... thanks, Beebs. For everything.”

Ribyna patted Fahjoth bracingly on the back as she returned a loving squeeze. “Don’t mention it. Now go get some sleep, dickhead!”

Taking his mazte with a laugh, Fahjoth waved once more to Ribyna before ascending the cornerclub’s stairs and ambling out into the clear night. Every inch of him still ached something fierce, but Fahjoth didn’t mind as much now, uplifted by the thought that whatever lay ahead, he didn’t have to face it alone.

#oc: fahjoth #oc: ribyna #caius cosades #tes #tes fic #morrowind #dunmer #dunmer oc #nerevarine #elder scrolls #elder scrolls fanfiction #tes iii: morrowind

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watayaaratamblr · 3 years

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Chihayafuru chapter 226 [long] impressions:

This is more of "everything that went through my mind while reading every page of the chapter"

naturally, gonna be super ..like SUPER long.

1) Shinobu in her fine Kimono was happy or proud? What are the flowers around her? Who knows, we only know that anything they might symbolize is already clear on her face and pose. She played a very strong opponent, she had “special” fun and she won. Only one remaining win and she will preserve her title for the 4th year in a row. Chihaya on the other hand was lost… She did everything she could “come up with” but she still couldn’t win any of the two matches… maybe “come up with something new” was her mistake? Could it be that it’s impossible to defeat the queen in her world, should Chihaya bring her out instead, Chihaya probably didn’t even thought of this because she is completely lost, she worked very hard and her hard work paid off somehow but it is not enough Chihaya seems unable to have any fun; it’s all about needing to win for some reason, why the passionate Chihaya feels so far away?

2) Arata is shook! He is no longer seeing the Meijin in front of him, he is rather calling Chihaya’s name! On the Meijin board we can see 4 poems, (one was shown clearer behind Hiro who was confused with Arata’s sudden distraction; Sudo also noticed and wondered + the 4 poems seem all on Suo’s side?)

30/Ariake no: the poet expresses his hate for dawns after he had to part from his lover at a dawn with a moon that looked so cold and indifferent. 76/Watanohara-ko: This is the second “Arata” poem (as it starts with the word WATA). The poet describes white waves rolling onward which can be mistaken for the white clouds up in the heavens. 20/ Wabi nureba: a consuming passion poem in which the poet tells the woman he loves that he is willing to sacrifice everything to continue their relationship and that he will go meet her despite the heavy price he knows he will have to pay. 74/ Ukari keru: The poet is in distress because the lady he loves is cold to him and his prayers to be happy with her were futile.

The choice of these poems might be clarified when the cards are read but (because Suo seems shadowed somehow and the focus is on Arata), we can still think that they are about Arata’s feelings and what he wants to do about Chihaya’s state now and how she will treat him after her loss .. She already turned her head away from him after her 1st loss, she avoided him, and now she lost again and Arata who is in love with her is really worried.

3) Arata assesses the situation, Chihaya has 2 losses which will put a great pressure on her for the next games and give Shinobu the chance to be more relaxed. The image of Chihaya’s back when she rushed out with her hand on her face as if she was crying was so strong for Arata, the background intensifies what he felt, he was really worried and repeating her name while sweating (dunno if this was intentional, but he wasn’t sweating before he noticed Chihaya (on ch225)) On the other hand, Suo was still completely focused.

4) 78/Awaji shima: was read and Arata was late. Suo took it

This poem tells about the sleepless nights of a guard at some gate caused by the cries of the plover birds crossing the place known as an exile (the plover is also used to symbolize winter) so this poem might invoke the feelings of loneliness and nostalgia.

65/Urami wabi: was the next one and Arata was also late, the difference is now only 1 card. Sudo was cheering for Suo and wandering if a luck of the draw will be the fate of this game. Arata was taken aback!

The poet of Urami wabi is a lady who is separated from her husband so she felt resentment to him, she cried and her sleeves were always wet but what concerned her more was her reputation tainted because of her failed relationship.

These two poems didn’t appear on the board (because only the upper part was showing) but 78 was on Arata’s side & 65 was on Suo’s. The fact that 78 was the poem read to pull Arata out of his thoughts and keep him focused on his match makes me see it as the plover birds keeping the guard from going to sleep. It can also hint at the distraction itself, if sleep is what we do at night but the plovers prevent it, then Arata should focus on his game but his worry for Chihaya also prevents it, so his feelings or Chihaya’s state is the plovers. As for 65, I can’t think of many possible reasons but it might be the “reputation” part, maybe it’s a hint at Arata’s “name” as the “grandchild of eternal meijin Wataya Hajime” that everyone was eager to see through him which might soon be challenged.

5) Murao & Kuriyama wondered what happened to Arata after he achieved such good result till now. Suo had his eyes glued to the Tatami, his aunt was there, he knew but he didn’t try to look. Arata’s club-mates explained that this was a sign of Suo’s strength: he would use the least of your mistakes like losing your focus for even a sec. Riza specifically was very nervous. Arata started to revise what was read and what wasn’t. he kept good track of all read and unread cards, including the dead cards (Taichi was always praised when he did this but now that Arata is doing it, it feels normal and so like him, I believe we all know that Arata is stronger, Taichi showed us the process to arrive there but Arata was the first to arrive there, he definitely passed by most what Taichi experienced.). With this review, Arata knows what he can use his cross sweep on: Wabi & Wata-ko. Ariake is the 3rd remaining card on Tatami (besides the two above & the thress are drawn earlier on the board) but there are also 3 A cards not read yet (dead cards) which are 58/Arima+ 39/Asaji+ 64/Asaborake-u, Arata expects that Suo will wait to make sure of the 3rd syllable. Arata was worried & his grandpa’s ghost came to support him like Taichi and Harada’s ghost too, Hajime analyzed Suo before and he noticed that he wasn’t good with the cards on the outer edge of his own formation, this is something Hajime noticed back when he was alive and sane, was it like 5 years ago? So is Suo’s condition worse than back then?

6) Hajime’s teachings calmed Arata a bit, he is ready to fight again (he moves so handsomely), those where only words told to him by his mentor, but he is also a real deal, his body is ready, his hands are used to attack, he practiced enough to be able to go under his opponent’s hand to take a card, luckily an ‘A’ card on Suo’s side was read, Arata attacked and he practiced enough to be able to protect that card until the kimariji is decided (also Suo didn’t practice enough to know how to break that defense, it was a card on the edge of his playing field too, but there are only 3 cards left, so he could commit it to his memory as Arata said before on ch 223, the most important thing is memorization, having a card in your sight Then committing it to your memory, you’ll be able to see it even with closed eyes and Arata played like that before when he couldn’t find his glasses)

7) 30/Ariake is the one read, Arata put his hand on it when he made sure and Suo couldn’t find a way to it. Among the 4 poems initially shown on the board, this one was read. Who does it refer to? (if it does). Who is the unpitying moon? who parted with what? who feels longing for what? I can’t really think of an answer and I can’t even tell if there is an answer to begin with. But, it might have something to do with the idea of “committing the card to memory after sight” because when this principle was explained on 223, this card was among the ones shown around Arata & Suo. Arata’s family members where happy contrary to Suo’s family members.. These two panels made me think that in these matches between these two, the families of the players are as involved as the players themselves. (And Akira looks more surprised than happy, maybe he still doesn’t realize how his own words back at the hotel are true: “Arata, you are strong”.) The commentator confirmed the greatness of Arata’s move and there was a suspicious man behind him LOL (why was this man drawn there?)

8) Arata’s cover seems to be a high level one too, this is all Arata’s Karuta because he is the one using his body for it. Suo now seems in danger like Chihaya. Kuriyama & Murao are overjoyed and Arata went out with rather an indifferent face? there are no signs of relief or happiness, he looks rather lost in thoughts.. I was thinking that Suo acknowledged Arata’s strength (that beat him), but for some reason and contrary to Harada sensei, it’s not only “I don’t want to play anyone who is not strong”, he seems like he doesn’t even want to play this strong Arata, even when Kyoko tan who gives him enough motivation to play, he still couldn’t bring himself to use enough strength to defeat Arata…it’s like he is disappointed, he wants something else from him that Arata isn’t showing him… Anyway, Arata now doesn’t even look tired or invested in his win in any way.

9) Now he looks surprised, is it because he can’t see Chihaya anywhere? the half black & half white background was used before and in my case, it represents “Confusion”. In addition to the blush, Arata makes a completely unrelated face with the one he made after he won, it’s like the moment he came outside, he became someone else, or better, he was someone else but the moment he came out, he became himself again (can we then take the blush as an “Arata is himself” sign & its disappearance as a “Hajime mode” sign? XD) The SFX isn’t BAM right? because who is still taking cards? According to Google, it’s rather (バツ/ turn suddenly); And seeing Kana searching for her confirmed that she was nowhere around so he went to look for her right away, even before he reports his win and gives back the cards. (he looked like an old man in the 3rd panel lol) and in the 4th, he looked very concerned for Chihaya suddenly sweating and turning around in a hurry. Kana’s way of searching was by shouting loudly everywhere, while Arata’s reflects more of his personality and I like it, he won’t do random things, he goes to the places where she might be, calmly & silently.. I really love this. So he asks around, the bathroom was a good place to look in but she wasn’t there (and he was so amusing being all shy but asking anyway) These few panels tell me more about Arata’s character; he really is used to take matters into his hands. He didn’t go to ask Kana when was the last time Chihaya was seen and where etc. he didn’t approach those who were already searching for her, he went to do it himself. I already said that, but I guess, his parents & his family conditions made him this way. he couldn’t get support, he was rather the one asked to help so he learnt not to ask for help and to take care of things himself instead. The outside was the last place to look in, is it because Arata was more intuitive that he could find her before Kana who was already searching before he even finished his match? Who knows, but I certainly see Arata as a reliable guy, he always was and he is also now. And there she was, Chihaya was crouching on the cold snow…

10) Arata stuttered like usual before he gets Chihaya’s name out; A whole page just to tell us Arata found Chihaya crying desperately in the snow and her bare feet were red from cold. No special backgrounds, no hinting no indirect messages, it’s all snow and white and they were the only ones there. Arata put his hand on her back casually then lowered his head to see her face (imagining this in slow motion is so warm) and then noticed her freezing toes..

11) As Arata noticed Chihaya’s feet, he held her up on his shoulder, no blushing, no shyness, no hesitation, no clumsiness, his familiar self was buried and Chihaya is what matters now! Arata is strong! He is 177cm and weighs 65kgs while Chihaya is 167 and weighs 54kgs, not much difference right? And this wasn’t the 1st time he carries her, He did before when she fainted in her 1st nationals, he carried her bridal style, now it’s an OTS carry (yep, read about this on TV tropes and they gave it an abbreviation lol “Over The Shoulder carry”) Chihaya was surprised but her focus soon was turned to the box of cards that Arata dropped while carrying her, She started to apologize, she certainly sees the cards as living humans now, Arata wasn’t as concerned, she was 1st for him and everything will come after. When the box fell, 4 poems were revealed:

6/kasassagi no: The misty bridge between distant lovers that will bring them together for sure. 51/Kaku to dani: This is about a fierce love that the poet feels burning inside him but doesn’t know how to express it to the woman he loves. 26/Ogurayama: The poet tries to invite an emperor to visit a certain pretty place that his father visited before and he wished his son would come to see it too. He uses the maple leaves to express the felt desire & longing to see the emperor-son. And half shown, 72/Oto ni kiku: it’s about the known waves of "Takashi beach" that the poet doesn’t want to approach not to wet her sleeve, but it’s actually about her not trusting the invitation she got from a man and fearing a love affair that will end in tears, this poem can be used to express avoiding something not to get hurt by it…

Again, none can say for sure why exactly these poems but I strongly believe that they are a hint. And for me, they are saying something about the relationship between Chihaya & Arata (they are a love story!!).

Looking back on the history of poem 6, we can expect that Suetsugu is going back to the idea of "there is a distance between Chihaya & Arata which is like the distance of the two legendary lovers Orihime & Hikoboshi" but this time, Arata is the one who is preoccupied with this distance more... Kaku to dani: needless to say, this is about Arata’s feelings for Chihaya, they are burning again because Chihaya needs something to cheer her up so he needs to convey them somehow. Ogurayama: I believe this is about the maple leaves carrying Arata’s feelings. Even if he doesn’t try to show it or be vocal about it, even though he used his phone only 3 times to send something to Chihaya (was only a msg through Taichi, then a message to her & Taichi and finally a call-what a progress lol), but he longs for her and wants her to be happy like how the emperor would have felt if he came to see those pretty crimson maple leaves. He wants his feelings to make Chihaya happy somehow. And the half-shown Oto ni kiku is about fear of love and tears. This is about Chihaya who isn’t allowing herself to be involved with love yet! there is something she feels lacking which is necessary before she lets herself love and I believe it’s the thing making her turn her head away from Arata ..

Then Chihaya realized, then looked at Arata’s head, he won his much! he now has 2 wins and one more win and he will achieve the dream he shared with her, the kinda promise: “this weekend, let’s make our 1st dream the reality”

12) Then Chihaya cried, helplessly. She congratulated Arata through her tears but she was rather miserable… It’s so hard to be happy for him right? this is not a win which will be enough to get by either him OR her, whichever happens should be good if they are friends right? but no, this is about her!! I have a feeling that if Chihaya won & Arata not, she wouldn’t be very sad for him.. There is something telling me that Chihaya is only scared of being left behind by Arata, as long as he doesn’t, she will be fine, but if he does, she will feel devastated. this is such a strong word, but I mean it.

13) And she voiced a bit of her concern, she was afraid she can never win, even though she lost only by 3 cards, personally, I’ll think that from 7 cards to 3, I can make it in the next game, but Chihaya seems to think that the strongest she can be is the way she was in this second game, then she can only get close to Shinobu that much, not to lose with more than 3 cards. Arata was surprised; maybe he never thought she could lose hope? or maybe he is confused how she can say so when he believes that she can win against Shinobu.. And ofc, before he says anything Kana & Tamaru finally found Chihaya. Kana is as wary of Arata as ever, the n°1 Taichiha shipper. But apparently, she didn’t see Arata bringing Chihaya from outside, she saw only when he put her down and that looked “too close” for her and “hurry up, let’s go to your waiting room, it’s like she is saving her from Arata.. While our gentleman was putting Chihaya down so carefully while looking at her feet whether they are fine or not.

14) Kana is indeed a typical Taichiha shipper, I have seen it a lot, no matter what Arata does, he is always a target for hate or at least disdain. Approaching Chihaya is a big no for them let alone take caring of her. I tried to laugh at this panel, I thought that sensei really is referring to those fans, she might have wanted it to be a comical moment but it’s not. What I saw is that, again, Kana is putting Taichi & herself before Chihaya & it sucks. Arata didn’t even notice her though, thankfully, all he could see was Chihaya, the painful face she was making & her tears (The background of confusion as I call it).. Arata suddenly took us for another rare moment inside his stubbornly concealed heart, the clumsy guy who seems shallow & insensitive to lot of readers.. Chihaya’s weight alone made him look so deep into her and see so much…She is unfamiliar to him, he didn’t get to learn earlier about her everything, but in every second he is given, we saw him pay a lot of attention and see her with more than his eyes. Chihaya’s tears meant that she worked so hard and that didn’t pay off, she wouldn’t have cried this much otherwise. And he can already learn that much about her by just imagining what he wasn’t there to witness, she worked so so hard. Looking at his hands (Chihaya was there lol), he looked so deep in thought, but he remembered the cards he left on the snow..

15) He rushed to bring them but his thoughts were full of Chihaya and how to cheer for her, Arata acknowledged her strength, she is an amazing strong player who can really defeat Shinobu (he seems to believe he can also defeat Suo).but he is not good at communicating his feelings & thoughts, he is clumsy & he knows it..so will he hide his clumsiness to look cool like Taichi does most of the time? No, that wasn’t what Arata thinking, he was rather wondering about a way to make her know what might save her.. He took the cards getting now wet from the snow, he took 77/SE while he was wondering.. “Se” is about the separated ones who will certainly meet again.. it’s like Arata feels a boulder blocking his thoughts and feelings from reaching her and he wants to find a way to bypass it & reach her. “Se” has always been a special card for Arata and it is because of Chihaya..

16) It was the 1st card Chihaya took from him and he already got it back from her in their match but for Arata, SE is more than that. It’s the card that started Chihaya’s journey in Karuta. and Arata is confident that he is the only one who knows, and he is confident that the level she showed in her match with him is the highest she reached, or the highest anyone can reach, or at least, if she is defeated by Shinobu in 2 matches today and was already defeated by her in ch169 then it’s a level she didn’t go to again after her match with him and she still can do it. Arata’s head was really full of Chihaya, he is so focused on her that he totally forgot he too is where he worked to be for so many years, longer and maybe even harder than Chihaya herself (for almost 12 years, more than half of his life, no it’s 2 thirds of his life!!!), so the Murao twins came to remind him of what he forgot since the match ended, of the Meijin title & his grandpa. Only one other win to be were Hajime Wataya seems to have wanted Arata to be (or at least that’s what Arata thought)

17) Yep, Hajime is telling him to focus, to forget about Chihaya & concentrate on him & his goal. “Se” was shown again with the words “the mejin title”, is that the boulder separating the stream of the river?

18) Arata placed Se back on top of the cards in the box next to another card:

18/Su mi no e no: This poem is about hiding from people’s gaze when going to meet the lover, trying to avoid exposure even in dreams.. Doesn’t it suit the moment perfectly? when the twins came to remind Arata of the Meijin title and his status, he hid “SE” (representing also his feelings for Chihaya) in the box, it’s like how the poet who is an aristocrat from the great Fujiwara family (Fujiwara men are known to choose their wives in the family) is afraid of being exposed.

Arata closed the box, it’s also like “Se” keeps him the real Arata (he said that he lacked love to be himself, so maybe Se is his love poem to Chihaya, his love saves him regardless of whether she reciprocates it or not contrary to Taichi, his love always hurt him, like a curse) The Karuta officials are the happiest for Arata’s win it seems, he pleased them, he revived Wataya Hajime for them again, they are blessed, for them, it’s all about them & Hajime it seems, Arata isn’t really seen for who he is… Arata remembered when that man told him that because Arata’s Karuta is exactly like Hajime’s, he was able to see Wataya sensei again. Back then Arata cried, he said that he really loves Karuta.. Could it now turn into a curse? because it’s too much? Because he is losing himself? because he is not seen? Why was Arata happy back then? and is the reason weaker than any probable desire now to be seen for who he is?

19) Suo was upset! His dear aunt that he didn’t meet for 8 years suddenly came all the way from Kyushu to see him, but he wasn’t happy..He lost two games but he doesn’t seem worried about that... Yukiko was kind and looks like the sweets are a family thing? Sudo is confused (he is amusing when he is like that) & Suo’s cousin is more impressed because Suo had lot of female friends lol Suo was nervous, he wanted to ask how and why they were suddenly there but he stuttered and According to Yukiko chan’s answer, we learn that Suo developed the habit of soft talking after he quit Kyushu.

20) After 8 years of separation, she wanted to touch the boy she loved so much and cared immensely for, maybe it’s because she can’t see him well too, but she failed to reach his face, she couldn’t see well, and Suo felt so hurt, but like anyone else with pride, his reaction was based on his suffering not on hers. And instead of being hurt herself, she rather was worried about him, why would he be cruel to her unless he too is suffering from her same illness.

21) The whole conversation in this page feels weird. Suo raised his voice from frustration and these relatives didn’t try to listen to him before. The cousin rather teased him about his loss as if it’s nothing, (he highlighted the fact that Arata is a youngster too) And Yukiko’s answer was soething I didn’t expect! She doesn’t seem to care much about the Meijin thing, she rather looked hopeful (notice the sudden blush), she thought that if Suo is no longer Meijin then he can go back home. What was even more surprising is that Suo looked agitated but his answer wasn’t what I expected, he asn’t worried that his title doesn’t see precious that his relatives would want him to keep, he was rather worried that what they are offering is impossible because he grew up to become a stranger and going back to his home is impossible.

22) Seems that Suo would consider his home any place Yukiko owns, but he knew that she didn’t own the house she told him to go back to. (isn’t this a reason to work harder in univ then get a job and buy a house to bring Yukiko to live with him instead?) The cousin got angry because things like these aren’t considered in a warm loving family where elderly are respected and considered owners before what papers say.. Suo didn’t seem to want to listen, and he left hurriedly causing his condition to beclearer to his aunt as he bumped with many things in his way out. (BACKGROUND of confusion in the last panel)

23) Still, Suo couldn’t leave before knowing why they suddenly came. and the description was so easy to tell him who, Suo realized it right away, the boy with big eyes who would wish for Suo’s family to come watch him (because he is incredible & wants his family to know that? or bc he pities him?) The boy with big eyes was “Mashima kun” they called him this many times, now they didn’t mention the name, I wonder how Sudou would have felt if he knew? would he realize that Taichi really got the closest to Suo, somewhere he couldn’t go?

24) Chitose left, Chihaya’s mom knew but didn’t understand why, Kana, tsukuba & Nishida stayed out of the room while Chihaya, Tamaru, Namida, Sumire & the last boy from Mizusawa that went to Shiranami were all inside, Kana told the mom it’s better to stay out and those inside were all experiencing the reason lol Ah no, Namida was doing great, he is such positive and hard working boy, he is not wasting his time by being afraid or nervous, he is taking notes instead! Chihaya is the most nervous because she is the reason Harada sensei is furious. Harada never taught Chihaya to send back a card because the opponent will place it again in its original place that they remember well (and we know that Chihaya sent it to provoke Shinobu -see ch222), provocative Karuta based on the knowledge of what Shinobu hates and the cards she won’t place next to each other was Watarai’s teaching.

25) Yep, Shiranami’s way is to target the opponent’s memorization as much as possible, Shiranai members are scared of Harada but can’t deny that he is right, he is a great teacher, has a good experience in Karuta and in teaching, maybe them being present here to hear & learn is the biggest proof. Chihaya also didn’t lift her head, she knew he was totally right, she can’t think that losing was because she was unlucky in front of the strongest queen, it’s because of those small mistakes she allowed herself to make.

26) Harada’s words kept hitting hard for Chihaya. Maybe he didn’t say that she was wrong, she learnt a new way in 2 months but she already had a strong way that she could fortify in these 2 months too.. Chihaya focused on Shinobu’s cards and neglected her own? isn’t this beneficial for an offensive Karuta player? I don’t get it well But Harada didn’t understand much of Chihaya’s new method either and he was honest & fair, he acknowledged what Chihaya still achieved: she got a strong reaction from Shinobu. Did Shinobu’s smile mean that she wasn’t indifferent with Chihaya? that she enjoyed the “strong” opponent? Harada told Chihaya that Shinobu seems to have enjoyed her match with her like she enjoyed her match with Arata which means that Chihaya played at Arata’s level back then and that is an achievement!

27) He smiled to her to make her feel better, because she really did great by learning new strong weapons in 2 months.. And now it’s time for the 3rd game. at this point, we don’t really know if Chihaya was better? if she calmed down? While Arata seems to be still in his grandpa mode, (he looks really like an old man here, calm and silent, he wasn’t like in the 1st break And he was completely the opposite of his father who was so energetic and very satisfied with Yuu’s gift, a design with the word “TOP” inspiring more will to do one’s best to reach the top! Akira seems quite fond of Yuu (I am too), she was admitted to her school of choice & he is happy for her, the Watayas talk so familiarly about her like she is really a close relative except Arata…

28) Akira is really hard to deal with, he does whatever he wants and he is very fond of Yuu. Asking for Arata’s phone to call her & thank her, Arata rejected any try to involve him in this mess (he didn’t even react when Akira said that he will make up a lie and say that Arata was touched because of her gift, Yuu would have probably known it’s a lie because Arata wouldn’t react like that… But it’s IC if he does for Chihaya right?), he was trying his best to focus, he didn’t show any enthusiasm about Yuu; Her, his father, the food or anything of the sort couldn’t break his grandpa mode. And finally, Taichi’s message was discovered, Arata didn’t want to read anything before his game but knowing it’s about Taichi, would that be still the case?

29) Arata stopped! getting a message from Taichi who didn’t come to watch made him really stop, Taichi is really special to Arata. And turning back he found Chihaya there too, she heard what Akira said & her face showed surprise!.

30) Chihaya seemed lost in her desperation, she didn’t say a word she just turned quickly wishing to find something for her too from Taichi, she needed him, when Taichi was around he could somehow find a way to make things better and she needs it now because she is not fine, Harada’s words didn’t seem to heal her fully, she sighed when she didn’t find anything.. Arata was confused (the BACKGROUND), and when Chihaya saw him she blushed & turned her head away in embarrassment, Arata lifted her suddenly earlier and she didn’t have time to do this back then. Why? if it was because Taichi now then what about the 1st time? It wasn’t because of Taichi, it was because she looked weak in front of Arata. Chihaya has always worked hard to reach him, to become someone who can meet his passion, to be worth sitting across him in Karuta.. but she kept losing where he kept winning, he was always ahead and she could never arrive there. Chihaya was embarrassed of her weak self who showed more weakness and dependence of Taichi’s help, it’s like she can’t go anywhere without his support… Arata knew that wasn’t true. Akira asked again if Arata wanted to look at Taichi’s message and Chihaya passed him just now without a word (and Kana still looked at him sideway lol) …so many distractions, Hajime Wataya’s voice was calling him again to focus, just a bit more & he’ll be the Meijin, that’s all he was about after all right?

31) NOT RIGHT!!! That wasn’t all Arata was about, not for those who care to look at him properly! Arata wasn’t worried about being ditched, or about what Taichi’s message might contain, he rather remembered when Chihaya showed him her special bond with Taichi that day when she crushed him.. This was good reason to feel jealous or upset but that’s not who Arata was… He took Chihaya’s hand and disobeyed his grandpa’s words!

32) Arata’s face looks desperate trying to reach Chihaya to make her see the truth he believes about her, she can defeat Shinobu & he means it, he knows her strength too and he could compare, he knows when Chihaya was the strongest and how Taichi is the last piece in what Chihaya fought for and became the strongest… The blush on Arata’s face says how much he wanted to make it through to her, how many times does Arata show emotions? the calm and collected guy, what does it mean when he shows such face? “You shouldn’t go play with Shinobu chan in her arena” Harada sensei pointed out Chihaya’s mistakes but he didn’t show her a way to follow, it’s like he no longer has an advice for her, he gave her everything he got and when she strayed from his path he reminded her, but that’s all, And Arata’s advice was something else, like a Karuta expert, he knew what to tell Chihaya, even though he didn’t watch her matches or maybe he did? because he didn’t seem in a pinch in his own vs Suo, maybe he got time to look sometimes…

33) Arata really had what to say, and Chihaya listened because what she heard was useful. She wanted o go where the lonely Shinobu is but she couldn’t face everything in that world and she came out leaving a still lonely Shinobu inside, Arata tells her to bring Shinobu outside instead, to show her the wonderful things outside that can give Chihaya the same strength as Shinobu, something she might want to come out to get? Chihaya saw an illusion for the calm Queen, the plant in the frame was always used for Shinobu too and it seems (and I’m not sure) that Suetsugu uses it for Shinobu who is Shinobu and not the Queen.

34) Chihaya found Arata’s words interesting, that was some good technical support but she had to think more to find her arena Though, Arata wouldn’t let her, he gives her now the emotional support, he knew Chihaya needed Taichi (not the person, but at least sensing his presence in what he left) so he decided to give her that, anything she needs, he wouldn’t be jealous or needy or immature, he put her 1st and I admire the way he loves even more!

35) Everyone saw what Arata wanted to show, it wasn’t a secret or personal message to Chihaya, and Taichi is the captain of Mizusawa, he pushed that team, and Arata brought it to push it again. Arata persisted bc he knew very well how much Chihaya values Taichi & her team, he didn’t need to be there for 3 years to know, he is very attentive and intuitive too and looks at Chihaya really properly!.

36/37) Arata’s words were moving to all Mizusawa members, they all blushed emotionally, and Chihaya cried, maybe because she missed this or maybe because she somehow betrayed it by forgetting it and not working for her team like she said she would before…(this chapter looks so direct, no BACKGROUNDs, no shoujo effects)

38) Arata held Chihaya’s hand so gently (I wonder why sensei drew this panel, it’s totally unnecessary for anything other than highlighting Arata’s love (romantic love because I can’t imagine him do this to Yuu if she ever goes through something like this)) He mentions his loss to her as something big which is a compliment to Chihaya & an acknowledgement of her strength & level. He says it with no embarrassment because her win was well deserved (I want to see Taichi make a confession like this to Arata). And Mizusawa captain was strong because she played for her team, she used all she had for them… so Chihaya again, only has to play her own Karuta, this is the opposite of what Chihaya told Arata in his match against Harada, she told him to play like someone else.. Amusing!

39) In Shinobu’s waiting room, Shinobu was acting like a child, so carefree; she only has 1 remaining win to keep her title after all. She also seems so close with Kokoro chan now (Kokoro called her Shinobu without “chan” or anything, it implies so much familiarity right?) also Shinobu is a bad example it seems lol. Though Kokoro mentions something that might be a hint to Shinobu’s next loss (a 3rd game is tiresome). And then when Shinobu was about to get up, something was off, she felt something but she didn’t see what it was? Kokoro asked but she didn’t answer? Chihaya was shown right after that still having her tears while Arata kept explaining what he wanted to say, like he himself does, he gave her an image he knows will push her to win, she had to think that she is playing in a team tournament, her team is losing, they have two losses and 0 wins, now the remaining 3 members should all win at all costs and Chihaya will play the role of the three players, it’s like when they played in the finals of last year’s high school team tournament vs Fujisaki where both Tsukuba & Tsukue kun lost and Chihaya, Taichi & Nishida felt the responsibility to win each their game, Taichi was the one who voiced this desire 1st (ch81). (That was the game Chihaya felt upset because Arata told her that he didn’t care for teams and now, he is showing her the opposite of what she feared back then, he treasures "teams" & knows exactly how important one is for any member.)

40) And Arata impersonated Taichi for Chihaya! He should have felt jealous, he already experienced that feeling and wanted to be the one Chihaya sees, but now & for her sake, he accepted Taichi and even revived him in her memory to get as much strength from that as she needs. He wasn't there but he must have known Taichi would say that for Chihaya so he reminded her of it for her sake instead of being selfish & feeling miserable or jealous (reminds me of when Chihaya hid in the closet after she lost, the way Taichi brought up Arata’s name all miserable & helpless, he couldn’t forget about himself for a bit for Chihaya contrary to Arata even though he didn’t have anything to be confident about, Chihaya was closer to Taichi, she cared for him so much, she showed him this care in front of his eyes, he had every reason to feel threatened but he didn’t, Chihaya mattered more than that to him …)

#Chihayafuru #arata wataya #wataya arata #ayase chihaya #wataya hajime #Harada Hideo #chapter_impressions

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disneydreamlights · 4 years

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Across the Stars: Chapter 7

AO3 | FFN

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Summary: Tensions between the Separatists and the Republic are climbing as the Senate debates whether there is need for an army. Anakin Skywalker, Senator of Tatooine, has recently returned to Coruscant to speak against its formation, resulting in an assassination attempt that forces him to reunite with long time friends Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and the newly knighted Padme Naberrie for his own protection. [Anidala]

A/N: Even in the wake of a hacked tumblr and election I’m absolutely avoiding social media until it’s over, I’ll always make sure to post my chapter on my blog as per usual. (Although I recommend reading from either AO3 or ffn this week just until I’m sure my account is clear and not about to make you spread sunglasses propaganda.) I don’t say this often, but thank you all for sticking with me on this project this far, and please take care of yourself in the coming days!

The chariot carried Anakin and Padmé into the arena, set up to allow the thousands of Geonosians and the Separatists leaders to watch the execution that would be coming, the battle between Anakin, Padmé, and whatever threats they might be forced to face. Her death was coming, it wasn't hard for her to believe that, but in spite of that, she wasn't quite bothered, almost feeling like she was floating as Anakin held her hand clasped in his.

A soft smile formed on her face as she thought back to it, even if they were being carted to their deaths. They were going to die anyways, there was no point in not indulging in this tiny, little thing that she could.

Besides, she had one more idea. As they arrived into the center of the arena, Padmé dropped Anakin's hand and reached into her hair, pulling at one of the pins she used to keep it from falling into her face to attempt to open the handcuffs binding her hands. It was her only idea really, otherwise there would be no survival.

...If she was honest, the chances of her survival were low anyways, but if she could do anything to improve those odds, she would. Anakin spared her a confused glance, but she refused to elaborate out of fear that the guards might notice. If they took the pin from her, she'd be as good as dead anyways. Rather than state the true reason she'd hidden her pin, she instead tilted her head towards the pillars in the area, which held Obi-Wan in an attempt to keep him from escaping his pending execution. He was probably having about as much fun as they were.

"I was beginning to wonder if you got my message." Their rescue hadn't taken that long, had it? Padmé rolled her eyes at Obi-Wan.

"We got it, and so did the Jedi Council." Padmé smiled.

"And they let you come to rescue me with the Senator?" Obi-Wan asked, his glance at Anakin as he got chained to his pillar as well.

"No, but I wasn't about to hang around on Tatooine while you were in danger." Anakin gave the two of them a grin, and it took everything in Padmé's power not to hit the back of her head on the pillar she was being chained to.

"The Senator and I decided to try to rescue you, without the council's full permission." She smiled.

Obi-Wan appraised the situation for a moment, before offering a sarcastic, "Good job." To the two of them.

"Don't worry, I have a plan." It was a half baked plan, not her best nor favorite move, but nobody could say that she wasn't good at improvising, at least. They hadn't noticed the pin. Which was all she'd needed.

"I hope it's a good one." Before she could reply to Obi-Wan more, she heard the distinctive sound of the Geonosian language echoing throughout the arena, followed by cheering. While she, admittedly, didn't speak it, she had a feeling it was a welcome to the execution they were watching.

She got her answer moments later as three creatures entered the arena. She didn't really have a full idea of what they were, just that they were not something she wanted to mess with, that much was certain. One of them, a large horned beast, turned its attention towards Anakin. A second, one that looked almost insect-like, approached Obi-Wan, and that left the third for herself. Not wanting to get acquainted with these creatures, Padmé dropped the pin into her mouth, and started using it to pick at the lock connected to her left hand. She only needed one. Her creature started prowling towards her, like a Loth Cat stalking its prey, but she didn't have time to contemplate that. She focused just a little more on the handcuff around her and…

Click

The handcuff released her left hand, and she grabbed the pin from her mouth. She could worry about the second one later. "I see, so that was your plan."

"The start of my plan." Padmé smiled at Obi-Wan, and worked at pulling herself up to the top of the pillar. She needed to get away, and get a better vantage of the battle that would occur so she could plan how to defend herself until she could get a weapon. And then she'd have a much easier time fighting them off. The creature that was chasing her, some kind of spiked, feline beast, clawed at the pillar, but was unable to climb it easily, buying Padmé a fair bit of time to take in the struggles of her fellow captives and work at her second hand cuff.

Obi-Wan was doing alright so far. The strange insectoid creature he was facing off against had sliced through the chain holding him to the pillar and he was ducking around to avoid being sliced by the sharp blades that made up its front two legs. Anakin was ducking around his creature, but aside from that had little luck. She cursed herself for not trying to take advantage of their week alone to teach him more than the half baked lightsaber lesson and meditation session, but she had been trying to avoid falling in love with him, so she gave herself credit for even that. As the horned creature ran towards him, Padmé used the Force to give him an edge, levitating him above it and dropping him on the thing. As it ran, it pulled Anakin's cuffs out of the pillar, likely buying him some time, at least for now.

She returned to her own cuffs, now noting that Anakin was doing alright and continued working at the second one. Seconds later, the cuff was off, and she was free, and not a moment too soon. The Force gave her a warning and she shifted as a sharp pain spread across her back. Her feline foe had managed to scratch her, and had she moved seconds later, it was likely the attack would have been more severe. Before it could attack again, she swung her cuffs at it, knocking it back onto the ground and buying her a bit more time.

There had to be some way off of this pillar. She glanced around. The guards had weapons. If she made the jump, she could outsmart one of them and steal it, and then use that to her advantage to keep the creature away until she could secure some form of path to the exit. Then once the exit was made available, the three of them could fight their way out of the arena.

It was a slim chance, a stupid plan if she was honest, but there wasn't any better options for her to take. Besides, Obi-Wan seemed to have the same idea as he ran at the Geonosians for a weapon.

She kneeled down, readying herself to jump and launch as far as she could, when the pillar shook. She looked down to see Anakin grinning as he'd used his creature to knock her own to the side. "Need a ride?"

She jumped down, pressing a small kiss to his cheek. "Perfect timing, Ani."

"I try my best." He smirked, turning to Padmé. "You have a plan?"

"Get me one of their weapons. Then I can fight my way out." He nodded, and used the chains around his arms to spur the beast onward. Before they could get far, Padmé felt a wave of distress ripple through the Force, the source of which being her master, who was now once more weaponless, the remains of the spear he had stolen lay in pieces at the insectoid creature's feet. If Padmé had to guess, the thing was stronger than it looked.

"Anakin." She pulled at Anakin's sleeve, getting his attention. "Obi-Wan needs our help."

Anakin smirked. "Looks like I'm just saving everybody today." She rolled her eyes at the cocky comment, but said nothing so he could focus on the rescue for now. He steered their ride into Obi-Wan's direction, and Obi-Wan jumped on behind her so the three of them were all together to get an escape.

Anakin turned towards the entrance. "Do you still need a weapon, or is this guy enough?" He pet the creature gently, surprising Padmé.

"Go. Just go." She had a new plan, a better one as she saw that the creature was one hundred percent listening to Anakin. If they could ride it out of the arena, they could escape that way. It was a better plan than using a wooden weapon, and they could probably get to the ship with no issues so long as they made it…

Unfortunately, things never really went as planned. Rather than ride out of the arena, they were stopped, not by Geonosians who they could scare out of the way, but by battle droids, an army of them surrounded them and the beast, halting them in their tracks and keeping them from finding a way out. Anakin cursed, likely something in Huttese, and Padmé was tempted to as well. They wouldn't be escaping this, not easily, anyways.

"Any more ideas?" Padmé shook her head and deferred to Obi-Wan, who seemed to be at about as much of a loss as he was.

"I am impressed with your tenacity thus far." Dooku's voice boomed over the arena. "But I'm afraid your escape ends here."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." If Padmé didn't know any better, she'd swear the second voice that appeared was Master Windu.

For a moment, things were tense, and into the arena from the walls and all exits was a group of Jedi, quite possible, the largest amount Padmé had seen since exiting the temple. Almost every member of the council, and most of the knights she had encountered in her time in the temple were there, and a mass of blue and green lights, each from a lightsaber, surrounded them.

A tension pervaded the arena, and it felt like everybody was waiting with baited breath for the conversation between Master Windu and Count Dooku. As though a treaty of some form could be reached between the Jedi Master and the former Jedi, the Republic and the Separatists. One final chance to turn back from the precipice they were on and stop this war.

Peace didn't come. Master Windu jumped off the ledge of the balcony he had been on, the Geonosians began flying around the arena in a frenzy to escape, and the gathered Jedi started running, lightsabers in hand as they charged against the arriving battle droids, thousands of identical, copper, droids swarmed, firing their blasters at every angle.

Somebody in the mess threw lightsabers at Padmé and Obi-Wan, and the two caught them, freeing Anakin and Obi-Wan both from their restraints using the new lightsabers, Padmé's now a brilliant green, and Obi-Wan's now a bright blue. They jumped off of the horned creature and were off, falling into familiar patterns with one another as they alternated between protecting the other from the droid's blaster fire and slashing through them, cutting them down as droid after droid came filing into the arena. For every one they cut down, another two would take its place, leading to what felt like a battle of crazy striking with no real rhyme or reason to any of it. There was no time to take a breath, no time to even think. She just had to rely on the Force and follow its lead to keep them safe.

"Padmé, the Senator." Obi-Wan's voice jolted her out of the almost trance-like state Padmé had entered as her eyes caught sight of Anakin, using the small blaster he'd managed to keep on him to shoot at the battle droids. A small flash of pride ran through her, but she couldn't focus on that at the moment, realizing he'd be overwhelmed, she ran, slicing through droids as she went, and it wasn't long before their backs were pressed together, Anakin shooting and her using her lightsaber and the Force to keep the droids at bay.

"So much for a peaceful approach." Anakin joked. Had they really thought they'd manage to confront the Separatists and walk away without a war on their hands? It had probably seemed easier when they'd only been aiming for a rescue mission, rather than a battle, but whatever may have once been the case, it wasn't true now.

"Are you really that disappointed Anakin?" Padmé joked. "You are known for your aggressive negotiations, after all." She caught Anakin's smile and grinned back. She knew she shouldn't have been having fun on the battlefield, but in the moment, with Anakin at her back, it was hard not to. She loved him, more than she probably should, but she was done denying it the moment they'd entered the arena.

"Guess this means you were right when you said coming here with me was a sure fire way to start the war." It seemed like such a long time ago when she'd poked fun at him with that comment as they were exiting the ship, even though it had since been only a few hours. She deflected a blaster bolt aimed at Anakin hitting one droid, and he nodded in thanks before shooting at another droid, and they kept defending and shooting, moving as one entity and looking desperately for any break in the closing in wall.

Unfortunately, no matter how good they were at defending, deflecting, and firing at each of the droids, there were so many. Too many for the Jedi to keep up with, and Anakin and Padmé both found themselves slowly being corralled backwards. Padmé scanned the field for Obi-Wan, hoping he'd be able to cut a path and help them gain some ground, but he seemed to be otherwise occupied with the creature from earlier, leaving the two of them to continue backing away. They were cornered. Trapped. The whole of the Jedi were.

Just as it looked to be the end, as though there was no escape from the situation they found themselves in, the droids stopped their attack, giving Padmé a chance to take in the battlefield. All the creatures that had gone after them were dead, their horned friend likely slayed by the droids, while the feline like one and insect like one had been taken down earlier in the battles, and the Mandalorian who had managed to capture them earlier seemed to be gone from the battlefield as well, though who killed him, she was unsure.

There was one other thing that was clear to her. The attack had been stopped on Dooku's command, but it was clear for only one reason. She knew they were defeated. He knew his droid army had won.

"Master Windu," Dooku purposefully paused, waiting for the realization to sink in for the Jedi he addressed as well. "You have fought gallantly. Worthy of recognition in the archives of the Jedi Order. Now, it is finished. Surrender, and your lives will be spared."

"We will not be hostages to be bartered, Dooku." Master Windu shook his head, despite being too far away for Dooku to see the action.

"Then, I am sorry old friend." Padmé felt her stomach plummet. This was it, she supposed. All the fighting she'd been doing to survive would amount to little. The Force had decided it was her destiny, Anakin's destiny, Obi-Wan's destiny, to die here. She took the hand that wasn't holding her lightsaber and intertwined it with Anakin's, and he held hers back and gave a gentle squeeze, showing he was on the same page.

If they were dying, then they'd die together.

She tightened her grip on the green lightsaber, and watched as the droids took aim once more. If she died now, she'd do everything in her power to take as many of these rust buckets with her. She felt that same resolution in Anakin, as he aimed his blaster, ready for the third and final round of this execution.

It never came, over the horizon, ships began filing in, firing at the ground and aiming for each of the different droids and clearing a path for the Jedi to find escape.

Help had finally arrived.

[Next Part]

#Star Wars #Anakin Skywalker #Anakin #Padme Amidala #Padme #Obi Wan Kenobi #Obi Wan #Anidala #Heather Writes

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writingsoftheunderworld · 4 years

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AU - yes! Time Travel - no? -p. 2

So @barkingbullfrog requested a future bamon daughter time travelling and no one knowing who she is and I said on that post that I might write more if people like it/I feel like it. So this is that! Chapter 1 here. Enjoy part 2!

Rose was home for the holidays, Easter in just a few days and college too loud to be able to study when she found it. The spell she’d been looking for since that summer 5 years ago when her cousin dared her to find the most powerful spell in her mom’s grimoires and attempt it. She’d had her plans foiled that week, but the idea remained firmly planted in her mind since. Especially since the spell was a dimension travelling one, which sounded just way too much fun not to try at some point just for fun. So when she saw her dad lead her mom to the dance floor, both distracted with their - eww - flirting, she snuck into her mom’s witch’s den - dad’s words not hers, but if it fits ya’know?

The room was dark, it always was unless her mom was busy training her magic, and then it was just candlelight illuminating it. Rose looked around the corridor for a second, making sure no one had noticed her and come after. When no sound save for the small party downstairs was heard, she uttered a soft incendia, lighting all the hung candles inside. For a few minutes she was stuck in the sheer nostalgia of being in the room. She remembered with sudden clarity all the summer nights, widows open, fresh air coming through mixing with the cinnamon candles her mom prefered as the two of them played around with kiddie magic. She then recalled moving onto more powerful spells, like how to take on villains stronger than her just with a thought just a year ago, to playing hide and seek with her dad and hiding underneath the tablecloth and giggling so much he definitely knew exactly where she was - even if he hadn’t had the advantage of being vampire. It was this same room she’d locked herself in when at 11 her mom and dad sat her down and told her how they were going to adopt her, she’d been living with them for only 3 months at that point.

Her mom’s old grimoire sat on a shelf that her dad and uncle could never agree on how it had had the top half torn off. She slowly walked over, still so very careful not to let any unnecessary noise be heard. She’d been used to magic, she’d gotten thrown out of 3 foster homes by age 9 due to magic she couldn't even begin to understand before she reached the Salvatore-Bennett’s, but hanging around vampires had taken some adjusting. Luckily her dad enjoyed being chased around the house by a curious 11 year old and then later a rumbustious teen in a variety of always entertaining games to the point she got very used to both making herself as quiet as possible as well as learning what to look for when his turn would come. So she got the grimoire and laid it on the table, flipping through the pages slowly, not wanting to risk missing the one she was looking for. A few others jumped to her as she did so, but she stored the info for later. She wanted to try that dimension spell right now. She reached something about pocket dimensions first - prison worlds and … did that say Hell? - but at least that’s how she knew she was close. The song had changed in the time she’d spent reminiscing, but she could hear her dad downstairs still, aggravating her aunt as per usual so it was all good.

Bingo!

The words flowed from her lips and for a second she thought she did something wrong since she felt none of the usual surge that came with doing magic, but then something just… pulled at her and she lost consciousness. When she came to next she was in the driveway of her childhood home - if from 11 onward one could call it a childhood home, but it was the closest she ever got - and her head was pounding. She let herself feel the pain a minute or so before she got up and looked around. The sun was up, midday at least, maybe earlier, which was very odd considering it was nearing 11 at night just a few seconds ago. But she figured the spell had worked. Here she was, outside the Boarding House - which she could never understand why it continued to be called that since in all her years there not once was it used as such.

She almost bounced on the heels of her feet, excited to see what this world had to offer - could she meet herself? Was it weird that she found that exciting? - so she immediately headed to the front door. But as she walked past the car parked in the driveway, her eyes found the newspaper wedged between the drives’ seat and the handbrake and her eyes widened at the date.

“No.” she whispered in disbelief. “No, no, no nononono!” her heart started beating faster when the realisation dawned on her. She had traveled to a different dimension, but she’d never thought of the very real possibility that the dimension she’d be travelling to would be in the past. “Oh no, mom’s gonna kill me and dad’s gonna let her.”

She looked around again, making sure no one was around to see her panic nor hear her, who knows what lurked in this dimension, god knows she didn’t think this through enough. She breathed a few seconds, in and out, in and out, then closed her eyes, fully intending on going back home. Except she hadn’t paid any mind to the return spell nor did she even remember the original spell she’d used. Great. Probably better she hadn’t remembered though, who knows where she would end up. At least here it looked vaguely like home. With a little bit of luck, she might even find her parents here, or someone who she could recognize from back home. Eventually her mom would go into her room and see the grimoire and spell and come get her, but who knew how long that’d be. Was time even moving at the same pace here? Sure she’d just gone a few minutes ago, there was no reason to think it wasn’t the same pace, but what if she’s been gone for days at home and mom had tried to bring her back and couldn’t, or what if it was slower at home and she’s just been gone for milliseconds and by the time her mom would find she was gone she’d be old and gray here, would she still be old and gray when she got back? Or would she revert to this age that she left as, and would she even want to go or want to return to a college student home for spring break? Or-

Breathe with me, Rosie-Posie. Just breathe with dad.

Listening to her dad’s voice in her head she did as he bade, closing her eyes almost letting her feel his hand on hers as he’d take her and put it over his chest so they’d sync their breaths when her panic would spiral. He used to joke she’d gotten the anxiety from her mom and uncle Stefan, despite not being related by blood to any of them. It used to make her feel like an impostor the first few times he’d done it, but afterward it just made her feel like belonging. Just like her mom telling her all about grandma Sheila that for some odd twist of fate she just happened to share a name with. Mom called it funny, dad called it fate. She called it sheer dumb luck. But it did make her feel like they really had been a family from the beginning. Hell she even had blue eyes. What were the chances? If she hadn’t remembered her birth dad’s dark skin on her lighter one as he kissed her goodnight the night he left or her birth mom’s watery blue eyes as she lay in the hospital when she was four she’d have agreed with Damon’s theory.

She sighed, heavy, and put the newspaper back from where she’d gotten it and made her way to the house. It made no sense to get lost in the worry just yet. She’d barely arrived, there was plenty of time for panic later. She was more curious what she could walk into now. She remembered her mom telling her about this time and dad turning these moments into sleeping stories when she was younger. She got only more curious about their pasts the more she grew up until they’d eventually caved and told her everything she’d wanted. Slowly, in bite sized pieces that had frustrated her to no end in the beginning, but she was glad for now since it made remembering everything so much easier.

She walked towards the door the same way she had whenever she played hide and seek with her dad since she figured it was probably a good thing not to be noticed before she could figure out what the hell was going on. She listened once she reached the door and heard what sounded like Elena Gilbert, but she couldn’t bee too sure since a. She’d only met Elena like 3 times in her life and each one for a few minutes at a time, despite her mom still talking to her every week or so and b. Katherine was supposed to be around at this point in time, right? Was Hope’s dad here too yet? Or did she mix up the dates? Only, she reminded herself, Niklaus Mikaelson wasn’t Hope’s dad here, he wasn’t even semi nice if what Alaric’s library books on the great hybrid said was true. Oh boy, she so wasn’t ready for any of this bullshit. Her mom would write the best eulogy for her when she got home, something like “I loved my daughter more than my life, but damn if she didn’t deserve a Bonnie famous lecture and punishment” just after she killed her with her bare hands in a loving manner of course.

She took out her keys and put them in the lock, turned, but the door just opened without any fight and she almost had a heart attack on the spot because what kind of morons were her parents in this time/universe to not lock their doors? She’s still thinking about this when her dad - no, not dad, Damon, and isn’t that the weirdest thing - suddenly pounces at her and tries to strangle her. She reacts immediately, just as her dad - the one back home that loves and knows her - had taught her to do and sends a wave of aneurysms across the room, making sure to hit who’s surely Katherine extra hard via a very advanced spell her mom taught her recently that renders the 500 year old vampire in a mini coma for however long the caster wants. As Damon starts interrogating her, she can’t help putting on a bit of a show. They look so odd like this, weirdly young and very much in shock at her power that isn’t even that much of a big thing. She’s average as far as power goes back home, definitely not the witch goddess her mom is. But her mom isn’t her mom yet and she certainly isn’t yet that strong here… or rather, Bonnie isn’t yet as strong as her mom here. So she enjoys the game she finds herself playing with Damon and later Bonnie when she gets there.

But she definitely has no clue what she’s gotten herself into yet as she tried to give an abridged version of the story her parents had told her over the course of at least 3 years. She sticks to the basics for them, Klaus is an Original, they’re a whole family that Klaus has the bad habit of fucking over - at least during this time - the Sun and Moon Curse is fake. And really, who the fuck thought that was a legit thing in the first place, seriously now? Klaus sired their whole vampire blood line so they can’t kill him, killing an Original kills their whole blood line, he plans on unleashing his werewolf side to belong, but he’s going to fail because his mom is mean as hell. She honestly isn’t sure what she doesn't say afterward, but the sheer silence brought on after her little tirade has her giddy. She could never get her mom and dad speechless like this, not without serious bodily harm or property damage, usually as a result of Lizzie Saltzman’s plans. She can’t wait to see how much chaos she can cause here by the end of the talk and looking at her mom with this dude that looks to be 14 that apparently is meant to be Jeremy Gilbert - only how can that be, Jeremy is a very strong vampire hunter that looks the part, not this string bean uncooked spaghetti looking child.

And now she got when her dad meant when he said mom had had terrible taste in men before him - though Rose would argue looking at the Damon across from her that her mom’s taste didn’t so much as get better but simply change. She also couldn’t understand how these two who looked like they both wanted to be anywhere but near each other and yet oddly in sync couldn ever become the Bonnie and Damon that adopted her some odd years in the future/past/other universe. Huh… maybe she could have fun until her mom would come to kill her for being an idiot and dad would give her that look that made her want her mom to kill her.

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the-gedonelune-times · 4 years

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Chapter Ten: The Queen Awakens

Summary: Gedonelune, the prestigious royal magic academy is waiting just for you! The door has opened a whole new world of possibilities for your future. For the next thirteen days you’ll be undergoing the provisional trial to see if you have what it takes to become an official student. Along the way you’ll be meeting new faces and going on exciting new adventures. But be warned, shadows are being cast on the land, if you dive to deep, you may find yourself being swallowed up by the chaos. Your journey begins now, will you be able to banish the darkness?

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

“This was a battle I never wanted to take part in.” Fenrir’s voice was softer than it was just a little while ago. “I’m sorry. Maybe if you survive, I’ll be able to tell you more, until then, good luck.”

Fenrir looked over his shoulder, smiling sadly before disappearing in a puff of miasma. Meanwhile, the chimera that he had summoned gave out a hearty roar while its claws scratched against the ground as it took its battle stance.

“Alright so let’s think about this, we’re trapped in ancient Ark with no way out because of this chimera. Not only that but neither of us has magic or a means of protecting ourselves. This is bad, really bad…” I gave a semi hopeless sigh.

“No, I refuse to give up and I refuse to let you give up too. Remember what you told me before we got on the train? You told me that everything would turn out right in the end, as long as we do it together, this time is no different!” Lily looked at me with serious eyes and balled fists. “I have a plan, but I need you to trust me, okay?”

“Okay. What’s the plan?”

“I need you to distract the chimera for me.”

Was she serious?! I had no magic, surely she wasn’t serious in making me run around as bait for the thing...was she?

“I can see it in your eyes that you’re having doubts, but please trust me on this. I’ll protect you with everything I have, okay?”

I sighed, knowing full well that we were already low on options and in this situation right now, it was a take it or leave it type of thing. I let out a deep breath as I steeled myself for what I was about to do next. I cleared my mind and took off running with all my might, shouting at the chimera to get its attention. It worked, but it scared the absolute daylights out of me to know that this massive beast was chasing after me.

It only got worse when it began to send magical attacks my way and although I had managed to evade them up until now, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep up this pace forever. Where was Lily? What was her plan? While on the move, I had tried my best to spot her, but to no avail, at some point, I must have become to distracted because I ended up tripping over one of the objects in the room; the foot of one of the stone golems.

The beast inched closer and closer and I, in turn, scooted back farther and farther away until my back had hit a wall. There was nowhere for me to run to or hide at this point, was this really how everything was going to end?

“Stay away from them! Hraaah!”

I heard a voice scream followed by an object coming into contact with the chimera, making it cry out in pain. When I saw what had happened, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“Lily?!”

Lily was standing just a mere few feet away from the chimera, a large stone sword, which she had somehow managed to steal from one of the golems, rested in her hands. The chimera shook its body as it wicked itself up before charging right at Lily. She was nimble on her feet as she blocked and evaded every attack with ease. It was clear that she wished no harm to the chimera, thus she avoided hitting it like she had the first time. But I knew what would happen if she didn’t attack….

“Lily, you need to attack!”

“I-I can’t!” She shouted as she dodged another magic attack.

“Why not?” I screamed back while moving to keep an eye on her.

“I can’t bring myself to hurt creatures, especially ones that are clearly in distress!”

Distress? Yes, I suppose the chimera was in a bit of distress. I had noticed the way it moved around and attacked us; it clearly didn’t want to, but had no other choice but to do so.

“Do you think it’s the darkness?”

“You could be hah! Right!”

I was about to say something else when I caught something out of the corner of my eye. The chimera that had been fixated on Lily had now turned its attention back to me. I was completely unarmed and I knew I didn’t have enough stamina to keep running as I had been before. Despite that, I knew I couldn’t just sit there and do nothing, I had to run, even if it drained every last ounce of my energy.

It was still surprising that a beast that big was able to run as fast as it was. I could hear Lily’s cries and shouts as she was desperately trying to divert its attention away from me. Her efforts were in vain as the beast let out a roar before hitting me right in the back with one of their magic attacks. I fell to the ground in excruciating pain. Blood was spilling to the ground and I lay there, unable to do anything. I could hear the beast get ready to unleash another one, a final blow but winced when I heard it let out an ear-splitting cry.

It fell to the ground with a thud and when I looked over, I could make out Lily standing over its unconscious body. With tears in her eyes, she quickly rushed over to my own body, gently lifting me up to hold me in her arms and keep me awake. It was around that time when a pair of footsteps had entered the scene. They wore a smile as they slowly began clapping their hands together.

“My my, what a performance. I didn’t think you had it in you to actually knock the creature out. But when I felt my magic connection get cut off, I knew something had happened. A shame though, it seems your little friend isn’t going to make it.”

I could feel Lily’s arms tightening around me, almost protectively as she held me closer to her chest.

“Come now, don’t be so sad. You see, I can help save your friend. All I ask in return is the Seal of Life.”

“Seal...of Life?” I asked with a whispered voice.

“Don’t talk, you’ll overdo yourself.” Lily spoke softly before looking at the one who Fenrir had previously addressed as Adonis. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh? Surely you know about the seals. Your kind were the ones who created them, right? The three seals that were lost to this world, each one containing ancient or forbidden magic. The seal of life, shadows and fates. These three seals were sealed down here in the Ark. So unless you want to keep playing dumb and let your friend die, I suggest you hand over the seal. If you do, then I’ll spare both of you out of the kindness in my heart.”

“I’d never give the seals to you.” Lily hissed. “They were created because of people like you, those who want to use it for evil.”

“Evil? Me? You have it all wrong, I’m doing this to save people. If anything, you’re the real danger here.” Adonis smirked. “A fair maiden born to the dragons of life. You died once long ago but stand before me alive and well. Tell me, how is such a thing possible?”

“I…”

“Just as I thought, you have no answer to that. But I do.” Adonis began to walk closer to us as he spoke. “The timeline has been warped, things that shouldn’t be possible are beginning to appear in our time. Your awakening is no coincidence. You’re a threat to the timeline, thus, you must die!”

Adonis had managed to pull out a dagger and rush towards us with inhuman speed. With a swift motion, he lifted it up, right above me before slamming it down. I was prepared to meet my end, but instead found myself in a blindingly bright light that had encased both Lily and I. I watched as Lily’s body trembled as she held me in her arms. Blood was trickling down her wound and this time from her mouth as well.

“Lily, why?! You’re hurting yourself!” I gave a hoarse cry as I looked at her.

She let out a giggle as she nuzzled her cheek against me. “I don’t care.” her eyes closed as she continued. “I refuse...to let the one I love...die…”

Her fingers gently brushed against my cheek as they burned ever so slightly. Lily...loved me. I could feel tears prick my eyes as I kept repeating her words over and over again in my head. She loved me...she really loved me….

I reached one of my hands shakily up to touch her own cheeks and with a strained gasp, I let my own feelings be known. “I love...you too…”

My vision was becoming blurry and I could feel the world around me grow colder with each passing second. Even if this truly is the end...I’m glad that I got to spend my final moments with the one I loved. I closed my eyes with a smile, trying to hide the fact that I was beyond scared.

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

As time continued to tick onward, I felt an odd feeling wash over me. It was like being submerged in a warm summer breeze. I could feel my strength returning and when I opened my eyes, I was greeted to an incredible sight.

Lily, who had once been holding me, was now hovering slightly off the ground. A pair of white horns grace her head while a pair of beautiful wings as bright as freshly fallen snow flapped behind her. A tail coiled shyly around her leg and her entire outfit had changed into something completely different from something I had ever seen her in before; a sleeveless white dress with a slit in the front. From head to toe, she was adorned with jewels that I could assume were from a time that no longer existed. She looked dazzling….like a queen…

When her eyes opened up, she smiled kindly at me while the light around us began to fade. Adonis was a few feet from where we were, his arm lowering down to his side.

“No….how! How is this possible! The curse on your back was supposed to seal up every trace of your magic!”

“There’s one magic that you didn’t count on, Adonis!” I shouted out

“Oh? Enlighten me, foolish human.”

“Love.”

I could hear him making a gagging noise before glaring at us. “No, I refuse to believe that such a hideous thing such as love was the cause behind this. No, this must be the work of Zirnitra magic.” Adonis began to laugh. “Perhaps I miscalculated, or perhaps this works well in my favor.”

Adonis turned to face Lily with a sinister smirk. “You’re going to fight me then? Do you have it in you to kill me?”

“Kill you? No, I have no intention to take a human’s life. But if I must fight you, then I will.” Lily spoke calmly ash she raised her hands in front of her.

“Foolish girl. You and I walk the same path, both of us were betrayed and now we suffer for it. Why are you protecting the very things that caused you such grief? They killed you, yet you stand by their side as some kind of protector? What are you trying to prove here, huh? Do you think you’ll be accepted? Do you think people won’t try to betray you again?!”

“Fear is a common emotion where people act out differently when experiencing it. Humans are not like me, they can get hurt easily, they get sick and die a life much shorter than the one I have. Their lives are fragile and yet they continue to live for a better tomorrow. Will humans betray me? Maybe. But I will never put blame on them for something that happened thousands of years ago, I will never blame them for my death!”

“You fucking fool!”

Adonis screamed out with a cry before sending a flurry of darkness tipped arrows in our direction with just the snap of his fingers. Without saying a word, Lily held out her hand, conjuring a barrier of light that burned the arrows before they could even come close to the barrier.

“That light... such power, no...no, no, no, NO NO NO!” Adonis clutched his head in pain before stumbling back. His eyes were a bloody red as objects around the room began to lift in the air.

“Wait, is he using…?”

“That explains the darkness I had felt earlier, the man who reeked of darkness. Never did I think that such a thing could be used like this.”

“I’ll kill you, I’ll kill you...HAHAHA DIE!”

Adonis began hurtling all the objects at us at once, while his body became engulfed in a dark miasma. I watched as a shadow began to grow until it was towering over us. As the objects burned in the barrier, Lily and I watched with wide eyes as the miasma began to fade away like smoke, revealing a beast at least thirty feet tall. It was a serpent, covered in armour. It had six hands and in three of them rested a double-bladed staff. He had a pair of black wings that dripped with darkness and behind him was a massive tail.

“There’s no way….”

“What is that thing?!”

Lily looked away, clearly distressed, “That’s Raspatil.”

“Raspatil?”

Lily nodded. “We’ve only heard stories of this beast, never haad we been given a chance to catch of a glimpse of this creature. It had the nickname: the ground breaker as it could shatter the ground with a single attack with its staff.”

“But how? How did it get here? Did Adonis turn into that?!”

“Pitiful beings, your chatter annoys me to no end, it is time I show you the true power of ancient magic.” Raspatil grabbed his blade and held it up before bringing it down on the barrier, smashing it as if it was nothing.

We barely avoided being hit and was only safe thanks to Lily’s quick reflexes. But we had not time to rest; another attack was being sent our way and this time we weren’t so lucky. The ground had split upwards, hurtling towards us like a rushing wave. Hitting us, or rather, Lily who was using her wings as a shield. Clearly in pain, she gritted her teeth before summoning her strength to push back the slab of stone. She balled one of her hands up into a fist, a golden light forming around it as she punched the stone, sending it flying right back to Raspatil he writhed with pain at a head-on hit.

The being laughed with delight as it raised its hands gathering magic. “I have no time for dealing with such foolish battles, I’ll end you right here, right now with this single attack. The darkness will taint your soul and swallow you up in the chaos. You will soon know pain...if you survive that is….”

The laugh became more sinister as the whole area was now covered in black clouds that began to swirl around us. There was a small break in the storm of darkness as Raspatil shot off a beam of darkness. Lily summoned another barrier, pulling me closer as she held her hands out in front of her.

“You told me that no matter what happens, we’d do this together. Your words gave me hope and made me believe that everything would turn out right in the end.” Lily looked at me and took my hand which was now enveloped in light; with her magic. “I’ll protect you with everything I have, I won’t let the darkness take you!”

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

Nadia: This is it, the final preview!

Persephone: Way to leave everyone on a cliffhanger.

Nadia: Hey, cheer up a little will ya? We need to do a really good job with this!

Persephone: Fine, fine, whatever.

Nadia: You’ve been with Lily for thirteen days…

Persephone: You’ve gone through a lot during that time.

Nadia: But now the time has come where your fate is chosen.

Persephone: Will the ending be one of light?

Nadia: Or will tears be shed as the darkness takes the life of something or someone precious to you?

Persephone: Your ending awaits…

Both: So go forth and find out!

#wizardess heart #wizardess heart+#swd wizardess heart #shall we date?: wizardess heart #wh fan route #The Three Seals Series #The Queen Of Forgotten Time #lily bloom #Adonis Frost #genderless MC

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comicgeekscomicgeek · 4 years

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Their Hero Academia – Chapter 63: Final Exam part 5: Final Essay

Presenting the next raw and unedited chapter of my on-going, next-gen, My Hero Academia fic, Their Hero Academia! Please note, this chapter may undergo more extensive editing before it gets posted to AO3/FF.net, as there’s a lot of fight scenes that may need clarity editing.

Earlier chapters can be found here

At the last moment, before Kamuy had launched her shockwave, some instinct had prompted Izumi to throw up an ice shield. Desperately, faster than she ever had before, she’d leached heat from the air, forming a protective wall in front of her, reinforcing it even against the shockwave that had followed. She regretted immediately that she was unable to extend her protections to Chihiro or to any of her other classmates.

When the ringing in her head cleared and she was able to see again, a moment of fear touched her heart, an icy stab into the heat she had absorbed and that suffused her body. Chihiro, Ojiro, Aoyama, and Asuka were all on the ground, alive, but very clearly knocked out. As skilled and powerful as her classmates were, against such overwhelming force, they had no defense. She had hoped that Asuka’s Frog-Shadow might have been able to protect her, armoring her as she had during the Sports Festival, but such, it seemed, was not to be.

And all Izumi had done was protect herself. Her teachers, as well as Katsumi, would say that insuring her own safety had meant she could continue to act and protect others. But it did nothing to ease the guilt she felt.

Kamuy, it seemed, was still standing, admiring her handiwork. She’d lost a bit of mass from expelling her accumulated energy, but still remained a large and imposing foe. That she seemed to be able to hold onto the energy she absorbed until she needed it was enviable. The bands of Izumi’s regulator rig were screaming an angry red, a sign she needed expel heat and expel it quickly.

“Still standing?” Kamuy taunted. “Pretty impressive. I wouldn’t think a little twig like you would last this long.”

With some amount of satisfaction, Izumi realized that Kamuy was a very big target indeed.

“But a twig, properly propelled,” she said, bringing her hands up, “can pierce even the mighty oak.”

Izumi reached inside herself and found the heat she had been storing, like a crimson hot core inside her. But instead of changing it into fire, she put to use the training that Uncle Denki had helped her with, expelling the heat directly. The very air in front of her turned wavy and shimmery, refracting from all the heat she was putting out into it.

“Hey…” growled Kamuy, “what’re you doing…?” Already the big woman was sweating so hard it was pouring off of her and soaking through her clothes. Her breaths coming in ragged gasps, each one clearly a struggle. She swayed, unsteady on her feet, as though a stiff breeze might soon blow her over.

“Whatever you’re doing… cut it… out…” Kamuy took a few ineffective swings as thin air, as though that might stop the heat assault. But as addled as she was, they were clumsy, weak, and ineffective, with no power behind them. Izumi knew she was threading a careful line. Too much heat could kill a person easily and she had no desire to be a murderer, especially given that this was only an exam. But nor did she wish to give Kamuy a chance to recover and possibly hurt her or her friends.

Kamuy began glowing and steaming again, losing mass as she poured her energy into resisting Izumi’s attack. Step by step, she pushed her way forward, even as the concrete beneath her feet began to soften from the heat she was enduring. That was unfortunate. Processing this much heat as once, pushing her Quirk as far as it would go, Izumi could feel the strain upon herself and she did not know how long she could maintain this level of exertion. Her knees were starting to feel weak and even keeping her arms up to keep pointing at Kamuy was beginning to become a strain. Her arms traced small circles in the air as she failed to hold them straight.

And still, Kamuy came closer. The Villain took step after step after step, her face twisted in a grimace as she fought for every inch. But Izumi would make her fight for that, even if it cost her dearly, even if she collapsed. Because every second this woman spent fighting her was one that gave her classmates and friends time to overcome the other Villains.

They were counting on her. Everyone was counting on her. She could not, would not, be the reason that they failed!

And still Kamuy came onward, trailing steam like some ancient and slow moving train. “You… gotta… be… just… about… out… kid,” she hissed. “Those damn… blinky lights… are a dead… giveaway.”

Damnation, she was right! Izumi was just about out of heat to throw at her, the crimson hot core she’d been drawing on depleted, the bands of her regulator rig showing a green that would have, in any other circumstances, been reassuring.

Now, it was a little terrifying.

The wave of heat stopped abruptly, as she exhausted her last reserve. The change in the air was immediate and Kamuy instantly stood a little taller, a little stronger, though it was clear surviving the assault had cost her dearly. Her own reserves must have been nearly as depleted as Izumi’s were. Though that still left her a large and muscular foe. She could still overpower Izumi. She was a fit girl, especially for one with her chronic health issues, but there was no comparison.

So she had to end this now.

Kamuy rushed her, fist draw back to strike, and Izumi acted on instinct, her body and Quirk moving before she even had a chance to think. Thick ice shot up around Kamuy, covering her body and lifting her off the ground in an instant. On her regulator rig, the bands changed from a safe green to cautionary orange without ever even passing through the alerting yellow. The temperature around her had dropped by several degrees, enough that, for a moment, Izumi could see her breath on the air.

But when it was done, Kamuy was entombed in a pillar of ice, only her head and fingertips poking out. She hadn’t frozen her solid, so there was probably minimal risk of cell death. But she had beaten her. She had won.

And still she remained standing. Izumi had pushed her Quirk and pushed it hard. But she had not given in to her weakness, had not fallen.

But she could not celebrate her accomplishments, not now. Not when the others were still battling.

She would celebrate when they won, but the personal victory would lend her strength to continue the fight.

***

Things, Katsumi thought, had pretty much gone to shit. The Villain called Jawbreaker had grown to monstrous size and mass, towering over all of them by more than a meter. More than that in her case; height was not her friend. Now made of metal, rock, and concrete, he was shrugging off everything they could throw at him. She still ached from where he had hit her, with a fist that was nearly as big as she was tall.

But she’d be damned if she was going to go down without a fight, even if she was completely out of ammo for her disk-launchers. She hadn’t backed down in the face of a damned Nomu, she wasn’t about to back down in the face of some Villain Aiazwa had gotten from somewhere to play rent-a-goon. Some part of her was afraid though. Not for herself, but for Izzy. She knew she shouldn’t be, knew that Izzy had more than proven she was capable of taking care of herself, but the thought still remained. She pushed it down, channeling it into something she could use. The sooner she clobbered this guy, the sooner she could check on her.

Jawbreaker let out a laugh, his punch connecting solidly with Toshi. Toshi had amped up his gravity enough that he was starting to sink into the ground, but the blow was still enough to push him back, gouging deep troughs in the street. A second blow hit even harder, sending Toshi smashing into the side of a building again. Above Jawbreaker, the Iida twins swooped down again and again, ineffectively striking against him. The Villain—though faster than he looked—was still not fast enough to catch them. Both broke off the attack. Sora to check on Toshi, Tensei to get space to think through his next move.

“Okay, you two,” she told Shinso and Haimawari. “I’ll knock him off his feet, you know him down. You’ll know it when you see it. Jetset! Give me a distraction!”

Haimawari nodded. “Got it. Bring the boom.”

Shinso nodded rapidly, head bobbing like it was on a spring. “Got it!” he said. “Going to have to hit him *really* hard though! He’s tough!”

A grin spread across Katsumi’s face. “Ain’t nothing tougher than me.” She cracked her knuckles. “And Newb? Only I get to bring the boom.”

“Arms! Rocky!” she shouted. “Clear the way! Big boom coming through!”

At her shout, Shoji and Koda backed off from their assaults on Jawbreaker. Koda had fast grown a thick redwood tree and Shoji had used his incredible strength to turn it into an improvised club. It hadn’t done any good. Jawbreaker had ever taken a big bite out of it, added hard wood to his make-up as well.

Tensei Iida swooped down from the sky, smashing both fists into Jawbreaker’s skull. There was a metal on metal clang, but Jawbreaker wasn’t hurt in the slightest. He swung wildly at Iida again, and this time he Iida was just a little too slow. Jawbreaker’s fingers closed around his legs and he slammed Iida into the ground again and again. With a grunt, he tossed the boy over his shoulder. There. She hadn’t meant for that to happen… but that was her opening.

Katsumi slapped a palm on the ground, extending her explosive power through it, triggering a series of increasingly large explosions in a rapid-fire, firecracker line that lead straight to Jawbreaker. She concentrated, putting as much power as she could into the last one.

KABOOM!

For just a moment, the explosion caught Jawbreaker off-balance, sending him teetering on his feet. “What the hell…?!” the Villain cried out, arms swinging wildly.

“Now!” Katsumi bellowed.

For all the times they’ve bugged the hell out of her, Shinso and Haimawari are good at following orders. And more importantly, they can hit hard. Shinso sucked in a breath and unleashed another blast of sonic force, her own proximity to it making Katsumi wince from the noise, while Haimawari braced himself and unleashed another blue-white blast. Both attacks struck Jawbreaker dead on, with enough force to land him smack on his back. It made a sound somewhere between a building collapsing, an avalanche, and a trash can rolling down the stairs.

“Rocky!” Katsumi shouted again. “Tie him up!”

“I am on it, Bombshell,” Koda said, tossing more seeds. They began growing instantly, ensnaring Jawbreaker with thick, thorny vines, weaving all around his body and limbs.

Jawbreaker was already struggling against them, even as Koda tried to keep the pace, growing them as vast as they were destroyed. Dammit. Koda’s vines alone weren’t going to be enough. Time for what was usually her Plan A: Overwhelming Force. “We hit him,” she said. “Hard. Now. Everything we’ve got.”

It was already too late. Jawbreaker let out a laugh. “It takes more than that to keep me down,” he said. He was already getting back on his feet. Vines snapped like twine. “We’re in the home stretch too. That means the kid gloves come off!”

He lashed out and despite having seen it several times over, she still couldn’t believe how someone that big could move that fast. Koda and Shoji, the closest, paid the price for her few seconds of hesitation. Shoji threw himself in front of Koda, using all six of his arms to block Jawbreaker’s strike, but jawbreaker brought his other arm around and slammed it into Shoji from the side. He went flying and when he landed, he did not get up.

Koda lasted only a moment longer, trying reaching into her pouches for more seeds. She fast-grew a circle of trees around Jawbreaker, briefly trapping him, until he simply punched his way through and took her down with another swipe of his massive, multi-element fists.

It had all happened so fast, she hadn’t even had time to move. But now, she was spurred into action. “Get that fucker!” she shouted, rushing forward.

Behind her, she could hear the sounds of Shinso and Haimawari firing again, their blasts sailing past her to strike Jawbreaker. She had to trust that they were going to do their jobs, because the bad guy in front of her was all that she could see.

Fortunately, Koda’s failed attempts at containment had provided her with plenty of ammunition. She quickly grabbed shards of the felled trees and tossed them at Jawbreaker, peppering him with small explosions. Even putting everything she had into them… it wasn’t enough. Nothing left to make a big enough boom with.

“Hey, ugly!” she shouted, grabbing a handful of splintery pieces of wood in each hand. When he turned to look at her she tossed them all at his face, letting them explode like little firecrackers.

Here, he actually screamed, one hand going to cover his face, the other swinging wildly and easy to dodge. As his hand swung by, she slapped it with her own. The material of her gloves now let her channel her explosive power through them directly, and the explosion she created charred his transformed flesh.

“Yeah!” Shinso cried out. “We’ve got him now!” He hit Jawbreaker with another sonic scream.

“”Blast now, brag later, Shinso!” Haimawari called out. He was zipping around Jawbreaker’s other side, his feet and one hand on the ground, his other hand in the air and unleashing a barrage of low-powered blasts. They weren’t strong enough to do much—if any—damage, but they served as yet another distraction.

“Katsumi!” a voice—Toshi’s—cried out. “Give me an opening!”

She grinned again, slapping both hands on the ground again and setting off a powerful explosion. This close to it, the explosion left even her ears ringing, but it did the job, further throwing Jawbreaker off balance from already having been temporarily blinded.

She heard the roar of Sora Iida’s engines before she saw the two of them, zooming towards Jawbreaker and Sora carrying Toshi by the wrists. At the last second, she released him and judging by how big of a clang the impact of Toshi’s body made with Jawbreaker’s, he must have gone about as far up on his gravity as he could. He pushed off the Villain’s body and landed next to her. The blow managed to stagger the giant for a moment, at least.

“About time you stopped loafing around,” Katsumi said.

“Give me a break,” Toshi replied. “I’ve been hit a lot today.”

Jawbreaker reared up and was ready to strike again. Some guys just took a lot of hitting, it seemed.

***

Before Jawbreaker could strike again, a blast of fire hit him square on, setting fire to parts of his body that were made of wood. He let out a cry of alarm and smarted smacking at the burns, trying to smother them. Thick ice walls followed, briefly blocking him off. Toshi risked turning his head to find the source of the blast and was greeted with the sight of Izumi propelling herself along an ice slide to meet them.

“Glad you could join us, Iz,” Katsumi said.

“Well, someone clearly has to keep you out of trouble,” Izumi replied. “As always.”

“Was that a joke? You pick now to start telling jokes?”

Izumi’s arrival meant good news and bad news. It meant they were down to one just one Villain to deal with. But it also meant…

The sound of fists on the ice wall told him they didn’t have much time.

“The others?” he asked.

Izumu shook her head. “All defeated.”

They were it then. Six of them against a Villain who just kept taking whatever they had and kept coming back for more. It was only then that Toshi realized there was a question he’d been reluctant to ask. He shouldn’t have. One of Dad’s often told stories was how Grandpa Might and he had first met, when Grandpa Might had smashed the Sludge Villain to pieces…

It was an extreme solution. One he hadn’t wanted to suggest they try.

“Shota,” he said quickly, as cracks were appearing in the ice wall. Maybe just a couple more blows. “Has Jawbreaker ever been smashed or broken by a Hero?”

Shota’s purple eyes went wide. “Oh, a bunch of times! Sometimes, he just eats more and it grows back, and sometimes he gets so smashed up it makes him change back, but all his people parts are still there!”

“Saying we should go all out, Midoriya?” Haimawari asked. Between his goggles and bandanna, his expression was almost unreadable, but Toshi could hear the doubt in his voice. “That’s a lot to throw at a guy who’s just testing us.”

Toshi nodded. “The real world’s not a test. You hold back too much there… Villains like him will kill you.”

“Okay then,” Haimawari said. “I… might have something.”

“Make it quick, Newb,” Katsumi said.

Haimawari told them his idea. Toshi had to admit, it was a pretty good one. “Then we’ll do it like that then,” he said. And then there was no more time.

The ice wall shattered, Jawbreaker breaking free. “That really hurt, kid,” he growled. Patches of wood on his body showed deep burn marks, but he seemed just as large and stroke as eve. “My turn!”

“Hit him!” Toshi yelled. “Everything you’ve got! Izumi—containment! Everyone else… hit him!”

Izumi was first, unleashing a powerful wave of ice that entrapped Jawbreaker from the waist down, trapping his lower body in a block of ice. It was already cracking against his great strength. But Izumi was hardly alone in her attacks and it only needed to give them an opening.

Shota hit him with another sonic blast. It shattered the rest of the ice, but it hit him hard, kept him off balance. He must have taken in a pretty big breath beforehand, because the beam was strong and sustained. Haimawari quickly zipped behind him, then powered up for a focused, intense blast. He couldn’t sustain a single beam like Shota and required a moment to charge up a stronger shot, but he was bringing everything he had.

Sora hammered him with a series of rocket propelled blows, raising a small series of cracks on Jawbreaker’s body, never standing still for a moment. With what had happened to her brother, she wasn’t letting up at all. Bombarded already by Shota and Haimawari, he stood little chance of catching her.

Katsumi, freed from any need to hold back, went all out, tossing whatever she could at him, hitting him with explosions big and small. She kept herself light on her feet, never staying in one place for long, but steadily getting closer. Dodging under one of Jawbreaker’s strikes, she reached up and slapped her hand against his arm.

KABOOM!

Jawbreaker let out a scream as his left arm exploded. The sight and sound of it was more than enough to give everyone pause. Even knowing he had asked his friends to go all out, Toshi felt guilty for it. It looked like it had to hurt.

It was also the opening he needed. Toshi forced himself not to think about the harm that he had done and took a couple steps back, canceled his gravity, and jumped, launching himself at Jawbreaker like a missile.

But even in pain, Jawbreaker was ready and swung a massive arm. He hit Toshi full on, just as Toshi had shifted to full gravity. There was a satisfying sound of cracking, but so powerful was the blow that Toshi went flying anyway, smashing into and through the building across the street.

As he landed, Toshi heard a rumble and struggled to stand, but couldn’t get his feet under him. The building creaked…

And came down on him.

***

“Toshi!” Sora Iida screamed, dropping to the ground with far less grace than usual. She tapped the side of her helmet. “Toshi, come in! Speak to me!”

No response over the comms wasn’t good. It meant Midoriya was unconscious or hurt or… No. Isamu instantly pushed that thought aside. The teachers wouldn’t have allowed that to happen. They were monitoring them, of course. Watching them. If Midoriya were really hurt, they’d have stopped the test, gotten Doctor Izumi out. Hell, his grandfather would probably have already been out here, digging through the rubble.

It didn’t mean Midoriya was going to be rejoining the fight any time soon though. Which was… not good. Deprived of one of the strongest Quirks in the class, it left them were a lot fewer options for fighting Jawbreaker.

“Word of advice, kid?” Jawbreaker said. “Don’t take your eye off the Villain!” He lashed out with his remaining arm and struck Iida hard, seeming not to notice the spider-web of cracks that spread up his arm from the blow. The red and silver armored girl went flying and did not get up when she landed.

Jawbreaker dug his fingers into the ground, breaking up the street to shovel more pavement into his mouth. As he did, his left arm started growing back, now being made entirely out of pavement. Isamu wasn’t sure how much time they had left in the exam… but he was certain having a Villain like this still rampaging about wasn’t going to do their scores any good.

“And you shouldn’t take your eyes off me!” Kirishima-Bakugo, now behind the Villain, shouted. She once again placed both hands on the ground and channeled a powerful explosion through it. The ground around him exploded in a series of bangs that were more flash than flare, momentarily stunning him.

“I think I have done just about all I can,” Izumi announced. “Katsumi, gentlemen, if you would?”

“What the hell are you talking about, kid?” Jawbreaker snarled. “Haven’t you seen yet that none of you are beating me?”

“Yeah, well,” Isamu said. “That’s where you’re wrong.”

“We tricked you!” Shinso shouted. “We tricked you good!”

“What are you…?” Jawbreaker began, and only then did he notice all the spider-web cracks that had appeared all over his body, all the places he had hit and been hit. At the layer of shining frost that had formed all over his body.

When Shinso had mentioned that Jawbreaker could be shattered and reform without killing him, Isamu’s mind had kicked into overdrive. Short of Shinso’s disintegrating scream thing or Kirishima-Bakugo pumping out way more explosive power than he’d ever seen her do before, none of them could have possibly done enough damage to him to completely slow him down. They could blow off limbs, as Kirishima-Bakugo had managed to do, but that was riskier and required more precision targeting. And as they had seen, he could just consume more to regrow them.

Instead, while the rest of them kept him distracted, Izumi had slowly been leeching heat from the material of his body directly, slowly freezing him up little by little. Midoriya should have been the one to deliver the final blow, but…

As realization dawned on Jawbreaker’s face, they let him have it. Kirishima-Bakugo unleashed another wave of explosions across the ground, Shinso screamed and unleashed a powerful wave of sonic force, and Isamu put everything he had into his blast, firing his repulsion force outward in one massive shot.

The attacks hit Jawbreaker all at once, exploding the majority of his body into a shower of frozen shards. His head and shoulders hit the ground with a groan, still very conscious.

“You kids haven’t won yet…” he growled, trying to tilt so he could begin eating the street again.

But then Izumi acted again, shooting a pillar of ice up beneath him that then wrapped around the head, completely encasing it in ice.

There was a long, quiet moment before any of them could even breathe.

“Did we… did we do it?” Shinso asked.

“I, ah, I think we did,” Isamu said, scarcely believing the words out of his own mouth.

“Damn right we did,” Kirhsima-Bakugo said. “Thanks to Izzy here.”

Izumi bowed her head, then held up a hand. The bands of her uniform were glowing orange and perspiration covered her face, but she was still standing strong. He’d been worried that she might have to push herself too far with his plan, but she’d offered herself up for it anyway. “A group effort. I am owed no more praise than any other.”

Another quiet moment followed, as the rush of battle began to wear off. Isamu was already thinking they needed to check on Midoriya and the others who’d been knocked around over the course of the exam. Which he would do. Just as soon as his heartrate returned to normal.

“But,” Shinso said, “then why isn’t anyone telling us it’s over. Shouldn’t there be a bell or alarm or something.”

Damn. He was right.

“Looking for this, Heroes?” a voice called out. Across the street, in the shadow of a building, was Shadow-Thief. And she was holding Recovery Girl. Or rather… Doctor McGuffin! “Guess you’re too late!”

She disappeared again, reappearing in the shadows further up. Isamu had a good eye for distance. They’d been told they couldn’t allow Doctor McGuffin to get more than 100 meters from the shelter, or they’d lose. He estimated she’d already made it 50 meters…

“Put me down, you hooligan!” Recovery Girl snapped, smacking her fists against Shadow-Thief’s head and shoulders. “Kids these days, no respect for their elders!”

“Ow! Ow! Stop hitting me, old woman! You’re supposed to be playing along!” Shadow-Thief vanished again, disappearing and reappearing even further away.

Too far for anyone to blast her, too far for Izumi to trap her with ice, all of which were too risky to begin with. Too far for anything.

Anything but him.

Isamu threw himself forward and called upon his Quirk. He thought he’d put everything he had into that last blast again Jawbreaker. He turned out to be wrong, blasting himself forward with reserves he hadn’t thought he’d had.

It hurt, like a burning sensation in his hands and feet, and he could feel exhaustion threatening to claim him the longer he did it, buildings speeding by as he pushed and pushed and pushed every ounce of repulsive force he had left in his body.

Shadow-Thief was still getting away. Twenty-five meters until the boundary. Twenty meters. Fifteen. Ten. He was getting closer… so close…. Five meters… He just needed one last push!

There were no shadows big enough left, forcing Shadow-Thief to try and run the last five meters. Isamu unleashed every last ounce of energy within him and shot forward like a paperclip from a rubber band. He smacked into her legs just before she made it the final meter.

Recovery Girl went sailing into the air and he desperately disentangled himself from Shadow Thief, getting under the elderly woman just in time to catch her, sinking to his knees.

Somewhere, an alarm sounded, signaling the end of the three hours of their exam.

It was the last thing Isamu heard before he passed out.

#my hero academia #their hero academia #fan fiction #fan fic #my writing #toshi midoriya #katsumi kirishima-bakugo #izumi todoroki #isamu haimawari

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brightbeautifulthings · 4 years

Text

Week 20 (p. 651-808)

"Hal himself hasn't had a bona fide intensity-of-interior-life-type emotion since he was tiny; he finds terms like joie and value to be like so many variables in rarified equations, and he can manipulate them well enough to satisfy everyone but himself that he's in there, inside his own hull, as a human being -- but in fact he's far more robotic than John Wayne" (p. 694).

I'm pretty much over this week-to-week business. Now that the end is in sight (roughly 300 pages), I'm abandoning the schedule and reading as much as I can. Scheduling reading has only ever worked for me as far as it goes. I prefer to immerse myself, however much a novel like IJ seems to discourage that. The book is always structurally interesting, but it starts to get more complicated now as various characters and plots begin to almost slide into one another. There's a cool series of scenes where Matty Pemulis observes Poor Tony, Kate Gompert, and Ruth van Cleve pass by, with Lenz running around the fringes, where pretty soon all the paths intersect at some point, with or without the characters (or the reader) noticing. There's a lot in here about J.O.I.'s films, which seem increasingly unnecessary (but so much of the book is, and is meant to be). The section on the Incandenza family from Joelle's perspective provides some of the clearest insight we have of them, and they are indeed one of the saddest families in literature. We also get Joelle's history from Molly Notkin, both interestingly told from outside perspectives, as if main characters can't be trusted to see their own families clearly.

Week 21 (p. 809-981)

I forgot how totally frustrating it is to near the end of this book and realize the plot isn't going to wrap up in any sort of satisfying way. Wallace commented in an interview (I forget which) that he didn't need to talk about what happens at the end of the book because we know what happens. Buddy, YOU know what happens. The rest of us are here flailing about trying to fit a thousand pieces together, as I suppose we're meant to. We know that the A.F.R. is planning to infiltrate Enfield by the end of the novel, that Poutrincourt is one of their spies ("...which is the slip that indicates that Poutrincourt's figured out that Steeply is neither a civilian soft-profiler nor even a female ... and would require an almost professionally hypervigilant and suspicious person to notice the significance of" p. 1052)., and that John Wayne has some vague connection besides simply being Canadian. We know that, given Orin's capture at the end, they will probably have a Master copy of the Entertainment very soon. What we don't know is how that all goes down, what the fallout is for O.N.A.N., or how Hal gets to be in the state he is in the first chapter (DMZ? AFR? I still can't decide).

"...but it couldn't ordinarily affect anybody or anything solid, and it could never speak right to anybody, a wraith had no out-loud voice of its own, and had to use somebody's like internal brain-voice if it wanted to try to communicate with something, which was why thoughts and insights that were coming from some wraith always just sound like your own thoughts, from inside your own head, if a wraith's trying to interface with you" (p. 831).

This seems like the most compelling motive for J.O.I. to want to dose Hal with DMZ, if in fact he did. Wraiths can only talk to someone who has slowed way down and is no longer experiencing time the way humans normally do--which sounds exactly like what happens when someone ingests DMZ. By the end of the novel (the beginning chapter), we know that Hal can no longer communicate with the outside world, but that there's nothing wrong with his brain voice ("I am in here" p. 3). Will Hal and Jim finally get to have a conversation?

It's clearer than ever that something has happened to Hal though. I don't know if there's any support for the DMZ toothbrush theory--I was actively looking for it and didn't find any, other than the DMZ obviously being missing when Pemulis goes to get it and Hal and other E.T.A. kids vigilantly guarding their toothbrushes. If it's true, it's a leap, but making a leap may be the only way to make sense of that particular conundrum. Whatever has happened is getting worse, as people continually interpret Hal's facial expressions as either very sad or very amused, when we know he's neither. Most tellingly, the narrative switches to first person point of view, Hal telling his own story for the first time (chronologically, if not structurally).

"He dreams he's with a very sad kid and they're in a graveyard digging some dead guy's head up and it's really important, like Continental-Emergency important ... and the sad kid is trying to scream at Gately that the important thing was buried in the guy's head and to divert the Continental Emergency to start digging the guy's head up before it's too late, but the kid moves his mouth and nothing comes out ... while the sad kid holds something terrible up by the hair and makes the face of somebody shouting in panic: Too Late" (p. 934).

It seems like Gately eventually recovers, since we know he goes with Hal to help dig up J.O.I.'s head (verified in chapter one when Hal recalls it). It's possible the Wraith told him about the Entertainment, and this seems especially plausible when Gately somehow knows the plot of the Entertainment while he's still lying in the hospital. It's also possible that Joelle told him about it; through her conversation with Steeply (p. 940), we know that she knew the Masters were buried with Himself--which, ironically, is now buried in the Great Concavity. I'm still not clear about how John Wayne got involved, but there's this super oblique comment in an endnote about Bernard Wayne, a potential A.F.R. member who had not jumped when the train arrived and later drowned (p. 1060), which could potentially be John's father or grandfather.

I had forgotten that the 'Swiss' hand model was actually Luria P----. There are two obvious nods to other novels near the end here, with Fackelmann's A Clockwork Orange style end, and Orin's business with the cockroaches echoing the rats in 1984, specifically his nonsensical shouting "'Do it to her!'" (p. 972). Her who? Luria? Avril? All Subjects in general? I'm a little curious as to why Wallace bothered to make the references. He was doing well on the graphic horror all on his own, no need for outside references.

I'm amused by how many of my questions in my Q and A section are still unanswered. I thought if I paid closer attention on a second read that I would pick up more of the plot things I'd missed on my first, but I don't think that was the problem. I think it's that those answers simply aren't to be found in the actual text. Of course, they can point us toward various conclusions, and the novel certainly encourages us to speculate and make connections, but I don't think the actual answers are there. I have some more thoughts on this, and I'll likely have a review up this week or next.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS. TURN BACK BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.

Questions & Working Theories

[tw: drug mention, infidelity, incest, statutory rape]

Q: What happened to Hal? (Obvi) - Hal purposely ate the DMZ. He even says in this section, “I cannot make myself understood, now. Call it something I ate” (p. 10). I never bought this explanation, though, because later in the book it seems like Hal is making an effort to come off drugs. - The mold Hal ate as a child had long-term effects, and something (coming off drugs?) may have triggered his current condition. Also supported by, “Call it something I ate” (p. 10). - Aaron Swartz has a very convincing theory that Hal accidentally ate the DMZ when The Wraith placed it on his toothbrush. (Again, supported by above.) Hal is an excellent communicator but lacks feelings, and J.O.I. was attempting to create something that would draw his son out of himself. - Hal was injured when the A.F.R. attacked Enfield Tennis Academy. There’s a weird line in this chapter: “I once saw the word KNIFE finger-written on the steamed mirror of a nonpublic bathroom” (p. 16). This is likely also the work of The Wraith, indicating some kind of violence, perhaps the A.F.R. attack on Enfield. - "A surreal memory of a steamed lavatory mirror with a knife sticking out of the pane" (p. 951). A: Still unclear, but I'm leaning more toward DMZ than A.F.R. on this read. We can see Hal's symptoms growing worse from the Eschaton game onward, and in the last chapters, people think he's either laughing or grimacing when he's not feeling either of those things. Still super interested in the mirror/knife asides though. Is this part of the A.F.R. attack?

Q: Why was Hal hospitalized “almost exactly one year back” (p. 16)? - The side effects of the DMZ were first starting to appear. - Hal was injured in the A.F.R. attack. - It’s clear, also, that this was when Hal met Gately. Although they never have an on-page scene together, Hal refers to the two of them attempting to dig up J.O.I.’s head to find the Entertainment, alongside a masked John Wayne. A: Unclear. See above.

Q: How did Gately, Hal, and John find out about the Entertainment in order to dig it up? How did they discover where it was hidden? - Himself actually mentions that the cartridge has been implanted in his head when he’s talking to Hal as a posed conversationalist. However, this is all the way back in the Year of the Tucks Medicated Pad, when Hal is only ten-going-on-eleven. Hard to imagine that Hal remembered what was basically a throw-away comment, let alone understood its meaning. - The Wraith may have told Gately about it while he was lying in the hospital, the same way Gately somehow knows the plot of the Entertainment while he's there. - Joelle may have told them about it, since from her conversation with Steeply, we know that she knows that all the Masters were buried with Jim, which is now buried in the Great Concavity. A: Unclear, but several plausible scenarios.

Q: Who is mailing out the Entertainment? - Swartz suggests that it’s Orin Incandenza, who later under threat of torture releases it to the A.F.R. This seems well-supported by the text, since the initial cartridge is mailed from Arizona, and it’s conveniently sent to a medical attaché with whom Avril probably had an affair (per J.O.I.’s conversation with Hal). - Some support for this theory during one of Hal and Orin's phone conversations: "'What are you doing going to the post office? You hate snail-mail. And you quit mailing the Moms the pseudo-form-replies two years ago, Mario says'" (p. 244). Why is Orin at the post office, if not to mail more copies of the Entertainment? - However, as Marie pointed out, we don't know for sure that Orin was in Arizona in April YDAU. He's there in October, but there's a flashback of him in New Orleans in July that doesn't mention the year. If it was YDAU, Orin couldn't have postmarked the Cartridge from Arizona in April. - Orin also asks Hal directly about the days leading up to Himself's death, and he seems suspiciously interested in whatever film he was working on. "'Did he have film-related things with him when he flew somewhere? A film case? Equipment?'" (p. 250). However, if he already knew about the Entertainment back in April, why ask Hal about it in November? - This conversation is continued in a lengthy endnote where Orin asks about the definition of samizdat ("the generic meaning now is any sort of politically underground or beyond-the-pale press or the stuff published thereby" (p. 1011) and comments, "'So you'd have no idea why The Mad Stork's name would come up in connection with somebody saying samizdat?'" (p. 1011). Again, it's suspicious that he's even asking, but also, if he already knows about the Entertainment, why bother to ask? Is he trying to find out, or just trying to find out what Hal knows about it? Why? - "...place the likely dissemination-point someplace along the U.S. north border, with routing hubs in metro Boston/New Bedford and/or somewhere in the desert Southwest" (p. 549). Obviously, the Southwest could be Orin, but who's distributing it in Boston? Orin before he moved? I'd guess the Antitoi brothers, but their copy turned out to be blank (or seemed to be, if it was played on the wrong model). Orin has motive to want the medical attache dead for the affair with his mother, but why the film scholar, the avant-garde film festival, and the members of the Academy of D.A.S.? Were these Himself's rivals, or people Avril also had affairs with? - "Swiss cuckolds, furtive near-Eastern medical attachés, zaftig print-journalists: he felt ready for anything" (p. 597). - "There was reason to think M. DuPlessis had received his original copies from this relative, an athlete. Marathe felt U.S.B.S.S. felt this person may have borne responsibility for the razzles and dazzles of Berkeley and Boston, U.S.A." (p. 723). Did Orin give a copy to DuPlessis, or did he send it to him to kill him? A: It seems pretty clear on a re-read that it is Orin sending out the Entertainment, either from Boston before he left it or from Arizona where he currently lives, or both. I'm still not clear how he knew about it in the first place though, in order to dig it up. Between Orin's capture/torture at the end and the Antitoi brothers' having copies of DuPlessis's stolen cartridges, it seems certain that the A.F.R. will soon locate a Master copy. (The Antitoi's turns out to be Read-Only p. 725.)

Q: How did Orin find out about the Entertainment? - Joelle might have told him, though this was after her disfigurement and their breakup, so I'm not sure why she would. A: Unclear.

Q: When did Orin transfer from New Orleans to Arizona? - In June YW-QMD, Orin was still with the New Orleans Saints, per the mail between him and Avril (p. 1006-7). - In October YDAU, he's in Arizona. Q: Unclear.

Q: What happened to John Wayne that he can’t win this year’s WhataBurger competition? A: SUPER UNCLEAR. Thanks for nothing. We know he survived the A.F.R. attack (if Steeply didn’t stop the attack) because he’s in the off-page graveyard scene with Hal and Gately. Was he an A.F.R. target after that for going against them?

Q: What “sordid liaison” (p. 30) with the M. DuPlessis, who dies in a later chapter, did the Incandenza family have? - Still not clear, but it sounds like J.O.I. either purposely or under duress gave a Master copy (or copyable copy) of the Entertainment to DuPlessis, or had it stolen from him before or after his death, and it was then stolen by accident when Gately robbed and killed DuPlessis. ("Whether or not the A.F.R. ever even recover this alleged Master copy from the DuPlessis burglary..." (p. 489).) A: Best guess is that Avril had an affair with DuPlessis, Orin/Jim discovered the affair (possibly with a name written on the fogged up glass of Avril's car), and Orin sent him a copy to kill him, which he didn't watch (because he died? Not clear on the timeline). The copy was then stolen by Gately and ended up with the Antitoi brothers.

Q: Is Marathe a double-agent, or is he just pretending to be a double agent? - Marathe has betrayed the A.F.R. and is aiding Steeply and the Americans in finding the Entertainment in order to get medical care for his wife. - Marathe is only pretending to betray the A.F.R. in order to get more information from Steeply. A: Marathe is a double-agent, and is actually betraying the A.F.R. "The A.F.R. believed Marathe functioned as a triple agent, pretending to betray his nation for his wife, memorizing every detail of the meetings with B.S.S. ... M. Fortier did not know Marathe had reached the internal choice that he loved his skull-deprived and heart-defective wife Gertraud Marathe more than he loved the Separatist and anti-O.N.A.N. cause of the nation of Québec..." (p. 529).

Q: Where did the tripod set up in the middle of nowhere on the ETA grounds come from? - The U.S.S. Millicent Kent set up the tripod as an excuse to get Mario alone. - This is the possibly the first instance of the Wraith's work. He's responsible for most of the odd occurrences at ETA, and "Mario said his late dad had used a somewhat less snazzy IV-model Husky back in his early days of making art-films..." (p. 122).) A: The Wraith put it there. "But it's true. The Husky VI tripod of Mario's near-fatal encounter with the U.S.S. Millicent Kent was only the beginning" (p. 632). After this, the instances of objects being in odd places around E.T.A. increases dramatically.

Q: Who is the narrator in some of these sections about ETA? - It's a distinct voice from the sections that have conversations, but it also sounds a little like someone talking to us. ("I want to be like that. Able to just sit all quiet and pull life toward me..." (p. 128). Is this a character? A: Unclear. The only clear first person POV character we have in the novel is Hal. In some ways, the narrator's voice does sound a lot like Hal's, but if this is the case, he also discusses himself in third person a lot (which... Hal is pretty removed from himself, so that's not entirely impossible). I'm not confident enough to say that Hal is the mystery narrator throughout the book though.

Q: Are the effects of DMZ the effects we see in Hal in the first chapter? A: Very likely. Whatever starts in the Eschaton game grows worse toward the end of the novel, as people continually interpret Hal's facial expressions as either very sad or very amused, when we know he's neither. Most tellingly, the narrative switches to first person point of view, Hal telling his own story for the first time (chronologically, if not structurally).

Q: Why do Hal's symptoms in the Eschaton game seem more like DMZ side effects than marijuana side effects? Was there DMZ mixed with it? Was it purposely mixed in, or was it the work of the Wraith? - This is the first time we see Hal with similar symptoms as the ones he has in the first chapter, which seems to suggest that--whether or not the DMZ and marijuana are related, whether it was intentional or not--Hal did take the DMZ on Interdependence Day YDAU. - Pemulis goes looking for the DMZ later on, which seems to suggest it wasn't intentional, at least not on his end. Hal also doesn't consciously acknowledge that he's going to take it in this chapter either. - Mario reflecting on his brother: "He can't tell if Hal is sad. He is having a harder and harder time reading Hal's state of mind or whether he's in good spirits. This worries him. He used to be able to sort of preverbally know in his stomach generally where Hal was and what he was doing, even if Hal was far away and playing or if Mario was away, and now he can't anymore" (p. 590). Why the change? DMZ-related? - "But the crisis of faith that cost Stice the match had concerned a different Hal, Hal can tell. It's now a whole new Hal, a Hal who does not get high, or hide, a Hal who in 29 days is going to hand his own personal urine over to authority figures with a wide smile and exemplary posture and not a secretive thought in his head" (p. 635). If Hal took the DMZ on purpose, does he know it will be out of his system in a month? What else could have created a "whole new Hal"? It seems like a leap to think that quitting marijuana is the sole cause of all the changes. A: Very likely that Hal took DMZ, maybe more than once, starting at the Eschaton game.

Q: Who is Mario's father, Jim or Charles? - This is more of a detail question than anything because I'm not sure I care about the answer. It certainly doesn't seem to matter to Mario. He obviously bonded a lot with Jim over film in a way that seems almost worshipful at times, and I'm always in the camp of family is who you choose, not necessarily who you're related to. Also, Charles seems repelled by Mario, whereas Jim apparently loved him and spent time with him, so fuck Charles. A: Unclear.

Q: Is Charles Avril's half-brother or step-brother? - Again, this is a detail question, although one is significantly grosser than the other if they're having an affair, which it sounds like they are/were. ("...the thing it's not entirely impossible he may have fathered asleep up next to the sound system..." (p. 451).) That’s... not really a question if they weren’t sleeping together. Fuck you twice, Charles. - "Charles Tavis is probably not related to the Moms by actual blood" (p. 900). A: According to Hal, he's most likely her step-brother, though it doesn't seem like anyone ever cared enough to verify this.

Q: Was Pemulis selling DMZ to the Antitoi brothers, or buying it from them? - "Bertraund had been starry-eyed enough to agree to barter the person an antique blue lava-lamp and a lavender-tinged apothecary's mirror for eighteen unexceptional-looking and old lozenges the long-haired old person had claimed in a jumble of West-Swiss-accented French were 650 mg. of a trop-formidable harmful pharmaceutical no longer available and guaranteed to make one's most hair-raising psychedelic experience look like a day on the massage-tables of a Basel hot-springs resort..." (p. 482) A: Unclear, but I'm guessing buying, since Pemulis ends up with it and, as far as we know, the Antitoi brothers don't.

Q: What's the significance of Lucien Antitoi's spirit immediately after his death? Does this have an impact on the Wraith's activities? - "...and is free, catapulted home over fans and the Convexity's glass palisades at desperate speeds, soaring north, sounding a bell-clear and nearly maternal alarmed call-to-arms in all the world's well-known tongues" (p. 489). A: It seems like the Wraith's activities amplify after Lucien's death. If he knows that Hal is in danger from the A.F.R., he might be trying to rally Gately to help.

Q: If Pemulis has Avril's affair with John Wayne to hold over her, why is he still expelled at the end of the novel? A: WOOPS. Peemster accidentally dosed John with 'drines, as well as his very public tennis opponent. Can't help feeling Pemulis unfairly got the worst of it, while Avril got in zero trouble for having an affair with a teenage student. Also, hilariously, Hal already knew about the affair and didn't care about it.

Q: What's up with John Wayne and Hal? - "...John ('N.R.') Wayne opened up the ajar door a little more and put his whole head in and stayed like that, with just his head in. He didn't say anything and Hal didn't say anything, and they stayed like that for a while, and then Wayne's head smoothly withdrew" (p. 560). - "I could somehow tell for sure that John Wayne's head was inside the open door. I could feel it clearly, almost painfully. He was looking down at me lying there on the Lindisfarne carpet. There was none of the gathering tension of a person deciding whether or not to speak. I could feel my throat's equipment move when I swallowed. John Wayne and I never had much to say to one another. There wasn't even hostility between us" (p. 956). A: No idea. There’s the possibility that John is a spy for the A.F.R. the same as Poutrincourt, but I’d thought they had to infiltrate the tennis academy because they didn’t have another spy already in place. Thanks to the weird endnote, we know he has some connection, but I’m not totally sure what it is.

Q: Do Pemulis's descriptions of the effects of annulation have anything to do with how DMZ affects people, or the effect the mold Hal ate as a child had on him? It seems oddly similar to how Hal is experiencing time in the first chapter. Is this how J.O.I. stumbled onto it? - "'Accelerated phenomena, which is actually equivalent to an incredible slowing down of time", "relativity of time in extreme organic environments" (p. 573). A: Could be one of a million metaphors in this book.

#infinite jest #david foster wallace #infinite slow summer #infinite summer #infinite jest readalong #yrstruly

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sarissophori · 5 years

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Hither Yonder, Chapter 5

The Wild Roads

Halli awoke soon after sunrise, roused by the warming air and ground. She stirred, still sore from the night’s run and the fall that ended it. She sat up stiffly and listened for a while. Aside the pleasant sighing of boughs in the morning wind and distant bird calls the forest was silent, serene. She no longer feared capture, overtly at least, and took time to eat some of Sador’s provisions before starting off again. Climbing out of the ditch, she consulted the map as to her course. The Irdon forest, as it was named, stretched off west and south along the slopes of the Adorn mountains, the spine of Dumbria, running with them for many miles before ending at a sundered range called the South Spur, which formed the mountain-gap watched over by the fortress of Lake Tirgon. Rather than going immediately south-west and risk becoming lost in the forest, Halli went due-west toward the mountains, where she thought to have a sure marker to follow beside. Using any roads as a runaway slave was not an option.

This was the first course of her journey. Two days she spent walking into, then through, the heart of the forest, the mountains ever before her. The land rose gradually for the most part, then more so as she neared the pine and spruce-covered foothills of the range, rising in folds of green up and up to the bare flanks of the mountains proper, cloven by dales and valleys sheltered between rocky arms. Halli now went southerly west, on ground high enough to see down the surrounding lands, but low enough to avoid steeper terrain that would only hinder her. Away back east, in the fading light, she thought she could almost see the topmost battlements of Thargorod tiny and black on the far horizon, and thought of Sador and Siri in that moment. She wondered what punishment they stood to suffer because of her escape, if it would end with them. Here on the third day, more than on the previous two, the weight of her actions pressed on her shoulders as keenly as her roll-kit, and it was brought to her, concisely, what it would mean to be alone and to carry on. The sun set, leaving her under a blanket of night and stars.

The fourth day unfolded very much like the others; calm, boring even, in the shade of tall and ancient trees high enough to shut out the world beyond the forest. The air was scented with pine sap when the wind came in from the west. Northward, it smelled crisp from the mountain airs. Her aloneness was so apparent, the fear of being found completely left her.

By late afternoon Halli came to the source-waters of the Olgon River, the largest in Dumbria; a river she crossed once before, when the wagon train carrying her and Yuta rolled past its lowland fords to Thargorod. Here she refilled her water-skin, for it was fresh from the mountain springs, and stood about to take in her surroundings. The Olgon roared and splashed down bare stony banks worn smooth by its tide, falling downhill as rapids through ravines into the deeper forest. The foam glinted in the sunlight. The mountains were to her right, marching onward out of sight, catching the sky on their peaks as if they alone suspended it, keeping the separation of heaven and earth. The trees, clustered among the rocks, swayed in the mildest breeze, and she breathed it in.

Downstream from her, near the brink of the rapids, an ibex emerged from the trees and trotted to the river, fairly large, with great curved horns. Halli crouched low and watched him drink before deciding this an opportune time to test her bow. She unfurled her roll-kit and pulled it out slowly, bending it to notch the string. She had an arrow ready when she saw, lying stealthily on a shelf overlooking the bank, a mountain lioness in wait from above, her hind legs tensed for a jump. She sprang from her rocky perch and landed squarely on the ibex, who collapsed from the attack. He kicked and bleated, but she pinned him with a bite to the windpipe as he fought, then feebly writhed, then stilled. There was rustling in the trees behind; his pack heard his calls and bolted, bounding up to the safety of the steeper slopes. The lioness looked at Halli, who stood awestruck with her arrow slacked impotently on its string, suddenly feeling like prey herself.

“The kill is yours. I offer no contest.”

The lioness hauled her meal back into the wood, toward her mountain den undoubtedly nearby. That in mind, Halli crossed the shallow arm of the river by the spring and continued on her way.

Halli walked on in caution for the remaining day and those thereafter, while the forest lasted. Her bow was out, and she made a nightly shelter to help shield her from predatory eyes. Her guard lessened, however, when the forest began to open out, the hills only partly covered. Shrubs took advantage and grew in bunches in the glades, those that flowered and those that prickled. Ivy curled through them here and there, and little rodents scurried.

Nine days after entering the Irdon, the forest’s bulk finally thinned out to a few solitary pines along tumbled lands, and Halli could see the plains below. To the immediate south ran a separate range of hills, green and roving, the peaks grayish-brown and bare; the South Spur, a bulwark of rock across the neck of Dumbria. Just before her, a league away and beside the hills, was the fortress of Tirgon, unceasing in its watch of the plains. Calvary was afield in exercises, and white smokes wafted from the chimneys of barracks. There were no trains of slaves today, but Halli knew many more had come this way since she and Yuta went through its gates that summer long ago; Hananin from the steppes and the Kundish Mounds, and others from Ipsaria, Doria and beyond from Wilderland to the north. Halli backed into the sparse protection of Irdon’s westernmost reaches and went on her way, nursing blunted fantasies of revenge against that hated fortress.

Halli followed the flanks of a great shoulder in the range that hid her from the fortress, and down she went into the lower hills. Here Lake Tirgon sat against the mountains, buffered by a narrow and rocky land populated with holly bushes, beds of dry grasses and rough thickets. Trees were sparse, and were old and stunted. Nevertheless, this was Halli’s road as she chose it. The only other way, across the plains south of the lake, would mean almost certain capture while the cavalry was out.

She scrambled down the slopes and into a defile, going along ground that alternated between sandy, gravely, rocky, and sandy again. Her bare feet were sore before much trudging, yet on she went, walking through what grass she could find, stopping only a few times to rest. The lake at least was a beautiful bluish-gray, spanning many leagues south and west, ruffled by spouts of wind, otherwise reflecting mirror-like the mountain tips under a sapphire sky. The risk of exposure in this landscape was plain to her, but she took solace in one thing: there were no trails along Tirgon’s north banks, meaning this part of the mountains were seldom visited by the Dumbrians, maybe their soldiers too, despite the presence of their fortress. Halli certainly hoped it.

For two and a half days Halli plodded through that strip of waste, her palms, knees and soles callused by the rocks, and white from a chalky powder that coated the boulders and pebbly expanses. By noon she came to the eaves of the Farrow Wood, and her spirits lightened, not only because it meant an end to this unpleasant land, but also because past the woods was the West Reach, the extent of Dumbria’s borders. The borders of her own country were near.

The difference between the Farrow Wood and the mountain waste was abrupt. Up a few shelves of layered rock hung the roots of the outermost trees, stout and gnarled, at least by the lake. Further on, Halli saw taller, leaner trees as the land became less stony further west. She delighted in feeling the softer grasses under her feet again and decided to make camp early, resting and sleeping a long while.

Halli remained in the forest’s northern marches, to keep the mountains at her side. Then, after nearly fifteen days of constant hiking within the shadow of the Ardon range, over lands easy and difficult, they began to run down into a descent, hilly with many valleys, to the adjacent lowlands of the Hananin Steppes. The forest ended, and the Ardon sank into gentle rises. Here sprawled the West Reach, the beginning of the expansive, near featureless grasslands of inner Hinterland, bare under the noontime sun. Flatness, with subtle rolls, went off as far as the eye could see, except to the north where the Morrow Wood lay, a line of green against the wheat-color of the plains, and the Kundish Mounds further on. In the north, too, were brooding cloud fronts gray with rain, as colder airs from Wilderland mingled with warmer airs from the Sea of Ahn, rising to cumulus towers black-bottomed and foreboding, as far as they were. But this was not Halli’s road. From the eaves of Farrow, she turned south in a gradual meander westward, and came after a few day’s march under the Hinterland sun to the old Imperial Road.

The Road was built ages ago by the auxiliary legions of the Tarmaril Imperium in the years of its greatest extent, to connect the conquered lands with the mother-kingdom; to speed trade, culture, and the armies not the least. In those times the Imperial Road extended unbroken from the Sheerim Mountains to the gates of Tirgon, was tended to by a dedicated legion, and was punctuated every twenty miles with manmade watering holes. Every forty miles, or every other watering hole, was a courier station with inns, stables, and a fortified garrison.

In these later times, the Road was little more than an overgrown track of stones choked by weeds and grass, covered over entirely in some sections, marked along its way by the ruins of those courier stations and reed-studded pools frequented more by wildlife than any rider, much less a cavalry of thousands. Decay and disuse aside, the Road was not completely abandoned. After Tarmaril’s fall and the decline of Dumbria, the Hananin reclaimed their country and took from the Road what purpose they could find for it: irrigation ditches were dug to drain the watering holes for farmland, then blocked up for the spring rains to fill again, then drained as before. Stones were removed from the crumbling garrisons to build bridges and homes, though not from the Road itself. The Road was never repaired to its first glory, but parts of its length between villages were tended to and cleared, especially those parts near the Hills of Hanan and Lake Onu, where Hanan’s chief villages lay.

So Halli went west, following a way as sure as the mountains, though subtler. However, she walked along beside it at a distance, staying in the long grass; the threat of Dumbrian raiders still patrolling the West Reach was too great to ignore, making it unwise for her to travel directly on the Road. She remained a furlong’s breadth away day and night, far enough to dart and hide in the grass if need be.

And on she walked, and walked. The miles were covered in good pace, but there were many of them, each identical to the last. The occasional acacia tree was approached and passed, Halli using its dry, umbrella-like canopy for the shade it offered against the relentless sun when she rested, maybe twice a day for eating, seldom at length. She also came by several watering holes, or delves in the ground where one once was. They were brackish and warm, gathered over by birds and beasts; wild oxen and kingfishers, caribou and white flamingos migrating from the wetlands of Ahn. Even if she wished to use them, she doubted room would be made for her through their herds with so many young about, and under watch. Worse, the banks would be horribly muddy and mucked with filth by their tramping, making her think better of it than wasting one of Sador’s purifying tablets. And on she walked.

There was no marker or indicator to show where the West Reach ended and Hanan proper began, besides the words on her map. Halli guessed she was close; the lands here, hardly distinguishable to a traveler, were familiar to her as a local. She knew these fields. Her village was near here. As if to remind her of her present danger, not far off the Road was the site of a small homestead of yurts and tents. Their remnants, at least. Halli dared approach for a closer look. Burnt, brittle timbers and torn cloth were strewn everywhere. The people and their flocks were gone, the ground gouged and scorched in places. A few arrows stood staggered in the grass. This was not a fresh scene of massacre, however. The pillaging of this homestead was months ago, the bones of the slain picked clean by scavengers and carrion fowl.

Halli stood silent a moment, then pressed her hands together and bowed low, speaking softly and backing away. In Hananin tradition, a place of murder not purified remained unclean, and perilous for the living to trespass. This site would remain unclean for a long time yet, and Halli, in a mix of reverence and wariness, dared not disturb the uneasy sleep of the ill-rested.

Halli moved on, with no other sign of Dumbrian menace for the day’s remainder, or much of the next. She noticed that game was starting to become scarce around the watering holes, and that her food supplies were running low. Before she lost the chance, Halli camped by one of the pools and, after a short stalk, shot a heron through the reeds. She spent precious hours plucking the carcass and preparing a modest fire, gutting the entrails (an old chore she hadn’t really missed) and holding it suspended for the blood to drain, but it would be worth it. A good catch earns a good preparation, she remembered her barn’s caretaker telling her, and a good catch it was. Aside what she would eat today, there would still be enough to last her three or so more days, if she rationed it so.

Just as the bird was ready for spitting, Halli looked behind her shoulder to see a thin black line on the Road, growing to become a rank of black forms in the twilit evening. In the stillness, she heard the beat of hooves and the snorting of horses. It was Dumbrian cavalry, and they were riding fast, in her direction. Halli quickly blotted the fire and darted into the reeds, leaving her catch in the open.

The troop of horsemen, twenty with their captain, steered their horses to where they saw the faint wisp of smoke spied from afar, and dismounted to investigate. Halli watched them while hidden away. The captain sifted through the cinders with his boot, giving the plucked bird a kick into the soot. The rest ambled about, scanning the ground for clues to this riddle. Some murmured and pointed to imprints in the grass. They were fresh, meaning the one who made them, and made the meal, was nearby –but the light was fast fading, and Halli was well hid. They paced the spot a few more times, then as the stars outshone the slender gleam of orange against the west, they remounted and continued down the Road, leaving their riddle unsolved. What was one lowly Hananin vagabond to them? Their job was to scout the outer fields and return to Tirgon, and return they would. They galloped off in speed, leaving as swiftly as they approached.

Halli waited until the thudding of hooves was gone before coming out, checking over what was to be dinner and extra rations. It was dirty but salvageable, were she bold enough to start another fire. She risked her luck terribly already with the first, and decided not to again. Instead she resumed walking, feeling more secure in the cover of dark, wanting to put as many miles as she could between herself and the reach of Dumbria before the night ended.

On the days went, drawn, hot and trudging as before, with one noticeable change: the northerly thunderheads ever present against the horizon rolled down in haste on a southern gale, darkening the afternoon. Halli was relieved at first by the sun’s veiling, despite the thunder booming overhead, and welcomed the rain. She held her water-skin open to collect some of it, and it poured, and it blew. Then, it hailed. Halli wrapped her cloak tightly about herself and hunkered down, muttering as she was pelted, watching through her hood as the plains were pelted with little stinging balls of ice, waiting for it to pass. That was how the rest of that day went, shifting between rain and hail till early evening, when Halli found a battered acacia tree to sleep under. The night proved cold in her dampened cloak, her only protection against the wind. Come morning, she would welcome the humid sun.

Then, on the fourteenth day since leaving the Adorn range, Halli saw the rising shapes of the Hills of Hanan in the distance, and her heart lifted at the sight. An afternoon’s march, and she would come to villages outside Dumbria’s reach (she hoped) who could help her, refresh and restock her, give her rest and a little friendship. She was sick of being alone. By late afternoon she was at the Hill’s eastern ends, and wandered to the southern slopes toward Lake Onu blue and placid, crowded in by pockets of forest.

Halli looked on and frowned. The villages scattered across its banks appeared empty. She investigated each in turn, walking the dirt tracks branching to and off the Road openly, if cautiously. Long lanes ran beside tilled farmlands between fingers of forest, prepared for the planting season. The fields were abandoned, as were the villages; home, hut and barn. The livestock were also gone. Halli didn’t think this the work of Dumbrian raiders coming to collect slaves for Thargorod’s markets; none of the buildings were looted or torched, none of the fields ravaged. It was as if every villager to the last child had simply vanished.

Not quite. They had fled, and taken their livestock with them. News of incursions from the West Reach would have spread far and wide soon after the initial raids that took Halli and Yuta as spoils. That was almost a year ago. So the Hananin, most being semi-nomadic, gathered their livelihoods and mobile goods, and dispersed to wherever hope or safety led them within the Hinterlands, be it north to the eaves of Wilderland, or south to Kundanar, with whom they had a common ancestry. Anything that could be resown, rebuilt, or replaced was left where it was.

Halli lingered among the ghost towns, partly wanting to scavenge what supplies she could yet find, partly because she wanted to believe that they weren’t as empty as they seemed; that she might still find someone to give her tidings, or just talk to her. She peered into the houses, even exploring inside them, but saw only field mice nibbling on crumbs, and a few broken jars. The docks on Lake Onu were bare, moored with empty fishing rafts. Finding nothing else, Halli took some water from the wells for her water-skin, and continued on.

Westward on from the Hills of Hanan, the Imperial Road slanted a little north while keeping its heading, still dotted by watering holes, still watched over by crumbling outposts. The days were consistently bright and sunny without the threat of rain, a monotonous continuum of sunrise and sunset, with all the hours blurring into a plodding haze. Halli reckoned she was getting rather good at solitary marching, and even better at food rationing.

Before the Hills fell from sight, the long grasses gave way to shorter prairie ones, then failed altogether. The lands got tougher, with pasture shrubs becoming thistle thickets and other hardy weeds, and the occasional wildflower grove. Animal herds were sparse to nonexistent –though vultures could at times be seen wheeling about hither and yon, gliding on the high winds in a perpetual search for carrion. Now and again, Halli heard their lonely cries.

So came and went another eleven days; but on the morning of the twelfth, she saw rising suddenly over the flats of Hanan, purple in the wan light of dawn, the rugged peaks of the Sheerim Mountains, the border separating the Hinterlands from the Hither. Taller and mightier than the Adorn range, The Sheerim, where Halli stood, spread out in a great arc stretching north and south, falling with the bend of the horizon to immeasurable leagues. Though it didn’t mean an end to her journey, Halli was glad to see some change, any change, to the landscape, even if it was an obstacle so great, it suffered no rival formation this side of the world. As the map showed, it spanned over five hundred miles arm to arm, nearly sundering the two halves of the western continent. This would mean two-hundred and fifty miles just to go around, no matter which way she took –more months of joyless wandering, if not for one curious feature: right through the middle of the range was an opening in the mountains, called the Mistgap, which offered itself, on paper, as a most convenient shortcut. Halli didn’t have the rations to last going around the mountains, nor the patience at this point. It was either risk an unknown way, or possible starvation. As far as she made out, there wasn’t really a choice to be discerned. Besides, the Imperial Road continued right on up to the Mistgap on the map, and so maybe went through it as well. She put her faith in that.

#story #fantasy #hither yonder #sarissophori

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