#to ruin the reputations and get back at people that they had petty conflicts with

[1nvad3rz1m]

I think the Ang issue is not even fandom drama, at it’s core. It’s more an indictment of the failure of the American medical system. A disabled, mentally ill person should have access to medical care and mental health support, even if they’re drawing dubious art, even if they’re unemployed, even if they’re hurtful/dangerous people, as people involved in this are alleged to be.

They shouldn’t be left to just fester online, become more ill/erratic and just hurt each other over and over and over, on discord, in fandom, in all these spaces that we just see as petty or trivial.

We need something better. Fandom isn’t the issue. Lack of support and care irl for vulnerable people is the core of it.

I dunno man. I’m just sad about everyone in this situation. Nobody happy and healthy would do any of this.

oh i agree completely! i think people even saying fandom is a big part of it are missing the point a little, all this happened because of personal issues between friends who couldnt leave it. but that alone wouldnt have caused what happened to happen if there was better medical care and easier access to affordable treatment without a source of income/health insurance.

ultimately the issue is far bigger than any one part of it, it was a bunch of moving parts. but fandom was just a weapon, nothing more than that. the core is a shit health care system that leaves disabled and chronically ill patients to suffer and die.

[twistedwonderlandimaginesblog]

Hi! Could I please the dorm leaders reactions when their fem!S/O ends up in the office because she kicked someone who was trying to look up her skirt?

Azul Ashengrotto:

Hearing that someone was looking up your skirt made Azul feel some type of way, but it’s hard to pinpoint at first. He had been bullied plenty back in the day and he had never managed to strike back, only now finding he had power to do something. He considered sending Jade and Floyd after them but it’s a personal matter that he wants to see to himself. Your assailant is tied up in a contract in which they’ll never buy their way out of, essentially subservient to Azul’s whims and by extension yours.

Idia Shroud:

Idia is shocked to hear it but is even more at a loss of what he can do to help you. He’s never had an issue listening to you complain or vent to him but this type of situation feels like it requires an extra step. Was this his revenge era? Not for himself but for a loved one? He brainstormed with Ortho one night for little petty things they could do to make your attackers life worse. It’s almost nothing to find embarrassing photos and post them all over Magicam, your attackers reputation thoroughly ruined by the time Idia’s finished with him.

Kalim Al-Asim: 

Kalim is in your corner one hundred percent! Even if you had kicked the person for simply saying something rude, he would argue that you were in the right. He had always been your biggest fan and he might come on a little strong as he tried to cheer you up, knowing you had to be feeling bad after all that happened. He wants you to know that it wasn’t right that someone did that to you as well as Crowley getting you in trouble instead, saying he’d interfere in a heartbeat and take the punishment himself if the person tried to bother you again.

Leona Kingscholar:

Leona is quiet when you tell him, and quiet is always dangerous when it comes to him. You can already see the scheme forming in his head, even if you told him not to get involved you were unlikely to get through to him now. A slight against you was a slight against him in his book, and he wasn’t one to let disrespect slide. He doesn’t quite tell you what he did but you’re offered an apology from Crowley; he admitted the other party came forward and admitted to being the aggressor, looking rather worse for wear though he didn’t expand on that any further.

Malleus Draconia:

There’s a dangerous glint in Malleus’ eyes that even makes Lilia a little nervous, despite the fact he looks rather interested in seeing what he might do. He does give Malleus a reminder of his position and the consequences that can come from drastic, emotional responses to serious situations but Malleus assured him everything would be fine. You’re greeted by your attacker on their hands and knees, begging for your forgiveness as they shook and warily eyed Malleus standing off to the side.

Riddle Rosehearts:

Riddle is a little conflicted. It’s against the rules to use physical violence against another person when not specifically in an environment where you’re supposed to brawl… But it’s not exactly within the rules to disrespect the boundaries set by society. He upset you at first as it seemed like he was almost blaming you, but he apologized for making it seem so. He couldn’t excuse your rule breaking but he would find a way, within the rules, to make the person suffer to the full extent of the law for invading your privacy.

Vil Schoenheit: 

Vil was no stranger to people invading his personal space or trying to get little glances of parts of him he didn’t often show off in public. He can imagine how uncomfortable you might feel wearing a skirt again and encouraged you to do what you could to make yourself feel safe. He’s irritated that Crowley got you in trouble rather than the person who attacked you, and he has Rook on the case, hunting down the person who had committed the crime. Rook was more than happy to help, telling you that it would be a crime if you couldn’t walk around looking as elegant as you normally did.

[jojoboisimagines]

Johnny Joestar x Reader :: Wait for It :: Chapter 7

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Summary: Gyro is hospitalized, and now Johnny has no one to turn to. That is, until a former female rider shows him a little compassion. 

..::..

The atmosphere out in this grassy field felt much better to say the least. Probably the most comfortable you’d been throughout this whole race. No fighting, no people, and plenty of roaming space for your horse.  

You and your riding partner, aka Johnny, had mostly eaten your leftovers in silence. He had devoured the meal a lot faster than you thought he would. He’s still growing, you guessed.

Laughing to yourself earned a side-eye from him, before wiping his hands of all the leftover crumbs. Johnny heaves a content sigh, staring at the empty to-go box. The man did a couple of arm stretches, seems like the food really wore him out. Or made him sleepy.

Now that you had a chance to unwind today, you couldn't help but realize how calm he was around you. He wasn’t wary or suspicious of you as far as you could tell, and he wasn’t really pushing you away when having conversations. He was just..doing his own thing.

Perhaps he was too busy missing his riding partner to even attempt to start any real conflict on his own. 

Before you knew it, Johnny was back on his wheelchair, wheeling himself towards Slow Dancer to mount again. You were pretty much done with your own food as well. It was good, but not nearly good enough to start a bar fight for. 

Standing on your feet, you dusted any excess grass from your pants. You knew you were probably gonna miss this spot, but it was better to go ahead and move on. There was still a lot you needed to learn, according to your ‘mentor’.

A cool, satisfying breeze passed by as you walked back up to your horse Soarin’. It really was a nice day out. You glanced over to Johnny, but he wasn’t on his horse yet. Actually, it looked like he was a bit angry. Furious even, if his face getting slightly red was any indication. 

You looked up to see a familiar face, yet one you haven't seen since the beginning of the race. 

What was his name again, you thought...DJ...Damon...oh, Diego.

You had practically no idea who this guy was, aside from the fact he was British and had stolen the lead for the majority of the race. You didn’t particularly know him because he was a foreign racer, you mainly focused on the popular riders in your own country.

Yet it seemed like Johnny had some prior business with him, evident by him almost literally seething in his seat.

"The hell do you want, Dio, leave us alone!" He pointed at the taller man, hoping itd emphasize how he wanted him to back off.

"Hmm..Where is the Italian idiot anyway? It's almost strange seeing you without being latched to his side like a Chihuahua." Diego said, dismissively of Johnny's threat.

The ex jockey gripped the handle of his wheelchair so hard his knuckles might turn white in a matter of minutes. Though his face said something different, like he was trying to keep his cool but his body couldn't help but demonstrate his frustration.

He swallowed a lump in his throat.

"None of your business. Don't you have anything other to do than bother me?"

The Brit opened his mouth to say something else, before you caught his eye. The blue orbs quickly scanned you before looking back at Johnny.

"Oh? Having other racers aid you? Are you that desperate for help since you can't do anything alone?" 

Johnny sneered. Did this guy get off on confronting someone just to insult and degrade them? There was nothing stopping Johnny from punching Diego in the face (except for onlookers, which he could care less about honestly) so he wasn't sure where he thought his hubris would get him, but if Jojo has any say in it, it'll get him in the hospital.

He had been so far in his own mind after that remark that he hadn't even realized your presence beside him now. You had already spoken up before he got the chance to tell you it wasn't worth it.

"Actually, I'm not helping him, he's helping me." You corrected the arrogant man. 

Raising an eyebrow at you, he places a hand on his hip in a way that implies he really didn't care about what you said.

In that case, you wouldn't hold back either.

Dio puts his hand on his chest like a petty rich girl in high school.

"Who are you again? In all my time in this race I haven't seen you."

You knew that was a subtle jab about him being first and you being so far behind you were barely noticeable. Fists almost automatically balled up at that, but you'd control yourself for now.

"I'm sure you hardly look at anyone except your mirror. By now it's probably been splotched in horse manure by now, so really it's showing you what you've looked like all along."

Johnny snickers, and it's probably the cutest thing you've seen all day.

..in a friendly way of course.

His lip twitches, showing his teeth, a fang pointedly sticking out. Weird, you thought. You hadn't seen anyone with a fang in years.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dio tried to interrogate, but you weren't scared at all. In fact, you were just getting started on this guy.

"It means you look like horse shit, duh." Johnny answered, folding his arms. A small smirk still on his face.

“Watch it, Joestar.” Diego sneered. For someone who dished it out like second nature, he sure couldn’t take it. “One wrong move and I can ruin your standing in the race, AND your reputation--or at least, what’s left of it.”

You roll your (e/c) eyes. You’ve had enough of this guy, what was this, a playground?

“Dude shut up, if you want to prove anything then win the whole damn race and stop talking like you already have.” One more retort and you’ll fly off the handle at him.

Diego stays silent for a moment, before leaning in to your face, his nose inches from yours.

“I already have. You’re welcome to join me when you’re done playing in the mud with poor Jojo.” 

Before you could reply, he reeled back and turned on his heel. You wanted to punch him so bad, how dare he talk down to you and your friend like this..

“Don’t do it (y/n).” You hear Johnny behind you. “As much as I wanna see it happen, he’s not wrong about being able to sabotage both of us.” 

You grunted. “What could you possibly care about our ‘reputations’, Johnny? That was pure disrespect, and I can’t let it fly!”

“...”  He was looking at the ground now, seeming like he was trying to find whatever reason he could to prevent you from firing off. Johnny sighs.

“Look, I’ll be straightforward with you. I’m not in the race for money or status.”

You turned around at that, fairly confused.

“I’m in this race to..learn a technique from my friend, Gyro. I could care less about the stuff Diego desperately wants me to so he can have ammo to bug me with. However, you seem pretty set on trying to prove yourself that you can do this. I’ve seen it when we train.”

“..Seen what?”

Johnny pauses.

“Your determination. This is probably gonna sound dumb, but your eyes, they’ve been different. Like there’s some kind of fire in them now. Honestly, since joining this race, I can relate. Its part of why i’m still deciding to help you after you’ve..” His eyes become sarcastically half lidded. “Gotten me into almost two fights now.”

A scoff escapes your lips. What on Earth was this man saying anymore? Though you wouldn’t deny, it was a bit encouraging to hear.

The scoff was a bit off-putting to him, and he took another pause. He looked a little...flustered? You weren’t sure what that meant. Did you make him feel stupid on accident?

“That’s why...I’m not letting you take the chance to have Diego potentially ruin all your chances. This training would be for nothing.”

Something inside you suspected there was another reason, but you wouldn’t question it. Walking forward to him, you bent over to meet his eye level in his chair.

“Fine. I’ll beat up Diego after the race is over. Let’s get to our horses.” You take the wheelchair handles and starting walking towards Slow Dancer.

You couldn’t see it but, Johnny had a faint smile on his face.

[nelliebrookstone]

( BRIANNE HOWEY, 29, CIS WOMAN, SHE/HER ) * hey, i’m looking for the office of ELEANOR ‘NELL’ BROOKSTONE. they’re the EMPLOYEE who’s known around the office as THE BURN BOOK, if that helps ? not to be a gossip, but i’ve heard that they’re SUPPORTIVE but PETTY, is that true ? i also heard that they’re the one who CRIED IN THE BATHROOM BECAUSE SOMEONE TOOK HER YOGURT. anyways, here’s the coffee they ordered.

Greetings Earthlings, my name is Asha I am simply a fellow human from planet earth looking to hang out with my cool friends at the Build-A-Bear. I’m excited to be here! I have more information on Eleanor (nellie if you know here, nell if you don’t) below the cut! If you give this a lil like I’ll slide into your exclusive tumblr DMs to plot! 

So, who is Nell? Well let me tell you. As far as most people know, Nell is a former Masters Model turned Head of Talent Management for models. She’s a mix of sweet Alabama charm and scary dead smile energy, and she always has a compact for you to borrow in her purse. Most people know she always has a perfect french manicure and knows most people by first name. You might also know she recently divorced Parker and is no longer using his last name, please do not call her Mrs. Carson she’ll cry in the bathroom and then leave you a bad yelp review. You’re not even on yelp, you say? She’ll make one for you and then leave a bad review. 

But like a curated Insta, this ain’t it folks. So buckle up. (I say this dramatically but tbh she has had a pretty stable life)

Nellie grew up in a smallish town in Alabama. If you ask her, it wasn’t small at all. But it certainly was compared to large city centers, and definitely compared to New York. It was the kind of town where everyone knew your business, and Nellie had a lot of business. 

She was a teen queen! Head cheerleader, student president, shining volunteer of the county and Lady Alabama of 2010 (not to be confused with Miss Alabama, but if you ask her it’s basically the same thing). She was very involved in her community and her parents were well known in the area for their construction company. Everyone loved her that she was like the golden child of the town.

It was a great, privileged life! Her parents got married young, had a bunch of kids, and had the means to care for them! Her parents also have a very genuine love story, still passionate about each other years later. She and her sisters (all five of them) have always wanted a life like their parents’. 

The one difference between her and her parents remained her desire to roam and see the world. She wanted to travel, or at least live in a place where she could meet new people from new places. Moving to New York seemed like a great place to get some experience, though if you ask her mother she probably got the idea from some dumb TV show. She did. It was a lot of shows. And a lot of movies. There were a ton of romantic comedies that TRULY shaped this desire. 

she started sending in applications to various schools in New York. She was an honor list student with a lot of extra-circulars and passion to be at these places that shown through on all her apps. She got many a rejection, the one from Columbia was the hardest. It was the worst thing that ever happened to her at the time, so you can imagine how her life must have been. 

She DID get accepted to NYU for Public Relations! CHEERS ALL AROUND! She was so excited. She was gonna see the world and be a big city bitch 10/10. In college, she was quickly involved in everything from various clubs, to sorority, to trying to get involved with the community. It didn’t work out as well. New York was just such a different town...in that it was...big. And she wasn’t used to that. 

But she did meet a funky guy named Parker Carson! And they fell in love! And here is a short synopsis of their relationship: 

they met at a department store. Parker looked a little lost in the dress shirt area so she helped him pick out an outfit and the rest was, as they say, history. 

they had a great relationship at first, full of love and passion and fun times. he had a pokemon tattoo, she used to play pokemon snap. what a team! 

but really, they had a great time together...which led them to get married real early. In fact, for Nell, this was even a little late. She thought she’d be married with kids by 23. 

a lot of little things led to their downfall, but it can be boiled down to not fully understanding what it takes to live with another person who doesn’t mesh with your lifestyle. A big issue for Nell was kids. She wanted them, right then and there. He didn’t! No one’s fault, but it seemed to be a block they couldn’t get over. 

they’re divorced now. it’s fresh. she’s got a lot of conflicts about it. She cannot believe she is divorced before 30. she cannot believe she doesn’t have kids by now. She is under the impression she’s run out of time for everything, which is not true at all but it’s how she feels. She’s none too fond of the man at the moment. 

But listen! Nellie is a fun girl! She’s got a lot of ~zest~ for life and likes to do new things and try new places. She’s also just as comfortable spending the day at home on the couch with everything she needs within arms reach. She seems like someone who would be into partying but that’s really not her scene. She’s a brunch girl, a drive-thru movie theater girl, and an all-day 90 day fiance girl. She has an addiction to cherry cokes and always misses her stop on the subway because she gets distracted listening to her music and zoning out. She cries a lot during sad AND happy movies and can’t eat pork because she once knew a pig named Babe (no relation to the famous babe). Her favorite animal is the octopus and she volunteers with the homeless shelter every weekend. 

All of this doesn’t really come across in her work persona. She always seems like she’s extremely put together and very good at what she does. She’s quick, snappy, and not afraid to speak her mind. She’s a master at the backhanded compliment and is the master of the delayed burn (you won’t know you’ve been roasted until she’s down the hallway). She has a very charming way of speaking with a thick southern accent and tons of sayings that no one knows the meaning of, but sometimes that Nice Southern Girl smile comes out and you know she would be stabbing you if such an act were socially acceptable. Despite this, Nellie doesn’t think she’s a mean person. 

But I’m sure there are MANY people who think she is. Because...sometimes she is! No one is perfect, and she definitely has a reputation of being a major pain in the ass if you’re on her bad side. Nell remembers EVERY slight against her. Oh, she remembers when you commented on the amount of emails she sends. She remembers when you mentioned that you thought her font type was a little too bold. She remembers it all...and stores it in her mental burn book. 

This also happens often because she is...pretty sensitive. And because she’s going through a divorce, which is NOT what she had planned for in life, she’s like a stubbed toe away from a full cry every day. She’s started to invest in waterproof mascara but it’s not working out. She really DID cry in the bathroom over her yogurt. She also came back the next day and wrote a VERY angry letter on the fridge titled ‘to the person who likes to take things that don’t belong to them, I hope your mother knows she raised a THIEF.’

As petty as she can be, she’s also a great person to have in your corner. If you’re a friend, she will fight for you to the end. She’s very loyal and will often drop whatever she’s doing if you need her. She can be very generous, no expenses spared to lift up someone she loves. If you’re a friend of hers, she’s a great friend. The kind you can call at 2 am when she’s dead asleep and she’ll still come help you move out of your shitty ex’s apartment. 

Basically, Nell is a whole lot of things. Not all of them are great. But she likes to think of herself as a good person that cares about other people. She generally is! She’s also fairly good at having heart to heart conversations, and isn’t afraid to own her mistakes if she’s not still upset about the issue. But she’ll also try to ruin your career if you steal her yogurt. Fun! 

I’ll add more as I think of it, but for now I’m here for all the plots. Best friends, enemies, the person who caught her crying in the bathroom, the person who caught her angrily scribbling her name on all her yogurt, you name it! 

[temperancejones]

Some Kind of Curse- Chapter One

Upon Steve and Kris’ arrival at their base about half an hour later, they were both dragged to the medic, where they also got grilled by their Captain waiting for them there, who was red with anger that Anton Hesse was killed on the extraction mission. Steve and Kris tried to explain what had happened, and how their mission had somehow been compromised, but the Captain wouldn’t have any of it. Of course, they were immediately taken off the mission, as they were now emotionally compromised and a conflict of interest due to both of them and their father getting dragged into this mess and ordered to return to O’ahu for a family emergency. They were forbidden to investigate this case further and were told that if they were caught impeding on the Navy’s investigation and mission, they would be facing a court martial. And then, the Captain left as soon as he got there, mumbling something about how he was sorry for their loss.

Still unable to comprehend everything that had just happened, Steve and Kris let the medics look them over and patch up Kris’ bullet wound. Thankfully, the bullet ricocheted off of Kris’ TAC vest and lodged itself in her deltoid muscle. The bullet was easily removed, and by the looks of it, the wound should heal on its own in a few weeks, but unfortunately for her, her left arm is put in a sling and she is given direct orders to keep it as still as possible to allow the muscle to heal properly. Once the medics give them both approval to leave, they are escorted out of the med bay, where they are immediately taken to their quarters and given ten minutes to gather their things. Steve quickly fills both of their duffle bags, thanks to Kris only having one working arm right now. The twins are then quickly escorted to the Humvees and brought to the nearest airbase, where a cargo plane is being held for them to board so they can get home as soon as possible.

Steve and Kris keep their heads down and find themselves unable to find the right words to say to each other during their entire trip back home, so they were silent for pretty much the entire fifteen-hour trip. The trip took two separate planes to finally get them to Hickam airbase on the beautiful, sunny island of O’ahu, which was once their home many years ago. If the McGarretts’ visit back home for the first time in almost seventeen years was under better circumstances, they would almost feel relieved to be back on the island. But, of course, what they were feeling was quite the opposite- their visit to the island was to bury their father, and then take care of all of the legal issues before getting shipped back out overseas for their next mission, as if nothing had ever happened. Being ordered off the mission that resulted in their father’s death was definitely a low blow to both Steve and Kris, but they both knew that they couldn’t risk their careers for some petty revenge on Victor Hesse. So, like the good little soldiers they are, they will do what needs to be done here, and then get buried in another op as always. Hell, maybe they will even switch gears and go back to intelligence or something to make sure that their brains are constantly occupied so they can forget that they don’t have parents anymore.

Just as the plane touches down to the tarmac of the Air Force base and the pilot takes over control of the plane, the co-pilot turns around and looks at Kris. “Ma’am, I have an incoming call from the Governor of Hawaii. If you put on the spare headset, I will patch you in.” he says to her, gesturing to the headset dangling above Kris’ head. She tries to put on the headset herself, but with one hand, she has no luck. Steve reaches over and puts it on his sister’s head, chuckling a little bit at her frustration. Feeling a little angry at her inability to do such a simple task, Kris nods to the co-pilot to connect her to the call while the plane taxis around the airstrip. A woman’s voice patches through the headset, which Kris assumes is the governor. She hasn’t been keeping track of who is in office at home anymore, as her and Steve have been away for far too long to care at this point.

“Commander, this is Governor Pat Jameson. I just wanted to start by saying I’m so sorry for your loss.” The Governor says to Kris, which makes her heart speed up a little bit- she forgot how painful it was to hear people say I’m sorry for your loss to her. Its something she has detested since the day her mother died. Were people truly sorry for her loss? Or did they just want to make sure that Kris, Steve and their little sister Mary, who was only ten at the time of their mothers death, were getting enough attention, as all eyes were on the honorable John McGarrett, who was simply inconsolable… more than words could ever describe. Her father’s pained cry from the front door was a sound that was forever ingrained into Kris’ brain, and is something that will haunt her forever, along with the singular gunshot that murdered her father less than twenty-four hours ago.

Snapping out of her dreadful thoughts, Kris sits upright in her seat, putting on her Commander façade once again. She clears her throat and speaks into the microphone. “Thank you, Ma’am. What may I do for you?”

“I’d like to talk with you and your brother in person, can we meet at Pearl Harbour in two hours? That will be at about 1300.” Governor Jameson requests hopefully.

Kris takes a moment to wonder why on earth the Governor of Hawaii would want to talk in person with both her and Steve, especially when they have way too much stuff to do in preparation for their father’s funeral. But, A conversation with the governor should be relatively harmless, so Kris agrees to it, and ends the call with the governor. Kris immediately tells Steve about their meeting with the governor, which makes him scowl a little bit, silently wondering why the governor would want to see them as well.

The plane stops shortly after the call ends, and they quickly disembark, where they are met with Captain Twill, a short, stocky man who welcomes them home and shows them to their loaner car for their visit to the island, making sure that they can get around and take care of everything they need to. Thanking the Captain, Steve and Kris hop into the black SUV and head to Arizona hall, which is the lodging hotel for all Navy, Military and Air Force members on Hawaii. It takes them about half an hour to get to the hotel and get checked in, which leaves them an hour and a half to prepare for their meeting with the Governor.

Still not talking much, Kris and Steve take turns showering to wash off the grime on them from their mission in Korea and look presentable for the Governor. When Steve gets out of the shower, Kris is already putting on her dress blues, thankful that they didn’t get wrinkled from her abrupt trip home with them. Steve, who is already in his dress pants and has his shirt on, just unbuttoned, notices that Kris is struggling with the buttons, as they are impossible to do up one-handed, and chuckles at her from the door of the bathroom.

“Need a hand?” Steve asks, smirking a little bit.

“What I really need is a stiff drink, but yes, a hand please. I’m not going to meet the governor with a uniform that is half buttoned up.” Kris sighs. Steve does up his shirt and walks over to his sister, and does hers up for her, and fixes her collar. Kris thanks him, and sits down on the edge of the bed, sighing.

Steve sits next to her, fixing his own collar now, making sure it’s perfect. “This really isn’t how I wanted to come home for the first time since we left, y’know?” Kris confesses. Steve nods and rubs his eyes. “you and me both. I just can’t believe we never got to see him-“, Steve starts to say, but his voice breaks, and he chokes back a sob. He’s right, though. They haven’t really been on good terms with their father since he shipped them away to private school and the Naval Academy on the mainland when they were sixteen. Kris always wondered why their father had pushed all of his children away so much after the death of their mother- but that’s something she might never know now. Kris leans into her brother’s side and puts her head on his shoulder in a silent form of comfort. Steve wraps an arm around her shoulder and pulls her in tighter for a side hug. He places a kiss on the top of her head- something that he hasn’t done in years, as Kris hates it when they show emotion to one another around fellow troops or even on base, since people assume things about them, which piss her off to no extent. Kris has spent most of her career trying to stay out of Steve’s shadow, as most people in the Navy and Military think it’s outrageous to have a female such as herself on the front lines with the men, even though she is more qualified and trained than most of the soldiers she works with. Kris broke a lot of barriers during her career in the Navy- she became the United States’ first female SEAL and was one of the first women to be on the front lines in general while the States troops were stationed in the middle east. So, with a reputation like that, she definitely doesn’t want people to think that the only reason she got accepted to all of those high-profile posts and ops was because of her brother, who was on them as well. Kris worked just as hard in training to walk alongside Steve during her career so far.

The twins sit like that for a few minutes, just allowing each other to silently mourn their father, a man they felt like they barely knew, but still loved him very much, despite not seeing him for half of their lives. Steve is the first one to break their silence again.

“So, what needs to be done for the funeral?” He asks, which immediately ruins Kris’ rare calm state of mind she had maintained from hugging her brother.

Kris lets out a loud exhale and rubs her face, now sitting upright again, and off of Steve. “A lot. We need to call Duke and get an update on everything. I’m assuming HPD is investigating this as a homicide, which is going to fuck us over, probably. But we need to make funeral arrangements and try to get him buried either at punchbowl or with mom and grandma. Duke should be able to help, I think. Hopefully we can push the funeral to tomorrow and get it over with.” Kris begins to ramble, suddenly remembering everything that she helped dad with for her mother’s funeral all those years ago.

Steve sighs. “Okay, so after we meet the Governor, we can swing by HPD and talk to Duke and get this shit over with… which leads me to my next question… what do you want to do about Hesse?” Steve explains, and then asks his sister seriously, with a little glimmer of hope in his eyes.

Kris furrows her brows and looks back at Steve, trying to read his face to understand what he means, hoping that he isn’t talking about risking his career with this. They both know that if they go down this road, there will be no turning back; they will either get away with disobeying a direct order or get court martialed for doing such an absurd thing, and then get dishonorably discharged. “Please don’t tell me that you’re seriously thinking about doing this, are you?” Kris asks, already knowing the answer. Steve is going to be a stubborn McGarrett about finding Hesse- of course he’s thinking about doing this.

Steve nods. “I was thinking about it the entire trip home, and in the shower. Some things just don’t add up to me. Dad called us Tiger and Champ. I think it means something, but I don’t know what. I want to find out, and I want Hesse to pay for what he did. That son of a bitch needs to go down.” Steve explains, which immediately makes Kris’ mind race.

Kris thinks about it for a few moments, wondering why these oddities never occurred to her; She was probably too busy being anxious about the upcoming funeral for her father. She has always hated funerals- they offered no closure whatsoever and were very upsetting to attend. “Tiger and Champ… Champ as in that old toolbox we got him for Father’s Day when we were little to work on the Marquis? And that stupid tiger I made him in grade six art class?” Kris speculates, just throwing her first thoughts out there to Steve.

“The one he kept on his desk, in the den, right? And the toolbox! Yes, it was in the garage, but I don’t ever remember grabbing tools from it?” Steve then adds on, snapping his fingers for dramatic effect, which ignites a spark of sheer curiosity between the twins. Now they both know that they have to follow up on these breadcrumbs their father left for them, even if it means their careers in the Navy will end because of it. They need the closure and answers as to why anyone, especially Hesse, would target an innocent man and murder him in cold blood. Damn it, Kris thinks to herself. This is going to change a lot of things in their lives if they go through with the investigation on the toolbox and the tiger, but she genuinely believes that it will be completely worth it.

Kris looks at the wall and nods, trying to anticipate everything that’s going to happen in the next few days. Kris can’t help but think that if her and Steve hadn’t been hunting down the Hesse brothers, then maybe, just maybe, their father might still be alive right now, and they could still have a longer career in the Navy. But everything happens for a reason, Kris decides, and says “fuck it, let’s get this bastard”, to Steve, which make him grin at his sister.

For the next hour, Steve and Kris grab a bite to eat at the restaurant connected to their hotel, and head over to pearl harbour, where they wait to meet with Governor Jameson. They arrive half an hour early, and decide to head to the edge of the pier to pay respects to their grandfather, as well as the other lives lost at the pearl harbour attack, who are still entombed in the ocean, only a few hundred feet away from where Steve and Kris stand now. Knowing that their grandfather, the original Steve McGarrett, was an honourable man who fought until the very last moment of his life to protect this country, is something that Steve and Kris hold dear to their hearts; they both have his service number tattooed on their forearms, reminding them constantly of his sacrifice. Maybe now they will have to get something for their father tattooed on them too as a reminder.

Once they are both finished paying their respects, Steve and Kris continue to stand at the pier and begin to devise an action plan to continue their investigation and start to track down Victor Hesse again. They talk in hushed voices, to make sure that they can’t be heard, and ultimately decide that they will go to the house tomorrow once HPD leaves the scene to recover the tiger and the champ toolbox and see where it goes from there. What matters most right now is arranging the funeral for their father, which should hopefully be tomorrow morning if they can pull the right strings with HPD today. Steve and Kris get so caught up in their plans that they almost forget that they’re supposed to be meeting the Governor any minute now, so when she gets their attention by saying “Commanders?” loudly over the wind, they almost jump in surprise. Thankfully, they keep their cool and turn around to face the voice that called them.

Governor Pat Jameson is a tall, blonde, older woman, who immediately gives off the impression that she will not be messed with. Kris likes that. Steve doesn’t really look impressed.

“Governor,” Steve says flatly, now facing the woman, who is approaching them still. Governor Jameson’s short blonde hair is blowing in the wind from the ocean, as is her business skirt and fitted suit jacket, but she doesn’t let that phase her. She walks up to the two Commanders and outstretches her hand for them to shake. Once greetings are passed around, Governor Jameson thanks Steve and Kris for meeting with her and invites them to walk along the pier with her. Still wondering what the Governor could possibly want, Steve and Kris look at each other, and then agree, following Governor Jameson’s lead.

This should be an interesting conversation, Kris thinks to herself as she slides off her hat, which is about to blow off in the wind. Here goes nothing.

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/story/233640136-some-kind-of-curse-hawaii-five-0

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25176232/chapters/61334512

[anotherguiltybystander]

Warning: Infinity Train season 3 spoilers ahead

Even if Infinity Train gets a season 4 I probably won’t watch it after seeing the Season 3 ending. I’m a big fan of the show, but I feel like it’s lost its way, similar to GOT. When trying to explain my decision to a friend who is also a fan of the show, I had a hard time verbalizing why I was put off by how lazy the ending was. I couldn’t explain why it was lazy at the time, but after a few days of thinking it over, I’m pretty sure I can verbalize why the ending ruined the show’s future for me. 

I’ve known so many people like Simon. People who are controlling and resentful of women because they don’t want them to be fully realized human beings. People who abuse women, attack women, attempt to kill women (and sometimes succeed), or just destroy their reputations for these petty reasons. And I think that made Simon a great villain. 

But here’s the thing: Those people? They don’t just go crazy and die conveniently in real life. They continue to thrive. They continue to ruin people’s lives. In some cases, they continue to hold a lot of power over others. A tiny percentage of them even change and try to make amends. So for a show that is so hard-core allegorical, it was just too painful to see the unrealistic fantasy fulfillment of this kind of person disappearing forever. It’s too convenient, and it oversimplifies the conflicts that the majority of women have had to deal with in their life. And to do it in such a horrific, punishing, seemingly-permanent way before Grace can even process what’s happening cheated both characters out of their story arc.

I also don’t appreciate the idea that there’s a point of no return for passengers on the infinity train. That the train will just decide one day that you deserve to die because your number got too high (or when you finally have a psychotic break from the literal torture you’ve been experiencing for years since you were a child, which has its own list of issues I don’t want to go into right now). No one else thought Simon deserved to die. The show spent the entire season showing us how Simon got to this point, as well as alluding to a close death in his family before he got on the train. We see that he used to be a normal person, if not a good one. We see everyone trying to help Simon find his way back to being a good person. But now we’ll never know if he could be helped. Setting that precedent made me lose interest in the story as a whole. 

I don’t have feelings one way or another if Infinity Train gets a season 4. It’s not a bad show. I think it’s actually pretty good. I just won’t be watching it in the future.

[kadeu]

Accepted — Alis Nazarian

♣️   Alis Nazarian aka. Vesper looks like Angela Sarafyan (actor) ♣️   She was born August 5th, 1869; making her 150 years old but she appears 37 ♣️   This Shifter is Pansexual and an Ace of Clubs ♣️   She is the Owner of Boxing Clubs

Biography

They regarded her with pity.

For valid reasons, of course. To be born to low ranking parents—a 1 of Clubs and 2 of Clubs respectively—was one thing, but for said individuals to remain distant, burdened by their own string of issues that they couldn’t care for each other, for her, was another matter entirely.

Alis Nazarian served as the perfect example of how one’s pedigree mattered little in the scheme of things. Her father’s former status as a formidable Ace and mother’s position as ruthless Queen were a distant memory; something akin to a myth, a tale drummed up by intoxicated patrons over one too many. A once fearsome reputation ultimately lay in ruins, courtesy of destructive habits, and she was the unfortunate victim of their poor choices.

But it wasn’t in her nature to dwell over the details.

There was no point in criticising her father’s penchant for Chrono and mother’s fascination with the gambling scene. No point in wondering just who would guide her along the shifter path, some day, when they were busy with other pressing… matters.

As easy as it might have been to pin her suffering on the pair, she couldn’t find it in herself to indulge in such. The only viable choice was to proceed and push through, regardless of the difficulties associated with it. Sure, the hardships were aplenty, and it would be a blatant lie to say that the frustration hadn’t driven her up the wall on multiple occasions— but it could’ve been worse.

And so, she did what she did best in situations such as these when the odds were heavily stacked against her: survive.

In the hands of distant relatives, family friends, or anyone kind enough to take her in on a temporary basis, she was raised among a bevy of both familiar and unfamiliar faces. Armed with a razor sharp wit and keen eye, Alis seamlessly adapted to each environment she was presented with. Not even subpar sleeping arrangements or measly meals could bring her to tears—in public, at least. Humour quickly became a source of comfort. It was far easier to joke than worry over the fact that she’d eventually have to figure her own way out. Alone, in a society that had it out for her.

What exactly was a girl meant to do in this instance? Sit back and wait for the end? Allow the other Clubs to trample right over her when she was down and almost out like this? Well.

Ask her and Alis would swear that she hadn’t meant to steal that day. Promise. The thought of dipping her hands into the pockets of a highranker was absurd. No one had to tell her twice. Consequences were deadly for someone lowly like her, except the possibility of hitting gold—perhaps in the literal sense—gave her the incentive to give it a go. Just for today, anyway. Better to be taken down on a high than wither away like many had assumed she would.

What she hadn’t expected, however, was to be caught red handed. More specifically, to come face to face with a person who apparently knew her father far better than she did. Even knew her, for that matter.

Huh. It was a goddamn joke that not even Alis could laugh at.

Boris Kuznetsov, he’d introduced himself as over a meal later on. A childhood friend of her father’s, a training partner, a close confidante; the poor soul who’d personally witnessed his demise and didn’t want the same for her. Or so he claimed. Alis barely took note when the abundance of food before her was considered significantly more interesting than whatever he chose to ramble on about at the very moment.

It was a sight that prompted the man to ultimately take her under his wing. Either to keep her off the streets and give her the chance to live, or to restore honour to her family name once more. Maybe both.

In a matter of days, Alis finally understood the very definition of stability: a roof over her head, never-ending meals, proper clothing. There was no risk of having everything snatched from right under her here; a far cry from what she was usually accustomed to. It was the kind of life she’d long been deprived of, yet a life that could be hers, so long as she was willing to, quite literally, fight for it. And was she? Was a reckless street kid capable of making it to the top? Boris thought so.

Whereas he was stern and implemented a strict training regimen as preparation—but also to keep in her line— she was fond of bending said rules when possible. Whereas he emphasized the importance of upholding tradition, she opted to break it and put on her own unique spin on it, instead. And when he’d requested that she get her shit together and actually take him seriously, Alis would pretend to deviate for the sole purpose of hearing him grumble angrily in his mother tongue—only to turn around and prove that she’d excelled in everything he’d taught her so far.

Let it be known she’d developed a soft spot for the old man and would vow to work hard in his name, shit talking and all.

To put it simply, the first few fights didn’t go to plan. Battered, bruised, and brandishing a new scar; her friends considered it an absolute miracle she was still alive by the end, let alone capable of cracking a joke about having her ass handed to her. Trust Alis to see the lighter side when others (see: Boris, always Boris) did not. Although the outcome was widely viewed as a disappointment, especially when her parents were capable of so much more, there was no denying that she was one to be watched.  

Unconventional in her use of weaponry, and unpredictable in her movements; it was startlingly clear that the young woman had all the makings of someone great. Pair that off with a never say die attitude, and her potential would become a popular topic of conversation among the masses. It was only a matter of time until Boris honed her in and polished her up until she emerged gleaming, glittering. Unstoppable.

Whoever said her ascension through the ranks was an easy one had no idea. Not one. The years were marred by unexpected losses, in addition to accumulating a steady amount of injuries; some of which would leave Alis stranded on the sidelines. No one made mention of the mental toll involved in going from Jack to Queen to King, nor the fear in having the hard work fall apart in its final stages. How a poorly timed move could unravel everything achieved so far, leaving no other choice but to start over, with no guarantee of returning to where they’d left off.

The road to Ace hasn’t been pretty. Alis wouldn’t hesitate to vouch for that, pointing to her numerous battle scars as proof of how much she’s had to endure. Plenty has been lost, although just as many has been gained. She isn’t the type to brag of her achievements and prefers to remain humble, biting her tongue against the compliments regarding her fancy ranking.

But she’s done it. Pulled off the impossible, and by God, no one is going to take it away from her that easy.

Not without a damn good fight, at least.

Personality

At first glance, it would be easy to assume Alis Nazarian was anything but the Ace. Often caught in the midst of some farfetched tale that may or may not be true, she’s often regarded as unthreatening by many at The Boxing Club. A complete jackass, in fact, by those closest to her. Her laidback nature, along with her fondness for a good time, tends to distract others from straying too far, and instead encourages them to stay close, just to see what kind of entertainment she’d drag them along to.

The faction and ranking system holds little to no importance to her. Having risen from the bottom herself, Alis doesn’t deem it fair to judge people according to their ranking, and chooses to rely on interactions when determining whether someone is worthy of her attention. She finds grudges utterly draining, petty conflict even more-so; thus, she won’t outwardly express her displeasure towards certain individuals when it’s perceived to be a waste of time and energy.

Saying that, Alis is capable of switching to deadly in an instant. Anyone who’s seen the woman in action is well aware how ruthless she can be when the situation calls for it. Her tolerance for mayhem is high, except if a person has chosen to cross her, time and time again, for the sake of riling her up, she will see to it that they never do so again via a personally delivered and violent message. All because she’s relaxed, doesn’t mean she should be messed with.

Congratulations Bee your app has been accepted and your personalized plot drop will be sent to you soon

Please follow and welcome @alisnaz to Kadeu!

[sunsetsover]

Happy Birthday!! I always enjoy your eastenders content! If you want a prompt, I am p interested in how you view Ben trying to become less crime involved and what that means for his character, and how you think Phil will react to Ben's behavior??

thank you!!! and thank you for enjoying my ‘content’ (calling what i do content seems disrespectful to the people who do create actual quality content lmao), i’m glad!! i’m not exactly sure what you mean by prompt, but i can certainly talk abt my opinions on it all a little bit!!

from the spoilers, i believe we’ll actually get the answer to these questions in the coming weeks! i won’t go into detail in case you don’t want spoilers, but all i will say is that we’re going to see phil’s reaction to ben’s choice sooner rather than later.

as for my take on it, i think ben’s relationship with crime is kind of a complicated thing tbh. as much as i love dark ben, i don’t think those cruel, manipulative parts of him were ever just like... a part of his nature. they’re like.... adaptations, because of the things that have happened to him during his life and because of who his family are and who his dad is. i don’t think a life of crime - no matter how serious or petty the crimes in question were - would have ever been on the cards for ben had his dad not been phil mitchell. like he was a quiet, shy kid who liked musicals. not exactly criminal material, is it?

but then he moves back in with his dad when kathy ‘dies’ and sees how much of a ‘man’s man’ phil is and is not too young to realize that phil doesn’t really know what to make of him and then you combine that with stella’s abuse and manipulation (telling ben - a 10 year old child - that he was weak and pathetic and that his dad thought he was weak and pathetic too because ben wasn’t like him and that phil is the Epitome of what a Man Should Be, and that he has to be like his dad or else he will be weak and pathetic forever) and him realizing he’s gay (i don’t need to explain why this was a fucking nightmare for phil mitchell’s son, do i?), and him changing and becoming bitter and cruel and acting out makes sense. not only was he essentially manipulated into it, but it was a survival tactic on so many levels. plus he was a little boy, and he wanted his dad’s love and approval and attention! that’s normal! that’s understandable! but the sad reality is ben’s dad is phil mitchell, and basically the only way he could get any of those things was by acting out and doing bad things which undoubtedly reinforced the idea in his head that if he does bad things and hurts people then his dad would love and respect him more, and then the older and more confident and more desperate for his dad’s love and attention he got (not to mention the fact that he probably felt the need to ‘make up’ for the fact he was gay), the worse the things he was doing would get. and eventually this way of thinking changed from ‘if i act this way, my dad will love me’ to ‘if i act this way, people will respect me’, and then eventually it became less of an act and more an uncontrollable part of his character. but really, he really stood no chance at all in that house. he was bound to get fucked up to a certain degree, just growing up and seeing what his dad was like.

and now he’s an adult, and he really was not lying when he said he doesn’t know anything else. what the audience need to understand is that the way ben views things - himself, his relationships with others, how to create and maintain healthy relationships with others, how to treat other people etc - is fucked up! it’s warped! and it’s warped mostly because of his dad!! and i think ben is at a point in his life now where he can recognize these things (to a degree - although that’s much better than not bein able to recognize it at all - and imo ever since he first come back this has improved a lot) and can recognize that most roads lead back to phil, but he’s also not necessarily able to change those things. he’s trying, that much is obvious, but this is years and years of ingrained abuse and trauma and learned behaviour!! he can’t just get over that, especially not alone!! he needs help! and were it up to me, he’d be getting professional help!!! which is why i think callum has been so naive about this whole ‘just stop doing illegal things!’ thing he has going on - not only in the sense that you can’t just go ‘oh i’m on the straight and narrow now’ and have there not be any repercussions, but because this is years and years of ben’s life that he’s having to basically give up (ok you could argue that it’s not much to give up, but that’s not the point, and that doesn’t make it any easier), and also because imo ben’s relationship with crime is directly linked to his trauma and directly linked to his relationship with his dad. the only time his dad wants anything to so with him or shows him any kind of respect is still when ben’s doing jobs for him, p much. to a certain degree, ben’s ability to do dodgy shit determines his self worth because it has always determined how his dad sees him, and how his dad has seen him has determined how ben sees himself imo (again, not entirely, but to a certain degree). plus it’s a respect thing. he’s talked about his reputation before, and if he has a reputation then he has respect and ben wants respect, that much is clear. and i think that’s to make up for the fact he rarely got that respect when he was growing up, you know?

(plus, just my personal opinion, but i still think there’s a part of him that feels the need to ‘make up’ for the fact that he’s gay in his dad’s eyes. i think he’s come a long way (esp when you look at harry’s ben vs max’s ben) and i don’t necessarily think he’s ashamed of or sorry for who he is anymore, but judging by his actions i do think there’s still a part of him that’s like ‘well i couldn’t be the son he wanted in that respect, but i can be the son he wanted in this respect’, does that make sense? like a ‘i know he doesn’t like me being gay, so the least i can give him is this’ kind of thing, mixed in with the ‘this is the only way i can get my dad’s respect, this is the only way i can make him love me’ thing.)

basically: imo ben’s desire to do these illegal, criminal things is not as much to do with him liking doing them or wanting the money or anything like that, but it’s more bc in his head that kind of behaviour is linked to his relationship with his dad and his trauma and how he views himself. and despite his best efforts, ben was never gonna be able to just walk away from it all and have that be that, you know? because it’s not that simple.

as for phil’s reaction, it’s gonna go exactly how you expect it to go: badly. there’ll probably be some manipulation (i see something along the lines of ‘what, you’re gonna fuck over your own dad for someone you’ve been seeing for five minutes?’ being said) to get ben back on side. probably some dramatic shit about ‘ruining the family legacy’ or smth. he’ll probably make fun of ben similarly to how jay did but in a much less jovial, ‘i’m only teasing’ way. probably say some shit about callum. i see ben putting up a fight and defending himself (and callum) at first, but phil can wear ben down like no one else and will having him doubting himself in record time. phil will probably say some shit like ‘you gonna let callum tell you what to do, are ya? he says jump and you say how high, is that it?’ and that will absolutely press ben’s buttons and he’ll be desperate to prove that that’s not the case and phil will have manipulated him back onside, just like that. like it’s that easy. which it is really, bc despite what he says ben still wants his dad’s love and approval more than anything.

it’s gonna be horrible, basically. ben’s gonna be caught between a rock and hard place, not knowing what to do or who to listen to. he’s going to be so conflicted between not wanting to fuck up his relationship with callum (bc he clearly cares about callum A Lot) and keeping callum happy and allowing him to do what he wants to do and also trying to keep his dad happy and not fall out with him bc like i said, despite what he says ben still wants his dad’s love and approval more than anything and it would crush him to be cast out by him again after everything that’s happened, esp after they seem to have been getting along so well. so i think he’s going to struggle a lot over the next few weeks, trying to decide what to do. bc u know... despite him adoring callum and wanting their relationship to work and ben taking steps to make that happen, it’s been clear that he hasn’t exactly been over the moon abt going legit. (callum definitely didn’t force him, but after it was clear callum wasn’t changing his mind, ben obviously felt like the only options were him going legit and them breaking up, and after realizing he didn’t want to lose callum, he was only left with one option. so it wasn’t really a choice for him, was it?) and phil has a hold over him like no one else does, so who knows how this is all going to play out. like ben being on the straight and narrow isn’t going to last long - at least right now - but beyond that? callum’s reaction? the long term? who knows!! not me!!

but yh it just sucks bc you know ben has a Struggle coming and it’s gonna be horrible to watch bc no one deserves to be happy more than ben :-(

💖💖💖

[selenecrown]

The Phantom Thieves of Hearts x Female!Reader (A Rumor Only Lasts Seventy-Five Days)

Author's Note: Hey, look, another Phantom Thieves of Hearts x Reader! Sorry Anon this isn't an Akira Kurusu x Reader or an Goro Akechi x Reader, but I worked really hard on this for you! And for everyone else who needs to know I'm still writing  fanfictions, even after all this waiting!

This fanfic does take place in an AU, where The Phantom Thieves of Hearts are actual, real thieves that steal from the rich and give it to the poor, and punish corrupt people and help out the weak. And so, the Metaverse doesn't exist. So, Morgana can't be a cat, he's a person. So, be ready Morgana fans! Because probably from now on I'll be more comfortable using a human!Morgana

This is 110% inspired by the new outfits from P5A Masquerade Party ---Detective Daylight--- and P5A Masquerade Party ---Phantom Midnight---, so, yeah. I'm not even going to lie, that's the reason I did this fanfiction in the first place. So, get ready for a masquearade party full of shinnagans and your local Phantom dorks with those specific outfits. I will make one modification, though. All the mask will be full on masks, not half masks like in the art because it ruins the fun of identities. 

Also, please listen to Meet Me by Mickey Valen Feat. Noé. As, I almost made this a songfic but I decided against it later on because it seemed awkward and out of place. But, please do listen to the song. It's worth it! 

Also, this does get a whole lot darker later on, but I can't tell you because. . . Well, it ruins the surprise of the Palace the Phantom Thieves are targetting. But, I'm warning you guys, it gets dark real fast. So, prepare for some feels.

"They sent us a calling card?!" A woman exclaimed in the middle of the night into an almost empty room. "But. . . Why?!" 

She knew exactly why. 

She's a liar.

"It will be alright. It's not the Man in the Black Mask, at least! If it was him, we'd be dead for sure!" A man said to the woman, putting an arm on her shoulder for comfort.

That part is true. If it was him, you two would be screwed with a capital S.

"True, but. . . What about the money? Our property? The workers? What are we going to do? They're going to steal everything with what we have!" The woman wailed into her hands.

Oh, stop being such a bitch about it like you actually care. 

Because, I know you don't. 

"It'll be alright. We know their tricks, they can't deceive us!" The man assured her.

Oh, he's lying now, too.

Great, the more lies, the worse this gets.

The Phantom Thieves, were a well-known group of thieves that stole from the rich and corrupt, and gave it to the poor. 

They were a group of dangerous individuals who claimed to give justice to those corrupt people untouched by the law but was controversial as to if that was the truth. As, the only people who had seen them where severely hurt and often couldn't remember any faces of the people who had robbed them. 

But, other than that, the only thing that could even give the public a clue as to who they were. . . Was rumors sprend by the masses.

That's right. 

None of the group had ever gotten caught, so only rumors could satisfy the public's thrist for answers.

Sure, there was a few people who did know the Phantom Thieves, but the police was on thin ice with all the failures to capture the illustrious group, so anyone even suspected was often arrested if reported to the authorities. 

So, not only was corrupt people was afraid of being found out, but so was the average citizen if they where reported. 

Everyone lived in fear of the Phantom Thieves. 

And yet. . . They were popular with the youth. 

As a symbol of rebellion against corrupt laws and tyrants, which is why even though the group had revealed little to no information about themselves to the public, many companies would make products about them. From personalized Calling Cards to themed attractions, the Phantom Thieves turned from a urban legend to a worldwide media phenomenon. 

The group had a site that you could request for them to target someone's "heart", or their reputation. Officially called the Phantom Aficionado Website but nicknamed "The Phan-Site" by the public, anyone could request for anyone else to be taught a lesson. From new, petty crime-doers to other thieves on the prowl. 

But, despite being so illustrious and uuntouchable to the public. . . You knew all of them personally. 

That's right. 

You knew the people behind the masks. 

The only thing is. . . You didn't know you knew them. 

Because they had kept you naïve to any knowledge of the group. 

But it's hard to do that when they're the talk of, well, everywhere.

"Today I will be not be teaching you today, you will be reading from your textbooks and answering the comprehendsion questions on page 194, 198 and 200." Your Japanese teacher, Miss Kawakami, said plainly. 

"It is all review, because next to none of you have been doing the homework at all recently and I'm not happy about it. And since most of the class is not listening to me during lectures, you'll have the textbook to work with instead of me." She said in an annoyed tone, as if she honestly just wanted to leave the class right now and not deal with any of you.

"For those of you who did the homework. . . You are to come speak with in the hallway." 

Come in the hallway? But Miss Kawakami almost never asked for that sort of thing, she'd just give you free time when this happened. What was the matter this time?

You got up from your seat, and walked out of the classroom. But before you could leave, Ryuji Sakamoto stopped you by grabbing your arm. 

"Wait, you did the homework?" He asked from his desk. 

You were in the same homeroom as Ryuji, so the two of you often hung out then since you guys were friends.

"Yes, I did, why?" You replied him. 

"Ah, whatever. Can you give me the answers later?" Ryuji asked you, but you shook your head. 

"Ryuji, the comprehension questions was the homework, so you have all the answers. Kawakami is just giving you the homework as classwork now." You sighed at him. 

"For real?!" 

"Yeah. Oh, that's right, you ditched yesterday, didn't you?" You asked him.

"Yeah, but I was helping Akechi with his house with Futuba and Morgana." Ryuji shot back. 

"Okay, okay." You putting your hands up in surrender. 

"(First/Name)! Come on, I know you did the homework! Ryuji! Quit bothering her and get back to work!" Miss Kawawkami yelled at you two.

"I'm coming!" You said back to your teacher. "See you around, Ryuji." 

"See ya." Ryuji repiled, as he pulled out a textbook and a piece of paper.

You walked out the classroom to find. . . Two other people standing out in the hallway with you. They seemed just as confused as you were, but before any of you could speak, Miss Kawakami spoke up. 

"So, since you actually did your homework, I'm giving the three of you permission to ditch this period, or at least slack off for the period. But, I need some help grading papers, can one of you help me out?" She asked.

There was silence among the three of you. Then, you spoke up. 

"I'll do it." 

"Thank you," Miss Kawakami smiled at you. "The two of you can go do what you want. (F/N), come with me." 

You followed her to the teacher's office, to find a few other teachers there. Miss Kawakami sat you down at her desk and gave you an answer sheet, and simply told you to mark an answer with a slash if they got it wrong, and a minus a half if the person got the idea of the answer, but didn't answer it correctly. Then, she left you to your own devices in the office. 

You where grading the tests of another class, which must have been Akira and Ann's class, as when you went through the papers, you noticed Ann's and Akira's tests in the pile of ones you graded. When you were almost finished grading, with only one left the pile, you felt a tap on your shoulder. When you turned, there was Makoto. 

"(F/N)? What are you doing here?" She asked you. 

"Miss Kawakami asked me to help her out with grading papers, and since I had nothing better to do since I finished my classwork, why not?" You said. 

"Ah, I see. Did you see Ryuji doing it?" She asked, seriously. Her face got dark, almost like she was going to beat Ryuji up if he didn't. 

Makoto Niijima was the student council president of Shujin Academy, and Ryuji was a local delinquent. So, the two often came into conflict when it came to school work and ethics. But outside of school, you won't know that with how they treat each other. Even though Makoto seems to not show Ryuji much respect, she does deep down have some for him. Even you could see that.

Ryuji was a sweetheart and a great person outside of school. He really was, it's just he can't stand adults who abuse their power. That's why he strongly supports the Phantom Thieves and what they do, since he believes that the justice they have is truly justice. Makoto also had a strong sense of justice as well, almost as strong as Ryuji's sense of justice. She believes that justice is, in a way, absolute and no one could escape it. And, you couldn't quite blame her for having that sense of justice, since she wanted to be a police commissioner and her sister was a public prosecutor, it made sense. 

"I think so. I saw him with half of the work done. He asked me a few questions about the work before Miss Kawakami called me out of the room." You lied to her. 

Makoto. . . Was not a good person to piss off, to say the least. Even for a student council president, she was scary angry.

In being a friend to Ryuji, you decided to cover for him.

"Oh, that's good." She said. Her dark look on her face faded into a cheerful smile. "That's wonderful." 

Makoto. . . Your smile. 

You've had that same one when. . .

"When you've finished, can we talk?" She asked. Her cheerful smile turned into a sincere smile. Like she was. . .

"Yeah, sure." You responded.

"Alright. Meet me by the student council room, okay?" She smiled, and you nodded and she left the room. 

That smile had on her face. . . That was the same smile when you found out her sister was given a calling card. 

In other words. . . She was definitely hiding something from you.

"Well, whatever." You sighed, turning back to the ungraded paper left untouched until then.

After you had finished, Miss Kawakami came in and asked if you had been told that somebody wants to see you, like as soon as possible. You told her someone had dropped by asking you to talk with them in the student council room, but you told them you wanted to finish your task first, to which they agreed. Kawakami thanked you for helping her and dismissed you to go see Makoto.

When you opened the door, only was Makoto there. She was waiting patiently on a table. 

But there was one thing you noticed: 

She had an earpiece in her right ear. 

It was hard to notice with Makoto's usually neat hair not tucked behind her ear, but you saw an earpiece through her brown hair. 

"Please, take a seat." She smiled warmly at you, and moved her left hand to a seat. But, that only made everything even more chilling than relaxing. 

You nodded and was going to sit down when you saw something else Makoto did: 

She quietly locked the door out of the room.

And then she turned back to you as you had sat down in the seat offered to you.

She smiled warmly again at you, like an mother looking after a beloved child. "I know this isn't something I should be asking, but. . ." 

She stopped speaking for a moment and you heard something faint come from somewhere and then Makoto said, "Your last name is (Last/Name), correct?" 

"Y-Yes, why?" You asked, scared by Makoto's calmness in the situation. 

Makoto has never asked you about your family, so why is she---?

"Are you, by chance, related to Aeron and Mara (L/N)?" Makoto asked.

Who?

Your brows knitted together, and your head tilted to one side, as you face scrunched up. 

Ae-ron And Mar-a?

Are those English names? Maybe?  

"Who?" You asked Makoto.

"The people who where on the news the other day. It is suspected they are having affairs within their marriage to one another. . . And I thought they where your parents since you had the same last names." Makoto said.

"No." You answered, firmly. "My parents have Japanese names, I've never heard of those names before."

"I see." She nodded her head, as if she had learned something very important and vital. "Then, can you tell me your parent's names?"

"Hinata and Kasumi (L/N)." You stated.

"Can you tell me more about them?" She asked.

Why? 

Why does she suddenly care about your life at home? 

"They're both workaholics. Most of the time, they work all day, all night without stopping. They both are nice people, They're just. . ." You hesitated for a moment. "Distant. We don't talk much since they're busy most of the time."

Makoto nodded. "One last thing. . . Why do you have bruises on your hand?" 

"Huh?" You said, looking at your hands. You had brusies on your hands, but that weren't all that bad. "Oh, these? I got those because some kids where throwing stuff across my yard for fun. And, while I was lucky in not getting hit, my hands weren't as lucky." 

"Oh," Makoto sounded surprised. "Sorry, the brusies worried me. Do you want to stop by the nurse's office?" 

"Makoto, they aren't hurting me that badly." You said. 

"You sure?" She asked, one final time.

"Yes. It'll go away soon." You said. 

And just like that, Makoto let you go for the day.

When you went back to class, you had about 10 minutes before your next class would start. So, you pulled out a book to read. But, Ryuji came over almost as soon as you opened the book. 

"When did you get these?" He asked, picking up one of your hands that had brusies all over. 

"Some kids where throwing stuff across my yard for fun yesterday and I cleaned it up. But, most of the things I cleaned up was not easy to pick up and move." You told him. 

"What did the kids put in your yard?" 

"Many different thing, from heavy weights to a toilet." You said. 

"The hell." Ryuji sighed, and then let go of your hand. "People these days. Argh, it just makes me wanna---!" 

"Want to what, Ryuji?" A girl asked. When you turned, there was Ann. She was eating a package of Jagariko, and Ann sat right smack-dab in the middle of your desk. In the process, taking the book out of your hands. 

"Y'know, beat some sense into them! Why the actual hell would people do something like that!?" Ryuji growled. 

"I dunno. Maybe she has a really big yard and people use it without asking for permission?" Ann said.

"That doesn't make any sense, either!" Ryuji exclaimed. 

"Well, what do you expect? The situation doesn't make any sense." Ann sighed.

"What are you guys talking about?" Another voice said. 

That, was Morgana.

Morgana was a small boy, even smaller then Futuba albeit by not that much, but he certainly he a big ego. Probably the biggest one of the group. Morgana had hair like Akira's along with bright blue eyes, and he didn't seem follow the school dress code. He often wore a yellow bandana over his neck, and wore a t-shirt with a crude joke on it.

"Nothing important. Are we ready?" Ann said. 

"Ann---" You almost said something, but then the bell rang to dismiss the class. 

"Let's go. Come on, let's beat Akira there!" Morgana blurted, as he rushed out of the classroom. With Ryuji tailing him.

Ann, meanwhile stayed behind to help you pack up. And when you two left the classroom, Akira appeared to greet the two of you and followed you both to the roof. 

"Ah! Smooth, Akira! Escourtin' two ladies here!" Ryuji teased Akira. Causing Morgana to give a hilarious face of shock and for Akira's face to show a beam of confidence. 

He pushed up his glasses and smirked, "Haha. You have much to learn in the ways of gentlemanly attributes, Morgana Velvrule." 

"Shut up!" Morgana shot back. "I was-I was just making sure Ryuji doesn't try anything!"

"Hey!" Ryuji exclaimed.

And with that, the door to the roof opened. And out came Makoto and Haru. 

"Ah! There you guys are!" Morgana changed the subject. "Come on! I got sushi today!" 

Pretty much after lunch, the day went by in a blur. You and Ryuji normally walked home together since the two of you lived not far from one another, but Ryuji said he needed to do something. 

Leaving you by yourself to walk home. 

"Alright, everyone's here. Ryuji, did (F/N) get home safely?" Morgana asked Ryuji. 

"That's what she said." Ryuji said as he went through his text messages, to check if anything had changed from the last time the two of you talked.

"Good, now let's get down to business." Morgana stated. "Makoto, Akechi, is she related to them?" 

"No. She said she had never heard those names before. She said her parents are named Hinata and Kasumi, not Aeron and Mara." Makoto said. 

"And from what I could tell, she wasn't lying, either." Goro added.

"So, as far as our sources says, she is safe, correct?" Morgana asked.

Futuba nodded. "Yes. She wasn't invited, or on the guest list at all. And, there is no one else who could invite her to it now because of the couple's paranoia. So, chances are high she's way out of the question now." 

"Alright. Then, let's move on. We definitely need a plan for infiltrating the place, we will have to do it in advance, am I correct?" Akira tried to confirm from the group.

"Yes, the place is pretty big just from the outside." Goro stated. "I couldn't get too close, but the place was much bigger than it looks, that is for certain." 

"So, when can we infiltrate the place? There's so many people there it will be a big problem, and with them on high alert, it makes it much worse." Ryuji stated. 

"We'll have to either do it late at night, or when everyone is out of the house." Morgana said.

"So, which one?" Ann asked. "Either works for me." 

"Let's do the second one." Haru suggested. "It's just easier for everyone. And, It lessens the chance of being caught." 

"Yes, that would be something to prioritize." Yusuke said. 

"Are we in agreement, then?" Morgana asked. "Then, now we need to figure out the schedule of the couple and see when out next chance will be." 

When the Phantom Thieves had gathered that much information about their target, they had found out the house was normally empty on Saturdays. And this coming Saturday both had meetings to go to, so the chance was wide open to them. 

So, they set a date and was ready to infiltrate the targeted place.

Which, this time, was a mansion, and a small house right next to it. 

The mansion seemed. . . Overly luxurious, even for a mansion. But despite it being luxurious, the group discovered rooms that weren't as luxurious and where downright gross to be in, or just not great rooms in general.  Futuba, because she wasn't sure what was going on, set up cameras in certain areas, to see the purposes of them are. Then, they went to infiltrate the small house next to the mansion, they found it actually was supposed to be a shed full of tools, parts of many things, and a whole bunch of weapons. But, there was someone living there, because there was food in there, certain electronics that people often had where also present, as well as other signs to show someone was living there.

But. . . The place had no running water, and not that much electricity, either. 

So the person who was living there. . . They where not in a good place at all. 

All your friends where gone today. 

Of course they where, they always do this at least once a month.

And whatever reason may be, they leave you to fend for yourself.  No contacting you til the end of the day. No matter how much texting or calling you do, it doesn't matter. They ignore you until the very end, and then they answer you.

But, you couldn't care less about it now.

Because the disappearances had a pattern to it, making you able to predict when they would disaapear.

The good thing was, no one asked you to pick up homework or classwork this time. 

On the night of the heist, Aeron and Mara was hosting a party celebrating the success they have had recently in their business. 

Security was tight, and yet. . . It was a masqurade party. 

Where no one knew another's face for certain unless they knew before hand. 

And the couple had some nerve to think a masqurade party was a good idea, even after getting a calling card. 

They either where foolish, or had a trick up their sleeves.

Getting an invitation wasn't to hard, but fitting in was harder with wealthy nobleman among the general population of people. Luckily, everyone had fancy enough outfits to match the outfits of the adults.

Akira was wearing a red suit with a long tailcoat, but the inside of the tailcoat was black. The tailcoat also had two golden buttons to pull the coat together if wanted, and it also had a breast pocket with a fancy white handkerchief sticking out. Akira had a black waistcoat to match the inside of the tailcoat, with a white dress shirt underneath with a white ascot tie with a small blue jewel on it tied around his neck by a black strap, with a pair of black dress shoes, as well. Akira wore a black and red mask, that looked like a regular mask but with large horns coming out the sides of the mask, with two other sharp edges sticking up as well. The mask was mostly black, but there was red across the mask that showed details of a horn. But, it also made a shape of eyelashes on both sides of the lower half of the mask. The mask itself was big enough to cover Akira's forehead.

Morgana was wearing an all black suit, expect on the inside of the tailcoat, which was dark purple. He wore a yellow bow tie instead of a yellow bandana. Morgana also wore brown dress shoes, and he had an actual sword on him. He was using it as a cane but it was an actual foil sword. Morgana had a black mask two dark blue tusks coming out of the mask with a yellow line above the eye slots of the mask, as well as little spots of purple at the top of the mask. 

Ryuji was not wearing a full on suit unlike anyone else, but he was wearing black dress pants held up by a black belt with a buckle with a pair of crossed swords on it, a grey dress shirt and a black and red waistcoat, with the front of the coat being black and the backside being red with three faded golden buttons keeping the coat together. Ryuji wore a yellow and blue sailor tie with skulls and crossbones across the tie. As well as a pair of brown loafers and a silver chain with a decoration at the end of the chain. Ryuji also wore a torn-up white cloth as a bracelet on his left wrist. Ryuji's mask was a skull was an eye-patch on the right eye that also had a skull on it. Despite what it looked like, Ryuji could actually see through the eye patch, because that was actually just a special lens Futuba designed for Ryuji, since he was the muscle of the group and sometimes needed to see in the dark.

Ann was wearing a red sleeveless dress with a small pink sash around her waist along with a black stripe at the bottom of the dress with a yellow stripe below the black stripe that was at the bottom of the dress, which went to about over her knees. She wore a pair of black pumps with a red rose as a decoration on the shoe as well as the bottom of her shoe was red instead of black. Ann wore a light pink see-through cloth with dark pink leopard prints on it that she wore around her upper arms. Ann had her nails painted red, and she wore red earrings to match. Ann also wore a black choker with a red heart charm on it, she also had a giant red rose in her hair, which was in raised pigtails. Ann's mask looked like a black cat mask, with pink leopard spots at the top of the mask, the mask also had upside down hearts where the ears where that where a little lighter color of pink than the leopard spots. But around the eyeholes of the mask was a blue stripe on top of the eyeholes and orange stripe on the bottom.

Yusuke wore a suit similar to Akira's, in that he had the same types of clothes on as Akira, but other than that, Yusuke's outfit was very different. Yusuke wore a dark purple tailcoat with a light purple on the inside of the coat, on the coat, there was a red handkerchief in his breast pocket. Yusuke also wore a waistcoat with black symbols that looked like a G, with a white background making the symbol easy to see. Underneath that, Yusuke wore a light blue dress shirt, he also wore a white and purple tie. Yusuke wore a pair of white dress pants and a pair of dark brown dress shoes. Yusuke had a white cane on him, with a golden fish on it as a decoration, but it also had a golden tip on the end of the cane as well. Yusuke's mask was light blue on the furthest left and right sides of the mask but then was cut off by a red stripe which then had white until it it went up to the eyeholes of the mask which had a redish-purple around the eyeholes. On top of the eye hole was purple. But, the mask itself was shaped much differently than most masks. It was cut off so you could see a person's nose, not the top of the nose but the sides of the nose, close to the eyelids and around the mouth. But, covered everything else. 

Makoto wore a long dark blue illusion dress that went to the floor. The illusion dress held the dress up around her shoulders but had no decorations on it. Makoto wore a silver diamond dance belt around her waist that had no jewels on it, but instead was empty. Makoto also wore a pair of cream white ankle strap heels underneath the dress, that could be seen thanks to a slit in the dress on the left side of the dress. Makoto also wore a long silver cuff bracelet on her right arm, and Ann had helped her paint her nails dark blue to match the dress. She also wore a simple black headband. Makoto's mask was a light blue that covered her face and had a pattern of woman with closed eyes under a protective screen or something along those lines. It also had more lining on the sides of the mask to make the mask bigger on her face. 

Futuba wore a loose black sleeveless dress with a line of cloth across her shoulders, a line of cloth as a replacement for the absence of the sleeves. Near the middle and the bottom of her skirt and the cloth acting as sleeves had strange light green symbols all over those areas. From numbers, lines, shapes, and who knows what else was on that dress. At the end of the dress was an aquamarine lace, or, that's what it looked like, around Futuba's waist was a design that matched the other symbols that was on the dress. Ann had painted Futuba's nails a light green to match the symbols on her dress. But, other than that, the other decoration Futuba had was a small black hat on her head with similar symbols as on the dress, and a faded green bow to add the the hat. Futuba wore a pair of black platform pumps with ankle straps with light green heels that made Futuba look tall, but it must have hurt to walk in. Futuba's mask was black and looked like a bat's wings with horns coming out the top of the mask. But, it seemed modified so it could cover the fact Futuba wears glasses. 

Haru was wearing a sleeveless pink ball gown that went down to her knees, with more of the dress lower than that which went to about just above her ankles. Around Haru's chest, the pink was actually a very dark pink that had decoration on it. But, there was a light pink veil over the dark pink upper part of the dress that was covered in decorations of flowers and other things, but, at the top of the veil was a string of golden flower decorations that connected the veil to the dress and wrapped around Haru. At Haru's waist was a small white bow wrapped around the waist. Around the bottom part of the dress was also pink veil that had lacy at the bottom. Haru had light pink nails painted thanks to the help of Ann and she wore gold bracelets on her left wrist, as well as golden earrings with light pink jewels on it. Haru wore a pair of black flats with gold lining on the edge of the shoes around the foot. Haru's mask was on a stick on the right side of the mask, like traditional masquerade mask, which was pink with gold lining on the edge of the mask with lines coming off the the lines. Around eye hole was also gold lining that looked like eyelashes. But, on the right side was a blue flower and a little orange cloth at the bottom at the flower. 

Goro's suit was mostly white. His tailcoat, white dress shirt, his dress pants, his gloves, even his dress shoes were white. His tailcoat had golden lining along the lines of the coat, including the sleeves. The inside of that coat was a dark blue, and in his breast pocket was a blue handkerchief. Goro wore a grey waistcoat with golden buttons, as well as a red ascot tie held up by a golden band. Goro had a mask that was somewhat similar to Yusuke's, in that it wasn't a mask you would see everyday. The top of the mask above th eyeholes was red, while right below the eye hole was a small amount of grey, while everything else was gold. Unlike Yusuke's, the mask covered most of Goro's face, minus the mouth and right underneath the nose. But, on the left and right sides of the mask was something that looked like fins. Golden fins, but it looked somewhat odd on the mask. 

The couple had hosted the party in a section of the house that was the kitchen, the living room, the gaming room, a movie theater and a few rooms around there. The house was well decorated with many flowers, banners, and other decorations pertaining to a theme of a masquerade party. The colors most present was blue, green, and brown. Which happened to be the colors of the company Aeron and Mara founded and are the current CEOs of. The food seemed to be mostly desserts and filling. Not actually suited for a meal. The couple heavily encouraged the guests to take as much as they want since the chef made a lot more than expected. Most of the crowd was in the living room, and among the crowd was undercover officers, because the couple asked for them to be there. Which is how Goro got into the party with Makoto, because she claimed Sae wouldn't be able to come tonight due to another case she needed to take care of. Haru was invited to the party because of her status as a wealthy woman. Everyone else had made up names as wealthy people or people of status.  

The group had decided to hide Futuba and the escape car on the back of the property close to the house, to make it look inconspicuous. As a bonus, there was no security back there and the couple seemed to let no one back there. The car itself was a black Citroën H Van, that was painted to look like any other car. While Futuba was left by herself, the rest of the group went to split up and search the house for money, jewels, whatever they could find. Well, Yusuke and Ryuji was taking a whole bunch of food from the buffet. And when Ann found out what the boys where doing, she snuck some, too. 

But then, something happened the group didn't expect.

Someone noticed the car and went to investigate. 

Which shocked the team when Futuba heard someone coming her way. And everyone started to panic.

"Oracle, hide!" Ann said.

"Oracle, you need to leave, right now!" Ryuji said. "Forget us! If you get caught, you're dead meat!" 

Futuba panicked even more as she tried to hide her things, and then a door opened. Which caused Futuba to jump to the back of the car.

"Whose here?! I know someone's---!" A voice called. 

Then a buzzing noise was heard and then something fell.

"Geez. Who the heck does something like this?" A female voice sighed. "What a creep. He must have tried to take another child into their Ring, or tried to rape them, disgusting."  

The Ring? 

What was she talking about? 

"Hello? Is anyone here? I promise I won't hurt you!" The female voice called. "I'll help you get out!" 

Futuba then popped her head out from the backseat. When she did, she saw a man wearing a security guard outfit slumped over and a girl looking throughout the car.

The girl wore an old cream colored Komarov Drape Chiffon dress that looked quite nice on her. She wore a basic white mask that was shaped in the form of a crescent moon. But the girl was also covered on bruises and cuts, or that's what it looked like. When the girl saw Futuba, she spread her arms. 

"I promise I won't hurt you. I can help you." She said. "It's okay." 

Futuba then ducked back into the seat and popped on her mask on. And then said into her earpiece, "I'm turning off my ear piece. My situation was taken an odd turn." And then turned off her eyepiece. 

And then Futuba got up, and walked towards the girl. 

When Futuba got to the girl, the girl moved the man into the outside of the car. 

"Are you okay?" The girl asked. 

Futuba nodded.

"Can you come with me? We need to get you away from the car. It's better that way, right?" 

Futuba nodded again. 

The girl lead Futuba into the small house, and into the living room of the house, which was just an empty room filled with junk and an old couch. The girl sat Futuba down on the couch. The room was somewhat dark thanks to it being dark outside, but there was a small lamp that the girl brought over. 

She also brought a pencil and sheet of paper. 

The girl brought a small plate of food for Futuba, that mainly seemed to be a type of meatloaf. 

Not long after the two appeared, a black dog appeared and started growling at Futuba from the girl's side. But the girl tried to shush the dog with,

"It's okay, it's okay. She's won't hurt you. She's lost, too." 

And not long after the dog stopped growling at Futuba, instead seemed to try and comfort Futuba too by rubbing againist her arms and surrounding her back.

"Can you tell me your name? Where you're from?" The girl asked.

Futuba became nervous now. She either needed to think of something fast, or get out of there.

But Futuba was smart. She picked up the piece of paper and wrote a fake name and then showed it to the girl.

"Your name is Hamuko, is that right? Where are you from?" 

Futuba wrote down the first place she caught think of. Akihabara.

"Around Akihabara? That's pretty far from here. But, can you speak? It's much easier than writing everything down." 

Futuba shook her head. And then wrote down an excuse: She had really bad social anxiety and she couldn't speak with strangers unless it was by paper. 

"Social anxiety, huh? Alright. That's a good excuse." The girl sighed. "Tell me what happened to you when you got kidnapped by those guys." 

Kidnapped? 

Wait, the couple also had a kidnapping ring?

Is that what she was talking about? 

Futuba wrote down a method they had used to kidnap people: Using chloroform. 

"You think so? Well, it's not unlikely for them to do that. Are you okay? Does your head hurt or anything?" 

Futuba shook her head. 

"That's good. . . Wait, why are you wearing a dress? Are---?" 

Futuba then immediately scribbled down something that went like: My family was going to go to a party. But I got separated from them and then those guys showed up. 

"Really. That's pretty interesting to happen on tonight, of all nights. But no matter. Where from Akihabara are you from? Can you use my cell phone to call your parents?" 

Futuba nodded. 

The girl then handed over a cell phone. 

It was hard to see what the phone looked like in the dark, but Futuba used it to call a group of numbers: 

The number for the Phantom Thieves. 

Inside the mansion, eight phones went off. Goro and Makoto asked to be excused to take the call, while everyone else simply just picked up the phone from where they were. 

Futuba spoke first, "Hi, guys." 

"Oracle! Are you alright?" Akira asked her.

"Yes, I'm okay. I'm. . ." Then Futuba asked the girl where she was.

"Over by the (L/N) estate. Not far from Sibuya." The girl said. 

". . . By the (L/N) estate. By the back of the mansion, I think." 

"Oracle, are you in that house? Does someone live there?" Morgana asked.

"Yes." Futuba responded.

"Who? Do you know?" Makoto asked.

"I don't. But she's nice and has a nice dog." Futuba said.

"Alright. She's not hostile? Can we come and you're sure she won't tell anyone?" Ryuji asked.

"I think so." Futuba responded.

"Then, we're on our way." Akira said, as everyone hung up.

"Is someone coming?" The girl asked. 

Futuba nodded, and wrote down something.

The Phantom Thieves are coming.

"What? But, I'm pretty sure they don't do that sort of thing." The girl said. 

Futuba shook her head. And then wrote down: Well, this is an exception.

"An exception? What on earth does that---" 

And then, a door creaking was heard through the house. 

And into the living room came eight people, each with different outfits and masks covering there faces, making it hard to tell who the people were. 

One of boys, the one wearing the black mask kneeled before the girl and took one of her hands and placed a gentle kiss on the back of her right hand. While Futuba went to everyone else who asked if she was alright and what had happened. 

The dog, simply stood up from where he was and went to the girl's side, as if to protect her. 

"Thank you, my dear." Akira said, "You have protected our Oracle from certain danger, and all of us are thankful to you for that." 

"Huh? Oracle? But---" She was about to say.

"Shh." Akira said, putting a finger againist her lips after he had stood up. "Tell nobody what happened, and we will spare you the trouble of the police." 

The girl simply nodded. Then, the others turned to leave. 

"There's my girl. I bid you a good evening, we will meet again." Akira said, after placing a quick kiss on the girl's cream colored mask. "And if you don't mind, we will take the car from your hands and that man on the gravel is coming with us." 

The girl simply nodded again. 

And then, the Phantom Thieves disappeared into the night.

After that close call, the group decided to check up on you. But, you didn't answer and group figured out why. It was almost one in the morning. 

They each left a message saying how sorry they were for leaving you, and how they would make it up to you. 

When you woke up, you made breakfast for yourself and put on your uniform and went to school. On your way there, you bumped into Ryuji.

"(Y/N)! Hey!" He called as you turned around. 

"Good morning Ryuji." You said.

"Where you okay last night?" He asked.

"Huh? Yeah, I was. I did homework and went to bed early. Why?" 

"That's good. . . Where you. . . Lonely?" 

"Huh? Why would I be? You guys didn't do anything without me, did you?" You teased.

"What?! Hell no! Why the hell would we do that?!" Ryuji exclaimed. 

You giggled a little. 

"Hey! Don't scare me with that shit! That actually scared me!"  Ryuji sighed.

"Pfft. You sure?" You asked him. 

"Hell yeah I'm sure!" He said. "Nevermind. Forget it." 

You giggled again as the two of you bumped into Akira and Ann. 

The day passed by faster than the group had expected.

When the time came for lunch, your friends packed up and lead you out of the school. But you stopped before you could leave the gates. 

"Where are we going?" You asked.

Everyone seemed to stop with confused faces. Then, Ann made an "Oh!" noise and went to you.

"I forgot. Goro wanted to eat lunch with everyone today! I was suppose to tell you last night, but I forgot." She wrapped an arm around your shoulder.

"Why today?" You asked.

"He said he had a scary interview coming up, and he needs something to calm his nerves." Makoto stated. "So, he wanted to invite everyone over to the TV station to a company him." 

"Even Futuba?" You asked Makoto.

Makoto nodded. "We're going to go get her. After we go get Yusuke." 

"But if we do that, we'll---!" You exclaimed.

"Get in trouble? No, not really. Not if we have Akechi give us an excuse." Akira said. 

"But---" You protested.

"We'll be fine." Haru said. "Let's just have fun today. Is that okay (Y/N)?" 

You sighed. "I guess." 

"Yay!" Ann said.

And the six of you went to find your others members of the group. 

After you had picked up everyone, your group headed towards the TV station. 

Oddly enough, Goro was waiting outside and he escorted everyone into a back room to reveal a spread of seafood. From traditional sushi to cooked fish. It looked like almost every types of fish was here. 

"Thanks for the food!" Morgana said, as he ran for the sushi. 

"Hey, you better not eat everything!" Ryuji said.  

"Then get over here eat something before I eat everything!" Morgana shot back. 

And just like that, lunch started.

Goro had treated everyone to lunch, and after everyone gave him some encouragement to do his interview, escorted everyone out of the building. 

And when you guys got back to school the day was almost over. So, everyone had just decided to go home for the day. 

But then Futuba asked everyone to come over for dinner at Leblanc. Which everyone agreed to doing. Even after everyone had lunch together, it seems nobody could deny the wonderful food that. 

Goro arrived first. 

Ryuji arrived next with Yusuke right behind him. 

Ann came not long after. 

Then Makoto and Haru came in. 

And lastly, you came in. 

Sojiro Sakura closed up shop early that day and explained he had much more ingredients for more curry and coffee than he needed, and Futuba said they could get rid of it if they invite everyone over for dinner. 

So, here everyone was. 

Later, everyone moved upstairs since everyone had plenty of time before it got dark. 

But then your phone went off and you went to take it, since it was from someone you knew.

"Hey, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Sojiro asked you. "AKIRA! CALL TAKEMI!" 

"Sojiro? What's the matter---? (Y/N)!" Ann yelled at you. "Oh my God! Call an doctor! Hurry!"

The Phantom Thieves had flipped their shit. 

You had passed out in the middle of Leblanc. 

When Takemi came to check you out, she said you didn't look physically unheathly but there was something going on, so you must have passed out due to stress, or maybe getting stress relief, she said. 

But it was clear that you must have been dealing with something stressful rather than something physical. 

Tae recommended that you stay here for the night since she wasn't sure when you would wake up, and you were mostly okay to do so.

The person who had called you had hung up, and the person you had talked to was your mother. When they tried to call her to tell her what had happened, she wouldn't pick up. 

So, Akira picked you up and carried you to the couch upstairs and wrapped a blanket around you. Everyone gathered around you and whispered to one another. 

"What happened?" Futuba asked. "Did something happen in her family? Did her family get death threat because people think she's in that family?" 

"Who knows." Ann sighed. "Hopefully she didn't get a death threat." 

"Whatever it is, it definitely is causing her problems." Goro said. 

"Whatever happened, we'll need to keep an eye on her." Makoto said. "We can't let that happen again." 

"You're right." Akira said. "We'll need to keep an eye on her from now on." 

When you woke up, you remembered what happened last night but then. . .

"Am I sick?" You asked yourself, and then sighed. "Well, whatever. What time is it?" 

You didn't see a clock in the room you were in, so you got up from where you were, to find you were in Akira's room, but Akira was nowhere to be found. 

So, you went downstairs to the café Leblanc to find there was some costumers there, but Sojiro was tending the shop. Sojiro seemed to notice you first before any costumers did and gestured you come over to him. You did, and Sojiro had explained what happened last night.

You had passed out, and the doctor said you should get some rest today since whatever caused you to pass out wasn't physical, rather psychological. Since it was about lunch time, there was no reason to send you now. So, instead he asked you to go over to his house for the day. You simply nodded, and followed the direction he gave you to his house. When you got there, Futuba seemed more than happy to let you stay over for the day. Everyone not long after checked on you to make sure you were okay. 

Futuba mostly stayed on her computer most of the day while you were charging your phone and relaxing on Futuba's bed. But, Futuba did once in a while go to you and stay close to you for a little while. She wouldn't cuddle or anything, she'd just stay close by, like she would nap beside you. From what you saw, Futuba was very smart with computers and technology in general, like everyone had described she was like. There was a lot of things around her about cognitive pscience, which you didn't get, but you didn't quite care then since you were distracted by your phone most of the day.

When school was out, everyone stopped by to check on you. Ann practically tackled you with a hug, with Ryuji in second place of doing that and Morgana right after. Makoto, Yusuke and Haru asked you many times if you were sure you were okay. And Akira. . . Well, refused to leave your side for a while. He wasn't clinging to you, but he wouldn't leave you be. Goro almost seemed to do the same thing.

But after a few hours, everyone allowed you to go home. 

And, they seemed like they needed to do something, so you left them to do whatever they needed to do.

The group of teenagers let you leave to go home, and then they went over to the Leblanc attic to discuss what had happened a few nights before. 

"So, Futuba got saved by the owner of that house, is that right?" Ann asked.

"Yes. And it seems she knew something was up with the couple. She said they had a kidnapping ring." Futuba answered. 

"They have a Ring? And they kidnap people? For what?" Haru asked.

"It could be those two are even worse then we thought. We'll need to do more investigating to find out why." Goro said.

"Do you think they have a drug ring or something?" Morgana asked.

"No. It sounds more likely they have slave ring." Goro answered 

"What?!" Ryuji said. "For real?! That's effed up!" 

"But it makes sense if that's why that girl was trying to get Futuba out of the area as soon as possible." Goro said. "But, why would they need one? It doesn't make sense, the couple is well-off, have good social status, so, why would they need slaves?" 

"Because they're insane. Nobody would do that to another person these days unless they are truly horrible people. And from what it sounds like, the Ring has been around for a while. So, it's not new, which annoys me even further." Yusuke answered.

"Maybe. But we need to look more into the couple because of this, otherwise they won't repent for all of their crimes." Makoto said. 

"So, we need to plan another infiltration, am I right?" Akira said. "It seems (Y/N) will have to wait a little longer for us, huh?" 

A few days later, the group infiltrated the mansion again. This time, finding people locked up in prisons who told them they had been kidnapped and forced into doing very horrible things. From killing people, to prostituting themselves so the couple could get information about certain things. 

But, there was something strange. 

Almost every single person said the couple had a child, and they needed to get the child out of that house, but when asked why they needed to, they couldn't give a clear answer.

When investigating the area, there was no sign that the couple even had a child. No photos on the walls, no signs of another decent bedroom, or even a way for more people to live in the mansion that wasn't inhumane. They even checked the house, but nobody was there. Not even the dog was there.

When everyone went back to school the next day, you where absent. Ryuji asked his homeroom teacer if you where here yesterday, but Ryuji only got back an ominous answer.

"Yes, she even came to school early. But, she said she wouldn't be at school for some time because of very serious family problems. I wonder if her family's been getting death threats and she can't come to school because of how scared the family is." 

When the group met up, Ryuji told them the ominous news.

And this scared the heck out of them. 

This caused the group to try to contact you. 

To no avail.

Now, they where all sure something was up.

There was no mistaking it. 

Something was definatly going on here.

But, what was it?

What was going on here? 

Now that the dear friend of the Phantom Thieves was missing, it wasn't hard to tell the group was. . . Upset and. . . Angry.

They wanted an answer to what was going on.

And more importantly, they wanted their precious ray of sunshine back.

They wanted you back with them.

You were a reason to live on to them.

Now that you were gone, there was something missing within the group. 

Their hopes for a brighter future that they would create for you and the rest of the world to enjoy. It seemed. . . To be duller without you in it.

Their personal healer for when they were about to fall down or die. Your pleas and cries for their safety you would say before mission would bring them back home safely.

Their personal cheerleader when things got tough during missions. Your cheers and encouragement would bring hope and vigor into each move the group made when they fought.

But you were gone now.

You where stuck and couldn't give the Phantom Thieves the courage to go on before a mission. 

You were unable to help your friends do their job.

And now, the couple was going to pay.

They where going to pay for forcing your family to hide you from the world to protect you from the dangers of this harsh world. 

And taking you away from the safety they had you under.

But upon more research and sneaking around, they found the answer to their question.

And you, in the process.

Aeron and Mara held another party that month. 

This was because they thought they had won againist the Phantom Thieves. 

But, the Phantom Thieves to ruin their reputation in gruesome way. 

Even more cruel than the couple had been. 

The night of the party, the preparations were set in place, and the time was almost right.

Everything was set.

"Alright, are we ready?" Akira asked the group. "Then let's wipe these two out." 

"Alright!" Aeron and Mara spoke through the microphones they had in their hands. "Let's party all night til the sun comes up!" 

The crowd of drunken corrupted people cheered. 

"Oh? At the expense of who this time?" A voice spoke from the speakers. "Is it your workers? Or your daughter?" 

"What?! Who said that?!" Aeron spoke. 

"You know full well who. After all, the party is at our expense." Akira spoke as he walked to the stage, as the crowd looked at the area around them. 

Even though the group was already here.

"Well, that's what it is for, is it not? Or is it for your daughter's murder at your hands?" Goro spoke, with disappointment in his voice. 

"Daughter?! We don't have one! You're a liar!" Mara yelled into the group of people. 

"Are you sure? Then, tell me, who is this?" Akira stopped walking to the stage. 

And then, a screen appeared behind the two. 

And, a video played. 

The video seemed to be in the kitchen of the house, with Aeron and Mara in the shot, with a girl covered in blood and bruises on the floor. At the moment, it was hard to tell what the girl is doing. But it was clear what the couple was doing. Both had knifs in their hands, and cups of white crystals as well.

"You worthless bitch! How many times do I have to say it?! Your life is meaningless without your servitude to your parents! Children are useless unless they serve their parents!" Mara said, stepping on the girl. 

The girl let out a blood-curdling scream in response. The scream rang loud and clear in the room. And, caused some people to jump back in suprise.

"NO! MOTHER, PLEASE, STOP!" The girl begged, but instead she was kicked in the stomach from Aeron. Causing blood to splatter all over the kitchen floor, as well as the appliances. 

In response, some people screamed and gasped in horror. As, the video hid nothing as to what happened to the girl. 

"And why would we do that?" He said. "You've broken our rules. And we cannot let you live because of it. It is justice, after all." 

And then, the couple sprinkled the white powder on the girl, and she let out an even louder scream than before. Making clear what that white powder was. 

Salt. 

"Ha! Scream louder, and maybe we'll call an ambulance! But, that would be a problem, wouldn't it?" Mara said, as she stepped on the girl. 

"Ah! Who cares?! She'll never be able to call for help now! And, if we say to the police she tried to kill herself, they won't know the difference! The police are fools, anyways!" Aeron replied. 

The girl then seemed to have died, because she then fell to the floor, motionless.

When the video cut out, some people passed out. Others threw up, and the rest seemed paralyzed in horror. 

All but nine people. 

When the video finished, the nine people walked to the stage. Causing Aeron and Mara to take a fearful step back. 

Akira got up first. He immendiately ran up to the couple, and knocked them down by kicking their kneecaps.

"You're going to pay dearly for killing her. And you're going to know the exact same fear (Y/N) knew every single time you beat her." Akira growled at the couple.

"No! Please! HAVE MERCY!!" Mara screamed at him.

"Why would we give you that?" Ryuji asked them, as he raised his bat.

"You both are pathetic lowlifes who don't deserve to see the light of day." Makoto said. Pulling out her brass knuckles. 

"Parents are suppose to help their children. But neither of you have done that from the start, Hinata and Kasumi (L/N). So, you have failed as parents, and as humans!" Ann growled at them. As she readied her whip.

"Therefore, you will never see the light of day again!" Yusuke growled, as the group charged at the couple. 

According to the news report, the (L/N) mansion was found to be trapped full of terrified people claiming Aeron and Mara (L/N) had murder their own child. 

When the police investigated, they found more people in horrible conditions claiming they had been kidnapped and forced into slave labor. 

And, they found a calling card from the Phantom Thieves that was a month old. 

But, police did not mention anything about the child, exept she was in critical condition in the hospital. 

You. . . Could hear them. 

They were to calling you. 

Your friends where right at your hospital bed, crying, begging, and praying you would live that horrible event.

And, you could hear them. 

They each called you, by name, to wake up.

And you could feel them. 

They where here!

You could feel their bodies hugging you, shaking your body in effort to wake you up. 

You wanted to go back now. 

You wanted to see them. 

Move! Come on, move!

When you were able to open up your eyes, there were wires and machines everywhere around you. The room was mostly white, brown and green, with the machinery being grey. The room was modestly big, and there was a window to your right. You stood up to look out the window when suddenly you heard a door open. 

When you turned, there was a doctor standing in the doorway, who looked stunned. Then, the doctor cautiously walked towards you. "Miss (Y/N)?" 

You nodded at her, "Yeah, what is it?" 

The doctor then turned around and said to you, "Stay here a moment okay? There's people who need to see you." 

And then she left the room. 

Not long after, you heard yelling in the hallways and footsteps rushing in your direction. And not long after people came rushing into your room. With cameras and microphones and bright lights.

Oh no. 

It's the press.

"Miss (Y/N)! You're awake! Tell us what happened!" One person shouted. 

"Yes, yes! Is it true you were abused by your parents?" Another said.

Before they started flooding you with questions and bright lights all around you, when you tried to block the lights so you could see, another light came and and blinded you once again. And when you tried to move your arms to block the bright lights, the wires on your arms stopped you.

Then you heard more footsteps coming your way and then you heard, 

"Can't you all have some decency?! Get out!" You heard a familiar voice yelled at the press.

And there stood Goro Akechi.

But. . . Something had changed about Goro. 

For one, his hair was shorter than the last time you saw him. He wasn't wearing his tan peacoat, instead he wore a dress shirt with his black and white tie with black pants and shoes. And. . . Something about him was different. You couldn't tell what exactly was different right then and there. But something had changed about him. 

Goro cleared the room of the press by kicking them out and slamming the door on them and then turned to you. 

And then, he smiled. 

That's what was different.

His smile seemed genuine and real now. Like he had dropped heavy baggage off of his back while you were gone.

He walked over to your bedside and sat on your bed. He reached out one of his hands and placed it on you left cheek.

"It's been so long. I missed you so much, (Y/N)." He said.

"What do you mean?" You asked him.

Goro hesitated at that. "It's been almost a year since you almost died."

Goro explained what had happened over this past year. Akira's now permanently moved in with Futuba and Sojiro Sakura, with Morgana as well, Ryuji's now less of a delinquent and Ann's become famous fashion model now, Yusuke has become a famous professional and street artist, Makoto's an intern at the police station while in college, Haru's taken over her father's company and your familes as well, and he's in college and doing well at his job. As well as the Phantom Thieves were still alive and kicking.

"I'm so glad." You said, as you started to cry, "That everyone's doing alright after all this time." 

Goro seemed to jump at the sight of you crying. "Of course we are. After all, we're not giving up on you now that you're back."

It took you some time, but you where released from the hospital and adjusted back to your normal life. 

And this time, knowing there was a group watching over you.

[uarcana]

Bad Reputation Pt. III Mother Midnight

“I see”, Nezu’s softly replied after Aoi’s explanation. “So, your alcoholism hasn’t gotten better?”

Aoi shuddered at the principal’s harsh cheery realization, followed by a stifled chuckle from Silver.

“Mrs. Tamahagane, you never got the chance to truly prove yourself to become a hero”, the mongoose continued. “And until you are able to do so, you are meant to be a model citizen and pupil of Mr. Aizawa. With this incident, I fear you may have only thinned your thread to redemption”.

Although Aoi’s nerves couldn’t easily be stirred, it was obvious Nezu had pinched one.

“Now, wait, hold on, sir...”.

“And Mrs. Heiwa”, the principal cut off the mystic, “you are a teacher and a mentor of one of our most promising first years. Your reputation with the press and the public is already rocky. I know you are a magnificent hero, but how are you going to when the trust of those you are meant to save with incidences like these dropping from the sky?”

Nezu knew he was playing with fire with Silver, but he believed a level of self control was needed to be developed.

Once he saw the nerve on her temple tighten and anticipated her risking from her seat, he feared of what he’d have to say next until...

...a sharp and solid slam on the desk abruptly broke everyone’s attention averting it to the otherwise silent woman in the center of all of this.

“Sir”, Midnight finally spoke up. Her voice collective, yet stern.

It wasn’t until then that Silver noticed her friend’s hand was planted firmly against her wrist keeping her in her seat.

“...if I may interject”, she continued. “Though I understand the concerns of the circumstances at hand. Based off what you’ve said, you don’t have all the facts”.

"Whatever do you mean?" 

Nezu's serious features made Nemuri's friends stare at her even harder.

Midnight was about to spill everything that really happened after the girls' stories and that made them nervous; all on its own. 

Nezu was definitely going to "rip them a new one" if she didn't have a plan.

"Well..." 

Back at the bar...

Nemuri got most of what was happening between her uneasy stomach and spinning room. 

"You're destroying mine." 

She kept thinking this was a mistake from the start. 

Why did they have to listen to Silver when she proposed going to a villain bar? Who, in their right mind, does that? 

A loud crash, "she broke the table with his head." 

That was definitely Aoi. Who the hell would dare get in between her and her drink? 

"Alright guys..." Nemuri tried getting her friends' attention; knowing her words were in vain. 

Aoi and Silver kept an eye on their trio but they were so focused on the villains and throwing them out every window, they didn't notice Nemuri trying to get their attention until she got up from her seat and tore the sleeves of her shirt.

Her quirk making its presence known with the sparkly stardust flowing and feeling the air all around her.

Aoi was quick to catch on her friend's intentions, using her quirk to enhance hers and make the hypnotic cloud bigger, making sure it would be able to include every villain in the bar. 

Silver, on the other hand, wasn't. 

Being the one to actually start the fight she was quickly consumed by her need to punch someone. 

So much so she didn't pay attention to her surroundings. Not paying attention to what her co-heroes had created and thus... not thinking of what a spark of fire would have done. A snap of her fingers and... 

"Wait, Silver no-" 

BAAM!!!

“So, what you’re saying...”, Nezu pondered the X-Rated hero’s words, “it was all Mrs. Heiwa’s fault?”

The mongoose’s cheery voice stabbing the mystic like a knife to the chest.

“Sounds about right to me”, Aoi suddenly cut in nonchalantly, “case closed. Can we go home?”

“SERIOUSLY?! WHAT THE HECK, AOI!!! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE ON MY SIDE!!!”, Silver shouted toward her pouty friend on the other side of Midnight.

“Tell that to my sake”, the bitter metamorph mumbled.

“OH, SHUT UP, YA DAMN SIDEKICK!!! IT’S NOT MY FAULT YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO HOLD A CUP!!!”, Silver continued to shout completely unaware of a well-manicured hand beginning to rise from underneath the desk.

“Not my fault that you can’t hold what’s IN your cup”.

“YOU CALLIN’ ME A LIGHTWEIGHT?!”

“Don’t remember you holding silver hair away from the toilet”.

Two sharp deafening whips silenced the two bickering women. 

Nezu was left in a light sweat upon the two bright red prints left upon the cheeks of the metamorph and the mystic as Midnight lowered her flogger from sight.

“What I’m saying, sir”, the agitated woman began as she suddenly slammed a ridiculously thick binder upon the mongoose’s desk, “you haven’t been informed of the entire situation”.

The woman’s confidence, of course peaked the principal’s interest, as well as the anxious curiosity of the two women beside her.

NEMURI KAYAMA. AKA: MIDNIGHT. LEADER OF HERO TRIO ARCANA AND DESIGNATED MOM OF THE GROUP. AS YOU CAN SEE, THEY GET PLENTY OF DISCIPLINE.

“You see, sir, some people believe that due to the presence of heroes, it is not necessary for our city to be spending money on police forces. When the truth is police patrols are just as important is not more. It is how heroes are able to maintain an ability to do their jobs properly and without situations arising where drastic actions must be taken”, she began to explain.

“A hero’s job is to combat the conflict of the world, but what most don’t know is that patterns in crime must be identified for heroes to develop the safest and surest strategy to assess the situation and at the wrong place at the wrong time, could end in disaster”.

“Fortunately”, the woman lightly grinned, “we were here at the perfect time”.

“Of course the media is only going to exploit the property damage which in turn would cause civilians to lose trust in the safety of heroes patrolling the city, as well as our competence in teaching”, she admitted before a planting a solid finger upon the binder, “but, I have something much more valuable than a petty story to ruin UA’s reputation”.

“My my, what is this?”, Nezu cheerfully asked as he took the binder in hand.

“That, sir, is all unsolved crime reports of certain sections of the city”.

As the principal opened the binder, Aoi and Silver could’ve sworn they felt his soul plummet to the floor.

“As you can see, sir, over 57% of our city is lacking in surveillance and police patrol. Though there have been many complaints of activity, there is clear negligence in keeping these areas under watch. Resulting in multiple properties being used for criminal activity”, Midnight continued, “One of these properties being…”.

“The bar you girls destroyed…”.

“Precisely”, the x-rated hero shouted in triumph.

How did she even find this so quickly?, the women thought to themselves, slightly unnerved by their friend’s investigative talents.

“My goodness”, Nezu lightly stuttered as he continued to look into this disturbing news. 

“There are, however, multiple reports of criminal activity at this property”, the principal stated. “AllMight has even been documented to have investigated this property before”.

“True as that may be, pay close attention to the dates of which these investigations occurred”, Midnight countered. “Months almost years apart from each other and over time these villain gangs can easily adapt. Imagine how many times these gangs possibly sensed suspicious activity and fled to other hideouts in other to avoid detection and every report indicates that these groups have been growing more and more in size. This particular bar was a fair size and was packed to the brim. There’s no telling how much they could’ve multiplied. At this point, it would’ve been far too risky to alert the authorities. Any extra suspicion could’ve caused them to flee or worse, also, how long until the city ignored this property again? The risk was too great. Action needed to be taken”.

As much as Nezu wanted to believe there was a better way, he could not help, but agree with Midnight’s observations.

“So, tell me, sir? Is property damages to a known criminal hideout more important than the number of rapists, thieves and murderers brought to justice and the negligence of city officials that could’ve ended their reign over such a large portion of our beloved city sooner?”

The fury in the woman’s eyes sent a chill throughout the room, leaving the principal with only one possible answer.

“And that is how we seized a notorious criminal hideout”, Nemuri proudly, news cameras focused on the three heroes.

“WOW, SIMPLY INCREDIBLE!!! THERE YOU HAVE IT FOLKS”, the cheery reporter chirped toward the camera into her microphone, “HEROICS AT IT’S FINEST!!”

“It is our job to protect and serve and we do so proudly”, Midnight commented as she smiled and waved toward her fans, signing numerous autographs. The other two women watching on from afar.

“Why is SHE getting all the credit?”, Silver mumbled in annoyance, “I’M THE ONE THAT BLEW UP THE PLACE, Y’KNOW!!!”

“Yeah, you deserve a medal”, Aoi rolled her eyes at her friend with a smirk.

Somewhere in the dormitories…

“…we’re gonna hear about this tomorrow, aren’t we?”, Toshinori Yagi asked as he stood next to an exasperated Aizawa in the teacher’s lounge of UA. The channel currently turned to the news.

“…more like until we retire”.

Tagging: @digitalkanvas @glacian-apocalypse @nykamito @aquathemermaidstripper

If you would like to be tagged, let us know!

[silverliningslurk]

Hold On

Pairing: Kiyoko Shimizu/Yachi Hitoka Word count: 4.3k Rating: General audience Potential Trigger Warnings: None Summary: Yachi Hitoka is magical, but she’s the only one she knows, and she can’t practice much, considering her mum’s not keen on the whole idea anymore. However, Shimizu finds out, and offers her a door into a more magical existence, and maybe, perhaps- something more, too. 

Written for @kaijuusandkryptids for @haikyuusecretsanta‘s event! I really enjoyed writing this, and I really hope you enjoy it too! 

Read on AO3 here! 

Hitoka sticks her tongue out just slightly, not even conscious of the motion, as she tries to reason with herself.

It’s not like it needs it. She enjoys drawing people in just by her own merit – which is a little daft, because using it would be her own merit too, but it just… If her mum caught her at it, she’d be very disappointed.

But. This is important. They need the money, they need people to be drawn in and reach into their purses. She wants to see them go to all the way, wants them to succeed, and do what she can to help. And maybe, just maybe, it needs that little extra.

After all, a little sweep of a potion here and there wouldn’t hurt, would it? No one would notice, probably. It’s not like she’s seen anyone else using magic at all.

Glancing at the door, she bites her lip. Equally though, it’s a little risky. Her mum could find the stuff she’s been hiding, and throw it out in disgust. Her dad’s powers, she’ll complain, nose in the air, and much use he ever was.

To Hitoka, though, it’s always been a little forbidden, a little too tempting. She’s used it before, just a touch here and there, a blending spell with her foundation so she doesn’t stick out so much, a calming spell in her lip balm. They’ve never worked too well, but that’s because she’s never had much room to really learn, and she’d love to, but not under this roof.

She thinks about classes sometimes, or books. Books might be safe enough. She can put a fake cover on them and stick them somewhere her mum isn’t likely to go. Her mum’s not too until books, so it would probably be safe there with the others as long as it doesn’t stick out.

Allure spells are easy enough, though. She’s thought about using them before when she’s had crushes, so she’d looked them up. If she can just find those notes…

It takes a mere minute of rummaging in her desk drawer to find them, and she flattens them out on the table, and reaches for her paintbrush.

Magic works best via a sentimental object, she’s heard; given by both her parents when she was only small, when she was starting to show an interest in art and graphics, and they’d been so proud of her. It’s always reminded Hitoka of when her family was complete, before her dad disappeared and her mum resented him for it.

She says the words. She imbues the brush, and paints the spell over the poster, highlights the things she really wants people to take notice of, the arc of Hinata’s arm, the ball, the words. Not too much, but not too little. Just enough.

When she’s done, she sits back and admires it. Almost nobody would be able to detect the magic unless they were looking for it, and almost nobody even would think it was real if she told them.

To her, it’s a perfect fusion of talents from both her parents, entwined into something important to her. She’s proud of it, and she can’t wait to show the team her efforts.

Thankfully, they love it. No one mentions anything untoward, and Shimizu-senpai smiles at her so warmly, grateful for her effort, that Hitoka practically floats around the rest of the day. She might have to reapply the magic to the copied posters, but that’s the work of minutes, and she’ll do that when she takes them home after copying them. It’s perfect, and her day is perfect, and everything has gone perfectly.

Until. “I admire the delicacy of your magic, Hitoka-chan.”

It goes downhill. Like usual. Hitoka thinks she can hear her neck creak as she turns, ever so slowly, towards Shimizu-senpai, still smiling at her gently. The confusion blows in like a sandstorm – how did she know? She’s never mentioned anything before, never given any kind of hint, never even- how?

"W-w-w-w-what d-d-do you mean?! M-m-m-magic?!" She stammers, flapping her arms wildly. Thankfully, no one else is around; unfortunately, the only person who can see is probably the person highest on her list of people Yachi Hitoka does not want to have a meltdown in front of. "I-I-I don't know what you mean!?"

Shimizu smiles gently, and Hitoka's heart can't cope with panic and a cute expression at the same time. Her face is burning. "It's alright, Hitoka-chan. I have magic on my mother's side mostly, and a little on my father's. I've learnt to see it."

"What?!" She screeches, and then promptly cringes at her volume. "You- you're magical too?" She can't help but sound incredulous – the amount in the magical population is unknown, but estimated to be approximately 2%. It's somewhat an open secret: most magicians hide the fact, as it can cause them to get hounded and ostracised. Not everyone believes it’s real. Hitoka loves magic, but she's never wanted to shout about it. It's always been intensely personal, wrapped up in confusion from her dad disappearing and hurt from her mother resenting her inherited power, seeing it as his. But alongside that is wonder. She's always wanted to use it to help, even if in small ways. She likes the idea of being a small town witch, making potions and rubs for old ladies.

Shimizu nods. "Which spell did you use?"

And Hitoka tells her, dumbfounded, because she's having an intelligent conversation with Shimizu-senpai of all people about magic. She daren't believe it.

Well, semi-intelligent. Hitoka doesn't actually know that much, curtailed by resentment from her mum and only using spell books. Remembering that, she trails off and sighs. Shimizu raises her eyebrows.

"Mum doesn't like me doing magic. So I don't know much." She's finally made a connection, something only they share, and the fact that she can't really know much about it is going to ruin everything.

"That's a shame. Why is that?" "I got it from my dad, and he disappeared when I was ten or so." She wrings her hands together. It’s only really at points like this – and when her mum’s being just the wrong side of constructively critical – that she misses him. She doesn’t remember too much, really. That might have been one of his spells, but she doesn’t mind too much, being left mostly with a rosy glow instead of concrete memories of abandonment, essentially.

Glancing up, she sees Shimizu making a conflicted expression, unsure what to say. This, Hitoka is used to dealing with. “Don’t worry, I’m not upset at it. I’m more annoyed he didn’t teach me much magic, really.” She explains, fiddling with the cuff of her shirt. “And with mum, I don’t really…” It occurs to her then she probably shouldn’t be sharing so much with Shimizu – someone as cool as her, as self-assured, definitely doesn’t want to hear these petty concerns of Hitoka’s.

“You could visit our house and learn some with us, if you’d like.”

Definitely doesn’t need to hear these petty concerns of Hitoka’s. She has bigger, grander things to concern herself with, like her exams, her flawless reputation, her own friends-

“Huh?!” Hitoka screeches, caught off guard. Shimizu chuckles gently, holding a hand in front of her mouth to semi-hide her smile, but not enough. It shows, in the acceleration in Hitoka’s heartbeat, in the warmth in her face, in the way she grips her hands together. She can’t even think, faced with that stunning smile. Shimizu can’t be making fun of her, surely, she’s too nice for that, but the thought of her offer being genuine is just- impossible.

“My younger brother loves to teach people, he’s just a little younger than you. I’d love to teach you. Even without formal teaching, you’re a delicate magician.”

Yachi Hitoka does not croak. She’s not a lady, but she has some class.

Although if she had done, the sight of Shimizu grinning was almost worth it.

The Shimizu household looks completely normal from the outside. There are tall plants to either side of the doorway, and it’s only when she feels something around her hand that she realises they’re not completely normal plants; she feels a little out of her depth, but crouches down and murmurs soothing words to each of them in turn. They release her, and both open up a flower, as though smiling. Hitoka compliments them on it; Shimizu, teasing, tells her she’s spoiling them.

The house is quite normal from the inside, too. There’s a lizard tank in one room that Hitoka wants to peer into, but manages to hold herself back from. The kitchen looks normal when Shimizu gets her a drink, and offers her a space to put her bags. The living room looks normal when they sit in it to wait for her mum, Shimizu citing that they’re forbidden from doing magic without supervision yet.

She then negates this by sliding a finger around the rim of her glass, once, then twice, murmuring an incantation quietly, and changes the juice inside from apple to orange. Shimizu smiles at her, and Hitoka feels like it’s a secret shared between them. They settle into talk about what magic Hitoka can do (not much, but Shimizu is kind nonetheless) and what magic Shimizu can do (a dizzying array, but she’s being humble about it all, of course.) Hitoka is itching to start, nervous to meet Shimizu’s mother, anxious about what will inevitably go wrong, terrified about how she’ll repay them for their efforts and when she does blow something up, no matter that she’ll be doing menial magic for sure, and petrified about that she won’t be able to do anything at all. As usual, she starts working herself up into a state, her (most likely weak to start with) anti-worrying lip balm wearing off, but she’s left it in the kitchen and getting it would require moving and that would raise questions-

“Hitoka-chan.” Shimizu’s clear voice cuts straight through her thoughts, slices through the visions that cloud her. “We’ll help you. I believe you have a good grasp on magic anyway.”

“But I’ve never really-!” She says, waving her hands frantically. Shimizu smiles gently. “Yet what you’ve done is all self-taught. Mood altering potions require a certain… finesse. I haven’t mastered any of those.” Shimizu considers it for a moment. “Perhaps you could teach me how to do those?”

Hitoka makes, to her dismay, a strangled noise. The very thought of her being able to teach Shimizu anything about this most foreign art – at least to her – is laughable.

“I don’t think I could possibly- I can’t-” “If nothing else, I need you to make a calming potion for Nishinoya-san and Tanaka-san for when they get overenthusiastic.”

Hitoka giggles, unable to help herself. Tanaka and Noya could indeed use a little less energy at times, although definitely only temporarily. She’s not sure how she’d ever administer it, since they never seem to stay still long enough. Perhaps deodorant, but then gifting it to them would be incredibly awkward, and leaving it in their bag would look like a creepy secret admirer, and Hitoka wouldn’t want to lead them on like that. The explanation should she get caught would be far, far too much.

“But how would I get it to them, even if I could make that?” She muses, bemused. “Perhaps in their water bottles?” Shimizu suggests, apparently thinking about it. “I doubt something like your perfume would work, although if you told them it’d help them win, they’d likely fall for anything.”

Hitoka hums, and then frowns. She never told Shimizu about the perfume, and she’d never thought it was obvious in any case – now she thinks about it, she’d misplaced that bottle a few months back, before she ever started as trainee manager…

“How did…?” She starts, but the door clicks open at that point. A tall women with long dark hair matching Shimizu’s walks in, not smiling but not exactly frowning either.

“Kiyoko, I asked you not to use magic without supervision.” She remarks, as though it’s been said a hundred times before. She then notices Hitoka. “And you are…?”

Hitoka jumps up, nerves growing by the second. “Yachi Hitoka, Shimizu-san! P-pleased to make your acquaintance!” She bows deeply, which earns her an appreciative hum. “Nice to meet you.” Shimizu-san remarks. “She’s here to learn some magic, mother.”

“She’s magical!” A young boy shouts. Hitoka straightens up to see a boy of about ten staring at her with glee. “I’m gonna teach her the explodey spells!” He shouts, and Hitoka laughs nervously.

“You won’t be doing that, Keiji. I can teach her proper magic, though.”

Hitoka makes so many notes her hand hurts. Her head is spinning in many ways when she leaves, but it feels full of knowledge and she likes it. She wants to practice, and somehow she’d impressed Shimizu-san enough to be invited back again, and she can’t wait. Shimizu offers to walk her home, and seems insistent no matter how much Hitoka protests; they compromise on halfway.

Hitoka thinks it’s going to be that simple, but Shimizu tugs her sleeve when they pass a bench. The mountains rise up in front of them, and there’s a small park in front of it. The sun is just setting, a warm glow in the growing shadows, and Hitoka wants to hold onto time. She knows no magic could do that, but she wants to, anyway.

“You were asking something before my mother came in.” Shimizu asks, once they’ve sat on the bench. Hitoka just sat down without thinking about it, but it feels like Shimizu has sat a little closer than normal customs would dictate; Hitoka wonders if it actually means anything at all.

It takes a while, sifting through the myriad of new magic to practice and the thoughts of Shimizu so close, but the oddity of Shimizu knowing about her enchanted perfume resurfaces. “I wondered how you knew I had magic perfume, I lost that ages ago…” she murmurs, a little embarrassed to even ask, but there’s a need to know. It implies things that her heart might be happy at, she thinks, and she just needs to know.

Glancing sideways at Shimizu, she thinks, even in the low light, that there’s a colour to her cheeks.

“I can see magic, as you know.” Shimizu starts slowly. “It wasn’t incredibly obvious, but it was enough. Once I’d noticed it, I noticed you, although I had no reason to speak to you. I couldn’t find one until I decided to search for another manager. I… wasn’t expecting you to agree to it. But I’m glad you did. Very glad.” Shimizu looks at her, then, a glance with so much meaning Hitoka doesn’t dare try to interpret.

“I’m-” She croaks, her throat dry. Clearing it, she starts again. “I’m glad you did. I’m happy you asked me!” Wringing her hands in her lap, she chuckles nervously under her breath. “I’m not really much good as a manager, but I’ll try my best, under your instruction, Shimizu-senpai!” She smiles at Shimizu. Her heart feels like it’s in her throat – the whole thing, being alone in a quiet part of town, in the space in between day and night, feels unreal and intimate somehow. Hitoka thinks maybe she’s dreamt this whole thing, and by tomorrow this will all be a faded memory that never was.

She so desperately wants to cling to it. She never has her own space with Shimizu, as unworthy as she is of it, and so now, she never wants to leave. She wants to etch the moment into time and hold it. Make it a solid thing she can keep with her. It feels like she won’t ever have this again.

Shimizu just keeps looking at her, though. Even when Hitoka didn’t notice, apparently, and all through her time learning to be a manager from her, and even now, Shimizu has been looking at her. Even when Hitoka felt plain and less than average next to her, Shimizu was looking at her like she was worth something.

Will Shimizu keep looking at her?

Even if she drowned in calming potion, she doesn’t think it would slow her heart down any. She wants to ask, the words are on her tongue, and she has to stop them somehow, by replacing them.

She panics, between her loose tongue and Shimizu’s proximity. It’s her brain short-circuiting, filled with information and tired of holding secrets.

“I’d best go! Mum will be wondering where I am!” Which is, at least, likely the truth. She stands swiftly, her hands are shaking because she was thisclose, and she just can’t. She can’t endanger this, it’s happened before, and it’s gone so wrong. Girls, lovely as they are, seem close until she tells them she loves them that way, and then they retreat rapidly, and she cannot have Shimizu retreat. She can’t lose this. She grabs her bag and swings it over her shoulder and backs off a few steps. “I’ll try and make a pot of lip balm for you!”

And then she runs. Hitoka can be impulsive, but she dreads the moment she’s impulsive with Shimizu.

Her mum is out when she gets back, thankfully, and so doesn’t see her slide down the door with her face in her hands, bright red from running back and the whole situation. She eats the dinner on the table and grabs a pot of lip balm she’d gotten as a present – it’s rose flavoured, which is not her kind of scent, but seems to fit Shimizu quite well.

Sighing, she sits down at her desk, notebook open, spellbooks on the bed, and lip balm in front of her. She shouldn’t do this now, really. Not when Shimizu-san had said, not two hours ago, that magic shouldn’t really be done in the grip of strong emotion. It taints it. But Hitoka doesn’t want Shimizu to think she escaped because of disgust or anything, and she wants to give her this. Wants to show that she can, wants to show that she’s still worth looking at.

So she takes the paintbrush from her bag, straightens the bristles out habitually, most of them at angles and glued together with paint not fully washed off. She picks up her memories of her dad teaching her, minimally, and her mum watching, smiling for once. She picks up her feelings for Shimizu, the love she feels with every smile, every flick of her raven black hair, every quiet laugh, hidden passion in her eyes, and Hitoka’s want for Shimizu to keep seeing her, and says the incantation, tapping the pot three times.

Yawning, she practices for a while, until she’s too sleepy to do so. She puts the lip balm in her bag to give to Shimizu tomorrow, and goes to bed.

She makes extra sure to smile at Shimizu, seeing the hint of doubt in her gaze, and pushes the pot at her at the end of practice, scuttling off before anything more can be said, her face red. She worries about it all night; so much so that her mum snaps at her for fidgeting. She can’t help it, wondering if the spell even caught right, wondering if in her tired state it worked at all, or had an opposite effect. She can’t help but feel something went wrong, although she cannot put her finger on what. She doesn’t think she was too emotional – she’d merely focussed on the reason for the magic as instructed, rather than the emotions.

Hadn’t she?

She barely sleeps that night, tossing and turning, wondering what kind of effect the lip balm will even have, if Shimizu will even use it. Hopefully nothing bad, but now she’s not sure and she’s doubting herself. Shimizu could have waited a day, a smile would have done, she didn’t have to give her the lip balm immediately, could have made sure it actually worked as it was meant to, but no, her impatience and anxiety made her unable to wait.

Doubling up on her own anti-anxiety lip balm and calming foundation, she still worries her lip all the way to school. She wraps the strap of her backpack around her finger, and undoes it, a thousand times. She can’t quite focus in class, dismantling her pen and remaking it over and over, as quietly as she can. The teacher sends her puzzled glances throughout, but Hitoka slips away at lunch before he can mention anything and-

Immediately gets caught by Shimizu.

Her eyes don’t seem clouded, a sign of magical influence, and she is smiling. If anything, a little too much. The hand that catches hers is firm, and leads her to an empty classroom, slides the door shut, and turns back to her. Shimizu takes both of her hands.

“Hitoka-chan-” “I’m sorry!” Hitoka cries, bowing her head. “I think I did the potion on the lip balm wrong, can you give it back and I’ll re-do it right this time, I’m sorry I knew I shouldn’t have been trusted with this-” “Hitoka-chan?” “But I just didn’t want you thinking I didn’t like you or whatever and I had to make it, but I should have waited and I’m so so sorry!” “Hitoka-chan.” Shimizu puts a finger to her lips, and immediately Hitoka shuts up and turns red. Shimizu smiles. “I’m glad you gave me the lip balm as it was.”

“But, why? It can’t have done anything good…” She starts wringing her hands together, but Shimizu laughs quietly. “Oh, it did something amazing. It gave me courage.” Shimizu states, and Hitoka just tries to think about what could have done that, because surely no spell that she’s ever cast has been that strong- “To ask you if you would be my girlfriend.”

Hitoka freezes, her mouth falling open. She definitely didn’t wake up this morning. Or maybe she fell asleep in class and didn’t realise. This can’t be real. This cannot be real, it’s way too good to be true. But she nods, anyway, automatically. She can’t refuse that offer, even if it’s a dream. It’ll annoy her waking self if she does nothing and this slips away, and since it’s a dream, there are no repercussions, either.

The smile Shimizu gives her is blinding. She squeezes her hands, her eyes glimmering in excitement. “Mother asked if you could come every week, she’d like to tutor you more. Kenji wants to see you again, too. And there’s a new café near my house I’d like to try out, if you’d like to join me? Tomorrow perhaps?”

Again, Hitoka just nods. Shimizu tilts her head just slightly. “Is… something wrong?”

Hitoka chews on her lip for a moment, trying to decide. If this is a dream, then nothing will come of telling the truth, and she might as well tell it here without real repercussions that out in reality, with all those damned consequences.

“I just- it doesn’t seem real. Isn’t that lip balm basically a… a- a love potion?” She whispers, panicking.

“I didn’t actually use it,” Shimizu starts. Hitoka frowns, puzzled. “I could see. And that gave me courage to do what I’ve wanted to do for a while.”

Hitoka just blinks. Not real. But this is a cruel dream if it is one, and now- now she feels like she needs to know for herself. She mentally traces her path through the day, trying to find a gap indicating a dream state, but finds none. She looks about the room, expecting not to be able to, or it not to have details, but it lacks nothing in clarity. Finally, she resorts to the basic method.

“Shimizu-senpai? Could I have my hands back for a moment?” Shimizu releases her, befuddled, and Hitoka steps back just enough – and slaps both of them to her face. The sting of it is real, the heat flooding her cheeks is impossible for a dream to produce. Which produces the terrifying possibility that- that this is actually real.

“You want to go out with me?!” Hitoka shrieks in disbelief. “Why wouldn’t I?” Shimizu questions mildly. “Because I’m just, just me?! And you’re you, amazing and beautiful and so, so not me, it just?!”

And Shimizu just. Laughs. Not so hard as to think the whole thing is a joke, but enough to stun her into silence. “I like you because you’re you. I wish you wouldn’t be so self-deprecating, but we’ll work on that. Together, if you like. Along with the magic, which you are excellent at, also.” She takes both of Hitoka’s hands again, feeling like the warmest thing Hitoka has ever held. “So, would you join me on a date tomorrow afternoon, Hitoka-chan?”

“Of- of course, Shimizu-senpai!” Like she’d ever say no to that offer anyway, even if it wasn’t a date.

“You can answer me then, about whether you want to be girlfriends or not, Hitoka-chan.” Shimizu says, but something about her smile is closed off, just a little. Sad, even. Hitoka takes a deep breath, and squeezes her hands as tight as she can.

“It’s not going to be a no, Shimizu-senpai. Even though I don’t get it, I don’t understand why you’d pick me, I’m honoured for the opportunity, and I’d love you. To! I meant to! Argh!”

Shimizu pulls her into a hug, only releasing her hands to wrap them around Hitoka’s embarrassed, red, shaking body. “I look forward to our adventures together.” She whispers, right in Hitoka’s ear. “A-as do I, Shimizu-senpai.” There’s a faint laugh, a mere breath of air. “You can call me Kiyoko if you like, Hitoka-chan.”

“Give me time, please! I’ll work on it!” There’s another giggle, and tightening of the hug and the feeling of Shimizu’s chin resting on her shoulder. Hitoka, minus the embarrassment, could probably fly right now, even without magic.

It’s a good feeling. And she has a notion that, as long as she and Shimizu can hold onto each other, it’ll last.

Which is, of course, the best thing.

[ofheroesandvillains]

Playing To Lose (2) - Bucky Barnes

Words: 2.7k Warnings: None, AU! Summary: Bucky gets called into the principal’s office...then continues to do bad things.

(gif not mine!) 

Thursday had come around quickly.

It had been a busy week for you, which was nothing unexpected considering the sheer size and reputation of the company you were in charge of. Never had you been more grateful to have Maria by your side, the woman was so on top of everything that you had to honestly question whether or not she was human. 

But it wasn’t just Maria…everyone had been relatively welcoming during your first week in charge. Everyone except James, or Bucky as most people called him. You were the only one who maintained professionalism -other than Maria of course- and called him Mr Barnes. It was one of the many things that bothered him about you, despite the charming smiles he forced whenever he was in your presence.

You weren’t stupid. You knew what he must have been feeling, because you would have probably felt the same had your own father done the same to you. Despite this, you tried your hardest to be polite. Even if he seemed hellbent on breaking every rule the company had…and one in particular.

In the four days that you had known James, you had already seen him leaving the building with two different women. Now, you didn’t care about his womanising ways, it was nothing new to you. Men, particularly handsome or rich men, could do what they wanted without complaint. And there was no doubt that James was both handsome and rich.

So whenever security called you, asking what to do about the new floozy that was loitering in the lobby, you’d simply roll your eyes and tell them to call Mr Barnes instead. It had been four days and you were already certain that there wasn’t much more to James than women and alcohol. But that was okay, you could accept that.  

But the one thing you didn’t accept, the one thing you couldn’t accept, was the reason he was currently sulking in your office.

“You fired her?” He asked as if it were the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard.  

“Of course.” You murmured.

Bucky’s eyes widened in shock when you waved a hand nonchalantly, not even taking your eyes off of the paperwork before you. It was like you didn’t care at all, and Bucky scowled when he realised that you didn’t.

“What do you mean ‘of course’?” You finally looked up at his affronted tone and cocked a brow. “You can’t just fire her, how’s she supposed to…to…” he paused, stuttering as he tried to think of a reason. “Pay rent! And- and buy food, huh?”

You studied him for a moment, the way his brows furrowed and the way he held himself. Pay rent...and buy food. You mentally tsk-ed. You knew he was just looking for another reason to hate you, he was hardly subtle. Did he really think this was your fault?

“Hm, you’re angry. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.” You dropped the pen, choosing to entwine your fingers atop the desk and give him your full attention.

“What did you think would happen, hm?” Your brows shot up pointedly, and he didn’t know what to say.

What did he think? It had never been a problem before, then again, his father had never been aware of his fling with the old secretary. But it seemed like whenever he wanted something you’d snatch it out of his hands. He was getting real sick of you taking things that didn’t belong to you.

“That I’d turn a blind eye to the fact that you were in a sexual relationship with a subordinate? Do you have any idea what that could do to your reputation? To this company’s reputation?”

Bucky paused, halting whatever argument he may have had. Damn it. You were right, he knew you were right and he hated it. It seemed every move he made was the wrong one, and you had all the right answers. Granted, he was intentionally trying to get on your nerves with all of his dates -he used that term loosely- showing up to the office everyday.

“Technically, I’m no longer her superior.” His sly smirk dropped the moment you shot him a glare filled with enough venom to kill a man.

But it was true, wasn’t it? You didn’t need the constant reminder, but you’d taken his job and it would take him some time to get over it.

He figured what did it matter? Either way he wasn’t going to be in charge for the next 6 months, he’d behave himself when he had to, for now…he’d enjoy his social life while he still had one. The fact that it probably annoyed you was just icing on the cake.  

But you were right on this occasion. The last thing he wanted to do was get into any legal trouble, that would completely ruin everything and he hadn’t thought about that before. But the damage was already done, and firing the woman would do nothing but make her vengeful.  

“Alright, I’m sorry.” He sighed, slumping in his seat. “But what? You think she’s not gonna tell anyone about it?” Bucky crossed his arms over his chest.

“No. I know she’s not going to tell anyone.” You swiftly retrieved a folder from your drawer and dropped it on the table in front of him. “That’s what NDAs are for.”  

He straightened up in his chair, his lips twitching sheepishly. He’d never admit that he was grateful, but you had taken care of it all for him and he was more than a little relieved. He didn’t know what he would do otherwise. His father would have killed him.

“Have it all planned out, huh?” His voice was quiet now, somewhat ashamed at the lengths you had to go to in order to clean up his messes.

You stood up, checking your watch before smoothing your hands over your blazer. His eyes followed the movement, how could they not? The only reason he hadn’t tried to sweet talk you into his bed was because of who you were.

Yeah, you were stunning, he’d have to be blind not to see that. Exactly his type of girl, despite his feigned disinterest. Those girls he fooled around with were not the type of girls he’d care to remember. Not the type of girls he’d want prolonged exposure to. They were just a quick fix, and if you weren’t you then maybe you’d be worth getting to actually know. But you were you, and his anger and (not that he’d ever admit it) jealousy were enough to ensure you’d lost a whole lot of your appeal.    

“Despite what you think, Mr Barnes, I’m not out to get you.” 

He met your sincere gaze, but there was still an underlying irritation in your eyes that almost made him smile. Okay, so you weren’t that bad. You tolerated all of his bullshit and it hadn’t even been a whole week yet. But he was still hurt by his father’s doubt, and more importantly, your rejection of his work. That was something he would never forgive you for.

“In fact, I couldn’t care less about you.” His eyes followed your every move as you walked around the desk, ignoring the odd feeling your words gave him.

“I’m here to do a job for the next six months and by the time I’m gone, I’m really hoping you’ll have a little more respect for how hard it is to run this business- though I doubt anyone will be intentionally trying to sabotage you when that time comes.”

You looked at him pointedly for a split second before a knock sounded at the door. Oh good, your 1 o’clock was here.

Bucky’s eyes almost softened in apology, but you barely spared him a glance as you made your way to the door. It was a constantly battle in his mind. Whether he should let go of this grudge or stay strong in his resolve. You made it hard, because as much as he didn’t want to admit it, you were a pretty decent person…considering who your father was.

But you had wronged him too greatly for him to just sit there and accept you as his boss. You had done nothing to earn this opportunity. You came into the building, bringing your posse with you, firing familiar faces, and rejecting his ideas. His irritation had bubbled up to the surface once more and there was no changing his mind at your next words.

“Ah, Mr Odinson. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

Bucky’s eyes snapped over to the door in shock.

“Loki, please. And the pleasure is all mine, Miss Stark. My family speaks very highly of you.”

“Likewise.” You smiled politely. “Please, come in.”

Bucky scowled as soon as his suspicions were confirmed, and he sprung up from his chair in a blur of movement.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Loki cocked an unimpressed brow, but a small smirk played at his lips.

“Good to see you too, Barnes.”

Bucky ignored him, turning to face you instead.

“What the hell is he doing here?”

You sighed in exasperation, smiling apologetically at your guest and waving a hand to welcome him to a seat.

“You’ll have to excuse Mr Barnes…” You shot Bucky a stern look. “He was just leaving.”

“Like hell-“

“James.”

It was the first time you had ever called him that to his face and he paused for a moment, drawing back his anger. You seemed to have a silent conversation, begging him to leave it be, while simultaneously reprimanding him for his lack of diplomacy.

Bucky tried to regain control of the conflict raging in his mind. He didn’t want him anywhere near you. He didn’t want him near the damn building in general! Why was he even there in the first place?

But he knew that any resistance would be seen as him trying to ‘sabotage’ the whole situation. You wanted him to leave, and in order to show you that he wasn’t some petty child, he’d grit his teeth and do as you had asked. Why should he care anyway? It wasn’t like you’d listen to him. Just as he thought you might redeem yourself in his eyes, you prove once again why you shouldn’t be there. Why he needed you gone.

“Fine.”


With a glare so strong it could have knocked down a wall, Bucky stormed out of your office, all but slamming the door shut behind him. You winced at the sound and pinched the bridge of your nose. Not a single day…he couldn’t go a single day without making your life difficult.

“I’m really sorry about that, Loki.”

The man in question merely offered a placating smile. “Think nothing of it.” He hesitated for a moment. “James and I have a tendency to not get along.”

Loki could see the curiosity in your eyes, and he was prepared for the question when you inevitably asked.

“And why is that? If you don’t mind me asking…”

He shook his head as if to say ‘of course not’. There was a reason you had arranged a meeting with him, and if it was for the reason that he hoped, he needed to be honest.

“We took a liking to the same woman a few years back, needless to say, it created some tension between us.”

Loki cleared his throat lightly when you cocked a brow.

“You get the girl?”

He chuckled at the question. “No, unfortunately not. But neither did he.”

“She told him there was another, and he believed it was me…” He elaborated.

“And let me guess, you did nothing to correct him?” You asked dryly. Men were so petty.

“I honestly doubt he’d believe the alternative. Either way, it’s all in the past now.” He offered a charming smile.

“Hm. Good.” Your small smile dropped, and you adopted a new air of professionalism. You had called him in for a reason, and it wasn’t to discuss his love life.

“You know the reason I’m asking…”

Loki nodded, he was very perceptive after all. “You want to know if placing me on the board would create conflict.”

You sighed quietly, and leaned back in your chair, eyes scanning the man before you. He was regal in appearance, high cheekbones and raven hair. The complete opposite to his brother, but you could see how they would balance each other out.

Loki was a clever man. He had excellent ideas and his family owned Mjölnir Construction - the very same construction company that had been building your father’s casinos for decades. Thor was on the board of directors where your father’s business was concerned, and you knew Loki had been trying to join the board of W & R Hotels for years now. At least now you knew why he had never been accepted.

He’d be a great asset to the company, and even if it meant giving James another reason to loathe you, you wouldn’t be missing this opportunity. With The Red Room’s grand opening in Moscow scheduled for the following year, you needed all the help you could get, and it looked like James wouldn’t be taking his advising duties seriously anyway.

“I spoke to George Barnes yesterday…” You straightened the pens on your desk absentmindedly. “He said the reason you were never selected was because he feared his son losing interest in the company if you were on the board.”

Loki hummed lightly in acknowledgement, but patiently waited for your decision.    

“I personally think that if James does lose interest because of a childish rivalry, he shouldn’t be here in the first place.”

Loki’s hopeful green eyes darted up to meet your own.

“I need the best, and that’s something you can offer me and this company.”

“He won’t like this.” Loki warned, but he already knew your mind was made up and his shoulders dropped in relief.

“No, he won’t.” You stood up with a humourless smile. “Which is why you’ll leave him to me.”

“You sure you want to do this, Barnes?”

Bucky cocked a brow in challenge. “Didn’t think you’d be one to turn down a pay-day.”

“I’m not, but this is a Stark you’re going up against.” Brock reminded him pointedly.

Bucky scoffed. “What, you scared?”

It wasn’t the first time he’d been asked to ruin a reputation, and as a private investigator he’d dug up his fair share of dirt. But like he had said, this was a Stark. You start digging into their lives and you get the damn CIA at your door the next morning.

He’d have to be careful, but for the price Barnes was willing to pay…

Oh no, he wasn’t scared at all. If he did this, he’d be set for life.


“I’ll do it. But I thought all you rich folks went golfin’ together. What’s the deal here?”

“I’m sure you’ve seen the news lately.”

Brock rolled his eyes. Rich boys like Barnes were always so…whiny. Daddy didn’t let me take over the business, big deal! What did it matter anyway? The Starks and the Barnes’ were partners, they had been together through thick and thin, and this kid was willing to sabotage that because he couldn’t wait six damn months?

Brock almost scoffed at the thought. He’d shine the lady’s shoes everyday if it meant getting the whole damn company after 6 months.

“So, you in?”

Brock threw back the rest of his scotch, before slapping the glass back down on the counter.

“Yeah, yeah I’m in. But unless you want to be suspect number one, you better lose the frosty attitude.”

Brock pointed out. The very first person they’d point their finger at would be Bucky if he didn’t warm up to the young Stark. That really defeated the purpose of keeping their deal a secret.   

“Fine. I’ll work on it.” Bucky huffed. 

“Then you got a deal.”

Good, Bucky thought, ignoring the stab of guilt that made his stomach twist unpleasantly. It was for the best, he tried to reason. He could apologise when it was all said and done. When he was in charge of his company, then he could maybe even consider you as a friend, but now he had to do this. If you were serious about meeting with Loki of all people, who knew what other mistakes you’d make. He couldn’t risk his company like this.

He wouldn’t.

It’s all for the best.

@marvelnersworld @bookgirlunicorn @spidey-linquentimagines @sawdustandsugar @roxytheimmortal 

I’m sorry if I forgot anyone!  

[youngster-monster]

Die every day

The twin have been at war for as long as they can remember.

(That’s a lie. They remember better times as clear as if they happened yesterday; they simply can’t comprehend how they could ever act like friends when the thought of it now brings them more disgust than nostalgia.)

Of course their personalities are drastically different, and they are only similar in how selfish they will be in the pursuit of their personal goals, but such things have failed to turn siblings against each other many times before. Maybe the Klersfields never knew how to do things in moderation, not even sibling rivalry, or maybe it’s the magic in their veins that won’t let them be anything but bitter enemies. It doesn’t matter.

The escalation of hate has been going on for years, the feud reaching new heights of petty revenge every week, if not faster. As children, Aloïs stole the last slice of cake; a decade later, then-law student Samaëlle swindled him out of their late parents’ estate, forcing him to join the war just to support himself on a soldier’s paycheck. Today — almost another decade later, short by a few months — he had her lover poisoned, a personal attack whereas most before were targeted at her business empire.

He has had enough of corporate espionage and sabotage. He had pirates pillage her shipments, set fire to her warehouses, killed her employees, divulged her involvement with organized crime syndicates and generous use of corruption, and yet she still walks free, persists to survive through his plan. Assassinations didn’t work either — they were soldiers on opposite sides of the war and are both intimately aware of the other’s abilities.

Maybe that is why her numerous attempts at sending assassins after him are such an insult, more than anything else she ever did. She ruined his reputation, killed the people she couldn’t lie and blackmail into publicly rejecting him, had his own lovers sent across the globe — ever out of his reach — and still she persists to believe a single man with a knife could get rid of him.

In the end, there is no single last straw — only a million drops of blood slowly filling up the cup until it overflows.

They fight, they argue, they undermine each other, ruin every plan the other tries to bring to fruition, and at some point along the way Aloïs decides, enough. Enough with the lies, the constant scheming to bring the other down without risking their own neck in the process. They were soldiers. Let them solve this like soldiers: with a duel.

One of them will die. Let marksman abilities decide of who.

He doesn’t act on it right away, of course. You do not engage in a war against your own twin without being ready to learn something from them along the way, and one such thing the conflict taught him is patience — a difficult lesson, preceded by numerous failures. It ought to be a virtue, if only he didn’t use it to such nefarious means.

Cunning is another. War takes strategy, but nothing like the underhanded tactics required in an open conflict against Samaëlle Klersfield — he hates her, but even he has to admit she is as brilliant as she is devoid of any kind of morals.

Which is why he has her lover poisoned rather than sending her an official dueling notice. She’d just laugh and send it back coated in cyanide like all the previous times he tried the same tactic. The best way to get her to agree to such a stupid plan is to make her angry. And Sam, always the opposite of her twin, is not easily moved to anger: everything she does, she does it coldly, methodically, with a kind of detached mercilessness, like she doesn’t care about the matter but the success of her endeavor is a matter of pride.

The only exception to that rule is her lover. She loves the woman the way only the criminally insane can: single-mindedly, obsessively, possessively, using a massive amount of her wealth to spoil the woman with riches and exotic components for her harebrained experiments. And she oh so does hate it when Aloïs touches her things — even more so in a way that she could have easily avoided, if only she’d been more attentive.

Doing it with poisons, now that’s just adding insult to injury.

She is furious.

Her lover survives, if only just, but the fact is the same: Aloïs harmed what is hers by right, harmed the only thing that was supposed to be out of his reach — in the same way she only ran his favorite bedwarmers out of the country rather than killing them, out of basic decency. He has to pay. He will pay.

So when, in the middle of her rampage, a letter comes to her, another off-hand insult in the form of an offer to duel… she is just angry enough to accept.

He smiles at the terse letter he receives in response, written in a neat hand on a paper too big for the three words written upon it: Tomorrow. Mortlake. Dawn.

The cemetery, then. He chuckles. That’s that much less distance he’ll have to walk to bury her.

The ski is still dark when they meet, the sun barely a red glow at the horizon.

Aloïs takes a moment to watch her. It’s the first time they’ve seen each other in life in— oh, seven years, maybe? Ever since she’s moved from the ancestral Klersfield estate in the countryside to better manage her business from London, they have made a great deal of effort to never meet in public, for the sake of the people of London. Even before that he used to only see her in newspapers, beside articles about her sprawling empire, and the sight of her disgusted him to the point that he hired someone only to cut such articles from his daily paper before it makes his way to his desk. The holes, of course, were a constant source of frustration as they reminded him of her continued presence in the world, but it was a lesser evil.

She’s changed since then. Matured, of course, in a way only discernible to him, who has kept a clear image of her in his mind as motivation to go on just to spite her. She doesn’t have a single wrinkle — they are only thirty and have been blessed with excellent looks in the face of time — but her golden eyes are harder, fury raging in her eyes but unseen in her impassive expression.

He always has envied her this inscrutability. He knows himself to be an open book, and although he has turned it into an advantage — he is a much better liar than her, capable of great, completely fictitious yet believable tales whereas she can only offer falsehoods deadpan or not at all — he still sometimes wishes people wouldn’t be able to read his every emotions, feigned or not, on his face.

He’s tried, but it only makes him look constipated.

Apart from that, of course, they are perfectly alike. Same pitch-black hair and golden eyes, although her pupils are slit like a snake’s; same porcelain skin; same bone structure, delicate and almost other worldly — an enduring trait from a distant fae heritage. It’s infuriating.

She watches him similarly from the other side of the small burial ground, her second standing nervously a step behind her. He’s taller than her by a good foot, a lanky, awkward giant of a man with cruel looks but none of the attitude. Jason, her lieutenant and enforcer. Aloïs knows him; he’s responsible for the loss of his eye, the wound now hidden under an eyepatch the man keeps fidgeting with.

Vampires can heal anything, but they can’t regrow limbs. The eye sits in a mason jar filled with formaldehyde on Aloïs’ shelf, a gruesome but eternally entertaining display.

Oddly, there is a third person present: her lover, Tahlia, stands beside the two of them. She looks pale and sickly still, but resolute as she refuses to hold onto anyone else. She must have insisted to come with despite her state.

His own second is his secretary, Alaude. She’s smart, and he’s pretty sure she can at least be trusted to hand him his pistol. It’s not like they’re expecting the seconds to settle this dispute: it’s only a matter of appearances. There are two letters in her breast pocket, perfect copies in his own penmanship to be sent to his lovers at the unlikely event of his death. If they are ever sent, he’ll be glad to no longer be on this earth to live through the consequences.

He expect a similar letter to be sitting on Sam’s desk, waiting to be found by her mistress if she doesn’t come back to burn it herself.

They both know and trust the doctor. Iris has patched them up countless times before, and is painfully aware of their feud. He believes the death of one of them might scar her forever, but that’s hardly his problem.

Jason and Alaude meet and talk in tense whispers before exchanging a long look Aloïs can’t quite describe. Right. They too never expected any resolution to happen here without a bloodshed.

They are barely a foot away, closer than they’ve been in decades, but not a word is exchanged between the twins as they each take hold of their pistol, provided by a third party as neither could be trusted to not cheat. This is not the time for words — apologies or insults, taunts or goodbyes.

They walk ten steps away from each other, facing opposite directions. Then, they turn around, weapon drawn.

Their seconds intone the countdown in uncanny unison.

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine-”

Aloïs’ finger doesn’t so much as twitch in anticipation, or his arm quiver in strain. You can take the soldier out of the war but you can’t take the war out of the soldier; he will never unlearn how to wield a pistol with deadly precision.

“Ten, fire!”

Two shots ring out at once. Lightning strikes Aloïs in the shoulder, throwing his arm back as he bites back a cry of pain.

He’s surprised she only hit his shoulder. She’s always been an excellent shot.

Twenty foot away, Sam blinks in quiet shock and lifts a hand to her stomach. Blood seeps through her white shirt like a blooming flower, just a little off from her heart.

Of the two of them, he always was the better marksman.

Her brows furrow together in perplexity, then she looks at him with resignation. Her pistol slips from her fingers; her legs give out from under her and she collapses on the ground, barely kept from hitting the ground by her second’s quick reflexes.

He and Tahlia lay her on the ground and the doctor jogs up to them, but Aloïs walks calmly toward his sister. He stops next to her as she feebly waves away the doctor’s care, mumbling about how pointless it would be to try to save her. She glances up toward him and, in a look, both her companions reluctantly step away too.

Aloïs hands his pistol to Alaude and kneels down next to his twin.

“Good shot,” he offers. “Shame you only nicked my shoulder. It would have been- poetic, if we had killed each other in a duel.”

Nicked, ha. It will be a miracle if his arm ever works like it used to, with a wound like that.

Her lips twist into a mocking sneer and she lifts a trembling hand to his face. He moves to hold it — her first, last and only act of forgiveness in her life, maybe — but she avoids it with more dexterity than a woman at death’s door has any right to have.

Her fingers touch his forehead, right at his hairline, and he feels her draw something there in a few quick movements, grinning as she does. There’s blood on her teeth, he notices distantly, before his common sense makes him lurches back.

“With my blood I bind thee,” she gasps in a painful-sounding wheeze. “to the ground that saw you into this world and will see you out of it. May you- may you not shift for as long as I cannot-” she coughs, spitting blood over her chin. “-and may you never fly again.”

He jumps back but it’s too late, and she drags a chuckle out of her bleeding out body. The weight of her magic bears down on him like chains, blood burning into his skin. The comforting warmth of his own magic twists and contorts into something strange and unfamiliar, fire turning dim and cold as all whispers of his shape shifting falls into the darkness of his consciousness, forever in sight and out of reach. Suddenly his wings feel their weight, heavier even; he misses his landing and collapses to the ground, tripped by his own feathers.

She is still laughing.

Of the two of them, she has always been the more powerful witch.

He stumbles to his feet, half-running from her in pure, wild panic. He catches a glimpse of Tahlia putting Sam’s head in her lap and carding her fingers in her hair before Alaude takes his arm and guides him away, and once she does he doesn’t look back, not even when he hears her weak voice asking Tahlia, “Will you stay with me while I die?”

[yvvaine]

I was wondering if any [past or present] Jonerys, Pro-Daenerys fans like myself feel this way.....?

Firstly Id say please be nice i just enjoy analyzing the shit out of fandoms I like, (im a history/polysci major ((with an emphasis on Peace Justice and & Conflict Studies)) all i do is analyze and try to be diplomatic lmao) but considering all they petty drama between both ships as well as pro/anti Daenerys stans ON BOTH SIDES I’m going to be “That Person” and at least ask for people to be respectful/civil, I want to hear from everyone and their metas/what they think which is why i tagged like, all the tags, no matter if you love her/the ship or cant stand it, as long as everyone can keep civil So firstly I’ve loved Dany both books and show from the beginning. She’s gorgeous, wants to be the best person she can be, and her hair/fashion style game is always ON POINT.  That being said, somewhere around season 5 i think i’ve found my opinion on her cooling a little bit, ep after ep, till now. Like I still like her bc she was my first character love on the show but I’ve def soured in my opinion on her. Maybe it’s because I love learning about the subject that im more baised (im hoping thats the case) but she just seemed to have no interest in actual governance, just the reputation (esp of being the ‘rebel queen’)/the awe/the power/the thrill of the adoration that went along with it to the point where I feel like though she still wants to be a ‘good queen’ or at least wants to be seen that way, she doesnt want to do much work for the title. Like yeah she freed all the slaves and that was a def progressive and awesome move on her part (major props! slavery is sin and im glad someone recognized that who had the power to do something about it) but she didnt handle that aftermath or ensuing problems well at all nor really mulled heavily on the subject to find the best solution. She just got fustrated with pretty basic/common (albeit complex in themselves) issues of standard governance and kind of went agh! fuck this! (obv not actual quotes but that was the vibe I got). And then ESPECIALLY after season 7 her character has kind of nagged at me in the back of brain which i hate but its inherent like its just a feeling i cant help it?? I just dont know why to be honest that Im feeling so negative towards this character i used to love.  The whole ‘ bEnD thE knEe ‘ thing w/ Jon and yet pinning it on Jon’s pride not equally on his and her own was more than a little hypocritical, when hon they can discuss it later like at that point they have two common enemies the WW and Cersei they both want to do away with, and then again with the Bend the Knee or Die bit w/ the Lannister soldiers. In fact the whole sequence before that point felt kind of villinous I dearsay, I mean  deliberately burning the harvest that most of westeros needs for the winter or even strategically not willing to try, and well, nOOt intentionally burn the food considering its winter, the harvest is over (so likely not much is gonna grow in the time being) when she has a G I A N T ass army of her own to think of feeding???? Like i get it is war shit happens soldiers die but the F O O D ? Was that an impuslive in the moment mistake or did she just not give a fuck? And back to the aftermath scene/Bend the Knee 2.0, her speech was again quite hypocritical...and burning dickon?????? not willing to keep prisoners???? either bend or die??? I actually am glad she did away with Papa Tarly bc he was an awful human, but dickon????? a young idealistic man about to loose his father??? the heir to a major ally/house???? And honestly that bend or die strategy is soooooo dumb bc now she cant trust any of them like theyre only bending the knee out of self preservation homie, no one wants to die. they bend  the knee to survive and now they all of the sudden think youre their queen? Nah fam, prisoners were better, all you got are spies in your camps or people willing to backstab you at the smallest promise of coin. And i dont want that for my girl

IDK the whole “im gonna BREAK THE WHEEL,,,,,,,,yet im stating my claim mainly on my housename (aka the predominant force of said wheel for a literal dynasty) and the fact that i can scare people who otherwise are unconvinced bc lets be real westeros has had a bad run of rulers a lot of which were Targs in the past couple decades, into submission bc ill burn you otherwise???” doesnt sit well with me nor does it feel like the character ive been rooting for the past five-ish seasons. She just doesnt seem to put into effort on understanding Westeros, why things go wrong, being self-critical or sharing the blame,thinking on what a “good” ruler would do.... anyone else feeling this way and if so do you think this is just shitty writing? D&D butchering her character? or a new arc for her? perhaps the way shes always been? She just seems like a tantruming child bratty and entitled idk (a beautiful child but still)  As for jonerys...... im not gonna go into it much but how are other shippers happy????????? I honestly dont understand. I was SO looking forward to this season/this ship. like so much! But it felt so forced? And i know a lot of people claim its cause its rushed but tbh we’ve had a lot of romances in a similar time frame that felt like A C T U A L romances.....even Talisa/Robb who the Northerners will prob compare any of this too were so much better. THIS WAS MY EPIC SHIP DUDE. I feel the dany side of things (took a while but theres def heart eyes) and yet Jon???? He felt hollow. Still does even after sex. Im so disapointed but more than that I cant see the romance or the chemistry. He looks constipated. Hes never smiled like with his teeth around her the way hes done w others he cares deepily about (ygritte, toramund, sansa, even fkin gendry in the first scene they had together). He never reveals anything about himself. And between the “my queen” ep (and remember he was look warm when discussing her to toramund throughout it) and the previous the only thing that changed was that he saw the actual difference dragons made against WW. You could argue she saved them all too but that doesnt make you fall in love w someone out of the blue and also people have saved his ass before and??? Sansa w the vale anyone??? (Not an argument for jonsa js its happened) (though ill admit ive transitioned to loathing jonerys and loving jonsa more as a potential couple in the space of seven eps where if you asked me I wouldve been like PSH u cray. I never thought it would happen in a mill years but D&D ruined my ship and here i am! Shipping aside tho since its best too look at these things as neutral as possible).  Anyways the sigh of his after she left and when he pretended to be asleep.... idk. The only scene that felt genuine and where Jon smiled and it didnt look like a full on grimace and they actually kinda joked around was really nice and at the pit at the finale and if they do a LOT more of basic romance stuff like that I could ship it again but. It was followed by boatsex and boy.  I was hoping boatsex might rekindle my like for the two together. I could see the chemistry the passion. I was hoping the passion would overwhelm me and make up for the rest. But instead......like there was no foreplay, it lasted 2 seconds, and it was overplayed by brans voice and a reminder of future conflict or at the very least major angst b/w the two. i didnt see the parallel between regear and lyanna playing alongside their scene as anything romantic or that it should be taken as such. and the look they shared.... I was hoping jon would bring it bc Dany’s look in her eyes is like soooo smitten and adorable and say what you will I still have a space in my heart for her and still dont want her to suffer, but again Jon looks like oh shit/constipated. And not in a good oh shit way either.  There is a bunch more too but Imma stop there bc Im just tired at this point.  So many things were just....off this season. And it cant all be blamed on the “rushed” time frame. I’ve read the undercover lover theory and hon it makes the most sense (not perfect sense but still, more than what we’ve been poorly spoon fed) but im not willing to believe it just yet. Still, maybe D&D are just butchering a lot of things like making the romance believable and stuff for the sake of time that could be true i guess. But they like to go AHA GOT U so  Idk I dont find a lot of meta in the jonerys tag bc honestly (((((i think its bc the tag and ship are more popular and theirs more people both good and bad)))) it doesnt seem like snowballing theories is something all fans take really well in the tag at all. But whatever. I really want to know, is there any meta or theories im missing to either validate the icky feeling Im haveing about D or her “romance” or on the flipside anything that might make me change my mind about it? Theories, meta people! I just want to reiderate im not trying to hate on anyone or any point of view and I will flag any comment anti one ship or person or another if its plain hateful or rude. I just want to understand it and see what Im missing, esp because of how much I was looking forward to her arc and jonerys’ dynamic and how much the words “falling short” dont seem to cover it. And to see if im not the only one to either have critique on the ship or her character [or even actually change ships] Also i apologize for how much ive said “IDK” i just..... I DONT KNOW 

[animeniac]

Starbomb Ch. 2

Fandom: BNHA Pairing: Bakugou x Uraraka Genre: Romance and Comedy because I swear it’s a lot more light-hearted than it sounds. Chapter Summary: The aftermath of the proposal continues, and when Bakugou spots Uraraka fawning over a bunny in the window of a toy store, he resorts to craftier methods to “win her.” Meanwhile, Uraraka toughens up in the face of his harrassment. 

Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV Chapter V Chapter VI Chapter VII

Maybe if Todoroki could have left the troubling quandary alone, Bakugou would have retreated to his room for a quiet evening of studying. But, he foresaw sleepless night for allowing history to repeat itself. He felt like he had the responsibility of preventing the sins of his childhood from ever occurring again, and he had every right to be troubled.

Quirk Marriages should have been outlawed - in his opinion. At least, the masses should reject such a deplorable practice. While the fire and ice young man knew nothing about love firsthand, he knew the effects of a choleric marriage.

When he grabbed Bakugou's arm, he had to curb his violent urge and hinder himself from giving the lout the battle that he wanted back at the Sports Festival. He pulled him into an alleyway on campus and pushed him against the brick wall out of any teacher's line of sight. "What was that back there?" he demanded to know.

Bakugou's eyebrow twitched. He exclaimed, "What the fuck is this shit?" He couldn't understand why Todoroki of all people pulled him aside for a sudden confrontation.

"Marriage with Uraraka? You know you embarrassed her in front of the entire class," scorned Todoroki.

The only reason that Bakugou added to this conversation was so that Todoroki didn't mistake him for some kind of romantic, sappy softie. There was no way he'd let his reputation stoop to that level. He begrudgingly elucidated, "I shouldn't have to tell you, but it's not the fairy tale shit you might have been thinking. I'm marrying her for her quirk and nothing else - not that it's any of your damn business." As usual, his scowl did not betray him. He had nothing to hide.

"Yeah, I got that," scoffed Todoroki. His hands shook as he restrained the combustible kid against the wall. He had to contain a lot of disgust in order to prevent an escalated altercation. "That's repulsive. She's better than that, and she deserves more for her life. You don't even know what it means to marry someone for their quirk. Do you know what kind of life that leads to? Pain, neglect, abuse of power are the only things that come from a quirk marriage. Such an arrangement escalates from a legal convenience to an abusive tragedy - especially with someone as violent as you."

Bakugou snorted, "Ha. Spare me the emo dribble, half-and-half. I don't need a fucker like you talking down to me. I know what I'm doing, and I don't give a flying fuck how you feel about it." This trifling conflict bugged him. The destructive young man only spoke what was on his mind. He knew that his life was destined for greatness, and he needed to carry on that legacy with a person who could lend the most compatible genes.

Why would he waste an opportunity on sentimental crap when he could make kids that could make tons of floating bombs?

Maybe Todoroki needed some time to collect himself, for he felt his rage swell within both sides of his body. Even if he shared his past, he would not be able to quell the drive of Bakugou. He could hear his breath as he panted, "Your volatile personality will kill her inside before she ever gets to the age to marry you. Don't you get that? You can't force someone to marry you."

Was someone like this capable of love? Todoroki wasn't even sure if he was capable of such an affinity for someone else. They were all in the middle of their adolescence and had only been pubescent for a few years.

Daringly, Todoroki knew that if he glanced at Bakugou's glower, he'd feel the emptiness that his father often had throughout his childhood. However, when he raised his eyes to study Bakugou's, he had a glimpse of his wide, crimson eyes and neutral, relaxed brow. Sadness? No, vulnerability - that couldn't be it. Quickly, he turned his head around to see what his classmate saw - Uraraka.

The class prodigy slowly loosened his grip on Bakugou's collar. Those weren't the eyes of Todoroki's father.

Noticing the movement, Bakugou snapped back and shoved Todoroki away from him. "I got shit to do. Enough of this," he barked before he shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away from the scene.

Todoroki could properly calm himself. He took a deep breath before Yaoyorozu met up with him. "I had my doubts at first, but there's something about him that's different from the way my father looked at us. He's not dead behind the eyes - he's just difficult," he sighed and stretched out the tension from his arms.

"It kind of came out of nowhere, don't you think - this whole obsession? He probably doesn't know about the thing that Midoriya and Uraraka have for each other," she pondered out loud to him.

Of course, that didn't cross Todoroki's mind. He softly smiled, "They do?" Midoriya would be more than suitable as a romantic interest for her.

She wanted to tease him for his density. Yaoyorozu let out a deep sigh as she gazed at him. He had such a capacity for caring despite his stoicism. "They don't know about their feelings for each other, either. Well, Uraraka knows she likes him, but she doesn't know if he likes her because he doesn't know that either. And, he doesn't know how she feels. I probably shouldn't have told you that."

Why did something like that have to be complicated? He could hardly comprehend the drawn-out explanation. And, how does that count as liking each other if they may not even be aware of their feelings? "Anyone would make a better partner than Bakugou," decided Todoroki. He could still stand by that fact. Even if he weren't the worst for her, he definitely wouldn't be the best.

"And Mineta," added Yaoyorozu as she watched the kid fawn over one of the girls from their school.

"What does he have to do with this?"

Kirishima met up with Bakugou at the gate UA's campus. He noticed how late he was, but of course, he refused to say where he'd been. They agreed to get some fast food before heading back to the dorms. On the way to a burger joint, the red haired boy spotted Uraraka standing with a few of her female friends in front of some novelty toy store or boutique. The colorful lights illuminated her face, so there was no way that Bakugou could have missed her.

Since the best way to get to their destination would have been to cross the street, Kirishima stood at the crosswalk and patiently waited for cars to pass. He also wanted to avoid any conflict with the girls. Bakugou seemed a little more perturbed than usual. His rigid hands gripped the insides of his pockets.

A smirk rose to his face as Bakugou passed up the crosswalk to pass by the toy store. What could have caught her immature eye? Her wide eyes glowed along with her giant smile. The window displayed a green rabbit about the size of a cat on sale at half price. He would have just passed by, but the sight irked him. "What are you staring at that for? You look like a baby. What kind of high-schooler gets shit like that?"

"Bakugou, no," muttered Kirishima as he jogged up to the scene from meters away. If he kept harassing her, he'd get in trouble. On top of that, he would probably ruin his chances of being with her. Above all of that, he could hurt poor Uraraka's feelings!

But, she was strong. She could stand her ground in the face of petty adversities. "Leave me alone. I thought you were going to study," Uraraka complained.

Toru and Mina had gone into the store. They apparently failed to see Bakugou approach them, or else they would have stayed by her side.

"What? I already know the material. It takes me less than an hour to study," he explained, but then he shifted his attention back to the infuriating bunny. His blood boiled as his haughty demeanor surged. "Why don't you just buy it already? Are you stupid?"

Uraraka held her breath and tried with all her might to fight back the tears that welled in the corners of her eyes. If she uttered a single word, they'd probably spill down her face and reveal her weakness. She couldn't afford something like that to happen in front of him. Although the stuffed animal only cost a few coins above her budget, she couldn't bear splurging her limited allowance. "I have to go," she strained herself to say.

The instant that Uraraka turned her back to Bakugou, tears stained the pavement as she walked away from her tormentor and back to the dorms. He probably had no idea that he hit a nerve, but she would rather he never know her financial situation. A block away, she messaged her friends that she had forgotten something at the dorms. She wouldn't have been able to afford to do anything with them anyway.

Kirishima ran up to Bakugou who was still fuming. The rocky hero had difficulty balancing his stern sincerity with a tactful plea. Only the perfect medium would be sufficient after all. Gritting his teeth, he frowned, "Bakugou, Uraraka is poor."

"How the fuck am I supposed to know that?" spat Bakugou as he continued down the street. He didn't have much money on him either - enough to go to the shitty burger restaurant and play some games afterward. That particular location was mostly an arcade, so their food was cheap and legitimately mediocre. He burst open the glass doors before stomping into the facility.

Who would he be if he stopped to coddle Uraraka? He knew she could handle whatever he threw at her. Her resiliency was one of the characteristics he didn't despise about her. However, when she took it too far and became cocky, that pissed him off the most.

The explosive hero-in-training growled his order at the cashier before he trudged over to the prize bar while he waited for his food. He needed to calculate which games he should play for what prizes. Most of the cheap toys and accessories never appealed to him, but upon approaching the booth, he immediately spotted that grinning, green rabbit that Uraraka had fawned over earlier that evening.

An even 2,000 tickets were all it cost. How unfitting. That's about how much it cost at that toy store. At both locations, the dumb rabbit was insanely overpriced in his opinion.

"Do you see anything you like? Do you have a girlfriend? Maybe you see something she'd like," pitched the irrelevant booth operator.

Were women so simple? Could he win something like that to get her to quit crying and whining all the time? And if she were as destitute as everybody cried about, then that would make his objective a lot easier to achieve. Even though he didn't have a lot of money, he probably could buy more than she could.

She'd be at his mercy.

Now, Bakugou could not comprehend just how malicious his thought process truly was. Even if he knew, that probably wouldn't quell the drive that flamed in his eyes. "Win her over. Win her. Win," he thought to himself with a growing grin. That's what it came down to after all. Fortunately, he didn't think to go as far as Endeavor once did by approaching her parents with a lump sum of cash. That case scenario failed to cross his mind.

Regardless, he only had the money in his pocket.

Bakugou knew not to go too crazy with this investment. He had other shit to do.

Kirishima shivered. He felt the aura of fervency burst from Bakugou. As they walked back to get their food at their table, he nervously laughed, "You didn't tell me that you wanted to marry Uraraka. Aren't we kinda young?"

"We're not too young to plan for the future," he muttered without any inflection in his voice.

"Ah," he replied. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I don't even have anybody I like yet, and I'm already 16." Should he ask more questions? Did Bakugou like Uraraka, or did he have some convoluted plan that involved her? He couldn't tell.

With his mouth full of food, Bakugou set his classmate straight. He corrected, "Who said anything about liking her?"

Well, that was that.

Sweat slid down Kirishima's temple, and he sighed, "I think I'm just gonna play a couple of games and go back to the dorms. I just got an email that said the exam tomorrow is canceled."

Perfect. Such an occurrence was as if the world parted for Bakugou's destiny. He grinned as he chomped through his burger. At this point, he had to wonder if influencing her would even be a challenge. He knew just the game to play to win the most tickets - a game of chance, for he felt incredibly lucky.

Meanwhile, Uraraka reached the dormitory shortly after her encounter with Bakugou and had since cleared the tears from her eyes. She spotted Midoriya and kind of wanted to avoid him just in case he recognized that she had been crying. In front of him, she wanted to appear strong. When he approached her, she smiled, "Hey, Deku. What's up?"

"I thought you were going shopping with Tooru and Mina. What happened?" Midoriya asked. Hopefully, he didn't sound like he was accusing her of anything. As always, he was a little concerned. The scene from earlier with Bakugou was a little intense. He had a lot of guts, though, and after knowing Bakugou for a considerable amount of time, he had never witnessed the blond go out of his way for a girl or anyone for that matter.

Like she read his mind, Uraraka mumbled, "Bakugou's really annoying."

Midoriya's eyes widened. He rose his head to see the irritation in Uraraka's knitted brow and frown. "What?" he said. Did something happen between them again when she went into town?

She continued as she stared at the ground, "He's selfish and really brutal and harsh. I wanna say that there's more to him, but sometimes, I don't know. Maybe he's just a bad guy."

If Midoriya had intentions like that for a girl, he would have to go through a lot of effort before he talked about marriage. In a way, Bakugou was similar to him. They both had social inhibitions. For Midoriya, it was a lack of self-esteem that prevented him from getting close to others. And for Bakugou, his greatest hindrance was his egotistical behavior. "Kacchan isn't a bad guy. Every nice thing he says, he really means," he added. Inversely, he didn't mean every insult he threw at people.

Except, Midoriya figured that Bakugou meant every jab he slung at him.

Uraraka frowned. She kind of hoped that Midoriya would just agree with her, but he was right. She took a deep breath and smiled, "Midoriya, you might see the good in people when it's not even there. You're really special like that. Maybe that's your other quirk."

He jumped and blushed as sweat rained from his head. "R-Really?" he stuttered. "You're okay, right, Uraraka?"

Gripping the air, she nodded, "Yup! I just came back to get something I left in my dorms." Maybe she could splurge every once in a while. "Thanks for talkin' to me." She went up to her dorm after waving back at her friend.

Whenever Midoriya became a hero, Uraraka would be one of the many people that he wanted to protect.

Sure enough, after Kirishima left the arcade, Bakugou wound up with the stupid green rabbit. He had slaved at some game of chance for hours. Naturally, he won the jackpot twice with minimal effort before going back and forth over whether or not he should waste his tickets on a stuffed animal. How could he go back to the dorms with such a piece of shit toy in his hands? It would attract attention. He glared down at its smug grin.

How could he give something like that to Uraraka? What was he supposed to say? Maybe he could just throw it at her or leave it at her desk. Everything he thought of sounded too uncanny and out of character. He had only given something to someone a handful of times, and typically, the gifts were more of a repayment than a token.

Token? What the fuck was this token supposed to symbolize? He gripped the cotton plushie by the neck and ground his teeth together.

No way! "I'm not going to give her shit!" he decided out loud as if to announce to the world that he wasn't a pansy. Initially, he thought that he had the advantage in the situation. By flexing his monetary muscle, he thought she was at his mercy. Yet, he was the one that spent hours of effort and time trying to win her a toy. For what? Was this the only way to get what he wanted? After all, he reveled at the idea that all the events lined up for him earlier that day.

Moreover, would she smile?

No, not fucking moreover! Who gave a shit about things like that?

Bakugou's eye twitched, and the image of a smiling Uraraka withered out of his mind just as quickly as it had faded into his thoughts.

All this contemplation disgusted him, and he needed to put an end to it. He was already thinking of the girl way too much. As he neared the campus, his grip on the toy steadily increased until he finally decided to blow it up. He planned to focus on other aspects of the future aside from marital opportunities until at least his third year of high school. And for the rest of the night, he didn't think of Uraraka once.

Not thinking of other people was one of his best talents.

Then, at school the next day, he spotted Midoriya holding the same stupid rabbit stuffed animal that he had destroyed the evening before. All the annoyance picked up where it left off.

Bakugou's fingers twitched at the knuckles as he stomped towards his former childhood friend. "Oi," he snarled, "Where the fuck did you get that? You can't give that to her."

"Oh, hey, Kacchan," greeted the All-Might protege. He wasn't too sure what Bakugou meant, but he figured he could easily clear up the confusion. "Uraraka gave this to me this morning." Although Midoriya assumed that he could read Bakugou pretty well, he had no way of knowing what went through his mind at that moment. Why did he care about Uraraka giving him a toy?

Then, he saw evidence of a flicker of feelings - Bakugou's glistening eyes. Of course, Midoriya knew that Bakugou wouldn't cry over something like this, and the tears wouldn't even well up in the corners of his eyes, but he'd seen such a look in his eyes before then. He was frustrated as if something he wanted but couldn't reach had swung in front of him and away from him without warning.

Midoriya felt guilty. He was about to apologize, but then...

Abruptly, blood shot within Bakugou's eyes as they radiated a demonic crimson glow. He couldn't believe the situation, the audacity of that girl. His anger swelled faster than he could think. "Where is she?" he barked as he stormed into the classroom. Even though no one knew the strides he made for the prize that he destroyed, he felt like his cards had been exposed to everyone in the damn class.

"K-Kacchan," stuttered Midoriya as he followed him into the classroom. Was it a blunder to reveal where he got the toy from?

Bakugou slammed his hand onto Uraraka's desk causing her to jump. "I'm going to buy everything for you after I become the number one pro hero. You got that? Don't be stupid and waste your money on nerds, and then, maybe I'll marry someone like you," he shouted. When he slowly lowered his head to see her response, he respected her to cower or cry or at least look away. Yet, she looked into the deepest part of him with a knitted brow and the darkest glower he had ever witnessed.

Something in his chest jumped even though he had his feet firmly planted on the ground, and then, she slapped him at his weakest moment.

"I'm never gonna marry you, and if you think you can buy me makes you disgusting! I'll be my own hero, Bakugou," Uraraka barked back as she tried her hardest to keep him on the ground so that the teachers didn't see her delinquency.

The desk rattled as Bakugou gripped the sides of it to stay still until she forced him back to the ground.

She barked back despite the consequences. She readied herself for a fight as she got to her feet.

His eyes widened and dilated, and the redness somehow faded from his eyes, but at that moment of tension, he swore, his rage had grown tenfold. In a low grunt, Bakugou replied with nothing but dryness in his stare, "Motherfucker."

Midoriya ran up to the scene. Many other people prepared to defend her in this calm before a storm. "Kacchan," he began to challenge him with the utmost intention of ending Uraraka's sorrow.

Typically, Uraraka would have faltered to Midoriya's act of heroism, and while she found his gesture to be incredibly charming, she wanted to seize this opportunity to stand up for herself. She was her own hero just like she said. "I can handle this," she replied as sweetly as she could despite her frustration and determination in her shaking voice. Midoriya would stand up for himself, so she needed to, too.

Bakugou's hands had remained in his pockets. His fury grew by the second, but this time, it merged with a unique sentiment - undeniable intrigue. How bad could a good girl get? He wanted to test her limits.

He still wanted to fight her or someone.

Fortunately, Eraserhead entered the classroom and ordered everyone to their seats and tried to not pay attention to whatever over-the-top dramatic scene occurred. The class obliged.

[natsubeatsrock]

My Incredibly Unpopular Thoughts on: Fairy Tail’s Ending

To start with, stop.

I don’t care what you think about the ending. I don’t care what you think about the series. I kind of care why you’re reading this post. (Hi.) Just stop.

Now, do me a favor and take a deep breath.

Before I start to talk about this chapter, I just want to say that this has been a crazy ride. I started Fairy Tail in October of 2014 and I never would have thought that I would be running a blog about Fairy Tail and such a relevant name in this fandom back then. I’ve had tons of fun running this blog for years and if it weren’t for Fairy Tail, I probably wouldn’t be an anime/manga fan. Even though this series is nowhere near perfect and this arc is nowhere near the best, I’m glad that I’m a Fairy Tail fan. And this ending hasn’t changed that for me.

Also, I actually did make a Quick Notes about this chapter. So if there’s something you think I missed in this post, check that one. I also talked about my thoughts on Nalu’s ending in a separate post, which goes exactly how well you’d think a post about it from me would be. This was supposed to come out the same week, but… 

Life.

So, with that out of the way, let’s talk about this chapter.

When I saw that this last chapter was going to be 45 pages, I was pleasantly surprised. Consider that the end of Naruto is simply two normal length chapters that came out at once. Likewise, the last chapters of Bleach and Death Note are about as long as a normal chapter. So seeing that this chapter was going to be that long gave me the hope that more ground will be covered than in those endings. Though. Rave ended with more than 20 pages more than this and, looking back, I’m not a huge fan of some parts of that ending.

Speaking of those series, the last chapter starts with a jump to the future. This is a weird trope for me. My only real issue with the Naruto ending was that it felt like there was a huge disconnect between the Last, which I had just finished, and this chapter. However, the ending of the other series (yes, even Bleach) worked so well for me because we got to see how the world moved on after the events of the previous chapters.

I’m glad that Lucy won an award for her novel. I’m also glad that the popular fan theory that Lucy was writing the events of Fairy Tail out for a story is also proven wrong. I never liked that theory and I’m glad Lucy won by coming up with her own original story.

Even though the main character based off her.

And seeing how the guild is acting at this party makes me realize that Lucy’s friends are jerks to Lucy. I said this before, but I’m shocked that they’re even worried about other people ruining their reputation when they’re so good at making themselves look terrible. I have to believe that Erza and other members of the guild are genuinely concerned about a thief pretending to be a Fairy Tail mage. But hey, she was worried about other people in the guild at her introduction.

And Juvia is still stripping…

You know, I remember when Juvia stripped to join Gray during the anime for a thing she didn’t need to. It was messed up, but it was kind of funny.

Only kind of.

And then Gray and Juvia stripped together in the Avatar arc. Like I thought it was cool back when I shipped Gruvia. But looking back, it’s weird that Juvia developed the same habit Gray formed that after training in fewer clothes to get used to the cold and doing ice magic that even the person who had the idea to do it thought was unnatural…

Because Gruvia is a “good ship”. Like, why else did this need to be a thing? Mashima should have stuck with the water body thing because that’s awesome and only kind of comes back later on in the series.

Anna is in this timeline as a teacher which is kind of cool. I guess, since she wanted to teach the dragon slayers, she gets to teach another group of young kids. Gajeel jokes to Natsu about liking Anna and…

I’m conflicted. 

See, in pretty much any other case, I’d be totally fine shipping Natsu with anyone that people joke about him liking except Lucy. But, aside from not even thinking he actually liked her the way Gajeel meant, I’m not sure I can be comfortable shipping Natsu with anyone when the age difference is much bigger than that of Jerza-

I mean Graytear.

So we learned about the other guilds. Lamia Scale has a thing called Thanksgiving Day and they dragged Wendy into performing with Chelia. I’m actually excited for this to be animated. I hope we get an actual full song from the earlier performance of these two. For those who might be wondering why, Wendy’s Japanese VA, Satomi Sato, has also been in some roles that have involved her singing.

And then there’s Mermaid Heel. (Get used to this phrase. I’ve used it a lot.)

So, out of everything that happened in this chapter, I’m shocked that this didn’t get more people angry. What even is the point of having Mermaid Heel be exclusive models for Sorcerer Weekly? That was never important to them before. Kagura even questions what the point of this was. It’s almost as if Mashima was saying, “Screw anyone who thought I was going to give the only all-girl guild a dignifying ending! This is Fairy Tail!” 

Oh, but it’s okay because not many people cared about them and of course we’re going to have sexy girls in outfits so we can appeal to the target demographic of teen boys and where do I stop?

The other guilds did stuff. Like, I know that a lot of people love people outside the guild and I have my favorites from outside Fairy Tail. But, I don’t have much to say about what we learned about the other guilds.

And then we got a block of ship moments. Oh, the boys.

We started with Gajevy. And, man, I wish I had anything to say about them. I really don’t want to continue the trend of not talking about them. I have a few posts for them in the works, but for now…

I guess they had sex?

And then there’s Gruvia. 

I can’t just leave it there, right? No?

So I’m not actually sure that Gruvia is actually canon.  Yeah, me having a view that seems very different from most of the fandom. Shocking, right? I mean, there’s a lot of noise on both sides and it was a weird scene to include. But I didn’t see that conversation as a “Gruvia definitely is/isn’t canon” moment.

When I saw Gray say that Juvia’s body belongs to him, my mind immediately went to chapter 499, which I’ve had to look at multiple times for a post I’m going to get done on August 30th. When Juvia (somehow) revealed to Gray that she (somehow) used Water Make Magic, she told him that her life belongs to him. So Juvia’s body does belong to him.

Kinda.

So, the questions I think a reader of this should have to answer is whether Gray feels awkward about this because he likes Juvia or because even kind of owning Juvia freaks him out. As you can tell, I’m not really sure how to answer this question. Of course, this doesn’t mention that Gray might also be hesitant in making a statement Juvia may think is either offensive or romantic, as different people in the fandom have been arguing it is.

At any rate, this was the kind of ambiguity I was afraid of. I wanted to voice my fear that we’d get an ambiguous Gruvia ending. However, I was assured by the Gruvia fandom that Gray would definitely give an answer and that that answer would be yes. So, while I disagreed with the latter, I bit my tongue on the issue. It turns out, neither was the case and I was right to be worried.

Elfgreen is probably canon. I don’t think it’s a huge leap of faith to say that. (Yeah, that’s all I got.)

All the popular guy-girl Laxus ships have been de-confirmed in one go. I’m actually impressed that Mashima did that. I said this before, but I find it hilarious that Mashima made sure to empathize Miraxus as a rumor. I feel like the Laxana camp is as huge, but he had to take shots at that other ship. I’m honestly not sure what that means for Fraxus. And to be honest, I don’t really care Laxus ships.

And then there’s Jerza.

Like many people in this fandom, I’m actually shocked by Jerza in this chapter, but for a different reason. I was actually shocked that any time was given to Jerza at all in this chapter. I honestly wasn’t expecting Mashima to address this issue in any way at all. But, oh the boys, did he address it. While I understand the frustration of the Jerza fandom, I actually pretty cool with this ending. I figured he would give Jerza a non-canon ending. 

This kind of situation feels reminiscent of Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye’s relationship from FMA. They’re nothing like each other, material wise. However, in both cases, it looked a lot like they liked each other. However, the series ended without them hooking up. (At least officially.) I figured this kind of thing would happen a long time ago so I’m not surprised by this.

What did surprise me was about 5 pages spent on Mashima’s Zervis AU. Or any time at all spent on any version of Zervis at all post ‘taking Nalu’s One Magic” a while ago. And I kind of liked it. It makes no sense to exist in any way shape or form, but it was kind of cute and I think this is better than real Zervis.

Somewhere in all of this, we learned that Makarov lost the ability to use his legs. Well, something had to happen because of Makarov’s return. I’d actually be disappointed if everything was fine. My big complaint about the Rave Master ending, without spoiling much, a lot of losses and sacrifices made in chapters prior were rewritten. So, in this one aspect, Fairy Tail’s ending is better than Rave Master’s ending.

But, similar to Rave Master’s ending, Chelia can use magic. This is was one of the other big things I was afraid of Mashima doing in the last chapter of the series. To be fair, it’s only to a limited ability, but it’s still pretty annoying. I hinted at this, but I didn’t say it out right because I was in a fight with someone who thought I hadn’t read Rave at the time and I wanted to be petty.

So, Lucy blanked out and wakes up in her house. And, pretty much everything about this scene up until the flashback annoys me.

After 541 chapters and almost a decade of both real world and in-universe time, Natsu still breaks into Lucy’s house. Happy decides to polish Lucy’s newly acquired trophy with his claws. And this is all played for laughs. Like I’m actually supposed to look at this and think that this is funny and not sad.

Keep in mind that people were able to get past this point and still think that Natsu was going to confess romantic feelings. Look, I think that Natsu and Lucy have an amazing bond, but it would be really bad if this was just before a romantic confession. I can understand people who were disappointed with the Jerza ending. If you thought this was going to lead into a Nalu ending, you played yourself.

Luckily, there’s more to be annoyed with. Lucy ends up remembering the embarrassing stuff she did when she was drunk. A while ago, I made a post about being annoyed with the way things were made up. This is a great example of this.

Why did we need this? This isn’t funny and I didn’t learn anything about Lucy. I don’t like these “I’ll never get married over this” jokes in anime unless it’s over something legitimately embarrassing enough to warrant the reaction. She’s not ashamed because she was teachers yelled at her for promoting a club she was dragged into while being forced to wear a sexy red bunny outfit. (You either get this reference or you don’t) She did some stupid stuff in front of two people while she was drunk. (And apparently, she liked one of those people.)

But Natsu uses the joke to segway into a reminder that they can still work together. And Lucy remembers many of the missions they shared together. Considering recent events on my blog, it’s funny how there’s nothing from the Galuna Island, but she remembered being wrapped in towels with Edolas Lucy. At any rate, she thanks Natsu and Happy for changing her life for the better.

It’s times like this that I have to remember that Lucy’s dream was to join Fairy Tail. (A point I had to remind fic writers of.) It’s only because she met Natsu that she was able to. Recently I’ve been rereading the old arcs and it’s crazy to see how much has happened since Lucy has joined Fairy Tail specifically because Lucy has joined Fairy Tail.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: you don’t have Fairy Tail without Lucy and Natsu. They don’t meet, they don’t go on adventures. They don’t go on adventures, the world would probably cease to exist at about the time we would get to Edolas. Remember, Mystogan needed her and Gajeel to help Natsu and Wendy. If Lucy’s not in the guild, Gajeel’s not in the guild. So assuming everything else is the same, which would probably be a stretch, they’re screwed.

Anyway afterward, Natsu takes Lucy on the mission with him saying that the fact that their lives are different doesn’t matter. And yes, I think it’s a jerky thing to have done. Of course, if you thought this was going to be a lead-in to a Nalu confession, I can’t help you. But that doesn’t mean he did a good.

However, I like the reasoning. Natsu isn’t worried about the past. He’s excited for what the future is going to bring them… 

…and the rest of Team Natsu…

On the Century Quest!

This is probably my favorite thing from the chapter. I actually screamed after seeing that they were going on the quest. Forget Nalu, this is probably one of the most Natsu things that Natsu would be excited for.

But I have two big problems with this.

First, if Gray’s conversation really was a confession, does that mean he left Juvia after confessing to her? Even if he told her that he was going on the mission, that’s still a pretty messed up thing to do. By the way, if you think that Gray’s scar comment was bad, this would probably make it worse.

Funny enough, I saw a comment on this. OP questioned whether or not people really believe the Century Quest would actually last 100 years. And my response is…

That’s the other problem: we don’t know how long this quest is supposed to take. Now, chapter 165 tells us that Decade Quests take at least 10 years to beat and so it should stand to reason that Century Quests will take at least 100 years to beat. However, consider everything that we’ve been told about the Spriggan 12 at the beginning of this arc and how free they ended up being. So will this take shorter than expected or will it actually take 100 years?

As a side note, is this the same Century Quest Gildarts failed or is it another Century Quest? It’s referred to as “The 100-Year Quest” and we’ve only known about one Century Quest? And why is it 100-Year Quest here instead of Century Quest? 

The fic writers are going to have a field day with that.

So, overall, what did I think of the chapter? After reading the chapter a few times and thinking about the things that have happened in order to make this post, I feel good about it. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of issues left unresolved. I totally understand (some of) the reasons people don’t like this ending and I absolutely think we could and probably should get more. However, I’m fine with this being the way the series ends. And, as I’ve said before, I’d happily reread this series again.

Now comes the main reason that I want to talk about the ending in this format. Fairy Tail has officially come to an end. I feel as though there is two knee jerk “my series ended” reactions I want to address.

The first is the feelings over everything in the ending.

As I said in an earlier post, nothing is wrong with feeling sad or happy or angry over anything about everything that has happened in this series. Nothing is wrong with expressing or explaining those feelings. That’s fine.

What isn’t fine is getting mad at or blaming people for the things you don’t like about the ending, including and especially Hiro Mashima. What isn’t fine is destroying everything Fairy Tail related you own out of spite.

I’d even say that it’s not okay to feel betrayed by the ending. Mashima doesn’t owe you anything. He doesn’t owe you ships. He doesn’t owe you moments. He doesn’t have to bring characters back. He doesn’t have to kill anyone. About the only thing Mashima had to do for his fans was get the next chapters of the series out on time. Even though those chapters weren’t always necessarily good, that was about all he owed us.

The second one is a desire the series to continue on, either it should continue on as a spin off or just never end. Some of you might want him to get to working on his completely new series right away.

Not so fast.

I get the desire to want to see more of a series or writer you’ve enjoyed for however long you have. I get that you might think the series didn’t have a proper ending. I get that you may have no idea what you’re going to do now that Fairy Tail is over.

That being said, I think Mashima should take a break.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d also love more Fairy Tail, even as I’ve ragged on some of its failings. But this guy’s been writing Fairy Tail for more than a decade. It’s one thing to be an artist whose job depends on how much you’re able to create. Having to create something new in an ongoing series every week is baffling to me as a musical composer. It takes me weeks even months to get works done to a level they can be called finished.

Mashima’s work on Fairy Tail is nowhere near the best thing in the anime/manga world, but I’m not going to accuse him of not working hard. I want this guy to enjoy the break he’s getting for now before he launches head first into his next series. For now, I’d like to see what fans do now that the story is complete(-ish).

Speaking of which, many people might be wondering what I’ll be doing on this blog now that the series is over. I still have things to say about Fairy Tail as a series and I’ll definitely have some things to say about this fandom as the dust settles. I have some posts I’ve been working on specifically to show after the end of the series and, thankfully, I only have to change a few paragraphs because of this ending…

I don’t know that I’m going to start throwing my focus onto any one other series. I’ve said this before but despite any and all problems this series has, Fairy Tail is the only series I feel comfortable running a blog for. I’ve seen other series I think are better and I have things to say about them you might see on my main blog. But I don’t see myself getting so into another series that I could do everything I’ve done with Fairy Tail.

To that point, I do have series I have been reading. To give a sense of the time I’ve been planning this post for, when I started writing this post, I had over 100 chapters of Bleach left to finish. I’m sending this off having finished that series and (as I promised) started reading My Hero Academia. Incidentally, I��ve started writing posts for those series I may post to my main blog as well and I’ve had to pull myself away from reading MHA to finish this post.

I’ve also been reading Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches and, once I’m done, I’ll finally be able to catch up with Twin Star Exorcists (yes, I’ve decided to turn to the dark side). I’ve also started reading  Astra: Lost in Space. I’m not sure this will be the next breakout hit in the manga world, but I’m enjoying where this series is going.

Somewhere along the way, I started reading Yona of the Dawn through the volumes and collecting Bakuman volumes which I will read all at once. And of course, I’ll still be buying the volumes for Rave Master and Fairy Tail until I’ve collected them all. 

To wrap it all up, there is one more question some of my followers may be wondering that I want to address: When will I read One Piece? 

Soon.

At the very least, I want to catch up with the currently running series and get all of that I’ll be following weekly and get/read all of Bakuman before getting into the beast that is One Piece. At the latest, I’ll end up following my Big 3 tradition of starting to read the series at about the time it’s starting to end. And if your fandom causes another stir over ships, I think I’m actually going to go crazy

In Conclusion:

Fairy Tail’s ending was pretty messy, but I’m fairly happy with the ending we got. But even though Fairy Tail ended, I’m still going to have fun talking about it and other things. 

I’m all fired up!!!!