#trash queen to the tune of trap queen

[softerpixels]

a day in the life

[kvetchlandia]

Bob Dylan     Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie, Live at Town Hall, New York City     1963

When yer head gets twisted and yer mind grows numb

When you think you're too old, too young, too smart or too dumb

When yer laggin' behind an' losin' yer pace

In a slow-motion crawl of life's busy race

No matter what yer doing if you start givin' up

If the wine don't come to the top of yer cup

If the wind's got you sideways with with one hand holdin' on

And the other starts slipping and the feeling is gone

And yer train engine fire needs a new spark to catch it

And the wood's easy findin' but yer lazy to fetch it

And yer sidewalk starts curlin' and the street gets too long

And you start walkin' backwards though you know its wrong

And lonesome comes up as down goes the day

And tomorrow's mornin' seems so far away

And you feel the reins from yer pony are slippin'

And yer rope is a-slidin' 'cause yer hands are a-drippin'

And yer sun-decked desert and evergreen valleys

Turn to broken down slums and trash-can alleys

And yer sky cries water and yer drain pipe's a-pourin'

And the lightnin's a-flashing and the thunder's a-crashin'

And the windows are rattlin' and breakin' and the roof tops a-shakin'

And yer whole world's a-slammin' and bangin'

And yer minutes of sun turn to hours of storm

And to yourself you sometimes say

"I never knew it was gonna be this way

Why didn't they tell me the day I was born"

And you start gettin' chills and yer jumping from sweat

And you're lookin' for somethin' you ain't quite found yet

And yer knee-deep in the dark water with yer hands in the air

And the whole world's a-watchin' with a window peek stare

And yer good gal leaves and she's long gone a-flying

And yer heart feels sick like fish when they're fryin'

And yer jackhammer falls from yer hand to yer feet

And you need it badly but it lays on the street

And yer bell's bangin' loudly but you can't hear its beat

And you think yer ears might a been hurt

Or yer eyes've turned filthy from the sight-blindin' dirt

And you figured you failed in yesterdays rush

When you were faked out an' fooled white facing a four flush

And all the time you were holdin' three queens

And it's makin you mad, it's makin' you mean

Like in the middle of Life magazine

Bouncin' around a pinball machine

And there's something on yer mind you wanna be saying

That somebody someplace oughta be hearin'

But it's trapped on yer tongue and sealed in yer head

And it bothers you badly when your layin' in bed

And no matter how you try you just can't say it

And yer scared to yer soul you just might forget it

And yer eyes get swimmy from the tears in yer head

And yer pillows of feathers turn to blankets of lead

And the lion's mouth opens and yer staring at his teeth

And his jaws start closin with you underneath

And yer flat on your belly with yer hands tied behind

And you wish you'd never taken that last detour sign

And you say to yourself just what am I doin'

On this road I'm walkin', on this trail I'm turnin'

On this curve I'm hanging

On this pathway I'm strolling, in the space I'm taking

In this air I'm inhaling

Am I mixed up too much, am I mixed up too hard

Why am I walking, where am I running

What am I saying, what am I knowing

On this guitar I'm playing, on this banjo I'm frailin'

On this mandolin I'm strummin', in the song I'm singin'

In the tune I'm hummin', in the words I'm writin'

In the words that I'm thinkin'

In this ocean of hours I'm all the time drinkin'

Who am I helping, what am I breaking

What am I giving, what am I taking

But you try with your whole soul best

Never to think these thoughts and never to let

Them kind of thoughts gain ground

Or make yer heart pound

But then again you know why they're around

Just waiting for a chance to slip and drop down

"Cause sometimes you hear'em when the night times comes creeping

And you fear that they might catch you a-sleeping

And you jump from yer bed, from yer last chapter of dreamin'

And you can't remember for the best of yer thinking

If that was you in the dream that was screaming

And you know that it's something special you're needin'

And you know that there's no drug that'll do for the healin'

And no liquor in the land to stop yer brain from bleeding

And you need something special

Yeah, you need something special all right

You need a fast flyin' train on a tornado track

To shoot you someplace and shoot you back

You need a cyclone wind on a stream engine howler

That's been banging and booming and blowing forever

That knows yer troubles a hundred times over

You need a Greyhound bus that don't bar no race

That won't laugh at yer looks

Your voice or your face

And by any number of bets in the book

Will be rollin' long after the bubblegum craze

You need something to open up a new door

To show you something you seen before

But overlooked a hundred times or more

You need something to open your eyes

You need something to make it known

That it's you and no one else that owns

That spot that yer standing, that space that you're sitting

That the world ain't got you beat

That it ain't got you licked

It can't get you crazy no matter how many

Times you might get kicked

You need something special all right

You need something special to give you hope

But hope's just a word

That maybe you said or maybe you heard

On some windy corner 'round a wide-angled curve

But that's what you need man, and you need it bad

And yer trouble is you know it too good

"Cause you look an' you start getting the chills

"Cause you can't find it on a dollar bill

And it ain't on Macy's window sill

And it ain't on no rich kid's road map

And it ain't in no fat kid's fraternity house

And it ain't made in no Hollywood wheat germ

And it ain't on that dimlit stage

With that half-wit comedian on it

Ranting and raving and taking yer money

And you thinks it's funny

No you can't find it in no night club or no yacht club

And it ain't in the seats of a supper club

And sure as hell you're bound to tell

That no matter how hard you rub

You just ain't a-gonna find it on yer ticket stub

No, and it ain't in the rumors people're tellin' you

And it ain't in the pimple-lotion people are sellin' you

And it ain't in no cardboard-box house

Or down any movie star's blouse

And you can't find it on the golf course

And Uncle Remus can't tell you and neither can Santa Claus

And it ain't in the cream puff hair-do or cotton candy clothes

And it ain't in the dime store dummies or bubblegum goons

And it ain't in the marshmallow noises of the chocolate cake voices

That come knockin' and tappin' in Christmas wrappin'

Sayin' ain't I pretty and ain't I cute and look at my skin

Look at my skin shine, look at my skin glow

Look at my skin laugh, look at my skin cry

When you can't even sense if they got any insides

These people so pretty in their ribbons and bows

No you'll not now or no other day

Find it on the doorsteps made out-a paper mache¥

And inside it the people made of molasses

That every other day buy a new pair of sunglasses

And it ain't in the fifty-star generals and flipped-out phonies

Who'd turn yuh in for a tenth of a penny

Who breathe and burp and bend and crack

And before you can count from one to ten

Do it all over again but this time behind yer back

My friend

The ones that wheel and deal and whirl and twirl

And play games with each other in their sand-box world

And you can't find it either in the no-talent fools

That run around gallant

And make all rules for the ones that got talent

And it ain't in the ones that ain't got any talent but think they do

And think they're foolin' you

The ones who jump on the wagon

Just for a while 'cause they know it's in style

To get their kicks, get out of it quick

And make all kinds of money and chicks

And you yell to yourself and you throw down yer hat

Sayin', "Christ do I gotta be like that

Ain't there no one here that knows where I'm at

Ain't there no one here that knows how I feel

Good God Almighty

THAT STUFF AIN'T REAL"

No but that ain't yer game, it ain't even yer race

You can't hear yer name, you can't see yer face

You gotta look some other place

And where do you look for this hope that yer seekin'

Where do you look for this lamp that's a-burnin'

Where do you look for this oil well gushin'

Where do you look for this candle that's glowin'

Where do you look for this hope that you know is there

And out there somewhere

And your feet can only walk down two kinds of roads

Your eyes can only look through two kinds of windows

Your nose can only smell two kinds of hallways

You can touch and twist

And turn two kinds of doorknobs

You can either go to the church of your choice

Or you can go to Brooklyn State Hospital

You'll find God in the church of your choice

You'll find Woody Guthrie in Brooklyn State Hospital

And though it's only my opinion

I may be right or wrong

You'll find them both

In the Grand Canyon

At sundown

[tiny-maus-boots]

Queen of Hearts pt 14

A/N: thank you as always to @chloes-yellow-cup for being my bestie and still doing all the things i hate to do. and a big thanks to @kimmania for your constant encouragement and supply of Legos. i love you awesome nerds. 

14.

“Hit me with your best shot…”

Aubrey’s long arm stretched out along the back of the dark leather of the modern style sofa she was settled on. For the most part she could tune out the dry croak from the desk, but…

“Why don’t you hit me with your best shot.”

This was the sixth time in an hour that she was hearing the song. She was going to have to remind Lilly to remove it from the jukebox after tonight.

“Hit me with your best shot…”

The rough warble across from her died down and she thought for a moment that the singer had finally drifted off asleep. Aubrey’s head turned to the screen that showed a live feed of the cameras around The Dirty Bird. Movement flickered though them as Stacie and the Doc walked between the tables and around the bar toward the back office. She turned her head to check on the figure standing but slumped over her desk only to find dark blue eyes watching and waiting for her attention. The small woman raised herself to her elbows from her slouch and belted out just as the door opened.

“FIRE AWAAAAYYYYY!!! Pew pew pew.”

Aubrey sighed as Detective Mitchell’s finger guns gave out on the click of her tongue and she collapsed back over the desk to cradle a half empty bottle of grappa, ass up where she stood. Stacie’s wide eyes panned slowly toward her, body bouncing lightly with barely restrained glee.

“Oh my God….” Chloe took one look at the Detective and pinned Aubrey with a glare. “How drunk is she?”

The blonde raised a shoulder as she considered. “She’s been worse.”

“Doc. Doooooocccc….I hurt. Right. Here.” Beca raised a hand and brought it back to point at her butt. Her finger wavered as she tried to locate the exact spot which caused the most pain and then pointed for emphasis with a little too much enthusiasm. “Right. OW. Here. OWIE.”

Stacie eased onto the sofa and settled in comfortably in Aubrey’s lap to watch Doc Beale work. The redhead moved behind Beca and settled her bag on the desk. She took a great steadying breath before wrestling away the grappa from the prone detective and snapping on a pair of gloves. Aubrey admired the way Doc Beale efficiently and deftly managed to get Beca’s jeans over her hips and halfway down her legs with practiced ease. Beca seemed to admire it too because she stirred enough to look blearily over her shoulder with a smile.

“If you wanted to check out my assetsssss Doc, you didn’t have to wait til I got stabbeded in it. Right. There. Ow.”

“Yes, I see. Please stop poking the wound in your ass cheek. How even….?”

“I was tailing my guy. My big fish. Fishy fishy fishy. That’s a fun word to say.” Chloe muttered something Aubrey couldn’t hear over Stacie’s soft chuckling. “I heard that! Plenty of people would be DE-FUCKING-lighted to spend their date night starin’ at a little of this action.”

Aubrey bit her lip to keep the laugh from breaking free as the detective wiggled her ass unmindful of the tight skinny jeans trapping her legs and toppled into a slide nearly off the desk before Chloe managed to grab and right her teetering form.

“Head down, ass up. Now tell me again how you managed to get stabbed in the butt cheek with glass?”

“You said that like you’re used to giving that order. I might be down for that, just be gentle with me.”

Beca gave her a leer that the doctor promptly ignored as she prepped her tools.

“Detective, remember that I have some very sharp instruments here that I am excellent with.”

Beca gave her a dubious look but obediently turned and bent over the desk again so the other woman could examine the wound. Chloe was utterly focused on the task of cleaning and debriding the punctures in a circular pattern. Aubrey had been sure it was going to require at least a few stitches from what she saw before she called for real medical help.

“I told you. I was following the big fish.”

“And you followed him into a bar I’m guessing.”

“Right, rule numero dos of detectivering. Don’t stick out like a sore thumb.”

Chloe blinked and looked up from her work to focus on Beca. “What’s numero uno?”

“That’s not a real number, Doc.”

“Solid rebuttal.”

“Did…did you just make pun of my rump? Oh my God I’m in love. I’d get down on one knee right now and propose. Except you’re feeling up my butt right now and that’s kinda nice.”

The doctor’s bright blue eyes narrowed and she jabbed the needle into the hunk of flesh she had just grabbed in preparation for the injection. She depressed the plunger quickly as her patient yelped and attempted to squirm away.

“HEATHEN! Oh God. I’m dying. Help. I’m dying, Dr. Kevorkian is killing me….my vision…I can’t see.”

“Open your eyes, idiot. That was just an antibiotic booster. Have you had a tetanus shot recently?”

“Pretend I said whatever answer will prevent you from being a literal pain in my ass.”

It was too much for Stacie and she turned her head to bury her laughter in Aubrey’s neck. The blonde tightened her grip on her fiancée and enjoyed a satisfying laugh at the detective’s expense. She hadn’t known what she’d find when she had gotten Beca’s distress call. They had all been on high alert since coming back to Los Angeles, trying to close ranks as best they could without being obvious about it. She had been waiting for an attack to come and her first thought when she had gotten the call was that it had finally begun. Each moment waiting in her office while Lilly retrieved the Detective from her hiding place in an abandoned warehouse building down at the port had been like a stone on her chest. She had needed this humor to ease the cold grip of fear on her heart.

Aubrey’s line of business didn’t lend itself to close relationships with members of law enforcement, at least not for long. What she and the Detective had was something altogether different than any of the other criminal-cop business agreements she had formed during her career. Beca was someone she trusted at her side, more…trusted at her back. The idea that someone would try to take her out was sobering and her laughter faded. Stacie sensed the change in her and cupped Aubrey’s face gently to bring their foreheads together. Words weren’t necessary for Stacie to understand what she was thinking and feeling. The blonde took a deep breath and straightened her spine. One hand came up to adjust and smooth her tie. If it had started…she wanted to know who was coming for her people.

“So, who’s the fish?”

Beca lifted her head from the desk and struggled to focus on Aubrey. It took her a few seconds to process the question. She seemed to have forgotten the conversation while Chloe worked silently to finish working on her wound.

“A security guard. He’s got bad taste in bars and also what I would loosely refer to as ladies.”

She couldn’t imagine where a security guard would fit in with Alice’s plans and frowned. Maybe this wasn’t about her. Beca had other cases she was working, maybe this was just another Tuesday night for the cop.

“A security guard? Sounds kind of small time for you.”

Denim blue eyes flashed to hers, some of the haze of alcohol burned away by intensity of her drive. The small brunette’s lips quirked into a smirk. Aubrey was suddenly very sure that nothing Beca did was small time or without a very good reason.

“It only takes a small stone in the right place to make a rockslide.”

Chloe slowed her movements as she finished her work. Something about what Beca said must have been interesting to the doctor because she kept her attention on the detective while she cleaned up the trash and peeled her gloves off to toss in the black plastic trash bag left there for that purpose. Aubrey guessed she was re-evaluating her previous estimations of the foul mouthed, perpetually smug, woman.

“You’re not wrong, Bec. So, what’s this small stone guarding?”

“Not what. Where. Dude works at the port.” She grunted and stood gingerly with a backward glance at her own butt. “Hm. Nice, think chicks will dig the scar?”

If Chloe had been considering there may be more to Beca than outrageous flirtation it was only a brief passing fantasy. She sighed and rolled her eyes then glared at Aubrey.

“18, Aubrey.” It was almost enough to make her face split into a grin and she had to turn her chuckle into a soft cough. Chloe tied up the bag and dropped it in the trashcan sure that it would be disposed of carefully. It wasn’t the first time she’d had to patch one of them up, they knew the drill by now. “You owe me so big.”

“I’m good for it. So, Detective, what about this dock rat?”

Beca stopped checking herself out long enough to pull her pants up and wink at Chloe before answering. Doc pretended not to notice but Aubrey could see her watching Beca from the corner of her eye while she played around with the tools in her bag.

“When I figure how he connects to Richie Rich, I’ll let you know.”

Stacie’s body tensed in her arms and Aubrey glanced at her curiously. Her girl chewed her lower lip in thought, a habit that Aubrey found adorable. “Something on your mind, Stace?”

“It’s probably nothing. Just something Edith said about someone I went to prom with. His dad got him a job down at the docks.” Stacie shrugged it off but Aubrey could tell she was still chewing on it. “Probably just coincidence.”

Aubrey and Beca exchanged a look. After a lifetime of double crosses and plot twists, neither of them believed in coincidences. The detective dug around in her pocket for her phone. She wasn’t quite sober yet but a hell of a lot steadier than a few moments ago. Aubrey snatched the phone easily out of the air when it was tossed her way and glanced at the screen.

It was a video and she angled it so Stacie could see too. Her fiancée pressed play and sighed. Beca could be heard in the background giving a lot of very specific direction to the two women practically fucking on a pool table in a disgusting looking rathole of a bar. Aubrey was pretty sure the women were hookers and the corner of her mouth quirked in amusement. Stacie took the phone out of her hand turned it to face back to the detective.

“Really Beca?”

“I thought it was pretty good for my directorial debut. But your gutter brain is making you miss the real show.”

Aubrey took the phone back and focused on the whole scene. Behind the women in a shadowed booth two men were clearly having an animated discussion. One was further into the shadow than the other but his gestures were strong and decisive. She watched as the other, younger seeming, man’s gestures became conciliatory and submissive the longer the conversation went on. In the foreground a flurry of noise and activity caused the camera to shake and wildly as if it were being swung around. There were glimpses of rough faces and snatches of shouts and curses. At one point there was a good stretch of scuffed flooring where she assumed Beca had been crawling away from the obvious brawl happening around her.

The camera came up again in time to catch the men leaving their booth in a hurry. Each of them caught in the neon blue glow from beer signs on the walls. Stacie snatched the phone out of her hand and hit pause. Long legs dropped down to the floor from the sofa and she stood in shock.

“Bree…this is Senator Grant. The guy he’s with is his son Kodie, we went to high school...Jesus Christ…”

“You know him?”

“Weston stole his money.”

They looked at each other then turned twin green-eyed gazes on Detective Mitchell. The small woman’s brow was furrowed in thought, her lower lip caught between her teeth as she worried it.

“The kid is on the videos.”

Mitchell didn’t have to say which videos, they all knew. Even Doc Beale. Stacie looked away from them, uncomfortable with the knowledge that she had been in some of those videos. Aubrey let out a long settling breath and stood. She gently took the phone from Stacie’s shaking hand and brought it to lips to brush a soft kiss over Stacie’s wrist. It gave her a wan smile but it was something. Stacie would be okay. Aubrey looked down at the phone and watched the video again. And again. And once more. She studied every gesture, every twitch of posture, every unconscious expression she could make out.

“I want the kid. He’s the weak link.”

Beca grunted and limped around the desk to grab her keys and helmet, ready to go back to work with a hole in her ass nearly as big as the one in her pants. It wasn’t going to happen that way and Aubrey reached out to snag both items from the sidebar and hand them to Stacie who easily placed them on a shelf far too high for Detective Mitchell to reach without finding a stand on.

“White she devil.”

“Sorry, Bec. Can’t have you half-assing anything.”

She didn’t like it and Aubrey could tell but Beca sighed and grunted. “Solid burn.”

Aubrey gave her a quick grin then turned to eye the Doctor who was watching them all curiously. Her gaze met Aubrey’s and a brow went up. Honestly, she almost felt a little bad about needing to have the Doc take Beca somewhere safe. She didn’t ask, she didn’t need to. Chloe knew what she was thinking and started to shake her head no until Beca tried to drag a chair over to the get her stuff.

“I really hate you, Aubrey Posen.”

“No, you don’t, Doc.”

“You WILL be making a very large donation to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.”

“Absolutely.”

“And vacation for my office girls. Two weeks!”

“I’ll buy the plane tickets myself.”

“And if she pisses me off just once I will trank her and leave her on a park bench.”

The last was a bluff but Aubrey treated the threat seriously. “Understood. Anything else?”

“….I’ll think of something!” Aubrey bit back another grin and nodded seriously. She slipped her hands into her pockets as the doctor steeled herself mentally to take on Beca. “Come one Detective, as much as this pains me to say…you’re coming home with me.”

Beca dropped the helmet she had finally just retrieved on the ground and left it like discarded trash to limp over to Chloe. “Okay.”

“God…you’re so easy.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing, Doc.”

Chloe gave her a final glare and slung the detective’s arms over her shoulder to help her limp out of the office. Stacie settled the length of her body along Aubrey’s back, hands coming up to finger the buttons of her vest.

“How well do you know this Kodie, joker?”

Stacie hmmm thoughtfully. “Not as well as I did in high school. Edith told me he got caught up in some trouble recently. I think I know how we can get to him though.”

“How?”

“He likes cocaine and paying for his um let’s call them dates. I had Happy make some calls for you.”

The smile came to her face easily and she leaned into Stacie’s embrace. This wasn’t anything like what her mom and dad had. Her mother had never been this involved in what her father did for work. She had kept as distant from it as she could, turning her nose up at the family that protected them, running from the darkness of the business. Stacie would never do that to her. She knew it all way down to the bottom of soul. Aubrey turned in her arms and brought their heads together.

“You got more cards up your sleeve than a Vegas croupier, you know that?”

“Hmm. I learned from the best.”

Aubrey closed the distance, her brushing softly over Stacie’s. There were a lot of words she could say about how she felt about the woman in her arms. She could probably write pages on it, but words didn’t matter half as much as action did. She was going to marry this woman and spend her life giving her the best of everything. They were going to be happy and she didn’t care who she had to kill to make it happen.

“Let me take you home?”

“Aubrey…in your arms? I’m already there.”

[charmandhex]

Continuation of this

For @terezis, because Ginny was very excited about the original

~

“This is it?”

There’s a lot that Taako is conveying in those three words. Disbelief, displeasure, and disgust chief among them, though there might be some disappointment and dismay hidden in there as well. Kravitz looks between Taako and the pitiful museum the size of a handkerchief that the residents of the Astral Plane call a kitchen, clearly annoyed.

“What’s wrong with it?” Kravitz asks, throwing his hands up in exasperation. “You asked for a kitchen. This is a kitchen!”

“In the loosest possible sense of the term.” Taako waves a hand at the room that Kravitz has the audacity to call a kitchen, nose wrinkled in distaste. “That stove looks like it’s older than I am. No, older than Merle. No, older than you. You’re old, right?”

The look on Kravitz’s face says that if the Grim Reaper had any blood floating around in his construct body, his face would be tending toward an interesting shade of purple right now.

Taako clicks his tongue and steps in further, cautious, undecided if he’s worried that the antiques will fall apart around him or if he’s worried that Kravitz is going to attempt to actually dump him in the soul soup. He drags a fingertip across the counter. Dusty, no doubt from disuse spanning years. The refrigerator is running, but it’s certainly not winning any marathons any time soon. It’d be better off with its door ripped off and chucked into the Millers’ floating trash room. The stove is... clean. And hopefully won’t blow up the Raven Queen’s whole castle in some kind of magical gas explosion. The sink works, and Taako sincerely hopes it has a different water source than the one single body of water in this plane. The equipment is limited, down mostly to the essentials, plus one blender that somehow looks as though it may be haunted. The food sitch is even worse: there’s salt, a bottle of chocolate sauce, a frozen protein of some kind that’s seemingly been tucked in the back of the freezer for so long that Taako can no longer identify what it even is, a few magically preserved potatoes that are still sprouting, and some Fantasy Twinkies that have not been magically preserved but are probably still doing better than the potatoes by virtue (or sin) of being Fantasy Twinkies.

“Well?” Kravitz asks, impatient, tapping his foot, single, single, triple, over and over again. “Will this do?”

Taako slowly turns around, blowing out a long breath. “Listen. Kravitz. I have worked in some, uh, unconventional kitchens in my time. I have used the world’s most pathetic campfire to flambé in a rainstorm. I have made soufflé in a moving wagon. I cooked for seven people in a galley kitchen in a ship that flew forward, back, sideways, upside down, and in loop-de-loops for 100 years!” Taako’s voice rises in pitch and volume as he goes, ending by throwing his arms out wide. “So when I tell you I can handle any and every kind of kitchen, you know that’s true. But, uh, my guy, even I can’t pull together a decent meal with what you birdbrains call a stocked pantry!”

Kravitz at once starts angrily sputtering, flashes of the ol’ red-eyed skull coming through before he sighs and closes his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You’re a wizard. Can’t you- can’t you transmute or conjure food or something!”

Taako huffs before crossing his arms, leaning back into the kitchen counter. “I... can’t.” He admits. The words hang in the air for a long moment.

Kravitz seems to have traded aggravation for confusion. “You can’t what?”

“I can’t do magic.”

“Well, yeah,” a third voice pipes up, and both Taako and Kravitz jump. A young-looking elf, maybe mid-70s, walks out of the inky blackness that has a habit of collecting in corners around here. He’s scrawny, the kind of scrawny Taako recognizes from years on the road, and there’s a shadow under his eyes that Taako thinks death should have cleared up. “It’s part of that whole mess with the deal you two made. Yeah, it’s some kind of nasty magic Fate thread tangle apparently, but ‘course Istus knows more about that.”

“So it’s your fault!” Taako shouts, pointing an accusatory finger at Kravitz.

“Now hold on, we- we both made that deal- Keats, help a Reaper out here-” Kravitz pleads with the new arrival for backup.

“No, he’s right; it is your fault,” Keats throws over his shoulder as he starts digging into the Fantasy Twinkies. Taako has a new favorite employee of the Raven Queen already.

“Now- now wait just a- wait, wait, how did you already know you couldn’t do magic then, hm? Hm?” Kravitz retorts. “Trying to escape were you?”

Taako rolls his eyes. “Uh, no shit, I would have, but not even Mage Hand worked.”

“How come you wanted to do Mage Hand?” Keats asks, mouth full of Fantasy Twinkie and eyes full of mirth as he watches the show.

“To do this,” Taako answers, flipping off Kravitz.

“That’s just rude!” Kravitz throws a hand to his chest, looking offended.

“So’s making a bad deal to trap me in the Astral Plane and steal my magic!”

“I didn’t steal your magic! It’s just... tangled! And for the last time, that wasn’t even my intention, and you shook on it, too!”

Taako inhales, preparing to (loudly) relitigate this argument.

“I have a question,” Keats announces. Taako and Kravitz look over. “Taako, right? Can you make lemon bars?”

Taako blinks. “Can I- of course I can make fuckin’ lemon bars! Best fuckin’ lemon bars on that side of the veil, but that’s not happening over here right now.”

“Make ya a deal.” Keats brushes his hands together matter-of-factly. “Better deal than the one Kravitz made too.”

“That’s not a high bar.”

“Hey!”

“If you make a list of everything you need, I’ll pop over to the Prime Material Plane and make a shopping run. IF you make lemon bars. Uh-uh, no shaking on this one. I don’t want to somehow get tangled up in-” Keats waves a hand at Taako and Kravitz. “Whatever that mess is.”

“Done. Kid, you do this, and I’ll make you enough lemon bars to be a real boy.” Taako starts writing rapidly as Keats passes over pen and paper, either from his pocket or a pocket dimension, Taako doesn’t know or care.

“Thanks, but I’m millennia older than you,” Keats says cheerily.

Kravitz is sputtering again. Taako is mostly ignoring it.

“Keats, you’re grounded.”

“Yeah, but I’m less grounded than you.”

“That’s not even how it works.”

“Is too. You’re double grounded. One, you really boned this one up. And B, you have to stay here with Taako.” Taako tunes out further arguing until his (very long, because again, there is NOTHING in this kitchen) list is done. Keats takes it with a wink and a grin and an “Okay, bye!” as he cuts off Kravitz and disappears back into the shadows.

Kravitz lets out a groan before looking back to Taako.

“Don’t look at me!”

“Keats should be out for a few hours,” Kravitz says wearily. “Time passes at the same speed in both planes, and it’s been a while since he visited.”

“Cool,” Taako says shortly before he turns away, starting to open cupboards again. Someone in the Astral Plane does at least seem to care about kitchen cleanliness, even if they don’t use the thing, and Taako pulls out dish soap.

“Aren’t you going... don’t you want to go somewhere else?”

Taako looks back. “Kitchen’s not gonna clean itself, and thanks to a certain someone, I don’t have magic to help with that.” He explains, carefully weighting the individual words with every measure of his irritation.

“But I have paperwork,” Kravitz whines.

“So go do paperwork,” Taako snaps. You know, it really is a pity that Kravitz is as annoying as he is, because any other time, it probably would have been an upgrade to go from incredibly handsome man staring at him to being indefinitely stuck with said incredibly handsome man. Not that Taako’s gonna tell Kravitz that.

“But I have to make sure you don’t cause trouble.” Yeah, Kravitz’s looks do not make up for his personality. Or his bone-headed decisions.

“Sounds like a you problem, homie.” And before Kravitz can reply again, Taako shuts a cabinet door with a little more force than necessary. “Listen. If I have to be responsible for my own Fantasy Be Our Guest dinner and a show song and dance number in this particular spooky old castle then I will, but I’m not doing that in a dirty kitchen.”

Defeated, Kravitz blows out what might be his longest sigh yet. “I’ll get my paperwork.”

[dallaswinstonsleatherjacket]

You should do a dally pop song fic of All Too Well!- Cherry

Thank you Cherry! I tried-

ALL TOO WELL-DALLYPOP

Taglist: @nonbinary-ponyboy-curtis @chaotically-cas @sh4d3s-of-c0ol-deactivated20210 @sylvia-supremacist @darrys-toolbag @otterfire @i1-800-555-trash-1i @queen-of-the-outside @isasbaguettes @steveiskoreanfuckit (lmk if you want to be added)

TW: Swearing, angst (ig), Blood mention

I walked through the door with you

The air was cold

But something about it felt like home somehow

The air was freezing at this point, and Soda pulled his jacket around him as he bent his head against the wind. Dally was beside him, unbothered by the wind, jacket hanging open and an arm slung around Soda’s shoulder.

The door to Bucks was unlocked, and the bar was nearly empty. Soda had barely stepped through the door before Dallas slipped his hand down to Sodas and gave it a light squeeze and then pulled him towards the staircase.

And I, left my scarf there at your sister's house

And you've still got it in your drawer even now

Dally couldn't stop thinking about him.

And the flannel that he knew was tucked in the back of the bottom drawer of his dresser wasn't helping.

The bed creaked underneath him as he stood, pulling open the drawer and pulling the flannel out. He looked at it, the lines appearing in between his eyebrows as he sat on the floor and turned the flannel over. He knew the bloodstains on the front, he had memorized the pattern, he knew how one of the buttons on the very bottom was missing.

And he sighed.

Oh, your sweet disposition

And my wide-eyed gaze

We're singing in the car, getting lost upstate

Autumn leaves falling down like pieces into place

And I can picture it after all these days

Soda's eyes were wide, and he was laughing hard as he had ever before as the car screeched down the road. Dally’s foot was heavy on the brakes, but his hands weren’t on the wheel, and he whooped as they narrowly avoided a mailbox, Soda screeching as they glided by it.

“Wimp”

“I don't want to pay for a mailbox,” Soda shot back, the smile not leaving his face.

“Mmm,” Even Dally was smiling now, humming off tune to whatever was on the radio. Soda closed his eyes, probably against his better judgment, and relaxed against the seat of the car.

And I know it's long gone and that magic's not here no more

And I might be okay but I'm not fine at all

Dallas never cried. Not because he had no reason to, but because he was programmed against it.

But god, did he want to now.

His bed seemed uncomfortable, his head hurt, and he couldn’t hear breathing beside him, comforting him, helping him sleep.

Because he had fucked up. He fucked it all up.

'Cause there we are again on that little town street

You almost ran the red 'cause you were lookin' over at me

Wind in my hair, I was there

I remember it all too well

Soda had memorized everything he could about Dallas Winston.

He had memorized how his hair looked when he first woke up, he memorized his skin, and how it looked when they were laying, tangled in each other on top of the bedcovers. He memorized his grin, and how he looked when he was smug, and how he looked when he had just won a fight, blood dripping everywhere and a grim smile on his face.

And he remembered how it felt, to walk with him, the autumn leaves swirling around as Dally leaned into Soda, an arm slipping around his waist.

Photo album on the counter

Your cheeks were turning red

You used to be a little kid with glasses in a twin-sized bed

And your mother's telling stories 'bout you on the tee-ball team

You told me 'bout your past thinking your future was me

It had been 6 months, a half a year, half a without Sodapop Curtis. And he could still remember every second of it.

And Dally still hadn’t cried.

He was in his old place now, back in New York, escaping Tulsa seemingly just in time before he exploded. He wanted so badly to damage something, to hurt something, to break something of his like he had broken Soda.

Or maybe Soda had broken him. He didn't know.

He really did remember every second. He remembered every minute of every hour he spent with Soda, from the day he met him to the day he left.

And to think he had thought that he was his forever.

And I know it's long gone and there was nothing else I could do

And I forget about you long enough to forget why I needed to

Soda hated Tulsa.

He hated the movie theatre, the dingo, the DX-even his own bed he hated. It was all stained with him, Soda could see it as clearly as if it was blood smeared across his favorite jacket instead of his scent.

And he was trapped in it all, tangled in his stupid life and stupid thoughts when all he wanted to do was drive as fast as he could to New York and fall into his arms again.

Because that's where he was safe.

'Cause there we are again in the middle of the night

We're dancing 'round the kitchen in the refrigerator light

Down the stairs, I was there

I remember it all too well, yeah

Dally had given up, he had moved on.

There was no point in sitting and moping about Sodapop Curtis.

Some girl was tangled up in his sheets every other night, and the nights they weren't he had either drank till he passed out, or was off fighting someone. No one here went easy on him sometimes like Shepard did. There was no one here to pity him, why would they? New York was as rough as it had been when he was a kid, and whether he won or lost each fight, covered in blood with a grimace on his face.

Maybe he deserved this. Maybe this was his punishment.

And maybe we got lost in translation

Maybe I asked for too much

But maybe this thing was a masterpiece 'til you tore it all up

Running scared, I was there

I remember it all too well

Soda could remember everything too. Every little damn thing.

And he could remember Dally yelling.

And he was yelling too, he could feel it in his throat, hoarse and tired and desperate, he was so desperate, because he couldn’t lose him, not yet, not this way. He wasn't crying, he wanted to cry, he wanted to throw a tantrum like he would when he was little, he wanted to scream and kick and punch and knock that look off of Dally's stupid face.

But he turned. He turned away, and told Dally to go.

And Dally did. But that was only the first time.

And you call me up again just to break me like a promise

So casually cruel in the name of being honest

I'm a crumpled up piece of paper lying here

'Cause I remember it all, all, all

Too well

The first time the phone rang was a year after Dally had come back to New York.

He was in his room at the time, the phone was at the end of the hall, and he stumbled out his door and picked up the phone, wincing as he massaged his arm, sore from the snob he met on the side of the street last night.

“Hey,” Dally mumbled, voice hoarse with sleep, running his fingers through his hair and yawning. “Who's this?”

“Soda. Sodapop. Curtis.” The voice was anxious, and Dally nearly dropped the phone, leaning against the wall with his head bent.

“Soda,” Dally repeated, and the word felt heavy on his tongue.

“I just-wanted to see how you were doing-you never call.”

“Neither do you.”

It was silent.

“I thought you were dead-you ran off and never said nothing to any of us-”

“I might as well be,” Dally snapped. “I’m fine, Soda. How are you?” He hated this, he hated himself, he hated goddamn Sodapop.

“I’m fine. Sorry. G’bye, Dal.”

There was a click, and then silence.

Time won't fly, it's like I'm paralyzed by it

I'd like to be my old self again

But I'm still trying to find it

After plaid shirt days and nights when you made me your own

Now you mail back my things and I walk home alone

Soda didn’t think he would ever feel the same again. How could he?

But you keep my old scarf from that very first week

'Cause it reminds you of innocence

And it smells like me

You can't get rid of it

'Cause you remember it all too well, yeah

The flannel was still in the drawer in Dally’s room. It hadn't been touched in almost a year, a thick layer of dust had settled over it, and it still looked the same.

He didn't know why he kept it.

'Cause there we are again when I loved you so

Back before you lost the one real thing you've ever known

It was rare, I was there, I remember it all too well

Wind in my hair, you were there, you remember it all

Down the stairs, you were there, you remember it all

It was rare, I was there, I remember it all too well

[ranger-jedi-knight]

Angel Wings Darken Part 4

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26286832/chapters/64065646

Ok, so here’s the next part!! We get to see Gab’s, Nat’s, Sabine’s, and Tom’s reaction~!

“-I’m helping Joker. and Hawkmoth, Mayura, if you know what's good for you, leave your miraculous at my balcony unless you want to see what a protege of Joker can do,” ice filled Gabriel’s veins as he heard that. Nathalie froze behind him, her tablet falling from her numb fingers. They barely heard the crack over the buzzing in their ears as they watched her lips turn into a sinister smile. They barely were able to register what was happening on the screen in front of them.

It wasn’t until the screen froze on the retreating back of Marinette, Damian, and Chloe were they able to move.

“Sir, what are we going to do?” Nathalie asked shakily as in the corner of the screen they watched the comments blow up in confusion and fear and anger. “Y-you know what the Joker can do. If-if he really did turn her evil, what could she do to us that’s worse than following her demands?” Nathalie asked, somehow only stumbling a couple of times.

Gabriel’s eyes couldn’t leave the screen as TViNews popped up with an enlarged picture of Bug’s sinister smile. He barely heard the news anchor-Prime Queen he realized-talking. He couldn’t turn away from the grin or cold eyes. He felt trapped by them, feeling like they were staring directly at him, like she could see what he was doing right then.

And he didn’t like that feeling at all.

“W-e need to first deal with the press. Act like we were being tricked. Send out a public apology and cut any and all ties to Ms. Rossi. As for Adrien, I’m not sure. One thing for sure, we can’t use him as a model anymore. Make sure any lawyer contacted to help Adrien, whether our own or a public servant, knows to comply with the plaintiff’s wishes. We do not want this excelating any further.”

“Sir?”

“What?” he demanded looking over at her with a glare as his thoughts ran around trying to ignore the threat Bug gave him. He was trying to process this, trying to understand how his greatest foe was the same person as the one he tried getting akumatized and also working for him. He just couldn’t see how Ladybug = Marinette. They seemed like entirely two different people.

But alas.

It was true.

“Should we do what she asks, sir?” Gabriel turned back to the screen grimacing when he heard her cackle as someone analyzed the footage again. Seeing her grin once more, his skin started crawling. I never knew someone one so heroic and kind could be so chilling and disturbing, he thought tensing up.

“I need some time to think. For now, do what I said. The longer we say nothing, the bigger a risk we have of the public turning against us and tanking our stocks. We can’t have that that happen,” he snapped out and Nathalie startled but nodded, bending over to pick the cracked tablet before going to her desk quickly.

As soon as the door closed, Gabriel held his head in his hand, messing up his carefully done hair as pins ran throu him. “God have mercy,” he whispered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

They couldn’t believe it….

Their baby….

a monster.

But maybe….maybe they could get her back?

Surely, if they talk to her they could get her to go back to being their precious baby girl. Their kind, helpful daughter.

Yeah.

They can do that. Talking to their daughter, telling her how much they miss her, that’ll surely get her to come back to her senses. With a determined look, the two went back to work, listening as the people that came into the bakery gossiping about what happened.

“-Yes, you heard that correctly, Paris. Mayor Bourgeois and the Board of Education are having the students involved in the attack come back to Paris by tomorrow. Mayor Bourgeois is having his daughter Chloe stay behind to try getting Marinette Dupain-Cheng, also known as Ladybug, to come back to Paris. Will she succeed? Stay tuned to learn if she did,” Nadja’s voice startled them as they worked. They turned when they heard the repeat. The class photo was on the screen showing a time that was an estimate of when the Mayor hoped to get the class back in Paris.

When talking about Chloe and the girl they used to see as their daughter-but they hoped they could get her back- they showed a picture of the two at the park across from them beaming. They scowled at the image.

At the reminder.

It was all her fault.

Had Chloe stayed away…

Their darling daughter wouldn’t have changed. As soon as Marinette got back, they were going to keep her away from that girl.

Away from the girl that turned her into that monster.

Lila may have lied about some things, but she was correct that their daughter had changed. But they were going to change her back.

Marinette didn’t have a choice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Sir, she’s here,” Nathalie called showing him the footage of the plane landing. It was a private jet. The same one Chloe posted a selfie with saying they were going to Paris for the lawsuits. It was early. No doubt most everyone would be home getting ready or asleep.

“We have no choice. Take them. Put them on her balcony,” Gabriel said with a defeated sigh as he gestured to the broaches and book.

“Even the book, sir?” She had a look of shock on her face, even when he nodded again.

“Yes, even the book. There’s no point in keeping it if we don’t have the miraculouses. I need to give up. I can’t win. And I doubt she’ll want to revive Emilie after everything that’s happened. When you get back we’ll finally put her to rest,” he said with a sigh, glancing at the portrait behind him.

“Of course, sir,” she picked up the items, Dusuu and Nooru floated next to her as they left his office. Reaching the bakery, she went to the side next to an alley and held the broaches loosely in one hand and held the book out. “Goodbye,” she muttered softly and the two kwami looked at her sadly, but they were happy to finally be free. Together, they put their broaches on the book and then carried the book up. When she saw that they were over the railing, Nathalie turned away. She could only sigh as she sat in the car heading back to Agreste Manor.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sabine smiled when she watched the footage of Marinette’s plane landing. “Tom, she’s here!” she called out and Tom nodded heading to the front. They watched as Marinette transformed and swung away from the airport. Closing up the shop, they made their way to the courthouse. Lots of people were trying to get in, but because they were the parents of Marinette, the witness here, they were let in.

All they could feel was shock.

They couldn’t believe the look their daughter had on her face.

As she watched Lila be chained to her seat. They didn’t even hear the added charges to Lila’s case. They couldn’t hear anything. Buzzing was the only thing they could hear. When Marinette left after hearing that everyone was guilty, they followed after her. Sabine caught her daughter's arm before she left the steps. “Marinette.”

Marinette turned with an icy look. She held no warmth in her eyes looking between her mother and father. “What?” she asked, watching as Damian and Chloe came closer to them.

“What? What do you mean ‘what’? We’re your parents Marinette. Aren’t we allowed to talk to you? You must have been terrified when the Joker took you. Surely now that your safe from him, you can drop this act? Go back to being our baby girl. You’re safe now. There’s no need to be scared of him anymore,” Sabine said and Tom came up behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders.

“Ha!” she ripped her arm from Sabine’s grip with a scornful laugh. “You truly don’t know me at all if you think I’m scared of Joker,” she started but then turned away and started walking down the steps, Chloe and Damian coming to her sides. While he was still apprehensive, he knew she wasn’t going to hurt anyone that didn’t deserve it.

“Marinette! Come back here!” Sabine shouted, unaware of the people gathering to watch.

“Sweetie, you can be honest with us. No need to pretend,” Tom tried and Marinette whipped around to glare at the two. The couple froze from where they had started to move, their bodies acting like they were statues instead of living, breathing people.

“There’s no pretending here. You’re just in denial about the truth. That I never will, and never have been the daughter you think I am in your heads. Joker….he’s many things, but he showed me the truth. He helped me realize that I’m done taking people’s crap. I won’t let anyone walk over me again. Nor take advantage of me. I’m done with that. He helped me become the person I’m meant to be. See, I finally have all the miraculous back. Right where they’re meant to be,” she said, holding her hand out to show the two inactive miraculouses. “If your done with your delusions, I need to head off.”

“No! We are your parents and you will listen to us!” Sabine yelled as Marinette took another step down. Marinette didn’t even turn around, just turned so that they had the profile of her face.

“You haven’t been parents to me since I was 10. Stop lying to yourselves” she replied coldly before walking toward the bakery to pack up, leaving the two sputtering in their spots as people around them glared and muttered as they walked away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

She looked around her old room, seeing if she left anything that she wanted or needed. Old photos decorated the floor while most were in the trash. The mannequin stayed in its place, but the stylized ‘M’ was ripped up and destroyed. Her computer was turned to the side and off, showing the ports. The flash drives used were in her purse. The few remaining wall decorations were in boxes. The chaise and umbrella were gone, already being packed into the jet beside her rug and mirror. The vanity was cleared of everything, it’s drawers left open showing the plain wood inside.

Her desk was bare of all her sewing equipment and organization cabinet. Her bed sheets were packed with her clothes. All that was left was what was originally there: the desk, vanity, the mattress, and trash can(well she wasn’t going to bring it, she took it from the kitchen). But she wasn’t going to take them. She didn’t care about them. They were easily replaced. Dust and dirt littered the ground right beside the photos.

The only photos she took were the ones on her phone and a few baby pictures. She didn’t want the others. They were a reminder of all the sheep she had surrounded herself with.

She didn’t want sheep in her new place. Picking up the last box which contained all her sketchbooks, she left her old home.

“Marinette!” a voice shouted and Marinette looked around the street. Most people were either working or just avoiding her, knowing they couldn’t do anything to change her mind. But then her eyes landed on Jagged and Penny, coming over to her from their limo.

“Uncle Jagged?” she asked confused and Jagged beamed at her.

“How’s my rockin’ niece? I just got caught up on what happened,” Jagged said and Marinette bit her lip. Her eyes softened when she looked between their matching looks of concern.

“I’m fine, Jagged. Thank you thou,” she said, handing the box to Damian when he appeared at her side.

“Where are you going?” Penny asked looking at the boxes in the limo Chloe had brought.

“Leaving. Moving to Gotham,” she replied looking away.

“Your parents?” Penny asked, her tone neutral toward the couple. Thou, watching Marinette scowl at the question, Penny frowned.

“I don’t need them. They’re delusional. Want me to be someone I’m not,” she bit out, gnashing her teeth together.

“Say, your heading to Gotham?” Jagged asked and Marinette nodded. Getting the confirmation, Jagged beamed at her. “That’s my home town! You can live with me and Penny!” he offered and Marinette had a small smile on her lips.

“Marinette-” Penny started and leaned in not wanting anyone to overhear. When she pulled back, Marinette was beaming at the two and started nodding frantically. All Penny could do was smile softly at the girl when she did that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Well, we’re never getting her to work here now,” Gabriel said watching the screen. TViNews was showing Marinette walking out of the courthouse beaming between Jagged and Penny Stone. Announcing her as their new daughter. Behind the three were Sabine and Tom, scowling as they watched them walk down the steps.

“How does it feel to be adopted by Jagged Stone?” Nadja asked with a smile that Marinette returned as her eyes closed with a laugh bubbling out of her.

“Amazing. He’s already been calling me his niece! I know he and Penny will be the best parents I could ask for!” she replied, causing the couple to smile and hug her tightly as Nadja continued to ask questions that he ignored, looking over at Nathalie.

“That does seem to be the case, sir. Seems like you should look elsewhere. We both know Jagged won’t let just anyone work with her,” Nathalie replied and Gabriel sighed with a nod as he turned off the monitor.

“Adrien?”

“He’s in his room. He hasn’t done much since the lawsuit. Luckily our stocks are still going strong. Our investors are very forgiving it seems and are ignoring what Adrien and Lila have done.”

“Good, good. Just like I hoped. Now, go start searching to see if there are any aspiring designers. I want any you find on my desk as soon as possible.” “As you wish, sir,” Nathalie said with a slight bow before leaving the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You’re really ok with this B?” Dick asked, looking at Bruce closely. Bruce turned to give his sons a look.

“I can’t exactly stop her, now can I?” he asked and the three boys looked away at that. “Look, I’m not really ok with it. Joker managed to get Mari to work with him. Who would be ok with that? But we have to face the facts. We can’t stop her from doing that. All we can hope is that she doesn’t do anything horrible with Joker,” he said with a sigh, leaning back against his chair while Dick, Jason, and Tim shuffled their feets against the ground.

“I knew we should have done something to that mad-man,” Jason muttered and Bruce didn’t have the heart to scold him. Since it could very well be true.

“Maybe….maybe not thou,” Dick said and Jason turned to him confused.

“How can you say that? That psychopath turned Marinette to the dark side!”

“Yes….and no,” Tim spoke up that time and Jason whirled around to glare at Tim who managed to tilt his head back to look Jason in the eye in defiance.

“What did you say?” Jason demanded.

“Yes and no. Marinette may be working with that psychopath, but she wouldn’t do the same things as him. Whether we like it or not, he did get Marinette to stand up for herself. She’s finally speaking up against the harassment, the bullying, the negligence. All because of Joker. Yes he did it throu making her think she doesn’t have us on her side, but we can show her we are still standing behind her. And maybe….just maybe….she could get Joker to stop killing people,” Tim explained with a sigh.

“You really think that?” Dick asked, looking slightly disbelieving at the thought. Tim just shrugged at the question.

“I can’t say for certain. But we can hope,” he replied and that had the two nodding.

“Fine. But the moment Marinette does something deranged with him, you can’t stop me,” Jason replied and they could only nod. But they didn’t bother saying that he’d most likely have to get in line since Damian would probably be doing that first.

“Let’s get ourselves cleaned up finally. Damian and Marinette should be landing soon, it would be best we show her she has us as soon as she lands,” Bruce said and the boys nodded, moving to their rooms to do exactly that.

Ok, so here it is! I hope you enjoyed this!! And maybe….one day i’ll do a part 5. Who knows. Cause I don't. I didn’t think I'd be doin this many parts but here I am. There is honestly a good chance you guys can get me into doin one last part. But anyways, the next fic will another Dark!Mari fic! After that….maybe ‘A New Hero’ will be updated. We’ll see. Until next time!! -Love Willa<3<3<3

[musicalreader17]

Bare: a pop opera moments that made me cry

It’s basically the entire musical and I haven’t checked for errors but enjoy reading this very long list and feel free to add any moments I missed out!

Epiphany:

- When bare melody starts to play under the priest talking

- Matt’s part in no voice being in epiphany

- ‘Live by our voices’

You & I:

- The first line comparing them being gay to predators ‘hey little boy would you like a ride’

- ‘Forever you and I’ at the end

Role of a Lifetime:

- ‘Everything’s an act when you’re pleasing everyone’

- ‘Play pretend and once again reprise our roles’

- ‘Never really saying what you mean’

- The key change at navigate this maze

- ‘In the silence will he stay’

Auditions:

- ‘Hear my voice’

- ‘No never mind we have to go’

- ‘For stony limits cannot hold love out’

Plain Jane Fat Ass:

- ‘Dad will be excited’

- ‘I’m a caution for the vain’

- ‘Keeping society so ill at ease and loving her role’

- ‘Hurt me, you can’t I have mounds of thick skin’

Wonderland:

- ‘God they’d never understand’

- ‘Life is as it ought to be’

- ‘Too much is a coma breathing slow till you choke’ foreshadowing

Quiet Night at Home:

- ‘Life is lived on other stages’

- ‘Pain adores me god ignores me’

Best Kept Secret:

- ‘All I ever want is there in your eyes’

- ‘To see how deep the world can cut’

- ‘You’re such a coward. And you’re a fool’

- ‘We can’t go on forever all this forever can’t we live for today’ but Jason is the one who introduces ‘forever’ in you & I

Confession:

- Hear my voice tune before Matt and peter go in and when they leave

- ‘If I ever told you’

Portrait of a Girl:

- ‘Now the portrait has captured the girl’

- ‘Add shadows that dance across her skin’

- ‘Stripped bare beneath all the layers would you recognise the girl lying there’

Birthday, Bitch!:

- ‘Why are you so happy’

- Ever after playing at ‘I want to go back to the rave’

- ‘Like what? Like your boyfriend’

One Kiss:

- ‘Why should I be frightened’

- ‘You do know I’m misunderstood’

- The kiss at the end

Are You There?:

- ‘Wish you didn’t hurt so much you cried’

- ‘And if it’s in your power how can you sit idly by’

- ‘They said that things would get better but I guess they lied’

- End of the song is the melody for bare

Reputation Stain’d:

- ‘I need to tell her and I need you to be with me when I do it’

- Jason’s rant when Peter asks him what he’s doing for spring break ‘yes let’s tell your mother so she can call my mother...’

- The argument

- The push

Ever After:

- Just the entire song

- The tempo and melody change from Peter singing to Jason

- ‘You stand before me and I barely know you’

- ‘You slew all my giants ignoring your own’

- ‘You’re such a fool’

- ‘There’s no such thing as heroes who are queer’

- ‘You can’t be the same boy Ive followed’

- ‘You’ve hurt me more than you know’

One:

- ‘But why? There’s something about you Jason’

- ‘Kiss you is what I’m supposed to do’

- ‘Lie with me’

- ‘God you have such pretty eyes’

- ‘Once I had a hero I guess he couldn’t stay’

Wedding Bells:

- See me tune playing at the start

- Bare playing under the vows

- ‘Forever’ sounds like a recurring echo

Touch My Soul:

- ‘Lonely blue eyes’

- ‘Yeah...once’

- ‘I wish to god I felt that way’

- All grown up music at the end

See Me:

- ‘Mom this is important mom you need to listen’

- ‘Mom you need to see me’

- Key change

- ‘Mother you know nothing of them’

- ‘You don’t want to hear it you don’t want to see me can’t bear to see me’

- ‘Open your eyes’

- ‘Please see me’

Warning:

- ‘Did I ever know my son at all’

- ‘Lost in words I cannot say’

- ‘All alone and scared’

- ‘His father will die’

- ‘I don’t want their pity I just want my son’

Pilgrims Hands:

- ‘Lest... lest faith turn to despair’

God Don’t Make No Trash:

- ‘Some folks will act the fool’

- ‘Love is love love is truth’

- The hug

- Absolution music

- ‘If you hide from yourself be someone else for someone else’s sake that would be the greatest mistake’

- ‘Gods got your back and so do I’

- Sister Chantelle was the only person to say gay in the entire show

All Grown Up:

- the entire song just makes me bawl

- ‘Poor ivy stuck wanting the one thing she can’t have’

- ‘Memories that fade and flicker burn again when I pretend’

- ‘Times have changed they rearrange’

- ‘Life is there to interrupt’

- ‘Dream a dream then dash another’

- ‘Story ends in total damage. It’s an unforgiving world’

Promise:

- ‘You have no idea what I’m going through’

- Tune of ever after

- ‘You wanted real well god you give them that’

- Reputation stain’d mimicking

- ‘I’m sorry... No. You know what I’m not’

- ‘I need you to help me. I tried’

- No voice at the end

Once Upon a Time:

- ‘Once upon a time I first held held your hand and love was not a crime’

- ‘Trapped alone here’

- ‘Cold church soul search’

- ‘Could you really love someone like me’

- ‘It’s so hard’

Cross:

- ‘I’ve tried to be strong I’ve tried to belong’

- ‘I can’t I can’t’

- ‘Not okay not for me’

- ‘I’m in such a desperate place’

- ‘I don’t belong I always thought this was wrong’

- ‘Am I okay is it okay’

- Bare playing at the end

Two Households:

- Role of a lifetime plays when Lucas gives Jason the drugs

- Role of a lifetime ‘what if we escape this’

- ‘Just think about it please’

- Hear my voice tune when Jason takes the drugs

Bare:

- The entire song knowing Jason is going to die

- ‘How did I unlearn the truth you have to me’

- ‘The moment of truth when I knew who I was’

- ‘A parting of souls as I try to move on’

- ‘I’ve never been this bare’

- ‘Knowing who we have to be’

- ‘We’re Forever you and I’

- ‘Please understand that I tried’

- ‘It’s not goodbye’

- ‘Here in a world where there’s safety in falsehood I have discovered the one thing that’s real’

- ‘That I love you’

- ‘Please know I loved you’

- The kiss at the end

Queen Mab:

- ‘Tis no wit to go’

- All the references to dreams

- ‘And sleeps again’

- ‘Peace, Mercutio peace’

- ‘God Jason you’re flying’

- Bare playing

- Jason collapsing

- Peter removing his mask as Jason dies

A Glooming Peace:

- The lyrics

- No backing music

Absolution:

- role of a lifetime music

- ‘You hid behind a screen knowing how much empathy might mean’

- ‘That’s natural’ - unlike how the church see their relationship

- ‘Did you know how much he loved’

- ‘Lost in the teachings was a boy so all alone and scared’

- ‘Nothing else brought me closer to god’

- ‘And I forgive you father’

No Voice:

- ‘I’ll leave a chair for you’

- ‘I never found the words to say always thought we’d talk some day’

- ‘How do I make sense of what I’ve gained and what I’ve lost’

- ‘Perfect mess’

- Matts speech coming back

- ‘If maybe we were silent or we had spoken’

- ‘All done in your name’ referring to god

- ‘How did a simple love get complicated’

- ‘In a world that’s quick to judge’

- ‘It’s so hard to find your way when you have no voice to guide you’

- Change from saying no to saying one

- ‘One voice’

- That cadence at the end leaving it open

[princeleyjeans]

A chapter/hc I kinda have for Endingtrikey, is kinda that during the inevitable breakup/before makeup period Tracey takes charge and acts as the protective older sibling of her dad when T storms off and starts doing what a lot of siblings do...and trash T’s shit.  Basically, it starts with Trevor coming back late (This is during his like, annual visit to M’s lil condo) and theres stuff on the news about this car chase and all things point to him and Mike is understandably worried/trying to talk to him, get his act together for their relationship to work, all that crap.  T...blasts off, says he can’t trust or take Michael seriously as this new, semi open, gentrified queen dude and how M’s life is this joke and T’s starring in it and blah blah blah, North Yankton, betrayal, makes a biting remark about M an Amanda’s marriage/divorce and peaces the fuck out.  Mike...is heartbroken, he blames himself, calls Amanda to confirm what T accused him of being and Tracey overhears the phone convo, despite her dad being an ass, thats her daddy, AND NOBODY GONNA TOUCH UM! So, off she goes, beginning the process of comforting her dad and leaving burning bags of crap on T’s doorstep.  --- It’s kinda funny as Trevor has no clue who the fuck is slashing his tyres, leaving knives stuck in his door, sending threats to the trailer, booby-trapping Wade’s usual route to the office, un-setting Ron’s radios so he can’t tune into Merryweather or fuck with their tech, messing with stock or taking apart all the guns enough so they look intact, but as soon as they’re touched, they fall to pieces (Something only a pro could do).  Eventually he wakes up to trash being knocked around, heading outside to find Jimmy acting as Look-out while Tracey attempts to pry off Trev’s satellite dish from the top of the trailer.  A quick brief lets him know this is revenge for hurting their dad and some stern words between him and Trace which ends in her round-housing him into the dirt and holding a knife to his crotch, convincing Trevor to go apologize to M and makeup so Tracey doesn’t have to come back and fuck him up again (She’s surprisingly strong...and violent).  So, in the end things get back on track, but, no shit, Tracey is still watching and ready to chop some dick if needed

[spacehologramcollection]

Kombat Krew; Random HCS, Habits and quirks.

No idea what to call this. Just an assortment of some random headcanons, featuring various habits, quirks and random occurrences of the Kombat Krew.  Some of them are slightly NSFW so just to be safe, 18+ NSFW under the cut!  Ermac is NOT paired with anyone. More just a random Headcanon about him, solo, no pairing. Because I don’t do pairings with him.  Kano is mentioned, but it is a shit post.  Mainly trash! Hope you enjoy!

·         Kabal; Doesn’t matter if he’s pre or post burn. He has a bad habit of eating your food. The left-over pizza in the fridge? He ate it. That piece of cake you were saving, he ate it. Those sweets you hid in the cupboard, he ate them. He is so sorry about it though. He will buy you more to make up for it. He gets really hungry (I headcanon is metabolism is higher than normal) he says he’s sorry. He’ll never eat your special stash, the sweets reserved for when you’re ill/ on. And he always buys you non-edible gifts, he just gets hungry and needs to eat. He always shares his food though. So, he’ll never complain if you steal his chips (Fries) even though you said you didn’t want any.  

·         Scoprion (Hanzo Hasashi); Sometimes, when watching a film, if a scene gets a little too intense, he can accidentally, like light a pillow on fire. He really doesn’t mean to do it. It just happens. Some guys have the strength to pop pillows, he lights them on fire. You were once watching a horror film, and he accidentally set fire to the pillow he was holding. All because you jumped and squeaked a little. Which made him jump and squeak a little. Queue the both of you trying to extinguish it. He’s so sorry. It’s endearing because you both laugh about it. Seeing him smile is worth all the burnt pillows and set off fire alarms in the world.  

·         Sub Zero (Kuai Liang); He loves to hold you. He wants to feel close to you, the man has been touch starved for a while. It also brings him great relief knowing you are safe. But there is a slight snag in this. He’s freezing. His hands are extremely cold. And he has a bad habit of placing his hands-on exposed skin whilst asleep. Which wakes you up. It’s not bad in summer, but when are you actually anywhere but the cold? So yeah, Cold hands warm heart. He’s really sorry about it, apologises and blushes red. Why is it endearing? Because he just wants to be close to you. Subconsciously it’s like he’s trying to reach out and touch you. Even in sleep he’s trying to keep you safe. And ain’t that cute?  

·         Kano; Pisses to make his territory. Pissed all over your new sofa. Absolutely foul man.

·         Baraka; Isn’t really a bad habit, more of a regular occurrence, which has turned into a habit. Okay. So, I agree with the consensuses that he is a bit spiky and would rip clothes, blankets etc. But making out with him comes with a risk. To cut a long story short, he once got embedded into the couch. Innocent little cheek kisses, turned into you kissing his neck, straddling him. And he punctured your best pillow and his spikes got stuck in the couch. Well. Fuck. It’s quirky, because, he is literally like an up-turned hedgehog in these moments. Just don’t laugh… or let him catch you laughing.

·         Johnny Cage; He live tweets EVERYTHING. You’re shopping, he’s already tweeted fifteen times before you enter the centre. Only to be mobbed by a group of fans. You’re having a mini-jokey argument about the answer to a game show question. He’s asking his fans if they know, ‘Hey its classes as phone a friend Y/N. Except, it’s tweet your followers’ Can’t decide what to have on the pizza, live-poll for his fans to answer for you! As annoying as it can get, it is pretty sweet. Because well, he’s letting everyone know he’s happily spoken for. He is so proud to be with you, and he’s just boasting about it! it’s better than him not saying anything at all. So, you can deal with the crowds, just as long as he’s by your side.

·         Erron Black; He has this habit of just being a tad bit messy. Guns, bullet casings and powder everywhere. Also, he sometimes forgets that his boots are covered in mud, so that gets trailed in. Has a terrible habit of placing his feet on the table too. He likes to lounge, if he was an animal, he’d probably be a cat. So yeah. A bit on the messy side of things. He does help you clean up, but there is nothing worse than him, trailing mud into your house. You just kind of stare in disbelief, he’s wondering what’s wrong, then the colour drains from his face when he relaises what he’s done. ‘I’ll go get a mop’

·         Shang Tsung; He trapped Ermac in a bottle. Not happy with him at the moment. So yeah, he’s going to try and eat your fucking soul. Sorry guys. The bastard trapped the Spooky man in a bottle. Not happening.

·         Ermac (Not paired with anyone); They have a bad habit of just floating around. They have scared Erron before. Erron thought he was alone, all happy and content, one minute there was nobody. Next minute BOOM. Ermac is just floating and staring at him. Where the fuck did they come from?  Kotal was once taking a dip in a hot spring, didn’t notice Ermac hovering and reading. Next minute ‘We think the steam will help your wound’ Ermac is now telling him the healing properties of different salts. Thank god they cannot just drift through walls. They have boundary problems, they just want a friend to be fair. Someone be their friend!?

·         Cassie Cage; She sings in the shower. It sounds great to her, but to everyone else not so good. But it doesn’t have to be great! Why? Because it makes everyone smile and laugh. If she knows you’re down, expect her to start singing some absolute nostalgia hits in the shower, before booting down the door when she’s done. Making her solo into a duet. You have never been serenaded, until you’ve heard an out of tune version of ‘Dancing Queen’ By Abba, sung by Cassie whilst she’s drying her hair. Has totally done that vine, where someone is singing and grabs the curling tongs. She swears she takes more of after Johnny, he’s clumsy, a goofball and can’t sing for shit either!

·         Hotaru; Habitual by nature. Life with him is very organised and he has a lot of habits. One of his quirkier ones, would be that he automatically will coaster people’s cups/glasses. Like before they even put it down on the coffee table, he will fucking coaster that shit, all whilst making stern eye contact. He will also organise your library of books, games, DVDS, bottles of alcohol. Doesn’t matter what you have, if he cannot sleep he will alphabetically organise it. He’s another guy who can tune toasters to their perfect setting. Perfect toast for you when you wake up!

·         Fujin; Gods are quirky by nature, well they are to humans. Fujin is quirky even to Raiden… ever so slightly. Fujin has a fair few quirks, such as meditating in the strangest of positions, doing near naked Yoga is another. Because to him, his form is not seen as something to be prudish over. That, and it allows him to be zen. So yeah, prepare for half naked tai-chi in the living room. He can make the perfect cup of tea as well. Like you don’t even have to say how you like it. He. Just. Knows. Gotta love Fujin. He better be DLC or we riot.

·         Raiden; A quirk of his is that he loves cats and they love him. He’s not sure where this has come from, but there is something about them that makes them perfect in his eyes. If you have a cat, it will love him instantly. Random cats will follow him in the streets. He’s the god form of catnip. Your cat may ignore you, but it will not ignore him. You’ve caught him fawning over cute cat videos before. The internet is amazing.

[carlyfrombleachers]

Liveblogging of TS6 (reputation)

Okay. Let me preface this by saying I don’t like Taylor Swift. I think she’s a boring artist, who brings close to nothing to the table. The reason I’m even listening to Reputation is because I keep getting recommended an interview of Jack Antonoff where he talks about New Year’s Day (which is a song on Reputation) and I really want to watch that but I also want to know what the fuck he’s talking about. So here we are. Don’t expect more stuff like this from me. I expect this to be just a one-off thing. Swifties, don’t fucking come after me or I will cry. The only other TS album I listened to was Lover, and I thought it was trash. Absolute garbage. And apparently this one is worse than Lover. I don’t know if I’ll regret this.

Let’s begin, I guess.

...Ready For It?

I keep thinking of that one voice clip from the Hannah Montana intro (?) where you faintly hear a girl say “are you ready for it?” and that’s my first impression just by looking at the title.

I’m hitting ‘play’ right now.

Oh nevermind, I forgot to pay Deezer this month. YouTube it is.

Hey look, Ajay is in my recommended. Queen of reactions.

Help what is this

rockstar taylor??

what the fuck is up with the beat

chorus felt weak. this is my first opinion im not done with the track

i looked at the music video for 3 seconds and i saw a horse bye

i was distracted by the music video help i dont like this

since i looked at the music video for just a lil while i should say it looks weird. it is weird in a bad way it looks like some knockoff cyberpunk thing.

why didnt she just name this “Are You Ready For It?”

I’m... not particularly blown away by this track. It’s fine. I wouldn’t bop to it but I wouldn’t object to it playing somewhere. It’s like... it’s decent.

End Game (ft. Ed Sheeran, Future)

I don’t know who Future is.

she said reputation haha thats the name of the album

ok future is a rapper i dont listen to rap thats why i dont know him

after listening to lover i cant believe this is the same woman this is so weird

not looking forward to the ed sheeran part

“i wanna be your end game” this wasnt really what i was expecting

fuck off ed sheeran (i just reached his part)

according to some tabloid lady gaga mistook ed sheeran for a waiter? i would do the same thing if i saw this redhead fuckface on the street as well lol

“big reputation, big reputation, you and me got a big reputation” so deep!!!

I guess I should take this time to-- is she rapping?

Sorry, I got distracted. I don’t think every song needs to be this huge deep piece that must be deeply analyzed for centuries, but I do expect some interesting message or context for a track at least. If it sounds good, I’d also give it a pass. 

This one? This was boring. I would not verbally object to this playing close to me, I would just have a grossed out look on my face during the chorus.

I Did Something Bad

I keep reading the title in Akasaka Sad’s tune. You know the part where Rina says “A-ka-sa-ka sad, I’m a sucker”? I keep thinking “I did-I did something bad”. I don’t expect it to be like that.

“i never trust a narcissist but they love me” taylor talks about her fanbase

sorry to drag swifties publicly but i will forever take an opportunity to drag a swiftie

predictable antithesis use there with “i did something bad so why does it feel so good” but okay

why was taylor branded a snake again? she pretended it was “””gone””” with lover but like. it’s weird. its not like she punched kanye on stage in 2008 or something. i dont care enough to search for evidence that taylor is a snake so lol go off i guess

dont enjoy the post-chorus part where she’s like drddddddd dddddddd it feels so distracting the gunshots were more than enough

Yeah, this one was fine. My favorite up to this point, I think.

Don’t Blame Me

lol she said “dont blame me” then it buffered bye

i was showering for the past 25 minutes hello i was listening to track 10 and melodrama

i am enjoying this one kinda

“dont blame me love made me crazy” haha wait until you find out what your next era is

“i once was poison ivy now im your daisy” this is a pretty good line honestly

obligatory katy flop moment: haha taylor could hit the high notes in daisy

this sounds like a country song especially in the chorus i dont know what to really make of it

“loooord save me” this is why your female fans are called horse girls

This was... pretty good. The chorus weirds me out still, but it had its good moments. It was nice.

Delicate

stop saying reputation in the reputation album

this autotune voice bits of hers are so distracting

i say as i listen to how i’m feeling now by charli xcx

yes i did just roast myself. gotta leave the swifties with nothing

god the music video for this track has 400m views this woman is making my faves look like indie stars LOL

I keep getting distracted because this song is boring. It’s... okay. I guess. The music video was pretty cute. Nothing caught my attention in the track, but it sounds like gym music. It would play on a gym owned by a 30-something white woman during the yoga classes and you know it.

Look What You Made Me Do

We’ve all heard this song. I’m gonna listen to it and then be done with it.

I guess I’ll just watch the music video.

ONE BILLION VIEWS????????????

Okay. I watched the music video.

Really? All the fem guys dancing with her?

I’m not going to sit here and be like “fem guys are BAD and should all die and never be represented” because… lol. But it is kind of annoying how it was literally just fem guys dancing with her and doing all those faces because you KNOW she was looking for the impressionable gays to go “omg taylor progressive!!!!” and go talk about it on social media.

But am I saying that because I don’t like Taylor? Yes. But that doesn’t make my point less valid.

The music video was pretty good, the production on this track is really good (thank you Jack Antonoff xx) and the track itself is good. Not outstanding or perfect or a serve, it’s good.

Also the ending with all her previous eras? That was cool. The uncool part is most of the “look how rich I am” parts… because we all know you’re rich, Taylor. Nice SFX.

So It Goes…

i got an ad whyyyyyyy

fuck this shit i cant keep up with what shes saying im pulling genius out for this one

this is not lyrically deep i can tell already from genius

im not a fan of love songs i already have CRJ to cover that base and Lorde covers breakup songs I guess and this song is just. boring. lol

Nothing really shocking or noteworthy here, it’s just.. okay.

Gorgeous

I got another ad FUCK

i got a boss baby ad help

god boss baby really was something huh i completely forgot about that

why am i talking about boss baby

okay. reputation

why did a baby say gorgeous

HELP i am so disappointed this is the one track with the lyric video and god this is disappointing

i saw this and i was like “oh shit shes gonna talk about how its gonna be gorgeous when u die” or smth and

lol. LOL. the depth is nonexistent and the bar is in hell

who wrote this? you lied

This song is so boring, LOL. I expected so much from it and was instantly disappointed when the pre-chorus hit. You had everything on your plate and you ate the plate itself. Girl. What the hell. Why. You could’ve given us an anthem about hating your man, and you took the easy route.

Getaway Car

im intrigued

okay im listening and this sounds very jack antonoff? the shotgun thing made me immediately go o_o

it felt a bit weak at the end but at the start i was enjoying it quite a lot… i think this is my fave

I enjoyed this one quite a lot :) It was pretty good but not an amazing masterpiece. It was better than LWTMMD and that’s all I have to say.

King Of My Heart

sounds boring haha

taylor keeps putting these trap beats in things sister youre not lorde LOL

yeah this is kinda boring

WAIT A MINUTE NEW YEARS DAY IS THE LAST TRACK???? IM GONNA HAVE TO STICK UNTIL THE END oh my god please no

i dont. i .. i knew this would be happening but i didnt expect it to be the last one

i guess the timing is accurate ha ha ha ha

i just heard ariana grande

I keep hearing Ariana Grande on this track. Is that good? I don’t know.

Dancing With Our Hands Tied

why are there so many songs in this fucking album

the beat is.. okay. it is catchy

oh i like this i think. its pretty nice

the chorus is nice. yes. i do kind of enjoy this

Yeah, I liked this one. Pretty good writing, and it sounds great.

Dress

wtf is this song why is it so horny

horny taylor is weird stop being horny please

this song is okay i would not revisit it because its just weird. do not like this!!!

when carly rae jepsen says slide on through my window it is funny but when taylor sings i bought this dress so you could take it off i die

oh that second of silence was really good

[looks at the producer] [it’s jack antonoff] :)

This song weirds me out. I don’t like it. It had its moments production-wise but it was... weird.

This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

I expect good things from this. With a title like that? Give me a bop.

Currently not being a bop.

Okay, it was cute. Nothing amazing. Just… fine. Cute attempt.

oh i liked the spoken part thats what i expected from this song

Call It What You Want

this is about genitalia this is my prediction

It was not about genitalia.

This song is pretty good if you remove all the mentions to her lover and her man and her baby, which are all the same person, I guess.

This is disappointing.

JACK ANTONOFF BACKING VOCALS

I LOVE YOU JACK

umm anyways

OH HE DID IT AGAIN IM GONNA CRY i love this man

I expected so much from this track and the chorus just… disappointed me.

JACK!!! I LOVE YOU!!!! KEEP SINGING!!!!!

i love this man im gonna cry

The highlight of this song is the part where Jack Antonoff sings.

New Year’s Day

wow the reason why im doing this shit

look at him. :)

this song was cute. nothing special. just cute. very okay.

just. okay. yeah. pretty fine.

nothing special.

Final Thoughts On The Album

It was better than Lover.

I expected this to be a concept album, all about the drama she’s gotten into? But it was just boring love songs with some extra flair. I expected great things from this album, having only heard LWYMMD from it before this. A concept album that’s just an answer/clapback to everyone’s who wronged her à la Yellow Flicker Beat (I know it’s for a movie but that song slaps and I don’t know a thing about Hunger Games) would’ve been PERFECT but it was just... love songs. I need Taylor to stop singing about love and start serving us big meals.

I would not like to revisit this. Like, 5/10. It could’ve been a lot better, but it wasn’t because you’re too afraid to cross some lines, Taylor.

Final Ranking:

Dancing With Our Hands Tied

Getaway Car

Look What You Made Me Do

I Did Something Bad

Don’t Blame Me

New Year’s Day

Call It What You Want

...Ready For It?

This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

So It Goes...

End Game (feat. Ed Sheeran, Future)

Dress

Delicate

King Of My Heart

Gorgeous

taylor flop stream gone now

[rainythefox]

Nightfall (CH.11)

Synopsis: Pre-Resident Evil 1, slight-AU/Canon Divergence. Claire Redfield comes home to visit her  brother Chris for the holidays but gets caught up in a dangerous game of  cat and mouse with Albert Wesker, the Captain of STARS, after stumbling  upon dark secrets. She can’t call the law; Wesker is the law, and she  can’t tell Chris. She is trapped…Claire/Wesker & Slight  Chris/Jill. Rated M for eventual smut, language, violence, adult content.

AO3 Link

Chapter 11: The Silver Wolf

Claire paid the taxi driver and got out. She paused long enough on the curb to look around the busy streets of downtown Raccoon City. Traffic was heavy. It was rush hour time and everyone was heading home for the evening. Because of the short winter days, daylight was already succumbing to oncoming nightfall. It had been a bit warmer today with the sun showing itself, but Claire knew once it set, the temperature would drop to freezing fast. She bundled up in her parka and headed south down the sidewalk.

Crowded bodies filled the walkways, some walking south, others walking north or crossing the street when the light was red. She ignored the calls of the people around her, the sloshing of melting snow under tires, and the honking horns of rolling traffic. Carolers sang nearby and a Santa Claus rang a bell outside a store for donations. Most of this went right over Claire, her mind a maelstrom of thoughts and worries. She wondered what she would have to do next.

The younger Redfield had left a note for her brother claiming she had left to go babysit and would be home later this evening and would call if she had any problems. She only hoped that she would actually be able to return home tonight and that the blackmailing STARS Captain didn’t plan on keeping her longer than intended…or getting her killed.

Claire turned off from the sidewalk and entered a parking lot for a strip mall. She didn’t pay much attention to the stores. One was a clothing outlet and another was a bakery. The college student crossed the parking lot, heading for the row of bare landscaping trees in the center. About halfway there, the low rumbling of a car creeped up behind her. She tensed and quickly recognized the glossy, sleek luxury car. She halted, glaring at the tinted windows. Oh, how she didn’t want to do this…

With one last look around her surroundings, Claire opened the passenger door and entered the car. Inside, she was greeted with warmth from the heater, and the smell of leather and faint cologne. Clenching her jaw, she looked to the driver’s seat and unsurprisingly was greeted with a familiar leer.

“Miss Redfield, it’s dangerous to get into a stranger’s vehicle.” Wesker was still dressed in his STARS uniform and must’ve just got off from his shift. Chris would’ve just ended his as well.

Her glare didn’t falter. “Tell me about it.”

“Well, it’s good to know that you can follow directions. And punctual.

That irked her. “So?”

He wasn’t fazed by her tone, merely more amused. “Good work on the note, dear heart. And the splendid cover story of babysitting for William. You’re a clever one indeed. A woman after my own heart.”

“What heart?” she growled.

His dark smirk only grew.

She didn’t want to know how he knew the specifics. It didn’t matter anyway. It just confirmed that she was indeed trapped in his web, forever under his control. At least until a window of opportunity presented itself to her. She hadn’t given up yet. Redfields don’t quit…

“Whatever. Let’s just get this over with. What are you making me do this time?”

A familiar chime rang out. Wesker, still parked in the lot, pulled out his pager, a smirk growing on his face. “You’ll see, my dear.”

She couldn’t believe she was doing this. Actually, yes, she could. After a long, boring phone call from Colonel Sergei asking for a status report on her “investigation”, Ada was summoned to NEST by Wesker. She didn’t mind dealing with him or William, they were both fun and interesting in their own ways, especially together. It was Annette that she didn’t want to get involved with. The woman had it out for Ada and put a damper on her mood any chance she got.

As soon as she made it to the visitor’s entrance to NEST, the agent was frisked down by security and forced to go through not only a decontamination spray but a programmed security scan by a computer. Needless to say, some of her gadgets were taken away. Miffed, Ada griped at security personnel as she waited for Annette to arrive and escort her. Why couldn’t it have been William? He’s a lot more fun…

“Hey! That isn’t a toy,” Ada snapped, watching a guard play with her lipstick. “You want your head blown off? Jesus.”

“With all these weapons, how are we to know you aren’t planning to assassinate Dr. Birkin?” another guard asked.

“Oh, totally. I was summoned here by Albert and that would be such a genius move on my part.” Her biting sarcasm was one of her more underrated virtues...sarcasm was a virtue, right? At least in her book. Better than having none, too.

“We’re just doing what we were instructed to do, Miss Wong,” the female greeter said with a nervous smile. “We’re sorry for the inconvenience.”

“You cannot always expect to get a red carpet arrival, Miss Wong.”

That voice. There she was. The wicked witch. Ada smiled sweetly and turned around to face the Queen of NEST.

Annette smirked sourly. “Waving around your passes from Lord Spencer and Colonel Sergei? They have no power here. This is my husband’s domain.”

“Annette, so good to see you again. Could you please take me to William? Kinda have to. Albert’s…insistence.”

Annette slowly nodded, her eyes flicking over to the security guards who had Ada’s confiscated items. “She is to get all of her supplies back when she departs. Handle them with the utmost care, she is a guest. We do have one other guest coming that will need to be searched, and he has a signed note of what needs to stay on him. Page me when he arrives.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Annette motioned to Ada after getting a visitor’s ID wristband for her. “Follow me.”

“Yay...”

The two women traversed NEST using their ID wristbands. Ada immediately noticed they were not going anywhere near William’s laboratory. They bypassed the underground facility and went into the sewers, using catwalks and following marked paths.

“Gonna take me out with the trash?” Ada quipped.

“Maybe one of these days.”

“What’s your problem with me anyway?”

Annette side-glanced her with a frown. “You’re a mole. I don’t trust you. I don’t care what Albert says.”

“Aw c’mon, Annie. Live a little.”

“Don’t call me that.”

They took a concrete tunnel that had multiple turns and doors, and Annette brought them to a red door. Ada hadn’t seen any other people, but knew they weren’t that far from NEST or the waste treatment plant.

The female Dr. Birkin rapped on the door. “Will, honey, it’s me.”

The door gave a hollow click, unlocked, and then opened. The King of NEST allowed them entry and closed and locked the door behind them. The room was a conference room of some kind. A long table surrounded with chairs took up most of it. An unused projector hung above, with one wall draped with a white screen. The table was clean except for a cup of coffee, a closed briefcase, a laptop, and a file with its contents of papers spread out by one chair. There were a few video feeds on one wall showing hallways and tunnels to and from NEST and the waste treatment facility. Attached to the conference room through a doorway was another room sporting a kitchen and vending machines.

“Ada, what a pleasant surprise,” William greeted sweetly, but soon noticed the glare from his wife and cleared his throat. “Please sit. Coffee?”

“I’m fine, thanks. I’ll just get my instructions and be on my way. Albert said it was time sensitive.”

“Oh, right. Of course.”

“You sound funny, Will. You got a cold or something?”

“Yes,” William answered as he shifted through the briefcase on the table, “But I created an immune boost overnight and took it a few hours ago and feel much better!”

Ada smiled. What a nerd…an ingenious, ruthless nerd…but still…

“Ahh, here we are,” William stated, pulling an envelope and handing it to the agent. “Have fun with that…”

“Thanks, hun,” she replied with a purr, deliberately smiling flirtatiously and ignoring Annette’s lightning eyes. “I’ll take my leave. Don’t worry, Annie. I know the way out. Ciao.”

William gawked as he waved her goodbye, but soon took notice of Annette’s lightning eyes now directed at him. “What?!”

Ada chuckled to herself as she swung the door shut behind her, leaving henpecked William defenseless with his wife.

William flipped through his notes, backtracking and confirming the results displayed on his laptop. He paused long enough to take a drink of his lukewarm coffee. He didn’t react to it, having been used to drinking coffee at all temperatures. His foot tapped restlessly as he worked. Annette should’ve been back by now, although William wasn’t sure if maybe he missed an important detail to her ranting earlier when he had tuned her out.

Ada this, Ada that, Albert this and that, blah blah blah. But there was something about Sherry’s Christmas present, fruit cake, a meeting with John at the Spencer estate, and…? Hmm, surely it wasn’t anything important.

The Umbrella Chief of Research paused long enough to actually think about it. He was in the private briefing room of the neighboring waste facility next door from NEST, waiting for Albert and Claire. Ada had been gone a couple of hours already with her assignment. So then what was taking his wife so long from going over the Plant 43 report?

Wait…didn’t she say something about another person showing up here to meet with Albert?

That’s what it was! But who was it? He really had picked the wrong time to zone out from Anne’s constant chatter.

Oh, look at that! Subjects 132 and 109 were a close enough match that G was able to reproduce flawlessly! And at a 23 percent time increase over Subjects 76 and 55! My genetics research is never wrong!

William rapped away on his laptop keys ecstatically until a knock sounded at the door behind him. Oh, right. Annette. That had to be her.

“Will, honey? It’s me.”

Indeed it was, and it was the code that everything was safe. William scooted his chair back and rose. He went over to the door and unlocked it. When he opened it, he remained in the doorway to see who this “other person” was that was supposed to meet with Albert.

He took one look and laughed. “Are you shitting me? Go away.”

Despite his wife’s protest, William went to shut the door in their faces, but a boot came in the threshold and stopped the door dead. William tried to shove, but the mercenary easily pushed the door open, making the G-Virus creator slide with the door like he weighed nothing.

“Fine…I guess I’ll let you in,” Will growled.

“I see you haven’t changed, comrade.”

“Uh, that’s Doctor Birkin to you.”

Nikolai Zinoviev smirked and looked at Anne. “Your husband. He’s like little angry puppy around me always. All bark, no bite, yeah?”

Annette sighed, half-rolling her eyes. “Please, Mr. Zinoviev. Don’t get him started.”

William crossed his arms with a huff. “I don’t need to bite. I’ve got people to do that for me.”

The mercenary’s smirk didn’t falter, and William grew even more miffed. What in the world did Albert need this jerk for? They all knew he was best buds with Sergei. His code name was “Silver Wolf” if William recalled, and he was a sergeant in the Colonel’s Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service. A joke regiment, as far as he was concerned.

“Oh, right. Like comrade Wesker? I’m curious what you would do without him around, Doctor Birkin.”

“Brains always beats brawn, Nikky.”

The UBCS sergeant snatched William by the shirt and picked him up off the floor. “Well, it’s good thing I have both, no? And comrade Wesker, he has both, yeah? You, on other hand, just very big brain and mouth, and puny body.”

As they glared at each other, Annette pulled a pistol from her lab coat and tapped it on her thigh in plain sight of the two men. “Release my husband, Mr. Zinoviev.”

The Russian mercenary softly chuckled. “I am only having little fun. Everyone knows it is death wish to touch hair on his head.” He dropped William and patted him on the shoulder. “Ease up, Dr. Birkin. I am friend to you today.”

“Coffee, Mr. Zinoviev?” Annette asked when William and Nikolai sat down across from each other at the table.

“I accept your gracious offer. Thank you, Mrs. Birkin.”

“She’s also Dr. Birkin,” William said with a glare.

He looked away from the mercenary just long enough to page Wesker. He should have ended his shift at the RPD by now and would be picking up Claire.

“My apologies.”

Annette slipped into the other room to make their “guest’s” beverage. When she returned, she handed Nikolai his cup and sat down next to her husband. The silence that settled was stuffy and uncomfortable, but William and Nikolai only glared at each other.

Anne sighed. “Will, it’s not like you to be so quiet.”

“I don’t trust him.”

Nikolai’s lips slightly rose on one side, but he didn’t react much more than that. He looked the same since William saw him last. Still the short silver hair and steely dark gray eyes. He wasn’t dressed in his UBCS uniform though, just civilian clothes with a light jacket.

“He’s a friend of Albert’s, honey. All of his friends are shady assholes.”

“You’re definitely right about tha-hey!”

Annette smiled playfully his way before her pager beeped in her coat. She pulled it out and looked at the message. “There’s Li. He’s got a problem with the newest batch of MA-125 embryos. I’ll go handle it. Albert better get here soon. You and I have so much to catch up on.”

“He should be on his way, dear.”

His wife glared at the silent Russian mercenary. “Mr. Zinoviev, it would be in your best interest to listen to my husband and to keep yourself from antagonizing him. This is a warning.”

Nikolai looked to Annette as she rose from her seat, and the two kept each other’s gaze for a long, tense moment. The UBCS sergeant nodded with a polite smile. “Of course, Dr. Birkin. I’ll be on my best behavior. After all,” he turned his crafty eyes back to the Golgotha creator. “I wouldn’t want to piss off “big brother.”

Annette left the briefing room. William felt trapped and exposed at the same time. The silence ate at him once more. Nikolai looked around the room for a moment but soon his eyes landed back on William and stayed. The Chief of Research fidgeted in his seat, uneasy. He picked up his pencil and played with it, thinking.

I swear to God, Al, if you took a detour to stick your dick in the Redfield girl, I’m gonna kick your ass.

A long bout of silence longer, and William couldn’t take it anymore. He had to talk.

“So…I never asked before…How did you and Albert meet?”

Nikolai shrugged. “A few years ago, he and his sister arrived to Rockfort Island on business to deal with Ashford and his associates. An internal affair investigation led by the Umbrella Intelligence Division. At time, my rivalry with particular Umbrella Special Service agent, codenamed HUNK, had landed-

“HUNK? What kind of codename is that supposed to be?” Nikolai wasn’t amused about being interrupted and when he opened his mouth to continue, William just interrupted him again. “Is he really a hunk?”

The Russian mercenary sighed, agitated. “It had landed me in hot water to put mildly. It had nothing to do with them, but Wesker still pulled strings to lift charges and actually got me promoted afterward. So now we help each other from time to time.”

William wiggled his pencil in boredom to make it look like it was made of rubber. “Oh yeah? Well, I’ve known Albert since we were kids! We were both raised under James Marcus as his proteges.”

The UBCS sergeant rolled his eyes. “I know. Say…didn’t Dr. Marcus die under “mysterious” circumstances?” he grinned.

The G-Virus creator snorted. “No! He died under completely normal circumstances. Poor old bastard. He was like a dad to me.”

Watching him die at my feet was one of the best days of my life and I cannot wait for the same to happen with Spencer.

Nikolai chuckled. “Yeah, sure.”

“Y’know, what does that tell you about your friendship with ‘ol Serggy? He obviously left you hanging in your time of need in that wretched place. Al would never do that to me. Just saying…”

“Conflict of interests, comrade,” Nikolai stated evenly, slightly narrowing his eyes. “He wasn’t allowed to.” The UBCS sergeant soon relaxed, shrugging. “Besides, Sergei and I are close enough friends to understand that we can and will sell each other out if right opportunity presents itself. Especially on his end. Same with Wesker and myself. What fantasy are you living in that Wesker isn’t using you, comrade? You’re obviously using him…protection mostly, as I have feeling you’d be dead already otherwise. Your arrogance and ambitions stem directly from fact that you know “big brother” protects you. Otherwise, you are coward.” Nikolai leered his way. “Just saying…”

William bristled but visually only offered a half-smirk. “Of course we use each other. I didn’t say that we didn’t, Nikky. But unlike your loyalty to your old friend Sergei, ours cannot be bought. It’s more of a “I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine” sort of situation...without any actual scratching.”

Nikolai laughed hollowly. “Anything can be bought, Dr. Birkin. Anything. You of all people know that. You blackmail this city for your own agendas. You don’t look it, but I know you’ve killed just as many people as Wesker has…sold them out, back-stabbed them, or even used them in experiments. Quit kidding self. You and Wesker are no different. The right offer just hasn’t been made.”

Albert had once told him that Nikolai had the potential to become more of a threat than Sergei. And now he knew why. He saw things differently than the Colonel. And his mind worked like Al’s in more ways than one.

William glared at the UBCS sergeant hard, bitter. Nikolai kept his gaze with his own sharp eyes, a sneer lurking on his lips. William subconsciously clenched the pencil in his hand hard. But nothing could be said between the two men before the door to the briefing room swung open. William should have looked, in case it was danger, as Annette had obviously forgotten to lock it again, but he and Nikolai didn’t move. That is, until a distinct voice broke them from their fuming trance. The subtleties of the tone told him that his partner was slightly annoyed, but anyone else would have just heard the business-like resonance.

“Nikolai. You and me. Let’s talk.”

William smugly smirked and waved goodbye with his fingers as Nikolai rose from his chair. Unaffected by neither Wesker’s tone or William’s snide, the Russian mercenary snorted and left the table.

“Good talking, Nikky!”

“William.”

The Golgotha creator hunkered and innocently looked his best friend’s way. He didn’t miss the glare meant for him behind the shades, but he motioned to the beautiful girl at his side. “Look after Miss Redfield. I’ll be back shortly.”

“Sure, pal.”

When Nikolai stopped to look at Claire, grey eyes both quite interested and wary, William didn’t miss the curl in Albert’s lip as he stepped in between them, motioning to the door. Nikolai took the hint immediately and left the room without looking back. The look Wesker gave Claire before following him out may have looked harmless enough, but William knew what it really meant. He gave the Redfield girl a gentle smile, offering her a seat next to him. After all, she didn’t realize that Albert was never going to let her go.

She relaxed a little when it was just the two of them and sat down with him.

“Coffee, my dear?” he asked. William didn’t like most people and never had concern over their lives or feelings. There were only a select few he genuinely cared for in his busy life, the rest was only an act, if he even bothered with it at all. But he found himself growing fond of Claire more and more, though wasn’t sure whether it was over Claire herself or the fact that his partner was unhealthily obsessed with her.

With a surrendering sigh, her forehead connected with the table and it made him smile. Both, definitely both.

Claire ignored William’s whistling tune as he made her a cup of coffee in the side room. When she heard the ceramic mug hit the tabletop, she raised her face off the table to see the fresh brew steaming nearby. She quietly took it with a quick nod of thanks to the eccentric researcher.

As she quietly blew her lips over the rim, her eyes carefully examined the room she was in. It was a conference room of some kind way down here in the sewers near the big, creepy Umbrella facility. She noticed the variety of things William had by his chair: a briefcase, a closed laptop, and a closed file with some pages poking out messily.

She took a sip, her eyes finally hovering on the door. “Who was that silver-haired guy?”

William, antsy, shifted nearly constantly in his chair next to her. Wesker wasn’t kidding. The guy was a fiend of restlessness. “Huh?” She must have jerked him from his own thoughts. “Oh, Nikolai? He’s an asshole, don’t worry about him.”

“Do you know why Wesker brought me here?”

“Yes,” William answered, and patted the briefcase sitting on the table near him. “All in here. But I’ll let him go over it with you. I’m out as soon as he gets back.”

Claire grabbed his arm hard, instinctively putting pressure where Chris had taught her for self-defense. “Don’t leave me alone with him!”

“Ow! Retract the claws, sweetheart! You’ll be fine! He doesn’t bite…all the time.”

She glared his way and squeezed harder.

“Ow, I was just joking! Why are you redheads so mean to me?!”

Claire let him go with a huff. She fumed to herself while William rubbed his arm, pouting. Once she calmed down, she looked at him. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “I just…want out of this.”

William sighed. “No harm, no foul. And I understand. Unfortunately, that is between you and Al. I can’t help you with that. But he likes you enough…just do what he says and get it over with. Like I said before, he’s giving you a chance that he's never given anyone.”

Claire lowered her eyes to her hot coffee. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

They were both quiet for a long moment, and then William gently offered a change in subject. “My daughter adores you. She raved about you nonstop the other day.”

Claire smiled. “Sherry was a doll. It was a real treat meeting her.”

William grinned proudly. “She’s super smart, like her parents. And real self-sufficient.”

“She seemed lonely to me.”

William frowned. “Yeah…our lives are kinda hectic. Our work keeps us away most of the time. She has a hard time making friends, and well, Anne and I just never got around to giving her a sibling. And her godfather doesn’t have any children for her to play with. We tried pets, but that was a no-go. Dogs take too much work and Anne is allergic to cats. I got a baby alligator for her one time though.” William hesitated, thinking hard while tapping his chin. “What happened to that thing?”

“Do you and Annette not have other family? Parents, siblings? No cousins for Sherry to play with?”

The Umbrella researcher flinched, but he did so in a way that Claire barely caught it. “Nah. Anne’s parents and older sister don’t talk to her and don’t live here. Me? I was an orphan. Umbrella has programs that help orphans and foster children into new homes to put it simply. I was taken in by a man named James. Went to a private school. Even though I was a one-of-a-kind child prodigy, I…got bullied a lot. Was there for about a year until James took in Albert as well. We were in the same boat, so to speak…orphans with nowhere else to go.” Will half-smiled as he thought back to those memories, and Claire sensed sadness there. “Al wasn’t very friendly at first. I mean, he’s never really been friendly to anyone except me and that took quite some time. Poor kid had been through hell. I was his punching bag for a bit, but mostly he kept to himself. I tried everything to be his friend, but that just made things worse. We fought a lot. One day I accidentally destroyed a project of his. I tried to rebuild it with what I had on hand and...well...it didn’t turn out so great. So, I’m expecting the usual knuckle sandwich he likes to feed me when he shows up, but he doesn’t. He just...laughs. I actually made the little bastard laugh! After that, we were instant best friends, brothers. I never had to worry about bullies again. We raced through school and college, as we were both prodigies. But we also went through absolute hell together. Umbrella offered us positions in research and development of medicines. And the rest is history.”

Claire took in the story, moved in a way she never thought to expect. She had known from Sherry that Wesker was a researcher as well, but now she wanted to know what made him become Captain of the Special Tactics and Rescue Service, of all things. “So, if Wesker was a researcher like you, why isn’t he one now? Why become a cop?”

“He’s still a researcher part-time...among other things.” Will cleared his throat. “And let’s just say Al became a cop because he has a strong sense of justice and wishes to help people.”

“Help people?” Claire snorted loudly. “Yeah, right.”

“Trust me, if you start down that rabbit hole, you’ll wind up dead fast. Best to just let it go, cupcake.”

Point taken. She was sure Wesker’s motives in law enforcement weren’t for anything good. Claire decided to change the subject, wondering what else she could dig for. “So, what happened to James?”

William’s eyes fell down and away. “Oh…he, uh, passed away. ‘Bout a decade ago. Anne, Sherry, and Albert are the only family I’ve got.”

The college student could tell that he was deliberately keeping parts out, but didn’t press it. She took a drink of her coffee, studying him. “You said Wesker went through hell. What happened to him? And what about his sister? He told me he had one.”

“An older sister by one year. Albert didn’t find out about her until later. Eh, a complicated matter, really. As for what happened to him, it isn’t for me to say. But it wasn’t nice.”

Claire only grew more curious and found herself feeling a tiny bit sad over what could’ve possibly happened to Wesker and William both. Obviously, certain events throughout their lives had turned them into the people they were today. She wanted to know. More clues proving that Wesker wasn’t just some power-hungry psychopath. There was a reason he was the way he was and he did the things he did. Everything he did had a purpose. And all of his goals seemed to point to power and control.

Claire wondered if maybe something happened to Wesker out of his control when he was young that damaged him. Or maybe she was just giving him too much credit.

The younger Redfield let it go. “Well, it doesn’t matter. I’ll never feel sorry for him after what he’s done.”

William half-smirked. “I wasn’t trying to make you feel that way. Just saying what happened. I love Al like a brother, but he is a monster. A brotherly monster, so to speak! A monster created through circumstances out of his control and he never let it go. And, well, I’m no different. Albert’s always been treated as a weapon or a tool...what they created was something far worse that can never be ruled again. You know what they always say in those comics? Heroes aren’t born, they’re made. The same applies to villains. But the thing about good and evil and all the gray in between, Claire, is that it’s a matter of perspective.”

So, she was right after all. There was more to him than met the eye...

I am no longer the ruled...I am the ruler…

Claire was quiet, taking in the genius researcher’s philosophy. She really didn’t know what to say to it, but her chance was soon lost when she heard the room’s door open. The air immediately changed, and she didn’t even have to look to know that it was Wesker who had returned. She was surprised to see that his silver-haired companion was nowhere in sight. But where Claire had instantly glared his way as he slowly approached them, taking off his sunglasses, William instantly brightened with a lopsided grin.

“Did you have a nice chat with ‘ol Nikky? He sure is a grouch. No sense of humor at all!”

She would have relaxed from William’s usual boast of teasing and humor had Wesker not been eyeing her closely since entering the room. Without the shades, his stare was even more unnerving than usual - even though Claire couldn’t help but to admit that he did have captivating eyes.

The younger Redfield’s heart jumped to her throat the second he gave her a devious smile, but thankfully his eyes soon left her. She almost staggered and felt like collapsing when the pressure that she had felt from his scrutiny fell off her like a crushing weight. Her stomach felt funny from the sudden and unexpected adrenaline rush. Lightheaded, she stayed quiet while Wesker offered William his most sarcastic smirk.

“What’s wrong, Will? Don’t like sharing my attention?”

Will scoffed and waved his old friend off waggishly. “Me? Jealous? Hell no. I’m way more charming than he is. Funnier, too. And better looking, just for the record!”

The chuckle Wesker produced was gentler than usual. “Obviously, there is no competition.”

Wesker placed his hands on Claire’s shoulders. She flinched in her seat, shivering as his cool fingers kneaded her skin in an unmistakably possessive manner that was meant to intimidate her and assert his dominance over the situation - and her.

Fucking creep! Claire couldn’t help but curse him silently as she stiffened under his unexpected touch. But she soon noticed that her own body started betraying her beneath his massaging.

“Was our lovely assistant here any hassle for you?”

She braced, as though his fingers would turn into claws and tear into her, hands forming into fists in her lap as she stared hard at William. He tapped a pencil he was holding on the table, gaping at them for a moment, and Claire was sure he was indifferent to her internal suffering.

“Oh, no trouble at all. Pleasant company as always, Al. Without a punch to my attractive face, I might add.”

“Good.”

Claire glared at him, but the eccentric researcher suddenly sneaked a tiny smile and winked at her in an excessively conspiratorial manner. He grabbed the briefcase near him and slid it across the table to the seat on her other side without breaking eye contact with her. Wesker let her go and moved over to the briefcase and the younger Redfield just about collapsed in relief. She released a shaky breath she didn’t know she had been holding.

William stood up with an over-dramatic stretch. He picked up his closed laptop and folder and slipped them under his arm. “Well, I better get back to the lab. I’ve got cells from “you know what” to go over with faulty ribosome and polypeptide structures that need analysis.” He pushed in his chair and lazily saluted Claire. “Always a pleasure, Claire. Be good.”

He didn’t even have a chance to take one step towards the exit before Wesker grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him back. “Whaaaaat?” he groaned like an indignant teenager.

Wesker’s smirk was a malicious kind of playful. “Will, my dear friend, did you not hear? Claire is babysitting Sherry for you.”

William laughed. “Sherry hasn’t needed an actual babysitter in almost three years! I mean except for you, Uncle Alby!”

Wesker snickered and then suddenly punched Will in the gut hard enough to make him lurch and yelp, though he wheezed a laugh. “Fuck, ow!”

Claire jumped to her feet. “Jesus! Why the hell do you hurt him if he’s your friend?!”

William, grimacing, waved her off, still wheezing snickers. “S’all good. It’s how he shows affection.”

Once William got his breath back, he shoved Wesker away from him and straightened his lab coat. “So…I take it the babysitting thing is the cover-up with her brother? Clever!”

“You should pay her for it, Will. Make it look legitimate.”

William glared at Wesker. “You pay her! All I got is the grocery allowance! Besides, she’s your “project”. Not mine!”

Claire quickly grew annoyed. “I don’t want any blood money from anyone, let alone you two assholes.”

“Hey, my grocery allowance is not blood money. I keep that in an entirely different account, thank you very much.”

“All I want to do is finish this and get my freedom. Can we move on, please?” Claire groused.

“You heard the lady, Al,” William said with a shrug. “Get to it! I gotta get back to work.”

The eccentric researcher took his leave while rubbing the sore spot in his stomach. When the door shut and Claire was left alone with Wesker, the atmosphere seemed to electrify. She stared at the door, regretting having hurried William out the door. Wesker’s imposing presence silently seemed to push all the air out of the room as he walked around her backside, his hand skimming along her back. She desperately swallowed the effects it had on her, though she couldn’t stop the goosebumps from sprouting on her skin.

“Well, dearheart,” he murmured finally. “Time to get to work...we have much to discuss and plan. No time like the present...”

He wrapped his arm firmly around her shoulder then, pulling her closer than she was comfortable with. He turned her to the table, where the briefcase contents were now out on the table. One look and Claire had a really, really bad feeling…She was about to get in way over her head…

[deathshallbethelastenemy]

so here's what I'm thinking guys, a fire emblem three houses modern high school musical au, but an au of high school musical as well.

You get me?

Like Claude von Riegan schemes the whole 'what time is it' number on the last day of school. All of the golden deer is on it and he somehow got both Edelgard and Dimitri on board which in turn had the blue lions and black eagles crew on board.

Claude steals the schools keys with the charming distraction of Hilda.

And so the shit fest begins.

All of them in their respective classrooms looking at the clock.

`` summer, summer, summer...``

Byleth, Manuela, and Hannenman are looking at their students in confusion:

``why are they all chanting 'summer' in low voices?``

When the clock strikes for class to end all in unison throw their papers in the air and run out of their classrooms and with luck on their side managed to lock all of the professor's in the classrooms.

Claude has a surprisingly good voice:

``finally summer's here, good to be chiiling out, i'm off the clock the pressures out, now my girl's what it's all about``

Dorothea continues:

``ready for some sunshine for my heart to take a chance, i'm here to stay not movin' away ready for a summer romance``

Dedue like a champ is dancing with everyone else and Felix grumbling as he does the bare minimum.

Lysithea in tune sings :

`` everybody ready, going crazy, yeah we're out``

Edelgrad, committed to the scheme, sings:

``come on and let me hear you say it now, right now``

Raphael, Caspar, and Dimitri sing the loudest:

``WHAT TIME IS IT``

However, the rest of the chorus is in unison as the run around wreaking havoc, and Claude locks Seteth in a supply closet while Ashe takes Flayn's hand to join the rest of them.

Ingrid, Sylvain, and Petra have the sickest moves.

Mercedes is laughing and having a good time, while Marriane is in the back praying for the goddess's protection. Lindhart is recording the whole thing with Bernadetta.

Ignatz would dance with Raphael out sync, but a+ for effort.

Hilda singing:

``goodbye to rules, no summer school i'm free to shop till I drop``

Annette accompanying:

``It's an education vacation and the party never has to stop``

Basketballs and volleyballs get thrown around. Water fountains are broken, some grass was uprooted.

The leader of the houses did some amazing trick ass dance moves. Dimitri kicked of wall so hard, he crushed a part of it. Edelgrad, a dancing queen with precised moves. Claude with some break dancing and they end with a pose.

With the goddess on Claude's side, he manages to keep Rhea trapped in her room, but then again, he wasn't one to leave things to chance. Every single detail was planned.

In the end the keys are being passed around like a hot potato until it lands on Claude, who catches it upside down and throws in the trash can.

You can see Byleth pointing at Claude knowing he was the mastermind behind all of this:

``you little shit``

They all get detention on the first day back at school, but damn was it memorable.

[hannahmcne]

Her Royal Highness - Chapter 25

Audrey wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to be feeling.

Her ex-boyfriend's wife who happened to be her mother's enemy's daughter had invited her into her group. Mal had literally tossed her a sword and said she'd need her. Now Audrey had no idea why. It was quite clear as soon as she joined the rest of the group that they were far, far different from her. They were mostly men who had been on various fencing teams and whose dads or uncles or grandfathers had taught them to spar at a young age. There were a couple of girls, like Lonnie, but all things accounted for, they were about seventy-percent men.

There was black upper-body armor for their use, though Audrey wasn't quite sure where they'd gotten it. It was placed alongside the walls of the utopia for everyone who would be entering the outside. The soldiers already had theirs strapped to their bodies.

It hadn't exactly occurred to Audrey that she might be doing dangerous things when she'd come. Truth-be-told, she'd heard Ben would be there and thought it'd be a great chance to hook up with her old boyfriend. Unfortunately, he and Mal seemed to be getting closer, and Audrey was beginning to wonder if maybe this wasn't just a bad-girl-infatuation after all. What were the chances that Ben might actually be in love with Mal, a villainess?

Audrey stood in line with everyone else, holding a sword in her hand that felt - oddly - one with her arm, even though she'd never held a sword before. She carefully observed her comrades and mirrored the way they held their weapons as they stood in unorganized ranks, awaiting the Queen of the Isle.

Mal had dressed for the occasion. She had on a sleeveless leather jacket made of a variety of purple and green shades, zippers, and other metal appliques. Attachable sleeves were currently stuffed into Mal's pockets at the shoulders. Long pants with the hems covered by her combat boots protected her legs from the sun. Her hair was down, and Audrey could see that the back of her neck was wet with sweat. Still, the area was protected from the sun. A large part of Audrey thought: 'How could Ben allow someone so closely associated with him to dress in such a fashion?' The other part of her felt silly and preppy. She pulled the armor on, which would cover her chest, back, and arms, and picked at her shorts where she'd cut off her jeans with intentions to show off as much as possible. Now, she wished she'd kept them longer so that she could pretend that fabric would protect her.

"Alright." Mal snapped to attention. Audrey looked up instinctively. A tall woman with grey hair had approached Mal and held out a large tablet. Mal took it with a smile. She turned it around to show the twenty-ish people who had chosen to join ranks in group one. On the screen was a map of the Isle. Mal pointed to a point on a pier closely surrounded by water. "These are the piers." She explained. "I know for a fact people are gathered there, but Isle rebels could be scattered all over the place, all on the villain's team." Mal pointed as she spoke. "People who waited to see if they wanted to come into the Utopia were taken captive by Maleficent and are now being held hostage. They're either subdued, held captive, or too ill to move. My goal is to bring everyone in unless they specifically tell you otherwise or try to hurt you. So, here's how this will work." Mal handed the tablet back and dug her sword into the ground in front of her.

Audrey tuned out most of what Mal was saying. Mostly, she was giving out tips for moving stealthily and keeping quiet. She carefully moved her sword from hand to hand as she evaluated Mal's stance and composure. Everything about Ben's wife was guarded, from the straight-mouthed expression frozen on her face to the way the muscles in her arms moved in the sunlight. Audrey was trying to figure out what seemed so ethereal and unreal about her until she realized that the small hairs on her arms were purple with the rest of her head. When she stood in the sunlight, she looked like she was glowing a slightly different shade.

Audrey looked down at her own arms. Small brown hairs were scattered amidst freckles, and her arms looked much less muscular than the Queen's. Probably from climbing the palace over and over. Audrey remembered what she had said almost a year ago: "Stuff like that helps me stay fit."

Climbing the palace walls, and probably running across her mom's forfeited kingdom had kept her in shape. Audrey had to bite down the bile rising in her throat.

How could Ben like her? How could Ben want her? Didn't he see all the awful things she was going to do to the kingdom?

"Alright, let's break!" Mal declared. Her eyes fell on Audrey and Audrey felt ice creep down her spine. "Audrey." Mal raised an arm and waved Audrey towards her. "You're with me."

Audrey looked left, and right, and stayed where she was. Instead, Mal came towards her with her sword slung over her shoulder. "I'll keep you safe." She promised. She turned to others in the group. "Lonnie, watch Carlos's back. Marin, you bring up the tail."

Audrey hadn't noticed before, but Islanders were beginning to mix with their groups. Marin, who was a large, imposing, dark-skinned man with tattoos and an upper ear piercing, moved to the back of the group under Mal's command. Other similar men and women were beginning to mix.

"Let's move!" Mal barked. She pressed a small hand to Audrey's back, in between her shoulder blades, and lead her in front of the group to the entrance of the Isle. Group two was following behind them. Audrey began to panic, but she kept her mouth shut as they moved towards the gates into the city. Mal readied her sword, and they flooded through, out of the city.

The air was disgusting. Audrey smelled things rotting; like the time she'd peeled an orange in her garbage and then not taken it out quick enough, resulting in a rancid smell that had filled her room for an entire day, but much, much worse. The city had been built in the middle of an uninhabited forest, where small, scraggly trees grew among large, towering trunks with knotted, uneven bark. The dirt was mottled black and grey with occasional piles of sawdust from where the builders had left it. As they continued, Audrey saw small, scorched places in the earth where fires had been lit. While the barrier appeared purple from inside the city, it now disappeared behind them, as if it wasn't there at all. Pollution and clouds had become trapped inside the barrier, resulting in an awful smog that clouded the sky from view entirely. The entire environment was made up of grey, brown, black and dirty blue.

Someone shouted in the trees "it's the queen!" and Mal raised a hand. The tips of her fingers were alight with green magic. There was a snap, and a shadow fell through the twigs and branches about twenty yards away. Audrey yelped as they thudded towards the ground. The other rebels who had been hiding in the bushes squealed and screamed, and footsteps thundered through the woods as people rushed to get away. Mal moved to stop only two more, and then continued marching her small force through the Isle of the Lost.

Her blood felt like ice and fire underneath her skin as she followed Mal onto the Isle. The group spread out and became sparsely thin. The purple-haired fae remained beside her, gently pressing her onward whenever Audrey slowed.

The forest gave way to a ditch with rotting, muddy water inside. Audrey saw defected frogs whose legs were splayed at awful angles, either from cruel Isle kids hurting them or birth defects and mutations caused by the dangerous chemicals Auradon sometimes sent with their trash. One small monster leaped past her foot with mottled purplish-green skin, a multitude of eyes spread across a sagging face, and warts bigger than her fingernails. There were no fish, and no birds flying anywhere.

A single bridge stretched across the ditch. Mal fingered the railing as she began to cross and stopped midway across to peer down through the cracks as if she were looking for anything down below. Audrey followed her and tried to ignore the cold settling into her bones and the imposing creaking of the bridge.

Across the bridge was a small collection of crumbling buildings with many different levels. Most were made of bricks with plywood roofs and tarps covering broken sides. Graffiti ran rampant. Audrey gaped at the intense slang splattered at great heights on the side of the buildings. Many of them appeared to have been done by the same hand, as they were all themed similarly. Audrey flinched when she spotted a mural of Maleficent, Mal's mom. It was beautiful, very intricate, and featured the infamous fae with her hands outstretched and bright green magic in her hands. The inscription 'Long Live Evil' was featured behind the fae woman. underneath the entire painting was the slogan 'There are so many ways to be wicked."

Ways to be Wicked. Audrey had to scoff to hide the pain in the irony of that statement. Two generations of wicked women ruining her family in two very different ways. One who cursed her kingdom, put her family to sleep, cursed her mom to a nearly-incurable fate, and the other who stole an entire country, her boyfriend, and her future.

Group one began to dissipate into the city. Mal and Audrey held their swords aloft as about four other people crept behind them. She peered behind corners as they walked, and carefully observed all her surroundings as they changed. For Audrey, it was all she could do to tear her eyes off of the buildings, where abandoned and trashed shops lined the alleyways. Audrey stepped over a dirty stuffed dog missing its left arm and leg with a large wooden stake driven through its neck.

As they rounded a corner, Audrey caught a whiff of something horrible. They'd stepped into a small square with uneven cobbling. Next to her was a shop that read: "Lady Tremaine's Curl Up and Dye" with a large pair of scissors for a logo. Hanging from the scissors was the body of a real dog, swinging back and forth. It was missing all its paws and its snout was tied closed as the poor thing swung back and forth. Mal stared at it for a few seconds.

"Cruella." She said after a few seconds. "Someone strung it up for Cruella. Probably a common villain trying to get into her graces." Mal shook her head a few times. "It's been a while since I've seen a statement like that." She muttered.

"Should we cut it down?" Someone asked.

"I don't want to waste time." Mal contemplated as she bit her tongue. "And it's probably been a few days since that thing was killed. It probably has maggots and lots of dangerous bugs. We shouldn't touch it without protection."

An Auradon man prodded the dog's side carefully with the hilt of his sword. Its entire side gave way like poking clay with your finger. Audrey gagged. "This is awful!" She hissed.

"Happens all the time, princess." A small boy in an isle vest drawled. He held two swords in his small hands. "People get strung up too." He added.

"This is barbarous!" Audrey protested. She whirled on Mal. "You're going to get us killed!" She accused.

Mal rolled her eyes. "Yes." She agreed sarcastically. "And I with you." She hefted her sword and cut the rope stringing the dog up. The body fell to the ground like a sack of cloth or cotton. Bugs flew up from where they'd nested into the body, and the fur split apart to reveal parts that were held together – not by skin, but by maggots and bacteria. An awful smell washed over them, and Audrey felt her breakfast coming up fast. She gagged again and turned to throw up her stomach.

When she came back up, the same short Isle kid rolled his eyes and said: "Nice," though the other Auradon volunteers also looked a bit green.

"Oh my gosh." Audrey began to shake. She turned to Mal. "I'm not comfortable with this. I want to go back. I want to be with group three. I don't like the Isle." She pleaded

Mal opened her mouth, and from the west came a sizzling sound of electricity, and a strangled yell. Audrey jumped. Mal closed her mouth. "Tranquilizer gun." She announced to her small group. "Team two must have found a scout." She nodded to Audrey. "Give it a few minutes. If you're still unsure, I'll find someone to take you back."

Mal's eyes suddenly focused on something behind Audrey. "Duck." She commanded and pushed Audrey's shoulders down as the group dropped to the ground. A gunshot echoed off the walls as a bullet ricocheted off Lady Tremaine's wall. Audrey screamed. She was going to die, she was going to die. She'd only come to show Ben how supportive she was of the crown, maybe sway him to at least unblock her on social media, and now she was going to die.

Mal jumped up and brought her sword up to guard herself. Audrey glimpsed the look of intense concentration on her face as she planted her feet, readied her legs, and leaped clear over Audrey's head. She whirled around as Mal rushed towards their assailant. A second bullet whizzed through Mal's hair and hit the building again. The shooter cursed.

The Isle boy behind her jumped up. "Give me a boost." He commanded Audrey and another Auradon man. They quickly got to their feet and grabbed the boys' legs as they carried him into the air. "Over there!" He pointing to Lady Tremaine's sign. The top of the rope was still coiled around one of the scissor's shears. Audrey held her breath as they carried him over the dog and towards the sign. The young man worked quickly as Mal parried their attacker, who had dropped his gun for a steel bar that had been leaning against a building. He loosened the rope around the sign and then looked down at them. "Pull away!" He commanded. Audrey and the Auradonian man quickly obeyed and put him back down a few feet away as Mal pivoted in an alleyway and began to force their attacker – a thin, bony man with tanned skin clothed in a thin, black, long-sleeved shirt – into the square. He fought valiantly, but Mal was just too quick for him to catch her. It almost reminded Audrey of when Ben had been Captain of the Swords and Sheilds team at Auradon Prep. No one had been able to catch him either.

The boy took the bar and blew it into the side of Mal's head a fraction of a second before she could lean away. It knocked her head back but hadn't caught her at an angle to do much harm - only hitting her cheek and nose a little. Still, she looked immediately offended. With a mighty swing, she knocked the bar out of this hand and quickly kicked him in the chest to send him to the ground.

The Isle boy threw an end of the rope to the man who had helped Audrey lift him, and together they rushed at the man, wrapping the rope around his arms and legs as he shouted and struggled. A small gash was in his cheek from where Mal had hit him, and his rifle was lying abandoned in the alleyway. Someone else in their group carefully walked forward and picked it up. "It's discharged." She announced. "The safety is broken on it."

"The question is where he got a gun," Mal said calmly. "Auradon is usually very careful not to send them over."

"It's not of your business!" The man howled on the ground. "We'll get you, Queen Maleficent!" He tried to spit at Mal but missed entirely.

"Mal." Mal corrected him calmly. "Maleficent is my mom."

"Do I hear a damsel in distress?" Someone chuckled from an alleyway. Audrey jumped and whirled around. King Ben – handsome as ever – was walking out of an opposing alley with a bright smile that somehow managed to make it seem like the sun was coming through. She felt an intense sense of relief to see something so normal and comforting. His collar was folded down and his clothes were clean and even on the Isle, he looked so... kingly. Audrey felt like melting into her shoes. The sword he was holding made him look even more the part of her knight. Behind him was a group of four others, including Mal's friends; the daughter of the Evil Queen and the son of Jafar.

"No distress here," Mal responded with a smirk. "But look, twenty minutes in and we've already caught our first crook." She prodded the screaming man with her shoe. "Care to assist him?" She asked sweetly.

Ben turned green. "No thanks." He said, shaking his head.

Evie rolled her eyes at him and stepped forward. "With pleasure." She purred, leveling her tranquilizer. She pulled the trigger, and bright blue electricity raced out of the barrel. Audrey felt her hairs rise up on end as every nerve ending in her body screamed: "Danger!"

It only lasted a second, and the man didn't even look harmed. Instead, he looked as if he'd suddenly fallen asleep. Evie blew off the tip of the barrel for dramatic effect, even though it wasn't smoking. "If only we'd had these to protect us before you were queen." She mourned. "Think of how we could have ruled the Isle."

All of the villain kids, including Mal, laughed. "Yeah." Mal snorted. "I wouldn't have even become queen. Auradon wouldn't have even been able to pull me off."

Audrey tensed. This was something she'd never heard before. Auradon had pulled Mal off the Island? Why? Perhaps there was truth to her rumors after all.

Ben glanced at the dog under Lady Tremaine's sign and at the man on the ground. He put an arm around Mal and used a hand at her hip to pull her towards him. "Looks like you had a party."

"Not even." Mal rolled her eyes as she put her arms around Ben's neck briefly and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Tonight, when we get back, we need to have a real party. With strawberries and everything." She kissed Ben's cheek. Audrey felt sick. She and Ben had never done that together.

Ben laughed. "Can't have a party without strawberries, huh?" He asked.

"Nope!" Mal declared. "Oh!" She gave Ben a wicked smile. "We could totally break out Auradon's 'grown-up drinks' and get drunk together." She winked at him as everyone exchanged looks at her light-hearted, sarcastic attitude.

Ben snorted. "Sorry Mal, you're still not of the age of consent yet." He told her with raised eyebrows.

Everyone in their little circle laughed. Mal rolled her eyes. "By Auradon's standard, maybe, but on the Isle, I can do whatever I want." She spread her hands wide to accentuate her point.

"Don't even give me that crap." Ben cut her off with a roll of his eyes. "I'd be willing to place money on the fact you've never had a stronger drink than orange juice in your life."

Jay and Carlos began to chuckle and elbow each other as Mal glared. "What are you doing here, again?" She snapped.

"Heard trouble," Jay answered as he composed himself. "What should we do with the people we knock out?" He gestured at the sleeping man on the ground.

"Leave them," Mal said, bending down to untie the attacker. "I don't want any of them in the city. After we get the rest of the innocents out, I'm closing borders. The original evil villains and anyone who gets kicked out of the city will have to survive out here. The blast will keep them out until tomorrow morning, at which time we'll be done."

"I like these things, but they're really noisy and they don't shoot very fast," Jay remarked as he studied his tranquilizer.

"They do their job." Mal shrugged. "Okay, we better keep going." Her eyes landed on Audrey. "Audrey, are you still interested in going back? If you go with group two, you can return to the city as soon as they find someone who needs to go back. I'm going to keep pushing through."

Ben frowned. "Back already? We just started." He asked.

Audrey glanced between Mal and Ben, and then straightened her shoulders. "I think I'm okay." She lied. "I was just a little thrown off by that dog, is all."

Ben nodded in agreement, looking a little green. "Yeah, that thing is nasty." He agreed and shuddered. "You're good to stay here, then?" He asked, holding out his fist for her to tap.

Audrey forced a smile as she fist-bumped him. "Yeah." She nodded. "Let's keep moving." She felt like she had a year ago, walking out the front door after being broken up with and sworn to secrecy by Ben.

"Bye Babe." Mal blew an air kiss to Ben as she picked up her sword from where it had been abandoned on the ground. Ben immediately tugged her closer and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Audrey heard him whisper: "Bye sweetheart," before group two divided from group one and began to walk down the alleyway their crook had come from. Evie and Jay high-fived Mal as they walked past, and Audrey watched the man she loved, the most important person to her, walk away with an irremovable ring on his finger and a new name on his lips. And at that moment, she'd never hated Mal more.

When they were gone, the Isle queen prodded the man on the ground with her foot.

"Do you know him?" One of the Auradonian recruits asked.

"Clay Clayton," Mal answered. "Strange to see him so angry like this. We used to go to school together. Got paired together for our Evil Schemes final in Year Nine." She shrugged. "Oh well. Let's move on."

Audrey lagged behind for a few minutes to examine Clay. He was actually quite handsome, with a square face and curly dark hair. He couldn't have been more than a bit older or younger than her. In another time, she might have dated him.

It was hard to imagine a younger Mal on the Isle of the Lost, teaming up with him to complete a school project. Audrey wasn't sure what to do with the information Mal had just given her. She swallowed, bent down, and moved Clay's head so he wouldn't get a crick in his neck. Then she picked up her sword, which was forgotten over by the dog, and continued on.

The Isle chill was starting to feel familiar to Audrey. She still couldn't get used to the way every breath felt like she was heaving as her lungs struggled to find the oxygen in the polluted air though. Her leg brushed against something sticking out of the side of a collapsed wall and when Audrey leaned down to wipe away any grudge that had come off onto her leg, she discovered that the bar or beam or whatever it was had actually wiped away a layer of grudge that was coating her skin. She had had no idea her legs were suddenly so dirty. It was the air, she realized. The pollution was so heavy that some things would solidify when your body heat came near, causing thin layers of... gunk to freeze onto your bare skin. It was... horrible. She didn't understand how anyone, villain or not, could live in an environment like this.

Mal stepped over a grate and down a narrow passageway, and some disembodied voice called out: "Queen Mal?"

A hand appeared out of a small hole near the base of the building, dirty and grimy. The skin on the person's fingernails was shredded with small, pointed rocks like splinters sticking out. "Help!" They cried, and more voice cried out from... inside the wall? "Help! Help! Help us, please!"

Mal crouched down and took the person's hand. "How many are you?" She asked in a hollow tone.

"Twenty-four," The first person replied in a wavering tone. "The entrance has collapsed and we're trapped. The villains left us because they didn't want to bring the entire place down."

"Left you?" Mal asked. "Left for where?"

"The piers," The person explained. "Everyone deserted when your armies appeared last night. They're holding everyone around the Jolly Roger and in Ursula's shop. The only people they didn't take were people who couldn't move, like us."

"Left for dead," Mal exhaled. "I'm going to get you out of there." She took her hand back from the person and examined the building. It was one that Auradon had left for the villains thirty years ago, and black mold stretched up the sides of it. Relatively tall, and about to crumble. She exhaled. "We'll have to work fast," She decided, tossing her sword to the ground. Several Auradon folks followed her example, but the Islanders frowned and exchanged uneasy looks.

"Mal," One of the Islanders frowned. "We can't do anything. If we try and make an opening, the building will come down on their heads. There's nothing we can do to help them."

Mal leveled her gaze. It was clear she knew this, and she was doubtful, but she still had to try. Audrey swallowed. "Can we find where the entrance collapsed and try to clear it from there? The stones will be looser."

"It'll be unstable there," the same Islander protested. "Where one collapse happened, another can occur."

Mal chewed on her cheek and considered both ideas. Then she jerked her head to the side and mumbled: "Audrey, come with me." Mal got back to her feet and began to walk around the perimeter of the building. Audrey hesitated, then followed carefully. They turned the corner and discovered a mostly intact wall, and then, on the opposite side, a pile of rubble. Mal crossed her arms and exhaled. "They're at the back of the building. We could clear the rubble, but we'd be here all day. And they're right, the more we clear... some of this mess could be keeping the rest from falling. We could be crushed if we move it."

Audrey examined the awful spread of rock and beam. She swallowed. "Are you just going to... leave them?" She whispered.

Mal shook her head. "I can't do that," She whispered. "There's got to be something... something magic."

Magic. Audrey's blood felt like ice. Mal exhaled and rubbed her fingers together. "Let's walk back," She mumbled. "I'll think of something... a rhyme." She turned and began to walk back the way she'd come. Audrey stayed in place, examining the wreckage with a thumping heart. She turned to follow Mal, and then something wooden stuck out to her.

"Mal?" She called, and then stepped into the mess. She heard Mal take a quick gasp and began hurrying back, and so she clambered over another, larger rock before the Isle Queen could pull her back.

"Audrey, that's unstable!" Mal gasped. Audrey furrowed her brow and pointed. "There's something wooden. Right there, see? I think it might be a door."

Mal paused and then carefully stepped atop a rock to see where Audrey was pointing. She shook her head. "It's covered by boulders, Audrey. We have the same problem as before. If we move too much, the rest of the building will crumble."

Audrey balled her fists up. There were people stuck down there in that horrible air who would die if they left them behind. She had to try something. "You can use your magic to hold it together," She declared, continuing her trek through the crumbling rocks. Black mold and a thick, oily layer of grime stuck to her hands and legs. She tossed her sword to the side and then used both hands to navigate around a portion of rectangular rock that was twice the size of her entire body. Her foot slipped and the ground gave way underneath her. She yelped as she felt her entire leg fall into a mini sinkhole and clamped her mouth shut to keep from screaming as she felt something slithering.

A wave of green magic washed over all of the rocks and the entire building as if the entire premises had suddenly been covered in glowing green plastic. Audrey looked back to Mal. Her eyes were lit up and her hands were outstretched as she worked to hold the entire building together. Shouts came from the other side. "Hurry!" Mal urged through gritted teeth. "I'm going to try and hold it all together."

Audrey pulled her leg back up. A small, bloody gash had formed underneath her kneecap, but she was otherwise unharmed. She got to her feet and hurried over to the door as voices came around the side of the building. The rest of their group appeared. Audrey watched Mal's Isle friend, Carlos, take in the situation and began clambering over rocks to help her.

Audrey reached the door and brushed the pebbles away. She pulled a rather sizable stone away from the edge of the frame and peered underneath. The door had fallen on top of a staircase going down, effectively protecting it from being covered with rubble. "There's an entrance here!" She announced and began trying to lug boulders off of the edge of the frame so that she could try to get inside. Carlos jumped over a large stone and, squeezing his frame in-between two large stones on top of the door, used his feet to push them off. He forced his fingers underneath the splintered frame and pulled up, creating about a foot's worth of space that Audrey added to by shuffling around the small pebbled on the ground to create a depression big enough for someone to be lifted through.

Carlos huffed with the effort of keeping the door lifted and turned to Audrey. "They're probably locked in a room down there. Maybe the villains left the key. You need to slip down and see if you can find them."

"Go... down there?" Audrey gasped, staring down into the depths of the dark staircase. There could be all sorts of spiders and bugs and... things. Climbing rocks was one thing - she'd gone hiking with her mom before(Hated it, but she'd done it) - but exploring the scary staircase? "Why can't you go?"

"You can't hold up the door and I can't fit through that hole." Carlos rolled his eyes. "Go on, hurry!"

Audrey looked down at the hole and swallowed. She carefully put her feet in and shimmied forward. Her feet found a solid step and she carefully maneuvered her body until her head went under and the world became very, very dark. The air became infinitely harder to breathe. Audrey tried to inhale and abruptly began hacking so hard she had to sit down. The air pollution combined with the musty underground air made for a deadly combination.

"Is there enough light for you to see?" Carlos called down from above.

Audrey couldn't respond as she looked all around. Barely, was the answer. She could see the faint outlines of the steps and the walls, but almost nothing else. She used the wall to stand back up, still coughing, and began the trek down the stairs. The hallway was fairly narrow and with the ceilings stopping about ten inches above her head. She hit the base of the staircase with a stumble and then began feeling the walls for a door. "Hello?" She managed to choke out. "Marco?"

"Hello!" Someone called. "Hello, hello?"

"I'm coming!" Audrey called, hurrying a little through the hallway until her fingers found the rough pattern of a thick, wooden door. She felt around for a handle and, as Carlos had predicted, it was locked. She rammed her shoulder into it experimentally, and her entire side went numb. "I'll be right back!" She called, and then hurried back to the staircase, narrowly avoiding tripping and busting up her hurt knee again. "Carlos!" She yelled. "I need something to pry the door open!"

There was a hesitation, and then Carlos called back: "Can you do that?"

'We're about to find out.' Audrey thought. She climbed up the staircase and shoved her hand up through the hole. "Hand me a sword!" She demanded. After another brief pause, she felt someone put a leather guard in her hand. Immediately, she turned and felt her way back down the stairs. She found the door again, felt for the handle, and then carefully used the tips of her fingers to feel the blade on the sword. The first thing she realized was that it was backwards, so she had to hold it the correct way. The second thing she figured out was that the very tip was sharper than the blade itself. "Keep away from the door!" She called to the people on the other side before feeling for where the door latched and then sliding her sword into the place where the door and the frame latched. She pushed, hard, and heard something crack, but then the blade stuck fast. She jangled the door handle and found it was loose, but she hadn't broken the handle yet.

"Audrey!" Carlos yelled from up above. "Mal says she can't hold the building together forever. Can you get them out or not?"

Audrey turned to cough into her shoulder from exertion and then put her back against one wall and her feet up on the other. Calling on every ounce of strength she had, she forced the blade into the doorframe. Something snapped, and the door slumped awkwardly to one side. Audrey dropped back to the ground and then carefully pulled the handle. The door swung open on one rusty hinge, revealing a small room packed full of people. She huffed in surprise and leaned against the wall. She'd done it. For several seconds, no one spoke. Audrey was puffing too hard, and the Islanders were so shocked by her appearance they couldn't say anything. She watched their eyes skim her bare legs and her long hair in surprise. It was clear they'd never seen a girl like her before.

"Can you walk?" Audrey finally gasped. "Mal says she can't hold up the building for much longer." At her words, the ceiling rumbled. Everyone jumped into action, pulling each other up. Those who could walk helped those who couldn't and Audrey stayed out of the way as the prisoners walked out. Then, when there were only a few people left, she stepped inside.

The room was smaller than her closet at home. Audrey couldn't understand how they'd fit twenty-four people in here, even though she'd seen them all with her own two eyes. It smelled horrible and the only light came from two or three small holes in the wall. Deep depressions were in the rock where the prisoners had been trying to escape, and there were dark stains on the floor that Audrey didn't really want to think about.

"Maren?" a woman called, leaning down by a small girl who was curled up in a corner of the room. "Can you walk? I can carry you."

There was no answer. Audrey suddenly felt a pit of dread open up in her stomach as she and two other people stepped forward to examine the small child.

"Maren?" The woman asked, confusion lacing her tone as she pulled the girl's head up, only for it to flop there uselessly. A man reached forward and felt along the little girl's neck before taking the woman by the shoulders and pulling her away.

"She's gone, Carol. She's been gone for a while. We have to leave her. The building could come down soon." He told her, pulling her towards the door. "We have to go, now."

Audrey watched the scene, feeling like a knife had been put through her chest. She stared at the little girl in the corner and swallowed as tears filled her eyes. She hadn't been quick enough. They hadn't been quick enough.

The last of the survivors left the room and Audrey brought up the tail, guiding everyone down the hall and up the stairs. Carlos and another Isle boy held the door open while Auradon volunteers helped pull people up to safety, one by one. Last of all was Audrey herself, who handed Carlos his sword and then kept a blank expression as they guided everyone off the rocks and rubble. Mal was shaking from the exertion of holding up the building as they hurried to bring everyone to a safe distance from the pile. Then, she counted backwards. "Three... two... one." She released the magic keeping the building up, and the rocks around the doorframe slid and plummeted into the ground. Like a chain reaction, the walls around the area crumbled to the ground. A wave of dust kicked up and Audrey heard everyone around her taking deep breaths before the dust hit them like a wall. She squeezed her eyes shut as the sounds of the crumbling building echoed around them.

When all was quiet, Audrey forced herself the open her eyes. The dust was still settling. The building was gone and a giant heap of rubble was in its place. Carlos took a few steps forward to head the group. "Mal?" He called.

Audrey watched a figure rise up from the ground and turn around, and she exhaled in relief. Mal's purple hair shone through the dust and her skin gave off a soft, milky glow as she examined the group with a tactful eye. "How many?" She asked. "All twenty-four?"

"Twenty-three," Audrey announced in a hollow tone. "One casualty. She was dead when I got down there."

Mal's face twisted a little in pain, but she nodded. "We need to take them to the city. Who can do that?" She examined the group. Audrey considered going back to the city, but the thought of Ben's expression came to mind. 'Already'? She kept her hand down as other people raising their hands and volunteered to take people back. Mal picked people out and organized groups, and when all was said and done their group was down to less than twenty. Those headed back to the city departed, and Mal's squadron continued in the opposite direction.

They stalked inwards. It wasn't long before Audrey could hear water. They came to a place where the uneven cobbled streets ended and were suddenly facing some old wood planks. Mal tested one skeptically.

"Should be safe to walk." She announced. "Uma and her crew usually do a good job keeping the wharf safe." She looked around. "I wasn't supposed to come down here much." She admitted. "Uma and I had a fight when we were younger and banned each other from our turfs." She stepped onto the boards and began to walk away. Audrey took her first few steps and quickly realized that the planks were actually bridges, and they were floating. Looking over the sides, she realized that the water was so black and polluted, it didn't reflect anymore. It looked like dark ground from a distance. She leaned out a little, and one of the Isle boys pulled her back.

"If you fall in, it'll be one of the last things you do," he warned. The warning made Audrey's skin cold.

They took a few turns and began to walk past a cluster of holes in a rock face that the bridge stretched in front of. As they passed, they heard a low voice singing: "Tick-tock, tick-tock."

Mal stopped. She was already at the front of the group, but she and Carlos moved so that they were guarding the rest of the group behind them. "Tick-tock, tick-tock." Mal slurred. "I haven't got all day."

There was a shadow, and then a pirate with black charcoal around his eyes appeared. He was wearing a ripped white shirt and a long red overcoat. Clutched in his hand was a curved hook.

Mal tilted her head and ran a nail over her lip. Audrey was amazed by how nonchalant she could look despite obviously guarding the Auradonians behind her. "Still running errands and delivering messages for Uma, Harry?" She asked. "Or, do you actually get to call your own shots now?"

The pirate blinked slowly at her. "Well, well, well." He said in a husky tone. "Look wha' the tide pulled in." He smiled. Bits of black lined his gums like he had brushed his teeth with charcoal. His hair looked like it hadn't been washed in days. He walked towards Mal until he was so close, they were almost breathing the same air and Mal was looking up. "Jus' wait till Uma hears you finally wandered in!" He smiled. "We were beginning to wonder if yer king was gonna let his trophy go wandering." He smirked at Mal, and his eyes roamed her body in a way that made Audrey shrivel just imagining his stare on her. He was like a predator planning to ravage her. Carlos stiffened beside Mal and carefully placed himself to run Harry through with his sword if he tried anything. Despite all this, Mal didn't seem to care that he was acting like he was about to force him on her. She was putting out a toxic force all her own as she guarded her squad against his poisonous gaze. "You know she'll never let you have yer old turf back." Harry slurred like a drunken man. "Queen'er no queen."

Mal blinked as if the idea genuinely surprised her. "Oh!" She said, eyeing the hook as if its presence was offending her. "Well, that's okay." She shrugged. "Because I will be taking it."

For a few seconds, the air intensified as Harry and Mal stared at each other. Then, Harry moved his hand and hooked a long lock of her thick hair. "I could hurt you." He threatened in a low tone. Carlos grew tense, and for a second Audrey was sure he would attack, but then Mal's hand jumped to action and seized Harry's wrist underneath the hook quicker than Audrey could follow.

Mal tilted her head and blinked innocently. "Not without her permission, I bet." She said, staring unblinkingly at him.

Harry blinked his charcoal-rimmed eyes at her. "You better watch your step." He warned, gesturing at the planks below their feet. "Maybe I can't hurt you on… trophy terms, but you've got a lovely little gang behind you." His eyes flickered upward and began to skim Audrey's body like he had Mal's. Audrey shivered, and Harry smiled. "I could always take advantage of yer untrained mates." He threatened

Mal hummed. "Well." She said tersely. "I'll give you a message to take back to Uma since you sound so desperate for one." She hooked her fingers around his hook. Her eyes lit up with a scary green tone that gave Audrey PTSD to when she'd had that stare fixed on her at Beast's Castle. "You lay a hand on any of my mates, especially in any sort of perverted, provocative way-" Mal set an arm on Harry's shoulder and leaned in. He began to lean away with his eyes growing wide. "And I will turn you into a clock." Mal finished. She withdrew from Harry, who took a half-step back, gasping for breath.

Harry snickered. "Is that all you've got?" He asked in a raspy tone. "You don't scare me, Daughter of Maleficent." Though his actions certainly didn't mirror his words.

"Well, you don't have to be scared if you keep your hands to yourself," Mal replied. "You've been warned."

Harry chuckled, but he sounded like he'd been forced into a higher octave. He walked backwards into the rock face and vanished.

After several seconds, Mal turned to face her group. "We need to move quicker now." She announced. "He knows these places better than I do."

Everyone nodded, and they began again at a fast pace along the wharf. After a while, they came to several dirt paths that stretched along the edge of the waters. Mal took them up onto the land and they began to make their way to the head of the pier. Around them were buildings, but these were not the buildings of stone like in Mal's turf. These were made of wood and were slowly falling apart from termite damage and wood rot. Audrey had never seen places like this in her life and she couldn't deny that it was fascinating.

As they skirted through buildings, they heard a sudden crash from about forty yards away. Three more subsequently followed. Mal, Carlos, and the other boy from the Isle exchanged looks. "We need to split up and check that out," Carlos whispered.

"It may be a trap," Mal warned.

"It'll become an ambush if we don't." The last boy decided.

"Kay." Mal nodded. She examined everyone. "You three with him, you two with me, and you and Audrey with Carlos." She decided, pointing to different people as she spoke. She patted Carlos on the shoulder. "Take care of them." She told Carlos. Audrey was sure that Mal meant: 'take care of Audrey, who did not dress for the occasion and who may lose her stomach again.' "Try and head to Uma's ship as soon as you're done," Mal commanded.

They divided, going down three separate paths and soon Mal was out of sight and out of earshot.

"So," Carlos started. There was one other Auradon boy in their group. "You're Aurora's kid, right?" Carlos prodded Audrey lightly.

Audrey swallowed. "Yeah, I am." She would have curtseyed, but she was too busy walking. "Princess Audrey."

Carlos nodded. "Mal's mentioned you." He whispered. "Ben's old girlfriend?"

Audrey's shoulders slumped. What an awful title. "Yeah." She admitted. "He broke up with me when they brought Mal over."

"That must have been hard." Carlos nodded. "I'm not sure what to think of Ben." He admitted. His voice had a sudden guard in it, as if he was talking, but wasn't sure if he should be. "We were all convinced she was being tortured and taken advantage of over here."

"Tortured?" Audrey blinked. The Auradon boy behind them seemed equally surprised at that revelation. "Auradon doesn't torture people."

Carlos laughed. He turned and stared at her incredulously. "Auradon doesn't- yeah, good one." They continued walking as Carlos chuckled.

"What?" Audrey asked, cross. "They don't."

Carlos gestured to their surroundings. "And what do you call this?" He asked.

Audrey was taken so off guard she slipped in her flip flops and slid on her butt. Her sword clattered to the ground. She had no answer. Carlos grew cross.

"Yeah." He snapped. "Auradon definitely doesn't torture people. They definitely don't lock kids away all their lives and starve them for the crimes of their parents. God forbid they send ordinary criminals to fend their way with the villains! And they'd never send people actual trash to live off of!" Carlos drove his sword firmly into the ground at Audrey's feet. "Auradon is full of liars and people who will only take advantage of you! They discriminate against anyone they don't like and push people to villainy only to-"

An arrow whizzed over Carlos's head, nicking his scalp. Everyone's attention shot to where an archer in black stood on top of a crumbling dwelling.

Audrey scrambled to her feet and picked up her sword. Carlos tried to yank his blade out of the earth, but it had stuck. He paled. "Oh no." He whispered.

"It's an ambush!" The Auradonian boy yelled. Seconds later, a second arrow was loosed and went straight through his calf. He fell with a yell.

People appeared from the shadows of the crumbling buildings as Carlos tugged at his sword with a renewed fury. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead as he yanked to no avail. Audrey watched in growing horror as she slowly recognized the people appearing. A tall man with a feathered hat and a curly beard… Captain Hook. A dark-skinned shadow player… Dr. Facilier. And a large, imposing man with more muscles than she could count. Gaston.

Audrey screamed, fumbled her sword, and dropped it.

"Oh, for god's sake, woman!" Carlos yelled at her. He gave up trying to yank his own sword and seized hers off the ground. He gave it a wide test swing as Captain Hook unsheathed his own gleaming weapon. He readied his sword, and Carlos rushed him. It was a quick battle. The Captain and Carlos locked swords for a few seconds before the Captain's strength forced Carlos to give in. He tried to swing for Hook, but Hook caught his sword mid-swing with his own, and the weapon flew out of reach. Meanwhile, Gaston and Facilier were approaching Audrey with menacing smiles on their faces.

Audrey let loose a cry of despair and leaped out of their reach. She heard footsteps following her, and Carlos swearing like he was the sailor instead of Hook. She dashed down the wharf and towards the water. Gaston and Facilier remained hot on her heels as she turned a corner and sprinted desperately for where she'd last seen Mal. If she could make it there, Mal had another group. She'd protect her.

Unfortunately, she'd never reach Mal. She felt Gaston reach for the nape of her neck, could feel his breath behind her when suddenly something pale and blue appeared on the left side of her vision. She squeezed her eyes shut, thinking it was Facilier, and something with the force of a speeding bull slammed into her shoulder. She was shoved clear off her path, out of Gaston's hands, and off her feet.

Audrey rolled in between two buildings and underneath a small cardboard lean-to, which shuddered and shook above her: Gaston, who was thrown off by the new arrival, tripped and skidded face-first into the dirt. Facilier slipped in the dirt beside him and tumbled to the side of the road.

Audrey watched the newcomer brace himself for an attack. He was tall, dressed in dark blue, and holding one of Mal's Isle swords with a trained, precise hand. His face and head were covered by a black knit scarf. He looked as strong and imposing as all the knights in her dreams or any of the Auradon Knights. She watched him brace his feet and her heart fluttered - just a little bit. She could see the outlines of his jaw through the scarf as he held his sword aloft and watched Gaston get to his feet. Neither Gaston nor Facilier had a sword, but Gaston growled as he wretched a wooden beam support right out from underneath the awning of one of the surrounding establishments. This he readied in his hands.

The masked man attacked. He brought a swift blow down on Gaston's head and immediately took a chunk of wood out of the beam. He used his arm to force the beam - and Gaston's arm - to the ground and then jabbed at the older man's arm. Gaston barely got away with a deep slice stretching across his bicep. The masked man continued, forcing Gaston back onto his knees and then his back. The older man was forced to use the beam primarily for defense. Facilier couldn't get close enough to help as the flash of the sword swinging came down over and over, taking chunks and leaving divots in the large beam. Audrey was in awe. The only person she'd ever seen fight remotely similar to this Isle warrior was Ben in his Auradon Prep days, but even his best fighting couldn't hold a candle to what she was seeing now. There was a snap, and the beam split into two above Gaston's head. The splinters flew into the villain's face, and Gaston abruptly kicked out, trying to take out the man's legs. A sword came down in his path, and Gaston's boot was cut open.

Audrey carefully tried to move and flee. In the event Gaston looked around, it was entirely possible he'd see her where she'd fallen. The lean-to structure above her head shuddered and promptly collapsed on top of her head, effectively shielding her from view and filling her vision with stars. Before Gaston or Facilier could ever look over to the crash, the masked man dropped his sword grabbed Facilier and flung him down a small slope. He reached down to snatch his sword back up, but Gaston has used the distraction with Facilier to seize the hero's weapon and now jumped to his feet and held the sword to the man's throat. Facilier scrambled to his feet and balled his fists up as the masked man tried to retreat a few steps.

Audrey watched in horror as the two villains forced him to his knees and Gaston seized the man's hat and flung it aside. He seized the man's sandy blonde hair and wrenched his head back. The man's disguise was jostled aside. Audrey had to clamp a hand over her mouth.

It was Ben

Gaston stamped on Ben's legs to keep him from moving. Ben's face twisted in pain, but he refused to call out. "You son of a Beast!" Gaston yelled in his face, spit flying everywhere as Ben leaned away. "How dare you –"

"Gaston." Facilier purred, drawing the older man's temper away as he held Ben's shoulders and pinned Ben's knees under his feet. Ben groaned as his head arched back and his knees were driven into the ground at uncomfortable angles.

Gaston calmed down enough to see who he'd caught. There were several long seconds where there was nothing except Audrey praying that they wouldn't recognize him.

No chance.

"Son of a Beast." Gaston purred, hoisting Ben to his feet and wrapping a hand around his throat. "Son of a Beast." He began to laugh.

They were distracted. If Audrey hurried, she could use the same scare tactic Ben had used and push Ben out of their grasp. Ben might lose a bit of hair, but he'd be free and alive.

Then Facilier joined in, laughing with Gaston, and Audrey shrank. What could she do? She was a small, tired, useless girl with no previous Isle experience. It took all of her strength to hold back a few heartbroken sobs as the two villains hauled Ben away, heading to the end of the wharf. She buried her face in her hands and broke into silent sobs.

[tozierpunks]

OMG OLEASE DO A PART 2 OF THE ROOMATE REDDIE IM DYING ITS SO GOOOOOD

Me @ me: You’re gonna drop the ball, don’t do it.Me @ this ask: I’m here to drop balls and eat spaghetti. And I’m all out of spaghetti.Part [1] Here!

From outside the apartment, Eddie could hear the bass of Richie’s speakers. Rolling his eyes, he tucked the mail into his bag and fumbled with his keys. A wave of warm air hit his face, carrying the scent of onions. In the kitchen, Richie held two meat mallets, smashing a poor chicken breast to the beat of Rock Me Amadeus. He danced around the narrow island counter, bobbing his head to the tune.

Eddie set the mail on the coffee table, hanging his messenger bag with the coats. The song faded into the next, and one of Eddie’s favorites began playing. Richie typically kept it on their shared 80′s playlist when he knew Eddie would be home. Glancing at Richie, he couldn’t help but laugh, watching him pretend to play a keyboard. He held the mallet to his face, dramatically singing.

Regardless of whether or not he would play along, Richie pantomimed swinging a lasso, throwing it around Eddie. He playfully tugged the imaginary rope, and Eddie couldn’t fight the smile. Hopping closer, he started mouthing the words with his roommate.

Using the term “roommate” felt strange, as accurate as it was. They’d grown up together; Eddie couldn’t remember a day without Richie. He’d known him as long as he’d known Bill, and they might as well have been born together. When they left their hometown, all of them electing to attend the University of Maine, the original plan was to rent a house together. It worked for six months, but house renting turned out to be expensive (and Stan was quick to say “I told you so”). Apartments weren’t much cheaper, but splitting the cost helped significantly.

The difficult part came when choosing the living arrangements. One complex didn’t rub Bev the right way. Another complex didn’t allow dogs, so Mike’s adorable Mr. Chips was an immediate disqualification. Nearly every complex failed to meet their room needs. So the breaking of the group came. They agreed on a complex, and drew straws. Or, well... the lads did. Bev chose to move in with girls from her class: Kay McCall and Audra Phillips. Ben, Bill, Stan and Mike shared a three bedroom across the hall from the girls. This left Richie and Eddie, and they were fortunate enough to snag a two bedroom in the building across the parking lot.

So for the past year and a half, Eddie lived with his lifelong best friend. A majority of the time, it was easy.

Then there were times like last month. Technically, one time. Eddie was trapped in Richie’s closet, Richie masturbated, and Eddie put the situation to bed without even thinking of touching it again.

Phil Collins’ “You Can’t Hurry Love” started playing, and Eddie snapped out of his thoughts, laughing upon realizing Richie was doing the Carlton dance.

“Richard, don’t!” he cackled, shaking his head. Richie pouted, grabbing his phone.

“What? You don’t like the song?” And without waiting for an answer, he skipped to the next. Tears For Fears. Everybody Wants to Rule the World. Possibly Eddie’s favorite song in the whole world. “C’mon, I know you love this one, Eds. Dance with me, why don’t ya?” One hand on his stomach, the other up in the air, holding an invisible partners’ hand, he two stepped his way closer.

“What have I told you about calling me Eds?” Eddie asked tiredly, although the small smile on his face suggested he wasn’t tired at all.

“It turns you on, right?”“Richard.”“Alright, alright, I’m sorry. You’re not too mad to dance, are you? It’s your favorite! Plus, I’ve been working all day on this chicken- I know you love spicy stuff, so I went out and bought that Cajun seasoning, I sauteed some onions. Eddie, I went all out on this,” he said. Eddie’s mouth twisted, and he peered over Richie’s shoulder to see the state of their kitchen.

Miraculously, the mess appeared to be at a minimum.

“Oh, fine, you got me,” he answered.

“Just not to this song!”“Wha- Richie, I love this song!”“Nope, too slow!”

Changing to the next in queue, he knew exactly what he was doing, because Eddie grinned and bobbed his head. Love Shack was a timeless classic, and arguably Richie’s favorite song from the 80′s. Incredible, considering Queen released the albums they did then. Of course, everyone’s favorite song was Bohemian Rhapsody; that went without saying, the rest of the music in the world was simply competing for second place.

The pair danced, not stopping until the timer buzzed almost a dozen songs later.

As Richie took out the chicken and checked it, Eddie looked through their mail. Usually it was only credit card offers which neither of them took; they already had one each, a financial move Ben advised them to make for credit building. Richie didn’t pay much attention as Eddie opened and trashed the letters.

“What’s the occasion, Rich?” he asked, pausing only to look at how Richie carefully plated the food.

“You really don’t know?”“I asked, didn’t I?”

Richie hesitated. If Eddie didn’t remember, he didn’t want to say. He continued to throw out the junk mail, and Richie racked his brains for a lie. Of course, before he could even attempt, Eddie froze.

In his hands - the last letter of the bunch - was a bright pink envelope, the size of a greeting card. Wordlessly, he opened it, pulling out the card and reading it. He got one yearly since he’d started school. Since he left Sonia. Richie waited for him to speak; he didn’t want to break the silence if it was what Eddie needed.

“That’s right,” he finally sighed. “Dad died today.”

Eddie didn’t think much of Frank Kaspbrak. His passing came when Eddie was a baby, but it affected the rest of his life. Sonia was a wreck without her husband. Richie knew how guilty Eddie felt cutting off contact. She wasn’t necessarily a bad mother; she liked his friends and always welcomed them in as they grew up. She accepted Eddie’s sexuality, and barked off anyone at their church who tried to say otherwise.

But Eddie’s worst - and unfortunately, most vivid - memories were of her sobbing in her room. She drank from time to time, scaring Eddie to death when she would drive to get more alcohol. Richie remembered times where he would steal booze from his parents to bring to Eddie, just so he wouldn’t panic over Sonia. Leaving her without a word on the hardest day of the year for her...

Richie thought a nice dinner might keep his mind occupied. He bought Love Simon on their Amazon account, and as a backup, he even bought Mean Girls. Eddie once said he didn’t care for the movie, but if he needed a pick-me-up, all he had to do was watch Lizzy Caplan shout, “Your mom’s chest hair!” and he would erupt in uncontrollable giggles.

“Aw Eds- Eddie, don’t cry,” Richie said softly, forgetting the dinner and approaching Eddie with his arms outstretched. “You’ve got your reasons for not calling. She’s an adult, and so are you, man.”

Eddie’s body trembled as he tried to hold back the tears. Yes, he was hurt over his mother. Yes, he wished he knew Frank enough to truly be sad over his death.

But no, that wasn’t why he cried.

Richie made a dinner for him. For an emotional day he didn’t even remember, but Richie did.

Pulling away, he wiped his eyes. Eddie cleared his throat, looking up at Richie. For a split second, Eddie thought he could kiss him. His heart skipped a beat and he almost felt himself leaning in closer.

But he didn’t.

“I’m fine, Rich, I just- it all hit me, you know?” he said, sniffling. Richie stared at him, uncertain. “I promise I’m okay- honestly, the smell of the chicken is making me hungry.” He laughed, and it sounded genuine. Richie seemed to believe it, handing his plate over.

“Well eat up, Eds. I have a whole night planned!” he exclaimed, turning on the TV. Eddie sat beside him, a tiny smile on his face.

He really was in love with his best friend, and Richie had no clue.

[silverfae16]

How does it work?: Resonance

So I have been working on a fic that involved the use of the in-series concept of Resonance. And because you need to know the rules of anything before you break them (at least when it comes to fiction), I went back and compiled all the stuff that happened in canon regarding Resonance; wielders, who knew about it, types, all those sorts of things. Add in a dash of headcanoning to ease some of the gaps, and we good to go ^^

Warning: This may seem a bit disjointed at times, but I will try my best to keep it in a logical order. Most of the eps that deal directly with resonance haven’t been translated yet, so... Also note that there will be headcanoning and speculation going on here, so some of this is just my view on how it works.

Spoilers ahead especially for season 2 and 3 events, so under the cut, we go~

Resonance was officially introduced as a concept in season 3(ChouZ/Super-Z/Chouzetsu/Turbo), but there were hints before that that something was amiss in the Burst ‘verse...

Resonance is the indication of how in-tune a blader is with their bey. There is some kind of bond required, and it doesn’t have to be positive (as we learned with Aiga). There are, in theory, two types of resonance: True and False. False resonance is the more common one, as all that requires is a bond of some kind. This results in a physical change of some description (Aiga initially has the hair changing colour and going super spiky, Suoh has the mark under his eye, Phi has the sclera changing colour+eyes glowing, while Hearts has a partial hair colour change). As we’ll see later, this form of resonance can be corrupted. It isn’t precisely possession either; bladers who use resonance are still themselves, albeit a tad more aggressive. 

True resonance requires a real understanding between blader and Bey Spirit and thus is harder to achieve. We have confirmation that two bladers so far have “true” resonance: Valt and Shu. Resonance wielders: Aiga, Suoh, Phi, Hearts, Valt, Shu, Kit Peeps who know about resonance: Everyone listed above (presumably), Evel, Fubuki, Count Night, Taiga, Xhan, Laban(?) (there at the same time Aiga explained about resonance to Xhan), Ranjiro, Lui

Going all the way back to season 1, back when we weren’t sure if the spirits were real spirits this time or just metaphors. Remember when Lui was introduced, and he hinted that Valt wasn’t in tune with his bey (and thereby suggested that Lui knew Things about the beys...he just wasn’t telling us anything, because he isn’t great at that part)? Good, because Lui is our first hint that the spirits inside the beys weren’t just metaphors. Remember, Lui (despite his short size) is one of the older members of the cast; when we meet him in s01, canon implies he’s around 15-16 years old. He’s had time and is the type to figure out the secrets behind the beys. Also Valt talking to Valkyrie early on could be seen as an indication there was something there, we just didn’t know what at the time. It wasn’t until Lui came along in ep32 and trash-talked Valt for not being a good partner that the cogs started to turn in terms of something being odd.

Fast-forward to around ep38 of S02. This one is a bit murky because it isn’t evident if it genuinely was a possession, or just Shu thinking it was (because lord knows that boy was not in the best place mentally), but the general consensus seems to be Shu actually was possessed by Spriggan here (Shu does go “I am Spriggan” at one point, so I can see why this is the general consensus). This would explain why Shu in s03 was one of the ones to understand the resonance issue because he’s been there. 

Then flash-forward to season 3, episode 2. Taiga mentions that the main reason he doesn’t want Aiga to become a blader is that some bladers with high resonance can be possessed by their beys (a la Shu from just the previous season). Understandably, he doesn’t want that to happen to Aiga (spoiler warning: it happens). 

It then doesn’t come up again until Phi (mysterious resident alien) tells Aiga in ep15 that he wants to see Aiga resonate more with Achilles. No explanation is given as to how it works, so we’re left waiting for Phi or someone else to fully explain the process. (We get hints that Suoh has also used resonance, but the actual word doesn’t pop up until ep15)

It isn’t until ep21 that someone clues Aiga and the audience in as to how it may work, in that Fubuki, explains to Aiga about how resonance works during their training. From this point on, Aiga starts using resonance more during the Bey Queen arc, presumably in an attempt to figure out how to wield it more effectively.

We get confirmation by way of Suoh and Aiga in three separate episodes, that resonance can be used outside of Beybattle scenarios (Suoh in ep19 during the Beyathlon, and in ep21 when he scares Gumita, and Aiga in ep24 when he saves Xhan from getting crushed). Aiga’s moment suggests that using resonance can provide a physical boost since I guess he realised that he couldn’t save Xhan on his own. Later on, in ep40, Kit’s resonance indicates that having resonance can give some form of ability, whether that be a physical boost or having elemental powers, so... And now that I think about it, Phi surviving the meteor strike+ walking through a forest fire could be like a resistance to fire, given that his bey is Phoenix. No idea what Hearts’ resonance ability could be, since we never saw it.

Then in ep24, we get confirmation that Phi has a resonance of his own, though it’s indicated that the main reason he brought it out was that he wanted to really hammer it home to Laban that you don’t peek into Phi’s soul and get away with it. (Ep24 is the same ep Xhan learns about resonance from Aiga). Also in ep24 comes the turning point for Aiga and Achilles--the moment where both are corrupted by way of Phi. Achilles was damaged by the dark energy from Phoenix, while Aiga was corrupted by Phi. (What’s also noticeable is that Aiga got corrupted+ didn’t have Houi to ground him throughout this section, as Houi left two eps before this. Hmm...)

From ep25 onwards all the way to around ep38, Aiga is trapped in a dark resonance, only made worse by the pressure around him (Battleship Cruise, then later Dead Gran) and his own personality. 

Hearts appears in ep29 and unleashes his own resonance in his first battle, confirming another resonance user, and he also introduces the concept of a blader feeling their spirit’s pain. (This turns out to be not entirely a good thing, but we’ll get to that later)

After this, we don’t get any information on resonance until ep35, when Shu shows up at Dead Gran to talk to Aiga about it and how he’s decidedly on the wrong path...which of course Aiga doesn’t take a blind bit of interest in until it’s too late. Shu also reveals that the “resonance pains” are bad since that is the bey spirit telling its blader that they are pushing the bey spirit too far.

From ep39 onwards (i.e., where we are now), Aiga is currently working on rebuilding his bond with Achilles, turning his impure resonance into a more positive one. We’ll see how this goes.

I can imagine that the rematch between Phi and Aiga, once he’s done this training journey he’s embarked on as of episode 43, is going to be the clash between pure and impure resonance at its highest level. While Aiga isn’t the type to try to reason with his opponents, Phi is going to need to be brought down a peg or two I think... And that’ll come in the form of Phi getting beaten by someone he views as inferior (a la Suoh from earlier in the season). But that’s to worry about later. 

If you wanted to play about with resonance, false/impure resonance would be the end result, since the unwitting blader would not have a true connection with their bey. They may not even have the ability that “normal” resonance gives them due to the artificial nature of it (if you’re going down that route; we’ve seen this kind of with Shu back in s02). 

So yeah, this was just a “quick” (ha) rundown of what resonance was and how we’ve seen it explored in the show, plus possibilities of what could happen. Hope you liked it ^^

[yoshi4sushi]

(purupurupuru) (purupurupuru) (click!) (coo!) (coo!)

 Happy Monday, minna-san! Warm sun and blooming flower buds have arrived. Spring is almost here. I hope everyone is ready to ditch those heavy coats and toasty sweaters. With that said, let’s this show on the road. We got loads of fun to share. First off, last week’s episode intensity is increasing more. We first see Perospero and the rest of the siblings doing their thinking time as they figure how they can get to Wano and hope they can find their mom. At Kuri Wastelands, Big Mom is tagging along with Chopper and the gang heading to Udon as Kiku explains that it’s a long journey to reach the land.  At another hideout, Nami & the gang have finally reached to safe place to hide out for a while because of the scandal. Robin was able to find out most of the stuff she could figure out. Brook tells Robin he found poneglyph stone, but it’s not red like the one from Zou. The girls decided to go to a bathhouse to relax. At the capital, the entire country of Wano mourn for the death of Komurasaki and will be holding a funeral in her honor. Meanwhile, Sanji and the guys are hiding in some shelter and reading the news about Komurasaki and the scandal that the girls have caused. Back in prison, poor Luffy is getting spit on by a jerk gifter name Apalcaman who is half man, half apalca. He’s all bullying the poor captain and just spitting as he’s talking. Yuck! He’s all telling Luffy off that he’ll be punished if he had anything to do with Kid’s escape which that news spread out as well. At the end, Luffy notices as the poor old man Hyou, the prisoner he saved, was getting bullied again and the gifters are forcing to tell him how he got many kibidango. Old man Hyou refused to answer as he mentions a hero he looked up to back then name Hyougoro of the flowers. I guess you could say he was the samurai Robin Hood. Anyway, Luffy had enough of seeing him getting trashed around he rushed to his rescues as the other prisoners begged him to not interfere that would lead to death. At the gate, the fearsome top commander Queen arrived at prison. What in the world is he there for? Who is this Hyougorou of the flowers? Is Kyoshiro an ally or a foe? GAH! So many questions. No chapter this week so it’s a break until next week. Next, this past weekend’s episode was intense. Luffy and Sanji finally made it back to Sunny and the others. Everyone was happy, but not out of the woods. The Germa siblings are keeping the Big Mom pirates away from the gang while back at Chiffon’s island, they arrived and placed the cake on shore. They wait for Big Mom’s arrival to see this moment through hoping that the cake will stop her sugar rush. Back at sea, Judge passes by the gang as he asked Luffy if all this trouble to save Sanji was worth it. He gave no answer and instead thanked him for helping out. It made him angry to hear such answer. At the end, the gang are trapped by all the fleets when suddenly, Wadatsumi and Sun pirates arrived to help Jimbei and the others. Next time, the Sun pirates face the Big Mom pirates while Mama herself is about to enjoy the cake. Will it satisfy her? Or disgust her? Don’t miss it! Now on with the goods. Tongari-san couldn’t be here tonight since March is gonna be busy month, but we got his telegram. He mentions that yummy birthday menu to celebrate Sanji and Sabo’s birthday has been posted. First, they’ll have Sanji’s swirly sausage burger with a black burger to match his suit and yummy potato hearts with some ketchup. For beverage, they have have flambe shot’s orange tea with some whip cream and orange drizzle. You can also order a fountain drink that comes in a plastic bottle of Sanji which is yours for free. (FYI: no BD bromide card). For Sabo’s dish, they have his Night Fire Fist spicy carbonara shrimp ramen with fish cake of his hat. If you order any of these dishes, you’ll get a free BD bromide card. Next, stores will be selling these new pouches of Sunny, Heart pirates, Straw Hat pirates in orange, black, & red color. It will be available on March 12th. The store will also have new tower coins in color of the characters such as Luffy, Chopper, Zoro, Sanji, Ace, Law, & Sabo. It’s 600 yen. Next, Anime Japan will be selling these hamster buttons of the boys including Ace & Sabo for one day. Not sure if other local stores or Animate stores will have them in stock, but you can ask. But this is only sold at the event for now. Next, check out the new visual for the 20th anniversary event at the Umihotaru Passenger Ship in Yokohama. More details of events and goods will be announced later. Next, J-League has announced a collab with OP. They’re selling loads of neat buttons, t-shirts, and hand towel from popular soccer teams. If you live w/in the country, you can order it. Payment can be made by credit card or COD (cash on delivery). We’ll leave a link for those interested. Next, Ehime prefecture will be opening a temporary Mugiwara Store at the Emfiul Masaka mall. Limited ed. goods will be announced soon. It will open from March 21st to April 7th. Ehime is known for having tasty oranges. Nami goods will probably the original goods, but be on the look-out for the announcement. Next, this Saturday, stores will be selling new mugi mugi plushies. This time, East Blue Zoro, Ussop, along with a pair set of lil’ Zoro & Kuina. Very cute! Next, get groovy! Get funky! Oh, no one says that anymore right? How embarrassing. Ahem! Anyway, On March 27th, stores will be selling this 20th anniversary OP CD Best Album. It will have all the openings and endings. CD album will only have the songs, as for the special album will have Blu-ray DVD of the animation openings and endings. Relive all the songs from 20 years. Next, OP app game, Thousand Store, is having a short event of Skypiea Island. Level up & you’ll receive Gan Fall w/ Pierre & Eneru as players. Last, but not least, I hope everyone got a chance to see the new trailer of the new OP movie, Stampede. Last week, Oda-sensei & staff released new sketches of new bad guys: one is named Douglass Bullet who supposedly is a former member of the Gold Roger pirates, and the entertainment MC, Buena Festa. Trailer also released that Law, Smoker, Tashigi, and the Buggy pirates will be in the movie. SO HAPPY! I can’t wait to see them. Today, they have released new designs of the Straw Hats wearing some neat looks. For those who live in Japan, don’t forget this Friday all movie theaters will be selling tickets to the movie and buttons will be given free. Check your local theater form your area. Phew! I think we got everything. That’s all we got! Tune in next week for more news and goods. Boys! Job well done as always. Let’s call it a night.

 Soccer goods: https://jop.bestsky.jp/