#what if my evil doppelganger tried to protect me by trying to kill the person i subconsciously blamed for the outcome of my life ummmm

[crocrubies]

self-preservation

[besanii]

He watches as Wei Ying backs away from him, the horror on his face twisting like a knife in his own heart as he shakes his head and reaches out a hand towards him to halt his steps. But Wei Yingflinches from his touch, the tears flowing thick and fast now, so he stops where he is and allows him to stumble out of his reach.

“Wei Ying,” he says desperately. “Wei Ying, listen to me—”

“Tell me it isn’t true,” Wei Ying begs. His eyes are red, his nose scrunched and face blotchy from struggling to hold back his tears. “Tell me what he says isn’t true, Lan Zhan. Please.”

Lan Wangji glances at the sky. They’re running out of time. They have less than an hour before the solar eclipse ends, and then it will be too late. These last twenty years of careful planning would have been for nothing. He turns back to Wei Ying, struggling to hold himself together, distraught.

“Wei Ying,” he says again. “I can explain. I promise I’ll explain. But right now, we don’t have much time—”

“No, don’t listen to him, Wei-gongzi.” Meng Yao steps out from behind a gap in the rock formations scattered about the gorge, his dark eyes glinting even as he wears an expression of concern on his face. “He’s only trying to get you to drop your guard for long enough to get what he wants. He doesn’t really care about you. He only cares about saving his lover, whose soul he planted inside your body, and the only way to do that is by killing you.”

“Be quiet!” Lan Wangji snarls, but it’s too late. Wei Ying is already regarding him with distrust, with fear…with heartbreak. “Wei Ying, don’t listen to him. Please—”

“Is he telling the truth?” he demands tearfully. When Lan Wangji hesitates, he raises his voice, panicked. “Answer me! Is he telling the truth?”

There is no reasoning with Wei Ying in this state, so Lan Wangji reins in his temper and impatience and takes a deep breath. He glares at Meng Yao where he stands just out of Wei Ying’s line of sight, the ghost of a smirk on his lips.

“Wei Ying,” he says as calmly as he can manage. “Someone very important to me was grievously hurt and their life in danger—the only way to save him was to send him here, to the mortal realm, to undergo three mortal trials in order to heal his soul so he can return. And you—you are him. I’m trying to save you.”

It almost works. Wei Ying’s features soften into uncertainty for a brief moment, before morphing into disbelief. Into pain. Into betrayal.

“So all this time…I’ve just been a replacement,” he says faintly. “All those times you told me you loved me, all those things you did…was because you took me for him. For your lost lover—”

“No!” Lan Wangji moves forward to take his hands, but Wei Ying shrinks even further away. His arm hangs in the air between them, helpless. “No, Wei Ying, that’s not true. I meant it all. Every word of it.”

“Is that so?” Meng Yao interjects silkily, slipping in behind Wei Ying to murmur in his ear. “Do you know who he is, Wei-gongzi? The man you call Lan Zhan doesn’t even exist. His true identity is Hanguang-jun, the God of War.”

Wei Ying sways dangerously where he stands, but before Lan Wangji can make a move to catch him, he rights himself again, holding a hand to his temple. The other hand is visibly trembling as he uses it to keep Lan Wangji at bay. His face is pale and clammy, a deep frown creasing his brow, damp with sweat.

“Hanguang-jun?” he says, voice strangled. “The God of War?”

He looks to Lan Wangji pleadingly, but Lan Wangji says nothing to refute it. There’s nothing he can say to refute it, even if he had wanted to. Guilt and shame rise in his throat like bile, but they don’t have time. The eclipse is almost over. He clenches his fists, squares his shoulders, and raises his head.

“Begone, demon,” he thunders, voice echoing around the gorge. Both Wei Ying and Meng Yao clap their hands over their ears in pain at the sound. “You will not poison his mind any further!”

Wei Ying has fallen to the ground with a whimper, his head still in his hands; mortal ears are not made to hear the voices of gods, even if the soul inside the body is an immortal one. Lan Wangji wants desperately to go to him, to ease his pain, but he must first rid him of Meng Yao’s influence. Bichen materialises before him, unsheathed and pointed directly at Meng Yao’s chest; the demon laughs, high and mocking, and claps his hands in delight.

“Yes, yes, there it is,” he laughs, “the righteous and mighty Hanguang-jun, here to rid the world of the evil demon! Look carefully, Wei-gongzi—look carefully at your beloved!”

But Wei Ying doesn’t raise his head, doesn’t spare Lan Wangji or Meng Yao a glance. He’s hunched over, kneeling on the cold ground, hands over his ears; he sobs and shakes his head, his lips moving silently over and over. The sight of his distress roots Lan Wangji to the spot, striking him through the heart like a bolt of lightning. Bichen clatters to the floor.

“Wei Ying…Wei Ying, please,” he begs, sinking down to his knees. “Wei Ying, please trust me. You have to trust me.”

Meng Yao laughs again.

“Trust you?” he says. “How can you be trusted, Hanguang-jun? You’ve been lying about your identity to his face for three years! What else have you been lying about? Your relationship? Your feelings?”

His next words are choked on a gasp as Bichen buries itself into his chest. He grins at Lan Wangji and waggles his fingers playfully at the two of them as his physical body begins to disintegrate into wisps of smoke.

“Is he even real, Hanguang-jun?”

Wei Ying goes very still. The last piece of Meng Yao fades, the ghost of a menacing grin accompanied by his chilling, mocking laughter carried through the gorge on the smoky remains of his corporeal body.

Lan Wangji’s heart drops to his stomach. He staggers forward and falls to his knees in front of him, every fibre of his being screaming to take him in his arms and shield him from Meng Yao’s cruel words, but he can’t. Not when Wei Ying continues to shy from his touch. Not even if the flicker of flame in his chest threatens to shatter from the pain.

He clenches his jaw against the pain. The flame spirit is weakening with every passing moment, and once it goes out his body will return to its frozen stasis without his heart. But he can’t do that until the soul inside Wei Ying’s body—until Wei Ying reascends.  He needs to get Wei Ying’s trust, needs Wei Ying to see—they’re running out of time.

“Wei Ying,” he tries again, his hands hovering over his shoulders, aching to touch. “My name is Lan Wangji. I am also Hanguang-jun, the God of War. I do have an older brother—his name is Lan Xichen, but you would know him better as Zewu-zun, the God of Medicine and Healing.

“I made a promise to watch over you, to protect you, but I couldn’t protect you from the people who wanted to destroy you for something that wasn’t your fault—so we devised a plan to send you here to the mortal realm to protect you from them until you were strong enough to return. This is the last trial. After this, it will all be over. They won’t be able to hurt you anymore. You’ll be immortal again—”

“But I won’t be me, will I?” Wei Ying says softly. He lifts his head from his hands, staring down at them like he’s seeing them for the very first time. “I won’t be Wei Ying. Or have I always been just a doppelganger, an empty vessel that only exists to serve its purpose and then discarded? Is my life here even real? My family? My friends?”

“Of course you’re real,” Lan Wangji replies, aghast. “Wei Ying, you’re real. Everything here is real. All of it.”

Wei Ying looks at him then, his eyes haunted by doubt and sorrow.

“Did you ever love me?” he asks. “Not him. Me. Wei Ying. Did you ever love me for me? Or was it because I’m him?”

Wei Ying. Bright, beautiful Wei Ying who had suffered so many hardships in his short life and still smiled with so much joy. Who had taken him in without a second thought when he had thought him in danger, had done his best to nurse him back to health despite his being a perfect stranger. Who had forged a life of his own, and who just wanted to be loved.

If only we could be like this forever, he had thought fondly only last night as he pressed a kiss to Wei Ying’s forehead. Just Wei Ying and Lan Zhan.

The words die on his tongue. The hesitation is answer enough.

Wei Ying laughs, brittle, hard, wounded.

“You must love him a lot, to be willing to do so much for him,” he says bitterly. “He must be an amazing person to be loved by you.”

“Wei Ying…” Lan Wangji starts. He trails off, unsure of what to say. “I—”

Wei Ying shakes his head and holds up a hand to stay his words.

“Don’t say anything.” Lan Wangji closes his mouth immediately. “I have no way of knowing if anything you’ve ever told me about yourself is real. I don’t know if what you’re tell me right now is real. But I know that Wei Ying is real. Everyone I know here: Jiang-shushu, Yu-furen, Jiang Cheng, Shijie. All of them are real. This life is real. Everything inside me tells me it’s real. I know it in my soul.”

He looks up at Lan Wangji then, his eyes brittle and anguished. He’s so beautiful, even now. The shame and guilt of what he’s about to do, the selfishness of his own decisions, wages war with the anxiety inside Lan Wangji. But they don’t have time. It must be obvious, because Wei Ying shakes his head and exhales.

“I don’t know if you love Wei Ying,” he says, his voice cracking. “But I know you love him. And I know I love you. So whatever you need from me that will save him…you can take it. Just take it.”

He reaches out and takes Lan Wangji’s head between his hands, presses their foreheads together and stares deep into his eyes. In them, Lan Wangji sees an infinite amount of sorrow, resignation…and love. Pain lances through his chest at the sight, the flame spirit sitting in place of his heart flaring painfully in response. He gasps around it, tears burning in his eyes.

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying murmurs into the space between them. “If the whole purpose of my life is to die here today, then that is what I’ll do. But I want you to promise me something.”

He takes a deep breath and traces Lan Wangji’s cheekbone with his thumb, tears spilling down his own.

“When you and your lover reunite, I want you to remember. The person you spent three years with here in the mortal realm, who nursed you back to health and who agreed to marry you—was Wei Ying. Not anyone else. It was Wei Ying. Don’t you dare get us confused.”

He pulls back before Lan Wangji can react, ignoring the aborted noise of protest he makes. He smiles, but it’s lopsided and wobbly at the corners despite the determination in his eyes.

“Do it,” he says, and turns his back on him.

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji chokes, his throat constricting. “I—I’m…Wei Ying—”

“Lan Zhan,” Wei Ying says softly. “Please. Just do it.”

Above them, the sun is starting to peek out from behind the shadows. The eclipse is almost over. They don’t have much time left—

“Wei Ying,” he says again, tears obscuring his vision until Wei Ying is just a hazy blur before him. He blinks them back and raises his hand. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I love you, I’m sorry—”

Wei Ying bows his head and weeps.

—

Wen Ning looks up at the flash that erupts from the cauldron in the centre of the talisman array. A phoenix burst forth with a shriek, the tips of its fiery wings reaching to the furthest edges of the vast chamber; it circles around twice, drowning the entire place in blazing heat, before slowing down and shedding the flames as it lands.

A tall young man draped in black and red emerges from the fire. He turns to Wen Ning, down on one knee, and regards him with blank, grey eyes.

“Congratulations on your successful ascension,” Wen Ning says, bowing his head. “Wei Wuxian-shangshen.”

Notes:

shangshen (上神) - High God

Based on Love and Destiny (三生三世宸汐缘), where Jiu Chen, the God of War, sends Linxi (a vermilion bird spirit) down into the mortal realm to cleanse her soul of the dark energy that had been imbued into it from when she was a baby, and she returns from it in her true form as a phoenix.

[rukakikuchi]

Dreamcatcher Ultimate Timeline theory - Everything is connected

Dreamcatcher has had a lot of interesting storylines with their releases. From the "Nightmare" series which ran from debut all the way to "Piri" (or "Breaking Out" depending on how you view it), to their "Dystopia" trilogy, and even their one off game collaborations.

However, are those game collab MVs really stand alone? Do they play a bigger part in the lore of Dreamcatcher's videography? And does the "Dystopia" trilogy have some connections to the "Nightmare" series? This is a question that has been asked by many.

Personally, I always regarded each storyline as being separate and self contained within their respective narratives. But recently, that's begun to change.

As pointed out in a video by "Sua's SinB" on Youtube, during a VLive, SuA said that the "Nightmare book" which appeared in "Good Night" was one of the most important objects in the lore. We haven't seen the book since "What", so how is the book important to the lore as a whole in regards to subsequent releases?

That's when they pointed out the symbols called "witch glyphs" on one of the pages shown in "Good Night", how it relates to each member, and how it connects the music videos together.

That got me thinking about everything we had seen, from certain dynamics between members' characters, reoccurring scenes or symbols, and even my own past theories. And while the idea that all of Dreamcatcher's MVs are connected isn't a new theory, I'd like to put my own spin on it and give my own personal perspective on what exactly is happening.

To do that, before heading into my full breakdown on the possible timeline, I'd like to give three main points.

1. "Scream" is the beginning of *everything*.

2. JiU and Yoohyeon have parallel/intertwined fates.

3. The girls are being reincarnated all across the timeline.

~~~

Birth of evil

The music video for "Scream" is where we see the catalyst for the creation of Dystopia. In the very first frame, we learn that the light had disappeared and people forgot how to say good things.

However, looking at a broader scale, I believe what we see happen in "Scream" also serves as a precursor to everything that happens across the timeline, not just for the "Dystopia" trilogy, but also the "Nightmare" series and the game collabs (Deja Vu and Rose Blue).

In my previous analysis, I pointed out how Gahyeon was the one who released the evil spirit that corrupted the tree of language and created Dystopia. To me, this feels similar to the story of Pandora's Box.

The world was a paradise, but after Pandora opened the box, evil was unleashed. Gahyeon in "Scream", whether she was tempted by the evil spirit or chose to on her own, had unleashed the curse that could corrupt people's hearts and spread evil, much like Pandora.

Because she did this, Gahyeon faces many hardships in her next lives after "Scream", as a form of karmic punishment for releasing the evil into the world. She was one of the first to be corrupted by the nightmare curse in "Fly High", gets captured by the nightmare twice in "Good Night" (her falling endlessly) and "Piri" (the hand grabbing her and being trapped in a dark room), being suffocated in "Breaking Out", and becoming a target of hateful words in "Boca" and "Odd Eye".

With that in mind, and the supposed time period that "Scream" appears to take place in, I believe that this is the true starting point of Dreamcatcher's world view.

~~~

The sun and the moon

The next part of the major storyline is "Deja Vu". This music video highlights one of the major dynamics in Dreamcatcher's videos; JiU and Yoohyeon.

They are frequently seen together, and seem to display a yin and yang dynamic. Good and evil, light and dark... The moon (JiU) and the sun (Yoohyeon).

Going back to "Sua's SinB"'s analysis, in one of the pages from the "Nightmare book", there are symbols called "witch glyphs" visible. Considering that they are called "witch glyphs", and we see the girls performing witchcraft in some of the MVs, as well as adding my personal theory that the members are a witch coven in "Scream", then perhaps the witches were the ones who created the book.

Now onto the glyphs themselves. They have specific meanings and seem to be tied to each of the members. And guess what JiU and Yoohyeon's glyphs were.

JiU's was a combination of "moon" and "mirror", and Yoohyeon's was "light" or "sun". Because their links represent duality of day and night, and the moon reflects the sun's light like a mirror, this means JiU and Yoohyeon are deeply connected.

However, in "Deja Vu", Yoohyeon gets corrupted by the evil that was released in "Scream" and betrays JiU and all her friends. She was selfish; she wanted power. That made her heart become vulnerable to the evil's influence and she ultimately betrayed everyone, left alone in a kingdom of ruin.

This, once again, turns into a sort of karmic destiny that influences JiU and Yoohyeon's next lives. JiU is trying to save Yoohyeon, but Yoohyeon keeps falling victim to the evil's influence in some way, or is punished for her own mistakes. Yoohyeon is in a constant struggle with her own inner darkness, her inner evil.

However, JiU might have a similar issue that she is running away from rather than confronting it. In "Fly High" and "Piri", we see instances of two JiU's being shown together. However, when JiU sees her doppelganger, she runs away from them.

Let's look at JiU's witch glyph again. It represents the moon and a mirror. The moon doesn't just reflect the light of the sun. There is a dark side, the back of the moon, that isn't shown. Likewise, a mirror can represent two sides of a person. Their shadow to their light; another self inside oneself. Perhaps JiU is afraid of facing this other self, her own inner shadow.

~~~

The endless cycle

The last main point to discuss before heading into the full breakdown of my timeline theory is the idea that all of the girls are being reincarnated multiple times throughout the timeline.

One thing I kept coming back to was the butterfly. Much like how Yoohyeon is closely linked with the spider, JiU is closely linked to the butterfly. We saw them in "Fly High", "Deja Vu", and "Rose Blue". And remember what's something butterflies symbolize? That's right, rebirth.

With each music video, in each story line, we see the girls in a constant struggle of overcoming some form of "evil". In some cases, they became separated or succumbed to the "evil".

Be it nightmares, a dystopian world, or even each other, they were trapped in a never-ending cycle of hardships and pain because of the evil that had escaped into the world.

With all this in mind, let's look at this timeline, from the very beginning...

Scream:

The world is a utopia, full of light and goodness. This world is protected by a group of goddesses, who share a deep connection to a tree called "the tree of language". When people say good things, the tree bears white fruit, but when people say bad things, it bears black fruit. The goddesses protect the balance of good and evil within utopia.

Living in this utopia is a coven of seven (yes, Handong was absent during "Scream" and "Boca", but I'll still be referring to them as seven) witches called "Dreamcatcher" who possess powerful magic. They help the goddesses tend to and protect the tree of language.

One day, however, a young girl who was a friend to the witches died. Left in a vulnerable state due to her sadness, one of the witches (Gahyeon) heard a voice call out to her from the tree. There, she found a strange crystal that resonated a powerful energy.

However, when she touched the crystal, it shattered before her eyes. This released a powerful evil into the world that corrupted the tree and spread into the hearts of many people in utopia. The light vanished and people forgot how to say good things, causing the tree to bear more and more black fruit.

The witches tried to fight the spreading evil, but ultimately became consumed by it and were separated. Now the witches' souls became cursed as an inner evil was born in each of them.

Deja Vu:

Years later, in a grand kingdom, a group of seven friends are having a dinner party. However, inside of one of them, there grew a fruit of evil. Yoohyeon had a selfish desire for power. Even if she had to betray her dear friends, she wanted to obtain power.

So, she killed her friend, JiU the princess, and took control of the throne. She betrayed all of her friends, and was left all alone, haunted by the memories of her biggest mistake.

Fly High:

Time passes, and the knowledge of magic, witches, and curses is long forgotten from human memory. Seven school friends live together in a boarding school manor, spending their days together in peace. One day, one of the girls, JiU, finds a spider while everyone is playing outside. She feels a strong connection to it, a sense of protection.

However, unbeknownst to her, one of her friends, Yoohyeon kills it for fun, because she has selfishness in her heart. The death of the spider caused a curse to be released and come after the girls, one by one.

The curse drew out an inner evil from each girl and corrupted them slowly by feeding off their deepest fears. To stop the curse from escaping into the world, JiU locked the gates to the manor.

With help from Siyeon, SuA finds the book of nightmares, written by a coven of witches from long ago, the Dreamcatchers.

Chase Me + Good Night:

Now, JiU and her friends have become nightmares, trapped in another plane of reality. In this world, they are like ghosts, and can only interact with people through haunting their dreams. One day, a young man starts investigating these girls and trying to capture them. He is a ghost hunter.

He finds a book full of strange text and pictures. It is the book of nightmares that was found by SuA. Using the book, he traps two of the girls in their worst nightmares, and chases after two more.

Three of the girls manage to retrieve the book and free their friends, trapping the man in the nightmare world so they can return to reality. In the process, however, they lose the nightmare book, never to be found again.

You and I:

The girls continue their peaceful days together at a photography studio. However, there are still remnants of evil within them, as Siyeon is seen burning a photo. Then, Yoohyeon sees a woman who transforms into a spider and attacks her. She is the spider queen, and she took revenge on Yoohyeon who killed the spider that was meant to protect the girls from the nightmare curse.

Now Yoohyeon's soul is trapped in the dreamworld again. JiU and her friends perform a ritual to try and save her, but are unsuccessful. Yoohyeon remains in a deep slumber, stuck in the nightmare realm once again.

What + Piri / Breaking Out:

JiU and the others begin having strange, lucid dreams. Yoohyeon has been trying to reach out to them while still trapped in the nightmare realm. JiU sees Yoohyeon in her dream, since she has the strongest connection to her out of all the members.

Eventually, the girls reach the nightmare realm to save Yoohyeon. They come face to face with their greatest fears and overcome them one by one to reunite with Yoohyeon. After they reunited, they free themselves from the nightmare and return to the real world, together again.

Boca:

After confronting their inner demons, the girls start to realize how the world they're in is full of evil people that hurt the lives of others through harmful words. They lead a movement to shut the mouths of those who spread hate, which helps the goddesses purify the tree of language. However, they are also made a target for slander.

Rose Blue:

Far in the future, a strange crystal traps the souls of six friends in a dreamlike state. JiU, the leader of the group, realizes what's going on and breaks out of the illusion to save her friends. She wields a gun which can help her friends break free from the dream. However, she only has five bullets.

When she re-enters the illusion realm, she faces her friends and her sister, Gahyeon. Holding back tears as her sister reaches out, she shoots the gun. She freed all of her friends, but had no bullets left to save herself, becoming trapped in the crystal as her friends reawaken in the real world.

Odd Eye:

Now, further in the future, technology has taken control of everyone's lives. The advancement of technology and social media causes hate and evil to spread more rapidly across the world, further corrupting the tree of language more than ever before.

The goddesses watch on as their hope of finding their paradise, utopia, fades away. Because in the end, the Dreamcatchers who overcame many hardships, could never find the utopia they once dreamed of.

+++

And that concludes this theory! Hope you all enjoyed it! Honestly, I can't wait to see what kind of storyline Dreamcatcher will choose to do next. Whatever they decide, no doubt it will be awesome!

Feel free to share your own thoughts and theories! Until then... Sweet dreams! 🌙✨

[rae-sparda]

Dangerous Liaisons

A/N: Hey guys, we're baaaaaaaaaack with another chapter. Yaaay! I hope you like it! Let me know what you think.

Chapter 3 - A meeting with the Devil's Mother

She knocked on the door feeling her undead heart thudding violently against her chest, her fear palpable. Soon enough, the door opened and Finn greeted her, his impassive face shifting to one of nearly happy that she was alone. “You’re alone. Wise choice.” She side glanced at him, resisting the urge to not roll her eyes. Yeah, like I had a choice… Gulping down her fear, she fully entered the room, her gaze falling between Esther’s hands.

“It’s only sage. I’ve spelled It so we can talk freely without fear of being overheard. That would be all, Finn. Thank you.” Dismissing her old son, the two soon were alone, and Katherine tried hard not to bolt after she heard the door closing.  “You must have a million questions for me, Elena. Please.” She gestured towards the sofa and the vampiress gulped, slowly making her way before seating and cursing the Salvatores for making her basically scream that she wanted to die.

“How are you alive? I mean… Are you a ghost or…?

“Not exactly. When I died the witch Ayana preserved my body with a spell. She was a close friend of mine and an ancestor of your friend Bonnie.” Katherine widened her eyes, surprised at the revelation, but knew her doppelganger would never let any information pass. She was as cunning as she could be and still pretend to be innocent. The nerve.

“So that’s why only Bonnie and her mother could open the casket?”

“They complete the Bennet bloodline. I drew power from them and their ancestors with me on the other side.”

“You’ve been on the other side for a thousand years?”

“Nature’s way of punishing me for turning my family into vampires. But there is a way for me to undo the evil I created.” Katherine was caught off guard, her surprise showing openly on her features.

“You’re gonna help us kill Klaus, aren’t you?”

“One thing at a time, Elena. For now, I simply need your help.” Her nervousness was only growing with each second more she passed beside the Original Bitch who was speaking so freely and seemed confident that Elena would help her. No surprises there, they all wanted to kill Klaus. “I understand Rebekah shared the story of my family. How I upset the balance of nature by turning my children into vampires.” Esther said while lit up a few candles on top of a paper that had a few things scribbled down, but Katherine couldn’t decipher what it was from where she was standing.

“She said that you did that to protect them from the werewolves.” By now, Katherine was more than happy to have force shared information with her shadow self, otherwise, she would have stuttered so much, the witch would have seen something different on her.

“It’s true. But in no time at all, they began to feed on human blood.” She poured water into a cup while saying that with such disgust that made Katherine ball her hands into fists to not say anything. They became what they were because of her! How could she not see that they were only children and she was the responsible one for that mess? “They ravaged the town with no remorse. Eventually, Niklaus turned against me.”

Getting closer, the vampire doppelganger still didn’t see how Elena would help her. “How are you gonna kill him? He’s immortal.” She nearly scoffed, but the Mikaelson’s matriarch was so serious and gazing at her intently like she was trying to read her soul.

“It will take time, magic, and your assistance.”

“What do I have to do then?”

“My children believe I’m holding this ball to celebrate our reunion. But in truth, I’ve gathered them together to perform a ritual. The first step requires the blood from the doppelganger.” Katherine widened her eyes and stiffened, feeling overwhelmed. She was going to be discovered and Esther would kill her in a heartbeat. “Only a drop. Its essence will be in the champagne toast later on this evening. Will you do it? Or shall I?” She asked revealing a silver dagger and holding it to her in a twisted way of offering her the chance to help her.

To not raise suspicions, she took out her glove and hold the dagger, pinching her finger before turning it towards the cup full of something she didn’t want to think about. Giving the dagger back to Esther, Katherine quickly put her glove back on, feeling nervous. Would it work? “Elijah is more suspicious than the others, so he may need more persuasion. But they must all drink at the toast in order to be linked as one.”

“What do you mean linked as one?” She was regretting her decision to come at all and was fearing for Elijah. This wench of a woman wanted to kill all her children? With no regrets?

“You said yourself Klaus can’t be killed. But tonight’s spell links all my children together so that if one goes, they all go.”

“What?” Her voice wavered and she suddenly felt the urge to vomit. She couldn’t believe that Esther would do such a cruel thing. And they used to say she and Klaus were the monsters...

“I love my family, Elena... But they are an abomination. I betrayed nature when I created them. It’s my duty to kill them.” Katherine didn’t even have to pretend to be shocked, since she was too struck to pretend another reaction and simply left in a daze.

“So how was my mother?” Elijah’s voice was enough to make her feel her dead heartbeat skyrocket and she gulped, taking a deep breath to calm herself in his presence, the urge to simply spill everything eating her.

“Intense.”

“And for what reason, she needed to speak with you in private?” His reaction seemed nearly funny like he was loving her reaction, from what; she couldn’t tell. Getting two flutes of champagne, the vampire doppelganger forced a smile on her face, glancing sideways involuntarily, meeting Esther’s eyes who showed a coldness even when she smiled at her and Katherine felt she couldn’t breathe. “Elena. Should I be concerned about my mother's intentions?” She snapped her head towards Elijah, glancing at him like he was the most beautiful person she had ever seen. Approaching him, she smiled, getting his flute and turning around to run, exchanging the flutes, and whining at the force he used to stop her. Frowning, she pouted and gave him her flute, her eyes hardened.

“No, Lijah... You don’t have to worry about mother dearest.” He gave her a side smile, approaching the doppelganger slowly, making her walk backward until her back collided with the wall.

“So, it’s true then? She’s forgiven Klaus?”

“It’s true.” She forced a smile on her lips, and Elijah let his eyes linger on her sinful lips.

“You forgot that I can always tell when you lie, Katerina.” Opening her mouth to reply, she was interrupted by the sound of clinking glass.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Waiters are coming around with champagne. I invite you all to join me in raising a glass. It provides me with no greater joy than to see my family back together as one. I’d like to thank you all for being part of this spectacular evening. Cheers.” She raised her glass and the doppelganger internally panicked. She had switched the wrong flutes. When Elijah got his flute, Katherine simply arched her brows, facing the older vampire mockingly.

“Since you’ve discovered me...” She dryly retorted, stealing his flute and drinking it in one go, just like the rest of his siblings. Before Elijah could try to question what the hell was she doing there, she flew trying to find Stefan to go home. After a few moments where she hid from Elijah, she finally found the younger Salvatore... Only, he wasn’t alone and was discussing with his brother, calling the attention of anyone that was leaving the ball.

“Okay, Stefan, nice one. You surprised me, bro. Good for you, but don’t think for a second that that fucking whore wi-”

“Damon, what are you doing?” Katherine bit out, grazing her teeth, wanting more than anything to break his neck again and burn his body just for fun to see him die. He barely turned when he heard her voice, his anger aimed at his brother.

“Oh, shut up, you little devil. Go away.”

“Damon, please! This isn’t you, what is wrong with you?” Scoffing he turned around to face her and gave a wicked grin, making her frown. Katherine gave a step back, but Damon's vamp sped at her, throwing her at the pool, and everyone stood shocked to see what happened, while she screamed and let herself fall into the water, internally screaming and killing Damon in a million different ways. Not even a second later, she was out, shivering and coughing, her gaze darting around wildly until she was hushed and hugged her savior.

“Go now, mister Salvatore. You’ve done enough this evening.” Elijah dismissed him and heard Katherine’s growl. The only thing keeping her from killing Damon was the way the Original’s body was engulfing her, and he should be thankful for this mercy.

“Elena... I can get you home.” Stefan’s voice was controlled and his rigid posture revealed he was not sure how to react.

“I’m fine... I’ll be okay... Elijah won’t let anyone hurt me, Stefan. You can go.” He nodded, only glancing at her once more before flashing out after his brother and Elijah took her to his bedroom to let her dry herself and use Rebekah’s clothes, much to her annoyance. When they returned to his bedroom, Elijah opened his mouth, but Katherine stopped him, saying they should go to her hotel’s room. “We can’t talk here. It’s not safe.” She whispered and he frowned, both vampires escaping through the windows. After a few seconds, they were inside her room and she bit her lip, messing her hair and telling him about his mother’s plan to kill them all.

“So, she wants to kill us all... And you linked yourself with my siblings... Why, Katerina?” She frowned and scoffed, crossing her arms.

“I have no idea if it worked. I might be a doppelganger, but I am a vampire.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out.” She gulped and before she could reply anything, he disappeared, leaving her alone.

@umaficwriter @kalijahx @imgoingtofreakoutnow

[fandom-necromancer]

You are safe with me

This was prompted by an awesome anon! I hope you enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900 (Warnings: Description of violence, evil Sixty, panic attack)

‘Eli’, Gavin whispered, trying to keep his voice down. ‘Eli!’, he tried again with a bit more urgency and was rewarded by a low groan. Gavin could hear the pain in his voice but was relieved the man had woken up at all. Once again, Gavin futilely tried to rub his blindfold off with his shoulder. He had only just started warming up to his brother again, but damn, he wanted nothing more than see the bastard and make sure he was okay. ‘Are you alright?’, he asked. ‘I’m fine’, Elijah slurred through gritted teeth. ‘A few more bruises and breathing hurts. You?’ ‘I’m alright’, Gavin sighed. He was, in fact, not. Elijah was who they wanted. The genius inventor with billions on his bank account and influence all over the world. Gavin was just someone they accidentally had to take with them because he had visited Eli over the weekend. Figuring they could use him as a bargaining chip to make his brother spill whatever they wanted from him, he hadn’t been treated as lightly.

He was hurting all over. Being beaten up and cut to make him scream over and over again, so Elijah would cave in, hadn’t passed him without a trace. He hadn’t lost enough blood to be light headed, but half his face was swollen, he couldn’t find a position his body wasn’t hurting in when he laid down and from his past hospital visits from his work, he knew there were several bones that were broken or at least sprained.

They had been taken by masked figures and since then Elijah had worn a blindfold. Gavin was only blinded when he was brought back to his brother. During his sessions in the next room, he was allowed to see his opponent and it made his stomach turn. It was Connor. Or at least a Connor. Gavin refused to believe the puppy-eyed nerd that constantly swarmed Hank was capable of such things. The Connor that had introduced itself as Sixty was far too cold anyway. Gavin could see it had some sort of sadistic fun hurting him. And the more the damn machine smiled at him, Gavin struggled. Even if they tied him down and took everything that could be used as a weapon from him, he still had his voice. They needed his voice so Eli would hear it next door. And Gavin used it to spit every expletive known to man in Sixty’s face.

But he could feel how he grew weaker. This had been going on for far too long already. There was only so much pain a human could withstand and still fight. With every passing day, desperation sat in. Gavin’s only hope was that the DPD would find them. Kidnapping Gavin was a bad idea when his partner and love was the best android ever built. But he hadn’t found them yet. And if Nines hadn’t managed to find a trace yet, how likely was it he would find one any time soon?

He was his only hope by now, because he knew he would never stop searching for him. But that hope was dwindling as Gavin tried his best not to think about him too much. He was already dreaming of Sixty hurting him over and over again when he found a few hours of sleep. It was far too easy for these eyes to turn blue, for his face to turn up and for their surroundings to change to their living room. Nothing was worse than waking up from sleep after the love of his life had just mutilated him in his dream and being dragged off by his Doppelganger immediately afterwards.

Sometimes, when Sixty decided to phck him up worse than normally, Gavin thought to see Nines. Reality and dream had merged and panic overshadowed anger. He didn’t bother to hide it: He was afraid. He was so damn scared Elijah would give them what they wanted, and they would just kill him off. He was so scared they would never be rescued. He groaned, as he rolled over, trying to locate Eli and make sure the man didn’t lie to him in the same way he did to him. Because what he feared even more than himself dying in this hellhole was Elijah meeting his demise.

He had finally wormed his way over to his brother as the door opened and they both froze. Gavin felt familiar arms hugging him from behind to lift him up and felt like throwing up as they were almost careful. He was carried out of the room and laid on the table. Only then the blindfold was lifted, and the man froze in panic as his stressed-out brain tried to make sense of what he saw.

It was the first time he begged for Nines to stop.

-

‘Everyone in position?’ Nines waited at the north entrance to the abandoned machine hall – a relict from the days Detroit was still the world’s automotive capital. He was wearing a borrowed Jacket from Connor and had changed his eye colour to brown to infiltrate the building. He had worked night and day to find the people that had taken his love away from him and with help of nearly the whole department found out who had kidnapped the Kamskis. Sixty, the wretched third brother that had nearly stopped the revolution and killed Connor, was still loyal to Amanda and taken Elijah in her name. He wanted to force him to develop a virus that would un-deviate every last android in the world and follow Amanda’s orders. With that information Nines quickly found a place that had sufficient space and power supply to house an AI and checking the energy draw it was a surprise they had managed to stay hidden for so long in the first place.

Nines didn’t want to think what they had done to Gavin. They didn’t exactly need him and likely used him to pressure Mr. Kamski into compliance. But that would end today. He heard the others confirm their positions just outside the different rooms, entrance routes secured for a quick access. ‘Alright. Going in.’

He walked calmly down the hallway and feigned a confidence only Sixty could display. If they had hired goons for protection, Nines doubted they knew Sixty well enough to distinguish him from a near identical model. And if not, then it would just come down to a match between him and an inferior machine. Nines was prepared. Months of despair, pent-up stress and fear could create a dangerous cocktail of fury and the RK900 was determined to let Sixty feel it before deactivating him for good.

Walking deeper into the complex he never saw another face and decided to give the clear for the rest of his team to enter and scout for themselves. He watched out for any sign someone had been here lately, climbing through debris and balancing over beams where the floor had collapsed. But it were his hears that picked something up in the end and it made his pump stop at least two full beats: The bloodcurdling screams coming from the end of the hallway were so far from everything Nines had ever heard this voice produce, but still mistakenly Gavin. He started running, regardless of whether the integrity of the floor allowed it or not. He slid to a halt at the door, pieces of drop ceiling on the floor spun to the side after centuries of decay. With one distinguished movement, Nines ripped the door open, the lock falling to the floor from the sheer force. He could only see the table with Gavin strapped onto it and a person bowed over him, then he was already next to them and punched Sixty square in the face. The impact sent him crashing against the next wall.

The time Nines needed to follow gave the other android the chance to look up at him and ask: ‘Connor?’ Nines dismissed the masking protocol and fixed the RK800 out of his own, blue eyes. ‘Guess again’, he ordered cold enough to let hell freeze over and took Sixty by the throat to punch him against the wall repeatedly. ‘My name is Nines. You kidnapped and tortured someone who is very dear to me.’ ‘Kamski?’ ‘No. His brother.’ ‘Reed? What, someone actually likes the asshole?’

Nines screamed at him and send him to the floor, pressing Sixty down with his weight alone. ‘I love him. You weren’t successful the first time and you missed your second chance, Sixty. Now you die.’ Those were the last words the RK800 would hear, as Nines broke Sixty’s artificial neck before unholstering his gun to shoot him a few times for good measure.

He looked down on the deactivated android with content until his attention shifted to the laboured breathing audible in the room. Immediately he was on his feet and on top of Gavin to open the restraints and take him in his arms. Gavin was alive. Gavin was hurt, but alive. Gavin was back by his side. They would go home and- no, they would go to a hospital first, but they would go home eventually and then-

‘No, no, no, no-‘ The panicked whisper, nothing more than air leaving his lungs, came from somewhere at his chest, where Gavin’s face had been smothered against him. ‘No, this can’t be. Not this dream again, please-‘ weak arms pressed against him and Nines knew Gavin well enough to let him go immediately, only helping him to lay back down. The human’s eyes were wide in fear and panic and Nines instinctively took a step back. ‘Please, no, not you Nines, no, I beg you. You would never do this. Make it end, make it end!’

‘Gavin, it’s me. It’s me. I came to get you out of here. You are safe now.’ But the man wouldn’t listen. ‘You say that, but you will just hurt me again. This is my phcked-up brain again. Stay away from me!’ ‘I- I will’, Nines said despite wanting nothing more than holding him close and carry him out to never let go again. ‘I will stay right here; I won’t do anything. I don’t know what they did to you, but this is me. The DPD is just outside waiting to shut down Amanda for good and get you to a hospital.’ He finally shrugged out of Connor’s jacket, thinking it might be the uniform. But otherwise he didn’t move, hoping Gavin would come to his senses. But everything his scans returned him was showing him he was experiencing a panic attack. He had to keep calm. For Gavin’s sake. ‘Gavin, please, try to breathe. Try to focus. Try to breathe deeper. It is over. Sixty is dead. I will get you and my brother out of here.’ ‘What are you asshole playing?’, Gavin asked, tears flowing down his cheeks. ‘Just get on with it already you mad phcker! Cut me open like you always do! What are you waiting for?’ ‘For you to calm down, Gavin. I unshackled you. And look: I will sit down here now.’ He took more steps back until he hit the wall and sat into the dust. ‘I won’t stand up until you tell me to. Please try to calm down, to breathe and to relax. I won’t do you any harm.’

Gavin eyed him sceptically, but his breathing had indeed become more regular. Nines relaxed a bit, staring at his human, who was just sitting there wounded and sore, bleeding from cuts and his face swollen. He wanted to caress where he could and warm him, wanted to make it better. But anything he would do now would only make it worse. ‘I’m not dreaming?’, Gavin asked. ‘You never did that in a dream before.’ ‘You are not. I’m really here and we can go home whenever you are ready.’ ‘Home…’, Gavin still watched him, but his eyes looked distant. ‘I… Is it really over?’ ‘Yes.’ Gavin blinked and looked down on his feet, swaying to the side and righting himself again. ‘Sixty is dead?’ ‘He is.’ ‘Nines, I think I’m losing consciousness…’

Nines was on his feet the moment he said it and ran to his side, holding him gently and this time Gavin didn’t freak out like before. He did tense and looked like he was ready to bolt the moment Nines moved the wrong muscle, but otherwise sought the closeness. Nines did nothing but supporting him, until Gavin leaned against his chest and hugged his side. He inhaled through his nose and smiled. ‘It’s really you’, he murmured, before resting his head against him. ‘Get me out of here, Nines.’ ‘I will, Gavin. You are safe with me.’

[whump-but-make-it-gay]

Febuwhump

Day 1: Mind control

Show: Once upon a time

Setting: season 6, Episode 9

TW: violence, talk about suicide

"Mommy loves you." Zelena kissed Robin's forehead before putting her into the crib. She turned around, looking at the Evil Queen. She knew, she wasn't here for a nice talk. There were not many reasons why Gold would sent her.

The Queens eyes flashed murderous at Zelena. She waved her hand and they both got surrounded by the Queens purple magic cloud.

"I told you we should take this outside. Its enough!" Her voice was filled with anger. They stood outside the farmhouse, the chilly wind messing up her red curls.

Zelena looked around, still confused about the complete situation. She never thought that her sister would just kill her, well not anymore. Trading her life for a deal with Gold. Zelena cringed at the thought.

The Evil Queen waved her hand and the resulting fireball caught Zelena off guard. The hot, burning force hit her chest and she flew through the air. Her side hit the wooden shed behind her forcefully.

Utterly uninterested, the Queen stepped closer to her sister, who was trying to get up. A red injury on her forehead was visible from where she hit the wood. Pathetic, the queen thought.

She raised her hand, choking Zelena with an invisible grip. She smiled at the sounds of panicky breathing and the gasps for air. The Queen enjoyed the moment when the redhead passed out because of lacking oxygen. Before she could tighten the grip, hot pain suddenly shot through her body.

Hands flying to her chest, she leaned forward. A panicked look flashed across her face, as her guts got crushed inside her body. At least that's how it felt. The raw pain lessened and she turned around, seeing Regina standing behind her, squeezing her own heart in her hands.

Her body language showed that she was also in pain. The way she held her upper body and how she bit down on her lip. This was going to be more fun than she originally planned.

"This is how you want to stop me? By killing yourself?" The queen laughed, turning away from Zelena, who laid unconscious on the ground, and glared furiously at Regina. "I'd never thought you could actually do that. We both know that you failed at that several times already."

"You really think I'm not strong enough without you?" She challenged and pushed her red, glowing heart back into her chest.

"No dear, I know it. I was the one who stand up for us. Who protected us. You only stood by, watching your life falling to pieces. You should have used your voice, you should have resisted more," the queen growled angrily.

"That's what all this is about? That I was trapped and not strong enough to escape? I did resist. You should know that better then anyone." Tears began to build up in Regina's eyes. She didn't came to talk nor to fight. She didn't want to discuss these parts of her past, not now. Not ever.

"I know you better than anyone. That's why I can tell that you would still be sitting in this castle, crying over the stable boy. You'd be too terrified to do anything. That is why I took control. I helped you Regina. I saved you. And what did you do? You hated me, you threw me away. Don't you ever think again that you can defeat me."

"Oh I can and I will. You were too long in control. You will never have any control over me," she screamed at the Evil Queen, the painful memories clouding her judgement.

A laugh escaped the evil queens throat. She reached out and slammed her hand into her ribcage, both her and Regina vincing at the pain of a hand moving inside their chests. The queen pulled out the glowing black organ and looked at it disgusted. A single thin read streak crossed one side of it.

"Well, I truly hope that you know, that this would kill yourself but not me," Regina said convincingly, hoping that her words were indeed the truth. After working with Hyde, the Queen could have more knowledge about the doppelganger thing than her.

Her statement earned another laugh from the evil queen. "I don't mean to kill you. That would be too easy. Who would just kill their other half like a heartless person? Ohhh right. You did," she snapped angrily. "I'm gonna show you, that you were never in control. I was then and I am now.

"I have your heart. Well i have mine but since we are the same person, I can command you, to do anything I'd like you to." The queen ended her speech with a threatening smile. She didn't miss the scared look on Regina's face and how she tried to hold the tears back while their, well, little chat.

"You can't do that," Regina argued. "I protected my heart, you can't control me." Her voice sounded stable, although her guts screamed to run away and hide.

"Well yes, you did indeed. You protected your heart from other people controlling you with this stupid heart. But we both know that I am not another person, I am you. Which means, I am able to control you."

Regina wished she could hit the smug look out if the queens face. Hearing these words made her nauseous, because she knew that it was the truth. The spell didn't include to protect the control your own heart. Obviously because nobody ever split themselves in half, other than Jekyll and Hyde. Both are dead, she thought bitterly.

"Let's see," the queen purred," what should you do?" The Evil Queen turned around. She looked at Zelena, who still laid unconscious on the ground.

"You wouldn't do that," Regina gasped wide-eyed. "She is your sister! Don't you have a spark of humanity?"

"In fact I do. But this doesn't matter since you kill her now."

"No I won't. What has she done to you to deserve this? She supported you from the start. Why would you hurt her?" Regina cried.

"I made a deal Regina! And I won't hurt her. You will. You did it before already." She looked at the heart, "and now I command you, to kill her. But not with magic, dear. I want to see how you strangle her with her bare hands." A cruel laugh escaped her throat.

"No, please don't do this," Regina pleaded. Her body moved forward and with all of her power she tried to stop it. "Zelena! Zelena please wake up! I don't want to do this!" Looking at the evil queen she shouted, "I should have never let you escape. I'll kill you when I get the chance and if I kill myself for this than this is my fate!"

In her internal fight against the command, Regina didn't notice the slow movements of Zelena. The redhead got up slowly, looking confused about the situation. "Why did you do this?" She rasped angrily at the Evil Queen.

"Oh, don't act like it's the first time we try to kill each other," the Evil Queen answered in a bore tone.

"Zelena help me! I don't want to do this!" Regina struggled against the command, causing her to scream in agony. Her mind was fighting a battle and her head hurt so much that it felt like exploding. She stumbled into Zelenas' direction, trying to fight the urge to strangle her to death. "Please make it stop!"

"Regina what can I do?"

"I don't know. Get my heart or-," she cried out in pain," or defeat her, me. Just- I can't fight it. Please! I don't want to hurt you."

"No, no Regina," hissed the queen delighted, "Don't even try to defeat me. Also you have a slightly bigger problem now." Purple smoke surrounded the queen before she teleported herself away.

"Regina what did she do?" Worry crept up inside her. Seeing her younger sister fighting a battle of control in her head was painful for her.

"Please make me stop! She controls my heart and she wants me to kill you," she whimpered. Her muscles tensed, her body trying to get near Zelena. The pain in her head became more intense and blacks spots appeared in her sight.

Her body shot forward, catching Zelenas' arm and bringing her down on the ground. Regina wrestled herself on top, pressing her knee into Zelenas midsection. "Make me stop, please. I don't want to kill you!"

Reginas' hands closed around Zelenas neck. Zelena looked at her with wide eyes before bringing her knee up and hitting Regina into the stomach. The sudden movement made Regina loose her balance and suddenly the other woman was on top of her and pining her arms down on the ground.

"I'm sorry." Zelena waved her hand over Regina's forehead and the burnetts body fell limp. " I promise we find a way to end this," she whispered at the unconscious woman.

_________________

AN: I hope you like it. I have no beta so all mistakes are on me. I am also aware, that Regina's heart couldn't be controlled by the Evil Queen in the show, but I didn't know how to write this without turning Regina into the dark one.

Official Febuwhump blog : @febuwhump

[missnmikaelson-main]

The Forgotten - Chapter 11

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5 , Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10

2011

++++

Fashion hadn’t changed much in the last century. The lines of the suit were a little neater and the jacket a little shorter, but the integrity of the evening attire remained the same; nothing like the drastic shift in style after his last awakening.

Men’s fashion, anyway.

A glance at his sister revealed that women’s style had met with drastic alterations. The brilliant paint a manicurist applied to her nails would have been considered a great scandal a hundred years ago and labeled her as a prostitute, but in the newest century it was perfectly acceptable for women to colour their nails – expected even. That was nothing compared to her clothes.

Women in trousers; he had only ever seen one woman in trousers and she had abandoned them in favor of socially acceptable attire.

He straightened his jacket, picturing how it would look once finished. He couldn’t remember the last time he had worn something so formal for a formal occasion, but he found he didn’t have the power to refuse his mother’s request as he would have Elijah.

“Rebekah?” He glanced at her in the mirror, taking pains to keep away his glare; mother had said no fighting, and he knew he wouldn’t get away with it if he were to attack Rebekah as he had his brother. Revenge against his sister would have to be well thought out. “Tell me how handsome I am.”

“Ah, Kol,” she flipped a page in her magazine with her finished hand, “you know I can’t be compelled.”

When he saw her in the mirror her mouth had been stretched into a tight smirk with a hint of hope at the corners, but his eyes held no true amusement. It was false cheer and pressurized smiles; mother could say whatever she wanted, cast her wishes to the fire, but they were not a family anymore and they hadn’t been in centuries.

He couldn’t begrudge Finn his genuine grin though; his eldest brother was the only one who remained in the dark over the last century’s events and deserved some amusement after having spent hundreds of years in the confines of his coffin.

The door burst open and his teeth clenched.

He waved off the tailor, turned and lounged casually against the mirror. His dark eyes tracked Klaus’ tense stride across the floor.

“You went after my doppelganger?” He roared halfway across the room. “What is wrong with you?”

“Here we go,” Rebekah muttered, rolling her eyes. She flipped another page and scrutinized a black and gold dress.

“Do you want another dagger in your heart?” Klaus tore the glossy paper from her hands, chucking it into a far corner of the room.

“Again with the dagger threats?” Kol scoffed. His muscles tensed, holding him in position. “Don’t you have any other tricks?”

“Go back to staring at yourself,” Klaus grumbled, glancing over his shoulder.

“And who are you,” he straightened up, “my father?”

“No, Kol,” he growled, “but you’re in my house.”

“Then perhaps we should go outside,” he stepped into Klaus’ personal space. A muscle in his jaw ticked. He itched for a fight, for a reason to throw a punch and mess up his brother’s face for a few hours.

Tension shifted, percolating between them, and if he had still possessed magic his brother would have been a writhing mess.

“Enough!”

Their staring contest was broken up by a sharp feminine voice. He glanced from the corner of his eye, but otherwise kept his stance.

“Niklaus,” Esther motioned for him to follow, “come.”

Kol smirked, watching as his brother trailed out of the room with slumped shoulders.

++++

The moment had finally arrived after an eternity of waiting; he was in there. She knew it.

She could feel it.

She rocked back and forth on her heels – yet another habit she had never been able to shake. Half of her brain whispered ‘stop it’, but the other half said ‘don’t’; the shifting movement gave the impression of fear and implied to anyone that looked in her direction that she was still the human being she pretended to be, so she shifted and waited for her back-up.

“It’s so weird,” Bonnie crossed her arms on the table. She reached out and popped one of Caroline’s fries into her mouth. “The Originals are throwing a ball, an actual ball. Did Klaus really give you a dress?”

“Yes,” Caroline scoffed, waving a fry around, “and it’s a freaking Cinderella fetish, is what it is.” She dropped the fry in her open mouth and turned her full attention on Elena. “Why does the evil witch want an audience with you?”

“Do you think she knows?” Bonnie lowered her voice and resumed flipping through the grimoire Elena had brought with her from New Orleans. The loose pages with drawn objects shifted and nearly fell from the book.

“Knows what?” Elena glanced around the Grill. She saw no other supernaturals in the restaurant, but she still leaned in close to breathe the words. “Does she know that her oldest daughter lives and bent the laws of nature to turn the last doppelganger into an Original vampire-witch hybrid?”

“Yeah,” Caroline rolled her eyes.

She leaned back, shrugging one shoulder. A hint of a grin played at the edge of her lips. “I have no idea, and there is only one way to find out.”

“I thought you told the Salvatores you weren’t going?” Bonnie glanced at Caroline. Her slim fingers folded a page that had fallen from the book.

“I did,” Elena nodded, “which is why I need a drama free bodyguard.”

“But you don’t need a body guard,” Caroline whispered.

“I know that,” Elena tilted her head, “and you know that, but Damon and Stefan don’t. This is the closest I’ve come since 1923, and I need your help, Care.” Her eyes focused on Bonnie. “Why didn’t you tell me about the coffins?”

“I thought you’d disapprove and then we left for New Orleans and it didn’t matter because they had been given back,” she shrugged.

“But you could have told me on the drive back,” Elena frowned.

“I didn’t see much point,” she closed the grimoire, toying with the sheet of paper. “They’d been given back, and for all I knew Klaus had dropped them at the bottom of the ocean again. He’s got resources; he could have hidden them away within an hour of getting them.”

Elena tightened her glittering shawl around her shoulders and drew in a deep breath. Her friends were right, she didn’t need a bodyguard and she had no reason to wait.

She knew what the look had meant; she was sure she had known what it meant.

“Careful, ladies,” Rebekah stopped at their table, “it’s all well and good until she stabs you in the back.”

“What are you doing here?” She leaned back, crossing her arms. “I know your mom’s rules: no hurting the locals.” A frown flickered over her face when Rebekah looked down.

She dragged her wide eyes back up and schooled her features back into her usual mask of disdain, but Elena had seen where the blonde’s gaze had lingered.

“Get over yourself, Elena,” she cocked an eyebrow, glancing again at the locket, “it’s not all about you.”

Nearly a century had passed since Klaus had last brought her there to give blood, and the place looked bigger, or maybe that was a result of the crowd of glittering neighbors; their voices rose from every corner, making it impossible to distinguish a single conversation.

She knew every person in the room, but none of them knew her, not anymore.

Mayor Lockwood’s voice rose over the crowd, crystal clear as she shared a whispered conversation with Damon. She just resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the sound of his voice. She started to tune out the conversation – to let it drift back into the cacophony of noise – but then she caught the tail end of an introduction in a voice she had longed to hear.

“… I hope your lovely town embraces us just as much as we plan to embrace it.”

Her head snapped up. She looked out over the crowd with baited breath, curing Klaus’ architect when she couldn’t pinpoint the voices.

“Damon Salvatore. Have we met?”

“I’ve met a lot of people, and you don’t particularly stand out.”

She couldn’t see him, but the haughtiness in his voice formed a lump in her throat. She swallowed it and kept looking as she adjusted her gloves. She heard Damon excuse himself from Carol Lockwood, but she was too busy trying to find him that she didn’t realize where Damon was going until it was too late.

“I thought you weren’t coming,” she masked her annoyance. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question,” Stefan appeared on her left.

“Surprise, surprise,” Damon smirked at his brother, “you’re not supposed to be here.”

“Well, I am,” Elena sighed as the statement was directed at her. She had rarely used her compulsion – aside from ‘snatch-eat-erase’ in her early years – but she found herself wishing they were vervain free; maybe then she could have gotten them off her back. “And I’m not leaving until I find what I came for.”

She flashed them a tight smile, twisted sideways and slid between them to slip into the crowd of glittering townsfolk. If she was going to deal with Stefan and Damon then she was going to need a drink before their protectiveness drove her to reveal her nature and sink her teeth into the nearest human neck.

Her gloved fingers tapped out a pattern on the bar as she waited to be noticed, but before the bartender spotted her a tall man appeared at her side, melting from the crowd.

“Elena Gilbert, I presume?” He watched her from the corner of his eyes. “I’m Finn Mikaelson. You’re here to see my mother.”

I’m here to find your brother, she tipped her head up. He was as tall as Kol and older than Elijah. I suppose I can see your mother too.

“Is she here?”

Finn glanced over his shoulder and cocked an eyebrow.

“Her request did not include your friends.”

Elena followed his eyes to see Damon moving towards them and her annoyance flared.

“They’re protecting me,” she lifted her eyes. It was true, as was the reason for them to want to. “You may not know it, but your mother tried to kill me once,” ninety-seven years ago.

Finn didn’t laugh at her attempted joke; he looked in her eyes in what she thought was meant to be an intimidating manner, and she supposed it was.

The Original family were the only vampires on earth stronger than her.

“If you want to see my mother, you’ll need to be alone.”

++++

He glowered at the glass in his hand and did his level best to ignore the grating sound of his brother’s voice. He wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere else. The world was a large enough place that he could find some quiet corner of it and avoid the sham Elijah was currently calling a family.

They hadn’t been a family in a long time.

The last thing he wanted was to stay in the town where his baby brother had died and where his half-brother was exploiting another doppelganger. He didn’t want to spend time with his family, and he did not – under any circumstances – want to see her.

He didn’t want to see the physical reminder of the woman he had failed, but because he was cursed – there was no other explanation for it – he lifted his eyes and spotted a stunning brunette on the far side of the ballroom slowly turning away from the bar.

Pain gripped his chest when he saw the profile he hadn’t seen since 1914. What had been her final thoughts in that bloody cottage? Had she hated him in the end?

He wanted to look away, tear his eyes from her angelic face and stop the torment. He could remember the days when his heart was as black as his name before he had helped her and before she had breathed light back into his soul.

He wanted to look away, but he couldn’t. His eyes were glued to her as she finished her turn and his depression threatened to descend when he caught her eyes. From his place on the stairs he couldn’t quite make out the shift in her gaze, but he knew her breath had caught and that if she didn’t breathe soon she would be in danger of passing out.

She must have realized the fact because she sucked in a rush of air and her chest rose. The light caught a glint of silver around her neck and suddenly it was his turn to be breathless.

Elijah’s smooth voice broke him from her spell.

“If you could all find yourselves a partner, and please join us in the ballroom.”

For a second he stood frozen on the stairs with his eyes trained on her, but then she moved. She made it precisely three steps before her path was blocked by the raven-haired vampire he had met earlier. He hurried to descend the stairs.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Rebekah arched a perfect brow.

“You heard Elijah,” he flashed a tight smile, “I’ve got to find a partner.” He was too focused on the brunette’s conversation to notice Rebekah’s returned smile.

“Was I not clear this morning?” Damon tilted his head.

“I was invited,” she sighed.

He felt his breath catch again when he heard her voice; unfortunately her voice was quickly interrupted by Damon.

“You have to tell me before you walk into the lion’s den.”

“Why, so you can stop me?” Her hands landed on her hips.

“Yeah,” he scoffed.

Kol stiffened when Damon held out his hand.

“It would be rude not to dance,” he smiled.

Kol came to a stop beside Damon, giving the extended hand a pointed look. He couldn’t stop the condescending tone when he addressed him.

“That is no way to ask a woman to dance,” he turned his eyes back to her and grasped her hand. “Allow me to formally introduce myself, Kol Mikaelson,” he kissed her knuckles and heard her heart skip, “at your service, darling.”

Damon looked from her to Kol with narrowed eyes and an open mouth.

“You’re not seriously considering this,” he scoffed, glaring when she didn’t remove her hand from Kol’s grip.

Kol ignored Damon in favor of her. He didn’t know how she was in front of him, or how she had gotten the locket, but he fully intended to find out.

“Would you do me the honour of joining me in a dance?”

“I’d be delighted…”

“Elena,” Damon snapped.

“You should find a partner Damon,” she turned her cool gaze on him, but for Kol she had a smile. “I feel like I’ve been waiting ninety-seven year for a good partner.”

She placed her gloved palm on the back of Kol’s hand and stepped out onto the dancefloor. She heard Damon’s voice when she was still in human ear shot.

“I’ll catch you when we change partners.”

“No, he won’t,” Kol smirked. He took his place and bowed at the waist. “I promise you that, darling.”

“Right,” Elena dropped into a short curtsey, “and you always keep your word.”

He might have been offended, or thought that she was if not for the teasing tilt of her mouth; an expression he never thought he would see again.

“How?” He pulled her close.

She could feel the heat from his palm through her dress; it sank under her skin and pooled in her belly.

“I tend to make friends in the craziest places,” she smirked.

“I’d love to hear more about these friends,” he moved through the steps of the dance with ease.

“What a shame our time together is so short,” she sighed dramatically.

He pulled her closer and felt her heart skip. His eyes flickered around the room; Klaus was enamoured with a blonde vampire on the other side of the floor.

“Do you trust me?” He met her eyes.

“Well,” Elena tilted her head, biting her lip to hide her smile, “we did just meet.”

“Take a leap of faith, darling,” He cocked his head to the side as the music swelled; thirty seconds and it would be time to switch.

She nodded once, imperceptible to the dancers around them. Nobody noticed the rush of air or the suddenly empty spot on the floor until it was filled in.

Rebekah found her way into Klaus’ arms for the second round of dancing and immediately noticed the stiffening of his spine.

“Where has Kol run off to?” His eyes narrowed.

“He’s been saying that he wants nothing to do with any of us,” she rolled her eyes. “He probably used the distraction to run off.”

“He was dancing with my doppelganger,” he growled.

“It’s not all about Elena,” she scoffed.

He gave her a look and she made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat. “Kol’s not Elijah; he doesn’t go after every doppelganger, but if you must know your precious Elena went outside for air.”

@elejah-wonderland @elejahforever @eternityunicorn @morsmornte @fandomrulesall @xanderling @cry-btch @kol-and-elena-fanfiction @geekofmanyfandoms

[timetravelthroughbooks]

Mirror Pike x Tilly

Imagine : Mirror Pike is still captured on the Discovery in the wrong universe. Everybody looks at him with hatred in their eyes, except for young Ensign Tilly. One day, she has the task to bring him back to his cell, after he helped looking for the Terran Discovery. And – as we all know Tilly – she's going to get into trouble, that's for sure…

I did it! I wrote purest fluff about these two. Please be nice, this is my first time every writing in English but I hope you like it!

“How about changing the coordinates? Putting in the ones from the rendezvous point into the system?”

Ensign Tilly was amazed about the wrong Pike, but that was nothing new. She was stunned the moment he’d materialized on the transporter platform. He looked different from the original starfleet captain and it took her breath away. Even though she knew how cruel and mad the people from the mirror universe could be (because of Lorca and her mirror-self Captain Killy she still had nightmares sometimes). Mirror Pike seemed to be different. Not like Georgiou, who was the badass empress of the Terran Empire, eating Kalpiens for dinner or like Captain Lorca.

Tilly stared at him a little bit longer. He focused on the screens in front of him and talked to Commander Saru like he was their Captain. But sexier than the original one, she thought. He had gorgeous long hair with grey strands in it and a long beard. All of it made his baby blue eyes pop out even more.

Okay, Till – focus!

She looked down on her own screen and tried to remember what she wanted to do. Oh crap! She couldn't focus on the freaking screen! With a frustrated hiss she looked back to Pike. She remembered the conversation she had with him after his first week on the Discovery. That time, she was the one who gave him food in his highly secured cell.

“I know you think I am the bad guy. But in my perspective, I am just a Captain at the Terran Empire, trying to survive…I – I did things which would be wrong in your universe… but not in mine. There, they are necessary.”

Tilly had just stared at the bearded Mirror Captain Dimples right in front of her. And deep down she’d believed him. She really believed him that he had to do awful things in the mirror universe. Tilly knew what her doppelganger had done. She probably wasn’t called Captain Killy as a joke… What would she – the prime Tilly do to save her friends? She’d probably cross the line too – loosening her moral values to keep everyone save.

“You are in the Command Training Program so I guess you are smart enough to see I am not an evil psychopath.”

Oh stars – how could these blue eyes belong to a psychopath?, she asked herself.

“Ensign Tilly? Is it possible to get your attention?” Tilly flinched together. Commander Saru looked at her with a stern expression.

“Oh of course, Sir! I am sorry, I – I was distracted. You know my thoughts can get a little bit messy and-“

“Tilly…”, Saru gave her a warning look, so she stopped talking.

Commander Saru seemed to be happy about it and continued with a friendlier voice: “I think we are finished with today’s calculation and help from… Pike. Could you walk our special guest back to his cell?”

Tilly swallowed. All of the sudden, her mouth was very dry. Nevertheless, she nodded.

“Of course, Commander.” Mirror Pike stepped back from the computer monitors and turned towards the Ensign.

Tilly took the electric handcuffs from her own desk and walked towards him. She felt her cheeks flush into a nice pink tone.

“Would you be so kind to give me-“, before she’s able to finish the sentence, Pike already lifted his hands in front of his body.

“Thank you.”, said Tilly and quickly wrapped the handcuffs around his wrists.

“You’re welcome.”, he said softly. Tilly lifted her head and returned his long stare.

“Okay, well then – let’s go. Mirror Captains first.”, she tried to joke and pointed at the door. Without another word, Pike followed her orders and stepped through the door.

*

They walked down many corridors without exchanging a word. Tilly was still trapped in the past, haunted by memories of short conversations with him. Last Saturday she’d asked him about his crew on his ship in the mirror universe. He’d told her that he always tried to protect them from the Terran Empress and her chessmen. But along the way he had been trapped by one of them – Captain Killy. She swallowed hard. Tilly knew how Mirror Lorca had manipulated Mirror Burnham… what if Captain Killy had done the same with him? Used him for her own benefit? Threatened him and his crew, everytime he didn’t do what she wanted?

“Something is going on in the complicated but fascinating brain of yours. What’s wrong?”

Tilly almost jumped again, because she’d nearly forgotten that Pike was at her side. She tried not to look at him, as they walked down the corridor, which would lead them past Tilly’s and Burnham’s room.

“I don’t know what you mean. Everything’s alright.”

“Are you sure? You couldn’t take your eyes of me for two hours.”

Now her whole face reddened.

“I didn’t – I mean – I – am responsible that you are not going to kill anyone or escape so –”

Pike chuckled.

“Oh- that weren’t just glances from a security guard. You were thinking about me – as a person.”

Oh shit! She must’ve looked like a tomato now. Without thinking, she changed her way and stopped at the door to her room, opened the door with her code and pushed Pike forward. The door closed behind her and the voices from the corridors went silent.

“You are right. I was thinking about you but… that is all your fault!”

He frowned.

“My fault? How-”

“You started talking to me! You told me nearly everything about your life.”

The words sounded like an accusation. “You told me how you tried to protect your crew, how you saved them many times and you told me about my doppelganger.”

“I – I am sorry? You looked like you wanted to know-“

“-And you are always – ALWAYS – so kind to me. What is wrong with you? You are from the mirror universe! You should try to kill me or manipulate me – which you are probably going to do anyway and all of this is part of your plan-”

Now Pike was the one who interrupted her.

“I have no plan and I did not try to manipulate you.”

Tilly gesticulated wildly.

“But what is the matter then? Why are you … like you are?”

Internally, Tilly rolled her eyes. Always so eloquent, Till.

“Because I like the gentle version of Sylvia Tilly.”

Tilly nearly stopped breathing and looked up to him, stunned.

He held her gaze and stepped a bit closer. How could he say something like that? After all, Captain Killy had captured him, hurt him-

“But I nearly look like her, isn’t that torture for you?” Her voice was softer now, almost inaudible for him.

“You are not at all like your counterpart. You have a gentle heart. I like to talk to you, to look at you. At this incarnation of Sylvia Tilly.”

He looked at her with pure honesty in his eyes and that gave Tilly the rest. She forgot every Starfleet protocol she’d learned over the past years, stepped forward and captured his lips with hers. At first, Pike was surprised but then he returned her kiss passionately.

Tilly couldn’t stop herself and deepened the kiss. She stepped even closer to him and buried her hands in his hair. They felt good between her fingertips and his breath felt like a caress. But all of the sudden, he raised his head and she needed to stop.

Tilly glanced up at him, a question mark above her head.

He lifted his hands.

“Could you free me? Just for the moment? I promise not to escape with a shuttle”, he said breathlessly.

“Oh – I forgot the handcuffs. I believe, this is the moment I’m going to figure out if I am crazy to bring you here in the first place.”

With a little bit of fumbling she got the handcuffs off him and threw them onto Burnham’s bed. Pike smiled at the Ensign.

“You will be thankful later for freeing my hands.”, he joked amused.

Tilly escaped a giggle and wanted to say something funny in return, but Pike was faster and sealed her lips with a devotedly kiss. He wrapped his arms around her body and pulled her in close.

thanks to @infairwinghellsing for encourage me to finally post this on tumblr!

[geek-gem]

Sonic Movie Legendary Pictures Reboot

My true final edit I finally decided to put the Sonic movie positivity tags because I want this to get more attraction. Despite people may dislike this but after seeing the positivity tag since there are two but the, “Sonic movie positivity” tag is the one people use more. I just want people to notice this. Again I’m not making more of these. Especially I wanted to have discussions with folks who are more positive about the movie and just about anybody okay I’m scared of that but whatever this is fan fiction.

This is something I’ve been working on for the past two nights and this morning and just right now. I started on this late at night after I found out my grandfather was dead. For some time I wanted to try to make some fake thumbnail giving the idea Legendary bought the movie rights to Sonic. But let me talk about this. This all started after I admitted on a reblog I made detailing something like this.

I’ve been honest about the Sonic movie. Such as being cautious and optimistic compared to so much negativity that actually gets annoying. I do like how a lot of folks are excited for the film in some positivity tags for the movie, I’m grateful they are around.

Yet this was an idea I decided to write. Mainly a trilogy of films if Warner Bros and Legendary got the rights to the film. Or the possibility of the film already being rebooted. I’ll be honest it sounds rude that I’m already making this, since the film isn’t out. But I wanted to share my vision and I’m open to everyone’s thoughts. You can well be critical about it, since this is all fan fiction. At one point I was nervous to share this. Including because of that picture at the top. Including it’s very long and be warned this is part 1 of a trilogy. It’s not perfect but again this is my vision of how I wanted a Sonic movie should of been. 

I’m opened to opinions and we can discuss this. Including I need to brainstorm about the first sequel and after that the second sequel. Especially this is less ambitious than my old ideas. Or it’s still ambitious because I’m sharing these details. It’s a long read.

Last edit this isn’t a part 1 anymore considering what I have decided or am deciding. This will be explained in a separate post and this is basically a first draft that I will keep out in the open for any possible discussion.

“Prepare to go fast like never before. As Warner Bros, Legendary Pictures, and Brad Peyton, director of San Andreas and Rampage bring a thrilling action filled adventured based upon the iconic Sonic The Hedgehog video game franchise to life. 

With the world now threatened by a ego maniac scientist by the name of Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Who is searching for the powerful Chaos Emeralds to make his forces stronger. Sonic, the world’s fastest hedgehog and his friends must work together with a soldier to stop Robotnik’s plan from fully succeeding. But to make matters worse, to stop the hedgehog and his allies, Robotnik creates two powerful robots that could finally end the Blue Blur. They are Metal Sonic and Silver Sonic. Two powerful and deadly robots built to destroy Sonic and help Robotnik.

Now with the world trying to understand what is going on, both on the run from the government and trying to fight Robotnik’s forces. Sonic and his friends must risk their lives to save the planet from these dangerous doppelgangers, and Robotnik himself. While during the journey, friendships will be forged, along with brotherhood in the face of destructive robotic terror”

Tom Holland as Sonic The Hedgehog. A 21 year old hedgehog with a cocky attitude, easy going demeanor, and some what short temper, yet strong sense of justice, compassion, and a love of freedom and adventure. Born with the ability of super sonic speed. He uses his powers to fight off Dr. Ivo Robotnik and other evil forces.

Height: 4 feet.

Chris Pratt as Sergeant Gary Andrews. A 31 year old GUN soldier with a confident attitude and headstrong with a sense of justice for all life forms, but also very down to earth. Including very courageous in times of extreme danger.

Realizing that Sonic and his friends may be the world’s best chance at stopping Robotnik, he goes on the run from the same military he’s in to help them.

Paul Giammatti as Dr. Ivo Robotnik. A 54 year old scientist with a high IQ of 300 who wants to take over the world. Truly an ego maniac who has a psychotic belief of self entitlement, as well arrogant and narcissistic. He won’t stop at his goal and will destroy anyone that gets in his way.

Finn Wolfhard as Miles Tails Prower. A 14 year old two tailed fox. Possessing very high intelligence, and being a mechanical genius, but also a sweet and gentle soul. He’s Sonic’s best friend and looks to Sonic as a brother figure and inspiration. Able to use his two tails to fly and amazing as an aerial pilot, Tails is truly a big help.

Height: 3 feet.

Hailee Steinfeld as Amy Rose. A 18 year old hedgehog who’s a cheerful attitude, though erratic girl, with a positive attitude and boundless energy. Even though some times having a scary temper, she actually has a pure heart. Including has a crush on Sonic but keeps it to a minimal and it’s mainly a secret. She’s not obsessed with him but wants to accompany him on his adventures.

Height: 4 feet.

Metal Sonic. A robotic doppelganger of Sonic himself. Possibly Robotnik’s greatest creation, and serving as his obedient and silent enforcer. Metal is a intelligent machine with a very dark side. Truly a cold hearted, aggressive, and ruthless killer. He’s obsessed with proving his superiority to Sonic in every way and destroying him once and for all. All to finally prove that he’s the, “Real Sonic”.

Height: 4 feet.

Silver Sonic. Another robotic doppelganger of Sonic himself. But compared to Metal, Silver Sonic is more like a machine that gets told what needs to be done. More focused on causing destruction and will kill anyone that appose Robotnik’s rule. Truly a tall brute that’s more bulky, and monstrous than Metal. Making him Robotnik’s muscle. Yet still fast which makes him overall dangerous.

Height: 11 feet.

Emilia Clarke as Katherine Grady. A 31 year old zoologist and a single mother who travelled to South Island and has lived there for some time. Originally from London, she wanted to study and discover what life is like on the island that not many humans travel to. She’s a caring and supportive woman who values all forms of life. Yet she will get serious when she needs to be. Especially to protect the ones she loves, including her daughter.

She has actually known Sonic for some time but not much. But she gets caught up with Sonic, his friends, and Gary when they are on South Island. Finding out what’s going on she helps them by trying to find where Robotnik may be at.

Millie Bobby Brown as Kaliyah Grady. A 14 year old girl and Katherine’s daughter. With Katherine giving birth to Kaliyah at a young age but helped by her father. Kaliyah's father didn’t wanna take care of his daughter anymore because he felt it wasn’t his responsibility, leaving the two and other family members when Kaliyah was 4.

Kaliyah is a fearless and generous young girl. Growing up and not affected much by her father walking out of her life. A bit more adventurous than her mother in some regards. She actually makes friends with Tails and the others when she and her mother get caught up with Sonic.

Idris Elba as Abraham Westbrook. The 54 year old Commander of GUN short for Guardian Units Of Nations. He is Gary’s commander. While being described having a, “Heart Of Stone” and stoic, he is actually quite passionate, having a softer side he rarely shows, and a great sense of duty towards his people.

Assuming Sonic is a threat and shocked when Gary who he considers one of his best soldiers actually tries to help the hedgehog. He realizes Gary was right when he sees Sonic is only trying to stop Robotnik just like him.

Joe Manganiello as Lieutenant Derek Sanderson. A 41 year old GUN soldier who’s good friends with Gary. Despite being more stoic and serious than Gary, he values the same sense of values Gary shares. During a search for Robotnik, Metal Sonic ambushes the squad that was sent, and murders almost everyone. Except for Derek who had survived. Only seeing Metal as what he describes as a, “Blue Blur” and his shape. He and even the commander believe Sonic is working for Robotnik.

Believing Sonic to have murdered his squad and working for Robotnik. He considers Sonic a, “Psychopathic Freak” and makes it his personal mission to not just kill Robotnik, but also Sonic. Basically developing a hatred of the hedgehog and will not stop till he’s dead. What makes it worse when he finds out Gary has joined Sonic to help him. He see’s it as a betrayal of brotherhood, he and GUN try to catch them. Even if he has to get answers out of what he considers Sonic’s associates which are his friends Tails, and Amy, but also Katherine and her daughter.

Setting, characters, and notes.

1. The development of the story was rather difficult. Including I think I felt the pain and annoyance of how the development for the story of Brad Peyton’s Rampage went like. Also possibly even the writers behind Jeff Fowler’s Sonic movie. As the start of a possible franchise and first film, elements of Sonic The Hedgehog 1 and 2, and Sonic CD were used. With characters like Sonic, Dr. Robotnik/Eggman, Tails, Amy, Metal Sonic, and Silver Sonic(From Sonic 2 also known as Mecha Sonic too) being the first to be introduced.

Looking over those first three games and trying to build a story was difficult. Because there was hardly any(Since gameplay was the main focus) but elements that could be used. 

There were possibilities of the Death Egg and Little Planet. But to avoid a possible lawsuit by Disney it’s likely a Death Egg adaption might not happened unless it’s changed a bit. Including Little Planet seems a bit much to introduce including the Death Egg. 

So the story became a more simple but working one that uses elements from those earlier games. With the simple premise being Sonic with his allies must stop Robotnik from getting all the Chaos Emeralds which would help him a lot.

2. It’s strangely an origin story in a way. While Sonic, Tails, and Amy have known each other for a long while. But Robotnik and Sonic haven’t met yet. Yet Robotnik knows about Sonic and is impressed and inspired to make two robots. One to be a perfect counterpart to Sonic himself(Metal Sonic), and one that’s more of a brute(Silver Sonic) and extra back up.

With Sonic being framed in a way by Metal, and Robotnik having a larger goal to take over the world and build Robotnik Land. Including to give his newest robotic helpers Metal and Silver Sonic all the power they need to help him take over.

3. The setting is based upon a theory I’ve had for the world of Sonic in the games. If you ignore the, “Two Worlds” thing or something. Including this set up also confirms what will be explored in the next film.

Animal like people such as Sonic have been on the Earth from the start. It’s not a story where a character from another dimension comes to our world. In a similar sense it’s like Legendary’s Monsterverse and that creatures like Sonic have been here since the start. In a era before humans became the dominant species.

What happened to these animals is that because of when Chaos decided to unleash his anger on the world. The scene from Sonic Adventure, Chaos was the reason why these animals are no larger the dominant species in a sense. Because of Chaos supposedly destroying the world. While many other species got to live. Tragically the echidna race had it far worse since they were the first to suffer and were the reason Chaos was angered. Slowly the echidna race was near extinction. Which led to Knuckles being the only one of his kind.

Again Chaos is the reason why Sonic and his friends and other animals seem rare. As they live on certain islands and South Island being one of them. Yet there is no tension between these animals and humans. Because there is no point and humanity views these creatures as equals. Yet considering these creatures don’t go out in the human world much, it’s rather surprising to see one in public. This is something the first sequel will explore.

4. Honestly some of this such as Sonic characters, and in some ways the story is inspired by what was the leaked story for the Sonic movie. https://www.reddit.com/r/SonicTheHedgehog/comments/7e8a15/some_info_about_the_upcoming_sonic_film/ Unknown if it’s truly fake or it was an actual story for the movie. It’s something I don’t mind considering it’s doing what I’m doing. Because when I look at this I would of liked to see the upcoming Sonic movie be something like this. Despite my annoyance with how Chaos is treated. Unless you explore him in a sequel.

5. Brad Peyton is a choice I’ve wanted for sometime because of his work on Rampage. But also to add to that San Andreas, yet Rampage being the biggest reason. Another choice which I’m still thinking about is Michael Dougherty who directed Trick R Treat, Krampus, and Godzilla King Of The Monsters. Yet Brad has that style I want for the film and give him a good writer and it can help.

6. Robotnik was actually a well known genius before becoming a villain. Related to the great Gerald Robotnik.(Confirming his existence in this universe and setting up the possibility of a Sonic Adventure 2 adaption and in a way confirming Shadow probably exists in this universe and so does the Space Colony Ark) Ivo was actually respected but over time people began to see who he was. 

He moved to South Island to get away from the human world. Including where he wouldn’t be interrupted and plan for something greater. It’s where South Island he builds his dangerous robots especially Metal Sonic and Silver Sonic. Including he learns of the Chaos Emeralds and wants to use them for his own selfish reasons.

Before hand Robotnik wasn’t bothered by the animals on South Island and assumed he was friendly, Ivo just minded his own business yet he took advantage of the situation by making his own company, making money off the animals to get more parts. Including selling some of his machinery to buyers from across the world. His entire workforce is made out of robots. For a lot of years he kept out of the public eye for many years to make a big surprise. Which is him rising up to become a villain.

7. Metal Sonic is heavily inspired by his OVA counterpart. While Robotnik was inspired by Sonic’s powers to make Metal. He truly wanted to make the perfect killing machine. But also something that can destroy Sonic if he were to try to stop him. Robotnik gave Metal intelligence to learn and adapt from Sonic. Which leads to Metal developing this mindset and obsession that he should be the only Sonic. While not having something like Sonic’s, “Life Data” like in the OVA where he has Sonic’s memories. He’s more like how Sonic CD introduced him. Yet after encountering Sonic he slowly starts changing and develops this hatred of his organic counterpart.

Edit after looking at Hyper Metal Sonic on Sonic News Network. I still wanna incorporate the concept of Metal having Sonic’s memories. Because the idea makes Metal seem more dangerous and like the info said make him durable. Maybe Robotnik gets Sonic’s blood somehow it’s tricky. I just love the OVA so it’s mainly like that version. Edit I’ll admit and use that quill idea which me and other folks are thinking in the trailer for Jeff Fowler’s Sonic movie that Robotnik might use that quill of Sonic to power Metal Sonic or something.

Especially Metal’s design from the games hardly changed. Including the direction to take with Metal was to make him scary. He doesn’t talk, he doesn’t care who he hurts, he’s super fast and super strong. Robotnik intended him to be the true opposite of Sonic. Any others are just back up, while Metal is seen as perfect, the true copy.

While cranking up the idea he’s like the OVA but cranked up to be more scary. Including inspirations from Brightburn, Man Of Steel, and Brad Peyton’s Rampage and not just the OVA. He’s brutal, fast, and unforgiving, but not to a point it’s R rated but it’s shown he’s actually killing people, even breaking bones, yet still PG-13. Showcasing Robotnik went all out to make him this perfect killing machine. Especially to frame Sonic for murdering GUN soldiers.

8. Silver Sonic while based upon the final boss before the Death Egg Robot in Sonic The Hedgehog 2. He’s actually inspired by Silver Sonic V3.0/V3.1 from the Archie Sonic comics. Such as design which resembles more of modern Sonic but still huge. 

The direction for Silver Sonic is while Metal is the true copy of Sonic, he was built to be a unbeatable tank. What Robotnik did with Silver Sonic is that he wanted a tall and almost unstoppable monster. The fact Robotnik loved what Sonic’s abilities can do, he didn’t wanna just make one. Silver Sonic is mainly a brute, built to be the tank while Metal is more of Robotnik’s enforcer and to lead his robots. Especially as Silver Sonic does not care of proving his superiority to Sonic, he listens to Robotnik, and just wants to wreck shit and kill anybody who appose Robotnik’s rule.

A name to call them is the, “Metal Brothers”.

But also the other reason why Silver Sonic was added is kind of funny. It was the idea to add a larger robot. Since the Death Egg Robot is connected to the Death Egg, and while Robotnik has used many machines to fight Sonic. I just love robotic Sonic’s. Including the reason to make so tall is that I some what wanted a giant monster, something like a kaiju. Yet it’s not because it’s a giant robotic Sonic causing destruction and shit. But compared to Metal, he’s built to be different.

Another funny thing his height was chosen by what people believe how tall a sasquatch is.

Mecha Sonic from Sonic & Knuckles will make an appearance in the first sequel. Being a replacement for Silver Sonic after he’s destroyed.

9. All of the animal characters are CGI. But their designs are changed radically. They are very familiar. Yet they are more furrier, Sonic has fingerless gloves, it’s unknown of how Amy might look but some changes might be made.(Because of her dress and how under it is exposed) But she would remain familiar. It’s done in a similar route like Legendary’s Detective Pikachu. But other added details such as Sonic’s eyes don’t look like one eye. Despite it was confirmed they are two eyes in the games. 

Along with little details like Sonic having fangs like in Sonic Adventure. With the possibility of Sonic’s ears could be curved a bit. But it might make a live action werehog’s ears look redundant. Yet the werehog looks really different.

Sonic, Amy, and Tails were buffed up to be taller and actually older. To show that they were teenagers or young adults, and that they were not that small. Compared to their game’s counterparts. Really I didn’t want them to be that small.

Their ages were buffed up about six years from the games counterparts. The reason being while strange, was the fact these characters get porn drawn of them. It’s best to make them older so we are playing it safe. Yet the other direction is the fact they are a bit more mature. But they are the same characters you still know.

10. Green Hill(despite the annoyance of the fanbase), Chemical Plant(that too despite the annoyance the fanbase), Mystic Cave, Labyrinth, and Metropolis are included as real places. While development of the world is still at hand, the concept that certain countries of today still exist while some fictional places in certain countries.

Metropolis is where the final battle on the main land takes place between Sonic and Gary against Metal and Silver Sonic, and whoever else is involved. Originally a version of Stardust Speedway was gonna be in here. But considering it’s origin it was best to keep it out. Despite it being the place where Sonic and Metal first clash in the games.

11. The movie explores the themes of friendship and brotherhood. Including with elements of family. With Gary in a way a older but human version of what Sonic could be. His bond develops over the course of the film with the hedgehog. Including things such as Sonic and Tail’s brotherhood, Gary’s brotherhood with Derek. Including the friendship between Kaliyah and Sonic’s friends. Along with the idea Gary being the father figure to Kaliyah, Katherine’s friendship with Amy. 

Which jeez that’s a lot. Yet this development of characters makes them strong. Especially in the face of certain characters such as Robotnik, Metal, and Silver Sonic.

12. The characters of Katherine(Especially her), and Kaliyah are inspired by Johanna and Hilda from the Netflix series Hilda.

Along with the fact originally Millie Bobby Brown was gonna play Amy. But I wanted to add this daughter element and Millie as Amy I guess bothered me. Despite it being good casting, but I wanted to be comfortable with it so I decided to have Hailee Steinfeld as Amy.

13. Idris Ebla is indeed playing the movie version of the GUN Commander from the video games. The reason I didn’t have his name as Tower because of possible idea that Sega wouldn’t allow that since his name in the Archie Sonic comics is Abraham Tower. But hopefully still using the Abraham name is fine. Especially it’s meaning since for these human characters I looked up there meanings like I do with my other character castings.

Reasons why Idris is casted as the commander because simply Idris is awesome. Including the presence he would bring to the character. The other choice was Lawrence Fishburne. Besides his race wasn’t important from what I know. Despite I do think of trying to diversify casting. But I like these casting choices.

Yet also the commander being here sets up his role or something in a Sonic Adventure 2 adaption. While it also helps with the idea someone needs to be in charge of these military forces.

14. The score would be composed by Andrew Lockington who did the scores for Brad Peyton’s San Andreas and Rampage. Other musical choices include Papa Roach with, “Face Everything And Rise”, and 30 Seconds To Mars with, “This Is War”. Including the added bonus of the original Sonic Boom song from Sonic CD, a possible song from Crush 40, and even Zebrahead with, “His World”. Along with possibly Linkin Park’s, “Numb” which is a theme between Sonic and Metal. With a added bonus of, “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” by Smashing Pumpkins and Christion Gray’s, “Stop Me”.

15: Reason why a human element was included for some reasons. Okay reason because it’s live action yet other reasons. While I like characters like Princess Elise(I would like to adapt her and change 06 probably but I don’t know if Sega and Sonic Team and much of the fanbase would even allow that. I would love to put maybe a cameo, and a easter to show Soleanna exists in this world. But the story of 06 would be different), and I’m bothered by a character like Chris Thorndyke. There seems to be this stigma against humans which is some what reasonable.

The concept of having Gary be a soldier and a adult, strangely an action hero is to defy expectations and make certain fans change their minds. Including to have a human directly trying to help Sonic instead of being a cheerleader. He’s literally trained for this, and is actually going against his military to help this hedgehog. Along with the fact he’s so courageous it doesn’t matter he tries to go against certain robots, especially Metal and Silver Sonic. Give him a assault rifle and a grenade launcher and he’s gonna do the best he can. He will be terrified but he’s not gonna run away, he’s truly what if Sonic was a human being but older. Including he’s not gonna lose what is possibly the best friend or even a brother he never had, that shares the same values he has.

While I know not every human needs to be that, and that’s good. But Gary is the example of a person who’s willing to risk his life to not just save the planet, but to also protect a creature he never knew that would be his best friend. The kind of hero who does something because it’s the right thing to do.

16. I’m tempted to add Dwayne Johnson but I won’t. Besides he has Rampage anyway and other major films. But I’m not tempted anymore.

17. I strangely wanna put a little reference to Steven Universe considering two characters are inspired by Hilda. Such as actors or similar to certain characters. But the film will be filled with more characters and you gonna be careful with a lot of characters. Maybe the next movie.

End Of Part 1. Now considering my last edit at the top, it’s not a part 1 anymore.

[jq37]

okay so I meant to send this on anon and I think I might have accidentally done so off but then I tried to cancel it and idk if it worked?? anyways! the point is, I’m the anon who doesn’t have dropout rn so! what’s the tea on the new ep? what did I miss? :)

**spoilers for arcade ambush**

Now, I know I use the word wild a lot, but don’t let that take away from the fact that this episode was truly wild.

Biz had such an interesting power set. He has the wings so he can fly, he has all the weird mesmerization type powers (I was picturing that old bager, badger, badger, mushroom video when he was multiplying himself to trip up Fig). Fighting him is like being stuck in Toon Town but in the worst possible way. Then there were the game cabinets sucking people into them and the ghosts possessing people and forcing them to flee. It was really a brutal fight.

(Sidenote, are we to believe that the ghosts that he raised were nerds who died in arcade? Morbid, if true. Also it would have to be a different arcade since that one was new.)

Anyway, this def was an ep full of frustration. They were constantly getting frightened and forced to run or trapped in games or whatever. It’s a good think Ally casted Guardian of Faith before the fight because they were, once again, a life saver. I was a little surprised the arcade game fights were one and done Box of Doom rolls but I guess there was a lot going on.

“Well I’ll just shoot him.” Riz getting a nat 1 trying to shoot Biz point blank was so painful. 

Riz: Hey guys, Biz is a bad guy./Adaine: Yeah, no duh! 

Everyone making the most mediocre rolls to check out the prizes in the prize cabinet. And Brennan just getting more and more like, “Come on y’all.” I wanted someone to pick up the sneakers. I felt like they were gonna be some kind of stealth bonus item.

Gorgug got a nat 20 charisma! My boy!

Oh, side note, they updated Adaine’s mini with her boss new jacket which is super dope.

Fig and Kristen actively antagonizing the corn god who’s saving their ass.

“Fucking nerd.” Adaine, who has been pretty savage the past few episodes.

Fabian who has never been denied anything in his life looking at the million credit sword: I’d like it.

Trevon

Everyone being furious at Riz being stuck in the game but also impressed by the design of the set.

Gorgug calling his parents mid-fight! Which seems wild but actually is the SMARTEST THING ANY OF THESE LITERAL CHILDREN HAVE EVER DONE.

I feel like Brennan def read up on his philosophy quotes after the last fight because he was back in business this ep.

Cleric is an underrated class y’all. Ally is really rocking it.

What a bad time for Adaine to finally fail a panic attack roll. She’s had a really long run without them though.

I love that Lou always curses as Fabian by saying, “Christ,” completely ignoring that doesn’t make sense in this world, but like. That is what Fabian would say, you know?

Fabian getting stuck in DDR instead of Punch Out is personally offensive to him.

“Hell yeah I take a disengage”

Sidenote: Divination is a really cool ability.

Ugh, Riz. What a terrible time to fail an investigate check. HE GOT PALIMSESTED.

Aww at Lou giving Murph the, “Hang in there, buddy,” shoulder rub after that happened. 

Gorgug getting trapped in whack a gnome is MESSED UP. Also, the fact that whack a gnome is a game that exists in a world where gnomes also exist is SUPER MESSED UP.

Adaine: Fuck, I’m fucked! 

PROTECT YOUR WIZARD BETTER.

Fabian having to have a dance off in the middle of the fight.

The girls getting downloaded periodically throughout the fight was so freaking ominous. 

“I’m under the influence of two ghosts.”

Fabian and Adaine both terrified and running into each other and yelling like freaking Scooby Doo.

OK, while Fig was possessed, Brennan made her read a card that said “Wow. A lot of strong feelings to process here.” And I am told (but can’t confirm) that that’s a line that was said in ep 1? Maybe by the guidance counselor? And then it’s not resolved in this episode. So that seems important.

Emily upon hearing that Riz is stuck in the crystal: Piss in it.

“Do you have any clue about how to get out of here, I mean, clearly you don’t.”

What would Fabian do without that bike, man?

I love that Emily uses Kristen’s full name for no apparent reason half the time.

Kristen channeling the power of friendship to turn undead.

Gorgug is a bottomless pit of HP.

Ally: Is it good to get in the game?/Literally everyone else: NO.

“A tasty walk?”

The philosophers going, “Verily,” to Fig’s base playing and then her moonwalking away.

Siobhan immediately irl cringing at being called a lovely lady by Biz.

HELLISH REBUKE. HELL YEAH FIG. HELL YEAH EMILY.

Penny’s scene with Riz in the palimpsest was like legitimately touching. 

But again, Murph gets the nat 20 at the most story appropriate time! Just like last week.

OK, so the girls’ downloads are getting sent to the AV room in Aguefort. Not necessarily suspicious considering that Biz is involved, but interesting to note.

Gorgug pulling an Odysseus and cranking his tunes to ignore the games. 

Also his, “Sup nerd?” to Biz.

Kristen absolutely crushed this fight y’all. She basically got out without a scratch. 

Siobhan saying sick like Brennan is hilarious to me.

Gorgug being so mad at Biz’s pronunciation of meme.

“Hot topic nerds hate AV club nerds.”

Nothing bothers Emily more than not being able to take an action.

The gang actively mocking and taping Biz as he tries to mesmerize them.

Aww man Murph failing that roll before Penny was downloaded. Heartbreaking. 

Everyone visibly recoiling every time Biz talked.

Zac reminding Brennan about advantage and then him picking up every dice he owns. “LIE NEXT TIME DUDE!” He has a cool ass shock of white hair now though. Like, not good but kinda rad.

I feel like Ally has gotten really comfortable with the game mechanics as we’ve gone on. 

Kristen hugging Gorgug to protect him is such an adorable image. 

“I’m still full health because God exists!”

Shoutout to the SFX guys. They were especially on point this ep.

“Can I just use mage hand to plug the machine out?”

Kristen as Fig getting is her ass kicked by the doppelganger Figs: KISS ONE OF THEM.

The guardian that killed Biz throwing down his cig like a true French philosopher. 

FABIAN. 

Kristen was the MVP of the fight but Fabian was the MVP of the episode y’all. Like I said, all that promo yelling was either gonna be a TPK or the raddest thing ever and it was option 2! 

Shoutout to Siobahn for getting Lou that advantage roll because that saved his ass.

Lou just pretending to get up and leave because game over y’all.

Brennan starting to just narrate assuming failure. 

Zac being like, “Well at least try.”

Lou doing them 1 by 1 for the drama of it all, just like Fabian would want it.

Getting a ten first, exactly half of what he needed.

Then the absolute CHAOS that erupted from the table at the 20. By this point, I was pretty sure he was gonna get it because that shot from the trailer hadn’t happened yet and it was near the end of the episode but DAMN it was satisfying. Moments like this are what MAKE RPGs.

Being showered with gold coins sounds extremely painful but that’s beside the point here. 

Fabian coming back and lying that he was fighting ghosts outside and everyone totally buying and being like thanks for having our backs man.

I love how much Fig loves her two dad situation now. 

Emily and Ally evil mischievous smiling at each other when Emily requests to kill Biz.

Everyone Else: NO.

Brennan: He’s dead, bruh.

Ally like Grinch smiles when Brennan announces that Biz is dead.

“Would she be able to casually get him out of a palimpsest?”

“I still have these handcuffs.”/”Where’d you get those?”/”Uh, nevermind.”

Every time this group has to interrogate someone they escalate all the way immediately.

 But MAN Riz was doing some serious drug cartel interrogation on Biz, shooting off fingers and stuff!

Adaine REFUSING to feel bad about bullying Biz (she’s right and she should say it).

“If I were to have a morsel such as yourself stuck in a palimpsest–” IMMEDIATELY slapped by every party member. Bro, you GOTTA stop perving on Adaine IN FRONT OF HER.

Brennan full on RPing unconsious Biz.

“I’m not a bad guy.”/”YES YOU ARE!”

“Fucking Aelwen again!” Same, girl.

OK, so Biz has false memories of coming up with this idea, but what does that mean exactly? Was he manipulated Inception style or actually forced? Because I come up with bad ideas every day. Doesn’t mean I act on them.

“Blow your fuking nose!”

“You see his dick glows for a second.”

Nice of Adaine to ask for permission to do her brain jitsu, even though she didn’t have to and she had all the extenuating circumstances in the world to just break in.

Biz speaking to Penelope on the regular. Hmm.

Siobhan/Adane’s look when Biz says, “I’m cool too.”

So his memory was cut out the day before the Hudol party. Interesting. 

Adaine getting a clear threat on her family’s life: THEY CAN BURN MY FUCKING HOUSE DOWN I DON’T GIVE A SHIT.

AND THEN IT ENDS THERE

So two things:

1) Siobhan keeps getting KILLER end lines.

2) I threw a lot of plot info at the bottom without analyzing it because I’m going to look at that and the promo in another post (prob tomorrow) so stay tuned! 

[awesomefan]

Why I Have Never Liked Elena Gilbert

So for the past few years I’ve seen a lot of Anti-Elena anons explain why they hate Elena and when they started to hate her. The majority have said that they have hated the Elena from Season 4-6, and miss the old Elena from Season 1-3. Looking at some new Anti-Elena posts on why they have always hated Elena has really woken me up, and convinced me to re-watch Season 1-3 Elena. Boy oh boy how much of a bad character she was from the get go. I wanted to make this post to show my beloved Anti-Elena community how much of a problematic character Elena was ever since Season 1.

She was never a good, kind, compassionate person:

This is how Elena has been described as...

...but yet plenty of her actions contradict this statement. For example, in episode 1x16 when Caroline, Matt, Stefan, and Elena had a double date all Elena did along with Matt during the whole entire date was reminisce about the times they were boyfriend and girlfriend. Caroline was clearly uncomfortable and upset during the whole thing, but it wasn’t Elena (you know warm, compassionate, kind Elena) nor was it Matt (Caroline’s boyfriend) who noticed her discomfort. It was Stefan who noticed and asked her if she was okay. Elena was too busy going down memory lane with her ex-boyfriend who’s dating her best friend to see that her best friend was clearly upset and uncomfortable at what they were doing. Then later on when Caroline brings up the fact about she’s essentially second choice and Matt’s Elena back up, all Elena does is dismiss her insecurity and claim she’s being ridiculous. Wow, what a nice way to talk to your friend who already feel that she’s never first choice when it comes to you, and is heavily insecure about that. Also, during this same episode when all 4 of them go to the Salvatore Boarding House Caroline states that she feels like she’s been there before. And what does Elena do? She says “Why don’t we watch a movie?” So she’s going to bring her “best friend” back to the residence of the same guy (Damon) who almost killed her? Who lured her to that same house and tried to kill her? Who she (Elena) saw bruises and bite marks that he put on her? Who compelled her best friend to be his sex toy blood bag? Wow! Is that what you call kind, compassionate, and selfless? A kind person doesn’t take their bff back to the home of the person that tried to kill them. A compassionate person doesn’t say that her friend is being ridiculous, and not see that her friend clearly is insecure for a reason. A selfless person does not sit here and act like her going down memory lane with her ex-boyfriend in front of his new girlfriend who is her bff is “just trying to make conversation”. If you don’t believe me check out the clip:

Another example is 3x17 when Alaric is going through his crazy murder phase, Elena calls Bonnie for guess what a favor! And this is after Bonnie’s mom had to be turned into a vampire in order to save damsel-in-distress Elena.

^ (Katherine basically said it) And of course Bonnie is upset and wants nothing to do with Elena because she has to suffer in order for Elena to survive. But even when Bonnie needs time by herself and space from Elena what does Elena do? Call her for a favor even though she was indirectly responsible for her suffering. Instead of consoling her friend or checking in on her, even though she didn’t want to see her, she needs a favor from her. And then has the nerve to give some sappy ass half assed apology. But yeah Elena is oh so selfless right?

She’s a hypocrite:

In this clip from 1x15, Elena finds out that Damon killed Isobel and is upset when Stefan keeps making excuses for him and protecting him. Now I find this really hypocritical on her part when she in 1x11 protected Damon from Lexi’s boyfriend killing him.

She made up some bullshit that he shouldn’t kill him because he needs to be better than Damon. So, she allows the guy who killed her boyfriend’s best friend on his birthday to live and not allow her (Lexi) boyfriend to kill him because he can be better than Damon? What kind of sense does that make? None. None at all. And for her to get mad at Stefan for protecting his brother especially when she protected him from getting killed for his actions is just baffling. Another situation is during 1x07 when Vicki becomes a vampire, and Jeremy is trying to find Vicki. Elena tells him that he should stop seeing her and that it’s for the best. Now that is also hypocritical on her part because it isn’t until a couple of episodes later she’s all buddy buddy with Damon, and is defending and sympathizing with his psychotic self. You can’t tell someone to not hang out with someone else because they’re dangerous when you are doing the same thing yourself.

She’s not a good sister nor a good friend:

The first statements above pretty much explain Elena being a shitty friend and sister. But honey Season 2 just showed how much of a bad friend she is. 

Now before anyone yells at me asking why is Season 2 Elena a bad friend, let me explain. So, during the whole sacrifice ritual thing going on Elena found out from Katherine that she was not the only one involved in the ritual. Look at this clip:

She learns that Klaus needs to kill her (a doppelganger), a werewolf (Tyler), a vampire (Caroline), and a witch to perform the spell (Bonnie). During this whole season Elena was trying to be a martyr and a “hero” and sacrifice herself so her family and friends wouldn’t die. But here’s the problem, Katherine already told Elena that she was not the only one involved in the ritual. Elena knows this already, hell she even listed off the people Klaus would need for his ritual. So why the hell was Elena so busy trying to give herself up to Klaus? Why the hell did she think that giving herself over to Klaus was gonna keep her loved one’s safe? Like I said she already knows that she isn’t the only person involved in the ritual, so what sense does it make to try to give yourself up to the enemy when all you’re doing is putting your loved ones in even more danger? None. None at all. The problem is this Elena wasn’t really being selfless or trying to protect her friends she was being selfish. She was spending too much time trying to make herself look like a hero and like a good person because she’s risking her life for her loved ones when she wasn’t. All she was doing was be selfish and was being too busy on looking like some type of hero martyr when all she did was put more people in danger. Just because a person claims that their actions are for intentionally good doesn’t mean that they are being selfless. They’re not they’re being selfish, and that is exactly what Elena did during this season. She put everyone in danger with her suicidal actions thinking that she was protecting and saving everyone when all she did was put them in more danger. She wanted to be a hero so badly and prove that her actions were for a selfless good reason when they weren’t. 

Another moment is during 2x02 when Stefan, Elena, and Damon find out that Caroline is a vampire and figure out what to do. And this clip pisses me off.

At 3:17 Elena says “She’s doing this to me isn’t she?” in response to Caroline becoming a vampire. All I can say is: WHY THE HELL ARE YOU MAKING THIS ABOUT YOU?! What does Caroline becoming a vampire have to do with Katherine trying to hurt you?! If anything Katherine turned vampire Caroline into a vampire to use her to her advantage and manipulate her. Caroline is the victim in the circumstances not you! Not everything that happens in Mystic Falls has to do with you Elena. It’s not always about hurting you or trying to get even with you. Sometimes the villains just do things because they are villains. Not because they want to hurt precious Elena Gilbert. Which brings me to my next point is when Elena found out that Caroline was spying for Katherine and she said this to Bonnie in 2x06: “It's a lot, I know. Katherine's doing everything that she can to drive me and Stefan apart and Caroline just got trapped in the middle.” and this to Caroline in 2x05: “I know and I've been so mad at you. But then, I tried to put myself in your position so that I could understand why you would do this to me and to Stefan because he's been such a friend to you. Who did she threaten?” Now the 2x05 quote really pisses me off because why the hell is Elena assuming that Caroline, who got sucked into the supernatural world with no knowledge of it and almost died just to die and become a vampire, just all of the sudden wanted to spy for Katherine on her and Stefan?! Why is does she not understand that Caroline was a victim in this, and that she didn’t just decide to wake up one day and do something like this? Why is she making this about her, and not realizing that her is in danger as well? Oh wait, cause Elena’s love life is more important and god forbid that her friend is a victim of the circumstances that she was forced into all because she was associated with Elena. But no how dare Caroline spy on me and Stefan for Katherine? How could she do this to is? Why is she working with the enemy who wants to tear me and my love apart? Why is this all happening to me?! 

^ Basically Elena in a nutshell.

She was just like Katherine:

Season 3 was pretty evident that Katherine and Elena were no different from each other.

What pissed me off was that Katherine got called a manipulative, nasty, little slut and an evil slut vampire who only loved herself. All because of what she did to the Salvatore brothers, meanwhile in this ^ clip Elena is sitting here making excuses as to why she won’t chose between either brothers. So it was wrong for Katherine to do it, and therefore she’s an evil slut? But when Elena does the exact same thing it’s okay because she just needs to figure out who she wants to be with? Horeshit! It’s not okay for either one of them. It wasn’t okay for Katherine to be with both Damon and Stefan, and to compel Stefan to keep her secret. It wasn’t okay for her to string them both along and ruin their relationship. But it was not okay for Elena to do it as well. I don’t care what the circumstances were if it was wrong for Katherine to do it then why does Elena get a free pass? What cause she’s worth? (This was said by the brothers in this same episode 3X21) And what Katherine wasn’t? Neither Elena nor Katherine were worth the brothers fighting over. Elena was always jealous when one brother was off with someone else even though she was supposed to be in love with the other brother.

And Katherine wanted to have Stefan for herself, but still flirted with Damon.

You see what I’m saying? What both of them did was wrong, and shouldn’t be excused for. But for Elena to say stuff like this..

...she just needs 10 hot cups of STFU. She is no different from Katherine when it came to her actions. 

Overall, Elena was a terrible excuse of a protagonist. She was not interesting at all, she didn’t really do anything that was memorable or wowing, she did nothing throughout the whole entire show but get kidnapped or cry and whine and make everything about her, she was not a good friend nor sister, and did I mention she liked to make everything about her.

[robbyrobinson]

So, Sinfest. It's hard to really say when I began to follow the webcomic, but if I were to choose, I'd have to say later 2006. Since then, I had been keeping up with the story. Created by Tatsuya Ishida, Sinfest originally revolved around Slick, a self-proclaimed pimp midget who thinks he's all hot stuff when he really can't get a girl. Along the way you have Monique, a self-absorbed woman who took advantage of her looks, Squig, an anthropomorphic pig who loves burritos and smokes pot. There is also Seymour, a Christian fanatic, Li'l E, a young boy who wants the Devil to notice him, the Devil himself, and a truckload of other characters. For the most part, Tatsuya tended to take the middle ground when regarding societal issues. For instance, Seymour is exaggerated because of his extreme devotion to his faith, or other extremities were poked fun at. Tatsuya hardly ever took sides with any of these subjects.

For story arcs...for the most part, one thing that Tatsuya has difficulty with is telling a story. With the earlier strips, they were often episodic, but one storyline that I did like was the one concerning what is my favorite pairing, Fuchsia x Criminy. Essentially, Fuchsia was a succubus who worked for the Devil, her job being to ensnare the souls of men. But all that changed when she met Criminy, a young nerdy boy who was an avid bookworm who had a fortress built out of books that served to protect him from the outside. At first, Fuchsia tries to tempt Criminy as succubi do, but Criminy actually makes her question her position. The build up was slow, but it is revealed that Criminy's words had made Fuchsia reevaluate her life, and she gradually becomes less evil over time. Eventually, she quits her job altogether to be with Criminy. Yes, taht's right: she gave the Devil the middle finger and hightailed it out of there. Honestly, I found Fuchsia as one of the better characters in the webcomic. Her development was believable, and it actually further delves into showing how demon folk are mistreated by society. She was mistreated to the point where you can say that she believed that there wasn't anything good about her. But Criminy actually treated her like an ordinary person. No wonder she fell for him. My only gripe is that we hardly see her or Criminy as much in the webcomic like we used to, which sucks because that was one of the main reasons as to why I continued to read the strips.

Another character that received some massive character development was surprisingly Li'l E. After he received amnesia (long story), we learn that he was actually the son of the Devil and Lilith (a woman who was ostracized for forming a relationship with the Prince of Lies). Really, everything about Lil E's life is depressing. He was bullied for his appearance, his father was distant because he was disappointed that his son wasn't that evil as he'd hoped (he still does care for him), and his mother's missing...or dead. Though my only issue is that it doesn't seem complete yet. We still don't have the crucial point wherein Lil E became who he was prior to his amnesia. So with these story arcs, they were okay to say the least. Tatsuya still kept the middle ground on social issues, the characters were likable. It seemed that nothing would go wrong. That is, until she came....

Without much prompt, the webcomic became very pro-feminism. While I do agree that women should have rights in some areas, the webcomic completely went off the rails with it. The Sisterhood is introduced into the webcomic, led by a tricycle riding young woman named Xanthe. Now, when she arrived many thought that she was going to be an exaggeration of feminism much like how Seymour was one for Christian fundamentalism. But the problem was that the Sisterhood was always proven right in their accusations which gave little to no legroom for a middle ground. Suddenly, the webcomic became cynical as the Sisterhood completely derailed the plot of the story. For instance, Monique's character was completely changed. Xanthe gives Monique a red pill which reveals that everyone hated her (even though previous comics showed the contrary). Suddenly, Monique shaves off her hair, and becomes an embittered cynic convinced that everyone hates the very ground she walks on. The Sisterhood completely destroyed her life, and yet somehow they were in the right. That's not even getting into Monique's relationship with Absinthe, a demon girl who's kind of an airhead. Now, the strip wants to portray their relationship as cute. I know that many debate that this relationship was not fully developed, but I personally felt that the build up was okay. My only issue with this is that at no point in the webcomic's history was it ever implied that Monique was a lesbian. Throughout her appearances, it was made explicitly clear that she was boy crazy. She flaunted her looks, dated several men which ended in one nightstands, among other things. It would be different if at the very least she were bisexual, but that wasn't the case either. One strip was about Slick reading a porn magazine, and Monique makes a comment on it, and she also compliments a woman for her....assets. But that was because she was someone who craved attention. She always did something outrageous as she was a black hole for attention.

It doesn't especially help that by having Monique date Absinthe it actually destroyed one of the prevalent themes of the comic. That being whether or not Slick and Monique were ever going to hook up. Nowadays, Slick hardly ever hangs out with Monique during her post-transformation. After one of her poetry nights goes awry, all Slick does is accidentally give Monique bad advice that she takes as him labeling her a victim. There are even times where she nearly got Absinthe, her own girlfriend mind you, fired. Out of all of the changes the comic's gone through, Monique suffered the worst. Going back to the Sisterhood, though. These groups of girls started out as borderline terrorists. They would bomb factories, reprogram sexbots to kill people who took advantage of them, the vandalized property, etc. Yes, I know that the Patriarchy is seen as the evil force within Sinfest (with the Devil now being upgraded to the head of the organization), but the Sisterhood alone had done more damage than good, and yet, they're the ones who are supposed to be the good guys.

Though one of the worst aspects of this is how like I have said, Tatsuya doesn't know how to tell a story. One such story arc was the zombie one. Fuchsia originally would tell stories to the damned in Hell after her redemption arc. After she severed her ties with the Big D for good, the damned came together to form an undead zombie, and they went out to search for her. That story hadn't been updated for a long time. Or another regards Slick's doppelganger trying to become the dominate of the two. This hasn't been resolved yet either. And there are many other instances of where there are too many story arcs being juggled at once.

Overall, Sinfest was a good webcomic at first before it slowly became preachy. Really, Tatsuya himself had the habit of bashing anyone who complained about the drastic chanegs, assuming that they were misogynists who were peeved that Monique didn't shake her ass anymore. The art style is still alright. It reminds me of Calvin and Hobbes and other newspaper comic strips. It's simplistic, and cute to an extent. Though the Sunday comic strips are especially great. I would ultimately recommend the first half of the webcomic before its descent into radical feminism.

[alexanderwrites]

Thoughts Roundup - Twin Peaks: The Return, Part 10

“Laura Is The One”

After the wild, nuts-to-the-wall freakout that was Part 8, Parts 9 & 10 have returned us to a more conventional mode of storytelling - it should be noted that “conventional” is used here very loosely, and that by episodic TV standards, these episodes are still pretty nuts-to-the-wall. Maybe part 8 pushed its nuts THROUGH the wall whereas 9 & 10 just gently press the nuts up against the wall. Maybe I should drop this analogy altogether and get into what was a slow, ruminative but intensely powerful hour of TV. (Also - I didn’t do a write up last week because i’m stupid and forgot).

. The violence against women in this episode can’t be ignored. It’s right there, front and centre. We start with Horrible, horrible, HORRIBLE Richard Horne being his horrible self and killing (or at least brutally attacking, she seemed to still be breathing) a witness to his earlier hit and run, before we move on to Amanda Seyfried’s Becky, who is viciously attacked by her ALSO HORRIBLE boyfriend. The trifecta is completed when Richard heads to his Grandma’s for a vicious, intrusive robbery. There is commentary on violence towards women here: when Robert Knepper’s Rodney is accidentally swatted in the face by Candie, it leaves a small mark, but no harm is really done. She is beside herself the rest of the scene, wailing and crying and overridden with guilt and fear. She feels genuine sorrow - contrast this with Richard’s nonchalance towards his violence against women and we start to get a look at how disparately different victims of violence are treated. 

The violence on display is as much about our perception of gender roles and their function within narratives as it is about highlighting how HORRIBLE these characters are. Having said that, it would be nice to see more female characters with a little more agency in the foreground. I do wish we had some more diversity when it came to leading women in the show (not to mention the almost non-existence of women of colour in the show) to counter-balance the violence against them. I believe the characters ARE there, but due to the unimaginably huge roster of characters, a lot of them are shuffled to the back. It’s a shame because you know what? I could watch an entire hour of Jane Adams’ Constance. She’s such a charmingly funny and unique character, and every time she turns up I hope she’ll get more than a few lines. Diane is similarly fascinating, but because of the narrative structure (and this and last week’s revelations), she’s being kept at arm’s length. A great character again, but I hope she isn’t absent in future episodes like she was tonight. Luckily we have Janey-E (Naomi Watts is just the greatest of all time and I won’t hear any arguments against it) as a prominent character, and she is a fascinatingly complex one, as she swings from being weirdly performative to achingly sincere. It’s easy to list a whole bunch of other great female characters, but I suppose what I wish is that they were more central to the plot in a positive way. Twin Peaks couldn’t be Twin Peaks without violence. It’s one of the things that the show is fundamentally about, and furthermore, how we react to, or DON’T react to that violence. But I don’t know that we need three scenes of it in one episode to highlight that. Then again, discomfort was probably the intent. We’re meant to feel like something deeply wrong is happening, and if that’s the intention then this episode succeeded. 

. I talked about that more than I expected, so moving on! Nadine got the moment of the night for me when her Silent Drape Runner store was revealed. Get it, girl!! I adore Nadine, the absolute weirdo. I dearly, dearly hope we get more of her over the next 8 episodes. It’s almost impossible to see how she could tie in to the central story which is a shame because she’s one of the most fun people to watch on the show. 

. The scenes with Cooper were a mix of hilarious and tragic, as they tend to be. It is both understandable and unfathomable how Janey-E could find him attractive - on the one hand, the doctor’s scene reveals how scarily in shape he is. No one’s blaming her for checking him out. On the other hand....come on. You’re attracted to the guy who drinks coffee like it’s a sippy cup of ribena? It’s a funny notion, but also a little sad because it makes you realise how starved for warmth and affection she probably is, as anyone would be. Him, too. Their sex scene is initially pretty funny because of Kyle Maclachlan’s fucking expressions (literally). Man, he has proven himself to have adept comic skills this year - as well as pretty much every other acting skill known to the profession. But as they lie together afterwards, it feels poignant again. It’s another reminder of how close yet far away our Coop is, and as much as I want him to find himself, I want Janey-E to be happy and find herself, too. She’s been put through some shit, having unwittingly married a non-human doppelganger manufactured by an evil entity who has escaped from another dimension. That’s a lot for one person. Plus she’s named Janey-E. How unlucky can one person be?

. I sort of liked the stuff with Jim Belushi and Robert Knepper. They give a couple of very intense and solid performances, but the problem for me was that it’s another complex storyline being introduced so deep into the series. If it’s one that lasts a few episodes - fine. But i’d almost like to see their part wrapped up - or advanced dramatically - by next week, mainly because there are more interesting threads the one these two linger on. I want more Doppelcoop. I want the Bookhouse Boys heading to the black lodge. I want more Patrick Fischler rather than the guys he gives orders to. It’s hard to judge from episode to episode which assortment of characters you’ll get, and it’s starting to feel like this series’ logline should’ve adapted an existing catchphrase: “Twin Peaks is like a box of Gormonbozias: You never know what creamed corn nightmare you’re gonna get”. I personally am happy with whatever assortment we get, but getting Belushi and Knepper’s characters is like getting a pretty nice plain milk chocolate when I could be getting a delicious hazelnut deluxe. It’s not bad at all, just...perfectly fine. 

. When it comes to Diane and her relationship with Doppelcoop, i’m utterly intrigued and utterly uninterested in guessing where it’ll go. There will be a million theories floating out there about how and why they’re in contact, but i’d rather just watch the story play out rather than guess ahead. It’s a very cool development though, and Cole’s vision of Laura at the door was completely disarming and haunting. Again, I don’t really want to guess ahead at how Laura will play into the following episodes, but we know she will. That’s enough for me. I’ve been browsing the Twin Peaks reddit lately (I know...I know) and i’ve gotta admit i’m waring very thin from it. Not EVERYTHING is a thing, guys. I’m beginning to think all the fan theories are detracting from the story, when really i’d rather just experience the ride. We can’t outsmart Frost and Lynch and they’ll tell us what they want and in the manner they want to. And anyway, more interesting than a tenuous “it’s all set in another dimension and i have proof!” theory is something that put maybe the biggest smile on my face yet: ALBERT ON A DATE!!! With CONSTANCE!! How utterly delightful. I guess he’s got over his love of Harry Truman, then. 

. I really thought we were going to get Audrey this episode, as we inch closer and closer towards her through her horrible bastard son. Seeing more of Johnny this season has been a surprise, but from what happens to him tonight, not a pleasant one. It is fully heartbreaking watching him try to wriggle out of his restraints to rescue his Mum, and a pretty solid metaphor for so many of the male characters on the show: When a woman is being hurt, the men are impotent to help. For Johnny, it’s understandable that he can’t, the poor guy. But for the other men? It’s not that they can’t, it’s that they won’t. Harry Dean Stanton’s Carl plays a lovely old folk song outside his trailer, looking briefly torn up when he sees a mug go flying through a trailer window, the sound of a furious male voice growling from inside. Does he go and intervene? He doesn’t. And he’s a ‘good guy’, right? I re-watched Blue Velvet again yesterday, and was blown away by how full of shit Jeffery Beaumont’s good-guy image is. Like Carl, when he sees Dorothy’s attack, he doesn’t step in. He just watches. This seems to be a recurring theme with Lynch: those who see violence against women stand by and allow it to happen. And there ARE Carls everywhere, who’d rather say “That’s sad but not my business” than stand up and help. What happens to the Woman who witnesses evil (ie Richard’s hit and run) and tries to report it? She’s destroyed by a Man. God, it’s heartbreaking. The layers of commentary get deeper even as I write this, and I realise things about this episode I hadn’t thought of. I think part 10 is the most troubling and divisive, yet most fiercely critical yet. 

. And then, we get a surprise I truly wasn’t expecting: more of The Log Lady. Maybe the most iconic, important and wise character on the entire show, leading us onwards through the dark night. God bless the log lady, and god bless Catherine Coulson. Every word she speaks is fraught with such pain and feeling, and it’d be a fucking sin for us to not cherish every word of it. I found myself listening to her words just as Hawk does - with eyes almost closed, in utter silence, revering them and their power. At the centre of this Season, underneath it all, the real heroes are Hawk and The Log Lady. It is so nice, so utterly refreshing to have such a pure moment of goodness and beauty, and for it to be between a Woman written with true agency and a Native American Man who has risen to protect his town - two beautiful souls who are stepping in to save the day that the white dudes have repeatedly fucked right up. It’s a gorgeous scene, and it segues into a road house performance that is easily my favourite of the year so far. Rebekah Del Rio’s performance of No Stars (No surprises, it was co-written by David Lynch) is haunting and it feels like a turning point for the series - from here on in, the darkness in the woods around Twin Peaks is out in full force. Perhaps this is why the episode is so aggressive. I left this terrific episode feeling unsettled and troubled - and that’s exactly how we’re supposed to feel. There’s a bad moon rising over Twin Peaks. 

“But in these days the glow is dying. What will be in the darkness that remains?”

[malfoygrass]

Hybrids and beauty queens

An: A little gift for my @my-light-into-the-darkness who recently became my follower #400, hope you like it! This was super fun to write

“So you’ll come to the party right?” Neville Longbottom smiled, his sweet expression so earnest Astoria could only nod with perky enthusiasm.

In this life there were cruel romantic ironies…and then there were messed up love hexagons.

None so much more than for Miss Godric Hollow twice in a row Astoria Greengrass. Especially since she lived in what some people might call a magnet town for supernatural trouble.

To put it simply Astoria adored Neville (Vampire brother #1), who liked Luna (Witch), who was in love with Harry(Vampire brother #2) , who was dating Ginny (Doppleganger) who actually swooned over Victor (Original Vampire) who only had eyes for Hermione (Witch) who was happily in a relationship with Ron (Human with resurrection stone) aka the only lucky person who’s love wasn’t unrequited.

Who loved Astoria? Absolutely nobody, because charming as her personality might be, sometimes even that wasn’t enough. She sighed slamming the door of her locker

“I see, still mooning over the the ripper, angel” A London accented voice said mockingly as Astoria turned to glare at one of the most handsome guys she’d ever known.

Okay so maybe there WAS someone who fancied her, sadly he was also a ego maniac bully with a crazy family and an obsession with vampire blood purity that wasn’t healthy, his name was Draco Malfoy, or as the vampire comunity called him: The original Hybrid.

“don’t you have junior death eaters to torment or something?, stay away from Neville” Astoria glared at the blond man blocking her way “he hasn’t done anything to you and fyi I don’t moon, I admire him…you know, from the distance” Astoria winced at how pathetic she sounded 

Neville Longbottom in Astoria’s eyes, could do no wrong and Draco knew it, it had been Neville who found Astoria the night she was turned, dirty and shivering after Pansy (Ginny’s Doppleganger) shoved a vial of vampire blood down her throat and killed her, Neville had been there to teach Astoria the ropes of vampirism, he’d promised her that she didn’t have to be a monster and taught her how to hunt animals and drink from blood bags. So yes, maybe Astoria had a tendency to sigh like a character in a romance novel whenever he so much as smiled at her.

Draco on the other hand hand seemed to exist with the sole purpose of proving murder was a solution to life’s every problem.

Doppleganger ex girlfriend spends five hundred years running away because she screwed you over one time?

Try to murder her. 

Can’t murder your cousins because they are also Original Vampires and the only family you have left?.

Dagger them for a few hundred years.

Feeling hungry?.

Murder some innocent passerby.

Feeling sad?

Murder a therapist.

Your witchy psycho aunt Bellatrix is back from the dead and wants revenge for the last time you had her violently burned at a stake?. 

Murder her again and this time scour the earth for a way to keep her dead.

Neville and Harry team up to help the newest doppelganger avoid being ritualistically drained of blood for your curse’s convenience?.

Threaten to murder one or two people they care about, that always keeps people in line right?.

Draco was nothing like sweet and brave Neville (And Astoria didn’t know why that made her feel at odds with her emotions) 

“Whatever helps you sleep at night heart'o mine” Draco chuckled “you know some days I wonder why you of all people are still in Godric Hollow, a smart baby vampire like you, why even your sister got out when she could” And Astoria had paid for it with her life.

Pansy Parkinson hadn’t liked the fact that Daphne had stabbed her in the back when Draco and the Malfoy extended family came to town, selling her out to the original Hybrid in exchange for the protection of Draco’s cousin Theodore, so the evil Doppleganger had kidnapped Astoria and damned her to be forever seventeen. 

“I’m not like you Draco, I can’t turn my back on Luna after everything she’s done for me, she’s my friend” Luna, who despite only being cassually acquainted with her, hadn’t judged Astoria’s vampirism and embraced her into the fold like an old friend, making her a daylight ring and nursing her back to health when she’d tried to kill herself multiple times by walking into the sunlight, Astoria paused and added “not on Neville either”

“Enphasis on Luna, she’s probably the only one in that group who cares about you and that’s the only reason she’s still alive, although your little friend keeps getting used for her seer powers and isn’t very good at picking friends you know, the Lovegood bloodline might be older than vampirism but even powerful witches have weaknesses….if Potter had any eyes in his head he’d know what an asset she is” Draco taunted belligerently “but of course she’s no match for the famous Doppleganger allure, a pity really that the hybrid ritual didn’t kill Ginny" 

"And there you go, I was wondering when murder threats would start to be trown around, it only took the great Draco Malfoy about five minutes ” Astoria shot back “whatever you think of Ginny she IS a good person, she tries really hard to be there for her family” she felt herself compelled to defend the redhead, if only because she liked Ginny’s brothers and they wouldn’t appreciate if Astoria subconsciously spurred Draco’s venomous fangs in her direction.

“Yes of course she is” Draco snorted giving her a look that was too amused for her tastes “be reasonable little treasure, admit that having someone as powerful as me around you makes your dull little life much more interesting than helping Lovegood with her witchery ever did" 

"Can you stop it with the endearments” Astoria snapped crossing her arms over her chest walking down the hallway to the school exit, he easily fell into step with her “I don’t understand why you like me so much! Seriously I’m not that big of a deal, go away, move on leave Luna’s friends alone" 

And by that she meant Neville…and maybe Harry when he wasn’t being a winny man child. Because Draco was right about one thing, other than Luna most of Astoria’s long time friends had moved away from Godric Hollow the moment too many people started becoming victims of ‘animal attacks’ only the ones who truly loved the town ever stayed. 

Draco grinned flashing her that devilish smirk that had probably been causing panties to drop since the fall of Rome "what’s there not to like, you’re a resilient little thing, clever, willfull, ambitious and beautiful, there’s a certain spark of light about you that’s quite disarming you know" 

And how do you respond when a vampire old enough to know himself really well says stuff like that around you? Astoria Greengrass was no fool but it didn’t mean that she was immune to Draco’s advances, any female faced with his single minded pursuit wouldn’t be. But life, even the undead type was a bit more complicated than that.

"you know Mister Malfoy sometimes you say the nicest things” Astoria laughed without an ounce of humor, shaking her head in dismay “that it almost makes me want to believe in you" 

"What’s stopping you? I could lay the world at your feet if only you will it”

“Common sense” the baby vampire replied after a moment “I guess I always thought I was better than the typical prom princess that falls for the bad guy yet here you are, one of the top three of the supernatural community" 

Draco raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment on the obvious breakfast club reference, he understood where she was coming from, Draco hadn’t known Astoria in her human life but from what he’d been told she had been a sickly teenager always trapped in Daphne’s shadow. Draco knew Daphne Greengrass since long before making a move against the Doppleganger of Godric Hollow, she was a shrewed, icy blonde with razor sharp wits and an even worse tongue and it was hard to imagine how she was related to someone like Astoria, but Daphne evidently loved her sister.

Ironically Draco had met Astoria the night of the hybrid ritual, she had been wearing a bloddied prom dress, as part of the paltry reinforcements that were helping Luna Lovegood throw some very harmful potions in his direction, on seeing her, Draco’s first thought had been that when he killed her it would be a monumental waste of beauty and had Harry not goaded Draco into a fight, it might have been. 

"Pretty tiara” Draco laughed focusing his yellow eyes on her when the girl aimed a surprisingly strong pouch of verbain in Crabbe’s direction disturbing the candle formation holding Helga Hufflepuff’s grimoire “did the ball end early Cinder girl?" 

"No, but someone told me this party was to die for” the baby vampire snarled back ripping a strip of her voluminous velvet skirt to fight his cousin Tracy on better ground

By the time the battle ended and his curse was successfully removed thanks to a timely intervention of his cousin Blaise, Draco was ready to make it rain blood and the image of the girl with the ripped prom dress refused to leave his mind.

he later learned from Daphne that long before he had made his move against Ginny, Astoria had originally been intended as the human part of the hybrid sacrifice by Pansy, but she and professor Lupin had escaped their conditioning cells with Longbottom’s help and in return Pansy had to compell Ron in her place. But by then the golden trio had already returned Astoria to Daphne who was more than glad to stop being Pansy’s minion and become an informant for the Malfoys now that Draco wasn’t going to kill her sister. 

A fact that backfired dearly days later because Theodore himself hadn’t thought that Daphne’s sickly human sister required much protection and had given Pansy a perfect opening to hurt Daphne. Turning Astoria into a vampire under horrifying conditions.

But considering his first meeting of Astoria, he didn’t take her for the tragic case Daphne described, in fact all the story did was intrigue him more.

“we both know that’s not all you think you are, you’re more than the beauty pageant girl of a small town, everybody else might beleive you’re a walking cliche but I know the truth Astoria Greengrass" 

Astoria rolled her eyes laughing as she briskly skipped her way to the parking lot "you don’t know anything about me, so don’t even try to figure me out Mr I’m-so-much-better-vampire-than-Potter" 

"Oh But I do, I know more about you than you think, you’re a big fish in a small pond”

“And you’re the shark that awaits in the ocean" 

"Wonderful description little treasure, but I promise my bite is nicer than my bark" 

This brought a smile to her face, that she tried to hide "Argh you’re impossible!” She exclaimed crossing her arms over her her chest

“Impossible…to resist I hope" 

"Impossible to get away from” Astoria shot back

Draco made a thoughtful face “not exactly the love confession I expected but its a start, we both know that deep down you like me”

Astoria didn’t bother dignifying that with a response, getting into her car and heaving a sigh to her deity of choice when he got in the passenger seat looking like he had no intention of leaving until he got what he wanted.

Or got bored…which could take ages, since Draco Malfoy thought she was supremely interesting. 

“I don’t like you Draco, I mean just because you’re handsome and powerful and can ocassionally be nice to people doesn’t mean I’m attracted to you, like the rest of the females you meet” the baby vampire was really tryingto concentrate on the road but with him next to her it simply wasn’t happening “only an idiot would take you at face value and I’m not the swooning type" 

"Ah so you think that I’m handsome, the plot thickens” Draco smirked and Astoria tried to hide her blush

“Never said you weren’t” Astoria deadpanned determined to not let him fluster her, she was a Greengrass for pity’s sake! Where was her mettle? “ but that’s just fortunate genetics, not a reason to like you”

“Liar liar, dress on fire” Draco taunted flashing her his sharp canines

The truth was that Astoria WAS attracted to him, but he was a foul person and that made her feel awful about her judgment of character. That was the problem.

Astoria knew that girls like her were a dime a dozen in small towns, bright young things that wore pretty clothes, had smiley face posters in their bedrooms and gossiped with other carbon copies of themselves ( if it felt a bit plastic to live that way, she’d never bothered to do anything about it) in fact before she became a vampire she’d liked to tell herself that she was okay with the dollhouse like monotony of her entire existence, always being good, but not good enough to be outstanding, it was okay, not everyone got to be the heroine of a novel, sometimes being a face in the crowd had its own value.

But she’d been lying to herself and she realized it when she went back home after a crash course in vampirism with Luna and Neville. As a vampire Astoria could run, jump and enjoy sports witout bothering about allergies or human sickness, she could savour the beauty of a perfect vision and the strenght that her human self hadn’t even dreamed of having because of her bad metabolism. 

Astoria adored being a vampire, when before she’d been content to dabble in gardening and piano playing, now she could play volleyball and swim without having a heart attack, her ballet dancing improved in ways she’d only dreamed about because her limbs were now more sturdy.

Her new friends had taught her how to control the only downside of vampirism and in a way she felt that she owed them more than she could repay. So she helped them whenever she could.

Evil dopplegangers, crazy witches, house elves gone rogue, if Luna needed Astoria’s help she gave it.

And then Astoria met Draco Malfoy.

“Why are you here Draco?” She sighed knowing instinctively that he was here for a reason 

“Down to the point then, well my starlight truth be told: I came to say goodbye, I’m leaving tomorrow” he delivered it with his usual aplomb, words wonderfully executed that suckerpunched Astoria in the gut

“Godric Hollow? You’re actually…just leaving” Astoria gasped hitting the breaks of her car and pulling up at the nearest stop signal “why, when, where, how" 

"Well, rumor has it that an old foe of my family rose again with the help of dear Aunt Bellatrix and Wormtail, you might understand if I don’t want to stay here to see it” Draco comented dryly “London is my city and while Theodore and your sister have been gracious enough to hold fort for a while, some people need to be reminded of who is really in charge" 

"London?…so far” Astoria mumbled looking down at her hands 

“Very far, but I was hoping….” Draco hesitated

Astoria lifted her eyes “yes?" 

"You don’t belong in a small town” Draco said instead swallowing what he’d been about to say and looking straight ahead “I know you think you do, but you’re never going to be happy here, one day, years down the line, you’re going to be a glorious vampire if only you dare to stretch those wings and I want to be there to see it” he sighed and turned to her “but I can’t stay in Godric Hollow that long….I wonder if you can?”

“You’re asking me to leave the only home I’ve ever known" 

"I’m asking you to give me a chance to show you who I am, come with me" 

Professor Lupin once told her that becoming a vampire didn’t make you an entire different person, it just enhanced what was already there. And as a human Astoria had been a kind and sweet, musically inclined girl with a perchance for ballgowns and pageant crowns. but she’d always been ambitious, in school, at home, in her every action there was always a drive to be better, and no matter how much she tried to pretend otherwise, ambition was part of Astoria’s less than cute qualities.

Astoria wanted…she wanted and wanted. What scared her about herself was simply that she didn’t like knowing to what extremes she’d be willing to go to satisfy those wants. (She wanted blood, she wanted clothes, she wanted to be prima ballerina, she wanted power…she wanted Draco)

She was sure Draco knew that he held in his hand the parts of her that she was scared of embracing. The side of her that was attracted to power and desperately wanted to have it, the dark wants, that whispered selfish things in her ears. 

"You really wont come back To Godric Hollow then” she said instead, avoiding giving him any answers.

“Oh I will, if you stay here, someday when you feel you’ve had enough of pretending to be mediocre, I’ll come back for you" 

"That’s not very reassuring” Astoria murmured shaking her head in disbelief 

“I’m not used to giving up on the things I want, even since before I was turned, I was an only child you see” Draco shrugged unapologetically “you’re special”

Yes Astoria knew the story as well as most vampires, Draco’s parents had once been part of the most powerful witch coven in Viking era, legend said that their coven had at least one member for each of the twenty eight purest witch lines in the old world and their leader had been a mad man obsessed with inmortality who just went by the name of 'Voldemort’. 

According to Theodore, Draco had been the apple of his parent’s eyes, much to the envy of his aunt Bellatrix, who couldn’t conceive children and was rumored to be 'trying’ to give the dark lord a heir. It was her who had infected Draco’s blood with the werewolf gene sometime between his birth and the ancient blood ritual that turned Draco’s cousins into the first vampires and it was Bellatrix again who willingly killed her own sister to seal Draco’s werewolf side, driven mad with spite after the first hybrid trasformation made Draco powerful enough to tear half of the coven apart.

To avenge himself and the awful wrong done to his cousins Draco had gone on a rampage that killed most of Voldemort’s acolytes and painted a target on the back of the Originals…or that’s how Theodore told the story anyway.

Harry and Neville painted him as a monster witout any redemption.

But Astoria knew Draco hadn’t always been the fearsome monster he was now, maybe that’s what always made her hesitate whenever he tried to charm her. Sometimes she felt like she knew parts of him that people didn’t see, yet she was scared because being attracted to him was dangerous. 

“I’m not special Draco, youre just not used to being told no, I’m just one girl in a thousand” Astoria deflected with a self depreciating smile “just another girl, in another town, hardly a drop in the ocean for a someone a billion years old, you wouldn’t have given me a second look if I’d lived in your era of birth”

“You say that but I lived trough the Renaissance ” Draco replied suddenly studying her face “Michelangelo used to look for girls with your face for the cherubs in the sistine chapel and Raphael would have fought him if only to inmortalize you as one of his maddonas"he continued reaching out with one hand and caressing the softness of her cheek "Queen Elizabeth poisoned herself for skin like yours and your waistline alone is something that would have made you a sought after bride in the Victorian era, those eyes would have kept men from war during the rise of the Reich and your legs driven lesser men insane in a speakeasy…yet here you are, the best of what a thousand years of beauty have to offer, daring to say you’re not special" 

Astoria blushed, for once becoming tongue tied under his gaze "you lie”

“If you had lived in my era, I would have ripped you from your sister’s loving arms and dragged you to my home without a word, I would have taken you and taken you again not resting until my child was in your belly and my name on your skin” Draco’s eyes darkened with sinful promise “make no mistake, I would have branded you as mine”  

The images his words evoked made Astoria shudder with pleasure, because she knew he spoke the truth, had she been born in his time, he would have had her and she would have damned herself willingly for him “Sometimes I catch myself wondering how you were before becoming a monster” Astoria admited in a soft voice “I wonder if it would have made any difference if we’d met as humans and done the normal things people falling in love do. I dont know of course, you’re Draco Malfoy killing legend extraordinare but I wish, sometimes, that I could forget that”

“I know” his voice carried a sadness that Astoria knew he wasn’t faking “but I can’t change my past, I can only offer you everything else in my present”

“Supernatural London isn’t a place for a girl like me" 

"But my side is” Draco’s face softened again taking her hand “all I ask for is one chance, you can go back if you don’t like it I wouldn’t keep you against your will” and then he delivered an that he knew would strike in her hidden weaknesses “think about it as being queen for a day, ask me for anything and its yours”

“Don’t say that…I might decide I want something obcenely rare, what would you do with me then?” She panicked trying to sound less breathless 

“I can afford to say it, I’m the original Hybrid ” Draco shrugged with false modesty that made her laugh 

Because a man like Draco would definitely give her anything she wanted witout a care of who got hurt in the process, he would snap his fingers and Astoria wouldn’t have to fantasize about Tiffany diamonds, she’d never be hungry or browse longingly trough the pages of a high fashion magazine, because he’d compel any desiger she wished to fill her wardrobe while he offered her the necs of presidents and royals to feed on. He would give her luxury with his lips and insist on showering her naked body with whichever gemstones caught her eye in a passing store.

Temptation was seductive when the Original Hybrid looked at her as tough she was the only girl in the world, beautiful grey eyes that could convince her that giving him her soul was only a small price for all the decadence he wanted to share with her.

“Draco I…"Astoria opened her mouth to say something meaningful but he interrupted her

"No, don’t reject my offer just yet” Draco said abruptly taking her hand again and bringing it to his lips “you don’t owe me an answer but a brief vacation in London won’t hurt you little treasure, all I ask is for you to think about it” and putting a train ticket in her lap he vamped away from her car, leaving Astoria more confused than ever.

That night the baby vampire couldn’t sleep, replaying over and over again the conversation she’d had with Draco. Knowing witout a doubt that if she’d said yes he wouldn’t have been satisfied with a few days in London.

But would it really hurt her to get to know him beyond what he had done in Godric Hollow? She knew he had good in him and if he left she’d never get a chance to explore that mysterious part of Draco, why not be brave for a change?. Daphne was already in London and yes she hated Draco by virtue of sisterly dissaproval, but too many times had Astoria let her family expectations dictate her life.

Maybe it was time to discover what her true self was made of.

Draco stood in the train station knowing she wouldn’t show, it was stupid to think Astoria Greengrass would leave the comfort of her family cottage and adoration of her highschool cliques for him, when Godric Hollow was everything she considered familiar, everything she knew how to control was in that town. Taking his offer would mean…

“I’ll come with you” Draco’s thoughts were interrupted by the sweetest sentence he’d ever heard, turning around he was greeted with the sight of Astoria as beautiful as ever holding a simple suitcase but smiling all the same “Draco, did you hear me? I said I’ll come with you to London" 

A smile that made Astoria’s heart skip a beat broke trough his face as he strode forward and spun her around in his arms "what are we waiting for then? The train is about to leave" 

"Wait don’t you want to hear why I’m coming?”

“Not particularly, you’re already here” he smirked down on her with a smug look “it means you are giving me a chance, that’s all I need to know” Draco pulled her in the direction of the private train compartment he’d hired and held his hand out to help her get inside

Astoria looked at his hand with a wry smile “No promises?” She asked curiously

“No promises” Draco lied opening his palm wider “trust me”

“I will” and with that Astoria took his hand, knowing for sure that her life as a vampire was about to change.

An: some people write Hogwarts aus, I write tvd aus out of Hogwarts characters

[thebrunettewriter]

Black Dragon

Summary:  Black Dragon, a strange rouge warrior, recruited by the Inquisitor is sent on a mission with Cole, Krem, and her lover, Iron Bull. The leader of a very small band of feared warriors, Black dragon, is known to be strict and stubborn, but a kind hearted person who looks out for her own. When she's sent on a mission more dangerous than anticipated, her companions find out why those she's fought took to calling her the Black Dragon. Perhaps it wasn't just the black cloak and dragon design on her chest piece. Featured Characters: Cole, The Iron Bull, Krem Word Count: 8,174 Author’s Note: Graphic Depictions of Violence Requests Open!

The brunette rogue/warrior stands in front of the portal that will take her to her last companion as she thinks about what happened. Nothing was ever simple when mages were involved but how could dealing with one rouge mage end up like this?

--

  “Something doesn’t feel right…” Cole mutters quietly as they step into the abandoned mansion they’d been warned about by the, small, nearby village. Apparently there were sounds, screaming and shouting, coming from the long since abandoned home. The villagers were too frightened to investigate the supposedly haunted house but when some of the people from the small town started to go missing they grew even more frightened. Some fled, most hid, but when a small group of Inquisition scouts were confronted by the few villagers brave enough to leave their homes they’d returned to Skyhold with their message and not long after the Inquisitor sent the Black Dragon to help.

    For the most part the villagers were useless for information, but one older woman—with a little bit of persuading—managed to inform them of a blood mage that had stopped by the town not long before the sounds started. He had inquired about the house and had requested supplies before his true nature was discovered and he was driven out. She was certain it was this rouge mage that was behind all of this and, since no one was coming forward with any better suggestions, the group of four entered the house cautious of the mage’s tricks.   “What do you feel, Cole?” The woman asks cautiously as she looks back at spirit boy. He doesn’t make eye contact as usual, staring at the ground as he tries to focus.   “Something’s…not right. It’s…hidden. Shrouded. Like it doesn’t want us to know what’s hiding behind the veil…” He says in a quiet voice, frowning more than usual as if he’s having trouble finding it.   “I agree with the kid, something’s fishy.” The Iron Bull agrees with a firm nod, his grip growing a little tighter around his weapon. The woman nods but looks forward as she continues.   “Keep listening Cole, tell me if it gets closer or we do.” She says simply as she walks deeper into the house—large and once lavish—her sword already drawn. Though normally an archer, in such close quarters she’d opted for her sword and dagger over her trusty bow. Friendly fire was less a possibility and more a likelihood when crammed into a doorway trying to fight whatever was on the other side.   “It’s coming from there.” Cole says as the brunette gets to a branching path. There’s a door to her left and a staircase to her right but it’s in front of her where the blonde points, to a door under the stairs that likely led to the basement. She looks back at her three companions before nodding. Being the most quiet—next to Cole—she slips in first and heads down the stairs that lay on the other side of the door, leading down into the bowls of the earth. The staircase is winding, digging further and further into the dirt before it finally levels out to a large open room.   “I don’t like this boss.” Krem says quietly behind Bull, who nods in agreement.

  “Be careful, Kadan.” The Qunari says, his eye focusing on her before scanning the room again. They all proceeded with all of the caution they could muster but they weren’t ready for what they got. How could they? A man suddenly stood before them at the opposite end of the room, flanked by two demons. Two powerful demons. Based on text the woman merc had read while in the library of Skyhold—a place she visited often—the one on the mage’s left was a fear demon, his right was a sloth. Neither of them looked weak and the mage seemed to know this full well as he was smirking at the four of them.   “Well well. What an unexpected surprise! We have guests.” The man says, a fairly young man, no older than late twenties, his smirk only growing. He was blonde, longer hair curling around his cheeks, and had bright blue eyes. Some might consider him fairly handsome in his boyish looks, rather innocent appearing, but the smirk on his face and the glint in his eyes told the warrior that he was not being controlled by these demons.

   “A Qunari, a spirit and a couple of humans. How quaint.” The man chuckles cruelly. The woman’s grip on her sword tightened as she gauged the two demons looming over the man’s shoulder. The two of them looked poised to strike at any moment while also appearing calm. Something wasn’t right. It seemed more like they were waiting for the man to do something than the four of them.

    “Come to fight me, have you? The villagers finally decided to hire someone? Well, it’s to be expected. They’re rather slow, but better late then never I suppose. I’ve been wanting for some…stronger specimens.” The man says, looking them over.   “Where are the people you kidnapped?” The brunette growls, growing tired of his banter. The man smirks and glances over his shoulder at a door behind him.   “There are…people back there. They’re frightened. So much pain. So much fear. It’s so cold…” Cole says from behind them. The mage smirks.   “What a clever little spirit.” He comments, looking at the blonde who glares at him. “Hmmm…now that I’m thinking about it, I have been wanting to test my demons and they’ve been oh so eager to as well. We’ll wait for your reinforcements to preform my experiments. I think I’ll give you to these demons!” He says almost gleefully. The entire party tenses as the two demons move suddenly for them. They charge at the creatures but are blinded by a light and their world goes black.

 --

  “There you are! Come inside!” Comes a familiar voice. The brunette looks up to see her mother standing not far from her in front of her house, the door open behind her.   “M…other…?” The woman says, having difficulty focusing. How did she get here? What was she…doing before this? The woman smiles and beckons her inside.   “Hurry up! You need to clean up before supper. You’re a complete mess!” She laughs and gestures to the girl again. Still confused and dazed, the woman steps towards the house slowly. What…was she doing…what…something wasn’t right…

     She sees a shape loom over the shoulder of her mother and her eyes go wide before she breaks into a dead sprint. She screams for the woman to move, fight, do something, but she doesn’t seem to notice. The brunette runs as hard as she can but…can’t seem to get any closer. Her mother seems a fixed distance away, like no matter how hard or fast she runs her mother and the house behind her move backwards just as quickly. Tears stream down the girls’ face as she sees the figure raise a dagger into the air in slow motion. She screams and cries for her mother to move, to get away, but she does nothing but smile until the dagger drives slowly into the woman’s back.   “NOOOOO!!!” She screams as she runs even harder, her lungs and legs burning. Her mother drops like a puppet with her strings cut and the dark figure is illuminated by the light from outside. Ice explodes through the girl’s body, starting from her heart and she’s frozen mid step, staring with wide, tear filled, eyes at the slightly blurry figure in the doorway, dagger in hand. Rubbing the water from her eyes with a quick swipe with the back of her hand the woman stares at her mirror image in the door. While one version is wide eyed and terrified, the one standing behind the collapsed form of her mother wears a cruel grin, splatters of blood of the woman who gave birth to her only serving to highlight the demented delight in her eyes.   Without a word, twisted grin only growing, her doppelganger turns and walks further into the house, the door closing behind her as if of its own will. Jolted back into action and ripped from her shock, the woman takes off again. This time, the house doesn’t move and it takes her seconds to reach the door and fling it open…just in time to see herself drive a dagger into the heart of her own father. She screams and runs for the man just as he collapses but something catches the attention of the both of them. They look over at the figure in the doorway, a young, blonde headed boy.   Her heart stops as she stares at her brother, who only stares up, confused and sleepy, at the evil version of herself. Eyes snapping to the other woman as she starts to move towards the boy, she tries to run after her, protect her brother where she couldn’t protect her parents, take the blow, kill the other woman, anything! But her feet wouldn’t move. They felt bolted to the floor.   Run! It’s not me! Run away!! She tries to scream but her vocal cords are frozen as well and she can only stare in horror as the woman who looked like her walked slowly up to her child brother.  NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!! She screams in her head, tears streaming down her face as she tries to move, tries to scream, tries to look away. She can do nothing but watch the sharp metal drive into the heart of her little brother by her own hand.   The woman smirks and turns to look at the tormented rogue as she sobs and struggles. All at once the boy drops to the floor, the woman is freed and the doppelganger is gone. Without hesitation the brunette runs to her brother’s side and falls to the floor beside him. She screams and cries for him to wake up, pressing her hand to the wound as she cradles his limp head in her arm but he doesn’t move, blank eyes staring up at her with a terrified and betrayed expression. Sobbing and rocking back and forth, cradling the child, she only registers the slowly heating room when she feels something burn her upper arm.   The moment the woman looks up she gasps and jumps to her feet, still holding the child in her arms, and stares in horror at the flames beginning to engulf her house. She spins around and looks behind her at the bodies of her parents but they’re both consumed by flames already.  “No!” She screams, running to the back door with her brother in her arms and bursting through the wood, splintering it with the force of her impact, sending both her and the limp form of her brother flying. The woman lands hard in the dirt, sliding for several feet before coming to a halt.

  Calling her brother’s name weakly, she wills herself to sit up but can’t bring herself to stand as she stares in horror at the sight before her. Her house, her childhood home, is alight with flames, her mother and father trapped inside and probably already consumed by the raging fire. And her brother? Her brother had slid into the side of the house and was now alight with the flame as well, corpse now turning to ash.   “How…? Why…?” The brunette sobs as she stares at the flames, but the only answer she gets is the cold feeling of the first drop of rain on her head before it begging to pour, soaking the woman and slowly dousing the flames. The rogue can only sit there and stare as the water puts out the fire slowly, leaving only the charred, destroyed, remains of her childhood home and her only family.

  Broken hearted, the woman sobs and sobs as she sits in the mud on her knees, until she can’t look any more, her head dropping to look away from the horrible sight. The huge puddle of water she kneels in reflects her broken expression and tear stained face back at her and she can only stare…. until something catch her eyes. She frowns at something small and white peaking out of her shirt. With numb fingers she slowly reaches into the collar of her tunic and pulls out a necklace. She stares at the white object in her palms for a while before her eyes grow wide and she gasps. Memories of leaving her happy, healthy, family at home as she goes adventuring returns to her.  “That’s right. The Mercenaries, the betrayal, the inquisition!” She fingers the dragon’s tooth in her palm. “Bull.” She whispers before jumping to her feet as one last memory hits her. The two demon’s float into her mind; a sloth and fear demon! She scowls and looks around.   “This isn’t real!” She very nearly snarls as she looks around before something catches her eye. Standing not five yards to her left is the imposter, the smirk gone from its face as it glares at her.   “YOU!” The woman snarls at her doppelganger as she draws her sword. “You’re a demon imposter!” The creature gives her the slightest of cruel smirks and the woman snaps. She’s on the creature before it can register her movement and her sword is buried inside of its belly.   “Fake or not, you do not harm my family.” She growls as the creature stares at her with wide, lifeless, eyes before falling to the ground as she throws her off of her sword.

     The woman stares for a moment before looking around. Her eyes go wide as she spots a tear in the air, like the water when it laps against a stone or stick. With only a moment’s hesitation, the woman suddenly darts towards the rip and dives through it.

  Tumbling to the ground the girl looks around before letting out a sight of relief. Though the fade wasn’t always a pleasant place for her, this was so much better than the nightmare she came from. Eyes and mind now clear, the woman starts off down the only path that she can, weapon drawn. She knows what she needs to do next. Time to free her friends. ---

“No!” She hears a familiar voice call as she walks down the path. Glancing around sharply, the rogue spots a short branching path with a fade portal on the other side and darts for it, jumping inside without a moment’s hesitation.   “I’m not. I’m not like you.” Cole whispers, eyes and head lowered. A demon hovers over his shoulder, a slim hand on his shoulder. Before him stands Rhys, who looks horrified as he stares at Cole.   “Look at how he stares at out, how terrified he is. He knows you’re a monster.” The demon whispers. “He knows what you really are now.” Cole shakes his head but is visibly disturbed by the words.   “I’m not a demon. I won’t be a demon!” He says in a shaky voice. “I want to help. Heal the hurt!” He protects but the demon grins cruelly behind him.   “Like you helped Cole?” He breathes and the blonde goes stiff.   “How much pain was that boy in? How hurt was he? And yet you did nothing.” The demon hisses the last word through his teeth. “You didn’t help him.” “But…I tried to help! I was there. He wasn’t alone!” He says but the demon chuckles at his weak and shaking voice.   “You didn’t help him. You didn’t save him.” The demon gets closer to his ear. “You used him.” He nearly purrs, and Cole’s already big eyes grow wider.   “No!” He exclaims, looking up for the first time. He opens his mouth to protect further but can only watch in horror as Rhys backs away from him slowly.   “Monster…DEMON!” The man yells before turning and running from them, leaving the blonde stunned and shaking.   “You see? You’re a demon just as I…You can’t change that.” He growls in his ear.   “No…” Cole breathes, barely believing the words himself.   “Yes~” The demon purrs again with a satisfied grin.   “No!” Both demon and spirit look up at the source of the voice that just yelled. The demon hisses and looks back down at Cole.   “Ignore her! You are a demon! You don’t help anyone!” The creature continues to try but the spirit is suddenly yanked from the demon and pulled tight to the woman’s side. Holding the boy’s hand with one of her own, she grasps her sword with the other and points it straight at the demon’s throat. Eyeing the creature for a moment, the woman squeezes the blonde’s hand and looks down at him, not once letting up her protective stance.   “Look at me.” The woman whispers as the spirit stares at the floor, eyes still wide. He doesn’t seem to hear her. Still holding his hand, she lifts hers up to his chin and tilts his head up to look at her. It takes a moment but the blonde’s doe eyes finally focus on her.   “This creature knows nothing. This is an illusion created by the sloth and fear demons outside. We are trapped in the fade because of them. None of this is real.” She tries to reason, but the terrified and conflicted expression on Cole’s face remains.   “I could become one of them…” He says quietly, earning his hand a near painful squeeze.   “No! You couldn’t! You’re not like that. You’re kind. You want to help people. We want to do the same. And right now there are others who need your help. Remember Bull? Krem? They were with us when we got shoved in here. They believe in you just as I do, just like pretty much everyone in the inquisition. And right now they need our help.” She coaxes.   “But what if I can’t help them…Cole, he-“ But the brunette interrupts. “You helped Cole. What were his last words? You’ve told them to me before.” Cole stares up at her.   “’Thank…you…’” He says almost hesitantly. The woman nods.   “Yes. You help people. Demons don’t you’re not going to become one of them. You’re not one of them. This is only an illusion.” She says and the light seems to come to the spirit’s eyes before they narrow and turn to focus on the demon who hisses.   “Damn you!” The creature hisses at the woman, ducking under her sword before she can drive it into his throat and lashing out with his claws and clipping her arm before bouncing off of her armor. The warrior jumps back as Cole lunges forward and draws his twin daggers, slashing the both of them across the demon’s exposed chest, creating deep gashes in the creature and giving the woman time to recover and step forward, spinning around and slicing the demon’s head off in one clean stroke.   The head bounces off the creature’s shoulder and falls to the ground about the same time as the body as both spirit and human straighten.   “Thank you…” Cole says gently as he looks back at her. The woman opens her mouth to reply but shuts it quickly, eyes going wide as the boy’s body starts to grow translucent.   “Cole…be careful. I’ll follow soon.” She says gently as she takes his hand gently, knowing that the spirit is being released from the confines of the demons’ trap. The hand disappears from her grasp seconds later and she stares at the place where he once stood before turning and leaving. Now to save the other two.

---

Stepping back onto the path outside the portal, the brunette is a little startled to see a figure standing before her. She doesn’t recognize the man shaded in darkness, half transparent. Reaching for her sword, body tense, she stops when the man holds up a hand.   “I am not here to harm you.” The man says, voice laced with this otherworldly echo. Though the man was certainly strange, she didn’t feel any malice coming from him, nor did her gut tell her to fear this man.   “Why are you here then?” The woman asks as she straightens and releases the hilt of her sword.   “You need to know how to leave, how to get out of this place.” He says. The woman tilts her head.   “Don’t I just free my friends? And then disappear as Cole did?” She asks, but the man shakes his head solemnly. Her heart sinks.   “I am afraid your path is not so simple. Since you woke of your own accord you cannot leave so easily.” He states, making her frown.   “That hardly seems fair.” She grumbles under her breath, making the man chuckle almost humorlessly.   “No, I suppose not, but it is still the truth.” He says.   “Then how do I leave?” She asks, shifting her weight onto her other foot. The man doesn’t speak for a moment.   “There are four demons that guard seals that protect those that would keep you here.” His words sound almost cryptic, but the brunette seems to understand.   “The Fear and Sloth demons.” She says slowly, the image of those two powerful demons flanking the blood mage drifts into her mind. Can she really beat them?   “Yes.” The man pulls her from her thoughts. “You must defeat the both of them before you are allowed to leave.” He states.   “And my allies?” She asks hesitantly.   “They will not be able to join you but they will be freed when you defeat the demons tormenting them, as you did with your spirit friend.” He states softly, seeming to try and break the news to her gently.   “But I won’t be able to follow them…?” It doesn’t sound much like a question as she looks at the path before him. Out of the corner of her eye she sees the man shake his head.   “Not as they leave. You must defeat the two demons before you are permitted to leave.” She looks up at him slowly.   “And if I don’t defeat them?” She asks, looking up at him.   “Then you will be trapped here in your own living hell till your body withers away in the outside world then you will likely become a manner of demon not dissimilar to the ones you face now.” His voice is almost monotone as he says this but there’s a hint of sympathy for her. The woman takes in a deep breath before nodding softly.   “I understand. Thank you.” She states and the man nods.   “Be careful.” He states before he fades and disappears silently. Though she does not know the man, she thanks him mentally for the information before walking back onto the main path and continuing down it.   Time seems different here. While the brunette feels like she’s been walking for hours she’s fairly certain it’s only been ten or twenty minutes before she finally spots another branching path. This path is slightly longer than the one she took to get to Cole but at the end sits a portal as his did.   “Don’t!” She hears a familiar voice shout and her feet are taking her down the path at a brisk clip before she can even think about it or hesitate.   “Krem!” She calls, though she doubts the man can hear her on the other side of the portal, before running inside. ----

     The vint stares in horror at the men surrounding him, a mixture of disgust and rage in their eyes. Before him, protective as he always has been, stands Bull, glaring at the others.

  “Why pretend? No matter what you do you will never be a man!” Comes a voice from the crowd.

  “I’m not pretending! It’s who I am.” Krem protests yet again, head throbbing as he tries to figure out why he was in this situation in the first place.   “Liar! You’re just hiding! You cannot be a woman so you pretend to be a man!” Comes another call, Krem glares in the direction of the voice.   “Knock it off! Krem is more of a man then the likes of you!” The Iron Bull defends, getting pissed. Something wizzes through the air suddenly and smashes the Qunari in the head. Though it leaves a clear mark it only seems to piss the dragon horned man off.   “Stop defending her!” Several of them shout before something else sails through the air and buries itself in Bull’s shoulder, who grunts in pain but stands firm in front of the vint.

    “Is that the best you got!?” He calls with a roar, as he yanks the knife from his shoulder and throws it to the ground. A short grunt of pain echoes through the dark room again as Bull falls to one knee, an arrow embedded in his thigh.   “Boss!” Krem calls, trying to move to help the Qunari but his body doesn’t respond.

    “I don’t need your help. Just stay back there.” The Iron Bull growls as he stands. Krem frowns but clutches his head as trying to understand why he feels Bull is acting strange only furthers the pain in his temple.

  “I don’t need protecting, Bull! Let me help! We’ve faced worse!” The vint calls but Bull glares back at him with one eye.

    “No. I can’t let a girl get hurt.” Krem’s eyes go wide.   This is wrong. He thinks as his head throbs. But why? What am I missing?!   “You can’t fight.” Comes a voice in Krem’s ear and the fog thickens in his head. “You’re a woman. You can never change that. And every day that you lie to yourself and others people will get hurt.” The brunette shakes his head, gripping his hair as he fights the pain to find his clarity. Something was wrong.   “This can’t be-“

    “Real?” The voice interrupts. “It’s very real. What you do, what you pass for, is a lie.” The thing hisses.    “The truth is-“

    “Krem!” Comes a higher woman’s voice that rings a bell in the Vint’s mind. He looks up abruptly.   “Krem!” Comes the voice again. His eyes dart around, looking for the source of the voice. Unable see anything, the brunette struggles to move and follow the sound. He stops and stares, eyes wide, as Bull ripples like the reflection in a pond before a figure steps through him and comes to a halt in front of him.    “Black Dragon.” He breathes as he stares at the armored woman in front of him. He straightens as the clouds in his mind start to clear. She smiles softly and nods.   “NO!” Hisses a voice in the vint’s ear and the rogue before him grows serious.   “Move!” She calls and quick reflexes allow the man to dive to the left as the woman draws her sword and slashes at the demon that had been standing unnoticed behind him. The creature disappears before her blow can hit and the woman swears.

     “Krem!” She calls without looking and the man draws his own weapon and puts his broad back to hers without hesitation. Both watch with sharp eyes for any sign of the creature.    “Here!” The vint calls just as he moves to swing at the creature. Based on the lack sounds of impact, the woman assumes the creature disappeared again.    “Here!” The dragon calls as she attacks the suddenly appearing form of the demon, only to press herself back against her partner as the creature disappears without a hit.    “Wait…listen.” She hears the vint say quietly. Their breathing slows at the same time as they focus on the sounds. They can hear each other’s heartbeats and the sound of their soft breathing. But under that there’s a faint swishing sound, like a soft breeze. Both of them close their eyes and listen carefully. It’s going in circles. Stalking around in the dark for them, slowly getting closer till….   “THERE!” They both shout as they both lash out. The back of Krem’s hammer smashes into the hidden figure of the demon and throws it towards the black dragon, who easily drives her sword between it’s ribs, glancing off a few while buried inside it’s flesh and cracking them before protruding out the other side, blood and bits of lung clinging to her sword. The demon can only manage a gurgled gasp before it collapses heavily against the weapon. The girl lets it fall before retching her sword from its body and turning to look at Kerm.    “Damned thing. Thought this was real.” Krem mutters in his usually, if slightly more annoyed, tone. The woman shakes her head.    “Fear and sloth demon. Trapped in your living nightmare.” The woman explains with a sigh.    “Never did like demons.” The man mutters again, looking down at the demon before looking up at her. Her smirk suddenly falls as she stares at him. Glancing down at himself he’s a bit surprised to notice that he can see through his own hands and see the fading image of his weapon’s handle below it.   “It’s okay. It just means you’re leaving the fade and going back to the real world.” She says gently, a sad smile on her face. The vint scowls at his hands and looks up at her. Seeing that she’s not doing the same he gets a little worried.   “What about you?” He asks urgently. She shakes her head.   “I’m trapped here still. But you have to go.” She says gently. The man shakes his head and tries to walk towards her but his legs feel too heavy to move.   “No. I’m not leaving you to fight this alone! I’m not leaving you here.” He says firmly as he struggles against the weight of his own limbs, trying to fight the call back to the real world.   “You don’t have a choice.” She says gently, her sad smile wavering a little as she watches her friend struggle.   “You’d better get out of this or I’m coming back in for you!” The man threatens just before the last of him blinks away. The woman lets out a pathetic laugh as tears fall down her cheeks. The thought of that being the last time she sees Krem makes the woman’s heart squeeze in her chest.   “Focus.” She mutters to herself as she scrubs her eyes before turning and walking back out of the room, each step reminding her what might become of her and what lies ahead. With each step…she feels something dark stir in her heart. ---

And here she stands. No noise comes from this portal she stands before now, which worries her. There are only two paths this time and one door is sealed so the portal before her must be the last of her companions. Something feels so wrong and stirs the darkness somewhat in her heart. Not willing to give into her fear—particularly give who lays behind the portal—the woman takes a breath and steps through.   Blinded momentarily, the brunette has barely enough time to duck as her eyes focus and spot the flying form headed towards her. With a sharp gasp, she drops and the figure flies over her, flying through the portal she’d just come from. Wide eyed, she looks in the direction the body came from. Her eyes go wide and her heart grows cold when she sees the source.   Standing, slightly hunched, in the middle of a foggy field surrounded by several figures—ones without colors or defining features—was Bull. But…something was wrong. His sweaty, exposed, back—which was facing her—was heaving and shaking. That wasn’t unusual, as she’d often seen him after sex, fighting, and training and he was not so different, but something was wrong. Something wild and cruel rolled off of him in waves and seemed to seep into her very bones and turn them to ice. Standing slowly, she slowly tried to approach her heaving lover, still some yards away.   The woman jumps when she hears the man roar and slam his fist into one of the figures surrounding him. The thing collapses before standing again slowly just as two of its companions jump at the Qunari. The huge man spins around and slams the back of his trunk like arm into the two creatures, sending them flying and turning him to face her. He doesn’t seem to notice her but the gasp of fear she lets out when she sees him makes his attention snap to her.   Madness.   In Bull’s single eye she sees nothing but wild, cruel, madness in its depths. The blood dripping from the man’s lips certainly doesn’t help the crazed look. Paling a little, the woman straightens. The man just stares at her, not seeming to recognize her.    “B-Bull?” She calls to him, but he just continues to stare. Her eyes dart to his left and right as the shades seem to dance around the edge of some unseen circle surrounding the Qunari, stepping in tauntingly every few seconds, almost stimulating the bloodlust in the merc’s eyes. At that thought, something dark tightens around her heart and embeds itself in it, refusing to let go. She feels a sudden rage directed towards the shades that taunt her lover.

    She’s distracted from her dark thoughts and rage, however, when the huge Qunari takes a step towards her and she suddenly feels a wild madness wash over her like a powerful wave, clearly now the focus of these feelings. Bull stares at her with dark eyes, pupils nearly devouring the color in his eyes as he stalks towards her. Unable to help herself, the woman takes a step back for each step forward he takes.

    “Bull! Listen to me! This isn’t you! You aren’t Tal’ Vashoth!” She calls to him as she slowly retreats. He doesn’t seem affected by her words and continues to advance.   “Remember the Chargers! Remember Krem! The Inquisition!” She continues to try almost futilely, anything to get him to remember who he was and what he was doing. But he doesn’t seem phased.   “Don’t you remember me?!” She jumps as her back hits a tree, looking back at it before looking forward at Bull who’s slowly closing the gap, eye dancing with dark madness and pleasure at her current position.   “You call me Kadan! Remember? This is fake! I am real!” She stares up at the man who now stands before her and towers easily over her shorter frame. She almost sees something in his eyes and her heart swells, before going suddenly cold as he suddenly lashes out and grabs her by her throat. She gasps and grabs his huge, strong, hand, trying desperately to tear it off as she’s lifted into the air.  Her feet leave the ground as he holds her up with relative ease as she gasps for breath. Her hand inches towards her sword but hesitates before grasping his hand again. She can’t do it. She can’t hurt him even as her eyesight starts to fade and go fuzzy at the edges.   “B-Bull….please…” She gasps out as she feels her toes start to tingle from lack of air. But his grip doesn’t loosen. Her slowly oxygen starving mind struggles to find something, anything to get him to go back to normal; to release her and to be released from this living hell. She can only think of one word.   “Poppies.” She utters her safe word, one long since drilled into the both of them. In her vision, almost gone, she sees the Qunari’s eye wide before the fog fades all at once and he releases her with a grunt of surprise. The woman falls to the ground and drops to a knee, gripping the ground as she sucks in precious air like a man dying of thirst, her body trembling.   “Kadan.” Bull breathes as he takes a knee before her and grabs her by her shoulders, pulling her to his huge muscle bound chest and envelops her in his trunk like arms. The woman’s eyes close as she sinks gratefully into that familiar warmth, the scent of him filling her nose and easing her tension. The moment is short lived, however, when the girl opens her eyes and spots something over the Qunari’s shoulder that she hadn’t noticed before.   “Bull! Behind you!” She barks as jerks away from him. Knowing his partner well, both on the field and in the bedroom, he understands her tone of voice before she can even finish and shoves her onto her back, covering her as his demon attacks from behind, managing only to clip the one eyed merc’s back with it’s claws.   Bull sits up and throws a backhanded punch at the creature to drive it away as the human pulls herself up off the ground. The two of them stand abruptly, the brunette drawing her sword as she faces the demon…only to find that it wasn’t there. Or, at least, it didn’t appear to be. Being a rogue, and a damned good archer, the woman’s sharp eyes caught the shimmer of light to Bull’s right.   “Bull! Punch right!” She orders him, which the Qunari follows without hesitation, his fist connecting with the chest of the invisible demon, sending it back several yards before it jumps to its feet. Keen eyes lose the creature for a second before catching it again…almost directly in front of her.    “Bull!” She yells as her free arm goes up to defend herself. The Ben-hassrath spy’s quick reflexes and sharp eye catch the creature and his hand lashes out with the same speed it did to catch her throat. This time, it grabs the demon’s face in one giant hand, holding it there.   “Kill it!” He barks, which she doesn’t hesitate to do, her entire body tingling as something in her very soul is filled with bloodlust for this demon that would torture her love, giving her a speed and strength she didn’t realize she had, driving her sword into the middle of the demon’s ribcage and smashing through bone and flesh till it’s buried to the hilt in the creature’s body.

     For a long moment, there is nothing but silence as echoes of the sickening sound slowly die out. Slowly straightening—the tendrils of that strange darkness inside of her slowly going dormant once again—the woman pulls her sword out of the body, with great effort, and Bull releases it, letting it collapse in a heap on the ground.   She can feel the eye of her love staring down at her for a moment before he takes her hip and pulls her close, kissing her firmly; desperately, apologetically. The woman returns the kiss with some passion before pulling away and staring up at him, eyes watering, knowing what has to happen next.   “I’m sorry. I don’t know….” She shakes her head to stop him.   “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t real.” She says before glancing down at him and frowning.   “You…get to go back to the real world, Bull.” She says quietly, smiling up at him even as tears start to slip down her cheeks. The Qunari looks down at his body and sees it start to fade. His lover steps back away from him and he struggles to reach out for her again.   “You’re coming with me.” He states firmly but she shakes her head.   “I can’t, Bull.” She says quietly, voice breaking a little in the middle of the sentence. He struggles all the harder, fighting tooth and nail just to reach out to her.    “Then I’ll stay! I’m not leaving you here, Kadan!” He nearly shouts as he reaches out to her with nearly invisible hands. She only gives him a heart breaking, trembling, smile through her tears.   “You can leave.” She says in a ‘cheerful’ tone. “Go. I must stay.”    “Kadan!!” He yells before he’s gone entirely. With Bull gone the weight of all that she faces and all that has happens hit her. The last she might ever see of Bull, the last kiss she might share, the scent of him she may never experience again, all hit her like a druffalo and stir that darkness in her heart again. That feeling only feeds and grows as she thinks about the suffering he’s been through living his nightmare, the same for Krem and Cole, and the feeling now fills her body. Turning, the woman, entire body tense like a tight coil, stalks towards the portal she came from, the darkness seeming to seep and pool around her with each step. Stepping out of the portal her body sings with a quiet, cruel, dark, and powerful rage. She walks back down the path she’d come towards the other portal, no longer sealed, stepping on the shade that had flown out of Bull’s portal without a care or notice. Slowly, she stalked towards the door, rage building, till she stood in front of it.

     Placing her hand on the door, she pushed it open coolly and stepped in the dark room. The door shut behind her with a dull thud.    The fade was silent for a few, tense, moments, before filling with the surreal screams and quails of crippling terror and mind numbing pain; the sounds of two demons meeting their fate and getting exactly what they’d dished…their own hell.

---- The landing is soft as her booted feet touch the ground with a strange grace as she returns to the living world. The mage turns from the captured forms of her companions and looks at her with a smirk already planted on his face.   “It seems you managed to slip out too! I’m…impre…” His words die in his mouth as his brain finally catches up with what his eyes were seeing. Slowly the woman stalks towards him, eyes lowered. She’s covered in blood, her sword arm limp and bleeding by her side. The man’s eyes go to her other hand and catch a glimpse of something in her hands before they’re flung to his feet. His eyes grow wide and his blood runs cold as the heads of his two most powerful demon’s roll to a stop in front of him. His doe eyes snap up to the woman who hasn’t stopped slowly stalking towards him.   “S-S-S-S-Stay back!” He shrieks, stumbling back as he raises his staff to trap her as he’d done to the others. His entire body freezes in horror as he looks back at her again. Eyes no longer on the floor, deep, dark brown, now almost black, lock on the man with a calm, dark, cruel rage coiling within their depth. This isn’t the fiery rage that leads to the elemental demons but a cruel evil, a promise that a fate worse than death awaited and they were focused entirely on him. Even without realizing it, the mage’s spells containing the other companions drop but they can’t move. They can’t stop staring at the woman slowly advancing on the frozen mage, frozen just as completely as the mage even though they were further from her and not her focus.   One who was normally so gentle and kind, so full of light and smiles even on the brink of passing out, one who put the safety of her friends above all else, no longer seemed to exist in the woman that stared down the miserable blood mage. She didn’t seem human any more. Demons would cower from the pure black, evil, rage that seemed to wrap around her very being like twisted snakes. With every step the blackness inside of her seemed to coil even tighter, making her company grow even more tense with every step like any second the coils would snap and a horror that could dwarf the arch demons’ would claim the mage’s very soul and make it suffer.   The room was dead silent except for the soft, almost nonexistent, sounds of her steps as she closed the gap. Heartbeats could be heard if one listened close enough. She was so close to the man who could only stare in horror at his eternal suffering taken shape.   Three steps till she was standing in front of him and yet no one moved.    Two steps and the whole room held their breath.    

   One step and heartbeats stopped.    Zero. Time seemed to stop as the woman stared down at him with those black eyes. It might have been minutes; it could have been days for all they knew. But something finally broke the silence.     “Death.” Comes Cole’s whisper that echoes through the silent room. The mage lets out a squeak of a whimper and the room is suddenly filled with the smell of urine and fear. The woman continues to stand in front of the man, staring him down with her black eyes as he trembles like a leaf in a hurricane, tears and snot making a mess of his face as he cries, seeming to forget how to breath as he does so. He can’t move, can’t fight, only stare doe eyed up at the woman’s evil black powers seem to reach out an caress his very soul.    ……..   “Pathetic.” If possible, the man’s eyes grow even wider as the woman that would be his death utters these words in a cool, dark, calmly enraged, tone. She turns her eyes from him and continues walking past him. The moment he’s freed from the woman’s gaze he bends over and vomits onto the ground below him, retching nearly everything inside of him onto the ground before his legs give out and he collapses onto the floor in a heap, landing in his own vomit and urine.   Paying no mind to the sad display going on behind her, the woman walks to the door the man had gestured to earlier and opens it, walking inside and to the cage filled with terrified people. She grabs the keys off of the table as she passes and unlocks the door without a word, pulling the door open and looking down.   “Go.” Is the only monotone word to leave her mouth and they don’t have to be told twice, crying both fearful and happy tears as they run out of the room and past the convulsing husk of a human on the floor, seeking their freedom upstairs. The three other companions wait at the door as woman turns again, eyes back on the floor as she walks steadily towards them. She pauses in the doorway as the three step aside—all utterly silent—to let her through.   “Let’s go.” She says quietly before walking past them towards the stairs. They watch her back as she walks away and see the darkness slowly, very slowly, start to fade from her. They all look at each other, making a silent pack never to speak of this to her before following, Bull leading the way.

     She’s silent as she climbs the stairs steadily and makes her way outside. She pauses the moment her feet hit the grass and she just stands there. The others watch her for a moment, looking at each other again before turning their gaze back to her. Her back is still to them and her head is still bowed as she stands there. It’s quiet around them again, nothing but the steady drip drip of the blood from her arm sliding down her fingers and falling to the grass meeting their ears. Bull frowns as he sees her like this and steps forward, slowly reaching towards her, ready to bring it back at any sudden movement on her part.   “Kadan…” He calls to her gently. That seems to do something as she slowly turns her head to look up at him. Her eyes are back to normal and the tension leaves the bodies of all three of her companions in a breath at the sight of the normal browns filled with a mixture of emotions. She stares up at Bull before her eyes suddenly grow dull.   “Bull…” She breaths before she suddenly collapses like a puppet whose strings were cut. The merc reaches out with brilliant speed and catches her in an arm before she can hit the ground, pulling her up. His eye quickly locks on the woman’s shoulder to see it dislocated with a large, bloody, gaping wound.   Cursing he picks the girl up in both arms and strides to the village for a healer, the unconscious woman in his arms.   They arrive at the closest thing the town has to a healer and the old herbal expert tends to the woman’s wounds and lets her rest, Bull and Cole remaining with the girl as Krem goes to report what happened to the scouts to get the information back to the Inquisition.   Though the wounds were deep and dangerous, the black dragon, asleep on the bed, looked relieved and relaxes. The blood mage was dead and her black rage was no longer emanating from her.   If only for now, she merely slept.   She slept a calm, dreamless, sleep.

[valeriemperez]

Instead of making several new posts, I will add future asks on this spoilery topic (at least today) under this cut. So check back on this post if you send me an ask and want to see it answered.

I'm on board with the theory about Iris' death being a hoax to push Barry to kill S*vitar (to protect her), but the fact that she is actually dead in the future/3.19 makes me question that. If S*vitar doesn't actually want to kill Iris, if he just wants to make Barry kill him, then how does that fit in with her actually being dead in the future?

Barry/S*vitar lost his Iris, that’s why he becomes an evil guy to save her. So Iris is dead in the future, just by someone else’s hand. That’s my theory, anyway. She is dead, and Barry goes mad, then decides he will travel back to kill the person who hurt her and thus save her.

Then a saner version of himself tries to reason with him and stop him, resulting in S*vitar being stuck in the speed force and driving himself even more mad. At which point he bounces around time creating a God-like myth for himself so that everyone everywhere knows that S*vitar killed the woman Barry loves.

That way he has made himself a credible threat to Barry, preparing Barry to need to kill him in order to save Iris. And he has sent the memo out to all future Flash villains that they don’t need to hurt Iris because S*vitar is the one who takes care of her and the only one who can. Does that convoluted mess of my reasoning make sense?

I'm really hoping it's not true because if it is I'm done with the show entirely. There is no way I can ship Iris with Barry knowing that he (or even another version of him) would be capable of killing her. Nor would I be able to look at him the same way in general. Also I'm really sick of there always needing to be a "twist" when it comes to the villain. They do this every season. For once I just want a villain that is a straight up villain without some stupid twist.

Hopefully it’s not true for your sake, or else that they have an additional twist that makes it possible for you to continue.

For that anon, Iris being dead in the actual future Barry runs to is one of the reasons I wondered about your theory and if it could be through. But then I thought, her being dead doesn't mean that S*vitar was the one that did it. That could be the thing in your theory (the death S*vitar is trying to prevent)

Thank you! That’s what I’ve been trying to make clear from the start, but I clearly failed. There has to be a point of origin. Something turns Barry into S*vitar, and it can’t be him having killed Iris himself. Someone else killed her and in the far future he finally figures out how to “save” her - by staging her death before she actually dies.

My theory is somewhat similar, I suppose. The Barry who lost Iris, wants to travel back in time to kill whoever did it and save Iris, but then another version of Barry stops him (because he's not a killer, AND knows he's not supposed to time travel/change the timeline anymore) and traps him in the SF, and that's how Savitar is created. Along with that could come the theory that it wasn't Savitar who originally killed Iris (hypothetically, Barry would find that out when he goes to 2024).

You suppose correctly! You and I are on the same wavelength.

So they just cancelled The Flash filming for today. Apparently it's because of wind, but part of me wonders if it's because things are getting spoiled.

The scene is spoiled every time it’s filmed, and only a few thousand people at most ever see those pap pictures. It’s definitely only a few hundred at most who know about today’s thing, and it is very windy in Van today.

They’ll have to film the scene sometime, though.

I do actually like this plot twist in theory, and I think it would be a big/important thing for Barry to face and conquer. My fear is how it will be explained. That’s a fine line. I think for me personally at least, I know our Barry would NEVER hurt Iris. So even if S*vitar DOES end up being “this” Barry, he’s obviously gotten so twisted to the point where he is no longer our Barry, even if he was initially. (1/3) In the end, it would come down to Barry choosing to rise above and stay on the good path (just like when he chooses not to kill). Any character can choose to be evil, or they can choose to be good (unless you’re Caitlin, then you need jewelry to do that for you). That’s been one of Barry’s ongoing battles this whole season. He almost let Plunder and Abra Kadabra go free, he wanted to kill Grodd, etc. I imagine he’ll attempt to kill S*vitar too. (2/3)But at the end of the day, he would have to choose to be the hero he’s always been (and prove to himself that he’ll never be S*vitar). And I can see Iris encouraging him in those areas too (just like she did when he wanted to let them free/kill Grodd too), because she’d also choose to believe that her Barry would never become evil. (3/3)

Yes!!!! You put it beautifully. I think there’s potential for this to be a great story if the writers do it correctly. There’s potential for it to be awful too, of course, but I’m pretty sure Barry will wind up a hero at the end of the season and prove he would never hurt Iris.

@notyetbulletproof said:

I see the main theories were right then? But really who else could s*vitar be a this point. I just hope they are clever about it and like you have suggested - the killing Iris is all a hoax to et Barry to rise up and do what needs to be done. I'd like to hold on to the hope you gave when you reminded us that TPTB know how important WA is for their show and would not do anything that could permanently damage it. It remains to be seen if they haven't already (in terms of public opinion) with this all coming out before they come back from hiatus. But even then I guess only the online community would know. So yeah

TPTB absolutely would not do anything to permanently damage WA or to make Barry wind up as less than a hero. 

And let’s not forget that face-changing technology making Sav look like Barry is still an option, as is an AU Barry (say from E19) who never had an Iris. It doesn’t have to be our Barry at all. And if it is an alternate future Barry, the death is a hoax in some way, shape or form.

The main reason I don't think Barry will actually turn out to be S*vitar is the same reason Zoom didn't turn out to be Jay Garrick. The EP's love Barry and WA. Moreover, CW's target audience doesn't grasp nuance well. The Future Flash arc on the show could potentially destroy WA for plenty. It was useful in the New52 because it was the vehicle used to break up Barry+Patty so that they could start to move Barry+Iris' RL forward in a romantic way. However, it could stymy WA's progress.

There is absolutely more to the story, and they are not gonna risk destroying Barry or WA. Iris is also not Patty and will not be driven away by an alternate future that never came to pass (or doppelganger or face-changing trick) precisely because Barry proved himself a selfless hero who loves her the way she wants to be loved. :)

Regardless of what has been spoiled, do you think they will officially reveal s*vitar's identity by the next episode?

I want to say yes, because there’s only 5 episodes left. We’re getting down to the wire and need to process the first reveal before they dump the backstory/explanation on us. It’s weird, because the reveals were much earlier on in previous seasons. Don’t know why they’re pushing it so close to end this time.