#where does she keep finding weapons? we may never know (yes we will)

[louroth]

Oma’s little visits during both the initial trip back and before seeing the Vicar are so great. Like everyone understandably has their own reasons for how they act towards the Hunter but she’s like, just a true bro. My feelings prickled a bit even with some of the positive interactions but my memory of Oma miming stabbing can get me through anything.

wah this makes me so happy 🥹 she is hunters #1 supporter, for sure! She also absolutely loathes enclosed spaces so her showing up inside Riven is a big deal. She did it purely to support hunter - to show them that they are not alone.

She has her own little arc in the story so watch out! Hunter will be going about their business and Oma will appear

only to give hunter a machine gun or something (as you can tell she is very fond of carnage. And also firepowered stuff - she loooves sparklers and lanterns and such)

[maudlinandmad]

Signalis theory time? Signalis theory time

The lily ending is the best ending, and Falkes assertions otherwise are wrong.

We have ample evidence that jt's just as real as the others, and it's most satisfying because Falke insists so adamantly it cannot happen.

We know that the game is a timeloop, and we have a pretty stable set of reasons why. Ariane and Falke, both bioresonants with varying levels of power and control, and the way they interacted with The King in Yellow and the Flesh of Leng, (which I don't necessarily think are the same person).

Ariane's memories ended up burying in Falke, who enters Eternity through Sierpinski and then The Loop Begins.

It's tempting to overthink the question, of when the distortion starts. The obvious cue is after Elster enters the hole in the pit on the frozen planet, and the numbers station plays. But I think it starts the second you start the game. Ariane is dying, in the cryo pod. Elster Prime (the first one before the timeloop) dies, and can't keep their promise. Ariane's bioresonce warps Every God Damn Thing, Falke's memories distort, then the flesh of Leng, we get this with the fact that Ariane isn't in her pod.

We know that's where she is, both in the past memories, when Elster enters the Penrose from Eternity both before and after fighting Falke.

So what does Falke say? How does she fit into this, other than a reality shattering tuning fork?

Simple.

"There's nothing for you here

She'll never dance with us again, no matter what we do

She doesn't even want us anymore.

Both of us are incomplete, let us become whole again."

A fairly simple statement about Ariane. She's wrong though. That is literally what happens in the Lily ending. Elster and Ariane both dancing in the Penrose, still damaged, still stranded in the snow, but they are dancing.

But is it real? Yes. Every memory Elster experiences, every trip somewhere else or through distorted reality is real, and there's no stable indication otherwise. From the first visit with the plate of eternity to Rotfront, while they defy conventional space, they all have consequence and consistency. Keys retrieved from memories, survivors and weapons found in Nowhere, all adhering to dream logic, certainly. But we are in a time-loop, generated by the dream of Ariane and Falke. We have ample evidence of this.

Certainly, it is Falke's dream, but why trust her? She is comatose, mad, and stuck in a nightmare bleeding into the material. Of course she can't fix it, she is literally part of the problem and is powerless to stop it. So Elster attempts to, again and again, forgetting, leaving, killing Ariane as promised.

Then, through repetition and blind persistence, finds the keys, all telling the story of their shared love. And with a warning, Achtung! she pays attention, and finds what is needed. A lily. Sharing a namesake with yuri, a symbol of love, and Ariane's potted plant on the penrose. Surrounded by Elsters continual sacrifice, that despite the nightmare, despite the endless death, they still love each other. It may not undo the loop, it certainly won't undo the reactor decay, but it was still there. That matters. It always will.

[legitimatesatanspawn]

Can I write a summary of Kingdom Hearts after 11 pm?

Answer wound up being yes and no. This ended up being a lot longer than I planned but here's the list, with the full info under the cut.

Kingdom Hearts, the nightmare that started it all.

Chain of Memories, the second worst card-based RPG I've played about 4 different times.

Kingdom Hearts II, the Third Game which will confuse you if you skipped CoM.

Kingdom Hearts 385/2 Days, or the Cult's FF7 Crisis Core spinoff.

Kingdom Hearts: Coded, the phone game that no one outside of Japan got to play until they did.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, the Prequel that you have to play three times to beat.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, or KH with Pokemon.

Kingdom Hearts X (Chi), or the MMO we wanted and regretted getting.

Kingdom Hearts III, the grand finale that said "screw you" to everyone.

Kingdom Hearts, the nightmare that started it all.

The prophesized hero turns out to be a self-absorbed shounen rival character, Riku, who dooms the world to escape his humdrum life and allows the eldritch demons into the global soul on the advice of a sketchy mysterious cloaked figure, Ansem. His idiot best friend Sora goes on an Adventure to save their best (female) friend Kairi and try to find one another. Mickey Mouse is a king, Donald Duck is a wizard, Goofy is a knight, and Pluto is slightly sketchy.

You hop between planets to get their plots back on the traintracks to their happily ever after in spite of the eldritch soul-consuming hell monsters called Heartless that can only be killed with the Mythical Weapon called a Keyblade and Magic (and apparently allies du'jour of said Keyblade).

Disney Villains are all in the know of the Heartless and use them for their own purposes. Except the Queen of Hearts. The Queen of Hearts is not enabling the Heartless to plague her world. Also Gaston. I think Gaston doesn't even exist in the series, honestly.

Finally you reach the hidden world where the Heartless plague is spreading from but Donald and Goofy go off with your now Asshole Rival Ex-Best Friend Riku who claims that he deserves the magic sword not you. So Sora and Beast (aka Prince Adam) get to fight your way through the crazy castle until you reach the place where Riku is dressed in the weirdest outfit seen on a teenager in a Square-Enix game (at that time). Turns out he's been possessed because the creepy shadow person talking to him was Bad News All Along and now seven Disney Princesses (one of which being Kairi because OF COURSE it is) are going to have their souls extracted to create a mega portal to Disney-RPG World Hell in pursuit of Disney-RPG World Heaven "Kingdom Hearts".

In order to keep Kairi safe, Sora have to destroy his own soul with the Keyblade. But she heals your Heartless so you're okay again. Why she never does this again is never explained.

You defeat the possibly Ancient Evil Ansem who turned into a giant hellship monster and then are forced to seal Mickey Mouse (what are you doing there?!) and Riku into Disney-RPG Hell to save the universe.

Chain of Memories, the second worst card-based RPG I've played about 4 different times.

After sealing your friend in Disney-RPG Hell, Sora walks along a lonely road with Donald and Goofy and I think Pluto in a randomly existing grassy field. Eventually you reach a three way fork in the road where some guy in a sketchy looking cloak is all "to lose is to find, to find is to lose, you may find your missing best friend here". Like the world's most obvious cult member.

And of course you go along with it because deep in your heart you know that they're really here.

Except this place is called Castle Oblivion and it works on Card Logic and Memories. No, really. It's kind of like Neverending Story II. Your memories are used to make special cards that either make weapons, allies, or full on locations.

The creepy coat cult do their mysterious villain thing and yell at a innocent girl with blonde hair named Namine and call her a witch. She live-edits your memories so that Namine copy-pastes herself over Kairi. It's a Relationship Sue plot but taken advantage of by the bad guys who all look like anime villains. Because her editing Sora's memories are actually being damaged and for meta-soul reasons it also effects people who've met your character.

The villains are killed off one by one and one of them, Axel, actually sets another on fire before he can spill the beans on why one of the memory locations is somewhere you've never been to. There's also Riku who seems to be having memory troubles too and is back in the dumb weird suit and you fight him because he wants to be the blonde girl's best friend and hero.

Meanwhile on the reverse side of the castle, turns out Riku is here after all and isn't the guy you're fighting with since they also fight while NotRiku insists that Darkness is Super Cool. Riku can now inexplicably smell the evil in the place and has to fight the lingering traces of Ansem - the guy who possessed him - and at one point Mickey Mouse left him for hecking dead over the dark evil magic in his soul. But its okay because Friendship.

Eventually you both reach the top floor where the master of the castle Death McFlower Reaper Marluxia wants to turn you into a puppet that'll only do what they want you to, but you are so determined that even if you don't remember what's real or not you will stop him.

And you do. Also, since I forgot to mention it, the copy of Riku died at some point and was revealed to be a imitation puppet made from memories of the guy.

Sora is sealed in a magic crystal pod to help stabilize your body as Namine reassembles your memories because she feels really bad about it.

Kingdom Hearts II, the Third Game which will confuse you if you skipped CoM.

The weird dreams from the first game are back but its some random school kid named Roxas dreaming about Sora. He looks very little like your guy, is dressed some kind of bandkid weird yet cool black-white-gray outfit with checkerboards everywhere.

He and his friends get into some really weird situations as they look into Japanese Urban Legend Mysteries of the city like haunted houses, eldritch locations, and strange reflections. Partway through strange monsters start invading your town and make a mess of things. They aren't Heartless but something else.

Roxas chases them into an abandoned mansion and finds a crack in a wall that leads to an exact copy of where you were. Turns out that your town is a simulation of a real town. That can magically be physically entered by outside forces. Don't think too much on it since its not the only digital world in this game. The other one is Tron.

It also turns out that you're the awake but missing soul, or a Nobody, of the first character who was used by the creepy cult from CoM's larger organization for... reasons. Unclear reasons but it involves your keyblade. And you don't remember it because of reasons. Also Roxas is forced to merge back into Sora, who wakes up with all his stats nerfed. The other Nobodies either look like anime pretty people or the new creepy eldritch monsters based on how much strength of will they have.

You spend the game doing KH1 plot again but this time the worlds have this big to-do regarding memory being a tangible force and the Disney villains are secondary to the evil cult. Of which Axel - guy who murdered the one about to spill-the-beans last game - is obsessed with getting his best friend Roxas out of your soul while Riku is determined to kick his ass because no that's HIS friend's soul, hands off. Also everyone thinks you're an idiot... even though you spent a whole year recovering from shattered memories.

The guy whose mansion you woke up in, DiZ (Darkness Within Zero... also DIZney, don't get me started on this), hates Namine and treats her like garbage, as well as hating Riku for falling for the dark evil magic, all because he is the actual supposedly evil science-king Ansem whose name was stolen by the endgame villain from the first game. Meanwhile Fantasia film Wizard, Yensid aka Disney Backwards, also has Problems but its more to do with relying on a kid. The only sane and kind adult in the know of the Keyblades is Disney's Merlin I swear.

Throughout the game you not only deal with the cult and the Heartless but also the surviving members of the Disney Villain group. Maleficent has become her own villain doing things across the worlds instead of sticking to one place. For some reason she has a bumbling sidekick minion in Pete the Cat.

You finally invade the husk-world that the cult uses as its base where the leader Xemnas is obsessed with the holy moon forged from millions of stolen souls freed when you and Riku murdered the Heartless the past three games. This moon is an artificial path to Kingdom Hearts built on murder. The cult believes that they can only get their souls back by reaching Kingdom Hearts. You kill their members one by one and then Real Ansem blows up the moon while trying to turn it into digital data.

Riku shows how cool he's gotten, Maleficent actually holds off enemies for you to go further in, you team up with Riku to kick Xemnas (real name Xehanort)'s ass, and then you learn that Namine is actually a missing soul fragment of Namine from when her soul was inside Sora and could only be created when freed from a soul with some measure of darkness which the Disney Princesses all lack... somehow.

Riku and Sora get temporarily stuck in Disney-RPG Heartless Hell only to get a way back to the real world thanks to Kairi. Somehow. Something something Friendship and Heart. Its all happily ever after as you all return to your homeworld. Only to get a mysterious letter from Mickey Mouse once again.

Kingdom Hearts 385/2 Days, or the Cult's FF7 Crisis Core spinoff.

So remember the cult from CoM and 2? This time you get to see your missing soul fragment's life during his one year of existence. The title is weird and hints at how much time you're playing around in in the game. Unfortunately there's a lot of timeskips in the plot.

Basically Roxas is running around from world to world murdering Heartless for company bucks which you then use to get better stuff to kill them harder with. Sometimes you get even harder special enemies. Mostly you're supposed to avoid the locals because they're not supposed to know you exist.

By being Working Salaryman Monster Hunter, your life is supposed to be so boring and so disconnected from people that you never learn the cult's purpose founded on a carefully build set of lies.

Shortly after Roxas does some missions with the cult members as support/mentors, you get a mysterious new member who you never heard of in the previous games. A girl named Xion who looks exactly like Kairi but with black hair and blue eyes. She also has a keyblade exactly like yours which is supposed to be impossible. Your murder friend, the red haired assassin Axel from CoM and 2, slowly warms up to both of these idiot children. Everyone else also slowly does although there's hints that everyone is seeing something different with the girl whose hood randomly goes up during cutscenes.

Turns out that Xion is a clone puppet just like Riku's in CoM. Except she's a girl when some people look at her and exactly like Sora to others and one guy sees a guy who looks exactly like Roxas but in clothes that look kind of like his amnesiac civilian outfit but are wildly different. Others see just a blank doll shape which is why sometimes her hood is up.

Xion is also slowly siphoning your strength because of magic reasons and she tricks you into killing her so not only do you have the strength to break free from the cult but also help save your other self. But because she was made from stolen memories, memories of Xion fade away leaving everyone super confused and making Axel EXTREMELY obsessed with Roxas due to all that friendship packed into one guy.

You fight against Riku who kicks your ass while blindfolded and drags Roxas to the mansion from KH2 because DiZ/Ansem has convinced him that the only way to help Sora's self is to glue the missing pieces back inside.

Kingdom Hearts: Coded, the phone game that no one outside of Japan got to play until they did.

Kingdom Hearts 1 but its a weird block puzzle game... except its not just the plot but you're all Tron-like NPCs running around trying to save the data from the digitized journal.

The journal is apparently sapient and chose an avatar based off of Riku. Maleficent's henchman Pete the Cat somehow Tron'd his way into the journal because Maleficent thinks that its a magic book she's trying to find and they apparently corrupted it with databugs to take it over. Mockery causes the AI Avatar of Sora to Pinocchio his way into having a REAL copy of the magic sword.

Over time Data Sora also repeats the plot of Chain of Memories and apparently the databug glitches were made by the journal's mystical connection to the real kid.

Mickey reverse-Trons himself back into the real world and some of the data people delete themselves and the whole game explained why Mickey sent the main character a letter at the end of 2.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, the Prequel that you have to play three times to beat.

Soooo remember the guy that looked a lot like Roxas but clearly wasn't him?

Game starts off with a flashback sequence where an old man dressed like the first game's villain (but with a shirt on) is watching him die because something happened that should've killed him. Instead his half-living corpse is tossed to the old man's best friend Master Eraqus or SquareEnix Backwards who looks like a wise if stern samurai dad.

Turns out that the keyblade people use to be a Jedi order of paladins with magic armor and some thing that could turn their magic swords into space-bikes. Now you're jealous of them.

You get to pick one of three characters to play as who have slightly different storylines while still running around the same worlds trying to solve problems for Disney characters and fix the inexplicably similar but different eldritch soul monster invasion. They're now called Unversed.

The shortest character is the happy carefree boy who looks exactly like Roxas. Ventus holds his keyblade backwards, plays the most similar to Sora/Roxas, and uses air magic and blitz strikes. The girl character Aqua looks vaguely but not really like an adult version of Kairi, is more of a mage than a swordsman so let's just call her a spellblade, and is closer to a shoujo hero (minus the romance plot) and just wants everyone to be happy and safe even if she has to kick their asses over it. The third character, Terra (not to be confused with FF6 Terra), is a very tall and buff offensive-heavy swordsman who favors earth magic. He is the shounen/seinen hero of the cast and a bit of a naïve doof.

The two older students take a test to prove their mastery of the keyblade and that they are ready to be called a master and roam the worlds helping them. There's three thrones but the other old master Yensid is not present and I don't know whether Merlin has a magic sword... probably not actually. But you have Master Dad Eraqus and Master Obvious Villain and guess who makes the test harder just to mess with you?

Master Obvious Villain, who is dressed like the Ansem and shares a name with the KH2/385 cult leader's real name from before he usurped Ansem's name and titles. Master Xehanort. The super obviously evil guy.

Aqua passes, Ventus cuts in to help save his friends, and Terra fails because he accidentally taps into the Dark Side of the Force.

They hop between worlds, doing the thing but with a new set of monsters and some new worlds. It's a case of each of them trying to catch up with each other and talk sense into one another over going home or getting help or finding the other one. It doesn't help that Terra keeps meeting the Disney Villains and and believes their takes on everything while Aqua and Ventus are being good heroes and occasionally lost but helpful nice people.

While Xehanort eggs people on, you run into the cult members while they were still alive and generally happier. You also run into a mysterious boy who's dressed almost exactly alike the time Riku was possessed by the soul-ghost of "Ansem". But with a helmet on to hide something. Vanitas keeps insulting people and is pretty much KH1 Riku all over again but with less reasons to be a jerk.

It turns out that Xehanort originally had Ventus spit his soul in half to make Masked Boy Vanitas who, without his helmet, looks exactly like an evil Sora instead because TURNS OUT that the reason why this Ventus looks Roxas is because when Sora was a literal baby, his soul offered to help heal the damaged soul of Ventus and that's why Ventus didn't die like Xehanort thought he was going to. Ventus and Vanitas are being set up to fight by Xehanort to make the ultra special holy magic sword keyblade "the XBlade" (read: ChiBlade, which sounds like Keyblade) in order to make a path to Kingdom Hearts. Yes its here again.

Also the monsters in this game are the soul-damage bleeding out from Vanitas since his half of the soul wasn't nursed back to health beyond making sure it didn't fall apart. Good job, Xehanort, you ruined one now two perfectly good boys at this point in time.

Now because this is a prequel you know this doesn't work. But because this is a prequel, I'm sure you wonder why you've never heard of any of these people.

Murder. The answer is murder.

Terra is tricked into killing Jedi Dad Eraqus, whose soul hops into him to help protect him from the evil magic slowly corrupting him. Terra is then possessed by Xehanort making him now look exactly like KH2/358's cult leader Xemnas... and loses his memories because Terra's soul is being already possessed by Eraqus so there's a constant war in his soul for control leaving the body with no idea who he is. It takes an already partially possessed cult member to help set things up in addition to all the nonsense going on in the background to keep the plan on track.

Ventus's soul gets damaged again and is lost, but actually goes off into Sora's soul to heal. This is why Sora has a keyblade at the beginning of the series because it turns out that the reason why everyone thought that Riku was the prophesized savior was because he was intentionally blessed with a keyblade by Terra for... some reason, probably to do with his desire to protect his friends. Sora has no idea he even has a keyblade until his world is torn apart by Riku out of impatience because he's been waiting for Terra to show up and teach him how to keyblade. This is how Fake Ansem convinces him to break the world.

Aqua meanwhile accidentally blessed Kairi with a keyblade, but she's so busy looking for Ventus and Terra that when she sees Possessed Terra nearly murder them, she ships off Ventus's soulless body to their home world which gets turned into Chain of Memories memory-card castle Oblivion for his body's protection. Then she goes to fight Terra and free him, only to get tossed into Disney-RPG Hell where she spends the next... ten years? Something like that, of nonstop fighting and struggling to survive there. It's implied to only have Heartless so your guess is as good as mine how she ate or if she ever slept. (Turns out Time is nonlinear in Disney-RPG Hell so some people spend long amounts of time there and others spend days but come out years later.)

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, or KH with Pokemon.

It's time for Sora and Riku to take their Master Jedi test! To do this, they are told by Yensei to enter a magical dream world where all worlds that are still trapped in darkness as they recover from the Heartless invasion are 'sleeping'.

For some reason this means there's magical monsters that look vaguely like Heartless but are actually some kind of Nightopian Nightmaren setup of magic soul fragments called Dream Eaters. Also The World Ends With You cast are running around the dream worlds like it is UG Tokyo. Which raises questions in my head about the Reapers and whether this means Joshua is an avatar of Kingdom Hearts.

For some even stranger reason, their test is a lot harder than the one given to the Birth by Sleep students. Like a lot. Terra and Aqua just had to prove their skill and self-control while slapping magic light with their keyblades. These guys are told they have to save seven sleeping worlds instead. In spite of all the times they've saved the entire universe as well as directly saved the worlds.

This is the game where I start to hate Yensid.

Sora and Riku now in addition to running around the forgotten worlds and sleeping memories have to fight Fake Ansem, Xemnas, Master Xehanortt, and some mysterious teenager who are all there to gatecrash the test once again because it worked in Birth by Sleep. While fighting them, it turns out that the Xehanort has access to time travel magic and that's why every version of himself was working towards the same goal of reaching Kingdom Hearts off the deaths of every single being in the universe if necessary. The teenager is his past self. Young Xehanort.

The real goal of the cult is to make perfect host bodies for pieces of Xehanort's soul. To this end, this requires a weakened will and/or incomplete soul that he can suppress and fill with his own. He plans to turn Sora into his latest host since Riku has been successful in keeping him out.

Meanwhile in the living world, it turns out that murdering the Heartless that has someone's soul and then murdering their Nobody makes their real self alive again. So the cult's members who you killed are back to their real selves. Most of the fans' favorites are alive and looking for the missing members. Also Queen Minnie Mouse was kidnapped by Maleficent to blackmail Mickey Mouse into giving her access to the Journal again only for her to get inexplicably beaten up by the Revived Axel who had zero business on that world.

Mickey gets into the dreamworld in time to help stop the resurrection of Xehanort because at this moment he's still kinda-sorta dead. The plan with the hosts is to create the holiest of keyblades by forcing hearts of pure evil and hearts of pure light to fight in the hopes that that will make the holy keyblade appear and thus lead him to Kingdom Hearts because he wanted to see the super keyblade having heard stories of the keyblade war. We all want to see the Keyblade War but he took it too far.

In spite of doing nothing wrong and being in a coma during this whole encounter with Xehanort, Yensid claims that Sora screwed up and doesn't deserve the title of master yet gives it to Riku. Also it turns out that the Assassin Friend Axel now has a keyblade. Because of course he does.

Which is perfect because they need seven keyblade users to fight the thirteen superdark hosts of Xehanort. Which... just plays into the villain's hands.

Kingdom Hearts X (Chi), or the MMO we wanted and regretted getting.

We always wanted three things: To see the keyblade war because it sounded really really cool. A game where keyblade players got to fight. An MMO where we got to explore the worlds with friends. We got it. As a gacha mobile rpg where we were told that one of the five player factions was led by a lying traitor to Ancient Past Keyblade Jedi Leader and pitted against each other to see who got the most light fragments.

The fact that each of the faction leaders were all named after the Seven Deadly Sins while also taking design cues from our favorite Keyblade Characters did not help one bit.

Leopard was led by a boy named Gluttony who looked like Roxas/Ventus. Unicorn by Not-Riku whose name sounded like Wrath. Snake by Aqua "Envy". Fox by Kairi "Greed". And "Sloth" Terra leads Bear. Since one faction being led by a villain would've made at least a tenth of the playerbase complicit in villainy, instead the traitor was a mysterious sixth apprentice Luxu or Light or maybe a reference to Lucifer and the whole thing was arranged on purpose by the master whose keyblade looks suspiciously like the Xehanort's right down to the evil eyeball.

All faction members (who are all children) are given a magic not-moogle cat monster that help them as they run around fighting monsters that should not exist at this point in time.

It turns out that suspicion has caused the apprentices to turn on each other an that there's a whole Puella Magi setup with the monsters you're fighting being fallen corrupted members of the factions whose hearts have been consumed by dark magic.

It also turns out that the Keyblade War was fought between the factions over who was the traitor. The player character is offered a chance to go to the future in the hopes that scattering a few selected faction members whose loyalty and skill have been proven can help save the future from destruction.

Fun fact: it turns out that the player character, regardless of what faction you're in, is reborn as Xehanort. Some members are tossed into the future but become the villain's cult members such as Marluxia. Also the whole game is a data copy preserved in a different magic book that seems to be the one Maleficent has been seeking this whole time.

Kingdom Hearts III, the grand finale that said "screw you" to everyone.

Because I don't have a PS4/PS5, I've yet to play this one. That said I know some key facts anyway because of spoilers.

Sora is treated like crap and taunted by everyone because he was almost possessed by Xehanort, in spite of him doing more than anyone else to save the worlds while everyone else who did get hurt or possessed by Xehanort were also played by Xehanort so that's a weird hangup to have. The Grande Finale involves everyone involved in the main plot, although most of the Final Fantasy cameo characters are no longer in use for some reason. Sora, Riku, Kairi, and multiple ex-cult people all have keyblades. Aqua gets pulled out of Heartless Hell but she had turned Dark for a moment, Terra's willpower possessed armor the optional boss from KH2 who we see form in BbS shows up to bodycheck his villain possessed body, Ventus wakes up, Vanitas is still around.

By the way since Heartless Hell is nonlinear, this means that anyone chilling out in it - Riku, Mickey, Sora, Real Ansem, Xemnas, Roxas - could've saved Aqua at literally any point in time. Its not even a question of keeping the timeline secure since characters can and do abuse time travel. Mainly Xehanort but there are a couple bits by the heroes like in KH2 when they hop between Disney Castle World and Steamboat Willy River. Sucks to be her.

Actually all the characters who supposedly died or were lost are back. All of them. A lot of them are possessed by Xehanort as his new host bodies. Others are brought back from the dead at the end of the game even when they already exist (ex: Axel and his original self Lea, while Xion and Namine and Roxas all gain their own existences).

Xehanort turns out to have been Good All Along and has had good reasons for trying to destroy the universe. He and Eraqus go off to Kingdom Hearts or some other happy afterlife hand-in-hand.

Sora, meanwhile, pretty much kills himself saving everyone so he's even more of a Messianic figure in the series than shounen protags tend to be. Goofy almost dies and Donald whips out Zettaflare - a power that outstrips anything seen in any Final Fantasy game before.

In the end it also turns out that the character helping keep Xehanort's plot on track was Luxu all along. Also the Union Faction Leaders are back, thus setting up the next arc of God knows how many more games. Which begins with a music-based rhythm game and possibly also Super Smash Bros Ultimate.

[zevfern]

¡Viva Almyra! Headcanons about Claude, Verdant Wind and Rorann (Byleth) Eisner, Soberano del Amanecer.

Upon Rorann being announced as the Golden Deer's professor, Claude makes it his goal to find out who the professor really is. While his first interactions with Rorann are positive, he still feels as if Rorann is hiding something and keeps him at arm's length until after the Western Church attempts to steal Seiros' remains and Rorann wields the Sword of the Creator for the first time.

Rorann is initially confused when Claude really starts showing an interest in him once he gains the Sword of the Creator, but he eventually realizes that what Claude really wants to know is why he can use the weapon. Rorann cools towards Claude, which begins to form tension between them which only dissipates after a breakthrough: Rorann agrees to try out one of Claude's poisions, which he thinks Claude is subtly threatening him with. Claude backs off, realizing that Rorann is only being distant with him because of his own reluctance to be honest. He begins to open up to Rorann, and takes it as a sign to really make an effort when in concurrent weeks, Bernadetta and Ferdinand join the Deer.

Rorann finally wins Claude's trust after an uncomfortable encounter with Edelgard, where he defends Claude from the white haired princess' attempts to question his origin. Claude's surprised that Rorann would defend and support him to such an extent. After Flayn's rescue, when the two are assigned to cooking duty, Claude decides to bring some harina and lamb into the kitchen. For the first time the two talk earnestly with each other over some tacos de barbacoa, and the Almyran prince slowly starts to reveal his true self and origin to Rorann.

(Because of how Claude always refers to where he's from and what his culture is insupports without never directly stating where and what, I felt that he could be a metaphor for Dreamers in the US, who could be very proud of their origins but not be able to show it for fear that their legal status in the US would be used against them. Claude does have a firm link to Fodlan, but much like plenty of Dreamers who have natural born US citizens in their families, that doesn't change the fact that they're still seen as the Other. Much like Claude, they have to be careful with who they share their plight with, and just like Claude I'm sure many of them have managed to find teachers and friends who we can trust.

I think by this point you've managed to find out why I relate to Claude so much, and if you don't, please change "they/their/them" to "we/our/us". And yes, I do love barbacoa.)

Claude and Rorann bond like brothers over the rest of the year, sharing food, jokes and secrets. They even begin to delve into Rorann's origins, although their efforts are interrupted by the Tragedy of Remire and the Establishment Ball. After Jeralt's death at the hands of Kronya, Claude finds Rorann reading his father's diary. His curiosity about the diary gets the better of him, but by this point Rorann is long past thinking poorly of Claude's intentions. The contents of the diary, as well as the events in the Sealed Forest, fill Claude with equal parts hope and dread: is Rorann a vessel for a god that may hate him? Or is his teacher and friend a deity he can finally believe in? He gets his answer during the Holy Tomb Incident.

It's a long 5 years between the fall of Garreg Mach and the millennium reunion the Golden Deer had planned, and Claude spends it busy defending Leicester from the encroaching Adrestrian Empire. Claude's got another reason to fight this war: Khalid thinks that if Edelgard were to win and conquer the entirety of Fodlan, she could no doubt cross Fodlan's Locket and destroy Almyra if she were so provoked. If he were to die fighting for the Alliance, his brother Shahid could assume the throne from his father, and he would no doubt look to start a war with Fodlan he could not win. Claude desperately holds on to his dream, and when he and the rest of the Golden Deer return to Garreg Mach he receives a sign from Sothis herself that he may just accomplish it: the return of his best friend Rorann.

During the ending portion of the War of Unification, Claude is outed to the Alliance as Almyran nobility, while Rorann is revealed to all of his students as the prospective vessel of the Goddess without a beating heart. However, neither revelation is a big deal to any of the Deer. After all, the two at the core are Claude and Rorann, classmate and professor, their friends and leaders. Together, they defeat Adrestria, destroy Shambala and put Nemesis down for a second and final time. Even after everything, Claude considers his greatest success is being able to leave Fodlan in a better state than he found it in. He leaves it in a state where his friends are in on his dream, where his best friend can ascend to a throne he doesn't desire (and therefore deserves), and where he can return as Prince (then King) Khalid and feel at home.

Next time: headcanons for Khalid/Claude and the rest of the Golden Deer (including transplants).

[stormkobra-5]

Escapade in Egypt: Part 2

Marry Us?

A Batons and Unicorns Drabble

Summary: You and Steven have been together for almost three years now. But Steven is kinda tired of being just your boyfriend, even if you do have a daughter together and have been living together most of that time. Time to ask one of the biggest questions of his life.

Fluff, supportive dad Khonshu, and supportive alters Marc and Jake

A/N: I am absolutely not worried about Steven at all. Whatsoever. He’ll be back. We’ll see him next week. I’m certain. I’m in fucking denial and will accept no other opinion whatsoever we all need some fluff after that awful tirade of events

Notes: I’d like to thank @khaotic-kris​ for giving me the idea of Amonet calling Khonshu “Grandpa Shu-Shu,” it’s adorable.

Warnings: This story is rated 14+ for strong language and some suggestive themes.

______________________________________________________________

“This one?”

“No.”

“This one?”

“No.”

“This one?”

“I swear to god Jake, if you don’t fucking shut up, I’m gonna break the windows of your bloody cab when we get home.”

Almost immediately, Jake went mercifully silent, giving Steven a much-needed respite.Thank god. He’s been searching all corners of Cairo for the perfect engagement ring for you. In your sleep, he measured your ring finger, and despite shops having your size, he pictures the jewel on your hand and its either too big, too small, too flashy, too dull, over-decorated, under-decorated; he can’t find the ring.

Marc has been mostly silent during this whole thing, only grunting in response when Steven picks up something that might be it— except for a couple times when he’s been against a choice completely. “Absolutely not. Can you imagine that on our girl’s hand? Imagine her changing Amonet. That’s gonna scratch her up pretty good.”

Jake, however, has been the complete opposite. “Steven! Steven! Did you see that one?! No, the biggest one! Yeah, that one! Get that one!”

Steven sighs, replacing the sapphire ring he’d picked up back in its place. He’s never gonna find it. Never. He’s not going to be able to propose to you, he’s just going to make a fool of himself. “Steven. Steven. Look at me.” He subtly glances in the reflection of a case, pretending to look at the rings inside. Marc’s face states back at him, nodding. “We’re gonna find it. Don’t worry. You really think she’s gonna say no anyway?”

“She might,” Steven mumbles softly, but he knows Marc heard him.

Jake scoffs. “You have a bloody kid with her, mate. You’ve been together for almost three years. She loves you— us. And she’s not gonna say no.”

“Jake’s right,” Marc agrees, nodding for emphasis, “She’s gonna say yes. And we’re gonna find the ring.”

Having the support of his alters helps him immensely, but he still can’t help but be worried. What if you don’t say yes? What if you don’t want anything to change? What if you don’t want a wedding, don’t want to wear the ring on your finger, don’t want to say “this is my husband,” “I’m his wife”? What if you don’t want to be called a wife at all?

Steven is a nervous wreck.

STOP WHINING, Khonshu barks, making him jump, YOU HAVE TOO LITTLE FAITH IN YOURSELF, STEVEN. He turns to find the bird leaning over him in the jewelry store, head nearly scraping the ceiling. He hums with thought. YOU WANT THE PERFECT RING? I SHALL SHOW IT TO YOU. FOLLOW ME.

Steven— albeit reluctantly— follows Khonshu out onto the busy streets, down a couple of alleyways. Eventually they start to come upon a place so foul and worrying, the people suspicious and wary, that Marc takes over— Jake almost does, but Steven doesn’t want him to buy a giant, extravagant ring.

“What is this place?”

IT IS WHERE TOMB RAIDERS MAY SAFELY SELL THE TREASURES THEY HAVE STOLEN, Khonshu answers, AT LEAST... IT IS FOR TODAY. THEY KEEP CHANGING THEIR LOCATION, AND OFTENTIMES THEY ARE NOT EVEN IN CAIRO. YOU THREE ARE LUCKY THAT THEY HAVE SET UP SHOP SO CLOSE BY.

Marc nods, tense as he eyes weapons and grimacing sellers guarding precious goods. “Ah. Nice. Wonderful. We’re gonna bring home a ring from some ancient tomb with a curse on it and doom our whole family.”

“What? Is that possible?!” Jake gasps.

“Perfectly,” Steven replies, “So it’s a good thing we’ve got Khonshu, eh? To tell us which ones aren’t cursed?”

Khonshu stops before a particular booth. AH, HERE WE ARE. Marc stands beside him, eyeing the seller and cautiously inspecting their surroundings. Khonshu turns his head, looking down at Marc, and says, WITHIN THEIR STORES IS A PARTICULAR RING: ITS BAND IS MADE OF GOLD, ITS JEWEL A PETITE PALE GREEN IN THE GUISE OF A SCARAB. IT IS A STAR-GEM, A REMNANT OF CELESTIAL ROCK FUSED WITH SAND GLASS FROM WHEN A METEOR CRASHED INTO THE DESERT. IT IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE TO EGYPTIAN PEOPLES OF THE ANCIENT TIMES.

Marc feels Steven... what do you call it when he does that? Oh, yeah. Ever time Steven geeks out over mythology, you respond with a grin and call him a “fanboy.”

That’s exactly what is happening right now. “Steven.” Marc says, making Steven pause in his excited ramblings, “Shush. I can’t hear anything else. You can tell us everything on our way back to the hotel.”

THAT’S NOT ALL, Khonshu adds, THE RING HAD ONCE BELONGED TO AN AVATAR OF AMONET. He chuckles, knowingly. PERHAPS ONE DAY, YOU COULD PASS IT ON TO YOUR DAUGHTER.

If Steven was fanboy-ing before, Marc isn’t sure what he’s doing now. It’s like when you text with keysmash to emphasize your wild emotions. Marc doesn’t understand why you do it, instead of just texting oh my god, but he swears Steven is literally saying asgkajofhwojfgakhdhakdhnr instead of any coherent words or phrases. Meanwhile, Jake is screaming something like “Buy the ring, buy the fucking ring—“

Marc grimaces from the chaos in his head— but his own thought process is racing about how important this is. You love Egyptian themes— who doesn’t— but a lot of your love for it comes from your love for the three of them. And now, your daughter, the most important thing in the world for either of you, is also entwined in it; her name, her father, her grandfather. He’s certain you’ll love the ring, love what it stands for. But what Khonshu says next makes up his mind to initiate conversation with the creepy man glaring at him from within the booth.

LONG AGO, THE AVATAR OF AMONET WAS IN LOVE WITH MY AVATAR THEN. WHEN HE DIED, SHE WISHED TO BE BURIED HERSELF IN THE VERY SAME TEMPLE IN WHICH HE WAS ENTOMBED. ON HER FINGER WAS THE RING HE HAD MADE FOR HER, AND SHE DID NOT CURSE IT, WISHING FOR ONE DAY, SOMEONE NEW TO FIND IT AND WEAR IT AS SHE DID: FOR LOVE. Khonshu seems to grin. If he had an actual face, Marc is sure that’s what he’d be doing.

“For love,” Marc echoes softly. His relationship with you has always been... complicated. You met Steven first. You fell in love with Steven first. But eventually Marc started to fall for you, and you for him, and so you started dating. Your relationship isn’t as intense as the one you have with Steven, and he wonders if it ever will be. Maybe one day. But he does love you, with all he has. Even if he’ll never outright say it.

He won’t admit it to Steven or Jake— he’s sure they know anyway— but he’s worried you’ll say no, too. After all, you wouldn’t be just marrying Steven. You’d be marrying your other boyfriend Marc, and Jake, your best-friend-turned-boyfriend, who you’ve only been on a handful of dates with. You haven’t even slept with Jake yet.

Will you really want to marry them? All three of them? If Steven were just himself, he’s sure you’d say yes in a heartbeat. But with Marc, with Jake...

“Marc,” Steven says, and he sees his alter give him a reassuring smile from the reflection of an ancient dagger. “It’s like you said: she’ll say yes. We can do this.”

Marc feels Jake’s worry, although he’s trying to keep it under control. For all of their sakes, he takes a breath and steps forward to barter for the ring.

~***~

When Steven opens the door to the hotel room, he certainly finds an interesting sight.

A fox cub darts wildly around the room, and a very annoyed bigger fox chases it around with a series of chitters that might be scolds. Hurriedly, he closes the door behind him, just in time to find Amonet returning to human form and toddling over to him excitedly. “Daddy!”

Steven immediately scoops her up into her arms, beaming. “Hello, little scarab. Looks like you’ve been giving Mummy a bit of an exercise, yeah?”

In answer, you collapse in human form face-first on the bed with a groan. “Steven. I don’t care if you’re looking for the one item on this good Earth that could save it, don’t leave me alone with that hooligan for half the day again.”

Steven chuckles, giving Amonet a kiss on the cheek as he comes over to perch on the edge of the bed. “So, Thor will be here in about an hour,” Steven tells you, making you jerk your head up in confusion.

“Thor? What for?”

Because only him and Loki can get here within the hour, Strange was busy, and none of us trust Loki, Steven is tempted to say, but he doesn’t. Because you trust Loki, and you want your three boyfriends to try and give him a chance. Of course, they have, and none of them think Loki would do anything outright to Amonet, but they’re worried he might get her sucked into another dimension or something.

Instead, Steven takes your hand with a nervous smile. “I... Uh... I called him to come and babysit Amonet. He was more than happy to, so.”

“Yeah but... why?” If he weren’t so terrified, Steven would laugh at your confused face— both eyebrows raised and yet somehow furrowed, eyes narrowed.

“Because... I want to take you out to somewhere special. Just the two of us.” He squeezes your hand, and you scoot forward on your knees to wrap your arms around his neck, expression changing from confused to intrigued.

“Oh? Really?”

“Yeah,” He replies as you kiss him lovingly.

“Somewhere fancy?”

“Yep. Jake wants to take you out to buy a new outfit, even.”

You perk up immediately. “That fancy, huh? Fancy enough for an authentic Egyptian dress?”

“Maybe,” He says, as you’re brushing his dark curls off his forehead. You stare into his eyes with adoration, and all three alters are simultaneously in awe of how beautiful you are, with the sunshine streaming through the window and lighting up your figure with a kind of ethereal golden glow.

“I love you,” You whisper, caressing his face. You press a gentle kiss to his lips, unsure of how this man— these men— are yours, unsure of how you got so lucky. “All three of you.”

Steven feels the collective flutter of their heart— Marc stiffens, Jake lets out some kind of gasp— and he kisses you back, smiling. “And we love you, birdie. Very much.”

Apparently you’ve been too lovey.

Amonet hits Steven in the face.

“Ow! Scarab— what have we talked about, love? Don’t hit Daddy, I didn’t do anything.”

Stifling laughter, you bury your face in the crook of his neck. Steven fights a smile himself, knowing Amonet will only do it more if her parents make it funny. But he holds you both close, knowing he has his whole world in his arms.

~***~

Thor arrives shortly after lunch, all but busting down the door with how brutally he’s knocking. You open the door with a beaming grin, avidly signing, Thor!

“Y/N!” Thor replies, and gives you a bear hug that lifts you clear off the floor. When he sets you down, he moves over to Jake, who is standing guard by Amonet’s carrier. “Moon Boys!” Thor cries, making Jake grimace.

“Aight, let’s agree never to use that name again—!” Thor lifts him off the floor too, in a hug so crushing you hear something crunch in poor Jake’s back. When he sets him down, Jake gasps for air, shifting to stand dramatically in front of Amonet. “Tell me you don’t plan to hug Amonet like that, mate.”

Thor barks a boisterous laugh that seems to rumble the entire hotel. “Worry not, little buddy! I’ll take good care of her! And I’m sure that Khonshu will be present...” He turns to look out the open window to confirm with Khonshu— in fact, you’re the only one in the room that can’t see him.

OF COURSE I WILL. MY AVATARS CAN HANDLE THEMSELVES. YOU, ON THE OTHER HAND, ARE GUARDING MY GRANDCHILD, AND I WANT TO BE CERTAIN OF HER SAFETY. Khonshu scoffs. YOU OTHER GODS ARE SO CALLOUS AND RECKLESS. I’D TRUST YOU JUST AS FAR AS I CAN THROW ZEUS, WHICH, IF I’M HONEST, ISN’T VERY FAR.

Thor laughs, Jake chuckles, and Amonet reaches for thin air. You wonder what the hell is happening, and wonder if there’s any way for you to see Khonshu when you’re not pregnant, because it’s getting really weird being the only one not seeing him.

Jake leans down to give Amonet a kiss on the forehead. “You behave for Uncle Thor, alright? No funny business. We’ll see you later, crumpet.”

You give her a hug, grinning at Jake’s nickname for her. You step back, signing, Be a good girl, Ammie! Mommy will see you soon!

Yes. “Ammie.” Because you’re not creative with nicknames like Jake, you don’t have the built-in Spanish nicknames like Marc, and you don’t have the Egyptian nicknames like Steven. So therefore, “Ammie.”

Once Thor has left with Amonet, you turn to Jake with a smile. He puts your hands on your waist, and yours are on his shoulders. “So? Any ideas of where we’re going to get my outstanding new outfit, Mr. Billionaire?”

Jake arches a brow. “Hm. Sounds like the little lady’s only interested in my money, huh?”

“That’s stupid. I’m clearly into you for your style and your mustache, when Marc and Steven let you grow it.”

Jake chuckles, leaning in to give you a kiss. “I’ve got the perfect place in mind.” He pulls you out the door and hails a cab, which takes you into the city of Cairo. An hour later, you’ve found a perfect outfit and so has Jake, although he makes it a point to inform you that yes, he made the decision with Steven’s and Marc’s input. He’s wearing just a standard but fancy tux, and by the time you’ve finished getting ready, his billionaire self has managed to get you reservations at a nice restaurant.

Jake awes at the sight of you. “Oh... you’re beautiful, darling.”

“Thank you, Jake.” You beam.

He freezes, kind of zoning out-- and then he’s awing again, different mannerisms as he gestures at you in a daze. “Do a spin for us, sweet thing,” Marc says. You do for him, laughing giddily when he lets out a low wolf whistle. “You’ve gotta be the sexiest thing on Earth, babe.”

You mockingly pout. “Oh? Not in the galaxy? Maybe even the universe?”

Marc scoffs with amusement. “You know what I mean.”

“I do,” You chirp, and he swallows hard.

“Steven’s gonna take over for the rest of the evening,” Marc informs you-- he looks a little nervous, actually, which is a first. Marc is rarely nervous. “He uh... Yeah.” Without another word, he kind of trails off, zoning out; his head nods and jerks, and he’s Steven, giving you the biggest heart eyes you think you’ve ever seen.

“Birdie...” He breathes, hands and mouth moving but no words coming out. He’s unable to get out exactly what he’s thinking, so you run up to him and throw your arms around his neck. He takes the opportunity to sweep you up into a spin as he kisses you, making you giggle. When he sets you down, his dark eyes are filled with love as he runs his thumb over your cheek, smiling softly. “...You’re gorgeous, Y/N.”

“And you boys are awfully sexy this evening.” You say, running your hands down his arms. He kisses you softly before grabbing your new jacket and helping you put it on, then his own-- as he’s opening the door for you, Marc and Jake panic in his mind.

“Steven! Steven grab the ring!”

“It’s in your other pants, Stevie, hurry!”

Once you’re out the door, Steven dives for the pair of pants and grabs the ring-- which he had spent the morning cleaning after Marc bought it-- carefully stuffing the fancy velvet box in his breast pocket. His heart is pounding in his ears, and his mouth and throat are dry.

When you get to the restaurant, he can barely eat. Because you’re around people, you two make conversation in ASL, but his hands are shaking and he won’t meet your eyes. You’re worried for him-- he still hasn’t told you what he went out to find this morning, and you’re scared something happened out there that he doesn’t want to tell you. You wonder if he’s been hurt or something-- him, Marc, and Jake have been extra lovable today, but they’re not focusing on Amonet, so you know it’s nothing like... end-of-the-world scenarios, or anything like that.

Dinner is worrying for you, and then he takes you for a walk on the sunset-lit catwalk amidst the palm trees, with a nice view of the pyramids to your left and the city of Cairo to your right. Steven holds your hand, fingers entwined. He still looks nervous, biting and chewing his lip. You don’t want to ask him what’s wrong; you’re honestly worried he might burst into tears before explaining something very, very awful.

He stops the walk on an overlook facing the pyramids, backlit by the setting sun. “They’re beautiful,” He says.

“Yeah. They’ll always hold an even more special meaning since our daughter said her first word up there.” You hug his arm and lean into him, inhaling his scent of old books.

Steven takes a deep breath. “Y/N... I’ve been uh... I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” You look up at him curiously, but he won’t-- or rather, probably can’t-- meet your gaze. “I love you. We love you. And...” He turns to face you, holding your hands in his and locking his eyes with yours. “We don’t want to spend a day of our life without you. We want to wake up every morning with the first thing we see being your beautiful face. We want to live in that old house with you, doing housework and raising our kids. Maybe with some goats, or something.”

Your smile hurts your cheeks, and you give his hands a squeeze. “But... we were already doing that. Weren’t we?”

He averts his gaze for a second, a little shy. “Y-yeah. I know. But... I think maybe, we should have something a little more binding between us, yeah?”

Before you can say so much as what do you mean, he fucking... he gets to one knee. He’s kneeling in front of you and it’s a damn good thing he hasn’t let go of your hands, because you might just fall if he does. Fucking-- oh god, is he asking what I think he’s asking-- I think he’s asking what I think he’s asking, oh god oh gOD--

Your heart is in your throat. Tears spring to your eyes. You love them, with all your heart, but you never really were able to think that one day they’d ask this. That they’d want to take this step. You can’t breathe, and you’re pretty sure he can’t either. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a box, opening it to reveal the most beautiful Egyptian-style ring you’ve ever seen-- the most beautiful ring you’ve ever seen period. Steven’s eyes meet yours again with hopeful eagerness, his voice barely a whisper. “Will you marry us, birdie?”

You don’t hesitate for a second. You throw your arms around him and cry “YES! Yes! I’ll marry you, all three of you, I love you, I love you all so much--”

Steven is holding you so tightly you really can’t breathe, burying his face in the crook of your neck and telling you how much he loves you, how much Marc and Jake love you, how much you mean to him, to them. You pull back only long enough for him to slip the ring on your finger, and then you kiss against the backdrop of the sunset-lit pyramids in an explosion of love and happiness.

Just beyond, on a nearby rooftop, Thor snaps a picture of the picturesque moment with his phone-- a high-quality, memorable photo he’ll have framed and will give to you two as a wedding present. In one burly arm he holds Amonet, and to his right stands Khonshu.

“It was really a good idea to follow them,” Thor comments, “Now they’ll be able to remember this moment vividly whenever they look at it. They’ll have a picture to go with the story!”

YES... Khonshu replies, but he seems kind of...

Thor grins broadly, knowing what’s wrong. “Are you feeling pride?”

OF COURSE NOT! Khonshu scoffs, balking, apparently appalled, IT IS A NATURAL THING TO WED, NOTHING SPECIAL.

“Of course, of course,” Thor snorts, “...Grandpa Shu-Shu.”

Khonshu whips his head around to glare at him, but he knows his eyeless gaze is on Amonet. He groans, irritated, turning back to look at the loving couple they’re spying on. CHILDREN...

“Shu-Shu,” Amonet babbles, and Khonshu tilts his head a little. Even if he’ll never admit it, he finds it endearing... and maybe, he is proud.

A little bit.

~***~

That night, you and Steven lay on your bed, Amonet between you, as he tells you both the story behind the ring he chose. And when Amonet gets tired, Steven watches her adoringly, tracing the bridge of her nose once before he tells her very softly, “Go to sleep, little scarab. Mummy and Daddy will watch over you.” And then he sings her an Ancient Egyptian lullaby, one that nearly puts you to sleep.

One that does make you doze off, and you and Steven hold hands as they rest on Amonet’s stomach, keeping her safe. Steven falls asleep tracing your ring, smiling to himself at the sight of his family laying with him. Only once all three alters are asleep, only then does Khonshu appear in the room, standing at the foot of the bed and humming an Ancient Egyptian blessing.

He waves his staff over their sleeping forms, muttering the phrase, ANKH, WEDJA,SENEB... Lit by moonlight, Khonshu looked at the sleeping figures of his avatar and his family.

...SLEEP WELL, MY CHILDREN.

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Thanks for reading! The blessing Khonshu speaks is Life, Prosperity, Health-- but I’m not an expert! :P

I’m sorry if I tagged you and you didn’t want to be tagged, but I felt like maybe you guys would want some fluff after Episode 5 and while waiting on Banks of the Nile. If anybody wants to be added/taken off the taglist, just let me know!

Taglist:

@poeticsorcery

@dameronsknight

@atzlena

@sylkisdagger

@gucciboots

@pastel-0-princess

@magnet-girl

@mandosmistress

@khaotic-kris

@yoditopascal

@halerune

@tojisprincess

@ahookedheroespureheart

@burninggracesandbridges

@freeshavocadoooo

@kingtwhiddleston

@oh--its-just-me

@xiernia

@bookloverfilmoholic

@adamcarlsenslvr

@iamyourgender

@starfirette

@darkwhisperswolf

@nemtodd-barnes1923

@tonystarksfavoritedaughter

@blackcat-midnight-thatsme

@vendettavhs

@saltykidcreation​

@espurrispossessed​

[lilmaravilla]

Little Mistakes (The Front Man x Reader)

warnings: mentions of death and some swear words. there are also mentions of a weapon so keep those in mind. key: Y/n = your name. E/c = eye color. H/l = hair length. H/c = hair color.

When y/n heard her work partner Jun-Ho talk about finding his brother, they had never imagined that it would be a dangerous adventure. A dangerous adventure in a place in which people played games and got eliminated by getting killed.

"We're playing with fire here! We can't just come in here pretending we're two guards who know exactly what the fuck they are doing!" y/n exclaimed as they walked next to their partner. Their voice distorted by a mask they had stolen off a dead guard. Well, the mask that Jun-Ho had to steal.

"I told you it was going to be dangerous, did I not? So far we've been doing great and you're only complaining? May I remind you that you were the one who chose to come with me? Listen, everything is going to be okay. I just want us to split up and look for more clues," answered Jun-Ho as he looked down at a masked y/n with a serious look on his face.

"Whatever. Your brother better be here and he better be hot in person, ya hear me?" with a roll of their eyes, y/n nodded at Jun-Ho's request.

"Hot? Why's that?" confusion was written on the poor man's face.

"Yes! I want him to be hot so he can take me out on a date because I helped you look for him. Look at it as some sort of payment," they answered as they began to walk away to another side of the large room. Archives being the only 'decorations' there.

The room was eerily quiet, making y/n feel more uneasy walking down those corridors. A flashlight in their hand as they searched for the certain file of Jun-Ho's brother. The thought, 'Don't get caught' present in their mind.

Ring...Ring... "Front Man speaking. I'm happy to hear you enjoy the game, sir. Yes, sir. The host is currently waiting for the VIPs to arrive," a different distorted voice was heard as a telephone was placed down. Footsteps then began to echo closer to where y/n was standing.

Quickly crouching down, y/n began to look around to find somewhere else to hide. The footsteps only coming closer as they then halted. The room only growing quiet once again until the sound of a gun cocking was heard. "Are you in here right now? You're good but you made one mistake," came the distorted voice once again. "I always put the receiver down the other way."

'The receiver?' y/n thought as it then came to their mind. 'The fucking phone that Jun-Ho touched! I swear if we make it out alive, I will be the one to kill you!'

The Front Man continued to speak about the type of weapon y/n was using and what they had shot with it. Y/n was only distracted by the fact that most of the bullets were from Jun-Ho's gun. At least the Front Man didn't know two cops were roaming around here.

"I got you. Move and it will be the last thing you will ever do." Shit. While y/n was distracted with thoughts about her revolver, she had been caught trying to hide. "Breaking the mask rules was the reason for your death if I am not mistaken. So tell me, Guard, how does it feel to be a ghost?"

Y/n didn't answer as they felt the barrel of a gun pressing against the back of their head. The only movement coming from their body was that of a shiver going down their spine. Other than that, at that moment, not a single limb was moved.

"Turn around and take off your mask. Let me look your ghost in the eyes, Guard," the Front Man spoke with a soft tone. The distortion of the mask making him sound more menacingly. "I want to see the same eyes I saw when my bullet went straight into your head. Show me now!" he yelled with patience not evident in his voice.

With a sudden flinch and lots of hesitation, y/n turned to face the masked man. Gloved hands slowly began to reach towards the mask and in a swift movement, y/n's e/c eyes were revealed.

"Take it all off. I want to see your whole face," the impatient man said as he brought the barrel of the gun towards y/n's forehead.

Quickly, y/n began to take the rest of the suit's mask off. Now revealing their h/l h/c hair, they let out a breath they did not know they were holding in.

The Front Man's eyes were, without a doubt, glued onto the small figure's face, taking in all of their features. Some sort of attraction for them instantly growing.

"There is no doubt you were a great police officer, but your little mistakes were your ruin. Showing up here without a partner was the worst one you could make. Your second mistake was being distracted while trying to hide," the Front Man said as his gun traveled from the top of y/n's forehead to her cheek and then down to underneath her chin. "Or am I wrong, police officer?" he asked and lifted y/n's head with the gun to look into their eyes.

"Keep in mind that I make mistakes but very rarely. You know nothing about me nor how I work, so I advise you to stop talking already. Your mask does not scare me and neither does your gun. Do you want to kill me? Do it, but you have also made a mistake. The mistake of trusting your instincts without having all the information. I hope you figure out why you committed that mistake," y/n said as they had finally gotten the courage to speak to the masked figure. Consequences no longer being a fear of theirs.

"You think I am going to let you off the hook so easily, my dear? Killing you is too easy but not very satisfying. I am going to punish you. I will teach you how to respect me and show you who you are messing with," he said as he began to take his mask off with his free hand. "Does that not sound splendid to you?"

Y/n's eyes widened at the attractive man standing before them. A blush was certainly visible on their cheeks. Their heartbeat was now abnormally fast and their breath hitching at such a fine man. This has got to be a joke. There is no way this man is this handsome.

"What will my punishment be? I am sure I can take it!"

The Front Man only chuckled, a smirk evident on their lips. He slowly leaned in towards Y/n's ear and let out a soft breath.

"You'll see. . . little police officer," he whispered ever so smoothly into their ear.

Author's Note: What do you think should happen next? should i make a part two? what should y/n's punishment be? let me know your ideas <3

[worriedvision]

A bitter truth (Part 2) - Gorou + Albedo

Part 1 is here. Reader is gender neutral, pretty much the next part is gonna have more of the lovey-dovey stuff.

After a short conversation with Katheryne, you’re starting to look through your commissions. You were essentially working a night shift instead of the usual day shift, but it was a good start for you. Before heading off, however, Diluc insists on getting you started on finding a good weapon for yourself. 

Now, you were experienced with a bow, but you couldn’t help but think about Gorou whenever you saw one, and using one would likely hinder you. 

“Could I just use my hands?” You ask blankly, holding your hands up. “I mi-”

Diluc shakes his head in disapproval at this idea, cutting your thoughts short. 

“Katheryne, do we have any spare weapons?” Diluc asks, furrowing his brows. 

"Actually, the honorary knight have us a polearm they didn't need." Katheryne responds. You hold yourself back from wincing, remembering that the traveler had managed to get Gorou to forget about you.

"We'll take it." Diluc blankly states, thanking her as she hands the weapon over. Before you can stop him, he's handing it to you. "You'll be shadowing me for tonight. I'll help you grasp how to utilise that vis-"

"Shhh!" You cut him off, looking around. Diluc furrows his brows, and it takes him a moment to remember that you were from Inazuma, a place where vision holders had to be discrete. He nods in understanding, gesturing for you to follow along.

--

You begin to shudder, the bitterness of Dragonspine hitting you. Diluc gestures over, getting you to stand by a warming seelie. It keeps moving away, and you follow along as Diluc watches you get familiar with the seelie. Finally reaching its spot, you jump at the sudden presence of a chest. Looking over at Diluc, he nods, gesturing for you to open it. Gorous usual words of 'be careful, it could be a trap' hit you, and you hold your breath as you open it. Seeing no such trap, you release the breath, grabbing the artifacts within.

"Watch out!" You hear someone yell, only to be surprised by a figure rushing to find a source of heat, a lawlachurl following behind. Both you and Diluc yield your weapons, rushing in as the unfortunate adventurer huddles at the seelie. Hitting it with basic attacks, you feel like you're not helping, so you switch to supporting Diluc. Feeling the presence of two other people, you slam your polearm down to give Diluc as well as themselves a speed boost.

"Fancy meeting you here, Master Diluc." You hear a man jeer, causing Diluc to sigh out as he infuses his weapon. "And who have we here?" He looks over casually, landing hits on the lawlachurl as he does so.

The other man is silent, simply doing a similar movement to yourself. To your relief, you see this man is acting as a support. He doesn't look at you at all, merely planting his flowers strategically to help his coworker as he keeps an eye on where the lawlachurl is.

After your teamwork has taken down the lawlachurl, you hear the second man clear his throat.

"I don't believe we have met." He states. "Are you new?"

Before you reply, Diluc responds for you.

"Yes. They are going to be working for the adventurers guild." He states coldly, glaring at the first man.

"Now, now, Diluc." He chuckles, holding his hands up. "We never know when we'll be working together. Allow us to introduce ourselves at least!" He continues.

Diluc hesitantly let's them, keeping an eye on the both of them as they talk. Kaeya seems eager to work with you, but the other man is relatively silent.

"I am Albedo, chief alchemist of the knights of Favonius." He calmly let's out. "If I may ask, how did you do that?"

"I myself am curious." Kaeya chimes in. "You don't look to be a vision holder."

Diluc nudges for you to just show your vision, but you laugh it off.

"Maybe you two are just really tired." You shake it off. Kaeya shrugs, the mention of his tiredness being enough to make him forget about your suspicious actions as he walks away, waving a cheerio to Albedo. Albedo still doesn't show signs of exhaustion, but now he's curious.

"Would you be alright with having a more in depth conversation about your origins tomorrow morning, when both of us are well rested?" Albedo queries, receiving a slow nod from you before leaving you with Diluc once again.

--

Gorou bites into some tricolour dango that the traveler generously gifted him, and he's enjoying the very gift itself. This came from someone he admired, someone he put on a pedestal!

"Hey, I have to talk to Albedo tomorrow about possible illustrations for my next book." Xingqiu starts, the traveler and Paimon gasping as they hear this. "Would you, my friend, like to join me?" He asks, knowing everyone's answer. Chongyun would have to leave for his work, but the traveler and Paimon had a soft spot for the alchemist, and he was certain Gorou would like to meet a fellow Geo vision haver.

His hypothesis is proven right, and the traveler is starting to talk about how they would do better with a full team, but wouldn't drag Chongyun along. Gorou nods eagerly, tail wagging out of excitement.

It takes everything and more in Xingqiu to not mention this, but somehow he does.

,--

The next morning, Albedo is waiting at his usual spot, hoping Diluc will grant him permission to at least find out what caused you to help in the way you did with that lawlachurl. Hearing a set of footsteps, he turns around, and he starts to say your name before getting cut off.

“Hey! That’s not our names!” Paimon chastises, Albedo laughing it off before he realises Xingqiu is with them. The other person? He doesn’t exactly recognise them, but he gets a weird feeling about him. 

Paimon continues to talk, asking Albedo about what he’s been doing - the artwork, his job, everything. Xingqiu lets her drone on, a smirk on his face when he’s noting Albedo is starting to grow more on edge by the moment. Gorou is watching on, finding Albedo interesting. He’s starting to even compare himself, and a strange feeling he isn’t exactly familiar with starts to bubble up. 

“...Who were you about to ask for?” The traveler hums out, tilting their head in thought. 

Meanwhile, Diluc is walking with you towards Albedo. You freeze up the moment you spot the man, and Diluc takes note of when this happened, dragging you away before you could get overly uncomfortable with whoever upset you. Finally in a quiet enough spot, Diluc turns to you.

“Who made you uncomfortable there?” He demands, crossing his arms.  

[itsstrawberrymochi]

Hi, I love your content so I wanted to request something! Could you do headcanons with the hashira’s x gender neutral reader(- muchiro ofc) where they find out that the reader self-harms? If this makes you uncomfortable at all please delete it!

Kny pillars reacting to their s/o who self-harms

Awww thank you anonymous that means a lot to me hope you enjoy this also thx for reading my request rules when you said minus Muichiro ^^

Characters: all pillars expect Muichiro

Warnings: Mentions of self-harm and suicide

Note: if you or anyone you know is doing this activity please seek help with people you trust , it may seem that self harm is the best distraction but it’s really not, it’s only a temporary relief and you don’t deserve to always go through that pain ❤️

Giyuu

🌊- Now it took him a while to notice this

🌊- Don’t get him wrong, Giyuu loves you and all but he just assumed the injuries were from a demon after all that’s what you told him you had to no reason to lie right?

🌊- When he found out the truth he got extremely sad, he also got mad at himself for taking so long to notice

🌊- When he finds out he wouldn’t dare shout at you or make a scene out of it, instead he’ll calmly approach you and ask what’s the matter

🌊-If you don’t tell him right away he won’t pressure you to do so instead he’ll wait until you’re ready to talk

🌊- He’ll just sit next to you calmly in silence for hours and hours until you’re finally ready tell him

🌊- When you tell him the reason he would start to try and find a solution for the problem so you can feel better

🌊- He would also pull you in a soft hug and just let you cry on him while listening to you tell him what’s wrong

🌊- Giyuu would alway try his absolute best to make you feel better and he’s very serious about the cutting/harming and does everything in his power to try and make you stop

🌊- He’s extremely afraid that one day you’ll go beyond self-harming and he doesn’t want to lose you

Rengoku

🔥- A literal angel that was sent from heaven

🔥- Rengoku would immediately notice that you self-harm, he is extremely observant when it comes to you so he’d be quick to realize

🔥- Like Giyuu he wouldn’t pressure you to tell him what’s the matter but he’ll wait until you’re ready to say

🔥- Rengoku would make sure you know that it’s not you vs the problem but rather you and him vs the problem

🔥- He’ll make sure you know he’s there for you and whatever problem there is you don’t have to go through it alone

🔥-He also isn’t the type to give you words such as “ it’s ok this problem will pass” or “you’ll get over ”, but rather say “ Don’t worry my little flame we will find a solution to the problem no matter what”

🔥- If you’re feeling helpless or upset and feel like self-harming again he’ll drop everything he’s doing to talk to you and try and calm you down

🔥- Rengoku would allow you to talk to him whenever. He would never tell you to go away or say he’s too busy. He’d also let you talk to him for hours it doesn’t matter to him just as long as you feel better

🔥- There are often occasions where you would be laying on his lap and he’ll gently rub your back as you cry and rant to him

Shinobu

🦋- She’ll notice right away, she’s a medic so she can tell the difference between real injuries and self- inflicted ones

🦋- She would become heartbroken to know you were so sad you felt the only way to feel better was pain

🦋- She would make all the butterfly girls leave and go to another room so she can talk to you in private when she found out

🦋- Even though some scars are already healed she would kiss every single one of them

🦋- She does it because she wants to ‘kiss it better’

🦋- She would place bandages and medicine all over the new cuts so they can heal properly

🦋- She is very patient with you, she understands that you won’t stop your self-harm just like that so she’ll take her time talking to you and helping you get over it

🦋- She would alway check up on you and whenever she does she always has some tea or your favorite food ready to talk and listen to you

🦋- She always encourages you to tell her you’re true feelings and never makes you feel emotional or dramatic for it

🦋- If she knows she’s going on a really long mission and won’t see you for while she’ll ask Kanao or one of the butterfly girls to check up on you but if you don’t want them to know about it she would keep it private and she’ll just constantly send you letters instead

Mitsuri

💖- When she found out she talked to you as soon as she could

💖- She found out during a pillar meeting when your sleeve accidentally lifted up showing all the unnatural scars

💖- She had waited after the pillar meeting, when you two were in private to talk about it. She knew you clearly didn’t want anyone to know so she was sure no one was around

💖- When she asked you about it she couldn’t help but break down crying, Mitsuri would blame her self for your self-harming and feel like she did something wrong to you but you’ll explain to her that it wasn’t her fault but she’ll still cry because you were hurting all this time and she didn’t know.

💖- Her number one method of helping you heal is showing you lots and lots of love and care and showing you she is there for you

💖- So that basically means more sweets, more tea parties, hugs and kisses,more l love you, her complementing you all the time etc

💖- She had also bought you a bunny, so if she ever went on long missions you’ll always have “ someone” to talk to.

Sanemi

☁️- At first he would be kind of angry. Angry at himself for not noticing and angry at you for not telling him

☁️- Genya was the one who had told him , Genya being your worried younger brother in law couldn’t stand by and watch you do this to yourself

☁️- Sanemi’s first thought was to yell at you for doing it but then he thought you’d probably be afraid to talk to him about it if he did

☁️- He’ll burst in your room and yell “Y/N I KNOW YOU INTENTIONALLY HURT YOUR SELF”

☁️- You expecting him to yell about it prepared for more but when he reached you he just shoved your face into his chest and pulled you in for a soft hug

☁️- He’ll then say he was sorry you had to go through all this pain alone and sorry that he wasn’t there for you

☁️- He’ll allow you to cry on his shoulder for as long as you’d like

☁️- He wouldn’t care that you’re messing up his slayer uniform nor how long you’re crying for

☁️- While you’re crying he’ll reassure he is now and will forever be there for you and he’ll also reassure you and you can tell him anything

☁️- This wasn’t the only time he allowed you to cry on his shoulder,after the one time you cried he wouldn’t easily dismiss the matter but instead constantly bring it up to make sure you’re getting better

Obanai

🐍- He’s a very observation person especially when it comes to you so he’ll notice your self-harming rather quickly

🐍- He was very patient with you, so the first time he asked and you didn’t tell him he waited until you were ready, like Giyuu he didn’t force you to talk about it.

🐍- When you two did talk about it he never judged you or made you feel bad for doing it, he never called your self harming ‘ attention seeking’ or called you dramatic for doing it

🐍- instead he’ll empathize with you and try to understand why you’re doing it

🐍-Obanai is definitely not one to show physical affection, he rather shows he loves you through words of affirmation BUT If you ever need him to hold you or hug you he’d be more than glad to do it

🐍- He’ll alway hold on onto you and assure you he’ll try and help you solve the problem

🐍- You’ll also have Kaburamaru to be your support snake he’ll alway wraps hisself around you or rub his head on your check to try and make you feel better

🐍- Obanai always try his best to make you feel better and he will near you every second of the day he’s right next to you to because he wants to be a constant reminder that you’re not alone

Uzui

🔊- It was own of the wives that told him about it

🔊- Uzui would immediately blame himself he would think you were probably upset that he was giving one of his wives e attention than you

🔊- He’ll then immediately go to you and apologies for it but then you’ll explain to him that’s not the reason. He’ll then feel relieved but immediately worry knowing there’s something making his love sad

🔊- He is the type to not assume what would make you feel better but would ask you how he could help. He’d ask if you want to talk about it with him, if you wanna talk to someone else maybe one of the wives, if you wanna be left alone, if you want a support animal ( yes willing to get you a cat/dog/lizard etc to make you feel better 😌)

🔊- He would kindly ask for you to give him the weapons you use for self-harm, he refuses to do it by force because that’ll make matters worst, if you don’t give it to him the time he’ll constantly ask for always in a soft and calm voice

🔊- If you’re a slayer he’ll even go as far and take away your sword he’d only give it back if he’s sure someone else is going on a mission with you and they can watch you or if he’s going

🔊- He would also get all of his wives to separately talk to you and try to make you feel better

🔊- Uzui allows you to cry on his shoulder if you ever need it and he’ll gently pat your head or rub your back

Gyomei

🪨-He would cry as soon as he found out

🪨-Like Shinobu he would be extremely heartbroken and his heat would weep for you

🪨- He absolutely hates the fact that you hurt yourself and would always cry thinking about it or if he hears you did it again

🪨- If the reason you are cutting yourself is because you don’t feel like you are good enough he would remind you of all your good qualities and there are lot

🪨- He’ll also wrap his arms around you and cuddle you as you cry because he knows how much you love it

🪨- Gyomei, if you allow it likes to gently rub all your self-injury scars because he believes you deserve comfort for going through all that pain

🪨-He wound often call them battle scars he does it because he believes that you did in fact went through a battle with many problems and you won

🪨- He is very gentle and patient when it comes to your self-harming , when he speaks to you about it and gives you advice it’s always in a soft and calming voice and whenever you rant or cry about how you feel he’ll patiently wait there for hours and let you speak, he’ll only speak when he knows that you are done, he wouldn’t dare interrupt you

This was my first time writing Uzui and Gyomei hope I did good, also this was my longest ever request so I wouldn’t be surprised if it has grammar errors sorry for that 😭

[purrincesskittens]

Star Eyes, Zuko is mistaken as Water Tribe.

Gift for @muffinlance based off this post and this one

......................................................................

It was night when they found him. A quick examination showed blood on the back of his head. As they pounded on his back someone noted his eyes. “Gold eyes.” They called. “Are you fire nation?” The boy lifted his head and the light of the lantern caught his eyes reflecting back at them. “Of course I am.” The kid snarls. “Star Eyes.” Someone breathed. Shit this kid was one of theirs. “Could be the child of a war bride.” Was suggested by someone. “At least he’s not a fire bender.” There was a laugh that was quickly interrupted by the star eyed boy himself. “Yes I am.” “Well that was.... honest.” 

Star eyes were only something seen in the water tribes though. Even if this kid was a fire bender he had to be water tribe. More then likely the result of a woman stolen from her tribe during a raid and raised as Fire Nation since he looked enough of the part. But he was young, probably just recruited or practically forced into joining the military. There was a easy way to figure out how dangerous this kid was or rather how much more dangerous he was considering he was a fire bender. 

“Have you ever killed someone?” Hakoda asks crouching before the boy lifting his chin in one hand so the boy had to look him in the eye with those gold colored star eyes. “What? No ... I don’t think.... No.”  The kid seemed confused the blood on the back of his head suggested a head wound but this kid was young probably just assigned to a ship only to get knocked overboard by either by a storm or by another soldier. Those eyes probably didn’t make him popular or the fact that this kid’s eyes kept sliding away from Hakoda’s own suggested he may be a fey child. 

“What do we do with him?” Somebody asks as they watch the kid cough up water, curling and uncurling his fingers against the wood of the deck his eyes cast down. “We keep him for now. His mother is probably Water Tribe war bride if he is star eyed. Have Kustaa check him over and if he survives we figure out what to do from there." Hakoda announces to the crew. They took care of their own and until they figured out who his mother was and could turn him over to her family if she had any left the crew of the Akhult would take care of him for now. Half Water Tribe and the child of a war bride was still Water Tribe and like hell were they going to turn him over to the Fire Nation to continue using as a weapon.

Kustaa later informed him the boy had hypothermia as well as potentially severe head trauma it was hard to tell right now. The kid mistook him for his uncle. Which uncle they weren't sure. It's possible the boy's mother had a picture of her family she either managed to take with her or she drew herself or he could be thinking Kustaa was his father's brother. The escape attempts didn't help some of the crews opinions on keeping the kid but considering he was raised as Fire Nation and was in a strange place so its expected that he would try to escape although climbing the mast was something Hakoda really wished he didn't do along with scaling the side of the ship.

Kustaa had mentioned the boy called for his mother while delirious along with begging his father for forgiveness pledging his loyalty to him and pleading no to the man which didn't paint a pretty picture of the man or gain much favor of the fire nation in the crews opinions. "Tell me about your mother." Hakoda suggests sitting up on the mast beside the boy. Glowing gold eyes blinked at him. "I remember trailing robes. She favored long sleeved robes with delicate embroidery. She had long hair I remember her brushing mine when I was little. I would sit in her lap and she would brush my hair talking to me about theater or turtleducks or plants. Different things she liked. I think I would sometimes tell her about my day or what I had done recently I don't remember clearly its... faded almost. Fuzzy. I barely remember what she looked like."

Hakoda frowned the boy was water tribe he had to be with those star eyes of his but why wouldn't his mother tell him about her people, her home. Maybe she couldn't? Maybe the boys father was so controlling he made sure she never spoke of home to their son? Then the boy said something that made him rethink everything he knew about the kid. "Uncle said my hair is alot like hers. Or it was. I don't even remember why I shaved it." The kid frowned obviously struggling to remember rubbing his head with one hand. The head wound had left him confused he didn't rember his name or much of anything recent but he remembered he had been burned for cowardice supposedly or partially for that but what did the fire nation consider to be cowardly? Kustaa suspected the boy's own father burned him based off what they gleaned from fever dreams and night terrors.

“What did she look like?” Hakoda questions softly holding his breath hoping he was wrong with the hunch he had. “Elegant, beautiful, she had long straight black hair that was so soft and amber eyes with flecks of true gold in them she wore long sleeved red robes with elegant embroidery. The sleeves would bellow and she would hide me in them when I was little.” The boy continued to talk about his mother someone he remembered fondly although all the details suggested the hugs, the turtle duck kisses and every else stopped when the boy was small. Something happened to his mother and Hakoda was beginning to suspect it may have something to do with the boys true parentage. But how to suggest it to the kid without breaking the poor things mind? The whole crew already suspected he was spirit touched as the water tribe liked to call those who were different mentally the earth kingdom called them fey and not all of the earth kingdom where kind to them. 

“If I promise no one on this ship will hurt you and we won’t turn you over to the Earth Kingdom will you stop with the escape attempts?”Hakoda asks when the boy falls silent picking at the grain of the wood under his hands not meeting Hakoda’s eyes. The kid blinked up at him startled. “Okay.” Getting the kid down the mast was surprisingly easy after that and a few more rules were hashed out before the kid was sent to see Kustaa again and the crew was gathered. “The boy’s mother was fire nation. He remembers her more clearly then anything else.” This drew murmurs from the crew some wanted to toss him over board then since he wasn’t the child of a war bride. “But he’s star eyed he has to be Water Tribe.” Toklo says tilting his head in confusion. “Exactly. We know he seemed to have issues regarding his father and Kustaa suspects he may have been the one to burn the kid. I learned his mother also disappeared or may possibly have been killed when he was young.” This gained more murmurs from the crew. 

Panuk pulled in a sharp audible breath. He had figured out what Hakoda was getting at. “Does any one here know where they were about 16 to 17 years ago? If they were around the Earth Kingdom or the colonies anywhere?” Their chief had to ask if none of the men on this ship was the boys father he would have to send messages out to all the others in the fleet see if anyone remembered if maybe had met a pretty woman in the Earth Kingdom or in the colonies and spent a night with her. If the kids mother was Fire Nation and he was star eyed that meant his real father had to be Water Tribe. His mother had to have married or started a new relationship soon after and the boy looked fire nation enough to pass him off as her husband’s but the husband probably suspected what with the star eyes. There was silence followed by an uproar. “You can’t be serious?!” Aake shouted in outrage. “I’m not judging anyone but the boy is water tribe and with his mother gone we most definitely are not giving him back to the Fire Nation so we need to figure out whose he is. We take care of our own.” Hakoda soothed the crews ruffled feathers listening as the men scrambled to remember where they were and what they were doing all those years ago.

Slowly they managed to clear the majority of the crew those who couldn’t remember were left struggling valiantly to justify why they couldn’t possibly be the boys father while their youngest two crew members watched with glee obviously in the clear themselves due to their age. Once Kustaa cleared the boy Hakoda set him to work and had to add no breathing fire to the list of rules. Toklo and Panuk made friends with their newest crew member over laundry and the boy was very shouty about women’s work. And then the issue over the kid not having a name he remembered came up. Names like Siqinq, Kallik, Cupun, Tulok, Yuka and Tulugaq were tossed around. He is pretty sure they settled on Tulok simply because they already have a Tuluk and Toklo on board and that name is almost a combination of the two plus it had a star meaning behind it. The boy just wanted to fit in.

Reds were changed for Toklo’s blues and the boys hair shaved to regrow properly after Kustaa managed to break it to the kid that a real father wouldn’t abuse his son, biological or not. They picked up Bato who sympathized with them for wanting to keep the star eyed child, teach him his real culture, and find his real father but the kid was still a fire bender. A fire bender on a WOODEN SHIP!! The boy, Toluk looked like a kicked polar puppy being denied sleep in the hammock he was used to and his usual snacks when ever he wanted. They still had a lot of work cut out for them when the kid thought he would be killed over a bending accident because he didn’t fully remember he needed to mediate to control his fire. His memories were still patchy at best. So Hakoda ended up with his temporary foster star eyed child sitting in his cabin breathing with a lantern holding a dog.  

The kid liked sea prunes proving he was Water Tribe at heart. He was good at using his fire bending for non evil purposes even if he protested it. He proved he shouldn’t be left alone in port either by himself or with his friends. He gained a piercing, two rusted swords, a theater scroll and a cabbage? No one seems to know about the cabbage. He can cook as it’s proven despite how spicy his cooking is and nearly gets kidnapped by prostitutes. Sex workers were not on the list of people Hakoda thought he would have to fight for custody of Tulok with. He nearly gets himself kidnapped by a Earth Kingdom solider they are allied with who seemed sure their boy was then dead prince of the Fire Nation. Never mind that the prince was dead and their boy was star eyed. The solider was surprisingly unfazed by the heat of the kids cooking. He didn't end up kidnapped despite his best efforts.. The kid really needed to stop climbing the mast. “Prince Zuko?!” Hakoda’s kids seemed to also mistake Tulok for the dead prince. 

“That’s the Prince of the Fire Nation, dad he chased us all over and tried to capture the avatar numerous times. His sister did capture Aang.” His kids argued trying to convince him that their new foster brother was some evil prince. The kid in question for his part had more headaches then usual and just seemed more confused and angry. He remembered something. A little sister named LaLa. It takes a while but after watching their new brother and listening to the crew, “His name is Zuko, he is the prince of the Fire Nation, his father is Fire Lord Ozai does no one care about that?!” Sokka asks in outrage staring as the kid in question does laundry like its a perfectly normal thing for a prince to do. “His mother may be fire nation but his father sure isn’t.” Panuk comments dodging a wet shirt thrown by their resident fire bender.  This earned laughter and calls of “Good for her!!” And “She could do a lot better!” Followed by “At least a water tribesman would treat her right!!”. Sokka groaned in frustration and confusion. 

“Why is my nephew wearing blue, convinced Ozai isn’t his biological father and that he is water tribe?” General Iroh the Dragon of the West questions calmly. Tulok seemed to recognize Iroh and even called him Uncle and recognized some of the crew but he still didn’t have complete clear memories although his headaches grew worse until Kustaa told him it didn’t matter if he remembered or not he was water tribe and nothing was going to change that spirit touched or not. “He is star eyed you can’t possibly tell me the fire nation has star eyed kids that’s a water tribe thing only.” Iroh considered it briefly before dismissing it. His nephew looked similar to a young Ozai, so Ozai had to be his father even if he wasn’t much of one and his nephew deserved better then Ozai. But surely Ursa couldn’t have had an affair while married to Ozai it was impossible. Iroh tried to do the math off the top of his head of when Ursa and Ozai married vs when Zuko was born. “Look the obvious answer here is that the boys mom met with a Water Tribe beefcake and had a one night stand that lead to the boy. It’s the only thing that explains why his supposed father hated him so much and why he struggled with fire bending and is star eyed.” Bato explains grinning. “Beefcake?” Hakoda and Iroh question. 

Azula finds this all far to amusing. “That just means I’m the rightful heir after all. You can stay here with your little water tribe family and I can be the next Fire Lord after Uncle.” Somehow things get worked out that their star eyed fire bender’s fire nation sister will be staying with them along side her two scary friends and the kids supposed Uncle will become the next Fire Lord once they take down Ozai. The kid is still confused and there are still gaps in his memories but they aren’t giving him back now he is their’s and the fire nation can’t have him. They still call him Tulok since the fire nation does consider the sun to be a star after all. He seems to like it better then Zuko. He still does their laundry still wears beads in his braids in red, blue and one gold. In all that’s happened no one thought to alert the rest of the fleet about what they learned leaving them in for one heck of a surprise when they reach Chameleon Bay where the rest of the men from the fleet scramble to try to remember where they were sixteen-point-nine years ago. 

[bakuhoes-dumbass]

Aberration - Chapter 2

MHA!Various x Fem!Reader

Thriller/Horror/Drama

Criminal!AU

Words: 1.5k

A/N: Yay, here’s the second chapter of my new AU! It’s a little shorter but I promise chapters will get longer as we go.

Warnings: Yandere Themes, Mentions of murder, blood, felonies, bullying, swearing.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of MHA, just this story. In no way does this reflect the characters, writers or VAs of the show/manga. MINORS DNI.

~~~

Aberration Masterlist

~~~

"Now, on to your next subject. Inmate 04, Eijiro Kirishima." You flip the page of your inmate profiles to see a picture of a red-haired man. "He is of a higher danger level, so make sure to keep your guard up. And for the love of God, under any circumstances…

Do not touch him."

Only slightly acknowledging his warning, you look down at your notes, eyebrows shooting up in surprise at the words on the page. "He suffers from Erotomania? Interesting…"

Aizawa nods. "Ah, yes. A very rare condition indeed, especially in males. The affected person strongly believes that another individual is in love with them. This delusion develops and persists despite clear evidence to the contrary."

"That's a very exciting find. I can't wait to meet him." Your eyes light up, quite intrigued.

Aizawa sighs and gestures with his head. "Follow me."

Kirishima's room was only a few doors down from Tokoyami's. Once again, Aizawa presses his hand to a key code and you hear the door unlock, following a buzzer. You slowly make your way into the room. It mirrors Tokoyami's down to the last detail, the only difference being a redhead was currently doing pushups.

He barely acknowledges a person stepping into his room, eyes flitting to your form and back to the ground. It takes him a moment to realize it was someone new. As soon as he does, his eyes widen and he springs onto his feet, slightly startling you.

"Oh! Hello there! You're new!"

You nod your head and smile at the red-head. "That I am. My name is Y/N and I'm the newest scientist at this facility. My role here is to get to know and observe you all to help further our findings for a cure." You choose to leave out the 'friends' part, as something about him makes you weary. You don't need anything being misinterpreted.

"Hello there, Y/N! My name is Kirishima!" He takes a step towards you but is suddenly stopped by a lower force. You look down to see his ankles chained to the heavy-duty bed frame, connected to him by quirk-canceling cuffs. You look back up to see him looking at you intensely, with a shark-toothed smile. "Man, you're really pretty!"

You swallow thickly, but keep your smile. "That's very kind of you to say, Kirishima. Now, if I may." You take a seat at the desk like you did with Tokoyami. Kirishima follows suit and sits across from you on the bed. His smile never wavers, making you slightly uneasy. You ignore it and turn to a blank page in your notebook. "Now, if you could please state your full name, age and date of birth?"

He gives you a chuckle and points to himself proudly with his thumb. "I'M Eijiro Kirishima! I'm 22 years old and my Birthday is October 16th!"

You giggle softly at his extroverted personality. "Ahh, same birth month as Tokoyami." You mumble to yourself. His ears perked up and his smile faltered slightly.

"You met Tokoyami already?"

"Hm?" You look up and smile fondly. "Ah yes, I have. He was the first one. A very nice young man."

You look back down at your notes, failing to see Kirishima's eye twitch slightly. He returns to his signature smile as you look up at him again. "And what is your quirk?"

"Oh, it's so cool! I can harden my entire body to an extreme. I can make myself a shield or a weapon! Pretty manly, am I right?" Kirishima wiggles his eyebrows at you, causing you to chuckle.

"That is definitely a unique one, Kiri." You, once again, fail to notice the way his eyes light up at the nickname, too busy looking down at your notes. "Now I see here that you've been charged with Stalking and 2 counts of second degree murder. Is that correct?"

"Yup! Although I don't understand how it would be considered 'Stalking', when she always knew I was around. She was okay with it, too! I mean, we WERE in love, you know." He furrows his brows.

You raise a brow and write down everything he says. "Care to continue explaining what happened? Why were you brought into this facility?"

Kirishima sighs and rests his chin on his hand, a dazed look on his face. "Well, you see. There was this girl. We were totally, completely head over heels for each other. You've probably heard of her, Kim Hyuna?"

Your eyebrows shoot up. Yeah, you heard of her. She is one of the biggest idols around right now, extremely pretty and extremely talented. She has millions of fans from around the world. You already can see where the direction of this story is headed.

He continues with a wide smile. "We used to go out on dates everywhere. To the mall, the salon, even to her dorms. We were so in love." His dazed expression turns sour. "Then that stupid boy shows up outta nowhere. He took her from me. He dared to take something so precious from me. So, I couldn't take it anymore and, uh, kinda killed them."

You watched him rub the back of his neck sheepishly, like the situation was no more than a mere broken dish he dropped on accident. You nod your head carefully, writing the last bit of information down. Clicking your pen, you look up and give the young man a fake smile.

"Well, that's it for today, Kirishima. I must take my leave, but I'll be back to run some tests soon."

Kirishima frowns and quickly stands up. "W-Wait, already?"

You gather up your notes and clipboard. "Yes, unfortunately. I do have some other patients I need to get to before-" as you go to stand up, your foot gets caught under the chair leg and you trip. You accidentally fall forward and into something hard. Looking up, you realized you fell against Kirishima himself, your hands splayed out against his chest.

His eyes widen, staring down at your hands against his chest, something shifting in his eyes. Before you're able to pull your hands away, his own reach up and snatch your wrists, holding them in place. A blush appears on the apples of his cheeks.

"Y-Y/N. I-I had no idea you felt the same."

Your eyes widen in fear. You attempt to tug your hands away, but his iron grip tightens into a bruising force. "Kirishima, I would advise you to kindly let go of me. Please, don't misunderstand the situation."

His grin widens, showcasing his sharp teeth. Red eyes bore into yours with a wild look. You hear the door buzz behind you and a flood of voices coming in. You feel a pair of arms reach around you and hands grip your elbows. Two pairs of hands each grab Kirishima by the arms and force him to release his grip on you. You watched two of Aizawa's assistants hold down a struggling Kirishima as you were forcibly dragged out of his room.

Once safely outside, you were spun around to meet the eyes of a fuming and worried doctor. "Are you alright, Y/N?" Aizawa's eyes travel along your body, doing a quick examination to make sure nothing was injured.

You nod your head and rotate your slightly bruised wrists. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little shaken up."

Aizawa sighs. "Didn't I say NOT to touch him? His obsession tends to solidify with physical contact."

You wince. "I know. This time it was an accident. I tripped and he just happened to, uh, be the 'wall' I fell against." You think back to the moment you fell against Kirishima. His chest felt almost rock solid, not like a normal human body would be. Now you're thinking that his quirk leaked through the cuffs and that thought scares you.

"Nobody said you were clumsy when you were hired," he sighs and runs a hand down his tired face. "There are still 9 other inmates you need to check with. And 6 out of the 9 are above Kirishima's danger level. Are you still up for it today?"

You shake out your hands and nod your head. "Yes! I am. A little scare never bothered me. This is my job."

Aizawa hummed in reply and flipped through his clipboard, stopping on a page. "Inmate 09, Keigo Takami. Mafia leader. He's a level 7 as well, but doesn't have delusions like Inmate 04 does. While he's very dangerous, he's a little more tolerable." Aizawa hesitates before continuing. "Er, minus the excessive flirting."

You sigh and flip through Keigo's information. "Oh goodie. Well, let's get this over with." You follow Aizawa to Keigo's door and once it buzzes, you enter the pristine, white room.

"Good afternoon Mr. Keigo, my name is Y/N and I'll-" You look up from your notes to see a half naked man with blonde hair and bright red bird wings lounging on his bed. Your jaw drops and you hold your clipboard up in front of your suddenly heated face.

Keigo looks over to you with his brows raised. "Well well, looks like we've got ourselves a new baby bird. How…" The handsome man's lips turn up into a cocky smirk.

"...interesting."

~~~

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(If your name is bolded, I couldn’t tag you)

[admirableadmiranda]

Debts and balances: or how much does one man have to pay over the course of his life?

Good morning everyone! Today we’re going to be talking about debts, and why Jiang Cheng needs to shut the fuck up on debts because he is the one in the wrong pretty much the entire time.

Let’s start by acknowledging that I am not of this culture so I may perhaps state a thing or two wrong, but I also have several functioning brain cells to rub together and I pay attention so I will probably be more right than most of the “hot takes” I see on why Jiang Cheng is not actually in the wrong here. Because he is. He so is.

So, debts. First of all, there are multiple levels and layers of debts and to whom do you owe them too. So let’s start with the first one where the story is subtle about it and yet both Jiang Cheng and Madam Yu are in the wrong. We know that Cangse Sanren saved Jiang Fengmian’s life at one point when they were young. Life debts are big. To only be alive because of someone else’s actions is a debt that it is possible you will never be able to pay back. There are multiple stories of otherwise good people protecting the obvious villain because they owe that.

Jiang Fengmian’s only way of being able to pay back that debt after Cangse Sanren and Wei Changze die is to take care of their child and raise him how they would have. I.E, as a cultivator. This is not a debt that Wei Wuxian owes to the Jiangs. It is quite literally, the least of what Jiang Fengmian owes him and his parents to do.

Jiang Cheng cannot claim that Wei Wuxian owes them for his life. He is wrong. 

Next debt that even Jiang Cheng does not try to claim, only his ever so pleasant stans, the fucking dogs. The fucking dogs that he does not actually give a fuck about. 

Wei Wuxian does not ask anyone to do anything about the dogs. He is not in a mental state to. He is in a state of triggered phobia where his brain literally goes into run away screaming mode. This is also not funny and Jiang Cheng is a jackass for making fun of it whenever it happens. Jiang Fengmian is the one who decides that it’s better for the dogs to go. Even though Jiang Cheng is upset, he does not actually hold this as a lingering grudge against Wei Wuxian. He lets it the fuck go. And even if he didn’t, the resentment and anger should be aimed at the person who actually made a decision about it. Not Wei Wuxian. He does not give one singular fuck about his dogs later on. Let the fucking dogs go.

Third off: The Fall of Lotus Pier. There are different levels of blame that we can lay on this. Wei Wuxian is not close to responsible for this. Jiang Cheng knows this and elects to blame him anyway.

The first people we can lay the blame on the fall of Lotus Pier is the Wens, who came with ships, warriors, Wang Lingjiao to rile up the notoriously short tempered asshole Madam Yu, and Wen Zhuliu the Core-Melting Hand. They came prepared for battle and they got what they wanted. Madam Yu is the second one we can lay the blame on, for deciding to attack and demean Wang Lingjiao, not for making her do anything she didn’t want to do, because holy hell did she want to whip Wei Wuxian until he couldn’t move and leapt at the chance to do such a thing, but because Wang Lingjiao is a servant who was elevated by her lover and Madam Yu is a classist asshole. This is the only reason she flips out. Wei Wuxian did nothing wrong. Wei Wuxian does not have the blood of Lotus Pier on his hands, he is tied to Jiang Cheng and told to protect him at the cost of his life, a debt he does not owe. 

The four debt he attempts to claim, the only one that might be considered to have some teeth if it weren’t for how much Wei Wuxian gives him back almost immediately. Jiang Cheng goes to distract the Wens from Wei Wuxian and ends up getting captured and losing his golden core. So first off, in this world a golden core is a lot to lose, I won’t deny that. But, first off, Wei Wuxian is only in danger because after being whipped a lot, then strangled, then having to run after Jiang Cheng multiple times because he would rather go die at Lotus Pier than listen to either of his parents and escape, he still goes into town to get them something to eat because otherwise Jiang Cheng would rather lie on the ground and die. Fucking great sect leadership there, huh Jiang Cheng? But yes, Jiang Cheng sees the Wens, sees them notice Wei Wuxian, goes off to distract them and then gets captured and loses his golden core.

Now we’re getting to some of the debts that Jiang Cheng owes and refuses to pay back, because that’s definitely going to get him far in this world. Wei Wuxian in his panic and attempt to find Jiang Cheng, finds Wen Ning, who after some struggles manages to convince him that he can sneak in and get Jiang Cheng back out. In addition, he also retrieves the bodies of Madam Yu and Jiang Fengmian. This is huge. Jiang Cheng now owes him both a life debt for again, saving his life at great cost to his own: Wen Ning is literally committing treason here, and also for restoring the lost honor of not being able to bury his parents properly. Wen Ning gives them a proper burial and later after the war he is able to lie them to rest in the Ancestors Hall so their spirits will be at peace and he will have fulfilled his fillial duties. By all means, the debt he owes Wen Ning in particular is so great that he should have taken in every Wen in those camps and sheltered them because it is as close as he will ever get to repaying that debt. And that’s just Wen Ning!

The next debt he owes and refuses to pay is to Wen Qing, a genius doctor and respected by Wen Ruohan, who uses the prestige and skills she has to protect both him and Wei Wuxian in at this point enemy territory when they are being actively searched for, being the new sect leader and head disciple of Yunmeng Jiang. She hides them and then later uses her skills to give him a new golden core so that he can go and fight back against his people, revitalizing his clan and eradicating hers. This is another debt that could only really be paid back by protecting her people if she came to him. He owes her literally his life, his power and his people.

The third debt he owes and refuses to pay is to Wei Wuxian, who more than overbalances the scales back in his favor by giving him his golden core. He pays his chance at immortality, his power, his strength, his cultivation, everything that he has to his name so that Jiang Cheng won’t starve himself to death over losing his core. In addition, he tells Jiang Cheng that this comes from a once in a lifetime favor from his mother’s master so even before when he didn’t know about the core, this is still a massive, massive debt, a limitless one time favor from an immortal that he uses Wei Wuxian’s chance to get and never actually thanks him. So at this point, his own golden core as a debt starts to seem a little hollow. Either way, it’s been repaid. An action you do in service of someone else is not a weapon you get to hold over their heads for multiple lives.

Moving on! The next debt he would like to claim is that Wei Wuxian apparently has no right to do things he does not approve of. Excuse me? Is he now a computer program that crashed? What the fuck Jiang Wanyin? Wei Wuxian has less rank than him, although Jiang Cheng is so high rank in this society that he only shares his rank with three other people and there’s no one above him so it would be very hard for him to not be, but he is still a person, with his own thoughts, wishes, dreams, hopes and beliefs. He is not an extension of your hand, to make your clan look good and stand behind you as a hammer to smash on people. Wen Qing goes to Wei Wuxian to ask for help for finding her brother, her people because they are literally being tortured to death. This is a debt that by all means, Jiang Cheng should be repaying. See that part where Wen Ning committed treason to help him and restore his family’s honor? See that part where Wen Qing literally gave him the ability to go back to war against her family? This is the point where anyone with honor would recognize this is the only thing I can do. I will throw myself on my sword if I must, but I must repay this debt to them. There is nothing less I can do. But Jiang Cheng has only the honor of a mangy cur and ignores this, and when Wei Wuxian goes to fulfill this debt, he tells him to stop. To him, his multiple life debts are an inconvience to shoving his nose so far up Jin Guangshan’s ass that he’s tasting what he had for dinner that day.

The next debt that he would like to claim is the death of his brother in law. This is a debt that Wei Wuxian would owe to specific people. This debt is to Jiang Yanli, Jin Guangshan and Jin Ling, one of whom is wanting to forgive it, one who is too small to decide at the time, and one who straight up does not give a fuck beyond advancing his power. Jiang Cheng is not one of these people. His sister is fine, she’s not his concern anymore, she’s a part of the Jin sect. The only reason why he died is that Jiang Cheng decided the best way to repay his debt to Wei Wuxian was to throw a temper tantrum and declare him an enemy to everyone, ripping out every support from under his feet. Regardless, Jiang Cheng is an asshole and does not get to claim this debt.

The final one of Wei Wuxian’s first life that he keeps hurling at him is the death of his sister...the death of his sister who chose to leap between Wei Wuxian and a sword. The death of his sister at a battle that broke out because Jiang Cheng has been with Jin Guangshan whipping the cultivation world into a frenzy against the Wens and Wei Wuxian because of power and jealousy. The battle that would have not happened if they’d left them alone. Jiang Cheng has been to the burial mounds. He has seen the farmers, he has seen the baby there. He has decided that rather than do anything to repay these various deaths, he will kill them on other people’s swords instead. Because he is also a coward and won’t pick fights he can’t win. In addition he likes to steal Yanli’s agency, she’s the one who chose to come, she’s the one who chose to get in the way and she doesn’t die with regrets. And she is not his debt to claim. Again, the one who actually gets to claim this death that Wei Wuxian is not responsible for is Jin Ling, who actually shapes up and decides that it doesn’t matter, he doesn’t blame Wei Wuxian for it. He forgives him his role in that space and moves the fuck on, unlike a certain sir stabby grape mcwhipinnoencts.

And then Wei Wuxian dies and any debts he may have still owed to Jiang Cheng, not that there were any, die with him. Jiang Cheng has no claim on him, he was not part of his sect, they were not brothers in any way, indeed Jiang Cheng called him his enemy. Even most people with far more real grudges at this point would let it go. Wei Wuxian is so dead that no one can find his soul, no matter how hard they look. He comes back to life and reaps the rewards of his actions, finding new allies, getting the chance to actually interact with Jin Ling and make his apologies, and in the end, settle down to a peaceful life with an adoring husband and nothing left to be repaid. If there is still a debt he owes, it is only to Mo Xuanyu, who gave up his entire cycle of life to let Wei Wuxian reincarnate early with his memories, a sacrifice he only asked for repayment in the death of his family. He may owe more still, but that is all Mo Xuanyu wanted from him in repayment for this great sacrifice. The cultivation world is in the wrong when they’re trying to persecute him again for the actions of his previous life, he owes them nothing anymore. The debts he carries towards Jin Ling are the ones he chooses to take on, feeling guilty that he grew up without his parents due to the world’s general actions and also no one else taking responsibility for how far things fell. 

That is what Jiang Cheng finally realizes in the temple, crouched on the floor and sobbing like a spoiled child over the golden core sacrifice. Is that he is in the wrong and has been in the wrong the whole time. That there is nothing he can hold onto, no debt that Wei Wuxian ever owed him that he could demand to be paid. He built it all up in his head as he left his honor, his family and his dignity in the wake of his arrogance. And it’s a painful thing to realize, the consequences of your decisions, but all he can do is live with his own ruined reputation, his own loneliness and the fact that no one wants to be around him. He’s blacklisted by multiple matchmakers, his disciples are more like thugs, Wei Wuxian chooses every opportunity to get away from him and even Jin Ling likes him less and less over the course of the book, not forgetting that he seems to prefer Jin Guangyao to begin with as he actually talks to him sometimes and doesn’t hit him. Jiang Cheng refusing to pay his debts gives him exactly what a debt deserter deserves. No one has a reason to trust him. The one bit of positive character growth he does is giving up and not trying to reel him back in by telling him of the sacrifice. At this point, all it would be is just him trying to get another debt he cannot hold because it is long since repaid, never quite made up for what they gave him to make up for it, and worthless in the face of Wei Wuxian’s new life. Wei Wuxian owes him nothing and never has.

Also, just to tally up the relationship between Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng on things given between the two of them, Jiang Cheng gives him: a lot of whinging on how unfair it is that Wei Wuxian is a prodigy, and a one time immediately regretted and held over his head sacrifice of a golden core. Whereas Wei Wuxian gives him: many lessons on how to be a kinder person that he ignores, the patience and tolerance of his stinkbug attitude, his love, his affection, his fucking golden core, his reputation, his blood, his livelihood, taking over his debts, trying to keep any of his actions from reflecting on the Jiangs even though if Jiang Cheng had repaid any of the debts he owed, there would have been no problems because if the Jin’s did decide to attack, Wei Wuxian would fight back and he can level battle fields on his own, his honor, his relationships, and even his life in the end, because if Wei Wuxian had ever turned on him like he claimed, he would have been a bloody smeared spot on the ground. And Jiang Cheng gobbles this all up and demands more with Wei Wuxian’s blood and tears dribbling from his mouth. 

Would you give that much for someone who doesn’t treat you well? Would you find that a reasonable price to pay for someone who demeans you at every opportunity, who tells you you deserve your misfortunes and that no one likes you? Why are you surprised that in the end Wei Wuxian would rather walk away with people who care about him, why he gives up, leaves any opportunity for anything in Jiang Cheng’s hands. Wei Wuxian has given more than any person should for almost nothing. It is a sign of triumph and victory, of recognizing his own worth and value in the world and who he wants to be with, that he leaves, that he walks away with his head held high. He owes Jiang Cheng nothing, and Jiang Cheng will just have to fucking live with that.

[purelyfiction]

In A Crowded Room

James Bond x (F) Reader

Part 1

Word Count: 4,148 words

Summary: You and Bond move into your personas over dinner. With a whirlwind proposal and a snippy conversation, you find yourself in a position you’d only dreamt of being in. After all, you’d never had the time to ensure that kind of future.

Triggers: None...? Mentions of weapons? Otherwise I think we’re good. Not pre-read so there may be some errors. 

The ballroom is large, luxurious and loud. Most of the noise is made up of dialogue from countless conversations around the room, the rest of it from the string quartet on a raised stage on the opposite side of the room. Poker tables are littered around the room, dinner services could be accessed through your tables’ server and there were countless bars to get a drink at. Which is where you’re leading Bond. Approaching you’re quick to order a shot of whiskey, it having been served in the same fashion. You’re downing it rapidly before a hand is on your back, caressing it softly. 

“You alright?” There’s a tickle in your throat from the liquor, causing you to cover your mouth when a small cough comes from you. You nod, retreating your hand. 

“Yes, yes, I’m fine. ‘just think I have some jet-lag.” You’re rather certain that’s not the case. It’s the intimidation that swept you off your feet the minute you’d entered the room. The way everyone seemed to look over at you - despite knowing that wasn’t the case. There’s never been a time where you were so dressed up, so on display, so… aware that there were other people. 

It didn’t help that the moment in the hotel room was lingering over you like a storm cloud. 

Your mind had become a hub of fog and energy that was ill-directed. The whole walk to the ballroom had you looking over at him - even if he was simply speaking about business endeavors. False ones that you were meant to preach as truth. Since the companies were fake, the technology didn’t need to exist. So, Bond leant into it, deciding to boast a vodka that ‘had no hangover’. It was on brand for him. You’d chosen something that would hopefully draw the mark in. It was the concept of a certain plant called the hyderix that contained a toxin that could be converted into a powerful cancer busting drug. But, if processed incorrectly turned to a poison to anyone who ingested it or injected it. Undetectable until the infected went to sleep - where their heart rate would slow and continue to slow until it stopped completely. James had claimed it was ‘lame’. You’d retorted with a comment that it was at least relevant to the case. Unlike James’ want to keep hangovers at bay when he had one too many.

You’ve told yourself to focus, get back into the right headspace - you’re at work. And that paired with the whiskey, allows you to do just that. James and yourself spend the next hour introducing your personas and associated companies. ‘Axis Distillery’ and ‘Focal Medicine Labs’ or FML for short. What? James had his vodka, you had your jokes. As you lull in mindless conversation, James leans in a little, an arm wrapping around your waist, pulling you to his side as he does so. He’s pinching the back of your arm when the woman in front of you speaks. You’d been listening but now realize she’d said ‘Ms. Waters’. That wasn’t normally the words that would grab your attention. So, you’re apologizing. “I’m sorry, what was the question?” You quip and she laughs. 

“I was asking what you think the future looks like for Focal Medicine? This revolutionary science you’ve seemed to track down could be something radical for medicine.” The older woman questions and you give a slow nod. 

“Well, that’s actually where Axis comes in. They’ve been able to reduce the effects of alcohol on the body. We’re hoping that we can partner with them in order to work on reducing the potential side effects of the drug. After all, if it’s not synthesized correctly, it could be truly fatal.” You finish your answer with a raised glass to your lips as familiar faces join the conversation. Bond is the one to speak. 

“Well, well, well, Mr and Mrs Cardenas. What an honor it is to finally meet you.” He’s taking the woman’s hand kissing the back of it.

“Oh well, hello. I don’t believe we’ve met.” She responds and you grin. 

“Excuse my boyfriend, he's rather excitable. My name is Harper Waters. This is Reese Mcentire of Axis Distillery.” Bond gives you a bit of a look when you speak. 

“Ah, very nice to meet you. Natasha Cardenas. This is my husband Nilo.” The tan man takes your hand now, kissing it quickly as his wife introduces him. 

“What a pleasure Ms. Waters. I couldn’t help but overhear your endeavors with a potentially fatal medicine?” Nilo speaks. You look at James with a bit of an ‘I told you so’ kind of look. But you turn your attention back to Nilo with a nod. 

“Yes, in fact…” 

For the next hour you and James sit in conversation, listening to Nilo go on about how he desperately wants to make an impact on the world, to better suit the world with brilliant minds and only the best individuals. Or as he’d said it ‘the individuals who actually give a damn’. This had given you a better insight as to what his plans had been. An attempt to find the best brains to find a method of eliminating lesser individuals who ‘took up space’ and were wasting resources for the world to become a hyperdrive of efficiency and great technology. The insanity of his statements left you a bit baffled, as it didn’t make sense to you. Why get rid of others just because they weren’t doing something so profound? Plenty of people did not so groundbreaking things, but those people were doctors, mothers, chefs, artists… the world would lose it’s pleasantries without them, and Nilo was ready to eliminate them with the drop of a hat. 

Your attention is drawn to the lack of Bond. You’d been in your head thinking about the conversation when you’d realized that he’d slipped away. You’re about to move to your earpiece when you hear the string quartet die down - the tapping of a mic. Looking in that direction your eyes go wide with surprise. Oh no. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention.” There he stood, suit and all with a damned martini in hand. This could go one of two ways. “If you could be so kind as to clear a path for the stunning woman in front of our wonderful host Mr. Cardenas.” With that the crowd does just that, the lights dimming and a spotlight shining on you and Bond. 

You were going to kill him later for this. Despite that, you’re making your way through the crowd very slowly, a meek smile on your face as he begins to jump into a speech. “Three years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting the most brilliant woman. Dedicated, determined, charming and the most kind hearted person I’ve met. She never fails to impress me. Both in and out of work.” He’s watching you as you take careful steps to meet him on the small stage in front of everyone in the room. “When I met her, I was drawn to her eyes. There was this shimmer of something there… I’d never been able to place it. Until one night when I finally got up the nerve to ask her to dinner.” You take careful steps up each step before he’s meeting you at the top of them, taking your hand and kissing the back of it. “In the subsequent time following that night, I’ve learned that the shimmer I fell for was the very thing that made her so different. So… her. Her laugh, her ability to inspire me every day and remind me that there is always more to learn.” He’s facing you completely now and honestly you’re rather surprised he’s gone so in detail. He’s really selling the whole thing, and if you’d not known any better you’d be easily fooled too. “Harper Waters… there is nothing more that I would want than to continue to learn with you. For the rest of my life.” He sinks to one knee, pulling the ring from his pocket, “Would you do me the honor of becoming Mrs. Mcentire?” Now it’s your turn to play the part, hands moving to cup your mouth in astonishment, fake tears filling your eyes, as you nod, wrapping yourself around him as the room claps and hollers. The ring is slid on your finger, and James kisses your forehead, before thanking the room for their attention. 

Later, at dinner, you’re scarfing down the incredible meal. One of the countless benefits to your job was the luxury that the bad guys reveled in. If it weren’t for the plotting of the world’s demise - you could get used to this. Though, you’ve been milling in fraudulent conversation about a relationship that wasn’t real, an alcohol that didn’t exist and a cure for cancer that would never come - the night was full of things that lived in your dreams. After a brief trip to the bar, you’ve run into your mark. With ease you’d finished the remaining liquid in your glass, as well as your brief invitation to Nilo and his wife to join you and ‘Reese’ at your table. Quickly, you’re finding James at the table, finding yourself a comfortable spot in his lap, leaning to his ear where no one can see your lips move. “Cardenas is on his way over. Met him at the bar and he already congratulated me on the engagement. I mentioned the companies potentially forming into one new company and he said he’d be over.” He nods, taking the glass you’d brought for him just as the menacing man takes a seat with his wife. Your head turns to greet him, an arm lingering around Bond’s shoulders, fingers playing with his hair. 

“Mr. Mcentire. It was a beautiful proposal.” Nilo suggests, and Natasha is reaching across the table, asking to see the ring. You shift in the male’s lap to extend your hand to show off the jewelry as James continues the small talk. Natasha is having her own conversation, going on about the ring and how it had to have cost a fortune - but you’re honing in on the other conversation at the table - filling the gaps of your own as needed. 

“Ah, only the best for my girl.” A hand moves to rest on your waist as you continue to lean into the table, hips shifting to readjust your balance. 

“Well, I would understand if I were you, I couldn’t wait to tie the knot with Nat. Can never have too much of a good thing with her.” He’s humming looking at his wife who is mindlessly comparing platinum over white gold, a conversation you could give less than two shits about. 

“Ah yes. Honest, we might just get it out of the way towards the end of the month. That way it’s back to business as usual. I know Harper is looking forward to figuring out the potentials in store for both Axis and Focal Medicine. Putting the two together in one merger would mean great things for both businesses and the potential to look into new ventures. It’ll be an exciting time.” James lifts his glass as Nilo continues to go on and on, and you shift again, moving to pull your skirt down. A light thunk is heard from the table and the blonde’s other hand is on your other hip, hands firmly gripping you and pushing you down, keeping you from moving. His breath is hot on your ear. “Stop. Moving.” His teeth are nearly gritted. You look at him from just over your shoulder with confusion spelt out on your face. Blue eyes nearly bore a hole into you as his fingertips dig deeper into the fabric of your dress. “It is in both of our best interests for you to do so. Otherwise, our night will be interrupted with a new host of issues.” It’s nearly two seconds later he’s jumping back into conversation as you think of his words. It finally clicks when he’s the one to shift. Oh. Understood. You’re now keeping eerily still, listening to the conversation between the two men, about to sip at your drink when Nilo’s statement leaves you in surprise. 

“Why not get married while you’re here? I mean there are so many radiant venues in Shanghai, and I have plenty of connections to get you married tomorrow if you’d like.” You’re almost coughing on your drink at this and Bond skillfully dodges the entire thing. 

“Ah, it’s a bit soon don’t you think? Harper doesn’t have a dress or any of her bridesmaids picked out.” He reassures, seeing you struggle with collecting yourself after the idea is planted. 

“You said it yourself, Reese. The sooner you two are married off the sooner you will be able to create fantastic things for your business. The hall can toll where it wants to go, so long as you launch it sooner than later.” Nilo offers before continuing on. “Let me sweeten the deal. I’ll pay for it all. Rings, venue, dresses, dinner the whole nine yards. I just want you love birds to have the opportunity of a lifetime.” The blonde is nearly downing his entire drink at the conversation, tapping your hip as a ‘we’re leaving’ note, making you get up. 

“Mm, well the missus and I will have to talk about it, when we don’t have merlot flowing through our veins.” He jokes, reaching a hand across the table to shake Nilo’s hand. 

“Of course, of course. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you decide to go through with it.” A business card is passed over and you and Bond slip out of the ballroom with ease. 

The elevator ride is rather quiet, until you hum looking at him. “Your proposal had me pleasantly surprised. You write that one out on the plane?” You quip, causing him to chuckle. 

“No, no it was all nonsense.” His arms are crossed against his chest as he leans against the back of the wall, head turned to the left to fully look at you. 

“It was sweet, whatever it was. I would’ve actually believed it if I didn’t know that Q made the diamond in MI6 head quarters.” You tease, mocking his pose as you continue climbing floors in the elevator. Bond scoffs. 

“Oh, I hated it. If I were actually proposing I’d never do it in front of a crowd.” 

“No?” You hum, happily moving to shift your weight completely on your one hip. “How would you do it?” James sighs looking at the mirrored ceiling before speaking. 

“I’d book a holiday to Italy. Venice more importantly. I’d spend a few days really soaking it in with her. Just her. Fancy accommodations, dessert after every dinner, brunch and exquisite coffee and pastries.” He paints a scene contentedly as the lift sings and the doors slide open, Bond leading the way to the hallway as he continues. “Then, after a very long and exhausting day, I’d bring her out to the balcony, and we’d sit with a good cuddle, watching the stars. Then when she’s occupied, I’d tell her: there’s nowhere I’d rather be in the world. She’s all: in Italy?” The agent then slows at your door, stopping at looking at you, eyes meeting yours with a grin on his features. “I’d just tell her: with you. And then hand over the ring box.” 

You sit in astonishment, staring at the blonde as he enters the hotel room. Never in your wildest dreams did you think that James Bond had a romantic bone in his body. Yet clearly, he does. 

Once in the privacy of your hotel room you pull off your shoes as he tugs off his jacket. “That’s the sweetest thing I think I’ve ever heard you say.” You suggest, tossing the shoes to the side as he’s undoing buttons. 

“Don’t get too used to it, love.” He’s taunting, back to his snarky behavior as he pulls sweats from his suitcase. You approach him and turn your back to him, a silent question, which he then follows, a hand easy undoing the zipper. It’s careful, as to not get your hair caught in it, but once it’s done he’s shooing you off. A laugh leaves you as you head to the bathroom, your pajamas in hand. “You know, I think Nilo has a point.” James’ voice can be heard from the other room as you step out of the dress, pulling on your flannel patterned pajama shorts and a graphic tee. With a makeup wipe in hand you enter the room again, taking off your makeup. 

“What do you mean?” He looks at you with  all seriousness as he’s folding up his suit. 

“Getting married. We should do it. A big ol’ celebration, get Cardenas to trust us, get more information on him until we can pin him with a crime. Maybe then after the wedding we can bring in reinforcements to make the arrest.” He says plainly as he moves past you hang up his jacket. You look at him in astonishment. 

“Are you trying to blow our cover? Because I think you’ve just given the stupidest idea you could’ve had to do so.” You’re scolding him and throwing the makeup wipe in the garbage in the corner. 

“Oh c’mon, do you realize what this could do for this case? Getting a large group of known affiliates together in one room? Countless stories on hand, we could literally place agents in the room to bear witness - and take down so many criminals-”

“Is that what you think this is going to get you? Another massive payout on ‘saving the world’?” Your voice is raised, a little aggravated. “Another gold star from Mallory himself? The whole nation at your feet thanking you for your service?” Bond points a firm finger in your direction. 

“This is the job, agent.” It’s bitter and accusatory, and you look at him with a bit of spite. 

“Is it, Bond? Or is it just a benefit? The drinks. The women. The luxurious suits and five star hotels. The cars. The gadgets…” A hand goes flying as you continue to ramble off. 

“None of that is important.” His voice has some somberness to it looking at you with a great deal of anger. 

“It is, James. It’s a breach of integrity. You of all people should recognize that.” With annoyance, you’re climbing into bed, turning away from him. 

The following morning, you’re being woken up with a calm hand. Eyes flutter open and you find yourself face to face with Bond. “You’ve a letter. It was tucked under the door.” He offers, tossing the envelope to your lap, making you look at the address, ‘One Harper Waters.’ You groan, opening the envelope, moving to read over it. 

Good morning! I thought that it would be only proper to offer a day of relaxation and mimosas in celebration of what’s to come! So, a bit of a spa day awaits us, you and I. Meet me at the salon at 10:30 AM.

-Nat Cardenas

You’re pushing the sheets off of you and getting up to get ready. “I have a date with the devil herself.” You taunt, before getting the nearest shirt you can find - a white t-shirt that’s clearly not yours. With a pair of faded jeans and sneakers you’re putting yourself together.

“Forgetting something?” He squawks holding up your pistol in his hand. 

“No, I just haven't gotten to it.” You stalk toward him and take the weapon from his hand before tucking it into the carry holster in the waistband of your jeans. You’re still mad at him, for even suggesting that this whole wedding thing that Nilo had planted into his head was a good idea. Which is partially why you’re hoping to just get away from him as she can - for now. He’s tossing you your in-ear which you catch, moving to the door. 

“Pipe me in if you need me.” He offers, before taking a sip of coffee made from the in room coffee maker. 

You’re meeting the blonde woman at the salon waving at her meekly before following her in. “I’m so glad you got my note! I wanted to pamper you. Especially seeing as we might not meet again.” She offers as you both settle in. With your hands occupied, listening as Natasha rattles on and on, you get a closer look at the diamond on your hand. 

You couldn’t help but realize it was beyond familiar to you. You’re combing your memory bank, trying to recall where you’d seen this ring. 

It hits you later when you’re admiring the shiny polish job on your nails, mid-pedicure. This was a ring you’d picked out, put into your pinterest board of things for when the day came. Rings you wanted. What you wanted your wedding to look like - if you ever find someone, that is. Which is why you’re thinking over it. Bond didn’t have a technology based bone in his body - so you guess that Q had done a little digging. But, it makes you think. 

What if it had been Bond? And he’d seen the dresses you’d picked, the venues you’d wanted, the bouquets you thought were pretty… maybe it’s why he’d indulged you in what his proposal would’ve looked like if he’d been doing it for real. You’re pulling out your phone and shooting Q a text. 

You: Nice attention to detail. 

Q: What are you going on about?

You: The ring? I had it on my Pinterest account. It’s one of my favorites. So, it’s not half bad to be living the dream of it on my hand. 

You give a bit of a laugh as you’re texting him, Natasha hearing you and asking about it. “Oh, just..my friend. Surprised that Reese finally stepped up to the plate.” You offer looking at her. Her phone is going off, leaving her to read over it and gasp with glee. 

“It’s Nilo! Turns out, your boy is more eager than you think. He asked to book the venue. You ma’am… are getting married!” Your stomach drops. He wouldn’t. “Oh… yeah?” You ask, looking at her as you take a breath. 

“Oh! I have a friend - a really couture shop owner, designs all her own gowns. We have to get you a dress, Harper!” 

It��s not even an hour later that you’re standing with a designer asking you all the questions imaginable. Dress length, dress type, neckline, straps or strapless? Open back? How much skin? Maybe not a white dress but an ivory one instead. Soon, you’ve got five dresses lined up in a dressing room, finally a minute to breathe. A hand rolls over beading, looking at the intricacies of the dress. A part of you can’t help but imagine James at the end of the isle, all dressed up in a tux - not a suit - but a real tux. Bowtie and all. It brings a smile to your face, but you don’t have long to linger in the moment - not when a voice is coming to your ear, making you jump. 

“So… what are you wearing?” Bond snickers, and you sigh, looking at yourself in the mirror. 

“A wedding dress.” Ok a little white lie, but you were nearly there. “I can’t believe you. How could you make that call without me?” You scoff, looking at the dress in front of you. 

“Because, I knew you’d never let me.” You hum in understanding. 

“Right, so instead, you’re making me get married against my will.” You’re moving to undress to try on dresses, looking at yourself in the mirror. 

“Don’t lie, you’re excited.” A laugh leaves him, he’s walking around the hotel room, looking over at empty plates of room service before looking back out to the horizon of the city in front of him, cup of coffee in hand. 

“To marry you? Never.” You’re snickering as you step out of your jeans. 

“It’s not half bad to be living the dream of it being on my hand.” He recites it, and you tense up a little. “Oh, honestly, you think Q was going to take credit for the ring of your dreams?” You pause your actions, realizing what he was saying. 

“Bond, you saying you picked out the ring?” You’re speaking softer, in case anyone is listening to you. Lord knows you don’t need anyone thinking you’re having an affair or something.

“I am, angel. And if you don’t go with the sweetheart neckline with the mermaid style dress, I’ll be disappointed.” It’s clearly a joke as the door is knocked on asking if you’re ready for help to get dressed. 

“In your dreams.” You hum in response before letting the assistant in.

[bloodycassian]

COLD NIGHTS - Cassian x Azriel x Reader - Prompt: 

hi i love your work so much!!! I was thinking a cassian x azriel x reader (i just love them sm, why have one when you can have two ) where the reader is sister of a high lord maybe day or winter court, and reader goes missing (kinda angsty) and her brother (a high lord) panics and goes to the night court for help (bc if her two bat boys can’t find her who will)  and az and cassian go full on panic mode and search for the reader, i was also thinking a fluffy cute ending where reader is just cuddling with azriel and cassian while her wounds heal take as much time as you need to write this, don’t pressure yourself. Take care lovely

Kallis would never forget the screams. The terror and panic that rushed through him when he realised that you were gone.  He sent half the city to search for you. He called upon Helion to inspect the magic. He was frantic in finding you. But it was like you had just disappeared out of nowhere. No sign of struggle, not a drop of blood spilled. The offender was sloppy in their ways, but their magic was strong. Helion could sense it.  They had a deathwish from Kallis himself if he ever found them. +  The first thing you saw were your cracked and bloody hands. They were split open from the dry cold wind. Sea air drifted into the cave. The cold brutal howling outside mixed with the roar of waves breaking confirmed your nightmares. Cape Tragedy. 

The islands off the coast of winter were known for their unforgiving nature to ships. Hence their name, Cape Tragedy. Also known as the Tragic coast, no stories were ever heard of any survivors of those crashes. If they had managed to survive the churning water, then the false salvation of the islands would kill them. It happened often enough that there were lighthouses set atop many of the bigger islands for ships to avoid on stormy days.

You coughed from the dry air, earning a pair of yellow eyes to dart to you. One of the three lesser fae males noticed you were awake and clapped. "She wakes! We've been waiting for you, sweetheart." His green skin was pale in the overcast light streaming in from the mouth of the cave. Snow Bear pelts lay all around. A disgrace in your culture. No citizen of Winter court would do such a thing. You looked to the walls to find weapons, and strange markings along the stone. Sailors from far away lands. 

Not even sailors. Pirates. A chill ran through you.  

"We're going to get your weight in gold, pretty one." The scaled male curled a piece of your hair behind you ear. Your stomach turned, and you tried to scoot away. "My brother will kill you first. And he'll take a long time doing it." You promised, trying to make your voice sound strong. Terror had you by it's grip though, and it was hard to do anything other than panic

. "Your brother? The pretty one that shears the Elk?" The green one asked. You laughed, and then were hissing in pain when the scaled male yanked on your hair. "What's so funny?" 

"You think my brother is an elk herder?" You spat "You must be dumber than you look." The males glanced between each other, then to the one who hadn't said anything yet.

"Who ye think you are then?" The male holding your hair stammered, trying to keep his panic under wraps. 

"Kallis' sister." You said with deadly calm. "And the high lord does not negotiate." 

"If you're so noble why you got such a mouth on ye?" The third male finally spoke.

They laughed.

"Maybe we will see just how much of a mouth-" He started again. He didnt have a chance to finish his disgusting words. You kicked, bending an ice spear straight up from the rocky ice floor and through the third male's body. Then the beating from the other two came. 

They bound your wrists and ankles in rope and tar. Their hands shook when they did it. It gave you a small bit of satisfaction. The potion they gave you to knock you out was just barely strong enough. You fought it as best you could, but it won. You could only hear the faint sounds of arguing then a crash of glass, then the cold winds whipping around you. And when you woke, your body ached.  The cold bit into your limbs. Your fingers were pale. Far too pale to be healthy. You knew frostbite when you saw it. Your body refused to move under your own power. Your blood was frozen to the icy ground. They had used a potion and transported you to a peninsula, and you could only faintly hear the ocean below. You could feel the potion wearing off, but you knew you weren't healing. Not yet. You reached down into your own mind, picking up the fading tendrils of power. Of your bond to the two you knew could save you. And you pulled as hard as you could manage.  --- "Fuck." The roaring thought shook Cassian awake. Bleary eyed, he glanced about the room as if there was someone actually shouting at him.  Then he felt it. The weak tug that had been silent for so long. And he knew it was nothing good. Frenzied, he met Azriel at the dining area. Where they spent the rest of the night planning, deducing a probable reason for you to be calling so weakly. They sent their worries to Rhys, but they were shooed away. "I'm researching. Meet me in the library at dawn." The two males tried to comfort each other. But the worry pulsating through the bond was too much to focus on. So they waited. Kallis appeared that morning. He spat his story and begged for help, practically in tears as he spoke to the three Illyrians. Cassian and Az knew something was wrong the moment you were attacked. Court laws forbade them interfering on Winter Court territory though.  As soon as the approval was given, the brothers winnowed to the border of Winter and started flying. + You were coming to terms that you would die in the cold. You had imagined death differently. Battle was the primary way you thought you'd die. Or at the end of a High Lord's magic for being too much of an advisor. Smiling at the memory of putting Tamlin in his place, you gave another tug down the bonds to your mates. And like a snap, they both tugged back. Almost in unison. It was hard to tell. You closed your eyes, listening to the soft waves below. They lulled you into a cold sleep yet again.  + Despite the cold, the Illyrians flew as fast as they could. They could sense your light fading, and chased it for mile after mile. Their wings cut through the harsh winter winds, fueled by rage and desperation. Then they spotted the dark figure frozen to the snow below. Cassian landed first, a few feet away. The ice cracked beneath him. "Get us out of here." He growled to Azriel.  "We need to make sure she's okay before we move."  Cassian growled, but didn't protest. Azriel understood. He felt the anguish and frustration through the shared bond. Az's hands pressed gently to your neck, checking your pulse. He swore. "Baby, we need you to wake up for us. We're here. We got you." Cassian put a hand to your cheek and fought back the tears that threatened.  You groaned in response. They both sighed in relief, their breath making clouds in front of them. "I'm stuck..." You managed through your stiff jaw.  Cassian stroked a thumb over your cheek. "Stuck? Honey you're-"  "Cas..." Azriel nodded to your side, to the ice that crept its way up your damp clothes. Azriel could have taken a very very long time torturing the beasts that did this to his mate. The rage coiled in his gut at the sight of your injuries. The only reason you hadn't bled out was the blood and water mix turning your wounds to ice.  Cassian pulled at the ice web that encapsulated you. Under the heat of his rage it broke, and broke and broke. Azriel placed small patches of his shield over your frostbitten fingers. "We're gonna get you out of here. Just stay still." Azriel smoothed back your hair, and darkness swirled over you. The change from the harsh overcast light of Winter court to the soft sun of Night court was jarring.  Madja put her hands on you and you were asleep in an instant. Her warm hands were a blessing from the Mother.  +  "She's lucky she has that Winter blood in her or she'd be dead." Madja wiped her hands off and handed both the Illyrians a small vial. "That is the scrap from a poisoned sword that broke off in her shoulder. I got all the pieces out, but the poison lingers. It may heal slowly, but it should get better."  Anguish burned both of their stomachs. Azriel's throat tightened and he looked away, but gripped the vial tightly. Cassian stared at it, his eyes murderous. Madja left without another word. "She was almost killed. And we couldn't do anything." Cassians' voice was low, with violence dripping from it. "We need her here. In Velaris where we can... watch her." He didn't know what he was saying, but the instinct to protect was overriding every other logical thought he had. Anger burned and burned in his stomach, swallowing him with rage. He could feel Az mirroring the same feeling, but with a cold deadliness that begged to simmer out of him.  "You know she wont go for that. She loves her home too much. Her brother." Azriel whispered back. "We're her mates. She should be with us." Cassian was looking for a fight. All the tension and anger of the day had to be worked out. Azriel felt it too. His shadows ran anxiously through the room.

The wind outside howled. It shifted the dark clouds that covered the moon. It seemed to be a cold day in all of Prythian. A cold day in your mates hearts to the pirates that had taken you. They spoke their rage mind to mind, imagining the ways to torture the bastards. 

How to find them would be the first priority. Azriel kept circling back to that part. + The healer cleared his throat at the door. "She's asking for you." He nodded to Rhys' brothers. They left Rhys behind in unison, walking in perfect step with each other. Their minds hummed together over that bond they shared with you. "Protect protect protect." They both seemed to demand.  Azriel knocked softly, his heart flipping when he heard your voice again. "Get in here." You demanded, giving them a broad smile when they practically shoved each other out of the way. 

"Come keep me warm." You weakly folded the blanket back, exposing some of the bruising on your skin. 

They complied with enthusiasm. Azriel's hands were cold at first, but they got better when he reached around you to hold Cassian closer. They worked in tandem to keep you covered, making sure that you weren't too crowded or too warm. Azriel summoned his cool shadows when you got too warm and had to kick the blankets off. Cassian's warm breath would keep you warm when they became too much. You traced Azriel's cheekbones, the sharp edge of his jaw while falling alseep. Cassian's muscled forearms hugging you from behind were like a heavy pillow. 

"Rest now, we can have more fun later." Az winked, making your stomach flutter. Cassian groaned and pulled you further to his lap. You tried not to think of the hardness that pressed to you now.  "Goodnight." The shadowsinger kissed your forehead and like a light, you were out. Finally resting peacefully wrapped between your two mates and their warm bond you all shared. 

[ray-ray-writings]

can i request an imagine in the dream smp where the reader is tommys older sister and when he gets exiled she goes to visit him to ask him to come live with her (she lives away from the town to stay out of drama) but when she get there she sees dream destroying all his stuff so she fights him and tells him lo leave tommy alone then takes Tommy home with her (i just want to protect this small child sm) thank you 💕 i really enjoy your writing

Thank you for the request friend! I’m so sorry that it took so long to complete, but I hope you enjoy. 

Bring Him Home-Brother!Tommyinnit

As soon as you were able to, you moved out of the DreamSMP. Don’t get me wrong, you loved your family and wanted to be around them, but you just couldn’t handle the drama. You’d known Dream for a while and you knew that with him slowly gaining control of the SMP that things were definitely going to take a turn for the worst sooner or later. And as you predicted, it had. 

You kept up with everything that your brothers had done throughout the years, supporting them from the comfort of your home, thousands of blocks away from the action. You received letters from all four of the men in your family, but none more frequently than your younger brother Tommy. 

Tommy told you everything, kept you updated. The two of you had always been rather close, bonding over feeling slightly abandoned by your father. You became a source of confidence for the young blonde, someone he could tell anything and everything to. Someone he could joke with but also be vulnerable with. He didn’t visit you often, but when he did the two of you made the absolute most of it. 

This is why when you received the distress letter, you dropped everything to make your way to him. 

Tommy’s weekly letter came and you eager opened it and let your eyes scan the words as fast as you could, eager to know what he and Tubbo had gotten up to with the new responsibility of the country on their shoulders. But as you read, your eyebrows furrowed. The sloppily written words seemed rushed as Tommy explained to you the result of what he thought would be a practical joke. He tried to assure you not to worry though, Ghostbur had come with him and Dream visited everyday. 

You carefully set the letter down on the countertop and stare off into the distance as you begin to ponder your next move. You ignore Tommy’s “assurance” and allow the worry to fill your veins. Ghostbur wasn’t the same as Wilbur, he wouldn’t be good at taking care of your brother. And Dream wouldn’t be much better, he was the one that put him there for goodness sakes. 

The coordinates that Tommy had included in his letter tempted you as your eyes scanned over them…. That’s not too far from where you were. Maybe half a day's trip… You could go visit him. And technically, he never states that he has to stay in that particular location for his exile. If he wanted to, he could come home with you. 

With that thought, you’ve made up your mind. You quickly pack up some materials, food, water, building blocks, your weapons and armor, before picking the letter up and exiting your home. Your eyes scan the cords again before turning and beginning your trip to Tommy. 

Like I said, it’s only about half a day’s trip and so you get there when the sun is still high in the sky. You sigh in relief as a pitiful pitched tent greets you, at least Tommy wrote the cords correctly. You pick up your pace slightly, eager to see your brother. Your pace turns into a sprint when his loud shouts fill the air, followed by an even louder boom. 

You draw closer to his camp and you find Tommy standing across from Dream, the two are staring into a hole, Tommy on the verge of tears and Dream holding a flint and steel. “Why would you do that?” Tommy cries out, “I worked so hard to gather all that stuff! Why do you keep coming back and blowing it up?” 

“I’m sorry, he does what?” you growl out before you can stop yourself. Both of their heads snap to you and Tommy gasps in excitement at the sight of me. He shouts your name and rushes toward you, wrapping his arms around you in a tight hug, burying his face in your neck. You wrap your arms around him too, hugging him just as tightly in return.

“I missed you so much Y/N,” Tommy mumbles against your skin, and you can tell he’s trying not to cry. It really had been a long time since the two of you had seen each other. 

“I missed you too Tommy… Missed you so much,” you coo in response, placing a comforting hand on the top of his head, pushing him closer to you, subsciously wanting to hide him from Dream’s stare. 

“Y/N… this is a surprise,” Dream states sheepishly, pocketing the flint and steel before rubbing the back of his head and looking at the ground to avoid your glare. 

“Oh I’m sure it is. You don’t expect anyone to come and stop your plans anymore, do you Dream? You take what you want without even considering what other people might do. Well guess what Dream? I’m not scared of you. I’m really not. You may have everyone else wrapped around your little finger, but I’m not buying it. Now, I’m going to need you to leave me and my brother alone now, and not come back.” 

Dream looked like he was about to protest and tell you off, but a harsh glare from you makes him shut his mouth, gulp, and nod. “I’ll see you later, Tommy,” he mumbles, turning on his heel and stalking away from the two of us. I watched him and held Tommy to me until he was out of sight, and then even a few moments after that. 

You let out a sigh and released your tight grip on your brother and let him pull himself away from your chest. “Thank you for that… What are you doing here?” 

“What? I have to have a reason to visit my baby brother?” 

Tommy simply raises an eyebrow at you and crosses his arm across his chest which makes you sigh. “Okay, well maybe I’m here for a reason… I wanted to see if maybe… maybe you wanted to come live with me?”

Tommy’s face immediately lightens and his arms uncross at your offer. “I mean you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I just know that the two you mentioned in your letter wouldn’t be that good at looking out for you, and I meant what I said, I missed you and so I thought that maybe if you needed a place to stay while your in exile, you could stay at mine… but like I said you really don’t have to if you don’t--” 

You ramble is cut off by Tommy throwing himself back into your arms, making you wrap your arms around him in return. You two hug for a few moments before you hear Tommy mumble. “You mean it? You really want me to live with you?”

Your heart breaks at the fact that Tommy needs confirmation that you want him in your home. “Yes Tommy. I mean it. I want you to come live with me. I wouldn’t have come or offered if I didn’t want you.” 

Your answer seems to satisfy the boy because he asks you no more questions. You press a small kiss to the top of your brother’s head before letting him go from the hug. “Now, go get packed up, I’d like to get home before sundown and that will only happen if we leave within the next half hour.” Tommy pulls himself away from you and give you a small smile and quick nod before he shoots away from your side and begins to shove the things that Dream hadn’t blown up back into his inventory.

You wait patiently as he gathers his belongings around the camp. Once he’s all packed up, he moves to stand by your side and gives you a nod, “Okay! I’m ready.” You return the nod and wrap your arm around him. The two of you begin the journey back to your house. As you two walk, Tommy begins tot tell you everything that he wasn’t able to it in his letters, all of the small details and the funny stories that had happened in between each major event. You let him. You let him ramble about anything that pops into his head and you listen. You had missed your brother so much. And now you were able to bring him home. Who knows, maybe he’ll like living with you so much, he won’t leave… that wouldn’t be too bad. 

Welcome home Tommy. Welcome home.

[seabass17]

All that’s left | Bucky Barnes

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Fem!Reader

A/n: This is my first time writing something based on a video I found on TikTok, it’s not exactly the same, but it is kinda the idea. I hope you like it and please let me know if you might want a part two. Also, I apologize if you find some errors, im doing my best since English is not my first language. Anyway, happy reading!!

All that’s left masterlist

Pt. 2

Warnings: angst, mentions of injuries (broken ribs, cuts, dislocated shoulder)

Word count: 2.5K

Summary: She still can’t get used to the feeling of being left behind by the people she once called family. After being hurt, she decides that she will give them a chance, and when they failed, she then makes the decision to disappear and start brand new. Of course, she leaves a letter that will left the team standing in the dark, and with more questions than answers about a lot of things, while discovering that she has more of one past that she let to know.

The sound of the rain hitting against the window of my living room was the only thing that could be heard in the silence of my apartment. I looked over my desk where the paper is waiting for me to pick up the pen and get this over with, but somehow, somewhere deep inside of me, a part is waiting, holding on to the smallest of hope that maybe, just maybe, he is going to come knocking to my door asking why the i haven’t showed up to the compound for the last three days, or why i didn’t text nor call the rest of the team. I wanted to see if they would notice my absence so I left the compound on Thursday. I got the answer to my question when Sunday arrived and my inbox was clear; no one noticed. Today is Tuesday, my apartment is thirteen minutes away, fifthteen if you literally fly or speed up, but still, no one came or text.

To be honest, I'm not surprised, that doesn’t mean it hurts less though. I know i should probably think this through instead of making the impulse decision of grabbing my things and get the hell out of here, going somewhere i can start fresh, somewhere i can start over and get a chance to get over all the things that happened,  find people that actually cared for me, or maybe not finding anyone at all and die alone.

I stand up from my bed and go to my desk, it’s time to get this over with. I start writing the only thing that they get to keep.

“Dear Avengers, You’re probably wondering where I am, or you just don’t care, maybe you don’t even find this. If someone from the building finds this, keep it in case they ever come looking for me; thank you. So, this is it, this is my goodbye. You should consider yourselves lucky, given the fact that none of you even deserves a goodbye because you are the ones causing it. I could tell you the reason why I'm leaving, and you know what, I will tell you. I chose to trust you. The one thing I feared the most was trusting people, but when I joined the team, I thought ‘well, maybe i can trust them, they are my team’, guess what, I was wrong. You should really look out for your teammates Stark, oh, and by the way, you might want to look deeper into why the operation that saved those 30 civilians on may 20, didn’t go south, you might even discover its the very same reason of why i didn’t showed up in the compound for a week, yeah, they were busy torturing the information out of me for a week; information that, by the way, i didn't give, hence why the operation went great. Something even more funny, is that behind every mistake, every wrong that each one of you have ever done, I’m the one that suffered the consequences. Don’t believe me? Then you might want to do your homework, because dear teammates, I’m the one you couldn’t protect. By the time you find out the things you’ve done, I will be long gone. I'm very good at disappearing, Natasha (once she figures it out) can confirm that. I wish things would be different and we could be… family, but that’s never going to happen; not anymore. As of now, there will be no record of my name ever existing, everything that once belonged to me, will be burned, and as of me, well, I am no one.”

I fold the piece of paper and put it in the envelope, once sealed, I write down the word my name in the center so they know. I take a last look at my apartment. Everything is intact, the furniture that came with it is the same as always, the only thing different is that it seems empty without all my belongings. I grabbed my luggage and exited the apartment and then went downstairs.

“Hey Richard”  I say to the man that is in the reception like I always do

“Hey miss, what can I do for you?”

“Well, I'm leaving, for good. If someone comes asking for me, my friends, you tell them that you haven’t seen me. Oh, I left a letter for them upstairs, could you please make sure that it gets to them? Only if the show up, do not sent it”

He looked at me a little sad and confused.

“Oh, well, you will me missed miss, I hope you find happiness and yes, i promised i will make sure they get your letter”

“Thank you Richard, for everything, oh, and this is for you” I handed him an envelope with some cash. He looked like he was about to say something about how he couldn’t accept it but I cut him off. “Please, just take it, please”. He sighs but takes the envelope.

“Thank you miss…”

I smiled at him and then turned around to grab a cab. I'm supposed to be in the airport in 30 minutes. Once in the airport, the only thing left is to start again, be someone brand new.

*3rd person POV*

Friday morning was a little colder than usual in the avengers compound, everyone on the team was up and in the kitchen having breakfast. Everything was normal, until someone noticed that someone was missing.

“Hey guys” Bucky said right before taking a bite of the pancakes Wanda made earlier for everyone. “Have any of you seen y/n?”

The team stayed quiet, realizing that they haven’t seen her for quite a while, not until Barnes brought it up.

“Uh… maybe she took a trip?” Steve broke the silence while the rest started thinking when was the last time they had seen her.

“No, she was here when we arrived from the Jersey mission, it must have been like what, two days, maybe three?” Tony said. Bucky could feel his insides burning and twisting.

“No… that was eight days ago” Vision intervened. The avengers felt like someone just blew up the white house. Her teammate was missing for eight days and no one even noticed. Bucky was the first one to react by getting up and running to her dorm, only to find it exactly the way it was when he last saw her. He searched her dorm looking for something out of place that could tell him that maybe you were in trouble and that he has to come save you, but he is left desperate when he doesn’t find anything.

“She’s not here, everything is intact” He informs once he is back in the kitchen.

“Everyone” Steve calls out, “get dressed, we’re going to look for her. Let’s start in her apartment”

The team leaves to change their clothes and next thing they know, they are in her building. Without saying a word to the receptionist, they all made their way up to her apartment.

“Hey! wait-” he goes unnoticed because the avengers are already on her door. Wanda knocks on the door.

“Y/n? You there?” no one responds. “Y/n come on, don’t be mad at us” Natasha says.

After a few seconds they all start to worry when the door is unlocked, and they worry even more once they see the apartment completely empty.

“What the-” Bucky says

“Where are her things?” Wanda asks to no one especifically

“Where is she?” Thor says

“What the hell is going on?” Tony says a little louder

Bucky storms out of the empty apartment and goes to the man in the reception

“What the hell happened to apartment 108, where is y/n y/l/n?” he asks with worry and anxiety in his voice.

“I’m sorry, but, who are you?” the man asks the rather intimidating group of people in front of him.

“We’re the Avengers man” Peter says and the man suddenly realizes and his face changes from a confused one, to a sad one that makes the team’s stomach drop.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t…” he sighs, “She left me indicated to give this to you” he hands them an envelope that looks like it's been sitting there for a while. Bucky stares at the envelope like it's some kind of nuclear weapon that if you touch it, it could kill you. Wanda notices, grabs the envelope and stares at the paper in her hands.

“When did she leave this?” She asked

“Three days ago”

“And why didn’t you send it to us?” Tony asked, getting angry at the poor man.

“Because she specifically said  to handed it to you, if you ever came looking for her”

Bucky could feel the tears in his eyes start to form.

“She said that? `Ever’?” Bucky asked almost to himself. The man slowly nodded. Natasha could feel how her stomach started burning from the guilt and the pain of not noticing that her friend was missing for eight days, little does she know that the entire team felt exactly the same.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y pull the records on the mission on may 20 and also show me the status of y/n on that time” Tony said to the AI and after a few seconds later, pictures of the building that that was about to be blown out by HYDRA with 30 civilians inside showed up. While the avengers were sitting in the conference room looking at the pictures, the AI started talking.

“Mission of may 20. Information was given that HYDRA kept 30 civilians inside the building with the intention of blowing it up with them inside. Source of the information unknown. The Avengers  came to the building and successfully rescued the civilians safely moments before the building was blown up. Agent y/n y/l/n was on an undercover mission on a HYDRA facility at the same time, the communication was lost three days before the civilians situation, and around the same time, the information about the building was given anonymously the very same day that communication with Agent y/l/n was lost; Agent y/l/n returned a week later. Medical record found, access denied”

“Override, Tony Stark” Tony said after a good couple of seconds, the pieces starting to fall in place.

“Access complete. Medical records of Agent y/l/n on may 27th. Access restrained: Agent y/l/n. She presented with several cuts all over her body, three broken ribs, a second grade concussion, a sprained ankle and a dislocated shoulder. Patient refused treatment and was only given medication for the pain”

The seconds were passing and no one in the room would break the silence. The pieces were starting to fall in place, Tony felt nauseous. He yelled at her for being irresponsible for staying a little longer than she should have in the undercover mission, given the fact that she checked in on june 10th, meaning that she waited two weeks for her injuries to heal enough so that he could yell at her for not being good enough. He fell down to his chair, feeling like if he stayed up, he might throw up.

“She was the one that gave us the information about the building” Sam broke the silence. “She was the one that got tortured, and still managed to pass through the data so that we, could be the heroes while she was the one that got beaten up”

“F.R.I.D.A.Y, where is she?” Natasha asked the AI, and it responded after a few seconds.

“No information found”

Natasha frowned, Bucky looked up to the screen to see the red sentence. It only made him want to scream more.

“What does ‘no information found’ mean?” Bucky asked on the edge of falling apart.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y” Steve called

“No information available” it said this time.

“F.R.I.D.A.Y, look for y/n y/l/n” Tony said, thinking maybe he needed to check what was wrong with the AI.

“No records found for y/n y/l/n”

“Detail,” Stark said.

The AI showed what it said before, there was no record of her name, it was like it never existed. No phone number, no mail address, no nothing, just a little picture of an abandoned building or mansion somewhere in the world.

“Wait” Natasha said, “I know that building, F.R.I.D.A.Y, do a close up on that picture”

“What is it?” Wanda asked

“It was where The Red Room used to operate” tha AI responded

“Why does it appear related to her?” Bucky asked, fearing the answer

“The picture was taken when a girl escaped The Red Room in 2002, she eliminated four people on the way, the age or who it was is still unknown” the AI responded.

“Oh god…” Natasha whispered but Bucky manage it to hear it

“Natasha, what is it?” he asked

“2002, that’s three years after i managed to escape, there was a girl, we were some sort of friends, i promised that i was going to get us out of here, but i couldn’t take her with me so i left her. Two years later I contacted someone on the inside so that I could get to her and plan her escape, but she was angry at me and said that she was fine, a year later she did escape, killing four people on her way” Natasha explained. Everything makes sense now, why she looked familiar, why she had exactly the same skills as Natasha. The team noticed it too, but they assumed it was because she had trained very hard to be an avenger.

“What was her name?” Vision asked.

“Eliza” Natasha said

“Wait a minute…” Bucky said, lifting her head looking at Natasha. “Was that her real name?”

“No, she didn’t wanted to say her real one” Natasha said

“Eliza, that’s y/n’s grandmother’s name” Bucky said and the room fell into a silence where you could hear the wind outside.

“In the letter…” Steve started, “She said that you could confirm that she was good at disappearing completely once you figured it out, so, does this mean that…”

“Y/n is Eliza” Natasha concluded

“She was in The Red Room” Bucky added.

“She said in her letter that all of us did her wrong,” Sam said, “how are we supposed to know what the hell we do to her? She’s been in the team for what, two and a half years? And just now we realized that she was the one that gave us the data that saved 30 people and got her tortured, and that she was trained in The Red Room like Black Widow here. What else are we missing?” he added.

“Guess there’s only one thing we can do” Steve said, looking at Tony.

“And what’s that?” Wanda asked

“We find her”

[ijustwant2write]

‘We aren’t lonely’-Loki Laufeyson x Reader

(GIF credit to @marvelgifs)

Masterlist

Summary: Another Loki variant is sent to the void, lost and confused like everyone dumped there. However, he is panicking more about this situation than anyone else, desperate to find you. He doesn’t know where you are, he doesn’t know if you are even alive. The other Loki’s think him foolish to keep believing that you are alive, because it seems that only Loki’s are meant to survive in the void.

Characters: Loki Laufeyson x Reader, variant Loki’s (TVA Loki, Classic Loki, Boastful Loki, Kid Loki, Alligator Loki)

Meanings: (Y/N)=Your name

Warnings: Mentions of death and weapons, violence, sadness, some fluff

                                        *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Loki’s eyes snapped open, taking a sharp breath in and out in a panic as he tried to figure out where he was. One minute he was with you, then some kind of portal opened revealing people in armour he had never seen before going on about being arrested, dragged away against each others will; and what was that word they had called him? Variant? 

He slowly sat up, extremely confused where he was and why he had been sent here. Where were you? Were you dead? Was this some sort of hell he had been sent to? Where were you?!

“Stand up you fool!” a man demanded, suddenly coming into view with an outstretched hand. 

He was in a green and yellow outfit, with the gold horns that Loki himself had been known to wear. Beside him was a young boy, wearing Asgardian clothing, a man with huge muscles, fur draping over his shoulders and holding a hammer, an identical clone of himself in a beige, Midgardian shirt and tie, and...an alligator?

“Where am I? Who are-”

The child groaned.“We don’t have time for this! Alioth draws nearer by the second.”

“He’s right.” the man grabbed Loki’s hand, pulling him to his feet. Loki glanced around, eyes wide in confusion.“Look, I know this is very confusing, but if you start asking questions, that big cloud will end your existence, unless we start running now!”

“Wait! I need to find my wife!” he exclaimed.

They all turned to face him, shock written on their faces.“Wife? Did I hear that correctly?” 

“Yes! Well, fiance before we were interrupted. She could be here somewhere, I have to go looking for her!”

“You won’t be able to outrun Alioth. You’re better off waiting for him to pass before you attempt to find this woman.” the larger man said.

“I can’t leave her out here if she’s all by herself. She could die!”

“And you could die before you reach her. She may not even be here.”

“Thank you for the advice, but I’m going to look for her.”

They shrugged, obviously not caring that he was walking into the face of death. However, as he started to leave them, the twin of himself grabbed his forearm.

“Do not stop me!”

The twin held his arms up in surrender.“I understand that you mean to find this lover of yours, but believe me, you should come with us. Is your wife smart?”

“Extremely.”

“Does she know how to handle a weapon?”

“Of course. I taught her myself.”

“She will know to hide from this monster. You’re her best shot of surviving if you are still alive.”

Still flabbergasted, Loki huffed, nodding as a gesture that he would follow them. They all started moving quickly, and it seemed that the twin of himself was also wondering what was going on. Nevertheless, Loki continued to stay quiet, the only thing on his mind was you.  He continuously looked out for you, hoping he would spot your beautiful face, even miles away. 

The men led him underground, he turned his nose up at the makeshift place. This was where these men were hiding? Everything was complied of junk that had been lying around on the wasteland above them. How could they live like this?

“Will someone please tell me what is going on?” Loki raised his voice as the three men settled into their ‘home’, the clone Loki also looking around the dump.

The clone Loki spoke as he took in his surroundings.“You are a variant. Those people who took you away from your world, they are called the TVA, the Time Variance Authority. They ensure that everything stays perfect for their ‘Sacred Timeline’. Basically, we are all different versions of a Loki, but our stories were not meant to happen. And apparently, living your own life is a crime.”

“This still makes no sense.”

“We’re not supposed to happen, that’s why we’re dumped here. Don’t worry too much about it.” the older Loki dismissed what they were saying, turning to the clone Loki.“Why did you want to return to the TVA so badly anyway?”

“Did you leave your glorious purpose there?” the large Loki smirked. 

“Something like that.” clone replied. 

“How long must we wait before we can go out again?” Loki asked, looking up to the exit.

“It is better to wait longer than you think.” the child said.

“Damn this. Damn this whole place!”

“There is no need for theatrics.” older Loki calmed him down.“Come, have a drink, relax and gather your thoughts before you heroically rescue your princess.”

Loki was fidgeting at first, gripping onto the cup filled with the most disgusting wine he had ever tasted. It seemed that this circle time was going to be filled with personal stories, but he was slowly starting to understand everything. These were all different versions of himself...well, even he wasn’t the correct version of a Loki. Then what did that make you? It was a curious question, but he knew that no matter the answer, you would always be his love, his soon to be queen and wife.

“And so, after I vanquished Captain America,” muscled Loki continued his story,“and Iron Man, I claimed my prize. All six infinity stones!”

The alligator (which Loki somehow kept forgetting was sat right next to him in his shallow pool), made a noise, as if in protest.

“That’s alligator for growling, saying liar at the same time.” older Loki translated. 

“Well at least my Nexus event wasn’t eating the wrong neighbours cat.”

The alligator hissed, lunging at the Loki and snapping its jaw. It jumped onto muscled Loki, snapping onto his hand, everyone leaping up to break up the fight. As they all collapsed back into their seats, the child pointed to the older version.

“Tell them your story Loki.”

“Me? No body wants to hear about that.”

“I-I would actually.” twin Loki spoke up.

“Me too. Perhaps it will help me gain a better understanding of this madness.” Loki said.

“It’s just, I’ve been wondering because I’m...we’re supposed to die, right? Thanos kills us after Ragnarok.”

“Who does?!”

“Thanos.” old Loki spat out the name.“My timeline, everything proceeded correctly my entire life until Thanos attacked our ship.”

“You didn’t try to stab him?”

“Certainly not. Take no offence my friends, but blades are worthless in the face of a Loki sorcery. They stunt our magical potential.”

“But they look awesome.” Muscled Loki smiled, everyone nodding to agree. 

“Oh yes, especially when they clatter to the ground just before your neck is snapped.”

Loki’s hand subconsciously raised to his throat, shuddering at the thought.

“I cast a projection of myself so real, even the mad titan believed it. Then hid as inanimate debris. After I faked my death, I simply drifted in space, away from Thor, away from everything. Thought about the universe and my place in it. And it occurred to me that everywhere I went, only pain followed me. So, I removed myself from the equation, landed on a remote planet and stayed there in isolation, in solitude. For a long, long time.”

“How did the TVA find you?”

“I got lonely. To tell you the truth, I missed my brother. I wondered if he missed me, if anyone else did. But as soon as I took my first steps getting off the planet, the TVA arrived. Because we my friend have but one part to play, the God of Outcasts. Nothing more. God of Outcasts.”

Older Loki raised his cup in the air, muscled and child Loki copying. Loki shook his head and scoffed, putting the attention on himself. He threw his cup down in frustration, letting the wine spill all over the floor.

“What a pathetic story. We’re not alone or lonely. If you actually tried you would know that.”

“You said we had a wife. What was she like?” the clone seemed deeply interested.

“She was almost my wife. The TVA stopped our weddings, just as she was walking down the aisle. And she was the most beautiful woman of Asgard.”

He hesitated as he reached out his hand, wondering if what he was about to do would break his heart. But he did it anyway, conjuring up a small image of you, adorned in his favourite dress of yours, your hair just how he liked it; you could look however you wanted and he would still desire you, but this was what he wanted to show the others, show them how lucky he was to have you as his. 

“She’s beautiful.” older Loki seemed astounded.

“She is. And although she is with me everyday, she tells me how much she loves me all the time, and I can see how she looks at me, I am still amazed that such a divine creature such as herself would want to spend the rest of her life with me. But it seems that we were never meant to marry. That our happiness wasn’t meant to happen, all because of some stupid timeline.”

“The sacred timeline has taken away all of our lives, all because it didn’t fit with their story line.” the child said. 

“To hell with the timeline. She was my love. I fought valiantly for us to be married, to even be together. When my father decided against it, we were to be wed in secret. What was the harm in that?”

The child ignored his snappy tone."Why couldn't you marry her?" 

"Dearest Odin couldn't stand seeing his adopted, less loved 'son' marry before Thor. At this point, Thor had expressed little interest in the throne, and that frightened Odin. If something were to happen to Thor to stop him from ruling, it could fall to me, or my heirs."

"So that's why you married her? Your plan to secure the line was to have children?" older Loki thought aloud.

"No!" Loki snapped."I loved-I love her! I never thought I could feel such a thing, but for once I was wrong. Someone was capable of loving me besides my mother. And I was thrilled to be spending the rest of my life with her."

There were a few seconds of silence before the clone of himself dared to speak.“What was her name?”

“(Y/N).”

“How did we meet her?”

“We didn’t meet her, I did. And I don’t want to talk about it, I need to be out there looking for her.”

“Alioth may have already taken her.” muscled Loki pointed out, knowing it would push his buttons.

Loki let out a loud growl as he lunged for the man, knocking him out of his seat. They rolled on the floor, throwing punches when they could, and Loki was prepared to use his magic when he was pushed off of the man.

“Stop this madness! We’ve already had one brawl tonight, we don’t need another.” the older Loki bellowed.

“I am through with this nonsense! You will do well to keep your mouth shut and never even think about my wife again! I’m leaving. I don’t care if I have to hide out there or fight this stupid cloud myself, I’m going to find (Y/N).”

“Be our guest. We’re not stopping you.”

Loki huffed, adjusting his clothing back to normal before turning around to exit the bunker. He heard shuffling behind him before the clone Loki told him to stop.

“Look, you should really wait this out.”

“The longer I wait, the more chance there is of my wife being dead.”

“I understand-”

“No, you don’t. All of you Loki’s seem to not comprehend the idea of love. As he said, you’re all lonely. Perhaps I’m the only Loki who has ever been capable of it. So don’t say things you don’t mean. Nothing you can say will change my mind, I’m going out there for her, and if she’s dead...then I will let fate take its course.”

When the clone said nothing back, he took that a his cue to continue his leave. Confidently climbing back out, Loki slammed the lid shut, taking a deep breath as he stood. He really didn’t know where to start. His mind was clouded with emotions. Where could you be in this hellhole? Were you even sent here in the first place? What if the monster had got to you first? No, he had to remain strong, be positive. You were out there, hiding whilst you came up with some sort of plan, because you were a smart woman, you knew what to do to survive. Loki only hoped he could find you sooner rather than later, he didn’t know how much more his aching heart could take.