#while ash is from the over world but travels to the end a lot so his is w string

[xxswagcorexx]

core pleeeease what's your other brainworms <finally knows how to ask itself

OMG HELLO CHERNY THE BELOVED!!! omg….i’ve already rambled about fallen angel ash and red in the discord so ^_^ gonna be talking about my thoughts abt lifesteal and embroidery!!

basically, i hc that although every single ls member can sew, but more complex stuff like pattern making (or doing anything that isn’t basic hand sewing for basic repairs LOL) varies wildly between each member. as a result, embroidery on clothing and patches would be a huge sign of dedication and loyalty because t shows that you took time out of your day to make something for the other person, and that usually means you’ll do other things for them as well ^_^ like. cool sign of loyalty that u can show off visually. so its fun to hc what alliances have what patches and who made them!!

anyways because i’m #biased i also hc that the more hearts and resources you have, the more time you have to dedicate to things that aren’t resources or getting hearts ^_^ so id imagine the brim of reds hat is full of embroidery from himself (and there’s a purple rose that’s noticeably out of style in comparison to the rest of the hat, but red doesnt draw much attention to it. usually)

[kaidabakugou]

PAIRING: FOREST GOD VIDAR! BAKUGOU X ELF! READER

WARNINGS: some graphic descriptions | mentions of death | cunnilingus | pubes | hint of body worship | nipple play | marking | biting | blood | blood drinking | spit | breeding kink | hint of dumbification | some hair pulling | overstimulation

WORD COUNT: 7.4K

A/N: proud to finally be able to share with you guys my submission for Touch of Divine Rush Collab by @dark-mnjiro, i love Norse Mythology and had lots of fun writing this one so i hope you enjoy my little knowledge dump plus my interpretation of what Vidar’s journey would look like after Ragnarök

i also made a GLOSSARY to help you understand some of the terms and old Nordic language used without the need of researching it yourselves, please enjoy and tysm for reading!

The air felt thick as ash rained down upon the battle grounds, the remnants of the wrath from the towering flames of the fire giant evident all around as the silent god took in his surroundings. His foot still perched atop Fenrir’s fiery jaw as he looked down at the mangled wolf, a sharp pain making itself known on his palm when adrenaline started to subside from his body. Noticing one of Fenrir’s fangs pierced into his right hand where he held the beast’s jaw open seizing it before bracing his lower foot, adorned with his magical leather shoe, against its lower jaw and tearing it apart as the prophecy intended. Successfully avenging his father, Odin, after his journey ended being devoured by the foul monster.

Bakugou could barely see a few feet around him, the sky burned black as the flames reached all the way up to the stars, consuming them as not even the cosmos could evade their fate of being swallowed by the sea. Ragnarök, the final battle, had finally progressed to its final phase. And as the world burns in flames, Bakugou couldn't help but to inhale the stinging smoke around him, feeling it stain his lungs as he closed his eyes towards the black sky.

Clearing his head from the chaos that surrounds him, beginning to feel the icy touch of Helheim against his scorching skin as he calls upon the forces of nature whom he trusted the most to guide him through this new journey.

Silence. 

A small smile adorned the god’s features as he accepted his fate, although destined to survive the destruction, he found it hard to believe in prophecies when the rumbling of the ocean’s hunger was making the ground beneath his feet tremble as it started to sink into the depths of the unknown. But the silence in his ears reassured him that he will once again rule over a regenerated earth.

Silence had been Bakugou’s strongest companion, known as the silent god for he desired nothing more than to be left alone to rule the forests who were bound by close ties to him where nothing but solitude and deep silence reigned. And his desires would soon be answered as droplets of water began to slowly quench his stained skin, the god’s deep vermilion irises fluttering open as the skies poured down on him. The flames around him began to die down as the sea rumbled again and Bakugou mentally kicked himself for doubting the Norn’s prophecy as their words echoed in his head. 

“Early begun.” 

“Further spun.” 

“One day done.” 

“With joy once more won.”

Ragnarök wasn't the complete end of the world. Out of the sea, the earth started to rise again, new and filled with all shades of green where fields of grains soon began to grow without the hand of any god, human or elf to aid it. A new sun shined down upon the fresh world, and soon a new moon would follow suit as they both traveled the same path as their ancestors and returned to their old lawful regularity to keep earth from seeing the darkness of Ragnarök ever again. 

The surviving gods met at Ithavoll, once again a safe place for the gods to regather themselves as they built a new city and joined forces to bring earth back to its original splendor. But after a while, once the tasks at hand were complete and life on earth was once again restored, Bakugou left Ithavoll to take his throne in Landvidi, the wide lands. 

Where his glorious palace eagerly waits for his return, decorated with large green boughs and only the most delicate of flowers in the midst of an impenetrable primeval forest where he could peacefully reign among the silence of the trees. Where anyone who dared disturb his silence, will receive no mercy and awaken the same mighty god that tore Fenrir’s devilish jaws with his bare hands. Soon, everyone across the realm knew better than to enter the forests uninvited, for all who entered were never to be seen again.

All except one. 

Ever since you were a child, your mother would warn you to never go near the woods just off the threshold of Alfheim, the land of the elves. Hearing stories and tales of how those who had crossed were turned into corpses and left to rot by the border as a warning or were never to be heard from again.

Tales of giant man-eating beasts that would starve themselves and wait patiently for whatever ignorant soul dared set foot into their territory. Some would even say that the surviving dragons resided deep within the monstrous shadows of the tall trees, that reached so far up into the sky that no daylight could seep through. Blood-thirsty bees and spiders that would drain their victims of their blood to the very last drop, leaving them nothing but a mess of bones and dried flesh for the forest soil to consume. 

And those who managed to avoid such terrible fate and considered themselves lucky enough to reach deep within the forest to find the triumphant god’s palace in search of hidden treasures that only the remaining son of Odin could possess, would only be left wishing they would have died at the claws of the forests beasts, for they imagine their death would've been quicker compared to the merciless torture the retired god would greet them with before watering his rare carnivorous plants with their blood and feeding them their remains to keep them hungry for more. 

But you would argue the opposite.

The forest has always been kind to you, ever since you first stepped foot inside of it, back when you were just a small elf beginning to learn the elven ways of magic and strayed a little too far off the border in search of kalonji, a white-petaled flower that only grew near the thresholds of the forest and was a necessary component for brewing medicine due to the healing properties of its seeds. 

But by the time you finished collecting the rare flowers, you had already entered the forest and had no idea on how to return home. The warnings of your mother started to echo inside your head as panic began to settle in the more you looked around and the vast forest seemed to appear the same no matter which direction you faced. Sinking to your knees as tears started to cascade down your cheeks, dropping the basket of flowers beside you as you buried your face in your hands waiting for whatever horrid fate that would end your sorrows. 

Your choked sobs and sniffles were certain to attract one of the many beasts your mother had told you about, but when you started to hear the ruffling of leaves in steady steps getting closer, you never imagined coming face to face with one of the most beautiful creatures you had ever laid eyes on.

A white stag with the most piercing red eyes stared down at you warily. Large, majestic antlers adorned the sides of his head, resembling the leafless branches of the winter trees, as he cautiously smelled around you, taking in your scent while your cries died down in your throat as you stared up in awe at the towering giant. His large hooves were the size of your head, and his long legs were taller than you as you took in their size while he circled around you before settling on your opposite side.

Taking one last whiff of you before turning his snout towards your basket, inhaling the rich aroma of the kalonji before gently stealing one. Raising his head to stand tall in all his glory as he looks around whilst he eats it. You reached over and grabbed a flower as well, bringing it up to your nose to take in its bitter notes within its subtle floral fragrance before presenting it to the stag. To which he happily accepted as he lowered his neck towards you once again, taking your offering before beginning to walk past you and into the trees, stopping momentarily to look back at you only to find you already at his side as you two made your way through the extensive forest. 

You were unsure of where the stag was leading you, but you figured that sticking by his side would be better than waiting alone for the icy souls of Hel to take you. Taking in the vibrant colors of the forest as you found it hard to believe that so much beauty could hold such terrors, but you weren't going to remain present long enough to see it for yourself.

Along the way you encountered small white wood aster and yellow trout lilies that also possessed many medicinal benefits, taking some and putting them inside your basket for later while your started to carefully weave their small branches together, although your inexperienced hands were still clumsy, you still managed to keep all the flowers secure until finally closing it into a circlet. You've been so distracted with the flower crown in your hand that you hadn't noticed the stag had led you back to the threshold of the forest, being aware of your location once he stopped a few feet away from the treeline where you could see the busy city of Alfheim just past the bushes. 

Excited that you were going to be able to return home safely, you thank the stag as he looks down at you, giving you what felt like a nod before turning his body to leave. But stopping in his tracks when you ask him to wait as he gives you a confused look, watching as you walk up to him and offer him the crown you'd been building the whole path back. Those piercing vermilion eyes softening as he stares back down into your eager ones before lowering himself to your height, presenting you the top of his head while being careful not to hurt you with his antlers as you gently place the flower crown between them.

The different shades of yellow and green contrasting from his unique white fur beautifully as you feel his cold nose poke the side of your cheek before leaving a long wet lick on it, making you giggle before waving him off as you make your way down the hill and back to the city whilst he disappears back into the deep forest.

And ever since, each time you've gone to collect more kalonji, you'd find small and rather odd gifts near the flowers. Sometimes it would be random objects like polished stones and crystals, pretty feathers of all colors and sizes, and even sharp teeth that you could only imagine belonged to a creature far larger than those of these lands.

But mostly, you'd find only the rarest of flowers placed neatly upon the grass, looking so out of scenery as they wait for your arrival against the green fields. Flowers that you couldn't even begin to name since you'd never seen any others quite like them. Some would possess the most vibrant colors your eyes had ever seen, and others would have the most fragrant aromas to carry them despite their subdued appearance. Whatever the case, you'd always look forward to the little presents that awaited you on each journey to the border, and back then you were always so curious as to who could be leaving them for you to find at such opportune times. 

But now, nearly a vicennial of winters later, you still look forward to the same little surprises, only now you are well aware of who is responsible for leaving such treasures.

Making your way past the same threshold, you walk through the dense trees you've grown so accustomed to. Ever since that eventful day, the forest has always been kind and welcoming to you. Presenting you with an abundance of the same exotic flowers you would find when you were little, showing you paths filled with the same rare and delicate crystals you'd receive on occasions, and even the few animals you've had the fortune of meeting on your different journeys have grown a liking to you. 

But your reason to return to this forest always remained the same. 

Landvidi possessed only the most beautiful of landscapes, filled with the highest trees and tallest branches in the realm, lush vegetation and fresh flowers. Past the high grasslands, in the heart of the forest known as The Hall of Landvidi, is where the silent god’s palace is located. Surrounded by an even greater portion of earth’s natural beauty that paints a picture of solitude, for no being other than the retired warrior god could reach.

And as the protector of these lands, filled with ambition and strength, he is determined to ensure it remains that way. He has seen what destruction is like, lived it himself during the great battle of the destruction of the cosmos and all that lived within them, and will stop at nothing to keep the peace. 

Bakugou is the strongest of the gods, following Thor, and after fulfilling his fate as an avenger and brave warrior, his rebirth after Ragnarök symbolizes sustainability and regrowth. Being the only god known to be tied with nature, as most gods were connected to the sea through Heimdall, the watchman of the gods, Bakugou had always felt his soul to be more at peace within the wide lands. And even though he swore to never allow any trespassers into his territory, ever since he heard your cries all those winters ago, something within him told him you'd be the exception.

As you descend down the stoned path towards the small tunnel under the large oak trees, you take in a deep breath when the soft breeze hits your skin, the tunnel is formed by the widened crowns of the trees that spread and reached the branches of the oak trees on the opposite side, creating a beautiful passage towards the hidden waterfall ahead. 

From the oak branches, bellflowers of all colors hanged down decorating the path with a mesmerizing view. You reached up and collected some of the violet-blue flowers, making sure to grab several of their leaves as well. Although their petals had a mild taste, the leaves can be quite refreshing, and you knew the one you seeked would enjoy them. 

Securing them inside your basket next to the fresh apples you'd collected from your orchard, you resumed your way down the oak passage as the sound of the waterfall filled your ears. The Querencia Waterfall is the most beautiful of all the waterfalls in Landvidi, located just at the entrance of The Hall a few miles from the palace. It's the only waterfall in the land that’s so high, when the sun is at its peak some of its rays seep through the tall crowns of the oak trees, forming rainbows that look like they're cascading down along with the stream when they capture the water.

Surrounded by ancient willow trees, the lake where it pools contains powerful waters filled with passion and love from the root of the weeping willows that are believed to provide a nourishing embrace of fertility and healing. These were the only willow trees in all of Landvidi, after Ragnarök they became quite rare to find throughout the realms, so you were astonished when the white stag brought you here on one of your visits. Welcoming you into the water to bathe while he feasted on some of the exotic flowers that floated around different areas of the lake. 

You smiled to yourself as you think back on that day, remembering how nurturing the water felt around your body for the first time as its magic began to absorb into your skin. Your heart swelling when you recall feeling something being placed atop your head, only to find the stag adorning your hair with the water hyacinths he collected, rounding them on your head by tangling them with strands of your hair to the best of his abilities until it formed a circlet as his own way of thanking you for the crown you gave him on your first encounter.

You've been coming to Querencia ever since to meet with the stag, bringing him only the freshest fruits from your orchard and collecting flowers from the forest on your journeys to make more crowns for him as a thank you for all the treasures he leaves on the threshold for you. Sometimes he'd wait for your arrival near the berry bushes just off the edge of the forest and escort you through the wide lands filled with birch trees where many wildflowers favor growing near their roots so you can collect them. Other times, you venture into the forest at first daylight and wait for him in the water.

Today was one of those days as you reach the willow trees closest to the waterfall, settling your basket down near its roots as you begin to strip your garbs, folding them by the basket before entering the water. 

Submerging yourself deeper as the warm water sinks into your skin, the soft current wraps you in a state of tranquility whilst you absorb its properties before soon enough you spot the majestic antlers of the white stag. Smiling when you meet his gaze, noticing how his doe eyes seem to light up when he meets yours before entering the water with you, gracefully making his way towards you as water splashes around him from the force of his hooves. Giggling when he presses his wet nose against yours before lowering his soft furred forehead to your damped one. Something that had become a habit when greeting each other.

“God morgon, you came rather quickly today!”, you whisper against him as you greet him in the old language.

Although the old tongue was not commonly used anymore after the great destruction, you noticed you get a reaction from the stag when using some of the old words, almost as if he understood them better than the modern tongue. 

“I brought you something!”, you eagerly tell him, causing his ears to perk up at your announcement as you lift yourself from the water and start walking back towards the willow roots where you left your basket, the stag sauntering alongside you. 

Watching as you open your basket to reveal the shiniest of apples, his tongue dragging against his snout at the sight as he leans forward to eat one when you offer it to him, knowing your orchard produced some of the juiciest and most delicious ones in the realm after you watered them with the water you'd collected from the Querencia river. Offering him the bellflower leaves next as he accepted them and eating one yourself before diving back into the water. 

Fully submerging yourself as the stag followed suit, his smooth white fur now a light gray as it clung to him, droplets of water dripping from his antlers and falling against your skin when he circled closer for you to hold on to him as you swam together.

This was your usual routine on the days you'd meet on the waterfall, bathing together and feeding each other different fruit and flowers you'd bring to one another until the sun would start to disappear behind the mountains, indicating it was time to return home before nightfall. Currently seated on his back while he paraded you around the lake while eating some of the fruits on the bushes near the waterfall, sighing as you wished the stag could communicate with you further, even though you already communicated in your own unique way, exchanging gazes and gifts, and sharing intimate moments such as these that many would thought impossible to be as close to a rare white stag as you are with this one, you still wished he could speak sometimes and be able to tell you stories from the forest he knew so well.

“I wished you could speak to me”, you express as you rest your head against his neck, feeling the patches of hair beginning to fluff up from the breeze hitting his back where you laid. Ceasing his chewing at the sound of your voice as his ears flick at your words, turning his head to the side to look at you before softly snorting while rattling his antlers to signal you to alight and join him in the water again, to which you comply as you sink back in and circle him until you're facing him again. 

Smiling when he presses his cold wet nose against your stomach, snuffling up the center of your chest while leaving gentle licks on your skin before reaching your neck to nuzzle his jaw there as your hands pet along his broad shoulders and trailing them up his slender neck. He gives your side another lick before stepping back a few steps further from you as you stare back at him confused. Unsure of his behavior since he has never done this before when bathing together. 

But just as you begin to approach him again, you stop when the water around him changes its movements, once a steady stream now rapidly swirling with such force you could feel it pull you in closer. Trying your best to steady yourself in the water to swim away but as quickly as it came it dissipated, the water returned to its peaceful flow as if nothing had changed. Except now the white stag was no longer there, and in his place stood a man you'd never seen before.

A tall blonde with a strong physique of that of a warrior, adorned with battle scars and tattoos of old nordic runes on his chest traveling all the way down his abdomen and disappearing below his waist submerged in the water that you couldn't quite make out from your position. Rows of different stone necklaces, identical to the ones you gifted the stag a few winters back embellished his neck and a circlet of flowers sat atop his ash locks, the same crown of flowers you had placed on the stag not so long ago when you were riding him. 

You stood there frozen in place, still confused as to what had happened to the stag that was just standing before your eyes mere moments ago. Snapping out of your daze when the man started to come closer to you, water rippling around him with each step, similar to when the stag enters the water and it splashes from the might of his hooves. The man stopped in front of you as you peered up at him, the sun seeping through the trees hitting his chiseled face to reveal his piercing vermilion eyes.

The same pools of red that you'd recognize anywhere, the eyes staring back at you were the ones of the stag, eyes you'd look forward to seeing everyday when you woke up, a deep crimson you'd come to find in all things that reminded you of the stag, in the ripe apples of your orchard that he loved so much, in the rare red lilies that only bloomed during the early times of spring in the valley near the waterfall, in the polished pyropes stones he’d bring you every late winter and now in the body of a man whose presence felt familiar the more you took in the energy around him. 

He smiled when he noticed everything beginning to make sense to you when your widened eyes began to soften. 

“Elskan mín”, his voice low but eager as he wraps his arms around your waist and hoists you up to spin you around in the air, causing you to secure your arms around his neck while laughing before holding you close to him. Wet skin pressed against each other while strong arms keep you close as your legs instinctively wrap around his center.

Lowering your face towards him to nudge your nose against his before pressing your foreheads together, just like you would with the stag only now his nose is warm and the dampness of his forehead matches yours. 

“How come you hadn’t done this earlier?”, your eyes searching his as you notice him peering at your lips while you speak before meeting your curious gaze again. 

“Didn’t want to scare you away”, he answers simply whilst pressing kisses along your jaw sporadically. 

“Why now then?”, you push while allowing your digits to travel up and down his nape, tangling with his hair. 

“It just felt right”, he whispers while fondling one of your braids with the charms of your mother, she had removed them from her locks and secured them in yours before passing so you could have a piece of her with you when she could no longer be present in body but carry on in soul and spirit.

His hand traveled down to your shoulder where old nordic runes adorned your skin as well, only yours possessed sacred sigils of the old elven folklore, while his runes were of a time before Ragnarök. Which made you wonder if this was the retired god of vengeance everyone was so wary of, he evidently possessed the powers of one and if anyone was to allow the welcoming treatment the forest has presented you with all these years, it was him. 

You reach for the hand still tracing the runes on your skin to cradle it in yours as you turn it so his palm could be facing you, whilst he watched as you inspected his hand. Smiling again when you pulled your bottom lip between your teeth, almost able to see the ripples of electricity in your head as you put all the details together, a habit of yours that he loved to observe throughout the years since meeting each other.

To Bakugou, out of all the creatures that had stepped foot inside his forest seeking his aid, you were the most beautiful he had ever seen, no flower from his garden could compare to you, and since the day he met you he swore that one day you would become his goddess, and he has remained by your side since, waiting for this exact moment that he'd be able to finally show himself to you and solidify your love. 

He watched as you traced the scar on his palm, a reminder of the path he once walked guided by the burdens of fate. Your eyes meet his again when you finally put all the clues together, noticing how he looked at you like you were the only thing that mattered, and to him you were, for you had become his purpose after no longer having interest in matters of war and retiring to spend eternity within the silence of the wide lands. 

“You're him… the silent one”, only receiving a nod in return as more answers arise in your head, but settling on the one that dominated your thoughts the most.

“Why me?” 

“It's always been you, elskan mín… and now we are able to seal our love for one another.��� 

All your questions are melted away when he pulls you towards him and captures your lips in a kiss so fervent that causes your insides to stir with emotion. Only pulling away when the need for air becomes inescapable as you pant against each other's lips. 

“I’ve waited so long to do that”, he exhales while making his way towards the shore with you still secured in his arms. 

The fresh spring breeze hitting your skin when you leave the comfort of the water makes you shiver, a small hint of winter still present in the air as the forest was still transitioning from the stabbing cold into the warm energetic glow that this season brought along with it.

Your nipples pebbling at the loss of heat from the god’s body when he sets you down on the soft clearing of moss and wildflowers under the tallest willow tree. Something that doesn't go unnoticed by him as he peers down at you, now able to openly devour you with his eyes whilst you lay under him, strong tatted arms caging you between them as he lowers himself to capture your lips once again.

All the tales of the remaining son of the once All-Father were of his brash and merciless demeanour, ones that were bound to inflict fear upon anyone that heard them, but all those stories drifted into distant whispers of the wind the more you got lost in him. His touch was firm yet delicate, something that would seem impossible for his physique with such imposing structure, but it was possible. His touch was filled with love and spoke the words his voice failed to express. And only now that his lips trailed open-mouthed kisses along your skin, is that it becomes evident to you the extent of said love as you look back on all the years you've spent together. 

Courting the other in the shape of flowers, stones and apples, in a dance of mighty passion that led to this exact moment as he settled himself between your legs, positioning your thighs above his broad shoulders whilst his fingers traced informal shapes on them. His eyes fixated on the tuft of hair above your cunt as he sinks down to bury his nose in it, inhaling your scent as you watch his eyes darken from finally being able to delve in the thing he craved the most after so long.

Maroon eyes meeting yours while his lips follow the trail of hair down towards your sensitive lips, the feel of his hot breath alone making you clench around nothing as you watch him hover above your cunt, puckering his lips so a long strip of spit falls from them and lands on your clit. Watching as it slides through your folds before pressing his tongue flat on your entrance and licking all the way up to your clit, repeating the action as he falls into rhythm. Feeling yourself get increasingly wetter with each swipe of his tongue while your chest starts to rise and fall unevenly. 

Getting lost in the pleasure as your hips begin to buck when his tongue focuses on your clit, circling it before rapidly flicking against it causing something to ripple inside of you. He wraps his lips around the sensitive bud while his eyes look up in awe at the way you arch into him, your cries unleashing the might in him that had been forgotten for centuries as he sucks on your clit with more vehemence, needing to hear you sing for him louder. 

Increasing his movements as he begins to suck on your folds, the feeling of his lips messily fondling with yours sends chills across your skin as you slowly rock your hips along with him. Your hands reach for his where they rest on your hip bones as he easily opens them for you to tangle your fingers with his whilst he continues to increasingly devour your cunt. The wet smacking sounds of his lips clashing with the ones of the waterfall as you feel yourself get closer and closer to your release.

The sweet taste of your fluids on his tongue drove Bakugou into a frenzy, lapping and eating your cunt while whined grunts resonated from deep in his chest, the vibrations pushing you over the edge. Arching deeper into his touch as wanton moans escape your lips, white spots clouding your vision when he buries his face further into your cunt, nose rubbing on your clit while he drinks every last drop of your release, not stopping until he gets his fill. 

Parting from your cunt once your whines die down into heavy breaths, face stained with your fluids that he pays no mind to as he dives back in to place a tender kiss against your clit before trailing up to the tuft of hair, savoring your scent as he buries his nose in them again and runs his lips against them. Pulling your hairs between them, the slight tug making you peer down at him as you meet his eyes, filled with love and adoration mixed with something else, something more sinister and hungrier that hasn't been sated completely.

Watching as he presses a kiss to your hairs as well before continuing to trail them up your abdomen, never breaking eye contact as he reaches the valley of your breast. His hands untangle from yours as they glide against your sides to cup your boobs, shaking them in his grasp before capturing one of your pert nipples in his mouth. Swirling his tongue around it while he sucks them harder and slowly pulls back until it flicks out of his mouth with a wet slurp, to then switch and give the other nipple the same treatment. Alternating between both breasts as your whines encouraged him on, not stopping his ministrations until your chest was swollen and overstimulated, almost making you reach your climax once again but pulling away to edge you on as he continued to lay kisses against your chest before moving towards your neck. 

Shifting from tender to ravenous when he starts to mark your skin with his teeth, nipping across your throat until settling where your neck meets your shoulder. Feeling his tongue drag against your skin followed by a sloppy kiss before his teeth scrape your delicate skin, your cunt clenching in anticipation as you wait for him to finally give in to his desires. 

Bakugou could hear his heart beat loudly inside his ears as he began to sink his teeth in you, pressing down until the skin gave away against his force, the rush of blood drowning his taste buds making the loud beating cease into silence as his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

The mighty god had left the path of war behind a long time ago, but one's nature can’t be so easily avoided as the craving for disaster and vengeance haunted him at times from a period where the blood of his enemies would quench his skin, finding its way to his lips, reminding him what victory tastes like.

So as the savory metallic taste pours down his throat, he can't contain the groan that escapes him as a chill runs down his spine making him grind against you whilst your sweet cries pull him from his silence. Withdrawing from your skin to lap up the remaining rush of blood before cradling your face in his hand, holding your jaw firmly as he presses his lips to yours. Kissing you with such might you feel he could almost devour you through the kiss as the taste of your own blood mixing with each other's spit sends you both in a trance as you continue savoring it.

Bucking your hips to grind against his cock as his hips follow suit, beads of precum mixing with your arousal as he rubs his length between your folds whilst his tongue tangles with yours. Too engrossed in the kiss to pull away, you sneak your hand between your bodies and guide his cock to align with you as he slowly begins to sink into your cunt. The stretch of his cock sends a hot wave of pleasure down your back as your cunt sucks him in further, inch by inch as your fingers curl around ash blonde strands. 

Your breaths become labored as you part from each other, lips swollen and red as he fully sinks into your warmth. The grip from your silken walls forces him to brace himself as he places his arms next to your head to keep himself from collapsing when he feels his thighs twitch. Pressing his forehead to yours when his hips start to rock into you, slow and steady at first before gradually increasing his thrusts into a brutal pace that drives both of you into a babbling mess. 

Your wetness gushing messily, soaking the untamed strands of ash hair on his pelvis as they bounce against your own, before dribbling onto your skin causing it to spread in sticky strands every time his hips part from yours to snap against them again. Strangled moans mixing with the sloppy sounds of your bodies as the sensations become overwhelmingly good.

Tears threatening to spill from your eyes as you look up at him, trying your best to answer him when he asks you to tell him how good it feels between the curses in old tongue and heavy grunts that escape him. Responding to what feels like incoherent babbles as your mind melts away the more he pounds into your sloppy pussy. 

Bakugou could feel his balls twitch as he neared his release, but he needed you to come undone with him and make an even greater mess on his cock for him. Shifting his weight on one arm while the other gives your breast a quick tug before reaching between your bodies as he starts drawing quick circles against your clit with his thumb. Sending an electric shock of pleasure through your body as your breath gets stuck in your throat before you start coming apart. 

Squeezing around him hard as a flow of arousal gushes between your bodies as it stains both of you and leaks down into the soil beneath you. Your walls clenching around him mixed with the obscene sounds coming from your pussy sending him over the edge as well as he buries his cock to the hilt, filling you up as the hand on the side of your head tangles with your hair when yours tug harder at the one on his nape.

The tears finally spilling from your eyes as hot - impossibly hot - globs of creamy cum spill against your sultry cunt, searing your insides as you find yourself never wanting this moment to end, wishing to always be plugged full of the vengeful gods mighty cum. Feeling the final pulses of his cock inside you as his head falls down against your shoulder, smiling to yourself between heavy breaths at the wet feel of his ecstasy filled tears smearing against your skin but choosing not to say anything as he fully allows his weight on top of your whilst your arms wrap around him. 

Giggling at the soft lips pressing feather-light kisses on the side of your neck as they slowly trail up towards your lips, capturing them in a gentle kiss while his fingers caress your scalp where he previously had a grip on your hair.  

A cold breeze pulls you both from your trance as the rustling of the willow tree above you fills your ears, once again reminding of the remnants from the harsh winter as goosebumps erupt from your skin. You notice how the waterfall no longer has a rainbow flowing through it, indicating that the sun has already begun to set, and you need to return home quickly.

You've never stayed in the forest long enough to see nightfall, and the stag would always make sure to escort you back to the treeline safely before sunset, but today time had slipped from your hands and you began to worry. Bakugou is quick to notice your concern as he wraps his arms around your center to hold you close, burying his head in the crook of your neck again and taking a deep breath as he inhales your warm scent. 

“I have to leave”, you remind him but still reciprocate his actions by wrapping your arms around him again as you also hated the idea of having to depart from this moment. 

“Stay”, he whispers against your skin followed by a swipe of his tongue against the dried blood around the punctures on your neck. 

“There is nowhere for us to st-”, you began to dissent, but the forest god silenced you by quickly pulling you into a kiss once more. Grin on his features that you couldn't help but smile in return despite your disapproving eyes.

“I want to show you something”, he guides your legs to wrap around his waist before rising from the ground with you secured in his arms as he carries you through a path of the forest you hadn't explored before. The sun was already halfway past the mountains, making it hard to see, but just as you were about to express your concerns to him, a light in the corner of your eye caught your attention. A small blinking light followed by another until an entire cloud of dancing lights was illuminating your path.

After Ragnarök, it was rare to catch a glimpse of certain insects, fireflies being one of them, so seeing so many in one place had your jaw slack as you watched how they gracefully danced under the upcoming moonlight whilst they guided you through the forest. 

Bakugou kept walking through the field of thinning willow trees that started to morph into magnificent maple trees that even with only the dim light of the fireflies, you could vividly see their vibrant colors. These acer trees had also become a rarity after the great destruction, and the analgesic in their bark was of high command to aid as a remedy for some illnesses, which made you wonder why he hadn't shown you this part of the forest before. The stag had always granted you access to all the rare medicinal flora found in these lands so you found it odd that he kept this area hidden from you. 

Your confusion only grew more as you made your way deeper into the darker trails of the maples, where the path seemed to end by a sealed corridor blocked off with an impenetrable wall of large roots and maple leaves.

“Blómi”, you hear Bakugou whisper as the sound of creaking wood follows, watching as the roots begin to untangle from each other and the leaves falls to the ground revealing a path of lit stones descending into a large garden with a great abundance of flowers, leading towards a large structure. 

Your jaw fell slack again, as you wouldn't have imagined  that this is where the silent god kept his palace, nor that such a vibrant area filled with such sublime greatness of nature could be hidden amid the sacred gloom of the maples. Bakugou couldn't help but smile as he carried you through his garden whilst you stared in complete enchantment, filled with joy that he could finally share his greatest treasures with you. 

The inside of the palace was equally as marvelous as the outside and had a beautiful golden fountain at the very center with small creeks that led to other corridors of the palace, ones you couldn't wait to explore once daylight came again. As for now, the mighty god was still carrying you towards what you could only imagine were his chambers as he ascended the grand staircase near the main entryway. Revealing an archway adorned with flowy white curtains that led inside his bedchamber where he set you down on the spacious bed at the center of the room. The bedding was soft and cozy as you sink deeper into the comfort of them, noticing how the moon sat perfectly above the palace where you had a clear view through the sunroof above the bed.

“Hí, elska”, you heard Bakugou whisper next to you, offering you a coconut shell filled with water. 

“Takk!”, you smile while grabbing the shell and drinking from it, finishing its contents before settling back down on the bed as a yawn escapes you, sleep finally catching up to you after such a fulfilling day. Settling against his chest whilst Bakugou worked his fingers through some of the tangles bathing earlier might have caused.

“God natt, ásynja mín”, he boasts, a grin spreading at your widened eyes looking up at him. 

“Ásynja?”, you ask, unsure if you heard him correctly to which he only nods in return as you match his smile. 

“Yes, ásynja mín, for everything I own is now yours as well”, he adds while nodding towards the room, confirming that he meant the palace and everything within his forest was now yours to rule alongside him for eternity. 

And you couldn't be happier as you drift off to sleep against the god’s chest, neither could him as he placed a gentle kiss against your forehead before peering up at the moon. Asking his father if he was watching as he finally found the one with whom his soul delights in after many years of hard battles, he has completed the prophecy he set for himself all those winters ago when he met you, now with a content smile as he buried his nose in your head, excited for what the future awaits as the rulers of Landvidi.

[aethon-recs]

Hullo!!

Thank you for all the great tomarry fic recs you have given to us!! Your recs are always the best and I love them all..🩷🩷

Do you have any Tomarry fics where Harry somehow time travels to the past where Tom is still in his Hogwarts years ?? And Harry becomes the transfer/new student and gets sorted into Slytherin??

I hope I'm not being too specific.. honestly, just any fic where Harry and Tom both go to Hogwarts!!

Thank you🩷🩷

- rioo xxx

Hi there! Thank you for your kind words 🤍

Here's a selection of fics featuring Harry and Tom attending Hogwarts together in the 1940s.

There's 23 fics in the list below, covering 1.7 million words, so hopefully there's some fics in here you haven't come across before! Happy reading!

*

Hogwarts 1940s-era Tomarrymort Recs

A Future Without a Face by @dividawrites (E, 115k, complete)

Tom Riddle is a gifted teen with a personality disorder. He’s going to rule the world one day. Harry Potter is an extremely angry transfer student, or at least that’s what Tom believes.

And the Living Will Envy the Dead by @k-s-morgan (M, 81k, WIP)

When Harry looks at Tom, he feels overwhelmed. There is a spark that makes him hopeful, the fear that nothing he does will save Tom from himself, and the horror at what his lies might lead to. When Tom looks at Harry, he feels nothing. Until he does, and then Harry’s world starts drowning in blood.

At the end of every road by @sass-y-squatch (M, 90k, complete)

In which Harry is determined to prevent Voldemort's rise, even if he has to stalk, bribe, threaten, and marry Tom Riddle to do it.

But For You, I Did by @duplicitywrites (M, 21k, complete)

When 11-year-old Tom Riddle finally arrives at Platform 9 and ¾, he meets fifth-year Prefect Harry Evans, a Muggleborn Slytherin at the top of his year. Harry is everything that Tom wants to be—Harry knows exactly what it’s like to be special, intelligent, and have no one understand you. 

Custodarium by Tina48 (E, 73k, complete)

The war is over, and the Wizarding Britain has been slowly rising from the ashes. Harry just wishes none of it ever happened – what will he do when he’s given a chance to change the past? Was Dumbledore right about “the power he knows not” after all?

Devil's Hour by @exarite (E, 3k, complete)

Harry traveled back to Riddle's time with the intention to kill him, but it's been months and he's done nothing. Instead, night after night, Tom visits him in his bed. Harry lets him.

Embryo by @cannibalinc (NR, 28k, WIP)

While others only gossip about Grindelwald and dutifully prepare for their NEWTs, Tom is building an empire. He has painstakingly clawed his way to the top of his generation’s elite, and now he wants more—more power, more delights, more magic than has ever been explored before. That is Tom’s destiny, a King among men. No—a god. He need only rise to that which is his for the taking… if only one strange boy weren’t so determined to get in his way.

Enoument by @accipitae (M, 22k, complete)

Call if fate, call it destiny, call it getting hit by a car at five years old and flung into the past to land naked and bruised on the steps of Wool's Orphanage in 1931. Whatever it is, Harry grows up not in a cupboard under the stairs but in a small room shared with another strange boy.

Fate Granted by Flipdarkchill (M, 60k, WIP)

When a young Tom Riddle demands a friend in the middle of the night, he did not truly expect anything to happen. At least, not right away...

Game On, Your Move by @perhaps-sunlight (T, 75k, complete)

Be on guard, my Lord, writes Abraxas Malfoy, the new transfer student intends to kill you. Except Abraxas has terrible penmanship, and 'kill' and 'kiss' look awfully similar in shoddy cursive. Naturally, things escalate. A lot.

good night, darling by @purplemineralwater (E, 141k, WIP)

Harry's breath faltered. It was all so confusing... Harry had died. He had died and spoken to Death and suddenly he was standing in Hogwarts, in 1942, and the Sorting Hat had just pronounced him Slytherin.

Holly & Yew by @lovely-lotus (M, 236k, WIP)

After a bout of accidental magic when Harry is six, Vernon goes too far. When Harry wakes up, he is gravely wounded and more than fifty years in the past in another world. After some shuffling, Harry ends up at Wool's. There, he meets Tom Riddle, his mysterious roommate, eventual best friend, and the love of his life.

Infinite by @duplicitywrites (E, 8k, complete)

Harry and his twin brother Tom have the same mark. The same soulmate. Whoever their soulmate is, wherever they may be, they will go to Tom. Tom, however, has other plans.

nothing left to lose by @cindle-writes (E, 11k, complete)

Harry got to have Tom’s cock inside him anytime he wanted, but all he really wanted was Tom’s soul back inside of him.

Of Monsters, Of Men by @ca-xan-dra (M, 144k, WIP)

Harry’s first memory at Wool’s Orphanage is of Tom Riddle. He thinks Tom Riddle makes many exceptions for him. (He’s right.)

Promises, Promises by @mosiva (E, 72k, complete)

Harry, stuck in the past and trying to navigate Slytherin House with Tom Riddle at its head, is hit with a memory-loss spell. An unhappy accident, as the ever-friendly Tom Riddle is on hand to tell him.

Reckless Cartography by @meles-merrivale (M, 9k, WIP)

Just because someone is the love of your life doesn’t mean they’re good for you. And just because someone’s bad for you doesn’t mean you get to walk away. Featuring Harry and Tom attending Hogwarts together and slowly ruining each other’s lives.

Stab Right Through by @the-wig-is-a-metaphor (M, 82k, WIP)

Getting lost in old memories is a dangerous thing for anyone, but in Harry's case the whole situation is slightly more literal than usual, and—as it always tends to be—much, much worse.

Subjective by IceLynx (G, 1.5k, complete)

While Harry thinks Tom is extremely handsome, nobody else does. Most think Tom is rather average. Harry refuses to admit it and is forced to defend his opinion.

tautological by @cindle-writes (E, 7k, complete)

It had taken Tom quite a bit of trial and error to figure out how, but he had finally worked out how to exploit their shared horcrux connection and send Harry false visions and dreams. For a few weeks now, Harry had been waking up every morning to a rush of pleasure, soaked pajama bottoms, and Tom’s name a broken moan on his lips.

Terrible, But Great by @isalisewrites (M, 143k, WIP)

When Death gives Harry a third option, one that can save everyone he ever cared about, he takes it unflinchingly. Even when that means doing the impossible: falling in love with the enemy, Tom Riddle.

Vespertine by @itsevanffs (E, 24k, WIP)

Harry only blooms at night; Tom can see this much.

What Souls Are Made Of by Emeralds_and_Lilies (E, 278k, complete)

A mysterious object in Bellatrix's vault sends Harry, Ron and Hermione spinning into the past and to a Hogwarts like none they know. Posing as students, Harry catches the eye of the Head Boy, Tom Riddle, who is nothing like the Voldemort of the future. He's charming and sly and manipulative; both brilliant and deadly.

*

[theamityelf]

i am eating and chewing your yandere content, its so good, i love it so so much, if youre still taking requests maybe some yandere mukuro and naegi? I always think there's a lot of potential there but there's not a lot of content for it

Oh, I love it. I need to pick what time period I'm going with...

----

It didn't take much.

A smile, a greeting. Asking about her opinions and experiences. The time he asked if she needed help carrying her bag (and she had to run away because if he came any closer he would notice the smell of blood coming from inside it), the time he asked her if she was coming to lunch (and she blushed so badly, Junko later said her face looked like one big zit). Or maybe it was nothing to do with her at all; maybe it was because of how he was with everyone else, or how they were with him.

Maybe it was even as simple as the fact that she was used to traveling light, used to picking a few things she could carry and disregarding everything else.

She could carry him easily.

"Uh, Mukuro?" he said. "Are you okay?"

Right, she'd been staring. He'd taken the time to ask her if she wanted to join his group for ice cream after school, and she was being weird.

How embarrassing. She was definitely blushing again, now.

Well, it wasn't like that mattered. She was weird. She was socially inept and ugly and useless, and none of that mattered. Because the world was going to end soon, anyway. Maizono or Kirigiri could take him to a school dance, but Mukuro could pull him from the school before it turned into a warzone.

"Go on without me," she finally said. "I need to discuss something with Junko."

"Oh, okay. See you tomorrow!" Makoto and his friends vacated the classroom, leaving only...the 'despair sisters'.

Junko was sitting in her seat, filing her nails. Mukuro walked over to her and just stood there, waiting to be acknowledged. There was no doubt that her sister already knew everything she was feeling. She always did.

"Well?" Junko eventually said, her eyes meeting Mukuro's with cool amusement. "Are you too scared to ask, or do you just love wasting my time, skank?"

"I'm not scared," Mukuro answered. She did have a heightened awareness of the seriousness of this situation, but what she felt wasn't fear. "And...I'm also not asking."

"Gadzooks! Could it be that the worm has grown a spine?!"

"He can easily be spared from the plan. We don't need him in order to do what we intend to do."

"No sh!t, dumb*ss! The despair doesn't kick in when it's fvcking necessary!"

"The despair doesn't kick in if the plan doesn't happen, either." Mukuro's fingernails bit into her palms, as she forcibly steeled her tone and held her sister's gaze. She'd never threatened disobedience like that before. "You have everyone else in the class. You have me. You don't need him. Really, for a guy like him to keep his memories and watch them die that way...it would be more despairful than losing his memories and getting killed in the first or second round without understanding anything."

"So. You're suggesting he languishes in the data center while the killing game plays out, then you collect him in your nasty little arms once it's all over? Once the world is in ashes and there's no one else to love but you?"

"Essentially, yes."

Junko's lips curved. "And what's your contingency plan for how he'll react to knowing your designs for him?"

"He won't know about it until it happens."

And Junko's expression went blank, as though she found Mukuro's answer terribly boring. She rolled her eyes. "Fvcking atrocious. I can't even hint with you. Hey, Ultimate Soldier. You didn't secure your perimeter. Kind of a rookie mistake, dontcha think?"

"What?"

She dipped her head to the side, indicating a desk a few seats away where a familiar composition book lay open. "He forgot his notebook, smart*ss."

Mukuro wheeled around and heard a gasp from the doorway, and then retreating footsteps.

She broke into a sprint. Naturally, she was able to catch him, hand-gag him, and drag him into an unoccupied classroom before he could even think to yell.

Makoto's ineffectual squirming, his kicking and his elbowing, his growling and his vain attempts to speak...Mukuro was sure that she was blushing again, as she allowed more of her body to touch his than was strictly necessary to subdue him.

She was restricting his airflow, so he was going to pass out very shortly. And then she would have to contend with her sister. But for now...

"H-Hi," she said awkwardly, as he struggled in her arms. "Um, sorry. Sorry that I, uh...If I'd known that this would happen, I would've laid down a rug here. And maybe worn some perfume. I mean, I guess you can't breathe anyway..."

Fortunately, Makoto lost consciousness before she could say anything else.

She let go of him, so she could watch him slide out of her arms and rest on the tiles, all helpless. She took stock of what he must have overheard. Jeez, she must have sounded like such a pathetic, lovesick...

She heard Junko coming before the door moved. Immediately, she positioned herself defensively in front of him. Her sister was not allowed to kill him. That was the one thing in the world she wasn't allowed to do.

"Well, this is a clusterfvck, isn't it?" Junko deadpanned. "I guess not much of a cluster. It's just him. This one tripping hazard of a guy. I could just bite his little cheeks."

"I've never asked you for anything. Just him."

"Au contraire! You're not asking, remember? Where did that spine go? Did your body reabsorb it?"

"I-"

"This is boring. Take him to your dorm room, keep him there. I'll figure out what to do about this, as always. Can you manage an iota of stealth this time, you troll?"

Mukuro's heart soared. "Yes. Thank you."

"Oh, shut up. Out of my sight."

She princess-carried him to her room.

----

(I thought about making Kyoko the one who overheard, but the outcome there would be too similar to the Yandere Taka one.)

[ww2yaoi]

[Here's another taste of my so far untitled webgott fic because I feel like sharing but know finishing the fic is going to take a while longer so enjoy...]

The sun is beginning to set when David finally rises from his chair, eyes stinging from staring at a blank page for so long. He closes his notebook, grabs a towel, then starts down the winding pathway from the hotel to the lake.

Thankfully, no one’s at the dock when he gets there. The horizon is bathed in burnt orange light, slowly dimming as the sun settles between the mountain peaks in the distance. The air is a bit too cool for a swim, but David enjoys the breeze as it bites at his skin. Anything to draw him out of his thrumming head, to distract him from the lacuna in his sternum, aching with oblivion.

He strips all the way, wanting nothing between him and the water, and dives into the lake. The cold water hits him like a grenade blast, roaring past his ears and soaking him deep to the bone. When David was a child, spending summers away from school on East Coast beaches, he used to see how long he could hold his breath underwater. He would revel in frightening his mother when his head failed to emerge from the waves for minutes at a time. He liked it down there. It was quiet, and he could imagine himself coming from a different world, somewhere unknown and endless where he was better understood, inexplicable like the ocean but loved for his inexplicability all the same.

In the present, David holds his breath until his lungs sting and his head feels fuzzy. Eyes closed, he welcomes the black, embraces the stillness surrounding him. Then, he emerges, gasping, droplets beading like pearls at the ends of his hair. His eyes flutter open, and the first thing he sees is the bottom of a jump boot resting at the edge of the dock. David follows the line of the attached leg to the face peering over at him.

Joe is lounging there with an elbow propped up behind him. He nurses a cigarette, the cherry burning tangerine between his pursed lips. His paratrooper jacket is opened to reveal the clean white of his undershirt, his Magen David glinting around his neck in the dying sunlight.

“Thought you were never gonna come back up for air,” Joe says and the smoke he exhales conceals his pinched expression.

David is surprised to see him. He stands up in the water, toes nestling in the wet sand. Luckily, the waterline comes up to his waist, hiding his nakedness.

“How long have you been sitting there?” he asks.

“Long enough to wonder if you’d fucking drowned,” Joe says, scowling.

“What are you doing here?” David replies. He crosses his arms over his bare chest, feeling oddly exposed underneath the razor’s edge of Joe’s gaze. “I thought you were avoiding me.”

“I was,” Joe admits. His eyes flick downwards. “I heard about Janovec. Chuck says you were there.”

News travels fast; David frowns. “So what? You here to blame me for it?”

Joe’s eyebrows furrow. “Jesus, Web. Why the fuck would I blame you?”

David shrugs. “I don’t know, Joe. You blame me for a lot of things.”

Joe smirks, a disparate concoction of amusement and irritation that David has memorized on his face a thousand times before. He takes another drag of his cigarette and taps ash into the water. It floats on the surface like flakes of pepper in a bowl of tomato soup.

“Yeah, Web, like what?”

David meets his eyes, unwilling to back down. “Well, for one, you blame me for getting wounded in Holland. You blame me for missing Bastogne. You blame me for not killing a man just because you asked me to—”

“He was a fucking Nazi,” Joe spits, expression hardening. “He deserved to die.”

“Maybe so,” David volleys back. “But the war is over, Joe. Why bloody our hands? Where does this end for you?”

“Until they fucking pay.”

“Yeah, who? Who pays? Millions of people are complicit. Are you going to kill half the population of Germany?”

Joe goes quiet at that, fiddling with his cigarette between his thumb and index finger. His silence simmers with anger and something else, something somber and oppressive, and David realizes he much prefers his open-mouthed rage to this. The only time he’s seen Joe this short for words was after Landsberg, and the last thing David wants is a repeat of that.

It makes him think back to the German baker whose throat he held a gun to. Sometimes, when he closes his eyes, he can feel the weight of the pistol in his hand, his finger inching closer and closer to the trigger. Sometimes, in his dreams, he pulls it. He never told Joe what happened that day. Maybe Joe would say he should have done it.

“You want to go home, right?” David adds quietly. “Leave all this behind?”

Joe says nothing. By now, the sun has dipped behind the mountainscape, painting everything in a spectral blue. A gust of wind whips across the lake, casting ripples through the water, and David shudders slightly. Goosebumps pimple his arms.

“Come on,” Joe says, beckoning him with the tilt of his head. “Get out of the water, Web. You’re shivering.”

“Okay,” David says, but heat blooms on the back of his neck. “You might want to look away though.”

“Why?”

“I’m naked, Lieb.”

Joe snorts and smoke pours out his nose. “What? You ashamed of that tiny, uncut dick of yours?”

David rolls his eyes. “It’s not tiny.”

“Well, it’s hard to see with all that hair on you.”

“You’ve been looking?”

“Jesus Christ,” Joe says. “Come on. We’ve showered together. It’s nothing I haven’t seen.”

“Suit yourself.”

David wades over to the edge of the dock and pulls himself up out of the water, getting to his feet. He reaches for the towel by his discarded clothes, keeping his eyes trained on the tree line in front of him, knowing full well if he glances over at Joe and sees him looking he’ll flush from head to toe. David wraps the towel around his waist and sits down beside him on the dock, pale legs outstretched and freckled with lake water.

They look out at the horizon and David feels the distance stretching between them, like he and Joe are the twin but separate mountain peaks piercing the dusky sky miles ahead. Joe finishes his cigarette and butts it out on the dock, leaving a scorch mark on the wood. He tosses it into the water and it floats for a moment on the surface before being swept under by a wave.

“Hell,” Joe says after a while, his voice low. “What the fuck do I have to go home to?”

David snaps his head to look at him. “What are you talking about?” he says.

“Nothing.” Joe looks sullen, chin tucked towards his chest. “Forget it.”

“What about your job at the cab company?” David asks. “The Jewish girl with the big tits? What about your family?”

Joe scoffs. “Yeah? What the fuck am I gonna say to them? What am I gonna tell my ma?”

“You tell them whatever you want to tell them,” David says. “That you’re a war hero, that you saved Western civilization as we know it.”

Joe laughs, a bitter, leery thing. “You don’t really believe that, do you?”

David shrugs. He doesn’t know what he thinks anymore, about the war, about the things he’s done, the things he’s seen. Sometimes he lies awake at night and wonders how his life might be different, if in some version of history the right politicians had shaken hands and all this destruction and bloodshed had been avoided. Joe would still be driving his cab around Frisco, maybe he’d have a wife and a home and children to fill it, and David would be back at Harvard, studying Tolstoy and Flaubert and writing his novel. They never would have met except in this ravaged and desolate place. They would have no reason to relate to one another, vastly different men from vastly different backgrounds, situated on disparate coasts on opposite sides of the country.

David doesn’t believe in fate, or predestination, or whatever the poets call it, but there’s an inevitability to it all, that David would find his way to Easy, to Joe. He’s not even sure if they’re friends, but since Joe lifted him up into that truck in Haguenau, he’s felt drawn into Joe’s orbit. If David’s being honest with himself, he’s never fit in well with the guys of Easy. Not really. They tolerate him, sure, but they never seek him out, not like Joe does. David has never fit in anywhere, not at HQ before his transfer, not at Harvard, not even in his own goddamn family. Without Joe, without his ardour and annoying persistence, it’d be like being lost at sea.

David is pulled out of his thoughts when he feels a knobby finger jab him in the leg. He looks down and sees that Joe is poking him in the calf where the Kraut bullet pierced his skin in Holland, just barely missing the bone. The scar there is pink and mottled, the flesh raised and twisted like the mark on Joe’s neck.

“Hey, quit it,” David says and drags his leg away from Joe’s touch.

Joe leans back on his elbows, smirking. “So that’s the million-dollar wound.”

David glares at him. “If it was a million-dollar wound I’d be home by now,” he says. “And I’m still fucking here, aren’t I?”

Something softens in Joe’s expression, and if David didn’t know any better he might mistake it for fondness.

“That you are, Web. That you are.”

[not-poignant]

Birthday Spotlight - Ash Glashtyn

[27th February - Pisces]

Ash Glashtyn, the fun-loving, cheerful, highly-sadistic and hypersexual Unseelie waterhorse from the canon Fae Tales series, adopted brother of Augus Each Uisge, and eater of humans, has been a beloved and then polarising character among readers. He's been a star in a couple of stories, but mostly he exists as a comedic, sexual, dangerous foil to his composed, sinister brother.

Ash Glashtyn is a monster who is ashamed of being a monster, but when he's a human, he normally has way less internalised issues with himself, and just wants to make the most out of life! He lives big, loves travel, loves everyone, but doesn't want any romantic relationships out of life. This boy will fuck everyone, and finds everyone stunning and beautiful and worthy of his time, but he's solidly aromantic and isn't planning on sexually cohabiting with anyone (with the exception of Strange Sights and The Wildness Within!)

An unlikely mediator, annoyingly charming, human loving, relentlessly curious, intensely protective, and appreciator of the sensual, Ash is one of the most 'human' of the Fae characters, and I've been happy to have him by my side for over ten years.

I’m a mess . . . I don’t even know. I’m not made for all this high political bullshit. I’m not made for any of it, Augus. I’m just some dude, you know? Just some guy. I’ve been waiting for things to go back to normal ever since you went missing.

The Court of Five Thrones

Shadows and Light - (fanfiction) First mentioned in From the Darkness We Rise, and his first official appearance in Into Shadows We Fall, Ash was a beloved character early on despite being on the enemy side and loving the worst villain in the story. An affable and obvious victim who just wanted the best for his brother, Ash struggled to come to terms with the fact that his brother needed to be defeated, and was vital in securing the win/victory for the good guys, even as it meant ruining himself in the process.

The Wildness Within - (AU) The truly sane part of an OT3 featuring Augus, Gwyn and Ash, Ash managed to keep his brother grounded, get Gwyn out of shackles, stop Gwyn from running away in the human realm, and keep Augus from losing his mind when the Raven Prince kept throwing obstacles into their path. Ash was the compass point that kept them on the path to their true north in this story, and we'd not have the relationship we have between them, or the happy ending, without him!

From the Darkness We Rise - (fanfiction) Mentioned only.

Game Theory - (canon) Ash's first canon appearance is also an intense one. The first time we meet him he is drugged out of his mind, the second time he loathes Gwyn, and is drunk, and the third time he punches Gwyn hard enough in the face to break his cheekbone.

The Court of Five Thrones - (canon) Ash works on a book called 'how to lose friends and my brother by trying to be so overprotective while not listening to anyone.'

The Ice Plague I - (canon) Ash, having reconciled with Gwyn, joins the ensemble cast as Julvia's unlikely protector, and a watchful, compassionate eye on the group.

The Ice Plague II - (canon) Ash, starving into insanity like his brother, Augus, doesn't have a good time.

The Ice Plague III - (canon) We learn Ash's heartsong as he loses it, and meet the Glashtyn for the first time. Not a fun guy, it turns out! Or super fun actually, if you like songs about rape and torture. Which the Glashtyn does!

The Wildness Within - (AU) An OT3 of Ash/Augus/Gwyn, Ash here is his waterhorse self, and this story imagines a world where Augus saves Gwyn from his family, and he and his brother learn how to deal with a semi nonverbal torture victim, and become an unlikely polyamorous triad.

Quid Pro Quo - (AU) Gwyn/Ash. A mostly PWP series of Gwyn finding Ash in the human world, and being coerced-persuaded into sex that has a lot of overstimulation. A lot of hurt/comfort and aftercare moments.

Strange Sights - (AU) Ash/Augus. The 'Ash rapes Augus and nearly ruins their entire relationship' one that features dark!Ash and vulnerable!Augus. This one is probably one of the darker longfics I've written, and it's the only story I've thought about deleting. Eventually I decided not to, and I still think it has some of the most beautiful writing in it. A lot of Ash perspective, for people who enjoy that!

The Shaking Shape of You - (AU) Augus/Ash oneshot, in the world of The Wildness Within. This one's porn, folks.

Tumblr Prompts - Fae Tales - (AU and canon) Ash is in a couple of these! In one, he's an unlikely companion while they all go grocery shopping in the human realm, in another, Augus reads to Ash.

Unwound - (canon) Part of the ensemble cast here, his best chapter is the one where he gets Gwyn high on marijuana and Gwyn gets the munchies.

The Ash and Gwyn Interludes - (canon) Chapters where Gwyn and Ash work to reconcile between the events of The Court of Five Thrones and The Ice Plague. Features rare Ash canon POV chapters.

Ten Minutes and Ten Minutes More - (AU) A Mosk/Eran PWP oneshot where Ash gives Eran 'advice' on how to basically sexually assault Mosk. He has black hair in this one, and looks as sinister and dangerous as his brother.

The Augus and Ash Interludes - (AU) Written in 2013, these started off as canon and some quickly became not canon. But features very sweet or silly or angsty moments between Augus and Ash.

Tumblr Prompts - Fae Tales AUs - (AU) I don't actually remember these O.O Very 'I have no memory of this place' Gandalf quote.

When the Tables Turn - (AU) Augus/Ash, Ash is a detective who decides he wants to rail drug trafficker and crimelord Augus Each Uisge. I never finished this, but it was fun

The Best of Broken Resolutions - (AU) The Architect AU (Gwyn/Augus), in which Ash is a member of a band, and gets way too drunk and manages to make his presence known even in this story.

Salt Water - (AU) Ash/Augus. An 11k Id Fic with magical healing cock. Augus is raped by Stertes (yes, that one), and Ash fucks him better e.e

The Day the Ferris Wheel Came Down - (AU) Before Spoils of the Spoiled even existed, I played with the idea of a high school AU here!

Underline the Silver - (AU) An upcoming Augus/Corbyn Prince omegaverse story, where Ash will at the very least be mentioned.

A fun-loving, booze-loving, human-loving, upbeat-appearing quick-thinker, who always looks on the bright side, is ready to back a friend.

Pansexual, aromantic, and loves everyone. Enjoys sex and making connections, but also is happy to move on and make more going forward.

Loves his brother so much. SO much. Too much? He'd say there's no such thing!

Memes

If cheerful emo manifested into a human person

Redheads have all the fun

What? The cheerful guy sometimes has some deep-seated issues that he's not really talking to anyone about? O.O

Most memorable in the canon for his internal conflict around eating humans but needing to eat them. He loves humans so much that he spends most of his time living with them, something Augus and most Unseelie fae view unfavourably.

An unlikely friend of the Nain Rouge!

If he's going to be attracted to another core Fae Tales character, it's going to be his brother first, and Gwyn second, but only in the AUs.

Getting himself half-killed by The Raven Prince

Betraying his brother to save his brother's life, and that creating bitterness between them.

Using pop culture references around Fae who are all talking like Victorians.

This guy can fit so much alcohol in him!

Betraying Gwyn, but not to save Gwyn's life. The mutiny in The Court of Five Thrones goes down as the biggest turning point for his character in the entire canon.

Ash always has auburn hair except in a single oneshot AU, Ten Minutes and Ten Minutes More.

Always cheerful, and that cheerfulness always hides a darker and more sexual side.

Fucks - does he ever fuck

Kinks are always some variety of overstimulation and overwhelming his partners with pleasure.

Curious about people

Protective over those he perceives as vulnerable, including the humans he eats in the canon!

Ash was initially conceived as a foil to the idea that 'all Unseelie fae are evil' in the same way that Crielle was conceived as a foil to the idea that 'all Seelie fae are pure and good.'

Ash Glashtyn's personality is based on actual folktales connected to the Glashtyn. He has been described as capable of great good and great harm, but he's also been described as a waterhorse capable of extreme evil and sadism. He's actually considered more sadistic than the Each Uisge, which I kept as a trait. In fact there is one story where the Glashtyn in human form stabbed long pins and needles into unsuspecting children and women through their buttocks, breasts and other fleshy parts.

The reason Ash looks the way he does was part of a complex storyline that never came together, which frustrates me, but otherwise Ash and Augus would look very similar so I needed something to differentiate them more easily! Plus I really loved the idea of a character who doesn't look immediately kind of 'dark and forbidding.'

Ash has been one of the most polarising characters. During the Shadows and Light era, most people loved him intensely. During the Game Theory era, people became split. People who never read SAL generally hated him until the very end of The Court of Five Thrones.

Ash's heartsong was a secret that only Augus knew for almost a decade. Even I didn't know it for a little while. I always told myself and others that the only time we'd all learn what it was, was when he lost it. When I knew what it was, I told everyone it began with an A. Only one person out of about 100 guesses got it right. :D

I mean, we’re not dead or being actively tortured so it’s like…prospects aren’t all bad.

The Ice Plague II

[captainsimagines]

pretty woman, this is me trying || one

Summary: Bucky Barnes does not like to be touched. He’s completely ready to live a distant life and give up when the time is right. Until Stark hires him his own personal pretty woman. Over time, Bucky Barnes begins to learn how to touch again. How to feel again. How to love himself again.

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female SexWorker!Reader

Trope(s): Holiday Fanfic ; Slow-Burn ; Friends to Lovers

Based on the Song(s): sweet nothing by Taylor Swift and Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls

(1/14)

Mini-Series / AO3 Link

Warnings: PTSD themes; past sexual abuse (Hydra); strong language; panic attacks; nightmares

Word Count: 2,950+

Author’s Note: A holiday fanfic! You know I couldn’t leave you all hanging! I’m excited for this one. I know it deals with a lot more heavy situations, but I wanted to write something angsty/romantic. PLUS, I wrote this in 3 days so I’m sorry if it’s bad lol

I hope I do you justice. Love you all. xxMoni

~

     Bucky Barnes did not like to be touched.

He did not shake hands, he did not hug, he did not do well with even the slightest brush of someone’s body. The faintest of touches froze him. Paralyzed in the faint sensation. Memories of harsh hands and machines, demented laughter and sedated foreplay, echoed through his mind.

The only person he allowed to touch him when necessary was Steve, and even then Bucky had to remind himself that it was his best friend. The size of Steve’s body was not a danger. The command of his voice was for safety only, and not to order him to strip. The friendly claps on the back were meant to ease Bucky into the world, not to bend him over from behind.

Sometimes he believed he was getting better. Mornings were beautiful, food tasted great, and everyone greeted him with a smile. On those special days, Bucky's heart filled with hope. Hope he could sit in close proximity to someone else, hope he could travel outside the compound and not rely on his super soldier skills, hope he could get out of his head for one second.

But when someone entered a room too loudly, or when he was forced to physically fight an enemy—those special days crumbled to ash, now cruel illusions that sent Bucky on a downward spiral. A spiral Steve usually had to coax him out of with gentle words, words that scarily resembled begging.

So Bucky has given up on trying to fit in. On trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel. On trying to feel human again.

And fuck all that bullshit about being human was to feel pain.

Pain was not a good emotion, and it was mean to give it relevance to the human condition.

It wasn’t an emotion every human had to suffer in order to be considered living. It was an emotion that was cruel and unforgiving and completely, completely exhausting.

If Bucky Barnes had to live his life without touch again, then so be it. If he had to step out of a room to calm his nerves with the repetition of his tapping fingers, then so be it. He did not want to feel trapped, or abused, or ridiculed ever again. He did not believe in soft touches or love making anymore.

First, the war stole his boyhood.

Then the Swiss Alps stole his life.

And Hydra stole his dignity.

His time with Hydra had been documented to horrible extremes. Extremes Bucky was certain were going to be plastered on media outlets and history books. But he had discovered one night, while on a solo-mission to the compound’s lounge, that those theories were unlikely.

Because he had found Tony Stark and Natalia Romanov scouring every database and paper trail about his torture… and completely destroying it. With help from Jarvis, Bucky’s recorded nightmares were erased. Washed out. Encrypted, set on fire, and utterly gone.

Neither Tony or Natalia ever spoke to him of it. He assumed Stark was simply avoiding an awkward conversation, and that he didn’t exactly do good with such rough topics. Natalia did write down the number of her therapist for him.

He threw the piece of paper away.

And on nights like these, he really wished he hadn’t.

Bucky curled up in his thin bedsheets and clutched them close, willing his body to stop sweating. He tried to touch his knees to his chest but he was too large. If he could feel pressure there, then he could fall asleep. If there was added pressure to his back, then the sleep would be immaculate.

He turned and piled the pillows high, setting them behind his back. The coldness of the cotton seeped into his skin, instantly relaxing him. He clutched a throw pillow to his chest and pressed it down, counting by even numbers.

Pressure, a sequence, and breathing.

He could tell by the bright white light shining through his curtains that it was still night. No light that bright could be anything but the moon. That was a reassuring constant for him.

“Shall I ring for Captain Rogers, Sergeant Barnes?” Jarvis whispered over the speakers in Bucky’s room.

Jarvis’s random voice didn’t scare Bucky anymore. At first, it had caused Bucky to spring into a full blown panic attack. But as time went on and Jarvis continued to speak with him randomly, at odd times, Bucky’s body got used to it. Expected it.

“No, Jarvis. I’m good.”

Jarvis hummed, pausing a little before saying, “Let me know if you need anything.”

Bucky didn’t respond. He never took Jarvis up on that offer anyway.

He curled further into his mound of sheets and pillows and shut his eyes, forcing himself into a dreamless sleep.

He succeeded in sleeping, but relived memories twice over in the dark.

~

    “Twenty bucks says you don’t ask her,” Steve declared, pulling his wallet from his coat.

Wanda giggled from behind the kitchen counter, pouring coffee into her impossibly large mug. Pietro saddled up beside her, stealing the mug for himself.

Sam clicked his tongue. “Bet. I’ll do it today after dinner.”

Steve scoffs, “Fuck off. Another twenty says you won’t have the balls to ask until next week.”

Bucky snickered as he looked between his two friends. He sat with his left leg bent so he could rest his chin on his knee, comfortable enough to be casual this morning. He sipped at his hot chocolate, grateful Wanda gave him one of the festive mugs. It was December 1st, after all.

“After dinner,” Sam promised, slapping his own twenty onto the dining table.

Wanda leaned forward and snatched the money for herself. “I’ll keep this bet safe for the time being.”

“You think she’ll say yes?” Bucky asked, overly curious.

Sam asking Natasha to the annual Avengers Christmas ball? Yeah, right.

Sam puffed out his chest, his smile wide. “I’ll bet more money, Barnes. That’s how confident I am.”

Steve rolled his eyes. He finally picked up his fork and dug into his eggs. With his mouth full, he said, “If you think you know Romanoff, you don’t.”

It was Sam’s turn to roll his eyes. “Like I said, Cap. I’m confident about this.”

“Well, I think that’s a good attitude to have,” Pietro commented, sitting down beside Steve with own full plate of eggs and bacon. “And when it all crashes and fails, we get to be the ones to tell you ‘I told you so!’”

Sam flung a piece of bacon across the table, cursing Pietro’s name.

Bucky watched it all unfold, feeling both inside and outside the circle at once. He was a part of the conversation, but he still felt benched. His body would lurch forward on its own accord and try to join in—maybe to thump Pietro on the back of the head, slap Steve on the back, grab a mug of coffee from Wanda’s delicate hands.

It was funny, really. Being afraid of Wanda’s hands because of his own history and not because of the power she held within them.

He was both included, and not. There, and nowhere. Inside his head but forcing himself to step out of it. Dissociating for too long until the conversation was on another topic entirely.

Jarvis’s voice snapped them from their play fighting. “Sergeant Barnes, Sir has asked me to tell you that he would like your opinion on something.”

Bucky grumbled, drinking from his hot chocolate. “What does he want?”

“Oh, that’s the wonder of standing up and finding out for yourself, isn’t it, Sergeant Barnes?”

Sam howled, nearly choking on his last piece of bacon. “Jarvis really is Stark’s creation. Jesus fucking Christ.”

Bucky sighed, having been left with no choice. He placed his half-drunk mug in the sink and waved goodbye to everyone, trying hard not to stomp to Stark’s lab.

~

    Stark was under a massive machine with six arms and blue lasers when Bucky walked into the lab later that afternoon. He had ignored Jarvis’s constant badgering and decided to visit the lab after his morning run. Only after it Bucky was certain he wouldn’t physically fight Stark if what he had to say was idiotic.

“My one and only!”

Bucky rolled his eyes and sat at the farthest chair from the monster machine. “You called?”

“And you diddle-daddled.”

To this, Bucky actually laughs. Sometimes Stark got on his nerves, other times he was a breath of fresh, realist air.

Stark climbed out from underneath the metal monstrosity, wiping oil from his hands. Bucky waited patiently as Stark finally sat, cracking his neck three times before speaking.

“So… The Christmas Ball.”

“Uh huh.”

Stark adjusted his seating, slowly lowering himself in his rolly-chair. Bucky watched him become shorter, awkwardly staring at him and the walls simultaneously. Whatever Stark wanted to talk to him about, it was becoming less interesting to Bucky.

“Pepper has informed me that there is going to be an auction. A, donate thousands of dollars to take me out on a date, type thing.”

Bucky grimaced. “Isn’t that prostitution?”

“No, it’s escorting. Prostitution is the other honorable profession.”

Bucky hummed.

Stark wiped a stressed hand down his face, curling his lips as he continued speaking. “Pepper has also informed me that only Thor is being auctioned for real. Meaning, everyone else isn't actually on the roster. Their dates are going to be the highest bidder regardless of what anyone bids that night.”

Bucky frowned, stumped. “So, we’re denying money from actual bidders and rigging this thing?”

“No. Private donors have already given their fair share of money. We’ve flown past our goal for the evening.”

“Then why have the Ball in the first place?”

“Appearances, photo ops, meeting new people—You name it.”

So Steve and Sam were going to be “sold” to their highest bidder, who will also happen to be their dates for that evening. That nice coffee shop girl Steve has been dating for the past six months was already invited…

That meant she was bidding whatever amount she needed to, regardless of the price, for a date with Steve. Money that was already donated before the damn Ball even started.

Bucky looked to the white, marble floor for answers. But all he saw was his distorted reflection, staring back at him with creeping realization.

“What… What about me?”

Stark sighed, shrugging his shoulders empathetically. “I tried everything, Barnes. But the higher-ups forced us to include you, too.”

Bucky was going to throw up. That ball of nausea that often stuck to the back of his throat was crawling upward, scratching his tongue, begging to be let free. To spill all over this damned marble floor.

He whimpered silently, turning his face to his metal shoulder. His hair covered his anguished expression, but it was pointless to assume Stark hadn’t noticed. Bucky’s neck was already redder than the original color itself.

“Barnes, listen to me.” Bucky tried to follow the direction of Stark’s voice. When he blinked, his vision seemed to get blurrier. “Breathe. Tap those fingers. You remember you got fingers, right?”

Bucky counted to three, then began to tap his index and thumb together. He relished in the feel of his skin, in the lifted edges of his fingerprints, of his filed fingernails. Slowly, the world stopped spinning. The chair didn’t feel like it was caving in anymore. The walls stopped stretching and his ears stopped ringing.

The remnants of his panic attack settled in his chest, pulsing uncomfortably. But he could finally open his eyes long enough and not feel like passing out.

“Good, good. Now if you would just let me finish.”

Bucky huffed a quiet laugh, easily amused by Stark’s sarcasm. It was a surprise how quickly the two fell into step after Bucky moved into the compound, seeking each other out for random answers and opinions. Steve had questioned it, but accepted that if Bucky was alright with it, he wouldn’t budge.

“I spoke with Pepper. You have two options: Let me find you a date who I promise will not leak anything to the press, touch you without permission, or annoy you until you feel like swallowing a bullet.”

Bucky blinked at him, eyebrows scrunching. Stark getting him a date? Bucky didn’t want to date any of Stark’s past flings or strangers he might pull off the streets. The rational part of his brain understands that this person will be vetted and practically stalked, but it’s the irrational side that’s telling him this person might just hurt him. They could convince the world they’re the most innocent thing ever, but when he’s alone with them that mask could easily fall off and reveal eight tentacles and a flaming skull.

“Or,” Stark enunciates, standing from his incredibly low chair. He blew a fast raspberry before saying, “You and Sam attend together, or you and Natasha.”

Okay, that seemed like the better option. He trusts both Sam and Natalia, trusts them to keep their hands to themselves and protect him. Yeah, that was obviously the better choice—

But Sam wanted to ask Natalia. Sam has been wanting to ask her a million things before the Ball was ever a reality. His friend had all this insane amount of exhilarating excitement when he even thought about the red head.

Bucky couldn’t take that away from him. Even if his own comfort was the victim in this situation.

“This… person. Will they be an escort?”

Stark’s eyes widened momentarily before he steadied himself. “Yes, and maybe no. They’ll be the person I believe can be most trusted. Are you okay with the possibility of taking a hooker to the Ball?”

Bucky grunted, “Don’t use that word.”

“It’s the 21st century, Barnes. Hooker means prostitute, prostitute means sex worker, and sex worker has a positive connotation nowadays.”

“Just say escort.”

Stark grumbled beneath his breath, turning to a nearby computer and typing something into the search bar. “Jarvis, make sure this web search is wiped from the center of the earth after I’m done with it.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Tony.” Stark knew that when Bucky used his first name, it was a call to turn around and look him in the eye. So that’s exactly what Stark did. “A sex worker expects sex, don’t they? I’m not giving them that, so how can you expect me to be fine with it?”

Stark tapped his fingers against random keys, deep in thought. “I don’t know how to say this without sounding offensive. Jarvis, help me out. How do I say, ‘You don’t have to fuck the person, you can just pay them,’ kindly?”

“We will be searching for people who have voluntarily enrolled in sex work, Sergeant Barnes. Any meeting you set up with them is consensual. And the beauty of consensual sex work is, without a doubt, the freedom of choice. So think about it like this, Sergeant Barnes: They will not touch you if you do not ask. You are investing time, and they will accept the money without a kiss exchanged if that is what you wanted.”

A companion?

Bucky had only ever had Steve and Sam after he returned to the compound. Only ever hung out with them outside in the real world, too. A random person entering the compound and pretending to be his date seemed a little extreme, no? Like he couldn’t make friends of his own.

But wasn’t that the real reason behind all this? Bucky didn’t have many contacts or love interests to take to this damn Christmas Ball so he was being punished for it. Forced to interact with a stranger and the stranger forced to interact with him.

“I can do a proper search of these websites with Jarvis’s and Hill’s help and get back to you in the morning, okay? Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“I only have to meet them tomorrow and that’s it?”

Stark wobbled a flat hand in the air. “Kind of. Spend one day with them and tell me if you think you can last a whole night with them as your date. I don’t want you to be paired with someone I thought was great but you find repulsive.”

Okay, that was somewhat considerate. But a whole day? At best, Bucky will last a few hours before wanting to run under a hill.

“Okay,” he surrendered.

Stark sighed, “I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable, Barnes. It’s just… Maybe it’s not the ideal way, but meeting new people isn’t always a bad thing, you know?”

“Oh?” Bucky replied sarcastically.

“Oh. You think I didn’t suffer the same thing? People I knew since birth betrayed me. I’ve got trust issues too, my man.”

“We’re not comparing sad little tales, Stark.”

“Find it in your ice cold heart to be compassionate, Barnes.”

Bucky chuckled, leaning back in his seat. “So, tomorrow then?”

Stark nodded. “I’ll do my best to find you a hot piece of ass.”

“Stark!”

“Sorry! I joke. I kid. I jest.”

Bucky watched Stark toy with his experiments for ten minutes more before bidding him a good rest of his day.

Maybe a companion wouldn’t be so bad. He’d have someone to talk to after all. Text, get coffee with, watch movies with. He could do all those things with Steve and Sam but they were busy. Busy with work, busy with life, busy with everything Bucky avoided for good reason.

And even though his body is physically repulsed by the idea of being in close proximity with an absolute stranger, perhaps someone who was forced to be nice to him wasn’t exactly a lousy idea.

Maybe it was necessary.

~

[nvrcmplt]

Claude was born in Kongsvinger, Norway. But was brought up within; Flekkefjord, Norway until the age of 13 He then moved back to Kongsvinger - until the age of 16 Then he moved to Oxford in England on a scholarship for his English at 17 He began to write his first book at 18-20 - however never finished it.

After finishing his English degree - he was introduced to a Japanese exchange student room-mate, where they began to teach each other the languages and cultures.

From the age of 22 he started to live on his own in London before returning to Norway; where he wrote his book series.

He became country-known from the ages of 23-25 - with 3 Novels and a 5 part Children's fantasy book series - that was adapted into a TV series and a movie formats which spread his name a bit worldly. This was his last piece of fiction literature as his biography became his last written piece as he lost his Father at 28 - and gave up writing before moving countries.

He was in Japan from 28 - 35 taking on a new role of teaching English in a local Japanese school. He got back in touch with his old roommate from University, Inoue Nori - which aided him a lot in navigating the new country a little easier.

Whilst teaching he met a lot of people in his time and in turn ended up falling in love with one of them. He made the decision to retire from his English Teaching job after meeting his lover after a while of living together. Adopted to two Corgi twin dogs for Claude’s birthday; they had five animals to look after.

However, in the end - Jonas and Claude didn't proceed with the engagement or marriage plans and soon separated.

Claude isn't short of money so it wasn't a complete loss without that life for him, but it took a toll on his mental health. Thankfully he had his friends, Elin and Lasse at his darkest moments and aided Claude in pushing through.

Claude ended up putting his house up for sale after a few months of living on his own with his pets.

After it was given a possible buyer, Claude thought through with what he wanted to do in life and in turn, he ended up hanging out more with Elin - talks of a change of place. So, in the end he hops onto the plane with her. Packing up his life and using Elin's courage to boost his own.

They stayed together for a few months in different places. gave his corgi's up to a family that wanted them as he wouldn't be taking them with him - then once everyone was settled nicely in their new homes, Claude broke away. With his aging and trusted dog at his side, Claude set off for an adventure.

Two years into his long travels, Bjorg grew sick as he knew would happen and in turn, he had her rest in his arms on the faithful night of her passing. His last memory of his best times. Her death hit him hard and yet, he didn't reach for a noose this time. Instead, he took to the trails and paths of the world with her ashes in his bag. Claude poured everything he was into his venture and scattered her ashes in every lake, river and sea foam he came across that blew him away.

He kept in touch with his friends as and when possible via video calls, postcards and more, the hurt of his best friends passing lessened over time and with his heart ready to face the world and it's business again. He stated he was returning to settle down again, properly this time.

By now, he is 46 and house hunting for one, which feels very - empty, so he might just have to seek out a new companion for the rest of his life.

[sardonic-the-writer]

↳ notes: middle art by @alecz-obssesionz. warning for topics relating to violence and typical tua content

↳ playlist: tua/cru playlist

basic info

• named cru

• thirty three years of age when the series starts as it's revealed later

• does not have powers. he is an ordinary human

• has incredibly bad luck and the scars from accidents to prove it

• absolute best friends with klaus. met two years before the start of season one through cru's cousin, who had gone to rehab with klaus for a bit

• he follows the hargreeves siblings through time. blames it on always being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but later he's very glad to have met and gotten to know them all, even if it's through the most unfortunate of situations

• cru is a post opp trans man. can be seen taking testosterone a few times throughout season one with the help of klaus, but sadly is unable to keep doing it in season two, as it is the sixties. so when the siblings finally see them again in dallas, his voice is higher and he stands stiffer and more uncomfortably than usual

• has tattoos! his main ones are over the top of his top surgery scars, and they're the hands from michelangelo's "the creation of adam," reaching out for each other over his chest

• cru is the type of person to wear boxers with red hearts on a white background on them

• his normal outfit in the modern days of season one and three consists of band shirts and jeans. but season two shows him assimilating to the time periods style and wearing a jean jacket with various tie-dye shirts. also, he got a pierced left ear as a way to signal to other gay men that he's one of them; a popular indicator of the time period

• a list of things cru cant do thanks to his awful luck goes as follows: cook (he's burnt down two kitchens to ash before), drive (the amount of cars that have been hit or broken down while he's been in them is immeasurable), operate machinery/technology (it always goes on the fritz), or walk up and down a pair of stairs normally (he always stubs his toe, or steps on a splinter, or just plain falls flat on his face when trying to scale them. he has a small but deep scar across his left eyebrow to prove that last one)

• a list of things cru can do, and is rather good at also goes as follows: pack a solid punch (it's just a question of whether he's lucky enough to aim correctly or not), remember details (he can retain knowledge beautifully the only problem is that most of it is useless. occasionally he managed to pull through), and bandage wounds (he's had lots of practice on himself; ranging from disinfecting small wounds, to self-stitched wounds, to cauterizing stab wounds. that last one's a pretty rare occasion, though)

• cru doesn't have any immediate family besides his cousin that's always traveling. his parents died in a car accident when he was young (he's always blamed himself & his bad luck for that), and his aunt & uncle basically disowned him a few long years ago, so he has no real familial ties

• he is so paranoid about messing up the timeline in season two. tried taking extra special care to avoid interacting with major historical figures or events while in dallas, but still ends up getting involved with a place called stonewall inn and accidently almost spurring along the stonewall riots six years before they're supposed to happen, much to him and five's chagrin when the latter finds the former

• cru tends to avoid his problems. it's a big problem of his. he doesn't necessarily run away from them, just avoids them with a passion like no other. the finest example being his feelings. particularly when it comes to five in season two

• he wants to help the academy save the world mostly so he can do something with his life that's good for once. and, as he discovers about himself later on, so he can spend more time with five without being awkward about it. even if nine times out of ten its under less than fortunate circumstances

• he fucks with delores so hard. literally loves her so much. is the only person to even try & treat her like anything other than a mannequin besides five. delores even reciprocates these friendly feelings, from what cru can gather while listening to five go back & forth with her, which makes five a little tense (he doesn't like the thought of a random stranger bonding with his wife after being alone for so long. plus, he doesn't exactly trust cru when they first meet, so that puts him on edge)

• doesn't really like the commission. maybe it's because hazel & chacha shot him twice on the same day, or because the handler only refers to him as "five's distraction," but he's not the fondest of the cooperation

• is always prepared for injuries. band-aids are always on his person, and peroxide is cru's best friend at this point

• he has a lot of noticeable scars. that includes the formerly mentioned one across his left eyebrow, a little slash over his lips, burn marks at the top of his ears, and much much more. and these are just ones that are there before the show begins. he gains a lot more throughout the course of the show

• cru has his own plot going on in each of the seasons; his character & his development doesn't solely revolve around the hargreeves. he's his own person

• in the first season, he goes on a mission to find out when he was born. knows he wasn't born on the same day as the umbrella academy as klaus suggests for some time (for one they don't have powers, their mom had physical evidence of a regular pregnancy, and reginald hargreeves didn't attempt to buy them at birth, so that's a dead giveaway), but he had a suspicion that there's more to him than his parents let onto before they died.

• in season two, he gets caught up in conflict with police over stonewall & it's residents (hence cru almost being involved with the riots years before they happened), and he's also being stalked by the commission. or more accurately the handler. she absolutely tries to take advantage of them for her own personal gain and to take five out of the picture seeing as he cares about cru like he does his siblings, but they don't have power, and are therefor easier to target. it's a mess

• season three they throw themselves into helping the siblings figure out what the hell is going on and eventually how to fix it. also does a shit ton of independent investigation work on reggie & unearths some things in the last few episodes that ends up getting him killed

random and important moments throughout the series with cru — (not entirely chronological)

• cru accidently snapping the handle to the academy's front door off the first time visiting it with klaus for reginald's funeral [season one]

• the giant blue portal appearing in the umbrella's courtyard and cru immediately thinking it's him and his lucks fault, to which everyone but klaus is bewildered by the implications of [season one]

• cru playing fashion show with delores in the back of five's stakeout van the first time he meets her [season one]

• cru finds out when he was born via a file that had been left open on the handlers desk at the commission. five had managed to snatch the first page up on his way out of there while running from the commission, and once reading through it it's revealed that cru was born on october first, 1985 [season one]

• klaus just hugging cru silently the first time he sees them since getting back from vietnam. after a moment he says, "i told dave he would have been so excited to meet you..." [season one]

• cru going bat shit on hazel & chacha for kidnapping klaus from the academy and legitimately being a little scary [season one]

• when five is trying to blink everyone out of the orchestra hall, cru yells over all of the noise that he regrets not being able to know five better before dying; which is basically his way of saying that he sort of likes five [season one]

• in dallas, cru listens to the radio in his window every night for news on anyone that might sound like the hargreeves. starts to believe that they might have abandoned him for being 'dead weight,' and that really gnaws on him [season two]

• cru getting 'hello' tattooed on his right ankle and 'goodbye' on the left two months after getting dumped in the streets of dallas. he missed his best friend, and couldn't think of anything else to do [season two]

• cru being talked to by a fellow stonewall worker who wants to let them know that they kicked out a 'kid in school shorts who looked like a police plant,' and cru hesitantly reuniting with five after being stuck in dallas for eight months [season two]

• elliot wanting to hang out with cru & get a coffee as a way to bond with the only other 'normal' person, and getting shut down by a standoffish five who proclaims that cru has "better things to do" [season two]

• lila gaining the upper hand in the warehouse fight with five after saying, "i wonder what your little boyfriend would think of you murdering a board room full of people, yeah?" [season two]

• cru meeting reginald officially for the first time in dallas, and not even being offered a chair at the lunch table like the others since he was "insignificant and of no importance," and "hadn't even been invited anyway."[season two]

• luther, five, and cru meeting five's doppelganger in dallas for the briefcase, and a lot happens. (cru breaks a glass at the bar and accidently gets them all kicked out, cru realizing that five is kind of dapper looking as an old man and saying as much, five in a bout of paranoia refers to cru as "his cru," and tells his doppelganger to get his own, cru hesitantly waves at his past self through the portal when it opens and gets waved back at, the fire extinguisher klaus threw through the portal forever ago in the past hits cru in the face, and five experiencing a rare moment of frustrated embarrassment when it comes to an end and realizing how he acted about cru) [season two]

• when jayme spits her venom at him mid battle, cru's brain opts to conjure up a hallucination of something the viewer at home isn't let in on. his trance is only broken when one of ben's tentacles whack him in the stomach. he doesn't talk about what he saw in his minds eye to anyone later [season three]

• five drunkenly singing a love song at the wedding & looking at a tipsy cru the whole time he does it [season three]

• both five and cru going on drunken shenanigans on the wedding night that none of them remember very well ad=bd waking up in a random hotel hallway together with cru drooling as five lays splayed over the taller mans lap [season three]

• five & cru having a giant fight the morning after the wedding. the last thing five says to cru before he dies later is "well maybe you should have stayed in dallas, then." [season three]

• cru also getting chased around the sparrow mansion as they try to make it very clear that they don't have powers, don't pose a threat, and just want to leave alongside the umbrella's. it doesn't work [season three]

• cru going on the road-trip with klaus and five; two out of his three favorite people! (the other is his cousin) [season three]

• cru dying in klaus' arms at the hotel oblivion and klaus bringing five to his body afterwards. he was killed via a alien tentacle slash to the face, so he's practically unrecognizable by the time both of them reach him [season three]

• five being unconsolably angry that he doesn't have time to give cru a proper funeral; with the impending doom of the end of the world and all [season three]

• luther & klaus throwing each other through the afterlife while fighting and landing in the dull-colored streets of dallas at the end where cru is found sitting silently on a curb and looking at a picture of five and them from the wedding that the bellhop had taken [season three]

• ghost cru materializing to help five tie his arm torniquet during the hotel obsidian battle, and five demanding klaus to bring them back when they fade away with luther afterward [season three]

[alolanrain]

this is a lot further along the plot line but Ash doesn’t stay in Alola, despite becoming the first Champion of the islands, and he especially doesn’t stay working at the school. he still very much has his wandering spirit and therefore goes to Galar right afterwards. 

Ash doesn’t become a research assistant for Professor Cerise, instead leaning more into his missions and just kind of wandering around the world, so Oak takes it upon himself to offer Ash up as some kind of assistant to the Professor’s actual assistants. so now sometimes Ash gets guilted into accompany Goh and Chloe-who takes his spot in the au and does school online-around the world as come kind of babysitter and he hates it for the first few times but he also gets it. 

Chloe is Professor Cerise’s daughter and the man didn’t want to impose on Ash but he also had heard stories, the kind that have bad men stiffening at Ash’s name or at a distant cry of a Pikachu, and even though he’s shaking in his shoes he still ask’s Ash to watch over his little girl. Goh’s just a part of the deal and reminds him to much of Gary when he was the same age. 

*Goh and Chloe are 10/11 and Ash is about 23 and a half when first approached by Cerise. 

it’s not like he’s around them all the time. most of their jobs are in Kanto and Johto and it’s good that the kids are traveling but not to far from their parents. Goh seems to be fine for the most part, besides interacting with people in the more western regions like Sinnoh and Kalos where he fails terribly, but Chloe is to stiff and awkward talking to anyone. she’s not used to being away from home and even though this is an amazing opportunity her dad gave her-based on her grades and knowledge and not the fact that she is his daughter-it still scares her shitless. 

Ash understands the feeling, truly he does. Pallet Town is a very heavily populated with Unovian families and it changed everything about the town so when he and Pikachu left it felt like their own region was a whole knew world. even if Delia tried her best to keep to Kanto traditions alive in their household. so he’s gentle with her while sarcastic with Goh. unknowingly giving what each kid needs to grow and prosper. 

this also naturally leads to Ash stumbling into Hop and Marnie or the other way around, really. I’m not joking. Those two stumbled across Ash as he was about to descend upon a building of Team Rocket members trying to set up in Galar, he had to shove the bloodthirst deep into himself since he recognizes Hop as Leons little brother and that would cause such a mess if those two saw him kill a bunch of grown men. Hop doesn’t trust him at first but Marnie immediately latches herself to the big scary emo fucker and tried to “kidnap” Ash or try and bribe him to come with her on her journey. it obviously doesn’t work but he keeps running into them over and over again whenever he’s in the region. 

which it’s a lot since the INL is slowly starting to crack down on Rose, after years of intel missions and figuring out why the Chairmen needs a something-billion vault built under the Hammerlocke gym. this also leads to Ash interacting with Bede. he doesn’t know how to interact with the blonde besides really sarcastic and targeted insults after Bede tried to call him useless or something along the lines. he reminds Ash a lot of Trip and it’s like a hair-trigger for him but somehow Ash doesn’t end up with Bede’s spine in his hands by the end of every interaction. it does change after Bede is misled by Oleana and Rose in destroying the mural and Ash feels some kind of morbid sense of guilt and understanding with the blonde so he takes him in. until Opal claims him though he’s now Ash’s little brother like how Dawn is his little sister. 

yes, it does mean that Ash takes Bede back with him to Sinnoh and Rowan can do nothing but just groan and sigh heavily into his cup. telling Ash that the kid sleeps in his room if he’s staying then takes Ingo and Gary to go get a whole new set of bedroom shit after cleaning out a room across the hall from the other three kids rooms while Ash and Dawn walks the kid through the Sandgem town. just filling the space with sibling banter as Bede stays silent and just watches how they interact. 

Bede does come back with Ash to Galar after Rose is taken into custody. mostly for statements and recounts-the destroyed mural is easily swept under the rug-and where Opal kind of kidnaps the kid. Ash doesn’t mind but does warn the woman that he’s apart of the Rowan family and needs contact with his new parents or so help Ash her umbrella will clash with his bat- 

even later on in the timeline Cavell reaches out to Ash about three particular students that could use his help-Kukui had absolutely bragged about Ash when he was the Professor’s TA to his colleagues across the world-and Ash is soon swept up. now more of a teacher then a teacher assistant to Arven, Nemona and Penny. 

[darkherolovercroissant]

Bigger Than The Whole Sky

Library 📚

Simon Ghost Riley X Fem Reader

Warnings: Angst (It’s sad bitch hours now) Mentions of death, based off the Song by Taylor Swift.

———————————————————————

No words appear before me in the aftermath

Salt streams out my eyes and into my ears

Every single thing I touch becomes sick with sadness

'Cause it's all over now, all out to sea

It wasn’t supposed to end this way. It wasn’t supposed to end at all, but apparently life wasn’t done making his life worse. First his family, then him and now it took his last bit of sanity outside of Taskforce 141.

He had just finished listening to the new mission briefing when Captain Price passed him a letter. Taking it and reading what it said, not thinking much until his eyes travelled over the words.

His eyes filling with tears as he stands up fast and basically bolts out the door to somewhere away from lingering eyes.

Somehow the men they had tracked had found Simon’s weakness. They used it to win the battle, successfully knocking him down a few pegs. His weakness being his wife that he had hidden away from his life, or so he thought. They had found her and weren’t satisfied with hurting her, they completely took her from him and now he was trying to understand why. She was innocent and had nothing to do with this, just like the little bundle of innocence growing in her stomach that they had made in the highest high of love and need.

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

You were bigger than the whole sky

You were more than just a short time

And I've got a lot to pine about

I've got a lot to live without

Who was he think that life would let him have some form of happiness. He remembered the night you told him about the baby. He wouldn’t lie about being scared, with everything he suffered from as a child with his father. He didn’t trust himself as first, but man did he grow more in love with the unborn baby as time went on.

The baby he and his wife were excited to welcome, would never be. It was a short time of knowing and he was excited, but now he had nothing. He had pined for that feeling of completion. It was right there in front of him and he was reaching out for it. Every time he saw you grow bigger the further you advanced in the pregnancy, made him more eager for the arrival of your baby.

Now? Now there was nothing…. He had pined and pined for that completion. Now he would continue living while his happiness was dead. His wife and his baby had been killed by these men who were three steps ahead. He had so much in his future, but now there was nothing for him.

I'm never gonna meet

What could've been, would've been

What should've been you

What could've been, would've been you

The one tough man, was now a shell of himself. Someone who was always strong, now at his weakest. Never going to meet that little bit of innocence he was excited to hold. The product of love was now haunting his mind as reality sat in deep.

That innocence within a world of hatred was now gone and now his days were back to how they used to be before he met you both. He was never going to meet that bliss he had pined for. He should’ve known better.

Did some bird flap its wings over in Asia?

Did some force take you because I didn't pray?

Every single thing to come has turned into ashes

'Cause it's all over, it's not meant to be

So I'll say words I don't believe

He truly didn’t know what he did that warranted that kind of attack. How do people sleep at night knowing of what they took from people. How do people sleep knowing they killed two innocent people.

Maybe had he just been a better man, instead of that arrogant monster he would still have you. But he wasn’t that better man. He was that monster that haunted peoples dreams. And now what should’ve been you three in that happy family picture haunts his dreams.

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

You were bigger than the whole sky

You were more than just a short time

And I've got a lot to pine about

I've got a lot to live without

I'm never gonna meet

What could've been, would've been

What should've been you

As the helicopters and trucks full of soldiers moved in, Ghost was nowhere to be seen. He truly was like a ghost when it came to public appearances. He just vanishes and shows up randomly, which was shocking yet very amusing when you think you’re screwed, but then he shows up to save the day.

He was not thinking straight at all and had it been someone else, Price wouldn’t have let him join the mission. He knew that Ghost wanted revenge for his family, but he truly did worry when they never got more than a few lingering stares and the odd nod.

So much he’d have to live without because of those sinister creatures that pose as people. He had it all, now he had only memories of what should’ve been.

Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye

You were bigger than the whole sky

You were more than just a short time

And I've got a lot to pine about

I've got a lot to live without

The doors were kicked down as the monsters stared directly as the grim reaper came to collect those who decided they wanted to dance with the devil early.

They plead for their lives, but they fell on deaf ears as Simon had his revenge. The yelling and pure anger coming from him was enough to scare even Price who was scared what might happen to him if Ghost didn’t stop.

After the last one died, Price ordered everyone to help clean up and before he could order Simon to do anything, in typical Ghost fashion, he vanished.

I'm never gonna meet

What could've been, would've been

He got home that night to see the nursery was intact and awaiting a baby that would never come. Stepping out of the room, he drug himself to your shared bedroom. It was clean and untouched since the night before it all went wrong.

Sitting down on the end of the bed, Simon pulls his mask off and just rubs his eyes before letting everything come out again.

“What did I do wrong?” The now once strong voice whimpers as he looks at the ultrasound picture on the desk.

“You should’ve both been here.”

“I’m sorry you two”

What should've been you

[revvethasmythh]

(You can delete this if you want. I’m just genuinely curious.)

I don’t know if you’ve seen some of the posts but, I’m wondering if you have an opinion on some saying Essek’s appearance is over shadowing fcg’s death? And I’ve seen complaints about matt interrupting the party talking and not giving them time to slow down and process their death. I personally think we might see more of the party talking about fcg when we get to Aeor. Maybe they will find out more details of fcg’s past (if matt wants them to). Idk.

Hey, anon! I have seen some of those posts (though, to be honest, I decided to do myself a kindness this week and protect my peace from most discourse because I was having so much fun, I wasn't in the mood to ruin it). I do actually have a lot of thoughts about this, but they're not very easy to articulate. That said, my opinion here is that if anything interrupted the processing of FCG's death or overshadowed it in the immediate aftermath, it was probably the Crown Keepers cut away, which, while I understand narratively what the purpose of it was and why it happened when it did. wow. deeply unfortunate timing.

And I think the thing about this campaign that has become clear is that time is of the essence. That's an inherent aspect of being in a possibly world-ending war with a rapidly approaching deadline to save everything. I think it would be difficult in any context for them to slow down given the nature of the campaign. I also think processing the death of a loved one is not something that could ever be done in one or two slower-paced episodes--I imagine it will take time for it all to hit, and the party will be dealing with the emotional repercussion of FCG's sacrifice for the rest of the campaign in different and varied ways. And I think the way the cast is handling it right now is very well done, especially Taliesin's reactions as Ashton, and also Laudna, asking about Imahara Joe and letting Ashton decide if Keyleth should tell him or if they'd wait to do it themselves. Fearne telling Ash how sorry she is, and then comforting each other that night. Zathuda's interruption of that is actually something I give a lot of leeway to because a) it was fun, and b) I think it needed to happen then specifically to try and push Fearne to the absolute edge (and to impart some rather important plot details about Zathuda wanting Fearne to be the Vessel).

Essek being in the story right now makes sense considering what they're doing and it's a fun thing for the cast. They're reaping the rewards of everything they did for him in C2! But he's also just propelling a plot that would be propelled anyway even if he specifically wasn't there--it's just extra fun that it's Essek. And you're right, anon, that I expect the Hells will talk about FCG a lot more in Aeor and we'll see more discussion about losing them. But yeah, ultimately, no, I don't think Essek is overshadowing FCG's death or anything. Time is of the essence, the Hells can't afford to slow down, but also if they're roughing it up in Aeor we might get a lot more opportunities for the watch conversations and travel conversations that we've been missing for a while. So, in a way, Essek being there and guiding them to Aeor might actually give them more time to discuss all thing in the long-run.

[the-era-of-shadow]

The Englishman With The Devil's Eyes

Written by Ash Rose

Cover Art by Ash Rose

THIS STORY CONTAINS: HEAVY themes of reincarnation, religious themes, mentions of vomit & vomiting blood, swearing, mild transphobia/transmisogyny, rather detailed romantic scenes

The name of the man this story follows is Kimera Chanté. But that is not the name that he is referred to as - for this is a tale of one of his many false lives that he has lived over the span of ten millennia.

The name of the man this story follows is Clark Clements.

Supposedly born on February 9th, 1899 M.E in Empire City, on the planet Aerth. But seemingly, he was not known by anyone until he was in his 20s - specifically, 25 years old in the year 1924. From those very first sightings, people came to know Clark as a very smart man, a prodigy of science, though seemingly without any sort of college degree to show for it. The story that he would tell to explain away all these strange quirks about his existence was that he grew up in a bad part of the city, a neighborhood marked by poverty and misfortune. That always got everyone's pity.

And then he was given a scholarship to go to Empire University. 

A lot of things in Clark’s life changed from that point, but at the same time, a lot of things stayed the same.

He was still universally admired for how smart he was, but for once in his life, he was finding opportunities to make a living from his knowledge - all offered to him before he even completed his doctorate.

Out of all of the offers, however, only one truly caught his eye.

A job offer from the Guardian Units of Nations - otherwise known as G.U.N, a massive organization that was basically considered its own world power. Clark figured that accepting the offer would mean that he'd get the chance to travel all across the world, getting to see sights he'd never seen before, and meet with like minded individuals from many different countries - which was something he had always wanted to do.

So, after graduating from Empire University, the newly Doctor Clark Clements took the job offer and joined G.U.N’s ranks right there and then.

The first ever assignment given to Clark seemed promising enough in terms of aligning with his own personal desires, as it required him to travel to the continent of Eurish. But once he arrived, landing in Châtelys, he was only then made aware of the fact that the assignment was not going to utilize his scientific prowess in any sort of way. Rather, Clark had been given the job of trying to recruit a fellow scientist that lived in the continent into G.U.N, with the promise that if Clark did so successfully, he would get to take on the fellow scientist as a work partner. The proposal didn't really impress Clark all that much, and despite its apparent notoriety, the name of the fellow scientist, apparently being “Gerald Robotnik”, didn't really mean all that much to him. But regardless of such facts, he did not complain outwardly about the task, not wanting to lose this job so soon after being hired.

Soon enough, Clark would indeed run into Gerald, having done so in Soleanna. After formally meeting the man, Clark learned for himself that Gerald was a biology professor at a very prestigious university in Spagonia - but what had gained him such notoriety was instead the passion projects that he would indulge in while off the clock. One of these passion projects, the one that he was currently working on, in fact, was a live-in spacecraft that he envisioned would orbit Aerth that he had given the name “Space Colony ARK”. 

Clark figured an idea of such magnitude must be why G.U.N was trying so hard to get him in their ranks.

It had taken a bit of persuasion, but in the end, Clark was able to convince Gerald to leave his teaching job behind and indulge completely in his dreams of space travel with the assistance of the Guardian Units of Nations.

And just as promised, once Gerald had been officially hired, he and Clark were assigned to be work partners. They still were, too, now both living in the very ARK that Gerald had told Clark about the first time they had met - the very ARK that they had built together. They were not the only two living within its walls, but they were the first.

And through all of this, Doctor Clark Clements was never truly a real person.

It was not as if he was just some collective illusion, no. He was still there.

But every action done by “Doctor Clark Clements” was actually done by Kimera Chanté. For Doctor Clements was, of course, nothing more than a false identity - one of many, in fact. This isn't even the first of these identities to have existed on Aerth.

Kimera Chanté was born on February 9th, 34 B.T in Riverbed Town, on the planet of PetalBloom. Or at least, he's pretty sure he was - it's been quite a while since then. Kimera grew up in a very religious household with his parents, maternal grandmother, and eventually little sister. Despite this, even back then Kimera had a knack for the sciences - much to his parents’ dismay. He never agreed with their assessment of the matter, as he always saw science as a compliment to religion rather than a counter. But they were incredibly rigid in their beliefs no matter what he would say, and at no point did that fact become ever more obvious to Kimera than after his sister was born.

Kimera considers her his sister, but not a lot of people ever did - and especially not their parents. This was because of the fact that despite her mind and soul’s insistence that she was a girl, she was born in a biologically male body - a fact that made her absolutely miserable. The rest of their family may have dismissed this part of her and told her that she was doomed to be a boy forever, but Kimera never did - always having wanted to find some way to alleviate his sister's pain and give her the life as a girl that she had always wanted deep down. 

Eventually, when Kimera was 25 and his sister was 10, he had decided that he would find a way to travel to the Pantheon's Plane as a mortal without dying and ask PetalBloom's matron goddess, Madam Moonshine, to change his sister's body to one of a girl.

The pilgrimage took quite the long effort, however, and when he finally did reach the Pantheon's Plane, the other gods simply told him that Madam Moonshine was already dead. He was incredibly confused by such news, wondering how a god even had the capacity to die. But quickly after being told such news, and with no explanation for his questions, he was roped into doing the gods’ bidding, creating for them a sentient yet eldritch attack force to fight against some sort of threat within the universe - though he was never given a clear answer on what it was exactly that they were fighting. From what Kimera knew from word of mouth, the project apparently ended up in catastrophic failure as the force had wiped out an innocent civilization instead of its proper target, but by the time that news had reached Kimera, he had other things to worry about. For when he had completed the project for the gods, he secretly slipped away back to the mortal realm to return home. 

But when he arrived back on PetalBloom, he was met with a deserted wasteland.

Everyone was gone, the only scraps left behind of what could have happened were torn scraps of newspapers, long dried blood splatters in many a building, and the massive hole that stood where the river that his hometown was named after once did - as if it was torn up from the ground.

After encountering such a horrifying sight, Kimera immediately returned to the Pantheon's Plane demanding answers from the gods. They refused to give him what he seeked, however, the most that he could get out of them was a confirmation that his sister was still alive - but under no circumstances was he allowed to ever see her again.

And thus began his multi-millennia journey to find his sister again, deciding to put his love for her over his loyalty to the gods.

That is the reason he has lived all of these false lives. He has continuously created them for himself even long after his original body died in order to either reunite with her or to figure out in full what happened to her if he is not able to find her.

That is why he continues to live as “Doctor Clark Clements”. He may have lived lives on Aerth before, but Aerth is a massive planet full of opportunity. So perhaps this time she may indeed be on the planet. It is with this hope in mind that he continues on, searching for signs of her presence even when dealing with the responsibilities of his false life.

But lately… Kimera has found himself a bit… distracted from this goal.

Recently, Professor Gerald has been working on a new project, a project he calls “Project Ultimate”. The apparent goal of the project is not just to create life through artificial means - but to create the “ultimate” life. A lifeform more powerful than any other while also being completely immune from any disease or ailment. The reason for power did not seem clear to Kimera, but he did understand that the immunity part - both in the sense of for the lifeform itself and the possibility of giving such to others - was for Gerald's granddaughter, Maria, who was born with a practically non existent immune system and who also lived aboard the ARK.

With this new project, there came a new face to the Space Colony ARK.

An Englishman named Dominic Barnett.

… It all began when Kimera and him first met.

✏ ~ 1953 [Modern Era] > January 8th

“You called for me, Professor?” Kimera said to Gerald as he entered his office.

“Indeed I did. I have a new assistant, and I thought that it would be best for you two to meet.” Gerald explained, gesturing to the man that was standing beside him. The man was quite tall, most likely six foot at the very least. He wore an off-white button up dress shirt, a dark maroon jacket, a pale magenta tie, dark maroon pants that flared out at the ankles, and a good few pieces of jewelry. He was absolutely beautiful - especially upon a closer look as Kimera approached the man, as all these elements of him were complimented and yet simultaneously drowned out by his dazzlingly vibrant orangey-red eyes, their brightness akin to flames of a fire.

“My name is Dominic Barnett. You must be Doctor Clark Clements, hmm?” The man said, introducing himself. His voice was just as beautiful as his looks - dark, rough, and yet entrancingly melodic.

Try as he might to deny it, Kimera was completely head over heels for Mr Barnett at very first sight, and he had no success in hiding it from others, either.

“Y-yes…! I a-am! That's m-me, D-Doctor C-Clark C-Clements…!” He sputtered out rather pathetically, hiding his feverously blushing face.

“Doctor Clements, please act professional.” Gerald chastised Kimera in an unimpressed tone.

Before Kimera got the chance to apologize, Dominic casually pulled Kimera into a one-armed embrace which only made him more flustered.

“Be kind to him, Gerald! I certainly don't mind such captivated attention! ~” Dominic insisted playfully.

“Of course you don't…” Gerald sneered under his breath. The statement piqued Kimera’s fascination, wondering what things his long term colleague might know about Dominic that Kimera himself was not aware of yet. 

Call it curiosity, or call it love-sickness - either way, Kimera immediately wanted to know all there was to know about Dominic - and he knew just the perfect opportunity for doing such a thing.

“Do y-you, uh, w-want a tour around the ARK? Maybe?” Kimera suggested to Dominic, trying his best to fight against his own flustered state.

“I've already done that with him some time ago.” Gerald interjected. “Besides, we're quite busy already.”

“Unfortunately, the Professor is correct.” Dominic added, looking genuinely upset to not get the chance to talk more with Kimera - a feeling Kimera resonated with greatly.

“O-oh okay…! U-until next time then, I s-suppose…?” Kimera replied.

“Indeed.” Dominic said with a soft smile.

Dominic left the office first, while Gerald lingered behind. He looked towards Kimera, seemingly having something on his mind. Moments went by, Kimera wondering when the Professor was going to actually speak - as it seemed like he wanted to do so. But in the end, he left the office as well, leaving whatever it was that he was thinking about unspoken.

It came across as very odd to Kimera - as did the rest of Gerald's behavior during the short introduction. But he knew better than to try to pry into Professor Robotnik's secrets by asking him about them. Rather, he would just have to look for himself within Gerald's journal.

He could look in it now, given that he's all alone in Gerald's office - but he decided against it. Kimera had no idea of when Gerald would be returning to his office, and he'd rather wait until Gerald had written about the introductory meeting in the journal before having a peek. So instead he decided he'd wait until Gerald would go to bed, and left the office as well.

This would be far from the first time that Kimera's done that sort of thing - he's been secretly prying into Gerald's journal ever since the two had started working together. At first it had just been to see if Gerald had any information leading to the location of his sister, but once Kimera had verified that Gerald for certain had no information of that sort, he simply couldn't help but to continue to pry.

Gerald had always been a man of many secrets - much to Kimera's chagrin. There were many things that he would hide from Kimera over the years, with seemingly no clear reason for doing so, and Kimera always found it quite bothersome. Ever since he had started his scientific career back on PetalBloom, Kimera had personally believed that being open about his discoveries and communicating with his colleagues was the absolute best path to progress - so with that mindset, Kimera kept himself informed of Gerald's own findings through reading his journal.

Sure, Kimera was technically no better nowadays, as he himself kept a journal of his very own which he writes in his native language of Bloosiæne to prevent it from being understood by others if it was to be read through - but he never claimed to not be a hypocrite. Besides, it's just so his true identity isn't revealed so he may continue searching for his sister - so it's worth it in his mind.

In space, there's no such thing as day and night - just an endless sea of stars, planets, moons and rocks. But on the Space Colony ARK, there is still somewhat the concept of “night”. Night is when everyone goes to sleep.

Everyone except for Kimera.

Kimera's always been something a night owl - especially back on PetalBloom. Back in those days, he had a habit of getting so engrossed into his work that he would forget to maintain a reasonable sleep schedule. Some days he would even become completely nocturnal - sleeping in the day and working at night. Kimera would probably still be in this state if it weren't for the fact that Gerald had a much more stable sleep schedule than his - and Gerald expected Kimera to be awake in the morning just like him. Still, Kimera always tended to stay up late, especially on days like these.

Kimera was quickly able to find Gerald's office, as the halls of the ARK were nice and empty, leaving him a completely clean path towards it. But he managed to find Gerald's journal even quicker. It was in the bottom drawer of his desk, right next to his chair, just as it always was. Kimera knew that Gerald wasn't aware of him snooping around in his office - as if he was, Kimera would surely have gotten reprimanded by now, but couldn't the professor at the very least think to move his journal around a bit every so often? It was almost as if he was asking to be snooped on.

Knowing that Gerald was asleep and would not being coming into the office for a good few hours, Kimera made himself comfortable in Gerald's chair and started flipping through the professor’s journal.

As Kimera looked through the journal, he noticed an entry from a couple of months before that he must have either skipped over previously or had forgotten. It was about Gerald's latest project, Project Ultimate - specifically, it was about Gerald receiving some help on the project from a third party. The name of the third party in question was one that Kimera had seen and heard of many times before during his previous lives - a name that seemed to always be spoken with fear by anyone who would dare utter it.

The Black Arms.

From what Kimera could gather throughout the years about the Black Arms was that they were almost like some sort of force of nature - and a fierce one at that. They travel the universe with the goal of “spreading chaos”, assimilating many people from many planets into their theocratic army while killing and consuming those who decide to instead resist them. Kimera vaguely remembered running into a member of the Black Arms eons ago during one of his other lives on Aerth, actually. He had been living among the Guardlander tribe of Echidnas, or, more accurately, those of the tribe that had survived the then recent act of wrath from the water diety Chaos. One of the survivors turned out to be just like Kimera - in the sense that he had been disguised. The details are fuzzy to Kimera nowadays, seemingly locked away from his own self, but he remembers that it ended in the death of that life - and his original body alongside it. 

Ever since then, any mention of the Black Arms would catch Kimera's attention for reasons he could not parse out - especially now.

For some reason, again, it was rather unexplainable, Kimera immediately started to speculate that Mr Barnett was a Black Arms in disguise. Wanting some evidence for this out-of-the-blue hypothesis of his, Kimera flipped to the most recent entry in the journal - but it was about matters completely unrelated to Dominic or the Black Arms.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Kimera would have to just hold onto this hypothesis until he could either prove or disprove it at a later date. The fact made him rather upset, as for one, he didn't like to make such baseless theories as a scientist, but also… he seemed to find an odd enjoyment from the idea that Dominic might be a Black Arms. After all, that would mean that the both of them were in disguise - that was something they would have in common besides working with Gerald.

Kimera locked up Gerald's office and went back to his own to take note of his findings in his own journal, his face burning hot all throughout the process.

✏ ~ 1953 [Modern Era] > January 9th

Despite his escapades the night prior, when “morning” did come, Kimera got up nice and early as he always did and got right to work.

Soon after Kimera started his work for the day, he had gotten a knock at his door. He hoped for it to be Dominic, but when he went to open it, it was revealed to be Gerald at the door instead.

For a brief moment, Kimera was a bit worried that Gerald had realized that he had been peeking into his journal, but what Gerald said after Kimera had opened the door quickly snuffed that fear right out.

“Doctor Clements, I have a task for you.”

“Oh? This early in the morning?” Kimera responded to Gerald.

“Yes.” Gerald said simply as he reached into a pocket located in the inside of his slightly off-white jacket. “I need you to consume a sample of this serum I've created.”

“What does it do?” Kimera immediately asked, eyeing the vial that Gerald had taken out of his jacket curiously.

“It… it…” Gerald began to answer, seemingly stumbling over his words a bit, which confused Kimera slightly. “It's meant to help you focus better. But I need a round of testers to make sure it actually works.” He finally concluded.

“Focus better, eh?” Kimera echoed, pretending to still be curious as he immediately began to suspect that the professor's answer to him was nothing more than a lie to cover up the serum’s true purpose.

“Indeed.” Gerald confirmed, already seeming to regain his confidence. “By the way, there is… one other thing I need of you as well.” He then added after a moment of silence.

“And what might that be?” Kimera inquired.

“Don't tell Dominic about this. Any of this.” Gerald instructed in a rather serious tone.

Kimera thought the request rather odd at first, and even a little suspicious with his own hypothesis about Dominic in consideration. But for now he figured that Dominic was meant to be the control group in this experiment Gerald was running, and agreed to the professor’s terms.

“Down the hatch, then!” Kimera remarked as he drank the vial's contents. It tasted oddly sweet as it touched his tongue, and Kimera told Gerald such.

“Odd… Everyone else has said that it was tasteless…” Gerald replied to Kimera's statement.

Despite its sweet taste, the serum started to disagree with Kimera's body immediately, the first sign of which being that he started to cough violently. The second sign, which followed the first quite quickly, was a sudden need to vomit - so Kimera excused himself and found a bathroom to throw up in.

But it seemed that it was not vomit that he had spewed out, for the recognizable awful taste in one's mouth that vomit would leave behind was not present at that moment. Rather, the taste that coated Kimera's mouth with no plans of leaving was the same sweet taste that the serum had. Furthermore, when Kimera looked into the bowl of the toilet that he had thrown up in, the water was a slightly diluted shade of lime green.

Immediately alarmed and confused, Kimera quickly got up and looked into the mirror just above the bathroom’s sink to get a look at his current condition.

Lime green liquid was dripping from both his mouth and his nose. Lime green liquid that Kimera immediately recognized as his blood.

Kimera's current body on the outside might be quite unremarkably human, but on the inside, he was still rather noticeably a Bloomian. The reason for this is because of the method in which he reincarnates into these false lives of his, a method referred to as “imperfect reincarnation”.

Regular reincarnation, or “perfect reincarnation” would be to start over from the very beginning, having to go through the process of growing up and relearning all you once knew, and having to lose the memories you had in your previous life.

Kimera, of course, does not have the time for such complications. He has to find his sister, and not a moment can be wasted in such an effort.

So instead he uses imperfect reincarnation, allowing him to reconstruct his body into a new form while still retaining his memories and starting off right from adulthood. That way, he's able to use all of his time searching for his sister, and if anyone asks about his “childhood”, he can just make it up.

But it does come with consequences - namely that the parts of his body, no matter how they are reconstructed, are still his own. A single bleeding cut, or in this case, a moment of puking up blood, would reveal his true identity if seen by anyone else.

In remembering that fact, Kimera started to panic in a moment of paranoia. What if Gerald has begun to suspect that Kimera isn't who he says he is, and has decided to poison him to find out if he's right??

But after wiping his nose and mouth and stepping outside to the rest of the ARK, Kimera watched other people who lived on the ARK take the serum - including Gerald himself, and realized that he was probably just overthinking things. Why would Gerald poison Kimera, anyway? Wouldn't it be easier to get a blood sample from him to test if he really did suspect that Kimera wasn't truly human? Of course it would be.

No, the real question Kimera should be asking is why isn't Dominic allowed to know?

But before he could possibly answer that question, Gerald approached him again.

“Doctor Clements, are you alright?” Gerald asked.

“Eh, I've dealt with worse.” Kimera responded. He wasn't exactly lying with that answer, though this was probably the worse that this life of his specifically has faced. “The serum seemed to cause me to vomit.” He added, once again speaking in half truths. Frankly, Kimera didn't care a single bit about possibly messing with the results of Gerald's experiment if it meant that he got to keep his true identity hidden.

“Well… That certainly isn't supposed to happen.” Gerald said.

“I would hope that it wasn't.” Kimera snarked, which annoyed Gerald slightly.

“... Guess you won't be having it again.” Gerald surmised with a heavy sigh. Kimera was about to ask Gerald why Dominic was being left in the dark about all this, the topic on his mind at the moment, but Gerald walked away before he could do so.

Well now he just has to tell Dominic about this, doesn't he? Maybe Dominic will have an idea of why he's being left out of all this. And so Kimera took off to go find him.

Searching all across the ARK, Kimera looked absolutely everywhere in the hopes of finding Dominic. But no matter where he searched, Kimera was just completely incapable of finding him. 

Towards the end of his search, Kimera ended up bumping into Gerald's granddaughter Maria, who was taking a stroll. Out of other options, Kimera decided to ask Maria if she knew where Mr Dominic Barnett was.

“Oh, Mister Barnett isn't on the ARK today, Doctor Clements.” Maria informed him.

“Really now?” Kimera wondered.

“Mhm! Mister Barnett has a lot to do! So he doesn't live on the ARK full time like the rest of us.” Maria revealed.

“I see. Thank you, Miss Maria!” Kimera said happily.

Just as Maria began to take off again, Kimera had a thought come to his mind.

“Did everything go alright with you when trying your grandfather's new serum? I know your body is rather fragile, so I figured I'd ask.” He inquired, figuring that Maria had taken a vial as well, as Gerald had not mentioned anything to the contrary.

“What serum?” Maria asked in response, seemingly completely unaware of what Kimera was talking about.

“Your grandfather has been having us all try this new serum that he concocted today - he said it was to help you focus better.” Kimera explained. “I suppose he didn't give any to you because of how your body might react to it.” He theorized.

“Oh yeah, grandfather tends to not include me in experiments that don't directly relate to trying to treat my illness.” Maria remarked.

“Fair enough. Besides, I bet he got even more worried about how you'd react to it after how my body reacted.” Kimera speculated.

“Did you react badly to the serum, Doctor Clements?” Maria inquired. Kimera nodded in response. “That's okay, my body can't handle certain things either.”

The way Maria looked up at him at that moment, comforting, but also with a twinge of happiness to have someone who could understand what she's going through, it reminded Kimera quite a lot of his sister back before he left home to reach the Pantheon's Plane. In fact, Maria reminded him so much of her at this moment that Kimera had to fight against his eyes in order to not cry.

“Well, I should probably get back to my room before grandfather or the nurses get worried about me. Talk to you later, Doctor Clements!” Maria said before taking off again, leaving Kimera to stand alone in the hallway.

With his search for Dominic made completely useless and his heart heavy with nostalgia, Kimera returned to his office to decompress and to document the day's events in his journal.

Once Kimera was calm again, the curiosity as to why Dominic was not allowed to know about the serum came to him once more. Kimera knew that the only way that he could find the answer to that was to peek into Gerald's journal again and see if he had written about it.

But he would have to wait for the perfect opportunity to do such, and he had no idea when that opportunity would arrive.

✏ ~ 1953 [Modern Era] > January 16th

As the days went by, Kimera had kept looking for any sign of Dominic, or for any opportunity to sneak into Gerald's office to get a look at his journal. But neither of these were able to be found in the week that had passed.

But today was different.

“Doctor Clements.” One of Maria's nurses had called out to Kimera while he was walking through one of the ARK’s many hallways.

“Yes?” He reacted.

“Professor Gerald will be very busy working on Project Ultimate today, so I advise you to stay out of his hair.” The nurse informed him. “Or lack thereof….” She then joked under her breath.

“Will do!” Kimera exclaimed.

Perfect! This is perfect!

The chance to go snooping into Gerald's journal for answers to his questions regarding the serum had finally come! Kimera headed towards Gerald's office at a very quick pace, his walking almost a run. But at about the halfway point, Kimera had bumped into someone.

Looking up, Kimera realized that it was Dominic Barnett of all people that he had bumped into, causing his face to burn brightly.

“O-oh! Hello Mister Barnett, I h-hadn’t seen you there!” Kimera sputtered out, his intense feelings taking control of him again.

“Oh, it's quite alright.” Dominic assured him. “You may simply refer to me as “Dominic”, by the way.” He added with a soft smile.

“I-I see! Will do!” Kimera replied. “Heh, i-it’s kinda funny that I only run into you again now! I-I mean, I know the Space Colony ARK is huge, but not big enough to take a week to traverse!” He began to speak again, trying to pull himself together enough to have an actual conversation with Dominic.

“Well that's a relief. It really is quite… massive.” Dominic remarked, sounding almost annoyed by its size.

“W-well, that's the way Gerald had wanted it!” Kimera exclaimed in a light hearted tone.

“I see.” Dominic replied. “But if you were curious to know where I was, I was not on the ARK.” He added, moving the conversation along.

“Oh yeah! I-I remember Maria telling me that!” Kimera recollected.

“How much did she tell you?” Dominic inquired, his eyes shining more than usual - looking as if they were outright glowing.

“Not much, r-really!” Kimera responded. Dominic seemed pleased by that answer. He really is hiding something, isn't he?

“Could you show me a place to sit in here?” Dominic asked. “My legs are starting to give out.”

“Oh, of course! Though we really haven't been standing around for that long, y-you know.” Kimera responded, trying to be playful, though he immediately realized that he probably sounded kind of rude once the words left his mouth.

“I know, but that's just how my legs are… I suppose.” Dominic remarked. Kimera hoped he didn't offend him.

It didn't take very long for Kimera and Dominic to find a bench to sit on - there were benches placed all over the place in the ARK. Gerald originally had them installed for Maria's sake, as she dealt with a good bit of leg pain on top of her very poor immune system, but it was rather useful for everyone else on the ARK as well.

“I hope you don't mind me asking this,” Kimera began once they were both seated. “But why is it that you don't live on the ARK full time like the rest of us?” He asked Dominic.

“Oh! That's because…” Dominic started to respond, his voice trailing off as it seemed like he was thinking about something. “I'm in University.” He finally answered.

“Is that so? What are you studying?” Kimera inquired.

“Biology.” Dominic replied, much quicker this time.

“Oooh! ~ That's what Gerald taught as a professor before he was employed by G.U.N!” Kimera exclaimed.

“I'm aware of that.” Dominic stated. “My studies are the reason why I was brought aboard by Professor Gerald. I've been researching the innate chaos energy of various organisms and the effects that it has on them, both on its own and relative to the amount of chaos energy found within each organism. Gerald had found the information I have very useful for Project Ultimate.” Dominic explained. His story was quite detailed and believable, almost believable enough for Kimera to drop his hypothesis about Dominic being a Black Arms in disguise completely. But there was one last question he wanted to ask in regards to Dominic’s supposed background.

“My! That does sound quite useful! Say, what school do you go to, Dominic?” Kimera queried, awaiting Dominic’s answer with baited breath.

“Uh….” It seemed that Kimera caught Dominic at a part he didn't have an answer ready for. “University of Britannia.” He answered. Though the answer caught Kimera by surprise. Not the actual contents, no, but by how Dominic said it. He has pronounced “Britannia” as “Brit-ah-knee-ah”, the same way Kimera had the first few times he had said it before being corrected. The reason why Kimera had said it in such a way was that he was going off of the way things are pronounced in his native language of Bloosiæne.

So why would Dominic pronounce it like that?

“I see! Though for uh… F-Future reference, it's pronounced ‘bri-tan-ee-ah”.” Kimera responded, not knowing what else to say.

“It… It is? Th-thank you…” Dominic replied, sounding a bit embarrassed. “Gerald called me to the ARK today, so I bet he wants my help with something.” Dominic said, changing the subject.

“He's quite busy right now, maybe he should wait a while? … Talk some more…?” Kimera suggested, blushing excitedly.

“Heh… Perhaps we should, then.” Dominic agreed. Score! “Has there been anything eventful that I've missed?” He then inquired.

“Yes, actually!” Kimera exclaimed.

“Really?” Dominic reacted, seeming curious.

“Indeed. Back on the 9th, Gerald gave us each a sample vial of this serum that he had created. He said it was to help the person who took it focus better, but I suspect that the professor had something else in mind.” Kimera told Dominic. “He also told me not to tell you about it, but I've decided to disregard him on that.” He added.

“Did he now…?” Dominic wondered. He seemed to be thinking of something. In fact, it seemed that he was thinking quite intensely - Kimera could tell by how his eyes seemed to stare off beyond the current moment.

“You… You seem to be a bit lost in thought. M-Mind telling me what's o-on your mind…?” Kimera stumbled out, his confidence starting to fade as he realized just how equally attractive and intimidating Dominic looked when looking so serious.

“I agree that the ‘focus’ angle sounds rather fictitious.” Dominic stated.

“I wonder if the real reason for it has something to do with you? I know you were already here for a while before Gerald introduced us to each other, but it still seems a bit odd that he started handing the serums out so soon after you appeared!” Kimera speculated.

Although Dominic did not respond verbally, Kimera could see it on his face that the hypothesis seemed to worry him in some way. Watching his irises dart from corner to corner of his sclera as he seemed to try to rationalize his fears, Kimera considered asking once again for what was going on in Dominic’s mind, but Dominic seemed to pull himself together and changed the subject before he could.

“You know, Clark, you remind me quite a lot of my wife.” He remarked.

Kimera was completely thrown off guard by the comment. 

First of all, Dominic has a wife???

Second of all, that means Dominic isn't single!

Kimera felt his heart break a little from the realization, but he tried to not let it show.

“I-I… d-do...?” He uttered.

“Very much so! She reacted just as you had when we had met, actually! She was such an adorably flustered mess - and you were too!” Dominic explained. Wait, does Dominic know that Kimera has feelings for him???

Also, the fact that he basically called Kimera adorable didn't help in matters of trying to get over those feelings of his.

“Th… Thanks…?” Kimera tried to respond, barely able to speak amongst all his messy emotions.

“Honestly, I should try to arrange a date to bring it here! I bet everyone would love to meet her! Don't you think so?” Dominic continued on, seemingly oblivious to Kimera’s distress. 

“Sure.” But despite everything, the thought of Dominic’s wife coming to the ARK did make Kimera a bit excited. He didn't know why, but it did.

Kimera tried to keep his eyes off of Dominic, to be normal and to push aside the feelings he had for him, but he just couldn't help himself. He felt something special with Dominic, something he had never felt before, let alone be able to name. It was a connection of some kind, that was for sure.

Maybe it was just the crush.

But it felt like more than just that.

Maybe he should have something to eat.

“Mister Barnett, the professor has asked for you.” The same nurse from earlier called out to Dominic, entering the scene.

“Tell him I'll be right there.” Dominic responded. “I've had a lovely time talking to you, Clark. I hope we may get to do so again soon. ~” He then said to Kimera, giving him a kind smile that Kimera didn't know how to respond to before leaving.

Kimera stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. Then, suddenly, he remembered he had been heading to Gerald's office in order to look into his journal, and decided to continue on that path.

After all, even though Dominic is not available for love, why should that stop Kimera from knowing more about him? 

The journal was in the same place it had always been in, though Kimera was able to tell that the position of the journal was slightly different from when he had set it down after last reading it - that meant that Gerald must have written another entry since then. With that observation in mind, Kimera flipped right to the latest entry in Gerald's journal.

Immediately, the mention of the serum from last week in the entry jumped out at Kimera and made him rather excited, as he knew that the answer to his curiosities about the whole thing surrounding it would lay within. Reading the entry more closely, it was finally revealed to Kimera what the true purpose of the serum had been - an antidote to fight against Black Arms assimilation. It seemed like pretty definitive evidence towards his hypothesis of Dominic being a Black Arms in disguise, as Kimera knew from all that he had heard about the Black Arms in the past that the assimilation process begins from exposure to a Black Arms and their massive amounts of chaos energy that radiates from them - almost spore-like in nature, though Kimera only really thought of that comparison as a, well, comparison. Besides, Kimera didn't know of anyone else on the ARK who could secretly be a Black Arms, and this would also explain why Gerald didn't want Kimera telling Dominic about the serum - as well as Dominic’s uneasy reaction to Kimera telling him about the serum. Dominic must have at least considered this being its true purpose.

Oh well, whatever happens to Gerald isn't Kimera’s responsibility. His only responsibility in his mind is to find his sister, and also solving the mystery surrounding Dominic for now.

But Kimera was still left with one question unanswered, that being why exactly ingesting the serum had caused him to vomit blood. It was rather easy for Kimera to assume that the serum blocked the chaos energy from entering the body of someone who has taken it, or from spreading out into the whole body, and that because of that the serum had messed with Kimera's own high amounts of chaos energy in his body due to being a Bloomian, but how exactly does the serum do such a thing, anyways? What ingredient in the serum causes the antidote effect?

This entry did not hold any answers to that question, so Kimera flipped back through the journal’s previous entries until he saw any mention of the serum again. Once he had reached a few months back, he saw the serum be brought up again, and this time in a lot more detail.

From how the entry was worded, it seemed that this was back when Gerald had just started developing the serum, seemingly in preparation for when the disguised Black Arms - most likely Dominic, though the entry did not seem to say for certain - would start coming aboard the ARK.

Just as Kimera had suspected, the way the antidote is intended to work is by blocking out the chaos energy from seeping into the body’s bloodstream, and after doing extensive research on what would seemingly be most effective for doing this, Gerald had settled on the key ingredient that will be responsible for doing this. As Kimera continued to read the entry, the ingredient in question slowly but surely revealed itself to him, and it made him feel quite nauseous - especially when he saw it spelled out blatantly.

The active ingredient in the serum was DNA extracted from skeletal remains of Bloomians that had the hidden mouth trait in their genes.

Kimera had to admit, it was a smart choice. The ‘hidden mouth' trait that was present in some Bloomians was a genetic mutation that was seemingly formed to block the rampant chaos energy that had polluted PetalBloom for around a millennia - a mutation that seemingly helped prevent other mutations, as well as prevent the mental effects that chaos energy radiation caused. At least, in theory. Kimera and his colleagues had theorized that in another thousand years or so, that perhaps about 90% of all Bloomians would have the trait, compared to the 40% of Bloomians that had it in his time. But that prediction was never able to be proven either true or false, as in just a few short years, the planet of PetalBloom was completely deserted with every Bloomian except for Kimera seemingly disappearing into thin air, and with no explanation as to why. Not one that Kimera had, anyway.

But, still, the thought that he had consumed the remains of his own kin completely disgusted him - it made him feel such intense sickening guilt that he nearly instinctively prayed to Madam Moonshine for forgiveness, even though Kimera’s relationship with the gods nowadays was rather turbulent, and he was well aware that Moonshine had been dead for thousands of years by this point.

Kimera quickly shut the journal and placed it back where it had been before.

“That's… that's enough reading for today.” He thought to himself.

As he got up from Gerald's chair and stumbled his way back to his own office room, Kimera tried everything he could think of to get his mind off of the serum. He eventually got himself to remember his side quest of figuring out Dominic’s true identity. What he had read today had all but confirmed to him that Dominic was indeed a Black Arms in disguise - but that wasn't enough for Kimera, no no. He wanted to know Dominic’s true name, and his motivation for being on the ARK and working with Gerald. 

That was his new current objective.

✏ ~ 1953 [Modern Era] > January 17th - April 30th [condensed]

As time continued to march on, Kimera came to notice a pattern form before his very eyes. Each and every week, without fail, there would be one - and only one day out of the seven that Dominic would be aboard the ARK, with him being away the other six. Whether or it was really university that was keeping him away, or something else entirely, that seemed to be his schedule, and while the day of the week that he would visit would always be different each week, Kimera tried his best to plan around it, not wanting to miss a single opportunity to get to talk to Dominic and possibly get to know more about them. In that time, Kimera didn't exactly get that much information, at least not as far as furthering supporting or even possibly debunking his hypothesis goes. But he did get some general things that he somehow missed the first few times they had talked. For one, Dominic’s relationship with gender identity was rather non-existent, seemingly rolling with the fact that most of the ARK’s inhabitants clocked him as a man, but admitting to Kimera and Gerald that he prefers to stray towards a bit more of an androgynous presentation, and had asked the both of them to refer to them as not just “he”, but also the gender neutral pronoun of “they”. While Kimera had made a conscious effort to adhere to this request, Gerald, frustratingly, flat out scoffed at the idea when Dominic had brought it up.

But after the day of the conversation, Gerald, too, was occasionally throwing in some “they”s when he'd refer to Dominic. Kimera couldn't help but wonder if it was intimidation that made him change his tune.

The next week, Kimera ended up telling Dominic about his sister's own unconventional relationship with gender, though he did so without revealing his true identity. Dominic confided in him and revealed that his wife had a very similar experience to Kimera's sister.

Admittedly, Kimera did want to ask Dominic more about what it was like to identify differently from one’s birth sex, but he figured it would just distract him from his goal of furthering his hypothesis on Dominic. Besides, he didn't want to sound ignorant or to make Dominic uncomfortable.

As more time went by, Kimera finally felt himself become accustomed to Dominic’s rather chaotic schedule, and the week after that had occured…

Dominic had come to the ARK two days that week.

Kimera had asked him about it when it happened, and Dominic said that he had a free day, and was curious about the progress of Project Ultimate, and couldn't bear to wait until the next week.

And then the next week came, and Dominic was on the ARK for three days.

The week after that, he was on board for four days.

Then five the next.

Finally, one week, Dominic was on the ARK for the entire week, and that had become the standard.

At first, Kimera was incredibly excited, convinced that this would mean that he would get much more time to spend with Dominic, thus furthering his personal research. But he was quite dismayed when he quickly realized that Dominic was becoming far too busy working on Project Ultimate with Gerald to chit chat with Kimera. At first it seemed that these feelings stemmed from disappointment over it inhibiting his research, but as the realization set in more and more, Kimera started to wonder if his crush that he had had on Dominic ever truly went away?

The thought that he was still in love distressed him, as Kimera had no desire to be a homewrecker. But what ended up distressing Kimera even more was how Dominic interacted with Gerald while working in Project Ultimate. More and more as the days went by, Dominic seemingly acted more and more flirtatious with Gerald, which just didn't seem to make sense for them, given the fact that they're married. Kimera wanted to chalk it up to the part of himself that still loved Dominic being jealous of the amount of time Dominic would spend with Gerald and reading things the wrong way, but he couldn't bear to leave it up to assumption either way.

Even if it ended up revealing to Dominic that Kimera still had feelings for him, he had to ask them about this perceived interest in Gerald and bring the topic to rest in his mind.

✏ ~ 1953 [Modern Era] > May 1st

Knock knock

The sound awoke Kimera from his slumber, which on this day was going on a bit longer than usual. He had been up rather late last night, but in his defense for this instance, nearly everyone on the ARK had been.

The night prior, a situation had occurred that was directly tied to Project Ultimate. 

The current result of the hopes of creating the “Ultimate Lifeform” had been in the form of a lizard that had been revived with chaos energy. After being revived, the lizard steadily kept growing bigger and bigger in size, which at first wasn't a huge concern. But yesterday as Gerald was running some calculations on the lizard, he had realized that it was on track to grow so big that the ARK could not hold it any longer, and alongside that discovery, Gerald realized that the lizard was quickly becoming violent.

In response to this, Gerald enlisted the help of many of the people working on the ARK, including Kimera, to safely transport the lizard out of the ARK and into a holding facility owned by G.U.N back on Aerth.

In the end, the mission was done successfully, but all the fuss and the heavy lifting had tired everyone out quite a lot, or at least it had tired Kimera out - with him assuming everyone else felt the same.

So who the hell could be knocking at his bedroom door so early in the morning??

At first, Kimera assumed it to be Gerald, and groggily greeted the professor as he opened the door. But instead, it was Dominic at his door - a sight that immediately snapped Kimera out of the half-asleep state he had been in.

“Oh, u-uh! Hi Dominic! What the hell are you doing here this early???” Kimera sputtered out, still a bit too tired to care about formality.

“I spent the night here, feeling too tired to go back home after the fuss last night.” Dominic responded, his story corroborated by the fact that they were wearing a short-sleeved black nightgown instead of their usual attire. They also had a bandaid on his left arm, but Kimera didn't really think much of it. “I apologize for most likely waking you, but Gerald and I both woke up rather early and have been trying to revitalize Project Ultimate since we did - and I believe you can help find the answer to our current predicament.” He elaborated as they entered Kimera’s room.

“M-Me??” Kimera reacted with confusion, his face immediately burning up despite his attempts to hide it.

“Indeed. You do not mind, do you?” Dominic replied sincerely.

“U-uhm… N-No…” Kimera uttered. “W… What's the problem?” He then inquired.

“Gerald and I have once again gotten a hold of the same chaos energy sample that we used in the original iteration of Project Ultimate, but…”

“You don't want another Biolizard situation?” Kimera guessed what Dominic was thinking.

“Indeed…” Dominic answered. “Wait, ‘Biolizard’?”

“Oh! That's uh, what some of my co-workers have been calling it, and I just kinda… adopted the name as well.” Kimera explained. “You know, because… You're involved… and you're studying biology… And… it's a lizard…” He continued, realizing how stupid the reasoning sounded out loud as he spoke.

“... I've heard worse names.” Dominic remarked.

“I guess after last night it's more like ‘bio’ for biohazard…!” Kimera jested.

“I prefer that reasoning.” Dominic said.

“You're a biohazard fan?” Kimera quipped without thinking.

“I've had people call me a biohazard, if that accounts for anything.” Dominic responded, making Kimera chuckle.

“That's an interesting insult!” Kimera said.

“Certainly, though not the worst that I have endured.” Dominic replied. “But regardless of that, I do believe we have strayed from the original topic of conversation, have we not?”

“Oh, yes!” Kimera exclaimed. “So, do you and Gerald have any theories as to how to prevent another Biolizard situation from occurring?” He then asked.

“Personally, I believe that what caused that error was the fact that the chaos energy was not stabilized.” Dominic explained.

“Stabilized?” Kimera echoed in both curiosity and confusion.

“The deceased body was without life, and thus, without a soul to bind the chaos energy to the body’s current form. This was what led to the… “Biolizard” to keep growing, seemingly forevermore. Chaos energy is not just within us living beings - it is everywhere, woven into the very fabric of the universe - it is the universe. The universe forever expands, and so does chaos energy right with it. But with the chaos energy within us living beings, its connection with the universe is interrupted by the soul, and kept in place.” Dominic very much elaborated.

“I see… So we just have to… get a soul?” Kimera asked. “Wait, where the hell would we-?”

“In theory, yes. But I am very certain that with the amount of chaos energy that Gerald wishes to use in our new iteration of the Ultimate Lifeform, that while a soul alone would fix that problem, it would in turn create another.” Dominic responded.

“Oh?”

“The more chaos energy there is in a body, the more powerful it is. This of course manifests outwardly as fantastical powers given to the body, such in the case of many a mobian. But, inwardly, if there is enough chaos energy - the desire to expand returns. The soul does indeed still restrict the body’s form, but in its protection of the body, it is unable to protect itself nor the mind from the chaos energy, and it expands into them, taking them over…” Dominic explained, oddly enough with a smile on his face. “But… Gerald does not want that to happen.” They then added, frowning.

“O-oh! That must have been what happened then during the chaos energy radiation pandemic of PetalBloom that happened back in the late BTs!” Kimera suddenly exclaimed, so immersed in the learning experience that he had basically forgotten all about his cover. Dominic looked at him - though not really with confusion. It was more with surprise than anything else. “Oh sorry, I have a passion for universal history.” He tried to explain away the sudden exclamation.

“You would be right in that! Especially considering what became of them.” Dominic replied, seemingly ignoring Kimera's apology.

“What… became of them?” Kimera inquired. He very obviously realized that this could completely reveal his true identity to Dominic, but he didn't care about that, not here, not now. Which was deeply out of character for him, but it didn't feel strange. Being with Dominic made him feel safe, regardless of the circumstances. Safe enough to divulge into this topic, despite the potential risk. Besides, he realized that the answer to that question could very well bring him closer than he ever had been before to the answer of what had happened to his dear sister.

“Oh, do you not know?” Dominic began, sending a shiver down Kimera’s spine as he began to speculate on whether or not this was a thinly veiled reference to them having figured out his true identity somehow. But he was able to keep himself together enough for Dominic to seemingly not notice, thankfully. “At the end of the millenia that the radiation had raged on throughout, a sort of civil war broke out in the dwarf planet, as a group of Bloomians who had chosen to defy the word of Madam Moonshine and embrace the chaos energy as their new self began to grow to an enormous size, striking down all of their peers who resisted their ways. Soon enough, there were only them left on PetalBloom, and the group chose to leave it behind in the hopes of having the entire universe learn to embrace chaos, distancing themselves entirely from the thought of being ‘Bloomians’, now completely referring to themselves by the name of the group itself, The Black Arms.”

Kimera was at a complete loss for words, as Dominic’s had hit him with such a fierce strength that it left him feeling paralyzed. All this time, he had heard of this extremely powerful and dangerous group that nearly everyone in the entire universe had come to fear, and it was made up of descendants of his own kind this entire time?! Is this the reason why the gods had been keeping him from getting to reunite with his sister?! As much as a part of him wanted to be terrified, whether that be of the information in general or the realization that his sister must then have been one of the Black Arms aligned Bloomians who took part in the slaughter of those who had resisted, all Kimera could feel at that moment was anger - and not anger at the Black Arms - but at the gods for hiding this from him for so long, for refusing to give him closure. And for what? The fear that Kimera might have gotten recruited into the Black Arms as well if he had known?? Kimera knew very well that the man that he had been back then would have been horrified by the news, and despite how much he had loved his sister back then, the Kimera back then would have most likely stood against the Black Arms if he had known. Kimera remembered that the him from a few thousand years ago had hesitated to denounce Madam Moonshine’s teachings when faced with an encounter with the Black Arms, and he had died for it.

But neither of those were the Kimera of today.

The Kimera of today had been through so many lives, and with them, so many fights with the gods that came with each of their ends. The Kimera of today had spent so much time searching for his sister that his heart had grown cold to anything else aside from that goal, and his morals had been basically all sacrificed in her name. This Kimera was directly the making of his circumstances, the circumstances that the gods had forced him into.

And this Kimera was far more than just willing to join the Black Arms.

He at first had the thought to tell Dominic this, but on second thought, he realized that he still was not fully sure that he was even a disguised Black Arms in the first place, and feared what might happen if he were to tell them his thoughts only for Dominic to turn out to be human after all. So instead, Kimera kept his mouth shut for now.

“Anyways,” Dominic spoke. “Project Ultimate.”

“Right!” Kimera exclaimed with nervous laughter.

“In order to make Gerald happy on both ends of his desires, there has to be a way to completely contain the chaos energy to keep it from spreading throughout the body… But I am not sure of how to do that.” Dominic at last concluded his explanation of the problem at hand.

“What about the serum?” Kimera immediately suggested without even thinking first.

“The… serum? From January? How would that help matters? And besides, did you not tell me back then that I was not supposed to have known of its existence?” Dominic responded, confused.

“Oh, right. I guess that would make for a weird conversation with the Professor, huh?” Kimera admitted, remembering that the information he had read about the serum in Gerald’s journal was not universal knowledge.

“Heh. Most certainly.” Dominic replied.

“... What about something akin to the Chaos Emeralds?” Kimera made another suggestion, this time after thinking it over.

“Oh?” Dominic reacted, perking up. It seems that Kimera has picked a smarter response this time around.

“You study chaos energy, so I’m sure you’re aware of them, right?” Kimera said, Dominic nodding in response. “What if we made something like them, serving a very similar purpose as they do - to contain chaos energy? Of course, we as mere mortals can’t completely recreate the Chaos Emeralds themselves - so we will have to compromise and adapt to what we have access to.” 

“The Chaos Emeralds were made to keep chaos energy away from mortals, but this creation of ours will give chaos energy to a being best described as beyond mortal existence if made according to plan… How quaint! ~” Dominic remarked, letting out a chuckle.

“Almost like a battery!” Kimera added.

“Exactly!” Dominic exclaimed, clearly very excited.

“Hmm… ‘Chaos Battery’ doesn’t roll off the tongue very well, though…” Kimera stated, trying to think of a name for this idea of theirs.

“It certainly does not.” Dominic agreed.

“... Wait! I got it!” Kimera announced after the two spent a good few moments thinking. “What about ‘Chaos Drive’?”

“Chaos Drive… I love it! But where did you get the idea from, Clark?” Dominic responded.

“Well, the Chaos Drives would store chaos energy for the Ultimate Lifeform, much like a tape drive stores data for a computer! That’s where I got the name from!” Kimera explained.

“I see…! How interesting!” Dominic replied. “Well now, shall we go tell Gerald about this?”

“H-Hold on, I… I have something I’d like to ask you…!” Kimera admitted, remembering that he had wanted to inquire about his suspicions of Dominic having feelings for Gerald.

“Hmm?” Dominic reacted.

“Maybe I’ve been reading things incorrectly but… You seem rather… interested in Professor Gerald… But you’re married?” Kimera said to Dominic, trying his best to not sound accusatory.

“Oh! My wife and I have an agreement that we are allowed to have partners other than each other as long as both of us are aware of it!” Dominic answered.

“.... Does your wife… know of-?” Kimera eventually inquired, trying to keep his composure while he was equal parts fascinated by this agreement and swept up in falling in love with Dominic all over again as he realized that he could actually have a chance with him after all.

“Yes, she does!” Dominic exclaimed, cutting Kimera off. “... Have you not ever heard of such a thing?”

“O-oh, I don’t th-think it’s weird at all!!” Kimera sputtered out.

“That isn’t exactly what I asked, but I am glad to hear that.” Dominic responded.

“Cool! Cool!” Kimera replied sheepishly. “Just uh, be careful!”

“Hmm?” Dominic wondered.

“I-I’ve worked with Gerald for a long time, and he’s usually the cold type - very unresponsive to affection! And he also likes to keep secrets and acts in his own interests and stuff! So I wouldn't want you getting your heart broken or anything like that!” Kimera explained, his mouth running faster than his brain, being completely wrapped up in his returning feelings of love for Dominic.

Dominic didn't respond for a moment, which gave Kimera's mind the time to catch up, and realize what it was that he just said. Did he seriously just throw Gerald under the bus like that?? Is he seriously that jealous?? If Dominic is open to having multiple partners then there's no reason why he wouldn't get with both him and Gerald! What the hell was wrong with him?? Those were the thoughts that came to Kimera, even though some part of him knew that the words he sputtered out in a lovestruck frenzy were indeed true, especially with the added context that he didn't give away. If Dominic really is a Black Arms in disguise, then Gerald making a serum to prevent Black Arms assimilation is quite literally acting against him behind their back while he uses their expertise in chaos energy to create the Ultimate Lifeform. It's flat out manipulative, if true.

But Kimera didn't know if it was true - not in its entirety. So why did he say such things to Dominic??

“He seems quite well to me… But I will heed your warning…” Dominic finally responded, sounding conflicted. Dammit, he's mad at Kimera, isn't he? They’re mad at him for interfering in matters that do not pertain to him! They can tell Kimera is jealous, he just isn't saying it out loud to save face! But is Kimera truly jealous? Or is he just cautious about Dominic trying to pursue Gerald because of Gerald's past behavior? It doesn't matter, it wasn't Kimera's place to say it either way!

Dominic and Kimera walked over to where Project Ultimate was being developed in silence, Kimera's guilt eating him alive while Dominic seemed lost in thought. Kimera knew he should probably apologize to Dominic for what he said, but every time he tried, nothing would ever come out of his mouth - which of course made him feel even worse. Dominic probably hates him now, Kimera was sure of it.

By the time Kimera regained his ability to speak, the two of them were already in the laboratory, thus meaning that it was now too late to apologize.

“Finally, you're back.” Gerald remarked to Dominic, turning around from what he was working on to face him - and becoming a bit surprised to see Kimera present. “Doctor Clements, what are you doing here?” He immediately questioned.

“Dominic… Asked for my help with coming up with a way to stabilize the chaos energy sample you two got!” Kimera explained, regaining his composure so that Gerald wouldn't think anything was off.

“You went all that way and developed a solution… And you're still wearing that?” Gerald questioned Dominic.

“Yes. It is rather comfortable, and it has pockets.” Dominic answered, happily putting his hands in the pockets of their nightgown and spinning around slightly.

“You look like a woman.” Gerald pointed out in a negative tone, which angered Kimera, being reminded of similar remarks made towards his sister years ago.

“And?” Dominic replied.

“Go change!” Gerald ordered. Dominic rolled his eyes but left to go do as Gerald told.

“Doctor Clements.” Gerald then spoke again, gesturing to Kimera to come over to his side.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Mister Barnett to return before we discuss what we developed?” Kimera questioned as he walked over to Gerald's side.

“That isn't what I want to talk to you about.” Gerald said bluntly.

“... Then what do you want to talk about…?” Kimera asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I can tell that you've been trying to get the attention of Mister Barnett quite a lot ever since you and him met.” Gerald revealed. “And I must ask that you cease such activity immediately.” He added, sounding incredibly serious.

“Oh, what, are you afraid of me looking ‘unprofessional’ to him? You know they don't care!” Kimera responded, feigning ignorance with his words as he pretended to not know what Gerald could be on about - but he did. Kimera immediately suspected from the seriousness of Gerald's tone that this was for all intents and purposes a confirmation of his theory that Dominic is a disguised Black Arms, and Gerald is trying to prevent Kimera from getting assimilated since he is unable to take the serum.

“No! You listen to me, and you listen to me well. I brought him here out of desperation, so I could achieve my ultimate goal and cure my granddaughter, but Mister Barnett is a very dangerous and cunning man! The more you try to pursue him, the more his charms will lure you in! He's been trying to do that exact thing with me, but I've built up the resilience to not be fooled!” Gerald informed Kimera, speaking just barely above a whisper so that no one else - most certainly especially Dominic, couldn't hear.

“I'm sure G.U.N would love to hear about that.” Kimera responded, not wanting to reveal that he already knew that, nor wanting the chance for that having to happen. That comment immediately shut down the conversation - just in time for Dominic to return, now wearing his usual attire.

“Did I miss anything while I was away?” Dominic asked.

“Nope.” Gerald answered, lying. Kimera decided to not say anything.

“Well then, let us get back on track, no?” Dominic proposed, to which both Gerald and Kimera agreed to.

Dominic and Kimera told Gerald all about their Chaos Drive concept, Dominic even throwing in a list of materials that he theorized they would need. Gerald instantly approved of the idea, and thus work on trying to make it a reality began - with Kimera being sent out to collect the supplies.

As it turned out, Kimera would have to do that quite often, as every prototype Chaos Drive that the three of them would make would result in failure as it seemed that no glass would be thick enough to keep the chaos energy from leaking out, no matter how tight the metal ends of the cylinder were screwed on. As the day went on, Kimera got a sense for where the glass and metal needed were as the amount of times he had to go out and get them reached beyond a dozen, making each trip shorter and shorter. Towards the end of the day, Kimera managed to get back to the lab quickly enough to overhear a conversation between Gerald and Dominic - or, more accurately, an argument.

“I do not understand what it is you want from me. Chaos energy has a mind of its own, it is not my fault that we are having such troubles.” Dominic said relatively calmly - though there was still a sharpness to his voice that Kimera could feel cut through him even from afar.

“You know how to control it, don't you??” Gerald yelled.

“That isn't what ‘Chaos Control’ means. Chaos Control is-” 

“I don't want to hear you explain your strange alien powers to me! I just want you to make the chaos energy stop breaking out of the Chaos Drives!” Gerald demanded.

“... I do have a theory. But…” Dominic began.

“But what??” Gerald questioned.

“I do not wish to have Doctor Clements question where this came from.” Dominic answered, summoning some sort of clear crystal that looked like a shard of a Chaos Emerald.

“What… is that??” Gerald wondered, looking at it with confusion.

“It's a crystal, raw and uncut, made of the same material used to create the Chaos Emeralds back in the day. It is empty, ready to be the container that the chaos energy will be put into.” Dominic explained, looking like a higher power of some kind in the way they had the crystal hover just above his hands as he stood, looking at it with thoughts in his mind that reflected in their eyes in tongues not understandable to mortal kind. The sight mesmerized Kimera, but it also made him uneasy, his fears of having angered Dominic earlier returning and being fueled by the certainty that Kimera now had that they were for certain a Black Arms in disguise, and a very powerful one at that. He decided to wait until the conversation was over to walk into the lab, lest he accidentally invoke Dominic’s wrath.

This time, the Chaos Drive was a success, the chaos energy being tightly held within the crystal while the crystal was kept in place by the glass cylinder. To both Dominic and Gerald's surprise, Kimera never asked about where the crystal had originated, having kept quiet the entire time that the successful Chaos Drive was being made.

“I believe that wraps things up for today, then!” Dominic remarked. With a nod of agreement, Kimera was about to leave the laboratory - but Dominic stopped him and offered to spend some time together. Kimera declined the offer, having completely shut down by this point, consumed by his own messy emotions.

“Dominic, I wish to speak with you.” Gerald called out just as Kimera was leaving.

“... Tomorrow.” Dominic replied simply, sounding displeased with the professor.

✏ ~ [Modern Era] > May 2nd, 1953 - July 17th, 1954 [condensed]

Ever since that day, Kimera had resigned himself to only observing Dominic from afar, having internalized his fears of having angered them. It caused information on Dominic to come his way much more slowly, yes, but it did still trickle its way towards him. Besides, this far more subtle method of gathering information came with the added benefit of no longer raising any suspicion from Gerald, as Kimera would be very particular in his choice of when to study Dominic or ask questions about him.

The one and only exception to this was with Gerald's journal, which Kimera actually started prying into far more often - almost daily on some weeks. This was because, to him, Gerald's journal was the easiest way to get information on Dominic in a way that they himself would never know of. Kimera knew in the back of his mind that this was a risky behavior to take up - that the more he went snooping into the journal, the more likely he was to get caught. But at some point he just stopped caring. He never really cared much about Gerald's opinions of him, but now he didn't care at all, not even a little - nor did he care about the opinions of anyone else on the ARK. He only cared about what Dominic would think about him and Dominic's wishes - or at least, the wishes that Kimera had come to believe were Dominic's.

Kimera was certain that this mindset of his was the Black Arms assimilation starting to take hold of him, but he didn't mind that in the slightest. In fact, the idea brought him joy, as Kimera hoped that maybe once he was assimilated, Dominic would forgive him of his transgressions and he could have a second chance to form some sort of relationship with them. At some point, Kimera's journal began to be filled up with notes of how his assimilation was seeming to progress, becoming just as fascinated by and for all intents and purposes obsessed with it as he had been with Dominic himself, as if it was an extension of Dominic - which it was, in a way. It was Dominic’s chaos energy that was infesting him, and it would be a part of them that Kimera would become. That result was something that Kimera came to crave, to anticipate greatly, but he knew he had to be patient. Dominic was a busy man, especially after Project Ultimate was revived after the creation of the Chaos Drives and eventually reworked into Project Shadow. He was almost always by Gerald's side, and if he knew that Kimera was going through the assimilation process, it would surely spell trouble. 

Regardless of all this, Kimera was able to eventually find all of the information on Dominic that he could find.

Firstly, “Dominic”, as Kimera had expected for quite a while, was not his real name. Their real name was Black Doom.

Secondly, Black Doom is the primary leader of the Black Arms, and is their patron god. That certainly explains the supernatural vibe Kimera got from him from time to time.

Thirdly, his wife that they would bring up from time to time is indeed real, and her name is Black Widow. From the little information Kimera could get on her, she reminds him a lot of his dear younger sister. Considering that the Black Arms are essentially the descendants and evolved forms of the Bloomians of which Kimera is, there may be a connection there.

Fourthly, Black Doom is apparently thousands of years old - in fact, he's nearly as old as Kimera is, if you put all his lives together as one. Whether or not this is the case for the other leaders of the Black Arms, such as Black Widow, is unknown.

Fifthly, despite how old Black Doom and possibly Black Widow are, they do not have any children of their own. They do help in the creation of many Black Arms, and apparently, Black Widow has a girlfriend who has an adopted daughter, but the two do not have their own child. This may be what motivated Doom to agree to help Gerald with Project Ultimate/Shadow.

Sixthly, and in addendum to the last point, after Shadow was completed and awakened, which was on the 19th of June, 1954 M.E, Doom very quickly assumed a fatherly role, which he's quite good at. It wasn't all that surprising, as they had been doing the same for Maria, as her parents were back on Aerth and never visited.

Seventhly, despite the blatant nature of Doom’s feelings for Gerald back in May 1953, there has been no noticeable progress in any sort of relationship with him. Maybe Kimera was right, after all…

But regardless, now Kimera has all of the information he had desired to have about Doom, and now he can get back to looking for his sister as he waits for the Black Arms assimilation to take him completely.

Or at least, that's what he thought. But then, one day, miraculously, after all this time, Kimera ran into Doom by complete accident like during the first few days they had known each other!

Or, more accurately, Doom ran into Kimera.

✏ ~ 1954 [Modern Era] > July 18th

It was bound to happen, and especially in the way that it did - as it had been in Gerald's office. Kimera had been once again looking around in Gerald's journal, now looking for if Gerald had documented anything about the Black Arms’ history - specifically, what had become of the Bloomians that had formed the group in the modern day, when he was caught off guard by that all too familiar dark voice.

“Gerald, I require your presence-” Doom had said as he entered the office, before cutting himself off when they saw Kimera. “Clark! What a pleasant surprise! ~”

It had been so long since Kimera had heard Doom's voice in a way that hadn't been from afar or in his dreams - and his face immediately began to burn up once again, as always. His feelings of love, with the added effect of his assimilation, began to cause Kimera to feel his reason and mind slip from him - but despite this, he did his best to pull himself together enough to be presentable.

“H-Hello!! Mister Barnett!!” Kimera stammered, his voice accidentally a bit louder than it needed to be as a sort of instinctual excitement tried to control him.

“Heh, has it really been so long since we last spoke that you have forgotten that we are on a first name basis? ~” Doom inquired, most certainly teasing Kimera on purpose as a smirk formed on their face. He knew, he had to know, didn't he? Kimera felt like he was once again the flustered mess he had been on the day that he had met Doom, but at the same time, he felt like the assimilation had already taken over the person he used to be. People had joked that Kimera was a “mad scientist” before, but now he truly was mad - and he couldn't possibly imagine a better feeling.

“Heheh… Hahaha- I guess s-so!!!” Kimera responded.

“Goodness me, since when were you so boisterous? Are you feeling alright, Clark?” Doom wondered. “Are you perhaps… sick?” 

“Why…. I think I am… ~” Kimera immediately answered, gazing into Doom’s beautifully vibrant eyes.

“Oh well isn't that just a shame?” Doom remarked, Kimera knowing innately that his usage of “shame” was not in the sense of what it usually meant. It was inverted in the code of chaos, made into its opposite meaning. “But anyways, what are you doing here, Clark? Are you too looking for Professor Gerald?” They then said, changing the subject now that he understood Kimera's current condition.

“Oh, no, I was just looking through his journal while he was gone!” Kimera replied without thought.

“Are you now? I wonder what sort of things you’ve read about in there!” Doom responded.

“Would you like me to tell you about it??” Kimera offered, the kindness of Doom’s voice beginning to set into his mind and make it clear to him that Doom was never angry at him in the first place, and had deeply missed his company - which only served to feed into Kimera’s ever growing maddened joy.

“I would simply adore that! But I am unfortunately a good bit busy today with Maria and Shadow on my hands…” Doom lamented. “Perhaps you can help me look for Gerald so that we may have some time together? ~”

“I-I would l-love th-that!! B-But G-Gerald i-is away, o-on Aerth!!” Kimera explained, being completely gutted that he couldn’t have the chance to spend time with Doom, but trying to hide it.

“Is that so? How unfortunate…” Doom sighed in disappointment. “Another day, then?”

“Yes!! Of course!!” Kimera exclaimed.

“Hmm… I forgot how much you in all the best ways remind me of my darling wife… ~” Doom stated, grasping Kimera’s hands. “You love so blatantly, it’s adorably charming. ~” Kimera felt his entire face feel like it went up in flames as the last of his sanity abandoned him, leaving him to be trapped in a lovestruck trance - though to say it was against his will would be to speak in falsehoods.

“If you say I remind you of her, then are you saying that you desire me in the same way you desire her? ~” Kimera muttered, sharing Doom’s tone of voice.

“My, I suppose that it does! ~ You’re very observant, Clark. ~” Doom replied, moving one of his hands away from holding Kimera’s so that they could cusp his cheek. “Maybe after you tell me about what you have been reading, we can discuss that matter as well? ~”

“If that is your wish, I will grant it. ~” Kimera answered.

“Of course you will. ~” Doom said, wrapping his hands around Kimera’s face entirely, appearing behind him now in a single moment. Being pulled into Doom’s chest by an embrace, Kimera leaned into the motion, and started fiddling with Doom’s tie.

“Maybe I can help you look after Shadow and Maria?” Kimera proposed.

“As much as I appreciate the help, I doubt Gerald would be too fond of you doing that while you’re so under the weather… I promise I will make it so that we meet again as soon as possible.” Doom answered, giving Kimera a peck on the cheek as they let him go from the embrace, and began to leave the office. “Until then, let us act as our own. ~” He instructed just as they were exiting through the door. A reminder to have patience, and for Kimera to not let the others on the ARK know of his assimilation, for his time to be made anew will come very, very soon.

Or so the both of them thought.

✏ ~ 1954 [Modern Era] > July 19th

Although he was still completely consumed by his love for Doom and his awaiting completion of assimilation, Kimera did his best to pull himself together enough to be presentable, as for he had been asked the night of when Kimera and Doom had ran into each other to join Gerald on Aerth the next morning to speak with some higher ups at G.U.N.

Nowadays, with how often Doom was on the ARK, he too has their own office room. It was not much, but it was enough for him. Kimera had never been inside of it, but he did know where on the ARK it was located - and thus, just before he had left the ARK, Kimera left a note in the mailbox next to the office letting Doom know that he wasn't going to be around until that night or even the next day depending on how things went. All throughout the day a part of Kimera would wonder if Doom had gotten the note and how they reacted to it.

But for the time that he was on Aerth, Kimera had to keep those feelings within him and to make sure that no word of them would ever spill out to Gerald nor the other G.U.N workers and agents that surrounded them as the two entered the headquarters of their West Eurish division.

Just before the meeting began, there was food made available to the workers to grab from and eat - that of which Kimera greatly enjoyed, as one of the more noticable effects of his assimilation was that his appetite seemed to grow massively - becoming near endless. Now, as much as Kimera tried to hide his ‘ailment’ from the others, his facade did slip just a little when it came to this specific metric. Without even thinking of it, Kimera grabbed a quite impressive amount of food, all of it including meat of some kind. The amount of food, and how quickly Kimera ate it all, was surprising enough to get a comment from Gerald, which at first made Kimera a bit nervous, becoming worried that he was failing to keep his cover. But nothing else was said about it or any other possible signs of assimilation afterwards.

Kimera wouldn't be able to recollect even a single bit of the meeting - not even the parts he contributed to, it was simply not where his mind resided. While everyone else had been talking about boring business stuff and speaking in buzzwords, all Kimera could think about was Black Doom, and the Black Arms in general.

As he thought more and more, Kimera began to wonder… What was next for him after all this? With the completion of his assimilation, Kimera was certain that he would also, finally, have closure as to what happened to his sister - whether that be reuniting with her, or getting to properly mourn her. So, what would he do after that? Looking for his sister had completely consumed his mind for thousands of years, it being his very reason for living. What other reason to live his new life as a Black Arms would he have? Eventually, he came to a conclusive answer. 

As the assimilation had ravaged through Kimera's mind and body, assimilation in and of itself had become intertwined with the vision of Doom that Kimera had in his mind, making it so that he had loved it just as much as he loved Doom. So why not show his love for it in the same way he showed his love for Doom? To research it, to know every part of it and how it works, to intricately document and study every step of the process - and to perhaps, with that understanding, even contribute to it and make it better, that would be Kimera's new purpose in life.

By the time that conclusion has come to him, the conclusion of the meeting followed shortly afterwards. Much to Kimera's pleasure, Gerald made it a point to get the two of them back to the ARK as soon as possible, as he felt terrible about leaving Maria and Shadow alone for two days in a row, despite the fact that it had been mandatory. Kimera did very much care about the two of them too, of course.

But his main priority was Doom.

According to the clocks on the ARK’s walls, it was already nighttime by the time that Gerald and Kimera got back aboard. While Gerald rushed right to Maria’s room to check up on her, Kimera decided that he would head back to his office to have a drink and settle down a bit before going to see Doom. That was his plan, anyway - which was a little thrown off when Kimera opened the door to his office and saw Doom inside.

But Doom wasn't just inside Kimera's office, doing nothing, no no.

Doom was reading Kimera's journal.

The sight startled Kimera, that's for certain. Even though his loyalty to Doom was unshakable by this point, and the slight bit of hivemind connection that had surely formed by this point in the assimilation process most likely already starting to drip-feed Doom some of the information in his journal anyway, Kimera certainly wasn't ready to be faced with the idea that Doom would know everything about him so soon.

“Hello Clark… or should I say Kimera. ~” The way Kimera's real name sounded in Doom’s beautifully dark voice sent a shiver through Kimera that reached into his brain and broke it into pieces, instantaneously putting him at ease - and at the mercy of Doom’s whims.

“I can't help but… wonder what sort of things you’ve read about in there… ~” Kimera muttered in response, echoing the words Doom had said to him yesterday.

“Heheh… ~ Would you like me to tell you? ~” Doom asked Kimera, also borrowing what had been said yesterday as he closed in on Kimera, one of their hands holding his while the other was cusping his face.

“I would simply adore that… ~” Kimera replied, taking advantage of the fact that one of his hands were still free, and used it to cusp Doom’s face as well, pulling the both of them closer to one another.

“Then that is what we will do… ~” Doom said. “But first… I can tell that there is a… hunger in your heart… ~” He added seductively, pulling Kimera’s face even closer to theirs. 

“There is… and I know that you hold the same craving, my Lord… ~” Kimera responded, just as seductively just before taking the initiative and locking lips with Doom.

“How… Wonderfully observant of you… ~” Doom’s voice echoed into Kimera's mind, a telepathic message of approval and pleasure.

And thus, the two became one in a way very much different from assimilation - and yet, at the same time, very similar. Their bodies, both incredibly warm, were pressed up against each other as their tastes melded together into a singularity within their interlinked mouths, and their minds both only having a single, shared thought within them - the thought of just how much they loved each other, with everything else fading into nothingness. 

After a few minutes, the two finally separated again, both of them attempting to put themselves back together again as their shared saliva still dropped slightly from the side of both of their mouths, and their faces were both burning with passion.

“Hah… Hahah… You… You even taste just like she does…!” Doom mumbled, sounding amazed.

“Y… Your wife…?” Kimera wondered.

“... Your sister…” Doom revealed. Kimera was completely stunned, and unsure of what to say. Doom knew his sister??? Doom has kissed his sister??? 

“My… s-sister…??” Kimera eventually sputtered out. “You know my sister???” He asked, his eyes beginning to be flooded by tears of joy.

“Of course I do…! Kimera, oh how I wish I had known your true self sooner…! Your sister… She is my wife, and she misses you so dearly…!” Doom told him, causing the tears of joy streaming down Kimera’s face to turn into full on waterfalls. The puzzle that Kimera had been trying to solve for so many years was finally complete, and at the end of it all, his darling sister is still alive and well, awaiting his return. Kimera wanted to push aside all of the other plans Doom and him had made, he wanted to beg Doom to take him to their home, he wanted to be able to run into his sister's arms and hug her like he once had, and get to see the adult woman she had grown into, living a dream she had always had.

But before Kimera got to voice any of that, he was suddenly blinded by a very bright light - a light he knew, and dreaded, all too well.

The gods had found him, and at the worst of times.

—

Because the gods had desired to keep the truth of what had become of his sister a secret to Kimera, whenever they would notice that he had left the Pantheon's Plane to search for her, they would force him back - bringing an end to that life. This has seemingly occurred again, and Kimera couldn't possibly be any angrier about it.

“No no no NO!!!! I WAS SO CLOSE!!!” He hollered out, refusing to open his eyes. He knew that not opening them wouldn't do anything to change his current situation, but he didn't want to see the Pantheon's Plane, or any of the gods that weren't Doom. He just wanted to be back on the ARK with Doom. But he knew he wasn't, and thus the tears that were still in his eyes from the joy that he had felt just moments ago became tears of sorrow.

“That is precisely the reason why you're here again.” Solaris’ voice bellowed out, much to Kimera's despair.

“U-uhm, sir…? A-are you sure this is a good i-idea?” And of course, Light Gaia’s stuttery voice followed soon after.

“What are you implying?” Solaris responded to Light Gaia, very clearly disapproving of his hesitation.

“L-look at his eyes, sir! Look at his soul! H-He’s already too far gone!!” Light Gaia sheepishly explained himself. 

Against Kimera's wishes, Solaris forced his eyes open - all four of them.

“Tch… I suppose you are right. But that only makes it more clear that we must make sure he never gets out again!” Solaris said.

“B-But-!” Light Gaia tried to protest, but Solaris stopped him.

“Can it! We may have failed to preserve his purity, but Moonshine would want us to make sure that devil doesn't get to have another mortal to puppet around!!” 

“HOW DARE YOU SPEAK OF HIM IN SUCH A WAY?!” Kimera suddenly shouted, attacking Solaris in an outburst of uncontrollable rage. Solaris pushed him off of him rather easily, causing Kimera’s head to hit a wall, drastically cutting into his stamina.

“That does it! To the Master Emerald with you!” Solaris commanded, Light Gaia following as directed as he flew over to and grabbed Kimera.

“Nothing you do will ever undo what he has made of me…” Kimera spoke weakly, but despite his weakness, he had a wicked grin on his face. He knew the words he spoke were the truth, and he knew that Solaris couldn't do anything about it, and he took immense pleasure in that fact. “And even then, I will find a way out again. And when that happens… I will make sure you ALL regret this day. ~” He promised, cackling with the utmost madness as he was dragged away, knowing just how much it angered Solaris to hear.

✏ ~ 2008 [Modern Era] > February 21st

In the time since that day, Kimera had quickly become bored at best and tortured at worst by the day to day of being trapped in the Master Emerald, yearning for nothing more than to be with his brethren again - to be with the ones he loved. So, instead of being awake to endure such torture, Kimera resigned himself to being asleep the majority of the time, allowing himself to become lost in his dreams.

From time to time, especially recently, the Master Emerald would become damaged or broken, freeing Kimera from his prison - but he would be quickly taken to the Pantheon’s Plane by Light Gaia, Chaos - the goddess that lived in the Emerald, and Chaos’ attendant spirit Tikal, in order to make sure he wouldn't be going anywhere while the Master Emerald was being repaired.

One day, the Master Emerald was shattered once again, and Kimera anticipated the same thing to happen as all the times before. But as his spirit stood in the cross hairs of a conflict taking place in a part of Angel Island that he didn't recognize very much, nothing happened to it. No sign of Light Gaia, or Chaos, or even Tikal, it seemed.

“Well? What are you waiting for?” Emphasis on it seemed. Tikal's voice suddenly rang out, and made Kimera jump slightly.

“The gods… Aren't they going to try to hold me back from running away? From reincarnating and locating my sister and our people?” Kimera asked, confused.

“Light Gaia… Has lost his memory, and is currently trying to resolve the Shattered World Crisis with the Chaotix. Chaos, on the other hand, left the Emerald when the world started splitting apart.” Tikal explained, at least half of the words she was saying being utterly meaningless to Kimera, as he had no idea what she was talking about. “... Look, what I am trying to say here is… Go. Go find her. Before it's too late to.”

“... ‘Before it's too late to’?” Kimera echoed.

“She's on this planet, and alive. But with how things are going, she might not stay that way for much longer. So please, just go.” Tikal answered vaguely before disappearing.

Kimera wished to heed her advice, but as he thought of just where to start looking, he became captivated by the scene going on in front of him.

“... And as for YOU. GET. OFF. MY. ISLAND. Before I do the same thing I did to the Master Emerald to you!!” The Master Emerald’s current guardian, Knuckles Guardlander demanded of an individual completely unknown to Kimera, gripping the chest area of their outfit - or at least until they forced his hand off of them.

“Oh, I will gladly do so, as soon as YOU get your hands off of my robe! It's been dirtied quite enough by the rest of you Aerthling scum, and I certainly don't need your filth on top of all that!” The individual sneered, motioning a group of four strange creatures to surround them as they all started to hobble their way to a G.U.N branded aircraft.

“Uhm?? Hello?? Are we really just going to let them have our ride home??” A bat mobian woman said incredulously to… SHADOW??? 

Kimera definitely recognized the purplish-black and red hedgehog by the woman's side as Shadow, though it looked a bit more alien-like than he had remembered. Either way, its presence definitely gave him some whiplash. Though, it seemed that the legacy carried on and now it was working for G.U.N like Gerald once had.

“I've had enough for today.” It said to the woman before teleporting away, leaving her to silently rage to herself.

Once Shadow was gone from the scene, Kimera couldn't help but to follow the individual that Knuckles had been yelling at, becoming fascinated with them - though in a bit of a different way than he had been fascinated by Doom all those years ago.

Looking at the individual, and getting a momentary glance into their vibrantly golden irises, their glow very noticeable with the backdrop of their pitch black sclera, separated by a marking of some kind on the bridge of their nose that resembled that of an eclipse, Kimera saw himself in the individual - though he didn't quite know why. Even though he didn't even know this person’s name, he could feel a sort of kinship with them. It was a shame that as a spirit, they were not able to see him. There was also a part of him that wondered why this person was seemingly fighting against G.U.N, but that thought wasn't as prominent in his mind.

Kimera would watch as the individual took flight with the G.U.N aircraft and flew away, considering in his mind if he wanted to follow where it went.

But remembering what Tikal had said to him, he decided to go the opposite way and begin to search for his sister once again, a new form already in mind for when he would reach the mainland - inspired by the kinship he had felt with that mysterious person, hoping one day that they would cross paths again.

[silverdragon-imagines-blog]

Satori’s Blessing

[Finally finished the follower raffle fic for @wayward-lotus , thank you for being so patient with me. This is pretty much just fluff. And I’ll be putting this on AO3 later on today. I hope you enjoy ^u^]

The group had ended up on a mountain; one Wild seemed to both know and be very excited by, if his bouncing in place and large smile were any indications. It was later in the day by now, and after traveling first through a vast expanse of land and then a disorienting trip through a portal, they had decided that it was as good a time as any to make camp for the night. Wild led the way between three large rocks that made up the pointed tip of the mountain. From the inside, there were three well-trodden paths with a cooking pot on top of a pile of ash.

“This is a good spot to rest for the night; besides, there’s lots more to see up here when it gets dark.”

“Not that I don’t believe you,” Legend spoke, sitting close to the pot and looking up at Wild’s grinning face, “but I don’t believe you.”

Wild laughed, setting up an area to prep the food for dinner in the center of the three rock spires. They all started conversing amongst themselves as Wild finished and passed around dinner as the sun slowly set over the horizon. Wild hummed to himself, putting things away and cleaning up everything left over from dinner.

“So, what’s so great about this mountain? You got super excited when you realized we were here,” Wind questioned.

“Well, besides the ridiculous amount of useful resources here, there’s something special that you can see on rare nights beyond this peak. I have a good feeling about tonight,” Wild explained, setting the now clean cooking pot down with some finality. 

“I’ll admit, there’s a… feeling, I guess,” Hyrule spoke, closing his eyes and setting his hands on the ground, “Something is definitely here. Something with powerful magic.”

“Good or bad?” Four poked Hyrule, the traveler batting Four’s hand away with a chuckle.

“Neutral? I’m not sure, but it isn’t dark magic.”

“Well,” Time spoke up, rumbling voice gaining everyone’s attention, “we’re staying the night anyway, may as well see if we can spot what you mentioned, Champion.”

Wild nodded as he sat against one of the tall rocks and stared at the world beyond. Conversation flowed soon after, talking about other areas with similar magical feelings. Twilight mentioned the Lost Woods of his era, how the skull kid that resided there was mischievous but not an enemy. Sky talked about three dragons' lairs and a sky deity that could have been similar. Four mentioned the Minish, while the others shrugged with little to offer. Soon, the stars shone brightly despite the fire blazing between the group members as they talked long into the night. Then, slowly creeping in, a strange teal mist began to pour into the clearing. Wild sat up with a grin, then stood slowly and motioned for everyone to quiet down. As they noticed the mist, they stood up, following Wild’s lead to stay quiet.

Looking down the path between two rocks, they spotted a glowing blue creature with a face like an owl and two long feathered antennae coming out of the fur on its head. It peered at the group with beady gold eyes but did not seem frightened by the sight of the group. It came closer, repeatedly stopping to cock its head as though thinking or questioning them all. Hyrule was the first to move, stepping next to Wild and getting down on one knee to get closer, extending a hand to the creature. It went right up to him, sniffing curiously at his hand and lightly brushing its face against it. Hyrule smiled wide, Wild slowly taking out his slate to photograph the scene.

“What is that?” Wind whispered the question, and Wild held the slate in a hand as he turned to the Sailor.

“A Blupee. I think they’re drawn to magical locations.”

“They’re beautiful,” Hyrule whispered, petting the top of the Blupee’s head.

The Blupee closed its eyes as the hero petted it, then turned and walked toward the end of the path, where the teal-colored mist was coming from. It turned to them as though waiting. Hyrule took no time to stand and walk forward, the others following closely behind, eyes sparkling in wonder.

When they passed the rocks, the group found themselves overlooking a small pond that Blupees surrounded, with cherry blossoms steadily drifting from the tree at the water's edge. And in the very center of the water, looking up at the group, was what looked, at least in part, to be a horse. But that didn’t do the creature justice. Its body was cloaked in a teal-blue light, with lines and shapes of light blue wrapping around it. Its mane and tail were long, the mane covering and wrapping around the creature’s neck. It had the same antennae that the Blupees did, but its face was not one of an owl’s. Instead, it had long ears that hung at the sides of its face and a long patch of fur that hung from the center of its face that seemed to act as its mouth. It had four golden eyes that shone like stars, watching as the heroes entered its domain. 

“It’s beautiful,” Twilight breathed out at the sight, and several of the Links nodded in agreement.

“What’s that in the middle of the pond?” Wars asked.

“Oh, that’s the Lord of the Mountain. A spirit that protects Mount Satori,” Wild explained, taking a seat at the edge of the water, cross-legged, “Some travelers believe that the Lord is a nature spirit and that they are here to help mend the land after the Calamity.”

“So, the Blupees?” Legend asked, kneeling down near Wild.

“Think of them like Fairies are to the Great Fairies. They’re like helpers.”

A Blupee approached the two by the water, occasionally pausing to watch and tilt its head. Legend watched in turn, tilting his head like it was. When the Blupee got close enough, it stood up on its hind legs, leaning with its forepaws on Legend’s side. Legend watched it, making eye contact with the Blupee, holding still. The Blupee slowly closes its eyes, then opens them, Legend copying the action. That was when a small group of Blupees also approached, practically running and knocking into Legend’s back as they started to climb him.

“Hey!”

Legend didn’t get much time to yell as he ungracefully fell forward onto his face, hair barely brushing the water’s edge. Laughter erupted as the other Links saw Legend's predicament. Wind fell to the ground in a fit of laughter, practically rolling on the ground with the force of it. Wild reached out to scratch a Blupees head, chuckling to himself. 

“They’re pretty cute,” Four spoke, sitting next to the downed Legend and petting another Blupee on the back. The Blupee in question turned to Four and jumped to his lap, nestling in and closing its eyes. 

A few more Blupees were brave, trotting up to Time and Hyrule, pawing at them as though to be picked up. Hyrule smiled, happily bending down to pick them up, and holding them close to his chest as he walked toward the trio by the water. Time merely reached down to pat the Blupee’s head, but the Blupee was not satisfied, jumping up Time’s arm before he could fully pull away. The Blupee took up residence on Time’s shoulder, and Twilight chuckled at his mentor, scratching the Blupee between its antenna.

The remaining group approached the water, Wind kneeling down and dipping a hand into the water. Mere moments after Wind had done this, a low humming noise began. Sky looked up, watching the Lord of the Mountain turn toward the group, watching them unblinkingly. Wild nudged the Blupees off of Legend, helping him sit up in time to watch as the Lord of the Mountain gracefully walked toward them, the water barely shifting with each step. When the Lord of the Mountain was a single step away, the Lord stopped and watched them. The low humming grew louder.

“Heroes across time and space,” a voice echoed, “I, Satori, welcome you to this sacred place. Though you came here unnaturally, know that you will not be harmed, not while I am here.”

“Thank you, Satori,” Time spoke, giving a short bow as the Blupee on his shoulder moved to keep balance, “We will only be staying the night nearby.”

A soft breeze blew, almost like laughter.

“There is no need for formalities here, Hero of Time. You may stay as long as you need and take with you the resources the mountain has to offer you for your journey.”

“It’s very appreciated,” Warriors spoke up, smiling.

Satori nodded, then closed their eyes.

“I wish to bestow upon your group a blessing.” Satori spoke, and the humming quieted, settling over the space like the teal mist around them as Satori’s markings began to glow, “With the powers invested in me, may the wilderness provide you with all that you need, may the moonlight your way at night and the stars shine as a silent comfort. May the road that stretches before you not challenge you and may the ocean waves not toss you from safety. With the powers instilled in my spring, I bless you, heroes, that all these things come to pass.”

The humming ceased, and with a single blink, Satori vanished with all the Blupees that had surrounded them disappearing as though they were never there. In the distance, they could see the sky starting to lighten.

“Let’s just sleep for a while. We can stay here until we’re all fully rested,” Time stated, and none of the heroes disagreed.

They all slept peacefully, without the need for a watch shift as Satori promised them that as long as they were here, they would always be safe.

[timkonshipper]

Random ash ketchum hcs

Ash is a legal adult in Kanto 

Ash and Gary are drinking buddies. Whenever Gary takes a break from his work to come visit Ash, they find a nice scenic location and let the alcohol flow. Gary always brings the good kantonese/kantonian(?) stuff while Ash introduces the specialty of whatever region they’re currently in

He doesn’t smoke often but after a particularly disappointing or challenging battle he lights up a cigarette or two when he’s alone. It helps him remain level headed and to think things through so that he can better analyse whatever mistake he made. 

That was what he was planning to do after losing to wulfric but he later realised he left his pack at home. That was kinda the last straw for him. Nothing seemed to be going right and he went into quite a deep funk. He wasn’t able to figure out what went wrong and it was all so frustrating. 

Serena snapped him out of it though. Sure the snowball wasn’t the best way to get out of it and yes he was allowed to be mad or unhappy sometimes but he also wasn’t the type of person who liked to wallow in his own misery. He always came back from his spirals. 

Ash is extremely loaded. He gets a monthly salary(quite a sizable amount) as he is the acting champ. of the orange archipelago. He’s entered into a lot of leagues and decently placed in a lot of them so there’s that prize money as well. Completing the battle frontier and other miscellaneous tournaments & competitions here and there also gave quite handsome rewards. 

The other champions also insist on giving him money every month because he is way too involved in world ending shit for his age. 

So he never really worries about money. He sends cheques with too many zeroes to count to his mom and buys random trinkets for his friends whenever he feels like it. He makes sure everyone around him is comfortable including all of his pokemon. 

There’s no way that he doesn’t video call his pokemon regularly. At least 2 times a week he makes sure to check in with all of them and spend online time with each of them individually. They’re always eager to show him whatever he learnt and listen to him talk about what he’s been upto recently. 

Right before leagues, Ash has a habit of kicking back and relaxing. But before that he puts everything he has into bonding with his team and making sure they can understand each other very well. The relaxation helps his brain function properly and comes up with those standard ash ideasTM. 

He lets whoever wants to rest with him stay and sends the others back to the ranch so his other pokemon can train them and teach them to hold back. 

He gives each league his all but he doesn’t actually let his pokemon battle to their full capacity (especially pikachu). The only time he ever did was against Tobias, however even that wasn’t enough to defeat multiple legendaries. He likes travelling and learning new things. Winning is always fun but he knows that losing is better at certain times. 

That’s why he can defeat legendaries one moment and lose to a rookie the next. 

Another reason why he does that is although he’s been on a journey for quite a long time and is knowledgeable about quite a lot, his pokemon haven’t. 

Sure he teaches them whatever he can but there are certain lessons that you can only learn first hand. To Ash, helping his pokemon truly learn these lessons and become great battlers is better than winning anyday. 

And of course, he gave his all against Leon. (However, he only used the same amount of supercharged moves that Leon did. Otherwise, the whole thing was at quite a disadvantage considering Ash is super strong when he needs to be and although Leon is undefeated he’s never been up against an extremely determined Ash)

He’s really good at grooming his pokemon and helping them feel relaxed and comfortable. He also absolutely adores baby pokemon and is quite overprotective over the babies of his team. 

He stays in regular contact with all of his friends and has group chats with all of them on the basis of regions, aspirations and one with all of them in it. 

[theatrequeen]

Months ago on the Azris Discord server someone had mentioned the concept of Eris losing his memory as he aged due to the Beron's abuse from over the years, which led to this idea festering in my mind and for a while I'd thought about writing it into an actual fic, but I just don't have the time, but I still want to share the idea.

Eris dies at like 1867. He lived long enough to see his children grow up and fall in love. He got to meet his grandchildren. He’d stepped down from his High Lord mantle at around 1750 when his memory started to go. After everything that Beron had put him through eventually even his immortal body starts to give out. His mind was slipping for decades forgetting so many important things from his life. He’ll often talk about people who’ve already passed on (his Mother, Helion, Azriel’s Mother, sometimes even Beron) as if they’re still alive. He remembers Az and their children easily enough, but everything else is just a mess. All the nieces and nephews are a hot mess of names, he mixes up his brothers and who they’re all married to and whose kids belong to whom. He doesn’t remember people’s ages anymore and constantly thinks that old major events happened a lot sooner than they had been (i.e. Hybern war happened a few years ago). Lucien tried to help, searching for a spell to do something helpful, but it was pretty much impossible to find a cure as this was hardly ever seen in Fae. He eventually passes away in his sleep. Az finds out only moments after when the mating bond is cracking and eventually fades out. The funeral is at the end of the week for the beloved High Lord who’d managed to save Autumn from the hateful path that it had been led down. Eris’ body was burned and his ashes released in the wind. A gravestone was placed beneath the tree where Eris had spent so much time with Az and their children.

Az tried to stay strong for his children who’d lost their dad sooner than anyone had expected. Their daughter threw herself into her High Lady work (though with the world at peace, there wasn’t too much heavy work she constantly needed to do). She and her husband (Thesan’s eldest son) and their own children do what they can to find peace and move on in light of her dad’s death. Their son stayed in the Autumn Court as well, but Az had to leave. Everywhere he looked reminded him of his lost mate. Eris was Autumn personified so of course the Court would remind him of Eris. He traveled for a while, visited his friends and family, but seeing them all so in love and them constantly asking if he’s okay. He returns home to Autumn and is greeted by both his kids excitedly hugging him. It’d been about a year since he’d been there so after spending some time with them both he goes to visit Eris’ gravestone. He spends hours talking to him. Az admits that when he’d heard the stories of those ancient Fae who could die of a broken heart he’d thought they were absolute nonsense, but now having lost Eris, it hurts so much more that he actually understands those stories' pain. As Az sits by that tree for hours and as the sun’s setting he sees Eris standing there smiling at him, the gray gone from his hair, looking just as he had the day they’d mated. “It’s my time isn’t it?” “Only if you wish it to be.” Azriel knows the children will grieve. He knows his friends and family will be heartbroken, but he can finally see his mate again. The male he loves so much that it’s hurt to be away from for such a long time. So when Eris reached out to him he took his hand and stepped through to the otherside. 

Rhys and Cassian notice something’s wrong immediately. Their bargain tattoos begin burning. Rhys was with Nyx and Feyre at a meeting with Lucien and Elain and their children in the Day Court when his tattoo started burning. Cassian was with Nesta on a date at their favorite cafe in Velaris when his are burning. Nesta winnows him to Autumn where Rhys already is cradling Az’s head in his lap. Cassian dropped to his side both the batboys trying so hard to wake Az. Rhys is in his mind and sees those final moments but still attempts to bring him back. Nesta, still practically the goddess of death, knows there’s no bringing him back. His spirit is already so far on the other side. Silently she utters the prayer she’s heard enough to make sure that he passes safely. Nesta goes to find her niece and nephew. It’s important that they know what happened. Az’s daughter was with her youngest reading a book and his son was up on a ladder pulling down a book to read. Both are surprised to see Nesta there. She pulls them both into the hall and has to tell them the news. They rush out to where Az, Cass, and Rhys are. Az’s body was cradled between his brothers, both with tears down their cheeks. Az’s kids joined them. 

Azriel’s funeral was similar to Eris’. He too was burned and his ashes scattered. His name was placed next to Eris’ so that their memories would continue to live on together even though they’d both passed on. Both kids grieved again, but they also knew it was for the best. Their Baba had been miserable since their Dad’s passing (and they’d told that to their family in the other courts). He’d tried so hard to act as if he’d been able to peacefully move on as if he hadn’t lost half of his heart when their Dad had died. They’d honestly both been surprised that he’d lasted a year even. Both children made sure to make it a priority that they visit that gravestone often because without their parents, so many other’s lives would be so much worse off than if Autumn had just been left to rot and fester. Instead they’d both poured their hearts and souls into raising Autumn from the ashes so the future generations might be able to live peacefully and safely in the court that had known pain and suffering for so long.