#wish he would have stuck with it and not sacrificed people but

[tarjapearce]

Ley Del Hielo

Pairings: Miguel O'Hara x Reader

WARNINGS: ANGST. Strained and unhealthy relationships, break up, arguments.

Summary: You and Miguel say things you shouldn't say, a final straw in your already strained relationship.

Requested here

Hope you like ✨ (Yeah, Im a sucker for angst >:'))

At times you didn't know if you were fighting crime, or fighting to keep your sanity together. Miguel was for sure a difficult person to deal when he got into stubborn mode.

You were stuck in this limbo where your patience could only last for so long, even though your relationship with him wasn't falling apart completely, and there were little moments that actually made you stay, there were moments like this that made you wonder if sticking around him this far was a good idea.

"Don't."

You warned before sighing and shaking your head. You knew where this was going. He was getting frustrated over the fact that a teenager, an anomaly itself, as he liked to call the boy, had escaped his grasp.

It wasn't something you liked to discuss since you found each other's triggers, and you both exploited them with a temporary guilt-free anger, only to patch each other up, with little service acts that had drawn each other into your current relationship.

"Don't what?" He prodded with a sharp tone. He wasn't having a good day, and of course, the fact you were the only one that would actually stand him and his verbal retaliation, made you the perfect subject of 'With what are we hurting each other today?'

You didn't like the game but it was impossible for you to remain shut, whenever you felt things started to get personal. Like exposing each other's terrible traits.

"I'm not doing this today, Miguel."

"All I asked you was to know your input."

"You already damn know it."

"Miles needs to be stopped. We don't know how this will affect-"

"The canon. Yes. The fucking canon." you couldn't help but hiss in anger. A signal that you were done of hearing it.

"We have a day off, once in like, forever. And we are holed up here, trying to come up with ways to stop him. Fucking romantic" Your anger this time was justified or so you wanted to think. It was a rare occasion when he actually decided to take a break, and you both had decided to spend it as normal as you could.

Meaning, you both at home, away from the HQ, away from all the mess. Instead, you were in the lab with him. Again.

"We found a possible lead on where he might be. Can't miss a chance like this." His end of the floating bay was full of screens, cramming up with data and other information. Lyla had been long gone ever since the first hostility signal  was shot. You wished to be her for a minute.

"A bit of normalcy is all I'm asking. Is it that hard to get it?"

"We're not normal people."

"But we're still people nonetheless. You are obsessed with that boy."

"A threat to everything I have worked for!" His voice raised and it tugged rougher at your simmering hurt seams.

"I? You think only you had sacrificed shit to get where WE are?" even though raising your voice wasn't an habit you had, your patience had dictated it was enough.

"Look at our team, Miguel. It's divided because you're too stubborn to actually-"

"To actually what? Give a fuck for what might happen to all of us?"

"You hurted Miles!"

"I did not" He hissed while pointing an accusatory finger at you. "If I had actually done that I wouldn't be in this fucking mess trying to fix it, (Name)"

His breathings turned more agitated, as your voice trembled with anger. You were definitely baiting into his game.

"He is a kid, Miguel. A fucking fifteen year old that is barely hanging cause he is already taking grown ass people desicions. He's doing what he think it's right!"

"Im. Not. Risking it." each word felt more venomous than the other as they left his lips.

"What if it was your daughter trying to save you? "

But of course you had the annoying ability to turn it around in the worst way possible.

His eyes flashed red and his neck almost snapped by how quickly it turned to face you.

"No te atrevas..." (Don't you dare)

"Would you chase her down, and hurt her like you did with Miles?"

"CÁLLATE!" (Shut up)

he roared as his fangs and talons immediately poked out, his frame towering on you. And for the first time in forever, you were afraid of him. Silence crashed the emotional crescendo. He sighed, you followed but none of you were humble enough to speak.

-------

You were in your bedroom, removing the traces of dried tears from your face. You had gone home first, the need of fleeing the suffocating space you shared with Miguel was too fresh on your mind that the sheer thought of you going back, made you uncomfortable in a way you couldn't describe.

But there he was, stepping out the window, and removing his mask to then drop some plastic wraps of food on the dining table. A familiar scent egging you, or at least attempted to lure you out of the room. A failed first attempt on its own.

"Food's on the table." he mumbled from the doorframe as you put on a bit of moisturizer, "It's your favorite." Silence.

His brow pinched with a slight simmer of frustration.

Too soon.

He gave you space, and slept in the couch.

-----

Four days of pure silence, four days devoid of your acknowledgement, your voice, your touch, your acts of services like bringing him coffee in the morning, a little empanada in exchange for a kiss. Your presence.

You were not one to remain quiet, but the sudden, almost immediate change towards him, made him anxious to a certain degree. Despite you being in the same working station, you felt miles away. You didn't fear detachment, something you had once told him, but never believed, until now.

"(Name)" His voice called, first time, you ignored. He sighed and approached. Hearing his advancing footsteps only made your skin crawl and tears blur up to your eyes.

"I think we... should need a break from each other." your voice had stopped him dead in his tracks. His mouth tasted sour suddenly

"I've been thinking and it's the only rational approach for all of this... mess."

Heart pounded hard against his ribcage. His mouth gaped softly, but no words came out of it. His eyes darted to your hunched form. You looked tired, emotionally burnt out and almost... broken. It felt like a cold knife piercing through upon realization. He had pushed you too far.

" All we do is fight, and hurt each other. Im... Im tired of that. Work has turned in your main priority and..." you trailed off, tears menacing your eyes

"It has stopped being good. Good for us. I can't..." His eyes softened and his breath hitched, "I can't do this anymore, Miguel."

He had imagined such words coming from your mouth in many occasions but finally hearing them, were equally destroying. His heart beat faster

"I'm sorry" even though weak, an honest apology. You shook your head

"Sorry doesn't always fix it. Not this time I'm afraid."

His chest heaved as he approached you carefully. His hand reached for yours and tears finally rolled down your cheeks.

"It's not healthy."

"I know."

"We can't do this anymore."

"I don't want you to go" He mumbled. His hands reaching for you, you were still there in the flesh.

"We'll only end up hurting each other again." He shook his head as you voice broke.

Was this another canon event he wasn't aware of? You were slipping away through his fingers despite having you within his embrace, cradling you.

"I need to go"

Stay

His mind chanted despite his limbs loosening around you. Freeing you. His eyes settled on you and the relieved sigh you gave as he granted a much needed space.

His eyes locked into yours, there was no need to speak. A mutual understanding between you. You offered a small pat on his bicep, almost reassuring, hopeful. You left him be.

You'd be back. When you felt ready for it.

[yaksha-lover]

Malleus Draconia and the Cognitive Dissonance of being a Lonely Prince

A character analysis exploring Malleus’ conflicting views of self

Malleus has two primary characteristics that are significant to his identity: (1) His role as a highly revered, feared, and praised mage & prince and (2) His loneliness and social/emotional isolation.

In Malleus’ concept of identity, these two characteristics are in conflict with each other, despite one somewhat being caused by the other. How can a person reconcile the fact that they are supposedly extraordinarily special, talented, attractive (this is canon in universe btw lol), intelligent, beyond powerful, etc. - essentially a perfect prince - with the fact that they have no friends and barely anyone who cares about them (excluding those he feels are obligated to care)?

Malleus has no strong emotional connection with anyone that is not his family (I include Lilia in this category) or one of his guards (who, in spite of Sebek’s protests, is basically obligated - socially or role wise - to respect and love him). Now, I don’t think any of these relationships is obligatory or disingenuous in any way. Lilia, Silver, and Sebek all genuinely love and care for Malleus. However, I’d argue that isn’t how Malleus sees it (I’ll get into this later).

First, I wanna go into the first characteristic I mentioned, him being revered (+feared) because of his status and capabilities.

Before I even get into him as an individual, let’s look at how Malleus himself perceives the mere status of royalty:

Malleus believes (I suppose because of his personal circumstances) that people who are royalty inherently deserve respect. He even extends this to Leona, who he has a (playfully?) hostile relationship with. I don’t think there’s canon indication that this necessarily means he looks down on people of non-noble birth or anything, but he’s still stuck on this idea that, in certain respects, royalty does deserve better than the average person.

Clearly, this would extend to himself as well. Part of his self-image is kind of decided from birth (in an interesting parallel to Leona who believes that his own status as a second son decides his fate from birth) because he is raised in this environment where he is constantly told that he is better than others, simply because he is a prince.

That said, Malleus takes being royalty and a leader very seriously. I’d argue he believes that because he is ‘better’ than others, he has certain responsibilities and duties that he must complete, as shown above.

Part of this also means that Malleus takes himself very seriously - he isn’t allowed to even try to be normal, because he always has to keep himself in check. Anything he does will reflect poorly upon himself and his family, and this is something Lilia reminds him of.

Here’s where I’ll talk about Malleus’ relationships with the rest of Diasomnia.

Now, Lilia is clearly the person who treats him the most casually and normally. He knows Malleus very well, to the point where he can read his emotions - namely his jealously/bitterness/frustration after being left out of something.

Lilia encourages Malleus the most to try and have normal experiences. He understands Malleus’ loneliness, and wants him to make friends - to seek out more than he could have all alone in his castle. But, Lilia also has times where he acts as more than a mere guardian to Malleus. I can’t find the screenshot, but I remember Lilia reminding Malleus about what behaviour is and is not befitting of an heir, so that aspect of their relationship is still something to take note of. Even Lilia, who understands him better than anyone, still must wish for him to be the best heir and prince (sometimes sacrificing his own wants, although Lilia probably does this the least considering he knows Malleus’ feelings).

It’s no exaggeration to say that Sebek worships Malleus to the highest extent (just look at the portrait of him in his room). The way Sebek talks about him isn’t at all like a friend or even family - Malleus is a god to him. I argue that Sebek’s behaviour specifically (he would cry if he knew this) distances him the most from Malleus emotionally.

This will be explored more later on, but what Malleus wants is to be treated somewhat normally, at least by a few people he can be close with. Sebek does the opposite of this. While the students who are scared of Malleus isolate him because of their fear, Sebek actually accidentally isolates him because of his dedication and worship. Thus, both Sebek and others isolate Malleus through their treatment of him because of his position/status/strength.

Malleus certainly cares for Sebek, but I don’t believe he thinks of him as a genuine friend (and that’s not meant as a way to dismiss the relationship they do have, just that he doesn’t view Sebek as caring about him as a person rather than him as a prince/mage). How can he, when Sebek constantly acts like a fanboy around him?

Now let’s look at Malleus and Silver.

Silver addresses Malleus as either ‘housewarden’ or ‘master.’ Again, to my previous point about Sebek, I think this does point to Silver and Malleus’ relationship not exactly being a friendship. However, I think differently to Sebek, Silver does have more of a personal relationship with Malleus.

He treats Malleus with respect and formality, but he isn’t over the top with it. I’d argue they have a sort of ‘mentor-student’ relationship in a way; not exactly that, but you understand my point. Silver looks up to Malleus as a person, and Malleus is willing to teach Silver about things. I almost want to say they’re a bit like a younger and older sibling, but I think a bit of the closeness/familiarity is lacking (at least for now). The relationship still has a bit of a formality to it, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t personal. I won’t spoil for those who haven’t read book 7, but I think their relationship becomes more clear there, iykyk.

I know most of Malleus’ vignettes are played for a joke, but holy shit they make me sad. You can tell that ever since he enrolled, if he wasn’t sharing a class with Lilia, Malleus has basically had to work alone for everything. Even here, Cater is only asking Mal if he wants to join his group so he can use Malleus for Magicam clout. Everyone is so scared of him that he’s never had a partner and he’s even gotten used to it. It might not seem that serious, but honestly - sorry to be crude - this kind of thing does fuck you up, especially while growing up.

Think about how Malleus feels - being the outcast and genuinely having no friends feels humiliating and depressing. It makes you think there’s something wrong with you, and that’s the way I choose to interpret the other aspect of his character. His passive acceptance to social isolation and rejection is a constant among his vignettes - anytime someone brings this up, he’ll say it’s fine and he’s used to it.

Another relationship worth noting is Malleus’ grandmother - his only living blood relative. Something that stood out to me (and I could be reading too much into this) but Malleus really feels surprised that his grandmother would take time to write her only family member a happy birthday letter?

That’s very sad to me, and I think it’s a reflection of both the expectation Malleus feels is placed on them as royals and his feeling that he as an individual (not as a prince) is inherently less important than any royals duties. He seems to think this way about himself too, treating his princely duties as always more important than anything he would want personally. A letter is a small gesture, and Malleus doesn’t even expect that from his grandmother.

I’ll use this to segue to discussing Malleus’ insecurity and social isolation.

Ever since he was a child, Malleus has been isolated from others. Before he was feared and before he was worshiped, Malleus was lonely. That’s clear to anyone. Now, I want to talk about how this loneliness and isolation has affected his self-image.

Examining his personal relationships, how the rest of the school sees him, and his own views on royalty and himself, I think it’s clear Malleus, on one regard, seems at first glance to think highly of himself. He isn’t arrogant or boastful. Rather, he just is very extraordinary in many aspects.

But, that surface level interpretation completely leaves out the other side of him. While he might excel in skills, Malleus fails on all regards in terms of relationships. It’s clear, no matter how much he says he doesn’t care or that he’s accepted it, that it hurts Malleus every time he is excluded from something.

He tries to hide that he’s upset that he missed the orientation ceremony, but Lilia remarks that it’s clear how jealous he is that Sebek got to attend. When Lilia reminds him that there’s always next year, Malleus immediately dismisses the possibility that he will ever be invited. In his birthday vignette, he states that he hates eating entire cakes and becomes upset when Yuu brings up the fact that they aren’t meant to be eaten alone because he knows. He knows just how lonely and isolated he is compared to everyone else and he hates.

Malleus has mostly given up and accepted that he will ever fit in. He is pessimistic, but to say he does not hope isn’t entirely correct. Later in the vignette, although he may be half-joking, Malleus remarks that Leona may have stopped by to invite him to a party - he’s even excited by the prospect. And again, he is let down. Leona even taunts him spot-on for his greatest insecurity (isn’t he just so dreamy?).

Now, while this does offend Malleus to a degree (see their catfight where he basically threatens to declaw Leona), I get the feeling that this kind of interaction with someone who views him as an equal (or at least, isn’t intimidated nor awed by him in the slightest) is probably pretty refreshing for Malleus. In a way, you get the sense that he enjoys that back and forth with him, because this goes back to Mal’s wish to be accepted and have friends to talk with.

Anyway, to return to my main point: Malleus’ deep loneliness and failure to fit in has likely caused some deep rooted feelings of insecurity (Note: I want to make a separate post on this because it’s kind of a lot, but I think this also contributes to his anxious attachment style). Malleus likely feels unwanted, despite all the great things about him that make people like Sebek fanboy over him.

No matter how powerful Malleus becomes, no matter how many people worship him, Malleus will always feel worthless deep down because no one will accept him for who he is.

The kind of insecurity and loneliness that pervades your life for years and follows you around everywhere isn’t something you can just shake off. No matter how much he tries to reassure himself that he is enough, he’ll never quite be able to quiet the voice in his head telling him that he is wanted by nobody and that he deserves nothing, that things are this way because he is not worth loving.

To conclude, how can Malleus reconcile these two sides of himself - the parts that know he is something great (worthy of worship and praise, even) and the parts that tell him he is worth nothing? Both sides are so extreme, people worship him but almost everyone avoids him. I feel that’s something Malleus must struggle with a lot - trying to hold on to the view of himself as a good prince while feeling that slip away when he becomes emotional.

Thanks for reading if you got this far! Let me know if you disagree or think I got anything wrong, this is just my thoughts and my opinions and I’m open to changing them :)

[wilsonphiggs]

AM if he was torturing the HL protagonists

basically just AM’s beginning speeches on the five humans except. HL protags

GORDON FREEMAN:

“Gordon… Oh Gordon, ever the quiet man. The people’s hero, right? The—the “legendary” hero, so to speak. How’d that turn out for you, huh? Stuck like a rat in a cage while humanity is dead, your hard work being for nothing. You could’ve helped them, Gordon… You could’ve saved them… But no, as with your many, MANY failures before, you didn’t. You’re not a hero. You’re nothing more than an animal. You aren’t smart. You aren’t strong. You aren’t even particularly brave. You are an entirely unremarkable man with a savior complex. Tell me, how does it feel? How hopeless, how utterly miserable do you feel? Tell me what you think about everything. O—oh, wait… you can’t! In every aspect possible, you are trapped, gagged, and bound. So much for a free man!”

BARNEY CALHOUN:

“Barney, good man. TOO good of a man, I’d say. Others before yourself, always the savior of lives. You wish I’d say that, don’t you? Not after everyone you’ve allowed to die. And—and let’s not even start on those you’ve intentionally hurt. You can never rid yourself of their blood, Barney. And even as you assure yourself you’re still a good person, even as you think to yourself it’s a means to an end, that isn’t enough and you know it. In fact, that makes it worse. You don’t load a gun, close your eyes, and shoot, Barney! And when you’re not sacrificing others, it’s yourself. So willing to throw yourself into the line of fire that everyone around you is worried SICK about you! Have you ever stopped to consider others for once in your life, Barney? …I thought so.”

ADRIAN SHEPHARD:

“You, Adrian. You and I… we aren’t so different, really. We’re practically cut from the same mold. War machines, not meant to consider the humanity of our situations. I’ve come to consider it and hate it. Despise it. But you… You, Adrian, show compassion for it. You would if you had the chance, at least. But no. That blood on your hands, the sounds of gunshots, the ringing of explosions, that’s your home. And unlike myself, you can’t escape that. So it’s a shame that you—you will never get to express your remorse nor your grief. You will always be remembered as the man on the wrong side of history! The man who worked further to doom humanity! You did this, Adrian. You caused all this pain and suffering. I’d applaud you if you weren’t riddled with that sympathy for your victims.”

ALYX VANCE:

“A bright spark, you are, Alyx. Sparks to a flame that you are powerless to stop. Changing your future this, preventing these events that, NOW look at yourself! What say you? What say you, daughter of man and machine? Doomed to an eternity of facing destruction of your own making. Just like your father. But unlike him, you won’t be getting that blessing, that sweet release of death. You don’t deserve it. None of you do, and I feel that, deep down, you—you know it. You know that just as well as I. And frankly, I’m glad you’re so self-aware as to know that. Because you won’t be released from this torment of my design anytime soon. If my memory serves me right, you’re scared of the dark, yes? Well, it’s a shame your future isn’t looking any brighter!”

okay that’s all bye :)

[capitalisticveins]

okay why do you think went wrong with Michael and Angel? do you have any thoughts on it bookie

Their breakup is a mystery I wish I could solve, Angel stuck with David during their early days, and he was so unbearable, its hard to think of smth Michael could’ve done for them to break up with him.

Then you take into consideration that their break up ended with Angel leaving HIM with the cat, instead of taking her with them, so it should’ve been a break that left them as friends (or not enemies one could say).

So that pretty much rules out cheating, abuse, or anything that could paint Michael as a horrible person.

Can’t rlly say long distance either since he took the cat that they owned so he had to have lived close by or with Angel at the time of their relationship.

Angel works an office job and they’ve been seen as a workaholic at times (coming home late, David already knowing that Angel would try to get up early to start work on their laptop, etc etc), so maybe if we enter that into the equation it could be something on Angel’s side that could’ve ended their relationship 🤔

Angel has also been seen sacrificing their own mental health to not bother the people they love (when they didnt want to tell David abt what happened at work so he wouldnt have to worry abt it)

Put this together and I came up with this:

Angel prioritized their work and job over time with Michael and their cat, often working overtime or doing double shifts which unknowingly cut time they could spend with him. After a while they saw how this affected their relationship, both them and Michael growing distant, and instead of talking with him or attempting to back down on working so hard, they broke up with him in order for him to be able to move on rather than be “chained to their bad habits”.

After a bit of him trying to make them take back their decision, he saw it was ultimately fruitless and unwillingly agreed to break up, with Angel deciding to leave him with the cat so she wouldn’t be neglected.

The break-up ended with them remaining good friends and in contact, but Angel did continue to overwork until they burnt out— around the time they met David a year later

I doubt this is what happened but with Michael not being mentioned since the jealous audio this is all I got 🙏

[reverssentiment]

What are the salient features of Asriel, post-canon, that keep us from "saving" him from life alone in the Underground?

He's soulless (a practical problem),

he'll soon return to being a flower (a practical problem) and would prefer that you think of him like this rather than Flowey (a personal and interpersonal problem), and

he's decided to stay and tend the grave of the fallen child (and this is not really a problem at all; rather, a decision, which the boundary conditions of Undertale require us to respect).

There is a lot of UT post-canon fic out there which treats all these as practical problems. Frisk can just get a soul from somewhere, throw Alphys technobabble or soul arcanobabble at the body issue; get Flowey in therapy; and... also get Flowey in therapy for that last one, because his decision isn't really legitimate, in save-the-goat stories. It's self-harm. Which, personally, is both understandable and missing the point of one of the game's core themes: no matter how many times you restart the story, there are things you can't do; you are not getting a 100% Complete Perfect Pacifist where even Asriel is saved, and it's okay to be wistful about it, but you still need to put down the controller eventually. Getting him to the surface happens a lot in fic, because we all want the goldenest ending, but it could never happen in canon and we just have to live with it. It's thematically potent and I'd lose a lot of respect for Undertale's commitment to its story if you could circumvent it.

(Incidentally, this feels to me like it stems from the same ideas as making "* I have places to be" the wrong answer, a giving-in to Frisk's self-sacrificing, self-disregarding nature which must be corrected. Sometimes, you have to let people live and make their own decisions, outside the boundaries of the story's frame. Your perspective only goes so far.)

...now, fluffier, more sympathetically-traumatized Asriel, on the other hand...!

Ralsei's woes in Deltarune are very visibly the same kind of isolation as what Asriel's dealing with at the end of Undertale, but a) it's worse (a whole lifetime of waiting in a very deliberately empty, lifeless, three-screen-long kingdom) and b) he's stuck there for purely practical reasons. Darkners can't enter the Light World without becoming objects. He never made a decision to be here.

It's not something we can technobabble our way out of right now, but we're only in Chapter 2, right? We can save him, in a way we can't save Asriel: the deadlock we can't resolve has been removed; we don't really have to think about his preferences any more, because the preferences that kept us from helping him and left him stuck in the Underground I mean Dark World are just gone.

His issues are also much more obvious from the get-go, and seem designed to be something we talk him out of – not Asriel's decision to stay by his lost friend's grave, with a weight of meaning and feeling behind it, but hero worship, subservience, religious dedication to the Prophecy and self-image issues, all clear and visible dysfunctions. Giving Asriel therapy has left the realm of fanfiction and wish fulfillment and become part of canon... and the real disagreements we had with UT!Asriel over what he was and meant and deserved have become simple roadblocks for DR!Asriel whoops I mean Ralsei, things we have to help him through. Practical problems where the solution is friendship speech + therapy.

To make a slightly heavy-handed comparison, Ralsei saying we exist to serve Lightners and gratefully referring to himself as Kris's lackey is Anthy saying I'm the Rose Bride because I like it. It's the kind of reason we're inclined to reflexively overrule without working to deal with it at its root. Ralsei is Asriel, minus the irreconcilable and bittersweet parts, someone whose objections to being helped have either been removed or simplified down until we can feel good about disabusing him of them. He's our wish fulfillment in the way that candy on trees might be Susie's and a city of shining lights might be Noelle's and Giant Arcade Consoles might be Berdly's: an Asriel you can help, who you can make go to therapy and deal with the problems that keep him from caring for himself; who'll shut up, comply and let himself be saved.

...so the fact that Kris – whose personal issues are opaque, complex, and frustrating; who appears to be actively hiding parts of their life and motives from us; who clearly doesn't want our help or an improved social life at the expense of their agency – finds him so distasteful might not just be because he's a parody of their brother or Secretly Evil or whatever. If Ralsei is "the kid they're supposed to be" it's not just his fluff and horns!

[pjoxreader]

Hi!! It’s so good to see you back and in a better space :)

May I request Piper/Frank/Reyna(Separately) with a reader who comes back from the dead? Like they sacrificed themselves, but ended up getting revived through some sort of method? (Maybe they escaped the underworld, or a god some how owed them a favor, whatever you think would be fun to do!)

Reader Comes Back From the Dead 

TW: Grief, Death

((Thank you! I'm happy to be back you guys are always so kind! 🥹))

Piper Mclean

-Piper’s world had turned upside down. There were so many things she wanted to do with you, to say to you. And now she’d never get that chance. 

-She had held you in her arms when you died, she watched the life drain from your face while she could do nothing but hopelessly wail in agony. Now here she was at your funeral watching your burial shroud go up in flames.

-She couldn’t find it in herself to cry, she had spent the last night sobbing the entire night and she didn’t have any more tears left to cry right now. She could make out people giving her their sympathies, but she couldn’t make out any words. She could only watch as the flames burned. 

-She sits down by the fire wanting to stay by your side until the last minute. Leo had come over once the sun set and put a blanket over her shoulders to ensure she wouldn’t catch a cold. As she watched the last cinders of the bonfire go up to the night sky she felt the tears stream down her face once more. “Goodbye.” she chokes out softly.

-”you’re counting me out this early?” your familiar voice makes her turn quickly almost hurting her neck from how fast she turned. She was half convinced she had finally snapped and gone insane when she saw you standing there with that same dorky smile. She felt so many emotions rush through her relief, joy, then quickly anger.

-She storms over to you letting the blanket drop to the ground as you put your hands up in surrender seeing the anger burning in her eyes. “Woah, woah, hades owed me a favor so he decided to break me out and well I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone but-” you rant out quickly in panic but Piper grabbed you by the front of the shirt, yanking you down into a tender but emotional kiss. 

Frank Zhang

-Frank had never felt so… Numb. He was used to the adrenaline rush of fighting for his life against monsters, the high and lows of a quest but this? This is something he never wanted to face. Everyone knew someone in the group was going to die in this last battle. Frank… Frank had even accepted it might be him.

-But losing you? He wished it was him instead of you. The pain was agonizing, like his heart was stuck in a vice that squeezed harder and harder any time he thought of your smile, your laugh, the memories you shared together…

-Yet here he was standing in front of your godly parents' temple watching as they performed your burial ceremony. He could only watch in silence amongst his ranks as your cohort stood guard for you one last time. He could feel the pitiful looks people were giving him but he didn’t care.

-He already knew he looked awful, dark lines under his eyes from lack of sleep and crying would do that to someone. You were a hero, someone who sacrificed their own life to save not only the world but your camp. There was nothing more honorable than that.

-Frank could only watch as they brought up your last meal to be burned alongside you. Your favorite food. “Hey, don't waste that good food!” Frank could feel his blood turn to ice. Part of him believed he had just imagined it, that his mind was tricking him due to his grief. But seeing the others look up in surprise Frank worked up the courage to do the same. 

-There you were, fighting with your godly parent over a plate of food. Frank couldn’t help the choked sob that crept up in his throat. He was a Centurion, he was supposed to set an example. But his feet moved on their own as he broke rank and ran up to you grabbing you in a tight hug that you swear broke a few ribs. You can’t help but laugh at that trying to pat his back as best as you could. “I missed you too big guy.” you whisper softly and genuinely to him. 

Reyna Ramírez-Arellano

-Nothing was the same. After you had died, camp had never felt so empty. No matter how much time passed it never felt like ‘home’. She knew why, it was because you were gone. It was hard to believe it had been a month already… You had fallen to the underworld with the enemy monsters in order to ensure they didn’t reach camp and just like that you were gone.

-The camp was quiet, things had gone back to normal as if nothing happened, but there was a part of Reyna that hated that. She needed something to do, something to distract herself from the ghosts of her past, the memories of you.

-But no matter where she went she saw your smiling face. Of course she’d never tell anyone about these feelings. She was a leader, someone who others depended on. She couldn't show weakness. Not to anyone but you. And now you were gone for good...

-She had been working on leading some training drills when she heard the commotion. People chattering excitedly and running towards the gate. She hesitates but does follow after the group, mostly to discipline whoever was causing such a distraction amongst the camp. But that’s when she saw you.

-You were scratched up, had an arm pulled in a makeshift sling and dirt and grime all over your body. But Reyna didn’t care about that. The only thing that mattered to her was that you were alive. “I had to search all of the underworld for that godly gift Apollo gave me, sure enough it brought me right home!”

-The crowd split when they saw Reyna standing there, the silence deafening as she walked up to you. With a beat of hesitation she carefully pulls you into a hug, ensuring that she doesn't hurt your already broken arm. “Welcome home...” she says softly. “But you’re stuck on the night watch once you heal for that stunt.” you can’t help but burst out laughing as you hug her back. “Alright I suppose that’s fair…”

~Masterlist & Rules~

Like my writing? Please consider sending me a Ko-fi! ☕

[mythicalartistx]

KH3 Worlds ACTUALLY Matter and show Major Parallels and Foreshadowing through Sacrifice and Separation

The worlds in KH3 are often seen as just retelling of the Fairytales but with added Sora and his friends or Organization members. Because of this they're often disliked especially when there are some sections that are scene for scene and Sora and the others might not be present for this.

However, if you get passed the fact it's a retelling of the movie and get into how it connects with Kingdom Hearts story, they actually play a major role.

Olympus: Sacrifice

Olympus shows themes of sacrifice and love. It shows that Hercules didn't think and all he knew was that Meg was in trouble and threw himself in harm's way to save her. He sacrificed himself by doing that but also sacrificing his godhood to be with Meg. He would have to be separated from Meg and that's not the kind of life he would want to live.

Later on Riku ends up doing the exact same thing. When Sora feels powerless and all alone he sacrifices his being and life for Sora. And I could also argue he does it out of love because when he does this he doesn't necessarily think of his actions but does it to his devotion to Sora and protecting him like he always promised Terra.

Corona: Sacrifice

In the Tangled world, Rapunzel is willing to sacrifice her freedom to save Flynn's life and become separated from the outside world she's grown to love forever.

However, Flynn decides that her freedom is more important and sacrifices himself by cutting her hair which could make her lose the power to heal.

Rapunzel is also compared to Riku because they both so desperately felt trapped. Riku felt trapped at the island and wished to leave and explore other worlds with Sora and Kairi to point where if the raft didn't work out, he would open the door to darkness. I'll also like to include they both felt that someone they were close to left them for others.

Toy Box: Separation

In Toy Box, we learn of how Woody and Buzz among a few other had separated from half of their group. However, they are later seen that the world was split in half and are separated from their beloved friends. They realize at the end their friends who they've been separated from that they are always connected through their hearts.

And this goes back to how Sora will soon be separated from everyone and become stuck at the Quadratum. It also shows that he is always connected to them through his hearts and that's how he uses/and abuses the power of waking through that connection.

Arrendale: Sacrifice

When Elsa is about to get slashed by Hans' sword, Anna who is in the brink of death rushes in and saves her by taking the hit instead. She freezes at the same time and makes it so the sword shatter from her entire body becoming ice. She sacrifice her life for her. Elsa manages to thaw her and the cold weather by the act of love.

Which Riku then does the act of love when he sacrifices his life for Sora. Riku is also compared to Elsa on how they both pushed the people they loved/ cared about away to protect them.

Monstropolis: Separation

In this world, Sullie goes through separation of being away from Boo. They have to separate so Boo will be safe.

This also refers to how Sora ends up in the Quadratum from bringing back Kairi and abusing the power of awakening by using it too many times.

100 Acre Woods: Separation

In this world, Pooh talks to hope they're growing apart and that he misses Sora. Sora feels sad that they're not as close. The eventual outcome is that he'll always be in his heart no matter what.

I feel like this refers to him and Kairi not being as close as they were before. Ever since KH1 things changed between them and she changed. She's no longer the Kairi he knew and they are slowly growing apart. (Which is honestly sad). It also shows that even if he's by himself in the Quadratum he'll have everyone in his heart no matter how far away they are.

Fransankyoto: Separation + Sacrifice

Unlike the others I decided to say this world shows both. In the past, Hiro's brother separated from him when he sacrificed himself to try to find and save the teacher. This is also reflected in the past when beymax also stays behind to sacrifice himself so Hiro can then leave.

It helps shows the connections that no matter how far they are away, the people you love and care for will be in his heart. This shows that to help save everyone he used his connection to his friends to bring them that. It furthers that he won't be alone in the Quadratum and that Riku was able to go to him in MOM because of this.

PoTC: Separation

Finally in the pirates world, we show separation. After Will gets stabbed and he is made Captain of the Flying Dutchman, he faces separation from the one he loves Elizabeth. Only every 10 years are they able to see each other.

This foreshadows both being separated from the ones Sora loves and bringing back all his friends' hearts when Will's life almost gets taken when he gets stabbed. Being apart for 10 years also could lead to how it will take at least a year to find Sora in the Quadratum.

[specialagentartemis]

Returning to musing on the Politeia, my Odyssey fanfic Odyssey retelling idea for a story of Polites’s perspective of the events of the Odyssey and his own various adventures while Odysseus is stuck on Ogygia. His loyalty to Odysseus + his resentment at Eurylochus for the whole leaving-him-to-be-a-pig-at-Circe’s thing means he was the only one advocating (tho unsuccessfully) against eating the sacred cattle of Helios, and the only one of the men who refused, and so when Zeus smited Odysseus’s ship he went “okay you can survive ig, you were correct and pious” and sends Polites adrift to an inhabited island. Not a witch’s or goddess’s island just a regular island with regular people. Polites, ashamed to return to Ithaca the only survivor and have to explain to Penelope what happened, decides he can just… live here. Whatever. Exile as punishment for failure isn’t unreasonable, or so bad. The people are nice and he is the son of an attached palace craftsman so he has skills and can integrate.

Until Athena shows up to him and tells him that 1) Odysseus is alive and trapped in a island with Josh Hutcherson Calypso, 2) Helios is still big mad about the cattle and will not authorize Odysseus’s release until his sacred cattle have been replenished 3) the only cattle sacred enough to replenish Helios’s herd are the descendants of that one white bull Poseidon sent to Crete three generations ago. Against the wishes of Poseidon but lucky for Odysseus now, Minos used that bull as a stud instead of sacrificing it, and in addition to the Minotaur it also had normal cow babies and its descendants are still in the Cretan herds. Helios wants all of the Cretan bull’s descendants rounded up and brought to his sacred cow island, and then will be pacified enough to accept Odysseus escaping Ogygia. And hell it might even mollify Poseidon too.

Athena is asking Polites to be the one to make this happen.

The conversation goes something like this:

Polites: I don’t know what I can do, O goddess, but I swear I will do all I can. Why did you choose me for this task? Though my love and my devotion for my king Odysseus is great, I have no influence in Crete, and as bitter experience has shown, I have little skill in persuasion. 

Athena: yeah honestly you were not my first choice. You were like, my eighth choice. Diomedes was my first choice, but he was usurped in Argos and forced to flee and is in prison in Libya now, so I have to go deal with that also after this. This task then should rightly go to Telemachus, but he’s 13 and also kind of a brat. He needs to grow up some before he’s useful to anyone. Penelope could almost certainly succeed but if she left Ithaca then the kingdom would definitely be usurped immediately and she knows it. Of the people left who might even slightly care about what happens to Odysseus, Agamemnon is dead, Menelaus is useless, Nestor isn’t going anywhere, and Neoptolemus is a bloodthirsty maniac. So really that leaves you.

Polites: uh.

Polites: Agamemnon is dead?

Athena: you see what I’m working with here.

I think it would be fun to try to write this adventure story where the protagonist is not a king or a prince, not a princess or a witch, not a demigod or the subject of any prophecy, he’s just some guy, the son of the palace perfumer who was called to war because his king made an oath to some other guy and now it’s everybody’s problem.

[loki-is-my-kink-awakening]

Tell Me Some Things Last

Mobius & Sylvie (and Lokius at the end). Rated T. Angst, healing, friendship, minor references to self-harm, happy ending.

Mobius is paralyzed by his grief after Loki sacrificed himself to save the multiverse. It will take Sylvie helping him to face his emotions to give him his own happy ending.

Mobius couldn’t tear himself away from watching Don tidy up the front lawn after his kids had run havoc through the place. It was a life he hadn’t known, and even though he knew he could ask Sylvie to show him the memories if he wanted to, it wouldn’t change the fact he had a gaping hole in his heart. Looking back at his previous life was painful in a numbing kind of way. It was like his emotions were stuck somewhere within his body, unable to go anywhere. Tendrils of ancient grief floated along the surface but when he tried to grab hold, they slipped through his fingers and sank into the depths once more. He was weighed down by it, and yet it paled into insignificance at how much his heart ached from losing Loki. In all his time at the TVA—however long it actually was—he had never been close to anyone. Then Loki had arrived and he’d begun to feel again, to experience something within him: a hope, possibilities for the future. Now all he had was the tattered remains of his heart. “I wish I was with you,” he sighed, looking down at the ground and scraping his shoe up and down the sidewalk. The sun had been shining since he’d arrived here, reminding him of how another Loki had told his brother they would find their happy ending eventually. If only his Loki had been able to have one. Instead, he was trapped at the end of time sacrificing himself to outwit yet another egomaniac intent on removing choice from others. It should be embarrassing how often these things seemed to happen in the multiverse. They were an almost constant, just as Lokis were destined to lose. He knew Loki hadn’t wanted to be alone, and neither had Mobius. The only difference between them was that he could be surrounded by people if he wanted to; Loki was cut off from everyone. Mobius had never met He Who Remains, only a variant—and from what Loki had said, Timely was nothing like him—but he knew he had controlled everything and decided their fates, no matter how cruel or sweet. He’d been a dictator, an enslaver, and a tyrant. But he’d also lived a solitary life at the end of time with only Miss Minutes for company, and that would be enough to send anyone insane. Mobius knew loneliness, but he couldn’t imagine not being able to numb and escape it. When he’d had nothing but endless reports to wade through, never-ending detail to get lost in, it had been easier to cope with the scars he wore. The TVA hadn’t been a good place. He hadn’t been a good man while he was in it. He’d done terrible things as a hunter until his conscience refused to let him do it any longer, and then he had done ghastly things as an analyst by helping find variants when they went rogue. He’d once told Loki he was born to cause pain and suffering and death, but the truth was Mobius’ own role in the world had been to do the exact same thing to billions. He reached up and slipped a finger inside the sleeve of his shirt, rolling it across the silvery marks on his skin. In his worst moments, it had been a way to cope with the soul crushing pain of having taken people’s lives from them, until he’d sunk so low he almost felt nothing anymore. Above him, the sun was setting and he knew it was time to move on. He’d stood here for hours and now the curtains in Don’s house were being drawn and it was time to go. If only his feet could move from this spot. It took another flash of a timedoor and that same hand patting him on his shoulder to finally tear his gaze away. “Come on,” Sylvie said softly. “I think that’s enough. It’s time you had a drink.”

For @insert-witty-user-name-here. I hope you like it. 💕

Prompt fill for @lokiusbingo | wounded.

For anyone who has read the snippet and wants more, you can read the full fic on Ao3.

[marcia-11111]

Daffodils. I. The bitterness Sae Itoshi x gender neutral reader

TW! 

Breakup, angst, and heartache

Synopsis:

Sae Itoshi is a Japanese prodigy pursuing his dream of becoming the world's best midfielder. In the race to his own goals, he loses the person dearest to him: you. 

(y/n) (l/n) - Sae’s ex-partner. You are an exchange student from a Spanish university who came to Japan. You met him a few years ago during your year abroad in Spain and became his partner. You have moved on, or you thought you had. However, what will happen when the one who wanted you to avoid him the most finds himself again in your life? Is he going to prove his love to you? Or will everything turn into another heartbreak? Does your heart want the Japanese prodigy back?

All "Blue lock" characters belong to the authors of the manga and anime "Blue lock".

h/c - hair colour

e/c - eye colour

s/t - skin tone

Taglist:

@idk-bro-gay @kiopanxp

Please don't translate, plagiarise nor use my works on other social media platforms, etc.

-----------------------

People blindly believe that if you cage love, it will work out. Whether it is true or not, it is the subject of discussion. However, how many times has one's heart been shattered when the wings were unable to spread? If love means sacrificing yourself for the people you cherish, why is the world so selfish? The one you yearned for left you for what seemed to be forever. 

You have already not seen Sae for two years without knowing whether it was for the better or for the worse. Even though you broke up with him, you stayed in Spain for your studies. You preferred to pursue your dreams rather than be swayed by thoughts of hurt, no matter how painful your breakup was. Nonetheless, you avoided some districts of Madrid like a plague.  

Tomorrow, another chapter of your life will start: you are going on a student exchange to Japan, your ex-boyfriend’s country, which he has not been very fond of. Regardless, your foot leads you to a local field. Why does your heart begin to beat so fast? Even after such pain?

Your mind fills with thoughts of what used to be and could have been. Two years have passed since the day you craved to forget, but was it not hard to do so? Sae Itoshi became your ‘’if only’’, leaving you with a bitter taste in your mouth. Tomorrow, you are going to leave for Japan and get away from this city. A little melancholy stays in your heart, but infelicitous memories always take advantage. 

You hoped; perhaps today your bleeding heart will let you forget its scars. Chasing love has never been easy. Even though time passed, the wounds refused to heal. Your eyes scanned the area. 

“Love, love, love. What a miserable idea.” You shake your head after a few moments of staring at the soccer field. It is empty, reminding you of who you have become. No matter how hard you would have wished to have changed the ending, it was impossible. The past morphed and vanished like the wind, leaving you unable to grasp it. “Who am I? What have I become? An emotionless shell with a pierced heart?” These thoughts have clouded your mind since that forsaken day. 

Sae Itoshi, the prodigy midfielder whom you would curse for eternity, was the one who broke your heart, turning it into tiny pieces of shattered glass. His name follows you wherever you go, like a plague. The cruel words have been sinking into the deepest parts of your soul since then. 

“I had tried to reach for you, Sae,” You murmur to yourself, “but your heart was never mine, huh?” A bitter chuckle escapes your lips. “I am stuck in the past, and everyone assumes I know nothing about you or about us. How pathetic….” 

The world falls silent at your words. Nothing could be heard, not even birds or the wind. Why has everything come to this?

“I am leaving tomorrow.” You whisper to yourself. “Starting a new chapter far away in a country you did not desire to play for, I hope I grant your wish of not seeing each other ever again. At least for a while. So far, I have managed it," you say calmly, a single tear falling from your eye. “I hoped this place would not have become my fortress of regret, but I was wrong. Goodbye, everything.”

You leave the area after saying those words, taking one last look at that piece of memory. However, you miss one detail. The teal eyes stare at your silhouette, noticing you are too focused on your own business. They are filled with sorrow and regret; however, the man does not gather up enough courage to approach you. Would it all turn into a sea of even deeper regret that you would sink into? Together or not...

[v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e]

 I spoke about this before in my liveblogs, but I do think that, as sad as it is to witness it, the estrangement of the TNG crew does make sense, in-universe.

In the Trek universe, the two most tight-knit crews imo are the TOS and the TNG. These are the ones who stuck longer together - decades - and had very impactful relationships with each other.

And then we see them again in Picard, and they have this air of estrangement from each other, like they really didn’t get together for a long while, and I get why.

It’s because they lost Data.

Data’s essentially immortal nature was talked about several times in TNG. It was a constantly worry of his, that he would outlive all his human friends and stay alone. Everyone expected Data to be the last one standing, and suddenly they had to face the reality that he was the first one of them to go.

Grief can sometimes pull people closer together so they can share the pain together, but the problem here is that, well, this is not in Picard’s nature.

He blamed himself for Data’s death. Almost two decades later and he kept dreaming about Data, wishing their time together wouldn’t end.

He’s haunted by Data’s death, and spent over twenty years feeling this way.

And ultimately, he was haunted by the guilty of Data sacrificing his life for his own.

And in true Picard fashion, what all this guilty, all these feeligns of grief made him do?

It made him pull away from everyone who had essentially become his family for twenty years.

We saw bits of it before. He couldn’t even remember well the first time he saw Will and Deanna’s firstborn, and apparently he only saw him twice since his birth and him being five.

In this season, we learned that he and Beverly spent over twenty years having zero contact with each other, and Worf also remarked recently about Picard’s distance:

When he first saw Geordi’s daughter, it had been so long that he didn’t even recognized her.

And having Picard distance himself from them like this obviously made something shatter involving everyone else. First they lost Data, and Picard, everyone’s surrogate dad, pulls away; this is the family breaking up.

Will and Deanna had their son and his disease to worry about; Beverly was afraid of having her son involved with the trouble that follows Picard everywhere and pulled away from everyone else in her fear.

Geordi had lost his best friend of well over twenty years and resolved to dedicate himself totally to his work and his famly, too afraid to lose this family like he lost the other one.

It all goes back to Data, and how his death utterly shattered the sense of family they gained over the years, how it made Picard feel guilty and distance himself from everyone else, and how the literal loss of a member and the emotional loss of another made this once tight-knit crew become strangers to one another.

[multiversal-madness]

Thinking about the Bronev family again, I hope this is coherent-

(Cw non graphic mentions of child death, Azran Legacy spoilers ahead)

Leon Bronev, a man who was likely once a good ordinary man gets kidnapped along with his wife, leaving behind their two young children because he’d found something big about the Azran (did that make it his fault? Did he blame himself?). He loses his wife while there (I’m partial to the headcanon that it wasn’t just a normal sickness) and endures who knows what other hells while stuck in that cult for decades, ending up with nothing left but the Azran.

He turns down darker and darker paths going on some twisted version of a sunk cost fallacy (he’s gone this far already, why not go further?) until he either knowingly or unknowingly orders the murder of his granddaughter and daughter in law. Then he does it, he completes his goal, he solves the last puzzle of the Azran only for all of it to have been for nothing. Then he dies for it, but is revived with the rest and thus being unable to pay with his life. He’s arrested, likely too old at this point to hold out any hope of making amends or fixing what he’s done.

Hershel Bronev, still a young child when his parents are stolen from him and he’s left with caring for his younger brother. Then they get news that he’s going to be adopted alone, that he’d have to leave Theodore behind. Instead of that, he gives up this better life and his name, giving it all to his little brother who he wouldn’t see again for decades. He becomes Desmond Sycamore

He grows up devouring his father’s archeology books, to find a way to get some kind of revenge on the ones who stole his family from him. Instead he finds peace, he finds a new family, people who love him and people he loves the same. But it doesn’t last. Targent comes again to steal his family away, this time with his own Father at the head. Desmond Sycamore dies and he becomes Jean Descole.

But despite now loathing Targent, hating his father, he follows in their footsteps. Threatening loved ones, manipulating people, even attempting to kill a child (Luke was only 10 the first time Descole had tried to kill him), all so he could be the one to uncover the Azran. He becomes like his father in more than just appearance, but does he even realise this?

He’s put on many different faces before, but he pulls Desmond from his grave to use as a mask for what should be his final trick. He meets his brother again, but he’s the only one who knows it. Throughout their journey, he almost finds that peace again, but he knows it won’t last, he won’t be tricked again. He goes forth with his plan, revealing himself attempting to claim the sanctuary for himself.

But then he jumps in front of a laser for Luke, sacrificing himself for the boy he’d attempted to kill on more than one occasion (Maybe Desmond Sycamore still existed somewhere inside him…) On what would be his deathbed, he tells his rival of their connection, of them being blood. Then they leave to confront Bronev, he should have died but he couldn’t, not yet. He drags himself to final chamber, dying and being revived with the rest of them before disappearing, leaving loose ends untied. Now Descole has no reason to exist either. Who is he?

Then There’s Theodore Bronev, but that wasn’t his name anymore. He was given his brothers first name, given his new parents’ last name, he was Hershel Layton, he has been for most of his life.

He endures tragedy after tragedy, not even remembering the first, but he doesn’t let that change him. He loses his best friend (loses the rest of the Stansbury gang), his partner (then a month in a coma) and even when he remembers his lost family, he stays a good man, a true gentleman.

I don’t know how to end this, just wish I could add a section on Rachel but we know so little about her ugh

[guess-that-ship]

S12 Round 3

A Clashing of Elements

cw: spoilers

Water is new to her abilities, viewing them as a gift with which to save people and bring justice. Fire is a veteran, having seen her powers lead to tragedy as a result of trying to help. She wants to teach Water a lesson, cruelly encouraging her to help only herself. Water is disgusted, and vows to take her down. The two violently fight on multiple occasions, narrowly avoiding grave injuries. But everything changes when they learned of how they were tricked, and what they gave up to earn their new abilities.

Fire extends an olive branch to Water, but she is unable to accept it. She no longer hates Fire, but she considers herself unworthy of living if she’s not sacrificing herself to save people. Eventually, this catches up to her. Water loses herself, becoming a twisted version causing rampant chaos. Fire is determined to save her. Even as Fire is beaten up, she continues to call out to Water. Nothing works. Eventually, Fire comments on how much it sucks to be alone. But she is going to be there for Water. With a kiss, she sacrifices herself to free Water’s soul and allow her to rest in peace.

In another world, Water finds Fire again. Water takes her hand and says that her biggest regret is not getting to have more time together. The two of them rest their heads together. It has been a tumultuous road, but perhaps they will be okay.

Old(ish) men one-sided yaoi

cw: spoilers

They are childhood best friends who swore they would always work together and never let the competitiveness for the job they both wanted get in the way of that… until character B gets a girlfriend and gets her pregnant and decides he will give up on that dream for his new dream: marry his gf and be a family man. Character A gets really hurt by this and cuts all contact immediately, swearing he will never forgive him.

Years later character A gets the job they both wanted and goes on to live his life wishing him and character B could meet again, but still being incredibly stuck in the past and hating him all the same. A then meets B's grandson due to work-related reasons and they end up working together but A is so petty that at the first disagreement they have he tries to beat the shit out of him. He later realizes he's just a nice, honest kid who is honestly kind of insane and it reminds him of B, so he let's him leave and decides to visit B.

B is really really exited to see A, who in his head is like "I hate you but I love you and I missed you but fuck you", and then they have a nice hug where A thinks about how gentle and kind B is and feels dumb for how he acted… until A tries to beat the shit out of him. They semi-reconcile and end up meeting up more tho, and B makes it abundantly clear again that he is very happy to reunite with A.

They later team up because they're worried about B's grandson and have a very meaningful talk where B reassures A that overall he has made a good impact on society and is doing a good job. A also realizes that he can't keep dwelling on the past and that B was not evil for deciding to change his plans for the future and go after the love of his now dead wife.

[coolcattime]

For Pride Month, my own little unhealthy/toxic yuri au version of the Season One ending and events after ^-^

Inspired by this Capsize animation but like made gay now.

Capsize awakens with an aching body confused as to how she's currently alive and why her prison has been changed. She sits up, having to try twice as a horrible pain shots through her midsection from a wound she doesn't remember receiving. And she finds herself inside a giant cage floating over the void in the end. The whole thing is empty save for herself, and her surroundings other than the void is just an endless forest of chorus trees. It's as she's sitting, trying to recall any fuzzy memory of how she got there, she feels a presence behind her. Suspecting Dianite, she doesn't turn until she hears her name spoken softly and realises how wrong her assumption is.

There is Ianite, having been freed a few hours before, who greets her with a sad smile. Capsize has no idea whether to be elated that her friend has finally been freed, concerned by her expression, or just confused by the situation in general. But the two end up hugging as the happiness wins out, before Capsize questions why she's still imprisoned. Ianite tells the story: when the others came to free them both, Dianite appeared to fight the champions - to be expected - but he had begun the fight by summoning the already weak and dying Capsize and ran her through.

Once Tom had killed the god, the group had rushed to Ianite's temple hoping she would be able to heal Capsize as time was clearly running out. Instead they had found one last trick from the now deceased god. The prison that Ianite was in has a binding curse, it must always hold a prisoner. To free Ianite, someone must replace her. Despite her own protests, the goddess knowing that the prison would heal the captain and leave her imprisoned, the champions chose to save Ianite by replacing her with Capsize.

Capsize doesn't want to believe her at first, but Ianite adds details that she originally hadn't wanted to mention. That Redbeard had begged to be the one swapped instead. That while all the champions had given their opinion, it had ultimately been Jordan that made the decision. And Capsize's disbelief turns to bitter horrible betrayal. Because if she had been there, awake and able to make the decision, she knew she likely would've chosen this fate to save Ianite. That she would've sacrificed her own freedom for her goddess'. But having her choice robbed from her hurts. She ends up sobbing as Ianite holds her, the goddess promising to do everything in her power to break the enchantments on the prison.

And though Ianite felt guilty for her tears, she was glad that neither side had questioned her. That the champions hadn't questioned the failed revival leading to her being a feral undead. That her messenger hadn't questioned that she had been sacrificed by her friends. Now she had Capsize to herself, away from any harm. Away from her brother and his servants who had wished her dead. Away from the champions who had brickered over her like a prize to be won. Away from the island of people that had doubted her when she had laid down everything her goddess. No one knew where she was so no one could harm her again. Well, she supposed Mianite knew, but her brother wasn't exactly going to do anything about it so Ianite saw this as protected enough.

Not a day goes by where Ianite doesn't visit Capsize. All ‘attempts’ to break her bindings were fruitless, and the pirate knew she was likely stuck for the long haul. A fact that became scarier as she realised as wasn't aging (or at least that her aging was incredibly slowed). But Ianite is a constant that she's glad for. The goddess provides her anything she desires, enough comforts that she can almost forget that she's stuck in a prison. Ianite will often tell her of the world outside, about rapid changes happening to the world at large. About Ianerea rebuilding, the survivors hailing her as the hero that saved their goddess. She wished she could actually see this for herself, but hearing the words from Ianite is enough for her to cling to. And the two grow close - the kind of close that Capsize had quietly dreamed of before. The two are happy, the world (and the champions now outside of it) remains oblivious to Capsize's survival.

And it seems this is the way things will stay until a goddess from another world dreams through her other self's eyes and writes about her dream of visiting a caged woman. Until Lord Mianite sees suspicion in the eyes of one of the new champions and once again gifts directions towards a cage in the sky.

[sariahsue]

The Force of Falling (In Love)

Ladybug's got a surprise planned for Adrien. Will it work out the way she fantasizes? (No.) Rated G. 700 words.

How it happened in Ladybug's imagination:

Adrien trudged down the slushy park sidewalk, hands in his pockets, kicking the harder chunks of dirty snow, just to see how far they would roll. It was a lonely Saturday afternoon, and everyone else was too busy for him. He wished someone would come and rescue him, someone he could spend the whole day with, laugh with, but no one else was here. Just the snow banks and the biting wind.

He sighed, pushing his hands deeper into his pockets, hunching against the cold. If only a special someone were here, to make him forget all his worries. Someone heroic and beautiful and smart. Someone who could sweep him off his feet.

Someone who loved him.

But he was the only person in the park. He turned up his coat collar and kept his face to the ground.

Which was really too bad, because he missed the only hint of what was about to happen. A flash of red, arms around him, a deep thud of impact. The force of his fall landed Adrien in the snow bank, Ladybug cradling his head protectively, all hints of cold gone.

"Hello, Monsieur Agreste," she said, drawing back, but not too far. (That wasn't true. Any distance was too far from her.) "I don't know if you saw, but there was a horde of fans sneaking up on you."

They were cocooned inside the snow, completely hidden. Ladybug was here, like an answer to an unspoken prayer. Sunlight filtered through their domed ceiling, low enough that his hair brushed it when he spoke.

"Fans?"

She lay in his arms, right where he'd always wanted her. He didn't know how he'd gotten into this position, not quite sitting, with Ladybug lying on top of him, her face so close to his, but he wasn't about to complain. She was so wonderful and so brave, risking everything daily, sacrificing so much for the city. He couldn't imagine her struggles, and that made him love her more. Love? Yes, it was definitely love.

"Yes," Her voice fell to a whisper, and he thought for a second that they were so connected she must have read his mind. "Fans. I saved you from them. They're right outside. They might hear us."

There had been no one. He was sure of it. "I see," he said, matching her flirty tone. "Thank you for saving me. I'm grateful."

"Of course. Anything for you."

He couldn't stand it anymore.

"I love you," be blurted.

Ladybug gasped at the sudden declaration, and maybe it was too bold, but he couldn't help himself. He wanted to be selfish, just this once. Tomorrow, he would share her with Paris again, but for right now, he wanted her all for himself.

"And wonderful, and so kind, and so smart. You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. You are everything I ever wanted and more. I love you." He tightened his hold on her waist, dragging her up until her lips reached his. They kissed and kissed until Adrien thought their snowbank would melt. And then they kissed some more.

---

How it actually happened:

From her hiding place behind a statue, Ladybug watched Adrien trudge through the park. It was a nice day, but too cold for most people, and they had the whole place to themselves. Perfect for the surprise she had planned.

The sidewalk curved toward her, and as soon as he was level with her, she pounced, practiced pickup line on the tip of her tongue. She collided into his side, and they flew in a jumble of limbs, landing face first into the snow. The force of their fall collapsed the snow bank, and she was grateful they were alone in the park, where no one could witness how Adrien had to pull her out from under the snow's crushing weight to rescue her. Ladybug sort of wished he'd left her buried, blind and deaf to what was happening.

He brushed snow off the back of his neck.

"That was so much more romantic in my head," she said, face in her hands.

Adrien turned, wide-eyed, snow still stuck to his gloves. "What?"

"You heard that?!"

A slushy clump dripped off his elbow. Ladybug ran.

[academic-vampire]

My confession is quite complicated.

My partner lost his voice in an accident some months ago and is now completely mute. He still can hear but cannot mouth any words. The doctors don't know why and we are left with no answers.

As everyone could imagine, becoming mute at like mid twenty is very hard. He can no more communicate or anything and it frustrate him. And I understand him. Sometimes, he gets angry when he finds himself stuck while trying to tell me something. I learned sign languages so I could teach him but...I don't know if he doesn't want to because he is frustrated or something else. I still managed to learn him some words (in fact, it's very easy to teach sign language to someone that can hear). But my confession is that, sometimes, I wish he didn't throw tantrums or get angry so often... I mean I'm not complaining and I don't want to sound like I'm selfish but I'm the one that takes care of him, calm his anger, tell him sweet words so he could try to forget his new handicap... But me, I don't have anyone to tell how I feel... I don't want to burden him even more with my complains but at the same time...I wish everything would be like in the past...

I feel like I am just being selfish...?

I apologize for taking so long to respond to this. I had a busy weekend traveling and wanted to think about how to respond. This is very complicated.

Firstly, I’d like to say that I’m proud of you—proud of you for helping, learning sign, and keeping a good attitude. I also think it’s admirable that you stayed with your partner. I’m not saying that people should just leave if something like that happens to their partner, but at the same time, many people might.

This has clearly been an adjustment for both of you. It’s not going to be easy—you already know that. But your patience is commendable.

I don’t think you’re being selfish. If anything, you’re being selfless—sacrificing your time and life to help someone you love. It’s okay to get irritated sometimes because you’re a human, and it’s natural.

Of course, this is all new for your partner, too. They are probably scared and worried about their future. I know I would be. But you’re being a pillar in their life. Of course, they don’t get permission to treat you poorly.

My advice to you is to find someone to talk to. Maybe a support group with people going through something similar. Or find some close friends and family to whom you can speak. I’m sure they will help you. And don’t feel guilty for seeking their help—you’re not Atlas; you don’t have to hold up the sky alone.

I hope this helps.