#'our destroyed hands are holding in the aether that we created'

[gaymersasuke]

"this is a declaration of love"

#sasuke #narusasu #my art #so like u know how we say sasuke didnt get his freaky hashirama cell arm bc his arm is a reminder #of everythinf he's done and everything naruto has done for him #and it ultimately is a form of self flagellation #which is rly valid bc yeah freaky cell arm #what if it was more like #'our destroyed hands are holding in the aether that we created' #and 'our mollecules are one' #that kind of super unhinged way to express affection #so sasuke keeps his arm amputated as is as a token of love #i prefer to think of it that way #because i dont like thinking of sasuke being consumed by guilt and wasting his days on a 'redemption' that will never come #because he's the only one that decides when he's redeemed #and he will never get to that point #and its OKAY!! to have regrets i think its very sexy of sasuke to regret some of his actions (towards naruto) #thats jsut human nature and it makes him the well-rounded three-dimensional character that i love #bottom line #: every day sasuke wakes up without an arm. it's a declaration of love

[lordrethandus]

Daily Writing Challenge August 2023 Day 7

Growth / Ruin ( @daily-writing-challenge )

World: Final Fantasy 14

Theme: Gurren Lagann OST - Libera Me From Hell

Lord-Commander Vushant collapsed to one knee, as embers licked at his body! "Argh…! So… much… power!"

"Commander!" Cried out Ishami the Moon Maiden, rushing over to his side! "Stellar winds of hope, wash over thee!" Her magick leapt from her staff and surrounded the paladin, allowing him to slowly rise back to his feet; despite closing his wounds he was still out of breath and could barely focus!

"Hahahahaha!!!" The portal yawned wide and out stepped the Demon King himself! Wreathed in flames he threw his head back and laughed, reveling in his victory! "The air here… it is sweet! Fresh! The perfect place for my hellish minions to dominate and destroy! After I defeat you two FOOLS there will be nobody left that can stop me from burning Eorzea to ASH! BWAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!"

"You'll never win! I can repel your armies with my majestic moon magick!" Ishami waved her staff in the air before slamming it down into the ground between her feet! "There! Now you can no longer summon your minions!"

The Demon King sneered while he stepped forward. "Bah! Your pathetic spells are no match for my evil!"

"Yes they are!"

"NO they are NOT!"

"Yeah-huh!"

"NUH-UH!"

Vushant placed a hand on her shoulder and quickly decided to play the mediator. "Okay how about this… your magick can stop Samson from summoning his army but barely, so we have to defeat him super quickly!" Both Ishami and Samson rubbed at their chins in quiet contemplation, before eventually nodding in agreement. 

"Bah!" The Demon King barked, starting over. "Your precious moon can only hold back my power for so long! You two cannot hope to defeat me by yourselves! Hahahaaa!"

Lord-Commander Vushant raised his shield and puffed out his chest. "If we can just buy a little more time…"

"FRET NOT, FELLOW HEROES!" All three looked to the north and saw a silhouette in the glaring sunlight! "For I have come to answer your call! Let us seal this wicked devil in the accursed pit he crawled out from!" He bent at the knees until he was squatting, before launching himself with his Miqo'te strength, doing a front flip before landing beside Vushant and Ishami!

"Cool…!" All three of them cooed, gazing in awe of his blazing crimson outfit! 

"My name is Berserker Wolf Nolas! Guardian of the Radiant Dawn and Warrior of Light!" He raised his fist into the air before pounding it against his chest! "All evildoers beware! The Wolf has your scent! AWOOOOOOOO!!!"

Demon King Samson pointed his sword at Nolas and channeled his aether into the blade! "So you like fire, do you?! Well feel my wrath! Hellmaw Inferno Blaaaast!" Vushant had just enough time to raise his shield and create a barrier of light to protect himself and the Moon Maiden! As the searing flames of the hells subsided, they peeked out from behind the blackened shield to see Nolas unharmed! "Hey! That's not fair! I got you!" Cried out Samson in protest! "My flames devour all!"

"My Ferocious Deity cloak protects me from all fire attacks, holy, hellish, or otherwise!" He proclaimed, dusting some ash off his shoulder! "You will have to take me down with steel! Now it's our turn! Ultra Mega Vortex Punch!!!" Nolas took a step forward before vanishing into thin air, reappearing right in front of the Demon King in a blink of an eye!

"He's fast-!" 

The Demon King lowered his claymore to block, cushioning a deadly blow that sent a gust of wind so strong that it stripped the bark off the trees behind him! "Raging Wolf Kick!" The Berserker flipped upside down for a handstand and spun his feet around to slam into the Demon King's impenetrable armor! Before he had a chance to attack a third time, Nolas’ ankle was grabbed and he was yanked off the ground, only to be whipped back down to smash his head hard against the dirt! “GRAVEROBBER GUILLOTINE!” All Nolas could do was cover his face and brace himself for that giant flaming claymore to come crashing down upon him!

“Sentinel Shield!” Out from his left came Vushant, shoulder-checking the Demon King before he could finish off his new friend! He reached down and hoisted the Berserker Wolf to his feet! “Shake it off! We stand and fight as ONE!”

“Come on!” Taunted the Demon King! “Leap feet first into your deaths!”

Vushant didn’t need to be told twice. He raised his shield and lead the charge, keeping his shortsword safely behind him while he did his best to keep the villainous fiend’s attention! Nolas dashed fast and low– sprinting on all fours off to the side in order to search for his opening! Ishami, however, remained stationary, clasping her hands together and beginning her muttering chant to empower her spell; the Demon King was too strong to destroy, of that she was certain– but perhaps the day was not lost just yet!

“Ward of Winter!”

“Worldcleaver!”

“Feral Fang Fist!”

“Hammer of Justice!” 

“Tornado Toss!”

“Belching Hellfire Barrage!”

“Howling Blizzard Slash!”

“Ribsunder Punch!”

“SOUL RENDER!”

“SHIELD OF LIGHT!”

“SEISMIC SLAPDOWN!”

Blow for blow, strike for strike, no matter how crazy the names for their attacks became, they could only break even against the crushing might of the Demon King! The land was cleaved in twain and drenched with hellfire, the sky turned black from his swelling evil power! Both Vushant and Nolas were hanging on by a thread, pushing beyond mortal limits just to keep this fiendish foe busy! “WILL OF THE DAMNED!!!” The Demon King drove his sword into the scorched earth and sent forth a blistering wave of sweltering heat, knocking both his opponents flying back! “A-HA! I TOLD YOU MY POWER WAS UNMATCHED! NOW PREPARE TO DIIIIEEE!”

“NOW OR NEVER MOON MAIDEN!” Vushant shouted, using the last of his strength to grab hold of Nolas to pin him down!

“SUPER LUNAR ECLIPTIC COLLAAAAAPSE!” She shot her hands up into the sky, ripping a hole into their dimension in the shape of a half moon! As the crescent sucked up air and rocks alike, the Demon King clung to his claymore still stuck in the ground and held on for dear life– but white runes started to crawl across his face and arms!

“WHAT?! NOOOO!!!!” He bellowed, feeling his feet rising up from underneath him. “CURSE YOU, MOON MAIDEN! DEFEATED BY MERE MORTALS?! THIS IS NOT OVER…! I SHALL HAVE…! MY…! REVEEEEENGE!” The burning claymore broke free of the earth and the Demon King was hurled into the portal, spinning and screaming with rage and hatred for all mortals! “I’LL BE BAAAACK!”

“Nolas!” Called out a familiar voice, snapping the children out of their vivid imaginations. “It’s sundown, so you know what that means! Avanta and Mom are getting up, so come inside and wash up for dinner!”

 “Yes Dad!” Nolas’ heart was still pounding from play, his tail wiggling wildly as he looked to his friends. “Okay… I have to go eat…”

“Awww…” Samson kicked at the grass, still clinging to his ‘claymore’ which was little more than a big stick he found on his way here. “It’s sundown already?! I’ll never make it home in time before my parents start looking for me… oh man… I’m so dead!”

“Cool moves, Nolas.” Vushant kept his hand on the wooden sword his father made him a few days ago, but his other hand reached out to place on the young Miqo’te’s shoulder. “Everyone had really good names! I need to work on mine tonight…”

Ishami came trotting up to Nolas as he turned to leave. “Wait! Where did you get that cool outfit?! I really like the flames!”

“O-oh… my father made it for me. He’s a Weaver– and a really good one.”

Her eyes lit up with excitement. “D-do you think he could make me something too?! I need better robes…!”

“Me too!” Cried out Samson, still not hurrying home. “My Demon King outfit needs more pizazz! More oomph, you know?!”

“I could use a real cape…” Mused Vushant, rubbing at his chin thoughtfully.

Nervously Nolas rubbed at the back of his head, not entirely sure his dad even had the time to make so many outfits, especially for free. Unwilling to neither squash their hopes nor lie to them, he scrambled to reach a middle ground by saying, “I uhh… I’ll ask him and see if he can! But he’s really busy so…”

“Nolas?!” His father called again, slightly more impatient. “Hurry up!”

“C-coming!” And with that he turned around and scurried down the road back to his house, only sparing Ishami an infatuated second glance to see her smiling and waving at him while he ran.

#ijirothehero #augustdwc2023 #augustday72023

[votederpycausemufins]

Part two of the birthday story! Time for the guests to arrive and actually surprising the guests of honor!

Sorry that it took a few days. Was dealing with job appl. stuff but i think i finally got it all settled. So then I could focus on this. Enjoy!

“Soooo, what present do you get them?”

“Their present is me not destroying the server.”

“You’re going to get us all in trouble.”

Standing in the hub to the entrance of Hermitcraft were NPG, Evil Xisuma, and a pig hybrid in a pristine lab coat, who was currently trying to ignore the former two’s squabbling. “Oh please, You know you and I don’t want to be here. I would have been perfectly fine with still being banned from their server.”

“Says the one who tries to secretly plan ways to get in.”

“I do not!” EX yelled back at the hybrid, who refused to look up at the hacker.

“Aww, calm down guys!” NPG spoke up, pulling the two other helsmits into a hug. “We’re going to have fun at this party. And I made sure to build the perfect decks for presents! So then I can play with the boys when we visit next!”

Ex scoffed and pulled himself out of the hug. “As if. You’re the only one who knows how to actually play that game. You could try teaching them, but it would probably take hours! It’s a stupid present to give them!”

“Then can I have the pink aries deck back?” NPG asked, holding his hand out.

EX stared at the hand as he crossed his arms before looking away and pouting under his mask. “...No. I said the game’s stupid… doesn’t mean the cards aren’t fine.”

“You just think they’re hot.” The hybrid spoke up, getting smacked by Evil Xisuma a moment later as he yelled ‘I do not!’ though said action left the hybrid unphased.

“Am I interrupting something?” A mostly new voice spoke up, causing the trio to look up. Having come out of the portal was Xisuma, the admin looking over the helsmits, trying to figure out if the argument was more serious or playful in nature.

“Nope!” NPG was the one to reply before gesturing to the other two. “I’m sure you already know Xa- Er, Evil Xisuma. And then this here is Prof!”

Xisuma held his hand out and Prof shook it, though not actually looking up at the admin. “I suppose you’re Doc’s hels? Or I suppose he’s your- Well what have you got there?” Xisuma asked, not sure how to go about the conversation with someone like the hels.

“Work.” Prof replied, tilting said work which was on a clipboard away from Xisuma so he couldn’t see it as easily, instead unintentionally showing off the large amount of stickers plastered to the back. “I was informed that presents needed to be reviewed by you.”

“Oh, yes.” Xisuma agreed. “I wasn’t sure if you would be bringing anything other than yourself. I know that my brother likely didn’t.”

“My present is not destroying your world you derp.”

“Right. Well anyway, I can review your present. With everything going on, could I look at it here? We’re sneaking you three in so I’m not sure I’ll have a chance once you’re in the world.”

Prof nodded and then pulled out two box-like items that opened up in a way that reminded Xisuma of shulker boxes, yet not at the same time. “I was informed that one of the children prefers skills such as NPG’s while the other uses skills parallel to Perfect Sense. Thus I have created individual presents of unique items. For the first, there are items such as wood and stone types from our secondary dimension The Aether, but also our tertiary dimension The Dark, mainly with the midori blocks which I have been told are parallels to ‘purpur’ which I must assume are purple in color.

“For the second I have a number of redstone blocks that reportedly do not exist in your world such as the compressor, the plopper, the iron rod, query attachment for if their organization is anything like Sense’s, some corundum, magnets. I’ve got some ghost connectivity in place so that they can be connected to whichever child so only they have permissions. Of course you most likely also reset at your season limits so the blocks and redstone would be left behind.”

Xisuma stared at Prof for a few moments before EX scoffed and handed over a list to Xisuma, they seemingly expecting the confusion and creating a list explaining all the items. Xisuma gave a slight nod in thanks, giving it a quick read before approving the items. It was close to the season after all, so potentially reality breaking redstone wouldn’t have long lasting effects on the Hermits. The world itself was another question, but they would deal with that when it came to it.

“Well, I suppose I can approve these. NPG, what about… you.” And Xisuma trailed off as the robot shoved two decks of cards in his face. “And what are these?”

“A jumble of cards from who knows how many games.” EX explained. “He’s turned it into some convoluted game. Your building assistants are more world breaking than these things. Mind breaking however… well potentially the redstoners might understand how to play it.”

“I see…” Xisuma replied, looking at what was indeed a jumble of cards from a number of games. “Well I can approve those as well. If that’s all, then we can head into the world.”

With a quick agreement from the trio, they were led through the portal and into the world, appearing at spawn, which Xisuma had combed over to make sure nothing could be messed with by the guests, and then taking them to Aqua Town. The other Hermits greeted them and then helped explain the rules and guidelines for the guests to allow their stay. NPG and Prof readily agreed, though Evil Xisuma argued over them for a few minutes before being convinced by a certain Hemit. After that, the signal was sent out and Grian and Mumbo could finally let the bots into Aqua Town and lead them to the surprise party.

.

.

.

“Ah, no peeking.” Grian spoke up as he noticed Jrum try to move the bandana off his head. The bots were just that, robots, so their faces were still just screens. Instead of having eyes, Mumbo had built some cameras into them to simulate eyes. Because of that, the screens themselves didn’t need to be covered, instead putting a blindfold of sorts over what was almost their forehead would block where the cameras were hidden.

“But I wanna seeeee.” Jrum complained. “What if I trip over something! Or… or there’s a monster and-”

“It should still be the middle of the day.” Grum spoke up. “So unless we’re being taken to one of Scar’s builds, there won’t be monsters. And Dad will keep us from tripping or falling or anything that might happen without our sight.”

“Exactly, so you two have nothing to worry about.” Grian agreed. “Besides, we’re nearly there. We’re going to head through the main nether portal now.” And then he helped the two into the portal’s magic alongside him, taking them through into the shopping district. Knowing exactly where they were helped the bots a bit with navigation, remembering how the area looked fairly well.

Finally the three reached Aqua Town and Grian had them placed in what was, as far as the bots were last aware, an empty lot. Then, Grian pulled off the bandanas, letting the bots see a new building decorated in reds and blues. A moment later, fireworks started going off, Mumbo nearby having flipped a lever for them. 

The bots stared at the colorful display before the other hermits were poking their heads out of just about every window and even the front door, wishing the bots a happy birthday. The bots each had a different reaction, Grum mostly stunned in silence while Jrum was immediately bouncing, quickly hugging Grian before running over to give one to Mumbo.

Grian laughed at the display while Grum quickly thought everything through. “But… it’s not our birthdays?” 

“That’s the point. It’s right in the middle of your birthdays. We were pretty sure that would help make it more of a surprise if you two tried figuring it out.”

“Oh.” Grum simply replied before looking at the building, then grabbing Grian’s hand and dragging him inside, leaving the builder laughing as he followed with little resistance.

“Grum! Look! NPG’s here!!!” Jrum exclaimed when he saw his brother had entered the building. Immediately following the statement, NPG waved, then immediately tried to hand off the presents he had brought along, but was quickly stopped when Prof grabbed the edge of the robot’s sweater even though he hadn’t seemed to be looking. “Oh yeah and he brought friends!” A complaint from Evil Xisuma came from somewhere else in the party, but the sounds of the party itself along with him not being nearby made it hard to hear.

“Alright, so while we’re having a party for both of you,” Mumbo spoke up as he came closer. “It is divided up so you can still have individual parties. A sort of middle ground. Since you two aren’t exactly twins, but your birthdays are close enough, and who knows, some twins share birthdays just fine, but I wouldn't be surprised at there being those who prefer separate birthdays. I’m sure before next year, you two can figure out which you might prefer. So, that all being said, since Grum was, er, created first, why not do his side of things first, if that’s alright with you two of course?”

The bots looked at each other before nodding, agreeing to Grum’s birthday first. So with that, they were led to the floor mostly designed for the older bot in mind. The decorations there were mostly red themed, but also musical in nature since Grum had shown a like for the topic.

“Well then, how about we get this show on the road?” Grian spoke up and dimmed the lights to help things really begin, a cake being brought out at the same time.

#hermitcraft #hermitcraft au #metal hearts au #npc grian #evil xisuma #hels!doc #xisuma #xisumavoid #jrumbot #grian #grumbot #mumbo jumbo

[wesimpforxiao]

Say My Name and I’ll Be There:  2.4

"She hasn't spoken since yesterday."  Aether sat down with a sigh.  "I'm worried.  What happened back there?  She isn't injured."

"It was her first large-scale battle.  I am sure she is just a bit rattled," Zhongli covered for you and Xiao as he sipped his tea.

"She didn't even want to spar this morning either," Childe pouted.

"Has she told you anything, Xiao?"  Aether looked to the yaksha for answers.

"No." You didn't have to.  He saw the look in your eyes; you knew.  The only thing he was unsure of was whether you were more angry with him for keeping himself a secret, or disturbed by the memories of your village's destruction.  Human emotions were a foreign concept to him after all.

The fact of the matter was that you were angry with yourself for thinking the mob of abyss mages were a "party."  If you had known better...if you had the knowledge of the monsters...you would have been able to effectively warn everyone in the village that day before the mages got close.  The guilt and self-loathing overwhelmed you for the fifth time today.  You knew it was stupid to beat yourself up for your perception of the monsters as a child, but you still felt responsible.

"I'm so sorry, Momma.  I'm so, so sorry," you cried as you watched cranes fly in the afternoon light.  You were sitting on a rock that overlooked a small ravine, several feet away from the rest of your teammates.  You felt a presence next to you and looked over, tears still falling down your cheeks.

Xiao eyed you carefully and wondered what the appropriate course of action would be.  He understood the concept of loss.  He understood the guilt of one's own actions.  When he looked at you, that was all he saw swirling in the depths of your eyes.  He thought back to his previous interactions and observations with humans.  They liked to be held in times like this, didn't they?  Xiao finally knelt beside you and placed a hand on the nape of your neck, his thumb rubbing your skin as if it were the best way to convey his emotions.

This finally gave you enough courage to meet his gaze, and you leaned forward.  Xiao was shocked when you hugged him, but hearing your muffled sobs against his chest helped him regain his composure.  Gentle arms enveloped you in an embrace you never knew you needed.  He eventually gathered the curiosity and the courage to stroke your hair until you calmed down.

Soft, he thought to himself.

"Thank you for saving me," you spoke in a muffled voice after your tears had dried.  "But why did you?"

"You confused me."

"Huh?" You pulled away to look at him with a scrunched-up nose and puffy eyes.  "What does that mean?"

"An injured child doesn't normally laugh.  I wanted to see if you'd be as strange when you grew up."

"That...is the most ridiculous reason I've ever heard," you managed a giggle.  Was it just you, or was there a hint of a smile on his lips?  You could never tell with him.

"Being unable to understand human emotion does not make me emotionless," he let go of you and sat down so there was enough space between the two of you.

You dared to gaze up at his profile, with stars in your eyes once you realized how gorgeous he looked in the afternoon light.  His eyes shone like fire, which provided a striking contrast to the calm glimmering of his blue hair.  To think that my crush would turn out to be my savior back then--wait, what did I just say?  You blinked your thoughts away and forced yourself to look into the ravine.

"Do you remember your village?"  Xiao's sudden question prompted you to look at him again.

"Just from that day.  Fleeting images of the fires and of my momma's face.  The taste of blood that wasn't my own.  Granny said that he--no, you brought me to her after you healed me...How did you manage it?  Are you also a healer?"

Xiao drew in a breath.  He opened his mouth to speak, and shut it again.  We're not alone.  His gaze shifted to the trees behind you, and he caught the tail end of a shadow behind one of the trunks.  He wasn't stupid.  If this Harbinger were that arrogant in his tailing skills, it was Xiao's duty to pop that bubble of pride.  Thousands of years living both beneath Rex Lapis and his former 'boss'...and Childe had the audacity to challenge that experience with this sloppy act of eavesdropping?  This is pathetic, even for you, Harbinger.

"Xiao?"  You tensed and glanced behind you.  His hardened expression put you on edge, but there wasn't anything noteworthy behind you except the trees and the campsite.  Your gaze returned to the adeptus, who had hidden his annoyance and concern behind his usual poker face and disinterested gaze.

"Human minds cannot comprehend the methods in which adepti live.  You would not understand even if I told you."

"R-right," you shriveled back at his sudden cold demeanor, but knew he meant well.  Whatever he was thinking just now...surely he is neglecting to answer your question for your own safety.  Or is it for his own?  You dropped the subject.

Xiao visibly grimaced as he remembered his experience thousands of years ago, in a time before he served Rex Lapis and began destroying the evil spirits that plague Liyue.  A god had gotten hold of his name and used it to gain control over Xiao, and force him to do his bidding.  Zhongli had rescued the yaksha from that hell and renamed him.  To think that another similar incident may arise...and by a mortal this time?  Ridiculous.  Maybe that was why the Harbinger was on the team in the first place, following the will of the Tsaritsa instead of his alleged respect for Aether.  Or, perhaps he was after you and the adeptal blood flowing in your veins...to use you as a guide to create their very own adepti soldiers..."I'm leaving now,"  Xiao jumped to his feet without missing a beat.

"Oh, okay."  You struggled to decide whether or not to ask him about his visible distress.  

He nearly walked off right then, but stopped in his tracks.  He spun on his heel and walked back to you, kneeling so that his lips were directly next to your ear.  "Do not, under any circumstances, repeat your memories or our conversations to anyone."

"U-uh, what?  What do you mean?"  He pulled away just enough so that you were both eye-to-eye and noses touching.  T-this! This is kissing distance! Xiao?!  Blood rushed to your cheeks, and you tried to back up.

"Do we have a contract?"  Xiao's gaze never faltered, the hand on the back of your neck preventing you from moving away from him.

"I don't understand what you're trying to say!" You yelped and pressed your hands against his chest.  He let go of you.

"Do not speak of me or your childhood origins to anyone," he stood, "Zhongli is safe, but do not risk it with anyone else.  Do you understand?"

"O-okay," you nodded vigorously in an effort to end this conversation and your racing heart.  He disappeared before your eyes, and you exhaled breath you didn't know you were holding.  Don't trust anyone...why did he say that?

#genshin impact #genshin impact xiao #xiao x reader #xiao genshin impact #xiao imagines #xiao one shot #one shot #xiao fanfiction #genshin impact fanfiction

[valeriethepussycats]

Inside Out

Chapter 4

Pairing- Loki x Reader

Warning-cursing and childhood trauma

Your thoughts and other characters are in italics.

Flashbacks are in bold.

“The celebration had been going on strong for the last few hours, and there wasn’t an end in sight. Asgardians strolled through the streets, rejoicing the fact that the Nine Realms were safe at last. Friends laughed, kids played, and warriors recounted their many victorious battles.

Y/n,Gambit,Sif, and The warrior three are all drinking in the castle, until Y/n starts to get flashes of Loki. He was in the scorching sun day in and day out,and they deprive him of water for weeks, and someone used the mind stone on him. Outside her head all the glass bottles and wine glasses bust, and Gambit immediately looks over at Y/n and see the black vines on her arm but before he could make his way over to her but time freeze.

Y/n gets up and runs to the dungeon, when she gets there she just stands in front of Loki’s cell looking down at her feet. Having a hard time looking at him and not see what she saw.

“Y/n, what’s going on?” Loki said as he looks around and see everyone is frozen. “Are you doing this?”

“why didn’t you tell me....why didn’t you tell me you were tortured.” Y/n questioned.

Loki looks at Y/n with wide eyes. “How do you do know that.”

“The stars, our minds all of that is Connected remember. How you not tell me.” Y/n said with Infrequent blinking.

“I didn’t want you to see that.” Loki answered.

“You were alone before you came to earth.” Y/n said as a tear rolls down her face.

The Black vines starts to slowly climb up her arm and appear on her face. Loki see that Y/n is in distress from what she learned. He knows what will happen if he let her feel those emotions. So he walks up the to the shield and use his up most calming and soothing voice he could muster at a time like this.

“It’s ok I’m fine Y/n look at me look at me.” Loki pleased.

Y/n looks at Loki with an empty stare. “No it’s not fine.....you were tortured. You were tortured into do what you did on earth. You was being watched. Even if I was aware of what was going on with you there was nothing I could’ve done. Nothing you could’ve done cause if you would’ve said or done anything differently they would’ve killed you.”

“I tried my best to get to rid those memory. I knew you would be able to feel it.” Loki said.

“I never wanted to experience those feeling.....not again?” Y/n quavered. “Not again.”

“What do you mean by ‘not again’?” Loki dais with a firm voice.

“The people that took me did this to me they put someone else’s X-Gene inside of me and I have to learn how to control it....and when I couldn’t control it they would put a collar around my neck then throw me into a dark room. The feeling of loneliness every day inside that room...if it wasn’t for Gambit....” Y/n trailed off. But Loki knew what she was going to say.

“I’m so sorry. I am here.” Loki puts he’s hand on over the Barrier of the cell walk and Y/n copies his movement.

“The person that did that to you.” Robin started. “What was there name?”

“Thanos” Loki answered.

“Thanos.”

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

At that same time, back on Asgard, Heimdall, the all-seeing keeper of the Rainbow Bridge, stood at his post at the edge of the observatory, scanning the cosmos. He did not turn when Thor approached, but spoke as soon as the prince was behind him.

“You're late.” Heimdall announced.

“Merriment can sometimes be a heavier burden than battle.” Thor stated.

“Then you're doing one of them incorrectly.” Heimdall commented.

Thor chuckles. “Perhaps. How fare the stars?”

“Still shining. From here I can see Nine Realms and ten trillion souls.” Heimdall looks at Thor for a moment. “You recall what I told you of the Convergence?”

“Yes, the alignment of the worlds. It approaches, doesn't it?” Thor asked.

“The universe hasn't seen this marvel since before my watch began. Few can sense, even fewer can see it. A world that's infected can be dangerous. It is truly beautiful.” Heimdall explained.

They looks out into the stars. “I see nothing.”

“Or perhaps that is not the beauty you seek.”

Thor laughs. “How is she?”

“She's quite clever, your mortal. She doesn't know it yet, but she studies the Convergence as well. Even...” Heimdall stops as he senses something.”

“What?” Thor stressed.

“I can't see her.”

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

We see Jane being infected by the Aether] [after Jane is infected with the Aether she reawakens in the factory, she runs out to find Darcy has called the police.

“Jane! Where the hell were you?” Darcy exclaimed.

“Tell me you didn't call the police!” Jane inquired.

“What was I supposed to do?” Darcy asked.

“Not call the police!” Jane yelled.

“I was freaking out.” Darcy stuttered.

“You call the cops they tell the feds, the next thing you know we have Shield crawling all over area fifty-one-ing the place.” Jane proclaimed.

“Jane!”

“We had a stable gratification anomaly, we had unheeded access. Our only competition was ten years old!”

“Jane, you were gone for five hours!” Darcy disclosed.

“What?....”

Suddenly the weather turns, it starts raining and they hear the sound of thunder, Jane looks around her and puts her hand out.

“That's weird.” Darcy noted.

They see it's raining but it's not raining on Jane and Darcy, there's an invisible barrier protecting them, suddenly Jane sees Thor standing a few feet away from them, Jane hands her gadget to Darcy and walks towards Thor, as she walks away the invisible barrier follows her and the rain starts falling on Darcy.

“Typical.”

Jane walks towards Thor.

“Jane.”

“As she reaches him suddenly she slaps him hard in the face. “Sorry. I just needed to make sure you were real, it's been a very strange day.”

“Well, I am. Jane...”

Suddenly she slaps him again. “Where were you?!”

“Where were you? Heimdall could not see you.” Thor said.

“I was right here where you left me. I was waiting and then I was crying and then I went out looking for you. You said you were coming back.” Jane said in a level tone.

“I know, I know, but the Bifrost was destroyed. The Nine Realms erupted into chaos, wars were raging, marauding hordes were pillaging. I had to put an end to the slaughter.” Thor explained.

“As excuses go, that's not terrible. But I saw you on TV, you were...you were in New York! Fighting with Y/n.” Jane said without trying to sound Jealous.

But she was he was spending all that time with Y/n. Ok she was the only person that believe him but Jane did to (with reason).

Does Thor have Heimdall to look in on Y/n.

“Jane, I fought to protect you from the dangers of my world, but I was wrong, I was a fool.” Thor places his hand Jane's face. “I believe that fate brought us together. Jane, I don't know where you were or what happened, but I do know this.”

“What?”

“I know...”

“You do?”

“Do what?”

They lean in close and just as they are about to kiss Darcy interrupts them; referring to the rain.

“Hey! Is that you?”

Thor looks up and the rain stops.

“Uh...we're kind of in the middle of something.” Jane sigh of irritation as she look at Darcy.

“Um...I'm pretty sure we are getting arrested” Darcy replied.

Jane look over at Thor. “Hold that thought.” She turns and runs towards the police.

“Look at you, still all muscly and everything. How's space?” Darcy asked.

“Space is fine.” Thor answered.

Jane walks over to the police. “Excuse me?”

“Are you Jane Foster?” One of police officer asked.

“Yes.”

“Do you know this man?” police officer said referring to Ian.

“He's my intern. My intern's intern.” Jane answered.

“This is private property and you're trespassing, the lot of you. You'll have to come with me.” The police officer goes t grab Jane's arm but suddenly the force from the Aether creates a powerful force which pushes the officer and everything else away,

Thor runs towards Jane who's lying on the ground.

“Jane! Jane?” Thor said as he helps her stand. “You alright?”

“What just happened?” Jane asked.

The other police officer approaches Jane apprehensively. “Place your hands on your head, step back!”

“The woman is unwell.” Thor answered.

“She's dangerous.”

“So am I.” Thor disclosed.

Talking into his radio. “Requesting armed response officers to the scene.” Thor grabs Jane and pulls her closer to him.

“Hold on to me.”

“What are you doing?” Suddenly the Bifrost opens and Thor takes Jane to Asgard; Darcy looks up as they disappear

“Holy shit!” Darcy shouted.

Thor and Jane travel through the Bifrost and enter Asgard where Heimdall is guarding as always, Jane looks around her in amazement.

“We have to do that again.” she notices Heimdall for the first time. “Hi.”

“Welcome to Asgard.” Heimdall announced.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Returning to their homeland, Svartalfheim, Malekith kneels and grabs a handful of dust from the ground. “Look at my legacy, Algrim. I barely remember the time before light.”

Algrim places his hand on Malekith's shoulder. “Our survival will be your legacy.”

“The Asgardians will suffer as we have suffered. I will reclaim the Aether. I will restore our world and I'll put an end to this poisonous world.” Malekith replied.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Asgard.

Loki is laying down on his bed, think about what happened the other day. The way Y/n was angry for him and what he saw. He didn’t know if he deserve such passion. What has he done to deserve that from her.

Maybe Odin is right

Y/n appeared in his cell, looks over at her and see she’s looks upset.

“What’s the matter? Did you have a another memory?” Loki said sitting up.

“No.... I just had to say goodbye to Gambit that all.” Y/n said with a downturned head.

“Gambit, he’s alive?” Loki questioned looking shocked.

“Yes, he is. Why you asked me that?” Y/n wondered then realization hits her. “Did you see one of my memories?”

Loki nods yes.

“Which one?” Y/n said with an intriguing voice.

“He was dying.” Loki answered.

“Oh.....that one.” Y/n said in a small voice. “That day would ever be known as November 18th. That was the day I lost control...caused an earthquake and black out in the upper east of the United States.”

“What happened?” Loki wondered.

“I had a nightmare but it wasn’t like any other nightmare it was vivid. I the way his blood felt on my hands. I ever since that day my father was trying to find ways to conceal my powers and when he did I will get the senses when something good or bad was gonna happen sometimes it was painful sometimes it wasn’t.” Y/n explained.

“You’re the only person I’ve ever told that to.”

Loki walks over to Y/n and lif her head up with his index finger so she’s looking at him. “Why would you tell me?”

“I don’t know it just felt like the right thing to do.” Y/n answered smile. “That’s what you do when you care about someone you open up to them.”

“You caring for me only make things worst.” Loki said with his head down. “After your two weeks you will never see me again. You dealing with the feeling of yearning will not be good for you or your powers.”

“My powers?” Y/n said in a curious tone. “What makes you think I won’t stay on Asgard?”

“Y/n...you just got someone you care about back into your life and you would willingly leave them behind for me?”

“Gambit, with understand.” Y/n replied.

“You would hate to living here on Asgard.”

“No, I won’t because you’re here.”

Loki walks over to Y/n and lif her head up with his index finger so she’s looking at him. “Y/n, when your two weeks are up....you are going to have to let me go?”

“No..No I’m not letting anything go.” Y/n said putting some space between her and Loki. “And don’t you say if you love me let me go.”

“If you don’t you could hurt people.” Loki said walking up to Y/n hugging her from the back.

“Since when do you care about people?” Y/n asked sarcastically.

“Because your care about people.” Loki answered.

Y/n turns around and gives Loki Direct eye contact. “Don’t ask me to let you go because I won’t.”

“Y/n....” Loki said struggling to find the right words to say.

“I should go I have to met your mom.” Y/n said.

And just like that Y/n is gone and Loki stands there facial muscles tensing.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

As the Asgardian physicians study Jane and the force within her. “What's that?”

“Be still.” Eir said in a snappy voice.

Thor watches with one of the nurses as they examine Jane. “This is not of Earth, what is it?”

“We do not know, but she will not survive the amount of energy surging within her.” the nurse turns and walks away as Thor looks at Jane with worry.

“That's a quantum field generator, isn't it?” Jane asked.

“It's a Soul Forge.” Eir answered.

“Does a Soul Forge transfer molecular energy from one place to another?” Jane questioned.

Eir looks impressed. “Yes.”

Jane looks at Thor and whispers. “It's a quantum field generator.” Thor smiles at her.

Odin enters the room as the Thor looks on to Jane as she is being examined. “My words are mere noises to you that you ignore them completely?”

”She's ill.” Thor disclosed.

“She is mortal. Illness is their defining trait.” Odin replied.

“I brought here because we can help her.” Thor told Odin.

“She does not belong here in Asgard anymore than a goat belongs at a banquet table.“ Odin replied.

Jane sits up and looks at Thor. “Did he just...?” Jane started. “Who do you think you are?”

“I'm Odin. King of Asgard. Protector of the Nine Realms.” Odin answered.

“Oh. Well, I'm...”

“I know very well who you are, Jane Foster.”

Jane turns to look at Thor. “You told your Dad about me?”

“Something is within her, father, something I have not seen before.” Thor explained.

“Her world has its healers, their called doctors, let them deal with it. Guards, take her back to Midgard.” Odin said as two guards approach Jane and go to grab her, suddenly the energy force within her sets off again throwing the two guards aside.

“Don't touch her.” Thor said as he leans down and tenderly touches Jane. “Jane, are you alright?”

Jane nods her head, Odin inspects the energy force running through Jane's body and realizes it's the Aether. “That's impossible.”

“The infection, it's defending her.” Eir said in a shocked face.

“No, it's defending itself.” Thor corrected.

“Come with me. There are relics that predate the universe itself. What lies within her appears to be one of them. The Nine Realms are not eternal. They had a dawn as they will have a dusk.” Odin said showing Thor and Jane an ancient book. “But before that dawn the dark forces, the Dark Elves, reigned absolute and unchallenged.”

Thor reading from the book. “Born of eternal night, the Dark Elves comes to steal away your light. They were these stories mother told us as children.”

“Their leader, Malekith made a weapon out of that darkness, it was called the Aether. While the other relics often appeared as stones, the Aether is fluid and ever changing. It changes matter into dark matter and seeks out to host bodies, drawing strength from their life force. Malekith sought to use the Aether's power to return the universe to one of darkness. But after eternities of blood shed, my father Bor, finally triumphed, ushering in the peace that lasted thousands of years.”

“What happened?” Jane chimed in.

“He killed them all.” Odin answered.

“Are you certain? The Aether was said to have been destroyed with them and yet here it is.” Thor specified.

“The Dark Elves are dead.” Odin commented.

“Does your book happen to mention how to get it out of me?” Jane questioned.

“No, it does not.”

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Y/n is sitting crisscross apple sauce in her room’s balcony. Thinking about what happened between her and Loki.

Was that our first fight?

Y/n’s emotions were at a frenzy. She didn’t understand why Loki was acting like that. She wanted to be mad. Something happened to change his mind on everything.

What if i’m overthinking it Gambit did say I think and feel more then anyone else

Y/n let’s out a sigh of irritation.

“It’s ok if my thoughts run a mile but focus on one.” Y/n said closing her eye.

So am I supposed to just sit here.

Yes I am going to be spinning this day with my daughter

Y/n can hear Frigga’s voice clear as day. She doesn’t know if it’s was her inner or outer voice.

“I didn’t know Thor had a sister.” Y/n mumbled to herself.

Y/n gets a knock on her door and she opens it with the flick of her hand.

“So I see your trying to meditate that’s a good start.” Frigga said walking in the room. The door shut close as Frigga makes her way over to Y/n.

“Yes. But I’m failing miserably at it.” Y/n laughed at herself. “I learned that my mind is a satellite. I’m always going to pick up others people thoughts. So I had to learn how to store them in the back of my mind. But even then it still feels crowded.”

“You poor dear, I can not imagine how you feel but I think I can help. Close your eyes imagine everything in your head.” Frigga said.

Y/n takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.

“Now I want you to think of the similarities of Asgard and Midgard.” Frigga said.

“That’s kind of hard Asgard is beautiful while Earth only as hidden gems.....the sunset are beautiful.” Y/n answered.

“When you think of the sun, what do you think of?” Frigga asked.

“Warm light.”

“And what is light?”

“Electricity....and electricity is power.”

“How does one turn off power?” Frigga wondered.

“By flipping a switch.” Y/n grinned.

“Now turn it off switch.” Frigga told Y/n.

Y/n flips a switch off in her mind and everything going quite. She opens her eyes and looks up at Frigga smiling.

“It’s gone. It’s not crowded anymore. Thank you.” Y/n rejoiced.

A rainbow appears in the sky as all the clouds disappear. Y/n gets up from the ground and hugs Frigga, then immediately letting her go.

She’s a queen you have to remember that

“Oh I’m so sorry.” Y/n said with a downward gaze.

Frigga smiles. “Y/n, it is fine.” Frigga looks out and sees a rainbow. “That wouldn’t be your doing would is?”

“Sorry.” Y/n goes to fix the sky but Frigga stops her.

“I think it’s rather lovely.”

Y/n smiles at Frigga.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

back on Svartalfheim, in his ship Malekith plots his vengeance against the Asgardians.

“The Realms will be aligned soon.” Malekith takes out a knife and turns to Algrim.“You'll be the last of the Kursed.”

Malekith stabs Algrim in the stomach with his knife. “Let my life be sacrificed. The same as our people.”

“You will become darkness, doomed to this existence until it consumes you.” Malekith started. One of the dark elves places a molten rock in Malekith's hand and Malekith places it inside Algrim's stomach. “And then no power of our enemies will stop me.”

“I'll destroy their defenses and resurrect the universe.” Malekith looks to one of his dark elves as he carries a mask.

A/n- I can’t believe the Loki tv show season one is done. (Sigh) I guess I’ll be waiting.

#loki x black reader #loki x reader #loki x black!reader #loki x y/n #loki x you #thor x reader #thor x you #thor x y/n #thor x jane

[jennyeverywhereday]

The Disappearance of Jenny Everywhere

Here is a story written by Lupan Evezan featuring all sorts of characters.

The Disappearance of Jenny Everywhere

Pulling her scarlet overcoat tightly around her, Jenny Anywhere leapt towards her foe. The villain dodged, darting around her, and reached for a weapon - but Anywhere was faster. In an instant, she had grasped her opponent by the collar and thrust her down onto the damp stone floor of the castle.

Her foe struggled, then tried to shift away, only to be pulled back by Anywhere's opposing force. Removing a length of chain from her pocket, the red-clad heroine fastened her to a wall.

"Where... is... she?" Anywhere hissed, staring into the profoundly evil eyes of Jenny Nowhere. "Answer me, or this shift-proof chain stays in place for the rest of eternity."

Nowhere looked confused. "What are you prattling on about, knockoff? I can't speak for my other incarnations, but I haven't

kidnapped any sacrificial maidens in, oh, months now."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." Anywhere snarled. "She's gone - all of her - and you're the only shifter twisted enough to pull something like that off. One of you, anyway, and this incarnation works as well as any other for interrogation purposes."

Realisation dawned on Nowhere's face. "Oh, that! Well, of course I've noticed, copycat, but you can't possibly think - look, if I was capable

of something like that, I'd already be ruling this slice of perceivable omnireality. Come now."

"Funny - for some reason, I just don't believe you."

Turning towards the table in the corner of Nowhere's hideout, Anywhere picked up the weapon that her foe had reached for earlier - some sort of aether-bladed dagger. She angled it towards the captive Nowhere.

"Look, I don't want to hurt you - which is why you'd better start talking. Tell me what you've done with her."

"Tsk, tsk." Nowhere clucked. "Would she approve of all of this? I'm impressed, mind - it must have taken you ages to find these chains. But I'm afraid all of your effort has come to naught, because I'm just as baffled as you are. Whether you believe me or not, it's the truth."

Anywhere kept her grip on the dagger - but something in Nowhere's words seemed genuine, beneath the mocking tone. It could be a trick - was almost certainly a trick. But she'd never heard the anti-shifter sound so sincere.

"Fine. Give me a reason to believe you, then. Or - to reiterate - I leave you tied up here. Forever. If you ever want to leave this room again - let alone this universe..."

"A reason?" Nowhere asked. "Fine. Simple: I would never do something like this."

Anywhere snorted incredulously. Nowhere shrugged.

"Yes, I suppose it is a bit hard to reconcile. But it's the truth, completely. I may hate her, yes. I may want to see her destroyed, defeated, foiled at every turn. But wiped completely from the multiverse?" The captive villain blew a strand of hair from her eyes before continuing. "I am Nowhere. What significance can that concept hold without its opposite? What would my purpose be, if she were truly gone? Individual incarnations, certainly - but I would never truly want all of her eradicated. I really wouldn't."

"But she is." "She is." Nowhere acknowledged. She sighed. "And I really, truly don't know why."

Anywhere stared at her captive - something in her eyes, while still evil, seemed genuinely sad. She bit her lip, thinking.

"Fine. I'll believe you. Provisionally." "You'll let me go, then?" Nowhere asked. "Not yet. But I'll be back." Anywhere turned her back to her foe. "And she'll be with me." "I'll hold you to that, wannabe." came Nowhere's voice from behind. "Give her my worst regards." "Count on it." With a flash, Anywhere shifted away.

She rematerialised in a rain-soaked city and sat down on a nearby bench. The local incarnation of Jenny lived nearby, and they would often meet at this corner, guided by the intuition that the other was waiting. She stayed put for many minutes, hoping against hope that she'd show up - but she didn't. Of course she didn't.

Anywhere sighed, resting her head in her hands. There was no denying it. She was gone. Every single one of her, across every reality.

Jenny Everywhere had disappeared. And Anywhere had no idea what the multiverse was going to do without her.

****

Tying her frizzy orange hair into a bun, Laura Drake got to work.

Jenny was gone. Jenny - her best friend. Her only friend, really. Jenny, who had defended her from bullies in grade school, who had helped her secure her current position with one of the world's leading scientific innovators, who had once fought off a demon for her (well, they couldn't all be normal life events - this was Jenny, after all).

Laura still remembered the first time she'd learned about Jenny's powers - how could she forget? That was a memory that would stick with her for the rest of her life, she was sure. She'd walked into her best friend's bedroom just in time to see her vanishing from reality. That had been an interesting discussion.

It had, obviously, been a fairly shocking thing to witness - but she'd gotten more or less used to it eventually, after seeing it happen so many times. Up until the very last shift, which Jenny still hadn't returned from. That had been almost as shocking.

Of course, Jenny had disappeared for long stretches plenty of times in the past. But she'd always let Laura know that she'd be away, without any exceptions. Leaving without a warning, Laura was sure, could only be a sign of something very bad. And she absolutely was not going to let something very bad happen to Jenny.

Stepping back, she admired her handiwork. Not bad for something whipped up so quickly - the fact that she'd used... borrowed technology from work had helped on that front (and if the Altern Corporation didn't like it, tough luck). But looks weren't everything. Would it work? That was the real question. There was only one way to find out.

Taking a deep breath, she connected the power supply. With a crack, reality seemed to stretch before her eyes before snapping back into a bright blue vortex that hung within the frame that she'd created.

So far, so good.

Glancing nervously about her workspace, she donned her protective gear - which she really should have been wearing all along, but it had slipped her mind. Steadying herself, she strode forward.

This is fine. It's all fine. It's all going to go perfectly without a hitch. No chance for accidents here. I'll just be in and out. Find Jenny, come back - nothing to it. Easy as pie.

She stood before the portal. The mental reassurances weren't helping much - this was still undoubtedly very frightening. Jenny had taken her on a few trips to other worlds before, and even that had been nerve racking - but it certainly didn't compare to diving off into the unknown without anyone to guide her.

But Jenny was gone. And she was going to find her.

Taking another breath, she stepped into the crackling rift. ****

With a shout, Jenny Anywhere leapt into the gaping maw of a serpentine abomination. Darting swiftly past the outstretched fangs that dripped with sickly-green venom, she plunged onward towards the back of the throat and landed a pulverising kick to its uvula. The creature retched, then careened into a nearby mountainside as Anywhere jumped out between its teeth and skidded to a stop on the ground below.

The thing unleashed a strangled roar, its snake-eyes locking on to to its pink-haired foe. Anywhere crossed her arms.

"Had enough yet, beast?" she yelled up at it. "Ready to tell me where she is?"

The creature choked again, then spat a drizzle of venom droplets. Anywhere dodged, watching as the spray burned away the undergrowth.

"Well?"

"I have already told you!" the monster hissed, rising painfully from the mountain where it had landed. "That I have no idea where your friend is - and I certainly didn't eat her! Now, don't mistake me - I absolutely would have, had she been through this way. But - and this bit is crucial - I have never so much as laid eyes on her! I promise! Please don't kick me again!"

As Anywhere considered the creature's words, someone cleared their throat behind her. She turned to see her travelling companion, the shifter known as Hakhe. The two had run into each other shortly following Anywhere's interrogation of Nowhere, and had decided to continue their search together.

"While I understand and appreciate the thoroughness and... ruthlessness of this investigation - " Hakhe began, in Thai, "in an infinite multiverse, I think it might be best to limit our interrogations to those who have actually heard of her."

Anywhere crossed her arms. "I know, I know - but we've pretty much exhausted every twisted villain and horrible monster that she's ever told me about, so I just figured..."

Hakhe nodded. "You're right. But maybe this isn't the best way to go about finding her at all. We could be at it for the rest of our lives, at this rate, and still be no closer to finding any answers."

"I guess you're right." Anywhere sighed. "I just don't know what to do. This is all completely wrong. One incarnation might go missing, or even a few hundred - but all of them? Every single incarnation of Jenny Everywhere, in every single universe - all vanishing at once? It just... isn't supposed to happen."

"But it did. As far as either of us can tell, anyway. And to address a possibly-unprecedented problem, I think we're going to need an unprecedented solution. Or something close to that." Hakhe adjusted her red scarf, the garment that she held in common with their missing friend. "And I think I might have an idea."

"Oh? Do tell!" "Did Jenny ever mention something called 'the Infinite' to you?" Hakhe asked. "Oh, yeah - the bridge-reality that only she can shift to. But what does that - ?"

"Well..." Hakhe mused. "She once told me that there are a few incarnations who stay there full-time, to make sure the dimension is functioning properly. And if only she can get in - well, maybe whatever made the rest of her disappear couldn't affect those Jennys."

"Of course! And they might know what happened to the rest of them!" Anywhere exclaimed. "But, er - we can't get in, either."

"Maybe not - but I think I know someone who might be able to."

"Another person? I don't mind working with you, Hakhe, but I'm really not much for teams."

"I know - but this could be our only chance." Hakhe reminded.

"Oh, alright. Let's go, then."

With a nod, Hakhe refracted reality around her and jumped into one of the dispersive universes. Anywhere followed. The serpentine abomination slithered off to get some bed-rest.

****

Laura Drake spiralled through an interminable vortex of space and time, passing through the membranes of the universes. She tumbled past alternate timelines, parallel dimensions, pocket realms - each of them completely Jenny-less. She could sense it.

But Jenny had to be somewhere. She had to.

As Laura fell, she tried to cast her mind out into the muddle of realities - to search for some echo of her friend. Jenny. Jenny Everywhere. The Shifter. Goggles. Scarf. Flower pin in her hair. Come on, come on... where is she?

Laura wasn't sure if she'd be able to leave the vortex even if she did spot a sign of Jenny - and she certainly didn't know how she was going to get home. But that was a worry for later. For now, she just needed to find her.

Scenes from across existence played out before her as she drifted by - a tranquil rainforest, a war-torn dystopia, a world made entirely of swiss cheese.

Come on, multiverse. If you can show me this stuff - show me Jenny. Please.

Something flickered, then changed. And Laura saw her.

She could tell, somehow, that what she was seeing wasn't happening 'live', so to speak. But the scenes had morphed into images of Jenny - of thousands of versions of Jenny, playing out events from prior to her disappearance.

Laura watched in awe as her vanished friend saved reality a hundred times over, vanquished evil again and again, explored countless worlds and embarked upon billions of adventures. There she was, fighting off villains - liberating entire planets - riding a dragon - taming a comet - flying with Amelia Earhart - doing anything and everything imaginable. Across the universes, there was one constant - one person who could defy any limits, who couldn't be held down by any artificially-imposed constrictions. A person who could take on any mission, any story, any challenge that arose. A shifter. The Shifter.

A person that the multiverse absolutely needed to have around. And I can find her, Laura told the multiverse, If you'll just show me how.

There was another flicker. Something buzzed, and then - a portal opened in the vortex-tunnel before her.

Bracing herself, she dove in.

****

On the bridge of the starship Wilson, a blond-haired man in a purple uniform prepared the computers for an unprecedented jump.

"Michael, pardon the interruption - " one of his companions began, raising a finger as the blond-haired man finished hooking an unspeakable number of back-up generators to the main server.

"What is it, Ill? I'm busy."

"Actually, I've been going by 'Lit' recently - er, but that's hardly the point. I just... feel the need to reiterate the point that trying to 'brute-force' reality-shifting like this is liable to destroy the entire ship."

Michael shrugged.

"Yeah, that's why I left the crew over on that moonbase."

"Yes, and I have chosen to remain with you in the hopes of shielding you from a similar fate - but such an intervention would be completely unnecessary if you would - "

"Look, I'm sorry, but Jenny is missing. The synchs aren't telling me where she is - so I'm going to look for myself. The Infinite seems like a good place to check, and I can't get there on my own, so - "

Michael gestured to the mess of equipment that he had connected to the Wilson. The Abstract of Illumination, embodiment of the concept of light, sighed.

"So you've decided to connect yourself, a cache of Jenny's genetic makeup, and a ludicrous amount of power to the ship's computers, make the jump, and hope for the best?"

"Now you're getting it!"

As if to prove the specifics of his scheme, Michael connected a wire to the bulky headset that he had fastened to his forehead. The ship's terminal blinked in seeming confusion at the new input. The Abstract pinched the bridge of his nose, exasperated.

"Have you considered that this might be a trap rigged by Chaos or one of his ilk?"

"Sure I have - but this still seems like our best course of action. Without Jenny - well, without Jenny, all of existence is in Chaos's grasp already. We have to try to find her, no matter what it takes. Flip that switch for me, will you?"

The Abstract reluctantly flipped the indicated switch. Energy coursed into the server, causing it to hiss. Michael prepared for the shift.

"So... coming?" he asked, looking over his shoulder. "Not to late for you to go join the others." "Oh, I'm not worried about myself - it's you who should give this a good mulling-over." "Done! Let's get going, then!" The Abstract rubbed his temples as Michael Wherever initiated the jump.

**** Somewhere in space, a dark force shifted.

It had been watching, lurking, spying on the crew of the Wilson as they made their preparations. It had heard it all - it knew of Jenny's plight.

Besides, it could feel it - the lack of the Shifter. They were connected, in some twisted way - the Shifter and the Fallen One. After all, it was not just one being, not one entity. No, it was the gestalt consciousness of thousands of the many monsters felled by the Shifter - held together by hatred and vengeance and the all-consuming power of Chaos that blanketed this universe. It hadn't had anything to do with the Shifter's disappearance - but it was certainly not averse to taking advantage of the situation. Far from it.

Jenny had destroyed it time and time again, ended a thousand of its lifetimes. Now it was her turn to feel that pain. She was out of the picture - she could no longer defend her allies.

It would pick them off one by one, consume them, and finally, finally have its revenge. Nearly chuckling to itself with a hundred mangled voices, the horrid amalgamation crept into the

proverbial shadows of the universe, ready to strike. ****

"So... let me get this straight: you want me to take you to the Infinite?"

"That's right!" Hakhe confirmed. Anywhere nodded.

"And... you think this is something I can do? Really, I'm asking - I have no idea."

"Well, all of the Jennys can get there, right?" Anywhere said. "And you're - well, you're not quite a Jenny, but you are a clone of her. Same DNA and whatnot. That's more than either of us can say."

Jenny Somewhere nodded.

"Yes, I suppose that's true - but it's not like we're connected or anything. I mean, all of the proper Jennys disappeared, right? But I'm still here. And even if I could get in - well, maybe you don't realise this, but I can't exactly aim. We'd probably end up in some kind of death dimension or something, instead."

"Well, yes, we do know that." Hakhe replied. "But we can, so we thought - maybe we could be your navigators, so to speak?"

"Oh. Well - I guess that might work. But - are you sure she'll be there?" "No... no, we're not." Anywhere admitted. "But it's the only real idea we've had. If - if she isn't

there, I don't know what - "

"Don't worry." Hakhe reassured her. "We'll find her. No matter what, we will find her."

"Well, I'd like to help, if I can." Somewhere told her new companions. "And I suppose it can't hurt to try. Probably. But my living room might not be the best jumping-off point. Let's go to the void

between the universes first - sometimes I have slightly better aim from there, to begin with, since it connects them all."

Somewhere held out her hands. Anywhere took one, Hakhe took the other, and they shifted. ****

They stood in the void, gazing into the surrounding nothingness.

Well, stood wasn't quite the right descriptor. Floated, was more like it.

"Only a short jump from here to the Infinite." Somewhere said. "Er, you know. Hopefully."

"Well, we're off to a good start." Hakhe noted.

"No time to waste - let's shift!" Anywhere put in.

The three shifters clasped hands again, preparing their most difficult reality-jump yet. Anywhere and Hakhe focused intensely. Somewhere summoned her strength.

They shifted.

The void melted away. The universes seemed to part. They fell, tumbling through an endless wormhole. They pushed onward - they glimpsed the Infinite - they touched the boundaries of the bridge-universe...

Then snapped back into the howling void.

"It... didn't work." Anywhere mumbled. Hakhe put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry. We'll figure out some other way to - "

A tremendous rending sound cut her off as, beside them, something tore open in the nothingness. A woman with frizzy orange hair stumbled out.

They stared at her. She stared back. "Wait... Jenny?" she asked. Somewhere shook her head. "Not quite."

"But we are friends of hers!" Anywhere put in. "You're one of the Lauras, right?"

"One of the - ?" Laura shook her head. "No, that's not important. Yes, I'm Laura - you know Jenny, too? Do you know where she is?"

"No - we're looking for her, though." Anywhere replied. "And we think we might be on the right track. Er, how did you get here, by the way? That was some entrance."

"Oh, it was... quite a journey." Laura said, brushing residual ashes off of her protective gloves. "But that's not important, either - the right track to find Jenny, you said?"

"Well, hopefully." Anywhere answered. "We're following the best idea we've had, anyway."

"Well - can I help, then? I'll do anything to get Jenny back."

"Hmm..." Hakhe rubbed her chin. Her eyes lit up. "Actually, yes - I think you could. The three of us couldn't quite enough to make that jump work on our own - but it's my understanding is that the Lauras of the Multiverse tend to have a special connection with the various Jennys, unlike any other. So..."

"So adding her to our, er, biological navigation system here might actually increase our odds!" Anywhere exclaimed. "Great idea!"

Hakhe nodded, then held out a hand to Laura. She took it. "So - what is your plan, then? Where are you trying to go?"

"We'll explain on the way." Anywhere answered. "But I don't think we should waste any more time around here. The roving abominations are starting to look hungry."

The others nodded. Clasping hands, the four companions focused, then shifted with a bang. ****

They hadn't expected the Infinite to be so... infinite.

Physically, yes, they had been fairly sure that it would live up to its name. But it wasn't just the dimensions of the bridge-universe that were endless - it was everything. The very concept of the place seemed to encompass every possible experience, assimilated from every other reality. Standing there, the four world-travellers felt as if they were living a billion billion lives all at once. It was just a fragment of a feeling, of course - an echo of what it must have been like to be Jenny, when she tapped into the network of all of her infinite selves.

Despite everything, it wasn't overwhelming - it was exciting. The sheer possibility of every imaginable adventure seemed to dangle before them.

But they hadn't come for adventure. They had come to find their friend. And the Infinite, in addition to being unimaginably vast - was empty.

"She... she has to be here, right?" Anywhere sputtered. "Right? She has to be! How could... I mean - she has to!"

Anywhere ran off through the Infinite expanse, with Laura tagging closely behind. The others followed.

"Jenny!" Laura called, her words echoing back to her alongside the words of countless others throughout the multiverse. "Jenny?"

She stopped. "I... I don't think she's here." she mumbled. "I don't know why, it's just - it doesn't feel like she is."

Somewhere nodded. "Yeah, I can usually feel some kind of connection when she's nearby. But I'm not really getting anything here, unfortunately."

Anywhere shook her head. "She has to be here. She has to be."

"She's somewhere, even if this isn't the place. We'll keep looking." Laura declared. "I'm not giving up."

"Neither am I." Hakhe said. "But - "

Hakhe stopped, then squinted at a ripple in the distance. As she stared, it opened into a rift. A large space-vessel popped out with a crash, then skidded to a stop before them, its engines fried.

A hatch opened, and a blond man in a spacesuit fell out. A pale person with black hair followed him.

"See!" said the blond man. "See, I told you that would work!"

"If by 'worked', you mean 'blew out all of the ship's mechanisms and probably would have killed you if I hadn't invoked a favor from the Abstract of Life', then..."

"Hey, we're here, aren't we?" As the two new arrivals continued their bickering, Anywhere rushed over to their ship. "Hey! Are you here to find Jenny, too?" "Sure am!" "Do you have a scanner on that thing? Something you can use to see if she's - ?"

"Oh, yeah - we do! Nearly forgot about that." Michael ducked back into the ship as the others waited anxiously outside. "Hey, it still works! Now, let's see..." came Michael's voice. It fell silent again. "Well?" Anywhere called. "...no, I guess she's not here." he replied, before exiting the ship again, looking forlorn. Anywhere was silent for a moment. "...oh." The group of companions took another look around the Infinite. "So... she's really gone, then."

Hakhe placed a hand on Anywhere's shoulder. Michael exchanged a sad glance with the Abstract of Illumination. Laura wiped the tears from her eyes, as Somewhere removed her goggles and gazed at them wistfully. They stood together in the middle of all realities, wondering if they'd ever see their friend again.

****

A dismal fogbank rolled over the small seaside town to which the grieving party had relocated. Ordinarily a peaceful place, it had taken on a gloomy atmosphere this morning - which suited the moods of the six travelling companions well enough.

The town was one of Jenny's oldest haunts, home to some of her oldest friends. It had been the first place different incarnations of her had shown both Laura and Anywhere. It was familiar to all of them, and they had all decided that it was the best place from which to mourn.

They had held out hope that they might happen upon her here, unlikely though it would be. That they might find her at the coffee shop or down by the pier, getting into some kind of scrape. But they hadn't, of course.

So they sat, dejected, on a secluded beach. And they hoped that they might find her eventually.

As waves broke against the shore, the six companions stared out at the sea. There were still places that they could check, of course - but what were the odds of finding her within any reasonable span of time? In an infinite multiverse, they didn't look so good.

The waves continued to roll in - and so did the fog. It seemed to gather around them, growing darker and thicker with every passing second. It blotted out the sun, covering the sand in shadows.

And then it spoke. "companions of jenny everywhere..." it hissed in a thousand broken, sibilant voices. "mourn not

your missing friend. mourn only for your own pitiful lives - for WE have come to take our revenge."

The fog closed in, stitching itself together into a tower of shattered faces. A tendril formed.

"What... is this?" Laura asked.

"Not good. This is not good." Hakhe replied.

The Fallen One lashed out at the six companions, knocking Michael off his feet. A shockwave of pure hatred shoved Somewhere into a sand dune.

"W - what do we do?" Laura breathed.

Hakhe looked up at the thing, scared.

"I don't know. I... I don't know. If Jenny were here..."

"But she isn't." Laura said. "We're... completely on our own. The multiverse is on its own."

Hakhe nodded. The beast drew closer, howling mouths opening along its incorporeal form. Somewhere's scarf was sucked in and turned to grey ash.

Anywhere stared at the monster. Her eyes narrowed. She stood, leaping in front of it. "No!" "No?" Somewhere asked, rubbing sand off of her jacket. "no?" the nightmare-being hissed.

"No." Anywhere confirmed. "We may be on our own - but the multiverse isn't. Jenny may be gone, but we're not. We've all managed to break the rules of reality within the last day or so - I think we can stop this thing from wreaking its havoc. It's what she would want!"

"You're... you're right!" Hakhe shouted. "We're not going everything she's done go to waste!" "I'm certainly not!" Laura added. "Yeah, and besides, it's my duty as a clone!" Somewhere put in. "Er, probably." "Jenny's prepared us for this!" Michael nodded. "I assume!"

"I'll certainly not let such a creature of darkness blot out the light on my watch!" the Abstract of Illumination agreed.

"foolish creatures. total destruction is your only destiny."

The Fallen One rushed towards them in a roiling ball of energy. They rushed right back.

Anywhere leapt into the air, landing a pulverising kick to one of the monster's warped faces. It recoiled, hissing, before spotting Hakhe. Forming a pair of jaws, it leapt towards her - but she dissipated on contact. Behind, the real Hakhe collapsed her dimensional projection and struck the unsuspecting thing in an unguarded eye.

It fell to the ground under the combined force of the blows, only to find itself caught in the searing beam of a handheld weapon.

"I actually forgot that I had this with me." Laura explained, as the creature writhed. "It was supposed to be a gift for Jenny. For making toast quickly."

The beast broke free, rising into the air once more. Somewhere ran towards it, crossed her fingers, and reached into another universe. Pulling, she produced a sword.

"Huh. I was going for some kind of laser gun, but - eh, this is cool."

She dealt the beast another blow, and it shrieked, letting loose another shockwave. As its opponents recovered, Michael appeared behind it in a puff of purple smoke and whacked it with a large plank that he'd found on the shore.

"Teleportation!" he called. "Whaddya think of that, Lit?"

The Abstract of Illumination smiled, then undid the collar that he wore around his neck. His full powers unleashed, he directed a beam of undiluted light towards the creature.

It collapsed again, and all six combatants rushed it. The struggle raged on, kicking up sandstorms and causing the sea to churn. The monster fell, rose, and fell again. It lashed out, screamed, then seemed to fall silent for a final time.

The companions gathered around it. "Is it - ?" Laura began. She was quickly cut off.

"foolish... things..." it hissed. "you have defeated but one form. but WE... are hate. WE... have thousandssss."

The clouds swirled as more twisted forms flowed into the universe, joining the creature on the ground. It rose again, becoming a tentacled hydra.

"We can't give up." Anywhere decared, stumbling forward. The thing snapped its jaws, ready to strike.

Something flickered in the sky above. A flash of red cut through the darkness, and the Fallen One recoiled.

"no... no. it is... impossible!"

The burst of red became a solid form - a human. A scarf flowed behind the figure - a pair of goggles glinted on its forehead.

Jenny Everywhere leapt into the Fallen One. With a final scream, it shrunk away and was gone. The Shifter landed on the beach and dusted off her parka. Everyone stared, disbelieving. She waved. "Oh, hi! Er... what did I miss?"

****

"So, well, what with existing everywhere all the time - sometimes I have to... rejuvenate, you know? Not absolutely every one of me - but enough that you might not be able to find me. Enough of the shifter-network gets worn out, and we automatically zap off to some secret realm beyond time for a week or so. And I... honestly don't know what happens there. Some elements of me are secret even to, well, me! It's extremely rare - only happens, oh, once every few millennia. And, well, these last two decades have been so cosmically chock-full that it turned out to be just about the right time for it! But I'm sorry I wasn't able to warn any of you."

Jenny took another bite of the toast that Laura had whipped up with her heat-ray and looked out at the sunset of the seaside town.

"Aw, it's alright. I know how these things are." Anywhere assured her. "I'm just glad to have you back. We all are!"

The others nodded. Jenny grinned.

"Aw, thanks! And thanks for dealing with that monster, too - it's good to know that if I ever really disappear, I've got a great group of friends to take care of any loose ends out to get me!"

"But please don't disappear again." Laura said with a smile. "We'd miss you too much. Everyone would."

"I second that." Hakhe agreed. Michael and Lit nodded. "Yeah - can't have my ortet disappearing on me!" Somewhere chuckled. Jenny smiled again.

"Don't worry. Whatever happens, one thing's for sure: I'm here to stay. Now... how about a toast?" They each raised a slice of toast. "To the Shifters! And to every story we've had - and will have!"

****

Written by Lupan Evezan

The characters of Jenny Everywhere, Jenny Anywhere, Jenny Somewhere, Laura Drake, and Hakhe are available for use by anyone, with only one condition.This paragraph must be included in any publication involving these characters, in order that others may use these properties as they wish. All rights reversed.

The characters of Michael Wherever, the Abstract of Illumination, and Chaos were created by Benj Christensen and released into the public domain.

All concepts and plot events introduced in this story are hereby declared open-source and may be used in any work provided that a paragraph is included noting their status as open-source concepts.

Happy Twentieth Anniversary to Jenny Everywhere!

#JennyEverywhereDay #2021 #Lupan Evezan

[mrpenguinpants]

Oh lore?? I read your post on Dainsleif and BOY it gave me a lot to think about dsfjgkd

Along the same vein, what do you think of the relationship between the unknown god and Kaenri'ah? In Albedo's trailer they seemed to reference two new elements (time and being) and if perhaps the unknown god is the god of time, then does Khemia make use of "being" in its creation of life?

In Mihoyo's other game (honkai) they introduced a new "type" about halfway through the story which seems to me to be similar to the abyss in Genshin. The quanta type is independent of the three types that were present from the beginning of the game and it's tied to an abyss style region called the Sea of Quanta. Maybe I'm reading too much into it and they don't plan to imitate what they did in Honkai but?? Time and being as new "elements" introduced a few years into the game seems possible at least?? Maybe they're exclusive to delusions bc there's only the seven Archons at this time so no one can grant time/being visions lol

Djfkdj I hope this was at least slightly understandable I love looking into lore especially for things I write about!! I'll end this now before it gets too long lmao the new tumblr asks give me too much power XD

TUMBLR DELETED MY REPLY AHHHHH I HAD TO RE-WRITE EVERYTHING. THAT’S WHY I’M LATE TO THE PARTY. I’M SO SORRY CATTY 😭

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Major spoilers for Khaenri’ah and minor spoilers for the unknown god

:DD I’m glad you read my word vomit haha. I love talking about lore so much, ty for enabling me. 

What do you think of the relationship between the unknown god and Khaenri’ah?

The logical side of my brain thinks:

They either have nothing to do with each other and Mihoyo really likes using the same star for everything and Khaenri’ah just happens to live in the void or sky so the easiest way to distinguish citizens from there is the star (or it was just hot to put star pupils in and you know what, they were right). 

Or there’s some sort of connection between the Eclipse dynasty that ruined Khaenri’ah and the unknown god. Since genshin really likes to do that (see Zhongli and everyone calling him Morax before 1.1 dropped). 

Re-watching the prologue cutscene and “we will be reunited” (Gonna refer to this a WWBR) Aether drew the same two stars into the sand which makes me believe that either a. stars literally have nothing to do with anything and Teyvat only knows how to draw one star (which doesn’t hold up well considering Mona’s outfit and pin) or b. there’s some kind of connection there. The way Paimon phrases her question she says: 

“But when you wanted to leave and go onto the next world your path was blocked by an unknown god?”

It implies that Aether and Lumine have already travelled through Teyvat since we see two yellow stars travel over Liyue and Mondstadt. I know Aether was sent into some sort of deep sleep and only now awoke and met Paimon (since in the trailer we can see the lantern festival and the genshin upload was in march (chinese new year is in feb) but I’m not super sure on these details but I’m pretty sure it’s canon that this happened based on WWBR). 

Then when the unknown god appears and the same 3 red stars appear [tumblr throws a fit when I try and upload this]

She refers to us as Outlanders and calls herself 

“The sustainer of heavenly principles. The arrogation of mankind ends now.”

This could be a reference to “being” that was in the Albedo trailer while Dainsleif is “time” since time is "not something he lacks". If we’re going on the theory that Dainsleif is actually a god then maybe they are fighting? Or in some type of push and pull war. It would make sense since the Unknown God believes in heavenly principles (so the rules either set by Celestia or Gods themselves) and believes mankind is arrogant and wishes to either destroy it or remove it entirely. The complete opposite of Dainsleif who believes in mankind and hates anything relating to the Archons.

Or dainsleif has nothing to do with the unknown god and is just a final challenge to the player who will then face off against the Unknown God. 

In Albedo's trailer they seemed to reference two new elements (time and being) and if perhaps the unknown god is the god of time, then does Khemia make use of "being" in its creation of life?

In this theory, this would make the Unknown God the god of time, which is also equally as valid. Since she does talk about time and how the arrogation of mankind ends now. I think it’s right to assume that Khemia makes use of being in its creation of life since we see Albedo talk about chalk and turning things from “nothing” (it’s not really nothing, he’s still using something or the “being” in order to transform it) to something. 

If Dainsleif uses Khemia or even created it then taught it to the people of Khaenri’ah to help them survive in their archonless land, that could be a valid reason why he believes in the strength of mankind. Since the unknown god’s power seems to consume the person trapped within (as we see in the prologue). Plus in WWBR we see first hand how destructive that power is. This could also be the time where Dainsleif lost faith or hated the celestial beings. 

---

In WWBR, according to the wiki it states that our sibling was taken to another point in time, in an unknown location. But this event leads the sibling (Lumine) to become the leader of the Abyss Order. 

Lumine says: 

“But until the abyss has engulfed the thrones, my war with destiny will see no end.”

Lumine seems to know about the archons and the abyss mages follow her so it’s safe to assume that the “abyss” she refers to is either something entirely new or the red blocks we see here. It seems as if she’s trying to change destiny which could be why Dainsleif wants to save her. 

I will say right now, I really hope the theory that Paimon is secretly the unknown god doesn’t come true. I know it’s funny and I would enjoy seeing our emergency food pull a turned table on us but unless there are more instances where it’s hinted or it’s handled really well I would not like it. I just finished a manga and I felt like I was watching 20M plot twists happen in the span of 3 pages. I would totally be okay if the unknown god and paimon were somehow related (I can understand that) but I unless it’s handed really well or as the story progresses and we get more info on paimon. it would just be really out of left field. I haven’t seen any theories on this and I honestly try and stay away from lore posts until I’ve finished mine because I feel that might make my ideas biased.

The “everything must be connected into some kind of plotline or I will make it a plotline” brain thinks:

Now, this is just be spit balling and making up my own headcanons with no lore to go off on. This is pure indulgent stuff with no research to back it up besides very loose threads. 

I’d like to believe that since the Eclipse Dynasty was the last dynasty before Khaenri’ah fell. That might be what is being depicting above in WWBR. Perhaps khemia backfired or the unknown god turned against the people for their arrogance (I’m not sure if people know the myth but in short terms, a giant stole fire to help the people who were cold. He was punished for going against the gods and saving the people, this could be similar to Dainsleif). 

Perhaps Lumine and Aether had stopped this event from happening and as they were about to leave, the unknown god appears and separates them for their arrogant actions against the Gods and sends Lumine back to the past. Without her brother she ended up failing in saving Khaenri’ah. Or, the image we see is actually the future and she goes back in time to try and prevent that event from occurring, still trying to beat destiny but this time in the future. 

Or another idea, Lumine has only seen the evil that’s depicted and hasn’t personally met any of the archons. We actually got to meet Venti and Zhongli so we obviously want to protect them from Lumine’s point of view, that might not be the same so she aligns with the abyss order that tries to control Dvalin. So her goal is to somehow defeat the archons and that could be why the Cyro archon is trying to collect them all in her war of peace. 

Honkai and quanta

It’s kinda funny but there’s no reliable wiki source for this sea of quanta like there is for genshin, or at least I couldn’t find anything. I think they might nod at certain things between the two but I think it’s totally fine to believe they might do some sort of crossover and take some inspiration. We have Mona who was able to read the stars and Scaramouche who said the sky was a giant hoax so I think time and being becoming new elements is very possible. But I don’t really know a lot about Honkai so I can’t really say too much about it haha. 

---

Yep no worries, it was fun talking about some more lore and if you have any more I’d love to hear them. Haha, honestly pop off I love getting long asks. As always, it’s nice seeing you again catty 💕💕

#genshin #genshin impact #genshin lore #genshin impact lore #genshin spoilers #genshin impact spoilers #genshin theory #genshin impact theory #genshin dainsleif #genshin impact dainsleif #genshin unknown god #genshin impact unknown god #dainsleif #genshin khaenri'ah #genshin lumine #genshin aether #genshin impact lumine #genshin impact aether #lumine

[guigz1-coldwar]

'A better tomorrow' : the epilogue of "Fighting Spirit of a Once Innocent Girl" is out !

"A Better tomorrow"

Chapter Summary : Samantha is finally feeling free two days after the events at Solovetsky in her new home with the others.....

To read it on AO3, click here !

Words : ~2000

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We.....we did it ! After all these years, Monty was no more. I fullfilled my old promise to kill him after he slaugthered my father in front of me. I killed the monster that were trying to come back as a god and to envelop this world and maybe the Multiverse inside the Dark Aether dimension. We stopped him to use the Purplelight bombs to achieve his goals. By doing that, we have finished the work of Ultimis & Primis : getting rid of Monty once and for all. We won that battle, we did it.....but at what cost ?

Eddie decided to sacrifice himself to kill Monty's soul inside of his body by destroying the Agarthan Device, fatally wounding himself in the process. I did find Eddie back but I never wanted this to happen. I hoped that there were other choices but he.....he knew that this choice was the only one to do. It was so painful to think and to look Eddie leaving slowly his world for a better place as we couldn't do anything to save him even with our powers.

I lost too many friends : Lazar.....Ravenov....and now, I lost Eddie. He was the only friend I had in my childhood in my time in Monty's House. We were playing together, laughing together, thinking of an innocent life but with Monty, w lost our own innocence when my father send us away from the House. Primis...Ultimis, they put their lifes for us to give me & Eddie a better world, away from all of that but nothing worked as intended : I lost Eddie when I arrived in his world and the Dark Aether was infiltrating the world.

At this moment, I knew that I will have to be the one that will fight when I discovered the Dark Aether threat coming when I joined Requiem. Two months ago, the powers I thought to have lost came back, saving me that day in Turkey and it was the resuming of the old fight Primis & Ultimis was leading. Thanksfully, I wasn't alone : Helen...Greta....Yirina.....and Nikolai. They stood up by my side against the Dark Aether, against the Omega Group....against Requiem and we stayed strong on that fight even with everything that happened to us.

After we left Solovetsky behind thanks to Nikolai who created a portal just before the Requiem bombers took the place apart, we were back at Nikolai's House who became our new home to everyone since we had nothing holding us back to leave : Yirina was disawowed by the KGB, Greta was no longer a part of the BND and Requiem after what happened before Cuba as Helen lost her MI6 agent status when we were on our way to Solovetsky. Me.....they were the only people I can count on my life and having them on my side was keeping me well.

I took Eddie's body with us as I didn't want to left him on the island and Nikolai decided to hold a funeral for Eddie. We buried Eddie along with the others and I was holding back my tears during all the funeral, knowing that now, he will be maybe in a better place, probably laughing and talking at that fireplace with the two versions of Dempsey, Takeo and Richtofen and the Ultimis Nikolai. I wish....I wish things were differents but what was done can't be undone....Rest in peace, Eddie !

2 days after the funeral, we installed ourselves in Nikolai's House, ready to live a new life away from the CIA's grasp....from Requiem. I've got the same room we first woke up with Helen and today, Nikolai was able to found an old picture of me & Eddie in our young that I decided to put in the room.

"I wished that things would have been different, Eddie." I said in a low voice, holding the encadred picture in my hands before I put it back on the dresser as Helen was coming inside the room.

"Sammy." She started, slowly walking towards me

"Sapphire." I still looked at the picture as Helen wrapped her arms around me, trying to recomfort me after she saw my sad look.

"It's going to be okay." She whispered next to me, having her eyes on the picture.

"That picture is the only thing where I could see his face." I sniffed before getting my arms around "Where we were both innocent." I added with an little grin

"You will still have him in your heart." She put her hand above it, feeling her lovely touch on my skin "You know that he will watch you from the skies and saying that you're a good woman." She then put her hand on my face "And I'm with you until the end."

"I know you will." I exclaimed before I leaned to give her a kiss on the lips, getting my hands on her face and we started to lose ourselves in our moves until we withdrawed at the same time to catch our breath, still holding each other. "I love you, Helen."

"I love you too, Sam." She smiled before taking my hand in hers "You're coming ? Greta & Yirina is awaiting for us outside." I nodded as she know that I will always stay with her and then, she started to walk with me outside the room to join the others outside in the middle of the night at a fireplace created by Nikolai for us. We go down the stairs and ready to leave the house when Nikolai stepped in from the same room we first met him.

"Samantha." He called me out as Helen opened the door

"Nikolai." I said, surprised by his appearance

"I need to talk to you for just 2 minutes." He looked at Helen, giving her an good look "Don't worry, I will be fast." Helen nodded,

"We're waiting for you." She whispered before giving a quick kiss on the cheek before she fully opened the door and getting out, leaving me with Nikolai, wondering what he want with me.

"Something to talk about ?" I asked before he ordered me to follow him inside the room.

"Yes, about something you could be interested." He closed the door behind me before with his powers, he recreated the Multiverse map in front of me "Do you remember the woman you talked with in the other universe ?" He asked, looking at me

"Mmhm.." I started, thinking around "Yirina Grigoriev, right ?" I said not sure before he nodded.

"When you discover where Monty was, I was finally able to discover about her and the others individuals that are sharing that nickname....'Bell'."  He showed on his face an concerned look "It went bad for everyone of them."

"What do you mean ?" I said, worried

"Taking the example of Yirina Grigoriev, after her mission at Solovetsky...." He took a deep breath "She was disposed off by Adler." He showed me a picture of that exact scene : the two drawing their guns but Adler was more faster, killing her with an bullet in the head.

"No...." I whispered, she didn't deserve that at all....

"It's the same thing for everyone : Adler brought them to that cliff and left them for dead." He added, showing me the same scene but with differents people and still with Adler.

"They didn't deserve that." I exclaimed "They can't be killed like that, that woman, Grigoriev.....she wasn't looking as a monster. Those people too."

"I know." He said, raising an eyebrow

"But we can save them, becoming their hidden protector, help them maybe.....to find their way in." I suggested, causing Nikolai to start thinking, looking at the Multiverse. "As long as we're dealing with the Dark Aether's threat, we can also help those people."

"It could work." Nikolai told, nodding at me "Since we can go back in time and travelling in those universes, it will be possible." He started to check some universes in details "Of course, the events will be changed if those peoples stayed alive but since after Solovetsky, all the universes take a different direction."

"We have to give a chance to those peoples." I repeated, looking at him

"I will check how you and the girls can do it." He looked outside where the fireplace "You should join them, we have all the time in the world to save those peoples and the Dark Aether." He removed everything before walking to open the door back for me "Be with your friends, stay with them." He gave me a friendly tap on my shoulder as I walked out of the room, smiling before he closed the door behind him, leaving him alone.

I breathed a little before I stepped outside of the House to join the girls at the fireplace. All around me, it was getting dark, giving me the feeling like it was like in the Forest and I smiled about it all the way to get to that new fireplace. Greta & Yirina were usually sitting together, an arm behind each other's back.

"Guess who finally arrived !" Greta said, smirking at me as I arrived near Helen.

"Greta....good to see that you didn't lost your sense of humor." I exclaimed, sitting next to Helen, keeping my smile, thinking about the future.

"Thank me for that." Yirina told, getting Greta closer from her

"So, what Nikolai wanted to talk about to you ?" Helen asked to me

"Something that he will talk to all of us tomorrow." I replied before I put my left arm behind her back "A special mission for us, he will tell more but now, it's better that we all getting relaxed."

"After weeks of work, it's sure that relaxing is the only thing we can do now." Greta admitted, making Yirina rolling her eyes lovely to her "Isn't right, Yiri ?"

"Of course, you're right." Yirina said to her before she looked at me "I'm glad to be friends with you, Samantha."

"We all glad to be at your side, Sammy." Helen exclaimed...I was feeling so happy right now, knowing that I'm now surrounded by my very close friends.

"I was thinking..." Greta started "We should have a name for us now." Hearing this caused everyone to look at her with wide eyes, curious "You know....like Primis or Ultimis. What do you think ?"

"Not an bad idea." Helen said before she looked at me "Why not Maxis ?"

"That's my last name and I don't know if....." I stopped myself before looking at her with lovely eyes "We should talk about this to Nikolai tomorrow." I suggested

"Maybe that Maxis is your last name but it can be used as our new group name !" Yirina affirmed.

"We will think about it." I replied to her, taking a breath "Let's just enjoy the moment peacefully and....in calm." I then took Helen in my both arms "We will sure secure a better tomorrow...together !

We then started to enjoy ourselves at the moment, finally feeling a little bit of freedom inside each one of us. I was thinking to everything good that happened inside my life and I was hoping that these types of moments will happen frequently to us. I wanted just to forget the bad things and trying to moving on, working along my friends for the future of the Multiverse....for my future with Helen...

It's sure that our next work will be maybe complicated between preparing ourselves against the return of the Dark Aether at any occasions and saving all those peoples who were killed off by Adler but right now, it's just me...enjoying the place we are now calling Home, feeling more happy to no longer sleep in a safehouse and finally in Helen's arms without anyone to disturb us. I was finally happy to have some sort of a normal life, getting started. I'm sure that I have a fighting spirit inside of me and I will make sure to make it living on....

For an better tomorrow !

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

This was it ! The endgame !

After 30 chapters, it's time for me to close the book of the reinterpretation of the Cold War Campaign mixed with the Dark Aether story. During 30 chapters, you were able to see how Samantha will get along with the events, replacing 'Bell' as the main character of the story and giving a new view about the events of the Campaign....

I was so happy to share with you, this story with Samantha as the main character. She is so lovely to write on along with Helen Park, 'Bell' and countless of others characters (Greta Keller, Yirina Portnova, etc....). This is the end of this story and Samantha's adventures against Perseus/Monty.

Some surprises will come a day in a sort of one-shot....but I don't tell you more about it...it's a surprise !

Thanks you for all the support you gave me during the writing of the story and I'm impatient to find you again on the other story I'm making at the moment ! Thank you again !

GuiGZ1

#black ops cold war #bocw #call of duty cold war #cod cw #cod black ops cold war #cod cold war #fanfic #samantha maxis #helen park #yirina portnova #greta keller

[charlettebffxiv]

Prompt #15 Thunderous

“What was the weirdest one?” Maxim’s curiosity never let-up, especially when it came to Charlette’s life in the Order. Consistently, he would pepper her with questions about it. You would think the man had made an unfortunate blunder in his choice of career, but really he had no choice. The Order was never open to him, not as the second born of a family that already had a member in the Order itself. They were not so greedy as to lock-up a family line in their ranks. But here he was again, trying to foist as much information about it as he can, while he and Charlette sit outside the Greenhouse having breakfast before starting their morning duties. “The weirdest one? They are missions to destroy or retrieve aberrant aetherical items or events. It is all weird, Maxim.” She knew how frustrating she was being, but she also knew she was not wrong. There was nothing boring, normal or everyday about the work she did.

“Don’t make me beg. I know you like it when I do, but I’m feeling too dignified this morning. Maybe later I’ll take it down a peg or three, but right now I’m far too proud. Have you seen my Thanalan blossoms? Nothing but pride coming off of those.” His flowers were looking quite fetching, she had to admit that. “Well, if that is all the reward you want for it, then fine. Just let me think for a moment.” He leaned back, hands up, face bright with excitement. Charlette dipped her spoon into the bowl of muesli, swishing it around in the milk until she had just the right amount of raisins on her spoon before taking a bite. The crunch was satisfying, as was the gentle tang. A favourite morning meal of hers. “Gods, I cannot really decide on a single one. Would you prefer weird and exciting or weird and scary?” Maxim tapped his spoon against his bowl, having to ponder for barely a second “Exciting!” “Alright then. So, have you heard of the churning mists? It is in the north, Ishgard is the closest city you will find to it, and even then you have to take a lengthy flight, by airship, to even get there.” At the mention of the infamous floating islands of the Churning Mists, Maxim was already set in. You could tell when he was interested by how he shuts his mouth for once, and just pays attention. “Our final destination was in the northernmost reaches of the Churning Mists. We had been called in by an old contact that often trades with the Librarians in the Order. Anything we find that does not need to be sealed away, or just kept in our own collection, is generally fair game for traders and collectors looking for rare texts. You tend to find a lot of those, when you plunder a secret library every second moon.” The Archives were created with the intent of sealing away all knowledge and technology that might cause harm to the balance of Eorzea, but like anything else it ran on gil. It’s not the proudest piece of the Order’s function, but it has made Willow’s Heart Library a bit of a jewel of the trade. At least for those who know about it, and are trustworthy enough. “The Trader was on one of his usual routes, he was one that did not scare from the more dangerous airways. Churning Mists is known not just for its strange location, and the Beastribe that inhabits it. It is also known for Sky Pirates. He had a particular route though, one that had proven safe each time, and also provided difficult terrain for anything bigger than your basic Merchants skiff to traverse. This time though, he had found something very strange. A derelict vessel.” Maxim had abandoned his food, both elbows on the table and his chin rested in his hands. This little turn in the story made his eyes widen, the bright-blue colour almost flashing in the morning light. Charlette was a complete sucker for a captive audience of course. “We were called out, and it took two airship rides and a very turbulent trip in a cramped skiff to get to this derelict. The strangest thing about it, was that it had not crashed or docked anywhere. It just hung there, in the air, but in pieces. Like it had been diced with a clever into three sections. All of it, not quite together, but kept close and in-line with each other by long strands of lightning aether. The beams sparked and flitted between the sections, and it was all so perfectly aligned you would think it was a model being pieced together.” Charlette had started speaking with her hands, holding them apart and mimicking a model builder slowly pressing parts into each other. “The strangest part, though, was the sound. It was like a thunderous storm, if it was yalms away inside a tunnel. It echoed out in pulses, and each time it did, the air around the ship shimmered and shook. But the ship itself remained firm in its position. And we had to board the damn thing.” She remembered now, the anxiety she had felt just from that sound. It was not loud, or intimidating, but it had all the qualities of something that should be. It was oppressive, she could feel it vibrating in her ears. But it was such an even sound. “Did you board it then? Must have been dangerous, isn’t lightning aether one of the most chaotic?” Charlette nodded, Maxim looked a little more proud. She would have to be careful, or he might give himself a crown by the end of the sun. “The Trader brought his ship as close as he could, it left a short jump for us. Not too difficult, Alistair and I cleared it fine. A’nidreah took a running jump, but she landed it as well as you would think. We had been looking around the section we were on, the stern, before we realized the sound had stopped.” Maxim’s “Ooh!” was very satisfying. “The pulses were still going off, but the sound no longer reflected. It was terribly disorientating though, the air around us felt almost like it was thicker? It is difficult to explain, but it was something between normal, and being submerged in water. Like our steps were lighter, but slower, and our breaths were more laboured. Alistair attempted to run, when he got close to the edge he tried to plant his feet and stop, but he just kept sliding. Right to the end, and then whoops! Over it.” The furrow on Maxim’s brown was a little worried. “Well, Alistair is fine, I saw him just the other sun. So I assume he didn’t fall?” Charlette shook her head. “Nope. He kept sliding until he slowed to a stop, in mid-air. Like he was standing on a solid deck. It did not stop him from screaming, a lot. But only at first.” Maxim didn’t laugh, in fact he looked a little more pale at the idea of it. “We all stepped out onto it, and it was terrifying. You have to really fight yourself for every step, because what you see is nothing but a drop into endless clouds and a likely death. But it was solid, it even tapped like you were standing on glass, or metal. It felt completely wrong, utterly at odds with the natural order of things. There we stood, land borne bipeds, but on nothing. Suspended. No matter how much I understood that, my mind just twisted and whirled around it, moments of panic came, then calm, then more panic. It felt like falling, being rescued, then falling again.” The more Charlette thought about it, the more the sensation came back. Hairs stood up, her skin pulled into goosebumps, even her breath caught as a shiver of adrenaline flowed up her body. Maxim broke her from the moment though, asking “What was it?” Charlette took another bite of her breakfast, and in an intentionally vague response said “Another ship!” Maxim was confused, understandable really since this made no sense. “The Sky Pirates had crashed into another ship, this one had already been caught in the small pathway. We used a device, one of A’nidreah’s little constructs actually. She calls it a Mystique.” The seeker was rather proud of her forays into aetherical constructs, and this was no less a moment of pride for her too. Like Maxim and his blossoms. “Basically it mists an area with aether-neutral smoke. It disrupts fields and illusions, like a glamour and it exposed the other ship. It looked ancient, made mostly from metal like a Garlean vessel, and had been there for some time. Turns out The Trader had lost his way on his own path and stumbled on this. Likely in the same manner the Sky Pirates had. The ship had been wedged into a front bumper made of large, blade like teeth jutting from the front. The Sky Pirate crew must have abandoned their ship, taking their loot with them. But we looked through the ancient ship and found the source of the cloak.” she left that hanging, just for Maxim. Who waited, then raised his hands, and finally asked in an annoyed and urgent tone “What was it?” “Order secret.” Charlette finished, with a smug smile. “Now let’s finish breakfast, we’re going to be late to our shift.” Maxim sulked the rest of the sun.

#ffxiv roleplay #ffxiv #ffxivwrite2021 #ffxiv rp #elezen #ffxiv writing #duskwight

[ofdragonsdeep]

17: Destruct

They thought that Zodiark had saved them, but their end had come in the Final Days all the same.

(Character death cw, m!AzemxElidibus)

It was hard to imagine, standing on the lush grass of the billowing countryside, that it was a scene of devastation.

Hermes, former holder of the seat of Azem on the Convocation of Fourteen, placed a hand against the bark of a newly-born tree and closed his eyes. Sinking down into a sitting position, he let his mind fill in the blanks of the horizon beyond - Amaurot, looming large and full of life, a perfect home, a confluence of perfection. But when he opened them, though the skeleton was there - rebuilt by magicks beyond mortal ken, raised from dust and ashes - he could still see the glowing purple light of the god-crystal who sought to ruin them.

Hermes had been called coward, traitor, failure, for refusing to support the summoning of Zodiark. Hope-breaker, defector, disappointment, by those who had in their sorrow planned to summon another. War loomed, this he knew, now fought between kin rather than a desperate struggle against the unknowable. The truest and deepest tragedy, that in saving their world, they had damned themselves.

Zodiark and his Tempered were wrong, of course. There was naught to gain in destroying what lived to bring back ghosts, no matter how keenly the people had ached for them to return. Nor did he much like the idea of striking down yet more of what remained of their people on the altar of war to protect the fragile mortality they had created to fill the gaps. But what was he to do? No solution had presented itself, no matter how far he had travelled or how desperately he had searched. No miracle was forthcoming. For all their supposed greatness, he and his people had lost.

When he had refused the invitation of Venat’s people to aid in their summoning, they had asked him why he had returned at all, if he would not help in ridding them of Zodiark. This he would not answer, at least not to them. A sword against the bulwark of the newly minted god he would not be, for he was not a warrior - that was not the duty of Azem. For all he had eschewed his seat, he held the values dear to his heart even in the dust. He was a shepherd, a guide to the lost. And though he could offer himself no succor, despite how he floundered, there were those he would not abandon. Not yet.

---

His feet took him through familiar streets, down familiar routes, left unsettling in their emptiness. The sun shone bright and clear above the park, though no citizens walked its paths. He had come here countless times, watching the sun set on the horizon, the shining stars to welcome them in its stead. He had lain in the grass, hand in hand, and dreamed of eternity.

“Hermes?”

The voice, so achingly familiar, was cut with tired and rasping traces. He could feel the darkness radiate in every inch of the soul, cocooned around him, through him, becoming him. Zodiark.

“Elidibus,” he said, turning to face him. It looked like him, white robes and all, but his eyes were pools of deepest purple, pits of darkness like that which had sheltered their people from the fire of the Final Days. “Do you answer to that now? I confess I am unsure.” The sadness in his face was palpable.

“Please. I have not forgotten,” he replied, his every syllable echoing with the words of Zodiark behind it. “We are one, He and I, but I remain. Where there is strife, I remain. I will save us…” He reached out a hand, uncertain, and Hermes watched as he held it in space. It ached to not take it, to touch fingers against his, but Hermes knew they would be cold as the grave, steeped in pitch and crystal. “Do you not see it now? We are free of the devastation of the Sound. It worked. It did.”

“I never thought it wouldn’t,” Hermes replied, then sighed. “You and I both know ‘twas the cost I baulked at. Does He let you remember that?” Elidibus flinched, and a wave of pity washed through Hermes, but he could not let his course falter now.

“He wants what is best for us. I want what is best for us,” Elidibus said. “Please. You need not give yourself to Him, but I will not… I cannot weather this vigil alone. Our people falter and break. We need you. I need you. Please.” Hermes offered a small, sad smile.

“I am not the glue you think I am, and I cannot mend the wounds in our people’s hearts,” he replied. “And you will not sway me by claiming grand designs. Not when I cannot tell where He ends and you begin.” Elidibus looked down at his hands, still the same as they always were, the aether wracked with darkness beneath them. He had known the cost. Known the result. But still he had done it, because he could not let anyone else bear the burden of something so great. It was just like him.

“Please,” he repeated, bringing his hands up to Hermes’s face, holding it between them.

“If nothing else were left to me, I… I would try to save you,” Hermes said. The kiss was brief for the shock of it, Zodiark recoiling from the Light that Hydaelyn had woven around him, an agreement reached - a Champion untempered, for both gods knew, at their heart, that their designs would crumble and corrupt in time.

“No,” Elidibus said, taking a step back. “You- you refused us. Why would you-”

“I did not summon Her,” Hermes said, but the panic on Elidibus’s face did not abate. “Nor did I condone the loss. But I did not lie to you. I am weak, I am powerless. I cannot fix our people. We are already lost.”

“No,” Elidibus repeated, shaking his head. “No, She will not take you from me. She will not. She will not!”

He did not move as the darkness lunged from Elidibus’s small form, sinking its teeth into him, snarling and snapping around the Light. It was no true protection, nothing like that which Tempering might have given. A shield easily shattered, brittle as the life they had led before their ruin had come. He broke upon the rock of it, and though Elidibus reached out in desperation, Zodiark answered.

It was like a knife to the heart. Blood fell to the grass below as Hermes collapsed to his knees, life and aether leaking from the wound. Elidibus was beside him, holding him, whispering desperately, weaving magicks that were no longer his to command in a desperate attempt to save him.

“It’s… ok,” Hermes said, every word an effort. One hand reached up to touch his face, the red of his blood lost against the Convocation mask. “I cannot… save… our people. But I… will save… you.”

Elidibus howled, the agonised noise more painful than any mortal wound. The crystal, so solid and sure at the top of the Capitol, seemed to fracture just a little at the sound. He had known he would not live to see it. But life was more than the cycle of a single soul.

One day, what was left of him would know.

#we can only go so many days without falling back into angst I guess #JUST IN TIME FOR THE DEADLINE #ffxivwrite2021 #amaurotine AU #m!AzemxElidibus #character death cw

[sootcloak]

Day One: Foster

For a Future yet Unseen

Warnings need to be applied before going on to the piece itself; This one goes to some dark places in general, and depicts a character struggling with suicidal tendencies, and graphically describes injury and death.

Roughly 1600 words. AO3 Link

I’m not going to put this on character tags for the reasons above, so be aware that this work involves dialogue from G’raha in case you don’t want to read anything which involves him.

   “What is it?” Her hair, tangled and greasy, bobs as she turns her head to look back at the Seventh Heaven. Panting in the threshold of the door, G’raha Tia holds up one finger. A moment passes, and he catches his breath.

    “You are to leave, then? With so much yet undone? Even Ser Estinien has-”

    “Spare me the high and mighty speech,  Exarch .” The lalafellin woman cuts him off, voice sharp, metallic and bitter. “I answered your call, aided your order while the Archons were away, and worked to reign in the Tolophoroi because it aligned with my needs. Now, I return to my work.”

    G’raha reels a moment at her tone, then gathers himself, a familiar restraint creeping into his words.

    “Your work is important - hunting heads so as to protect those less fortunate than ourselves. But you are, to put it lightly, overqualified. Your skills are needed here, joined with ours.” He extends one hand, ruby eyes unflinchingly gazing down to her.

    “No, they’re not.” She breaks eye contact, adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder. “And besides - if and when I am truly needed, I can be called by a number of means. Azem should-”

    “Do not call them that.” The sternness in his voice catches her, emerald eyes matching his for just a second.

    “Your hero should be able to summon me whenever they please. Besides, best not to let you get used to me. Once all this is done, the Empire in the grave, Fandaniel put down?” Her voice softens and she pauses a beat.

    “After that, I’ve only one task left to me.” She glances up at the sky, awash in rainbow hues, ambient aether built up in colorful clouds. The silence sits there, uncomfortable and weighty. The thin crowds mill about their business, the air humming with soft waning activity.

    G’raha steps slowly from the pub, until he’s a couple paces from her.

    “Vavara, there’s more to life than the duties we must undertake. More for us here than the purposes we were made for.” His voice is low and gentle, but insistent - a warm undertow.

    “Don’t go trying to impart wisdom to me. I don’t deserve it and I don’t particularly like it, either. I chose this path. Let it guide me. The only conclusion acceptable after all I’ve done is to blast clean all I’ve stained this world with. The Weapons project is dead and buried, and once I’m sure none of it remains in the Empire proper…” Her hand brushes against her sternum, a grim air washing over her.

    “After that, only this body, my weapons, and my core will remain. I will not have it misused again. Not now, not in a hundred years, not in a thousand after my aether has dried up and this body has begun to rust.” She casts a brief glance at him, expression briefly softening as their eyes meet. “Oh come now, you’re an old man. Older even than me. You’re not so naive to believe I’d  want  to ‘live’ in this shell for eternity, are you?”

    “No. I know. But that does not mean we are without options-”

    “G’raha…”

    “Allagan cloning technology shows great promise, and while none of your original body remains in a condition we could use as a base for a newly grown body, we could see if there is a way to-”

    “G’raha.”

    “-restore your aether to a living form, rather than a primarily magitek one. Or perhaps we could simply make your life in a magitek body less uncomfortable, experiment with other kinds of crystal and stone. Try variations on the technology you’ve-”

    “Stop.” She pulls her cap from her head. Knotted locks tumbles out from beneath it in waves of gray and sandy brown, over her shoulders and down to her hips.

    “I don’t think I can face death as I have again.” She says. Softly, so quiet one can barely hear the metallic ringing in her voice. Her eyes trace upwards to the lights above.

    “But once? And then to bid everyone farewell, knowing I’ve done my part? That I had helped to raise a better tomorrow, quietly and from a distance? To know that I’ve made amends. I don’t need to live long, or happily ever after. To just know that would be enough. But if I stay, I will face it again and again. More viscerally than any of you have ever known.

    “I have died ; I was shot through the chest and lost my heart and half my ribs - I was saved, barely, but I felt my life leaving me. No healer could repair that foul of a wound. They worked around the clock to keep me just on the threshold of death’s door. I choked on my own blood and bile for days as my aether was moved to my core. Drowning and experiencing my soul being torn from my body, all at once. It was not pleasant.

    “I was scorched by artillery shelling when someone betrayed my position to the Imperials. Torched and thrown this way and that, until barely anything remained save for charred bones and fragments of hardened sinew. I felt every moment, every pounding detonation; My aether safe in my core and preserved to experience it all.

    “I was dashed to pieces in Rhalgr’s Reach, my head removed from my shoulders by the Crown Prince’s lackey. Wasn’t even worth his attention. But I still felt it. Felt as all my senses went black -no, worse, they were just  gone  - and all my bearings were lost. Not even  time  held sway in the abyssal depths of that crystal without any sensation to anchor me. For what could have been a dozen seconds or a dozen years, I waited, hopeful that I  wouldn’t be found - but destroyed - so as to just end the misery then and there.

    “And again, this time I’d grown clever enough, fast enough, viscous enough, and strong enough to challenge the beast at Ghimlyt. Lost my arm, those last few organs I’d had, and my legs there.  And again, I had to suffer through  every  moment of pain, every pulse of agony. Unable to do aught but  watch  as he nearly cut down the one, the ONE person I’d begun to place any stock in."

    “..."

    “I… I’m not strong enough to die again and have to live with it for…” Her voice stalls, eyes distant and posture stiff.

    “I think. I think I’d just like to be done, truth be told. There’s not much left of me. But a professional has standards, and I’m not given to leave a job half-done.” Her face remains fixed on the clouds of aether above, in their myriad colors and shapes, the night sky awash in a tapestry of foggy, rainbow hues. As the crowd thins and she stands by the lamp, G’raha says nothing. He just takes another step closer, and looks up at the sky besides her.

    “If you mean to finish what you’ve set out to do…”

    “I’ll have to face it once or twice more. I… I know.”

    “Had I but known you were struggling so much, I’d-”

    “What, you would have called down from your tower to  save me  ? I did not ask for your pity.” A trembling anger briefly flashes through her. “I  chose  this path. I’ll walk it, don’t think to drag me off it now.”

    “No, I don’t think I could. I was told I should save my breath - that you always depart after you’ve decided you’re ‘no longer needed’ . That no one had been able to convince you to stay. None of the Scions, or Archons, or Warriors who had reached out to you could convince you that you had a place here.” G’raha’s eyes slowly shift from one star to the other.

    “Because I don't.” The words are a weak, half-hearted hiss.

    “Perhaps not. But whether or not there is a place for you here, you need not make your journey alone. Whatever end awaits you, you need not face it with  your  strength and resolve  alone .”

    “I’m more than capable of-”

    “I know. I wasn’t suggesting that you are weak, or that your will is lacking.”

    “...”

    “If at the end of the road, you find your journey has ended, that there is naught else left for you save your duty? Then in that too, I would walk with you. To ensure you may rest at ease, knowing that you have indeed played your role. But pray, give me - give us - a chance to repay all that you have done for  us . You have answered our calls, our prayers. I wish to show you the future you have long labored to create.” He stretches a moment, and turns back the way he came. He glances back over at her.

    “Though you have been laboring in the dark for longer than I’d feared, there is yet hope. If you’ll let us show you, we would be proud to walk alongside you. But the choice is yours. If you feel you must face the final days of your journey alone, then I will not stand in your way.” He takes a deep breath. His eyes break from her, jaw set, walks into the Seventh Heaven, and disappears from sight.

    Vavara’s hand reaches for her sternum, the resonant clicking of the gears just beneath the surface rhythmically vibrating through her coat, her gauntlet. Her core burns in her chest, cold and stinging like alcohol on a wound. She tears her eyes away from the sky, and looks over her shoulder at the door, left slightly ajar. Her thumb brushes the brim of her cap, still held in her hand.

    “Forgive my cowardice…” She whispers.

    She pulls her hat over her head, the brim low near her eyes.

    She wrestles with the strap of her bag, the rifle and spear strapped to it clinking.

    And she turns on her heel.

#vavara kir aceris #ffxivwrite2021 #aegis' writing archive

[the--sad--hatter]

Mischief & Madness - Chapter 12 (Loki x Reader)

Fandom: Marvel

Pairing: Loki/Reader (No physical description of reader other than female presenting)

Warnings: LOKI, Angst, lots of violence, graphic gore, extreme cursing, anxiety attacks.

Summary:

Living in New York has its ups and its downs. Upside - You have a cushy job at Stark Industries. Downside - You wind up getting yourself kidnapped by The God Of Mischief.

All you wanted was a decent cup of coffee, now you’re stuck on the otherside of the universe with a sociopath who has only begrudgingly not murdered you.

To get back home you’ll have to work with Loki, and probably stop trying to stab him.

To regain his power, he’ll have to work with you, and probably stop trying to slaughter you.

When Mischief and Madness collide, chaos ensues. Even if you survive this, the universe probably won’t…

Masterlist     Spotify Playlist Link

Chapter Twelve 

Loki was staring at you like you’d grown a second head. You waited patiently for him to process it, occupying yourself by kicking rocks and watching them explode into dust.

 “You want to what?” He eventually demanded, his eyebrows raised so high that they practically merged with his hairline.

 You shrugged at him, your smirk growing exponentially. Flummoxing the actual God of Chaos was satisfying as hell.

 “The Infinity Stones! We just go back to before Taa was destroyed and remove the Deathwaves.” You grinned.

“We can not just go back. Even if we could, we wouldn’t be changing anything. We would just create an alternate timeline with no Deathwaves, this universe would still die out.” He argued.

 “Fine, ok… Let’s not go back in time. Let’s reboot the universe. Look we can try and determine who or what is causing these Deathwaves and we can try and stop them, or we can just delete the program and rewrite it without the bug in the coding.” You tried to explain giddily.

 “How?” He asked.

 “We use the Infinity Stones to destroy the universe, just wipe it all out, clean slate. Then we rebuild it exactly the same way, minus Deathwaves. Nobody will even know what happened, they won’t feel a thing.” You told him.

 “Are you quite mad?” He questioned, a little fearfully.

 “Quite.” You agreed.

 He gaped at you but you could see the spark in his eyes, he could see the (psychotic) genius in your proposed plan.

 “Look, I’m not a hero. Hunting down the bad guys and kicking ass isn’t my thing. I create things, and when they don’t work I burn it all down and start again. That’s the only thing I have to offer this partnership. The universe, it’s just a really elaborate computer program. So we save all the coding, the people and the plants, download the files into the infinity stones and then we upload them to version 2.0. No time travel, no hunting down baddies, just straight up ‘saving’ the universe.” You coaxed.

 “And what do I bring to this madness?” He asked, mirroring your slightly maniacal grin.

 “You’re the god here, you’re not only strong enough to use the Stones, you’re the only person I can think of who’s smart and cunning enough to pull this off. This is going to take more than brawn and power. Besides, come on Loki… Don’t you want to destroy the universe?”

 “This is quite literally the most insane, chaotic plan I have ever heard.” He sighed.

 “Yeahhh, and you’re totally on board aren’t ya?” You needled.

 He started impassively at you while he weighed it all up in his head and when the corners of his lips started to gradually curl upwards; you knew you had him.

 “Very well. Say I am willing to go along with this plan of yours. How do you propose we obtain The Infinity Stones?” He challenged.

 “We…” You faltered as soon as the first word was out of your mouth. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead.” You admitted.

 “This entire mad scheme of yours hinges on us having The Infinity Stones, how have you not thought that far ahead?” He grouched.

 “How am I the one doing all the work? You could do something more useful than standing around bitching and being pretty.” You shot back, crossing your arms in a sulk.

 “Am I infringing on your territory? I do apologise.” He scoffed.

 “How many are there again? Five?” You asked, ignoring his snide compliments.

 “Six. The Space Stone, The Reality Stone, The Time Stone, The Soul Stone, The Power Stone and The Mind Stone.” He corrected, rolling his eyes at for not even knowing how many of the darned things there were.

 “Well, we know where three are. The Time Stone and Mind Stone are back on Earth so that’s easy.” You shrugged. “Tessie the Space Stone is…”

 And right on cue, as if summoned by your voice, The Tesseract materialised right in front of you. It spun in the air, glowing before it dimmed and dropped towards the ground. You instinctively reached out and caught it, flinching when you realised what you’d just done.

 But nothing happened. You remained on Taa and The Tesseract remained in your hand.

 “Found one?” You breathed out in awe, holding it up to an equally awestruck Loki.

 “Vænn, how are you doing that?” He asked fearfully.

 “Doing what? It just popped up, I didn’t do anything.” You said.

 You tilted your head at it curiously before you realised exactly what it was you were doing. You were holding The Tesseract. You. A mortal.

 “Ahh!” You yelped, dropping it.

 You admittedly didn’t know that much about The Tesseract, just what you’d read from the files you hacked one afternoon and skimmed through in boredom. What you did know was that it was too powerful to be held directly by anyone human.

 Loki’s eyes were burning into you suspiciously as he slowly approached and knelt down to pick it up.

 “You’re human.” It wasn’t a statement, but it wasn’t a question either.

 “100%. I don’t even have any Kree DNA, I got tested after those fish oil pills started turning people into husks.” You confirmed.

 “What?”

“Oh, Inhumans. They gots little bits of alien DNA and can get superpowers. I was curious, I got my DNA tested. I am utterly, unquestionably human.”

 He looked down at The Tesseract, turning it over in his hand before he looked back up at you.

 “Curious.” He said softly, holding it back out to you.

 “Nah. You keep it.” You grimaced, backing away fearfully.

 “Just take it.” He demanded.

 “No.”

 “Vænn.”

 “Nope, not on your fucking life - LOKI YOU BITCH!” He tossed The Tesseract at you in the middle of your sentence and you had a split second to decide whether to catch it or let it smack you in the face.

 You clutched it in both hands, inches from your nose. Looking up at Loki you found him smirking at you.

 “What the fuck Loki? I could have been vaporised!” You screeched.

 “You weren’t.” He replied calmly.

 “You didn’t know I wouldn’t be!” You protested.

 “You were holding a moment ago, so I did know. I’m not sure how you’re managing it but you are. For all your arguments about how you are nothing special, you appear to attract powerful entities Vænn.” He pointed out smugly.

 “You think The Tesseract has a crush on me?” You frowned.

 “Not that kind of attract. You are like a magnet, pulling power into your orbit.” He said, almost… proudly?

 You scoffed and opened your mouth to rebut his claim but paused and actually thought about it. Of all the places in the city, it was your window that Iron Man flew past on his way to The Tower. The intern you’d taken under your metaphorical wing turned out to be Spiderman. Vision inexplicably turned up in your lab on an almost daily basis. Earths Mightiest Heroes had taken to you without any hesitating. And then of course there was Loki.

 “Huh. Guess I do attract trouble.” You snorted, regarding The Tesseract in a new light.

 You knew without a doubt that you were human, nothing special about you. But apparently fate disagreed, because here you were.

 “So now we have The Tesseract under our control, as it should be. There are still five more stones to obtain, and we will need The Gauntlet. Do you have a plan for talking your friends into handing the Time Stone and The Mind Stone over to us?” He prodded.

 “Well, The Mind Stone is literally in Visions head so… no. And it’s not like we can just waltz up to Earth and ask them to hand the Stones over to us. It would take us months to convince them to trust you and we just don’t have that kind of time. Maybe we should leave those two till last. At least we know they’re safe. You don’t happen to have any idea where the other three are, do you?” You shrugged.

 He held his hand for The Tesseract with a smirk. You happily handed it over, grateful not to be touching it anymore.

 “I know exactly where The Aether is but obtaining it will not be easy. We will need to be careful, we will need a plan. I suggest we take refuge somewhere safer while we decide how to get it away from The Collector.” He told you, holding out his hand to you.

 “Wait.” You said softly.

 He didn’t have to ask what he was waiting for, he knew what you were planning and only rolled his eyes ever so slightly as you backed away.

 “Hey, um… We’re leaving now. Would you, would you like to come with us?” You asked gently as you approached The Stranger.

 They hadn’t moved since you’d wandered after Loki and they didn’t move when you spoke. Shining blue eyes gazed into the distance, bearing witness to the lingering death of their home world.

 “We can take you anywhere. You don’t have to stay here.” You whispered.

 “You are standing in the remains of the temple I have spent my life worshipping in. The Temple may be gone but I am not, so I remain. My world will not die unwitnessed.” They finally answered.

 “Your world isn’t going to die at all. We’re going to fix this.” You promised.

 Because if you could reboot the Universe, you could reboot it to the point before anything went wrong and no worlds would fall to the terrible destruction you had witnessed. You weren’t going to bring those worlds back, you were going to ensure they never fell in the first place.

 If fate kept putting you in the path of powerful people, if fate had led you to Avengers tower then this was the reason. The Tesseract chose you to help Loki, and this was the only way you could think that you would be of any use.

 So you didn’t feel bad as you walked away from the lonely Stranger. As you placed your hand in Loki’s, you let go of all the pain of not being able to save the fuzzy Druffs. It didn’t matter anymore, none of it mattered. You might not be a hero, but Loki could be. And you, you would be the Tech Support.

 He gently scooped your slumbering Winnie from his pocket and gave him back to you, watching as you secured the little dreaming Grofflink in your own pocket before he laced his fingers with yours, and then in a blinding flash of blue you left Taa and the Stranger behind.

A/N - What's this? A second chapter in one day? :OBeen a while since I pulled one of these!Honestly, I just got kinda giddy reading all the comments and needed to give you (and myself) more! You guys deserve all the chapters I can give for being so supportive and lovely 💖💖💖

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#Loki #Loki x Reader #Loki Odinson #Loki Laufeyson #God of Mischief #Loki x Y/N #Loki series #Loki Fic #Loki Smut #The Avengers #Avengers x Reader #Avengers x Y/N #Avengers Reader

[grayseekerswritinglife]

Arctic Rose

It always is the same on these cold, clear nights. The Angel of Sky spreads his luminous wings, painting the aethers with shimmering tapestries of color. The creatures below pause their activities. The angel glimpses their smiles of wonder, hears their hushed whispers and sees their fingers point skyward. This is good. It gladdens him to see them looking up, even if the artistry he creates was never for them.

Some of them might know him as Sahaquiel, but that is not his name. It is merely his title. In prior epochs there were other Sahaquiels, other Angels of Sky. He is merely the latest to hold this office, and he prefers another, far older name for himself.

A name now spoken only by one.

He flies north, following Polaris. Below, the human settlements become fewer and farther between. The roads narrow and finally disappear as the horizon opens before him, crystalline beneath the blazing corona of verdant flame which fills the sky. The angel has outdone himself, he thinks. His lover cannot fail to appear tonight.

But patience is required, and the angel wishes he had more of it. Celestial entities should have little care for the passage of time, he thinks, yet he cannot force himself to settle. He fidgets under the weight of lost aeons until at last, in the far, far distance, a figure appears.

The Angel of Sky would have recognized him even without the battered sword he grips in his bloodied hand. Would have recognized him even without the trail of spent gray feathers that drift from his wings like wind-blown ashes. Would have recognized him even if the pristine snow beneath his feet did not turn blood-red with every step he takes.

This angel is known to humankind as Simikiel. They speak of him in whispers, scrawling his name in Enochian script using their own blood for ink, hoping that their self-inflicted pain might serve to appease him. They summon him to their causes, petitioning him to right the wrongs they believe they’ve been dealt, and Simikiel obliges—for a price.

A terrible price, for Simikiel is the Angel of Vengeance, and his sword cuts both ways.

But the Angel of Sky does not call him Simikiel, nor does he summon him for any purpose other than himself. He hurries across the ice, no longer caring about the supposed virtues of patience, and meets his visitor halfway. He extends both hands, palms empty, and waits. His visitor pauses with a few steps between them.

"Nice work," he says, nodding toward the dancing curtains of light. "Looks like you've been busy."

His voice—which humans describe as 'resonant,' 'cutting' and 'bleak,' likening it to an Arctic wind or a surgeon's knife—carries a faint lift, as if the speaker truly is amused. He seems to be looking at the sky, but it is hard to know what he sees with the upper half of his face being an empty void. Rare is the mortal who can look upon that void without cowering in abject terror. But the Angel of Sky relaxes, certain now that he has been recognized.

“It seems you have been busy, too,” he murmurs with sorrow, noting that the blood-caked hands have yet to clasp his own.

“They've been keeping me occupied, yes.” The Angel of Vengeance runs an index-digit along his sword-edge as if testing it. A drop of scarlet falls to the snow, and a single barbed rose unfurls, blooming in the frozen air with unexpected sweetness. “Humankind finds no end of reasons to summon me.”

It is a rote greeting by now; a script they have followed on countless nights.

"If only they would change," the Angel of Sky muses. "If only we could inspire them to evolve beyond their petty cruelties..." He trails off as the Angel of Vengeance smiles.

It is a terrible sight, one that could freeze the blood of mortals and send them scurrying, but the Angel of Sky does not flinch. He knows the other far too well. Recognizes his gestures, his mannerisms—and yes, his beauty—even in his current form. The office to which he has been assigned as punishment for his rebellion might have twisted his outward appearance, but inside he remains himself, his grace and majesty unchanged.

"What if they did evolve?" the Angel of Vengeance queries. "Do you imagine anything would change for us?"

"Surely it would have to," the Angel of Sky responds. "Our work here would be done."

"Yours, maybe. But you are bound to this mud-ball by choice. Not as a punishment for..." the Angel of Vengeance pauses, thin lips curling in a bitter smirk, "bad behavior."

“It has been too long!” the Angel of Sky exclaims in sudden anger. “You have been punished long enough.”

"Careful," the Angel of Vengeance chides. "Daring to question the wisdom of Primus or his minions can get you in, shall we say, a world of trouble." He chuckles coldly. "But you could return. I'm sure he'd take you back."

True enough. The Thirteen who guarded the throne of Primus had made that more than clear. If the Angel of Sky were to return to their bosom, they would see it as a form of repentance. But he could not repent his love.

"I will not leave without you. You know that."

"All too well, my love." The Angel of Vengeance wraps his scarlet fingers around the hilt of his sword, leaning on it as a sage might upon a staff. A gust of wind lifts the snow, frosting the rose's thorns as the two of them fall silent.

It is always the same on these cold, clear nights, a stalemate they've reached many times. The Angel of Sky suspects they've had this debate so often that it has reshaped the crystalline structure of the snow itself, and that if its geometry could be translated to sound, the sound that would emerge would be that of two angels arguing. The Angel of Sky does not wish to argue tonight, and so he plucks the rose, allowing its bittersweet perfume to waft between them.

“This," he says. "This is the essence of your truth. Not what they say it is, and not this false image that the duties of your office have imprinted upon you."

“And you can still see that?”

“Of course. I will always see your truth.”

This earns him another smile. A softer smile, and one which the Angel of Sky is certain no one else has ever seen. It transforms the face of Simikiel into that which he remembers from time long past. “I will not bow," the Angel of Vengeance warns. "I will not go to Primus begging for mercy or forgiveness, nor will I play Unicron's games anymore. If that means I remain earthbound, so be it."

“Yes," the Angel of Sky replies, hearing in those words an echo of his own truth. "I know."

"I cannot change what I am, even for you," the Angel of Vengeance adds, his tone softening.

The Angel of Sky lowers his gaze. "And I would not want you to."

This is only part of the terrible price he must pay for his love, and yet. When bloodied fingers curl between his own, he knows it is worth it. Their hands mesh, locking tight. The rose is crushed between their joined palms, a blood oath made and remade without need for words, and the snow beneath them erupts in a riot of night-blooming flowers.

It is then that the feathers fall from both sets of wings, luminous and ashen swirling together in the dark. As they settle together in their fragrant, living berth, they are both transformed. Armored frames gleam in the starlight as they move together, relearning and remembering.

We are not truly angels. Our kind only seems as such in the eyes of mortals, but we are a people like any other, a people with loves and sorrows and follies, only on a grander scale than humankind could possibly imagine.

In the long contentment that follows, the Angel of Vengeance whispers his lover’s name—his true name. Skyfire.

And the Angel of Sky whispers back. Starscream.

"There is another way," Skyfire adds, perhaps an eternity later. "A third way."

"Conquest?" Starscream rolls lazily to stretch across Skyfire's chest, his sharp chin pillowed on Skyfire's canopy. "It's been tried. I can report firsthand that it's the kind of rebellion that can get you kicked out of both hell and heaven.”

“I am aware.”

“So what are you suggesting?"

Skyfire studies the sky above, observing its shifting veils of color. The yellow and green indicate oxygen; atomic nitrogen makes blue, while purple is created by molecular nitrogen. He knows all of this, somehow, as if remembering it from some distant world long past, and something shifts. Solidifies, as if time itself has been reshaped.

"Humanity," he says, sensing the opening of a gate. It is as if their loving has altered the fabric of reality itself. "Their dreams and imagination." Skyfire pauses to absorb this sudden understanding. "That is a world to which we could escape, and neither the above nor the below would be able to reach us. We would remain earthbound, yes. But we would also be free."

Scarlet optics study him narrowly. "Nice thought, but—" A curl of wind-driven snow materializes into a scroll, which a bloodied hand snatches from midair. "Saved by a summons," Simikiel says, reading it over with a smirk. "Humans are marvelously imaginative where it comes to dreaming up ways to do each other in. Would you like to hear what this one says?"

Skyfire shakes his head. "I know they're not perfect, but—"

"They're little monsters." Simikiel rises. “But this was fun. Let's do it again soon.”

The gate is closing, and Skyfire… Sahaquiel… can feel it. He scrambles up, recapturing Simikiel's hand. "I have seen another side of them. When I paint the skies and they look up to glimpse something beyond their earthly concerns, I see  light in them, and wonder. We could find the ones who are like that. We could…"

"Could what, Skyfire?" Simikiel's tone is challenging, yet he gazes at Skyfire as if seeing him for the first time. As if he really wants to hear his answer.

"Rather than merely entertaining them, as I do," Skyfire says carefully, "or helping them to destroy each other, as you do, wouldn't it be better for us to teach them?"

Simikiel shrugs. "Someone else will do our jobs if we don't. There will always be an Angel of Vengeance."

"Of course there will, but it doesn't have to be you. And it doesn't mean they can't learn." Skyfire is certain that his love would see them differently if he could meet the ones who are not simply trying to use him. "Please." His hand tightens. "Trust me."

Scarlet optics meet his. There is the faintest hint of a nod, a returning pressure of fingers squeezing his own, and then they are gone. They vanish in a swirl of brilliance and darkness in the cold air. All that remains is a scarlet trail across the snow which ends, very suddenly, in a bed of impossible roses.

* * *

A young woman sits up in bed, hands gripping her comforter. The dream had been so resonant. She still feels it in every sinew, every cell of her body. Its lingering sweetness hums in her veins, and although she is aware that it was only a dream, she also knows it was so much more. That something has changed, and she is not quite the person she was the night before when she fell asleep.

Her dream-diary is beside her bed, along with a pen. She opens the book to a fresh page and writes the date: July 28, 1987. Below, she begins: I dreamed about my dear friend Starscream last night…

She fills page after page, knowing there are few people she will ever be able to tell. When every last detail has been recorded, she gets up and goes to her desk. The typewriter is an ancient, cast-iron behemoth, the kind that shakes the table when you type. She finds a sheet of paper and loads it into the machine.

Then sits, fingers poised trembling above the keys.

She speaks his name in a whisper, half afraid to commit it to paper. It feels like an evocation, except she is the one who has been summoned. The task before her, if she chooses to accept it, is to put right the wrongs she believes he's been dealt. And so, at last, she writes his name, answering the call. The story begins.

Written for SkyStarWeek 2020. This story is for Day Five: AU of Choice. I chose angels. Many thanks to my editor, Biting Moopie, for emergency beta services, and to @overlordraax​ for organizing this wonderful (and much needed) celebration of my OTP!

#skystarweek #Skyfire/Starscream #SkyScream #Skyfire #Starscream #alternate universe #angels #fallen angel #muses #inspired by dreams #spirit guides #transformers #fiction meets reality

[keenerordeath]

Endgame Timelines

(except I don’t cry at the end)

Disclaimer: I have never read the comics, I am basing everything off of what I've seen in the MCU films and fans online that know more about the stones than I do. Add in my limitless optimism and you get this monstrosity!

What would happen if Tony hadn't been the one to snap away Thanos and his army? Would Peter Parker, the only other avenger with a Stark original nanotech suit, be the one to snap instead?

Let me show you what I think would have happened if Tony survived Endgame and Peter Parker saved the universe.

Below the cut:

what could happen to peter parker

how tony fixes everything

how I think the stones should all be returned after endgame

Peter Parker and the Gauntlet

Of course, something to address immediately would be Peter's probability of survival. We've seen Tom Holland's Peter Parker lift a fallen building's debris from himself and swing away afterwards. Since Peter hasn't been shot, or severely impaled, I don't have much of a reference to go by in terms of healing and regeneration, and he's certainly not on par with Deadpool in that department. BUT, I do have reference of Infinity Snaps from the Hulk, Tony, and Thanos himself. Hulk is strong, sure, and isn't all that fazed by radiation, since that was what created him. However, he was easily beaten by Thanos, and was injured just by wearing a gauntlet that held all six stones. The snap completely destroyed his arm. For Thanos, wielding the full gauntlet only caused a surge in energy but his body was intact. The snap itself left his arm injured but not completely immobile. The arm doesn't reach that point until snapping a second time to destroy the stones. To an average human like Tony, the snap cost his life. But we KNOW all this. What we don't know is how it translates to anyone other than these three.

 As a mutant, where does that leave Peter on the spectrum? Does using the stones leave a wound that will never heal, destined to be that way by the rules of the stones? Nothing is for free, right? My theory is that Peter would have a different experience. Do I want to see him in pain? Hell no. While our reality is that Spider-Man must move on in a universe without Tony Stark, I can't help but dream up endings a little more happy. So, what if? What if the one who will recover the easiest from using the stones is our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man?

 I would venture that the kid would be in intensive care under Helen Cho's watch. This woman has worked with super soldiers like Steve Rogers, created the cradle from Avengers: Age of Ultron. The avengers trust her with their lives. Tony wouldn't want anyone else to take care of Peter, because she would be the one to keep him alive. Not to mention, Peter heals quickly. The biggest issue may be understanding his metabolism well enough to administer antibiotics, pain killers, and other nutrients that his body would need to support his mutated healing abilities.

 Peter is in the hospital and Tony needs something to keep himself occupied while waiting for his kid to wake up.

Tony Stark and the Plan to Return the Stones

Anthony Edward Stark is not going to sit on his ass if there is a problem that needs solving. With everyone back besides Vision and Natasha, he's got a team that can execute the return of the stones perfectly. Even one thing out of place and alternate timelines are created.

Tony gets Dr. Strange to rewind time on the compound. It would be great if that could go back to not being rubble, you know?

Then he gets to work, getting the rundown from everyone.

What state were all the stones in when they were taken from the past?

What was Steve doing in 2012 after he left Loki and the others in the tower?

Where did he get the Pym particles from at the base?

When did Clint wake up with the soul stone in his hand?

Where was Natasha's body after she became the sacrifice?

Where did Rhodey and Nebula leave Quill?

Would it be so bad to leave the power stone on Morag now that Thanos cannot reach it there?

Will Gamora of 2014 want to go back to her own time or stay here?

Will Gamora want to stay if they manage to get her back alive from Vormir? Two Gamora's?

Where was the hammer before Thor summoned it?

What do they have to do to get the Aether back into Jane?

 He has a lot of questions, a lot of witnesses and resources, and a need for a distraction.

First thing he needs to do? Get as much information about the stones from Dr. Strange as possible.

any theories involving the actual powers and abilities of the stones are suuuuper yada yada-ed in some places because I have a very basic understanding of biology, atomic composition, time travel, neurological functions, artificial intelligence, etc. - they're flimsy in some places and I'm not sure how to fix that

Can the pocket universe in the Soul stone be accessed? Does it hold only Nat and Gamora's souls? Would they need their bodies to return the souls to? Would it just be easier to collect their bodies from Vormir and turn back time on them, too? Would their souls even be in their bodies anymore, or would they just be husks? Would taking their bodies back to the present create an alternate timeline that prevents their new alternate selves to be able to retrieve Nat or Gamora? Is it important enough to them to screw with another timeline like that? Will they have their bodies restored once they're puled from the stone?

Now, my understanding of the stones stems from the movies and an explanation I came across on Quora while researching the stones.

"To combat [their] weaknesses they all feed into each other and make each other more powerful. Also as a general weakness they will destroy most mortals without the use of a vessel (Infinity gauntlet, Ronan's hammer Etc) The Time stone makes each stone's effects permanent as well as permeate time. The Reality stone makes the others affect the world itself as opposed to just an aspect of the universe. The Power stone's raw power acts as a battery for the rest of them and amplifies their power. The Soul stone gives power over the souls of everyone the user comes across. The Space stone makes the effects of the other stones universe wide. The Mind stone allows the user complete control of the minds of everyone in the universe."

Another tidbit about the Soul stone that I found was this:

"Allows the user to steal, control, manipulate, and alter living and dead souls; as well as animate the motionless. The Soul Gem also acts as a gateway to an idyllic pocket universe. At full potential, when backed by the Power Gem, the Soul Gem grants the user control over all life in the universe."

Can't make an omelet without cracking a few eggs. With the combination of the Power, Time, Space, and Reality stones they get Natasha and Gamora out of the Soul stone. It is a stretch, considering Hulk said he had tried to get Natasha back. I think maybe using the Soul stone puts up a bit of a roadblock. How well can the Soul stone resist the effects of the other stones when it isn't being used, then? Say you use the Space stone to move the women out of the pocket universe? (Maybe it is possible to rebuild or reshape them to how they used to be by using the Space stone, same concept as Thanos changing the Aether to the Reality stone using the Space and Time stones). Using the Reality and Time stones to solidify their existence in that time and space in the universe, they could bend reality to make it so. The Power stone will juice up the other three, surely allowing them to push past boundaries they couldn't on their own. And if it takes a little tinkering with a juiced-up Soul stone to get them both fully restored, then so be it. Whatever it takes to get them back.

Now… vision is an incredibly complicated puzzle to solve. What IS left after the stone is removed? If Shuri had been allowed enough time, what would have changed for Vision? My gut tells me that his best chance lies in the hands of Shuri and Dr. Strange. Vision has just been hooked up to Shuri's tech in Wakanda. Five years later she still has the scans she made, still remembers what she had to do. So Dr. Strange takes them back to right before Thanos' General attacks Shuri and her guard, taking Vision with him. Instead of letting that play through, Strange pauses time, leaving himself and Shuri to find what made Vision tick, remove the stone and see what is left, what they need to substitute in as replacement for the Mind stone. They gather all the information housed in Vision's body. Every piece that came from Jarvis, Stark, Banner, Thor, Ultron, the Mind stone. How can that be recreated to be able to house Vision's memories and consciousness, again? Restoring him to minutes before Thanos took the stone from his head is the end goal. Once Shuri has all the data she needs, they turn back time on Vision, leave him back on the table, and resume time before jumping back to their present. They'll need the cradle again, some more vibranium, some help from Helen Cho and Thor's lightning. Would complete reconstruction and an upload of consciousness work without the stone? Obviously, the flying and the strength and all his other powers from the stone would be gone, but is it really so bad to have a chance at being normal?

They have their lost family back now. But they cannot rest yet. What else do they need the stones for before they can send them back to where they came from?

Can they be used to heal Peter? Have they already weakened themselves from using them so much? Is there anyone else that can wield them and help to restore what was lost after half the population vanished and everything became overwhelming to maintain? The plan for returning them was set, they're left with a lot of time to use the stones for some good. Can Captain Marvel offer more help to others in the universe? Surely, Earth isn't the only place that desperately needed help in the aftermath. I assume she will do what she can, holding more hope than in canon, since losing Tony left most of them… less than motivated to get back into hero-ing.

Danvers did what she needed to with the stones. Time to start their return plan.

All the stones need to be returned to how they looked when they were taken.

Thanos used the Space and Power stones to change the Aether from its weird wiggly form into an actual stone. Great, let's undo that. Should we use the Time stone or the Space and Power stones? Either will work? Dope, done and done, moving on.

The scepter and its case are around the compound somewhere, Vision doesn’t need the stone anymore, let's pack it in there. Same with the weird orb thing Rhodey brought the Power stone back in. Let's get those packed and they'll be ready to go.

Mjolnir: check. Aether: check. Scepter: check. Power Orb: check. Space, Soul, and Time stones: check, check, check. (Dr. Strange will be hanging onto that Time stone until the last mission, though)

Now we know from Avengers: Endgame that each capsule of Pym Particles will give you two jumps. They can go from the present to the past, then the past to the present. After that they have to refuel. With that established, my estimate would be that they would need to use AT LEAST 19 capsules, not accounting for spares in case of an emergency.

So, Hank Pym, mind making those? We need them to fix our time travel mess. Thanks, pal.

Back in Time, Right on Time

Tony doesn't need everyone to make this go smoothly. He can work with a smaller pool of people.

Clint is not going back, not to Vormir, not to anywhere. He will stay in the present with Nat and his family.

His blue meanie, Nebula, is staying with him. He will not subject her to the pain of sharing her network with another Nebula from a different time, not again.

Tony himself will not be leaving. He will be right here, coordinating everything. Some of them will be leaving at the same time. Others have multiple trips they're going to make. No one makes a second jump until they have checked back in with him. They'll restock their suits, get some food and rest, gather the things they need to return, and venture back out.

No Avenger is going to be sent back to a time that will trigger bad memories from their pasts.

Many candidates and teams were dismissed pretty early. They're abilities may have been ideal, but if their personalities did not mix well, Tony could not risk the messes that incompatibility could cause.

 For this to work, the best chance of success for the return of every stone and avoiding any offshoot timelines will require these Avengers: Captain Rogers, Thor, Dr. Strange, The Wasp, Mantis, Scarlet Witch, and Ant-Man. Stay tuned because we're going to need one surprise extra along the way, but more on that later.

To know where to go first, Tony first had to figure out who messed up the worst, and needed the most stones to complete the mission.

 Loki's Vanishing Act

Let's start with Loki taking the Tesseract in NYC 2012. It is essentially a surefire way to change pretty much everything we know about the MCU. So how is Tony going to fix that Royal Whoops? Well, it's not going to be easy. To ensure that Loki and the Tesseract are sent back to Asgard with Thor, Tony will send the Wasp and Ant-Man to keep the Tesseract close to a collapsed Tony Stark and Thor, and away from Loki, Endgame Tony and Scott, and the slimy Alexander Pierce. If anyone besides Thor got the Tesseract then, Tony and Steve would never go to the army base even further in the past. Best not to mess with that.

 Really? Hail Hydra?

Now that Loki is once again in custody of the Avengers, we'll follow Captain America taking the Scepter from NYC in 2012.

(Enjoy the layout of this one, because there's so much to it I don't want to make this into more of a story than a presentation. You'll take all my bullet points and you'll like them, damn it.)

Triggers for alternate timelines:

Tricking Hydra into thinking he was their ally

Prematurely informing his 2012 self of Bucky being alive

Removing the Mind stone from the scepter (this one couldn't really be helped, you're okay Steve)

Conclusion: a seamless return without creating any alternate timelines will be enough to give me a migraine. (Tony probably had one, too, after learning everything Steve said to get his way to the scepter and out of the tower)

 So, how does he plan to fix it? By sending the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, and Mantis.

Elevator Mess

Upon arriving at Stark Tower in NYC 2012, Hope shrinks the scepter, along with Wanda and Mantis. Their job is to follow Steve Rogers and clean up after him.

One "Hail Hydra" later, Hope carries Wanda to where she can erase the memories of all those in the elevator. Captain America is not with Hydra, he never entered that elevator, and he never took the scepter.

Last step here is to take the scepter they've brought and leave it exactly where Cap took the original from.

America's Ass

The reason Cap even had to fight himself is because Loki escaping disrupted the timeline, pulling 2012 Cap from search and rescue and back to the tower to hunt down Loki.

With Loki secured, Wanda has to manipulate 2012 Cap into still believing that Loki got away. After disabling his communications, they send him on his way.

His "I have eyes on Loki," never reaches anyone, and once they've fallen and Steve has knocked 2012 Cap unconscious, Wanda goes about erasing his memory of learning about Bucky. (Does Wanda get a video of "that's America's ass," to make fun of him with later? It's a mystery, truly, we'll never know)

Search and Rescue

They leave after returning 2012 Cap to the ground floor and waking him up (Thanks Mantis, I love you), sending him to resume search and rescue as if nothing had happened.

 Ghosts of the Past

When Tony brings up Vormir, Steve volunteers. He won't let Clint, Banner, or Quill go. He was close to Natasha, spent the last five years with her. He wanted the chance to rid them of the stone that tried to take her from them. He knew that the other three didn't need the pain that would hit them should they see the place where the women they love had almost been lost to them.

What no one accounted for was Steve knowing who had been guiding people to the stone all this time. Facing Red Skull was not what Steve had expected. If it weren't so terrifying to see him again it would be almost comical. But there was nothing here to fix. He'd watched as Clint's craft took off, returning back to the others with the stone and without Nat. He handed the Soul stone off, tapped the device on his wrist twice, and went home.

 Frigga Knows All

Steve doesn't talk about the last mission, so they move on to the next one. Tony sends Wanda and Steve to Asgard with Mjolnir and the Aether. They can't change that Thor told his mother the truth, but they can stop the Asgardians chasing Rocket and erase their memories of the raccoon. Disruption handled, Wanda goes to return the Aether to where it resided inside Jane. A very unfortunate place for it to be, but she knew she couldn't make any changes. So she returned it and left to find Cap, who had found where Thor pulled the hammer from and put it back. Rocket and Thor had gone back, and now Cap and Wanda could, too.

 The God of Mischief

All of the Avengers were familiar with the Tesseract. Turns out it was just a cosmic cube used to contain the power of the Space stone. Interesting twist, for sure. But Thanos crushed the cube, and without it, they couldn't get the Tesseract back to Howard Stark's labs. At least the Pym Particles were a simple mission.

(Buckle up, I'm bringing back the bullet points)

Triggers to alternate timelines:

SHIELD suddenly having the Space stone rather than the Tesseract

Hank Pym losing important pieces of his research

 Army base employee reporting Tony and Steve to bunker security

Conclusion: only the best of the best could twist this situation back to where it needs to be.

Tony's plan went something like this:

Saving a god

Thor and Dr. Strange go to retrieve Loki from the wreckage of the Asgardian ship

They work together to gather all those lost onto a nearby planet.

Once all the Asgardians have been found, Dr. Strange turns back time on the ship and on those gathered, bringing them back.

Using the Time, Space, and Power stones, Dr. Strange opens a portal that takes the Asgardians and their ship to the present in Norway, where the rest of their people reside.

Thor returns to the present, knowing Valkyrie was already in Norway, prepared to receive everyone.

Fooling a King

Dr. Strange keeps Loki with him, being the only one they've known to be able to contain Loki and see through his tricks. Loki doesn't give him any reasons to contain him, though.

An extra quantum realm suit and some Pym Particles given to Loki, and they jump to a time well before Loki had even learned he was the stolen prince of Jotunheim.

Together, they take the Tesseract from Odin's vault and hide it away.

Loki disguises himself as a young Thor and "confesses" to breaking the Tesseract, presenting the Space stone to Odin.

The Space stone is soon contained once again in a cosmic cube, an exact replica of the Tesseract Thanos had crushed, and returned to the vault.

Not wanting to risk anything, they replace the hidden Tesseract, retrieve the repaired cube, and jump back in time once more.

Returning Particles

Dr. Strange opens a portal in the basement of the bunker, watching as Howard Stark and "Howard Potts" leave the room.

The Tesseract is returned to the container Tony took it from and they were quickly through the next portal

Steve Rogers was gone and Hank Pym had yet to return

The capsules of Pym Particles were placed in the empty space left by Cap.

Mission complete, Loki and Dr. Strange returned to the Avengers Compound.

  Can't Really Fix This One

There was one alternate timeline that Tony would never be able to fix, not that he would ever want to. The Thanos from 2014 brought his army and his daughters with him to end the Avengers of the present and take the stones for himself.

But once he and his armies were snapped away, there was no one to return back to 2014. They were gone. Nebula had no idea if Gamora had vanished along with all the others on the ships that brought her to a different time. Well, if they ever run into her, they'll offer her the chance to go back to the time she left, should she wish to return.

All that could really be done was send Wanda and Mantis to put the orb back in the temple, give Quill back his lockpick, toss him in front of the temple and wake him up. Maybe he would run into this Korath guy he mentioned, maybe he won't, considering he was a lackey to Ronan, one of those Thanos used to do his bidding. A Thanos that was no longer there. Either way, Quill wasn't just left for dead. He may never meet Gamora, but he still had other adventures to go on, other people to meet.

 It's Finally Over

The Ancient One was taking down Chitauri before Hulk showed up. Steve would follow her attack patterns and range, because once Hulk showed up to get the stone, she would be distracted, and the Chitauri she would have stopped would continue on into NYC.

After Hulk had left with the Time Stone, Steve immediately approached the Ancient One and handed her the stone. They shared a look of understanding, she turned to rejoin the fight, and Steve left the rooftop to return home for the last time.

and they all lived happily ever after, the end, happy hanukkah, goodnight - Rallow <3

#avengers #avengers infinity war #avengers endgame #tony stark #iron man #spiderman #spider-man #peter parker #spider-man homecoming #captain america civil war #thor the dark world #thor ragnorak #captain america #steve rogers #thor #thor odinson #loki #loki son of odin #hulk #the hulk #bruce banner #dr. banner #dr. strange #doctor strange #steven strange #hawkeye #clint barton #black widow #Natasha Romanoff #Wanda maximoff

[valeriethepussycats]

Inside Out

Chapter 8

Pairing- Loki x Reader

Warning-cursing

Your thoughts and other characters are in italics.Flashbacks are in bold.

Back on Earth, Darcy and Ian go to free Erik from the mental institution.

Desk Officer: “You'll have to sign for your father's belongings, Mr. Selvig.” The Desk Officer told.

The Ian looks distracted and Darcy nudges him to bring him to attention. “What? Oh, yeah. My father, Dr. Erik Selvig.” Ian goes to sign the form.

“One; a man's leather wallet, brown. One key ring with three keys. Prescription medicine.” Desk Officer said as he places the, wallet, key ring with the keys and a plastic bag containing medicine bottles on the counter. “Various.”

The officer then bends to pick up another item from behind the counter, at the same time Darcy notices Erik being escorted towards them. “Erik.”

“And...” The officer places Erik's gadgets on the counter. “These.”

“Yeah, those. Thank goodness.” Ian proclaimed.

As Erik comes towards Darcy. “Erik.”

“Yes?”

“It's uh...Darcy.”

“Darcy.” Darcy holds up her hands and smiles, Erik then hugs her. “It's so good to see you.”

“Uh...I missed you too.” Darcy looks awkward as Erik continues to hold her tightly.

“How did you find me?” Erik asked.

“You were naked on TV.” Ian answered.

“Okay, time to go. Lots to do.” Darcy said with a tight smile.

Erik continues to hold her. “Getting weird now.” As they walk down the corridor of the mental institution with Ian holding Erik's gadgets. “I should not be left in charge of stuff like this, I don't get paid enough. I don't get paid period.” Erik takes his bag of medicine from Ian.

“I'm uh...Ian by the way. Uh..Darcy's intern. I don't get paid either.” Ian watches as Erik takes out a bottle of pills. “Are you alright?”

“I have had a God in my brain. I don't recommend it.” As they step out of the building suddenly the gadget in Ian arms starts to beep.

“Dr. Selvig, your gear is beeping at me.” Ian announced.

“It's happening, sooner than I calculated.” Erik answered.

“Wait, what's happening?” Darcy said. They look up to see flock of birds flying above them. “Birds? Birds are happening?”

“They're starlings, it's called a murmuration. My dad used to take me bird watching as a kid.” Ian explained.

“Erik?” Darcy called out.

“Look.” Erik said.

Suddenly the birds all fly in the same direction and they all suddenly disappear.

“Where did they go?” Darcy wondered.

Suddenly all the birds appear behind, them flying away frantically making Darcy screams in terror. “What the hell was that?! “ Darcy exclaimed. She then looks over at Erik and se him smiling.

“Why are you smiling?”

“There's nothing more reassuring than realizing that the world is crazier than you are.” Erik disclosed as he walks ahead and throws his bag of medicine into the garbage bin nearby. “Take me to Jane's lab!”

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

On Svartalfheim, as they continue flying on their ship suddenly Jane's eyes open, it's clear that the Aether has taken her over, she rises and looks ahead.

“Jane.” Thor called out.

“Malekith.” After landing their ship, they walk over to watch Malekith and his men in the distance.

“Alright, are you ready?” Thor asked and Jane nods her head. Then he looks a Y/n.

“Maximum effort.” Y/n said and Thor smiles. “Loki....”

“I’m ready.” Loki answered. They rise from their hiding spot and Malekith spots them standing on a hill in the distance. “You know this plan of yours is going to get us killed.”

“Yeah, possibly.”

Loki holds up his shackled hands for Thor to uncuff him. “You still don't trust me, brother?”

“Would you?” Thor takes off Loki's cuffs.

“No, I wouldn't.” Suddenly Loki takes out a dagger stabs Thor and throws him down the hill.

“Thor! No!” Jean cried.

Malekith sees this and starts walking towards them. After stabbing Thor and throwing him down the hill, Loki walks over to Thor.

“You really think I cared about Frigga, about any of you?” he kicks Thor in the stomach. “All I ever wanted was you and Odin dead at my feet!”

Thor raises his hand, attempting to summon Mjolnir, but Loki cuts off his hand making Thor scream out in pain, Jane rushes over to Thor but Y/n grabs her and twisted her arm behind her back. Y/n turns Jane to face Malekith and his dark elves. Before Loki can speak Y/n cuts him off.

“I don’t think we’ve met I’m Y/n Queen of Jotunheim and this is Loki King of Jotunheim and we’ve brought you a gift. “ Y/n said dropping Jane at Malekith's feet.

“I seek vengeance upon Asgard for imprison my husband.”

“All we ask only one thing in return, a good seat from which to watch Asgard burn.”

“He is an enemy of Asgard, he was locked in a cell.” Algrim said. Malekith walks over to Thor squirming in pain on the ground.

“Look at me.” Malekith uses his foot to turn Thor, he then lifts Jane in the air and extracts the Aether from her, in that moment Jane has a vision of Earth, then as the Aether leaves her body Jane falls to the ground.

“Loki, now!” Thor shouted.

Loki uses his diversion tactics and we see that he had never amputated Thor's hand, Thor quickly summons Mjolnir and shoots lightning at the Aether while Y/n puts a Force field around it in a attempting to destroy it ,but they fails. As the Aether start to reform it whispers into Y/n’s mind.

“The Aether grants its wielder absolute control over reality itself.” Gambit’ voice whispered.

“Reality?” Y/n said out loud.

“You could create a Reality just for you and Loki.”

“Just me and Loki.”

“Just you and Loki.” Gambit repeated. “Just open your mind to me.” Gambit said holding out his hand out

Y/n grab Gambit’s hand and everything turns black. Then Y/n opens her eye and she’s back on Asgard in her room.

In the outside world Loki notice that Y/n is walking towards Malekith.

“Y/n, what are you doing?” Loki shouted.

“The Aether speaks to her....it wants her. Come now Dark one with your powers we can control the universe together.” Malekith said holding out his hand.

“Control the universe....control reality.” Y/n murmured.

Y/n walks up to the Aether and it stars to move towards her and Malekith.

Y/n, wake up

“Loki, get Y/n out of there NOW!” Thor shouted.

Just as Loki used his illusion powers to move Y/n a some of the Aether touches her.

“Find her and bring her aboard the ship.” Malekith ordered.

Malekith absorb Aether and turns to leave on his ship. Two of the dark elves runs towards Y/n to take her but Thor quickly takes them down, Algrim then throws one of his vortex weapons in the air, Loki pushes Jane away and he is nearly sucked in when Thor pulls him out, Thor then attacks Algrim but he beats Thor down, Loki goes over to them and impales Algrim from behind, Algrim slowly turns and suddenly pulls Loki into the blade that is sticking out from him. Y/n slowly starts to feel pain in her chest.

“No!”

Algrim takes a step towards Loki. “See you in hell, monster!”

Algrim then realizes that attached to the blade in him is his own vortex weapon, it explodes before he can do anything destroying him.

Thor then rushes over to Loki. “No. No, no, no! Oh, you fool, you didn't listen!”

“I know. I'm a fool. I'm a fool!” Loki squirms in pain then look over at Y/n. “Don’t tell Y/n.....if you tell her she might....destroy the world I’ve....seen it”

“Stay with me, okay? If you cannot do it for me did of Y/n. ” Thor pleaded.

“I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Tell Y/n I’m sorry and I love her.”

“Shh.”

“I'm sorry.”

“It's okay.” Thor nods his head. “It's alright. I'll tell father what you did here today.”

“I didn't do it for him.” Loki closes his eyes and as he dies his skin turns to it's blue Frost Giant form.

Thor cries out in anguish. “No!” Thor looks at Jane as he weeps for Loki.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

After Loki's death, Thor carried an unconscious Y/n to a cave as Jane followed. Thor looks up at the sky and see a storm approaching. Thor places Y/n up against a rock.

“Is Y/n going to be ok?” Jane asked.

“I don’t know.....do you think it’s inside her.” Thor said with a worrisome look.

“I hope not.” Jane answered. “Just to b safe I want to run some test.”

Thor knees down to check Y/n as Jane Face back-and-forth. “He’s gonna unleash it, not just on Asgard or on a star, Malekith is gonna destroy everything.”

“How? Jane, how?” Thor asked.

“I saw him on Earth. Why would he go to Earth?”

“The Convergence.”

“Oh, God. None of this would have happened if I hadn't found the Aether.”

“Then Malekith would have only possessed it that much sooner.” Thor said standing up and walking over to Jane.

“I only found it because I was looking for you.” Jane replied.

“Jane.” Thor places his hand on her face.

“Now we're trapped here. Y/n could be hurt.” Suddenly they hear music playing, Jane and Thor look at each other in confusion.

“It's not me.”

Jane realizes it's her cell phone, she takes it out of her pocket and answers it. “Hello?”

“Hi, Jane, it's Richard.”

“Richard?! Where are you?” Jane wondered.

“I'm still in the office. It's...It's been a crazy day here today.” Richard answered.

Jane puts him on speaker and holds up her phone. “Oh, my God! This is amazing.”

“Is it? I quite enjoyed our lunch despite never actually ordering anything.” Richard said with a smile.

“How am I getting service here?” Jane mumbled.

“Is this a bad time? Do you want me to try you there?” Richard asked.

“No, no, no, no! Please, whatever you do, do not hang up the phone.” Jane replied.

“Okay then. I was just wondering if you want to try again? Uh...maybe dinner next time.”

“Uh...yeah, yeah, yeah. Um...just stay on the phone, okay?”

“Yeah, I will.”

Jane looks down and notices can and keys that were thrown through from the abandoned factory.

#loki x black!reader #loki x black reader #loki x you #loki x reader #thor x reader #thor x jane

[theaetherhealerffxiv]

Redemption p4

Chapters Master Post

Ao3 link

—-

Rating: PG17 for safety

Parings: Wol x Emet-Selch

Summary:

Its over, the winner gets to write the next chapter of the story. So why, pray tell, wont the Warrior of Light let him die?

Chapter Summary:

Awaking back in the Crystarium Hades finds himself bed ridden and at the mercy of the Warrior of Light. 

Word count: 5918

The air around him was scorching, the blistering heat upon his skin caused a flush to gently spread across his cheeks, which remained hidden under his mask. His mask was red like the scene before him; falling stars came at high speeds from the sky and pelted the ground with such force that it destroyed whole buildings. In the place of stone, flames licked the very ground melting the various architecture around it; the vegetation so lovingly planted went up like a parched valley of grass during a lightning storm. Then there was the monsters, born from the fear of the people roamed the streets as well, preying on the fallen members of society that could not outrun their fears. On top of the destruction the screams of terror and the littering of his fellows bodies accented the piece like a grim painting. Yet, Hades stood above it all in an ivory tower relatively unscaithed by the termination. He was displaced from the chaos that he desperately wished to quench. At the moment he could turn upon his heel and gather with his fellows, to begin the summoning and attempt to rewrite the laws of their precious star. 

Yet he at the same time did not want to be apart of it. Instead Hades wanted to be down among the dead and dying to search for his beloved and his most trusted friend. To wrap her up in his arms and protect her from the beasts and destruction. Clenching his fist he took in a shaking breath, what was the nature of a plan that consisted of giving the planet a will? It was abstract at best - of course he believed it was their best attempt at saving their home, but gazing upon the destruction he could not help but feel that it futile. Hades would rather throw it all away to hold her again; what if she died? What if their magicks succeeded but she died? Could he live with himself if he lost the one that was most precious to him?  As he pondered his greatest fears a meteor fell dangerously close to his perch, throwing dirt and scorch marks upon his mask and black robe. 

He could leave - he could leave right at that moment. He could forsake the convocation and go to her side. Surely they could summon this will without him; each where powerful in their own right. Hades lifted his head, deciding he would not participate, he would sneak out while they conversed in the room beyond the one he hid away in.

“Ah, this was where you were hiding Emet-selch.” Hades felt shock course through his body like a sickness as he heard his title come from behind him, the voice which spoke it was rough and irritated. He had been spotted, he could no longer flee. Quickly masking as much anger as he could Hades turned to gaze at Lahabrea, whose exposed mouth was turned downward into a harsh grimace that bore wrinkles into the sides of his lips. “Pray tell, why are you out here? We need you for the summoning.” 

Feeling his brows bunch together in a deep frown Hades returned to look out at the carnage. He could push past Lahabrea, run outside, look for her. Hades reached into the pocket of his robe, in it a small pouch with a wristband made of his aether. He had been fully prepared to propose to her tomorrow.  He did not care enough currently to summon this great being. Hades understood that it was the best bet for the survival of their people, but he just did not care. He could not muster enough emotion to care about it. Instead his entire being was focused on the bloody painting before him. His lips parting as he breathed out her name, a prayer to the Underworld to not call her soul to rest. Clutching the band his gaze was captured by the destruction. A hand suddenly was slapped against his shoulder with such force Hades turned his head to glare with as much venom as he could muster to the person he knew was behind him. 

“Emet-Selch,” Now Lahabrea’s voice was low and deadly. Hades leered at him as he continued, his hand digging further into the golden eyed man’s robes. “There is little time for you to be staring at the destruction before you, I care not of your reasons to be doing such an act but we need you to hurry and come so that we can - “

Hades's eyes narrowed, a smirk of pure rage twitching at the sides of his lips. He did not care, he wanted to be with his precious people. “Save the star, write the laws anew.” Hades recited the lines without passion. How many times had he heard them? He had believed in them up until this very moment when faced with the destruction that the termination had wrought upon their home. Shrugging off Lahabrea’s hand he bowed his head, knowing he was caught between a rock and wall. He was a trapped animal; if he forsook his comrades and they succeeded, they would do everything in their power to alienate him. Hades knew if this was the case he would not be able to propose to her, or even show his face in the streets of Amaurot. Shutting his eyes he took a step forward, away from his peer. If they did not succeed, he would have abandoned his love in her time of need. Which was the better punishment? Saving the world and possibly sacrificing the only thing he truly lived for, or forsaking his future if the convocation was successful? Biting the inside of his cheek he struggled with his thoughts; he believed in the plan, even with the dread growing in the pit of his belly. It was illogical, but possible. In his mind, he could see her smiling and telling him to go, succeed, save their home. 

To come back home to her arms. 

His hand was still in his pocket and he clutched the bag one last time before walking forward with purpose to the room in which the convocation stood whispering to one another. Hades knew Lahabrea was behind him and he chose to ignore it as he took his place in the circle. Once settled into his place Hades took stock of the atmosphere and surroundings. It was the same as always - a tall dark room with chairs that had been pushed back against the wall. The table had been moved as well and in its place a crystal had been placed. Frowning at it Hades turned to look at Elidibus, who smiled at him. It was not a warm smile, or one that created an illusion of understanding and sympathy. It was cold and judging, Elidibus knew Hades was struggling and was judging his actions. Glaring at the white robed man Hades turned away, he would not be judged by the likes of that man. 

Reaching up Hades adjusted his mask absentmindedly. Realizing he still felt the heat from the window - in fact he was burning up, sweat dripping from the corners of his hairline. Taking a steadying breath Hades attempted to quell the heat, knowing it was likely futile. 

“As our final two members grace our presence, we can now properly begin the incantation.” Elidibus’ voice caused Hades to look back up, the man had his arms outstretched that same smile spread across his face. “I pray that you, my peers, will focus your various magicks upon me. I shall become the conduit for those who have chosen to give their lives for this as well. I shall set the spell in motion so that we may create a being that embodies our planets will.” Leaning his head back Elidibus took in a deep breath, and if it was possible to spread his arms out further. The various souls that had been floating around the room spilled into the man. Hades grimace; the creation power that those souls held was emmese. Could Elidibus truly contain such a power? “Come! We shall write this terrible wrong and save our people!” The white robed man tilted his head back down and smiled, indicating that the rest of those present copied his movements. 

Hades lifted his hands to mimic Elidibus’, but as he did so he felt a sting, as if something was sinking its claws deep into his flesh. It was not in one place of his body either, it happened several times over his entire form. He frowned, this was unusual for creation magic - it could drain you but it rarely caused such physical sensations. Regardless, Hades closed his eyes to briefly think of his loved ones, of Hythlodaeus who surely would ask how this went on the morrow, and of her. Of how he would propose to her, place the band upon her wrist and kiss her. Then, Hades released the thoughts before they were pulled into the spell causing it to be altered. Opening his eyes he allowed himself to be swept up with thoughts of creating a will for the planet. He focused all of these thoughts upon Elidibus, along with his magics, channeling all that he had to the white robed man to use freely. 

Everything happened quickly, there was a great overflow of magic that came from Elidibus and spread warping the very room itself and obscuring Hades vision as it encased him in a cocoon of darkness. It confused and drew Hades’ curiosity as it spiraled around his arms like vines drawing taunt enough to shape out various body parts from his cloak. Then, the vines changed they grew heavy and became chain-like. Hades jerked back in shock, trying to pull away from the magics but finding himself rooted firmly to his spot. The darkness began to recede and the golden eyed man noticed that the other members of the convocation had similar chains around them. Throwing his gaze towards Elidibus, who had the most chains out of all of them, smiling wickedly in a triumphant fashion. Shaking his head Hades followed the other man's gaze towards the middle of their circle, to where the crystal had been. There, purple crystals had grown out and around a figure that had not been standing there before. Relaxing his hands to his sides because of the weight of the aetheric chains Hades felt his stomach drop. 

They had succeeded, but something was off. The creation was dark, a shadow robed in aether, it had the aura of peace and purpose but something felt twisted. Within its hands it held the other end of the chains that had captured the convocation members. It lifted its head and carefully looked around the room, before straightening its back.  Hades felt its voice before he heard it, like something deep in his chest moving and worming its way into the core of his being, changing him. Lifting a hand to his chest he frowned, a thought of doubt drifting across his mind before suddenly it was gone. All doubt about the being before him was gone.

Then, it spoke physically. Its voice booming around the room.

“I am Zodiark.”  It said. “I shall save those who live upon me.”

----

Hades awoke with a start, his eyes flying open and with a gasp he clutched at the blankets that covered him as a hot pain laced through his chest, as if it were attempting chasing away something. His face scrunched into a tight grimace as he attempted to catch his breath.  Only for a coughing seizure to tear through his chest as the pain subsided, raising a hand he grasped at his breast. Hades eyes darting around the darkened room, where was he? After his coughing subsided the man cast his mind back to the last thing he remembered - that he had been holding onto Swath as they flew towards the Crystarium. Once they had reached a cruising altitude his memory abruptly failed him and faded to an unfamiliar darkness. As realization of what had happened dawned upon him, he cursed low under his breath. Of course his foul luck would lead him to passing out against the hero. Struggling with an unfamiliar and weak body, Hades managed to prop himself up on his elbows. In the dim light see that his chest had been expertly bandaged, while clearly already blooming with his bodily fluids. He could see that it was done by the hands of an expert. Had his hero been the one to do such? Was she capable of such ministrations? Taking a deep breath he decided to ask her when she came into the room, then moved his attention away from his thoughts to the room around him.

Turning his head he saw a basin resting on the side table, with a dirty cloth stained with blue aether and blood similar to the colors that stained his chest, but duller. Curious now, Hades shifted to lean on one arm as he lifted his other to find it too had various small bandages covering the cuts that had dotted his skin. Raising his eyebrows and taking a second to marvel at the craftsmanship he exhaled sharply, leaning to lay upon his back once more. Then, with his raised hand he reached up to press the palm to his forehead. Feeling a lump begin to grow within the pit of his stomach, Hades was frustrated, mostly at himself. He had passed out while they had flown to their next destination. He could only imagine the trouble he had caused Swath; he was clearly in her room. While he had not watched her as she had rested, but he had allowed himself time to become familiar with the various objects that decorated her abode. As he gazed at the room another frown graced his features. Why was he so concerned with causing trouble to her? She wanted to use him to live, was this not what she wanted? His hand tightened his fingers gripping his disheveled hair pulling it taunt. Using each other, that was the deal right? Then why did it make his heart heavy when he thought of her face, strained and exhausted? 

An unbidden frustrated moan slipped from his lips. 

Hades was a fool, he realized this with sudden clarity. His heart was heavy because he cared, he cared about her emotions, cared about her. He had hours ago felt his heart begin to fall for the Viera, why was he denying it now? Why was he trying to cling to his nonchalant temperament that he had while he was tempered? 

No, his personality had not even been that, it had been disconnected from the world around him. He had been but a ghostly participant. Now he had been thrust back into the realm of the living and he was feeling things he no longer understood. Letting out a groan he tore his hand away from him and let it drop to his side. Realizing this made him think about the emotions he had felt looking at Eulmore, was it regret? Had he felt regret because his actions? And what about when he was trying to be useful to Swath by opening that portal? Had it been determination? 

Shutting his eyes for a moment he attempted to sort through the various emotions that swirled in his breast. It was overwhelming, and while he should sort through them and rediscover himself it was not the appropriate time to be dealing with his new found freedom. Shifting he opened his eyes and sighed. It was useless to try to conjure these feelings in a futile attempt to understand. His mind was still a swirling mess but, as usual he had to attempt to set aside these thoughts and focus on other more pressing matters. Swath could still come back at any moment and she did not need to deal with a bed ridden Ascian that was attempting to recall exactly what certain emotions felt like. That was not a disaster that she needed to help him sort through, and the Ascian had a feeling that if he allowed himself to wallow in these thoughts she would.

 Instead he gazed around the room with a frustrated and strained smile on his lips. As he released those twisting thoughts and allowed his mind to drift back to the dream he had right before waking up. In an attempt of a distraction for his wandering mind.

As Hades recalled the various parts of the dream he realized that, no, it had not been a dream. He now frowned, his brow furrowing deeply; it had been a memory of the destruction of Amaurot and the creation of Zodiark. Hades had not been plagued by that dream since Elidibus had awoken him. The memory had once been fuel that had stoked the fire within his chest, but now it only caused a knot of indescribable emotion to form in the pit of his belly. It twisted violently and uncomfortably as he thought about the chains of the primal, chains he had honestly forgotten about initially. Until Swath had destroyed them. Had it been because Zodiark was truly a primal? With the ability to alter one's will?  Sighing Hades pushed the unpleasant thoughts away to the best of his ability, he knew once again it was not the best time to be wallowing in the various tragedies and mistakes of his past, nor the possibilities of what Zodiark was. Those thoughts were for another time. Laying back upon the pillow he groaned as pain shot through his breast, taking in a breath he shut his eyes only for a moment before he heard the door at the foot of the bed open.

“Thank yah, I’m fine though, please continue the celebration without me!” Swaths voice was strained with false excitement, clearly intent on getting whomever was bothering her to leave her alone. Hades shifted as she spoke, leaning on his elbows again as he caught a glimpse of her white hair and ears through the divider. The rest of her was obscured by the wood design and the darkness of the room. He frowned, as her ears folded back, clearly the individual was trying to coerce her to return to the festivities. “Nay,” She said again her voice now low. “I’h must check on mah guest, did yeh forget that he is unwell?” There was a low apology and then a sigh from the Viera. “Aye, I’h know, thank yah again. Please go enjoy tha party.” With that she closed the door and let go of a breath that Hades had not realized she had been holding in. 

From his place on the bed he watched as she pressed her forehead against the door, her shoulders drooping. Raising his eyebrows he tilted his head a little, his hair falling in the way of his view. After a moment of watching her Hades cleared his throat. “Attempting to escape the festivities held in your honor hero?” He watched with a twang of joy as he saw her ears straighten and a smile spread across her weary face as she turned to gaze at him through the divider. 

“Yah are awake,” She moved with surprising swiftness as she hurried to his side. Hades’ golden eyes followed her as the feeling of joy spreading from his belly to the rest of his body warming him. His brows turned down into a gentle expression as she reached the side of the bed and collapsed to her knees. “How are yah feelin?” Swaths hand reached out and pressed against his forehead, and momentarily he shut his eyes reveling in the feeling of her touch. He was growing accustomed to it, and honestly beginning to crave it. She rested her hand there for only a moment before shifting and gently thumbing over his third eye, another more familiar sensation jolted through Hades as he struggled to stay on one arm as he lifted his right hand to seize her hand in an attempt to make her stop her movements.

As he gently moved her hand away from his third eye he smiled his signature lopsided smile at her. “I am doing much better thanks to the many ministrations you performed upon me.” He nodded towards the soiled bowl. Moving her hand away from his grasp she gingerly pressed down on various parts of his chest. 

“Aye, was nothin really,” There was a blush on her cheeks which once again caused that sensation to run through him like lightning. It was also accompanied by several familiar emotions, but he was truly only able to partially understand them. He felt joy, he felt his heart leap towards her; falling for her , although the sensation was different than what he remembered. Hades moved his arm back in position so that both supported him, as he continued to watch her frown down at the blooming blue that appeared after her hand left a certain area of his chest. It did not hurt him beyond a small sting, but as she lifted her hand away she reached behind her and grabbed the rag. “Yah are still leakin aether.” She sighed and shifted so that she was looking at him. The rag poised in her hands expectantly, her hands hovering over his chest waiting. 

Hades sighed, and laid back on the back letting his arms stretch out in mock defeat. “Yes, go ahead Swath, do what you need to do.” With that she quickly set about unwrapping his chest, it was a little awkward at the angle he was at but every time he attempted to move and help her a firm hand pressed him back into the bed. He was growing increasingly amused by her actions, as he watched her he could feel the stinging with each strip of bandage removed. So in an attempt to distract himself from the incoming pain Hades focused on the face of the Warrior of Light; her brow furrowed in concentration she seemed oblivious to the world around her. He knew that was a farce though. Any slight movement done by his form would immediately be silenced by a firm hand. Swaths hair was tied back at the moment as she worked over him, it had been so when she came into the room as well. Her one golden eye darted around as she finished unwrapping the bandages. 

Hades shifted a little and Swath allowed him to do so, before placing a hand on his shoulder once more looking at him seriously. “This is gunna hurt.” 

He opened his mouth to protest but she did not wait, grabbing the damp cloth she opened it and laid it down over the faintly glowing wound on his chest. Hades frowned, she lied, it had not hurt. It stung a little that was for sure - his thoughts were cut short as he watched her hand, seemingly mimic the soft aura of his chest, press down on the towel. 

Then pain burned through him like a wildfire. It started from her hand which splayed stiffly against his stomach and then simultaneously went to his toes and his head. Everything hurt, it reminded him of her trying to pull his soul back from the afterlife. Hades felt his hands tense up in the sheets and through the pain realized that Swath was holding onto one of his hands - the one closest to her. As quickly as the fire started it was staunched as her hand was lifted away from his body. Gasping Hades fell limp upon the bed, gulping the cool air like a lifeline. 

“Pray tell hero, was that necessary?” He leered at her his voice exceptionally weak, but her response to him was just a shrug. Which caused him to continue glaring at her weary eye. 

“Aye, twas. I’h need tah infuse yah with aether till yah stabilize.” Her face told him she wished to say more, to say that if she did not he would die. Rolling his eyes he looked toward the ceiling and heaved a long sigh which caused his body to radiate dull pain. A murmur then came from her lips. “Though yah seem pretty stable right now.”

“Do as you wish Swath,” Hades murmured. The pit in his stomach was back and he knew he could no longer fight her, nor did he wish too. His life was hers, only hers. “I do believe at this moment in time you know more about the situation than I, as much as I loathe to admit.” Letting his body relax he closed his eyes, sleep would not come easy. The pain was still present, a soft throbbing in the core of his stomach. There was also the fact that she was in the room with him, and while her presence did relax him it also cause that storm of emotions to stir in his breast. Opening his eyes he shifted his head to look at her, Swath had moved to sit by his head on the floor. She had covered her blind eye once again with an eye-patch, but what truly made Hades wish to recoil was the fact she was so close to him. Though his body refused to move, and instead he just blinked a few times in her direction. She smiled and reached up brushing away his dark brown hair that slipped to obscure his face. 

“I’h do, sadly. I’h wish I didn't. Awfully similar tah some wounds I’ve had in the past.” Swath shrugged and Hades opened his mouth to protest and respond with a question, but instead found her continuing. “But yah are a captive audience. I’h figure since yah are up we should have that talk.” 

Hades snapped his jaw shut, ah yes the talk about his past and the future. The future he hoped to have by her side. “Yes, I consented to being interrogated about this,” Hades murmured, Swath turning to gaze at him again her face solemn. Raising a weary hand he waved it briefly before letting it fall limply back at his side. “Ask away hero, I will answer truthfully, as I always have.”

She beamed, it was a melancholy filled smile. “I know,” Swath turned to gaze at the other side of the room chewing on her lip briefly. “Hades, yah where Solus correct?”

He frowned, what sort of question was this? He plainly said when they first met that he had been Solus zos Galvus and countless others, but sighing he humored her. “Yes, I was Solus.”

“Do yah remember a small village in the Garlean mountains?” As the words slipped from her mouth he felt his heart clench as she tilted her head away from him. “Small village that worshiped a Primal like entity. Quiet, peaceful, only did trade with otha towns once ah blue moon.” Hades watched as her body became rigid and her ears flattened. Her hand, which had been resting on the bed side fell away and fell limply in her lap. “Tha town was mah home. I’h was raised there. It was destroyed, by Emporer Solus’ word.” 

Hades turned away, “By Zodiark,” He murmured shifting lifting his heavy hand to his face. This was regret, this was sorrow, this was fear; these emotions in his breast that threatened to suffocate him. He remembered that order, he remembered hearing about that small village of possible primal worshipers in his lands. Hades remembered being something similar to gleeful, he would sow more destruction, he had thought, and hasten the rejoining. He had sent some of his best men to that village to destroy it. Hades had not known that inadvertently he would created the Warrior of Light, that he had created the woman that sat next to him. Part of him was happy he did such, because he had been saved by her hand, but it was easily eclipsed by the regret. He had taken everything from her. 

“I’h was also nearly killed by those men yah sent.” Hades flinched as she spoke up again. “I’h, I’h dont ask for an apology Hades. I’h just wanted tah know if yah did send them.” Her voice was soft, broken. It was not all she wanted to talk about, this much was clear, but it was the most prominent thing on her mind. 

He took in a deep breath. “Yes, I did send those men. I intended to wipe out the entire village, for the local villages to begin to think I was losing my mind and hasten the fear in those lands.” Hades laughed bitterly. “The quicker the rejoining the better after all.”

“I’h see,” Swaths voice petered out to nothing and silence fell over the two of them. It persisted for a long time, until Hades lifted his hand from his face and saw a blur of white and grayish blue suddenly eclipse what little light was in the room. “Hades,” Swath was over him her hands on either side of his face, hers awfully close to his. “Yah life is mine,” Her one uncovered eye staring with heat into his own pools of gold. “I’h choose yah, the one who took my family from me, to be mine.” 

Once again silence fell over the room, Hades lifted his heavy hand to wrap around her arm. He did not do so in such a way that he threatened to throw her off of him, no, he did not have the strength for that. What he did have the strength for was to hold her there. To hold her above him and not let go. 

“I will not die unless you say, I will not leave the Crystarium without your word, I am yours to command Swath,” Hades said evenly, watching as her eye widened clearly not expecting his proclamation. To him, it made sense, they were using each other, at least up to this point that had been the deal. The deal was different now. “My life, Swath, is yours. I will ask for nothing in return.” After all he had no right to ask such things, she was a hero and he washed up villain. Hades did not know if he would ever have the power he once did because of Swath acting like a cap upon him, but in truth he did not care. His life was hers, it had been the moment he opened his eyes returning from death by her hands. Swath had given him a second chance at life, a second chance to live. He had to live with everything wrong he had done yes, and he had done terrible wrongs to the one person he was coming to care deeply for. He could not atone for that. Hades squeezed her arm with what power he had in his muscles and willed his message to get across. He was a Ascian, but from this point on he was her Ascian. Not Zodiarks, not Elidibus’, hers. 

“Give me, give me some of yah aether to seal the deal.” Swaths voice shook as she asked this, the command caused him to raise his eyebrows. 

“Excuse me hero, you wish for what?” Hades shifted as she got off of him sitting at the side of the bed, hanging only one leg off of it still crowding him as he struggled to sit up. His body was heavy and did not obey his commands properly, but after he got halfway up and was about to slip backwards her hands where there holding him up. Again, she was close to close. They had been this close only hours before, but her request was something increasingly intimate. 

“Aether, mine is already in yah,” She lifted a hand away and gently jabbed his chest, a section that was not wounded. “Its only fair yah know.” 

“I do not think you understand what you ask.” Hades muttered leaning his head away from her, while trying to keep his thundering heart in check. This was panic right? This feeling that caused him to wish for the energy to flee from the room. Of course he had no such energy and was sufficiently trapped by Swaths form. She let her hand graze his chest back to his shoulder.

“I’h do, yeah it could hurt meh but I’h need tah know yah are serious. Its like ah bindin spell.” Swath frowned at him, her expression still intense. Hades took in in a steadying breath, she wanted this. 

It was different from using her as a conduit for his magics; his aether just passed through her harmlessly, but to mix them.  He frowned, looking inward, feeling his own aether. Hades earlier had recognized that his soul was fundamentally the same yet something was different, was it his aether? After a moment he saw it, around his darkly colored soul was surrounded by a slight golden glow. Her aether, a bit of her soul. Hades swallowed, looking at her - she had mixed their aether. Against his wishes a blush traveled from his neck to his cheeks. Causing the Viera to lean back surprised. Hades could tell she was about to ask but he shook his head, if this is what she wanted he would do it. “Yes, yes alright hero if this is the assurance you wish for I will give you some of my aether.”  He watched as she relaxed, although her expression was still one of confusion. “Do not regret this.” Hades muttered, advice for the both of them as he shifted to press his hand against her chest.  Then with a slight frown took in a deep breath and leaned forward, pressing his forehead against hers. 

His third eye pressed uncomfortably against her skin but he ignored it, he focused on her form her hands that held him and his hand on her chest. Releasing his deep breath he reached for the familiar route he took when he used her as a conduit, but instead of allowing his aether to pass by her he pushed it outward around her, into her. She gasped and he ignored it, pushing further, feeling no resistance. Then there was a snap and he pulled his head back, taking in a steadying breath. 

By Zodiark he was now painfully aware of her, moving his body away to the best of his ability he felt her hands release him. Hades did not look at her face as he pressed his back against the headboard of the bed, but once he was settled he looked back up and saw that she was crying. He recoiled looking at her with disgusted shock, why was she crying? Why would she cry after asking something so intimate of him? He was about to open his mouth to rebuke her, and remind her that he had said that she should not regret asking such a thing. Instead his words died on his lips as she raised her hand to her cheek, seemingly equally surprised as he. 

“Was tha their wish too?”

“Whose wish hero?” Hades asked as he leaned forward, the panic returning. “Whose wish?” The Ascians mind raced, he had not shown her anything through that bond had he? Then it dawned on him, the dreaded ‘Crystal mothers’ blessing, the echo. “What did you see Swath,” He reached out to her, her wide eyes causing his breaths to come quick. “Swath who did you see.” 

#i cant come up with good chapter names #ffxiv fanfiction #ffxiv fanfic #Remember Me [emetxwol] #emet selch #emet-selch #emetxwol #emet selch x wol #emet selch/wol #solus zos galvus #solus zos glavus x wol #wol x emet-selch #wol x solus zos galvus #im warning everyone now this is a intense slow burn