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im-only-here-for-the-fandom · 11 months

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Baby Lost, Baby Found

so first time posting on tumblr, i got inspired by the idea of danny phantom being jason todds father from the story apartment 31c by @faeriekit

its going to be a bit long so,

I headcanon that ghosts can asexually reproduce but it takes some time to make sure that the baby is stable than if there was two ectoplasmic donors so its not commonly done or well known . so when vlad tries to clone danny he doesn’t know that he’s actually growing a lab baby and in the test tube while its forming the baby splits, becoming two babies, one more ghostly (ellie) the other more human ( jason ).

Danny feeling a strange tug at his core urging him to find something, something very important to him and he has to find no matter what, searches for weeks before he finds ellie and jason before vlad ages them up and he falls in love instantly. he looks at his beautiful daughter and son, cradles them carefully and takes them home olny telling jazz, sam, and tucker about their true origins, his parents lecture him about ‘how irresponsible he was for bringing two children into the word’ and ‘how hard it is to raise them’ and ‘how much personal time you have to give up to take care of them’ despite them not noticing that he had disappeared for weeks or that they spent all day in thier lab only coming out for food and bathroom breaks or to put a sample in the fridge because the basement fridge was full {they still haven’t noticed he’s died} . the babyies needed a steady intake of his ectoplasm or pure ectoplasm to stabilize so took them to school with him, not trusting his parents inventions to not accidentally shoot at his kids but thankfully the ghost have calmed down with their attacks ever since he got the kids only going after him after school and during holidays and toning down thier destructive acts.

During the summer holiday vlad invites the fenton family to a cruise ship no doubt trying to enact one of his stupid schemes with jazz unfortunately (or fortunately) unable to join because she was joining a charity for helping less fortunate kids as a volunteer so that she could add it to her resume also because she’s just a really good person and wants to help defintley not to get out of the holidy cruise with val of course not . During one of the cruses resocking pit stops he has to change ellie’s diaper because he’s a goid dad, so he leaves jason with his parents reluctantly after the insisted that he would be perfectly safe with them, jason having a dormant core barley exhibits any ghostly traits while ellie having an active core regularly floats, so his parents were less liely to think jason was a ghost tgan ellie, not knowing that as soon as he left the box ghost came to cause mischief, his parents immediately entering ghost hunter mode forgetting about baby jason.

Enter Sheila also on the cruise running a fake pregnancy scam on multiple people, getting desprate when few men fall for it but needing more proof from her, she decides to steal baby jason who was conveniently unattended to in the chaos happening and leaves before the cruise before the ship departs. She successfully registers the baby as hers saying that she gave birth to him on a cruise thats why she has no previous medical records and naming him jason based on the custom onsie he’s wearing that had in bold Baby Jason written on the chest and starts her scam once again. This time she’s more successful in her scam getting large amounts of money from different men, her having blue eyes, the baby having blue eyes, most people having black hair made it much easier, but now the baby was getting older and its harder to scam people with a larger baby so she doesn’t want him anymore so she hands him over to the only man stupid enough to believe that was truly his baby, Willis Todd, she dumps him in gotham and leaves.

Back at the cruise ship danny finishes changing ellie only to come out to the aftermath of the box ghost and search’s for his parents so that he could get his son back only to discover that his parents have once again neglected another child, their grandchild, in favor of their ghost hunting ways. danny feels devestated his baby boy is gone and the ship had already sailed a long way out from their last stop, he should have never trusted his parents, he didn’t care that they neglected him, but thier neglect now cost him his son. he leaves ellie with jazz once they reach home and follows the tugging in his core once again trying to locate his son, but this time it’s harder it took him weeks to find his kids the first time and that was when they were stationary, now sheila keeps moving meaning the direction of the tugging keeps changing and it throws him off the right track, until she reaches gotham and the tugging suddenly STOPS, danny is floating in the middle of nowhere when his connection with his baby just disappears without a warning. and danny is just terrified, he doesn’t know what has happened to his baby.

Jason is in gotham now, which is a ectoplasm deadzone, despite it being heavily covered in death energy. any time ectoplasm is formed its immediately sucked away by those who have recently died, barely being able to take enough to pass to the afterlife, and with the amount dieing in gotham the amount of ectoplasm is barely able to sustain jasons baby core. he has stronger senses and a better immune system from his ghost half but other than sharper canine teeth he doesn’t develop other ghostly traits over the years growing up, if he able to seemingly disappear in the shadows and move as silent as a ghost, it’s attributed to gotham strangeness.

jason is now 15 and dies waking up briefly in ghost zone only for the ectoplasm to kick start his core and kicks him back into his body six months after his death, back in to gotham the ectoplasm deadzone now unable to support his active core leaving him catatonic for talia to find and dunk in the lazarus pit. he spends three years in with the league of assassins before returning to gotham mad with pit rage and the need for revenge against the joker.

danny, now the ghost king , has never given up searching for his missing, despite not being able to locate him his bond reassuring him his son was alive, having moved out with his daughter and sister when she turned eighteen and cut off all communication with his parents. he’s in a meeting in the ghost zone when he feels his bond with his son flare up strongly only for it to disappear from the ghost zone not a minute later, leaveing him no time to search for him, but the bond is there, if barely, but it disappears again when jason is dumped in the lazurus pit, his signature corrupted from how it was when he was young. danny’s core aches from the sadness he’s feeling, the bond he has with his son is seemingly gone, he doesn’t know what to do now.

A year passes and jason is now nineteen a year after he came back to gotham, having reconciled with his family. but now the justice league is facing a world ending supernatural threat and they need someone or something powerful enough to face it, so who else other than the benevolent and kind ghost king.

constantine has the main league members do the ritual with him batman, superman, wonder woman, flash, green lantern, because the requires a lot of power. so they chant his titles, The Benevolent and Kind, The Great One, The Gate and The Keeper, The Guiding Star, The High King Of Infinite Realms, and a portal starts forming and slowly danny emerges in full royal garb, white hair swaying whisply in an invisible breeze, eyes a glowing green galaxy, crown and ring on full display. Danny opens his mouth to speak only to close it when he feels a weak, sputtering bond from someone standing at the back of the room, he cranes his head searching for the orogin of this bond and spots a young man, then it clicks, thats his son, that’s jason. he can’t believe his eyes, he finally found his baby, after nineteen years, he sinks to the floor and sobs.

Jason had always felt a strange feeling if longing that never seemed to go away, at first he thought it was from a lack of care from his parents, but it didn’t seem right to him, so after he bacame robin, and found out about sheil he thought that was where the feeling of longing was coming from, but then she betrayed him and he died at the hands of the joker. and in that one minute in the realm of the dead everything felt right only to wake up in his own grave and then get dumped in the pit. After getting dumped in the pit the longing was gone, and in its place was rage, like he had lost something very important to him and this made him unbelievable angry, so he went to gotham to exact revenge, and ended up reconciling with his family.

a year later he’s stading at the back the room as the justice league summons the ghost king, and as the king emerges the feeling of longing that was gone since his death starts sputtering to life, he looks at the floating man and the longing gets stronger, they lock eyes and the man shudders and sinks to the floor sobbing, he wants nothing more that to run to him and hug him, hold him and never let go, he has never felt such intense emotions towards someone in his life.

As he slowly walks towards the ritual, danny lifts his and revrently utters his name “Jason”

#dp x dc crossover #dp x dc au #dp x dc prompt #dp x dc #dp x dc fanfic #danny phantom #jason todd #Baby lost Baby found

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mysterycitrus · 4 months

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All of your Bruce takes are so real and so true. It must break your back having to carry the weight of being the most correct batman account on this website. 🙏🏻 I love your thoughts about Bruce and Dick in particular and I was wondering if you had any thoughts about Bruce and Damian? Something about them is just… oh boy.

that’s very sweet but untrue, anon 🫰

i love damian and bruce's relationship, but it's hard to talk about without mentioning two other crucial people - talia and dick. for my own sanity i only accept damian's conception as a consensual act, so in this context talia is a fundamentally well-meaning person who attempted to protect her son from a violent life, and hid his existance from bruce until she felt he could be safe. damian loves and respects his mother. this is important.

dick, on the other hand, is really the foundation for their relationship. bruce spent like two weeks with this kid before he went on his timestream roadtrip and left everything behind for dick to juggle. contrary to popular opinion, i think it's a real disservice to act like dick taught damian to "be a good person" or like basic etiquette - a more realistic interpretation would be that dick taught damian that he didn't have to prove himself to be worth something.

the robin mantle from the time it was taken from dick has always been about proving yourself to bruce, to justify your role as his partner. always unfairly, mind (think how tim is treated vs. steph, for example), but damian is the first robin's robin. dick isn't a wayne, he's a grayson. there's an interesting point of comparison being that dick is the only robin who had a clear trajectory for his life prior to his parents dying - he was a core member of the worlds greatest acrobatic troupe - but he then left that path to become something else. damian is destined for the bat, but becomes robin instead, serving beside someone who achieved greatness by his own skill and kindness. damian has been told about his father, and here he is with someone who knows bruce better than anyone but also understands what robin means, better than anyone. i cannot emphasise how important i think dick being damian's first batman is for their own development. it's so so crucial to combat damian's perspective on family and blood. it's so important that he has that foundational knowledge of what robin means.

by the time bruce returns, damian has made tangible human connections in gotham. he's not the prickly, reactive kid that bruce first met. he's allowed himself to trust that the people around him have his best interests in mind. he knows that he isn't cared for because he's bruce's son - he's cared for because he's worth loving. his siblings aren't competition for affection or honour. he no longer sees bruce as an omnipotent force, and rather as a man he could learn to love. i think seeing bruce through both talia and dick's persepectives really helps with that.

bruce i think is confronted by the fact that for the first time in his life he can't try and hide behind the "im not really xyz's father" excuse. not that his adopted kids aren't his kids, obviously, but i do think he sometimes tries to lean on that as a crutch so he doesn't get attached (way too late for that lol). he loves damian, and there's a lot of fear about damian reflecting his worst habits, his most self-destructive behaviours back at him. maybe there's some fear about damian's history of killing, and how close bruce himself always feels to that edge. maybe there's misery about missing one of his kids growing up, again, like he's always a second too late to the important moments. bruce and damian are so similar, but this is bruce's second chance to be there. he is thomas wayne, emerging from the alley alive. do u think damian looks like his grandparents?

#sorry this mostly ended up being about dick again oops #damian wayne #bruce wayne #dick grayson #batman #robin #dc comics #the ask and the answer #also i have spondylitis so my back would literally give out

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tobylovesspence · 1 year

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ok but miles Fairchild fucking his sisters babysitter 🤭

Ok but I love this idea 🤭 I really tried to do it justice

Miles Fairchild x babysitting!FEM!reader

Contents: smut, the use of the word princess towards the reader, lightly dominant Miles, overstimulation

Miles had a streak for running off babysitters in the area so well that no adult would take the job of babysitting Flora. You, however, needed the extra money and we're Miles age so you weren't very fearful of the kid, more confused how some preppy school boy had scared off several adult women. You had decided to take the job of babysitting Flora and tutoring her and so Ms.Grose let you stay in a guest room which you thought was sweet of her even though she seemed quite stoic.

After a couple weeks Miles had yet to show any "aggressive" or "destructive" tendencies those other babysitters of Flora had told you about when you took the job. He was actually quite sweet toward you. "Flora you wanna play hide and seek?" Miles had asked as you stepped into the room, "oooh yes. Y/n you should join!" Miles smiled at you, as if he was truly hoping you would. "Sure, that sounds like a fun way to spend the day!" Miles grinned, telling Flora he would be it. You had told Flora to hide well before running off toward your room, hiding in the spare room connected to your own, you assumed it was a sewing room.

After a few minutes you heard footsteps enter your room and you held your breath, smiling to yourself at your hiding skills. The door knob slowly turned and you held your breath. "Hello princess." Miles said as he stepped into the room, you crouched further into your hiding spot behind a mannequin. You watched his feet step across the floor when a loud sound hit the wall and you quickly looked toward the sound. You saw a tennis ball roll across the floor. Shit. "Hi sweetheart!~" you turned around quickly. "You win." You defeatedly stood up. "No actually Flora's still hiding." He had stepped closer and you had stepped back toward the table in the center of the room.

You suddenly felt hot and stiff from his gaze alone. You took a hesitant step back and he took a confident step forward before putting his hand under your thighs and lifting you onto the table. "Miles..." He smirked at your desperately quiet voice. "Yes hunny?" His voice was so sultry, it was quiet as he egged you on, he wanted you to beg, fall apart in his hands. "Miles please" he tsched at you, "Please what sweetheart? You know I can give you what you want if I don't know what it is." You moaned quietly as he massaged your thighs. "Please Miles I want-" your eyes started to water, shame, at the way you were begging for him, washing over you. "You want what Y/n?" "I want you!" It was quick, a little loud.

You had gotten impatient and clearly he had too as right after you had spoken he had grabbed you and carried you to your bed, dropping you on it. He locked your bedroom door and stood at the end of the bed right between your legs. Miles softly pushed your skirt up, pulling your panties slowly down your legs. "Oh god" he groaned at the trail of slick between your panties and your folds. "You look so pretty for me hunny, and soo wet" Miles experimented with how far he could go as he rubbed two fingers up and down your folds, collecting your wet arousal on his fingers. He slowly pushed them into your entrance as you, groaned loudly. He slowly began to speed of his pace and began to finger you, his fingers covering in your slick. "Good job princess, you're taking this so well." Your core began to feel warm, you knew what was coming but then Miles quit his actions and pulled his fingers out of your pussy with a pop. "Miles..." You whined, your ball of tension slowly relieving. "Calm down princess, you'll get what you want soon enough."

How true could that be, you got what you wanted several times. Somehow you had been here for almost half an hour with Miles thrusting into you, making your head spin and your legs shake. You didn't even know how many times you had cum anymore as Miles had your leg over his shoulder and his hand over your mouth "good job princess, you're doing so good for me" your eyes rolled back into your head as he spoke in his mumbled whimper and you came on his cock again. "Miles it's too much" you can handle it princess, you've got this." You were too cock drunk to do anything but whimper as your overstimulated hole clamped around his dick as he thrust up into you, his hips began to stutter as he began to get close to his release once again. He groaned quietly cumming in your pussy as you whimpered and came once more yourself.

You both laid on your bed, panting and trying to calm your beating hearts. "Y/n? " Oh shit. It was Flora at your door, she tried to turn the knob but it was locked. You whimpered quietly before stuttering out a response of yes Flora. "I can't find Miles. He flinched beside you. "I think he gave up looking and went out to the stables." You heard her sigh "ok I'll go look for him" you had replied ok Flora and Miles had gotten up to get dressed. "I hate you." He laughed, "I love you too hun." He kissed your lips softly. "Do you think I could lay with you tonight?" It was your turn to laugh. "After all of that? You'd better!"

#miles fairchild angst #miles fairchild smut #miles fairchild x reader #miles fairchild

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bigasswritingmagnet · 3 months

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Helpful, in a Heterodyne Sort of Way (ch3/3)

Summary: Klaus arrives in Mechanicsburg to retrieve his son, who he believes has been kidnapped by the Heterodyne. (And Gil has. Just not by the Heterodyne Klaus thinks.) Saturnus (doting grandfather and old school Heterodyne to the core) is determined not to let Klaus ruin his granddaughter's date.

AO3 Link

In deference to the fact that Mechanicsburg was an independent city state and not part of the Empire, Klaus kept Castle Wulfenbach at the traditional two leagues.

Because his son had been kidnapped by the Heterodyne, he landed one of the smaller dirigibles directly outside the front gate and walked right in.

Klaus moved through the streets of Mechanicsburg like the one-man army he was. Tourists and citizens and even Jӓgers scattered before him, but Klaus didn’t notice. He was drowning in his own thoughts, struggling to keep his expression under control, to display anger but not…

He had not felt fear like this since the day Gil was born, when the midwife stood before him and Zantabraxus, two small bundles in her arms, and asked them which one to keep.

He had not felt so angry at another person since the day he came home to a shattered castle and learned that the world had been torn to pieces in his absence.

He had not felt so angry at himself since the day he woke up in Skifander, sprawled out before a long-dead queen’s gate.

To be made a fool again.

The youngest ever Lady of Mechanicsburg had looked up at him and told him, with such sincerity, that she wanted peace. She didn’t want to be an adventurer, but she didn’t want to run around terrorizing people either. And she’d seemed so sincere, and Klaus had thought that Teodora could do as good a job with a girl as with two boys, and Saturnus had looked so resigned—annoyed, but not resentful—that Klaus had believed her.

He'd believed her.

Klaus reached the foot of the great hill and began to climb towards the looming bulk of Castle Heterodyne.

When Teodora died, the world had tensed. A teenaged Heterodyne on the throne, with no voice of sanity to balance out the counsel of Saturnus Heterodyne? Surely, that would be it. Now the peace would end, now would come the fire and the terror and the war.

It had not come. Lady Heterodyne had shut the city down for a week of mourning and declared all seven St Teodora’s Days (none of the Popes had bothered to coordinate with each other) official holidays of Mechanicsburg. And that was it. And everyone had thought—well, that’s that then!—and relaxed.

Oh, Klaus kept an eye on her, watching for warning signs. But he had been braced—the world had been braced—for a Heterodyne. For armies of monsters, for death and destruction. For a return to the days of old.

Not even he had been braced for a Mongfish.

And she took his son. His son! It was too precise to be a coincidence. Even if Gil wasn’t the only young man spirited away to Mechanicsburg, for Gil to be chosen despite all the dangers it held, despite the retribution she had to know Klaus would bring down on her…

It was all too easy to imagine Lady Heterodyne smiling Lucrezia’s smile and saying ‘you know what would be funny?’

Saturnus was waiting for Klaus at the top of the hill with a giant, shameless grin, lounging back in his chair as if he had simply stepped out to enjoy the sunshine.

“Klaus!” he cried, cheerfully. “Welcome, welcome! So kind of you to drop by.”

Klaus strode forward until he stood directly in front of Saturnus, drowning the man in his shadow.

“Where is my son.”

“You’re looking well! Fantastic coat, by the way. You should really give Agatha some tips. She can do stunning, but bombastic intimidation is a mite out of her reach—”

“Saturnus.”

“Hmm?”

“Where. Is. My. Son.”

All manner of Sparks and noble families had quailed beneath that glare, had immediately rolled over and surrendered just to get Klaus to stop looking at them like that.

But Saturnus was a Heterodyne, and the ability to be intimidated had been bred out of them long ago—if they’d ever had it to begin with. His grin simply widened.

“Having dinner with Agatha.”

Klaus’ eyebrows shot up, and Saturnus tutted, shaking his head.

“No need for that look, Klaus, get your mind out of the gutter. All propriety has been observed. This is a civilized introductory dinner between two youths of genteel breeding.”

For a brief moment, Klaus forgot his anger and fear in the face of sheer amazement that Saturnus could refer to the Heterodyne family as genteel with a straight face.

“He’s fine,” Saturnus said, still with infuriating good humor. “He seemed quite taken with Agatha, to be honest—”

Bile rose in Klaus’ throat. No. Gil was intelligent, he was sensible—sometimes, about some things, surely about this—he would never fall for a woman after she had imprisoned him against his will.

But the words history repeats itself pounded in his skull like the Doom Bell, and Klaus found himself striding past Saturnus without another word.

Saturnus didn’t try to stop him, and neither did the castle, which should have been his first warning. He threw open the doors, strode into the main hall of the castle—did not stride into the main hall.

He was in a small, comfortable sitting room, with a crackling fire and a few soft armchairs, walls lined with shelves crammed full of books that were probably all banned in multiple countries. Overhead he heard a distinctly mechanical sniggering.

Behind him came the distinctive tapping sound of Saturnus’ chair, and the ominous groan and boom of the main doors closing—faintly, as if in the distance.

Klaus whirled around, and Saturnus smiled at him from in front of a perfectly ordinary sized door, not nearly large enough to be the main doors. Klaus shoved the man aside and wrenched the door open. It let him out onto a long hallway, one side of which had large windows overlooking an inner courtyard.

“Gilgamesh!” Klaus roared, but of course he got no answer.

It was a nightmare. The nightmare, throwing open door after door, down hallways and stairwells that never seemed to end, streets that went nowhere or doubled back on themselves; hearing Gilgamesh wailing in the distance but unable to tell which direction it was coming from; his wife calling after him she is the heir, this is how it must be; green-haired guards without faces grabbing him with hands like stone; and Klaus half-fell through another door and was once again in the small sitting room where Saturnus was waiting for him.

Smiling.

“Come on, do you really think you’d be able to track him down in this castle all by yourse—”

Klaus lunged. Before even the castle could move, he was across the room with his hand closing around Saturnus’ throat, hauling him up out of his chair, his dead legs dangling uselessly.

“You will release my son,” Klaus ground out through his bared teeth, rage and fear feeding each other into greater and greater heights. “You will release him to me now, or I will finish what the Other started and burn your family and this town until there is nothing left but ashes.”

Dust trickled down onto Klaus’ shoulders. He raised his eyes and saw the stone block hovering overhead. Waiting. Klaus lowered his gaze and met Saturnus’ eyes, which were no longer looking quite so amused.

“I will take you with me,” Klaus said, his grip tightening.

“Right,” Saturnus said, voice slightly strangled because Klaus was strangling him slightly. “How about you put me down, and the castle doesn’t crush you, and we start this conversation over like civilized gentlemen.”

“You have never been civilized in your life.”

“Neither have you. But we are both good at pretending, when we need to.”

Klaus’ heartbeat began to return to normal, and the fog of mindless terror to diminish enough that he could think clearly. Sort of clearly, anyway. At least enough so he could realize that killing Saturnus, while immensely satisfying in the moment, would not help Gil.

Gently, Klaus lowered Saturnus back down onto his chair, which shuffled itself into position so Saturnus did not need to readjust himself.

Saturnus backed the chair away a little, rubbing his throat, and gave Klaus a wry smile.

“To answer your question, as I said, Gilgamesh is having dinner with Agatha. He is safe and sound, physically and—as far as I can tell—psychologically. And for the record, he’s here of his own free will. Now, anyway.”

“Do not lie to me!” Klaus snarled, temper flaring again, ignoring the threatening grind of stone-on-stone overhead. “He was seen with a woman matching the description of Lady Jenka of Mechanicsburg. Lady Jenka, who was then abruptly and urgently recalled to Mechanicsburg, leaving with a large wooden crate—”

“No,” Saturnus said, sarcastically, clearly unable to stop himself. “A woman traveling with large pieces of luggage, is there no end to Mechanicsburg’s depravities.”

“It had airholes in it!”

“Yes, yes, yes, I’m not saying I didn’t kidnap him, I own up to that—and for the record I did it gently, not so much as a bonk on the head. Jenka used a very mild soporific; he just took a nap and woke up here. I’m saying that Agatha was all set to let him go, and he said he’d like to stay for dinner.”

Klaus snorted derisively.

“Do you seriously expect me to believe Lady Heterodyne went through all the trouble of having him kidnapped and brought here, only to let him go? Short of some plan to lure him in with reverse psychology, I refuse to believe—”

“I kidnapped him,” Saturnus interrupted, disgruntled. “Who said anything about Agatha–” Saturnus stopped, eyes going wide, pieces falling together. “Red fire, no wonder you’re in a state.”

“I am ‘in a state’ because you kidnapped my son.”

This time, Saturnus’ smile was bitter and humorless.

“But would you be in as much of a state if you didn’t so intimately know Lucrezia Mongfish for what she was?”

Klaus did not answer. His first instinct was to say yes, but…well. The thought of Gilgamesh hanging over a vat of acid while a Heterodyne cackled maniacally by the knife switch did invoke less terror than the thought of him alone in a room with Lucrezia.

“She’s not her mother, Klaus. She may look like her, but it’s no deeper than that. She’s a Heterodyne through and through. Not my brand of Heterodyne, more’s the pity, but she is still a Heterodyne. We don’t do subtle.”

“You don’t consider a quiet kidnapping to be subtle?”

“And how long did it take those shadow men of yours to figure out who took him and where? Probably before Jenka even left the dock.”

“Hardly,” Klaus said. “They wouldn’t have let her leave, if they had.”

But the man was making a fair point. Lucrezia didn’t kidnap her men—she simply wove a web and let them walk in of their own free will. She’d even let them think it was their idea.

“I swear to you, Agatha was about ready to bite my head off when I told her.” He rubbed his chin. “Might not have been quite as mad at me if I hadn’t waited to tell her til after he was tied to the chair and dinner was ready to serve. She really was going to let him leave, and he very much insisted on staying.”

“That would be an extremely foolish thing for him to do.”

Saturnus snorted, amused.

“Right, because love never made any man act a fool.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. He’s never even met her before.”

“No,” Saturnus agreed. “But I’ll tell you now—the way he looked at Agatha when he first saw her? That’s how I looked at Teodora, and love made me enough of a fool that I didn’t realize she’d ruined my sons until it was too late. Huh! And now, between her and Agatha, I’m practically domesticated. Didn’t even consider invading Paris to get at him!”

“I would say it far more likely because you knew the Lady Heterodyne wouldn’t like it.”

“Yes. I would not burn down the world for her, Klaus.”

He said it with such determination, such seriousness, that at first Klaus couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be a joke.

Then he remembered who he was talking to.

“That’s…very touching,” Klaus said, and mostly meant it. Then, abruptly realizing he’d been sidetracked, drew himself up. Very firmly, he said “Willing or not, I will take my son home.”

“No,” Saturnus said, just as firmly. “Or rather, not yet. He’s the first one she’s really liked that I’m sure can keep up with her. I’ll admit, I’ve gotten a little desperate—you wouldn’t believe the kind of young men who have come swanning in, looking for her favor.”

Klaus noted that Saturnus had not said "and out".

A sudden change came over Saturnus. He sat up straighter in his chair. He met Klaus’ gaze with eyes that burned with a fire that rivaled the depths of hell. When he spoke, his voice was solid steel, and for a moment Klaus could see Lord Saturnus as had been of old, the terror of Europa.

“But I truly believe he could make her happy, and if ensuring her happiness means bringing the wrath of the most dangerous man in Europa down on my head, so be it.”

Klaus considered this. On the one hand, he only had Saturnus’ word for any of this. On the other, it was hard to imagine Saturnus would be hiding the fact that his graddaughter was returning to family form, instead of gloating from the rooftops.

And, Klaus was forced to admit, it would be out of character. If she was responsible, it would be the first act of old-school Heterodyning from Lady Agatha—

Klaus remembered Duke Leffert’s attempted invasion the previous spring, and the mountain on the far side of the Heterodyne Valley that now had a big hole in the middle, and corrected himself. This would be the first unprovoked act committed by Lady Agatha in the nearly ten years she had ruled Mechanicsburg.

“Very well,” Klaus said, stiffly. “But I am not leaving without him.”

“You can have him back as soon as they finish dessert,” Saturnus promised, grinning again. “Now come on, let me pour you a drink. You could use one.”

‘Per my lady’s standing instructions, I am reminding you of the doctor’s orders,’ the castle said.

“Duly ignored,” Saturnus said cheerfully, moving his chair towards a laden drinks cart.

"You know, Wulfenbach, I didn't think much of you in the old days. But I'm glad to see you've gotten all that heroing out of your system and settled down to build a good old fashioned evil empire. And you’re doing a marvelous job! "

Klaus was very glad Saturnus' back was turned to him.

“Yes, it does my heart good to see someone keeping the old ways.”

Klaus managed to get his expression under control just in time as Saturnus turned around. Saturnus held out a crystal cut glass half filled with a dark purple liquid. Klaus did not hesitate to take the glass from Saturnus, or to drink from it, which pleased the old man greatly.

"Ha! Not an ounce of fear in you, eh?"

"I've made myself immune to most poisons,” said Klaus, looking down at the drink in puzzlement. “Especially the rare ones. " He sipped the drink again, and mentally weighed how much he wanted to know what the flavor was against how much he did not want to know what was made of.

"See! You know what you're doing! I'm not at all surprised by your choice of son.”

Klaus looked up, dragging his attention from the drink, which was reflecting the light in a very strange way.

“My choice?” he repeated.

"Heh. Perhaps I've said too much. No good giving you a reason to assassinate me, eh?"

Klaus did not particularly like the sound of that.

“Let’s just say, I’d be careful of those Sturmvarous people. That boy knows some things about Gil you might not want to get out.”

Klaus made a mental note to burn Sturmhalten to the ground as soon as he and Gil left.

Saturnus chuckled.

“Look at that face! Would you believe Agatha thinks you’re still good? I think it’s just because you used to run with her father and her uncle. People change, I tell her! If she’d seen you just now, oh, I’d like to see her try and call you good after that little display.” He wagged a playful finger at Klaus. “Don’t think I missed that subtle little dig about my grandson, either! A man after my own heart.”

Never before had such warm approval caused Klaus so much shame.

“It was over the line,” Klaus admitted.

“Oh it was!” Saturnus said, with evident enjoyment. “And I’ll bet you’re teaching Gilgamesh all you know, eh? Nature and nurture! He’ll make a fine overlord.”

Klaus kept his face neutral, even when Saturnus winked at him. Only when Saturnus took a drink did Klaus allow himself to grimace.

‘Lord Saturnus, the lady is–’

Klaus was suddenly aware of pounding footsteps and shouting. The door burst open, Klaus tensed, and the Lady Heterodyne came tumbling in. Right on her heels was–

“Gilgamesh!”

The wave of relief could have brought Klaus to his knees. Gil was unharmed, though his clothes were slightly rumpled. His eyes were shining and slightly manic, but no more than was usual for Gil under the influence of the Spark.

“Father!” he said, startled, but not displeased. “What are you doing he–?”

“Grandfather!” Lady Heterodyne interrupted. She grabbed the arm of Saturnus’ chair. “The blue orb things in the grey hallway, are they lamps or lightning generators?”

“Lamps-”

Agatha whirled around and jabbed a finger at Gil.

“Ha!”

“--that generate lightning.”

“Ah-HA!” Gil exclaimed.

“Still primarily a lamp!” She swung back around to Saturnus. “I need them. Castle! I want the electrical laboratory prepped! I need you to reroute the extra power to the salamanders, and if you can’t, find a place to dump it that won’t kill all the fish–”

“Father!” Gil said. “Did you bring the castle? Can you bring me my lightning generator–”

“—lamp!—and tell Van to have the river blocked off for the next few days just in case—”

“Oh! And can you bring my weather enhancer, my weather dehancer, and my electromagnetic–”

“There's no time!” Agatha cried. “The storm will be here in half an hour!”

“You know what, nevermind, I'll just build new ones. Let's go!”

Gil and Agatha took off, leaving the door hanging open.

Klaus stared at the open door, listening to their excited shouting fade as they ran down the hall. He shut his eyes, knowing, knowing without even needing to look, that Saturnus was smirking triumphantly. In the distance, Gil laughed.

He sounded…very happy.

“So! Solstice at your place this year?” Saturnus asked, somehow managing to gloat a question.

Klaus downed the rest of his drink in one swallow.

“You know,” Gil said, in the dirigible on the way to Castle Wulfenbach, “it’s the funniest thing—Saturnus thinks I’m adopted.”

Klaus’ brow furrowed.

“He told you this?”

“It’s why he kidnapped me in the first place. Apparently, he overheard Tarvek Sturmvoraus saying my real father is Petrus Teuful. I don’t even know where Tarvek got that idea in the first place.”

Klaus, keeping his face perfectly neutral, mentally crossed destroy Sturmhalten off his To Do list.

“I can’t imagine,” he said.

#girl genius #klaus wulfenbach #saturnus heterodyne #gil/agatha #gilgamesh wulfenbach #agatha heterodyne #doting grandfather saturnus au

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izzysillyhandsy · 5 months

Text

I sometimes wonder if the Izzy hate would have reached those dizzying heights if S1 had ended on episode 9.

Izzy would still have done almost all the bad things: making Ed unhappy, duelling Stede and wanting him gone, the deal with the English, his past with Ed/Blackbeard - except for hurting and threatening Ed after the breakup.

And even though all of this can be seen from different angles, it is possible to interpret it from the most damning perspective - and that should be enough to hate him, right?

But Ed wouldn't have turned into the Kraken, he wouldn't have killed Lucius, marooned half of the crew and cut off Izzy's toe.

And I am almost 100% sure that most of the Izzy hate comes from seeing Ed's drastic change in episode 10. Without it, sure, some people might have found Izzy unsympathetic or just unimportant, or a little shit. But that level of hate?

I guess what I'm saying is that a lot of the Izzy hate comes from "what Izzy made Ed do" and not from "what Izzy did to Ed".

Also, it is a way of dealing with the shock/cognitive dissonance of seeing a very beloved character turn "evil" after 9 episodes of being a gentle and misunderstood guy who is a pirate, yes, but who's fundamentally non-violent and good. How can you reconcile this with Ed suddenly killing a beloved (and completely innocent) character? And the extreme violence of the toe-cutting? (And yes, I know Ed burned people alive before, pirate-typical violence etc. But we didn't know these people and we didn't see them in close-up.)

But to blame Izzy for everything and to make him this evil part of Blackbeard - completely separate of "true Ed" of course - lets Ed still be the same gentle soul that loves a fine fabric, fell in love with Stede in the sweetest way and, although traumatized by his childhood, is at his core an innocent person that can be saved by removing the rotten influence of Izzy Hands - without confronting the self-hatred, self-centeredness, mistrust of others and tendency to violence that might be a part of "true Ed" as well.

And of course, if a group of fans started liking Izzy and maybe even defended/found understanding for his actions to a degree - where would that leave Ed? Is it really justifiable to fly into a murderous rage because your heart was broken (by a man you've known for a few weeks), because you're deeply unhappy and you've outgrown your pirate persona?

If Ed wasn't mentally abused by Izzy for decades, if it wasn't Izzy alone that drove Stede away, if Izzy hadn't duelled Stede out of the evilness of his heart, if Ed didn't desperately want to leave but Izzy forced him to stay in their toxic relationship, if it wasn't just Izzy and his hurtful words that drove Ed to become the Kraken...

...then maybe Ed wouldn't be an innocent babygirl anymore, and it would be much more difficult to see Ed/Stede as this perfect, unproblematic and sunshine-y couple.

It seems to me that seeing Izzy as "The Worst" and casting him in the role of the villain behind every bad thing Ed ever did is a quick and painless way to make Ed loveable without actually putting the work in (and the show actually avoided that up unto the death scene - one example is Izzy leaving in S1E4 and Ed manipulating him to stay; there are countless others).

I sometimes have the feeling that the hate for Izzy grows exponentially with more and more of Ed's darker side coming through in the show. And I don't get it - maybe because I am drawn to darker, fucked up characters and relationships. Give Ed his agency back and let him be cruel! Let Ed and Izzy have their mutually destructive, weird but intense dynamic!

Let Ed be a fascinating, loveable character with a (very) dark side - exactly like his partner for decades, Izzy - and you'll actually get a better character, and an additional fascinating relationship - as well as a more interesting story.

#ofmd #izzy hands #short version: rotten leg must come off #if it was that easy!#Ed and Stede are endgame we all know that #Izzy never stood a chance why do you hate him so?#maybe because it is easier to hate Izzy than Ed?#they're both fucked up and that's why I love them

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painted-bees · 7 months

Text

Thinking about the depictions of Magritte's neurospiciness vs Raf's and

Magritte's struggles are a lot more easy to depict in small little vignettes. Her impulsive, disorganised, scattered nature erode her relationships and hinder her obligations, all which are long term consequences, but the behaviours themselves are spontaneous and can be often adequately captured with in a single scene.

Raf's however…I cannot fit so neatly into the same kind of 'single moment' vignettes. I can depict an instance of his overthinking and layered thoughts, and give a quick taste of how it colors his mood and outlook for a flash. Like--his ptsd and general anxiety symptoms, I can capture and depict in this way. But the real insidiousness of his personality disorder in particular is that it's always on, and it heats up slowly over days…weeks…months before it hits a boiling point. And if he's not attentive, it can make him mean--cruel, even. The same intelligence and quickness of mind that lends to his timely, insightful, nurturing sentiments and clever, kindly gentle observations are the very same traits he will wield as a violent weapon when he becomes like a fearful animal backed into a corner. He'll say the meanest fucking shit in the fewest amout of words. A snipey comment that'll cut straight to the core, and even if he, in his right mind, didn't mean it, it doesn't matter because it wouldn't be in his mouth if it hadn't been pulled from a thread of truth. No amount of "sorry" can heal that without a leaving behind a nasty scar.

But I can't just illustrate him aggressively shooting off this kind of commentary in a short comic without including the weeks of small, seemingly unrelated occurrences that built up to it. It would just be a comic of him being brutally mean over something seemingly benign, and then feeling bad about it…which I suppose is true to how it would look from the perspective of most people in his life, but it's not accurate to his experience and it doesn't actually say what needs to be said.

It would take more panels than I can afford–to illustrate the numerous tiny, benign comments and gestures made to and around him that get folded into the slowly-growing malignant mass of misinterpretations, uncertain observations, suspicions, and worries. He's gotten so good at identifying them, dismissing them as irrational, and pushing them to the back of his mind. The idea of overreacting to a 'non-issue' or an imagined slight is mortifying to him and doesn't align with the kind of person he wants to be. But--these things sit hot in his brain regardless of how he reacts to them--and often times, he will hold them there whether he means to or not. The temperature builds up with each new situation, thought, concern…and he may fail to notice when his brain has reached a boiling point--he'll meltdown.

In fairness, his episodes usually see him shutting down and isolating for a few days…a few weeks…a month.

However, should anyone reach out during that time, it is most certainly because "they can't just leave me alone, people are always, always gonna bother me for shit they want from me. They just can't fuckin' help themselves, they can't let me be." And any attempts to converse with him will be stilted at best, unpleasant more often than not, and relationship-shattering at worst. Again, if he feels backed into a corner, if he can't get far enough away, left alone, given his "space"--he'll say the meanest shit. He'll make you go away.

Unfortunately, ghosting people; cutting them off and going completely awol for weeks at a time can be just as cruel and destructive to a relationship as a sharply pointed, brutally wielded comment or accusation might be.

He has so many friendly acquaintances, but genuinely no friends. No one who will text him after work or ask to hang out with him on the weekends. Partially, he does not want this kind of relationship, and actively discourages them (as he once had done with Magritte). Largely, he still has not figured out how to maintain or enjoy them. They feel unsafe.

After all, not everyone is as patient, understanding, forgiving, communicative, and accommodating as Magritte has chosen to be. But even Magritte finds herself in the splash zone of his negative, paranoid moods and behaviours. She is quick to point out that, save for one time, Raf has never been mean to her. But the eggshells she has to walk on sometimes are there because she hates to see him upset and hurting--and it can be so difficult to know what will make him clam up or become defensively grumpy. That, and she can't help but feel personally responsible for his worst moods, even though he himself would rather hammer nails into his own palms than accuse her, in earnest, of being a source of misery in his life.

Raf works so hard at keeping a lid on his cruellest personality traits. It's exhausting, but "paranoid, mean, and unreasonable" is so far away from who he wants to be. He hates that it's who he is in his weakest moments. And--especially after reading online about the experiences of other people who've been in relationships or had parents with his particular disorder–the fear of exhausting Magritte's patience and becoming a "traumatic past experience" in her life is an ever present anxiety.

But at least he can talk about it with her.

And trust her with it.

#ramble bramble #Hi-Note #magritte #rafael

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itsohh · 7 months

Text

Give You All

A/N: Female reader

Day 5: Collaring

Word count: 1351

Warnings: injury

AO3 Kinktober Masterlist

A tightness in your chest had long since formed. Not a bad one; sure there was a level of nervousness to it; but your heart truly swelled with excitement. Gustave had seated you at the end of your shared bed directly in front of the large mirror that was a centerpiece for the wall. He had been gone for the room for a decent amount of time but you didn't mind. Patience was always rewarded, he always liked patience.

You were already dressed up in a long back dress. The pair of you had dinner plans. A celebration. You could still recall the first time you had asked him. The shock on his face was one that had eventually twisted into contemplation. The second time you had asked him he went into more depth about what it meant for you, for what he expected. Then the third time you brought it up? It had been after a long and tiring mission.

It wasn't often that Viperstrike was teamed up with Wolfguard. Normally they opted to work with Ghosteyes or Redhammer but for this assignment they had done just that. It wasn't often you were under Gustave's direct command but that day you were.

There had been a young girl who had been trapped with you in a partially collapsed building. The destruction had been severe and you knew right away it would take them a while to get them out. Luckily for you, communications had been up.

"She's wounded badly and bleeding. She got shot in the right lower abdomen. Shrapnel is embedded in her upper shoulder." Rumble threatened to move around the pair of you. "We can't stay here or else we will get crushed but I have to take out the shrapnel or else I can't move her. Doing so will-"

"Make her bleed more. Yes, do you have anything that can cauterize the wound?"

"A flare."

"It would hurt but it may save her life." Gustave breathed through your ear. "Remember to walk her through as you do things."

"I'm going to remove this okay? Then I'm going to pick you up and take us over there." You smiled at the girl and she only winced in pain but gave you a small nod. With a grunt you pulled the shrapnel free and immediately blood covered your hands. You wasted no time in picking her up and moving the pair of you to the more stable side of the room.

"I need to stop your bleeding." You found the flare and cracked it on. Red mist filled the air with the flame at the end. "This is going to hurt but I need you to be brave for me- this will stop your bleeding okay?" You placed the sparking end against her skin and she cried out. It was a cry that you hadn't ever heard before. A tortured old curling scream that shook you to your very core. Her small hands clawed into the side of your gear but you didn't stop- not until her flesh melted together and she dropped limp and passed out from pain.

"She fell unconscious." You swallowed.

"For the better. Tell me about the bullet wound." You placed the flare to the side and used your torch to flash into it.

"Hard to see, I think it's stopped bleeding as much but it's lodged in there. It's not high caliber, I think it's in one piece."

"Do you have tweezers?"

"Got a knife."

"Is it deep?"

"No. I can dig it out."

"Be careful." With a deep breath you managed to extract the bullet and bandage it up. Unlike the shrapnel wound, this one was far smaller and already started to clot byself.

It took them hours to get the pair of you out but still her screams echoed in your mind afterwards. In the safety of his dorm room he held you from behind. Your head rolled back against his shoulder and neck. That's when you had asked him for the third time. For him to take control.

"One more time. When you're not in this state. Ask me again." He'd whispered. So you did, a month later you asked him. Now a couple of weeks later this night had been one the pair of you had long since discussed.

The door to the room creaked open and you were snapped out of your thoughts. Your posture was almost painfully straight. Gustave had a black wooden box in his hand. He had dressed up as well, a classic black pair of dress pants and a white shirt that had the top couple of buttons open. They exposed a small amount of his chest hair.

Your breath hitched when he came and knelt down on the ground before you and placed the box in your lap. "You're still sure you wish to go through this?" His eyes searched yours for any doubt and you nodded. "You would give all power over to me. He took your hand in his and pressed his lips against the palm.

"Some people reward their partner with this when they believe they have grown but the first thing that came to my mind was 'How could I ever say no?' You are a remarkable woman who does everything for what she believes is right." He kissed the hand again before he directed it to the box.

"Open it." His voice was but a whisper but you could hear the smile in his voice. You could see the excitement behind his eyes.

Slowly you clicked the latch open and revealed the contents. Inside held two pieces. One was a simple thin metal chain which held a single gem at the end. Your eyes flashed up to Gustave's. "Platinum white lab grown white sapphire. Beautiful and ethical." His eyes hooded down. "Like you." Your mouth opened and you gave him a light shove at his cheesy remark and he laughed.

Next to it was a watch. Your eyes went down to it and he followed. "In our line of work jewelry isn't permitted but we are allowed to keep a watch on." Inside held a rather simple Seiko watch. It has a black breathable band and an analogue clock face. "When we are off duty I'd like you to wear the necklace. As much as I'd like to say 'only I can touch and remove it' I know that is not realistic." He placed a kiss on your knuckles. "So I will stay when I'm around. I'd like to be the one that removes and puts it on. Okay?"

You nodded at this and a smile broke out on his face. He pressed another kiss on your hand before he let go and rose to his feet. The bed dipped behind you and you felt his presence before he leaned over. Gustave picked the necklace and brought it up to your neck before he latched it together. The pair of you stared at each other through the mirror.

Gustave's hand graced the necklace, his rough hands mesmerized by it on you. Yet it wasn't the beauty of it that had him taken but the meaning. Slowly his hand brushed up against your throat. It continued until he cupped your check and directed your face to the side where he met you halfway.

With a familiar gentleness his lips pressed against yours. Those feelings deep inside rushed out and you lurched forwards. Desperate to be in his arms you pressed against him and he chuckled and pulled away. Just so your lips were barely touching, he clicked his tongue. He wasn't like this very often, normally so tired from work and mentally drained it was nice to hear that sound.

"Behave for me darling. We still have dinner plans, no?"

"We can cancel." You leaned towards him but he pulled away.

"Not this time. But I promise you-" His lips pressed against yours in a slow but open mouth kiss. His forehead pressed against yours as he got off the bed. "-We will have plenty of time afterwards to play."

#r6s #r6s x reader #rainbow six siege #gustave kateb #doc x reader

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tyredyre · 2 years

Text

Decision — Suguru Getou

Rating : 13+

Summary: Suguru Getou wasn't supposed to know about what you were trying to hide.

Contents : Domestic au. Slight mention of abortion. Pregnancy.

Featuring : husband! Geto x pregnant! Reader, best friend! Gojo

"I'm home..."

The baritone tone filled the door hallway. Certain it was Suguru coming home from work. The clock pointed at 9 past 15—2 hours late than usual.

You heard his voice yet didn't make a single move. You stood stoned beside the kitchen counter, cold sweat ran down your spine. You knew more than anything that you should be more collected. Not to mention giving him the most comforting ambiance due to his tiredness. You took several deep breaths—yes, you were completely fine. You had to be fine, you said that to yourself.

"Welcome home, Sugu."

You dashed to greet your dear husband, finding him untying his shoelaces with a box hanging from one of his hands.

"What's that?" You helped him hold the box.

The grin plastered on his face. "That's a cake."

"That was a very random thing you've done today. Did you get it from someone like your boss perhaps?" Shocked, it wasn't a common occasion for him to bring home a box of cake. Suguru was famous for rarely eating something freaking sugary.

"Aw that hurts my feeling, Y/n-chan," he let out his casual whines, victimized. "You looked down on me too much. I bought it special for you."

"That's even more suspicious, Sugu. It's not even my birthday."

"It doesn't have to be your birthday to buy a cake, yes?" Suguru pulled your waist closer to him, placing a gentle chaste kiss on your lips. You put up a little smile and returned the kiss that almost trembling.

Oh, God... How could you ruin such a mood? Suguru has been treating you sweet—the way he clutched his arms around your waist, the way he rubbed his nose around your clavicles and sniffed out your scent—you didn't deserve it.

You pushed your husband a little to make some spaces before Suguru even proceeded to push any of your pleasure buttons. Trying to distract him, you cupped his cheek. "I'll fill the bathtub for you to soak in, 'kay?"

It was a clean show for you to avoid his soft gaze and walked to the kitchen. "You haven't had your dinner right? I'll warm it up for,—S-Sugu... What's wrong?"

The next second you realized those slender arms were sliding from behind your back. The tall figure wrapped you tight in an embrace—but it felt way too unusual. Something didn't feel right when Suguru didn't even speak a word, placing his head on your right shoulder.

You looked down on the wood floor, biting your bottom lip. You remained silent. Suguru probably needed a moment to gather his thoughts. Even though you were more than worrying about what was bothering his mind, you held yourself not to utter anything destructive.

Suguru shoved his palms on your tummy, enough to send you a jolt. He stroked your belly in a circular motion, only to leave you with a big question.

"Sugu,—"

"Don't get rid of it, please...,"

Your eyes widened. Suguru loved to play mind games but he couldn't be reading your mind or even guessing it to the core about it, unless...

—This Noon—

"Oh, God... This can't be happening..."

The stripes on the pee sticks didn't tell lies. The Red Moon didn't come for over a week. Countless times after trying different ones, you found the results were the same—two flashing red stripes. Cold sweats ran down your spine. You never got out of the bathroom for a complete hour and a half, wondering how on earth you had to bear the sudden news. The only thing flooding your mind was Suguru.

You were weak on your knees when you dialed a number on the phone.

"Hi, Y/n. How are you?"

"Satoru, are you free? I probably need your help."

******

"I'm pregnant, Satoru," you announced.

Satoru blinked in confusion. He sipped the Iced Americano before proceeding with each word.

"Well, congratulations to you. Shouldn't you tell Suguru about it?"

A heavy sigh came out from between your rather bitter smile. "Bold of you to assume he wanted it, Satoru..."

Now that was a piece of news for Satoru. Satoru put the glass down, unbothered. Yet knowing Suguru's twisted personality to the bone, this kind of thing was bound to happen in the future. Pale complexion showed on your face very clearly, you had been in deep trouble until Satoru could judge.

"I never skipped the morning pills, Satoru. Like, never..." You dropped your head on the table, it felt heavy like a stone dropped onto it multiple times. You took a glance at Satoru, seeking assurance. Satoru was on all his ears and gave you a nod.

"You're probably wondering why... Or maybe not. You've known him longer. About his family and his,—you know his very view about life."

You let out a small chuckle. With all eyes down, it was not a happy one.

"Maybe he was bitter about the world, and honestly me too. He was worried about me after making such a decision, but I married him anyway. I agree—No, we agreed. I'm fine, Satoru. Really, for not having children. So we've been doing it carefully, making sure nothing happens. But...," You paused, getting some air, letting out a heavy sigh. "It survives..."

Satoru was waiting. He sensed from your trembling dry lips, the water was about to spill out.

"I need to get rid of it, Satoru."

"Whoa, whoa. Stop there!" Satoru interrupted. That was a very corrupted mind from a witty woman like you. Satoru shoved a glass of fresh water on the table, yet you didn't touch it. "Calm down, Y/n. Okay? You aren't thinking straight right now. Breathe in, breathe out. Please, drink the water."

You contemplated, gladly on the other hand you did what Satoru told you to. Still, it didn't stop the anxiety to keep kicking in and taking all over you.

"I probably don't know how hard it is for you right now, but please, gather up your thoughts, Y/n. You always know that you should never do it."

"But Satoru..."

Satoru gave you a gentle pat on your thin shoulder. "You aren't the only one with the responsibility. Talk to him, Y/n. For the best."

"Satoru...," You gripped the edge of the table until the knuckles turned white. You bit your bottom lip to stop the trembling. You almost mumbled. "What's the good of keeping things we don't want to?"

That got Satoru speechless.

You continued. "It's better to get rid of it rather than hearing his rejection. It will hurt more..."

"Are you sure you don't want it, Y/n? Because from my point of view, your answer is different."

******

People were flooding up the exit gate of the station. Satoru got his eyes on a slender figure with his authentic hair bun stepping up the stairs.

"It was rare for you, to ask me to meet you. Usually, you go straight to my house, don't you Satoru?" Suguru lit up a roll of his cigs.

"I need to tell you something important, Suguru. First thing first, I'm ready to knock some senses on your emotionless mind."

Suguru kept the grin, mocking his friend for being too much of seriousness, he rarely did that. "It's always entertaining to see your stern face, Satoru. What did I do wrong today, eh?"

"Y/n is pregnant."

It was like the world just stopped rotating. Suguru stared at his best friend, almost laughing it away.

"This is not a good day to pull such a prank, Satoru."

"You know very well that I don't like to pull a mind game like you, Suguru." It was a quick comeback from Satoru. Satoru always wanted to win an argument over Suguru but the winning of that day didn't worth celebrating. "I know it's your family matters but the news that Y/n is pregnant and she plans to get rid of it."

Suguru almost dropped his cigs. His jaw dropped, followed by a scrunch on his forehead and widened eyes.

Satoru didn't give chance for him to absorb all the uttered words. "If you thought why I'm the one who heard the news before you it's because she loves you too much. She appreciates and respects your very choice of life. She tried her best prevention but it's still happening. But I don't see it was a thing she has to bear alone. Now it's your choice, Suguru. Do you agree with her plans?"

******

You were quivering. The fear gasped you. You turned to face your beloved husband. Suguru was looking down, avoiding your eyes in shivers. You were scared but you sensed another fear none other than him. Tears were on the verge of falling but you kept them stay in the corner of your eyes. You guessed it right, Satoru already told him.

"Suguru... I'm sorry. I tried my best to..."

"No, Y/n-chan...," Suguru grabbed your hands and mumbled on your palms. "How could I agree on whatever you plan to do about it? I ain't kill my own baby..."

You were probably deaf to not get what your husband spoke just now. But the grasp of his warm palms and yes, the calming curve on his lips repeated it all.

You bawled your eyes out. You hugged him tightly. Suguru probably didn't cry but you knew he was troubled to contain all the emotions hit. Suguru sunk his face in the crooks of her neck.

"Will I be a good father...?" He murmured.

You giggled in the middle of sniffles. "You probably won't but I know you will try, right Sugu?"

"Then can we get a twin?" Suguru was half-joking to break the ice but later he smiled, finding it was a nice idea because he found you smiling endearingly. He brushed his lips against your ear. "We have to make sure you were breeding well."

"S-Sugu!"

#jjk x reader #geto suguru x reader #geto suguru x you #suguru geto #jujutsu kaisen #suguru geto x reader #suguru geto x you #suguru getou #suguru getou x reader #suguru getou x you

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abhainnwhump · 16 days

Text

IMYM Chapter 28:

New Ally, New Plan: Dream

(Content warnings: A lot of talk about torture, body horror, addiction, smoking, sort of emeto)

<- Previous Chapter || Masterlist || Next Chapter ->

Dream checked off a day on one of his now several calendars, using the board once used for Ink. Two months since Blue has been in a coma, Fresh died, and Error went missing. He disappeared not long after he, Cross, and Core took Blue to him. It couldn’t have been longer than three weeks. He hadn’t spoken to Epic or Core since their argument. He spoke to Cross seldom, but it had always been tense. Dream thought it was strange Error went so long without attacking an AU. Outer hasn’t seen him, the Anti-Void was empty, and no AUs were destroyed.

It wouldn’t make sense for him to abandon Blue. Blue spoke good things about Error and how he treated him after he destroyed his AU. Dream was a hundred and one percent certain his disappearance had ties to Nightmare. The question lay in what, how, and why . . .

Error may not have been someone he was close to, but Dream was still worried. He never left the Anti-void when he. He could have been dead, it would make sense. They feared choosing a new Guardian of Destruction after what happened to Fresh. At least if both positions were down, neither side was stronger than the other. The balance was in check.

Almost.

Dream opened his window and looked around to make sure no one was watching. He searched through his nightstand drawer and removed a package of cigarettes. He used to be very against smoking, but now it was one of the only things that calmed him. Dream lit the end and took a long puff, blowing it into the air outside. He watched the smoke cloud drift into the sky, melting into the air with an orange hue. A bird flew through the sky and landed in a nest, adding sticks to the woven pile. At least the sunset and the beauty outside never changed when the world went dark.

Dream inhaled again and looked to his left. His nightstand held a photo of the three heroes after a victory. Dream held their bow in the air, Blue held his hammer, and Ink held Broomie. A faint smile appeared on his face as he remembered that day, back when everything was okay.

Blue . . . oh, he hasn’t seen him in a week.

Dream blew his cigarette out. Tossing it in the trash, they made an entrance to the Anti-void. He snapped his fingers four times before a portal appeared. They looked down at their soul again. Math wasn’t Dream’s specialty, but he assumed he only had about twenty-six percent of color left. It no longer glowed as it used all its energy to stay alive. He wanted to fix it, but he couldn’t with the multiverse filled with so much negativity- combined with his own.

Error still hasn’t returned to the Anti-void. Dream wandered around the white space, studying the blue strings around the place. When he wasn’t in his home, he was here. Someone had to watch over him now that Error was gone. There was a tiny chance Blue could hear him. Dream vented his frustrations, reminisced out loud, and read stories to him. The guardian walked over to Blue’s hammock, only to realize he was gone.

“Blue? Oh no . . .” Dream pressed his nail into his palm. He couldn’t lose another person he cared about, Blue was like a brother to him. Dream looked around in a panic, waking up from the exhaustion taking him over all day.

But luckily, someone shouted at him. “Dream! Hey!”

The voice glitched like Error’s, but was much lighter. A pair of strong arms wrapped around Dream’s body in a hug. Dream didn’t recognize who it was at first glance. But then he looked into his eye lights. He could recognize the look from anywhere in the multiverse. He beamed and hugged him back. “Blue! Oh my stars, you’re alive! You’re okay! You look . . . different!”

Blue let him go and stepped back. His bones and armor turned black like Error’s. Instead of red limbs, his were a blueish-purple gradient. His teeth, eye sockets, and nasal bone turned light blue. He wore a red scarf and boots to replace his blue ones. Three gold stars were tattooed on his right cheekbone and one was tattooed on his left. His eye lights were yellow with purplish pupils.

The glitch that was once Blue noticed Dream’s tense smile. “Dream, don’t tell me you’re scared of me . . .”

Dream laughed for the first time in a while. “Blue, I don’t care how you look! I was just shocked at first. I’m so happy you’re okay!” He hugged him again. He looked over his body. “How are your arms and legs? Do they hurt?”

Blue flexed his arms. They glitched as he moved them. “They’re kinda stiff, but I feel better.”

Dream smiled, but it slid away as fast as it appeared. He hugged Blue again. He wanted to shield him from Nightmare ever reaching him again. “I’m sorry this happened to you. This wasn’t what you deserved. I was worried this exact thing would happen . . .”

“Was that why you didn’t let me go on missions with you?” Blue crossed his arms. “I thought you were looking down on me. You kept pushing me aside whenever I wanted to help. I can fight. I'm a mortal, but we've fought together for years! I just want you to see that!"

Dream nodded, ashamed of himself. Yet part of him also wanted to yell at Blue. He pushed the thought aside and sighed. He was not interested in a repeat of Fresh’s death. “I am so, so sorry. I just wanted to protect you. I hope at least you see that.” He spoke the last bit with a scoff.

"Sorta. But I'm still hur-" Blue raised a browbone and his glitches flared. “What do you mean 'at least you'?”

“Blue . . . a lot has happened. Cross and I are on bad terms, Core and I are on bad terms, Fresh died-”

“Wait, what? What do you mean Fresh died? When? How?” Blue’s jaw dropped.

Dream sighed and explained everything to him. It felt nice having someone to talk to after weeks of shunning everyone. He zoned out and nodded off in the middle of explaining. Blue had to keep squeezing his arms to keep him awake.

“Is that way you’re dressed like that? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear a black shirt.” Blue gestured to Dream’s outfit. The guardian sighed. They haven’t put much effort into their appearance lately. Dream couldn’t even recall the last time he took a bath, not even in a river. He didn’t have the energy and failed to see a reason to.

“Yes, yes I am.” Dream said. He decided to change the conversation to something more .positive. “You can come home now, it’s not safe to stay here. The clubhouse has been so empty without you and Ink. It’s not safe to be in here after what happened to Error.”

“Error’s gone too?” Blue looked around the Anti-void. “I mean, I guessed that since I couldn’t find him here.”

“Nightmare has him, there’s no other explanation.” He scowled. “He has everyone these days.” He grabbed his arm and dragged him through the portal he summoned.

They made it inside and Dream shut the portal. Blur stumbled and clutched his ribs. Dream gazed at him, preparing himself for something going astray. As everything else in his life seemed to be. “Is something wrong?”

Blue looked at him. “Yeah, I’m fine! I haven’t eaten or drank anything in . . . however long I was there.”

“Oh, well go ahead. I don’t care.” Dream walked up the stairs back to his room. He lacked the energy to continue talking to him. As he made it halfway up the steps, blue magic stopped him in his tracks. Dream looked down at Blue, who held in him a tight grasp. Drema gritted his teeth and pulled at his magic. "What are you doing?"

"I can read your code now and your soul is losing power. You're not acting like yourself at all, so I thought of something just now! Well, since I woke up in the Anti-void, but it works here. I haven't talked with anyone in months and you're isolating yourself. So . . . how about we both visit him together and we can all talk?"

Dream looked at Blue as if he had two heads. "No! It's only going to make things worse. I'll do it later. I can teleport you alone. I have work to do."

Blue's aura turned worried. "Dream, that's absurd. You two love each other. I don't know how bad that argument was, but you two have been through worse. And you owe me for keeping me out for so long." The glitch reminded them.

Wanting to argue things are worse, Dream thought about the request. He did want Cross back . . . but he said to kill . . . would it even matter? Was he making a bigger problem out of nothing? Was it his own thoughts or his damaged soul speaking? He didn't know. Dream wasn't in the mood to argue. He would take whatever made them appeased. He looked up, not meeting Blue's mismatched stare. "That would be fair. Fine . . ."

==============================================================================

Fresh purple daises and chocolate filled the air. Dream bought the presents no longer than twenty minutes ago, though he didn't have to. The petals were crisp and untouched. The hall of the apartment was black and empty. Monsters and humans shuffled in their homes. Cross's door was dark black with the number 1010 plastered in silver. His room made no sounds. Dream looked at Blue, then he knocked on the door.

The door opened and Cross stepped out of his apartment. He wore a dress shirt, dark pants, and slacks. His eyes sockets widened at Dream and he leaned against the doorway.

Dream took a deep breath. He kept his anger and bitter feelings inside, he knew he had to apologize. He wasn’t scared of Cross, but he did fear his emotions. He held out the flowers and chocolate. “These are for you. I’m so sorry for lashing out at you. I don't want to fight anymore, not after everything else. You . . . here, just take it.”

Cross took the gifts out of Dream's grasp and touched the petals. He opened the chocolates and chuckled. “Thank you. You even got my favorite brand." He sighed, wrapping Dream in a hug. "I'm sorry too. I should've known how much that was going to hurt you."

Dream leaned into the hold. “Wait, who's that behind you?"

Blue stepped closer as he lingered in the dark hallway until then. His miscolored eye lights glowed in the dark. Cross's breath caught in his nonexistent throat. "Hey, Cross. It's me, Blue!

"No, you look awesome, dude."

Unlike Dream's room, messy with notes everywhere, Cross kept his apartment perfect. Two black couches rested in the living room on a black and white carpet. The walls were white as fresh cream. A bookshelf was littered with trinkets and photographs. Dream recognized one from their first anniversary. Cross prepared a glass vase with a purple bow wrapped around it. He set the flowers inside and set it on the coffee table.

Dream said nothing unless directly asked. Blue and Cross chatted about him becoming a glitch and turning into stone. Dream half-smiled at the two interacting so well. They encouraged him to join in, but Dream waved them off. He rested his head on his hand and closed his eyes, almost falling asleep.

To everyone's surprise, someone knocked on the door. They sounded frantic and like they were running from something. Dream sensed a distressed aura, but they couldn’t pinpoint what was off about it. Then a faint groan, followed by the scratch of nails on wood echoed through the room.

“Dream, stay back." Cross stood up and gripped his sword. “I’ll get that.”

Cross walked toward the door, stepping out of sight. Dream didn't move a muscle and stayed, tapping his fingers on the armrest. Blue stood up from the couch to join Cross.

“Error? Holy crap. Dude, what happened to you?”

Blue rushed ahead of Cross and ran toward the door. “Error! Why do you only have one arm?"

Dream couldn’t hear what Error was saying, but his voice sounded weaker and raspier than usual. It was barely audible.

“- me in. I won’t destroy anything, I swear on the Creators.” Error dragged himself inside. Cross and Blue stepped aside and Dream gasped. Error looked like he walked through one of the darker, gorier AUs without protection. His turtleneck was gone, revealing his damaged ribs. Stained a deep black with specks of purple, Dream recognized as the malice corrupting AUs. His jacket was missing the sleeves. The torn clothing made the moon-shaped brand on his chest obvious. One of his eye sockets was blue, his version of a black eye. Error limped as he walked, glitching more than usual. His left arm was gone, only a few pieces of chipped bone remained. He had a tremble throughout his entire body as if he was both sleep-deprived and high on caffeine. His hand held the worst of the twitching.

Error sat on the other sofa by himself. He looked exhausted and defeated like he fought in a war only to lose. Dream could tell he wouldn’t be able to hurt them even if he wanted to. Black liquid leaked from his mouth, Nightmare’s malice. Dream bit his lower jaw. It was a miracle Error was even conscious, much less alive.

Blue sat closest to him and dropped a blanket over his shoulders. “Do you want me to get you a hot chocolate or something?"

“Yes, sir.” Error clung to the blanket. “I haven’t eaten in days. I don’t get hungry in the Anti-void and I hate it.”

“Sir? I . . . nevermind. Cross, do you still have it in the upper cabinet?” Cross nodded at his question. Blue stepped into the other room. Dream watched Error with a mixture of emotions. His soul ached, assumingly from Error’s malice. He made a fist in case he attacked.

Error put the sweater on and his shivering calmed a bit. Blue came in with a hot chocolate and some toast. Error drank half the mug, even though it was piping hot. He looked up at the Stars and Cross. “Don’t look at me like that. I don’t want your pity. I- I’m just hungry.”

“It’s not out of pity, it’s out of basic kindness. You’re hurt.” Dream kept his eyes on Error’s missing arm. The shards of bone sticking from his shoulder never received proper medical treatment. “I can heal you a little, may I?”

“Dream . . .” Cross warned him with his tone. “Be careful with your magic, please.”

Error looked skeptical. He tried to move his arm, but it stayed still as ever. Sighing, he moved over and held his damaged shoulder in front of Dream. He lowered his sweater to expose his shoulder. “Don’t touch me.”

“I’ll try my best.” Dream moved closer to the shards. He held his hand over it, summoning green magic. Usually, he liked to hum while performing healing spells, it helped with concentration. But now he didn’t believe it was the time. He hoped he earned Error’s trust by now and he wouldn’t lash out.

Cross kept a tense look on his face, preparing to step in if Error attacked Dream. “Where were you this last month and how did this happen?”

Error grunted, leaning back a little. “I got kidnapped by Dream’s brother and his gang of bloodthirsty hyenas.”

“Called it,” Cross muttered. “So what’s the story?”

“After you guys brought Blue to the Anti-void, I was pissed at Nightmare. We had a deal that he could torture you and Ink as much as he wanted as long as he didn’t hurt Blue. Well, then he turned Blue into stone. I broke into his castle and strangled him, then he insisted we go for a walk. Long story short, I found out how messed up and Ink were. I tried to help Ink and get him out of there, but he didn’t listen! All he did was cry and beg for Nightmare! It was worthless because Nightmare came back anyway. He captured me and beat me up. Even Ink got in to help and smiled while Nightmare branded me! He was happy to be his slave and help torture me. You should have seen his outfit and ribbons, he looked so stupid.” Error smiled for half a second, returning to scowling.

“Ink- no, Ribbon wouldn’t stop smiling. He tried to make me his friend. He talked to me about how ‘good’ this all was and how much he loved Nightmare. He even made me have tea parties with him. That . . . .was probably the best part of any of this. I don’t know who taught him how to bake, but he brought me chocolate biscuits. I almost felt bad, he’s lonely. Nightmare hasn’t allowed him to socialize with anyone except his numbskulls. I kept yelling at him to snap out of it, but that made him cry. And then Nightmare punished me for making him cry. It’s not my fault he’s so damn sensitive! Somehow, I can’t make myself hate him. He’s scared and doesn’t want to get hurt. But I hate everyone else in that castle, especially Nightmare.”

“The worst part was that Ribbon's visits, or playtime as he called it, was the best part. The rest of the time, Killer, Dust, Horror, or Nightmare would torture me. Nightmare wouldn’t stop jabbing me with the sludge he infected AUs with. Then he made me describe the effects. I’ve never been so hungry in my life. In the Anti-void, I don’t get hungry or tired. Blue figured that out. But these guys wouldn’t feed me for days unless it was more sludge. They promised I would get more food and clean clothes if I started ‘behaving’. I spit in their faces and I punched Horror. Then Nightmare blindfolded me and beat me with his tendrils. He even muzzled me most of the time to embarass me. He finally said,” Error’s bitter look slacked, “he would make me into a doll like Ribbon. Dust would've taken my voice and Ribbon talked about making me dresses. He nearly cut my magic strings out of my eye sockets because Dust wanted to experiment on them.”

Error coughed up more black liquid. Dream moved aside to avoid it. “But one day, after Ribbon came down for playtime, the lock on my cage wasn’t closed right. I slammed myself against the bars a few times and the door broke open. I didn’t realize how weak I was and struggled to walk. I was never let out unless it was for me to get tortured or humiliated in some way. I think they were on a mission or something so I was looking around the castle and . . . and . ."

“And then what?” Blue leaned closer to Error. Dream's mind drifted off, not focusing on the entire story. He concentrated on the malice and Ink, how Error described it. His hands shook as he healed Error. The sharpened ends lost their points.

“I found the key to my Anti-magic chains in Nightmare's office. I also found this . . . I don't know, a potion? It was that, a book, and an empty syringe. I broke those stupid handcuffs and got away. I tried figuring out what that potion was, but the book was in a different language I couldn't read. I didn’t have enough time and I didn't want to keep looking. Eventually, my powers worked again, but. Killer, Horror, and Dust fought me and I won. I got here since I felt your soul, Dream. This malice is making me miserable."

Dream stopped healing for a moment. He had a horrible premonition about the potion. With knowledge of Nightmare's history, he feared it was something horrible. His nightmares were always horrible, but he didn't see any potions in them. Yet . . . there was no way Error should have been able to enter the Omega Timeline with Core's defenses. Dream's personal feelings slid into concern.

Error shivered in his blanket. “If I was in there another month, hell even a few weeks or days, I would’ve gone crazy like Ink did. He meant it when he said it’s easier to give into the rewards and stop thinking.”

Dream dug his nail into his palm. He thought back to his final conversation with Ink before Nightmare took him. "How does Nightmare treat Ink? Did he ever hit him or something like that?"

Error sighed. “Weirdly. Sometimes he treats him like a partner, sometimes like a little kid, and sometimes like a dog. Like I said I . . . I didn’t see much in the dungeon, but Ribbon seems used to adapting to what he wants. He was so cuddly with him . . . I can't believe they're getting married . . ." He rubbed his temples. He paused and coughed up more malice, eyeing Dream's chest. His weak soul begged not to fight and Dream covered it with one of his hands.

Cross's aura was shocked, yet mixed. Dream remembered something he told them once, about his soul. Error stole it years ago and it started the X-Event. "Yeah. I hope you're okay, but can you stop coughing up liquid corruption on my couch?" He snapped his fingers and used his telekinesis to drag a trashcan in front of Error. "Keep it in ther- did you just say they're getting married?"

Error looked shocked. “Huh, I thought he would've flaunted that off by now. Nightmare popped the question and he’s marrying him at the end of the month.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a wad of crumpled paper. Dirt and blood stained it. He tossed it to Blue. “Read this, I got it from Nightmare's desk."

Blue unfolded the note and scanned Nightmare's centuries-old writing style. Dream and Cross looked over his shoulder at the black and lavender note. The location was a chapel in Mafiatale. Of course, Nightmare loved to make things official. It fed into his superiority complex. If Ink married him, he would change his name and . . . Nightmare would steal his position, completing his claim on him and becoming a god. There couldn’t be any other reason. Part of Ink's guardianship had to remain, right? Leaning away, Dream finished healing Error's arm, at least the best he could. He lay down from the magic exhaustion.

“There, how does that feel?”

Error touched his shoulder. Once he figured out the pain lessened, he moved his fingers down each point. He pulled his hand away to check for signs of blood. Error smirked and his aura glowed with new positivity. “Thanks, I guess.”

“No problem.” Dream watched as he worked with the arm. “Do you want me to try and help with the malice?"

Please say no.

“No. You can't do anything, I would've figured out how to get rid of it by now if there was something. I can't even stop my damn hand from shaking! I even bit someone on the way here and I couldn't control it!"

Dream sighed. "Error, I think what you’re experiencing is withdrawal. You said they pumped you with poison and starved you, so it makes sense your body grew dependent.” Dream paused as he thought about Ink again. He might be having problems too if he stayed longer and in similar circumstances. He was already addicted to Nightmare’s toxic aura. Dream heard the last bit, but he didn't want to acknowledge it, not now. But his idiot friend beat him to it.

"Who did you bite?" Blue looked into the trashcan full of malice. He paled. "Oh stars . . . did you spread that?"

"Some random monster, I don't know. They looked fine. It made me good after. How do I make it stop?” Error's hand kept twitching. He dug his nails into his scarred shoulder. More black liquid spilled onto the trash can. Cross frowned at the liquid staining the edges. The malice moved inside.

Dream had to remember the course he took on helping addiction victims. The tactics blurred in his mind, too exhausted and too negative to think. "I forgot. Nevermind., you can find out yourself."

Cross stared into the garbage can. "I'm getting Core on this. This isn't normal. Error, if you bit someone and this spreads, shit." Cross wrapped the garbage bag up to keep the malice inside.

Blue seemed disappointed. Dream wanted to take a nap anyways, even if he felt a little bad for Cross. "Error . . . can you teleport me home? I don't have enough magic to use." Dream covered his soul. Error's hungry glare still made him uncomfortable.

"Ugh, fine . . . just because you healed me." Error opened a glitching portal. The ends dripped with black negativity. Dream hugged Cross again and kissed him on his nonexistent lips. Cross returned the embrace, running a hand down Dream's skull. Despite everything, both gave him positivity and helped him feel warm inside.

"I love you, cookie dough."

Cross kissed Dream on the head. "I love you too. We'll take care of this, together."

==============================================================================

“Error Crayon,” Core said in a polite tone.

“Core Frisk.” Error crossed his arm.

Five skeletons and the Guardian of the Omega surrounded the main table in the Omega Central. Never seeing the Omega Central before, Error looked around in awe. Four nights came and gone from when he showed up. The monster he bit was found and sent to a lab, hopefully for testing. Dream leaned against the wall. He itched for another cigarette, or to leave. His soul ached with misery. He rested between Epic and Blue, keeping his sights away from the main task and Core.

Epic stared at Error's mutilated state and his missing arm. He wore Fresh's glasses on a chain around his neck. "Dang bruh, where's your arm?"

Error glared daggers. He grabbed the strings on his face. “Not. A. Word.”

Cross walked up to the head of the table, wearing his royal guard armor. He rolled a massive sheet of blank parchment and a few pens and pencils on the long table. Each pen was a different color. "So . . . we have a problem. Another one. Nightmare is getting married to Ink, or Ribbon, and he has some plan with a potion. That, on top of whatever this malice infection is.

"So what do we do about it?" Epic asked. "'Cause everything is ending up with someone dying, or worse."

Cross put on his commanding general voice. "We need an attack plan. This could be one our final chances to defeat Nightmare, we need to take down that wedding. If I learned anything from the year I worked for him, it's that Nightmare won't have it be normal. He needs to turn it into a grand spectacle.

"That's true." Blue looked at his arm, flexing his glitching fingers.

Cross closed his eye sockets. “Look, it’s no secret I hate Ink. He’s selfish, cocky, childish, ruined my life because he was bored, and he never apologized for any of it. My friends, my brother, and my world are dead because of what he and X-Gaster did. I don’t forgive him, but not even he deserves to be Nightmare’s braindead plaything. No one does.”

Error grumbled. “Braindead is right, he can't even think for himself. ‘Oh I'm just a little doll!’ That’s a dog bed, bastard. Nightmare has him sleeping in a dog bed and he likes it.

“I’m not even going to ask.” Cross bit the tip of the pencil as his mind constructed plans. He sketched out a castle, shockingly accurate to Nightmare's. He switched his pencil out for a pen and drew attack lines.

Blue looked over at the plans. "Wowie, you're good at drawing."

"Thanks. Ink taught me." Cross sighed. He peered up from the surface and noticed Core Frisk sleeping. Their head was buried deep in their arms. Cross tapped them with a pencil. "Core, wake up. We need your help here."

The child didn’t even seem to realize they fell asleep. Core sat up and looked at the others. Dream glanced out the tall window. He lacked their ability to sense what happens in this AU and he couldn't open code like Error. Despite that, they could tell the aura around the place weakened. The emotions of tension and confusion from the citizens told him.

"I'm sorry, my nightmares have gotten worse. I can't sleep." Core rubbed their eyes and yawned. “Error, if you know where Nightmare’s castle is and can access the AU, why don’t you destroy it?”

Error scoffed. “What? Do you think I haven’t tried? If I could, I would’ve destroyed it a long time ago. Nightmare cast spells and altered the code of that world so I get shocked if I mess with it. Not worth it.

"We don't need to destroy the AU or Cross slammed his finger on the map. "There’s another way. Right here there’s a secret door that can be activated with a lever. The lever is disguised behind one of the rocks holding up the mountain. It would take longer to get in, fifteen minutes instead of three, but it’s our best bet.”

“And how do you know all of this?” Core inquired. “Just curious.”

Cross pressed his mouth into a firm line. “Killer showed me. Sometimes, he, Horror, Dust, and/or I would sneak out at night to cause trouble. We would creep back before Nightmare woke up so we were never caught. Everyone will be too busy with the wedding to check the castle, but it's safer to use that door. Someone can still be there."

“Oh hey, that reminds me. When Dream and I were fighting Nightmare in my AU, he mentioned something about a contract he made Ink sign. Where would that be?” Epic swirled his finger on the map.

“Easy, his office. Nightmare always keeps a lot of paperwork on his desk. That should be around here, so we’d need to take a sharp left. We can get that and the potion at the same time,” Cross said.

“So now that we have that settled, who wants to go?” Blue asked. "I'm going!"

Error laughed. “Oh hell no! I’m not risking getting tortured again, especially not for Ribbon. Blue? Sure, but not Ribbon. And my arm is gone, so I can’t fight anyway. I still think this whole mission is pointless. We need to separate those two, but there’s no saving Ink. He’s too far gone. He described being forcefully stripped and branded to be as bad as a minor argument. He doesn’t think he’s being tortured.”

Dream frowned at that. His optimism stirred in his chest again. He wanted to believe Ink was there, he did. But did he have any proof? Every piece of evidence pointed to him being less and less redeemable. Positivity was what they all expected from him too. He sighed.

“Okay, so let’s say Ink is gone for good and nothing can save him. Whoever is in his body now needs our help. He doesn’t know how to live and care for himself. We can teach him how to be a person again and help him remember who he is.” Dream said with a nervous tone. Error tensed at the word friend. Dream said a silent prayer to the Creators. “But . . . I’m willing to give Ink only one more chance. If this doesn’t work, I give up. I’m so tired of fighting. Nightmare can have Ink if that’s what makes him happy, I don’t care. Just make him stop.” He buried his face in his hands.

Cross put his hand over his, giving it a comforting squeeze. “We’ll figure out how to handle Ink, or Ribbon, when we get there. For now, I say we should focus our attention on stopping Nightmare and saving the multiverse."

Epic fiddled with Fresh's glasses around his neck. “I’ve never been on one of these “save the multiverse” missions of yours.

“Epic, if you don’t want to go, you don’t have to. We can handle this! We've all done missions before," Blue said.

“Bruh, are you kidding? Of course I’m going!” Epic grinned. “I want revenge on Nightmare for destroying my AU and killing Fresh. And we’re breaking into a wedding, rescuing the bride, and making sure the groom doesn’t take control of every world.” Epic suddenly grinned. “We’re doing a Shrek.”

Dream didn’t know what that term meant, but since everyone else at the table nodded or shrugged, he didn’t ask.

Cross drew two small figures on his plans. "Okay . . . we split up into two teams. Epic and I will break into Nightmare's castle and find the contract and spell. Dream and Blue, you two break into the wedding and stop them from getting married. I don't know the layout of that chapel, so we'll have to research it, okay?"

"Fine." Dream thought back to Aviar’s goggles still on his nightstand. He’s only touched them when they needed to dust them. His gaze drifted to Blue. His glitching never would have happened if not for Nightmare. Dream held his hand over the table, groaning. “For everyone who’s fallen.”

Cross, Epic, Blue, Core, and with string, Error, set their hands atop Dream’s. Cross removed his hand and his eye lights glinted with determination. “Alright everyone, listen up. Here’s the plan.”

15 notes · View notes

aihoshiino · 7 months

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what's your #1 chapter/moment? by character if you're up to writing another essay

"if you're up to writing another essay". you guys know me so well <3

For the sake of not taking like 8 weeks to answer this ask, I'll limit this to just the Hoshinos for now.

Ai: So, my actual fave Ai moment is not from the manga itself so I'll pick my fave manga moment then talk about my actual fave moment. It's fine, she's my favourite so she gets preferential treatment!!!! (saitou behaviour……)

From the manga itself, my favourite Ai moment is her death, believe it or not lol. I'm one of the Oshi no Sickos who think her arc being capped by her death is narratively speaking the perfect conclusion to everything we learn about her life – the entertainment industry ruined every opportunity Ai ever had at a normal life up to and having that conclude with Ai's literal, actual life being taken by an embodiment of the misogyny and violence that's been inflicted on her since she was a child is such a miserable, cathartic bit of tragedy. But moreso than that, what resonates with me so strongly about this moment is how Ai responds to it - or rather, how she fails to respond.

Even though it would make so much sense for her to be bitter or angry or upset, she makes an active choice to spend her last moments alive pouring out love and literally spends her last breaths on telling Ruby and Aqua she loves them. It says so, so much about what a deeply kind and incredibly strong person Ai is that she was able to do that.

My actual favourite Ai moment is her conversation with Kyun in Viewpoint B and the reveal that their meeting in the park was so impactful to Ai that it lead her to consider Kyun her closest friend for years afterwards. Like her death, the way Ai goes out of her way to approach Kyun and try to reach out to her speaks so deeply so her kindness and her desire to connect with other people and there's a little part of me that always wonders if maybe if this fleeing friendship had come to pass for real, Ai might have been saved. At the very least, there's something bitterly sweet about knowing that for as alone as Ai was in B-Komachi, she had someone she called a friend even so.

Aqua: Honestly, I love so many Aqua moments, it's hard to pick just one but I will never be over the Piyeon ruse. Aqua was so put out by the girl he has a crush on not talking to him that he dressed as a bodybuilding chicken with a squeaky voice for a week. Literally the most teenage thing any teenager in this series has done. Embarrassing ass kid.

My actual serious answer is Aqua's breakdown during Tokyo Blade - specifically, the 'internal' scenes where he's confronted by both Goro and his younger self. These are so, so important for getting at the core of who Aqua really is and they're honestly bone-chilling to read. Seeing Goro as this malicious, intrusive force who is preventing Aqua from being happy, seeing the words he batters Aqua with and realizing that this is the kind of shit Aqua probably thinks about himself every day honestly kind of turns my stomach a bit! It's clear before this that Aqua struggles with self-hate and self-blame but seeing the sheer extent of it is so horrible.

That this confrontation essentially climaxes in the hallway where Ai died, with Aqua face to face with his younger self, also underlines something that's really fundamental to understanding who Aqua is; at his core, Aqua has never stopped being that little boy covered in his mother's blood. He has, emotionally speaking, never been able to leave that hallway and until he allows himself to do so, he's going to continue self destructing and taking everyone down with him.

It's honestly the scene I'm most excited to see animated... season 2 can't come soon enough!!!

Ruby: Without a doubt it has to be her and Ai's dance practice scene back in volume 1, but especially in the anime's portrayal of it. I think OnK's handling of the past life stuff is at its best in moments like this, where it actually meaningfully engages with what it would mean for someone to carry such deep trauma from their past and how it would continue to affect them going forward. We get little hints of this leading up to it, like Ruby outright saying she's never thought about her future (implicitly because she was aware she would not have one as Sarina) and the way she so enthusiastically gives her all to playing and having fun with other kids at school - because those are things that she never got to do as Sarina. But her dance scene and her thoughts leading up to it really hammer in just how deeply this has affected Ruby - she spends almost three years living with the expectation that at any moment, her body will betray and hurt her for seemingly no reason to the point that it affects how she walks and carries herself moment to moment.

This is also a really good Ai moment for her as a moment and it also highlights something really special about Ai and Ruby's relationship I feel we don't get as much post-timeskip; how genuinely healing and wonderful their connection was for both of them. I've talked before about the running motif of toxic motherhood on Oshi no Ko and how Ai, as a character, is sort of a refutation of the other shitty oshi no moms in the series. Knowing that both Ai and Ruby are victims of toxic mothers, it makes it so deeply, incredibly powerful that these two victims find healing and acceptance in each other and the genuinely loving and supportive mother/daughter bond they have with each other.

The anime's version of this scene is also just easily one of its biggest highlights for me. The gorgeous colours, the overlapping of Sarina and Ruby's voices and the palpable affection Ruby and Ai have for each other... it's just so lovely and it makes me a little teary-eyed every time I watch it. The transformation of Sarina's sorrow into Ruby's joy and empowerment is such an important foundational part of Ruby's arc in the first part of the series and I'm so glad the anime really got it right.

#oshi no ko #oshi no posting #onk spoilers #ai hoshino #hoshino ai #ruby hoshino #hoshino ruby #aqua hoshino #hoshino aqua

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alumbianchronicler · 7 months

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EctoberHaunt - Oct. 9 Magic - Dragons

Summary:

Few ghosts reach the tertiary stage of Core Development that marks an Ancient, but those who do must learn to harness their Primordial power and the draconic form that comes with its development.

It's a good thing Danny has a way to get out of the Sol system, because apparently he's going to turn into a dragon. A dragon with a black hole at his Core.

Warnings: Ecto-hunger (only ecto-weenies were harmed in the making of this fic. And a star system). Eating non-food items.

Crossover: n/a

Danny felt like he was starving.

No matter how much he ate the last few weeks, it never seemed to be enough. Even ectoplasm-laced food wasn't satiating for more than an hour or two, as the destruction of the entire Ecto-Weenie colony could attest to. Or... couldn't, since it had been eaten.

He paced, trying to ignore the gnawing in his stomach, his tongue running absently along the fangs that had recently grown in, pushing out his human canines. The process had been awkward and mildly painful, but thankfully seemed to be over.

In his human form, at least.

His ghost form seemed to still be experimenting with dentition, fangs growing and replacing each-other, finally settling into some semblance of a predator's maw in the last two days.

He wasn't sure he liked it.

At least his ghost form was more malleable than the human. Stretchier and more prone to shifting instead of tearing, even if that meant that sometimes it moved in ways no human body would ever be capable of.

Honestly, he should go see Frostbite. This many changes, and being this hungry? With his luck, he was gaining some new level of ghost power that he was going to have to learn how to control if he didn’t want to accidentally hurt everyone around him...

Ok. Snack first, and then off to Frostbite.

Danny slipped downstairs, not bothering to check for his parents, who were usually out on their own patrol around this time of the evening.

A search in the fridge yielded a few slices of leftover pizza, quickly consumed. The trip through the lab gave him a vial of ectoplasm which he downed as well before letting his transformation wash over him and flying into the Ghost Zone.

At least this time whatever was happening with him wasn’t quite literally freezing him from the inside out.

He flew through the vast space of the Ghost Zone, reveling in the feeling. It was freeing, flying like this, surveying the expanse of an entire dimension spreading out to infinity, much like space itself, right down to the distant ghosts of stars that twinkled impossibly far away.

Perhaps one day he would figure out how to fly that far…

To fly, and fly, and never stop. To thread his way through nebulae and around asteroids, to engulf the stars themselves in the singing void of his Core. He hummed, pitching his voice to match the distant thrum of the dead stars, listening to them sing back.

Danny abruptly stopped, coming back to himself in a shock of realization.

That was… weird, right? Those were some really weird thoughts.

He looked down at his hands, disconcerted to see that ghostly claws had extended, leaving them distinctly inhuman.

He needed to get to the Far Frozen.

Thankfully, he had flown most of the way there already, and it only took a few more minutes to finish the trip. Danny barely registered the greetings of the Yetis going about their business as he flew to Frostbite’s personal labs.

The Yeti chieftain was there, looking over some sort of computer readings, and he looked up with a wide smile as Danny landed.

“Great one! What brings you here today?”

“I think I’m going through another weird ghost growth thing,” Danny blurted out almost before Frostbite finished his question. “I grew fangs, and I’m always hungry, and on the way over here I kept spacing out and thinking about flying between the stars and eating asteroids and…” he paused to take a breath he didn’t need, “I’m kind of worried that I’ll just fly off into space for some weird ghost reason and never be able to find my way back.”

Frostbite regarded him for a moment, his cheerful expression morphing into contemplation. “I see. Let me get some readings, and we’ll see if we can sort out what’s happening to you.”

He guided Danny to a table and attached probes to his chest and his back to measure his Core’s energy outputs, turning his screen so that Danny could observe as well.

“When you say you are always hungry,” Frostbite started, tapping the screen to set the desired parameters, “is it for human food, or for ectoplasm?”

“Uh… both. And…” Danny ran a hand through his hair, embarrassed, “not always food. I kind of ate a handful of rocks the other day, just to feel like I wasn’t starving.”

Instead of looking worried by this, though, the yeti just nodded thoughtfully. “Curious.” On the screen, the gently oscillating hum of Danny’s Core was displayed. The dips and rises were a little stronger than last time it had been scanned, but otherwise, it looked fine.

Frostbite tapped a sequence into the screen, changing the display until it showed the elemental outputs of the Core. He stared at it for several long moments, then made a low, confused sound.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Danny commented, worried.

Frostbite shook himself and turned to Danny with a soft smile.

“It’s not bad, Great One. It is simply something I have not been able to study in person, myself. It is not often a ghost develops a Primordial Core, after all.”

“Primordial?”

“Indeed. As you have already experienced, some ghosts, upon becoming strong enough, develop Elemental Cores. This, however, is not the end of Core development. Rarely, a ghost will gain enough power and influence to begin developing what we call a Primordial affinity. According to records, anyway.”

He closed out of the reading display and pulled up a diagram instead, showing the different types of elemental Cores. “The elemental ones are rather straightforward, usually aligning with the individual’s personality, surroundings, or experiences.”

A few more taps on the screen and a new display appeared. This one showed diagrams of several powerful ghosts. Danny recognized some as Ancients he knew. He guessed the others were either Ancients he had never met, or ones who had Faded or Ended.

“Primordial Cores are a bit more complex, and form around concepts,” Frostbite continued. “Time, Dreams, Weather, and so on. Unfortunately, much like Elemental Cores, they can take some effort to learn how to harness and safely ration one’s abilities, and many Primordials spend several centuries alone in the depths of the Infinite Realms, or in lifeless regions of the overworld, to learn how to control themselves.”

Danny stared at Frostbite, his Core thrumming sharply with anxiety. “I can’t do that. I have… homework. School. Friends and family. I can’t just… disappear!”

“Phantom,” Frostbite said, sharply but not unkindly. “I believe I have an option for you. I have already spoken with the Timekeeper, and we agreed on a solution, should this development occur. Your Core has already begun developing Primordial traits, and so we can not turn back the clock on it, but we can send you somewhere, and somewhen, that you can safely test your limits and gain control over your form and powers.”

That was… somewhat reassuring. Of course Clockwork would have already seen this potential and made contingencies. And Frostbite had the Infimap. It could travel time as well as space. He could just go back in time a few centuries and…

“Wait, form?”

Frostbite nodded. “Indeed.” He tapped the screen, and the diagrams of the Ancients morphed from the familiar humanoid forms into new ones: long, curling bodies and large fangs, a few with vast wings blotting out the sky, some with horns and claws. All with a sense of immense, unrestrained power.

“I’m… going to turn into a dragon?”

“Yes.”

“What… what kind of Primordial Core do I have?”

Frostbite relaxed, apparently relieved that Danny was taking this relatively in stride, and tapped back to the Core Energy display. The usual cold temperature had plunged to near absolute zero, and the usual bright blue iciness of his Core now had a swirling impossible blackness at the center, the ice-blue light slightly bulging outward as it swirled around it.

Danny blinked. He recognized that sort of object.

“I have… a black hole. In my chest. Frostbite. What the actual heck? My Core is turning into a black hole?!” Well, that did explain why he was so hungry, right? Was that hunger going to be permanent? Was he destined to consume anything and everything he ever came near to??

“A Void, or Space, Core is exceptionally rare,” Frostbite explained calmly. “I believe Ghost Writer has records of some others, but most in the past, as I am sure will be no surprise, were exceptionally solitary. No one is sure whether those individuals have Faded, or simply lost themselves to the depths of space."

Danny rested his hand on his chest, feeling his Core thrum there. “Will I… lose myself to space, too?” He had to admit, spending eternity flying among the stars didn’t sound terrible… but he had so many people on Earth that he cared about. He couldn’t just leave them.

“Considering your half living status, as well as your other Obsessions and drives, I doubt you will seek such solitude in the next few millenia at least,” Frostbite replied, echoing Danny’s own thoughts. He removed the probes from Danny’s skin. “You will probably be relieved to know that, once you have learned how to control and regulate your Primordial Core, you will not feel the same hunger you do now, or at least, not with the same urgency, and your Core will still be bounded by your own intent. You will have to be careful interacting with your mortal loved ones, but you already do quite well interacting with them, and I have all the faith that you will manage.”

“Now!” Frostbite clapped Danny on the back, nearly knocking him off the examination table. “Let’s get you some food, and then we’ll send you off. The sooner the better, judging by your Core’s energy patterns.”

Food sounded wonderful, and Danny couldn’t help but feel relieved by the news that this was just… yet another power development.

Sure, he was going to spend a few centuries away from everyone he knew and loved (Did it really need to be centuries? Surely he could manage the powers in a year or two. How hard could it be?), but they would be waiting for him when he got back (from space!), and no time would have passed for them.

Of course, it would have passed for him…

Huh.

It was a long time to be away, alone…

But he didn’t want to risk harming anyone. It was better to stay away, at least long enough that he knew he wasn’t going to accidentally consume anyone with the black hole apparently seated within his chest.

Maybe when he got back, he could let some astronomers take a look and be included in a scientific paper!

The mood at dinner was jovial, as the word of Phantom’s new power development spread amongst the Yetis. They seemed relieved that he was leaving to learn this new power, instead of attempting to practice it there in the Far Frozen, memories of him learning his ice powers keen on everyone’s minds.

All too soon, the meal was finished and Frostbite was leading him to the cave in which he stored the Infimap. A slip of paper rested beside it, a string of numbers written on it in a sweeping script Danny recognized as Clockwork’s hand-writing. Beneath that, it read: “I will come meet you in due time to bring you home.”

Cryptic, but reassuring. Danny would not be lost in space with no way back.

“The numbers are a set of coordinates,” Frostbite explained. “They will take you to the place and time we decided upon. There, you will be able to wander as you wish, and Clockwork will bring you home when he deems it Time.”

Danny nodded, reaching out to the Infimap. It hummed under his fingers, as if recognizing him.

Frostbite reached out as well, holding on so the Map would take both of them. “I’m going to bring it back after dropping you off this time.”

Danny chuckled. He couldn’t blame Frostbite, after the last time he had borrowed the Map. Holding up the slip of paper, he requested the map to take them to the listed coordinates.

Frostbite did not linger after the Map dropped them off. He gave Danny a hug, wished him well, and then asked the map to return him to his own home and time, leaving Danny alone.

Danny found himself in a star system that was not Earth’s. The star was the wrong color, for one, and the planets he could see were definitely not the ones he was familiar with.

The star itself was more red, large and heavy with the weight of higher elemental fusion.

He found his gaze riveted to it as he floated, watching the way its surface swirled and danced, tracing the movement of flares and slightly-cooler patches of relative darkness.

Danny flew closer, barely registering as the star, looming impossibly large next to him, seemed to reach out to him, a faint strand of hot gas and light pulled toward his Core.

He flew around the star, wanting to circumnavigate it. His body grew as he flew, absorbing stardust into the growing infinity within his chest.

Phantom danced as he flew, pulling a larger thread of light and matter from the star, testing how far away he could get and keep pulling the matter in a steady stream to his Core.

He spread great, nebulous wings after the second circumnavigation, soaring in a wider and wider orbit from the star.

The first planet was a tiny, scorched thing, not unlike Mercury, and the dragon curled around it a few times before devouring it and returning to his orbit.

The other planets were explored and consumed in turn, until finally Phantom turned back to the center of the star system.

He returned to the star, bathing in the heat of its atoms as the pulled strand of fire followed him, forming a swirling accretion disc and illuminating his vast, twisting, void-dark body beneath the nebulae of his wings.

Eventually, the star dimmed and destabilized, too much consumed to continue thriving, and the dragon coiled around it, pulling it into himself, and finally, the loose, swirling gas and dust that had been trailing around him collapsed inward as well.

What had once been a star system grew dark and still, and the dragon Phantom, sated, slept.

#ectoberhaunt23 #day 9 #eh magic #dragons #danny phantom #ancient of space #dragon form

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quotemenevervore · 1 year

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*comes out of the fic void after weeks to throw this and get dragged back in*

Content warnings: soft, safe g/t vore, character thinking they’re going to die or think it’s unsafe for a good chunk of the fic, fear and panic.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The morning had been a slow one, flurries falling around the city as Quackity watched through the window. He’d finished his paperwork for the day, and with the snow falling, he wasn’t gonna have Foolish work on any buildings. He didn’t wanna risk losing him as well, after everything that’s happened. The city itself was still in shambles, leftover destruction from Dream’s most recent scheme. With a sigh, he dug through his pocket to find his lighter and a spare cigarette, one that had been left by Wilbur. He, too, had vanished, and Tommy had told him what had happened. He sighed, lighting it and stepping out onto the balcony. Wilbur may not have any qualms about making the office smell of cigarettes, but the blackette certainly did.

He spent a lot of his time nowadays like this, smoking and reminiscing about the past. The cold air sucked the warmth from his fingers, made the chain around his neck icy cold. The rings themselves still rested against his heart, the only way they stayed warm in the freezing weather. He didn’t even know why he wore them anymore; not even Sapnap had come to check on him after the fight, and he knew that everyone saw the death message. It seemed that they’d finally given up on him.

Like you knew they would, a voice sounding so unlike his own whispered in his head. It was only a matter of time. Abruptly putting the cigarette out, he turned back to the door, effectively cutting the thoughts off and stepping back inside to the warmth of the office.

And yet… his veins flooded with ice when he stepped in.

There was a glass jar on his desk, one that had not been there when he’d stepped out. It wasn’t the jar itself, no. It was the contents of the jar. Inside, slumped against the side of it and clearly exhausted, were his ex-fiancés. They had to have been shrunken to only a few inches tall, and yet he could still make out most of their features; Karl was asleep, hair disheveled and limbs curled awkwardly against his fiancé. Sapnap was also asleep, but he didn’t seem to be any different than usual, only shrunken.

A dark tendril curled in his core at the realization that he could do anything to them, and nobody would be any wiser. Sapnap wouldn’t be his target, prime no. Sapnap hadn’t been the one who screamed at him, who broke their engagement and tore apart his already fractured heart.

But… Sapnap would be deeply upset if he caught Quackity hurting Karl. And he didn’t have a whole lot of time at the moment anyway, he never knew when someone would come to his office. Foolish hadn’t been happy to be told that rebuilding was on hold, after all. Frowning, he thought over his options.

He wanted Karl to see how badly he hurt him. He didn’t necessarily have to kill him to do that, but he couldn’t up and hurt or toy with him if Sapnap was around. He didn’t want to lose the damaged relationship he had with the fireborn. He… could scare him, though. Carefully and quietly unscrewing the lid, he pulled the unconscious brunette out of the jar, replacing the lid with a soft click. Pulling him closer, he took in the man’s features.

He was paler than he should have been, and the bags under his eyes stood out prominently against his cheeks. His hoodie seemed baggier than it had been before, and Quackity was surprised to feel a twinge of concern. Karl didn’t seem to be taking care of himself anymore, and Sapnap has apparently just been.. letting him. He steeled himself, reminding himself of everything he’d put him through, and opened his mouth wide enough to safely place him inside.

He wasn’t going to hurt him yet. If he even chose to hurt him at all, at this point. It seemed he’d been doing a good enough job of that himself. He was just going to put him in his crop, effectively cutting off the contact between him and Sapnap. He can interrogate him later on, when Sapnap had settled in a little better with him while he tried to figure out how they’d wound up like this. For now, he didn’t trust letting the fireborn out of his sight.

The unconscious form barely even twitched as he gently rolled him around, getting him covered in saliva so that the trip down didn’t hurt either of them. Or wake him up, Quackity realized. He’d freak out if he woke up before he was fully in his crop. Well, he’d freak out either way, but it would take him longer to figure out what had happened if he woke up in his crop.

Deeming him slicked up enough, he nudged him back towards his throat with his tongue, keeping close attention on him in case he began to wake up. With barely a stir, he gently swallowed. It took two swallows to get his lanky body down, and he trailed the limp form down with a hand as his mind drifted back to the situation at hand.

Someone had shrunk his fiancés, and he needed to find out more.

~ ~ ~

Sapnap wasn’t sure what had happened when he woke up. All he knew was that his head was pounding, and he felt strange. It took a while for him to be able to open his eyes, but he almost regretted it the second he did. The world around him was warped, somehow.. but it looked like an office. If the office was built by Foolish for his giant form.

Looking up, he saw a metal roof, and something finally clicked for him: the area looked warped because he was inside a jar. And the office, it must have been giant because he’d been shrunk! Slamming his hand against the jar, he tried to break the glass, but even he could feel how thick it was. There’d be no shattering it, even if he were to try using his fire to do so. Instead of his hand, he slammed his shoulder against it, trying to knock the jar to it’s side. Several minutes passed, and all he earned himself was a sore shoulder.

A muffled sound got his attention, and his head snapped over to the balcony door where- oh, fuck. Not only was he shrunken and in someone’s office, he was in Quackity’s office. He hadn’t seen him since.. the fight. The avian walked back to the desk, sitting down and pulling his paperwork back to him with a sigh. He only glanced at the jar a moment, but upon realizing the other was awake he had the other’s full attention.

“Hang on, I’m turning the jar.” Sapnap stepped back as he reached over, carefully turning the jar on its side and unscrewing the lid. The fireborn hesitated only a moment before coming out of the jar and sitting down a little ways away from the giant. He couldn’t help the instinctual fear he felt from looking up at the other, even if he trusted Quackity wouldn’t hurt him.

“So, do you have any idea how this happened?” He shook his head. “I was just sleeping at Kinoko, then I woke up in that jar.” The other hummed in acknowledgment, tapping his pen against the paper absentmindedly. “I didn’t even know this was a thing until now.” “Me either.” Sapnap admitted.

A small silence followed, but the avian cut it short. “I will do my best to look into this, but until then, it may be safer for you to stay here.” The fireborn sucked in a small breath, knowing that mentioning Karl would be a bad idea. Someone needed to take care of him, but.. Quackity wasn’t likely to let him go home like this. Maybe.. maybe some of the other Kinoko members can check in on him. Hopefully George wouldn’t be completely knocked out the whole time he’s gone… “Yeah, probably.”

Quackity could tell what was bothering the other, and he sighed. “I’m sure Karl will be fine until I figure out what happened.” “Yeah…” He really wouldn’t be if he got any worse. He was barely remembering to eat as it was. But there were more pressing matters at the current hand, such as the giant hand sitting right in front of him. Jerking back, he looked up to the other’s face. “I'm not gonna make you stay in my office all the time, we’re gonna go to my house.” “You have a house?” “Well, I’m currently staying in a penthouse in one of the standing hotels. The rest of the damn country got blown to kingdom come thanks to Dream.”

Sapnap carefully clambered onto the other’s hand, trying not to overthink the whole situation. He was crawling into his fucking fiancé’s hand, while his other one is at home continuing to get worse. Hell, he doesn’t even know how this happened- did something similar happen to Karl? The hand curled slightly around him, steadying him as Quackity started to leave the office, locking the door behind him.

The strangest thing to Sapnap, as he was held against the other’s chest, is that he swore he could hear Karl. But that couldn’t be right, right? Surely he’s just imagining it since he’s really worried..

~ ~ ~

Karl had had the strangest nightmare. Dream had been chasing him down, taunting him that he’d ruined his relationship with his fiancés to trip him up. No matter how fast he ran, Dream always seemed a step ahead, and threw a weird potion at him. And when he woke up, he was held tightly in a now giant Dream’s fist, which only tightened as he understandably panicked and thrashed. The last thing he heard before he felt his bones strain under the pressure was , “Don’t worry. Your precious fiancé will join you soon.”

He woke up with a gasp, breathing the muggy air in heavily as his heart tried to calm down. Jame- Sapnap must have had a similar nightmare, if the warm and restrictive surroundings meant anything. Not even counting the loud heartbeat he could hear, the loud whoosh of air as he breathed deeply in and out. But when he opened his eyes.. Sapnap wasn’t there. Plus, his surroundings seemed damp- was this another tale? Was he teleported in his sleep? Dammit, he usually woke up when that happened!

He sat up, eyes narrowing as he tried to decipher what was going on. So his surroundings were damp, dark, and warm, and also incredibly soft. It held him kind of tightly, like an embrace. It seemed to move around him, like it was- he gasped, scrambling back and flinching when his back hit a wall. He was in something. He was in something living, he’d been eaten!

“Hey! Can you hear me? Please let me out!” He kicked his feet out, hands scrambling for purchase against the walls- the stomach walls, which could start secreting acid at any moment- “Please!” He shrieked, panic overtaking him as he started to thrash in his confines. “I can’t- Let me out!”

He struggled for as long as he could, but he already had so little energy to begin with, and he went limp with a shudder, panting for air as tears began to stream down his saliva-coated face. He hadn’t even made a bruise, he didn’t think. There’d been no pained noise from whatever had eaten him. All he’d done was wear himself out. Maybe.. maybe he could sleep through it. Could just respawn in the In Between, lose his second life and just hide away. He couldn’t get away from XD or his demands, but he could hide from everyone to keep them safe.

His tears only slowed because he let his eyes drift close, and he finally let his mind drift off.

~ ~ ~

Quackity felt slightly guilty as he watched his fiancé sleep on the pillow beside him. His other hand smoothed over his abdomen, where his other fiancé had just went back to sleep. He wasn’t going to lie: the hurt, the fear and misery in Karl’s voice made a dark,dark tendril of satisfaction curl around his heart. He’d finally given the other man the treatment he’d put him through. But..

He’d be lying if the other’s hiccuping sobs didn’t also twist his heart in a way that threatened to break it. He’d only just started quieting down when Quackity got them all to his room, and by the time he had both Sapnap and himself laid down for the night, he could tell the other was already asleep. But while he and Sapnap slept, the avian himself was plagued by his emotions, his heart warring over itself over and over again. On one hand, Charlie’s words kept echoing through his head, repeating his own lessons to him. And even his own commentary..

Is revenge worth it? …No.

And yet… he still found himself justifying his actions. He sighed, letting his eyes fall shut. He wouldn’t sleep, he knew that, but he could rest his eyes at the very least.

In the morning, he brought some food and water to Sapnap, leaving it and the tiny man on the floor so he could roam around. “I’ll let you know when I’m at the door, and I’ll give you time in case you’re right behind it before I open it, okay?” “Sounds fine to me.” Sapnap already knew he couldn’t squeeze under the door, and climbing stuff could lead to him falling and dying to the fall damage, so he simply accepted his current situation. Not imprisonment, because as soon as he thinks of it like that he’s screwed. But he just can’t do much on his own at the moment, and that was fine. It had to be.

Quackity offered him a soft smile and a goodbye before he closed the door, sighing as he began his path to his office. The snow had ended, and Foolish was eager to work again so he had to be there to get the estimate that the other had for him. He put Karl on the back burner for the moment, reminding himself to let him out so they both could eat later on. He just wanted the other to start looking normal so he’d feel less guilty, is all. He tried to erase the guilt from his heart as he shut the door to his office.

And now he waited.

~ ~ ~

“-And I’m telling you that that might not work.” Karl’s eyes snapped open when he heard someone speaking, his brain registering it as Drew- no, Helga?- Quackity. Quackity was speaking, and his voice seemed like it was echoing through the organ that he was still in. “Quackity..?” He whispered, eyes wide in disbelief. Quackity sounded too close to be anything but the person who had eaten him. But how was he still alive?

There was no way he wasn’t trying to kill him, not after what had transpired between them. He did not remember the fight fully, it all vague and fuzzy, but he had enough pieces to put it together. He remembered the rainy evening, the distress he felt, the distraught on his fiancés face when he told him to make Quackity leave, and Quackity’s own hurt and anger that he threw right back at him. Quackity wanted him to suffer, and he chose the worst fate he could think of to bestow on him.

Which… also meant that the nightmare he’d had hadn’t been a nightmare. It had to have been real, how else would Quackity have managed to swallow him otherwise? He was confused, scared and above all just upset, and it made itself known when a sob tore itself out of his throat unexpectedly. Everything around him seemed to still, and he slapped a hand over his mouth, terrified. Quackity had to have known he was awake. His shoulders continued to shake with muffled cries as he heard the larger dismiss whoever he’d been speaking with before. A few moments passed, and something pressed against him.

“Relax, you’re safe.” “Safe!?” “It’s a crop, it’s not my actual stomach. Chill out.” The nonchalant, bored tone that Quackity had made him sick with worry. He bit back another sob, thinking about lashing out and hitting at him again. But then he’d probably just get put into his stomach.. But wasn’t he just gonna end up there when he finally got done with him? He hadn’t even realized he started shaking until a soft sigh came from above and the pressure against him started moving.

His hand. It had to have been his hand.

“…Why-“ he wasn’t proud of his voice cracking, and when he realized what he was asking he stopped. Why would you do this? As if he didn’t already figure it out. And it seemed that Quackity knew what he was going to ask, because he remained silent for a moment before responding, bitterness evident in every word. “You know why.” And, yea, he did now, but he hadn’t even remembered what had happened between them. Between the tales, XD’s constant games, and him getting nowhere closer to getting a grasp on his abilities, he hasn’t been able to get his memory back together again. He can’t even remember the last time he updated his memory book..

But Quackity wouldn’t believe that. He knew that for a fact. So instead of responding, he fell limp against the wall, trying to keep his tears at bay. He was going to die thanks to something he couldn’t even control. He still shook, unable to stop the fear still running through him, but he was not comforted again.

~ ~ ~

He didn’t even realize he’d fallen asleep until his eyes snapped open as the organ around him squeezed inwards. His brain caught on quickly, and he flailed his limbs around. No, please, I don’t wanna go like this- “Karl, stop.” The command was harsh, and he flinched, the walls squishing him into a ball. He panted, tears already streaming down his face. He wanted to at least say goodbye to Mas- Sapnap, and George-

“You’re not dying. I'm bringing you up.” His words were softer than before, and the shift hurt his already confused brain. But he got the gist of what the other wanted, holding still and hoping against everything that he was just bringing him out.

Thankfully, he’d been right. Squished back up through the tight muscles of his throat wasn't all too pleasant, and seeing the sharp teeth before him when he’d finally escaped the pressure only spiked his heart rate. But he was gently grabbed by the man’s tree-like fingers, and deposited onto the desk. Beside him sat a cracker, with a slice of meat and cheese atop it, along with a small container full of water. There was a large, possibly twice the size of himself, sandwich set on a plate not that far away. A drink was also there, though Karl couldn’t tell what it was.

He turned back to the giant once he’d sat himself down, questioning the small meal obviously meant for him. “You have to eat too, I’m not that cruel.” His eyes and words were emotionless, and the neutral line of his mouth didn’t give the brunette any less anxiety. He.. thought about running. Jumping off the desk, see if he survived the fall damage then running off to find himself a solution to the tale he was in. He hadn’t even scooted that far to the edge before a hand shot out, wrapping tightly around him as he was yanked upwards to be face to face with the now irritated Mexican.

“If you’re going to kill yourself anyway, I’ll gladly just eat you. Otherwise, I’d eat what’s provided.” He swallowed nervously at the words, body jerking from fear, but did not make another attempt to jump when he was set back down. He wondered idly if the aches he felt were phantom pains or if he’d just been bruised, but he didn’t mention it. He simply sat down and started eating the food provided to him.

If he pushed any further, would he be denied food and water as well?

“I’m sorry..” he mumbled, though it went unheard as the other continued his sandwich. A shudder went through his body as he thought of every way he could be tormented by his former fiancé. He could be bitten, starved, swallowed into the other’s actual stomach, the other could literally crush his bones in his fist if he wanted to- his shoulders jerked with a sob, but he forced himself to be quiet, shoving a piece of cheese into his mouth to muffle the cries threatening to escape. Anything that could get him in trouble he needed to avoid. He just needed to behave, and maybe he’d be released.

Hopefully.

When they both had finished eating, he was swallowed again, and while he didn’t fight, he couldn’t stop the shivers wracking his small form. They barely relaxed when he slipped into the other’s crop again, this time recognizing it for what it was. He took a deep shuddery breath, pressing his back against the closest wall to him. All he could do now was behave and pray the other would have mercy on him.

~ ~ ~

They continued like this for about a week, Karl refusing to speak unless it was to answer a direct question. Strangely enough, the questions themselves weren’t what he expected. He’d expected taunting and scathing remarks, and instead was asked if he’d had enough to eat or enough water to drink. He’d been granted access to the desk, as long as he didn’t try to jump off of it again while the other finished eating. And even then, he barely utilized it, too scared to be seen as stepping out of line.

He’d been with Quackity for long enough that he knows he has Sapnap as well, and he knows the other is purposely keeping him from knowing Karl’s whereabouts, and keeping them separate. He wonders if that’s part of his punishment. He wished he’d remembered sooner, he wished he never opened his mouth that night. Maybe then he wouldn’t be sitting in the crop of one of his fiancés wondering when he was going to be killed.

There was a part of him that held out hope, that Quackity would realize he didn’t want to do this and free him, or even just let him see Sapnap again before he killed him. He knew after everything he was probably beyond forgiveness, so all he wanted was mercy. But today seemed different, and Karl had a feeling when he woke up that his time was running out. Quackity didn’t speak to him once, nor let him out for both of them to eat. He hung his head in resignation and hoped it wouldn’t be too painful.

~ ~ ~

Quackity had a nightmare unlike the others. In this one, he was put in the same situation he put Karl in, but it had been Schlatt to do it. And then it changed to Charlie at some point, the lessons going through his head again before he was killed, and jolting awake. He was amazed he didn’t wake Karl or Sapnap up, carefully sitting up to get ready without disrupting either. He left food and water for Sapnap, placed his pillow on the floor, and shut the door.

He threw himself into his work, be it physical labor or paperwork. And yea, he should stop, he should let Karl out, get them both fed, but every time he tried to, his anxiety crept up and locked his body up. Foolish had noticed it as well, and told him to head back to his house for the day. Thanking him, and reminding himself to give the totem some extra gems as payment for looking out for him as well as everything else, he went back to the room.

Which led them to now, where Karl had started fidgeting slightly but hiding the movement to the best of his ability while Quackity read a book to distract himself with Sapnap sitting on the desk he was sitting at. But distractions can only work for so long, and Sapnap hadn’t had anything to distract himself from his worry about his memory-losing fiancé. Finally, after a week of staying with Quackity, he built up the courage to ask.

“…Can you do something for me?” Sapnap asked quietly. It was unlike him, catching Quackity’s attention instantly. He put the book he’d been reading to the side, giving the fireborn his full attention. “What?” “I.. know you aren’t a fan of Karl anymore. And I understand why you’d still be upset over what happened. But.. Can you please check on him?” He knew his face had twisted into a frown, but his attention became divided and he wasn’t focusing on hiding his expression.

Karl hadn’t fought back since that first outburst when he released him the first time. Not even when he continued to release him and let him eat, which the dark part of his brain wanted him not to. And yea, he did seem a little weaker from not moving but the bags under his eyes were fading, meaning he was finally getting better. It… warmed his heart, unfortunately. It seemed that the brunette finally realized he wasn’t going to be truly eaten every time he’s stored, and he wasn’t shaking anymore. Until today, that is.

But the main thing is that he also never spoke. Karl was a very vocal person, it was part of the reason Quackity liked him so much. And since the outburst, he hasn’t spoken more than a few words. He knew he cried, but that dark part of his mind relished in it, like it relished when Dream begged and cried. It.. was starting to make him feel sick.

He’d been having nightmares about his second death that whole week. About what Charlie, his closest friend since his fiancés, said before killing him.

You are not a good person.

No, he wasn’t. And he was down to his final life, having nobody but his shrunken and distraught fiancés to keep him company when he caused their divide to begin with. He sighed heavily, overcome with conflict. “..why?” Sapnap shrunk back at the question, but he didn’t flinch. “It’s just… I can’t rely on George to watch over him. He’s always sleeping now, I can’t ever wake him up. And prime knows Dream’s probably got-“ “What does that have to do with Karl?” Sapnap looked worried, tail flicking with nervousness.

“Karl.. doesn’t really remember things anymore. He doesn’t remember me half the time. I.. that night, I thought he’d been playing a sick joke, and I confronted him and he just broke down. He sounded so scared. I’ve.. I've tried my best to keep up with him, help him remember stuff like eating or showering or anything and he won’t. He keeps disappearing, coming back injured or shaky and he keeps calling me by a different name and it’s hard to take care of him alone-“ Quackity’s eyes widened and he raised a hand towards Sapnap to get him to stop. “Breathe, Sapnap. You have to breathe.”

“He probably didn’t want me telling you.” He rasped out before the stern look of the avian finally stopped him. Quackity leaned back as he caught his breath, mulling over everything Sapnap had spilled. Karl was having memory problems. It doesn’t explain why he’s been disappearing, but it does explain the outburst, at least. He wasn’t willing to forgive yet, especially considering that Karl seems to remember what he’d done now. Though, Sapnap probably reminded him every time he didn’t remember.

But… that made sense. The bagginess to his clothes, the paleness to his skin, the severe bags under his eyes… Karl wasn’t taking care of himself. He wasn’t remembering to. It was like he’d become a shell of who he used to be. And Sapnap hadn’t been letting him shrivel up, he’d been trying his damndest to get through to him.

…Suddenly, revenge didn’t feel so nice.

“You’re going to hate me.” Quackity muttered, shaking his head. He knew he had to admit the truth. There was no way he could keep this charade up, not anymore. “Please, Quackity-“ “It’s not that. I.. can’t go check on Karl because he’s here.” Letting Sapnap process that, he started the process of bringing his other fiancé up. Karl didn’t even squirm, surely he knew what was happening now.

At least this time he did deserve his fiancés’ anger.

Gently spitting him into his palm, he didn’t spare Sapnap a glance as he dried the other off with a sleeve. He couldn’t see the hurt, the anger from him. He already felt guilty enough. Quickly drying him off to the best of his ability, he placed the brunette down beside Sapnap and pulled away from the desk, moving his chair away to give them space.

“Sapnap!” “Karl!” He tackled the other in a hug, not caring about the residual saliva soaking into his clothes. He pulled back enough to look at his face, surprised to see the bags under his eyes almost completely faded. He seemed to have more energy as well, yanking the other back into a hug. “I thought he was gonna kill me..” he whispered into the fireborn’s ear. “I’m sorry-“ “But he didn’t. He even took care of me. Why?” Sapnap shook his head. “I don’t know.” His eyes shifted to watch the avian, who remained a good distance away and was avoiding eye contact. He didn’t miss the shift in the air, the guilty silence he was emitting.

“So..” he cleared his throat, catching the other’s attention. There was still no eye contact from him, though. “Is there a reason you ate Karl?” “Stored, not eaten. And I think you can figure that out on your own-“ “But the way you’ve been acting lately tells me that you’re out for blood from anyone who’s wronged you. Karl’s included in that, so why..?” Quackity looked at the two, expression unreadable. Eventually, his shoulders slumped, and he sighed. “I’m on my last life, Sapnap. I’ve lost everyone I cared about. Hell, Las Nevadas is still completely demolished despite me and Foolish working on it. I don’t want to go out in a blaze of overworking only for everything to crumble down like Wilbur did, and I already feel like I’m too far down that path to change.”

“Quackity..” “I’m tired. I thought safety lied in power, and I’ve been proven wrong three times now. The only reason I haven’t given up on this place is because Foolish hasn’t. And if he has, he hasn’t shown it.” Yet.. He forced himself to continue. “There’s no point in getting revenge anymore. All it’s gotten me is scars and pain. Besides, I hadn’t known the whole story behind Karl until now.”

The brunette startled at the mention of his name. “Me?” “Your memory problems. It explains why you yelled at me, you didn’t remember who I was. And you looked like shit when I first pulled you out of that jar, like you hadn’t been taking care of yourself.” Karl looked away, embarrassment tinging his cheeks pink. “I try..” “It’s not your fault. You can’t really control the fact that you can’t remember.” Hesitantly, he scooted his chair closer to the desk. When neither tiny flinched away, he scooted close enough that he could rest his head on his hands on the table to be close to eye level with them.

Sapnap came forward, sitting right in front of him while Karl stayed his distance. He didn’t blame the man, but his heart did hurt at that. When it had just been the two of them, when he let him out to eat, he’d sat close by. Did he do it out of fear? He couldn’t let his mind linger on it, guilt already eating away at his core. Instead, he chose to breach the other topic consuming his thoughts.

“How long has the memory loss gone on for?” He asked softly. Karl looked guilty, sad and scared all in one, and it made Quackity want to recoil and give them distance again. Karl broke his gaze first, fiddling with his sleeves nervously. “Since before Mex- El Rapids. It’s why I begged everyone to leave, something told me it wasn’t safe there anymore.” “And you didn’t think to let me know? Send a quick message saying ‘Hey we’re leaving I don’t think it’s safe here anymore’?” The look on Karl’s face told him what he knew the answer was going to be. “I’m sorry, I for-“ “But Sapnap doesn’t have memory issues.” He gently cut the other off. Sapnap looked guilty as well. “I do take blame for that, and for not inviting you to Kinoko or reaching out sooner. Karl told me he’d done it, and by the time it occurred to me that he probably forgot to, I couldn’t trust him to be alone long enough for me to find and explain everything to you. I searched for months, Quackity. And I already told you about George, he’s asleep all the time. He looks like shit too, but nobody can ever get him up or keep him up.”

Quackity sighed. “I.. can’t forget the shit you said to me, Karl. You really fucking hurt me.” “I know..” tears welled in the shrunken man’s eyes. “But, I may be able to forgive you, now that I know the whole story.” The hope in his other fiancé’s eyes made him continue. “And, I’m sorry for trapping you in my crop and not taking your fear seriously.” “I wasn’t scared the whole time, I kinda figured you weren’t trying to kill me for a while.” “Then I’m sorry I didn’t take your distress seriously. I just got lost in my want for revenge again that-“ “Again?” “Purpled wanted to take my second life. Dream backed him up and so did my right hand man.” “Why would Dream want revenge on you?”

“I went to the prison every day, trying to get him to give me the revival book. It was after he murdered Tommy. I..” he felt reluctant to continue, knowing it would upset Sapnap and Karl both, but everything should have been on the table to begin with. He won’t make the same mistake again. “I snuck in weapons. Or, Sam let me in actually. We came to an agreement about it.” Sapnap sucked in a breath. “You tortured him?” “Yeah.” He felt proud when his voice didn’t hold the same bored tone it had when he spoke about torturing Dream in the past. It was progress.

Maybe he did need the lesson from Slimesicle.

“I can’t kill Dream.” Sapnap spoke up. He didn’t seem too upset about the torture, but he could have also developed a good poker face. “There’s a fucking god that won’t let me.” “Really?” “It’s, what’s his name- I found the opposite of the revival book. The book of death. I wrote Dream’s name in it and he showed up and told me I couldn’t kill him. He said if I tried despite the warning, he’d erase me from existence.” “What?” “Yeah. So, I couldn’t kill him when he escaped.” Quackity nodded, not quite understanding why he was being told this.

Karl caught on faster, realizing that they were sharing the secrets they couldn’t spill to just anyone. Perhaps… they were doing it as a way to rekindle their relationship? Showing that they can trust each other? “I’m a time traveler.” If felt foreign, coming out of his mouth put that way. But he didn’t let himself back down. He wanted to fix things just as much as the other two seemed to want to. When he had both fiancés attention, he continued. “I know it’s like impossible and-“ “There’s been crazier stuff on this server, man. I believe you.” “Could it be causing your memory loss?” Both sounded genuine and concerned, and it made him want to cry. He’s been dealing with all this alone for so long- why didn’t he confide in them sooner?

“There’s a god, XD-“ “That’s the fucker! Sorry, sorry. Continue.” “Right, so he gave me the ability to travel through time, forwards and backwards, except he never gives me the power to control it. He says he does, he says I can learn it, but I still just keep randomly being pulled across time. I’ve met so many variations of ourselves, our ancestors, our descendants, and they’ve tried to kill me or I’d have no choice but to kill them and-“ Quackity gently scooped him into his hand, using his other hand to run a finger down his back. “Breathe, Karl. You’re starting to panic.”

Sapnap sat in thought for a moment, piecing everything they’d been told together. “That explains everything.” He looked up at the two, raising a hand towards Karl so Quackity got the hint and picked him up too. “The memory loss, the absences, calling me by different names- it’s all because of the time traveling.” Karl nodded, sniffling. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys sooner, I just didn’t want to be disregarded.” “Karl.” Quackity’s voice had softened. He hadn’t realized the extent of what his fiancé had been suffering through alone, and it made him feel awful. He found it a lot easier to forgive the outburst now. “We never would have turned you away for something like that. It would have saved us all a lot of heartbreak, honestly. I understand your fears, trust me. But you two were the ones who told me I shouldn’t live under them. We all have skeletons, but you shouldn’t have had to face this alone all this time. I’m sorry I didn’t notice.” “You weren’t supposed to. Must have done a pretty good job hiding it, then.” He offered a smile. “Seriously, though. You could have told us sooner, we may have been able to catch onto it and help you before it got this bad.” Sapnap added. “I’m sorry.” “You have nothing to apologize for, mi amor.”

The confusion on the brunette’s face at the nickname yanked on Quackity’s heartstrings, and he came to an impulsive decision. Lifting both his fiancés up to his face, he pressed a kiss to both of them, his lips taking up a good amount of their faces. Sapnap gasped at first, breaking off into laughter as he squirmed from the affection trap he’d been placed in. A smile stayed on the avian’s face as he pulled away, looking at both his fiancés with adoration.

Karl had turned red, confusion and worry flooding his features. “But.. I thought-“ “I can’t say I can’t forgive you knowing the full truth now. You’ve been suffering enough, you don’t need me adding onto it.” “You never did..” Tears finally started to spill from his eyes, and Quackity was quick to reassure, unknowing if they were sad or happy tears. “By separating from you two. By not reaching out myself. I should have, but I thought you guys were just busy for a bit. I could have kept your memory from twisting around and making you believe that I had been guilty of taking your first life.” “Oh, can we not deal with the fucking logistics of everything? I want to kiss you both!” Both fiancés laughed at the fireborn’s outburst, and more at his pout, but they indulged him regardless, Karl kissing him before Quackity smothered both of them with another kiss.

Things weren’t perfect, not by a long shot. And they wouldn’t be until they find out how this had happened, and how to reverse it along with helping Karl with his time traveling issues. But, Quackity had one life left, and he was going to be damned if he didn’t spend it with the two men he loved. He was going to make sure they were going to be okay.

#mcyt g/t #mcyt gt #mcyt vore #safe vore #soft vore #g/t vore #fear play #dsmp gt #dsmp g/t #dsmp vore

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