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horizon-verizon · 9 months

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I’ve always disliked Rhaena. She was a terrible, neglectful mother to her daughter and an abusive, cheating wife to Androw Farman.

*EDITED POST* (1/10/24)

Response to this post HERE.

The same guy who killed what seems to be a teenage girl because his wife came to hate him and wouldn't allow him to accrue more power or esteem through her position yet also wanted her to become politically subordinate to her out of jealousy and a fragile ego? Sure, let's go through this.

blankwhiteshield says this:

You can have an irredeemable and evil character that the patriarchy still suppresses and affects the psychology of immensely, rendering her a bigger monster. The commentary on the destructive capacity of static social constructs is not lost as a result. A character can turn into the devil of the story due to a world that ceaselessly strips her of her humanity, as well as as a result of the choices she actively makes.

And Rhaena was never actually evil or abusive or anything like these things BEFORE she's forced to marry Maegor, etc.

Her History (and a Pseudo-Summary of Later Explanations)

I perceive Rhaena to have been sensitive in her youth and then grew more bitter from the slights & abuses against her. The hurt becomes the hurter. It started as ner needing to be away from people towards the end of her life, especially when they expressed they didn't want her around and they had been with her intimately (romantic, familial, or platonic).

Though she started shy and always preferred to be either alone or with close friends, it is that reservedness that makes her value her bonds with a select group of people that makes their dismissals or betrayals hurt that much worse. Thus her lashing out, her brooding, her solitary runs, and her cold "bloodthirstiness" against Androw after she realizes he killed all her remaining friends. All ways for her to collect her perenially crushed dignity.

She marries Androw just to be close to Elissa and she never mistreats Androw until Elissa leaves. Then she lashes out.

She ticks off 3 of 8 behaviors of emotional abuse (in italics):

threats

insults

constant monitoring

excessive jealousy

manipulation

humiliation & ridiculing

intimidation

dismissiveness

And we know that it would have continued. The details we get, she:

continued to accuse/suspect him of helping Elissa run away and steal her dragon eggs

said that the "wrong Farman" ran away

laughed after her ladies laughed when he requested to replace a man named Bullock as the garrison commander

mocked him when she said how he couldn't stay on a dragon even if he tried after he declared they'd go together to the dying Alyssa

...but does this merit femicide and killing kids for your own growing self-loathing? (Reminder, femicide is different from just killing a woman. Femicide is killing a person because they are a woman and you wish to display dominance in destroying a woman & instilling their inferiority or subservient position to oneself, to punish her for straying from that role. Again, I explain how Androw falls under a femicidal person.)

Of course, Elissa left bc Rhaena already was in her state of bitterness and to kickstart her sailor-captain-adventurer dreams. However, if we argue that Rhaena shouldn't have put down a grown man's self-esteem and hurt both her lover & daughter so she could feel more in control...shouldn't we hold Androw Farman accountable for his crimes in response to those put-downs?

I think that the strength of Rhaena's writing is how human she is and is allowed to be by the narrative while showcasing how she pulled others into her misery with no coddling nor outright subtextual disgust.

In Rhaena, we get the raised question of what do we do with a victim who's BOTH fallen into darkness and then faces more of the similar thing they resented or has pushed them into the darkness? We also see the beginnings and consequences of female Targ abuse. I think we can appreciate Rhaena as a layered female character with many faults developed from abuses or ignoring those abuses, exacerbated over time while being the center of a story within a major one. Something we don't get often enough for women.

In Rhaena, we're getting a very detailed look into non-ideal motherhood, womanhood, and victimhood--from her and those she hurt.

She clearly has loyalty to her own family and house, cares about her kids as a mother (look below), but also seeks out any sort of compensation or some sort of justice for the suffering and sidelining that came from being a woman, and a woman in the wrong place of history AND being a female Targ.

She is quite literally our first account of what being a female Targaryen princess/royal family member is like (Alyssa Velaryon does not grow up royal or a Targ). She foreshadows & heralds the exclusionary/oppressive fates of Targ women, especially under war, and shows us the one way a woman (does not or cannot) deal with the fallout & decisions of others.

(Check out the quote way below of her criticizing her mother's decision to marry Rogar despite Rogar having abandoned Aegon when he battled Maegor above the God's Eye).

We remember that her brother Aegon was named heir over her despite her being the oldest child of Alyssa & Aenys. She did not complain or protest at this because she grew up in this patriarchal society and lived more or less privileged, surrounded by a lot of so-s-so--to great female friends as a princess and expecting to become Queen Consort one day, with the new family she grew with said husband. She is also the one to give her siblings Jaehaerys and Alysanne the eggs of the dragons they have while they are still in their cradles.

That all ends with her uncle usurping her husband, which is ironic because, again, she is the oldest AND she wanted to leave to protect their twins. So we should understand that at one point she came to the idea that her life could have been totally different if she had been Queen/heir apparent, as a succession crisis still occurred.

Then she's forced to marry that same uncle who she probably believes betrayed not only his rightful king but his entire family through the murder of her brother-husband, the "marriage", threatening her daughters, and killing her brother (Viserys). And of course, Maegor would have raped her through the entirety of their forced marriage. Later on, her mother aids Jaehaerys in further passing her over for another son--yes partly for the survival of all her surviving kids, but again it's not so much Alyssa as much as the passing over after all Rhaena was forced to give up (below). Alyssa and Rogar explicitly planned against the possibility of her becoming a regent for one of her daughters (as they both were thought as Aegon's heirs) ["The Year of the Three Brides -- 49 A.C."]:

I don't know if she, in real-time, understood that this was the reasoning behind Rogar & Alyssa's thinking, but either way, she looks like she observed that she was being treated as more of a threat than someone Alyssa gave birth to and someone who would have done anything for her family. Her claim became the thing her family used against her. And she became more and more resentful of the exclusion and "subtle" betrayals/sidelining.

And was it truly Alyssa's fear, or Rogar's, that Rhaena would come back to wrest power through her daughter? Who is the one to try to kidnap Rhaella and force her to "confess" that she is Aerea after he failed to get Aerea or convince the others to back his plans to usurp Jaehaerys? Rogar!

More likely, he convinced Alyssa that this was the case so he'd be more in control and isolate/distance Rhaena from her family. She saw through him before anyone else! ("Prince into King"):

Her and Jaehaerys, his making it clear that she would not gain Dragonstone based on her own autonomous claim to the throne but on his permission as king--have their own sort of betrayal, even though he had his own pressures to show others his strength and authority he could be a "tough but fair" king. Again, she didn't ask for the throne, but the thing that would be given to who is the next in line to the throne.

At this point, Aerea was Jaehaery's heir presumptive (not "apparent"). Jaehaerys had no children and Rhaena had just come from the machinations of the Lannisters--her moving into Dragonstone and being recognized as one with a claim would have given her more power against those seeking to use her. Plus, again, her daughter was considered Jae's heir. Hence, when Jae took that last dignity/remnant of something that could-have-been from Rhaena, she sought to claim back her own daughter...especially since she might have known that Jae would just eventually sideline Aerea if/once he had kids. (From her perspective)

Jaehaerys took her asking for Dragonstone as an indirect challenge to himself (not that she was opposing him so much as her doing it at all reminds others that because she is the eldest of Aenys' children, others around them could advocate or use her despite her being female....just as Rogar tried to when he tried to usurp Jaehaerys), and I think Rhaena was offended by his even thinking to suspect or throw out a hint of accusation. As well as his extra pains to make sure she was his subject and not his equal or peer in the full eyes of everyone. There is where she'd feel humiliated simultaneously.

Yes, Jaehaerys was trying to solidify his place in a time when people doubted him right after defeating Maegor, but it is not about him so much as him distrusting her. With her history. Doing it purposefully in front of "outsiders" and potential betrayers (Rogar and the other courtier & nobles) looking for any weaknesses--as if she were not family, as if she weren't the one who gave him his egg as a baby as if she'd actually care enough to try to usurp him. Why not talk to her beforehand, get her into a conversation about their plans going forward so he could broadcast his own control. Thus also strengthening the idea of her symbolic outcast-enemy status to the public. For all Rhaena's self-retreats and brooding, she had much to brood about.

In other words, kinda like Maegor (for it would remind her of Maegor, I think) Jae chose power over family...or really, he was very shortsighted when it came to a problem like this, chose to take advantage of his female relatives while also excluding them from most political decisions and chose the easier, exclusionist way (bc against, he continues this into his death, alienating most of his female family members but also opening the way to the Dance through that exclusion or sidelining).

With Alyssa, his mother becoming his regent and marrying the man who would have usurped him through his connection to Alyssa, I also think that he saw it better for him to consolidate power away from his female relatives bc they could marry men who'd compete with him.

Even with Alysanne, you can see where he reaped the benefit of her intellect, or would have ignored some of her claims and demands if she hadn't been the right kind of insistent (the drinking water of KL).

Her Marriage & Androw's Character

She definitely cheated (if you define cheating as going out for a partner whilst having another on a monogamous relationship despite only marrying them for security), but I don't really feel she should be shamed in the same way we should shame Robert Baratheon, Aegon II & IV, Aerys II, and just ASoIaF men in general for cheating. I do not care that Cersei cheated on Robert multiple times.

Even if Robert didn't abuse Cersei, I wouldn't care about her cheating versus his cheating because Cersei, while she definitely has her ego, cheats to reaffirm the autonomy ignored since childhood AND to try to use her lovers to her own political advantage during her marriage to him. That and how the marriage itself is an arrangement for politics, not for love or intimacy AND women are expected to not practice the same sexual freedoms men do, not even allowed to have their own lovers without ruining their reputations and social value. She also might (and this is a big might) have stayed faithful or devoted to Robert (or at least would feel some guilt in her affairs) if not for his clear preference for Lyanna ANd his philandering throughout their marriage. It comes from a need to have the power men have in her society. Robert cheats because he just feels like it and thinks he's entitled as a man/king. Cersei is from the thought that she should have that kind of power, that entitlement, and though she does not, she will claim it and also do it for her kids' sake....too bad that her classism and cruelty far outstrip her own perception of her capabilities.

The other thing is that Rhaena was very likely a lesbian who could sleep with a man if she was "asked nicely" for politics if the husband was pleasant enough, and/or if it benefited a relative as long as it also didn't ruin her autonomy, esp after Maegor. People of the same sex cannot marry each other even in Dorne, and they can't openly live together as a couple. And if she wasn't lesbian, she'd still be a bisexual woman who got her most important and most positive relationships from those with women. When that happens, romance, sexual desire, and platonic love can and often blur. Especially when there is no safe room to really explore/reflect on those feelings in one's youth or adulthood.

And of course, she fell in love with Elissa and wanted to be close to her.

What exactly could she have done except use marriage as her cover? Yeah, that's unfortunate for Androw, who probably thought that she was in it for him and romance (he wasn't very bright, too), but his feelings don't invalidate or erase the conditions I've described nor do they really compare or level with Rhaena's position as a wlw woman. The condition of entrapment for a woman like Rhaena.

Rhaena says this of why she married Androw ("A Surfeit of Rulers"):

I do not think their marriage was ever a real one, in terms of romance or having a close bond ("Birth, Death, and Betrayal"):

Though they began as pleasant acquaintances, she always had stronger love and care for his sister, not him. Rhaena knew that she'd be pressured into remarrying even after Maegor's death to shore up Jaehaerys' (really Rogar's authority and stake in Jaehaerys' rule) own power through connections to specific families. This is why Rogar was angry when she married without his permission.

He even was already choosing people of his own family to arrange a marriage b/t her and them for his own power! ("The Year of the Three Brides-49 A.C."):

So her rationale & goals in marrying Androw: If she had to be married, she would choose the guy who she thought wouldn't make things difficult and oppressive for her, which includes marrying a guy far beneath her powers and rank PLUS an easygoing guy. Remember how she rails at Rogar for basically consigning her mother, Alyssa Velaryon, to death instead of just being happy with the male child she managed to birth to him before? Her disapproval of Jaehaerys for dismissing her with Dragonstone, his castigation of her threatening Franklyn Farman even though he's the one who told her he would just throw out Aerea if she ever appeared just as he did to her. Maegor's forcing her to marry him and raping her for months, the fear she could have lived with all those months.

She did not marry him to love him nor hurt him intentionally, but she married him to avoid marrying a man who could drag her into heated political conflicts and to be closer to Elissa without it causing too much suspicion/to keep female intimacy without suffering patriarchal violence. Androw was placidly kind (in the beginning and what she thought) and didn't ask as much from her as other noblemen would have. Until later...

Androw became (or failed to hide that internalized envy and inferiority complex) the very sort of man she tried to avoid, incel-like. Here is a quote of him and his justification for killing all her friends ("Birth, Death, and Betrayal Under King Jaehaerys I"):

Meanwhile, these are descriptions of Androw as a person both before and a little after his marriage to her:

A lot of emphasis was placed on his:

his lack of really wanting adventure, the opposite of his sister whom Rhaena loved and preferred just as a companion (their incompatibility, not just his inferiority and lack of appeal) -- his incompetence as either a warrior or a "learned" man. going back to the inferiority part, let's be real, how much appeal does a person with no talent NOR any ambition have? If you don't have talent, at least have intelligence or curiosity or ambition. If not the last one, at least some of the others. And he's illiterate so no discussions about stuff they could read, has no hobbies to speak of or that we see. It's not just Rhaena who sees no appeal in him; apart from seeing that he is powerless in Dragonstone bc Rhaena shows her indifference to him, others around Androw have not been his friend or whatever for ALL of his life. Again, he's not that impressive of a person.

And he never seemed to really care or notice this (or expressed such) until people began to really mock and disregard him on these things alone and he was outside of his own birth home, where he'd not really experience people making fun of him probably bc his brother and father would not have allowed it, or he wasn't so much in people's view for them to dwell on his shortcomings.

Mark that part about him spending his time in the room with the Painted Table with the map of Westeros. He started to dream of conquests or those masculinized activities of power and domination.

The women weren't just mocking him without observing a legitimate change in him, as cruel as the book (written by male maesters) tells us they were about it. They were mocking him bc they see him try so hard to grasp power; too obviously try to show he's the "boss", the "man"; for not understanding/accepting who has the real power (Rhaena); AND probably bc they are so used to seeing a man have all the power and are enjoying the reversal, their advantage over him.

While one may think that it's understandable and justified for him to want more respect or power in a place where people constantly denigrate him...what he does to get revenge and get back control doesn't match the wrong(s) and was itself misogyny-motivated AND again, he was already turning to the feudalist hypermasculine ideal of violence against women and children as a way towards "dignity"...something that Aemond will grow up as part of his male, princely entitlement in his own mass/spree murders and subjugation in the riverlands.

Mind you, he decided to kill only the women around Rhaena, not any of those men who the maester said also mocked him.

Here are 2 quotes about that ("Birth, Death, and Betrayal Under King Jaehaerys I"):

And this is what he says to her after she is hugging the corpse of her cousin and youngest companion, Lianna Velaryon:

So why is he an incel? Because he feels he is entitled to her time, body, and company even to the moment where he kills all her friends for being her friends and not "respecting" him, though they were never a real couple; like Rogar to Alyssa (who had been castigating her until he finally insults her in front of the council when he proposed usurping Jaehaerys), Androw wants to be the lord to his wife instead of the husband to her "over"-lady. He wanted that traditional, patriarchal dynamic, and what's so absurd is that he expected it after all those months of being married to her...instead of thinking about that before marrying her, when she had been a Queen Dowager and showed her personality at his home island.

Now, this is not to say Rhaena should have let her daughter splash shit water on his head without suitable punishment since he hadn't done anything at that point to either her or Aerea to warrant such anger that the book tells us. It's saying that:

she already grew to distrust men of her not being able to deal w/the sexism...once more, we need to remember that Maegor raped her & threatened her child's life

her distaste for him grew because she couldn't stand his Elissa-like face

there may have been some words b/t them when they fought the two times they fought she could never forgive (we don't know for sure bc we aren't privy to that from the book but it is a possibility)

she suspected him of helping Elissa take Dreamfyre's eggs bc she knew that he was likely to help his own sister, they weren't close themselves, she and Elissa were on the rocks, AND he probably was already showing signs of jealousy at their bond...too eager to establish something she could never have with him

and as a result, she withdrew into her circle of women, those she had always been able to find some sort of substantive emotional support and less unpleasant surprises -- thus her further distancing from him and refusal to really castigate her people from disrespecting him

he either developed an inferiority complex after being mocked OR he always had one but it really got triggered when Elissa's absence made him more aware of how others thought he was out of Rhaena's league and disrespected him on his own lack of those qualities that his society expects of an aristocratic man

Add the boiling pain and betrayal above and you have a person who can't tolerate their husband, another person asking things of her or who w/could.

Retrospectively, I also headcanon that Rhaena felt this envy growing in him whenever they were together and this was one more reason for her to separate herself from him. That he made some sort of demands from her to treat him more like Andal women are expected to treat their husbands...despite her outranking him (if not in powers but in the title), their seemingly non-close relationship, and his seemingly being fine enough with that to even agree to marry her in the first place.

Androw wasn't a helpless child. He seemed content until they had to leave Fair Isle on his own brother's orders and was more exposed to others' thoughts of his subparness. Despite the rank, Rhaena can't do much for a person who doesn't attempt to self-improve (it's told the maester was the one who tried to get him to at least be more learned). And she felt she shouldn't have to, bc again he wasn't a kid and she probably felt she gave/worked enough for the wrong people.

Rhaena as a Mother

Apparently, or maybe, Rhaena was never a child person. However, remember that this is the same woman who:

begged her brother-husband to run to Essos to take their kids away & protect them from Maegor, specifically stating she prioritized the girls' lives over his claim, the latter of which she had already said she prioritized over her own life

laid her life on the line to protect her two daughters from Maegor by disguising them and voluntarily entering KL/the Red Keep to be married off to him, even with no expressed protest....also accepted the chance she'd be tortured

in her forced wedding, saw that her kids were taken nonetheless and let go of any thoughts of really going against Maegor while they were hostages -- and thus had to live as hostage herself to her uncle for months

spent an entire year or so on Dreamfyre looking for Aerea when she ran off with Balerion or in a sort of guilt-desperate state...in spite of her condemnations of Aerea taking & bonding with her father's "killer" AND before that, yes "raged" but also not being able to sleep after Aerea's disappearance

Adding to how she has spent a long time apart from her own kids for their safety AND was already less inclined to want to interact with kids in general, her kids may have become "less" her own while she brooded over her other family. now you've got a very complicatedly angry and emotionally repressed person as a parent.

Yes, she eventually stifles Aerea in her anger at her siblings and mother, hatred for Rogar and refuses to even consider how the girl feels about her leaving what she thought of as home. Only to ignore her most of the time unless it is to yell at her for her disruptions and troublemaking. And her other daughter tells her that she might not have been a great mom, but she was glad to be her daughter if only to become a septa and "serve" the Mother (one of the Seven).

These are valid conclusions and worth being frustrated with her. I just hope that we're not looking at her as if she were an evil entity for the sake of being that way or because she was just selfish. I happen to think she was in the wrong time with the wrong people and no idea of how to get them to really acknowledge her own crap, so she chose to cope by ignoring them and barrel over her own emotions.

She seemed to already have the sort of inclination or predisposition where she compartmentalizes her feelings until the danger passes or when she's insulted. And the more times she gets insulted or put into danger, she claims up and tried to maintain her dignity. When someone asked her why she didn't cry over Aegon's death, how she "coldly" goes through the wedding when Tyanna insults her and brings out her kids, how she talks to Franklyn Farman, how she sullenly warns Jaehaerys about trusting the admiration or regard of the other lords as if she knew he wouldn't listen, and how she points out Jaehaerys' anxiety of her in the same tone.

So with each thing, she became more and more withdrawn while also seeking to keep what she thought she could keep close to her close even if they themselves began to either feel suffocated by her or felt they were losing pieces of their own life (Aerea [being heir presumptive and life built at KL] & Elissa Farman [her dream of being a seas-sailing adventurer]).

And a huge motivation for Elissa to leave Rhaena would have been Rhaena's private hurting her. Why stay & put off your dreams when the person you love has changed so thoroughly as to even (maybe, I headcanon) take it out on you? I don't hate Elissa for leaving Rhaena to start a new life...just for taking the eggs to do it when she knew that it would put Rhaena in a mess with her other family and even could disgrace her in the public eye.

All of Rhaena's self-suppression would come out, built up and vitriolic. And it's important to trace its development so we don't add to that dismissal or misjudge and simplify her.

I also find it fascinating how alike and different Aerea and her are and how they respond to the isolation both experience. Aerea, like Rhaena, grew up expecting to have one of the highest ranks and/or positions of power available in Westeros. Aerea also felt abandoned by her mother when she expresses to Alysanne how she did care her mom's friends died. Aerea also had many friends/acquaintances and was happiest around them. She, like Rhaena, regarded Elissa Farman as one of the most important persons to her and their loneliness, even with Aerea being the one to actually beg Elissa to stay while Rhaena let her leave the second time asking. Both are stubborn and become more and more sullen. And both mistreat others in their loneliness and trying to feel more in control against a relative: Rhaena against Alysanne and Jaehaerys by wanting Aerea back and Aerea throwing poop on Androw as well as pranking and harassing others. Aerea learns from Rhaena, but she eventually just does what Saera hopes she could have done and takes a dragon for her own freedom...tragically ending with her own painful death. While Rhaena did not die as painfully, she does die pretty much alone and miserable in her attempts to get back control. A little less sympathetically as she had more power over Aerea still refused to listen and communicate with her kids, but similar in intentions and thematically. It's also funny how like Jaehaerys she acted here, pushing away a daughter for her own selfish ends to never see them again. At the same time, it was only a matter of time before Aerea was pushed away and out of KL when Jaehaerys finally had children to become his heirs, as many expected and hoped for. As I said in the first section, Aerea was just Jaehaerys' heir "presumptive", not his "apparent" and he seemed very glad to foist her onto Rhaena. What sort of disappointment would Aerea have had if she had stayed and Jaehaerys had kids? Yes, they didn't know that Jaehaerys was fertile and would go on to have many children, but even Maegor would have had kids (if it weren't for Tyanna) the ever-present plans of a monarch and their subjects include children to be their heirs. Whether or not Rhaena felt and anticipated this and acted either for herself or for both her and her daughter or how much she really thought about her daughter's future for its own sake, I believe that it's cool to think about the probability that Aerea would eventually inherit Rhaena's frustrations of being passed over and abandoned, rejected on account of her gender.

Rhaena was a complicated woman. She already didn't have patience with kids but loved her own. She loved her family and was fiercely loyal, but after some abandoned her, she also always tried to claim some dignity for herself and forgot what it was like being a child and/or helpless in the process. Needed a partner who was either as bold or bolder than her, yet used her rank to overpower them into staying with her despite knowing sailing was her dream.

Comparison to HotD!Alicent

Why the comparison? Because I feel someone might bring this up if they took the time to brave my ridiculously long post AND HotD's Alicent also goes through sexual abuse and neglect or abandonment by family. Both's bad problematic behavior toward those they love or have loved comes directly from their abuses, some that stem from societal and familial misogyny. Both do not really consider their friend's/partner's (Rhaenyra and Elissa) needs or desires to feel less lonely or to make power moves. And Alicent of HotD is told to be wlw, if not lesbian.

However:

HotD Alicent is not well thought out as a character and has more internalized misogyny than Rhaena. Rhaena does not hurt her lover nor wife from wanting to deny her own womanhood, Rhaena has shown to be quite the opposite of a misogynist (threat to Rogar).

HotD!Alicent empowers her male relatives to hurt more people because she feels she has to as a woman basically totally succumb to patriarchal ideology even in her sending that damned note to Rhaenyra, while canon!Rhaena has been trying to keep and get power for herself in spite of the men around her.

Rhaena is not a simple queerbait wlw character, her relationships with women are not queerbait: her sexuality is believable as presented and her relationship with Elissa Farman is obvious because of the background information for both, how they got together, how Rhaena came into her own, why they were attracted to each other...it all is well written, coherent, consistent, and comprehensive.

She is smarter than HotD!Alicent and more aware of the motivations of others around her, and the politics around her as well.

Finally, Rhaena's core motivations remain clear and consistent. No compromising of self-respect while searching for constant, mutual love from her peers.

In other words, Rhaena's life and psychology are written way better and comprehensively than HotD!Alicent's AND she has way less internalized misogyny than Alicent.

Quotes

#1 ("The Sons of the Dragon")

#2 ("The Sons of the Dragon")

#3 ("The Sons of the Dragon")

#4 ("Birth, Death, and Betrayal Under King Jaehaerys I") & ("Jaehaerys and Alysanne -- Their Triumphs and Tragedies")

#5 Rhaena & Jaehaerys about Dragonstone and Aerea ("A Time of Testing"):

#6 And then we have this moment of Rhaena seeing her daughter again after Maegor's gone ("Birth, Death, and Betrayal Under King Jaehaerys I"):

#7 Her against Rogar and the Succession ("A Surfeit of Rulers"):

#8 Finally, what she says to Alysanne when she suggested taking Aerea back to KL ("Birth, Death, and Betrayal Under King Jaehaerys I"):

#asoiaf asks to me #rhaena targaryen (aenys' daughter)#fire and blood characters #perfect victim post #rhaena targaryen (dreamfyre's rider)'s characterization #fire and blood #asoiaf

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shatterinseconds · 1 year

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Garrison

Klance AU month ‘23 day 3

“I can’t believe we’re back here,” Lance comments as he and Keith stroll the halls of the Garrison.

Not much has changed in the years since they’ve been gone. The paint is still a cold white, the floor gray. Teachers’ names on the doors might be the only difference in the building but even then, Lance catches sight of a few familiar ones—some he remembers hating with a passion and others who tolerated his boisterous energy.

He and Keith are only back here now because they’re getting married in a few days, and while most of the wedding preparations have been completed ahead of schedule thanks to the combined efforts of his mother, Allura, and Hunk, they decided to take a trip down memory lane. Tomorrow, when they have more daylight, they’ll journey to Keith’s desert shack to see what’s happened to it, if anything is salvageable. Keith is hoping to repair it enough to try to sell it since he won’t be needing it anymore. Lance tried to persuade him to keep it, if he really wants to; they don’t need the money right now. But Keith had been adamant, admitting he wanted to have some money set aside for when they would need a permanent residence on Earth when they’re done with their space adventures. Lance may have cried a little at that.

Keith slips his arm around Lance’s waist when they turn another corner. They have one destination in mind right now and are currently trying to remember where the access to the roof is. “Yeah, it’s crazy to think I always had a crush on you,” Keith says lightly, almost chuckling to himself.

Lance stops short. Caught off guard, Keith stumbles back. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me,” Keith says, mock glaring, and not daring to repeat what he said again. Which is okay because Lance definitely heard it; how could he not?

Still, Lance’s brows furrow while he tries to pick at Keith’s words. “You didn’t even know who I was when we met again while rescuing Shiro. Sorry for not believing you.”

“I knew who you were…” Keith says, trailing off. His gaze drifts off of Lance while mumbling, “I just didn’t know your real name.” He starts to walk away from Lance, as if avoiding the conversation they have to have now, but Lance catches the sudden determined look on Keith’s face. He must have finally remembered something.

“What!?” Lance exclaims, utterly flabbergasted. He chases after Keith. “I never went by any nickname or anything. Well there was the self proclaimed—”

“Taylor. I thought your name was Taylor,” Keith admits, cutting him off. Well, that is… unexpected. Lance almost laughs, cheeks already hurting at how much he smiles.

They’ve stopped at a large metal door towards the end of the last hall, a thin window showing the existence of a ladder inside. They’ve found the place. Exclaiming a quick ‘aha!’ under his breath, Keith manages to bypass the control panel lock to the door leading to the roof. The sign on the door says officers only; Lance never took heed of the sign when he was younger and he definitely won’t now.

Lance smirks, humming happily. “Good to know that title really did get around even if it was misinterpreted.” He starts to climb up the ladder after Keith, practically staring at Keith’s butt the entire time. It’s not like he has anywhere else to look. “But I’m a little insulted. I don’t look like a Taylor.”

Keith rolls his eyes. He grabs onto Lance’s hand as he climbs up the last few rungs and steps onto the flat roof. “How will I ever make it up to you?”

This high up, the desert wind starts to whip around them. Lance cards a hand through his hair to push it off his forehead for a moment. A bit of darkness has already started to descend upon them, the night sky peeking through as the oranges and pinks fade away. How he’s missed this. Of all the planets he’s traveled to and all the sunsets he’s witnessed, Earth’s have remained the most beautiful. He arches his head back to breathe it all in before he turns to Keith with another sharp grin, eyes sparkling.

“I just have to figure out a way to slip that anecdote into Shiro’s best man speech and we’ll be all set.” With his hand still holding Keith’s, he thumbs the engagement ring on Keith’s finger; a matching one rests on Lance’s own. They had proposed to each other at the same time—well, Lance was technically first—only a few months ago but neither of them wanted a long engagement.

“Wonderful,” Keith says dryly. “But I’m pretty sure half of our guests won’t understand it.”

Lance waves off his concerns and guides Keith down to sit with him on the rather uncomfortable roof. Leaning into Keith, he says, “Pidge and Hunk will love it. So don’t worry, it won’t go to waste.”

Keith presses his nose into Lance’s cheek. With the wind, Keith’s hair tickles his face when it blows around them. “I’m so glad,” he mutters into Lance’s skin. Lance turns until he captures Keith’s mouth with his own as his hand moves to cup Keith’s face.

And they watch the sunset together, like they did so many years ago.

#klance #voltron #klance au month #vld #voltron legendary defender #klance fic #keith x lance #my writing

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aegor-bamfsteel · 2 years

Note

I really hate how everything falls apart for Rhaenyra when Daemon abandons her. I feel like that symbolizes how badly GRRM handled her and her war.

During the war, Dæmon:

Advised the Black Council to send envoys to the Great Houses that hadn’t declared for Aegon, which helped get the Arryns and Starks on their side

Captured Harrenhal without bloodshed with his dragon, allowing the Riverlanders to majority declare for Rhányra

Led “a strong force” of Riverlanders to capture the last big Green supporting Castle, Stone Hedge, with military tactics so dumb even I could tell GRRM was tipping his hand

Hired his mistress to kill one of Aegon’s children due to petty revenge, resulting in his mother’s insanity and removing her as a dragonrider/voice of reason/even ability to escape

Was the principal factor for the fall of King’s Landing for the Blacks. He led the gold cloaks decades before which inspired them so much they killed Alicent’s brother and turned the city over to Dæmon

Betrayed Rhànyra when she demanded Nettles be killed under guest right, allowing her to escape

Waited 2 weeks for Aemond to appear at Harrenhal; succeeded in killing him by driving Dark Sister into his eye, as well as the biggest dragon Vhagar. His body was never found, so it’s still speculated he lived to be with Nettles

Meanwhile, Rhànyra:

Sent Knights Inquisitor to pursue those who let Aegon II escape the capital, and apparently the spikes on the gates started to be filled with more fresh heads each day

Levied higher taxes on the peasants each day, turning them against her, especially when she made Joffrey her heir in an elaborate ceremony

After the Two Betrayers burned Tumbleton, irrationally decided that the other two loyal dragonseeds were also going to betray her, so sent warrants for both their deaths. She even tortured her former goodfather Corlys Velaryon because he’d helped Addam escape, making him defect to the greens. Her warrant for Nettles’ death under guest right (a sacred custom) led both Lord Mooton and her husband/chief supporter to turn on her as well

Fled King’s Landing after the Storming of the Dragonpit (originally breaking out because the smallfolk blamed her for the death of the beloved Queen Helaena) to Dragonstone

Was betrayed at Dragonstone by a senior member of her garrison, her remaining knights killed. Eventually, Aegon fed her to his dragon Sunfyre, who ate her in 6 bites in front of her son

Side by side like this, there’s no comparison. Dæmon, despite being characterized as belligerent, was able to win 3 victories with relatively little bloodshed thanks to his dragon/coolness, and gets a heroic death (but he might still be alive!) killing the biggest threat to the kingdoms but abandoning the Black cause to save an innocent girl. Meanwhile, Rhaenyra orders executions and high taxes and tortures, turns her biggest allies against her, is chased out of the city in 6 months, gets betrayed and eaten by a dragon (she’s definitely dead, since hundreds of people saw it). She doesn’t get a single success of her own (even Aegon managed that in getting Dragonstone to defect), while he gets several despite having someone kill a child. Caraxes is an “old, fast, clever dragon” who helps win Harrenhal without a fight and kill Vhagar, while Syrax is a lazy dragon who mainly exists to get Joffrey killed and then die in the dragonpit (even Sunfyre is better than her, essentially coming to Aegon’s rescue). It’s not necessarily that Rhaenyra’s cause fell apart when Dæmon abandoned her (though considering how he’s made so epic it’s a blow), it’s that her irrational, tyrannical actions caused nearly everyone to abandon her. If she hadn’t issued the warrant for Addam and Nettles’ deaths based on nothing but paranoia, then Daemon and Corlys wouldn’t have betrayed her, and considering the Dragonpit would’ve still happened, she’d at least have 3 dragonriders plus the wealth/loyalty of Driftmark on her side. Dæmon gets introduced as “made of lightness and darkness in equal parts” (though I don’t think the text backs this up) meanwhile Rhényra is written as one-sidedly incompetent and tyrannical (to the point that even Aegon outshines her sometimes). There’s no sense of balance to her, she does basically nothing but the wrong political moves, when she’s supposed to be the protagonist of this story.

#ask #asoiaf #anti daemon targaryen #rhaenyra targaryen #opinion #dance of the dragons

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wutheringmights · 5 months

Text

I have to provide some context for this one.

Once a year, some friends and I get together to put on a big powerpoint night. We go hard for these. I usually do a big presentation where I analyze a piece of media. I put a lot of effort into doing the research for these. I once did one on eugenics rhetoric/ideology in My Hero Academia, for context.

This year, I want to do a presentation that tackles the antisemitism and fascist ideology in Attack On Titan. Naturally, this required research. A couple of weeks ago, I was reading an article on Polygon when I read that Attack On Titan has a YA novel spin-off. Not a light novel translated into English. A YA romance novel written by an American author published in English for American audiences.

Huh, I thought. You guys can probably tell by some of my reading choices that I deeply enjoy putting myself through some god-awful books (primarily YA). And one that's a tie-in to an anime I love being a hater for? Sign me up.

I bought myself a used copy and read it the moment it came in the mail.

That's all the context you need. Now that I've covered my ass, let's talk about what I actually think about Garrison Girl by Rachel Aaron.

It's not the worst thing I've ever read. The prose is overall decent, and I can appreciate that the main character has a pretty clear character arc. The best contribution Aaron made to the Attack On Titan series as a whole is a section towards the beginning where she takes about 2-3 pages to just describe how grotesquely horrifying the Titans are. I always thought the Titans were more funny-looking than anything, so this was a much needed improvement.

Everything else... ugh. Where do I start?

First off, the romance with male lead Jax drove me nuts. On paper, it's probably okay. Aaron put in a lot of effort to make sure they started off hating each other before slowly falling in love. Unfortunately, I really don't like Jax as a character. He annoys the hell out of me, and there was one too many times where he forced the main character, Rosalie, to apologize for something she did not need to apologize for.

The plot is largely episodic, theoretically tied together by Rosalie's character arc. By itself, it just feels like a slightly boring set-up for a larger series. It's fine. Some of the antagonistic characters were too cartoonishly evil for my taste, but it at least works. Having a plot that works is a surprisingly tall order, so I will give Aaron credit for that.

But in context of being a story that ties into Attack On Titan...

Attack On Titan is very good at being self-important. It is a very stupid story with some glaring writing flaws that can hide its issues under the veneer of depth and complexity. As long as you do not think about Attack On Titan too hard, it is a fine watch. Then it started including things that you HAVE to think about like eugenics and persecution, and it becomes glaringly obvious that the author has no real idea how any of this stuff works and only cares about the aesthetics of war.

None of that is in Aaron's book. On one hand, THANK GOD. On the other, this doesn't feel like it fits in with anything in the anime. Where are the gruesome, meaningless deaths? Where are the characters waxing poetry over their moral choices? Where are characters doing batshit things that can only be described as "cool as balls"? Aaron tries to squeeze some of this towards the end, but that still means reading 200 pages of lighthearted military exploits.

This just feels ill-conceived.

I have never read anything else by Aaron, but from a quick perusing of her Good Reads account, I don't think I would have picked her to write this. In her Reddit AMA, she says she took the project because she's a big fan of the show. Good for her, but I don't think she did a good job at making something that fits with the show.

But any Attack On Titan tie-in shouldn't be written for teens. An older target demographic would have opened the doors for a lot more of the anime's signature flairs.

I just think the very existence of this book is fascinating. Every time I check out the YA section at B&N, I always see more novels that are part of bigger non-book franchises: Disney princesses, Avatar the Last Airbender, Marvel comics. Whoever decided in ~2016 that American publishing should try to go anime was ahead of their time.

Yet, it seems like this book didn't do well enough to generate a trend. I haven't seen any other anime novels. But anime is more popular and more mainstream than it has ever been. Surely, another attempt will come.

Yet, Attack On Titan is a last of its kind. While anime is hugely popular, none of the big series now are the same ubiquity that early Attack On Titan did. Do you remember 2013 when the show first came out? Everyone was watching it, even non-anime fans. Many of the articles I read credit it as jumpstarting Crunchyroll. They also say that it's the perhaps the last property that every weeb could be expected to have working knowledge of, much like everyone's latent knowledge of Shonen Jump's old Big Three. There is so much variety and options at this point that weebs aren't watching all the same shows anymore. It's the last titan of an old age of anime fandom.

I don't know if anyone will ever attempt a novel tie-in again. Should it happen, then this is a strange, ill-conceived product ahead of its time. Should it not, then this is the most unique and strange attempt to profit off of a mainstream anime.

I hope Alex Aster writes a novel for Naruto. That's the good ending.

#i swear i am reading the broken earth triology #i just go super sidetracked by this weird ass book #that i surprisingly had a lot of thoughts on #me rambling #me reading #garrison girl #garrison girl by rachel aaron #rachel aaron #attack on titan

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spiralcass · 3 months

Text

NEW X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES - SEASON 3, EPISODE 8

We open in Dr. Sean Garrison’s office, where he’s having a seemingly normal session with Quentin.

GARRISON: “Anything new in your life? Friends? Crushes? Anxieties?”

QUENTIN: “Don’t think I’m welcome with my old “friends” anymore, but I don’t care. I’ve got my own gang now.”

GANG: “A gang?”

QUENTIN: “Just a name. Was actually thinking of calling us “The Omega Gang”. You know. For the infinite potential we’re going to show humanity we have.”

Garrison laughs.

GARRISON: “Cute.”

QUENTIN: “Some of the girls in the gang brought in a kid. Still unsure about her. Crushes? No. But I figured out my best friend has one on me a while ago.”

GARRISON: “Brian? I thought you were out of that crowd.”

QUENTIN, smiling: “He’s different. He never belonged with them. He’ll see that soon.” BEAT. “Anxieties? Heh. No. Ever since you helped me find myself, I’ve only felt alive.”

GARRISON: “I am so happy to hear that, Quentin. Usually, therapy can take months or even years to see any progress, but you’ve gotten this far in mere weeks.”

QUENTIN, overly proud of himself: “I’m one of a kind.”

GARRISON: “I agree.” Garrison stands up, pruning tool in hand, and approaches his flowers. “Now, update me on our plan to destroy the Jean Grey School.”

QUENTIN, cracking his knuckles: “I got everything we needed off Cerebro. I’ve gone over the plan with The Omega Gang a million times. And Laurie Collins moves in tomorrow.”

GARRISON, grinning as he prunes a flower: “Brilliant.”

QUENTIN, eagerly leaning forward: “It’s going to be awesome. I don’t know if the X-Men will get the message, but no parent will ever send their kid to this rancid school again. So…” He eagerly leans forward. “When do I get to meet Lady Akabba?”

Garrison prunes another flower.

GARRISON: “My lady is the inheritor of Lord Apocalypse’s will. To be granted an audience with her, you must first prove that you are fit.”

QUENTIN: “You know I am!”

GARRISON: “Of course I do. And when you and the Omega Gang are triumphant, she will understand that.” Quentin nods along. “Before you launch your attack, there’s one more thing we need you to do.”

QUENTIN: “Name it.”

GARRISON: “Introduce yourself to your newest classmate.”

Garrison prunes another flower as we hard cut to Laurie being toured through the Jean Grey School by Sofia.

Laurie looks at everything and everyone with wide eyes. This is so cool! She hasn’t gotten to go to a real school in almost two years, and now thanks to Sofia, she can be in a school with people like her.

Sofia is glad she’s happy, and she’s very excited to introduce her to all of her friends.

LAURIE: “They sound really cool from what you’ve said.”

SOFIA: “We have had our many ups and downs, but they are my family. I fight for them. Who do you fight for?”

LAURIE: “I don’t really fight. But I guess I wanna make my mom proud?”

SOFIA: “She is a lovely woman. What about your father?”

LAURIE, sullen: “I never met him. He died a long time ago. Mom has never had anything nice to say. She never even told me his name.”

Sofia doesn’t think that’s fair. Passed on or not, there is nothing like the bond between father and daughter, and she deserves a taste of that.

LAURIE, confused: “I…thought you hated your dad.”

Before Sofia can respond, Pixie flies up to the two other girls, no longer wearing her helmet, chewing bubblegum, and with a black streak in her pink hair.

PIXIE: “Hey new kid!” She pops a giant bubble in her face, scaring Laurie. “Try not to look so cute and helpless, okay? That’s my thing!”

SOFIA, as Megan flies off: “So glad you are doing better, Pixie!” BEAT. “And I was worried she might turn out like her sister.”

LAURIE, confused and afraid: “Huh?”

SOFIA: “Don’t worry about it.”

Sofia grins and hooks her arm around Laurie’s as the two enter the cafeteria. Sitting at his table with the Omega Gang, Quentin sets his eyes on Laurie while Glob and Redneck play “Draw the short straw” with their french fries, Redneck lighting up his molten hands in frustration and Glob laughing after the former’s consecutive losses, Tattoo and Radian are scribbling doodles of dead X-Men in their notebooks, Tattoo using her power to imprint titles underneath the pieces, and Ernst frustratedly asks Martha where Shela is; this is the third day in a row she’s skipped out on lunch with them.

Quentin tells all of them to shut up. He’s got his eyes on the target.

RADIAN: “You do not get to tell us to shut up.”

GLOB, confused and looking around: “I don’t see any targets.”

Quentin seethes, before putting on an obviously fake smile and floating over to Sofia and Laurie.

QUENTIN, telekinetically shoving Sofia out of the way (with Sofia momentarily dropping her “mask” and looking like she’s about to murder him): “Why hello there!” He takes and kisses Laurie’s hand, her face instantly going red.

LAURIE: “I’m…um…”

“Not interested.”

Quentin’s head aches, Sofia taking the opportunity to remove Laurie from the situation.

QUENTIN, telepathically: “Cuckoos? What’s your problem?!”

SOPHIE: “You are.”

ESME, CELESTE, PHOEBE, AND MINDEE: “Loser.”

Quentin is confused. He thought they were cool now. Sophie points out to him that was before he drugged Surge. “And not in a fun way”.

CELESTE: “We like your style.”

ESME: “And how you handle humans.”

SOPHIE: “But you’re still just the same old Quentin.”

Quentin sneers, with a veiny forehead, glaring over at the friend group’s table and, in particular, Brian, as he’s just having fun and messing around with Noriko, Cessily, Roxy, Sooraya, and the no longer distracted Cuckoos. From the brief look we get at their game, they’re playing a Mutant version of snap, with powers allowed, but Noriko being forced to play with her teeth to keep things fair.

Their happiness and friendship only serves to piss him off more.

On the lunchline, Julian approaches Sofia and Laurie, telling them good morning.

LAURIE, shrinking behind Sofia: “Um, I’m not interested.”

Sofia tells her not to worry and that this is Julian; her ex-boyfriend.

JULIAN: “I know it shouldn’t, but it still stings hearing you call me that.”

Julian introduces himself to Laurie, with Laurie questioning if he isn’t dating Surge. Julian cringes, and Sofia apologizes for giving Laurie out of date gossip, letting her know that they broke up.

SOFIA: “I really am sorry things didn’t work out.”

JULIAN: “Not your fault. It’s Quire’s. For the best anyway.”

SOFIA, smiling and delicately resting a hand on his shoulder: “I am sure you will find exactly who you belong with eventually. Perhaps sooner rather than later.”

Julian cycles through multiple expressions at her touch, including shock and pleasure, before asking if they can talk later after class and training. Just the two of them. Sofia tells him she’d love to.

Julian, pleased with how that went, walks away with his head held high. Laurie is confused; it sounds like he wants to talk to her about getting together again, but she’s still dating Laura, right?

SOFIA, still smiling: “We’re just going to talk. I promise. I would never hurt Laura like that.” Sofia and Laurie reach the front of the line. “Now, would you like the meatloaf or Doop’s Surprise?”

LAURIE: “What’s the surprise?”

Doop scratches himself, with flakes flying off of him.

LAURIE, grossed out: “Meatloaf, please.”

In the Mission Room, the six current adult X-Men are having a meeting. Cyclops starts things off by sarcastically thanking Sunspot for taking time out of his very busy schedule to join them; he knows that can’t be easy.

ROBERTO, staring at his nails, unbothered: “I wouldn’t still be here if I wasn’t worth it.”

Scott points out that this is actually a good place to start; he’s not asking them to put in as much as the rest of them, but Sunspot and Magik should both become more involved in the school. Magik laughs at this, balking at the idea.

MAGIK: “You want the soulless monster influencing the little children? You must be dumber than those sunglasses make you look. I mean I’m not complaining but–”

KITTY, holding Magik’s hand: “I think you’d make an excellent teacher.”

MAGIK: “But I think I’d love to give it a try!”

Beto makes a whipcrack sound with his mouth, Magik sticks her tongue out at him, and Magneto ponders to himself if he’s traveled back in time five years. Sunspot points out that he does teach a class, with Emma quickly countering that, yes, he teaches “a” class, far fewer than herself, Kitty and the others. And with Kurt having run off with Pitor to join Logan and Storm, all of his classes are now up for grabs.

SUNSPOT: “I’ll think about it. Could we please move on to the ongoing crisis at hand?”

Cyclops obliges that request. As far as finding the Horsemen and figuring out what happened to Sofia, they think they may finally have a lead. Thanks to Magik.

Magik, who’s already stopped paying attention, is brought back to attention by Kitty phasing a hand through her. Startled, she tells them all that the Horsemen definitely used Pixie to make their knockoff Gem of Cyttorak; a chunk of her soul is missing.

KITTY: “That explains the personality change.”

EMMA: “Did she fling mashed potatoes at you, as well?”

KITTY: “No, I think she just doesn’t like you.”

Magik continues to say that she was able to track the source of the magic, to a point; they definitely have a teleporter, and that makes things fuzzy.

MAGNETO: “So you have nothing?”

MAGIK: “I didn’t say that, Teach. I took a closer look at what was going on in the remnants of her soul, and at what had been done to it. It’s…indelicate. The soul is chipped, not cleanly broken apart. Comparing it to the energies coming off the sapphire, it should have been far more difficult for me to destroy.”

SUNSPOT: “All this to say?”

MAGIK, kicking her feet up on the table: “Lady Akabba isn’t some long-lived, perfect heir to Apocalypse, capable of all that he was. She’s a novice. I’d bet Cyclops’ head she’d never cast a spell on this level before.”

BETO, suspicious, with gears turning: “I see.”

Emma asks Magik if she’d be willing to help her provide counseling for Megan, potentially able to offer a valuable perspective on what she’s going through, while Magneto brings up that that can’t happen today, as she’s already agreed to try examining Wanda to see if magic can undo Pestillence’s infection.

Magik groans in frustration, pulling at her hair over what all the headmasters want from her. They know she runs a hell dimension, right?

KITTY, intentionally overly sweetly: “Please?”

MAGIK, cringing: “You are taking advantage of my devotion to you.”

KITTY, still smiling: “Yeah, I am.”

She kisses a grumpy Yana’s cheek.

Cyclops asks Emma to use Cerebro to check in on all of the planet’s teleporters. Amelia Vought, Lila Cheyney, all of them. See if any of them can lead them to the Horsemen. Emma agrees to get on that as soon as they’re done here.

EMMA: “But we have another matter to discuss. Mr. Quire.”

The X-Men continue to speak via voice over, as we cut to Quentin, sitting in his gaming chair in his room with his eyes closed. They note that the kid is spiarling out of control, he didn’t regret using Cerebro without permission or fighting Hellion, he’s talented enough that he could have hidden info from Cerebro from Emma when she scanned his mind, he’s still been seeing Dr. Garrison despite the X-Men cutting off their relationship with him, and while he did show regret over what happened to Surge, they doubt he isn’t still finding ways to take Kick himself.

SCOTT, voice over: “We go easy on these kids because the world throws enough at them already, but we need to come down hard on him before he slips through the cracks.”

Quentin sneers as we zoom inside his head. Inside Quentin’s mindscape, which takes on the form of an elegant museum full of portraits and sculptures of himself, The Omega Gang, now including Escapade is waiting.

QUENTIN: “Listen up. We’re going over the plan one more time.”

The Omega Gang groans.

TATTOO: “We all know what we’ve gotta do to take this place down, Q. Don’t sweat it.”

QUENTIN: “Never call me that again.” Quentin glares at a clearly anxious Shela. “Martha, Ernst, why does your friend look like she’s about to piss herself?”

MARTHA, able to speak here: “She’s fine. Right, Escapade?”

QUENTIN: “I think she can speak for herself.” He gets right in Shela’s face and makes a big toothy grin. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

SHELA, creeped out: “Uh, nothing. I just kinda sorta don’t understand why we’re doing this?”

MARTHA: “We told you already!”

ERSNT: “The X-Men don’t care about us.”

RADIAN: “They care about Mutants, obviously. And about keeping us safe.”

TATTOO: “But they don’t care enough to take real action. Not when they can play superhero for the flatscans.”

REDNECK: “We would be ruling the Earth right now, never needing to worry about Purifiers or U-Men or politicians again if it wasn’t for them.”

GLOB: “And however nice they seemed when they recruited you, don’t believe it. They only care about their “special” kids.”

QUENTIN, still grinning and putting his hands on Shela’s shoulders: “That’s why we need to teach them a lesson. Some people may get hurt, but the X-Men will finally understand what it is they owe us, and what all of Mutantkind is owed. Do you understand?”

Shela nervously looks over at Ersnt and Martha. They shake their heads at her. She looks back at Quentin.

SHELA: “Yes. I understand. This is for the best.”

QUENTIN: “Glad that’s settled.”

Shela breathes a sigh of relief as Quentin turns and walks away from her.

Quentin gets them back on topic and explains that he knows even the dumbest among them understand their assignments But he’s making a last minute change of plans. They need every bit of firepower they can get to pull this off. There’s someone he wants to be a part of this. The person who first helped him see he could be more than what he is.

Quentin psychically drags a very confused Tag into his mindscape.

BRIAN: “Huh?! What the Hell?!”

QUENTIN: “Hey Bri. Hope you weren’t doing anything important. We need to talk.”

Taking a look around him, and at Quentin and the others, Brian is able to quickly assess that something bad is going down.

Back in the Mission Room, everyone is getting up, having each been dealt their assignments. Kitty tells Magik not to take too long helping Emma and Magneto; they still need to make up for being too exhausted to do anything on Valentines.

Kitty opens her mouth to say something to Scott and Emma, but she decides it’s a bad idea. Scott asks her what it is.

KITTY: “I was gonna ask if you two wound up doing anything on Valentines, but then I realized there’s nothing I’d rather not know.” She immediately transitions to saying, “Emma, put the knowledge in my brain and my hand goes through your chest.”

Emma’s amused, while Scott’s a little embarrassed. She tells Kitty that she’s sure she could get them separate seats for the opera she and Scott are attending that night, but Illyana shuts that down, saying they’ve already got tickets for monster trucks. Emma facepalms as she’s walked away by Scott, the younger women both clearly enthusiastic about their plans.

Erik asks Roberto if he’ll be choosing what other classes he wants to teach immediately, or if he has another flight to catch.

ROBERTO: “I should actually be around for quite a while, now. I have someone else to handle flying for me.”

Beto more somberly asks Magneto how he’s managing with everything that’s happened with his children.

ERIK, glaring at him before speaking: “I’m afraid unless you’re prepared to pick up where we left and share with me what’s going on, that isn’t a question I’m comfortable answering.” Roberto cringes. “That’s what I thought.”

Erik dramatically departs with a swing of his cape, leaving Beto on his own to kick his feet.

BETO: “Shit.”

In Quentin’s mindscape, Brian has been filled in on what The Omega Gang is doing.

BRIAN, shaking his head: “No. No, this isn’t you.”

Quentin laughs. His gang laughs with him.

QUENTIN: “Of course it is. You know that better than anyone.” He puts an arm around Brian and looks at the others. “Did you he know he was the one who helped me bury those humans whose brains I cooked?”

The Omega Gang cheers and applauds Brian.

Brian shoves Quentin away. Yes, he did do that! Because he cares about him. But drugging Nori crossed a line. And what he wants to do crosses every line.

REDNECK: “Of course you’d think that! You’re one of their special little X-Men in Training.”

RADIAN: “Yeah. Some of us don’t get to have futures outside their welfare.”

TATTOO: “We won’t even all get to stay together. Only so much space here. A new crop of kids will come in, and we’ll be out.”

Brian grimaces, as he flashes back to his fight with Firefist.

FIREFIST: “The X-Men somehow win and you’re still with them? A loser like you will be dropped just as quickly as I was.”

Brian contemplates for a moment before his face fills with determination.

BRIAN: “I get what you’re saying. It’s something I’m worried about too. But I won’t betray everyone.”

QUENTIN, irritated: “What, then? You’ll rat us out? Watch and chortle with your friends as they “come down hard” on us to set an example so that no one ever dreams of calling out the perfect X-Men again?”

BRIAN: “No, dude, I’m saying let’s just talk to them so we can tell them our problems. They’ll listen!”

ERNST: “Exactly which of the supermodel billionaires or monarchs past or present will listen to US?”

BRIAN: “If they’re really as bad as you all think, they’ll at least listen to me. Like you said, I’m part of that crowd. For now.”

Quentin sneers.

QUENTIN: “Maybe we should do things your way. Then you’ll see exactly what I’ve been telling you since we met. Not a single one of your friends or mentors cares about you for you. The second you step out of line, you’ll be cut. Don’t expect to come crying back to us after that though. You’ll be all alone. Again.”

BRIAN, cracking: “You’re wrong.”

QUENTIN: “Or maybe I’m right and we should just skip the heartbreak and get to the part where I save all our futures.” Quentin takes Brian’s hands as he smiles at him and makes him shiver. “Them abandoning you is inevitable. But I never will. We’re the same. You just need to accept that.”

Brian sweats, panicking and breaking down as different members of the gang either egg him on to join or mock him, and Quentin psychically applies just a little extra pressure.

Brian breaks, putting his hands on Quentin’s mouth and making out with him. Quentin goes along with it and keeps it going. Most of the gang is grossed out, but Glob thinks they’re cute.

Night falls on the Jean Grey School.

Julian hangs out above the school, floating in mid-air and looking up at the stars. He pounds his metal fists together and stares down at them.

“Why aren’t you wearing a jacket?”

Julian instantly smiles as Sofia flies up next to him, wrapped in a blue trenchcoat.

JULIAN: “I learned more tricks while you were away than what I show off in training. I don’t even need to make my telekinesis visible to keep myself warm with it now.”

SOFIA: “Very impressive.” She blows her coat off of herself and onto Julian. “But you still look like you could use one.”

JULIAN, liking this, teasing and not complaining: “What are you now, my mom?”

SOFIA: “No, I do not think I’m an uncaring baseline with terrible skin.”

JULIAN: “Ha!”

SOFIA: “I’m serious. I’ve sponsored some products that could help her.”

JULIAN: “Only help my mom needs is a shrink.”

The two giggle.

JULIAN: “Aren’t you cold now though?” Sofia blows a gust of wind in his face, messing up his hair. “Ah. Right.”

Julian tilts his head back.

JULIAN: “What are we doing here?”

SOFIA: “You wanted to talk. You tell me.”

Julian bites his lip. He hates this.

JULIAN: “Do you love Laura?”

SOFIA: “What? Of course I do.”

JULIAN: No. Not like you love all of us.”

Sofia doesn’t answer.

Julian almost silently mumbles, “Sorry, Laura.”

JULIAN: “And what about me?”

Sofia widens her eyes faux innocently.

SOFIA: “I told you I still loved you when I came back. But you were with Surge. If you weren’t going to wait, neither was I.”

Julian cringes, shutting his eyes.

While his eyes are shut, Sofia kisses him. He opens his eyes in shock.

SOFIA, smirking flirtatiously: “What? Are you not your mentor’s protege?”

Julian nervously laughs and stumbles over his words. He pulls himself together.

JULIAN: “Were you just trying to make me jealous?”

Sofia shrugs, as she effortlessly positions herself in Julian’s arms.

SOFIA: “I obviously don’t want to hurt Laura. But I want you more than anything. So if you want me…”

JULIAN, holding her tight: “Yes. A million times yes.”

SOFIA, face unseen by Julian, smirking evily: “Then I will make sure Laura wants to end things herself. And everything can be how it should.”

Julian wishes they hadn’t screwed things up so badly, again, but at least they have a plan. Sofia promises him this will all be over soon; in fact, she has an idea to make Laura happier than ever.

JULIAN, holding Sofia in front of himself, the two looking into each other’s eyes: “I’m never letting anything come between us again, Beautiful. I don’t care if I lose my legs, or if you lose your powers for good, or about anything else; I’m not letting you go again.”

Sofia, pleased for clearly more reasons than just her evil plan, gives him a quick peck.

SOFIA: “I love you too.”

The two passionately make out, beginning to take off their clothes as they fly swiftly down into the bushes.

In the common area, Sunspot and Warpath are playing chess. They go back and forth as James takes one of Roberto’s pieces after another. He gets annoyed.

JAMES: “Why are you letting me win?”

BETO: “Letting you win? That doesn’t like me. You know I love winning. It would be too painful not to for me.”

JAMES: “Uh-huh.”

As the two continue to play, Beto asks James how he’s been feeling; he heard about his tussle with Juggerlossus.

WARPATH: “Yeah, it happened while you were off kissing some girl halfway around the world.”

SUNSPOT: “I’ll have you know I showed her the very best of times on Valentines Day, not that she particularly cared.”

Beto is serious though. What prompted him to jump into battle like that? James makes clear there was no special reason; he may be finding more to himself than just a warrior, but that’s still who he is. They needed backup, and he could provide it.

Beto catches James by surprise as he takes his knight.

SUNSPOT: “Any interest in returning to the X-Men full-time?”

WARPATH, making his next move: “You going somewhere?”

SUNSPOT: “Just a question.”

WARPATH: “It’s never “just” a question with you.”

SUNSPOT: “I’m just wondering where your head is these days. If you’re longing for anything more than being a teacher.”

WARPATH, taking another piece: “These kids need me. I’m doing something that matters. That’s where my head is.”

SUNSPOT: “And that’s completely fair.” Beto takes James’ queen, stunning him. “I just think you could be thinking bigger.” He smirks. “You are the biggest man I know, after all.”

James glares at Beto as he tips over his king.

“James.”

Laura enters the room.

LAURA: “Can we talk?”

In Laura’s room, James examines various pictures arranged of her with Sofia (and the rest of her friends). He asks what’s up; she knows she doesn’t need to ask to talk to him.

Laura tells him that, the last time she ran away, she didn’t tell him anything; she’s sorry about that. James tells her not to bother. He understands from what she’s told him. Kimura hurt her bad. But the important thing she didn’t let her get to her for long, and she remembered who she is. They’ll pay Kimura back in blood one of these days.

Laura thanks him, but he’s wrong. Kimura was right about her. She is a weapon. And that’s why she’s doing what she’s doing now.

LAURA: “Sofia has a plan to find the Horsemen. With just the two of us. And we’re leaving tonight.”

James is very concerned.

Also concerned, sitting alone in dark in his room, is Brian. In only his boxers, he stares into the glow of his phone, with the “X-Men in Training” group chat open, and Emma and Dani tagged. He shivers and pants, before furiously typing.

He gets a message written out, explaining Quentin’s whole plan, not that the audience gets to see the specifics. He hovers his thumb over the send button.

In Shela’s room, Escapade pretends to be asleep, revealing herself not to be as she checks to see if Martha and Ernst are passed out.

Shela tosses on a robe, sneaks out of her room, and races toward the headmasters’ office. She bangs on the door, calling out for someone to open up. It’s important!

Alas, Shela freezes part way through her next knock, as her eyes flash pink.

QUENTIN, telepathically: “And this is why I don’t work with kids.”

In his room, Brian deletes his message, and smashes his phone against the wall.

In the boys bathroom, Julian sweats and pants heavily as he stares at himself in the mirror, exhausted and guilty.

JULIAN: “You didn’t do anything wrong. Sofia shouldn’t have used Laura like that, but you’re just setting things right. You’re not hurting her, you’re keeping her from getting hurt.”

Julian coughs. He clenches his fist and screams as she punches his reflection , not only shattering the mirror, but accidentally putting TK energy behind the punch and destroying part of the wall.

JULIAN, panting even harder: “Shit.”

“You SHOULD be upset; you can’t afford to pay to fix that anymore.”

Julian seethes as he exits the bathroom, where he finds a lone Cuckoo waiting for him in the hall.

JULIAN: “I’m not in the mood to talk, um…”

CUCKOO: “Oh my god, even you can’t tell us apart.”

JULIAN: “Sorry. Sophie?”

SOPHIE, rolling her eyes: “Idiot.”

As the two walk, Julian tells her to cut him some slack. He’s having a rought night, and it’s been a long time since just the two of them hung out and…

SOPHIE: “Interesting way to describe having sex. Like you and Sofia were just having.”

JULIAN, sighing: “Please tell me you weren’t spying.”

SOPHIE: “Eww, no, gross. Your mind is screaming. You’re hurt worse than you look.”

JULIAN: “That so? Then why didn’t the others hear?”

SOPHIE: “They did. I’m the only one who wanted to come check on you.”

They each crack a half smile at each other.

JULIAN: “Thanks. But I really don’t want to talk.”

SOPHIE: “You’re lying.”

JULIAN: “Maybe, but there’s nothing to say. I’m a jerk who can’t stop being selfish. All there is to it.”

SOPHIE, getting in front of him: “I know I just called you an idiot, but are you really that dense? Or did you just just your brains screwed out?

Julian tries to get past her, but she shoves his back with telekinesis, Julian not resisting.

SOPHIE: “How many times have you fought to protect everyone here? And the world? How many times have you wound up in the medical bay because you’re always the first to put yourself in the line of fire?”

JULIAN: “I know I’m an awesome X-Man. Doesn’t mean I’m a good guy.”

While Sophie acknowledges that to be true, she’s seen who he is at his core. He’s a dimwitted blowhard, like all boys, but he always put his friends before himself; from her limited understanding of the situation, being honest with Laura is the only thing he could do, and that would be far crueler than Sofia’s plan. The guilt he feels is because he knows this is all wrong.

SOPHIE: “If anyone should feel guilty, it’s Sofia.”

Julian shakes his head, telling Sophie that Sofia isn’t a saint; with what she’d been through and found out, of course she lashed out.

JULIAN: “I can relate.”

Julian bursts ahead with his telekinsis, with Sophie following behind. She isn’t trying to make this about Sofia. She’s not about to judge what she did; she can respect the cold-bloodedness.

SOPHIE: “When we first arrived and were on a rampage, you stopped us. Made us rethink our approach. Helped us make actual friends. Ones we could have forever. And since then, we’ve gotten to fight with you.” Sophie hangs her head, smiling. “My sisters have varying thoughts…but I think becoming an X-Man sounds really cool. Being one doesn’t mean you’re responsible for what everyone else does.”

Julian stops walks and sticks his hands in his pockets.

JULIAN: “If you wanted to, you could have just zapped the guilt from my brain.”

Sophie kisses his cheek.

SOPHIE: “No need. You’re a superhero. Try not to think so hard about it.”

Sophie starts walking away, with Julian not saying anything, until…

JULIAN: “Hey, Sophie!” She turns her head. “Looking forward to you joining the team. Means I’ll get to be your boss.”

SOPHIE, smirking: “Dork.”

As Sophie departs, Julian is a little more at ease.

Laura and Warpath exit the former’s room, James wishing her good night. Once he’s gone, a gentle breezes passes by Laura, making her smile. Sofia flies up to her, in full costume.

SOFIA: “Ready to go?”

Laura bends down and, right next to the door, grabs a bag. Sofia takes her hand.

SOFIA: “Are you nervous?”

LAURA: “You’re asking me?”

The two smirk.

Outside, Sofia calls out mentally to Exodus, saying they’re ready.

Exodus telepathically laughs, mockingly.

EXODUS, telepathically: “You are making the right decision, children. Lady Akabba will make you both stronger than you ever dreamed of.”

Sofia and Laura both scowl as Lila Cheyney appears in a flash and, just as quickly, teleports them away.

Night turns to morning, as the sun rises.

Emma, Kitty, and Magik slump into the teacher’s lounge, where Dani, Karma, and Rahne are already having coffee.

DANI: “Wow. You guys look like crap. What happened?”

Emma, clenching her forehead as she telekinetically prepares a cup of coffee, asks Magik if she’d like to explain or if she.

Magik shrugs.

MAGIK: “I thought the monster trucks could be spiced up by some actual monsters.”

KITTY: “It got a little out of hand.”

The other New Mutants start laughing.

EMMA: “It isn’t amusing. Cyclops and I had to come clean up the mess. In spite of that, he wanted to get straight to work despite the lack of sleep, so I told him I’d be a dear and get someone else to make his coffee.”

As she says this, we see Scott yawning as he sits down in his office, alone.

DANI, sarcastic: “How sweet of you.”

EMMA: “Yes, I’m a positive housewife.” Getting more serious, she turns to Rahne. “Wolfsbane, how did Escapade do on her first remedial history quiz yesterday?”

RAHNE, nervous: “Oh. Well, don’t be mad, but I didn’t give it to her.”

EMMA, this being the last thing she needs, deadpan: “Why?”

RAHNE: “Lass said she was anxious! I can’t blame her. Poor thing hasn’t been gotten schooling in years.”

EMMA: “Hmm. Well, hopefully she’s at least well rested for a makeup.”

We cut to Shela’s room, where she’s stuff in a trance in bed, her eyes glowing purple.

KITTY: “Well, I need sleep. I’m just here to grab that whole box of donuts and–”

Kitty is cut off as the power goes out.

KITTY: “Oh come on!” BEAT. “Wait, aren’t we supposed to have multiple back up generators?”

EMMA: “Yes. We are.”

In Scott’s office, he yawns. He tells himself not to fall asleep just because of a little blackout. The backups should be on any minute.

Scott yawns again.

SCOTT: “Well, maybe a quick nap after I get a little done.”

Scott turns his computer on, the sounds of it booting up all we hear.

The screen flashes on…brightening up the room more, and startling Scott, as he finds a grinning Quentin standing on the other side of his desk.

QUENTIN: “Hello, Mr. Summers.”

Scott tries to take action, but he finds himself immobile, as the rest of the Omega Gang becomes visible, sans Shela, enters sight.

SCOTT, pissed and concerned: “Kids, what are are you doing?”

“No, Mr. Summers.”

Scott is shocked as Brian joins the rest of his gang.

BRIAN: “What are you doing?”

Quentin smirks triumphantly, putting an arm around his friend.

Around the school, various students react to the blackout. Some gather around Match for light, Eye-Boy starts looking around his and Prodigy’s room for his blacklights, Mercury and Bling! see it as an excuse to get back into bed and snuggle, and Pixie cackles faux-manically, plotting to pants everyone and then act like it was an accident.

Before she can do that, however, everyone in the school covers their ears as their heads are filled with eardrum shattering British punk rock.

QUENTIN, telepathically to everyone: “Students and faculty, the Jean Grey School is now under lockdown. I am in everyone’s minds, and if any of you attempt to leave, I will execute my hostage, Headmaster Summers.”

While many students gasp, and are afraid and confused, including Laurie, the X-Men and teachers in the teachers lounge, Magneto in Wanda’s room, and Sunspot, Hellion, and the Cuckoos in their respective bedrooms look ready to beat this kid.

QUENTIN: “My team, The Omega Gang, and I, are currently located in the headmasters’ office. Should anyone attempt to enter the office, I will execute him. But fear not my classmates, I mean you no harm. Today, my compatriots and I simply mean to bring attention to a critical situation: the failure of the X-Men.”

As the X-Men rush to meet up, Emma telling everyone, teachers included, to get to the Mission Room NOW, Quentin continues to say that he knows the student body doesn’t care for him, and that’s okay; he hates who he used to be too. Fortunately he isn’t that weakling anymore, but it is true that he and his gang are largely friendless…with one exception.

As Hellion races through the halls, he’s stunned to hear Brian take over the announcement.

BRIAN: “The X-Men have let down each and every one of us. They give us comfort, a roof over our heads, meals, and an education. That’s great. No one’s saying they don’t care about Mutants. But they don’t care about US.”

As Brian continues his speech, Emma, Dani, and all of Brian’s friends are in complete disbelief.

BRIAN: “They provide us the illusion of protection, but that’s all it is. Yeah, they’ve saved some of you, and they’ve fought some bad guys, but all they do is fight symptoms, not the cause.”

OMEGA GANG: “FLATSCANS!”

BRIAN: “They keep hunting us! They keep trying to kill us! And what do the X-Men do? Put them in human jail and wait for the next ones! And while we wait, do they give us all the same treatment?”

OMEGA GANG: “No!”

BRIAN: “Of course not! The X-Men are the privileged elites of Mutantkind. Billionaires, monarchs, handpicked from youth prodigies. And it’s the same story with those they prioritize. I don’t even need to say their names. You know I’m talking about my friends. This message is from me to them.” BEAT. “Surge, Dust, Wolverine, Wind Dancer, Bling!, Mercury, Cuckoos…Hellion…”

Each of them are shown reacting as he says their names, save of course for Laura and Sofia. In particular, Cessily and Roxy just look worried about him, while Dust is as angered as everyone else.

BRIAN: “I love you guys. You’re the best friends I’ve ever had. But I’m done pretending like I belong with you.”

Quentin down more Kick, just pouring pills down his mouth from the bottle, as he pats Brian on the shoulder.

QUENTIN: “But oh, it’s not like the X-Men have all the time in the world. If they’re not saving it, they’re spending as much time as they can with us, right?”

OMEGA GANG: “Wrong!”

QUENTIN: “They go to the opera and sky shows! They party half-way around the world and are never around! One of them I don’t think has spoken to a single one of us! You know she’s an actual demon from Hell, right?!”

ILLYANA, to herself: “Tch. Limbo.”

QUENTIN, screaming in Scott’s emotionless face: “Some of them leave! Some of them are pushed out! Some of them invite school exploding robots to teach science. Some of them transform into dark, flaming gods that threaten to end all life on Earth!”

Quentin knows this is a lot, and that they must be wondering what the point of all this is. Simple! The time is now for the future of Mutantkind to make their voices heard! The time is now to demand that the X-Men embrace what it means to be homo-superior!

QUENTIN: “I ask all of you…do you not want more?”

Quentin pants as he finishes, and silence spreads over the school, everyone wondering what they should do. Until…

CRASH!

PIXIE, having just knocked over a vase: “Yeah! Riot!”

Quentin grins as students follow Megan’s lead, and begin screaming and tearing things up.

In Egypt, Lila Cheyney materializes with Sofia and Laura inside the underground base, shoving them forward.

LILA: “My masters will be with you shortly.”

LAURA: “Wait…I know you. Aren’t you a musician?”

LILA: “No, hon, I’m a certified rock icon. Doesn’t mean I can’t also fight for a good cause.”

Lila disappears.

SOFIA, shaking her arm, whispering: “Definitely not listening to her music anymore.”

Wide doors open, Sofia and Laura bracing themselves as Exodus, Malice, and Akihiro appear before them.

EXODUS: “Ladies, welcome to the headquarters of Clan Akabba.”

MALICE: “What is it you X-Men say? “Hope you survive the experience”?”

AKIHIRO, glaring at Laura: “I wouldn’t give them good odds.”

Laura glares back at him.

SOFIA: “We aren’t X-Men. Not anymore. It is like I told Exodus; Apocalypse was right.”

LAURA, to Akihiro: “And if Logan hurt you, I need to know exactly how.”

Exodus snickers. He then launches a telekinetic wave, blasting them both back and into a stone wall. Akihiro and Malice join in the amusement.

EXODUS: “First things first. Initiation.”

Exodus tells Akihiro that he will teach his sister how things work around here; he doesn’t need the boy getting carried away. But he can play with Wind Dancer.

AKIHIRO, smirking sadistically at Sofia, licking his lips: “Sounds fun.”

Sofia cringes in disgust.

MALICE: “And what about me? Who do I get to play with?”

EXODUS: “Oh, I don’t know. Why don’t you go kill an X-Man?”

LAURA: “I thought Lady Akabba gave the orders here.”

EXODUS: “Lady Akabba has bigger things to concern herself with.”

Exodus orders the other Horsemen to give him and Wolverine some privacy. Akihiro comes over to the girls to drag Sofia away, but before he does, Sofia kisses Laura.

SOFIA: “We’re going to be okay. I love you.”

Laura is shocked, but grins confidently from that.

LAURA: “I love you too.”

Akihiro grabs Sofia and pulls her away, as Malice exits on her own.

AKIHIRO, squeezing Sofia’s arm tight: “You look so fragile. Should be fun breaking you. Especially when you thank me for it.”

SOFIA: “We will see who breaks who.”

AKIHIRO: “Ha!” Akihiro shoves Sofia through a door, making her trip and fall. “Move!”

The door shuts behind the two, leading Akihiro and Sofia into the throneroom, where the large, intimidating Death towers over the young woman on the floor.

Both begin to giggle. Very quickly, this turns into hysterical laughter, as Akihiro helps Sofia up.

AKIHIRO, crying from laughter: “Oh, that was too much.”

SOFIA, equally amused: “You really sold that you were going to torture me.”

AKIHIRO: “And “I love you?!” Really twisting that knife.”

Sofia, pleased with herself, shrugs, as Lila appears next to them.

SOFIA: “Make sure Exodus doesn’t kill her. She’s more valuable than him.” Sofia takes Lila’s hand. “I’ll be back soon for my costume change.”

In the Mission Room, Emma, Magneto, Kitty, Magik, Sunspot, Hellion, and Wind Dancer, as well as the teaching staff, Dust, Mercury, Bling!, and the Cuckoos are gathered, the telepaths keeping everyone’s perception so that they can actually see each other. Magneto questions where Wolverine is, with Sofia expressing that she isn’t sure. Emma sighs. They’ll just have to proceed without here.

HELLION: “Shouldn’t we be tapping in Surge?”

KITTY: “Even if she weren’t suspended, she needs to rest. Emma’s keeping her asleep so she doesn’t hurt herself.”

Julian begrudgingly accepts that.

EMMA: “Whatever any of you feel about what these miscreants have to say, or conflicts regarding Tag’s involvement…” She looks right at a pissed Julian as she says that. “...put it aside. They have taken Cyclops, incited a riot, and forced punching down to become our unfortunate priority. We will worry about understanding at a later time. Any disagreements?”

Erik, nor anyone else, speaks up, even as Julian clearly thinks about doing so. Cessily holds his hand to comfort him.

ERIK: “Emma and I have already worked out our plan of attack. We will–”

Magneto is cut off as Kitty starts responding to someone over her com. She’s concerned, but firm as she gets the information, and promises they’ll be right there.

SUNSPOT, irritated: “What now?”

KITTY: “It’s Dazzler. Exodus and Malice are after her.”

Magneto’s eyes fill with rage and his nostrils flare, as Dani notes that this can’t be a coincidence; they planned this. Which means…

EMMA: “Which means Mr. Quire is doing their bidding, and we have all the more reason to not feel too bad about maiming one of our students.”

Erik quickly adjusts the plan for this and dishes out orders. They’re baiting him away from the school, but it’s bait he has to take. He will go and fight the Horsemen, defeat them both, and force Pestillence to undo the harm she’s done to his family.

MAGNETO: “Magik, I will require transportation and potential backup.”

MAGIK: “Aww, I wanted to beat some kiddies.” She groans and gives a thumbs up. “But I’ve got you, Teach.”

Magneto then turns his attention to Dust, Mercury, and Bling! Alison is currently on tour in densely populated Paris. He’d like Mercury and Bling! to accompany him and Magik and provide crowd control and rescue. The girls, while a little afraid of Magik, agree. As for Dust, she and Warpath are in charge of protecting Wanda. The Horseman want her, and they cannot rule out that obtaining her is the true purpose behind all of this.

DUST: “No harm will come to her.”

Magneto notices James glaring at him.

MAGNETO: “A problem?”

JAMES, smirking: “No. Not at all.”

Erik doesn’t have time to question that and continues. Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Karma, and Danger are to restrain the students without harming them, before they hurt each other or cause significant damage to the property.

MAGNETO: “Wind Dancer, your new friend and our newest student controls pheromones. Do you believe you could–?”

WIND DANCER: “Use my winds to spread calming ones throughout the school? Of course.”

EMMA: “That just leaves Quentin and his friends. Kitty, Sunspot, Danielle, Hellion, Cuckoos, you’re with me.”

MINDEE: “Actual approval to crush Quentin like a bug?”

CELESTE: “I don’t know if that makes it more or less fun.”

Julian hangs his head. Emma notices.

EMMA: “Hellion, I care for Brian as well, but we do not have time for doubts. Kapeesh?”

JULIAN, seething: “Kapeesh.”

In the headmaster’s office, lit up by Quentin’s TK energy, Quentin taunts Scott.

QUENTIN: “Do you hear all that ruckus? That’s the sound of your students opening their eyes and turning on you.”

Scott ignores him and doesn’t answer.

QUENTIN: “Martha, you’re letting him speak, right?”

Scott chuckles.

QUENTIN: “You’re laughing. I’m tearing down your establishment and you’re laughing. Here I thought I’d be getting a whole speech about why I don’t really want to do this.”

Scott shakes his head.

SCOTT: “Why couldn’t you just try and make friends?”

QUENTIN: “Hello! I have friends!”

SCOTT: “That so?” He grins. “Brian, don’t you find it funny that Quentin checks every box for the kinds of people he claims to be fighting against?”

QUENTIN, not giving Brian a chance to speak: “I am nothing like you!”

SCOTT: “You’re a natural genius from a family of billionaires gifted with telepathy among the most powerful on Earth. You’re as privileged as any X-Man.”

QUENTIN: “If that were true, everything would be different.”

SCOTT: “Quentin, there’s only one difference between you and an X-Man, and it’s not about privilege. You’re just a dork.”

Quentin takes Cyclops’ bait and, livid at his word choice, telepathically assaults him. Scott attempts the Red Triangle, having wanted this opportunity, but Quentin’s power combined with Martha’s is too much, and he writhes in agony.

Quentin laughs at him. He almost had him there! But Cyclops made a critical error. He thought that he was “one of” the most powerful telepaths on Earth. But he knows his worth! And with a little help from Kick, he knows that he is the most powerful telepath on Earth!

QUENTIN: “I never did pick one of those codenames everyone else has. How does, “Kid Omega” sound?”

Quentin doesn’t actually give him a chance to answer, as he proceeds to psychically torture Scott. As Redneck, Radian, and Tattoo cheer him on, Brian looks away, guilty.

Around the school, the teachers get to work. Wolfsbane becomes a pack of wolves to scare kids back to their rooms, despite the best threat she’s able to toss out while bearing her fangs being that they won’t be getting any supper if they don’t behave.

Karma, not wanting to possess any of the kids, delivers quick, knockout chops to a bunch of wily, but purely physically mutated students, while Danger handles more capable ones like Loa and Onyxx by stretching out her arms around a whole group and pulling them in close to physically restrain them.

DANGER: “Believe me, children, I understand wanting to destroy the X-Men. I came close. But it isn’t worth it.”

Wolf Cub, from behind, throws a baseball at her head.

WOLF CUB: “No one cares what you think! You blew up our school!”

All the kids in her arms scold her and tell her that she should just leave them alone. Danger grabs Wolf Cub, and keeps everyone else restrained, but is saddened as she does so.

Meanwhile, Cannonball flies around the school, just able to flick students unconscious at the speed he’s moving at. Hearing a lot of noise, he moves toward another area of the school. By the time he gets there, however, the sound of a riot in this area has been replaced with gentle 60s folk music, courtesy of Icarus on his ukelele. The rampaging students are peacefully pacified on the floor, as Jay, and a dancing along Melody, float over them.

JAY: “We’ve got things covered here, bro.”

SAM, proud: “Nice work.”

In Sofia’s room, Laurie has been told what they need her to do, but she isn’t sure it’s a good idea her control of her powers is terrible! What if she sends out the wrong kind of pheromones?!

Sofia tells her to breathe and helps her through a familiar exercise. She promises her that she can do this. Laurie is still nervous. She hasn’t been here long. How does she know Quentin isn’t right?

SOFIA: “Please, Laurie. You only briefly met Quentin, but you must have been able to tell he isn’t a hero. He’s a hypocritical supremacist and misogynist, and it is up to us to stop him.”

Laurie is swayed and begins producing pheromones. Sofia channels the winds…but Laurie’s pheromones aren’t what she blows away. Instead, she blows open a small bottle of pre-made pheromones hidden in her boot and spreads those.

We quickly see the effects as Anole and Specter go from having fun together trashing the school to violently assaulting one another. Sofia has spread rage pheromones.

In Paris, Exodus rains terror upon the city, blowing away entire buildings, leveling streets, and murdering hundreds of people. He regrets having to do this to his home nation, but it has tragically been filled with millions of impure vermin.

EXODUS: “I would say a prayer, but the lord has already decided the fate of your species.”

Nearby, Dazzler lies in rubble, having been brutalized. Malice stands over, without barely a scratch on her, smirking sadistically as she stomps down on Allison.

MALICE: “Now…be honest…was fighting to protect the humans really worth it in the end?”

DAZZLER, grunting: “No one…hurts my fans.”

MALICE: “Perhaps not while you live. But that won’t be an issue anymore.”

Malice magnetically raises a metal beam, ready to crush Allison with it, but as she goes for the kill, Magik and Magneto appear from a stepping disc, Illyana cutting the beam in half with her sword, before Erik uses his own magnetic powers to launch the beams into Malice’s got, sending her flying.

ALLISON, grateful but not enthused: “Oh. Great. They sent you two.”

Magik rolls her eyes as another stepping disc brings Mercury and Bling! to their location. Magneto orders Roxy to tend to Dazzler’s injuries, while Cessily begins protecting the civilians.

MAGNETO: “Exodus!”

Exodus grins as he takes notes of Magneto, flying down next to Malice.

EXODUS: “My former lord and master! How wonderful to see you again. Especially as we were previously denied the previous opportunity to reunite.”

MAGNETO: “As I understand it, you fled with your tail tucked between your legs because you couldn’t even best Iceman. Yet you wish to challenge me? I thought you smarter than that when I made you my right hand.”

EXODUS: “I was smart enough to find a new master upon realizing you were a false prophet who lacked the will for what was necessary.”

MAGIK: “And yet Apocalypse still chose a little girl to be his heir over you.”

Exodus sneers.

Magneto turns his attention back to Malice and commands her to release Polaris, and undo the harm done to Scarlet Witch; if she complies, she may live.

MALICE, ready to fight: “I will not surrender my body. Not for anything…Father.”

Without further hesitation, Magneto begins the fight.

In the headmasters’ office, the Omega Gang continues to stand around, while Scott has been knocked out.

REDNECK: “You guys think we’ll have, like, titles and crap when this is all done?”

RADIAN, mockingly: “Yeah, I’m sure the queen of all Mutants will just be handing them out like candy to a bunch of kids who threw a riot in a school. Get a grip, man.”

REDNECK: “I was just saying, man! Be nice to get some thanks!”

ERNST: “We aren’t doing this for thanks. It’s just what’s right.”

TATTOO: “I’m hoping Lady Akabba could use some Court Musicians.”

RADIAN: “Oh, I like the sound of that.”

REDNECK: “Please, you guys suck at guitar.”

RADIAN AND TATTOO: “We do not!”

GLOB, quietly: “I think I want a fancy hat.”

While Quentin continues to be annoyed by everyone, he notices Brian has positioned himself in a corner, eyes stuck on Cyclops.

Quentin’s face softens, genuinely, as he moves to talk to him, but before he can, he receives a telepathic message.

SOPHIE: “You’ve really done it now, haven’t you?”

Quentin smirks, adjusting his glasses.

QUENTIN: “Thanks for helping me make so many friends. I couldn’t have done this without them.”

SOPHIE: “It didn’t have to go like this.”

QUENTIN: “No, this was inevitable as soon as I asked you out, and you laughed at me. It woke me up to who I needed to be, and from there, it was impossible not to see what needed to be done.”

SOPHIE: “What needed to be done was turn everyone here against each other? You and I agree that Mutandkind is superior. But I learned not to step on our own. Surrender now, and you can still learn that yourself.”

Quentin wipes his nose with his fist as it starts to bleed.

QUENTIN: “I’m guessing that means you’re helping Ms. Frost come after us. Fine. I’ll be more than happy to show you, and your sisters, exactly what I’ve learned.”

Sophie sighs.

SOPHIE: “So be it. But for what it’s worth…”

The door to the office is busted down, with Emma, Kitty, Sunspot, Dani, and Hellion in the doorway.

SOPHIE: “...I didn’t laugh.”

Outside the comatose Wanda’s room, Warpath and Dust stand outside. Sooraya is disturbed by all the violent noise going on elsewhere, but James tells her that he knows it's hard, but she has to stick to her assigned task and trust that the others will get the job done on their end. Being able to maintain that trust is part of being an X-Man.

Sooraya is able to compose herself and thanks Mr. Proudstar. She turns her attention to another thought.

DUST: “I don’t fully understand what it is Scarlet Witch does, but isn’t she meant to keep our whole world safe from monsters? Are we in danger right now?”

WARPATH: “There are things out there a lot worse than monsters. But we should be fine. Captain Britain and Prestige were able to convince Selene Gallio to help them fill in for Wanda until she’s healed. She can’t rule the world if it’s been gobbled up by an angry god.”

SOORAYA, somber: “So that is a yes.”

Warpath notices Sooraya isn’t doing so well and asks if there’s anything else on her mind, outside their immediate crisis. Soo doesn’t wish to bother him, but James assures her she won’t. Sooraya explains that this is her fault. The others are always all busy, with their romance and adventures, but she’s only ever here, doing her best to study and train so she can keep her friends and mother safe.

SOORAYA: “I should have seen what was happening to Quentin and Brian.”

James tells her to shut that thought down right now. He’s sure there’s going to be a lot of people playing the blame game when this is all done, but everyone makes their own choices. Quentin’s doing this because he wanted to and Brian joined him because he wanted to, just like he joined the Hellions back in the day because he wanted to…

JAMES: “And just like no one’s to blame for what happened to my brother besides the people who killed him.”

Sooraya breathes, touching James’ arm, and smiling.

JAMES: “What?”

SOORAYA: “This sounds like a lesson Ms. Frost would teach.”

JAMES, playing along: “Oh, you know that hurts, kid. That hurts worse than any attack.”

“Is that so?”

Dust and Warpath turn, knives drawn and sand ready, as they hear a modulated voice and turn toward it.

LADY AKABBA, in her full armor: “Shall we test that?”

In the Horsemen’s lair, Laura wakes up on the grounds, filthy and covered in cuts and bruises.

AKIHIRO: “Looks like Famine had fun with you.” Laura looks up to see him standing over her, Muramasa in hand. “You must be angry. Care to get any of that out?”

Laura grits her teeth, pops out her claws and attacks. Just as in their last encounter, Laura is outclassed, with Death blocking all her attacks. This time, however, instead of taunting her, with each failed strike, he tells her what she’s doing wrong. He kicks her down, but she gets right back up. She still isn’t able to hit him but can see her already listening and learning and doing better. Still, he ends up grabbing her and slamming her into the floor before she can land a clean it.

AKIHIRO: “Quick learner. That’s good. How do you feel?”

Laura picks herself up.

LAURA: “Where is Wind Dancer?”

AKIHIRO: “Occupied. Lady Akabba had a use for her after all.” Laura sneers. “Don’t be jealous. You’ll get to meet her too, in time.”

Akihiro tells her to keep coming for him until she can hit him. And while she does…

AKIHIRO: “You already made the smart choice, coming here. But I’m sure you still have doubts. Allow me to share my store, and rid you of them…little sister.”

The two stare each other down before Laura goes on the attack again.

In the Headmasters’ office, Quentin arrogantly greets the X-Men, as the Omega Gang assembles around him. Brian casts his head down as Julian glares at him.

QUENTIN: “I knew you attempt to spoil everything. Too bad for Cyclops.”

Quentin puts his fingers to his head, and attempts to fry Scott’s brain, but…

EMMA: “You were just speaking to Sophie, yes? While she was distracting you, the rest of my girls snuck inside your head. No telepathy for you.”

Quentin is irritated but shakes it off. They still aren’t afraid. He is an Omega, and all of them have Kick running through their veins to make them their best selves.

GLOB: “Yeah! I crushed a guy’s head a couple days ago!” He turns to Brian. “Wanna see me do that to your old friend, Tag?”

Brian stays silent.

KITTY: “Oh, now you’re quiet! What the Hell happened to you, Brian?”

DANI: “Kitty, don’t.”

The others are confused as Danielle steps forward.

DANI: “Robert, did you really kill someone?”

TATTOO: “We all did. Had to know we could trust each other.”

DANI, clenching her fists and welling up: “I’m so sorry.”

ROBERTO: “Dani, care to explain to the uninformed?”

Dani struggles to compose herself.

DANI: “They’re my squad. My other squad.”

The fact that Sunspot, Hellion, and Kitty are all surprised by this knowledge only pisses the Omega Gang off. Quentin just stepping back and leaning against the desk, while his teammates berate her.

TATTOO: “I thought you were so cool when I first got here, I thought we were becoming like a little family..”

RADIAN: “But then you decided we weren’t good enough! You wanted the powerful kids!”

REDNECK: “Then suddenly we never saw you outside training.”

GLOB: “You abandoned us, Ms. Moonstar.”

Dani is so sorry for making them feel like this for so long, but they have to believe her that this was never her intention. She didn’t take another squad because she wanted more powerful kids, she wanted another squad because she was already close with Surge and Wind Dancer. She didn’t know the kids saw her like they did, and she didn’t realize how little time she was making for them.

The kids don’t seem impressed by her apology.

QUENTIN, seeing an opportunity to drive more conflict: “Emma knew about the first people Brian and I killed.”

DANI, instantly flipping to rage toward Emma: “What?!”

EMMA: “Do not fall for his game, Danielle. Not when we’re in this predicament because, unlike me, you couldn’t handle two squads.”

DANI: “Why you…”

Kitty pulls Dani back and gets between everyone. Look, this doesn’t need to go any further! The kids wanted to send a message? They’ve sent it. Now they can listen, and make changes accordingly.

KITTY: “We’ve let you down. But I promise things can be better. We can do better.”

SUNSPOT: “Unless, of course, this isn’t really about a message.”

Quentin laughs.

QUENTIN: “If that’s you’re way of telling me you sussed out who I’m working for, and attempting to assess if they are as well? I am, and they are.”

Upsetting news to everyone. Except…

JULIAN, powering up with his aura: “That’s it then, isn’t it?! Everything is simplified? We’re X-Men. They’re villains.”

He says that last part, not having taken his eyes off Brian since he entered. Finally, Brian looks up and stares back, glaring.

BRIAN: “Yeah. We are.”

Brian slaps his chest, tagging himself.

Everyone starts forcibly shifting, with Julian roaring as flies right at Quentin, grabs him, and crashes them both out the window.

Hardcut to Paris, where Magneto and Magik battle Exodus and Malice, while Mercury pulls civilians out of rubble, and uses her body to form shields to protect civilians from falling debris.

As Magneto and Exodus exchange blows, Exodus decides to show Magneto exactly how far beyond him he’s become, flying up high. Magneto chases after him, as Bennett fires off a telekinetic blast large enough to destroy the entire city. Magneto, in turn, creates a shield to deflect the attack.

While Exodus is panting and shocked, an unamused Magneto merely dusts off his shoulder.

Magik bounces around the sky in a circle around Pestillence, via stepping discs, taking pot shots to kick, punch, and slice her. Malice meanwhile can’t hit her while she’s teleporting around like this.

MAGIK: “You really should surrender now. You’re not going to hit me, and since you’re running around in Polaris’ body, I can’t even have fun cutting you up into itty bitty pieces.”

Malice is pissed…but Magik just gave her an idea. She’s seen Polaris’ powers and the power gifted to her by Apocalypse, but she has her own weapon.

YANA: “You think I’m gonna give you MY body? I just got this thing!”

Malice smirks as her eyes open past her eyelids. Magik’s eyes open the same way.

Inside of Magik’s mindscape, which looks like a normal little girl’s bedroom, save for the mutilated stuffed animals with fleshy guts, Illyana is confused by what’s going on.

MALICE, appearing as a 14 yo goth girl with a British accent: “Sup?”

Hellion crashes Quentin down into the school’s front lawn, forming a crater. He repeatedly punches a still-smug Quentin in the face, trying to break through his forcefield.

HELLION: “I should have pounded your skull in the first time you talked to Brian, you dweeb! You messed him up, you hurt Noriko, and you’re hurting everyone here! You’re not hurting anyone else!”

Quentin blasts Hellion back, as he floats up into the air.

QUENTIN: “You know why we could never be friends, Hellion? Because you, none of you, can acknowledge what you are. You think you’re the sad little victims of this world, despite being the gods among gods! I know my worth. I know who I can uncaringly step on.” He smirks. “And who my useful lessers are.”

Hellion charges Quentin again, but Kid Omega meets him in mid-air, grabbing the back of his head and smashing him into the ground.

Inside, Emma in diamond form is punched through a wall by Ernst. As Ernst points out, she has to stay in that form to avoid getting trapped by Martha. But like this, they’re on the same level.

EMMA: “Do not insult me like that, child.”

Emma moves in to attack, but slips as a rioting student uses her powers to form a puddle underneath Emma, while fighting another kid, allowing Ernst to hit her again.

On a staircase, Dani fights Radian and Tattoo. Ms. Moonstar may never have given them proper attention, but the hand-to-hand training they’ve paid attention to. Dani pleads with them to not make her hurt them, to which Radian uses his light powers to blind her, while Tattoo phases her hand inside her to torture her by tattooing her insides.

In the common area, Sunspot is left fist-fighting Glob. He calls KItty over the coms to ask where she is; he hates to admit it, but their lowest-performing student may be stronger than him - at least on Kick. Kitty responds that Tag got her good, and sent her phasing through the Earth pretty far down. She’s working on coming back up as fast as she can.

This is no comfort to Beto as he takes a punch to the face.

In the Mission Room, the Cuckoos sit around the table. Things aren’t going well. They need to do something. Celeste notices that Quentin’s telepathy is still partially active. Mindee sees it now too; he has someone knocked out.

PHOEBE: “Eww. It’s that freak.”

SOPHIE: “She may be a freak, but if Quentin’s afraid of her, I say we wake her up.”

Sophie quickly changes her wording, telling the others to get on that. She has her own plan.

SOPHIE: “I know how to operate Cerebro. That should provide a far larger power boost than mere pills.”

As Sophie gets up, Esme grabs her wrist, telling her to stop. They’re the five-in-one. Splitting up is dumb. Especially when Sophie has never done anything like this before. They should just let everyone else do the stupid fighting.

SOPHIE, pulling Esme off her and smiling: “Come on, Esme. Haven’t you ever wanted to be a superhero?”

Back by Wanda’s room, Warpath gets in front of Dust, as Lady Akabba draws her sword.

WARPATH: “Lady Akkaba, I’m guessing? Nice armor.”

SOFIA: “Thank you. My father made it for me.”

WARPATH, nervous but quickly assessing the situation: “Dust, get in the room.”

DUST: “What?! You cannot fight her alone!”

WARPATH: “If she gets Wanda, she can do anything. If she kills me, you need to get her out of here. Got it? Do not help me, no matter what.”

Sooraya hates this,but after a quick glance at the monster in front of them, agrees.

SOORAYA: “Good luck, Mr. Proudstar.”

Dust shifts into dust to get under the door.

Lady Akkaba tells Warpath she hoped to avoid this. However, Magik cast a nasty protection spell preventing her from directly entering that room. She’d hoped to take her out of play before today like she did Surge and Wolverine, but he got in the way out of that.

James questions what she did with Laura. Akkaba tells him she’d be happy to tell him, once he bends the knee. Warpath is a fierce warrior, a former X-Man who was able to hold his own against her Juggernaut, and who’s even fought Externals before. He belongs in her army.

James pretends to think that over.

WARPATH: “Warren Worthington was everything I grew up hating. I never spent a ton of time with him, but enough to learn he was a good man.” He takes a stance. “Tell him I say hi when you see him.”

SOFIA, sighing: “You X-Men are so difficult.”

Warpath lunges forward and attacks Lady Akkaba. For all his strength, Lady Akkaba is far faster and lighter on her feet, blocking all of his knife swings.

Swinging overhead, he forces Lady Akkaba to hold a block.

LADY AKKABA, barely struggling: “Your knives are nice. Adamantium?”

WARPATH: “Same as your sword I’m guessing.”

LADY AKKABA: “Hardly. My blade was forged millenia ago by an invincible Mutant, and wielded by one even stronger.”

James knees Akkaba in the stomach, hurting her and knocking her back.

WARPATH: “I get it. You love Apocalypse.”

LADY AKKABA, amused: “I wasn’t speaking of Apocalypse.”

Sofia sets her hands aflame. Realizing that in the narrow hallway, there’s no room for cover, Warpath tries to launch one more attack, but he’s met with the flames of war to the face, as they fully consume him.

Akkaba presses on her attack, promising Warpath that if he survives this, he will come back stronger. Only to receive a surprise punch to the face from the burning man, sending her flying down the whole hallway and crashing through the wall.

Able to fly, this doesn’t phase Akkaba. As Warpath continues to rush after her, she fills the hall with more flames. James refuses to slow down. X-Man or teacher, he promised his life to these kids, and he’s not letting them down!

Warpath leaps again at Lady Akkaba, but is unable to reach her. Once he’s in mid-air, Sofia uses her winds to blow back all the way across the hallway, and back into the flames, as she lays on even more.

This time, James can’t get back up. Sofia absorbs all the flames back into herself.

SOFIA: “As expected, you fought well.” She raises her sword as she stands over the unconscious Warpath. “But there is only one fate for those who refuse to serve me.”

Rather than execute him immediately, Sofia’s swordhand quivers.

We zoom inside Sofia’s helmet to see her blue face, as she breathes with trepidation. She rapidly flashes back to all the time she spent with Warpath, back when he was teaching her to control her rage.

In the present…

SOFIA, under her breath: “I cannot be weak.”

Lady Akkaba brings her sword down to kill Warpath…

…only to be stopped as a sandstorm overwhelms her.

DUST: “You will not harm anyone else!”

SOFIA, protected by her armor: “Didn’t your teacher tell you to stay put? He had the right idea!”

Rather than burn Sooraya, Akkaba merely blows her away, through the hole Warpath made, and far away from the school.

Sofia breathes heavily as she looks down at James, left to decide what happens next.

Back in the Horsemen’s lair, Akihiro has finished telling Laura his story, while Laura is in the process of healing up large slashes all across her body, and has been provided a water bottle.

LAURA: “I don’t know what to say.”

AKIHIRO: “You could say our father is a monster who won’t be worth another thought once we torture him to death.”

LAURA, hanging her head: “Are you sure that it’s all true?”

AKIHIRO: “Do you doubt me?”

LAURA: “No.” Laura picks up her head and looks at her brother. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”

AKIHIRO: “Realize what?”

LAURA: “That you were used like I was. By The Hand. And Romulus. You were just their weapon.”

Akihiro sighs in annoyance.

AKIHIRO: “Look, try not to be too annoying about the whole, “I’m a weapon” thing, okay? Last I checked weapons don’t have beautiful girlfriends. You’re a Mutant, a strong one, and if you play your cards right, a valued one to our lady. Help me take out Logan and I’ll even put in a good word for you.”

LAURA, squinting: “You’re being nice.”

AKIHIRO: “Would you rather I cut your head off?”

LAURA, slightly smiling: “No.”

AKIHIRO: “Smart. You keep drinking that water, I’m gonna go grab something a little stronger. We’ll pick up training after that.”

LAURA: “Sounds good…Brother.”

Akihiro smirks as he walks off. We see him texting Sofia that he’s still with Laura, and she wasn’t kidding: She’s a very good actress. But she still doesn’t suspect a thing.

We zoom in on the smiling Laura, as she scowls.

We flashback to her earlier conversation with Warpath.

LAURA: “Sofia has a plan to find the Horsemen. With just the two of us. And we’re leaving tonight.”

Laura continues.

LAURA: “I’m going to play along and act like I don’t know what she’s up to.”

WARPATH: “You sure it isn’t time we tell Cyclops what we know?”

LAURA: “No hard proof. I know she’s Lady Akkaba. I know from how War fought, I know from her smell, I know Sofia. I know that isn’t really her, that Apocalypse brainwashed her, but she already showed she can get around telepathy.”

With Apocalypse down, Exodus must be running the show and controlling her now and using her as a distraction. Either that, or Akihiro is controlling with his pheromones. Or Malice can actually possess multiple people. It doesn’t matter. She knows Sofia won’t really give her the opportunity to figure out where the base is, but if she can get close, she can start picking off the Horsemen until she gets the right one.

James doesn’t like it, but he trusts Wolverine’s judgment. Can she promise him she’ll be careful?

LAURA: “No.”

JAMES: “Figured.”

One more thing though. Akihiro. Logan talked to her about him after their run-in, right?

LAURA: “Yes. He has been used. In ways he doesn’t even realize. I don’t know him. You’re more a brother than he is. But Logan wants him alive.” Laura picks her head up. “I will kill Exodus and Malice first. If he isn’t the one controlling Sofia, I will save him. I will save them both.”

In the present, Laura sips her water.

In Magik’s mindscape, she takes a guess: this goth girl she’s talking to is the real Malice?

Malice giggles as she plops down on Illyana’s bed. It’s who Alice McAllister used to be. A normal girl from Yorkshire who couldn’t stand her bloody annoying parents or any other authority.

MALICE: “I had hobbies. Journaling. Making Pinterest boards. Protesting. I had dreams. I was going to be an artist. But, you wake up one morning outside your body, unable to be seen or heard by anyone, or touch anything, and suddenly you can’t write, or draw, or scream for change. Just wander. Alone.”

Yana yawns.

MAGIK, mockingly: “How sad for you.”

MALICE: “What, no sympathy for another young girl who had her life stolen from her?”

YANA: “Don’t. I promise your experiences do not compare to seven years in Limbo with Belasco.”

Yana does ask how long she’s been like this though.

MALICE: “Four years. Don’t tell Exodus, though. I don’t want him thinking I’m another of Apocalypse’s kiddies.”

MAGIK: “I promise you I couldn’t care less.”

Malice laughs as she pokes at the fleshy guts inside a stuffed rabbit. She doesn’t know what Limbo is like, but she promises Illyana that her life has been hell. Even once she got over the initial shock and realized how her powers worked. Finding depressed souls who’d be willing to hand over their bodies wasn’t hard. But it wasn’t that simple. See she burns through human bodies rather quickly. Usually within mere days.

MALICE: “Can you imagine that? Four years of living in different bodies every day, each one wrong in so many ways?”

That finally hits Yana, who looks at herself in a child’s mirror and sees her 7 year-old self.

Malice continues to explain that she got beyond lucky finding Polaris, but she isn’t perfect. She’s strong and sturdy and she’s held up well, but this body is starting to go too; it has another few months at best. After Apocalypse killed all the humans, he was going to release his fellow Externals, and force one of them to give her an immortal body, but the X-Men ruined that.

Magik focuses back on Malice, questioning if she doesn’t actually have the same goals as the others.

MALICE: “Lord, no. Fascists like Apocalypse, Exodus, and Lady Akkaba are the kinds of people I used to throw red paint at. They’re just the only ones who were willing to help me.”

Now, the new plan is to use Scarlet Witch to make her a body, among all the other plans for her, but that doesn’t need to happen.

MALICE: “Not if you give me your body.”

Malice appears behind Illyana and covers her eyes with her hands.

YANA: “What are you–?”

MALICE: “I see you, Darkchylde. Acting like you’re oh so happy to be Magik, and being a little goblin girl. But that’s all it is. An act. You are still a demon, a creature of darkness, a soulless husk. Fighting along dandy superheroes because you just love your girlfriend so much. But I know she can’t be enough for you. All the friends in the world can’t be. You’re still miserable. Anyone stuck in the wrong body would be. But with its mystical nature, it would be the perfect body for me.”

Magik punches Malice, but that just makes her appear in front of her. Malice promises to take away all her pain. Having a soul will do that! Magik will still get to exist in the back of her head, finally at peace.

MALICE: “You have no way to either restore your full, demonic form or to obtain your old soul. You are not good or evil. You are nothing. I can take away that pain. Having my soul will do that! And you’ll still get to exist in the back of my head, finally at peace.”

Magik is shaken, especially as Malice reaches her hands inside her and smiles innocently, telling her to think of how happy they’ll be together.

Magik smiles back at her and holds her arms. She then proceeds to turn her face into Darkchylde’s and burn Malice with Hellfire.

Magik snaps back to reality, not about to worry about any of that stuff right now, and just focus on the bitch who got past her defenses.

MAGIK, panting: “Now…where are–?”

Illyana is cut off and screams as she’s blasted from behind by Pestilence, who then proceeds to rain metal rubble down on her, burying her underneath.

MALICE: “I’ll be in touch to see if you change your mind!”

Magneto, still engaged with Exodus, notices this, and cries out with concern for Magik. Erik launches another blast that only only penetrates Exodus’ forcefield, but tears off some of his flesh. As Magneto swoops down to rescue Magik, Pestilence flies up to Famine and tells him it’s time to go.

As Magneto pulls all of the rubble off of Magik, we see Mercury, exhausted and overwhelmed from all of this, but having successfully evacuated the area. Roxy finally makes it over to her, with Cessily falling into her arms.

Erik meanwhile holds the unconscious Magik in his arms, relieved that she survived, but further enraged as Pestillence, horrified by the thought of losing Illyana again.

Back in the school, Sunspot continues fighting Glob, eventually taking a punch to the face that draws blood.

ROBERTO: “How dare you?”

Glob laughs and tells Roberto he pisses him off more than anyone. All the X-Men act like they’re better than everyone, but Roberto is the worst about it, because he thinks he’s smarter than everyone.

GLOB: “There are more important things than being smart!”

Redneck appears on the scene, ready to back Glob up, rushing Sunspot with his burning hands.

GLOB: “Redneck, no!”

Redneck grabs Sunspot, but, of course, all this does is supercharge him, enabling him to blast both of the boys unconcious.

GLOB, passing out: “You…idiot.”

On the staircase, Tattoo taunts Dani as she tortures her, proclaiming how, whatever role she has in Lady Akkaba’s world, she wants to be a mom one day, with a bunch of kids.

TATTOO: “Thank you for teaching me exactly what not to do with him.”

Dani cringes.

DANI: “I’m sorry I failed you. And I’m sorry for this.”

Dani finally pulls her power. Radian and Tatoo fall down the stairs as they imagine sentinels firebombing them from above, with the ruins of Genosha around them. They’re left trembling in fetal position as Dani bends down to hold their hands.

Elsewhere, Ernst rushes toward Emma, but she has a low tolerance for misbehavior, and these girls have thoroughly expended it. The X-Men saved them both from the U-Men and gave them their home; they’re sorry they couldn’t also be their parents, but that’s just not how it works.

EMMA: “Now…sit down.”

Emma leaves her diamond form, and before Ernst can attack her, or Martha can freeze her body, Emma overwhelms them both with a psychic wave, knocking them out.

Outside, Quentin and Hellion continue to try and murder each other, exchanging punches, blasts, and chucking trees at each other, with Quentin also excelling with bladed constructs to cut up Julian. Keeping Julian on the backfoot is not only Quentin’s body running on Kick, but unlike himself, Quentin clearly doesn’t care if his attacks kill everyone.

Once Quentin notices that Julian is playing defense for the school, he launches a full-power attack directly at it. Hellion himself between the attack and the school, but while he is able to stop it, it exhausts the rest of his energy, and he collapses.

Quentin picks up Julian, who’s bleeding significantly more than he is, by the neck and raises him into the air.

QUENTIN: “You almost had the right idea. The whole “Hellions” thing. You were stronger, more fit, than the rest of us, and you treated us like we deserved. If I’d woken up to my true potential back then, we really could have been friends. But by the time I did, you’d let the X-Men corrupt you with their arrogant complacency. I wish the Omega Gang packed the kind of power your gang did, but then, I have much bigger plans than being a school bully; before long, I know I’ll be a Horseman.”

JULIAN: “C…C…”

QUENTIN: “Something to say? Going to call me a dork again? Want to tell me my parents were right to desert me?”

JULIAN: “C…Could you tell me where I left my hands?”

Quentin panics as he realizes Julian’s hands are missing. Just then, he’s struck from behind as demonic metal, supercharged with the last of Hellion’s energy, collides with the back of his head.

Quentin falls over as the wind is knocked out of him and his forcefield momentarily goes down. Hellion reattaches his hands, and is about to pound away at Quentin before he puts himself back together, but…

“Get away!”

He’s tackled away by Tag. Brian, mounted on top of Julian, has tears in his eyes, while Julian is still in disbelief its gotten this far.

Elsewhere, the four non-Sophie Cuckoos work to wake up Escapade, while Sophie sets herself up in Cerebro. Quickly, Escapade is jolted awake.

ESCAPADE: “That jerk!”

And Sophie, with some difficulty, is able to dismount the Cerebro helmet from the rest of the set-up, informing her sisters she’s on her way to save the day.

Julian and Brian wrestle around on the ground. Julian finally gets to ask the big question.

JULIAN: “Why?!”

BRIAN: “I said why! You just never pay attention!”

Julian kicks Brian off of him. He never thought Brian was as dumb as he thinks of himself, but if he really let Quentin convince himself, without telepathy, that he was ever going to abandon him, he really is an idiot.

JULIAN: “You’re my best friend.”

BRIAN, on the verge of a breakdown: “Yeah. You too, man.”

Brian beats Julian. Quentin is able to get up, happy to see this.

QUENTIN: “Don’t hold back, Tag! Once he’s dead, we’ll never have to think of this loser again! It’ll just be you and me!”

“Hey Quentin!”

Quentin is confused and turns around, as Escapade rockets out of the school on her jet boots, grabs Quentin’s face, and electrocutes him with her shock glove.

ESCAPADE: “You were talking about what you’re owed?!”

Quentin knocks her away. She switches places with him, hoping to immobilze him that way, but she quickly collapses and the switch is undone, as her body reacts horribly to suddenly being filled with Kick.

Quentin pants. He’s tired, the back of his bleeding profusely, and now this little bitch just burned half his face off! But he’s still standing!

QUENTIN, looking over at the other fight: “Brian! Kill him already!”

Julian laughs.

BRIAN: “What could you possibly be laughing about?”

JULIAN, grinning: “I do get how he got to you. I’m sorry I wasn’t paying more attention. But you’re kidding yourself if you think he won’t dump you faster than we ever would have.”

Brian stops punching.

QUENTIN: “Tag! What are you doing, you idiot?! Do I need to do this myself?!”

Tag glares at Quentin, wiping his tears on his arm.

QUENTIN: “Oh now what? Did he say something? Don’t listen to the enemy, you idi–!’

Quentin falls to his knees, screaming in agony.

Sophie, wearing the Cerebro helmet exits the school, taking note of the destroyed landscape, and the already beaten Hellion and Escapade.

SOPHIE: “Never send lesser Mutants to do a Cuckoo’s job.”

Sophie, approaching Quentin, tells him it’s over. His “friends” are beaten, her sisters are blocking his telepathy, and thanks to Cerebro, his mental defenses are nothing to her.

Sophie stomps down on Quentin’s head.

SOPHIE: “Die, loser.”

Quentin screams as he bleeds from his eyes.

QUENTIN: “The Sophie Cuckoo I loved would have loved to crush all of humanity underneath her stilletos!”

SOPHIE: “I grew up. You should have tried it.”

Quentin’s still not done. Using his telekinesis, he unloads every bit of Kick he has left from his pocket, and shoots it all down his mouth.

BRIAN: “No! Sophie, watch out!”

With the power boost from the extra Kick, Quentin makes Sophie scream as well, as he stands up, laughing manically. The other Cuckoos all scream as well. He overrode their block, but they can still back Sophie up.

QUENTIN, enjoying Sophie’s pain as she struggles against him: “You said you didn’t laugh, right? Kiss my boots now, take back that last comment, and you can still be my queen. A HA HA HA!”

Sophie digs her heels into the ground to help her stay standing. Despite Quentin’s overwhelming strength, she’s still confident she can beat him.

Brian watches on as Sophie struggles to fight back against Quentin, but refuses to back down nonetheless. He looks to Julian to do something, but he’s passed out from his injuries. With Escapade also down, he’s the only one who can do anything.

BRIAN: “I’m sorry, everyone. I just wanted friends.”

Sophie’s knees bend as she bleeds from her mouth, her eyes roll around in her head, and the other Cuckoos writhe in agony as well. Even still, Sophie isn’t letting up, just looking for an opening in Quentin’s mental assault.

QUENTIN: “Esme, can you and the others all hear me over you’re screaming? I hope you can. Because once I’m done with her, I’m coming for–!”

Quentin is cut off as Brian lands a devastating hook to the back of his head. Everything goes silent. Then, Quentin loses control and Sophie finds her opening and hits Quentin with everything she’s got, as Brian is blasted away, and the front lawn is further devestated.

In the Mission Room, the Cuckoos all stop screaming, and start crying.

Emma, Dani, Kitty, and Sunspot finally make it outside to find their school wrecked, and five of their students unconcious. They rush without hesitation to check on them all. Kitty gives the thumbs up that Escapade’s okay. Sunspot lets them know Hellion’s just out cold too.

Dani and Emma aren’t so lucky as they check on Brian, Quentin, and Sophie. Dani cries, while Emma turns to diamond, holding Sophie tight.

That night, in the Mission Room, Cyclops has his head buried in his hands.

SCOTT: “How did we let this happen?”

The only ones sitting with him are an equally depressed Kitty and Sunspot. Lockheed is in Kitty’s arms.

KITTY: “We made mistakes. A lot of mistakes.”

BETO: “Someone knew exactly how to take advantage of them.”

SCOTT: “And now two of our kids are dead.”

As the three try and press through going over their whole situation, we see Quentin lying in bed in the medical bay. And next to him, Warpath. Neither is dead, but both are comatose. Beto is not only enraged at what happened to Jimmy, clearly from the burn marks War’s doing, but while he doesn’t wish death on him, he resents that Quentin survived everything.

KITTY: “I tried talking to Dani. Couldn’t get a word out of her.”

We see Dani crying hysterically as she works a punching bag in her room.

SCOTT: “Emma’s had a similar time with the Cuckoos. She’s still trying now.”

We see Emma following behind four Cuckoos, only for her to turn a corner, and discover they were just illusions.

Scott continues to bring up how the Omega Gang has been given to SHIELD, and thanks Kitty for making it clear on his behalf that they aren’t to hold these kids long term; they’ll take them back when they’re ready, and do better by them. They’ll certainly have the space if the current rate of parents pulling their kids out of the school doesn’t slow down.

SUNSPOT: “Not to be the pragmatist at a time like this, but the Horsemen got what they wanted from all of this. They got Wanda.”

We see Magneto splitting the ocean in his rage.

SUNSPOT: “If they figure out a way to use her power, we’re done.”

KITTY: “And we’ll stop them before that happens. Nothing we can do about it right now though. What we can do is do better by the kids. By all of them.”

Dust, Mercury, Bling!, and Surge stand outside the medical bay, all in tears, with the camera at first focusing on the comatose Warpath.

SCOTT: “Quentin was wrong about a lot. Less than his “friends” were. But he was right about one thing. One of the same things Professor Xavier got right.”

The camera in the medical bay pans over to Magik, Hellion, and Escapade, unconscious and//or heavily injured, but not in critical condition.

SCOTT: “The X-Men are elite. We have to be. Because most Mutants aren’t. They’re just ordinary people. Whatever privileges we enjoy, what comes first is that responsibility to keep each and every one of them safe.”

“Even if we don’t always meet that responsibility.”

The camera in the med bay pans over to reveal the two casualties of the riot: Sophie Cuckoo and Brian Cruz.

The four girls hold each other’s hands.

In Sofia’s room, Laurie is SO sorry. This is all her fault. She knew she’d make the wrong pheromones. Sofia, acting distraught but keeping herself together, promises Laurie this isn’t because of her. There was chaos, yes, and bad people took advantage of that, but neither of her friends’ deaths were because of her mistake. There are bad guys who deserve that blame. Okay?

Laurie tearfully nods.

SOFIA, slightly smirking: “Listen, I didn’t want to do this because, as an X-Man, it was my responsibility to bring you here, but I might know someone who can help you with your powers just as much as we can. Call him a tutor.”

LAURIE: “A tutor.”

SOFIA: “One with the same powers as you. I met him in my travels after I left the school. His name is Sean. I think you’ll like him. If you’re willing to give this a try.”

Laurie forcefully nods. This can’t happen again. She’ll try anything.

Sofia pets her hair.

Cut to Sofia leaving the room, where Laura rushes up to her, having heard what happened, enraged and distraught. Sofia hugs her.

SOFIA: “We will make the Horsemen pay. Every one of them. I promise.”

LAURA, claws out: “Don’t you worry. I’ll kill them all myself.”

We cut between Laura’s face, depressed and filled with righteous anger, and Sofia, wearing mere impressions of these emotions.

In Egypt, Sofia enters her lair, still in her normal clothes, where Exodus, Malice, and Akihiro are celebrating their triumph with drinks and a feast before they get to cracking Scarlet Witch.

AKIHIRO: “Will our lady be joining us?”

SOFIA, head held high: “Yes. But I have an important matter to attend to first.”

Sofia confidently marches out, Exodus clearly curious about what Sofia is up to What could she be plotting?

In the washroom, Sofia violently vomits into a toilet. More than once.

SOFIA, looking like she’s just had the worst nightmare: “What have I done?”

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

CAST CHANGES:

Brian Cruz AKA Tag is no longer part of the main cast.

Quentin Quire is no longer part of the main cast.

Sophie Cuckoo is no longer part of the main cast.

#New X-Men: The Animated Series #New X-Men #Academy X #Scott summers #Emma Frost #Magneto #Kitty Pryde #Roberto Da Costa #Laura Kinney #Illyana Rasputina #julian keller #noriko ashida #sofia mantega #cessily kincaid #sooraya qadir #brian cruz #roxanne washington #stepford cuckoos #quentin quire

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runnning-outof-time · 1 year

Text

Birmingham | Tommy Shelby x Reader (Part 17)

Previous Part

Pairing: Tommy Shelby x reader

Summary: Polly deals with some business back in Birmingham while (Y/N) sorts out things with her mother in Sheffield. Something happens before Tommy and (Y/N) are able to come home.

Warnings: mentions of smoking, mentions of threats to kill someone

Word Count: 3915

A/N: here comes the fallout of the previous chapter. I hope everything makes sense once you’ve read it. Also I’ve included the ‘sooner’ results of that one poll I posted…I hope it was worth the wait. Enjoy! :)

PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

Comment/Message me if you’d like to be tagged - there are 3 parts left!

Grace was busy wiping down the tabletops inside the empty Garrison tavern. She hated that she could only really clean once the place was empty, and that she now had to carry the entire burden as (Y/N) was off in Sheffield. She decided that she'd actually get to cleaning when her preliminary search of the offices for any more information came up empty. She didn't expect the sound of the side door opening to ring out in the otherwise quiet room.

"We're closed," she called to whoever it was that entered the establishment, not caring enough to look up from what she was doing.

"Oh I know," the voice that responded made her eyes snap up in seconds. Polly Gray was standing in the doorway, eyes already locked on her target.

"Polly," the name left Grace's lips like a gasp, "wha...what are you doing here?"

"I think you know what I'm doing here," Polly's answer was curt.

Grace knew exactly what she meant without having to be told though. It felt like her stomach dropped at the words, and immediately she began to scramble for what she'd say next while hoping that she still looked composed.

Polly spoke first though. "I was going to wait and see if Tommy figured this out or if he was told about it," she began, speaking slowly to let the other woman know that she was in charge of this conversation.

"It seems that he hasn't," Grace took Polly's pause as a time to interject a statement, tipping her chin slightly upwards (in hopes) to show that the statement rolled off of her back.

"Oh I know that," Polly was quick with the counter, "and I was going to let it go until he did figure things out..." she paused, looking the blonde woman up and down before her eyes narrowed slightly, "but then you brought (Y/N) into this when she never should have been. You've made this my problem, and I intend on dealing with it now," she made sure to enunciate her words so that they were spoken clearly.

"What do you know?" Grace decided to ask another question, wanting to see how many cards could be laid out on the table before she played her hand.

"I know that you are not only a barmaid...that you are working for Inspector Campbell; in order to find the stolen guns," Polly began, "I know that you're the one who gave Freddie up. You had a hand in him being taken away from his family just as it was started," she paused, staring the blonde woman down for a few seconds before continuing, "and I know that when you went to tell Inspector Campbell about those guns, you decided to bring (Y/N) into the situation; telling him that she was the one who was hiding them here in Small Heath."

Grace's jaw would have dropped had she not stopped it as Polly offered the last bit of knowledge that she possessed. She wondered how that detail got out...she'd spoken to Campbell in confidence so that it wouldn't.

"Campbell has a tendency to share his plans loudly," Polly cut into her thoughts, divulging exactly what she wanted to hear. "And I think I know why you did it..." she trailed off then, her eyebrows raising as she waited to see if Grace would say anything. She continued when she was met with silence, "I think that you met Tommy and you fell for him. I think that you struggled between the obligation you came here to carry out, and the man you met. Tommy was different from the type of man you were expecting to bring down, and that intrigued you. But then came (Y/N)...she was in the way of what you wanted, and so you made up the lie to try and get her to take the hit for the guns."

"Why are you saying all of this?" Grace asked, her brows furrowed, a panicked feeling starting to bubble up inside of her. She tried hard to keep her composed front up though.

"Because you should know that, in this city, we Shelbys have power. And with that power comes the ability to receive knowledge...and to make knowledge change, or even disappear," Polly pressed her lips together in an attempt to conceal the grin that was threatening to grow on her face as she got ready to reveal an update in Grace's attempted plan. "I've spoken with Sargent Moss, who has investigated (Y/N)'s involvement with the guns. He’s cleared her from any involvement with them. Your plan is no longer being carried out in the way you hoped it would," she allowed the grin to grow once she finished her statement, taking satisfaction in seeing all of the confidence drain out of the younger woman's features.

Polly pursed her lips before her grin could take over her entire expression, feeling even more confident after seeing Grace's reaction to it.

The younger woman was frozen. She didn't quite know what to do, or what to say in response to the information she'd just been given. How was she to play her hand if it had just been completely taken from her?

"I suggest you pack your things and leave Birmingham before (Y/N) comes home. She doesn't know of this little lie you've told at the moment, but she will when she returns, and...well I'm surprised she let you live after the lies you've told her before," Polly broke the tense silence. Grace stayed frozen. "Have I made myself clear in that?" she asked, being met with silence.

"You can't protect him forever, you know that," Grace decided to speak again, hoping she still sounded intimidating, "and (Y/N)...she'll cause bad."

"You must not have realized how we Shelbys are then. We'll protect our own until we can't. And she may...but you've already caused it," Polly didn't even budge on Grace's weak attempts of a comeback. "You should leave. If I see you again, I might just kill you myself," she advised then, nodding her head once to show her determination.

——

(Y/N) was out of breath as she approached the door of her childhood home. "Mum?!" she called as she entered it and was met with an empty room. "Mum?! It's me, everything's alright!" she called again, making her way deeper into the home. Where are you? she thought to herself, walking into the kitchen to find it also empty. The scraping of something on the floor above her made her realize that she may be upstairs. She rushed to the steps and ascended them as fast as she could. "Mum? It's me, mum!" she called out as she approached the door to her parent's room, "I'm coming into the room," she announced as she grabbed the doorknob.

She opened the door slowly, finding the room empty. She knew that her mother was in here though, because this room was right above where the scraping came from. "I'm here alone, mum...I'm safe," she called out as she looked around the room, slowly taking a step inside.

"Over here," she heard a voice call softly, making her rush to the hidden side of the bed to find her mother cowering next to the nightstand - which was what must've scraped the floor.

"It's me," (Y/N) repeated herself as she extended her hand to her mother, "I'm safe."

"You've got blood on you," her mother gasped, making (Y/N) look down and finally realize that some of Garrett's blood had splattered onto her clothing.

"I'm safe, I promise. It's done," she assured her mother. The older woman knew exactly what she was talking about even though she spoke in veiled statements. "Please, stand up with me now," she said then, offering her hand once more in hopes that her mother would take it.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she did. Both of the women stood up and embraced each other in a tight hug. Feeling her mother's comforting arms wrap around her made (Y/N)'s walls fall down again. She couldn't stop the tears as they welled up in her eyes and spilled over.

"We're safe now, mum. He can't hurt us anymore," (Y/N) whispered into her mother's ear as she held onto her for as long as she could. They held the embrace for a few moments longer before stepping away to look at each other. "I'm sorry for coming in unexpectedly. You were the first person I thought of after it was finished," she then apologized for her abrupt entry.

"It's ok, darling," her mother forgave her, "dad's out of town on business. I told him that this would be a good time to take the trip like you and I spoke about...he's not expected to be back for another few days," she explained her husband's whereabouts. (Y/N) nodded, feeling relieved that that part of the plan they'd spoken about in their correspondence had been followed through with.

"No one was in the bar when it happened. He asked everyone to leave when he noticed I was there...said that he wanted to have a conversation with me. Everyone was cleared from the area before the shot rang out," (Y/N) then explained what had gone down on her side of the events.

"Did you do it?" her mother asked. It flashed quickly, but (Y/N) thought she saw a glimmer of hope in her eyes as she asked the question.

"I didn't," (Y/N) shook her head, glancing at the wall behind her mother, "Tommy was there too. He was able to take the shot when I couldn't," she then explained.

"That's fine...so long as it was finished with," her mother assured her, nodding slightly as she spoke, keeping her eyes locked with (Y/N)'s.

(Y/N) nodded along with her as she felt a lump start to build up in her throat. "I...I'm so sorry, mum," she choked out, another wave of emotion flowing over her as the events caught up once more.

"You don't need to be sorry, love," her mother was quick to console her, "you knew what he was going to do...this was what had to be done. You've saved both your life and mine in doing so," she explained in a calming voice.

"But...but Clay's going to..."

"He's not going to find out. He was at his office while it happened, and you said it yourself that nobody saw it. Anyone could have done it," (Y/N)'s jumbled response was cut off again by her mother's justifications. "It hurts because it's family, but this is what happens inside families like ours. He was going to harm us...we couldn't let that happen," the older woman continued, speaking with a steady voice, "my father wouldn't have let it happen. It's time that us women work to take some power back within our own family."

(Y/N) nodded as she listened to what her mother had to say. "We're going to be ok, right?" she asked once she'd been able to calm down.

"We are. We're going to be more than ok, love," her mother agreed with her. "He wasn't going to bring anything good into this family. I believe he's finally found his peace now...whatever that peace may be," she then said.

It hurt her to think of her son this way, but it was what was necessary. Garrett was ready to fly off of the handle. He was in the midst of planning to find (Y/N) and then be able to rid the family of the 'weaker links', which meant that he was going after his mother too. In his mind, all the women did was take up space...they weren't good for anything because they didn't fight or throw their hat into the ring to help out the family in, what he deemed to be, a substantial way while the war was going on. The only reason why he wasn't able to push forward on this crusade, if you will, was because Clay didn't think that it was ideal to carry the plan out. He was more invested in trying to make deals and expand their control over the city. Garrett usually listened to Clay but, over these last few weeks, it seemed as though he was gearing up to carry out his plans without approval. This is what made Ann Weller scared, and it's ultimately why she decided to write (Y/N) a letter explaining what was happening so that they could create a plan of their own.

She was thankful that all of the different parts worked out the way they did. She didn't want to think of the consequences that would have arisen had one gone wrong.

"You said that Tommy came with you, (Y/N)?" Anne asked after both of the ladies were completely calm again.

"Yes," (Y/N) nodded her head, "he did." Realization struck her then as she remembered running out of the pub and leaving Tommy in the dust as she rushed to get to her mother. "I left him at the pub," she said then, stepping away from her mother to exit the room and rush down the steps. She was fully prepared to sprint back to the pub where she left him, but she quickly realized that she wouldn't need to. "Tommy," she gasped, surprised to see him standing in the front room of the home.

"I was only a few steps behind you," he explained to her, immediately seeing her surprised expression. (Y/N) didn't know what to say, so she just nodded, her worry dissipating once more.

"It's nice to finally meet you, Mr. Shelby," Ann’s voice came from behind her daughter, making her turn around.

"It's nice to meet you as well, Mrs. Weller. And please, call me Tommy," he smiled at her, stepping forward to offer his hand in a formal greeting.

"You call me Ann then," she told him while shaking his hand, making him chuckle as he nodded in agreement. "Thank you for looking after my daughter, Tommy," she said, an appreciative smile on her face.

"You're welcome," Tommy accepted her gratitude, looking over at (Y/N) to see that she was already smiling at him. He held her gaze until she broke away, looking bashfully at the ground. "I'm sorry about what had to happen," he addressed what had gone down earlier, looking at Ann again.

"Don't be," Ann brushed his apology off, "I've already told (Y/N)...he was my son, but he was also an angry and violent man. I hope that he's found peace now," she then reiterated what she'd said to (Y/N) moments ago. Tommy nodded along with her, making note of how she felt about the situation.

"It's getting late," (Y/N) spoke up again after a few moments had passed, "we should head back to Birmingham, Tommy."

"If you're ready," Tommy agreed with her while still letting her lead the situation.

"I am," (Y/N) nodded her head before she looked at her mother. "I love you, mum," she said, a smile on her face as she stepped forward to hug the older woman.

"I love you, sweetheart," Ann repeated the sentiment, hugging her daughter tightly, "things will be better from now on," she assured her, stepping back to smile at her as she held onto her shoulders.

"They will," (Y/N) agreed with her mother, even though she didn't feel what she was saying completely in her heart. "Shall we go?" she asked Tommy as she turned to face him. Tommy only nodded in response, taking a step to the door then. "Bye, mum. I'll write to you when I'm home safe," (Y/N) said to her mother, sending her one last smile before she followed Tommy to the door.

"Bye, (Y/N)," Ann sent a smile back, watching as the two exited the home and went on their way back to the car they'd arrived in.

The walk back was filled with silence. Tommy finally had a chance to smoke; he'd been needing a cigarette after what went down at the pub, but he was more worried about (Y/N) than his desires. Having her safe by his side finally allowed him to give in.

Tommy opened the driver's side door with no hesitation, getting himself ready to enter the car when he noticed that (Y/N) was practically frozen on the passenger's side. "(Y/N)?" he called to her, his brows furrowed as he looked through the car's windows to see her absentmindedly staring at the door. She didn't answer him, didn't even look up, so he dropped his hand from the door and walked around to meet her on the other side. "Everything ok, love?" he asked once he was in front of her.

"Huh?" she asked, snapping out of her thoughts, sounding surprised.

"You weren't getting into the car," he pointed out, "are you alright?"

"I, uh..." she trailed off, breaking eye contact as she hoped to keep herself together, "this can't keep happening with us, Tommy. This can’t become our ‘thing’," she choked out, her attempts failing as she recalled the past two times where they found themselves in a situation similar to what had happened at the pub earlier.

Tommy frowned as he heard what she had to say. "It won't happen again," he told her, a definitive tone in his voice.

(Y/N) wanted to take that statement at face value and hold onto it with all of her might, but she just couldn't. Instead she felt her heart break at the possibility that there very well could be another time. "That's not something you can promise," she pointed out, her voice broken. She dropped her gaze to the pavement as tears started to prick her eyes, not wanting Tommy to see her cry. She couldn't get it past him though, because she felt his arms engulf seconds later. His embrace was tight, one that she immediately sunk into.

"These sort of things'll be done now, eh?" he tried to reason with her, resting his chin on the top of her head as she clung to him tightly. "Look at me, (Y/N)," he whispered then, making her step back from him. He took his chance and took her face into his hands, holding her so that she couldn't break eye contact. "I might not be able to promise that, but I can promise that I will keep you safe, no matter what happens, ok?" he spoke in all seriousness, his eyes widening to show how much he cared. "I will keep you safe," he reiterated his point, his eyes searching hers as he spoke.

(Y/N) nodded as best she could with her head in his hands. "Ok," she breathed, feeling truly safe as he was holding her.

"Ok," he repeated her single word statement in a similar tone, nodding slightly as well.

Silence fell between them then, and (Y/N) realized in that period just how close they'd gotten. She could feel the warmth of Tommy's breath as it fanned across her face. The blueness of his eyes trapped her, shining despite the circumstances and giving her a glimmer of hope that maybe things would be better from there on out. She stayed in his grasp, watching as his eyes flitted to her lips for a moment before locking with hers again. A strange sensation shot through her as she watched him do that, and she couldn't help but do some searching of her own, letting her eyes travel over his features as she admired them up close.

Tommy dropped his eyes to her lips one more time before he made up his mind and decided to stop dancing around what he was wanting to do, what he’d been wanting to do. He leaned in slowly, giving her a chance to realize what he was doing; waiting for her to react in any sort of way. The second he saw her eyelids flutter shut, he closed the gap and pressed his lips to hers.

All of the bells and whistles were going off inside (Y/N)'s mind the second she felt his lips touch hers. She returned the kiss right away, her hands grabbing onto the sides of his suit jacket as she felt like she was about to be swept off of her feet.

The first kiss was short, a sort of a taste or teaser...a way to test the waters. Tommy was the one to pull away, but he didn't move far, only retreating a few centimeters so that they could both grab a breath before he leaned back in and kissed her again; his intentions more firm this time.

If the first kiss would have swept her off of her feet, this kiss would have blown (Y/N) away. She was not in any way prepared for something like this to happen, but now that it was happening, she didn't want it to end. Everything felt right in this moment. Her worries were pushed to the back of her mind as he moved to the forefront.

Their kiss lasted for a few moments before Tommy pulled away again, this time for good as he lifted his head slightly and pressed his lips to her forehead. (Y/N) relished in the feeling as tingles continued to shoot through her body. Nothing was said as he let go of her face and wrapped his arms around her once more, holding her flush against him.

"Are you ok?" he finally broke the silence, pulling her away to let her stand at arm's length as he looked her over.

"More than," she couldn't stop herself fast enough, the half-dazed answer escaping her lips before she had the chance to think it over.

Her response made him chuckle, a slight grin forming on his face as he relished in seeing her sheepish smile form. He hoped he didn't look too animated on the outside, and that she couldn't feel his heart where it was thudding in his chest. "Good," he said to her, feeling like a weight lifted off of his shoulders as she smiled at him.

She pulled him back into an embrace without warning, resting her head flat against his chest. She took comfort in the fact that his heart was beating rapidly, happy that he was reacting the same way she was. He held her tight to him, letting her rest in his arms with no questions asked. Silence surrounded them again until she asked a question of her own: "can we go home now?"

Her voice was soft, but Tommy heard her. "We can," he answered without hesitation, his heart rate picking up again at her word choice.

(Y/N) didn't misspeak. Even though she grew up in Sheffield, Birmingham had grown to feel more like home than that place ever had. Something told her that the man whose arms she was standing in had a lot to do with why she felt that way.

And now she just wanted to go home.

Next Part

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smloshie · 10 months

Text

Turning Page - a Simon Bootles x Reader

Part 1 - 1729

Chapter 1: Black Sheep

Foreword: This is based on Damien's character from episodes 3-6 of Board AF Legacy: Betrayal! I haven't seen any Simon Bootles fanfictions on tumblr or on Ao3 (which shocked me, there's fics of everything there!) So, I took matters into my own hands. Simon is one of my favorite characters Damien has done and personally as soon as you put a man in horns he becomes my #1 priority tehe!! I felt like a serious author while I was writing this, so please appreciate the detail I put in to this lol. Anyway, enough rambling. Enjoy Turning Page - a Simon Bootles x Reader fic!

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I sat on the lip of my bedroom’s main window pane, looking out at the lush forest that grew behind my family’s estate. While the trees are beautiful, they are intertwined with nothing but danger. At least, that’s what my father always told me. I was never allowed past a certain point. When I was a child, the reason for that was easily explained away by my parents assuring me that I would get lost.

“We just love you so much, darling. We would hate for you to be found by wolves and be raised in a cave! Now, sit still.” She said, brushing my hair on the portico facing the woods. She would say the same joke every single time I asked, and then would laugh at the ridiculousness of the idea.

“Wolves don’t have hair brushes, just sharp teeth! But you already look unkempt enough.” My older sister, Margot, shouted from the other side of the yard.

“Don’t be ridiculous, they wouldn’t want to take someone as homely looking as her anywhere near their cave! They would probably just eat you!” yelled Garrison. It’s every older brother’s responsibility to traumatize their younger siblings. Then, it’s the younger sibling’s job to forgive and forget.

Mother would scold Garrison and Margot, I would sit and cry. Not only because of the terrible things they’d say, but because I had no way out. I wanted so badly to run into the woods. Away from all of the yelling and fighting. The tormenting and teasing. The oppressive behavior I faced at the hands of my own family. It wasn’t until I grew older that I started to appreciate how good I had it. Rather than go down the path of my spoiled siblings, I learned to accept that others in this world faced much worse than I.

But that still didn’t stop me from wanting more. The wolf jokes stopped working by the time I turned 18. I knew I wouldn’t get lost, and I think my parents knew that too. I couldn’t help but think to myself that they were conspiring against me. My mind ran wild with the possibilities of what I’d find in the forest - what my parents were hiding from me. Maybe I had been kidnapped as a baby, and my real family lived in a cottage out there. My personal favorite theory was that they were scared I’d meet a handsome yet dangerous stranger, and he’d whisk me away somewhere where they’d never see me again.

My overactive imagination is what caused them to regret teaching me to read the books in our library.

So here I sat, forehead leaning against my window pane. Drowning in my own thoughts. I looked out at where the sky met the tallest tree, and let my mind romanticize the shade of purple that the sunset brought into view.

‘I could stay like this forever,’ I thought to myself. But, nothing ever lasts forever. I heard a knock on my bedroom door. It was one of the house attendants coming to fetch me for dinner.

“(Y/N)? Your mother and father have requested your presence in the dining room.” she said. Despite her voice being small and quiet, it carried through my large room.

“You know, you could have just said ‘dinner is ready’ and I’d likely be twice as eager to get downstairs.” I laughed. She gave me a strained smile, seemingly to appease me. No one in this house really appreciated my humor as much as I did. I’m not entirely sure where I developed my cynicism, but it might have been from the years of family members telling me to be quiet. Then, of course, that leads to the question of where I developed my defiance. There’s always one member of every family that goes against the grain… so that’s that I suppose.

I took one final look out of my window at the sunset, knowing I wouldn’t see it again tonight. It was like an old friend to me at this point. I found comfort knowing that it would always be there. But, by the time dinner would finish, it would be dark out. I don’t find the shapes of the constellations nearly as beautiful as the color that the sun and sky make together. I dragged my finger along the keys of the piano in my room as I left. I walked down the grand staircase and crossed the foyer into the dining room, where I found my family. My mother and father sat on both ends of the long table. Margot sat next to father, and tonight she had brought her husband. Jeffrey Carmine was a proper dickhead. I hated him with every fiber of my being. Only fitting that my snob of a sister would marry someone as disgusting as him.

I took my seat next to my mother, and placed my napkin in my lap. As I did this, I glanced up at my mother. She smiled to herself. I pleased her by showing the manners she had taught me. Luckily, that was all it took to get her to stop breathing down my neck for the night.

The dining room doors flung open, and in came Garrison with his fiancée - Alice. She was an incredibly well-meaning woman. She’s been sweet to me since the day we met. While Margot married well within her league, Alice seemed to have settled for my ass of a brother. But I truly didn’t mind, I enjoyed having her in my life.

Garrison and Alice took their seats on the other side of my mother, with my brother sitting next to Jeffrey. They always got along, since they share the same brain cell. They immediately started chattering, whilst Alice and my mother began discussing the wedding plans. Garrison and Alice were currently living in our house, and they would be until they were properly married. Until then, I had to deal with the torture of living with someone who never matured past the age of 8.

I looked around my family and noticed that there was an empty chair right next to me. An unusual occurrence, since our dining room attendants typically pulled enough chairs to seat every person. However, I brushed it off as nothing but a mistake on their part.

Suddenly, Garrison takes a stand. He steps up on his chair, and Alice offers her hand to balance him.

“Everyone,” my brother’s confident voice booms and echoes through the high ceilings dining room, “I have an announcement-”

“Alice is pregnant!” Mother interrupts. It came out as more of a squeal - I couldn’t tell if it was due to the excitement of her golden child reproducing, or due to the horror of her golden child having a baby out of wedlock.

“No. At least, not yet. My announcement tonight is more of a proposition! I have a friend from my school days that is tending to business in the city, and he wrote to me asking for a place to stay. I offered him our guest suite so that he needn’t travel a full day to complete his work.”

“So, you’re standing on a chair to ask if your friend can spend the night here?” I ask, laughing to myself at how stupid he looks. My mother slapped my hand with the flat side of her steak knife, and cleared her throat. I flinched and brought my hand under the table. It stung.

“(Y/N), please don’t speak out of turn. Your brother clearly has more to say.” My father hisses at me. I squint at him in disbelief.

“He’s standing on a chair, and you’re scolding me for interrupting?” I ask, a laugh escaping me once more, “I’ll admit I’m enjoying you making a fool of yourself, Garrison. But this is the most ridiculous and dramatic display I’ve ever seen! I mean how important must a man be in your life to cause you to act in such a way-”

Almost on cue, one of our house attendants came through the dining hall’s double-doors. He bowed his head to address us, and spoke up.

“So sorry to interrupt, but your final guest has arrived; Mister Simon Bootles.” He says.

I look towards the doors to see a man turn the corner and pass through the doorway. He was certainly a handsome man, but the first thing that caught my eye was his royal purple vest. I’ve never seen such a color anywhere else. The only thing close to it would be the sunset I look out at each evening.

He gave a polite smile, and his eyes met mine. They were a beautiful shade of brown. Who was this handsome stranger? Was he the one that would whisk me away into the woods? I smiled back at him, but his smile faltered. I made his smile disappear with a mere glance.

Suddenly, all of the memories of my brother and sister calling me ugly reared their heads like a snake with 1,000 heads. Why would my face cause someone I’ve never met to stop whatever joy their face expressed? Was something wrong with me? Or was he just as cruel as my brother?

“Simon! What a delightful surprise,” my father said, “Garrison, all you had to say was who you planned on inviting into our home, and I would have said yes in a heartbeat.”

“I’m glad you feel that way, sir!” Simon said, “and I truly appreciate the hospitality. You see, my work is incredibly exhausting and it would have taken over two days to travel from my home to the city.”

“No need to explain yourself, Simon. You’re welcome anytime! Please, have a seat.” mother said. Simon made his way to our side of the table and sat in the once empty chair next to me. Now that he was closer, I studied his face for a beat.

Now I remember. Simon was Garrison’s best friend in college. The last time I saw him was over 2 years ago, when they finished their schooling and our family hosted a large party in their honor. Despite it being only 2 years, he and I looked vastly different from who we were back then. Clearly, he had been taking better care of himself. Maybe he’s not used to seeing someone as homely as me in whatever high society he comes from. That’s probably why he looked so disgusted when he saw me. Just another pompous ass like the rest of them.

“I’m sorry, do I have something on my face?” He asked. Had I been staring?

“No, sorry. I was just staring off into space and your large face was in my way.” I retorted. It felt good to hurl an insult at him before the weekend of mistreatment began. It excited me to finally be the one to strike first.

“(Y/N) (Y/L/N)! Watch your manners. That is no way to speak to a guest,” my mother snapped. “I’m so sorry about her, Simon. You know how it is to have a black sheep in your family, I’m sure.” Hearing my mother call me out for being different hurt. Especially in front of everyone. But, I knew what she expected of me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in through my nose. I turned to Simon with a small smile on my face.

“I’m sorry, Simon. How rude of me! I think your face is perfectly average.” I said. I had been made a fool within seconds of him arriving. He looked slightly taken aback. I wasn’t sure if it was because of my apology or what my mother had said. Maybe he felt bad for me? He had quickly redeemed himself in my mind.

“Thank you… I appreciate that. For the record, I think your face is too!” He laughed. Nevermind, he was just as much of an ass as I thought. Everyone else at the table laughed too. They were all laughing at me. Alice made eye contact with me from across the table. She was smiling and laughing with the rest of them, but I wanted to believe she was doing it for the sake of survival, not ridicule. I must have looked pretty upset, because Margot spoke up.

“Don’t make that face, (Y/N)! As you age, that will cause wrinkles. You won’t stay young forever.” She said. Jeffrey laughed.

“No one will want to marry you if you look like an old hag by 25!” He said. Everyone laughed once more. I didn’t deserve this.

I stood up abruptly, knocking my chair backwards as I did so. The laughs immediately stopped.

“Shut your mouth Margot. Fuck off, Jeffrey. How dare you all let Simon speak to me that way? Did you not see how he looked at me when he walked in? Like I was a parasite? Garrison invites some man off the street to stay with us, and you’re already treating him better than your own child.” I said.

But I didn’t say that. I had already caused enough of a scene.

Feeling overwhelmed, I left the room without saying a word. I headed straight to my room and closed the door, being careful not to slam the door. I knew that would only cause problems. I hated feeling like I wasn’t allowed to be angry. I hated that my brother just got to bring whoever he wanted into our home without any objection. I hated that I was stupid enough to think that Simon was handsome when he saw me as nothing more than mud on his shoe. I hated that he made my family laugh at me within seconds of being here. Is this how it would be during his entire visit?

I walked over to my window. The sky was already too dark to see any more beautiful colors. I already knew I would go to bed unhappy, but this solidified that fact.

I heard a knock on my bedroom door. I walked over to it and spoke to whoever it was, careful not to open the door so they wouldn't see me cry.

“I’m sorry to have caused a scene, I��ll do better in the future. I didn’t mean to embarrass us in front of our guest. I should have known better. I’m sorry.” I threw out every possible phrase I could to conjure up an apology worthy of forgiveness. A long silence hung in the air.

“Actually, I was hoping to apologize to you. May I come in?” It was him; Simon. He wished to apologize?

“I- I suppose…” I opened the door and there he stood. The look on his face was sad in a way, I couldn’t tell if the missing component was shame or desperation. He looked at me with downcast eyes. I turned my back on him and walked further into my room. He followed.

“Listen, I am so sorry about what I said. I thought that we were just joking with one another, I didn’t realize my words would have struck such a nerve with you.” He said. I paused for a moment.

“Close the door.” I finally said. He looked taken aback by how direct I was, but he didn’t miss a beat. He closed it immediately. Silence fell between us once again. I was trying to figure out a way to phrase what I wanted to say. I began to speak.

“My entire life, I have tried to get my family to love me. You show up, and you’ve won them over by simply associating with my brother. How? Why? Why do they like you more than me? You’re not even their child- I am!” As I said that, I could feel my nose and corners of my eyes start to prick and sting. I needed to relax before I embarrassed myself even more than I had.

“I’m sorry. You don’t need to hear all of that, I’m sorry. I’ve just been really sick of the way I’m treated as of late. You didn’t deserve all of that information being thrown onto you. I’m sorry.”

“You’ve just said ‘I’m sorry’ for a 5th time since I walked in.” he said.

“Oh.” was all I said. I bit my tongue from apologizing once more.

“Do they treat you like that often? Like a so-called ‘black sheep’?” He asked. I nodded in response, “Then I suppose I chose the wrong member of the family to spend my time with.”

I smiled down at my feet, so he wouldn’t see. He was charming, I'll give him that.

“You should probably go back down so they don’t worry about you.” I said, folding my arms across my stomach. I looked back up at him and his eyes met mine.

“...and why should they worry?” He asked, taking a step towards me.

“Oh, you didn’t know? Prolonged exposure to the family’s pariah could have lasting effects on your wellbeing.” I quipped. He laughed and looked down, then back up at me.

“Then I had better hurry back.” He turned and walked towards the door. Before he left, I called after him.

“Simon?” He stopped with his hand on the doorknob.

“Yes?”

“Can you tell them I apologized for causing a scene?”

“Of course, (Y/N).”

“A-And can you mention that you didn’t mind my outburst?”

“Yes, of course.” He smiled and opened the door. Before closing it, he lingered again.

“For the record, I prefer the wool from a black sheep far more than that of a white sheep’s.” He said, over his shoulder. He closed the door, and I was left there smiling like an idiot. I wondered how I would respond if he had stayed a second more.

“And for the record,” I would say, “If an outburst is what it took to get you into my room, I might just have to raise my voice at God himself each night.” He would smile and stay behind, and we would talk about how horrible my family is all night.

I dressed myself in my nightgown and climbed into bed, blowing out the candles that had been lit by my attendants while I was away at dinner. I laid there for what felt like hours, just staring at the ceiling. I was thinking of Simon. His hair, his eyes, his clothes. If I had felt like the purple of the sunset was my only friend before, it was only fitting that I felt a connection to the man in a purple vest.

I finally drifted off to sleep, excited to see Simon again tomorrow.

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#smosh #smosh damien #damien haas x reader #simon bootles #charlemagne bootles #smosh fanfic #smosh x reader #1700s #smoshblr #simon bootles x reader

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