#also forgot to mention i wanted to keep the names as close to canon warriors as i could so i had to find words similar to things that

[viatrix-glow]

new di x warrior cats

name explanations and more info below :3

basic stuff

-each agency is a clan, not each unit. 14-15 clans would be silly and then we would have some clans with 5 cats and some with 2.

-starpro -> lightclan. i couldn’t call them “starclan” for obvious reasons. light is somewhat synonymous with star, so i’m going with that.

-cospro -> nightclan. i don’t think the cats in warriors know the word “cosmic”, but cosmic implies cosmos implies night sky, so we’re going with night

-rhyth lin -> rippleclan. ripple is sort of a synonym to rhythm….? this one was hard

-new di -> fortuneclan. this one is a stretch but neither “new” or “dimension” have synonyms that really fit a clan name. fortune is something that relates to multiple characters in new di though

-starclan still sort of exists, but the cats do not believe in them the way they do in warriors. they are more of a nursery tale than anything, and select cats (ex: tatsumi) believe in them, but it is not written into their code. medicine cats can still interpret signs, but they do not necessarily think of them as coming from starclan.

-medicine cat forbidden romance is not a thing here

-intermingling of clans is ok and common

-there’s like. other cats in their clans besides just the enstars cast i assume

cat names/why i chose them

fortuneclan:

knights

-tsukasa -> scarletstar (scarletblossom) . he is the leader of fortuneclan because he is one of the new di reps for the summits. both scarlet and blossom were chosen bc of his last name (scarlet is a red color… kinda similar to cherry…. and blossom for the cherry blossom).

-leo -> lionheart. ok this one is kind of cheating because lionheart is already an existing warrior, but…come on….

-izumi -> silverspring. sora describes his color as silver, and spring is in his first name

-ritsu -> frostmoon. his first name means cold moon according to the wiki so i just rehashed it

-naru -> goldenroar. since she doesn’t like her first name i didn’t want to use “storm”, and her last name can be read as “thunder” but that’s a little too close to storm? so golden for her hair and roar for her last name

switch

-natsume -> sageeye. a sage is similar to a wizard, and eye is in his first name . also the “dovesong” mentioned is wataru :)

-tsumugi -> bluewing. he is a bluebird. warrior cats probably wouldn’t straight up call a cat “bluebird” so i put wing there instead. deputy cause he’s the vp

-sora -> skyspring . sora means sky. spring is in his last name. i could have used “stream” instead to differentiate him from sena but i think spring is cuter

mam/df

-madara -> tawnystripe . tawny bc it’s like kind of close to calico if you squint. stripe(s) is in his last name

#my art #enstars #ok so maybe we WOULD have 5 clans bc guess what was announced today #a new agency. and a new unit (or fucking 5? idk) #BUTWHATEVER #um i don’t know why i did this it was a joke at first but #then i started getting really into choosing names…. #like originally it was just gonna be switch but then i was like hmmm… what if the agency is the clan #i’ve been reading so so much warrior cats i’m about to finish avos and then i’ll be caught back up to where i was #when i started this rereading journey last year #so like i have to apply it to my other interests #i’m proud of the names i chose i think they’re fun #yes leo’s is a cheat but idc #i hope someone else will appreciate this it’s mostly just me doing stuff for fun #i want to do the other units/agencies too but that might be a while cause yall this took #like a week . granted i’m busy rn but god damn picking designs for cats is hard!! #that’s why so many ended up being tabbies i just can’t resist they’re my favorites i’m definitely not biased #but also realistically tabby is a pretty common pattern so it’s fine #my fave design is naru’s btw i wanted to make her really pretty and i think i did ok #ok i’m going to bed bye #also forgot to mention i wanted to keep the names as close to canon warriors as i could so i had to find words similar to things that #the cats in warriors would know #sage is pushing it i don’t think they use sage in medicine . they def don’t know what a fortune is either but i don’t care

[saturns7ringsinspace]

Hello all, I thought I would share my au because I have wanted to for a while. It’s been in development for 5-6 years now. This took me an 1hr 30minutes and it shows so bare with me please 🫶🏽

Alright this is my AU, FIVE YEARS AND I DONT HAVE A NAME FOR IT 😃

 This is just a brain dump it’s insanely unorganized and possibly confusing.

Alright it focuses around the JR because I love them and I probably love them more bc of this au that I’ve grown attached to.

So I kinda tried to stay canon but also definitely strayed away from it a lot

Everyone got a power boost bc it’s more fun when they’re all powerful and have to go through character arcs, I have a lot of OCs in this which are super dear to me 🫶🏽

Alright I’m going to start with the basis. 

Basically the JR is the most powerful organization in their set multiverse. We knew this ofc. Dream runs it and sometimes leans on his close employees for advice, help, etc but he obviously has a problem so he usually does it all himself by this I mean paper work and his daily duties which is usually just paper work.

There are a lot of divisions including justice division, cooking/chefs, security division, orphanage staff, hired mercenaries, medical divisions, office workers, receptionists, maids/janitors, and I’m sure a lot more. 

The JR runs a lot of things and it’s hard to keep track of everything even for dream.

The plot is based on them chasing criminals specifically meme squad, then outcome B happens, but a shadow organization rises with growing power, dream and the jr wondering how they stayed off their radar and these guys are total bad news. Every bad thing, every big criminal has had an association with these guys ( I don’t have a name for them yet, I’ve just been referring to them as AJR, anti-justice reigns, weak name I know) they have a deep hatred for the jr and do everything in their power to take them down. Majority of the story is the JR against AJR the rest is meme squad and inner demon battles 😃

I guess I’ll move on to respective characters unless I forgot something 

Dream- CEO of JR, runs it like a business is basically a politician, businessman, warrior(??),  paperwork man, father (??🧐🧐)

Same backstory as OG, ate 50000 apples, grew light wings, villainized nightmare.

His powers- as I mentioned I gave people power boosts, so he has all his og powers and more. His sword lights up yellow when he uses his powers and a lot of magic comes out of it when used (think raiden shogun) honestly in powers he can shoot light, and if he needed to he probably could incinerate someone/thing. He can shoot a lot of it but if overused he’d need probably couple hours of rest. I wanted to paint him in a way to be a like god but not there completely (again think raiden but a bit more inferior) 

Personality- same old same old

Polite, respectful, serious with his job and with life in general

 lighthearted

Has morals even though they are a bit twisted in a way

He honestly is supposed to be the MC but he’s not really there it’s funny to me he’s just so busy he becomes overshadowed by the other side MCs I didn’t account for that at first but then it felt purposeful.

Ink- Dreams right hand, but moreover assassin/mercenary, here for the money (but that’s where character development come in) 

His backstory is kinda the same but I added some stuff to fix plot holes or just Wtv didn’t make sense, I don’t feel like expanding right now

(I’ll do separate posts with more details on characters maybe lmao probably not)

Powers- alrighty this is gonna be hard to explain. So he has his og powers ink blah blah, but he can use it to morph it into stuff like idk if he wanted to prank someone he could make his ink into food and they would eat it and they just ate his powers not actually food (idk another example😭), I created this as a joke but then added it because I liked it. He can use the ink on/in his body to morph himself, so like change his body this shouldn’t be confused with changing his complete appearance like skin tone eye color etc but he can change like the shape of his body or gender kinda like if he wanted to appear as a girl he could. But he would still look  like same eye color, same skin tone, same hair color etc. but he could shape of his nose, mouth, he usually uses it for fun/to scare people and not on missions unless he has to. 

Personality- rude ahole, absolutely gives no fks, nice is a one in a lifetime occurrence 

his rudeness is from trauma and his lack of knowing how to interact with others 

Sassy 100%

When the character development pops in he becomes better still a ahole tho. 

He cares I promise he just needs a shove in the right direction

(GENDERFLUID INK GENDERFLUID INK, using “he” here bc it’s easier and I have a headache)

Finch- (my favorite and you can tell by all the trauma and pain I gave him 💝🫶🏽🥰)

JD Captain, Inks respective rival, way too loyal to dream until he’s not

This is where I’m scared to post about my AU. Because this guy is the one who probably got the biggest boost. 

His backstory- it’s still based on the 1930-40s in WW2 in America specifically Odessa, Texas.

this was how his downhill of a life started (until he met dream)

Lives with mother and father and 6 siblings because in that time people had way too many kids. And I like the idea of youngest sibling finch. Father gets drafted for war, dies. (This was fav parent btw) mother sad and traumatized, takes it out on kids ⁉️ finch got the worst of it bc MC plot , she wanted him to be perfect which messed with self esteem and just imagine her lovely reaction when he came out to her. Runs away bc it’s too much mental and emotional abuse. This is the shaky part. Comes into contact with a spirit , specifically spirit of anger,revenge , and all things karma. This come into the story later. Okay so I quite haven’t figured this part out but upon coming in contact with this spirit bro gets possessed 😱 and his au shows a rift which he gets sucked into and spit out into dreamswaps au where ever I haven’t done that world building yet. The part where he gets his freaking eye stabbed out is still in the works but I have a basis that I’m not sharing yet but after that dream finds him with a couple guards , and he’s sent to the JR hospital gets new eye and and soon after 3-4 years of insane hard work becomes promoted to captain this is important because it establishes just how hardworking he is. Most wouldn’t get such a promotion until at least 6-7 years? For him to get it so young, so early, is envying and insane. For others they’re jealous and believe he’s undeserving until he really proves himself worthy of such a position and gains the respect (I so graciously believe he deserves)

As you can there is a lot for him and that’s because originally there’s so little so I had a lot of room to implement what would usually be hcs into his character.

Alrighty powers- 

This is hard to explain the spirit gives him these established powers but it makes him lose control if used excessively leaving the spirit to take over and a pain for whoever's around

These powers run on emotions and if he is careless with his expression then the above may happen.

He can like use the magic to float stuff sometimes himself but that takes a lot. 

He can make daggers (similar to an idea that I believe @fresh-trans-fish had)

Still has that scrappy spear of his. 

He has very scared to use these powers but after time bonding with said spirit he became more comfortable in it.

THE CRYSTALS- part of keeping the spirit in control. 

They need each other , spirit (doesn’t have a name yet I’m working on it) and finch need each other to live cause spirit needs a host and will fade out without one and finch is stabilized by said spirit 

Personality- silent man probably the equivalent of the quiet kid maybe a little more mental unstable 

A leader at heart 

Cares about doing the right thing 

Crazy in the way where he talks to himself constantly 

internally hyper, externally calm

Anxiety definitely 

I gave him borderline bc that’s my own hc in og (makes dealing with his powers harder)

Kind but people don’t see it

Tough willpower 

Claims to never cry, probably has a mental breakdown after very shift

He has learned over the years to be less wound up off the job. 

Also he has a bsf (she will be introduced later but she is important to his character development she’s an OC ofc )

Okay, that’s not everything obviously there’s still the OCS but I’m so lazy and I hate writing on my phone. So here’s a quick basis of the MC OCs 

Ash- lead doctor in the medical department, close with dream been in the JR for a LONG time, like a mother to certain people (cough cough finch and katja) 

Katja- co captain to finch and bsf to him also, hates ink in a weird sibling way, 24

Eliza- weird relationship to dream, people don’t know why she’s always in the JR also oddly close with ink and finch, late 20s

Amayah- lead detective, cool uncle vibes, early 30s

Brianna- dreams adopted daughter (that’s all I’ll say about that 😃)

UGH THIS WAS A PAIN TO WRITE ESPECIALLY ON MY PHONE I WISH THOUGHTS COULD JUST TRANSFER ON THE PAGE. 

Tbh there’s probably so much I’m forgetting but it’ll come to me and I’ll write it down.

Autocorrect made this 10x more painful. 

Okay that’s definitely not everything (I’ve said for the fifth time) but if any questions then please comment 

I hope this has a good reach but lmk your thoughts! 

#dreamswap #ds finch #dreamswap finch #dreamswap dream #ds ink #dreamswap ink #ds dream #saturnheadcanons #saturnposts #writing #alternate universe #ARGHHHHHH #please interact #in pain #my fingies hurt #oc #orginal character #it’ll all make sense I promise #probably not though

[therosefrontier]

No. 8: “I’ve got soul, but I’m not a soldier.”

Overcrowded ER | Outnumbered | “It’s all for nothing.”

+++

Fandom: Genshin Impact

Characters: Bosacius, Boyang, plus mentioned Alatus (Xiao), Menogias, Indarius, Bonanus

Placement?: canon lore backstory, the Cataclysm

Word Count: 1538

+++

He did not remember much, but he knew enough to know that what he was doing was right.

He had been wandering the land without aim—he was not sure where he had been, only that he had no purpose for being there. He was drawn to this place by the sound and smell of battle. It pulled him, invigorated him. He saw a great Chasm in the earth, monsters spewing from it like a flood. An army stood before the gap and fought the monsters, held the line. He thought that he would join this army of humans, or perhaps, he thought nothing at all. He only did. He came down, and he fought. Fighting was right; fighting was what he was meant to do. With the battle, came bits of clarity. He had been a warrior, once. He was sure of this. He knew that it had been a long time ago, and that many years of Nothing lay in between, but he knew that these humans were his allies. It was right that he should fight with them.

He was a yaksha, and he had no name. He knew that he had one, once, but not anymore. No, no, that wasn’t right—he did not lose his name, he only forgot it. Those two things were not the same. He was a yaksha with a name, who was once called a name by others. No one could take his name from him. No one.

Many ages ago, a four-armed yaksha lay on a battlefield, covered in blood. He was a warrior, but he was not free. A god found him. Forced him to a purpose. Chains hung from every wrist. He was destined to be a sacrifice today, but he did not die. What should he do, since he did not die?

“Do you have a name?” a hooded figure, clad in Geo from neck to fingertips, reached out his hand.

To give a name was a dangerous thing. However, he did not have one. If he did, it was taken from him.

They called him “yaksha,” or the “four-armed yaksha,” or the “purple yaksha,” or the “nameless yaksha.” He was fine with this. He had no memories to share with them, only instinct. He would drive off these hoards, and he would protect this land.

Much of this army of humans would die, however. The hoards were unrelenting, just like the gods and their armies of many years before. He knew that he had fought gods before, although he didn’t remember when. He knew this must be a lot like those days, an army against an army, except that their enemies had no god to lead them, no direction, no purpose except to kill. That made them easier to kill, in turn. They were disorganized. However, they were also strong. Many humans were killed. The monsters outnumbered them, and with every human that died, they would outnumber them even more, screaming cries of bloodlust into the dark cavern and pushing relentlessly to the sky above. The monsters kept coming. So, he would stay. As long as this tired army was here, so would he. No, even if they weren’t here, he would be. This was what he should do.

“They keep coming…” a soldier spoke to his comrades, his eyes wide with horror even while they sat by the campfire in between waves, polearms close by their sides as they waited for the call that would tell them to get up and fight again, because the enemy was upon them. “What if we can’t make it? This could all be for nothing…they won’t stop until every one of us is dead…”

“What!? Don’t talk like that!” his comrade grew angry with him quickly.

“I don’t want that to happen! But we…we have to do something. Something different. If we just keep going like this…we won’t stop them. It’ll just be a waste.”

“We should follow orders,” another one said calmly. “Trust that they will know what to do.”

“But we need so much more… where’s Rex Lapis? He called us here, but shouldn’t he be here? He always fought by the Milleleth’s side in the past, hasn’t he? I wonder why he isn’t here now. Surely, this disaster is just as great as the Archon War…”

“We should trust Rex Lapis. I am sure that, wherever he is, he is fighting too. We’ve seen no enemy gods commanding this hoard, haven’t we? Perhaps, there is a reason for that. We should trust.”

The yaksha stood behind the group, and he listened. Rex Lapis…he knew this name. Yes, he knew it very well, he thinks. Rex Lapis was…someone very good. Yes, someone very good indeed.

The horn was sounded when the next wave came. The men put down their food and extinguished their fires, and they took to arms. The three men who he watched discuss their fears all similarly ran into the fray without restraint. Every one of them died, that day. It was a terrible battle. But, the line still stood.

“Bosacius! Ah, there you are!” Indarias ran up to him, a smile on her face in spite of her chiding words. “Menogias was looking for you. Also, why are you still walking around with open wounds like that? Tsk, tsk, tsk. I can hear Guizhong now. She’ll shove more of her healing herbs at you.”

“Oh, yes, I am fine. I was patrolling…”

“Nope! You’re taking a break!” She grabbed one of his hands, the bandages wrapped around her arm flexing as she did so. “Come on!”

As his wounds grew deeper, and as blood and miasma clouded his gaze, he heard laughter.

Bright words, full of vigor, would be heard from his friends. That’s right—he had friends once. Indarias, Menogias, Bonanus, Alatus… what were their names again? He was certain he could see them here. He would call out for them, because obviously, if he was fighting, then they would be fighting too. They were always together. But then, he would forget. He would forget who he was calling for. He would forget their names. He forgot his name, too.

He heard screams, and his heart would be saddened to hear the screams of his friends, too. They fought a long, bitter battle. It tore them little by little, killing them more and more every time, until it was the end. Yes, all things must end. Even them. The darkness was a great, swallowing thing, just like the Chasm.

He left someone behind. Soon, he became sure of it. But who?

They made a decision. The battle must be won, and to win, they must use the compass, and seal this place for good. Some would have to be trapped down there. It needed the power of a yaksha and a human, a thaumaturge…so of course, he would not hesitate to offer. They must win. They must make sure that the sacrifices were not all for nothing. They must fight, so their homeland may live.

(Or perhaps, he knew it was the end, anyways. He knew nothing but battle. Especially now, when he knew so little at all. He knew only blood, so how could he leave it?)

He remembered now. There was someone he left behind. Alatus. He was the youngest among them, the last to take Rex Lapis’s hand. He had suffered very much…but he remembered his laughter, too. His smile. It did not come often, but it was never unnoticed. Not to him. He was sorry to leave Alatus behind. But he had faith in him. He was still alive—he knew it. He would live. He would see Liyue when it was whole, and happy. This would not all be for nothing.

“Brother! Brother, please…don’t die before me.”

Boyang had family. The yaksha asked him about them. He missed them, and the yaksha understood. He had forgotten about Alatus and about the ones who died for a very, very long time, but it was clearer now, and he knew that he missed them.

His body was giving out. The pain hardly registered, simply because he was very used to this, or perhaps because his mind was too far gone to pay such a thing any mind. But right then, before the end…he remembered again.

Alatus, Indarias, Bonanus, Menogias. His friends…no, his family. He saw their shadows waiting for him, just on the other side. He remembered a million memories all at once, remembered that he was happiest with them by his side. Painful flashes struck his soul, making him think of their suffering and death, but mostly, he remembered how they lived. Talking and laughing by the fire, food cooked in the wilderness, seeing the mountains like he had never seen them before, lighthearted antics when the days were bright. He also remembered long days of recovery after a difficult fight, dark nights of mourning a comrade’s loss, difficult discussions when they or their nation had to deal with some trial ahead…but in that, too, they lived. Because they were together.

There was always going to be a tomorrow. And tomorrow was worth fighting for.

It would not all be for nothing.

“I am Bosacius!” he said out loud, vigor filling his lungs even as his form became weak. He could see them. Menogias, Indarias, Bonanus. They were waiting for him. “And my duty…is to make the ultimate sacrifice!”

#whumptober2023 #no.8 #outnumbered #it's all for nothing #fic #genshin impact #war #war imagery #character death #bosacius #yaksha #cataclysm #lore exploration thing #because I still have feelings over the perilous trail quest #so yeah #bon appetit :)

[mallowstep]

talking about my oc because i want to

so my blood sugar is doing a Thing and while i wait for that to regulate itself, i figured i'd ramble about my boy mallowstep for a while!

mallowstep, i.e. the title of this blog, is my warriors...oc? he's...not quite a self-insert, but he was the oc i made as a child, altho his backstory has been reworked many, many times, including very recently with inclusion of lore from the sisters.

anyway.

i figure if i type out some words i'll be distracted while i wait for the Good Food to sort itself out. (i'm fine btw. i don't talk about Personal Stuff here mostly but rest assured, i'm fine. just a lil shakey until i eat.)

on that note, my spellchecker is off because hands shakey means i do not want to navigate any way but typing.

right. mallowstep. key points:

he's got a white front left leg. i change the side a lot when i draw him but it's supposed to be left, and all of his paws are white.

i don't want to rework him bc i love him but also his whole deal is very much Impossible i was like eight when i thought of all of this

his vision is shit. he's not blind, but uh, somewhere around 20/400 vision. roughly. he can't see shit, is what i'm saying, he can't see shit.

or okay, so he's blind but in the sense of being "legally blind," not what people think of as blind.

this is because cats don't have opthamalogists. eye doctors. he has no glasses.

he's got a younger brother named deerpaw. same mother, different father. their mother is not around, so mallowstep is stepping in somewhat as a parental figure for deerpaw, but not fully.

he's a medicine cat? did i mention that? by choice. he chose this.

he sees the Ghosts. it's a whole thing with his backstory. but he sees the Ghosts.

his best friend is named kestrelwing (altho i'm considering kestrelsong), and her mate is mossytail. they've got three kits: eaglekit, kitekit, and dawnkit. (whose eventual warrior names are eagleclaw, kiteflower, and dawnstorm. i change those a lot rn tho it's just what i'm feeling at the moment.)

they're skyclan cats.

uhh there's a running joke about how mallowstep could have sired kestrelwing's kits and no one would know.

(he did not.)

deerpaw's eventual warrior name is deerleap.

okay, so...uh, idk?

mallow is born to the sisters, probably in a litter but his story Begins when he's left. he's not born with as bad of vision as he ends up with, so he does okay at first. he meets a cat named jag, who he grows close with.

(this is also in my about page, btw.)

jag and mallow are around the same age, and they're...they've got tallstar/jake vibes, is what i'm saying. (i'm not avoiding saying they're gay, here, but that's the vibe. tallstar and jake are gay in a different way to ravenpaw and barley, is what i'm saying.)

right, so anyway. jag is...fuck i forget his backstory, but he ends up meeting a different traveling group of cats. he falls for a she-cat named violet, and when her group gets ready to leave, he follows.

mallow is pissed. mallow basically writes off jag immediately. his vision is getting worse and worse, and he's pretty convinced he's going to end up blind. jag is like, "but i said you could come with us!" and mallow is like "bruh! i can't! for a very clear and obvious reason, i need to stay in an environment i know!"

so they part ways. they never meet again, this is all like, exposition.

mallow is pissed, but he also is kind of convinced jag is going to come back for him. so he stays where he is, because he just...in a way, he needs to believe that jag will be coming back for him.

the ghosts start talkin' to him, being like, "you should move on," and he's like "fuck no," but eventually they persuade him.

in part because it's becoming obvious he can't take care of himself.

(before you @ me, the most self-insert-y part of this is mallow's disabilities, and i'm not really listing what's wrong with him, because part of his story is figuring out his own limitations.)

anyway, he's a trash hunter, and he's got problems, and the ghosts are like! you know! there's some other cats you can live with. go live with them.

and because this takes place in a weird combination of canon and noncanon lore (the ghosts thing always was a part of his backstory, but when i discovered the sisters, i reframed it as that, and so on. basically, his backstory has been tweaked many, many times, so parts of it don't line up with canon and parts do. just keep that in mind.)

right because this takes place in a weird combo of canon and noncanon lore, mallow ends up w/ skyclan but a completely different set of skyclan cats than canon. i think the leader is dovestar? or rosestar? i don't remember, they're not super important.

so mallow shows up, like, hi! i can see ghosts, and passes out. the medicine cat, oakfrost, takes care of him, he meets kestrelpaw, mossypaw, aspenpaw, and birchpaw (i liked tree names okay?), and they're all good friends.

(aspenpaw and kestrelpaw are littermates, mossypaw and birchpaw are adoptive littermates. aspenpaw and birchpaw don't have much relevance in the story, because they don't.)

okay, mallow agrees to train as a medicine cat, he resolves some ghost issues, he's about a year and a half old, and deer shows up and oh i forgot to explain something, mallow leaves trail markers in case jag follows him back. it's four white stones bc mallow can see white p well and he has four white paws.

right, so deer doesn't know this, but he does know where mallow was left, and he actually is young, he runs away from the sisters because they're moving on, and he wants to find his brother. he's like four moons old. in an mostly unexplained manner, deer figures out the trail, and yeah.

this happens maybe like, two weeks after mallow becomes mallowstep. and the clan is kind of like...another one? but they take him in because well they don't really approve of the sisters and at least deer (now deerkit) is not blind.

(they don't say that part but it's on their mind.)

deer btw is adorable he looks kind of like a fawn. he's a dilute chocolate (which is called fawn but i didn't know that when i named him) ticked tabby, and he's got a white underside, and a white tail tip. they both have that, actually, but mallow doesn't care about his.

(mallow is a silver tabby? did i ever say that part. you can get an idea by looking at my icon, but he also has a lot of browm markings that aren't really shown.

woof okay sorry, you guys can't tell but i can i had to remind someone that no, i very much Need to Eat and you cannot unexpectly change dinner times on me.

right. but i am running out of time, so i'll wrap this up.

deer comes, and becomes deerpaw, we have a bit of a timeskip, kestrelwing is in the nursery, etc...

skyclan needs to leave. the villain was never specified, it can be darktail. the important thing is! they send a scouting party. the plan is, crew one will go, and the rest will leave in three moons. that gives crew one enough time to turn around. they leave a trail behind them a la mallowstep (who doesn't go with them, because, blind. oakfrost goes, she dies before the groups reunite, mallowstep is very sad.)

right, deerpaw goes! he leaves, it's all very symbolic, bc this time mallowstep does follow the trail and he does come back to the one he loves. with also a cute scene in between when skyclan is on its way and mossytail, mallowstep, and kestrelwing are each carrying a kit.

alright, and that's pretty much that. lots of me rambling for no reason. there's a lot of other stuff that happens, kestrelwing is a fun character, etc., but that's the main body of it.

<3

#mine #txt #16th #May #2021 #May 16th 2021 #essay #oc talk #long #mallowstep #as in #mallowstep oc

[puppypaw-wc]

Mothpool AU Rambles - Po3

I made some Mothpool hypokits.

Quailwing (named after Mothwing and equivalent to Jay) is a dilute chocolate mackerel tabby tom with blind blue eyes (blue is inherited from Mothwing).

Russetleaf (named after Leafpool and equivalent to Holly) is a chocolate and red mackerel torbie she-cat with green eyes (green is inherited from Leafpool who carried the gene from her parents... she’s also a demigirl cuz I said so).

Lynxcloud (equivalent to Lionblaze) is a fluffy reddish-orange mackerel tabby tom with amber eyes (inherited from Leafpool).

I got the genetics from a genetic generator (I changed them a bit though...) so they should be accurate.

Excuse me as I rant about an AU idea I had-

So basically.

Leafpool (at the time Leafpaw) ends up getting really close to Mothwing while Squilf is out and about.

Mothwing feels comfortable telling her that she’s trans and just didn’t want to tell anyone outside of RiverClan, because she already knew she was by the time she was apprenticed so why would anyone care? Plus she didn’t want to get discriminated against even though at this rate the Clans are used to same sex couples (Firestar and Graystripe are a thing, Sandstorm’s also there) and trans cats (Firestar, Sandstorm, probably a lot of others)...

Anyways, most of TNP goes the same, but then Leafpool ends up having kits with Mothwing instead... Mothwing is surprised to hear this, but the two of them, Squirrelflight and Ferncloud (who Leafpool decides should nurse the kits... Mothwing has other thoughts though) go to have the kits away from the Clans.

The first born is a chocolate she-kit (you’ll see...). Before even seeing his eyes or anything Leafpool knows that she should be named Quailkit, so she is.

Next is a chocolate and red mackerel torbie she-kit. Mothwing names this one Russetkit, having heard of ShadowClan’s deputy and her friendship with her mother Sasha.

Lastly is a fluffy red she-kit (they trans boiiiiiiiiiiii). While Leafpool wants to name her Mothkit, Mothwing advises against it and Squirrelflight decides to name her Lynxkit.

When it comes time to go home though, Lynxkit has established a bond with Mothwing, who already wanted at least one of the kits to come to RiverClan. Leafpool bids her daughter and Mothwing farewell and brings Quailkit and Russetkit to ThunderClan.

Quailkit soon decides that he/him pronouns fit him better after getting to know his grandfather Firestar, and in RiverClan Lynxkit does the same upon getting to know Mothwing, who he has a close bond with, better.

The only cats who know the truth in RiverClan are Leopardstar, Willowpaw and Mothwing, while in ThunderClan many more know the truth - Squirrelflight, Brambleclaw (vaguely;he knows the Three aren’t his and Squilf’s kits but doesn’t know who they are), Firestar, Sandstorm and the nursery permaqueens.

The Three get apprenticed. Russetpaw is excited to be a medicine cat apprentice, while her brother Quailpaw is determined to become a warrior and overcome his disability. Meanwhile in RiverClan, Lynxpaw is excited to become a warrior, despite his crush on Willowpaw slowing his progress down a bit.

Now here, Quailpaw and Russetpaw don’t switch roles. While Russetpaw does still struggle with herb meanings and such, Leafpool gives her ways to remember them, through little rhymes or short songs. Quailpaw gets training in his dreams from Yellowfang, Spottedleaf and Cinderpelt (though Cinder’s presence is weaker due to her also being by Cinderpaw’s side as a guardian angel/imaginary friend to her, more on that later), learning how to hunt through both sight and smell.

Eventually Russetpaw goes to RiverClan to make sure everything’s okay, before getting stuck due to Twoleg doing... I don’t know what they were doing during Dark River. During her time in RiverClan she bonds with both Lynxpaw and Willowpaw, the latter of whom she was already close to due to medicine cat meetings.

Now, in the canon books, Lionpaw meets with Heatherpaw in the tunnels. Here, however, instead we have Quailpaw meeting with Minnowpaw... I’m not sure where. Perhaps they were exploring ThunderClan territory and accidentally overstepped the borders, Quailpaw falling into the tunnels and them LARPing there? Anyways, both want to be warriors despite both having short fuses. Unlike in the canon books where after saving the WindClan kits Lionpaw and Heatherpaw’s friendship fades away, Quailpaw and Minnowpaw keep being friends, talking at Gatherings and occasionally asking Russetpaw, Willowpaw, Leafpool or Mothwing to tell them something or give them something when they come over to help. The kits they save here are Sneezekit and Mallowkit.

And as in the canon books, Lynxpaw trains in the Dark Forest. Tigerstar mentoring him honestly makes sense to me - there’s probably been several leaders named Tigerstar who have been colored like him given Tigerheart. Anyways, Tigerstar tells him he just wants to help him hone in on his powers. Of course, he wants to, so he trains in the Dark Forest.

Oh, also Russetpaw does have a power! At first Quailpaw tells her about his power and she pretends to be the one with it. However, after a bit, Leafpool figures out the facade and confronts Quailpaw about it. Russetpaw’s power takes longer to manifest, but she does have it, and it’s getting cats to tell the truth, basically hypnotizing them. She uses it a bit before she runs away into the tunnels to get cats to confess to breaking the warrior code, but after the reveal she decides that maybe she shouldn’t do that and instead uses it to figure out who’s training in the Dark Forest.

Anyways, onto Outcast!

Due to Brook and Stormfur formerly taking refuge in RiverClan, Leopardstar decides that one of their cats should go to the mountains as well alongside Crowfeather, Breezepaw, Squirrelflight, Tawnypelt, Quailpaw, Russetpaw and Brambleclaw. Lynxpaw volunteers, and his mentor (Dawnflower, Minnowpaw’s mom) therefore goes as well. Mothwing considers going, but ultimately doesn’t, instead deciding to teach Lynxpaw some herbs due to not fully trusting Russetpaw’s herb skills. He becomes a bit interested in them, but not enough to become a meddie.

After watching Lynxpaw during the battle with the rogues, Quailpaw tells him and Russetpaw a prophecy.

There will be three, kin of a great leader’s kin, who hold the power of the stars in their paws. Look for the sharp-eyed quail. Listen out for the lynx’s roar. After both of these events have come and gone, peace will come on a gentle russet leaf.

Russetpaw is certain that she and Quailpaw are two of the cats in the prophecy, simply believing that Lynxpaw’s prefix being mentioned is just a coincidence due to the commonality of the prefix.

Lynxpaw doesn’t know what to think about it.

The prospect of being important excites Quailpaw. The cats who doubt him won’t any longer when they find out he’s a prophecy cat! Or at least, that’s what he hopes...

Eclipse goes about the same... aside from Lynxpaw not wanting to fight Quailpaw! He just became friends with him, and might be in the prophecy with him!

Sol tells Lynxpaw that he can explain the prophecy. Lynxpaw decides that he should tell Mothwing and Willowpaw about it, and firstly tells the latter of the two.

Willowpaw and him both agree that the great leader is likely Firestar, but could also be one of the original leaders, leaving Heatherpaw and Breezepaw as possible candidates. Lynxpaw tells her that Quailpaw told him the prophecy, and she says that they’re possible candidates too. He starts to have low self esteem after this, but Willowpaw comforts him and the two basically get together but they don’t realize cuz they’re dumbasses.

The two of them then go to tell Mothwing. At first she’s hesitant to believe them - she’s never really seen StarClan as much of a higher force then the living cats, they’re just dead cats, they’re as reckless and at times mouse-brained as they were when they were alive. 

But she sees the glow in Lynxpaw’s eyes. It reminds her of what she loved about Leafpool. She sees Leafpool in the son she could never treat as her own. Believing Willowpaw to have received the prophecy (mouse-dung, we forgot to tell her that Quailpaw told me the prophecy), at the next Moonpool meeting she gives her her medicine cat name - Willowshine.

Due to how valiantly he fought in the battle, Lynxpaw is given his warrior name of Lynxcloud. Minnowpaw is given her warrior name at this time as well, as is Pebblepaw, with those two being named Minnowtail and Pebblefoot like in canon.

Quailpaw is also given his warrior name by Firestar, that being Quailwing after Mothwing.

Long Shadows is mostly the same except for one minor change, that being that Jay’s Wing is now named Quail’s Feather. Flamepaw, Dawnpaw and Tigerpaw help the Three fake an omen to get Blackstar to believe in StarClan again like in the canon books. The fire scene is also slightly different... but anyways, Russetpaw gets her full name of Russetleaf.

Now the fire scene... the whole reveal happens but afterwards Squilf reassures Russetleaf and Quailwing that she loves them as if they were her own kits, and that Brambleclaw does as well. 

Quailwing takes a while to accept it, still being confused about his power... StarClan has given cats powers before, but for all he knows he’s just a kittypet or rogue or loner who was brought to the Clan at a young age. And how does Lynxcloud fit into this? Eventually though, he accepts it, deciding to try to help whoever the Three are with whatever the prophecy requires them to do.

Russetleaf, however, can’t accept it. She’s a disgrace to her Clan and has no right to be a medicine cat. She should’ve known she wasn’t in the prophecy, she doesn’t have a power at all... Cinderheart notices something’s wrong and talks to her about it, and they get together and she starts to feel better, even if she realizes that she’s breaking the code... she’s stopped caring anymore.

Eventually though, Russetleaf’s power appears and she’s confused. She accidentally uses it without realizing after Quailwing finds out that Leafpool’s their mother, in an attempt to figure out who their father/sire is. Also yes, I did shuffle events... partially cuz I forgot the order they happen in.

Russetleaf carried the blood red berries in her jaws as she entered camp. No one questioned her, though she saw a few cats giving her weird looks. I have to do this, she thought.

As she entered the medicine cat den, Leafpool looked up at her, fear in her eyes.

“Russetleaf, what are you-” Russetleaf cut her off.

“I know now,” she hissed, “Mother. I may not know who our father is, but-”

The medicine cat cut her off. The tortioseshell tabby noticed that her eyes looked... focused on something else, as if in a trance.

“While she’s not your father, per-say, Mothwing sired you, Quailwing and Lynxcloud,” her mother mewed, “now, may I please leave the den?”

Her eyes looked normal again halfway through her second sentence. Still confused, Russetleaf nodded, allowing Leafpool to exit the den.

What did I just do?

She experiments with her power, seeing who may’ve broken the warrior code. Mousewhisker (relationship with Minnowtail), Squirrelflight (hiding the truth), Brambleclaw (same as Squilf), heck, even Firestar (giving prey to RiverClan, giving Yellowfang prey and eating some of it before bringing it to the Clan, hiding Graystripe’s relationship with Silverstream, probably more)! ... all of them admit it.

She begins to feel... power-hungry. While the Dark Forest has been unable to recruit her due to her loyalty to ThunderClan, they are able to do one thing: will her to kill Ashfur. Leafpool had taught her some fighting techniques she’d learned from Cinderpelt and Mothwing, she knows a decent amount, and uses them to kill Ashfur. To keep her Clan safe.

This starts to weigh her down. She feels terrible. She broke the code... but she did it to keep her Clan safe! ... didn’t she?

She can’t keep it inside any longer. She tells everyone the truth at a Gathering. Mothwing and Leafpool are exposed. Firestar doesn’t want to make her give up her position, but Leafpool insists on it, scared of what Russetleaf could do. Leopardstar, who’s always been a code junkie even if she made two half-Clan cats deputy, made one of Tigerstar’s kits temporarily deputy even though she (I think) knew he was Firestar’s son, allowed one of Tigerstar’s kits who was formerly a rogue to be a medicine cat, relinquishes Mothwing’s position.

Lynxcloud says he wants to talk to his siblings, and they all go to the tunnels. Russetleaf needs to tell someone what she did... so she tells her brothers. And she runs in. And it seems as if she’s gone... dead...

But two young kits have potential.

#mothpool au #lionblaze #hollyleaf #jayfeather #lynxcloud #russetleaf #quailwing #mothwing #leafpool #mothpool #lots of cats #po3 au

[elwinged]

narnia analysis

so i’m just gathering here all of the analysis i’ve read about narnia so far?? I think it’s pretty cool ngl

a note: i’m not going to hecking mention the v obvious and already explained christian allegory with aslan being jesus and edmund representing humanity and the witch being satan and all that jazz.

DISCLAIMER: absolutely none of this belongs to me except for the odd bit of prose in the edmund section

⠀

first up, names! credit for this goes to @thoughtfox72 (you can find the original post here)

- peter means rock, which ties in well as he’s the “rock” of the family. It’s also a reference to good ol’ st. peter- in matthew 16:18 (the bible), peter is called “the rock upon which my church was founded”.

- edmund means protector, which again ties in well with his actions against the witch, but it also ties into shakespeare’s king lear. in king lear, edmund is the bastard son of the duke of glouchester, who betrays his entire family to gain power. sound familiar? yeah, i thought so too. shakespeare’s edmund is never redeemed, however, but it is a direct parallel to narnia’s edmund.

- lucy means light, and it’s pretty obvious that she’s the light of her family, illuminating the path to aslan.

- susan, however, means lily and it’s pretty hard to figure out why that’s so important. like yeah, lilies are typically used at funerals (which, um, pretty dark bit of foreshadowing there, mr. lewis) but like?? compared to the others, that doesn’t seem deep enough. and that’s when you realise- at the end of vodt, what does the dawn treader have to sail past to get to aslan’s country? a sea. of. hecking. lilies.

- and so the flower that susan is named for is the ones that grow on the path to aslan’s country, which is a pretty strong hint about her eventually returning to aslan’s country.

- also, if you look at the points of the compass, aslan’s country (and therefore the sea of lilies) are in the east. it’s implied that susan beginning to forget narnia started when she went to america (heading west). this is really paying a lot of attention to direction, which brings me to my next point…

⠀

direction, and points of the compass! credit for this goes partly to @thoughtfox72 (because of the above point) but mostly to @elecktrum , from the most noble order of the table from the sword and shield, jewel and song series.

- so as was stated above, susan’s journey away from aslan’s starts with her going west, but the flowers that she’s named for are in the east, near aslan’s country, thus signifying that she will probably return.

- as well as that, aslan gives edmund and peter the west and north (“to the great western woods, king edmund the just” and “and to the clear northern sky, i give you king peter the magnificent”), respectively, while susan and lucy receive the south and east (“to the radiant southern sun, queen susan the gentle” and “to the glistening eastern sea, i give you queen lucy the valiant”).

- edmund and peter have the directions of their enemies (to the north are the wild lands of the north, where the giants live, and to the west are the western wilds and telmar).

- susan and lucy get narnia’s “allies” and protection (i put allies in quotation marks as calormen isn’t really an ally, but it isn’t quite an enemy either)- archenland, calormen and the eastern sea.

- this highlights that the brothers are the ones who protect, and the sisters gather allies and friends (a teensy bit sexist, don’t you think?).

⠀

there’s also a bit of character analysis!

i’ll start with Peter (credit for this goes to @thoughtfox72 ) (post found here)

- so like loads of people have said that peter is boring, because he doesn’t have complexity, and the heart of this boils down to the fact that c.s. lewis keeps us at a distance from peter. we don’t get to see what he thinks or feels, whereas we do with the younger siblings.

- also, and this is connected to the point above, peter seemingly rushes into things without any warning (e.g. the duel with miraz, pc book canon). but honestly, it’s not that he rushes into things, it’s that we don’t see his reasons for doing it. an example of this is in the prince caspian book- peter is the only one to realise that they’re in cair paravel and he actually numbers his goddamn reasons, like it’s a slideshow or something. this, of course, tells us that he’s been thinking about it for a while, but just hasn’t chosen to share it. peter keeps things close to his chest.

- peter doesn’t share things that much- this even shows in his title. valiant, gentle- heck, even just are quite descriptive and specific. magnificent, on the other hand is like “??? what does it mean?" this is done on purpose, as it’s an effective way to maintain awe. he’ll always meet an individual’s sense of what a great king should be because he’s left to the imagination. “High King Peter the Magnificent is more an idea than a person, like King Arthur.”

- but peter is a person. he’s a good king, but still a person. examples: when they have to vote on which way to go (book pc), he doesn’t want to vote until trumpkin says that it’s his duty. basically the first thing he says to caspian (again, book) is “i haven’t come to take your place, you know, but to put you in it”. though he’s the one in charge, it’s his duty, not something he seeks.

- this is also shown during acts of violence. think about it- most of peter’s most famous acts (save the last battle) are to do with violence- killing the wolf, fighting the witch, duelling with miraz. this all emotionally affects him- he cries after killing maugrim, it’s shown that he’s pale and drawn after fighting the witch... i could go on. although he’s good at this stuff, he doesn’t like it- it’s not easy for him. this ties in well with the whole series’ idea of kingship- “For this is what it means to be a king: to be first in every desperate attack, and last in every desperate retreat.”- and c.s. lewis knew this. lewis had fought in the war and knew how bad it got, but he had peter do it anyway, because he’s the high king, and the hardest tasks fall to him. this, matched with peter liking to keep things to himself, is a lonely task.

- as well as that, it’s more than likely that peter would’ve served in the war back in england as well- the timelines do match up.

- and peter has a super strong sense of duty and responsibility as well- why, at the end of prince caspian (book. again.), he tells aslan that he was leading them wrong, even though he was being pulled in opposite directions by both his sisters. he’s trying to take everything that’s wrong onto himself, including his siblings’ faults.

- tldr; peter is good at being a king but that doesn’t mean he has to like it. he’s a good warrior and a good person but he’s been given really hard tasks and he’s trying to keep it together. he only looks perfect and boring on the surface because he’s not very open and is kept at a distance from the reader. his job is lonely, because he’s high king and that’s what it means.

⠀

okay. peter’s done. hopefully that make sense.

onto the problem of susan (credit for this goes to @ncfan-1 ) (find the original post here)

- to start off, here’s a reference:

“Sir,” said Tirian, when he had greeted all these. “If I have read the chronicles aright, there should be another. Has not your Majesty two sisters? Where is Queen Susan?”

“My sister Susan,” answered Peter shortly and gravely, “is no longer a friend of Narnia.”

“Yes,” said Eustace, “and whenever you’ve tried to get her to come and talk about Narnia or do anything about Narnia, she says ‘What wonderful memories you have! Fancy you still thinking about all those funny games we used to play when we were children.’ ”

“Oh Susan!” said Jill. “She’s interested in nothing nowadays except nylons and lipstick and invitations. She always was a jolly sight too keen on being grow-up.”

“Grown-up, indeed,” said the Lady Polly. “I wish she would grow up. She wasted all her school time wanting to be the age she is now, and she’ll waste all the rest of her life trying to stay that age. Her whole idea is to race on to the silliest time of one’s life as quick as she can and then stop there as long as she can.”

“Well, don’t let’s talk about that now,” said Peter. “Look! Here are lovely fruit trees. Let us taste them.”

–The Last Battle, page 135

- please notice who speaks. tirian asks, peter gives a very tense, very abbreviated explanation (which probably means he doesn’t intend to take it further than that). however, eustace, polly and jill jump in and defame her to tirian, despite the fact that what she’s been doing on earth is very clearly none of their business. lucy, edmund and digory don’t speak at all.

- i’d like to point out that the four people who knew her best contributed nothing to her defamation, and that three of them are pointedly silent.

- now, onto the three that did talk.

- how well did they know susan? there’s no canon evidence (book, movie, or otherwise) that any of them interacted with her.

- eustace was susan’s cousin, yes, but up until vodt she thought he was an annoying brat and we only know that he made friends with edmund and lucy- it’s not sure if he made friends with the rest of the pevensies as well.

- polly was digory’s friend, but we don’t know when she was introduced to the pevensies- if it was before susan “forgot” narnia, or after. it was possibly and probably after, given that there was no mention of her at all pre-prince caspian (save the magician’s nephew, but that’s not the point)

- and we know for a fact that jill and eustace didn’t meet until a few years after pc. we don’t even know if susan and jill ever met, or if jill just knew of her.

- so there are a few questions raised. how well did eustace, polly and jill know susan? were any of them even close to her? how reliable a judge are they?

- well, eustace, jill and polly are shown to be the kind of people who, when they know that susan has received the new that they’re dead and is being asked to identify their bodies, instead of expressing sympathy for her (she has to bury them, bury them, and they can’t even express sympathy? talk about heartless), they just talk about how silly and vain she is- so no, they’re probably not the best judges of susan pevensie.

- what this tells us is that none of the three were really interested in knowing susan. none of them really wanted to get to know her side of the story. if they treat her like that when she isn’t even around to defend herself, imagine what they were like to her in person! small wonder that susan pevensie didn’t confide in them.

- let’s look at the other four, the four who knew her best. her siblings and digory, who would have known her better. while none of them express sympathy for her (seriously, guys? not good), none of them gossip about her either. as mentioned above, peter gives a short explanation that is obviously meant to wrap it up and also cuts off the three gossips. also mentioned above is that the other three who knew her best say nothing. absolutely nothing.

- that might suggest they agree with the others, or, perhaps more likely, that there was a lot more going on with susan that eustace, polly and jill didn’t know about.

- there’s a continuation of this, as well. everything pre-the last battle suggests that when aslan sent them back to earth for good, he wanted them to live their lives there. we’re not completely sure what aslan said to susan and peter at the end of prince caspian, but it’s probably somewhat similar to what he said to edmund and lucy (vodt):

“Dearest, said Aslan very gently, “you and your brother will never come back to Narnia.”

“Oh, Aslan!” said Edmund and Lucy both together in despairing voices.

“You are too old, children,” said Aslan, “and you must begin to come close to your own world now.”

“It isn’t Narnia, you know,” sobbed Lucy. “It’s you. We shan’t meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?”

“But you shall meet me, dear one,” said Aslan.

“Are—are you there too, Sir?” said Edmund.

“I am,” said Aslan. “But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”

–Voyage of the Dawn Treader, pages 215-216

- everyone who was brought to narnia, and then sent back, had a super specific purpose. aslan wanted them to live on earth, and find meaning in their lives there. he wanted them to look for him there.

- we don’t know if susan tried to look for aslan on earth. we only have eustace, jill and polly’s word for that, and as stated above, they are unreliable.

- susan did live on earth, and she tried to make a life for herself, and she made it her home and “[came] close” to it. she probably missed narnia, despite what she said to the three gossips. but she didn’t spend her life pining after something she could never have.

- aslan told the others to live lives in their own world, and to look for him there. and what did they do? spent the rest of there lives wanting nothing more but to go back to narnia.

- aslan told them to look for him on earth, and they didn’t do that. their eyes were focused on another world.

- now aslan was responsible for pulling them back to narnia one last time, but it probably wasn’t meant as a reward. they were pulled back to narnia because they failed. they were brought back because aslan realised that they were never going to do what he wanted them to do, they were never going to look for him there, and so he just “bit the bullet and gave them what they wanted”.

- in the end, it looks less like susan deserted narnia, and more like she was the only one of them who did what aslan wanted her to do.

⠀

and edmund! credit goes to @softlyblues , from weeds spring high, and @quecksilvereyes , from Putting the Gentle Queen Back Into Her Own Narrative, A Suggestion In Ten Parts

- this analysis is directed at the viewpoint that “edmund is a traitor and betrayed them all for sweets”, and while that is true (to a certain extent), there are some certain points made (below)

“I’m not a very good person,” Edmund says, looking up at the clouds.

(He’s thirteen at this point.)

“You’re thirteen,” Susan says sensibly. Sensible Susan with her sensible shoes.

Edmund does that snotty breath that young boys are often wont to do when they think they might cry, breathing a whole cloud of stuff in through his nose. “Father Christmas didn’t give me a gift,” he says, all wet and damp. “You got two. Luce got - you know. Peter got Rhindon. I got to be Edmund the Betrayer.”

“You were eleven,” Susan says. Sensibly.

Her brother looks to the sky and she can see how shiny his eyes are. His cheeks have freckled in the summer. “I’m not anymore and I don’t feel any different to how I did then. What if I’m not any better? What if we go back and I do the same thing again?”

But privately, Susan thinks there isn’t much wrong with being cold and trusting a woman who says she will warm you up, who offers you treats to eat and drink and makes sure your fingers won’t freeze of frostbite. Susan thinks there isn’t much wrong with being eleven and upset that you’ve been sent away from your home, away from your parents. Not much wrong with being eleven and wondering if you’ll still have a house left to come back to.

Aslan used to be someone you couldn’t help but disappoint.

–weeds spring high, by softlyblue on ao3

and

VII. Perhaps then, finally, I can look at the lion and tell it what I think of its inaction in the face of genocide, its inaction in the face of its people starving and dying away. Maybe then I can tell it that a nine year old boy who misses his parents like the food he’s starving for, who hasn’t had sweets in a year didn’t deserve to be called a traitor because he was upset and hurt and a Witch spelled him.

–Putting the Gentle Queen Back Into Her Own Narrative, A Suggestion In Ten Parts, by Quecksilver_Eyes on ao3

- i’m not sure i even have to say much after those two excerpts, but i will say this

-imagine this. you’re lonely. you’re tired. you’ve been sent away from your parents, and you miss them you miss them you miss them. you’re surviving on war rations. you’re criticized by your siblings. when you enter this new world, you’re all alone. you’re cold. your sister, who went in with you, is gone. you’ve been left alone. again.

- and then, a woman. a kind, gentle, beautiful woman. she gives you food to eat and a warm drink. you’re warm. finally. you haven’t had anything this nice to eat since before the war. you barely remember that.

- in the end, it all comes down to this: you’re cold and hungry and tired and you miss your parents so much it hurts and there’s a kind woman who offers you food and drink and warmth and love, and so of course you accept, because what else would you do?

⠀

on numbers (credit to @nothinggold13 ) (post found here):

- in the bible, the number 7 means completion. this has direct parallels in the bible and narnia: 7 churches, 7 lampstands (bible) and in narnia, 7 books (although out of world rather than in-world) and the 7 friends of narnia. and so 7 is completion.

- but that leads you to think- what about susan?

- with susan, the 7 friends of narnia would have become 8.

- and do you know what the number 8 means in the bible? do you?

- new beginnings. resurrection. regeneration. new life.

- susan is the 8th. there is a hope and a plan for her.

- “Yes, the Seven stand in completion, but after the end, God makes all things new.”

that's all, folks! will update if i spot any more analysis!

#the chronicles of narnia #narnia #susan pevensie #edmund pevensie #peter pevensie #prince caspian #lucy pevensie #the last battle #jill pole #eustace scrubb #polly plummer #digory kirke #tirian #analysis #narnia analysis #narnia meta #the truth of queue

[stargleam-star]

Warriors Rewrite Pt 0: Allegiances

So! Some of you may know Ive started rereading the first arc of warriors. As a result, I've been inspired to come up with my own version of a rewrite. I'm gonna make about 7+ posts of notes about things I'd change throughout the entirety of The Prophecies Begin.

To start off, let's talk about our cast

Leader: Bluestar (Apprentice: Sandpaw)

Blue-gray she-cat with a darker face, tail, and legs, and blue eyes. Basically she's a blue Burmese

She teaches Sandpaw instead of Firepaw because then it'd make sense when Graypaw says Bluestar only trains the deputy's kits. Not to mention I think Bluestar would be good at taming Sandpaw's attitude

Like in canon she gave up her kits. The way it happened was a bit different though. To look more convincing, Bluefur had Oakheart scratch her shoulder to make it look like she'd gone to fight the fox for her kits. Bringing home one of her kits half frozen made her story more believable

Deputy: Redtail (Apprentice: Dustpaw)

Small, mostly black tortoishell tom with a plumy dark ginger tail and green eyes

He lives! Or at least longer than he's supposed to. Probably til up about the time Lionheart dies in canon

He's mates with Runningwind. Sandpaw is their adopted daughter (we need more adoption positivity, plus her having no relation to the clan makes for a cleaner bloodline)

Medicine cat: Spottedleaf

Beautiful spotted torbie she-cat with a white chest, underbelly, and paws and amber eyes

She's not having a love affair with Firepaw/Fireheart in this. Also she's going to live slightly longer cause even tho Im not a fan of hers I want to change that

Warriors:

Lionheart (Apprentice: Graypaw)

Large longhaired golden tabby tom with a broad head, broad shoulders and amber eyes

Instead of dying during the raid Shadowclan leads on Thunderclan camp, he dies when the clan goes to chase out Brokenstar

Tigerclaw

Broad shouldered dark brown tabby tom with a scar across his muzzle and amber eyes

Whitestorm

White tom with a plumy blue-gray tail and yellow eyes

Bluestar raised him alongside Mosskit. So he sees her as his mom figure. He even calls her mom. He still loves Snowfur and sees her as his mother, but Bluestar was there for more of his life so he sees her as a mother too

Following that point, he sees Mosscloud as his sister. He also kind of sees Tigerclaw as a brother but doesn't have as strong of a bond with him as he does with Mosscloud

Mosscloud (Apprentice: Ravenpaw)

White she-cat with lilac patches and blue eyes

It's Mosskit!! She survived

Let me explain how: Bluefur snuck her kits out to bring to Riverclan (as she did in canon). But when she noticed Mosskit was falling behind and growing weak she panicked. She realized her daughter wasn't strong enough to make the journey, not like her littermates. So Bluefur tucked them away under a warm tree root and fetched Oakheart. Oakheart took Mistykit and Stonekit with him, and Bluefur carried Mosskit back to camp. It made her fox kitnapping story more believeable

Mosscloud doesn't really remember what happened that night anyways. If asked she'll say she remembers being cold and out of camp in the snow, and then next thing she knew Bluefur had carried her home. She believes Bluestar's story and believes her littermates are dead

She's really close with her dad, Thrushpelt. During free time she can often be found sharing tongues or having a meal with him

When she is busy, however, she's putting her focus on Ravenpaw. Mosscloud is an incredibly patient cat and wants to draw Ravenpaw out of his shell. She knows he has the potential to be a great warrior

Darkstripe

Black smoke classic tabby tom with a broad face and amber eyes. Like mama Willowpelt he looks like a British Shorthair

Longtail (Apprentice: Firepaw)

Lithe cinnamon silver classic tabby tom with a long tail and blue eyes

He was named a warrior 2 moons before Rusty came to Thunderclan

He was assigned to train Firepaw since he was so keen on testing the tom as soon as he stepped paw in camp (I'll go more in dept on this later)

Runningwind

What does "swift tabby tom" mean @ The Erins???

Here he's a fawn classic tabby tom with yellow-green eyes

He found Sandpaw at the edge of the territory when she was about a halfmoon-moon old kit and immediately brought her home to Thunderclan. She smelled of Windclan and he guessed a queen in the clan had abandoned her

Mousefur

Chocolate ticked tabby she-cat with amber eyes

She's pretty popular among the clan

She's around Longtail's age. They'd been named warriors together

Apprentices:

Sandpaw

Lithe dilute ginger classic tabby she-cat with green eyes

She doesn't know she was adopted from outside of Thunderclan. Nobody wants to tell her and frankly nobody really cares. She has clan blood, that's what's important. Plus she's strong, both physically and in wills

She's the oldest apprentice at approximately 9 and a half-10 moons

Dustpaw

Chocolate smoke tabby tom with amber eyes

He's kinda lean, like his brother. By the way Ravenpaw is his brother

He is 9 moons old at the beginning of Into the Wild

Ravenpaw

Small lithe black tom with a white chest locket, white tail-tip, and purple eyes ((this is my rewrite and I say purple-eyed ravenpaw rights.))

Like his brother he is 9 moons old

Ravenpaw is very grateful for his mentor. At first he feared he'd be given to a cat like Tigerclaw. But when he was given to Mosscloud, he calmed down, if only slightly. He appreciates her kind words and encouragement, and he responds well when she pushes him to do better. He wants to make Mosscloud proud

Graypaw

Longhaired gray tom with yellow eyes, a broad head, and a darker gray stripe from his forehead to his tail-tip. He looks like a British Longhair

He is 6 moons old at the start of Into the Wild, just like in canon. In fact, he'd been named an apprentice the sunhigh before he met Rusty.

He is still Willowpelt's son, despite having siblings who are two moons younger than him. Willowpelt became pregnant again not long after Graykit had been born.

Firepaw

Tom, handsome sorrel Abyssinian mix with green eyes. He's just...really orange

He's plump when he first comes to Thunderclan. Actually he remains kinda chubby

He's 6 moons at the start of Into the Wild

Queens:

Frostfur

Dilute tortoishell point siamese she-cat with a plumy tail and blue eyes

Obviously, her mate is Lionheart. They're the kinda couple who's really mushy and lovey

Her kits are Brackenkit, Swiftkit, and Snowkit

Willowpelt

Silver shaded white she-cat with a broad head and rich blue eyes ("rich" as in super blue. Like deep ocean blue). She looks like a British Shorthair

I decided to make her a queen early. I really like Willowpelt and I think she'd be good as a queen longer

Her mate is Whitestorm

Her kits are Cinderkit and Mistlekit

Before her current kits, Willowpelt had had 2 seperate litters before. Her first born is Darkstripe, who had siblings who had died young. He has an unknown father, but its suspected that he's half Shadowclan. Willowpelt's next litter consisted of one kit: Graypaw, who is also suspected to be half Shadowclan, but by a different tom.

Cinderkit and Mistlekit were born two moons after Graypaw was. This is because Willowpelt had had an out of clan affair, and while expecting a litter, fell in love with Whitestorm. When she was able to, she and Whitestorm mated and it resulted in kits a little sooner than either had expected. Yes this is a real thing that can happen, female cats can get pregnant again anywhere from 1-8 weeks after kitting.

Brindleface

Silver-gray spotted tabby she-cat with yellow-green eyes (I know what Brindle means but I've always headcanoned her to look like this)

She's expecting kits. Nobody knows who the father is though

Goldenflower

Pretty longhaired golden she-cat with broad shoulders, a broad head, and green eyes

She's incredibly fluffy. Even moreso than her brother

Her kits are Brightkit and Thornkit

Nobody knows who the father of her kits are, and she's going to keep it that way

Speckletail

Chocolate tortoishell she-cat

She doesn't have any kits as she is too old. She's just a permanent queen who likes helping newer mothers and kitsitting. She probably won't ever retire.

Kits:

Cinderkit

Blue-gray she-cat with a broad face and blue eyes

She's almost old enough to become an apprentice

Brackenkit

Golden-brown tabby tom with amber eyes

Brackenkit and his littermates are about a moon younger than Willowpelt's kits

Brightkit

Long haired white and ginger patched she-cat with green eyes

She's about a moon old

Thornkit

Longhaired golden tabby tom with orange eyes

Like his sister, he's a moon old

Swiftkit

White and black patched tom with heterochromatic eyes (one yellow and one blue)

Snowkit

Mostly pure white tom with blue eyes and a small patch of gray on the bridge of his nose. He is 100% deaf

I'm keeping this precious baby alive, you'll have to pry him out of my cold dead hands

Mistlekit

Silver shaded white she-cat with a plumy tail and yellow eyes

In canon she's Snowkit's littermate (who the Erins completely forgot about) soo I've revamped her and turned her into Cinderkit's littermate.

Like her sister she's about ready to become an apprentice

Elders:

Halftail

Dark brown tabby tom with a nubby torn off tail

Smallear

Gray tom with small folded ears

Patchpelt

Small black and white patched tom

One-eye

Pale gray she-cat, oldest cat in Thunderclan

Dappletail

Once pretty tortoishell she-cat

Thrushpelt

Lilac classic tabby tom with yellow eyes

He's still in love woth Bluefur but as always it's pretty one sided.

He adores Mosscloud with all his heart as if she were his own kit. As far as he and the clan's concerned, she is his kit. He's so happy he got to be involved in raising at least one of Bluestar's litter

Rosetail

Dilute mostly gray tortoishell with a pale ginger tail, and a white underbelly and paws

She retired early when Thistleclaw died

One day Bluestar explained to her how terrible her brother was, and even though she knows and understands, she still misses him

Cats outside the clan:

Smudge

Tom, Harliquine purebred Japanese Bobtail. Aka he's white and black patched and has a cute nubby tail

He has a little red bowtie collar

Yellowfang

Longhaired, flat faced, dark gray she-cat with a ragged scarred pelt, a yellow snaggle tooth, and orange eyes

Her name is actually Smokefang, but when she's exiled from Shadowclan she changes it.

Cats used to call her yellow-fang as an insult to her hygiene, so she took it on as her identity cause she's that bitch

Jake

Tom, purebred sorrel Abyssinian with amber eyes and a rainbow collar

Why do his owners let him roam around??? They probably don't know he's a pedigree purebred tbh

Nutmeg

Ginger and white tabby she-cat with green eyes

Princess

She-cat, ruddy and white Abyssinian mix with amber eyes and a pink collar

Barley

Black and white tom with yellow eyes and a red bandanna around his neck

Probably has a southern accent

Scourge

Tom, small all black Abyssinian mix with one white paw, ice blue eyes, a tooth studded collar, and dog teeth reinforced claws

Gotta talk about my boi if we're talking about a rewrite. He's probably got a genetic condition through Quince that makes him so damn small. Not to mention he's a runt

His collar is purple cause I make the rules here. And the very front has a bird skull because that's edgy and its a nod to flightfootwarrior/aka @ corvidkatana's old scourge design which I'm incredibly fond of

Also he has a hard time talking and walking. His collar's kinda tight on him now and it hurts to talk. His usual silence comes out more intimidating anyways. As for the difficulty walking thats due to his claws.

#viti's rewrite #warrior cats #wcs #warrior cats rewrite #long post #Im on mobile rn I'll put it under a readmore tonight

[masterskywalkers]

KOTOR character meme - Revan (Mara Reagan)

Questions taken from this post. The Exile’s character questions are also filled out here, for anyone interested!

Name / Gender / Appearance / Favourite Hobby

Revan (post memory wipe) goes by the name Mara Reagan. It’s likely that was also her name prior to the Mandalorian War also, but she has no memory of it being so. Once she discovers who she is, most of her memories are jumbled and mostly relating to the Order, since she’d spent most of her life as a part of it.

She has dark hair which she often keeps tied up, and brown eyes. She enjoys puzzles, and spent a lot of her spare time cracking codes or playing with logic based games (the equivalent of chess).

We know Revan was born on the Outer Rim. Where, and to whom? How did they end up in the Order?

She doesn’t really remember her life past the order due to having both joined at such a young age as well as to having her memory wiped in later life, yet there are echoes of memories related to living on Telos and often having to fend for herself. She was found to be highly force sensitive at around age seven, and sent to the Dantooine Jedi Academy soon after.

What was their relationship with Kreia like?

Revan respected Kreia highly. Revan (or Mara) was not the easiest Jedi to teach - she was incredibly strong willed and had a very obvious sense of justice. She was questioning certain methods and beliefs of the Jedi Order very early on. Her and Kreia were able to sort of see eye to eye, Kreia being the catalyst for Revan later believing there is only the force and no true ‘evil’ or ‘good’.

I also feel that Kreia held a great respect for Revan also, and understood a lot about what she was trying to do. Kreia would likely have been behind Revan’s decisions 100% because they were Revan’s own and not restricted by ‘but this is the Jedi way’ etc.

What was their relationship with Malak like?

Oh my god. I have so many headcanons for Mara and Alek it’s ridiculous.

They were best friends, as close as brother and sister. Alek always followed Mara everywhere, and when it came to fighting in the way he was the one who turned to Mara and likely said the equivalent of ‘when do we start?’

… And I expect that the descent into becoming Sith was so damn heartbreaking in the grand scheme of things, simply because of how much of what they had became twisted. Mara never remembers that she’s the reason Malak lost his jaw, and Alek grew near paranoid that as Darth Revan she was only looking for glory, leaving him behind in the process. And that in turn made him want to become the best out of the two of them, to the point that the betrayal towards her was seen as vital.

They both became so twisted and feared that they forgot who the were as well as who the other was to them. And … that hurts to think about.

What was their relationship with the Exile like?

Again, Revan/Mara greatly respected the Exile (Aria). They were also incredibly good friends, although Aria was younger than Revan. Other than Alek, Aria was one of the first to follow after Mara into war.

Aria was just as tactical and innovative on the battlefield as Mara was, and they ended up bonding greatly through that mutual talent and respect. But it came at a price, as the lines began to blur for them and their methods became both more effective as well as more destructive. Malachor V was the catalyst, and I believe the disjointed memories that resurface from that event are as much a burden for Mara to carry as they are for Aria.

Was your Revan truly doing what they believed was necessary to save the galaxy, or were they just bent on galactic domination- or were they somewhere in between?

At the beginning it was 100% ‘this is what we need to do, and the fact the Jedi aren’t intervening is absurd. We need to help’ kind of deal. Later Mara believed she was doing what was necessary but again, knowing what risks were acceptable losses compared to what was just plain murder / genocide became incredibly blurred for her. She grew to greatly hate the Mandalorians, feeling that the best thing for the galaxy was to just wipe them out entirely. She has always considered them fierce and honourable warriors, though.

Later however she learns to respect and like them - and that’s thanks to Canderous (and later, the other Mandalorians she meets).

What false background/memories did the Council give them, and why? How did they feel when they discovered those memories were fake? Were they all fake?

Okay, so, I’ve given this a lot of thought over the years.

Mara’s ‘replacement’ memories were that she was an ace smuggler, but they weren’t exactly lies. The Jedi Order had rather given her the memories of the life she likely would have led had she never been discovered by someone for her force sensitivity.

When she’s with Carth during the time they first meet she is an incredibly believable smuggler. Carth is just astounded at what she can too, and the tales she shares with him of things she thinks she’s done are just shocking.

When it came to Mara realising she wasn’t ever really Mara though … oh boy. She took that badly, especially when Carth takes it worse. Mara has ‘heard’ the stories of Darth Revan’s actions and she thought they were some of the worst things a person with any grasp of power could do, so for her to have to understand that all of the things that made her stomach turn were either conducted or ordered by her own command or hand? It was a lot to accept.

Did they romance anyone?

Carth, and I don’t care if anyone calls his character boring. Both Mara and I think he was damn interesting (that and I live for the angst of Carth waiting for her to return, never knowing if she’ll ever come back but understanding you can’t keep someone like Mara caged).

Who was their favourite crew member to hang out with?

It’s tied to both Canderous and HK.

HK is a link to the person she once was, and Mara loves her murder!bot. She doesn’t deter him from the murder, but makes sure that he only has his enjoyment to deserving assholes.

Canderous though is someone Mara liked from the get go, and she’s incredibly stunned later (after discovering she’s Revan) that he doesn’t hate her but continues to just respect her - even more so now he knows she’s the great warrior his people fought against. His way of thinking and seeing this is incredibly interesting to Mara, and she feels that she learns a lot from him. Canderous very much became the link for her to see that both sides in a war have their own perspective and that’s something that’s huge for her.

Dark Side ending or Light Side ending? Did Bastila survive?

Neither :)

Mara saved the galaxy, but then decided to once again stick her middle finger up at the Jedi and followed her own path. Although she’d had history with both the dark and the light, Mara was probably very close to being a Gray Jedi.

Bastilla lived, by the way ;) She aids Aria (Exile) a lot with the rebuilding of the Jedi before Aria and Atton leave in search of Mara. Revan never returns to the Jedi, regardless of whose rebuilding it.

What happened to them post game? Just how WRONG is the swtor ‘canon’?

I follow canon to the points that Mara goes in search for both the Sith Empire and Emperor Vitiate. But that’s as far as it goes since I, like many, was very disappointed in the ending of the Revan book.

She’s gone for years (as is Aria and Atton - who refuses to leave Aria’s side at this point) and the three of them attempt to wear the Empire down as best as they can up until they feel they can finally contact those they’d left behind in order to fight the threat once and for all.

Mara never regains her memory fully, and is forever haunted by bits and pieces of both her past and the life the Jedi constructed for her. It’s something which the Emperor tries to use to weaken and coerce her back under his control, but despite his efforts it fails to work efficiently.

Her and Atton have a very rocky friendship, and she’s not sure how she can ever fix the things her past self had done. She realises that it’s something she can’t fix, and that instead they simply have to rebuild their trust in one another other time. Atton never looks up to her like he once did (which Mara is thankful for because she feels she doesn’t deserve it) but over time they do come to some understanding and acceptance of one another.

I don’t know if she ever returns to Carth. In my headcanon the fight against the Sith Empire takes a good number of years but it is successful, yet I feel that once Mara feels she’s accomplished what she had once failed to do she disappears of the radar, still believing her past horrors are something she shouldn’t be forgiven for or that she can really return from. Not to mention she’s been the victim of horrors and abuse herself, I feel the poor dear eventually becomes exhausted of everything and when what’s done is done, she returns to the life she once she believed was hers: smuggling.

#kotor character meme #knights of the old republic #kotor #ch: mara reagan #ch: darth revan #gaming: knights of the old republic #misc: gaming #misc: kotor character meme #aria / exile to come later at some point too #whenever i have the time and the energy to put pen to paper so to speak #but for now here's some talk about mara - my revan. the girl i never get to talk about!

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] Rewards of Losing:  Chapter 20

Ryou knew when Yuuri entered the Garden. He wasn’t as linked to it as Yuuri was, but he’d grown to know the feeling regardless. Before he’d felt a little reassured by Yuuri’s presence. How much of that was because of being used to having Yuuri around and how much was because he was used to feeling reassured, he wasn’t entirely sure anymore. It probably didn’t matter.

What mattered was the way that everything pulled inside of him. Hearing Yuuri demand for him to go back to bed – it was far too tempting to listen. They’d been attuned to one another and Yuuri was a Healer. He wanted to obey and he refused to. He didn’t let himself listen.

It helped that Shou stood there as well, his voice as loud as Yuuri’s, urging him to stay with them. Shou dodged as best that he could when Yuuri’s trees and plants dived in, and Ryou had to singe off some of their leaves to keep them away. Kei pressed against him; he’d mentioned looking for the deck and duel disk, but with Yuuri’s Garden now turned against them, he didn’t have the chance.

Then he was bound – the vines and branches wrapping all around him without a hint of warning. He struggled and strained, trying to ignite the wood, but he couldn’t get a good grip on his powers, not when he was wrapped so tightly in Yuuri’s. The fly-trap's vines kept him tight as Yuuri came closer, another vial of that foul drug at the ready.

Ryou couldn’t allow that to happen. If that elixir entered him, he’d be like he’d been before Kei and Shou arrived. Yuuri’s little obedient puppet.

No. Never. I won’t allow it. Ryou snarled and saw Yuuri flinching for a second, shivering.

Cold. He could feel the cold no, not as a separate thing from himself, but a part of him as it had never been before.

Chill. He’d always been taught that frosting over was wrong, that he should never do it, that becoming a Frostflame was the wort thing that could ever happen to a Firestarter.

Inside of his heart there had always been a flicker of ice. He’d ignored it; kept it surrounded by his brightest white-hot flames. Until the Firedamp sealed away his flames and the ice began to creep outwards.

Now he reached inside of himself, remembering what he’d been told. He couldn’t be sure what was truth and what wasn't, but one thing he believed – while a Firestarter listened to a Healer's voice, a Frostflame only listened to whom they chose. Always that had been presented as a bad thing – not to listen to the voice of authority.

Kei’s words struck deep into him, though. He could choose for himself. He could make up his own mind. And he knew what he would always choose from this point on – never to listen to Yuuri or Akaba Leo ever again.

Where the flicker of ice had been there now pulsed a bright sphere of cold, twice as large as that of his flames, and growing with every breath that he took. He plunged hands that did and didn’t exist into the ice and called to it.

Firestarter? The flames murmured as they faded away. Good-bye, Firestarter.

All the flames vanished, fading away, and Ryou found that he didn’t miss them. The cold wrapped around him as if he’d been born for it, sinking into him, ice filling his veins, and extending outward.

He breathed in deeply. Oh, the sweet taste of cold at the back of his throat. He tasted it eagerly even as he looked outwards, aware of Yuuri’s far too close presence, and the Garden all around him.

It couldn’t stay like this. He wouldn’t have harmed the Garden – it hadn’t done anything to him personally. It obeyed Yuuri’s will but it had none of its own. It struck at them because Yuuri wanted it to. And for that – to keep Kei and Shou safe – to get out of there. There was only one act he could do.

Firestarters trained for years to be able to use their powers. Frostflames would have to do the same. But Ryou didn’t have years now. He did what his instincts said, as he so seldom did. He’d always plotted and anticipated and strategized ahead of time. Now he simply acted.

Just by his existence, by the fact he teetered on the edge of frosting over, the temperature had dropped down already. Yuuri felt it; Ryou could tell. But now Ryou took it a step farther. He grasped that internal ice and drew it outwards, plunging the entire Garden into the depths of an ice age.

I can never come back after this. That was fine. He didn’t want to come back. He wasn’t burning a bridge – he was turning every bridge into ice and shattering them. So be it.

I don’t care. He didn’t. In the time he’d spent in XYZ he’d actually felt more at home there, at least when he allowed himself to. It would be different now. Because of his actions, terrible harm had been wrought upon that city. He would go back to help. It was the only correct choice.

I want to learn XYZ. He admitted that to himself now. He looked forward to admitting it to Mizael. He anticipated seeing Cyber Nova Dragon again, on working it into his deck.

I want to see Mizael again. Oh, how he longed for that. He’d just barely begun to wrap his head around how much he liked Mizael when everything fell apart. Perhaps it remained in smoking ruins but perhaps – oh, perhaps – they could rebuild something together.

When he opened his eyes and saw every part of the Garden under a solid coating of ice, he blinked. He’d known what he’d done; he couldn’t not know. But he’d never expected to see it like that. Underneath his feet the ice should have been slick and slippery and the way that Shou stumbled and clung to him told him that it was – for Shou.

But under his feet it was solid and steady.

Kei shook the ice off of himself and leaped forward, darting to a small area in the distance. He slapped at the covering ice with his tail, once, twice, three times, then turned towards them.

“If you want your deck and duel disk it’s right here. Though I don’t think the disk was built to stand subzero temperatures.”

It probably hadn’t been. Ryou hurried over there – his steps flawlessly steady on the ice – and picked up both items. He glanced back at Shou, seeing Yuuri’s crumpled form and the other XYZ Healer bent over him.

That one turned to look at them. “You’d better get out of here,” he snapped. “Tell Mizael that he owes me. The name’s Vector. We’ll see each other again.”

Ryou thought the name sounded familiar but he couldn’t place where. Now wasn’t the time, either. With Shou and Kei, he hurried out of the frozen garden, and into the circle of Firestarters slowly moving inwards.

“-ice-” He heard one of them talking into something. “I think Marufuji’s frosted over, sir.”

Akaba Leo’s voice came through the device. “Then he’s of no further use to us. Dispatch him as you see fit.”

“Card him, sir?” There was far too much eagerness in that soldier’s tone. Ryou’s eyes narrowed and he clenched his fingers together before throwing them outwards.

Tiny shards of ice flew forward, embedding themselves into the soldier’s duel disk. Sparks flew upward and the Fusion warrior jerked back, staring at them. Ryou gave him a feral smirk.

“As if I’d waste my time dueling someone like you.”

He turned his attention to the rest of the soldiers there. All of them stared at him, flickers of nervousness all through them. There were a lot of them – nearly thirty.

Clearly Akaba Leo underestimated the power of a Frostflame. At least he couldn’t see any Healers there, though all of these Firestarters were bonded. Probably for the best; if they’d been meant as backup for Yuuri, he wouldn’t have wanted any other Healers there to distract Ryou’s attention. He smiled even more and took a step forward.

“Anyone care to test me?” He extended one hand and a long spear of ice formed there by the force of his will. He admired it, tracing one finger up the side. He’d killed with his flames before. He was more than looking forward to finding out what it would be like to kill with his ice.

“I think that would be pretty interesting, but can we do it somewhere else?” A voice that he hadn’t heard in two years. He turned toward it, eyes widening to see who stood there.

“Asuka.”

There she stood, a young woman in the uniform of Osiris Red next to her. That one wasn’t either Healer or Firestarter. Asuka stood there with her arms crossed over her chest and tiny flickers of flames showing at her fingertips. Her eyes focused on him, then shifted over to the encircling Firestarters

He’d always been the most powerful Firestarter in the school. Asuka came a second – a very close second. She lashed out a long whip of flame, cracking it among the Firestarters, sending them sprawling.

“Let’s get out of here,” Asuka said. “Akane can get us to XYZ. If that’s where you want to go.”

Ryou nodded. “I have someone there I need to talk to.” There was a soft pain in the center of his heart at the thought of Mizael. Not to mention that the longer he stood, the more he wanted to not stand at all. Better to get there as soon as possible.

Asuka and her friend Akane came down, Asuka lashing out with little bits of flame to keep the Firestarters at bay. Some of them tried to seize hold of her flames – when they did, Ryou struck them with his ice darts. They didn’t last long after that, most of them breaking and fleeing. He suspected a lot of them would end up carded because of that. He couldn’t be upset. It was the least that they deserved.

A footstep behind him sounded and he glanced up in time to see Yuuri, supported by Vector, in the entrance of the Garden. Ryou met Yuuri’s eyes and saw nothing but rage and hate, far more so than he’d ever seen there before. He turned back around and rested one hand on Asuka’s arm, while Shou kept one arm around his waist, and Kei pressed against his leg. Asuka’s other arm rested on Akane’s shoulder, creating a bond between all of them.

Akane’s eyes flicked briefly to Yuuri, fear shimmering there, before she jerked her attention back to her duel disk and tapped the button. Everything around them faded away. For a few heartbeats they weren’t anywhere at all. Then they were somewhere else. Somewhere Ryou didn’t recognize at first.

Ruined buildings rose in every direction. There were a few fires flickering, but none of them felt like they were Firestarter-born. He couldn’t be sure if that was because they weren’t or if because his senses were off because of having frosted over. The city felt empty. Rising overhead at a distance was a shimmering shield of some kind.

“This is Heartland,” Kei whispered. “This is what’s become of it since the war began.”

Oh. Ryou swallowed, fighting to maintain his balance and not sure of how much longer he could. Shou and Asuka stared at the devastation around them and Asuka bit her lip before she turned to Akane.

“You were right,” she whispered, horrified. “This – this isn’t right. This isn’t what we were told.”

Akane nodded, eyes downcast. Ryou drew in a breath of his own and his legs wobbled. Shou tightened his grip.

“Where is your friend?” He asked. “We need to get you somewhere to sit down. And I bet you’re hungry, aren’t you?”

“And we need to move away from here before the Professor sends someone looking for us. Yuuri’s going to be out of commission for a while after what I did to his Garden.” Ryou didn’t hold back his smirk at that. “But I don't know where Mizael is now.”

Kei looked around carefully. “Let’s get away from here for now. I can go looking for Mizael and the rest of the Resistance once you’re sitting down. You’ll all need someone to vouch for you regardless.”

Ryou wasn't going to argue that point. It wouldn’t make any sense for them not to be trusted – four of them were from Fusion, after all. He didn’t feel up to arguing themselves out of whatever trouble they might get into.

Asuka and Akane took his arms – very carefully, he could feel Asuka shivering at the touch – and helped him along. He walked carefully, noticing as he did that where he stepped, an ice trail formed ever so briefly. That might make it easy to track him.

I’ll have to see if I can stop that. He’d look into it when he had the time. Had he heard that XYZ had Frostflames? He couldn’t remember.

The longer that he walked, the more he just wanted to sit down. Shou had been right; he was hungry. He wanted food that he could trust after everything he’d eaten under Yuuri’s direction.

He wasn’t sure of how long he kept going before an unexpected voice cracked. “Who are you? Stop and identify yourselves!”

Ryou raised his head and tried to identify the people there. There were three of them; all of them wore red scarves on various parts of themselves, but that was all they had in common. Two of them did look as if they were related, and they were both Firestarters The third was a Healer, and Ryou thought that he was bonded to one of the Firestarters. Exactly which one he wasn’t sure.

I have a lot to get used to now, he thought, a bit hazily. Then he squared up his shoulders.

“We’re defectors from Fusion,” he declared. It sounded strange to say but he liked the taste of truth on his tongue. “Marufuji Ryou, Marufuji Shou, Tenjoin Asuka, and-”

“Himura Akane,” she filled in her name, clearly not having expected him to know it. “Please, our friend here needs help. He’s just frosted over.”

The Firestarter with red and yellow hair gave him a careful look over. “Yeah, looks that way to me. But you’re Fusion. Got a good reason I shouldn’t just melt you?”

He looked as if he would very much enjoy that. Ryou wondered if he would have felt the same way if these three had entered Fusion and requested assistance. He was honest enough with himself to admit that he probably would have. Not that anyone with any sense would defect to Fusion.

Kei moved forward, drawing in a deep breath and staring at the three, whiskers twitching. Then he chuckled.

“Because if you did, Mizael would be very upset with you, Thomas Arclight. As would your brother.”

The name flickered in Ryou’s mind. He’d heard it somewhere before. But he couldn’t place it. He wasn’t sure where Kei would have heard it.

The one the Cat addressed gave Kei a very suspicious look. “And how do you know who I am?”

“You were a Pro Duelist,” Kei pointed out with a hint of amusement. “I’ve read many Dueling magazines and I watched your last Pro duel before the season ended.” He regarded the Healer there. “Which would make you his Healer – Kamishiro Ryouga.”

The other folded his arms and snorted. “I think a better question is how you know Mizael and Chris.”

“We can talk about that later. For now, I attest to you, on my honor as a Healer, that these four of Fusion no longer hold any allegiance to Akaba Leo or anyone associated with him. Marufuji Ryou is my partner – not bonded, as of yet, but that can wait until another day. We need assistance. Will you help?”

The third one finally spoke. “I think we should help them.”

As he spoke, Ryou saw a tiny movement out of the corner of his eye – Shou stared at the second Firestarter, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly agape. He glanced back at the other one, and saw his gaze rested without question on Shou.

Kei saw it too, looking between the two of them before he looked at Ryou, a definite amused tilt to his ears. Ryou offered a bit of a smile. He’d seen a few pairings where Healer and Firestarter took to one another very well. But he’d never thought to see it between his brother and an XYZ Firestarter.

“See something you like, then?” Thomas Arclight asked, snickering under his breath. The other just glared before he returned his attention to Shou.

“Michael Arclight,” he introduced himself – to Shou and not to the others. He bowed as he spoke. “A pleasure to meet you.”

Shou squeaked a little, eyes so round and about to pop out of his head. “M-Marufuji Shou. I’m a Healer.”

“I noticed.” Micheal replied, a gentle smile touching his lips. “Let’s go.” He held out one arm to Shou, who took it with a tiny bit of trepidation, that seemed to fade away as the two of them started to walk. Ryou hoped he was at least a good a person as he seemed right now.

Asuka and Akane both took Ryou’s arms again and started forward. Ryou let his mind rest as they walked. He’d fought to keep himself going ever since all of this started and now what he really wanted to do was just sit down and rest. Every step seemed to weigh a little more heavily on him, and he couldn’t keep his attention on what was going on anymore.

He wasn’t sure when everything just faded away, but he let it happen without protest. Perhaps, he thought vaguely, Mizael would be there when he woke up again.

To Be Continued

Notes: One day I might write a sequel detailing out events with Shou and Michael. Anyone interested?

#fanfic #higuchimon writes #ygobb2020 #ygo gx #ygo zexal #ygo arc-v #marufuji ryou #mizael #yuuri (Arc-V) #chapters: rewards of losing #au: healer firestarter

[fidgetheart]

here’s my 100% self-indulgent canon related, canon insert wc oc

this will most likely be uploaded onto my dA account which is why I’m using that username rather than this one it is now on my dA account and I ended up changing my username on there so I needed to edit my watermark

also this is 100% an AU - I also don’t really remember much of the plots in Po3 and OotS, so I’m probably gonna be skipping/missing important stuff like the three going to the mountains - I also haven’t really thought out her role in OotS, so that part’s gonna be pretty vague tbh, and there’s not going to be anything relating to AVoS just yet since I haven’t thought that out either

and I forgot about BS as well so that’s not gonna be mentioned

also this turned out longer than I had planned whoops

more info under the cut:

Name(s): Redkit, Redpaw, Redthroat Clan: ThunderClan Rank: Medicine cat Father: Bramblestar Mother: Squirrelflight Brother(s): Lionblaze (foster), Jaytalon (foster), Alderheart, Juniperkit Sister(s): Hollyleaf (foster), Sparkfang, Dandelionkit Mate(s): N/A Kit(s): N/A Mentor(s): Sorreltail, Leafpool Apprentice(s): Alderheart Book-esque description: dark brown-and-ginger she-cat with odd colored eyes Detailed description: scarred, dark brown-and-ginger she-cat with a plumy tail, one white paw, and odd colored eyes (one amber, one green) Name meaning: Red- for her ginger patches, -throat for the distinctive ginger patch on her throat Nickname(s): Batty (called that specifically by Hollyleaf, due to her ears being slightly larger than average)

okay, so Squirrelflight is actually pregnant the same time Leafpool is, and the two leave the Clan for about two moons (shortly after Leaf discovers she’s pregnant), with Leaf claiming StarClan willed her to do so so she can reconnect with them after running off with Crowfeather, and that Squirrel needed to tag along to protect her. the only one who knew what was happening was Brambleclaw

Leafpool gave birth to Lionkit, Jaykit, and Hollykit, and a day or so later, Squirrel gave birth to Redkit. Squirrel was able to start nursing Leaf’s kits almost immediately since she was producing milk, though struggled with feeding four kits, when she herself only had one

when they returned to the Clan, everyone believed the four kits to be Squirrel’s, though Bramble knew that Lion, Jay, and Holly were actually Leaf’s. Ferncloud still helped nurse the kits, since Squirrel was struggling to feed four of them, though Squirrel spends more time in the nursery than in canon

around the time the four are about to me made apprentices, they hear about the fox cubs lurking somewhere on ThunderClan territory, and Holly, Lion, and Jay decide that they should go out and kill the foxes themselves to prove themselves to their Clan. Red disagrees with their idea, being the more skittish sibling of the four, and tries to persuade them to stay. the three don’t listen and leave without her, though Red keeps their mission a secret, not wanting to get them in trouble, and ends up hiding behind the nursery to keep from being questioned about their whereabouts 

Red ends up sneaking out of her hiding space in time to see Jay falling into camp, and she immediately runs to his side, obviously distressed and panicked, and is comforted by Bramble and Squirrel as Leaf immediately begins to look over Jay

although Red didn’t leave the camp, she still gets in trouble alongside her siblings since she didn’t tell anyone of their plan, but none of them are punished, since it’s agreed that they’ve been through enough

Red is later apprenticed to Sorreltail, Holly to Brackenfur, Lion to Ashfur, and Jay to Brightheart - unlike canon, Holly doesn’t briefly train as a med cat, and Jay doesn’t end up training as a med cat

despite her skittish nature, Red proves herself to be a fine apprentice, and with the help of Sorrel, she begins to come out of her shell, becoming more adventurous and outgoing. she does her best to help Jay with his training, and often practices with her siblings in general whenever she’s not doing her chores or out of the camp with her mentor

when Jay reveals the kin of your kin prophecy to his siblings, proudly noting it’s about them, Red immediately hopes that she’s not one of the three, feeling intimidated by the idea of being involved with a prophecy, but promises her siblings she’ll do anything she can to help them with said prophecy

it’s during their apprenticeship that Red starts crushing hard on Honeypaw, despite the other she-cat mooning over Berrynose, though does her best to hide it. she doesn’t hide it very well, leading to her siblings constantly teasing her about it

when Sol arrived to the Clans, Red, alongside her siblings and most of the Clan, was captivated by him, curious to where he was from and how he seemed to know so much about everything despite being an outsider. later on, however, she begins to grow more wary of him, feeling he would bring nothing but trouble, but stays quiet, unsure of how to talk to her siblings about it when they clearly looked to him for answers

when Honey is killed saving Briarkit from an adder, Red is devastated, since the two were actually close friends, and her siblings do their best to comfort her. she’s able to move on from Honey’s death despite the loss, and finds comfort in the shared grief she has with her mentor

during the battle against WindClan and RiverClan, Red received a nasty wound to her left side leading down to her underbelly, but she pushed on despite the pain, refusing to give up. once the battle was over, she went to Leaf for treatment, but found her mother seriously wounded. ignoring her own wound, she stayed by Squirrel’s side with her siblings, terrified that her mother wouldn’t make it. Leaf was able to finally coax her away to treat her wound, though by then, she warned the apprentice that, more than likely, her wound would scar

soon after the battle, when Squirrel was able to get back on her feet, the four were made warriors alongside Cinderpaw, with the five being named Cinderheart, Lionblaze, Hollyleaf, Jaytalon, and Redthroat

some time later, Redthroat was out hunting alone when a lightning strike started a fire in ThunderClan territory. panicked, she rushed back to camp, only to find that her Clanmates had fled - however, she spotted her mother and siblings struggling to get out, and saw her siblings trapped in a ring of fire

she rushed to help, though had to go around to get up to where they were at, since it was much to dangerous to go through the camp to get to them. by the time she reached them, she spotted Ashfur blocking her mother’s way to her siblings, and she overheard him telling her she was going to pay for what she had done

Squirrel attacked him, but due to being weakened from her wound, he easily threw her off and pinned her. before he could hurt her, however, Red bowled into Ash, knocking him off her mother, and began to fight him. she was in better health than her mother, but she still healing from her own wounds, and was no match against the healthier warrior. still, their fight was vicious and bloody, and Red was successful in stalling him long enough to allow her siblings to escape the ring of fire and flee with their mother

Red was able to pushed Ash off of her and was about to race after them when he attacked her once more, clawing at her right eye before slashing at her throat. before he could kill her, Holly came rushing back and lunged at Ash, grabbing his throat in her jaws and killing him

with the help of Lion, Holly was able to carry Red back to Jay and Squirrel, where the four made their way down to their Clanmates, Red struggling to remain conscious. Leaf was able to save Red despite the lack of herbs, and when the other three were questioned, they were reluctant to say what happened, shocked by the sudden turn in events. however, Squirrel was finally able to explain to the Clan what had happened, and was about to lie and say Ash’s death was accidentally, but Holly interrupted and admitted she had killed him before Squirrel could, weakly defending her actions that she had to save her sister

the Clan was shocked and horrified about what happened, especially Ferncloud, but no one blamed Holly for killing Ash, as she did what she had to do. however, Holly blamed herself, and was unsettled by what she had done. 

once the fire went out, the Clan returned back to camp, relieved to find it relatively undamaged, but they were quiet, still reeling but the sudden events. Red stayed in Leaf’s den, spending most of the time sleeping and recovering from her injuries, though was frequently visited by her parents and siblings

soon, Fern ends up visiting her, mortified at her brother’s actions, and apologizes to the kit she helped raised profusely, blaming herself for not seeing what Ash was capable of. Red assures her she doesn’t blame her, and tells her she shouldn’t blame herself either, since Ash was more than capable of making his own decisions

as Red recovered, Jay started receiving dreams from Spottedleaf and Yellowfang, both of them telling him that the secret can be kept no longer, and soon telling him that Squirrel and Bramble are not his parents. confused, but also feeling angry, he confronts Squirrel and Bramble alone, where they finally tell him the truth: he, Holly, and Lion are not their actual kits

hurt, confused, and angry, Jay confides in Holly and Lion about the sudden revelation, and the three began to distance themselves from Squirrel, Bramble, and Red - unsure of how to handle the news. it isn’t long until Leaf comes clean with them, admitting to them that they were her kits, and their father was Crowfeather

this sends the three reeling with shock, and they distance themselves completely from Squirrel, Bramble, Leaf, and Red. it isn’t long until Holly, shocked with the revelation and still struggling to cope with killing Ash, revels the secret to the rest of her Clan, shocking her brothers

the Clan is shocked by the announcement, but Bramble and Leaf are permitted to keep their positions despite what had happened, though Leaf reluctantly promises to step down once she has someone to take her place. Red is also stunned by the announcement, and is uncertain how to react - she’s hurt about the lie her parents told, but at the same time, she understands why they did what they did, and remains close to them

however, she’s unsure how to approach the cats she once called her siblings, since they’re adamant on avoiding her, so she gives them their space, spending her days alone in the medicine den with Leaf keeping her company. shortly after Holly’s announcement, she ends up disappearing into the tunnels despite Jay’s and Lion’s pleading to stay, and is believed to be dead when the opening collapses. her brothers claim she had been chasing a rabbit when it happened, and the Clan believes it

Red is devastated by the news of Holly’s death, and she finally confronts Lion and Jay about their separation, telling them that they may not actually be her brothers, but she will always see them as such, and she misses Holly just as much as they do. the three slowly reconnect once more, but it isn’t until Red is able to move back into the warriors’ den that they truly reconnect

however, Ash’s attack has hurt her mentally as well as physically, and although she’s still able to serve her Clan as a warrior, she finds herself struggling when it comes to physical conflict, and begins to pull into herself, losing her bubbly personality. this worries her family, but they are unsure of how to help her

a few moons later, Red approaches Leaf and asks her to take her on as her apprentice. Leaf is startled and asks her why, and Red admits that she’s lost the will to serve her Clan as a warrior, but during her stay in the medicine cat den, she gained an interest in healing. Leaf agrees, and Firestar soon announces Red as the new medicine cat apprentice

Jay and Lion are shocked that she has no quarrel against Leaf (or Squirrel and Bramble for that matter) after what happened, and she finally snaps at them, telling them that while the lies were hard for them to deal with, it didn’t mean she needed to reject them like they had. she also adds that she understands why Squirrel did what she did, and says that she would do anything to protect them (Lion and Jay), even if it meant lying to the Clan like that

despite their argument, the three remain close, though it doesn’t change Lion’s and Jay’s views on their kin

moons go by, and the Clan seems to have forgotten the fire and the revelations that came from it. Red earns her place as full medicine cat, and Leaf upholds her promise, stepping down from her position. Red, however, tries to persuade her to remain a medicine cat, having grown close to her aunt over those many moons, but Leaf assures her she’ll be alright

Red finds herself alone in the medicine cat den, and finds herself growing rather lonely without anyone there with her. she begins to sleep outside of the den rather than inside of it under the stars in an attempt to feel closer to her Clanmates, but despite that, she begins to open up once more

she soon adjusts to sleeping alone, but she notices that Leaf is struggling to adapt to being a warrior. feeling bad for her aunt, she begins to occasional bring Leaf back into the med den, asking her questions about herbs despite knowing the answers to them. Leaf knows fully well what Red is doing, but doesn’t say anything, grateful that she’s trying to help

when Dovekit and Ivykit are born, Jay and Lion confide in Red, telling her that they believe that one of them is the third cat to the prophecy, since it had been ruled out long ago that Red was most definitely not the third cat. Red reminds them of the promise she made to them moons prior, that she would do anything to help them fulfill the prophecy, and assures them she’ll do her best to continue to uphold that promise

when Dove begins to express confusion as to why no one was doing anything about the weird large animals causing the drought, Red immediately knows she’s part of the prophecy, and warns her brothers that, while Dove is involved, they need to remember she’s still just an apprentice

as moons go by, Red begins to notice that multiple warriors are waking with mysterious wounds, and begins to grow worried. she confides in the other medicine cats, who admit that they’re noticing the same in their respective Clans, and her worry grows. she ends up telling this to Lion and Jay, fearing it may have something to do with the prophecy, and they promise her they’ll do everything they can to figure things out

Ivypool ends up confiding in Red about the Dark Forest, after being encouraged by the three to do so, and Red is alarmed. she asks if Ivy can leave, and Ivy admits that she’s promised the three she would stay as their spy. Red’s alarm grows, but she knows there’s nothing she can do to persuade them otherwise, and wishes Ivy the best, knowing she would face a difficult path

a moon later, when Red is out gathering herbs alone, she’s startled by a voice behind her saying, “Hey, Batty”. she instantly recognizes the voice and her nickname, and she’s ecstatic when she finds Holly alive and well. eagerly, she brings her back to the Clan, thrilled to be united once more with her sister. she, Lion, and Jay catch Holly up on everything that’s happened, and when Holly learns about the situation between them and Leaf, Squirrel, and Bramble, she asks her brothers to be kinder to their kin. Lion and Jay are surprised, but Red supports Holly’s decision, relieved that Holly had time to collect herself

when Red and the other medicine cats are told that each Clan must stand as their own, and that even StarClan has borders, Red fights against that, mortified at the idea. she tries to convince the others that the four Clans need each other to survive, that they can’t if even one Clan falls, but the others refuse to side with her, and she reluctantly explains StarClan’s decision to her own Clan

 Red is out walking with Jay when Flametail falls through the ice, and when Jay dives into the water after him, she’s terrified she’s going to lose him. however, Jay is able to bring Flame back to the surface, and Red immediately begins to do her best to try and save the tom, helping Dawnpelt carry him back into ShadowClan while Jay goes back to ThunderClan to explain what happened. however, despite Littlecloud’s and Red’s attempt at saving him, Flame ends up dying later that night

Red mourns the loss of Flame, and comforts Little the best she can before being escorted back to her territory

however, Flame is able to reunite StarClan shortly before the Dark Forest attacks, and the med cats are able to convince their leaders to meet the others at the Gathering island to plan a way to handle the impending battle

when the battle finally comes, Red has Leaf stay inside the med den with Briarlight, knowing she would need all the help she could get to treat the wounded, and guards the den, horrified at the ferocity of the battle

it’s during the second wave of attacks that she spots Ash fighting on the side of the Dark Forest, and it doesn’t take long for him to see her as well. he goes after her, determined to finish what he had started, but Red’s fury brings back her warrior training, and the fight between them is vicious. she’s able to kill him, and feels no remorse for doing so, and continues to stand guard over the med den, helping bring any cat that needs immediate medical attention to the den 

at one point, she’s ganged up on by two Dark Forest warriors, and she struggles to fight both at once. however, Jay quickly comes to her rescue, and the two are able to drive them off

when the battle is finally over, Red is devastated by how many cats were killed, but is able to push aside her grief to help treat the wounded. she’s relieved to see that her parents and siblings are still alive, however, and finds comfort in that small victory

Leaf helps her with treating the wounded, and later helps her prepare the bodies for burial. when Bramble announces Squirrel as his deputy before he and Red travel to the Moonpool, Red makes an announcement of her own, asking Leaf if she would like to become a med cat once again. Leaf agrees with the support of the Clan, even support from her own kits, and Red is more than happy to share her role with Leaf once again

aCK okay so this wasn’t gonna be this long but I got carried away haha 

idk I just really love Red?? idk if I’ll actually do anything with her outside of this, but, yeah, I thought I’d share anyway  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and as for AVoS she primarily trains Alderheart, though she technically shares that duty with Leaf, and she’s thrilled to be able to train her little brother

also Sorrel and Fern don’t die in the Dark Forest battle bc the reasons for their deaths are absolutely stupid (I mean... c’mon, Sorrel dies bc she was too happy?? Fern dies bc fans wanted her to die?? really?? like I get killing off characters bc that battle was intense but going out of the way to explain those reasons as to why those two died is dumb smh)

and I figured that, if the Erins are gonna have Ash snap, might as well go all the way and make him an actual antagonist rather than just a cat that ~”loved too much”~ and gets into StarClan

oh yeah! originally Red was gonna be a tortie, but then I decided just to go with brown-and-ginger rather than black-and-ginger, and decided she was gonna be a great mix of Bramble and Squirrel (hence the different eye colors - also I think she’s a chimera but I haven’t decided yet on that tbh). she was gonna be a tabby, but I didn’t like how the tabby markings were turning out so I just went without ‘em haha. she’s also not blind in her right eye, btw, but her vision is impaired :o

#i was gonna make this and then play sims 4 but i ended up working on this all day smh #warriors #warrior cats #warriors oc #warrior cats oc #oc #my oc #Midge draws #anyway w/ that i'm gonna actually play sims 4 now for a bit and then tomorrow i'm gonna be working on three clan ocs again #i might do a stream but idk for sure

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] Rewards of Losing:  Chapter 18

Vector strolled alongside of Yuuri, taking in the scenery. A few Fusion soldiers eyed him cautiously, probably disturbed by his lack of uniform, but the fact he carried one of their duel disks and Yuuri seemed to have him “in custody” meant they didn’t bother him directly.

Too bad. I could use the exercise. It might lessen his chances of succeeding at what he was doing but it would be fun, and fun wasn’t to be sneezed at, especially not these days. He would take it where he could find it.

“You wouldn’t be taking me the long way around, would you?” He asked. He suspected under other circumstances, he and Yuuri could have gotten along splendidly. And probably terrified a lot of people. Too bad things turned out the way that they had.

Yuuri snorted. “No. The Professor is just deep inside the building. He likes being protected.”

Well, that was interesting. Vector stored the information away to deal with later. He strolled onward, humming a bit under his breath. Yuuri asked something that he wasn’t quite expecting as they walked.

“Why do you people put up with those Cats? They’re repulsive. Cats shouldn’t be that large – or able to talk - let alone anything else.”

Vector snorted. “I don’t put up with them. I want nothing to do with one of them. They’re smelly and you have to get them registered and they walk in and out of your place all night long.” He shook his head. “Not worth the effort.”

Yuuri’s lips twitched at that. “You’re probably the first XYZ person I’ve met who has some intelligence, then. Most of them seem to fawn over the creatures. Quite annoying if you ask me.”

A few more minutes and they stood outside of a door guarded by two duelists, who eyed Vector untrustfully and respectfully saluted Yuuri. “Can we do something for you, Yuuri-sama?” One of them asked.

“I believe I sent a message that I was on the way with this XYZ defector to come and see the Professor,” Yuuri said, waving his fingers. “Step out of the way.”

The guards leaped aside at once, opening the door. Yuuri strolled inside without a care and Vector followed, adjusting his jacket and watching everything he could to commit it to memory. The room itself was large, with a few tables set out of the main way, and some sort of odd machine in the back. Vector had no idea of what that was. But he followed Yuuri all the way up to where the man on the throne sat, watching their progress. “Professor,” Yuuri said, tilting his head forward. “This is Vector. He offers to give us the location of the Heartland survivors, if we find him a Firestarter to bond to.” The Professor – a wrinkly old man that didn’t impress Vector at all – turned a stern gaze onto him. Vector sketched a salute and grinned. “A strong Firestarter, mind you. Someone worth the effort.” His eyes gleamed with desire. “Someone I can have a lot of fun with.” Yuuri chuckled at that. One of the Professor’s eyebrows quirked. Vector suspected he wasn’t as awed – or terrified – by Yuuri as most people seemed around here. “And your reason for this is? I find it unlikely that you would do this for such a small price.” “It’s not small to me,” Vector pointed out. “But if you want to give me more – a powerful Firestarter and a luxurious place to live here. For that matter, let me have some fun carding people. I’ve done it since I got this.” He raised the duel disk. “Let me keep on doing it.” The Professor made a faint noise that Vector chose to interpret as agreeing. His eyes rested on the duel disk. “Explain to me how you got that. My soldiers are trained to self-destruct their duel disks in the unlikely even they’re defeated.” “Oh, I know.” Vector waved one hand carelessly. “That's what I didn’t bother to defeat the one I took this one off of.” Again the Professor’s eyebrow twitched upward. Vector slipped his favorite knife from the hidden sheath and licked it slowly, savoring the taste of it. “I just killed them. It’s hard to self-destruct when you’re dead.” Yuuri’s eyes brightened in approval. “I don’t suppose you bothered to get their name? I want to talk to whoever their trainer was.” “Didn’t bother.” Vector shrugged, sliding his knife back. “Does it matter that much?” “Not really. But it would have bee amusing.” Yuuri turned back to the Professor. “I think that he could be useful.” “Then which Firestarter would you suggest for him?” The Professor wanted to know. Yuuri folded his arms over his chest and considered the options. “Most of the ones I can think of are either too weak or someone’s already bonded to them,” he mused. He gave Vector a measuring look. “Though there is one exception.” The Professor twitched his fingers; apparently that was enough of an incentive for Yuuri to keep on going. “Marufuji. He’s coming along reasonably well, though I might need a little help to get his memories properly restructured.”

“And who would you bond to in that situation?”

Yuuri’s grin turned feral and wicked. Vector approved. “I’ve got my eye on a Firestarter from XYZ. Brother to the girl you want taken. It will keep him out of the way so he won’t try to get her back.”

That got a small nod from the Professor. “And why not allow this XYZ Firestarter for our new – comrade?” He regarded Vector for a few seconds.

“Because I want to try him out for myself. We can make Marufuji what Vector would like. And I still haven’t decided that I don’t want him anyway.” Yuuri shrugged. “There’s time to make the decision.”

Vector nodded his own agreement. “I don’t know what Firestarter from XYZ you’re talking about but I don’t care. Just meet my demands and I’ll keep my part of the bargain.”

Both of them nodded, and Yuuri looked ready to say something else. He broke off with a sudden wince, one hand to his forehead, and in the same moment, Vector’s breath hissed between his teeth. He suspected, once he had a moment to consider, that he wasn’t as strongly affected because he wasn’t from this world. The Professor stood up.

“What is it?” He looked ready to summon troops with a single word if the occasion called for it. But Yuuri shook his head, turning around.

“There are intruders in my garden. Two of them -” His eyes narrowed as he listened to the voices in his heart. “They’re after Marufuji.”

Akaba Leo drew himself up. “From XYZ?” He raised one hand, starting to point at Vector, who snarled. He could hear the garden’s call, though not as loudly as Yuuri did.

“I have nothing to do with this.” It would be ridiculous to even consider. But the Professor didn’t back down, not until Yuuri spat out the next words.

“Only one – the Healer Cat. The other – from here.” His fingers curled into claws and Vector thought he saw Yuuri’s eyes flash slitted for a heartbeat. Strange indeed. “It’s Marufuji – Marufuji Shou.”

Well. This was getting more and more interesting. The Professor nodded then and snapped his fingers. His two guards stepped up at once.

“Send a contingent of Obelisk Force Firestarters to Yuuri’s Garden. Have them restrain the Healer Cat and Marufuji Shou. Ensure Marufuji Ryou’s safety.”

Yuuri snorted. “They won’t be able to. My Garden won’t let them in. It only let those two in because they could find the routes inside. But Firestarters can’t. I’ll go.”

Akaba didn’t rescind his order, however. “They can encircle the Garden and make sure that they don’t escape with Marufuji Ryou, until you get there.”

If Yuuri cared about that, he said nothing. He simply turned and stalked his way out. Vector watched for a few seconds, shrugged, and followed afterward, curious now to see what would happen next. What he saw as they exited the building – taking a short cut that he’d never dreamed existed given the way they’d come in – impressed him. Every tree, flower, bush, and blade of grass wove and danced in the wind of Yuuri’s rage. Some flowers burst into bloom and then fell into dust as he walked by. Vector didn’t think he’d ever seen a Healer that angry before. Most of them never reached that point since their Firestarters kept them balanced and steady. Yuuri needed a Firestarter more than anyone he’d ever seen.

Vector also wondered just which Cat it was that had snuck in and why. One way or the other, this was getting a lot more interesting than he’d originally thought.

Mizael sheltered himself underneath an overhang of stone. He’d grown a good concealing breadth of thorns to ensure that no one else would see him, but he could peer between them and see what was going on. He’d waited here for close to an hour and so far they hadn’t found any Fusion soldiers.

I know they’re here. What are they doing? Are they hiding? That didn’t make sense. Given the whole situation, there wasn’t any reason for them to hide. But he couldn’t see any.

He leaned back against the stone, closed his eyes, and let his mind wander, touching onto every tree and bit of lie that he could find, murmuring his questions. He wanted to know where the invaders were, what they were doing, and how to get them closer to him.

Eventually – he couldn’t have said when – he could feel an answer. As always, no words, but a sense that here there were Fusion soldiers – ones who couldn’t get away.

Mizael blinked at that. Why couldn’t they get away? He formed the question in the blink of an eye, and the answer floated back.

Because the wild foliage of XYZ wouldn’t let it. Because another Healer had asked them to hold onto these.

Who? Mizael wanted to know. Who asked you?

The Cat. He went away with another one of them, a nicer one.

Mizael shifted and frowned. That wasn’t what he’d expected to hear. A Cat who “went away” with someone of Fusion? Then he sat up. Kei? Was it Kei?

Cat. The whisper came. That was all he was likely to get. Finding the plant-life that could tell the difference between individual Cats and Healers that weren’t actually Dark wasn’t easy. Especially when he didn’t know the trees and bushes he asked.

Well, that gave him an answer regardless. He wriggled out from behind the thorns and headed over to where he knew Chris attempted to find Fusion soldiers. As soon as he walked up, the other Healer opened his eyes and looked at him.

“I know where to go,” Mizael said, gesturing down what had once been a pleasantly busy street. “I think Kei’s been dong some work.” He shrugged. “I should have thought about that before.” The Cat had said he was going to find a way to get to Ryou. How else could he do it except by stealing a Duel Disk, or a duelist?

Chris came to his feet in one graceful movement, Durbe joining him. He’d kept a watch on the area, ready to capture or incinerate anyone who came too close to his Healer. Mizael looked forward to one day having a partner like that – no, not Ryou of course.

“We’ll have to thank him,” Chris said, his lips quirked into a smile. “Do you think he’d accept fish?”

“I think what he wants is Marufuji back,” Mizael replied. He glanced away; if he were being truly honest with himself, he wanted the same thing. He wanted that pleasant night they’d had together to be real – to know that he wasn’t being lied to or used. To know that Ryou defended him because he cared, not for – whatever reasons he’d done it. Mizael didn’t know and hesitated on finding out.

He put it aside. If he ever saw Ryou again he would ask then what all of that had been about. He wasn’t sure if he should expect that or not.

I should go and help Kei. The idea formed simply and calmly. Kei was a powerful Healer but he was in Fusion, where he didn’t know anyone or anything. He would need all the backup that he could get.

But that would have to happen later. For now, they needed to find those Fusion soldiers Kei so politely left behind and capture those duel disks.

In point of fact, that didn’t take very long. Half an hour, more or less, to find where the captured Fusion soldiers were being held, securely wrapped in vines and branches. There were two of them, held back to back, muttering to each other. As soon as Durbe, Chris, and Mizael entered the clearing, one of them looked up.

“Get us out of this!” He snapped. “You could at least do us the c0urtesy of carding us instead of leaving us like this!”

Mizael exchanged a glance with Chris, who looked far too amused for words. “Now, why do you think we’d do something like carding you?” Though truth to tell, Mizael guessed a few people would happily do that in revenge for all those who’d already been lost.

The other soldier snorted. “Because we’re prisoners and that’s what happens to prisoners! What else would you think? So either let us go and let us card you, or card us.”

Durbe tilted his head, examining them carefully. “We know that you self-destruct your duel disks when you’re captured. How could we trust that you wouldn’t do that if we attempted to ‘card’ you? Or that it can’t be set up to work on us regardless?”

The first one rolled his eyes. “Because we can’t get to the self-destruct button the way we’re tied up. That monster Cat did this to us and brainwashed one of our good soldiers to take him to Fusion.”

Well, that was interesting indeed. Mizael strolled closer and peered down at them.. “Kei’s not a monster. At least not the usual kind. And I doubt he did any brainwashing.”

“You’re wrong,” the same one declared. “He made it look easy! He didn’t even duel her! He just asked to go to Fusion and she took him!”

Quick glances shot among the three XYZ defenders. Mizael held back a grin, but not by much. “So, he asked politely and she agreed. The only thing I find wrong about that is that one of you listened to someone asking politely.” His smile widened ever so faintly and the two Fusion soldiers stared at him, aware in that moment of why he was the supreme dragon user of XYZ. “Well, we’re not really going to ask politely. But I’m not Kei so I don’t have to.”

He leaned down, spied their duel disks, and unfastened them. It wasn’t that easy, especially since the trees and vines held them in a fashion so the Fusion duelists couldn’t get to them. But he managed, handing one to Chris and the other to Durbe.

“Good,” Durbe said, staring down at the one he held. “Now we can start doing to them what they’ve been doing to us.”

Akane hurried through the corridors of Academia, hoping to find Tenjoin Asuka before anyone else found her. She didn’t think anyone knew that she’d brought the Healer Cat there, but Fusion had a way of knowing what one did almost before one actually did. Even if she managed to get to Asuka in time, what about what happened afterward? She couldn’t be sure.

She couldn’t even be sure that Asuka would listen to her. But she’d always admired the other duelist’s strength of will and heart. After what she’d seen in the XYZ dimension, she couldn’t let that happen to such a pure and powerful Firestarter as Tenjoin Asuka.

“Akane?”

Akane pitched to a halt at the utterance of her name, her breath catching in her throat. She looked up to see Asuka standing there, a curious tilt to her head.

“Akane, are you all right? I thought you were in XYZ.”

Here it was. Akane swallowed and stepped closer, glancing here and there to ensure that no one else stood close enough to hear her. “I was. I saw what we’ve been doing there.”

Asuka nodded, a gleam of light in her eyes. “I envy you. I want the chance to go there and -”

Akane shook her head at once. “No! No, you don’t!” She clasped her hands together and stared at the other, wishing as she never had before that she were a Healer and could offer the strength and balance that Asuka needed. All she could offer was herself, and Asuka hadn’t ever indicated that she’d wanted that.

But she kept going regardless. “What we’re doing there is wrong. We’re carding people – ones who don't fight back. Who are innocents.” Akane fought to keep the tears out of her eyes and didn’t think she succeeded very well. “This isn’t a war. This is a slaughter. It’s wrong. It’s unfair. They can’t fight back. They’re trying so hard, but they just can’t, and I can’t be part of that anymore.” She swallowed, wringing her hands. “I’m – I’m going to leave,” she whispered, pitching her voice so low that Asuka had to clean in closer to hear her. “And I want you to come with me. Please. You shouldn’t be part of this.”

Asuka’s eyes were round and shocked with every word Akane said. When the Osiris Red girl stopped, Asuka quietly reached out to her, resting one hand in her shoulder.

“If that’s what you want, then let’s go.”

Akane wasn’t certain what she’d heard at first. Asuka believed her? Asuka would leave with her? She wasn’t sure where they were going to go but they wouldn’t be a part of this anymore.

Then she slowly began to smile. A heartbeat of hesitation held her back. “All right. But first – would you like to meet a Healer Cat?”

To Be Continued

Notes: Remember, Akane got carded in canon. Will I do that to her? Will I send Asuka off with Yuuya’s dad? Not telling! But you’ll find out soon.

#fanfic #higuchimon writes #ygobb2020 #ygo gx #ygo zexal #ygo arc-v #marufuji ryou #Mizael #yuuri (Arc-V) #chapters: rewards of losing #au: healer firestarter

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] Rewards of Losing:  Chapter 17

Himura Akane loved cats. She always had. From the time she was a little girl, her family always had at least two, and they’d loved her as well. Coming to Duel Academia had been difficult in more than one way, not the least of which how cats simply weren’t allowed. Most of the time it didn’t seem necessary – it was an island, after all, perhaps the teachers just didn’t want to risk kittens drowning. So she adjusted.

But when their teachers started to tell the tale of how the XYZ dimension had terrifying cats of enormous size that were the next thing to demons – and not the sort of demons that came in a deck – and could talk and stole the bonds between Healer and Firestarter – that was when she began to reconsider. Cats weren’t like that, in her experience.

She’d said nothing. She knew very well how bad it was to step out of line. Some of her friends did that and then vanished without a trace. A few rumors said that at least one of them ended up in Yuuri-sama’s private garden, eaten by his horrible man-eating plants. That, she definitely believed. She would believe any nightmare tale that had to do with Yuuri.

I knew they couldn't be true. She watched the beautiful cat – or Cat – as it walked next to her. She wanted to bury her hands in that glorious black fur but she kept them to herself. This Cat could talk. It was as intelligent as she was – maybe more so, because it hadn’t been born in Fusion dimension where it wouldn’t be wanted.

Not it. Him. Kei. She repeated the name to herself softly, too soft to be heard.

Kei tilted his head up to look at her, ears twitching. “Yes?”

Akane blushed a deep crimson red. “Oh! I didn’t mean anything – just trying to-” She fidgeted, eyes casting downward. “I’m trying to remind myself that you’re – real.”

Kei didn’t look built to smile but the way his ears twitched more and the tilt of his tail told her that he wanted to. “I’m very real.”

She nodded, drawing a breath. “All right. I’ll take you to Fusion. But what do you want to do there?”

“I’m searching for my Firestarter. He’s in the Fusion dimension.”

Akane worried at her lower lip. “Did he get captured?” That was pretty horrible, but she knew that it could happen. The Professor and their teachers made it plain that any XYZ duelist who turned out to be skilled enough should be brought there as soon as possible. She’d never seen anyone that good, but most of her companions had been intent on carding whoever they saw without mercy right away. They never even tried to test an opponent’s strength in battle.

“Something like that. Are you familiar with the name Marufuji Ryou?”

Akane’s eyes rounded and her fingers tightened. “You mean – Yuuri-sama's Firestarter to be? The one he’s been courting all this time?”

Kei’s tail lashed. “That’s the one. He’s my Firestarter – though not quite yet. It’s complicated.”

It had to be. Akane hadn’t ever seen Marufuji Ryou face to face, but she’d heard a lot of stories about how powerful he was and how only someone like Yuuri could possibly partner to him. She had to believe it; she wasn’t a Firestarter or Healer herself. She didn’t know any better.

“He’s in danger of some kind. I can’t say exactly how but I feel it.” Kei nudged his head against her hand. “Will you trust me?”

“Yes.” Akane replied without hesitation. She’d always been a little sorry for Marufuji-san. What would it be like to be partnered to Yuuri-sama forever? He was considered the best and brightest and greatest of them all, even with how cruel and sadistic he could be.

Perhaps because of how cruel and sadistic he often was.

She raised up her Duel Disk and made sure to stay in contact with Kei. Her fellow soldiers would remain here, under watch from the plants Kei commanded to capture them in the first place.

In between one second and the next, everything around them shifted, and when the world cleared up again, they stood in one of the courtyards of Duel Academia. Kei looked around, shoulders raised, whiskers twitching, drawing in a deep breath.

“A strange place,” he murmured after a few moments. “No Cats anywhere.”

“No. There aren’t any cats of any kind allowed here.” She shook her head and worried at her lip again. “Kei, are you going to need my help? I need to go talk to someone.”

Kei sniffed again, turning to one side. “I can manage to find him. But I’ll need you to get us back home.”

“What if he doesn’t want to go with you?” Akane asked without thinking. The way that Kei looked up at her made her wish that she hadn’t and she started to apologize before he shook his head.

“Then I’ll need to go home alone. But go. I can find you.” He nudged her gently. “I have your scent now.”

Akane thought that should sound a lot more terrifying than it did. Instead, she hurried away, hoping that she could find Tenjoin Asuka before it was too late. And she devoutly hoped that it wasn’t already.

Kei paced along carefully, sliding through all the shadows, ears and nose alert for the slightest trace that would lead him to Ryou. The part of him that was a Healer also reached for Ryou; without the bond it wasn’t as strong, but the closer he got to his Healer, the more aware he was of it.

So he moved carefully, keeping away from all eyes as best that he could. It looked to be late afternoon here, just as it had been in XYZ, so there were plenty of shadows for him to take refuge in. Being the shade he was, it wasn’t that hard for him to hide. All he had to do was close his eyes and it wasn’t likely anyone would check any closer.

He was careful the farther he moved along. He didn’t yet have a specific place to find Ryou, but the closer he got, the more certain he was that he was in the right trail.

The plants and trees here didn’t seem inimical to him. They were as willing to protect him as they would be any other Healer – they’d never been told not to help, because the Fusion leaders hadn’t ever thought that someone would come looking for one of their own.

Kei raised his head and sniffed the breeze. Most of the scents he found were those of the trees, bushes, flowers, and other blossoming foliage but he also caught the aroma of humans. Healers and Firestarters and none of the above – and one of them seemed a bit more familiar than it should have.

Slowly his tail twitched as he focused, attempting to track where that one came from. It dawned on him that it was getting closer and closer. Kei leaped into the concealing arms of the nearest tree, letting the leaves fold over him, and watched to see who would come by. There was only one person here that he would have sworn he recognized the scent of – Ryou – and he knew this person wasn’t Ryou.

So why did they remind him of Ryou? Kei’s claws dug into the tree branch as he watched. If someone had done something to hurt Ryou – well, Yuuri probably had. But this wasn’t Yuuri either. He knew that scent as well.

Underneath him there finally walked – someone. Kei breathed in carefully. Yes, this was the one who smelled faintly like Ryou. Not too much; he hadn’t spent time around Ryou recently. He was also a Healer, not a Firestarter with the crisp autumn scent of a nascent Frostflame. His coloring was vaguely similar, lighter shades of blue,

Kei made up his mind in a heartbeat. He leaped out of the tree, landing in front of the stranger.

“Who are you and why do you smell like my Firestarter?” Kei asked, staring at the young man’s large gray eyes. The Fusion soldier stared back at him, eyes going round as he stumbled back.

“Y- you-” He shook his head, trying to move. “You're one of those talking Cats! The Professor told us about you!” The words tumbled out over themselves. “You steal the bonds between Healers and Firestarters! You’re evil!”

Kei sighed and flexed his claws. If he had the chance, he wouldn’t mind finding some way to turn Akaba Leo into mulch. Now wasn’t the time for that pleasure, though.

“Yes, I am a Healer Cat. My name is Kei. But we do not steal bonds. We form our own between ourselves and our chosen ones.” Again his tail flicked ever so carefully. He didn’t want to scare this one if he could avoid it. “And my chosen is Marufuji Ryou.”

The Healer had taken almost half a dozen steps backward before he finished talking. Now he stopped, staring harder at Kei.

“You – you know my big brother?” His eyes somehow got larger. Kei wasn’t certain of how he managed that.

Kei settled down and wrapped his tail around his front paws. “Yes. We met while he was in my dimension and I’ve come to find him here. We have – matters to discuss.”

The Healer blinked, slowly rubbing the back of his head. “But he’s not here. He would have told me if he were coming home.”

“I wouldn’t be so certain. I have reason to believe that he didn’t come willingly.” Truth to tell, Kei wasn’t certain about that. But he would work out the details once he actually saw Ryou and could find out what happened. He brought his own gaze up to meet the Healer’s again. “You say you are brothers?”

That got a nod. “I’m Marufuji Shou – I’m supposed to join the Obelisk Force Healer Corps once I finish my education. That’s what they keep telling me – I don’t think I’m good enough, though.”

“Really.” Kei let sarcasm drip over every syllable of the word. “I can think of much better ways to use your talent than hurting others. You are a Healer. A powerful one, too.”

Shou shook his head without hesitation. “No, I’m not. I’m – I’m just about mid-level, that’s all. And I have to work for that.” Again he took a bit of a step backwards. “I have to go. I’m supposed to go work on Yuuri-sama’s Garden.”

Kei rose up to his feet. Of course! If he could find that – and now here was a way to do so. “Then we’re going to go there together.”

Shou’s mouth and eyes were now perfect circles of shock and fear. “We are?” He squeaked.

“Yes. If I don’t find Ryou there I’ll search elsewhere, but it’s a place fro me to begin.” He moved forward enough to nudge Shou with his head. Shou yelped a little, then stared down.

“You – you are a Healer, too,” he murmured, one hand reaching out. Kei allowed him to touch. Shou’s hand buried itself in his fur and he sighed quietly. “You really are a Healer Cat.”

“Of course I am. Now, can we move along? I want to find Ryou before Yuuri does whatever he has planned.”

Shou fidgeted as he started to move forward again. “What does he have planned? I mean – my brother is going to be his Firestarter. They’re courting. It’s – it’s what they both want.”

Kei strolled alongside of him. “I don’t believe it is. But it’s for Ryou to decide.”

Shou pressed his lips together, then made an attempt at a subject change. “I haven’t been on the front lines. What is it like there? Have you been?”

If he’d been human and thus capable of it, Kei would have surely facepalmed. Instead, he shook his head. “Do you think it’s something grand and glorious? That your army is doing what’s right?”

“Of course they are.” Shou blinked at him as they walked along. “Professor’s told us about how we're going to make the worlds into a much better place.”

“Really.” Oh, this was just wonderful. An entire world of people who’d been fed that same foulness. Kei didn’t have the patience to deal with them all but he’d handle this one. “What is so glorious about invading a world with no warning, having sent people to get rid of their best chances to defend themselves, and turning everyone into cards regardless of if they fought back or not?”

Shou looked as if he were about to protest. Kei regarded him calmly and the words never came. Shou said nothing else, just hurried along towards the area that Kei guessed was Yuuri’s Garden. Just coming closer to it set his hackles rising.

If there had ever been a doubt in his mind, said doubt would be dispelled now. Yuuri was a Dark Healer. Those weren’t common in Heartland, but they did appear on occasion. Those who used their powers to hurt others, who took the most twisted and depraved pleasures in what they could do. Not even being bonded to a Firestarter could always settle them. Sometimes it did, but those were often the Dark Healers who hadn’t been Dark for very long. The longer it stretched out, the less likely it was they would ever recover.

Kei approached with cautious tread, breathing in deeply, tail lashing his flanks.

“He’s here,” Kei murmured. “His scent’s all over this place. Ask the plants if you don’t believe me.”

Shou worried at his lip, then closed his eyes. Kei could feel him communing with the plants in his own way, then his eyes flashed open and he started to run towards the Garden’s opening.

“Big brother!”

Ryou wasn’t sure of how long he’d been asleep. Something woke him up; something that he wasn’t sure of. A sensation, nothing more. Was it Yuuri? Had Yuuri returned? He sat up and carefully rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, trying to get his thoughts in order.

He knew that here, in the heart of Yuuri’s Garden, he was safe and protected. Few were they who would dare to enter it without permission and if anyone did, Yuuri would happily mulch them. Or he would burn them – if his flames ever came back.

Sometimes he wondered if they ever would. That great empty gap inside of himself seemed infinite, edged all around with ice in a way that he didn’t like. If he probed at it too deeply, he suspected he would see something that he didn’t like.

“Big brother!” The cry split the air, thinned only by distance, but still familiar. Ryou stumbled to his feet, looking towards the door. A heartbeat later, Shou appeared there, disheveled and staring at him in absolute shock. Then he threw himself forward and wrapped his arms around Ryou’s waist, trembling.

At first Ryou wasn’t sure of what to think. Neither of them had really gone in for much touching, but feeling Shou there, a strong and trained Healer, settled something that felt out of balance inside of him. It wasn't the sense of bonding, but something similar that had been between them since their powers respectively manifested.

“Shou – what are you doing here? Is Yuuri-sama with you?” He probably was. Why else would Shou even be here?

Shou lifted his head up and Ryou blinked to see tears shining in his eyes. Nothing had happened for tears, at least not that he could remember. Should he remember?

“No, he’s not. And if we are fortunate, then we won’t see him at all.” Another voice spoke. It sent chills all the way down Ryou’s spine and his mouth dried up even as he looked to the door where the voice came from.

There stood a large cat, perhaps the size of a panther, with gray eyes similar to Shou’s. Slowly the creature padded forward, eyes not departing from Ryou, nostrils flaring. He couldn’t be sure how it had spoken but it had. That voice thrummed all through him.

“Big brother, are you all right?” Shou asked. “What did he do to you?”

Ryou wasn’t at all sure of what Shou meant by that. Slowly he shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

“I can feel it,” Shou murmured, still clinging to him. “There’s something wrong.”

“Oh, that.” Ryou shrugged. “It’s part Firedamp and part something else Yuuri-sama’s working on to help restructure my memories.”

The Cat hissed, claws flexing. “He gave you Firedamp? And he’s doing what to your memories?”

Ryou’s eyes shifted from the Cat to Shou and back again. Both of them still seemed upset by this. The deepest part of his mind – a part that hadn’t twitched much in the days since he’d first awakened here – stirred, upset as well. Perhaps he could explain it to them.

“Helping me. I became too involved in the XYZ dimension and he is helping me. I won’t remember any of it when he’s done.” Ryou wanted to sound proud of what Yuuri’s efforts. But he knew he didn’t – though he didn’t know why. He frowned, staring at the Cat. “Do – do I know you?” The longer he stared at the Cat, the more he wanted to call it by name and ask why it was there. It shouldn’t be – it was too dangerous – it shouldn’t be here, in Fusion.

His head began to throb and his breath stuttered in his lungs as his vision blurred. He shook his head, closing his eyes, stumbling back until he fell back onto the bed, pushing Shou away as he did. Where was Yuuri-sama? Why was he here on his own? Why couldn’t he feel his flames

His head spun faster and faster with each second, until he could not have stood up if he’d wanted to, and he didn’t even try. Something was wrong and he had no idea of how to deal with any of it.

A single word worked its way out of his lips. “Kei…”

To Be Continued

Notes: We’re almost to one of what I consider the most dramatic parts! Remember I’ve been hinting all this time about how a Firestarter’s power can invert and become ice? Almost there!

#fanfic #higuchimon writes #ygobb2020 #ygo gx #ygo zexal #ygo arc-v #marufuji ryou #Mizael #yuuri (arc-v) #chapters: rewards of losing #au: healer firestarter

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] Rewards of Losing:  Chapter 14

It wasn’t enough. As hard as the people of Heartland City tried, their efforts to push back the invading forces of Fusion just weren’t enough. There was one simple reason for that – Fusion’s army had so many different decks and every monster, spell, and trap in those decks could take weight in the physical world in the way that the holograms that the people of Heartland used couldn’t.

Within the first hour of the invasion, a shimmering barrier circled all the way around the city. None of the defenders were certain which card this was but it prevented communications to the outside world. No one could pass through it from either side. Heartland was on its own.

There were other reasons as well. The armies that entered through the gateways weren’t the only ones there. At every center of defense – police stations, city hall, fire stations – it was later discovered that Fusion agents slipped into the area and on the signal, summoned their monsters and unleashed all manner of hell there.

Within days the rumors of what happened to those defeated spread. They became cards. Those cards were gathered up and no one knew what happened to them after that.

But what else happened was far, far worse. Carding happened to those who fought back and some who tried to flee. But for those who were in other positions…

Mizael crouched behind a pile of rubble. He wasn’t sure of what the rubble had been before but now it gave him a place to watch what was going on. The city train whooshed by on the tracks, packed to the brim with refugees from one of the wealthier areas of the city. Those areas weren’t so wealthy right now. A contingent of Fusion warriors rendered virtually every area there into wreckage and ruins.

Now Mizael waited for them to arrive to escort them to one of the safe areas. There weren’t a lot of those. He stayed at the Night Garden – the safest of those areas. They were running out of space there as well.

The young man next to him shifted, staring at the train as it drew closer to the battered stop. In days gone by it would have been full of people waiting to meet new arrivals or others waiting for their own ride to elsewhere. Now it was just the two of them, keeping hidden in the heart of a grove of trees.

Every tree, bush, and flower that still lived in Heartland wept in their own fashion for what happened. Mizael hadn’t touched every garden in the city but he could feel the ones that he had, and so many of them suffered now. Some of them were razed to the ground or pumped full of energy to the point they couldn’t survive. It made him sick just to exist near them right now.

Around his waist there now rested a red scarf. In the past few days it had become a symbol of the Resistance, as they referred to themselves. Even those who had never been inclined to wear accessories before now sported one. He’d picked his up out of some rubble. It hadn’t had any stains on it, aside from rock dust. Better than some he’d seen…

“They’re stopping,” his companion murmured. Mizael didn't remember his name. He’d been sent out with others who didn’t always make it back. It didn’t always seem worth it to try and remember them.

This one did seem tougher than most of them, or perhaps with the potential to be tougher. He stayed where he was, even as he watched the train, muscles tensed and ready to leap out at a moment's notice. Mizael put his age probably at thirteen or fourteen – tall for his age, with a shock of blue-green hair, and eyes that reminded him of those of raptors.

He didn’t deserve to be in this. None of them did, but children like this least of all.

The doors hissed open and someone serving the role of conductor – even if they weren’t actually one – stepped outside and started to wave everyone out. Mizael and his companion – Kurosaki, that was his name – rose up and took two steps forward.

That was all they had time to take before a far too familiar sound echoed – a duel disk opening up – and a thrilled voice spoke.

“I activate Fusion from my hand! Using Iron Tool and Burning Soldier, I Fusion Summon Bomb Phoenix, the Heavy Bombardment Bird!”

Above them all there suddenly rose a black-feathered bird larger than anything that Mizael had seen short of Jinlong. Wrapped in blazing fire, it screeched a challenge towards the train, claws stretched outward. Down below, the Fusion soldier who summoned it laughed.

“Destroy it! Wreck it all! Now!”

Again the bird shrieked in awful cadences of rage and hate, and Mizael could hardly breathe. Two things struck him harder than any other. Unlike most of the monsters summoned by Fusion, this one had a soul as well as mass – a soul as dedicated to destruction as the one who wielded it.

And the one who wielded it was a Firestarter.

Kurosaki’s own breath caught in his throat. Mizael tried to steady himself, his head spinning a little as the creature drew its head back and blasted a powerful spray of fire at the train. The shrieks and cries of pain blotted out everything for a breath before they were blotted out as well by the shrieks of Bomb Phoenix and the blast of fire-seared air as claws dug into the train and crushed it.

It didn’t just dig into the train, though. Mizael jerked his head away, shaking. Every instinct he owned demanded that he get over there and help them and he couldn’t. There wasn’t anyone left to help.

“Mom – Dad-” Kurosaki whispered two broken words as he stared at the wreckage. The Fusion soldier laughed before he turned and spied them. He blinked a little.

“Looks like I missed a few.” His smile spoke of a degree of madness that Mizael hadn’t ever seen before. He stared intently at Mizael, then all but licked his lips. “A Healer? Oh, this is going to be fun.”

Mizael started to take a step back. He’d never backed away from a duel in his entire life and he really didn’t want to now. But seeing this person sickened him, and he didn’t want to be any closer than he had to be.

“Not interested,” he managed to snap. He hadn’t met a Firestarter or Fire Cat that he wanted to bond to. He tried very hard to ignore the far too vivid memories of Marufuji Ryou. It had only been a week – maybe a bit more. Time blurred together after a while.

The Firestarter Fusion warrior stepped closer. “Well, I’m interested in you.”

Oh, no. This was not what he wanted at all. Before he could bring up so much as a branch in defense, another figure stepped before him. His shoulders shook with rage, his eyes blazed, and fire dripped from his fingertips.

“You killed my parents,” Kurosaki Shun whispered, fire lacing every word that he spoke. Something deeper and darker than flames moved behind those words as well. “You won’t get away with that.”

The Firestarter barely glanced at Shun, his attention all on Mizael. “Get over here.”

“Not a chance.” Mizael growled. Now more than ever he regretted what he’d learned too late – that those duel disks had a self-detruct option. When he���d fought that Fusion soldier on the first day and defeated him, his opponent made certain to set off the self-destrct before Mizael could claim the prize. He wanted one of those duel disks, wanted to be able to summon his creatures, especially right now. Jinlong fumed in his ear, using words Mizael didn’t understand and wondered about asking the meaning of later.

The Firestarter began to laugh. He didn’t have a chance to laugh for very long, not when a long, thick lash of fire spiraled outward from Kurosaki and slapped across his face. There wasn’t much fire that could hurt even the weakest of Firestarters, but this one fell backwards, shrieking in pain.

Kurosaki gave Mizael a look. “Get back to base,” he said, sounding a great deal older than he looked. “I’ll catch up later.”

Mizael wasn’t going to argue that point, not right now. He vanished deeper into the copse of trees, branches hiding him quickly, and hurried along. Jinlong floated along beside him.

“That’s a very good young Firestarter,” Jinlong declared. “But I think he’ll also need a strong Healer one of these days. He’s very close to frosting over.”

Oh. That was what else he’d sensed. It wasn’t surprising. The boy had just seen his parents and who knew how many others perish in front of him. Other people had fallen into the frost under far less traumatic circumstances. They were probably all lucky that the area hadn’t been frozen already.

Slowly he worked his way back to the Night Garden. It was a very different place from before. Now guards circled it, Firestarters and Healers, all of them duelists. Deep inside there were rows of tents, with those survivors who’d been gathered up living inside. The rescued Healers combined their powers and reworked which trees grew there, providing fruits and berries of many different kinds. A few animal herds – not many, there wasn’t nearly enough space for a lot – gathered there as well. Herds probably wasn’t the proper word; there were chickens, geese, a few ducks, and the odd quail. Mizael wasn’t sure where they’d all been before the invasion, but he was glad to see them now. They provided fresh eggs and occasionally meat, though everyone was cautious about killing them. Once killed, something could only be eaten once. Eggs could be provided every day.

There were other gardens kept safe that had other small collections of animals – becoming miniature farms in the ruins of the city. Until they could find a way to get in touch with the outside world, this would have to be how they fed themselves. The food stocks from the grocery stores that hadn’t been eradicated already weren’t going to last forever. There were also tiny enclaves of survivors near the ocean, who managed to fish what they could out and get it to the inner parts of the city.

Mizael came up to the guards at the entrance. They were older, probably had once been professional duelists, and now stood ready to give the alert if any of the Fusion warriors came closer. One of them eyed him.

“Well?” Was all that he asked. Mizael shook his head.

“Kurosaki will be coming back later,” he reported. “On his own.” Everyone knew that they’d been out to welcome the train in and bring in survivors. This guard’s lips thinned.

“No one else?”

“We were jumped while we were there. They destroyed the train,” Mizael told him. The guard turned away and Mizael tried not to think that he’d seen tears there briefly. With a wave of one hand, the guard allowed him entry. Mizael made his way inside as fast as he could. He didn’t know if anyone else was looking for anyone who might have been on the train. He just wanted to sit down and rest.

He had a little tent. It was just big enough for him and for Kei. The Cat raised his head as Mizael entered to flop down on the thin pile of blankets. There were too many people here who needed blankets for most people to have more than two, one to lay on, the other to lay under. At least it wasn’t cold weather yet and Kei would make an excellent heater when it was, even if he wasn’t a Fire Cat.

“Did you find out anything?” Kei wanted to know. Mizael sighed.

“I haven’t yet seen a Firestarter from Fusion I would want to spend five minutes with.” So far he included Ryou in that number. He hadn’t seen Ryou since the other vanished with Yuuri. Surely if he wanted to come back he would have found a way by now? Even if he’d been hit with Firedamp, it couldn’t last forever. Keeping a Firestarter drugged for too long would lead to very bad things. Yuuri had to know that.

Which was why if Ryou hadn’t come back, it meant that Ryou didn’t want to come back. Maybe he and Yuuri had already bonded and were in that blissful time post bonding. Maybe Mizael hadn’t ever really meant anything to him after all. There had been that one moment when he stood between Yuuri and Mizael but then nothing.

Kei brushed his head against Mizael’s hand, tail curling around his ankle. “We’ll find him soon.”

Mizael just made a bland noise. Kei continued to advocate that Ryou would want to return and just couldn’t for some reason. Mizael let him believe that. It hurt nothing.

“If he won’t come to us, then we’ll go to him,” Kei said. Mizael raised his head.

“What are you talking about?” That was new. Kei had never said anything to that effect before.

The Healer Cat stared at him with those bright gray eyes. “Just what I said. We can find a way to go to Fusion ourselves.”

Mizael shook his head. “What in the world do you men?” For all that Cats held the sapience of humans, they didn’t think like humans, and sometimes it really showed.

“The Fusion warriors jump back and forth with those duel disks of theirs. We capture one, find out how it works, and fit it into one of ours. Then we go there.” Kei said it as if it could be done in a single afternoon, perhaps just in a passing ten minutes.

Mizael rubbed his eyes. He wasn’t even sure of how hungry he was, only that it was a great deal. That had to be why he was hearing that. “Kei…”

Kei nudged him. “Go to sleep. I’ll take care of that part of it.”

Then he slipped out of the tent. Mizael stared after him, shook his head, and curled up under his blanket. He’d figure out what was going on with that Cat when he had some sleep and food, and the sleep came first.

Ogawa Nobutoshi watched as Dark Blaze Dragon amused himself tearing up on of the small gardens that the Resistance members had kept from them. He’d happened on this one by sheer chance, having just one guard there, and that one he’d managed to card when her back was turned. Now his favorite card burned everything in sight.

This has got to be what it’s like to be a Firestarter. Ogawa wished all of his lief that he’d been born a Firestarter, to have that special spark inside of himself. But he’d never been able to so much as light a match. Using the deck that he did was the next best thing.

“There are a lot of people who aren’t going to be very happy that you did this,” an unexpected voice said. Ogawa twitched around in time to see someone half-hidden in shadows, staring at him.

His first thought was that it was one of those Cats. He’d heard rumors about the Cats, how they could talk like people and had the powers of Healers and Firestarters. They even wanted to steal the bonds between true Healers and Firestarters. The Professor had said it, so it was true.

Then he got a better look at the shape and relaxed. Whoever it was, this was human.

“Well, I’m not going to be here when they see it. Once Dark Blaze Dragon is done, I’m going back home.” Ogawa had taken a few pictures of his handiwork and looked forward to showing them to his friends who hadn’t had the chance to get out on the field. They were going to be so envious of him!

The stranger in the shadows strolled closer, coming out into the light. His bright orange hair stuck up like a carrot and his eyes gleamed a very wicked violet shade. He wore casual clothes, at least as casual as a black leather jacket could be. When he smiled, Ogawa had the feeling that this guy was about to go for his throat.

“I don’t know. It depends on if I let you go home or not. And that depends on exactly what you can do for me.”

Dark Blaze Dragon swooped down to hover over Ogawa. The stranger didn’t so much as look worried. “I can do that, too,” he said, and slapped a card don on his duel disk. Ogawa recognized it as one of theirs almost at once. He started to shape the question of where this stranger got it from when the card’s monster appeared in front of him.

“I summon Gorgonic Cerberus! By its effect, I also summon Gorgonic Gargoyle!” His unexpected opponent grinned a feral grin. “And with the two of them together, I XYZ Summon Gorgonic Guardian!”

Now before him there appeared a monster that Ogawa hadn’t ever seen before. He didn’t even have the words to describe it – vaguely female, with an odd headdress possessed of two bright glowing eyes that focused on Dark Blaze Dragon.

“By removing one XYZ material, I can target one face-up monster on my opponent’s field. That would be you, in case you haven’t guessed. Your monster’s attack is now zero and any effects it has would be negated. But your little toothless dragon doesn’t have any effects, does it?” The smile was far too ferocious. “Now once per turn – I can target a monster that doesn’t have any attack and destroy it.” He raised one hand. “Gorgonic Guardian, take out that scaled lizard!”

Beams of light shot forward from the mismatched eyes, wrapping all the way around his suddenly stoned dragon. In a breath, Dark Blaze Dragon exploded, and Ogawa stumbled backward, breath choked in his throat. This might not have been a clearly specified duel, but damage coursed through him regardless. If he didn’t find a way to defend himself, then he didn’t want to find out what would happen.

“Now, that was just a demonstration. These disks of yours work just as well with our cards.” The stranger moved forward, one hand flashing forward to wrap around Ogawa’s throat and lift him up off the ground. “But I have something else I want and you’re going to make sure that I get it.” He laughed. “And in return, I might just let you live.” He leaned forward. “But don’t get attached to that.”

Ogawa clawed at the hand around his throat and managed to squeak out a couple of words. He couldn’t be sure that they made sense, but his attacker must have heard something.

“My name? Oh. It’s Vector.”

To Be Continued

Notes: Finally! I get Vector and Shun in the same chapter! Two of my favorite characters. How did Vector get a Fusion duel disk without it being self-destructed by the original owner? Chapter 18 will tell that tale!

#fanfic #higuchimon writes #ygobb2020 #ygo gx #ygo zexal #ygo arc-v #marufuji ryou #mizael #yuuri (Arc-V) #chapters: rewards of losing #au: healer firestarter