#but on the way to terra it clicks and like he KNOWS whats going on now

[polyhexian]

Okay, this one is stupid and ridiculous, but it's been in my head, so bear with me.

So like. Darius always assumes Jasper must've been pregnant, because Jasper has unfortunate phrasing and Darius knows Jasper would've been powerful enough to hide it. But other people may not come to that conclusion, because when it comes to Hunter's two presumed biological parents, one of them is an intensely physically active soldier, and the other one wears big flowy robes that obscure his figure and tends to sit around on a throne all day.

So imagine instead of grabbing Hunter and running, Jasper gets Darius involved, and after explaining the situation they take a day or two to come up with a plan. Hunter gets picked, two men and a baby disappear into the night, and now they're out of the way for the crack I'm about to unleash on the castle.

SOMEONE (political intern Kikimora?) overheard a bit of Jasper's explanation to Darius. Not all of it, but enough to get the idea that Jasper and Belos have had a child together. Then Jasper suddenly disappears, and there's no sign of the child either. Our eavesdropper realizes this is VERY RELEVANT INFORMATION, and thus sells it to the higher-up of their choice, AND THUS THE CASTLE GOSSIP MILL BEGINS TO CHURN.

Belos is nursing a headache because he just lost TWO Grimwalkers, god, when Lilith bursts into the throne room like MY LORD! WHEN JASPER BETRAYED US YOU DIDN'T MENTION HE STOLE YOUR SON AS WELL! is it a secret I can keep a secret I can be your confidant I swear--

Belos is just like. I'm sorry, what? He's not computing that Hunter = Jasper's son or that Hunter could = his own son, he doesn't see the Grimwalkers as people so it just doesn't click in his brain. He has no idea what she's talking about.

Lilith is like WE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOU WERE PREGNANT AND NOW WE'VE ALREADY LOST OUR PRINCE, THIS IS HORRIBLE, I didn't even know you were preparing an heir to the empire but it makes perfect sense, excellent idea sire.

Belos is just. What?

Meanwhile Hettie Cutburn is LIVID. The Emperor was PREGNANT?? And she DIDN'T KNOW?? The Emperor sometimes insisted on handling his own health affairs and she respected his privacy but THIS IS KIND OF A BIG DEAL. WHO was the healer who oversaw the Emperor's pregnancy and ARE THEY A POLITICAL RIVAL?? They're in her coven, aren't they? There's someone in her coven that the Emperor trusted more than her and when she FINDS that midwife she is going to DESTROY them. She's interrogating her coven officials left and right. Scalpels and accusations are flying. Someone points out maybe it was someone in the Emperor's Coven with healing abilities and Hettie starts thinking through the options and the other ways someone might manage a pregnancy, who else might have information, wait a second, pre-natal potions are very important, WAS IT YOU VITIMIR??

Vitimir is rightfully terrified and immediately throws Terra under the bus. HEY HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT HOW TERRA IS ALWAYS OFFERING THE EMPEROR VARIOUS TEAS?? MAYBE TERRA KNOWS SOMETHING PLEASE GET THAT SCALPEL AWAY FROM ME.

Terra and Hettie have a massive fight that ends with the entire healing wing covered in vines. Mason is yelling about structural damage (and also wondering why no one asked him to design a royal nursery).

Belos's headache is getting worse. The entire castle now 1) Knows that Jasper is gone, 2) Knows that Hunter exists and is also gone, 3) Thinks that Belos and Jasper were a thing (what), 4) Thinks that Belos was pregnant (WHAT), and 5) Thinks that Hunter is actually important to the empire and must be recovered at any cost instead of being, y'know, a useless waste of resources that was harvested too early and needs to be disposed of.

And he can't really come clean about none of this being true or about Hunter being a Grimwalker or anything, that's not something he can admit to, and like, it'd take a massive PR campaign to get his government officials to change their minds about this narrative, AND THE PR DEPARTMENT IS ALREADY DRAFTING UP PROPAGANDA ABOUT WILD WITCHES STEALING THEIR BABY PRINCE.

Belos doesn't understand why this is his life now. He's a good person. He's doing the Lord's will. He doesn't deserve this nonsense.

And if he thinks well, at least he can order a concentrated campaign to capture his wayward Grimwalkers…no, it won't work. Because he's spent decades building up a government that purposefully rewards backstabbing. It is easier to advance in the empire by tripping your enemies than it is by actually doing good work yourself. In Runaway, the only person who knows the full story is Will, everyone else is working off of various levels of need-to-know info about catching Jasper and Hunter. In this universe, every government official is aware of the situation, and every single one of them want to get the glory of rescuing their kidnapped prince while foiling their political rivals in doing the same. False intel is spread, scouts are bribed to fumble missions, Coven Heads get into arguments about whose underlings have jurisdiction where. The entire government just becomes useless because everyone is trying to one-up and backstab everyone else.

The whole kidnapped prince thing gets out to the general public and Odalia Blight is OUTRAGED that there WASN'T AN IMPERIAL BABY SHOWER FOR HER TO BE INVITED TO. What is the POINT of having a BABY if you aren't going to have a big baby shower to wine and dine at?? Also now she has to hurry and catch up on the plotting she didn't know she was behind on, there is apparently a PRINCE out there somewhere, and sure he's missing right now but eventually he won't be and do you know what princes need? ARRANGED MARRIAGES. And she has two adorable little prospects right here! She needs to figure out how to pitch this to the Emperor.

Belos is wondering if there's any way to make an eclipse happen sooner so he can just kill everyone already. Caleb Wittebane's hallucination ghost won't stop laughing at him like OH MY GOD ASSHOLE YOU MADE THE MOST INEFFICIENT GOVERNMENT SYSTEM EVER AND IT'S BITING YOU IN THE ASS.

Meanwhile Jasper and Darius are like. Hiding out at the Owl House watching this play out while eating popcorn and changing diapers. Eda thinks this is incredible and is happy to shelter them in exchange for all this free entertainment.

Raising Hunter is kinda tricky since everyone is trying to "rescue" him but every time Lilith shows up like SISTER I'M HERE TO RESCUE MY PRINCE AND MAKE YOU JOIN A COVEN you can bet at least one other Coven Head will also show up to sabotage her and Darius just sighs and tells Hunter "Looks like we can't play outside today" while Jasper takes potshots with his staff like "WOULD YOU PEOPLE GET OFF OUR LAWN?"

Maybe they stay with Eda forever, maybe they move into a cave like in eventually, idk. Darius and Jasper probably have concealment stones for bounty hunting, and they forage for potions ingredients that Eda sells for them, and Hunter grows up well aware that if anyone ever tells them they're trying to rescue him he needs to scram immediately.

When Luz finally shows up, she ends up spending a solid day and a half believing that her MAGICAL DESTINY is to restore Hunter to the throne so he can overthrow his evil father and bring balance to the Boiling Isles or something.

Like she slams the door open holding a propaganda poster she found in town and yells "HUNTER I THINK YOU'RE THE LOST PRINCE OF THE BOILING ISLES!"

And Hunter is just reading on Eda's couch like "That's a load of bullshit, Luz."

"No, LOOK!" she says, shoving the poster into his face. "It looks just like YOU! Could this be part of your mysterious backstory?!"

"My backstory is not mysterious."

"But you haven't told me anything about it!"

"You haven't asked."

"Because you're just a normal nerdy teenager! EXCEPT IT TURNS OUT YOU'RE A PRINCE!"

"Luz the entire Lost Prince narrative is the result of a stupid misunderstanding, I wasn't meant to be an heir and if I ever do get dragged back to the castle Belos will probably poison me within a week."

"Of course! He couldn't raise you as a dutiful brainwashed son, so now you're a rival! Raised by the lover who betrayed him…"

"Oh my Titan no, they weren't lovers, my dad grew me in a planter box like a carrot."

"Hunter, we need to reclaim your throne from your evil father!"

"If you ever call Belos my father again I will punch you."

Luz goes to Hexside and she's like "Hunter why don't YOU go to magic school??" and Hunter just gestures out the window where Hooty is trying to eat Adrian Vernworth and a dozen scouts like "This is why I'm homeschooled."

At some point when the Hexsquad come over Hunter meets Amity and she eyes him for a minute before she's like "Y'know one of my siblings has a marriage contract with you" and Hunter is like "ugh" and Darius yells from the kitchen "HE BETROTHED MY SON TO A BLIGHT???" and Luz is like "huh which one?" and Amity's like "the name isn't official, Mom and the emperor decided they could just wait and see which twin Prince Hunter prefers" and Hunter is just like "DON'T CALL ME THAT."

…It is entirely possible that Darius still calls Hunter "little prince" and in this AU it actually is a term of endearment even tho Hunter and Jasper give him tired deathglares every time.

Jruejdjfj little prince as a teasing little term of endearment, like when my dad would call me monkey butt...

THIS IS SO FUCKING FUNNYYYYYY OH MY GOOOODDDDD

Hunter just chilling with hooty and the owl lady and his cool dads. And then there's Belos who's have the funniest problem imaginable. And jasper DOES still think that even if Belos is a child murdering fuck he probably also IS doing it all for the greater good of keeping the Titan from dying. So like. He's not going to actively attempt to overthrow him if he doesn't have to. And Belos probably knows that fighting jasper is probably not worth it if he isn't going to cause problems. Like if jasper is keeping all his insane secrets and terrible power to himself then it probably just ISNT worth it to make a huge effort to stop it-- especially when he already knows at some point in the future the owl lady will have a niece who will go into the past and meet him. And maybe that niece is Lilith's but shit, maybe it's Jasper's...? What if he has another kid? So he's a little hesitant to pull the big trigger. so they're just in this... Extremely stupid fucking stalemate.

The poor fucking twins oh my GOD

[aliasrocket]

Could you write a fic about reader introducing Rocket into the BDSM lifestyle. (I feel like the concept of BDSM is a Terran thing)

The set up is Rocket and reader are just starting to get physically intimate in their relationship and the topic of “what do you like to do in bed” comes up. It’s during this conversation that reader admits that she’s into BDSM and she explains what that involves and what she likes and dislikes.

And while listening to her talk, Rocket discovers something new about himself (if you get what I mean 😈).

Eventually, reader looks over to see Rocket honed in on everything she’s saying and she asks;

“Do you wanna try it, Captain~?”

HAHAHA DID YOU GET THE ‘CAPTAIN’ PET NAME FROM MY FIC I AM SO SORRY

Okok, in any case I shall deliver!! I hope you don’t mind me making this into a ficlet :DD sometime in the future if I’ve got nothing I might write it into a full length fic, but I hope this will do for now <33

But anyway, I’m not very experienced in BDSM so sorry if this isn’t up to your expectations!

Also, side note, I know handcuffs used in bed usually have a soft texture to them but I’m gonna use regular ones since I imagine those types of handcuffs are strictly a Terran thing and the fic takes place in Knowhere.

credit me if you use this gif! / masterlist! / request stuff <3

The orange hues of Knowhere skies stained the walls of your room as you laid limp and just breathing. That was all you could afford to do after the brain shattering sex you’d had with your … sexual partner. That was what you were going to call it for now, you decided.

He had just come out of the bathroom after cleaning up his mess on your bed and on your stomach when he popped the question.

“What do you like to do in bed?”

You scoffed the moment the question registered in your head.

“We’ve done this like what, seven times? You know what I like in bed,” you said, propping your back upwards and setting the pillows higher so you can sit.

“You don’t expect me to believe you’re a vanilla baby, do you?” Rocket cocked a brow at you.

The realization hit you harder than the orgasm did.

Well no, maybe not, the orgasm was way too good.

But it was comparable nonetheless, because what followed the realization was a bubbling pit of shame stirring in your gut as you withdrew your legs into your duvet.

“You wouldn’t wanna know,” you began with a breathy laugh. “Besides, I come like three times before you even get to the verge of coming. The sex is already good.”

“If you’re into something that we’re not doing, it could be better,” he reasoned, giving a slow shrug before his hands fell into his pockets. He looked so damn good in cargo shorts, whoever allowed this man to look so sexy even in loose clothing?

You let out an audible sigh, letting your shoulders slump forward.

You slide out of bed and turn on your computer. Rocket leans into your chair as you type the words ‘BDSM’ in the search engine. You specifically click on Terra’s search results for the term.

You watch as Rocket’s eyes narrowed, eyes searching through the various images before they widened.

“Oh,” he murmured.

You rolled your lips into a thin line.

“Yeah, it’s not—we don’t have to—”

“Wait, so what exactly is BDSM?” He asked, turning to you. His eyes glimmered under the low lights of the apartment and he waited for your answer even when you just stared at him.

“Bondage, Discipline, Sadism, Masochism,” you listed. “It’s a very tiring kink so it’s fine if you don’t want to—”

“Bondage, I’m assuming is all the rope stuff,” Rocket thought aloud, eyes shifting back to the screen for a brief moment before turning back to you. “Discipline … stuff like not letting you come? Punishment, and shit like that?”

Your jaw dropped. Even your eyes were hesitant to blink at the fear that when you do, Rocket will be ready with a whip and some rope on your bed.

You say fear, but when you put one leg over the other in your seat, your lips slipped over each other from the lubrication that dripped out of you.

“Yeah but the ropes are really complicated to tie—”

“Princess, you’ve gotta be kidding,” Rocket scoffed with a grin pulling one corner of his lip up. “Have you seen the shit I make? This is nothing compared to that. Besides, I’ve figured out all the knots already, I got this.”

Your heart swelled at the thought of Rocket restricting you. You swallowed dryly, licking your moist lips in hopes of reserving what little dignity you had left.

“Let’s start with something light, okay? Like maybe—maybe handcuffs,” you began with a shaky breath. You wondered if your excitement was radiating off of you and you prayed it hadn’t been the case because nothing was even happening. It had just been a long time since you’ve opened up to someone about this side of you.

“Sure,” Rocket agreed. “Besides, I spank you enough already, don’t I?”

“Yeah,” you chuckled. Lowering your forehead to your desk as you could feel your hand shaking from the thoughts alone.

“I left my handcuffs back at my apartment, I’ll go grab them.”

You grabbed Rocket’s wrist, making him turn to look at you.

You smirked.

Your other hand reappeared from under the table to reveal a pair of thin metal handcuffs, and you dropped one of them to let it dangle in the air.

“Shall we try it, Captain?”

Thank you for reading <33

// tip jar. commission me for art/fanfic <33

#rocket raccoon #guardians of the galaxy #gotg #rocket raccoon x you #gotg fic #gotg fanfiction #gotg vol 3 #rocket gotg #rocket raccoon x reader #gotg vol. 3 #gotg vol 2 #.alias.inbox.request. #.alias.drabbles.imagines.

[heartandflowerball]

"Call it what you want"-Rivusa social media au(fake dating trope) - Chapter 11-

hello, I hope everyone is doing good. The news about Fate cancelling has drop. This totally break my heart. I put the link of a petition that someone made at the end of the chapter. Please go sign. As a fanfiction writer, I promise to try now harder than ever to keep our favorite characters alive throughout this story.

if you didn't already read the other chapters, click here, that will land you to the introduction that has links for all the chapters before this one and the tw

(i'am sorry if I have done anny error, english is not my first language )

Real life pov:

It's 5 a.m. when Musa is woken up by the ringing of her phone. Her eyes flutter as Terra tells her to turn off her phone. Musa is about to do it but something tells her that the ringing is for something important. So the fairy  unlock her phone. Her eyes instantly close from the light from the screen. She opens them again to see a message from Riven: "Meet me in 10 minutes for the first practice." Despite the fatigue that takes over and the desire to go back to bed instantly, Musa gets up from her bed. She's been waiting months to learn how to fight, months she's been waiting for Riven to help her, so sleep isn't going to take her opportunity away. Musa heads to the bathroom and gets dressed in sportswear. She will come back later to change for the lessons. She silently leaves the suite, a water bottle in one hand and her sports shoes in the other. She didn't put them on before to not  make noise on the floor. So she crosses the halls in giraffe-patterned socks and puts on her shoes when she arrives in school hall. She goes outside to see Riven waiting for her at the track. From a distance, Musa can see that he is dressed in his specialist uniform. He is dressed all in black and the gaze of the fairy is lost on his arms, going up to his face. The soft morning sun beats into the green eyes of the specialist, making his eyes look like emeralds. She moves closer to where he is, she can see Riven's smirk.

"Musa? Woke up at 5 am? But what kind of miracle am I seeing here?"

The girl gives him a fake angry look. "A moron named Riven woke me up to practice."

A laugh escapes the lips of the specialist. He goes to his bag and opens it then comes back. Musa sees something in his hand. He stretches out his hand to her, to give her the thing. A cereal bar. Musa picks it up and opens it,with a questioning look to Riven.

"I doubt you ate anything before coming and I don't want you to pass out from a lack of iron so eat."

A soft smile appears on Musa's face. It touches her that she is thought of. Maybe it's stupid but the fact that he remembered that she liked to sleep late was important for her. The fact that he thought of her and brought her food filled her heart with a warmth previously unknown.

"What do we start with? Swords fight, hand to hand combat?" Musa asks excitedly.

"None of that for the moment. Before doing anything, we have to identify your strengths and weaknesses. I have to see what I'm leaning on for the next training sessions."

The fairy's face shows a slight disappointment. She expected to learn something new during this first session. She frowns slightly at herself.

"Hey, don't sulk. I'm going to teach you how to defend yourself but before that I have to know what to teach you, the best way to exploit your strengths."

She raises her head slightly towards him after she's finished eating. "Okay."

An hour later, people beggin to wake up. Musa is drinking a little. After an hour trying to see how Musa defends herself, an hour during which her punchs were almost flying in the air, Riven gives her a summary.

"So what did you learn about me?" Musa asks trying to catch her breath.

"Stop trying to use your force, you don't have any at the moment. Your quality is that you're small. You have to use it. You have to manage to sneak in, to react faster , do several smaller movements. Aren't you a dancer? Use your grace or whatever to move faster."

Musa listens with interest, making a mental note of everything Riven tells her.

"Tomorrow, at the same time here, we will start the real training."

The morning is almost over. Riven is having a chat with Sky when he sees Terra at the edge of the track looking at someone. The specialist apologizes to his best friend and trots towards Terra.

"What are you looking at?" Riven asks directing his gaze to where Terra is staring. "Oh her, it's Kat. Do you want me to ask her number for you?"

Terra looks at the boy in disbelief, "What? Why are you asking me that?"

"Well, you seem to like her."

"Look just because I look at a girl doesn't mean I like her. It's a disgusting way of thinking you know...Who do you think you are?"

Riven's face shows an amused look. "Terra I'm bi."

"What?!"

"Bi, that means I like boys and gir..."

Terra interrupts him "No but I know what Bi means, I didn't know you were Bi."

Riven comes to sit next to Terra "Didn't you know? Everyone knows."

"Ha so that's why last year a lot of boys were hovering around you."

Riven nods amusedly.

"And how do you know that I..."

"Gaydar"

"That makes sense. And how did you tell people, because...sometimes I feel illegitime ...?"

Riven looks at Terra who is staring at the ground. Riven looks straight ahead at the people fighting. He sees Sky trying to attack Dane with his sword. He puts his attention back on Terra.

"You don't have to say it. If you want to say it you can, but no one should make you feel obligated to anything. Your sexuality doesn't change who you are. Take your time,  you don't need to feel obligated to anything."

Terra looks back at him. She smiled at Riven, feeling oddly understood.

"Thank you."

"It's normal...so...do you want me to ask for her number?"Asks again Riven.

Terra nods slightly :  "Don't make it  weird Riven."

Musa's pov:

Real life pov:

Musa is sitting on one of the stools in the greenhouse. Hands in the potting soil, she tries to read the instructions in the manual. She's been sitting there all alone for an hour, practicing for her next botany class. She had come by afterwards to change clothes. She had opted for shorts and a green crop top, today is far too hot to wear anything else.

Musa is trying to interpret a phrase from the manual when she hears someone walk into the greenhouse. She only sees his back but she recognizes Riven directly because of the message t-shirt.

"Nice t-shirt."

"Thank you." He replies, sitting down next to the fairy. "What are you doing here mind fairy?"

"I'm training for botany class."

The specialist takes the manual to read the passage Musa is studying. "And so?"

"It's shit, I can't do it."

Riven puts the book down, and looks at her:

"Don't say that."

Musa takes her hands out of the jar and wipes them on a towel. "But it's true! I can't do it, I'm useless."

Riven gently cups the fairy's chin with his fingertips and lifts her face up to him.

"Hey! You don't have the right to talk like that about my girl."

She leans gently into his hand, a laugh escaping her lips. "I won't do it again."

Riven gently strokes her cheek then takes the jar. "I will help you."

"Sometimes I forget that you are a plant nerd."

Musa's pov:

Real life pov:

When Musa enters the suite, she smells food in the kitchen. Riven closes the door behind him and together they join the small dining room, very close to the kitchen. They all decided to spend the evening together, once again. Beatrix prepares dinner with Stella while Sky and Bloom prepare the board games.

"Sorry for the delay, Musa ran into a dog and she wouldn't let go."

"No big deal" Aisha replies. "Flora and Terra are coming, they went to get something to drink in the cafeteria."

Musa's pov:

-------

Tanks you for reading this. <3Let me know if you want to be on the taglist. I would try to upadte this story every weeks.

taglist: @somnidasha @jamespottersgirlfriend @dukyungs @titleofkaidam @lilfuturescars @multiplefandommess @princessasoldier @yeahithinkthefuckno <3

Don't forget to comment or reblog, I love reading your opinions <3

(I have done all the edit and written all this myself so please don't steal my work)

#rivusa #trying to help with the heartbreak #this is my way to not cry because of the heartbreak #ftws musa #ftws rivusa #ftws riven #fate the winx saga #musa x riven #riven x musa #musa #riven

[dad-of-demons]

Kahl’s Garrison and the Syndicates

I just had a thought the other day, how would Kahl and his camp react to the various Syndicates, and my brain churned this out. If you think your favorite group has been unfairly represented, feel free to say how you think it would go. ‘Cuz heavens knows my own preferences leaked through.

Arbiters of Hexis: They try coming to the camp, willing to show new ways of fighting and discipline for Kahl and his small group. He and his brothers have no such interest. It’s not that they don’t appreciate the effort, or the new shiny weapons (even if some of them look a bit fancy). It’s that their way didn’t win the war. It didn’t keep Veils off of their faces. The traditional way doesn’t work.

Cephalon Suda: Kahl isn’t sure what to make of the people in the purple jumpsuits, or the glowing cube it puts him in communication with. They talk a lot, like the flying robot that follows the Tenno. They ask after his Veilbreaker. He tries to explain it to them, how it was made. If more people can break veils, that’s good news to him.

The Perrin Sequence: Kahl doesn’t like the Corpus who show up. They give dirty looks to his brothers, both his fellow Grineer and the non-Corpus alike. He can Chipper mutter about how “the self-righteous bankers” have arrived. They talk to Olvar, trying to get him to join their faction. Olvar looks around the camp, before settling back onto his crates. “No thanks, but I think I’m where I need to be.” No one says anything when Horrek serves him an extra portion that night.

New Loka: When they arrive, they start telling the camp they need to pack up and leave. “You are defiling the sacred ground of Terra! Leave and find somewhere else to sully!” The clicking chorus of guns being cocked make the visitors decide to leave.

Red Veil: Kahl notices evidence of them before he actually sees them. Broken branches not made by a brother. Slashes in tree trunks. When he goes out to scout one day, a hand wraps around his neck, a dagger appearing over his face. “You are fascinating. There is much we could learn from you.” Slowly, he reaches for his belt, and primes a grenade. “Kahl has died once. Only made Kahl upset. You think you can make death stick?” The arm releases him, and as he spins, he sees nothing. Merely a voice from the shadows. “We shall meet again.”

Steel Meridian: Kahl hears the collective hush over the camp before he sees her. Of course he recognizes her. Cressa Tal is infamous amongst Grineer ranks, the traitor who fought against the Queens. She doesn’t make threats. Doesn’t even try to recruit them. She merely hands him a communicator, with instructions. “You ever need our help? Somebody trying to hit you, or you about to hit back? Let us know. We’re always ready for a fight.” Kahl smirks at her words, and the two grasp arms. Nothing else needs be said.

Considering how I would write interactions from the various open world factions (Ostron, Entrati, etc.). If that would be of interest, feel free to let me know!

#warframe #Kahl #Kahl-175 #kahl’s garrison #new loka #arbiters of hexis #cephalon suda #the perrin sequence #red veil #steel meridian #veilbreaker

[lumi-klovstad-games]

"No Love Lost" aka "Ailani Meets The Emperor Again"

A short scene in which Ailani, the recently returned Second Primarch, meets what's left of the Emperor for the first time in 10,000 years to declare her intentions. And finally get a lot of crap off her chest.

Gonna be honest, this is basically Daddy Issues: The Fanfic.

Ailani had made it before the Emperor at long last. She barely remembered what he’d looked like, if she’d ever known even a fraction of the truth of his appearance at all, for all his psychic posturing. But what sat on the Golden Throne was barely the man who was barely her father. A massive, decrepit corpse, more skeleton than man, more deceased than deity. Yet the pressure in her brain told her that something connected to that body was still VERY much alive… and it was at least somewhat aware of her.

The Emperor’s Daughter failed to bow or kneel, and this did not go unnoticed by the attendant Custodes. She stood there, sizing up this undead monument to a single man’s arrogance, ego, and mistakes. Her green-stained eyes looked him over. Her ears heard the whirring and clicking of the ancient machinery of the Golden Throne.

There was much silence for a long while. It had been ten thousand years, and their last exchange had almost come to blows much as their first had. Her last act in his Imperium was to fire on his soldiers and betray his trust by favoring her people above his orders. What was there she could possibly say? Would it even do her any good at all? Was whatever was left of the Emperor even cognizant enough to answer in any way? There was only one way to find out.

“I've returned.” Ailani said, breaking the silence.

Her head filled with unfiltered thoughts that were not hers.

TRAITOR

DISGUSTING

DISAPPOINTMENT

ABERRANCE

The Second Primarch laughed darkly. 

“Yeah. It’s nice to see you too, Dad. I suppose we both are just going to have to accept that we’ll always be a disappointment to each other. I for not being who or what you wanted me to be, and you for being an irredeemably arrogant bastard. I mean, I admire your ability to consistently remain true to your character, even if that character has always been less than stellar. I'm not sure what was more impressive: your ability to remain consistently unpleasant around me or your knack for making enemies you didn’t have to have.”

ABOMINATION

MISCREANT

APOSTATE

REPUGNANT

“You know, I never liked you much either. But the ideals you sold me? Those were maybe the only good you ever put in my life. I never really believed in your Imperium or your Crusade. I certainly never believed in you – how could I when the first thing you ever did around me was express your revulsion for my identity and then try to kill my parents?”

FALSE

KIDNAPPERS

CORRUPTORS

HYPOCRITE 

“Still refusing to admit you’re wrong. 10,000 years and how many wars to end all wars and you still haven’t changed. Well, you may not have believed a damn word you said when you poured honey in my ears to get me to come to Terra the first time, but they were words worth believing in. And as far as I’m concerned, you already got what you deserved.”

The Custodes reached for their weapons, but did not draw. Not yet.

SANCTIMONIOUS

UNGRATEFUL

UNNATURAL

BROKEN

Ailani let out a judging laugh.

“Ungrateful? Ungrateful?! My legion and I did good work. We did what we were told to do. What we were MADE to do. Made, BY YOU, to do. And we did it well. Our lives were dedicated to your mandates, your purpose. But because I wasn’t the child you WANTED, you never trusted us. You took my family, my community, my whole WORLD hostage to ensure my loyalty. But I did the work. ‘Maybe,’ I told myself, ‘maybe if I work hard enough, if I prove my usefulness, he might ease off. He might see that I’m just as worthy as my brothers. He might realize that he doesn’t need to hold a sword over my family’s necks to make me keep my promise.’ But you never did. Nothing I did was EVER enough for you! I will ALWAYS be a deviant in your eyes. A freak. A mistake. But I’ve finally realized, that’s not MY problem. It’s yours. And I’m done letting the people of this Imperium suffer for this grudge. I’m back, and you’re not. You can just sit there and simmer. I’m done with you, and I don’t expect I’ll speak with you again. I’m a healer. I learned triage a long time ago. I know better than to waste energy and resources on a lost cause when there’s ways to use them to do more good elsewhere. So that’s what I’ll do. The Imperium is wounded. It’s sick. It’s in pain. Untold teeming billions upon billions are crying out. They need help.  So I’m going to help them however I can. They didn’t ask for any of this. Yes, they’ve done SO MUCH WRONG. They are so afraid and hateful, but that isn’t their fault. They’ve never known another way. It’s just another way they’ve been injured. And for all your faults, I know neither one of us ever wanted this for them. We both believe in a better tomorrow, and a better mankind to live in it, after all. On the oath I swore ten thousand years ago, I swear I will keep trying to make the Imperial Ideal the Imperial Reality. You can trust me, just like you always could and should have.”

The Custodes relaxed as Ailani turned to leave. She stopped at the door to the Throne Room. She had a feeling she needed to.

REMISS

THANK

YOU

̲D̲A̲U̲G̲H̲T̲E̲R̲

Ailani smiled. 

“Maybe I will see you again, actually.”

#my ocs #warhammer 40000 #my oc stuff #warhammer 40k #wh40k #fanon Primarch #Second Primarch #lost primarch #fanfiction #Ailani #god emperor of mankind #emperor of mankind #dialogue heavy #female primarch #trans primarch

[lothirielswandc]

HOMEWRECKER (LOVE + FEAR)

Read on AO3 here!

— E P I L O G U E — 

— L E G I O N   O F   D O O M   H Q —

The ghostly pallor seared his eyes. Holograms hummed around him. They made it easier to pretend Lex wasn't there. 

“You won't let this go, will you?” Lex appeared spectral, bathed in the moonlike shine. An annoying figment of his imagination.

Conner ignored him. He continued to scribble physics formulas across the touchscreen table. That was one of the perks of being Lex’s spawn. The whole brainiac part.

“I can fix everything,” Conner murmured. It was more of a personal assurance than actually talking to Lex.

“Hmph.” Lex stared at the blue text. “I’ll admit, I see the potential. But it’s a total reset. You have to be willing to sacrifice everything to do it.”

Kon kept writing. 

“Not to mention, everyone else would have to start over, too.”

His pen flew across the touchpad, shrieking in protest.

“Which, I suppose, is the point. You and your fixations…you must acquire that from me.”

Conner focused on the hum of the screens. It was doable — with the right technology. It would cost a bajillion dollars, but thankfully Luthor genes were expensive. Kon could make blueprints easy —

Lex’s hand slammed against the table. He leaned over to be eye level with Conner. “Are you listening to me?”

Conner just nodded along. He already knew the warnings that Lex was throwing at him. He didn't care. “I know.” 

Lex looked away with a miffed expression. For a minute there, he almost looked like a father.

Mercy shifted from the shadows of the room. She put a hand on Lex’s arm and he shrugged her off. 

Mercy looked at Conner. Her lips parted like she was about to say something, but then sharply closed them. Her heels clicked as she left the room.

Conner kept writing. He stole a glance every now and then at Lex. Lex stood at the window, looking out. Lots of the headquarters were missing. It was more of a large, abstract art piece of workmen on wooden panels at this point. The drilling sounds from people putting the building back together were annoying. 

They’re still trying to fix the destruction from —

Kon flinched away from the thought. All of his focus went into the small, fluid movements of his hand. 

“I know you were infatuated with my assistant,” Lex said carefully. “But all of this, just for one girl. One dead girl…”

Small snapping sounds caught Conner’s attention. Tiny cracks bloomed across the stylus. Like wounds. Conner laxed his grip. 

That was the lie they sold to lex. Rachel Grey died by the hands of Raven. Ironic. What’s sad was how true it was.

Ray.

The love monster from her head shortly followed whenever Conner thought of her. He shuddered to think of that walking freakshow, but that was all the proof he needed that he was doing the right thing. Love wasn't monstrous. It wasn't supposed to be. 

‘Let’s just stick with being happy for now.’

That was the real lie. How could Conner make her happy at all, with things the way they were? How could Conner make Raven when it wasn't just Raven anymore? It was Raven and Da — 

No. Conner would only cause her pain now. He was sure of that.

Kon set the deformed stylus down and rubbed at his eyes. “If I could go back — even before then. To the minute we met…”

‘Sorry for crashing your party.’

‘Don’t apologize. I don't mind.’

No, even before then. Save Raven from all the timeline heartache. Terra’s betrayal. Trigon’s invasion. Azarath’s demise. 

If it was to preserve the most beautiful thing Conner had ever seen — Raven’s smile — it was worth it.

Lex turned back to him. His face was twisted…in pain. “I know I’m not the best father figure. But this comes from a place of love. Perhaps…it might be best to move on? I know you won't like that. But personality defects aside, you have good looks. You have manners. People like you. You’re…good. It wouldn't be hard to meet someone else.”

Conner shook his head. This wasn't some stupid crush. He owed Raven everything. She was the first to go out of her way and do something nice for him, no ulterior motive. The first to skate down the halls with him and not complain about scuff marks on the floor. Everything about her calmed his senses and made them all go haywire at the same time. 

And now she probably doesn't even want to see me. The way things are…she doesn't deserve that. It’s better this way. To start over. 

“No. It's the right thing to do.” Conner looked up at the blue screen. S.T.A.R. Labs documents were scrawled across every electronic surface. Detailing one theory.

The Flashpoint.

Clear the board. Start again.

THE TITANS WILL RETURN.

#dc #rachel roth #damian wayne #raven roth #damirae #raven #damian x raven #teen titans #dc multiverse #robin damian #damian robin #konrae #kon el #conner kent #clark kent #robin #superboy #lex luthor #conner luthor #superman #kal el #dc characters #flashpoint #raven teen titans #justice league vs teen titans #teen titans the judas contract #dc titans

[hphmmatthewluther]

Back By Midnight: Operation BULLSEYE - Part 2/4:

The first chapter can be found here!

Taglist of peeps who might be interested (lemme know if you want to be added or removed!): @akaisenhatake​ @camillejeaneshphm​ @catohphm​ @fangirl-screaming​ @rosachaotic​ @ag907​ @nikyiscreepy​ @oseathepebble​

(contains violence, death, and use of guns)

Also, this story features a brief cameo from a character of @camillejeaneshphm 's, and the name for the WIW in this version of events comes from @magicapandora !

Two hours until midnight. That was the time limit that was bouncing through Matthew’s (now Agent Moon’s) mind as he approached the building. He willed himself not to look at the road as a white minivan drove by, taking a corner further down the road, adjusting the silver bracelet on his right wrist. This was the only thing on him that hadn’t been from Bill. He’d even asked about it, and Matthew explained that it was something he just wore for good luck and protection, not that it ever seemed to work..

“Not bad, New Moon. Most people on their first mission tend to look at the surveillance devices a little too much.” Agent Gaia said over the earpiece, a little muffled by the sound of traffic.

“Focus on the road, Gaia, I’m the one running interference!” Agent Terra exclaimed, Matt expecting to hear frantic keyboard typing, but only getting a few clicks here and there.

“Alright, you’re past the ID machine. Like Gaia said, it’s on the 28th floor, so you’ll need to make your way up unnoticed…which is exactly why you’re going in via the car park.”

Matthew darted around the side of the building, risking a look up at it. It was 30 stories tall, all of which was owned by Reflection International, as evidenced by the giant logo he was standing under.

From his own investigations, while they had never done anything illegal, there is certainly a lot of criticism for their practices, be it extreme markups of life-saving medicines, ruthless buying of patents, as well as lobbying governments. Still, as he approached the entryway of the car park, he found himself wondering just what a company like this could be hiding that required the murder of multiple Intelligence Personnel.

Before he went any further, he heard a door open within the car park. Ducking low, he shuffled forward until he had a good view. Out of the door came two figures: a woman with ginger hair and a suit, and behind her was a man who looked familiar. He was tall, with dark black hair, and was wearing a striking white suit.

“That’s…” Matt said under his breath, “...the guy who Bill talked to today. The executive.”

“Well spotted.” Terra confirmed. “That’s Ryuji Ketseuki, Vice Executive for Reflection International. Rose up through the ranks to become one of the youngest business executives of all time. Apparently they call him the “Wizard in White”. Blech.”

Matthew watched as the woman opened the door of an expensive-looking car and sat in the driver’s seat, Ketseuki getting in the back of the car, the engine soon roaring to life.

“Now’s your chance, Agent Moon. Wait for the right moment…” Terra said, as the car park shutters slowly opened. Ketseuki’s car rolled out and turned towards the main road, as the shutters started to close again. Taking a deep breath, he went for it, scampering a little to get his whole body past the shutters before they…well, shut.

“I’m in.” Matt said, allowing himself to smile.

“So am I.” Terra chuckled, as Matthew heard a few more clicks. “Since your earpiece is now inside the building, there’s way fewer checks on it than a computer outside it. Should help me delete any footage of you snooping around. Alright, get going.”

Taking a moment to breathe, Matthew set off up and out of the car park, towards the fire exit stairs. He’d have to make it across the reception of the building before he could get to the higher floors. Considering he was carrying several tools of espionage as well as a gun, he was slightly afraid of being seen as suspicious. Still, he figured, it was about the same anxiety he had when walking outside normally. He breathed in. He took a first step. He breathed out. A man in a business suit walked across a reception, past another giant Reflection International logo. It was 10:10pm.

“Wow, you’re a natural! You don’t look suspicious at all! No wonder M- er, Bill chose you!”

Finally, Matthew was able to slip past the crowd until he was near the lift and the stairs (he frowned at how the sign called it an elevator)

“Now, there’ll be cameras in the lift, not to mention other people, so your safest bet is probably the stairs, but keep the lifts in mind if you need to get somewhere else fast.” Terra pointed out. “It happens sometimes that the best way to get out of a sticky situation is to just - CAREFUL GAIA WATCH THE ROAD-”

Matthew stifled a laugh as he started to climb up the stairs. Through the windows of the doors, it looked like most people had gone home for the day, with half of the corridors being pitch black. Still, Matthew kept on guard, and it would just be his luck that when he got to the 28th floor he would find that a single light was on.

“Pants.” Matthew said, bluntly.

“I’m checking the cams now, hang tight.” Terra assured him, seemingly recovered from whatever Gaia had been up to. “Man, it’s like they want the data to be deleted easily, this is child’s play…ok! Yeah, looks like someone’s in there with the ID machine, but they aren’t working on it, which is good news.”

“I’m guessing the bad news is I’ll need to go in with him and pray he doesn’t smell a rat.”

“He kind of looks like a rat.” said Gaia, off-handedly, “hold on, Terra, gotta overtake here.”

“Gaia! That’s really rude!...Look, reporting you is probably the last thing this guy wants to do. Just act natural, be nice, and there’s no reason to worry!”

“I suppose…” Matt said to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose. He checked his watch, and found that it was almost 10:30pm. He just hoped he had enough time to get this done. He couldn’t waste any more time. He had do right by Bill. Steeling himself, he opened the door labelled “Floor 28 - Research Division” and walked forward, not flinching when the corridor lights came on.

“Seems like the guy noticed the lights came on.” Terra informed Matt. He showed no reaction and kept walking until he came to the door.

“Should I knock?” he whispered.

“It would be polite.” Terra admitted. Shrugging to find a counter-argument, Matthew knocked thrice.

“C-Come in!” Matthew slowly pushed open the door, and glanced at the other person in the room. He tried to keep his face still. He kind of did look like a rat, just a little. He looked around the same age as Matt was, with short blonde hair and largeish blue eyes. He also, somehow, looked more nervous than Matthew normally did.

“C-Can I help you?” he asked nervously. Matt took a glance at the name on the desk. Ben Copper.

“Oh, no worries.” Matt reassured him, “I’m from the IT team. Mr Ketseuki asked me to do some work on one of the prototypes here.”

Ben’s face looked a little less nervous. “Oh, right, go ahead then, I-I was just burning the midnight oil really, had some work I needed to get done, that kind of thing…”

Matthew nodded and smiled softly, and Ben gave a nervous smile in return. With that, he was free to examine the rest of the room. There were monitors and computers here and there, as well as a few larger devices.

“There! By the window! You can’t see me pointing, but I am!” Terra said suddenly. Matt walked over, leaning over it. It was smaller than Matthew had been expecting, about the size of a home radio, with a circular screen on the left and a variety of buttons to the right.

“Brilliant work, Agent Moon. But we can’t just take it off of the table. There’s likely to be a tracking device in it somewhere that you’ll need to remove first.”

Matt made sure Ben couldn’t see his face before he winced. Of course it couldn’t be that simple. It never was for him, after all. He reached into his jacket’s pocket and took out the Swiss Army Knife. On closer inspection, he saw that it was decorated with a variety of constellations, the one standing out the most being that of Hercules.

“The device should be under the screen.” Terra explained, as more typing was heard, “you should be able to use one of the blades to pry it open.”

Matthew began to flick through the many utilities the knife had before finding one that seemed suitable for pulling up the screen. Slowly, he slid the blade underneath and pushed down. There was a click, and the screen was half-off of the machine, still connected by wires. Now all Matthew had to do was figure out what a tracking device looked like, and pick it out.

“Wait.” Terra said, Matthew picking up on the nerves in his voice. “...Don’t look up. Don’t even try to, just keep your eyes on the machine, and don’t say a word.” Matthew did as he asked, though felt the overwhelming urge to do the exact opposite as curiosity filled him. That curiosity vanished with Terra’s next sentence. “There’s a sniper trained on your chest from the building opposite.”

Matthew felt that fear wash over him. It was the same one he’d felt when the floor had caved in earlier in the day. Alarm bells were ringing in his head as his hands hovered over the machine. It couldn’t get worse than this, right?

Turns out, once more, his luck would once again kick him in the shin. “Hey,” Ben began, “Mr Ketseuki…he’s not upset that work had to be done on the prototype, right? I’d hate to think…” 

As much as Matthew floundered when it came to smalltalk, he somehow found it in himself to respond. “No, no, of course not. One of the others apparently flagged a small issue that needed outside fixing, so…here I am.”

“Right, right…thank goodness, that’d be the last thing I want, especially with a prototype as important as that.” Ben said, sighing in relief.

Matt found himself slightly more at ease, which was odd considering the circumstances. “Important? Is there a time frame on when this has to be ready by?”

“Oh, I’m not too sure. Apparently it’ll help with our global network, making the data a lot easier to find quickly.”

“I see…” Matt nodded, trying not to change his expression. Strangely enough, Matthew didn’t think he was lying, merely misinformed, which put even more questions into his head and almost distracted him from the knowledge that a gun was pointed at him.

“You’ve got to get that device out of the machine, quick.” Terra ordered. “Once you’ve done that, we can be a little more…loud, so to speak.”

Trying not to look conspicuous, Matthew put his finger under the screen to stop it falling back into place. Switching the knife over, he discovered a pair of tweezers within. Reaching in as slowly as possible, he found a small red circle that stuck out like a sore thumb on the green circuitry. Taking a breath, he pried it off of the circuit, seeing that the reverse of it had Reflection’s logo on it: A lone snake wrapped around a staff, with it’s tongue sticking out. Cautiously, he pulled the component out, making sure it remained behind the screen until he was able to drop it on the counter in front of him. Allowing himself to smile, he returned the tweezers to the Swiss Army Knife, returning the screen of the ID machine to its proper place.

“Nice one, but…looking at the corridor cam, you have another problem coming towards you…I guess the sniper tipped him off.” Terra sighed. As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. Ben clutched his chest in shock.

“Who’s in there?!” barked a low, gruff voice, the owner of whom banged on the door again. “Get out here now!”

Ben looked at Matt, confused. Matt merely shrugged, as if he was as confused as Ben was. “W-What’s going on?!” he asked, the fear in his voice palpable.

“Security alert!” he replied, not showing any sympathy. “We know there’s an intruder in there. Out, now!” Ben stammered over his words, confused, and so Matt took over.

“It’s just us two! We haven’t heard anything about a security alert-”

“Shut up! You’re both a threat as far as I’m concerned! Now open the door before I kick it open!”

Matt remained where he was, and motioned the panicking Ben to stay put too. He placed a hand over the ID machine, waiting for a voice in his earpiece. After a few long, long seconds, he heard Gaia.

“Got a plan to get you out of this, but you’ll need to hurry. I’m coming up to the road between you and that sniper. When you hear the signal, drop down and take the machine with you. You’ll know it when you hear it, trust me.” she reassured him.

“I’m trying to get into their radio feed too, should help you get past this guy.” Terra added, as Matthew heard the van screech. “Get ready.”

Ben looked at him again, confused. Matt smiled, his eyes going back to the window. He dared not look at the building opposite, instead at the road. He watched as a white minivan sped up the road, before its horn blared out as loud as possible. Thankfully, Matthew was smart enough to know a signal when he heard one, and pulled the ID machine off the table and ducked to the floor.

Ben yelped as several bangs were heard, many from the door and one from the window. Matthew quickly scanned his environment: A bullet hole now marked the glass, with a few shards having fallen nearby. Ben had crawled under his desk, where he would hopefully be safe, and that guard was still trying to get through the door. What that meant, thankfully, was that he could talk aloud to his fellow agents again. “I’ve got to get past that guard. I can get to the door without being seen by the sniper, but once I do that guard will shoot me point blank.”

Terra cleared his throat, which crackled through the earpiece. “Right, right…sorry, a lot of people were beeping back at us. If you look through your pockets you should find a bunch of cuboid thingies with keyrings. You’ll want the grey and white one.”

Matt did as instructed, holding it in his hand. The word that came to mind as a result of the keyring was grenade, but that would draw far too much attention, which meant…

“This is a flashbang, right?” Matthew asked, as the guard outside resorted to kicking at the door, Ben continuing to whimper from under his desk.

“Well observed. Yeah, you’ll need to pull the keyring and toss it up at him. And make sure to look away. Here, I’ve got through to their radio line, have a listen:” There was some more static, and other voices could be heard. “Don’t worry, they can’t hear us.” Terra reassured him. “It’s a neat little bit of tech we came up with thanks to our tracking of outer-space signals…but I’ll tell you about that later.”

Matt crawled past the glass, keeping low, getting closer to the door as he heard the guard cursing over the radio. As he reached the point where he could throw the flashbang from, he saw Ben’s eyes glaring at him through the table.

“W-What’s…what’s happening…I-I…” he stuttered, his hands clutching at his hair.

“...Hey.” Matt whispered at him. “It’s gonna be okay. Trust me. Just stay put and you’ll be alright.”

Ben didn’t stop shaking, but was no longer on the verge of tears as he pushed himself further under the desk. Over the radio, the guard was still cursing, though he seemed more confident now. “Stupid fool…whoever they are, they will not be standing when I’m through with ‘em…I’ll shoot ‘em both, just to show who’s boss…here we go- AH!”

As the door finally swung open, Matt tossed the cuboid up, covering his eyes with the keyring still in his hand as the guard stumbled back. Matthew charged forward past the rapidly blinking Ben and the dazed guard, as he heard another gunshot fire out at the window, missing him by a fair margin. This time, however, he could hear the sniper’s reaction.

“Shitting Hell!” came a static-y voice. Matthew held the ID machine a little closer to his chest. It was one of the three people who had visited the building after the explosion, the first voice. At the time she had been devoid of emotion, but now she seemed rather irritated by the turn of events. “Get up! Hold him still before he reaches the lift so I can silence this little pest!”

Matt’s smile faded as he heard loud footsteps behind him.He hadn’t got too much of a good look at him, but he was pretty sure that this guy was a lot more muscular than he was. Thankfully, Terra chimed in. “I called the lift for you, but…he’s gonna catch up to you before you get there.”

Matt grimaced as he got closer and closer. He needed another idea that was just about crazy enough to work, and thankfully he got one.. “Can you open the doors now, but stop the lift on the floor below?”

Terra paused for the briefest of moments, but ‘m-hm’-ed in confirmation. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Moon…” he sighed, as the doors opened ahead of Matthew. In the seconds he’d been running, Matthew had made two calculations: that he would have a lot more options available to him on top of the lift as opposed to inside it, and that the surprise of not seeing the elevator would once again provide a sorely needed moment of hesitation. Gritting his teeth, and holding the ID machine close, he sprinted forward onto the lift’s roof, grabbing the cable and spinning to hit the still oncoming guard in the chest, sending him back a little. He had hoped that would be enough to stop him before the doors closed, but his pursuer put his hands on either door and forced them back to the edges, causing them to stutter in and out slightly. They weren’t closing anytime soon. He got a good look at this guard; he had shaved hair as well as a shaved face, and still had that gun in his right hand. But then Matthew heard something that he did not expect.

“My goodness, such a failure you are.” spat the sniper, the guard raising his hand up to his earpiece, the message clearly directed at him. “Can’t even chase a person down a corridor properly.”

The guard suddenly looked nervous, his rage replaced by fear. “High Pr-”

“Enough! You’re in front of our unwanted guest, after all. Listen well. I have my sight trained on the space right outside that lift. I will shoot whoever is thrown out of that lift, understand? A situation like this requires an itchy trigger finger, just as it requires a competent enforcer.”

“...Pants.” Matthew said. “...Y’know, she’s threatened the both of us, so…this is how truces tend to happen.”

“No…this is how promotions happen.” the guard grinned, before aiming the gun at Matthew. Instinctively, he kicked again, landing a hit on the guard’s shin. Taking the initiative, he kept up the offensive, jabbing with his free arm at the hand with the gun in it, letting it clatter to the floor and nudging it off the side of the lift with his foot.

Taking a quick glance at the space outside the lift shaft, the guard pushed forward, gripping Matthew’s arm and pulling, clearly trying to get him outside. Still clutching the ID machine, he willed himself to come to a halt, causing the guard to start stumbling toward him. The lift rocked a little, and the guard snarled, grabbing for the ID machine, but Matt was ready for him, somehow. Pushing up with his legs, he began rapidly kicking at the sides of the guard’s torso, before sticking his legs out and digging into the sides of his stomach. The guard yelped, letting go of Matt’s free arm. Sidestepping, Matt put down the machine. He took his silver bracelet and wrapped it around his knuckles. It was probably never meant to be used this way, but desperate times called for it. And what better protection than a good offence, right? Discarding the argument when he remembered his life was in danger, and that Bill had trusted him, Matt leapt forward, driving his silver-covered fist into the guard’s upper chest. At least, that was where he was aiming. But the guard, seemingly in desperation, had tried to go low, thus leading to Matt striking his head. The guard straightened out, clearly concussed judging by the glazed over eyes. He didn’t seem to have a clue where he was as he staggered backwards out of the lift shaft. Then came the gunshot.

It split through the windowpane and struck him through his chest. The force of the bullet stopped his movement backwards, before he tumbled to the floor almost instantly, now motionless. Matthew felt his mouth go dry as he returned his bracelet to his wrist, picking up the ID machine and cradling it in his arms. He flinched when he heard more voices on the radio.

“Kilo Sierra Delta!” the sniper said, as Matt heard more footsteps.

“I’m coming, I’m coming! Knew I should have stayed late…” Matt came back to reality upon hearing this new voice. It was another of the people in the building. The one he’d seen the most of.

“Terra, can you take the lift down?” Matthew asked, as he noticed something that had fallen out of the guard’s shirt, visible through the bullet hole.

“Oh, thank god, you’re alive. Ok, yeah, give me a second, the other people in the building are all headed up, you’ll have a more or less easy getaway once you get down to the ground floor.” Terra explained. “Crap, they’re coming though!”

Matt gazed down at the still rocking lift. He pushed on the wall so that there was enough room for him to jump down into the metal cube. He shimmied his legs down the gap, then his left arm, dropping the machine on the lift floor. Over the radio, he heard that slightly Scottish accent again. “I’m on the scene! Can see the body, along with…HEY!”

Matt should have ducked down, but instead he grabbed the thing that had fallen from the guard’s pocket before manoeuvring downwards. He heard loud footsteps overhead, but knew that all she would be able to see was his hand. Gripping the thing he’d taken with his thumb, he proceeded to wave two certain fingers at the person before pulling it down and closing the lift doors, his silver bracelet clanging against the metal as he did so. The woman above seemed, to put it lightly, upset at his actions.

“WHO WAS THAT?! I WANT CCTV FOOTAGE! NOBODY GIVES ME THE TWO-FINGERED SALUTE AND LIVES TO TELL THE TALE!”

“Calm yourself,” said the sniper. “The intruder cannot have gone far, nor could he have left the building yet.”

Matt once again sank to the floor as the lift descended through the building, suddenly remembering that he still had that gun on him. He’d never even thought to use it. “...I got the machine…how close are you guys?”

“ETA 3 minutes, Agent Moon.” Gaia said, “providing this arse in the Range Rover stops holding everyone up-”

He listened as Terra took over. “...Was that the first time you saw someone…”

“N-No. There was…another time, but…” Matthew sighed. “That was the first time it was that close to me. That I had…”

“Hey, you did what you had to, and you even tried to get the both of you out alive. One thing’s for sure, that guy certainly seemed to fear that sniper. What did he call her?”

“ “High” something or other.” Matt said, struggling to remember the details; much of it was a blur. “And then after she’d…yknow…she said, what was it, “Kilo Sierra Delta”, which…”

He was going to say he wasn’t sure what it meant, but then he looked at what was in his hand. It was a card, with the Reflection International logo on it, but this time the snake was not sticking its tongue out . This time it had fangs. He turned it around, and instead of a playing card, as he had been expecting, it was a Tarot card. It showed a knight on horseback, riding with a blade held high in the sky. The text below it read: Knight of Swords. “Kilo Sierra, perhaps.” Matt said aloud.

“Pardon?” Terra asked.

“I’ll explain when I see you.” Matt replied, standing up as the lift neared the ground floor. Sure enough, as the door opened, the reception was more or less empty as silent alarms flashed on the walls and ceilings. He looked around, before seeing the minivan through the window. Unable to stop the smile on his face, he ran for it, leaving out the front door once Terra had confirmed the sniper had left the building opposite. He quickly checked his watch. It was ten past eleven. He supposed it was just about his luck that it would end up being this close.

Getting to the minivan, he saw the back door open and clambered inside. Once there, he was greeted by two people who looked about the same age as he was, both South Asian with glasses and black hair, though one had her hair in a ponytail and the other had it cut short.

“Agents Gaia and Terra, I presume.” Matt said, smiling.

“Good to see you, Agent Moon. Sit down and relax, mate. You’ve done something amazing here.”

He gladly did just that, putting the ID machine down next to him as the car sped away. The adrenaline had caused him to more or less ignore any injuries he’d gotten as he went up and then down the skyscraper, but now he was starting to feel the pain in his shoulder, his hands, his legs, as well as general exhaustion.

“How’s he looking?” asked Gaia, still driving.

“Nothing serious, but he’ll need some help at HQ.” Terra reported back. “You’ll be alright, our people are top-notch.” He then found himself smiling. “Sorry, it’s just…Bill was right when he told us about you. You are a wildcard.”

Matt found himself going pink. “I mean…I couldn’t have done any of that without you two helping, so…”

“Doesn’t mean you did any less.” Terra pointed out. “You’ve saved a lot of good people’s lives tonight.” He moved across the minivan and sat down next to Matt, examining the machine. “I’ll get to look at just what makes this thing tick once we’ve reported back at HQ. I imagine it’s chaos over there, what with a transfer of agency and all that.”

“We’ll get to look at it.” Gaia reminded him, sighing. “We’re on track to make it, even with London traffic.”

“Brilliant.” Matt said, finally letting himself relax. “...so what happens now?”

“We’ll head to HQ and report back to the one who gave us this mission, Agent Galileo. She confirms it’s a success, we get a successful mission under our belts…and then I guess we figure out what happens with you.” Matthew suddenly found himself very nervous, something that Terra noticed. “Hey, it’s alright. Bill had to have a lot of trust in you to transfer agency, plus you successfully completed his mission, which all goes in your favour…”

Matthew twirled the card around. “I hope so. I really hope I didn’t cause too much trouble.”

“To be honest it’s been a lot of fun.” Gaia admitted. “It has been quiet for a while now, feels good to have some action this close to home.”

“Exactly!” Terra exclaimed, his eyes focusing towards the card. “Wh-where did you..”

“It…was in the pocket of that guard. I picked it up and when I looked at it, I thought maybe that’s what “Kilo Sierra” was referring to, you know, K.S.”

Terra nodded, raising an eyebrow at the snake image on the back. “And the guard referred to the sniper as “High” something…High Priestess, maybe?”

Gaia rolled her eyes. “Ah, the Tarot cards again. We’ve been hearing about a group using them recently and we have a theory that some sort of gang has been using them as a sort of…well, identifier, funnily enough.”

“We thought it could just be a cartel or something at first, but…killing so many agents, having a Reflection International building as a base of operations…”

There was silence for the rest of the trip, as Gaia concentrated on getting to this HQ place as fast as possible.

When they finally got there, at around 11:45 pm, they scrambled out, remembering to take the ID machine and card. “Quick, quick, we don’t have much time!” Gaia hissed, as the three made their way towards a largeish building. Matt followed the two agents, who seemed similar enough to be twins, as they ran past a sign which read:

THE MIDNIGHT FOUNDATION - Nam astra et quod est infra.

#hphm #back by midnight #hphm spy au #matthew luther #bill weasley #rowan khanna #agent gaia #agent terra #merula snyde #patricia rakepick #ryuji ketseuki #ben copper

[hollybee8917]

Left For Revenge

Chapter 4- Terra di Turchese e Pietra

Plot: Andy is a feared and respected mob boss who is not to be crossed. When he is, he seeks revenge. What he finds in the process is a girl to fall in love with which could spell trouble.

Warnings: Swearing, murder, mentions of rape, arson, violence, torture, language.

“Abigail, look out the window.” Andy pointed downwards, “We’re arriving.”

The young woman looked down at the sight of an island below her then looked at Andy, “Where are we?”

“Sicily,” Andy replied with an almost smile, “I think you will like it here.”

Taking a ragged breath, Abigail asked, “Why are we here?”

Barber tilted his head, “We both needed a break so I brought you here.”

The plane touched down at the private airport and Andy leaned forward, “When we get off the plane, you are to follow what I do, okay? Don’t say anything to customs. I have dealt with them.”

“How?”

“That’s nothing for you to worry your pretty little head about.” Andy’s Boston brogue slipped out.

Abigail nodded, “Okay.”

The private jet stopped and the pilot opened the door causing the stairs to descend. Andy rose and motioned for Abigail to follow him. They descended the stairs and Abigail stopped in shock at the bottom. In front of her was a deep blue luxury car with a man standing by the rear. He turned to Andy and handed him the keys to the car, “Salve signore. Godetevi l'auto a noleggio.”

Andy took the keys, “Thank you.”

Abigail looked taken aback, “You don’t know Italian?”

Andy shrugged turned to the passenger door and opened it for her, “ I never learned. I’m Irish, not Italian.”

The young woman climbed in and he closed the door behind her then Andy walked around to the driver’s side and slid in. He put it in drive and pulled off.

Then Abigail squeaked, “What about our luggage?”

“Taken care of.”

~~

The drive itself was silent. Abigail stared out the window at the sight of the town passing by. She had never been to Sicily before. She knew it was beautiful but she didn’t expect this. Andy pulled onto a side road that narrowed to one lane. Lush trees lined the road and a number of driveways jutted into it. The car stopped at a gate then opened when Andy pushed a button on the keypad.

At the end of the drive, a two-story villa rose above the sea. Andy parked the car under a carport and stepped out, “Let’s go inside.”

Abigail stepped from the car and took in the sight before her. The scent of the Mediterranean air calmed her anxiety and she followed her host into the house.

~~

The man sat at his desk, his face partially shadowed, and spoke angrily into his phone, "What do you mean the plan failed? I sent my best men to take him out. You told me the security was nil. How did he survive?"

His source on the end snarled, "He's tougher than I thought."

The man shook his head, "You said the girl would be his weakness and she had no defense. My men should have been able to surprise him and kill him. Instead, the girl had a gun too. Who squealed and let him know they were there?"

From the phone, there was a sigh, "I don't know. He is out of the country now though."

"If he is out of the country, he will be impossible to find."

A pause came from the other end of the phone then scoff, "I know where he and the girl are."

The new threat hissed, "Where?"

"Sicily. They went there for a break,"

"Damn it. I can't touch him in Sicily. That place is crawling with mafia bosses. We will have to wait for his return. I will prepare my men. I have my sights set on Boston and no one, not even the Viper of Massachusetts, can stand in my way.""

"I know someone who can get to him in Sicily."

"Who?"

"The Beast."

"That may actually work. Be ready to move on. I have a call to make."

The line clicked then the man dialed an all too familiar number. It rang twice before someone picked up. A smarmy voice floated through, "What can I do for you?"

"Hello, Lloyd. I need you to go to Sicily. I have a target for you."

~~

“What do you want to know?” Andy leaned back on the lounger, his shirt revealing his eagle tattoo and part of the quote on his chest.

The young woman pointed at his tattoo, “We can start with what is that tattoo of?”

Andy glanced down, “Oh, that? That’s an eagle. Next.”

Abigail tilted her head, “What does the quote say?”

Andy smiled, “Death smiles at everyone but only the brave smile back.”

She raised the glass of wine to her lips and sipped, “Is that your motto?”

With a smirk, Andy tipped back his beer bottle and took a swig, “Depends on the situation. Sometimes I am death and sometimes I am the brave fool smiling back.”

“Do you have any other tattoos?”

As if on cue, Andy peeled his shirt off revealing a myriad of tattoos littering his chest, shoulders and perhaps on his back.

Some of the tattoos were small and others covered a large portion of his skin. Abigail gasped at the sight. Then she pointed to a particular tattoo on his right shoulder, “Is that the sign of Libra?”

He nodded, “It is.”

“What is the meaning of it?”

Andy’s face fell, “It was my mother’s astrology sign.”

Abigail shifted in her seat, “I have been meaning to ask you. The picture in your house in Boston.. It’s of you and your mother, isn’t it?”

Andy turned his face away, “What other tattoos do you want to know about?”

She tilted her head and pointed to a strange bird, “What is that one for?”

The mob boss looked down, “The phoenix represents resurrection and new life from the ashes. I got that one after my father died.”

“Oh,” Abigail ducked her chin, “I’m sorry.”

He made a face, “Don’t worry about it. My father was a monster. That’s why I got the tattoo.”

“Was he abusive?”

Andy nodded, “He was very abusive to both my mother and me. He’s gone now so I am not concerned about it any longer.”

“Okay.”

Silence reigned for a moment. When Abigail raised her head, Andy was standing right in front of her with a look on his face she had never seen before. His hand raised up to her chin and he tilted her head back. Andy’s eyes roamed Abigail’s face, landing on her lips then back to her eyes. As if subconsciously, Abigail gave a small nod and parted her lips slightly.

Taking the cue, Andy closed the gap and rested his lips on hers in a gentle touch. A small gasp escaped Abigail’s mouth causing Andy to pull back. His face hardened and he pulled away, “I shouldn’t have done that.”

He turned and walked away, leaving Abigail alone on the patio.

~~

Abigail was seated on the couch, reading, when Andy approached her with a bowl of popcorn and asked, “Want to watch a movie?”

She closed her book and smiled at him, “Sure. What were you thinking?”

“How about a comedy?”

The young woman smiled, “Okay. We can do that.”

Andy dropped onto the other end of the couch and put the popcorn between them. He then hit the power on the remote, “Do you want something more classic or something more modern?”

She smiled at him, “How about Some Like It Hot? That’s a great film.”

With a smirk, Andy cocked an eyebrow, “The one about the two musician on the run from evil mobsters?”

He let loose a low laugh, “You realize we aren’t actually like that, right? We aren’t all money grabbing murderers chasing people to kingdom come because they saw a hit.”

Abigail’s face fell and she looked down, “Oh, um, okay. Well, I-I guess I—”

Andy reached out and lifted her chin, “Hey, I was kidding. I like that movie. Some Like It Hot is my go to comedy movie. The portrayal of the mob is funny. Come on, get some popcorn and watch the movie with me.”

She reached out and grabbed some of the popcorn and shoved it in her mouth as the movie began to play. Bit by bit they drifted closer on the couch and about midway through the film, both Abigail and Andy each reached a hand into the bowl. What felt like a shock of electricity passed through their fingers as they brushed. Immediately, both pulled their hands back.

“I’m sorry.” They both said at the same moment.

Andy smiled, “Here, you can have the last bit. There’s not much left.”

Abigail tucked her hair behind her ear, “Thank you.”

Their eyes locked for a fleeting moment and in that moment, Abigail took a chance. Leaning in, she pressed her lips to Andy’s. His eyes widened in surprise then fluttered closed and he began to return the gesture, tilting his head to the side to get a better response from her. Then his eyes shot open again and he pushed her back, “No! No, I can’t do this. We can’t. It’s too dangerous.”

Andy rose to his feet then he was gone.

~~

The next morning, Abigail was woken by the sound of her door opening. She rolled over in the bed to find Andy standing in the doorway. The woman pulled the covers up over herself, “What are you doing in here? What time is it?”

“It’s nearly 9:00. Go ahead and get dressed. We’re going into town today. I’m going to show you around.”

Abigail stared at him, her eyes drifting over every inch of his face, “Okay.”

Andy began to depart, “Wear something comfortable today. We will be doing a lot of walking.”

As soon as he had left the room, Abigail rolled from the bed and made her way into the bathroom where she showered. After her shower, Abigail dried herself off and wandered over to the bed where she found an outfit laid out with a note in Andy’s writing. Wear this.

The outfit consisted of a white and black striped blouse with peach colored scalloped shorts and a pair of new converses. Abigail put on the clothes and was midway through putting on the shoes when a knock came on her door.

“Come in.” She called.

The door opened to reveal Andy in a dark blue striped quarter length sleeve polo with jeans that were snug in all the right places and a pair of tennis shoes. He looked her up and down, “You look great. Meet me outside when you’re done.”

Abigail nodded silently and proceeded to put on the second shoe. Once she was done, she made her way out to the front of the house. There, she found Andy leaning against a motorcycle. A smile graced his lips at the sight of her, “You really do look beautiful.”

Abigail blushed, “Thank you. Are we going on that?”

She pointed at the motorcycle and Andy glanced at it, “Yes. Is that a problem?”

The brunette bit her lip, “I’ve never been on a motorcycle before. Honestly, they kind of scare me.”

Her companion patted the seat, “Don’t worry. It’s going to be fine. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you. Hop on.”

Cautiously, Abigail slid onto the back of the motorcycle then Andy threw his leg over the seat in the front. Turning, he wordlessly handed her a helmet which she took and placed over her head. Andy followed suit with his own helmet. Once it was on, the mobster tapped the side of the helmet, “Can you hear me? There’s a microphone in your helmet. Just talk and we should be able to hear each other.”

“I can hear you. Can you hear me?” Abigail asked.

“Yes. Hold onto me since this is your first time.”

Instantly, Abigail’s arms wrapped around Andy. He kicked the stand up, started the motorcycle and they were off.

~~

Andy stopped the motorcycle at the edge of a car park and removed his helmet. He offered his hand to Abigail and helped her off as well. Abigail took her helmet off, “Where are we?”

“Teatro Antico di Taormina. It’s an ancient Greek theater. It was built somewhere around 200-300 BC. It’s quite a sight.”

Abigail smiled, “It’s incredible. Can we go down?”

“Of course.”

They made their way into the ruins and explored for a bit before returning to the motorcycle and taking off again. This time, they stopped at the edge of a closed off street. Removing her helmet, Abigail tilted her head, “Why are we here?”

The mob boss removed his helmet as well, “We are at Corso Umberto. It is the main street for shopping. We are going to walk around a bit.”

He took her hand and led her up the crowded street. Glancing behind him, he noticed someone leaning against a wall, watching him closely. Andy shook off the uneasy feeling and gripped Abigail’s hand tighter as they disappeared into the crowd. He pulled her into a shop, “Take a look around. I will be right here. Let me know if you find something you like.”

Abigail smiled gently at him, “Thank you.”

She wandered around, occasionally glancing Andy’s direction only to be met with a nod. Finally, she pulled a white long sleeve drop shoulder blouse off the rack and turned to the attendant, “Do you have somewhere I can try this on?”

The woman stared at her blankly, so Abigail tried again, “Hai un posto dove posso provarlo?”

The shopkeeper nodded and motioned for Abigail to follow to a changing room on the side of the shop. Once Abigail was satisfied she liked the top, she returned to the front and to Andy, “If it’s okay, I would like to get this. I have no money though.”

He smirked, “I will buy it for you on one condition.”

“What is it?”

“You tell me where you learned Italian. I never knew you could do that.”

It was Abigail’s turn to smirk, “You never asked. I learned from my grandfather.”

Andy purchased the top and led Abigail from the shop as she called back, “Grazi.”

This time, Andy let out a low laugh and led her about the market street. He would check his shoulder to find the same person lingering whenever they paused at a shop. Finally, Andy turned to a restaurant, “Let’s eat on the patio of this restaurant. Are you hungry?”

“Yes,” Abigail answered, “I am quite hungry. This place looks fancy.”

Andy checked his shoulder again, “Not as fancy as it could be. You know what? Let me take you somewhere a little nicer. You deserve it.”

He glanced to his left and saw the stranger again, lingering at the door of the cafe. The mobster wrapped his arm around Abigail’s waist and leaned in and whispered, “I don’t want you to be scared when we start to rush away but we are being followed.”

@chuckbass-love @time-for-a-library @the-fallen-nightmare @joannaliceevans-fanficblog @patzammit @saiyanprincessswanie @buckysteveloki-me @wintasssoldier

#defendingjacob #originalcharacter #mob!andy barber #chris evans #leftforrevenge

[voidedgear]

@perditos in response to [x]

Vanitas' entire body tenses when Xion's hand grasps him, and he stares up at her with his bright red eyes going a little wide. He pauses, then swallows as the cold settles in, his eyes lowering from hers. The relief from pain does nothing but make him feel more worse.

A totem-like Unversed blooms out of darkness behind him, standing straight before Vanitas jerks his arm out, calling it back into him before it could do anything. The Triple Wrecker seems to fold on itself before turning into a dark mist that flowed into his arm, between the sinews of darkness that wrapped around Vanitas' body. He inhaled sharply as he collected it, then lowered his arm.

It was a complex beast, made from the complex emotions that added to the overbearing grief that Vanitas felt. Seeing Ventus again, and in such a charged way, had rubbed Vanitas' emotions raw.

"So, what did you say to Aqua to piss her off so bad?"

Vanitas looked up at her again, but he still doesn't meet her eyes.

"I wanted to know something," Vanitas replied, giving his jaw one more rub before resting his arms on the table. "She's got a big mouth when you piss her off, so I wanted to be sure."

He didn't regret what he'd said. Not really. Eraqus and Aqua and Terra, they were Ventus's friends. As much as Vanitas wanted to know them, it was a good reminder that he would never be accepted the way his light half had been. It was a good reminder that it was pointless to try.

"Terra, Aqua, and Ven were all raised by a man named Master Eraqus. Raised--the proper way that you and I never got. He did birthdays, sat with them through nightmares, cooked for them, taught them everything they'd ever need to know to survive. Whenever Ventus would think about fathers, he'd think about Master Eraqus smiling at him with pride." Vanitas' voice grows thick with obvious envy.

His eyes are burning into the table now, practically setting the soup on fire. "But Eraqus was afraid of darkness. More than any Master ought to be, I'd say. I dunno why. The way Master Xehanort talked about him, it was obvious that somethin' happened at some point, but he'd never tell me what."

"...So, you know. Finding out one a' his beloved students was gonna be used to open up Kingdom Hearts and flood the whole World with darkness?" He clicks his tongue exaggeratedly, raising his arms in a shrug. "Well, a Keyblade Master has the World with a capital 'w' on his shoulders, don't he? What's one kid versus everything?"

"I wanted to know how much she knew about what Ventus is--if she knew that the Eraqus that had read her bedtime stories growin' up was the same guy who tried to take my other half's life."

"Guess she wasn't feelin' chatty."

#perditos #this was hiding in my drafts for a while but #launches it at u #mention: piousolus

[terraxcloud]

Cyan’s WoR Story

Act 4, Chapter 2 - Part 2 of Opera Omnia is rather intense with the Clerra hints.

Terra says something peculiar, and since she says it with Vincent and Eiko in the scene I feel like I have to post the translation.

Terra: “But I want to believe in inevitability. My esper father and my human mother met beyond the boundaries of their world. Maybe I was born to connect the two races with this power I was struggling with...I'm ready to move forward.”  

This scene is all about finding someone to love (the whole chapter is about loving someone, tbh), so in essence, that’s what Terra’s talking about here. It’s not really clear with just this line alone, so I’ll put the line that she’s responding to below (which comes before a line by Vincent, who always portends Clerra-related storylines in DFFOO):

Chelinka: “Hmm, maybe it hasn't clicked for me yet, but someday I'll meet someone like my mom and dad, and just "know"!   But...isn't that an incredible miracle? My mom was a priestess, so she could see it, but for normal people, depending on the world's situation and position, there are times when you can't fall in love, right?”  

A few scenes later Cyan will recall his World of Ruin story...

Cyan: Yes...I once encouraged a girl who had lost the will to live after losing her lover. She looked so haggard...but when she talked about her memories of love, she looked lively and I felt relieved.

The FF6 Opera was more informative, so I just kinda ignored Cyan’s story, but it’s now time to mention it. Here’s Cyan’s letter:

Dear Lola,

I’m writing to beg for your forgiveness. I am guilty of perpetuating a terrible lie. I have only now realized the error of my ways, and taken up this quill in hopes of correcting a great wrong. Your boyfriend, who you believed to be in Mobliz, passed away some time ago. I have been writing to you in his stead. We humans have a tendency to become trapped in the past and refuse to move on. I implore you not to let this happen. Now is a time for you to look forward, and rediscover love and all of the other joys of life...

Cyan

The hint that this is “secretly” about Terra and the cut main character are the flowers surrounding the letter, since it’s clear that the “filling the world with flowers” dream was a original story element from FF6 involving Terra and the cut main character. It’s very easy to see, and I’m sure a lot of stuff in FF6 has this "missing main character storyline” rhetoric. It’s interesting that Cyan mentions the guy as being in Mobliz, since that’s where Terra’s World of Ruin story takes place and where you get the Fenrir esper, which I know was always supposed to be for Cloud (thanks to the similarities with Squall’s Griever).

At this point when FF6 was released, I don’t think they had any plans to “reunite” the main character and Terra (Square was struggling when they made FF7)...Nomura decided on that during FF7′s production as they were almost going to give Cloud a different love interest (it was an early form of Aerith). Nomura’s decision to instead put the original FF6 main character in the game as Cloud gave birth to Zack. The FF6 Opera does hint of the possibility of a reunion at the end of its translations, but the FF7 Remake makes it apparent that Terra’s not the one going to wait (”Hollow” lyrics are a good example).

This line Cyan says gives me “Loveless” vibes, and on that note, Crisis Core devs decided to specifically include the last line from Loveless’ ending (originally said by Cid at the end of OG FF7):

Went to see LOVELESS From: Kunsel

Contents:

Genesis, K.I.A? Yeah, right. Who do they think they're trying to fool? Just got back from seeing the stage production of LOVELESS in Midgar. Genesis was a big fan, wasn't he? I usually don't care for classic drama, but it was pretty damned good. The guy is the hero in the original, but the play was more from the viewpoint of the girl who helps the guy. When I heard that last line: "Of course... I'll come back to you. Even if you don't promise to wait. I'll return knowing that you'll be here." Aw, man, that's when I lost it and just started bawling. Received: After being promoted to 1st.

It’s surprising how many Final Fantasy games have this rhetoric, but it is in essence about Cloud and Terra or a product of what happened to them. Yet, despite all their hinting in a bucket-load of games, no one seems to “get the hint”.

By the way, when I put the bold over “The guy is the hero in the original”, I realized that many people take these story elements too literally. Sure, you can assume that Square-Enix is creating “new intriguing stories”, but this isn’t what’s happening. Why would they say “The guy is the hero in the original”? The original line literally came from the end of FF7 and had nothing to do with Genesis’ gibberish. It’s about Cloud and Terra, no joking, period.

#Clerra #FF6 #FF7 #FFVI #FFVII #Loveless #DFFOO #Opera Omnia #Terra Branford #Cyan Garamonde #Cloud Strife #World of Ruin

[lampmanliveblogs]

Them's the Breaks, Kid Addendum

So here it is, the long-awaited follow-up post to episode fifteen that I promised you oh so long ago. A whole two days ago. Time sure flies, huh?

To be honest though, I don’t have a whole lot to say here. The only thing of note that I caught while rewatching the episode that I didn’t catch the first time through were Gilbert and Harvey’s first appearances. Harvey can be seen in the establishing shot of the IFWOT and Gilbert can be seen standing in line to get his badge.

There is more stuff I noticed and that I’m going to talk about, but a lot of that was brought up in several asks that I got sent, so I’ll bring those things up there. For now, I’ll talk a bit about my thoughts on the episode overall.

I was quite surprised that we actually got an origin for how Eda and Raine met. I figured they probably met at school, got along, and then things developed from there. Which I would have been fine with it if that was the case, but it was a pleasant surprise to see the Raeda origins (I think that’s the ship name?). I of course enjoy the love story between Eda and Raine and seeing how it all started was nice.

Like I said in the proper liveblog, seeing just how well Eda and Raine clicked with each other really helped cement just how deep that bond of friendship and love was… as well as add to the tragedy of their breakup and the sweetness of their reunion… and then the tragedy of Raine having to keep Eda away because they don’t want to risk her getting hurt.

We also got to see a bit of Hieronymus Bump and what he was like as the vice-principal of Hexside. Even back then he was trying to help his student flourish like some kind of responsible adult or something.

We go to see young Terra and turns out she was always Like That. Way too enthusiastic at the prospect of murder. She’s also held the position of Head Witch of the Plant Coven for over thirty years now, which is pretty impressive. 

We got to see a few new glyph combos Luz has learned… including two in particular that should remind her of a certain tyrant she’s met. And although she’ll definitely refuse to use the petrification combo and probably the hellish hand thing combo, the wind and water fountain combos seem useful. A whirlwind has several uses in battle and while the water fountain might not have many applications in combat, I pointed out that it can be used to supply clean drinkable water if need be. That’s enormously useful. You know, if you’re in a desert or on a hike or something.

Oh, and let’s not forget that we in this episode finally got to that scene my sister has been talking about for so long! The reveal of the traitors! Raine has been using their whistling to cast subtle bard spells to alter Terra’s terrible tea. And they’re working with Darius on a plan to stop the Day of Unity.

Now, during the reveal, I said that I wasn’t sure about Eberwolf if he(?) was in on it. But when I talked to my sister she implied that he is, so I’ll be working under that assumption from now on.

Like I said I would, I went back and rewatched Eda’s Requiem and part of Follies at the Coven Day Parade. Let’s start with Follies.

With the new context of Raine actually not being under mind control, some of their actions and the things they say take on a slightly new meaning. The seeming inconsistencies in their memories that I was confused about for example. Raine telling Eda to leave and maybe travel for a bit also makes a lot of sense; the entire point of all this was to keep her safe. I will say this though, Raine is a really good actor cause they didn’t break character even once, only coming close to it once Eda had left when they teared up a little.

As for Eda’s Requiem… I wanted to see if I could find any hints towards Darius and Eberwolf being the traitors and aside from one little detail I’m going to talk about in the answer to an ask, I found… not much else.

Assuming that I’m right in my suspicion that Eberwolf is in on the whole ”overthrow the Emperor” thing, then it doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense for the two of them to go after Raine to capture them. They’d want to recruit them for the cause. There are a few possibilities.

One possibility is that Belos knew or figured out Raine was a traitor. Thus, they had to make it look like Raine was under mind control in order to get them close to Belos and be of use to their plans again. A bit of a risky gambit, but hey, it worked (hopefully… you never know with these evil Emperor types, this might all be part of his masterplan).

Another possibility is that they were being watched (and knew it) by Kikimora, who did show up soon after they captured Raine. Thus they couldn’t afford to let them escape or the like, lest they draw suspicion upon themselves.

Whatever the case, I’ll probably find out in time. The end of the season is drawing ever nearer. The Day of Unity comes and your world is already lost and all that.

Whatever the case, I’ll probably find out in time. The end of the season is drawing nearer and the Day of Unity fast approaches. Let’s hope our heroes can figure out a plan in time…

Wow, this actually ended up being a bit longer than I thought. Still, like I’ve said multiple times throughout, there are more things to be said and I will say those things in response to some asks and comments I’ve gotten. Which I will get to… tomorrow.

(i should also get around to updating the masterlist and adding all the links and stuff… meh, I’ll do it tomorrow too)

So until next time, take care of the planet Earth and remember that anything can happen in space!

<--Previous Episode: Reaching Out

Masterlist

Next Episode: Hollow Mind-->

#the owl house #liveblog #the owl house liveblog #toh s2e15 #them's the breaks kid

[hallowed-nebulae]

simply a conversation

Honestly, these past few days have been exhausting. You're not sure why. But they feel like they've been long, days stretching into months into years.

Oh well. It is what it is. And you at least have a cane! It's a very pretty cane. Your knee hurts less when you walk with the cane, too, which is always a bonus. (To be fair your one leg hurting isn't too much compared to your back and chest always hurting, but the cane at least helps. So. Score!)

Vanitas is talking with Xehanort (your Xehanort, with their Nightmare Chirithy, not the other worldline's Xehanort who's taller and has longer hair). Terra is standing nearby, even if you're not sure what he's doing. There's Ruse, and her world's Xion and Xehanort, who are also nearby. Which is fun. But most importantly Vanitas is talking with Xehanort, who is currently being held in the arms of a tired-looking Sephiroth.

Hey wait a second.

Ignoring the existence of consequences, you run and leap and launch yourself at Sephiroth. Fortunately, he's Mako-enhanced more than you are, so even though he stumbles he doesn't fall over. Unfortunately you're still pretty Mako-enhanced (at least as much as a SOLDIER Second) so he does get the breath knocked out of him by your tackle-run-hug. Oops.

Teal, cat-slit eyes blink at you, slowly. "Hello, Ven." He sounds amused. "You seem to be doing well."

You squeak at him in response. The best way to reply, of course. Squeaking and chirping and making little noises might as well be your own little love language or something. (You can't talk to Sephiroth, but that's okay. You can talk to Terra sometimes, and you could talk to Genesis or Cloud sometimes, and you can talk to Vanitas all the time. And that's what sign is for anyways.)

You can't really sign at Sephiroth now while you're in his arms, but that's why Vanitas is the best, 'cause he can just talk for you when you need it. The best part about being telepathic with your twin. "Ven wants to know if you're being healthy, and if Genesis is being healthy, and if Cloud and Zack are being healthy too." He says, clicking his teeth together after every other word in a little rhythm.

"No questions on Angeal's health?"

You hiss at Angeal Hewley's name. That's answer enough.

"Not to interrupt," Ruse says, tapping her one foot on the ground, "but didn't we have something to do?" She's annoyed. The prickly and sour taste of it sits behind your tongue. It's not a very fun emotion to feel. It doesn't even have the familiarity that wrath has to make you used to it.

"We were wanting to ask if you'd be willing to come with us to our worldline for a short while." Terra says, before anyone can snap at anyone else and a fight can break out. Conflict resolution! See, this is why Terra is a good dad. (You're not sure if Terra or Genesis is the better dad. Both of them are good dads, even if they have their own ways of being a dad. Terra gets more points for being your dad longer, but Genesis also gets a lot of points for being very committed to his new status of dad and making sure that you and Cloud are doing okay. Even if Cloud seems to be more of Genesis' little brother than a kid. But still.)

"For what reason?" Sephiroth asks. Always unbothered, like nothing is a surprise. You're probably to blame for that. You and Cloud caused a lot of chaos. Oh well.

"Ven has Mako enhancements, and we're not sure what exactly that entails." Terra answers. "It would be helpful to know how it affects metabolism, health -- things like that."

Sephiroth dips his head in a shallow little nod. "A wise course of action. I will go with you to your worldline, then, for as long as is necessary. I assume time passes as slowly as it does in all dreams?"

It's Xehanort -- the one with the Nightmare Chirithy -- who pipes up this time. "That's how it works!"

"Come on, let's go then!" Vanitas grabs at Sephiroth's sleeve and starts tugging. He doesn't get very far, 'cause Sephiroth is Mako-enhanced, but the effort is put in. "I'm tired, today has been so long."

"If you Insist." And so, still carrying you and your worldline's Xehanort like potato sacks (or, more like small children who don't weigh very much to him), Sephiroth walks to. . . somewhere or other. Oh! A portal that Xehanort whipped out and made. Cool.

Back to your worldline, then! To finish that medical checkup and then eat (because you are hungry) and then nap!

Today has been so long. (Hmm. You should also probably make some smaller Unversed. That way your back will be less itchy when you wake up. Oh well, you'll get to it eventually. A nap sounds really good right now.)

#kingdom hearts #drabbles #storm whispers #tempests verse #tell me verse #oc: ven #vanitas #sephiroth #ok those are like the main three. this is 905 words and me writing whatever my brain will let me #unfortunately it has been months since i've written ven so i apologize if the voice is off </3 #i'll put this on ao3 soon

[celestialcrownsvn]

Sahi Scene Teaser

Hello folks, thanks to all who voted! This shows the "naive" choice option. Without further ado, here is scene 3 from the demo, Sahi's second scene, written from the perspective of a female Terra. Of course this being the first draft, things are subject to change in the final game. Leave your thoughts in the replies!

[Picture by Kayle]

"As we arrive in the council room, I take another deep breath to calm my frazzled nerves." "There is far more to worry about." Terra "Close the door." Sahi "…" "When I don't hear the sound of the door closing, I turn to regard the General with a curious look." Sahi "Um…are you sure?" Terra "Sure about what?" Sahi "Right, you're ah, you're sure. Of course you're sure, you're the Queen and all." "He turns and pushes the door shut so slowly I don't even hear the 'click' of the latch." "Then he turns around to face me, his hands clasped behind his back." Terra "…Can you come closer?" Sahi "…" "I move to take a seat my usual seat at the round table, gesturing to the one next to me." Sahi "Closer, sure." Sahi "…" Terra "…" "After a few seconds, Sahi walks over to the table and pulls out the high-backed chair next to me to sit." Terra "All right then." Terra "Now tell me, General. Realistically, what are our chances of success if we were to go to war against Andromeda." Sahi "You mean, you're considering…?" Terra "I have to look at every option, but I don't want to cause a panic. I want to hear your opinion before I bring this up to the rest of the council." Sahi "We have good men and women who would fight to the death for this kingdom, Your Highness. But…" Terra "But?" Sahi "Well. You know the rumors. That King Aalam is a Spellcrafter." Terra "Yes…" Sahi "If there's one thing I know about Andromeda, it's that they follow tradition. He would be on the front lines. And if he's on the front lines with that kind of power, I'm not sure how we could stop him." Terra "Surely he's not invincible. There must be some strategy we can try." Sahi "There're too many unknowns. Maybe he can only light candles with a snap of his fingers, or call ice sculptures into existence by waving his hands like the Queen of Canis. But tales of the ancient Spellcrafters that say they could rain fire down from the sky. That they could reform the earth beneath your feet, or freeze you solid before you can blink." Terra "Oh come now, surely that can't be true." "Sahi twists his lips." Sahi "It does sound pretty fantastic. But that's the point, we don't know. The soldiers have been gossiping about it ever since Andromeda's first missive after your ah…your father's passing. They're scaring themselves. That alone is enough to put us at a disadvantage." Terra "Hmm…" "He reaches out one gloved hand to tap on the map etched into the wood of the table, pointing out the Merak forest." Sahi "One thing we do have on Andromeda is our resources. Our mines allow us to generate weapons and armor at a faster pace. Andromeda's so cold and mountainous they can't explore enough of their territory to find new supply points. I suspect this is what King Aalam truly wants: prosperity and ample resources for his people. That's why I think another solution would be to re-open the Betelgeuse trade route." Terra "What, really? Lune always says the Trade Ban is the only thing that gives us power over Andromeda." Sahi "I think it would make a real difference. Show the king that there are ways to merge our kingdoms without resorting to war." "I lean back in my seat as I consider this, squeezing my hands together." "I can't help but mutter under my breath." Terra "Oh yes, the king has been considering other ways to 'merge' as well." Sahi "What?" Terra "Nothing." Terra "I think…I think it's a good idea. Something to consider, at least." "Sahi's confident posture drops and he stares at me with wide eyes." Sahi "Wha, truly?" Terra "Yes. Why do you doubt yourself? You're the youngest general Laute has ever had, you're clearly intelligent." "Sahi ducks his head and clears his throat." Sahi "Well. I can't speak to that, Your Highness. I just thought you know, I should have saved the advice for Lune. Since he's supposed to be the only one with your ear, and all." Terra "Thank you for speaking out. You know I value your opinion."

"The General bows his head and grips the side of the table." Sahi "Well, thank you, Your Highness. That…that means a lot, coming from you." "I laugh." Terra "Of course. You're my General, why wouldn't I want to hear what you have to say?" Sahi "Oh…right." "Sahi sighs and stands from his seat." "He has always been more humble than necessary. I think it stems from where he grew up. He's not actually from Laute, he was born in Canis. As far as I know, he's the only Canise person who works for the castle."

Sahi "I should get back, I do need to prepare for afternoon practices. I'll call a guard to the door." Sahi "I'll see you at your next lesson?" Terra "Of course." "I watch the General leave the room and close the door behind him."

#game development #celestialcrownsvn #interactive fiction #celestial crowns #english otome #vndev #visual novel

[ghost-words]

This was written for @paperdemon-arpg

It was a warm afternoon in the town of GhostSpirit. The vampire, Jax Bloodbeck, makes his way across town to the home of the local witch, Celine. Celine had come into contact with a special item that can cause portals to re open. That item is called a Junket tank. Jax puts a hand into one of his pants pockets. In the pocket is his special dice bag. Inside that bag is a set of white RPG dice. He always changes what set he brings with and today he said the sparkling white with teal numbers. 

There is a cool breeze that hits as he reaches the home of the witch. Jax walks up the steps and the door opens before he could even knock.

“JAX!! I am SO excited for this portal!” Celine is already holding her staff adorned with amethyst. “Come on, let's go, I will give you more details.”

Jax smiles and follows her though the house and out to the shed.

“I don't know how I found this! It must be a message from The Above or elsewhere far off!” Leaning the staff against a wall she picks up a mechanical looking trinket.

“How does it work? Don't you normally just move your staff and the portal appears?” Jax had heard this is how it works from Lu and Evan.

Celine goes and grabs her staff again. She opened the door to the lantern and switched the blue and red orb with the tank. It makes a nice little click sound and starts to show a pale shade of blue light. 

She places the orb on a stand that sits on a desk that stretches the length of one of the walls.

“Lyra… You are fine with the cold, right Jax?”

“Yeah, I can handle it.” He crosses his arms like the cool guy he is.

“So I have a task for you. I've only read in my studies about this place. Something I really want to see is the Terra Borealis. If you find it or experience it, try to take a picture!” Celine goes to her desk and opens a large book. The words are slightly hard for Jax to read. 

“I can do that for you. No problem.” Jax moves away from the book and sits at one of the seats that surround a round table in the middle of the large shed. “I'm ready when you are.” 

Celine screes in excitement. She takes a deep breath before facing the back wall on the shed where a magic circle is drawn. She closes her eyes and the tank in the lantern glows brighter and makes a whurrring sound. She draws a large triangle on the wall with her staff as the portal gate opens. A cold blast of air rushes into the shed. Some snow rides along the wind. Celine moves to the side “Have fun and show me that borealis!”

Jax is in awe of the portal. He slowly stands up and makes his way through. 

Cronch, crunch, crunch.

The snow beneath his gym shoes sparkles and shines almost like millions of little diamonds.

Looking around the new environment, Jax sees a light in the distance. Crystalline mountains surround him, scattering flecks of rainbow light on the snow. The moon is bright shining above.

Crunching the snow and following the stretch of land in front of him, Jax makes his way up a hill and into another clearing. Standing stunned at the beauty before him. Floating a small measure above the snow are rainbow lights. Jax has heard of the aurora borealis being in the sky but what did Celine call this again? The Terra Borealis? Well that would surely make sense to him being these lights hovering the ground. Jax takes out his phone and snaps some pictures. From above, to the same level, to below, Jax takes his pictures. He assumes that Celine is going to study them so best to take many and a variety of ways for her research. 

A chill hits him. His hands are getting cold and pictures are getting hard to take. He puts his phone away, makes sure to zip up his brown jacket and keep his hands in the jacket pockets. This is not a winter jacket but Jax thinks he could last a bit longer. The lights are beautiful. Maybe this could be an interesting date for him and Evan. Only if Ceine gets her hands on an extra Junket Tank without plans of using it.

Jax thinks it's time to go home. His hands warm up just enough to send a message to his friend. A triangular portal opens in front of him. Stepping from the cold back to the warm stuns him for a moment. The stun wears off soon after the portal closes.

“What did you find?” Celine asks as she removes the now used tank with the red and blue orb in her staff. 

“It was really pretty. It's like the opposite of here. Instead of being in the sky it's near the ground. I will send you the pics I took.

“Thank you Jax, that means a lot to me.” She gives him a big hug.

“If you happen to find another, do you think I could bring Evan?” Jax asks.

“That depends if I get another and if there isn't an important mission that needs to be done. Sorry.” Celine goes over to her desk and closes her book.

“That's fine! No worries, no problem.” Jax pulls out his phone and starts to send his photography session. To Celine. He also messages Evan and Lu to tell them that he will be home soon.

“Incredible job on the pictures Jax! Impressive work!” Celine scrolls though the images sent by Jax.

“Alright, I should be heading home. This was fun. Please let me know when you have another adventure to go on.” Jax starts towards the door.

“Yes, will do! Have a good night Jax!” 

Exiting the shed and starting the walk home Jax thinks about how beautiful the borealis was and how he hopes to visit again soon.

#jax bloodbeck #paper demon arpg #paper demon #writeblr #writers on tumblr #short story

[j-graysonlibrary]

The Xiang Chronicles: Book Three Chapter 2

Title: The Xiang Chronicles: Book Three

Author: Jay Grayson

Word Count: 107k

Genres: Fantasy, adventure, drama, LGBT+

Available on: my website

Synopsis: Only one Xiang remains and her name is Merra. She hopes to unite the land by force and plow down anyone in her way—especially the people of Agni who she deems faithless and the native people of Terra who refuse to cooperate with her.

Raine continues to serve his Lord but he has taken to alcoholism to soothe his grief—a fact he keeps out of his letters with Heidi. Baiya has returned to mercenary work in order to keep his family safe while Kira is on the warpath. He, fully, takes on the title of Chaaya and means to defeat the Xiang he sees as false.

And, in a guarded castle in Enlil, a stir-crazy Princess dabbles in the dark arts, setting in motion something even Tiandi cannot see.

Full chapter 2 under the cut

Chapter II:

Light poured into the room from the window and gulls called in the distance—yet another morning in this place. May fought the waking world and kept turning, further and further into the warm body next to her. Her legs tangled into the silk sheets and she groaned deep in the back of her throat, unwilling to rise.

An arm came over her and, while she would have normally accepted the embrace, she knew what its true intent was. Next came the shaking, gentle but persistent.

“Mmmn…no…” May muttered and pressed her forehead into the crook between her mattress and Fujin’s chest.

“Princess,” Fujin addressed her, already sounding far too professional for this early in the morning. May missed the night time, when she would call her by name. “I need to get to my post.”

“What’s it matter?” May retorted, burying herself further. Most people knew about them anyway and those that did not were simply too stupid to figure it out.

Even the King and Queen knew. They simply pretended as though they did not.

Last year, one of the new castle guards had tried, in earnest, to bring the situation to their attention. He was met with an upturned nose and ridicule and was told to never speak of it again.

It embarrassed them, May knew, and that was part of the reason why she did it. And she did it with someone they could not afford to terminate. Someone irreplaceable in the castle.

There was also the fact May cared for Fujin though she would not claim to love her, just as she would not expect the woman to say the same. If Fujin were gone, she would no longer have any outlet for her frustrations or her joy—she would be miserable, surely, but that was no worry since Fujin would always be around.

She was constant. Predictable.

That was why it was not surprising when Fujin started to rise, pushing herself away from May and unlinking their limbs from under the sheets, even as the princess grabbed at her to try and make her stay.

“Your highness, please.” She only made it to a sitting position before May threw her arms around her and brought her back down onto the bed. Fujin let out a frustrated sigh. “Kaz cannot cover for me forever.”

“I am not asking him to.” May frowned. “Just a few more moments.”

Fujin blew out air—not quite a sigh—and looked at the ceiling as May curled into the side of her. It was fruitless to argue or push back when she was in a mood like this.

A sudden clicking on the floor sent Fujin back into alertness and she lifted her head in the direction of the sound. She gasped and pulled up the sheet, to her collar bone, as she forced May to rise with her and sit. “How did you get in here?” Fujin demanded of the intruder.

May, more awake than before (or at least more willing to move around), grabbed Fujin’s arm to keep her still. “I know her, it’s alright.”

“Know her?!” Fujin’s brow furrowed in confusion. It was not exactly like May could make new friends in a castle where the only people coming and going were guards and the occasional visitor. “How is that possible? How did she get in here without opening the door?”

“Calm down.” May rolled her eyes and sat more comfortable as she looked at the guest. She did not care to cover herself like Fujin did. “Parvati, you had better be here with good news. I do not like my mornings being interrupted.”

“I know your highness.” Unlike the day prior, she was not disguising herself to blend into the personnel of the castle. She looked like she did every time May had spoken to her privately, within the four walls of her room or the dead of night.

Her dark purple dress kissed the stone floor and her hair was tied up with ornaments protruding out from all directions. She held a translucent sash around her arms and her beard looked a little shorter and glossy. Other than the fact she had appeared in front of May at an odd time, she was also dressed up which told her something important was happening.

Fujin cut in, confusion battling clarity, “Wait…Parvati? The servant girl you introduced me to months ago?”

“Yes.” May smiled and gestured to her with a flat palm. “She has been my teacher. I have been following her instructions.”

Something clicked behind Fujin’s eyes and she glanced to the bearded woman with a frown. “So you have been behind her highness’ most recent…projects.”

“Indeed.” Parvati bowed her head. “I have everything ready for the final step. If you will meet me in the undercroft tonight, at around midnight.”

May practically jumped out of her skin in excitement. “You will be with me this time?”

“I will.” She smirked, seeming just as eager.

Fujin glanced between the two and clutched the sheet in her hand even tighter. “Kaz and I will accompany you. Like always.”

“I will await you all then.” Parvati stepped back and began to fade into the one shadow still cast in the room. The last she said, before completely disappearing, was, “Do not be late.”

“Oh this is going to be soooo fun.” May beamed and rose from the bed. She quickly threw a robe over her body but did not bother to fasten it around the waist. “My parents will finally have no choice but to let me be free.”

Cynicism was etched on Fujin’s face. She carefully slipped on her thin tunic that she wore under her armor while her eyes continued to flicker toward her princess. “You are sure this will go as you hope? This show of power may just frighten your parents in a different way…they could become stricter.”

Her smile fell and a scowl replaced it with lightning speed. May whipped around to properly face Fujin and she snapped, “Then I will kill them and free myself! Sunny can be Queen instead.”

“Sunny is…” Fujin started and then stopped immediately for fear of angering May further. “She would make a fine Queen but she would need help.”

“Yes and if our parents would just teach her then she would do fine.” May huffed. “I will do what I want with my life. Tonight, everything begins anew. I will not have any doubting, Fujin, or I will leave you behind. Got it?”

With May’s finger pointed square in her chest, Fujin had no choice but to nod.

***

The day was excruciatingly slow with the knowledge of what was to come at night. May even wasted some of her time in audience with the King and Queen although that was partly to throw them off of her scent. They had never been suspicious or caught wind of her previous experiments but, with how large this one would be, she did wish to do some damage control.

She was even pleasant—or as pleasant as she could be in the face of those sentient toilet seats she called her parents.

They spoke again of the marriage and, this time, May did not object to it so vehemently. She understood that Raiden would be coming to Mythos whether she liked it or not and she hoped that her project would be ready about the time of his arrival.

Parvati had warned it would have an adjustment period.

Her impatience swelled after dinner. Why could they not just meet at sundown? Why midnight? May paced in her room, viciously counting down the minutes.

Each time her door opened, which was not often, she would jump and her heart would work overtime. But, it was just Kaz, every time.

He walked back into the room to announce, “Sunny is in bed. She really wanted to spend the night with you, your highness.”

May frowned. Normally, she would have taken some time out of her night to sit with her older sister and talk. Maybe even play some old childhood games that she had grown out of practice in. Sunny was still good at all of them. Sunny played them often.

“Maybe tomorrow,” she said and rubbed her forehead. “If it wouldn’t scare her or if I could trust her to keep a secret, I would take her with us.”

“I would advise against that anyway,” Fujin chimed in, “This sort of thing is best with as few people as possible.”

Kaz nodded, agreeing with his sister. “The possibility of something going wrong is always there. Fujin and I can give our all to protect you but with our efforts halved…”

“Okay, okay,” May groaned and held out her hand to shut him up, “I get it.”

The room went silent after that, only host to May’s complaints that came every few minutes. Eventually, midnight did come but it took far too long for the princess’ liking.

Fujin took the lead while Kaz stayed behind May as they crept through the halls and down toward the undercroft. They had to pass by an old dungeon hall that saw no use anymore since all criminals were sent to the jail on the main island rather than taking up valuable space in the castle.

Torches lined the path down to the deepest parts but they remained unlit. Fujin set fire to only one and held it in her hand to light the way. The room they were headed for was full of more torches and she would brighten that area but she did not want to leave a trail behind them. No guard would have a reason to come this way but every precaution was still being taken.

The hall of white stone and posthumous statues signified their destination. Fujin began to light the torches around the largest rooms, home to May’s ancestors and the future resting place of her own remains. One of the statues that had previously lain over the top of a tomb (the grave of May’s great-great grandfather) had been removed since the start of her experiments.

Now, a sheet was over the stone and a body underneath. By the looks of it, Fujin could tell they were tall but not taller than Kaz so, most likely, it was a male form. She caught herself guessing and quickly shut off that part of her brain to focus on the task at hand. Once she was done lighting all of the torches, she turned to look at May.

“You are really doing this again?” Kaz asked as the princess kneeled in front of her grandmother’s tomb. He did not care for the experiments, openly so, and drew back in slight disgust when May cracked open the stone.

She had found the perfect tool for the job since starting and she left it down with the tombs. The metal of the bar hooked under the lip of the structure and she pushed all of her body weight down onto it. Crack. Dust billowed out but May was so used to it that she already had a sleeve over her mouth and nose to combat it.

“Sorry, grammy,” May said through her sleeve, muffling her words. She waited until the dust settled and then reached into the slab for the bones.

More cracking.

Kaz looked away while Fujin narrowed her eyes as her stomach churned. It never became easier to watch but, for May, it was, apparently, simple to do. She had always had a strong stomach, ever since she was a kid. She would touch worms and beetles with her bare hands and, once, when she was just shy of ten, she kept a dead bird in her pocket for a few days because she thought it would make a good toy. Fujin could have never guessed that she would graduate to thoughtlessly pulling apart human corpses, however.

“Almost ready?” A low voice, echoing through the empty halls, caused both guards to turn. It was Parvati but Kaz had never seen her before so he stayed on high alert until Fujin motioned to him that it was alright.

May did not even notice the exchange since she was still retrieving her grandmother’s other arm. “Almost,” she grunted and yanked, pulling it loose. “Aha!”

“Good. Now, into the next room.” Parvati led the way to where the body lay under the sheet. May, Fujin, and Kaz, all eyed it curiously.

“So…this is the one, huh?” May set down her grandmother’s arms and marveled at the sheet, almost as if she could see what was underneath.

“And I have a matching soul,” Parvati announced with a smile. “I have my partner to thank for that.”

May arched an eyebrow. “Partner?” In all the time she had known Parvati, never once had she uttered word about a partner.

The woman placed a finger to her lips. “He wishes to remain anonymous. I do hope he does not mind me mentioning him but I really could not have done this without him.”

Fujin and Kaz exchanged a look, feeling similarly confused.

“Anyway,” Parvati pivoted and stood at the back of the slab, “Proceed with the ritual, your highness. This will bind you to the body and soul.”

May nodded and sat on her knees in front of the body. She arranged her grandmother’s arms at either side of her, closed her eyes, and then wrapped her arms around her chest, creating an X shape.

The words she spoke were not of common tongue nor were they anything either sibling had been able to find in the books at the castle. It sounded ancient and guttural as if each word was a swear. And, considering the nature of the ritual, that was probably the case.

The torchlight flickered and a wind blew through the room, chilling everyone to the bone. It was always like this, in a way, but there was a pressure in the air that was not ever present before.

Parvati grinned from ear to ear and removed the sheet just as the body began to stir. They sat up, groggy, but they looked more alive than any of May’s previous tests. Their skin had a healthy tan and their dark brown hair seemed well cared for—almost as well cared for as their robes which showed no sign of being buried at any point. In fact, there was no notable injury or evidence of death at all.

Bright emerald eyes darted about the room, housing more awareness than any of them were used to seeing in the bodies that came to life on the slab.

“So, who is it?” May asked, eager.

“My dear,” Parvati said as she set her hand on the body’s shoulder and leaned around to get a decent look at them herself. Her smile only grew and she glanced back to May, that familiar glimmer in her eye. “It is the Xiang.”

#the xiang chronicles #my novel #my writing

[yonblu]

&. i should probably write up a hc about how yondu found abt ego / why he decided to keep peter / etc. bc it’s important i guess but also i could just talk about it in the tags like i do with the majority of my headcanons

#AKSKFNDKNJKSD i talk in the tags so much its just easier and less pressure to make things sound cohesive #nyway i hc that mantis probabl.... VERY SUBTLY bc ego cant know... points yondu 2 the cave of skeletons #and hes like god damn those sure are some #fuckng skeletons #and like he intentionally ignores the implication #but on the way to terra it clicks and like he KNOWS whats going on now #but he figures he can ignore it one last time andget paid for this delivery #and be done with it #bc at this point he has enough money to keep his faction afloat #and also his crew? dont give a fuck abt these kids as much as he does #like esp taserface + those like hime #are very... u know... they wanna get paid and they dont care what they have to do in order to do so #anyway hes trying to ignore it and he picks up peter #and he knows hes sending this kid off to his death #THIS KID WHOS JUST... SO SAD AND LONLEY AND CLUTCHING HIS MIXTAPE #BUT ALSO PUTTING UP A FIGHT AND YELLING AND MAKING SNARKY REMARKS #and ofc yondu sees himself in this kid. of COURSE he does #bc its exactly what he was like when stakar picked HIM up #and he cant send him to his death #yondus a piece of shit but he cant knowingly do that. he just cant #so he makes up some story abt how they have the money they need and they need a kid to help with thieving #and thats that right?? #except during this point (after pickin up petey) #stakar shows up #storms in starts yelling bc hes pissed for GOOD reason (hi i love stakar) #and exiles yondu #and now its like. u know. a shitty day for everyone but at least hes saved one (1) kid #and thats enough #and he can pick himself up and go back to being a captain #(and a father!!!!! even tho hes got no clue what hes doing)