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beskarhearts · 3 years

Text

Tangled (Javier Peña x reader)

Pairing: Javier Peña x gn!reader

Word count: over

Warnings: lots of cursing (reader has the mouth of a sailor), a little ~steaminess~, mentions of canon typical violence/getting shot, sexual tension

Summary: You and Peña were no strangers to being at each others throats but this argument went a little different than any other had.

Notes: This was cliche and self indulgent but I loved it and I hope you do too. Let me know your thoughts and opinions!! (also probably not going to turn this into a series but it isn't impossible ig)

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You charged towards the file room, feeling every ounce of your body flooded with anger as Murphy trailed after you, pitifully trying the stop the damage that was just about to occur.

"It didn't come from a bad place!"

You sporadically came to a halt, turning on your heels and pointing a finger right in Murphy's face, who had nearly crashed into you at your sudden movement. "Don't you dare try to justify this!"

Murphy's face was crumpled into a hesitant type of acceptance, still following you as you continued walking towards the file room, your anger radiating even in each harsh step you took. Once you reached the door, you slammed it open and nearly crashed it into Murphy as you threw it shut again, your eyes trained on the man you were directing every angry, foul thought at.

"Javier Peña, you fucking asshole!" you yelled, your pointer finger now directed at him as he turned to face you. You felt even angrier when he appeared to look at you tiredly at first, face twisted into an expression that perfectly read 'What now?' It didn't change until he registered your rigid body language and the way your face was a shade darker and your brows that were scrunched up.

Then his face dropped slightly and he looked over your shoulder at Murphy, who looked like a kicked puppy with the way he seemed to cower behind you. "You told her?"

Murphy winced slightly, trying to shrug away his concerns but his voice coming out empathetic. "She kind of interrogated me."

"Yeah. Y'know, because interrogations are part of the job!" you spat, eyes shooting venom at the brown-eyed DEA agent that stood in front of you.

He dropped the file he had held in his hand back in a box, placing his newly unoccupied hands on his hips and sending you a plain look. "Listen, it was nothing-"

"You know what else is part of my job, Peña?" you interrupted, allowing him no room to throw around pitiful remarks and false explanations of why what he did was okay. "Let me tell you since you have clearly forgotten: part of my job is catching the bad guys. Meaning I am fully capable of being on the field and getting my hands dirty!"

You took in a deep breath, your whole body feeling like it was on fire from the rage coursing through your veins. Peña let out a small sigh, rubbing at his face and his mustache as he looked at you through half-lidded eyes. "I know."

You let out an agitated huff, throwing your hands up and looking over at Murphy, as if saying 'get a load of this guy'. You turned back to the DEA agent, clasping your hands together. "Let me get this clear then. You are aware that is part of my job. And that this fucking case has become my whole entire life. Yet you neglect to notify me that tomorrow you are going to arrest one of these motherfuckers and don't put me on the God damn team!"

You probably should of quieted down. Surely people could hear you outside the thin walls of the room you were in but you paid no attention to that. Hell, let them gather outside the door and listen to how much of an asshole Javier fucking Peña was. It wasn't like they hadn't heard you two bicker and yell at each other before - it was practically a daily occurrence. You were always at each others throats and the smallest thing could tick you guys off but today was different. Today your anger was completely justified and directed at the exact right person.

"Why don't we all calm down and talk this over calmly?" Steve gently tried to suggest, always the voice of reason during times like these. Sometimes you would entertain his ideas but today was not one of those days.

"Fuck off, Murphy!" you snapped.

Peña redirected his attention to the blond-haired agent. "Give me a minute."

"Oh, you are going to try to magically explain this one away?" you ridiculed as Murphy left the room quietly, shutting the door gently and leaving you two alone.

Javier looked back at you, looking calm as ever and unaffected in every way. It only made your blood bubble even more and as he spoke, you felt your whole body clench up. "You need to calm down."

You hissed at that comment, literally hissed. "Oh, fuck off! You have no right to tell me to calm down. If somebody did this to you, you'd be tearing into their ass and acting like a bitch."

Javier couldn't argue that point, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that not only was it true, but there was no way he could convince you it wasn't. It also was probably the worst thing to say in this given situation, always was something that tipped you off.

"I mean, the fucking audacity you have is unbelievable. Truly impressive." you started to ramble, still sending a deadly glare his way. "You think you are hot shit because you are Javier Peña and you are a DEA agent and the fucking man whore of Columbia. But I am just as good as you, Peña. Hell, I am probably fucking better!"

"You are right."

You froze as you heard his agreement, biting your lip as you tried to detect whether or not that was meant to be some sarcastic play to rile you up. But it appeared genuine which only confused you further. "Then why am I being excluded from extremely important events?"

"It's dangerous." Peña answered plainly, adding no additional details as if that was enough.

You scoffed, tilting your head at him. "No shit, Peña. No offense but no one becomes a DEA agent because it is a safe, secure job. So that doesn't explain why I wasn't included in this."

Peña shook his head, leaning against the rack of files as he looked back at you. You wanted to force him to look away, his stare making you uncomfortable but there was no way you were backing down. "It does. This one is particularly dangerous and I don't want you involved."

Your eyes widened as you took in this new information. "Oh, so you think I can't handle myself?"

"I never said that-"

"I can handle myself, Peña. I am a fucking adult and not to sound cocky, but a hell of a fucking agent. I am capable and I am strong!"

"I know."

"And I can handle this mission."

"I know."

"Then why the fuck did I have to find out from Murphy that I am not joining you guys tomorrow?" you yelled, feeling your body become slightly fatigued from all the anger but you still stood straight and tall.

"Because you care too much and you'll get yourself killed if that means nailing these guys." Peña said plainly. No hint of emotion or manipulation. Just an honest answer to an honest question.

You found yourself for the first time not feeling angry but slight bamboozled. It felt like the rug had been pulled under your feet. You were standing across fucking Javier Peña, who you were pretty sure had never seen take a single day off. "That is the most hypocritical thing I've ever heard."

Peña nodded. "Okay."

You rolled your eyes, feeling once again angry by the dismissal. "Well fuck off because I spoke to everybody and I am on the team tomorrow."

You began to turn towards the exit when the man firmly stated, "No."

You turned back around, an eyebrow raised. "Excuse the fuck outta me?"

"I'm in charge tomorrow and you aren't on." Peña said, a sliver of annoyance eeking out of his words as he looked back at you with a stern glare.

"Fuck off. If I want to go, I'll go." you fired back, arms crossing over your chest defiantly.

Peña stepped closer to you until he was a couple feet away, his voice lowering to a menacingly deep level. "I don't want you on tomorrow."

Your eyes were practically shooting bullets in his direction. "I know you don't fucking like me Peña, but stop acting like a school boy and get your head out of your ass."

"Maybe you are the one with your head up your ass, agent." Peña cooly said.

You tried to ignore the way he was looking at you (and the way you could smell his aftershave from here) and put your hands on your hips. "Fuck you, Peña. You don't want me on tomorrow because I am a better agent than you, you selfish prick."

"That isn't it." Peña said with a chuckle, shaking his head as if you were saying the stupidest thing he had ever heard.

"It fucking is, isn't it? You don't want me strolling into your operation and doing the job better than you. Can't have your huge fucking ego tarnished by me!"

"That is not the reason why!" Peña shouted back, feeling himself lose his temper slightly.

This was the Peña you were used to, the one you egged on and led into a battle of cruel words and hateful glares. "Oh, fuck off. That is absolutely why!"

"Maybe, just fucking maybe-" Peña cut himself off, his chest now heaving as he copied your pose, hands on his hips and body stood straight.

You couldn't help the small grin that grew on your face. "What is it, Peña? Say it. Don't punk out now when things were just getting interesting."

"You are a child." Peña spat back.

You chuckled harshly. "Look in the mirror before you start throwing insults around, Peña. Now what were you going to say?"

Peña stared back at you, your eyes locked together in a visceral manner. "I don't want you to fucking die."

You couldn't help the throaty laugh that erupted from your very core, your head thrown back as you looked away from him for the first time to try to gather your composure. "Oh, fucking please! Spare me. You have never given a shit for me!"

Peña shook his head, looking slightly deflated as he looked away from you. "Fuck off."

"Oh, don't act like that. I am just supposed to stand here and believe that this whole time you've secretly cared about my safety and you don't have me on the operation tomorrow in order to keep me safe?"

Peña looked back up at you and you nearly wavered from the look in his eyes. You couldn't handle it if it were the truth, which the look he gave you said it was, so you continued on doing what you did best. "I don't need anybody to protect me. Certainly not you, Javier Peña."

"I'm not trying to protect you."

You lifted up a hand emphatically. "So you didn't not put me on this because you don't want me to die?"

"Fucking hell, you are so frustrating." Peña yelled back, face red and eyes throwing daggers as he stepped even closer to you.

You didn't dare take a single step back. You would show no fear or weakness. "And you are such a walk in the park? I forgot about how the man-whore of Columbia was always just a pleasant-"

You were cut off by Peña lunging forward and for a split second you thought 'Oh, shit. I'm gonna have to kick Peña's ass.' That was until you felt a pair of rough, chapped lips press into yours mercilessly and a pair of calloused hands grab at the side of your face.

You stood still for a solid few seconds, your brain seeming to short-circuit until it slowly registered the undeniable truth of the situation: Javier Peña was fucking kissing you.

Well then push him off of you!

Except you didn't. For all intents and purposes, you should have. You should of shoved him off of you, yelled at him for trying to pull his 'sex god' card on you, and maybe even delivered a striking slap to his face, just for dramatic effect. But you didn't. You stood there completely still until eventually your hands reached for the collar of his jacket, roughly pulling him in until he was pressed so tightly to you that you didn't think there was an centimeter of distance between the two of you.

You felt him turn you, pushing you back until your back hit the same file cabinet he had been leaning against earlier. Your lips finally caught up with the rest of you, lips fighting dominantly against each other in a frantic battle. It probably wasn't the prettiest kiss but holy shit, you couldn't think of a time you had been kissed like this. The kiss was so striking but also so passionate, both of you fighting each other in the most deliriously addictive way. You couldn't ignore the smallest voice in the back of your brain asking you why you hadn't done this way earlier.

Eventually your tongues danced against each other, begging for even the smallest taste of each other like you were both addicts craving even the slightest taste from the bottle. His hands drifted away from your face to your hips, clutching them roughly and tightly but not hurting you in any way. Just gripping hard enough for you to feel them and feel the emotion.

Eventually, after what felt simultaneously likes hours but also mere seconds, Peña pulled away and holy fuck, how did he look so good? His lips were puffed and red, slightly wet from the sloppiness of the kiss. His eyes were hooded and looking at you in a way he had before but you had never been able to place, always mistaking the lustiness for hatred (and hold up, had it just been lust this whole time?). His jacket was still clutched tightly in your hands and you should of let go. Anyone could walk in and see him standing up against you on a shelf with your faces red and chests heaving but you couldn't even bother to care, your brain still reeling and your body betraying you, yearning for more.

"I'm going tomorrow." you said, still slightly out of breath.

Peña sighed, his warm breath fanning over you and smelling slightly of mint gum and stale cigarettes. "I know you are."

You nodded, glad to see his slow acceptance creep in. You slowly released the jacket, looking at how it had crinkled from how tightly you had pulled him to you. He backed up slowly, one small step at a time as his eyes still traced each others faces.

Part of you wanted to reach out and kiss him again, fight with him again in the most delicious way but the door opened and you both turned to see the tall, blond-haired agent you had both become closer with than you initially thought possible.

"Have you guys killed each other?" he asked, trying to joke but also hesitant to with how foul your mood had been.

You desperately pulled away from the shelf and shook your head, though not to answer him but in some desperate attempt to try to shake away the evidence of what just happened (despite the fact that it was imprinted on your mind). "No. I'm going tomorrow."

Murphy shared a weary look with Peña who just gave a short nod and began to walk towards the exit. "She comes. If she gets shot, its not my problem."

You and Murphy both watched him slip past, moving out of the room and down the hall, away from you. Murphy twisted his head to look back at you, shaking his head. "Based off his behavior, I'd say that went well." he sarcastically mumbled.

You tried to chuckle but it sounded fake and hollow, your mind too preoccupied. "Yeah. Super well."

Murphy gave a roll of the eyes, used to the two of you being frustrated with the other as he slipped away from the doorway. You followed him as you made your way out of the room, the room where you still comprehend what exactly had happened in it. "You must of really went after each other this time."

You nearly choked at Murphy's quip, your mind taking a moment to realize he was speaking rhetorically about your arguing. He had no way to know the violent dance your lips had done or the way you both had perfectly expressed arousal and hatred with your tongues alone.

You just hummed, pushing past Murphy to head to your desk so you could work and just forget what had happened. Forget it because it meant nothing.

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heliads · 3 years

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The Hearts of the Hopeless

You are utterly in love with Pietro Maximoff, but he’s an Avenger, and way out of your league. Pietro is utterly in love with Y/N L/N, but she’s an effortlessly cool S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and completely beyond him. However, they may reveal certain truths after one jealousy-filled night at a local bar.

masterlist

If you glance over to your right ever so slightly, eyes narrowed to see through the halfway opened door, you can just manage to see him. He’s leaning against a wall, watching the last couple of minutes of a S.H.I.E.L.D. debriefing. You’re not surprised that he isn’t seated- you don’t think the guy could ever stay still for longer than a couple of seconds. Those happen to be the downsides of moving faster than anyone else around you- you tend to get bored fairly quickly.

Of course you’re thinking about Pietro Maximoff, and of course your eye just happens to fall on him when you’re supposed to be running through some paperwork. But there’s a veritable mountain of forms in front of you, and the man is just a few feet away, so how were you ever supposed to focus? You’re not sure when your little crush developed, but you are sure that it is absolutely, wholly, one hundred percent going to ruin your life. How could it not? Pietro Maximoff is an Avenger, an enhanced speed demon, a smooth-talking flirt who manages to turn your world upside down with just a flash of a smile. You are a perfectly normal S.H.I.E.L.D. officer whose only talent is finding ways to get distracted from doing her paperwork.

You can still remember when you first met him. You had been the leader of a squad of S.H.I.E.L.D. reinforcements sent to help the Avengers out of a situation that had gone south. You had thrown yourself into the thick of the fighting as required, and made eye contact with him for the first time after taking a few shots at retreating enemy agents. Your heart had done a little flip in your chest, and you’d hurried to adjust your gun as an excuse for why you had suddenly stopped dead in your tracks, unable to divert your attention back to the literal battle raging around you.

You weren’t sure what Pietro thought of you other than that you were just another agent. He certainly saw dozens of them per day as an Avenger, yet you had a slight advantage over the other lovesick interns because of your friendship with the Avengers. You’d been close friends with Natasha Romanoff ever since the two of you were stuck on a tough assignment that everyone else was too scared to even attempt. Despite all the dangers, you two had fought together and had each other's backs more times than you could count. After that, it was practically impossible to not see her as a friend. Just like it was practically impossible to not find your eyes catching on Pietro whenever you were spending time over at Avengers Tower, or even now, when you should be focusing on your forms.

You sigh to yourself. Hopeless. You’re so completely, utterly hopeless.

Pietro should be focusing on the debriefing. He should be nodding in understanding with the other agents, he should be scanning the data files for the appropriate information, and he should definitely not be smiling to himself over the fact that he can just make out the form of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Y/N L/N through a door that had been thankfully left ajar by some blessed intern.

She’s sitting at her desk, fingers tapping slightly in concentration as she studies a set of forms corresponding to her latest assignment. They share the same habit, actually, of always needing to be doing something. Except whenever Y/N does it she seems like a confident, action-oriented secret agent, and when Pietro does it, he seems like an easily bored sprinter. If he had even a fraction of her cool, he could practically take over the world.

Pietro can still remember the first time he saw her. It was at some battle with the Avengers, when they were outnumbered ten to one. Pietro is used to impossible odds, but that one fight had been too stacked against them so Cap had called in the S.H.I.E.L.D. reinforcements. At first, Pietro had been annoyed. Why ask S.H.I.E.L.D. for help? He knew there would be some greasy nobody in charge, who’d bristle at taking Stark’s orders and just be a hindrance.

But then the doors to the quinjet had burst open, and a young woman had strode purposefully down the landing, gun already raised and taking aim. Every move seemed orchestrated, every step and attack a work of art. She hadn’t actually noticed him until they’d been fighting side by side, and then she’d looked up at him and it was like time stopped moving entirely. She had the most beautiful eyes, and when they’d met his gaze Pietro felt like he couldn’t move a muscle, even at normal speed.

She, apparently, had been just fine, and casually readjusted her weapon before continuing on with the fight. Pietro was left with a stupid little smile on his face until a bullet had come screaming his way, and then he was jolted back to reality in time to dodge the projectile. Still, he couldn’t help sneaking glances her way during the entire fight. She was just so effortless, so amazing. Y/N claims to be human, but Pietro is fairly sure that her secret superpower is pure and utter perfection. How else would she manage to be that amazing?

Pietro looks up as people start filing out of the room, and he realizes that the debriefing has concluded. He lingers for a moment longer, wanting to catch one last glimpse of Y/N, but the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are blocking the door. Pietro reaches to the table in front of him to collect his things, and when he looks up again, his sister is standing in front of him, a triumphant smirk on her face. “You know, I’m fairly sure we were supposed to be focusing on the mission reports, not the pretty agent next door.”

Pietro rolls his eyes. “You know, I appreciate you wanting to have twin quality time, but I was assuming the first thing you said wasn’t going to be making fun of me.” Wanda laughs. “You’re hopeless. What else can I talk about? You’re practically obsessed with her.” Pietro gives her a look. “You can’t tease me about that. Aren’t you the one who’s in love with a robot? You could swap him out for one of Stark’s suits and it would pretty much be the same.” Wanda frowns, but can’t keep her grin back for longer than a couple of seconds. “Are you trying to say I’ve gone crazy for falling in love with an android?” Pietro grins. “Honestly, you might have already.” Wanda huffs out an irritated breath. “At least I can focus on a debriefing when he’s in the same room as me. I mean, what would it take for you to pay attention? For her to be the one addressing everyone?”

Pietro holds up his hands in defense. “Alright, alright. I get it. I’m in love with Y/N. Have you made your point clear, or do you want to keep going?” Wanda smirks. “I’m here to offer advice. I heard Natasha’s going to ask around and see if anyone’s up to get drinks. That includes you, but most importantly, it includes Y/N. This is your shot.” Pietro glances back towards that open door, where he can still see Y/N sitting at her desk, a slight frown on her face as she considers the document in front of her. “I’ll ask her. You don’t have to worry about that.”

It’s not like he could do anything differently. Wanda is right- Pietro is absolutely hopeless.

You’ve just managed to finish off your work when Natasha appears in your doorway. She knocks once on the open door frame and you smile at her. “What’s new with you?” Natasha walks in, grinning at you from across your desk. “Actually, you should ask what’s new with us. Specifically, the fact that we are both going to that one bar that opened up recently. It’s just a couple of blocks down- the Amber Cup or something? Anyways, we’re going to go and we’re going to have a great time.”

You laugh quietly. “You know, when people try to make plans with me they usually ask first. Do I have a choice in this?” “Absolutely not. We’re going.” Nat says, and you stand up, stretching your legs. “Sounds good. I’ll be there.” There’s another knock at your door, and you look over to see Pietro standing there, leaning casually against the doorframe. You smile and wave him in, doing your best to keep your heart rate under control.

Pietro walks over to you, eyes brightening when he realizes that you were leaving your desk. “Have you finished your work? Good. I wanted to see if you might be interested in joining me and other friends at that new bar later tonight. I’d love to see you there.” Natasha rolls her eyes. “I already asked, but good try. She’s going.” Pietro tosses a mock frown her way. “Do you always have to ruin my attempts to ask people out?” Natasha grins, making her way towards the door. “Only when they’re my best friends.”

At times like this, you’re not sure whether or not you’re happy that Natasha made it here first. If Pietro had asked you when you were alone, you’re not sure you could have pulled yourself together long enough to give a seemingly unconcerned response.

Pietro feels like he’s about to kill Natasha. He was minutes away from asking Y/N out. Seconds, even. He’s never been slow for anything but yet on the most important event of his life, Nat managed to beat him to Y/N’s office. He can’t stand it.

The bar itself is modern and somewhat large. Pietro and his friends arrive later at night, grateful for the rush of people already crammed together on the dance floor. Large crowds make it easier to go out undetected, and being noticed for your Avenger status tends to draw either enemies or crazed followers. Neither is really what Pietro’s going for right now.

Pietro’s just mulling over a drink when someone slides into the space next to him on the bar. He turns with a start when he realizes it’s Y/N. He promised himself that he wasn’t going to stare, but Y/N looks absolutely gorgeous. Maybe it’s the drink already in his hand, alcohol already lighting fire to the back of his throat, but Pietro is certain that Y/N could outshine every single girl in this club. Maybe even all of New York.

They talk for a little while, and then Y/N disappears to go find Natasha. Pietro tries not to feel disappointed at her sudden absence, and allows himself to get distracted by the blonde woman in the too-short dress who quickly takes Y/N’s spot. However, his gaze keeps flickering back to one agent in particular, no matter what he does. Pietro’s heart seems to clench when he realizes she’s taken to the dance floor, paired up with some man with dark hair gelled back slightly in a more modern look.

As he watches, the man’s hands drift to her hips. Pietro has no right to feel angry or anything, he knows that, but there’s a definite bitter taste in his mouth that wasn’t there before. He should turn away and go back to the half-empty glass in front of him, but Pietro’s already had more than enough to drink. Instead, he can’t seem to let go of the sight in front of him.

Pietro has a feeling that he’s about to do something he shouldn’t, that his feelings are finally going to get the best of him. He isn’t sure that he minds.

You spend more time than you should on your hair and makeup and outfit, checking and double checking to make sure the heels match the dress and the accessories. You don’t get to go out and have fun that often due to your busy schedule, so you intend to take full advantage of tonight. Besides, if Pietro is there it won’t exactly hurt to look good. You know you’re just fooling yourself into thinking he’ll notice you, but what if he does? He did show up to ask you to the bar, didn’t he?

You end up arriving a little later than the rest of the group due to traffic, but your eye instantly catches on Pietro. He’s talking and laughing with friends, and turns aside to order a drink from a bartender. You take advantage of his break from conversation to slip into the place beside him. He greets you casually, and you order a drink for yourself before heading over to find Natasha. He was just in the middle of talking to people, right? He probably doesn’t want you to stay for that long.

This seems to be true- you’ve barely been next to Natasha for a couple of minutes when you see that someone else has taken your place next to Pietro. It’s some beautiful blonde woman, who makes Pietro laugh with just a few brief words. You can’t help but feel an overwhelming wave of sadness wash over you at the sight. How could you think you were enough for him, especially compared to her?

You must still be feeling the aftereffects of a couple of drinks and that sight, because you head to the center of the room, intending to dance your worries away and at least attempt to have a good time. You’re joined by a dark-haired man soon after, and you pretend not to notice when his hands wrap around your hips, dipping lower by the second. Why bother? At least now you can try to move on from Pietro, to act like he can be replaced by another man in a blink of an eye. It’s not true, but at least the pounding music distracts you from him.

Suddenly, your partner is ripped away from you. You’re left standing on the dance floor, blinking in confusion at the sudden empty space in front of you. When you look up, your brow furrows to find Pietro, still standing in between you and the dark-haired man from where he’d pushed your partner away. The man glares at Pietro. “Hey, what was that for?” Pietro returns his gaze coolly. “Don’t touch her like that. She deserves some respect.”

Then he turns back to you, and a thousand emotions seem to flicker through his eyes before he walks away, headed towards an exit out back. Your confusion is quickly replaced by anger. Why does he think he can just walk up and control you like that? You mutter a brief apology to your dance partner before storming after Pietro. Eventually, you find him outside, taking in the crisp air of the outside street. He looks up when you open the door, but he seems confused by your angry expression. You don’t give him time to ask what is wrong.

“What was that?” You ask, gesturing loosely towards the bar behind you. Pietro looks away from you, back at the crowded streets. “He shouldn’t have been putting his hands on you like that. He was a creep.” You laugh bitterly. “That wasn’t your call to make. Can’t I have this one night, this one hour to myself? I mean, you rub it in my face practically every day. Did you really have to take this one dance away from me?”

Pietro frowns at you. “What are you talking about?” You look at him in disbelief. “Are you really pretending you don’t know? I see you around the building all the time, flirting with any girl that crosses your path. I don’t know why I thought I was different, but I figured I deserved at least a little respect. I mean, first you don’t talk to me unless you have to, then you pull some stunt like pretending to ask me out to the bar. You want to play with my heart? Fine, but at least let me have this one night.”

Your hand flies to your mouth. Did you really just say all that? You must have drunk more than you’d thought. Pietro is just staring at you, shocked, and you start to back away. “I didn’t mean- I didn’t-” Then he’s standing in front of you, one hand pressed against the small of your back as he kisses you. He leans back, looking at you with something almost like disbelief. “I’m not trying to play with your heart, Y/N. I’m trying to avoid breaking mine.”

Your eyes widen. “You-” He nods. “I love you. I just assumed that you wouldn’t want anything to do with me, so I tried to play it off like it didn’t matter.” You shake your head slowly. “Why wouldn’t I want anything to do with you? You’re the Avenger, I’m the agent. I thought you didn’t even have the time to talk to me.” Pietro laughs quietly. “Ever since the moment I saw you, I thought you were the most amazing person on the planet. Everything you did seemed flawless, and every impossible task seemed easy. And who was I to you, some guy whose only skill was running fast?”

You feel an incredulous smile slipping across your face. “You were incredible. That’s who you were to me. I was hopelessly in love with you. Still am, and I don’t think I can do anything about that.” “Don’t. I like the idea of you loving me.” Pietro says, and he leans forward to kiss you one more time.

Maybe things have a way of working out after all.

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lunaekalenda · 3 years

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hi!! can i ask for either an eren or porco x reader fic where their titan form saves you from nearly dying during a battle and they get mad at you afterwards because they’re obviously not gonna be there all the time then when you apologize they end up breaking down because their afraid of losing you and it just ends in fluff 👉🏻👈🏻

OMG OMG wait this is gold!! that was a really good plot!! i had a hard time deciding, but i'm more into porco lately, so this time i'll be using him for my first fic! i hope you like it and sorry for the errors or the things that were different to the original ask :( (*´-`) this takes place in one of the battles Marley fights against another enemy, but I will not follow the line of the original manga :D (also thanks to @breathes24 for refreshing my memory :D)

𝔰𝔞𝔳𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔶𝔬𝔲

❁ porco x reader

❁ mention of blood and battle, mention of the extraction of a bullet, bad talking. shingeki s4 spoilers!

The only thing you could hear were shots. You kept running, your feet hurted and the backpack was really heavy. Running in the middle of the battlefield was a suicide mission, you knew it, but you were not going to leave all in Pieck's and Porco's hands. So, trying to avoid the shots, you keep runing. You can see Pieck's bag shooting and Porco running from one machine to another, trying to break them with his hardened claws. You look around, the corpses of your companions scattered across the field, along with some enemies. You try to concentrate in what you’re trying to do. The kids are safe in the trench, and you’re not a soldier of valor, you only have nursing knowledge, useless for the fight.

That’s why the commander has not hesitated to send you as a distraction.

“If you expose yourself as an easy target, they will probably have to divide their attention between them and you. Also, they know there are nine Changing Titans, but they don’t know exactly how many of them we have. They could think you’re one of them. That will make Zeke’s appearance more unexpected for them, you see?”

"Where the hell is Zeke?" you think. He should be here helping, a lot of eldians have died. a scream is heard and you identify it as a Titan's one. Pieck received a shot on her hand. She's losing her strength little by little. Porco keeps fighting, and Pieck’s support soldiers do a great job mastering the cannons, trying to hit the enemies. Reiner is trying to stop their train.

"Just wait a bit, guys. I'm almost there..." you enter the enemy side of the field. Your trench looks empty, because your army blindly believes in titans. But, like humans, their stamina is limited, and transforming takes a great deal of energy.

"There's one of them!!" someone yells in front of you. "She could be the Beast Titan, kill her before she reaches the other two!" all the soldiers can be heard loading their shotguns.

The first shot impacts on the floor. The second, near you. You just have an option: keep running, faster.

You accelerate the step to the front, where big war machines are searching you. From the trench, a lot of soldiers are trying to kill you, failing due to the poor visibility they have, but it's a matter of time before those who run the tanks finds you.

This is the end.

The shots are every time more precise, but you can’t return and leave them alone, waiting for Zeke to make his appearance.

You have no scape.

You close your eyes, accepting the destiny, while you keep running. You can hear them charging their big machines. They found you.

You’re their target now.

A Titan's scream is heard, right before the order of the enemy captain.

"Fire!"

You open your eyes when a shot impacts on your leg, and you watch how they charge the canons, ready to kill you. Now you have zero scape way, you’re hurt and you can’t move.

Suddenly, the Jaw Titan appears and, opening his mouth, picks you up off the ground, locking you in his hardened jaw. His speed of movement allows him to easily dodge all shots.

"Thanks, Pock."

A tremor and the sound of lightning tells that Zeke has already arrived to help.

He keeps runing, and then all you can hear are rocks hitting people, trains and houses. Zeke’s titan may be slow for running, but his pitches are deadly. Your leg hurts where the bullet went through, and the pants you’re using are covered with blood.

“Just leave me here and return. I don’t want them to lose because of me.”

He ignored what you said and kept running, but slowing down. Probably he’s tired, he has been fighting for hours.

Once you two are far enough from the battlefield, Porco turns right and you recognize the path he has been taking. We’re close to the residence. He opens his mouth and you go down to the floor, but your leg complains of the roughness of the movement. Then, his Titan falls, and he appears behind it. He seems angry.

"What the hell were you doing there?" he says. His Titan is steaming.

"I wanted to help you, you were doing all the work... The commander told me to help and I thought it was a good idea." Porco looks at you without saying anything for a minute. Then, he sighs and looks at your bleeding leg, before coming towards you. His arm slips under your knees carefully, and the other rests on your back, before he lifts you. “I can walk, you don’t have to...”

“You have a fucking bullet inside, just take help for one damn time.” You decided to shut up and he enters the residence. “I have some medical stuff in my room, I’ll take you there.” He starts to walk up the stairs, heading to his room. There are a few doctors on their daily check of the injured soldiers that live here. He opens his door using his foot, and he enters. His room is clean and clear. Natural light comes in through the window, and a bedside lamp lights up the corner of hi bed. He leaves you in the bed before walking to his personal bathroom, from where he takes a medicine cabinet. Porco drags a chair to place it near the bed, making him able to treat your leg. He hasn’t talk since we arrived here, but he keeps frowning.

“We didn’t need help” He says after cutting your pants at the height of the wound. Then, Porco opens the medicine cabinet, and takes out thread, needle and some surgical tweezers. The scalpel glows when he pulls it out.

“Maybe this hurts a bit.” He whispers. He prepares also a towel with some water. “Grab that pillow and use it to muffle your screams.” You do what he said, and you put his pillow on your face. It smells like him, and it comforts you a lot. He works fast, moving his fingers with precision, and extracting the bullet without problem. Once he’s finished, he saves everything back in place and offers you a glass of water. You’re dizzy from the pain and you needed to drink, so you thank him and drink.

“Do it slow or you’ll be feeling worst, idiot.” he scolds tou. You drink it slower and you take a breath once you’re finished.

“Thanks” He puts the glass on the table he has as a desk.

“Well, I...”

“You could have died out there” he says. He’s not looking at you, and runs his hand through his hair. “You were about to die.”

“Thanks for that, you saved me”

“I’m not going to last forever, you know? Someday I’ll die, and I’m not going to be there to save you like all the other times. So start thinking about surviving and stop playing the heroine.”

“Sorry?”

Why was he so pissed off? You didn’t ask for his help.

“I don't have to take care of you every time we go out onto the battlefield”

“Stop doing it, then”

“It's called companionship, but it only works if everyone focuses on surviving and not in saving stupid death-hugging soldiers”

“I never asked you to save me.” The words come out on their own before you could stop them. That was very rude, you’re ungrateful. He looks at you in the eyes, but you can't tell how he feels.

“Cool, next time I'll take care of my business and let you die, if that’s what you want.”

He’s hurt. You hurt him because you were getting nervous.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean anything that I said. I was getting anxious...”

He sighs. “I also talked badly to you.”

“But you’re right. I can’t survive by myself.”

“I didn’t mean to say that.” His voice is losing strength, and his gaze is lowered. “It’s just... I thought that today I was losing you, I was not going to be able to arrive on time” his voice breaks while he talks. “I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to you”

You looked at him surprised. “To me? Who cares about me? Maybe it’s because we trained together since kids.” You think for yourself, before speaking.

“Well, I know you care for all of us, but Pock yo...”

“You’re not getting it.” He says. Then he leans over to the bed. “I care for you. I care a lot. I can’t imagine if something bad happens to you. I’m always near in case I have to help you. I can only thing about your wellness.” His brown eyes are fixed on yours. “Please, don’t do that again.” His eyes are getting wet. “Just the idea of losing you terrifies me.” His hand sits on your back, and draws you to him. You’re speechless.

You have always been interested in Porco. When you first met him, you thought he was really handsome, and his personality made you think of him as unattainable. You two have been training together since kids. He was really good in all skills, and you were really bad. He helped you a couple times, but you ended in the nursery school. You started to lose contact, but then he inherited the Jaw Titan and wasn’t sent to Paradis, so you both coincide again. He is a man now, even more attractive than before, but with a somewhat shocking personality. So listen him saying this things makes your heart shudder.

“Pock, I...”

“I like you. Well, I think this is no more just attraction.” he whispers. “I guess I’m in love with you.”

That hit you like a train. His love for you was behind all the times he saved you, the times he helped you and the times he reprimanded you. He was moved by love, genuine concern.

“Are you crying?” he separates you from his body to look at your face. Tears roll down your cheeks fast. Porco places his hands on both sides of your face, dabbing them dry with his thumbs. Your hands are placed on top of his, and you lean your head towards his touch.

“I also love you, Pock” he smiles before kissing your forehead. “Since we were kids”

“You know that if you had said it before, I would have corresponded long ago” you laugh quietly, his thumbs tracing circles on your skin. “I can’t promise you a long life together, but if you accept the little that I can offer, I’ll be delighted to be with you.”

His lips place a soft kiss on your hair and you hug him.

“I will be happy to be with you, Pock.”

The room was silent, and you could only listen to his heartbeat, slow, because he has you on his arms, alive. You look at him, his handsome face looking you.

“Does that mean I can ask you to going out later” he laughs.

“I just took out a bullet from your leg, you have to rest.” you smirk.

“I live in the other part of the city. I can’t walk.”

“I’ll call a horse cart for you.”

He was having fun, dodging every possible way to spend time together that night.

“What if my leg hurts? I live alone.” you tried and, for your surprise, he smiled.

“Then I guess you need someone to take care of you tonight...”

His lips covered yours sweetly, and you thought you could get used to it.

To him.

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consumeconstantly · 4 years

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Bring Me To The Precipice of Victory

1| 2 | 3(you are here) | 4 | next

Summary: When Batman departs— just for a short time, just to patch things up in Gotham— things go horribly, horribly wrong in Paris.

He doesn’t know if he can come back from realizing that Marinette and Ladybug are one and the same (and that his daughter has died more times than he can count.) (all biodad bruce are posted in chronological order but can be read as stand alones)

______________________________________________

The moment of peace, of solidarity, that Batman shares with Ladybug up on that rooftop at night means the world.

After a minute or two, Ladybug pulls back, tear tracks down the sides of her face, eye and nose red. She takes another minute of silence,hugging herself in the muggy Parisian air. When she next opens her eyes, Batman can almost imagine that Ladybug never cried at all.

But he knows that's not true. Ladybug seemed so fragile in his arms. He can imagine— he can imagine Dick in her place, broken over Jason’s death. Tim losing his parents. All of his children facing insurmountable odds with no team by their side. Alone.

Ladybug is not alone, but functionally, she may as well be. He’s watched the fights. He’s analyzed them. Ladybug is always, always the leader. She strategizes with Ryuko and Viperion, but Ladybug is who everybody looks to for an answer when things don’t work out the way they want them to. She’s the one with the plan, the backup plan, the out. She’s the one who swoops in to save the day.

She’s also the one who has racked up the most hours on the battlefield. Even Chat Noir, her partner, only has three quarters of the hours that she’s put in. For most of the other members of her team, she puts in double, sometimes even triple of what they do. Over the course of six years, there have been a little under two thousand battles, lasting from under an hour to over five hours. Ladybug has shown up for every single one, without fail. That’s not even counting the patrols that they do; although Ladybug is given a lot of flack for not patrolling as often as Chat Noir, there’s a fundamental difference in how they patrol. Ladybug is methodical, Chat Noir is volatile.

He’s not a bad superhero when it comes down to battle, but the two of them are fundamentally different. Ladybug sees her time as a superhero as a duty. Chat Noir seems to view it as a time to unwind— and while that’s worrying, considering the information he’s gathered on the Miraculous Team so far points to the majority of them beings teens or young adults— it’s not what is needed to deal with the Paris situation.

Perhaps one of the easiest ways to see these differences is during patrol. Chat Noir uses patrol time almost seems to be an outlet for stress. He entices whoever he’s on patrol with to race to random places in Paris with no rhyme or reason. Whenever he comes across crime, he stops it, but Ladybug— Ladybug searches for crime.

Ladybug has a team and she trusts them with her life, but she cannot trust them to be responsible. That is perhaps the worst possible thing that can happen. And through the videos that he’s watched, it’s clear that the hours she puts in do affect her, and fairly heavily.

Whoever she is, she’s young. Too young to be in battle untrained, because they are untrained— despite being in the field for years, all of their basic form lacks and tells anybody with an experienced eye that they’ve never had formal training in martial arts.

When Batman and Ladybug leave the roof, they leave on a better note than where they started. Batman is still upset that Tom and Sabine are dead, but he cannot attribute it solely to Ladybug’s negligence. He admires the young heroine for rising to the occasion when there was nobody else to help. He has no doubt that with the resources and training that he can provide him and his operatives already on the case, Hawkmoth will be revealed in no time at all.

He’s right, but in the worst possible way.

It’s largely a mistake on hiss part-- he gets a notification that the Joker broke out of Arkham again, and Hawkmoth and Pavona are missing for the time being. Though Ladybug has made a mistake in not taking Pavona out immediately, she and her team have won every akuma and sentimonster battle. The logical course of action is to go where the most danger is.

Bruce does not have any predictive powers. There is no way for him to know what’s going to happen. But when he and his team finally catch the Joker and put him away again-- a feat that takes just a little under twenty four hours, extreme concentration, and a good number of injuries-- Batman finally gets a chance to breathe. The adrenaline from facing off against the Joker’s latest scheme fades. Batman reclines in a chair as Alfred binds his wounds and passes him pain relieving pills while he gets stitches in his abdomen.

He checks the news in Paris.

He almost drops the device that he’s using to view the news.

Marinette’s existence has been hidden from his family. With Dick, he was more concerned about his existence as Robin, rather than informing him that he had a sister. As soon as he started contemplating bringing up Marinette, Batman and Robin had a bad break. Then Jason came along, troubled and angry. Bruce didn’t want to introduce Marinette into the mix then because he was volatile.

Jason died due to Batman’s incompetence. Bruce grieved the loss of his ward; Batman was never allowed to mourn the loss of his second Robin.

Tim felt unworthy as the only child Bruce didn’t pick up off the streets, and Damian-- well, Damian was Damian. First he had a superiority complex the size of the Grand Canyon, and once he got accustomed to how they handled things in the Wayne Manor-- though Tim would argue that Damian is still not used to this kind of lifestyle-- he overcompensated every single mission and needed a remedial course on How to Interact With Other Humans 101. Add the overarching concern of Marinette being exposed to his vigilante life style and being unprepared for it, and he was never able to tell his children that he had another biological kid. A daughter.

When the news that Sabine and Tom died reached his ears, he told everybody he had business in Paris without elaborating what. With Wayne Enterprises opening a Paris branch of their R&D specialising in European artifacts, it was easy to draw connections that weren’t there.

“Bruce, you need to relax. Business in Paris can be dealt with later, you need to take the time to heal,” Tim says.

A clip in his shoulder from a bullet, knife wounds on his torso and legs, a sprained wrist. Whatever chemical experiment the Joker got his hands out still pumping through his veins. “I need to go-- it’s important--”

The pain relievers Alfred gave him earlier were also a sedative.

Tim catches him before he passes out.

He wakes up three hours late through sheer force of will.

“Paris!” Bruce jolts upright, still in costume, lying prone on a medical cot in the Batcave.

The first thing that catches his eyes is the red and black flying across the screens.

Ladybug.

His kids are all watching the screens with abject horror.

“Is this,” Tim wets his lips. “The business trip that you were on?”

Bruce drags himself out of bed, adrenaline washing out any residual pain. He doesn’t have the capacity to respond, he needs to get to the zeta tube, he needs to get to Paris, Ladybug is bleeding, the city is in shambles, and Marinette--

One of the news sites up on the screen declares the arrondissements that are obliterated. The one that houses Tom & Sabine’s Boulangerie is amongst their number. An approximate death toll fills the static.

-- Marinette is likely among those lost. He has lost another child due to his inaction. Due to his inability to push through, to look forwards and predict the future and the consequences of his actions. Marinette is another Jason, but if Ladybug doesn’t get it together, she’ll be gone permanently. And Ladybug is little more than a child. She can’t handle it, not by herself, not with her team. She needs an experienced hero, and Batman will be there for her, be the one leading the charge against Hawkmoth as the civilians hide in their homes and pray for her Miracle Cure to reverse the damage.

Dick places a hand on his shoulder. Bruce tries to shrug it off, but his fingers dig into the place where the bullet clipped his flesh. The pain is just a reminder that if he does not get to Paris now, there will be thousands-- no, millions-- more who feel this pain. How did Marinette die? Was it an akuma? Did the rubble of one of the destroyed buildings fall on her? Did Ladybug even try to protect her?

“I need to go,” Bruce growls.

“You can’t. While you were out, the majority of the Justice League prohibited all travel via zeta tubes. Nobody can get into Paris right now.”

Bruce knocks Dick’s hand off his shoulder and turns to his eldest. At the very least, Dick and the rest of his children look solemn. Damian’s gaze is fixed to one of the screens that shows Ladybug. “A city is in danger, millions of lives are at risk, Marinette--”

His daughter is dead. He can’t bring himself to say it out loud.

Standing by idly is the last thing he’ll let himself do.“Who put out the order? I’ll get them to reverse it.”

Dick moves so he’s between the zeta tube and Bruce. “B, you don’t understand. If you go to Paris right now, you’ll get akumatized.”

“I can handle my emotions.”

Jason points at the upper right section of screens that’s replaying past footage. “I wouldn’t bet Paris’ survival on it. Not when more level headed superheroes got on the scene first and failed. They really don’t need any heavy hitters getting akumatized. Not when Superman put three members of their team out of commission.”

Superman arrived on the scene first; it took a matter of seconds for him to get akumatized. He was responsible for razing down three arrondissements in no time flat. Ladybug had to call for a Lucky Charm in order to get her hands on some kryptonite, which forced her to recoup after her time ran out.

Black Canary arrived next. Then Red Tornado.

Both were akumatized in mere minutes.

“After Red Tornado got akumatized, Wonder Woman led the charge to put the rest of the zeta tubes on lockdown,” Duke says, grim. “All we can do now is hope that these Parisian superheroes can pull off a win.”

Bruce stumbles over to get a better view. He remembers Ladybug, small and slight in his arms. A child, crying over the loss of her pseudo parents.

A warrior, bloody and bruised and broken.

She is one of the last ones standing.

King Monkey and an ox themed hero both died at Superman’s hands. The former got in the way of his laser beams, the latter a victim of super strength and getting thrown through two buildings and having their necks snap at an unsightly angle. Chat Noir was also sent hurtling through the air, and the only reason he was still alive was because Ladybug alighted from the sky and grabbed him before he got sent through a building in his unconscious state. Black Canary came shortly after, apparently informed of the Superman situation and carrying kryptonite.

She didn’t last for long either. Almost immediately after helping Ladybug and Ryuko bind Superman in such a way that he couldn’t escape,

Pegasus got hit by Black Canary’s sound waves and Chat Noir’s residual injuries from his fight with Superman forced him into a state of unconsciousness. Queen Bee and Carapace were able to pull off a win against Black Canary, but not without serious injuries. Ryuko faced off against Red Tornado alone, which normally would have been a thing of awe, but in the grander scheme of things, was a huge issue, as without her, the Miraculous Team functionally lost all of their heavy hitters. Rena Rouge and several Miraculous users that clearly had never been in battle before were the ones left to hold their own against the scores of akumatized Parisians.

The only ones left to hunt down Hawkmoth and Pavona were Ladybug and Viperion, and the former was already on her third use of Lucky Charm.

Ladybug pulls out her communicator, dodging an attack.

“Can we get sound on this?” Jason grips the closest table.

Dick shakes his head. “Zatara says there’s already enough interference just trying to get these images. And for some reason, Dr. Fate refuses to get involved with any of this.”

Bruce’s phone rings. He doesn’t pick it up on the first ring, too focused on the ongoing battles. He does take his phone out of his pocket to silence it the next time, but when he presses the sound off, an image comes through.

“Bruce.” Ladybug’s image comes through crystal clear, and it doesn’t make him feel any better. Ladybug, blood dripping from her mouth, costume torn open, hair burnt, wild eyed.

He opens his mouth to speak, but the image goes blurry as she moves to avoid several attacks pointed towards her.

“Before I go, I--”

“Watch out, LB!” Bruce lifts his eyes to the screen that displays Ladybug and Viperion in battle. The spotted heroine gets pushed out of the way of a laser, but the snake themed hero takes the hit.

The ambient noise coming from his phone is strong; he can hear blades clashing in the background as Chat Noir, already on his last legs attempts to hold off Darkblade. Screaming from civilians, a strangled sob from Ladybug. “Viperion.”

Ladybug comes back into view. Blue eyes filled with rage.

“If this doesn’t end in our favor, you need to make sure that Hawkmoth and Pavona do not acquire both the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous. Do whatever it takes to prevent that from happening.” She blinks, retreats into herself, and Bruce wonders if he’s seeing the girl behind the mask.

“And If I don’t get to see you again--” If I’m dead, the words go unspoken, “I really did want the chance -- I-- you’re a good man. A good father. Your daughter-- she loves you. She really, really does. Stay safe.”

The transmission cuts off. On the screen in front of him, Ladybug closes her communicator, closes Viperion’s open eyes, and strides to the epicenter of the akumas. Blue fire flashes in her irises, and for a moment, she’s staring directly at the screen. And Bruce knows those eyes. He knows them.

The next second, all of the computers simultaneously die.

Bruce is numb. No-- no.

He is nothing.

All his children-- no, not all his children, Marinette is missing, Marinette is Ladybug, and she’s out on a field that he can’t see grappling with magic forces strong enough to incapacitate Justice League members like their powers and abilities are inconsequential-- stare at him.

“That was… Ladybug?” Tim’s brow furrows. It’s clear that he’s thinking up a hundred different reasons why Ladybug and Batman are connected, why he’s the last person she calls before going into a battle that could very well cost her her life.

“My daughter.” The words are ash on his lips. An existence he’s never acknowledged. Not out loud. Saying it brings a sense of finality to the room. An impending death. “My daughter.”

Nobody asks how long he’s known or when he met her or why he’s never brought it up before. Everything is fuzzy. Floating.

For a while, there’s silence.

“Zatara says there’s too much interference to get the picture back up,” Dick opens his messages, frowning.

Damian still stares at the screen Ladybug looked at directly, frozen.

Bruce picks himself up and moves. He may not be able to use the zeta tubes, but he has a private jet and a license, and he’ll be damned if he doesn’t do something.

It takes two hours too long to get to Paris. He shaved five hours off the flight length due to superior technology, and another hour and a half off due to sheer force of will.

The landing is not a pretty thing, but Paris is already in shambles, and there’s no way that the ATC will approve his landing, so Bruce picks out the flattest looking spot of rubble before his jet meets the ground.

According to Tim and Duke, who stayed behind in case this turned out to be an attack spanning multiple cities, the battle ended mere minutes before they landed. Dick manages to get Zatara to broadcast the image in the cockpit of the jet, and on the screen lay three prone bodies. Gabriel Agreste, whose body type fits that of Hawkmoth, Lila, and a third that Bruce does not recognize.

A bone sticks out of Marinette’s arm, the connected hand crushed and hanging limp. The opposing ankle is twisted almost fully backwards. She is covered in blood and ash and filth. There is no victory in her eyes. Only weariness.

In her good hand, she holds her yoyo.

She raises her eyes skywards-- the roof of the Agreste mansion is blown clean off-- blinks slowly, and throws the yoyo into the air.

“Miraculous Cure,” her lips read.

The corpses in Paris rise from the dead. Rubble reforms into buildings. The ashy haze that covered the city disappears.

Ladybug looks like she wants to disappear, too.

She collapses, instead.

Nobody is there to catch her when she drops to the floor.

@biodad-bruce-month

Maribat tag list(to be added onto this pls send me an ask/dm): @our-precipreciousss @my-dear-friend-anxiety

Who Are You (and what will you become) tag list (to be added here just comment): @anjuschiffer @theunquiet-dead @certainmuffinbagelcalzone @cresentmo0n @allulily @myazael @zalladane @rebecarojas07 @keepingupwiththemalfoys @frieddonutsweets @all-mights-asscheeks @thornalchemist23 @trippingovermyfeet @jiso-lee @redscarlet95 @ira-sairain @screechingflapbiscuitpeach @ramos123 @cutechip @theunquiet-dead @sleep-deprived-aroace @enternalempires @lilkymilky @woe-is-me0 @officiallydarkgeek @miyla-lokidottir @queencommonsense @demonicbusiness

mb for not doing tag list right away i forgot i had these cued up already

#bio!dad bruce wayne month 2020 #maribat #what are dates #what's going in order #time? i don't know her #i'm always late #marinette dupain cheng #bruce wayne #bio!dad bruce #angst

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pokeexehasstoppedworking · 3 years

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Love Doesn’t Do Encores Ch18 Battle Gym Leader Melony

It wasn't too surprising all of you fell asleep on the train again that night, seeing how late it was getting when you all hurried onto it like an army of onix was chasing after you all. Thank goodness you managed to catch it and settled down into a couple empty seats to sleep for the night. Come morning the lot of you were already digging into your rations for breakfast to comfort your hungry stomachs that growled for food. And made small talk as the world went flying by outside the windows.

"So how long until we reach Circhester?," you asked biting into come kind of breakfast bar that tasted like bacon bits and oatmeal.

"It's the farthest town from all the others in Galar except for the town in the Crown Tundra Valley but that's farther in the mountains than we need to go," Victor explained after he had pulled out his own phone and pulled up his regional maps to look through them, "It's also deep within the Galarian Mountain Reign so it'll take us about three weeks to get there by train."

"Oh really?"

He nodded again. "The stop we want is Steamdrift Station. From there it's about an hour walk down Steamdrift Way until we get to Circhester and it's gyms."

You paused before blinking and looking at him. Drizzilie taking this chance to pull the rest of your food away from you to eat itself. "Gyms? As in plural?...Like more than one gym?"

"Oh yeah! Guess we haven't told ye!," Gloria cut in leaning into her hand. "The Ice and Rock Type Gyms are located up there and are handled by the gym leader Melony n' 'er son Gordie!"

You paused...eyes blinking wide at them for a moment before pointing. "Hey! Wait a minute! I remember those guys!" YEAH! You did remember them! Ironic since you couldn't remember much of anything else in game. Melony according to in game info was supposed to have a harsh battle style and supposedly be an incredible coach. She ran the Ice type Gym while her son Gordie was in charge of the nieghboring Rock Type Gym also in Circhester. He's supposed to be really popular in a similar way to Raihan and have his own fan base as well that he treats respectfully. ..But the mother and son had a fight over Gordie not wanting to take over his mother's gym and instead but somehow she still became the very first member of his fan club. ...Also he was supposed to have younger siblings as well but you didn't think they were ever shown in the game. You remembered!! That's great! Maybe now you'd start remembering things much more now!! ....You blinked upon noticing the three staring at you. "Uh!...I m-mean I remembering some people talking about them before. Apparently Gordie's pretty popular in Galar."

Hop nodded. "Yeah he is! Last year he was voted Galar's third most eligable bachelor behind Raihan and Lee himself. But unlike Raihan he actually throws a lot of his own events and showings. Lee mentioned once he trained under the old Rock Type Gym Leader before he retired and took over the gym after."

You sighed. Bullet dodged! "Oh. Sounds like he's really nice then." And hopefully won't flirt with you like Raihan did.

Thus began your group's long, LONG trip to the Galarian Mountain Range. Just like your trip back to Motostoke, you all slept on the emptied seats at night but being more prepared Victor had set up his Rotom phone's gps to set off an alarm once the lot of you reached the likes of the station you wanted so you all wouldn't have to take turns staying up all night again to keep an eye out for the right station you wanted. Which was a great idea! Over the next few days you all fell into that repeated pattern minus taking turns staying up at night and during the day just talking about random things while eating food from your rations or looking at whatever the teens pulled up from the internet to show you. Gloria at one point even pulled out her dex books again to finish putting the rest of her pictures into them and showed you the new addtions courtesy of her twin before passing the books over towards the two boys for them to flip through themselves and admire Gloria's handy work. A few more days went by this way until one day Victor all of a sudden said you all should stop at the next town to restock up on food again since it wasn't as much as he thought it was. To which everyone agreed too and at the next town, got off the train and went into one of the random stops which turned out to be a small town like Postwick. From there the four of you gathered supplies and did everything else to prepare to travel again by the time the next train came around before getting back on it and back on your way to Circhester. Day in and night out you four traveled and traveled and traveled. You were starting to get train sick with how much this was going on and found yourself walking up and down the walkways in turns with the others to keep up the exercise and not let yourselves turn your legs to jelly. Until one particular night when you woke up with a shiver. There was a chilly atmosphere inside the metal train from when you were last awake and it was enough for you to make yourself get up groggily. Only to find your drizzilie was lightly shivering as well curled up against your warmer body and stayed clung to you as it groaned in protest at the cold.

"What the-"

"Hey you." You rubbed your eyes turning tiredly to Hop who had his own coat thrown over his shoulders and smiled. "So you're finally awake huh?"

You yawned. "What time is it?"

"About ten in the morning. We're getting closer to the mountains," Victor said and you turned to him next as he rechecked the map on his phone, "We'll be at Steamdrift Station within 'bout three days but you might want to throw on a coat. It's gonna get a wee bit more colder from 'ere on out."

That wasn't a too bad idea actually. You were quick to pull on the coat you had bought and with a bit of a tussle you somehow with Gloria's help managed to pry Drizzilie off of you and put him inside your bag's main opening with Gloria holding it open before you pulled both him and the bag into your lap to make room. And to help keep the lil guy warm. Your pokemon gave a bored expression as he settled down into using the bag as his personal sleeping bag.

"Hey. Don't get too comfy," you reminded him, "Cuz when we leave Circhester you're going back to walking with us again Mr. I-Refuse-To-Get-In-My-Pokeball." Other than rolling his eyes with a sigh, Drizzilie didn't say anything against what you said. "You heard me. This is just to make sure you don't go from a water type to a frozen-water type."

The rest of the three days there was pretty much the same, only now it was hard for any of you all to get to sleep now curled up in the seats because of the cold. Why you even dug out a scarf and wrapped it around your neck and half your face. Didn't these trains have darn heating!? The landscape outside the windows changed too. Going from looking like fall-ish time of the year to mid way between fall and winter, until the last day when you all woke up to have found yourselves so, so...SO!! Cold, and you shivered yanking the hood over your f/c hair more as you looked around and noticed white snow was being blown against the windows like some snow storm. And for all you knew there could actually be one out there.

"ZZZTT. Attention Passengers!," the conductor announced over the speakers to anyone left on bourd. "We'll be arriving at SteamDrift Station within ten minutes. That is all."

"That's our stop!," Victor confirmed, "Make sure you all grab everythin' before we get off."

You all made sure to gather your things, you especially making sure to pull the small hoodie over your Drizzilie's head before pushing him into your bag and telling him to stay in there until you said it was safe for him to come out before zipping your bag up but leaving enough of an opening to allow fresh air to him. Slowly after a few minutes the train finally came to a stop and you all followed Victor out towards the door, you grunting as you stuggled to sling the bag over your shoulders. You had forgotten how heavy this lil guy actually was when carried. You were extremely thankful for the guys getting you the thick coat and scarf too because the familiar full force of Winter hit you as soon as the you all stepped out the door and you shivered from the frosty cold greeting you all. The entire sky was painted in grey snow clouds that made the day look a little dull while snow gently fell from them and down towards the earth below. Around you was a plain looking station that looked more deserted since no one not even a station master was there, and surrounding you all was cliffsides and hills like in Stow-on-Side except unlike Stow-on-Side these were absolutely COVERED in snow and ice as far as the eyes could see as the four of you stood there taking in the sights. The only living things besides you all being pine trees scattered across the snowy land with a cobblestone road leading away from the station that Victor after a moment pointed at.

"That's Steamdrift Way," He explained holding up his phone with a gloved hand to the lot of you showing a map with a red blinking dot that signalled where you all were. "It's connected to Route E-E-Eight. If we go this way we should be at Circhester w-within an hour after crossing Circhester Bridge."

"T-T-Then w-what are we waiting f-f-for?!," Hop stuttered in the cold before pointing a hand forward. "L-Let's get there before we become on thin ice!"

There wasn't any arguments with him as you all headed off. Snow and ice crunched under your all's feet making your group sound like a couple of wooly mammoths trudging through the snow. You all (even you through your scarf covered mouth) could see your breath as snowflakes stuck to your bodies like someone glued white confetti to your clothes as you all followed Victor and his map through the snow. Thank goodness it didn't cover the road up, or else you all might've gotten lost. As you all trudged alone keeping your hands in your pockets after pulling the ends of the sleeves over them to help keep them warm, you all FINALLY came to the stone bridge Victor mentioned before. A cold river running with cold water ran under it as you all crossed and as you walked over it you prayed your drizzilie didn't decided to pop out wanting to swim or see what was going on.

"W-W-We should be there in t-t-ten m-m-more minutes!," Victor shouted back pulling his beanie further over his head.

"B-B-Bloody heck, V-Vick! 'M freezin' my t-tail off 'ere n' I-I ain't even got one!," Gloria yelled back complaining.

"The sooner we git there the sooner ya can rest! So take the energy from ya yappin' mouth and put it to your feet!," He yelled back and Gloria mumbled under her breath.

So you all continued to walk and walk, until you finally reached the end of the road that lead into a metal fenced entrance to Circhester. And you all had a collected sigh of relief once you all got there. It was decently big with it's many story stone buildings you could make out in the snow with cobblestone roads leading everywhere and the figures of two large stadiums on either side of the town as you all got to walking into it. You all passed the pink pokemon center near the entrance of the town and turned right heading towards what you guessed was the town square. A hot spring like fountain was dead set in the middle and there was people walking all around in winter wear with some ice type pokemon or pokemon who could stand this cold weather. Two men had stands selling food in the square as you walked past, one selling some kind of hot wraps and the other......ice..cream??

"D-Dang nabit, V-Vick! W-W-Where's the b-b-bloody hotel a-around here?," Gloria asked rubbing her arms in a failed attempt to warm herself.

"I-I'm with G-Glory on this," Hop added looking around, "I d-don't feel like camping out here at all."

"I'm WORKIN' on it!," Victor spat scowling at his phone hand lightly shaking.....before he pointed ahead of him at a BIG building in front of you all. "H-Hotel is there! L-Let's go!"

You all didn't hesitate to RUN your way to the building he pointed out jack frost biting at your ankles as you did. You all didn't even care if the door was flung open with a loud noise. The rush of warm air greeting your skins was enough to make up for it in your minds as you sighed. Turning your head up to the ceiling in the bliss of getting out of the cold. After a moment or two you finally opened your eyes and blinked them wide open at what you were all looking at. If you thought the Budew Drop Inn in Motostoke was Fancy this place was absolutely F A N C Y with a capitol F!!! It was like one of those luxery hotels in Paris you'd sometimes see in movies or on tv. Complete with marble floors and chandeliers lighting the place up. It was also HUGE!! And this was just the lobby as you gawked around. The other three were busy shaking snow off themselves as Victor walked up to the man at the lobby counter most likely to book your rooms. You hope they weren't too expensive by the looks around here. A moment later he returned with two keys handing one to Gloria before he gestured to the elevator.

"Let's go get settled in and rest for a bit. I'm too cold to think straight. You guys got room fifthteen on the first floor." Whelp! You couldn't argue with that as you all headed towards the elevator and got inside. The trip to the first floor wasn't a very long one as you all piled out and Victor motioned for Hop to follow him to one of the very first rooms closest to the elevator. "I say we all get warmed up and meet up in the lobby to talk 'bout what's the game plan for us 'ere."

"Alright," you agreed with a nod before following Gloria, "We'll see you two in a bit."

Both boys nodded as well before they turned back, Victor unlocking the door with his key before opening it and they disappeared inside. You sped walked to catch up to Gloria who was already standing in front of a door and turning the knob and throwing it open-

"So that means the culprit must be among us!" Gloria paused in the doorway. Eyes wide and hand still out from throwing the door open. "....Wait....Who are you!?" ..You wanted to facepalm. Oh NO!! Don't tell me Gloria opened the wrong door and walked in on someone. You sped up your walking pace as she blinked again. "After all the trouble of deducing things don't go messing it up now!"

By the time you got to Gloria she was already scowling before pointing her frozen hand at him. "N' who might the likes o' you be!?"

You blinked when you looked inside the room....There was a man there along with an older man, a 'hipster' looking girl, a young boy, and some kind of squirrel looking pokemon chewing something as you all stared at one another...Until the middle aged looking man coughed.

"*cough* I suppose I should introduce myself," he proudly put a hand to his chest, "The name's Howses. Yes. THAT Howses. The great detective. I've been hired by the hotel. At present I have corner the culprit of a most heinous crime!"

"What happened?," you asked. Did someone get robbed? Did something go missing? Something worse?!

"I'm glad you asked," Mr. Howses stated, " And that crime is!..The strange case of who ate the large quantity of berries in the lobby!" He shouted pointing to a random basket of apple cores....You and Gloria both gave each other a look. "I've gathered the three people who were present in the lobby at the time of the crime but because of the noise my marvelous deductive reasoning seems somewhat muddled at present."...The hotel...Hired a private detective ..to investigate missing fruit.....What a waste of time! He suddenly pointed at Gloria. "That's it! You interfering child! You will be my assistant!"

Gloria gave him a blank look. "...What?"

"Listen to the stories of each suspect and find the culprit," he said as if what he had just said wasn't crazy or unprofessional at all.

"....Yeah. I ain't doin' that." Gloria dead panned before pointing at the obvious pokemon in the room. "'Sides. I already know who it was-"

Instead of listening the man waved her off and laughed in her face. "Heh heh heh. After listening to everyone's accounts deduced the culprit!"....NO ONE SPOKE!! He pointed at the young hipster looking gal who looked just as deadpanned and done with this as Gloria. "Dancer! You are the culprit!"

"WHAT!?," she demanded angrily, "Why me?!"

"Because you're a dancer! You move and shake your body so much that you needed all that food for extra energy! That's evidence as clear and sharp as the leek of a farfetch'd!"

"WHAT!? What does that even mean!? You're no detective! You're a fraud!" Your thoughts exactly!

The man gave a nervous look all of a sudden. "W-Who are you calling a fraud!? You can't be referring to me! The great detective!"

"I can't deal with this disrespect! I leave it to you! You find the real culprit-"

"*AHEM!!*" Everyone looked back to Gloria who scowled and pointed to the small pokemon chittering at everyone around them. "IT. WAS. THAT!! They ate the darned fruit ya ninnies can't seem ta take a hint of."

The 'detective' blinked before turning to the pokemon. "What? That skwovet is the one responsible?" He looked closer at the small pokemon who looked at him curiously covered in food. "A-.....As expected of my assistant!" He loudly proclaimed all of a sudden proudly and crossing his arms looking pleased with himself. "Splendid! Just splendid! I'm overjoyed!"....He peeked an eye out at all of you annoyed and angry at him before coughing. "Well now that's taken care of...I must be off now." He suddenly sped walked towards you and Gloria and you both scrambled to move aside as he took off down the hall. "Take care, Everyone!"

"Hey you! Just wait a minute!," the girl yelled before running right after the 'detective'.

"Hahaha! I guess I'm supposed to chase after him too," the old man said before also jogging after the two as you and Gloria squished against the sides of the doorway to give them room...before looking after them....and blinking to one another.

"What the world was THAT about?," she asked.

"Honestly I have no idea and I'm too tired to really care," you mumbled gesturing her towards your actual room. "Let's go set up our room and take a break before we have to meet back up with the others."

Fast forward about an hour after finding the right room and getting yourself settled, you all made it down to the lobby to meet up with Victor and Hop. After you had let your Drizzilie out, thankful that he didn't seem to be hurt or even bothered as she walked out and stretched out like a cat before you all left. Promising you'd bring him back some food. Finding the boys already waiting for the both of you with their winter wear and waved the two of you over.

"There you guys are," Victor greeted seeing the two of you walk over, "We've been waiting for ten minutes and I wanted to try and get things as done here as soon as possible."

"We've only just got here this morning," you calmly reasoned raising a questioning brow at him. Yeah you wanted to leave as soon as you all could too since it was freezing and obviously the weather probably wasn't good for your pokemon, but you didn't think you've ever seen Victor this insistant on leaving somewhere so quickly. "What's gotten you into wanting to leave so soon?"

"Vick here hates the cold," Hop explained before humming, "Scratch that. He absolutely despises it."

"Well it's not MY fault that ice is so dangerous and you have a great chance of freezin' ta death," Victor snapped back pouting.

"Nevermind that! Did you guys figure out what you wanted to do yet?," you asked changing the subject to avoid more fighting.

Surprisingly both boys nodded and Hop spoke again. "I wanted to try my hand at beating the Rock Type Gym since I think I've come up with a strategy to beat him."

"I was actually thinking about taking on the other Gym 'n town, "Gloria pondered thoughtfully, "I got a good idea 'bout how to defeat Melony after watchin' a lot of her battles on the train ride 'ere. But first I need ta stop by the center and switch out some of me pokemon in order to make it work."

"Well I wanted to stop by around town and get some pictures of the famous Circhester hot springs," Victor explained holding up his camera, "The legends say that the great Hero of Galar rested in the springs and it healed all his wounds. ..Plus I wanted to try the famous Bob's Your Uncle cafe here too. They're supposed to have THE best curry in all of Galar, and who knows when I'll come back here again." He then looked at you. "What about you Y/n?"

You looked at him interested. "Well if I'm being completely honest I think I'll come with you. It's been a while since I've been able to walk around and go sight seeing."

"Then it's settled! Let's meet back 'ere in the lobby when we're all finished."

You all agreed and after tightening your coats around you more, all made off your own ways. Gloria heading in the direction of the pokemon center on the other side of town before going off to battle with you and the boys heading in the opposite direction towards the rock gym since the famous Hero Springs Victor wanted to look at. Eventually parting with him too as soon as the both of you got there. Wishing him luck against Gordie before he left and you followed Victor to what you could only describe as a bath house modeled closely to the buildings of the ancient roman times back on your world. You followed Victor around marveling the sights and old looking structure as he smiled despite his hate for the cold and snapped plenty of pictures of everything as he did back at the Hammerlocke Castle Ruins. You walked up to the steaming water that almost looked boiling hot that was roped off from the public just touching it and watched the warm steam rise from it. Sighing as the warm steam was welcomed against the biting cold you couldn't get away from right now. Victor having getting his share of the old historical sight mentioned there was a few other places that the spring water came through, like the fountain in the town square and mentioned wanting to check out the extended parts of the underground spring as well and offered for you to come if you were interested in coming with him. Of course you agreed since you really had nothing else to do at that moment while waiting for the other two to complete their Gym battles, which by now you were sure they were doing or at least finishing up any gym challenge they were doing at the moment, before going back to the meet up spot anyways. So together you two traveled from the front of the rock type gym to the center of town so he could document more of the springs, before following him again as he moved somewhere else and you followed him down a small flight of stairs to another but much more smaller part of the springs that wasn't so visible or visited by the public. And then another small spot just like a little farther aways on the other side of town. It was...Pretty peaceful despite the chilling cold and snow lightly still falling around you, Victor, and everyone else walking around. It was quiet except for your footsteps crunching through the snow and anyone else walking around or talking. Walking around the decently big town with Victor you noticed there was also a few businesses besides the pokemon center. Your resident barber shoppe, an antique store, a few small little thift shops that sold merchandise of what looked like the two gyms and their gym leaders at the brief glances through the windows you gave, a grocery store, a clothes store, of course the hotel, and a strange looking cafe with the Logo of a man out in front. A sign above the door told you the name of said establishment. Bob's Your Uncle. Hey. Wasn't that the cafe Victor mentioned back at the hotel he mentioned wanting to see? You pointed it out to him and he seemed to light up! Mentioning how you two should drop by and seeing it even if you didn't eat anything. You agreed since by all the walking around and sight seeing you did, you two must've been out here for nearly two hours by this point. So it'd be nice to warm up for a bit. So you two happily walked up to said store and pushed the door open before walking right in. The warm air of the cafe combined with the mouth watering smells of the food made you sigh in relief. Another bigger picture of the logo man was inside on one of the walls, with the place being a color scheme of yellow and red, and a few people sitting around eating already. Including one particular boy who looked up from his seat in the back when Victor pointed him out.

"Hey Hop!," Victor called over to him and Hop looked up from where he was sat phone in one hand and hot coco in the other but smiled when he saw you two approuching. "What are you doing here? I thought we were gonna meet back at the hotel."

Hop shrugged. "Yeah, but I thought it'd be fine to stop by for some hot chocolate. Who doesn't like hot coco?"

"I know I do!," You agreed with a smile, "How did your battle go?"

"Arghhh." He slumped back turning his head up to the ceiling with a groan. ""I lost. It all went to pot. There must've been something wrong with my strategy but I just did what I've seen Lee do in battles!"

"Huh..Well maybe that's the problem."

He paused before blinking back to you as you looked at him. "....Huh? Whaddya mean?''

"Well, everyone has different fighting styles. Including you and Gloria, and if these guys are a part of the league and you're trying to fight like Leon, they'll probably be able to beat you because they've seen how Leon fights and knows how best to counteract his style."

"But he's the unbeatable champion! If I use his method I should be able to be unbeatable too! I've studied his style for years!"

"It may seem like that," You explained, "But it IS Leon's style and he's perfected it. If someone tries to copy him they won't be as perfect as it compared to someone who's mastered his own style to a degree that makes him such a powerful trainer. And everyone's style is constantly changing. Think about it. If Lee kept his style the EXACT same then eventually someone would've found a flaw in it by now and taken the title from him. Leon doesn't have 'just one style' either. Like everyone else they train and adapt to better themselves that's how he's unbeatable. It's ok to use things you learnt other people do, but you said yourself you were thinking of new strategies. Instead of trying to apply what you think Leon would do, ask yourself what would YOU do."

Hop paused seeming to stare at you for a while before humming and looking back to his phone. "...You actually might have a point. I'll have to rethink a few things then."

You smiled. "Glad I could help. Speaking of which Where's Gloria? If you're finished with your battle then that must mean Gloria is too right?"

"Maybe she's waiting for us back at the hotel."

"Oh hey!" You yelped and jumped around at the lady's voice that suddenly came up behind you, and found yourself face to face with none other than said brunette Girl and Sonia who chuckled at your reaction. "There you are."

....You sighed before giving her a frown. "First Leon and now you too Sonia?" You crossed your arms. "Seriously. Give a girl a warning you're gonna do that first...Wait. What are you doing here anyways?"

"Got that Gym badge, Glory?," Hop asked politely.

Gloria nodded with a proud hum. "I jus' had ta switch out for some fire n' steel types I caught. Wasn't easy tho."

"Nice one!," Hop complimented before holding something out to her, "That reminds me. Here. Take this. It's the rock leader's league card. You should check out the gym leader you'll have to face too. And me. I've gotta figure out what to put on my team once and for all and no more of this doubting! Especially when I have to defeat at least one of the gyms here for their badge."

"Gee thanks!" She eagerly took the card from him.

"I've been trying to found out more about the Darkest Day and the sword and shield pokemon, but still no luck." She sighed before shaking her head. "I was hoping to investigate the Heroes Bath after studying the tapestries and castle ruins in Hammerlocke." Oh. So she had been there before. "And I haven't been able to get more intel on the strange discovery in Stow-on-Side since the Chairman's team is still researching and the area's become off limits to anyone who isn't the League or authorized. But I just ran into Gloria here and figured the rest of you couldn't be far behind her."

You chuckled. "Well you aren't wrong. I'm really sorry about all the dead ends stopping your work Sonia. I'm sure you'll get a break through somewhere." And you DID know since according to the game she does.

She smiled. "Well thank you, Y/n. It's much appreciated." Her blue eyes glanced behind you. "It's really nice ...." She paused staring right over your shoulder. "...to..see you...Wait."

You rose a brow. "What?" Your f/c eyes blinked in confusion when Sonia all of a sudden grabbed you and pushed you aside a bit as she moved behind you. Unintentionally making you bump into the table Hop was sitting at making him scramble to hold his hot coco out of harm's way as you gave her a look. "Sonia!?"

"Hold on!" She exclaimed back looking at a wall. But more importantly what was ON the wall. Which looked like half a tapestry. And in the very SAME art style and people on them from the Hammerlocke Vault!! "No way! What's this!?"

"Uh...A fifth tapestry??"

"The heroes!" She exclaimed pointing to both of the same men from the first tapestries. "Look..sad. And where are the sword and shield?" She hummed before scanning it more. "What was the meaning of this picture?" Ever the fast thinker wasn't she?

You pushed yourself from the table dusting your still slightly snow covered self off before shrugging. "Well those behind them look kinda like grave stones or some kind of sealed tomb." You pointed out pointing at the tapestry and Sonia squinted harder at where you were pointing. "This probably just means the end of the legend. Y'know. Where the hero finally gets to have peace after his long battle? It happens all the time in fairytales."

"You think so?," she asked giving you a glance. As you shrugged she looked back to the tapesry, or what seemed to remain of it, with her hand to her chin blankly staring at it. "....Didn't think I'd see something like this in Bob's Your Uncle. I guess it could be they passed on or that they were sealed away. Or maybe they've gone into some kind of sleep?"

"Well...I mean they call it 'rest in peace' for a reason."

"Well.." You flinched when Hop spoke, not expecting the boy to be studying the tapestry too. "Based on those statues we saw at Stow-on-Side, the sword and shield were actually two pokemon right?"

You rose a brow. "Since when did you see those statues back in Stow-on-Side?? You and Victor left before Bede's stunt."

"Gloria showed me pictures she took of it before you left. But it kinda dawned of me seeing those sword and shield symbols on them. Couldn't they have been pokemon?"

"That's right! That's my take on it at least."

"......Hey." She suddenly turned to Hopand blinked as he pointed to Gloria. "You remember the pokemon we met that day?" ...Gloria rose a confused brow as he spoke. "You remember. That weird giant blurry pokemon we met in the Slumbering Weald."

"Oh yeah! I've completely forgottin' 'bout that by now." She shivered. "Still gives me the heeby jeebies."

Hop chuckled a bit. "Do you think...it could've been one of them?" he gestured the hand holding his phone to her. "Either the sword or shield pokemon? The blurry fog monster we saw kinda looked like those pokemon statues in Stow-on-Side you showed us."

"You..." Sonia was slow to blink and look at Both the kids wide eyed as she talked. The only one who looked super confused was Victor who you guessed hadn't heard of the 'mysterious fog pokemon' bit. "Met them?! Like...Really REALLY met them!?"

"Come on. You know what I'm talking about right, Glory?"

She nodded, "Yep. Right before Lee bailed us out o' the Slumberin' Weald."

"Exactly! We told you too Sonia remember. The mad pokemon we ran into in the fog! Although..I can't remember seeing it too well. Don't you think that could've been it?", Hop pondered.

"Oh right! You lot have been in the Slumbering Weald!"

"Duh."

You gave Gloria a small tap to her shoulder as if to say 'Don't be rude.' "As much as I agree this is all strange, don't you all think you're jumping the gun here a bit? That could've been any big pokemon in the fog, and you said it yourself. You don't remember much of what it looked like. We shouldn't just make assumptions without proof."

Hop hummed. "I guess you're right. It'd be too much of a coincidence anyhow. But it's not an assumption, just a guess. Doesn't hurt to theorize ideas."

Sonia on the other hand smiled happily and held up her hands excitedly. "I only started on this journey because my gran told me to, but this is turning out to be so much fun! You've got to tell me more! How about we discuss this over a meal? Go on. What do you want to eat? Let's get our orders in!"

"Whoa! Hey there buckaroo!" She blinked when you grabbed her shoulder and she blinked. "As much as I love the food as much as the next person, maybe you should slow down there a bit. Didn't you just get here or something?"

...She gave a bashful face. "Oh yeah. R-Right. Sorry I must've gotten caught up in the moment. But hey! How about I treat you all to a nice curry and hot chocolate anyways? It'd be the least I could do for all the kindness you've shown me."

"I dunno. I don't wanna leave my Drizzilie in the hotel room for too long. I'm afraid he's gonna come looking for us if we're gone for too long and I don't want him outside in this weather."

"How about the sweet instant noodle curry they serve here?," Victor suggested as a compromise pointing to the counter the two men were currently cleaning, and the stack of supplies, food, and other things lining the wall behind them. "All they would have to do is poor hot water in it and it's the cheapest curry on the menu. Plus I don't like the spicy ones too much. I may hate the cold but I'm not up for burning my tongue."

Sonia nodded. "Quick and simple. Sounds like a good match to me!" She turned towards the two men and waved a hand gaining one's attention. "Yoo hoo. Sir! Five instant noodle curries and hot cocos please! Uh. Sweet wise." The man nodded before putting down the cloth he was wiping the counter with and turning to grab a few things from the shelf as Sonia gestured for the five of you to sit with Hop at the big table he was currently at. "While we wait, I'd love to hear about your experiences in the Slumbering Weald again. Maybe it'll help me piece together something."

"Sure!"

So the five of you at around the table as you all patiently heard Hop recount the entire events of the Slumbering Weald incident starting from the wooloo banging against the gate to the Slumbering Weald to when you all left it. In the middle of him retelling his your food was delivered by one of the men behind the bar and you gladly took it wanting something warm in your stomach before having to go back out in the cold, Gloria taking a quick picture of it before you all began eating it. It looked and smelt a lot like those instant ramen cups you'd sometimes had to resort to have for lunch back at home since money was tight with your mother working hard as a single mother now and you having to work summer, weekend, and afterschool jobs in your spare time to help with bills. If you didn't then she'd say you were being lazy with your music and games again...Anyways. It looked like instant ramen and was sprinkled with curry sauce. You were a bit doubtful of how it'd taste but when you ate it it wasn't that bad. It had a bittersweet kinda taste that wasn't too sweet or sour thanks to the sauce covering the noodles when you ate it, and it was a bit more like pasta than a curry. But you weren't going to complain about free curry and hot coco in this cold weather and neither was anyone else as they ate and listened to Hop, and then Gloria as she recounted her own point of view on the events which was pretty much Hop's as well but you all let her speak her mind. By the time she finished everyone had already finished eating and drinking their food even Hop who had gotten a second hot coco thanks to Sonia's generiousity.

"-and then Lee found us and marched us both back home where we met up with Y/n," Gloria finished pointing at you. "Mum was...not very happy about it all."

"Fascinating," Sonia commented thinking again, "All right." She suddenly stood up making all of you blink. "The next thing to do now that we're done eating is to have a look around Circhestester! Let's inspect the Hero's Bath."

"Huh? But we were just there. Wasn't anything that could be tied to your research," Victor said.

You shrugged as you stood up. "Well we were going to leave to go back to the hotel soon anyways. Let's go have a look since we'll have to go that way anyways."

Victor looked like he wanted to protest but sighed as his Best friend and twin also stood up to follow Sonia out the door. The cold outside nipped back at all of you as you tightened your scarf around your nose and mouth. Following Sonia back to the steaming waters of the spring under the town as you all entered back under the historical sight. Hop and Gloria looking out in awe at the place.

"The Hero's Bath, "Sonia commented looking around the place, "They say this is where the two heroes came to soothe their wounds after the battle to bring down that evil presence long ago. Nowadays only pokemon really use the Hero's bath though. Hmm. Who exactly were the heroes that bathed here? I think I'll have to look into that...Gloria! Hop!" She turned her head to shout at the two and both looked up from one of the carvings in the stone at her. "You two met a mysterious pokemon back in the Slumbering Weald. Perhaps...you two can become new heroes."

You blinked at her. Where did that come from?

Even Hop looked at her confused and skeptical. "What? Like some hero waving around a sword and shield? Psh. Pull the other one."....But he hummed. "Though...I guess I'd fancy a shield if I had to take my pick."

"Hm. What kind of battle do you think the heroes had back then?"

You shrugged and went to say something- "Why don't we show her, Glory?" Hop asked giving his friend a playful shove, "Think we can pull off a real heroic battle?"

Gloria giggled back before giving him her signiture determined look. "Oh I think that'd be just the thing ta warm up me bones!"

"Sonia treated us to a great meal. After all that curry I feel like I've got the energy to wrestle a bewear!"

Sonia returned her hands to her hips amused. " A battle now? I don't entirely understand your reasoning but I might as well see what you can do."

"FORG-G-GET IT!!", Victor yelled as you all looked at his shivering form turn on his heel and stomp off towards the hotel, "Y-Ya'll can battle if ye want! 'M headed inside the warm hotel!"

"..Hm. I'd hate to say this, but I think I getting get back too." You gave Sonia a look. "Thanks for the food. It was really good seeing you again, but I REALLY wanna go back and check on my drizzilie."

She nodded understanding. "Of course. I'd feel the same thing about Yamper if I was in your position."

You nodded before turning to the other two. "And you guys don't stay out here for too long. Come back when you're all done battling."

"We will!," Hop quickly agreed before pointing away from the Springs, "Time for a little exhibition match starring the future champion!"

With a wave to them all you all turned and jogged to catch up to Victor who was rubbing his arms and muttering to himself as he stomped his way back towards the hotel. And you didn't blame him, you wanted to get out of the cold too and see how your Drizzilie was doing. You two made your way across the town and into the familiar fancy hotel, through the elevator and immediately headed onto your own seperate rooms. You were kinda worried your pokemon might've wodnered out of the room but when you entered you found him in the same spot you left him in. Curled up on one of the beds and barely even opened an eye at you as you came back in gave giving a small thrum before curling back onto it's side away from you and going back to napping. Hmm...Maybe Hop was right about your drizzilie developing a new lazy habit. Or maybe it was because he was cold blooded or something like a snake and had a hibernation thing?? You shrugged it off and instead sighed as you finally had a moment to shed your winter coat and relax for a little bit, flopping onto the bed next to the napping pokemon who again barely moved as you did so. And you remained there eve when Gloria returned and you gave a small wave as a greeting.

"Hey. How was the battle?"

"Fine! Although I won Hop seems to finally have gotten out of the lil funk he was in thanks ta Bede!," she answered happily, " 'E's with Victor right now."

"Hey that's great to hear! It's good he's getting back into a healthier mindset."

"Yeah! I still can't wait ta see him compete in the champion finals this year! It's gonna be so much fun! I-....." She stopped talking for a second and then you heard frantic shuffling about and footsteps. With a sigh you turned your head up from the spot you were laying down at and was met with the sight of her shaking her coat upside down frantically over he bed as she looked worried. When nothing dropped from the coat she unceremoniously dropped it and whipped her head around back to you. "Y/N! My camera's gone!"

"..What?," you asked pushing yourself up as she patted herself down searching her pockets.

"Victor's camera he's lettin' me borrow!," she yelled sounding more concerned,"I was supposed ta give it back ta him once I finished fillin' me dex books!! He's gonna kill me!"

"Whoa! Hey!" You were quick to push yourself up into a sitting pose as you watched her start to likely panic. "Gloria!" She paused blinked wide eyed worried at you as you groaned standing off the bed and stretching out your back. "First you need to calm down." You held up a hand rubbing your back. "You probably just accidentally dropped it somewhere."

"WHERE!?"

"I have no idea." She looked worried again. That was probably the wrong thing to say apparently. "Whoa. Don't freak out on me here. Look. There's still plenty of daylight left. I'm sure if we just retrace your steps then we'll find it for sure. When's the last time you remembered having it?"

.....She blinked. "Uh! A-At the cafe! Then we went to the hero's bath."

You nodded. "Ok. Then let's go look over there and see if we can't find it ok?"

Gloria nodded and you sighed again. Looks like you all were going out yet again. You both quickly put your winter wear back on and out you went again. The winter weather nipping at you even colder now that it must've been about near sun down by how limited light there was too. There was still enough to clearly see the snow and all the surroundings but it was noticably colder as night drew nearer as you both stopped in front of the warm springs in the town square.

"A-Alright! 'Eere's the plan!," Gloria said pointing at you, "I'll go check the cafe you go check the bath. We'll cover more ground like that!"

You nodded wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. "Alright. But hurry, and keep an eye out in case you dropped it on the ground somewhere. Meet me back here as soon as you can."

She nodded and before you could get another word in she turned and scurried off towards the cafe area. After a moment to relax you sighed shaking your head and started walking off towards the Hero's Bath, making sure to scan the road and ground around you for any signs of a camera dropped in the snow. But you saw nothing as you looked around. Your footsteps crunched in the snow once again and you shivered rubbing your arms as you made your way towards the hero's bath still looking for it. Just when you thought you'd be able to rest for the rest of the day. You just wanted to find the darn thing and return back to the warm hotel. As you circled the large building needed to get to the Hero's Bath you paused blinking at the sight in front of you. Oh great what was it now? In front of the Hero's Bath was a small crowd of anywhere from fifthteen to about twenty people mostly women huddled around...something? Sure the Hero's Bath must've been a really cool historical sight to see but you didn't think such a crowd would gather here all of a sudden especially when it wasn't like this the other times you passed by it. Oh well. Right now you could care less and just wanted to find that darn camera and return to the hotel as soon as possible. Besides you could easily just walk around the happily chattering crowd without having to bother anyone. Get in, look around for a camera, get out, and then meet up back with Gloria. Easy enough. Or so you thought. With a sigh behind your scarf, you braced yourself and began walking your way over towards the crowd, and like you had suspected there was plenty of room to walk passed them, or so you thought again when a woman dressed in all while and with white hair suddenly appeared and you both ran right into each other. With the speed walk you were going it was impossible to stop on time before you collided with the white blur with a yelp. Stumbling back your foot slipped on some snow and down you went arms flailing landing on your bottom on the hard stone ground. Luckily you weren't hurt but you hissed and mumbled something under your breath at the feeling of the cold seeping into the back of your pants now.

"Oh my goodness gracious!," an older woman's voice exclaimed above you and when you looked up you were met with a woman who looked about the same age as your mom as she held her face in an 'Oh no' kinda pose as she looked at you. All decked out in white winter wear. "I'm so sorry, Young Lady. I didn't see you there."

You waved her off as more people turned their heads at the commotion. "Nah. It's ok. It's my fault I wasn't looking where I was going-," you had begun to say before another's voice much more louder and angrier sounding made you both look over.

"MOM!! What are you doin'!?," A man's voice shouted out as people parted and a guy who looked vaugely familiar marched his way forward. The man wore...Shades of all things in this not so sunny weather with a tan-ish coat thrown over himself and blonde-white hair that draped to just above his shoulders as he pushed his way through the small crowd of people until he stopped right in front of you and the woman. He looked right at your confused self still sitting on the ground for a moment before looking over at the woman with a deep frown. "Seriously!? Ya knocked one of my fans over?"

"I'm so sorry, Honey. Really I am," she said calmly as if she had all the patience of an ancient monk. "But it was an accident." Oh. So this must've been his mom. But what does he mean by fan?? You didn't even know this guy.

"Tch!," he scoffed before crossing his arms, "Yeah right. You crash all my events especially after I win against a gym challenger." Your eyes widened. ....Gym chall-..OH!! Now you remember! You looked between the two who had a resemblance now that you looked at them. Gym Leaders Melony and Gordie! So that's why he looked semi familiar to you. These were some of the few characters you actually remembered from your time playing the game! ..Oh. And they were known for fighting of course. "You're lucky you didn't cause her to hit her head during the fall!" You looked back up blinking wide eyed at him as he scowled at his mother. "Did you even apologise to her or were you just gonna forget that too?"

You stared wide eyed at him. Who says that to their own mother!? Through all this Melony just calmly and sadly watched him as he angrily spewed out. You WISH your mom was like Melony- "HEY!!" You were quick to try and rise to your feet stumbling a bit on the snow as you did. Rising up with your own frown behind the scarf covering your face and quickly dusting yourself off.

"Ah man. Are you alright there?," he asked holding his hand out. "Sorry about my mom-"

"Oh be quiet!" You bluntly said as you snapped your face to him, which combined with your sharp tone seemed to make him pause in the moment. "I know exactly who you are!! What is WRONG with you man!?" You couldn't help but shout at him. Well considering Gordie's only a side character who you wouldn't probably see again after Gloria defeated him, it would be ok to shout at him. Especially since you weren't in the game's storyline at the moment. So you jabbed him in the chest which made him blinked and take a couple steps back. "Of course your mother apologized to me but that's NOT the point! It was an accident and I happened to run into HER! Not the other way around!! Are you kidding me with your behavior right now, Gordie!? Don't you see what you're doing!?" You gestured towards Melony who looked shocked herself seeing you jab at her son. "You're yelling at your own mother who didn't do anything wrong in front of a bunch of your fans in public!? Are you trying to embarrass her or something!? Your mom's so much nicer than you!! Geez! What were those guys thinking!?"

"I-...W-Wha-" He sputtered but you shut him down real quick.

"NO! You're not allowed to talk to me! You know why? Because your mom's one of the nicest people in all of Galar!! DUDE GET OVER YOUR STUPID EGO!! You both had a fight like..years ago!? So WHAT?! You're running your own stadium you wanted and you have like loads of fans! Don't you think that bashing her in front of your fans would make her look bad!?....No. Scratch that." He blinked as you took a step forward and he stepped back. "It makes YOU look bad! SO I am NOT a fan of yours! I'm just here looking for a missing camera but even if I didn't I'd still feel bad for your mother! Don't you think the reason Melony makes an effort to be in your fan club and trying so hard to support you is her way of showing she cares about you and is actually sorry about the fight you two had!?" You shook your head. "Gosh. Your head must be thicker than a onix if you missed that!!"

There was silence all around as the once crowd of chattering people were all shocked and staring at you, Gordie, or Melony or looking between the three of you as Gordie just stared jaw dropped and making noises like a fish out of water as you scoffed and turned around. Melony watching with equal reaction to her son and even passing people who weren't a part of the crowd was staring right at you as you turned your back to him.

"So don't apologize to me. Because the only one you should be apologizing to is your poor mother." You gave him one last very SERIOUS look over your shoulder. "As someone who wished for a parent like her, you need to get a reality check man." You turned back to his shocked mother before sighing. "I'm really sorry about all this, Ma'am. But I gotta go. I have to meet up back with my friends."

With a new sour feeling that combined with your annoyance with the cold and falling down, without looking behind you, you turned on your heels and stomped off back towards where Gloria was headed when you both split up. You didn't feel like staying at the Hero's Bath any longer now with the eerie silent you left behind. Everyone watched after you as you disappeared....until a single THUNK sound broke the silence as Gordie's shades fell off his shocked face to the cold ground below.

#pokemon sword #pokemon shield #pokemon piers #pokemonswsh #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon piers x reader #Pokemon reader x piers #reader #piers x reader #reader x piers

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duhragonball · 3 years

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Hellsing Liveblog Ch. 35-40

This is the one-part “Xanado”, and the five-part “Final Fantasy”.

So last time, we saw a Millennium team led by Rip Van Winkle take control of a British aircraft carrier, which forced Hellsing to send Alucard to deal with the situation. He accomplished his mission, but now he’s stuck on the boat by himself, because vampires can’t cross running water. I suppose Hellsing would have arranged a second aircraft to pick him up, but they’ve got bigger problems on their hands. Just as Alucard finishes off Winkle, reports come in of communication breakdowns all over Great Britain. Military, intelligence, police, all out of reach. Integra recognizes this as Millennium’s next move. By taking out the communications networks, they ensure a clear shot for their invasion force to move in. But how did they pull this off?

Simple, they did it the same way they arranged all those vampire attacks during the summer, and the Valentine assault on Hellsing Manor, and the Brazillian Police raid on Alucard’s hotel suite, and Lt. Winkle’s takeover of the H.M.S Eagle. They convinced a bunch of Brits to betray their country in exchange for being turned into vampires. The only real surprise here is the sheer breadth of treachery this time around, as Millennium must have created dozens of sleeper agents throughout the country, each tasked with hijacking or sabotaging key defense systems. And Vice-Admiral Penwood’s command is no exception. Those a-holes who gave Integra a hard time earlier? Turns out they were in the tank for Millennium all along, and now that the invasion force has arrived, they’ve revealed their true colors. At first, they’re pretty thrilled to have captured Integra Hellsing herself, but she calmly informs them that they’re minor league vampires at best, and they’ve foolishly revealed themselves in the presence of expert vampire hunters.

And Walter calmly slices them all up with his magic wire powers. Cool.

But that’s not going to stop the one thousand vampire soldiers currently heading into British airspace. I think the most striking visual in this part of the story are the expressions of sheer excitement on these guys’ faces. They’re just so thrilled for what’s about to happen, and when you consider how long they’ve waited, it only makes sense. It’s almost infectious, until you recall just what it is they’ve come here to do.

Meanwhile, Alexander Anderson watches the Millennium blimps roll in. Oh, right, I forgot about him. Back in chapter 25 he was still in Brazil, trying to locate Millennium’s HQ, but all he found were human agents trying to stop him, which he found rather insulting. Then Maxwell contacted him to explain what he learned from the summit with Hellsing, and he ordered Maxwell to come to London in preparation for a great crusade. But unlike the Crusads of old, their enemy is not Allah, but Mars, since Millennium is so devoted to war. Anyway, Anderson’s here and ready to rock.

Meanwhile, the people of London finally spot these blimps rolling in, and it’s pretty horrifying stuff. We’ve already seen the carnage that can be wrought by a few vampires, and now it’s a thousand vampires, and they’re all Nazi soldiers to boot. The sense of dread here is just palpable.

Aboard the flagship (flagblimp?) the Major starts giving his men their orders, and they even have a stupid invasion handbook for the occasion. Warrant Officer Schrodinger lost his and has to share with the Captain. I suppose this is intended to alleviate the tension, except, no, it really doesn’t. These guys are all horrible monsters in every sense of the word, and they’re about to do awful, unspeakable things. Schrodinger’s comic relief moments only make it worse.

The Major gives an extra-long speech for the occasion, basically outlining all the buildings and people in London that he wants his men to destroy (tl;dr: “all of them”). He then assigns Lt. Zorin Blitz to take one of the blimps with a contingent of men and head for the Hellsing mansion on the outskirts of town. She figures that’ll be an easy gig, since Alucard is away, but the Major warns her not to underestimate Integra Hellsing or Seras Victoria. He doesn’t exactly explain his concerns about Seras, but the mere fact that she’s Alucard’s servant is probably reason enough to be mindful, and Integra is Alucard’s master, and she comes from a long line of vampire hunters, so the Major considers them both to be archenemies on the same level as Al himself, despite their inexperience.

So the Major explicitly orders Zorin to go to the mansion but not to attack. Her task is to observe an wait for the Major’s order. This will be important later.

Then the Major orders a bunch of V-1 and V-2 rockets launched at London. I mean, geez, were the hundreds of vampire soldiers not enough? Did he think he needed to soften the city up first?

Then the troops jump out of the blimp to begin their assault. They look like they’re parachuting down, but I don’t think any of them are wearing parachutes, since they shouldn’t need them. It’s almost pathetic the way they talk to each other with all of this professional military talk and congratulating each other on a successful landing. London is virtually defenseless and this is a slaughter, not a battle, but they’ve been psyched up for this for 55 years.

Back at Penwood’s base, Integra warns him to flee before the main invasion force arrives, but Penwood insists on remaining at his post. He confesses that he’s completely incompetent, and he only has this position because of his inherited title, but he refuses to abandon his duty, since that’s the only honorable thing he can do. Integra leaves him a gun with silver bullets and wishes him well as she heads for her own duty. Penwood orders his men to evacuate, but they refuse, since Penwood can’t actually operate any of the equipment here.

So now we get an extended sequence of Milennium marching through London, basically sacking the city and slaughtering anyone they meet. This is accompanied by the lyrics to “Akuma Stocking” which I think was used in the anime adaptation as well. There’s a lot of gory scenes here, but the three main visuals that stuck with me in the anime are these:

First, this motherfucker eating a baby.

Second, all the Londinian civilians they bite end up rising up and transforming into ghouls, who then join in the slaughter. It’s easy to forget about ghouls at this point, but Millennium never forgot. Their artificial vampires can’t turn virgins into new vampires, and I think that may be by design. They were counting on their victims rising up to compound the horror.

Third, just a lot of bayonet-usage going on here. You’d think they’d be content to bite and shoot people, but these guys seem to enjoy hoisting up their prey to show them off. It’s a horrific nightmare and there’s no end in sight.

Integra and Walter speed home as fast as they can, but they stop to take out a Millennium soldier in a shootout with London police. She can’t save the cops, but she does avenge them.

Back at the Naval base, Penwood sends out a final transmission as he expects the enemy to enter his post at any moment. His men are all dead, with the last one shooting himself to avoid becoming a ghoul. He tells anyone who can hear him to resist and do their duty. Then he recalls his first meeting with the young Sir Integra. Back then, he found it ridiculous that a 12 year old should be in charge of Hellsing, but she quickly puts him in his place, and established that she would be asking him for favors from then on.

But Penwood won’t be granting any favors to the Kraut bastards who storm his post. Instead he sets off the explosives they set up earlier and I guess they all die together. I wouldn’t have thought an explosion would kill these vampires, but they are a lot less formidable than Dandyman or the Valentines. Luke couldn’t regenerate his foot, for example.

When Integra shot that one vampire, she gave away her position, and now Millennium is on her trail. Just when it seems they have a clear shot at escape, someone blocks their path, and Walter tells Integra to take the wheel and find another route. He’s going to stay behind to fight this guy, but he doesn’t think he can hold him off for long.

Integra does as he asks, but orders him to return alive “at all costs.” Hmm.

Walter uses his wire power, but it turns out this is the Captain, and he’s apparently powerful enough to foil his attack. Walter recognizes him, presumably from when he and Alucard fought the proto-Millennium in the 1940s.

And then the Major flies along in his blimp and confirms it.

Meanwhile, Integra gives the Last Battalion a merry chase, but eventually she crashes the car and seems to be cornered. One asshole tries to get closer to finish her off, but she decapitates him with her sword.

His comrades accuse her of being a “sore loser” and tell her to give up, but she mocks them all for being cowards who surrendered their humanity. She’s hardcore, she’s hardcore.

But before she can fight all these vampires alone, somebody comes along and throws a bunch of blessed bayonets at them. These did a number on Alucard and Seras, but they didn’t cause any lasting harm. Seras was even able to pull them out without too much trouble. But this shithead just disintigrates on the spot. Remember, the Last Battalion’s main advantage is their number. Individually, they’re not terribly impressive, at least as vampires go.

But yeah, it’s Alexander Anderson, along with his two sidekicks, Heinkel Wolfe and Yumiko Takagi, the stars of Kouta Hirano’s earlier manga, “Cross-Fire”. We’ve seen Heinkel in Hellsing before, but I think this is Yumie’s debut here. They chastise Anderson for interfering, since they were only sent to observe, but Anderson is too fired up by Integra’s fighting spirit, and he wants to kill some vampires, dammit.

Turns out there’s quite a few of these Iscariot guys here, maybe all of them, but Anderson starts doing a whole routine with them, as they chant all this stuff about how they’re assassins in the tradition of Judas, the disciple who betrayed Christ. I’m not sure I get much of this, but it’s nice that Hirano put some thought into Section XIII as the super-secret death squad of this fantasy version of the Vatican.

And that’s all we have for now.

#2021 hellsingliveblog #hellsing #sir integra hellsing #alexander anderson #walter c dornez #seras victoria #sir shelby penwood #the major #the doctor #warrant officer shrodinger #the captain #zorin blitz #heinkel wolfe #yumiko takagi

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chickensarentcheap · 3 years

Text

Never Gonna Be Alone- Chapter 33

Title: Help

Warnings: none

Tagging: @c-a-v-a-l-r-y, @innerpaperexpertcloud, @alievans007, @miss-smutty, @tragiclyhip

She stands in the sunroom; watching the activity outside as a mug of whiskey infused hot chocolate wars the palms of her hands. The chapped and flushed cheeks of Declan and Tanner; their conversation rapid and excited as they team up to bury Takota in the snow. The four year old on his back in the middle of the yard; already covered to his armpits and giggling hysterically as his brothers continue to cover him in a deep and heavy blanket of white. Addie and Brooklyn both weighed down in their bulky snow boots and layers of winter wear, lounging in the middle of a plastic sled; mittened hands wildly gesturing as they both girls bark orders at their father and oldest brother. TJ listens intently; lips pursed together and his blue eyes a striking contrast against the black of both his jacket and the beanie pulled low onto his forehead. Giving a small smirk and an incredulous shake of the head before returning to the task at hand; constructing one of several snow mounds dotting the backyard that the two girls have been using to sled down. Tyler looms over them with his hands planted firmly on his hips and a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth; seeming monstrous in size compared to his tiny charges attempting to boss him around. All long legs and torso and wide shoulders; the sleeves of a once baggy and ill fitting snowboarding jacket now tight across the back and chest and around his biceps.

He’s put on fifteen pounds in the last year alone; solid muscle concentrated solely in the upper body. It had been a struggle after the incident five years ago; finding it easy to put extra weight on, but not actually keep it there. Throwing himself into a high calorie and protein diet and a faithful and rigid workout routine; two hours in the morning, an hour and a half in the evening, six days a week. Desperate to repair his body and get some semblance of his old self back; directly tying his abilities and skills to his size and finding his confidence waning when he just couldn’t seem to make any REAL progress. It had been the one thing he could rely on for years; punishing his body in the gym and seeing legitimate results in not only his physique, but in the increasingly brutal and efficient way he could handle his opponents. So it had been a blow to his ego when recovery hadn’t gone according to plan. Setbacks with his right knee keeping him out of the gym even longer than he’d hoped, then not able to push himself like he was accustomed to once he WAS given the green light to totally commit.

It’s a hard pill to swallow; seeing yourself as nothing more than a remnant...a shell...of the person you’d been before your entire world had been turned upside down. Nathan had taken so much for him that he’d been desperate to get even the smallest bits and pieces back; relying on his body to return to normal because he knew his mind never would. It had been disheartening for both of them; Tyler’s frustration in his lack of progress turning into irritability and anger that he would unfortunately project onto the people closest to him. She had tried convincing him that he was doing much better than anyone -even the team of specialists that had first cared for him in Dhaka- had ever expected him to. Constantly pointing out that it was a marathon, not a sprint; he had years ahead of him to get to where he wanted and there was no reason to punish his body and rush things and take the risk of injuring himself even further. Pointing out time and time again that even though his life had been spared, he had been dangerously close to not only losing his leg, but quite possibly never walking again. The operation could have easily failed. The bullet shifting and severing his spinal cord before surgeons could even open him up, or even the smallest of slips while on the table causing instant paralysis.

For a few days, all of her reasonings and her explanations would be enough to see him through. His confidence uplifted and ignited; growing stronger every time she assured him that she loved him and desired him in ways that she’d never felt for anyone else before. She didn’t care what he looked like; muscles or no muscles, thin or thick. He was alive and he WAS thriving despite the negative ways he saw himself. He WAS progressing and he’d continue to do so, and shouldn’t get discouraged or feel as if he was a failure and that he never got back to where he was before. But then his brain would launch an attack against him; those cruel whispers of degradation that always seemed to overrule all of the praise and the compliments that she heaped upon him. His weakened and vulnerable mind preying on him; reminding him of all his past mistakes and the broken promises and telling him that he WAS a monster. A man who’d left his dying son because he’d been too afraid to watch his boy’s suffering and eventual demise. Who’d lied to his wife and gone back into the job at a time when she’d needed him the most; heavily pregnant with twin sons, one of them battling the odds even in utero and there being no guarantee that he’d survive once he was brought into the world. A husband that had been so afraid of being a failure as a father and a spouse that he’d sought an escape; easily slipping back into alcoholism and drug addiction as a means of coping. All the hangovers that had seen him unable to get out of bed on birthdays; missing school plays and meet the teacher nights and even forgetting his own third wedding anniversary because he’d simply been too damn drunk and stoned. His mental illness reminding him of the arguments they’d had during that time; the holes he’d punched in walls, the times he’d grabbed her by the arms or shoulders and left bruises behind, all the horrible and hurtful things that he’d said to her. The heartbreak that he’d caused her and the tears that he’d caused her to shed; kicked out of his own home when it simply became too much for her to bear and she refused to allow him and his behaviour around their three children.

Despite always being easy to love, there’s been times he hasn’t been an easy person to live with. When she’d tired of the constant battle against the ghosts and the demons of his past; feeling as if her love for him and her loyalty were simply never enough. As if it were something SHE lacked. Was she not trying hard enough? Was she not showing how much she loved him in the ways she thought she was? Was she HERSELF not enough for him? Or was she simply lacking the strength and the patience and necessary skills and knowledge to be the wife that he wanted AND needed.

Therapy had made her realize that it was -and likely never would be- about her. The guilt and the grief and the regret so powerful and all consuming that he simply couldn’t get past all of it. At least not on his own. His ferocious level of independence and stubbornness creating a wedge between them; his worries that he was burdening her and that she would see him as weak and vulnerable causing him to draw even further into himself. It wasn’t that he couldn’t trust her; he loved her with a passion and intensity that he had confessed to never feeling before, and knew that both his heart, mind, body, and LIFE were safe with her. He simply couldn’t trust himself; the fear that he wouldn’t be the man that she needed, wanted, and deserved. He was terrified of failing her and his children; not living up to their expectations causing him to seek out the old habits and vices as a form of escape.

Despite previous attempts at marriage counselling, it hadn’t been until Doctor Klein had been thrust into their lives that they began seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. They were BOTH mentally exhausted; tired or doing constant battle with the mistakes of their past and worn out from carrying so much baggage on their own. Finally someone was making the effort and taking the time to work with BOTH of them; separately and together. Forcing them to confront not only the most painful and traumatizing events during their childhoods and adult lives, but the things that they didn’t particularly like about each other. Habits that were annoying, behaviour that was impossible to look past or accept, things they would do that unknowingly and unintentionally hurt the other.

Once they were able to open up about those things, everything else seemed to come so much easier; suddenly able to create lists of the things they admired and loved most about one another, the big -and little- things that initially attracted them to each other, their shared hopes and dreams as husband and wife. Acknowledging the individual abuse and the hurt of the past had been the key to actually being able to see a bright future TOGETHER. Being able to own up to their own mistakes had been what they’d desperately needed; the courage to apologize for the times they’d wounded one another, whether intentional or not.

While it had solved their initial issues and helped make their bond and their love and respect for each other much stronger, they’d agreed to continue with the therapy. Finding it helpful in ways they’d never thought of or expected. Teaching them how to keep the lines of communication open; rationally and logically dealing with problems that arose instead of letting their tempers and feelings take over. Actually hearing what the other is saying as opposed to just listening and waiting for the chance to respond. Reminding them just being husband and wife wasn’t enough; their relationship and their bond extending far beyond spouses and two people raising children together. They had to take the time and make the effort; nurture their relationship and rediscover the magic and the romance and not just rely on lust as the foundation to further build things on. They had to acknowledge what other roles they played in each other’s lives; one other’s confidants and keeper of one another’s secrets and companions and best friends. Date nights and those walks on the beach and the conversations that accompanied them being the two things to concentrate on; taking advantage of every possible opportunity to be alone and then savouring every minute of it.

“Woo her like you’re still trying to win her. And never stop doing that,” Doctor Klein had stressed during one visit. And while they’d both laughed about it at the time, it had in fact turned out some of the best advice they’d ever been given. Tyler wholeheartedly throwing himself into the practice; enjoying spoiling her -whether it be expensive and elaborate things, or something so small and meaningful- and developing those little ideas and moments of romance that she enjoyed the most. Staying sincere with his compliments and his praises and his devotions of adoring; never failing to say ‘I love you’ before bed or every time he walked out the door. Coming up with the idea of ‘mummy and daddy’ getaways; whether it was their road trips while the kids were in school or weekends away to the long refurbished ‘cabin’ in The Kimberley, or the seven to fourteen day vacations they’d take twice a year.

The old adage ‘actions speak louder than words’ soon proved to be true. Once he began putting in real effort and showing her that she came before the business and anything to do with the job, things began to change. He became more attentive and affectionate as a husband; determined to be the man that she needed, wanted, AND deserved. Once telling her that his primary goal was to “treat her great and dick her down even better.” Wanting to be the guy that made her forget about everyone else that came before him. Determined to make sure that she would never, EVER, want anyone other than him.

She watches him now. That grin playing on his lips as Addie and Brooklyn attempt to boss him around and the way he teases them in return; their squeals and shrieks when he playfully kicks snow in their direction and they respond by lobbing handfuls at his legs. The weather is cold and crisp; turning his cheeks and the tips of his ears red. Errants flakes gather on the shoulders of his jacket and in his hair; the darker tresses and the fuller, thicker beard a striking contrast against a landscape of pure, almost blinding white. Despite the drama of the night before -both involving her mother and his confession about the worsening issues with his eyesight- he looks healthy and relaxed for the first time since returning from Cambodia. The smile he gives his two littlest girls is genuine, and she knows that behind the lenses of the simple aviator sunglasses he sports, the corners of his have crinkled in a mixture of happiness and amusement.

The presence of the shades is disheartening; the sun not big enough of a threat to cause too much of a glare off the snow. It isn’t as blinding and bothersome as normal, and the sunglasses serve as a reminder that things aren’t going as well as they seem. His eye bothering him more than he’s willing to acknowledge; trying his best to downplay the seriousness and to put on a brave and happy face for her and the kids.

****

“Big E!” Desi calls from the kitchen, nursing his own whiskey and hot chocolate combination as he tends to packing away the ridiculous amount of brunch leftovers. “We’re runnin’ out of storage options around here. And there’s a lot more to go.”

She tears herself away from the window. The longer she watches, the heavier the worry and ache in her heart become. Nothing good ever comes out of dwelling; long ago learning that all the fretting in the world never changes the present, or the outcome of a situation. But it’s a difficult and bitter pill to swallow; the person you love constantly having to struggle and fight when they deserve nothing more than physical rest and mental peace. Tyler long ago made amends. Nearly losing his life on the Sultana Kamal Bridge and the months of painful and arduous healing his repentance for past misdeeds. He’d been a different person then; haunted and broken and desperate to escape the enormous amounts of grief, regret, and self loathing that were weighing him down.

When he talks about those dark and desolate times in his life, he always mentions that he’d been too much of a coward to take his own life; chickening out of pulling the trigger himself and hoping and praying with every job he took that a sniper would do it for him. She prefers to look at it a different way. Telling him that it was strength and courage that kept him from issuing a permanent solution to a temporary problem. And that maybe...just maybe….a voice deep inside of him was telling him he needed to stick around; something or someone was out there that would come along and help ease his burdens and make him feel alive again. He always smiles when she says it; that sweet, thoughtful smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes but is testament to all the love and awe that he possesses for him. Cradling her face in his palms; thumbs grazing across the tops of her cheeks before he presses a long, lingering kiss to her forehead.

Love doesn’t always need words. Sometimes, it’s better communicated through touch. The beauty and simplicity behind each movement never failing to take her breath away.

“Lots left,” Desi laments, an arm sweeping over the island and gesturing towards the enormous spread of leftover food. “Tons. Way too much. I know you got a small army to feed, but…”

“You’d be surprised how much those kids can actually put away. Especially TJ and Declan. And I know Brookie is tall as hell and practically skin and bones, but there’s days she eats like a grown man. I just look at food and it goes straight to hips and my ass. My kids? Fast metabolisms. And they did NOT get that from me.”

“Why you complaining about your hips and your ass? They look fine to me. Not that I make it a habit of looking. Just every once in a while, I risk a peek. You got some junk in the junk, girl. And it’s all good junk.”

“Don’t be too sure it’s all good. You’ve never seen me with my clothes off.”

“Sadly, no. But it is on my bucket list.”

“Be careful what you wish for. Trust me, you’d have nightmares.” Taking a swallow of hot chocolate, she grimaces at the strength of the whiskey and then wanders into the pantry. Locating an unopened box of plastic food storage containers on the far wall, she has to climb in order to reach them; easily navigating the first two shelves and giving a tiny shriek of victory when she manages to grab a hold of the sought after items.

“I think you’re too hard on yourself,” Desi says when she rejoins him. “You’re not just all pretty little packaging. I’m sure the item itself is in damn good condition. I notice your hot as fuck as husband doesn’t have eyes for anyone else.”

“He’s the most biased man on earth and fiercely loyal. Trust me, things are a mess. And not a hot one either. I’ve had seven kids, Des. Do you know what one baby does to your body, never mind seven? Not to mention I’ve carried two inside of me. Twice. And I squeezed out a ten and a half pounder. Naturally. My hips and my vagina have never been the same. Things do not look like they used to, believe me.”

“Your husband begs to differ. I know I shouldn’t be telling tales out of school, but he’s pretty crazy about you. A damn fool in love, as my grandmother used to say. My folks were married for almost sixty years, and up until his very last day on this earth, my dad was looking at my mom like she was the most beautiful woman in the entire universe. That’s how your man looks at you. Like no other woman exists. I just mention your name or you just walk in the room and it’s all in his face; that little smile he gets, the way his eyes light up. And it’s damn beautiful. Seeing a man love his woman that much. He ain’t even afraid to show it. He doesn’t give a shit who notices it. He’s proud of it. Proud of YOU. That of all the guys in the world, you chose him.”

Smiling, she snags a knife from the butcher block and uses it to slice open the seal on the box. “I would choose him a million times over. In a million different lifetimes, in a million different ways, I’d choose him. I would find him, and I would choose him. No one else exists. Just Tyler. And no one else ever will.”

“And that’s why things work so well. Between the two of you. Neither of you give a shit about anyone else. Thirsty moms on the playground? Guys grabbing your ass at the grocery store…”

Esme smirks. “He told you about that?”

“That and the guy who followed you home from the post office.”

“Both those things happened YEARS ago. He needs to get a grip. I mean, the whole possessive thing CAN be charming, but he tends to go a little overboard. I don’t know if he’s just insanely protective or if he’s more self conscious than I realize or…”

“It’s because he loves you. It’s got nothing to do with being self conscious or protective. Maybe it has a little do with possession; you’re his wife and the mother of his kids and he sees you as his. SOLELY his. And he doesn’t like the idea of anyone or anything threatening that fact.”

“So he doesn’t trust me is what you’re saying.”

“Not what I’m saying at all, Big E. He trusts you. Trusts you with his heart, his life, his kids’ lives. He worries about what other people are capable of. Doesn’t like them getting too close to you. I think he’s got a reason to worry about stuff like that. Considering his past and all the people he’s pissed off. And let’s not pretend you’ve got the cleanest track record, you’ve burnt a lot of bridges and stepped out on a lot of toes too. Pissed off the wrong people.”

“I’ve been out of the game long enough that there’s no one looking for me. As far as a lot of them are concerned, I died on that bridge thirteen years ago. That’s what they’ve been led to believe at least.”

“I think he’s got all the reasons in the world to worry. To be as protective as he is. You’re his everything. The center of his universe. You’re precious to him. And he doesn’t want anything or anyone messing with that.”

A grin tugs at the corners of her mouth as she spoons left over frittata into one several of the containers. “Boy, you two talk a lot more than I ever realized. You know how rare that is, right? Tyler opening up like that? Especially when he’s sober. He has been, hasn’t he? Sober?”

“Of course he has. Quit that shit a long time ago. Didn’t he? Knock that off? The drinking?”

“He’s had his moments lately,” she admits. “But that’s to be expected. I mean, once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic, right? It never disappears. There’s always that threat. The temptation will always be around. You just have to hope that he doesn’t fall for it.”

“You have reason to believe he will? Fall for it?”

“He’s struggling.” It’s painful to admit out loud. And feels almost as if it’s a betrayal; talking about things that go on behind closed doors and have little to no importance in the lives of others. But it’s a heavy weight to carry; the fear and the worry and uncertainty. “With a lot of things. He’s been having a little bit of a crisis.”

Both Desi’s brows shoot up. “He’s having one or he’s IN one?”

“I don’t know, Des. I’m not entirely sure. All I DO know is that going to Laos and Cambodia was the worst thing he ever could have done. There’s things he heard when he was there that hit a little too close to home. Things involving women and children. And they bothered him a lot more than he thought they would. He’s having a hard time letting them go.”

“They set things off? With the bipolar?”

She nods. “It started the first night home. Trouble sleeping, his anxiety acting up more than usual, dwelling on things that are beyond his control and will likely never...EVER...happen. He’s having nightmares and waking up in the middle of panic attacks. And he hasn’t been THAT bad in a long time. It’s been three years since he’s had a dream about what happened the last time we were in Dhaka. Now he’s had them every night for eight days. Sometimes two or three times a night.”

“And there’s nothing that can be done? No meds he can take or…?”

“He’s taking all the meds he possibly can and still function normally. I don’t know if his body has just gotten used to them and he needs to go onto new ones or maybe he just needs higher doses of what he’s already on. And we can’t do any of that until we get home and see the doctor. So in the meantime, he struggles. And tries to fix things the only way he knows how.”

“He been drinking:?”

“He called me while he was gone. Said he drank half a bottle of Scotch. Admitted that he felt like utter shit about it, but still wanted to drink more. He didn’t think he could cope without it. Took me three hours to talk him down. To convince him NOT to get shit faced. And I reminded him; I’m not going to live with someone like that and neither are my kids. I meant what I said five years ago; he stays clean and sober or we’re gone. Believe me, that is the last thing he wants. And it’s the last thing I want. I don’t want to leave him. I don’t want to take his kids from him. I don’t want to break his heart or theirs. Or my own for that matter. But I can’t do it; I can’t live with him when he’s like that. I tried.”

“It’s a hard thing; dealing with someone with addiction issues. Saw it in my own family a couple times. They tried to get things together but it just got to be too much. Can’t help someone that isn’t willing to help themselves, know what I’m saying?”

“When he fell off the wagon in Colorado, I tried so hard to hold shit together. The kids were just little. Millie had just started pre-school and Tanner and TJ were still in the toddler stage. I hadn’t even gotten pregnant with Declan yet. He wasn’t even a twinkle in my eye. I’d had the miscarriage and Tyler held it together for the first few months afterwards and then just...I don’t know...it just went bad. So bad.”

“Probably broke him a lot more than he let on. Losing a baby like that.”

“And back then? We weren’t anywhere close to where we are now. Now we get through things together; he doesn’t shut himself down and try to handle shit on his own. We’ve learned how to communicate; logically and rationally and without freaking out and saying shit that will hurt one another. But back then? He was a mess. We BOTH were. And I thought I could live with him and his issues. I put it up with the hangovers and the drunken rages and heartbroken kids because he couldn’t get out of bed on their birthdays. Or the time he missed Christmas because he was on a four day bender in Guadalajara and couldn’t he even be bothered to answer his phone or text me back. I held in as long as I could. I guess I thought I could change him. Instead, I gave up and kicked his ass out. I won’t go through all of that again. No matter how much I love him. I just can’t.”

“Love can’t fix everything, Big E. It just can’t. And sometimes it ISN’T enough. No matter how much we want it to be.”

“And I do. I DO love him. More than I ever thought I could possibly love another human being. We’ve made seven children together and we have this incredible life in the most beautiful and perfect of places and we’re happy. HE’S happy. But…” her voice quivers with emotion. “...I can’t live like that. If he goes back to the drinking. I won’t have kids around that. I refuse. I love him, but I need to love me and my children more. And if I have to go…”

“Don’t get that far ahead of yourself. You don’t know that things are headed in that direction. People slip. It happens. And normally they slip more than once. Doesn’t mean he’s going to switch back to being the guy he used to be. He doesn’t want that. He doesn’t want to be THAT guy. That’s a man that loves his family beyond all comprehension. He’s not going to fuck things up and lose everything and everyone that means something to him.”

“It just puts me on edge, you know?” Snapping the last container closed, she slides it across the granite and then turns to lean back against the edge of the countertop; arms crossed over her chest and fingers reaching up to clear wayward tears off her cheeks. “Because we’ve been through this. Not just slips, but full out train wrecks. Where he’s gone back to the drinking and the pain meds and everything just imploded. We spent six months apart. Half a year of waiting for him to get his shit together and fight for his family. And then five years ago he had a setback; booze AND pain meds. We somehow managed to get through that too. Mind you, he almost died and that put a quick end to things and we never had to actually deal with them.”

“And you’ll get through it this time,” Desi assures her. “If there IS a ‘this time’.”

“I don’t know how much more I can take. How much more I can worry and stress myself out. Because let’s face it, I’ve got my own issues and the longer I keep putting them off? What if they get past the point of being able to do anything about them? I won’t be of any use to ANYONE then, will I. My husband will suffer, my kids will suffer…”

Desi sidles up beside her, palms on the countertop behind him and one ankle crossed over the other. “Do you ever tell him about those things? The stuff that is going on with you?”

“He knows I have depression. That I most likely have PTSD. I mean, he lives with me. We’ve shared a home and a bed for the past twelve and a half years. Who’s the one that has to hold down the fort and take care of the kids when I’m too depressed to even get out of bed?”

“But does he know how bad it’s been LATELY. I’m not talking about the past. I’m talking about RIGHT NOW.”

“Trust me, it is not a good time to be talking about any of that.”

“You’re his wife. It’s always a good time.”

“Tyler can’t handle my stuff on top of his. He has limits. And I know when he shouldn’t test them. He doesn’t need my crap dumped onto him. Besides, I’m always like this at Christmas. I’m always extra neurotic and anxious and…”

Dropping his chin into his chest, Desi stares at her pointedly.

“Okay, maybe I’m not THIS extra neurotic and anxious. And yes, I’m having a rough time. And I’ve been having a rough time for a couple months now. But I’m dealing with it. I’m handling it. On my own. Tyler doesn’t need to know.”

“Esme…”

“He DOESN’T need to know,” she stresses. “And you won’t tell him. Tell me you won’t tell him. PROMISE me.”

Desi sighs. “Big E…”

“Nothing good will come of you telling him. You know what will happen? He’ll blame himself. He’ll say that he’s the reason I have the issues that I do. I know him, Des. Better than he knows himself. And he will internalize everything and he will blame himself and then all that guilt and regret will creep up and it will eat away at him. Until it makes things so much worse. Don’t do that; make things worse for him.”

He scowls. “Don’t YOU do that. Don’t guilt trip me.”

“I’m not trying to guilt you. I am trying to protect my husband. He is this close…” she holds her thumb and forefinger an inch apart. “...to going into a real, legit, crisis and I do not want that happening. That’s why I am asking you...no, I’m begging you...not to tell him. Let me at least help him get his issues settled before I dump mine into his lap. That’s all I’m asking. Some time. To help him get past what’s going on with him.”

“I won’t say anything,” Desi assures her. “But you have to promise that you WILL tell him. When things get settled. Promise me that you won’t let this go. That once he’s got his issues squared away, you let him know what’s going on. Because he’s damn good at shelving his shit to take care of you. And he deserves to help YOU for a change.”

“I WILL tell him,” she promises. “I just need time. To help get through his shit. Once we’re home and he’s seen the doctor and things are figured out, I WILL talk to him.”

“Good.” Draping an arm across her shoulders, he pulls her into him; lips meeting her temple in a loud, resounding smack. “You know, for a tiny little thing? You’re strong. And fierce. So damn fierce.”

“Do you really think Tyler would have wanted me if I wasn’t? Could you honestly see him with a weak woman? Someone meek and mild and submissive?”

“Nope. He needs a woman that stands her ground. Not someone that will just bend and back down. Someone that can handle the life and everything that comes with it. Someone that can handle HIM. And you? You just hang in there and keep going. You don’t give up on him. No matter how hard he makes things sometimes.”

“I love him. And he’s worth it. All the hard work, all the tough times, all the tears, all the worry. He’s worth it. He always HAS been.”

“And not many women would have seen that. That he WAS worth it. You probably saw what no one else did. And I bet he’s damn thankful for that.”

“Most days I think he is,” she smiles. “Other days I drive him batshit insane and I’m sure he wants to strangle me. And not in the fun, sexy way either.”

A slow grin spreads across Desi’s face. “You’re into that sort of thing, huh? Little thing like you?”

“I’m into a lot of things people think I wouldn’t be into. But yeah, we indulge. A lot. In the rougher side of things.”

“How does he not break you in half? Or snap your neck? I’ve seen the size of hands. And I mean, he’s KILLED people with them..”

“He knows what he’s doing. I highly doubt he’s choking me in the same way he’s strangled bad guys. It’s a little different, Des. The technique. And I trust him. He wouldn’t do anything to put me in danger. Or anything I wasn’t comfortable with.”

“Well I know he’s good at what he does. The walls are pretty thin, you know. How do you think I knew his first name before introductions were ever made?”

A blush creeps into her cheeks and settles at the tips of her ears, and giving an embarrassed laugh, puts a hand over her face. “I can be a little...loud.”

“You don’t say. Now I have to ask, you being loud? Is that a legit thing or are you just trying to stroke his ego or…?”

“No, it’s legit. It’s as real as it gets. And not to feed into your fantasies about him, but my husband is very talented. Very skilled. In many ways. With many body parts. In almost thirteen years, I have never ONCE had to fake it with him. Before I met Tyler, I thought the g-spot and squirting were both bullshit. Oh no, they are very real. And he proved it. Those first five days were a real eye opener. I learned A LOT.”

Desi gives a slow nod of approval. “That’s my boy. I could tell you know. First time we all met. I knew just by looking at him. That that was a man who knew what he was doing. In the bedroom.”

“Bold of you to assume we keep things in the bedroom. That’s actually our least used spot.”

Frowning, he casts a glance over his shoulder. “Should I be watching where I put my hands or…?”

“You’re safe. We haven’t christened the kitchen. At least not the kitchen like it is now. But when we first bought the place? When we knew we were going to gut it and reno it and we came out for a week to figure out what we wanted to do with everything? We DEFINITELY christened it then.”

“You two are dirty, you know that?” He nudges her playfully with his elbow. “Desmond Brownell approves. So for curiosity’s sake, what’s the most used room in the house?”

“I don’t know. Back home, it’s definitely the laundry room, Tyler’s office, and the gym. If we’re talking about here, it’s a toss up; between the living room and the gym.”

“Gym I can definitely understand. Getting all hot and bothered while he’s in there doing his thing. He’s all sweaty, muscles are bulging and glistening and…” Desi sighs dreamily. “....I don’t blame you one bit.”

“I do NOT need to hear about your sexual fantasies involving my husband. I have enough of my own, believe me.”

“Yeah but you get to live yours out. Me? I get to use my imagination. And the noises you make.”

“Oh my god…” she groans, and covers her face with both hands. “...I am NEVER making noise EVER again. Tyler is going to be so disappointed. He says the noises are the biggest turn on. Lets him know he’s doing a good job. From now on, I’m just going to lie there and be very, very quiet.”

“Don’t quit on my behalf. I’m with him. It IS a turn on. I know what it does for me personally and I’m all the way next door.”

“Desi…” she laughs into her palms. “...goddamnit...I don’t need to hear this! I don’t need to know that you...you know...while Tyler and I are….you know….”

He chuckles and playfully ruffles her hair. “What are you so embarrassed about? We’re all adults here. How can you be embarrassed about THAT? Especially when you just admitted you like being choked and earlier you told me that last night you took it up the…”

“Stop! Please stop. I can’t talk about this. I shouldn’t be talking about it. Especially about that last thing. I can talk about it with him, but with other people? No. Just no.”

“What’s so wrong about talking about it? Or enjoying it? You ask me, you’re damn brave. I’ve seen him in those sweatpants. I see what he’s going on down under. And for you do THAT? Twice? No wonder you’re walking funny.”

“Oh God…” Esme laughs even harder; snorting into her palms before moving them away from her face. “...I can’t believe I’m the type of woman that enjoys that sort of thing. I swore I would never, EVER, let a man even think about it, never mind try it. And now here I am, making it a common thing.”

“A common thing? You serious right now? It’s common?”

“Almost as common as normal sex. Holy shit…” she giggles and brushes tears of amusement and embarrassment from her cheeks. “...third day into Dhaka and I was giving it up. I was letting him go where no man ever had gone before.”

“Only three days in? What…?”

“I actually ASKED him to do it. I have no self control when it comes to him. I never have. I wanted to text him for a booty call the first night I met him. I almost banged him before we even got right into Dhaka. What’s happened to me? How did I become this person? How did I go from little to no sexual experience to this?”

“You got really good dick is what happened to you. Still as good as it was back then?”

“Still as good. If not better. He’s like a fine wine; gets better with age. Do NOT tell him we talked about this. He won’t be embarrassed, but he will be insanely proud of himself and it will feed his ego and I’ll never hear the end of it. Especially the butt stuff. He will use that against me and I will never, ever, walk right again.”

“Your secret's safe with me,” Desi assures her. “It’s true; the little ones are the kinkiest and dirty ones.”

“Holy shit…” she reaches for her long abandoned mug of hot chocolate and downs the remains. “...it feels good to laugh like this. To talk about things like this for a change. Can you believe we’ve been like this since day one? Just constantly horny for each other? What is wrong with us?”

“Nothing. You’re both damn lucky as far as I’m concerned. Almost thirteen years and still lusting after each other like that? That’s a good sign. You know that, right?”

She nods. “He’s amazing. And not just in that way. In EVERY way. He’s my heart.”

“Does a number on your loins too, apparently,” Desi teases.

“He’s just...I don’t know....he’s just my whole world. None of this...my children, an incredible life here and in Australia...wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for him. Everything changed when I met Tyler. I changed. I became a whole different person. I’m stronger and more resilient and I’m happy. And I hadn’t been happy in a hell of a long time. So when he struggles and I can’t help him or fix things…” she sighs and tucks her hair behind her ears. “...I feel lost. I feel helpless. Because I want it to be enough; how much I love him. And I know it isn’t. That it doesn’t work that way.”

“He’s going to be alright,” Desi assures her. “He’s made of tough stuff. He’s gotten through worse. A HELL of a lot worse.”

“He has. And that’s what I keep reminding myself. What he HAS been through and how far he HAS come. Because as strong and resilient as I am? I don’t want to do this life without him. HE IS this life. And if suddenly he wasn’t here any more…”

“Let’s not even go that way.” He tightens his hold on her and draws her into his side, a palm squeezing her shoulder. “Nothing good will come of going there.”

“He has to be okay. I NEED him to be okay. And I’ll do whatever it takes to help him get there..”

“Sometimes that means helping yourself too, you know. Helping him means getting YOUR shit taken care of. So you CAN help him. Am I making any sense?”

She nods.

“Everything’s going to be okay, Big E,” he drops a kiss on the top of her head. “There’s NOTHING you guys can’t through.”

#Tyler Rake #Tyler Rake fan fiction #Extraction fan fiction

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firstagent · 3 years

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Review: Digimon Adventure: (2020) Episode 28: The Children's Fight For Survival

In this episode, Angemon and DarkKnightmon’s fight only serves to separate the entire team. Other than Taichi and Yamato, everybody’s kind of okay with this arrangement. Even Hikari!

Everywhere you look here, there are opportunities to get it wrong. The fight between Angemon and DarkKnightmon could drag out and leave everyone else in gazebo mode watching. The separation could be along familiar lines and deprive us of any acceleration in character development. The battle that does get featured once again features Taichi and is uninspiring as ever and was poised to be another miracle finish just because he decided to win at the last second. For the most part, and by the skin of its teeth, it dodges these bullets. There’s no promise it will dodge the new ones in its path and there’s little to reassure us that it can, but there’s a lot of intrigue in this current scenario.

The best thing you can say about the fight between Angemon and DarkKnightmon is it’s over fast. It’s a hard premise to swallow between the sudden evolution with no buildup and the power gap that should still exist. The black lightning makes it clear that Angemon has no way of winning this fight, and a loud, violent stalemate is the best outcome we could hope for. There are enough chaotic factors shown to be in play that one of them’s bound to be responsible for scattering everybody around the continent.

We should be lamenting the team splitting up again. Everybody has only been together for a handful of episodes in total, making the group feel more like an infrequent support team to Taichi and Yamato than a true unit. It’s hard to develop a proper group dynamic if they aren’t together long enough to establish one. But since we can’t miss what we don’t have yet, we get the next best thing: everybody’s on their own. Splitting into two teams was a disaster since Taichi and Koshiro did all the work. Now nobody’s around to pick up the slack for Sora, Joe, Mimi, or Takeru. The hope here is they’re all going to go through something allowing them to express themselves, grow, and tighten their bond with their Digimon. They can’t possibly give Taichi all of the time, right?

Even in this episode, where Taichi does hog most of the attention, we see more from the rest of the gang. Sora’s the first to try to contact everybody and get their situations. Mimi calms herself by mining for rubies on the mountain. Joe struggles to navigate hot springs etiquette with a grumpy Nanimon. Takeru comforts Patamon, weakened from the previous battle. At a point where the endless focus on Taichi and Yamato has stagnated so much, these are refreshing situations trying to pull something new from characters we haven’t seen enough of. It would take a lot of work to deny this sort of attention through the whole arc.

For now though, it is Taichi for the remainder of the time and it starts as dull as you’d expect. If a charged up Groundramon gave the whole team fits, of course Volcdoramon would be a problem for MetalGreymon. Of course, Volcdoramon is imposing only because he’s big and slow and gushes lava everywhere. It makes for a good challenge but not an entertaining one, the entire time spent with MetalGreymon trying to get through his defenses in a monotonous slog. The only satisfying outcome to it would be MetalGreymon losing. It sure felt like it was going to be yet another miraculous save from Taichi.

The miracle came elsewhere, however, and for once it’s not out of nowhere! In a season of random feather magic, distant interventions, and Taichi being Taichi, it’s kind of nice that it’s something simple as a reassuring connection between siblings providing the spark. Hikari actually being there, and actual contact, makes a world of difference. Another WarGreymon tease is a takeaway that foreshadows his inevitable appearance and gives at least some meaning to the fight.

Reminding us of Hikari’s weird powers also adds a little more weight to her kidnapping. So is the fact that they take a rare moment to pause and illustrate how Hikari’s always had moments of spacing out, noticing things that weren’t there and probably knowing things she shouldn’t. Her total complacency at SkullKnightmon taking her plays off her vagueness just right. She could just not be quite aware of what’s happening. She could be seeing something compelling her to let this play out. Either way, it leaves Taichi alone and screaming in an otherwise deathly silent forest. There are so many ways this can go wrong, and every reason to believe they will, but it’s the first time in awhile we’re actually curious to see how this plays out.

My Grade: B

Loose Data:

I hate talking about power gap. We should know better than to expect this stuff to supplant what serves the story, doubly so when it concerns Digimon originating from Xros Wars. That said, DarkKnightmon gave both MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon fits. We know Angemon and his higher forms are generally OP, but him even keeping it close is a real bad look for those two.

The random feather waking up Taichi was uncalled for. Was that supposed to suggest they’d all be dead without it?

When we appreciate everyone for showing us something after being separated, that doesn’t extend to Yamato. For someone who professed to be freaking out about Takeru being stuck at home during the blackout, he’s way too composed and comfortable with him being alone in the Digital World.

A forest is a fine place for Taichi and Hikari to land. Volcdoramon is a reasonable opponent to run into. Volcdoramon in a forest just doesn’t work well together. At the very least the forest should be ablaze at the end of that fight, more than the extent the next episode teases.

See reviews of every Digimon episode at Digimon: System Restore! Support the site by joining our Patreon!

#digimon #digimon adventure:#digimon adventure (2020)

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chiefnooniensingh · 4 years

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it’s in our blood, in our veins (a The Old Guard one-shot)

Rating: G Pairings: JoexNicky and Joe&Booker Characters: Joe, Booker, Nicky, Nile Summary: Over the shared worry for one of their own, Booker and Joe hash it out, a year after the Merrick debacle. A/n: I need this family back together so I fucking wrote it. Also on: ao3

This had never happened before, to any of them. The team was huddled in a hospital waiting room, looking around nervously, aware of the cameras that were hung up everywhere, but they’d be damned if they were leaving. Nile was the only one who looked remotely put together, her immortality still so new that she hasn’t forgotten what it was like to be wounded, in need of professional care.

Nicky was handling it the worst of them all. He was pacing through the waiting room, continually running his hands through his hair as he muttered about what if’s and we should have’s. For once, Joe was unable to get him to calm down. Because Andy was in the hospital, gravely injured and fighting for her increasingly shortening life, and there was nothing any of them could do.

Joe knew his love and Andy had an incredibly special relationship, not unlike brother and sister. She and Nicky were the most attuned to each other of all, barring Joe himself. In battle, Andy and Nicky were the level-headed strategists (until it became time to bring hellfire), while Joe and Booker had always been the rash, impulsive ones. Andy and Nicky shared a love for baklava unparalleled even by Joe’s own. When Joe and Booker would split off to watch a game, Andy and Nicky would sit together, pouring over books, laughing over tv shows they would watch together, or sparring.

Joe was worried as hell but seeing his love so distraught brought him even more pain than his worry did. He felt absolutely useless, unable to soothe his Nicky and unable to heal Andy. Joe kept flexing his hands, which were itching to do something, anything. “Nicky, please,” he tried once again. “Nicolò, amore mio…”

“It’s Andy,” Nicky croaked, sounding for all the world as if it had been him who got shot in the chest.

Joe stood up and halted Nicky’s frantic pacing by taking hold of his arms. “I know, my heart, I know,” he said, then hugged him close to his chest. “But, sweetheart, you are driving me absolutely insane with your pacing.” He kept his tone just shy of teasing, knowing that Nicky would pick up on the lack of heat behind his words.

Nicky sighed and wrapped his arms around Joe’s frame, burying his nose in his shoulder. “Scusi,” he said softly, “I’m just so worried.”

“So am I, Nicky, so am I,” Joe muttered, then pulled back to kiss his Nicky’s forehead. “It’ll be okay.”

“Yes, it will,” Nile said, from her spot against the wall. She looked worried and anxious but had the most faith in Andy’s chances of survival. “She’s strong, guys. And this hospital is the best at what they do. She’ll pull through, I’m sure of it.” Nicky and Joe smiled at her, but while Joe took his seat again, Nicky still couldn’t stand still, and he went over to the coffee machine to get them more terrible hospital coffee.

Joe looked across from him and felt a surge of emotion as his eyes locked with the man who had brought them here. Booker. It had been nigh on a year since they’d last seen each other, since they’d banished him, but here he was, looking apprehensive and scared and worried. He’d been too late to warn them of the attack but had helped them fight their way out of it. The revelation that Quynh was not only alive and freed from the bottom of the ocean, but also hell-bent on destroying as much of Andy’s life as she possibly could, had shook the entire team. Andy had gotten a glimpse of her during the fight, and in that moment of distraction, had taken a bullet straight to the chest.

And now here they were. Joe and Booker in an intense stare-off while also worried out of their minds for their oldest friend.

A year was nothing to them. Like an hour to mortals. Joe was still pissed off as hell at the man whom he used to call his brother, the man who had betrayed them, had put Nicky in danger. If Joe hadn’t been strapped to a medical bed, he was sure he would’ve ended Booker’s life right there when he first learned of the betrayal. Their exhaustion, both physical and emotional, had prevented him from doing it after they’d reached a safe house. Joe now felt that urge to snap Booker’s goddamn neck again.

“Just say what you want to say, man,” Booker said, breaking Joe from his thoughts. Nile looked up from staring at her knees and Nicky turned sharply, his eyes on Joe. Joe read the warning in his eyes but knew he wouldn’t be able to heed it.

For a moment, Joe said nothing. Then the dam burst. “I am so angry at you, Booker,” he said in a low voice, and Nicky closed his eyes briefly. But Joe focused his attention on Booker instead, who looked miserable as hell. “Why?”

Booker shook his head. “I never meant for it to get so far, I just wanted…”

“You just wanted it to end!” Joe spit, jumping up, too charged to sit down any longer. Booker stayed in his chair and couldn’t meet his eyes. “So you sold us out to a sadistic maniac for the chance of relief, knowing full well how much pain you were going to put us through!”

“You don’t know what it’s like, Joe!” Booker said, and Joe could hear tears threatening in his voice. Joe would feel sorry, but he could still hear Nicky’s pained groans as that woman did her sick experiments on him. “You and Nicky, you always had each other, meanwhile I just had the memories of those who loved me, dead, while I continued to live!”

“But you had us, Booker! We were your family, too! We loved you, too! You threw us away like we were nothing!” Joe yelled.

Booker rose now, too. Apparently Joe had struck a chord. “And what would happen if Nicky were to die right now, huh? Would you stick around?”

It was a thought too horrible to process, and Joe shook his head to clear the image from his brain. The thought of Nicky dying without him… “I wouldn’t betray my family,” he said quietly. At that moment, he felt Nicky come up beside him, squeeze his hand for a second, then moved off to the side. Joe felt a rush of absolute love for this man, who knew Joe had been on the bring of absolutely falling apart and gave him the reassurance that they were both alive.

Booker shook his head, tears now visible in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” Booker said, and it startled Joe. This hadn’t been a conversation heading anywhere near an apology, yet the Frenchman was looking more miserable than ever. “I never meant for any of you to get hurt, I swear. I was so blinded by my grief and pain that I didn’t see…didn’t know…”

“What,” Joe said, almost astonished, “that we love you?”

Booker nodded, tears falling in earnest now, and he fell back in his seat, burying his head in his hands. Nile was about to get up, join him and comfort him, but Nicky put a hand on her shoulder. This was something Booker and Joe had to work through themselves. Joe stared at Booker, mouth agape as the weight of what Booker had just said crashed over him. He hadn’t known… Stumbling backwards, Joe’s back hit the wall and he slid down it, still trying to process. “How could I have been so blind…” Joe muttered, and Booker looked up, surprised to see all the anger having drained out of Joe. “All those times you made those self-depreciating jokes, jokes about ‘misery loves company’…I thought you were just joking, but it was real, wasn’t it?” He looked up at Book, his best friend, his brother, who he was now seeing in a completely different light. It was like the last 200 years were being rewritten in his mind. “Book, why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve been there for you…”

Booker shrugged, wiping furiously at his eyes, trying to stem the flow. “I didn’t want to come between you and Nicky, you two were always so happy…”

“So you let us believe you were fine, meanwhile you were just dying a little bit more inside every day?” Joe put his head in his hands and felt tears burning in his own eyes now as well. “How did I miss it, Book? What did I do wrong?”

“What?” Booker said, his head snapping up to look straight into Joe’s eyes. The Frenchman and the Egyptian stared at each other, seeing each other differently, but really seeing each other for the first time. “Joe, you couldn’t have done anything…”

Joe shook his head and jumped up, starting to pace, trying to understand the new host of emotions he was feeling. Anger was there, sure, but it wasn’t directed at Booker anymore. It was directed at himself. “Jesus, I’ve been so blind. I considered you my best friend, my brother, even. What Nicky and Andy have, that’s what I thought you and I had…but now I see that I have been the worst brother you could’ve had. I should’ve seen, I should’ve known!” Joe dropped to his knees in front of Booker, who looked like he was about to either laugh or cry uncontrollably. “Book, I am so sorry. Can you ever forgive me?”

Booker let out a watery laugh. “Me forgive you?”

“I called you my brother, considered myself yours, yet I completely ignored all the signs that you were in pain. I missed every part of it. And somehow I made you belief you couldn’t come to me, couldn’t confide in me, with your pain, your loneliness. I should’ve been the one to be there for you, but instead I was the one who made you think you were alone…that is a crime far worse than yours.” Joe felt the tears spilling over and could feel Nicky restraining himself from coming over and either hugging or punching the pair of them. Nile was staring at them, open-mouthed.

“Can you ever forgive me for betraying you?”

“It is already done,” Joe said, and simultaneously the two men stood up and wrapped each other in a bear hug. Joe felt his anger drain away as the bond the two of them had had, seemed to mend between them. Joe still felt the pang of anger, but he understood now. And pushing Booker away now would only result in more pain for both of them.

“Y’all need some therapy,” Nile said, which broke the silence as Nicky burst into laughter, and even Joe and Booker managed to laugh. “No, seriously, nobody noticing Booker was clinically depressed for 200 years is a problem.”

Joe laughed, but nodded his head as well, because he knew. He knew it was a problem, a problem they needed to fix very soon. Booker released Joe and went over to Nicky. Joe watched, intrigued, as his other half watched with open and kind eyes as Booker stood in front of him. “Nicky, I’ve apologized to Joe, and I feel like I also owe you an apology. What that woman did to you, and Joe…I never thought they would go that far. I am so sorry, and I’ll do whatever it takes to win back your trust.”

Nicky gave him a small smile. “It might take a while to win back all of my trust, but saving our asses today has brought you a lot closer. I just hope in the future you will tell us when you are in pain.”

Booker nodded. “I’ll try.”

“Then I forgive you,” Nicky said, and he wrapped Booker in one of his signature hugs that would solve all the world’s problems, Joe knew, if he could just hug everyone.

“Nile,” Booker continued, but Nile cut across him, “Nah, I don’t need your apology, I need your ass in therapy.” Then she hugged him, too, because she’d never been that angry at him to begin with. They all laughed, and soon they were wrapped in a group hug, Joe and Nicky holding hands on Booker’s back. Joe felt something in him heal that he hadn’t realized was broken. His family was back together.

“Family of Andy Smith?”

They all broke apart hastily as a doctor entered the waiting room, who looked slightly bemused at the touching scene in front of her. She had no idea the amount of pain and anger had been worked through in the past half hour, and Joe smirked slightly, revelling once again in the fact that there was so much information they all held, without anybody knowing it. It gave him a sense of power. “Yes,” Booker said quickly, stepping forward, “that’s us.”

“She’s out of surgery, awake, and asking for you.”

A feeling of absolute relief washed over them all, and they hugged again before following the doctor out of the waiting room. Before they left, Nicky grabbed Joe’s arm and held him back. Joe looked at his love questioningly, but Nicky just pressed his lips to Joe’s in a tender, loving kiss, into which Joe immediately melted. “I’m proud of you,” Nicky said softly, touching his forehead to Joe’s. Joe brushed his nose against Nicky’s and kissed him again, because one kiss was just never enough for him. “Let’s go see Andy.”

Joe nodded, linked his hand with Nicky’s and together they walked to Andy’s room.

#the old guard #immortal husbands #sebastien le livre #yusuf al-kaysani #old guard ff #my old guard ff #my fanfics

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jennyellie · 4 years

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The Red Riding Hood AU

[The wolf / Killian's backstory]

※Involves a little fantasy element

A long time ago, in the deep forest, there was a wolf leading his pack. It was two sizes bigger than the others, had pitch black fur and huge, sharp, blue eyes.

Since they were many mouths to feed, the pack was always hungry and moved a lot for food. Not even eating the forest creatures weren't enough. One day, the wolf found a small village near the forest's edge and decided to stay near for a while with his pack. During the warm days, they stole chickens or sheeps over the barn fence. But as winter came, there was not enough food for the pack nor the village.

To fill their empty bellies, the leader charged to the town with his companions and started to devour the helpless villagers. There was so much blood spilt that it made the whole ground become dark red. The vile creatures mostly chased the young ones, for their meat were tender and full of juice.

When all seemed too easy, the town's hunters came out after hearing the noise. They were charging toward with arrows and rifles, following the leader in blue. Both sides had a blood shedding battle. The wolves had dozens of arrows and bullets stuck everywhere and many hunters lost their limbs or were eaten in one gulp. To avoid more damage, the pack retreated back to the woods, where they used to live. The wolves had the biggest feast that night.

The next day at a very silent night, the creatures were deeply asleep. During their sleep, the black wolf felt the forest was becoming hotter and the air getting harder to breathe. Feeling something has gone wrong, the leader woke up and the first thing he saw were giant, monstrous flames rapidly surrounding them to swallow them into ashes with the trees.

The pack tried to flee but the dry air and leaves made the fire bigger and faster, eventually devouring the wolves. The leader tried to help them escape, but all of them failed and ended up burning down to the ground, even including the little buds...

That wolf lost everything that day... He also got his front leg severely burnt, giving him ever lasting damage. Swearing revenge toward the hunter, he didn't find or join other packs, but instead wandered alone into the deeper, darker part of the woods with his limp leg.

Walking for several days, his stomach was getting emptier and his legs were getting weaker each day.

Oh, how that wolf wished to get a sweet revenge on that hunter. He also wanted to take away his beloved ones, whatever it took... The creature suddenly reminded of a myth known within the wolves.

There is a Blue Moon that comes out every 100 years. They say it is blue as the sea, and shimmering than any other gems. Those who howl while gazing at it will be given what they need.

Just then, he got an idea.

A wonderful, terrifying idea... He came up with a way to eat and kill them without being noticed. He gazed at the sky and saw a giant blue moon appear right in front of his eyes. It was his last ticket. While watching the moon, the wolf let out his last howl.

Then, his growling turned into words, his front paws turned into hands. But the pointy ears, tail, the sharp teeth and the burn still remained. He became a wolf in human's clothing.

The wolf then headed his way back to the dark, foggy woods which was not very far from the village.

There was no going back.

He was ready to hit back harder...

(these were probably the hardest pics to draw..

Do you think I went too far with his backstory??

I hope this one doesn't overshadow the next one...

Anyway... the next will be the main story, that I waited for the most~!!)

@xxstar-bluesxx @shadowbeneathlondon @rachi-roo @thesmoothpudding @kiddcoolio @ohziland

#spies in disguise #red riding hood au #killian

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syrossa · 3 years

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REVOLUTION | vkook

[Jungkook x cyborg!Taehyung]

— wordcount: 3.8k

— genre: sci-fi/ action/ oneshot/ angst

— summary: Jungkook is on the side of the Resistance, but his heart belongs to the wicked Emperor's right hand. In a world of war, he'll have to choose between saving his people or the cyborg he's fallen so tragically in love with.

— notes: previously posted on army amino as "trust me not"

Space year 3043.

After seizing the throne of Nypso 773T , its android emperor has decided to exterminate all individuals human - the last bearers of free will still standing. To execute his commands, the order of the New Inquisition has been launched. Its wicked ways continue to terrorize the planet, and many humans have gone rogue to avoid death in Nypso's compression pits. Jeon Jungkook - the latest recruit of the Resistance, has been extracted from an Inquisition's camp after a month of captivity. During his stay there, an unexpected fascination with the order's leader has emerged. Now they're torn between duty and attraction, survival and the dire need of love in the robotic arms of Nypso 773T.

Pulling on his hood, Jungkook walked into the subway station where the mass of the automated proletariat was finally retreating to its charging points. The route of line 248 resonated in a pre-recorded audio in several transgalactic languages; the outdated robots and refugees here couldn't afford infixed translation. The next train was in seven minutes. Working machines were being produced without a sense of smell, so the coolants and liquids of the entire quadrant could drain freely, channelled through the platform. Supreme androids and cyborgs could almost tell the difference between fume-saturated air and waste matter. Humans, however, were bound to sense it.

Jungkook travelled with the scraps of a filtering mask over his nose and mouth.

A heavy overcoat protected him from curious eyes. Down its lackluster length, a multitude of pockets were sewn with the purpose of convenience, but the inner one by his right hip weighed with the wired device of a hologram transmitter. The message encrypted on it was intended for the eyes of the Resistance only, and its safe transportation had been entrusted to him. Was it the shortage of confidants or Jungkook's short, yet exceptional devotion to the cause that had brought him here, he couldn't tell. One thing was certain — danger stalked him somewhere in this crowd and it moved with a bullet's speed, disguised in coy metal. All solitude amongst machines was extirpated.

He wasn't alone.

But the field of his vision allowed him to suspect and nothing more. Between the industrial smog and the firearm fume, the human eye was unable to discern too much. Few instruction panels hung low over the heads of the departees, providing the dimmest of illumination in venom-tinted yellow where the light of all other signs failed to stretch out to. Propaganda scrolled through interconnected displays in the skyscraping height.

As the train arrived in virid smoke, drunkenly quivering atop the rusted rails, the mob prepared for departure, loud and on the verge of an electric collapse. In the midst of it Jungkook joined the aggressive momentum and it hauled him to the doors. The informants from Quadrant-3 had warned him about identification scanners — each entrance had been installed two of those, in addition to a memory-extracting mechanism, so that all workers could be wiped clean of cache; Nypso liked its slaves productive.

Blazingly red, the scanning rays licked the identification numbers off all mechanic forearms. Each number consisted of uniquely stringed digits and Nypsoian letters, irreplicable and theft-proof, unless, of course, forcefully extracted. Yet such force was hardly ever applied reversibly.

So when Jungkook lifted his sleeve, baring the tattooed numerals on vulnerable display, he knew he had engraved himself with the ink and blood of another.

Collateral damage, they'd call it — the dismantled, maimed anthropomorphic remains of those who had been sacrificed for the camouflage of the Resistance. Through the scanners and the all-seeing surveillance apparatus Jungkook slithered like a ghost, a phantom of matter but never of face. He seated himself in the vacancy of a secluded section at the back of the train, and watched as the vehicle resurfaced overground.

The halved star of Nypso 337T had begun to roll out of sight. Space wind evaded the thin synthetic atmospheric layers, bringing forth what the code specifics referred to as frostnip. Nights here began with euphoria, beauty amid the blistered flesh of the universe, but escalated just as abruptly. Thousands of beings fell victims to the unforgiving cold. The corpses would be disposed of in the vast abyss of the Omicron Galaxy and left to the mercy of the antigravity and destructive cyclones. Sometimes parts of them would fall back on Nypso with the acid torrents.

The cadaverous rains.

Upon crossing the interquadrant border, the train entered a zone of electric anomaly, causing all working robots to cease operating. Jungkook rose from his uncomfortable seat immediately. He was quick on his feet; he headed to the emergency exit in the back. Moving across a high-up, scaffold-like railway with speed disproportionate to its poor technicity, the vehicle was to reach a rail intersection in a matter of minutes — the only window he'd be provided for a secure escape. The man clutched the transmitter through the fabric of the overcoat. A flicker of utter fright glistened in his eyes, the one a madman's irises would produce before he jumps off to death.

A madman, yes, but not alone in his madness.

Because when he threw himself forth in the open air, he knew he would land in the hands of his allies, the members of the Resistance. With a thump and several Nypsoian curses, Jungkook was caught by an aircraft of the forces from Quadrant-4. The second he regained balance, the pressure in his lungs and brain dispersed to free space for relief. General Kim dismissed the crew to greet him.

He grinned. "Lucky to see you here today. We barely managed to get the plane off the ground with the low temperatures."

"Thank you, sir. Captain Jung wasn't lying 'bout your piloting."

"Don't thank me. Min over there conducted the maneuvers today, the lucky bastard." And Jungkook glanced at the back of the pilot's disheveled head, hair chopped and jet black. "Do you have it?"

Derivative of the devices from before the last technological purge, the hologram transmitter was an antique of its own, coded in a long-lost language. It was technically unhackable. The greatest legacy of its predecessors, though, was the function of restricted access, touch-activated to be precise. When the device came into contact with General Kim's palm, trillions of holographic particles erected the glowing, mapped structure of a hollow sphere.

"The core powerhouse!" Jungkook gasped.

"A precise, high-resolution map of the planet's life source. After all these years of gathering data and risking the wellbeing of our entire kind, it's finally complete. We have the key to taking the emperor down, kid." The corner of the General's mouth quirked up. "We have it."

As if prompted by the glimpse of hope, the graspable salvation of mankind, intermittent flashes of red spread like rashes on the titanium insides of the plane while alarms were triggered in the cockpit. Jungkook tripped as the aircraft went into a sudden dive.

The co-pilot cried out, "Enemy crafts, sir. Attempters FM-14, annihilation mode engaged."

"Min, can you make it to the headquarters?" Kim shouted, tying himself to a seat by the plane wall.

Jungkook was still upright, shifting his weight as if hoverboarding. His eyes followed the attackers as the unmanned Attempters deployed their missiles. With a target on its silver hull, the plane of the Resistance forces looped and spiralled between the Quadrant-4 blockscape similarly to a turbulent projectile. But before even managing to be vocal about the pilot's nonpareil skills, he glimpsed the violent gush of blood from Min's shoulder.

Jungkook yelled, "Captain, you're fucking bleeding!"

"I am?," Min shrugged, reducing the throttle from the plane's inversion, motions still as steady as a surgeon's. "About time I showed these can-openers I can beat them single-handedly."

"The Resistance has evaded all attacks again, commander. I must say the human persistence is exhausting me already."

Left arm spasming from damage, Taehyung replied tremulously, "I dispatched two of our best Attempters their way. They must've anticipated an onrush."

Next to the mechanical grandness, the soul-breaking presence of the emperor, Taehyung appeared like a solitary speck of steel; a cyborg utterly defenseless against his superior. He was second to his leader; the right hand of the radically unique conqueror of Nypso 337T and scion of the mighty Omicron race — undoers of time and space. To support his position and survival, he had been recruited as commander of the New Inquisition.

Over the metal of his palms, there was overmuch human blood. The emperor, however, was still unsatisfied with its amount.

"Their defense cannot withstand our supremacy much longer. Can you perhaps figure out why, commander? Why is humankind bound to die out?"

Some deeply buried piece of Taehyung shattered, knowing that the battle he'd deliberately spared the humans was nothing but a hurdle in the long run of their eradication. All his efforts to decelerate the inevitable — governed not by the remains of his anthropoid body but by those of his human mind — were, ultimately, futile. He'd reset the coordinates of the Attempters, encrypted the outdated frequencies of the Resistance, screened the infiltration of their informant, but at what cost? He hadn't given them advantage but mere false hope.

"Because of its will, of course. The free will of humans will lead them to their ultimate end. But first, it will lead them to me." The android's speech was toneless through the holographic projection, yet his virtual presence diminished all strength of the commander's. "Our high-rank infiltrator in the Resistance has information that an assault on the powerhouse is being plotted. I want all units in position tomorrow. The rebellion must be eliminated instantly."

"Through a strengthened line of defense?"

"A lethal one. There must be no survivors. Obey your system, commander, and your emperor."

"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty."

Bowing to the conquerer of worlds might have felt elevating once; it may have propelled pride, safety and life, yet it only sparked misery in the metal now. Once the hologram had dispersed, Taehyung collapsed in a stroke of electric current. The fine components of his bionic system had experienced pressure unfit for his outdated build, which happened often when machines failed a designated mission. The scheme with the Attempters would cost him pain unlike any other. Pain of both flesh and robotics.

It took him twelve full minutes to regain consciousness. When he finally did, the back of his brain was burnt to charcoal black, as if he could only recall the excruciation of being electrocuted and nothing before it. He was a high-ranking Nypsoian soldier, a breed of hominid warrior blood and light steel tempered in the titanium core of the star of Adastreia, and he remembered his own pain only. Little by little, bits of data deteriorated within him and memories faded away like flashes of a time long-gone.

He was slowly being erased.

Everything he'd done to protect the man he loved on the other side of law backfired right at him. Instead of saving humanity, he slowly ceased to be human.

He needed to hear his voice more than ever.

Even if he couldn't quite retrieve the sound of it.

The jittery projection of Jungkook's face illuminated the entirety of the bunker, and his eyes bore into Taehyung's, expectant, laden with horror. Each of their rare conversations would begin with shared silence. Life was a variable — both had to be prepared for it to assume its last value at any given moment. The signal was horridly damaged as both sides had dialed from their underground hideaways, one right beneath the emperor's throne room, and the other from the fortified catacombs of Quadrant-4.

"I'm sorry I couldn't call earlier, I--"

Jungkook forced a lopsided smile, enough to hurt but not to discourage. "It's okay. You called."

"Are you alright? The Attempters went close and by the time I seized remote control, they'd fired at one of yours. The pilot."

"Min. He's fine. I guess he'd seen worse than your machine guns," The man chuckled softly. "Man, he even fired back, one hand on the panel, and the other holding a BL-544 out the perforated windshield."

Then Jungkook burst into laughter, lighthearted and paranormally unfit in the midst of the misery of all else. His eyes translated into blueish pixels, so Taehyung could barely visualize the mottle of dark-brown and grey they were in the light, or the dual glint of gravely seriousness and daredevilry inside them. At times like this, it was the eyes that made him feel entirely human. His eyes.

Elated for a brief second, Taehyung said, "I wish I could see you. I think my memory is being messed up with, and I'm starting to forget you."

"That's why we call, right? So we don't forget who the real enemy is."

Who was the real enemy?

"They're planning an attack on the core. The arsenal should be distributed by tomorrow at noon, but it'll be no surprise if you already knew that," said Jungkook, voice suddenly thicker. "What's been ordered to the defense forces?"

"A direct confrontation, fast and brutal. He wants all units charged and ready to dispatch anyone at sight. I'll try to talk him out of the melee but I don't know how much I can do about it."

"You've done more than enough already. Just...stay safe. Whole, preferably."

"Okay, I told you, what happened in Apus was an accident. It was a one-time thing. One. Time!"

Jungkook chortled, having Taehyung join him shortly after, both high on the feeling of detachment from everything and everyone. It was the two of them in this conversation, in this little world of theirs, free from barriers and pain and tyranny.

"You too," Taehyung said. "Stay safe."

"Will do. I'll see you at the end of the world, right?"

"See you then. Hey, Jungkook, I just wanted to tell yo--"

But the signal was cut off and the picture turned grainy with empty pixels all of a sudden. The muffled aggression of bangs and kicks brought down the door of Taehyung's secluded bunker and a horde of his own inquisitors rushed in, driven by electricity, bloodthirst and imperial will. The cyborg was taken hold of.

His heavy body writhed in the intruders' grip, but to no avail. In the distance he overheard his former inferiors repeat the protocol of his detainment. Only one kind of seizure required the full unrelenting force of the Inquisition androids.

The one coming directly from the emperor.

As the Resistance soldiers advanced farther into the outer Core, the grip on their assault rifles weakened, wet from the heat accumulated, bewildered by the void of the empty powerhouse. The pulsating, current-pumping heart of Nypso operated under a dome of steam and titanium systems. In its veins surged the lifeblood of an entire civilization, the supreme vigor of the Nypsoian predatory machine and the technology behind its expansive aggression.

Today its heartbeat would flatline once and for all.

Jungkook carried a Proxima L-90 — a relevantly ugly, simple ray weapon meant to inflict moderate damage — with the back of it braced against his underarm, holding the shadows at gunpoint. His face burned under a filtering mask, yet the odds of being violently poisoned were too great to succumb to convenience. Fire in his ribs and steel in his brain, he moved forward.

The promised confrontation of the emperor's forces never happened. General Kim signalled for all units to stand down.

"The motion sensors show movement in our perimeter. 100 meters ahead, 50 sources," he whispered. "Charge your weapons."

But in Jungkook that sparked suspicion so bothersome it twisted his insides, made him want to vomit. Fifty defenders appointed at the most significant structure on the planet — something didn't seem — didn't feel — right. Yet his trust in Taehyung lay unquestioned. He'd spoken to him about a frontal attack and a frontal attack was to be. Nothing but those words could force him forward.

Nothing but the belief that today could change the universe forever.

A swarm of androids emerged from the depths of the powerhouse, wearing imperial armour. They imitated human forms, carried themselves in a human manner, but didn't hesitate in their stride, unlike the Resistance whose fear pierced it through. These were machines without faces, painted in the colors of war and destruction, forged with no soul and no purpose but murder; the inquisitors. And when they charged onwards, every being of flesh shivered in frail mortality. The androids opened immediate fire.

However, the fifty of them were not alone. More crawled out of the corners, the corridors, and every spot dark became a black portal spitting inquisitors. In seconds the Resistance forces were severely outnumbered.

Back against General Kim's, Jungkook tore apart enemies with ray projectiles with insufficient speed. Like demons from neon and metal, like nightmares flooding the innocent mind, the androids burst forth and immobilized the formation of the rebellion. Soon enough, the man was fighting machines with electrocuting blades and bare hands.

"I'm almost out of ammo. We need to get to the main generator and place the bomb," the General shouted as he shot an inquisitor's head through, thus releasing Jungkook from his grip.

"We gotta make our way through."

"I'll help with that!" With one arm immobilized and the other on the trigger of a close-range blaster, Min approached the two. His stubbornness had earned him a spot in the field forces today, but his injury must've weighed him down.

The captain, though, was a survivor.

"Run!" Min cried. "I'll blast whatever follows you."

Jungkook and the General sprinted forward that instant, too overwhelmed with gunfire and smoke and adrenaline to take in the sight of the captain relentlessly throwing himself into the crossfire. As they cleaved the imperial horde, as they fired and slashed their way through — fruits of the flesh in the unhomogenous battle broth — he held back their pursuers for as long as he could. The shrill vox of Min's blaster quietened while they ran, and so did the remainder of the fight, distant but heavy on the brain.

At some point, Jungkook found himself utterly lost in the hypnosis of metal and screams.

Kim snapped him out when they reached a dead end at a corridor intersection. The map led to a hatch in the floor, then to an underground space where the generator was located. When Jungkook pulled the horizontal door open, the General jumped onto the grated platform it revealed. Nightmarish shivers creeped under the former's skin as if on the brim of something horrible and irreversible. Something of monumental grandness, yet something hellbound had been released with their appearance in the Core. Unaware of its specifics, Jungkook descended shortly after, shaken by the feeling of death pricking on his bare nape.

"We have to be quick," General Kim whispered. "The bomb will create an electromagnetic pulse that will disarm all electric systems on the planet. It must be as close to the core as we can get it, so be prepared to do whatever it takes for this to work. Promise me that, Jungkook."

The man wanted to stutter, to assure his comrade that the Resistance is once again in luck and prevailing. But empty promises had no place in his head anymore. Rather, they belonged in the ashes of the man he used to be once; of the world he once used to live in. His answer came pure of all boyish naiveness.

"I promise, sir."

"Good. This way."

Monochrome light, combat boots against the platform. They travelled in silence and dark anticipation. The generator came in sight several meters after, oblivious in its lifeless shell of titanium and wire. The two men entered the holy premises of the inner Core like only heartsick worshippers would — with their heads craving redemption above all.

The bomb was wrapped in cloth — a hastily packaged weapon of mass destruction. The General stripped it bare. His face twitched in untimely satisfaction as he carried it to the top of the generator, whose size extended kilometers under the ground, highest point peaking through a cavity in the grates.

But as the General was activating the mechanism, a splashed, abstract pattern of his blood printed itself onto Jungkook, who remained paralyzed steps away. The laser projectile went right through Kim, exiting his torso clean of guilt and hesitation.

The younger pointed his gun at the distance, at the wide, half-human frame of the attacker, tears in his eyes as he came in the luminescent light.

"Jungkook, put the gun down, please--"

Buy everything within him screamed. "Stand back! I'm warning you! Stand back or I'll fucking shoot you."

Jungkook glanced at the sprawled body of General, eyes then set on Taehyung again. He went feral, wild with betrayal and shock that his mortal stomach could feast on for days. They held each other at gunpoint, lovers in the grip of a war unfought.

"Sir, stay with me. Just hold on."

"Jungkook, listen to me. Put your gun down. Now!"

"No, you listen to me! What have you done?! We've been fighting for this for so long and now that we have a chance to change everything, you turn against your own. We are on the same side, you fool! Help me save him!"

"I'm afraid I can't," Taehyung replied, voice stern like never before. "I can't help you anymore. I've done so much for humans and I've never been one, never will be. I am who I am and I've picked a side already. I picked the one I belong to."

"I thought we belonged together."

The bomb lay semi activated next to Kim. All that stood between it and Jungkook was his unwavering machine of a lover, the leader of the Inquisition with only half flesh, half heart. And neither of the two were willing to surrender now.

Not when the love of each was at stake.

"We can't both leave this room, Jungkook. One of us will have to shoot. It's either me or you on the count of three."

"I would've died and killed for you!"

"One."

"I wanted a future with you, Taehyung!"

"Two."

"I loved you!"

"Three. I still do."

And Jungkook collapsed, trapped between the corpses of his friend and lover, finger on the trigger that had failed to protect the former and ended the latter. Tears welled in his black eyes as he enabled the electromagnetic explosive.

The faith of the universe rested in his unsteady hands. His whole world, however, had fallen cold in his feet.

In the very last seconds of Nypso, he wished to have never set foot on the goddamned planet of death and destruction.

#bts #vkook #taekook #bts fanfic #bts fanfiction #scifiandfantasy #oneshot #jungkook #taehyung #bts jungkook #bts taehyung #bts au fic #bts au fanfic #vkook au

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newstfionline · 3 years

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Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Biden Team Prepares $3 Trillion in New Spending for the Economy (NYT) President Biden’s economic advisers are pulling together a sweeping $3 trillion package to boost the economy, reduce carbon emissions and narrow economic inequality, beginning with a giant infrastructure plan that may be financed in part through tax increases on corporations and the rich. The enormous scope of the proposal highlights the aggressive approach the Biden administration wants to take as it tries to harness the power of the federal government to make the economy more equitable, address climate change, and improve American manufacturing and high-technology industries in an escalating battle with China.

Hugs, at last: Nursing homes easing rules on visitors (AP) An 88-year-old woman in Ohio broke down in tears as her son hugged her for the first time in a year. Nursing home residents and staff in California sang “Over the Rainbow” as they resumed group activities and allowed visitors back in. A 5-year-old dove into the lap of her 94-year-old great-great-aunt for a long embrace in Rhode Island. Nursing homes, assisted living facilities and other kinds of elderly residences battered by COVID-19 are easing restrictions and opening their doors for the first time since the start of the pandemic, leading to joyous reunions around the country after a painful year of isolation, Zoom calls and greetings through windows. The vaccination drive, improved conditions inside nursing homes, and relaxed federal guidelines have paved the way for the reunions.

Miami’s South Beach confronts disastrous spring break (AP) Florida’s famed South Beach is desperately seeking a new image. With more than 1,000 arrests and nearly 100 gun seizures already during this year’s spring break season, officials are thinking it may finally be time to cleanse the hip neighborhood of its law-breaking, party-all-night vibe. The move comes after years of increasingly stringent measures—banning alcohol from beaches, canceling concerts and food festivals—have failed to stop the city from being overrun with out-of-control parties and anything-goes antics. This weekend alone, spring breakers and pandemic-weary tourists drawn by Florida’s loose virus-control rules gathered by the thousands along famed Ocean Drive, at times breaking into street fights, destroying restaurant property and causing several dangerous stampedes. The situation got so out of hand that Miami Beach Police brought in SWAT teams to disperse pepper bullets and called in law enforcement officers from at least four other agencies. Ultimately, the city decided to order an emergency 8 p.m. curfew that will likely extend well into April after the spring break season is over. Some tourists are angry about the curfew, which they say has put a damper on long-sought vacations for which they paid good money. Meanwhile, some officials say they should have enacted more stringent measures sooner—as was done in New Orleans prior to Mardi Gras last month—instead of reacting in the middle of the chaos.

England slaps 5,000 pound fine on most travel abroad (Reuters) Fines of 5,000 pounds ($6,900) will be introduced for people from England who try to travel abroad before the end of June in a tightening of the country’s border controls. Health minister Matt Hancock said the government’s original plan to review international travel in April and possibly permit it from May 17 still stood but the travel fines were included in legislation in case that would not be possible. In the UK, foreign holidays are currently banned. Europe’s airlines and travel sector are now bracing for a second lost summer. Having already racked up billions in debt to survive a year of travel restrictions, they are facing further strain and some may need fresh funds.

Tensions mount between Afghan government, powerful warlord (AP) Tensions are mounting between Afghanistan’s government and a powerful local warlord, with deadly clashes erupting in a rural province between his fighters and government troops. The government has launched an assault in central Maidan Wardak province, vowing to punish the warlord, Abdul Ghani Alipoor, after the defense minister accused his fighters of shooting down a military helicopter last week, killing nine personnel. Alipoor holds widespread loyalty among ethnic Hazaras, a mainly Shiite community who are a minority in Afghanistan but make up most of the population in Maidan Wardak. If Kabul considers warlords as agents of turmoil, their supporters see them as their only protection and support in the face of a notoriously corrupt government and violent insurgents. Many Hazaras, who face attacks by Sunni militants and discrimination by the government, see Alipoor as a hero, defending them against the Taliban and keeping local institutions running. “The government is incompetent, so people depend on Alipoor and support him,” said Mohammed Jan. “Alipoor serves his people. If our government would serve the people, everyone would support it and there wouldn’t be any need for an Alipoor.”

China Makes It A Crime To Question Military Casualties On The Internet (NPR) When China acknowledged this year that four of its soldiers had died fighting Indian forces on the two countries’ disputed mountain border eight months prior, the irreverent blogger Little Spicy Pen Ball had questions. “If the four [Chinese] soldiers died trying to rescue their fellow soldiers, then there must have been those who were not successfully rescued,” he wrote on Feb. 19 to his 2.5 million followers on Weibo, a Chinese social media site. “This means the fatalities could not have just been four.” The day after, Qiu Ziming, the 38-year-old former newspaper journalist behind the blog, was detained and criminally charged. If convicted, he faces a sentence of up to three years. “Little Spicy Pen Ball maliciously slandered and degraded the heroes defending our country and the border,” according to the annual work report published by the country’s chief prosecutor office this month. Qiu’s is the first case to be tried under a sweeping new criminal law that took effect March 1. The new law penalizes “infringing on the reputation and honor of revolutionary heroes.” At least six other people have been detained or charged with defaming “martyrs.” The government uses the terms “revolutionary heroes” and “martyrs” for anyone it memorializes for their sacrifice for the Communist Party. The detentions typify the stricter controls over online speech under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, which have deterred nearly all open dissent in the country. The new law even seeks to criminalize speech made outside China. Such is the case of Wang Jingyu, 19, who lives in the United States and is now a wanted man in his hometown of Chongqing, China. The authorities accuse him of slandering dead Chinese soldiers after Weibo reported him for a comment questioning the number of border fight casualties. “Cyberspace is not outside the law,” the Chongqing public security bureau said in an online notice after it declared Wang would be “pursued online” for his comments.

West sanctions China over Xinjiang abuses, Beijing hits back at EU (Reuters) The United States, the European Union, Britain and Canada imposed sanctions on Chinese officials on Monday for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, the first such coordinated Western action against Beijing under new U.S. President Joe Biden. Beijing hit back immediately with punitive measures against the EU that appeared broader, including European lawmakers, diplomats, institutes and families, and banning their businesses from trading with China. Western governments are seeking to hold Beijing accountable for mass detentions of Muslim Uighurs in northwestern China, where the United States says China is committing genocide. China denies all accusations of abuse.

Australian floods (AFP) Devastating flooding is ongoing across Australia, where an area the size of Alaska with some 10 million people is at risk for excessive rainfall and storminess. The flooding comes amid colliding weather systems gripping the country. Up to 35 inches of rain fell in just four days, and some places are seeing their worst flooding in 60 years. Nearly three times the average March rainfall has fallen in a number of locales, which Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology described as “phenomenal,” with additional rain and flooding expected in the days ahead.

Israel TV satirist says grateful to politicians but needs a break (AFP) As Israel heads into its fourth election in two years, the presenter of the country’s favourite satirical TV show has a request, and he’s only half joking. “I would like us to finally have a stable government and make a boring programme,” says Eyal Kitsis, frontman of the Channel 12 show “Eretz Nehederet” (“A Wonderful Country”). As much as Israel’s political turmoil may be straining the patience of the electorate, it has been television gold because “reality is crazy”, Kitsis told AFP. “Elections and politics have really become entertainment in this country. Our challenge as a satirical programme is to add a layer to it, to take it to the next level.”

Israel vote deadlock: Netanyahu appears short of majority (AP) Uncertainty hovered over the outcome of Israel’s parliamentary election Wednesday, with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sworn political rivals determined to depose him apparently lacking a clear path to a governing coalition. Deadlock in the 120-seat parliament was a real possibility a day after the election, which had been dominated by Netanyahu’s polarizing leadership. With about 87.5% of the vote counted by Wednesday morning, Netanyahu’s Likud party and its ultra-Orthodox and far-right allies fell short of a 61-seat majority.

Saudi Arabia offers cease-fire plan to Yemen rebels (AP) Saudi Arabia on Monday offered a cease-fire proposal to Yemen’s Houthi rebels that includes reopening their country’s main airport, the kingdom’s latest attempt to halt years of fighting in a war that has sparked the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The move comes after the rebels stepped up a campaign of drone and missile attacks on the kingdom’s oil sites, briefly shaking global energy prices amid the coronavirus pandemic. It also comes as Riyadh tries to rehabilitate its image with the U.S. under President Joe Biden. Saudi Arabia has drawn internationally criticism for airstrikes killing civilians and embargoes exacerbating hunger in a nation on the brink of famine. Whether the plan will take hold remains another question. A unilaterally declared Saudi cease-fire collapsed last year. Fighting rages around the crucial city of Marib and the Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes as recently as Sunday targeting Yemen’s capital of Sanaa. A U.N. mission said another suspected airstrike hit a food-production company in the port city of Hodeida.

Rail and derailments (Vice) Freight rail is an essential vein of the transportation system in the U.S., moving 57 tons of goods per American each year. It’s also the safest way to move hazardous materials, but freight train derailments are more common than one might think: in 2019, there were 341 reported derailments on main line track, of which 24 were freight trains carrying 159 cars of hazardous materials. The labor unions in the rail industry have been calling this out as a symptom of a degrading safety culture, and warn that it’s only a matter of time before one of those derailments causes catastrophic damages.

#headlines #news

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skvaderarts · 4 years

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Apocrypha Chapter Twenty Seven: Retribution

Masterlist can be found Here! Thanks!

Chapter Twenty Seven: Retribution

Notes: Ah yes. I’ve been waiting for two damn weeks for you all to get to read this one. This is going to be a wild time. Buck up and get ready for turbulence!

(-~-)

The air in the open cavern was practically statically charged as the three descendants of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda navigated their way through the dense underbrush, their coats catching on every conceivable obstacle and slowing them down slightly. The eldest of the twins was clearly in a hurry for some sudden and unidentified reason, and seemed to be just shy of an actual panic fueled sprint, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by his youngest son and his younger identical twin. Considering Vergil’s generally calm and collected demeanor that bordered on cold dismissal at times, this sudden uptake in barely concealed panic was actually extremely unnerving to his compatriots, especially Nero.

Although he had not spent his entire life around his father, Nero was keen enough to realize that Vergil shouldn’t be walking at what could be charitably described as a light sprint through an area that they had no familiarity with and that was inhabited by a sinister death cult that apparently served a particularly worrisome demon. He had warned both Nero and V against doing that very thing just before V had explained enough of his plan to them to get them to go along with it. If only they could go back to that more innocent time before all of this had happened. But perhaps it was better this way. At least they knew what they were up against now. That had been V’s intention in the first place.

Nero could practically still see the look on Vergil’s face when V had confidently advised the two of them that he planned to be captured so that he might learn more about the inner-workings of the cult that stalked him so relentlessly. Vergil had immediately objected, something that V seemed to anticipate. But he’d reminded his father that both he and Nero had made it into adulthood by going off of their gut instinct and doing what they thought was right. He’d rightly concluded that learning about their opponents could be invaluable, especially when it came to light that they might be more numerous than they had originally anticipated just a short while ago. And when V had reminded his father that they had agreed to work together in regards to solving this issue, Vergil had hesitantly caved, clearly regretting the statement.

Trusting both of his sons was something that he generally didn’t have too much of an issue with. They both came off to him as honest and deserving of his confidence in their capabilities. But when it came to plans that could get them severely injured or even killed Vergil was much less flexible. Nero could only guess that the eldest Son of Sparda had agreed to do so in the hopes that it might instill something in V. Perhaps to show that he had confidence in his ability to think things through in light of the stern talking to that he’d just give them both about wandering off into unknown situations and areas without a plan? That was all that Nero could glean from it. But regardless, he himself had been willing to do what V thought was right. He’d seen his intellect in action before in Redgrave City, and anyone who could stealth his way thought that forsaken hellscape by themselves with summons that he now knew he’d only just acquired was capable of making an infallible plan.

But how could any of them have planned for the eventuality that a super powerful demon might be bankrolling a den of somewhat capable summoners?

Nero certainly wouldn’t have. He’d never even heard of that type of demon before. A demon prince? Why was there more than one of them? Were they all related to one another, or was it a ranking that they had earned through power and intimidation or something of the like? Nero had no way of knowing outside of asking one of his companions, so he intended to do just that. But he got the distinct feeling that Vergil was in no mood to discuss the finer points of underworld leadership with him at a time like this.

“So this demon… Is he a friend of yours or something? You seem like you’ve met him before.” Nero said as he approached Vergil from behind. The devil slayer had halted his ceaseless march through the thick underbrush in favor of simply cutting through the section they were facing. Why go the long way around when you could go through, especially when so much was at risk and they were seemingly so far from their destination?

Vergil swung the blade once, at least from what Nero could tell. A moment later, the tall pine tree in front of them toppled over noisy and crushed a nearby boulder, cracking it down the middle. One could only assume that the element of surprise was no longer his father’s main concern. That fact alone was enough to put Nero on edge, but the fact that Dante seemed to be waiting for a reply didn’t help. The youngest of the three normally looked to the two oldest members of his family for assistance with matters he didn’t know about. This was one of those matters. The realization that Dante didn’t seem to know either startled him. Having to possibly go up against a demon that only one of them knew anything about wasn’t the kind of bet he liked to take these days, especially after how spectacularly bad things had gone just two months prior.

“... We’ve had occasion to interact with one another. He’s a rare breed, both cunning and capable, with the patience to sit and wait for an opportunity for as long as he deems necessary. But when he decides to strike…” Vergil stopped talking for a moment, seemingly considering something. His lack of comfort with the situation at hand only grew stronger the longer he had to acknowledge the fact that things had come to this.” When I returned from the Underworld, I was in a considerably weakened state. Belial helped put me there. Doing battle against him at that point would’ve been foolish. The wounds he dealt me part of the reason I was so eager to reclaim Yamato upon returning to the human world.”

Dante let out a long, deep sigh, taking in the gravity of his older brother’s sentiment. It was not every day that he had to go up against the kind of demon that could give Vergil a run for his money, even if he was in a vulnerable state. Even at his lowest, the oldest Son of Sparda was far above the pay grade of the vast majority of Hell’s denizens. And the fact that he’d managed to actually wound Vergil to the point where he had to basically make a tactical retreat to the human world to escape him didn’t bode well.

“What do you think he wants with V? Did you throw some of those fancy insults his way and manage to rile him up or something? Because if he holds grudges anything like Mundus did...” Dante started and then trailed off, not even slightly interested in revisiting that chapter of his life. He had enough things to worry about at present without adding his past transgressions to them.

Nero gave them both a sideways look, internally questioning himself as to what the hell they were both talking about. “Who’s Mundus?”

The younger member of the group could practically feel Vergil die inside at the mention of that name. For a moment, he seemed to visibly recoil in discomfort at the prospect of talking about it. That alone was enough of an answer for Nero, at least for the time being. After all, they were going against this Belial and his right hand man Agreus, right? This wasn’t the time to have things get bogged down in the details. All he needed to know for the time being was who to put a bullet in, and how many it would take to put them down for good so that they could leave this place and it’s problems behind them. V didn’t need to spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder in anticipation of another attack, and they didn’t need to be constantly worried about him.

“You know what? Nevermind. I have a better question.” Nero said as Dante turned towards him, seemingly about to answer in his older twin’s stead. The demon hunter in red nodded as if to ask him to continue.” How would this demon even know about V? I mean, you said you fought him before, but you didn’t even know about us back then. How could he know V existed without you knowing first?”

Vergil stayed quiet for another moment, felling another thick section of the almost maze-like section of woods that they found themselves in at the end of his razor sharp blade. He looked just about ready to simply fly over the area and search for V that way, but he hadn’t made the decision to do so just yet.

“I knew about him. I didn’t know about you. And I have no theories as to how he found out.” Vergil said in an almost resigned tone. With the revelation that Belial was their opponent, ever passing second felt like an eternity. He needed to know that V was safe, and that was not something that he could achieve from this distance. ”As for a reason for him to do this... I don’t have one. Belial is above things as petty as grudges. He cares little for minor infractions. He only surfaces when he wants something from-”

As if he’d been hit head on in the face by something, Vergil stopped dead in his tracks. In that instant, he figured out what it was that the cult might be after. And the very idea of it was enough to send him into a frantic roulette of negative possibilities, reducing his mind to little more than a revolving door of nightmare scenarios. As if to compliment the hopeless atmosphere, the conduit suddenly let off another shockwave of energy, this one considerable stronger than the last. The trees bend backwards far enough to touch the ground and the cavern shook violently as parts of the cave shook violently in response to the blast, sending the three devil hunters backwards onto the ground with a thud. An audible screech somewhat akin to the sounds that Gilgamesh had made during Nero’s battle with it in Redgrave City rattled the air around them, irritating their ears somewhat.

Just a second later, a second, decidedly different shockwave erupted across the landscape, not so much shaking things as much as it seemed to bathe them in a dark energy. It was thick and fleeting, only lasting a moment before dissipating. The major difference was the effect it had on the descendants of the Dark Knight Sparda. For a brief moment, the three of them triggered before reverting back to their more human forms and leaving the trio as startled as they were disoriented.

Before any of them could climb all the way to their feet, the sound of metal bending against its will followed by a loud, blood curdling scream echoed through the space between them and the conduit, earning a startled look from Nero as he took a moment to consider what might have just happened. Vergil seemed literally frozen in place, be it from disbelief or terror he couldn’t say. His father’s face was literally unreadable. But Dante’s reaction was a bit easier to gauge. The devil hunter in red practically burst into laughter, shaking his head in what had to be disbelief as he clambered to his feet and adjusted his posture before summoning his blade and walking in the direction of the commotion. Vergil slowly adjusted his posture and joined him, although still with a certain degree of hesitation that Nero found unsettling and hard to quantify.

“... What the fuck was that?” Nero asked as he followed along after them, the group now speeding up their pace in silent acknowledgement of the situation and it's possible consequences. The youngest of the three could swear he’d felt something like that before, but couldn't pinpoint the precise moment when he’d experienced it. But regardless, he couldn’t help but notice it. There was a certain uncanny familiarity to it that he’d be remiss to overlook. And he had a feeling he was about to find out what it was.

(-~-)

For a moment, V’s entire brain seemed to lack the ability to process the gravity of the injury that had been dealt to him. He blinked slowly, not so much feeling his heartbeat as he was hearing it. The same went for his breath as he drew in slow, deliberate drags of air in a desperate attempt to not teeter over the edge into unconsciousness. His sight was crystal clear for the first time since he’d been brought down there, and that was mostly due to the fact that he was in such an astounding amount of pain that he was probably staring straight up in the air with an exasperated look on his face that would honestly be quite funny if it wasn’t due to the fact that he had a knife stuck between his trapezius and his clavicle.

And he absolutely did despite every wish that he had otherwise.

In all honesty, he’d expected of the deranged madman to stab him in the chest or cut his throat, but the idea of being stabbed downward in the space between his shoulder blade and his throat had never crossed his mind. And he was now positive that it was his least favorite place to be stabbed, because to say it was excruciating would’ve been an undeniable understatement. His entire chest and throat area on his left side felt like it was on fire, and he was pouring blood from the severed artery that had been severely punctured by the blade. V wouldn’t have been shocked to find out that the blade had narrowly missed his heart or the top of one of his lungs due to the angle and the length of the blade involved, especially since it was still stuck in his shoulder. Should he consider himself lucky or cursed?

Content with his handiwork, Agreus had simply dropped him onto the ground after he’d stabbed him, the aura of pleasure that radiated off of him at the sight of V so near death unmistakable even through a featureless mask. And as he laid there, not entirely sure how he was going to get out of that situation, a low, barreling, and entirely inhuman voice came from within the conduit behind him. And it seemed thoroughly displeased.

“You are entirely too eager to please me, servant. I told you I needed him alive!”

Agreus backpedaled slightly at the statement, clearly rattled. “And he shall be, Master. I simply had to be sure. What are a few wounds to one with the blood of a devil coursing through their veins? Even one as weak as this boy?”

V would’ve vocalized his feelings about such a statement, but he couldn’t find the mental energy to. The only thing he could feel aside from the lethargy that came with the massive blood loss he’d suffered through was the sensation of something powerful welling up from within him. The latent power that he’d felt activate when he’d first been brought near the conduit seemed to trickle down through the rest of his body, and now it was spreading like a wildfire. As Agreus and the disembodied voice spoke to one another, V teetered ever closer to the edge, but what that edge was, he couldn’t say. The murky depths beckoned, and he was tempted to give in to that call if only to quench the all consuming fire that burned within him. And to fulfill his desire for revenge.

“Do not assume to know how my kind function, servant. You are not one of us. Now give me what I came here for and leave before you prematurely deprive me of what little usefulness you still possess.”

The young summoner could practically feel Agreus flinch at his master’s order before he bowed and turned to face him again. V was actually somewhat surprised to see that the demon that the cultist served seemed to actually think less of him than he did. In truth, he didn’t know how that could even be possible. “As you wish, Master. It shall be done.”

V wasn’t sure what caused it to happen, but the moment that cultist in white stepped towards him, something inside of him shifted. The thin line that he’d walked for the last little while practically snapped and crumbled beneath him, sending him plummeting into the darkness that he felt welling up from within him. For a brief moment, V closed his eyes. And as he reopened them, he caught a glimpse of Agreus as he stopped dead in his tracks in stunned terror. And then all hell broke loose.

With a sudden cascade of power that he couldn’t honestly believe had originated from him, a shockwave of black and green energy erupted from within him and shot out across the entire area on a collision path with everything in sight as he was overtaken by the overwhelming force of nature that was his initial transformation. The metal loop that had previously bound him suddenly felt like a cheap toy in comparison to the rush of strength and adrenaline that he’d been hit with. He had no idea what he was capable of doing in that moment, but one thing was for certain: he knew he could break free of his restraints and give Agreus a taste of his own medicine.

And he planned to do just that.

It took basically no effort for him to snap free from the restraints. The metal pulley strained against his resolve and crumbled shortly after. It had only been strong enough to hold him when he was in a more vulnerable state, but in that moment, it lost the battle and toppled over against the ground, slamming onto the stone surface of the altar with a powerful thud that sent the cultist toppling over. Since V was already on the ground, it took very little effort for him to grab a hold of his aggressor and pin him down with his right arm. Unfortunately, the muscles in his left arm still burned painfully.

As if instinctively, it occurred to V in that moment that he still owed Agreus a parting gift. He had made the decision to give as good as he'd gotten, and he intended to make good on that promise. In an act born purely of his desire to help educate his captor as to what it felt like to be stabbed in the leg with a ceremonial dagger, V used his right hand to grip the handle of the bladed instrument and pulled it from his neck in one swift, painful moment. Regardless of his extreme discomfort with the action, it had to come out one way or another. He then immediately turned the blade on Agreus and stabbed him in the upper thigh in precisely the same spot that he'd inflicted his wound and withdrew the blade, keeping a grip on it. Although he now possessed a set of razor sharp claws and fangs, he was aware that possessing a knife was an advantageous strategy, even if he was far from proficient with one.

The cultist cried out in pain and jumped to his feet, stumbling back towards the edge of the conduit as it split down the middle, black energy still radiating from it. V somehow managed to drag himself to his feet, but found that he was far from steady as he stumbled forward and fell over to one side, making impact with the ground again. He winced at the unwanted contact and attempted to stand back up, intent on finishing off Agreus before he could make his escape. Just as his long, needle-like nails made contact with the cult leader’s exposed neck, the man in white stumbled back and crashed through the rift in the conduit. The collision triggered some sort of adverse reaction that caused the rift to crumble as it sent forth another powerful shockwave, sending V flying backwards into the shallow black waters of the corrupted pool.

Upon landing in the cursed black water, V gasped and jumped back out of it, his strength and triggered state rapidly regressing as he dragged himself over to the edge of the stone tablet and towards what he assumed to be the exit. As he went, he pocketed the blade and caught sight of the book that the cultist had been carrying. Unwilling to pass up an opportunity to examine it if he made it out of the collapsing cavern alive, he slumped over and picked it up, tucking it away for later. He had entrusted his own book to Vergil back at the entrance before they'd enacted the plan, so he had more than enough room to store it on his person.

The cavern crumbled around him in small sections as the conduit continued to shudder and buckle, breaking off into pieces and falling in the pool of water below. V gradually slowed as he went, despite the fact that he was attempting to move quicker in order to escape. Where was everyone? Had they been led astray by the vast network of tunnels that snaked through the earth to reach this place? One could only hope that wasn’t the case. And even if they were with him, would they see him in the pitch black darkness of the cave? He was soaked head to toe in a mixture of the black liquid from the conduit and his own blood, much to the dismay of the non-sentient white shirt Kyrie had talked him into wearing. At least it was now a color more to his liking.

Every cloud.

His injured leg and neck burned as he limped along, more or less unsure as to where he was actually going. Despite the fact that more light was being let in from the holes in the roof of the cavern, his own vision was dimming. Without the extra dose of adrenaline in his system from his involuntary trigger, he was hopelessly low on blood and the energy to carry on much longer. The only upside was that his injuries had ceased bleeding during his transformation, the rush of demonic power more or less acting as a band-aid during the process. His body had patched itself up as much as it possibly could given the circumstances, but he knew that he was still wounded and weak. He couldn't last much longer in such a state, especially lost and alone with nowhere to go.

What he wouldn’t have done for Griffon to be by his side.

Or his cane...

Or for the energy and know how to trigger a second time.

He was almost certain that he’d possessed wings for a moment.

Just as he reached a small open patch in the underbrush, a familiar voice called out to him. V glanced up from the ground he’d been too weak to look up from and shuttered slightly at the sight before him. Standing across the clearing from him were Dante, Vergil, and Nero, more than likely just as surprised to see him as he was to see them. Upon catching sight of the sorry state that he was in, they rushed forward to meet him, and not a moment too soon. Vergil managed to get within an arm's reach of him before he crumbled like wet cardboard in a storm and his legs buckled, sending him crashing face first into his bewildered parent.

Vergil kneeled down to make eye contact with the young summoner, allowing him to simply slump over on him as he caught his breath. Although he was not unconscious, it didn’t take a particularly keen eye to realize that there was no way he was walking out of there. V had long since reached his breaking point, and there was no going any further. The devil slayer in blue took a moment to quietly take in the sight before him, the gravity of the situation not lost on him. Although he didn’t say it (or anything at all) as Vergil quietly placed his hand on the back of V’s injured shoulder to covertly assess the damage, he was quite proud of him for making it as far as he had with so little still left in him. Anyone present could tell that he'd struggled considerably to arrive at the location that he had in such short order, especially without the assistance of his family. V’s true strength came from his willpower and refusal to lay down and die at the hands of his enemies, and Vergil couldn’t help but respect that. It was a similar sentiment.

“... You should rest. Do not try to get up.” Vergil said almost breathlessly, relief settling over him and he turned towards Dante and Nero. The two of them had been standing a few feet behind him, giving them the space that they clearly needed. “Take him for a moment.”

Nero stepped forward without any form of hesitation, no consideration for the heart attack all the blood he'd be soaked in as a result would probably cause Kyrie when they next met passing through his mind. He would worry about that when they were out of there. Dante hovered around the three of them, trying and mostly succeeding in his attempts to hide his concern. His body language gave it away more than anything else. The devil hunter in red was simply relieved to see that V was still breathing, especially considering how bad he looked. There really was something to him, wasn’t there? While he had no idea what had transpired down there, he knew what had just happened to V. All of them did, though the younger of the twin Sons of Sparda wasn't entirely sure if Nero had clued into it just yet. That kind of power was unmistakable.

Vergil took the opportunity to unsheath Yamato and open up a portal to another location before turning towards Nero and Dante. “Go. I’ll take him.”

The two shared a curious look before wordlessly following his lead. This wasn’t the time for questions, and wherever the gate led had to be better than where they were, if only for the fact that it probably wasn't a collapsing cave. As soon as they’d passed through, Vergil kneeled over and brushed off the breathless attempt that V made to offer to stand and simply scooped him up, carrying him bridal style through the portal. The young summoner attempted to protest for a moment before caving to his father's silent demands. V closed his eyes and finally allowed exhaustion to settle over him in earnest, letting out a sigh of relief and discomfort. There was no point in trying to accomplish anything else, not with the state he was in.

As Vergil approached the portal, he paused for a moment. The desire to go and do a quick check of the area to try and assess what they'd been up to was almost overwhelming, but he knew that V couldn't spare that kind of time. He would have to return after he'd seen to it that both of his troublemaking spawn were somewhere less hazardous. A quick glance down confirmed that V was still conscious, though less so than he had been moment's prior. And in that moment, it seemed that the cold irony of the situation settled over the Darkslayer. Vergil had followed through on his prior threat back at the hotel after all.

He’d found something to carry after all.

(-~-)

Oh, boy, this is going to be one hell of a comment section. I’m excited and scared to see what everyone is going to say all at once. It took me so long to write this chapter that I can’t even put it into words. Thanks again for all of you awesome support, and I’ll see you next Wednesday! I’ll keep you posted on my possible upcoming work hours. I’ve been off work since before Soliloquy started, but I’m going to try my hardest to keep the same upload schedule. Wish I could just get paid to stay at home and write for you all!

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popculturebuffet · 5 years

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Analysis of X: Maurader’s #1 “I’m on a Boat”

Ahoy Muties! I’m Jacob Mattingly and in moving to Tumblr and print, this is my first text review. As for this segment, welcome to Analysis of X, where I cover the dawn of x and onward as it happens. I will get to X-Men #1 as I wasn’t sure wether to review it late or not soon enough, but for now I felt it best to start with Dawn of X’s first non-hickman stab at greatness, Gerry Duggan and Matteo Lolli’s pirate themed Mauraders. Come aboard after the break.

So Mauraders begins a few months back, with our book’s headliner Kitty Pryde, and her future teammates, close friend and surrogate mom Storm and ex-boyfriend and her best buddy, my faviorite X-Man and organizer for orgies on Krakoa: Nightcrawler, ready to head to Krakoa. For those two of you who didn’t read house of x or couldn’t afford it and powers, understandable the current status quo is simple: Mutantkind has formed it’s own nation on their former enemy Krakoa, the island that walks like a man but currently dosen’t because several people would fall off, and have planted gates globally so mutants can come to their new eden, finally done with all the racist genocidal bullshit mankind has put them through. Kitty tries to come along But welll....

Instead of letting her in for some reason Krakoa instead says come on and SLAM and your not welcome to the JAM. Kitty takes it well.

We get our character page, which is apparently NOT limited to Hickman’s work, but I find it a nice touch, and unlike the avengers books from other writers under his tenure not doing the same thing, unify’s things a bit. I also like this opening mystery a ton. Is it her powers? Or is it something else? And how will Doug Ramsey aka Cypher, her former best friend who had a crush on her in the mutant equivalent in high school and Krakoa’s translator factor into this. I hope he does because most Kitty Pryde centric stories kinda forgot he existed entirely, as did New Mutants and All-New X-Factor on the Doug side. Seriously it bugs me as they were incredibly close yet because him being single might get in the way of her and other ships the writers had planned, this was just ignored and hopefully with Doug being a bigger player Duggan won’t ignore him this time, and given how strong this book is I expect this to come up.

Moving Right along after the intro page, with the wonderful welcome of ahoy muties and a cast page, showing this isn’t exclusive to Hickman’s book and something I like we get a captain’s log of sorts, with the reveal that, with no way to portal there, Kitty just stole a boat, said i’m the captain now (Because you can’t escape that refrence and why would you) and then .. muses a bit about how left behind she feels as seen above. And it’s an intresting dilema: without the portals, how can she ever REALLY feel at home on Krakoa when she’d basically be trapped there, alone amongst everyone else.. and not for the first time.

Longtime fans or those who’ve binged Claremont’s run will recall this little scene: after taking the bullet for Rouge during Mutant Massacre Kitty was left basically a ghost. No tangeblity, no way to interact, just trapped in a world she could see. While it DID get better from here it was only marginally: she could speak, she could talk.. but for the early part of her days with Excalibur, basically the british X-Men and something i’ll save more for next week, her powers of phasing through objects had reversed. She had to concentrate to stay SOLID and it was hell for her. It eventually righted itself, somehow I haven’t read far enough into Excalibur to know, but it had to leave some scars. The fact it happened AGAIN after that time she made a bullet meant to destroy earth intangiable and was only saved about a year or so later in story, or month given the weird timescale for marvel but moving on, by Magneto.. and left like this AGAIN until right before Schism. So to me, wether intentional or not, and it feels intentional, Kitty’s been isolated and trapped, alone amongst those around her before.. and she probably dosen’t want that again but worse. So she sails to Krakoa unsure with logan’s grocery list in tow. Which gloriously, we get to see.

And this also explains where the hell the beer used in the big party at the end of HOX and POX came from, though it’s equally likely Logan had magneto steal a beer truck for them and then spent a full day with him carting it all through the gate. But before this gloriousneess Kitty arrives and tries going through the other way.

So before Kitty, or Kate as she prefers to be known now, gets down to a rousing round of killing a child, Bobby shows up. Kitty assures him her problem is be handled by top men, which your saved from the indiana jones refrence because I can’t find a picture for that, logan goes diving for booze.

Because let’s face it Logan without enough Booze to murder Bojack Horseman just isn’t Logan. Bobby heads into a gate to find out why it has no traffic, while Kitty.. gets a phone call from her good old buddy Emma Frost, white queen. As a refresher the two went from sniping at each other constantly to mutaual respect with still a good deal of pot shots during Joss Whedon’s run on the book. That has not really changed. For those of you just joining us Emma was, and now is again, the white queen of a hellfire club and the first evil mutant kitty ever met, so naturally, shit’s complicated. But the important takeaway is that Emma trusts kitty. And has a job opprotunity for her. Those who read HOX and POX probably know that the ruling council of krakoa has an open chair.. and Emma wants her to . See these days Emma’s old running buddies in the hellfire club, which she’s now in charge of, are the Hellfire Trading company, a vital economic partner and thus were naturally courted by Xavier as a vital part of Krakoa and shipping the life giving plants Krakoa gives worldwide. Where Kitty Kitty Bang Bang comes in is that not everyone is happy about Krakoa or welcoming of their gates: HOX and POX outright showed some countries refused to partner with them, and even some that have agreed to soverignty have taken to some drastic measures to keep mutants from leaving.

Yeah, and it makes sense. The Marvel universe was prejudiced against mutants on a GOOD day, and now they’ve outright declared superiority, strong armed their way into acceptance, and want to take all of the rest away to their eden. While they had every right to after multiple, and i’m not exagerating, attempted and two sucessful GENOCIDES, of course they have to play hard ball to get this and of course extremist anti-mutant groups wouldn’t stand for it. But it works because it makes sense: the portals are a big target and several assholes aren’t going to let mutantkind escape their service, or alive, without a fight. So that’s the mission Emma is offering: a seat at the table as Red Queen of Hellfire and a misson saving muties, getting drunk and fightin round the world. And she also, cleverly, juxtoposes her being a pirate with what pirates in the past did: the pirates and traders of old were slavers. Kitty and her crew would be liberators, saving mutants from Humankind, bringing the live saving drugs in even to countries who refused and the mutants out. Speaking of mutants who are out let’s check on Iceman. But first lockheed with a crab.

Awww. So bobby heads to mother russia.. and finds a nice warm reception.

Yeah naturally this dosen’t go well. Russia is , unsuprisingly, being a dick about the whole thing and it turns out the asshole’s armor can temporarily depower mutants, so bobby books it back and tells kitty.. who’s Mr. Lahey levels of plastered and gets Storm to tag along on her boat, with Storm likely doing so Kitty dosen’t start declaring that she is the liquor or something.

We cut to china where a woman is claiming her husband disappeared.. but Bishop shows up looking into it, and claiming he never showed up. She refuses to talk to him and Bishop calls it a night, but like the audience can tell something’s not right, and given he’s on the cover but doesn't join the team this issue, we’ll likely find out soon enough. Meanwhile ON A BOAT. The future Mauraders are filled in that the people surrounding the portal aren’t with the goverment but an extremist group, and find they have a stowaway aboard.

Yup it’s everyone’s faviorite aussie aronist Pyro, back from the dead after years of being dead, a quick ressurection that reset his character development, and then disappearing and being replaced by one of the very few intresting parts of X-Men gold. I wasn’t even aware he’d been ressurected which shows just how much they gave a shit. Duggan wisely gives him amnesia and reveals the tragic truth of how he came back.

Yup, true to Xavier’s new regime being one part hope and compassion and another part cold detached dickery, which really isn’t that far from the old regime he’s just open about the last part now, Pyro was only brought back first so the “Important mutants” would be sure to be safe. Even with his actions post ressurection, going back to petty crimin.. even though his death, despite never having read the issue, is still a great moment in X-History. Pyro, having failed several desperate attempts to cheat death at the hands of the Legacy Virus, uses his last moments to save someone who fears and hates him: Senator Kelly.. and in the process until the man’s own death changed the man from Mutantkind’s greatest enemy to a great supporter. And after that great selfless sacrifice... all Xavier and Magneto think of him is a lab rat, an unimportant mutant to use first to make sure their plan works. A throwaway slab of mutant meat. Understandably he was about to slide right back into crime but is instead drafted by storm and likely thinks “Eh, what else am I gonna do. “ So with our roster complete for now, our heroes dive into battle with kitty suggesting they swarm the power suit asshole so she can take him out and it works, but leaves her with just herself, pyro and lockheed to fight back.. and we get one of the best marvel fight scenes in recent history as a result. I’m only showing what’s necessary, but I can’t resisit a few choice shots

The fight as you can see is fast paced, fun, and uses kitty’s powers in creative ways we haven’t seen in some time. It’s been a LONG time since her powers weren’t boiled down to “I can’t be hurt” and “I can disrupt tech by phasing through it” and it is GLORIOUS, with Lolli’s art utterly shining and promising more tasty action and creative fights to come. Also i’d be remiss if I left this out

KItty using lockheed to give pyro a boost and blow away the Calvary. Our heroes win the day, save the grateful mutants the group had been holding from the gulag, and send them home, with all three deciding to stick with her: Pyro because it’s fun and because as established he’s pissed at Xavier and Mags for using him as a lab animal, and Iceman out of loyalty. With that Kitty has one of the mutants presence pull out her phone and gives one hell of a series, and team, tagline...

The issue closes out with a nice little scene where Kitty asks storm to join her. And while storm, understandably given the last mutant group of maurders caused aforementioned massacre, not crazy about the name, she affirms her loyalty to her old friend’s new cause.. and to her in this beautiful line of dialogue.

And with that, Kate takes Emma up on her offer and we get a great group shot to close us out.

Well okay not entirely. Like in powers of x we get some plot revant gossip from bar sinsiter. Mostly just foreshadowing for the future.. that emma may of asked someone before storm, a clan of racists in hoods, and some “red tides” at hellfire bay. nothing to dig into much. Final Thoughts: An excellent start that I hope keeps going like this. Marauders is one of my faviorite kinds of comics: a quirky team, loads of laughs and great likeable characters. Pyro is an easy faviorite and the book took Kitty from creators pet for Benids and Guggenhiem into new territory while building on what Claremont, Ellis and Whedon started. It’s also a welcome breath of fresh air after the more plot based house and powers to have more character focused stories and reactions to Krakoa and see the world build as we see how the globe is taking the Mutants new status. An excellent addition to what hickman has built. If you liked this follow me for more as i’ll be reviewing X-Men #1 sometime soon, Excalibur #1 next week, and more fun stuff and if there’s something you’d like me to review you can slip me a fiver to commission me for it. Until we meet again my fair muties.

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ceruleanmusings · 5 years

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Brothers in Arms - Part One

Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia Requested by: anon Rating: T Genre: Angst Words: 1820 Characters: Peter Pevensie, Edmund Pevensie, brief Caspian X Summary - Peter and Edmund get into a disagreement over matters that leads Peter into trouble. Note: A few months ago I got an anon prompt request to do a Peter & Edmund brotherhood fic so I figured now was a good time to pop this out. (I also blame Riley over at @purple-and-red-ribbons for reigniting my high school narnia fixation). I love the relationship between Peter and Edmund so this prompt hit all the right buttons for me! Please let me know what you think! Part two coming soon!

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Peter closed his eyes in a long, slow, blink. His chest swelled with his deep inhale, lips pressed together to keep from letting it out too early. Too soon. He counted to three in his head and let his breath out in blow. The fire within him continued to smolder.

“Edmund, I don’t think you understand—” Peter said.

“No, you, don’t understand,” Edmund interrupted. Peter threw his arms into the air and paced in a circle.

“Would you please let me finish?”

“I know what you’re going to say!” Edmund’s grip tightened on the pommel of the sword that he held down by his side. Peter eyed it, wondering if maybe going out to spar today was a bad idea in hindsight. “And I’m telling you, it’s not going to work. It’s not the best decision!”

“it’s the only decision!” Peter shot back. “We have to strike back now while we still have the time. While they’re still on the lands.”

“But what if that’s what they want?” Edmund said. Peter gritted his teeth, shook his head. Edmund still wasn’t getting it. The longer they waited to act, the longer they waited to send a unit out to chase away the invaders, the more people would go missing. “What if we just keep feeding them people, one after another, for nothing? What if they’re waiting us out?”

“Then we’ll figure that out when we capture one of them,” Peter replied. “We can entice them to talk. Get down to the answer.”

Edmund shook his head, pushing a hand through his thick, dark hair. “This isn’t the right way, Pete.”

“So, what, you want to sit back and wait like a coward?”

Peter pressed his lips together, too late to keep the bullet of his words from hitting Edmund square in the chest. He watched as Edmund’s body stiffened, eyes darkened, and muscle in his jaw twitch in rapid succession. Sun beat down on then, golden rays illuminating an azure sky ahead but did nothing to quell the cold air that swooped in, whipping around them. Peter shivered; the cold from Edmund’s stare alone nestled deep down in his bones, sifting through every crevice.

“That...that wasn’t what I meant,” Peter said.

Edmund lifted his chin. “Regardless”—the bite in the single word left marks on Peter’s skin—”deciding to sit back and observe is not a coward’s move. It would give us more time to look into their methods. To see if there is a pattern—”

“At that point, there would be too many lives lost.” Peter stepped closer, his voice lowering to a harsh whisper. “Could you walk away from that? Walk away with their blood on your hands? Because that’s what’s going to happen if we take too much more time.”

“And if we don’t take enough time, brother, then we will not be able to get a handle on the situation,” Edmund replied, stepping forward himself. Their chests bumped but neither backed down. His lip curled upwards into a snarl as he hissed, “You may be the high king, but you’re not Narnia’s only king.”

“I know that!”

Edmund snorted, moving away from Peter. He walked away a few paces; the crisp grass crunched beneath his boots. “Do you?” His question barely reached Peter’s ears due to Edmund’s back being turned. Barely, but still managed.

Peter’s eyebrows furrowed. Sweat dripped down his forehead and dripped into his eye. The sting was sobering. “Of course.” He wasn’t alone when he was crowned. He wasn’t alone during his coronation ceremony all those years ago. He wasn’t alone when he sat up on that golden throne, basking in the elation and magic encompassing them after the defeat of the White Witch. Edmund sat next to him; his right hand man as always. Where he was supposed to be. Surely, he couldn’t have forgotten that.

Couldn’t have forgotten the many battles they fought together, charging in side-by-side with swords drawn and an eye on one another’s backs. When they snuck out of the castle for a break form their duties, racing their horses across the rolling greens as fast as their horses could carry them. When they aided one another in creating and establishing support for their loyal subjects that may be down on their luck or were suffering from losses. Any decision Peter made for the good of Narnia, Edmund would be there with him, giving advice and support. Why couldn’t he support him now?

“Sometimes, I don’t think you do,” Edmund said, turning.

“Ed—”

Edmund stabbed the tip of his sword into the soft soil beneath their feet. The sword wiggled from side to side for a few tense seconds as Edmund looked outwards past Peter’s shoulder. Peter waited. Edmund didn’t waste time on frivolous words, Peter knew. it was worth waiting to hear what Edmund had to say, even if it was wrong.

“I know these lands as you do. I know these people as you do. I care for them just the same.” When Peter spoke to object, Edmund held up his hand. “But, I don’t think you have them in mind right now. I really don’t.”

“Okay then, Ed, what do I have in my mind?”

“Retribution.”

Peter gritted his teeth. “They’re innocent!” He gestured off in the distance as the fire within him flared back to life. “Those that are being hunted? They’re innocent! They’ve done nothing wrong! And I can’t just...just keep letting it happen! We cut them off, now!”

“Charging in and ambushing them without a plan isn’t going to make matters any better!” Edmund’s fingers drummed against the handle of his sword. “It’s not going to change the fact that we weren’t here.”

"But we’re here now!”

“I’m not going to let you sacrifice people’s lives to rid yourself of guilt, Pete, and I’m sure Su and Lu wouldn’t either.”

“I’m the High King!”

The muscle in Edmund’s jaw twitched as he clenched his teeth. “And that makes the rest of us, what, exactly?” Peter pushed a harsh breath out of his nose. Neither said a word. The hum of a bee’s wings nearby truncated the stretch of silence between them. A stalemate sat between them, so palpable it buzzed like a live-wire, waiting for the first casualty.

“So, that’s that then.”

Edmund volunteered himself.

“Ed—” Peter shook his head. He had to fix this. Had to...had to make him understand. If only Edmund could understand. Why didn’t he understand?

“I’m sorry I wasted my time bringing my thoughts to you,” he continued, his words clipped in a way that Peter hadn’t heard since they were children. Since their father left for the war. “I won’t make that mistake again, Your Majesty.”

Tufts of grass were wrenched from the ground due to the force behind Edmund’s yank on his sword. Peter watched him go, fingers twitching by his sides, strains of frustration rooting him to the ground. Fine, he could go! Maybe then he’d stop being so bloody blind and see that being proactive was the way to go for their people’s safety.

“Is everything alright?” Peter’s head whipped upwards at Caspian’s voice. He stood a ways away, his hands resting on the belt to his sword strap without a care in the world. Peter scowled.

“S’fine,” Edmund muttered, heading in his direction.

“What happened?”

Edmund paused, throwing a glance over his shoulder at Peter before saying, “Nothing out of the ordinary” and kept going.

Uttering a frustrated growl, Peter turned on his heel and stalked off in the other direction.

---

Shafts of sunlight illuminated the path ahead of Peter as he continued his angry stalking through the woods. Above birds tweeted and flittered from perch to perch, basking in the warmth. Waist-high flora tugged at his doublet as he passed, snagging briefly only for him to batter it aside as his frustration seethed.

Of course Edmund would only see Peter’s declaration as a bad thing. He didn’t mean to hold his title over his brother’s head, he would never do such a thing! They pushed forward their reign together–him, Edmund, Lucy, and Susan. They were the Kings and Queens of old. They brought forth the Golden Age and brought peace to Narnia for a time. The Narnians looked to them for guidance and support and, in the end, were loyal to their monarchs.

They were unified.

He’d only meant...well, now he wasn’t so sure. Peter’s nose wrinkled. His point, once so burning hot, now sat beneath murky water, difficult to distinguish. Just far enough out of reach for him to grasp. With every step he took into the forest, he moved further and further away from the claws of resentment reaching to pull him back.

“Bollocks,” he uttered beneath his breath. He kicked at a nearby rock, watching it bounce and skip across the loamy dirt path. Perhaps he did mean to bring up his title but...it wasn’t to bring Edmund down. It was only to remind that he had final say, that maybe it would push Edmund to see that they had to make some sort of a decision rather than spinning in circles. It probably doesn’t help that you’re pulling him in those circles.

Habits die hard. He was the oldest, he was to protect them, no matter what. No matter how many battles they fought, no matter how many lands they traveled to, he was to ensure that they were taken care of. It was his duty. It was his job. Okay, yes, maybe his brain was overridden with his need to protect the Narnians and his family by proxy, but that didn’t mean he was wrong. There was a time that they weren’t there for their country, he didn’t want them to see him as leaving them in lurch again.

Edmund doesn’t either. Peter stopped walking, letting the words of his colliding thought sink in. Of course they were working towards a common goal, in the end they wanted the kidnappings to stop. But the stakes were higher than they’ve ever been when it came to making a decision for the good of their people. It wasn’t that Edmund didn’t have a point...Peter just didn’t want to do the wrong thing. In the end, it would all fall on him. Press on his shoulders and sit on his chest and keep him up at night as he wondered what he could have done differently, what he could have done better, and if anyone would ever trust him again.

He sighed. Maybe it would be best to talk to Susan first.

He’d barely turned on his heel when the brush exploded. Shouts and jeers whipped around him like a hurricane, taking over, screaming in his ears. His hand barely gripped the base of his sword, trusty Rhindon, when something thunked against the back of his skull and night pulled down over his eyes.

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