#chapter 33

[manga-meow]

#Nekodamari #cats #chapter 33 #seinen #manga #manga cap #my edits #monochrome #mangacap #manga panel #popular #1k

[damn-stark]

Chapter 33 Where’s my mind?

Chapter 33 of Cherry

A/N: sorry?

Warning- Angst, swearing, fluff?, mentions of death, and violence and ptsd, suggest nfsw, cliffhanger

Takes place during- The final chapters special 2

Pairing- Jean Kirstein x fem!reader

(Let me know if you want to be tagged)

————

*A COUPLE MONTHS LATER. MARLEY*

“A punishment must be imposed! They are from Paradise!”

“They helped save humanity! We are alive because of them! They deserve to be honored Marleyeans!”

They’ve been arguing over the same thing for the past couple of months, the battle between Titans and humanity ended and the first thing they focus on is whether they should punish every remaining Eldian, or honor you as the heroes you are. It’s a stupid fight, a childish argument that’s taken too long to discuss.

Besides Marleyan and Eldian? Does it matter now that Titans are extinct?

No, so their answer should be simple. If they don’t want to accept that it was because of you that their hearts are beating and their lungs are taking in another breath, then they're the real monsters.

Then again you don’t really care what they call you anymore, you don’t care if they continue to argue for the rest of their lifetimes. You don’t care if you’re celebrated and honored, you can’t care about much as of late. It’s weird, isn’t it?

All you can care about, all that matters is if they’ll choose a punishment or not. You just need to know if they want to lock you back up in their stupid underground cells or not, because you can’t go back there, you can't let them touch you again. You can’t.

The doctor that would perform all the experiments on you is dead, you killed him with your own hands, but there’s still more like him. You can’t go through that again and see their smug faces as they overpower you, a strong soldier. A soldier who kept their strength even after the Titans died. You can’t be trapped in the dark again, you can’t be hit and chased. You can’t. No, no…

…It’s happening again. The shortness of breath, racing heart, and panicked mind trigger the bad memories to flash and grow loud until the point you can’t hear what’s around you, you feel your body stiffen and everything go numb, even that once racing mind. It’s like you’re isolated, and feeling your own time slow down.

You need to collect yourself and focus.

Focus on Jean sitting beside you barely paying attention to what people are saying. Focus on the fact that you’re free right now, that you’re surrounded by your friends who wouldn’t let your worst fear come true. Focus…

Focus.

Yet as try to catch your breath the door opens and that doctor walks in. That same doctor who would hurt you, the same one you killed. He’s walking in….

“No, no, no,” you mouth under your breath and sit back as you grip onto the table's surface in front of you and squeeze your eyes shut.

When you open them again the doctor is gone and you notice that it was actually a woman. Your mind just tricked you…

Fuck. Damn it.

You loosen your grip on the table and stand up abruptly to walk out.

“Y/N?” Jean whispers.

“Outside,” you quickly throw out and slip past your friends watching you leave with concern.

But you can’t help it. You try to be better, but ever since the war ended your days have become longer as it’s filled with whatever tranquility means now; nothing. You have nothing to do now that you don’t have to fight, so those nightmares have turned into actual torture during some unexpected parts of your days.

They say it’ll go away, but it’s been months and you’ve gotten worse. You feel yourself getting worse, it’s why…well, it’s why you’ve come up with an important decision in your life. Something you can’t imagine will go well for one person in particular, but you have to make it. You just can’t handle what you’re suffering through whilst staying here.

Who knows if making your decision will make anything better, but you can’t even catch your breath when you’re outside. You can’t…you can’t find beauty in anything like you used to. It’s all so dull and bleak, so ugly. So you hope making that decision will help. It has to. Plus you're not only making it for you, but for a promise you made Eren…

Eren…who sacrificed so much, but you’re here unable to breathe and mad at the world. You're unable to find any motivation to seek the life you can now have, the life you want.

He’d be so mad and annoyed…Tsk.

You proceed to drop your head and notice your heartbeat calming down, and your breaths go in and out normally. Your mind still doesn’t let go of those bad memories, but you slowly push them back and just bask in the silence. For a while anyway.

“Cherry.”

You quickly turn around and see Levi approaching you on his feet. “You need to be on that chair,” you scold him.

Levi rolls his eyes. “I can’t stand sitting down all damn day,” he snaps back.

You don’t argue, instead, you skip over and plop yourself on his wheelchair. “Well when you’re not using it don’t haul it around, you look insane pushing nothing around.” You snicker.

“Tsk. Aren't you supposed to be inside listening?”

“Aren't you?” You retort and sit back before you begin kicking your feet back and forth as he begins to push you away from the meeting tent.

“We should find a hill so you can push me down it on this thing,” you suggest lightheartedly.

Levi scoffs. “Yeah and see you die when you fall off the damn thing,” he counters.

You chuckle softly and begin to fiddle with your fingers before you blurt out your trouble. “I’m thinking of going back to Paradise.” You swallow thickly and shut your eyes as you expect an angry protest.

After all, you’ve lived with this nagging fear that either of you could die when the Titans existed, and when the war was ramped. So now that things have calmed down and you don’t have such a nagging feeling poisoning your mind, you can finally live together with ease.

“When are you guys planning to leave?” He asks nonchalantly. He doesn’t sound upset, he doesn’t stop pushing you in his wheelchair either, and he sounds like what you said didn’t bother him.

It’s good. You need that. You want that from Jean too.

“No, just me,” you correct him. “I'm planning to leave alone. I don’t want to pull him away from this, it’s hard but he likes doing this. And I can’t stay here anymore, I just…need to get away from here. I need to…find myself, I don’t know,” you mumble and keep looking at your hands.

Levi finally stops moving the wheelchair and lets out a deep breath. You expect some protest, something that will make you feel bad.

“All right,” he says in comprehension and catches you off guard. Even though it shouldn’t, he’s accepting, he tries to understand even if sometimes that does come late.

“I mean I know you’re not asking for permission,” he continues. “But I think it’s the right thing for you.”

Your eyes well with tears and you can’t help but let a soft smile tug on your lips.

“I’ve just seen you struggling here, returning might be nice. And you won’t be alone, Mikasa is there, as well as Historia.”

You hum. “I know. I’ve written to them both, Mikasa says she has a room in her apartment. And Historia is working towards my pardon.”

Levi stays quiet for a moment before he interjects. “So is this more of a goodbye?”

You shake your head and look up at the bland land ahead ruined by the rumbling. “No, I’ve been indecisive. I don’t want to leave Jean behind, or you.”

“You don’t worry about me,” Levi quickly rebuttals. “Nor do you need to worry about him. Worry about yourself, that’s all that matters. If he can’t accept your choice in the right way that you deserve then he’s not right is he?”

You frown and try to defend him. “It’s not that, he’s just you know…protective, he’s headstrong, and stubborn.”

“Well, regardless,” Levi sighs. “He needs to accept your choice. Is that why you’re holding back from deciding?”

You hesitate but nod since you still continue to be a terrible liar. “Yeah,” you whisper and lift your head, managing to catch a group of young adults to the far right side of you glancing over here and murmuring to each other.

“Then stop,” he says sharply. “He’s just your boyfriend. If he loves you he’ll understand.”

You slowly peer back and flash Levi a smile. “What is this? Love advice? And you’re good at it. You sound like Pieck.” You giggle.

“I'm good at a lot of things,” Levi mutters and averts his gaze. “And I did raise a girl, so it was required.”

You chuckle. “20 years late.”

“Whatever.”

You face ahead again and sit back with an amused smile on your face and with this sense of relief comforting your hesitation and fear over telling Jean. You also feel a bit of bliss that Levi accepted without causing an argument or protesting.

However, that simple bliss vanishes away quickly as you see that same group looking over here and pointing as they smile and laugh, and instead an unfamiliar raging anger replaces it.

“You’ve got a fucking problem!” You snap at the group and hastily push yourself off the chair.

“Cherry,” Levi tries to calm you down, but you storm towards the group of men before he can even lift his hand.

“Yeah, you!” You sneer and point your chin at the main man who had been gawking like a schoolgirl. “You have a fucking problem!”

The blond man puffs out his chest and his friends grow quiet, but you see their smiles trying to peek through their serious demeanor.

“Nothing,” the blond man brushes you off. “Just talkin’.”

You huff out and shoot him a glare before you roll your eyes and turn away. You’re about to join Levi again, but then one of his friends mutters under his breath.

“Eldian—”

You don’t let him finish, you spin around and charge at the friend to grab him by the collar. “Say it!” You seethe and shove him back on the ground. “I saved your fucking life! So say it you fucking cunt. Say it!” You stomp over there and want to throw a punch, but then arms wrap around you and you’re getting pulled back.

“Relax, relax, just ignore them,” Jean tries to calm you down.

You squirm in his hold and point at the guy. “Say it!” You bellow between your heaving.

The guy's friends help him, and their teasing smiles and puffed chests are gone now. They look at you with disbelief and disgust.

“Just leave it,” Jean whispers in your ear.

You continue to burn your glare into them until Jean manages to turn you around to face Levi and the rest of your friends watching with concern.

“Just breathe,” Jean whispers. “Breathe.”

You drop your gaze and feel pissed that he pulled you away, but you don’t argue, you just do as he says and begin to realize that you let your anger get to you again.

You tried to fight it and not escalate to such an extreme, but this blinding anger is something so new. You’ve never felt it to such an extreme in your life. It’s so overwhelming that you can’t help but get lost in it. And you never realize how you’ve reacted until after.

“I’m okay,” you huff out even though you haven’t gotten to actually being okay with it yet. He just won’t let go until you say it. “I’m calm.”

Jean slowly lets go of you and walks around to face you. “What was that?” He asks.

You lift your gaze and meet Levi’s gaze, and you both know that what you want is the right thing to do.

“It was…nothing,” you brush Jean off and meet his concerned-filled gaze. “Just facing ungrateful people.”

Jean grabs your shoulders and leans in closer. “Well, sweetheart, they barely tolerate us as it is, so just look the other way okay? It’s hard I know, but please.”

The corner of your lips twitch to a smile and you lift your hand to caress his cheek. “The role of leader still suits you well.” You flatter him.

Jean holds your gaze and his eyes squint to try and read you, but he doesn’t take long because he accepts this as your defeat and strokes your chin. “Come on, we're done for today. Let’s go get ready for our date, yeah?” He smirks.

You hum and offer him a feigned smile before he goes to your side and throws his arm around your shoulders to begin dragging you with him and your friends.

“You okay?” Connie asks you.

You meet his curious gaze and nod stiffly. “I’m good. Don’t worry about me.” You shoot him a smile and pull away from Jean to rush over and push Levi’s wheelchair now that he’s sat down.

“Tell him,” Levi whispers with certainty so you know that he fully agrees with your plan. Now more than ever.

“I will,” you sigh and drop your head. “I will.”

——

*LATER THAT NIGHT*

The date went on like the previous ones, short, and unmemorable at least to you. You try to have fun like you would before, you try to laugh and make him laugh. You try to be your best and forget all your burdens for that moment, but it's a heavy weight so the date was short and it ended up the same, with you under him trying to at least feel something during your night of passion.

But you just mostly please him.

Can’t he see though? Can’t he see that you’re not really there, that you’re like a ghost?

Then again you don’t want him to see you, you want to be okay. And you don’t want him to treat you any more differently than he already is. So you don’t try to let him see, you play your part as best as you can. You let him leave a trail of sloppy kisses down your neck, you try to help him pull your panties down to your ankles, and gasp as you feel his kisses travel further down your body.

Do you feel pleasured though?

No. No matter how you try you can’t feel that same warmth in your stomach, you can’t feel eager or desperate to have him already be inside you. You just play a part. And he doesn’t notice.

Or at least he didn’t until now.

“Y/N?”

You snap your eyes down and watch him drag himself over to face you. “What’s wrong?”

Perhaps it was the need to tell him that you want to leave that gave it away this time. You can’t stop thinking about when you’ll tell him, or how you will, and how he will react.

“Yeah,” you lie and nod softly. “Sorry, I was lost in the moment.” You offer him a soft smile and he looks into your eyes, making you grin and grab his face. “Keep going, or I will flip you around.” You giggle.

Jean leans closer to your lips and parts his own lips, but he doesn’t commit the act of kissing you, so you lean forward and capture his lips with yours to try and make him feel that burning desire again. You don’t even seek an invitation to shove your tongue past his lips.

However, before you can deepen the gesture he rips himself away and sits up. You follow him and see him drop his head and frown down at his hands, so you pull your panties up and lean towards him to grab his arm.

“Jean, what’s wrong?” You ask cluelessly on purpose.

Said man mutters, “you tell me….do you not love me anymore?”

You gasp and grab his face to turn his head so he can face you. “Why would you say that? Of course, I do! I love you.” That’s the truth. The only truth you’ve said.

“Then how come it doesn’t feel like it? How come right now I don’t feel like you’re happy or like I’m pleasing you,” he argues and slowly narrows his glossy eyes. “Tell me, be honest.”

“I love you,” you assure him. “I love you. I am in love with you. You’re my everything, you’re my best friend and the love of my life. I love you. I can’t live without you.”

Jean holds your gaze and draws in a deep breath before he drops his gaze and nods slowly as he lets it out. “Then,” he continues in a quiet voice. “What’s wrong? I just feel like you’re not here sometimes, and when you are you pull stunts like the one earlier.”

You swallow thickly and stiffen as you get proven wrong about him not seeing you.

“So tell me,” he whispers and lifts his eyes to meet yours with a pleading and hurt look. “Is it this war ending? Because it’s hard I know. But we get to be happy now, we can’t change what happened to humanity.”

You nod softly. “I know that,” you whisper.

“Then?” Jean presses and grabs your cheek so you can hold his gaze. “Is it Eren? You guys were close—”

“No,” you cut him off softly. “It’s not Eren. I'm grieving Eren pretty well, I’m used to losing friends, so I can deal with it.”

Jean exhales and keeps pressing. “Then?”

You can’t tell him. This is not how you’re supposed to tell him. But he’s giving you an opening. The moment is here and you don’t have to squirm and try to encourage yourself to bring up the subject.

It’s here. Do it…

Do it!

“I,” you utter nervously. “I…I’m thinking about—no, I’m going back home,” you finally spill out.

“What?” Jean chuckles and slowly lets your cheek go, making you begin to fiddle with your fingers.

“I’ve thought about it,” you continue to explain without meeting his gaze. “And I’m going to do it. I’ve already let Mikasa and Historia know, they’re going to help me, and I’m going to go find myself again. I’m going to get better.”

“Find yourself?” Jean mumbles in disbelief. “What? What the fuck does that mean?”

You blink and steal a glimpse at him, noticing how bothered he’s beginning to look. However, you continue. “I need to go back home to heal. I can’t do that here. And I miss home. I miss it every day, and there’s a promise I need to keep for Eren. I can’t do that from here.”

Jean nods softly and snaps his eyes up to meet your gaze. “Okay, so when do we leave?”

You swallow back nervously and exhale deeply. “No,” you break it to him. “You’re not coming with me. I’m going back home alone.”

Jean's eyebrows furrow and he lets out a nervous laugh before he shakes his head. “No,” he stammers. “You’re not. Levi—”

“Is okay with it;” You assure him. “We talked, and he agrees that I should leave.”

Jean shakes his head again. “No,” he repeats. “No.”

“Jean,” you whisper and grab his hand. “I need to do this on my own, and besides maybe you can find someone else here,” you share with no ounce of pain, and that hurt him—“you can experience more of life now. You know? And who knows maybe, after this work takes you back home, maybe we can rekindle what we had.”

Jean pulls back and looks at you horrified. “Rekindle? Y/N, we’re supposed to get married. I love you. And you love me. So why-why are you saying this crap? Why are you pushing me away?”

It feels so much easier now. Even if you see him hurting it all feels so much easier to say.

“Because I need to do this on my own,” you tell him. “Because even if I love you, I know that having you there with me will only hold me back. Not because you’re a nuance, but because you’re my comfort, and in order to heal I need to not stay stuck where I am. Do you understand?”

Jean parts his lips but he just gapes like a fish before he drags himself out of bed.

“Jean?” You ask for clarification. “What are you doing?”

Jean begins to change back into his clothes and snaps back coldly. “Just think about what you’re saying. All this crap is stupid. So just think about it.”

You slide off the bed and grab his arm. “No,” you protest. “No. This is what I feel, I have been okay with it for a long time. I just didn’t want to break it to you because I knew you’d react this way.”

“How else do you expect me to react y/n?” He spats. “Do you want me to pat your back and say I’m happy you’re breaking my heart?!”

“Yes…No!” you quickly snap back and pull him to you. “No. I want you to be okay with it because you love me. I know it sounds crazy, but I can’t stay here. I can’t. It hurts too much, I need you to understand that.”

Jean huffs and grabs your wrists to pull you close. “Then tell me. If it’s about what happened at Marley then tell me. Please, my love. Baby. Don’t leave.”

“Jean,” you mutter with your annoyance growing at an unexpected rate that even catches you off guard. “Just listen to me!”

Jean freezes and steps back.

“Just,” you heave. “Listen.”

Jeans takes heavy breaths and his eyebrows slowly furrow as his mouth curls.

“I have to leave, don’t make this hard. It’s not supposed to be hard,” you cry between anger and anguish.

Jean scoffs and steps back to finish changing, you try to stop him but he pushes your hands away and takes a big step back. “No. No! Just leave then, if that’s what you want,” he hisses. “Then leave. I don’t care.” He turns around and storms out leaving you to look at the door frantically and in disbelief.

Yet it doesn’t change your mind, it just aches more that’s all, especially because he left you alone in the room. Which sounds pretty pathetic as someone who's already afraid of the dark, but you can’t help it, now you’re afraid to sleep alone, so you quickly change and find Levi. Luckily he’s awake too.

“What’s the matter?” He asks.

You meet his gaze and tears immediately begin to roll down your cheeks. “I told him,” your voice breaks. “He left.”

Levi exhales deeply and points at the edge of his empty bed. “Sit,” he commands.

You walk in and do as he says.

“You did what you had to do for yourself,” he adds softly. “Jean is a stubborn and hard-headed guy, but he’ll come around and if he doesn’t then that’s his fault.”

You blink repeatedly to push away your tears and respond in a quivering voice. “I yelled at him…I never do that. I was so angry that I was scared of myself,” you whimper. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

Levi’s breath catches and he wastes no time walking over to sit beside you. “It’s not your fault. You’re just…” he sighs deeply. “Traumatized. It’s why if you want to go with no baggage then do it. Just choose what’s right for you, if it’s a mistake then learn to live with it.”

You slowly lift your watery gaze and look at him with a trembling lip. “Why don’t you go with me?” You ask. “We can go back home for a while. And then go back above ground.”

Levi averts his gaze and murmurs. “Cherry…it’s not my turn yet. But I will go back home when it’s time for me. You understand?”

It’s hard to grasp but you don’t argue. “Yeah,” you whisper with disappointment even if you had known the answer prior to asking.

“Now,” he whispers and pats the spot behind him. “Sleep. You look bad with those eyebags on your face.”

You muster a breathless laugh and drag yourself back to lie down and just stare at the ceiling. “I don’t sleep,” you share. “At least not anymore. So I guess I’m like you.”

Levi scoffs and gets up to sit back on his desk chair. “Aren’t we a pair?” He chuckles softly.

You watch the ceiling and sigh deeply as you dread leaving only because of the explanations and goodbyes you’ll need to give. You want them to be simple, and they probably all will, but will he want to say goodbye?

You hope and hope. And keep on hoping, but every day that week that leads to your final day, Jean never comes up to talk to you, he avoids you, he doesn't even have lunch if you’re there too. He's acting childish and you understand why.

It doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt though. It doesn’t mean you don’t want to talk to him. But when that day comes for you to leave, for you to pack up your stuff you remain distant like never before. You don’t want to make him any angrier than he already is, so you avoid talking to him first.

You’ll say goodbye, but if he doesn’t want to speak about it you can’t force him. Maybe you’ll write to him when you get home, or a year from now when you’ve begun to heal.

Nevertheless, just as you are packing someone walks into your room.

“I’m almost done Levi,” you mutter without looking since you know you’re late. “Just wait okay?”

“Y/N,” you hear Jean utter.

You drop what you have in your hand and spin around to face him in disbelief. “Jean,” you whisper.

Said man holds your gaze as he heaves. “Don’t,” he says between his heavy breaths. “Don’t go.”

You drop your gaze and sigh deeply. “Jean,” you murmur displeased. “I told you I can’t.”

His footsteps approach and before you know it his hands fall on your cheeks and he lifts your head so you can face him. “Please,” he pleads. “Please, don’t go.”

You grab his hands and look at him with glossy eyes and discomfort as you have no choice but to give him reasons why you can’t live here a day longer. “I can’t stay, Jean! I can’t physically be here another day. Do you know that every day since you left I’ve gone to sleep with Levi because I’m terrified that someone from Marley is going to come to get me? I can’t walk down the street without looking over my shoulder every few minutes. I wouldn't even do that underground,” you cry and step back to hold your hands together as you feel them begin to shake.

“I don’t sleep,” you continue and meet his gaze with tears rolling down your cheeks. “I don’t eat. I can’t stand being alone, I’m angry, and I’m not an overly angry person, Jean. I’m terrified…absolutely terrified of going back, so much so that I carry…I…carry something that will end my life in a matter of seconds. That’s not okay. It’s not, I’m not okay.” You exclaim and watch him shake his head with his eyes filled with tears of pity and guilt, whilst also looking upset.

“And do you think I have it any better?” He argues. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now that it’s all over. So it’s not easy for me either, we can heal together. Just let me come with you, or stay.”

You shut your eyes and draw out a deep frustrated breath before you open your eyes and close the gap to grab his hands. “Jean, I can’t do this with you. I need to do it alone. Please understand. I love you, I’m in love with you. I will always love you, but please let me go. You love me so please let me go.”

Jean holds your gaze for a moment before he sniffles and nods softly in comprehension before he walks away, throwing away any chance at a good goodbye.

But you expected his goodbye, so you save your tears for later, wipe the current ones still rolling down your cheeks, and finish packing to finally head out. And of course, Jean is missing from the lineup, but everyone else is here.

“Could you look after my mom?” Connie comes up to you first.

You nod. “Of course I will,” you assure him and grab his shoulder to entrust something to him too. “Look out for him please.”

Connie doesn’t hesitate to nod, making you smile and step forward to embrace him tightly. “I’ll see you. Take care okay? I’ll write.”

“You better,” he quips. “And don’t be going around being stupid.”

You laugh and nod before you pull back and pat his cheek before you move on to Armin. “Keep fighting, a bit longer okay?”

Armin nods softly. “I will. And you…will look out for Mikasa?”

You smile and nod. “Of course I will. I promised I would.”

Armin is the one to give you a hug first, letting you let out a deep sigh as you slowly hug him back.

“He’ll come around,” he tries to assure you. “Just give him time.”

“I hope,” you whisper and rub his back before you pull away.

“Here,” he adds and shows off a letter. “It’s for Mikasa. Could you give it to her?”

You take the letter and secure it in your bag. “Right as I get down,” you assure him lightheartedly and step down the line to face Annie and Reiner.

And even if you’ve forgiven Annie, things are still awkward, and Reiner…well you still can’t forgive him or face him so you simply offer them something short. “Goodbye, you two. I’ll see ya.”

Reiner nods and steps forward as he raises his arms, but you quickly swerve his attempt at an embrace and face Pieck last.

“Goodbye, my friend. I will write because I do enjoy your company,” you let her know with a soft smile. “So expect them and write back.”

Pieck smiles and nods. “I will,” she says. “So I will expect them too.”

You shoot her a grin before you give each other a short embrace because in truth over the past couple of months, you’ve been together, you’ve gotten very close, especially because you didn’t have Mikasa, and Sasha is gone…so you became friends with her. And you’re happy you are.

Now, nevertheless, Levi is left, and you can’t embrace him like you want to because of his wounds, but you try your best with what you have.

“I love you,” you mumble. “I’ll write often, so I apologize in advance. And please write back or I will worry.”

Levi huffs. “Of course I will. I want to hear from you too,” he says softly as he caresses your back. “I want to see pictures. With that fancy thing, you took.”

You giggle and nod. “I definitely will take pictures.” You squeeze him a bit and inhale deeply to not forget his smell. “I’ll miss you.”

Levi hums. “I will too, but I’ll write, okay?”

You nod and pull back to face him with your eyes gleaming with tears. “Bye, Levi.”

“Bye, Cherry…I love you.”

You grin and feel content to leave with those three wonderful words. Yet you still look around for Jean when you ascend the ship, and find him leaning against a pole in the distance with his eyebrows furrowed and his frown deeply formed. He’s not happy but he’s there, so you’re content. You leave content.

——

*1 YEAR LATER*

To, Levi,

Today was a good day. I went out today, past the city and into the forest. You know the one by the old Survey Corps Headquarters? The one we arrived at when we first got above ground? Yeah, that one.

I didn’t realize how much I missed exploring. But, it was hard. Not because I got tired of walking, but I couldn’t make myself walk to that special tree. I couldn’t find the beauty in the simple things like the colored autumn leaves decorating the earth. I couldn’t see the colors as brightly as I used to, no matter how much I tried. No matter how many hours I spent waiting for my body to move.

I got so angry with myself, it’s so frustrating, I just want to see the world as I used to. I fell and cried until I couldn’t shed another tear. It got late when I could finally make myself walk away, so I camped in the ruins of our old headquarters. I can still remember all of them. I hear them in my memories. They can rest now, all of them.

Nonetheless, there’s an upside to my depressing exploration, my therapist says that it was a step in the right direction. Going back. He says that everything happens slowly, so please don’t worry. I’ll go again. I’ll make it to that tree. My nightmares will subside. The trauma I live with won’t be forgotten, he says, but it will hurt less. I will see all those colors rush back into my eyes, I will smell all those earthy smells, and find beauty in the birds melody.

Everything heals in time, I know I will. I have faith now. So don’t worry, okay? And please don’t tell anyone what I write, especially not Jean. I don’t want anyone to worry. Thank you again for listening…reading! My letters!

I should let you know though, I won’t be keeping you posted on my problems. I don’t want to dump all my shit on you. Just know I’m trying okay? I really am. That’s why I came back home, not only because I couldn’t handle being in Marley.

Anyway! You! Tell me more about this new Marleyan General! Are they good-looking? From what you’ve written they’re one of the nice ones. You should get to know them better, maybe invite them to some tea without the prying ears of your children. Haha. Get it? Making friends is a good thing, I am! I hope you’re doing well, tell me if you need anything, tea, pain reliever. I love you so much. I’ll wait for your next update.

Maybe let me know how Jean is doing. Okay?

Yours truly, Cherry.

P.S. Was it you who gifted me the kitten? Mikasa gave her to me and said she was only a delivery girl. No matter how much I asked my beloved cousin to spill who the sender was she chooses to be fucking true to her word of silence.

BUT P.S.S. We’re going underground soon, I’m taking Mikasa to go see it for herself, and I want to finally start helping, so I need to return to our roots first. Oh! and I’ve found land to buy. Cool right? You’ll have to come over and find out where it is though.

——

“Come on,” you encourage Mikasa inside a long-standing cantina you would go to often with Levi and the others when you were young.

It’s rundown, but it’s always looked that way considering it’s underground. From an outside perspective, it doesn’t look friendly, and sometimes people aren’t, but it’s home. You felt that the moment you walked in and heard the folk music being played on stage, as you saw the people minding their business around the bar, tables, and on the dance floor dancing without a worry. It doesn’t smell the best, but it’s an odd comfort after being away and missing the underground for so long.

“If you mind your business, and don’t look for trouble, we’ll be fine,” you let Mikasa know as you stop at an available table in a far corner of the cantina.

“Levi would bring you here?” Mikasa asks as she sits next to you to keep a watchful eye.

You smile softly and nod. “Yep, as long as he wasn’t workin’ he’d take me with him everywhere, he felt better that way.”

Mikasa nods and drags her cup towards her as she keeps her eyes dancing around the room.

“Relax,” you try to comfort her. “We’ll be okay.”

Mikasa glances at you, and it's at that moment that her eyes aren’t darting around the room that a tall guy with a black buzz cut begins walking to your table.

“12 o’clock,” you warn Mikasa with a faint amused smile.

Your cousin's grey eyes snap over in that direction, and the guy doesn’t falter. As he gets closer you see he looks not much older than you, he’s probably a standard built, but it also means he’s not from here, or he’s rich so he can afford food here. His eyes are the same color as yours, and his eyebrows are black and thick. He’s even got this cocky look on his face as he approaches the table.

“It looks mighty lonely over here,” the guy breaks the silence and reveals a soft-spoken voice.

“Yeah, we like it that way,” you cut off any attempts at a friendly conversation. “So please go.”

The guy meets your gaze and then glances at Mikasa. “First,” he says. “You wanna dance, miss?”

Your eyes snap to Mikasa and a teasing smile tugs on your face. “Yes, she does,” you don’t let her answer and push her off her chair.

Mikasa glares back and you offer her an innocent shrug.

“Just one dance and then I want her back or I’ll break your face,” you threaten the cocky guy.

“Alright,” the guy chuckles and leads a hesitant Mikasa to the dance floor to dance to the upbeat folk song playing. Now you’re alone but you don’t mind, not here, not at this moment. You actually watch Mikasa dance with a beaming smile.

That is until a tall woman sits next to you.

You ignore her and keep your eyes on Mikasa and the guy dancing with her.

“You around here?” The woman asks.

You sigh and mutter to the stale air. “Doesn’t matter does it?”

The woman lets out a soft chuckle and leans over the table so her face is clearer to you. “No matter how much people hide it you can always hear the accent. I can hear yours.”

You snap your eyes to her and the first thing you notice is her eyes that are the same colors as that guy that took Mikasa to dance. However, where his eyes carried a spark, the woman’s eyes carry evil and a spark of familiarity.

“What do you want?” You sneer.

The lady offers you a smug smirk and raises her chin to exert her confidence. “I came to introduce myself, I’m Marie. Your mother.”

.

.

.

.

.

Tagged- @expectoscamander @greenygreenland @that-soft-lesbian-friend @dai-tsukki-desu @usernamehere91 @avocadopoosae @romancried @victor-criss-bish @moo-moo-meadow @stareatceiling @padfootii @ravensleepyeyes @thanosisadilf @dawneee @babyyblueey @leahseclipse @ifimnotabushimnoone @luvelyxp @ameliabs-world @dragon-master-kai

#fanfiction #damn-stark #cherry #attack on titan fanfiction #attack on titan #shingeki no kyojin #chapter 33 #jean kirstein fanfiction #jean kirstein #jean kirstein x fem!reader #jean kirstein x reader #jean kirstein x you #jean kirschstein #jean kirschtein x reader #jean kirschtein x you #snk #snk fanfiction #snk final season #levi ackerman #mikasa ackerman #pieck finger #connie springer #aot #aot fanfiction #Levi x platonic!reader

[naeruniece]

Follow me on IG @oooo_sooo_nae

#blackgirlslay #blackgirlmagic #brown skin #black women #curvy body #melanin #dark skin #curve model #ebonywomen #blackaf #scorpio #birthday girl #happy bithday to me #october birthday #black women in luxury #instagram #tiktok #facebook #birthday dinner #chapter 33

[nodirectionhome-ao3]

Monday Snippet

Thanks for the tag, @jamesunderwater!!!!

Here's a little (unedited😅) something I've got from Kindly Stopped for Me Chapter 33!!❤️

Tagging: @thecasualauthor18 @kay-elle-cee @eastwindmlk @charmsandtealeaves @nena-96 and @uncertainwallflower if you feel like it!

#snippet #kindly stopped for me #chapter 33 #tagged <3 #Sirius is a goof sometimes and I love him dearly

[everyryuujisuguro]

#ryuuji suguro #ryuji suguro #rin okumura #renzou shima #konekomaru miwa #ao no exorcist #blue exorcist #suguro ryuuji #bon suguro #suguro ryuji #manga ryuuji #chapter 33 #i love this exchange #hair down ryuuji

[karizii1ak]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MEEEE 🤓🩵🩷🩵🩷

Shoutout to ALL the Aries in the world 🤟🏽😜

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO USSSSSS 🎂 🎁 🎊

#aries #aries season #aries sign #non sims #birthday #nonsims #selfiie #birthdays #solar return #happy birthday #bday #happy birthday to myself #chapter 33

[pedros-immaculate-vibes]

A Peaceful Elf

Part XXXII

A Curse Conquered

“Remember, weeks ago, when I told you not to pick me up until I asked you to?”

He angled his head with curiosity.

You sighed. “After the fight, I didn’t know where you were and I—hastily and without sense—jumped from the ledge and went looking for you and Lae’zel. Well, now, I’m paying for it. Do you…mind carrying—”

A smug grin spread from ear to ear before he lifted you easily and threw you over his shoulder. His stride brought you to the stairway in two steps.

“This is NOT what I meant!”

“Well, that’s unfortunate, isn’t it? Care to jump down?” His voice bounced off of the stone walls as he continued making his way down the stairs.

“Dammit Halsin, if the other’s see you carrying me on your shoulder like—like—”

“Like a bale of hay?” 

“YES, actually,” you bounced on his shoulder with each step. 

“Well, I suppose every warrior down there will turn green with envy, won’t they?” He cackled, “I’m not a jealous elf, but I do find it entertaining to see it in others, on occasion.”

You paused, calculating what he’d said. “Ah, so not only are you annoying, but you’re also deluded. Good to know.”

#A peaceful elf #The peaceful elf #Halsin #durge #tav #halsin x durge #Halsin x tav #chapter 33 #part 32 #a curse conquered #Slow-burn #fluff #bg3

[takemeawaytocamelot]

Red Jamie and the White Lady: Chapter 33

*THIS IS A LATE ADD ON*

I’m so sorry my beautiful, wonderful @diversemediums!!! You’re the best beta reader/editor/contributor to this story and I love you! I’m sorry I forgot to tag you on the actual release of the chapter!

James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser was adrift. A broken man. Small things stood out to him. The feel of cold blood soaking his knees. The stillness of Claire, cradled in his arms. The way her hair stuck to his skin, absorbing his tears. If the world opened up and swallowed him, he would welcome it gratefully.

“Jamie?”

His grip on her tightened as his breath hitched. All he wanted was to hear her speak again, to feel her hands in his, to get lost in the scent of her hair. Her hair no longer smelled of flowers. All he could scent was blood.

“Jamie!”

The grief must be getting to him. It was the worst pain he’d ever felt and now he was hallucinating the sound of her voice. He could hear shuffling behind him and held Claire closer. He wasn’t ready to let her go, just yet.

“Jamie, lad! Open your eyes!” Murtagh cried out.

But why would he want to see it all again? The blood, her pale skin growing paler and clammy, the light dimming in her eyes.

A cold, wet hand touched his cheek and he leaned into it. Then he froze. Did his auditory hallucination just… touch him?

His eyes sprang open in a panic only to see Claire gazing up at him. Her eyes were clear and glossy, not clouded and dim.

“Claire?” His voice cracked, his throat dry.

“Eyes… open… soldier,” she gasped.

Before he could process what he was seeing, the connection that had been severed flared to life. For a moment, he lost his ability to breathe. His heart began beating erratically and he couldn’t stop the smile that came to his face. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes and she winced as she breathed. She tried to hide her groan of pain, but he heard it.

“We need to get her to hospital,” Jamie said, his voice rough and cracking.

He wished, more than anything, that he could carry her himself. His body had been through too much in the last few hours, so he trusted her to Murtagh. Angus and Rupert slung one of his arms over each of their shoulders and the whole group slowly began leaving the compound. Once they were a fair distance away, one of them called for emergency services. Everything became a blur after that.

Flashing lights. Questions like who shot her? What were they doing in the middle of nowhere? Why wasn’t she bleeding anymore when she definitely should be. Things came into sudden focus when one of the paramedics insisted Jamie ride in a different ambulance.

“No,” he said with what Scottish stubbornness he could muster. “I’ll ride wi’ her.”

“Sir,” the young man said. “We need to work on you too. You’ve blood all over your face and we need to make sure you don’t have a concussion.”

“The only way to keep me out of that ambulance,” he growled, pointing to where Claire was being loaded in. “Is to knock me out and strap me down. I’m riding wi’ her to hospital or so help me, you’ll be the one needing an ambulance!”

“Are you threatening me?”

Jamie began to take a deep breath when Murtagh stepped in.

“Look,” he said softly to the offended paramedic. “He’s been through a lot today. That’s his wife there and he watched her get injured. If you let him ride in wi’ her, at least he’ll be going to hospital too, aye?”

The man rolled his eyes.

“Fine. But if you get in the way of me helping my patient, so help me I’ll recommend the doctors sedate you and put you in a separate wing.”

Jamie nodded once and hopped in the back. The doors closed as Murtagh, Rupert, and Angus looked on. He was sure they’d drive to the hospital once they got back to their car.

“Jamie.”

He turned to look at his beautiful wife, who was miraculously still breathing.

“I’m right here, Sassenach.”

“You’re as hurt as I am,” she whispered. “You need to be seen to.”

With a smile, he took her hand. It was warmer, but still far colder than he’d like.

“I’m fine. I’ve been away from you for too long. I’ll not leave your side now.”

She sighed at him and did her best to glare at him. There was no way she’d win this argument. Besides, they were on their way and couldn’t change it now.

He watched in tormented worry as the medic began hooking Claire up to all sorts of things. Immediately he began a transfusion due to her blood loss, along with a number of other things.

“This will help with the pain, Claire. Just rest. We’ll take good care of you.”

“I don’t want…” She looked to Jamie in a panic. “I’d rather stay awake.”

“Rest, Claire,” he said gently. “I’ll be here when ye wake.”

***

The sound of beeping was the first thing she noticed. That was quickly followed by the sharp scent of disinfectant. Was she in hospital? The last thing she really remembered was…

“Jamie!”

She sat up quickly, which she immediately regretted. Her chest throbbed and her head swam. Frantically, she searched around her to see if her Scottish brute was nearby. He shouldn’t be here in the hospital with her. People could track him down in such a public place. She heard a soft rustling, just out of view.

“I’m here, as promised,” he said from beside her.

Gingerly turning her head, she saw him sitting in a small chair. His face was beautiful, though it looked drawn with worry. His eyes were… They churned and roiled as he looked at her. She made a soft sound as he took her hand, enveloping hers with his own.

“Claire, ye ken I love ye. But if ye ever scare me like that again,” he stopped, voice quavering.

Her breath hitched as tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.

“I’m not going-”

Two knocks at the door interrupted them before the doctor walked in. He was of average height, distinctive black eyebrows and black hair. When he smiled up at them, she got a distinct impression of Mr. Bean.

“Ah, Claire Beauchamp. I’m glad to see you’re awake.”

“It’s Fraser,” Jamie grumbled.

“Ah,” the doctor said, scribbling down a note. “Claire Fraser Beauchamp. Well it looks like your wound is healing well. You’re incredibly lucky. It’s miraculous really, that you’re still with us. A medical marvel.”

Jamie met Claire’s eyes, eyebrows raised.

“You’ll be happy to know,” the doctor continued, “That both of your babies are doing just fine as well, despite the recent trauma. We’d like to keep you in for a little bit longer until you’re more stable, but you should be able to go home soon. Let us know if you’re in too much pain and we’ll give you something that will be safe to take with some buns in the oven.”

Tucking Claire’s chart under his arm, he turned to leave.

Jamie stared at Claire as she stared in shock at the doctor’s retreating back. His ears were ringing.

“I’m sorry, did you say-” Claire started.

“Babies?!” Jamie finished. “As in… Claire’s pregnant?”

The doctor turned around with a furrowed brow.

“Well, yes. You’re several weeks along, Mrs. Fraser Beauchamp. Twins as well.”

“Twi- Wait. No. Her name is Claire Fraser. JUST Fraser.”

“Jamie,” Claire barked, silencing him with a squeeze of her hand, staring at the doctor. “You’re sure I’m pregnant, doctor?”

He looked between the pair of them, confused.

“Of course, Mrs. Beauchamp Fraser. We can test again if you like. Better yet, I can ring someone from obstetrics down here and give you an ultrasound.”

“That’s not her-” Jamie started, finding something to cling to in the wake of everything that happened in the last five minutes.

“Hush,” she said, putting a placating hand on his arm. “We’d appreciate that, doctor. Thank you.”

He smiled and nearly bolted from the room. The beeping from the heart monitor began to pick up speed. Jamie began brushing the hair from her face, gently petting it down in an attempt to calm her. He looked worried, and not just about the impending children.

“Jamie, we…”

The hand that was holding hers moved over her abdomen.

“We’re gonna be parents,” he said softly.

He began to blink rapidly, quickly brushing the back of his hand over his eyes. Was he… crying?

“To two babies. Are we ready for that?”

She looked up at him slowly, worried at what she’d find in his eyes. The warmth swirling in the blue depths gave her comfort and peace.

“Probably not,” he said with a chuckle. “But I think between the two of us, we can manage. Christ. Can you imagine, Claire? A wee little lass running around wi’ your curls? Or a braw lad wi’ my eyes?”

The squealing giggles of two little girls rang in Claire’s ears, carried on the ocean breeze.

“Yes, I can.”

“Claire, I… I wanna ask ye something.”

Frowning, she watched as he stood up from his chair. Her eyes went wide when he got down on one knee with a wince.

“Jamie, what are you-”

“Claire,” he interrupted. “I ken we handfast and we’re married as far as we’re concerned. But… would ye marry me? Again?”

God, this man. Her lips began to tremble and she fought back joyful tears. Here he was, in pain from who knows what injuries, kneeling on the floor, proposing to her like they weren’t already married. And expecting children! This beautiful buffoon was the love of her life.

“Oh Jamie. Of course I’ll marry you again.”

Once he stood again, he leaned over to give her a soft kiss.

“Good. Then we’ll make sure ye change yer name. Legally. So anyone who meets you will know ye belong to me.”

“Like the doctor who can’t quite get my name right?”

“Like that bloody wee doctor, aye,” he said, glaring at the door.

Claire huffed out a laugh, wincing as pain blossomed from her wound. Jamie’s brow furrowed.

“Ye need rest, mo ghràdh. Dinna fash. I’ll be right here.”

Claire’s eyes closed as Jamie placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. With a yawn, she settled into the hospital bed and drifted off to sleep.

The sound of waves hitting the shore made her smile. Both little girls waved at her from where they were burying someone in the sand. The dark mop of hair suggested Murtagh. A hand settled on her shoulder and squeezed gently.

“They’re beautiful lasses, aren’t they?” Jamie asked.

“Yes, they are. Can you believe they’re ours?”

“Aye, I can. They’ve your courage and beauty.”

Claire leaned into him.

“And your strength and loyalty.”

“I can’t wait to see what our Fraser lassies will do.”

Blinking slowly, Claire looked around her hospital room. Jamie’s hand was resting over her abdomen while he slept in the chair beside her bed. She placed her hand on top of his, just over the place where their two children grew.

#outlander #outlander fanfic #Red Jamie and the White Lady #chapter 33 #takemeawaytocamelot #diversemediums #we're back baby

[dungeonmeshititlepages]

#dungeon meshi #marcille donato #falin touden #volume 5 #chapter 33 #dryad

[manga-meow]

#blue period #chapter 33 #hands #seinen #manga #manga cap #my edits #monochrome #mangacap #manga panel #popular

[damn-stark]

Chapter 33 Haven’t I given enough?

Chapter 33 of Sugar

A/N- I’m trying to use like 3 chapters of the manga per chapter, but bro these domain expansions make that hard! But moving forward I’ll have a chance to use less manga chapters so we don’t have to move on so fast!

Warning- Swearing, ANGST ;), fluff, violence and blood, SPOILERS!! long chapter!

Pairing- Choso x Gojo!fem-reader, Suguru Geto x Gojo!fem-reader

Episode and or chapters- chapters 226-230 (but only the beginning of 230) of the manga

(Let me know if you want to be tagged)

————

*A COUPLE DAYS AGO*

“Can I say something like, whenever I think about a father I never think about you, but you were kind of like one and a lot better than my actual father?” You say with a teasing smile even if just under the surface emotional tears threaten to burst out. And your emotions are especially more heightened at the moment because you’re dancing a dance that’s supposed to be with your father, but instead, it’s your brother.

“No,” Satoru shoots you down quickly and looks at you with a pointed look. “No sappy shit at all for the rest of the night. Even if I appreciate it,” he finishes with a grin.

“So,” you add with the same teasing grin. “I can’t say that even if I would have loved a sister I’m glad I got stuck with you?”

Satoru shakes his head and counters. “No, but again it’s appreciated.”

You laugh softly and drop your head to smile at the ground before you look back at your brother and catch him looking around the dance floor with wonder for a moment before he looks at you with an all too snarky grin. “Considering how much you could do for this wedding in a couple of days, I wonder now how your other wedding was. Was it over the top?” He dares to ask. “I remember Suguru would spoil you even if he said he shouldn’t.”

You glare at him and then whisper sharply. “I won’t talk about my other wedding to another man with you right now. It’s bad luck.”

Satoru scoffs. “Where did you hear that from?” He asks teasingly.

“I'm just assuming, I mean we would be talking about my previous marriage on my wedding day, that’s gotta be some kind of bad luck,” you mumble, making him laugh.

“Women and their superstition,” he says under his breath, mostly just to taunt you because he knew you heard him.

“This is why you’re single,” you remark.

“No I’m single because death for me could be around the corner, and even if it won’t catch me, it could get them, so I’m sparing someone actually,” he goes on to say without sounding lighthearted at all. He let himself be vulnerable.

“Death is around everyone’s corner, no one is immortal, not even Sukuna,” you tell him softly now that you have the space to have a heart-to-heart. Even if people are watching you two dance, they can’t hear you, and Satori won’t run over and interrupt either of you—“don’t deny yourself of a happiness you deserve just because you think you’re doing something good. You don’t actually know anything.”

Satoru scoffs but he doesn’t counter. He knows you’re right, but he does bring up one argument. “You almost died after Suguru died, why would I want to put someone through that?”

You sigh and avert your gaze to share your answer that you take no time to actually think about. You just know grief and loss well, you’re great friends. “Because as selfish as it sounds, at least you were happy. It’s about the memories you made. Sure after death those memories hurt, but after a while, you can look fondly at them and thank the stars that they were in your life, that you got to share your life with them and live together. After a while you’ll realize that they weren’t meant to be in your life forever, they were a chapter in your life you’ll always cherish.”

Satoru lets out a deep sigh, and you meet his gaze and make him laugh softly—but honestly, it sounds pretty forced.

“How poetic of you,” he whispers.

You smile at him and laugh softly.

“Well,” he says softly. “I'm happy you got to meet someone else that you get to write a chapter with. I hope you can share many chapters with this one. And I’m glad Suguru was such a great part of your story.”

You grin and nod before your lips flicker down to a frown and your eyes dull. “Can I tell you something?” You ask in a very low whisper so none of what you’re saying can be heard.

“Go ahead,” he encourages you.

You sigh and hold his gaze to share a secret. “Sometimes I wish I could go back to when I was a naive teenager who dreamed for most of her day and knew hardly anything about the world. It’s only when I’m really down, but I still sometimes want to go back.”

Satoru swallows thickly and sounds completely genuine. “Sometimes I wish the same,” he admits.

You both share a small smile and you can’t help but lay your head on his shoulder and sigh deeply. You stay quiet for a moment after, but before you can finish your dance you break your silence to say one more thing in private. “I want you to write a new chapter in your story after all this is over, Satoru. Let the kids take over and start something new.”

“After I win,” Satoru says softly and confidently. You don’t look at his face, but you know he’s expressing his ever-so-bright and smug confidence. “I will.”

——

*NOW*

A slash to the jugular also doesn’t mean immediate death. You know that too.

So please don’t let this slash on Satoru’s throat be deadly.

“Gojo!” Yuji yells out mere seconds after you with just as much panic as you currently feel riddling your heart.

“Come on,” you mumble and step closer to the screen in some hopeless delusion that you could be closer to your brother.

Nevertheless, seconds later steam rises off Satoru’s slash as he uses RCT to mend his flesh back together.

“He’s healing himself!” You exclaim because you forgot that it was a possibility in your panicked state.

“But as long as he remains within Sukuna’s domain, the slashes won’t stop coming!” Higuruma reminds everyone and makes your excitement dim.

Which is good, you can’t get overly excited.

“Sukuna’s domain has no enclosed barrier,” Choso interjects. “Shouldn’t it be easy to escape his range?”

You let out a deep breath and glance over at him past your shoulder before you drift your gaze to Hakari responding. “Even if we assume Malevolent Shrine’s effective range encompasses the area of razed Shibuya, with Gojo’s speed, he should be able to break out of it in a flash.”

“No,” you cut in to explain. “His teleportation is just an application of limitless where the space between his location and his destination is compressed.”

“But in this short window immediately after his domain was destroyed, Gojo cannot use his cursed technique,” Kusakabe doesn’t fail to add what you left out.

“Which means…” Miwa trails off to let Kusakabe answer.

“He’s in one hell of a pinch.”

You clasp your hands together and return to your seat in between Choso and Yuji to try and watch how your brother will go on about destroying Sukuna’s domain while the monster keeps hitting him with slashes he can’t deflect, and has to keep using RCT for to heal all those shallow cuts—that surprisingly doesn’t cut any material of his shirt, or his pants.

What kind of material is his clothes made from?

Regardless! In the blink of an eye, Sukuna hops off the roof and tries to swing his fist, but your brother quickly blocks him.

“You’d think I’d let you run?!” Sukuna exclaims, and you start to wonder why your brother isn’t running or actually fully healing any of his cuts.

“What is he doing?” You whisper out loud.

Choso catches your comment and probes while you watch Sukuna and Satoru exchange swings. “What do you mean?”

You sigh and shift your body towards him, but keep your eyes on the screen to not miss a thing. “His cuts are still very shallow, he can use this time that Sukuna isn’t throwing more slashes at him to finish healing. He can multitask. But he isn’t…” you trail off and start to think of an answer.

Is he going to use RCT to heal his cursed technique?

“He’s up to something,” you mumble to your husband and can’t help but let a small smile creep onto your face.

“That shrine,” Yuji interjects while Sukuna and Satoru face each other after a heated exchange. “What would happen if he destroyed it?” He asks.

“Usually, objects materialized within an innate domain don’t hold any special meaning or importance,” Kusakabe explains, proving to be quite a patient teacher. “You can think of them as if they didn’t exist at all.”

“If that shrine is simply a symbol of the domain, so to speak,” Mei-Mei says, “then you would not be able to destroy it and there would be no purpose in doing so.”

“So he can’t do anything?!” Kirara shouts, “isn’t that like, super super bad?!”

You glance at them and see that they’re grabbing their face and looking completely stunned at the screens.

“New Shadow Style,” Satoru announces, “simple domain.”

A bright barrier suddenly grows around your brother and those deep cuts now start to completely disappear.

“Simple domain!” Kusakabe exclaims and Yuji follows by yelling out in surprise too.

“I thought he said he couldn’t do that?!”

You scoff and retort. “Satoru can do anything he puts his mind to, it’s an annoying trait, but it’s true. He probably just can’t teach it because he also tends to get everything right in his first try.”

“Why the hell is someone like that in charge of the first years then?!” Yuji follows by asking and you can’t actually answer that, so you shrug. He doesn’t really seek an answer so he drifts the subject back to the fight. “He used simple domain to counter the sure-hit effect while simultaneously using reverse cursed technique to heal his body. How is he even able to manipulate cursed energy while he’s still using RCT?”

“Even still against a real domain,” Choso comments while he picks your travel cup off the ground and hands it to you as you leave it forgotten on the ground—“the only thing a simple domain will do is buy you some time.”

He could use the falling blossom emotion technique, it would be the perfect time so why isn’t he?

This is all hurting your head, so you take a long sip from the tea and slide your hand on top of Choso’s, feeling him instantly secure your hold in his hand by squeezing it tight. All the while Sukuna breaks into Satoru’s simple domain and starts swinging.

However, he does miss your brother because he reacts fast, but Satoru’s domain fades away by the second until there’s nothing left to protect him, causing the slashes to hit him once again.

“Told you,” Choso follows up on his previous comment.

You swallow thickly and notice your brother doing another Simple Domain, albeit this time he doesn’t use RCT either…

“Why the hell—Gojo stopped using reverse cursed technique to heal himself!” Kusakabe points out loudly in frustration and confusion.

You albeit look at the screen proudly as your theories are starting to become a fact.

“I told you he’s up to something,” you remark to Choso quietly so only he can hear.

“What?” Choso asks.

You meet his gaze and smirk at him. “Watch,” you don’t give out the surprise you assume Satoru wants to give. “I should’ve bet you.”

“I never doubted you.” He deadpans.

You hum and shrug. “I still should’ve. I could’ve won something like a kiss, or a second to gloat.”

The corner of his lips perk up to a smile and he lifts your hands to kiss your knuckles whilst you look back at the screen whilst Ino argues against someone, but you don’t catch who.

“…Like I said, that's under the assumption he’s using cursed energy normally! Right after using domain expansion, he started using RCT at max output, which consumes twice as much cursed energy! And that’s not even taking into account the fact that Sukuna’s still pouring on attacks!”

Is he forgetting that Satoru Gojo is fighting?! He’s not like everyone else.

Nevertheless, as you continue to watch the fight you notice that Satoru’s second simple domain breaks, and more cuts slash his face. It honestly seems like he’s close to reaching his end, but then in the blink of an eye, he zooms to Sukuna and catches him completely off guard when he jumps on him to wrap his body around Sukuna’s.

“Cursed technique reversal,” Satoru announces and proves you right; he leans back and points two fingers at Sukuna.

“Yes,” you mumble happily and suddenly stand up.

“Can he do that?” You hear Okkotsu shout, which is surprising, you’ve never heard him be so emotional. He looks so reserved.

“That’s why he didn’t heal himself,” you point out proudly.

“He was using his RCT to heal his exhausted cursed technique?” Okkotsu asks rhetorically to the group.

“Red,” Satoru mutters and blasts out a bright and powerful technique that sends Sukuna crashing through his shrine, and finally gets him badly wounded.

Will that affect him completely? No, but he’s still wounded.

“Jeez. What a pain in the ass,” Satoru sass’s Sukuna, making you hold your cup against your chest as you smile brightly.

“Using RCT to heal his exhausted cursed technique?” Okkotsu still can’t seem to grasp what just happened.

“Okkotsu!” Kusakabe yells out, but the boy goes on.

“I’d like to say it’s impossible but the fact is Gojo is doing just that! A cursed technique that’s been burnt out by using domain expansion is an entirely different matter than physical damage,” he explains. “Just like when a machine overheats, even if it isn’t broken, you have to let it cool or it won’t work.”

“So what you’re saying is that RCT can repair damage but can’t cool an overheated technique?” Maki asks.

“That’s why I always thought, but it looks like my understanding was incomplete.”

You sigh and sit back down again, but out of the kindness of your heart, you explain why he’s having such a hard time understanding what Satoru just did. “That’s Satoru Gojo for you. Don’t overwork yourself, man, he’s strong, stronger than everyone, what he can do will never compare to what we can do.”

“Yes,” Okkotsu mutters, “I'm understanding that.”

“You can expand your effective range, can’tcha?” You catch Satoru ask Sukuna smugly.

But as if answering, Sukuna does a hand sign and does exactly what your brother just asked, causing your smile to fall.

“Are you crazy…” Kusakabe’s words trail off in your ears as Satoru expanding his own domain expansion and leaving you all in the dark once again catches you by surprise.

“Does he just want the same thing to happen again?!” Ino exclaims.

“He isn’t that naive,” Shoko defends your brother.

“I see,” Mei-Mei muses.

“He switched the internal and external conditions for the barrier,” Higuruma points out, and Hakari adds on to that piece of information.

“Which means this barrier…”

He trails off and Yuji excitedly picks up where he left off. “…can guard itself against attacks from the outside!”

You clench your jaw and lean forward to watch every screen carefully to look for any crack or difference in the barrier since that’s all you can look at as of now.

“Seems a bit unfair that he can just change the conditions of his domain on the fly,” Kusakabe mumbles.

You’re really starting to hate all these domain expansions! They leave you completely in the dark, you can’t see what Satoru is thinking and planning, and what Sukuna might be scheming. You can’t see if Satoru might miss something or if he needs some kind of aid, you have to wait, not long, but at this very moment time isn’t kind, it’s determined to torture you by moving slowly.

But you also know you shouldn’t let yourself feel so tortured, it hasn’t been long at all since the fight started, and there’s hopefully still so much more time to go.

Satoru has gotten wounded but he hasn’t hit the brink with no return. Sukuna hasn’t even tried yet either, which means there’s still a lot more stress to go through, and you can’t let this affect you as much as it is.

“Do you need to step out?” Choso worries over you.

You meet his gaze and shake your head. “No, no. I just need to remind myself that he’ll be okay.”

Choso nods. “He is. He’s done great so far.”

You sigh deeply and let those words repeat in your mind so you can hold onto that hope and not push yourself to a dangerous edge of deep anguish.

“There isn’t just one way out of a domain,” he adds to try and calm your nerves. “Not for strong sorcerers like them.”

You knew that but you still need to hear it from someone else.

“Either of them can break it without meeting a catastrophic end, or your brother can be a smartass and have something up his sleeve…not like he has any.”

You can’t help but snort and crack a smile at his silly comment, making the corner of Choso’s lips tug on a faint smile because of the fact he could make you smile.

“They are taking longer,” you point out and glance back at the screen still displaying the black barrier.

“I don’t think it’ll last much longer,” he says.

You take his hand again and he interlaces his fingers with yours before he tucks them in his sleeve as he hides his hands in his large sleeves, and slouches down to rest his elbows on his legs.

The pictures on the screens are at a standstill for a few more seconds before the barrier explodes, and Satoru finally shows up back to back with Sukuna.

“I should have bet you,” Choso remarks.

You glance at him and smirk before you lean over and press a peck on his cheek. Instead of pushing yourself back to your spot you stay pressed against him and watch the fight continue on screen.

“Take it from the top, eh?” Sukuna brings up something neither of you understand, and then hits Satoru with multiple slashes that harbor so much strength that your brother goes flying back.

Again, you can’t stress yourself over every wound your brother gets, and or every hit he receives, but you really can’t hold back from feeling anything but panic and stress. Just like when you watched Choso fight Kenjaku, only you weren’t expecting his babies then or married to the man.

You can’t even imagine being in your current state and having to watch a similar situation with Choso now. You’d probably die from a lack of air in your lungs, or die from a collapsed lung because of how heavy you feel it. Or your heart would explode. Either or.

“Why?!” Yuji bellows.

“Looks like Sukuna’s also changed the conditions of his domain somehow!” Kusakabe points out.

“Hey,” Kashimo cuts in with blunt honesty. “If he dies I'm going out there next.”

You clench your jaw and snap back. “Shut up.”

“You can’t try and stop me,” he thinks you’re trying to defend him, but that’s the furthest thing from the truth, even if you do consider him a friend.

“No,” you spat. “Stop talking like if this is the end. Satoru has proven he can take what’s thrown at him.”

“Hm, well he’s also gotten pretty close calls, I wouldn’t bet all my money on him, he’s proving to be a losing bet.”

You draw in a deep breath and get ready to argue, but Choso gives your hand a gentle squeeze and leans forward to shake his head.

You take that as a sign to let it go and only listen because your brother is still standing…And Choso is also right, Kashimo is not worth your time.

“I learned this one when I was a kid,” Satoru interjects and omits a technique you’ve used before, and one you wanted him to use; the Falling Blossom Emotion technique—“I haven’t used it much since I mastered my domain, but not bad right?”

You lean forward and manage to catch Kashimo’s gaze like you wanted and shoot him a smug smirk.

“Falling Blossom Emotion!” Kusakabe yells out and slightly startles you.

“What is that?” One of the students asks.

“Dunno.”

“Not sure.”

“No idea.”

“It’s weird how in the know you are Acchan.”

Yes, how does he know a secret art form?

“It’s a secret art of the big three sorcerer families,” Panda explains to the clueless ones before you had a chance to—“an anti-domain technique. Not so secret if you knew about it Kusakabe.”

You hum and continue to explain how it works while you still look at Kusakabe suspiciously. “It’s an application of cursed energy that automatically repels anything you touch. It won’t work against Satoru’s infinite void, but if you’re up against a simple technique like Sukuna’s slashes then it’s pretty damn useful. It saved my life against Kenjaku because it doesn’t tear apart like a simple domain either.”

“But you won’t come out unscathed,” Choso adds. “Remember, you only managed to get spared from getting hurt because Tengen broke Noritoshi—Kenjaku’s domain.”

You sigh and nod. “Right. Still, It’s useful.”

“Exactly,” Shoko agrees from across the room where she can smoke without letting any of the fumes hit you—“it’s enough and Gojo can heal his burnt-out cursed technique with RCT. At the very least he’ll buy enough time to heal.”

Or…not considering he proceeds to open yet another domain expansion.

“Damn,” you groan and feel a grip on your throat tighten.

Plus this time the domain grows a lot larger, as if he’s trying to capture Sukuna's entire domain range within it. But then he switches up his domain and it grows incredibly tiny, consuming all of Sukuna’s domain, and making that weight on your chest only get heavier.

And again you can’t push yourself to a brink, you’ll only freak out and that won’t be good, so instead of waiting again you get up and pass Choso a quick comment, “I'm going to get some air, I’ll be back.”

He stands up immediately, but you grab his bicep and assure him. “I’ll be okay, I just need to calm myself down.”

Choso seems hesitant and like he’ll ignore you and follow you, but he actually listens and lets you go outside by yourself.

And as much as you despise solitude you actually find a moment of peace where you don’t feel like your head will explode.

Maybe it’s the silence or the fact that you’re not overwhelmed with thousands of screens, or surrounded by multiple people. Which, you never mind being around so many people, but today with your stress everything’s a bit overwhelming.

However, when you look out at the city past the balcony, you can’t help but feel a bit…not scared, it’s not fear you feel upon looking at the secluded city, it’s disbelief.

The city used to be filled with people but now it’s all been evacuated due to the fight. It honestly makes it feel like it’s the end of the world. Which is chilling and brings forth a hint of loneliness, but also curiosity.

Is this how your world would be without non-sorcerers?

It’s kind of lovely…

Nevertheless, you turn to face the door and just look up at the white sky and get startled by your phone ringing. When you check who it is your breath hitches when you see Larue’s name on your screen.

“Hello?” You answer nervously as you think the worst. “Larue?”

“She’s fine,” he says right away since he hears the fear in your voice. “They all are.”

You let out a deep breath and now feel a bit puzzled as to why he’s calling. “Are you okay?” You ask. “Did the flight get delayed?”

“No, no, I’m just calling to let you know…” he pauses and exhales deeply before he continues. “I’m returning to Japan with Miguel. And before you ask, Manami, and Toshihisa stayed with Satori, and they will all be protected by the guards.”

You blink repeatedly in disbelief and can’t even answer right away because of how thrown back you are.

“They’ll all be fine, but now you have to fight harder to go back to Satori,” he says nonchalantly.

“You left Satori?” You ask because when you meant that you trusted your family to take care of your daughter you only meant Miguel and Larue, not Manami or Toshihisa.

Sure you know that they’ll probably be safe in Africa nonetheless, but Manami has little patience for kids, and Toshihisa doesn’t feel that much responsibility for taking care of kids, he acts like her brother, and they fight together!

“I know I’m sorry I told you something else, but I knew you’d protest otherwise, and you’d want to keep Satori here,” he explains. “Besides, Miguel wouldn't agree to fight without me. He says it’s better to fight with more friends.”

You rub the bridge of your nose and let out a worried sigh. “Of course, he’d say that,” you finally muster something else. “Just…I wish you would have told me before I sent my daughter away, but,” you groan and clench your fists. “There’s nothing I can do about it now,” you mutter to yourself.

“Why can’t either of you just talk to me?” You ask with annoyance. “First…” you trail off and let out a deep breath.

“I’m sorry, I know this doesn’t work in our favor, but think about this, who better to take care of your daughter in a time like this than family? She’ll be fine.” Larue speaks softly and kindly to try and comfort you. He tends to do that all the time.

“I told you she’d be mad,” you hear Miguel tell Larue. “You should have told her before.”

“Quiet.”

“Well,” you mutter and turn your fist to look at your nails. “It seems we'll fight together now.”

There’s nothing you can do now.

There’s nothing you can do now.

There’s nothing you can do now…

“If!” Miguel cuts in from the other side. “There's a chance Sukuna will be dealt with before it’s our turn to join, so, if we join, you’ll fight with us.”

You let out a deep sigh and nod. “Yes. If. Still…if I’m not there be careful, if I am—”

“We'll fight with all we have like we always have, for Suguru and for our family,” Larue inputs, making you lift your eyes and look at the white sky with a softened look.

“Yes for our family, Suguru, and Nanako, and Mimiko,” you repeat quietly. “They’ll be avenged today.”

“They will,” he says confidently at the same time the door opens behind you; and thinking it’s Choso coming to check on you, you peer back.

However, to your surprise it’s Kirara.

“Larue, I have to go,” you cut off your conversation and look back ahead. “I’ll see you.”

“Be careful, and I’m sorry again.”

Larue hangs up first letting you put your phone away to turn and face Kirara, noticing they have water bottles in their hand.

“Is everything okay? Are you feeling fine?” They immediately worry.

You smile brightly and nod. “I'm fine, I just needed to catch my breath.”

Kirara lets out a relieved breath and grabs at their chest. “Good,” they say breathlessly. “I saw you come outside and I got worried.”

You smile with appreciation and approach them to grab their shoulder and press your reassurances. “I'm fine Kira. There’s still so much that’s going to happen so I thought a break would somewhat calm me down.”

They hum and hand you water. As you take it they grin brightly.

“About what’s going on, I would have come sooner but I wanted to wait to give you some good news,” they add with growing excitement. “Satoru managed to break Sukuna’s shrine, and he wounded him! Which might be nothing in the grand scheme of things, but it’s process, don’t you think?”

Finally, Satoru managed to probably scrape Sukuna, and get rid of that ugly open domain!

“It’s something,” you agree with Kirara. “Thank you for that. I needed to hear it. Now how are you feeling? I need to ask before I don’t have the chance to.”

“Me?” They point at their chest. “Well, to be honest, worried for Kin, you, and the rest of my friends, but mainly Kin. And you. This is much bigger than Egypt or anything we’ve faced, Kin can die…I’m scared he’ll die.”

You sigh and watch the agonizing grief already take root behind their eyes. Nothing has happened to Hakari, but Kirara still fears for the life of the man they love. You can relate to that kind of fear.

“Yeah, I know what you’re feeling. I’ve had the bad luck of living through that fear more than once. I can’t say it’s easy. And it won’t go away until you see them breathing after the fight…and if something does happen…” you start to be honest so they know what they might face. So they can somewhat prepare for that blow to their soul.

“…You will die a little, it’ll be agonizing going on without them, you won’t know how to live, but…it won’t be the end,” you admit softly, seeing their face twist with horror because even if they like to hear you say the truth, hearing this truth is hard.

“You’ll relearn how to live,” you continue. “The color will return to every corner of the world, and your grief will be a scar. You’ll find that time will heal what was broken, and…” you pause and smile softly at them. “Those you least expect will help you realize that it isn’t the end.”

Kirara swallows thickly and looks down with a sad frown, but then they seem to realize who you’re referring to and smile. Yet you don’t see it so you quickly interject. “I’m not trying to be negative, I just…”

“I know,” they cut you off and finally show off that smile to you. “You just want to prepare us. I understand. I admire it.”

You smile softly and continue with the other matter to bring up something more positive. “Kinji is strong, he’s got luck on his side. He’ll be fine.”

They tighten their hold on their water bottle and let out a deep sigh. “Yeah, that’s what I keep telling myself.”

“I believe in the abilities you and Kinji possess, and your unbreakable spirits,” you add sweetly and cup their shoulder again. “You will preserve. He will too.”

Kirara pats your hand and offers you a soft smile. The door proceeds to open and this time Choso is the one that shows up and calls out your name with panic before he throws out his concerned filled question. “Are you okay?”

You meet his gaze and nod. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just needed some air.”

Choso still studies you to make sure, making Kirara grab your hand to put it down before they step back and excuse themself. “I’ll get back inside. If you take longer I’ll come back to update you master.”

“Great thanks!” You nod and watch them leave before you put all your attention on Choso. “You know when you fought Kenjaku, when I was watching you on that screen Tengen put up, I could barely breathe. I felt the exact same way I’m feeling now. Only ten times worse. That’s how I knew I loved you, how I knew I couldn’t live on without you being by my side.”

Choso’s face grows a deep red and his hardened expression falls, letting a happy gleam twinkle in his eyes.

“When I was watching you while I waited,” he shares his side of the story now. “I was going crazy. Besides being angry at Kenjaku and wanting to go kill him, seeing you there was driving me crazy.”

You smirk and approach him to close the gap left between you and cup the sides of his neck. “I hate watching this fight. Just like I hated watching you fight,” you say.

Choso grabs your cheeks and nods softly. “I know sweetheart. But hey, I’m with you. I was the one fighting the last time, but I’m here now.”

You let out a shaky breath and nod in comprehension before you slide your arms around his neck and muzzle your face in the crook of his neck to feel comforted by his warmth, and feel secure by his tight embrace before you have to go back and continue watching your brother fight.

“Can I tell you something?” Choso interjects seriously as he rubs your back.

“Hm.”

He sighs deeply and continues without breaking that serious demeanor. “My brother who has a stutter is in prison.”

Oh? Is he using your trick on you?

“It’s just heartbreaking knowing he’ll never finish his sentence,” he finishes and you hear the pride in his voice.

You pull back and see a faint proud smirk on his lips, which only makes what he said that much funnier, and makes your heart skip a beat before it flutters after hearing his pun that he most likely learned just to cheer you up.

And it worked, you smile widely before you drop your head on his shoulder and laugh.

“That’s just so messed up,” you murmur.

“It really is,” he agrees before he grabs your shoulders to step back and face you. When he sees your amused grin he can’t help but smile in awe.

“That one was the quickest one I actually understood. The other ones took longer,” he admits before he brushes his thumb over your lips that are pulled to a smile, and leans in to press a gentle kiss on them. “Do you feel like going back inside now? Or do you still need time?” He then asks.

“If I stay longer I'll be tempted to listen to another joke and just go on and tell you the ones I know, so let’s just go,” you say and take one of his hands to return inside.

Yet before you can walk past that door, you lean over and press a peck on his cheek. “Thank you,” you whisper in his ear. “That really made me feel better.”

Choso smiles bashfully and turns his head at the same time you do, letting your lips meet for a short kiss before you return inside.

——

*A COUPLE MONTHS AGO. EGYPT*

“I wonder what this says.”

Without looking at what the students are referring to, you share the story behind all the hieroglyphics carved on the walls. “To summarize, it's about a man loving his wife so much that he couldn’t fathom going on a second without her after her death, so he killed himself so they could be wrapped away in the same sarcophagus...” you trail off quietly and peer over at the sarcophagus of the man and woman.

How loyal and in love was that man with his wife that he chose death over continuing to live on because she would no longer roam the earth.

How stupid too, but how envious do you feel as well…they never spent a day apart after they married, and they never spent a day apart after death. Their love is endless now that it’s forever marked in this pyramid…

Your love for Suguru will always be marked within Satori, but that isn’t enough.

Are you a terrible person to admit that? To say that a child born out of love isn’t actually enough to commemorate your love for Suguru, because no matter what, he will always be gone now, and every time you look into her eyes you will remember who you couldn’t save.

“You know how to read hieroglyphs, master?!” Kirara snaps you from your stupor.

“No,” you deadpan and twist around to point your flashlight at their face. “I read up on the history of this pyramid after we were told we had to come here.”

Kirara flashes their light on you with their lips formed to an ‘o’ and whispers. “That makes a lot more sense.”

You can’t help but muster a gentle smile before you move down to admire more of the work carved on the walls. “Their children built this after their death,” you muse and hear stone scraping against the ground; and as if a sixth sense you interject right away as you sense trouble. “Put it down Hakari, we’re here on a mission not to be tactless grave robbers.”

“How does she even know?” You hear him whisper as he puts down what he has in his hand.

You smirk and choose to leave the question unanswered for a dramatic flare.

“Besides we have enough to deal with, we don’t want to get cursed now do we?” You tease and spare them both a glance before you walk along the wall to continue admiring the art.

“I’ll welcome whatever cheesy love-crazed curse they cling onto me,” Hakari remarks smugly and cracks his knuckles.

You look down at the worm cursed spirit wrapped around your neck and share a judgy look like if you're your best friend.

“Well,” you scoff and smirk. “We’ll be your smirking revenge then,” you murmur.

Hakari chuckles loudly after you didn’t think he’d catch it, and your cheeks grow slightly hot. But you’re filled with more pride than bashfulness because he laughed at something you said without having to be forced to do it.

He and Kirara usually tend to joke with you and appreciate more of your brash humor than your puns. Nanako and Mimiko have reached that stage in their lives where you aren’t that funny to them. Where they once used to find you hilarious now they can’t stand any of your jokes, it’ll pass, but hearing your students find you funny is…refreshing.

“We should keep going, the sooner we find the curses the sooner we get out…”

“And explore,” Kirara blurts exactly what you were thinking.

“Exactly,” you praise them and look over your shoulder to flash them a grin.

“You know, considering that you and Tsukumo are special grade, I never thought you’d be so laid back,” Kirara says, making Hakari scoff and retort.

“We know Satoru can be lazy when he’s not working, why does this surprise you, Kira?”

“Well Satoru is Satoru, and Tsukumo and our master are different. I just thought they’d be more serious on missions.”

You make no effort to walk out and instead walk over to where the sarcophagus is to admire the details still visible on the stone, whilst Hakari slowly makes his way to the entrance of the next passageway you’ll take.

“It’s because we’re special grade that we’re so laid back in missions,” you share honestly. “We’re risking our lives more than others, especially those who hire us, why can’t we enjoy ourselves while we’re out?”

“Hm…well that sounds smart,” Kirara says.

You turn and face them with a smile, realizing at that moment that Hakari was already out of the room so finally decide to do what you said and walk out, followed by Kirara.

And up until now you never knew how fast of a walker Hakari is when he wants to be because you can barely catch up, you have to basically jog to catch up to him.

“Hey, what’s—”

Kirara cuts themself off when Hakari puts his hand up to shush you both.

“What?” Kirara whispers out.

Hakari looks over his shoulder and you notice the seriousness in his gaze now so you lose all your awe and amusement and fall serious too. After you quickly focus on trying to catch if it’s cursed spirits he caught, you see just that, a terrifying amount of cursed energy up ahead just in the dark room past Hakari.

“I’ll follow your lead, you two,” you remind your students since you brought them along to train. “We could call Yuki and the twins, or plan something ourselves.”

Hakari and Kirara meet each other's gaze and brainstorm in silence for a moment, making you turn your flashlight off and just focus on the cursed energy the curse radiates.

But wait, there’s not one curse there’s multiple…Which shouldn’t be all that surprising, why wouldn’t a pyramid made for passionate lovers be cursed? They probably cursed it themselves without knowing.

And if there's multiple just past the passageway, how many are multiple exactly? And why are they ahead and why weren’t they where you just came from, hm?

“The way we came from must be the way out,” Kirara interjects exactly what was on your mind. “So the curses ahead will probably not be aware of us until they see or hear us, so we could surprise attack and gain the upper hand…”

“…but if we attack, does that mean somehow there’ll be more? We haven’t quote on quote triggered any alarms, they could be unaware and only be active when we trigger their defense system, so what if there’s more hidden in the shadows, and attacking these fuckers only triggers more to come out?”

You sigh and nod softly. “That could happen, and…” you swallow thickly and feel a grip around your heart. “We would expose Yuki and the twins…”

It’s not that you don’t trust Yuki, you trust her more than anything, but this place doesn’t have a fortified foundation anymore and it’s hundreds of feet tall and made of stone. This can all easily crumble down and bury you and everyone else with it. That’s what worries you.

But they are paying you to get rid of the curses that haunt this pyramid, so how can you do this without making a mess?

“Kin…master?” Kirara whispers out for your attention.

“Hm?” You probe and look over. And the moment your eyes land on them you see that two huge beetles have made their way on their arm and shoulder.

“Stand…” you gag at the sight of their creepy legs and bug-like bodies. “Stand still.”

You flick your fingers to flick off the one on their shoulder by manipulating a small whirlwind. Next, you aim your fingers to flick the one off her arm, but it starts to crawl up so your aiming is off and instead of swiping it off swiftly, the beetle bounces up and hits their mouth, causing them to squeal out.

Hakari quickly leans over and puts his hand over their mouth and pushes them against a wall, whilst you freeze and drag your eyes out to the danger, hoping they didn’t hear, but they did; snaps echo in the room and then instead of some kind of messed up figures you see glowing white cloudy eyes all staring at the three of you.

“Shit,” you hiss and slowly lift your hand to prepare to shoot fire.

However, suddenly they all start to sprint towards you, and since you’re in a narrow passageway they can easily overwhelm you. And even if there’s a lack of air and water inside, you still have a lot of stone and sand, so to buy you time, you stomp your foot on the ground and thrust a fist up to lift stone off the floor and make a wall to block them from reaching you so fast.

“We need to find enough empty space to face them, this will buy us time to run before they break out and come and find us. Come on,” you urge them and lead the way back to where you came from, finding yourself back in the tomb room, but since that space isn’t as spacious you plan to move on.

However, just before you can make it out, the people carved on the walls pop out from the walls and grow tall, and have the same cloudy white eyes, followed by rotting appearances that make them look like unwrapped mummies.

One of them catches you off guard and lunges at you, causing you to yelp and stumble back, and bump into the sarcophagus.

This makes the corpses suddenly stop what they’re doing and take a second before they all suddenly screech loudly, making Kirara and you cover your ears.

“What did they do?” Hakari asks with concern.

You don’t try and answer because you don’t know, instead, you push the students behind you and throw your hand out to engulf every single corpse in flames that is born from your cursed technique.

Yet even if your cursed technique exorcizes them all, that doesn’t stop the ground from starting to violently shake, which in turn causes the walls and ceilings to start crumbling and dropping dirt and small rocks.

“It’s coming down,” you murmur in disbelief as you snap your head in the opposite direction because you hear multiple distant footsteps approaching rapidly—“and the others are coming. We have to run and take care of them outside. Go!” You bellow and push them ahead of you first.

Hakari leads the way, and you don’t proceed to run into any obstacles in the way, but that’s because you're running through passages that aren’t marked with stories, or paintings of people. You’re running down an empty hall with a falling ceiling that you barely catch with the help of you manipulating the air within the room to keep the ceiling from collapsing on all of you.

“Go!” You shout sharply so they would understand. “There’s only so much air in this room, and soon there will be nothing. Go! I’ll catch up.”

Kirara shakes their head and they quickly argue back. “No! We can make it out together!”

The other curses are approaching fast, you can hear their footsteps get louder, and this ceiling is only getting heavier to keep up as more stone falls on it.

“If I drop this the entire room falls before either of you can make it out, but I can hold it up and walk out alone. I can’t move air through all your lungs, just mine, you’ll die. Go!”

Kirara steps back and this time Hakari hesitates to listen to you, after all, he hasn’t told you but you have changed his life. He felt believed in because of you, how could he let a mentor like you go?

“Kinji Hakari,” you scold. “I’ll catch up soon and we’ll fight together.”

He draws in a sharp breath and lets his eyes linger on you for a moment.

“Kinji,” you shout.

Said man turns sharply and runs away with Kirara, letting you use more air to hold up the falling stone.

However, you can’t say you won’t welcome death. Because you will.

Oh sweet death, how tempting is your offer because there in your realm is him, Suguru Geto.

He will welcome you with open arms and you can be with each other for the rest of eternity because it’s true, you can’t live on without him by your side.

“I’m sorry,” you mumble to the image of Satori, Nanako, and Mimiko as you get ready to drop the stone weighing you down to also drop it on the curses only feet away now.

However, like shining white lights of hope, Hakari and Kirara return to the hall with their breaths held since all the air in this room is either flowing through you or being used to hold up the stone.

“No, what are you two doing?!” You panic.

And since they can’t answer they simply ignore you, and they work together to use their cursed energy and punch through the floor, making it all suddenly crumble down and pulling you with it.

Since you lose your concentration when you’re falling, the stone you were holding up falls too, but unlike you, it stops when it hits the floor you were on. Some pieces fall with you, but thankfully not enough to crush you.

And thankfully you don’t fall to your deaths, you hit some solid ground not far below the previous floor. Your body does instantly hurt at impact, but you’re all alive. You’re alive, Hakari and Kirara went back for you. They didn’t have to, but they did.

They went back for you…

Why—no, you know why, you’re their mentor, but you didn’t think they cared so much as to risk their lives for you. You wanted to die, but they risked their lives and saved you…

“Master!” You hear Kirara yell before they get on their hands and knees and crawl over to you. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

You drift your eyes over to meet theirs and with lingering disbelief, you nod slowly.

“Why?” You can’t help but ask. “Why did you go back?”

“I know, I know it was stupid,” they defend themselves and Hakari. “But how could we let you take all the risk? You’re our mentor! We care about you! You’re special to us.”

You blink repeatedly and hold back tears even if your throat starts to sting.

“Yeah it’d be pretty stupid to let you die,” Hakari interjects. “Where could we find another mentor like you?”

You sit up and snap your eyes to him and offer him a faint smile.

And for the first time in a while, you feel a bit of your broken heart heal. Whereas before it was like you were left with scabs over your broken heart, now it’s actually mending as you realize that it doesn’t have to be the end.

——

*NOW*

“What’s going on?” You ask the group of attentive sorcerers as you return to your seats.

“Gojo’s nose is bleeding,” Yuji lets you know.

You look at the screen and in fact, do see a dribble of crimson blood running down his nose. Which means he’s probably exhausting his technique and his head.

And Sukuna hasn’t even used any of the ten shadows yet…damn.

“Domain expansion,” Satoru and Sukuna say simultaneously.

“Again,” you mutter.

And just as you came back too!

“They activated it at the same time!” Yuji points out.

“Which means Sukuna can restore his burn-out technique with RCT after all!” Angel interjects, making Kurusu speak after her.

“But has he been able to do that all along, or did he just figure it out?”

“How many times have we said the word cursed technique today?” Yuji muses, making you look over at him and laugh softly.

Yuji catches your reaction and can’t keep down his smile.

“Within the three minutes, it takes for Sukuna to destroy Gojo’s domain from the outside…Gojo needs to damage Sukuna to the point where he can no longer maintain his domain,” Kusakabe mentions really melancholy.

“Let’s not talk as if Gojo’s on the ropes,” Shoko argues. “If Sukuna is drawn into unlimited void for even a few seconds, he’ll be incapacitated.”

Your attention piques and you can’t help but chime in hopefully. “Exactly and if he’s able to destroy Malevolent shrine within three minutes Satoru will win.”

It’s really some high hopes, but you trust Satoru more than anything.

“You really think so?” Yuji asks with doubt laced with fear.

You draw out a deep breath and turn your head to meet his gaze and nod with a confident look to comfort his nerves. “I know it. It may not happen right now, but I know it’s possible. Not only because Satoru is strong, but Sukuna is overconfident. In a situation like this, overconfidence can lead to your demise with a simple mistake you make.”

Yuji’s eyes return to the screen to watch the black barrier floating in the sky. “Hm, I have noticed overconfidence leads to mistakes.”

“Not that it’s bad, it can be a good thing to be overconfident, you just can’t leave out any details, do you get what I’m saying?” You explain yourself and lean towards him. “Like you can’t doubt the weakest player, always think like they have something up their sleeve even if they don’t. Be aware.” You say and then lift your head to speak loud. “That’s why I beat Kusakabe in a card game, he doubted my skills!”

Yuji looks over and Choso’s eyes snap at the man you dragged in the conversation.

“You cheated!” Kusakabe shouts back, making you look at Yuji and shake your head.

“I milked him dry, he's just a sore loser. Get over it man it’s been two months!”

“You’re already rich, why did you need more money?” Kusakabe grumbles.

You shake your head and cross your arms over your chest. “It’s not about the money, it’s about the gloating I got to do afterward. And it’s about winning too.”

“I told you that you shouldn't have played against her,” Hakari interjects with a smirk.

You smirk now too and catch Kusakabe grumbling. This time you can’t counter because the domain breaks and both men are sliding back on their feet when they land. Only one has his face wounded and that’s Sukuna.

Way to go Satoru!

“Again simultaneously!!” Kusakabe shouts.

“Keeping us on the edge of our seats,” Mei-Mei says.

“I mean, this is just…” Choso trails off.

“Any more of these domains and one of them will give out,” you say and drop your hands to lean forward and slouch.

“Satoru needs to—” Choso cuts himself off as those two damn words are announced again.

“Domain expansion!”

You let out a frustrated huff and lean back to grab Choso’s hand since you’ll be left in the dark again.

“Just now!!” Okkotsu exclaims as the domain turns small again.

“Ah,” Higuruma utters.

“What's up?” Hakari questions Okkotsu’s outburst.

“Maybe, just maybe Gojo expanded his domain an instant earlier?” Okkotsu says.

Hopefully. Just hopefully.

You sit up as you can’t handle your nerves and use your other hand to pick up the cup and try to drink your tea. However, you’re too worried so you just put it against your lips and watch, while Choso tightens his hold against yours to provide as much comfort as he can at the moment.

Nevertheless, only a couple of seconds later the domain breaks and your heart sinks a little when you see the Zenin’s pride and joy, Mahoraga looking down at your brother.

“No,” you gasp quietly.

“Cursed technique reversal,” you hear your brother try to counter, but Mahoraga seems to easily deflect that technique and swings down his mighty blade and breaks the ground Satoru jumped away from in time.

“What?!” Satoru exclaims.

“That’s Mahoraga!” Someone exclaims.

“So that’s the crown jewel of the Zen’in clan,” Mei-Mei muses with what you detect is awe.

Awe for a beast that can—

You don’t even want to think about it.

“It’s a shikigami with the ability to adapt to any attack,” Choso says.

“You’re saying it was even able to adapt to unlimited void?!” Yuji blurts his question.

“Of course, it can,” Mei-Mei responds, making you draw in a deep frustrated breath before you clench your jaw and your hands.

“He’ll get rid of it,” Choso tries to assure you. “I’m sure of it.”

You shake your head stiffly and contradict the hope you just shared mere minutes ago. “No, you don’t know that,” you snap back. “You don’t know anything.”

You slip your hand off Choso’s and stand up to continue watching the fight in your fuming irritation.

.

.

.

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A/N- It feels like these past few weeks have flown by!!

Tagged- @deniseabad1928 @secondary-character-25 @starlightanyaaa @notsaelty @d4rno @moonnime @kodzukein @yozora7154 @heijihattorisgf @elegantweirdorchest @natakina

#fanfiction #damn-stark #sugar #jjk #jjk fanfiction #chapter 33 #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen fanfiction #choso #choso kamo #choso x fem!reader #choso x reader #choso x you #choso x y/n #choso x female reader #choso kamo x reader #choso x gojo!reader #choso kamo x you #choso kamo x y/n #choso kamo x female reader #gojo satoru #gojo satoru x sister!reader #kirara hoshi #hakari kinji #hajime kashimo #yuji itadori #kusakabe atsuya #larue jjk #miguel jjk #shoko ieiri

[underthetree845]

“If you tried to say anything to that friend of yours… even if he didn’t understand it, it still reached him, probably.

I mean it doesn’t matter how warped he was… or even if he’d changed shape.

That boy was still him.”

#I’m not crying you’re crying #tbhk volume seven #chapter 33 #spook 33 #but can we just adore the art for a moment? #mitsuba sousuke #kou minamoto #otp #kou x mitsuba #tbhk mitsuba #mitsukou #jshk #toilet bound hanako kun #tbhk manga moments #manga #jshk manga #jshk ships #kou ships #anime couples #anime sad #tbhk spoilers #jibaku shounen hanako kun #tbhk characters #jshk characters #ships #tbhk art #jshk art #beautiful #heartbreaking

[nodirectionhome-ao3]

New chapter posted!

Fic Summary: Lily Potter wakes up from a thirteen-and-a-half-year coma, and her son's fifth year turns out a little differently. Read from beginning | Read Chapter 33

We're back!!!

Sorry in advance if this chapter isn't very interesting. This fic is in somewhat of a transition period as we move towards the next big plot things😅 (I also needed to postpone the Ron & Lily conversation I hinted at to a future chapter, but it will happen, I promise!!)

Snippet — Chapter 33: Gryffindor vs. Slytherin

Lily winced when another bludger flew a bit too close to Harry for comfort, shaking her head vigorously as she peered through the gaps between her fingers. “I hate this sport,” she breathed. “I can’t watch. I can’t fucking watch.” Beside her, Sirius merely chuckled. His hands found hers, prying them away from her face. “Ah, c’mon,” he chided. “You’ll miss it.”

Song of the Chapter: Flowers Never Bend With The Rainfall by Simon & Garfunkel

Playlist

#kindly stopped for me #new chapter #chapter 33

[ineadhyn]

The fic about them: copper hearts

#copper hearts #chapter 33 #francys the bandit captain #francys x astarion #almost completed

[everygojo]

#every gojo #everygojo #gojo #satoru #satorugojo #gojosatoru #satoru gojo #chapter 33 #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #manga #kyoto goodwill event arc

[everyryuujisuguro]

#ryuji suguro #ryuuji suguro #rin okumura #shura kirigakure #blue exorcist #ao no exorcist #suguro ryuuji #suguro ryuji #manga ryuuji #bon suguro #full panel because i love the way she laid this one out #chapter 33