#finally giving words to what i thought ever since i was 3 and watched maleficent being stabbed in sleeping beauty

[jawllines]

He’s too far in thought, he realizes, when Ellie comes and waves her hand in his face, “Are you okay?” She asks quietly, eyes wide as saucers, “Maisey said you look like her aunt when she zones out and she’s depressed.” 

Harry huffs out a laugh, one that expels the air from his lungs as he nods, “Yes, Ellie, I’m okay. What’ve you painted, hm? Can I see it?” She grins, her cheeks pudgy and rosy as she runs back to her seat and picks up the canvas she’d been working on. It’s a sun and a moon, both with rather cryptic looking faces on them, and Harry had never so perfectly had to manage his poker face, “Whoa!” 

“I think that might just be the coolest thing I’ve seen in my entire life,” Y/N appears behind him, Oliver more or less clung to her pant leg as she’s reaching over his body to set a box of juice down on the oak table for him to disperse among his campers, while holding her hand out for the canvas, “May I see it, Miss. Ellie Bellie?” 

Ellie smiles shyly at her — she always got so shy around Y/N, but never in the way where you would think she’s nervous. No, she gets shy the way you might when meeting an older sibling’s friend and wanting to desperately try to impress them. Harry knew as much, considering he would attempt to perform for each and every single one of his sister’s friends growing up (and each time, Gemma would make a few colorful threats to deter him). No matter how quiet Ellie gets with her though, she’s always the first to ask if they got to play with Y/N that day. 

or

Harry still doesn’t like the other camp counsellors but Y/N’s an exception 

part 1

(tw: mentions of suicide) 

ii.

Psst. 

Harry was typically a heavy sleeper. When he was younger his mum used to joke that he could sleep through an earthquake-induced tsunami if someone allowed him to. An alarm would have to be pretty loud to stir him from his slumber, and unless he was on edge, a mere call of his name would not drag him from whatever dreamland he’d submerged himself within.

Psst. 

There had only been two things before that could notably wake him. His mum, who was the sweetest person on this planet yet managed to be the cruelest being on earth when he needed to be up for something, and his childhood cat Molly, who sits on his chest and makes it hard to breathe (which, from what he’s learned, encourages his brain to panic and wake him up so he could fix it). Other than that, he was blissfully unaware of the world for hours at a time. 

Yet, there was something stirring him now.  A low sound that puzzles him as he toes the line between consciousness and his dreams, aware of the blankets that cover him but still dancing on a stage with his limbs thrashing wildly and people shouting his name. 

Psst. 

Was it an insect? Maybe he was performing outside then -- a crowd of thousands in an outdoor field to see him for... .what was it that he did again?

Psst. 

Oh, he’s dreaming, isn’t he? How deep in his dream is he? He thinks this is the first time he’s ever been asleep and realized that he was asleep...he could probably conjure something up, right? Manifest something that he’s always wanted, try his hand in lucid dreaming. If only he could focus apart from the insect zipping past his eardrum. 

Harry, please wake up, we’re being haunted -- or murdered, or something. 

Harry’s eyelids flutter like swallowtail wings, his gaze blurry and unfocused as he comes to. He’s confused, piecing together the puzzle that always presents to him when he’s just woken up and has to readjust to the world around him. The whole process of it took nothing more than 10 seconds, maybe 15 if he’s really out of it, but that’s only because thoughts run through his mind at a hundred miles a minute. 

 What time is it? The room around him his pitch-black apart from a very small amount of light illuminating beneath the curtain covering the window he’s beneath, so it couldn’t be morning. Potentially early morning, but he would say that would be 3-4 AM. Did he need to be up? He didn’t think so, actually, because there’s no alarm buzzing him awake and as far as he’s concerned, he hadn’t signed up for any early morning shifts at the bookstore as of late. The last time he went in at 5 to open up shop while the owner was on vacation and Harry was more or less ran down by a mother raccoon when he’d stumbled upon her babies after getting out of his car -- Harry had been reluctant to go before sunrise since. 

Where was he? He knows he’s not at home, that’s for sure. The sheets smell like him but not him enough to be at his own place -- and the bedding isn’t as soft either. He knows he hasn’t passed out at someone’s house because he only does that if the person is close enough to him that he would recognize their scent, or if he was too drunk to get home, but that was usually accompanied by a wicked headache and a sour stomach. No, where he was smelled like wood and generic fabric softener. There was an air conditioning unit that rattled and rumbled from where it was fixed to the wall, he felt a tension in his neck that he only experienced at one place and, yeah, he was at the camp. 

He was at camp, in a cabin with Y/N, who slept with the lamp on because she hated the dark, was the owner of the voice that had woken him up in the inky black room. 

“Hm?” He hums, brows pinching as he lets his eyes shut again, only to open them a few seconds later, “Wha’s wrong? Why is your light off?” 

“I don’t know,” her voice is still just a bit over a whisper, and Harry wonders why she doesn’t just speak up now that she knows he’s awake, “I woke up a little bit ago and thought maybe there was a storm that knocked the power out or something, but I checked the weather and it’s been clear skies all night. I think our power line was cut which is like -- straight out of a horror film.” 

Harry sighs, a bit of him regretting the number of horror movies they’ve been watching once they finally got to watch Midsommar (in three days, they’d sifted through six different movies -- two movies a night and each one managed to horrify Y/N more than the last). He begins to press himself from the bed, his eyes adjusting to the dark around them, making out slivers of shadows, “I’ll go check --” 

“No! Are you crazy?” He hears her bed frameshift with her as she moves, “That’s just asking for a maniac to come for us. Plus I keep hearing noises and I can’t tell if it’s like...like little raccoon feet or a one-armed hook man.” 

“Alright, then go back to bed.” Harry begins to lower back down to the mattress but a sharp whine leaves her throat, “It’s dark when you close your eyes.” It’s silent for a moment, but then Harry feels a bead of guilt dribble through his body. He sighs, reaching up and wiping his hand down his face, “What do you want to do, yeah? If you don’t want me to go out there. Do you want to stay up?” 

She’s quiet, Harry is straying further and further from the state he would’ve been in to fall right back into his dreams but he tries to wipe away the irritation the best he could. What he reminds himself is that four days prior, Y/N had trekked out in the forest toward a lake despite her unremitting distaste for the woods in the dark and slapped Jack clean across the face because he was being rude to him. And he was going to ignore her? Fall asleep while she’s frightened? Harry could be a prick, but he wasn’t the bleeding antichrist. 

“I...um, well, I don’t want us to stay up, no, we’ll be so cranky tomorrow,” she shuffles in the sheets, “I dunno’, I’m sorry, you can go back to bed, I’ll be okay.” 

Harry isn’t sure what to do but in his half-awake state, the next few words that leave his mouth seem like just the temporary fix necessary for them to get the last few hours of sleep that they can, “Do you want me to read you a story or summat?” 

She giggles quietly, “No, it’s okay, really, go back to sleep, okay?” 

What Harry could have said was I can’t now, knowing that you’re awake and scared, but instead he utters a simple, “No.” He sits back up, patting blindly for his phone in his sheets, slipping his fingers around it, and tapping it awake. His screen blinds him with its brightness, so he lowers it before finding the flashlight. It lights up the floor at his feet and subsequently at its edges, he can make out Y/N’s shadowy figure. She’s sat up, curled in her blanket, wrapped around her head, and giving her a pseudo-nun appearance. She waves at him lamely and he struggles not to roll his eyes, “Maniac be damned, I’m gonna go out there and look for the breaker. Maybe the arseholes broke their vow of integrity.” 

He wouldn’t be surprised if Jack or one of the others came around and switched the breaker off, just to be inconvenient for the morning. They’d left them alone for four days sure, but Harry figures that it’s not so much four days of silent reflection and questioning why they feel the need to be such pricks to him, and more so four days for their anger to fester and brew. If not for the fact that Y/N slapped him then made him find laundry detergent and commanded the others to go get his clothes, then for the way she acted like nothing had happened the day prior. Jack’s cheek was still a stingy, red splotch, Oliver and Brandon were straight-faced looking irritated, and Y/N -- well, Y/N had never been more content with her day. She was having a blast with her kids playing bean bag toss, they did their little dance when one of them got it in the hole of the board, and when they were all getting drinks, Y/N offered to grab Harry his. He watched as she went to the cooler around the same time Jack did, they both reached for the last Dr. Pepper, and Y/N plucked it up and handed it to him before grabbing both her, Harry, and Mitch’s lemonades. 

He thinks it’s the sincerity that she holds, that would aggravate him had he been in their shoes. Y/N was completely unbothered by the night prior and Harry could tell, just like when he doesn’t reciprocate their maleficent tendencies towards them -- it was digging under their skin.

(She makes Harry laugh when she comes back with their lemonades, handing him one and uttering, “I let the prick have the last Dr. Pepper, and I’m regretting it.”) 

And while he’s hoping that they haven’t turned their target to her out of spite, he wouldn’t change what had happened for the world. It had made the two of them that much closer, and in the following day’s Harry had poked and prodded Y/N’s brain a bit more. Especially after what he’d seen on her page, he was intrigued by her. Intrigued by how she saw life, why she came at things the way she did, what built her up to be the person that she was in these very moments that he’s speaking to her. Harry hasn’t asked her about her old college roommate and he doesn’t plan on it either -- he doesn’t feel like he could, or he should. 

Harry has lost people before and he thinks the worst thing someone could do was to bring it up unprompted. He knows that it’s probably always on her mind but even then, maybe it isn’t at the forefront of it. Maybe she’s just trying to have a good few weeks, separate herself from the real world for a while, and he would be cruel to dig up something that she may not be ready to just up and chat about. No matter how curious he is about the whole situation, and no matter how much he wonders if she treats him the way she does because of what happened. If the topic was brought up by her he would openly and freely discuss it as long as she was comfortable, but he wouldn’t give her the third degree. 

So he minds his business and focuses on trying to get to know her better instead. 

He can’t say that it doesn’t change how he treats her a bit though. Harry is much. . .gentler, than he had been. He tries to be less critical of her unwavering optimism and seeks to understand where it was coming from instead. If he’s in the right mood he’ll attempt to match it, which makes for a good day with their groups, who he finds -- despite the small age gap -- have begun to kindle very close friendships. Mrs. Graham had even commented on it one of the days after they had a riveting game of balloon tennis. 

“You two make a good team -- putting all these other counselors to shame. And to think you were pouty about having to share a cabin.” 

It was true, they did make a good team. Harry thinks that them sparking a friendship had made the whole experience much more enjoyable for everyone involved. 

All of this together gives insight into why Harry is willing to stuff on his shoes at 3 AM and go out in the dark, muggy night to check and potentially fix a breaker. And no matter the number of times he assures her she does not have to come out there with him, she keeps hold of her ‘no man left behind’ mentality, pulls on a pair of flip flops, and pads out after him. 

Had they been in any other cabin, finding the breaker would have been much easier. They’re typically on the backside in the upper right corner, surrounded by a little cage with a lock similar to that of an animal crate. The struggle with their cabin was that the backside was basically in the woods, so he had to dodge low hanging branches and tangles of ivy to get even remotely near it. He hands Y/N his phone and she shines the light over the metal box, her hand steady despite how she looks back and forth and all around them like she’s making sure there are no red eyes glowing at them. The world around them is silent apart from the chirp and groan of insects, the scutter of an animal somewhere in the far distance makes Y/N huff a weary sigh but otherwise, nothing comes out to attack them. Harry restarts the breaker, they go back inside, and the lamp on its dimmest setting is switched on how they had fallen asleep with it. 

They both breath out in relief, Y/N dives back into her bed and Harry flops down atop of his covers, giving himself a second to feel the cool air from the conditioner fan over him. 

“Theoretically,” Y/N begins as Harry lets his eyes fall shut, “If there were some creature in the forest --”

“There’s no creature in the forest.” 

“I know, but theoretically --” She continues again, but Harry is quick to cut her off once more. 

“I wouldn’t let anything happen to you,” he tells her, “Go to sleep.”  

Once more, Y/N falls silent, but a quiet, “Thank you,” was the only thing to leave her mouth. 

                                                      .                               .                              .

A summer thunderstorm wasn’t abnormal during camp, which is why the recreation center and the art building are beneficial. It keeps everyone preoccupied and entertained with well-insulated walls to mute whatever carnage is taking place outside, which makes for less frightened children and an easier time for everyone involved. Harry liked being active and running around with his campers, sure, but he also really enjoyed a nice, calm, relaxing day trying his hand at DIY projects and abstract paintings. Plus it gave him the chance to wear the camp hoodie that he had spent a pretty penny purchasing, which was made of the softest fabric he’s ever felt and was far more comfortable than the t-shirts that they normally wear.

Y/N had also bought the hoodie, Harry saw as she stepped out in it after her shower this morning, and she seemed to be drowning in it but in the best way. The fabric pools off of her, but she looks cozy, and well-rested despite them waking in the middle of the night. He thinks she looks pretty cute, but he kept the thought to himself and instead asked her if she wanted his extra granola bar for breakfast. 

They alternate throughout the day, between the rec center and art building, and on the schedule, it appears that most the day he would be with Y/N’s group (which he prefers) and a few times he’s even with Mitch as well, which is nice. Mitch doesn’t grow to like many people, but he liked Y/N well enough -- he thought she was oddly entertaining (or so he’s told, Harry) and good for a chat. The only times he and Y/N were not with each other were when the activities were age-specific, but even then, it wasn’t like anyone was in a different room. They were all just at different stations within a big room in the art building and the recreation center was more or less free for all. 

Harry wondered when he started basing whether or not a day was going to be good by whether or not he and Y/N were able to be around each other, but he decided not to think about it too much. Lately, he’d been a little more on edge with whether they were together, simply because of Jack and the others. He didn’t want them fucking with her, and even though she’d proven that she was more than capable of taking care of herself, he still worried, especially knowing he would be the cause of it. 

Y/N doesn’t seem the least bit distressed about it, or as far as she was letting on -- she’d not expressed any thoughts or concerns that they would be spiteful towards her. Hell, the only thing she had told him the night after was that she hoped she didn’t make things worse for him. For him. Why was she so willing to defend him? What did she get out of being so kind? 

He’s too far in thought, he realizes, when Ellie comes and waves her hand in his face, “Are you okay?” She asks quietly, eyes wide as saucers, “Maisey said you look like her aunt when she zones out and she’s depressed.” 

Harry huffs out a laugh, one that expels the air from his lungs as he nods, “Yes, Ellie, I’m okay. What’ve you painted, hm? Can I see it?” She grins, her cheeks pudgy and rosy as she runs back to her seat and picks up the canvas she’d been working on. It’s a sun and a moon, both with rather cryptic looking faces on them, and Harry had never so perfectly had to manage his poker face, “Whoa!” 

“I think that might just be the coolest thing I’ve seen in my entire life,” Y/N appears behind him, Oliver more or less clung to her pant leg as she’s reaching over his body to set a box of juice down on the oak table for him to disperse among his campers, while holding her hand out for the canvas, “May I see it, Miss. Ellie Bellie?” 

Ellie smiles shyly at her — she always got so shy around Y/N, but never in the way where you would think she’s nervous. No, she gets shy the way you might when meeting an older sibling’s friend and wanting to desperately try to impress them. Harry knew as much, considering he would attempt to perform for each and every single one of his sister’s friends growing up (and each time, Gemma would make a few colorful threats to deter him). No matter how quiet Ellie gets with her though, she’s always the first to ask if they got to play with Y/N that day. 

“I especially like how multidimensional it is — purple and pink stars? Beautiful, I love those two colors together,” she places her hand on Oliver’s head, and it’s then that Harry notices he’s holding something, “Harry, Oliver here wanted you to see the flower he drew because I told him how much you like lilies.” As bashful as he always is, he holds out the paper toward Harry. It was cute — a singular, yellow lily and he could tell that Y/N helped him draw it, but the paint and crayon marks all over the page suggested she left the color duties up to him. 

“Oh my goodness,” Harry gasps, looking at the painting, flipping it to Oliver and pointing at it, “You did this?” Oliver nodded excitedly, “It’s gorgeous.” 

“I think our groups are the best artists,” Y/N motions to her table, only a meter away from them all working diligently on their projects, “Charlotte is over there doing an artistic interpretation of the both of us, we are not allowed to see it until she’s finished. Mikey is doing his own rendition of Disney world, I see Maisey is creating a beautiful tree  -- Noah is that a cowboy you’re drawing?” 

Noah barely looks up from his paper, very carefully dragging the tip of the marker in a circle, “Yes.” 

“And Noah is drawing a cowboy! Modern-day Van Gogh’s, all of them.” Harry smiles as Y/N drags a stool up beside him, positioning it in a way so that she could watch both her kids and speak with him, “I heard they’re having one of them party things tonight, I didn’t know if you wanted to go or not.” 

“Hm, I dunno,” his brows knit together as he lightly scratches a mosquito bite on the inside of his forearm, “Do you feel comfortable with going after what happened last time?” 

She suckles her bottom lip into her mouth, gnawing on it as she nods her head, “Mhm,” she looks around them for a second, making sure that none of the kids are paying attention to them before she lowers her voice, “Mitch said that you used to go to all of them last year, and would like -- have a good time. I hope that I’m not ruining that for you.” 

“How would you be ruining it for me?” It’s true, Harry hasn’t gone to any of the parties that they’ve been doing since the very first one he’d escorted Y/N away from. Not for any other reason apart from he was just spending time and hanging out with Y/N, or he’d be too knackered to even think about leaving the nice, cool setting of their cabin to be in the muggy heat with drunk college students. He had much more fun not attending, and other nights Mitch would come around and chill with them too. . .he had all he needed then. Didn’t need the booze for a good time. 

“I don’t know, I just didn’t know if you weren’t going ‘cos of what happened the first time and you felt like you couldn’t leave me out or. . or something like that.” 

Harry shook his head, “No,” he answers, “We can go tonight if you would like, but it’s unnecessary for me. I’m good either way.” 

Although Y/N appears unconvinced, they have little time to go further into the topic because Charlotte is running up to them, a big grin on her face, “I finished!” 

“Well give it here,” Harry holds out his hand, waving her over, “Let’s see it.” 

On the paper are stick figure versions of he and Y/N, with big grins and 12 other little stick figures surrounding them. Above Harry’s stick figure, there’s a pink arrow and a very five-year-old esque writing of HUSBAD (Harry presumes it’s supposed to be husband), and above Y/N’s in the same fashion, she’s written WYFE. It’s then Harry realizes that Y/N’s figure has a veil on and Harry’s has a bowtie, “This is for you twos wedding! So thens when they take pictures you can has this one.” Charlotte chirps brightly and Y/N and Harry both cast each other a disbelieving glance. 

“Whoaaaaa,” Y/N is the first to break their silence, a smile pulling at her lips, “This is really good Charlotte! I didn’t know Harry and I were getting married, though.” 

Charlotte nods quickly, still grinning at them, her bottom canine missing as she gleams, “Me n’ Mikey thinks you should!” 

Y/N turns toward him, nodding toward Charlotte, “Well, the god’s have spoken. Where’s my ring?”

Harry coughs on a laugh as he hands the paper back to Charlotte, “This is really good, Bug. Why don’t you and Oliver go help Josie finish her coloring pages, hm?” 

The both of them head the short way back to their table, hiking up on the small stools and Harry makes sure they’re all settled before he turned back to face Y/N, who was biting down on a grin, “Don’t start --” he began but she’s already started, shaking her head. 

“Listen, it’s okay to be in love with me, but you should really try to tone it down. . .the kids are starting to notice.” 

Harry scoffs before he proceeds to tease her,, “How d’ya know they aren’t basing it off your actions, huh? Giving me love eyes every couple minutes like nobody would see.” 

Y/N mocks offense to his words and he tries to keep up the facade, but his sheer delight for getting in a teasing match with her overcomes him and he can’t help his smile. Harry loved teasing people -- loved making them flustered or reducing them to a bashful mess by his words alone. Y/N, however, was much less into flustered gazes and sheepish tendencies, and more so ready and willing to give him it right back. He’d met his match -- if he teases her she’s teasing right back (if she hadn’t started it in the first place), and both of them found mutual pleasure in it. 

“You can’t use my love eyes against me, I can’t help but give them to everyone I’ve ever met” she tells him, feigning sincerity before an additional anecdote, “You know my college roomie always told me they’d get me in trouble one day, and she had never been more right, ‘cos they did once at a party. She wouldn’t shut up about it weeks after it’d happened.” 

Harry feels his body tense just a bit at the mention of her, and he tries not to let it show on his face that he’s surprised how she so casually brought her up, “Yeah? What’s the story?” 

“The little ears around us suggest that I tell that story later,” she checks her watch, before looking back up at him, “Oi, we’ve got five minutes until we’re in the rec center. You get to pick what we all do since I picked the last rotation.” 

                                                             .                           .                          .

This time when they’re on their way to the party, Harry lets Y/N walk in front of him as he directs where she was to go. Opposed to when they had first made this journey together, Harry feels far more protective of her than he originally had. Plus, he’d seen how clumsy she could be and after the earlier storm, the softened dirt and broken off tree branches from the billows of wind made for a much harder terrain to navigate, so he felt more comfortable being able to reach out to catch her if need be. 

Harry was wary of going to the party tonight but Y/N had been borderline insistent that they attend, “Mitch says he misses you at these things and Niall told me he could only stand Shaun theorizing about the universe and us not being the only life form so many times before he snaps. I say we’re needed.” Harry never minded free drinks, and a potential fuck at the end of the night, so he wasn’t all too worried that he would be having a good time. He just hoped that the others would allow Y/N to have a good time. And he knows he’s being paranoid, because they hadn’t necessarily targeted her for anything prior to or after the lake incident, but he still worries. . .he can’t help but worry.  

But he wouldn’t hover. Once they got to the clearing, he helped Y/N get her drink and she sought off after Niall while Harry went over to Mitch, the two of them promising to meet up again in a little bit. He didn’t hover, but he did watch semi-closely, eyeballing Jack and the others, making sure they were staying away from her. Apart from a few less than friendly looks thrown in his direction though, they seemed to be keeping to themselves which Harry was ultimately very thankful for. 

The night goes by as these nights usually do -- he and Mitch drank, had a laugh, gabbed about music for a while, some of the drama going on around the camp (Y/N had an ear for gossip and eyes that could make anyone tell her anything, so Harry’s had a door to all the melodramatic events happening throughout the counsellors). It was a bit weird when Stacey -- one of the counsellors he’d only ever briefly spoken to --  had come up to them, and a little weirder when she borderline propositioned him for something more than a chat in the woods, but Harry politely declined. Told her that he was pretty exhausted after a long day and was probably just going to have a few more beers and retreat back to his cabin. 

He passes it off as a fluke. . .maybe he’d been making eyes at her and hadn’t realized it. But then Mia makes her way toward him and Mitch, and this time Harry’s brows furrow when she starts chatting him up. This one he entertains for a little while before eventually ebbs away from the conversation, because he and Mia had a fling once, but Jack convinced her and the free world that he was a prick, so she called it off. He didn’t necessarily understand why she would want to start that up again, or what “little birdie” put a bug in her ear that he still thought about her (as she said one did). 

It was after Cara had finally left after coming around to chat with him, that Mitch began to chuckle lowly at his side, shaking his head slowly, “Jesus Christ,” he tilts the nozzle of his beer against his mouth, and when he pulls it away, his lips are shiny from the liquid, “She really is working hard.” 

“Huh?” Harry feels desperate for an explanation as to why three times he felt as if he were being propositioned for a romp in the woods when he was not actively pursuing one. He had a feeling that it was the others trying to get him alone so they could enact some sort of piss poor attempt at fucking with him without Y/N spotting and tearing them a new one over it, “Are you in on something that I’m not, ‘cos m’feeling pretty fucking lost here, man.” 

Mitch nods his head, and Harry follows his gaze to Y/N, who is speaking with her brows dipped inward to Cara, “A few days ago she’d been asking me and Niall what you were like last year, and we told her just the same, jus’ a lot more ‘fornication’ is how Niall put it,” he smirks softly with a shake of his head, “And she seemed all concerned, asking us if we thought she was holdin’ you back or something. Personally, I told her if you wanted to sleep with someone you would have whether she were around or not but she didn’t seem very convinced.” A snort leaves him as he motions towards her again, still as amused by her ideas as he had been when she’d first explained them,  “Guess she’s trying to set you up.” 

“Oh fuck me,”  he exhales so forcefully, it whips the delicate plumes of smoke from Mitch’s cigarette into a misshapen huff. Why was she so concerned with it? Harry hadn’t once expressed any avidity in needing to spend time with someone in that manner -- he could go without sex for three weeks. . .did she not think he could? Was he exuding nymphomaniac tendencies? He surely hadn’t thought he was -- a few quick handies in his nightly showers typically tide him over just nicely for a bit of a dry spell. And what was her business that he hadn’t slept with anyone since they’ve gotten here? Why was she speaking about him with the others what she could as easily ask him? What she had as easily spoken with him about, albeit leaving out a pretty large portion of it. 

For the first time since they had begun getting along, Harry was irritated with her. He’d never been one to brood, however. He liked things to be up front and honest as soon as possible if the situation allowed for it, to stop his mind from taking an idea and running away with it. He held little interest in playing mind games with people. 

Which is why he hands Mitch the rest of his drink, fixes his heavy cardigan around his shoulder, and sets off in her direction. He dodges many bodies, avoids an empty cup on the ground beside what he could only presume to be a sticky puddle of liquor, and narrowly makes it past a playful fight between Oliver and Brandon who were wrestling one another. Y/N doesn’t realize that he’s making his way to her until he’s just a meter or so away, when Niall catches a glimpse of him and attempts to be inconspicuous in the way he pinches her side. She gasps from the way his nails had accidentally bit into her skin, flinching from the pain before her gaze had settled on him, “Harry!” She cheered but his face doesn’t soften as it usually does when they see one another, which alerts her to his disapproving gaze, “Oh, what’s wrong?” 

“Can I speak with you for a moment?” He inquires, motioning out past the trees. Enough trust had been built into the foundation of their friendship for her to not question him. Instead, she passes her drink off to Niall and follows Harry into the woods -- he wouldn’t go so far that they wouldn’t be able to see one another from beneath the curtain of leaves shielding away the moon, but just far enough that nobody would be eavesdropping. In any other situation he might wait to bring this up until they’ve made it back to the cabin, but Y/N’s intentions had been clear that the person he was taking home tonight wasn't supposed to be her. 

She pauses with him at a particularly thick tree trunk, and places the arch of her foot against one of the jagged roots that carved its way through the earth, “Is everything okay?” She balances herself with a hand against the bark, wincing when it jabs into her skin, “I was keeping an eye on Jack n’ them I thought so they wouldn’t try messing with you, but did they say something?” 

That does melt him some, Harry was strong enough to admit that. Just as he had been concerned with her wellbeing, she was just as much concerned for him, and he appreciated that. And while it does threaten to soften him down to his core, he still had questions that needed answers, and he wouldn’t let up until she responded to them. 

“Why are you sending girls over to me?” 

Her brows raise, but less in shock of learning the information, and more so with wonder how he’d found out she was the one sending them their way. The surprise dissolves into embarrassment quickly, her shoulders slump and she casts her gaze deeper into the forest, “Dammit,” she doesn’t hide her disappointment from being caught, or even feign confusion to try and pass the blame off coincidence that every girl who had come up to him had subsequently talked to her prior, “I was hoping you would be less observant.” 

“Y/N.” He says her name sternly, and her shoulders drop dramatically further as she steps down from the tree root. 

“Listen, in my defense I just felt awful!” She admits, waving her hand toward the party, “Jack had tried telling me a few times about how you just fuck people and leave them, blah, blah, blah, right? And I wasn’t paying any attention to him, but it made me curious to what you were like last year, so I asked Mitch and Niall. You came to these things all the time and you had fun -- then I come ‘round, ruin the first one, and you’ve been hanging out with me since. I just. . . I wanted you to be able to have fun and not feel like you have to worry about me, y’know?” 

A ‘v’ sits between Harry’s brows, “What is it your business what I’m doing, hm?” He fixes his cardigan from where it slumps off his shoulder once more, “If I wanted to sleep with someone then I would. Do you think I can’t set something up myself?” 

“No, of course not, I just thought --” 

“You didn’t think,” he cuts her off, and Y/N’s arms curl over herself instinctively when a cold brush of air rolls past them, “You should have just came to speak with me about it, I could have told you that I didn’t need anything like that, and that would have been that. Don’t go behind my back trying to orchestrate things for me, okay?” 

He wanted to say it -- he needed to say it, because Harry wasn’t some sex driven lecher that everyone at this camp tried to make him out as. He thought Y/N had known that too, but he guesses he was wrong. 

But he wasn’t expecting her to look so fucking defeated by it. A guilt weighs on his being when she nods, tipping her head down, “Okay, yes, I won’t anymore. I’m sorry,” her fingers dig into her bicep, as she breathes out, a shiver rattles through her that she tries to be inconspicuous about it, “I wasn’t thinking -- I wasn’t thinking how it would look.” 

Harry sighs, peeling his cardigan off of his arms, revealing his bare arms to the chill but he ignores it in favor of holding it out to her, “Put this on,” he wiggles it some, “I know you’re cold.” She takes it from him carefully, looking up, brows raised slightly as if to ask if he’s sure, “Go ahead.” 

“I really am sorry,” she tells him, pulling the patchwork cardigan over her arms, it hangs off of her, and Harry swallowed thickly. She’s. . .cute -- Harry had always been able to admit that. Her face is sweet, her eyes exudes nothing but understanding, kindness, and such a soft glow that Harry couldn’t quite explain. He finds that those eyes give him great comfort and warmth, because now when they’re tinged with the contrition she feels and Harry feels cold. 

“I know,” he murmurs, he holds out his hand for her, and very carefully Y/N slides her hand into his own, “Do you want to go get pudding?” 

A small smile pulls at her mouth. 

“Yes please.” 

                                                          .                          .                         .

Niall lets them use the key after a few dozen promises to be careful with it. They trek the familiar way, mindless chatter fills the air around them until they get to the cafeteria and their voices quiet in case the security guard is looping around. Y/N reveals her hand from the shield of his cardigan sleeve, Harry watches as the fabric pools around her arm, toward her elbow, and produces the key (that Niall only trusted her with). They creeped into the kitchen, pulled open the large refrigerator door, and the pudding sat in rows on the bottom shelf. 

They both choose vanilla this time, having tired themselves out on chocolate, and they sit at the spot they had last time, across from one another. He can tell, despite his peace offering, that Y/N still feels upset about what had happened earlier and it sullies his mood. She’s still chatting but not with as much heart as she typically has, and Harry couldn’t stand it. He just wanted her to giggle as she teases him again, without feeling like she’s tip toeing on eggshells around him. 

“Hey,” Harry starts, dragging her attention towards him where it had previously been scooping the sides of her pudding container, “Would you stop being so. . .tense? Is this about earlier?” 

Y/N clears her throat, opening her mouth and furrowing her brows like she was about to deny it, but she relents, shoulders dropping, “A little. I still feel bad about everything,” she shakes her head, dragging the edge of the spoon around the plastic, “About everything, not just that you aren’t able to sleep with someone. I came in late, ruined you having your own cabin, woke you up with my alarm, made you get out of bed ‘cos I’m afraid of the dark and -- I just feel like this massive burden. I feel like this massive burden on everyone.” 

Harry is alarmed by this sudden confession, but his body ultimately rejects the notion that she could ever be a bother, “How are you a burden to anyone?” He inquires, shaking his head, “You’re such a ball of light that just swarms through rooms. The thought of you being a burden is akin to the thought of Satan being a saint. . .it doesn’t sound right.” Harry sets his pudding down, though he keeps his hands fixed around the cup and the spoon, “Don’t know what gave you that idea, but the last thing you are is a burden. Who gave you the impression that you were?” 

She wipes tiredly at her eyes, “Nobody in particular, it's just,” she shakes her head, “Even now, I wanted to make your night good, and then I fucked it, and now you’re here with me instead of having fun at the party. I just feel silly.” 

“Don’t.” Harry tells her simply, “I like to spend time with you, and I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to be.” 

The tension in her shoulder releases, “Thank you for this, I’m sorry m’just saying the same thing again and again. Back at home it feels like everyone is just. . .so hyper aware of me -- they’re always being so careful, or overly concerned and I always wonder if it feels like a heavy weight on their shoulders, like I’m forcing a piggyback ride.” She shrugs her own, reaching for the second pudding cup, “It’s just shit, so I overthink everything all the time to try not to be a burden, but I keep making it worse. Or at least that’s how it feels.” 

Harry tilts his head to the side some. He’s not usually someone who pries and probes people for information, but he’s never been more curious about Y/N than in this moment. When he thinks of Y/N at home, he thinks of sunshine pooling in the hallways through casement windows, her spinning around the kitchen in a dainty floral dress that billows around her as she stirs homemade jam. Harry imagines her amongst woodland creatures who coax her to the forest with songs, escorting her there as she gambols freely. 

He could not imagine her going home and feeling like a burden. Hell, he would have thought that she considered everyone else a burden -- that maybe it was draining to be the absolute light of everyone’s life. Yet here she stood, seeming worn, and broken. 

“If you don’t mind me asking, why is everyone hyper aware of you at home? You don’t have to answer if you’re uncomfortable.” He says it delicately -- he means it. . .if she didn’t want to share this with him, then he wouldn’t force her, but he wants to open up the possibility. He wants her to know that he’s an open ear if she so chose to utilize him. 

“Um,” her gaze does shift downward -- she suddenly appears so small, “Are you sure?” 

Harry nods. 

“I just -- it's not that I don’t like bringing it up, I just don’t want you to treat me any differently than you would knowing it, yeah? I think that’s what I hate the most.” She notes, “So do you promise that you won’t -- you won’t start tiptoeing around me?” 

“You’ve got my word.” Harry vows, but he has a feeling he knows what she is to say.

The sleeve of his cardigan covers her hand as she brushes the hair from her face, “In freshman year of UNI, my roommate was Mrs. Graham’s daughter, Penelope.” She straightens out in her seat, “We didn’t like each other much at first but we had grown very close -- um, once she threw away my fruit snacks and so I dunked her toothbrush in the toilet, but I felt guilty and went out to buy her a new toothbrush,” a laugh leaves her at the memory, as she rolls her eyes at herself, “That was what we had going for a while, but a late night heart to heart kind of made us closer. She told me things that. . .she’d been through a lot that nobody should have to go through, you know? She was bullied a lot growing up—in high school it was bad, people used to always gang up on her over stupid shit.” Harry hums, encouraging her to continue, and she stirs the pudding around mindlessly, “And we were just close after that. We had a flat together sophomore year and most of junior year, she’s my best friend,” she swallows thickly, “I didn’t realize how sad she was. . .I didn’t realize what she was still holding onto, and she -- we went home for Christmas break, and she never came back.” 

Harry feels his stomach sour as her eyes bead with unshed tears, “Oh, Y/N,” 

“It’s alright. I’m okay, I’m fine as I can be --  I’ve -- I’m mourning and I miss her, but I’m trying to be strong. Most days I am, but everyone at home just expects me to be this fragile thing, y’know? The days I’m happy, and chatty, they think I’m faking it. And some days I do, yeah, but. . .it’s just disheartening when everyone pretends to know what’s going on in my head.” She plants the pudding directly in the center, leaving it there and retreating her hands to her lap, “Mrs. Graham told me she felt the same. That’s why I came in last minute -- I’ve got all my volunteer hours settled and everything but she said it might be nice to get away.” A slow, easy sigh leaves her lips as she blinks the tears away, not one drop trickled down her cheek, “It is nice, but I still worry that I’m a strain on people around me, even if not for the reason I am at home. And I’m sorry to like, info dump all this on you,” she laughs a little in spite of herself, “You can’t ask me things, unless you want an hour long explanation.”

Harry reaches out his hand for her, for the second time that night, and once again she slowly slips their fingers together, “Thank you for sharing that with me, I know it must have been hard,” he squeezes her hand, “But I understand you a bit more now. I’ll keep my promise, I won’t treat you any differently, but before that --” she blinks at him, waiting, “I think you might just be one of the kindest, strongest, most caring people that I have ever meant. I know you would never do anything to intentionally hurt me or add stress onto my life, so you don’t have to worry about that. You don’t have to try with me. We can just exist together, yeah? We’ll exist without burdens and without worry.”

The look in her eyes, was one that Harry had never seen before. One that makes him melt in her touch. 

“I would like that.” 

                                                             .                                    .                                  .

 “I can’t swim.” 

Harry was crouched down to Maisey’s height, fixing purple mermaid floaties around her arms. The day was not unusually muggy, but there was an additional itch to jump belly first into the cool watered lake. He had woken with a revitalized need to pry a star from the morning sky as it shifted from an inky purple to an early, dusky morning blue -- and give it to Y/N. He had decided after their conversation last night -- after they’d gone to bed and Y/N fell asleep cuddled in his cardigan -- he had an overwhelming, and an all encompassing want to hold her. 

Which made it hard to part ways this morning, but he managed. And maybe he played out an image in his head where he pressed a kiss to Y/N’s cheek before they went to wake their respective cabins, or maybe he didn’t (but if he did that’s his own problem). He is quick to convince himself it was because she’d shared a piece of herself with him that he doesn’t think she lets many people see, and Harry always develops a bit of a platonic crush on his friends at some point or another. He questioned whether or not he was in love with Mitch for a solid four days once. . .sometimes he just let his heart get carried away. 

He had been enmeshed in these thoughts as he got his campers ready for their time in the lake. At first glance, a ton of children in the lake seemed like a horrible, and faulty idea, but they took precautions so that everyone was safe. Every child wore floaties and/or life jackets no matter how proficient their swimming abilities. There was netting about ten meters out so that the children and counsellors couldn’t float out toward the middle, and they worked it so that only three children could be in per counsellor at a time, so that they could keep an eye on everyone. Harry wasn’t so nervous because he was a strong swimmer, and his kids were a little older, but he could tell Y/N had been a little jittery about it. It’s why Harry told her that while she was out in the lake with her little ones to let him know, he would come out with her to bring her some additional comfort that even the floaties could not provide. 

Harry had been pretty sure all of his kids were excited to go to the lake and he was grateful for that, until he looked up to see the nervous, large blue eyes of Jackson, downcast after he had spoken the words. The unprompted admittance confused him as he turned to face him, “That’s okay, buddy, we’ve got floaties for that.” 

Jackson did not seem convinced, shaking his head fiercely, “No, I -- I can’t swim.” 

“J.J. is afraid of the water,” Noah exposes the truth just as easy as he takes a sip from his juice box, equipped with his own blue arm floaties, “He didn’t want to say though ‘cos --” 

“Noah!” Jackson cuts him off, betrayal laced within his features. 

“--’cos he didn’t want to seem like a wimp, but he almost drowned when he was little.” 

Jackson looked as if he could cry, and Harry shook his head quickly, “Hey, hey, hey, c’mere buddy,” he motions him over, and he comes easily, stepping before Harry who had not bothered to leave his already crouched position, “Explain to me what’s going on, yeah?” 

He shifts his weight from foot to foot, a frown prevalent on his mouth, even as he speaks, “When I was little little, my big brother pushed me into the pool and I went under the water and my mom had to come in and get me because I can’t swim good.” 

Harry pulls his lips back, reaching out to squeeze Jackson’s shoulder, “I’m sorry to hear that buddy. I won’t force you to get in the water if you don’t want to, but I do want to tell you that if you feel more comfortable, we could try a life jacket instead of the floaties? It’ll keep you more buoyant -- more bouncy in the water.” 

“Aren’t those for little kids?” Jackson inquires, brows pinched, but Harry shakes his head and points toward Y/N, never more glad in that moment that she had the age group she did, along with her views on not making them do, wear, or say anything that she wouldn’t herself. She’s got the life jacket swung around her arm as she clips Oliver into his own. 

“Y/N’s going to wear one too, and she’s not a little kid. I’ll wear one as well if you’d like.” He promised him. Albeit looking reserved, Jackson nods softly with his hands in little fists, worrying his lip between his teeth. The poor thing, Harry thinks -- he used to be afraid of water too. Nobody wants to conquer that fear suddenly, let alone with a group of people that may or may not poke fun because they’re kids and kids are jerks sometimes. 

Harry finds him a life jacket -- a cute one with a shark on it, that he helps him clip on, and fits it to his body with the straps. Next, he needed to find one for himself, but he wasn’t entirely sure where they kept the counsellor life jackets, so he called for Y/N where she’d been a few meters away and she popped her head up from where she was like a meerkat. Her eyes softened when she realized who had called her, and a gentle smile pulled at her mouth, “Hey hubby,” she greets him, much to the delight of Charlotte, who claps giddily, “What d’ya need?” 

“A life jacket, please. Where’d you get yours?” Harry tries to be decent -- tries desperately to keep his eyes to himself, but he finds that this is surprisingly difficult when Y/N is in her swimsuit. It wasn’t obscene in any sense of the word -- in the pamphlet they get when they sign up, it is very clear that speedos and bikinis were not appropriate, and therefore not allowed. If a child couldn’t wear it, then you shouldn’t bring it -- was the apothegm that they chose to live by in reference to dress code. 

This, however, doesn’t mean that Y/N’s swimsuit didn’t suit her well. It was fitted in a way that wasn’t too tight, yet wasn’t too loose -- like it might have just been made with her in mind. A simple one piece of nylon and lycra colored a powder blue, that barely showed off that much more of what she wears to bed, and yet his mind still flutters elsewhere. To unwise places, that he drags himself from before clearing his throat and forcing himself to look around the lake so it appeared his eyes were just scanning everything. 

“You’re in luck,” Y/N jogged the short way from where they stood, back to where her kids were all gathered, playing happily in the sand. Beneath what Harry had assumed was just a cluster of towels, another life jacket was hidden beneath the fabric. She hands it toward him with a triumphant grin, “This was the last one. I grabbed it for you in case you just wanted to float rather than keep your legs kicking -- you had a big lunch, didn’t want you to get a cramp.” 

Harry hates how his heart balloons in his chest. There was no reason to be a melt because she had thought of him -- that she had him in mind, so she snatched the last life jacket, and hid it beneath towels so nobody else could have it. No reason to feel all mushy from the way that she unfolds it for him, a silent prompt that she’s going to help him pull it on. And there was certainly, absolutely no good reason for how stupidly affectionate he feels when she strokes her finger along the heart tattoo on his forearm mindlessly, before murmuring, “You make me wanna get covered in them. Maybe I’ll just go and get all of yours.” She looks down at the ground, “Maybe not the toe, my feet are ticklish -- think I would kick the artist.” 

He recruits Y/N for the process of easing Jackson into the water -- Noah and Elinor are floating and bobbing about happily at their sides, while Charlotte and Mikey playfully kick and float close to their older counterparts (if not practically on top of them). There was a chill bite to the water when they had first stepped in, but as they walked out further and sunk a bit deeper, the cold eases up. The cool air soothes them from the sharp bite of the scorching sun, Jackson holds his hand so tightly Harry thinks his fingers may go numb, and he figures Y/N is feeling the same way, if her soft, “Loosen your grip up a bit, Sweetheart, you’re gonna take off my hand.” 

Eventually, Jackson relaxes. He finally understands that the life jacket will keep him afloat and holding onto Y/N and Harry wasn’t a necessity. Once the idea of this settles in his brain, he is more willing to let go and enjoy himself. It feels wonderful to see that he’s having fun, and even better when he sees the smile on Y/N’s face from this small victory. Last year, he hadn’t felt this parental over the children last summer, but something had changed. . .something that made him feel like he was a bit of a parent. 

It has to be Y/N. There was something about her that just oozes mother figure for these kids, even if she wasn’t intending to do so. She kissed the bandages over their wounds to take away the hurt, she praised the ground they walked on, picked them up if they asked, danced with them, encouraged them, treated every single child as if they were her own. Harry believes she’ll be a beautiful mother one day, if that’s what she’d like, and whoever the father or mother was she had chosen to spend her life with, they were unbelievably lucky. He just hoped they would understand that. 

Y/N floats into his line of sight, “Are you okay? Ellie said you look like Maisey’s aunt again, whatever that means.” 

Harry snorts, before nodding, “Yeah, I’m fine. A bit tired.” 

An understanding gleam overtakes her, “Y’know, I did think you seemed a bit snoozy,” she reaches out for him, squeezing his shoulder softly, “D’ya want to have a sneaky nap? I could watch the kids.” 

“But I like having you both,” Jackson whined, shaking his head quickly, finding their hands once more, reassuring that his grip was tight as ever, “Please stay.” 

“Yeah,” Noah splashes over to them, sliding his arms around Harry’s neck, wetting his hair with the water clinging to his life jacket, “You two are fun together! We always have so much fun -- Brittany said her counsellor always yells at them when they ask her to play with them.” 

Elinor was quick to add, “And Ro’s counsellor falls asleep during art days! He doesn’t even help them stay in the lines, and they’re little like Oli, and Charlotte.” 

Y/N’s bottom lip juts out in the prettiest little pout -- Harry finds himself wanting to pluck it with the pad of his thumb, “That’s silly, isn’t it? I have so much fun with you guys, I couldn’t imagine not playing. Right Harry?” 

Nodding his assent, he reaches up, settling his hands around Noah’s arms and bring him along with him as he kicks them closer to Y/N and the other three, “It is silly. Some people just aren’t as fun as Y/N and I, Bug, it’s proven fact. They did the scientific method and everything.” 

Oliver gleefully pushes himself up on Y/N’s shoulders, flopping back into the water and bobbing, “I love yous!” He chirped brightly, “Yous guys are my favorites! I love yous.” 

The sight is adorable, especially as Y/N wriggles around and holds her arms out so they could hug, which Oliver happily accepts, “I love yous too, button.” 

They have fun -- for hours, as they switch out which kids are in the water, spend time on the beach with all of them, making sandcastles, burying one another, chatting and playing. It was very freeing; Harry could easily tell that he and the others were having far more fun than any of the other groups were -- Mitch and Niall had gravitated their groups closer to them when Y/N and the kids began to pour sand over the top of him. Even Cassidy came around with her kids after they had heard them all giggling and laughing and wanted to know what was going on. Harry was having fun, and maybe he was just mushy, but he credited it to the joy Y/N was exuding. It was hard not to be in a good mood when he was around her. 

By the time the sun sat a little lower in the sky, casting the shadows of trees over the sand and cooling them to the point of chilling. The kids washed their feet and hands beneath the rush of water from a yard hydrant, wrapped up in towels, and headed toward the dining hall for their dinner. There was a taco bar today, and Harry found that Y/N and he had a mutual love of tacos as a whole. She showed him how she adds feta crumbles, even let him have a bite of hers to see if he would like it so he could decide whether or not to put it on his own (it was delicious, she was right). 

Once dinner was finished, everyone was exhausted. They all gathered around the campfire, one of the counsellors strummed a song on his guitar, they all had s'mores and then they dispersed. Not even the rush of sugar from the chocolate and marshmallow gave any of the children an umph in their step; they were all so sluggish and slow, dragging their feet through the dirt on their way to their cabins. Harry’s group barely kept their eyes open as they stalked to the showers, washing off the lake water and sand that had been clinging to their bodies. After they brushed their teeth, they all but face planted in their beds and snores soon filled the quiet air of the cabin. They only made him realize how exhausted he was from the day spent baking in the sun, floating and kicking in the water. 

He trudges back to his cabin, where he finds Y/N had already showered off. She was face down in her pillow, her back slowly rising and falling with each gentle breath she took. She hadn’t covered in her blankets -- no, instead she used his cardigan as a makeshift cover over her body, and Harry thinks it might just be the cutest thing he’s ever seen. The patchwork swallows a good portion of her body, the sleeve flopped limply by her head. . .he could imagine her crawling into bed. Could imagine her putting her knee up first, dragging the cardigan that had been lying limply over the post with her and just letting it drape over her body. She probably wasn’t thinking she would fall asleep. . .probably thought she would just lay there for a minute before gathering the strength to get beneath her covers. 

It’s adorable -- Harry hates how adorable he finds it, actually. If he could crawl in beside her he would, but instead he ambles to the bathroom, starts up the shower, and climbs in. 

The water his hot -- boiling drops pelt his skin, washing away the grime and sweat that felt as if it’d been caked onto his skin. It felt good; to cleanse and scrub himself free of the lake, massage shampoo into his scalp, soften his curls with the conditioner, and just allow himself to revel in the feeling. Showers feel wonderful - a renewal that he deemed necessary by the end of the day. And when he gets the temperature just right, it soothes the aches and soreness in his bones, turning his muscles to softened jello. By the time he slipped out of the shower, he was practically boneless and thought he’d be lucky if he made it to his bed before dropping to the floor and falling asleep. 

He expects Y/N to still be asleep when he leaves the bathroom, but he’s surprised to find her sat up in her bed, his cardigan pooled around her body and a deep frown on her face. 

“Oh!” He’s started some -- he really thought she was out for the night, “Good morning, sleepyhead.” 

“It’s morning?” Her face further turns to that of distress and Harry bites down hard on a chuckle. 

“No,” he responds, “It’s not morning. Only about 10PM, so you’ve got plenty of time to rest still.” She looks around groggily, rubbing at her cheek with one hand while she fisted his cardigan in the other, pulling it closer around her body, “Why don’t you get beneath the covers, Babe?” He asks her, and she’s quiet for a little while. The only inkling Harry receives that she even heard him was how she tries to shuffle and wriggle the covers down with her still stretched out on the bed, stuffing her legs into the blankets first, then sliding the rest of the way smoothly. All the while she clings to the cardigan, holding it tightly, resting her cheek on it. Harry doesn’t know if Y/N’s just far more affectionate than he had even thought prior, or if she was just half awake and doing things she wouldn’t do if she was fully conscious. Vaguely does he remember her saying something about typically cuddling with a teddy at night -- how she stuffs her face against it because it always smells like her fabric softener. 

He wonders if that’s why she snuggles with it -- he wonders if she likes the smell of him, so she buries her nose in the fabric and breathes it in as she rests. 

Harry hates this. He hates how inconceivably soft he’s been feeling, but he can’t help it. Y/N had found him worthy enough to poke inside her brain -- she opened up to him in a way she expressed she’d not been opening up to many people about.  It made him feel closer to her.

But he told her he wouldn’t treat her any differently after finding out. And if he suddenly started expressing more affection, he fears she would think he was only doing it because of what she told him. He just wants to be. . .he just wants to be gentle with her. Doesn’t want her to ever think that she’s a burden to him, because the anecdote had made him question and second guess how he’d been treating her their entire time here. Of course, he was never intentionally cruel, but some of the situations he thinks about the two of them in, and how he responded, makes him cringe. 

He switches off the overhead light, her dimmed bedside lamp and muscle memory guide him to his bed. Harry climbs in, shivers as he adjusts to the warmth beneath his covers, and breathes a soft sigh of relief to have finished with the day. 

“Harry?” Y/N’s voice startles his eyes open, which he’d not been aware he’d closed. 

“Hm?” He hums -- he had thought she’d fallen back asleep already. 

“You’re okay?” 

A soft smile plays at his mouth -- she asks him every night before bed, he’s noticed. 

“Yes, I’m okay. Are you okay?” 

She nods, “You did really good today,” her voice is muffled from her cheek mushed against his cardigan, “The kids had a lot of fun, they were telling me. I had a lot of fun too.” 

“Yeah? Me too,” he reaches to thumb the hairs of his eyebrow down, “And thank you. You always do really well with the kids.” 

She’s quiet for a minute, and once more, Harry thinks she must have fallen asleep, but the shift of the mattress tells him she’s changing position and Harry notices once more that his eyes have closed, “I’m glad you’re my roomie.” 

Harry utters the words, that two weeks ago he thinks he would have spit at. 

“Yeah, I’m glad you’re my roomie too.” 

                                                     .                                   .                              .

Harry was drunk. 

Typically, he didn’t allow himself to get very drunk at these little parties. He trusted the others so little, he had no doubt in his mind that any moment he was slightly impaired in some way they would take it upon themselves to prey on his weakness. This means he only ever gets mildly tipsy -- drinks enough to feel good but caps himself when he thinks he might start stumbling. 

But he just didn’t cap himself today. Not for any reason in particular -- their day hadn’t been difficult. They helped their kids through a mildly strenuous obstacle course throughout the morning, cooled down with them drinking juice boxes and eating popsicles and by 2PM they were inside doing little DIY projects. Harry burned his finger with some hot glue, but otherwise it was a pretty easy smooth kind of day that they didn’t get often. He and Y/N hadn’t gotten to spend much time together, which he wouldn’t admit loudly was a disappointment, but he and his kids had all agreed that they missed her. 

(And when they had seen her and her group walking into the art room, the lot of them had erupted in cheers, Noah, Eli, Maisey being the loudest of them.) 

They had a pasta dinner that was surprisingly filling, they told “spooky” campfire stories and ate s’mores, he got his kids ready for bed and he went off to the cabin. He and Y/N were going to one of the parties tonight, not because they had such spectacular luck with a good time before, but because they were coming up on some of their last nights here at camp. It was a bittersweet feeling -- Harry remembered being more than ready to flee last year, counting down each day, each hour dragging on longer than the last. This time, it felt like it was coming too quick. He would miss the kids, he would miss the busy days some. . .and sure, he was happy to go home and take a shower that stays hot longer than five minutes and rest on his soft, cozy bed, but he would miss not having Y/N right across from him. 

That was what he was having the most trouble coming to terms with, he thinks. The idea of them not having to spend every moment of every day with one another after doing it for three weeks almost sounds wrong. It's the same feeling he gets when  he knew he and Mitch wouldn’t have such easy access to one another once they went back home. Being at this camp sort of felt like being stuck in a time loop where the outside world doesn’t exist, so it’s very easy to forget that they all have lives outside of here. They all go to class, go to work, go home, study, eat and sleep. 

He and Y/N live relatively close to one another -- only about a ten minute drive up the street with only one turn and it's into her apartment building -- but he wonders if they’ll utilize it. He wonders if their friendship is tied to this camp and if that’s where it will remain, or if she even wants to be friendly with him after. Harry hadn’t considered that maybe she was only putting up with him because they had to live together and she didn’t want it to be miserable. Had he questioned if he was even enjoyable to be around? How does he ask her that without sounding entirely too desperate or needy?                   

So partially, he drinks to ease some of the worry in his mind. Harry doesn’t think he would “break down” or something like it if they weren’t able to continue being friends -- like a forgotten summer love that he might think about throughout the fall, and message her to see how she was doing -- but he certainly wouldn’t be delighted if that’s how it ended up. Harry thinks there’s so much more to Y/N that he would like to see, and know, and hear. Three weeks isn’t enough time, Harry decided, but in the same breath he wondered if she had thought it was more than enough. 

Harry knows she cares for him, at least a little bit. He knows that he cares for her and her wellbeing; he was fond of her. From what he knew of who she was fundamentally, down to her core, Harry knew she was selfless and kind -- it was hard to find people like that, who were that, without it being cakey or clouded by something else. She was transparent in who she was and her feelings regarding most things, and Harry valued her honesty. 

And she was just so damn fun. Every moment with her he spent, the air filled with laughter; she brought a slice of sun in her pocket wherever she went and Harry was consistently being warmed beneath it. 

The fact of the matter is, Harry doesn’t know how he could meet someone like Y/N, and get used to the idea of her not being in his life after three weeks. If he could refuse it he would, but what was he going to do? Kidnap her and take her home with him? 

He’s sat on the tree root, opposed to standing beside it like he usually is, with his back pressed against the bark of the tree and he ignores the jagged, uneven trunk against his skin. Mitch was beside him, leaning lower than he was with his jacket bundled up and stuffed behind his head, his legs kicked out as far as they would go and because of this, his foot rested against Niall’s lap. Niall was pleasantly gone himself, a bit louder than normal but also zoning out every so often. 

He was a good guy, Niall -- he had good opinions, and he chatted him and Mitch up about guitars often (he was typically the camp’s go to for an acoustic guy if they ever wanted campfire songs). Harry thinks they could probably be really good friends, if not for the fact that Niall was so barefaced in his crush on Y/N. 

It was obvious, Harry thought. He’d thought it was obvious from the first moment he spent a prolonged period of time with both he and Y/N -- his cheeks got rosy when she touched him, he stuttered over his gratitude if she complimented him, and if she went out of her way to do something (like when she’d stuffed her hand into a thorn-bush for his guitar pick that had flung from his fingers, and subsequently got all scratched up), he would look at her how someone might stargaze. 

Harry doesn’t know why he doesn’t just ask her out, if he likes her so much. It almost irritates him how skittish Niall seems to get at the prospect of it; to run away from those warm, nice feelings that she provides is silly. It reminds him entirely too much of himself and he loathes it. 

Tonight had been no different, only Y/N was dancing back and forth between them and a few other counsellors (Harry only recognized one of them , who was called Rosie and had been in his first year maths). Harry watched her most of the night, in the least obnoxious and creepy way he could, just because. . .well, she was nice to look at. He liked how her body animated as she spoke, or how she nodded her head as someone was speaking to her -- it was an encouraging nod, and her eyes locked onto theirs like they might be telling her where the fountain of youth might be located, or the secrets to the universe. 

She was cozy today -- it was cooler out than most of the nights that they had experienced, with a chill breeze that had even stirred goosebumps on Harry’s arms (and he was all but swaddled in his hoodie). Y/N had a light fitted sweater that she sometimes slept in -- not heavy enough to shield her from the icy terrain that winter would provide, but enough to fight past the harsh summer night breeze that threatened to help a storm roll in within the next few hours. Loosely, he let the images of her cuddled close to him invade his brain. What it might feel like, how the knit would brush against his skin, if she would hide her face in his neck or spider around him as the big spoon and burrow against his hair. Y/N struck him as someone who liked to do more of the cuddling than being cuddled herself.

He would miss her when they had to leave. Harry worried who would just exist with her, like they had been doing. He worried about her going back to a place where she felt like a burden -- he would be around, wouldn’t he? If she allowed him to, he could be there for her, but he doesn’t want to seem pushy. By all definitions, they had really just met -- Harry had known Y/N for approximately 17 days, but it felt like so much longer. He wonders if he had known her in a past life, or if it was the fact that they spent almost every day all day with one another for at least 15 of those 17 day -- he finally understands how everyone in the Love Island villa always goes on about how a day in the outside world feels like a week where they are. 

It’s not like he’s professing his love to her, for fuck sake. He just likes her -- whether it be platonic or not, Harry thinks Y/N is just delightful. 

“Your little girlfriend’s not with you?” 

Harry had forgotten how Jack’s voice sounded how grating nails against iron pipes might make someone feel, mostly because they hadn’t spoken in quite a while. After Y/N had slapped him, he had kept to himself, resorting more to disgruntled glares and probably pissy comments he was murmuring to his mates about him. If someone asked Harry, he would say that him and his friends were afraid of Y/N -- she posed a good threat to them. Sure, they hadn’t understood the extent of her words that night (like how and why she knew Miss. Graham), but they were enough to rattle them. No matter being in university, or within the range of 20-23 years old, nobody wanted to be scolded by a woman in her 40s, nor did they want to be kicked out of a camp counsellor position, or to have their volunteer hours revoked. 

So they had left him alone, which Harry thinks may have been such a strain for them he would be surprised if they hadn’t popped a blood vessel. Even if they wanted to, he was always with Y/N -- they never really had the chance, and if they did, they didn’t really take it. 

Which is why he is both surprised and incredibly annoyed with Jack’s sudden appearance. 

“Piss off.” Harry responds, nursing his beer bottle closer to him. 

“You’re always so ill-tempered,” Jack leans up against the tree, “Just wanted to have a chat. Like why Cassidy suddenly wants to break things off after chatting with you and Y/N. Got any ideas?” 

Harry’s brows dipped in confusion, “What? What are you on about?” 

“Don’t act like you don’t fucking know,” Jack rolls his eyes, “Cassidy and I are doing just fucking fine for six months, but we come here, she starts chatting with you and now all the sudden she’s ready to break up. What the fuck did you say, hm?” He nudged Harry’s side with his foot, “Fucking Y/N wasn’t enough, you had to fuck Cassidy too?” He kicked him this time, harder than before.

Harry, who did not take too kindly to being kicked, rolled his eyes and pushed himself to a stand, “Dunno why you’re so fucking insecure that you think me being around has anything to do with Cassidy finally seeing what a prick you are, but this needs to stop,” he handed his bottle to Mitch who took it wordlessly, “I’m not fucking Cassidy, I’ve never fucked Cassidy, so if you could just grow the fuck up and recognize that maybe she broke up with you, because you’re awful to be around, that would be great.”            

Jack, which Harry had expected, took more of a physical approach, giving a shove to Harry’s shoulders, and Harry’s back slams against the tree behind him, “Fuck you,” he spit, “You all holier than thou ‘cos you’re dipping your dick in Miss. Rainbow Bright? What do you know about me, hm? You’re just a dumb fuck who has to be here because you’re a no good druggy fuck with anger issues. How does it feel knowing you’ll amount to nothing after UNI?” 

There isn’t a lot that could get under Harry’s skin. A lot of people could say a lot of shit that he brushes off and lets go, but there are two things that he really just can’t. One of them is when people try to speak poorly of his mum, and the other, was when someone pretends to know his situation when they don’t have a fucking clue. Who was this trust fund bastard to tell him he was a druggy fuck? That he would amount to nothing after UNI? Harry worked two jobs to set himself through school and keep himself fed, with a roof over his head, just so that he could live the life he wanted to after university. 

Maybe it was silly to punch him, but it felt good to. Harry reared back his fist and it collided with his jaw, making Jack stumble backward, his hand flying to his face, “You fucking --” he swung in return, only he catches Harry’s shoulder because Harry moved out of the way in anticipation. Niall narrowly dodged being caught in the crossfire as he rolled out of the way. 

The fight didn’t get too far, however, because when Jack was gearing up to swing again, Y/N appeared and easily wormed her way in between them, “Are you serious right now?” Her brows were furrowed -- she looked legitimately pissed off, and, well. . .it made Harry take a step back at least, “Thought we had a chat about this, hm? You were going to leave him the fuck alone -- no, look at me, not him,” she grabbed at his collar, giving a sharp tug when his angry gaze had flittered back toward Harry, “I’m not an angry person, Jack, I don’t like being mean, or cruel like you seem to be so fond of, but I can and will be if I need to and I promise you that. Don’t you ever speak to someone like that again, yeah? What you were saying was just awful.” She lets go of his collar, taking a step back and sighing in a sharp huff, “I can’t speak for Cassidy, but if I had to guess she probably cut things off because you’re a jealous bastard who questions every interaction with another person and try this alpha male persona to scare other people away. It must be exhausting.” 

Jack shook his head, “We were fine --”

“You thought you were fine. Things aren’t always what they look like, alright? The sooner you understand that, the easier your life will be.” She nods toward the center of the clearing they were in,  “Go get some ice from the cooler, and go the hell back to your cabin. You’re not a fun drunk.” 

Albeit reluctantly, Jack follows her orders and slinks his way to the cooler. The others around them had grown quiet as they had watched the confrontation unfold, but they soon all lost interest once they realized nothing more would happen. Y/N turned to face Harry, the anger on her face immediately dissolving, as she shakes her head, “What a dick. I’m so sorry he spoke to you like that,” she takes ahold of his wrist, the hand that he had punched Jack with, running her thumbs over his reddened knuckles, “I told him -- after the lake, I told him that he needed to leave you alone or I’d do something about it. Dunno what I was gonna do, but I was going to do something -- I will --” 

“Hey, hey,” he cuts her off, “It’s okay -- it’s okay, come on, let’s. . .let’s go to the cabin, yeah? Should we go back to the cabin?” 

Y/N looks at him like he was batty, “No shit we’re going back to the cabin! I’ve got to give you like a full medical look over. He slammed you into the tree, and honestly, you bruise like a peach.” 

They make the trek back to the cabin, relatively quiet, Harry still attempting to process what had happened and what Y/N had said. Had she really spoken to Jack after the fact and threatened him if he messed with Harry again? The softest, probably sweetest person he knows, had taken Jack off to the side and told him if he didn’t leave Harry alone she was going to do something about it. Not only that, she grabbed him by his collar and told him off in front of everyone. It made his heart race, the thought of it, and his cock twitches in his pants at the moment on repeat in his mind. 

Once they get back to the cabin, Y/N has him take his hoodie off with her in the bathroom so she could visualize his back and shoulder. Jack may be short-tempered and smaller than Harry, but his punches still packed a great deal, so a nice, reddening bruise was forming quickly around his shoulder. On his back there were scrapes from the tree bark, Y/N tells him, and a ton of little bruises that had begun to form as well. She makes him stay still as she retrieves the first aid kit from their medicine cabinet. 

“Y/N,” he started, and she hummed to encourage him to continue, “When did you speak with Jack privately?” 

She clears her throat, plopping the first aid kit down on the sink counter and unclipping it open, “The morning after the lake,” she answers without hesitation, “I wasn’t trying to like, fight your battles or anything, but I needed him to know I wasn’t bluffing when I told them I would rat them out, and worse if the situation allowed it. I hate bullies,” she pulls out a small tube of bacitracin, tutting her tongue as she squeezes it out on the tip of her finger, “And I hate how they treat you. I’m sorry if I overstepped.” 

“You didn’t at all,” Harry remarks softly, jolting when her fingers very carefully graze over one of the tender areas on his back, “Thank you, actually, for sticking up for me again.” 

“You don’t have to thank me. I think I’m pretty scrappy when I need to be,” she giggles to herself, “Like, if need be, I would take on the Queen for you. Might be an uneven match though, she’s pushing 100.” 

Harry spins around to face her though, “Y/N, I mean it,” he tells her seriously, their gazes locking, “Thank you for everything. For dealing with my attitude, for sticking up for me, for helping with the kids, for making this experience bearable, for being such a positive light,” he sighs, “You’re amazing, you deserve amazing things.” 

Y/N looks taken by his words -- he wonders if she’s as lost in his eyes as he is in hers. Her mouth falls open gently, like she may be searching for what to say back to him but can’t come up with anything. He worries that he’d said too much -- that he freaked her out or something. He wasn’t trying to, he was just so grateful for her, he didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know how to express it. 

He is about to apologize for being too forward, when Y/N pushes the short distance and connects their lips together. 

Harry’s confused for a moment as his brain registers what’s happening, but when he feels that she might pull away, his body finally seems to wake up. His hands find her face, cradling her jaw in his hands as he reaffirms the kiss and lets the butterflies in his body take over in hoards. He’d given thought to kissing Y/N, sure, but he’d never thought it would happen. Not only that, he’d never thought it would feel this nice. She tastes like the pineapple wine coolers she’d been sipping on that night, her lips still a bit sticky from the residue of the alcohol on her soft lips.

She’s gentle in how she kisses, like Harry would have guessed -- careful too, and cautious with how her lips parted from him only to fix back together. A pool of heat had formed in Harry’s lower belly and rose to his chest, stirring his heart in flutters when her tongue slid into his mouth and met her own. Harry hadn’t realized just how badly he wanted to kiss her until their tongues are sliding against one another, and his hands are slipping down from her jaw,  caressing the delicate skin of her throat, skating down her chest to her hips. He squeezes her sides and pulls her closer to him, feeling the knit of her top rub against his bare torso. It was as soft as he’d imagined it’d be. 

Had she been wanting to kiss him for as long as he wanted to kiss her? Normally, Harry could tell how badly someone wanted to kiss him by the act alone, but with Y/N he was so caught up he couldn’t focus. She was calm and soft, but the longer they kissed, the more ardent she became. It was the tiny moan that had left from her mouth into his own, that made him lightheaded. He had to pull away to breathe but his forehead pressed against hers as he breathed in, “Harry?” Her voice is low, she says his name like a secret, “Was that okay?” 

His response is to press their lips back together, but this time only for a moment, before he withdraws. Harry loops his fingers around her wrist and brings her with him back into the main room, flopping onto her bed since it was the closest and urging her to climb into his lap. She straddles him, and just as soon as she’s within reach, he slides his fingers at the nape of her neck and pulls her back to his mouth. 

It was good -- it felt so fucking good, Harry couldn’t begin to describe it. He held her close, and tried as he might to stave off his cock from ruining the moment, the longer they kissed the harder he got. How she was positioned at first made it so she couldn’t really feel him, but when she tried to get closer to him, she scooted her hips forward and rubbed up right against him. A gasp leaves her as she parts from him, looking down, having lifted her hips, “I’m sorry,” she apologizes and Harry gives a startled laugh. 

“I’ve got a stiffy, and you’re apologizing?” He chuckles with a shake of his head, “I’m sorry, Sweetheart. I’ve got a pretty girl in my lap kissing me, s’kind of hard not to get hard. We can stop if you want.” 

“I don’t want to stop,” she answers with no delay nor doubt, as she lowers back down, resting her front on his prick and with this she gives an experimental roll of her hips. Harry hisses in a breath as she does it again, her own little moan slipping from her mouth. She was only in a thin little pair of shorts, and Harry had chosen sweatpants for the night, so there was little fabric truly separating them. Harry was thankful for it as she continued to roll her hips against him, sponging kisses from his mouth, down his jawline, to the curve of his throat. She fixed her lips there, lulling her tongue over the skin before she started suckling at him and Harry’s hands danced along her back, stroking up and down it, feeling her, holding her closer. Each roll of her hips made him harder, and he was desperate to know if she was wet. If he pushed his fingers into her shorts, would they come back slick from her arousal? Would she watch him as he slid them into his mouth to taste her? Would she let him split her thighs and lick straight from the source. 

His mind was overcome with filth, smutty images entangle once innocent thoughts as she brought the blood to the surface of his skin. When one of his hands left where it had latched onto her hip and slowly maneuvered around to her front, she paused, but left her face dipped in his throat, “Are you wet for me?” He asks her quietly and she nods through a little shiver, “Yeah? Bet you soaked through your little panties,” he murmurs as he slides his fingers past the elastic bands of her shorts and underwear, but left his fingers just past them, “Answer me.” 

“Yes,” her voice trembles, she swallows thickly and the muscles in her abdomen contract beneath his fingers. 

Harry hums low, slipping his fingers down further and he dips between her slick folds, “Oh, Sweetheart,” he presses a chaste kiss to the side of her head, “Is this your first time getting wet for me?” She shakes her head, “Hm, really? So you’re like this often? Do you take care of it?” 

“I -- yeah,” she stutters over a moan as the pads of his fingers roll over her swollen clit slowly, feeling it flick beneath them, “At night, sometimes I will in the shower if I can’t. . .if I can’t wait anymore.” 

He feigns a gasp, “Oh my goodness,” he speeds up the slow lull of his fingers, “Your showers are always so fast, doll, you’re really that quick to cum?” 

Harry may not be able to see her face, but he can hear the pout clear in her voice, “It usually isn’t that fast! Just with you, it is -- when I think of you, it’s always quick.” 

He thought it would be impossible for his cock to be harder than it already was, but her words make pre-cum bubble at the tip, and when he dips his fingers back into her slick little hole, he gets even harder. Gliding his fingers from her panties, he draws them up to his mouth and presses them past his lips as he’d wanted to. Y/N has withdrawn from his throat, watching him do it with glassy eyes, her hands resting on his shoulders, digging her fingers into grape sized dents at the muscle. Her mouth falls open as he sucks her juices away, his eyes fluttering and a groan torn from his throat. 

“Get on the bed,” he instructed and Y/N followed without question, crawling from his lap and lying her head on her pillow as Harry stood, and repositioned himself. He takes a hold of shorts and drags them down her legs, wriggling them off her ankle and tossing them elsewhere. His lips finds her ankle first, before he’s peppering and sponging kisses down her leg, the parts that he had tended to throw over his shoulder. When he gets to her thighs, he makes the kisses slower, softer -- he suckles and nips at the supple skin until he’s right before her center, only to switch to her other thigh and push kisses up and down the length of it. 

Y/N’s whole body trembles with each shaky breath she gives. She’d spoken no words until he was positioned right in front of her core, looping his fingers in the waistband of the little cotton pair she had on, pulling them up toward her hips so the fabric stretched out over her. He could see her pussy beneath it, made out the outline of her swollen lips and engorged clit -- it made his mouth water. 

“You don’t have to, if you don’t want,” she tells him, and his gaze is pulled back up to her -- she looks apprehensive. 

“What?” 

She shrugs, “I know some guys don’t really like to so --” 

“Do you want me to eat your pussy?” Harry asks her bluntly, and he revels in the way her eyes widen, and how bashful her face turns as she looks away, “It’s a yes or no question, honey, if you don’t want me to, I can come back up and kiss you while I make you feel good with my fingers. If you do want me to, I’m g’na pull those panties to the side and make you cum on my tongue -- either I’m good with.” 

“I -- yes,” she answers, her voice meek, “Yes I want you to.” 

Harry smiles softly, “Poor thing, How many stupid boys were refusing to eat this sweet little peach?” He runs his thumb up and down her slit, visualizing where the wet spot had grown and soaked her panties so that the fabric thinned. Leaning in, he nosed at her clit and she inhales, “God, I’m so excited — you’re okay with this? You’re okay with me eating this little pussy out? Need you to let me know because once I start sweet girl, I’ll be in heaven.”

“Yes, please, please lick me.”

“So polite,” he suckles a kiss at the very innermost part of her thigh, before licking one, long stripe up her center through the fabric. She moans, pushing her hips down toward his mouth as he drags his tongue over it again, and again, and again. He soaks it with his spit, teasing her — he wanted to pull her panties to the side and suckle and slurp between her lips until she came — but he wants her to beg for him. Wants to hear that she wants him just as much as he wants her. 

He smiles against her as he hears her getting impatient, little huffs between each moan. She whines, her hips bucking up against his tongue — he looks up to her, watching as her chest rises and falls quickly. The fingers of one hand are dug into the sheets beside her, while the others rest between her teeth. Her brows were tilted, lips pouted, whimpers come more frequently the longer he suckles and laps on the fabric, drenching it. 

“Harry,” she finally works out, shivering when he pauses just over her clit and flickers his tongue over the top of it, “Oh, please just -- please.”

“Hm?” He hums against her, jolts, inhaling sharply, “What is it, baby? You’ve got to use your words.” 

“Please stop teasing me,” she tells him, “Please take them off.” 

And Harry may love to tease, but he wasn’t cruel. Wasn’t a bloody monster, was he? So he slides his index and middle finger in between the fabric and her core and tugs them over to the side -- he didn’t want to waste any time wiggling them down her legs. No, instead he dips his tongue in between her lips and slides it flat and straight up to her swollen clit. The groan that leaves her is sinful -- it makes his cock twitch in his pants, his heart slamming against his sternum as he suckles and her fingers find his curls. She digs her fingers within the strands, rocking her hips up to meet his mouth, and for a moment, Harry just leaves his tongue out and flat for her to grind against. Harry thinks, if he could spend the day just strapped to Y/N’s bed, willing, ready, and waiting for her to come use his mouth how she pleased -- he would be inconceivable happy. 

Eventually he wiggles his face back into her, sliding his tongue back and forth before he latches his lips back around her silky folds. The swollen little button crying desperately for his attention was where he spent most of his time, lapping, or lulling his tongue in circles around it. She keens, her heel digs into the mattress and begins to slide down but Harry grabs a hold of her thighs and pushes both of them up, so her knees are to her chest. The new position makes her cry out his name raggedly, and Harry was teeming with carnal desire, and so horny he thinks he would barely have to hump against the mattress to cum. 

“I’m close,” she warns him, mewling, “I’m g’na cum, I’m -- oh, please don’t stop, please don’t stop.” 

Harry doesn’t think he’d stop if he was paid to do it. He doubles his efforts, sucking harder, sliding down to tongue at her hole while his fingers wrapped around and spun little circles into her clit. His other hand he reaches up with and slides his thumb into her mouth and she accepts it graciously, as it muted her moans that grew louder and louder the closer she got. 

When she cums, it’s beautiful -- Harry wishes he would be able to see it on repeat, how her back arched upward and her hips bucked loosely as she pulsated around his tongue. Her mouth hangs open around his thumb, her eyes squeezed shut, the fingers in his hair tighten and her other hand wraps around his wrists and holds him tightly. The initial lurch of it subsides and she melts into the mattress, trying to catch her breath, her chest heaving beneath her sweater. 

After he thoroughly cleans her (until she’s twitching and jumping away from his tongue), he crawls up her body, pushing her sweater up over her breasts, “Can I fuck you, Darling?” He asks her, a small smile on his mouth when she leans her chest closer to him so he can reach behind her and unclip her bra. Tugging the cups away, he grabs them carefully, thumbing over her nipple, “If you don’t want to, that’s okay, don’t feel bad about it, just let me know.” 

“I want you to,” she rushes to tell him, nodding, “Do you have a condom?” 

He dips his head against her chest, breathing out a sigh, “Fuck me,” he utters, shaking his head, “No, I don’t. I’m sorry.” 

He usually does -- Harry always keeps a few on him, but he remembers very vividly he and Y/N had blown his last one up just a few nights prior and drawn a face on it. For a moment he feels hopeless, a sad pit forming in his stomach because the thought of fucking Y/N sounded like paradise and he only brought one bloody condom that he wasted. 

“It’s okay, we’ll do it next time then,” she tells him, and Harry feels a joyful spike in his overall demeanor. Next time -- she wanted there to be a next time? And if she wanted there to be a next time, then they would have to see each other after the camp. . .they would spend time together, Harry could learn what she was like in her normal day to day. He was eager and delighted, and not even just at the prospect of pushing into her (which he was also pretty damn excited for), “I mean, if you wanted to do this again, then, yeah -- right? We’ll hang out after camp is through?”

A smile threatens to split his cheeks, “Of course we will,” he tells her, nosing at her jawline, “And not just ‘cos you promised to let me fuck you. I was hoping we would see each other still but was worried that you might be sick of me.” 

Her brows pinch, “Sick of you? Dummy, I thought you would be sick of me!” She shakes her head, rolling her eyes at the both of them, “We’re so stupid, we ought’a communicate better.” Y/N presses at his abdomen, “C’mon then, I’ll spin around and you can fuck between my thighs. I did it once with a boy -- I just shaved in the shower last night too so it should be soft.” 

Y/N flips over, scooting her bum in the air for him as she cuddles a pillow to her face, her ankles locked in place and her thighs squeezed together. Harry wiggles out of his pants and boxers before he lets a glob of spit fall onto his stiff cock that had soundly slapped up against his stomach, slicking it up nice and wet so the glide between her thighs wouldn’t be too dry. One hand he lays palm flat to her bum, stroking the skin there with his thumb while the other hand navigates his prick, tipping it down and fitting it between her warm, soft thighs. 

It felt good; Harry groans wantonly as he pulls out and sinks back in, watching himself disappear between them. She wiggles her bum at him and Harry playfully swats it, chuckling when she squeals and giggles, “You’re so fucking cute,” he coos before bending over, stretching himself over her so his chest was pressed to her back as he started steadily fucking in between her thighs. One hand he uses to cup her breast and tweak at her nipple while the other he slides down to her pussy, finding her swollen little button and rubbing it. 

Harry’s skin prickles as she moans, her legs falling open just slightly but he tuts his tongue, “Keep them nice and tight for me, baby,” he murmurs, and she nods, tightening the channel for him once more. He won’t last long, he knows it -- he can feel that pool of heat crackling in his lower belly. His blood buzzes in his ears as he fucks his hips forward, their skin slapping together sound in their little cabin. Her breasts bounce with each thrust he gives, she’s beginning to cum again from the ministration of his fingers, and Harry’s nearing the end of his rope. 

“You feel so fucking good,” he’s just a breath away from her ear, “You’re gonna make me cum.” 

He nibbles at the shell of her ear and lets his eyes flutter closed, his senses on overload. All he can hear, and taste, and smell, and feel is her. Dizzy and overwhelmed, Harry feels as if he may burst at the seams. 

“Cum,” she murmurs, “Please, I want you to feel good -- I want you to cum.” 

That’s all it takes -- the little push of her words has his hips stuttering as he cums, spurting long stripes between her thighs, some catching her skin, some landing on her sheets below them. His world fizzles out, static splinters through his body as warmth rushes through his veins, and his toes curl hard enough to lock up. As he comes back to, he giggles, the last of his orgasm drooling from the tip as he pushes a kiss to the back of Y/N’s head, “Stay still, lemme go get us a rag.” 

His legs feel like jelly when he stands, fleeing arse naked to the bathroom and returning moments later with warm, wet rags. He cleans her first, careful in how he works her underwear down her legs before he pats gently around her thighs and at her center. She’s sensitive, so a few times she twitches and flinches from him but eventually relaxes as she holds tightly to the pillow. He wipes himself off a bit haphazardly, more concerned with getting Y/N somewhere to lie down as he gently tugs on her arms, “C’mere, poor thing, I came all over your bed.” 

“Yeah, you jerk,” she says puckishly, letting him guide her over to his bed, climbing in and immediately snuggling beneath his covers. Harry is not too far behind her, and at first she snuggles up close to him, she hisses and squeals before trying to shuffle away, “Why are your feet like ice?” She asks him, her words accusing, like he’d come in the bed with intent to freeze her. 

Harry shrugs, “I dunno’ I usually wear socks to bed to keep them warm.” 

“Socks? To sleep?” She slowly wiggles her way closer to him, despite the words that follow, “I don’t think we can share a bed, you’re batty.” 

“Guess you’ll have to go sleep on the jizzy bed then.” 

Y/N laughs, and Harry feels it vibrate through his body as he holds her close to his chest, his arm wrapped around her shoulders. They’re quiet for a moment, as they both settle, taking deep, slow breaths, allowing themselves to slip towards sleep. 

Before Harry could get there, Y/N murmured his name. 

“Thanks for being my camp ‘husbad’.” 

Harry smiled to himself, and held her a little closer before he teased her. 

“You can say thank you next time with an 18 carat diamond.”  

#WRITING #WOOOOOOOOOOO #I HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE IT #YAHTZEE :D #IT WAS FUN TO WRITE #IM GONNA DO A SMALL PART 3 TO TIE THINGS UP IN A LITTLE BOW #HAPPY READING #harry smut

[phoenix-downer]

The Princess of Light Chapter 4: Heart of the World

~2290 words. Angst, Romance, Fluff, Fairy Tales. For SoKai Week 2021, Day 4.

Summary: Princess Kairi is cursed to be without love when she is a baby. She grows up cold and without a heart to help her understand other people’s feelings, no matter how hard her parents try to help her. One day, however, she meets a mysterious prince from a faraway world, and he just might hold the key to breaking her curse.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7

Prince Sora met with Princess Kairi the next night, and the next, and the next. She thought it was because he liked the light pool too, and he’d also said something about his ship needing repairing. Though all of that played a role, she was blind to the real reason he wanted to see her. This continued for over a month with Kairi none the wiser as to his true intentions, for a girl without a heart cannot understand things the rest of us take for granted.

One pleasant evening in early autumn, the moon shone down on the two of them and the light from the pool shone all around them. Sora thought Kairi looked like an angel as she floated on her back, and she caught him staring at her.

“What is it?” she asked, searching his face. She thought he had a rather pleasant face, all things considered. “I keep catching you staring at me.”

“Don’t you know why?” he replied.

She tilted her head. “Could you explain, please?” 

Sora figured her curse would make any direct confession on his end fall flat. It is also entirely too easy to overdo a romantic confession, resulting in one’s beloved running for the hills, so Sora decided a different approach might be best. Though the thought of Princess Kairi taking off running and creating a miles-long trail of ice behind her after hearing an overplayed, overwrought declaration of passion made him chuckle.

“You’re laughing?” she asked, her face one whole puzzle of perplexion.

“Not at you, at my own silly brain,” he reassured her. “Sometimes I get these really vivid images in my mind, and they make me laugh.”

Kairi gently drifted in the light. “Like stories?” she asked. Not much caught her interest, but stories did. Sora had told her many stories about Destiny Islands, and she always listened quietly and asked him questions afterwards.

“You could call them that, yeah,” he replied. “But I’m getting sidetracked. You asked me why I keep staring at you.” He took a deep breath. “Princess, have you ever… had feelings for someone?”

“Feelings?” She frowned and touched the hole in her chest. “Without a heart, I’m not really sure.” 

“Then let me tell you how it feels.” Sora smiled and rested a hand over his heart. “Like you can’t wait to see that person. Your whole day improves when they’re there. Your heart speeds up when they approach. You feel like you can do anything if you have them by your side. And you would do anything to be with them.” He sighed happily and studied Kairi’s face. “Have you ever felt anything like that at all, Princess?”

“No,” Kairi said after a moment. None of those things sounded like the strange fluttering she sometimes got in her stomach. And none of the rest of it was anything she’d ever experienced.

“Oh,” Sora said, his head drooping. He sank deeper into the light pool. “I’m… sorry to hear that.”

She floated downwards to catch up to him till at last they were both at the bottom of the pool. “Why?” she asked. From here little trickles of light bubbled up from between the rocks, for the pool was some distance above the Heart of the World. 

Sora stared at Kairi, at her face surrounded by light, and despaired over her being so in the dark about what he was trying to tell her.

“Love is the most powerful magic there is,” he finally said, at a loss as to how else to explain it, for it impacted the entire way he experienced the world. “It’s like a light in a dark room that illuminates everything else for me.”

She reached for where her heart should be, but instead the usual empty hole greeted her. Sora’s heart went out to her. She was trying so hard to understand what he meant, but she just couldn’t grasp it. The whole thing reminded him of trying in vain to hold sand in his hand and watching it slip through his fingers.

“I’d like to experience it someday for myself,” she said at last, and he thought he detected a hint of wistfulness in her voice.

“I hope you will,” he replied, his voice breaking on the final word. 

She studied him for a few moments, then said, “Can we fall in again?”

He smiled sadly. This at least was familiar territory. He offered his hand, and she took it. 

“Of course, Princess,” he told her. They fell in several times together, and hearing her laughter, seeing her smile… poor Prince Sora became even more smitten with her. He resolved to help her however he could. It was clear her parents had tried everything they could here on Radiant Garden. But maybe his parents on Destiny Islands could offer their assistance. Maybe there would be some clue or hint as to how to help Princess Kairi. The repairs on his ship had been completed, so he could go back and ask.

When it was time to go home, Sora bowed and said goodbye. Kairi tilted her head, as normally he simply told her goodnight. She looked radiant in the moonlight, with the wind playing with her hair and rippling through the grass beneath her feet, and his heart fluttered in his chest.

“Princess, I’m going home to see if I can find something that might help you,” he said. 

“Oh, okay,” she replied, her voice sounding as if he’d told her he was having a sandwich for lunch tomorrow. He tried not to feel a little stung over her lack of sadness at their parting, but it hurt nonetheless. Still, it drove his resolve to find a way to help her.

“I don’t know when I’ll return,” he said, “but I’ll come back to you, I promise.” His hand curled into an upright fist, a gesture on Destiny Islands that meant you were determined to follow through on your promises. 

Kairi hesitated for a moment, then said, “Okay. Goodnight.” He wondered if she’d understood him at all. What if, in his absence, she thought he’d left her for good and forgot all about him? The truth was that she didn’t have much experience with saying goodbye. The people in her sheltered existence were just always there, and she supposed they always would be.

As she and Sora parted ways, they didn’t notice the strange black bird perched in a nearby tree. Despite what the stories say, spooky black birds can hide in the shadows perfectly well, thank you very much. And this one did its job splendidly and returned to its mistress in her creepy castle and reported what it had seen.

“Diablo, thank you,” Maleficent said, petting its head as it perched on her shoulder. “This is very grave news indeed. You say this foreign prince was flirting with my pathetic excuse for a niece? That he’s searching for a way to help her?” Maleficent shuddered. “That’s not good. That’s not good at all. Suppose she starts to regain her heart. We can’t have that, now can we?” 

Cursing Kairi further would be too obvious. No, Maleficent needed to do something more wicked and depraved than what she’d already done. That’s another problem with being evil. You soon acclimate to lesser evils and need greater and greater ones to give you the same twisted rush of delight.

“You say the princess is always playing in that light pool?” Maleficent said. “And now with that prince too? Well, we’ll have to do something about that, now won’t we?”

She cloaked herself in darkness and used it to travel quickly to the Heart of the World, which was in a cavern deep underground. Now, the Heart of the World is not a heart like you or I have; it is physical, but it is in the shape of a heart that children like to draw on scraps of paper, not the shape of an actual physical heart. At the time of our story, it was not as magnificent as it had been in olden days, but it was still big and red and bright. A single stream of golden light flowed out of it, and from there winded and curved through a series of tunnels and caverns up, up, up to the light pool guarded by the royal family. The whole thing was very beautiful, but to someone like Maleficent, who was twisted by the darkness, it was horrifying. 

Reaching into her cloak, she pulled out a tainted dagger. Tainted objects like this one leave no mark on their victims, who die slowly and in great agony. It was how she had killed her own father, the former king, without getting caught. 

With a cruel glint in her eye, she drew the dagger, strode to her next victim, and plunged her weapon into the Heart of the World. The poor Heart shuddered at the wound, for it is very much a living thing. Maleficent smiled wickedly and yanked the dagger out of the Heart, doing even further damage to it, then tucked it back into her cloak. While she could have used a single curse or spell to completely obliterate the Heart, that would not have satisfied her desire for revenge and petty evil in the slightest. 

No, she wanted the Heart to slowly die and the light pool to slowly dry up. Her smile got bigger as she thought about what would happen next, and that smile turned into a cackle and then into a roaring laugh. 

~~~

When Princess Kairi went to the light pool the next evening, she had two surprises. The first was that Prince Sora was not there to greet her like he usually was. She frowned, but the light pool was too enticing to leave alone for long, so she sat next to it and began removing her shoes and socks.

Now, Kairi had been visiting this pool every evening since her thirteenth birthday. She knew it better than anything else in the worlds. So when she was about to step in, she noticed there was slightly less light in it than there should be. She shrieked and raced the short way to the castle barefoot, leaving a trail of frozen grass behind her. 

“Aqua! Mom! Dad!” she cried as soon as she arrived, panting for breath. 

“Kairi?” Aqua called from a window a few floors above. She spotted the trail of frozen grass behind Kairi that was continuing to spread and yelped. “My lady, your feet!” 

Kairi gasped as she realized what she’d done. Aqua was already to the rescue; she grabbed another pair of enchanted shoes and socks for Kairi and tossed them down. Kairi hurriedly put them on, and by the time she was done, Aqua had joined her and sent for Kairi’s parents.

“What’s wrong?” Aqua asked, for she could tell Kairi was very distressed. 

“The light pool is drying up!” Kairi cried, her eyes wild. “It’s drying up! What am I gonna do?” 

Aqua’s heart thudded in her chest, for if Kairi was right about this, then… 

“Are you sure?” she asked, searching Kairi’s face. 

Kairi nodded and fidgeted with a strand of her hair. “There’s less light than there was before. Aqua, what’s gonna happen to me? If it dries up, will I freeze?”

Aqua didn’t know what to say. They needed to investigate the issue further. But if the light pool dried up, then Kairi would very likely freeze to death. Right now it kept her warm and kept the curse in check, but if it was gone… The light enchanting her clothes would stop working too, and—

Before Aqua could say anything else, however, Kairi’s parents and a few guards arrived. After a brief explanation, Aqua went with her father and the guards to investigate the light pool, leaving Kairi with her mother to await the verdict.

This was any mother’s worst nightmare come true: her daughter in imminent danger. Especially because the queen partly blamed herself for the curse. If only she’d taken her husband's concerns about Maleficent seriously instead of insisting he try to reconcile with her, their daughter might not be in this situation. So while she did her best to soothe Kairi and reassure her, she was very scared herself. Especially when Kairi’s breath caught and she clutched her chest.

“Mom, I think the hole’s getting bigger,” she said. All of the queen’s careful composure fled at Kairi’s words, and tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. What if the hole consumed Kairi? What if it devoured her daughter till there was nothing left? 

This was all her fault. If only she’d protected her daughter better.

Kairi frowned and touched the queen’s face. “Water’s leaking out of your eyes again.”

That just made the queen cry harder. Her poor daughter couldn’t even cry for herself and her fate. All she could do was purse her lips and tilt her head to the side as the queen shed the tears her daughter could not. 

When Aqua, the king, and the guards returned, they confirmed that the light pool did appear to have a little less light in it. The next day, the difference was definitely noticeable. By the third day, the light pool had lost a good foot of depth, and Kairi felt ill. The hole in her chest kept getting bigger, and the enchantments for her clothes had weakened, leaving her colder than usual. 

If the light pool drained completely, everyone feared the worst. While the royal family initially tried to keep what was happening under wraps, word soon spread, and the king and queen knew they would have to take action.

It was time to consult outside help.

#sokai #sokaiweek #sokaiweek2021 #sora #kairi #kingdom hearts #kh fanfiction #phoenix writes #phoenix-downer #angst #romance #fairy tale #fairy tales #the light princess #inspired by the light princess #the princess of light #chapter four #long post

[fandomoverflow]

Kairi’s Grand Adventure: An Analysis of Kairi’s Character Arc

It’s a common complaint in the Kingdom Hearts fandom that series director Testuya Nomura doesn’t seem to know what to do with Kairi. Despite giving her a Keyblade in Kingdom Hearts II, he hasn’t done anything significant with her in the story since then. We all thought that Kingdom Hearts III was going to be her time to shine, but that ended with her getting captured and apparently killed by the bad guys right after her first time as a party member. Sora and Riku have been growing and evolving over the course of the saga, but Kairi has for the most part stayed the same. 

@blowingoffsteam2 pointed out parallels between Kairi’s scenes with Sora in Kingdom Hearts III and the events of the 100 Acre Wood in the same game. Pooh has sensed that something about his connection to Sora has changed, and tries to hold onto it while Sora is there helping to harvest Rabbit’s garden. Kairi senses that something about her connection with Sora has changed and tries to hold onto it by sharing a paopu fruit with him. While the parallels make sense when you look at them, it also seemed like something certain subsets of fandom would easily twist out of context to argue that people who noticed the parallels were “infantilizing Kairi” or some other BS accusation. Plus, I couldn’t for the life of me understand why Nomura chose Pooh specifically. 

But then I was watching a video on YouTube by Six Degrees of Kylo Ren Podcast analyzing Disney’s live action film Nutcracker and the Four Realms, and they mentioned something that got me thinking. They talked about how in a coming of age narrative, leaving the romantic tension between the two leads unresolved so the protagonist could go home and dance with her father was the storytelling equivalent of cutting her coming of age short to keep her trapped in childhood. That was when it hit me: 

From the very beginning, one of the biggest aspects of Kairi’s character is her fear of change. She expresses concern over Riku having changed the night before Destiny Islands is consumed, and of course we all remember how she tells Sora “don’t ever change.” And when you think about her backstory, it’s no wonder that she’d be afraid of change. 

Her home world was conquered by Maleficent when she was four, and Xehanort proceeded to fling her out into the universe hoping her powers as a Princess of Heart will lead him to a Keyblade Wielder. She then washed up on Destiny Islands with no memories of where she came from. Of course she’s going to be reluctant to do anything to challenge the status quo. Her life on the islands and friendship with Sora and Riku is all she knows. I wouldn’t be surprised if she wasn’t actually on board with the whole “leave on the raft and explore the worlds” plan from Kingdom Hearts 1 and only went along with it because she didn’t want to be left behind. 

So when I started thinking about that “trapped in childhood” comment, it suddenly hit me why Testuya Nomura chose not to give her more to do in the larger narrative of the Dark Seeker saga. While Sora and Riku are out exploring the universe and growing up, Kairi is metaphorically stuck in childhood. Kairi is actively trying to hold on to the past, staying on the islands where everything is comfortable and familiar, sheltered from all the great cosmic battles her friends are fighting out in the wider universe. 

The reason that the games have explored her past so little beyond her cameo in Birth by Sleep is that in contrast to Sora’s willingness to take on the burden of other people’s pain, for most of the Dark Seeker saga Kairi isn’t ready to handle the pain of her own past. And she won’t be ready to handle that burden until she accepts that the idyllic life she has on the islands with Sora and Riku won’t last forever. 

While it may frustrate the fandom that she hasn’t really done much, there’s a reason that Kairi’s arc hasn’t gotten as much spotlight in the games compared to Riku and Sora’s growth, and it has to do with another Disney parallel. 

In Kingdom Hearts 1, her body ends up in Neverland after the destruction of the Destiny Islands and is kept in a cell along with Wendy Darling, who Hook and Riku initially believe is the last Princess of Heart. The central narrative of the film Peter Pan is that Wendy starts out afraid of growing up but comes to accept that it’s not a bad thing. Part of what helps her come to this development is seeing firsthand what the consequences of not growing up are. 

For Wendy, she sees the pettiness and immaturity of Never Land’s residents and realizes that staying young forever isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. For Kairi, staying behind on the Destiny Islands means that Sora and Riku continue to leave her behind when they go off on their adventures while she stays the same. 

When I thought about the parallels between Pooh and Kairi in Kingdom Hearts III, I realized that those parallels could be accurately described through the lens of a particular Pooh film. In the 1996 Direct-to-Video movie Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin, Christopher Robin has gone off to school and left a note explaining to Pooh where he is. Thanks to Owl misreading the note, the stuffed animals of the 100 Acre Wood believe that Christopher Robin has been kidnapped by a monster and taken to an ominous cave known as Skull. With a map provided by Owl, Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, Tigger, and Eeyore set off to rescue their friend. 

While each iteration of the 100 Acre Wood in the Kingdom Hearts franchise includes the iconic locations visible in almost every Pooh film, Pooh’s Grand Adventure is the only specific movie in the Winnie the Pooh franchise to be referenced in a Kingdom Hearts game. The storybook map in the Kingdom Hearts II visits to 100 Acre Wood confirm that the Spooky Cave area is the same Skull cave featured in this movie.  

The film begins with Christopher Robin attempting to break the news to Pooh that he’s going off to school and won’t be able to spend all of his time in the 100 Acre Wood anymore, but Pooh continues to brush over his attempts to bring up the subject. The film’s opening musical number, Forever And Ever, hammers the point home that the idea of things changing and the status quo not being the same forever doesn’t even register as a concept in Pooh’s mind. The rest of the movie centers on Pooh coming to accept that things change but that he and Christopher Robin will always be connected. The words “even if we are apart, I’ll always be with you” are central to the movie’s themes of growing up and accepting change. 

When you think about Kairi’s character arc as a parallel to the plot of Pooh’s Grand Adventure in addition to the Wendy parallels, it solidified that Kairi’s arc over the course of the Xehanort Saga has been about her letting go of her fear of change and accepting that things won’t stay the same forever, and that it’s a normal part of growing up. 

In KH1, we see Kairi trying to stop things from changing, or even deny the possibility of change, when she talks about how Riku has changed and tells Sora not to change. While Riku and Sora were out gathering supplies for the raft, Kairi was making a charm for good luck to ensure that they would return to the islands safely. And when she gives the charm to Sora late in the game, she makes him promise to bring it back to her.  

Kingdom Hearts 2 shows her beginning to acknowledge that things are changing and she can’t stop them. She begins to realize that waiting for Sora and Riku to come isn’t good enough for her, but she doesn’t actively seek out a way to leave the islands until Riku covertly presents her with one in the form of a Dark Corridor to Twilight Town. Once she met up with Hayner, Pence, and Olette, her plan went back to “wait for Sora to come back”. 

By the end of Kingdom Hearts 3, Kairi has finally accepted that things are changing. Regardless of what shippers assume, the context of the game’s themes frame Kairi sharing Sora a paopu fruit as a promise that even though things have changed between them, they will always be friends. One of the major themes of Kingdom Hearts 3 was accepting separation and letting go. While this certainly applies to Kairi saying goodbye to Sora at the end of the game, it also applies on a deeper level to Kairi finally accepting what she’d been trying to deny since the first game: that things are changing and there’s nothing she can do to stop it. 

So despite our frustration at her lack of spotlight, Kingdom Hearts 3 wasn’t Kairi’s true time to shine. Only when she says goodbye to Sora at the end of the game has she finally overcome her fear of change and growing up, and she has a lot of catching up to do. Kairi’s real time to shine will be in the Lost Masters Saga, when she finally starts to confront her past. Kingdom Hearts re:coded involved Data-Namine testing through Data-Sora whether the real Sora was ready to accept the hurt of others into his heart. Kairi’s role in the Dark Seeker Saga was about preparing her to face the hurt in her own heart so that she can move on from her past. 

TL;DR: Kairi has lagged behind Sora and Riku because her fear of change was holding her back from growing up and reaching her full potential, but by the end of Kingdom Hearts III she has finally overcome that obstacle. 

#kh3 spoilers #kingdom hearts meta #kh kairi #character analysis

[alanna-artroid]

Cookies I Have From Cookie Run So Far! (And My Thoughts On Them)

Alright, I’ve gotten pretty far in Cookie Run: Oven Break, and I felt the need to share my thoughts on all the adorable cookies I’ve unlocked so far. So far, I have 50/100, so I’d say I’m making good progress. On to the list!

GingerBrave: The bravest boy. If this was a show, he’d clearly be the main character. I recently got him a little suit, so now he’s a gentleman! 

GingerBright: Sweet little lady. She looks like she’d be nice to get a coffee with or help you with homework. I definitely ship her with Brave, no doubt about it.

Strawberry Cookie: Precious baby! She’s super shy and I am compelled to protect her at all costs. Her pet is also a Tamagotchi, so she must be a gamer! Sweet!

Skater Cookie: HE WAS A SK8TER BOI! SHE SAID SEE YA LATER BOI! 

Zombie Cookie: This is one of the fastest zombies I’ve ever seen. They seem like a nice guy overall though.

Princess Cookie: Heck yes, a mischievous princess! Those are the best! I love her dress and hair bows. I bet she just pretends to get kidnapped for the lols.

Pilot Cookie: Is it just me, or is this little old man smaller than most of the other cookies? Whatever, he’s got a cute mustache and he’s adorable. Go and fly!

Vampire Cookie: As a vampire nerd, I immediately adored this guy. I will gladly give him grape juice and chill with him under the light of the moon. 

Gumball Cookie: Is this was Splatoon is like? This boi has a lot of chaotic energy and I like him.

Pistachio Cookie: I love this warrior woman so dang much. Look at that minty green hair! Her power is also SUPER helpful. She a speedy knight!

Pancake Cookie: HE’S A FLYING SQUIRREL! HE’S TOO CUTE I CAN’T EVEN! LET ME HUG THIS TINY CHILD!!!

Peppermint Cookie: Sweet baby. Good baby. My mom would probably adore this baby. (She loves mint and she’s not even a big sweets person.)

Muscle Cookie: As a lesbian, I’m not into big abs and muscles, but he’d probably be a good gym partner. Don’t mess with him is all I can say.

Cherry Cookie: Little Red Riding Hood got some bombs! I hope she and Gumball can go cause chaos on the weekends.

Hero Cookie: Precious nerdy boi with science! I saw his Island of Memories intro and his bond with Jellyco Cube is just the sweetest thing! Follow your superhero dreams, my baby!

Fairy Cookie: I didn’t know Tinkerbell was in this game! Also, I got her a bee costume and that looks super cute on her. Love her hair bun.

Werewolf Cookie: ULTIMATE FLOOF! Doggo here has a lot of angst and I worry for him. Maybe Vampire Cookie can teach him to chill? That’d be nice.

Rockstar Cookie: Oh, the songs I could sing right here. High tier rocker boy. Loving that flowing white hair. Rock on, buddy!

Soda Cookie: Go-to starter for my Breakout runs. I love him very much, he’s super cute! Let me go to the beach with this righteous dude! 

Dark Enchantress Cookie: Oooooh, she is GORGEOUS!!! I love her design~! I’ll be sure to invite her to any fancy balls I might have, as to avoid any Maleficent scenarios with this savage woman.

Moon Rabbit Cookie: My spirit animal! I love how she constantly munches while she runs. This girl is such a mood for me. Cute little bunny ears~!

Space Doughnut: Awww, look at this alien dork! Their design is very cute, and I love how their expression of >:3.

Macaron Cookie: Such a sweetie pie! Why must they all be so adorable?! She’s a little drummer girl! That is too precious! Look at her dress and hat!!!

Pink Choco Cookie: She reminds me of a show I watched when I was younger. It was about a space girl, does anyone remember it? This girl will save the day, I can tell! 

Avocado Cookie: Strong girl on the loose! My pun-loving friends would adore this cookie. And she’s a blacksmith, which is always cool.

Whipped Cream Cookie: Elegant ballerino!! He’s definitely one of my favorites! Such a beautiful boi~! I love his design so much, and he’s very useful. <3 <3 <3

Blackberry Cookie: Yeeees! Gothic girl for the win! She is SO dang pretty! I am WEAK for gothic lolitas, and she even has ghost buddies! I bet she’ll love spooky games like Luigi’s Mansion and Hollow Knight.

Lemon Cookie: Edgy boi is trying way too hard to be Shadow the Hedgehog. I mean, can you SMILE for once dude? It’ll take me a while to bond with this guy.

Salt Cookie: He strikes me as a wise old man you’d find meditating at the top of a mountain, or in his case on a boat in the ocean. I bet he has lots of knowledge to share.

Squid Ink Cookie: AWWWWW, SWEET BABY SQUID!!! Guys, I think they might be my favorite! They’re so squishy and mighty, and they need all my love and huggles!!! Don’t be sad baby, I’ll be your friend! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Lime Cookie: Beach girl! She’s like Lemon Cookie, but slightly nicer! I really like her hair and beach ball. Very cool girl.

Ninja Cookie: FINALLY! SOMEONE WITH MORE THAN TWO JUMPS!!! I went kind of crazy with his jumping powers at first. He’s super cool. Not sure why his pet is a ghost though.

Pomegranate Cookie: Oooh, I love Asian fashion~! Look how fancy and elegant she is! Her story concerns me, and I’m worried about her.

Angel Cookie: Good cookie, sweet cookie. Wouldn’t hurt a fly. It looks like they trust the devil boy, which is beyond kind of them. I love it when angels get along with demons. Defy angle roles!!!

Devil Cookie: Speaking of, they’re a cute little bean too! I love the naughty demon trope, and this cutie is so mischievous! Call Angel your “rival” all you want, I’m still shipping you dorks.

Roll Cake Cookie: Imagine, if you will, the world’s biggest game of Whack-A-Mole! With that hammer, this boy would win without question.

Popcorn Cookie: I’d be happy to go with this girl to the movie theater! Also, I love how she had popcorn for hair buns. She seems like she’d be up for a fun time!

Carrot Cookie: Oh my lordy, her ponytails are carrots. The artists for this game are so clever. Strong but tiny farmer, I approve.

Ion Cookie Robot: Yes! A robot! I love robots, and this cookie is no exception! Definitely one of my favorites, up there with Whipped Cream Cookie. They’re super powerful too, and REALLY useful in Breakout and Trophy runs.

Dino-Sour Cookie: Gee Dino-Sour, how come Devsisters let you have two pets? Very cool punk boy. I can see him going to Rockstar Cookie’s concert.

Plum Cookie: Aren’t plums purple though? This boy is one tough cookie! Look at his karate moves! Honestly, I thought he was a girl at first. Why must these boys be so pretty?!

Yogurt Cream Cookie: PRINCE ALI! FABULOUS HE! ALI ABABWUA~!

Alchemist Cookie: Look, it’s Twilight Sparkle! Apparently, Vampire boy is her brother? I really like her hair braids(?), I just wish she’d loosen up a bit. She seems like a nice girl.

Roguefort Cookie: Aaaah yeah, elegant thief! This cookie is the coolest! I love this aesthetic so much~! Blue cheese has never been so fancy. Just look at this charmer, stealing hearts!

Pitaya Dragon Cookie: OOOOOhohoho! THIS is what I’m TALKING about! Look at this beast, they’re GLORIOUS! They’ve probably killed a bunch of people, but They’re crazy powerful and I adore them.

Knight Cookie: This guy is SO much fun to play as! He just won’t stop, he’s too fast!!! I couldn’t stop laughing once I found out just how fast this knight could go! Somehow he controls better than Pistachio? I don’t know, I love him!

Birthday Cake Cookie: TOO PRECIOUS FOR WORDS! SHE’S SO DANG CUTE!!! Also, her “Bonus Time” changes to “Happy B Day” and I... I just can’t! She’s the sweetest thing!!! <3 <3 <3

Cocoa Cookie: Awww, look at this sweet baby! I wanna snuggle her! Her design looks so warm and comfy. I have plenty of hot chocolate to give her. <3

Raspberry Mousse Cookie: Ah yes, the pretty boy that got me into this game in the first place. Along with Squid Ink, he’s probably my favorite. There’s a reason he has the highest affection so far with me. I just adore his design, and he’s very powerful! I will ALWAYS have him ready for Breakout and Trophy Runs. Well worth all the hype. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Rose Cookie: Finally, we have this lovely lady. Everyone is shipping her with Raspberry, and rightfully so. She is a high-quality woman that makes gay men straight and straight girls lesbian. Look at that outfit! And those dance moves!

Aaaand that’s everybody for now! I’ll update this once I get more Cookies. So far, I like most of them a lot. Anybody got some favorites they’d like to share? I’m still new to this game, but I’m happy to hear what others have to say!

UPDATE 1: 

I went back and fixed all the gender mistakes I made. (I’m so sorry! D:) Also, I got a few more cookies! So here we go!

Walnut Cookie: Precious detective baby! The newest update is only making her cuter! Probably the shortest of the bunch, and I adore her design~! <3

Cinnamon Cookie: Super useful power so far, and they have a really cool cape! Those cards are very handy! (I promise I’ll pay attention to the genders of these cookies from now on! I don’t want to misgender anyone again!)

Sparkling Cookie: Oooh, a sparkling cider cookie! That’s honestly the only boozy thing I enjoy drinking. He is super classy and seems like the life of the party. He strikes me as a Great Gatsby kind of host.

Moonlight Cookie: OOOOOOOH~! LOOK at this GODDESS! I love the nighttime/dreamy aesthetic. This girl has Luna’s hair and a wizard’s outfit, high tier cookie!

White Choco Cookie: This game sure likes it’s knights, huh? This girl is a fine lady and apparently, she attracts all the lesbians. Can’t say I blame those girls, I do love that hairstyle. 

Spinach Cookie: Aaand the newest cookie to hit the scene, this girl! I have never met someone so dedicated to vegetables, so I have to applaud that. She’s a super sweet girl, and I hope we find who stole her precious vegetables!!!

UPDATE 2:

More Cookies! It’s been a while since I’ve updated this, so I have quite a bit to share. On to the new ones!

Mustard Cookie: Look at this punk girl! Street artist on the loose in the streets! I always admire people and characters in this style, so I’m supporting this rebel all the way!

Herb Cookie: Now THIS guy is everywhere! It seems the fandom really likes him, and I can see why. He seems like a very nice boy, with a sweet plant baby. I like the leaf hair, very cool.

Sea Fairy Cookie: I love how everything on her flows. Her hair, her dress, she’s so beautiful~! I will say though, Legendaries are SO DANG HARD to level up and get affection with! WHY?!

Cream Puff Cookie: Awwww, look at this precious baby girl~! Look at her soft hair and little dress! I almost feel bad running with the super cute ones, I don’t want them to get hurt! 

Matcha Cookie: Oooooh, all these ancient-looking cookies have the coolest designs! She’s probably insane, darkness will do that to ya, but she seems harmless so I like her!

Ice Candy Cookie: This chick could crush me like a grape and I don’t know how to feel about that. Hopefully, she’s only savage on the ice rink. I do NOT want to mess with this girl.

Cherry Blossom Cookie: Awww, look how pretty she is~! Cherry blossoms are always so lovely, and this girl embodies that. She has a PARASOL for crying out loud, I CAN’T EVEN!!

Grapefruit Cookie: This game sure likes sports, huh? She seems really cool, I love her colors! Do you think she’d play Skate 3? Hopefully, she’d get a laugh out of that game.

Pirate Cookie: This guy has been a long time coming. I’ve been curious about him since the Breakout episode. He’s pretty neat, I appreciate how he naturally comes with an extra revive.

Kumiho Cookie: Cool! A Kitsune! I love the spin on the concept of cookies. Let this marshmallow fox live out her reverse-furry dream! I’m loving her design too, look at that hair! 

Marshmallow Cookie: Oh cute! Another marching band cookie! According to her story, she and Macaron had a falling out. I hope they can reconcile and be friends again. :(

Dark Choco Cookie: WE’VE REACHED MAXIMUM EDGE! WITH OREO SHOULDER PADS!!! Interesting how he’s still trying to be a hero, which is a nice spin on the “I have evil powers so now I’m evil” trope. Here’s hoping he stays strong.

Fire Spirit Cookie: Ah yes, the classic lord of fire. A staple for any fantasy story that includes the elements. Again, it’s impossible to get the affection for these guys.

Mala Sauce Cookie: Yay! I got Pitaya’s girlfriend! I always love it when there’s a tribe/society of warriors and the WOMAN is the strongest one there. Heck yes! This warrior lady is a badass!

Firecracker Cookie: I didn’t know I was invited to a rave party! Love the neon colors on this cookie, that’s something this game really excels at.

UPDATE 3:

I’ve reached 90 cookies! I’m on the homestretch!!!

Cheesecake Cookie: OH MY LORDY LOOK HOW FANCY SHE IS! I adore her already! Fancy ladies are the best ladies!

Kiwi Cookie: This game REALLY likes sports. He looks cool, can’t complain.

Yoga Cookie: Awww, a pretzel is trying to be loose! I’ve done yoga a few times, and it is very good for your body. Nice colors, simple design, nice.

Dr. Wasabi Cookie: I’d reference some mad scientist, but I know a lot of them so we’d be here for a while. Her combi generator has been very helpful.

Tiger Lily Cookie: IT’S THE EYE OF THE TIGER IT’S THE THRILL OF THE NIGHT, RISING UP TO THE CHALLENGE OF OUR RIVALS!

Chili Pepper Cookie: Uh oh, this one’s a troublemaker! I really like her hair, it’s very bright. Secure your pockets around this chick, that’s for sure.

Millennial Tree Cookie: These cookies are too pretty, I keep thinking they’re girls! This guy is so beautiful~ truly a being of nature!

DJ Cookie: Ooooh, I love her design~. Rainbow colors will win me over every time. And look! She’s wearing a Bi Pride shirt! This girl is awesome! I like how her special power is basically tiny Guitar Hero.

Snow Sugar Cookie: Soft baby, sweet baby. Looks very cuddly. Their level was very helpful during Sandwich Cookie’s event in getting frozen jellies. Those blue bears aren’t easy to come by!

Fig Cookie: CENTAUR! I wasn’t expecting one of those here! She’s such a sweetie pie~. Since everything and anything is allowed in this game, can we get mermaids or harpies next?

Cotton Candy Cookie: PRECIOUS BABY! She’s so gosh darn cute, I can’t take it! I personally can relate to falling in love with things so easily. And there are official plushies of her now! ONE DAY I WILL BRING HER HOME!

Purple Yam Cookie: Bro needs a chill pill. Not ONCE have I seen this guy smile yet. And I thought Lemon needed to lighten up. Milk seems to care about him though, so I guess he can’t be that bad.

Milk Cookie: The softest of warriors! Look how cute he is~! I adore him! Plus he really shines in the stories. I can only assume Yam is his boyfriend or something. Am I wrong about that?

Cyborg Cookie: Hey! I saw the storybook for this one! I’m surprised I haven’t unlocked this “Aloe Cookie” yet. Are they still in this game? I can’t find them on the chart. Anyway, Cyborg is cool. Very nice design.

Mango Cookie: Newest baby! I love him, and would love to learn all about the islands from him! I’m gonna say it, I already ship him with Ananas Cookie, no questions asked.

#cookie run #cookie run ovenbreak #list #alanna #alanna_artroid

[beyondmistland]

“May your heart be your guiding key” (Full thoughts on Kingdom Hearts III below!)

Graphics:

Ø  The game is bloody gorgeous, which helps mitigate the long and frequent cutscenes

Ø  The lip-syncing rarely fails

Music:

Ø  The new remixes are awesome and the brand-new tracks don't disappoint either

Ø  What does though is the actual audio mixing:

More often than not I struggled to hear the music over the sound effects during gameplay and the voiceovers during cutscenes

Ranking the Worlds:

Ø  #1: Corona: The world is huge, with varied terrain and a kick-ass final boss

Ø  #2 Olympus: The sheer scale and scope of the world took my breath away, plus we (finally!) get to fight all four titans

Ø  #3 The Caribbean: Assassin's Creed IV meets Kingdom Hearts, what's not to like

Ø  #4 Monstropolis: While not as eye-catching as some of the other worlds the way it intersects with the broader KH lore is really neat and the final cutscene was a delight in that it averts the Disney characters being useless when dealing with the original KH villains, on top of which its straightforward design is a nice change of pace, my only complaint is that there are only four types of Unversed

Ø  #5 San Fransokyo: The story is surprisingly short, which means you don't really get the chance to explore the environment, which sucks because the verticality and day/night cycle are awesome, plus there are a number of memorable boss fights

Ø  #6 Twilight Town: If it had been fully recreated based off the KH2 version the world would be much higher on my list but despite how small it is I love the liveliness, not to mention how peaceful it is in comparison to the other worlds, the same can be said for Hundred Acre Wood

Ø  #7 Keyblade Graveyard + Final World + Scala Ad Caelum: Though jaw-dropping in terms of visuals and audio they're not fully realized worlds, the same can be said for Dark World

Ø  #8 Toy Box: I loved the final boss as well as how the story tied into the larger plot of the game and I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy exploring Andy's room while "You have a friend in me" played in the background

Why then is Toy Box so far down on my list, world design

Even with endgame stats (LV40-45) the Gigas are tough to take down and as a result they come off as gimmicky in the worst sense of the word, beyond that the fact that the majority of the world is set in Galaxy Toys made me feel constrained and claustrophobic, which could have been partially alleviated if we'd been allowed to make our way through the parking lot outside, finally, the story kind of got repetitive with the backtracking whenever the characters were about to leave because "someone went missing yet again"

Ø  #9 Arrendelle: Though it has one of the best final bosses in the game along with Corona there is so much wrong with this world that I wonder if it's less Square Enix's fault and more Disney placing an insane amount of red tape on their favorite cash-cow:

1) Elsa does not become a party member even after you beat the world

2) You do not get to explore the city or the ice palace despite the latter being fully rendered on the map

3) Larxene, a lightning-based character, randomly traps you in an ice labyrinth when that would have made a lot more sense both logically and thematically if it had been Elsa

4) Speaking of Larxene, she does practically nothing the whole time you're there unlike Marluxia and Luxord, who are at least semi-active

5) You climb a mountain and get knocked off of it so many times that even Sora gets fed up

6) The bloody minigame where you have to find Olaf's body parts

7) Forcing us to watch the entire "Let it go" sequence and then having "Do you want to build a snowman" play over Anna's voice as she's explaining herself to Sora

8) So much of the story is excised that you have little clue as to what's going on to the point Hans appears for all of five minutes, doesn't say any lines, and isn't even named when it would have been cool, not to mention, just plain better, if he had started off as a guest member of your party

9) As a result of #8 Sora, Donald, and Goofy's presence feels like even more of an afterthought than usual in the sense that them not being there wouldn't have changed anything at all apart from Hans' Heartless then having no one to defeat it which can be seen by the fact that when they leave no one tells them goodbye unlike in every other world

10) The visual design was bland and tiresome after a while

11) The world's gimmick was uninspired to say the least

12) Fighting alongside a giant snowman (AKA Marshmallow) was awesome and in terms of pure gameplay the labyrinth was actually quite fun

Story Pros:

Ø  Master Xehanort's new voice actor is good but after hearing Leonard Nimoy's voice for the past couple of games the change is a bit jarring

Ø  The way previous games are referenced and tied together is a nice way of bringing new players into the fold while also setting up the finale's resolutions

Ø  The game has a better sense of humor than previous installments

Ø  Sora is more like his KH2 self than the bland caricature we saw in 3D and quite a few characters display some degree of genre-savviness

Ø  Master Yen Sid gets out of his chair to lend a hand for once

Ø  Donald Duck is the most powerful mage in Square Enix canon (and I am not making that up)

Gameplay Pros:

Ø  Being able to switch between different save points in the same world is a welcome addition

Ø  The secondary ability of all shotlocks to airstep is ingenious

Ø  You can have more than two party members finally!

Ø  The secret ending isn't too hard to unlock

Ø  You can upgrade your Keyblades, which means older ones aren't automatically relegated to redundancy

Ø  Donald and Goofy are useful again after being nerfed into uselessness in KH2

Ø  Towns and cities are actually populated by fully-voiced NPCs!

Ø  Cutscenes in Theater Mode are unlocked after completing each world rather than after beating the game

Ø  I never tried the Classic Kingdom minigames but the cooking one with Remy was a nice break from the normal gameplay (I suck at the egg-cracking one though)

Ø  The camera doesn't get in the way like it infamously did in KH1

Ø  I like the new main menu design (Feel free to disagree though)

Ø  The Gummi Ship is entirely optional outside of a few mandatory boss battles

Ø  Moogle Tickets are a nice way of giving players a second chance during difficult encounters (I do wish they didn’t activate so quickly though) 

Gameplay Cons:

Ø  The game never once tells you that you can switch between Situation Commands using L2

Ø  The game never once tells you that you keep all your lower-tier magic (Fire, Fira for example) and that your shortcuts don't automatically update to include the higher-tier version of whatever magic you have equipped

Ø  There's no real incentive to switch between Keyblades (That being said, my favorites are Wheel of Fate, Nano Arms, and Happy Gear/Ever After)

Ø  Attractions lose their charm quickly and completely ruin the flow of combat

Ø  Summons aren't too big of a deal since I only ever ended up using them once and even then it was by accident

Ø  Donald still heals you at the wrong time more often than not

Ø  Even on Proud Mode the game is way too easy for the most part (Apparently Critical Mode addresses this but I can't confirm that)

Ø  There is a lack of sidequests and post-game content that contributes to the feeling Square & Disney gave us half a game (For example, there is only one secret boss, said secret boss has a generic design, no ties to the story, and can be defeated at LV40 on your first attempt)

Ø  Hollow Bastion, Mysterious Tower, and Destiny Islands are not playable

Ø  The parkour from 3D has been nerfed too much in terms of distance to actually be useful

Story Cons:

Ø  Nomura fridged Kairi and he worfed almost everyone the first time you arrive at the Keyblade Graveyard!

Ø  The wrapping up of plot points and character arcs from prior entries was a little too nice and neat for me

Ø  The out-of-nowhere introduction of Subject X

Ø  Pete and Maleficent do literally nothing the whole damn game

Ø  The pacing is awful:

Almost all of the game's resolution is held back until after you've beaten the last Disney world

Ø  There are two important cutscenes in the Final World that you can accidentally miss because for some reason they are optional

Ø  We don't get to see what happened to Lingering Will, which also means we don't get any more insight into the third aspect of being (AKA the soul)

Ø  There are no Final Fantasy characters in the game, not even Sephiroth!

Ø  What happened to Demyx?

Ø  Master Eraqus has absolutely nothing to do with Terra’s restoration

Changes I’d make:

Ø  Require us to go through the Disney worlds a second time like in KH2

Ø  Have Aqua and Ven be saved halfway through the game instead of at the end, they could then spend the second half of the game resting or join you on one of the Disney worlds to refresh themselves

Ø  Have Lea and Kairi join you on one of the Disney worlds to get practical experience

Ø  Make the Keyblade Graveyard sequence be a series of one/two/three-on one battles so that members of Organization XIII can use their full arsenal of attacks from previous games

Ø  Let us play the second battle between Lingering Will and Terra-Xehanort

Ø  Speaking of Terra-Xehanort, we should have fought him alongside the Guardian Heartless

Ø  Have us explore Scala Ad Caelum while hunting down the individual replicas before then making us fight all of them in a boss battle

DLC

Ø  The presence of it says a lot about the game and not in a good way

Final Score

Ø  7/10-8/10

#kingdom hearts #square enix #disney #kingdom hearts iii

[thetygre]

30 Day Monster Challenge 2 - Day #19: Favorite Minions/Henchmen

1.      Minions (Overlord [Video Game])

There is only one creature we call ‘Minion’ in this house, and it is the Minions from Overlord. (The game, not the anime.) The Minions are the perfect… well, minions. They’re design is mostly goofy, but there’s also something kind of horrible to them; they’re like somebody threw an imp, a spider monkey, and a goblin in a sack and didn’t open it up again until the screaming stopped. Those buggy yellow eyes, the hunched backs, the crooked tails, the shrill voices; this is what pops into my head when I think of what an evil minion is supposed to be like. They are utterly and totally devout to their master; they have one purpose in life, and that is to serve you. They think absolutely nothing of throwing themselves into a forge just to upgrade your weapons or taking on a monster just because you tell them to.

Watching them swarm over a cyclops like a nest of army ants is always fun, but that hivemind mentality shouldn’t be mistaken for a lack of individual. The Minions are kind of precursors to the uruks from Shadow of Mordor; the longer they live and the more fights they survive, the more unique they become. They’re given names and titles, and they start gathering weapons and armor. It’s never made clear what exactly the Minions are in Overlord, but the implication isn’t that an Overlord chooses them; they choose the Overlord. Without the Minions, and Overlord is just some spooky adventurer in a suit of armor. The Minions make the man, and the fact that you need them as much as they need you is a pretty interesting power dynamic.

2.      X-49 (Samurai Jack)

Just… do I really have to say anything? It was one of the best episodes in Samurai Jack, one of the best animated series of all time. And the music and the writing and the cinematography and oh god it’s all coming back at once

3.      Igor (Young Frankenstein)

There never was an Igor in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; he’s a fabricated character at least partially concocted from Edgar Allan Poe’s Hop-Frog that somehow wormed himself into horror mythology. And honestly, thank goodness for that or we wouldn’t have had Marty Feldman’s fantastic performance for Young Frankenstein. Feldman looks like he was born for the role; his exophthalmos was a problem he dealt with his entire life, but Igor is just one example of how he incorporated his condition into his comedy personas. Igor is a good comedic counterpart to Gene Wilder’s Frankenstein in a classic double-act kind of way. Where Wilder’s Frankenstein is driven to escape his destiny or conform to it, Feldman’s Igor is committed to his role from the beginning, with no real perspective on it in the grand scheme of things. Igor undercuts Frankenstein’s deliberate melodrama to remind the audience that it’s all a joke.

4.      Kobolds (Dungeons and Dragons)

Kobolds are one of the greatest success stories in tabletop roleplaying monsters. Kobolds have been in Dungeons and Dragons since the beginning, but they spent 1st and 2nd edition as basically another kind of goblin. Outside a few rare exceptions, kobolds were just an adventurer’s in-between step as they transitioned from clearing out rats in cellars to goblins in caves. For 3rd edition, the designers felt they needed to give kobolds something; a hook, a feature, a raison d’etre. So the design team though, “What if the littlest monsters had dreams about being the biggest? What if kobolds thought they were dragons?” The rest is history; kobolds became dragon minions, cultists who firmly believe that they are descended from the great wyrms they worship. Inside ever little kobold beats the heart of a mighty dragon, and their pluck and determination pushes them to reach for heights most humanoid races never even dream of. Kobolds are not only great examples of how to make a monster interesting from a game design perspective, but also of how endearing characters can be when you give them goals.

5.      Pleiades (Overlord [Anime])

It always bothers me when evil overlords leave their castle staff of their minions list. A great villain should have their power displayed in everything around them, from their captains to their cooks. That’s why Ainz Ooal Gown’s Pleiades are so great; the castle maids for an evil fortress, each on is an individual fighter with her own superpowers. Following organization rules, each of the maids is also a monster; werewolves, shapeshifting oozes, a sentient swarm of insects, etc. And that’s the kind of creativity and attention to detail I love to see in an evil overlord’s forces. Look at where there isn’t a superpowered minion, and say, “No, this will not do. More evil.”

6.      Hunchbacks (Castlevania)

I remember that my mind was blown when I finally realized the ‘fleamen’ from Castlevania were supposed to be hunchbacked Igors. While I was kind of disappointed that bizarre insect men hybrids, I am still happy that Castlevania didn’t neglect a favorite horror trope. Castlevania actually has a pretty unique staff; undead maids, zombie butchers, a plague doctor groundskeeper, and skeleton butlers. But it wasn’t until the Lords of Shadow games that the hunchbacks started being explored. One of the good things about Lords of Shadow was the implication that Castlevania itself is alive; the castle has always existed, and can’t even really be fully pulled through to our world. When the castle needs repairs, though, someone to repair it and expand it, it summons the hunchbacks out of nowhere. The hunchbacks are tied to the castle; they’re like cells in its body. They might know more about Castlevania itself than even Dracula, but they aren’t letting on. Their only job is to serve their master, whoever or whatever it might be.

7.      Maleficent’s Goblins (Sleeping Beauty)

Maleficent’s goblins are little bundles of medieval monstrosity with enough character to be charming. They’re like the Minions, where I honestly can’t imagine them existing without a master. It wouldn’t surprise me if it turned out they were just demons conjured up by Maleficent from her firepit. The odds and ends of medieval armor and weaponry on top of their gargoyle aesthetic makes me think of very early Tolkien, like the first covers for The Hobbit and Return of the King. These little guys were the forerunners to orcs, uruk-hai, parademons, and every other evil monster army. Sometimes I still wish we could go back to minions like these.

8.      Lurch (Addams Family)

The quintessential creepy butler. I feel like Lurch parallels Marty Feldman’s Igor in some pretty interesting ways. They’re both essentially half a joke, part of a comedy routine that requires someone else to land the punchline. The difference is that while Igor undermined Frankenstein to lighten the mood, Luch is deadly serious to contrast the Addams’ playfulness. Lurch wasn’t just a straight-man; he was a brick wall that you could throw anything off of. To be honest, I always kind of wondered what exactly Lurch was; I never really thought of him as human. My favorite theories are either that he was a flesh golem (since he was clearly based off Karloff’s Frankenstein), a homunculus grown for the family and passed down through generations, or just some really tall guy in a suit.

9.      Dwergi (Van Helsing)

The Dwergi in Van Helsing have an unnecessarily cool design for what amounts to being Dracula’s grunts. The goggles, spines, and full leather outfits make me think of aliens or something that would be working for Clive Barker’s Cenobites. I can’t help but think of the ‘jawas’ that were through the gate in Phantasm. But I think that I love the Dwergi most as concepts for evil dwarves; ‘dwergi’ most likely derives from ‘dvergar’, a German word for dwarf. There are even evil dwarves in Dungeons and Dragons named duergar and derro. And that connections opens up so many possibilities for me. Imagine a dwarven sub-race mutated to be classical Igor characters, or adventurers encountering derro dressed all in mad scientist gear underground. The Dwergi have hidden depths when you know where to look.

10.   Stormtroopers (Star Wars)

Out of the standard henchmen armies, Stormtroopers are still my favorite. Stormtroopers are up there with Red Shirts in terms of incompetence and mortality rates. Every now and then some random Stormtrooper manages to stand out and look like a badass, but even they usually have a lifespan of however long until the heroes arrive. I’ve heard some people argue that the humanizing elements of Stormtroopers, the way they talk about their day or are just trying to do a job, makes the very Nazi-coded Empire too sympathetic. But I would argue the opposite; the human aspects of the Stormtroopers make it clear how actually farcical the whole Empire is. The Stormtroopers aren’t some elite kill-force, they’re bumbling idiots. Whatever brutal efficiency they’re ascribed usually happens off-screen, and it quickly gets drowned out by the chorus of Wilhelm screams heard while trooper after trooper dies ridiculously. The Stormtroopers make it clear how fascism doesn’t raise the individual up but uses them as a disposable resource. The Stormtroopers as human characters make the Empire look inept, not empowered.

#30 Day Monster Challenge 2 #30 Day Monster Challenge #overlord #samurai jack #star wars #addams family #dungeons and dragons #long post

[pizza-is-my-buziness]

I'm sad, would you ever consider writing a malvie Hogwarts au?

You sent me this a while ago and I’m sorry I’m just now getting to it! I hope you aren’t still sad, my friend! Enjoy!

There are definitely things that Mal loves about Hogwarts.Mainly the fact that she gets to practice magic for nine months of her life,that she no longer has to suffer through the ridiculous rules and spells thatlimit her magic when she’s not inside the castle walls. Seriously? A spell to limit spells? Mal is pretty sure that the geniuses who thought that up(aka the Headmistress and the Ministry) didn’t really think that through. Butstill, Mal isn’t going to argue, since Hogwarts has finally opened its doorsagain to the children of those found guilty of practicing dark magic. Mal doesn’twant to waste time pointing out all the flawed policies that govern those particularchildren, just in case it impedes her chance to do actual magic. Which would be a definite shame.

There are plenty of things, however, that Mal dislikes aboutHogwarts. Namely the other students.

The students who have been able to attend the school sincethey were first years, who always knew that there was a Hogwarts acceptanceletter waiting in their future. People like Doug and Jane and Audrey, who comefrom families made famous for vanquishing the darkness that apparently flows inMal’s own veins.

Hogwarts would be absolutely perfect, Mal thinks, if she didn’thave to tell with anyone else.

Mal tries to ignore the stares of Audrey and some of herfriends, instead working at keeping her head down and her focus on her potionshomework. She has her potions lesson after lunch and her homework is most definitelynot done and, well, it’s not the first time this week she’s found herself inthis particular predicament. So she can’t afford to let herself be distractedby Audrey’s snickering, not if she wants to get this done on time so ProfessorMerlin doesn’t find another excuse to send her to detention.

Though, listening to Audrey not so quietly gossip about herand the other six-year transfer students while trying to muddle her way throughpotions homework is not the type of thing that makes remembering why she lovesHogwarts an easy feat.

Mal tosses her Slytherin tie over her shoulder so it doesn’tget in her way as she leans closer to the table, her quill scratching acrossthe parchment. She’s nearly finished, just one more potion to analyze and then-

And then the quill in her hand suddenly turns into a snakeand Mal nearly jumps out of her seat, dropping the wiggling creature down ontothe table.

Audrey and her friends immediately burst into laughter andMal narrows her eyes as she looks across the library at them.

“Oh, sorry Mal,” Audrey says sweetly with a smile on herface, “we were just practicing our Transfiguration homework.” She sets her wandaside, looking entirely too pleased with herself.

Mal can feel the magic churning inside her stomach, can feelit burning in her veins. She narrows her eyes at Audrey, trying to even out herbreathing, trying to resist the urge to reach for her own wand and teach thegirl all about Transfiguration.

Not that it really matters because, suddenly, the papers andbooks scattered across the table between the girls turn into creatures alltheir own. Dozens of spiders and a half dozen rats suddenly appear wherehomework had been only seconds before, wasting no time at all in scampering andcrawling across the girls’ forearms and up their shoulders.

Audrey’s shrill scream cuts through the library, easilylouder than the shrieks of the other girls and the chairs falling backward andclattering across the stone floor of the library. Mal can only stare at them inshock, her eyes widening as she watches Audrey and the other girls attempt toshake spiders out of their hair and rats off the pleats of their skirts.

Her wand is still sitting in the pocket of her robes, thoughclearly that doesn’t matter. Mal can still feel the magic humming inside her, threateningto claw through her skin, desperate to be unleashed again.

Quickly, Mal gets to her feet, grabbing her parchment andbooks and turning on her heel, trying to ignore the panicked screams of thegirls and the murmurs of confusion of the professors who are attempting to helpthem.

Even still, Mal can feel the eyes of her classmates on her asshe hurries past their tables. “Did you see that?” One voice whispers. “Shedidn’t even use her wand.”

“And did you see her eyes?” Another voice from another tablechimes in. “They, like, changed colors.”

No one tries to stop Mal as she leaves the library, which isa relief. A few heads turn in her direction as she hurries down the hallway,but most people ignore her. For now, Mal thinks. Once news of the little libraryincident starts to spread, she doubts she’ll be able to avoid people’sattention so easily.

Mal decides to take advantage of the fact that no one islooking for her just yet, hurrying out of the castle and toward the lake that shimmersat the front of the grounds. She drops her books in the grass, following suitquickly, leaning against the trunk of a gnarled tree.

She knows that wandless magic is traditionally difficult foreven the most experienced magic uses, that it was often a sign of those inleague with practicing dark magic. The stronger the abilities, reportedly, thedeeper the connection to dark, evil magic.

Mal knows that once upon a time, her mother had been able topractice wandless magic. That she could do nearly anything without evenreciting a single spell.

And now…

Mal swallows, closing her eyes and tipping her head backagainst the rough bark.

Now she thinks that she’s just proved everyone right abouther after all. That she’s proved her mother’s words true too. That she isn’tvery different from Maleficent at all.

Mal listens to the sounds of the mermaids singing beneath thewater, to the sounds of the wind whistling through the leaves in the treebehind her. It all seems quiet compared to the humming of the magic inside her,the churn of it in her blood and bones. It used to be a sound that comfortedher, one she could reach out and press against with her mind, knowing that shewas special, that she had magic inside her despite the attempts made by othersto repress it, to keep it from surfacing lest it proved to be magic that couldbe used for evil. Being at Hogwarts had been the first chance Mal had tounleash it, to see what she could really do.

Maybe all of that had been a mistake, too. Maybe Belle, theMinister of Magic, and her cabinet had been right to fear the children of thoseconvicted of practicing the dark arts.

The sound of footsteps makes Mal open her eyes and she feelsher body prickle with relief at the sight of the girl in blue and silverstriped robes carefully picking her way across the lakeshore in Mal’sdirection.

“I thought I might find you here,” Evie says as she sits downbeside Mal, spreading her robes out beneath her.

Mal makes a face. “So I guess that means you already know.”

“Know what?” Evie questions. “That you apparently turnedAudrey into a giant spider?”

Mal can’t help but smile slightly. “That would have been cool.”

“What happened, M?” Evie questions. “Really?”

Mal can only shake her head. “I don’t really know. I just…Audreyand her friends were being assholes, like always,” she says and Evie nods,unable to dispute this particular claim. “They turned my quill into a snake.”

Evie’s eyes widen. “They did what?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Mal says with a shake of her head. “That’snot…it’s not important.”

Evie narrows her eyes slightly but she doesn’t argue, thoughMal knows Evie well enough to know that she thinks it’s important. Importantenough that Aubrey might have more than just a few spiders to contend withlater.

“I don’t even know how it happened. I wasn’t thinkinganything specifically…I was just…” Mal looks down at her hands, sitting in herlap. “I didn’t have to use my wand or a spell. It just…happened.”

“You were upset,” Evie points out, leaning her shoulderagainst Mal’s. “And they definitely deserved it.”

Mal exhales, shaking her head. “That’s not the point,” shesays. “I used wandless magic. Just like…”

Evie’s hand settles on Mal’s knee and Mal closes her eyesbriefly against the touch. She misses Evie, misses the moments like this,moments that would have been so easy to have back home, when no one cared wherethey went or what they did, when there weren’t classes and lessons and pryingeyes. Sometimes, Mal thinks that all the children accepted into Hogwarts aftercareful deliberation by the Ministry were placed in different Houses on purpose,to keep them as separate as possible. Of course, Mal thinks they clearly don’tknow her and Evie. As though anything could keep them apart.

“Like our parents,” Evie finishes for her, her tone devoid ofemotion, the way it always is when their parents are brought up.

Mal nods, looking at Evie. “Exactly.”

“You aren’t your mother, Mal,” Evie says gently. “You aren’tanything like her.”

“I used to think that was true,” Mal says quietly. “Now Ijust…I don’t know if I can argue that anymore.”

Evie smiles at her. “That’s what you have me for, then,” shesays. “To talk some sense into you.” She presses her lips to Mal’s forehead.

Mal smiles slightly, leaning closer, wishing the touch neverhad to end. “I could be dangerous,” she points out. “I can feel the magicinside…it wants to be free.”

“I know, I can feel it too,” Evie assures her. “It’s a partof who we are. But that doesn’t mean it’s something evil. Or that we have to dosomething evil with it.”

Mal makes a face. “I kinda already did,” she points out.

Evie rolls her eyes. “Spiders and rats?” She raises aneyebrow. “Audrey totally deserved it.”

“Maybe…” Mal sighs. “Next time it might be worse…it might…”

“It won’t,” Evie says firmly, giving Mal’s knee a squeeze.

“You don’t know that,” Mal points out.

“But I do know you,Mal,” Evie says. “I’ve known you might entire life.”

When she leans closer, their lips meet and Mal sighs into thekiss, reaching for Evie’s hand on her knee and twining their fingers together.The feeling of Evie’s lips against hers, of Evie’s magic humming in tune withthe magic Mal can feel inside herself, makes it easy for everything else tofade away. It makes it easier to stop worrying, to quiet the magic, to calm herquickly beating heart. It makes it easy for her to believe what Evie is saying.

“You’re trying to distract me,” Mal mumbles against Evie’slips, not entirely willing to pull away, not quite yet.

Evie smiles, nodding. “It’s working.”

“It always does,” Mal assures hers, slipping her fingersthrough Evie’s hair, which perfectly matches the coloring of her tie and housecrest.

“See, I do knowyou,” Evie says, kissing Mal’s cheeks and forehead. “I know your magic ispowerful, like you. And good, like you.”

Mal turns her head so that her lips meet Evie’s once more andshe closes her eyes, letting Evie’s words repeat through her mind.

Evie’s conviction is catching and Mal can feel it spreadingthrough her like a balm, easing the nervous fire in her chest. Evie thinks sheis good and that seems to be enough, for now. Mal figures that other studentsat Hogwarts might not be willing to take the word of another student whopossibly has dark magic flowing through her veins too, but it suddenly doesn’tmatter what they think. About either one of them. She has Evie’s lips againsthers and Evie’s hands on her hips and Evie’s assurance that she is not hermother.  

What more could she possibly need?

#malvie #mevie #hogwarts AU #this is just a short quick little ficlet but I do like this AU and would like to do more with it #thanks for the prompt it's a pretty fun universe to play in!

[juicecupswanqueen]

“The Newsflash That Broke Emma Swan”. 7th Update!

The story continues with Regina magically poofing herself and Emma somewhere private so they can talk.  They have skirted around their feelings long enough.  Will they finally talk about what is happening (has been happening) between them?

Chapter 1   |   Chapter 2   |   Chapter 3 |   Chapter 4  |   Chapter 5

Chapter 6

----------

“Nothing ever bores me in here,” Emma says as she peruses the jars on the shelves in Regina’s vault.  “I’ve seen these things many times and it’s fascinating how average most of these ingredients are.”

 Regina leans against a wall with a quirked eye brow.  “Oh?  Sorry to disappoint you.”

 Emma runs a finger across the labels of a few bottles, reading them aloud, “Anise, mustard seeds, rosemary... You could cook with these.”  Emma looks over her shoulder just to say, “But potion making is kind of like cooking.  At least that’s what I remember when I was the Dark One.  Always brewing something up.”

 “I shudder to think,” Regina sarcastically quips and smirks. Though she has been doing magic decades longer than Emma Swan, she is always surprised at how being the Dark One put the blonde through a crash course in dark sorcery.

 “Snake skin, hog’s toe, crickets’ wings... less pleasant ingredients.”

 Regina kicks off the wall and ambles slowly over, placing a hand on the rim of the large black cauldron.  “Agreed.  It is always a nuisance collecting these kinds of things. Luckily, these all came over with the first curse.  I had my guards collect these things for me.  You can imagine, I don’t like to get my hands dirty.”

 Emma scoffs while still examining the bottles.  “One thing you don’t have, that I know is essential, is dragon’s blood.”  Emma says that in a pensive way, like a thought is occurring to her.  “Was your bestie not accommodating in giving you some?”

 “Who?”

 “Maleficent.”

 Regina observes how Emma turns and side-eyes her and there is more that the woman is implying.

 “Are we still talking about potion ingredients?”

 Quickly, Emma shoves her hands into the hoodie’s center pocket and shrugs.

 Regina has an underlying suspicion but inquires anyway, “Just what are you asking me, Emma?”

 Those green eyes tilt upward and then close as if uncertain to hear the answer.  “Did… you and Maleficent… ever…”  Regina crosses her arms, points her chin downward and fixes Emma with an amused stare. “Were you two ever… a thing?”

 Regina narrows her eyes feigning ignorance, “A thing.”

 Emma sighs, “Yeah, you know.”

 Regina straightens, folding her hands behind her back and smiles coyly and Emma rolls her eyes.  “I do?”

 “You’re doing this on purpose.”

 Regina chuckles.  “Doing what?”

 “Being facetious.”

 “Why would I do that?”

 “Because you get some sick pleasure out of torturing me.”

 “Hmmm,” Regina answers in a maybe sort of way.  “Though ‘sick’ is not the word I would use for the torture I normally have in mind for pleasure.”

 Emma pales, her eyes round and she mutters, “What?”  And Regina wants to laugh in delight at the reaction, knowing she rarely ever talks of anything overtly sexual with the woman. Things are changing between them and Regina fights the urge to flirt.

 “You are asking me if Mal and I were ever in a relationship.”

 “Yes.”

 “Were we involved?”

 “Yes!”

 “No.”

 “No?”

 “No.”  But there is teasing in Regina’s tone.  “It was just sex.  Lots of casual, no-strings-attached-sex.”

 Color flushes bright red on her cheeks and Emma clenches her jaw, feeling the center of a joke.  “I hate you,” she replies without any real meaning because it is obvious that she doesn’t, and she can’t help but slowly grin, then, at Regina’s bewitching laughter.

 “Seriously, you’re evil, you know that?”

 “So, I’ve been told.”  Regina wipes a mirthful tear from her eye.  

 As it becomes quiet and Emma lightly scratches at the other side of the cauldron, honesty grabs Regina and she admits, “In truth, Mal was my very first sexual experience with a woman.  She was so impressive and experienced, knowing a lot more than me about nearly everything.”

 “The appeal of the older woman.”

 “Perhaps.  Yes.  It was never emotional.  I think her heart had always belonged elsewhere.”

 “Lilly’s Dad?”

 “Or King Stefan.  We never spoke of it, but she was usually sad in matters of the heart.  I was young and what we had was more enjoyable than anything I had to endure in my marriage bed, so…”  Regina stops when she sees Emma cringe.  She slaps herself inwardly at forgetting the association there.  

 “Anyway, getting back to your question, it was only sex. Nothing more.”  She watches Emma slide her fingers absently back and forth along the cauldron’s rim and reassures her.  “Really, Emma.”

 “Yeah, ok.”

 It’s as if Regina can hear Emma compartmentalize all this new information, though she can still sense the jealousy lingering and knowing that Emma is jealous thrills her, but she tries to put a stopper on it.

 Reading Emma’s eyes, there are new thoughts arising in the woman already and Regina is enchanted by the blonde bending over the cauldron and wiggling her fingers, pretending to cast a spell.

 “Eye of newt, and toe of frog.  Wool of bat, and tongue of dog. Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg, and owlet’s wing.  For a charm of powerful trouble.  Like a hell-broth boil and bubble!". Emma rears back with a wicked cackle and Regina is shaking her head at the woman’s silliness, but still tickled by it. Being with Emma Swan is never dull and she’ll never admit it, but she often finds the ridiculous side of the woman charming.  “What? Didn’t you ever read Shakespeare?”

 “Not like that.”

 “It’s one of the few things I remember from high school. Macbeth.”  Emma rounded the large metal pot drawing hesitantly near her.  “Besides, I’ve got to think of something else besides how insanely jealous it makes me to think about you and Maleficent.”

 “Emma.”

 “What about Ruby?”  The question wasn’t thrown out accusingly, but in soft curiosity.  “Did you ever sleep with Ruby?”

 “Emma.”

 “Were there countless chamber maids? Peasant girls?  Other princesses?”

 “You’re being absurd.  Besides, it’s irrelevant to what is going on now, don’t you think?”

 “What about Tina at the fish market? Or Lesley at the book store or Maggie at the pharmacy?”

 The jealousy that was once waning is now radiating off the woman and Regina struggles with what to do about it. There has only been one woman in Storybrooke that she has ever wanted.

 “Emma…”

 “Charisse at the bank is pretty cute.”

 Grudgingly, Regina stirs. “Oh?  Is that so?”  It quickly dawns on her that all these attractive women mentioned might have caught the sheriff’s fancy at one point and the mayor must drag in a long breath to calm her temper.

 Emma stops in front of Regina and rests her arm on the rim now and it’s the daring in the woman’s eyes that is the older woman’s undoing.

 Springing into action, Regina defies her rational mind and grabs Emma’s head, holding it steady for her kiss’ assault, wanting to alleviate any jealousy that either one of them is feeling.  

 The younger woman is caught off guard but as soon as their lips touch, Emma’s head angles and her free arm wraps around Regina’s waist, keeping their bodies pressed together firmly.  Regina’s tongue invades, demanding surrender and when Emma gives it via a lusty moan, Regina pushes off and takes two steps back, putting a safe distance between them.

 They stare at each other, desire still evident and their chests heave with their ragged breathing.

 “You kissed me that time.”

 “Yes,” Regina rasps in a breathy tone. “I’m…”  Not sorry.  “I should not have done that.”

 “No.  Probably not.  But I’m not complaining.”

 Regina covers her mouth, her lips still tingling from that amazing kiss and she turns and walks further away, ashamed at her lack of control.

 “You don’t have to move away, Regina. I like being close to you.”

 “Yes.  I like it too which is why we need some space between us.  You are a married woman.  I brought us to my vault to talk.”

 Emma’s jaw works in a determined fashion and she nods in agreement.  “Right.”

 To Regina’s impressed amazement, Emma waves her hand, just bending it at the wrist twice and two chairs slide over from their odd and different places in the room, one to each woman.  “Let’s talk. Honestly and openly.”

 “Alright.”

 They both sit and fold their hands in their laps.  When more quiet moments than necessary go by, Regina smirks, “Truth.”

 “Yes.  Should I cast a binding truth spell?”

 “Do you think I would lie?”

 “I just want us to talk and get it all out.”

 “I don’t think a binding spell is needed.”

 “Okay.”

 Regina ponders a question and moistens her lips before asking, “What do you want, Emma?”

 “You.”  The quick simplicity of the answer sends a pleasant vibration through Regina and she catches her lips between her teeth to keep from grinning. “Next question.”

 “This isn’t an interrogation.”

 “No.  It’s a revelation long overdue.”

 “How long?”

 “Since I got here.  To Storybrooke.”

 “That’s a long time.”

 “Well, I wanted you from the beginning, Regina.  Even though I was trying to tell myself that love-at-first-sight was stupid and didn’t exist.”

 Blinking wide eyes at her, Regina gasps. “You were in love with me?”

 “Yes.  No.  I don’t know. I just know that when I met you there was an instant attraction, connection and in that moment an overwhelming sensation to want to protect you and make everything alright for you came over me. I have never felt like that for anyone before, so it was the closest thing I had to believing that love-at-first-sight exists.”

 Comfortable warmth envelopes the brunette and she feels as if her heart is throbbing to a larger size for her guest sitting five feet away from her.

 “My turn.  How do you feel about me?”

 “Besides being irritated at and annoyed by you at times?”

 Sighing, Emma rolls her eyes. “This is why I suggested the truth-binding spell.”

 “That wouldn’t have been right. We can’t force people to expose their most hidden thoughts.”

 “Agreed but I need you to be honest with me.  Please, Regina.  I just upturned my life and I need some answers.”

 “But I didn’t make you upturn your life.”

 “No.  No, you didn’t.”

 “And all of this has become my problem as well now.”

 Emma stands up abruptly and wipes her brow, perturbed.  “I’m sorry for causing problems.  I’ll go.”

 “What?  No.”

 “I shouldn’t have asked you over, but I needed you.  I shouldn’t have let you bring me over here, but I wanted to be with you.”

 “Emma.”

 “But maybe I just need to be alone. Ultimately, I guess it doesn’t matter how you feel because what I learned and how it made me feel, makes me realize that Hook and I don’t have the kind of love that married couples should have.  Not if a newsflash such as this could change everything so suddenly.”  Emma fidgets. then tries to walk past Regina.  “I should go.”

 “No!”  Fearfully. Regina clutches a hand around Emma’s wrist, stands up and gathers the woman in a tight embrace, one that offer unwavering support and unspoken love.  “I am here for you, Emma.”  She is relieved that the woman relaxes in her arms, but they still held on to one another.

 When they part, Regina shakes Emma meaningfully while keeping her at arm’s length.  “Emma, I’m not good at speaking about my feelings.  I rarely admit them to myself, let alone to anyone else.  If I have ever been as truthful as possible where they are concerned, it’s been with Henry, you and, as of late, your mother.”

 “What about Zelena?”

 Regina drops her hands at her side and jokes, humor a necessity, “Oh, Zelena too, with some things, but she just laughs at me.”

 Emma snorts.  “Siblings.”  They both share a chuckle before Regina ventures with, “I care deeply for you, Emma.  I think I even love you, though…” a sad look passes over, “I doubt that I really know how to love well.  I’m still learning to be open and vulnerable.”

 Emma’s eyes are full nearly to bursting but they smile when she does.  “That’s where you’re wrong, Regina.  You love so intensely that the people you care about consider it such a tremendous gift.”  She takes Regina’s hands in hers.  “I’ve come to value your friendship so much.”

 Teary eyes of her own crinkling, Regina promises.  “We’ll get through this, Emma.”  She wants to say more, needs to say more but alarm bells go off in her head and she frowns with the dread that fills her middle.

 Henry.

 “What is it Regina?”  Emma senses something happening.  She and Regina were always in sync about this and she knows something is wrong.

 “I left a note for Henry, telling him where I would be, and I put an added protection spell around the house before I left.  The kind that monitors the house for security.”

 “Okay.  So… what’s happened?  Is Henry okay?”

 “I… think he is, but…”. Regina squints and then her eyes widen as huge as saucers as she says, “Hook.  Hook is in my house.”

#swan queen #jcsq fanfiction #the newsflash that broke emma swan #swan queen fanfiction #jcsq writing exercise

[whats-a-queen-without-a-king]

Will it work part 1-3

Finally yay I really think this came out well. This is the three part fan-fiction based off the au of true love kiss being able to break the barrier. Hope you like it 💓💓

Will it work

One

Uma and Harry have been friends for about a while. Harry a year older than Uma who is now 10 . She’s been hearing more stories from her mother about this thing called ‘true loves kiss’. About how because of it she failed to get the hand of the prince yadda, yadda if it wasn’t because of it she would’ve won blah blah blah she’s heard all before. She rolls her eyes as she walk to the beach where she knows he will be.

This has bothering her for a while if it exist or not so she has decided to try it out and who better than with her future first mate. He’s her only guy friend so far so he’s her only option. The annoying over bearing son of Captain Hook who always teases her about how short she is or a least he used to before she broke his nose. She thought that would make him leave her alone but it didn’t. He just smiled and “ I like you lass wanna become mates.? After she told not to call her but still begrudgingly agrees because he’s the only person who’s asked and from there a beautiful friendship was formed. They have been causing havoc since. Stealing food and trinkets alike from stores. Pulling pranks on maleficent goblins, it has been fun.

She finally gets to the beach and looks around. She spots him near the sea just looking out playing with the sound. She wonders for a second what was wrong but then she tells her self why would she care, villains don’t care about others feelings because they have none of there own. With that she cooly walks up to him from behind and taps his shoulder. He quickly shoots up but once he sees who it is he visibly relaxes. "Uma what are-“ She cuts him of by clumsy shoves there lips together wanting to get this over with. Harry tenses. Nothing she thinks with a hint of disappointment. Then she feels how soft his lips are and her stomach flips. Frightened she pushes him and walks away without a word. Her mind races as she wonders just what in the seven seas was that. She decides to not think about it more as her shoulders slump with defeat. She was such an idiot to think that true loves kiss exist that it even could be powerful enough to get Harry and her out of this horrible place. She kicks a can in her way and goes to her mother shop to start the chores. That night she cried for the first time, just silent tears streaming down her face as she vows to never believe in such fairy tails. Those are only for princess and princes. Kings and queens she thought bitterly. She will find another way out. A fire starts to burn in her eyes. I will not be stuck here all my life to waste away. I will get my revenge on those who put me here. With that thought she falls asleep. On that night as well Harry is kept up by his unrelating thoughts. He wonders in his hammock just what made Uma kiss him then walk away without so much as an explanation and why did it feel so nice. He wants to ask but something tells him to just leave it alone. Harry decides to go with his gut feeling as he falls asleep unaware that the winds have changed and his path with his soon to be beloved captain starts tomorrow.

The barrier has become thinner.

Two

Harry-16 yrs old Uma-15 yrs old

Uma shakes her head, 'oh how naive she was to believe that true loves kiss was ever real. There no true love on a prison devoid of tedious things.' She makes her way to Harry and hers secret spot.It’s a small cove near the sea and when the night comes the moonlight shines off the crystals just right embedded all around the cave. It becomes their personal night sky. Her favorite along with Harrys is the one that shines brighter than the rest our own star to the right. She chuckles as she thinks about it. Her laughter is cut short as she thinks about what she's been feeling lately for her oldest friend. For a while now shes been having this warm sensation when she’s with him in their little cove, when their stealing or just when ever he's in her presence in general. She’s been pushing it down trying to snuff it out but it just keeps growing like a fungus so she has decided to ignore it. Uma finally get there and breath a sigh of relief. ‘Finally’ as she sits down one one of the big rocks that recede in the cove. A lot has changed since they were children. Life at home has gotten worse over the years for the both of them. Her mother has started giving her the night shift more and more. Her feet ache, her bones feel like their gonna break and her hands are starting to get cracks from all the washing she has to do. While Harry has had to deal with his dads mood swings and temper. Umas seen the scars and bruises. Uma has always felt a resentment towards hook for touching Harry. She tells herself it's because he's a good partner to have around. He can make anyone back off with a well place threat and a smile but there always this voice in the back her head saying it's because he's hurting him. She can't do any thing but watch and she positively seithes at the fact. day she always vows, one day she will be able to protect him from his father and protect herself. For now she's has to be content with the fact that she can at the very best patch him up for the most part. There’s no bandages so she has to make a make shift one with spare cloth for her hands and his cuts. They don't talk about it just make sure they both have clean bandages when need arises. She lies down with an exhausted sigh and closes her eyes for the first time in three days.

Then she hears a footsteps coming and looks up. What she sees makes all her tiredness go away in a flash. Speak of the devil. Harrys at the mouth of the cave breathing hard with his eyes clouded with what can only be described as pure unadulterated rage. He has a broken lip and scratches all across his body. His clothes are tattered. ‘Harry’ his head twitches and he doesn’t look at me just stomps in to the cave and stands in the middles of it still as a statue. ‘ He out of it’ Uma thinks ‘ I doubt he even truly realizes I’m here.’ Uma face softens ‘I need to bring him back but how? ’ She slowly walks up to Harry till she standing right it front of him.

She can feel the heat rolling off of him and she wants to burn in it. She tries to ignore how her affects her and focuses on the task at hand. “Harry!”, nothing. She gently takes a hold of his chin,”harry look at me” Uma says softly. His eyes flickered to Umas but they don’t lock she sighs he’s too deep. Then a crazy thought pops into her head ‘kiss him’ She pulled away her hand and look down fighting the blush on her cheeks,” where the hell did that come from, I can’t this is a weakness that we can’t afford to have.” She won’t admit that she is afraid of what she might feel if she kisses those pink lips again. She can’t no won't admit that she has yearned for those lips since she was eight. Then she’s pulled out her inner thoughts when he starts to tremble. Uma looks back up again and sees that his eyes now speak murder. ‘ I need to do something. NOW!’ She crashes their lips together before she can talk herself out of it. There’s a spark. She feels him relax and quickly pulls away. Uma takes one step back and looks him in the eyes. There in shock but she can see he has come back to his senses. She quickly down again because she can't stand to look in to his eyes any longer. Uma nods to her self and speaks ” Come on let's get you patched up. I've got some bandages back at the shop." With that she briskly walks passed him. ‘His lips are still as soft as I remember ’ She shoves that thought violently to the back of mind and realize she doesn’t hear Harry follow her and looks back to see him still standing there

Uma yells “Harry you coming ” He snaps out of it and turns to her with a smirk “ Always captain” He winks as Uma rolls her eyes everything goes back to normal for if his captain didn’t t want to acknowledge what happened her wouldn’t. Harry knows she not ready to accept what he has, so he waits silently and patiently till the day she becomes his as much as he is hers.

What they didn’t know is that the barrier started to crack for only one of them has accepted what happening between them.

Three

Harry-17 Uma -16

‘I failed my crew my people….harry’ Something tightened in her chest as the last name flew through her mind. With her eyes on sea she reflected on the events that just transpired. ‘How could’ve I have let this happen the. The wand was right there we all could’ve been free, all of us.’ She ripped her hair out of its bun and let out a cry. Calm seas soon turned in to a blur of deep blues. Uma made no move to stop the wetness on her cheeks she deserved to feel this, her weakness. A bitter smile fell across her face ‘ha undone by true loves kiss, how pathetic’ she let out a watery chuckle. “Just like my mother.” She was so trapped in her thoughts she didn’t noticed the fall of heavy leather boots coming her way.

She was soon brought her thoughts by the deep thuds. The scent of leather and seawater filled her senses as she took a quick look at her first mate. She gasped “Harry” That’s when she broke. Everything came like a tilde wave her shame ,her sadness, her anger ; everything. Heat started to spread across her chest. Her necklace now only reacted to her emotions. Shining bright as they over ran her whole form. Uma shoulders shook as she let out sob after painful sob “captain ” Harry breathed as he feel to his knees in front of her with a deep thud. Uma head shot up her lips in a flat line. Anger now overcame everything, “ Captain. CAPTAIN I AM NO CAPTAIN.” Her voiced lower down to a whisper as she shifter her gaze to the sea. “ I failed you all. Where still on stuck on this hellhole. I let out best chance slip through my fingers.” She slowly shook her head “ I don’t deserve to be captain”

At that Harry grab her chin. Desperation mixed with determination swam in his now dark blue eyes. “ Now ye listen here” his voice hard “ Don’t you ever think or even say those words again. You deserve this title more than anyone on this godforsaken isle and so what if you lost this battle the war isn’t over yet lass.” A smirk flashed across his lips but then it vanished. His voice became so quiet that even uma had to strain to hear him. “ We are gonna get out of here I swear it. Even if I have to break the barrier down my self piece by piece. By now his head was on her shoulder each word a brush of lips and a breath upon her neck. She shivered as she heard . Even when she doubted herself, her first mate never did. She failed him yet he still believed in their cause , still believed in her. Heat spread across her chest as her necklace glowed ever brighter with a emotion she couldn’t quiet decipher. Harry lifted up his head to look at her once more. She held his jaw as he pressed him for head to hers. With breaths in sync they bask in each other’s presence. Uma knows how much he needs this, to know that’s she’s real even though she wishes she would just sink in to floor.

“Uma “ he breathes her breath hitches. Harry gently presses his lips to her cheek and brings her in to a hug. Uma is over welded once more and more tears spill over her cheek. Harry kisses her teal braid ” I was so worried that ye wouldn’t come back in one piece you would believe how happy I was to see you here. Ay almost couldn’t believe you were real” confirming her pervious thoughts. “Harry I’m fine you didn’t have to worry so much. I’m right here in front of you and I’m not leaving anytime soon.” Heat rises in her cheeks as she buries her face in his chest. Harry’s grip tightens “Good” She returns the sentiment and in that moment she forgets about her failure and focus just on the beat of his steady strong and always by her side. Harry pulls back and uma looks up her brows scrunched up in confusion.

Then there eyes connect and all she can see is those intense eyes is….love. In that moment she realizes what emotion her necklace is glowing and she beams up at him. Harry mouth tilts up on one side, “Now lass what ye smiling about” he teased Uma response by pressing her lips to his. She feels that spark once again buts it’s more this time like lightening crashing in her she loved it. Harry quickly falls in to kiss. ‘Finally’ They kiss gets deeper, heavier as all their suppressed passion, lust, and love at last pour out. Uma has accepted her true love. Their lungs start to burn ever so sweetly as recently pulls away but not without one last lingering kiss. Panting they eyes shut in bliss. Harry opens his eyes and looks to sky to thank his for this girl and for this moment. Then he sees it

The barrier…..it breaking

“Uma” he cries out shocking her. Uma flinches by the sudden change of mood. She looks up at Harry and see him look at something behind her and turns. What she sees she can’t truly believe at first the barrier is breaking. She can see pieces of already starting to disappear but how. Then it hits her necklace always reacting when harry is around, the spark she feels when ever they kiss, how she feels complete when ever he’s around, her rock her constant on this hellhole. True loves kiss one of the most powerful thing on earth of course those idiots in auradon would’ve never made measures against it because who would find true love on and island devioded of love itself. She looks back at Harry their both wearing the same look of disbelief and pure happiness. “True love kiss Harry. Can you believe it.” Her eyes shine as she crashes her lips to his in victory. She pulled away her eyes shining with glee and the promise of revenge on those whom wronged them. The queen of the isle was gonna make those pretty princess and perfect princes pay for leaving them here. She grabbed the back of Harry’s neck and pressed hia forehead to hers. She looked in to his eyes and sees the maniac glee in them reflecting her own. The king and queen of the isle were coming. Uma takes a hold of his hand and their off to the lost revenge. With one final thought in Umas mind, ‘No matter how many battles they’ve lost the war will be theirs’

#huma #uma x harry hook

[justanoutlawfic]

Again

This is a new fic that @bauerfanstraten helped me develop. It’s going to feature Star Swan, Dragon Queen and Snowing, with minor Rumbelle and Tinkerbae. It’s an AU on pretty much the whole series, though some things will remain the same. This chapter is mainly Emma, Lily and Henry. The next chapter is when we meet everyone else.

Also on AO3/FF

“When it's good, it's so good When it's bad, it's so bad Maybe I really have gone mad! What am I supposed to say When I end up driving everyone away? Cause, I am on fire A crying, burning liar Seeing nothing, nothing, but myself And I'm the one with the lighter”-Crusher

 In a world where Zelena was Rumple's prodigy.

 Where Snow and her prince teamed up with Maleficent and her queen to save their children.

 But a fairy's lie would lead them to fail.

 Two babies and one former puppet went through the wardrobe.

 Three orphaned children, three different fates. And this is the story of how two of them became a family.

*****

Emma stared down at the pregnancy test, it felt very heavy in her hands. Neal had left her with two things, apparently. The yellow bug…and a baby.

 She was serving an 11-month sentence, she hadn’t ever paid much attention in health class, but she knew that babies took approximately 9 months to come. She wouldn’t be even done with her sentence when the kid came. What was she supposed to do? Put it in the system? No, that very one had failed her time and time again.

 But what was her other option? This was the only family she had. Could she really give it away?

 “You promised, friends forever.”

 Lily’s words swarmed in her mind. Her first best friend, her only one really. The girl she had walked away from, twice. She had spent so much time resenting her for screwing up that foster family for her, being upset with her for lying. But she couldn’t help but feel a connection to her. Lily was always there, in her own way. Being with her, it was like finally having a family. She had long since forgiven Lily, but had she forgiven Emma for walking away?

 There was only one way to find out.

 The prison allowed internet access to those with good behavior. Emma mostly kept to herself, completing her tasks and not getting into fights with the other inmates, so she qualified for 30 minutes of monitored access.

 It didn’t take very long for her to find the Lilith Page that she was looking for. To her surprise, she was living in Arizona. She sent her an e-mail, hoping for the best.

 One week past, then two. Soon, it had been a couple of months. Emma was losing hope and a social worker had come by to visit her a couple of times, asking what her intentions were for the baby. Just when she was about to give up and face that she was going to have to give the kid up, a guard entered her cell.

 “You have a visitor, Swan.”

 Emma felt her breath catch as she hoisted herself up and followed him down to the visitor center. Sitting at one of the cafeteria style tables was Lily. She had gotten a bit taller over the years, but her style seemed to be the same: hoodie, beat up jeans and a beanie. Emma sat across from her, waiting for the guard to leave them be, before making eye contact with her.

 “You came,” she said.

“Thank you for stating the obvious.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “I just meant that I e-mailed you a couple of months ago.”

“I wasn’t sure if I should come.”

“Why did you?”

Lily bit her lip. “Because…you don’t give up on the people you love.”

 Emma stared at her for a minute. Those four words, only two people had ever said them to her before: Nea and Ingrid. Both had screwed her over so badly, despite how badly she had loved them back. Still, she knew she loved Lily, she had to. That was the reason she had called her back there.

 Emma ran a hand through her tangled curls.  “I…I’m sorry I just shut you out.”

“I understand, sort of. I mean...I screwed things up for you, again.”

“You were a kid, we both were. I never should’ve lied to them in the first place.”

“Did you ever get a family?”

She shook her head. “You talk to your adoptive parents ever again?”

“Nope,” Lily replied, popping the p.  “I’m still a disgrace.”

“That’s not true.”

“To them it is.”

Emma sighed. “I’m really sorry, Lily.”

“To be honest, when I heard from you again…it made me happy.”

“Even if it’s because I need your help?”

“I owe you one, don’t I?”

“Do you think you can handle it?”

 Lily looked down at Emma’s stomach. With her jumpsuit, no one could make out the barely there baby bump. Most of her fellow inmates didn’t know that she was pregnant yet, just a few of the guards and the prison doctor. She reflected on what the older man told her on the train after they separated last time. If it was true, if her mothers were trapped under a curse, along with Emma’s parents, this could be their one way to reunite with them together. They could find their families. Heck, they could be a family.

 She nodded. “How far along are you?”

“About 3 months.” Emma rubbed her stomach. “I…I don’t know how it’ll work.”

“Is the father a problem?”

She shook her head. “He took off, leaving me alone to take the fall for the watches.”

“Right.”

“Do you have a job?”

“Yes.”

“When I get out, I’ll find a way to pay you back.”

“Just…just don’t leave me again. I meant what I said, Emma. When I’m with you, things are brighter.”

Emma softly smiled. “Yeah…we did have some good times together.”

 Lily reached across, touching her hand. Emma let out a deep breath, feeling a weight lifted off her shoulders. She squeezed it, smiling as she gazed into Lily’s eyes.

 “No touching!” A guard barked.

Lily sighed, pulling away from her. “One day, I won’t be able to keep my hands off of you.”

Emma smirked. “I can’t wait for that day.”

 For the next 6 months, Lily came to visit Emma once a week. She brought her new books to read and in exchange, Emma would give her sonogram pictures or drawings that she had done. They talked until the guards kicked Lily out and they were forced to say goodbye. With each visit, Emma found her heart aching when Lily would leave. As the months went by, she feared saying goodbye to the baby inside of her, even though she knew it would be brief. She knew that Lily could take good care of him or her. It was still scary to think that she would go without parenting them for 2 months.

 Lily got the call in the middle of the night that her girlfriend had gone into labor. She rushed to the hospital and found Emma’s ankle shackled to the bed, a sight which made her cringe. She looked over to the guard that had been sent to watch over her.

 “Is that really necessary?” She asked.

The guard shrugged. “Policy.”

Lily rolled her eyes and walked over to Emma, taking her hand. “How you doing?”

“Scared,” Emma whispered.

“It’s going to be okay, you’re doing great.”

“You just got here, how would you know?”

“Because Emma Swan, you are the bravest person I know.”

 Emma spared her a smile and she kept on clinging to her hand through the labor. When it came time to push, Emma was screaming even louder. The lights above flickered as she gave the final push.

 “It’s a boy!” The doctor cried out.

“A boy,” Lily grinned. “We have a boy!”

“A boy,” Emma breathed. “I want to see him.”

“Would you like to cut the cord, Lily?” The doctor asked.

 Lily nodded and walked over, following his instructions on how to do it. The doctor wrapped the baby up in a blanket and placed him on Emma’s chest. Lily was back at her side, both of them having tears of joy pouring down their faces. He was amazing in every single way, their precious little boy.

 Later on, once she had delivered the after birth, Emma laid in bed holding the baby, with Lily curled up to her side. The next day, Lily would have to take the baby and she wouldn’t get to see them for a bit. The prison didn’t allow children to visit, so it would be 2 months until she would get to hold her son again. She wasn’t going to waste a minute of it.

 “This is going to sound bad, but I only had girl names,” Emma admitted. “I never even thought of any girl ones.”

 Lily reflected on the stories that the old man had told her once on that train. If they were true, she was pretty sure she had a name. After the grandfather that died while trying to protect them and after one of her mothers’ first loves.

 “Henry,” she whispered. “Henry Daniel.”

Emma tilted her head. “Where’d that come from?”

“I just…I’ve been thinking of names too.”

She thought about it for a minute and then smiled. “I like it. Henry Daniel Page-Swan.”

“Oh Emma, you don’t have to…”

“You’re his mom, too.”

 Lily grinned and leaned her head up, kissing her cheek. Their first real kiss wasn’t about to be under the watch of some stupid guard, that would have to wait until Emma got out of prison. The tears filled up in Emma’s eyes again.

 “Promise me, Lily, promise me that you’re going to take care of him.”

“I will.”

“No, I’m serious. He…he can’t end up like us. You have to promise me…”

“Emma,” Lily put her hand on her cheek. “I promise, I am not going to let a thing happen to this baby. He’s going to be fine, we’re going to be fine. In 2 months, we’ll come and get you, okay?”

Emma let out a deep breath and kissed the top of Henry’s head. “Okay.”

 Letting go of Henry for those 2 months was the hardest thing that Emma had ever done. Lily sent pictures and promised her that she was recording daily videos of their lives, so she wouldn’t miss a thing. He was going to a daycare and he seemed to be doing well there.

 After 8 long weeks, Emma was finally free. She walked out of the prison to find Lily standing there, Henry in her arms. He had gotten so big in their time apart. She ran to them, wrapping her arms around Lily. She gave Henry a kiss.

 “Hey honey, remember me? I’m your mommy,” she whispered. “I missed you so much.” She looked up at Lily and smiled. “I missed your mama, too.”

 She leaned in, kissing her. It was a kiss both girls had waited on for 6 years and nothing had ever tasted sweeter.

 They stayed in Phoenix for a bit, but it didn’t feel like home. Both had been discovered as infants in Massachusetts, they felt like maybe it was time to return to their roots. They finally had enough saved around Henry’s first birthday and took the trek up there, with boxes filling up the trunk of the yellow bug and Henry in his car seat. The journey was long, with lots of pit stops and mini-arguments, but it was worth it.

 Together, they got a tiny apartment in Boston. Lily became a waitress at a diner around the corner and Emma got a job as a bail bondsperson. They couldn’t always afford to give Henry the newest toys or clothes, but he was cared for and happy. They were all happy.

 Then, shortly after Henry’s 2nd birthday, they got a knock on the door.

 On the other side stood Neal Cassidy, a book of fairytales in hand.

#star swan #emma x lily #lily x emma #dragon queen #regina x maleficent #maleficent x regina #snowing #snow x charming #charming x snow #david x snow #snow x david #emma swan #lily page #lillith page #regina mills #maleficent ouat #snow white #david nolan #david charming #prince charming #henry mills #ouat fic #ouat #bauerfanstraten #au

[advocatewrites-blog]

Simple/Clean Chapter 6

Simple/Clean: An Original Character’s Story

Fandom: Kingdom Hearts (1, with mentions of other installments)

Synopsis: There are many worlds, but they share the same sky. One Sky, one Destiny. And when that destiny is threatened, the universe calls on one hero to save the day. Or, more like, five. When the Earth is consumed into Darkness, Danielle Scott and her friends are given the Keys between light and darkness. If they are going to save the worlds and find her brother, they are going to have to go on a multiverse-wide road trip to find the Door to Light. If only they had a better weapon than keys.

Rated: +K for violence and occasional language

Disclaimer: The Kingdom Hearts series was created by Tetsuya Nomura and owned by Square Enix. The Final Fantasy series was created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and owned by Square Enix. The films depicted were created by the Walt Disney Animation Studios and owned by the Walt Disney Company. Any other work mentioned or homaged are property of their respective owners. This is a non-profit fan-based work that only seeks to entertain. Please support the official releases.

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Chapter 6: About Two Arabian Nights

 The sloshing noise of walking through water filled the caverns of the sewer system.

“Yoo-hoo!” Yuffie's voice echoed through the walls, too cheerful to ever be perceived as menacing. “We're back!”

She appeared in the gateway, followed closely by Sora, Donald and Goofy. She stopped as she realized that, however cold the sewer was, it was a lot colder around the table.

“Wassup?” Yuffie said. “You're even gloomier than usual. And that’s saying a lot.”

She hopped over the fence without a second's thought. Sora looked surprised for only a fraction of a second, and settled for breaking it open with his Keyblade.

“Maleficent's in town.” Cloud repeated his message.

Yuffie's demeanor broke almost instantly, which told Dani that something was really wrong.

“Cloud?” Sora asked. “How did you get here?”

“I have my ways.” Cloud said, not so much as cryptically as much as he didn't want to get into it.

Dani looked up from her tea. “No, seriously, how did you get here? Cause we have a spaceship and...”

“That's not important right now.” Leon said. “We need to focus on Maleficent.”

“Right!” Katie said. “And...who is she?”

“She's a witch!” Cid snapped. “And things that rhyme with that that I can’t say in front of you kids!”

“She is the one that controls the Heartless.” Aerith said more helpfully. “We lost our world, thanks to her.”

“Oh.” Dani said.

The sewers, if possible, grew colder. Dani shifted in her seat as she tried to think of something, anything that could fix the problem.

“Hey, Miss Aerith, this tea is great!”

It didn't work.

“It's possible she's looking for Ansem's research.” Leon said. “But we haven't had those for years.”

“Sorry, who is Ansem?” Sora asked.

“He was our ruler,” Aerith said. “Back in the word we had before Traverse Town. He dedicated his life to studying the Heartless. If anyone knows any weaknesses, it's him.”

“We lost them when the world was destroyed.” Leon said, bitterness thick in his tone. “She probably has most of them back.”

“Well, then let's get them back!”

All heads turned to Dani.

“Why not?” She continued and stood from her seat. Cid’s eye twitched, but she couldn’t figure out why until much later. “It can't be too hard!”

“Right!” Sora said.

They continued to stare at her, as if she had grown a second head, grown a third head, and the third head ate the other. Still, Dani didn't flinch.

Finally, Cloud broke his gaze. He buried his face lower into his cowl. “I don't know why I expected anything different from you seven.”

Dani thought that was a compliment. She took it as one, at least.

“I don’t know. I mean, she’s perfect, you know? Why would she want to go out with someone like me?”

“Well, if you keep putting her on a pedestal like that, definitely not.” Katie said.

“She's right.” Nadine continued. “If you keep thinking she's some unattainable goddess or something, you're never going to get enough courage to ask her out.”

“Yeah...” The man said. “Yeah, yeah! You're right! Thanks! It means a lot to get that off my chest.”

“No problem!” Donald said. “Now, can you GET US OUT OF THIS QUICKSAND!”

The man's eyes shot wide open as he realized the situation.

“Oh! Sorry!”

Just as the sand was going up to Katie's chin, the man dug out an oddly shaped lamp from his pockets.

“Come on out Genie, and save these guys from the quicksand!”

Sparks of blue and smoke spilled from the tip, forming a great creature.

“AND A BIG CONGRATULATIONS TO TODAY'S CONTESTANT, A-LA-DDIN! RUB-A-DUB-DUB OF THE LAMP AND HAVE YOUR DEEPEST WISH GRANTED!”

“WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR INTRODUCTION!” Dani shouted before her mouth was filled with sand.

“Oh, alright!” The creature sighed.

It snapped its fingers, and Katie found herself collapsed on the very solid ground.

“Thanks,” Sora said as he scrambled back to his feet. “You're a life saver.”

“You're lucky we came by when we did.” Aladdin said. “Caravans almost never come out this far.”

“Yeah,” Nadine said. “What were you doing out here again?”

“It wasn't entirely optional.” Aladdin said. “But hey, I managed to get this pretty cool lamp out of it.”

“Not to mention the prize inside.” The blue creature said. “Anyone of your deepest desires granted; three wishes courtesy of the one and only, GENIE OF THE LAMP!”

It leaned in close to Goofy, but Katie could make out the words anyway. “Somerestrictionsapplyofferwhilesupplieslast.”

Maybe Katie imagined it, but she thought she saw its eyes light up a little when she and the others laughed.

“So you're a djinni?” Nadine asked.

“No, didn't ya hear me, kid? G-E-N-I-E.” The djinni said. Letters appeared next to him as he wrote it.

“Yeah, but djinni is spelled D-J-I-N-N-I in a Latin alphabet.” Katie said.

“Yes, but that's not my name.”

“So you're a djinni named Genie?” Sora asked.

“Sure, let's work with that!” Genie said.

The djinni shifted the nebulous blob it had of a body to sprout a second head, and turned its attention to Aladdin. “So, what'll be wish number 2?”

Aladdin hummed in thought. “Well, you said I could have any wish I wanted?”

Genie shifted again getting rid of his second head.

“But of course! Well, you can't force anyone to love yourself, and ooh—whatever God you believe in help you if you try to wish for infinite power--”

“No love...” Aladdin mumbled. “Well, let me think about it for a minute.”

“Not a problem!” Genie said. “Gives me more time to enjoy this fresh Agrabah air!”

Katie wasn't an expert, but she could tell that the fresh Agrabah air smelled a lost like camel poop and felt a lot like dying.  “Don't get out much?” She asked.

“Oi, kid, I'm lucky if I get out every century or so.” Genie said.

“Sounds rough.” Sora said.

“No kidding. INFINITE COSMIC POWER! Itty bitty living space. Completely at the mercy of whatever smuck finds the lamp. Like you, Al.”

Aladdin tilted his head in thought. “Well, what if I fixed that?”

Genie, for the first time in possibly his life, froze. “What?”

“Can't I use my last wish to set you free?”

“A-Al...you would really do that for me?”

“Sure. But let's focus first. For my second wish, I want you to make me a wealthy prince!”

“You've got it!”

“Alright, alright, Prince Ali is getting' ready for his walk down downtown Agrabah! LET'S DO ROLL CALL! 75 golden camels, 150 golden camel carriers, 53 peacocks, 10 peacock gurls, 95 white Persian monkeys, 95 white Persian monkey carriers, 60 elephants, 10 drum camels, 24 bell carriers, 18 swordsmen—CAREFUL WITH THEM SWORDS!--5 dancers the original animators had a little too much fun with, 12 flag carriers, 4 fanning gurls, 12 carriers manning the giant gorilla balloon, 20 guys ta carry the needless plates of riches, 3 llamas, 3 bears, 3 lions, 6-piece brass band, 40 fakirs, 3 cooks, 2 bakers, 4 bird carriers, 40 tropical birds who warble on key...alright that's all of us! Ya sure this is necessary, kid?”

“Of course!” Aladdin said. “Gotta impress her somehow.”

“Yeah and nothing impresses a girl more than needless plates of riches.” Genie muttered under his breath.

However, Genie was not going to break character that easily. It was too long since he was able to practice in front of an audience, and even if the kid from fantasy land Persia would not recognize a modern worker from Queens, he wasn't going to lose his chance.

“Alright then! Just like we practiced, people! Abu, you're an elephant now, act like one. LET'S MOVE OUT!”

 Aladdin left the palace with a grim look on his face. The once proud Ali Abagwa now stood with his shoulders hunched in and his eyes cast to his feet. It was easy to remember him now as someone who wished for all these riches.

“So,” Katie said in a near sing-song, smiling widely. “How'd it go?”

“Terrible.” Aladdin said. “She hates me.”

Genie conjured up two office chairs and a long plush couch. Aladdin flopped head first onto the couch, not at all concerned that it was not there two seconds ago. Hanna, sensing where this was going, left her game of chess to sit on the second chair.

“Now then, Mr. Din,” Genie spoke in a thick German accent. For just a second, he changed his form to have a white beard, balding hair, and thick glasses. “Tell me about your mother.”

“Oh, she has nothing to do with it.” Aladdin said with a dejected laugh. He rolled over onto his back, so he was watching the sky. “Jasmine doesn't want to talk to me. Apparently she hates the rich princely type.”

“So this was completely pointless?” Hanna asked.

“How else was I supposed to talk to her?” Aladdin asked. “Only a prince can marry a princess.”

“Wait, this was about marriage?” Nadine asked. “How often have you talked to her, again?”

Aladdin legitimately had to think about it. “Twice?”

“Don't think too much about it. These things always happen here.” Genie whispered in close to her ear.

Hanna wasn't sure if she wanted to believe him.

“Listen, Al.” Genie said. “I'm gonna put this as simply as I can.”

He removed the therapist décor, causing Aladdin and Hanna to fall. He conjured up a chalkboard, already written on, and graduate cap for himself.

“Tell, her, the,” He read along. He flipped over the chalkboard, where a neon sign hung. “TRUTH!”

“What, and make her hate me even more?” Aladdin said.  He beat the illusion away with his hat. “She's never going to fall for some...street rat like me. She'd laugh at me.”

“And what's wrong with that?” Genie asked. He morphed his face onto Aladdin's hat. “Who doesn't appreciate a little bit of humor in a guy? Look at me!”

“He has a point!” Hanna said. “And if you do marry her—which is very unlikely and kinda dangerous—but it you do, you're going to have to be honest with her eventually. Why don't you try to be yourself?”

“That's the last person I want to be.” Aladdin said.

Hanna didn't know what to say to that. Neither did Genie, apparently. The flying carpet might have, but he wasn't equipped to do so.

“I'm heading out.” Aladdin said. “Try to make another impression on her. How do I look?”

Genie sighed. “Princely.”

That was exactly what Aladdin was looking to hear. It wasn't what he needed.

Aladdin flew off on the magic carpet. The two left waited until he was just out of sight.

“He's an idiot.” Genie said definitely.

“I'm rooting for him.” Hanna said defensively.

“Oh no kidding, he's the best master I've had in the last 500 years by boy does he need some serious help with the ladies.” Genie said.

“Well, why don't you try to stop him?” Hanna asked.

“Kid, there's a hierarchy to all this. Master makes his three wishes, I grant them. No room in-between for debating or interfering.” Genie said. “Now, do I have any relationship expert impressions? Ruth Westheimer, maybe? Nah, too obscure…”

“Okay, why do you keep doing that?” Dani finally asked.

“What, my impressions?” Genie asked.

“Yeah! You're from this world, so why do you know so much about Earth pop culture?” Dani continued.

“And while we're on the topic,” Nadine continued. “Are other worlds like Earth, or are we just projecting?”

Genie shifted. “Well, you see kids--”

“Guys!” Sora burst through the palace gates. “We have Heartless trouble!”

“Oh thank Allah a distraction!” Genie said. In a rush, he conjured up an entire 100-piece Civil War-era cavalry. “TALLY HO!”

 Nice of you to come.

Ugh…I’m going to die anyway.

I won’t have to be afraid anymore.

But I’m not going to die alone. You’re all coming with me!

His skin was white as snow. Tendrils of muscle fibers covered his body and held him in place. Yet he still looked humanoid. A chill ran down Dani’s back when she saw him, the same kind she saw when she saw the other mysterious Heartless.

It was another ghost Heartless.

Hanna looked around the crowded streets of Agrabah. “Maybe this isn’t the best place to get involved in a fight to the death—”

The ghost Heartless raised his hand, and a set of fireballs hurled themselves towards the group. Dani and Sora jumped up and batted them back.

“Do you think any of you can use your cool Keyblade bonus powers?” Sora asked.

Katie thought for a minute, summoning her other keyblade and batting another fireball back.

“Yeah we’re good!”

More spells came flying their way. Spells that weren’t quite fire and weren’t quite Darkness, but looked and acted enough like it that Dani did not care for specifics. Hanna raised her Keyblades and reflected them back.

“I’m going to try and get close.” Nadine said. “It shouldn’t be too hard if I hover like before.”

“I’ll keep you covered.” Hanna said.

It took Nadine few steps before the magic took effect and lifted her off her feet. Hanna ran right beside her, blocking the incoming magic spells with her Keyblades and her shield.

“And what do we do?” Dani asked.

Katie looked around the narrow streets of Agrabah. “I have an idea!”

She jumped onto the awnings covering the shops. It bounced under her, giving her enough of a boost to get onto the building’s roof. The others followed.

Katie jumped from rooftop to rooftop, until she stood just above the ghost Heartless. She jumped down, dragging both of her Keyblades through the thing’s face. Dani came next. Sora was right behind her.

Dani caught herself on the next awning. It gave under her weight like a trampoline. It let her bounce back and attack the ghost again. The others followed suit.

The ghost Heartless tried to bat them away with more spells, but it was hard for him to focus with three humans in front of his face and stabbing him in the eyes. He hardly noticed the other humans and the large Fire spell they sent straight towards him.

When the smoke cleared, he was gone.

“That was quick.” Katie said. She remained bouncing on the awning, unsure of where to go from there.

“Let’s be thankful for that.” Nadine said. “The less time we spend in a life-or-death battle, the better.”

Katie hummed in thought. Her jumping didn’t stop.

“Oh!” She called. “Hi Donald! Hi Goofy! Where were you guys!”

Donald was only momentarily distracted by the destruction caused by the magic. Goofy hardly noticed it, and gave Katie a wave.

“Never mind!” Donald said, mostly to himself. To the rest of the group, he said “Genie’s gone missing!”

“My first wish, djinni, show me the Keyhole!”

“Hey, Al, what's the big deal, I thought we agreed on the last wi--” Genie froze as he saw who he was talking to. “Oops. Uh...wrong guy.”

By some miracle, the magic carpet had managed to drag all nine of them through the desert toward the opening of the Cave of Wonders.

It was kind of hard to miss.

“Key-bearers...Diamond in the rough...” A booming voice came out of the mouth-shaped opening. “You know why you are here. Save the Princess, and seal the Keyhole. Take nothing but the lamp.”

The cave opened wider, allowing the passage.

“Wow.” Katie said. “Our caves don't talk to us. And they're much less impressive. The best we have is that mountain carving shaped like a bear in California.”

“Let's not waste any time.” Aladdin said as he led the group.

The second Dani took a step into the Cave, it became clear that it was big. It was a lot bigger than the opening gave it credit for. However, it also appeared very small due to how much stuff was in it. Piles upon piles of gold and treasure were stacked through the cave, reaching as high as the ceiling. Only a few small paths had been carved out through the floor.

And it stretched on for literal miles.

“She could be anywhere at this point!” Donald complained.

“This way!” Sora called. He was already halfway through a path.

“Where are you going?” Dani asked.

“I don't know why...but I know to go this way!” Sora said. “I think they Keyblade might be telling me!”

“Well I also have a Keyblade and I have no idea what you're talking about!” Nadine called after.

Sora turned over his shoulder. He was giving them a look. On any other person, it would look almost childish. Sora, precious ray of sunlight incarnate, on the other hand…

They ran off after him. The Cave of Wonders turned out to be even bigger than the last room, alternating between rooms of treasure, rooms full of death traps, and both. Just as Dani was beginning to doubt Sora, she started to hear something.

Maniacal laughter. “Excellent work, Genie! If you keep this up, we can rule the world together!”

Genie muttering under his breath.

“Why Jafar, are you intending to strike out on your own?” This voice was a lot different. Feminine. Cold. Sinister. Dani fought the feeling of the hairs on the back of her neck rising.

“A-ah! Maleficent! I was only--”

“Try me. I can easily find a replacement for you.”

Very awkward silence followed.

“Never mind. I'm taking the Princess.”

They were getting close now. Dani turned the corner, and found herself in another room. Three people—or at least one person, one djinni, and someone...thing else—stood at the far end of the room, right in front of a large Keyhole.

“Where's Jasmine, Jafar?” Aladdin demanded.

Jafar sneered. “I'm afraid I can't tell you that.” His attention turned to the...person standing next to him.

Genie conjured up as many neon signs and arrows as he could to point toward the jar.

“Wait a sec...” Sora said. “You're Maleficent, aren't you?”

The person sneered towards them. In a blink of an eye, she and the jar beside her were gone.

“Djinni!” Jafar turned his attention towards Genie. In a flash, the arrows disappeared, and Genie whistled inconspicuously. “Crush these sewer rats for me!”

“That's a terrible waste of a wish!” Katie said.

“Sorry kids.” For the first time, Genie was unnaturally quite. “The one with the lamp calls the shots.”

Genie grew. The big hall suddenly became very small as it was filled with all-powerful djinni. Power and magic crackled about Dani, causing her to grip her Keyblade a bit more.

“ALRIGHT, FIRST BLAST OF LIGHTNING COMING THAT WAY!”

Genie pointed vaguely. A bolt of lightning hit nothing.

“OAKIE DOKIE, NEXT BLAST COMING TO YOUR...RIGHT!”

Katie had to jump out of the way of that one, but just barely.

“NEXT UP, ON YOUR LEFT!”

That one hit Goofy dead on. Nobody worried, because they knew he would be okay.

“What are you doing, djinni!” Jafar demanded.

“Why, sir, I'm fighting them just like you asked.” Genie said casually.

“That is not fighting! If you won't fight them, Djinni...”

Jafar seemed to think to himself. His eyes lit up in a wonderful, awful idea. “Djinni! My last wish! Make me an all-powerful djinni just like you!”

Genie made a face Dani couldn't read at Jafar. He and Aladdin exchanged a look.

“Yes.” Aladdin and Katie said in near unison. “Do that.”

“You've got it, Master!” Genie said. He snapped his fingers.

The power Genie had imposed was nothing compared to Jafar's. The air grew thick with magic. Red smoke filled the room, sending sparks flying erratically at them. Through shadows, Dani saw Jafar's body shift; from one of bone and blood to one of magic and smoke. He grew, nearly twice the size of what Genie had been at his most menacing. Dani felt the Keyblade slip from her grasp, too afraid and distracted to keep it summoned. The djinni laughed manically. The room shook with the vibrations of his voice.

“NOW YOU'LL ALL SEE….JUST HOW--”

Aladdin dove to grab the newly formed black lamp that had appeared in the confusion. The smoke, including the djinni inside, was pulled inside. And in seconds, all signs that Jafar had been there at all were gone.

“The one with the lamp calls the shots, Jafar.” Aladdin said.

“Well that was anticlimatic.” Dani grumbled.

“Hey! Gift horse! Mouth! Less time we spend in a battle to the death the better!” Nadine said.

Genie snatched the lamp from Aladdin's grasp. “Man, I've never been more happy to get rid of a master than that one! I'm gonna take this lamp and...BURY IT! IT'LL NEVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY AGAIN!”

Dani watched Genie conjure up some gardening supplies for himself for a minute before she realized the room was now being filled with a bright golden light.

“Sora!” Donald called. “The Keyhole!”

“Right!”

Sora turned toward the large keyhole at the end of the building. A tip of light expelled from his keyblade. A soft click noise filled the air.

Then the room started shaking.

“What's going on?” Katie asked.

“The Cave doesn't like to stay open for too long.” Genie said. “The whole thing's gonna collapse in on itself!”

“Then let's not talk about it and get out of here!” Nadine shouted.

Ten people scrambled to the magic carpet. That left Aladdin.

“Al, did you not notice the building's about to fall apart?”

“Jasmine's still missing!” Aladdin said. “I don't want to leave without her!”

“Aladdin, she's gone!” Dani replied. “You're not going to find her here!”

“I have to try!”

“She's probably on a different world by now! If you stay here, all you'll find is death!”

Aladdin froze. Dani only kind of realize what she was saying but was distracted by the bits of ceiling falling out of the ground. Genie settled on grabbing Aladdin by the collar and snapping his fingers.

The next breath Dani took was one of fresh Agrabah air. They were back in the desert, just as the sun was rising up. All eleven of them watched in silence as the Cave of Wonders closed its mouth and submerged itself in the sand again.

Genie broke the silence first. “Congratulations Katie, you got your first wish of not dying.”

“Hooray!” Katie said.

“What do you mean she's on another world?” Aladdin asked. It took Dani a minute to realize his attention was on her.

“Way to go.” Donald said.

Dani opened her mouth to defend herself to Donald, but thought better of it. “About what I said, honestly. Maleficent probably took her to another world. We can try and find her for you, but...”

“Take me with you! Let me look for her with you!” Aladdin said.

Dani tried to avoid making eye contact on that one.

“We can't.” Donald said for her. “We're already interfering enough as is.”

Aladdin took a shaky breath. His shoulders slumped. Dani was fairly certain that if she didn't do something now, he would start crying on her.

Fortunately, she didn't need to. Genie got back up and hovered closer to Aladdin. “Earth to Al? You still have one last wish!”

“But I thought--”

“Hey.” Genie's cheery disposition hadn't faded, but the smile seemed unnaturally forced. “Just say the word, Al. Ask me to find Jasmine for you.”

Aladdin was lost in thought. After what felt like a very long time, he picked the lamp back up again.

“Alright. Genie...I wish for your freedom!”

“Alright, snap of the fingers and—wait what?”

Magic swirled about him again. Blue smoke filled Dani's line of vision, obscuring Genie from view. Unlike Jafar, however, this felt almost pleasant. They were breezes in the otherwise scorching desert. The magic flashed, and the smoke faded…

All that had changed about Genie was his gauntlets were gone and he now had legs.

“Al!” He exclaimed.

“Hey! A deal's a deal!” Aladdin said.

Genie looked to be at a loss for words. He settled on pulling Aladdin in a tight hug.

“Ah, heck! All of ya! Group hug!”

The group hug was crushing but Dani couldn’t feel quite bad about it.

“Oh man, do I have a multiverse I wanna explore!” Genie said. “Sorry Katie, but you’re two wishes are up! I serve no man!”

“Dangit…” Katie mumbled.

“Don’t worry about it kid.” Genie said. He took the lamp from Aladdin and handed it to Genie. “That place’s still my home, you know? Whenever you feel like you need the help of an all-powerful djinni, just give me a little rub and I’ll come running!”

Genie continued to ramble about his trip preparations, but Dani didn’t listen. Her eyes were on Katie as she carefully pulled out crumbled pieces of paper from the lid.

“The Reports of Ansem the Wise…” She read aloud.

“How are you feeling?”

He was pretty sure that was meant to be a rhetorical question. Nobody answered, at any rate.

“It's pitch black in here. Why don't you turn on the lights?”

“I feel more comfortable in the dark.” The other one in the room said.

He shrugged. If it made the other comfortable, he could bear it.

“I see...then are you ready to become a member of our team?”

That one really did not want to be answered.

He decided to speak. “I'm just here to find my sisters. If you can help me do that...then sure.”

Author’s Note: Aladdin will always be one of my favorite Disney movies. What really sold it to me was that my copy came with the Diamond in the Rough special feature; a 2 hour long panel with the animators of the film talking about how the movie was made and the animation process. If you are an animation buff, try and hunt it down. It is absolutely worth the watch.

Cid just wants you to sit your ass down and drink your goddamn tea. Why won’t you listen to him?

#Fic #OCS #Simple/Clean #Dani Scott #Hanna Scott #Katie Williams #Nadine Anderson #Sora #Donald Duck #Goofy #Squall/Leon #Yuffie #Aerith #Cid #Maleficent