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melanielocke · 3 years

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Lost in the Shadows - chapter 11

AO3

Chapter list is getting a bit long, link to all chapters is on my pinned post.

Taglist: @nott-the-best @foxglove-airmid @alastair-esfandiyar-carstairs1 @justanormaldemon @styxdrawings @ipromiseiwillwrite

Cordelia dreamt of a castle in the middle of the forest. She wasn’t sure what was happening, all she knew was she needed to get away, this wasn’t right. There was a woman with empty eyes and long dark hair, something similar to what Thomas had described when he’d seen the washer woman? She was carrying a basket with bloodied clothes and bent over into a stream to wash them. This had to be her, the same woman Thomas had seen.

‘Bearer of cortana,’ she hissed, her voice an awful shriek. ‘Beware the thief of souls.’

Cordelia woke up and when she checked her phone she realized it was noon. Everyone had to be up already, she rarely slept this late. She had gone to bed at eleven yesterday and fallen asleep rather soon, which meant she had slept for thirteen hours. Cordelia wondered why, she rarely slept this long. Yesterday had been a long and exhausting day for sure, but this exhausting? She picked out a simple dress and changed. Dresses were easy in that regard, since it only required her to pick out one item of clothing and she was done, instead of having to match several pieces.

Lucie was eating at the table, and Cordelia wondered if that was her breakfast or lunch. Considering the time, probably lunch.

‘Did you sleep well?’ she asked. ‘I was beginning to wonder if you were going to wake up at all, or if you needed a prince to come kiss you awake. Or princess. Royal figure of indetermined gender.’

‘I did have a weird dream,’ Cordelia said, rubbing her eyes. ‘I only just woke up. Which is weird, because I don’t usually sleep for thirteen hours.’

‘You must be very well rested then,’ Lucie said, getting up from her seat to make Cordelia some toast.

Cordelia yawned. ‘Not really. Any news?’

‘You’re the only one who slept late,’ Lucie said. ‘Thomas and Alastair went to take another walk, they’re not back yet. I’ve been theorizing on what Tatiana is doing, or what Grace is and where she came from, but so far I’m not getting any further than her trying to bring back Jesse.’

‘Alastair is an early riser, always has been,’ Cordelia said. ‘Thomas too, apparently.’

Alastair often had nightmares and with his irregular sleeping pattern, Cordelia sometimes wasn’t sure if he slept at all. And he wondered why he was always tired.

‘Uncle Gideon still thinks he might be able to reach his sister, and went into the village again,’ Lucie added. ‘Dad is with him, he doesn’t trust Tatiana but is willing to give it one more chance. So far, they didn’t find her.’

Cordelia didn’t know Tatiana and didn’t want to judge, but if her intention was to bring back her son, she wasn’t sure Gideon would be able to change her mind.

‘Have you ever heard of the thief of souls?’ Cordelia asked.

Lucie frowned. ‘Maybe… It does sound like something out of a book, maybe. Although that could have been thief of hearts too. No, doesn’t ring any bells.’

‘In my dream someone said “Beware the thief of souls”,’ Cordelia said. ‘It could be just an ordinary dream, but I can’t be sure. It might be important.’

Cordelia tried to connect the term with what Lucie had learnt about Jesse Blackthorn. He’d died, and he’d disappeared somewhere, reappearing recently around the same time a washer woman warned Thomas of unpaid debts.

‘What if Jesse didn’t just die?’ Cordelia suggested. ‘What if this thief of souls is called by that title because it takes people’s souls in exchange for whatever someone asks for, and that’s what happened to Jesse.’

‘And then Tatiana made another deal to get him back, and right now he is a ghost,’ Lucie said. ‘Which might explain why the debt is no longer considered paid even if Jesse is still dead.’

‘But if that’s true, then how can we save Thomas?’ Cordelia asked. ‘We’d have to give back Jesse.’

‘Or we defeat the thief of souls,’ Lucie suggested. ‘That way we can save both Jesse and Thomas. No one deserves to be held as a price by such a being.’

‘Can something called the thief of souls even be killed though,’ Cordelia mused. ‘It sounds like a very powerful, perhaps even immortal being.’

‘They say cortana can kill anything, right?’ Lucie said.

‘You’re right, they say it can even kill immortal beings. But I’m not sure even with cortana I would stand a chance against such a thing, there’s also the matter of fighting it. I’m not giving up on either of them and if it comes down to a fight, I will fight. But perhaps we’re overlooking something and there’s another way to save them both.’

Still, if there was a way to kill such a thing, it was cortana. Cordelia would give it her best. She’d always wanted to be a hero, now she would have to prove she had what it took.

‘I don’t like giving up on Jesse’s soul,’ Lucie said. ‘And we definitely can’t let Thomas die.’

‘Either way, I’m going to practice,’ Cordelia said.

She and Alastair had practiced fighting together in childhood, both carrying wooden swords that had been made to match cortana in weight distribution. Since the real sword was so sharp, practicing with it together was too dangerous, but the wooden swords had worked. Alastair had lost interest in his early teens after cortana had chosen Cordelia, only joining her in practice when she begged him to.

She was used to the sword now, to its weight, the way it felt in her hand, and she knew how to fight with it. She’d never actually fought anything though, and according to her father that was the best way to learn. He’d trained her when she was very young. Their training together had become less and less frequent though, and for a long time Cordelia thought it was because he’d gotten sick.

She practiced her movement with the sword, repeating combinations of both attacks and defenses in one fluid motion. Cordelia had never doubted that someday she would fight evil with cortana. It was her destiny after all, and someone had to carry the sword. She’d always wanted to be a hero, like her father once was.

But now everything was coming much closer than she liked. Now Thomas’ life was in danger and Cordelia had no idea how to save him. Now she realized cortana alone might not be enough. Not when she had no idea what to fight, no idea what was coming to claim Thomas’ life. She wasn’t so sure anymore if this life was going to be what she dreamed it would be. She was scared she would end up like her father. Alastair refused to admit it, but Cordelia suspected he shared that fear, even if he had decided he didn’t want to devote his life to the supernatural.

‘That looks good,’ Lucie said. ‘Could you teach me, how to use a weapon?’

Cordelia frowned. ‘I only have cortana, I don’t have any other swords. Alastair does have daggers though. When he comes back, you could ask him to borrow one. Even if you don’t know how to fight with it, you would have a chance to defend yourself.’

Cordelia continued with some more complicated moves, practicing swift dodges followed by attacks. She had to be ready for anything. Lucie returned inside, and emerged a while later with a glass of water.

‘You need anything to drink?’

Cordelia gratefully took the glass of water and drunk it all as fast as she could, spilling a few drops. When training, Cordelia tended to get lost in herself and forget to drink. Lucie had the same problem when she was writing, but had several daily phone alarms telling her to drink.

‘I looked up that boy in the lake to see if they made any progress in the investigation,’ Lucie said. ‘So far it seems like he drowned, but the parents requested an autopsy because they think it’s unlikely since their son is such a good swimmer.’

Cordelia had expected as much. ‘At least now the parents have some closure. Poor child.’

‘I can’t imagine,’ Lucie said. ‘And the story of being trapped, it’s so similar to what Jesse said. Although the boy didn’t mention seeing any monsters or being stalked by something.’

‘There are vague stories of people getting trapped in places in the wild, but I’ve never seen anything that proves it’s real,’ Cordelia said. ‘Nothing like you described, at least not in the stories I remember from my father.’

‘I imagine most people don’t live to tell the tale,’ Lucie said.

‘I know, but… My father might have survived such a thing, and I don’t think I ever heard about it from him.’

Cordelia suspected that with the many years her father had travelled the world to slay evil creatures, he had told her and Alastair the most exciting stories and there were a few she might not have heard. Though she imagined something trapping people would be considered exciting. Perhaps her father did know more, but Cordelia was terrified to contact him, and she didn’t want to ask anyone else to either.

She still felt betrayed by him. She could sympathize with an addiction, it was an illness and she couldn’t blame him for seeking something that eased his pain. She knew her father had seen things most only saw in horror movies, she understood why he might want to forget. But he’d lied to her about it. She knew why Alastair had wanted to protect her, she didn’t blame him for not telling her the truth. Her father though? He’d gladly gone along with Alastair’s attempts to keep her in the dark, pretending to be overcome with sickness when he was drunk. Pretending the scent of alcohol was really medication for his illness. He’d often asked for her when he was sick, and she’d gone to read him stories, to keep him company while he rested. She hadn’t understood at the time, why Alastair didn’t like her taking care of him, why he’d insisted Father was sick and needed sleep even when her father kept asking for her.

As a dutiful daughter, she’d always gone when her father asked for her. She’d read him stories, kept him company, believing he was sick and not drunk. She had given up other obligations for him. She’d missed school parties she’d been excited about, because she couldn’t bear to leave her sick father after he’d asked her to stay.

Only now did she realize that as a father, he should have encouraged her to go anyway and have fun. That taking care of her father was not her responsibility and he should not have expected her to give up so much for him. Alastair had always tried to convince her that it was fine, that he could take care of Father too and he didn’t need her there. A couple of times he had managed to convince her, Alastair insisting she would regret it for a long time if she missed Lucie’s birthday party. She was still grateful that Alastair had practically dragged her away that day. No one else had shown up for Lucie, all the other children she’d invited thought she was weird and at that age Lucie had been desperate to be liked by her peers. Cordelia had almost abandoned Lucie too.

Now she understood why father had always asked for her, and not Alastair or her mother. She’d always believed it was because she was more like her father, because she was more affectionate whereas Alastair and her mother were rather closed off. Now she understood her father had preferred her because she was the only one who didn’t know he was drunk, because she would be kind and feel sorry for his sickness whereas Alastair resented him for being too drunk to be take care of his children. No, even if he knew the most about the supernatural from all his travels, Cordelia was not ready to call him to ask and she would never ask Alastair to do such a thing. No matter how betrayed she felt, what he’d been through was worse and he should never have to speak to their father again.

‘You alright, Daisy?’ Lucie asked.

‘Just thinking,’ she said. ‘Maybe my father does know more, but I can’t… I really can’t ask him.’

Lucie nodded. ‘I understand. If you really think he knows more, perhaps dad can call him instead to ask. And perhaps uncle Gabriel and aunt Cecily know more as well.’

Cordelia figured she could ask, but she feared her father would make it difficult for them. She’d learnt just how manipulative he could be, and she could easily imagine him refusing to talk to Will unless he’d let him talk to her.

Cordelia decided to practice a little longer, it had been a while with everything that had happened lately, and there wasn’t much space or opportunity at her aunt Risa’s apartment. She couldn’t be unprepared.

Lucie sat down to watch, book in hand, but Cordelia didn’t think she was making any progress reading. Instead, Cordelia caught her staring at her movement. Perhaps Lucie was studying her movements, in an attempt to learn more about fighting herself. Ultimately, it all came down to practice though. You didn’t learn how to fight by watching other people do it.

‘Aren’t Alastair and Thomas taking a little long?’ Lucie wondered. ‘They left early in the morning.’

‘I figured they’d be at the cottage with Sophie,’ Cordelia said. ‘They’re not?’

‘Mom is there with aunt Sophie,’ Lucie said. ‘She just texted me, we could come over for some tea as well. She mentions all four of us, apparently aunt Sophie would like it if Thomas came back for tea as well. So mom must have assumed they returned here after she left.’

Cordelia frowned. ‘What time is it?’

‘Four in the afternoon,’ Lucie said. ‘Dad also texted that he and uncle Gideon couldn’t find Tatiana and are coming back. But I haven’t heard anything from Alastair and Thomas. I’m not sure about Alastair, but it’s not like Thomas to disappear for so long and not let anyone know.’

Alastair could lose track of time on his long walks, but this was extreme even for his standards, and he would have at least texted her by now if he’d changed plans.

‘That is one long walk’ Cordelia said. ‘I’ll call Alastair.’

She turned cortana back into her necklace and took her phone out of her pocket, calling her brother. He didn’t answer, which was unlike him. She tried again. Nothing. She texted him instead, asking him if he was alright and when to expect him back. Alastair didn’t receive the message, maybe his phone had died. He rarely forgot to charge it though.

‘He’s not answering,’ Cordelia said. ‘I’ll try Thomas.’

Thomas didn’t pick up either, after several tries, and when Cordelia texted him he didn’t receive anything either.

‘Nothing either.’

‘Perhaps they don’t have cell service,’ Lucie said. ‘If you go far enough into the woods, that would happen.’

Cordelia guessed Lucie had a point, but that didn’t explain why they were spending almost a whole day into the woods. They weren’t experienced hikers, they must get tired at some point, right? And they would have at least let someone know if they would be gone for so long, this was worrying even for Alastair.

‘Maybe we should go looking for them.’

‘They could be making out though, maybe they don’t want to be interrupted,’ Lucie suggested.

Cordelia frowned. ‘In the middle of the woods?’

Lucie shrugged. ‘Who am I to judge?’

‘They’ve been gone for long enough that I think we should go looking,’ Cordelia said. ‘They could be in trouble.’

She put on some different shoes that were better suited for the forest and texted Will they were going to look for Alastair and Thomas, warning them to come find them if they took too long.

‘Do you really think they could be in trouble?’ Lucie asked when they walked into the forest, nervous.

Cordelia understood Lucie was scared, but if she was then how had she run after Tatiana into the woods just yesterday evening? If anything, her friend was chaotic.

The forest was a bit darker than she was used to in the bright sun, which was odd. The fog was a little thicker than usual, and Cordelia made sure to stay close to Lucie.

‘I don’t know,’ Cordelia said. ‘But only one way to be sure.’

A howl pierced the air. Cordelia could only tell the general direction it was coming from. It didn’t quite sound like a wolf, but it was similar enough.

‘Stay behind me,’ Cordelia said, removing her necklace and taking cortana into her hand. ‘I don’t know what that is, but I’m not going to let it harm my brother.’

#Cordelia Carstairs #Lucie Herondale #Thomas Lightwood #Alastair Carstairs #Lucelia #Thomastair #Fanfiction #fic #the last hours #tlh

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maraudersandlily20 · 4 years

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"so, how's your baby daddy?" for a prompt? could be humorous or angsty, anything you feel like!

It had been so sudden, such a small moment, so seemingly inconsequential, that if he hadn’t been paying attention, he might have missed it. The mission had been a back and forth type of scenario, each side landing curses on the other, but neither getting any leverage. James was unsure of how they had ended up in the rocky landscape, running through a ravine and trying not to trip. It was difficult to avoid tripping, but he had a firm grip on Dorcas’ hand and refused to let them get separated.

“We have to get out of here!” She yelled over the commotion. James could only nod his agreement before turning around to face their attackers. With horror, he noticed that they were beginning to bounce spells off of the rock formations, making some tumble between the two running groups.

“Dorky, I think we’re in trouble.”

“What do you mean?”

James pointed at the Death Eaters casting curses that could very well cause a rockslide. If successful, they could make the entire canyon fall in on itself. Dorcas looked at James in horror and the two began running harder, holding each other's hand in a death grip.

The ravine started to narrow, the formations on either side looking more and more precarious as they went along. If they could just make it a bit further, just past one more bend, they might be able to find a place to hide and apparate.

And then he heard it.

“PRONGS!”

The voice rang out amidst the chaos and James slowed and turned back to the oncoming attackers. At the front of the group, just barely in front of the others, was Regulus Black.

Regulus Black was calling out to him.

Regulus Black had just called him Prongs.

He was running, his thin long legs making the strides seem much easier to cover. James wasn’t sure what to do. If he stopped for Regulus, it could be a trap. But Regulus had never called James by his nickname before. He wasn’t even aware that Regulus knew about it at all.

Their eyes met for a moment, and James felt like time slowed down as he watched Regulus, Dorcas pulling at his hand to keep him moving.

“Watch me,” Regulus mouthed clearly. James wasn’t aware of what he would be watching, but his eyes were glued to the 17 year old, who was studying the sides of the Ravine. When he had found what he was looking for, he held up his wand and prepared to shout a curse. But just before he did, he looked at James again and yelled the word “DROP”!

Unaware of why he was listening to Regulus, someone who was supposed to be his sworn enemy, James did as he was told and grabbed a hold of Dorcas, throwing them both on the ground, keeping her underneath him.

As James was watching, he saw Regulus shout out a curse and a dark purple spell fly through the air, to one side of the ravine and then the other. It made contact with the rocks that loomed over them, and then they exploded. Both sides of the ravine wall flew towards each other, colliding in a large and loud eruption. And it happened perhaps 10 paces away from where James and Dorcas cowered. There were a few rocks that landed around them, but neither of them were hurt.

When it sounded like the rocks had settled, James looked up in awe. Regulus had, somehow, broken through the entire sheet of rock, breaking up the entirety of the ravine, all the while creating a large barrier between James, Dorcas, and those that pursued them. It became a physical wall towering over them, and it was not lost on James what had happened. Regulus had created a separation, a barrier, a chance to escape. Regulus had, in that one moment, saved their lives.

James clamored to his feet and helped Dorcas do the same. She coughed a few times from the dust, her curls coated in dirt. With wide eyes, she gaped at the stone wall that had been built. She looked up at James, confusion clear in her face, and whispering, “Did Regulus Black just save our lives?”

“I… I think he did.”

They stared in silence, listening to hear if any of their pursuers were attempting to get over the rocks before Dorcas squeezed James’ hand, pulled out her wand, and then they were gone.

They fell in a dirty heap in front of the current rendezvous point of the order, wincing as they collided with the earth. James knew that the running had taken a great deal out of both of them, and so pushed off of Dorcas and laid on his back, gazing up at the clouds that were moving slowly by. It was a complete contrast to what they had just come from.

The door of the small house burst open and Gideon Prewitt fell out, his wand pointing toward the invisible enemy.

“Dorcas, what did you call me the first time we met?” He asked, using a question that no imposter would know the answer to.

“An illegitimate use of oxygen.”

“James, what color socks did you give me for my birthday?”

“I didn’t give you socks, Gid. I gave Fab socks, and I gave you a hat. And I knitted them myself for you both and they were black.”

“Alright,” Gideon said, becoming less tense. “Get inside, the both of you.”

They did as they were told, scrambling to their feet and heading toward the safety of the hide out. As soon as they were through the door, Marlene was holding onto Dorcas tightly, refusing to let her go. James received a similar treatment from Remus, who hugged him tightly before kissing his cheek in relief. Next, he was embraced by his wife, who had been in the kitchen upon their arrival. They were offered drinks and food, which they both accepted. Dorcas went to shower while James found himself in a side bedroom, asking for some quiet, as he had been exhausted by the mission. That had been true, but he really needed a moment to process what had happened in that ravine.

Regulus Black had just saved his life.

Regulus Black had just destroyed a ravine so completely that it had created a wall.

Regulus Black had just betrayed his own people, for him and for Dorcas.

Regulus Black had just called James Prongs.

Regulus Black, Regulus Black, Regulus Black…

His mind was swimming, and he threw open the window to get some cool air against his face. He settled against the foot of the bed, wrapping his arms around his legs. He tried to breathe evenly, but every time he closed his eyes, he saw those silver grey eyes, that pale face, unruly curled black hair, so many familiar features. Features that belonged to one of James’ favorite people in the world. The face that James had seen in the ravine, the moment before he was saved, that looked so much like Sirius.

Because his window was open, he heard the moment that Sirius returned to the house. He walked up, his gate graceful on the steps. He entered the house and James could imagine what was happening. He would kiss Remus hello, shake Gideon’s hand or some nonsense, kiss Lily and then ask about him. And sure enough, he heard through the wall: “So, how's your baby daddy?" Lily laughed and explained that James had wanted some rest.

Sirius was persistent and stubborn and the fact that James had said he wanted sleep wouldn’t stop him from going to check on him. The knob on the door twisted and light spilled inside, presumably illuminating James’ who sat curled on the floor, staring out of the window in silence.

“Prongs?” Sirius said, his voice ringing in concern.

That nickname startled James coming from Sirius’ voice, causing him to flinch. Sirius stepped in, shocked by the reaction. “Prongs, what happened? What’s wrong?”

James turned to look at Sirius, taking in his long hair tied back, the way his eyes squinted when he was worried, and how funny he looked in his leather jacket and his fluffy socks, which he wore under his leather boots. As he looked at him, though, he could see the face of his brother, running just behind them in the ravine. Regulus holding his wand out. Regulus calling out to him. Regulus telling him to drop to the ground… Regulus saving his life. It played like an instant replay in his mind. He looked so much like Sirius that it felt hard to breathe.

“Prongs?”

James felt the tears sting his eyes as he stared at his best friend. Because now he couldn’t see just Sirius. Sirius, his best friend who he trusted more than anyone, who was kind and loving and brave. Sirius, who loved him so much. James could see it in his eyes as he looked at him, that never ending and eternal love.

Because now he had seen it on another face, in another set of eyes, identical to the ones that watched him now. He had seen that same look of love and concern, just hours before, in Regulus’ eyes.

Sirius moved toward him, dropping to the floor and wrapping his best friend in his arms, allowing James to curl into him and cry harder. He wasn’t sure why he was so jarred by what had happened, but it touched a part of him that he hadn’t been aware of. Seeing Regulus in that ravine, watching him save his life, made James question everything that had happened to him so far and what he could have done to change it. What he could have done to save Regulus before the ravine. What he could have done to love Regulus back.

“I think,” he hiccuped, trying to speak clearly. “I think I’ve been wrong about everything.” And then he grabbed onto Sirius tightly, wishing he could hug Regulus just as hard.

#hello I fucking love regulus black #I only ever want to write about him and how much I love him #he is #honestly #the zuko of the marauders #he never gets any recognition or limelight #but that boy went through one hell of a character arc #sirius black #lily evans #my writing #james potter #remus lupin #marauders

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bunnymagia · 3 years

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harrow the ninth spoilers / theory

apologies if this is literally the most basic, already well-understood thing but i was re-reading Harrow the Ninth and something occurred to me that I didn't catch the first time: in the chapter where harrowhark travels into the River to find palamedes, i think we're meant to understand that harrow and palamedes were on the verge of True Lyctorhood back at canaan house. consider the following:

You sat down on that overcushioned bed, and you looked up at his long, grave face; you tried to remember if you had ever seen it, before it was summarily blown off by gunshot. You really did try. When you closed your eyes, there was nothing cauterized upon the eyelids - except a little redness. You said, "A human mind cannot live this way, Sextus. Being stuck in place is any revenant's undoing, unless it has a very specific anchor. Eventually it will lose purchase - it will let go - it will return to the River. I cannot imagine the type of mind that would hold on to that edge, and keep holding."

"I can, and it scares me," he said heavily. "Look. How long have I been dead, Nonagesimus?"

"Eight months," you said, "give or take."

He took off those thick lenses and looked at you with diamond-grey horror. His face was homely; he looked somewhat like a break, a chin, and a jaw put together as a joke - but the beauty of his eyes made the whole attractive, as though they were a mould colonizing the rest of the stratum.

He spluttered, "Eight months?"

"I don't have an exact record, but--"

"What? Why did it take you so long? It should have taken you a week, tops."

"Excuse my apparently sluggard pace," you said, feeling that this was an unjust accusation, "but your cavalier only just brought me your bones, and regarding that I have more than one question to ask her--"

His brows were crisscrossing like swords. "How did you and Cam get separated in the first place?"

"I was not aware I owed a debt of care to--"

"I mean she wouldn't have left your side, if you'd given her half a chance--"

You lost your patience. It was difficult to say if you'd ever had any; you'd just spackled over the hole with curiosity.

"Warden of the Sixth House," you demanded, "why are you acting as though I should know you? Why are you acting as though your cavalier knows me? I am Harrowhark the First, formerly and in everlasting affections the Reverend Daughter of Dearburh: I am the ninth saint to serve the King Undying, one among his fists and his gestures. I did not know you in this life, and I will not know you in the next one."

He stopped dead.

"You became a Lyctor," he said.

"That was always the plan."

"Not for the Harrowhark I knew. Tell me you did it correctly," he said, and there was a quick, questioning eagerness to his voice, something beneath the confusion. "Tell me you finished the work. You out of everyone could have worked out the end to the beginning I was starting to explicate. Your cavalier, Reverend Daughter--"

"Has become the furnace of my Lyctorhood," you said.

The dead Warden stopped. He looked at your face as though his eyes could peel through dermis, fascia, and bone. And he said, quietly: "How God takes - and takes - and takes."

(bold mine)

so this is interesting, right? he finds out that she's a lyctor, and the first thing he does is ask about her cavalier. he would not have done this if he didn't realize there was a way to become a lyctor without eating your cavalier. and his disappointment when harrow says that her cavalier is dead - and the way he turns right to god -

remember that god is not, like, a theoretical concept for them, a stand-in for ineffable fate, but a real, eternally living person who has taken actions that have consequences. the king undying knows that true lyctorhood is possible; he knows that there's another way, and he even let the new lyctors devour their right hands. how god takes, and takes, and takes.

so the sleeper shows up, starts to break into their little river-bubble, and harrow has to leave, but this is how the chapter closes:

Sextus was rubbing his temple and looking at you, awestruck, as though he had seen some stupefying glimpse of the beyond; you did not remotely understand the sharp smile that suddenly crossed his face.

"Kill us twice, shame on God," he said, and he leaned forward, and much to your intense distress he swiftly kissed your brow. Then he said: "Harrowhark, for pity's sake, go!"

You dropped back under, and you did not hear the gunshot; you were, not for the first time, overwhelmed with the suspicion that you were standing in the middle of what you had thought to be scenery, only to reach out and discover that it was all so much flimsy. You were not a central level within a mystery, but a bystander watching a charlatan display a trick. Your eyes had followed a bright light or colour, and you realised with a start that you ought to have been watching the other hand. You were standing in a darkened corridor, and you could not turn around: and then a brief explosion of light revealed to you that it wasn't a corridor at all, and it had never been dark.

But you were always too quick to mourn your own ignorance. You never could have guessed that he had seen me.

so my question is, like... what, exactly, did palamedes see that made him realize that gideon was still in there somewhere? and - if that is the case, if gideon is not only a thanergy furnace and set of sword-related muscle memories but an actual soul inside of harrow (and considering gideon narrates half the book in the third person, i think that's a reasonable read) - did harrow achieve true lyctorhood? without knowing it, without realizing it, is harrow one step away from the terminus of this process?

anyway alecto the ninth when. please my crops are dying

#gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #spoilers #gtn #htn

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novembermurray · 3 years

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Patient Evil Haunts Your Steps

Read on AO3

Rating: General

Pairing: Din Djarin x Omera

Summary: Jedi!Omera AU - When Din returns to Sorgan he brings something of the Dark Side with him. It drags up a past that Omera has tried to forget and threatens a future they both long for.

For @mandomeraweek Day 5

It was a subtle sensation of wrong that Omera tried to ignore. It nagged at the back of her mind, from the shuttered abandoned place within her memory she tried to forget. But that feeling of wrong didn’t go away. It came with the Mandalorian when he returned, and it hung around him, not a part of him but never apart from him.

The Mandalorian himself was changed.

When the unknown craft had landed just outside their village the people had been terrified; were these new bandits? Pirates? Conquering warlords? Slavers? But only the familiar figure of the Mandalorian they knew had emerged. Alone.

The ship took off again, leaving the silver armored man behind with a spear and a jetpack and no other luggage or company. He had been a silent tumult of grief, relief, regret, hope, pain, love… but mostly just exhaustion.

“I… I needed a place to…”

“To rest,” Omera finished his sentence. There was no need for any other greeting.

She showed him to the barn. He thanked her quietly and no one saw him for a whole day afterward.

That was a month ago.

The Mandalorian had become something of a shadow in their midst, at the edges of their lives but never integrated with them. He wandered the forests, dissuaded any bandits that strayed closer than he was comfortable with, hunted birds to supplement the village’s aquatic food source — once even using his jetpack to retrieve medicine from the nearest town in a quarter of the time it would have taken anyone else. He enriched their lives, but he didn’t join them. There was still a barrier—something more impenetrable than beskar—that kept him separated from everyone else. Omera knew that only time would wear it down, so she waited.

The wrongness waited too.

It waited.

Until now.

Omera put down the bowl of krill she had been shelling for their dinner, eyes wide and looking around for the source of a sensation that had no sound, or smell, or touch, or visual. But she felt it all the same. Wiping her hands on her apron absently she got up and left the kitchen, following that feeling through the village, between the krill ponds, and into the forest. It wasn’t far away, just far enough that the sounds and sight of the village were lost in the trees. There was a clearing, she had brought Winta there on quiet evenings before. That’s where she found him and the pulsing sense of wrong that grew with every step.

The Mandalorian’s armor gleamed in the afternoon sun, flashing as he stepped through a controlled series of prescribed movements; slash, block, uppercut, spin, parry, parry, block, lunge. Turn. Repeat. They were the motions of sword drills that were familiar as a childhood dream. He moved through each form with a fluidity of practice yet the hesitation of long disuse. Everything about him channeled focus and calm. He was rigorous in all his crafts; this was no exception. His dedication and intensity was neutral, neither joy nor fear; only right .

The wrongness was in the blade. It had gleaming white edges that crackled in the shadows and disappeared in the direct sunlight while its center was a stark black void deeper than the darkness between stars. It seemed to suck in the sunlight and offered absolutely nothing back: hungry, greedy, demanding. Wrong.

“Omera,” the Mandalorian had stopped his practice when he saw her. “Is everything alright?”

“What is that?” She asked him.

“A laser sword. It’s called the Darksaber,” he lifted it, horizontal and out towards her in a relaxed grip. There was nothing threatening about the motion, but when he stepped forward to offer her a closer look she took an instinctive step back. He paused, reading the fear on her face and thumbed a switch on the blade. The void, the light, the wrongness slithered back into the handle with a hiss. But it wasn’t gone, just dormant.

Waiting.

Omera shivered.

“It is… not a pleasant weapon,” the Mandalorian explained. “I didn’t want it to unnerve anyone in the village.”

She felt herself nodding.

“You were looking for me?”

Omera shook herself out of her shock and confusion, scrambling for a lie to dispel his suspicions. Suspicions meant death. Two decades of running and hiding had beaten that lesson into her.

“Dinner will be ready soon. Perhaps we could eat a little early, take Winta up the hill for some stargazing; she likes the stories you tell.”

“That sounds nice,” he agreed. “Thank you. I’ll be along shortly.”

Omera nodded and backed away. She forced herself to turn around and walk towards the village. She flinched when the wrongness flared behind her, released once more. Something about it felt like vicious satisfaction, and she shivered again.

Over the following week the Mandalorian spent more and more time with the blade—the Darksaber. He found time to practice with it usually once a day. Omera tried to find reasons to keep him from it: something she needed help with, someone who wanted his opinion, a broken machine, a missing child wandered off… but it didn’t always work. She thought he might be seeing through her as the days wore on. Her excuses grew thinner and her desperation grew stronger.

He took to practicing at night, when there was nothing to distract him or keep him from his task. It was all together worse because there was nothing to distract Omera either. She lay in her bed feeling the pulsing sensation ebb and flow from beyond the village and bit her lip against the helpless tears of fear. When she would finally find sleep she would dream: nightmares. Usually they were of war, sometimes of assassinations, of armored warriors cheering her as she held the black blade aloft, of cutting down her foes with its impossible sharpness… of the hundreds and hundreds of dead it had claimed… of the rivers of blood it had spilled… of the darkness… and the wrongness.

On the third night she couldn’t stand it any more. She heard his footsteps on the path outside and rose from her bed. She caught up with the Mandalorian as he passed between the krill ponds toward the edge of the forest, his beskar edged in moonlight.

“That blade is evil.”

He stopped dead at her words though he gave no indication he was surprised at being followed. She saw his hands flexing at his sides. He turned towards her tensely.

“It’s just a weapon,” he replied.

“No,” Omera shook her head, “It isn’t. It remembers. It remembers centuries of blood and ambition and greed.”

“You didn’t even know what it was until a week ago,” he snapped, taking a step towards her.

“I don’t need to know what it's called to know it is corrupted,” she argued back just as sharply, matching his step with one of her own and refusing to be intimidated. “You should get rid of it, throw it away.”

“I can’t,” he shook his head and turned away from her.

“You must,” she knew she sounded desperate, “before it destroys you.”

“You don’t understand,” he spun around, ripping the handle off his belt and shaking it at her angrily. “I can’t get rid of it because it isn’t mine to discard. I shouldn’t have it. I don’t want it. But I need to know how to use it well enough to lose against another Mandalorian and relinquish it with honor. So I must train with it. Don’t try to stop me again.” The wrongness thrummed in the night air and even the insects fell quiet under its heavy presence, but Omera would not be quelled so easily.

“If you fight with that blade it will only be a fight to the death!”

The Mandalorian shook his head, ignoring her warning. “Bo-Katan doesn’t want to kill me. She just wants to win the Darksaber properly and reclaim her homeworld, reclaim Mandalore. It isn’t about me.”

“Maybe that is how it will start,” Omera softened her voice and dared to take a step closer, “but that weapon can twist the intentions of weak willed minds, and it will demand blood. That is its nature. Do not fight with that blade, please. It will only end in more tragedy.”

“Then why didn’t I kill Gideon?” He demanded angrily. “I won it from him, after he stole the child— nearly killed my-my son with his demagolyc experiments— and I spared his life. Explain that!”

Omera was brought up short and drew a sharp breath. Of course he wouldn’t have given in, she thought. He has carried it so long, and still it has not overwhelmed him.

“Because there is nothing of the Dark Side in you,” she said tenderly. “Because you are strong and kind despite everything that has happened to you, all the horrors you have seen. Everything you have done, you do out of selfless love. But the longer you carry that and the more you wield it the darkness will find ways to bend you to it’s will, take advantage of your grief and your pain to make you covet, and fear, and hate. I couldn’t bear to see that, to lose you to the Dark Side. Please, get rid of it.” She begged him through the lump forming in her throat and the hot liquid pooling in her eyes.

“The Dark Side?” His helmet tipped, questioningly. “The Jedi said something about that too.”

“You met a Jedi?” Omera barely managed to breath the question.

“Two. Ahsoka Tano and another; Cara told me he’s called Luke Skywalker. He… The kid, Grogu…” The Mandalorian’s helmet dipped as his gaze dropped to the ground, arms limp at his sides. “I let the kid go with Skywalker to be trained… to be safe.”

He took a deep breath, he looked up at the stars spreading overhead.

“I’m…. tired, Omera.” He admitted to the night sky. “I did what I was tasked to do and it cost me everything: every home I have ever known is gone, my people dead or scattered, my Creed broken, my child…” His voice failed him and he paused to swallow painfully. “I need to learn to wield this blade so I can pass it on. Until I do I can’t take this armor off for good. I want that. I want what you offered me the last time I left. But I can’t until I find a way to give up this weapon. I didn’t come here to disturb the peaceful life you have made.” His tone took on the pall of defeat. “I will leave, return when it is done.” His visor was turned away from her, unable to meet her gaze.

“Ok,” Omera breathed, the short agreement coming out shaky.

The Mandalorian nodded before she could explain and started to turn away again.

“No,” Omera rushed forward the last of the distance between them to grab his hand. He looked back, shock practically vibrating off him. “I meant…” Omera took a deep breath. “Ok, until you can take this armor off for the last time, I will help you.”

She dropped his hand and lifted her own over the pond beside her. She closed her eyes and mentally stepped into the long abandoned place at the back of her mind. It felt like coming home, like opening the windows to a bright summer day and feeling the warm breeze on her face. The world was abuzz with life around her and a familiar presence called out from the bottom of the pool, where it had laid buried for seven years right where she had left it. That presence was easy to grasp now, rising at her command through soil, mud, and water.

She opened her eyes to see the rippling surface of the pool break and the cylindrical handle lift into the air. Drops of water that fell from it caught sparks of twinkling moonlight. At her call the handle floated to her outstretched palm, and her fingers closed around it; right. She thumbed over the switch and the blade of blue plasma sprang to life between her and the Mandalorian.

His visor was bright with the reflected glow of her lightsaber when she met his gaze with determination.

“I will train you.”

#mandomeraweek2021 #the mandalorian #my writing #fanfic #din x omera #mandomera #Jedi Omera #the darksaber

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sodone-withlife · 3 years

Text

i lost a friend (i lost my mind)

Criminal Minds Fic Part Three

| PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 |

Word Count: 2.7k

Warnings: character death, canon-typical violence, mental instability (I’m reluctant to name a specific disorder or condition)

Notes: cross-posted on Ao3, and this was my first whumpfic in this fandom so forgive me if it sucks. this is canon-compliant until after 12.01 The Crimson King

“What do I regret? I regret that we just took it as it was, that we didn’t look harder.”

Rossi thought about how he ended up in this situation, bulletproof vest on as he faced the one person he never expected to be at the other end of his gun, that he might have to take down.

He met the kid nearly twenty years ago on the Womb Raider case and immediately recognized raw potential when the kid told him about what he gathered from the dumpsite. They kept in contact even after Rossi went back to Quantico, and he spent the next year trying to get him to apply to become a profiler. The kid did eventually join them in Quantico, and he quickly proved to be a quick study with an incredible intuitive ability.

He ended up retiring a few months after the kid joined, but he kept in contact and they met for dinner a few times. While he wrote books, the kid became unit chief, all the while expanding the BAU to involve more than just a few profilers in a cramped cave that had been their office.

When he rejoined the team, he watched as the kid—he’ll always be ‘the kid’ to him, no matter how good his glare got over the years—struggled to reconcile the failure of his marriage and his own feelings of being a failure as a father.

He watched as the kid obsessively hunted the Boston Reaper, turned to self-blame when seven people were found shot dead in a bus, as the kid realized the killer was in front of them the whole time, as he reacted to the news of Foyet’s escape.

He worried as the kid didn’t turn up when called, as they found him in the hospital after getting stabbed nine times, as his family were put into protective custody, as he walked into a confrontation unarmed and managed to save a child the day he returned from medical leave.

He watched as the kid obsessed and worked himself to the bone over the Reaper, as he stepped down and put Morgan in charge, as the team raced to find Foyet before he could get to the kid’s family.

He watched as he found the kid savagely hitting a dead body, as he found him later clinging onto the body of the woman he had loved, as the kid turned into a shell of himself while trying to be a good father for his son.

He watched as the kid tried to remain the unwavering pillar of strength for the team, as he was sent to the other side of the world away from his family for half a year, as he came back from Pakistan looking much too thin for a man his size and faced a wall of anger and betrayal.

He watched as the kid slowly found love again, as he tried to help Reid get through what he himself went through just over two years ago, as he tried to help his estranged brother get out of a mess of drugs and spikings.

He watched as the kid collapsed on the conference room floor and had to be rushed to the hospital, as George Foyet managed to kill him twice as he flatlined in the ambulance and in the operating room.

He watched as the kid tried to help solve Gideon’s murder, as he ended things with his new love.

He watched as the kid ended up on the other end of a serial killer’s obsession, as he hallucinated the whole team getting killed in front of him, as he nearly shot and killed Reid as he came in through the door.

He watched as the kid struggled to hide his terrors, as he tried to eliminate the threat against two of his teammates, as he tried to stop Morgan from doing what he had done six years ago in a frenzy that only resulted in the love of his life getting killed, as he was arrested at gunpoint in front of his son.

He watched as the kid tried not to let seeing the victim with his name carved into her forehead get to him, as he tried not to go out of his mind in worry about his son while he was stuck in a snowstorm, as he tried to keep everything inside in the months that followed, as he went through his daily life without really living.

Now, a memory of a conversation he had with Gideon rose to the forefront of his mind. Rossi hadn’t questioned it then, but now he wondered if Gideon saw this outcome, all those years ago.

He wondered if Gideon saw this when the kid came in all those years ago, absolutely smitten with his wife and yet hiding darkness deep inside him, when the kid easily slipped in and out of the minds of the worst humanity has to offer.

A year ago, just a day after Hotch was admitted into the hospital after being subjected to whatever torture Peter Lewis managed came up with, Prentiss had returned to the BAU. Hotch was going to be on leave for quite some time, given the nature of the drugs he had inhaled and what had happened when the team rescued him.

He remembered confessing his worries to her, that Hotch wouldn’t make it through to the other side with this one, that Hotch’s too-brilliant mind (brilliant not in the way that Reid was, but in the way that a prosecutor turned SWAT turned profiler’s brain was) would figure out a way to end it all, even though he was on suicide watch.

He remembered one early morning, a few weeks after Hotch had been discharged, when Prentiss was suddenly called into a meeting with the Director. He remembered seeing her sprinting back into the office, abandoning all professionalism as she stormed into the office next to his.

He remembered freezing at the doorway. It was bare of any signs of the previous owner: the heavy law books, the pictures, the awards, the small mementos from the team—they were all gone.

He missed the others’ reactions as they read the last words the—now former—unit chief left for them as he left the office and drove to Hotch’s apartment, only to find it completely bare with an envelope left on the door with Rossi’s name on it.

He remembered the days that followed, as Garcia and Reid desperately tried to search for the man who had completely dropped off the face of the earth, as Prentiss tried to fill Hotch’s shoes for the team.

He remembered JJ asking him about Jack and the pure, unfettered sadness that he let show on his face.

He remembered the horror saw in the others when he quietly told them that the ten-year-old had collapsed at school six months ago, soon after the DOJ fiasco, while Hotch was stuck in a blizzard in the middle of a case in Colorado, that Hotch didn’t make it to the hospital in time to see Jack awake one more time.

That Jack’s heart gave out on him while he was breaking every speed limit while driving Hotch to the hospital.

That Hotch was too late, just like he was too late with Haley seven years ago.

That Hotch spent the last six months hiding his grief and desolation, throwing himself entirely into work and doing the bare minimum in regards to his health.

That after a man, the husband of a murdered victim and father of a child who died of cancer just a few days later, committed suicide, he had forced Hotch to live at his place for two weeks so he could make sure the still-grieving father would wake up every day, alive and breathing.

He remembered hating that the straw that broke the camel’s back was of the Mr. Scratch nature.

He remembered wondering, not for the first time, how damaged affected Hotch’s psyche was.

Today, nine months to the day Hotch resigned from the bureau, he got his answer: incredibly damaged.

Rossi thought back to the profile they had given the Boston PD.

~~~

“The man we’re looking for is in his mid 30s to mid 40s and exhibits traits of both an organized and disorganized killer,” Rossi started, looking out into the Boston PD bullpen. “It is also highly likely that he fathered a son who is around 4-5 years old. He has recently suffered a personal tragedy, likely one that involved losing his son and wife in a way he feels responsible for.”

“The crime scenes itself demonstrate a high level of intelligence and control, but that control is shattered when it comes to the men,” JJ added. “We tracked their last movements, and it seems that these men all frequented BDSM clubs.” Everyone in the room got the unsaid message: the men were cheating on the wives.

“He may be using the men’s infidelity as justification for his actions,” she finished the thought.

“When we talked to the children, they said they remembered the unsub being very angry at the fathers,” Luke picked up from where Tara left off. “This, in addition to the level of overkill he exhibited and the smashed mirrors at every house, may be a manifestation of the unsub’s own self-hatred and of his desire to make others feel his pain and guilt.”

“The children also said that the unsub was incredibly nice to them and the wife and that he apologized before he knocked the kids out,” Reid interjected from where he was sitting at the side of the room. “This man has a fractured psyche: he’s able to exhibit care and consideration one moment, shoot a person in three vital regions the next, and then destroy a face post-mortem in a fit of angry self loathing. This will show in his day to day life.”

“We’d like for your officers to canvas bars and clubs in the area,” Prentiss instructed, “ and ask the workers if they know anyone who may fit the profile: again, male, 30s to 40s, may have recently suffered a tragedy, and may be acting erratically—asked for time off, mood swings, anything out of the ordinary.”

~~~

They had gotten it completely right, but, looking at the man playing with the child in front of him, Rossi still felt like they had completely missed the mark.

“Let the kid go,” Rossi ordered quietly.

“Dave, why are you calling him that?” came the quiet baritone, the dearly-missed voice inciting within Rossi a strange rush of familiarity and fear. “You know his name.”

It can’t be the kid’s actual name that he wants, look at the body language, it’s so protective. So what—Rossi briefly closed his eyes as a flash of grief overtook him.

“Hotch, please,” he finally said, placing his gun away and slowly moving around the man so that he could see the child. “Let Jack go, he doesn’t need to see this.”

That got a reaction out of the man, who looked up and shocked Rossi with the sheer depth of broken protectiveness that was in his expression. “He needs me,” Hotch insisted, his next words sending a bolt of shock through Rossi’s system. “He just lost his mother.”

Rossi kneeled down cautiously, mind racing. “Hotch, do you know what day it is?”

Hotch sent him a confused look. “It was Haley’s funeral yesterday,” he answered, breath hitching at the end as he looked away. His eyes locked onto the ballistics vest Rossi was wearing, noticing it for the first time. “Why are you wearing a ballistics vest? Is everything alright?”

Rossi’s eyes began to burn as he realized what was going on. “Hold on, I’m going to go get something, and then I’ll explain everything, alright?” he said, standing up and feeling relief at the responding nod. He quickly walked back into the living room where the others were waiting, only stopping to tell them to stay there before grabbing the case file they had brought with them.

“Come here,” he beckoned Hotch over, placing the file on the desk in front of the window in the sparsely decorated bedroom.

Hotch left the child on the ground and walked over, still confused. “A case?” he asked absently as he flipped through the reports with a focus that hadn’t been since eighteen months ago, when he was still with the bureau, before that fateful day.

Unseen, Rossi went to the child and quickly ushered him out of the bedroom, making sure that he got to one of the others before going back inside, making it back to Hotch before he looked up from the file.

“What do you make of it?” Rossi indicated the folder, tone even as he successfully hid the turmoil within. He watched with a pang as Hotch easily slipped back into old habits, verbalizing his observations and yet remaining utterly oblivious to the significance they hold to him.

Hotch paused, looking around. “Where’s Jack?” he asked Rossi, panic seeping into his voice when he realized the child was gone. He backed away from Rossi, who had stepped carefully towards him, hands up placatingly. “Dave, what’s going on? Where’s Jack?”

The situation was all too painfully familiar.

“Hotch, you know that isn’t Jack,” Rossi said carefully. “His name is Charlie Summers. Yesterday wasn’t Haley’s funeral. It’s November 2020, and you’re in Boston, not in Virginia.”

“What are you talking about?” Hotch looked at him as if he were crazy.

Rossi pressed forward. “Do you remember what happened eighteen months ago, when you were taken by Peter Lewis?” he asked as Hotch froze in his place. “He had you for a day. He had taken you to your childhood home in Manassas, do you remember that? He drugged and tortured you. We found you just in time, but you almost killed yourself.”

He watched as blood leached out of the man’s face, as he started rapidly shaking his head. “You were discharged from the hospital a week later,” Rossi pushed, hating every second that passed while he tried to pull Hotch out of the delusion. “And while you were still on medical leave, you sent in your resignation and asked that Emily Prentiss, who had come back while you were in the hospital—”

“Take my place as unit chief,” Hotch finished in a whisper, staring at the floor and shaking like a leaf. Rossi rushed forward, flashing back to the day Hotch got that devastating phone call as he caught the man and lowered him to the ground—holding and comforting him, despite the circumstances, just as he had done back in that hotel room.

A few minutes passed, filled with harsh breathing as reality set in.

“Why?” Rossi finally asked the once stoic and unmovable unit chief, now reduced to just another unsub—only he wasn’t just another unsub. He was the man who held the elite profiling team together as they went through hell and back, the man who had reignited Rossi’s dormant paternal instincts.

He wondered if it had been a good idea to ask that question when Hotch remained silent, placing his head between his knees and still shaking as reality continued to seep back in.

“His voice,” Hotch finally muttered, “He wouldn’t stop. Taunting, laughing, talking, talking about how people are ungrateful and should be taught to be thankful for what they have that the children don’t deserve—” he broke off with a whimper covering his ears with his hands.

“Hotch?” He didn’t answer, even as Rossi forcefully brought his head back up. His eyes were squeezed shut and he had bit deep into his lip, drawing blood. “Aaron,” Rossi tried, raising his voice only to get knocked onto his back when the aforementioned man reflexively shoved him away, causing him to hit the bed then fall to the ground.

Hearing the crash, the team fell back onto instincts and rushed into the bedroom with their guns out and ready, only to see Rossi staring helplessly at the once-proud man curling into himself in the corner and letting out painful, guttural cries as the last pieces of his mind finally shattered under the weight of the demons he spent his entire life fighting.

#criminal minds #aaron hotchner #dave rossi #aaron hotchner whump #tw character death #bau #sodone i lost a friend i lost my mind

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singledarkshade · 4 years

Text

Daughter Dearest

Summary: Exploring the base they're using Damien Darhk and Eobard Thawne find an unconscious woman who they discover might be the key to finding the Spear of Destiny. Author’s Note: A little idea I had that I may add more to at some point but until then enjoy. ********************************************* The remains of the Time Masters base were really depressing, Damien Darhk decided as he wandered through it. The speedster who had brought him here had disappeared again, so Damien had started to explore.

A bright light came from the corridor in front of him and he heard a loud thud that he recognised to be a body hitting the floor.

“What was that?” Thawne appeared suddenly.

Damien shook his head, “No idea.”

The two men slowly moved through the room to check on what the noise was, considering who used to reside here it could be anything, both stalling in surprise to see a young woman lying there unconscious.

“Where did she come from?” Damien frowned in thought.

Thawne shook his head, looking over interested when the woman let out a soft moan. Opening her eyes, the woman stared at them fearfully.

“Who…” she stammered, “Who are you?”

Glancing over at the speedster Damien gave the woman a comforting smile, “We’re friends. Can you tell us your name?”

Confusion covered her face, “Gid…Gid…” frustration filled her and the lights around the room flickered.

“Gideon?” Thawne guessed as they both looked around thoughtfully.

She nodded, “That is familiar. Do you know me?” the lights flickered again as fear filled her eyes, “I don’t remember anything.”

Damien gave her a gentle smile, “Yes. We will be a few seconds okay.”

Taking the other man’s arm Damien pulled him out of earshot, “Who is she?”

“I don’t know,” Thawne said, “But Gideon was an AI. I wonder if this is a human version, strange things happen here according to legend.”

“So, she has no idea who she is,” Damien mused, “And from that little display she has powers we can use.”

Thawne nodded, “We need to make sure she trusts us completely.”

Damien smiled, “Leave that to me.” Moving back to the confused woman he knelt by her side, “Do you not recognise me at all?”

She shook her head, “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, it’s alright, sweetheart,” Damien cooed, “I promise you’re safe. Some people abducted you, and we’ve just found you again.” He gently stroked her hair, “You never have to worry about them again, we’re your family.”

Big grey eyes looked at him, “You are?”

“My darling daughter,” Damien said, seeing Thawne’s surprised look, “I’m your father and this is your Uncle Eobard. You’re safe with us.”

“You’re my father?” she asked confused but hopeful that she wasn’t alone.

Hugging her close Damien nodded, “I am, my dear one.

“Why don’t I remember you?” Gideon whispered.

“Because some people took you from me,” Damien told her, catching Thawne’s eye who nodded, “They tried to turn you against us, tried to make you think we were your enemy.”

“They wanted your gifts,” Thawne joined in, “To use what makes you so special to hurt us but you fought them. We think your escape is the reason you can’t remember us.”

“We’ve got you back now,” Damien took over again continuing to hug the young woman close, “We’re a family again, my darling daughter. And with your help we’ll stop the ones who hurt you.”

*********************************************

Gideon Darhk checked herself in the mirror, fixing her hair back. She was annoyed that she’d been left here while Uncle Eo did whatever he did when he disappeared while her father, and their new acquaintance Malcolm, went to try to find a piece of the Spear they were looking for.

Despite her annoyance at being left behind, it gave her some time to work on her own gifts which were slightly unpredictable at times. She could connect to computers easily but the magic that flowed through her veins had been erratic for the past year since her escape from the people who had taken her from her family.

With a deep breath she began to go through the exercises her father had given her. She was getting better, but whatever those people had done had depleted her abilities so much it was like she was starting from the beginning.

“Gideon?” the call came from the other room about three hours later, “Where are you, dear?”

Heading through to the other room, Gideon found her father with Malcolm.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” she asked, smiling slightly when he leaned over and kissed her temple.

Annoyance covered his face, “Unfortunately no.”

“You know if you took me with you then I could help,” she noted archly.

Her father frowned, resting his hand on her cheek, “Then it is possible those people could get near you again. I will never let them. You need to stay here where you’re safe from them.”

“I’m not a child, Father,” Gideon stated annoyed.

A slight smile touched his lips, “No, you’re not. But if anything happened to you it would destroy me. I lost your mother, my dear one. I can’t lose you as well.”

Gideon hugged him tightly, “I’m sorry, Father.”

Damien smiled as he hugged his daughter to him. She had been with them for almost a year and, although it was a ruse telling her she was family, Damien had become very fond of the young woman. He always knew he would make an excellent father especially to a daughter. And, in his opinion, he had been.

Gideon was brilliant. Her ability to connect with computers was unparalleled which meant they could access the systems in their base easier than before. And when she had shown some talents regarding magic, he knew she was meant to be his child.

The only problem was how wilful she could be at times when she didn’t get her way. One of the times she’d had a small tantrum she turned off the gravity. Eobard noted it was likely as she was previously an AI then she wasn’t as in control of her emotions as a normal human would be. Damien did his best to ensure that there was no repeat of that episode.

“Okay,” he let her go, “How are your studies going, my dear?”

Gideon sighed, “Not as well as I had hoped. I am trying, father but…”

Damien hushed her, “It isn’t your fault, darling. The so-called Legends who abducted you, it’s their doing that your gifts have been diminished.”

“But if my magic doesn’t work properly,” Gideon whispered, “How can I help stop these ‘Legends’?”

Damien smiled, “Your other gifts work. And when the time comes you will help us destroy those who hurt you.”

She gave him another smile and kissed his cheek before leaving. He smiled to himself, she was going to be their secret weapon.

*********************************************

“Gideon,” her uncle said as he walked into the room where she was going through the information that he’d asked her to look at, “We’re back.”

Before she could say anything, she heard a cry come from the other room. Curiously she started towards the sound, frowning confused when Eo caught her arm.

“No, my dear,” he said softly, “I do not want you to be exposed to this.”

Gideon frowned confused, “To what?”

Another cry came, and she looked over to the door.

“Who is that?” Gideon asked.

Eo took her hand in his, “He was working with the Legends.” He held onto her as she gasped in horror, “He can’t hurt you, dear. But to protect you, we need to get information from him.”

“Will this hurt him?” Gideon demanded.

The scream that came from the other room answered her question.

“A little,” he assured.

Gideon turned to look at the door again where one of those who had taken something precious from her waited, “Good.”

The screams coming from the other room finally stopped and Gideon looked up when her father and Malcolm walked back in.

“Well?” Eo asked.

Malcolm frowned, “Nothing. He refuses to talk.”

“Claims he knows nothing,” her father added.

“Gideon,” Eo said with a smile, “Why don’t you try?”

“Thawne?” her father growled.

Her uncle held up his hand, “Sometimes you need to try honey. Gideon, use your gifts on him.”

“My magic doesn’t work that well,” Gideon reminded him.

“I’m pretty sure he’s not talking about those gifts,” Malcolm smirked.

Damien frowned again, “Thawne…”

“Gideon,” Eo told her, “Go.”

Confused Gideon headed out of the room towards where the man was being held. She reached the doorway and bit her lip before peeking inside. The man on the chair in the centre of the room had his head down, she could see his arms were tied behind his back, but his long shaggy hair was covering his face. Taking a long deep breath, Gideon stepped into the room. Her heeled boots clicking on the floor made the man flinch.

“I don’t…” he breathed, “I don’t know…I don’t know anything. Please…I don’t know anything.”

He finally looked up at her and Gideon paused, something inside her ached at seeing him battered and afraid before her. Gideon moved closer, frowning when he flinched away from her.

“Please,” he whispered, as she rested her hand on his cheek, “I don’t know what they want to know. Please help me.”

“Shh,” Gideon soothed, sliding her fingers through his hair, “You’re alright, it’s okay.”

He stared at her in disbelief, “How? They don’t believe I know nothing. Because I know nothing. I’m a film student not Rip Hunter. I don’t remember anything about being him, I thought I made him up.”

Gideon frowned at the name, but she shook it away and instead focussed on the frightened man in front of her.

“I’ll take care of you,” she breathed, knowing she meant it because the thought of him being hurt horrified her, “I promise.”

Damien stared at his daughter, “What?”

“I want him,” she said, “He knows absolutely nothing. But we can’t let him go back to those people. Let me keep him,” Gideon smiled sweetly, “He can be my pet.”

Rubbing his eyes tiredly, Damien asked, “Pet?”

“You didn’t let me have the dragon I found,” she pouted.

“It wasn’t house trained, dear,” Damien reminded her, it was a conversation they’d had several times already.

Gideon sighed and pointed through the window to the man tied to the chair, “Then I want the puppy.”

“He’s not a puppy,” Damien shook his head.

Malcolm shrugged, “Wouldn’t be too sure about that. He’s got the shaggy hair, the nervous bounce and I’m pretty sure he peed on the furniture earlier when you threatened him with the cleaver.”

Damien turned to Eobard who nodded, ‘Uncle Eo’ always gave into her.

“Fine, but he’s your responsibility,” Damien told her sternly.

Gideon beamed and bounced over to kiss his cheek, “Thank you, Father. I’ll take good care of him. He can even sleep in my bed.”

“No,” Damien snapped sharply, “His own bed.”

Shrugging she left to claim her new pet. Turning to look at the other two men who were watching him in bemusement, Damien noted, “I’m not having him get any ideas about my little girl.”

Malcolm waited until Gideon was completely out of range before noting, “I take it this is a plan.”

Thawne nodded, “Our girl is the soothing balm who will help him feel safe, he’ll drop his guard and then we’ll get what we want from him.”

“Or we wait till he’s completely enamoured,” Malcolm mused, “And threaten her.”

Damien glared at the other man, growling as Thawne grabbed his arm.

“You don’t threaten my daughter,” Damien snarled.

“She’s not actually your daughter,” Malcolm reminded him.

“We’ve spent a good amount of time ensuring she believes that she is,” Thawne replied, “Gained her loyalty and made sure she hates the Legends. We need to be careful that we do nothing to remove that. We’ll need her to get the part of the Spear away from them.”

*********************************************

Phil watched the beautiful woman walk into the room, part of him was still utterly terrified but there was something about her that drew him to her. Phil couldn’t keep his eyes off her. She smiled at him as she crouched by his side and slid her fingers through his hair again.

“Alright,” she said softly, “I’m going to untie you, but you can’t run away. If you try, then they might not let me keep you.”

Confusion filled him, “Keep me?”

She gave him a sweet smile and a kiss on the forehead, “They’re letting me keep you, my puppy.”

Phil grimaced, “Puppy?”

“Shh,” she whispered in his ear, “As long as they think that then you will be safe.”

He looked at her sharply, “What do you mean?”

“You have to trust me,” the beautiful woman said softly, her fingers sliding through her hair, “I want to protect you. The people you were with are dangerous.”

Phil shook his head, “They weren’t the ones trying to kill everyone for a piece of wood. The men who brought me here, who tortured…” he trailed off before finishing, “They’re the dangerous ones.”

She frowned at him, “They are my family. And the people you’re talking about, these so-called Legends, abducted me. They took me from the people I love and because of them the gifts I have, the gifts my mother gave me are practically gone. My father is trying to stop them because they want to destroy the universe. We’re trying to save it and sometimes you have to do things you don’t like or want in order to do so.”

Shaking his head, Phil whispered, “That’s not true.”

A frown covered her face and her eyes darkened in annoyance, “I am trying to protect you because if you cannot help us then you have no place here. My father is a pragmatic man who knows if you are not with us then you are the enemy.” She rested her hand on his cheek once more, “I don’t want you to be our enemy.”

Understanding that giving into the whims of this woman was currently the only way he was going to survive, Phil nodded, “What do I call you?”

“Gideon,” she told him, giving him a beaming smile and clapping her hands together.

Phil nodded realising in some ways she was much more dangerous than the men who held him captive.

Gideon led her new pet into her room, he was quiet but obediently followed her through the corridors looking around. She had set up a bed for him in the corner despite her father’s annoyance, but she wanted him close by. There was something about him, something she needed close to her and she wanted to protect him.

“It’s alright,” she told him, “That’s yours.”

Phil stood looking confused, he was so adorable, and Gideon just wanted to stroke his hair to soothe him.

“Okay,” Phil said softly.

Rolling her eyes that he hadn’t moved, Gideon took his hand and pulled him further inside sitting him on his bed.

“Are you hungry?” she asked concerned.

Nervously Phil nodded.

Gideon smiled sweetly, “I’ll get you something, but you have to stay here.” He opened his mouth and Gideon frowned, “Promise me.”

Phil nodded again.

Pressing a kiss to his forehead, Gideon left him in the room alone.

Phil watched the beautiful woman leave the room. He wanted to run out the room and try to find a way out of here now he was alone. But he had no idea where he was or if there was a way out, not to mention he didn’t want to upset Gideon. Because he had a feeling if he upset her then she would be more terrifying than the three men who had already tortured him.

There was something about her, something that tickled at the back of his mind, but he couldn’t work out what it was.

“So,” the voice of one of his torturers came suddenly making Phil spin and press his back against the wall, “Are you getting comfortable?”

Phil stared at the man, he remembered was called Damien, trying to stay as far away from him as possible.

“My daughter is special,” Damien continued, “And if you touch her, in fact even think about touching her then I will gut you. Do you understand me?”

Shaking slightly Phil nodded, his eyes widening as Damien stepped closer, a knife appearing in his hand and pressing it to Phil’s throat. Damien frowned suddenly, grabbing Phil’s chin and staring at his mouth thoughtfully.

“Father?” Gideon’s voice made Damien step back, “Leave him alone. You promised me.”

Throwing a dark glare at Phil, Damien walked over to her and gave her a smile, “It’s alright, dear. I am just ensuring he knows to act like a gentleman or else.”

When he left the room, Gideon moved to Phil checking him for wounds before sitting him down and giving him the food that she’d brought.

“I need you to distract her,” Damien told Eobard, “So I can extract the tooth.”

“And you’re sure about this?”

Damien nodded, “I’ve seen the trick before. Once we have it then, hopefully we’ll get the information on where he hid the other parts of the spear.”

Eobard mused for a few moments, “Alright, I’ll get her opinion on the next mission.”

Damien smiled, they were about to get a lead at last.

After he practiced a little dentistry.

*********************************************

“Are you still angry with me, dear?” Damien asked as he escorted Gideon to the bank.

“You promised me you would not harm my puppy,” Gideon stated sharply.

Damien rubbed her arm, “It was to help him, my dear one. By removing his tooth we found the bank which will hopefully allow us to find the next part of the Spear. Your…pet knows where these are but somehow the knowledge has been blocked. The Legends were using him in the hopes he would lead them to the other parts.”

Gideon grimaced, “They were?”

“Yes, dear,” he said, opening the door for her, “I told you how ruthless they are and what they’ll do to get what they want. In order for us to save the universe from them.”

Sighing Gideon hugged her father’s arm tightly, “I’m sorry for not letting you explain, father but it would have been better if you’d told me. I could have helped ensure he wasn’t scared.”

Gently kissing her forehead, Damien continued them to the bank manager.

The man behind the desk gave them a warm, welcoming smile, “Can I help you?”

“Yes,” Damien smiled back, “I’d like to open a safety deposit box for my daughter.”

Eobard smiled as he studied the information on screen as Rip Hunter’s memories lay before him. The three locations of the Spear were right in his grasp, all he had to do was return the memories to the idiot they had taken from the grasp of the morons who kept getting in his way.

“Well?” Damien demanded, “Can you fix him or not?”

Eobard nodded slowly, “Yes, but…”

“But?” Malcolm demanded annoyed.

“As much of an idiot as our friend Phil is,” Eobard noted, “If he did know anything, he would spill his guts the moment either of you threaten him.”

“But he knows nothing,” Malcolm sighed in annoyance, “So, put the information back in his head.”

Eobard shook his head, “Which leaves us with Rip Hunter.”

“I thought that’s who we wanted?” Damien demanded.

“We do,” Eobard replied, “But Hunter will not give in easily and won’t be as easy to contain. Especially in this place since he knows it better than we do.”

“So, what’s your plan?” Malcolm demanded.

Eobard chuckled, “A few alterations to his personality will make him much more amenable to our cause.”

“Good,” Malcolm nodded understanding what the speedster was doing. Glancing to one side he saw the annoyed from on Damien’s face, “What’s wrong?”

“Gideon won’t be happy we’ve taken her pet from her,” Damien sighed.

She was laying curled up on her bed when Damien knocked on the door.

“Go away,” Gideon snapped.

Walking in he sat on the bed behind her, “My dear daughter, you know this wasn’t to hurt you.”

“Then why?” Gideon turned to him, “He was mine, why take him from me?”

“Because we discovered something,” Damien soothed, stroking her hair, “Like you, the Legends took his memories from him. Although this time they created a false personality so that they could use him.”

Sitting up, empathy shone in her eyes, “They took his memories too?”

Damien nodded, “But we’ve returned them to him,” he kissed her forehead, “I wish we could do the same for you.”

Gideon hugged him.

“Would you like to meet, Rip Hunter?”

Wiping her eyes Gideon nodded, “I would.”

Standing Damien offered her his hand and he led her to the main room. Standing in the centre of the room Eobard was giving orders to their new recruit. It was clear that this was no longer Phil, with his hair neatly shorn and his beard trimmed, the change in posture especially screamed this loud and clear.

As Damien led Gideon into the room Rip turned, and his eyes instantly fell on her. Gideon stepped away from Damien taking the few steps until they were face to face.

“Gideon,” Rip breathed, his hand coming to rest on her cheek.

Her eyes locked with his and the lights all around the room flickered. Eobard, Damien and Malcom caught one another’s eyes, all realising they may have just made a mistake letting them meet.

#fic #legends of tomorrow #gideon #phil gasmer #rip hunter #damien darhk #eobard thawne #malcolm merlyn

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theskyexists · 4 years

Text

Gideon the Ninth

the thing i like about this book is that it starts at breakneck speeds and continues at only slightly lower velocity

which is good because once they’ve arrived things could have got real boring because Gideon is no analytical genius and Harrow does not trust her one bit with an inch of plot

(I like that Gideon’s ‘dumb’ - with which i mean, ‘not curious’ - though she’s of course extremely alert, incredibly emotionally resilient and of course - an incredible fighter - and quite sneaky)

it’s a puzzle and you get tossed the bits. the fact that it’s an empire and then Gideon talks about invasion armies four chapters on and it becomes clear that a-ha you mean the Real Deal - a Real Empire huh?

the fact that Gideon knows nothing - is told nothing - is kept from all possibilities of gaining information on other places or politics or how things are going is a handy little choice

the other thing i like about this book is that (apparently) this is enemies to lovers but i don’t actually hate Harrow

she’s horrible to Gideon in a way but there’s such an expectedness about it and appropriate emotional response from Gideon that i copy Gideon’s emotions on her - the contempt and wariness and pure desire to simply fucking win. they’re ‘clean’ and merciless.

another thing i like about the book is that it is very good at introducing a lot of characters in a way that you can recognise them later

another thing that i like is that it has a ‘plot’ which on the face of it seems very hmmm basic or ordinary but it’s not what it’s about - it’s about Gideon - and that’s why the story doesn’t devolve into an uninteresting concept. also, every time it seems to - we get a little look at the complexity that implies a genuine mystery. the sci-fi nature to it all makes this so sparking and interesting

doors locks keys key rings yeah

the fascinating thing is that Gideon COULD be in two completely different minds about Harrow. she has an animal response to her being in danger and to helping her - that is to say she has an animal response TO help her. she fantasises about killing her or hurting her but what really keeps her going 100 reps in is winning/getting Harrow’s regard for something she’s done completely independently.

Palamedes and Camilla seem nice. Like Harrow’s and Gideon’s functional counterparts.

I absolutely love how Harrow takes everything supremely seriously - she is a True Necromancer - inherently CREEPY and FORBIDDING and POWERFUL. and Gideon does Not take in seriously at all and the clash is so wonderful - it’s such a tongue in cheek meta way to do this ....necromancy genre stuff

it SEEMS like humanity was dying and they found a way to re-animate the dead and gain immortality in the lab and that’s what they built their theocratic information-poor ‘resurrection’ space-faring imperial nation on. and they got there doing truly ABOMINABLE things to people

how big ARE your biceps. jpfjfkldsfk Jeannemary......

Gideon misinterprets palamedes’ interest in Dulcinea for attraction but really he knows she’s his main competition and she’s a mastermind. calling it now.

they work together and learn to appreciate each other. But i can’t remember if i’ve been told what Harrow had done to Gideon....

Abigail and Magnus did not ask for permission did they....

Harrow had walked in on Gideon at exactly the wrong moment when they were nine (hah). Hmmm. And her parents were dead from that moment on if I understand correctly? And it broke their relationship. Gideon saw her do something that convinced her that Harrow was a monster. right? I have suspicions.

It’s so CLEVER how Gideon and thus we the audience, do not know SHIT about the magic system - because it makes it so deliciously interesting. Fortunately it’s not frustrating yet to have all that information withheld.

I think Harrow underestimates Dulcinea - and Gideon learns not to. But Harrow knows she is being manipulated.

I just laughed out loud LOUDLY. Gideon is such a snarky jock chad and Harrow is a deeply sour nerd. juice

‘nice to know the other houses are also creeps’ lol

‘probably because you asked’ - ‘that’s all it takes’ - and it’s all she ever demanded! oh GOD. fuckin hell. Harrow did not get that? did not understand that to be friends all they needed was to be free of coercion?? lolololol

‘What are these theorems for?’ Harrow explodes. For this very outrage Harrow! the shock! the realisation that you care - really care about this other person who would have given her life for your ambition! you’re not learning about necromancy - you’re learning to truly trust to each other to the depths of your souls and cells. (edit: i was partly wrong)

the eighth breed batteries - genetic match - yikes that’s so creepily put.

i love how the characters are finding out constantly at exactly the same time as the audience is - but the audience - if they WERE quite quick on the uptake would have had cause to know already - just like the characters.

Another thing i really like about this book is that the building has enormous character - and the character has grown on me enormously as well despite my inability to visualise descriptions very well.

Another thing i really like is that Gideon crushes on all the hot or kind girls.

I just laughed most heartily. That fuckin line from Gideon to Palamenes with the Fourth as witness was so got.damn. well-timed writing ahahahahaa

all the nicknames for Harrow are so good ‘my midnight hagette’ pffjfkjf

The Fourth’s terrified anxiety at the facility suddenly transforms it into a horror story. exceptional

WHAT THE FUCK

so what the fuck sets a cavalier/necromancer pair up for death by bone abomination??? and if Harrow had not suggested they switch - would this have happened???

WHAT ! THE! FUCK!

so i was completely wrong. it’s not about permission (the fifth had it), it’s not about being ahead in keys (the seventh were), it’s not about cavalier and necromancer trusting each other (the fourth did) - i don’t believe its about weakness because the fifth weren’t weak

this just went in a horror direction i cannot understand and it really fuckin sucks that the fourth were RIGHT to be so scared. and also i really liked them - esp jeannemary

and also i there really seems no rhyme nor reason to any of it

that little bit of flimsy from the Second House with ‘Gideon’ on it implies some sort of loop to this where the roles shuffle - since the experiment lines up exactly with Harrow’s expertise as well - and so does the incinerator in a completely different way

Gideon thinks she’s failed because she ‘let’ jeannemary die - she thinks Harrow thinks this too - but that’s not true at all - Harrow is much more practical than that. But Gideon is traumatised.

i so badly want to know what the FUCK happened when they were nine.

There is miscommunication between Gideon and Harrow but it’s so - it’s so obscure in a sense - so much from a Gideon point of view that there’s only glimpses of Harrow’s multi-faceted elements. ‘don’t make fun of my-’ WHAT? her social awkwardness? her inability to be the tiniest bit vulnerable - or social - or in any way anything but her own most sharpened tool? - and relate to others in the same way - them being tools as well? She was trying to explain herself but Gideon REFERENCED that she can never forget that she hates Harrow - what does that mean??? is it the incident? is it the fact that Harrow has always had the power to hurt her? and used it?

the whole CONCEPT of a cavalier and necromancer is so delicious but so foreign to Gideon and thus us as a romantic concept that it’s only hitting me now - it’s everything you’d want from an institution set up for devotion. if this was made into a film or a series the very concept would draw thousands and it would become a fanfic AU genre.

things really are happening a LOT. i feel Gideon’s exhaustion acutely

GIDEON DID IT??? I THOUGHT HARROW DID!! BUT THAT MAKES A LOT OF SENSE. it’s EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE - I thought Harrow’s parents would have done something horrid to Gideon and Harrow had killed and reanimated them out of an animal sense of protection for her enemy/playmate. BUT OF COURSE - it is Gideon who always acts with an animal tendency towards protection of Harrow - even at nine years old?

goddamn the Ninth House was a fucked up place for a child though. why would they treat the only other child like that what the fuck.

......I’m starting suspect that Gideon’s origins may also have been....related to some kind of greater nonsense...

WRONG AGAIN. Harrow just killed them. LOL. WRONG AGAIN. The whole family tried to kill itself but Harrow refused to. WOW. (wait i remember that they told us before that it was suicide? right?)

because she opened the door.

and she has to become a lyctor BEFORE - something. i do believe that something’s coming out of the no-longer-locked-tomb. unless Harrow really is just trying to prevent the infertility problem of her house

ok so Harrow was nine and Gideon was eleven. so Harrow is two years younger. Gideon is 18. Harrow must be 16. wow so fuckin young. did Harrow really blame Gideon for the deaths of her parents - or did Gideon THINK that - just like she thought the same about Jeannemary?

yeah yeah Dulcinea is a dangerous hawk who’s killed her own cavalier or something. but palamenes is a BITCH for not filling Gideon in

oh im so glad that Dulcinea isn’t. but that does explain why ‘Pro’ knocked the Eighth out - that was Dulcinea wasn’t it? herself? or was he ‘alive’ - his spirit somehow fused to his corpse?

THE TIME HAS COME TO TELL YOU EVERYTHING

HMMMMMMMM - WAIT IS GIDEON THE THING FROM THE LOCKED TOMB THOUGH. ALL THE STUFF ABOUT HER GOLD EYES AND RED HAIR AND WEIRD PHENOTYPE. DO THEY ALL HAVE FALSE MEMORIES

naw that’s nonsense.

I knew it. I KNEW IT. Harrow is an extremely vulnerable over-thinking mastermind stupid idiot who doesn’t understand Gideon AT ALL and who is super easily hurt.

jezus fucking christ what a fucking burden to bear for Harrow - to know that she was born at the cost of the lives of TWO HUNDRED CHILDREN. jezus fucking christ. ‘i was tired of being two hundred corpses’ MY!!! GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

she was suicidal at 10 YEARS OLD!!!!!!!!!!!! is it any wonder that she was always fighting literally FIGHTING Gideon and being so horrible. AND THEN SHE WATCHED HER PARENTS KILL THEMSELVES RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS BOOK

they sure made her sympathetic - and so much of that was obvious from the start that she also seemed secretly sympathetic from the start

well at least Harrow knows that she treated Gideon completely unfairly and horribly all because she hates herself

i cannot tell whether Harrow is in love with the girl who is the Emperor’s end or she’s scared shitless. whether she wants to live forever to see her wake up because she wants to see the glory or because she wants to stop her

GIDEON HAS THE EXACT SAME QUESTION AS ME AAAAHAHAHAHAHA

that dynamic of Harrow playing everything straight and Gideon going - hold up this is funny.

ok so why didn’t Harrow tell her this before i wonder. because she couldn’t bring herself to unless she was forced to - to keep Gideon? hm

i was wrong again. i mean - it was clear from the very start and from Harrow’s crush on the Emperor’s greatest enemy that the Empire is a sickening construction leeching off the deaths of millions but! i guess i though there was going to be a horrid sacrifice at the END - but instead there is yknow - it’s horrid all the way through. it’s just that nobody seems aware of how horrid it is except Gideon who makes jokes about it - so you just accept it.

the blood and bone and fat and corpses and death are all actually indications of profoundly fucked up things! who knew!!

it seems that dulcinea is not actually dulcinea and still the hawk that killed everybody - because that still wasn’t explained was it - nor the ability to animate pro

so much is happening and it is very good. i think the lyctor liked Gideon because she reminded her of her own. but shes a ruthless immortal who’s been in pain for ten thousand years. and she hates her maker

‘the vengeance of ten billion’? sounds like they sacrificed a lotta people for these powers

so but why did she kill the fourth? and why can she control bones when she’s from the first house?

making the so-likeable sympathetic weirdly compassionate but ruthless dulcinea the villain - it’s brilliant. all the kind things she’s said and done for Gideon. that psychopathic compartmentalisation

Ianthe - the lyctor fighting another lyctor. Had they ever fought?? and the Emperor had Hands. but there are only a couple remaining. and she was hiding in the Seventh House... what did the Hands die of. god do i want to know those histories. Cytherea is ...mad about having been lied to....

Gideon - always wanting to save others. even Ianthe - a deeply horrible person by all accounts

YOU DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TO ME - YOU WILL NOT DIE HERE - GIDEON WHAT AND WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU.

so the whole reason Ducilea knocked off everybody in the building one by one is because she needed the emperor not to be suspicious. isn’t he gonna be just that now??? but it doesn’t matter because these fight scenes are surprisingly epic

the sheer fucking POETRY of Gideon being the last dead daughter of the Ninth House to become one with Harrow’s fate - GOD

wow im sad

what a way to end her pov

The Emperor seems crazily benevolent for a guy who apparently tricked his first lyctors into undeath and sacrificed (implied) 10 billion people and allowed horrible necromantic sins and experiments. who runs an empire on death and has children conquer planets

Gideon’s yet unexplained origins, phenotype, disappearing body AND the fact that she survived tear gas at age one + a whole crazy siphoning with only mild negative effects, and Cytherea kept being cryptic about her origins/death/etc., and that Gideon from the past, gives me a semblance of hope. but im just not sure how book two from Harrow’s pov is gonna hold up without Gideon’s sense of humour

I really loved this book for how all the personal dramas of the characters were perfectly spooled out until everything became clear

anyway this book was - very good

i just wish UHHHHHH that if you absorbed somebody’s soul they actually fuckin stayed with you and didn’t just fucking actually DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

but what a worldbuilding MASTERPIECE - and how MASTERFULLY ABSOLUTELY MASTERFULLY UNWRAPPED - in bites and pieces and flecks and tosses - and FAST - it explains why the start is so fast because it NEEDS TO BE - and by the end they go in for longer explanations - i think there’s ONE explanation for something that could plainly be inferred - ONE in the whole book.

this magic system is so fucking DOPE!!!!!!!!!!!

#i fucked up my sleep rhythm #my stuff #vidi #sorta #ninth #i devolved into writing most of my responses to the 3/4ths of the book down #gideon the ninth

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treatian · 4 years

Text

The Chronicles of the Dark One: The Dark Curse

Chapter 136: No Answers to Wrong Questions

It was time to get on with it. He couldn't bear to wait anymore. He'd followed through with his plan, waited a good long time to see if the Blue Fairy went back to his tower, but he never received any warnings that someone was in his territory, and he never felt anything from the spells attached to the Dark Curse. The only thing he was questioning at the moment was the location of his caretaker. And, of course, the questions he had for his mother. He had them all lined out in his mind and he's spent the last few minutes going over them in his head, one after another. Why did she create the curse? What was her anticipated result? Did he have to worry about anything? Would his plan work? Was there anything he should know but didn't?

He was ready. The sooner this was done, the sooner he could return the baby and find Belle. With a deep breath, he moved the child to the middle of the clearing. He could have pulled the paper Belle had written the translation on out of his pocket, but it was only two lines, lines he'd read so many times since he'd take it that he'd memorized it. Dagger already in hand, he looked up at the sky he could see through the patch in the trees.

"Let the night sky tremble, as the Dark Star shall fall. Awake, Black Fairy, and heed my call!"

Now that was the reaction he'd sought out the night he'd attempted to summon the Red Fairy. A stir of the wind but a rush of magic. His voice had echoed from it. And as he saw a violet light appear in the sky and buzz about like a firefly growing above him, his heart started to hammer so that he felt it everywhere in his body. He felt it beat in his neck, slam against his ribs, jump into his throat, and pulse in his fingers. Suddenly a thought dawned on him that he hadn't ever considered until now. This was the first time that he was about to meet his mother. This was the first time he'd be able to talk to her, the first memory he'd ever have with her!

All at once, as the light drew closer and bigger and flashed before him, the entire clearing suddenly felt smaller than it had ever felt before.

She was sparkling, that was significant. So long as she was sparkling she could disappear, see him, spook and leave. That was why she'd brought little Gideon to begin with. She was used to collecting unwanted children, probably alone and in the middle of nowhere or from their scared mothers. He didn't want to be the first thing she saw, not until she stopped sparkling. He raced quickly off to the side of the clearing, leaving a clear view of the baby in the basket.

And then she was there. The sparkling stopped and crouched on the ground in a black uniform that was perhaps a bit too risqué for the Blue Fairy, but still fairy-like all the same, was the Black Fairy. Fiona. His mother. Attracted to the sounds of Gideon's squeals, she looked right at him, smiled, and took a step forward.

And suddenly, he felt an unexpected tug on his heart, a pain as he realized that it was that easy without any idea why or how, without any rhyme or reason she would pick this child up and take it away with her. But she couldn't have been bothered to do the same for him? All those years with his father, years of wishing for something more, yearning for a mother, wanting someone to take him away…she'd shown up for hundreds of children, but never once for her own?

When he stepped forward, he felt like he could hardly breathe. "I'm afraid I can't let you get ahold of that baby!" he growled. "Not yet, anyway."

"Who dares summon me?" she demanded, but he was the one in control, he was the one who had questions, he was the one who deserved answers! He'd deserved them since his birth! For heaven's sake, he'd always been told that his father had named him…did she even know her son's name? Did she know anything about him?!

In a second, he withdrew from his pocket a small vial of something rare that would keep her here in this world, at least for a time, at least so he could finally get his questions answered. Immediately the magic within the vial moved over her in a cloud of black and purple. A small but visible shimmer around her made it obvious that it was working.

"Squid ink!" he announced, letting the vial drop to the ground. "Nasty stuff."

For a moment, there was nothing but silence between them as his mind struggled to grasp at the questions about the Curse he'd come armed with. But then she smiled at him, a sickening nasty smile that made him want to sneer until he realized…

He'd seen her face before! Not just in the drawing his father had done, he'd seen this face before! Pale skin, high cheekbones, black eyes, and that smile, that exact sneer! He'd seen it in the first vision he'd ever gotten from the Seer! This wasn't the exact moment he'd seen though. That smile had been in the day time, this was night time. He was going to meet her again. One day, beyond now, he was going to see her again. How? Why? And what was it the Seer had told him when he'd seen her face? Something about a final battle?

"Rumpelstiltskin…"

Her voice snapped him out of his memory. She knew his name. His father named him, but his mother knew his name.

"So, you know who I am."

"Oh, who hasn't heard of the Dark One?"

He felt his eyes swell, felt them water like they hadn't for decades. Was he truly tearful? Over her? Because she knew him by reputation but had no idea that at the moment she was staring into the eyes of her son? She didn't deserve tears. So why was he so willing to give them.

"And if you've heard of me, you know that squid ink won't hold me long."

No, not long at all. He had to ask his questions. What were his questions? What had he wanted to talk to her about?!

"Oh, I know," he muttered. He was stalling, searching his brain, circling her and finally walking away all in an attempt to clear his brain of that face. "That's why…I have this," he stated, flourishing his dagger.

"And how exactly do you plan on using that?" she questioned with interest. Interest...she'd never shown any interest in him.

"Well, that all depends on how you answer one simple question. You steal babies, steal them from their mothers' arms, so why, of all the babies, in all of the realms, why did you abandon the one child who was actually yours?"

That wasn't the right question. It wasn't anything like he'd come here to ask! Why had he asked it? Why didn't he correct it? And why did the sudden look of fear in Fiona's eyes make him feel like his heart was going to stop?

"No. No, it can't be."

"Oh, I'm afraid it can be…Mother."

Her facial expression hardly changed, but in her eyes, he could see shock and horror. Truly, she hadn't known? Hadn't even stayed around for long enough to learn her child's name? Instead, she'd rushed off, become a fairy, created a curse, and left him to become…this!

She should be ashamed. She should be horrified! He hoped her heart was splitting in two.

"That's right. Rumpelstiltskin is your son. Of course, you would know that…had you bothered to even give me a name. And now you are gonna answer my question," he growled, wondering how his legs had somehow dragged him right back to where she was so that she was looking deep into the bottomless pit of her eyes. "Why did you abandon me?"

He could feel everything. His heart beating. His lungs holding the air in his chest. The crawl on his skin, the dagger in his hand, the wetness moving into his eyes.

And then she laughed. High and breathy, it reminded him of his father when he'd been playing mind games with him. And that smile...he wanted to take his dagger and cut it right out of her face!

"Funny that the Dark One should ask such a thing. Sometimes you have to choose power over love."

He could feel everything, and he could hear everything too. Behind him, now there was another heartbeat, one that he hadn't accounted for. The baby cried, and when he looked over his shoulder, he half hoped to see the Apprentice come to help as he'd planned. But the person holding the baby wasn't a man in a red cloak, it was a woman in a cloak that he'd made for her.

Belle.

The sight of her was sobering.

She was in danger. She had no power to protect her against the Black Fairy.

The Curse, he'd meant to ask her about the Curse!

But Belle couldn't stay! And soon enough the ink would-

"Time's up!"

When he turned back to his mother, he was struck by a hand around his neck. Magic pulsed into him through that hand, Dark Magic, magic that made him feel like his own magic was on overload. Normally that kind of power made him stronger. Now, he just felt entirely overwhelmed. It was enough to keep him still, but as long as her focus was on him and not Belle…he prayed she'd take the baby and run.

"No more answers for you today," his mother taunted. "Guess you'll just have to keep on wondering…son!"

With a vile laugh, she tossed him across the clearing with so much force he landed back several feet. The pulse of magic gone, he was quick to try and get to his feet and chase after her. But she was gone. He managed to run a few steps, but stopped as the violet light he'd seen upon her arrival grew smaller and then disappeared altogether. Through a portal back to another land.

She was gone.

Gone…

And he was here, left alone in this world just like he had been since he was a baby. One parent had gone before he'd had a name, the other before he could begin school and read her name off a single drawing of her, and all of the sudden he had an urge to break into tears in a way he hadn't since he was a child! To sit by a window and stare at the sky and beg her to come back, apologize for anything he'd done, for whatever way he'd hurt her, if she'd just come back and take him away. How was it possible to love and hate someone all at once?

"I understand now."

Belle's voice across the clearing was crisp. It was clear and close. But it wasn't right. He didn't know what she thought she understood, but he knew she didn't. When he thought of all the times he'd observed her over the years and her father had been at her side, he knew that she couldn't possibly understand at all. Not a single bit.

"I mean…you didn't deserve what she did, but sacrificing the life of an innocent child is not the answer. No matter how much pain you're in."

He would have laughed if it didn't remind him so much of his parents. Foolish woman…he agreed with her, and that was why he'd never intended to give the child to her. He'd intended to get his answers and whisk the child away before anything bad could happen.

His answers…he'd never get his answers. He should never have brought up that he was her son, she might have actually given him answers to the things he needed to know if he hadn't let his emotions, his weakness get the better of him. Belle may have been foolish, but what did that make him?

"No one knows anything about my pain," he hissed over his shoulder at her. And then he left her there in the clearing as he went back to the castle. If she'd managed to get there and find him all on her own, then she could bring the baby back on her own as well.

#Rumbelle #Rumple #Rumpelstiltskin #Dark One #Belle #Black Fairy #ouat #ouat fanfiction #fanfic

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dujourmeans · 4 years

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boone mooney / twenty-two / ‘boarder / psychic.

face tba ‣ the product of a one night stand with his now married parents: forsyth “goose’ mooney, self-proclaimed “bi-legend”, and tanya kim, a former professional mechanical bullrider. ‣ works at his dad’s super shady but “fun!!!” theme park, goose’s world. ‣ has two older (but very close in age) half-siblings that grew up only spending weekends and holidays with goose while he was lucky enough to get the whole raising experience with him during the peak of his mom’s international “touring”. ‣ starting skateboarding after playing his first tiny hawk (aka tony hawk) game some in the early 2000s. ‣ is really good at it and was briefly sponsored by a local sporting label that helped him get into a few competitions aired on espn and shit before he flipped off someone on screen and got cut out of his contract … at sixteen. ‣ has at least three pet names for all of his closest friends, and sixteen to twenty for his current girlfriend, the babely nancy myers. ‣ has about sense as anyone who actively / willingly participated in stunts on jackass. ‣ has six pairs of kickass pepperoni pizza; they literally look the same and he wears them around all the time. but it’s never the same pair!!! guess which one it is on any given day though and he’ll be able to tell you by an impossible stain or some random wear and tear. ‣ uses “big” words ala bill and ted, but doesn’t always know what they mean. ‣ not not smart, but not … actually smart either. ‣ into that sexy classic rock or … you know, old adult contemporary. ‣ just a hyped nice guy looking to have a nice sexy time.

needs.

his half-brother!! who’s requested here!! another guy and two girls to join a hellion crew with him, asher and dominic!! (read more about it #here). someone that he used to date that now works at cvg or something that he always runs into and awkwardly tries to shoot the shit with. friends??? millions of them. also people that he can show his pet opossum, trash baby, off to.

rocky im / twenty-five / profesh hellion / dark.

face tba ‣ aka roxanne. ‣ three years into a job at mortem manor; juggles running the coffin experience with managing the “exit” gift shop. ‣ how she turned out is a classic result of a childhood spent being able to get away with almost anything she wanted to thanks to tired parents who were virtually done trying to be too strict after going through with the motions with their older kids. ‣ always going way harder than she probably would be, even when it comes to something as mundane as shuffling a deck of cards or helping her mom out with clipping out coupons. ‣ had to be talked down from spending half a years worth of savings to down south to make a play at beating the record time for someone lasting at mckamey manor. ‣ was sixteen when she convinced her parents to let her go skydiving for the first time - she’s gone five times since. ‣ wants to get her pilots license, but she’s an terrifyingly bad driver so the people in her life had kind of made a vow to distract her from ever being able to. ‣ was a background player for a short horror movie called slasher by the mononymous local legal director, seth, that revolved around a killer who slashed people’s asses ‣ (she’s proud of it too). ‣ isn’t the best at holding her liquor, but likes to think she is which is kind of an issue ‣ isn’t necessarily competitive … unless we’re talking about board games, bar trivia or mario kart - all bets are off with those three. ‣ likes wearing dungarees. ‣ very loud .. but if you’ve been around her you probably know that already. ‣ super charming which is probably why she’s kept her job for as long as she can (considering how often she accidentally breaks shit on location while trying to prove a point). ‣ makes a mean grilled cheese sandwich. ‣ equal parts lover and fighter; she is not afraid to fight you if she has to.

needs.

the one friend left in her childhood friend crew!! (request can be found here!) two older and one younger sibling!! (req here) other childhood friends?? more coworkers? people that she went to high school with? fellow adrenaline junkies (ie: people with questionable decision making skills)? a few past casual relationships?? like … really casual. because she’s too long term wrapped up in her bff to ever get legitimately serious with someone.

gideon kan / nineteen / university student / ice.

felix lee ‣ the more rebellious half of a set of fraternal twins … and there was def a point a few years ago where he wouldn’t let anyone forget that. ‣ comes from an incredibly catholic third generation korean american family. ‣ was homeschooled until he was nine, went to a private catholic school until he was thirteen, and spent the majority of his summers attending bible studies and bible themed summer camps. ‣ started attending public high school during his freshman year, which is when the chaos beginning (in the words of his parents). ‣ spent the majority of his high school days being a total brat to everyone in an attempt to push back from how he was raised; did virtually everything you’d expect a ~wannabe rebel~ to do from socially smoking to sneaking out in the middle of the night to go to trashy bog parties. ‣ kind of started to scale back from that sort of rebellion during his last year of high school in favor of general moodiness. ‣ currently finishing his first year at university of central florida, where he’s studying radio and television broadcasting. ‣ “aspires” to become a radio dj right out of graduation. ‣ currently co-hosts a late night radio show with two of his closest friends that juggles discussion of popular culture and ~giving advice with #good tunes. ‣ terrified his parents into tears when they listened to his first broadcast and he gave painfully descriptive advice about a threesome; they haven’t listened in since. he’s become even more of a lost cause to them since then. ‣ not as above it all as he tries to act like he is.

needs.

his twin sister and older siblings!! (click here) two best friends who’re also the co-hosts on his radio show??? people that he grew up with?? friends from high school???? probably some sort of ex from high school that he had a very brief relationship with?? someone that he had a mild friends-with-benefits thing going with at the start of the school year that kinda just … stopped out of nowhere?? or they decided they were better as friends, whichever.

#ntmyrp

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emilyschoi · 4 years

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Passion

Emily Choi BTVS AU ll Part One Mentions : Everyone

“Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping... waiting... and though unwanted, unbidden, it will stir... open its jaws and howls.”

“No friends, no hope, no weapons. Take that away and what’s left?” Lucas smirked down at her, sword pointed directly at her. Emily crouched, eyes closing as she took in a sharp breath waiting for the strike to come, and it did predictably enough Lucas shoved the sword straight at her.

Emily blocked the sword, trapping it between her palms. Her eyes opened as she stared down Lucas, he might have took everything away from her but he wasn’t going to win - not this time. “Me,” she said shoving the sword back with as much force possible hitting him in the face and knocking him to the ground.

With that, the fight was back on. Emily fought with renewed vigor, she would make sure Lucas was one the sitting in hell for eternity and not the world. The back and the forth between them, every time she thinks she finally had him he would fight back and every time that smug bastard thought he had this in the bag she would get the upper hand.

Their fight moved back into the inside of Lucas’s lair, Emily was once and in charge managing to get a good kick on his head Lucas fell to his knees, Emily lifted her sword up ready to end it but paused when Lucas’s eyes started to glow. He fell forward, breathing deeply.

At this point, Emily had thought the universe couldn’t get any crueler to her - it had made her the slayer effectively ruining her life, the man she loved had become this monster and had destroyed everything that mattered her, her best friend was murder by said man’s evil little sidekick and now, the cruelest blow had happened Tara had managed to bring Lucas’s soul back.

“Em?” He said looking up at her, crawling forward and wrapping his arms around her waist. Emily froze, sword lowering just slightly, tears freely streaming down her face. “What is going on?” he asked looking up at her confused. He moved back, staggering to his feet. “Where are we?” he asked, Emily looked at him searching for any sign he was acting, she wouldn’t it past that version of him. “I don’t remember,” he said. She lowered the sword. It was her Lucas.

“Lucas?” she asked her voice breaking as she choked back a sob. She had wanted this to happen for so long but after Ms Calendar was murdered she didn’t think it was possible.

“Your hurt,” Lucas said looking at the gash he had left earlier, he reached out to pull her closer. Emily let him pull her into a hug. “I feel like i haven’t seen you in months,” he said, pressing soft kisses into her neck. “Everything is all muddled,” he said. Emily buried her head in his neck letting her self give in just for a moment. That moment was ruined, Acathla was fully awakened, Emily wanted to scream and shout about how unfair all of this but she know she didn’t have time to.

“Emily what’s going?” Lucas asked as she pulled away.

“Shh,” she said placing a finger on his lips., her voice broke as she spoke. She kissed him, putting her whole heart into hoping that somehow Lucas would know everything she wanted to tell him. It felt as natural as it did months ago before her 17th birthday but it was twinged with bitter sweetness. “Close your eyes,” she whispered pulling away. Lucas, her sweet Lucas did as she asked no questioned asked.

Fighting back a sob she picked up her sword, “I love you,” she said before plunging the sword into Lucas pushing him into the portal. Lucas’s eyes flew open, his hand reaching out for her as the portal sucked him. Emily took a step back watching in horror as he was dragged in. Her heart sunk to her stomach as he mouthed her name, a silent plea to save him. Her hand twitched wanting nothing more to follow her heart and pull him back, to figure out another way to save but she knew deep down there was no other way.

It was almost instantaneous but the portal shut. Lucas was gone, she had lost him twice. Emily fell to her knees, sobs wracking through her body.

Emily jolted up, it had been the third time this week she had been woken up by that particular memory. She wiped at her eyes, not surprised to feel wetness there. Her heart ached in ways she didn’t think possible. It had been 5 months since that had happened and yet it still like yesterday, it was a gaping wound for Emily that would never really heal. She had tried to run, after all just before that she had a fight with everyone who mattered in her life - her cousin, her friends even her watcher M, but that didn’t help her, not really, it helped her grow closer to Daniel once she returned to Sunnydale, it was nice that he finally knew the truth about her life.

Life continued and eventually her friends, well the ones that were left, eventually forgave her. Emily wouldn’t admit because it was a bitter nasty thought but why did she have to be the one seeking out forgiveness - she sacrificed everything to save them and would probably continue to do so but she was the one in the wrong. It was awkward, even now, she still didn’t feel like she could tell them what happened that fateful night. The dynamic had changed even more now that newer members had been added, Sungjae, a newer (greener than green in M’s words) watcher had shown up with a new slayer Jia, Eunmi’s replacement who ended up doing a runner, and Jane, formerly a vengeance demon who lost her powers after Minah had made a wish - no one was really sure what happened there.

Emily tried though, she really did try, she even had a new boy friend. Gideon, a normal teenage boy - plain and boring. It was nice but it would never be love.

With a sigh, Emily threw her legs over her bed knowing she would never get back to sleep now. She tried, keyword, tried to sneak down the stairs but was caught by Daniel who was sat in front of the tv watching what looked like a ton of infomercials. “Couldn’t sleep either?” he asked as he turned to face Emily. Emily shook her head walking into the kitchen grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.

“You should really try to get some sleep,” Emily said softly to Daniel as she walked back into the room. Ever since he found about the supernatural world Daniel was on edge, to say the least. Daniel shrugged, muttering a ditto as Emily sat down beside him curling into him.

“Do you need to talk?” He asked, as she rested her head against his shoulder. The answer was yes, Emily desperately needed to talk to someone. She needed to vent and shout and cry and just let some off it out so she could let go of some of the guilt but she couldn’t, she couldn’t burden anyone else with this. Daniel took her silence as a response. “I know i am not the best at this but,” he said awkwardly. “Whatever you need Em,” he muttered.

“I know,’ she said. Daniel had really changed since she told him about her being the slayer, at first he was mad so so very mad , mad enough that he had stomped into the library after Emily was reinstated at Sunnydale high and slapped M so hard that he had a bruise for the next week. Even now he was still mad about it wondering why it was a teenage girls job to save the world but he supported Emily as much as possible whether that was making sure to have a first aid pack ready when she got home from patrol or having several cups of coffee ready for her in the morning.

“I think i might do another patrol,” Emily said, ignoring the way Daniel’s eyes bulged out and lips thinned into a frown. “Just to get rid of some of this excess energy,” she said, get rid of some energy and maybe stake a few vampires to help her mood.

“I don’t think that is the best idea,” Daniel said. “You’ve already done enough tonight and M -” Emily didn’t miss bitterness in Daniel’s tone when he mentioned her watcher. “Said that there was a dip in new cases,’ Daniel said hopefully. M had told Daniel because Emily told him to, she had hoped it might calm Daniel’s fears. If Daniel had known they found three bodies in the last week he would never let Emily out.

“Well if there are no problems i’ll be home straight away,” Emily said happily. “Daniel, seriously i’ll be fine, I’m the slayer after all,” she said, it was arrogant but true. She had beat The Master, she had beat The Judge and as her nightmares constantly pointed out she beat Lucas.

She was the slayer.

“I can’t talk you out of it can i?” Daniel asked with a sigh. “I’ll be up when you get home anyway,” he shrugged. Emily leaned across hugging him. The best thing about living with Daniel, especially now with the new openness in their relationship, was there was a never ending supply of hugs and cuddles. He never complained or asked why, he just wrapped her up and cuddle the crap out of her.

“Be safe,” Daniel said, kissing her forehead. Emily laughed, being safe wasn’t really in her job description but she nodded anyway, pulling away and grabbing her coat. She considered getting changed but there was no time like the present and it wouldn’t be the first and it certainly won’t be the last time she has done patrol in her pj’s.

---

After three laps of the cemetery Emily was starting to feel a little exhausted, she was about to call it when she heard a scream. It was as if someone had poured a jug of ice cold water on her because she was suddenly wide awake. She ran towards where the scream came from, jumping over several headstones and through several bushes. Once the adrenaline had simmered down she realized just where she was, if she continued running in this direction she would be near Lucas’s mansion. She swallowed down the pain she felt and refocused on the task at hand. Another scream rang out and she raced forward.

She stopped when she saw a figure, definitely not a human, standing over a woman’s body. “Hey ugly,” she called out getting the beast attention. She didn’t get a chance to get a proper look at before it was lunging at her with a snarl, it tackled her but she managed to flip it over. Whatever it was it was stronger than your run of the mill vampire, it seemed with every hit Emily managed to get on this thing it came back even stronger. A long claw managed to get into her side causing her to scream in pain, so much for being safe. The creature loomed above her ready to strike until it suddenly wasn’t, like a flash something,or someone had it tackled to ground. Emily stood up dusting herself off going to help but the creature from before was gone leaving what looked like a man crouched down breathing heavily.

“Tha-” she started to say before the man leaped at her. Honestly tonight was not her why did people think it was okay to tackle her, she punched the man making him fall back giving her an opportunity to get up. “I was just going to thank you, you ass-” she said trailing off when she saw the man’s face.

“Lucas?” she whispered. It couldn’t be him, it must have been her mind playing tricks on her but why would her mind make him look like this. It wasn’t the Lucas she fell in love with nor was it his soulless alter ego, instead Lucas was covered in scratches, his hair a matted wild mess, his pants were ripped and frayed. Everything about this version of Lucas, if it was really him, was animialstic, his posture, the way he watched her - it wasn’t natural. “Is it really you?” she asked.

She didn’t know what she was expecting, honestly she didn’t think she would get an answer but Lucas, if it was really him, just snarled, kicking her down before running off into the woods. She sprang up trying to chase after him until she was stopped when her cellphone started to ring.

“Daniel now isn’t” she started to say.

“Emily,” Daniel whispered, “That vampire from before, the one that was in a wheelchair, he is here again,” he continued whispered. Emily’s blood ran cold, Tyler, the great dragon as he liked to call himself now, once upon a time was Tara’s older brother now was a bloodthirsty cruel vampire who last time she saw him ran off into the sunset with his sometimes girlfriend, sometimes Lucas’s whore Maude.

“Hide,” she said before hanging up and dialing M’s number. “Get to my house now,” she said before he could even say hello. Whatever else was happening right now didn’t matter, not that beast or the dead body it surely left behind, not Lucas. Right now the only thing that mattered was protecting her family so with that soul thought in her mind she ran faster then she thought possible back towards their home, ready to finish Tyler for good.

It speaks to us... guides us. Opening the door to her house she didn’t know what to expect. She had hoped that Daniel managed to stay hidden until M had shown up. Seeing Tyler hogtied and gagged to a chair wasn’t something she thought she’d see when she got here but it was what he was greeted with.

“Uhm?” she asked, stepping into see M passing Daniel a cup of coffee as they sat at the kitchen counter acting like there wasn’t a dangerous vampire just chilling in their living room. “Did i miss something?” she asked, looking from Tyler to them. The vampire in question was struggling trying to say something. Emily scoffed ignoring him purposely stepping on his feet as she walked over to M and Daniel.

“You're hurt?” Daniel gasped looking at the dried up blood on her shirt.”This is why you shouldn’t do random patrols,” he ranted.

“I am sure she was aware,” M said taking a sip of his coffee, “Apparently Maude ditched Tyler after she found out he betrayed Lucas ,leaving him to be experimented by some unknown force and now apparently he can’t harm any human,” he said tiredly.

“Daniel, it's a flesh wound,” Emily said, trying to appease Daniel who was glaring at her. “And right, did he tell you that because i wouldn’t believe anything that comes out of his mouth.” she said looking over at Tyler. “And even if it was true why did he come here?” she asked.

M shrugged taking another sip of his coffee. “It is too early for me to deal with him,” he said pointing to the clock. 4.25 am. It was almost morning, well it was morning, but not acceptable for a teenager to be up in the morning yet.

“Big help as always,” Emily muttered. “Make me a hot chocolate and i’ll forgive you,” she said sweetly causing M to roll his eyes, a fine fine escaping his lips. Emily sighed, she knew this wasn’t going to fun dealing with Tyler never was. She stomped over to him crouching down so they were eye to eye, without any warning Emily ripped the duck tape of Tyler’s mouth.

“Fuck!” he said. “You little fucking bitch,” he said. Emily rolled her eyes, he really couldn’t come up with anything better. “I come to warn you and this is the thanks I get,” he rambled.

“Warn me about what?” Emily asked, cutting him off.

“Well- “ he trailed off, a smirk making its way onto his face. “I was going to tell you for free but after how I've been treated i think i should get something in return,” he said matter o’factly.

“Or I could just kill you,” Emily said happily. “Mr Pointy has your name written all over it,” she said spitefully. Unfortunately it didn’t have the desired effect instead it caused Tyler chuckle.

“Oh the stake your little friend tried to use on Maude just before she snapped her neck,” he laughed. “Oh i am sorry, touchy subject?” he said pretending to pout. “Whoops,” he deadpanned. It was like something snapped in Emily, how dare he mention Eunmi, She lunged forward only to be pulled back by M.

“He isn’t worth it,” He whispered.

“Yeah listen to your watcher young lady, I am sure he knows a lot about repressing rage after all he will never get revenge for his dear Miss Calendar, especially since you killed soul boy,” Tyler snorted. “Gotta admit shorty i didn’t think you had it in you,” he grinned. This time M stepped forward, sucker punching him in the nose.

“Why did you even come here?” Emily asked. “And don’t give me that bullshit excuse you told M, got experimented on? please,” she scoffed.

“It’s not bullshit,” Tyler winced, face full of his own blood for once, “If it was, do you think I would still be sitting here? I know you have a tiny little brain but please try to use it,” he huffed. “Look I came here firstly you live here and secondly last time i was here your cousin was more than happy to play nurse for me so maybe i was looking for some love and affection,” he said, turning winking at Daniel who was still sitting at the kitchen counter.

“I thought you were a human,” Daniel cried out.”I wouldn’t help you now,” he said face morphing in disgust.

“Keep telling yourself that love,” Tyler smirked before his face fell when he turned back to face Emily and M. “As much as it pains me to say this, i need your help and since i so kindly helped you with your Lucas problem i think its only fair you help me, so if you could you know untie me,” he snapped.

“You helped me because you were jealous, don't make it sound like you helped me out of the kindness of your cold dead heart,” Emily said sarcastically. “And if what you say is true then why would I help you out? A vampire who can’t hurt people? It makes my job a whole lot easier,” Emily said.

“Because what do you think they are going to do the likes of you and your little friends? They’d probably take you down as well, never mind Tara and her little dog, a witch and a werewolf - at least the mutt would be put down,” he said, the last bit a little too gleefully.

“I say we just leave him here with the curtains open,” Daniel spoke up again. “I’ll happily sacrifice my freshly cleaned carpets for humanity,” he said dramatically. Tyler craned his neck growling before letting a groan, a pained look on his face.

“Look, i hate saying this, but there might be some truth to what Tyler is saying,” M spoke, shocking everyone. “If there is this unknown force who can supposedly make vampires harmless - well as good it sounds - does need some investigating,” he said. “I think first we should test if what Tyler is saying is true,” he said with a frown.

“Seriously you want me to untie him?” Emily asked incredulously, letting a vampire, even if it was an alleged harmless one, on the loose in her house. M had to be joking.

“Look two of us can handle him and Daniel well he can at least try,” M said. Daniel let an affronted snort while Tyler rolled his eyes. “Just do it,”M said with a huff. Emily scoffed but did as she was told, purposely making sure to get little digs in Tyler, quite literally.

Once the ropes were loosened Tyler leaped to his feet running straight at M reaching out before dropping down, a pained scream ringing out through the room as he grabbed at his head. Emily and M watched with morbid curiosity at least in Emily’s case. Daniel tip toed over to have a look, a frown on his face.

“So he was telling the truth?” Daniel asked looking at M who just shrugged.

“No shit blondie,” Tyler growled. “Since we’ve established I was experimented on by some sick assholes, can we get to the point where you help me out,” he said with a scowl.”And also who do I have to kill - “ he started to say before letting out a frustrated huff. “Can i get some blood already?”

“Oh of course what would you prefer, we have O positive and AB negative on tap,” Daniel said sarcastically. Emily giggled at how Daniel started to get sassy once it was confirmed that Tyler was harmless.

“How about you do something useful and pour me a cup of yours,” Tyler snapped rubbing at his risk. “When i said you were a snack i meant it literally,” he said narrowing his eyes.

“Are you sure we can’t just let him die?” Daniel asked pouting.

M rubbed at his temple. “Look right now we need him alive, so do you think you can be civil with him for a few more hours?” he asked. Both Emily and Daniel let out a shout of protest. “Look i know its not ideal but he is the safest here right now,” he said. “Now i suggest you try to get some more sleep, you have a meeting with Mr Jung today,” M said to Emily who frowned. She forget about her appointment with the school counselor - a way to prove to Snyder that she was being a good little girl and wasn’t insane.

“You expect us to sleep with that in our house?” Daniel snapped. “Do you actually want Emily to die because as a watcher you seem to be making bad decision after bad decision -” he said do air quotes around the word watcher.

“Daniel stop,” Emily said.

“No no let him go on,” Tyler said grinning wickedly. “Do you know about the time he let your baby cousin have se-” he started to say before Emily threw Daniel’s empty cup at his head. Tyler rolled his eyes, dusting of the shards, “You know though if you truly feel you can’t sleep in my presence i am sure we could do something to tire you out,” he said with a sleazy grin.

“I’d rather die,” Daniel said looking Tyler up and down, an unimpressed look on his face. ‘I am not that desperate,” he said with an eye roll.

Emily sighed.

This was going to be a long morning.

Passion rules us all.

“M messaged me about last night, I figure you’ll be needing this,” Tara said, handing Emily a coffee from the nearby Starbucks, a sympathetic and almost apologetic smile on her face. Emily took the cup, were they talking about Lucas - no it couldn't be she was sure she didn’t mention that to M.

“I said after dealing with Tyler you’d need something stronger then just a regular coffee but apparently that is violating school rules” Mark chimed in from beside her, he looked a little worse for wear, heavy eye bags, hair mused messily and a slew of scratch marks colored his skin. In the drama that was last night, well this morning, Emily had completely forgotten that it was a full moon. “Which is odd because we generally don’t care for that and constantly break them,” Mark shrugged, stroking his chin as if he was pondering the meaning to life.

“Yeah but that is when it comes to Slayer stuff not dealing with my annoying brother,” Tara responded before frowning,”Which technically is slaying stuff,” she pouted. Mark laughed beside wrapping his arm around her shoulder as she rested her head on his shoulder. “Sorry Em, I am just tired you know- “ she said. Emily did know, against basically everyone’s advice, Mark included, Tara had made it her mission to stay with him during every full moon to try and soothe his wolf form and provide some TLC for him when he changed back. It was a long and tedious - not to mention dangerous thing to do but Tara was determined to stick by him even rejecting Emily and M’s offers of taking over for her so she could get some rest.

Emily nodded, a weak smile making it ways onto her face as Mark pressed soft kisses all over Tara’s face. They were cute, adorably so and Emily was truly happy they had each other but seeing them so happy and in love caused her heart to ache. As her mind always did she briefly imagined what it would have been like if Lucas was just your average boy, if she was the one getting back hugs and morning kisses before the bell for first period, if they would have study dates instead of cemetery dates- but that wasn’t her reality no matter how much she wished it was. Instead he was a 240 year old vampire who she could never truly be with.

Especially not now.

She was mused out of her thoughts when Gideon - her current boy who was a friend showed up, his friend Henry and his girlfriend Mindy in tow. “Hey,” he greeted her, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek. Emily plastered a fake smile on her face, happy she learnt something from the acting class Daniel had dragged her to. Gideon was nice, very handsome and most importantly completely human but he wasn’t right, he was just a little too short, his voice wasn’t quite as deep - he just wasn’t right. “I just stopped by to say,” he said awkwardly.

“Well hey,” Emily said, giggling softly. She saw out of the corner of her eye Tara and Mark making a gagging gesture.

“Hey Mark, i didn’t see you in Jazz band this year,” Mindy spoke out drawing the attention to her, Emily noticed Tara bristle next to her. Emily had admittedly been an absentee friend of late but she had never seen Tara react like to well anyone.

“Oh yeah, couldn’t handle the pressure,” Mark said shaking his head. “It’s not the music it’s the marching,” he said solemnly.

“We have a marching jazz band?” Emily asked. Henry snickered, earning a shove from Gideon who shook his head. Emily looked down in embarrassment, there was a running joke among her family that they should have all been born blonde and she certainly felt it right now.

“Yeah but since the best jazz is improvisation we'd all be going off in our own direction, banging into floats - scary stuff” Mark continued winking at Emily to let her know it was a joke.

“He is just being Mark,” Tara said nodding.

“Pretty much all the time,” Mark added causing Tara to giggle and just like that Tara and Mark were lost in Tara and Mark land.

“Those are some nice flowers,” Emily said to Mindy, to be polite more than anything. They were just a regular flower bouquet, nothing special. Lucas had bought her nicer ones when he was a soulless serial killer because he wanted to mess with her.

“Aw thanks,” Mindy gushed, making sure the flowers were the center of attention.”Henry bought them for me,” she said reaching out to rub at her boyfriend’s chest. Unlike Mark and Tara who made her heart ache, this couple made her want to vomit.

‘It was nothing,” Henry said boastfully, Emily bit the side of her cheek. He clearly did think it was something since he was so proud. “Just something boyfriends do,” he said side eyeing Mark. “I am sure Gideon does that for you Emmy,” he said. Emily’s fingers twitched, why was this boy she barely knew giving her a nickname.

“No we aren’t to the flower stage yet, are we?” Gideon said turning to Emily, a panicked look in his eyes.

“No we are still at the pre pollination stage,” Emily said lightly. “Don’t worry i will let you know when you can buy me flowers,” Emily said, watching as Gideon relaxed. God forbid him buy her some flowers Emily thought bitterly, she could hear Daniel in her head telling her this boy is not worth it. “ What time is it?” she asked, pulling up Gideon’s wrist. “Ah, I have to get going. I've got an appointment with Jung,” she said. Honestly she was looking for a way out of this conversation.

“Mr Jung, the school counselor?” Mindy asked.

“Is that a problem?” Tara piped up, eyes narrowed as she took a step in front of Emily, which as much as it made her smile was funny in its own right.

“Yeah , i need to see him once a week to convince him i miss stable so i can stay in school,” Emily supplied. Hopefully mentioning that she might not be stable would stop Mindy from saying whatever she was was going to say next.

“That guy gives me the creeps.” Mindy said, shuddering. “I’d totally quit going but i’m flunking senior bio and my teacher thinks i have success issues,” she said mockingly as Henry rolled his eyes shaking his head.

“Senior bio i kinda aced that finally,” Mark said as Tara broke out into a wide grin. She thought Mark should be more proud of his academic achievements instead of acting like it was no big deal. “I can give you my notes if that would help,” he offered. Emily watched as Mindy’s face light up and winced, apparently she wasn’t the only one who noticed because the looks Henry was giving Mark were downright frightening.

“That would be great, thanks,” Mindy said cheerfully. At that exact moment the bell rang out signalling classes, or in Emily’s case therapy had begun.

“I’ve gotta go,” she said, kissing Gideon’s cheek before turning to head to Mr Jung’s office.

And we obey. What other choice do we have?

“Emily Choi reporting for sanity,” Emily spoke walking into a dimmed office, eyeing the back of a turned chair. She could see a hand holding out a cigarette. Emily sniggered, nice to know the teachers really stuck to the school rules as well. “Look i know i have to do this and i’ll cooperate, i look at your ink blots and whatever but i don’t want to talk about me , or my family, or my childhood,”she listed “Or anything for that matter,” she added. “I don’t want to be friends here,” she said.

The chair turned, slowly, reminding her of a bond villain. Her eyes widened as she recognized the counselor he was one of Daniel’s gentleman friends. “I don’t want be friends Emily,” he said. “You have friend right? Hopefully you have friends,” he said. Emily’s face dropped before she schooled it back to normal. She had friends, even if they weren’t as close as they once were , they were still her friends. “You should have friends,” Mr Jung continued, putting out his cigarette and dousing himself and the area in front of him with cologne. “Friends are good thing, they are always there to tell you what you need to hear which is not what you need,” he said pointedly,. “No what you need is trained not so crazy professional who will always tell you his honest opinion,” he said. “Which i offer,” he added

“Now take a seat,” he said with a smile so big it made his eyes pretty much disappear. Emily smiled weakly taking the seat in front of him.

“This is awkward,” she muttered causing Mr Jung to laugh.

“Why because at some point I sucked your cousin's dick?” he asked bluntly. “Don’t worry, I am a professional,” he said seriously.

“So professional your credentials are not so crazy?” Emily joked causing Mr Jung to shrug.

“Look Emily, no matter who you are child, adult, counselor or the pope nobody is completely sane,” he said seriously. “Anyone who says they are completely sane Miss Choi are either lying or incredibly stupid,” he said causing Emily to giggle. “Look everyone, all of us, have problems, we all have our demons,” he said. Emily looked down wasn’t that the truth, Emily had more demon’s then she could count.

“Gotta say i am with you on that,” Emily muttered.

“Good, the hope i bring to you is that you can fight those demons, people can change, you can change,” he said. Emily hummed, she could fight her demons until she was blue in the face but she doubted she would ever be able to change. It was like the world didn’t want her to. “Great now why don’t we start with you? Why did you runaway?” he asked.

“It’s a long story,”Emily muttered, looking anywhere but at him. “It’s pretty boring,” she said.

“Bore me,” he said simply.

“You know i am complete over it, I am doing fine, I am in a good place, I’m healthy, I’m even dating someone new” she said.

“All good things,” Mr Jung agreed. “But you are giving the last page without the rest of the book, how did we get here Emily?” he continued to push.

“I was dating someone,”Emily sucked in a breath, “And it ended badly, I was fighting with my cousin and i kind of freaked,” she said that was as honest as she could get.

“Tell me about this guy, the bad ending guy,” he continued.

Emily paused, fiddling with the hem of her sweater. “He was my first,” she said trying to figure out what to say next, her first proper boyfriend, her first love, her first everything. “I loved him and then he,” she was stopped, her voice getting croaky and her eyes getting misty.

“And he changed,” he finished for her, she nodded not trusting herself to speak. “He got mean,” he continued. “But you still loved him,’ he said. Emily nodded again. “Lots of people lose themselves in love, look how many songs are wrote about it,” he joked, “the thing is you can’t stay lost, eventually you have get back to yourself,” he said.

“And if you can’t?” Emily asked.

“If you can’t, well then love becomes your master and you are just its dog,” he said.

Passion is the source of our finest moments.

The joy of love... the clarity of hatred... the ecstasy of grief.

Walking into the library after classes had ended Emily didn’t expect to see everyone gathered. She especially didn’t expect to see Tara glaring at M and Mark closing in on himself. “What happened?” she asked looking around the room.

“Wolf boy escaped last night and killed some one -” Jane, the former demon said, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder nonchalantly.

“He did not,” Tara snapped. “I was there with him the whole night,” she defended Mark. “And that person had a name you know,” she said, eyes narrowing at the blonde. “Maybe you should learn some empathy if you want to keep pretending you are human,” she huffed.

“I am more human than he is,” she said pointing to Mark, “And this is boring,” she said rolling her eyes. “Mr M have you ever had sex in this room?” she asked. “And if not do you want to?” she continued. Emily’s nose scrunched up in disgusts.

“Okay move on can someone not as her- “ she said gesturing to Jane who looked offended, “explain to the slayer what is going on? Is there a reason we think Mark escaped?” she asked looking at M. He was the only person she trusted in this room to give her a non biased response, Sungjae was a little too stuffy to be trusted he was on the anything remotely supernatural shouldn’t be trusted side, Minah who was still a little bitter about Julien doing a runner and blaming Emily and her friends for everything that has gone wrong her life, Tara for obvious reasons and well Mark, Emily was hoping she could give him some peace of mind.

“RIght a body was found last night, severally mauled,” M said seriously. “It would appear to be a werewolf attack,” he sighed rubbing his temple.

“But Tara was here last night,” Emily said. “She would have noticed if he escaped and she would have told someone,” she said. Tara would never just let Mark roam free, it was dangerous not only for them but for Mark as well.

“Love makes liars out of everyone,” Jane interrupted. Emily let out an annoyed huff, looking at M with an unimpressed look. Emily genuinely wondering why she was here, she was pretty sure attended college with Minah so why were they hanging out in a high school library.

“She fell asleep,” Sungjae interjected. “Which i dont blame Miss Lee for at all, it was irresponsible to leave a teenage girl incharge of baby sitting a werewolf, i am frankly shocked that Mr Giles would allow her to do something so reckless, harboring a dangerous beast - the watchers council will be hearing about this,” he continued. Emily briefly imagined what it would be like to punch him in the face, it would be fun.

“Are you going to tell them about how your slayer did a runner?” Emily asked happily, “I am sure the watcher council would love to hear about that,” she said with an eyeroll.

“Yes well there is a chance that Mark -” M started before stopping when he looked over at Mark who buried his head in his hands. Tara beside him glared at everyone in the room before standing up and rubbing circles into Mark’s back, whispering reassurances to him.

“There is a chance,” Emily said, “But it might not be, last night on my second patrol, there was this thing that attacked me -” she continued. “Wait, was this a female body because i can safely say it wasn’t Mark,” she said. She had hoped that would have had a more positive reaction but instead it just got gloomier.

“It was Jaehyun,” Mark said looking up, he looked and sounded completely devastated, “The body was Jaehyun Young,” he muttered, Tara frowned behind him wrapping her arms around his shoulders and resting her chin against it.

“Okay so not the same body,” Emily frowned.

“But potentially the same killer,” M said. “Look we have one more night to a perfect full moon,”he said. “If we split up we can manage this,” he said nodding his head. “Emily will do her normal patrol tonight,” he said, “While we look after Mark and figure out what you saw,” he said nodding to Emily.

“What about Tyler?” Emily asked, “We can’t just leave him with Daniel,” she said, even with Tyler’s inability to hurt people she could see them standing each other for much longer without some damage happening.

“Tyler? He is here? You didn’t kill him?” Minah jumped up with a growl. “Some slayer you are,” she huffed. “You let Lucas go until the world was literally going to end, Maude is god knows where even though she snapped your bestfriends neck and now Tyler is playing happy homes with your cousin,” she snapped. “Could you just do your job for once -” she continued.

“Minah!” Tara shouted out. “That’s not fair,” she said.

“It’s fine Tara,” Emily said softly, “Minah if you think it is so easy then feel free to take my place tonight, i’d much happier stay here pretending to help out a friend while feeling sorry for myself because my boyfriend ran away like a little bitch,” Emily continued.

“At least my boyfriend didn’t turn into an evil psychopath because i was a bad lay,” Minah responded eyes narrowed as she went in for the kill. Emily’s face fell, that night was something they all collectively agreed not to bring up. It was probably the most traumatic thing Emily had been through which says a lot because she has died once.

“That is enough,” M shouted out. “Tyler is only alive right now because he has information that concerns people in this room not because of Emily’s skills as a slayer,” he said tiredly. “Miss Delacroix, I'd appreciate it if you kept your comments about people’s personal life to yourself - all things considered,” he said pointedly. Emily had no idea what M was implying but whatever it was got to Minah since she sunk back down into chair. “Now about Tyler, i think it would be easy just to show you,” he said. “Now i suggest you all get comfortable because it’s going to be a long night,” The was an air of finality in M’s tone that no one argued with.

It hurts sometimes more than we can bear.

Emily frowned, it was quiet, way too quiet. On any given night there were atleast 5 vampires roaming the streets of Sunnydale, more at the cemetery but tonight there was nothing. It was like every vampire decided to stay home, it was unnerving and it left Emily feeling antsy.

Something was off tonight. Or perhaps Emily was off, the day had left feeling emotionally exhausted and she honestly wanted something to happen so she could let out some frustrations. Another part of her wanted to go to the mansion to check if Lucas was there. If what had happened in the early hours really had happened or was it just some trick. One didn’t just escape hell, it wasn’t possible or it shouldn’t be.

With a frustrated sigh Emily kicked the ground stomping over to an old oak tree and sliding below it. The moon shone brightly above her, she stared up at it, remembering that she was here to prove one of her friends wasn’t a murderer.

She huffed standing back up, dusting herself off as she did so. She figured another lap wouldn’t hurt, patrolling was lonely work, especially now that Eunmi was gone. Her eyes briefly flickered over to the side of the cemetery she was buried in, she had yet to go pay her respects. She knew she wasn’t up to it yet, Eunmi was the only person who understood Emily’s life, her best friend and partner in crime. She got what it was like to be a slayer, to be expected to give up every normal bit of your life to focus on saving everybody else and now she was gone. Emily shook her head trying to shake the tears out of her eyes. Once she was done with this she was going to hunt Maude down, rip her heart and shove it down her throat before setting her on fire

Emily continued to patrol but nothing was happening. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket, checking to see if there were any updates. Nothing, she hoped that meant everything was okay. It would be completely irresponsible for her to go check the mansion. She had a job , she had to do it but it had been hours and nothing was happening. She would just go look, it wouldn’t take that long.

The mansion, old and decrepit now, was open. Emily sucked in a breath, counting to five before stepping in. It was just like it was the last time she was here, she could still see her blood stains on the carpet. She stepped towards that room, she knew that the statue of Acathla was long gone. M had seen to that. She stepped in timidly, stupidly calling out. “Lucas?” she whispered.

She found him. Not how she expected him to. She found him chained to the wall, just as feral as he was last night. He looked over at Emily, eyes completely unfocused and unsure. Emily took a step towards watching as he pulled against his restraints trying to escape from her. Emily lips turned down into frown, “Lucas,” she whispered reaching out to touch only for him to flinch a whimper escaping his lips. “Can you even understand me?” she asked, her heartbreaking. What happened to him. “It’s me,” she said hoping that it would snap him out off it. She wouldn’t care if he was happy to see her or if he wanted to kill her for betraying him she just wanted something, some sign of recognition, some sign he was still in there somewhere but instead all she got was him trying to hide himself. A sob escaped her lips as she backed out of the room slowly, before running to flee completely. Just like her morning run in with Lucas her cellphone rang.

“Em , Mark escaped,” M said to from the phone. “Be careful,” he said before hanging up and like that Emily had to refocus, making sure her friend didn’t accidentally eat someone was more important right now.

#story #au

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mondayglasses · 5 years

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Supergirl: 5x01. Event Horizon maybe but not the one they want or you want to remember.

So I watched the episode and it was beyond terrible. I mean for a season opener there was no action and they are 100% going to bait the SC fans if not go that route. Let me give you a breakdown.

It’s starts with Kara saving some kids who are going to get killed by a bus? Sound familiar? Cause they have literally done it a million times. Lena then tells Supergirl she knows who she is and punches her. It’s the scene from the trailer. It’s essentially a sim and Lena’s way of getting her anger out apparently.

Lena has a new AI friend who is like Gideon/Jarvis. When did she have time to build it and how did she have the tech? Who knows but it’s Lena so she probably did it in an evening cause you know she is amazing. She then goes into a load of diatribe about how she doesn’t trust humans cause they are ambitious and she doesn’t trust them etc? Of course that doesn’t include her, that could never include her.

Cut to a scene where J’onn, Alex, Kelly and Kara are in Noonans (which neither looks nor feels like Noonans) and everyone is staring into space cause they got virtual reality contact lenses. Apparently Kelly conveniently has a job at Obsidian the same company that is going to take over CatCo and they share the same building. Sound convenient? Cause it is and they can’t find a more tactful way to include Kelly at every turn.

They then talk about this new contact lens tech that Kara knows nothing about. You know the same Kara who won a Pulitzer for her hard hitting journalism that was full of all the facts. We can’t possibly expect Kara, a journalist to know about the latest tech that is taking over the city, no that’s not her job (biggest eye roll).

We then get to hear about everyone’s very scripted thoughts on what they think about technology and how dangerous it is or the potential good it can do. It was like the writers where challenged with trying to tell the audience the theme of the season but none of them had any idea how to do it subtly. Instead they give lines to characters that feel the furthest thing from natural.

Once J’onn leaves to go and teach tai chi, yes you heard me right tai chi and Kelly goes to her new job Alex rounds on Kara and demands that she tell Lena that she is Supergirl. This being the same Alex who has warned Kara countless times about the dangers of revealing who she is. It’s like everyone has collective amnesia and has forgotten all Lena’s dubious behaviour in previous seasons. If there is one person after 4 seasons I wouldn’t trust with anything it’s Lena no matter how friendly you are with her. But here we have the head of the DEO telling Supergirl, one of their greatest assets to tell Lena who she is. Sound OOC? Yes this whole scene is.

Kara’s response to it all is, of course, to doubt and blame herself cause Kara as to blame for everything. If there is someone that needs to beat themselves up more it’s Kara. *sigh*

The next scene we see the new boss of CatCo. Surprise! Not really. Another season another boss and owner. I swear CatCo is like Supergirl’s version of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors. Although we might not be surprised by the new boss James and Kara are. Apparently normal business rules don’t apply to CatCo. You seemingly can buy the company on a whim without informing the board, or share holders or even your employees. You don’t even have to tell the government nor does it take months, potentially years. No, you can just rock up one day take over the Editor in Chiefs office and buying a company and the building. (Heavy eye roll).

Now you might ask what Andrea Rojas’s background is and if she is qualified for the position, the answers is no. She was given a portion of her daddy’s business and made a dodgy deal with Lena. But that doesn’t matter. Who needs qualifications at CatCo?????

What about Andrea Rojas personality you ask? Well she is a strong willed bitchy woman and does what she wants apparently. You know cause female CEOs and bosses can’t possibly be nice and supportive and help their employees by empowering them. They have to scare and bribe people and if they don’t do what you want then ruin their lives.

In the next scene we see a group of school kids at a museum that has things donated by the Supers. Cute yes but you have to wonder, would Superman or the DEO really allow a high tech alien pod with such a histories as Cal’s be donated to a museum and openly put on display. I think not. Also a ride about the phantom zone has got to be something out of a horror film. It is pure torture for everyone there, no time passes, all the worst of Krypton’s criminals were sent their, how is that a fun ride???? “Oh hey lets just say a friendly hello to Zod” (face palm). More to the point the only person who has really experienced the phantom zone in this universe that we know of is Kara and it gave her nightmares. There is no way she would wish that on anyone else.

Moving on, one of the little girls in the group is dodgy and bad things happen. Cut then to Lena and Kara in her office. The topic of CatCo comes up and Lena says that she was going to have lunch and tell Kara. Like Kara is the only person that needs to know that CatCo is being sold. No, the editor in chief, the board (remember them from S1?, yeh the writers don’t) they don’t need to be informed, who cares about them. *sigh* Lena then talks some more, not giving Kara a chance to say anything and then says, again no joke “The only reason I bought the company was you”. Yes you heard that right, you don’t need to clean your ears, Lena says that she only bought the company for Kara. It’s clear that the writers have been reading so many SC comments on twitter that they have lost their minds and memories and believe whatever they write. Forget the fact that in S3 Lena says the opposite about buying the company. Also if you are thinking that this seems like SC trope it’s cause it is.

After Kara and Lena’s “chat” AKA Lena’s monologue we get back to the museum where Supergirl arrives to “save” the day. I say save loosely cause she can’t even punch a dinosaur with full strength apparently. Once again the writers have conveniently forgotten that their main character could in fact throw that dinosaur into space, or burn a hole in it with her laser vision. No Kara just breaths on it a little and then gets knocked over, yes Supergirl girl of steel gets knocked over and Martian Manhunter arrives to help. While Kara, the alien with superspeed lies on the floor J’onn goes to attack it and gets thrown back by a force. Great “fight scenes” from Supergirl once again. (eye roll)

Back to Andrea, CatCo new extraordinary boss. She has a staff meeting where she essentially tells everyone she has taken CatCo over and it’s apart of Obsidian. Yes another creepy tech company taking over a media company cause it makes all the sense in the world and it isn’t dodgy. We haven’t had this trope before. It makes me wonder does National City publicise itself as the place to get away with questionable experiments? First Lord Tech, then L Corp, then Sphere Tech now we get Obsidian.

Anyway I digress, in this scene Andrea essentially tells everyone that she wants CatCo to become clickbait and a tabloid newspaper/magazine. When questions she explains that reporting the truth (you know like wars and people dying) isn’t as important as profit and getting internet traffic or “consumer reporting” whatever that is…. She even says that Kara Pulitzer Prize winning story reduced the amount of traffic. Now I am no expert in media but if someone wins a prize for something that tends to drive up internet traffic. Even if people disagree with it human being are naturally curious. But then what do I know? Andrea also goes on and changes everyone’s contract to be 3 years only (I am pretty sure you can’t just do that) and invites anyone who doesn’t agree with her to quit.

One massive question that hangs over this scene and the later ones are WHERE IS CAT? If she saw what was happening to her company she would literally do anything she could to stop it. There is no way she would be ok with this. I mean Cat wouldn’t even publish the list of cheaters in S1 yet she is nowhere to be found and apparently is completely fine with the company that she started and bears her name to be passed around from person to person like a hot potato.

After all this stupidity we finally get back to Supergirl being Supergirl, you know fighting or something…… Kara gets called to come and look at a site and finds Brainy, Alex and J’onn, yes J’onn who is no longer a part of the DEO and who shouldn’t be allowed clearance at sites like this. Anywho they find a phantom zone projector and Alex and Kara work out too late that it’s a trap. The villain of the week appears and starts causing trouble. Supergirl gets some overly scripted dialogue which reminds everyone that yes she is still Supergirl and no the writer don’t have total amnesia (they still remember Alura from season 1).

A fight scene ensues where everyone gets blown over by some wind. Supergirl again uses none of her powers and ends up hiding behind some boxes with Brainy and Alex. As appears to be the norm now J’onn goes and fights her herself, meanwhile Kara continues to hide. Eventually Alex tells Kara to grab the projector and sort out the situation. As she does you can see her battling the wind to do what she needs to do. Yes, I did say battling some wind cause Supergirl who can lift an entire building and blow a wind out of her mouth that is probably as strong cannot withstand what is coming from this enemy. Amazing huh? (heavy eye roll).

After that Oscar worthy scene, we get a lovely heart to heart between the Olsen siblings. Kelly tells James how amazing he is and then says she won’t stand against her new boss but gives him her abstract support. What is abstract support you might ask? I have absolutely no idea. The only thing I can think is she means she will be with them in thought but not in action, which let’s face it is completely useless and doesn’t help anyone. The long and the short of it though is that James quits CatCo and goes to pursue “something else”. And so we say goodbye to James, another original cast member who is male and no longer needed.

In another scene we get to see Kara come face to face with Andrea once again as well as meet the new guy, William Dey. William is a reporter from the Times “in London” who has an ego (cause we don’t have enough on the show already). Kara is told he has re-written her article and cut stuff out and although Kara says that it’s bias not to give all the facts he doesn’t care, he writes the POV that is requested. (Somewhere in the world Snapper is having an aneurysm hearing this.) Kara gets angry and turns to Andrea and says the following:

“I will be reporting what I want and writing it the way I want to. I will fight you every time, on every story to make sure it is told the way it deserves to be told. I will not be tolerated being rewritten by him and I will not allow my voice to be silenced.”

If your confused don’t worry you aren’t alone. This statement makes little sense when you break it down. Here Kara is saying she will do what she wants and refuses to be re-written but if she does what she wants that’s exactly what will happen. In fact it’s already been done.

At this point I have to question if Kara’s actions of defiantly staying at CatCo are helpful (even if it was nice to see Kara put her foot down). Andrea claims that she could ruin Kara’s and others careers so they will never work again if they quit but that hasn’t bothered Kara before. She was ready to quit on James in season 3 and in season 2 she gets fired for going out there and reporting the truth in the only way she could on her blog. Where has Kara’s moral compass gone from season 2? A few years ago she would have written it all on her blog thinking it was more important than her job. Now that she is a Pulitzer prize winner, and probably still has Cat support (yes I didn’t forget about her even if the writers did) the threat of ruining her is less potent. She could bring back danver.com or work full time at the DEO like she was going to before but instead she chooses to stay at CatCo where she is not be able to write what she wants? It makes no sense at all. Also Andrea’s threat about stopping someone from ever working again seems empty when all we know about her is that her father gave her part of his company. If it was Cat I would shudder with her I just laugh.

Now finally we get towards the end and we see Kara at her Pulitzer ceremony. Brainy gives her some nano tech which contains her suit that can be attached discretely onto her glasses. He explains that she needs to be careful because whenever she takes her glasses off her suit will appear. Inconvenient? 100%. Can you imagine Kara getting home and taking her glasses off only for her suit to appear? Then again her suit these days is more like a comfortable and slightly loose onesie that maybe she wants it that way.

The funniest part of it all is that in the very next scene Kara takes her glasses off and despite what Brainy says the suit doesn’t appear (although the next time it does). How does it work? Only the brainy, I mean only the writers…. Uhhhh no one knows.

It’s at this point in the episode we finally get the scene when Kara reveals her identity to Lena. As you would expect from this show and these writers, Kara cries throughout, apologies too much and blames herself. Her pain is hard to watch particularly when you know that it’s not warranted and they just want to make Kara sad. Lena plays the victim card, sheds a tear, yes a tear, and then goes to make a speech about Kara. In it she talks about how Kara stands for the truth (dig the knife in some more Luthor), and that we lie (but not you huh perfect Lena) and that Kara makes mistakes but picks herself up. They hug, cause they need to give SC the content they want and all seems to be ok, right? Wrong. If you know the show at all you will know that it’s all fake from Lena and she will stab Kara in the back as soon as she can.

She does in fact do this later in the episode when Supergirl comes to give her a signal watch (like James had) and says she isn’t going to keep anything from Lena. Lena then goes and tells her AI (her only friend is an AI, that’s not creepy) that Kara “broke her heart” (sounds romantic huh? Bait much) and that she didn’t want Supergirl dead she just wants to cause her pain. Yes apparently wanting to emotionally and possibly physically torture someone is better and more moral than murdering them. Who knew?

The final fight scene for the group comes at the Pulizer event when they all end up in a theatre. Again the amazing fight scene come to the for and we see Guardian, Manhunter, Dreamer, Brainy and Alex all stand in a line and blast the villain with their powers. Before you ask, yes standing in front of the enemy where they can see what you are doing, in a straight line no less and using one of your powers will work, everyone knows it’s the best strategy. Many great battles have been won that way. It is not at all necessary for Supergirl to use her superspeed or flight powers to disable the person, nor should J’onn use his physic abilities to play with their minds. Where is the fun in that?

When that tremendous strategy doesn’t work, they stand around, yes stand around and chat for a few minutes while the villain IDK goes for a coffee break? And then J’onn on behalf of the team once again tries to attack. Alex, yes Alex, the only human with no powers whatsoever, magically finds the phantom projector that was taken as a precaution to the Pulitzer event (there is nothing weird about that) and J’onn gets sucked into a black hole. Supergirl finally realises she can fly and tries to save him. To do that she uses her heat vision on the black hole cause that makes total scientific sense, don’t you dare question it.

Once the crisis is over, all the superheroes have successfully used none of their powers in any way that’s useful and we can once again applaud the Supergirl team for another incredible fight.

The episode ends with Nia telling Brainy to kiss her, and J’onn discovering he has a brother. While that storyline could be interesting it feels a tad repetative and you have to wonder if J’onn is going to find a problematic relative every season until the show ends. Who will be next, his daughter? his cousin? Place your bets.

As the Supergirl seasons progress they seem to get worse and worse but this episode has definitely taken the cake. For a premiere it was unexciting and with no real fight scenes and very little Supergirl you have to question who will tune in next week or for the rest of the season. SC may think that this is the best season ever and the writer will bait them with the “kara broke my heart lines” and hugs but they despite what they think are not large enough to keep the ratings up. If they keep going like this then we all better hope this show finishes sooner rather than later. The cast deserves better.

Anyway drop a comment or question below if you have any thoughts.

#supergirl supergirl5x01

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theemperorsfeather · 4 years

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I've read a lot of books this year; here are some I found particularly noteworthy:

"Dishonourable" Mention:

KJ Parker's Scavenger trilogy. Getting this one out here first because it was the most unpleasant thing I've read in ages. It's fantasy, but I think it also works as psychological horror, hence a great deal of the unpleasantness. The narrator is a very bad man, not that he knows what he's done, because he has no memory of his past, but everyone who recognizes him wants to run away or kill him or possibly seek revenge in some other way, and they won't tell him his name or what he's responsible for, but it must have been pretty fucking awful.

He's not sure he wants to know his past and keeps trying to avoid bloody conflict and do the right thing, but he can't: People keep trying to kill him, and he's very good with a sword. There's a lot of blood, in small conflicts and in the bigger picture (political intrigue, invaders, horrible people engaging in horrible tactics all over). Also, he may be the harbinger of doom for civilization!! Psychologically intense, though often lightened by what I recall as frequent, almost flippant writing/character thoughts about the horrible things going on. I read it because I was going through 15 Epic Fantasies That Stick the Landing; it's deserving of its place there.

It's hard to recommend this because I don't want to be the cause of others' pain, but I can't say it was badly done. (Also: Author likes to lovingly detail things like how charcoal burners make charcoal; this seems to just be a thing he does, 'cause in another series, featuring a fencer and a siege, you get technical details pertinent to those things. I didn't find this tedious, and in the Scavenger trilogy it was a nice bit of relief from "oh no what terrible thing will happen next" and "oh no what terrible bit of history is about to be uncovered o h N O.")

That one is going to stick with me for a long time. ANYWAY.

Books I can more easily recommend with a clear conscience:

Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Time and Children of Ruin. First contact stories! Obsessed scientists!! Non-human sentients who get big BIG chunks of plot!!! Explorations of "how do communication when we're so very different"! I loved both of these a lot. (I tried reading one of his other books and could not get into it, alas.)

SA Chakraborty, Daevabad trilogy (3rd book out next year*). Fast-paced, interesting characters and plot, very witty, set in a city/world inhabited by the djinn - and their part-human descendants. I really have no idea how things are going to get all sorted out in the third volume and I can't wait to get hold of it. (There are a lot of books coming out in 2020 I'm eagerly anticipating.)

John Scalzi, Interdependency trilogy (3rd book out next year*). Fun space opera, with political intrigue, family history posing a problem for the lead character who really didn't -want- to become Emperox but here she is, and some serious problems to sort out. One of the protagonists says "fuck" a lot. No, really, /a lot/. (She's fun.) I think this is the first year I've read any of Scalzi's novels, and I've found them all enjoyable, but this trilogy is better than Old Man's War or Redshirts.

Ann Leckie, The Raven Tower. This probably deserves to be top of the list for "Books I want to make everyone read, it's just so good." I enjoyed her Ancillary trilogy - this is nothing like them, in plot, setting, or writing style. It's amazing writing storytelling.

Yoon Ha Lee, Machineries of Empire series (3 novels, plus short stories). I've seen people raving about the first book (Ninefox Gambit) for a while, but because I tend to be skeptical of hype, I put it off. I was wrong in my skepticism, but the upside to that is that once I started, I didn't have an agonizing wait for the 3rd volume. One of the only books/series/anything where once I finished, I immediately had to find some fanfic, because I wasn't ready to move on to anything else and say goodbye to those characters, or their peculiar world/universe/calendar. Could fight The Raven Tower for first position in "favorite of the year" (and might win, if only because most of the characters are amoral bastards who know how to get what they want; otoh, the [redacted] in the Tower knows how to [redacted]).

Jeff VanderMeer, Dead Astronauts. I'm cheating because I haven't read this yet, but the other novel set in this world, Borne, is on my "top books" list, along with his Southern Reach trilogy. (I expect to have a copy in my hands on Wednesday.)

Garth Nix, Abhorsen books. Yes, I really hadn't read these until now. I think I got him confused with some other author of YA'ish fantasy novels who people said was overhyped, so I kept passing them by? Again, I was wrong to do so! These are great!

Maggie Stiefvater, The Raven Boys. Surprisingly intense. Not sure where the story is going, which I like. I read a couple of her other books before starting this series, and have been pleasantly surprised. (The other books weren't bad; these are just better/more to my taste.)

Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth. A lot of people don't like the casual modern writing that is apparent in the first chapter, but it seems like a completely appropriate way to write, given the attitude and personality of the teenager who is the title character. She was a really fun character to follow around her very strange and fucked-up world. This book hurt me but I'll read the sequel when it comes out (next year*).

Kate Elliott, Crown of Stars series. This was a big investment in time - 7 books and all of them pretty hefty. I've never enjoyed a medieval setting more; there were so many details, and the characters in the Catholic Church-equivalent were actually fully rounded people rather than some kind of basic nun/priest stereotype put in because In This Setting You Have To Have Them. (Most of the characters were, but I found it particularly noteworthy for the religious protagonists, and there were several.) This ought to have a place in "15 Epic Fantasies That Stick the Landing" because I didn't feel like it was a slog to get to the end, and things got wrapped up pretty well. (I also read her Crossroads trilogy, which was very good, but broke my heart in several places, and I haven't gotten over that.)

Also worthy of mention but I am running out of steam:

Seanan McGuire, Middlegame

Samantha Shannon, Priory of the Orange Tree

Nick Harkaway, Gnomon and Angelmaker

Martha Wells, several non-Raksura books (binge-read those a previous year)

Harry Connolly, Twenty Palaces books (am I mad they didn't sell well enough for there to be more? yes)

Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake trilogy

Rachel Hartman, Seraphina & Tess of the Road

(I kind of want to make an "Actual Dishonourable Mentions" list, for the books that I read because they were hyped as good and/or amazing but not deserving it, IMNSOHO, there are REASONS I distrust hype, but that feels mean, so I won't.)

*NEXT YEAR'S GOING TO BE SO GOOD!! Also coming up: The third volume in Kameron Hurley's brutal, bloody fantasy trilogy, and I have to make the tough call between putting myself through All That again, or avoiding the horrors and going into the conclusion without much memory of who any of the characters are and what they've been up to. I've been worrying at this decision for a couple of years now and I think I may be coming down slightly in favor of "All That, again."

Holy shit I just learned NK Jemisin has a book coming out next year, too????

#books #long post #sorry #oh gods the formatting i'm actually sorry

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beyondalicerp · 5 years

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Name: Elora Astaril Age: 27 Date of Birth: June 7th Gender: Female Sexuality: Heterosexual Residence: The Palace Occupation: Assassin Species: Inhabitant Affiliation: Crimson Face Claim: Poppy Drayton Suggested: Theo James, Michael B. Jordan, Nathaniel Buzolic, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Jamie Chung, Caity Lotz, Tessa Thompson Played by: Bryony

The Panic separated many families fleeing the horrors of Tulgey. The Assassin was still so young when it happened. All they recall of their family is vague figures in the back of an old cart. From then on, they were on their own, stealing food and seeking shelter in whatever small spaces they could fit. Then, the Crimson King came. On their first visit to the Woodland after their coronation, the Assassin remembers struggling to move through the crowd to see them, only for a strong hand to reach through and pull them out. The Assassin still doesn’t know what it was that day that the King saw in them, but the King saved them, brought them to the Palace, and raised them with greater purpose. Their title is a myth to the people of Wonderland, a reputation with no face, and it is within that shadow of mystery that the Assassin works. With unwavering loyalty, the Assassin works to ensure that every word of the King’s is upheld, and all threats eradicated, for the protection of Wonderland.

The Crimson King: The Assassin looks up to the king, seeing all of the good that they have done and knowing the kindness that was shown to them as a child. Although they were a small child, they were a fighter, and it was shown in the many instances where the Assassin came into conflict with bullies, both around Wonderland and the Palace. The King must have seen that, as they decided to have the Assassin trained by the knight that first led the King’s forces, a dear friend of the King’s and a fierce fighter. While said knight has since retired, the Assassin has surpassed those lessons, becoming the King’s most lethal weapon and most loyal protector.

The Golden Archer: The Assassin has always had to deal with bullies, and the Golden Archer is no different. The Archer makes a point to tease and humiliate the Assassin in front of anyone that will listen. The Assassin tolerates it as best as they can, knowing the Archer is only trying to get under their skin, but part of them wants to fight back like they did when they were young. It is only their respect for the King that is keeping them at bay, but the Archer may just push them too far one of these days.

Chanson the Chaotic: It is easy for the Assassin to travel in the Woodland since no one recognizes them as the Crimson Assassin. They are simply a nameless figure, keeping watch on the community. They noticed Chanson a couple of months ago. Something about them intrigued the Assassin. The way they look at people, they way they talk... It’s all very strange. The Assassin suspects they may not be from here, and that they may have ill intent, but Chanson’s identity and mission has managed to evade them so far.

The Crimson Assassin is currently TAKEN.

Violetta and Trito never meant to hurt anyone. They had been living a perfectly normal life with their three children, and they were perfectly content. They travelled a lot, and lived out of a cart. It was hardly the ideal way to live, but for them they had everything they needed there, and anything they didn’t have, they could soon find in the land. It wasn’t a grand life, but it was a happy life. But they mostly only travelled in Tulgey, and soon the horrors of the Panic came. They tried to travel quickly, but the old cart could only move so quickly, and even after throwing out everything, it was still too slow. That was how it came to be, that they realised that to save themselves and their children, someone had to be left behind.

Elora was the youngest, and at the time she was suffering from an illness. Only a cold, but it felt easier to give her up, and save her two older brothers who had a better understanding of what was going on. She was told to go and find some fire wood, and that her family would meet her at a location an hour later. But she did the one thing they told her not to do, and she turned around to see the cart leaving, with the rest of her family leaving. Although young, even she realised that she had been left behind. She had learnt enough from her brothers to be able to fight her way out of scraps, and so she focused on somehow just staying alive. Her family had abandoned her, and so she stopped thinking about them. If they weren’t interested in her then she saw no reason to be hung up on them.

And so it was, that Elora survived. She learnt to steal food when she was hungry, and learnt to hide when there was danger. There was a few who tried to harm her, but they never really got very far with it. Then the day came that Gideon appeared, and suddenly the monsters she had spent so long hiding from were gone. She only went to the coronation to see the man that had risen up against the things her nightmares were made of. She wasn’t expecting anything to come of it, and yet she still fought her way through the dense crowd to see the man. She hadn’t expected him to even see her, let alone pull her from the crowd and take her back to the palace.

It was a different world from the one she was used to. Instead of sleeping in holes, or under tables, there was a proper bed, and proper food instead of the scraps that she had stolen. The whole thing felt like a dream. But she was still young, and still fairly small, especially compared to some who walked around the palace. She didn’t really understand why the King had been worried about this, but the defence lessons started, and oddly she found herself enjoying them far more than anything else. She didn’t even realise how good she was, she thought that people were taking it easy on her because she was young, but it soon became evident that they weren’t.

For years her life was training and she didn’t really realise what it was for, until one day the King came to her with a strange request. He wanted to keep Wonderland safe, and it seemed the biggest threat was Alice. She had heard all the stories about the girl, and though the request sounded odd to her, she went. The realm Alice lived in was a strange place, metal horses and strange boxes people spoke into. But one thing that wasn’t different was the weather, and as a storm started, she realised she could use it to her advantage. Knocking on the door she begged for shelter. Alice being Alice, gave her the shelter, and having heard all of the stories in Wonderland about the woman, she was under no doubt she had found the right person. But there were children in the house. She wasn’t too worried about destroying their innocence, she had lost hers when she was younger, she was more worried they could cause a commotion if they saw their mother die. That wasn’t what she needed. So instead she waited, waited until night final fell and there were no sounds in the house before she went into Alice’s bedroom. She had no qualms with doing the deed, the King had told her that this woman risked Wonderland’s safety and this was the man who had saved it all those years before. Still, she had heard the stories, and so used a poison, pouring it through the woman’s sleeping lips. Painless, but effective. She didn’t wait to the life drain out of the woman, the poison would do it work. Instead she simply slipped out of the house and back to Wonderland. Even if anyone did believe the children about her being there, she knew they would never be able to find her again.

It was the first time that Elora had killed for the King, but it would not be the last. Silently getting the job done, with no one aware it was her. It became almost an art form. However in the palace she has become almost invisible. No longer fighting to survive, but instead appearing calm and collected. If anyone does even notice her, they simply assume she is a serving girl, and she will always go along with whatever it is that they ask of her. Outside the palace she is rarely noticed, normally just assumed to be a local girl if anyone does even wonder about it. If it means that Wonderland and, more importantly, the King are safe, then she doesn’t mind living in the shadows. She has heard the whispers of rebellion in the castle, but as far as she can see, the King saved her life, and now she owes it to him to protect his. As for the people she’s killed, she hasn’t lost any sleep over them.

#new rpg #fantasy rpg #skeleton rpg #theo james #tessa thompson #crimson assassin #all #inhabitant #taken

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cristinablackthornkingson · 6 years

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Shadowhunters Short Story #25

CW: Bleeding in pregnancy, Premature birth, early labor.

“What do you think of the name George?” Sophie softly asks her husband, both hands resting on her swollen belly, as she watches Gideon paint the nursery wall, from her position in the rocking chair they have had since Barbara was born 6 years ago.

They had used the chair when Eugenia was born 2 years later and planned to use it now, three years after Eugenia was born, when their son arrived in two months time.

Sophie was currently 7 months pregnant with her and Gideon’s third child and first son, and they were both extremely eager to meet their baby, as they were when Sophie was pregnant with their girls. Though no one was more excited for the pregnancy to be over as Sophie was, she had such smooth pregnancies with her girls, it came as a huge shock to her when things did not go as smoothly this time around.

She knew instantly that she was pregnant when one morning, 7 months earlier, she had woken up in the middle of the night feeling violently ill, and was sick on and off again throughout the rest of the night and much of the morning, she had never felt this sick with her girls, but she and Gideon had been trying for a few months so it seemed the only reasonable explanation.

Brother Zachariah confirmed Sophie’s pregnancy with a sweet baby boy, and she and Gideon were over the moon, however they would have a long and difficult road ahead of them. Sophie’s sickness continued throughout the entire first trimester, she was so ill she could hardly leave the bed. The Silent Brothers had tried to help her with herbal potions and such but nothing seemed to work, and the sickness seemed to randomly stop early in the second trimester. But that was not the end of it, Sophie was very fatigued throughout her whole pregnancy and often in a lot of pain from the weight of the baby putting a strain on her back, though again, she had never felt like that with her daughters. Perhaps pregnancy with a boy was different, she would have to ask Charlotte, who still only had one child, little Charles, who was now 7.

When Sophie was 6 months pregnant she awoke one morning to sharp pains in her stomach and the sheets around her damp, when she pulled back the duvet, she couldn’t help but scream and scream at the sight of blood pooling between her legs. She was certain then that she was loosing her baby, she could not be consoled until Brother Enoch and Brother Zachariah arrived, and after almost an hour of examinations and tests, told Sophie that both she and her baby were fine, that she had a tear in her placenta but they caught it soon enough to be able to fix it and save the baby.

Now, a month later, Sophie was still very shook up from that scare and was extremely eager to have the baby so she could hold him in her arms and cuddle him and kiss his little face and know he was alright.

“George Lightwood? George Henry Lightwood? Hm, no I don’t think that is his name.” Gideon determines, setting his paintbrush down and making his way to his wife’s side. Though they had not come up with a first name for their son, when they found out they were having a boy, Sophie immediately asked Gideon if he would be alright with the baby’s middle name being Henry. Gideon instantly agreed, Henry had been extremely good to both he and Sophie and was a wonderful, brilliant man who deserved far more recognition than he got. They may not have been able to convince The Clave that Henry is a genius and not a bumbling fool, but they could honor him by naming their son after him.

“How about Issac?” Gideon asks, kneeling beside his wife and placing one hand on her swollen belly, where he could feel their son kicking and squirming inside Sophie. Feeling his baby move inside Sophie was something Gideon would forever be amazed by, it was amazing to him that out of their love for one another, he and Sophie had made another life, and now Sophie was carrying their child, growing them and sharing her body with them, for 9 months. Gideon had no idea how people thought women were the weaker sex, he admired any woman who carried a child, greatly, it could not be an easy task and it certainly had not been easy for his Sophie this time around.

“Maybe we should ask him.” Sophie softly says, softly tracing patterns on her belly. “What do you think little one, do you like the name Issac? Would you like to be called Issac?” Sophie coos to her bump. Suddenly, as if he could really hear them and understand them, the baby stops kicking. Looking up at his wife with eyes full of amazement, Gideon says in a joking tone

“I don’t think he likes Issac.”

“What about Benedict?” Sophie softly asks, meeting her husband’s gaze.

“Certainly not! That man was a selfish coward and I will not burden my son with his name.” Gideon firmly says. Pressing his cheek to Sophie’s swollen belly, he softly adds “Our little boy will only have the best, most honorable name.”

“Thomas, then.” Sophie softly says, thinking back to her old friend, who had cared so deeply for her as both a friend and in other ways, and she cared for him too, but only as a friend. He had sacrificed his life for The Institute, he was a brave, honorable man and Sophie could not think of two finer men than Thomas and Henry, for her son to be named after.

“Thomas Henry Lightwood.” Gideon softly says. “What do you think my boy?” he softly asks, both hands on the sides of Sophie’s bump, his face only inches from her swollen belly. Once again, as if he could hear and understand his parents, the baby begins to kick rapidly and hard.

“I think he likes it.” Sophie quietly says.

“Then it is settled, Thomas Henry Lightwood.” Gideon announces his son’s name in a proud tone, before leaning in to kiss Sophie’s bump. “We love you very much Thomas, and we simply cannot wait to meet you.” Gideon softly says.

As Gideon continues to kiss Sophie’s belly and talk to their son, Sophie closes her eyes and allows herself to relax to the sound of her husband talking to their unborn son. 8 years ago she would never have imagined herself in this position, discussing baby names with her wonderful husband while heavily pregnant, while her two beautiful daughters played together just next door. Though of course Sophie was very happy at The Institute and could not ask for better employers than the Branwells, she had always hoped and dreamed of having a family of her own, but after that wretched Teddy boy had cut her cheek open, she never thought any man would want her.

As Gideon begins telling their son the story of how they met, a story which their daughters adored, Sophie feels a mild cramp in her stomach, sending a pang of anxiety through her, though it was probably nothing, she couldn’t help but worry. These pains continue on all evening for Sophie, and by the time it was time for dinner, the pains were getting stronger and Sophie was becoming increasingly worried.

The next day Gabriel arrives to help Gideon with the nursery, and to see his nieces. He had hold them Cecily had chosen to stay at home with Anna, who was a bit run down with a cold.

Now, as Sophie sits in the rocking chair in the nursery, watching Gabriel and Gideon assemble the crib with ease, she is hit by a strong, sharp pain in her stomach, causing her to cry out and clutch at her stomach.

“Sophie!” Gideon immediately drops the piece of furniture he was holding and scrambles to his wife’s side. “Sophie, my love, what is it?” Gideon gently asks, placing one hand on Sophie’s back and taking on of hers in his other.

“Oh God Gideon, you must summon The Silent Brothers, something is not right!” Sophie exclaims, groaning as another pain tears through her.

“Gabriel go_ Gabriel what ever is the matter?” Gideon asks, turning to look at his brother, who has gone white as a sheet, with a look of absolute horror on his face.

“Look, look at Sophie’s skirt.” He quietly says. Both Gideon and Sophie look down to see blood blooming over her blue skirt. With a cry of fear, Sophie quickly stands from the rocking chair, only to find it covered in blood too. Before anyone can speak, there is a gush of water from between Sophie’s legs.

“Gabriel, listen to me, I need you to summon The Silent Brothers, tell them Sophie has gone into labor two months early, once you have done that I need you to send a message to Charlotte, Tessa and Cecily, telling them what has happened and asking them to come here, alright?” Gideon slowly and firmly tells his younger brother, who nods his head and races out of the room.

“Gideon I can’t loose him.” Sophie says in a tight tone of voice, laying one hand on her bump, the other clutching at her husband to keep her up right.

“Neither can I but we will not loose him, The Silent Brothers are going to be able to help him, we will not loose our son, I swear to you.”

Sophie’s labor was long and painful, and terrifying. She was beyond grateful to have Charlotte at her side the whole time, as ever she was a calm and reassuring presence.

After 5 hours of labor, Sophie was finally able to push, though she desperately wanted not to, she knew as well as anyone else, that this baby was coming one way or another.

“Keep pushing Mrs. Lightwood, I can see the head.” The Clave Midwife tells Sophie, as she grips Charlotte’s hand and pushes as hard as she can, screaming and sobbing in pain and fear.

“That’s it Sophie, you are doing so well.” Charlotte softly says, smoothing Sophie’s damp, tangled curls back from her face. It broke her heart to see her dear friend in so much pain and fear, she wished there was more she could do for Sophie.

“I can’t.” Sophie weakly says, collapsing back into the pillows pilled behind her. “He will not budge, I cannot do it anymore.” Sophie says through tears and groans of pain.

“Mrs. Lightwood you are doing much better than you seem to think, baby’s head is almost out, he will be here in no time.” The midwife says in a encouraging tone.

“You hear that? Your little boy is going to be here very soon Sophie, but he needs your help to get here, so I want you to grip my hand as hard as you like and push with all your energy, as hard you possibly can, alright?” Charlotte softly says, squeezing Sophie’s hand gently.

Sophie weakly nods and grips Charlotte’s hand tightly, and starts pushing again as hard as she can, sobbing at the pain.

“Well done, baby’s head is out, you are very close Mrs. Lightwood.” The midwife calls up to Sophie. The sooner Thomas is born, the sooner The Silent Brothers can help him. This thought encourages Sophie to push down again, gripping Charlotte’s hand tightly with one hand, her other hand knotted into the white sheets of the bed.

“One more push Mrs. Lightwood!” The midwife says. Sophie bears down again, tears spilling down her cheeks from the pain. With a final scream and a lurch forward, Sophie feels a weight lift from her and she relaxes back into the pillows behind her, panting heavily. Seconds later a low cry rings through the room, and Sophie pushes herself up, struggling to see her son at the bottom of the bed, where The Silent Brothers are now attending to him.

“Is he alright? My baby is he okay?” Sophie asks in a panicked tone.

“Let me go see what The Silent Brothers say, I shall be right back.” Tessa gently says, quickly gathering her skirts up and making her way toward the bottom of the bed. Sophie watches as she and Brother Zachariah converse in low tones, Tessa’s facial expression never changes, not giving Sophie any idea of her son’s condition.

Tessa soon returns to Sophie’s side, sitting by her friend again, Tessa takes one of Sophie’s hands in hers and begins to speak in a gentle tone.

“Sophie, Brother Zachariah tells me that your little boy has some health issues, his lungs are slightly underdeveloped and his immune system is very weak, the slightest infection or illness could be deadly to him, he needs to stay in The Silent City for a while so The Brothers can treat him and help him get well again, you and Gideon will be able to visit him whenever you like, as will Barbara and Eugenia. He is quiet sick, but Brother Zachariah is very confident that he will make a full recovery in just a few months.”

“I want to hold him.” Sophie says in a choked tone.

I am afraid that is not possible right now Mrs. Lightwood, we need to take your son to The Silent City as soon as possible to start his treatment quickly so that he may make a speedy recovery and come back here where he belongs. You and Mr. Lightwood are more than welcome to be with him whenever you like, as are your daughters. Brother Zachariah’s voice echos in Sophie’s mind. Sophie thought she would surely die of heartache, she could not even hold her son, cuddle him and kiss his little face, as she longed to for 7 long months.

Thomas is kept in The Silent City for almost 2 months, during which Sophie and Gideon hardly ever leave his side. He made wonderful progress each and every day and got stronger with every passing day. His breathing improved first and foremost, which was a huge relief to everyone. Though his immune system did not respond to the treatment as well as everyone had hoped, though Thomas was stronger now, he still had a weakened immune system and could still greatly be affected by even the smallest illness, but he was a lot better than he was, and after two long months, Sophie and Gideon were able to bring him home.

As Sophie sits in the same rocking chair in the nursery, that she had gone into labor in, with her sweet baby boy cradled in her arms, his wide eyes focused on her, full of joy and love, his little arms waving around and his little legs kicking about, she could not help but think of the contrast between now and this time two months ago, when she was not sure if she would ever get to hold her son like she is now.

“How’s our boy?” Gideon softly asks, walking into the nursery and kneeling by his wife’s side, tracing Thomas’s fine, dark curls.

“Perfect as usual.” Sophie softly says, smiling at her sweet little boy.

“Like his mother then.” Gideon softly says, leaning in and kissing Sophie.

“I love you.” Sophie quietly says, when he pulls back from the kiss.

“I love you too.” Gideon says.

Once again, Sophie finds it almost hard to believe that this is her life now, married with three beautiful children and many close friends, she could never have imagined her life like this when was at The Institute, but she was beyond grateful and would not change one bit of her life for anything.

#sophie lightwood #gideon lightwood #gabriel lightwood #Brother Zachariah #charlotte fairchild #tessa gray #thomas lightwood #barbara lightwood #eugenia lightwood #shadowhunters #the infernal devices #cassandra clare #the last hours

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