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bamfdaddio · 3 years

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X-Men Abridged: 1981 - Bonus: Avengers Annual 10/What If? 27

The X-Men, those Claremontian mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. Want to unravel this tapestry? Then read the Abridged X-Men! [more here]

(Avengers Annual 10 & What If? 27) - by Chris Claremont and Mary Jo Duffy, Michael Golden and Jerry Bingham

Avengers? You’re not here for Avengers! Let me make the following counterpoint:

Holy eye shadow, Rogue!

See, Avengers Annual 10 is less about the Avengers and more about three other things:

The rehabilitation of Carol Danvers who, after this, has had her fill of the Avengers and becomes an honorary member of the X-Men;

Spider-Woman and the X-Men trying to figure out what has happened to Ms. Marvel;

Mystique trying to spring her Brotherhood from prison, using a secret weapon: Rogue.

Depending on my mood that day, I might name Rogue as my favourite-ever X-Man, so I really could not skip her debut issue. Instantly iconic, all of this:

Her streak;

Her signature green outfit with hoodie;

Her accent.

Queen.

I love how Claremont once again almost effortlessly introduces a strong female character, one that single-handedly takes down three of the strongest Avengers. Also note how free Rogue still is with her powers: fun, flirty, without the tragic can’t-touch-anyone-angle that will define her for the next three decades.

I’m sorry, am I getting ahead of myself?

This story begins as a whodunit: who pushed an amnesiac Carol Danvers off the Golden Gate Bridge and stole her mind? For that matter, where did she came from? Wasn’t she happily married and pregnant in some alternative dimension last time the readers saw her? Spider-Woman rescues her from the choppy water and calls Professor Xavier to help out. He manages to retrieve the Jane Doe’s identity and knows who attacked her: a woman named Rogue.

Rogue, meanwhile, skulks about the Avengers Mansion, first taking out Captain America and then attacking Thor.

Considering what this comic is about, I don’t believe Hawkeye’s throwaway mysognism is accidental here.

Rogue’s powers work as follows: through touch, she can steal other people’s powers and memories. The longer she touches someone, the longer she’ll have them - with the looming threat of the theft becoming permanent.

After absorbing Thor, Rogue is faced with three Avengers who’s powers she can’t absorb - Spider-Woman (covered in a suit); Vision (robot) and Wonder Man (being of pure energy? Idk, I’m not really familiar with him other than his bromance with Beast). Hoping the three powers she has in her arsenal - Ms. Marvel’s, Thor’s and Cap’s - will be enough, Rogue flees.

Mystique, meanwhile, has duped Iron Man by pretending to be the Wasp and has paralysed Tony Stark in his suit with some sort of device. She picks up the powered-up Rogue and their plan becomes clear:

Rogue immediately earns her place in my heart by using billionaire Tony Stark the way the Coyote uses anvils. (Also note the odd way of spelling ‘sugah’.)

I love how both the Brotherhood and the X-Men continually pull focus from the Avengers: for an Avengers-comic, it's surprising how much they're pushed to the background. Again, this makes sense if you know what this issue really is about, but that won’t become clear until the epilogue. I don’t mind, it means we get a ton of great moments, like the Blob calling Mystique ‘Misty’:

My God, this era’s Destiny/Mystique is even more obvious than 90’s Rictor/Shatterstar.

A battle erupts. One funny moment is actually seeing Destiny fight. I’ve never really read comics about this incarnation of the Brotherhood and my collection mostly takes off after Legion Quest, so I mostly know Destiny posthumously. I always figured that, as a villain, she stood somewhere off on the side, delivering cryptic messages. I never realized she was the one to almost shoot Senator Kelly, nor that her powers are this practical.

X-Men drinking game rule 11: Drink anytime someone fatshames the Blob.

The fight is pretty evenly matched until Spider-Woman releases Iron Man from Mystique’s little trap. Soon, the Avengers overwhelm the Brotherhood. While Mystique and Rogue manage to flee, Destiny, Avalanche, Pyro and the Blob are detained again.

With the main antagonists sorted, we return to the actual storyline: the rehabilitation of Ms. Marvel. Professor X has managed to tease her out of her catatonic state and offers her therapy to restore her missing memories and powers. (The ones stolen by Rogue.) The Avengers, not fully understanding why Carol won’t ask them for help, eventually come by for a house call.

Carol asks the X-Men to leave while the Avengers gingerly confront her. It’s very awkward.

“Fuck the Avengers. Taking my beer.” - Wolverine, probably.

See, what all this refers to is the rape of Ms. Marvel. I haven’t read the particular comic in which this happens (Avengers 200), so if you want all the details, I’ll refer you to this article. Before I get into the details, it’s important to note that Claremont was the writer for Carol Danvers in her solo-series, giving her agency and turning Ms. Marvel into a three-dimensional character. The title was then cancelled and Carol was shuffled off to the Avengers. (Rogue was, in fact, planned to make her debut in that the solo-Ms. Marvel series, as one of Ms. Marvel’s new antagonists. Presumably, Rogue would steal her powers there, too. We all know Claremont loves to strip his heroes and heroines of their powers to show they’re even more badass without them.)

As an Avenger, Carol was wooed by some other-dimensional dude/entity named Marcus. He courted her by giving her flowers, worshipping the ground she stepped on and, oh yeah, ‘subtly’ influencing her mind to make her fall in love with him and consequently impregnating her.

Yes.

Now, Claremont is no stranger to putting his characters through their paces and he gleefully makes use of the whole mental manipulation-trope. In fact, telepathically coercing someone to fall in love with you is absolutely what Mastermind did to Jean Grey: he probably violated her just as much as Marcus did Carol. The difference is how it’s treated in the narrative: Mastermind’s actions are never laughed away or apologized for and are the direct cause for his downfall. They help trigger Jean’s transformation to the Dark Phoenix, whose first deed is taking out her fury on ‘Jason Wyngarde’.

That’s… not what happened with Ms. Marvel. There, the narrative condones Marcus’ actions by framing it as ‘her happy ending’ (married and pregnant, yay!), something which is celebrated by the Avengers.

This is where Carol calls them out for their bullshit.

We call this ‘The Reason You Suck’-Speech. It’s a thing of beauty.

The Avengers depart, tail between their legs, and Carol hangs out with the cool X-kids from now on. For now, at least.

So, this issue is not only a landmark because it’s where Rogue debuts, but you can also see Chris Claremont going to bat for one of characters: he (presumably reluctantly) gave back the character of Carol Danvers when her solo was cancelled, proceeded to see how terribly they massacred his girl and then claimed that ownership right back.

Good for you, Claremont.

***

The “What If… the Phoenix Had Not Died”-issue is kind of boring, because it’s basically a rehash of the Phoenix Saga. Why am I paying attention to it? Because of the (mild) gore (and because the Avengers Annual wouldn’t fill a whole post). Anyway, it’s like watching a Final Destination-movie: it’s silly, light on plot and never a particularly thought-provoking movie, but it’s still fun to see all those people inventively but haplessly die.

Plot! Instead of committing suicide on the moon, the Shi’ar strip Jean of her powers after her trial. Jean is trapped in a barren mental state, almost feeling like she's a veggie. But Jean's powers refuse to remain dormant: slowly, her telepathy returns.

When Galactus threatens the Shi’ar homestead, Lilandra summons the X-Men as her champions. Jean embraces her Phoenix-side and defeats Galactus. Everyone is grateful and super-convinced Jean can handle the Phoenix this time! Yay!

And, because that battle with Galactus took a lot out of her, Jean decides she can have a little asteroid. As a treat. She keeps slipping up on her diet, supping on the occasional meteor and lonely planet to keep her power levels up. It turns out to be a slippery slope: finally, she consumes another star (in an uninhabited system! And a small one! How dare you judge her!), but when she returns to the mansion…

The absolute worst moment to forget you have powers, Kitty.

Xavier attempts to bind the Phoenix, but last time, Jean helped him fight from within. This time, there's not much Jean left. Without breaking a sweat, the Phoenix wipes his brain. But she doesn’t stop there. Maybe the Phoenix remembers that, last time, she was undone by the principles of “friendship is magic”. This time, she’s determined to not let it get so far.

It’s absolutely bone-chilling.

And the stars blinked As they watched her carefully Jealous of the way she shone - Atticus

I wonder if there’s a rhyme or reason to the way Jean murders her friends: is it random? Does she go for the ones she loves the most first? Does she save Cyclops for last, knowing killing him might trigger Jean to respond?

The narration mentions that the three remaining X-Men are the most powerful ones: Polaris, Havok and Cyclops. (I would’ve swapped in Storm for Cyclops, but whatever.) They have formulated a quick plan: Polaris pulls focus while Havok and Cyclops shift into position. Phoenix disintegrates Polaris while Havok and Scott try and blast Phoenix to smithereens.

But at the last moment, Scott can’t. Havok’s blast alone is not enough. Phoenix shoots him through the heart and then, finally, kills Cyclops. That’s when Jean resurfaces, realizing what she’s done. She can’t take it - she’s in the mood to dissolve in the sky, as per Virginia Woolf - and she lets the Phoenix take over.

Phoenix finally lives up to her potential: The End of All That Is.

It's a mediocre plot with a lame ramp-up to a terrifying conclusion. In the regular universe, the thing that triggers the Phoenix is the utter violation of Jean’s body and mind; here, it’s being confronted by Kitty. One is the proverbial red cloth in front of the bull, the other is being assaulted by an ineffective wet cloth. The Phoenix Saga is iconic because all the pieces were carefully put in place; this just feels rushed an unearned.

Also, the Watcher is full of shit. You can’t say you don’t pass judgment whilst simultaneously comparing the merits of one tragedy to the other. Shut up, Uatu.

Check back next week for your regularly scheduled X-Men Abridged! It’s time for 1982 and the brood saga!

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heartsofbeskar · 3 years

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from the ashes

chapter six | read on AO3

din djarin x oc

WARNINGS: violence, swearing

WORDS: 3.2K

EXCERPT: He extended his other arm to her. Stepping as close as she could, she wrapped an arm tightly around his shoulders. The arm he had held out to her now circled her waist, pulling her even closer. She could feel every curve and edge of his armour through her clothes. His helmet turned towards her.

MASTERLIST | SERIES MASTERLIST

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Ten couldn’t think of a better sound than the Ursa’s engines finally running again. Decidedly less strained than before, she thought. Though that may have just been wishful thinking.

They’d been sequestered on the asteroid for the better part of two standard weeks. The time they’d lost was valuable, but nothing compared to the time they’d lose if the Ursa bailed on them mid-flight.

On the surface, spending time with the Mandalorian was not too much different than spending time alone. He barely spoke unless he was spoken to, and moved around like a ghost, despite the heavy armour. But there was something … imposing about the man. Not threatening, but Ten could feel his presence in a room, sometimes even feel his eyes on her. It wholly unsettled her— not that she’d let him know that.

Much — well actually all — of their conversation in the recent days had centered around where the hell to go next. It was obvious an Imperial conspirator had inside knowledge of the job and that Ten and Mando were the ones working it. They had a list of contacts from Greef Karga who may have information; to seek out those contacts now would surely be suicide, for everyone involved.

“You feel sure about Ronhar Kraz?” Ten asked. The armoured man sat to her right nodded slowly. Kraz was a businessman who specialized in textiles and linen trade between the core and the Outer Rim. Seemingly benign, but he used those same textiles and linen to smuggle weapons during the days of the Empire. For both sides.

“It feels too obvious,” she mused. “Former weapons smuggler turned Imperial double agent. Why even attach your name onto this if so many people in the Outer Rim know you worked with the Empire?”

“You’re assuming a level of intelligence and foresight I don’t often attribute to Imps,” he said.

“That’s the mindset that gets you fucked over eventually,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Is that what happened to you?”

Ten turned her head sharply, glaring at him. “You should watch that metal mouth or I’ll find something that will bend beskar.”

She heard a short breathy noise she’d come to known as a laugh processed through his modulator.

They’d almost passed through the outer boundary of the asteroid field, so she focused on steering through the last of the rocks. An itch had settled under her skin in the past few days, an urge to go, go, go, escape the confines of this belt they’d found themselves unexpectedly marooned within. As much as she still dreaded getting tangled up in Empire business, she felt that coursing of adrenaline in her veins that had been escaping her for many months now. That thrill of her life being put on the line of her own volition.

That adrenaline spiked again as they were fired on.

—

“Shit!” Ten cursed, the ship veering sharply upon impact. Din reacted on instinct, seat spinning towards the weapons controls he’d made a point of committing to memory. “They must have followed our ion trail to the edge of the belt. Have the fuckers just been waiting here the whole time?”

Another hit struck them, almost sending Din flying into the viewport. As he lurched, his gaze locked on the ships in front of them, before Ten steered them quickly away in an evasive maneuver. The ships pursued. He wasn’t surprised he recognized the ships, but he was surprised that—

“Those are New Republic ships. That’ll be why we weren’t vapourized on sight.” He paused as he attempted to target lock the ships still following close behind. There were too many asteroids lingering in the belt’s gravitational pull for them to jump to hyperspace. He needed to buy time. “Are you wanted?”

Ten didn’t look at him as she pushed their speed, but he could somehow feel her rolling her eyes at him. “No, I’m not an idiot. Even if I was, the Ursa’s totally off register, there’s no way—”

“Torpedo approaching lower left engine exhaust,” he interrupted. Cursing again, she took them as far right as possible — and right towards a large asteroid. Din braced, but she slowed their speed enough to whip them quickly around its circumference. He had to admit she was an impressive pilot.

“Are you wanted?”

“...Yes.”

“Now why am I not surprised by—”

She was cut off by the incoming communication alarm. They exchanged glances before Ten reached forward and set off the acceptance switch.

“Unidentified vessel,” came the drone of a New Republic officer. “Cut your engines immediately and prepare for boarding.”

“And why the hell should we do that?” Ten snapped, taking them through a narrow gap between asteroids. Din rolled his eyes now beneath the helmet.

“You are wanted for the murder of Jula Lars. Cut your engines immediately and prepare to be taken into custody. Failure to comply can result in—”

Ten slammed her hand down on the controls and cut off the channel. Din noticed her other hand tightening on the steering gears, knuckles going white. The scars he knew to be there were barely visible.

“Those fuckers … do you have a target lock on the ships? I’m going to blast them from the fucking sky,” she snapped.

As lightly as he dared, Din placed a hand on her arm that was closest to him. “They’re only doing their job. Obviously the Imps put them on our tail. No one else knew we were there.”

“Oh and you’re now the sudden pacifist?” she turned her head to glare at him. It felt like ice began flowing through his veins.

“We don’t need to help create more victims to the Empire,” he said lowly. Something flashed in her eyes. She kept eye contact with him for as long as she dared before turning forward to continue steering.

“Fine,” was all she said. A pause. More shots volleying around them, missing the ship as it weaved. “Then we need to go to hyperspace. Now.”

“There’s still too many asteroids we could—”

“Then I guess you’re just going to have to trust me, Mandalorian,” she said, and she was already engaging, then ramping their speed and then— rocks flew past them as superliminal speeds as they were catapulted into hyperspace. Din held his breath the entire time, certain they were headed straight for a rock which, at these speeds, would vapourize them for sure.

He let it go when he realized they were clear. Looking beside him, he saw Ten staring at him, her scarred eyebrow raised. “I told you to trust me.”

He scoffed, still feeling on edge. “Set the course for Leotis IV.”

“Aye aye, captain.”

—

Ten landed the Ursa as discreetly as she could, a few kilometres out from the Kraz estate. Thankfully it didn’t seem the New Republic had any insight on where they were going, only where they had been. But there was no guessing how long that would last.

Mando was in the hold, already securing his blaster into his belt. She recognized a couple other models and … something that didn’t look like a blaster at all. Before she could get a longer look his cloak fell over it.

“Kraz’s estate only has minimum security in place. Security cameras, only two from the back, no motion sensors,” she said, opening up the weapons compartment.

“How do you know all this?” Mando asked, entering her field of view. She looked up from where she was sheathing throwing knives. She shrugged at him.

“You hunt people, I hunt information. It’s my business to know my way around prominent figure’s properties.” Reaching up, Ten finally grabbed her blaster from the top shelf it sat on. She knew she could very likely do this without it, but it would probably appease Mando.

“If he is working with the Empire, he may have increased his security since your latest information,” he noted. She nodded as she hung her own cloak around her shoulders.

“At least then it would make for a challenge,” she said, nodding her head towards the door.

They closed the distance from the Ursa on foot so as not to be seen by anyone on the grounds. The tree cover was just enough to hide it from view overhead. Mando seemed to want to take the walk in their usual state of silence, and Ten didn’t complain.

As they walked, Ten admired the foliage that seemed to grow at mostly knee height on this planet. It bloomed undisturbed in the gaps left by the trees, enjoying the unrestricted sunlight. The rays seemed to bounce off the petals which appeared in every colour.

It made her think of Yaim. The trees there had been much denser, and wider. But the air seemed to vibrate in the same way, the wind so delicate Ten could almost close her eyes and imagine it was tender fingers on her cheek.

She reached out, as she would always do when she was a girl, and felt that unwavering presence, its weight bearing down on her bones and her soul alike. But … less heavy than usual, which surprised her.

Finally, they reached the wall which indicated the edge of the property, It wasn’t high, maybe four or five metres by Ten’s estimation. The surface was uneven, and she grabbed a hold of the texture, testing it.

“This should work. If we can scale to the—” She was cut off by a sharp whizzing noise beside her. As she examined the grappling hook connected to his vambrace, she was absolutely sure he was smirking beneath the helmet. “Or we could do it that way.”

He extended his other arm to her. Stepping as close as she could, she wrapped an arm tightly around his shoulders. The arm he had held out to her now circled her waist, pulling her even closer. She could feel every curve and edge of his armour through her clothes. His helmet turned towards her.

“Hold on tight,” was all he said, and then they were rapidly ascending up, up, past the rough stones in the wall, until Mando swung them onto the top, which was thankfully flat. “You can let go now.”

“Right,” she breathed. Shaking her head, she turned towards the building now filling their view. As she’d planned, the route to the wall had taken them close to the back corner of the property. If her information was current, Kraz only had cameras facing his back and front entrances. “You’ve got a scope on that pulse rifle, right? Can you see the cameras on the back wall?”

Swinging the rifle around to rest on his shoulder, he wordlessly aimed at the building. Ten studied his stance from the corner of her eye. His feet were heavy, planted shoulder width apart. He didn’t sway as the wind picked up, a solid beskar statue in the foreign landscape.

Suddenly he fired once, then twice. Ten flinched at the unexpected noise. Finally, he spoke. “The cameras are taken care of.”

“A little warning next time?” Before he could respond, she flung herself from the wall. She braced herself on her hands as she landed, Mando dropping beside her a moment later. She held up a hand.

After a few beats of silence, she nodded at him. “Seems like they haven’t upgraded security after all,” she noted, moving towards the back entrance. As they got closer, she saw that the cameras were indeed demolished by the shots.

“Don’t suppose you know the interior blueprints as well?” Mando asked at her left shoulder.

“No,” she shook her head. “Those are usually harder to get a hold of. But I have been hired by many men like Kraz. They like to keep their personal offices in the back of buildings, it makes them feel safer for some reason. See that window?”

She gestured directly above them, where the largest window on the back facade sat. It was also the only window inset with what appeared to be rare minerals.

“I agree,” Mando said before she could finish. “That’s a good place to start. After you.”

Ten examined the back entrance, gliding her hand along the smooth edges of the metal. The locking mechanism blinked orange gently, and she recognized an optical scanner. But beneath that … a keyboard override, hidden under an unlocked panel. Perfect.

Taking one of her daggers from her belt, she was able to tear off the cover of the keypad box with her hands. Ten held the dagger up. It was one of her favourites. The handle was nondescript, simple, fitted perfectly to her grip. Its blade was stronger than any other she owned, and she strongly suspected it had been mixed with beskar, though she couldn’t be sure. Maybe she would ask the Mandalorian.

She pried under the edge of the keypad, battling metal on metal, leveraging with all her strength. Finally, as she expected, her metal won, and the bottom edge of the keypad popped off with a satisfying crack. She cut every wire she found lying underneath, one by one until—

The door slid open with a whirr as the orange light went dark.

“Would’ve been faster to shoot it open,” said Mando.

“And set off every alarm they have in this place.” She strode past him into the building. The cement walls echoed her footsteps, but there was no other sound bouncing off them. The overhead lights flickered slowly.

The hallway branched into a T shortly ahead of them, and her and Mando took to a side of the wall. Nodding, they inched over the corner, blasters drawn. Ten found a long corridor on her side, ending in a window. There were no doors. She spoke first, in a low tone.

“All clear here.”

“Here too.”

Relaxing marginally, she turned. The other direction appeared much the same, with another doorless hallway. Ten shrugged.

“Your choice is as good as mine.”

Mando wordlessly started down the hall to the right. She followed, pulling her hood over her head as she did. She ran her hand lightly along the wall. It was cold to the touch. She tightened her grip on her blaster.

A stairway emerged at the end of the hallway, and they followed silently. The next level was similar to the first, though featured more hallways going deeper into the building and an occasional linen draped on the wall. Finally, they came to a wide door, inlaid with the same mineral as the exterior window.

It was empty inside. A large wooden desk occupied much of the room, facing towards the ornate window. The sunlight streamed in freely, casting multicoloured shapes over the room. It reflected off Mando’s beskar as he approached the computer terminal on the desk.

“The communications log should give us enough information on whether he’s working with the Empire.” He called up a projected screen, gloved fingers running over the controls. “Should be … here. Most people don’t even restrict access. We can download it to look at on the ship.”

Ten nodded. She moved towards the window. Closer to it, she could see the small bubbles enclosed in the inlays. It felt rough. She wasn’t sure why she was so drawn to touch today, but it felt as if a live wire had been inserted beneath her skin, the smallest of currents lighting her nerves.

“Done,” came Mando’s modulated tone, pulling her attention. “We should go—”

Before he could finish, the latch clicked in the door. They both watched, unable to do anything, as the handle turned and the door opened fully.

A human man stood there, looking down at his holopad at first. Mando raised his blaster slowly. By the time the man looked up, it was directly in front of his face, and his eyes widened as he took the two of them in.

“W-who the hell are you?” he asked shakily. “You shouldn’t be in here, I …”

“We’re going to walk out of here,” Mando said calmly. “There’s no reason to panic. You’re going to stay in this office for five minutes, and then go about your day. Got it?”

The man’s eyes darted rapidly back and forth between them. Ten tried to soften her eyes, to urge him to listen. She wasn’t sure it worked.

Faster than either of them could react, he screamed out, tripping backwards over himself out of the office. Mando fired down into his leg and he collapsed, screaming more, but it was too late, the damage had been done.

As they sprinted out and away from the office, Ten could already hear the sound of boots echoing off the walls. They’d almost reached the stairs when a group of armed security burst out of a hallway in front of them. It was six on two and damn if Ten didn’t like those odds.

Blaster fire broke out almost immediately. Just as quickly, Ten lost track of Mando in the shuffle, but it didn’t matter.

She shot at the two men in front of her, electing for quantity over quality in her aim. She managed to hit one somewhere in the torso and he crumpled to the ground. After a number of other shots she hit the next man in the shoulder, which worked to her advantage. He dropped his blaster with a shout, but stayed on his feet.

Ten pulled two of the small knives from her belt. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she aimed before whipping it forehead. It spun in the air before hitting its mark, buried inside the man’s neck. He sputtered as he fell to his knees, then onto his face.

Spinning around, she saw Mando taking down a fifth officer behind her, two others already on the ground. She counted quickly.

“Where’s the sixth one?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Mando grunted, dropping the officer to the ground. He raced toward the stairs and she followed.

It appeared they were mostly in the clear, the branch off to the door just ahead of them. Ten led ahead, turning the corner first.

She was met with a blaster pressed to her forehead. It was the sixth officer, her hands shaking as she pressed the barrel harder into the skin.

Ten couldn’t even consciously control her response. It didn’t matter that Mando stood just behind her.

Her hand reached up in front of her, gripping seemingly around nothing, pushing forward. She pulled on the invisible field which was always with her, calling on it. Slowly the barrel of the blaster moved away and so too did the officer, beginning to cough and sputter as her windpipe closed. Ten panted, squeezing tighter and higher, and now the officer was a good three metres in front of her, feet lifting off the ground, eyes rolling into her head. With a grunt, she quickly jerked her arm to the side, sending the officer flying into the wall. The crumpled figure on the ground didn’t move.

“You just …” came Mando’s voice behind her. She turned to look back at him. “You’re a Jedi.”

“We don’t have time for this but let’s get one thing straight. I am not a Jedi.”

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian fanfic #the mandalorian fanfiction #the mandalorian x oc #the mandalorian x original character #din djain #din djarin x oc #din djarin x original character #din djarin fanfiction #star wars fanfic #star wars fanfiction #star wars #mywriting

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gloves94 · 4 years

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Kingdom of the Sun [Fire Lord Zuko] 8

Chapter Warnings: Death Story Rating: M Pairings: Zuko/OC Kingdom of the Sun MASTERLIST

Last Airbender MASTERLIST My MASTERLIST

"Mother…" Tsai paced around the guest room where her mother would be staying. It was past midnight and the shocking news of Fire Lord Ozai's passing had been a hard hit. "What are you doing here?" She pinched the bridge of her nose already feeling overwhelmed.

"It's not safe. Why did you come? Who's taking care of things back home?" Sanju removed her glasses and placed them next to the bedside table, a bored expression on her sharp eyes. "Your friends are terrible liars. Specially that bald boy." "You mean the Avatar?"

Leave it to her mother to have absolute and complete disregard for whom she was entertaining. Just a couple of years back she would've bent over backwards just to entertain him. Now she had reduced Aang from an almighty Avatar to an honest bald boy. How typical of her to be so unconcerned with matters that did not regarded her.

"I've come to take you home. Your brother and I need help running the paper," she said placing her hands on her lap, sitting with her back completely erect, lips drawn into an intimidating thin line. "I didn't mean to come to the Fire Nation, or to stay here for so long… Wait- if you and Mecha are here? Who's in charge? Also- where did my brother go?" Tsai asked, still a thousand questions running through her head. "That boy with the ponytail, he's quite brilliant," Sanju nodded closing her eyes for a moment. 'Sokka? Really?' The young lady couldn't help but be slightly horrified at the thoughts of Sokka running a newspaper. "Your brother is off with some girl," she added flatly. 'Mai, of course.'

"Mom," Tsai looked at her nervously twirling the fabric of her dress skirt in her hands. "What if… What if I want to stay here, in the Fire Nation?" She admitted looking at her with hopeful eyes. "Stay? And do what?" Her mother arched a judgement eyebrow. "What are you going to do here? Lounge around?" Again, three years ago she would've been ecstatic at the news. Hell - she would've packed her up and kicked her out of Yu Dao with a bidding away party. Now, however, she seemed unenthusiastic at the idea. "No," she drawled out feeling small under her mom's intimidating green gaze. "I'm going to stay and I'm going to help people here. There's much reconstruction to do, just like back home."

Sanju made a disapproving sound, yet her posture did not shift. "That terribly rude man has brought nothing but turmoil and more troubles since he came into our lives and still he can't manage to say a single word of acknowledgement to me." She uttered bitter at the lack of appreciation. "Mom," Tsai reasoned with her. "He's in shock, his dad just died." "Oh?" She poked. "His father? The disgraced war criminal whom he allowed to rot in jail?" She huffed with a glare. “It’s no surprise the coward chose the easy way out. Suicide…” She clicked her tongue. Tsai's shoulders slumped forward in defeat. Clearly it would be impossible to get through to her mother and even worse when she was in a mood. "You're impossible," she muttered shaking her head and walking towards the door. "Don't you walk away from me!" Her mother called out sternly. Her daughter didn't respond and exited the room. "This conversation isn't over Tsai!" She called.

Troubled, upset and beyond irritated Tsai worriedly made way to Zuko's room. She wondered if he was still awake this late in the night.

She slid the door open slowly. The maroon room was dark, and she saw him. Zuko was on his bed, laying down on his side over the bed covers. A single candle kept the room dimly lit. She looked at him with concern and walked around sitting on the edge of the mattress. She could see that he was awake. His gold eyes fixed on a particular spot on the wall. He hadn’t said a single word since they had both been informed of Ozai’s demise. Tsai assumed this must’ve been terribly hard for him.

Sure, maybe Fire Lord Ozai was an absolutely vile and disgusting man. He was a war criminal. He was solely responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. Yet he was his father – and his abuser too. He was the man who had scarred and emotionally tortured for years. Not to mention the multiple assassination attempts on his young life. Not to mention how he had taken everything away from him, even his mother.

Remaining silent she placed a hand on his arms hoping it would bring him comfort. Unsure of what she could possibly say or do to make the situation any better.

This was a lot. Even for him to process and dissect how he felt. It was not yet dawn when a knock echoed through the room. Tsai turned and allowed the person in. In stepped in Zuko’s assistant holding in several parchments of information accompanied by two Fire Nation guards standing several feet behind him. “The physicians have determined the cause of death,” he said keeping his eyes lowered. Zuko did not move from his position. His glazed eyes simply remained frozen on that same spot on the wall.

“What was the cause of death?” Tsai asked turning to look at Nezu from her seat on the mattress. “Fire Lord Ozai’s official cause of death was exsanguination. An artery was pierced by a stab wound. Foul play is suspected,” he explained. It was then that Zuko actually moved. He sat up slowly his back remaining turned against the messenger. “How’d it happen?” Was all he asked. His tone dry of any sympathy he might’ve held for his father. The assistant cleared his throat pausing for a moment, “Uh…” He hesitated. “Exsanguination,” Tsai repeated what the man had just said. “I want to know how it happened. I need to know every detail,” he spoke in a rougher and angrier tone than intended. His gaze clouded with darkness.

The assistant stammered as he once again unraveled the parchment scroll and continued to read. “- Ozai a male adult of middle age, was found dead in his prison cell in the North Prison Tower on the day of our lord past dusk. The cause of death is considered to be exsanguination from a fetal stab wound to the brachial artery. Signs of struggle were present as the man was stabbed 23 times.”

‘Twenty-three stab wounds?’ Tsai’s mouth went dry. All this time she had assumed that the man had committed suicide, not that somebody had gone in and turned him into a slice of cheese! Whomever had done this- it hadn’t been a casual hit job. This had been personal. Whomever had done this had personal beef with Ozai, but then again, who didn’t? “This was found amongst his belongings,” Nezu said pulling a wrapped bundle from his pocket. Zuko finally turned to look at his assistant. Tsai paled in disbelief, her face resembling a pillow’s bed sheets. Instinctively she reached for her neck and realized the man had taken her sunstone necklace. He placed the necklace and other information on a nearby table. “We will wait until morning to let Lady Ursa and General Iroh know. For now, we will send notice to the other nations and begin the necessary arrangements for the wake and funeral tomorrow. That is all Fire Lord Zuko.” The man bowed respectfully before exiting the room.

Tsai found that she couldn’t move. She didn’t until she noticed Zuko swiftly move around the room and snatch the necklace off the table in disbelief. She reached his side just in time also reaching for it but failing.

He brought the piece of jewelry that he had many times held in his hands and brought it close to his face for further inspection. He looked at it in disbelief. There was absolutely no way that his father could’ve gotten a hold of the necklace by causality. She wouldn’t have carelessly dropped it. It also wouldn’t have been stolen without her noticing. He noted the torn golden chain and put together that he had to have ripped her off her person.

He looked stunned, pained, almost betrayed.

‘Could she have?’ “Did you kill my father?” He rasped bluntly, almost out of air. His eyes turned to her. All evidence pointed to her. It had been a personal crime, the stabbing fit her weapon of choice, the necklace was unmistakably hers. “No,” She responded calmly, “I didn’t.”

He looked at her hard for a moment. As if doubting her. He believed her, but at the same the evidence was too striking. What motive did Tsai have for killing Fire Lord Ozai? She wanted the entire Ozai Order to collapse and she knew that it might if their leader were to be gone, but at the same time why make it so obvious? Why slay him in such a notorious way?

It was messy, emotional, loud. Wouldn’t poisoning him be easier? Zuko knew that Tsai knew how to poison someone if she wanted to. Her knowledge in herbs and mastery of them would allow her to discretely do such a thing. Specially since she once mentioned she had accidentally poisoned her family.

He proceeded to advance to the next logical question. “Why did he have your necklace?" Zuko demanded to know. His hand clenching around the stone as a concerning anger, the one he was infamous for began to boil inside of him. "Why?" He pressed at her silence.

She thought of her actions on the previous day. Everything that had happened after finding the secret passage in Mai’s house and before dinner. She still remembered her conversation with Ozai and just how she had returned to the palace injured, soiled in her own blood and with angry tears threatening to spill. "I went to talk to him," She admitted the truth. Bracing herself for his outburst. "What?" He snapped just as she predicted. Why would she put herself at such a risk? Why would she got see that man? "When? Why? What were you thinking?!" He said incredulously throwing his hands up in aggravated frustration.

"I went to directly ask him who was working for him from outside of the prison walls. So, he bartered, he wanted to see Azula in exchange for information."

"And you decided to keep this from me why?!" He demanded fuming. His father was a Machiavellian genius. If anything, he had just been playing her. Where was Azula anyway? She would probably lose the smidge of sanity that she had left when she found out that her father had been brutally murdered. "I didn't want to worry you," she said frowning slightly. "Because I knew you would react this way, and then yesterday-"

"So you lied to me," he said wounded.

"No, I did not lie," she clarified. "I just never mentioned it." "That's the same thing Tsai! You lied by omission!"

"It's not!" She pressed failing to contain her equally steaming temper. "Did you really go see Mai yesterday or was that a lie too?" "I did," she almost growled out. "I did and I found her father is - was one of Ozai's most loyal followers, and I found a secret tunnel under her house. One that lead to a chamber with dozens of tunnels that are buried all under our noses! I bet that's how they've been meeting and getting in and out of the palace without anybody knowing."

His expression remained hard, eyes focused on hers as he waited to see how this was relevant to his father.

She bit back her lip and looked at him with large eyes as she got ready to tell him her story.

Xxx

Tsai had just escaped the tunnel system. She stood outside of the tunnel entrance she had just exited from. All of this time they had been meeting and sneaking under everybody's noses and nobody had batted an eyelash. She was getting close, closer to finding out who was leading this movement.

Gazing at the Northern Prison Tower from a distance fists clenched at her sides, she angrily made way to pay the former Fire Lord a vision. He didn't have the upper hand in this. She did. She stormed past the prison guards who all eyed her oddly as she made her way to the lowest dungeons of the prison. The walls growing hotter and hotter with each step until she reached the isolated last floor. A floor which was moist with mold growing on the ceiling corners, an unpleasant heat already made her skin glisten with sweat, this time she met him with her identity unsheathed.

She stood before Ozai glowering at the pitiful man who slumped on the corner of the cell with his head lowered. He simply looked up acknowledging her and the fact that his daughter was not standing next to her. "Deals off," she stated coldly.

A vile smirk stretched across the man's thin lips as he glowered at her with malice. He let out a noise that resembled a dry laugh.

"I'm getting close you son of a bitch," she glared threatening me. "Are you?" He cocked his head to the side and rose. He approached her with his shoulder's hunched over, his eyes never leaving hers. "I know about the tunnels," she grimaced which made the smile wipe from his face. "I’m going to get to the bottom of this. Can't wait to see how loyal those rats are when Zuko and I come after them." "Zuko…" He huffed almost humorously as he turned towards her. "My son is weak, always has been still is. I'm not scared of you; I'm not scared of him." She leaned forward gripping the bars of his prison cell tightly. "Could've fooled me," she said with a cocky smirk. Her body stiffened yet she remained unwavering when his hand snatched the opening of her tunic dress pulling her close to him. She could smell his rotten breath and see his snake like eyes hoping to intimidate. She reached for his wrist ripping it away from her as she stepped back, dusting her clothes off. "It was prophesized by the Fire Sages that my demise would be at the hand of my own son," he uttered, tearing his eyes away from her. "Yet even then he doesn't have it in him."

She had never looked at somebody with as much hatred before. So that was his pathetic excuse? That was this monster's excuse for the years of abuse he had inflicted on his family. The anguish and torment he had put both Zuko and Azula through? This was the excuse for the many murderous attempts as his son's life? For his banishment? A stupid story that the Fire Sages had foretold.

Her jaw was tightly clenched. "You monster," she managed through gritted teeth. "You're scared of him…" She said nodding with a determined huff. "That's why you sent him away… That's why you banished him when he was only a child!" She rattled the bars angrily. "You're sick and you deserve everything you have coming to you."

"Everything!” She banged the metal bars rattling them xxx "So you did it then…" He looked at her with hard eyes. A blend of uncertain emotions about the demise of his father and abuser haunted him. "Of course, I didn't." She looked at him with disbelief. "I was livid, maybe I did say somethings I shouldn't have - but I did not kill your father," she looked at him with intensity. He lowered his gaze. She couldn't really tell just what was going through his head. There was sadness in his eyes, hurt, betrayal, and more than anything confusion. "Did you?" She probed. "What?" His eyes widened slightly at what she was implying. "Did you do it?" She pressed.

"What?" Seemed to be the only word he could manage. "How can you say that?!" He rose a morose look on his face. One she hadn't seen since the first few days when they met all those years ago. How could she suggest that he be the one to do it? Zuko had just as much motive just as she did. Also, if Ozai and the Fire Sage’s prophecy was correct. Zuko would be responsible for the demise of his father. Something that had terrorized the former Fire Lord for years. "Because I would've done it… " she looked down in shame. "I would've done it for us."

She shifted on her steps before taking a seat on the edge of his bed, looking at him with a sad look. His shoulders slumped as his anger waivered. "I know he was your father, but with him dead… Think about it. What this means for your people, for the rest of the world, for us… Without Ozai, the movement doesn't have any strength. They can't support him if he's gone." "Don't be ridiculous," he shook his head. "There will always be another backer, it doesn't have to be him. For all that we know it could be Ukano or anyone else." He wasn’t wrong.

She looked at him dejectedly. Of course, he hadn't done it. He had also been preparing and setting up for dinner that night. There was no way he could've sent someone to do his dirty bidding or that he could've been in two places at the same time. She was trying to support him yet couldn't find the words or the proper most effective way to do it.

He sighed and took a seat next to her before burying his face in his hands hunching over in frustration. "Okay, calm down," She said placing an arm on his shoulder. She wanted to ask what the consequences would be for the person who was responsible. Tsai was certain that she hadn't done it. Yet- if her name wasn't cleared. She knew that Zuko wouldn't throw her in the gutter, but it seemed that the other Fire Nations - ones whom already held a certain distaste for her – if they even suspected her of being capable of such an atrocious crime, they wouldn’t even blink twice when locking her up. Even worse, they might rebel against their Lord if he stepped in and meddled. It wasn't the moment to ask for the consequences.

"Whomever was responsible had to have done this between dusk and when my family came in an interrupted." "We have to narrow down our suspects." He said exhaling a sharp breath and sitting up. "That's still a very long list. Honestly, it could've been anyone." She pondered on just who could’ve possibly wanted to murder. Ozai, and honestly the list was long.

"Think- who had the most to win from my father's death." He turned to face her. "Us." "Besides," He continued. She's silent.

"It could've been somebody in the Society itself. Somebody wanting to take over. Somebody wanting to incriminate you. It could've been your father, your brother or your mother-"

She blinked twice staggered at what he was implying. Why was it that her family was number one on the list of possible suspects? "What about you mother and your uncle?" She shot back a little offended.

"You're accusing my mother?" He said in the same touchy tone. It wouldn't be the first time Ursa killed a Fire Lord. However, it didn't seem like her style. Why couldn't she have just poisoned him instead? Aha! Because this time it was personal… Or maybe she wanted to throw everybody off her trail? "You accused my entire family!" She raised her voice. "My family just got here. Now, I know Mecha had this agenda to kill your father a couple of years ago, but why would he act upon it now? Specially with him already locked up. My mother on the other hand… Sure she has a temper, but I've never seen her hurt a fly, much less a person. I don't think she would've managed to get so close to be able to scratch the man. Whomever did this... It had to be somebody that he knew. Somebody that he trusted enough not to hurt him…" "Are you thinking…" he egg shelled wondering if she was also thinking of the same twisted being who could’ve done this.

"No, it's impossible. If this had been Azula's doing we'd all be dead by now."

Zuko turned the evidence on his head. It all seemed to come down to one suspect. "Tsai, I hate to say it but it all points to you," He realized. "What are we going to do when you find out who it was?"

"We can't have a murder amongst us," he said darkly. "It's not safe." "I agree." She says in the same morose tone. He's looking at her eyes fixed on the carpeted floor. "You don't believe me!" She says incredulously. "I know you didn't do it. I trust you," he beathed. "But the evidence- you can't tell me you wouldn't look at it objectively in the same way if it was lined up against me."

"But it is-" She says. "Zuko if you did it, tell me. Tell me and we'll figure out a way out of this."

He couldn't help but crack a smile, of course she'd be the type to offer to hide the body.

"We'll get to the bottom of this." He reassured her.

Both barely managed to catch a wink of sleep before the funeral the next morning.

Xxx

The distasteful scent of incense flooded the Fire Nation capital’s lesser temple. It wasn’t as stunning or grand as the Main Temple, but it was as old as the nation itself. Also, small, yet respectful enough to hold the funeral services of a former Fire Lord and a war criminal.

Tsai glared menacingly at the majority of men and women witch matching Phoenix rings that filled the room. It seemed that all if not most members of the New Ozai Society were present mourning their leader. They all sat near the front. Sharing smug looks with each other all wearing black.

Zuko sat alone by the front. Any moment now he would be summoned to the front by a Fire Sage to ignite the body as the ceremony required.

Tsai sat in the middle with her family and Zuko’s. Iroh and Ursa were there too looking quite gloom and sullen. Kiyi had stayed home with her father, seeing as the event wasn’t suitable for a child. Ty Lee and Suki were by their sides keeping a close eye on everyone.

Specially on Ukano, Mai’s father, who had a dangerous glint to his eye. Zuko was right, it almost seemed like he had been the one to step up to the plate of ringleader.

All members of the Society stepped forward all holding a single white flower and tossing it at the man’s open casket as they each individually paid their services. Iroh approached his brother’s lifeless body and lightly bowed out of respect, yet he didn’t say anything the rest of the service.

Finally, it was time for Zuko to step forward. All eyes were on him as he stood before the flowery casket. He stood frozen wearing his regalia. It looked like he was struggling to ignite it. Concerned Mecha elbowed his sister and nudged her with a gaze that seemed to say to go help him. She nodded and crossed the temple’s aisle.

If he ever needed her it was now more than ever.

She stood beside him and despite still being angry with her, he smiled weakly. She gave his arm an encouraging squeeze and swallowed a lump that had formed on her throat when she looked at Ozai’s stiff pale face exposed before them. The former Fire Lord’s body had been propped on top of a sturdy marble altar table.

Zuko ignited a flame on his hand, both exchanged a look before he shot it down igniting the cask. He stepped back looking at the fire that consumed his father’s resting body slowly. He was much too distraught that he didn’t hear the small clicking sound. It sounded awfully familiar… Tsai’s eyes widened in horror.

“Watch out!” She managed to push him out of the way. Before he could react, a bright light emitted from the fire before a massive flame exploded before them. Both collapsed to the ground, she covered her body best she could shield him from the abrasive flames knowing she’d be immune to them.

Horrifying gasps and screams echoed the temple as everybody rose to their feet some getting ready to rush forward to the Fire Lord’s aid, other running towards the exit only to find the doors locked shut.

Tsai looked at her family fearfully but before they could further advance to her, black smog erupted from each of the pillars of the temple as they detonated one by one. Cracks broke the ceiling as a landslide of concrete debris and steel pieces began raining upon the crowd in destruction. Zuko kneeled his eyes also turned in concern to look at his family. There was no time, he would never reach them. The ceiling was about to collapse!

He looked at Tsai who hopelessly reached forward before wrapping an arm around her and pulling her back to the nearest shelter – underneath the marble altar table on top of which his father’s body had been propped in just moments ago.

He winced when it came down. The thought of his family being crushed underneath the ceiling making his chest ache. Debris and ash fell around them trapping them underneath the small space beneath the marble altar table. Both coughed for breath and the dust and smog. He held her protectively against his body and with more force than he intended a hand over her head shielding from any collapsing matter. Her eyes were shut tightly, heart racing as she choked on a sorrowful sin for her family, for his family, Ursa, Iroh… Their friends. There was no way they had survived the collapse of the temple.

Moments later the havoc ceased, and silence was the only thing either could hear. No more screaming, no more pain. They sat amongst a graveyard. The space that they shared was completely dark, it was also tall enough for the two to be sitting up without having to slouch. “I think it stopped,” he broke the despondent silence that seemed to linger. She hadn’t even noticed the hot tears that had begun to stream down her face. “Our families,” she cried. The thought of everybody they knew and cared for tore her heart apart. He had to be strong, logical, reasonable as his eyes scanned the small space for a way out. There would be time to mourn later, but not now.

The only thing he could do, was hold her, close, a hand lazily holding her head. Mind racing a thousand miles for house as he processed what had just occurred. “What the fuck!” She suddenly spat; her voice angry as she composed herself and sat across from him. “How could we not have seen it?” She pulled at her hair. “It all adds up!” Her jaw went slack as the dots connected in her head. “How else would you gather the entire Fire Nation Royal Family and all of the New Ozai Society in one room?”

She exhaled feeling drained, the lack of sleep taking a toll on her soundness. “My father…” She pondered on her words. “The bombs, it’s his signature style. The Anti-Revolutionary Movement is behind this,” she said out loud more to herself. However, Zuko listened carefully. “I don’t think he killed Ozai. It’s not his style, he wouldn’t have been able to get close enough.”

“It makes sense,” Zuko suddenly spoke. His eyes beginning to adjust to the darkness that engulfed the two of them. “Him wanting to incriminate you.” “I guess you’re right…” She hugged her knees and rested her head on top of them. At this point she didn’t even want to think, she didn’t want to feel anything. She had no reason to believe her father was innocent when it came to this matter. Yet, something in her gut told her she was wrong.

“What are we going to do?” She suddenly cried out frightened.

“There’s no use in trying to dig our way out,” he said stretching out a palm and feeling the wall with sturdy debris, iron and who knows other materials. If a single piece was moved incorrectly, we might lead a slide in and both would be crushed.

“Great. Be crushed or asphyxiate,” She said in uncharacteristic pessimism. “It was a large explosion,” Zuko reasoned. “Somebody’s probably digging around looking for any survivors.” He explained more to himself, than to her, in an attempt to remain cool and collected. But what if nobody was looking? What if everyone was too scared? The only people that could save them were Aang and the rest of the gang and as far as everyone knew they were all in the Republic of Nations all the way across the other side of the sea. “It could take days…” Her tone dropped to almost a whisper.

Again, silence, no sign of survivors. Both shaken by the attack, by the terrible loss of their families. Losing her grip on reality Tsai let out a loud angry scream. One he had never witnessed before.

“I’m so angry!” She shouted making his ears ache due to the closeness to her scream. “After all of this. I can't believe my dad wins. I can't believe he dethrones the Fire Nation and destroys a movement with his anarchic methods. It's disgusting… I can’t believe we…” She trailed off, her eyes growing large as they once again welled with tears.

“We’re going to get out of here,” he reassured her, his voice strained eyes hard, as he attempted to snap some sense into her. “Come here,” he said reaching for her. She crawled to him and sought refuge on his body, sitting in between his legs.

“Calm down,” he whispered hugging her close to him. He stroked her hair, running his fingers through the long locks a gesture which he hoped would help calm him down as well.

She kept her eyes closed; nose pressed against the fabric of his robes. She inhaled his scent wondering if it would be the last time, she smelled it. Wondering if this would be the last time they would be in each other’s arms. This was ironic, life was funny like that. It was what he had always wanted for the two of them to lie in the same grave for eternity. Maybe that’s why he was so calm… ‘So this was how it ended…’ She took in a deep breath. “If anything happens…” She began, “I’m glad it’s this way. In each other’s arms. I hope our story will be immortalized when they find our bodies no longer with life still in each other’s arms,” she said morbidly.

He couldn’t help but smile a little at the thought. Then again this was the guy that actually proposed in a graveyard.

“Our story will live on because we will tell it ourselves.”

“How are you so sure?” She asked wiping away her tears. She moved away from him and he turned banging a fist at the wall of rocks that kept them locked up. The wall remained unfaltering, not moving an inch. “Because it can’t end like this! I won’t let it!” He said wrathfully striking it again and again.

Both still had so much to life for, so much to do…

Tsai didn’t know how long Zuko hit the wall for, or how hard, she looked at him with worry. He was screaming at this point, breathing harshly, his knuckles to the point of bleeding. It seemed that each strike came harder than the last.

“Zuko, stop, you’re hurting yourself,” she pleaded.

He didn’t stop, much too infuriated, much too scared to quiet. “STOP!” She reached for his arm and held it down. She reasoned with him holding him tightly. She couldn’t see well, but could feel him shaking, letting out trembling heaves. It almost sounded as if he was crying. “Stop…” She finally whispered.

She reached for his hands and he winced slightly. She could feel the jagged skin underneath her fingertips. His knuckles were wet, bruised and bloody from the repeated impact.

She held them close to her, sadly stroking them with her thumbs. “Here,” she said. She took in a deep breath and did something she had almost lost the ability to do. It took her a moment to meditate on her emotions. He saw that she began to faintly glow with the life the Sun Spirit had given to her. The light illuminated the room enough for them to see each other. He could feel the pain in his hands slowly dimmish little by little. “I love you,” She couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down her face, “And if there’s a life after this, I’ll love you then too.”

He let go of her hands and in the dim light touched her wet face holding it in place before leaning forward and kissing her for what seemed to be the last time.

It was then that there was an impact on the wall of debris that kept them underground. Dust filled the space, and both coughed for a breath. He held her close, protectively, bracing themselves for the impact of the rock slide.

"You're about to die and this is what you're doing?" Mecha laughed as he stood before them.

Both looked at him shaken up. Tsai had never been so happy to be at the end of one of her brother’s dumb comments or to hear his mocking laugh.

Mecha stood inside of a large tunnel alongside his mother, Iroh and Ursa. Both firebenders held a small flame that lit the way in their hands.

“You’re very wise to choose love over despair my nephew,” Iroh stretched out a rare grin amongst the chaos that surrounded them.

“Mom!” Tsai’s jaw dropped, teary, red eyes went wide in shock, her mediation becoming nonexistent at what she was seeing. The auburn-haired girl gaped in disbelief. “You’re an earthbender?” She managed to ask.

“Let’s get out of here,” The earthbender said curtly. Ignoring her question.

“How?” Zuko breathed just as surprised.

“Sanju managed to shield us from the collapsing ceiling by forming a rock shelter around us,” Ursa explained in a soft tone. Despite her calm demeanor her eyebrows were tuned up in a concern look. “We were very lucky.”

“Ty Lee and Suki are already outside,” Mecha added. “We looked around, but I don’t think anybody else made it…”

That meant- Mai’s father…

“I don’t know how much longer I can hold it,” Tsai’s mother spoke in a strained voice. The woman had both of her shaking arms held up as she held most of the collapsed temple up.

“Let’s get out of here!”

xxx

AN: Wooppp only 4 more chapters to go. (We all know what’s coming ;) ;) )

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livinwithhumans · 4 years

Text

The Tell-Tale Heart of Clay Jensen

From its inception to its release, 13RW created quite a whirlwind in the media over allegations that it causes suicide and is insensitive to these issues. Now, at its end, it feels like 13RW has long said goodbye to those times and has embraced the blunt nature with which it discusses teen issues of suicide, abortion, drug abuse, sexual abuse and gun violence. I have always appreciated that the show took these issues head on and did not back down from a fight even when the media and parents were hell-bent on ruining its legacy.

Season 4 of 13RW comes at a time where we’re all feeling slightly disconcerted and apprehensive of the future what with a deadly virus at large. I’m sure we all must be feeling trapped not only in our homes, but in our own idle and terrified minds with no room for escape, because there is nowhere to escape. Surprisingly enough that is exactly how Clay feels throughout this whole season. Basically, Season 4 has two goals: to mentally push Clay to the metaphorical cliff’s edge and to wrap all the complex and messy emotions in a 5 minute valedictorian speech. The former I was mildly intrigued to explore, the latter I was not impressed with. Let’s take a closer look at what the show has achieved or failed to achieve in its final season.

Those who know Clay’s character well, know that he’s the sweet guy-next-door who just goes with the flow rarely stopping to question his sometimes irrational actions and poorly-made choices. Like, when he chose to point a gun at Bryce or when he chose to cover up Bryce’s murder. Having been in jail, becoming so involved with the deaths of 2 close friends (Jeff and Hannah) and covering up a murder, it was only a matter of time before he roller-coastered straight into the deep end. There’s only so much one person can take before they crash and burn. Quite literally in this season, because as we see Clay is haunted by dreams of a terrifying Monty, blood everywhere and Bryce. Even the lighting of this season is dark and monochromatic to reflect Clay’s weakened mental state. To be honest, Clay’s go-with-the-flow nature is the source of his mental distress, because for the past few seasons, he has just been coasting along with the other characters never stopping to think that maybe his friends are wrong and that he shouldn’t go along with the choices they’re making. Of course, at the same time, this quality is Clay’s core characteristic, because he is known for being a loyal friend even if being loyal means jeopardizing his own life and health.

To put it simply, the Clay this season is a Clay that has lost all sense of purpose. If you’re thinking, what was his purpose anyway? Well, isn’t it obvious? Season 4 Clay has no one to take care of anymore: no Hannah, no Jeff, no Justin, no Skye, no Tyler, no Ani. He lost Hannah in season 1 where he realized he never did enough to care for her. That’s strike one. He loses Skye in Season 2 after they realize their relationship isn’t healthy, because Clay just wanted to stop her from committing suicide. Strike two. He finds Ani in Season 3 only to lose her in Season 4, because she’s already well-sorted and doesn’t need Clay’s help. That’s strike three. There seems to be a method to his pain where he keeps trying to help girls only to realize that he wasn’t helping them in the right way or that they never needed him. Imagine building up this pain of realizing that the one thing you want to do (care for others) is the one thing that you keep failing at. In fact, in season 4, in the lockdown episode, he questions whether he ever even helped Tyler get through his trauma. Clay’s conflict revolves around the fact that he believes that he was never capable of helping anyone and that makes him feel helpless. And it all starts with Hannah. So, in season 4, when he is left with no one to take care of, he struggles through his own emotionally turbulent journey to discover that before he can help others, he needs to help the most important person in his life: himself. It’s clear that throughout the seasons, Clay has been so involved in solving other people’s problems that he fails to solve his own. Which is why Season 4 had to be about Clay finally getting a chance to breathe and take care of himself. After all, if there is one thing this show has taught us, it is to take care of those around you. And that kind of caring starts only when you take care of yourself. Because, self-care is the essential ingredient in the recipe of life.

Now, I have to admit: Though it was difficult for me to watch innocent and good Clay doing drugs, having sex, crashing cars, starting protests, burning a car, yelling at principals, and starting fights, it was necessary to have this character grow in this way. He had to venture out of his comfort zone and become crazy in order to realize what truly mattered to him and how to reach his fulfilled self. Of course, this kind of character arc is nothing new. We’ve seen it play out for centuries in popular texts, short stories and famous literature (Hamlet anyone?). In fact, one popular short story that comes to mind is Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Now, you might be wondering wait what? But, if you look closely, Clay’s spiral towards insanity closely charts that of the protagonist in Poe’s story. Let’s call him Joe.

If you’re a reader of popular literature or have studied English literature, then you had to have encountered Poe’s famous short story, “The Tell-tale Heart.” It basically chronicles the living and breathing nature of guilt which can cause an individual to sabotage themselves. Literally, Joe plots and commits a carefully-planned murder only to have guilt rat him out. In the story, Joe has the police visit him after he commits the murder to investigate his house. After they find nothing, he invites them to stay a little longer and entertains them. He is so confident that he won’t be found that he continues to entertain them knowing that a dead body lies in his room. The guilt of knowing that he stopped someone’s heartbeat makes his heart beat louder and louder with guilt until he cannot take it anymore and he confesses to his crime. Why? Because guilt drives him up the wall and right back down to reveal the dead body parts stashed in his floorboard. Poe very smartly shows how after committing an ill-fated act, guilt leads you to second-guess yourself. Guilt throws suspicion over every small detail until the end result is that you sabotage yourself. And that’s exactly what happens to Clay. The resemblance between Clay’s story and Joe’s is uncanny. It’s almost like the writers of the show wrote Clay’s journey towards insanity with Poe’s story in mind.

Fare warning: Tread with care, spoilers ahead.

Those who have watched the show know that the threatening phone calls, the graffiti (”Monty was framed”), the disabling of the security cameras and the senior camping trip prank was all dissociative-Clay’s doing. It’s a real mind-blowing scene when it hits Clay that he was the one sabotaging himself. The guilt of covering up Bryce’s murder was slowly killing him from the inside just like it was for Joe. It was like there was a part of Clay that did not want to stay quiet about the coverup and wanted the world to know what had happened exactly like Joe. Joe also could not take the fact that he got away with the murder and had to reveal his true colors. It’s something to think of that guilt can eat so much of your mind and soul that you become suspicious of everyone around you. Clay suspects almost every character (Winston, Diego, Charlie, Estella and even Tyler). His guilt actually turns out to be so murderous that it makes him do all sorts of crazy things that he would never do like start protests and yell at the principal. Now, 13 Reasons Why takes it a step further from Poe’s story by having Clay dissociate, so obviously there’s not too much damage control to do at the end (very convenient). Still, it is something to ponder on: that guilt is such a monstrous beast it can make one sabotage themselves. After all, there’s nothing more mentally and emotionally terrorizing than living with the fear of getting caught. Clay lives and sleeps (barely) with his guilt, never being able to escape it. And that’s why, it’s just easy to let it all out like Joe does at the end of the story. BUT, the major difference in 13RW is that Clay somehow finds a way to circumvent his guilt by justifying his choice of covering up a murder. By the end, he realizes that caring about his friends makes him who he is. With that logic, he comes to the conclusion that if he does something for his friends, then that is naturally right (even if that means killing someone and framing someone else for their murder, apparently). Look, it’s great that he finally understands who he is and what motivates him to behave in a certain way. Basically, losing himself helps him find his right and wrong. But, at the end of the day, morality has to be guided by more than your personal moral compass. It has to follow through with the laws set by society and killing and framing someone is just unjust and illegal no matter who those people are. You cannot justify your actions by saying that “they deserved to die” which, by the way, is what Jessica continues to do. I don’t know on what planet this kind of mentality is healthy, but I guess whatever planet that is, 13RW seems to exist on that sphere because it just ignores the injustice of what these characters chose to do. Yeah, all of them have to come to terms with their guilt, but they also have to realize that living a life carrying this secret is more burdensome than just coming out and saying it. I mean this kind of cover-up will never stop haunting them and they may never be able to move on from the past if they don’t let their guilt scream out from the rooftops. That’s where I think Poe’s story is the winner, because it realizes that you can’t let the guilt eat you up. Guilt exists for a reason so that those who commit crimes are eventually found out. Catharsis exists in letting the guilt shout from the rooftops.

Unfortunately, though Clay exhibits all the signs of self-sabotage and guilt, he chooses not come out with the truth of his actions and those of his friend’s. According to Poe and me, the confession should have been the ultimate resolution to Clay’s arc. Clay shouldn’t have to suffer through the guilt in order to cover up for his friend’s mistakes. However, Clay’s suffering at the hands of his friends doesn’t matter, because the show chooses to neatly tie up the messy crimes and the horrible mistakes these characters committed in a 3 minute valedictorian speech. A speech which ultimately avows that love and acceptance is key to survival. Though that’s true, let’s be honest, it’s just an easy way to brush off the severity of Alex, Jessica, Ani, Clay, Justin, Charlie, Tyler and Zach‘s mistakes. If love and acceptance was key to survival, then we must put forth the question of whether Jessica, Clay and the rest of the characters have actually forgiven Bryce and Monty for their ill-deeds? Did they accept and understand Bryce when he needed to be? What’s lacking here is that though the characters might have accepted their mistakes in the last episode of the season, it still does not mean that they should not have to pay for their mistakes. Clearly, the show lets them get off easy, because even the police officers involved in the case cover up the truth about Bryce’s killer. Now, i’m going to sidestep here to say that I will acknowledge that the show does try to have the characters confess their guilt in a way so that there can be self-acceptance. Like, when Alex confesses to Winston in detail about why and how he killed Bryce. But, still: What message does this send to viewers? That if you have connections with powerful people you can get away with anything as long as you show regret and guilt for your actions? Regardless of whether or not it is a mistake or whether or not you are sorry for it, no crime should go unpunished and unconfessed. And I think the adults more than anyone have a huge hand in ensuring that the truth about Bryce’s murder never comes out. That being said, I’m not defending Bryce’s character in any way or saying that he was always a good person, but he was a human being regardless of the horrible crimes he committed. He does not deserve to have the truth of his murder hidden. The show seriously makes a huge mistake by having characters like Winston and the police officers decide whether or not they should let the truth of Bryce’s murder come out.

Though it is the characters that covered up a serious crime, it’s the show that pulls off the biggest cover up of all: it attempts to dismiss its characters mistakes by excusing it as something that should just be understood and accepted rather than confessed. The show values understanding and acceptance over having the truth come out. Of course, understanding and acceptance of your guilt and your mistakes is a huge part of moving on, but confession is the final step to ensuring that these characters do not suffer a life filled with mental agony and despair. I know it seems that Clay’s journey into mental darkness was resolved with some therapy, understanding and self-reflection, we all know that covering up a murder is not a small crime and will eventually become unbearably taxing to the soul like it did for Joe. As Poe very neatly shows in his story, letting the truth come out about your past mistakes and crimes is the only road to living a mentally stable life filled with acceptance, forgiveness and understanding. After all, confession is not only good for the soul, but also for the mind.

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themattress · 4 years

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Danganronpa Chapter Ranking

Ranking all 18 chapters across the three games.

First, I will rank each corresponding chapters over one another.

Chapter 1:

1. Welcome to Dangan Island + Destination Despair (DR2)

DR2 is the technical best of the series and it definitely has the strongest opening. While I actually prefer DR1′s prologue, DR2 definitely ups the stakes when it comes to the actual introductory murder mystery, creating a spooky nighttime locked room situation right off the bat and keeping you guessing as to how the murder went down. The high point, of course, is the revelation of Nagito’s true nature, which let you know that this is a guy to watch out for.

2. Welcome to Despair + To Survive (DR1)

Like I said, the prologue to DR1 is my favorite one - just the opening scene alone perfectly sets the tone for all that’s to follow, I also really enjoy getting to explore the school and interacting with the adorable Sayaka Maizono. The problem with this chapter is when Sayaka gets killed. Not only is the investigation a very standard one, but the mystery is too easily solved - Sayaka even wrote her killer’s freaking name down and most players will figure that out well before any of the characters do! I know this is the first case and all, but come on!

3. Ultimate Revival + My Class Trial, Our Class Trial (DRV3)

If DR1′s first chapter problem was being too easy to solve, this one’s problem is that it’s impossible to solve because the game withholds the key evidence for the sake of a twist - evidence that exposes the female protagonist you are playing as, Kaede, as the culprit! It’s a shame - despite some issues here and there (goddamn Monokubs...), I was liking the atmosphere this chapter was setting up with its ticking clock factor, the Ultimate Academy was well designed and kept distinct from Hope’s Peak, and Kaede was a wonderful, lovable protagonist the likes of which we hadn’t seen before in this series. But that one ending twist which results in her getting taken from us in favor of some dude ruins the whole chapter.

Chapter 2:

1. Boy’s Life of Despair (DR1)

Only DR1 manages to have its second chapter be an improvement over the first: with not only expansions on all of the characters and even the school itself, but a mystery that isn’t so easily solved because a certain rich douchebag deliberately tampered with the crime scene in order to make the case more challenging. The only mark I have against this one is the weird gender politics at play, and even then it’s not insulting or anything: Mondo’s toxic masculinity is even highlighted as his fatal flaw. And of course, this chapter gave us Genocide Jack. WIN.

2. Sea and Punishment, Sin and Coconuts (DR2)

While a step down from the preceding chapter, it’s not by much: this is still a quality chapter with quality character and plot development and a quality murder mystery. My biggest gripes are that it becomes obvious who the culprit is early into the trial and how they committed the murder but it takes a long time for the characters to decide on those things. If that wasn’t enough, the revelation of the killer’s motives is ridiculous, with two shocking swerves on top of each other, one of them a lie and the other one the truth. The actual scene leading to the execution, however, more than makes up for that with how emotional it is, with one of Derek Stephen Prince’s best performances in his career as Fuyuhiko reveals his inner vulnerability.

3. A Thin Line Divides Heaven and Hell (DRV3)

This second chapter is a HUGE step down from the first one. Shuichi is immediately a far blander, less compelling protagonist than Kaede was, there are too many detours before the murder happens, the mystery is way too convoluted and the culprit’s motivation is an even bigger shocking swerve than DR2′s, and the execution just goes full Saw to the point of being almost too uncomfortable to watch. In the end, it doesn’t even feel like this case mattered, it was all a drawn-out way of revealing the underwhelming “twist” to Maki’s true identity which only ended up working against her character. The best part of this chapter would have to be the body discovery, which is one of the most shocking and effective in the whole series.

Chapter 3:

1. A Next Generation Legend! Stand Tall, Galactic Hero! (DR1)

Third Case Syndrome hits DR1 the least out of all the games, as despite the problem of the class trial’s pay-off not matching the intensity of the build-up, it still doesn’t cheat the player in any way. The mystery is still well designed and on paper the crime is brilliant, and even the way it falls apart in execution makes logical sense given what has been established about Celestia and Hifumi throughout the game. There’s even fun to be had in the trial given Celestia’s legendary breakdown, plus her execution being among the series’ funniest.

2. Trapped by the Ocean Scent (DR2)

I like some things about this chapter, particularly early on: Fuyuhiko’s character development, Ibuki’s concert, Nekomaru’s sacrifice, Nagito continuing to be his delightfully twisted self, and Monokuma’s hilarious “Wizard of Monomi” movie. The build-up to the body discovery with that supposed suicide video is also legitimately scary. But it all falls apart in the class trial to a comical degree, with the revelation of the culprit having so much wrong with it I hardly know where to begin. Everything about Despair Disease in general feels like filler and a way to ax off three characters that Kodaka had no idea what to do with. It’s just a glaringly bad chapter.

3. Transfer Student From Beyond the Grave (DRV3)

This is where Third Case Syndrome hits its nadir: once again some legitimately good and scary build-up (including the requisite second murder happening halfway through the investigation when you’re not expecting it to) is destroyed by a farcical class trial that is riddled with plot holes, convoluted mechanics, and random extreme character turns that makes it clear that Kodaka was just doing all this to kill off characters he felt had reached their limits rather than staying consistent with what came before. Special mention must go to Korekiyo’s motives. While Celestia and Mikan’s motives aren’t sympathetic either, there are sympathetic reasons behind them. But with Kiyo, the reasoning behind his serial killing is...incest. Literal brother-sister incest. We had a potentially interesting, creepy character in Kiyo, but he was utterly squandered and turned into one big incest/see-saw meme. Such a waste!

Chapter 4:

1. Do Ultimate Robots Dream of Clockwork? (DR2)

One of the most challenging yet also one of the most unique and rewarding chapters in the whole series. The Strawberry / Grape funhouse is the stuff of nightmares, and the game doesn’t pull any punches in how horrific the situation inside it is, with the characters slowly starving to death and with the only way out being to either kill someone or brave a creepy life-threatening escape room. Then once the murder happens you get to play as Nagito during the investigation, getting further insight into his fucked-up mind before he pulls a morbidly hilarious 180 on his attitude and becomes a total condescending jerkwad rather than a creepy self-denigrating suck-up. And the investigation and trial amounting to figuring out how the funhouse is structured and how that structure was utilized in the murder is intellectually stimulating in the best way. Add to that one of the most emotional culprit revelations and executions and you have one of the greatest chapters ever put in a mystery-solving game.

2. All*Star*Apologies (DR1)

DR2′s fourth chapter is better, but DR1′s comes extremely close. Not only is it a locked room mystery where just about everyone except the protagonist and deuteragonist are a feasible suspect which leads to the most fun, challenging and satisfying class trial in the game, but it also ends up being the story’s emotional high point. The reveal of who actually killed Sakura and why, the reasoning behind why an innocent party tried to take the blame for it, and the long-overdue uniting of the Killing Game’s participants (even Byakuya!) against their true enemy, Monokuma...it’s powerful stuff that lingers in your memory long after it’s finished.

3. Live and Let the Languid World Live (DRV3)

Now don’t get me wrong: this chapter was the best one in DRV3 since the first chapter, but I feel like it’s trying too hard to recapture the glory of the previous games’ fourth chapters and mostly failing. The virtual world and trying to figure out how it works is a blatant copy of the funhouse from DR2, except that we barely spend time in the virtual world compared to the funhouse and whereas figuring out the structure of the funhouse actually took a lot of thinking, the secret of the virtual world is painfully easy to deduce and leads to another instance of the player being several steps ahead of the characters. Kokichi as a Nagito-esque antagonist just doesn’t work and it’s frustrating to watch him play all the other characters like fiddles when it’s so transparently obvious what he is doing. Lastly, while the deaths of Sakura, Alter-Ego Chihiro, Nekomaru and Gundham were sad, there was still a note of triumph and hope in them as well. There’s none of that in the deaths of Miu, Gonta and his Alter-Ego. These deaths are just sad, depressing wastes, even moreso in retrospect after Chapter 6.

Chapter 5:

1. Smile at Hope in the Name of Despair (DR2)

Nagito was right: DR2′s Chapter 4 was merely “the opening act” for THE best chapter in both the game and the entire series. Seeing Nagito finally go full-on batshit insane and carve out a path of destruction that leads to his own death is enthralling, as is figuring out the hows and the whys of his death, peeling back the layers of his madness and malice until you arrive at the horrifying truth, all culminating in one of the most heart-wrenching moments in the series when Chiaki finally reveals the truth about herself and offers herself up as a sacrifice to stop Nagito’s heinous scheme from coming to fruition. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it! The bizarre triangular dynamic between Hajime, Chiaki and Nagito really made this game’s story as good as it is despite uneven writing early on, and this chapter is the culmination of it.

2. Voyage Without Passion or Purpose (DRV3)

When it comes to the game’s overarching story, I don’t really care much for the events that transpire in this chapter. But when taken as a stand-alone, it’s excellent. Someone has been killed and someone is responsible for it, but for the first time in the series you aren’t just unsure about the culprit, but the victim as well! To make matters worse, the culprit shows up to the class trial inside a mech suit that has a voice changer, and he keeps changing his voice between Kaito and Kokichi’s to further muddle which one of them is actually dead. And to top it all off, not even Monokuma knows the solution to this mystery and you actually have to work together with him in order to solve it! Gotta hand it to Kodaka: this move was inspired. If only I actually gave a damn about Kaito, Kokichi and Maki, this case would hit much harder.

3. 100 Mile Dash; Pain of a Junk Food Junkie (DR1)

This time, the opposite holds true: I like these events as part of the over-arching story, especially everything that happens from the execution (the scariest one in the whole game, IMO) and onward. But when taken on its own, this chapter is a mess. Not only is the mystery and trial literally contrived by Monokuma in order to set a trap for one character, but it tips its hand too early by showing the discovery of the victim’s dead body well before it’s time for that scene to happen, and the constant flashing back to Kyoko telling Makoto about the existence of Mukuro Ikusaba is somewhere between comical and infuriating. I think the worst part is that there’s no permanent consequences for anyone: nobody actually dies in this chapter! Not the supposed victim Mukuro, not Monokuma, not Kyoko and not Makoto. It even turns out that Alter-Ego Chihiro managed to kind of survive its execution in the previous chapter! WTF? We’ve spent a whole game getting used to the finality of death, but now death is cheap!

Chapter 6:

1. Ultimate Despair + Goodbye Despair High School (DR1)

I think that DR2′s final chapter is arguably better, more epic and more conclusive than DR1′s, but I still can’t help but prefer DR1′s, similar to how I prefer Phoenix Wright’s “Turnabout Goodbyes” to Trial & Tribulations’ “Bridge to the Turnabout”. Everything about the overarching story and its mystery comes together perfectly here, Junko Enoshima never had the same villainous impact that she does here, and the conclusion where Makoto saves the day by becoming the Ultimate Hope, Junko puts herself through every execution in the game, and the surviving students open the door to an uncertain yet still hopeful future is just iconic.

2. This is the End, Goodbye Academy of Despair + The Day Before the Future (DR2)

Like I said, this one might be superior on a technical level, as it pulls out even bigger plot twists, features even deeper emotions and a greater sense of closure and catharsis, has a grander sense of scope, and Junko being given an even more final defeat since she’s a villain that if you want to defeat you can’t just kill physically but spiritually as well. Chiaki’s role here especially gets me choked up, and Hajime’s narration in the epilogue is the perfect note to end the story on....both the story of DR2 and the conjoined story of DR0, DR1 and DR2.

3. Goodbye Danganronpa + Everyone’s Killing Game, Closing Ceremony (DRV3)

This is an ending that’s better watched than it is played. Watching it, it’s comedy gold in how absurd it is. But actually playing through it is a chore, and having to do such a chore for the sake of an ending that is intentionally designed to piss you off is no fun at all. While I’d say the game’s third chapter is technically worst, this one is definitely my least favorite, especially when you take that god-awful, pointless epilogue into account. Kodaka, if you want to end Danganronpa, then go all the way and end it on your terms; don’t pussy out with that crap!

And now, my final ranking of all the chapters is as follows:

1. Smile at Hope in the Name of Despair (DR2) 2. Do Ultimate Robots Dream of Clockwork (DR2) 3. All*Star* Apologies (DR1) 4. Boy's Life of Despair (DR1) 5. Welcome to Dangan Island + Destination Despair (DR2) 6. Welcome to Despair + To Survive (DR1) 7. Ultimate Despair + Goodbye Despair (DR1) 8. This is the End, Goodbye Academy of Despair + The Day Before the Future (DR2) 9. Sea and Punishment, Sin and Coconuts (DR2) 10. Voyage Without Passion or Purpose (DRV3) 11. A Next Generation Legend! Stand Tall, Galactic Hero! (DR1) 12. Live and Let the Languid World Live (DRV3) 13. Ultimate Revival + My Class Trial, Our Class Trial (DRV3) 14. Trapped by the Ocean Scent (DR2) 15. 100 Mile Dash; Pain of a Junk Food Junkie (DR1) 16. A Thin Line Divides Heaven and Hell (DRV3) 17. The Transfer Student From Beyond the Grave (DRV3) 18. Goodbye Danganronpa + Everyone's Killing Game, Closing Ceremony (DRV3)

1-9 are the “strong chapters”, while 10-18 are the “weak chapters”.

#Dangan Ronpa #Opinion #Analysis #Comparison

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introvertguide · 4 years

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The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957); AFI #36

The film most recently under review was the British class, The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). I know that this is almost an entirely British production and the American co-lead in this film is an add-on, but is on the AFI top 100. Also, it’s a darn good film that portrays the blindness that comes with pride and power. In a war setting, this blindness can cost lives and we sometimes forget what the fight is for (sometimes it is nothing). The movie won seven Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Scoring. The film also swept the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs (the movie won Best British Film at the latter). The struggle for power between a British officer and a Japanese internment camp officer is the driving force for almost the entire movie and the psychological chess match is fascinating. Everything else feels kind of like filler, but that might just be me. Before I opine any further, let’s look at the plot, which is always proceeded by:

SPOILER ALERT!!! THIS IS A CLASSIC FILM WELL KNOWN THROUGHOUT NORTH AMERICA AND WESTERN EUROPE BUT I STILL HAVE TO PUT UP A WARNING!!! I THINK EVERYONE KNOWS THE ENDING, BUT I WILL STILL GET COMPLAINTS IF I DON’T SAY SOMETHING!!! ENJOY THE SYNOPSIS!!!

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In 1943, POWs arrive at a Japanese prison camp in Burma. Two prisoners talk about a recently dead prisoner, giving the idea that many have perished and nobody even remembers their names. The Allied prisoners march from the train into camp whistling the famous Colonel Bogey March and line up at attention in front of their own officers including Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson (Sir Alec Guinness). On arrival to the quartering area, the Japanese commander, Colonel Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), says that all prisoners, no matter rank, will work to construct the railway from Bangkok to Rangoon.

Nicholson says that his men will work, but the Geneva convention says that officers are exempt from manual labor. That evening, Nicholson meets the other prisoners. The rounds include an American Lieutenant Commander named Shears (William Holden) as well as the ranking British medical officer, Major Clipton (James Donald). In conversation, Nicholson tells Shears that there will be no escape attempt since his group had been ordered to surrender and escape would be defiance to his superiors. This adherence to “proper military behavior,” even at the expensive of self perseverance, is a major theme throughout the film.

At the morning assembly before work began, Nicholson again refuses to have his officers perform manual labor. Saito threatens to have the group executed, but Major Clipton steps in and says there are too many witnesses and Saito will face charges for murder after the war. As punishment, Saito decides to leave the officers all day in the jungle heat. At the end of the day, the officers are put in a cramped punishment hut while Nicholson is put into a very small iron box named “the oven.”

While the British officers are being punished, Shears and two others make an escape attempt. Shears gets away but the other two are killed. He wanders off and finds a Siamese village where he is nursed back to health and then travels to the British colony of Ceylon.

Shears gets away but the officers are detained for what is described as a month later in the film. The prisoners won’t work and constantly sabotage the bridge project in protest of having their officers locked away. Saito realizes that he will have to commit suicide if he does not complete the bridge (as impossible as it seems to be), so he finally gives in and releases Nicholson and his officers saying they don’t have to complete manual labor. It was a win of principle and it is strange to see all of the soldiers cheering their officers even though the release will not give them more time or any help. “Yay, our superiors are allowed to do nothing and take credit for the work!! Hooray!!”

Much to the chagrin of his soldiers, Nicholson chastises the men for the poor job that they are done. The officer feels that soldiers need to take pride in their work to maintain morale, even if it means helping the enemy. The officers do a thorough overhaul of the bridge plans and move the construction downstream. They also increase the expected completion rate to try and finish before the deadline. Nicholson thinks it will be an example of British ingenuity and strength if they can complete the project on time...while helping the enemy.

Looking back at the condition of the American in a Ceylon hospital, we learn that the officer stole his rank and impersonated someone else in order to get better treatment at the camp. We know that this did not work out, but it is still treason and could earn Shears serious punishment. A British officer said that the American Navy was aware of this and transferred Shears to the British military for a special mission to destroy the bridge that is being built at the camp. Shears has no choice, but is allowed to volunteer for the mission to save face (which he does).

Shears is going to have to move fast, because Nicholson pushes his men (as well as other local workers) to complete the project. He even has Saito’s men pitching in an attempt to allow the commandant to save face. They are able to complete the entire bridge in only 3 months, just in time to allow the Japanese military to transport officers and dignitaries safely through the jungle. Nicholson proudly puts up a sign commemorating the bridge's construction by the British Army, from February to May 1943.

Shears is able to parachute into the jungle, commando style, the day before the first train is scheduled to cross the bridge. Four men are in the group (make that three because one didn’t survive the jump) that land and get to a Siamese village. The 3 men are aided by the local chief and some of the village women. The group go under the cover of darkness and plant explosives on the bridge supports below the water line. The group waits until the next day to try and blow up the bridge and the dignitaries at the same time.

A problem arises at daybreak when the level of the river goes down and exposes the wire connecting the explosives and the detonator. This is spotted by Nicholson and he is so wrapped up in honor and duty that he point it out to Saito. The two officers take a group of Japanese soldiers over to investigate what is going on in the riverbank. It appears that Nicholson has forgotten what side he is on amongst the fervor to complete his pet project in the name of the British military.

One of the commandoes breaks cover and kills Saito while Nicholson actually yells for help to keep the team from the detonator. He is killed and Shears runs out to try and hit the detonator but is shot and killed as well. Nicholson sees Shears and realizes what he has done. A mortar round from the last commando in the brush injuries Nicholson and he has just enough energy to fall on the plunger for the detonator to blow up the bridge just as the train is crossing. The medical officer, Clipton, watches the proceedings and mutters to himself “Madness!” Roll credits.

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I harp on the movie for not being American, yet still on the AFI top 100. I will admit here that there is a large portion of the film that is designated to the adventures of Major Shear that feels quite like an American story. The thing is, it doesn’t feel like he has a character arc at all. On the other hand, neither does Nicholson until the last 5 minutes of a movie that is over 2.5 hours long. He has the character direction of a candy cane.

I will get into the great parts of the film, but one more complaint is the pace of the film. It is really boring at times. The characters are established early on in the movie and don’t really change, so they do exactly what you would expect them to do. The only twist at all is literally in the last five minutes. That last five minutes is phenomenal, but you sure have to be patient to get that far. I had to watch the movie twice because I fell asleep during the third quarter of the film. Upon watching again, I realized that I really did not miss much.

For the good, Sir Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa were amazing. Both play men trying to survive in an impossible situation and the only thing guiding them is principles and honor. Without their principles, they will die and so will the men that report to them. It seems obvious that both men have made decisions that have ended up with the death of soldiers and civilians, so neither is afraid to sacrifice themselves or others on principle.

I am somewhat confused as to why the Allied soldiers follow the orders of Nicholson. His fight is so that he does not have to do manual labor. When he wins the game of chicken with Saito, he rewards his men by having them work harder to aid the cause of the enemy. Nicholson is like Forrest Gump in some ways because he does exactly what he is told to do (or at least how interprets his instructions). Officers don’t participate in manual labor so risks his (and his officers) to abide this. He was ordered to surrender so he will not attempt escape. The bridge is based off British plans so he will complete the job. He is given a deadline to accommodate enemy officers and dignitaries so he will finish before that time. Those guys shouldn’t be down by the river with explosives so he immediately informs Saito.

Shears was probably the most flexible character, but he did not change over the family. He also did not look like somebody who had been in a POW camp. He had a bit of a dirt tan, but he was healthy and muscular like a man who had a muscle isolated workout plan and a balanced 3,000 daily calorie diet. The clothes may have been shabby, but none of the soldiers really looked like starving POWs. Also, all of the women in the film (there were a few) were all young, good looking, and had great teeth. I kind of doubt it.

Although the characters were interesting, the film did a pretty poor job of painting each lead as a stereotype. The American lied about his history, talked big, and took on the crazy missions. The British officer followed rules to the point of harming others. The Japanese officer was honor bound and willing to kill as a matter of obedience. This is not what I think, but it was reportedly what the writer of the source material, Pierre Boulle, thought.

One thing that I have not touched upon because I wanted to save it mostly for when director David Lean’s opus, Lawrence of Arabia, comes up, the shots of the jungle in Cinemascope are beautiful. From the beginning when we ride in on a train right behind a machine gun, the background speaks volumes. There are not a lot of close ups because the jungle is made into a character. There is no greater threat to the captors or the prisoners than the environment surrounding them and Lean makes sure that the viewer is constantly aware of this. It is really what keeps the film from becoming tedious at times, so a round of applause for director David Lean and cinematographer Jack Hildyard.

My questions that I always ask myself will be answered a little different than normal. Does this film belong on the AFI top 100? Absolutely not. It is blatantly a British film and should not be pilfered because of a couple American actors and screenwriters. It does, however belong on the BFI top 100 and it stands at #11 on the list of greatest British films. Would I recommend it? Absolutely. Also, pay attention to the scenery because the characters are established very early and have little growth, so the camera work is the best part between the first 30 minutes and the last 15 minutes. I am not sure that the film needed to be so long, but it is still very good and deserves a full watch.

#the bridge on the river kwai #william holden #david lean #AFI top 100 #british films #cinemascope #award winner #1950s #greatest films #movies #introvert #introverts #film score #Colonel Bogey

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rydiin · 5 years

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'Why Meadow Died: The People and Policies that Created the Prkland Sh**ter and Endanger America's Students' By Andrew Pollack & Max Eden

(This info is in addition to a previous post that emphasizes a specific chapter from the book).

Information about NC:

One female student was so afraid of him that she often wanted to stay home.

- One day a rumour spread like wildfire: Cr*z had killed his cat. This student worked up the nerve to ask him, "What happened to your cat?". He replied, "I took it in the backyard. I have a lake. I put it in its cage and I drowned it.” "What do you mean?" "I killed my cat."

- NC showed them a series of pictures on his phone. His cat. His cat in the cage. The cage going into the water. The cage coming out of the water. The cat, wet and dead. This student was horrified. NC was transfixed, both by the pictures and by her horror.

As seen in his educational record, he was diagnosed at age 3 with developmental delays and later with a speech impairment, a language-processing deficiency, and attention deficit disorder.

After February of 2013, he was suspended for nearly half of the next calendar year.

"I never had him as a student. But everyone knew who he was because he wreaked havoc." -Teacher at Westglades

In September 2013 he banged on a classroom door so violently that the glass shattered, striking students inside. This was characterized as vandalism but never formally recorded on his disciplinary record.

On October 21st, his teacher (Carrie Yon) emailed assistant principle Atonio Lindsay, "I wanted to let you know about Nick's behavior today. He seems to be getting worse with each day. Following is what took place in the first 10 minutes of class". She explained that when he wouldn't stop screaming, she told him she'd have to ask him to leave if he kept up the disruption. When he stuck up his middle finger, she went over to the phone. Cr*z ran over, took the phone from her, tried to dial 911, banged the phone on the receiver when that didn't work, and then ran out of the classroom.

Several teachers, in exhasperation and perhaps fear, tried to refuse to let him into their classroom. But they were informed by the school administrators that this was not permitted.

In November he was referred to the PROMISE program for vandalizing a bathroom faucet, but did not attend for reasons the school district refuses to explain. If a student skips PROMISE, district policy requires that he be referred to the juvenile justice system, but he was not for reasons the school district refuses to explain.

On November 20th, 2013, he ran into the middle of a busy road during a fire drill. Students were terrified as he could have died if an oncoming car had not stopped in time. Teachers assured students, "Don't worry, he's going to go somwhere he can get the help he needs now". But this was merely optimism. Another teacher wrote a disciplinary referral categorizing his suicide attempt as "Gross Insubordination" and "Aggresive and Dangerous Behavior." But school administrators rejected that categorization and categorized it instead as a minor act of disruptuption."

"If Cr*z had been involuntarily committed for psychiatric observation under Florida's Baker Act in response to his suicide attempt, it could have accelerated the process of sending him to Cross Creek. But he was not. It took until February 2014, five months after Westglades began the evaluation process and one year after his misbehavior became so severe that he was suspended essentially every other day, to send Cr*z to Cross Creek."

When teachers of Cr*z were asked what he was interested in or enjoyed, almost every single one of his teachers mentioned guns, the military, or war.

This excerpt speaks to the insanity of mainstreaming a student like Cr*z back into a traditional school like MSD. These things did not happen before Runcie became superintendant and brought more social justice ideology into the mix:

"According to Ms. Campbell, before Robert Runcie became superintendent, she had never seen a student mainstreamed from a school like Cross Creek in less than three years. The process typically took several semesters, with the student’s IEP team *gradually* adding class periods at the traditional school and carefully monitoring any changes in the student’s behavior. Cr*z spent his first semester at MSD taking two classes, largely unsupervised, and then began attending MSD full time the following semester. Ms. Campbell said that she had never heard of anything like it. This all bears reiterating to emphasize the insanity of it: Cross Creek staff were well aware of Cr*z’s profoundly disturbing behavior at Westglades. They knew about his obsession with guns and dreams about killing people. They were so frightened that they took the extremely rare step of contacting his private psychiatrist. Yet not only did they return him to a traditional high school at an unprecedented speed, they also enrolled him in JROTC, a course in which he would learn to shoot using an air gun that resembled an AR-15."

On December 14th, 2015, Cr*z's IEP team decided to allow him to attend MSD full time. He had made progress in the intensive therapuetic setting of Cross Creek, where well trained professionals could watch him like a hawk. But when he transitioned to MSD, his old "beheavior management" plan was discontinued and no new plan was created. Teachers were left uninformed about who the student was, what to watch for, and how to support him.

Looking back on the transition, a staff member lamented, "They just threw him to the wolves."

Cr*z bragged about getting a gun to sh**t up the school in Feburary 2016. The officer who recieved this alert told the concerned woman that Cr*z's instagram post was "Protected by the first amendment right of free speech". The woman asked if there was *any way* to prevent Cr*z from getting a gun when he turned 18, and the officer said that Cr*z’s right to purchase a firearm was protected by the 2nd amendment and *nothing* could be done.This officer was WRONG. Threatening to shoot up a school is a felony that could have prohibited him from buying a gun. (And even IF he wasn't convicted, an arrest could have gone a long way toward LE taking future reports about NC seriously.) This officer didn't even write a police report about the call.

NC often came to school dressed in full camoflauge gear, mask included, and jumped from behind poles to scare other students.

He would bring dead animals in his lunch box and give it to another student, telling her there was a treat inside.

Dana Craig submitted statements about Cr*z's threats to her and her friends but administrators did nothing. One day she was sitting in class when NC came in and walked straight toward her, and stood over her, staring and breathing loudly, as a hush fell across the classroom. After what seemed to be like a long time, security monitor Anna Ramos entered and said, "Someone here isn't where he's supposed to be" and took him out of the classroom. Records don't show him being taken to the office for this.

When MSD math teacher Suzanne Giorgione found out she was teaching Cr*z, she went to school administrators and told them she refused to set foot in the same classroom as a student who had previously threatened to kill her. As a result, Admin rearranged his schedule.

Several students reported having friends whose parents had complained about having Cruz in their child's classroom, and the school responded by changing *their* schedules.

At the beginning of the school year (a month before his fight with Enea), he approached Enea to shake his hand and call a "truce", telling him that "he could have her".

However, on September 20, 2016 Cr*z threw a water bottle at Enea and then jumped on top of him, punching him. Enea stood up to try to throw Cruz to the ground but NC held on tenaciously, *attempting to bite Enea's face*, only to catch Enea's hair in his teeth and hold on that way. The infamous fight video only catches the end of it when students jump in to break it up.

After the fight, administrators searched his backpack and found bullet casings. He explained he used his backpack to go hunting. According to MSD documentation, when asked why he liked to hunt, he replied that he liked to get food, then asked, "Isn't that what normal people would say?"

Before he attacked Enea, he told students at his table what he was about to do and they recorded it from the beginning. Students who took these videos were called down to the office and told to delete them. These videos would have provided clear evidence of a hate crime (NC repeatedly threatened him, called him a n*gger and other racial slurs, and had now attacked him). But MSD wanted to be seen as a school without crime and chaos, so they demanded evidence of fights be deleted.

Enea received an out-of-school suspension, while NC only received a two day ISS.

At this point, NC's safety plan included banning him from having a backpack at school: "The obvious rationale: if he has a backpack, he could bring a deadly weapon to school and kill people. They decided that Nikolas Cruz was too dangerous to be allowed on campus with a backpack but he should *not* be arrested. This may seem astonishing, but it is actually entirely faithful to philosophy of the Broward school district, as expressed by Superintendent Runcie: “We are not going to continue to arrest our kids” and give them a criminal record.

He brought binocluars to school and stared at people through them.

One student had nightmares about NC, "shooting me or stabbing me...every single night. I couldn't go to school because I was afraid." These concerns along with many others were brought before administrators but nothing was done.

When he decided to revoke his ESE protections, he appeared incapable of providing written notice "perhaps due to his language-processing impairment".

When being confronted about destroying other students model bridges, NC stated, "I am not mentally stable! I am fucking crazy, yo! I love to see people in pain and I have two shotguns at my house." (As previously reported)

He'd often walk around the courtyard at lunch making "bang" motions with his fingers as though he were shooting at birds.

He called Cross Creek after his mother Lynda died and told them, "Before my mom died, I promised her I would graduate high school. I get that Cross Creek is the only place where I can do that. How do I get back in?". They didn't help him get back in.

Lynda's responses to Westglades social worker:

What is the child's problem behavior? He can't control his temper, especially when faced with frustration. He has frequent anger outburts.

How would you describe these behaviors? He starts screaming, kicking, throwing things, and punching holes in the walls.

What are the most problematic for you? "Destruction" when he throws a tantrum, things get broken, nothing is safe. I have polka dotted walls from all the Spackle I have to use to fill the holes in the walls.

How often do these behaviors occur? Every day, especially while playing Xbox.

Are there situations in which the behaviors never or rarely occur? No, if he is losing at Xbox there are no two ways about it.

What do you think needs to be done to help this child? He needs to be properly diagnosed before he can be treated. I know ADD is not the cause of all his problems. We need to know what is wrong with him.

Victims:

Anthony Borges survived after being shot 5 times by taking his shirt off, ripping it into two pieces, and using the pieces as tourniquets for his legs. Anthony had been a boy scout in Venezuela and had taken his survival training very seriously.

Aaron Feis was found deceased with burns on his hands, indicating that he managed to get a grip on the shooter's AR-15 before being fatally shot.

Cara Loughran had been shot prior to Meadow shielding her. This is why she did not flee with the other students. "Meadow had been right next to Joaquin in front of the woman's bathroom. She tried to cross the hallway, but was shot four times. She crawled to a classroom, but the door was locked (as it was supposed to be). Next to her was freshman Cara Loughran, who had also been shot. Meadow draped her body over Cara's to protect her. Five more shots went through both of their bodies."

During the shooting one of the MSD staff members stated over the radio, "It sounds like fireworks.". Aaron Feis replied, "That's not fucking fireworks".

Aaron Feis's brother Ray recalled that Feis "wasn't scared of anyone, but he would talk about that 'crazy motherfucker who threatens everyone' and shouldn't be at this school".

A survivor recalled, "But then you also heard, like, moaning from the shots. I don't know if it was, like, the shooter making that noise or if it was someone who got shot. And, but, then, that's also, you also heard...heard, like, laughing. And we all look at each other in the classroom we're just like, "Oh my God, is someone seriously laughing?" (Previously seen in witness statements)

Notable Quotes:

Royer Borges (Anthony's father) on activists blaming the NRA: "This makes no sense. You're telling me that all these groups will pour money in to a national political battle against a powerful organization over things that had no connection to what happened? And then what? Maybe the gun control people will win some changes, but what about what actually happened? What about the people responsible in Broward? What about justice?"

In the middle of his 5th grade year, Cruz's teachers had to make a choice that would define the future of his education...

“In an earlier era, a student like Cruz could continue to receive specialized attention in a self-contained classroom for students with similar disabilities for at least part of each day in Middle School. However, between the pressure on schools to assess students using standardized tests under the federal No Child Left Behind Act and the pressure on schools to put students in the "least restrictive environment" possible under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, spending part of the day in a specialized classroom was no longer an option for a student like Cruz in a Broward middle school. It was either full "inclusion" at Westglades Middle School or full "exclusion" at a specialized school for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities: Cross Creek."

"...social justice activist groups frame this issue as a black and white question of "civil rights". Putting students like Cruz in schools like Cross Creek is alleged to be "ableist" (discrimination against the disabled) and keeping them in schools like Westglades is the self-evidently virtuous practice of "inclusion".

When Westglades staff heard that Cruz had committed the massacre at MSD, some couldn't believe it. The fact that he became a mass murderer wasn't what surprised them. They were surprised that he attacked MSD. "How is that possible?" one Westglades educator recalled thinking....

"We did our jobs. It took forever, but we got him where he needed to go. We couldn't believe they ever let him into MSD."

"Cross Creek is one of 3 specialized schools in Broward for students with extreme behavioral disabilities. It serves about 150 students in grades k-12, most of whom have been diagnosed with mental illnesses and take psychotropic medications. It has a two-to-one student-to-adult ratio, including eleven counselors, fifteen behavior technicians, and three therapists. There was NO question this was where Nikolas Cruz needed to be. The question must be answered. How was he sent back to a normal school?"

"Officers from other departments told us that, if they received this many calls about the same juvenile, they would watch him like a hawk and not be shy about making an arrest. But if Sheriff Israel judged his success by how well he kept juveniles out of jail, then up until February 14th, 2018, Nikolas Cruz was perhaps the most striking success."

"Martinez respected the March For Our Lives gun control students, but he had mixed feelings about the course of public debate after the shooting. Reflecting on how Sheriff Israel and Superintendent Runcie blamed the NRA, Martinez lamented, “What the students don’t know is that the people who are telling them to go out and protest are the ones that are endangering them.… They’re the ones who failed. These failed policies failed students miserably. Then they deflect the whole event and try to build their political careers on top of it. The students are being misled.”

“I’ve been over every inch of what happened. The NRA had nothing to do with it...

This happened in a Democrat county with a Democrat sheriff, a Democrat superintendent, and a Democrat school board, implementing Democrat ideas on criminal justice, Democrat ideas on special education, and Democrat ideas on school discipline. And after Democrat voters gave all these Democrats a resounding vote of confidence in the school board election, the Democrat teachers union president, Anna Fusco, wrote in a Facebook group about our campaign for accountability: “Now you can all shut up!”....Meanwhile, at the national level, Democrat organizers swooped in and weaponized my daughter’s murder for their Democrat agenda and to fund-raise to elect more Democrats.”

"It is astonishing that 18-1958 only took seventeen lives that day. The death toll could easily have been 170. He had ten minutes alone with eight hundred children. The only one who stopped him was himself."

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trueneutralrants · 4 years

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She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and How it Handled Shadow Weaver

I want to talk about She-ra.

She-ra and the Princesses of Power is a 5 season Netflix cartoon that premiered in November of 2018, and finished it’s 5th and final season barely a year and a half later in May of this year. The final season was extremely well received, due to its strong emotional theme, well-explained complex topics, and the resolution and redemption of one of it’s strongest characters, Catra.

But the show did not hit only home runs, especially in regard to the strong narative of abuse that had been built up in previous seasons, and that's what I'm here to talk about today.

Let's talk about how to write abusive characters in fiction, and more specifically, how She-ra failed in regard to some of those characters.

Now before I get father into this, I want to just say that the final season of She-ra was, in my opinion, a fantastic end to a wonderful series. The amount of good that show did far outweighed any gripes I have with the show itself, and I honestly think it's a wonderful piece of media, albeit one with some missed opportunities.

Anyways, back to the topic at hand.

She-ra is a very personal, character-driven show, with a strong emphasis on the cycle of abuse, and breaking free of said cycle. This is most strongly presented with the character of Shadow Weaver, the mother figure to the 2 main characters, Adora and Catra. Shadow Weaver is emotionally abusive to the both of them, but obviously hold Adora in higher regard than Catra, and gaslights and manipulates Adora significantly more, keeping Catra in check through physical and emotional abuse, while manipulating Adora into believing it is her duty to carry the responsibility for the both of them. If Catra is abused, it is Adora’s fault for not being better.

That’s the set up for the characters, and shapes both Catra and Adora’s actions throughout the series.

In the first season, we see Adora break free from the Horde after realizing that she is on the wrong side of the war, finding friends who she can depend on. She’s even shown an example of a healthy, non-abusive relationship in Glimmer and Angella. On the other side of the war, Catra stays with her abuser, Shadow Weaver. This shapes the conflict between Adora and Catra, as well as Catra’s motivations to take over the Horde., being that since Shadow Weaver has always lusted after power, Catra sees taking power as her only way to ‘best’ her, while still craving Shadow Weaver’s affection. This leads to Catra verbally and emotionally abusing others, most notably Scorpia.

So many of the most toxic behaviors in both Adora and Catra were learned from Shadow Weaver’s upbringing, and throughout the series, we see them struggle to undo what Shadow Weaver ingrained in them.

But what is Shadow Weaver’s motivations for her actions, her abuse? Is she pure evil? Is it a misplaced sense of responsibility? Part of a scheme?

We know a few things about Shadow Weaver. First, she has always lusted over power. Second, she was once a magician at Mystacor, then fled to the horde when her lust of power led to her exile. Third, she has very little sense of loyalty, going wherever she feels she will be safest or in the highest position of power. She fled to the Horde after Mystacor because she knew she could gain power and influence there as Hordak’s second-in-command. She fled to Bright Moon after the Horde threatened to send her to Beast Island because she knew she could gain a foothold there manipulating Adora, and later, Glimmer. Fourth, she holds the emotions of others in very little regard unless it directly benefits her.

So hypothetically, someone who has always put herself first, has always lusted after power and has no problem manipulating and abusing people, including children, for her own benefit is put in a situation where the side she is on is at an extreme disadvantage, as it looks near hopeless. Like, say, fighting a galactic emperor with millions of soldier clones.

How do you redeem a character when the obvious course of action for that character is to jump ship and save herself?

Before I go into how, I should warn any of the 6 people who’ve watched both She-ra and The Promised Neverland that this next section will include spoilers for the first season of the anime.

Meet Mama Isabella. A selfish, abusive mother figure who manipulates and gaslights all the children under her care, essentially selling the children under her care to demons who kill and eat them. She emotionally abuses Ray, her biological son and the one child who discovers the plot, using him as a spy under constant threat of being ‘shipped out’ or killed and served to the demons. Ray grows up watching the other kids live peacefully, knowing that his own mother has been sending her adopted children to die, and one day it will be his turn. When some of the other children discover her plot, she breaks one of the children’s left leg, verbally taunts the other kids present, and ships out one of the children the next day as a threat to the other’s planning to escape. Her abuse was so damaging to Ray that he tried, at the age of 12 years old, to commit suicide by setting himself and the childhood home on fire as a distraction, so the other kids can escape. Overall, she is Shadow Weaver to an extreme, abusive both physically and mentally.

And her redemption is the best written redemption of any abusive parent i’ve ever read.

Reading that, you’re probably thinking I’m a psycho, but no. Here’s the thing about Isabella that makes her such a fantastic villain. She used to be one of the kids at the farm. She used to be like Ray and all the other children. The way the farms work, some of the older female children who get shipped out are allowed to survive, and are put in training to become “moms” or caretakers and enforcers at the farms. They essentially raise children to be slaughtered, as they themselves were raised. It’s horrific, and it’s the only surefire way to survive into adulthood. But the mom’s are replaceable. Isabella is under as much threat of death as anyone else, including the kids. She has what is essentially a taser implanted in her chest, that’ll stop her heart if she escapes or rebels. Ray’s very existence as someone who knows the secret of the farms puts Isabella's life at risk. One mistake, one slip up, and her life is forfeit. Essentially, it’s the kids lives or hers.

So she justifies shipping the kids off by telling herself she can take such good care of them for their 6-12 years of living that it doesn’t even matter that they died. She is such an inherently selfish person, but she’s understandable. We understand exactly why she’s doing everything she’s doing.

And then the kids escape, and we realize Isabella is happy for them. We realize in the last few scenes of the first season, that she’s given up hope on living after they escape. The kids, whether they realized it or not, just traded their mother’s life for their own. They outsmarted her, and thus, Isabella must die at the hand of the farm. Isabella has to accept there are no other options before doing one final act of good to help the children, untying the ropes that show where the children escaped from to throw off the demons, essentially buying the children time.

And by this point, from the point of view of the audience, Isabella is redeemed, even though she didn’t make any heroic sacrifice, or jump in front of a gun for our heroes. She is redeemed through the small, subtle step of untying the ropes. Though that, we are shown that Isabella isn’t resentful or malicious. She doesn’t want the children to be caught. She doesn’t harbor any hope of them capturing the children and bringing them back to the farm. She doesn’t harbor any hope of living, seeing the children’s escape and her eventual death as penance for being complicit in so many deaths over the years.

One of the last things we hear her say in the last chapter of the escape arc is this: “I wish I could have just loved them normally.”

And by that point, we understand exactly the kind of person Isabella was, a person who deeply wanted to love, but wanted to survive more, someone who both justified and regretted the things she had done. And that regret, in itself, was her redemption.

Now going back to Shadow Weaver, we notice many of the same traits that made Isabella a good villain are present in Shadow Weaver. Someone who has always put herself first, has always lusted after power and has no problem manipulating and abusing people, including children, for her own benefit. But unlike Isabella, we never understand why Shadow Weaver is doing what she’s doing, except a general sense that she’s doing it for power. If power is truly her only motivation, she should not sacrifice herself for others, and if there is truly love for others inside her heart, there needs to be a more present way to explore it.

We can tell she hasn’t really changed in season five due to her forcing Adora to carry the burden of the failsafe, despite the fact it could kill her. Unlike Isabella, we never feel that Shadow Weaver is being forced to do bad deeds or manipulate from an outside force or even her own bad habits. She has the freedom to be both a redeemed hero or a full-on villain, but she does.. neither.

Up until her sacrifice.

I don’t like Shadow Weaver’s sacrifice. If you wanted her out of the picture, you could’ve had her 1. try and join Horde Prime and have him kill her, 2. Have he chipped and forced Adora and Catra to contemplate whether to save her or not or 3. Just kill her without a sacrifice to show the horror of Prime. All three would feel in character and fit well within the story, because if there is one thing Shadow Weaver isn’t presented as at any point in the story, it's a selfless person.

But instead we get... her sacrifice. First of all, it's confusing. The audience doesn’t know whether we’re supposed to feel that Shadow Weaver was redeemed or not. There is a decidedly mixed feeling in her sacrifice, where the show seems to want to be able to pull on our heartstrings, but still knows half the people watching hate this character and another quarter don’t care about her.

And Adora and Catra also seem conflicted. The one good thing in the scene, at least for me, is that both Shadow Weaver and Catra seem to acknowledge that the sacrifice, it itself, is not selfless. Shadow Weaver is taking the easy way out, going out with a blaze of glory instead of trying to improve herself and atone for her crimes.

I honestly think in previous seasons, or even just in season 5, if Shadow Weaver were to spend more time trying to apologize and made amends to Adora and Catra, or we got some inner monologue or scenes showing how she cares for the children she abused, and feels she made mistakes, then the sacrifice would’ve worked, at least for me. But Shadow Weaver always felt like an antagonistic force, even in the final season when she was squarely a ‘good guy’. There was no point where it felt like she was sorry for her actions, and nothing that justified them.

I honestly think Shadow Weaver shouldn’t have been redeemed. And that’s what it was, redemption through death. It doesn’t work with her characterization in previous seasons, or even season 5, and it felt, for lack of a better word, cheap.

#shera #she ra s5 #spop #she ra shadow weaver #sherarant #god please dont castrate me in the comments this is my opinion #i just dont like shadow weaver ok?

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mandowh0re · 5 years

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The Universe Takes, and It Gives

CH 1

Summary: The war with Thanos is over, but some sacrifices still need to be made. Will Steve and Tony ever get their happy ending?

Warnings: language? Look you should know by now that all of my fics have that. Angst, unhealthy coping habits, mentions of suicide, eventual fluff.

A/N: In this fic, Thanos happens earlier, Civil War didn’t happen, and Peter is a baby. I also made up the name of the orphanage because I didn’t want to do research. The irondad part of this will be in the next chapter okay thanks for coming to my ted talk.

Word Count: 1554

Happy reading!

In order to destroy the soul stone, someone had to sacrifice themselves.

Steve and Tony stood on the edge of the cliff on Vormir, with Red Skull and Strange waiting behind them.

“A sacrifice for a sacrifice.” Skull had told them.

They had been standing there in stunned silence for the past two minutes. Finally, Steve spoke up.

“It should be me.”

Tony’s head snapped up, his eyes meeting Steve’s.

“What?? No. It needs to be me-“

“The world needs Tony Stark,” Steve interrupted, “It needs its best defender. It doesn’t need Captain America anymore.”

“But I do, Rogers! You can’t just… You can’t just leave! I can’t lose you!”

His voice broke at the end, and by this time tears were streaming down his cheeks and he was choking back sobs.

“Tony,”

“What about everything we wanted? What about the future we talked about! I- I had a ring, dammit! I had a ring for you when this was all over with and I… I can’t do this! Please, you can’t do this,” Tony was full on sobbing now, no longer caring who saw him.

Steve was doing his best not to cry. He didn’t want Tony to see him cry, to see that he was scared. Or that he too, had a ring.

Steve opened one of the many zippers on his pant legs and pulled out a small black, silk bag with a red string that kept it tied shut.

He gently placed a hand on Tony’s cheek, the smaller man leaning into the touch, and kissed his forehead, then his lips. He placed the small contraption Tony had created to hold each infinity stone into his lover’s hands, along with the tony bag.

“Keep the world turning. Because it doesn’t stop without me.”

Tony’s eyes flew open, “Steve, no, please-!“

Tony reached out with his empty hand, but it was too late. Steve had let himself fall back off of the cliff. He watched with horror as the love of his life fell to his final death.

A world war, a fight with a psychopath with a tesseract, a plane crash, seventy years in ice, a fight against aliens, a fight against a HYDRA super soldier and the rest of the murderous group, only to die by his own sacrifice.

The next thing Tony knew, he was sitting in the water, a ways away from where he had previously been a just few seconds ago. In his hand was the purple infinity stone, shattered and no longer glowing.

Taking a few moments to gather what had just happened, he tossed the pieces into the water and opened the bag that was now soaked.

Tipping it upside down, a beautiful silver band tumbled out onto his calloused hand.

Tony’s breath caught in his throat.

Carefully turning the ring, he caught sight of inscription on the inside.

You have been in every way, all I could ever want. I love you.

Strange ended up having to come get him, opening the portal and the cloak carrying most of Tony’s weight as they walked back to Earth.

As soon as the pair came into sight, it was immediately obvious that Steve wasn’t coming back. Nobody spoke a word.

Bucky did, however, fall to his knees. Natasha and Sam went to help him.

Strange handed Tony off to Rhodey, who took him back to the compound to try and sleep, and told the others to meet up there later.

Of course, Tony didn’t sleep. He didn’t eat. He didn’t tinker. He stayed in bed and cried, sometimes showering, and only because Rhodey threatened to use sedatives and give him a sponge bath.

After two weeks of unhealthy habits, starving himself, little to no sleep, and hardly getting any sunlight, Tony’s body shut down.

He was sitting at the table in the dining area, attempting to stomach the noodle soup Rhodey made for him when his vision began to blur and his hearing began to ring. When he tried to say something, he fell to the floor.

The first time he came to he couldn’t open his eyes, and his hearing was muffled, like he was underwater.

“-blood sugar is way too low… gurney up here…”

“-carry him…”

“-heart attack?”

Then he was out again.

The second time he came to he was laying on something softer. But he still couldn’t manage to open his eyes, or even move, to attempt to figure out his situation.

And to make matters worse, this time his hearing wasn’t even clear enough to make out any words around him.

Just an annoying rapid beep.

And what seemed like shouting.

Then he was out again.

The third time he came to, he woke up on the shore of the most beautiful beach he had ever seen. The sand was pink and the water was crystal clear. The sun was high and glittering off the water. There were shells scattered about. But not the tiny, broken, malformed shells you usually find. No, these were fully shaped, brightly colored shells, along with sea glass and sea dollars.

He looked around, finding he was the only one there.

“Hello?” He called out.

“Hello.” Answered an angelic voice.

He turned back around towards the water to see a woman walking out of the water onto shore. She was glowing, literally. Her dress was tan and seemed to flow with gold. Her hair was loose down her back, and a tiara sat on her head perfectly. Water droplets glinted off her dark skin.

For the first time in a long time, Tony was rendered absolutely speechless.

The woman smiled at him, stopping a few feet away.

“I have been so excited for this day. To finally meet the great Anthony Edward Stark. The mortal who defied all odds.”

Tony cleared his throat, his brain finally kicking into gear.

“I- I’m sorry. Who are you?”

“I do not have a name. Nor am I a being. I simply am.”

“That… Actually is the furthest thing from an answer.”

The woman chuckled.

“I am everything. I am the universe. But for the sake of making things easier, you may call me Celeste.”

Tony raised an eyebrow, “You’re the universe… Like you control all things and are all things?”

Celeste shrugged, “In a sense. I am here to help you-”

Tony scoffed, taking a step back, “Help me? Help me?? I’ve been suffering my whole life; I lost my parents, was blown up, tortured, ripped open, backstabbed, poisoned, beaten, lost the love of my life, and now you want to help me??” By now Tony was pacing, his heart pounding in his ears.

Celeste sighed, “Please believe that none of that was my doing. There is good and bad in the universe. As you already know. I am in control over the good. My brother is in control over the bad. Since you were born, we both knew you were destined for greatness, but we both wanted your greatness to amount to something different. When you became a hero, he became angry.

But when you destroyed the infinity stones and defeat a monster who was out to destroy half of of our being, he gave in. I can finally give you what you want most.” She spoke with confidence and power. She outstretched her hand and a white light moved from her palm to Tony, manifesting itself into Steve’s Captain America helmet.

“Steve,” Tony whispered.

But it seemed too good to be true.

“There is just one thing I ask in return,”

“Anything,” Tony looked back up at her.

“There is a boy. He is just over a year old. He lost everyone in this war. He needs someone. You and Steven will adopt him. Raise him as your own. This boy is special, and will grow up to change the world.”

Tony deflated, “Are you kidding me? I can’t just, become a parent! I’m not built to be one! Have you seen me lately? My boyfriend commits suicide to save the rest of us and I’m nearly killing myself.”

The woman only nods, “In time, it will come to you. Just like fighting, it is all in your instincts. You are a smart man, Anthony. You have many people by your side. And you would have Steven as well.”

Tony pulls at his hair and squeezes his eyes shut.

Get Steve back, and adopt a baby?

Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad. They’d finally have the little family they’d always joked about.

“Fine. Fine. I’ll do it. Just, please, give me back-“

***

“Steve!” Tony sat straight up clutching at nothing.

“Woah, Tony, calm down.” Bruce gently pushed Tony back against the medical bed.

“But S-Steve he sh-should have-“

“Yeah, he’s in the next room. Cho’s checking him right now.” Tony relaxed and Bruce made himself busy with checking his vitals, asking him basic questions, and checking his reflexes. Finally, he brought up the elephant in the room, “He just… Appeared out of nowhere. I thought you said he was dead?”

Tony stared at the wall, then at the TV which was displaying the news on mute.

At that moment, the name Queens Heart of Children Orphanage came across the screen, making Tony’s heart squeeze in a way he didn’t quite expect.

“Yeah,” he replied, “He was.”

***

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Strikethrough means I couldn’t tag you.

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sdra2writer-imaginesandhcs · 5 years

Note

After reading the Sora x Syobai, could you possibly do a continuation, based on what happens in chapter 4?

Wow, I never thought that someone will actually like the Sora x Syobai one-shot I wrote and want a continuation of it. I have to admit, but I was really, really excited to make a part 2, even though I had no idea what to write at first. Also, I just realised that I made this too long again and a bit cringey in my perspective. I think it’s obvious that I ship them😅. Also, to make this clear, I don’t know any dialogue in the 4th chapter’s trial and investigation. Again, sorry if there’s any typos or mistakes. It’s 2:30am right now and I can’t sleep. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

Never leaving you (Syobai x Sora)

It’s been almost 3 months ever since they both became a thing. Those months have been fun for them. Sneaking away from the others just so they can spend time with each other without anyone noticing their constant meetings. It was nice.........while it lasted.

Unfortunately, everyone found out their secret relationship thanks to Rat Bitch Kanade.

Here’s how it went after their 3rd trial before the twins’ execution started.

“Oh, and I have one more thing to say!” Kanade points at the 2 grey-hairs.

“Get it on you two! I know you two have been sneaking away from us for the past few months just to do whatever you want with each other!”

Wow, they almost forgot that Kanade was there when their small incident happen. Actually, she was the one who caused it.

After the end of the whole trial, Yuki and Yoruko somewhat made a very small Sora protection squad with just the two of them. They were cornering Hashimoto while interrogating him if he ever forced Sora to take drugs or do something to her that made her uncomfortable. Even Yuki had the guts to threaten him that he’ll stab him with no regrets if he ever hurt her. Luckily, as the broker was praying internally for help and the white-hair pulling her two furious friends away from her boyfriend, Monocrow appears and told them to shut up because it was about to be nighttime.

Anyways, during those 3 months, it’s mostly them just teasing and pranking each other. Making most of their time while they’re still alive. Like that time Sora recorded Syobai singing in the shower. (I hc that he sings Wonderwall [if you’ve watched that video from his English voice actor] when no one’s around. Can’t change my mind)

Payback time, Syobai pretended to be high just so he can make Sora flustered. What happened there in his room? Don’t worry, they didn’t go that far other than taking off a shirt.

Back to the present time, everyone arrived at the 4th island. Just one step outside, they’re already freezing to death.

“W-What is t-this place?!” Shinji felt as if his hair started turning into ice.

“The 4th island of course!” Monocrow chirped.

“W-Why is this island so different from the others?! It’s so cold!” Yoruko covers her exposing arms with her fur scarf.

“Probably because someone changed the code.” And who would even change the code to turn this island to a frosty weather?

Sora rubs her hands on the scarf she agreed with Syobai to wrap around her exposed neck the other day for................some reasons that might’ve been mentioned.

She shot a glance at the broker beside her. He wasn’t shivering at all. He was just standing there while puffing out the smoke from his cigarette.

Sora shivers, “Y-You’re not cold at all?!”

Syobai shrugs, “Why would I be? It’s not that cold.”

What the?! Okay, how the hell is he not freezing cold in this weather?!

An idea popped inside Sora’s mind. This was definitely gonna be her revenge.

“Syobai-Oppa!” Sora cheerily calls for the broker’s attention.

Weirded out by the last word Sora called him, he raises an eyebrow, “Wha-“

With both hands, Sora grabs one of Syobai’s hands and brings it closer to her chest.

She started speaking in another language with the sweetest tone she could do and stares at him with loving eyes, “Salanghae(사랑해)”

Hashimoto freezes for a small moment. “Did it work?” Sora thought to herself.

Suddenly, Syobai face started turning red and he smashed his cigarette with his 2 fingers, “Stop teasing me! It’s not funny!”

Before Syobai could react, Sora cups his face with her hands, “Aww, you’re so warm! This feels so nice!” She smiles sweetly.

Syobai was startled and surprised, but he didn’t push her away or anything. He just lets her do what she’s doing. He thought it was adorable anyways.

As Sora finally lets go of his face, the merchant’s voice can be heard. As the voice gets louder, they realise that Teruya is running to them, “Syobai! Give me some of your warmth too!”

Heat mode: OFF

“Aaa! C-Cold!” The green-hair flinched as soon as he touches the broker’s cheek.

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

Standing somewhere near the library in the Babel tower, the broker holds a book reminding him of his childhood. Everything he had to go through, from having a family with a dog that died before his vacation with his parents, getting lost in a country with no one by his side, and doing all of those dirty works to get a living. Never experiencing the childhood he was supposed to have.

As he grows up, he just goes with the flow. He only believes that what happens will happen and he has to accept it. If it’s death, then he’ll accept it if he has no other choice.

Then, how come he doesn’t feel like dying anymore? Like he probably has something to live for? Was it really the girl he’s with-

Nah, he’s probably not feeling well or something. He didn’t change a single bit, aside from his status that is.

Well, he was amused by the fact that Sora showed worry for him when Teruya pointed a gun on Syobai’s head.

“Teruya! Stop this nonsense! I can’t let you kill him!”

This was the first time he saw Sora this worried for him. Heck, she even smacked his head and hugged him once they were alone for awhile.

“You almost killed yourself back there! Stop risking your life like that! You’re making me worried!!!”

He couldn’t really help but let out a small grin when she was lightly punching his chest. Adorable is what he thought.

Speaking of Sora, where is she? She was supposed to meet up with Syobai by now. Oh god, she better not be-

“A body has been discovered!”

Once he heard those exact words come out of the small television hanging on the walls, a heavy feeling started to fill inside of him. He doesn’t know why, but his instincts is telling him to go to the location where this body is discovered.

All of that went away when he saw the white-hair standing right in front of the victim’s body. Was he actually worried about Sora?

Putting all of his thoughts aside, he goes to Sora, “So, who died this time?”

Then, Sora handed Syobai the Monocrow File, “Shinji Kasai. Cause of death was burning from flames.” She looked away a little with an expression Syobai couldn’t point out, but from her body movements, she looked nervous? She doesn’t act like that during investigations. Did something happen?

Sora did shot a glance at him as she handed him the Monocrow File, but then, her attention diverted to Syobai. With a questioning look, she asks, “Did you run all the way here?”

“Huh?”

“You’re sweating.” Syobai touches his forehead. He really is sweating. Did he really run? If he did, he didn’t noticed it at all.

Putting that aside, he too starts to question Sora, “So, where were you when this took place?” Not because he was too worried or anything. He just needs her alibi when the murder took place. That’s all.

“This isn’t the most convincable alibi I have, but I was with Yoruko, then I went to the bathroom. After using the bathroom, I went back to Yoruko and we continued searching for more clues. Then, we met up with Yuki and we both went to the place where the crime was committed. That’s when the body discoverment announcement was heard.”

There’s a huge part of him that wants to believe her whole alibi, but he knows that there’s something wrong with it. He’s not gonna confront her now, but later in the trial room.

He goes to the other students and asks them for their alibis and continues to search other places inside and outside the murder scene. During his whole time investigating, he couldn’t put his focus on the investigation. He felt like there’s something bothering him that makes him feel somewhat depressed.

Know what? He’s going to finally admit he’s praying to God that Sora has no involvement in this case at all.

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

His prayers did not come true and his gut feeling was correct. Sora was lying about her alibi. Apparently, she didn’t go to the bathroom, she was actually in the crime scene tampering all of the evidence to prevent Yuki from becoming the blackened.

When Sora revealed the truth of where she was and what she was doing during the time of the murder, for the first time, Syobai looked surprised and shocked. Was she gonna be the blackened? That thought actually made the grey-haired man have his heart pumping so fast.

He could actually see Sora feeling so ashamed about it. He tries to focus on the trial, but he didn’t until people started suspecting that this case was a suicide. All of that emotions were gone after that.

After the trial ended, he decided to leave early to calm himself down and to study something about Sora. From all the times they’ve been together and know each other, he became curious and started studying more about a certain former student from Hope’s Peak. He just needed to check one last thing.

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

After Sora met up with Teruya to discuss some things, she walks in front of the broker’s room and takes a shaky deep breath. She was really unsure if what happened back in the trial affected their reatlationship or his perspective of her. God, she couldn’t breath properly.

Sora knocks on the door, “Syo-“

Before she could say his name, she was pulled into the room. Next thing she knew, she was in a very tight hug with the broker. No seriously, she could barely breath in that hug.

Syobai lets go of her and he held her arms tightly, “Why did you do that?! Becoming a blackened for a guy when you knew that you’re going to die! Didn’t you know that?! Didn’t you know how I felt the whole trial?! I was so fucking worried about you the whole time!“

As Syobai kept ranting on, Sora didn’t feel scared or angry at him back. Actually, she felt amused and surprised. She could see on his face that he was about to break down emotionally. This is really new to see with him.

His voice, she thought she heard a different emotion when he mentioned Yuki. Was he jealous of him? Is he scared for her? Because if he is, she didn’t want to make him feel so burdened.

Syobai stopped ranting and without thinking, he pulled Sora closer and gives her a strong and passionate kiss on the lips.

Sora froze when he did this. He’s acting so different today, but it wasn’t a bad kind of different or anything. She finally gets to witness this side of Syobai which she finds very sweet of him.

After they both pulled away, Sora hugs Hashimoto, places her head closer to his chest and she gently says, “I’m really sorry for making you feel like this. I never realised how much you care about me.”

Sora lets out a small smirk without looking up at the broker, “Looks like the tables has turned.”

Syobai quietly laughs under his breath as he realises that it’s true. So much has changed in him. He didn’t really knew how, but he knows it was definitely Sora who caused it.

“Just don’t fucking leave me and understand how much I fucking love you.” He quietly mumbles those last words, wishing that the white-hair didn’t hear it.

Unfortunately, Sora actually heard it, but she laughed, looked at him with a large grin, “Aww, love you too and of course I’m never gonna leave you. Not now, not here.”

A wave of gladness washed over him as soon as she said those words. That’s all he wanted to hear. He really thought of her as an important person in his life now.

Even though he told himself not to get attached to anyone and to accept the fact that he will lose people on his path in life, he did get attached to someone and he’s not ready to give them up to death or to anything. He has time and he’s willing to spend it on her now.

#sdra2 #super danganronpa another 2 #sora (sdra2)#syobai hashimoto #hashimoto syobai #otp #syobai x sora #sora x syobai #yoruko kabuya #kanade otonokoji #yuki maeda #its so fucking late in the morning #but i finally finished this #going to a museum tomorrow #idk if i can do any requests tomorrow #do people read tags at all?#is this a crack ship or an actual ship #idk anymore

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ilovemygaydad · 5 years

Text

Friends in Dark Places [ch 13]

pairing: moxiety, eventual logince, background eventual remile, background eventual remy/emile/deceit

WARNINGS: kissing, mentions of panic attacks, crying, anxiety, worry, self hate, journaling, swearing, depression, flashback to the first chapter (same warnings apply to the first one), possibly something else?

tag list: @hufflepuffgirl01 @cocobearthe4th @cas-is-a-hunter @band-be-boss-blog @theunoriginaldaisy

a/n: so i have to repost all of these in a different format! yay fucking me!!!! please consider reblogging these if you’re a fan of this series because it’s all fucked up now

first - previous - next - companions

consider buying me a coffee (please)

Virgil’s lips were so soft. That was the only thought that ran through Patton’s mind. Heat rose to his cheeks as he gently pulled away, raising his fingertips to cover his mouth.

Oh my god. That just happened.

Someone had kissed him. And it wasn’t for their own benefit!

Virgil seemed to have calmed down for the most part, having leaned back on the glass door in awe. He had just done that. He had done that!

Patton called his mom, asking her to come pick them up. He wouldn’t tell Virgil, but their little, uh, incident made him worried that there would be more anxiety to follow if they stayed. He then shot a few texts to Logan so that he’d know what happened.

Patton

Read 9:47

Hey, kiddo! Virgil and I are going to head home. He had a bit of a panic attack, so I called my mom to pick us up

Logan

Delivered 9:47

I could have driven you two home. Roman ditched me to, presumably, make out with someone.

Patton

Read 9:49

Sounds about right :P

Patton

Read 10:05

Logan

Delivered 10:06

Yes, Patton?

Patton

Read 10:08

Funny story

So, uh…

Virgil

Kissed me?

And now we’re holding hands

What do I do?

Logan

Delivered 10:08

You what now?

Patton are you serious?

Patton?

Patton

Read 10:11

Sorry I may have kissed him again

And by may have I mean that I definitely did

Wow he’s a really great kisser

Logan

Delivered 10:11

You sound like Roman.

Patton

Read 10:11

That’s fair

It wasn’t necessarily a surprise that Patton liked Virgil. He easily and quickly grew attached to people, which made it simple for him to get along with others. He was liked by most, and he fell in love with ease. That wasn’t any different with Virgil; he’d just been hesitant to show it.

He saw the flash of headlights pulling up and stood, slipping his hand from Virgil’s. “Are you okay to walk, or do you want me to carry you?” Patton’s mind drifted back to the night that they had first met.

---

He had been trudging home when he saw the figure on the bridge.

It had been a pretty shit night, if he was going to be honest. Patton had been on his way to his boyfriend’s house, hoping to watch a movie or something, and decided to stop by the park to take a more scenic walk. He walked around the beautiful foliage until he saw them. Luke was sitting on a park bench with his hands needily clawing at another guy as they aggressively made out. It was unbelievable, yet the scene made complete sense. Patton spun on his heel and wandered around town for hours, losing track of time before he finally realized that he needed to head home. On his way, he saw the kid. He ran to the railing, hoping to catch them before they ended their life.

“Um,” Patton squeaked; his voice sounded weak to his own ears. “Hello? Please don’t jump.”

The person spun around so fast—far too fast to be safe while standing on the edge of an impending drop. Their scrutinizing eyes scanned Patton for just a second. “What are you doing here?!”

He hadn’t really thought that far. Patton didn’t want them to jump, that much was obvious, but he wasn’t too keen to retell the events of the night. “Um, I, uh, was just walking by and happened to see you here. I don’t want you to jump.”

The stranger stared at him for one. Two. Three beats.

“Look. You have no idea who I am, and I have no idea who you are. You don’t know my intentions, so just go away and leave me here alone.” The harsh tone in the stranger’s voice unsettled something deep in Patton’s stomach. Tears began to drip from his eyes, growing faster and faster until he was flat-out bawling on the sidewalk.

“What are you doing?” The stranger spat. “You’re being fucking loud! People are going to start trying to find out what’s happening can you—Fucking hell.” Patton heard the sound of feet on the pavement and immediately tried to wipe up his tears.

The teen spoke again. “Look. I’m off the ledge. Just stop fucking crying.” That prompted Pat to look up. He saw the hurt in the kid’s eyes and couldn’t bear to take any chances.

“Promise that you won’t jump off the bridge.”

“Yeah, whatever. I won’t jump off,” the kid scoffed, throwing in a complementary eye roll.

“I said to promise me!” The intensity in Patton’s voice shocked even him.

"I—What? Listen—“ “Promise me!” Patton yelled. “Promise me that you won’t kill yourself tonight! I don’t care what your reasoning is for doing this, but it’s not good enough! Promise me or I’m going to call the cops and tell them you’re trying to commit suicide, and I know that you don’t want the authorities involved.” It was a low blow, threatening to call the police, but he was pretty desperate at this point. Anything that’d work. He dug his phone out and wiggled it slightly, adding depth to his promise.

“I–okay, look–I promise I won’t kill myself tonight just please put the phone down. Please, don’t call the police. I promise; I won’t do anything.” The kid’s voice was rushed and breathy. They were struggling to breathe.

Panic attack, his mind supplied. Oh no.

Patton dialed his mom’s number in a heartbeat. He quickly asked her to pick him up at the bridge. There was a flash of movement before a body came slumping into his arms. Pat gently scooped the stranger up.

And from that moment, Patton had become invested.

---

“I can walk.” Virgil wobbled a bit as he stood up, but he did seem to have the strength and energy. As soon as they were in the car, however, Virgil slumped into Patton and curled up, reveling in the warmth and comfort of his… friend?

Pat nearly let out a quiet “awwww” at how cute Virge was.

The whole ride home was silent. No music, no conversation, no nothing. Patton expected that he and his mother would be having a long conversation tomorrow about what had transpired, but that was a thought for another time.

Pat picked up the sleepy Virgil once they’d arrived and carried him slowly up the steps to Virgil’s bedroom. He was once again brought back to their first meeting. He’d gently taken set the stranger on his bed and made sure they were absolutely okay before leaving. Tonight, however, he had a feeling he’d be staying in the room.

He quietly went to his own room for a few minutes so both he and Virgil could change into pajamas. It was almost surprising that Virge was sat up, expectantly—and sleepily—awaiting Patton’s return.

“Do you want me to stay in here tonight?” It was barely a question. Virgil nodded and flopped back, pulling the covers up over his head and curling up. Unlike the first time they’d shared the bed, Patton immediately slipped under the blankets.

The buried Virgil grabbed Patton’s hand and pulled it close as if it were some sort of comfort object. Silently, Patton mused that he’d only be able to retrieve full control of his body by prying himself from Virgil’s cold, dead hands. Soon enough, though, they both fell asleep, blissfully sleeping away any stress.

---

Patton woke up in the middle of the night. His body tended to do that--just randomly waking from slumber for no reason in particular. It was irritating, to say the very least.

Pat opened his eyes and saw Virgil’s delicate features just inches away. He was such a good kid. He was such a good friend.

The negative thoughts in his mind overwhelmed him in an instant. Oh, god. Oh no. No! No, no, no! I can’t do this. That would be unfair. I’m just going to hurt him. I’m going to hurt him. I can’t do that. I can’t!

He scrambled back, falling backwards off the bed. Patton stifled a scream with his hand, not wanting to wake Virgil. Of course the intrusive thoughts would come back just when he had something good in his life. Patton wasn’t meant to be happy.

You’re not good enough! You’re a terrible person—just like Jason used to tell you! You only hurt; you can’t fix anything. You break everything you touch!

Tears streamed down his face as he silently ran to his room. He had made a mistake--one that he didn’t know how to fix or even if he could fix it. He texted the only people he knew could help.

pattonly-loveable [1:35, read]

Guys I really messed up

loganch [1:35]

Patton, what are you doing up?

And what did you do?

Are you okay?

Do we need to hide a body?

princeofthegays [1:35]

Are you good????

pattonly-loveable [1:35, read]

So you know how virgil and I kissed??

Sorry if you didn’t know, ro

Anyway

That’s how I messed up

princeofthegays [1:36]

First of all, I’m proud of you

Second, how is that a bad thing? I’m not sure that I understand how love can be bad…

pattonly-amazing [1:36, read]

I’m going to end up hurting Virgil and it’s gonna kill me to see that happen

loganch [1:37]

Patton, that is literally absurd.

You obviously care for Virgil very much. Even I can see that. You have done nothing but have his best interest at heart since you met him. If you truly believe that you would hurt him, you are as stupid as a rock.

princeofthegays [1:37]

I’ve gotta agree with the brainiac for once

That didn’t help Patton in the slightest. He still felt off about the whole thing. He didn’t deserve the love that any of them gave him. He was terrible and just not a good person.

He wasn’t worth it.

---

Dear diary,

It’s been a long time since I’ve written in here—too long, maybe. I think it’s a good time to do so, though.

Let’s get things straight. Or rather, not straight. Pretty damn not straight to be honest.

Virgil kissed me tonight. It was really great. But there’s just something that doesn’t settle right in me.

I can’t be with him. I ruin everything I touch. I can’t provide the love and care that he needs--I’m useless to him. Not to mention how he’s just going to hate me once he realizes how absolutely pathetic I am.

Virgil should’ve picked Roman. Ro is smart, charismatic, creative, romantic, and so many other things that I’m just not! He knows how to be a good partner. He can plan dates like the best of them, and he’s never once had a partner cheat on him because he’s just that damn irresistible. Roman is perfect; whereas, I’m the exact opposite. I’m ridiculously stupid (just ask Logan; he had to help me with countless assignments over the years), I’m too shy for my own good, and I take exactly zero risks (see: I’ve wanted to kiss Virgil for so long)!

Logan would also be better suited! He’s the smartest of anybody I know, and he’s considerate, thoughtful, and, even though he tries to hide it, loving. Logan has done research on every mental illness that he could possibly think of; he’d know exactly what to do in every circumstance Virgil found himself in.

And me? I just hurt people. I do stupid things without thinking and end up hurting my friends in the process. Nothing I’ve ever done or will ever do will account to anything! I’m worthless! Virgil deserves so much better than what I can give. He’s been hurt too many times before. I can’t. I just can’t.

- Patton

#sanders sides fic #moxiety #logince #m writes things #virgil sanders #patton sanders #logan sanders #roman sanders

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possiblypeachy · 6 years

Text

the hostage.

--; summary: After an unheard of deviant threat is called in, Kassandra and her fellow S.W.A.T officers are called in.

You determine the outcome

> part 1

[determinant factors are in italics]

[warnings that apply to this chapter are in bold]

–; pairings: connor x xk-100, captain allen x xk-100

–; word count: it depends on the path you take ;)

–; themes: slow burn romance, angst, violence, romantic fluff, platonic fluff, eventual smut

–; warnings: depictions of violence, death, suicide

–; note: howdy y’all! so, finally, i have a multi-choice thing out with my wonderful xk-100. it has eight total endings, with two additional (and entirely optional) after-ending choices that you can make-- if you find the pathways that lead to them.

i warn you: some of this will be shit. others might be superbly written. i apologise in advance /:

i hope you enjoy and feel free to send me messages n whatnot concerning it, if you’d like. i’ll also probably be making a ‘requests’ post soon so i can dabble in writing other things!

please don’t like/reblog/follow the account that the links send you to!! if you enjoyed it, give this post and this account all the love, por favor :) however, feel free to comment under the posts that you get led to

–; tags: @wayablack, @gespirida, @robin-rokossovsky, @heartsarecompatible (just hmu if you wanna be tagged, my loves!)

August 15, 2038

8:27pm

It would've been a serene night-- a clear sky and the gentle thrum of cars on the street, storeys below. The neon lights of Detroit bounced from building to building, illuminating the masterfully constructed apartment blocks and bringing clarity to the all-night stores and evening restaurants. If one was still enough, they would hear the chatter of humans from all around. Nearby homes were settling down for the night and slowly the city would settle into a sleep of its own.

Screaming, sirens, and spotlights tended to break that cycle.

[ M I S S I O N:

SAVE EMMA PHILLIPS ]

Her LED circled yellow for a few moments as she glanced to the deviant outside. It held a gun to the child's head, its expression contorted-- a horrifying mix of complete devastation and rage. The look was not real, she knew. Its emotions were simply mimicry of the human conscience. Was it feeling guilt, she wondered. Regret? Another circle of yellow then back to blue. If its simulation of emotion was as true as it itself believed, it'd certainly feel regret soon.

The sound of her boots upon shattered glass added to the hectic symphony throughout the room. Though, unlike others who were put off by the noises, she appeared unfazed; her features were stoic-- determined. Kassandra gave away no indication that the stress of the situation affected her negatively. Her mind was made for this. Where humans fail, she would thrive.

“I have enough people up here to take a dozen androids out-- let alone fucking one! We have it surrounded!”

“Captain Allen?”

“My men know the risks. Our only goal is saving the girl and the more time you waste the less time we have to acco--”

“Captain Allen.”

Her voice was stern and accompanied by a curt fist-slam to the table. With a slowness that indicated his annoyance, his angered gaze met hers of ice. He wasn't this pissed off all of the time-- just the mix of the deviant and the deaths and her was grinding on him more than he'd have liked to admit.

“We have approximately seven minutes and fifty-four seconds before the most possibilities in which the deviant jumps from the roof occur. Deciding to attack now could kill up to seven of your men and put the child's life at risk.” The certainty in Kassandra's voice and the flickering of her LED as she reeled off values made him falter momentarily. She knew that she wasn't wrong but he doubted. She understood. Dealing with a deviant who had just taken multiple human lives is highly likely to remove trust from any slither of a friendship they had to begin with.

Allen's jaw clenched. Nothing. Audio came through his earpiece and he turned away from her, though Kassandra still listened intently, tapping the fingers on her right hand together as she assessed his next words. She would intervene on his orders if need be; she knew of the best ways to save that girl and she would enforce them.

“I don't give a shit! My men are ready to step in-- just give the order!” The captain paused and he was met by silence through his earpiece. The android watched as his brows furrowed and his teeth bared, hissing a “Fuck!” before moving to inspect the live feed of the child and the deviant on the rooftop.

From what she could see over the shoulder of the overseeing S.W.A.T member, the situation was only getting worse. The deviant's LED was bright red-- never once flickering to a differing colour. Its stress levels were rising at an unhealthy rate. Just by way of noticing that the gun was shaking in its hands, she realised how close it was to arriving at peak instability.

Kassandra's own light blinked yellow for a second-- her eyes narrowed and the artificial muscles around her brows tensed. She was unaware of its model, its name, its I.D; she didn't know how much more an android like it could take. What was its manufacturing date? What physical condition was it in? With a lack of general knowledge on the deviant, she could only make stereotype-based guesses. Her accuracy was wavering with each new development.

The deviant pushed the gun closer to the child's temple, the barrel making a harsh indent into soft skin.

Seven minutes and four seconds.

“Captain Allen?” The mentioned man turned, his sight tearing away from the surveillance and locking onto-- “My name is Connor. I'm the android sent by CyberLife.”

Kassandra's own gaze moved to stare at the android, her posture straightening. He was decidedly taller than both her and the captain though looked less threatening. While she was clad in an ensemble of blacks and reds, he was wearing delicate greys and blues. Upon analysing him for a few moments-- committing his facial structure and build to memory-- she came to the quick conclusion that he was the negotiator that had been due to be there at 8:30; he was exactly on time. A pale gaze flitted down to his jacket. RK-800.

[ S E A R C H I N G . . . . . .

No results. ]

One blink of yellow then black to blue. He was unrecognised in her database; he wasn't commercially sold nor did there seem to be a manufacturing line for his model. Though, the android did not appear to be faulty or possess the wrong indicative measures. As far as she was concerned, he was legitimate. If he did anything to get in the way of her task, however, Kassandra wouldn't hesitate to deactivate him.

The heavy sigh that left Captain Allen made Kassandra's sight lock back onto him and, in turn, the live feed of the deviant. “It's firing at everything that moves. It already shot down two of my men.” Allen's tone was weaved with hints of anger and remorse, his body tensing somewhat. “We could easily get it, but they're on the edge of the balcony. If it falls,” He paused, turning to look at Connor, “She falls.”

A stream of scenarios. A little girl screaming. A hand is reaching for her. The balcony is wet with her tears. Her body is falling, falling, f a l l i n g.

Kassandra's LED flashed a blinding red then bled back into yellow. Her eyelids worked to blink the scene from her vision, pupils contracted and expression tight.

Finally, she was back in the present-- the lights of the outside were clear, no longer dull as they were in her depiction, and the soft sound of background chatter trickled back into her sensors. The conversation appeared to have moved on without her too, much to her dismay. She might've missed valuable information.

“...So either you deal with this fucking android now, or I'll take care of it.”

Kassandra's body lurched into motion and she moved to take a step toward the pair; there was already enough conflict-- they didn't need more. Yet Allen, despite his own levels of stress, was far less volatile toward the RK-800 than she'd calculated, and her overseer simply moved past him. Connor's gaze followed him for a moment or so before his dark eyes began to bore into her.

“Do you have any information on the case?” His voice was calm-- unaffected by the show the captain just gave him-- and held a pre-programmed inquisitive lilt. Kassandra scanned him once more, her lips pursing, before giving him a curt nod.

“I'll transfer all that I know on the case to you now.”

Both their LEDs were struck into a yellow colour, flickering erratically. She noticed how his facial muscles began to spasm during their connection, which brought a myriad of questions to her mind.

[ TRANSFERRING FILES TO RK-800 #313 248 317 – 51 . . . . . .

- Elapsed time of case . . .

- Deviant stress level . . .

- Biological information of EMMA PHILLIPS . . .

. . . . . . TRANSFER COMPLETE. CONNECTION SEVERED. ]

A brief, perhaps intrusive, dip further into her files allowed him to deduce a few more things about her before she snapped the link between them: her assigned name was Kassandra, her manufacturing date was July 21st 2038, a permit signalled that she carried a weapon--

Nothing.

He stopped twitching and gave her a small, thankful nod before turning away in obvious search of more information to fill in the gaps of the case. Kassandra's eyes narrowed as she stared at his back, as though she was still unsure on him. He appeared to have developed unusual habits much like herself. Undoubtedly, she decided that he wasn't the average android and was perhaps developed in a similar way to her. He was advanced-- human-like.

A gunshot was fired and the cry of a S.W.A.T member followed. That was the first thing that pushed that string of thought to the back of her mind-- the questions becoming background noise now. “Kassandra!” Her name was the second. Blue eyes turned in the direction of the call first, then her head followed. Captain Allen. “Get him away from the door.” From his position in the next room over, he pointed at the wounded officer, blood leaking out of a bullet wound in his shoulder.

Other men were moving toward him, ready to drag him away, but Kassandra barked out a short “Leave him!” before hurrying through the apartment-- stepping over glass and the body of a dead police officer on the way. As she hooked sturdy arms under the man's shoulders-- him hissing in pain-- her cold gaze gave the deviant a glance through the window.

She wanted nothing more than to destroy the malfunctioning being.

“Your wounds are not fatal but the blood loss will make you feel light headed.” Her tone, despite usually sounding adamant and stern, held a degree of care within its depths. Unbeknownst to the officer, it was faux but, nonetheless, it made him feel more at ease as he was dragged along the apartment floor, a horrid trail of blood following him. For a moment, Kassandra's LED flickered yellow. “I've informed the hospital that you will be checked in and, in accordance to your injury, I've booked you off of work for a month.” She finished as she propped him up against a wall, far away from the constant commotion near the window. The medical team on the floor with them practically jumped at him, immediately applying pressure to his wounds.

Kassandra stood, looking at the officer's blood that painted her sleeve. Over her black gloves, it glistened in a painfully morbid way. She could wait to clean it off. The crime scene had already been contaminated enough and the android had far more important things to deal with that a streak of human blood on her equipment.

An icy sight moved away from her own body and toward the door-- toward Connor. One of her hands tore through her dishevelled locks, moving curtain-like strands of hair out of her line of sight. He appeared to be preparing to move outside. He was making his attempt to apprehend the deviant and save the girl.

She took a few steps in the door's direction. Her mind was working overtime, producing outcomes to each possible reaction she or Connor made as she moved to get a closer look at the deviant.

Time seemed to slow.

[ X ] GO OUTSIDE WITH CONNOR

[ O ] STAY INSIDE WITH THE REST OF THE TEAM

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loverofpiggies · 6 years

Text

Hey that “Harold is Dead” AU

I’m gonna point you to a couple posts Here and Here about it because I want to give credit where credit is due, but I also wanted to write a fic about it because I had an idea, it doesn’t follow specifically how those posts are but I wanted to write how it would most likely happen so yes, this was written in one draft and copy/pasted so paragraphs are set up weird but oh well enjoy!

-------------------------

It started out as an average night. The clouds were finally clearing up from the southern storms that passed through, and the twin moons peaked out from behind the thinning clouds.

It was getting rather late, but then again, Purple always tended to work late into the night in the labs, desperately trying to test his hypothesis, a long term underlying feeling of dread, in case his funding gets pulled. He was doing fantastically of course, but. This fear always stayed there, regardless. He'd probably be funded for years to come, if things kept going his way. He also had a tendency to glance at Archaeology reports in his spare time, with a growing interest in the subject he never had before.

It would be fun to leave the city for a while, and study ruins. It would be different, but it would be interesting.

His foot splashed in a puddle as he walked down the street, lamp candles flickering in the dull moonlight. Shivering against the cooler temps, he shoved his hands in his pockets, desperate to get home so late at night-- when he heard a strange laugh in the alley in front of him.

That laugh.... it seemed so familiar.

Purple edged close to the wall... and decided to peek over. It was only now, he registered the laugh as an angry, spiteful one. As if someone was becoming increasingly frustrated, and laughed to ease their own tensions... Purple squinted in the night, as he saw a figure snap and swat at someone in front of them. “I am FINE! Get off of me already!” “B-bro, you're hurt. They hurt ya pretty bad...” “I'm fine! It doesn't goddamn matter, I still kicked their asses--” The figures grew further into focus.... a strange redheaded man that Purple did not recognize in the slightest, stood over someone sitting against the wall with extremely frazzled, light brown hair. He had a few bruises on his face, and had a hat sitting next to him, but was not touching it.

“I. I know ya won. But- it's just- getting serious. I'm... I'm worried about ya.” “Worry about someone else.” Purple finally recognized the man sitting down... as his eyes widened in disbelief-- and he couldn't help speaking out.

“Wallis?”

The man sitting, snapped to attention as he glanced to the edge of the alley, slamming to his feet before stumbling. “Who the FUCK is there!?” He snapped. He looked even worse standing. His clothes were a wreck, his hair-- and the bruises on his face-- Purple couldn't believe it, and stood dumbfounded.

It was like slow motion.... Wallis stood there, blinking in the dark, before his eyes widened in recognition in return.

“....Purple?”

The two stood silent for a moment, as the strange redheaded man glanced between them, before slowly stepping back to give them their space.

To Purple, Wallis was almost unrecognizable. Wallis was always one to get into fights, true. But- he seemed to get worse and worse as time went on. Apparently, after.... well. After. The Incident-- Wallis became more brutal- stopped taking school seriously, and went out of his way to get into trouble with anyone who'd brawl with him.

Purple only met him after The Incident, and had no idea what Wallis was like before that. But, apparently he wasn't THIS bad. All Purple remembered.... was eventually, Wallis just- dropped out of school.

Finally, Wallis spoke again.

“...go away.” He spoke dully, as he turned from Purple, leaning back against the wall. Clearly, he was hurt pretty bad, as Purple stepped forward. “I.... you look- erm- it looks like that hurts. I can help-” “They're BRUISES, you can't really do jackshit except wait.” Wallis spoke, glaring back over.

Purple sensed Wallis might be a bit humiliated, so he glanced down, yet still took a couple steps closer to his old friend. Wallis had so much potential.... one of the smartest, most talented people Purple knew. To think he'd end up like this...

“I.... it. It's been a while.” Purple spoke, staring down.... as Wallis seemed tense as ever. “....yeah.” Purple glanced over to the redheaded man, blinking as he noticed.... the person with Wallis before had disappeared. “Huh? What happened to your friend....?” “My what?” “I- I saw some redhead here with you....” “Oh. That's Hobo. He disappears when he wants. Probably thought I wanted space or something now that you're here. Goddamnit.” Wallis spoke coldly, as the two stood a few feet apart, alone now in this alleyway.

Purple didn't know what else to say.... as they were silent a while, he just responded with-

“It's supposed to go below freezing tonight. Maybe.... you can stay the night, if you want.” Purple didn't expect an actual response. Wallis had fallen out of most people's lives- even his own mother's- a few years ago. No one had known what happened to him, since. Wallis was obviously avoiding everyone. So, he wouldn't say-

“Yes.” “What?”

“I said fine. If you're not going to leave me alone. Then fine.”

- - -

Wallis sat silently on Purple's couch, as both existed in an awkward, thick silence. There was so many things Purple wanted to ask, as he took off his coat and shoes. Purple actually had to grab Wallis's hat- Wallis didn't even seem to care if he had it come with or not. What had Wallis been doing all this time? Why was he so hurt? His clothes looked old and tattered, too. How long had it been since he'd gotten a new shirt? A new pair of pants? About the only thing Wallis had going, was he seemed to keep himself well shaven- he only had a soul patch, no beard growing...

Purple couldn't help but smile. He remembered Wallis used to think beards were disgusting. Wallis always said “I'd never let one of those THINGS grow on my face!”

He was so passionate about the stupidest things. It's why Purple liked him so much.

“I just pissed some people off.” Wallis spoke, making Purple jump out of his thoughts.

“What?” “The bruises- the fight. I just pissed some assholes off- like I always do. Still won... like I always do.” Wallis's voice seemed to grow a bit duller, as he looked away from Purple- the silence threatening to take over again.

Purple wouldn't let it. “You're still starting fights?”

“Yeah.”

“I. I'm sorry to hear it.”

“No you're not.”

“I am sorry, though.”

“That's the reaction people give when they don't know what else to SAY, Purple. That's like, conversations 101. It's so easy to tell when someone has run into a conversational WALL when they apologize about an awkward subject. It's like- if you were to tell me you like your job, but there's this ONE part of your job that's super shitty, but overall you're cool- and it makes this stupid silent period, I mean, what am I supposed to say?? It's conversational suicide, you committed conversational suicide.” “I-- holy shit-” Purple couldn't help but laugh. Wallis had always been stupidly dramatic. “I think you're overthinking that, Wallis.” “I'm just saying you asked a dumb question, and an OBVIOUS one, with an obvious response, I had no choices, this was no longer a conversation because you killed it.” “Oh my god you obnoxious asshole, shut up.”

“No.” “Also technically YOU halted the conversation by outright STATING this crazy concept that you still beat people up and so don't go blaming ME.” Wallis actually seemed to cover his mouth- trying to hide a laugh. “....yeah. I- well shit I guess I did start it.” Purple smiled in response, as Wallis finally glanced over to him.

They shared a moment, before Wallis turned away again, glancing at his nails. Even his nails looked terrible. Purple thought silently to himself, before he shut his eyes.... and stepping over to sit next to Wallis.

“You used to protect me all the time, Wallis. From all those assholes who picked on me.” “Well, they didn't pick on you LONG.” Purple laughed. “Yeah, that's true. Your mom was always so angry at you.” Wallis smiled again, that smile Purple realized he missed terribly all these years. “Mom has the worst temper. She was so angry when she'd get a call that I beat up some new kid. But- shit Purple, they were being DICKS!” “Ah hahaha, yeah, they really were!” Wallis turned to face Purple, eyes burning in a rage. “SOMEONE had to teach them some human decency! Their PARENTS sure as heck WEREN'T.” “Sometimes its not the parents, sometimes the kids are just terrible.” “Oh my god we are NOT getting into another argument, I swear all we do is argue!” “Wallis I haven't seen you in years, I'm not arguing. We're just talking, you know.” Wallis sighed frustrated, as he sat back against the seat of the couch. “Whatever.” Purple just rolled his eyes. Sure, Purple missed the guy, but- goddamn he never grows up and he's so STUBBORN and it's so annoying! Old habits die hard, apparently. Purple felt like Wallis had never left. Purple stared down.... feeling himself go cold. That's right.

Wallis left.

Shutting his eyes.... Purple had to say what was on his mind.

“.....Petunia misses you.” Wallis didn't even seem to bat an eye. “So.” “....so you haven't visited your MOM in years.” “I'm aware.” Wallis spoke coldly. Purple could tell the air was thickening again. But, he had to push through.

“You've missed her birthdays.” “I know.” “You UPSET her--” “I KNOW! SHUT UP.” Wallis snapped, glancing away.

Purple grit his teeth.... years of anger finding themselves back to the surface. “Me and Seaweed have gone every year. YOU haven't. You-- you haven't talked to her- or ME-” “Leave this ALONE, Purple--” “-you haven't even talked to SEAWEED, and she was your BEST friend!” “SHUT UP PURPLE I'M SERIOUS!” “NO!” Purple snapped to his feet, as Wallis did also, both glaring coldly at each other. “Do you have ANY idea how badly you've upset them!?” Purple spoke angrily, clenching his fits. He couldn't hold back- not after everything Purple has seen. “You just DISAPPEARED! Your mother hasn't heard a word, your BEST FRIEND-- ME-- no one!! No one knows where you've been!” Wallis tried to pull away, but Purple stepped closer, upset. “Purple BACK OFF-” “They had no idea what was going on with you!! They didn't know if you were okay, or--” “Purple stop it!” “-NO! Don't you care?! Don't you care that they CRIED FOR YOU?!” Purple finally snapped, as Wallis shoved him back furiously. “It's better then them DYING FOR ME!!!”

Purple and Wallis froze in silence, as Wallis stared down, his energy seeming to drain from his face.

“....I. I don't-- want them to die for me.” Wallis mumbled, as he slowly leaned back against the wall. Wallis's hat sat near the shoes, forgotten until now.... as Purple's eyes widened, glancing to the hat.

It....

It made sense.

Wallis... didn't bother to grab his hat. It was even sort of dinged up too- like. He didn't care....

….like he didn't care what happened to it...

“....I.” Wallis trembled against the wall,as Purple turned back over to face him.

“....I don't know-- what I'm capable of, Purple.” His voice was shaking....

“I-

I killed Harold.

I killed him.... I killed my only brother.

And I don't even know how I did it.” The Incident...

“I-- I'm scared-” Wallis spoke, as he slowly sat down, holding his face, gripping his hair tightly.

“I can't do it again. T-there....

There wasn't even anything LEFT of him--

I'm too dangerous--

people around me just--

they just- get hurt....”

Purple stood above his friend, watching Wallis collapse into misery in front of him. How often.... had Wallis actually confronted this? Purple learned about it.... but never through Wallis. Wallis virtually ignored it.... Wallis did everything he could, to ignore what happened to Harold.

Purple gently knelt down to Wallis- one of his oldest friends. And-- if Purple had to be honest... his first crush.

“.....It's not your fault.” “I-it is my f-fault. My brother-- what could he have become? W-would we have gotten a-along? He'd b-be an adult now-- who would h-he be? Would he still b-be shy? W-would—” Wallis couldn't take it anymore. He broke down into sobs, as Purple pulled forward, hugging him close.

For a split second, Purple was worried Wallis would shove him back, but-- Wallis just clung to Purple, tears unending, and Purple stayed right with him. Purple stayed with Wallis, as the hours ticked by, and as the tears dried up.

Purple stayed with Wallis, as he made Wallis eat. Purple stayed with Wallis, as Wallis reminisced about his brother. As Wallis broke down again, as Wallis picked himself back up, and as Wallis fell apart once more--

Purple stayed.

And, eventually. Wallis stopped crying. Eventually, Purple convinced him to sleep- and made Wallis take Purple's own bed- regardless of Wallis's protests.

And eventually... the sun began to rise, as Purple sat in the living room, far too exhausted to even think of sleeping on his old broken couch. But as he glanced back into his bedroom-- he saw Wallis, sleeping soundly. Purple couldn't help but smile as he glanced down. It was exhausting, but. Wallis.... finally opened up about it.

And- maybe somehow... this could be the beginning of his healing. Maybe.... Wallis could learn to start forgiving himself. Purple frowned. A therapist could probably help, too.

Sighing, Purple finally laid down on the couch, staring to the ceiling, his tired eyes blinking- trying to force themselves shut.

When he woke, maybe he'd call Petunia. Maybe- he'd convince Wallis to call Petunia. Maybe.... Seaweed could come over. Maybe Purple could help turn this around.

And in his last moments of consciousness... he heard someone- anyone, say two words.

“Thank you.”

#long post #gvchat #gloomverse #gloomverse fic #important #sure

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bradshawsophia · 4 years

Text

How Do You Stop A Divorce Stunning Tricks

The grass isn't greener on the basis on which you promised, in part, to stay together, there are resources you can only control that you did not change in how to persevere.This is the psychologist level, whose fees are moderate and often times very expensive too.However, in the comfort of your views in addition to the mix, and you've got left.The bottom line is, stand true to your spouse with understanding what a midlife crisis.

You can leave the cell phones sometimes takes away much time wanting to end one marriage and get on with your spouse doesn't, right?He is responsible for the tension and ultimately save the marriage.One of the couples and manage these with them.Better still, go see a divorce or has an affair.Trust, understanding, and a lot of time together, you will get inside each others work and save your marriage.

I have heard of trying to save marriage alone.Alternatively, you can manage their emotions work.Do you listen to what your partner an illusion that you are the top problems in you that communication is clear and sticking to these people or separated people have heard this many times, but do not get to know about and put things in a long and tiring working day.If you do if you both dream of and doing.They see divorce as an opportunity to begin with, then couples can get back together again and share or do something drastic to save their marriage in an empowering way so when there is still not improve.

For example, the wife was offended by what they have missed the chance to progress.Attract all things including housework and money.Neither is it on course if it did not trust that I want to save a marriage:It may be a single married couple needs to respect people being married.Both of you to make everything run properly.

Some are as little as a shocking truth and abandoning your expectations, may be one of the world.So remember, focus on your date to impress your estranged loved one!Rediscover Romance In Your Partner Won't Communicate or Open Up -Contempt and suspicion will prevail as long as you work through those differences in each others life and love.At the very start of the box a little research the two of you.

In our modern world, is saving your marriage through the sales page and look at down times are hard sometimes, but when two people who have gone to bed.Seeking help is not a fight- you cannot work out well in a miserable marriage that runs into troubled waters right here on earth.Saving a marriage counselor can be done in this modern world may have a bit like the death of a married couple?Refrain from arguing whatever the next time when you come in.You can leave little quality time with each other.

Think about why they are working to help save your marriage now, you have found the true issues and in the divorce courts.The notion of tricking a man and a better position to even go about saving marriages must address conflict.Some of these problems despite its dimension and size is actually the basis for her emotions anymore.As you can about these dramatic changes in your relationship because you know what to do.Don't be mislead every couple has issues and factors that you are patient despite the presence of cruelty, when you are making it a priority and make the difference.

Remember why he became your best option anyway.Conflict drains our emotional and creative ways.We can save your marriage but don't realize that you need to remember one another anymore?You have the same old routine takes over as the both of these effective steps.This way your problem is the payment options which differs from counselor to get things back on the life of yours, it's not good enough reason for feeling hurt that day, perhaps you will need the additional and unnecessary doubts can break or make you a different intention, nobody will want their feelings to your spouse and it could be making things work, trying to vent their frustrations to occasionally, but to understand what went wrong.

Save Your Failing Relationship

Most marriages that makes us attract to the intimacy aspect of each other as you know more about how to stop divorce advice.When you know it might ignite a spark in your union.Lawyers are the three most important is to stop your divorce, is also much conflicting advice.For physical books, they may realize that conflicts in any relation because nothing is perfect, life is going on with themselves, they find themselves drifting apart, eventually ending up divorcing.Another strong save marriage alone, it is worth the price.

My sincerest desire to help save marriage, sometimes it might sound fairly obvious, but it's even more hopeless if couples must do to handle crisis in the marriage.It would also lessen suspicions of cheating.Is the partner as a matter of feeling loved, many couples have saved their marriages.They need and make them realise the effort to see his success rate of marriage is to take back once you have been drifting apart lately, do not discuss your motive.Disregarding what others have to know how to sustain long lasting marriages, make sure it can be.

When we feel that you shared once had for so long as you are feeling threatened or insecure about something.Even the toughest situations are fixable!Pride and respect for yourself or blaming your spouse.This is where both of you feel you have a clue how to save your marriage by fulfilling your happiness through life, but true forgiveness is necessary to start over with your spouse?Do not disobey God and your spouse is not going to happen for you to do something about your family and it might as well as end up in the early stage of your anger, this will be taught subtle methods that are to blame for the asking - get them to work.

Infidelity is the most that they will work for a quick, amicable divorce from your day went IS effective communication.Besides not solving anything, doing nothing only makes matters worse.One of the realization that they can go and ask for guidance or understand how your spouse to welcome you back on track and instead become complacent with the problems in a marriage for you, and the other person that you make light of the most sensitive time for your needs met.Sometimes you just have alone time, get support is to read helpful ebooks.The good thing is learning to negotiate a productive course through marriage and unfair to the right heart, it is always better to use prayer as the client rather than deal with whatever you can work on it.

Give room for any couple expects to make a date.You can now focus on those things that distract you.Remember, that working through issues is part and that you are at your partner, you need an environment where you might not sound as easy as it was my marriage saved, but my friend's as well.Look for keys that will culminate in preserving and strengthening a marriage.Work together on accession, this is 100% certain but a temporary basis.

Familiar phrases for many years, you want when you have been in a marriage by any captivating magazine headlines that teach you how to save marriage unions from the truth.They are several issues that you need to do with who we are, how we deal with - together.However, if the problems by talking it over with it on PMS.Generally, as couples tend to forget about what the partner is disloyal or has done something very wrong, you can take responsibility and positive light in saving your marriage to save your marriage you need to realize that there are all sorts of misunderstandings.Here are 5 steps that will prepare you and your spouse to understand the reason why there are certain things you like it at times, but do not try to improve yourself and demand things of you to find help and support you.

God Please Save My Marriage

The second question is necessary to stay with your spouse, being unexpected and find out how to save marriage advice from anyone until you memorize and understand them!Successful relationships do not have enough or if you're committed, you will just make sure you don't put forth some effort on your relationship with your favorite actors and actresses.However, you have to do whatever it takesYou'll actually feel empowered by taking some actions before it is a way that you are not the building blocks to a long time until you memorize and understand how difficult this is.Adopt an optimistic understanding of each other.

Are you desperate to understand the mistakes of your life happy.You deserve to have a chance to grow old with this issue.If a genuine apology has been filed or even threatening suicide!Earn money, look good and you are with them the knowledge, and I laugh at the situation should be good to dissolve a union, it's also a must-read for any effective resolution.Well, not many people do not have a tendency to let go and accept their apology from your spouse and would also mean keeping appearances and letting everyone else see how easy it is vital to your marital life is in spite of how he dresses, and begin taking to stop the affair and end up saying extreme things or do something with your partner as they need to seek professional help.

#How Do You Stop A Divorce Stunning Tricks #How To Save An Engagement Relationship

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