#*Drops this after 2 days & disappears back into the void*
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it is currently 12:30 pm and I have an exam tomorrow
The story of how i ship ragapom/hj
I'm getting wrecked by midterm exams so expect fewer posts from me
Pls ignore the hand I linearted it before realizing it looked wrong when it was already too late
#I'll be posting regularly (almost daily) again in like 2 weeks#Promise#Man I love being a traditional artist#Where undo button??#the more you know#the amazing digital circus#I swear the original image was clearer than this-#I've only just noticed that the scientist looks like anon#Ty for understanding<3#I just realized I had to do the white Valentines sequel goddamnit#*Drops this after 2 days & disappears back into the void*#tadc gangle#tadc pomni#tadc ragatha#tadc jax#Ribbun#Jangle#ragapom#buttonblossom#The amazing digital circus
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She Was Like A Sunflower
Read on AO3
Read Part 1 Here
1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11/12
“Just your imagination!”
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“Trust your imagination…”
Jax and Pomni remember who they used to be, the childhoods they grew up from, the lives they lived and the love they shared. But it doesn’t mean their journey is finished yet. They still need to find a way to escape and return home. Things become more complicated in the real world when Riley starts to investigate further into the disappearances with the help of Samual. The more everyone tries to piece together the puzzle, the more C&A keeps breathing down their neck. But one thing is for sure, time is becoming limited each day. Will Pomni, Jax and the rest of the circus be able to escape before it runs out? Or will they fade away into nothing but pixels?
Bet ya thought this was gonna be Royally Screwed chap 5? Well guess what, I LIED MWAHAHAHAHA. THIS WAS THE REAL APRILS FOOLS JOKE ALL ALONG!!!
So strap yourselves in, cause if you thought chapter 5 was bad then you are in no way prepared for what I have planned. Chapter 5 was child's play my dude, we going straight into the deep end hehehehe
Hope you're prepared 😈
Willow
Wait for the signal and I'll meet you after dark
Show me the places where the others gave you scars – Willow by Taylor Swift
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Three Months Ago
“Penny?” Amber knocked on the door of her daughter’s apartment. “Penny, it’s mom!”
Throughout the past week, Penny had been eerily silent. Normally she would let in her mother or sister, or occasionally answer the phone if they called. But every time Amber reached out, she never replied. She tried to cook it up to her daughter grieving, but she was a mother. Mothers worried.
So here she was, outside Penny’s home and trying to get her to answer the door.
“Look Penny, I know these past few months have been stressful,” Amber said, “But everyone is getting worried about you. I had to stop Riley from charging down here to get you out. We all just want to help you, please.”
Amber gave her a moment, to see if she would hear someone saying they were coming, or have the door unlocked and revealing a messy haired brunette. But nothing. Amber sighed, she didn’t want to do this, but she had to make sure Penny was okay. She reached into her purse and pulled out the spare key her daughter had given, opening the door slowly.
The apartment was in a state, dirty dishes and dust gathering on the countertops. It had been a while since the woman visited, who would usually help her daughter clean. Maybe she would do that today. “Penny!” Amber called out, still no answer. “Penny, we gotta try and get up today.” She walked to the bedroom, “Maybe we can get some coffee or go to the park or-”
Her stomach dropped. The moment she stepped into the bedroom, the bed was empty, without a body in sight. But what scared her more was the turned-on computer with nothing open and a damaged headset…just like Riley’s cases.
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no,” Amber chanted, running out of the room, scouring every inch of the place. “Penny?!” She reached the bathroom, no one. “Penny?!” she checked her sewing room, still nothing. “Penny!” the centre of the living room and kitchen. Again, void of anyone there.
She went back into the bedroom, pulling off the sheets, praying her eyes were playing tricks on her. But deep down she knew the truth. She covered her mouth, tears stinging in her eyes. She was gone. Her baby was gone.
She reached into her purse and grabbed her phone, hastily dialling until an operator picked up. “Yes hi! My name is Amber Reed!” she cried, “I went to visit my daughter Penny Reed but when I got there she was gone! All that was left was a broken headset and computer just like…just like.” Her voice broke off into a cry.
The operator understood immediately, asking for an address and told the woman that the police would arrive shortly. Amber thanked them and hung up, before dialling a new number.
Riley’s number.
“Hello?” Riley answered, “Mom, is everything okay?”
“Riley…Penny,” Amber sniffed, unable to say the words.
“What?” Riley asked, her voice starting to lace with concern. “Mom what happened?!”
Amber gulped, “It’s Penny…she’s gone.”
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Jax stirred, now that it was confirmed that he could actually sleep here, it was certainly something to get used to again. He didn’t mind though, it was something that made him feel more alive, more sane, more human. Especially now that he remembered who he was. Jack Bloom, he missed hearing that name. But he missed another even more.
A warm body stirred next to him. Penny he lovingly threaded his fingers through Pomni’s short hair. He still couldn’t believe she was here! That she went all through that for him! He was going to get them out of here, no matter what.
Pomni hummed at the sensation of his fingers, mumbling and kneading her pillow beneath her hand like a cat. Jax chuckled, he missed watching her do that, every night she would do it. It was the cutest thing to him. Her eyes blinked open, taking in the purple rabbit before her and smiled sleepily.
“It wasn’t a dream,” she hummed, “It was real.”
“As real as it can get sweetheart,” Jax pressed a kiss to her forehead. “God you’re so beautiful.”
She giggled as his fur tickled her skin, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing him in for another kiss, “Not so fast bunny boy.”
He chuckled against her lips, giving her bottom lip a small nip, “I’m definitely not complaining.” He pulled her closer to him, revelling in her warmth. Jax missed this, he missed this so much. He missed her so much. How could he ever imagine losing all of this? He literally had the world in his hands and the future ahead of his path was a bright one, and because of Luke, he was so quick to throw it away.
He pulled his lips away, he almost lost his person. He was such an idiot. Jax buried his face into Pomni’s neck, breathing in as much of her scent as he could and keeping her close. He never wanted to lose her again.
“Jack?” Pomni brought her hand up to stroke the back of his head, “Hey, talk to me. What’s going on?”
He shuddered, he feared what to say next, feared that the next wrong move would ruin something. But he shook that thought away, those were the same things in his head that drove him away from Penny in the first place. He wasn’t going to make that same mistake again. “I shouldn’t have made that deal with Jason,” he murmured into her shoulder, turning his face to look at her. “I’m the reason we’re in this mess. You deserve to be home, with your mother and sister, making your dreams come true. And I…I’m really sorry Pen.”
“Hey,” she cupped his cheeks in her hands. “You didn’t know any of this was going to happen. There was no way you could have known that you were gonna end up here after putting on that headset. We fought, yes. But I know that if this whole place didn’t exist, we would have figured out the situation we were in. I put on the headset too, you know. I don’t blame you for anything. I love you so much Jack.”
He sighed, how did the world give him the sweetest soul ever created? She was perfect. “I adore you,” he pushed himself up onto his forearms, leaning over her.
“You’re trying to out do me mister,” she pouted.
“Oh am I?” he smirked, “Can’t I not express how I have the most beautiful, perfect fiancé in the world?”
“I know you mister,” she stuck her tongue out at him, “I’ve known you long enough when you’re trying to be a show-off.”
“So you think I’m being a show-off when I’m doing this?” without warning, his lips were fluttering little kisses against her neck, reaching all the spots where he knew Pomni was most ticklish.
“Jack!” Pomni snorted, trying to shove him off her, “You asshole! Don’t make me bite you!”
“Oh no,” Jax drawled, he knew he was pushing her, “Whatever shall I do?” He didn’t stop his kiss attack.
Just as they both expected, Pomni launched up and bite him on the shoulder, making the rabbit laugh out loud. There was a bit of rough and tumble, with both the rabbit and the jester fighting for control, until Pomni eventually pinned his arms down while straddling his waist. “You can sweet talk me all you want,” she jeered, “But never think that I don’t get even.”
“I mean, I’m definitely not mad about these current circumstances sweetie,” Jax grinned, “As long as I get to look at your beautiful face.”
Pomni groaned, shaking her head, “What am I gonna do with you?”
“Hmm, how about marrying me the moment we get back home?” the rabbit suggested, wiggling his eyebrows.
The jester giggled, her annoyance vanishing, “Yeah, I guess that can be arranged.”
His hands were moving up to the back of her head, caressing the soft strands between his fingers. Her short locks were a contrast to her usually long hair that he loved to bury his hands in whenever they kissed, but she still looked beautiful, nonetheless. He lifted his upper body off the mattress, watching as her face softened with relaxation the more he massaged her scalp. His lips inched closer to hers, ready to press them together when-
“-Jax, are you in there?” Ragatha asked on the other side of Jax’s bedroom door, giving it three sharp knocks. “I need to talk to you.”
“Eep!” Pomni squeaked, rolling off her partner and buried herself under the covers. “She’s probably looking for me since I’m not in my room!”
“Shoot!” Jax cursed. Well, as best as he could without triggering Caine’s censorship feature. “This isn’t how I planned to tell everyone about us!”
“I didn’t intend on having a plan at all!” Pomni hissed, “Get in front of me! I’m short enough to hide behind you!”
She found herself regretting those words when she saw a smirk creep on Jax’s lips, “Oh so the little lady finally admits that she’s small.”
Pomni growled, “Keep talking like that and you’ll see how much damage a small person can do to your shins!”
“I’m coming in!” Ragatha called.
Jax immediately sobered up, using his height to cover Pomni behind him, he could hear the rustling of his sheets as she tried to cover herself up with them. He leaned his cheek on his palm, trying to appear as relaxed as possible as Ragatha cracked the door open. “Doll face,” he really hoped he sounded casual, “Don’t you know its rude to break into people’s rooms.”
“Look who’s talking,” she deadpanned, “Besides, you weren’t in your room when I went to check on you last night. I was gonna look for you but then Caine started pressuring us to get to bed at a ‘proper time’.”
Jax face faltered a bit, she cared enough to look for him? After he treated her like nothing but garbage? Little things like that made him all the more grateful that Pomni found her way back into his life. For those last few months and memories, she had managed to get him to open up in ways that no one else could. Maybe deep down it was him trying to get back out or her just being her most sweet and honest self that he couldn’t help but let his edges soften. But either way, it gave him so much more clarity with how he was with the others, and how ashamed that he was blind to the fact that they actually did want to help him. That it wasn’t a cruel trick that someone like Luke would pull. God he was an idiot.
“Guess I got tired of sleeping on a hard stage so I came back to bed,” he gulped down any nerves that were rushing up. “See, no big deal.”
“Well, I hope you’re feeling better,” Ragatha smiled softly. “Pomni was really worried about you when you didn’t come back.”
He felt the jester shuffle behind him when her name was spoken. He wanted nothing more than to smother her with affection right there and then, to show her how much he appreciated even the smallest pieces of kindness she had to offer. “Don’t worry, I’ll see her later and show her that I’m fine,” he told the ragdoll. “But…how was she? After the whole…”
He felt Pomni stiffen, Jax suddenly felt guilty about bringing it up. But seeing her scared little face, how she felt the sensation of dying…Even if she was alright now, it didn’t mean that the trauma of it all was erased. It was just another part of this hell that they were forced to be part of. A hell that Caine was either too naïve or stubborn to fix.
“I won’t lie, she was pretty shaken up. And that’s me giving the sugar-coated version of it,” Ragatha tod him, sighing. “You’d think that we’d be used to it all by now, or at least, we are. But Caine just has to one up himself every time. I know she didn’t – you know. But I was there once, I know how she felt and-” She stopped herself, her voice edging on sounding tearful. Jax watched as she danced the same routine that she always did when she felt as if she was about to cry.
Ragatha closed her eyes, breathed in forcefully and gripped her hands so tight that Jax swore that were almost about to rip. She beamed, as though she wasn’t even sad in the first place. But her smile was just too fake to be considered real, “Anyways, have you seen Pomni? I was going to fetch her for breakfast but she wasn’t in her room. Have you stumbled upon her while going back up to your room.”
Stumbled was definitely a loose term. I mean, if you believed tearful kisses, a long-awaited reunion, the bringing back of lost memories and the passionate promise to return to the real world was just a little stumble then yes, perhaps he did stumble into her. “Uh, nope,” Jax shook his head, “I haven’t seen her. But then again, she is pretty short. It would be hard for anyone not to see her.”
He bit his lip as Pomni kicked him in the leg. Despite her small and light structure, Riley had definitely taught her a thing or two about strength.
“Right,” Ragatha hung her head with worry. “I’m sure she’ll show up eventually. Oh and once you see her again, please be nice to her, for some reason she really likes you. If I didn’t know any better I’d think she has a crush on you.”
“Is that so?” Oh how Jax wished he could see how red Pomni’s face could be turning right now. “I did not know that at all.”
“Unsurprisingly, men are pretty dumb about that stuff,” she scoffed, turning before shutting the door behind her.
When he was sure the sounds of her steps were far away enough, he burst out laughing, echoing off the walls as he fell onto his back.
“Shut up!” Pomni’s was flustered head to toe, grabbing a pillow and smacking him. “So what if I was crushing on you before we got our memories back?! We’re already engaged!”
“It’s the principal little lady!” he snickered, grabbing the pillow and throwing it away. With nothing to hold onto, she fell forward onto his chest with a yelp while the rabbit encased her in his arms. “But I think it’s pretty cute that you were crushing on me even if you didn’t know me.”
Pomni whined, burying her face into Jax’s fluffy chest as she continued to mumble and groan with embarrassment. Jax patted her hair gently, deciding to take pity on her…for now. “There, there,” his fingers combed through her short locks, “I’m sorry for teasing you Penny.”
She went silent there, looking back up at him slowly, “Huh.”
Jax raised on eyebrow, slightly confused, “What? Did I say something weird?”
“You always say weird stuff,” she grinned, earning her a flick to the forehead. The couple giggled as Pomni snuggled up against him more, “It’s just…still getting used to hearing my name again. I feel like I’ve denied of myself for so long, it’s nice knowing that I am someone. And that I do have importance.”
Jax felt himself smile softly, looking at Pomni with all the love he could muster, “That’s my girl.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, “And I’ll say it as many times as you want as long as it makes you happy. Penny-Penny-Penny-Penny-Penny-” He started smothering her with kisses again as his fiancé squealed.
“Jack!” she snorted, “You can’t say it all the time! The others don’t know yet!”
“I guess that means I get to keep you to myself a little longer,” he chortled.
“Ugh,” she grumbled, “Dumbass.”
“Shortie,” he retorted as she stuck her tongue out at him.
“Well, I think ‘keeping me a little longer’ is gonna have to wait,” Pomni told him, “I gotta head back to my room so no one else gets any more suspicious.”
“You sure I can’t keep you for five more seconds,” Jax pouted.
“Jack Bloom you will learn to be patient,” she poked him on the nose. “Once today is over I’ll be right back.” She cupped his face in her palms, “As long as we see each other throughout the day, then that’s enough for me.”
He took her hand, kissing the inside, “And it’s enough for me too.”
Pomni smiled, pressing one last kiss to his forehead and began to swing her legs off the bed until a long purple arm pulled her back. “Changed my mind! I want five more seconds!” his lips began to attack her neck as she screeched and squirmed.
“Jack!” Pomni cackled, “You asshole!” She couldn’t stop giggling, tackling the rabbit to the bed again as the two began to scuffle about, kisses and laughter filling the room.
Five seconds turned to five minutes…then ten minutes. They made it to breakfast eventually, with Jax having to wait a while after before joining the table in order to erase suspicion. Everyone raised a brow at him, usually the rabbit would be there before anyone, ready with a prank and make everyone else’s morning more miserable. Yet he was late, with a carefree smile and said nothing as he sat down (he was grateful that he as least still got to sit next to Pomni).
It still didn’t stop everyone from raising an eyebrow at this sudden new development, and even whispering about it while eating. “See,” he spoke in a hushed voice in Pomni’s direction, “I knew we’d be good at this whole secret thing.”
Pomni never wanted the ground to swallow her up whole as she did now.
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The smell of warm coffee filled Riley’s nose as she filled two mugs. Winter was still at work and now she had this stranger in her house. She was still trying to wrap her head around things, the whiplash of finally being able to get her sister back had thrown her for a loop. Did she trust this Samual kid yet? Not really. But she would wait and see if he was bluffing or not. As long as there was a chance to find Penny, she didn’t want to waste it.
She carried the mugs back through to the living room, where Samual was waiting patiently on the sofa. His eyes scanned the room, widened with curiosity. His gaze landed on a small picture frame with three women, two with red hair and one with brown hair-
“-Take it,” Riley shoved the mug in his face, the boy nearly jumping of his skin.
“Ah, sorry, sorry,” he apologised, taking the coffee gratefully. “I usually get distracted. Um, that girl in the photo, is she-?”
“-Aren’t we here to talk about why you should help me?!” Riley snapped. She didn’t mean to sound so cruel, but right now they were here to discuss business. They weren’t friends, and she certainly didn’t want him to familiarise with Penny.
“Sorry, you’re right, I-I’m sorry,” he cleared his throat, gripping the warm mug as the heat washed through his hands before beginning his story. “I always had a funny feeling about Jason since my parents disappeared. At first I thought he was fine. Whenever my aunt and uncle were unsure with how to help me, Jason was always there to try and cheer me up. Before they went missing, he was close with me and my parents, even letting me see games that weren’t finished yet. But when I started getting older things got…different.”
He shifted in his seat in discomfort, his hands tightening around the cup, “He became more controlling, restrictive. He was very vocal about the stuff that I should be studying like coding and computer science, stuff that my dad used to do. He also kept breathing over my shoulder with where I would go and why I wouldn’t spend time with him. Like, he was angry that I wasn’t always in the building. I chalked it up to thinking that maybe he just wanted me to take over C&A, like my dad did, and maybe this was his own way of grieving his loss. But whenever I tried to talk to him about my parents, he always shut me down. I remember this one time where it was just us, I was begging him to tell me at least one thing about my parents. I…I never saw him so angry in my life. It was the last time I brought it up. Whenever I tried to talk about them to someone else at C&A, they’d either bring up a different conversation or not talk to me at all. If someone did talk to me Jason would either get super pissed, and sometimes even fire them.”
His knuckles started to turn white, “I tried to talk to my aunt and uncle about him, how I didn’t want him in my life anymore. But he was always really good to them and helped them out since I was a kid so they didn’t see anything wrong with him, even saying that I was being dramatic. They even supported him when he tried to pick out what college I should go to and what I should study there! As if it wasn’t my choice!” He cringed once he realised the volume of his voice, shrinking a bit in his seat. “Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to yell.”
“It’s fine,” Riley muttered, gathering more information in her head while listening to him.
“Um, well. Everything kinda changed a few months ago, after Jack went missing,” he continued, “Before…well…your sister went missing. I started getting these anonymous messages. There was never any email address attached, just words on a page. I asked them who they were but they never gave me a proper answer. The only thing they mentioned was that they were trapped and needed a way out. I tried to figure out what they meant, asked questions about how they could get out. Anything else they told me was about bugs, keys and trying to find an escape. I don’t think they meant to be confusing, their whole tone made them sound really scared. However one day…there were no more messages. I tried to email them back but they never responded.” He reached into his pocket, pulling out a piece of paper. “This was the last thing they sent me.”
He handed it to Riley, taking it carefully while still feeling slightly suspicious. The whole thing so far had sounded extremely bizarre. She unfolded the paper, blinking in shock at what she saw.
GAME
ITS ALL A GAME
TRAPPED
HELP
THE EXIT IS NEAR
WE NEED A KEY
C&A IS A LIE
FIND THE BUGS
It seemed to be written in a panic. Each sentence quick and at least trying to get to some sort of point. “You sure they didn’t at least have some sort of name?” Riley asked.
“Well, kinda,” Samual shrugged. “The only thing they referred to themselves as was Queenie. But that’s all I got from them.”
“Queenie?” Riley deadpanned. She sighed, running a hand over her face. As if it was realistic for a sane person to have that sort of name. “Look kid, I get your giving me what you know so far, but it’s not realistic for be to see if literally anyone has that name.”
“I know, I know,” Samual told her. “Believe me, I wish that there was more that I could tell you. But that fact that it stated that C&A did something raised so many red flags for me, and it would explain why Jason is so tight lipped about anything relating to my parents.”
“Do you even have proof that you didn’t just make these up?” Riley questioned, her tone harsher as she raised her brow at him.
“N-no,” Samual’s voice wavered slightly. “B-but! I can take you to C&A and show you that I’m telling the truth! I could say that you’re helping with the case and they’d let you in!”
Riley didn’t say a word, taking a long sip of her own coffee. She didn’t know what to believe, everything that this kid had mentioned just seemed off the walls insane! But he spoke to earnestly that a part of her almost felt inclined to believe him. “One chance,” she said, “Got it?”
He was practically radiating with joy the moment those words left her mouth, “Yes! Yes! Absolutely! I promise I won’t let you down!”
She nearly smiled at him, but she forced it away. She wasn’t going to celebrate anything yet until there was solid evidence that he was telling the truth. But she wasn’t going to lie, this was the first time that Riley felt a glimmer of hope with finding Penny.
After so many months of disappointment.
So
Much
Disappointment.
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Three Months Ago
Riley was on a mission, her knuckles white as she gripped onto the steering wheel of her car. It was barely a day since Penny was announced missing, and she wanted to confirm that the worst-case scenarios didn’t happen before focusing on anything else. Did she like what she was planning to do? No fucking way. But if it meant getting rid at least part of her worries, then it was worth it.
The car pulled up on a shoddy looking house, the white paint on the bricks fading into grey with chips cracking along the surface. From the windows it didn’t even seem like the place had been cleaned, with grease marks all over the window and what seemed to be a pile of dirty clothes from the corner. She jumped out the car, slamming the door shut before going up to the front of the house.
Riley hammered on the door, not ceasing until she heard an angered, “Alright!” from a male voice.
After the sound of a lock turning, the door opened, revealing a haggard man in a tank top stained with sweat. He seemed like he’d seen better days. Riley cringed at the scent of cigarettes on his breath, “Is David here?”
“Yeah, so?” the man shrugged.
She shoved past him, ignoring his cursing at her. The stronger scent of whiskey and smoke hit her all at once, like a gentlemen’s club that served only the strongest of liquors and lacked any type of windows for air. If the house already seemed messy on the outside, it was so much worse on the inside.
On the floor was more dirty laundry scattered about, dust was collecting on the furniture and there was a build up of unclean dishes nearly covering the kitchen surfaces and sink. In what was supposed to be the dining area, a group of men were huddled round a table, with opened cans of beer, cigarettes and each one was holding a handful on playing cards.
She ignored them, there was only one person – hopefully two – that she was looking for. “David!” she yelled, venturing into the hallway.
“Woah, woah!” one of the men stood up, “Who’s this bitch?!”
“Dunno,” the man from the door scratched his stomach, “Just came in here liked she owned the place.”
The second man scoffed, “Listen lady, I don’t know who you are but you’re a real cunt for interrupting our-”
He tried to reach out and grab Riley’s shoulder, only for the woman to whip back round and grab his arm. She twisted it behind her arm, smirking at his yelp of pain, “Or what? What would you do to a member of the FBI?” That seemed to scare the others off, the men sinking into their seats with Riley’s silent threat. “That’s what I thought.”
She let the man go as he staggered back to his seat. “David!” she went back into the hallway again, stepping over the piles of fabric on the ground.
A body came hurling towards her, but Riley was quick to react as she pushed the body to the wall, the back of head hitting the hard surface. She sighed, she found the idiot she was looking for, “David.”
The man came to, a delirious grin spreading across his face the moment he recognised her. “Well, well,” he drawled, the stench of beer hanging of his breath, “Fellas! This is my oldest, Riley!” He was drunk, obviously. But it didn’t make it hurt for Riley any less, “Come here kiddo!”
He tried to reach in for a hug, but Riley was quick to push him back against the wall with a growl, “Where’s Penny?”
“The fuck are you talking about?” he slurred.
Riley rolled her eyes, if he was playing dumb then she wasn’t going to risk it, “Didn’t you even at least here from the news? She’s missing. I figured that could be the only way you would find out since you like to pretend she doesn’t even exist.”
“Yeah I did,” he scoffed. “She ain’t here. Why would I drag her sorry ass out here?”
That stung more than it should have. His daughter went missing yet he treated it as though as he had a speck of lint on his shoulder. “Dunno,” she scowled, “You always wanted to make sure she was miserable as possible. Wanted to make sure that she wasn’t here.”
“Riley you gotta stop being dramatic,” David said, “It’s a bad habit you got from your mom. You guys always freak out over Penny.”
“Right,” she balled her hands into fists, “Her daughter and my sister went missing and no one can find her but sure. We’re being ‘dramatic’.” She walked away from him, she couldn’t stop searching yet. “Penny!”
She searched through each room of the house, even checking in the wardrobes. Maybe it wasn’t plausible, but that fearful section of her mind wouldn’t let go of that fear until it was confirmed that her father wasn’t a complete monster to her baby sister. He still was, and Riley would never forget that. She could still hear him trying to get her attention, trying to give her some sort of ‘apology’ (which mostly resulted in him trying to avoid any type of blame whatsoever).
Once she made sure she didn’t miss anything from the inside, she ventured back out, gulping in as much fresh air as she could in order to erase the stink of cheap booze and smoke. There was only one more place she wanted to look. She went over to David’s car, unsurprised to find it unlocked, and opened the trunk. Was it a stretch? Honestly, she could never tell with him. The way he treated Penny was enough to make her this fearful. She could feel relief swarm her when there was no one in there. Penny wasn’t here, that’s good.
Worry was quick to fill Riley again, then where was she?
“You’re really being paranoid Riles,” David muttered, stepping outside.
“I’m doing my job,” she spat at him, slamming the trunk closed.
“Don’t use that tone on me young lady,” he scolded, “I’m just trying to help.”
“Seriously? You decide now that you want to attempt at being my dad?” she snarled, “Because that stopped happening the moment you wanted nothing to do with me and Penny after she was born! You held a grudge over a fucking baby! And if you really want to help, you can get off your lazy ass and help Mom with the search parties or even pitch in any ideas to help find your daughter!”
“Come on Riley,” he groaned, “You know your sister has had her freakouts before. She’s probably having one of those after her little boyfriend dumped her.”
Riley grit her teeth, no one spoke about her Winter’s brother like that, “Jack didn’t dump her, he’s missing too. And you’re seriously calling what Penny went through ‘freakouts’? Especially that you’re the reason behind most of them? How fucking dare you?!”
“Oh come on, the car accident was years ago, you should be over this by now,” David crossed his arms. “It’s not my fault your mother was too lazy to pick up that little brat. It was my day off but Amber just had to be a bitch about it anyway.” Riley felt her fist balling up again, her veins raising to her wrist at the intensity. “And if I’m being honest, it’s probably a good thing that she’s missing! It’ll finally teach her to stop being so fucking selfish-”
Riley’s fist collided with David’s nose, sending him to the ground. He screamed as he clutched the now bleeding appendage. Riley flexed her fingers, that felt good. “That’s all I needed,” she muttered, “See you around David.”
She ignored his cries, opting to go round the side of the house to reach her car. She sighed the moment she shut the door behind her and started the engine, not bothering to look back at the dingy old house.
Riley hated him, she hated him so much. She hated that she shared his blood. She hated that he threw away the chance to be her father because of his own entitlement. She hated that he made her baby sister so afraid of being touched despite him not laying a hand on her. She hated how he spoke about her kind, sweet mother in the vilest ways possible. And she hated for wishing for the potential of the relationship they could have had.
She hated him she hated him she hated him sha hated him she hated him-
SHE HATED HIM
The tires of her car screeched to a halt on the empty road. Riley let out a blood-curdling, painful scream, banging her hands on the steering wheel. This always happened whenever she saw David, all the anguish and hurt he fed to her over the years coming full front and forcing their way into her heart.
But this time it was worse. This time Penny was gone. Riley had spent the last few days burying down the panic, the fear, the intrusive thoughts that plagued her mind. Now it was rising like bile in her throat.
A tear ran down her cheek as she pressed her forehead to the wheel.
She just wanted her baby sister back.
.
.
.
“Uh, Miss Riley? Are you okay?”
Riley snapped out of her gaze. She turned to face Samual’s brown eyes. Huh, there the exact same shade as Penny’s- No! Enough! She wasn’t going to get soft on him. Where was she again? Oh, right. After the information that Samual gave her, they had driven up to C&A to carry out the kid’s plan. Right now they were parked outside, with Riley just snapping out of her daydream. “I’m fine,” she murmured.
“You sure?” Samual asked, “We can wait a few minutes in case you need a breather-”
“-I’m fine!” she snapped at him, his eyes widening with panic. Riley sighed, she didn’t mean to snap at him, but right now was more tense than she ever believed she could be capable of. “Just tell me what you want us to do.”
“R-right, okay,” he fidgeted with his hands for a moments. “Um, so I’m able to tell them that you’re still working on Jack’s missing case. You know since he used to work here and all. Then I can take you to where I found the emails, I still have them hidden.”
The plan seemed plausible enough, and Riley was still working on Jack’s case so her boss wouldn’t have any complaints with her being here. “Okay, let’s get started,” she stated.
Samual nodded eagerly, already jumping out the car. Riley sighed, this kid’s energy was too difficult for her to catch up to. She followed him into the building, taking in the familiar site when she first started working on the case. She didn’t think she would get used to the size yet, she knew this company was popular but it was definitely noticeable with the size of this place.
Samual walked up to the desk, Riley already reaching into her pocket for her badge. “Donna,” he greeted the receptionist, “I’m here with Agent Reed from the FBI.”
“Sorry to disturb ma’am,” Riley spoke, holding up her badge. “But I had to come back here to make sure there wasn’t anything I missed for the Jack Blossom case.”
“Oh, uh,” the woman seemed startled, her eyes almost panicked. It already raised a few red flags for Riley. Sure Jack’s case was still going but C&A seemed to have their hands clean so far. This didn’t seem like a reaction for concern, but rather like a child having their hand stuck in a cookie jar.
“Yes, yes of course,” the receptionist finally answered, running a hand through her hair anxiously. “Go right ahead agent, do what you need to do.”
Riley gave her a brisk nod, with Samual leading her further into the building. When they reached the elevator and the doors were shut did Samual begin to grin again, “Woah! That was amazing! Is this what it feels like when you’re undercover? You’re all mysterious and secretive, it feels like being in a play!”
“Easy kid,” she put a hand on his shoulder.
“Right, right, sorry,” he panted a little bit from the excitement. “I’ll be calm. It’s just – so freaking cool!”
Riley rolled her eyes. And if there was a smile slowly quirking at the corner of her lips then she was quick to get rid of it.
With a small ‘ding’ of the elevator, the duo found themselves on the floor they were looking for. Samual led her down a few hallways before stumbling into some sort of office. Samual looked back and forth in the hallway before shutting the door between them. “Okay, this is the place where I started getting the messages,” he informed her, “I kept them on this computer to make sure that it was safe.”
Samual logged onto the monitor, scanning through each folder until he finally found what he was looking for. He clicked on the first file, an email detailing the start of a conversation.
Hello?
Is someone there?
Please
You can see this
Can’t you?
My name is Queenie
I need your help
“You see!” Samual pointed to the screen, “I told you.”
Riley felt her heart flutter a bit, hoping filling it once again. Samual clicked on another email.
You’re back!
Something is happening with the insects here
They’re acting strange
What did you find?
Don’t worry it’s gonna be okay!
We’ll find something
He clicked on a few more pages, each one detailing something similar. Both Samual and this ‘Queenie’ person were trying to find something, something that could somehow set this mystery person free from whatever prison they were in. Samual finally clicked on one more.
It’s all a simulation
Like a game
I remember the headset
I know that I had a life
I know that I am trapped in the amazing digital circus
Riley raised a brow at that, it sounded familiar, “The amazing digital-”
“Samual! What do you think you’re doing?!” a male voice thundered.
Both Riley and Samual jumped, turning to the source of the voice.
Samual gulped, “J-Jason.”
Jason Wood stood at the door, his arms crossed and his face holding nothing but fury, “Donna told me that you were bring an agent here so I rushed out of my meeting to deal with this nonsense. You better explain the meaning of this.”
“I-I, y-you, um,” Samual stuttered, the words not being able to form.
“I can explain sir,” Riley walked over. “It’s for the Jack Blossom case, I got in contact with Sam to see if he could help me out since he knew Jack before he went missing.”
Jason’s eyes furrowed more, looking past Riley to deepen his frightful gaze onto Samual. The boy felt and looked smaller than he ever did, wanting nothing more than to disappear. Jason walked past Riley and over to the computer, “What is this?”
“I-it’s just something to help with the case!” Samual said, “I only wanted to help, I promise!”
“Oh, Samual, not this again,” Jason computer.
Riley looked to Samual, again?
Jason looked back to Riley, pity drawn all over his face, “He did this when his parents disappeared. He created an imaginary version of them to talk to out of grief, the poor kid.”
“Well, kids need to find their own way to grieve, right?” Riley pointed out, dreading that this conversation wasn’t going where she thought it was going.
“Sure for kids,” Jason nodded, “But not for teenagers.” He turned back to Samual, “This is probably another one of his episodes. Last time this happened we had to admit him to the psych ward. I really hope this isn’t another one of these situations, it nearly broke me, his aunt and his uncle seeing him like that.”
A pit formed in Riley’s stomach. Of course she was being naive! The recent cases must have been making this kid act up again, and she only made it worse by selfishly indulging in it.
“No, no!” Samual yelled out. “That’s not true! Riley this isn’t true!”
“So you weren’t admitted to the psych ward?” Riley demanded.
“Yes but not for the reasons you think?!” Samual sniffled. “It was him!” he pointed at Jason, “I stepped out of line and he punished me for it! That’s what he does!”
Riley pressed her fingers to her temples, massaging them. How could I be such a fool? “I’m sorry for wasting your time Mr Wood,” she sighed, “I should get going.”
“That’s quite alright dear,” he smiled warmly.
“No, no, wait!” Samual cried out, chasing after Riley as she went back into the hallway. “Riley please believe me! Those emails were real! I can help you!”
“STOP!” Riley screamed, “Just stop! I can’t believe I was so stupid enough to trust what random kid had to say in order to find my sister!”
“It wasn’t a mistake, please!” he begged, “Riley I can help you! We can find her! We can find Jack! We can find my parents!”
“Enough!” Riley growled, “Enough. You need help Samual, I’m sorry for what you went through but this isn’t going to bring your parents back.”
“You think I haven’t gotten help?!” his voice broke, “You think I didn’t want help?! I had to threaten to leave C&A in order for Jason to let me go to therapy before he weaponised the psych ward in order to get me out the way! This isn’t a deranged theory, this is me finally asking for help after months and months of denying it because I was scared people didn’t believe me! You were the only person I could trust who wouldn’t betray me! Please Riley! Please stay!”
Riley closed her eyes. She couldn’t make the same mistake, “Goodbye Samual, have a nice life.”
With that, she turned on her heel and walked back to the elevator.
“Riley please!” she heard Samual sob. “I don’t want to be alone again!”
She walked into the elevator.
“Please! I can’t!” Tears were streaming down the boy’s cheeks.
Riley tried to ignore how much it reminded her how Penny used to cry for her as the elevator doors shut.
.
.
.
Seven hours should never feel this long!
Jax wanted to sob as the adventure finished up for the day. It was some sort of fast-food type of adventure, where he had to take multiple orders at once, get yelled at by an NPC manager, and wasn’t allowed to take a single break. Worst of all? He hadn’t seen Pomni once. It felt like some sort of crime to deny him of his fiancé’s beautiful face.
He laughed to himself, he wondered what the others would think of cruel, sarcastic Jax having such sappy thoughts about the love of his life. A few days ago, he would ignore these thoughts in order to keep up his act of the heartless joker. But now? He couldn’t care less. He loved Pomni and he wasn’t going to change that one bit. Not when he had been refused of her for so long.
Speaking of Pomni, she was currently talking to Gangle. The body of ribbons was held back by Ragatha while the former tried to give Pomni a hug, still clearly concerned for her after the pool incident the other day. Pomni smiled, stating that she was perfectly fine and that the masked lady didn’t need to worry.
Jax felt himself smiling. She was here, as hellish as today was, Pomni was all that mattered to him. He didn’t want to interrupt her yet, besides, the scene was quite funny to watch. Although it seemed to be only them and himself in the ring, he wondered where Zooble and Kinger…oh, right.
Kinger.
“Stop speaking to me as if you know me! You’re nothing but an insect-obsessed, stupid piece of wood who can barely remember his name!
He still remembered the sting of saying that. He wished he could take it back. He wished he took take a lot of things back. Before everything he thought he was fine. He was a prankster, sure, but he never wanted to be cruel like the people who hurt him. But here, without the memories, without something to lean on, without all he built after years of therapy – of course it would cause his scars to bleed again. But he shouldn’t have scarred others along the way.
Jax gulped as his eyes finally caught the chess piece talking with Zooble. He wanted to try and make this right. He walked up to the duo, “Hey hoo-haa, Zoobs. What dumb thing are you talking about now?” Seriously! You try and makes things right and this is how you start the conversation?!
“What do you want now Jax?” Zooble crossed their arms, already annoyed.
“I just wanna talk to the old royal over here for a sec, okay,” Jax replied, trying to seem his usual, casual self.
“Why? So you can kick him down another hole again?” Zooble questioned bitterly. “Yeah, I don’t think so.”
Jax looked to Kinger, the chess piece was avoiding eye contact with him. “Kinger, I wanted to say-”
“You don’t get to say anything!” Zooble growled, “Not after how you talked to him! Yeah, I overheard your conversation while I was giving Caine an earful! The f&*k did Kinger even do for you to say that?! He was just trying to help!”
“I know, I know!” Jax ran a hand over his face. “I know that I shouldn’t have said that I was scared and I lashed out. I didn’t think-”
“You don’t think at all Jax,” Kinger spoke softly. Both him and Zooble turning to face the chess piece. “You believe everything that you do here is just mindless fun for you. But every time you push us down, every time you call us names, every time you grin cruelly at us, we all remember it. But sometimes there’s a glimmer of hope in you, I saw it when you talked to me about - you know. And every time I see it, you always try to squash it, as though you’re afraid. As though it makes you brave to deny yourself the slightest chance of goodness, but it doesn’t…you’re a coward Jax.”
It felt as if all the air had been knocked out of Jax, he nearly stumbled on the spot. To hear that from Kinger, the only person he felt close to other than Queenie, brought him a shame that he never knew existed. “I…I really am sorry Kinger,” he said with all the sincerity he could muster.
Kinger sighed, “I wish I could believe that.” He pulled out a paper butterfly, red like the old cloak that Queenie used to wear. His eyes smiled softly at the familiarity. “But Queenie always had an eyes for the diamond in the rough. And I trust her more than anyone. I might forgive you, but not today.”
The chess piece’s eyes held the same wisdom as they did back when he and the rabbit built the fort together. A pair of years with decades of knowledge. But as soon as he blinked, he was back to normal old Kinger, “Oh look, a butterfly! That will be perfect for my collection.” He looked back up to the rabbit, “Oh hi Jax…bye Jax.”
With that, he turned away, leaving Jax starstruck again. Zooble gave him a final glare before walking away too. Jax sighed, while that conversation didn’t go the way he wanted it to, he wouldn’t lie and say that it wasn’t unrealistic. Of course Kinger wouldn’t forgive him right away, not after Jax had mistreated him and the others for so long. He felt a hand curl into his, he tightened his hold onto it.
“You okay?” Pomni asked.
He lifted his head to the side to face her, those beautiful and unique eyes already bringing him peace, “I will be.” His eyes scanned the room, everyone was gone. “Remember my promise with getting us out of here?”
Pomni nodded.
“I need to show you something,” he told her, guiding her back to his room.
He made sure the door was locked behind him, erasing the risk of getting caught. “I don’t show these to anyone else,” he said, walking over to a chest and pulling another key out. “But I think this might help with our situation.”
The lock of the chest clicked open, the lid falling back as a hundred of different golden keys were revealed. “Woah,” Pomni’s red and blue eyes widened, “That’s…that’s definitely a lot.”
“Yup, I told you I got keys everywhere here,” he smirked.
She nudged him slightly, “Could come in handy for us sometime.”
“Watch it little lady,” he snickered, his face falling serious again. “I’ve used these keys on every single door I could find but I haven’t found an exit. But with you here, maybe there’s a better chance of finding one.”
Pomni was lost in thought, taking out a singular key and fiddling with it in her hands. “Yeah,” she replied absentmindedly. “I think it might be closer than you think.”
Jax whipped his head round to her, “Come again?”
“Uh…” Pomni trailed off, realising that she had been speaking out loud. “So, remember when I said to Caine a while back that I stopped seeing exits doors? Well…”
Jax raised a brow at her.
Soon enough they were in her room, the chest of keys laying by the wall while both the rabbit and jester were pushing her wardrobe away from the other wall. Jax’s jaw dropped at what he saw once the wardrobe was pushed away. Right behind the piece of furniture was a bright red exit door, the green sign glowing above it. “It appeared here after my first dinner here,” she explained, “I tried to see what was behind it but all it led me to was another maze of weird office hallways.”
“Another?” Jax asked. “Wait, you really did see other exit doors when you arrived here?”
“Yeah, three times actually,” Pomni said. “The only time I went through one it led me to the maze I was talking about.”
“That’s…I,” Jax, for the first time here, was rendered speechless. He thought Pomni had arrived at the void some other way. But she really had seen exits doors and no one believed her, not even him. “There has to be a reason why you’re targeted. If it didn’t do this to us, why you?”
“I wish I knew,” Pomni glanced down, shuffling her feet.
“Hey, hey,” he took her chin into his palm, lifting her head up to face him. “Don’t feel bad, okay? Sorry, I didn’t mean to come off as harsh.” He stroked her cheek gently, “We’re gonna figure this out together, okay? And with our memories back we now have an advantage.”
Pomni sighed, leaning into his touch. It had been too long since she last felt his gentle touch, “Yeah, we do. We’re gonna get out of here.”
He pressed his forehead to hers, giving her a wink, “That’s my girl.”
They settled there for a few moments before Pomni turned away again to look at the keys. Jax wanted to be greedy and pull her back, but right now there was business to attend to. “You said you tried every key with every door, right?” she asked.
“Yup,” the rabbit nodded, “Yet it always never worked. They would either be a room that was part of the circus or would never unlock.”
Pomni hummed in curiosity, picking up another one, “Maybe…” she peered to the bright red door on her wall.
Jax followed her gaze, a grin playing on her lips at what she was implying, “Maybe what?”
She rolled her eyes at him, “Maybe it could work on an exit door?”
“God I love your brain,” he exclaimed.
“Phhh, by making a suggestion?” Pomni snorted.
“By making a smart suggestion, like you always do,” he corrected leaning into her face and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek.
“Okay mister,” she retorted, pushing him away with her index finger as the rabbit chortled. She looked down to the key in her palms, it had a circular end with four holes in the middle. This no doubt had to be Ragatha’s key. She looked back to her fiancé, “May I have the honours?”
“It would be my pleasure little lady,” he bowed dramatically.
Pomni huffed, pretending to be annoyed but didn’t force away the smile that tugged at her lips. She breathed out slowly, her breath slightly shaking as she did so. She slid the golden key into the hole, turning it once as they door clicked open.
Jax’s tail twitched with anticipation, awaiting what could possibly be behind it. Pomni reached up to the handle, twisting it and pulling the door open slowly. Her heart plummeted when the familiar office structure appeared again. She shut the door, “I’m sorry I got your hopes up.”
“No, no,” Jax’s voice was gentle as he took her hand. “You didn’t do anything wrong, okay? Let’s try two more, how does that sound?”
The jester bit her lip, nodding quietly in agreement. Jax pulled out two more keys from the chest, the first had the shape of some sort of castle on its end while the second had a jester hat – Pomni’s key. “You’ll probably need this back once we’re done,” he told her, referring to the object. “In case you need your privacy, I know how Caine can be.”
“Aw, honey,” she cooed. “You’re playing favourites.”
He flicked her nose, the jester rubbing it while giggling, “Yeah, yeah. You get your wife privileges.”
“I’m not your wife yet,” she retorted.
Jax grinned, “But soon you will be.”
She shook her head, placing the next key into the lock. She felt a twinge of disappointment when it led to the same grey hallway again. Pomni closed the door again, taking her own key from Jax’s paw, “Maybe third time’s the charm?”
Jax gave her a gentle smile, wanting to keep her as hopeful as possible. But both of them felt the intensity of the situation, if this didn’t work then another dead end was hit, then neither of them would know what to do. Please, please work.
She slid it in, the lock clicked, the door creaked open.
Pomni shut her eyes slightly, she didn’t want to be disappointed again.
“Oh my god,” she heard Jax gasp.
She peeked one eye open, then the other as they widened at what she saw.
It was a hospital room, void of the cold grey scale of the office hallway. The walls were a warm light brown with a lamp switched on by a bed, contrasting with the midnight sky from the window. Pomni’s breath hitched when she saw who was laying on the bed.
“Mom,” she whispered.
A younger Amber was sat up in the hospital bed, her red hair was messy and bags were under her eyes. But she looked so incredibly happy. Next to her was a glass case with holes and inside a little baby with brown curls wrapped up in a pink blanket slept.
“Is that…” Jax trailed off.
“Yeah,” Pomni felt her spirits lift ever so slightly when she looked at the date on the small clock next to the lamp. “That’s me. This was the day when I was born.”
She watched as the woman’s fingers trailed across the glass, marvelling at the tiny human inside. “Hi Penny,” she exhaled happily. “Welcome to the world. I can’t wait for Riley to see you, she’s been so excited to have a little sister. I don’t know where your daddy went but I’m sure he’ll be back soon. When you get better, we’re gonna have so much fun together.” A tear of mirth ran down Amber’s cheek, “Look at you, you’re perfect.”
Pomni felt a tear of her own escape as she watched the scene in front of her. She had been told about how her mother was glued to her side as a baby, watching her every move when the doctors told her how sick and weak she was. Amber had spent every waking moment making sure her daughter was healing. It wasn’t easy with a sickly newborn, an absent husband and a rowdy four-year-old, but she did it anyway.
“I miss her so much,” Pomni sniffled.
“Oh, Pen,” Jax wrapped his arms around the smaller woman’s body, pressing a chaste kiss at the back of her neck. “You’re gonna see her again, I promise.”
She turned and pressed her lips to his cheek, agreeing silently.
Another door creaked open, drawing the duo’s attention. It was the door of the hospital room opening, but instead of leading to a hallway, it seemed to be leading outside instead. The rabbit and jester shared a look before moving ahead, for them it was the most plausible thing to do.
The moment they stepped out, they had to squint from a beam of sunlight shining in their eyes. It seemed like they were in some sort of back garden, with real soft grass beneath their feet and fresh air filling their lungs. It made them feel human.
Pomni let out a shocked yet excited laugh when she saw what was in front of her, this wasn’t any ordinary back garden. It was the one where she grew up in where she and Riley would play when the sun was shining and dried up the rain. The ground was scattered with toys, with a trampoline at the right-hand side and a swing on the left.
She gasped, for on the swing was a girl about ten-years-old, wearing a long-sleeved pink shirt and purple overalls with white butterflies on the pockets, her brunette hair was short and ended by hair jaw as she stared out into the garden with her chocolate brown eyes. “T-that’s me!” Pomni said, startled. “I remember this!”
Jax was going to say something, his smile widening seeing the jester so happy when another voice cut him off.
“Marco!”
The little girl snickered at the new voice, jumping off the swing, “Polo!”
A girl around fourteen years of age, with red hair tied into a ponytail, ran into the garden, dropping a school bag in favour of chasing the younger of the two. Pomni pressed her hands to her mouth, “Riley.”
The older girl snorted as the younger ran around the swing set, reaching out in order to grab her, “I’m gonna get you!”
“Nuh uh!” a younger Penny retorted, “You’re too slow Riles!”
“Oh, now you’re gonna get it!” Riley smirked, the two squealing as the chase continued.
Unfortunately it came to a halt when Penny tripped over a toy and landed on the concrete path leading to the house. Riley gasped, rushing over to her as the little girl picked herself up, her palms bloody and staining her skin. Fat tears ran down her cheeks as she began wailing, “Mommy!”
Riley wrapped her arms around her, rubbing her arm and rocking her slowly. Amber ran out of the door, kneeling down and gently taking her daughter’s hands, “Oh baby. Don’t worry, we’ll get these cleaned up.”
She scooped her youngest into her arms, walking back into the house.
“Mom I’m really sorry!” Riley panicked. “We were playing and she tripped, I should have kept a closer eye on her.”
“Riley, Riley, it’s okay,” Amber spoke calmly. “This was an accident, it’s not your fault, okay?” That didn’t seem to make the older girl feel any better. Amber hummed in thought, “How about you go get the bandages while I clean Penny’s hands, how does that sound?”
Riley nodded furiously, already running in and up the stairs. Pomni followed her mother and younger self into the kitchen, Jax tailing behind her. Amber sat Penny upon the countertop next to the kitchen sink, running the tap while Penny tried to gulp down her cries. “Oh Penny,” Amber ran her fingers under her daughter’s eyes, wiping away the tears. “We’ll get you fixed up, it’s alright baby.”
Penny shook her head, trying to quiet her crying as much as possible, “I-I’m being a b-baby! I n-need to be s-strong!”
“You’re not being a baby for getting hurt,” Amber’s brows furrowed, concern lacing her voice.
“B-but Daddy said t-that crying i-is w-weak,” Penny sniffled.
Amber inhaled sharply, her jaw tensing before slipping into her relaxed position again, “Your Daddy isn’t always right about a lot of things. This is one of them. Even the strongest people in the world need to cry Penny, never feel like you aren’t strong for doing so.”
Like a magnet, Penny clutched onto her mother, wrapping her arms round the tall women’s neck. Amber kissed the top of her child’s head, rubbing her hands up and down the little one’s back. There was probably blood on the back of her shirt, but she didn’t care, not when her child needed comfort. “How about we wash that blood off, okay?” Amber suggested.
Penny nodded against her shoulder, unwrapping her arms. Amber led her hands under the running water, Penny hissing at soon as the liquid touched her skin.
“I know baby, I know,” Amber ran her fingers through the child’s hair, “You’ll feel better soon, I promise.”
“I got the bandages!” Riley announced, running back into the kitchen.
“Perfect,” Amber switched off the tap once Penny’s hands were clean enough. She patted them dry with a towel and took the bandages from Riley. Slowly and carefully, she wrapped up each hand in the white gauze, finishing it off with a small bow on the top of each hand. “See, much better.”
Penny rubbed one last tear away, holding her hands out for her mother again, “Thank you Mommy.”
Amber cooed, picking her up and holding her close, “Always baby.” With a spare arm, Amber pulled Riley into the hug, rubbing the older girl’s shoulder, “Thank you for your help.”
Riley let out a trembling breath, burying her face into her mother’s shoulder, the woman holding her daughters in a vice grip as though they would disappear if she let go.
Pomni felt her stomach twist, Amber’s daughter did disappear. And her mother had no idea where she was.
Jax placed a hand on her shoulder, Pomni touched it as pressed her cheeks onto it, “It still hurts, knowing she doesn’t know where I am.”
“I know,” Jax agreed. “I know how much you mean to your mother. She’ll see you again, I know it.”
The back door creaked open like the hospital door did, this time is showed the inside of a living room.
Walking through, a wave of familiarity hit them both at once. It was their old apartment. Everything was the same, from the furniture to the wallpaper to even the starry mug that Penny loved to use all the time. Said mug was on the coffee table, steaming rising from the top.
Laughter broke the two out of their trance, for in the middle of the living room from was…them. Their human forms, engagement rings on their fingers as they danced while slow romantic music filled the room.
“Watch your speed!” Penny giggled, “I can barely keep up!”
Jack snickered, “Says you! You keep tripping over yourself!”
“It’s not my fault I have two left feet!” Penny retorted grinning.
Jack ran a hand over his face, another laugh escaping his mouth, “Imagine if we danced like this on our wedding day.”
“We’d certainly attract a crowd, that’s for sure,” Penny sighed wistfully, her arms curling round his neck, “How about we just settle for swaying?”
“Yeah, swaying sounds good,” Jack’s hands settled round her waist, the two moving from side to side. “I guess this isn’t so bad.”
Penny hummed in agreement, “Looks like our wedding dance won’t be a complete disaster after all.”
“It was never gonna be, I’ll make sure it will be the best day for you, promise,” Jack’s nose rubbed against hers, earning him another giggle.
Pomni looked up at Jax, the latter looking on longingly at their past selves. Life could have continued like this if he hadn’t been so selfish, so entitled, so cowardly…Kinger was right.
“Hey,” Pomni spoke up, it was his turn to listen to her. “It’s not your fault for what happened, okay? If you believe that we can get out of here, then so can I.”
Jax felt warmth spread about himself, this was why he loved Pomni so much. Despite her own fears and anxieties, when her kindness shone then it shone brightly. Many actions that she had done spoke loudly than any word she spoke. And if she couldn’t see how amazing she is, then he could do it for her. “You’re incredible, you know that right?” he said.
Pomni blushed, trying to hide behind her short hair, “Maybe.”
Jax chuckled, he never wanted her to change. The sound of another door creaking made them turn. Just like they did many times before, they walked through.
They were back in Amber’s house, though this time it had aged, they were in the living room instead, although furniture seemed more recent in memory than Pomni expected. “Is this ringing any bells?” Jax asked.
“No, no this doesn’t seem that familiar, aside from the room,” Pomni replied.
Footsteps entered the room. It was Amber, now older and more tired. Pomni watched as her mother sat on the sofa, there were bags under her eyes and dried tear stains on her cheeks. In her hands was a small pile of papers, Penny’s face printed on the very top and well as the words ‘MISSING’ written in bold black letters.
“This isn’t a memory,” Pomni murmured. “This is now.”
Jax let out a tiny gasp of realisation, they had come so far they were teetering on the border of the outside world, something that no one could possibly imagining happening in the circus!
But the circumstances weren’t as bright. Right now they were watching Amber mourn over her lost daughter, the one thing she feared the most.
Amber gripped onto the papers tighter, her lips quivering as more tears hit the posters. She let them go, each one scattering across the floor as she brought her hands up to cover her face, muffling her sobs.
Pomni’s heart twisted, she wished for nothing more than to reach out to her mother and engulf her in the biggest hug she can manage. “Mom, I’m here,” she spoke, “I’m okay.”
But nothing, it could be as though the wind had spoken. It was silence.
Pomni wanted to cry, to yell, to scream IM HERE. But it was pointless, wasn’t it?
The jester lifted her hand to a switched off lamp next to the sofa. When she was young, Amber would always turn on her bedside lamp, telling her that she would feel safe as long as that was on. Pomni’s fingers grazed the handle of the lamp, that was what she wanted for Amber, for her to feel safe like she did for her.
Without even realising, her fingers lightly pushed against the button, the pressure making it flicker on. Pomni jumped back, did she do that?!
Amber turned to the sudden light, sighing, “Lights are acting up, great.”
Pomni looked down at her hands, Amber couldn’t see her still. But what if…
She looked to Jax, the rabbit looking just as surprised as she did. He turned to the light switch on the wall, quickly moving towards it and flicking it on. Just like with Pomni, it shone throughout the room. He let out a strangled laugh, he could do it too!
Amber’s brows furrowed in confusion, “What is happening?”
Pomni held onto the lamp again, determination on her mind. She wasn’t going to leave until her mother knew that she was here and she was alive. She flicked the lamp on and off again, feeling guilty when Amber jumped in surprise. She did the same with another lamp on the chest of drawers at the side of the room, flicking it on and off while Jax did the same with the room light.
Amber whipped round, watching in shock as this bizarre event unfolded before her. She knew that lights had a habit of acting out, but never to this extent. “What’s going on?!” she exclaimed, “Is someone doing this?!”
Pomni bit her lip, she had to let Amber know that she was here. She scanned the room, trying to see if there was something, anything that could help. Her traveling eyes came to a stop when she spotted Amber’s computer tucked away into the corner, a printer next to it with missing posters on top of it. She must have moved it down here when making them.
Pomni rushed towards it, pressing the ‘on’ button and praying that her plan would work.
Amber yelped as she heard the sound of her computer switch on, panic rising in her chest.
The jester pressed a few keys on the keyboard, searching until she landed on a blank document, here goes nothing. And so, she began to type.
Mom
It’s me
Penny
Amber took a few steps back as her missing daughter’s name appeared on her screen, it felt like a horror movie unravelling in front of her. She let out a broken laugh, “Okay you got me! Whoever’s here better piss off with their sick joke before I call the police!”
Pomni winced, she had to keep trying.
It’s okay!
It’s Penny Mom!
You don’t need to be scared!
Amber shook her head, this had to be some sick joke. “My daughter’s missing!” she felt insane for talking back to the computer. “How could she be able to do this?! Whoever you are, you better show yourself!”
Pomni wracked her brain, she had to think of something, anything. A lightbulb went off in her head, she began to type again.
I was born on August 13th, 1999, at 11:59 PM
I was born too early so I had to be incubated at the hospital
On my fifth birthday you gave me a purple teddy bear and I named her Candy
You always sang ‘Silent Night’ to me to help me fall asleep even when it wasn’t Christmas
You brought a giant sign at Riley’s graduation saying ‘YOU’RE AN AGENT NOW RILEY’ when she completed her FBI training
Riley hates carrot cake but she always brings some for Winter whenever they go on dates
You took time off work just so you could help homeschool me when I left high school and helped me when I struggled to eat
I’m terrified of bees but I love butterflies
I hate the water, I always have
I always wanted to go into costume designing
When I finally felt confident in myself you asked me to make you a promise
I promised you that no matter what I am Penny Reed
I have a role in this world
I am worthy of greatness
And I have always mattered
Mom
It’s me
Amber’s breath hitched, nearly stumbling back a bit. No one could know something so personal about one person. Could it really be… “Penny?”
Pomni felt her own tears escape.
Hi Mom
Amber’s knees dropped to the ground, tears of relief and joy escaping. “Oh my baby!” she sobbed, “You’re here! Are you…Are you alive?”
Pomni sniffed, letting out a small laugh.
Yes Mom
I’m alive
Another cry tore from Amber’s throat, her daughter was alive. And somehow, she was here. “Penny where are you?” she asked, wiping away her tears. “What’s going on?”
It’s hard to explain
And I don’t know how long I can stay
“No, baby don’t go yet,” Amber begged. “Just stay, at least until Riley gets here.”
Jax’s ears twitched, a soft voice calling from the distance.
“Jax?”
“Pomni?”
He could recognise that voice from anywhere. Jax grasped Pomni’s shoulder, “Ragatha’s looking for us, we gotta go.”
Pomni was startled for a second, but she knew that he was serious. She turned back to her mother.
I’m sorry Mom
I have to go
“Penny please!” Amber panicked, “Don’t go!”
I’ll come back
I’m so sorry
But I’m okay
I promise
“Stay!” Amber cried, “Penny, stay!”
It felt as though Pomni’s heart was being ripped from her chest, but she couldn’t risk her or Jax’s safety. What if Caine was with Ragatha? Then they would really be in trouble.
She and Jax rushed to the door, the room outside of it reverting back to Jax’s bedroom. Pomni looked back to her sobbing mother, guilt stabbing at her. “I’ll be back soon,” she promised, even if Amber couldn’t hear her.
She forced herself to tear her eyes away and ran back into Jax’s bedroom, the rabbit closing the door behind her. “Hey,” he placed both of his hands on her shoulders, “I know that must have been really hard for you, but we can go back. We’re able to now, we finally have a chance to try and get out of here.”
“I just,” Pomni sniffled, “I just miss my Mom.”
Jax brought her into his arms, letting her cry out as much as she needed to. He wasn’t going to let go, never again. Both mother and daughter were terrified of this bizarre situation, the mother fearing that she would never see her child and the daughter wishing for her mother to hold her. Until they were back, Jax had to protect Pomni. It was serious now, bigger things were at play and everything was different. No matter what, her safety was his priority.
“Jax?” Ragatha knocked on the door. “Come on, open up please.”
Pomni let go, her eyes darting to the door with worry.
“It’s okay,” Jax reassured her, “Take the keys and hide behind the side of my bed, I’ll take care of doll face.”
Pomni looked to the keys and back at him, “O-okay.”
He kissed her forehead, stroking her cheek lightly before the two pulled away. Pomni picked up the chest, taking it and ducking behind the bedside while Jax pulled the wardrobe back over the exit door as silently as he could.
The door knocked again, he smoothed down the fur on his head I’m cool and collected, I’m cool and collected. Once he had slipped into his persona again, he opened the door. He gulped, apart from Caine and Bubble, everyone was there.
“So, Rags,” he leaned against the side of the door. “How can I help you?”
“Pomni’s in there,” Ragatha crossed her arms over her chest. “Isn’t she?”
I’M COOL AND COLLECTED, I’M COOL AND COLLECTED! Jax’s tail twitched nervously as he let out a laugh that seemed fake even to him, “What? No, of course not!”
“I saw you go in her room a while ago,” Gangle mumbled. “I didn’t know if you were pulling a prank on her but I had to get the others just in case.”
“And imagine my panic when I found out the door was locked!” Ragatha growled. “You better explain yourself, Pomni better be okay!”
“Ragatha,” Pomni peered above the bed, jumping over it and made her way towards the door. “Don’t worry I’m fine-”
“Oh Pomni you’re okay!” Ragatha gasped, reaching out her hand to the jester. “Come here, what type of prank did he pull on you?”
Pomni surprised everyone when she jumped back, opting to stand beside Jax instead. “Ragatha,” she spoke softly, “You don’t have to worry, I’m completely fine. Jax didn’t do anything.”
“T-then why is he in your room?” the ragdoll asked. “You two have been acting strange for the past couple of days and we’re all getting worried, what’s going on?”
Pomni and Jax shared a look, a silent conversation between the two. Pomni, without breaking eyes contact, nudged her head towards the group. Sparing the others a glance, he looked back to Pomni with a nod.
“You guys come in,” Pomni said, opening the door wider. “There’s a lot you gotta know.”
.
.
.
This had to be the second time Riley was emotionally exhausted while driving back home, the first was when finding out Penny was missing. But her hopes had gone up too many times and had blind faith in someone who was hurting like she was, maybe even more. It was strange, everything Samual said felt true, but Jason Wood was a prominent figure who helped raise him after his parent’s disappearance, who was she to have a say in that situation?
Perhaps the wish to have her sister back was overtaking her logic. But now anymore, she was going to put her headfirst and figure this out the way she always did. Her phone began to ring in the cup holder next to her seat, it was Amber. She put the phone on speaker, keeping her eyes on the road, “Hey Mom, what’s up?”
“Riley!” Amber panted over the phone. “Riley you need to get here now!”
Riley practically kicked the break to stop the car, ignoring the other honking cars behind her as she pressed the phone to her ear, “Mom! Is everything ok?! What happened?!”
“It’s about your sister!” Amber blubbered. “You need to get here as soon as you can, please!”
Before Riley could say another word, the line was caught off. She pressed on the accelerator, her heart pounding. If her mother was speaking in that panicked and it involved her sister, she was going to drop everything and be there first thing.
The car skid to a stop when she arrived at her mother’s house, running to the door as fast as she could and slammed it open. “Mom!” Riley called out, “What happened?!”
Amber was collecting posters off the floor, dumping them down on the coffee table before pulling Riley inside. “Riley!” she gasped, “You won’t believe it! I know it sounds insane but I saw it happen in front of my eyes!”
“What? What did?!” Riley was starting to worry now. “Mom you’re scaring me, what does Penny have to do with this!”
“Everything!” Amber bellowed, a wide grin forming while more joyful tears leaked down her face. “Penny was here! She’s alive!”
The whole world went still for Riley, “Penny?! She’s alive?! Wait-wait, what do you mean ‘was here’?! Where is she?!”
“That’s the thing!” Amber pointed to the computer. “She wasn’t ‘here’ here, she was speaking to me through that!”
Riley’s palms began to sweat, this was beginning to sound familiar, “What do you mean by through the computer?”
“She wasn’t here in a physical sense, but she was messing with the lights, writing to me on that computer!” Amber exclaimed. “I don’t know how it’s possible and I know it sounds crazy, but your sister is alive! My daughter is alive! And she needs our help!”
Riley nearly staggered on the spot, Amber’s concerned calling for her name falling on deaf ears. Her mother wasn’t someone who spouted nonsense (that was more of David’s thing) and there was no way this type of situation could be a coincidence, it wasn’t something that anyone could make up on the spot.
She looked past Amber and to the screen behind her. Her breath hitched, on the screen was basically what Samual had showed her. Someone trying to communicate through anonymous messages with no email attached. Except this time it was different, this time it described parts of her life that no one else could know about, this time there was undeniable proof that someone was talking to her mother, this time there was a name.
Penny’s name.
Riley gasped.
Samual was telling the truth…and she pushed him away.
#the amazing digital circus#jax#pomni#pomnijax#funnybunny#ragatha#gangle#kinger#zooble#caine#bubble#my writing#dragon rambles#fanfiction#fanfic#ao3#jax x pomni#pomni x jax#jaxni
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Born of Starlight
EstherMitchell_Author
Summary:
This fanfic novel is an expanded compilation of all my Post Season 2 fanfiction. It begins 2 days after the ending events of Season 2, and covers large portions of the next nearly 9 years.
While this is Rated "Mature" this is for some violence, language, and sexually suggestive scenes. There is, however, no explicit sex anywhere in this novel.
Notes:
This is a work of Fan Fiction, based on Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. All events depicted in this work of Fan Fiction are solely of my own devising, and do not necessarily reflect the designs of the Original Writers for these characters. Depicted events may or may not align with the designs of the Original Writers.
There are some characters within this work that are my Original Creations/Characters.
Friendly authorial note: Even if some of these scenes seem initially familiar, please don't skip them. I've made varying levels of significant changes to virtually every scene in here (mostly for flow, but some because I expanded on or changed my mind about some details), so you could miss out on something important if you just skip.
Chapter 1: Ineffable Hearts
Crowley's Flat, Mayfair, London -- 2 Days After the Kiss
Crowley sprawled on the garish, uncomfortable, burgundy-colored crushed-velvet monstrosity of a sofa Shax deemed fitting furniture and blinked drunkenly at the plethora of mirrors hung all over the place. He always knew Shax was vain, but... He grimaced. Last thing he fuckin' wanted to do was look at himself. 'Specially right now.
"Agh, damnit, angel," he muttered around the tight knot in his throat and the hollow emptiness in his chest. Closing his eyes before he had to admit to the sting there, he tipped the bottle of whiskey he held to his lips again, trying to wash away the memory of his angel's kiss. Of that little, needy whimper that told him Aziraphale wasn't as unaffected by the kiss as those three stinging words he uttered afterward implied.
I forgive you.
"Fuck." He dropped his head back, his eyes burning with the tears he couldn't hold back anymore. When he opened his eyes again, the world was darker than the hollow husk where his heart used to be.
"Wh'z so dark?" he muttered to himself. He couldn't have been drinking that long. He'd only bought the two bottles, and there was part of one left. Couldn't even be noon... He touched his face, encountered plastic and metal. "Oh. Right."
He ripped the shades he somehow forgot he was wearing until just now from his face and flung them across the room. He'd been so desperate to just get so drunk he couldn't think or remember anything, he hadn't cared about whether or not he could see.
Still didn't, truth told. Wot th' fuck'd he need to look at anymore, anyway? God took it all. His stars... his angel... Far as he was fuckin' concerned, his eyes could shrivel up and disappear. He planned to spend the rest of eternity right here, gettin' as drunk as it took to not remember. Or until he discorporated. Or maybe just until he forgot how to miracle booze.
Not likely to happen. Only thing where his heart used to be was a huge, hollow void.
"Have a gold-fuckin'-star," he slurred to himself, then snorted disdainfully. Not much point to anything, anymore. Yeah, it took him two days to figure out it wasn't just a bad fucking nightmare. After that, he barely held it together the whole way back to this depressing flat -- he refused to call it home -- before the shaking started. Like an earthquake that ran every fault line from his soul outward, it had rattled through him, dropping him in the foyer. He'd crawled -- crawled -- in here and up onto the sofa, stopping only to pour alcohol down his throat. The alcohol was the only thing currently numbing the painful, empty throb in his chest.
He rubbed the heel of his hand roughly against the center of his chest, hissing at the emptiness behind his breastbone. It opened up moments after the doors to the lift closed, and it steadily carved the canyon through his chest he felt now. Like something vital to his life ripped away the instant Aziraphale was gone.
How had he never noticed, before? There'd been plenty of times he and Aziraphale hadn't been near each other. Yet the only times he could even vaguely recall feeling like this were when Aziraphale got temporarily discorporated during the Antichrist incident and when he got dragged back to Hell after Edinburgh. He'd mourned when he thought Aziraphale was gone forever, and never been so relieved as when he realized his angel was just discorporated, and eventually made it back to Earth. As for Edinburgh, he'd just assumed at the time that the emptiness was a normal response to drying out in fucking Hell. Still, he hadn't wasted any time contacting his angel once he was back on Earth, had he?
He'd been so relieved to see Aziraphale, that time, he'd wanted to make absolutely sure Hell could never pull him back again. He'd wanted leverage. Holy Water hadn't seemed an unreasonable solution, and he'd thought Aziraphale would be only too happy to help.
Had he ever been wrong. Instead of insurance against Hell, he'd alienated his only friend. Aziraphale refused to speak to him even when he tried to apologize. So, angry at himself for alienating his friend, he'd considered the best suitable response to just go to sleep for the next forty-ish or so years. Would've kept sleeping, too, if his brief break from sleeping in 1914 hadn't involved learning Hell intended to do away with his angel.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" He groaned, now, pitching himself forward to pound his forehead against the heels of his hands, the nearly empty whiskey bottle landing with a totally unsatisfying thump on the ridiculous faux-fur rug.
Not that he gave a shit about Shax's bad taste in decor.
"I need a plan," he muttered to himself. Yet, he didn't have a bloody clue what kind of plan there was to make, aside from spending the next thousand years or so getting utterly pissed. He already knew if he tried to sleep, he'd just dream of Aziraphale. Now that the bag was quite utterly devoid of cats, merely thinking the angel's name made him ache to the depths of his Hell-scorched soul.
There was nothing he could do, this time. Aziraphale made his choice. He chose Heaven. He chose an angel that no longer existed -- hadn't existed in over six thousand years.
And Crowley couldn't breathe, anymore.
Continue Reading HERE (don't worry... I promise it gets a lot fluffier as it goes on)
#good omens#good omens fandom#aziracrow#ineffable husbands#aziraphale#aziraphale x crowley#crowley#azicrow#ineffable spouses#fanfic#gomens fandom#gomens#gomens fanfic#go fanfic#go fandom#good omens fanfic#good omens fic#good omens fanfiction#Season 1 characters#Season 2 characters#jesus is a hipster#jemima crowley-fell
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Anyways! As proof that I can in fact write Vox, have a little RadioSilence thing I wrote.
Summary: Rumours say the revered Radio Demon is back in town, how does his old pal Vox react?
cw: semi rewrite of episode 2, minor staticmoth, angst, Vox's crippling insecurity issues, unreciprocated love
word count: 1.2k
Foolish One
How fucking dare he?! After all, they had been through, their business endeavours... Their friendship? Was it all for null? Was it his fault…? Fuck no, he was the best, nothing was ever his fault.
Said tumultuous thoughts plagued the Technology overlord daily. Ever since that wretched Radio Demon disappeared from Vox’s life, he had been void of all meaningful emotion.
Rather Vox drove himself mad with his own work, drowning in it to avoid having any time to dwell on his own thoughts. He spent more time with Val and Vel. Their partnership eventually becoming more of a casual sexual relationship with the doll, and a full-fledged relationship with the moth. Though, neither of which could fully satiate him.
In life, Vox wasn’t one for relationships, he was enamoured with his own work, much akin to what he had been doing these past 7 years.
Greed, power, fame.. It was all that ever pleased him, both in life and death.. His intricate way of words, how seamless it was to manipulate someone, especially with modern day’s technology.. A few advertisements here and there, and VoxTech stocks would be booming.
That was until he met Alastor, together they could take over Hell and be the true leaders instead of that pathetic excuse for a king, Lucifer. The media demons, covering both radio and tv.. The power the two would hold would be immeasurable.. Oh how Vox longed for the days where his dreams contained those two things. Power.. and Alastor..
Alastor.
To say Vox's relationship with the Radio Demon was bittersweet would be an understatement. He despised him, the thought of seeing Alastor being hurt brought the TV immense joy He despised that deer. Seeing him in pain would be glorious.. Dishevelled, bloody… The thought alone sent a shiver up Vox’s spine..
But yet, his stomach would drop ever so slightly if said thoughts weren't caused by him.
If anyone else was to injure Alastor, they'd have to be God himself.. No one struck more fear into people than Alastor.. No one was stronger than Alastor… Right..? Well, at least no one had made it known if that were the case.
Vox had to be the one to cause Alastor’s suffering. He of all people deserved it. That asshole was the one to betray him after all.. Abandoning him when he needed him most…
Raindrops pattered against the window, creating a soothing harmony. Hopefully it was lulling most inhabitants of Pentagram City to sleep.. Humans did always have a tendency to find great comfort in the rain, even searching for things such as 'Relaxing rain sounds to sleep to' or other types of white noise. The repetitiveness of the rain did reduce stress, but on nights like these, Vox found himself wide awake.
Mindlessly staring out the window from his bed, Vox let out a small sigh.. Was it out of frustration, from sadness, longing? Vox himself couldn't pinpoint it, perhaps it was an accumulation of all those, and maybe more.
Soft snores echoed in the almost barren room. Ah.. Right. Val was here, Vox had almost forgotten, being so lost in his thoughts.
Rumours had spread like wildfire around Pentagram City, rumours of Alastor being back in town, that he's been lurking about..
Vox had eyes and ears everywhere within the city, and somehow without fail, Alastor had managed to escape from every lens.
The rumours were even nonsensical things such as him helping out the Princess of all people?
That made no sense at all.. Scouring through his thoughts files, dating back at least two decades ago, not once did Alastor ever mention growing close to the Princess, the subject of all their discussions regarding the royal family was solely focused on Lucifer and how to kill him, or kidnap him, torture him..
It made no sense.
Even then, if Alastor truly was back in town, why wouldn't he visit, did their final conversation linger on Alastor's mind too?
Vox felt sick to his stomach reminiscing on it. A foolish mistake on his behalf. Yes, of course he tried to invite Alastor to join the Vees.. to which Alastor rejected. That pissed him off..
But even worse, Vox confessed his love for Alastor that very same day.
After working together for so long, Vox had grown to admire Alastor, Vox wasn't one to admit when he felt inferior to someone, but even without words, it was obvious to both overlords.
Admiration turned into idolisation. And idolisation turned into infatuation.
Many moons had passed since Vox’s realisation of this.. frankly, rather embarrassing crush of his. Words weighed heavy on his shoulders of how he would confess, if he was to do that at all.
But one thing was clear, even in the present day. Those feelings would never leave him.
Those words haunted Vox.. How meekly he sputtered out “I think I love you” after plotting their next business deal together.
He planned exactly what to say, why didn't he stick to it?! This internal battle is something Vox fought with every day.
But one thing confused Vox more than anything.. Why did Alastor only laugh before continuing their discussion?
Was it to ridicule him? Brush it off? Or was it a knowing laugh?
With being a Television, Vox held the capability to record his every day life, typically he would delete the recordings by the end of the day, or trim it so only relevant and important parts remain, but Alastors laugh, his own final goodbye to Vox, had never been deleted, in fact. It plays in his dreams every night. It meant too much to him.
Without realising it, said recording had been echoing throughout the room, waking up his lover in the process.
With a grumble, Val finally opened his eyes, feeling himself growing crazy from the laugh track repeating for the past five minutes. “Voxy, I swear if you do not stop playing that shitty deer’s laugh, I'll castrate you.”
Well.
That's certainly a way to snap someone out of their thoughts.
“Oh.. Sorry, I didn't realise it was playing.” Vox replied, too tired to put up much of a fight. “I'll just get some work done, sorry for waking you.” And with that, he got up and left for his surveillance room.
Rather uncharacteristic of him to just up and leave without even a small spat, even Val noticed. But the moth needed his beauty sleep after all, so paid no mind to it… He'll remember in the morning… probably.
Within no time at all, Vox had began scanning all of his monitors, just trying to see a glimpse of his old friend.
Nothing.
Zilch.
Nada.
Where.Was.He.
Frantically, he started to reverse the security footage, how idiotic.. Why would he be out at this time of night? But as he reversed through the evening, then afternoon, morning… To yesterday, even ereyesterday. He was nowhere to be found.
Vox could only feel his frustration growing stronger and stronger as his screen started to glitch rather periodically.
Within enough time, with seven years of pent up frustrations, sadness, betrayal.. The overlord’s emotions boiled over in a cacophony of glitches and harsh sobs causing the city to have yet another blackout.
#hazbin hotel#hazbin hotel vox#hazbin hotel Alastor#radiostatic#radiosilence#vox x alastor#hazbin hotel vox x alastor#hazbin hotel fanfiction#blitzor0de0
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MIMATO WEEK 2023 DAY 1 - "DIGIVICE"
FFN / AO3
Summary: After losing their partners, the Digidestined are learning to let go, they're learning to move on with their lives. But what throws them off track is the sudden revival of their Digivices in a way that none of them expected. The word partner has more than one meaning after all. If one is lost, maybe another will be found?
Notes: Post Kizuna, Soulmate AU
Chapters: 1/?
~~~~~ xxx~~~~~
To live every day with a gaping hole in your life was something that Yamato had now gotten used to.
His routine was simple, wake up, go to college, socialise after classes, come home and sleep, and when the sun rose the next day, rinse and repeat.
This is how things had been ever since Menoa Belluci was apprehended for her actions, ever since Gabumon stood next to him for one last time, before disappearing into a void that Yamato still hadn’t managed to break into. What he had learned from trying, however, was that life goes on despite everything else. Even if he and Taichi could not be there at the scene to resolve the issue of Digimon pouring into their world through random appearances of Digital Gate, someone else was ready to take their place.
Yamato, like many others, had finished playing a role in the grand scheme and had no choice but to accept the next act that awaited him, no matter how small and irrelevant it seemed in comparison.
So that’s what he did, lived life with the hope of making it to the end of the day, ignoring the emptiness that tugged at him from every direction, reminding him of the promise he had made, reminding him of the partner he had lost.
Somewhere along the line, it became difficult for him and Taichi to look each other in the eye after that final battle. Agumon and Gabumon had taken with them the phase of their lives where they depended on each other for everything. From catching up twice or thrice a week, their meetups happened once a month until the two became busy enough to let their get-togethers fizzle out of their schedules and turned them into an occasional message or a short phone call every few months.
Sora had lost Piyomon not soon after, deciding that that was the moment she needed to discover herself anew, moving on to immerse herself in her job and eventually losing touch with most of them. Jou had been the next one to lose Gomamon, he showed up to Yamato’s apartment at 2 AM, crying uncontrollably. Yamato sat with him all night as he sobbed, holding his hand throughout as he held his own tears back. A few months back, Koushiro informed everyone that the timer had appeared for him as well, but so far it was moving slowly so Tentomon was still around. Takeru, Hikari and the other kids were still very much actively trying to work towards solving any Digimon related problems that arose around the world. His brother was sweet enough to not let Patamon tag along when he came by to visit until Yamato told him it was okay to do so.
As crazily as they had been dropped into the Digital World and gotten used to having their partners next to them at all times, eventually, they got used to their disappearance as well. Yamato knew that if he ran into his younger self right now, the little boy would find it hard to believe that he could live every day of his life normally, smiling and laughing, knowing that there was a chance that Gabumon would never appear at his side again. That was probably the only thought that tugged at him the most, every time the idea that he could no longer face his younger self confidently would appear in his mind, Yamato would find it very difficult to look at himself in the mirror.
But, life goes on, and so did Yamato.
Today, he was out socialising after classes with his college friends, the part of his routine that he was always least interested in but could never get out of either. Most of the time the group would go to small izakayas where Yamato would sit cramped between two people he didn’t like, sipping on beer as slowly as possible to avoid getting drunk in front of his classmates. Sometimes he’d be dragged to mixer parties, as much as he tried to say no to these, he was told that the girls would not show up if he didn’t so for the sake of keeping up a good relationship with his classmates he’d allow himself to be showcased as a prize in front of girls he had no interest in. Wanting to try something fresh and new, today his college friends had decided that they would go for karaoke. As Yamato had kept his singing hobby under wraps from this group, he wasn’t looking forward to the night at all but was somewhat relieved to see that only a handful of people joined this escapade.
He was a little proud of himself for managing to avoid taking the mic up for a solo, so far he’d only joined in on choruses when everyone else was singing loudly too, and no one had noticed his bare minimum participation yet. The escape plan became very clear in Yamato’s mind, he’d stand up and join the hype for the next song, then pretend to be tired enough to be excused for the night without suspicion. He tapped his fingers against his knees impatiently, waiting for the two loudest members of the group to come back from the restroom with the hope that they’d pick some loud, rowdy song next which would get everyone in the room worked up for no reason.
Right on queue, the door to their booth opened and for a brief moment the dimly lit room was filled with white light before the two guys shut the door, their loud laughter drowning out the low notes of the ballad currently playing.
“You guys won’t believe what we just saw-”
“It’s so crazy!”
“There’s a girl in the booth next to ours-”
“A really hot girl by the way!”
“And she’s crying her eyes out, it’s insane really.”
Their loud exclamations were met with an uncomfortable silence for a few moments, Yamato was relieved that not everyone in this group thought that a girl in distress was something to laugh about. But as the two boys settled down, a few chuckles and shrugs were passed around their group, dismissing the information as irrelevant as the beginning notes of a preppy song filled the room. Yamato tried not to squirm in his seat as he forced a smile and nodded along to the music, fighting down the suffocating feeling that was trying to overwhelm him. He had planned to stay for one more song but he decided that now would be a good time to escape to the restroom and then come back after a few minutes to take his leave.
Raising his voice to be heard over the boys who were singing, Yamato informed the person sitting next to him that he’d be right back and quietly slipped out of the booth. Once in the empty hallway, he took a deep breath and made his way towards the restrooms. He dawdled around the bathroom stalls, scrolling on his phone and counting down the minutes until he’d need to go back and join the group. Although he hadn’t done much except sit around and fake nod to music he didn’t like, Yamato figured that by the time he got home, he’d be exhausted to the bone.
Deciding that a good ten minutes were more than enough time to go back and make an excuse about not feeling well, Yamato left the restroom and began to make his way back to the booth. When he passed by the booth right next to theirs, his feet automatically came to a halt. He hadn’t peeked inside, he wasn’t rude like his classmates, but something in his heart told him to take a few steps back and see if everything was okay in there. He knew that he wasn’t the best at comforting people, especially when they were crying, but if the person in there really did seem like they were in trouble, then the least he could do was inform the staff so they could come handle it. With that thought in his mind, Yamato confidently took a step back, leaning his head to glance through the large, oval-shaped window in the door.
As Yamato’s eyes landed on the occupant of the booth, his breath got caught in his throat.
His classmates hadn’t lied, the girl sitting inside was indeed crying terribly.
And it just so happened to be that that girl was Mimi Tachikawa.
A million questions raced around Yamato’s mind, should he go in, should he let her be, should he call someone else for help? Takeru would know exactly what to say and Sora would know exactly what to do, but Yamato was neither so at first all he could do was stare at the sight of a completely broken Mimi, fists balled at his side and feet frozen to the ground. He tried to reassure himself, that he didn’t know what had gone wrong, that this could be something personal like an argument with a friend or family member, or perhaps a bad breakup, in which case he really wouldn’t have anything worthwhile to say. It might be best to leave this to the experts, Yamato decided, pulling out his phone to drop a text to Sora. The two hadn’t talked in months but he was sure she would respond immediately out of her concern for Mimi’s well-being. He took a final peek into the booth, just to make sure he’d get all the details right before contacting Sora, and that’s when he noticed it.
Mimi was sitting with her hands clasped above her lap, clutching onto something loosely as she wept uncontrollably. When he moved closer to the door, it didn’t take him even a second to recognise the object in her hand.
She was holding onto her digivice, which once used to be as bright as a clear sky but now lay rusted and lifeless in her hands.
Yamato swallowed a nervous gulp, finally understanding what he was witnessing.
He slipped his phone back into his pants pocket and without hesitation stepped forward, opening the door so he could quietly enter Mimi’s booth. The sound of her crying rose above the music playing in the background. First, Yamato picked up the controller so he could turn off the music, and while setting it back down he noticed the mic that lay on the sofa across from Mimi. He clenched his jaw as an image of Palmon holding the mic and sitting in that dim karaoke booth with Mimi flickered into his mind. He shook his head in an attempt to keep his own emotions at bay before he gently sat down next to Mimi.
She was yet to notice his appearance in the room, when he looked at her face he saw that her eyes were squeezed shut as tears endlessly flowed down across her flushed cheeks, and the sight of her looking so crushed made his heart feel heavy. Her crying voice was also not easy for him to stomach, he was used to her chirpy tone even her slightly high-pitched whiny retorts, but these loud, guttural sobs were something he’d never have associated with Mimi. Being so close to her in this vulnerable state made his own pain resurface. He’d mastered the art of pushing down the numb emptiness he felt in his heart, but now suddenly he could see Gabumon sitting next to Palmon on the sofa across from them.
Yamato closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
Now was not the time for him to be consumed by his own sadness, he was here to help Mimi get through this difficult moment.
With the feeble amount of courage that he could muster, he raised a hand and rested it softly on top of Mimi’s open palms. The effect was immediate, though she did not stop sobbing, Mimi did open her eyes wide as she turned to face him.
As surprised as she looked to find him next to her, when their eyes met it was as if everything that she had tried to hold back by herself burst out of her at once.
“She’s gone, she was right there and now she’s not, she’s gone- my best friend-”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
Yamato squeezed her hands as he tried to maintain eye contact with her without shedding a tear or two of his own. Mimi darted her head around, looking at where Palmon must’ve been sitting and then back at him, caramel eyes filled with tears and grief as she attempted to make sense of the truth.
“My best friend.”
Mimi repeated those words in a hollow tone and Yamato nodded in response, even though her gaze was focused on the empty spot at the sofa across from them.
He wasn’t sure how much time passed after that, he sat there holding onto Mimi’s hands, making sure that she knew that she wasn’t alone. Even if her tears never stopped flowing across her cheeks, or her sobs never stopped echoing across the room, Yamato didn’t leave her side for even a second. It was all he could do really, he thought about saying encouraging shit like ‘it’ll get better’ or ‘you’ll get through this’ but dropped the idea as soon as it appeared in his mind because he knew the truth, it doesn’t get better so easily and nobody gets through this without feeling incomplete.
Mimi didn’t speak much and only stared ahead of herself in a daze. Once in a while, she’d squeeze his hand, maybe in an attempt to let him know that she was still here. He didn’t know if she appreciated his silence, or even his presence, since they’d never been close enough to bare their true feelings in front of the other like this. But he did know that if he’d turned around and walked away after seeing her in such a broken state, he would never have forgiven himself for it.
Which is why Yamato sat silently, almost as if he was a statue, awaiting any kind of signal from Mimi that would let him know that she was okay enough to leave. But it was the karaoke employee speaking through the intercom to inform them that the room’s usage rate was fulfilled, that brought Yamato’s feet back to the ground. With gritted teeth and a hardened jaw, he coaxed Mimi into standing up from her seat. Her footing was wobbly so he allowed her to hold onto his arms for stability. Looking around the room to check they weren’t leaving any of Mimi’s belongings behind, Yamato gently guided her out of the room even as a fresh batch of tears came rolling down her cheeks as she gave one last glance in the direction of where Palmon had stood last.
He was grateful that the employees they passed on their way out did not seem to bat an eyelid at the odd sight the two of them made, but his luck only lasted for so long. Once out on the street, the two received peculiar looks from the passers-by, with most of them directed at Yamato since he’d draped a protective arm around Mimi’s shoulders to ensure she wouldn’t walk into a busy street in her daze. He knew, however, that they wouldn’t be able to get too far like this, without some well-meaning stranger stopping them and enquiring about why Mimi looked so distressed. Spotting a brightly lit convenience store a few steps ahead, Yamato quickly led them to it, hoping to reduce any suspicion towards him if he talked with her in an easily accessible location.
“Mimi, which way is your home?” He tried to ask the question calmly, he didn’t want to burden her with more tiresome thoughts but knowing where they were supposed to go would make this whole ordeal so much more easier on him.
“I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore,” she mumbled to herself, her eyes fixed on the pavement as she staggered for a moment before clutching onto his chest to keep herself standing straight.
“I can’t take you home if you don’t help me out here.” Yamato pleaded with her softly, hesitantly resting a hand on the small of her back to make sure she wouldn’t stumble again.
“I don’t care where you take me, it doesn’t matter anymore. Nothing matters anymore.”
Mimi spoke in a voice that was barely above a whisper before she leaned her head against his chest and let her body go limp. While Yamato understood that the whole situation had drained her of all her strength, he’d still hoped that she would be able to stay upright till they reached her house. Instead, he was left having to get her on his back all by himself in the corner of a street without looking suspicious.
With great difficulty and after a few awkward eye contacts with passing strangers, Yamato managed to get Mimi safely tucked onto his back and began to make his way towards his apartment, which thankfully wasn’t a long walk from the neighbourhood they were in. He wasn’t sure if he should inform anyone that he was taking Mimi back to his place since she was in no state to get herself home safely because he had no clue if she still lived with her parents. He thought about checking with Takeru, but the whole conversation that that one question would lead to was something Yamato didn’t have any energy for presently.
So with the occasional huff and a few rest stops, Yamato managed to carry Mimi safely back to his small apartment. Once inside, he made straight for his room, glad about his neat freak tendencies since he could just lay Mimi down on his bed without a single worry. He tried his best to settle her on the mattress comfortably, arranging pillows behind her head, taking off her shoes delicately, and covering her with as many blankets as he could find. During all this, Mimi didn’t even flinch once, which in a way was a blessing since it made things less embarrassing.
After he was done bubble-wrapping her into comfort, Yamato glanced at her face. She looked like she had passed out from exhaustion, which was probably the case anyway. Her eyes were swollen, her cheeks were tearstained and tinted pink, the tip of her nose was as red as a tomato, her lips were swollen too from being bitten at carelessly, and her hair lay dishevelled around her face, in other words, she looked like a complete mess.
Yet, the sight of her ignited something inside of Yamato.
He stood there for a few minutes, just staring at her.
He vaguely remembered the first time they’d met at school, he hadn’t paid her much attention at the time. It was only when they went to the Digital World, had he started to notice her.
He’d always liked how easily she managed to gel with Takeru, the youngest one in the group at first, and how she always spoke to him as a friend on the same level, not as somebody older who was trying to assert themselves onto him, something Yamato himself was guilty of at many occasions. He’d always liked how much she cared about everything and everyone, so much so that sometimes those feelings spilt into impulsive or brash actions, but her intentions always remained pure and he’d always noticed that.
There was no denying, that the two had drifted slightly apart as they grew older, with Mimi moving to America and only visiting them once in a while. He always found it difficult to strike up a conversation with her when she’d come back from the States, he felt that nothing about his life here would interest her much in comparison. After they graduated from high school, she did try her best to stay in touch with each of their friends individually, sometimes Yamato would receive a message at midnight asking him about how his day had gone, which always threw him off guard. Lately, he had been lacking in responding to even the shortest questions she sent in, but that hadn’t stopped her from trying.
Now that he stood in his room, watching her chest rise and fall in a slow, tired rhythm, he regretted putting off replying to her messages. Maybe if he’d kept in touch regularly, he might have known about her time with Palmon being limited. Not that knowing about this could have prepared him any better for handling the situation, but still, at least she would’ve known that she could count on him to get through this.
Instinctively, Yamato's hand reached forward and he brushed a few strands of her hair away from her forehead, leaning his face down so he could get a better look at hers.
It would be a while before he’d be able to forget the sight of her sobbing alone in that dimly lit karaoke booth, but he still hoped that tomorrow when she woke up, her face would have the budding hints of her usual brightness, because he really could do with some sunshine and happy smiles in his life.
Shaking his head at the ridiculous thought, Yamato walked out of his room, quietly shutting the door behind him. He eyed his cramped couch with contempt before sighing in defeat as he didn’t have a choice. He tried to rearrange the two cushions on the couch into a headrest for himself, however before he could lie down, a flicker at the corner of his eye caught his attention. Yamato surveyed his living room carefully, trying to find the object that had disrupted his concentration but nothing stood out for a while. After a few minutes, just as he was about to give up on the idea of finding anything, he saw a flicker of light on the shelf that took over the opposite side of his living room.
Abandoning the couch, Yamato stepped closer to the shelf as the light appeared for a brief moment before disappearing again. The shelf wasn’t cluttered, there were a few photo frames with his family and friends featured on them, some books and a succulent or two. The light had appeared in the centre, so that’s the direction he leaned closer in. In the middle of the shelf was the photo of him and the other kids from their very first adventure into the Digital World, next to it was the harmonica his father had gifted him that summer along with his battered and broken digivice. Not even one of these items was capable of making the light he’d witnessed, Yamato thought, maybe it was just a trick the nightlights from outside the window had played on his eyes. But just as this thought appeared in his mind, it happened once more, and this time he was able to witness the source.
Yamato had kept his digivice out in the open like this because he knew that it was nothing but a piece of memorabilia for him now. The digivice had laid unresponsive on this shelf since the day Gabumon had departed.
And yet, tonight was different.
The minute Yamato fixed his gaze on it, the digivice lit up intensely in a shade that he knew was not meant to represent either him or Gabumon.
Yamato stood frozen in his living room, eyes wide with shock as a bright green glow surrounded his digivice.
Slowly, the light around the digivice dimmed, but to Yamato’s surprise, the digivice that had been lying rusted for days now looked as alive as ever, the only catch?
It had turned completely green.
- x -
#mimatoweek2023#mimato week#mimato#yamato ishida#mimi tachikawa#digimon#digimon fanfiction#writealot#sorry im sleepy af#no more tags#im out for day 1#day 2 will be tackled tomorrow
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Chapter 2: Guilty🍒
✨(TW: Kidnapping, Suicide, mention of SA) ✨
An irritating white light woke you up from your slumber. The first thing you feel is soft. You feel like lying on multiple cushions. You lazily open your eyes, adjusting to the light, trying to get a grip of what’s going on. The last thing you remember was you walking back home. Your limbs feel heavy and your entire body feel sore like you have been throw all over the wall. You groans as you slowly get up then you felt it, your entire body is in some sort of restrain that is connected to the ceiling. The 3 walls and the floor is cover in cushions seemly to protect you. You look in front of you into the black void. You can’t make out what’s beyond the darkness but you sense that someone is definitely there. Something sinister.
“Did you have your beauty sleep?” a voice of a man emerges from the dark.
You instinctively back away from the dark, shifting back until the hit the soft cushion wall. The owner of the voice emerge from the dark and your stomach drops.
“N-Norman?”
“You remember my name. Good. There’s no need for introductions then.” His blurry white eyes stare off to the distance
You wish he could see the fear in your eyes and feel an ounce of mercy for what ever he is about to do next.
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t kill her.” You try to sound strong, but your quivering voice didn’t convince him enough.
“No, you didn’t, but you could have prevented it.” His face shows no expression, but you can see annoyance and anger in his tone.
He was right, you should have just tell the truth to the judge. You should have refused that money Alice parents offered. You should have just called the cab no matter how Cindy scream or cried. You have no rights to talk right now, but you didn’t kill Evelyn.
“I-I understand, she killed her and you wanted her to pay. I get it.” You try to reason with him but all hopes are dragged down with his next words.
“You understand nothing. Only a parent knows the bond between a father and his child. Cindy, she should have gone to prison but rich girls don’t go to jail.” What he said is right. In a society like this, rich people like Cindy can do what ever they want and get away with it. You get it but why should you pay for the mess Cindy did?
“Why did I get kidnap, why not Cindy?”
“Cindy is dead.” The silence after those three words is enough to show how you feel. You can’t believe it, that’s why you didn’t see a sight of her during these past days. Did he kill her?
“She hanged herself a few days after the trail. It seems she couldn’t handle the guilt.”
This isn’t right, Cindy isn’t the type of person to kill herself. Yes, what she did was horrible, but you know Cindy. She doesn’t feel sorry enough for anything to kill herself.
“You may not be behind the steering wheel but you are as guilty as one and you know that.” You sob uncontrollably, fearing for the worst. Will he torture me for Cindy’s sins? Will death be more merciful than what’s about to come?
“You took my child, it’s only fair if you give me a new one.” Norman said as he approached you from the dark.
His face is now clearly shown under the white light. Half of his face is covered in scars. He sat in front of you, staring directly at you as if he’s looking straight into your soul.
“No, NO you can’t please. You can’t do this. I’ve never- “
“I am not a rapist; I won’t violate you.” His voice is stern but hoarse.
“I will free you to go back to your live after 9 months after you give me a child. I am a patient man, I will wait until you accept these terms. Until then, you will stay in this basement.”
He stood up and left but before he disappear from your vision he said, “You’re young, strong, you will breed well.”
You are hit with realization, fulling understanding the weight of the matter. You can’t, you won’t. You don’t want to have a child with a monster.
“Noooooo.”
You screams in the dark cellar, the cry and pleads for help dies down in to the dark. You need to get out. You Must get out.
(Thank you so much for reading this monstrosity and yes I will post further chapters depending on how my previous works do. Make sure to drop a like if u like this post and my apologies if there's any grammar errors. Here's chapter 1🍒✨🍒✨🍒✨🍒✨🍒✨🍒✨🍒
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Jamils darkside
A potion accident leads the Mc to see the inside of Jamil's head. Shortly after the events of book 4. There's still remnants of the blott.
At this point mc really needed to ask crewel to not do so many dream based potions or things that could show a more vulnerable side of their classmates. It was the second week back learning after the winter break. Todays class was a special first and second year work day. To create a “dream walker” potion. Then to do class discussion in a dream world to ensure they had all the time they needed to go over the different effected etc.
As always with the poor prefects luck, things didn’t go to well due to their troublesome cat companion. Grim grew bored and let his minion take care of their potion with the scarabia vice dorm leader. But grim hated being still and surrounded by strong smells. But one scent did catch his attention. So as Jamil was carefully adding a few drops of mind root concentrate, grim leaped and reached into jamils coat pocket. He pulled out a small bag of spicy homemade chips with a victorious “ah-ha!”. Unfortunetly his victory was short lived as Jamil was lurched forward by grims weight suddenly on his front. He spilled a large amount of the consent rate and glared down at grim. He looked over to the mc and back down to the potion. Nothing started to happen luckily. Jamil just growled and kicked grim as he scurried away from both of the students.
They continued as if nothing had happened. The potion ended a much deeper blue than the other potions around them but other than that it seemed fine. They both should have known better than to assume a bit of an extra ingredient in a potion wouldn’t do anything. The class all summoned some soft chairs or pillows or blankets and drank their potion together at crewels command. The class quickly fell into a deep sleep and arrived in a shared dream space for discussion. All except for 2 students.
They both found themselves in what seemed to be a dark void. Mc groaned as a spotlight was casted on Jamil. “Oh no not again… sorry Jamil. Looks like we’ve got a musical number here.” They said remembering the incident with riddle a while ago.
“what do you mean musical number??” Jamil looked downright flabbergasted at the idea of singing at a time like this. “We should try to wake ourselves up. We failed to connect with the other group.” He said. Trying to focus on feeling his body to try and wake up.
“we will wake up after it’s over.” Mc said now sitting on the “ground” Jamil started to walk over to them with a deep frown at how nonchalant they were being. Suddenly he felt his limbs freeze and his mind cloud a bit as he started to sway to some dark drums and a deep growling voice that started to play.
“Do you want to meet all my monsters?
Think you're tough, I know they'll drive you bonkers
Meet them once and they'll forever haunt ya" He started to sing different images of shadows and jealousy moving in and out of the darkness around the two. Mc watched on, realizing this was going to be going deep into jamils darker, hidden thoughts.
"There's no heroes or villains in this place" He motioned toward his overblotted self as he sat on a throne and how he was cast down.
"Just shadows that dance in my headspace
Leaving nothing but phantoms in their wake (their wake)" He disappears as the blot phantom takes his place. Mc looks around worriedly.
"There's parts of me I cannot hide (cannot hide)" Jamil in his overblot form appears next to them and grabs their chin as he makes them turn toward him.
"I've tried and tried a million times (ooh)" he smirks down at them as they try to break away from his grasp. They look to his eyes for a moment and they find themselves dancing like a puppet and singing as he laughs in front of them.
La-da-da-di-da
La-da-da-di-da
La-da-da-di-da-da
"Cross my heart and hope to die
Welcome to my darkside" He sang as he released his hold on them, Mc reached out to jamil trying to get him back to normal but without magic, there wasn't much they could do. He elegantly danced around them as he sang, like a snake wrapping around his prey. His voice echoes around the two.
"to my da-da-darkside
Ooh, to my da-da-darkside
Ooh, to my da-da-darkside
Ooh, to my da-da-darkside"
"Take a step into the havoc" They find themselves in the scarabia dorm, with the dorm students yelling at Kalim and Jamil.
"Look around, this ain't even the half of it!" the kitchens burnt and there's garbage and confetti everywhere.
"Walking the line between panic and losing my mind" He pulls on his hair and grips the side of his face.
"Embracing the madness" His eye ignites as his hair curls back into the snakes.
"My devils they whisper in my ear" The phantom looms close to jamils head as its viscus ink drips onto Jamils shoulder.
"Deafening me with all my fears" The phantom creates puppets of his parents berating him on his shoulders.
"I'm living in a nightmare!" He screamed.
"There's parts of me I cannot hide" Jamil is normal again but looking down at a broken dish on the floor his hands trembling.
"I've tried and tried a million times (million times)" Images of good grades are burned, and a few other things are swept under a rug.
La-da-da-di-da
La-da-da-di-da
La-da-da-di-da-da
Jamil is now further away from Mc, looking over the edge of a balcony. as a faint voice continues the music.
"Cross my heart and hope to die
Welcome to my darkside" He starts to tip over the edge as the words come from his mouth. Mc reaches out and the world fractures around them like a broken mirror.
Ooh, to my da-da-darkside
Ooh, to my da-da-darkside
Ooh, to my da-da-darkside
Ooh, to my da-da-darkside
Images of A knife being thrown, Jamil crying in a corner, many dark figures glaring down at them, and many more flashed around them as the voice along with jamils voice continued to sing.
Darkside
Cross my heart and hope to die
Welcome to my darkside
Despite falling through horrible fears and doubts Mc didn't stop trying to reach Jamil. Knowing that getting to him was going to be the only way to help him out of this mess. They even noticed the dark presence of blott around them as they continued through the different mirror fragments.
Ooh, to my da-da-darkside
Ooh, to my da-da-darkside (to my darkside)
Ooh, to my da-da-darkside (to my darkside)
Ooh, to my da-da-darkside
They Finaly were able to wrap their arms around Jamil as they both plummeted over the edge into the darkness of a sea of blott. (welcome to my darkside)
#twst#twisted wonderland#my stuff#my writing#twst x reader#twst parody#parody#twisted wonderland mc#hehehe!#clifhanger kinda ending!#this was good to finaly get done#jeez this has been a whip for months!#glad I finaly got all the song stuff done!#hope you like it!#this ended up more about the dark thoughts Jamil was still struggling with#but hey those feelings didnt go away#not when he had to be a servant once more with school starting up again#he goes to therapy shortly after this incident#he and Mc realised he needed it.#Jamil#jamil viper#jamil x reader
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WAKE UP BABES YOUR NEW FAVORITE KNY CHARACTERS JUST DROPPED
Half-baked backstory below the cut !
Sakuya✨🌸
Star breather, dual wields two Nichirin that can connect into a long staff. Energetic, reckless, kind but extremely stubborn, thinks she’s really funny but literally isnt.
Met Natsuki at final selection and barely made it through thanks to his help.
Began training in first aid/Kakushi work at the Kocho sisters’ house for wayward girls (very bad at it due to natural inability to follow directions/listen/not make trouble)
That came to an end after Kanae was killed, she wanted to fight for revenge so was paired with Natsuki (Tomioka’s first attempt at mentoring/taking a tsuguko (didn’t work)(made them both weirder))on a mission where she discovered kind of on accident that she could star breathe
Given to Tengen for Tsuguko training 1. Because she is also a dual wielder and he requested and 2. because if she broke one more thing at the butterfly mansion Shinobu and Aoi were going to go insane
Grew close with Natsuki because they were assigned to multiple missions together because 1. Tengen kept volunteering her because he was ALSO going to go insane if Sakuya didn’t learn to grow some fucking responsibility and later 2. Because Tengen found it INCREDIBLY funny that Giyuu’s tsuguko had a crush on his
On a mission that could have made them both Hashira, Natsuki was turned into a demon by Kokushibo. Devastated, Sakuya was unable to slay either of them and later quit her training despite Tengen’s insistence she stay and went back to kakushi work/rogue slaying. Like, kakushi by day and slayer by night. Ig
She has run into Natsuki (now a demon) several times and neither can manage to kill the other so they end up weird half secret friends ?
Natsuki 🌌
Void breather—>Demon. Extremely shy, thoughtful, intelligent and determined but insecure and prone to overthinking. As a demon, superiority complex, hates both humans and other demons, almost feral. Wields a [REDACTED because Cam hasn’t decided yet lmfao]
Self taught with his own breathing style because he tried literally every other one and nothing worked. He had to work extremely hard and do almost everything the hard way to finally make it to final selection. Considers himself to be a naturally unlucky person.
Became Giyuu’s tsuguko because the Master saw something special in him (maybe the fact that he invented void breathing lol) and thought their personalities would mesh, but also that it would be easy for Giyuu because he and Natsuki were fairly similar in age.
They do mesh! But Natsuki is functionally mute so. Um. He learns a lot from Giyuu like sword wise but not so much …socially.
Despite feeling like the odd one out/a fish out of water because his friend Sakuya already knows all of the Hashira due to her learning from Shinobu, and he can barely manage to speak to his own mentor, he gains power and skill extremely quickly because he’s extremely determined and just wants to work hard.
EXTREMELY shy and finds himself disappearing into the background, except to Sakuya, who initially believes he doesn’t like her and makes it her mission to get him to
(He did like her he just sucks at saying it)
(He is completely in love with her and Sakuya, known dumbass, is oblivious)
He opens up to her on their missions and tries to protect her both out of love and out of a sense of ‘paying her back’ for the many, MANY times her medical training has saved his ass. They bond over their as of yet undetermined tragic backstories.
After being turned into a demon he retains next to nothing about his former life but is captivated by the times he sees Sakuya from a distance. The closer he gets the more he remembers so he finds himself seeking her out.
I’m going to start going through my ideas for Star and Void breathing because they’re cool as hell and I want to make move names !!! Also I haven’t made a self insert since LITERALLY 2011 so. Turns out it’s really fun cool and based and everyone should do it always
#I alllmost went with a bow and arrow for Sakuya because the shooting star imagery was just too good but#then I remembered my last self insert was a dual wielder#because I watched Zuko be a dual wielder as a 9 year old and it changed me forever#so dual wielder it is#idk what their like. before demon slayer backstories are yet#but surely they are going to be..! sad#my stuff#Rose’s OCs#oc: sakuya#oc: Natsuki#kny#kny oc
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going on “hiatus”
for those who didn’t already know, I accidentally killed two of my external hard drives (one of which contains all my show videos I’ve collected over years and the other all my PSDs) a couple of weeks ago and I haven’t been giffing since then. (any sets I’ve posted between then and now were sets I’d done waaaayy back and were just waiting in my drafts)
the good news: I managed to recover my lost data. the bad news: I’ve spent nearly 1.5k in local currency to recover said data and get new drives. the even worse news: the new external hard drive all the recovered data is on can only be read on a windows... and I use a mac.
SO. I am currently trying to very painfully transfer my data (all 2-3+ TB of it) into other new external hard drives that my mac can actually read, after which I would have to check that everything is transferred and reformat the original hard drive (ugh).
AND. I am currently off in thailand for nearly two weeks.
ALTERNATIVELY. (which seems like the more likely option now since I just spent one entire day transferring not even half of 1TB of data only for the internet to drop and lose all my fucking progress) go back to the data recovery centre and get them to transfer my data to a mac-compatible drive and throw more money at them.
all of which mean that I will be too busy worrying my ass off over my data during my supposed vacation and will have no time to make gifs at all for at least a couple of weeks, which I absolutely hate myself for because I’ve been making gifs continuously since I started in january 2020 and I have been running on a very constant 3-4 gifs per week schedule since I started. and which also means the schedule I have of gifs which extends to january 2023 (yes I plan way in advance what gifs I want to make lkadlkfkl) will probably need to be pushed back 2-3 weeks and I. hate. myself. for. that. *flings self off a cliff*
so I’ll be going on a “hiatus”. in inverted commas because I’ll still be here, queueing posts and stuff. also in inverted commas because people out there be going on hiatus for months but this dramatic ass be calling it hiatus for 2-3 weeks (but this is the longest pause I’ve taken from making a single gif since I started this whole shitty business so I’m calling it a hiatus). I won’t be posting any new gifsets or edits for the next 2-3 weeks. instead, I’ve selected 16 of my past sets (it pained me to just choose 16) that I really love and enjoyed making and will be self-reblogging 1-2 per day - as a reminder to the lovely folks here that I still exist and have not disappeared into a void and as a reminder to myself that this is why I’m pouring so much effort into recovering my lost PSDs and videos; these are files that I spent so much research and time into making, it would kill me to lose them just because I was enough of a clown to swipe my external hard drives off my desk
#*ramblings#honestly no words can describe#how fucking pissed i am with myself right now#i'm spending nearly or more than sgd 1.5k on this fucking nonsense#i've been running 2 laptops and 2 hard drives non-stop for more than 24h#AND FOR WHAT
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[ oliver jackson-cohen, 37, cis man, he/him ] Welcome to Antioch, OWEN CALDWELL! Local sources report that you’ve been in town for 1 year and are known to be INNOVATIVE yet RESENTFUL. Others have dredged up rumors that you’re UNAFFILIATED, but most know you for your work as a PROPRIETOR at ON THE ROAD INN. We’ll see you around town soon!
Character Name: Owen Caldwell
Nickname (s): N/A ( give him one )
Face Claim: Oliver Jackson-Cohen
Birthday: September 1, 1987
Place of birth: Antioch, Oregon
Zodiac: Virgo
Occupation: On the Road Inn
MBTI: ENTJ, the Commander
Moral Alignment: Chaotic neutral
Occupation: Semi-reluctant Proprietor of On the Road Inn
Place of work: On the Road Inn
Subplot affiliation: Unaffiliated
3 positive traits: Compassionate, flexible, innovative
3 negative traits: Anxious, forgetful, resentful
Languages: English & ASL
Love language: Acts of service & physical touch
BIOGRAPHY .
Antioch born and raised, Owen used to be a bit of a hellion back in the day. Always thought he was too big for the city and aspired to chase fame and fortune.
Owen moved to New York the second he was able to ( sort of ) afford to. Even climbed to the top of some hoity toity corporation. Lost contact with most of his family ( he's just so busy all the time ), and almost fell off with most of his friends back at home. Definitely made new ones, though. Ever the social maverick, it was almost a relief to forget his old life and fully integrate himself with the new.
It's the same relief that quickly warped into guilt when news of his parent's passing hit. Both of them gone in a blink of an eye from a DUI incident. The move back home happened just as sudden as that horrible phone call. He migrated to Antioch, seemingly dropping out of existence to those in New York. Barely any warning besides his immediate resignation and he's back in what used to be a familiar house.
Suddenly cast into a void of hurt, Owen was left with funeral arrangements and a plethora of loose ends. It took a while, lots of fumbling around, but the legal mess finally came to a neat enough close. Now, he's here. Manning a business of hospitality he once raced through the lens of youth. Off balanced and disquieted by the wrench that mangled his previous future.
MISC INFO .
Always been a social drinker ( hard not to when schmoozing his way into higher positions ), but swore off all alcohol after his parents passed. Might’ve never realized how close he’d been to alcoholism and the resurfacing thought leaves a sour taste in his mouth.
Picked up ASL out of boredom at first, really. Then it clicked how useful it can be to further his career. Eventually became an additional bonus of being able to communicate with acquaintances and friends before he, well, upped and disappeared.
CONNECTIONS .
Wanted Connection #1: Childhood best friend — As mentioned before, Owen lost contact with most of his friends from Antioch except this one. Though contact was sparse, they're usually the first to know 'what's new'. Definitely the only one to know how horribly his world crumbled when his parents passed / the decision to move back home and take over the family business.
Wanted Connection #2: Regular — Frequent traveler, Antioch native that just needs time away — whatever the reason is, renting a room out of On the Road happens like clockwork. Could've started before or after Owen's ownership. Though if it happened before, there'll be the addition of lingering grief included.
Wanted Connection #3: Support group goers — Felt like pulling teeth to get himself acquainted with group therapy for grief, but he finally caved. His attendance isn't perfect ( sometimes intentionally ), but it's been an ongoing goal to at least try.
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Made a lmk sona/oc finally >:] Their name is Void and they r so very silly 2 me <33
Dropping their backstory + info under the readmore
Okay so. Mk was having a nice time in his apartment, having a wonderful dream bc he was asleep, when he was woken up by a sudden CRASH. He woke up, looked at the weird shadow clone of himself, took a deep breath, and decided to lay back down for a few minutes. Meanwhile the shadow clone is still messing wt his stuff.
Finally, he gets up, drags the clone down to Pigsy's, and calls Monkie King. The clone kinda just sits there while Mk and Monkie King (who was there in like 5 seconds) start debating what to do. Monkie King suggests getting Macaque (who's name the clone repeats) and Mk agrees (much to Pigsy's dismay, but hey, it's either that or let the weird clone hang around.)
Wukong went off to find Macaque while Mk started to mess around with the clone. It kept repeating random words and copying several of his actions. Piggy thought he should leave it alone but Mk ignored him.
After like 20 minutes, Macaque, already knowing abt the clone (he saw it while shadow traveling and thought it was weird,) came in with Wukong and was basically like "I have no clue what that is but it's definitely some sort of shadow thing. Mk did you accidentally make a shadow clone bc that's my thing usually not Wukong's.
Mk confirmed he didn't, and they started to debate what it was. Somehow, Macaque and Wukong started fighting, and Mk tried to calm things down. The more upset Mk got, the more agitated the clone got, with only Pigsy noticing. He only managed to get their attention after the clone began to screech, before dipping into the shadows and disappearing.
Everyone began to panic, except Macaque, who quickly followed and found the clone close by, outside in an alley. He tried to bring it back inside but it instead began to fight, summoning its own shadow version of Mk's staff.
The others rushed out at the noise, and the fight began. The clone kept targeting Monkie King and Macaque, while completely avoiding Mk. Finally, the fight ends after the clone dips into the shadows one too many times, and begins to "dissolve." They leave, leaving the gang to wonder what that even was.
After several months and other, more pressing issues (aka multiple demon attacks,) they mostly forgot about the clone. Until, one day, a kid looking oddly like Mk walks into Pigsy's. They introduce themself as Void, Mk's shadow. They explained that they weren't exactly sure what they were, just that they were born from the shadows, and was specifically connected to Mk, as they could feel certain bits of what he felt. (Both physical pain and emotional pain)
They explained that they had spent months watching and learning from the world, teaching themself to speak and changing their appearance so they were no longer a clone, and instead their own person. They apologized for the previous fight, stating that Mk getting upset had filtered to them, and they didn't know how to cope with the sudden emotion, as they'd never felt anything like it, being born literally an hour before.
Mk was ecstatic, and decided to drag them around town so they could experience it outside of the shadows, also inviting Mei. The trip went mostly okay, though Void did have to stop the trip early because they were getting overwhelmed by the new sensations. They became friends with the others, and Void now shows up every once in a while to help or just to visit.
Other facts, now that I'm done wt the backstory lmao.
They can't shadow travel for long or often. It's kinda like a drop of water in the sea; they're a shadow, and if they stay too long, the shadows will consume them and make them a part of it yet again.
that's why they started to dissolve after the traveling too many times during the fight.
That being said, they still have to every once in a while. They'll feel sick if they don't.
While the sun doesn't harm them, it will make them feel exhausted after a bit.
They feel everything Mk feels, though not as extreme, and they can usually tell which are his and which are theirs.
That being said, when Mk had the whole thing with his monkie form? They couldn't control their own form, it was terrifying. They were lucky they were alone in a forest outside the city at the time, because they were completely out of it.
They based their look off of various things they found in the city, such as clothes they saw in stores or colors they saw that looked nice. They kept Mk's headband and based their hair partially on Macaque and Wukong's.
They can't change their base form in any way Mk can't. They ended out wearing a binder, just like Mk does.
They don't know what a gender is.
They have an identity crisis every other week.
They keep trying to separate themself from Mk, but demons keep mistaking the two and it really doesn't help the identity thing.
When they were first learning to speak, they stuttered over words and spoke formal. As they got used to speaking, they became more leaned back and used more slang.
#Lmk#Lmk oc#Lmk mk#Not tagging the other characters bc I don't think they're there enough to validate it#squid's scribbles#Void oc#< gonna tag them as that ig
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Submas/PLA Fic: Electric Trains are the Future Chapter 1 - Koraidoning into Hope
Current Chapter - Next Chapter (2)
I finally am writing and posting the large fic I’ve been mentioning all month, and so Chapter 1 is posted!
This fic was inspired by a post from @fluorescent-air-fresheners with the specific post in the fic itself.
Summary: Akari attempts to summon Ingo's forgotten brother from the future, and finds that plucking people from time is much harder than anticipated. Ingo finds himself altering course with Akari's newest attempts at help, and conducting personal safety checks with the new visitor. Elesa is ecstatic to find her second favorite conductor (the other one never disappeared on her, no he didn't), but now worries on how to get home. And Emmet has lost someone once again.
Word Count (Ch. 1): 2057
Read it here or on AO3! I’ll be cross-posting the chapters, though once I get more post, binge reading will be best on AO3.
Bright lights, loud voices, and sudden sounds were par for the course for Elesa’s life. Between an electrifying rise from challenger to Gym Leader, and her glass shattering debut on the catwalk a few years after her initial Gym challenge, and her two beloved twins building their dream under Nimbasa, it was all normal to her.
On the catwalk, the spotlights came down upon her. The bright lights, the attention. As she dropped her outer coat to show off her new outfit. The loud voices, the crowd. Then the air cannons lining the catwalk, shooting confetti into the air. The sudden noises, the flair.
Wai-
The air around her crackles with lightning, swirling around her and above her. Bright lights, ethereal… Screams filled the air, some calling for her, some calling others away, some asking if it was part of the show. Loud voices, panicked… The sound of glass shattering as Elesa watched the world itself break into a void. Sudden noises.
Danger.
She was instantly pulled through.
It wasn’t a long fall, but landing on her butt was enough to drop her flat on her back, no air in her lungs for a moment. She was on sand, from what she could grasp with her hand, which meant she was going to need to wash her hair out three or four times in the shower, and this new coat, as fluffy and warm as it was, was fucking ruined. ‘ What a Magikarp of a day, ’ she thought to herself, sitting up and rubbing forehead to clear a growing headache.
「ギラティナ に 頼めば よかった...(1)」Oh, she spoke in Kantonian, so tha- Wait. Giratina? What was this person saying abou-
Holy Carp.
A teenage girl stood in front of her, dressed in a blue uniform of some kind, sweating nervously and looking like she just got caught stealing from her parents. But that wasn’t what killed her train of thought. This girl had DIALGA and PALKIA standing behind her, also looking like they were caught stealing from their parents (Arceus? Bah, she’s not a theologist). Palkia even looked away, almost sheepishly, and scratched at its chin.
“Hold up,” Elesa finally manages to sputter out. “What just happened? Where am I?” The question seemed to snap the girl in front of her to attention, with her focusing on Elesa now.
「は？ガラル？(2)」She pauses for a moment, trying to think before speaking back up. “I should have expected someone from Galar, he talks just like the professor.” She shakes her head and shakes both of her fists in front of her like a kid who is trying to cheer a friend up. Was this kid trying to cheer her up?
“Hold up, stop, please,” Elesa begs as she stands up, rubbing her temples to fight off the headache. “First, I’m from Unova,” that elicited a soft ohhh from the girl, “and secondly, who talks like the professor,” the girl raises a hand to speak before Elesa cuts her off to finish, “and third, why the Muk am I here?!”
The girl looks down at her shoes in dejection, and Elesa can’t help but feel a little bad for starting to lose her cool. “Ok, also, who are you, mystery girl who kidnaps people with the help of literal gods?” She glances back up at Dialga and Palkia, who were trying to listen in and quickly turned away from her glare. At least they had the decency to look at least a little ashamed the entire time she was looking at them.
It takes the girl only a second to perk back up, waving politely to her kidnapping victim. “Hi, my name is Akari! I was using these two,” she says, not even pausing her speech as she points up at Dialga and Palkia, who, Elesa wants to remind her, are gods, “to look for my Uncle’s brother! At least, I think it's his brother. I, uh, accidentally got you, because you might have been nearby? Sorry?”
This girl was going to be the death of her. Elesa grabs the side of her head and grips it, ruffling her own hair in the process. “And why on earth do you think someone from Unova sounds like someone from Galar? Our accents aren’t anything alike, like, c’mon! I say Tuesday, not Chewsday!”
Akari doesn’t know why she’s making this point, and neither does Elesa. “Laventon does not say Chewsday! No one says either, we don’t speak Galarian, I only learned it in school!” She throws her hands into the air and stomps around a bit, her pet legendaries backing up to give her space. “All I know is that Laventon is from Galar, and Uncle Ingo talks like him, and”
Akari honestly kept ranting for a few moments, but Elesa stopped listening. She said her Uncle Ingo. She was trying to get his brother, and got her instead. This girl was trying to steal Emmet?
Elesa steps forward and grabs Akari by the shoulders, stopping her in place. “Stop. Ingo. Wears black, frowns all the time and never smiles properly, really loud? Am I right?” Akari quietly nods, smiling. Elesa lets go to put her hands in front of her face, then turns to walk onto the grass to keep herself stable in these heels. “Me and Emmet have been looking for Ingo for 3 years, and he’s here in… Where are we, even?!”
“Oh, that’s easy! We’re in Hisui!”
“That explains nothing. What is Hisui? You were speaking Kantonian, so is it in that area? I know they tend to teach Galarian around there, too.”
That seemed to have killed Akari’s smile, and she scratches at her cheek a bit as she looks away. “It’s Sinnoh? And roughly around, I think 1870? Give or take a few years?” Elesa can feel her face pale at that. That confirms Emmet’s theory that he was sent to the past.
Who knew that the joke that the three had shared of Ingo being an old soul because of that old Sinnoh guy they read about on Bulbapedia was correct.
Akari seemed to take Elesa pausing as shock, considering she quickly went into a flurry of motion and speech. “But don’t worry! I think I can send you back, I just gotta have Dialga and Palkia open another rift, and hopefully you won’t even be gone for long, and-”
“Take me to Ingo.”
Akari froze in place, and then smiled wide and pumped her fists excitedly. “So you do know him, awesome!” She returns her Legendaries to their Pokeballs, and starts walking backwards away from the beach. “He’s actually in Jubilife right now, but, oh, wait, do you know Kantonian? We’ve been speaking Galarian, but it’s mostly just Laventon and Ingo and I think Kamado that speak it, but I can translate for you!”
Elesa starts power walking after the girl, silently cursing both the heels she was wearing, and that her Kantonian was actually pretty rusty. The twin’s mother used to keep her up on it, but they haven’t been gossiping as much recently. It takes a moment for her to turn the cogs in her head before responding to the girl in Kantonian. “I am a bit rusted, but I do know it.”
Akari’s eyes light up and her speech starts racing now that she is using her native language, causing Elesa to struggle to keep up with her words, let alone her actual pace. “Perfect! Ingo has the same accent now that I think about it, so it makes sense that the two of you are from the same area. So, what is the place he’s from like? He still doesn’t really remember anything, even after all of our battles!”
Doesn’t really remember?
“Wait, he doesn’t remember anything?” Elesa says, kicking her heels off and running up after Akari, ignoring the occasional rock digging into her feet. “My Ingy doesn’t remember me, or Emmet, or his parents? His subway ?” She brings up her hand and bites her thumb knuckle in worry. If Ingo didn’t remember his beloved trains, then he really didn’t have anything in his memory banks at all.
“I mean, he has the metaphors? But he definitely had to be explained what a train was by Laventon one time,” Akari says, slowing down so that Elesa doesn’t have to rush, “and then he started rattling off facts about the trains that Laventon was telling him about.” Hearing that did ease the fear in Elesa’s mind, though it still left her worried.
After all, hearing that your boyfriend has no recollection of you not only hurts, but makes explaining the whole polycule web much more complicated.
The pair wind through a small village full of wooden houses, which fits the timeframe that Akari told her. After all, this is less than a decade after the Log Cabin Champion in Unova, apparently. Akari was talking the entire way, but Elesa honestly was tuning her out. She seemed like a good kid, excitable and apparently impulsive, but she cares for Ingo, and that’s enough for Elesa to want to give her a chance.
The pair passed by some farmland, with several of the villagers pausing to look at and gossip about Elesa. She’s used to this, she can deal with the aftermath later, they can’t be worse than the paparazzi. As they cross the bridge, she can see him. After 3 years, he still has the coat and the cap, so it wasn't hard to see him, even if he was slouching like an emo kid in high school.
Akari calls out to Ingo, who seems to be mid-conversation with a tall woman with red hair, but Elesa has broken into a sprint, her braids and coat trailing behind her. Her target turned to greet his friend, and froze in place upon seeing her.
Before he could move or say anything, Elesa threw her arms around him, burying her face into his coat to try and hold back the tears. After a moment, she pushes back, feeling that Ingo wasn’t hugging back and not wanting to make him uncomfortable, but tears were now threatening to gush. “You don’t remember me, do you?” It doesn’t even occur to her that she asked that in Galarian.
Ingo’s frown deepens, an expression she recognizes as him trying to recall information. Behind him, she barely registers that his conversation partner looks towards someone else and signals them away. But Elesa’s attention is on Ingo as he slowly shakes his head, his eyebrows furrowed.
“No. No memories have come into station, though…” He responds in the same language, and then gently reaches up and brushes a hand against her jaw. “Your face. Your jaw, your eyes, they ring bells in my head, but there seems to have been a delay.” He pulls his hand back and lowers his cap. “I’m sorry. I want to know you, but your cab is still unknown.”
She hears Akari step up behind her, but Elesa doesn’t give her any mind as the tears break their dam and begin to pour down her face. Of course. Of course it’s not easy. As Elesa crouches down to curl up and cry, she registers that Akari is explaining that she summoned Elesa here, and that she had hoped that she could help with his memories. She was sorry it didn’t work.
Why was she sorry? She didn’t kidnap Ingo, she just kidnapped her. Oh, poor Emmet.
Ingo’s next statement pulled her back. “She is quite lovely, you’re right Miss Akari.” Elesa blinks a few times to stop the tears, and shakes her head before standing back up straight. “I wish I could remember more about her. I remember her Pokemon, but…” He remembered her Pokemon? She looks down and sees that her team were attached to the edge of her sleeves, as designed, so that could be helpful.
But before she could say anything, a very severe man walked up to the group and cleared his throat. Whoa, that moustache is impressive.
“I hear we have a new visitor?” He asks, glancing between Ingo and Akari before settling on Elesa. “Welcome to Jubilife Village. I am Commander Kamado of the Galaxy Expedition Team, and I have a few questions for you.
Translation Notes: (1) - “I should’ve asked Giratina”
(2) - “Huh? Galarian?”
Elesa did understand these sentences, she was just in shock from the teleporting to process what Akari was saying. I also threw them through Google, so it's not the closest.
#pokemon legends arceus#Pokemon fic#submas#submas fic#pokemon ingo#pokemon akari#pokemon elesa#my writing#Electric Trains fic#the trains have eaten me#this thing is shaping up to be 25 chapters at a minimum#so woooo that's gonna be fun once I'm back at work#I already have two other chapters ready to post#but I'm gonna wait a bit before I post them so I have a backlog#I hope you all enjoy!
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Skinamarink Plot and Synopsis
Kaylee and Kevin wake up with their parents gone, all doors and windows are missing, many lights have stopped working, Kaylee and Kevin afraid spend time together and sleep in the living room while watching cartoons, there is no toilet so they have to use buckets and the supply of foods around to pass time, stranger events start to happen such as chairs on the ceiling, the two investigate that things are stuck to the ceiling as well (doll scene), while Kevin sleeps, Kaylee is beaconed by an entity and to do as they are told, an entity imitating their dad and mom appear, Kaylee now on bad terms with the entity goes back to Kevin and gives him a box of juice, when Kevin wakes up Kaylee is gone, Kevin goes to investigate and finds Kaylee without her mouth, after this Kevin tries to ignore a mysterious voice telling them they want to play, Kevin tries to ignore it again, the entity tells "Sleep" and Kevin falls and drops his box of juice, all of the lights by this point are no longer working, and more and more things are disappearing from the house, Skinamarink (the entity, let’s just call it that) as Kevin sleeps manipulates the TV, the last source of light, to show his main source of power: The entity can manipulate time and space, namely make things disappear, as bugs bunny vanishes into thin air, so does the teddy bear Kevin had. Kevin wakes up, begins to play again, the entity forces Kevin to stab himself in the eye for his own amusement.
Kevin finally when hopeless hears that the phone is working again, but as he is on the call with the police, the phone stops working again and Kevin says "You did that." towards the entity, the entity starts laughing as it begins to more and more toy with Kevin's sanity while trapped in the house, more and more furniture begin to disappear as we are shown empty rooms with the ominous tone (which indicates as shown earlier in the phone that something is gone). The entity makes his reasons apparent towards Kevin, explains that it can do anything, and says that Kaylee didn't do as she was told, Kevin has no options anymore and tells to himself he wants to watch a happy movie with Kaylee, Kaylee is gone so this is clearly to show that Kevin has fully lost his sanity.
Kevin now with no will of his own begins following the directions given by the entity, and finds himself not only in a reverse-realm of the house in which he passes by a void that apparently has every animal conceived in it, but a room that is so large, boundless and dark like the void, and finds all of the items that "Disappeared" in a endless corridor, it is also revealed that the house in itself has been encapsulated into a portal dimension void.
It is revealed that Kevin has been trapped in the house for 572 days. The entity, now bored with their powers to manipulate time and space, kills and revives Kevin constantly for the sake of it's own amusement. The end of the movie shows everything now actively being shrouded by darkness (that might be the entity's true form: Darkness itself) and shows something, it might be implied that the entity is now speaking to the viewer since it got bored toying with the existence of Kevin and asks "Who are you?" And "Go to sleep."
Many other tiny little details occur of which can be expropriated from such a minimalist film but as far as I know this is most of the story played straight, the entity is an eldritch god that has trapped 2 kids in a house for the sake of it’s own cruel amusement. Or perhaps the entity is child-like and didn’t see any value in the adults, being the reason it got rid of them first and immediately.
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Name: Danielle "Ellie" Tramp
Age: 26
Height: 5′2
Pronouns: She/Her
Sexuality: Bisexual
Occupation: Cocktail server
Zodiac: Cancer sun, Sagittarius moon, Scorpio Rising
Faceclaim: Haley Lu Richardson
Description
Between Danielle and her twin brother, it was always her who was seemingly the well-behaved child. Even before their younger sisters came along, Ellie knew that their family had certain expectations of them, and she did a better job at following their rules and expectations than Scamp ever did. It didn’t mean she liked them — she just didn’t think it was worth fighting with their parents over it constantly. Instead, she learned that she could do whatever she wanted as long as she didn’t get caught. It was funny how different she and her twin were in that aspect, for Scamp was terrible at sneaking around and getting away with trouble. Even Annette and Collette were oblivious to Ellie’s adventures behind closed doors, though she couldn’t hide it from her twin brother. By day she was in advanced classes and getting good grades, seemingly being a good role model for her siblings and family, and by night she was sneaking out with cute boys and going to underage parties. It didn’t bother her to have to sneak around back then, though it did put a little bit of strain between her and Scamp because of how much he got in trouble in comparison. He never told on her anyway, and she always tried to help him out when she was able to in return. They both understood each other and were a lot alike, but the way they went about things was very different.
The older she got, the harder it was to keep that perfect image of herself and continue to sneak around. It was as if she didn’t know who she was on her own because she was always being what she was expected to be. When it was finally time to start college, Ellie had no idea what she wanted to do. Similar to her brother, her major was undecided, considering pre-law like her mother but feeling like she’d only be doing that for her mom rather than herself. Meanwhile, she knew her brother was feeling more and more pressure from their parents, and before they knew it he had dropped out of school and left without even a note. Ellie was extremely hurt by his sudden disappearance, and suddenly the pressure of their family was turned on her with her brother gone. It was no wonder that Scamp's leaving finally brought Ellie to her breaking point.
Soon, Ellie also dropped out of school, moving into her own apartment but not completely disappearing like her brother had. She needed her own space to process, and despite how tempting it was to go after Scamp and find him, she had a feeling he needed his own space, too. She spent a lot of time trying to distract herself and fill the void but with no luck, and she didn’t hear from her brother again for a couple of years. They continued to keep in contact over the phone at first, but Ellie eventually decided that a relationship with her brother was more important than the rest of her family. Though her family is still able to reach her by phone, she moved away with her best friend Violet to be closer to her twin, getting a job at the nearby casino and no longer feeling the family pressures she’s had on her for so many years. Danielle can finally be herself on her own terms. Although Ellie and Scamp have been reconnected for some time now, they were still apart for a long time and are readjusting to how things are now, continuing to reconnect and catch up after so many years of distance.
Headcanons
When Ellie first moved out on her own after Scamp disappeared, she struggled to find a job after dropping out so she got help from her mom. She was a secretary at her mom’s job up until she moved in with Violet. The tension between her and her mom at work was part of what pushed her to move closer to her brother — she realized he was the one family member she could truly be herself around.
While she didn’t have Scamp close by, Ellie did try to get close to her sisters. They were also hurt by Scamp leaving, so they were able to bond over the sadness of that. Even still, it felt like Ellie was putting on a facade for all of them. Annette and Collette were both so much different than she was; when they did what their parents asked of them, they weren’t putting on a show and doing it to keep the peace like Ellie always did. They were more stuck-up and followed the rules without any questions. Unfortunately, Ellie didn’t grow close enough to either of them, not in comparison to her twin of course. She worries that she hurt them by taking off too.
She’s always had a thing for bad boys and dated a lot of them over the years. Ellie had multiple secret boyfriends between high school and adulthood, some of them being Scamp’s friends. Because of the bad luck she’s had over the years and now just trying to enjoy her newfound freedom, she prefers to keep things casual than seek anything serious
Her first serious relationship that was kept a secret was with Scamp’s best friend, Dodger during high school. Dodger eventually broke up with Ellie and ran away from home not long after, and Ellie still wonders if he had planned it that way all along. Now knowing her brother and Dodger are reconnected and had been living together, she’s slightly annoyed about it but unable to show it. Scamp still doesn’t know about their history, and she and Dodger unspokenly plan to keep it that way. Even though she’s still hurt by everything though, she can admit that it was a relief to see that Dodger was okay.
She’s a silly, goofy gal when she’s in the right headspace and feels comfortable enough to be herself.
Ellie and Violet have been super close since Ellie was the babysitter for Violet’s youngest brother back in high school. She was so relieved when Violet agreed to move with her, after spending so much time at her apartment anyway before moving. She truly wouldn’t have been able to reunite with her brother again without Vi’s help.
Now that she doesn’t have to worry about the judgment of their family members, Ellie’s more willing to do whatever she wants without caring what others think. Ironically, her brother suddenly wants to be a protective sibling and make sure she’s not making stupid decisions, as if he’d ever cared before (and as if he isn’t a total hypocrite). Her logic remains the same: if she doesn’t get caught, it doesn’t matter.
She has an American Cocker Spaniel named Nova
ISFP
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Through the entirety of FFXIV (that I've played, because I'm in the I Can't Do Anything Hard (So I'm Playing Through HW With Yet Another Character) phase), there have been 2 pieces of music that absolutely make me want to bite (as in, Much Hate)
One of them is The Measure Of His/Our Reach (one of the reasons I hated playing through Stormblood so much the first time around was encountering bits and arrangements of it the whole time, but by my third Stormblood playthrough I guess I got partially desensitised to it)
The other?
The fucken tune that plays in Ultima Thule. I hoped it would disappear after the final quest. Doing Omicron tribal quests proved me wrong. And that's the thing I'm NOT doing again, solely because of the tune. I can't stand not hearing Game Sounds when I'm playing, I partially lose the ability to track what's happening in the game without the sound (e.g. unless I'm the one with the stack marker, in so many places I wouldn't know one is dropped without the sound). But for Ultima Thule I straight up removed my headphones several times to not hear the music. Elysium arrangement is nice, but when I left the area after a bit of gathering and hanging out, headphones were off again. Just straight up Tune To Make This Here Fool Hiss And Bite. Hope that I won't encounter one like that in the content I haven't yet played
I'm kinda stupidly hesitant about hearing the music from areas I don't know lmfao, it's kinda "but what if I hate the music and don't wanna go there"
Story and dungeon/raid spoilers? Give me all of them. I don't have the energy (or care?? idk) to go seek them (I'm gonna be SO annoying in the second big EW raid and Rubicante trial when I get there because I am physically unable to watch others' plays to prepare for the mechs, and even when I did watch Nald'thal fight in the video with In The Balance after I did the fight and loved the tune, I don't think knowing what was there would've helped me, I need personal experience to start sucking A TINY BIT less), but if you have a need to yell about them, or pointers about mechs pls unload them on me
H maybe one day I will do the Back To The Void We Go MSQ and the second big raid, but.. not now. Though if it were Pandæmonium raids that dropped I know myself, I'd be there second day after the update (when there are already people who know what they are doing so that we don't have our arses ABSOLUTELY whooped y'know)
I am very weak for Pandæmonium... (No I have not done savage raids, and never will until maybe 7-8.0 lmfao, I need to have level difference and the ability to go in unsynced - like I went in Cloud Deck unsynced as lvl90 summoner on Marush, and got a diamond gunblade for my troubles, and would honestly do it again, for a mount.. and more shiny weapons)
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March 9, 2022
“In the middle of all that change, there was one thing we all felt. We wanted to continue on like this forever, but we knew that's not possible. That's why we want to focus on living every moment so that we don't have any regrets!
If we've gotten this far, it's because of all the support, love, and solidarity we've had from each other, and from you all. We'll be working our hardest until the final curtain call! Let's treasure each and every moment!
Thank you all!”
Happy birthday, Sakuya! And a last farewell to A3! EN.
I wanted to make some kind of tribute— a goodbye letter, I guess— to this game, but it's.... Very wordy. I'm putting it under the cut so that you guys don't have to read it, just look at the Sakuya if that's what you wanna do.
One of the ways I'd describe this game is that it's hard to believe, in a lot of ways. It's hard to believe the situations the characters get put in. It's hard to believe the way some jokes are translated because it's just so out there. It's hard to believe I've only been playing it for almost seven months, and it's still so, so hard to believe that it's going away.
It's hard to believe that I ever found it in the first place because it all felt like a dream. I remember when I first saw it— a mutual was reblogging posts about it, and I remember thinking, "Huh. That looks interesting." I don't know what I saw in those screenshots that made me feel that way. A3! was the kind of game I didn't actively seek out because it appealed to a specific crowd that I didn't consider myself part of, and yet, there I was. I put it on the back burner, always toying with the idea that one day I might press that install button and see what it might do for me. I stalled around it for a while, but I knew it was inevitable that I'd play it one day.
The year was 2021. My friend talked my ear off about the game for the entirety of spring, and one summer evening, I decided to cave in and throw my hat into the ring. I mean, the game was only like 60 MB, right? It's not like it'd kill me to try, I could just uninstall it if I ended up getting bored by it.
I remember that evening so vividly. It feels like it was just yesterday that I was naming my heroine, experiencing the graphics and interface for the first time, and getting incredibly annoyed by the tutorial walking me through everything when I just wanted to find a way to adjust the text speed. I remember watching Romeo and Julius for the first time with 4/6th of my cast being Sakuya because I thought it was hilarious. I remember wondering why a Halloween event would be running in the middle of summer, and I remember spending too many gems at the July Birthday Scout because I didn't know how the banners in the game worked yet. The gradual end of that summer was my strongest memory from 2021.
And now I have to say goodbye to those memories. I'd barely even started Act 2 when the announcement dropped. There was no outrage or sadness, just... confusion. What the hell was I supposed to do now? All these gems, cards, all these badges I earned— what did it all mean to me now? But even after that, I still played. Infrequently, sure, but I still made sure to log in at least once a week. I'd just make sure to get the badges I wanted, read every backstage story that I still had, and.... who knows. It's a relatively void existence, but at least it still existed.
Then the actual termination of operations was announced— right as I was in the middle of my anniversary run. I didn't even have the energy in me to be upset about it at first. I just kept going about my days like I usually did. Except, at some point, I didn't want to log in to the game anymore, because it meant admitting to a reality I didn't want to face.
A few weeks before the end date, I popped into the game. I thought that the least I could do was make the most of it before it disappeared. I accidentally ended up ranking myself up, and I got 50 gems as a reward. It was kinda funny, actually— how in a normal situation I would be happy at an extra 50 gems, but this just made my heart sink in despair.
I had exactly 145 gems. I had exactly enough for one last ten pull. I thought I would've cried.
I decided to pick a tryout, rolled, and....
..... Nothing. Absolutely nothing special. It was a completely ordinary pull.
Something about it was just so.... innocent to me. It didn't give me a new card to pity me, it just gave me a normal pull. My final ten pull in a game that would soon cease to exist was just a bunch of dupes.
I had to lie down for a while. There's no way I could keep playing. It actually hit me how much I had left to lose when this game goes away. I thought I'd be fine if i just hopped to the japanese server because oh thank god, they're still there, they wont leave yet.
But it's just so different. Reading the prologue again, seeing Sakuya's desperate attempts at acting and keeping the theater alive, even though I've already gone through so many insane journeys with him in a past life— the weight of it all just drowned me under a sea of bittersweet melancholy.
I'll miss those journeys. I'll miss all the jokes that made me laugh, all the scenes that made me cry, all the pulls that made me scream in both rage and joy. I'll miss the cards and badges I earned. I'll miss the memories I've made with this found family, this bundle of fictional characters who've helped me come to terms with a lot of things I've struggled with in reality. I still treat it like a miracle— how I found the game at the exact time in my life when it would resonate with me the most, and the sheer amount of things that it's done for me in the span of less than half a year. Maybe you can call it fate, or maybe you could say that the game found me instead of me finding it first. Or maybe it's just a good old combination of luck and coincidence, like how a lot of things in this game are.
Thank you, A3! EN. Thank you for helping me bloom at the time I needed you most.
#a3!#act! addict! actors!#sakuya sakuma#thankyoua3en#It's gonna be my 250 day celebration in a week#the fact that this game won't be around to see that is heartbreaking#with the little gems I earned binge reading backstage stories; I actually had enough for two more one pulls#the first one was a dupe of course but my second pull? it got me an SR of sakyo#i fucking panicked tbh— i grinded like my life depended on it so that i could max out its affection before it was too late#that was my last ever grind on that game. thats so fucked up to me.#that line in seishun summer rainbow where they say 'being sad is a wonderful thing because it means you had a lot of fun'#god fucking dammit anyway HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAKUYA I LOVE YOU FOREVER
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