#- put a stop to her actions and confront her - she tries to flip the situation by asking for a collaboration.
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did you say…memes 👀👀👀 okie how about 3 for quinn from the black knight??
Quinn & The Black Knight.
#3 THINGS YOU SAID WHEN YOU WERE PROUD. FROM THINGS YOU SAID ⬩ Still accepting.
"You look at me, treat me, talk to me like and keep me here like I'm a criminal. But deeeeeep down," Her crooked smile widens, in her signature whiskers, sly as a feline, proud as a cocky and cunty fox. "Deep down, you wish you were a little more like me Black Knight, don't you?" Her teeth are showing, a grin, deranged and hungry for more of This. Even though she was indeed kept captive, by the Black Knight and his crew, it wasn't so much prison for her if not the extension of her playground. An agenda. Quinn always had an agenda. "Congratulations on capturing me by the way, three against one waaw that's Impressive, that is Honorable even- No no, really I mean that and I cannot wait to get to know all of you." Her smile drops as the light of in her eyes darkens, only to light up again, a constant manic on-and-off switch while her eyes re-direct towards the surveillance camera at the up corner of the interrogation room. "Hey you hear that? I am thriiilled, oh so happy to be here. Pawn, Rook. Tell me who else is watching this? The almighty resting bitch faced Kang girl? Monitoring a pretty girl like me in a cage all day, mmm, that's a little kinky if you think about it." She pinches her teeth in between her lips, raising an eyebrow. "Listen. You and I both know I'm going to escape, I've already figured a way to since the very moment I stepped foot in here. Chloroformed or not, I always can tell where I am stand. Even in the dark, I know every single corner of this dirty city. So yell your little degenerates over there to tie me up if they really ant to keep me longer, my claws are sharp and my brain? Sharper." Was she bluffing? "That and the very real fact that My king and Love of my life Already looking for me as we speak, followed by an entiiiire armed and ready-to-shoot-you-in-the-face Gang for treating their Queen the way you do. There is a chip in my phone, have your little butlers destroy it or else they're coming for all of your asses. And Oh, at Fang, we're whimsical like this, we do love a bloody mess." Her eyes now, her eyes are linking with his. "That's right. I want us to talk before I get the chance to leave. I know. None of you has trust in me but you're clever enough to go past that. This business is not about trust, it's not about Oh She's a Little Crazy let's be Careful - it's about getting results. And I get shit done. I get shit done fast. Yes, YES, SUUURE, this little stunt I put off with Hyuk was a liiiiittle all over the top but... hey, at least I got all of you's attention... right." She speaks, her tone trailing at the mention of the other man, knowing it was perhaps her biggest mistake, knowing it was going a little too far. Was it a regret of hers? Maybe. Her eyes go down slightly., for a mere second. She could never deny it, there was a bond with the Detective, one of mutual respect and hardworking archieving personalities. His team as well, it became place where she strangely felt accepted, perhaps even a birthing friendship with Suki around their morning coffees. If it wasn't for all the insane games and lies Quinn played with, it could have been something nice. Her pride however, refused to let her admit that in front of the Knight, ever. "I did it to protect my own, to protect my pack the way you are protecting yours by chaining me down like an animal. And you know what? I am proud." Her voice changes, as the taint in her pupils does too, a little more calm spreading under her skin. "I'm proud of being an Actor in this scene we're standing on Black Knight. I'm proud of making moves, I'm proud of showing clawns when it comes to protect my family, I'm proud of teaching the persecutors we're Not low lives they can mess with as they please, I'm proud of making it to the news after the Rich and the Powerful feel like their heads too have a price.
Don't you see it? That people like you and I are already dead? Can't you feel it? At every corner of every streets of this city a bullet in the head is right here, waiting for us. So tell me, what exactly is your plan here, what are you waiting for? Because we're not fighting for our little comforts as Doctors and Teachers getting a check for educating the youth through a system we don't even believe in. Don't you get it? That our time to do something is Now, that we have to give our bones and blood to truly make a difference? It's time to wake up Myungdae. It's time to step up and perhaps stepping up should start with uniting. The game has changed, look at your board. I was never the enemy but we have one in common. That's right, the more we sit down for tea parties like this one, the more they're slipping out of your hands and mine.
ANACHRON."
#EEEEEEEEEEEP.#LISTENNNNNN.#I JUST.#We do wonders with this verse is what I'm going to SAY FIRST.#I feel like a genius of visuals with these pictures matching the scene - Just throwing myself some flowers don't mind me!#I set this scene when she has already approached Hyuk/Suki to work with them and has earned a place there-#-when their relationship ( Myungdae and Quinn) become even more conflictual due to everything crazy she's pulling.#I went for something edgy like they have captured her - but she's actually more than happy about it she's a little deranged like that#I picture them (Myungdae and his team) at some point thinking she's too much of a loose cannon and might compromise even their work.#I imagine Harley Quinn in her cage scene heh - and Myungdae and Quinn talk on the daily face to face - and if their original plan was to -#- put a stop to her actions and confront her - she tries to flip the situation by asking for a collaboration.#Down the road when Annie is a little more involved with Black Fang too and wants revenge and reveals what happened to her and investigates-#Ofc Quinn wanna help however Quinn finds herself a little stuck with it Like Anachron is a llittle too Bigscaled for her -#So the collab would serve not only her QUEST to eat the bad and the rich - but mostly help avenge her baby Annie love - so heh she TRIES#둘 𝐀𝐑𝐀 𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐆 / interactions.#둘 𝐀𝐑𝐀 𝐉𝐔𝐍𝐆 / the vengeress.
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Okay idea!!
How about a Hanako x tsundere reader oneshot where Yashiro tells Hanako that the reader likes him and he likes her too. He confronts her about it and she is a blushing mess but denies it. Hanako knows that she likes him so he pins her and kisses her until she says she loves him.
Like *kiss* “say you love me~”
“No meanie..!”
Heehee, I hoped I explained that well enough… a little fluffy and spicy plzzz
Blushing Mess || Hanako-kun
genre: fluff
pairing: hanako-kun x tsundere! female! reader
warning: lots of kisses (◍•ᴗ•◍)
summary: in which hanako tries to break [name]'s tsundere persona to make her confess her love for him by kissing her.
Hanako notices [Name]’s strange behavior whenever he’s around her. When he tries to check her out, [Name] will blush and scoot away from him as she points at him and says. “W-What the hell do you think you’re doing you perv?!” Followed by a punch on his face. One time Hanako tried to tease her, the same blush would appear on her cheeks, and [Name] would call him an idiot for messing with her.
[Name] was minding her own business, mopping the bathroom floor, cleaning the toilets, spraying the mirrors with water, and then wiping them up. Hanako walks up behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder and pointing a finger at a foggy spot on one of the mirrors. “You missed a spot.” he chuckled.
“I-I know that I was about to wipe it, stupid.” [Name] scoffed, wiping the spot with the cloth she was holding. Hanako puts his hand on his mouth, his pointer finger touching his nose, then silently chuckles at her response. [Name] pouted slightly, realizing that Hanako was only doing that to catch her off guard.
The [hair color] haired girl finishes up her cleaning, wiping off the sweat rolling down from her forehead. “Man, that took longer than I thought.” [Name] says in an unamused tone as she squeezes out the stored water from the cloth. She turns her head towards Hanako’s direction, a stoic expression written on her pretty visuals. “Oi, I’m finished.”
“Good work, [Name]~” Hanako floated over to his assistant and patted her on the head. [Name]’s eyes were twitching in annoyance, but deep down she’s loving the praise that Hanako was giving her, especially when he’s patting her head like that. She lowered her head, twiddling her fingers as her whole face was heating up. “Your ears were turning red by the way~” He said, touching her ears gently.
“H-Hey!” [Name] stammered out, grabbing Hanako’s hand and yanking it away. She enclosed her reddened ears using her hands, turning away from the teasing male who's now snickering nearby. "J-Jeez, Hanako-kun…"
"Hehe, cutie…" Hanako smirked.
"I-I'm not a cutie, excuse you!" [Name] retorted, crossing her arms and flipped her hair to the side. Her flustered gaze averted from the apparition boy. "And stop teasing me you slimy perverted brat or else," she murmured under her breath. At that moment she looks so done with Hanako’s mischievous antics she could smack the hell out of him.
“Or else what~?” Hanako took her hand on top of his and pulled [Name] closer to him, enveloping an arm around her waist, and grinned at their current position. “Hmm~” he hummed, leaning in a little bit as the tip of their noses were touching.
[Name] was malfunctioning and her poor heart was beating so fast. Without saying anything, she gently shoved Hanako away from her and hugged herself. Hanako obviously enjoyed seeing [Name] all red and flustered because of him. “Why hug yourself?” He asked, embracing her from behind as she squeaked. “If you can be in my arms all day~?” Hanako whispered, gently blowing her ear to tease and his lips slightly grazing to her earlobe.
“You really are a stubborn idiot...” [Name] balled her fist and gave Hanako an uppercut as he was launched backward, hitting him on the back of his head.
“O-Ow…” Hanako rubbed the back of his head in pain, even though he’s a ghost and cannot feel pain. “You don’t have to be so rough with me, you know.” He said, standing up from the floor and laughed sheepishly. [Name] patted her cheeks to ease down her blush, then finally composed herself and faced Hanako.
“I thought ghosts don’t feel pain?”
“Well, our souls are linked together, remember?”
“Right…”
[Name] marched over to Hanako as he was rubbing his head to soothe the pain. She felt bad for punching him, if only he has a sense of personal space. “Here, let me...” [Name] swatted his hand away and removed his hat, her free hand ruffling his soft hair.
Hanako is a bit surprised by the sudden change of behavior. He noticed her cheeks turning red up close, knowing that [Name] is not used to do this kind of kind of thing. He slightly blushed when their eyes met. “D-Don't get the wrong idea.” [Name] murmured. “I'm not doing this because I like you or anything—”
“M-Mhmm...” Hanako hummed in reply.
“Honestly, Hanako-kun...” [Name] sighed, placing his hat back on his head properly. “You should watch your actions, I don't want to assume anything.”
[Name] picks up her bag and slung it over to her back. “I'll see you tomorrow.” She announced, walking out of the bathroom with a bitter tone.
Yashiro enters the bathroom just as [Name] left completely. “Hanako-kun, did you do something to [Name]?” She asked with concern, hoping that the ghost didn't do harsh things with her.
“I was just being clingy with her until she just said to watch my actions—” Hanako explained, trying to reason with Yashiro with his side of the story. The choppy haired male is utterly confused with [Name] lately, is she just being mean with Hanako or she's just being a tsundere?
Yashiro nodded, finally understanding the situation. “There's something between the lines Yashiro,” Hanako started venting with matching movements with his hands as he paced back and forth. “I found [Name]'s denial funny, saying that she hates it yet the blush on her face was obvious that she likes it. Then there's her physically hitting me as I try to flirt with her—”
“She likes you.” Yashiro said.
“And then [Name] starts to stutter when I compliment her—I'm sorry what?” Hanako stopped when he heard Yashiro say something about [Name] liking him.
“I said [Name] likes you.”
Hanako smiled ear to ear, trying to contain his giddiness. He was in love with [Name] ever since and hearing this good news made his day better. “You're not joking, right?”
“Come on Hanako-kun, [Name]-chan is literally blushing at your actions and you didn't get the hint of her having a crush on you! Think Hanako-kun, think about it!” Yashiro puts her hands on the sides of her head to prove that she's not joking. “Why do you think she's a tsundere around you?”
“I guess I'll confirm it myself tomorrow~” Hanako grinned, adjusting his hat.
Hanako plans to confront [Name] about his feelings for him to confirm whether Yashiro was just joking around or it is indeed true.
“[Name]~?” Hanako called in a sing-song voice. The tsundere gripped on her mop and let out a scowl, turning her head towards the ghost's direction.
“What?” She asked.
Hanako smirked slyly on her way, placing his cheek on top of his palm and said. “I heard from a reliable source that you like me~”
[Name] flinched, dropping the mop on the floor and blushed furiously. “W-What?!” She exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger to the teasing ghost. “Who the hell told you that?!”
“So it's true then~?” Hanako grinned.
“W-Wha?” [Name] swatted her hands, turning into a blushing mess. “O-Of course not! Why the hell would I like you?!” Her voice was shaking a bit, trying to make him change his mind. Hanako chuckled deeply, hopping off from the window seat and walked towards her.
“Why are you blushing then~?” [Name] nervously stepped back when Hanako got closer and closer to her. There's no point of denying things anymore, [Name]'s blushing reaction was already a proof that she likes Hanako. “You love me, don't you~?”
[Name] remained silent, her eyes avoiding Hanako's gaze and her signature blush on her visuals. Hanako places his forearm above her head as if to trap her in a kabedon. He grabs her chin using his thumb and pointer finger, tilting it slightly to make [Name] look at him. “My eyes are over here, sweetheart~”
“You really are enjoying this, huh?” [Name] mumbled, her eyes turning soft whilst looking at Hanako, her headstrong facade slowly breaks as she is facing him with her true self. Usually, [Name] would kick him out but for now she isn't doing anything.
“Yeah, actually.” Hanako responded, gently caressing her bottom lip using his thumb. “I wonder how long would it take for you to admit that you love me~?”
[Name]'s [eye color] eyes widened in shock when she felt Hanako's lips connect with hers. The feeling was sweet and soft as butterflies in her stomach fluttered gently in a euphoric manner. Hanako pulls away with a smile. “C'mon~ say you love me~” He urged.
“Shut up, as if...” [Name] grumbled. Hanako kisses her again, this time it was a little longer than before. [Name] moved his hat away from his head and placed it on the ground while he was kissing her.
“I like you too, you know...” Hanako says in between kisses. [Name] pulls away slightly, catching her breath from their intimacy.
“Fine, I l-love you...” [Name] confessed, feeling sour now that Hanako was winning over her.
“I love you too~”
a/n: here's your request anon-san~ sorry if its late though, i hope you enjoy this oneshot, this goes for everyone too (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤
#jibaku shounen hanako kun#tbhk#toilet bound hanako kun#jshk#amane yugi#yugi amane#amane#amane yugi x reader#hanako x reader#yugi amane x reader#hanako kun#hanako#hanako kun x reader#jshk hanako kun#jshk hanako#tbhk hanako
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So, I ranted yesterday, about love and obsession and a few of my close friends pushed me towards putting it on Tumblr.
I've been hearing a few things lately, about Snape and how he felt about Lily. Some people were saying that love and obsession are not mutually exclusive, and it just rubbed me the wrong way. Not because of the people who said it, they're lovely people, but because of the implication that you can do both. Love and be obsessed with someone. And I couldn't stop thinking about it and needed to just write to get it out of my head.
This is partially because I have dealt with obsession before, in the sense that I was an object of someone’s obsession. Which resulted in me losing my best friend, and me no longer feeling comfortable around them anymore, and I don’t think that will change. At least not anytime soon, and it happened in 2018.
Saying love and obsession are not mutually exclusive is coming from someone who has not experienced or just does not have the knowledge of either of these, and equating them to being similar, or possible to be felt at the same time is a very toxic view. If you truly know what love is, you would know that it is absolutely mutually exclusive.
Love is coming from a place that is so positive. You want the best for this person, and you want them to thrive. It’s okay if you guys don’t get together if it’s romantic, because above all else you want them to be happy. If you love someone you want them to be happy, and anyway you can aid in that you are willing to do. Which is a very big distinction when you are comparing the two.
Obsession is a much darker beast and comes with a lot of differences that are just contradictory to what love is. Obsession comes with a lot of factors and can present in a lot of different ways. For one thing, someone who is obsessed doesn’t see the greater picture when it comes to the object of their obsession.
I keep calling the person they are obsessed with an object of obsession because that’s essentially what it is like. You’re not a person, they ignore your flaws, will talk to other people about how you’re perfect. You can point out really shitty things that you do, and they will just dismiss it. Other people can point out flaws to them and they dismiss it.
This seems extreme, but it happens! I’ve dealt with it! And it is so harmful and puts that person in such an uncomfortable position. Part of what makes a person human and not an object is the flaws that make them, them. And ignoring any wrongs that person does is not only harmful to other people but is also working against the person who is doing the wrongs, regardless of the size.
We keep others in check by confronting them when they do something that isn’t right, if we absolve them of any mistakes they make they will never grow as a person, or they won’t realize their behavior can be harmful.
Rounding back to them not seeing the greater picture, they are not always looking out for the person’s well-being, and if they are it isn’t necessarily the want of the person they are doing it to. They are still self-serving, even if they mask it with the thought that they are doing it for this person, it’s not necessarily what that person wants or is comfortable with. And they don’t check-in to see how the person is feeling about their actions. They continue doing what they think is right, regardless of how it is affecting the person that is involved.
They don't take the other person's desires into consideration when they act. They don't care if what they are doing is hurting another person, or making them uncomfortable. In my experience they didn't even ask. They just decide what they think is the best course of action.
You can see this with Snape and Lily in the few flashbacks we get.
In the first memory we see in Deathly Hallows the way he is staring at Lily in the bushes is with 'undisguised greed.' Greed, as in an avid desire for gain. He wants Lily, and the connotation of greed means more than your share, but it is talking about objects it wealth. Not people. And we know based off Lily's response throughout the memory the only reason she entertains him is because she thinks he might have an answer for why she can do extraordinary things. As soon as he says witch she is not about the interaction anymore and tried leaving, and when she eventually does leave it's with a glare at him.
In a later memory this exchange occurs:
Snape's whole face contorted and he spluttered, "Saved? Saved? You think he was playing the hero? He was saving his neck and his friends' too! You're not going to-- I won't let you--"
"Let me? Let me?"
Lily's bright green eyes were slits. Snape backtracked at once.
This gives a huge insight into Snape's mindset when it comes to Lily. When our emotions are high we tend to lose our filter and say things we usually keep locked away even though it's how we feel. He accidentally slips and says he won't let her what? Befriend James? Label him a hero? Either way he feels like he has the right to control her actions, which is obviously against her wishes, and not in her comfort zone.
He is actively pursuing and supporting an organization that wants people like Lily to not be in their society. We know Lily is against dark arts and this movement, she joined the order of the phoenix to fight against this entity. This is the situation that had Lily ending their friendship, to begin with.
Snape didn’t care what Lily’s feelings were about the situation. He knew Lily did not support his interest in the dark arts. He joined this organization knowing that it would hurt other muggleborns. If he truly cared for Lily, he never would have joined that organization, he would have fought beside her to help stop Voldemort.
Instead, he kept it hidden, and was fine with other muggleborns being tortured as long as it wasn’t Lily. You see it again in his flashbacks when Harry is chosen over Neville as the ‘chosen one’ for the prophecy. He didn’t care about that prophecy when it was possible it could be the Longbottom’s.
As soon as Voldemort chose Lily and her child, he crawled back to Dumbledore, not because he changed his views, or wants to be good now, but because the object of his affection is now being threatened. So, what does he do? Takes the only path he can think of to save his possession.
There are so many examples I could pull, but bottom line, if it was love he would not have done a lot of the things he had.
The reason that love and obsession are mutually exclusive is because obsession does not take the object’s wants and feelings into consideration. The person who is obsessed is not checking to see if the other’s needs are being met. They have an idea of this person in their head that they solidified in stone. They aren’t there to help them grow, or change as time passes. They are trying to protect this person they barely know-because of how they dismiss and full out reject any flaws which is the root of what a person is-and keep them with them.
Love wants the best for the other person, and that person is an active participant in the decision. Love is all about respecting each other’s wants, and compromising when needed. The ultimate goal is to make that person happy. It happens despite any flaws, and wants the best for that person in a way that the person is comfortable with. You want to grow, as people together, but ultimately if that person can't be happy and fulfilled with you, you want them to go find what will make them happy and fulfilled.
This is not to say that those decisions won’t hurt, it absolutely does, but you want the best for them, and you will help however you can. You’ll feel your feelings and as time passes it will get easier, and one day you’ll find someone who wants the exact same thing for you, and you’ll feel it in return. This is for both platonic and romantic relationships.
Obsession is easily mistaken for love, but they are contradictory terms, even if you look at the surface level and they seem like they can be similar. When you get down to the core of these two things, they couldn’t be more different.
Snape was obsessed, he was not in love. It may have started as love but it became warped and twisted, and I think the moment he started acting without her consent behind the scenes, and it concerned Lily, is the moment you know that the switch flipped. If there are no conversations about what you are doing to protect this person with the person it involves, then that is the moment you are entering dangerous water.
Sorry it's so long, and also unedited. I hope if anything, that this at least helps people distinguish between love and obsession.
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This is oddly fun lol
Let's see how many of these I can churn out before I get distracted or need a break! (pff. like I need an excuse to watch the show again. Despite its flaws, I really, really love TFATWS, guys)
Without further ado, let's get down to it!
Episode 2: The Star-Spangled Man
I'm pretty sure I'm on record when it comes to my undying hate for John Walker, yes? So obviously, Bucky's grumpiness 100% stays 😂
I'm not really a fan of how much emphasis they put on the shield. I can see it as a catalyst for Bucky to go confront Sam, yes, but he wouldn't keep going "shield shield shield" like a broken record. Bucky has consistently been shown to be an empathetic man. I can't believe for a second that he'd be barking at Sam about having no right to give up the shield; he'd ask why. Sam's got shit to do, so he'd get impatient and not answer.
"Why'd you give up so easily? If you were overwhelmed, I could've helped you-"
"You've been ignoring me. Like now, how you're ignoring me walking away from you."
"Well, you weren't texting me about this."
"You think I needed your permission?!"
"No, but I was right there with Steve while he was learning what it meant to be Cap. I wouldn't mind helping you get used to-"
"Then go teach him." A vague gesture toward the "Cap is back" posters.
Bucky makes a face. "Steve passed the mantle to you. You fought with him. You earned it. That little shit didn't."
"What do you want me to do about it?"
"Just tell me why, Sam. I mean it. I just wanna understand."
"Not now, Buck. I've got shit to do. You see me heading for a plane right now, right?"
"This is important!"
"So is this." Sam tells him about the Flag Smashers, we get our silly Big Three/Gandalf conversation.
I'm sorry, but that whole jumping from the plane scene is funny as hell, and I love all the nods they added in to jokes from the press tours that brought us this show in the first place (like ripping the sleeve off his jacket lol). I don't think I'd change a single thing from the Big Three convo to Bucky joining Sam in the warehouse.
"You're doing the staring thing again."
"You're staring at your watch," Bucky points out. He knows it's linked to Redwing, he's just pointing out how dumb that line is in that situation. They're there for recon lol. They're meant to be looking around.
I don't...particularly care about the other common gripe here? Meaning, "Bucky's a civilian, so why is he allowed to randomly jump in on a military mission?" Bucky's also known in this universe as an Avenger, just like Sam, so I don't think anyone would really bat an eye at him joining. Also, I have my own agenda related to Bucky's apparent freedom to walk in and out of military/government things.
What does bug me (as funny as it is) is Bucky's animosity toward Redwing. Again... Bucky is a certified nerd. Always has been. If anything, he'd be fascinated by Redwing and Sam would constantly have to slap him away because he's leaning in too close trying to see the tiny watch monitor. "I don't trust Redwing" is just old man griping "I don't trust your newfangled technology" and that... that's not Bucky.
And that "we're not assassins" dig, and then laughing when Bucky gets upset? That's not Sam. Both of these men have shown a remarkable amount of empathy, and Sam has a background in helping traumatized vets. If he cared enough about Bucky to be texting him after Steve left, he'd care enough not to make callous jokes about his time as The Winter Soldier, whether he knows the full story or not.
The fight on top of moving trucks looks cool, but makes no logical sense. I keep trying to think of a way to explain this from a story perspective, rather than a lazy "it looks cool!" filmmaking one, and I'm coming up blank. Anyone with half a brain would have pulled over, had the fight, and then taken off. It was a fun sequence, though... Eh. I'll leave it.
When Karli breaks Redwing, Bucky doesn't say "I always wanted to do that." Again, it's funny - I love the jabs about that stupid robo bird XD - but not Bucky. In my version, he smirks and says "You're so gonna regret that."
"You were kinda getting your asses kicked before we got there."
Is immediately followed by Bucky staring him down and asking, "And... how did that fight end for you?"
Sam adds, "I don't see them in custody. Are-are they following in a van?" He looks around, sarcastically searching for another vehicle. Walker and Hoskins grimace at each other, grudgingly conceding that point.
credit to @dailycelebs
Seeing Walker, and having to listen to his stupid pro-government rhetoric, makes Bucky think about Steve. When we cut from the Flag Smashers back to Bucky and Sam and the closeup of Bucky's pensive face, we hear 1940s Steve angrily telling 1940s Bucky about how the higher ups in the army had already written off the POWs and were going to leave them to die. "I love our country, Buck," he laments, "but what do I do when I'm not too sure anymore about the people who run it?"
"What you always do," is young Bucky's answer, "stand for what's right, not who's in power."
Perfect lead-in to the conversation about handling things themselves.
When Sam meets Isaiah, and hears his story, not only is he horrified and heartsick for him, but he also begins to see Bucky in a new light. He's seeing Bucky's face, the way he tries to hide his emotions and not make this conversation about him, and he's putting things together. He's still upset at being out of the loop, but he's seeing more of the situation than just "omg black super soldier". When Bucky says "he'd already been through enough," Sam asks quietly, "like you?"
The racist cop comes back before Bucky can answer, to arrest him for missing his appointment with Raynor.
ngl guys, I was so moved by the difference in how that cop treated Sam (before knowing he's Important) vs how he treated Bucky (knowing that the government views him as a violent, if pardoned, criminal). He approaches Sam with his hand on his gun, eager to defend Bucky; "is this guy bothering you?" Just because they're having a heated conversation. Then, when he sees that there's a warrant for Bucky, he approaches timidly, apologizes, treats him gently and politely. By "moved," btw, I don't mean "it was so sweet." I mean "this is fucking sick, and very, very realistic." White cops see a white guy and treat him with respect regardless of his actual criminal record, while being openly hostile towards an innocent black man without even knowing who he is, just because he's black. Moments like this made me applaud Spellman.
"You, too, Sam - That wasn't a request" is Sam's first sign that there's something off about Raynor.
Look, again... The couples therapy banter is funny because Sebastian and Anthony are funny, but that scene, from a storytelling and a mental health standpoint, is atrocious. Without some underlying reason behind her actions, Raynor is just a pointlessly terrible therapist.
Rather than insulting Bucky from the outset, Sam is angry with Raynor for violating Bucky's privacy by not only introducing herself as his therapist, but forcing a "couples" session without her patient's consent. With his background pre-Avenging, he knows this shit shouldn't fly. He immediately points out how unprofessional she's being.
Raynor doesn't bother listening - the fuck does she care, really? She shrugs and casually admits it's "slightly unprofessional" but proceeds anyway.
"Whatever's eating at him?" Sam scoffs. "Did you really just say that to a WWII veteran and the world's longest-serving POW with complex PTSD? Did I hear that right? I've had, maybe, like five conversations with this man since we met, and even I know he's been through some shit and-"
"Sam," Bucky tries to interrupt, looking uncomfortable. With his crushing guilt, he has an easier time dealing with insults than someone coming to his defense.
"No," Sam snaps. "If the HIPAA Slayer over here wants to drag me into this, she's damn well gonna hear what I have to say!" He turns back to Raynor and demands, "Is this how you've been treating him this whole time? Downplaying what he's been through and making a grown-ass man sound like a sulking teenager?"
Raynor keeps her cool, but barely. Visibly frustrated and annoyed, she ignores Sam's tirade and tries to force the conversation back onto the track she wants it on. Bucky's embarrassed and doesn't know how to react to any of this, so he still makes that little "he would talk less" jab. Sam, seeing that he's not going to get anywhere with him until they're away from this bitch, glowers and plays along. We get our silly/angry banter.
After their argument with Walker, Sam finally confronts Bucky about what really happened to him.
"He meant HYDRA; HYDRA used to be my people."
"Were they?" Sam asks, stopping him and looking him in the eye, not letting him look away or deflect. "Steve was under the impression that they were your captors. I was under the impression that the Wakandans spent two years deprogramming you so no one could use you the way HYDRA did ever again."
"I-" Startled, not expecting that, Bucky stutters a little and admits, "Yeah, I... That's true, I guess."
"You guess?"
"Does it matter?
Sam rolls his eyes. "I dunno, does it matter that you were a slave for most of the 20th century?"
"I doubt it matters much to my victims."
"HYDRA's victims," Sam corrects firmly. "Just like you."
Bucky fidgets; he doesn't know what to do or say. No one since Steve has even so much as insinuated that Bucky wasn't 100% culpable for what he did while under HYDRA control.
"Look," Sam sighs, "I don't particularly like you. I don't hate you, but I'm not your biggest fan."
"...Thanks?"
"I just need you to know where I stand-"
"Yeah, got it-"
"-So you know I'm not biased like Steve when I say you had no choice. I don't know your story, but I know no one flips on a dime from docile and plagued with guilt to an unstoppable killing machine and back without some serious psychological damage behind that. I'm not saying you're an innocent little bunny, but I don't think you're a monster."
"Thanks," Bucky croaks, more sincerely this time, and a bit choked up. He clears his throat and looks distinctly uncomfortable as he grumbles, "but to catch these guys, we may need to talk to a monster."
Sam cringes. "I was afraid you'd say that."
#sebastian stan#anthony mackie#tfatws#tfatws critical#fan ramblings#show rewrite#if i'd written it#episode 2
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SO I wrote this massive post in the BCB discord explaining why I still like Paulo/Lucy, and at some urging I’ve edited it for tumblr!
Now, I could start off with a lot of talking about Paulo and Lucy’s personalities and why I think they’d mesh well together, but you’ve probably read the comic. You know the characters. I don’t think the argument “they don’t have chemistry” is even on the table. Instead, I feel like most people’s arguments about the ship are either “there are healthier/better ships for both of them” or “the Ferris Wheel scene and chapter 100 sink it.” So let’s talk about these arguments.
I am not going to be able to convince anyone who thinks that their ship is “better” than paulucy to switch sides, so let’s talk about healthier for a second. Paulo’s relationship with Daisy as it stands at the moment would doubtless get mired down by Daisy’s jealousy of Lucy. I’m not saying it couldn’t be good in the future, and both of them are developing in the directions that would make that easier, but at the moment I don’t think it’d be good. And as for Lucy? The number of healthy ships for Lucy is vanishingly small. I think it’s possible that her relationship with Paulo, if it started in the next chapter, would be healthy, but I also think they both need a little more work— and I think that they’re more likely to develop in positive ways together than apart!
Now, as for their recent arguments. I do not think Lucy is telling the truth during After You on the Ferris Wheel— at least, not the whole truth. She doesn’t feel like she can do a relationship at the moment, and she’s tired of watching Paulo (who she cares about deeply) hurt himself by waiting for her. This is compounded by the things she’s internalized from December and after: she feels like all she CAN do is hurt Paulo more, and that even if she starts dating him he’s only going to be doing it because he likes her appearance. Paulo might have proved MULTIPLE times that this isn’t the case, but she’s dealing with quite a bit right now and it’s very hard for her to see the positives in any of her relationships— Augustus excluded.
During the Ferris wheel ride she never actually can bring herself to tell Paulo outright that she doesn’t love him and that she’s incapable of loving him in the future. She does say that she’s sorry they couldn’t have been more in the past, but that’s because of her crush on Mike, a crush she’s slowly getting over. When he flat out asks her if there’s no way for her to love him she gives a non-answer and then changes the subject to the time they slept together, which she argues she only did because she thought she’d never see him again. I think this is true (and it was kind of a shitty thing to do), but Lucy isn’t giving herself enough credit OR Paulo enough agency here. Her goal during this whole conversation is to convince Paulo to move on from her, so she says a LOT of stuff that’s fairly hurtful. From her own admission, though, the reason she’s saying it all is because she thinks Paulo should move on, and that she’s not worth waiting for. That’s not her call to make. Unfortunately, as we see from their next conversation, all she really accomplished was ruining Paulo’s evening.
So now the big one, High Expectations. Paulo absolutely BLOWS UP at Lucy here, and a lot of people signaled it as the death knell for the ship. It definitely wasn’t our finest hour, but I maintain that there’s a couple little things in the scene that show that it’s still got stuff going for it. FIRST of all, Paulo flat-out says he loves Lucy. This one should’ve put the nail in the coffin of “ah Paulo doesn’t care about her because of the fair” argument, but on the NEXT page we get to the big one. Lucy says she didn’t come back for any of them, and Paulo asks the armor-piercing question: “Then why the fuck did you come back?”
This scene, this panel, is the FIRST time since Love Again that we see Lucy taken off guard by one of the members of the gang. It’s the only time her “I’m a cold hearted bitch now and I hate all of you” act really drops before she has her conversation with Sue a couple chapters later (It’s All in the Mind).
Paulo is the first person to REALLY get under her skin after she returns, and it’s pretty clear the things he says in this chapter stick with her. I could talk more about that, but for now let’s talk about Paulo and why he doesn’t mean the shit he says right here about how he’s Done With Lucy for real this time™️. First of all, Paulo is right up there with Mike and Lucy in terms of emotional outbursts— the main difference is that when he attacks people he just straight-up physically attacks them instead of tearing them down emotionally, and that it’s a coin flip whether he’s going to get angry with someone else or burst into emotional tears and start hating himself (because he’s one of the most empathetic emotional characters in the comic but I digress). He’s just seen Lucy, who’s keeping up the “I actually hate ALL of you now” act, with AUGUSTUS, who to his knowledge is the guy who tried to molest Daisy and nothing else. Robbed of the context of the situation, he feels like Lucy really hates them all so much that she’d rather hang out with the creep than them— than HIM— and that shit hurts. Why? Because he absolutely still loves her.
Paulo has also had an EXTREMELY rough day. One of his best friends just slammed his face into a lunch table. He’s still on rough terms with Abbey, even if Daisy’s party has assuaged some of these fears. He’s ALREADY ready to fall apart, and then THIS hits him like a train. It HURTS, so he lashes out and storms off.
Lucy realizes that she’s hurt him, bad, and that hurts her— but we don’t get to see that because Paulo and Mike are the focus of the chapter so we’re MOVING ON now, I’ll explain in a minute.
SO! During All in the Mind Lucy has another confrontation with her friends, leading to her blow-up with Daisy. BUT CRUCIALLY she’s on good terms with Sue again, and she starts to realize that she can’t keep hurting her old friends like this. This leads directly into her behavior in Witch Hunt, which is the next time we see the two of them interact. All she does is apologize to Paulo for potentially hurting him again with the dress— but this is a bigger moment than it might seem. In the earlier chapters after her return, Lucy would’ve pretended not to care that her actions could have hurt Paulo, but this time things are different! This is her reaching the olive branch out to him, as well as her genuine fear that she’s just hurt him again. Paulo assures her it’s no big deal, and then resumes casually flirting with her (in a friendly way!), something that she laughs with and clearly enjoys. When Daisy interrupts them they BOTH start blushing.
SINCE THAT POINT, the only chapter to feature the two of them significantly interacting is Unwanted Gift. Paulo happily takes part in the celebrations of Lucy’s birthday, which he DEFINITELY would not have done if he was still in the same mindset from High Expectations. Now, I can’t claim to know what’s going to happen after the most recent emotional missile salvo of a chapter, but I truly do believe the two of them are in a much better place than when Lucy first returned.
NOW, what evidence do I have that they really do still love each other? Admittedly, some of it is just my own gut feeling about the characters. Lucy leaving for the better part of a year didn’t put a damper on Paulo’s feelings. Being told “stop caring about me before you get hurt,” ESPECIALLY since Lucy can’t (or won’t) say “I don’t love you,” is not going to stop him.
As for Lucy? Well, there’s the inherent fact that Lucy didn’t just come out and say she didn’t like him and he had no chance. Lucy is often brutally honest, and she still chose to dodge the question when he asked. But Lucy still can’t bring herself to say she does love him, so if she’s so brutally honest, she must not, right? Well, no! One of Lucy’s major character flaws is that she can’t be fully honest with people, even when it would benefit them both. Admitting her true feelings is a specific area where that’s a problem— Lucy confessed she loves someone once before, and look how THAT went. Also on the BCB ship chart she’s still listed as having a crush on him and the chart came out in *checks notes* after Lucy came back so I’m hanging onto that for dear life
So, there you have it! My overdrawn explanation of why paulucy good, actually. Thank you so much for reading if you got this far! God I really love this comic waaay too much.
#bittersweet candy bowl#BCB#paulo#lucy#paulucy#hahahahahahhahaahahaahhahahaahhaa hahah hahah ahah#i am going to explode#writing#ship analysis
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# 5 Daddy Issues
Gif credit: @undertheniall
Prompt: Daddy Issues - When the reader attacks an unsub the team doesn’t know how to react. After an awkward day in the office Spencer works up the courage to find out what is going on with the reader, and they both find out they have a similar childhood fear.
Couple: Spencer Reid/ Reader (female)
Category: Angst / Comfort
Content Warning: Hostage situation, mentions of child abuse, language
A/N: Well here I am writing angst again. I really like the way this story turned out. I wanted to thank everyone for all the interaction with my posts, it means a lot. Also, I only have a basic knowledge of rock climbing, sorry if I got some things wrong. I hope you enjoy this new addition! Like/ Reblog please.
_y/n_ = your name
_y/l/n_ = your last name
_f/s_ = face shape
_h/l_ = hair length
Link to other stories
Word Count: 5k
The current case that the BAU team was facing was related to three seemingly unrelated murders in a small town in Ohio. It wasn’t until more information had come forward that Spencer nailed down the unsub’s identity. Jason Kloch, married father of three, had killed his family's bank teller, pastor and wife’s best friend once he heard that his wife was planning on divorcing him. Jason was currently holed up in his two story house, holding his family hostage. The team had made multiple calls to try and negotiate a peaceful resolution for the innocent members of Jason’s delusions, however nothing had come from those conversations. Now the team was driving over to the house to confront the unsub face to face. The FBI had tapped the family’s phone line and found out that Jason was planning on killing his wife and children and then himself that evening. With this information the team immediately took action, thus speeding to the family residence. Once they got to the picturesque white home the team split up into smaller units. J.J., Gideon and Spencer went to look at the backyard. Hotchner, Morgan, _y/n_ and Prentiss crept inside the home. Aaron signaled for _y/n_ and Derek to take the upstairs, while he and Emily would check the downstairs and basement. _y/n_ carefully walked up the stairs, avoiding the weak spots that would squeak with their weight. _Y/n_ could hear a one sided conversation coming from the largest bedroom and pointed in that direction. The duo approached the closed door. Both agents held their guns in front of their chests. Morgan used his fingers to count down, three, two, one. At one _y/n_ kicked the door in and pointed her Colt M4 in the direction of the bed. Jason was on the bed with his wife. The unsub had a gun that he immediately pointed at his wife’s head. The woman made a terrified sound against her gag as the deranged man threatened her. _Y/n_ said, “Mr. Kloch you don’t want to do this,” as Derek joined the female agents in pointing his weapon at the unsub. Jason pulled his wife off the bed with him. He pressed the metal barrel closer to his wife’s head. He replied, “You don’t understand anything.” The unsub looked _y/n_ up and down and continued, “You look like a real treat. I bet if I had married you you wouldn’t have tried to leave me like this bitch did.” _Y/l/n_ ignored the comment and took a step closer to the unsub. Morgan then said, “Jason, I know you want to keep your family together, but by killing them you won't accomplish any of that. If you let Mary [Jason’s wife] go you can have a chance to see your children again. Jason was starting to slip out of reality and he shouted, “Don’t you fucking tell me what to do! She does it all the time.” Jason waved his gun around wildly before he put it behind Mary’s cranium again. As the man began to slide his finger further on the trigger _y/n_ had one last attempt to stop yet another murder. She said in a seductive voice, “You said I was a treat earlier. Would you like to see some more?” The unsub was clearly startled by the offer and momentarily pulled the gun away from Mary’s skull. The man focused again and said, “Yeah, if I’m gonna die today I might as well see some cute tit’s and ass before I do.”
` Morgan looked over to _y/n_ and shook his head no at her. _Y/l/n_ looked back at him with as reassuring a glance as she could muster. The female agent slipped off one side of her blazer, then switched her gun from one hand to the other. With another shake the blazer fell to the floor. _Y/n_ took a step toward Jason. She still held onto her gun with her right hand, with the left she started unbuttoning her shirt. The woman stopped at the fourth button, where her shirt intersected with her bullet proof vest. Now that the woman’s clavicle was on display she stepped even closer to the unsub. When she was about two feet away from him she asked, “Do you like it.” At this statement Jason’s hand, holding the gun started shaking violently. Once the tip of the deadly weapon was off of Mary’s head agent _y/l/n_ lunged at the man. The pile of bodies on the floor writhed in a mess of arms and legs. Morgan ran over to the group and quickly pulled Mary out of the way and helped her to the bed. While this was happening _y/n_ had kicked the gun from Jason’s hand, and was punching him on the head and chest. For a moment the man flipped over on _y/n’s_ chest and tried to overpower her. The agent quickly kneed the man in the groin and bucked her hips up causing Jason to flip onto his back. _Y/n_ gave one last strong upper cut and the man was knocked out. Seeing this fact Morgan relaxed for a moment. Aaron entered the room to see what was happening to his team. When he ascertained the situation he lowered his gun. Unfortunately _y/n_ was still hitting the body of the unconscious man. With a voice of authority Hotch said, “Agent _y/l/n_ stop. The woman had heard her supervision but continued to beat the man. Morgan quickly got up and grabbed _y/n’s_ waist and easily lifted the lithe girl off the unsub. Derek held on to her with enough strength that she couldn’t move her hands anymore. Morgan said, “I need you to calm down _y/n_. Take some deep breaths.” After a minute or two the agent relaxed in his arms, she looked up to Aaron with a sad expression. Her supervisor returned the look with one of apprehension.
Thirty minutes later, when Mary and her children had been taken to the hospital for a check up, and Jason had been cuffed and taken into custody, Spencer, and the FBI team that had helped them with the case were filling out a report on the room. In another corner of the room Aaron was having a conversation with Derek about what had happened in the room before he got there. From what Spencer could hear it didn’t sound like _y/n_ had acted like herself at all. Spencer stood up from his position on the floor and momentarily looked out the window. He could see J.J. and _y/n_ were having a conversation. Or, what looked more like an argument. J.J. was standing with her arms crossed across her chest and _y/n_ was gesturing with her hands. After another minute the media liaison shook her head and walked away from the other agent. Spencer could see _y/n_ shoulders moving up and down as if she was trying to control her breathing. Then the agent pulled her fist back and hit the side of the house sharply. Spencer flinched at the action. It looked like it must have hurt. Before the svelte agent could consider what had happened between his coworker one of the other groups FBI agent’s approached him with a form to look over and sign. In another two hours the team was on the jet back to Quantico. There was a strange tension on the plane. _Y/n_ was not her normal bubbly self. She had even refused to play Spencer at chess, one of her favorite things. Instead, the agent had put on headphones and took a seat at the back of the jet. She had her legs pulled up to her chest and had wrapped her arms around them, like a child when they were frightened. The team gave her a wide breadth, not wanting to disturb her. They didn’t really know what to do, because she had never acted this way before. They all hoped that tomorrow she would be back to normal. When the plane landed Morgan gave her a hug as they exited the aircraft. As she passed by Aaron he looked at her with a blank expression, this made the young woman shiver before she quickly moved toward her car.
The next day at headquarters when _y/n_ entered the bullpen Hotchner called her up to his office. The young agent closed the door behind her and stood in front of his desk. Aaron looked up at her and said, “Please take a seat _y/l/n_.” The agent did and placed her arms at the edge of her supervisor's desk. Hotchner tilted his head slightly and said, “You know why you’re here, right.” Upon hearing this _y/n_ hung her head and replied, “Yes Sir.” Hotch nodded and said, “Would you like to tell me what happened yesterday with Jason Kloch?” _Y/n_ kept her head down but turned her eyes to the man that she saw as a father figure and said, “I apologize that my emotions got in the way of my job yesterday. I know that it was unprofessional and unneeded.” Hotch took in the words and replied, “You not only acted unprofessionally with your outburst, but you also put yourself in unnecessary danger by approaching the unsub in the manner that you did. Unfortunately I’m going to have to ask you to take a psychiatric evaluation. Pending the results of your exam I will decide whether or not to include it in your file.” _Y/n_ nodded. She knew that her actions could get her fired, and she was grateful that he was giving her this much of a chance. Hotchner had one last question, so he looked up at her and honestly asked, “I need to know what’s happening with my team _y/n_. I’m asking you to tell me truthfully what caused your outburst yesterday? What’s going on?” The female agent sat silently for a minute, thinking about how to reply. After the uncomfortable silence she said, “The relationship you had with your father Sir, it’s the same kind of relationship I had with mine. Every time I see an unsub that’s abusing their power over innocent women and children I see my father beating the crap out of me again. I see him hitting my mom and sister, holding us hostage. Mr. Kloch made me do something I never thought I would. I’m going to have to live with that the rest of my life, Hotch.” At hearing the story Aaron pressed his lips together making them form a thin line. Hotchner knew how the girl was feeling, what it was like to face a person just like the one you were forced to live with when you were young. He got the pent up anger, and fear of becoming the same thing yourself. The supervision replied, “I understand you agent _y/l/n_. I’ve scheduled your exam for tomorrow morning. You're free to go.” _Y/n_ stood up, and as she reached the door Hotch said, “I’m sorry.” _Y/n_ gave the smallest smile, nodded and left the room. Hotch sat back down and thought, ‘I don’t think the results will be a problem. But if they are I’ll get _y/n_ the help she needs. And I’m sure as hell not letting her off the team.’
_Y/n_ had stayed quiet after her evaluation the next day. She was working through the case files on her desk when Spencer approached her. The tall agent had decided that he needed to find out what was bothering his friend. When she was acting too differently the whole team dynamic shifted to a weird nebulous area of hesitation. Spencer wasn’t doing this only for his own comfort, he was doing it because he remembered how many times other members of the team had offered to help him when he needed it. He knew that _y/n_ trusted him, in fact she would tell him loads of information, about her day, her best friend, the new film she had seen. And he loved hearing her enthusiastic conversations. When he was stressed, or having trouble sleeping he would call her and let her go on and on. Spencer also liked that she didn’t just talk to talk, the woman had a thesis and sources to back up her rants. This reminded him of himself, and he found it comforting. Their conversations had become such a staple of their working relationship that she would call him when she was stressed, and ask him to talk about his latest paper, or how the thermodynamics of the universe worked. He wanted to hear her voice again. Therefore he was standing beside her desk. _Y/n_ looked up at him and smiled. She set down the file she was examining and said, “Hey Spencer, what’s up?” Reid smiled back, he was about to make an offer that she couldn’t refuse. He replied, “I’ve been wanting to go to Earth Treks after work for a while, and since we don’t have a case I was wondering if you wanted to come with?” At hearing this _y/n’s_ eyes lit up. Earth Treks was a rock climbing gym close to the Quantico base. Spencer knew that _y/n_ had a membership and went at least three times a week after work. One time after a difficult case for him, she had dragged him to the gym to clear his head. It had been beneficial, because all he could really do was focus on his footing and handholds. He wasn’t good, but he had tried. Spencer snapped back to reality when she replied, “I’d love that Spence. I’ll meet you in the garage at five.” Reid smiled and said, “Cool, see you then.” The tall agent moved back to his desk a few feet away, relieved that his plan had worked.
Spencer met _y/n_ at the parking garage after the work day was over. She gave him a hug and he opened the passenger side door of his car for her. The sound of classical music on Spencer’s car stereo filled the silence for a few minutes before _y/n_ asked, “So, what makes you want to go climbing all of a sudden?” Reid kept his eyes on the road as he replied, “I just wanted to do something different. You know how work can be, how I can be. If I get caught up in my head I work less efficiently.” _Y/n_ giggled at his response and said, “Spencer, even if you were working at fifty perscent capacity I don’t think anyone on the team could work as quickly as you do. Excluding Penelope, because she’s also super fast, but more chaotic, and more likely to break a law to stalk an ex-boyfriend.” Reid smiled and took a second to look over to his passenger and continued the conversation saying, “Well, honestly this last case has made me a little uneasy, I’ve missed seeing and talking to you.” _Y/n_ looked over at Spencer when he finished the statement. She looked hurt for a second, and then disappointment took its place on her _f/s_ features. She knew that she had seen Spencer everyday since the case. She knew he wasn’t just talking about missing her presence, he missed the person she was before their last case. She turned her eyes away from him so she wouldn’t have to see her friend be unsure of her. It really hurt her that this whole situation was happening. She didn’t want to have to explain herself to the whole team; or more accurately, that she would have to talk to Spencer about why she was acting this way. She didn’t want to burden him more.
When the pair got to Earth Treks they got out of the car and entered the building. _Y/n_ swiped her membership card and went to the front desk to get Spencer in for free using her rewards points. As Spencer signed a release form and got his pair of shoes from the worker at the desk, _y/n_ was taking off her shoes and putting her duffle bag and tennis shoes in a cubby hole. Spencer walked up to her and started doing the same. Both agents had their workout clothes and shoes and moved past the gym space and into the bathrooms and changing areas. Both went into their respective gender’s area and changed and put on their climbing shoes. Spencer and _y/n_ came out of the changing rooms at the same time and started to walk back to the area that they needed to drop their personal belongings at when _y/n_ saw that one of the belays was open on the wall at the far end of the gym. She turned to Spencer and said, “Hey Spence, I’ll put your clothes up if you run over and grab that spot.” _Y/n_ pointed to the wall and Reid said, “Sure thing.” He handed his clothes to his friend and started toward the far wall. _Y/n_ held Spencer clothes close to her chest, feeling their warmth. She quickly snapped out of her reverie and moved to the storage space. She wanted to think about how calming being close to Spencer made her, but she knew now was not the time for those mental fantasies. She stuffed her clothing into the slot she had selected, but took the time to fold Reid’s clothes and place them next to his converse. When _y/n_ finished with her friend's clothes she grabbed her harness and ropes to belay with. When she arrived at the wall with Reid she looked at the routes open on the wall. She looked at Spencer and asked, “Do you want to go first? I can belay.” The lanky man looked up at the high wall, an appearance of apprehension on his face. _Y/n_ saw this and said, “If you look at the pink route I think you’ll be able to make it. It’s only an A 5.3 grade. I can walk you through it if you need help.” Spencer looked at the beginner climb and said, “Okay, I’ll try it, but only because I know you want to use this wall.” _Y/n_ gave a slight huff, knowing that Spencer was being honest. The more adept climber pulled the ropes down and handed Spencer the two clips to attach to his harness, while she oriented the ropes in a safe way for her to pull up her friend. Once she had done this she looked to Spencer who was still trying to attach the main safely clip to his harness. She sighed and grabbed the karabener from him and slipped it open. She then grabbed the loop on the harness that encircled Spencer’s waist. _Y/n_ tried not to think too hard about the area her hands were close to as she clipped the final safety precaution to her friend. The woman tugged up on the two ropes to ensure they were on correctly before quickly moving her hands away from his body.
Spencer’s train of thought was clearly somewhere more focused as the man put his hands and feet at the beginning of the ascent. _Y/n_ grabbed the ropes from the belay and stepped a few feet back and said, “Alright you’re good to go.” Spencer moved up the wall easily until about half way up the route. When he started getting nervous _y/n_ told him where to move his limbs that led him to the top of the wall. After Spencer had finished his climb _y/n_ found an employee of the gym to belay her while Spencer watched her complete a more difficult ascent. After another hour and a half of climbing on the tall walls and the bouldering section of the gym the agents were tired out. The friends ended up changing and heading out of the gym _y/n_ had almost forgotten the awkward circumstances they had arrived in. She asked Spencer, “Hey, would you like to go to Insomniac, it will be my treat?” Spencer smiled at the offer and said yes. Insomniac was his favorite coffee shop in D.C. It was the first place that he and _y/n_ had hung out after work. As he drove them to their next destination Spencer couldn’t stop looking at _y/n_, and her relaxed face as it leaned back against his car seat. She had her eyes closed, enjoying the smooth movements of the road moving beneath her. Spencer reminded himself that he was here to find out what was bothering his friend, nonetheless he still had a hard time letting go of the warm feeling he had in his chest.
When his car pulled into the gravel driveway of the coffee shop the two walked into the building and placed their regular orders; like they belonged there. Once _y/n_ had her matcha latte and a shot of espresso and Spencer had his coffee with a cup of sugar, the pair moved to the outside seating area. As _y/n_ teased her friend about his sugar consumption the man looked around and the twinkling lights that surrounded the patio they were seated in. Reid breathed in time with the twinkling lights until his heart rate calmed. He couldn’t really understand why his breath had been racing before. Once _y/l/n_ had taken a short respite on her conversation about the primary themes of Inception, a topic she would bring up once a month at least, always presenting a new case to why it was the best 21st century film, Spencer held up his hand. _Y/n_ looked up to him as he said, “_Y/n_ I need to know what’s going on with you. I can’t be a good friend to you if I don’t know what’s bothering you.” The pained look was back on _y/n’s_ features as she heard what he had to say. The woman quickly replied, “Do you not trust me Spencer. Does seeing me act differently make you uncomfortable, do I make you uncomfortable now!” She said it with more anger than she intended, and when the statement was out she shut her mouth quickly, angry that her emotions had so prominently made themselves known. Spencer said, “I’ll always trust you _y/n_. I’m just trying to understand what’s going on.” When Spencer said this tears started forming in _y/n’s_ tear ducts. She looked away from him and took a deep breath before turning to him. She put her hand out on the table, hoping that he would place his fingers over hers. She quickly pulled her arm back when she realized that this was an inappropriate thing to want or assume from him. He didn’t owe her physical affection, even if she wanted it. She looked down at the table and made the decision that if she didn’t let Spencer into her past she might lose him forever. She continued by saying, “My mother left me, my older brother and sister when I was seven. I always assumed she would come back and she never did. It was fine at home until my brother left for college, which my father paid for. He had assured all of us that he would help us some way once it was our turn to leave home. Well once my brother was gone my father changed his tune. When it was close for me to apply to universities my dad told me that women belonged in the home, and that I should be looking for a husband, not a degree. He started drinking. He’d come home and try and beat my sister. I stopped him.” When she said this Spencer noted how she clutched her arms over her chest in a protective gesture.
She continued with the story, “One night during a screaming match with my father he told me that he had saved up money for our college fund. But after our brother had moved out he had spent the rest of the fund on gambling and a ponzi scheme that had failed. When I turned eighteen I took my sister and ran, like my mom had years before. I worked my ass off to get where I am today. I still work my ass off because I’m paying for half of my sister’s college education.” It was at this point that the tears fell down from her face. Talking about the past reopened old wounds that she had ignored for years. Again she turned her face away from him, trying to hide her pain. Spencer felt very bad about this and he reached across the table to put his right hand over hers. He squeezed her palm, applying consistent pressure in an interval of ten seconds with a break of five seconds. He knew that it was a way to physiological calm the human body. After a few minutes the woman relaxed. Spencer said, “I’m so sorry to hear that. Your childhood doesn’t determine your current situation.” He was trying to be very logical with his approach, but when she replied, “I know that. But I don’t want you or anyone on the team throwing me a pity party. I’ve already done enough of that. But Spencer,” She looked at him squarely in the face and said, “But more importantly, yesterday with the unsub I absolutely went off on the unsub. Derek had to pull me off of him. The unsub reminded me of my dad and I lost control. Spencer what if I become just like my father? I can’t live with myself if that’s what I become.” _Y/n_ was absolutely shaking with fear. And Spencer realized that earlier, after the case and in the office and in his car, that she wasn’t afraid of anyone else, she was afraid of herself. The lithe man got up from his chair and knelt down next to her chair and pulled his arms around her neck. Her tears fell hot and large on his shoulder. The man used his right hand to rub circles into her upper back and his left to run up and down through her _h/l_ hair. He didn’t let go when she stopped sobbing, instead he said, “You know my father left me and my mom?” Spencer could hear her swallow and felt her head move up and down, saying yes. He continued, “Well after I got my third degree I tried reaching out to him. He sent me a letter telling me to fuck myself, and never speak to him again. Then a year later I got hired by the BAU. I stopped seeing my mom. I thought that I had abandoned her like he had. Once I thought about that I was doing I started writing to her daily. I remind myself that I’m not the man he was, and I never will be.” At hearing Spencer’s confession _y/n_ moved her hands to either side of Spencer’s head and pulled his face up to look at hers. When they were looking at each other he said, “You’re not the monster your father was. You’re a hundred times stronger than him because you catch people like him everyday, and you’re still happy, optimistic and lovely to be around. _Y/n_ shifted in her seat so Spencer’s waist and hips were between her legs. She placed her forehead on his and asked, “Do you ever go home and think that there’s a black shadow stalking you. Mocking everything you’ve accomplished?” Spencer had his eyes closed and was considering how her breath smelled like grass and steamed milk with the addition of coffee and replied, “For me it’s more like a black hole. Something that should have been there, but never really existed in the first place; or only existed in my head.”
The pair stayed in their current position for a moment before _y/n_ asked, “Can I kiss you Spencer? Can I understand what it feels like to be that close to you?” He nodded his head yes, He didn’t say yes verbally, more of a ‘un’ sound. _Y/n_ leaned in as he raised his chin up and their lips met in a moment of pure peace. There was no pity or shame in the past, just a secureness of the moment. After the pair had separated they shared stories and moment’s of their lives that made sense to know about each other. And with each passing word they both felt more secure in each other's arms. The next morning _y/n_ went to each member of the team and individually apologized for how she had acted over the past two days. When she saw Hotchner he said that her results from the psych eval came in. Her supervisor held up the file and dropped it in the waste basket beside his desk, giving the girl a hug after she had apologized. Morgan couldn’t ignore that she and Spencer were wearing the same clothes as they had been yesterday, and that _y/n’s_ car had stayed in the parking garage all night. Spencer and _y/n_ hadn’t done anything too indecent yet. They had just gone back to Reid’s apartment and watched Inception while they debated the theme and kissed some more. However, Derek did see the two sneak a kiss at the coffee pot in the break room. He wouldn’t bring it up in front of the whole team, instead he would corner Spencer and demand an explanation. Morgan was very happy for them and he couldn’t wait to be a third wheel on one of their dates, he was sure it would be interesting to watch.
#spencer reid#dr. spencer reid#criminal minds#cm#reader x spencer reid#reader x dr. spencer reid#reid x reader#spencer reid x reader#emily prentiss#j.j.#aaron hotchner#jason gideon#i just finished S2 E15 and I am so fucked up rn#angst#comfor#one shot#fanfiction
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La Sirena - Chapter Eight
Captain Swan Supernatural Summer
We’re nearing the completion of this @cssns tale, and despite the challenges this story has posed, I’m a little bit sad that it is nearly finished.
This chapter has a lot of action as we pick up right where we left off with Regina’s nefarious plan to “test” Killian’s worthiness. Our poor lieutenant has no idea what the devious siren has in mind and it isn’t going to be pleasant.
Thank you, @kmomof4 for all of your beta assistance, especially with your suggestions for this chapter! And thanks again to @courtorderedcake for her beautiful artwork!
Catch up from the beginning on AO3 or FF.net Tumblr chapters: One Two Three Four Five Six Seven
“Retribution”
No amount of naval training could have prepared him for this, Killian thought as he inexplicably found himself standing barefoot on the shore. One moment he'd been crouching inside the cavern awaiting Emma's return and the next, he was facing down the tempestuous ocean, thoroughly exposed. His knuckles had gone white clutching desperately to the cutlass, but as he stared out at the sea, he knew in his heart that the weapon was no match for this unnatural battle.
Above the whitecaps in the distance, he could just make out the crest of Emma's head and that of another person with darker hair coiffed beneath some sort of massive, glistening crown. Was this the mysterious sister that Emma had spoken of? He couldn't make out anything they were saying over the roar of waves crashing against the rock. But it was the dichotomy of their expressions that sent a shiver down his spine. He didn't even dare hypothesize the meaning behind the look of abject horror that spread across Emma's delicate features.
Shivers washed over him and his gut filled with apprehension when his gaze was drawn to movement on the horizon. Could this be signalling the arrival of the siren council that had Emma so concerned? The surface of the water seemed to rise, bubbling and foaming in the most unearthly manner. It was like nothing he had ever seen in all his years at sea and in a mere moment, he was about to wish it could be unseen.
As a mariner, he'd often heard tales of encounters with the legendary kraken and he'd shrugged them off as nothing but fantasy. Perhaps he'd been too quick to judge legend from truth, he found himself thinking as he marveled at the sheer size of the tentacle that emerged from the depths. It was simply beyond belief. From his experience with squid and octopi snared in fishing nets, Killian suspected that this creature would have to be supernaturally large, and that thought was confirmed as it reared its humongous head above the bay.
Even if he hadn't been practically paralyzed with shock and trepidation, he never would have had a chance to outrun the beast's speed or reach as another of its incredibly strong tentacles snatched him off of the beach. The slimy appendage constricted around his upper body, lifting him into the air and pinning his arms to his sides as it threatened to crush him.
First pirates, then sirens, and now he was eye to eye with a bloody kraken… All of them apparently competing to see who would kill him first…
Grimacing in pain, he struggled against its grasp and cried out to Emma for help. He may have been at the mercy of these mythical beings, but his own survival instincts remained fully intact. He wiggled his right arm free enough to draw the cutlass from its sheath. He didn't exactly have full range to properly wield his weapon, but he managed to secure an angle that allowed him to thrust the blade into one of the circular suckers on the underside of the tentacle encircling him. The monster howled and retaliated by lashing Killian into the waves, stunning the sailor as it increased the pressure on his body and dislodging the sword. The blade dropped into the ocean below while a barely conscious Killian could both feel and hear his ribs cracking under the assault.
Emma could only watch in a panic as the kraken scooped Killian off the shore with its tentacles wound tightly around him. She tried in vain to repel the monstrosity with her magic, but her barrage of light energy blasts had little to no effect on the creature.
"Your magic isn't strong enough to deter a kraken," an amused Regina insisted.
"Call it off, Regina!" Emma shouted angrily as the monster's tentacle squeezed ever tighter around Killian's very mortal body. She could hardly bear to see the agony expressed by his features. "This isn't the way! The beast is going to kill him!"
"He was on borrowed time already, sister," Regina reminded her sternly. "But if this pitiful human is as worthy as you claim he is, he certainly should be capable of defeating a kraken - shouldn't he?" She chuckled giddily as Emma's gaze focused on her weak little human, completely aghast by the impending carnage.
"I do not know what you and lord Triton conspired upon, but this is a repulsive abuse of power!" Emma admonished her sister while whipping around in the water to confront the rest of the council when they surfaced to take in the spectacle. "Why can none of you understand that he survived because he did not hear the song? Are you all complicit in this? Serving him up as hapless prey to a kraken is hardly the task our kind was given! Do you think this is what the great Poseidon intended? We were created to sing and only to sing! Any further judgement belongs to the gods, not to the sirens!"
There were a few nods and murmurs from the council but despite Emma's fervent pleas, none of the members seemed to be willing to challenge Regina.
"Cowards…," Emma hissed as she returned her attention to her sister. "I don't know what power you wield over the council, Regina, but I believe that even they know this is wrong. If you want to challenge him, do it with your voice, not with Triton's oversized toy…"
"But this way is so much more fun," Regina smirked and that was what finally pushed Emma over the edge. With a flip of her muscular tail, Emma lunged at Regina, shoving her tentacled sibling beneath the surface and yanking the coral and shell studded crown from atop Regina's head. "Why you insolent little bitch!" Regina cried out as Emma flung the headdress aside. "You've always been a poor excuse for a siren and now you're proving that by all of this fervor to save your human pet!"
Regina flicked two of her tentacles toward Emma who defensively batted them away with her arms and tail fin. The skirmish sent many members of the council scrambling to get out of the way.
"Why are you doing this?" Emma demanded with a brisk swish of her tail that lifted her out of Regina's reach for the moment. "This has never been our way… Please - call off that kraken!"
"You have been away too long. You've gone soft," Regina scolded. "You're practically fawning over a human. How deranged can you possibly be? Have you forgotten what it is to be a siren or are those powers wasted on you?"
"The only deranged one here is you! I know I did the right thing no matter what you believe. Maybe I did go soft but if his life was spared from the siren call, he deserves to live…" Emma couldn't stop her voice from cracking as she continued to plead for Killian's survival. How had this man managed to affect her so greatly in such a short amount of time? Why did she care so much? Compassion wasn't an emotion that sirens were supposed to have…
"No human is worthy to pass through this realm. That was the edict of Poseidon himself," Regina sneered, raising her right arm above the water's surface as she prepared to unleash her magic on the helpless human who'd gone limp in the kraken's grip.
"PERHAPS I SHOULD BE THE JUDGE OF THAT," a booming voice sounded above the bay, silencing all, including the roaring sea beast.
A glistening trident with tines that blazed as brilliantly as lightning bolts broke through the waves. Emma immediately bowed her head even before the god's visage appeared and her action was followed by the siren council members who'd remained. Even Regina demurely lowered her head at the sight of Poseidon's face, but no amount of posturing would spare her from his ire. With a scant raise of his trident, the seas instantly grew calm and the kraken, still clinging to its human prey, was now frozen in time.
"Enough distractions," Poseidon said as his attention fell to the combative sirens. "The creatures living in this bay alerted me to all of this… whatever this is. What in the name of Olympus is going on here?"
"Mighty Poseidon," Regina began as she slowly lifted her chin to gaze upon the god of the sea. Her eyes darted back to the sea at the sight of his deep-set scowl. "We were just trying to complete some unfinished business, but there has been some disagreement over doing what needs to be done."
Poseidon shook his head in disdain as he glowered at the brunette siren. "This is a disagreement?" he queried as he nonchalantly pushed his glimmering three pointed crown back into position atop his pure white hair, echoing Regina's earlier behavior. "I think this is a ruckus and I would like to know how a council of sirens got themselves into such a bizarre situation. I don't recall krakens being a part of the siren song."
Regina's cheeks burned with embarrassment and anger. How dare Emma and her human put her in this position? "My apologies. Had Erimetha not abandoned our code and rescued a human, we wouldn't be here. The kraken was merely a suggestion from your brother, Triton, as a means to expedite the process."
"Was it now?" Poseidon quipped sarcastically before his scrutiny passed to Emma who, to this point, had remained reverent, silently treading water as she awaited the inevitable wrath of the god. "I'll need to have a stern conversation with my brother about his suggestion, but Erimetha - pardon me, I forgot that you prefer to be called Emma - is what Regina says true? Did you rescue a human from a doomed ship?"
Emma managed a weak smile over the fact that Poseidon had remembered her preferred name and even corrected himself. Maybe, just maybe, she wasn't being viewed as the villain here.
"Regina's words are partially true. The man had already survived the siren song. He never heard them sing. All I did was prevent him from rolling off of his makeshift raft," Emma replied as she dared raise her head to face Poseidon.
"What possessed you to do such a thing?" Poseidon asked with a raised brow, intently listening for her response.
Emma had to pause for a moment, trying to best form her words, but the best she could come up with was: "My instincts told me I should."
"I see…" The god of the seas scratched idly at his beard as he contemplated Emma's answer - one that Regina clearly didn't believe to be good enough.
"She admits she helped the human," Regina rehashed her opinion, crossing her arms over her chest indignantly as she awaited the god's agreement.
Giving no audience to Regina, Poseidon continued his interrogation of Emma as only the outcast siren's first-hand account was going to answer the questions he wanted answered.
"You claim the human did not perish during the siren encounter because he didn't hear their song. What led you to that conclusion, Emma?"
"As he was recovering from his injuries sustained at the hand of the pirates who had abducted him and during his escape from the sinking ship, we conversed a few times. He believed the ship's crew had abandoned their vessel after striking the rocks and left him behind. It wasn't until after Regina came to my cove the first time in search of a survivor that he learned the truth about the siren attack, but he didn't recall hearing any music before the ship began to go down. It was my belief that he might possibly have been deaf to the song so I tested the theory by singing to him and he never heard me. He never fell victim to the trance. Does that not make him worthy to live?"
Poseidon pursed his lips and rubbed his whiskered chin as he pondered his next query but grew irritated by Regina's refusal to be silent when she interrupted his thoughts.
"This doesn't prove anything," Regina interjected, only to be immediately shushed by the god.
"Regina - my questions are for Emma at this time. It would be in your best interest to remain quiet until I address you," he warned sternly. "When I have a question for you, I shall ask. Do you understand?"
An embarrassed Regina nodded and gave a sheepish "Yes, your majesty." before floating further back from him.
"Emma, what do you know of the history of the sirens?" Poseidon inquired.
She was caught off-guard by the unusual question, but she did her best to surmise the history she knew. "Centuries ago, the gods lived in peace with humans, but a time came when the humans no longer showed reverence to the gods. As the human realm grew in size and they began to traverse the globe, you and Triton established this part of the mighty oceans as your sacred realm. We sirens were created to guard entrance into the realm as our song was supposed to determine whether a human was worthy to pass.
"Over many generations, only one human proved to be worthy - although the precise means of how his worth was determined remain unclear. Anyway, this human gained your favor and in time, was granted permission to marry your daughter, Ursula. Their civilization then flourished for many years, until the same insolence led to the destruction of that advanced civilization.
"Humans were once again regarded as evil, and while there are many tales of your descendants being spared, no one but you, your majesty, knows the veracity of that. All I know for certain is that even long before I isolated myself away from the sirens, no human ever traversed this realm successfully. All of them perished - until Killian came along. I do not know what criteria you intended us to use to judge men such as him, but he isn't evil. If he was able to make it off of that ship alive, does that not mean he was worthy of passage?"
Poseidon raised a brow at the thoroughness of her reply. He'd known for quite some time that Emma was unique amongst her kind, but he'd not expected to find such an underlying passion for life within a being who'd been created to kill.
"You are very much correct, Emma," he said at last, leaving a disgruntled Regina aghast.
"But Lord Poseidon, she defied the siren code by interfering!" Regina insisted and she was met with a harsh rebuttal.
"Regina, my instruction was for you to remain silent until you were addressed, but you seem to have difficulty following such a simple directive," he admonished the unruly siren. "You and the council are dismissed!" Lifting his trident, he aimed it at the frozen kraken, divesting it of its human prey. In a flash, an unconscious Killian Jones was removed from the creature's grasp to reappear safely upon the sandy shore. He waved off the layer of imposing clouds that shrouded the skies, allowing the sunlight to bathe the cove once again. The kraken reared to life as Poseidon's spell wore off, but the god quickly neutered its wrath. "And since you summoned it, you can return that blasted beast to my brother on your way home to your end of the island! Once I have completed cleaning up the mess you have made here, you will stand before me to answer for this abuse of your powers! Even with the most convincing apology, you may find yourself relieved of those powers."
Regina's lips parted to complain but wisely, not a single whimper escaped as she turned away from the intensity of his glare. Glancing around the bay, she could see that not a single council member had stayed behind to see her humiliation, so perhaps she could count that as a single victory. It was still her belief that she'd done no wrong, but for now, it was far better to lick her wounds and depart than further provoke the wrath of a god who had just publicly castigated her in front of her rival.
Visibly shaken, Regina gave one last little flutter of her wrist to vanquish the kraken, scowling eyes locked on Emma the entire time. Despite her fallen crown being forgotten and abandoned to the sea floor, she held her chin up audaciously before slipping beneath the waves with the knowledge that this may have been her last act as a siren.
#cssns#captain swan supernatural summer#cssns20#cs ff#cs au ff#la sirena#siren emma#one more chapter to go#are emma and killian going to get their happy ending?
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“Lift the Spirit” :: a fluff/angst post-Frozen 2 Elsamaren fanfic
Chapter 5: Cause I’m not alone anymore
Nokk was still waiting at the place Elsa had told them to wait. They turned their head to the call of the Snow Queen. It was remarkably stealthy; Elsa didn’t even have to whistle to get their attention, she simply used her mental bond, and the Water Spirit obeyed.
The blonde ran along the trees, increasing her race even, and the magical horse galloped to join her side, catching up with her rhythm. They ran sideways in the Moon light for a few seconds, Elsa’s gaze still on the horizon to where the Northuldra camp was, and she didn’t even need to look at Nokk for the next step. She rose her left hand and jumped on their back from the flank, her legs hovering their barrel as she seemed to float during her twirl. Her hand still on their crest, she sat bareback as usual and sent a silent order to the Water Spirit, asking them to dash to the Sami village.
Nokk nodded energetically, and ran to where the others had been waiting. When Elsa arrived in a barely perceptible trot in the camp, several people startled of surprise.
Except for Anna, who had been expecting her venue and staring at where she had come from. The redhead came closer, holding a torch like several Northuldra.
“He’s on the shore.” Informed Elsa, staying on Nokk. “I saw him plan how he’s going to cross the Dark Sea. He’s distracted. It’s now or never if we want to have the element of surprise.”
Anna, Honeymaren, Eydis, Kristoff and Ryder nodded. The Snow Queen outstretched a hand for her sister to help her jump behind her, which she did in a swift motion.
Kristoff went on Rask’s back, and helped Eydis to get behind her. Finally, Honeymaren and Ryder rode the fastest reindeer of the herd.
“Everyone, get to your positions.” Ordered the Northuldra leader. “You know what you have to do. Stand guard and don’t let anyone or anything approach. I have confidence in you all.”
“May Ahtohallan be with you.” Bowed Jongu. He was in charge of the camp while she was gone, and would not disappoint her. His eyes were fierce at the light of his torch.
They all exchanged words of support, then galloped up North.
Elsa was leading, with Anna holding her waist tight. The blonde couldn’t tell if she was doing that due to the surreal speed of Nokk and the possibility of falling, to the roughness of Anna’s armor, or to her undeniable mix of stress and excitement.
The Snow Queen patted her hand. She wondered if she could feel it because she had reinforced leather gloves, but when she felt the redhead tilt on the side, she smiled in success.
“Everything will be okay, Anna.”
The Queen didn’t answer, for bad fortune, and simply cuddled closer to her elder. She couldn’t lose her. Not after all that their family had been through.
Elsa passed a hand along Nokk’s neck while they were heading to the Dark Sea shore. She could feel how nervous the Water Spirit was as well. Even Gale and Bruni, who were protecting the camp, and the Giants, who were patrolling in the land, were exhaling stress, and she could feel it kilometers away.
“It will be alright, dear friends.” She sent as a mental answer, and their mood calmed down a bit.
Nevertheless, she was upset that the Spirits couldn’t participate to the fight. She had thought of begging Ahtohallan to use their magic against Victor, but she knew that the laws of Nature were immutable. Magical Spirits had been brought to the world to protect and help, not to attack opposite dark forces. However, as the Fifth Spirit, Elsa was allowed to intervene; just as, sadly, the previous Fifth Spirit could make his own choices concerning Niks’ penalty. The Bridge existed to forge a path between humans and magic, and Elsa’s role now was to stop Victor’s evil ends and prevent him from taking control of Ahtohallan. Her instinct of guardian of the magical source made her flare, ironically in an ice cold way. The glacier had helped her to fully accept and love herself, and she would never let anyone destroy it.
On that thought, she slammed her heels on Nokk’s sides to go faster, and the Spirit complied with an excited neigh, sharing her feelings.
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“What, you thought you could ambush me?”
They all widened their eyes in surprise from the big shore rocks they had been hiding behind.
“This whole shore is covered with pebbles. Only an idiot would not hear you arriving.” Sighed dramatically Victor Eiglatson.
He turned his attention from the Dark Sea to them, his tangled and dirty hair floating in the wind. Elsa couldn’t help but think, after she saw his deep pain and sorrow at the death of his wife, that he never fully recovered from it, and it would explain his messy appearance and his simple outfit.
In opposite to the armors or reinforced leather they were wearing, Victor looked weak, feeble. He only had a dark purple cape with a hood, and a vest and pants that looked like the Arendelle army uniform. It was worn-out, but not in the same way than the ones of the guards that had been trapped for years in the Forest like Mattias; he clearly didn’t take care of it, not minding that it had stains at some parts.
Revulsed, she still answered his invitation when he lifted his chin in a provocative ‘quit your hiding spot if you dare’ gesture.
Anna grabbed her elder’s arm when she saw her walk around the rock calmly. “What are you doing?!”
“He wants a fight. I’ll give him a fight.”
Honeymaren stared at her, but eventually agreed. She stood up from the low rock where she had been hiding with Eydis.
“She’s right. You want to confront us, don’t you, Victor?”
The man didn’t get affected by her threatening tone. He preferred to choose sarcasm against her gritted teeth.
“Well, well, well. I am even blessed by the presence of the Northuldra leader, uhm? How ironic.”
Elsa frowned and clenched her fists.
“You know, it’s actually even better.” Admitted the man. “It makes this fight even more meaningful.”
He cracked his fingers, a habit that Kristoff hated to see, so it’s what made him stand. As if they were mentally connected, Anna rose at the same time on Elsa’s side, like a protective shadow. When she saw her mother stand, Eydis copied the move. She even glanced at Victor with a fierce stare, gripping her mace, to show that even if she was the youngest opponent, it didn’t mean that she wouldn’t make him live hell. Ryder was the last one to stand, but that didn’t make the whole thing less impressive. All together, they walked around the rocks and formed a line, all drawing their weapons in synchronized moves.
With the whistling wind and the bright Moon light, it made their stance even more epic than it already was.
“Waow, the whole family is here. How touching.” Commented Victor on a flat tone, not impressed.
Then, he realized that the shining armors and the magic pieces of Elsa’s outfit weren’t the only thing to gleam in the bright light. He saw, with eyes getting wider and wider, that everyone without exception had custom-made additions to their weapons. Elsa had been way faster at upgrading her assaults than he thought. He tried to hide a nervous gulp, but Honeymaren, with her acute huntress sight, smirked at his state.
Elsa also saw that he wasn’t expecting that level of preparation. She blinked in realization that Victor had nothing of a great strategist. Only anger and sorrow fueled his actions. So she decided to lower her ice spear.
She took a few steps forward, her crafted sandals screeching on the pebbles. Anna and Honeymaren exchanged a look, not wanting to lower their weapons like her and wondering what she was doing.
“Victor, this is your last chance to surrender.”
“Great, because I never intend to.” Replied the man with deep anger.
Elsa perceived it, and calmed down the situation.
“I know why you acted like that lately.”
“You know nothing about me.”
“I’ve seen memories of you and the Fifth Spirit in Ahtohallan. I know what happened. I’ve seen it all. Your past… Your pain...”
She explained everything, and his face distorted when she finished her story.
“Listen, Victor… I know that you hate me.”
The man’s face turned into a terrible wince. “That’s a very simple way to phrase it. I despise you. I loathe you.”
Anna intervened. “No, it’s not true! You hate the previous Fifth Spirit. My sister is different!”
“I don’t care who’s the person with Ahtohallan’s magic, the Fifth Spirit is still an abomination!” Blurted Victor, yelling on the same tone than the redhead. “There should be no human allowed to have such powers!!”
“You have powers too.” Remarked Kristoff.
“But I don’t use them to kill people.”
Elsa gasped, outraged. “You killed two innocent Northuldra!”
The man shrugged slightly. “That was collateral damage.”
Honeymaren startled of rage and stepped forward. “IT WAS A FATHER AND HIS SON!!”
Elsa restrained her by grabbing her arm. She also truly wanted to hurt Victor for his words, but they had to remain calm. The man noticed their anger.
“Nothing you will say will change my mind. Your powers will be mine, Ahtohallan will be mine, and The Fifth Spirit will pay for what it has done to me!” Blurted Victor.
Anna gripped her sword hard with her two hands, pointing at him threateningly.
“They’re not a ‘it’, they’re a person!” She blurted with even more verve. “And her name is ELSA!!”
He looked scowled, yet it seemed like disgust.
“I refuse to put a name on that being who’s nothing less than a murderer!”
“For the last time, the previous Fifth Spirit was! Not Elsa!! You’ve got it all wrong!” Yelled Anna.
Victor was done getting scolded. He flipped his hands, volutes of black goo appearing around his fingers and floating there, just like cold smoke around Elsa’s fingers when she loaded her magic.
“I’m not coming back on my decision. I will rip the powers out of her body!”
He had pointed at Elsa with an angry index finger, and it perspired with evil power. Honeymaren instinctively placed herself in front of her. The blonde internally sighed at the behavior of her sister and the reaction of her wife. This was going worse and worse and wouldn’t end well. She could feel the magic pulsating in the air at the man’s anger, so she stared into his eyes.
“Victor, wait. If you do that, you’ll become the very thing you hated.”
Elsa’s wise words crossed the night, and everyone looked at her. Even Victor got stunned and remained silent. She got a point, but he chose to ignore her.
“I doubt of it. I will finally avenge my beloved wife!!”
The blonde rose calming hands. “And I get it. Believe me, I really do. However, revenge isn’t the solution…”
“ENOUGH!!”
Anna was astonished by his persistence.
“You will rip her powers, even if it means that she will probably die?” She winced.
“I don’t care.”
He had stated that in a cold, frigid voice. Eydis gasped at the tone. Kristoff widened his eyes. Anna and Honeymaren were outraged . Elsa… Remained silent.
“You’re a cruel man with a heart of stone!” Shouted the Queen with a shocked wince, speaking from her guts.
“I’m bringing justice!” Replied Victor on a strong tone. “I’m doing what needs to be done! She’s a monster!!”
While they gasped, Elsa walked around Honeymaren and stepped forward, to everyone’s surprise.
“I used to think I was.” She said.
Her voice had been calm, deep, sincere.
“There was a time when I would call myself a monster…” Muttered the Snow Queen. “But I have changed. And one thing is for sure, now… You’ll be way more of a monster that I’ll ever be if you continue to focus on vengeance.”
“You changed?” Repeated Victor. “What makes you think you’re not still a monster, as you have the same powers than when you called yourself that?”
Elsa sighed, a bit emotionally. “Because since, I have been guided to a new light. A new perspective. Since then, I have been helped by love. And learned that people actually loved me all along.”
She paused her powerful speed to turn to Anna and Honeymaren, who were looking at her with touched smiles. “And they still love me every day.”
“You think that love solves everything?” Frowned Victor.
“Yes. I do.”
“BULLSHIT! Bring my wife back, then!” Bawled the man.
Elsa did a move, but not the expected one. She melted her spear, and the two women behind them gasped in warning noises.
The blonde rose her hand as a dismiss, assuring them that everything was alright. Kristoff remained rational; Elsa could craft a new spear any time she would want, and faster than it would take to say the word. So she wasn’t really putting herself in danger. She was being wise and showed Victor her true intentions.
The man looked at her with a squint, surprised of her attitude.
“Does loving yourself better make you lower your guard?” He snorted.
Elsa nodded softly. “Yes. Because I have changed, and you can too.”
His facial features, which had calmed down a bit, returned to a twisted frown.
“How dare you TALK about change when you took my WIFE!!”
Dark energy emanated from him, making splashes of black slime spurt from his hands and all around his foot stomp. The dark pebbles of the shore got stained by it at the pale light of the Moon.
“Once again, I didn’t.” Reminded Elsa with a calm voice, which was remarkable for the situation, because Victor’s sudden burst had brought everyone else to clench on their weapons and get ready to aim at him.
“You seem really certain to be innocent.” He grunted.
“That’s because I am.”
She stared at him with intensity. “And I intend to be fair. This is the last fight we have. After that, you will face justice and pay for your crimes.” Warned Elsa.
“Well, there’s at least one thing we agree on, Fifth Spirit.” He replied, his fists clenched. “This indeed will be our one and only face-to-face.”
He looked around, now pensive.
“I got to say, it’s a nice place to have it. If I had to pick, I would have hesitated between here and the entrance of the Forest.”
“The Elemental Stones?” Frowned Anna.
“Yes. That. They would look great as battle ruins, wouldn’t they? Once they get destroyed with my vengeance.”
“How dare you.” Muttered Honeymaren, who had chosen to stay silent until now, but couldn’t bear his arrogance any longer. “This is a sacred place. My ancestors built those stones.”
“They have been made to honor Nature.” Specified Kristoff. “What do they have to do with your revenge over the Fifth Spirit?”
“Well, this is a game-changing fight. You know my plan now, right? So you know that I want to destroy Ahtohallan and everything that the Fifth Spirit stands once and for all. What would be the point of worshipping the Nature Spirits when the person who’s supposed to bring the balance with the human world kill humans?”
Anna clenched her jaw. “You know that your wife had it coming. She did crimes. The Fifth Spirit warned her, and yet she continued to do it.”
Elsa turned to her with a deadly stare. The redhead understood that she had been a bit too far, and retracted a bit. However, she did not regret her words.
The Snow Queen turned to the enemy again, focused and determined. “You will not touch a single inch of Ahtohallan as long as I stand.”
Victor looked at her with a cruel smirk. “See, that can be arranged.”
He flipped his arms up and two big spurts of pitch black goo jolted from it.
Each one splitted in eight parts, and in a record time, a group of sixteen creatures emerged, forming from the slime. They all were taller than the humans, with muscular arms and solid blades as hands. As always, they had head shapes but no faces, which made the creepy atmosphere of the night even more scarier, added to the fact that they were more numerous than Elsa’s allies.
“GO!” Shouted Victor as an order, and the monster ran to them unsteadily, their big feet splashing on the shore.
Elsa hurried to go in front of her family and place herself first, as the first creature was jumping to slam its blade on them. With a yelping grunt, Elsa raised a giant ice stalagmite, as sharp as a razor, and it pierced right through the living thing. It tried to touch her despite being impaled, but with another yell, she pushed the stalagmite away in a new blue beam, and it jolted in the air, slamming two other monsters in one go.
Honeymaren blinked as Elsa then crafted her ice spear back, and attacked a fourth monster that was making its way to them. She stabbed it right in the thigh, then grunted as she heavily twirled on herself with both hands on the shaft. She dragged the creature with her, and send it fly in the air with a powerful swing to slam another one.
The Northuldra leader exchanged a stunned look with Anna, who was astonished as well.
Did they… Even need to come to this fight? Was Elsa going to take care of everything on herself with her usual badassery?
The blonde panted, twirling her spear, and turned to her loved ones with a huff.
“No one harms my family.”
Honeymaren smirked.
“Leave some for the lowly people, my love.”
Elsa smiled.
A grunt on her right side took them out of their reverie. A monster was attacking Eydis and Kristoff, and they were trying to repel it. The Snow Queen frowned and was about to help them.
Anna gave her a sign. “Wait, some are coming right at us. Let’s take care of them first.”
The redhead ran to the monsters, her golden armor shining in the Moonlight, and slayed one in a swift move; she beheaded a second one with a brilliant twirl, her second hand on the pommel of her unique sword for faster actions.
Honeymaren aimed at the ones on her side with quick and effective arrows. When one of them was threatening to charge at her, Elsa ran and slammed her foot on the ground, a wall of ice emerging and letting the monster splash on it with a dumb move. She rounded her creation, and while the dizzy thing tried to retrieve its form and balance, she planted it with her spear against the wall. It vanished like any the others once it got killed, and the blonde had a smirk, twirling the spear around happily.
She saw at the corner of her eye - and almost instinctively - that a monster was about to attack Anna from behind. She focused in a frown, tossed her spear up in the air and lifted her arm to catch it with her fingers up, holding it javelin-style. She aimed, gathered momentum and threw her spear across the shore. It whistled in the air and hit the creature right in the head. With the force of the blow, it vanished before it would even fall on the pebbles. Anna finished slaying her own enemy with style, then turned around at the sound of the spear falling on the pebbles.
She blinked in confusion, picked up the weapon, then looked at her sister in the distance.
‘Did you just?’ She seemed to say with her amazed eyes.
‘Saved your life? Yep.’ Seemed to answer Elsa with a grin and a shrug.
‘Awesome’, replied Anna, and this time it was obvious because she really said that word out loud and it was easy to read it on her lips.
Elsa outstretched her hand and the spear in Anna’s hand seemed to vibrate, like it was struggling to get out of her grasp. She unfolded her fingers, and the spear flew in the air to arrive in Elsa’s palm, then the Snow Queen made it twirl expertly, ready to attack new creatures.
“Show-off.” Scoffed Anna.
Elsa went to help Ryder and Eydis. They had a lot of talent and she admitted after a while that she only was there as mere support. She took that opportunity to observe the battlefield around her.
Honeymaren and Kristoff now were taking care of Victor, the blond facing him with his axe blows while her wife aimed at him with her arrows. Only, he was crafting monsters faster than light, and they took all of the blows for him. With a smirk, he made every monster die and vanish instead of actually fighting back.
Elsa found that utterly shameful. How could a person fitted with magic powers and able to create living beings sacrifice them like pawns, or meatshields? She frowned with disgust, not liking Victor’s ways at all. He was a disgrace to magic, and she felt the same emotion than when she had discovered her grandfather’s aversion for the Northuldra.
Fueled by her anger, she melted her spear then threw an ice blow at him to freeze his legs, but he sensed her magic arriving so he dodged aside. Thankfully, it didn’t touch Honeymaren who was in the trajectory, because she had an excellent sight and saw the accidental blue glow arrive to her. She jumped aside to get away from it as it crashed on the shore and formed a giant snowflake trap, and meanwhile, didn’t lose time by drawing another arrow.
Elsa was about to charge a second ice blow, and then was struck by a flashing image of the previous Fifth Spirit who had inflicted the same move to Victor when he was younger during the famous attack that haunted her. She clenched her fist, holding on her promise that she would never act like the old Northuldra leader.
She crafted her spear again and chose to go to battle in her own style.
She went to help Eydis with the remaining creatures that she somehow was taking care of by herself, Anna busy helping Ryder stand up after he fell during an attack. With a smile, Elsa admired her niece twirling her powerful and heavy mace around, exploding the monsters’ heads between two rolls. She was sparkling at the light of the Moon in her silver armor, and the Snow Queen was really proud of her. In a combined attack of sword and spear, Anna and her killed the last monster that Victor had created, and smiled at each other, panting.
They finally got rid of his creatures, but everyone knew that he would create new ones without breaking a sweat. At least, Elsa was able to do so, and she was the only person they could compare him to. Might as well be careful and expect that he was as talented as her. Indeed, he had gotten rid of Kristoff and Honeymaren, and seemed ready to craft new monsters. He groaned as he lifted his palms again.
“Block his hands!” Yelled Elsa, pointing at him. “If we block his arms, he won’t be able to make those monsters anymore!”
Anna nodded. Her elder knew well what she was talking about. Hers and victor’s magic may be very different, it had one thing in common: their living creations were crafted with their hands.
Kristoff, who was the closest to Victor after he and Honeymaren had fallen down, frowned in determination as he jumped up, then lifted his arms to hit him. He flipped his axe in the air, aiming not with the blade side but with the hammer one, and slammed down to where his shoulder was. At such a speed and with Elsa’s unbreakable ice, he would at least dislocate it, thought Ryder, who had run to join the King’s side. However, Victor had army experience, and avoided his blow.
“That wasn’t a really impressive attack.” Puffed the enemy with sarcasm.
“But a really useful diversion.” Said a smiling voice behind him.
He didn’t finish twirling around that a massive blunt weapon descended upon his arm. Victor groaned in pain when Eydis’ mace slammed him. He immediately wanted to lift his arm to push away the weapon, but Eydis’ move had been close to perfection and he couldn’t do much with the angle he now had after her blow. He tried to detached his arm from the blades and spikes, but it was impossible; first, because the fabric of his sleeve had been stuck in it, and second, because Eydis was really great at maintaining the mace in place. He tried to push her with the force of his arm, but she grinned as she easily kept him still to where he was, holding the mace with both hands.
He blinked in astonishment. How could such a little girl have as much strength? He then realized that with the parents she had, it wasn’t surprising. He had made a grave mistake to undervalue her. Victor yelled in frustration, and was about to punch her with his other fist, but he got stuck.
“What…?”
He turned to his other side, and came face to face with a grinning Ryder.
“Surprise, monstermaker.”
Victor gritted his teeth at the sight of Ryder’s staff effectively restraining her elbow and preventing him from making any move.
He tried to get out of his trap, but it made things worse; the Northuldra had anticipated any possible parade and knew how to hold him still as well. Victor then realized that Ryder’s parade had in fact blocked his right hand. He muttered a line of insults. Seriously? The two younger opponents were the ones disabling him? Eydis smirked as she saw Victor’s despair in his eyes thanks to how close she was. With a grunt, she pushed even stronger on her mace. The Northuldra also pressed harder with his staff. Both him and Eydis couldn’t help smirking at Victor’s struggle.
Elsa observed the scene and admitted that it was a funny situation too. She had joked earlier in the day how Ryder might be the one who would strike the final blow on Victor, because there was no way one would expect someone with the weakest weapon and the less protection to be a threat. Turned out that she was quite right.
In fact, not even her could have predicted what was about to follow.
Ryder changed his grip on his staff to hold the man in place, looking at the splashes of his magic on the ground.
“You know, there’s something else that is black and that I’d love you to discover.” Grinned Ryder.
Victor raised a surprised eyebrow at his sudden confidence.
“Meet explosive powder.”
The leather pouch he had at his waist, and that the old man thought was simply holding provisions, suddenly flipped upside down and opened when Ryder pulled on a string attached to it.
Victor’s attention got brought to it and he looked down, giving exactly the intended time for the Northuldra to jump back.
The mysterious dark powder had fell in a stack on Victor’s right boot, and he frowned as he tried to understand why Ryder had poured ground pepper on his feet.
“EYDIS!! NOW!!” Yelled the Northuldra.
Victor jolted his head up, and only then he noticed that the fiery princess had jumped back too. With a grin and a grunt, she lifted her mace to her vambrace covering her forearm. She turned it skillfully so that an iron blade and not an ice one would rasp against the metal part of the armor, and aimed at the stack of powder. With a scratch, a spark flew straight through the air, and Victor saw it fall with wide and terrorized eyes right in the stack of powder.
The explosion blow was spectacular. In a deafening bang, it made Victor jolt in the air, and Ryder and Eydis got blown away for a few meters despite their safety distances. Thankfully, they fell on their backs like they had planned, loudly but without damage thanks to the pads they had placed on their outfits just for that purpose.
One could not say the same for Victor, who got injured at the foot, and now grunted as he had trouble standing up without limping.
Elsa blinked at what had just happened.
“What the… Did you know they would do that?” She asked her wife, and she saw her happy smirk. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Honeymaren reached for a new arrow in her quiver, and gave her a sarcastic stare. “Well, you were busy being nerdy in Ahtohallan when we built our strategy.”
The blonde was about to react, but she rose a hand. “Now is not the time to get teasy. Look, he’s about to blow again.”
Indeed, Victor was clenching his fists and staring at the too-happy family of warriors facing him.
“Okay, now I’m mad. You’ll face my wrath.”
He was enraging. And just to make him even more angry, as he stepped forward to personally punch Ryder, an arrow planted right in front of him.
“Make one more step and the next one goes in your knee.” Menaced Honeymaren with a cold voice.
He looked up with a grumble and saw that she was aiming at him, her next ice arrow at the ready. During his years in the army, he had always despised archery.
“A bow… The weapon of cowards.”
Eydis huffed. “Says the one who uses magic from a distance!”
“Also, with the skills that it requires to be efficient at hunting, I wouldn’t say that’s is a pathetic weapon.” Remarked Anna.
“Yeah, my aim is quite good.” Said Honeymaren, still with her threatening eyes, but smiling internally at the words of her sister-in-law.
She remembered a day some years ago when she had tried to teach the Queen how to use a bow. But the redhead lacked of patience and was more of the ‘attack first’ type of person.
“Oooh, I’m so scared.” Eye-rolled Victor.
Elsa was impressed by his assurance. This being said, he had no idea how scary a pissed-of Honeymaren could get.
The man walked forward, and in a whistle, another arrow planted among the pebbles in front of his feet. He stopped with a grumble.
“Yes, it will indeed start to get… Very annoying.”
He stared at the Northuldra, and swiftly moved his right hand. A sharpened solid splurt of dark magic rose from the shore in less than a second and pierced right through Honeymaren’s hand, which she used to draw arrows. In a loud scream, she dropped her weapon and bent with a painful wince. She was bleeding abundantly.
“MAREN!” Screamed Anna, rushing at her side.
She grunted that she was fine, but it was an obvious lie.
Ryder exploded of rage. “YOU BASTARD!”
“Using big words now, ain’t we?” Puffed Victor. “Actually, you know what? This wasn’t big enough. That didn’t deserve a ‘bastard’ yet. I’m gonna hurt her more.”
Elsa barged in between him and her wife and stared at him like her eyes came from the core of arctic glaciers itself.
“Don’t even dare to move your hands at her one more time.”
Ironically, she was raising glowing blue ones in his direction, and the air around them had fallen of many degrees.
Honeymaren’s heart filled so much love that it was like all the pain and spilled blood didn’t exist anymore. She smiled at her wife’s intervention, adorable and badass at the same time.
When Victor took a careful stop, Elsa looked behind her, still pointing at him.
“Are you okay, Honey?”
“Y-yeah, I think I can get over it. But you’re gonna have to do without me from now on.”
Elsa gave a sad look to her lover’s twisted face. Ryder urged to rip a part of his tunic to craft a makeshift bandage. It stopped the bleeding for now, but would need closer inspection.
To Victor’s ears, however, Honeymaren’s last sentence sounded like music. Yes. Incapacitate each and every ally of the Fifth Spirit so they couldn’t use their weapons. That was a clever follow-up.
He barely flicked his wrist and a spurt of goo splashed away from his palm right towards Anna. Elsa’s eyes widened and she immediately rose a giant ice shield with a slam of the foot.
The slime splashed on the surface, and she groaned as she turned to him again.
“Stop that at once!!”
Anna twirled her sword in a menacing ‘woosh’. “Oh, if he doesn’t stop it, I will make him stop. I hate surprise attacks. You’re the coward one!”
“Coward?” Repeated Victor with a slight evil giggle. “You talked about skill earlier. Don’t you think it’s skilled that I can reach to spots… That I don’t even see?”
He flicked his wrist again, and Anna tried to understand what he meant. Suddenly, the pebbles on her right moved in a creak sound, and dark slime gushed from the ground to splash at her arm, right at the interstice between the elbow and forearms parts of her armor. She let out a scream and a hiss at the burning pain that seized her suddenly, and dropped her sword.
Elsa twirled around. What?? He had aimed at her even though she was standing behind her blurred ice shield? And so precisely that it went through the flaws of an armor?
The Snow Queen started to panic as she admitted that Victor had the experience of battle, and knew exactly what to do from now on.
“No...” She muttered, but it was too late.
She twirled to Kristoff and Eydis, who had been standing side by side. The King had turned his head at Anna’s scream, wondering what just happened.
“Kristoff! Watch out!!” Warned the blonde.
It was a mistake to call him. He looked at her, wondering what the danger was, and Victor smirked. With a jolt of the wrist, he sent another spurt of dark magic to him, and it hit him at the head.
“KRISTOFF!!”
Anna, who had been inspecting her wound, caught up on the scene too late. Elsa, who thought until now that she had the advantage of speed, was frightened to discover that Victor was as talented as her; in a few seconds, he had harmed three persons.
Elsa jumped over her ice shield, enlarged it without looking at it, and hurried to her brother-in-law.
“I’m fine.” He assured, but then he grunted when he felt the pulsating pain on her skull. “I’ve got a… You know.” Maybe that a regular person would have died from such a magic blow, but he was fine. Only, he started to feel dizzy, and went on his knees, his hand preventing him from falling on the pebbles entirely.
“Papa!”
Elsa saw Eydis crouch next to him, but also felt at the same time magic flow through the air. Victor’s next target was her niece. Pitch black goo went to the spot between her shoulder and her neck, where she only wore a coat of mail. Elsa turned still in terror. So he had noticed every single flaw of their outfits.
The young princess fell forward with a cry.
“Her too?!” Yelled Ryder, like this was the last straw. “How dare you hurt a CHILD?!”
He started to run to Victor, screaming a war shout, and the man just cackled.
“Ryder!! NO!!” Panicked Elsa.
Victor was faster at injuring Ryder than it would take her to raise a wall in front of him to prevent any step further.
A slime dart splashed to his knee, and he fell with a moan to the ground.
“NO!” Whined the blonde, seeing the worst happening, and continuing to happen.
They were all wincing in pain and clenching their eyes shut at the horrible sensation that the dark magic made as it burnt their skin in a unique way.
Victor laughed like a maniac.
“You fools! You’re all like preys to me. Tiny, little, weak preys. This is just too easy when one has been practicing for years.”
He wiggled his fingers in a ‘buh-bye’ gesture, and it both was sarcastic and meaningful. Elsa quickly understood that he was getting in the final part of his plan. Now it was only her facing him, and he knew very well that she would never dare to give him injuries like the one he struck.
Elsa gulped. All of her allies on the battlefield were wounded, and she couldn’t even take the time to heal them; Victor now was getting all of her attention.
“This is over, Fifth Spirit. You’ll face justice.”
“No! This isn’t justice! This is pure and abominable cruelty!!” Blurted Honeymaren, still in pain, and accusing him through gritted teeth.
“Shut up, Northuldra. Or I pierce your second hand. It won’t be hard.”
Elsa frowned with rage. “Don’t talk to my wife like that.”
She stepped forward, detaching from the others to come closer to him. Anna admired how brave and independent she was to step forward. Honeymaren didn’t like much how it made her go away from her.
Victor raised an eyebrow as she walked for long seconds and now was away from her peers, halfway between them and him.
“You think you can threaten me? I have weakened your family. I’m able to rip your magic out of you anytime. You’re not in a position of strength.”
The blonde clenched her jaw. She indeed wasn’t, but had the tiny hope that he didn’t notice. Only, even if he didn’t have a strategist mind, Victor was far from dumb. He was determined, which made him a fearsome enemy.
“That’s what makes it unfair!” Underlined Elsa. “You have this ability to rip magic out of others, and I don’t.”
“Because you don’t want to find about this ability.” Scoffed the man. “While you were busy being lame and weak, I studied this art. But being in harmony with Nature is more important, I guess.”
Elsa’s heart clench at that double judgement. He had demeaned both her magic skills and her job.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve…” She hissed.
He sighed. “Yes, a very little patience. Now I am done waiting. This delay has gone on too long.”
He twirled his fingers, but instead of making dark slike appear there like the Snow Queen thought he would do, he seemed to gather his magic.
Elsa quickly rose her hands in a dismissing gesture. “Victor, no. Hold on. Remember what I said: if you do that, you’ll become the very thing you hated.”
“Don’t try to influence me!!” Yelled the man.
“I’m only saying the truth!!” Swore Elsa. “I’ve done many mistakes in my life to advise you on that, trust me!!”
“STOP IT!” He groaned, his fists now exuding strong energy. “I’m putting an end to the Fifth Spirit’s existence, right here and right now!”
Elsa’s eyes widened at his brisk move, realizing he was genuinely about to do the magic pullout. She rose her arms even higher, in an imploring gesture.
“This magic is who I am, Victor…” Confessed Elsa.
Her sentence was so emotional that it placed them in the silence of the night for a moment. Honeymaren widened her eyes.
“It’s part of her identity! If she loses her magic, she loses a part of herself!” She insisted. “You can’t do that!”
“Oh, I assure you that I can.”
He started to move his arms in a combination of moves that he had never done before, and Anna widened her eyes. She really didn’t want to see him try.
“We have to kill him before he does it!” She yelled to her elder, desperate.
“No, no…”
The Fifth Spirit refused to come to such an act.
“We can’t do that!” She yelled back to Anna behind her.
“Elsa!” Scolded Honeymaren, agreeing with her sister-in-law. “If we don’t do it now, it will be too late!!”
The two women had been alternating their panicked gazes between the blonde and the enemy, who kept making those unique moves that really heightened the urgency.
“ELSA!” Called their voices behind her.
“Let me think!!” Shouted Elsa back, her closed fists trembling.
Her breathing sped up. What to do? What to do? Victor was gathering his magic. Whatever he was preparing wasn’t bluff. The danger was genuine.
Honeymaren didn’t like this at all. All of her instinct was screaming that this wouldn’t end well. Anna now understood why she got a bad feeling when they had come to the shore on Nokk. This was it. This was the end.
They had lost.
Victor retracted his fists back, his hands pouring with magic. The Snow Queen knew this posture way too well. He was about to blow a very powerful magic move. He locked his eyes with her.
“No, Victor, wait…” Begged Elsa.
“Too late. I’ve been waiting for this moment longer than you’ve been alive.”
He gave her a cruel look, and launched his arms forward, his palms open. Widening her eyes was the last thing Elsa could do.
She suddenly spasmed, like she got seized by a giant invisible hand that just squeezed her whole body. Her eyes turned up and she revulsed, her breathing lost in a strangling noise, and she fainted, falling to the pebbles in a sinister sound.
“ELSA!” Yelled Honeymaren.
“NO!!” Screamed Anna.
They both ran like hell to the unconscious body of their loved one, but Victor kept aiming and continued his process.
A light suddenly emanated from every pore of Elsa’s skin, flashing suddenly, and the two women stopped running in a gasp, wincing as she suddenly became entirely bright white. In any other context, Honeymaren would have felt like she was blessed by the sight of an angel. But now, she screamed in anguish.
“NOOOO!!”
She ran to take her lover in her arms, when suddenly a shock wave blew from Elsa’s body, and she got blasted away, rejected in the pebbles violently in a backward roll. Kristoff stopped her and prevented her from a whiplash. Stunned, she tried to stand up as soon as possible to try again, determined and oblivious. Although, the wind started to rise, and became incredibly strong, making it even impossible to approach within a twenty-meter radius.
It was like one of Gale’s tornados had been combined with the most powerful light Honeymaren had ever seen. Anna felt like she was staring directly into a lighthouse. Everyone experienced that moment differently, but all agree on one point: magic was exploding through the air, filling every possible spot. It even felt like it went everywhere and sneaked in every place; Eydis felt like it was going through her hair like rain, and Kristoff felt like it was going into his eyes like the heat of flames would do in a giant fire.
It was intense and unstoppable. Soon they were projected even further from Elsa because the gust of magical energy started to fortify around her. Victor focused even more on the process, his arms outstretched, unreachable from where he was. The magic process started to lift the Spirit’s body from the shore, and it floated above the pebbles, soon reaching three meters high.
“Elsa!!” Screamed Anna behind her arms, placed to avoid getting blinded by the magic beam.
It was obvious that her sister couldn’t reply, completely unconscious. With the wind, she wouldn’t have been able to hear her anyway.
The Snow Queen’s body flipped like a lifeless doll on a horizontal plan, and looked like she was suspended by an invisible thread that was attached to her navel. Perfectly balanced, her head, arms and legs were hanging in the air, with only her core raising to the sky.
Then the light started to detach from her. It was no longer a figure of speech; everything that made Elsa magical was leaving her body. It elevated in swirls, packing in one spot and one sphere, and it slowly hovered to Victor.
Elsa’s family members gasped as they guessed what it meant. The man laughed out loud in a sinister cackle, and suddenly widened his arms, his head up, like he was on top of the world.
The bright white sphere jolted through the air and went right to his body in a second, like it had been pumped, or dragged with the force of the universe. It entered his navel, and he startled at the sensation, then laughed even more. His body shone the same way, but it faded as the magic sank into his core.
Then, the second the light stopped emanating, Elsa’s body fell to the ground, and the magic gust disappeared.
It was like time had suddenly stopped, and yet it hadn’t. In fact, it felt unfair that it hadn’t actually stopped. Elsa’s body had dropped to the ground, motionless, and yet the waves kept rolling, and yet the wind kept blowing, and yet the entire world didn’t come to a halt to watch the Snow Queen fall.
A feeling of unfairness added itself to the mountain of emotions that piled in Anna’s heart. At the top, reigned terror.
“ELSA!!”
She ran to her elder’s still body, and kneeled heavily next to her.
“No, gods, no…”
She checked her state, shook her arms, yelled her name again and again… But nothing happened. Elsa didn’t respond, her face and muscles limp.
Honeymaren dropped heavily next to her, her weapon also left behind. All that mattered now was Elsa, Elsa, Elsa.
Their hearts squeezed with the same intensity, yet not the same reasons: Anna was terrorised, and Honeymaren devastated.
‘No, not again… This can’t be happening… This can’t be real… This is one of those nightmares… Please, no, for the love of gods, please don’t make me go through this again. Please don’t make me live that once more. I can’t do it. I’m not strong enough. I lied each time I said I was when someone asked about that night. I’m not strong enough. I can’t face that again. Please, Elsa, wake up... ‘ Thought Anna, and tears fell heavily on her cheeks as she winced.
‘Don’t go, Elsa, please, love of my life, please don’t leave me. I’m begging you. I’m begging the sky, I’m begging Ahtohallan, I’m begging all of Nature from the tiniest speck of dust to the tallest mountain of the world. Please, snømus, please… Open your eyes… Open your beautiful and mighty eyes… I can’t live without you. You’re my light, and I can already feel the colors of the world disappearing if you’re not here to shed light on them. Please, Elsa, wake up…’ Thought Honeymaren, her shoulders trembling, and she rubbed her eyes violently to see Elsa’s face clearly.
But even if the blonde’s face was as graceful as usual, she did not respond. How could she be so stunning in that final moment?
The Northuldra leader looked down at her left hand where she was holding the one of her wife. A shiver passed along her back as she looked at her ice ring. The object which held the highest importance in her life now made her feel a mix of disgust and anger.
Her lover’s magic now was in possession of this horrible man. Everything that made Elsa who she is got stolen from her. The ring she had at her finger was now linked to the core of this monster.
Honeymaren’s teeth gritted as she frowned, roamed with rage, and she dropped Elsa’s hand to search for her knife at her waist. She suddenly stood up, and all the calm and level-headed behavior that normally forged her personality got swept away, as powerfully as the wind in her hair.
“YOU VILE AND SICKENING SON OF A--”
“MAREN!”
A strong hand held her by the crook of her elbow, and she got stopped in her run.
“LET ME GO!” She yelled with all she could, tears falling on her face. She didn’t need to focus and erase them to know that Anna was the one who was stopping her.
She could feel how strong yet trembling the hand was. She could feel how equally devastated the redhead was by a simple touch. Victor had harmed a wife, but he had also harmed a sister.
When she turned to Anna, she was unable to see yet heard the sobs that agitated the Queen, who was reduced to a trembling younger sibling.
“D-don’t become like h-him.” She begged, her voice hitched with sorrow.
The Northuldra fell next to her, and the two women held their hands as they looked at Elsa again. The others had approached and were flabbergasted, unable to believe what was happening.
Kristoff looked around frantically as he realized an odd detail. Nothing made out of magic ice had melted. Ice arrows were still scattered around, the ice blade of Anna’s sword was intact, and the raised shields that Elsa had made here and there were still present. More importantly, the blonde was inert on the pebbles, but her outfit hadn’t changed a bit.
“Wait… I don’t get it… If her magic’s gone, then why are her clothes still in this state?” Muttered Kristoff.
Eydis frowned as she thought fast.
“The process rips her magic… So it transported it... Her magic went somewhere… But where?”
Victor cackled evily from where he was standing.
He flicked his right wrist, and wiggled his fingers. Snowflakes popped out of his palm. “Found it.”
Eydis gasped. He had succeeded.
The snowflakes twirled around his hand, and he looked at it with a satisfied expression.
“I gotta say, the sensation is quite interesting.” Commented Victor, wiggling his body as he felt the ice and snow course in his veins.
The brunette was simply disgusted by his behavior. She couldn’t help imagining that it was like Elsa’s soul and essence was in him, and he was squirming in pleasure. It made her feel like she was watching him ravish her wife. She forced herself to focus on Elsa instead of him, holding her beloved in her arms even closer.
“Say, is it me, or the air of the night warmed up a bit?” He asked in a playful tone. He then snapped as he understood - and his mastering of the magic wasn’t quite perfect yet, so it sparkled some snowflakes around - “Wait, I get it. It’s because of the ice and snow, right? The bender isn’t bothered by cold. That’s why I feel like there’s no more of that fresh sea breeze.”
Honeymaren suddenly noticed something. She was too busy being heartbroken until now to see it.
“That’s why Elsa’s body is shivering now…” She murmured, feeling the skin under her hands.
Anna looked down at her sister’s body in alarm. Elsa was unconscious, but her body was still alive; and now it was struggling to stay so, trembling and spasming.
“Oh my gods, because she’s wearing ice but isn’t immune to it anymore!” Gasped the redhead, suddenly struck by the horrible situation.
They all gasped. Honeymaren’s brain worked faster than light and she immediately took off a leather layer of her outfit to cover her trembling wife with it. Kristoff hurried to come closer and fell on his knees, making the pebbles creak.
“No, no, that won’t be enough, we have to take her out of her clothes, now!”
If Honeymaren didn’t know the King’s personality and his ice harvester experience, she would think that he was trying to bare her wife. Thankfully, it was obvious that he ordered to act urgently and do emergency procedures, just like when one of his harvesters peers had fallen through the ice of a frozen lake.
They nodded and started to take off her crafted custom-made ice armor… And realized two seconds later that they couldn’t. All of them had tried to tug on a different part, but it was impossible to take it off Elsa’s skin.
“I can’t detach her poleyn.” Complained Eydis with a weak and disappointed voice. “Doesn’t it have a fastening strap?”
“Where is the outline of it?” Frowned Ryder, confused.
“There’s none.” Said Anna and Honeymaren in one low voice.
Kristoff gulped. “She crafted it flawlessly. Each part of the armor has been tailor-made with her magic, so there’s no joint… And only her can melt them.”
They all widened their eyes at the finding.
“Wait… Maybe… That her ice against her ice…” Blabbered the blond man, searching for ideas as he panted in panic. He stumbled trying to get up to fetch his axe where he had dropped it, so Eydis went to it for him. She picked the axe with emotion, looking at the beautiful detailed blade. This creation probably was the last one that she will have seen her aunt make… With a sob, she gave it to his father, and he slid the blade of the axe along a piece of armor over Elsa’s chest, right above her heart, the spot they really needed to take care of first. But it didn’t do anything. Despite Kristoff’s long and strong efforts, neither the blade or the flexible plate of thick magic got scratched. His cheeks red, he was out of breath, and dropped the axe down. He gave Honeymaren the saddest eyes she had ever seen on the King’s face.
Honeymaren gasped. “No. Nonono, this can’t be happening, this can’t be happening…”
She hovered her lover’s twitching body and rubbed as much skin as possible, at each and every spot that wasn’t covered with those ice armor parts that they all started to hate.
“Please get warm, p-please get warm…” She mumbled, hiccups cutting her sentence because her throat tightened. Her heavy tears fell and splashed on Elsa’s pale and unconscious face.
Ryder was devastated to observe that all colors had left the Snow Queen’s cheeks, and even her normally pink lips had turned white. But it wasn’t the beautiful snow white color that the tribe associated to the Fifth Spirit’s unique aura; it was the white of death. Elsa’s heart was slowing down and would soon stop.
Anna clenched her teeth as her tears fell over and over. She held Elsa’s cold hand in hers and twirled to Victor.
“PLEASE!” She implored, her voice distorted by terror. “Please do something!! Please melt it, melt the ice, or she’ll die of hypothermia!!”
The man didn’t move an inch.
“DO SOMETHING!!” Yelled the Queen with all the force in her lungs, or rather what remained, after she cried and screamed so much.
She turned to clench Elsa’s arms as her elder’s body trembled from the cold and Honeymaren’s rubs, and she could feel that it didn’t change anything. Elsa’s skin was simply the coldest she had ever felt. Even during bad days when the blonde was feeling down, it hadn’t reached such a low temperature.
“We need to try a cardiac massage.” Suggested Honeymaren, with a tone overfilled with the acknowledgement that it was useless, but she refused not to make an attempt.
Anna gave her way so she could place herself above Elsa’s chest and along her arm, even though she knew that it was pointless as well. Indeed, when the brunette tried to start pumping up and down with her overlapped hands, she got blocked by the incredibly solid matter of the ice armor. She tried, tried and tried, with all the rage and despair she had in her soul, but it didn’t even shatter.
She violently screamed and punched the pebbles on the shore next to her knees repeatedly. Ryder gave her a sad look and was about to put a hand on her shoulder, but Honeymaren tossed it away and bent to kiss her wife. She had meant to combine mouth-to-mouth with the cardiac massage, but the second her lips touch Elsa’s, she startled and cried at the sensation of how desperately cold they were. With trembling shoulders, she pulled back, and clenched the ice shoulder-pieces.
She sobbed at the idea that Elsa was about to die in two minutes or so, and there was absolutely nothing they could do about it. Her heart would stop beating, her stunning energy that guided Honeymaren day and night would stop existing, her beautiful smile would never reappear on her face, and her deep azure blue eyes would never land on her again with her unique sly and quiet balance, her unique sarcastic and wise temperament. No, Elsa’s eyes would forever stay close like they were now, and her body would remain cold. And it wasn’t the gentle cold that made her who she were, that was her distinctive feature, her peculiarity that drove Honeymaren crazy in love everytime she would roam her hands along her face and body, or when they got even more intimate. This time, it was the end. It was the final cold. In a while, before the Moon even finished its course in the sky, Elsa’s last heartbeat would echo on the shore, and her soul abandon her on the dark pebbles.
“No… Elsa… Please… Please, I’m begging you…”
She had a wince and gritted her teeth as new tears fell abundantly from her face, falling on the cold matter of her outfit, that Elsa could no longer control.
Anna was crying her eyes out as well, her shoulders trembling next to her, holding her sister’s arms and face as she could despite her shaking.
Both could not see Elsa’s face anymore, because their sight was blur with tears.
Behind Honeymaren, Ryder had crouched and was putting a hand on the brunette’s shoulder, trying to be a strong brother who would help her go through this, but he was unable to find the strength he was looking for. His hand turned into a clenching fist, holding the leather piece on Honeymaren’s shoulder and trembling as he cried as well.
Kristoff was so shocked that tears couldn’t even come to his eyes. He couldn’t believe what he was living, his head feeling like in the worst nightmare. Instinctively, he lifted his eyes to his wife, searching in Anna’s face an indication that this was all a joke. But when he saw the absolute wreck that the redhead had become, her eyes and nose running a flood of tears, his heart got split in half just as powerfully as if a sword had sliced it. A physical shock to his chest suddenly took him out of his devastated reverie; he looked down and saw that Eydis had launched herself in his lap and was curling against him, her arms around his armor. He couldn’t see her face, but there was no need. Her tiny silver spaulders were shaking in sorrow and he could feel her gloved fingers dugged in his back. The top of her dutch braids was shivering as she had her forehead against him. With all the might he could assemble, he bent down and kissed his daughter’s head, passing a hand along her locks to calm her.
However, he knew that no one in the family, no one among them five, would ever get over what had just happen, and what was about to happen.
Victor stared at the scene with a mute expression. He was silent during all of his sobbing. He was intrigued.
But what he didn’t understand wasn’t the behavior they had around Elsa’s body. What he didn’t understand was the feeling he was having.
What was this sensation? Was it… Sadness? No, it couldn’t be. Why would he feel sad for the Fifth Spirit’s death? He had everything he needed! He got her powers, he now was unstoppable, she would soon die and he could even depart for Ahtohallan right now. His plan was complete. His revenge was triumphant. He was the victorious one.
Then, how come he didn’t move? Why couldn’t he go? What was stopping him?
Victor was paralysed by this sensation. He even wanted to grunt at this unknown thing stopping him, but he didn’t find the strength to do so. Then it hit him; he was compassionate.
‘What the hell…’ He thought. ‘Why am I having pity for those losers? I am the victorious one. I won. I avenged Niks.’
He stared at the trembling family once again.
‘Then why am I feeling sadness? Is it sadness? Or is it… Something else? Is it… Worse?’
He couldn’t move, still trying to pinpoint this sensation.
He was in denial. He refused to admit that Elsa and the Fifth Spirit he had met were two different persons, with different lives, and who made different choices. They didn’t have the same personalities, they didn’t have the same intentions. Yet he rejected the idea that he couldn’t avenge Niks by hurting her.
He was angry. Fueled by rage. Each of his attacks until now had been with the mental image of his wife in mind. She would pay for all his suffering.
He was bargaining. A life for a life. That was the plan. Once the Fifth Spirit magic becomes his, this vendetta will be fair. That murderer will have what they deserved.
He was depressed. Those last years had been horrible to him, and took him down mentally and physically. Every time he closed his eyes at night, he thought of his wife. There was no way to dismiss it.
But he wasn’t accepting. He never accepted that Niks died. All he ever wanted for so many years since her death was to avenge her. It was what fueled his life, what dictated his acts, what made him go forward in life.
Then why were they all kneeled on the shore around her still body? Why didn’t then want to kill him? Why didn’t they react the same way than he did?
The Queen had stopped the Northuldra leader to prevent her from giving in to temptation. But this was long ago now. The Northuldra wasn’t held by the monarch anymore. She could totally stand up and run to him and grab her dagger to cut his throat. She could even simply run and punch him in the face. But she didn’t why. Why didn’t she? None of them was retained by the other. Why was none of them avenging her, for heaven’s sake? If he were them, he would already have taken advantage of the enemy’s presence at the scene-- Yet that was it. He wasn’t them.
They weren’t murderers. They didn’t have crime in their list of solutions. They didn’t plan to kill him. In fact, he realized, they would never plan to kill him, even after the Fifth Spirit’s death.
“Elsa.” Said the echo of the Queen’s voice in his mind. “Her name is Elsa.”
Victor was struck by the vision of this family. They never considered murder. That simply wasn’t who they were. They were peaceful, they were pacifists. None of them even had their heads turned to him. He could even attack them by surprise and stab them all with ice impalements like his wife had been killed, and yet they wouldn’t even mind. ‘Let it be so’, they would surely say.
His knees buckled.
When he slammed the pebbles, the noise attracted Anna’s attention, and she turned weakly to him. She rubbed her eyes to stop seeing blur and watched Victor. Her eyes widened when she saw that he was seated on his heels, his shoulder slumped, his hands on the ground along his thighs like a disjointed puppet.
His hands, of a power yet phenomenal, that could snap the whole Forest out of existence if he intended to. On the ground.
She blinked in confusion. Was he… Was he devastated? What had happened?
“Victor?”
The redhead surprised herself at her own voice. Her subconscious seemed to have been the one calling for his name, because she didn’t even remember her brain forming the question. Her tone had been calm, soft, gentle even. She was about to ask ‘Are you okay?’, but forbid herself to pronounce those words, repelled by her own intentions. Was she feeling bad for him now? Wait, what??
Because he looked so sad. He looked like his wife had just died a second time in front of his eyes. It was like…
Gears clipped together in Anna’s brain.
He had realized that he was inflicting the same thing that the previous Fifth Spirit had inflicted on him.
“She was right…” He muttered, so far and nearly imperceptibly that Anna almost didn’t hear. “I have become the very thing I hate…”
They exchanged a gaze, Victor’s eyes now locking with her.
“Wait… Are you about to…”
He nodded, and stepped forward. The Northuldra leader’s protective instinct made her protect her lover’s body with an almost predatory snarl.
Victor rose innocent hands, stepping slower.
“STAY BACK!” Shrieked the brunette.
“No, Honeymaren, wait!!”
“What?!” She blurted, annoyed that Anna prevented her from doing what she wanted.
“He’ll give her magic back.”
The Northuldra leader blinked. The others did as well.
“What did you just say?”
“He’s bringing her back to life. He’s giving her magic back.”
Kristoff looked at his wife sadly. “Anna, surely you’re delirious. He only wants to finish the job--”
“Trust me.”
“What, you have faith in him now?”
“I can tell that he has changed. I can feel it in my guts.”
“...What?”
“Why is he gesturing us to move aside, then?” Groaned Ryder, watching his moves.
“He needs space to do it, just like when he… Just like when he ripped it off her. We have to stand back.”
Honeymaren’s chestnut eyes turned to fire. “I am not leaving her side.”
“Maren, I swear that it’s the most difficult thing to do for me as well right now. But I’m begging you. I’m begging you all.” She said on a higher voice, addressing to her family. “Let’s get out of the way. Elsa will be fine. I know she will. I promise.”
They all seemed suspicious, but slowly changed their minds. Her daughter lifted her small face to her, still covered with tears.
“P… Pinky promise?”
Anna looked down at Eydis, and smiled as widely as she could while she held her chin up. “Pinky promise.”
It took a while, but they finally all stepped away from Elsa’s unconscious body. Victor respected the time it took them to take the distance he indicated, and they moved reluctantly because it was even larger than they thought. He stayed silent until they were all in good positions and he was certain that they wouldn’t get hurt.
“That will be enough.”
They turned to him.
“You don’t need to go further. You’re out of the radius now, it’s fine.”
Honeymaren blinked in astonishment. He truly cared? She could see it in his features, she could hear it in his voice. He wasn’t tricking them. He genuinely cared about their health. She was stunned by the change in his behavior. Did he come to his senses?
“Cover your eyes.” He advised.
They all obeyed, except for Honeymaren, who was staring right at him. He opened his mouth to repeat, but she struck her sentence faster.
“I am not leaving my eyes out of you.”
He had a sigh and a sad smile. “Alright.”
She kept staring at him while he did the same moves with his arms than what he did earlier, only this time on reverse. He focused deeply on what he was doing, joining his hands just in front of his navel. Briskly, he parted them and even jolted his arms open, both outstretched on each side, forming a cross with his body. A bright light parted from him and went in a straight line right to Elsa’s body. It was dazzling and blinding, but Honeymaren didn’t care. She willingly accepted to lose her sight to make sure that Victor was bringing Elsa’s magic back to her.
Somehow, the light of the transfer this time seemed even brighter than before. Eydis moaned in pain at the light and winced as she stepped back. Ryder placed a hand above her face to protect her as he was also looking away to avoid burning his eyes.
The process was longer than when he ripped Elsa’s magic in the first place, and Anna interpreted from it that it was always more difficult to return what was stolen. Just like it was harder to fix a vase after breaking it than when one bumped it off the table.
It took a long time, and the redhead eventually closed her eyes in impatience, clenching them shut. When suddenly, the light stopped. She blinked as she looked around them. The shore had been plunged in the dark of night again, the Moon calmly shedding light on them.
As she tried to understand where everyone was standing because her eyes had trouble switching from the high brightness to the dark of night, she heard a loud gasp from the ground.
Elsa gasped like she had been underwater for years and finally had reached the surface. She then breathed in pants as her heart picked up to its normal place and her blood rushed in her veins through her whole body. Her organs felt like they were on fire, and her limbs were both dizzy and buzzing with a sensation of pins and needles. Spasming, her palms slammed the pebbles and her fingers clenched on them. She continued to gasp and sat up in utter confusion of what had just happened.
“ELSA!!”
The familiar voice echoed in the night, and she blinked as she tried to find where her wife was possibly standing. Suddenly, fast noises of a run on the pebbles came closer and closer to her. She barely had the time to turn to where it was from when something very hard and very wet tackled her body and slid along her cheek. She recognized who it was by the way she cried, and the natural scent of her skin and hair combined with the familiar smell of the leather of her outfit.
Elsa’s brain didn’t fully grasp why she was holding her so warmly, but she instinctively wrap her arms around her as she caught her breath. Honeymaren abruptly pulled back to hold Elsa’s face and look at her with a tearful grin. She lovingly sighed, then slammed her lips on hers. The Snow Queen widened her eyes at the deep and powerful kiss. It was full of emotion, and intense in every way. However, Elsa couldn’t enjoy it much. She already had troubles breathing, so a kiss wasn’t really the smartest move. Unwillingly, she pushed away Honeymaren’s shoulders to detach her from her face. After a big gasp, she gave her a regretful wince, then coughed as she tried to retrieve oxygen.
“Sorry… Just... “ She gestured to her mouth, struggling to make words. “Need air...”
Honeymaren had a wet chuckle and sniffed as she nodded. “Yeah. I understand. I’m the one who’s sorry for jumping on you like that. Take your time.”
Elsa breathed as much as she could, when suddenly something else ripped out some of the air she had managed to put in her lungs; the brisk and powerful hug that held her from behind, with arms tightly crossing her chest, was unmistakable.
“Anna?” She said in a croak voice, blinking.
What happened? Was she okay? Victor had aimed at her, she got hurt, she fell, but it actually didn’t to anything? Were they this glad because it didn’t work?
The redhead sobbed of happiness next to her ear. Elsa’s eyes widened at the familiar sound. Last time she had heard that kind of sobbing...
Hold on a minute, how long was she unconscious?
“Hey, hey… I’m okay…” She muttered, assembling all her forces to reassure her little sister, and she stroked her hair as she felt her face on her shoulder.
As a response, Anna clenched harder in her embrace, but thankfully her arms had gone higher, so Elsa was able to breathe normally.
She stared in silence as Kristoff and Eydis ran to her and gave her blessed and incredibly relieved smiles, and Ryder fell to his knees next to her niece to sob loudly in happiness.
What the heck had happened? How much time had passed?
She looked around, a bit blocked by Honeymaren in her lap and Anna holding her still with her strong hug, to check the Moon and the tide and try to understand how long she had been taken away from them.
When Elsa scanned the shore, her eyes landed on a man figure, and they widened when she saw that it was Victor. However, her expression changed when she saw his posture, and that’s why she didn’t recognize him immediately. He had one knee down and the other up, and he was struggling to stand up. That posture was familiar: Elsa was in the same state when she used a lot of her magic in one go and started to feel drowsy from it. What did Victor just do? Why was no one keeping an eye on him?
“Guys… Look out…” Warned Elsa, nudging the people around her so they could turn towards the enemy.
Anna crouched next to her and she could finally see her face. Her young sister looked at Victor, but to Elsa’s biggest surprise, she was neither frowning or worried; she was smiling? In… Gratitude?
Surely she was delirious. The Snow Queen turned to her wife, and was stunned to see the same expression on Honeymaren’s face.
The redhead turned and gave a squeeze to her shoulder.
“How are you feeling?”
Elsa blinked. “Uh… Good. Great.”
Honeymaren smiled. “Can you feel your powers?”
She frowned, clueless of what those questions were leading to. She looked down at her hands, folding then unfolding her fingers. She felt magic coursing through her veins, like usual. She pushed magic through her fingertips, and made some snowflakes fly around.
“Yeah, I think so-- Wait a minute.”
Her eyes widened, and Honeymaren grinned.
Anna’s hand passed along her back. “He saved your life. He gave your magic back.”
Quiet in disbelief, she joined them as they all looked over to where Victor was now standing, limping a bit because of his injured ankle. He didn’t dare to look at them, but finally did after a few seconds, noticing that all eyes were on him. His gaze met Elsa’s, and their eyes locked for a moment. She inspected him, dubious. Victor looked sorry, and sincere. The blonde blabbered in astonishment.
“You… You did? You retrieved the magic, despite everything?”
“You were right.” He smiled sadly. “Killing you would have made me become the very thing I hate. And it wouldn’t have made me better than him. Revenge would never have. It doesn’t heal. Healing comes with love. So I reversed the transfert. You deserve it better than me.”
He stayed there, defeated and still, ready to receive his sentence.
Anna slowly stood up, and smiled at him.
“Thank you.”
#whoof that was a huge milestone#and it took all my soul to write it waow#all the drama and the angst in it... dayum i got exhausted#but i'm happy with the result#leave a comment while you reblog! ;D#thank you for the support and love so far you guys are super cute#i'm having tons of fun in this fanfic#so many chaps to go still lol#this only is barely the half of the fic hahah#frozen 2#lift the spirit#frozen#post frozen 2#elsamaren#frohana#kristanna#ice bros#snow sisters#frozen 2 fanfics#frozen fanfictions#disney#disney ff#justlookatthosesausages#jlats
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Impaled (FebuWhump 04)
I had an extremely crappy day at work today...like coming home crying level crappy. So, as a defense mechanism, this came out. Granted, it was always going to be a slightly humorous take on this scenario, but this went a little...extreme.
You can also read this on AO3
Fandom: Supernatural
Summary: Who would have thought, in the end, it would be vampire clowns in a busted-up barn in the middle of nowhere?
Not the Winchesters, that's for certain.
And certainly not Castiel, who did not get resurrected again just to die at the hands of a monster with a fourteen-year grudge.
* * *
After everything..after Chuck and Free Will and rewriting their own lives...it all came down to this.
A musty old barn in the ass-crack of nowhere, facing down a gang of vampires of all things.
“So, what, now's when we find out Gordon isn't actually dead?” Dean muttered, standing back-to-back with Sam. “Or, ah, what's-her-name...the hippie one who only ate cows. Think she's here?”
“We watched Lenore die,” Sam reminded him. “And I killed Gordon. I don't think this is either of them.”
“Yeah, unless Chuck brought them back,” Dean shot back. “Cas?”
Castiel, who had been silently and efficiently dispatching vampires turned back at Dean's question. “I find it unlikely Chuck would have considered either of them important enough to bring back from Purgatory.” Another vampire roared up behind him, and without even looking Cas stabbed him through the throat with his angel blade.
Dean had to admit, the flutter of Cas's new calf-length trench coat was pretty impressive as the angel spun around to yank his blade from one vampire and plunge it into another. Jack had apparently hooked his adoptive father up with some new duds on his return from the Empty, so Cas wasn't exactly rocking the whole “holy tax accountant” look anymore.
On the one hand, the long black trench coat was absolutely badass. The way it spun around Cas as he moved in battle reminded Dean of the shadows of wings cast on the barn ceiling all those years ago, and it had a much more stylish cut that emphasized the muscle on the angel's powerful frame.
On the other...the rainbow-colored sweater vest was a little much. But the combination was something that was just so essentially Jack they really couldn't complain.
“Dean!”
Pulled out of his daydreams by his brother's warning scream, Dean managed to deflect an incoming vampire and roll out of the way, narrowly avoiding the dangerous-looking nail that was poking up out of one of the support beams. Damn, they really needed to stop confronting vampires in fallen-down old barns.
Cas hauled him to his feet and manhandled him to one side, a blast of holy power from his other hand obliterating yet another vampire clown. “How many more are there?” the angel shouted over the sounds of battle.
“They just keep coming,” Sam panted. They were cornered now—Cas's angel blade was still embedded in a vampire a few feet away, Dean's machete had gotten notched when it had gotten stuck on a particularly dense vampire spine, and Sam was favoring his right arm as though chopping off so many heads in such a short amount of time was giving some kind of hunter's carpal tunnel. “Are we sure...I mean, is Chuck really de-powered?”
“You think he planned for one of us to die in some shitty barn in the middle of nowhere?” Dean scoffed. “Dude. The man's a hack, but he's not that bad.”
“Enough!” A fourth voice—because, really, the vampire clowns had done nothing but snarl since the Winchesters had busted down the door—cut through the air as another figure strode into the center of the barn.
It was, predictably, another vampire. This one was obviously the boss, judging by the way she was dressed—halter top and jeans instead of baggy clothes and a clown mask. Seriously, why clowns? Was someone trying to make this place Sam's worst nightmare?
“Well, well. If it isn't the Winchesters.” The woman flipped a lock of long, dark hair back over her shoulder. “I'm sure you're surprised to see me.”
Dean stared at her for a moment then glanced over at his brother. Sam shrugged. “Right,” Dean said after a few seconds. “You're...the Ringmaster!”
Sam let out a groan and stumbled back to lean against the wall of the barn. Dean couldn't see much of Cas's face but the angel's body was radiating out disappointment. “Come on,” Dean protested. “Clowns? The circus?”
“Enough!” the woman snapped again. “You killed my entire clan fourteen years ago. I've waited a long time for this day, when my new clan would find the Winchesters and we would put an end to them!”
Dean let his gaze travel up and down the woman's body again. She was still familiar, but that wasn't really enough to jog his memory. “Sweetheart, you're gonna have to be way more specific than that. Fourteen years is a long time.”
Cas shot him a dirty look—though whether it was over the sweetheart comment or Dean's snarky tone of voice he couldn't tell.
The woman hissed in anger. “Jenny? I had been chosen to join Luther's clan? You kidnapped his mate, Kate? Killed all of them to get your father and your precious Colt back?”
Dean sucked in a breath through his teeth. Oh, right, he remembered her now...not that she needed to know that. “Sorry. Doesn't ring a bell.”
Jenny gave a shriek and charged toward him. Cas intercepted, easily turning her momentum against her. Sam charged in, the machete in his left hand now, easily cutting through the seemingly endless swarm of vampires.
With a rueful glance at his ruined machete, Dean took up a position to cover Cas's flank. Maybe he couldn't charge back into battle like Sam, but he could at least keep the small fry off the angel's back.
“This reminds me of the place we first met, Cas,” Dean called over his shoulder.
Cas grunted. “Hell was nothing like this, Dean. This barn has no resemblance to Alistair's pit.”
“What?” Dean shook his head. Right, sometimes he forgot about the whole raised-you-from-perdition thing. Maybe he needed to get that handprint tattooed back on or something...if he could face Sammy's teasing. “No, I meant the barn, man. Where I tried to shoot you.”
With a twist of his hips Cas flipped Jenny onto her back and wrapped one hand around her throat. “You also stabbed me,” he retorted. He was on limited power while he was on earth, but he had enough juice to burn Jenny out of existence.
“Still. Memories.”
There was a ragged cry from one of the vampire clowns—one of the few Sam hadn't managed to decapitate in the last five minutes (really, their heads just popped right off if you got the angle right...his high school history teacher had been so wrong). The vampire charged at Cas and the angel wasn't quite able to defend himself before he was driven back against one of the barn's support posts. Dean shouted a curse at the vampire and took a swing at his head.
The machete stuck. Dean swore and tugged it free, then swung again. The vampire went down, but it took a few more blows before he finally managed to separate the head from the body. “Dammit,” he swore, wiping his forehead on his sleeve. “Sammy?”
“Forty-seven,” Sam panted. He was doubled over, hands on his knees. “That was forty-seven vampire clowns. What the hell is happening?”
“Maybe Chuck's still in charge,” Dean theorized. “Cas?”
The angel grunted. Dean twisted around to see Cas staring down at his own chest, then the angel slowly peeled back one lapel of his trench coat. “Oh. I've been impaled.”
It was the rusty bar Dean had narrowly avoided earlier. It was longer than he'd thought, and the tip was poking out of Cas's chest right below his heart. “Cas?”
“I'm all right,” Cas reassured him, though the spray of blood he coughed up wasn't very reassuring.
“Oh god,” Sam fisted both hands in his hair. “Wh-what do we do? Should we call Jack? Do you need an ambulance? Or, wait, a spell? Maybe, maybe there's something in the car...”
“Sam, this is nothing,” Cas protested. He gripped the bar with one hand, frowning a little when he wasn't able to push himself free. “Though I could use some assistance.”
“No-no-no-no!” Sam waved his hands frantically. He'd pulled a bandanna out of...somewhere...and was trying to put pressure on the wound around the rusty bar. “We'll just...we can control the bleeding, and-and Dean can call an ambulance, and they can take care of you at the hospital.”
“Sam...”
“I didn't even get to say good-bye last time,” Sam whispered.
Ouch. Damn. Dean felt that one, right in his gut. That spurred him to action. “Hey, it's okay,” he said, quietly. He placed a hand on one of Sam's arms and leaned in closer to study the wound. “You said it's not bad? 'Cause I'm pretty sure some of that's supposed to be on the inside.”
Cas coughed and the wound gurgled as he sucked in a breath. “It would be a fatal wound if I were human,” he admitted. “But it cannot kill me. It is merely...uncomfortable.”
“There, see?” Dean knocked his shoulder against Sam's. He was worried, too...he would never get used to seeing Cas injured, no matter how long they were together. Especially not since the angel always tended to get the more...dramatic injuries. Like now, Sam and Dean were coming out of the fight with barely a scratch between them, while Cas had been impaled on a piece of rusty metal.
The absurdity of the situation finally struck Dean. The piles of dead vampire clowns. The woman from their past, who had apparently been planning revenge for fourteen years even though they hadn't even remembered her name.
And, most of all, their badass angel-of-the-lord (even if the lord in question at the moment was their adopted kid) in his rainbow sweater vest and badass trench coat staring down at the metal protruding from his chest like it was personally offending him.
Oh. I've been impaled.
He couldn't help it. He burst out laughing.
Sam turned, scandalized. Cas looked on with resigned amusement.
“He-he just,” Dean wheezed. “Like that snowman...just...”
Cas gave a long-suffering sigh and gripped the piece of metal in one hand. With a mighty twist it broke away from the barn's support beam, and with another wrench Cas had pulled it free from his body and dropped it to the floor. His legs buckled beneath him, but Sam caught him and eased him down, that ever-present bandanna pressed to the wound in Cas's chest.
“Oh man...it's gonna be okay, Cas. We'll...we'll figure this out.”
“Dude,” Dean staggered over to kneel next to them, tears of laughter running down his face. “He's fine, just...just let it go.”
“Stop quoting Frozen and put your hand here!” Sam snapped, yanking Dean closer. “We need to stop the bleeding!”
Cas just stared at them patiently while Sam rocked up to his knees to apply more pressure to his wound. Dean tried to help, he really did, but the entire situation was just spiraling too far out of control. If Chuck really was still writing their lives he'd obviously gone insane.
Sam peeled the bandanna back to check Cas's wound and there was...nothing. Just the smooth, colorful knit of his rainbow-colored sweater vest. Even the blood stains were gone, as though Cas had never been injured.
With a relieved sigh, Sam sank back onto his heels. Cas pushed himself up on his elbows, idly brushing at the straw that was sticking to his trench coat. Dean picked up the rusty piece of iron that had impaled Cas and flung it across the barn.
“Not today, Chuck!” he hollered after it. “No one's dying in some shitty barn in the middle of nowhere, you hear me?”
There was a companionable silence for a moment, then Sam suddenly shot to his feet and looked around. “We forgot about the kids!”
* * *
Jack sees his father both as a badass unstoppable force, and as the caring dad who always has time for him. Thus, when designing his wardrobe for his current resurrection, he went with the odd combination of cuddly rainbow vest and Neo-style trench coat. Oddly enough, it suits Cas more than anything else he's ever worn.
#supernatural#fic#fanfic#febuwhump#febuwhumpday4#impaled#castiel#dean winchester#sam winchester#destiel#castiel and dean and sam friendship#jenny#vampires#episode fix-it: s15e20 Carry On#cas in a black trench coat#dean watches frozen#attempt at humor#hurt/comfort#there is one emotional punch moment
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You mentioned that your version of Lila won't do anything too heinous. What are some lines you don't think she'd cross?
This is a little tricky because there's a lot of complication and gray morality and stuff involved in this. Anyway, onto the kind-of-list.
Planned out physical assault is one. When I have written Lila being violent, it's a spontaneous moment of rage. Someone makes a comment during a confrontation that urges her to attack, she gets annoyed while hanging on Adrien and unintentionally digs her nails into his arm, she realizes her lies are crumbling and tackles Chloé to get her hands on one of Hawkmoth's Butterflies. That sort of thing. If she physically attacks someone, it's not a planned attack.
While she does harass Adrien, she also has limits on how far her harassment will go. She will cling to him and feel his arms and chest, maybe surprise him with a kiss. And while all that is still super sketch, she wouldn't do anything further without actual permission. She justifies her actions with a lot of gray morality on it. Like, the kinda victim-blaming "of course he likes it" thing, the fact that it might be pushy but as it's not 'below the belt' it doesn't count, reassuring herself that he will fall for her eventually, that sort of thing. Again, still sketch. But if Adrien decided to, oh I don't know, judo flip her next time she tries she might get the hint that he really doesn't want it.
Another thing is kind hard to describe but like. Long term damage is not something she tries to cause. How do put this?
Okay. So. I've seen several fics that give Lila a long list of victims like Marinette, people she hurt because they out her lies. And the 'end goal that she wants' for them is injury or death, even suicide. They write her taking pleasure in it, with all of her goals being about causing this.
The way I write Lila, that's not something she wants. It's definitely something that could happen! Her lies could cause someone to get pushed down the stairs and severely injured, or the social isolation/betrayal/bullying could cause someone to commit suicide. But she doesn't actively want that to happen. She doesn't realize it could. If it did happen, it would make her feel enough guilt to stop. Same with her helping Hawkmoth. She doesn't completely realize how bad things could possibly be if he won, just that being Akumatized helps her and that he'll help her.
Lila sees that whole "turn all your friends against you" goal as a temporary punishment. It'll hurt like hell, but her 'victim' can start over. After all, Lila has started over with new 'friends' so many times, of course anyone else could do it.
Another thing I kinda tried to write subtly, is that certain things are new to her because of the Paris situation and also other factors like her father are making her more desperate to be liked by others and to keep that empire of lies. Lying to her mother is new. Going as far as to get Marinette expelled is new (Cass wasn't expelled, just lost her friends). Obviously working for Hawkmoth is new because duh. But if it had been the year before she wouldn't have taken the offer.
This is why 'Rise and Fall' doesn't end with the 'fall' of her lies, but more the realization that her morality is failing and is beginning to feel regret.
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Respite
Avengers fic (Barton fam + Natasha)
2,113 words
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“Daddy?”
Clint looks up from the table he’s sanding. Nate has come in from outside.
“Yeah, bud?”
“There’s a rocket ship in the garden. Lila told me to tell you.”
Clint frowns. He doesn’t know which of the kids’ games this is. Is this the one where they pretend to be astronauts, or the one where he’s a space alien?
“Cooper says Auntie Nat’s in it.”
Clint smiles. A quinjet. Nat must have come to visit.
“Well come on then,” he says, reaching out so he can haul Nate up onto his hip. He walks out into the field where the kids have been playing, and spots the quinjet. He sees Lila, but before he can smile he realises she’s sprinting towards him, her face stricken with panic. His stomach twists.
“Dad!” she shouts, waving her arms as she runs. Clint starts to run too, because he’s joined the dots superhumanly fast. He is jolting Nate as he runs, so he sets him down and skids up the ramp.
“Nat?” he calls.
There’s no answer.
“She’s unconscious,” Cooper says, from where he’s kneeling by the pilot’s seat. Clint realises Natasha is still strapped into it, and he crouches down. Cooper has already released the buckles on the harness, and it’s easy for Clint to lift her out.
“I can’t tell if she’s bleeding,” Cooper tells him. Clint can’t find a balance between pride in his son’s calmness in a bad situation and guilt that his son has learned how to deal with shit like this at such a young age, so he focuses on getting one foot in front of the other as he carries Natasha up to the farmhouse. He opens his mouth to tell Lila to get her mother, but she’s way ahead of him and Laura is already running out of the front door followed by their daughter. God, his kids are good. He’s faintly horrified at that fact, and he pushes it away again.
“Any idea what happened?” Laura says, as she pushes the door open for him. He makes his way inside.
“Looks like she landed the jet and passed out,” he says, voice tinged with panic. “The kids found her.”
Laura bites her lip as Clint sets his best friend down on the couch.
“Nat?” he murmurs. He checks her pulse, then squeezes her hand. Nothing. He presses down hard on one of her fingernails. Her eyes flicker open.
“Ow,” she says. Her voice is hoarse, and now that she’s under the living room lights, Clint can see that’s she’s pale, and bruised.
“Hey,” he says, shakily. “Hey, you scared me there. You okay?”
“No,” she croaks. “M’not dead. But… not good.”
“Daddy?”
It’s Nate. God, his son is looking at him like he can save the day, and Clint can’t deal with that right now. Laura reads his mind, and ushers the kids away. Clint hears her tell Cooper to take his brother upstairs, and Lila follows them.
“Don’t,” Clint says, as Natasha opens her mouth again. “It’s okay. Just… is anything broken?”
She shakes her head.
“Anything need stitching up?”
She nods, and her eyes flicker to her torso. Clint isn’t sure he wants to see this, because he knows how he gets when he’s confronted with Natasha’s injuries - he doesn’t want to think about someone hurting her, about her being in pain. Laura’s hand on his shoulder reminds him what’s actually important. She’s passing him the first aid kit, and he does his best to go into field mode. Patch up first. Questions later.
He unzips Natasha’s suit down to her navel, and Laura helps her sit up enough to free her arms. Clint identifies the stab wound right away. It’s not near anything vital, but he knows she’s got to be in a hell of a lot of pain. There’s blood on every patch of skin, and it’s clearly been soaking into her suit for a while.
“Morphine?” he murmurs, asking permission first. He always does. She doesn’t always want it. This time he’s lucky, and she nods. He sticks her with a syringe of it, and Laura sits on the couch and shuffles so Natasha’s head is in her lap. Clint focuses on the wound while Laura holds her hands as she flinches. The morphine can only do so much.
Clint stops the bleeding and disinfects the wound before starting the stitching. He has to concentrate on his work, so he won’t remember that this is his best friend that someone stabbed. Laura is stroking her thumbs over Natasha’s knuckles, which are bruised and bloody as well, which Clint tries not to notice.
When he’s done, he bandages her as best he can. She’s limp on the couch now, gazing up at Laura with glassy, exhausted eyes.
“We can’t move her,” Laura murmurs. “Could you get me a bowl of warm water and a cloth?”
He nods, and packs up the kit wordlessly. His actions are robotic. In the back of his head, the anger is drumming on his skull, and right next door is the knowledge that later he’ll have to go upstairs covered in Natasha’s blood and explain to his kids what just happened.
He fetches the water and the cloth, and stops by the spare bedroom to grab an old t-shirt of Nat’s. He hands everything over to Laura and just sits, watching, as his wife gently sponges the blood from Natasha’s skin. She’s semi-conscious now, but she can move enough to help Laura get the worst of it. Laura removes her boots and the rest of her suit, and her gentle touches remind Clint of washing the kids when they were babies. Gentle, tender, loving. The hardest part is getting the t-shirt on, but Laura handles that smoothly and soon Natasha is tucked under a blanket, and Laura is stroking her hair while she drifts off to sleep. The sun is long gone outside the window.
“I can handle the kids if you like,” she says, when she finally gets up. Clint shakes his head, and kisses Laura’s temple.
“You’ve done the hard yards down here,” he murmurs. “I’ll talk to them.”
She kisses his shoulder and for a moment Clint just holds his wife, enjoying the knowledge that the two women he loves most in the world are safe in this room with him.
He can’t put the next part off any longer. Laura goes to the kitchen to make tea, and Clint climbs the stairs. The kids are all in Cooper’s bed, and Lila is reading them all a story. The book is forgotten the second Clint opens the door.
“Is Auntie Nat okay?” Lila asks. Clint can see that they’ve all changed into their pyjamas, and again he feels that weird mix of pride and guilt. They’ve learned to look out for each other. They shouldn’t have had to.
“She’s going to be fine,” he assures them. He climbs onto the bed and lets them rest against him, these precious little people that he made. “Mommy and I fixed her up, and she just needs some time to rest.”
“Is she gonna stay with us?” Nate pipes up.
“Of course she is,” he tells his son. “We’re all going to look after her.”
He carries Nate to his own bed, and tucks them all in one by one. He goes downstairs next, and kisses Laura, and tells her he loves her. She knows he’s not coming to bed tonight, so she helps him drag the mattress from the spare room into the living room, next to the couch where Natasha is sleeping. Laura grabs a pile of blankets, and in a quiet whirl of activity they both get ready for bed. Soon they are cuddled up under a mess of blankets, both watching Natasha sleep.
“She’s gonna be okay,” Laura tells him, even though Clint hasn’t given voice to the fears in his head.
“I know,” he lies. She rolls, and Clint lets himself be enveloped in his wife’s embrace. He falls asleep like that, wrapped in Laura’s arms.
When he wakes, he’s tangled in a blanket, and someone is moving on the mattress. He opens bleary eyes and finds Natasha picking her way through the blankets.
“C’mere,” he mumbles, patting the mattress. She gingerly slides down and sits. Laura rouses, and smiles sleepily at her.
“Feeling any better?” she asks.
“Sore,” Natasha sighs. “Guys, I’m so sorry-”
“Shut up,” they say in practiced unison. It’s a routine they go through every time something like this happens, and all three of them smile tired smiles.
“Thank you,” Natasha murmurs. Laura pulls back the covers, and Natasha, hesitant at first, slides down to lie between them. Clint and Laura both move in, and carefully shift so they are holding her, arms criss-crossed over her, legs tangling together. They fall asleep again, just as the first hint of light is appearing outside.
Clint is woken for a second time by a little hand patting his cheek. He opens his eyes. Nate. His son is uncharacteristically quiet, and Clint smiles at him, disengaging a little from Natasha.
“Hey, buddy,” he murmurs.
“Is it breakfast time?” Nate asks.
“It sure is,” he murmurs. “But let’s let Mommy and Auntie Nat sleep a little longer. C’mon.”
He gently moves Natasha towards Laura, and rolls out of bed, swinging Nate up into his arms as he goes. He takes his son to the kitchen, and sets him on the counter.
“Pancakes?” he asks. Nate nods enthusiastically, and Clint sets about making breakfast for the household. By the time the first cake is being flipped, Cooper and Lila have appeared in the kitchen, and Laura is up and about as well.
“Smells good.”
“Auntie Nat!” Lila exclaims. She scrapes back her chair and runs for Natasha, who has appeared in the doorway.
“Gently, Lila,” Laura reminds her. Lila hugs Natasha as gently as she can, and Natasha pats her back. In the light, Clint can see how exhausted his partner looks. She’s bruised all over, and there are cuts and scrapes he didn’t even notice yesterday. He bites the inside of his cheek as she sits down at the table.
“Hungry?” he murmurs. She nods. Clint serves her a pancake, which she drowns in syrup. She’s eating, at least. While she’s tackling the pancake, Clint goes back to the living room and hauls the mattress back to the bed in the spare room. He makes the bed, and arranges the pillows, then fetches a water bottle and painkillers. By the time he’s done, Natasha has appeared in the doorway, Lila at her side.
“Thank you,” she says. The fact that she hasn’t started making jokes or making fun of him is a little worrying to Clint, but he knows Natasha just needs time to rest. He pulls back the covers, and Natasha climbs into bed.
“Auntie Nat needs to sleep,” Clint murmurs to Lila. His daughter nods, and kisses Natasha on the cheek before she leaves. Clint follows suit, kissing her on the forehead.
Clint’s chore for the day is sanding back the table. He completely abandoned it yesterday, and now that he knows Natasha is safe and sleeping, he can return to it. He keeps sanding, scraping away the layers of the old varnish. With each mark he removes, he tries his hardest not to think about the marks on Natasha’s skin, and how they got there.
When he comes in a few hours later, Laura is reading by the window.
“Where is everyone?” he asks.
“Taking a nap,” she smiles. It’s a loving smile, so warm and tender, and Clint knows exactly where his kids are. He goes to Natasha’s room, and leans in the doorway, smiling fondly.
Natasha is sound asleep on the pillows. Under one arm, Nate is snuggled up beside her. Her other arm is around Cooper’s shoulders, and Lila is sprawled over her legs.
“Aren’t they beautiful?”
It’s Laura. He wraps an arm around his wife.
“She’s going to be okay,” he mumbles, more for himself than for her.
“Of course she is. We love her and we’re going to take care of her.”
He loves Laura so much in that moment he can barely contain it. She seems to know, and wraps her arms around him, helping him like she always does.
“Come on,” she murmurs. “I’ll help you varnish the table.”
He takes a last look at his sleeping children, tangled up with his Natasha, all of them so beautiful and so precious and so, so loved. Laura tugs him away, and Clint closes the door, letting them sleep.
#fic#long#avengersfic#clintashafic#clintashahc#clint/nat/laura#barton family#clintnatlaurafic#fbhcentury
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Change: Chapter 3
Summary: In the aftermath of X-Men: First Class, Moira MacTaggert struggles to regain her memories but perhaps with the help of Nick Fury she may come closer to discovering the truth.
Fandoms: X-Men (Prequels), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel (Comics), Agent Carter
Word Count: 2,200
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | TBC
Mr Stark (Howard, as he kept insisting), Dr Wilkes, and Dr Samberly had taken more scans than Moira could count, more blood than she would have thought possible to live without, and asked more questions than she could recollect. When they were done, she was shepherded into one of the standard bunks for on-site personnel members, after being told it was too late – or more accurately too early – to travel home. It was also wise not to drive back to the city given the last test had involved Samberly shining lights into her eyes for several minutes. Bright spots still flashed behind her eyelids when she blinked.
Thankful to have a room to herself, Moira dropped onto the bottom bunk and leaned her head back against the smooth stone wall. There was a short thrill when the situation stirred a feeling of familiarity but it quickly disappeared, offering no flashes of forgotten memories.
Moira took a deep breath as she contemplated the day ahead. She was going to be an agent again. Going through another induction and more training. Hopefully, unlike last time, the new S.H.I.E.L.D recruits wouldn’t spend the whole course at the academy tormenting her for having her reproductive organs on the inside. In response to their jibes that the closest she would ever get to agent status was to sleep with one of them, she went and got one of the highest scores on record. Much to her team’s displeasure.
She stood up to take off her suit before settling under the covers. Dr Wilkes had offered to find her some clothes for tomorrow but, in case he forgot, it wouldn’t do for it to get wrinkled. As her mother always said, first impressions are the most lasting. Agent Carter had told her on the journey down to the labs that if she was willing she would need to go through an induction tomorrow, originally scheduled for some entry-level scientists, which she would need to complete before she could be assigned to a superior officer.
“It’s nothing too complicated.” Carter had explained. “Just some routine history on the organisation, an explanation of the various divisions and what to expect during your training.”
“How long will my training last?”
“Given your experience with the CIA there should be some areas you are already adept at – but you should be prepared for it to last a while. We’ll make sure it’s worked around whatever the doctors come up with. I’m sure if we gave them their way you’d be down there all the time. They do love their tests.” She sighed, well familiar with their antics. “I’ve worked with Howard since the war and when he’s confronted by something of a conundrum he really does devote himself to it. He’ll have you in the lab fairly regularly until he’s found a solution.”
Lucky me, Moira had thought idly. She’d had her fair run of physical examinations, both at the academy and during her time as an agent; despite the regularity, she had never grown to like them.
“What does S.H.I.E.L.D training entail?” Moira asked as they turned into a maintenance stairwell and proceeded downstairs.
“For a field agent you’ll receive relative strength training, language tuition – although Fury informed me you already speak proficient Russian, so that may not be necessary – then there’s instruction in weapons handling, martial arts or boxing are also common options. Although that really all depends on your superior officer and what they advise. Your test scores from the CIA prove you’re already efficiently trained in the basics so, personally, I’d move you straight into more specialised fighting styles.”
“Being a field agent involves a lot of action then?” She inferred.
Carter stopped at the entrance to the laboratories. “If that’s something you’re opposed to, we could move you into reconnaissance or into a team, something less physically demanding?”
“No, no I’m not opposed to that. And I’m glad of the opportunity to learn more, I just...” Moira breathed, “I’m just wondering how peaceful an organisation you are if your standard training programme involves martial arts or boxing?”
“The CIA offers boxing electives.” Carter defended.
“Yes, but they are elective.” And something she wasn’t given access to as a female agent.
“S.H.I.E.L.D will never force you to do something you don’t want to. But we do want to ensure that you are prepared and capable of keeping yourself, and those around you, safe.”
Carter held the door open for her and ushered her into a lab that must have spanned half the length of the first floor.
“I suppose boxing could be interesting,” Moira admitted.
Tossing onto her side, Moira took a deep breath before flipping the light switch by her head off. It didn’t make much of a difference to the brightness of the room; the yellow streetlights outside the barracks streamed through the uncovered window. She turned over to face the wall. Her eyes were closed for half a minute before they opened again.
As ridiculous as it sounded, she felt like it was the first day before school. Except, instead of school, she had signed up to work for yet another intelligence agency. An agency where she would be working on more cases like the Hellfire Club. Encountering, what? More mutants, more people with powers – natural or manmade?
She was effectively forced out of the Mutants Division. For what, her humanity? At least S.H.I.E.L.D was run by and populated by her own species who didn’t expect her to have powers and fight psychopaths determined to start a new world order by killing all humans. Well, she might still be expected to fight psychopaths.
Carter made it sound like she would have the opportunity to learn some incredible things. Moira had always been jealous at the academy by the men who went into the boxing club. Her superiors had argued she couldn’t partake as there were no other women for her to fight, and it would be unfair to pit her against a man. Now she could learn it. Maybe another language too, something she had long wanted to do.
Yet there was still something that didn’t sit right with her. A feeling that worried away at her, twisting in her gut. A feeling, much like she had experienced when she’d entered the bunks and had experienced a moment of familiarity with the situation. Was it possible a ghost of memory was enough to make her feel this way? That, despite missing the memory, something about her time in the Mutants Division was enough to leave her apprehensive about joining S.H.I.E.L.D?
Another question she would have to leave unanswered until – if – she got her memories back.
She tried to think rationally. What was it about S.H.I.E.L.D that worried her? There was the fact that she still didn’t really understand much about the organisation or what her part in it would be. Was it also possible that even without her memories she still felt a loyalty to Xavier and the other mutants? And was that loyalty even her own or something that had been implanted in there when he’d rooted through her mind? To stop her from doing what she potentially would. To inform an intelligence agency about the mutants. To give away their secrets.
Shuffling until she was on her back, Moira’s eyes clenched shut as the yellow light crossed her face again.
She could still walk away.
“Moira?”
Eyes snapping open, the yellow light had been replaced by soft sunlight, slightly shadowed by Agent Carter who was hovering next to her bed.
“I did try to wake you by knocking. You’re due in the conference hall in half an hour.” She apologised.
“I don’t even remember falling asleep.” Moira murmured, sitting up.
“I guess we should put alarm clocks in here. I’ll just leave you to get dressed. There are some toiletries in the drawers if you need it. Meet me in the hall when you’re ready.” Carter said before taking her leave.
Wilkes hadn’t lived up to his promise to get her some fresh clothes. Evidently, Carter was right. Give scientists a puzzle to crack and everything else falls by the wayside. Thankfully after brushing her hair through and putting her suit back on she still looked presentable, if a little ruffled.
Carter passed her a bagel when she opened the door. “Howard had them flown in from New York.”
“Thank you,” Moira said. Agent Carter didn’t seem to find that strange, so such luxury must be fairly commonplace which she found quite amusing.
“Are you giving the induction?” She asked. Moira found it rather strange that the co-founder of the entire organisation was not only escorting her to a routine induction for new recruits but was also waking her up and giving her breakfast.
“No, someone else will.”
“Oh. Well, I’m sure I can find the room if you have something else to...” she trailed off under Carter’s scrutinising gaze. “Is something the matter?”
“Once the session is over Howard wants you in the lab again. Apparently, he had some equipment brought in from Stark Industries to run more tests with.” She replied, looking forward again.
“All right,” Moira said unsurely, making quick work of her bagel to fill the rest of their silent walk. Despite her offer, she doubted she could get to the conference room alone after the number of corridors they turned down to get to there. Without Carter, Moira was positive she would have lost her way. The S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters were impressively large. It really was incredible their organisation managed to remain secret.
“Pay close attention,” Carter said as means of goodbye, leaving her at the door. “I’ll be testing you later.”
Eventually, eleven other recruits joined her. As promised they were all scientists but the induction was generalised and covered the scope of the organisation. Specialists – which, after hearing the outline of training Carter had provided, appeared to be Moira’s career trajectory – were entry-level three. According to this structure, there were six levels in total, although, given the command structure Moira had seen so far, she was positive there had to be higher clearance levels. Evidently so high no one could know that they existed.
The lecture involved a loose history about the S.S.R, Super Soldier’s Initiative and Hydra before progressing onto the establishment of S.H.I.E.L.D and the roles played by Stark, Carter and Phillips in its foundation and current operations. The director of S.H.I.E.L.D, Rick Stoner, was touched on but there was no mention of Agent Fury. If he were a simple liaison as claimed, it would make sense no references were made to him, but Moira felt that his responsibilities in the organisation were more complicated than that, given his role among the other powerful players during her interview yesterday.
Carter’s role in the establishment of S.H.I.E.L.D surprised her immensely as the speaker went into depth about her role with the S.S.R, Howling Commandos and working alongside Captain America – who was real, with a picture to prove it – to defeat Hydra. By all accounts, she was a highly skilled field operative who did the majority of the groundwork in building the organisation after Stark and Phillips came up with the novel concept. The three of them quickly promoted S.H.I.E.L.D from a U.S. to an international agency, coming under the authority of the United Nations, giving it near global authority. Frankly, it was a complete wonder how she, an ex-CIA agent, had never heard of it. To function on that scale, the operation must be enormous.
By the time the lecturer had finished, Moira was feeling that her reaction when entering the meeting yesterday was decidedly inadequate.
Letting the scientists, who were already discussing their upcoming work, pass before her she found herself sharing half smiles with the other female recruits who walked past her. Maybe S.H.I.E.L.D was the place for her after all.
Agent Carter was sitting primly in one of the armchairs outside in the waiting area. Moira almost felt star-struck and, judging by the double-takes from the other recruits, she wasn’t the only one.
“Now then,” Carter began, a wry grin crossing her face, “what does S.H.I.E.L.D stand for?”
“Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division.” Moira replied slowly, doubting her answer the entire time she gave it. It really was a ridiculously long name.
“Who created the Super-Soldier Serum?”
“Dr Erskine.”
“Who was the first person to take the serum?”
“Johann Schmidt… also known as Red Skull.” She added, trying to score extra points.
Carter pursed her lips, satisfied with Moira’s answers. “Be warned, I’ll keep testing you.” She said, rising from her seat.
“Are you here to take me to the lab?”
“No, I will let you find your own way today. I dare say you need to get familiar with this building, you’ll be spending a lot of time here. What I am here to tell you is that I expect you to meet me at the training facilities, that’s just beside the eastern gate, at 0800 hours tomorrow. I would make it earlier but you need time to commute from home. Just be sure to set an alarm, I won’t tolerate tardiness.”
Moira frowned and hastened to follow her as she started marching ahead. “I don’t understand. You’re training me?”
“Yes. As of right now, I’m your superior officer. Do not let me down.” She said, her warm tone undermining the strictness of her words. “I don’t undertake personal training of new recruits often so I expect the best you can give me, understood?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Not ma’am. Agent.” Carter corrected.
“Of course, Agent Carter.” Moira said, her lips twitching into a slight smile before she hastily corrected it.
#moira mactaggert#moira mactaggert x charles xavier#moira x charles#x-men first class#marvel cinematic universe#agent carter#peggy carter#nick fury#s.h.i.e.l.d#formerly abandoned fic#editing old chapters
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as the rain hides the stars
Read the full story on ao3...
ix: just an arrogant son of a bitch
You can’t blame me darling,
not even a little bit.
And I’m just an arrogant son of a bitch,
who can’t admit when he’s sorry
-Harry Styles, “To Be So Lonely”
Sitting in the cavernous official office of King Rhaegar Targaryen felt unsettling. Whether it was the dark color scheme or the dragon statues leering at him, Jon couldn’t say, but the subject they were gathered to discuss certainly didn’t help.
They were situated around a smaller table in the room, not the impressive desk at the other end. Papers were splayed around and Ned and Rhaegar spent hours discussing each point in the new contract. Daenerys stewed in silent rage across from Jon, as she had that morning.
The Starks were invited to breakfast in the formal dining room with the royal family. Jon expected another stuffy, extravagant hall with a mile long table weighed down by hundreds of food options. The Targaryens basking in the glory of their ostentatious wealth. What he got surprised him.
The impressive chandeliers were off in favor of the natural light from the tall windows. The mile long dining table was much more modest with just enough seats to fit all of them in. And the light breakfast foods were offered on a platter in the center.
The only open seat was across from the Princess and Jon swallowed down the curses he wanted to utter. She had her back to the windows, the morning sunlight making a halo out of her white gold hair. The princess looked up when he entered, something strange flickering in her eyes before she tore her gaze away. Under any other circumstances, Jon would’ve appreciated the beautiful scene and maybe tried his hand at a compliment, but considering their confrontation the night before he thought it best if he kept his mouth shut.
Just the look of her brought back images of last night. Wet hair over a black clad shoulder, a whiskey bottle clasped in a pale hand. The drenched, see-through slip and a pair of violent violet eyes trying to conceal their anger at the world.
She avoided eye contact with him the whole time, preferring to push her food around her plate and throw a few disinterested comments Elia’s way.
She spoke to Jon only once, breaking her pointless silence to say, “I trust your jacket made it back to you.”
“In perfect condition,” he answered.
They returned to their silence for the rest of the breakfast. Occasionally, Jon would sneak a glance at her, only to find that she was looking at him too. They both averted their eyes and went back to their food.
The two played the same game as Rhaegar and Ned discussed yet another point on the treaty.
“There is one thing I would like to propose as an amendment to the contract,” the young woman spoke up, straightening her posture from the slouched, disinterested pose before.
“What’s that Daenerys?”
“The Crown Matrimonial.”
King Eddard sighed and Jon tightened his hands around the arm rests to keep his face from betraying him.
Reading the change in demeanor the princess asked, “Is there a problem?”
Eddard began, “No, it’s-”
“You’ve no right to it,” Jon blurted
She arched an eyebrow at him, tilting her chin up in defiance.
“What my son means is that traditionally the crown matrimonial is-”
“I know. Only granted when the consort in question proves themselves worthy through an act of honor or great courage. I think entering a lifelong commitment to provide your country with supplies to make it through winter is an honorable action.”
“Dany…” Rhaegar sighed.
As she turned her head to look at her brother, Jon noticed the numerous braids in her hair. All wrapped and pinned around each other with precision. She looked like a queen sitting on a war council, carefully planning her next strategic move.
“Normally, the honorable action is childbirth or, in ancient cases, serving in war. It’s a title that must be earned, not bartered away. I hope you understand that this is the reason we withhold the crown matrimonial.” Ned explained.
Rheagar and Daenerys exchanged looks, the King’s eyes burning in warning.
“Is there any way we could keep it on the table?”
“Of course but the final decision rests with the Council of High Lords.”
Jon didn’t want to believe what he was hearing. Were they really so desperate?
Daenerys hummed, “No crown, no contract.”
With that she stood and strode from the room, as though it was a casual conversation between passers-by.
“I’m very sorry about her. She just needs time.” Rhaegar collected the papers and put them into a folder marked with the Targaryen crest.
Ned nodded, “I understand.”
“She asked that we give her a month before anything is finalized.”
“And if she decides against this?” Jon asked.
Rhaegar reached for a second folder and opened it, “ I doubt she will but, just to be safe, we planned a month-long tour of the North. If you give her a chance to see why your people need her, she’ll be sympathetic. Daenerys may not act it but she has the biggest heart in this family.”
The tour of the North was strategic to say the least. The first stop in White Harbor, a public appearance at one of the homeless shelters there, then to Winterfell for a few days before setting off to the Mountain Clans. They would arrive in time for Midsummer celebrations.
It would be fun to watch the southern princess try to understand the ancient celebrations. He couldn’t wait to see her reaction when they told her it was rude to not participate.
When he returned to his rooms he found Robb and Sansa planning a night out. And before he knew it he was dressed up and towed to a rented car.
Sansa made a big deal about wanting to spend more time exploring the city instead of stuck in the castle where they felt like outsiders. Jon knew she just wanted to be seen by the somebodies of King’s Landing.
“Sansa, where are we going?”
“I heard a couple of ladies talking about the Dragonpit last night.”
“The Dragonpit?” Robb rolled his eyes.
Everything in the damned city had a dragon theme to it even when the business didn’t exclude dragon energy.
“It’s super exclusive with tight security and I think we should go.”
“What makes you think they’ll let you in? You’re still seventeen.” Jon joked.
Sansa protested in her usual way, “And three-fourths! Besides, my age doesn’t matter because I’m somebody.”
“Yeah, everyone in the South knows who we are.” Robb’s sarcastic comment had no effect on her positive disposition.
“They will by the time we leave.”
The Dragonpit was in the basement of a high rise in the New City. Cameramen crowded the entrance, held back by a velvet rope. The flashes of their cameras like lightning in a summer storm, their shouts the accompanying thunder.
Sansa walked down the paved path with all the confidence of a queen. Flipping her hair and smiling for the cameras, flanked by her brothers. Robb gave his best performance but Jon couldn’t find it in him to fake anything. The bouncer didn’t even try to stop her and as they descended the stairs, they found themselves in another world.
The name ‘The Dragonpit’ insinuated a medieval vibe but the space beneath the building was ultra modern. The dance floor was crowded, the people revealed through flashes of the stage lights surrounding the DJ’s booth. Low red lights around the club signaled where the extra seating was. Sansa went straight to the dance floor, Robb following to keep an eye on her. Jon however, went straight for the bar.
The backlit liquor options and the black marble countertop were too fancy. The heavy bass from the music made it so Jon had to shout his order to the bartender. His unwillingness to be there doubling by the second.
A commotion at the entrance drew his attention. The song blasting through the speakers faded out and the DJ proclaimed over his mic, “Looks like a special guest just dropped in. Ladies and gentlemen, Her Royal Highness Daenerys Targaryen!”
This time Jon did swear, the applause and cheers loud enough to drown him out. The Gods had it out for him, he was certain of that now.
The track switched back on, the bass reverberating through the crowded club again. Jon’s eyes followed her as she was swallowed by the people on the dance floor. The bright strobe lights reflected off her silvery hair and the impractical hoops hanging from her ears threw it any which way.
It wasn’t long until she made her way to the bar.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she complained when she saw him.
Her hair was still braided from earlier but the short red dress was a complete turn around from the soft grey sweater she’d worn that morning.
“If you care to know, my sister dragged me here.”
“You’re sister? Isn’t she a bit young to be going to clubs?”
“No one tells Sansa no.”
“Maybe someone should.” Despite her previous rudeness upon seeing him, she sat next to him.
“I understand you changed your mind,” Jon said, eyeing her.
“I didn’t change my mind, I bought myself time.”
“So you can try to wiggle your way out of having responsibility?”
Instead of the deathly stare he expected, she arched a brow at him.
“So I don’t have to spend the rest of my life with you.”
The bartender came around and took her attention away.
“A Braavosi Apple Martini and a Dragon’s Blood.”
“Cocktails? You were drinking stronger stuff last night.”
“I’m here with Missandei and I’m banned from drinking in public.”
“Whatever you say,” he smirked.
He knew what game he was playing. It was how he got Theon to do anything stupid. Jon didn’t want Daenerys to embarrass herself but their love of liquor was the only thing they had in common.
“You don’t know anything about me,” she sneered.
“No, but I’ve heard plenty.”
Her jaw tightened and she lengthened her neck. Jon learned quickly that it was her little way of gathering confidence, preparing for battle.
“Fine,” she declared and reached over the bar, “If that’s how you want to play it.”
She slammed down two shot glasses. The bartender came over with her previous order and she demanded a bottle of Crown Royal.
He knew he should’ve stayed away from the alcohol, it never ended well, but the princess was a challenge he was determined to beat.
“Let’s turn it into a game. We make assumptions about each other. For each one you get right, I take a shot and vice versa.”
“I have to warn you, I’m very good at reading people.”
“Unfortunately for you, I’m impossible to read.”
Jon shook his head, no one was impossible to read. Bastards had to learn to notice things and that aspect of his nature was honed during his military time.
“Ladies first,” he offered, sliding his original glass out of the way.
She narrowed her violet eyes at him, scanning his face.
“Your best friend is your brother.”
Jon took the shot then considered Daenerys as she refilled his glass.
“You’ve played this game before.”
“That’s obvious,” she pointed out, the edge of the glass hovering in front of her lips.
The nude shade she wore was soft and inviting unlike the vicious red of the night before. Jon found himself watching as they parted into a smirk before taking her shot.
“You smoke. You told everyone you quit but you still do it.”
Jon took his shot.
“How the fuck did you know that?”
“When you gave me your jacket last night.” she reached into her bag and slid the pack across the bar. “You left your pack in the pocket.”
“And you’ve been carrying it around with you?”
She shrugged, “There might be a couple missing. Your turn.”
A few shots later, Missandei came over to see what was taking Dany so long. She saw them together and simply grabbed her drink and told Jon to keep an eye on her.
“You joined the military because you felt like you had something to prove.” she stated.
Jon couldn’t refuse her and took the shot. The previous assumptions were light, simple things that barely scratched the surface of a person, but Daenerys made it clear that she wanted to move on. She had ripped away the skin and was ready to tear into the meat of her prey.
“You ran off to college to escape your family.”
“And this dreadful city,” she added before tipping back the glass.
“Your father is the reason for your discharge from the military, not an accident, like your profile said.”
Shot. It was only half true.
“You’ve been with more than three people.”
Shot.
“You’ve never been with anyone.”
He allowed himself a stupid smirk as her eyes shifted from the shi\ot glass to him.
“Am I wrong?”
“Yes.”
She looked at him as though she didn’t believe it before reaching over the bar and taking the shot for him.
“For getting one wrong,” she excused.
As they carried Jon felt the pressure building in his head as he tried to come up with something.
“Your relationship with the Dothraki Khal was much deeper than people know.”
Her jaw ticked as the words left his mouth. She furiously threw the shot back, setting the glass down with more effort than needed. He’d really struck a nerve. He should’ve backed off and sober him would’ve but the alcohol made him bolder. It blurred the lines between the self he presented and the one that looked at the world through a bitter lens.
They continued, the world blurred around the edges but both of them were determined to get the other to quit. Especially Daenerys.
“You hate me.”
Gone was the diplomacy and tact. She was messy, trying to get as many hits on him as she could, trying to get him where it hurt. Jon thought he saw how ruthless she could be last night but she proved herself to be even more devastating now.
He clasped his hand around the shot glass but when it came time to take it, he paused. He wanted to take the shot, to throw it in her face that she didn’t phase him and her little games were pointless, but something deep in his mind stopped him.
She took note of his hesitation, “Well?”
The smug look on her face was all it took. Before he could second guess it, the liquor was sliding down his throat. He found comfort in the way it burned.
“Good because I can’t stand you either.”
He didn’t need to think hard on what he would say to her, he’d figured it out last night.
“You’re in love with that Tyrohsi millionaire- what was his name? Daario Naharis?”
From the way her eyes widened Jon knew he caught her off guard. The corner of her mouth twitched like she wanted to say something, but she snatched up the glass and downed her shot.
She slapped money down on the counter for their alcohol and leaned in close, “Don’t ever say that name again.”
“I thought you didn’t get attached.”
She released a bitter laugh, “I don’t usually. But I’m a woman and we’re known to get too emotionally involved. The press has been profiting off of that my whole life.”
“If you weren’t so public with your exploits, the media wouldn’t have so much stake in your life.”
“Let’s think about this critically for a moment. If you were to exhibit the same behaviors-”
“I wouldn’t-”
“Don’t interrupt me,” she snapped.
Jon didn’t think the look in her eyes could turn any more venomous but it did.
“If you were to do the same things, people wouldn’t bat an eye because you’re a man. I don’t care what higher moral authority you think you have but don’t assume for one second that makes you better than me. If the roles were reversed, your reputation wouldn’t be affected at all.”
“That’s where you're wrong,” Jon corrected.
“Oh really? Explain it to me.”
“I was born a bastard. When I was legitimized that title didn’t go away, it was put under a magnifying glass. If I stepped out of line there would be more than whispers in the court. It’s not only my reputation on the line, it’s my family’s.”
He stopped himself before he could mention the underlying tensions with the other high lords. That was deeper than he needed to go. And there was no need to discuss private matters of state with a woman who could care less.
She was quiet in that contemplative way when people thought things over. Jon was reminded of last night, when his outburst led to her reconsideration of the marriage contract. That same night he realized he was the only person who had ever told her off. She could’ve used that during their meeting to free herself from the arrangement but she didn’t. Not for the first time did Jon wonder what was going on in that pretty, stubborn head of hers.
“Do you think I have a higher moral authority now?”
“No. But I’m not one to ignore the pressures and restrictions monarchy puts on us. Let’s call it a truce. At least until you give me another reason for an alcohol fueled confrontation.”
She held her Dragon’s Blood cocktail up, her face betraying no emotion. Not even a smile at their hastily made peace. He clinked her glass with his empty one. She retreated to the dance floor where her friend was, surprisingly sturdy on her high heels with the alcohol she’d consumed. Then again, she boasted about her ability to hold liquor.
He had no interest in joining the mass of bodies and heat that was the dance floor. He preferred to observe what kind of foolishness took place.
Sansa danced near the edge of the floor, Robb kept an eye on her from outside the commotion. He was usually in the middle of it all but Talisa gave him quite the talk before they left. It was a good thing Robb was taking it seriously. Jon liked having Talisa around.
One of the spotlights blazed across the crowd and Jon’s eyes followed. When they landed on the braided, white-blonde hair of Princess Daenerys, he didn’t look away. She mouthed the words to the song with her eyes closed, head thrown back and body moving with the beat. The track ended and as the crowd on the floor responded to the DJ, she looked dead at Jon. A new bassline rumbled through the club and she was leaving. For the second time that day, she was storming out because of Jon.
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Antimatter Aguri AU Masterpost
Sack has entirely too many AUS about Aguri? Sack has entirely too many AUs about Aguri!
Anyway. I decided to finally make a post explaining this AU to the general fandom, since I’m proud of it and not sure I’ll ever get around to entirely writing a fic based on it. So I may as well share the concepts.
Have you ever wanted an AU where Aguri lives? But do you feel a simple ‘she lives with no complications AU’ is too easy of a way out, and ignores a massive part of Korosensei’s arc? Have you ever wanted an AU that would make you hate the villains of Assclass even more than you already do? Have you ever wanted an AU with cool monsters smooching cool monsters? Have you ever wanted an AU where Aguri S U F F E R S? And have you ever wanted an AU about long term recovery after massive trauma?
Then BOY do I have an AU for you!
The rest is under the cut because this is going to be a LONG post.
In this AU Aguri manages to survive her close brush with death.
How she survives, however, is significantly less uplifting.
Basically Yanagisawa pumps her full of Antimatter shit after finding her body in a desperate attempt to save her life. And it works. Hooray!
He hurries her into another part of the lab before Akari can see a thing, and continues pumping her full of Antimatter to try and stabalize her. But being a Known Cunt, things don’t exactly go too well after she comes to. Especially considering she's ALIVE. Without his weird fucked up revenge quest to serve as motivation he still has nothing to strive for, so he goes right back to his experiments.
This time on her.
Like the moment she wakes up one of her first questions is "wait. Where did the reaper go? Is he okay" and he FLIPS his SHIT on her. Yells at her for being obsessed with the Reaper and accuses her of not giving a shit about him. (CAN YOU BLAME HER?)
She tries to deescalate the situation and turn it into an amicable breakup, but considering he fucking sucks hes not gonna take that for an answer. He decides that Korosensei escaping in the first place was her fault anyway, scapegoats her for the entire thing, then locks her in that room and continues his experiments. Namely this time he’s curious about finding out if an Antimatter being that won’t explode can be created.
And it. Is. Bad.
Like these experiments continue over the course of months and she degenerates more and more until she realizes everyone thinks shes dead. That she’s never going to get to see The Reaper or her students or her family again. She resigns herself to a life of suffering. Like. Pretty much wishes she'd just DIED back there. Which is. Really sad.
Sometime during this time she sees Itona and begs for help, but considering Itona’s pretty much out of his mind in his own right during this time he's not of much help.
When the tentacles ask her what she wants, she answers “safety.” That’s all she wants. To stop being hurt. She dwells more and more on the last time she saw the Reaper. And that’s what her form begins to reflect. So she starts lookin a lot like Korosensei did during his escape w/ the writhing tentacles and such.
And with that wish that’s when something starts to shift w/ the experiments. Like. They go completely off the rails.
She can no longer receive injections. It just doesn’t break the skin. Antisensei weapons simply don’t work on her to the same extent. With force, they can cut her, but nothing like how they make Korosensei’s limbs outright explode.
Suddenly this is terrifying. CONSIDERING KOROSENSEI WISHED TO BE WEAK. AND ENDED UP THAT FUCKING INVINCIBLE, SHE'S ON ANOTHER LEVEL ENTIRELY.
Her restraints are like tripled and the room is reinforced with Antisensei material. They find a way to keep pumping her full of antimatter. Despite ppl working under Yanagisawa starting to voice their opinions that this seems dangerous, he doesn’t relent because this isn’t about scientific development at this point, much less safety for him. It’s about his fucking power complex.
And around this time back in the main class, the Itona redemption arc is going on. And as soon as Itona’s back in his right mind hes like
"OH. MY. GOD."
LIKE HE'D SEEN THIS LADY IN THE LAB BEGGING FOR HELP BUT JUST BEEN TOLD "OH, DON’T WORRY ABOUT HER SHES NOT A THREAT TO YOUR QUEST FOR STRENGTH. SHES PATHETIC"
When she was begging for help she namedropped Akari. Itona does some digging and finds out Kayano's true identity, before confronting her with what he saw.
As you can imagine, Kayano kind of flips her shit?? Can’t exactly blame her considering her dead sister is A) Alive B) BEING TORTURED
Kayano comes forward to Korosensei. Asks him if he'd be willing to do anything for his students. For her. He of course says yes. But to that she replies "Even save the life of someone you tried to kill?"
He's understandably confused. But she explains everything. What she saw. About her tentacles. And about what Itona told her. And in turn he tells her about everything, too. The truth. He begs her to remove her tentacles, but she refuses until she knows Aguri is safe.
Korosensei anxiously tries to explain that there’s no doubt the lab is reinforced, and he doubts they can even DO this. Kayano says she knows they can do it with her classmates on their side, but Korosensei argues he promised he’d protect them, and he REFUSES to put those kids in a situation like that.
But Kayano argues right back that they’ve dealt with worse (i.e Takaoka) and that if he doesn’t ask them, she'll ask them her damn self. She doesn't need him. Does he want to help or not?
Korosensei reluctantly (VERY RELUCTANTLY, both out of his caring for Aguri and his desperation to keep Kayano and the rest of the kids safe) agrees to help rescue her.
They give the class VERY vague details (No dump about Korosensei’s backstory, nor about Aguri being Kayano’s sister. There's literally no time for that. Just that there's something like Korosensei out there that needs their help. They do… however tell them that this new Antimatter creature is their former teacher, as they feel it will help inspire the kids to do this.)
Irina and Karasuma are not let in on what’s going on. Korosensei and Kayano actually gather the class after school to specifically avoid those two.
Cue them breaking fucking in. Knocking out lab workers and shit. I don’t know how to describe action sequences. Eventually they find her. And it's so much worse than they could have imagined. Not even really her physical form. (Though that’s pretty grotesque too.) Just how MISERABLE she looks. She has this dead look in her eyes. She's completely pinned down. She doesn't even see them approaching the class because she's so restrained she can't turn her neck. It's like she's a shadow of herself. Miserable and scared and alone.
They break in and free her. She's completely taken aback. This can’t be real. But Kayano and Korosensei are already helping her to her feet as she asks 100 questions. Is... Is that the REAPER? And... What on earth is Kayano implanted with? She's clearly super dazed and acting like she isn't really processing any of this, but she's still worried. She doesn't even really get her answers, namely because they're interrupted.
Surrounded by people working in the lab and approached by Yanagisawa. He starts to monologue about this happening due to Korosensei’s escape, because that was her fault. And now this is Korosensei fault! It’s beautiful, really! Perfect cause and effect.
If he hadn’t escaped she never would have been reduced to this. It’s all. Korosensei's. Fault. He hadn’t even cared to try to save her life! Now THAT proves he doesn’t really care. Not like YANAGISAWA cares. He- he doesn’t get to finish his villain monologue because in an EXTREMELY CATHARTIC CHAIN OF EVENTS Kayano goes ape shit on his ass and RIPS OUT HIS OTHER EYE.
YEAH. She’s fucking PISSED.
It’s about now Korosensei’s having an internal debate, because on one hand he’s REALLY trying to be better and be a No More Mr Murder Man, namely BECAUSE of Aguri. On the other hand this guy SERIOUSLY hurt Aguri and might hurt his students, too.
They’re being surrounded by guards and scientists with Anti-sensei equipment by now. Korosensei's seriously in danger. But that’s where Aguri’s INVINCIBILITY really gets to shine. She protects Korosensei, while ALSO BEGGING KAYANO TO STOP (By now she’s practically lighting that bitch up. LMAOOO)
Something something she’s been hurt by Yanagisawa but “HE DOESN’T DESERVE TO DIE!” (Oh get a fucking grip, Aguri I love you but he really does deserve to die at this point)
Finally, Kayano’s classmates manage to rip her off him and they all make their escape. Every student comes out of this unharmed. Thank fuck.
The moment they're out there there's. A lot of things to process and a lot of explaining to do. Like Korosensei hurriedly rushes literally all of them miles away from that hell place, and the ENTIRE TIME THEY'RE ALL ASKING QUESTIONS.
"WHAT WAS THAT??"
"DID YOU KNOW YUKIMURA SENSEI??"
"IS SHE OKAY?" (NO LMAO)
"WERE YOU A PERSON TOO?"
"HOW DOES SHE KNOW KAYANO? WHO'S AKARI?"
Korosensei and Kayano are getting flooded with all these questions while Aguri’s pretty much on the brink of sobbing because its the first time shes been outside in six months and the breeze feels so nice on her face and she can see the sky and oh my god its so overwhelming. She never thought she'd see or feel any of this again.
Like shes completely emotionally compromised. Lots of happy tears and sad tears and fuck-i-don't-even-know-what-emotion-this-is tears.
Korosensei eventually manages to shoo all the students. Tells them to go home and get rest. He'll answer it all in the morning. But for now him, Aguri, and Kayano have a LOT to deal with.
He removes Kayano's tentacles. It's about now he notices someone hanging back in the trees watching them and gets nervous for a second, but quickly realizes who it is.
"OKAY, YOU CAN GO HOME NOW, NAGISA." and hes like "OKAY OKAY OKAY. I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE KAYANO WAS REALLY OKAY" BEFORE SCRAMMING.
(BLESS HIS SOUL. HE’S A GOOD FRIEND.)
And kayano's like "Yay! No tentacles! Okay, so now you can do that to Aguri too, right?" and Korosensei and Aguri are like "hhahhahahahahhahhhhha." Because lets face it, tentacle implants and routinely having antimatter directly injected right into your bloodstream for months on end are pretty different situations.
"I'm afraid not, Kayano." Korosensei says.
And Kayano's like "...Okay." and they head back to Kayano's place. Kayano just wants to go home with her sister, but she gets Aguri and Korosensei also have a lot to talk about, so she lets him stay the night.
Its clear the tentacles took a lot out of her because she's conked out before they know it. Aguri has to tuck her in. Cue more crying because she never thought she'd see her baby sister again and oh my god she's so tall and oh my god she dyed her hair and oh my god look at her sleeping so sweetly and oh my god she fought so hard for her and oh my god oh my god
Then Korosensei and Aguri go to Aguri's room. Which hasn’t been touched in months. Its depressing, really. But its also like coming home.
She says she thinks she just wants to sleep, too. But like. Does that thing where you "want" to sleep but keep talking? Yeah. She just keeps saying "one more thing" and rambling to Korosensei about how traumatizing that entire experience was and how much she missed him and everyone else and how weird it is seeing everything again and none of this even feels real. Like she's going to wake up and she's going to be back there and she's never going to get to see them again.
There's a LOTTTT of crying. But he's there to try his best to help.
She also 100% confesses to him and they PROBABLY make out, but its not like an "officially together" sort of thing because he realizes shes. Super emotionally compromised right now. But he promises that he gets it. He gets. Pretty much exactly what she's going through. And that he'll be there for her. No matter what, this time.
Eventually she manages to sleep. It's sweet.
And the next morning is weird. ‘Cause all the kids and Korosensei and Aguri are waiting anxioussslyyy at the school. They're there super early.
But Karasuma's equally as prepared. He SLAPS a newspaper on the desk. "HEY WHAT"S THIS ABOUT A LAB BEING BROKEN INTO LAST NIGHT??"
And Korosensei's like "AHAHHAHAH...AHAHAH.... YOU THINK THAT'S BAD? WE ACTUALLY HAVE LIKE 800 MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO TALK ABOUT." AND MOTIONS TO AGURI.
Karasuma loses his FUCKING MIND
"WHAT DID YOU DO!??!?!?!?"
Around now Irina's arriving and. You can imagine she's equally as baffled.
But Korosensei begs them to hear them out. And he finally sits down and explains his Tragic Backstory to his students (and more details of it to Karasuma) far earlier than he’d liked to have.
That’s great and all, but only raises the question of what to do now. Kids are already arguing about whether or not they don’t want to kill Korosensei anymore, and that’s not getting STARTED on Aguri. Do… does she need to die, too? There’s instantly EVEN MORE arguing over that, especially on Kayano and Korosensei’s part. Like that's a BIG FAT NO, CHIEF.
Aguri sheepishly admits she thinks that would be difficult anyways, and showcases her near invincibility. Karasuma loses his FUCKING MIND YET AGAIN and makes a lot of calls.
He tries to dismiss class for the day, but Korosensei refuses. They actually have a bit of a fight over it. People NEED to come and collect Aguri and do tests. But Korosensei refuses to let her go through that alone after what she’s been through, and also refuses to shirk his job and let his kids miss class over this. Karasuma reluctantly allows a delay until class is over. Namely because its not like he (even with government help on his side) could forcibly take either of them in.
It becomes pretty clear pretty quickly why Korosensei fought so staunchly for this, aside from just his responsibilities as a teacher. It was for Aguri. He felt she needed this. To be in that normal environment and be a teacher again, even just for a day.
Her demeanor's. different. And the students notice pretty quickly. She's nothing like the goofy happy go lucky Yukimura-sensei they had a few months ago. but she's trying her best, even if they're super worried for her.
Anyway, that night things go DOWN. the government figures Aguri is NEAR INVINCIBLE and shits themselves. It looks like the world’s going to fucking end. They work harder on developing more and more deadly things, but it looks.... bleak.
Meanwhile obviously the E Class, Karasuma, Irina, and Dos Horny Octopi are already putting their heads together to try and find a way to prevent that. While they try to deduce how to save the world AND their teachers, arrangements are made to let Aguri teach as well (With EVEN MORE money slid Gakuho’s way…) They get the scoop on Yanagisawa, and learn he’s in no condition to be a threat right now. (But I’m sure that won’t last.) And finally things return to… Some sort of normal, but it’s hard considering everything that’s gone down has shifted their views on everything so radically.
Anyways enter the COMFORT half of the this hurt/comfort AU.
From thereon out its about Aguri trying to find her place in the world and trying to find a way to be happy again while chipping away at her trauma. Trying to find a way to want to live again after feeling like she lost everything. About, like, ll the little things she missed and her emotional reactions to them and trying not to blame herself for feeling unhappy. About wondering if she'll never feel like the same person she was back then, and if that makes her broken (HEAVENS NO. OF COURSE NOT!)
And of course, about Aguri reconnecting with her class, reuniting with her sister, getting to know Karasuma and Irina, and [reads smudged handwriting on hand] dating Korosensei.
Stuff like them going on dumb dates in their shitty normal people disguises and feeling awkward about how everyone's staring at them but then laughing because "They're totally staring at you more, dork!"
Needless to say, Korosensei lives in this AU.
The shield is still put up and its. Super sad. Like Aguri's stuck outside of it and it's 100% a callback to how they couldn’t touch each other before. Like going from being separated by that wall to being separated by that fucking shield. "I want to touch you Mister Reaper..." again indeed.
I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do with 2.0. I feel like Aguri would try and force Korosensei to reveal his identity during the 2.0 arc, all things considered. But I don’t know if that would make things better or worse. Would it just make 2.0 more vengeful, or is it not too late for him to find some peace and acknowledgement from his mentor? I... Don’t have an answer.
But either way, yes, with or without 2.0, things get NASTY in the shield like in canon when Yanagisawa shows his head (You thought Kayano maiming him was going to hold him down? NEVER.) And when it looks like Korosensei and the students are in danger, Aguri forces herself in through the shield despite the fact that it SERIOUSLY INJURES HER. (Like, God, even w her near invincible tentacle boost she's practically maiming hersel.) Because she NEEDS to protect Korosensei, and she NEEDS to protect those kids.
She lost everything once. She never thought she'd be happy again. But she is. She’s managed to find that. And she won’t let anyone fucking take that from her. She gets to be the one to defeat Yanagisawa, essentially thematically taking back her agency completely.
And something-something the kids use the power of media against the govt in the same way the govt used it against them, and livestream Koroagu’s beautiful reunion to the point that something something people don’t want them killed or something. Or maybe she shields Korosensei from the laser herself (Again at massive risk to herself) or both or I DONT KNOW. But either way they LIVE because they’ve been through much and they’ve earned it and I WANT them to.
Like in manga canon Yanagisawa survives but paralyzed. Aguri stops by once, talks a little (He can’t respond LMAOOO), essentially reaffirms she’s refound her happiness, she knows who she is, and that she doesn’t hate him. She’s scared of him. And she hates what he did to her. But she doesn’t hate him. Because that’s not the sort of person she is. It’s never been. And letting what he did to her take that from her would be letting him win. She says she hopes he finds a way to be happy someday, then walks out, reclaims her life, and never has to see him again. (Which obviously I don’t think is the best way/the only way/even a good way to react. You should NEVER feel obligated to forgive your abuser. EVER. Even superficially. But I do think it’s a very Aguri way.)
Her and the kids and Korosensei live happily ever after. Well. “Happily ever after.” There is no happily ever after after trauma. After depression. After wanting to die. But it does get better. And she’s finally, finally surrounded by people who love her. So maybe even if she’ll never quite be the same, that’s okay. She’s not broken. She’s pretty happy. And even if she’s not completely happy yet...
Who knows? Maybe one day she will be.
And that’s a pretty beautiful thought.
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Star vs. The Forces of Evil: Thoughts on the Series Finale
SvtFoE just concluded a few days ago, and to be perfectly honest, Im incredibly conflicted.
I've been putting this off for a little while now, since I've needed to time to gather all my thoughts and criticisms of everything that happened in the finale.
Firstly, I don't think they needed a full hour or so to properly wrap things up, like other people have stated.
Instead, more time should have been devoted to the plot and Star in general.
The very strange thing is, despite how much of a threat Mina is, and clearly was in the past few episodes, the writers decided to severely downplay her in favor of revolving mostly around Star and Marco's relationship.
I'm sorry, but in a show as engaging as SvtFoE, romance shouldn't really be the priority in the FINALE, the SERIES finale mind you.
Alot of time gets wasted on the two obsessing over being with each other and it's honestly sickening.
Like, I never cared for Starco, but I really feel like they shouldn't have wasted time with Marco/Jackie Tom/Star, if these two were obviously gonna be endgame.
Had they gotten together waaaay earlier, as they should've, let's say, Season 2, I probably would've felt more about them supposedly being forcibly separated after just getting together.
Another thing that really bothered me was that Star literally just broke up with Tom a few episodes ago, so basically, the relationship was entirely one-sided, and Star was forcing herself to cry during the breakup, and forcing herself to simply be in the relationship with Tom, since she was absolutely, head-over-heels for Marco at that point.
Just feels so rushed and forced, but whatever.
Something that really urked me, was the fact that there was no final battle between Star and Mina, y'know, one last confrontation between Star and the primary antagonist of the season.
No, she just, convienetly is out of the picture thanks to one of the stupid corrupted milhorses, and that's it. She can't even postpone the destruction of Magic or anything.
In my opinion, two, actually cool situations could have played out here.
So, y'know being in the Realm of Magic and all, this should've powered up Mina even further, and Star as well, they're surrounded by pure Magic, so, why shouldn't it empower them?
And then there's some epic final battle between them, maybe Moon and Eclipsa fight alongside Star, Hell, maybe even Tom and Marco get in on the action, and maybe Mina's so powerful here, that they just barely stop her, and while she's temporarily incapacitated, bam, they destroy magic, y'know? Something cool like that.
The other scenario that could play out, is the one that would've been FIRE.
So, the show established a Multiverse exists within the show's universe.
This is seen in Mathmagic, where we get a glimpse of various versions of Star in different universes and timelines.
Now, IMAGINE, if in the Realm of Magic when Mina shows up, Star tries to fight her, but she's too strong or whatever, so she opens up several portals to enlist the help of herselves to help her battle Mina, that would've been so cool, and would have killed two birds with one stone.
1. A proper final confrontation that is epic and different from all the other battles in the show.
2. The show has it's first and only "Multiverse Episode"
Just feels like a missed opportunity to me.
But what do we get?
Oh boy! More Starco drama!
Well, not before they successfully destroy Magic.
I did think it was really nice to see Solaria's spirit, or whatever it was, finally accept Meteora, she just kind of touches her cheek and smiles, it's a pretty sweet moment.
And Glossaryck's last (actual) line is kind of sad to be honest.
Something that really freaking bothered me was the fact that both Star and Marco chose each other over their friends, FAMILY, and HOMES.
Sorry, but I'm just not buying into this whole
"uwu we belong together forever uwu" crap
Like, they should've been together ALOT longer than a few episodes if dialogue like that was to be warranted and for non-Starco viewers to even care about them being separated.
Wait, there was one thing I forgot to mention that happens during this RoM part.
Marco literally is impaled around his stomach by Tom's corrupted Milhorse, and the crazy thing is, he just WALKS it off.
Like, I understand that after Magic is destroyed, the wound disappears, since that's obviously a magical wound, but, he walked around for a good long while BEFORE Star successfully destroyed Magic, so... He just, walks it off???
There's no logical reason for Marco to be able to endure a wound like this, he's fifteen, he's a CHILD for crying out loud.
So, that was shown in the trailer specifically to clickbait everyone, but there's actual pay-off at all.
Marco is able to literally flip one of these horses by the freaking horn, AFTER HE IS WOUNDED.
I feel like, obviously Marco shouldn't just fall over and die after being impaled, but I feel like he should've had to lean on Tom for the rest of the time here, like, there's no plausible explanation as to why he is able to walk this off like nothing happened.
But that isn't the only thing that has no logical explanation.
I know I'm covering most of the negatives so far, but just so you know, I actually was digging this episode for the most part, up until the last two minutes.
Moon and Eclipsa helping Star destroy the Magic was nice and dandy, and finally seeing Eclipsa's and even Meteora's Butterfly forms was pretty sweet.
Finally discovering why Glossaryck loves pudding was actually kinda funny, and served for the plot.
I've hated Ponyhead for a really long time, but she actually made me smile for the first time when she was comforting Star, telling all these stories to assure her, her friends were all well.
And Janna had a similar moment with Marco, where the two, for what seems like the first time, genuinely acknowledge eachother as friends, which was actually really nice.
But then, something has to happen to ruin EVERYTHING.
For a literally entirely unexplained reason, a portal opens between Mewni and Earth, then it explodes, and then Mewni and Earth have merged...?
Oh HEY, Star and Marco can be together at last!
Oh wait, none of this makes any fucking sense.
Is this show honestly trying to tell me, that a MAGICAL PORTAL opened up, despite the fact that Magic was literally destroyed five minutes ago???
There's no logical, rationale, reasonable REASON for this to have happened.
It's all just deus ex machina bullshit Daron came up with just so Star and Marco could be together, great.
Aside from that, there's some very concerning implications as a result of Star's actions that doesn't seem to be acknowledged at all by the characters.
The first thing being, the destruction of Magic means that all magically-based entities will be wiped from existence.
Meaning that entire species have just been wiped off the face of the Multiverse.
Meaning that Star has committed mass-genocide on a Multiversal scale.
And yet no one in the show seems to acknowledge that.
What they should have done, in my opinion, was simply depower all magically-based entities, leaving them to learn how to live without utilizing Magic on a day-to-day basis, that would have been interesting, and far-less scary.
The only one who would justifiably be gone is Glossaryck, who clearly has strong ties to Magic.
I'm surprised a show that is marketed towards children includes a protagonist who commits mass-genocide, and still gets smoochies from her boyfriend.
Woooow.
Another thing is, the Cleaving of Earth and Mewni, isn't exactly beneficial to ANYONE except Star and Marco.
Are humans, mewmans, and monsters, etc going to be able to live together in harmony?
I mean, I highly doubt everything is gonna be all peaches and cream, especially at first.
This probably is going to result in a whole slew of problems, but remember, it was worth it, so Star and Marco could be uwu'ing.
Props to a friend of mine for bringing this to my attention, but Star destroying Magic should've technically erased Meteora as well.
Think about it, Meteora was pretty much reborn through Magic, which would probably make her fall under that magically-based area.
Same thing with Star to be perfectly honest, her original body was destroyed during The Battle for Mewni, and her new body was entirely reconstructed from Magic, meaning that she should've been erased as well.
Which would have made for a hell of an interesting conflict in the finale, but oh well.
Seems like the rules are being ignored if you ask me.
The show unfortunately follows in the footsteps of the Legend of Korra, in which it's final shot and lines are dedicated to shipping, and not the series as a whole.
Which is incredibly disappointing, but oh well.
And then Mina, man oh man...
So Mina is depowered, and Moon offers to rehabilitate her, truly pitying her, and apologizing for using her, (although technically Mina was using her but, whatever)
And instead of Mina finally regaining a bit of her sanity, instead of finally showing some kind of development, instead of finally ending her conquest against monsters, instead of accepting that offer.
Mina just, basically says her racist ideas will always linger in the minds of others, and she walks off into the woods.
Her dialogue and the way she does this is just an absolute joke, like, the writers just downplay her at every possible moment.
The dialogue is clearly supposed to be funny, despite how mentally fractured this woman is, and it just feels disrespectful to the character in general.
Do you want her to be a psychotic, deranged soldier, stuck in her ways, who knows nothing but war and bigotry?
Or do you want her to be a clown, which is it, Daron?
I can't really say I'm satisfied with this ending.
There's too scary and/or concerning implications, unsatisfying resolutions, and questions for this to be a truly good finale.
I think more time should've been dedicated Mina, considering she's the main antagonist of the season, and it's the series finale, and the merging of Mewni and Earth should have never have been a thing.
Star and Marco should've went on with their lives.
The last we see of Marco should have been him going back to school.
And the last we see of Star should have been her giving a speech to the people of Mewni.
I don't know, I was just hoping for alot more, but the end result was just kind of rushed and unfulfilling.
However, when all is set and done,
Star vs. The Forces of Evil was a hell of a four-year ride, I had a blast watching it for all it's 4 seasons, and I'm really gonna miss it.
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Good Trouble 1x13 “Vitamin C” Review
In its first season, Good Trouble has provided endless drama and laughs while re-introducing characters from the hit Freeform drama The Fosters in an entirely new chapter of their lives. While it was a giant risk to throw them into a loft with people the viewers have never met before, and rely on just two original characters to pull it all together, it paid off. Big time. In the final episode of the first season, we see new relationships between said characters blossom, old ones fall apart, and some are left hanging. Because after all, what is a good season finale without a few cliff-hangers?
At the end of Episode 12, three major plot twists occured. First, the head of HR at Speckulate, Angela, gave Mariana a list of all the male employees at the company and their salaries. Second, Malika had a mysterious family emergency, one that caused her to uncharacteristically skip out on the Black Lives Matter protest she helped organize. And third, Dennis took his ex-wife’s malicious words to heart and appeared to be on the metaphorical and literal edge.
Thankfully, light is shed on each of these situations fairly quickly in the finale. We discover that Malika’s mother has had an aneurysm and is essentially brain-dead. This causes yet another rift between Malika and her brother, who refuses to take her off of life support. Malika meanwhile knows that it’s time for them to let her go.
At Speckulate, Mariana questions Angela’s motives and decides to confront her. Angela confides in her, telling her that when she was first hired years ago, the same optimistic thought went through her mind about the engineering culture shifting. However, nothing came of it. She wants to help the cause, but knows that if she is outed for her involvement, she’ll lose her job and probably never find another one, making her unable to care for her child. This was a heartwarming moment of female solidarity, thankfully not a rarity in this show.
Back at the loft, Dennis is still missing. Davia seems to be the only one worried about him, and has called every jail and hospital in the area to no avail. Her mind is soon taken off of her friend’s disappearance, though, when her student whom she and Malika suspect is homeless shows up at the front door. Though this storyline seemed random at first, it serves as the motivation Davia needs going into the second season to make the right decision regarding her future. She’s been considering leaving LA to go back home and live with her boyfriend, who up until this point, has been making the empty promise of leaving his wife. However, despite her lack of confidence, she’s a great teacher. Her students need her.
The chaos in the Coterie continues as Sumi is about to get married on the rooftop. The whole event has been orchestrated by resident pushover Alice, who must keep up the facade that she’s straight and definitely not dating Joey, I mean, Joanna, when her parents stop by with a congratulatory present for Sumi. Alice manages to get them out of the Coterie without suspecting she’s in a relationship with Joey, or that Sumi is the bride marrying another woman. However, she’s left with more weight on her shoulders than before.
At the courthouse, Callie continues to question if Judge Wilson has ethical motives as he withholds personal information belonging to one of the police officers accused of wrongly shooting and killing a black boy, Jamal Thompson. Callie and Jamie conspire that he’s made a deal with the LAPD following his own son’s arrest, allowing his son’s charges to be dropped in exchange for biased favoring in the court.
Because Callie has no proof of this, she considers rummaging through Judge Wilson’s desk drawers and finding the private files for herself. However, she decides against it, the clerk beating out the social justice warrior in her.
Also facing an internal conflict is Mariana, who isn’t sure whether she should take the opportunity she’s been given by the CEO himself, Evan, to create an app and recruit women and people of color to help her, or publicly release the company’s salaries. Her greatest concern is inciting positive change, and Callie reminds her that she can convince herself of anything, she’ll know what the right decision is by listening to her gut. At first, Mariana does just that, telling herself and her sister that the app is the best decision. She soon realizes though that she’s being too safe, and that posting the salaries is the right move.
Though Callie and Mariana aren’t biological siblings, it’s very clear at this point that they were both raised to act with the greater good in mind. Without Stef and Lena acting as major characters in the series, moments like this one are nice callbacks to them and the morality they’ve instilled in their children.
While they’re talking, Callie mysteriously (or not so mysteriously?) receives an envelope that was left for her earlier, full of the personal information she almost stole out of Judge Wilson’s desk drawer. Regardless of who delivered the envelope, it’s in her hands now (though she struggles with what to do with it). Within the envelope is a document stating that the Chief of Police in the city said it’s cheaper for the city to let victims of police shootings die, a detail that if revealed to the public, could help Jamal’s family win the case.
We see Callie argue with herself, unsure of whether or not to give the files to Jamal’s attorney. She doesn’t get a chance to make a decision, as she’s interrupted by a newly single Gael. He confesses to Callie that he broke up with Bryan because she’s the one he loves, and questions her relationship with Jamie. Callie says nothing in response, but seems a bit shaken.
Davia, meanwhile, finally meets the father of her student, who reveals that the two are in fact homeless. He begs Davia not to tell anyone, and also tells her that she’s his daughter’s favorite teacher. Without her, he says, she would hate going to school. Davia makes learning fun. This one small moment seems to cause a lightbulb to go off in Davia’s head, that she should stay in LA and continue teaching, but also that’s she’s worthy. For too much of the season, she’s struggled with her own self-worth, and while countless characters have tried to steer her away from actions rooted in self-loathing, like staying with a man who isn’t entirely committed to her and wants her to give up her professional dreams for him, it turns out she just needed to hear that her students needed her.
The next day, Mariana arrives at work and overhears coworkers talking about Evan’s interest in another employee and how she ended up being fired. She confronts Raj, who she yelled at days prior for warning her about Evan’s possible motives. Raj only wants what’s best for her, and seems not to have any questionable motives himself.
Knowing Raj will always have her back, Mariana attempts to convince the members of Byte Club that publishing the salaries is the right move. While Casey opts out, fearing that all the work she’s put in over the years will have been for nothing, the other women decide to back Mariana up.
It goes about as well as any of them expect, when Josh demands the perpetrator come forward. However, things take a turn when he blames Angela for not bringing the wage gap issue to his attention (obviously bullshit) and fires her. Mariana immediately stands up, taking the blame for hacking into the system and getting the salaries. Soon, a wave of people standing in solidarity (including Raj) washes over the room, forcing Josh to rethink firing Angela. Several women also call out Josh for trying to kiss them, flipping the script.
And though Evan tries to keep her from leaving, Mariana decides that she should say goodbye to Speckulate and move on with her career, maybe even create her app on her own. Unfortunately, Evan tells her that if she leaves, she can’t take the app with her. It belongs to him now.
Back at the loft, Meera reveals to Alice that Sumi has called off the wedding. When Sumi finally returns, Alice must tell her that she doesn’t love her back, even if she isn’t with Meera anymore. She does remind her friend though that she shouldn’t marry someone she isn’t sure about.
And in her own moment of bravery, Alice comes out to her parents via FaceTime, who reveal they knew all along that she was gay. They’ve suspected she was in love with Sumi, and tell Alice that they just want grandkids. With so many cross-cultural coming outs gone wrong, it was nice to see Alice face her fears and come out the other side better than okay. This moment left me hopeful that maybe she’ll be able to get Joey back, who wasn’t impressed with her closeted behavior, and have a happy, authentic relationship in Season 2.
As the Jamal Thompson trial continues, the files have been released to his attorney. This leaves the courtroom a bit shaken, and ultimately causes Judge Wilson to call a recess for the time being. It looks like it’s Callie versus Judge Wilson now, though he doesn’t know (yet) that she’s working against him. This will definitely get interesting next season.
Having made a professional decision, Callie is still unsure of what to do in her personal life. This episode included a great choreographed dream sequences which showcases Callie dancing with several partners, all of whom play important roles in her life currently: Judge Wilson, Malika, Gael and Jamie. They seem to be pulling her in every which way, and although cheesy, this play on conscious thoughts bleeding into the unconscious in the form of a dream portrays to us viewers just how torn Callie is in her life currently. As a young woman, she’s understandably lost and questioning herself more often than not. This allows Callie to be extremely relatable to young viewers (even if they aren’t clerks secretly meddling with a case or in the middle of a love triangle).
Despite my dislike for Gael and Callie’s relationship and his portrayal as a bisexual man who’s unable to commit to one partner, I can’t deny that she’ll probably end up with him next season. This isn’t to say that their relationship will last, but I’m definitely seeing more chemistry between them than between her and Jamie. I love her and Jamie together, I really do, but this is one battle I’m prepared to lose.
Across town, Davia finally finds Dennis checked into a hospital after nearly committing suicide. He tells her that her voice had been running through his head, telling him not to be an idiot, and the two share a sweet moment together. Davia doesn’t tell the others back at the Coterie where Dennis really is, lying instead and saying he’s on a road trip and didn’t have service for a while. During a rooftop hangout, she also reveals to her friends that she’s decided to stay in LA, despite her boyfriend coming by and telling her he broke up with his wife, finally.
And while Callie is still unsure who she wants to be with, Mariana has made some moves in the love department. In a moment I’ve been waiting for all season, she kissed Raj on top of the Coterie roof, finally bringing their adorably supportive friendship to the next level. It’s clear that Raj has a lot of respect for Mariana, and really just wants what’s best for her. Though he inappropriately tried to kiss her earlier in the season during a work project, his redemption arc has been steady. Raj has proved that he’s not some slimy dude, like the rest of the guys at Speckulate, but he has genuinely innocent intentions. He respects Mariana as an engineer, but he also has feelings for her.
I can’t wait to see their feelings explored in Season 2, and hopefully see Callie choose a suitor as well. I’m also totally rooting for Davia and Dennis, because ever since their duet on the rooftop, I refuse to believe these two are platonic.
And so, the first season of Good Trouble is over. Starting as a The Fosters’ spinoff, this show has caught the attention of many as a show that can stand on its own. Though Callie and Mariana are familiar faces, and there are occasional cameos from Adams-Foster family members, the show is about so much more. The Coterie members come from all walks of life and each serve a purpose to each other and to the audience, to educate us on the lives of people we may not interact with every day. Issues of intersectionality, sexual harassment, biphobia, police brutality, racism, and mental health have all been discussed in just 13 episodes, making it clear that Good Trouble isn’t just here to be entertaining.
Going into Season 2, I’m so excited to see some character dynamics grow and change, but also to learn more about their experiences and see them be their true, authentic selves. Character creation is where this show really shines, and I’m confident it will continue to do that in seasons to come through the reinvention and evolution of everyone in Callie and Mariana’s lives.
Some stray thoughts on the season:
I wish we got to see more of Jazmin. Having a trans voice amongst the sea of characters was so, so, important, not to mention a trans woman of color. I hope we’ll see her return in Season 2.
Irrelevant to the plot, but Mariana’s outfits were consistently on point. I’m sure no one is surprised, though.
As much as I want to love Gael, I really haven’t been able to get there yet. I feel like he’s been shrouded in his identity as a bisexual man and his seemingly subsequent inability to commit, which is frustrating to watch. I know he’s more than that, and more than anything, I wish his story had been handled differently (Say it with me: Bisxuals are not noncomittal by nature!)
Season 2 of Good Trouble airs on Tuesday, June 18th at 8/7c on Freeform.
Jessica’s episode rating: 🐝🐝🐝🐝
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