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Paramour (Merthur)

In which Merlin's having issues with an entitled noble and Arthur comes up with a... creative way of fixing it.

(TW: Unconsensual sexual advances, mentions of murder and violence, and some sexual content, although explicit body parts are not mentioned and it's kind of like a TV cut-away, the scenes are not prolonged.)

Protective!Arthur, 5.4k words, Uther being dumb, per usual, and Arthur knows Merlin is a magic user! Please enjoy!

Merlin is seething and Arthur can see it. He may play dumb when it comes to many of Merlin’s emotions, refusing to be caught caring unless in the most dire of circumstances, but this is a new kind of anger entirely. Merlin’s prone to annoyance (both attracting it and being it), but this is far from something like that—this is genuine rage. Arthur’s not sure he’s ever seen him like this, flushed and eerily quiet, his fingers undoing Arthur’s cloak rather harshly, which he would comment about if he were not so concerned.

In Merlin’s defense, he seems to be making an attempt at feigning calm, but it does not fool Arthur in the slightest. He knows everything about Merlin, from his favorite meal to the boundless power that rests in his hands—Merlin’s a weapon, truly. A weapon who’s fingertips brush idly over his skin as he lifts the tunic over Arthur’s head, throwing that over his arm with the festival attire.

“What is it?” Merlin had turned, presumably to toss the clothes in the wash-bin that Merlin would undoubtedly take back to his chambers tonight, despite Arthur’s insistence that he needn’t complete tasks like that this late. The manservant stops, though, cold.

“Sire?”

Usually dripping in sarcasm, Arthur swallows hard at the unfamiliar, honest use of his title.

“You are clearly furious. Have I done something?”

Merlin is quiet for a moment, which leaves Arthur in embarrassingly tense anticipation. His last wish—and oh, if Merlin ever found out about this, he’d simply die—is to ever anger, disappoint, or even go so far as to irk his warlock companion. He may not act it, but having Merlin upset with him is truly disturbing. Sure, they bicker, and they pick meaningless fights, but that’s more just them than an actual distaste for each other’s company.

It’s partially what makes each other’s company so tasteful, at least, as far as Arthur is concerned.

“No,” comes the reply, which is a relief, but also further troubling—if Arthur had not bothered Merlin, then what had? The night had been wonderful, golden fire-light licking through the hall as lords and ladies and rich-folk from kingdoms both near and far socialized, drank, and celebrated the sweet ending of a particularly harsh winter. Every time Arthur had caught Merlin in his gaze, he had been mingling with the knights, brilliant smile, unearthly gorgeous, gold glinting in his eyes, the laces of his tunic undone and revealing strong, pale chest, dark hair just a tad too long, dripping over his brow—

Christ—focus, Arthur.

“Then what?” Arthur pries when no explanation comes. Merlin’s head tips back, and part of Arthur is disappointed, the other part grateful he does not see the delicious expanse of skin that motion exposes. Merlin heaves a deep sigh, and turns.

“Lord Edmond,” he says, fingers curling into expensive fabrics, cheeks flushed, “Refuses to leave me alone.”

Edmond—some noble from the north Arthur was not particularly fond of, but had never caused much of an issue as far as Arthur had been aware. Kind of an inconsequential, irrelevant man. Handsome, sure, but old now—maybe fourty? Fifty? Ten years older than Arthur at least, and complacent. Not a hunter, not a soldier—

“I don’t remember him being too insufferably-friendly,” Arthur muses.

“This,” Merlin snaps, “Is beyond friendly.”

Oh. Oh no.

Fury sears through him like a fire-poker to the ribs, and he sets his jaw, unable to speak for a full, agonizing moment as he struggles not to fly out of his chambers to slaughter the man himself. He clears his throat, tearing his gaze from Merlin’s.

“Were these… welcome advances?” His heart leaps into his throat—

“Absolutely not,” Merlin says, “And if he continues, I’ll have to smite him where he stands, your father’s ridiculous laws be damned.”

Arthur’s eyes widen. He looks back at Merlin.

“Can you smite people?!”

“No, but I could try.”

Arthur wants nothing more than to reach out and soothe Merlin’s anger, and that ache is embarrassing, but not near as embarrassing as the idea tickling the back of his skull, quietly petitioning to be shared. Merlin narrows his eyes in Arthur’s direction—

“What?”

“I have… quite the solution.”

Merlin scoffs, and turns back around to finally toss Arthur’s clothes. Arthur stretches his limbs a little bit, moving to sit down on the end of his bed and feeling his exhaustion wash over him. A few nights of this festival shit has him poorly-rested and sore in places he’s not used to being sore—he misses sparring, training, riding. If it were not already the early hours of the morning, he’d consider getting up at a decent hour to accomplish one of these.

He’ll be lucky to be up any time before noon.

“You couldn’t,” Merlin says, folding the clothes instead of tossing them—quite responsible of him, though Arthur’s sure the sheer cost of the clothing has Merlin a little more careful.

Or his rage is making him forget he’s usually negligent, as backwards as that seems.

“Gwaine and Percival have already warned him, and he does not seem to care one way or another,” Merlin rants, throwing the folded tunic down into the wash bin (there’s the Merlin he knows well) and whipping around, “And for the last three nights, it’s one uncomfortable, disgusting, completely inappropriate—”

“This has been going on for three nights?!” Arthur asks, incredulous and a little hurt. If Merlin was being made uncomfortable by a noble, Arthur should have been the first one to hear of it, and Merlin should know that by now. Additionally, Arthur knows Merlin quite enjoys this festival each year, and he’s decently agitated at the notion that some horny prick is ruining his manservant’s time.

The agitation is certainly not because Arthur would give any amount of money or body parts or perhaps his entire station if it meant he could be closer to Merlin than he already is—much closer. Infinitely closer.

God, how has this happened to him?

“He is absolutely unavoidable. He gets one chalice of wine in him and he’s touching me and saying insufferable things and—”

“He’s laid hands on you?”

Merlin quiets abruptly, his passionate distaste dying in his throat and on his face, and Arthur is certainly to blame. He couldn’t help himself—his tone had gone from disbelief and general annoyance to something much colder, much more serious. Unwelcome flirtation is one thing, but touching Merlin when Arthur himself hasn’t even been afforded the chance is absolutely unacceptable, and especially when the contact is uninvited and uncomfortable for the receiving party.

And that receiving party is Merlin.

Arthur feels murder sitting heavy on his chest.

“Arthur—”

“Here’s what’s going to happen, now,” Arthur interrupts, tone like ice. Merlin looks like he wants to argue, probably to reassure Arthur he’s fine and he doesn’t need to intervene, but he doesn’t try. He’s quite adept at figuring out now when his snide remarks are appropriate and when they are incredibly not. “Tomorrow night, when he begins to bother you, you’ll do that brain talking thing—”

“Gaius calls it Sending.”

“Right, Sending, and alert me. Then I will take care of the situation how I see fit.”

“But Gwaine and Percival already—”

“I am the crown prince of Camelot and if he’d like to maintain his title, he will listen to me. Should he disobey, I will fucking gut him.” Right, so, that second part wasn’t supposed to come out, but the already defeated look on Merlin’s face had pulled it forcibly from his tongue. Merlin does not look like he believes him in any way, shape, or form, but Arthur hardly cares. He’s too angry, murder on his mind, and Merlin will know this tomorrow night.

“It’s really—I shouldn’t have brought it up,” Merlin says with a sigh, crossing his arms over his chest, shifting from foot to foot like he’s suddenly very uncomfortable. Arthur doesn’t like that. Did he do that? “It’s not a big deal—”

“Merlin,” Arthur says firmly, “I should be the first to know when someone abuses their title to try and get away with matters such as this. Especially when it’s happening to you.”

Arthur thinks he must imagine the pink flooding Merlin’s cheeks, or maybe his anger is coming back. Merlin shifts awkwardly some more, and looks down at his shoes, shuffling them a little against the floor.

“Sire…”

“Yes?”

“I would… prefer you enjoy your holiday. Worrying for me is—”

“Merlin, go to bed,” Arthur says, “Because you are sounding more and more like I should beat you over the head with a club.”

The grin on Merlin’s face seems to brighten the room, and the eyeroll is like a hundred worms wriggling around in Arthur’s stomach. Merlin turns and picks up the wash-bin with what sounds to be a scoff, but Arthur is almost certain is some sort of breathy giggle—

“Do not do that tonight. Go to sleep.”

“Don’t tell me how to do my job.”

“That is quite literally the entire point of your job!”

“Huh? What was that? I’m sorry, I don’t speak insufferable prat.”

“Merlin—!”

“Goodnight, Arthur!”

—

Arthur takes it lightly on the wine, and stays what he believes to be a safe distance away from Merlin at all times. He has a sort-of picture of Lord Edmond in his mind, but as he surveys the crowd, no-one seems to fit the image just right. It seems Arthur remembers him but not altogether too clearly, and the anticipation is starting to get to him.

Nobles keep trying to strike up conversations with him, but he can hardly pay attention. Morgana approaches him to see if he’s alright, but he’s lost sight of Merlin and he can’t answer her because he’s too busy scanning the room, so she gives up. Then, Gwen approaches to tell him of some business with one guest or another, but half way through, Merlin’s voice whispers through his mind, sending a shudder down his spine he can’t ignore.

It’s happening. I’d appreciate it if you could refrain from killing him. I’m not fond of washing blood off your clothes.

Arthur stands.

“---and then she—Arthur?”

“Excuse me a moment,” he says to her, and perhaps someone else near him, but he’s not entirely sure. The lady to his left looks particularly disappointed, but swiftly turns to Gwen to try and trick her into divulging the latest gossip from the kitchens.

Gwen seems less than enthused.

Lord Edmund is not particularly tall, but not particularly short. Merlin stands a few inches over him but he and Arthur are both considerably tall. He looks to be older, as Arthur had thought, probably early-fifties at the youngest, and despite how it hurts Arthur’s very soul to admit it, not terribly hard on the eyes. However, what is extremely off-putting (and particularly rage-inducing) is the way he has Merlin trapped between a table and a group of snickering lackeys, who occasionally glance over at the situation, amused.

A posse. This insolent Lord brought an entourage and is using it to try and scare Merlin into sleeping with him.

Arthur sees red.

“What do you think you are doing?”

Merlin starts, and Edmond jumps, stumbling backwards and away from Merlin just a bit, looking surprised, but not like he thinks he’s done anything wrong. Arthur is brimming, perhaps spilling, with rage, Edmond fixed in his stare like an enemy’s chest which his blade is sure to rupture. If Arthur had his sword, it would be lying against Edmond’s throat.

“Your highness—”

Arthur remembers himself. He had had a plan, hadn’t he?

If Arthur were to tell this man off, it might work to dissuade him, sure, but it would teach him nothing. The festival was to last nearly the entire month, and a simple reprimand from a man so much younger than him—prince or not—would not hold to that length in time, Arthur was sure of it. Edmond would figure out a way to get around Arthur’s consequences or out of his sight, and then Merlin would be back at square one, and based on how Arthur had had to be the one to ask, he’s sure Merlin would not bring it up a second time.

Therefore, it would take more than harsh words to keep Edmond in line.

He turns, grabs Merlin by the side of his tunic, and yanks him forward into his embrace. He can only imagine the look of shock, but if this is to work, he cannot make his own nervousness known. He tilts his head and blows breath against Merlin’s ear as he speaks—

“It is my last intention to embarrass you, but there are few ways to make a man like this listen, and I am not interested in anyone’s hands on you but mine. I’ll meet you in my chambers when I have finished here.”

Once again, Arthur has said something he hadn’t meant to say, but now is not exactly the time to try and cover up for himself. He said what he said, and Merlin is ducking into the crowd, and there is a much more important matter at hand. He turns to Edmond.

“You would dare insult the crown prince in such a way?”

This gets the attention of the lackeys, and many party-goers nearby. Arthur steels himself for the show he is about to perform, the backlash he will undoubtedly receive from his father, and Morgana’s incessant teasing until the end of time. This, and the rumors that will spread once these nobles are made aware—

“I’m sure I know what you mean,” Edmond answers, genuinely sounding clueless, but also completely calm, unphased by Arthur’s anger. Does this sort of stupidity come with age? Arthur must start reading more, if this is the case.

“You would shamelessly attempt to bed my paramour?”

Arthur watches all the color drain from Edmond’s face, and feels a swelling of pride in his chest at the sight. He opens his mouth to say something, and then closes it, and repeats the motion, clearly at a loss. The lackeys scatter comically, and those in attendance of the show begin to mutter. He’s grateful he’s only captivated a small portion of the great hall, and not the entire thing, and his father is many, many crowds away.

“I—he—”

“I would throw my glove at your feet if I had a glove to throw,” Arthur spits, “And should you bother him again, or god forbid, lay a filthy hand on him, I will gut you without honor.” And so with that, Arthur turns on his heel and storms away, followed by murmurs and whispers, feeling somewhat relieved and incredibly satisfied, despite now having to explain himself to Merlin.

Right. Merlin.

—

“What did you do?” Merlin asks, all to accusing.

“Promise not to smite me.”

“No.”

“I told them—“

“Ah,” Merlin interrupts, raising a hand. He stands up and off Arthur’s bed, and moves closer, much to Arthur’s dismay. “Actually, I don’t care.”

Arthur blinks.

“But—“

“Did you mean it?”

Arthur’s brain short circuits as he finds himself gazing into storms of gray, Merlin coming much closer than he’d expected. He mimicked Edmond, opening his mouth and then closing it again, swallowing hard. Merlin is watching him expectantly and Arthur is using all the strength he has not to glance down at Merlin’s lips and give himself away completely.

“Did you mean it?” Merlin asks again.

Did he—oh.

I am not interested in anyone’s hands on you but mine.

In all the chaos, he had half-forgotten. He had meant to turn and tell Merlin to go, to apologize for what he had decided to say next, but he had lost himself in the moment of being so close. He had invested himself too much in the “performance,” even in those few, short moments, and revealed himself.

And now he would face Merlin’s reaction, whatever it may be.

“Yes,” he says, though it doesn’t come out as confident as he would have liked. Merlin searches his eyes for the lie—he dreads what could happen when the warlock finds none.

Merlin’s eyes flick downwards. Arthur’s stomach drops as he realizes Merlin’s eyeing his lips, the very same impulse he’d been begging himself not to give in to, and Merlin’s done it so close to him, so outright—

“You were jealous,” Merlin continues, and at this, Arthur scoffs. No, he was not jealous in the slightest of Lord Edmond because Edmond was a sad, elderly husk of a man who thought he could take what he wanted whenever he wanted, and Arthur is a young, handsome crown-prince who has waited over a year for any indication Merlin might feel the same as him.

He would not dare use his position of power to press Merlin to him, not when Arthur loved him, and not when Merlin had spent his time here unknowingly teaching Arthur what that really meant. His parents had not done it, fleeting teenage flings had not done it—Merlin had. Undoubtedly.

“I would not be jealous of a man you didn’t actually want,” Arthur says, which he realizes then is insinuating he would be jealous of a man Merlin did want, so he tries to back track, “And regardless—!” He exclaims quickly, and Merlin’s responding smile digs up those worms.

“You’re obviously allowed to do whatever you want with whoever you want,” Arthur finishes, swallowing hard.

“Obviously,” Merlin repeats, lifting his hands to start undoing the clasps on Arthur’s robes.

If Arthur wanted—no, not if wanted, because he does want, he’s just not sure what Merlin wants—he could tilt his head just so, lean in an inch, maybe two, and kiss him. They’re that close, and they’ve been this close before, sure, but Merlin’s acting different and his fingers work the clasps much slower and his face is absolutely unreadable to the point where Arthur is starting to panic. He prides himself on knowing Merlin very well, but right now—

“Even if it’s you?”

Merlin might as well have punched him in the throat. All the breath flees from his lungs as though it were never there in the first place, and his hands—he loses all command over them as he has his breath—reach up and grab Merlin by the waist of his tunic, the very same way he had done before, except this time when he pulls them together there is not crowd to convince or entertain.

He’s not sure how he manages to speak when he’s forgotten how to breathe, but—

“Especially if it’s me.”

When they kiss, finally, after the decade that seems to pass between their admissions and their lips meeting, Arthur loses his decorum entirely. Entirely. It’s like any restraint he’d had stored away left with his breath, and he is half-guiding, half-pushing Merlin, kissing him senseless until Merlin’s back hits Arthur’s bed and he’s wedged between Merlin’s thighs and it’s like this is where he’s meant to be, staring down at wet lips and heaving chest and—

“I heard what you said. About us,” Merlin manages between breaths, “I heard what you called me.”

Paramour.

“I—“

“If you would have me, sire.”

If you would have me, sire.

The double meaning all but knocks him out.

“I will have you,” Arthur, “Over and over and over again until no one can distinguish one of us from the other.” You’re a piece of me, a second more brilliant half. I need you, I have needed you since I met you in the market that day, even when I treated you so harshly, and have been so—

Merlin tips his head back and laughs and Arthur’s maudlin inner-monologue fades away, mind wholly devoted to the sound and the man it’s coming from beneath him.

“Arthur—“ his name, god, his name, “—that is already impossible to do.”

—

Merlin turns out to be marvelous in bed, and not at all like Arthur had suspected he’d be (timid, hesitant). Instead, he’s incredibly, almost obnoxiously vocal, and not abashed in the slightest.

To be fair, though, Merlin never knew when to shut his goddamn mouth any other time, so perhaps Arthur had been foolish to think this sort of affair would be any different.

When he wakes up to the knock on his door, it doesn’t occur to him to try and hide Merlin, or even wake him. He’d announced to a quarter of the party last night that they were sleeping together, and word-of-mouth in a castle filled with visiting nobles and their attendants is far worse than wild-fire.

“Yes?” he calls, sitting up despite his nakedness, absently stroking Merlin’s dark hair. The messenger—a woman Arthur recognizes to usually be either in the kitchens or the wash rooms—shyly steps in, flushing deeply when she notices that Arthur is not alone.

“You’ve been summoned. By your father.”

Now this Arthur and not been expecting. To be reprimanded at brunch for making a scene, sure, but to be summoned is an entirely different issue.

“Thank you,” Arthur says, tipping his head, “You may go.”

She hurries out, and Arthur looks down, considering for a moment waking Merlin to dress him, and then upon seeing how peacefully his paramour—paramour, how lovely—is sleeping, opts against it.

He can dress himself, surely.

—

“Brilliant,” Uther muses as Arthur enters, “We were starting to worry you had gotten lost.”

No, Arthur just couldn’t figure out which was the front and which was the back of his trousers for upwards of ten minutes.

“We” must refer to he and Edmond, Uther who is seated stiffly upon his throne, as usual, and Edmond who is standing quite relaxed beneath his gaze, which is Arthur’s first indication something here is clearly off.

“What do you want?” Arthur snaps. Uther does not falter, but Edmond looks over, clearly baffled by Arthur’s tone, and perhaps even the fact that Uther does not ask him to check it.

“Would you please explain to me,” Uther begins, “How you thought it appropriate not only to publicly humiliate a noble, threaten him, but also to treat your manservant as though he were property, and not a man of his own decisions.”

He cannot be serious. Arthur turns to Edmond, seething.

“You are far duller than you look.”

“Arthur!” Uther exclaims, sharp. Arthur crosses his arms over his chest, glowering at his father, terribly angry for what feels like the hundredth time in the past two days.

“I only acted in the interest of Merlin’s honor,” Arthur snaps, “He came to me accusing this feeble, brainless—”

“Are the insults truly necessary, your majesty?” Edmond asks his father, but Arthur continues, unperturbed.

“—wilddeoren of making unwanted advances.”

Uther frowns, and Edmond shakes his head, a completely unwarranted smile gracing his features. Arthur is certain this man is in need of several kicks to the groin and then some. Uther sighs.

“I told you, your majesty, he would come bearing all sorts of lies.”

“Lies!?” Arthur exclaims incredulously.

“You very publicly referred to Merlin as your paramour instead of your manservant,” Uther says, “In order to embarrass Lord Edmond into obeying your will.” Arthur’s jaw drops. Edmond does nothing to hide the triumph he is feeling, and all of this is making Arthur’s blood boil hotter and hotter.

That’s… technically true, but as far as last night is concerned—

“Merlin is my paramour,” Arthur argues, causing a raise of his father’s brow, and the shake of Edmond’s head, “And if you do not believe me, summon Merlin, then. Although, that seems a spectacular waste of our time, because he should have been here to explain his side of the story in the first place, and if I would have known this insolent pig—”

“Arthur,” Uther chides.

“—was going to spin such an elaborate fairy-tale, I would have roused him and brought him myself, as he happened to be, conveniently, very close by, namely, right god-damned next to me.”

Uther heaves a sigh. Edmond doesn’t look convinced.

“Arthur—”

“Father,” Arthur says, very seriously, sensing the king’s exasperation and unwillingness to argue or reprimand a noble of his own age, and such a nonchalant demeanor, begging no guilt. What his father fails to see is that this is not because Edmond is not guilty, but because he’s certain there will be no consequences for his actions—and really, unless Arthur kills him in his sleep, or challenges him to a duel, there won’t be. Nothing but a childish slap on the wrist.

“Arthur,” Uther says again, firmly, “I would like you, before dinner tonight, to apologize to Lord Edmond—”

“Absolutely not!” Arthur cries.

“You will,” Uther says, firmness growing into a slight aggression Uther believes he will listen to, “Or you will not attend.”

“Then consider this the last time you see me today, your majesty,” Arthur snaps, turning to leave, “And if you are so opposed to taking the word of your own son over some half-wit jester, ask the servant who summoned me how she found me this morning, and who she found me with.”

He turns, just before the door, glaring back at both men—his father who looks vaguely disappointed, and Edmond who’s now red in the face, seemingly having realized what an impartial third-party’s account may do to his story.

“Or better yet,” Arthur muses, “Ask the knights who attempted to deter Lord Testicle—“

“Arthur!”

“—before I was forced to step in. And please,” Arthur says, finally wrapping this up into a neat little bow, “Do not send for me again. I have a long day and night planned bending my manservant over every flat surface in my chambers.”

“Christ, Arthur—“

“Good. Fucking. Day.”

And if the doors were small enough to be slammed, Arthur would have done exactly that.

—

“What is your name?”

“Oh—er, Katherine, your majesty. I work in the—“

“I know. I just have a question regarding the manner in which you found my son this morning.”

“Ah! Oh—umm… well… I’m not entirely comfortable… saying, my king.”

Uther sighs deeply, and waves his hand to dismiss her.

“That will be all.”

—

“You shouldn’t fight with your father on my behalf,” Merlin soothes, and Arthur would attest to enjoying baths much more when Merlin’s in the water with him. “It’s not worth the drama. And you should be enjoying the—“

“As you should have been, and as we should be, if it weren’t for Lord shit-pants—“

“Your insults are getting less and less clever,” Merlin teases, moving forward through the water to press his lips to Arthur’s throat, as if that’s supposed to make it better. Is this them now? Bickering like usual and then kissing it away?

He could get used to that, yeah.

Arthur pinches Merlin’s thigh beneath the water in retaliation, so Merlin pokes him hard in the ribs.

“Ow!” Arthur exclaims, seizing Merlin’s wrist and yanking him forward, sending the boy effectively into his embrace, although Arthur is framing it as a restraint, tugging Merlin’s wrists behind his back and pressing his own teasing kiss to the man’s shoulder.

“Gotcha.”

Merlin laughs.

“What I lack in glorious, sexy, beefy—“ he’s still teasing Arthur, that bastard, “—muscle, I make up for in wit.”

“And how is wit going to—?”

Arthur learns when Merlin uses the height at which his wrists are currently held much to his advantage, and grunts.

“Yes, I suppose that’ll do it.”

—

The next morning they are both summoned, Merlin teaches Arthur about his pants, and they make their way to Uther, chatting aimlessly, bickering uselessly.

Arthur feels incredible. Wonderful, even. To be with Merlin and to not ache to be nearer, because he has been near and can be near, is like a breath of fresh air. His best friend is now his lover, and he could not have asked fate for anything more.

“Father,” Arthur greets.

“Your majesty,” Merlin says, but does not bow, because Merlin thinks bowing is ridiculous and now that he thinks about it, Arthur kind of agrees.

“I have,” Uther says, sounding wildly uncomfortable, which is the consequence of his own inability to take anything Arthur says seriously, “Confirmed with Katherine, the chambermaid, that you two are, in fact…”

Arthur grins.

“Copulating?” He suggests.

“Fucking?” Merlin adds plainly.

“Fraternizing?”

“Fucking,” Merlin repeats.

“Lovers,” Arthur suggests, taking Merlin’s hand. They haven’t talked about that part of it yet, although he’s certain it had been implied. Merlin’s grasp tightens around his own, and their shoulders bump together softly.

“Yeah, probably that one,” he agrees.

Uther is so red in the face he’d make a stunning rendition of Camelot’s flag had he painted a giant gold dragon over his features.

“Right, well,” Uther says, clearing his throat, “I assume you are both aware though… fraternization is certainly allowed, I cannot in good faith—“

“Paramour, father,” Arthur interrupts, because he doesn’t need to hear another word of “produce an heir” or “take a wife.” He’s highly aware of his duty, and if he weren’t, he would’ve dragged Merlin down to Gaius hours ago and demanded to be wed (or whatever version of wed can be done without the church). This way, the next time Lord Edmond or any other ridiculous noble tried to lay hands on his manservant, Arthur would have probably cause to shove his spear through their throat. “I know what can be done and what cannot.”

Uther nods, as if he had suspected this.

“Good. Then all we have to the discuss is the matter of Merlin’s new title—“

“Having sex with your son gives me a title?!” Merlin interrupts incredulously, and Uther goes red again, much to Arthur’s delight. He tips his head back and laughs because oh, how he loves this man.

Uther clears his throat, “Paramour is the title, and while not all of the Five Kingdoms make space for such a thing, I and the court of Camelot do entertain the notion that political marriages should not fall in the way of an actual connection. Therefore, you will be alleviated of your position as Arthur’s manservant—“

“I’d actually like to keep that, if I may,” Merlin interrupts again, and really, where does Merlin get off having the gall to keep cutting off the king.

Probably somewhere in all those titles Uther doesn’t know Merlin already has—The Last Dragonlord, The Most Powerful Sorcerer to Ever Walk the Earth, Emrys, etc. Really, now that Arthur thinks about it, Merlin could cast his father out of the throne with the flick of his wrist, and assume Camelot under his rule, destroying those who dare defy him with little more than a thought and a spoken word.

But he doesn’t. Because of Arthur.

It is beginning to feel incredibly stupid that Arthur couldn’t tell if Merlin loved him back. Perhaps he really will have to start reading more.

“You would continue to work?” Uther asks, eyebrows raised.

“I would feel useless if I were not serving Camelot, and my prince,” Merlin says, “It’s kind of what I’m meant to do, regardless of what “title” I hold here.”

Uther nods as if he understands, which he couldn’t possibly, because where he technically assumes a mantle of service to Camelot, he was birthed to it. Merlin chooses his place here.

Merlin chooses Arthur.

He swears, every minute he spends with the man just sinks him further and further, lost to the warlock entirely, even though Arthur had been certain he was at the bottom before any of this even occurred.

“I will be honest,” Uther muses, “I am starting to see why my son likes you.”

Merlin, to Arthur’s surprise, bows his head to hide his pink cheeks, playing it off like a polite and silent “thank you.” Arthur removes his hand from Merlin’s and slips an arm around his waist. Leave it to Merlin to stand firm in the line of a King’s judgment, and buckle under half-baked praise.

Duly noted.

“Is that all?”

“Actually,” Uther says, “I’m sure you’ll pleased to hear I’ve tossed Edmond in a cell until tomorrow morning, because you and I both know—“

“There are few ways to make a man like that listen,” they chorus, and Arthur smiles, incredibly pleased at the idea of Edmond all wrapped up in silk and fine fabrics, cold and damp in a dirty old cell. “Thank you, father.”

Uther waves his hand dismissively, but cannot help a slight smile at his son’s glowing approval.

“Away with you both. I will see you tonight.”

And Uther does, sitting with their chairs and knees touching, speaking in soft voices and drinking far too much wine, pink cheeks and bright smiles and a love like he remembers. Uther does not wholly understand his son’s affinity for his manservant, but he can understand being young, reckless, and excited to share breath with someone excited to share breath with you.

Yes, Uther, like Arthur, is quite pleased with this paramour. Quite pleased.

[Bonus Content]

Same Universe, Sillier Plot!

#fanfiction #lgbtq #writer #fanfic #merthur #merlinbbc #merlin bbc #merlin emrys #arthur pendragon #i did all my gushing on the teaser post so #i've really got nothing to say #hopefully if ppl come here from tik tok they aren't disappointed #i would be so sad #(but if you are feel free to give me constructive criticism)#gay

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zeephyre · 3 months

Text

CRITICAL ROLE CAMPAIGN 3 EPISODE 85 SPOILERS

IM LITERALLY ABOUT TO LOSE MY MIND YALL

Where do I even ??? start ???

I haven't been posting c3 as the episodes dropped in...a while actually, like right before they went to the feywild. i have many thoughts and many feelings about so many things that have happened since then and I'll summarise them so I can get to THIS episode.

fearne and ashton - love their shard powers, they're literally royalty and terrifying, and i want them to make-out. i can't wait to see them go full primordial again in a real combat situation.

imogen - save her. literally save her. free her, even. i love everything about the call of ruidus when it comes to imogen on a narrative standpoint, but...God I get so worried that we're gonna lose her. I don't mean she's gonna betray the hells, but...ruidus could take her and then i would simply perish.

laudna - before i really get into wtf went down this episode with her and she who must not be named, i gotta say... im worried. very very worried. however, that fireball was objectively the best shit ever.

fcg - i can't even really remember anything stand out abt fcg except what Sam pulled last night so.

chetney - still the heart of the team, still my baby girl, still my favourite. love him to bits.

orym - i think laudna is going to beat his ass one of these days and im... even more concerned about that after this episode. his nana morri powers are cool as fuck tho... does that make him a warlock now? i know he isn't multi-classing but wouldn't that be cool

ANYWAY WE'RE ON THE FUCKING MOON AND WE GOT MOON LORE AND EVERYTHING WAS SHITTY THEN FUN THEN SHITTY THEN FUN AGAIN THEN REALLY FUCKING SAD THEN IT ALL WENT TO SHIT AGAIN.

the moment imogen reached out to ruidus and matt mentioned that she could sense where other ruidusborn were i fucking knew that otohan was high tailing it in their direction, and i thought they instinctively knew that too but they probably got so distracted.

we were travelling for hours and had a huge fight that almost got them captured (not to be confused with the OTHER two fights that almost got them captured) and I was begging and screaming and crying for them to get a long rest safely hidden away AND THEN THEY SPLIT THE PARTY WITH BARELY ANY SPELL SLOTS OR HIT POINTS AFTER BEING DRAINED FROM ANOTHER BATTLE WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM

(Sidenote, the willmaster really opened up the door to the further increase in moral pondering in a certain number of hellians. i do think using the harness is disgusting and hypocritical, but i don't condemn them for it, it just...makes me wanna vomit thinking abt what ludinus did with it. not to mention the HUNGER parallels between laudna and ludinus...its just not good yall. also??? objectively funny that fcg seemed weirded out by the idea of killing the willmaster, not just with the harness but in general, considering how many people they've killed up to this point)

idk if its just the inherent terror that an evil old hot lady can inspire that makes otohan so much more terrifying to me than ludinus. like, objectively, ludinus is a worse threat and could wipe them out EASILY but jesus otohan is like the damn reaper to me. it's the trauma from the laudna, fearne, orym massacre mixed with the underlying little drop from their uthodurn romp that let us know that resurrection spells are NOT working and idk if that got fixed bc of time passing or distance from the leylines but i really did not want to test that shit out in real time

thank...god that sam riegel is a damn genius player, that banishment of fcg and fearne was the ONLY reason fcg survived. and thank GOD FOR KEYLETH BECAUSE WITHOUT THAT CLOUD SPELL BELLS HELLS WOULD BE VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY DEAD RN.

God, "otohan has us. run." is going to haunt me just as much, if not more than the almost tpk. it just...shot me straight back to bassuras and the plan to run that just...immediately fell apart.

god fcg truly could have died there. and fearne would be captured. i know the hells would be too stupid and too brave and too loyal to leave fearne with otohan in their cloud form but can you imagine a world where fcg was gone, fearne was captured and the hells had to switch from recon to rescue... itd be stressful but pretty fun.

thankfully it didn't come to that and some good came from the shit.

ruidus is so beautiful. i was worried they'd end being trapped under ruidus while they explored (not that I wasn't on board with the detours, I wish this wasn't a time sensitive mission), but matt's imagery of the fossilized elven structure and garden made me sad but also happy that we got to see it.

i cannot believe that the stupid plan to shove fearne up a water hole happened AGAIN and it ended up with us FINDING A BACK HOLE TO RUIDUS GOD I LOVE THESE CHUCKLEFUCKS WHEN IS THE NEXT EPISODE MATT YOU CANNOT DO THIS TO ME. WHERE EVEN ARE THEY??? IS IT EVEN EXANDRIA???? WHAT DO WE DO IF IT IS EXANDRIA??? WHERE DID THIS HOLE EVEN COME FROM???? DOES IT CLOSE AND REOPEN??? IS IT STAGNANT?????? IS IT FUCKING STABLE?!?!?!?!?!

God...we could go back to keyleth and the others and actually invade ruidus without encountering the ruby vanguard. (that's if they're alright because otohan did go out onto the battlefield and we don't know what fhe fuck she did when the illusion fell through)

GOD. IS IT THURSDAY YET??? WE HAVENT EVEN FOUND THE RESISTANCE????

#critical role #cr3 #bells hells #critical role campaign 3 #c3 #critical role c3 #critical role spoilers #imogen temult #ashton greymoore #cr laudna #laudna #orym of the air ashari #chetney pock o'pea #fcg critical role #cr spoilers #fearne calloway #c3 e85 #cr3 ep85

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blues824 · 1 year

Note

Imagen a female ciel phantomhive in the remarried empress

🍰Her being friends with navier and sovieshit in their youth until the fire and kidnapping of her happens and them being consiernd about their friends Disappearance.

🍰Only for her to return and everyone sees the difference between her now and in the past she used to a happy go locky kid that smiled a lot and now she is now extremely serious no longer wants to play and has a eyepatch and one hell of a butler.

🍰After her mansion gets rebuild and she gets the titels of her parents she became the empires guard dog and is extremely powerful and close to navier.

🍰Imagen rattrash seeing sovieshit and navier preparing for her arrival and her seeing as extremely serious lady with a eyepatch and handsome butler. her trying to befriend her but failing and learning about her from Duke ergi.

🍰Her and navier having a tea party until she tells navier her only real friend that Sebastian is a demon she made a pact with to avenge her family and telling her if she ever completes her revenge she wants navier to have the phantomhive estate.

🍰I almost forgot about her sweet tooth so does navier them enjoying sweets with navier while she has a very unhappy butler behind her sholding her for to eating to many sweets

🍰Imagen Sebastian doing something extremely skillful and her telling him to not be a showoff and just walking away from him.

That green suit is so fabulous 😍

Does not include Heinrey.

Preface: Your mansion burned down when you were a child and it killed your parents. You ‘disappeared’ for many years, but in reality you made a deal with a demon to seek revenge for your parents’ death. However, you came back with a bunch of power and influence, and a butler at your right hand side.

Sovieshu

You were a dear friend of his in his childhood, but he mourned yours and your parents’ death once the coroner officially stated that you would be presumed dead. Imagine his surprise when he heard that his wife was preparing for your visit. He pulled her away and asked what was going on, and she explained that you were alive and breathing.

Once you walked through the doors of the palace, he let out a gasp. You looked beautiful, but you had a rather attractive man walking behind you. You utilized a cane, and you had an eyepatch over your eye. Your smile that he remembered was gone, and replaced with a solemn look on your face.

If he was being honest, he was jealous of your butler. The two of you seemed to have some sort of dynamic between the two of you, and during the ball Sebastian was the only one who you danced with. Whenever he got to talk to you, you shut him up and walked away. You eventually let it out that you were disgusted that he could do such a thing to Navier, and you bid him adieu before going back to your butler.

Rashta

She had no idea who you were, but she found an old news article that stated your and your parents’ deaths from a manor fire. So when she heard some of the servants exclaiming excitement about your arrival and your possible resurrection from the dead, she was scared that it had actually happened.

Then, you arrived. You walked in through the doors with a cane in your hand and an eyepatch over your eye, accompanied with a man who the mistress presumed to be your butler. Your aura just screamed power and influence. The picture of you that was in the article depicted you with a child’s smile, but what replaced it was an adult’s sober glance.

Your butler stole the attention of most of the ladies at the ball. Rashta did want to dance with Sebastian, but you were the only one who danced with the devilishly attractive man. You seemed annoyed at him though. She then decided that she wanted to befriend you, as Duke Ergi advised her that it would be good to get you on her side, but you refused as you stated that associating with her would bring you no benefits.

Navier

You were actually betrothed to her brother, so it only made sense that you two were close when you were children. At yours and your parents’ funerals, she and Kosair cried into each other’s shoulders. You were like a younger sister to her, and she felt as though she lost her sister (to be fair, you were going to be her sister-in-law once you came of age).

But, she had received a letter from the Phantomhive Manor with your signature saying that you requested an audience with the Empress. She wrote back saying that you could visit, and you walked in the door a few days later with a cane and an eyepatch over your eye, a tall and handsome man following close behind.

During your stay at the palace, you took tea in Navier’s chambers. This is where you took off your eyepatch and revealed the Faustian contract that you had made with Sebastian to seek revenge for your parents’ untimely death in exchange for your soul. Her eyes widened in surprise as you stated that you had no intention of carrying through with your betrothal, saying that you would eventually die and you couldn’t put Kosair through that pain again.

Kosair

As stated before, the two of you were betrothed because of your noble status. But, you were presumed dead after no one could find you alive or dead in the remains of the Phantomhive Manor. But, when he heard the news, he was devastated. Sure, your betrothal was arranged, but the two of you were still very much in love with each other. So, at your funeral, he was the first one to place a rose upon your tombstone

But then, approximately 20 years later, he received a letter from Navier. You were alive? He just about ran to the palace to see you, but once he did his excitement dropped. You were definitely much older, but you weren’t the happy lady he remembers. You dressed much differently, you had an eyepatch, and you had a cane. You also had a frown upon your face.

What was worse was that you told him to sit down. Kosair eyed your butler, and he was suspicious about him. You let out a bit of a sad sigh before stating that you had no desire to continue the betrothal since you sold your soul and would die at a young age. It was definitely a shock as you explained that Sebastian was your butler through the Faustian contract. You took off your eyepatch and your former fiance stood up and held your face in his hands. He took a long look at your eye before leaning in and placing a kiss on your lips. He then turned and left with a broken heart.

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maybeitsalivescribbles · 6 months

Text

TTD - First Meeting 2/4

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 and end

Part 2, sequel of this. This Hero and Villain have now their own tag and masterlist.

Hero woke up and they didn’t like that very much.

The ground was hard under their head, and they winced. Their fingers unwillingly clenched and grasped some gravel.

Wait a minute. That meant they weren’t in a room. Not theirs, anyways. Come to think of it, where were they and what happened ? Their head hurt. They touched their forehead gently. There was no blood, and it looked like it was in its usual shape. Still, it hurt.

Maybe the next step was standing up, come to think of it. So they did. Stretching up, they clasped their tongue, trying to focus. It had been a while since they had felt this sluggish. They were in a little street. Okay. That was an important piece of information. So, they were going back from their last job (stopping a robbery, nothing serious) when – when – they forgot.

How could have they forgotten ?

They stayed still. Apart from them, there was no one in the street. Everything was quiet. And, possibly, very wrong. Something was missing. Hero was quite sure that it wasn’t a street before, but a dead end. What was blocking the way before was a two-storeyed building, full of people. Now it was... gone. It hadn’t been demolished or anything. There weren’t ruins or even rubble around. There just wasn’t a trace of it, as if it never existed. It was the right street though, and if they struggled very hard to remember, they were inside just before. There were just fragments of memories. A thief sulking in a corner, their hands tied up behind their back. A smile from an old lady. A warm cup of tea into their hands and the odor of the mint.

The next minutes were used to frantically search for the people who lived there, anyone. After a lot of swearing and some tears, they had to renounce. They sat on the ground, vaguely entertaining the idea of curling up and never getting up ever, when their phone rang.

“Are you okay ?” asked Other Hero. “There was an attack from Supervillain in your area.”

“Yes. Just where I was, in fact.”

“Oh shit ! How did you survive ?”

“I think my powers protected me. But a whole building is gone and I – I don’t understand what happened.”

“ It’s your first time with this guy, uh ? You’d better sit down, buddy, I’m gonna break it to you.”

Other Hero had that tone she always had when they passed their regular tests, just before obtaining the highest grades. Hero listened.

“His power is very simple, actually,” she declared. As you saw – or rather as you didn’t see - he can make things disappear. He only has to look at the zone, and everything is gone.”

“A whole building ? What about the people ?”

“I’m sorry, have I stuttered ? Gone.”

A drop of sweat slowly trickled down Hero’s forehead.

“I don’t see how I could fight that”, they finally said. Is there a way ? Has he got a weakness ?”

“Oh, you can’t. With your powers, that is. It’s best if you don’t try. At least you’re protected, but you haven’t got what it takes to bring him down.”

“You do.”

“Of course, but I’ve got my area to protect, you know. Tell you what though, I’ll call the agency and ask them if they can send you backup.”

“Thanks, but -”

They didn’t have the time to finish their sentence. Other Hero had hung up. Having backup was good, but with this kind of threat it couldn’t hurt to have a plan B.

The warehouse they had visited a couple of weeks ago was not far, and still standing. With a bit of luck, it was still Villain’s lair. Hero hadn’t come back since. It wasn’t as if this villain seemed like a serious threat anyway. Even the place itself wasn’t that threatening, past the first impression. So they opened the door without much thought, and because they were still dizzy, they walked on a button without noticing. They only had time to gasp and protect their head with their arms when a huge cage just fell right on them.

There was a series of clicks, and when they opened their eyes again, they were surrounded by heavy metal bars. Spotlights illuminated their trap one by one while a booming laugh resonated in the room:

“You’re mine now ! Miiiiine !”

A dark shape appeared at the end of the corridor. The spotlights were strong, but they couldn’t lighten it up. Light seemed to avoid the black silhouette.

“I knew you’ve come back to taunt me, nemesis, but that was your downfall ! See what I could do in your absence ! Tell me, prisoner, am I harmless now ?”

Hero didn’t answer. They were still staring at the darkness. Villain had to clear their throat to get their attention.

“I said ! Am ! I ! Harmless ?”

“Uh ? Oh, uh, yes. I mean, no – I mean – what was the question again ?”

A grunt of frustration came out of the silhouette:

“You are into my claws ! How can you not pay attention to every one of my words ? I am the master of your life – nay, the master of your very fate ! Be awed !”

“I kinda am.”

The shape stopped its walk:

“You – you are ?”

“Yes. Do you control shadows ?”

“Only mine, but as it is the best, I do not care what others could offer me.”

“ And yet you could darken this whole warehouse”, whispered Hero. “And all the buildings you go to. I suppose you can make it as big as you wish. That’s impressive.”

“Extremely. I’m glad you’ve finally come to your senses. Imprisonment quickly taught you some manners.”

“Actually, I didn’t come to fight you. I came for two things. A warning, first.”

“Ah, it is to laugh ! They’re nothing but a pitiful prisoner, a mere prey at my mercy, but still they try to rebel ! Such audacity.”

“Supervillain is here.”

“You have to be more precise.”

“The one who can make everything disappear.”

“...shit. I mean, curses !”

“And he’s here to stay if I don’t do anything to stop him.”

“So you want to beg for your freedom ? What if all of that was an outrageous lie to deceive me as a way to mock me once more? ”

“That’s the thing, Villain. Even if I were free, I couldn’t defeat him. I’m not powerful enough. That’s the second thing I wanted to tell you. I need your help.”

“ Excuse me ?”

“Supervillain needs to see to use his power. But if the whole area is in your shadow, he’ll be helpless.”

“A poor plan, if I might say so. I only need to cover his eyes to blind him.”

“If you succeed to find him first, that is.”

“That wouldn’t be a problem. If memory serves, he had an awfully tacky magenta suit, even flashier than your orange jacket. But wait ! Why should I listen to you ? Why should I expose myself to the cruel outside and the crueler sun ?”

“Your warehouse might be on his way. And that’s the kind of act that can grant you a pardon from the agency.”

The silhouette recoiled:

“I neither need nor want a pardon. I am a devious malevolent being of pure darkness and I intend to stay that way.”

Hero wiped his forehead. They were getting tired.

“Okay, fine. We’re running out of time. What do you want ?”

“For starters, I want you to kneel.”

Hero tilted their head, confused:

“Why ?”

“You know. To acknowledge my superiority and your defeat, all of that good stuff.”

“Oh. Okay, if you want.”

Hero politely obeyed while the laugh resonated once more:

“Yes...yes ! Muahaha I am the unflinching and unbowed victor of our perilous fight !”

“Uh-uh, sure. If there something else ? I think that we’re running out of time here.”

“Pledge your allegiance to me.”

“What ? But I’m a hero. I can’t.”

“Then I won’t help.”

Hero actually felt a twinge of remorse. That was a promise they were going to break, but then again, it was going to be made under duress.

“What would you make me do ?”

A moment of silence ensued.

“I don’t actually know”, admitted Villain. “It would be my first time someone would submit to me, I don’t go outside much. The very thought of another soul touching my tools and my creations makes even my dark soul shudder.”

“I could go shopping for you. This way you won’t have to scare citizens.”

“Using your own money to trade for the goods I decide you to get to sustain my mortal body ?” asked the voice which was suddenly a lot more cheerful.

“You really don’t like to go outside, uh ?”

“Hush, prisoner. It is decided, then. I shall fight this obnoxious magenta menace who…!”

Despite the heavy doors, a piercing scream from outside made them both start. Hero jumped on their feet.

“...And the sooner, the better.”

Sequel here

Back to These Two Dorks masterlist.

Or back to Hero x Villain Masterlist.

#villain and hero #hero villain community #writeblr #writers on tumblr #original fiction #my writing #writing snippet #writing drabble #writing dialogue #these two dorks #not in a writing mood folks sorry #probably full of typos didn't check #hero and villain #heroes and villains #hero x villain

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bluedandelion1 · 8 months

Text

Wukong cares about people. Macaque isn't a saint.

Alright, I've wanted to write this for a while, so here I go. English isn't my first language, so sorry for any typos.

I've been watching so many fananimations of LEGO Monkie Kid. They're all gorgeous, top of the top, excellent, chef kiss and I'm glad the fandom seems to be growing every day.

But I HATE how so many people have portrayed Wukong as an asshole who doesn't care about anyone. Love the animations, they're great but I don't think Wukong is the villain people make him out to be.

Now don't get me wrong, Wukong has made many, many, many, mistakes throughout his life. The thing is, people don't seem to realize that while he messed up, his intentions were good! "Yeah, right, then how is he such a bad mentor?" I'm gonna shut you up right there.

When MK first got the staff, he didn't know how to use it, I agree with you. But Wukong is a milennia old stone monkey who has gone through a lot on his life, getting stronger and stronger with each fight.

"Pfft, what about DBK? You can handle it! Consider it a trial"

That's what he tells MK when said boy asks him what to do with DBK, because for Wukong that fight is easy. He then reassures him that with enough confidence in himself he could take him on. He trusted MK since the first moment and even told him to consider it as a trial. He was evaluating MK during his fight to make sure he had picked the right successor.

And just in case and most probably noticing how nervous he was on his first fight, he kept an eye out on him to make sure to intervene in case MK needed help. Wukong already knew that MK was invincible before locking away some of his powers in the second episode, therefore he was confident that he would succeed. And even if he already knew he was going to defeat DBK, he still watched over him to make sure he wouldn't get hurt.

Following this battle, in the first episode "Bad Weather", MK doesn't call for Wukong's help. He's confronting Red Son when suddenly the staff acts on its own and takes him down to the ground and who appears afterwards? The Monkey King himself! Almost as if he had sensed that MK needed some help with defeating Red Son. Almost as if he had been the one to call for the staff so he could talk with his student. Again, he showed up on his own because he cares.

"Then what about that time he abandoned him?"

He didn't abandon him. To abandon someone is to stop supporting them, to give up completely in someone. Monkey King knew that LBD was coming back but he didn't want either MK or his friends to get hurt.

He's used to doing things on his own! I mean, on JTTW Wukong was always sent ahead to see if there were any demons that would kidnap Tripitaka. And even though he warned his companions numerous times that there were demons under the disguise of innocent people, they wouldn't believe him. So why should he tell MK and his friends that there's an enemy approaching? Every time he had warned other people of other threats, they had never believed him, so why should MK be any different?

I think that's one of the reasons why he didn't even try to defend himself when Pigsy snapped at him. Because he's used to taking the blame. What's the point in trying to do something right if you're going to be blamed for everything going wrong, regardless of how much you try to make it okay? He even tries to keep helping MK through his training with the astral projection throughout the whole season!

So, he searched for the map that would lead him to the rings of the Samadhi Fire, knowing full well that he could end up dying.

"This wasn't supposed to happen! I thought if I could somehow get the Samadhi Fire out of you, without hurting you of course, then I could put it inside myself. Then, I don't know, use it to burn up the Lady Bone Demon or something?"

Let's remember that while it's difficult to hurt Wukong, the Samadhi Fire is one of the powers that could actually kill him. He was willing to risk his life so he'd be able to save not only the whole world, but his friends as well. Do you realize how crazy that sounds? To be willing to give up his own life to save the Earth?

He even says that he wanted try to get the ring out of Mei without hurting her.

Would someone who didn't care about anyone try to make something as painless as possible for the victim? I don't think so.

Alright, let's focus on Macaque now for a bit.

My biggest beef with this guy is that some people seem to paint him as the misunderstood character who never did anything wrong because "Oh, my best friend abandoned me and woe is me!". Yuck.

While Macaque has many good reasons to be angry at Monkey King, that still doesn't give him the right to kidnap and trick MK. It doesn't give him the right to taunt him and make him feel like shit, nor the right to manipulate him and make him think that he's not a good successor.

"Well, you know what that means! There really isn't anything special about you. You're just some kid with a heavy stick!"

Macaque knew that if he hurt MK, eventually Wukong would come out to save him, because he knows that he'll protect him. This is a little theory of mine, but Macaque manipulates shadows, right? Who knows how many times he's watched MK from them? Because I don't think his plan to steal MK's powers was something he thought of in just one minute. No, I'm pretty sure that plan took a while to be thought of.

"Ah, MK. You really are dense, aren't you? You saw a story about a hero who got handed everything? Who didn't have to work for anything? And you thought you were the other guy? The second the hero got real power, he couldn't care less about his friends. That's you, bud."

He tricked him into sharing his insecurities, knowing full well that MK was vulnerable and stressed out about the whole LBD situation, then blamed him for not caring about his friends. He made him doubt whether he truly cares about his friends or not or whether he was even a good person.

And we all know how hard MK's worked to try to get control of his powers, especially after he lost them when LBD took away his staff. MK can be a lot of things: optimistic, a bit smug at times, a bit forgetful... But if there's one thing I'm sure of is that he worked hard to control his powers. He even asked Wukong to limit them so he could control them better, knowing that it'd be harder but he still did it.

And let's take into account that Wukong apologized to MK for how he acted towards him. Macaque, still to this day, hasn't apologized at all. And yet, he keeps mocking Wukong and saying he's the same old Wukong, while he himself is still stuck in the past.

I get that Macaque is angry at Wukong, I really do. But if he were really so angry against him, maybe he should've brought it to Wukong himself instead of using MK. He isn't a saint. He's made mistakes as well. These two are very complicated characters who have gone through a lot, but neither of them are blameless. Macaque isn't a saint, but he does care about some people. And although Wukong has made many mistakes, that doesn't mean that he doesn't care about other people.

Anyways, to finish it off, as MK once said:

"Uh, you know you two are the same, right?"

#lmk #lego monkie kid #lmk sun wukong #lmk macaque #monkey king #sun wukong #six eared macaque #lmk mk #vent #rant #attempt at character analysis #holy fuck this is long #i didn't expect to write that much #but i got carried away #so #hope you liked it #first post in ages #lemme know what you think #these monkeys need THERAPY AND COMMUNICATION

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spideyzgirl · 1 year

Note

hii! I don't know if you have requests still open, if you don't just ignore this <3 how about a fic where reader is the one with powers and her and Peter are together & he works as a nurse maybe or not, and he always patches her up when she's super hurt? Peter gets a call from reader that she needs help and he goes to her? or she comes to him? just really fluffy and angsty? again if you're not taking requests just ignore this. have a lovely day/night <3

doctor doctor, give me the news

A/N: so sorry this took me so long to write! i also changed it to doctor instead of nurse if that’s okay :)

warnings: mentions of blood, angst, fluff

pairing: doctor!peter x avenger!reader

wc: 1508

note: assume the reader got bit by the spider instead

masterlist | taglist

the fast pace and constant demands of the hospital often left peter with little free time for himself. on the rare occasion that he found himself with some down time at the office, he scrolled through the endless amount of notifications that he missed on his phone.

his eyebrows knit together when he finds the series of missed calls from you. he dialed you back, the concern only growing as he listened to ring after ring. his mind raced with possibilities of what could be wrong. you finally picked up, he let out a sigh of relief. “baby, you okay? i’m sorry i missed your calls, what’s going on?”

there was a brief silence on the other end before you spoke in a weak voice, “it’s nothing major, just wanted to let you know i’m...” you trailed off, muttering curses to yourself when you accidentally pressed the gash on your stomach. “i’m bringing you chinese! can’t imagine how hungry you are right now, hm?”

“that didn’t sound good. what’s going on?” peter bounced his leg anxiously.

“nothing, it’s just been one of those nights. i’m sore from dodging bullets.” you sigh.

“oh yeah, you stopped that bank robbery over in brooklyn, didn’t you?”

“uh huh. and i helped an old lady cross the street! i think that was the highlight of my night.” the more you spoke, the more winded you felt. you gasped when you found that your hand was coated in blood now.

“that’s great honey, but you sound like you’re about to pass out. why don’t you hurry on over? i don’t like the idea of you walking around by yourself, avenger or not.”

once you ended the call with peter, you released a pained moan you’d been holding through your entire conversation.

a stab to the stomach was no joke. you knew if peter were here right now, he’d tell you to keep pressure on it until you could get proper care. but there was almost no use for that anymore, you could still feel the blood seeping out.

every step you took sent a jolt of shooting pain up your side, and it was getting harder to catch your breath. you knew if you didn’t get to peter soon, you’d have bigger problems than a gash.

*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*

“hey,” you breathe out, leaning against the door frame of his office. “before you ask, no i didn’t get you chopsticks. i’m tired of you claiming you know how to use them, and then tell me they’re broken when you have trouble with them.”

“they are broken. why do you think i can’t use them…” he trailed off when he noticed your teeth sinking into your lip. your eyes looked weak as well, and your forehead was damp with sweat. “either you’re severely constipated, or you had a rough night out there.” he smiled sympathetically.

“no, just severely stabbed. check it out.” you stumbled into the room and set the food on his desk before you slowly uncovered the wound, showing off the bloody mess.

“oh my god.” peter gasped. “you never told me you got stabbed!” he bent down to get a better view of the gash. as he examined your wound, his mind raced. he had seen his fair share of injuries in his line of work, but he felt a more extreme amount of concern for you.

“remember when i told you i helped that old lady cross the street? well, she actually thought i was trying to rob her, so she stabbed me and took off across the street and honestly? good for her. you never know who’s out to get you on these streets.”

“you didn’t think to lead off with that? ‘hey babe, i got stabbed and i’m damn near bleeding to death’ just happened to slip your mind?” he fussed. peter quickly got you situated on the patient bed and rolled on some gloves. he cautiously removed the top half of your suit, mindful of the pain you were experiencing.

“i thought if i bought you food it’d lessen the blow. i guess i forgot to mention i got stabbed.” you winced as he began to clean your wound, the pain was almost nauseating. his heart sunk at your desperate fight to keep your eyes open.

“you’re alright, you’re gonna be just fine. i just need to stop the blood. i just know you’ve lost a lot.” he muttered, more to himself than you.

“oh. that can be bad.” you responded anyway.

“can be? it is bad. how are you not taking this seriously? your life might not be a big deal to you, but it’s a pretty big one to me.”

“i still see this as a win. she crossed the street faster than she would’ve if i wasn’t there. really, you should seen those little legs take off-“

“would you shut up? i don’t see this as a win at all. you could’ve died tonight. my girlfriend, the woman i love, nearly escaped death tonight, and you just think it’s a big game.” he scoffed, shaking his head as threw away blood-drenched gauze.

“hey, cut me some slack. when i’m out there, saving lives is my priority. i can’t save people and myself at the same time. it’s either i save them or die trying.” you defended, squeezing his shoulder when he wipes a little harshly.

peters anger falters when you do this, and he turns his head to kiss your fingers as an apology. he sighs but continues to dress your wounds.

“i know, i’m sorry. i don’t mean to tell you how to do your job but… this is happening way too often now. every other day you’re coming in here with something broken or bleeding, and you just don’t care. i know you’ve got abilities, but what happens when someday, someone gets the jump on you and you can’t protect yourself?”

“then i’ll have my sexy doctor patch me up.” you wink at him.

“sure,” peter nods his head. “and what happens when i can’t get to you? what happens then?” his voice was gentle, but firm enough to make your smile fade and tear your gaze away from his intense one. “do you know what it does to me when i see you like this? i mean, i’ve seen a lot of injuries as a doctor, but when it’s you i have to see hurt like this… it’s something entirely different.”

you were quiet as he finished cleaning you up. you didn’t realize how much this affected peter. if he knew the truth, he’d know that every time you’re out there, you fear that every night could be your last.

“sometimes i don’t have time to care, pete. as long as i get the job done, i don’t really care what happens to me. take tonight for example. did that old lady stab the shit out of me? yes, but she also crossed the street successfully. its always a job well done if people walk out safe, even if that doesn’t include me. you can understand that, right? our jobs are almost similar in that way.”

“yeah, i feel you on that,” he gently pushes his way further between your legs, his hands caressing your thighs soothingly. “but still, if you’re dead, you can’t really save them, can you?”

you nod in agreement, fully understanding where he was coming from.

“just please try to be a little more careful? what am i gonna do without my little web-weaver?” he smirks playfully.

“oh, is that what you’re calling me now? what happened to web slinger and web-head? or, my personal favorite, webs?”

he chuckles, lightly pressing his nose against yours. “promise me you’ll be more careful. i’m serious.”

“i promise i will. but i really wasn’t expecting that lady to stab me. it’s not like i was throwing myself in harms way there.” you shrug.

he cups your cheek, caressing it softly before pulling you in for a gentle kiss. you hum into the kiss, and laughed when his free hand found home on your side.

“hm, you must enjoy me being in pain. i didn’t peg you for a sadist, baby.” you teased.

“nah, that kiss was to make up for the fact that i’m gonna have to stitch you up. i know you hate needles.”

“stitches? no, don’t do this to me!” you throw your head back and whine.

“i know, i know. but your wound is really deep. it won’t heal properly without stitches, webs.” he pouted, running his thumb over your cheek. “don’t worry yourself. i’ll numb you up and be done in no time.”

“i can’t believe this.” you shake your head.

“ugh, i know right? i have to save your life. this is such an inconvenience to my night.” peter sassed you, making you roll your eyes at him.

throughout the entire ordeal, peter did everything in his power to ease your pain and make sure you were comfortable. peter was a doctor, but he was your boyfriend first.

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fancyfeathers · 3 months

Text

When Rain Washes Blood

(Yandere Ghost OC)

(A/N- This was my first short story I have ever written, and another version of it, the first version, was actually for a college class I took)

The rain hit the window with hard thuds as it poured down and slammed down the glass. The room was completely dark with the moon covered with the dark clouds. There was a young woman laid in the bed, wide awake, eyes fixed on the glass of the window where it felt like it may shatter the glass. The seemingly ancient house gave her chills, the feeling of eyes watching her kept her from sleeping. Her lack of sleep made it feel as if she was seeing things, a dark figure walking down the hall but would disappear when she got close, dinner utensils moving on their own, books falling off their shelves, and so on.

She only had to stay here for a few days longer and then the next renters would move in and these strange mishaps would be their problem. That was a selfish thought, letting other people move in here without knowing a thing about the uniqueness, for lack of a better word, of the house, but honestly if she stayed here any longer she felt like she may lose her mind. So the moment she heard about people moving in soon, she immediately began packing her things, which was not much since the house came with much of the older furniture, apparently from the first owner who had died a very long time ago. When she asked the current owner on how he had died the answer startled her.

“Murder from what I’m told. Murdered by his own wife.”

Now that fact does not surprise her, if anything now it made sense with all the strange happenings in the house. Living with a ghost, that was the conclusion she came to, a haunted house. She was not a superstitious person but with all the evidence laid in front of her she could ignore it no longer.

The sound of footsteps snapped the young lady out of her thoughts as she layed in bed. She couldn’t sleep so she slipped out of bed and went to switch on the lights… huh that was strange, it wasn’t working, a power outage perhaps? She reached for her phone to use the flashlight from that but that was not working either, her phone was dead it seemed. She huffed and went into the dark hallway alone, the only guide for her steps being the hand she kept on the wall and the footsteps she tried to follow.

She noticed a faint glow from under one of the doors, a room she has never been in, the study of the first owner, completely untouched and locked from what she remembers. She reached for the nob, going to test it but she only found that the door opened and not locked like she remembered. She pushed open the door and the dust hit her nose immediately, the entire study was covered in it. The study was lit by a candle that rested on the side table by one of the couches, that she didn’t dare sit on for how only and unkempt they looked. She stepped in and closed the door behind her before exploring the old room.

She could still hear the heavy slams of the rain and harsh wind that hit the house from within the study that she explored. The walls were lined with books that were older than anything she had ever seen, she didn’t even know if she could open it before the paper got destroyed if it wasn’t already. There were also many old photos and portraits of a young man and a young lady, who must have been the first owners of the house, the victim and murderer. She stared at them for a long time but she couldn’t get the itch that she had seen that woman somewhere before, she just couldn’t place where. With a heavy sigh she decided to call it a night and she picked up the candle that was on the table when she came in and went to the door to open it, but it wouldn’t open, it was locked.

The room itself felt like it had dropped ten degrees as she found that she couldn’t move her limbs on her own. They felt like they were made of lead but they moved as if someone was puppeteering her like a marionette. She found herself walking to the desk and picking up a framed photo on the desk, it was of the first owner and his wife. As if someone else was behind her she could feel someone wrap their arms around her waist, but they were cold, a grip like death. A voice like velvet spoke from behind her, sweet and smooth and called her... “Oh my love.”

Her eyes widened in horror as she found her free hand reaching out to grab the old, rusted letter opener that rested on the desk. She watched as one of the ghostly hands reached up to hers holding the sharp object, holding it along with hers. “Till death do us part.”

As she laid on the floor, blood pooling out beneath her she looked at the photo that she held that fell on the floor with her. She finally recognized who the wife, the murderer, looked like, it looked like her.

#Yandere #yandere x reader #yandere x you #yandere aesthetic #yandere blog #yandere oc #male yandere x reader #yandere x darling #male yandere

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martyfive · 5 months

Text

16/12/23

it’s not like i stopped having dreams at all. i was going to bed after 3AM for months waking up after six or seven hours of sleep and still dreaming every night, but i never remembered anything. some blurry pictures haunted me, but i was lucky enough to forget them in the morning. that’s why when i found myself in my old family house with blood on the walls and the floor i knew it was a dream, but a dream so vivid i was actually more bothered by the fact that it was the first story-like dream i had in months than that there was blood all over the place.

yeah, the blood. that house has seen enough of it, but never that much. even when the nose was broken. or when the whole set of red festive dishes was scattered around the kitchen. or after the accident. but we don’t talk about the accident. we don’t.

in a dream there was so much blood i couldn’t tell if it really was the house i grew up in. everything seemed to be the same, but things changed. maybe it was because of the renovation they did after i moved out. i’ve seen the photos. the room i used to sleep in looked horrible, like a piece of a hospital environment that for some reason also had my old stuff and an ugly grey carpet in it. it was now the room my mother used to go to read my embarrassing old diaries and cry in when she missed me most or when the threat of a broken nose was possible again. at least that didn’t change. the threat of a broken nose.

the presence of blood in a dream was somehow connected to the person who used to break noses and not take responsibility for the accidents we don’t have to talk about. and i didn’t know where he was. for some reason i wasn’t scared of him or to find him inside the house for the first time in my life. looking at the blood, i should have been. but i wasn’t.

i also knew what i had to do. the blood needed to be mopped.

someone else was there with me. i couldn’t see their face, but they felt like a friend. it could have been the devil himself, but i knew i had a problem more serious than the devil at that point.

i was walking around the house like it was just another day of my life mentally preparing for the massive cleaning session incoming when my phone rang. it was my mother.

i said, “where are you?”

she said, “he killed seven people.”

i said, “okay.”

she said, “you don’t know the horrible things he did to them. i’ve seen it all. his mother was there. you don’t even need to know about her teeth or her neck. i’ve seen it all.”

i said, “where are you?”

she said, “i’ll be home soon.”

home. i had to clean the tons of blood in a house i grew up in. my mother has called it “home”. i had another name for it. she wouldn’t like it. he was also here. i had to find him.

there was no power and all i had was the flashlight on my phone. i still had an unknown friend with me. the walls and the floor with blood on them, some cleaning stuff, a flashlight and a nameless friend. i took the phone and left to go deeper into the house in a search for a man in the centre of it. he wasn’t even a minotaur in a labyrinth. that was too much of a job title.

i found him right where he was expected to be. in a corner of the library, not easy to be spotted, right where he stored all his expensive tobacco assortment i used to steal from him when he wasn’t around. he looked calm. affectionate, almost gentle. like he was glad to see me. like he was sorry. like it was another quiet morning after the-broken-nose incident. forgive and forget. it’s gonna help you heal. no fucking way.

he was covered in blood.

i said, “what have you done?”

he said, “i deserve all your anger.”

but i had none. i was tired. i had a house to clean up.

i said, “i’m calling the cops.”

he said, “i’m a disappointment.”

i said, “we’ll see.”

the cops came. there were two of them, two young ladies, almost too cheerful for a situation. almost like it was all a stupid dream.

“the house is yours now,” he said before the cops took him away after i declined the laughable offer to put the handcuffs on him myself. “it’s all over. the house is yours. it’s always been.”

they left. i shut the door. it was dark. my faceless friend was waiting for me with the cleaning stuff.

“we should hire the cleaning company,” i said as i put the rubber yellow gloves on. “there’s no way i can do this on my own.”

“no,” the friend said. “you can. and you will. it’s your house now, haven’t you heard? you can sell it, get the money and everything. that’s gonna be awesome, right?”

maybe it was the devil himself after all. the blood was seeping through the cracks of the wooden floor.

“yeah,” i said.

then i woke up. the night was coming to an end. for a couple breath stealing minutes i was stuck in a house with blood on the walls. it was still there. i was still there. cleaning the blood. mopping the floor. waiting for my mother. wondering if she’s gonna lock herself in my old room turned into a hospital ward to cry over a man that broke her nose once or twice and a kid that used to have to calm her down while she was crying.

i suddenly heard the watch on my wrist ticking. it was a quarter to six. i was home.

25/12/23

#story #text post #martyfive text #horror story #short story

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magician-kitty · 3 months

Text

The Macaque and the Huli-Jing Part 2

The next day at Flower Fruit Mountain, Monkey King, who was eating a bag of peach chips, while MK hammered at the mural. "Remember, Patience and focus! Step into the strike!"

MK growled in frustration, she was really starting to get sick and tired of this lesson. This was getting her nowhere at all.

She needs to get stronger!

"They are slowing you down. you have power inside you," Jade's voice echoed in her mind. "If you want something, take it! Take the power and destroy! Remember: You don't use the weapon," MK's eyes glowed as she took out her staff, twirling it and swung it at the mural.

"You are the weapon!"

MK threw the hammer at them as hard as possible, causing it to go through all four rocks and fly off. When the dust settled, standing there was an astonished Wukong.

Monkey King stared wide eyed, "Whoa. How'd you learn to do that?" He asked before gasping dramatically looking at the girl. "Have you been running around behind my back young lady?!" He asked angrily.

MK sneered as she turned away from him "Patience and focus. isn't that what you said?"

Wukong glares at MK. "Look kid, using that much power, your body can't handle it."

She scoffed. "Oh, is that right? Or maybe you just don't like the fact that there's someone who's actually teaching me what I need to know! Quit acting like you care, cause frankly you don't!!" She yelled angrily, her teeth resembling canine fangs for a bit.

Monkey King stared at her, had a hurt look in his eye. "MK..." he trailed off.

She huffed, turning away from her mentor. "Whatever, I'm outta here." MK then walks away. It was then that Monkey King saw MK's logo blue, the Huli-Jing grinning menacingly.

Monkey King frowned, furrowed his brows. 'Wait, It can't be...' He thought in his head, all of a sudden his ears twitched, he looks around hearing something.

It definitely wasn't MK, for sure.

"Alright, who's there! You'd know better not to mess with The Monkey King!" He called out to whoever was lurking, unknowingly that his shadow was starting to change form.

"Aww, you know I wouldn't dream of hurting you, Peaches~"

Wukong yelped and looked behind him, The mysterious shadowy figure from earlier appeared in front of him.

"Hey~"

Monkey King gasped, smiling brightly. "It's you!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later, Mk grunts as she continues to train in the dojo. Her logo shines a bright blue as she trains, making Jade smirk. MK pants for breath, her chest heaving as sweat fell down her forehead. She felt a hand on her shoulder and heard a chuckle. "You're ready sweetheart."

MK looks up at Jade, "Ready for what?"

Jade grins, leaning down to her. "You'll see. Luckily for you, I've found where it lives."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MK followed Jade up an old summit, holding the staff tightly in her hands with a frown. "The Monster you fought today is actually an ancient  demon. A very, very powerful one." Jade explained, MK was out of breath as she stumbled trying not to lose her balance. "I need your help to destroy it once and for all."

Jade told her before pushing the girl out, causing MK to stumble and look at her mentor with wide eyes. 

"Wait, what? Last time, I barely hit it!" MK panicked.

The fox demoness sighed as she glanced away. "I know. But since then, you've had me teaching you. You're stronger now," She turned to her with a smile. "You feel stronger, right?" She asked MK, who frowned but nodded.

Jade grabbed her shoulders. "Good. Remember. You're the weapon. Give it everything you've got." She then shoved MK towards the creature, Mk regains her composure, grip tightening around her staff.

"Okay! "Here... Comes... Monkie Kid." She twirls the staff in her hand unknowing of the glow on her jacket, lunging at the creature. The fox creature's eyes shine as MK shouts, spinning her staff. "I am the weapon!"

She lands of her feet, catching her breathe. She looks to see the creature had vanished.

"Woah, I did it! I can't believe I did it!" MK cheered.

Jade grins as she starts stalking towards behind MK, fangs baring. "Excellent, I knew you'd could do it...~"

MK beamed in excitement, turned towards her. "Jade! Did you see me? I was like, totally whooping a-"

STAB!

MK's eyes widened as she felt an excruciating pain in her gut. Jade grinned, retracting her hand, bits of blood seeping from her claws.

MK falls to the ground, the staff shrinking, groaning in pain. Jade laughed, "You know, you really are a nice kid," Jade grinned, ruffling MK's hair before stepping back. "Super cute, but so naive~" She chuckled darkly holding a golden orb of light in her hands.

MK grunts, clutching the wound from her stomach, coughing up bits of blood. "Why..Why are you..?" She struggled to say.

She smiled. 'Why'? Because I can. Like I told you: If you want something, you take it." The ball of light that's in her hand, before she crushed it, as golden energy coursed through her.

"I..I trusted you!" She struggled to get away from her.

"Oh sweetheart, I hate to tell you this, but you're not my type. At all." Jade went to MK--who was struggling to stand. "Thank you for giving me all of Monkey King's power, Like really, Thank you." She told her, a cruel smirk appearing on her face. MK struggled to lift her staff, but couldn't.

"What's wrong, little Kit? Can't you hold the magic staff anymore?" She taunted her. "Well, you know what that means? There really isn't anything special about you. You're just some little girl with a heavy stick."

She grabbed MK by her neck, lifting her up. "Too bad, I was starting to like you." MK grunts, struggling to get out of the demoness hold.

"Just Who the hell are you, really!?" MK demanded.

Jade scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You really don't know who I am, do you? Figured since your such a little Monkey King Fan." She shrugged her shoulders.

"But if you insist, I'm Jade, as in Jade-Face, ringing any bells?~"

'Jade-Face' MK thought, she gasped, eyes widened in realization.

It was her, The Jade-Faced Princess.

"No, that's impossible. You can't be, I read that you were killed by Zhu Bajie long ago!"

She sneered. "Tch, don't believe everything you hear in the stories. It's been fun spending time with you dear, Anyway, I'm afraid this is where we part ways.." She summoned her tessen blade, raising it for the final blow.

MK whimpered and shuts her eyes, tears streaming from her eyes. 'I'm so sorry Monkey King..' She thought in her head.

"ENOUGH!!"

Jade was sent flying away from MK, MK falls to the ground, coughs catching her breathing. She looked up Monkey king landed in front of him, arms crossed and face full of anger.

"Monkey King?" She looked to see that it wasn't Monkey King.

The mysterious Monkey had dark hair, he has what looks like dark facial hair, violet eyes, but one was scratched and clouded, clothing consists of a yellow and black tunic with a black sash around the waist. Over his shirt is a brown and gold chest armor, that is crossed left, and an armored skirt. He wears a tattered red scarf, a singular red feather on his head and black and gold boots.

"I didn't think you'd be low enough to hurt little kids, Jade."

"Oh, Six-Eared Macaque! Well isn't this a nice surprise, Did you came all the way here to this city just to see me?" Jade said smiling at the darker simian.

"Don't give me that! You know exactly why I'm here, you have something that belongs to me." Macaque growls, frowning. "And I want them Back..!"

"Aw, you mean this?" She pulled something from her hanfu sleeve and pulls out some sort of lantern, two dark dots shining inside of it. "Well if you want it back so badly," She took a step back showing her true form, her dark green hair had turn snow white, her fangs and nails became longer, she sprouted nine tails from behind.

"Come and get it then."

"Bring it, you ugly bitch!" Macaque bared his fangs, before both demons charged at the other, roaring, their fists colliding. An explosion of white and purple followed them as they fought. MK couldn't comprehend what was happening, but she took the chance to get to a safe distance.

"Kid!"

MK looked up at the sky to see Monkey King flying down her way on his cloud. "Are you okay? He gasp noticing her wound. "You're hurt!!" He cried.

"Monkey King, I-I don't know what's going on, I was- and then she- them this weird guy shows up and-" She rambled on, holding her wound.

Monkey King shushed her. "Shh, don't worry we'll deal with all that later. Right now it's time for the Hero stuff." He told her before Wukong joined Macaque and both started to fight Jade, At one point, both monkeys are thrown back.

When they transform back Wukong is able to pin her down to the ground but Jade uses her tessen to slice his arm, releasing her. "Aaahh!" He screamed in pain, holding his arm.

"I'm sorry, did that hurt little ape~" She taunted him. Growling, Wukong runs up to finish her off, but she transforms into MK making Wukong hesitates.

"MK?"

"No Wukong, it's a trap!" Macaque cried out to him, but it was too late, A clone tackled him, sending him flying through multiple mountains. When he lands he tries to get up but is held down by many different clones.

Jade appears in front of him laughing, "Are you kidding, You fell for that? Ha!"

She then looked over to where MK was, Jade then turns and looks at Wukong and smiles before doing the same thing to her. She appears next to MK.

"So sorry little Kit, but playtime is over." She said before snapping her fingers. When she did, a whirlwind of blue fire foxes appeared in front of her. Soon they all merge to create one giant Kaiju form.

She gets ready to squish her, but before she could, a giant purple smoke monster appears stopping her and throwing her back. When she looks back, standing there was Macaque.

Jade huffed irritated, "You just don't know when to quit do you, Liu Ér?"

"Nah, now give me back my lantern!" He growled. She just stares at him, pretending to think. "Hm, no.." And before that the two started fighting again. Back at the mountain, Wukong walks up to MK, "We do not have long, he will not be able to hold her off for much longer. You need to fix your mistake."

"B-But how? I lost all my powers, I can't even lift the staff," MK said with shame and guilt.

Monkey King's face softens as goes up and puts a paw on her chin, making her face her, "You didn't lose all your power to her, you only lost the power you inherited from me, There's still power inside of you, I can feel it. You just need to believe in yourself and you'll be able to lift the staff and gain new powers."

At that moment the moment was cut short as they heard a painful yelp and look over, Jade had defeated Macaque's smoke monster. The dark furred monkey skidded across the ground.

"Macaque!" Wukong cried out, worried for the guy.

Jade laughed maliciously as she stared at her claws, "You're power is even more greater than I imagined Sun Wukong." She looked over at the mountain, growling, and then started running towards them.

Monkey King turned back to MK, "Remember patience and focus. Step into the strike," he said before fading, trying to hold off Jade.

MK closed her eyes and tried to find the power that was hidden deep in her, Jade jumped in the air ready to finish off Wukong and MK but before she can, MK's eyes opened to reveal orange. When she opened them it sent a powerful shockwave, throwing the huli-Jing back.

"Patience...Focus...Step in to the strike!!"

The battle ended when MK reached into Jade's Kaiju form and grabbed her, throwing her off into the distance. This caused MK to get her powers back, An explosion followed soon after, Wukong quickly holding onto MK, as Macaque appeared behind them.

She swung the staff, as it spun and twirled around the shadow monster, straight towards Jade. The monster splits in half, as the staff comes flying back, MK catching it with ease. An explosion followed soon after, Wukong quickly holding onto MK, as Macaque appeared behind them.

"You did it, bud. you remember what I taught you."

MK then looked at the ground and shame before saying, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything. For acting out, for yelling at you. I just wanted to be good enough for you and- And.."

Unfortunately, She started feeling dizzy as she succumbed to her wounds and started to collapse.

"MK!"

The last thing she saw was Monkey King reaching towards her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"MK...."

"Wake up, MK...."

MK wakes up with a groan as she feels something poking her cheek, the teen opens her eyes to come face to face with the baby monkeys, all of them chittering happily before jumping her, giving her wet licks/kisses.

"Ew! Wait! Stop! I'm okay!" MK begs as she's bombarded by the monkeys.

"Wait, stop that's enough," A little girl's voice said, making the small monkeys all stop harassing MK. "Leave her alone." They were all shooed away.

Wiping the slobber off her face, MK gasped, "Monkey King!" MK tries to get up, She looks to see her wounds had been bandaged and cleaned. Bai-He gently eased her back down. "Woah, your wounds aren't fully healed yet."

"Where am..?" She glanced down to see torso bandaged up. "You're back on the mountain, don't worry you'll be fine." She said in a soft tone.

The brunette sighed in relief, gently lying back down. "That's a relief..."

Wait, hold on.....

MK's eyes snapped open when she realized something. "BAI-HE!?"

There standing in front of her was the same little girl she'd met a while back, Bai-He was wearing a light blue cheongsam with gold lining and buttons, maroon pants, Her shoes are black with white lining. Her raven hair tied in a high bun.

"Hi!" She greeted with a smile.

"W-what are- how are- What are you doing here??" MK asked, completely baffling as to why she's here.

"Um...I live here?"

"Say what?" MK blinked in disbelief.

"Ah I see you two have already met already." Wukong said as he entered the room with a tray of food in his hand.

"Monkey King! W-what is going on here?" She asked.

"Woah, calm down bud." Wukong said soothingly "I assure you everything is going to be fine."

"She's pretty freaked out, Bába." Bai-He laughed, making the confused girl more confused. "B-Bába?"

Wukong chuckled as he sets the tray down, "Okay, okay... I'm gonna come straight with you." Bai-He goes over to Wukong and he picks her up in his arms. "This is Bai-He, my daughter."

"Huh?"

"Well, I'm glad to see you're up and about Princess,~" Said a deep voice behind MK, she looked up to see the black furred simian looking down at her grinning.

"Eek!" She stumbled back, Monkey King had held her still, calming her down. "Woah, take it easy kid, Macaque's harmless...Sometimes."

"Oh, ha-ha very funny Peaches." Macaque rolled his eyes playfully.

'Peaches?' MK thought, raised a brow.

"Wait, a minute," She pointed towards Macaque. "Who the heck is this guy!?"

A laugh escaped Macaque's throat, and the black furred simian walked over to MK, using his tail to bring the teen over and set her on the couch.

"At ease soldier. The name's Macaque, well "The Six-Eared Macaque" is my full name." He takes her hand, kissing it. "Au chante mademoiselle~"

MK's jaw literally dropped, she couldn't believe that standing right in front of her was Liu Ér Mihou, The Six-Eared Macaque. And damn! She knew Monkey King was gorgeous but this dude is fine as hell!

However, MK wasn't all that convinced, "Wait, Are you sure you're really him?" She began poking and pulling at Macaque's clothes and fur. "You look way too old, and where's your other sets of ears? Aren't there supposed to be Six, not Two? And I don't remember him having a beard."

Macaque's eyebrow twitch In irritation, he glanced over at Wukong who watched in amusement. "A little help please?" He asked.

Monkey King chuckled, setting Bai-He down and happily walked to pull the girl off him. "Trust me kid, he's the real deal. I think I would recognized know my own husband~" he smiled, hugging him from behind.

Husband...?

HUSBAND!?!?

It took MK a moment to process what he said, before she jumped up in shock, looking between the two monkeys, and little girl.

Monkey King's Married?

And he's got a little human daughter?????

"SAY WHAAAAAAAAATTTTT!?"

This was all way too much for her to comprehend as the poor girl fainted, lying back on the couch. Macaque and Monkey King sweat-dropped, glancing at each other. "Wow, That's a fine kid you got there, peaches."

"Pfft! Please...wait until she meets the twins."

#lego monkie kid #tales of the monkey princess #monkie kid mk #lmk macaque #lmk sun wukong #writing #lmk bai he

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anghraine · 3 months

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Revisiting my very old P&P fic!

So I didn't initially remember which fic had the Jane-Darcy scene, only that it was an early one, so I went to AO3 and looked at some of my very early fics to refresh my memory before realizing it was Season of Courtship all along.

I only mention this because it was a bit entertaining to re-visit my old P&P fic (despite the very uneven prose) because they were weird and often melodramatic but are still recognizably mine. Like:

Left to Follow: my first Austen fic ever and it's largely trolling. Darcy has apparently cheated on his wife, who has returned home to her father and family with her sickly baby. It's from the perspective of her father. The twist, revealed at the end, is that Darcy is actually the sickly baby and the POV character is his grandfather the earl. (This originally grew into a much longer and more meandering fic than the AO3 version but it kind of sucked, so I only cross-posted the first part.)

Sword and Sorcery: a vaguely tongue-in-cheek series of vignettes in a fantasy AU. Wickham is a vampire, Elizabeth has plant powers of some kind, Georgiana is unexpectedly a necromancer, and Darcy is an empath and has become so overconfident about his (genuinely very strong) abilities that he doesn't seriously think about why he's not picking up much from Jane (it's because she is also an empath and naturally resistant to his powers) or even bother trying to read Elizabeth properly until she rejects him.

Catalyst: a twist on the then-popular fanon of Darcy only really seeing the truth of Elizabeth's criticisms by talking about the Hunsford fight with a cousin like Colonel Fitzwilliam who advocates for Elizabeth's righteousness. In the fic, Darcy does end up talking about it with a cousin (Fitzwilliam's sister) who takes his side in such a forceful classist way that he realizes he sounded like that to Elizabeth.

Such Terms of Cordiality: a chaotic cluster of AU premises. Lady Anne and Mr Bennet used to be in love but she was persuaded away Anne Elliot-style and married Darcy's father instead (their respective children know nothing about this). Darcy and Elizabeth meet at Ramsgate the summer before the novel begins and fall in love with little complication. Jane is not in love with Bingley and struggling with the pressure to be. Lady Anne is still alive. Mr Bennet is opposed to Darcy/Elizabeth and she ends up confronting him about it. I had planned for it to be a reverse-forced marriage scenario, where Darcy and Elizabeth end up married without their canonical character growth and have to grow within marriage, but it's entirely voluntary (I never got that far).

Season of Courtship: my most popular fic even now and easily the most normal thing from that time (it does have some of the melodrama, but it's just about the canon engagement period).

The Widow: Tom Bertram falls in love with a widowed Elizabeth Darcy.

Incumbrance of Mystery: a cracky murder mystery in which Georgiana gets murdered.

Claims to Reputation: probably my personal favorite of these, but it's not quite a fair comparison because I revised it pretty comprehensively later on. It's an unfinished epistolary fic in which Lydia and Wickham's two eldest children, Bess and George, attempt to scheme and maneuver their way into fortune by exploiting their Bennet connections, confiding their true feelings and motives only in their letters to each other. Bess (the more calculating and amoral of the two) is largely successful with Collins's and Charlotte's mediocre son, while George falls genuinely in love with Elizabeth and Darcy's beautiful but extremely withdrawn and wary daughter. He, however, is hampered by the suspicion of pretty much everyone.

It's basically just this flurry of letters around the whole (double) business from everyone connected with it except Miss Darcy; you have to extrapolate what she really feels about it from the (deeply biased) perspectives we get from everyone else. There are also some references to Bess and George's younger sister, Bella, being a sort of inverted Fanny Price—she's the poor relation/niece raised at Mansfield Pemberley, but has been treated much more gently than Fanny ever was and is integrated into the family.

It was odd and challenging and fun!

#the most out there premise is undoubtedly subsequent connections (which i would never have thought of on my own)#(the idea came from a different fic and i was like 'hmm interesting concept! it might be fun to do it like this...')#but that one does seem to be a bit later than these #probably because i drastically overhauled it later though #anghraine babbles #fic talk #austen blogging #austen fanwank #fic talk: left to follow #fic talk: sword and sorcery #fic talk: catalyst #fic talk: such terms of cordiality #fic talk: season of courtship #fic talk: comforts and consequences #courtship #comforts and consequences #long post

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vioartemis · 1 year

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Close your eyes and trust me

(Max Mayfield x fem reader)

Summary: One day, the party find you in the woods, fighting for your life. When you wake up, you meet a beautiful redhead that catch your attention... || request here Warnings: none a/n: Wow it took me so long I'm sorry really TvT (English isn't my first language, I'm sorry if there are mistakes or if something doesn't make sense TvT)

Living alone was hard when you didn't know much about the world. That was not a choice though, you didn't want to be alone, really.

Since you escaped the lab, you lived with an old lady that found you in the woods and brought you home with her. She treated you as if you were part of her family. She even gave you a name: Y/n.

That sounded better than Twelve, and was more normal. She also taught you how to read and write, and helped you improve your social (talking) skills.

But she passed away 3 weeks ago.

You had to call anonymously whoever you were supposed to call so she could have proper funerals, to which you were the only one to attend as she had no family left.

Since then you were on your own, trying to buy "good food", as you called it, with the money she left for you. You now lived in a little cabin close to her house.

Until that night.

You were disturbed by weird noises not far away from the cabin. You had a bad feeling about that, but you still went out to check.

The party was on the track of what they thought was a demodog. The track led them into the forest.

"Are we even sure it was a demodog?" Max asked

"No, that's why we're here. To kill it if it's one, and.. not kill it if it's not one" Dustin replied

They were walking for more than an hour when they heard fight noises. They ran in that direction, only to find a h/c girl, you, fighting the demodog.

Growing up in the lab gave you abilities similar to El's, thanks to which you managed to kill the creature without being hurt too much.

Th fight was still exhausting. You weren't used to use your powers that much, and it was visible; your nose and your ears were bleeding, and it didn't take long until you faint.

You woke up in a room that wasn't yours, still exhausted because of your fight with the demodog. You propped yourself onto your elbows, looking around, until your eyes fell on a redhead girl sitting beside you.

She was reading a magazine (or something like that). She looked up, probably alerted by your movements, and planted her gaze into yours.

She was so pretty.. stunning, actually. Her blue eyes, her freckles, her red hair... She was the prettiest human being you had ever seen.

Not that you had seen many, but you were sure she was prettier than every other girl on this planet.

You stared at each other for a little time without a word being said, until someone opened the door.

"Okay you can rest, it's my turn to watch her.. I even babysit strangers now, great.."

The boy stopped when he saw you were up.

"She's up? Why didn't you say anything??"

"I- I just- I don't know.."

Her voice was amazing.

"Where am I?" you asked

"Oh uh.. let me just-" he exited the room and came back with a brunette "She'll explain better than us"

He then gestured to the redhead to follow him out of the room, which she did after one more look in your direction.

The brunette sat beside you on the bed.

"Hi" she said

".. Do I know you?"

She had something familiar, but you couldn't figure out what.

She rolled up one of her sleeves to show you something on her wrist: a 011 tattoo. Now that you saw it, you started to remember her.

"Oh.." you said, not knowing if she was with Papa or not

"We don't want to hurt you Twelve-"

"I go by Y/n now. Are you with Papa? If you think I'm going to come back-"

"We're not with him. Quite the contrary actually. You can trust us.."

With that, she explained to you everything that happened to her and the party lately, before asking you your own story since you escaped.

The two of you talked for one more hour, until you finally asked the question.

"Who was the other girl?"

"Max? She's a friend"

" A friend..?"

"Someone you can trust"

"Like... you and I?"

She nodded with a smile.

"You have other friends?"

"Let me introduce them to you"

<><><><> ♡ <><><><>

A month or two had passed since you met Max, and your feelings toward her were confusing and confused. You didn't understand why you didn't feel the same way around her and around others, so you decided to ask Joyce, with who you lived since the party found you, as no one else had room for you.

"Can I talk to you about something..?"

"Of course!"

"It's about Max.."

"Did something happened? Did you have a fight?"

"No no! I- it's just that- I don't understand why I feel weird around her.."

"Weird?"

"Yeah.. I overthink everything I say or do, my heart beats faster, my stomach feels weird.." you explained

Her lips turned into a big smile.

"What? Why are you smiling like that?"

"Y/n, dear, you're in love with her" she told you

"In love..?"

When you really really like someone, more than a friend. Someone with whom you can picture yourself in the future, for example"

"Like... you and Hopper?"

"U-uh... let's say like El and Mike"

"And um... H-how do I know if she feels the same..?"

"Confess to her, tell her how you feel. Maybe invite her to do something, only the two of you. And tell her"

"I'm going to do that, yeah! Thank you!"

You quickly pulled her into a hug before going out to find Max, who was at the skatepark.

"Max!"

"Y/n, hey! What are you doing here? Finally ready to try a skateboard?" she joked, a bright smile on her face

You felt you heart missing a beat. Her smile was so pretty and she was so beautiful...

"I- uh- I found a great spot to um.. watch the stars.. Do you.. do you want to go there with me one day..?"

"Yeah sure! Would tonight be okay?"

"Y-yeah of course!"

"Cool" her smile got wider "Let's meet around 10 at the edge of the woods?"

"Okay, see you tonight then!"

"Can't wait to be there" she said, before going back to skating with a smile.

You stood there a little while. You were a blushing mess.

<><><><> ♡ <><><><>

You were waiting at the spot you were supposed to meet Max, all stressed out. It didn't take her long to arrive though. Her smile made your cheeks redden a bit.

After greeting her, you started to walk toward your secret spot, when she took your hand in hers. I got you all flustered. Her hand was warm. It was somewhat comforting and nice.

"Is this like... a date?" she suddenly asked

"A.. date?"

"It's- uh.. when you go out with someone you really like.. in a more-than-friends way"

"Oh.. then yeah, it's like a date!"

You smiled softly, even though you weren't sure to fully understand what it meant.

"So.. you really like me?" the redhead asked

"Well- yes"

"Cool.. because I really like you too.. since day one. I- it might be cheesy and all but- the moment I laid my eyes on you I felt something.. something good of course! What I'm trying to say is... I'm in love with you, Y/n"

You were new to that concept, but according to what Joyce told you earlier, you felt the same way.

"I- I don't totally understand feelings and all but.. but I think I am in love with you too.. I- you make me feel things I don't feel for others.."

Thanks to the pale light of the moon, you would see her blush at your words. She seemed happy to hear you say that; her smile was brighter than before, and she squeezed your hand softly.

"Can I- can I kiss you..?" then, seeing you slightly confused expression "It's something that you do with your lover, to show affection in a special way"

You nodded, as she stopped walking, turning around to face you.

"Close your eyes and trust me" she said, almost in a whisper

You did as she told you, your heart pounding in your chest in anticipation. When her lips finally met yours, it just felt so right, making butterflies grow in your stomach, fireworks in your head, and heart beating faster than ever.

When she pulled away, you could see her eyes sparkling.

"Can you do that again..?"

#max mayfield #max mayfield x reader #stranger things #max mayfield x fem reader #max mayfield x female reader

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aphroditelovesu · 5 months

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I watched the house of the dragon trailer and I was so excited and I also saw the poster and I couldn’t contain my excitement so I hope you don’t mind me sharing my excitement and asking your opinion. I saw the poster first thing like I don’t know when exactly but I was kind of disappointed but also the same time excited and happy because I have read the books. Well, I am reading them currently I’m not done with yet I haven’t finished, but I read the dance of the dragons. And the poster it like disregards Aegon and put Alicent when they’re supposed to put Aegon because the war is not about Alicent in the books this relationship never existed. There was no one single rumor that suggests that they were friends and there is a big age difference I think Rhaenyra was eight or nine and Alicent was like 16 years old that’s a big age difference so I don’t know how they would’ve been friends. So why center the whole show about them it’s not about that relationship it’s between brother and a sister and if you are a nerd of history, you would know that this whole situation comes from a historical event called the war of the roses. if I remember correctly. So I didn’t like that part of disregarding, Aegon. but I feel like they’re changing too much, but one thing that I have noticed and was happy about is that Rhaenyra is wearing like Dragon riding clothes which you got me really excited because in the books she really does not use her dragon at all except for flying to kingslanding but never in war, like there was never a war battle or a dragon battle recorded, so I actually think that this was a good thing I actually want her to fight not to be a bystander because this is her war. So I can’t wait to see if she’s going to have a dragon battle or use her dragon in a battle that would be cool, and another evidence to my theory of her, using her dragon in a dragon battle is in the poster. Her clothes are burnt, so the only thing that makes sense is that they’re burned from dragon flame. And I watched the trailer my poor two Queens Helena and Rhaenyra broke my heart sing them in the state I want to hug them both. But the rest of the trailer was so exciting. And I loved the scene where she was wearing the crown that reminds me so much of book Rhaenyra so yeah, what are your ideas about it?

I understand your anger, anon.

They changed a lot of things from the books to the series, I think that's why it should really be an adaptation. I agree that the main focus should be on Rhaenyra and Aegon, considering that they are vying for the Throne, but the biggest power behind Aegon is Alicent and Otto (and maybe Criston) and definitely Aemond, I think that must be why they gave her more prominence than Aegon.

It's a fact that Rhaenyra and Alicent were never friends, or close. Both have always had a rivalry and some striking features of the books were well-manicured in order to make them more toned down, I think. Rhaenyra and Alicent are much more cruel in the books, but perhaps now in S2 this will be shown. Especially after Lucerys' death.

One thing I liked was that, the fact that Rhaenyra was more active in the war, because in the books she is not. Her scene with Syrax took me by surprise and I can't wait to see it all!

I mean, look at that woman's look of fury and grief. Blood will definitely be spilled and I can't wait to see the conflicts begin!

My Black Queen...

~ Lady L

#ask #house of the dragon #hotd

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albentelisa · 7 months

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Hi. So you remember the Lady of the Lake, right? Well, what if she had managed to disguise herself as a mortal woman?

That human form she took on is non other Barabra Lake, thus already making Jim half human.

When he gets the amulet in this AU, he knows his mom hates Merlin, so he doesn't tell her at first.

Oh, in this AU Bular is definitely not the only one sent flying. Merlin will get that honor for sure as well. James Lake Sr. too, I guess. And maybe even Strickler (if he ever tries something dumb, LOL).

Jokes aside, I'll say that James Lake Sr is the one responsible for Barbara's disguise. My headcanon is that Nimue can grant wishes, but she chooses to grant those only if someone voices their deepest desires (as she hates hypocrites). So, one day James amid his travel to Britain, somehow wandered into the Nimue's current abode and voiced his wish to meet his perfect woman (he was just fooling around and had no idea that it would be granted). Nimue assumed a mortal woman's form of Barbara appearing right before him. Just to say, their relationship didn't work because there never was any true love between the two of them.

Nimue would prefer to return to her old life after the breakup, but she stays with humans because it's something Jim genuinely desires. And honestly, his wish is the one she is actually happy to grant.

As for Jim in this AU, he knows a bit about his mom, but definitely not everything. Like, he's aware that Barbara is inhuman and even caught a glimpse of her monstrous form once (it's an experience he'd rather forget) and that she dislikes Merlin for some reason (Barbara never told her son about her imprisonment, so Jim is entirely unaware how serious that hatred is).

Jim inherited his mom's abilities but cannot use those as he was traumatized after seeing Barbara's inhuman form and is scared to turn into something similar so he subconsciously seals those.

Why Barbara never learns about Jim finding the amulet despite being able to read souls? Well, she refuses to read Jim's soul, respecting his privacy, and because she knows that Jim doesn't lie or hide things from her (well, he DID before the amulet).

However, Barbara read Strickler's soul. She knows he's inhuman, but well, he has no ill intent towards Jim. And Jim's plan to keep things secret from his mom flies out of the window because she also learns about Strickler's desire to get the amulet from her son.

Barbara is pissed (to put it mildly) that Merlin's amulet chose her son. For her, it's like the hateful wizard's trying to control Jim (like he did with her). However, soon she realizes that Jim wants to be a hero himself and vows to support him. She tinkers with the amulet though as she believes that her son should fight for his own ideals, not her former tormentor's glory.

Barbara becomes a team member, but her abilities are limited (because it's either keeping her human form or regaining her full powers). She isn't ready to drop her human disguise though because of Jim (as she is scared he won't be able to see her as his mother anymore).

Strickler changes the sides pretty fast because Barbara sees that his true desire is the liberating changelings and encounters him about it. The same goes for Nomura. Strickler tries to recruit Otto too, but he is too scared to betray Gunmar. Otto is also the one who frees Angor Rot here, hoping to use him as a bodyguard from both Jim's team and Bular (who is pretty much enraged after the two changelings desert).

NotEnrique gets planted into Claire's family (as well as some other changelings are transferred as the Janus Order has a shortage of manpower now).

Jim still encounters a stalking, and to defeat it he unwittingly goes full monster form which terrifies him to his core. He starts questioning whether he has any right to be with his friends. Toby tells him that it doesn't matter.

Much like in the canon, Claire snoops around and learns Jim's secret about the trollhunting. She joins the team before they learn about NotEnrique, so the eventual reveal hits her the most. Claire tries to find the Killahead alone to travel to the Darklands, and she locates it but gets kidnapped by Angor Rot. Otto uses her as a hostage to get the amulet from Jim.

During the Battle of Two Bridges, Claire manages to wrestle the shadow staff from Angor, Otto and Angor escape, and Bular is sucked into the Darklands (getting his wish to reunite with his father).

Now the only thing remaining is to save Enrique, but it meets more opposition at the Trollmarket as there is a risk to unseal both Gunmar and Bular. Even Strickler thinks it's unreasonable.

Meanwhile, Otto tries to get the bridge back. He still hopes to get Gunmar's trust back. He exploits Angor for that and sends assassins from the Order after different members of Jim's team.

Angor makes a deal with Jim and gets free eventually.

However, Jim goes to the Darklands alone in this AU as he feels guilty because many of his teammates have some injuries after the Janus Order's non-stop attacks.

In the Darklands, Jim notices that something is wrong with him. Apparently, the constant sense of danger makes his inhuman half resurface. So far those are partial transformations that he can reverse but those might get worse. At some point, he stumbles upon Bular who is exiled after his failure. They fight initially but make a truce as Bular is lost and has no idea what to do now.

Together they locate the nursery and save Enrique. Jim plans to bring Bular along with him to the surface and give him a second chance, but they only manage to get Enrique as the bridge is destroyed (and it's only partially Usurna's fault as the guards see Bular walking along with Jim and misunderstand everything).

Barbara is enraged, especially after reading Usurna's true intentions in her soul. Alas, most of the Tribunal doesn't believe her accusations (Vendel and Blinky are the only ones aware of her true identity), and both Vendel and Blinky are accused of treachery and conspiring with Gunmar. The rest of the team escapes and then they are divided into two teams to jailbreak Blinky and Vendel and to recover the Bridge.

Barbara manages to force open the passway to the Darklands (as she had altered the amulet before so she has some control over its abilities now) and the team goes to the Darklands searching for Jim. The fight against Gunmar happens there and Jim defeats him with the help of his team. Bular decides to stay in the Darklands and rebuild the Gumm-Gumm kingdom, but this time make it a better place for other trolls.

However, the victory is soured by the fact that the entire team is considered criminals at the Trollmarket now as Usurna has seized control. She also makes a pact with Otto, who wants to liberate Morgana. Otto steals the amulet from Jim and destroys it to get a map to Merlin's tomb. Initially, Trollhunters have no idea why Otto did it, deciding it was just a revenge plan.

Otto wakes up Merlin by accident but still gets his staff and escapes. Merlin gets out and after some misfortunes finds Douxie and they go to contact Trollhunters. Obviously, Barbara isn't happy. She isn't going to help Merlin but begrudgingly agrees when Douxie and Jim ask her.

Meanwhile, Usurna and Otto free Morgana and get some powers from her. Morgana feels that those two are better for her plans than Gunmar as neither of them would risk opposing her. She also unites forces with Morando.

Jim's team learns about Aja and Krel's secret and all of them realize that their enemies work as the united forces now. The decisive clash happens and the good guys come victorious. The Trollmarket finally is free and Jim's team can go there without any complications.

Merlin isn't happy though as it seems that he anticipates something bad to happen. Not that anyone is interested in listening to his thoughts, especially Barbara who would rather send him flying somewhere.

Some time passes, and Barbara has a visit from Bellroc who proposes a truce to eradicate humanity (as the Arcane Order is sure that Nimue is as pissed about magical creatures' oppression as they are). They are surprised when she refuses.

The Arcane Order still needs Nimue's power so the Green Knight kidnaps Jim, and the Order tries to force his latent abilities out. They also attack the flying castle in the hope of capturing Nari too. Douxie, Claire, Steve, and Toby end in the past. Claire is the one who gets in prison, though as she carelessly uses her magic before Arthur and his knights. Morgana breaks her out together with all the trolls.

While visiting Nimue in the past, the team finally gets why Barbara hates Merlin that much in the present. Nimue also sees that Claire's hidden desire is to liberate Jim from the Arcane Order's control (even though she has no idea who Jim is) and during the parting she gives her a hint that Jim should snap out of it himself.

When the team is back to the present, they are forced to face the Arcane Order, Green Knight, and Jim who lost his human form entirely and pretty much berserk at the moment as he isn't familiar with his new form and all new sensations attached.

Merlin (being Merlin) suggests capturing and sealing Jim somewhere. Luckily for him, Barbara hasn't heard that. Claire is pissed though. She tries to get to Jim and reach his mind, and nearly succeeds but is forced to retreat as the Arcane Order interrupts her.

Meanwhile, Green Knight finds and kills Merlin while seizing his staff (as Jim has learned where the seals are hidden and told the Order about those). Now Bellroc and Skrael only need to capture Nari.

Claire makes an attempt to reach Jim through the Shadow realm. She meets Morgana there (Morgana was sealed there after her defeat and still isn't liberated) and tries to reason with her (Claire wasn't possessed by Morgana in this AU, so she is more open-minded about it). They both try to find Jim's soul and see that he is scared, confused, and lost. This time Claire manages to reach him and ensure that no one is scared of his monstrous form. It helps Jim to regain control and turn human once again.

#tales of arcadia #toa #toa au #what if scenario #barbara is nimue here #jim lake jr #barbara lake #text post #ask box #anon ask

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ambiguouspuzuma · 2 months

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Tempers fugit

She was nose-deep in a book when Tephan sauntered into her study, as self-absorbed as ever, all misplaced confidence and mislaid tact. There was no knock: he simply strolled through the door like he owned the place. Which, in fairness, he did. He and his brother had inherited the whole Duchy on the passing on their aunt, from the throne room to the quarters where Sanje slept. In a way, they'd also inherited her.

"What is it, Teran?" Sanje lowered her book, A Field Guide to Mundane Fungi and Their Uses, which didn't have nearly enough pictures for its content. She was used to these interruptions, but that only meant she'd long since burned through her reserves of patience.

"Woah, is that any way to greet your Duke?" He protested in mock offence. Sanje wasn't sure that any insult could actually penetrate his hide of puffed-up adoration, but that hadn't stopped her from trying. "After he's come all this way to see you?"

"Forgive me, my Duke," she said, with as much disdain as she dared. The late Lady Jaside had truly been her Duchess - the sort of woman she'd been proud to serve. Her nephews, Tephan and Kase, were her Dukes in title only. "But come all this way to see me for what?"

"Hey, we'll come to that. There's no great hurry." He looked around the bookshelves, as if deliberately hoping to find a distraction, some reason to waste even more of her time. "Pretty flowers, by the way. How do you keep them all alive? The ones we get wither straight away."

"I don't," she admitted, closing the book and letting Tephan have the floor. This might go more quickly if she let him work this tangent out of his system. "They die, but then I help them remember what living flowers feel like. All the ingredients are still there, you see; they've just forgotten the recipe."

"Oh that," Tephan said dismissively, as if magical intervention was easier than just watering them every now and again. "Necromancer stuff."

"Not necromancer stuff. Magic."

It was a common bugbear. Since the age of Chronos, Father Time with Cronus's scythe, the Grim Reaper, people had loved to conflate time and death. But as a tempomancer, she could only reap what had already been sown. She worked not with death, but with life; restoring wilted flowers to full bloom, reminding wounds when they were whole, and reversing the ageing of her own body, so that young men like Tephan could continue to treat her with such flagrant disrespect.

"Magic is all about memory," she explained, for the dozenth time, and not blind to the irony. "Reminding mountains of when they were molten, or rivers of a time they took a different course. Yes, I can remind a corpse of its ability to move, but I could equally return living limbs to the impotence of the womb."

"So it's like... localised time travel."

"If it helps you to think of it that way." That was the best she was going to get. "Why are you here, Tephan?"

The Ugly Dukeling shifted under her glare, and turned back to inspect the shelves. "Kase needs you at the stables."

"Kase knows where to find me, just as you unfortunately do."

"That's why I'm here. He sent me to fetch you."

"Errand boy to the real Duke, is it?" Sanje tried to sow discord at every opportunity. If could get them bickering between each other, the theory went, they would spend less time ganging up on her. "Is that how power sharing works? He does the ruling, you do the dishes?"

It was such a shame. Their aunt had been a good Duchess, before the wasting sickness took hold. Sanje almost wished that she'd saved her: at the time she'd vowed not to meddle with a ruler's old age, preserving another unnatural life well into the centuries, thinking only evil could come of that. But bad things had come anyway. She'd left herself cursed to live through successive generations of up-jumped aristocracy, each less bearable than the last.

Lady Jaside had died, and her nephews had been made joint Dukes of Rhúnwald, joint Protectors of the Mark, and the joint banes of Sanje's life. They had formed an uneasy coalition: the two brothers had a friction of their own, and they'd inherited their aunt's previous counsellors, including Sanje's seat at that table. The old guard were losing that fight. The numbers seemed to dwindle by the week, having been of a similar age to their Duchess, and she wasn't looking forward to babysitting on her own.

"No way. He's just busy."

"And what's so urgent that he couldn't come himself?"

"Hang on, let me think."

"You don't know?" Sanje certainly wouldn't be breaking her vow for them. The moment they took even the slightest sparring injury, requiring muscle to remember a life before the swords, she resolved to be nowhere to be found. She'd restrained herself from regicide, which would also be a worrying precedent, but she wouldn't stand in nature's way. She might even puppet Tephan's corpse, until he learnt what necromancy was.

"No, I did, of course I did. I've just momentarily forgotten." He continued to look around the shelves, as if something there might job his memory. "Everybody does that, right? You walk into a room, and can't remember why you're in there? It's funny, just a moment ago it was on the tip of my tongue..."

"I'll see what I can do," Sanje said.

"Wait-"

But she was all out of patience. Sanje froze the rest of him into place, and watched the rapid convulsion of his lips with interest, trying to gauge where they would land. Tempomancy wasn't an exact art. Memory was measured in moments, not minutes - and some were more momentous than others. In this case she needed his mouth to remember its last conversation, in the hope it would be more enlightening than their current one.

"...a threat to our rule," it was saying, as she let it land. Too far. Or not far enough, she wondered. That excerpt seemed worth hearing the start of.

"Magic will always be a threat to our rule."

Intrigue turned into full attention. Sanje stood up, focusing as she pushed him just a few more moments back into the past.

"I'll lure the necromancer, make up some pretence for her to come rushing into the trap. It's about time we docked her claws. You're absolutely right. As long as we allow it to continue, magic will always be a threat to our rule."

She could only listen to one side of the conversation, and imagine Kase's equally dreadful voice in response. But it was enough to tell her everything she needed to know. Sanje could recognise a snake from front or back: she knew the clang of a headsman's axe, without waiting to hear its echo.

She brought Tephan's lips forward again, then back, then forward, until they were roughly back where he'd left them. "Funny, just a moment ago it was on the tip of my tongue."

"Well, take your time," she said instead, replacing her book for one on defensive spells. Sometimes her own memory needed to be refreshed.

"Oh, that's it," he said, watching her return the volume on fungi. "There's something the gardener thinks might be magical. Some sort of toadstool, I think. You need to come and look at it."

"Of course," Sanje agreed, for once the picture of obedience. "Please, lead the way. I'll be right behind you."

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