#And now we are in the past? Or I guess Shadow is having a traumatic flashback?? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

omghispook · 1 year

Text

FNaF: Don't you remember what you saw? An Analysis of FNaF 4's Plushies

Unfortunately for us, the topic of what the Bite Victim could've "seen" depends on what the Fredbear plush is, so I can't simply discuss one without trying to convince you on the other.

Simply put, if the Fredbear plush is in the Bite Victim's imagination, then there's no proof he actually saw anything horrific, and thus he probably just saw something innocent and mistook it for a terrifying event that traumatized him. However, if the Fredbear plush is, say, a spirit, which is evidently omniscient and would have no reason to lie to the Bite Victim about the dangers of the restaurant, then it's clear the Bite Victim does have good reason to be afraid.

I am of the belief that the Bite Victim saw the MCI, and that the Fredbear plush is the Fredbear child, Cassidy.

First, let's talk about whether the plush's dialogue is in the kid's head, or if it's coming from a spirit of some kind. Unfortunately, the idea that it's imaginary is kind of unfalsifiable, isn't it? I mean, anything can be imagined. I can sit here and rattle off examples of things the plush does that it's unlikely the kid would imagine - and I will do that - but there's nothing that's impossible for a child's overactive paranoid imagination to come up with.

So instead of asking whether it's possible for the kid to imagine these things, I say we should ask, if Scott wanted to convey that this was not the kid's imagination, what could he have done?

The most famous thing that the Fredbear plush does that seems to be impossible for an imaginary friend is guess where the Foxy Bro is hiding. Now, his actual guess is just saying "Over there" after you've walked a predetermined number of footsteps, not like, "Behind the TV" or anything, so the line of dialogue can occur anywhere in the house. However, it's still a confident guess.

The other counterargument is that the Bite Victim could have simply known where his older brother was hiding, since they're brothers, and they're bound to know each other quite well. But then, why not tell the brother "Hey, I know you're behind the TV"? Why even walk over there in the first place? Why would it be a jumpscare if the character knew exactly what was going to happen?

Three days before the party, the Bite Victim is seen hiding under a table and crying, while the Fredbear plush is trying to convince him to get up and run towards the exit. All the kid wants to do is sit there and cry, and it takes a couple of attempts for the Fredbear plush to actually persuade the Bite Victim to get up and run towards the exit.

In this moment, it appears that the two are clearly separate entities, with separate wills, and separate personalities.

Then, in that same mini-game, the Bite Victim is forced to walk past two shadows on the wall, which he's afraid of.

The Fredbear plush's reaction to the shadows vs the Fredbear employee seems to indicate a more nuanced understanding than the Bite Victim has, or could reasonably imagine a separate entity to have. With the Fredbear employee, the Fredbear plush knows with certainty that he's a danger, more so than the Bite Victim seems to understand, and he needs to get away, NOW. But with the shadows, it's a different story - the Fredbear plush is empathetic to his fears, but doesn't share them. The Fredbear plush doesn't consider the shadows a danger as much as something that the Bite Victim needs to overcome for the sake of his own safety from the actual threat.

This is, to me, the biggest instance of them being separated.

Now, of course, all of these things can be imagined. The Bite Victim is mentally capable of imagining an imaginary friend plushie that predicts where the older brother is with a vague "Over there," that tells him he needs to be brave and leave the restaurant, and that doesn't share his fears of the shadows on the wall.

However, if Scott wanted to convey to us that this was more than just an imaginary friend, what exactly could he have done? Guessing where a character is hiding, having to convince our main character to do something that he doesn't want to, and not sharing the more paranoid of his fears definitely seems like the way to go to make it seem unlikely, but again, not impossible, because the main version of ImaginaryPlush is unfalsifiable.

But we can get closer.

The plushies as a whole play an integral part in FNaF 4.

They appear next to the Bite Victim as he dies, and disappear one by one as the beige-texted entity says their iconic speech. A speech that includes the line, "We are still your friends."

The only other time these plushies appear is in the beginning, when the Bite Victim says, of them, "These are my friends."

So it seems that when the entity I believe to be the Puppet says, "We are still your friends," the "we" is referring to the plushies, but more so than that, both times, they're not really talking about the plushies. The missing children were - and still are - the Bite Victim's friends. When the Bite Victim says "These are my friends," he's talking literally about how Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, and Foxy are possessed by his friends, who were wrongfully murdered in 1983.

This is relevant because it tells us that not only is the Fredbear plush representing the Fazbear Entertainment character Fredbear, but it's specifically representing Fredbear from FNaF 1.

The plushies as a group represent the FNaF 1 animatronics. There's Freddy, Bonnie, Chica, Foxy, and Fredbear, but no Spring Bonnie, just like FNaF 1, Foxy is missing his head, (which could tie into him being "out of order" in FNaF 1,) and Fredbear can, well, teleport.

So these plushies are representing the specific animatronics that the missing children were stuffed into, and the children themselves.

Ergo, the Fredbear plush would represent Cassidy, as opposed to just being a vessel for any character to talk through who just so happens to look like Fredbear. This makes it extremely likely that the Fredbear plush is Cassidy, since it would be strange otherwise, especially if Cassidy were still alive.

The teleportation in particular is damning to me. Famously, in the first FNaF, Golden Freddy could teleport through doors. And the Fredbear plush seems to be able to do the same thing, moving from room to room and not always being in the same place in the different mini-games where you roam the house. Either there's a dozen of them hidden around town, or he's following you, and the other parallels between these plushies and the FNaF 1 animatronics support the teleportation theory at least being the intention in 4.

And if that's the case, and the Bite Victim is simply imagining that the Fredbear plush moves around, then doesn't that require him to be predicting the future? Predicting that Cassidy will teleport circa '93?

The fact that it can teleport is not only a hint towards it being Cassidy - and a weirdly-placed one if CassidyPlush isn't true - but it narrows out some options like Charlie. We've never seen any other ghost simply decide to inhabit a specific object to talk to a person, except arguably the Logbook, but that's... complicated.

In fact:

This helpful theory image created by Reddit user, uh, me, shows a pattern with Golden Freddy's appearance: he always looks like the current state the other robots are in, despite being a ghost.

When all the animatronics are in repair in FNaF 1, so is Fredbear, yet when the Fazbear band is withered and broken down in FNaF 2, so is Fredbear. And he even appears as a Funtime endoskeleton in SL. What's happening here is probably not that the physical Fredbear suit that Cassidy's body is stuffed into is actually in better condition in '93 than in '87. It's more likely that the Fredbear ghost has the ability to adapt to the state of the other animatronics.

And, thusly, it would make sense that if the Fredbear ghost were then to appear admits a bunch of plushies of those animatronics, he would (or at least could) appear as a plushie.

To summarize thus far:

Because of Foxy being "out of order," the lack of Spring Bonnie, and Fredbear's ability to teleport, the FNaF 4 plushies don't just represent the Fazbear Entertainment characters, but specifically the animatronics from FNaF 1.

Because of the "We are still your friends" / "These are my friends" connection, it is likely that the plushies represent other spirits, friends of the Bite Victim, i.e. the MCI kids.

Fredbear's ability to teleport is either something that the kid somehow predicts in 1983, or is a sign that it's an actual ghost, specifically Cassidy, using this ability we know she has.

And all of that makes this even more damning:

In the Logbook, Cassidy says "Does he still talk to you?" next to a picture of the Fredbear plush.

This page has been used by Team ImaginaryPlush in two major ways. First, the page outright asks Michael to write about if he had a stuffed animal he took with him everywhere, or an imaginary friend. But to me, this reads as a misdirect; Fazbear Entertainment has one idea of what happened, but Cassidy knows the truth.

Second, if Cassidy were the Fredbear plush, why would she need to ask? Well, it's a rhetorical question, as are most of the questions in the Logbook. "The party was for you" makes it clear she knows who she's talking to, and thus probably knows the answers to questions like "Do you have dreams?" or "Do you remember your name?"

Now, I haven't quite figured out the Logbook, but to me it's pretty clear this doesn't prove ImaginaryPlush.

However, it does know that Cassidy knew that the Fredbear plush spoke to the Bite Victim. There are two ways she could know this, one of which I think is the case:

She is the Fredbear plush.

She was alive and the Bite Victim's friend when the plush started speaking to him, and he told her about it.

I'll give you 72 hours to guess which one I think is true.

The problem with the second possibility is the evidence we discussed before that the plushies are at least metaphorically the Bite Victim's friends / the MCI victims, so... why would the Bite Victim have a toy that represents those friends if they're still alive? Hell, why would the line "We are still your friends?" even need to be said if the kids are all still alive? Just, "Even though you're dying, we're not going to stop being your friend?" That would be... strange, to say the least.

There's a number of other issues I take with MCI85, and the StitchlineGamers are going to be real angry with me for this entire post, but that's not what I want to discuss.

It sort of goes without saying that the plushies representing the missing children kind of implies they're already missing, and I've already provided a bunch of evidence that that's the case. So how would one of said children know about the plushies speaking to the Bite Victim if it weren't the one speaking itself?

Now that I've proven CassidyPlush to the best of my ability, let's switch back to what this post was supposed to be about: what the Bite Victim saw. Yeah, that's right, that entire explanation of Cassidy being the Fredbear plush was a side-tangent. We're doomed.

Given what we've already discussed, the answer is obvious: he saw the MCI, the June 26th incident, the murder of the spirits that call themselves his friends in the final cutscene represented by plushies.

This warning, "Don't you remember what you saw?" and "You know what will happen if he catches you," is real, and it's coming from a spirit who was murdered by an employee in a spring-lock costume. Truly, it isn't just a misunderstanding about something innocent he saw in the Shadows, since there would be no reason to lie.

Different theorists have used "process of elimination" on this topic to come to every individual conclusion, to a point where it sort of just depends on which order you eliminate the possibilities, but to me the fact that it prompted a fear of the spring-lock suits is what narrows it down the most. Charlie's death wouldn't have done that. And even something like a spring-lock failure wouldn't cause Cassidy to tell him it was genuinely something to worry about.

No. The Bite Victim saw the MCI. Now, the fact that he saw it at Freddy's let the bulk of the game takes place at Fredbear's may be a little weird of an assumption, but that's what FNaF 4 is all about.

I'll end on this note:

Why was the Bite Victim so scared to be in a back room?

We know he's extra scared because we have no control of him, he's screaming to be let out, he collapses in fear with no "Tomorrow is another day" to be heard, and this is the only time in the game he speaks beyond "These are my friends."

Whether there's actually a child stuffed into that spring-lock suit is a debate for another day, but could it be that the child is afraid to be locked in a back room, because the thing that he saw that scarred him happened in a back room?

Take care, ~Spook

#fnaf #fnaf theory #fnaf 4 theory #fnaf 4 #five nights at freddy's #five nights at freddy's theories #five nights at freddy's theory #five nights at freddy's 4 #bite victim #crying child #evan afton #i don't think his name is actually evan but it's tags yknow #fredbear's family diner #psychic friend fredbear #fredbear plush #fnaf plushies #fnaf mci #this post took me a week for literally no reason

73 notes · View notes

soullikethesea · 5 months

Text

Making sense

I'm engaging in that same thing I did when I was a child, which is not thinking about/talking about what happened. Sometimes it pops up somewhere far, far away in the background. But it's all coated in silence and shame. I am the one who went to my parents, so it feels wrong to ask for sympathy.

After writing that last sentence, it all feels empty inside again. Nothing happened, right? I'm the one who's wrong. I think spending time together made me feel like they would be much better off without me. Like it's a puzzle and I don't fit. It must be some sort of failing that made me so out of place.

A bad moment was when we were talking about presenting and I said that it's fine for me now and it was when I was a child. As a child the school thought I was struggling emotionally, so they made me present in front of different classes (presumably to build self-esteem)? But I didn't understand and I thought it was no big deal to do that. (Newsflash: it didn't help me). But when I was a teenager I was scared of presenting, to the point where one time I fainted during a presentation.

And my stepmum was just staring at me when I said this and I felt sooo out of place, once again. It looked like she wished I didn't exist, so I couldn't influence her precious children. Maybe it reminded her of how lost I was as a teenager? How hurt? But in her mind, probably: how crazy and bad.

They are all a normal family and then there's my traumatized being that can't be normal. My dad was saying some really controversial things again, as he often does (and literally got cancelled for). And my stepmum said: "thankfully we all know that he doesn't mean literally saying that" and I had a tiny pause inside, where I realized again that with my concrete thinking I do tend to take what people say as what they mean. So maybe if I had that skill of somehow knowing what is meant and what isn't, I could have been saved.

My brother said that my dad is clearly conflict-attracted, while our uncle is conflict-avoidant. So I guess it must have been something in their past that lead to those different styles. It's true that my dad tends to escalate things.

And I am still scared of him. Maybe I am the only one who is scared of him. I just can't shake the fear. It is so deeply engrained. That feeling that I was melting down and no one in the whole world cared or would try to keep me safe. Well, my mum did, but she left me there. With the man that was so intense to her that she turned into a ball of tears and rage whenever she even saw him for one minute.

And I didn't know what to think or feel or believe. I loved him, of course. He was big and wild and strong. He wanted to play rough housing and soccer. He wanted me to be tough like a boy. And he had no clue what to do about my sensory sensitivities, sensory overwhelm, attachment dysregulation, and feelings of unsafety. So what did he do? He yelled at me and hit me and left me alone crying.

A tiny mistake could lead to a big outburst on his side. And then when I was scared I cried, and he would then scold me for crying. He would get sooooooo angry with me for being upset. And my stepmum was worse. She wouldn't talk to me directly, but would tell him what to do or what I did wrong.

I never have learned how to read her at all. She is so good at seeming friendly, but then actually feeling different inside. She scares me a lot as well.

So with everything, I turn into a shadow of myself.

And when we left all I wanted was to hurt myself and try to erase myself and apologize for existing. And then apologize for apologizing and for struggling. I guess there is no way to win.

8 notes · View notes

practically-an-x-man · 1 month

Note

What was Nikoletta like before she was the Nikoletta we know and love?

Oooh thank you!!

So I actually answered this pretty well here, at least in regards to her powers and all, but that's still the abridged version. For the full changelog, let's see... (fair warning, LONG ramble ahead)

What Stayed the Same:

Her name being Nikoletta Bordeaux

Her living in New Orleans

Her gaining her powers from STAR Labs

Her time in STAR Labs overlapping Abner's

Her powers isolating her, traumatizing her, and leaving her uncomfortable with both other people and herself

Her being known as the Queen of Belle Reve, holding a self-built position of power over the other prisoners

Her uneasy alliance with Waller, where she tolerates Nik operating outside the rules in exchange for getting rid of prisoners Waller doesn't want around

Her finding a connection with Abner, and that connection being built over the Corto Maltese mission

Her saving Abner from Starro (this was literally the first thing I decided, his death pissed me the fuck off, I hate when characters get nerfed right after finding happiness/closure)

What Changed:

Her name... sort of: While real name has always been Nikoletta Bordeaux, originally her hero name as Nyx Bastion was a lot more prominent as the name she goes by in Belle Reve and while out on missions (now, it's in her OC bio but I've never actually used it). In the end, I kinda tossed away "Nyx", and it turned into her nickname being Nik instead. I'm probably going to go remove Nyx Bastion from her OC bio too, now that I think about it, since I've literally never used it and don't really plan to at this point.

Her backstory: Originally, her family was French in origin - actual from-France French, not Louisiana French. She also was not a Woman of Color, mainly because at that point I was still a new writer and worried about accidentally offending someone by writing outside my own demographic. I honestly didn't decide much more of her backstory than that, which led to her feeling very flat and not having much dimension outside her persona in Belle Reve. I'm much, much prouder of her final backstory, and I think it gives her a lot of necessary background for how she was able to make her Queen of Belle Reve persona so successful

Her powers: Originally, her powers weren't shadow-based as much as they were nightmare-based. Any skin-to-skin contact or direct eye contact with someone would send them into a waking nightmare that eventually led them to a brain aneurysm. Some people were mysteriously immune to her abilities, with no apparent pattern at first, until it's discovered that all the survivors had experienced significant mental trauma in their lives and were able to encode Nikoletta's nightmare-illusions without growing overwhelmed. This included war vets, domestic abuse victims, and metahumans with significantly traumatic backstories.

How her powers interact with others: In the current version of her story, Nikoletta is hesitant to reach out to people because she knows her touch will leave a mark. The mark is technically harmless, but inevitable. Originally, her powers made it so the options were either near-certain death or complete immunity, so it was either to gamble or to shut herself down for safety. Once she learns the nature of the immunity and how it stems from surviving past traumas (which honestly makes most of the Squad immune to her bc damn they've been through some shit), she's able to make more of an educated guess and risk reaching out more, but I think think the inevitability of Nikoletta's final shadow-touch is what really drives her. I mean, if it's a gamble, eventually she'd get so touch-starved that she takes that risk, but if it's inevitable then there's no gaps to wriggle through.

Her appearance: And not just talking about the fact that first-draft Nikoletta was white. Originally, her nightmare-powers also caused an illusion over her appearance, where she appeared physically nightmarish or demonic to anyone who wasn't immune to her abilities. This isolated her even further, since direct eye contact was outright dangerous and even indirect glances were frightening.

Her reputation: Okay, her reputation itself didn't actually change much, I just couldn't think of a better way to work this. She still was the Queen of Belle Reve, but since her abilities were a lot more genuinely deadly, the fear she generated was completely real, and very hard to raise dissent against. Nikoletta's final shadow-powers aren't technically dangerous in any legitimate way, and it's all her skill at manipulating social situations that gives her the mystique and power to control Belle Reve. She built a lot more of it herself, when originally a lot more was handed to her thanks to her powers.

Her time in STAR Labs: Originally, she and Abner were in much closer proximity while in STAR Labs, and would talk through the vents to console each other through the experimentation. They had a close connection, though they never met face-to-face. They also escaped at the same time, rather than Nikoletta slipping away years before and not even realizing Abner's time lined up with hers until years later.

Her time in Corto Maltese: Not a whole lot changes her overall, though she doesn't go into La Gatita Amable like she does in the final story. Aside from that, she and Abner would have a heart-to-heart in the jungle where they talk about STAR Labs, and Nikoletta would pull down her sleeve to reveal a perfectly-circular burn scar, left by one of Abner's dots in the escape from STAR Labs. This leads to the two of them realizing they'd met years before, and "Nyx" (since she doesn't reveal her real name in Belle Reve, in the original version) is in fact Nikoletta, Abner's only real friend who talked to him through the vents. I do still like this backstory in theory, but I thought it made things a lot deeper and more impactful for her and Abner not to have any prior history.

Baron and Barbie: Yeah, she didn't have cats in the original version. They were a spur-of-the-moment add after I started writing for her, you had mentioned something about her getting a cat and I just thought it fit so well that I had to include it.

Thanks for the ask!! Out of all my OCs, I think Nikoletta's changed the most, and I actually remember all the changes she went through (unlike most of the others)

#my friends!!!#answered asks #my ocs #nikoletta bordeaux

4 notes · View notes

wintertimestoryteller · 1 year

Text

Linked Universe x Reader Fairy Tale Collection

@luimagines . Third scene in the opening act, it will have 5 scenes in total before actual romance, not fully satisfied with it though so I might remaster it in the future, these past few weeks have been... Something, but I still wanted to move things along and post this week so hope whoever reads this enjoys ^^

Fun Fact: All folks in the theater crew's names are references to an indie series of musical operas, wonder how many people will catch each one, just thought it fitting given the setting, I wouldn't recommend getting attached though, they won't appear at all past the opening act unlike Dark's hired help, who will have a little bit of purpose on the narrative and have some scenes but won't take the spotlight, wouldn't recommend getting attached to any of them.

A few things happened in between the time Reader fell asleep, woke up and fell asleep again.

Plus, there's going to be lots of easter eggs to other fairy tales and fairy tale adjacent stories in the story plus towards Zelda in general, some obvious, others not. Might put some fun facts about them in here before each story and/or act if you're all interested, you can see who will have each story by checking out the original prompt on Luimagines' blog except for First's, Calamity's and Spirit's, I have something special in mind for them. FD only isn't in this story because I'd have to dip into mythological territory for him, but I'll probably write a solo thing for him later on to compensate. Look out for a Masterlist of this after we are done with the opening act.

Oh and uh, warning for fairy tale typical violence in the next scene (I mean, the Disney versions are technically already gruesome and the most recognizable, but other versions also go pretty darn dark) plus Zelda typical violence, so just a quick warning while I can even if it's only on the next act, though the character will technically be fine, if probably traumatized.

Opening Act, Scene III

It barely took a minute to explain the situation to Time, and not even a full hour for your little group consisting of yourself, Twilight, Cal, Time and Wild all to recall the others to the village square to explain the situation in full. The director long since left it and the oak tree looked awfully lonely for a moment against the backdrop of a darkening horizon (when had the storm clouds thickened so much? It was plenty sunny a few hours ago).

As you guessed, Time already heard from the mayor and innkeeper that the inn had been attacked, and he likely would have talked to the director had you not beaten him to it.

"50 rupees this is a trap. Come on now, show of hands for those who think so." Came the sharp, downright arsenic tone from Legend, caged and ornery like a fox (rabbit?) Who once had it's tail caught in a trap and learned the hard way to chew his limbs off to be able to flee for another day.

You can't exactly blame him for getting snappy though, the situation is pretty unsettling and you all know it. And this group had seen a lot.

Four snorted a bit, "No bet, I'm not losing money over something that obvious. I don't know about you all but I really can't believe in coincidences with the way things are lining up."

'It's definitely the work of the Shadow then.', signed Calamity, posture straight and alert. Hand on the hilt of his sword like a silent sentinel, as if expecting we'd all be jumped. A clear contrast from the quiet but polite young man from before, box up the young man, set loose the soldier, '... We're being cornered, led by the noose. We shouldn't accept.'

"It might be the only lead we will have in a while though." Grimaced Warriors, arms crossed as he leans against the oak tree, his strategic mind going a mile a minute through the possibilities. As expected of a war commander and the left hand of his Zelda, "Don't get me wrong, this is all bloody unnerving. Specially given how (Reader)'s conversation went with the director, but it might be better in the long run to risk it and get more leads once the storm passes. Who knows when we'll next find shelter? Getting sick with a storm like this coming with zero information wether or not there's a second village nearby or if any other person will let us stay for a while would just leave us more vulnerable."

"Doesn't exactly mean we have to like it.", Sighed Spirit, a hand on his hip, nervous and skittish but doing his best to contribute anyway, "It's like stepping onto the tracks when you know for a fact there's a train coming no matter how good the reason is, but Cap' is right. Me and Wind asked around, doesn't seem like there's any other villages or cities nearby where we can stop, and the terrain isn't right for caves in this Hyrule. We'd be in big trouble eventually even if we retraced our steps."

"Speaking of that, what do any of you make of this storm?", Hyrule interjects, looking at a frowning Wind, "I can't sense anything particularly magical about the town, except maybe the fortune teller and the potion makers, but..."

Wind groans, frustrated as he crosses his arms, "That's the thing, it looks like it should be unnatural. Winds like that don't blow easily in any of your Hyrule's, specially so far away from sea, it's usually just in mine. It looks wrong, but it doesn't feel wrong! The Wind Waker won't clear it either." Spirit put a hand on his shoulder in sympathy, clearly this was driving the Sailor up the wall as the Link most attuned to the flow of winds and weather, except maybe peculiarly enough Four.

"Have you tried the Song of Day?"

Time nodded to First, "We did it already with the Sailor's baton, no change." True to his word, the howling of storm winds picked up as if on cue, or maybe spite. Almost blowing Legend's hat straight off his head to match Wild's hood, you quickly snatched it as he cursed before it could get too far.

Yup, if this was a natural storm you'd eat Hyrule's cooking for a month straight at a bare minimum. "Do you think there's dark magic involved at all?", You inquire to Twilight, Warriors, Sky and Four, the one's who had the most experience with it out of the group as you finished helping Wild with putting most of your cooking supplies away. Gooseflesh crawls up your arms, it was getting chilly and you couldn't help but look over Wind and Spirit, though it seems Warriors beat you to getting their cloaks repaired at the tailors. They've ripped recently and the thread ran out so you, Legend, himself and Sky couldn't do it as usual.

"Here," he passes you your cloak from his slate, you blink as he gives you a smile, "It's about time I gave it back to you anyway." The habit of Chain members accidentally grabbing stuff from one another was legendary by now (and the fact that some items like Sky's Sailcloth, Twilight's necklace and Four's Sword were off limits, you'd have better luck getting Legend to allow you to borrow an item than getting them to part from those), you just didn't think it would extend to you.

"Thank you.", Smiling, you snuggle into the fabric, tilting your head at the headshake from Twilight as he takes the floor, "If there is, it's too faint for any of us to really notice it. Or it's just not the type we are using to deal with."

"We won't exactly know unless we're in the building most likely.", Sighed your resident captain, the smith nods along and adds in, "There definitely was some around the inn though, in the rubble. But not really anywhere else strong enough to notice, could be because of the monster presence here recently."

"Fi's been quiet too, plus that Raven fellow didn't even seem to bat an eye at her presence, unlike the Shadow would." Sky spoke thoughtfully, you had seen them pass by one another didn't they? It was likely then that he checked.

"Mhn, they act strangely but they're not possessed from what we can see either."

Legend shakes his head with a huff, "Much as I hate to admit they're right, disguised monsters usually have cracks in their facades, either it's a really good, really patient one, or just a Goddess damned weirdo with a few screws loose."

Neither alternative is good, you think and despite yourself, your gaze drifts to the theater building again. True to the stranger's word, the doors were open and the gales were picking up, you still have that niggling feeling from before, the unease that picks up the shoe before letting it drop, the feeling of being at a stalemate with a Lynel or breaths away from getting shot down by a Guardian as you look at the dim lights of the second floor of candles and lanterns likely being lit up. As much as you wanted to believe this was a rare struck of luck the Chain some times had when traveling (in meeting some times strange, but helpful individuals), something in there shook you, and laughed in your face when you couldn't figure out where the possible dagger was coming from.

The thunder roars as lightning strikes the earth, joining the once peaceful breeze turned into a furious zephyr in it's howling, screaming melody as the first drops of water begin to fall, seems the grace period you and the Chain had was up.

"Old man?" "Grandsire?" Inquired both Twilight and Sky, as you all leave the final decision to them (an inevitability really, with a group this big and diverse). Time and First trade a look, seemingly having a silent conversation, before First nods lightly, sighing, Time nods in acquiesce, "We'll accept lodging until the storm is gone and not a moment less, everyone be on your guards. And anything suspicious or sign of the Shadow you tell one of us immediately, we mean it, do not engage or go off alone, this doesn't look like a Dungeon but we can quickly be proven wrong."

And that was that.

As one, you all walk towards the theater, the director seemed to be talking with someone at the door, a young woman with curly hair close to her chin. They wave her off as she runs back inside the building, tugging excitedly on the arm of another young lady, this one tall with hair a pale shade of blonde to the seats where you can briefly spot a side door who giggles at her excitement, the director gives them both a fond grin before turning to your group with a wink, "Nothing like seeing young people have fun mhm? So, I take it you made your choice."

First nods respectfully, voice steady and even, "Indeed, thank you very much for your hospitality."

The director rolls their eyes with a chuckle, ushering you all in, "Oh stop, you'll make me blush! It's nothing really, I have more than enough space and am always eager to please and entertain."

"It's still appreciated nonetheless."

They shake their head at Time, "So very polite, no need. Now! In you all go, I'll show you all to your rooms on the second floor and the communal area backstage."

You pause, just a step behind Sky, Wild and Hyrule, who scanned the warm lobby space with open interest, Spirit barely being able to hold Wind back from just running off as the director closes the doors behind Calamity, Legend and Warriors, their Hyrule's didn't have anything similar to theaters, at least not anymore on some cases not to mention many of the Links would have had time or interest to frequent these spaces anyway, so their curiosity was warranted. A glance from Time and First quickly stop any shenanigans at the director's back, "Has the communal area always existed?" You ask.

"Not really, most of these buildings don't have those. But I wanted the best for my actors you know? Some of them have nowhere to go, and letting such talent go to waste would be a shame. Hence why I had something of a substitute for it built in and rooms up above.", Shrugged Raven, going through the open doors on their left, "Comes in handy anyway when things like this happen, we have plenty of rooms for you all individually, so don't worry about sharing. Backstage and the communal area are just beyond the main treat of this place." There's a grin on their voice as they say so, and you quickly see why as your breath is briefly taken away.

The auditorium is beautiful, open and spacious with a grand stage where most of the lightning would be focused on, but generally bright enough as there are visitors as you spot a young man with red hair helping a blonde lady light the other lanterns. The curtains open with minimum scenery on the dark wood stage and the stands go from the very beginning of the auditorium, to the sides and second floor where two stairs covered by a dark red carpet lead up to the boxes', an iron chandelier hangs from the dark wooden rafters, casting light onto wooden beams and gray walls. Simple and solemn, but elegant enough to feel comfortable and homey rather than something more opulent or rigid, at least on any other occasion.

Raven's grin widens, seemingly satisfied at your reaction and what they seem to find on the faces of the Chain from open appreciation to curious interest, they stand in the road to the stands and take a bow, "Welcome to Astoria Theater, enjoy your stay! Once you've seen one of our performances you'll never want to leave!", They straighten up, something about their movement feels... Off, but you shrug it off as they nod to the red haired young man and lady sliding down the stairs, by the stairs you spot two side doors at the corners of the stage's stairs, the salt and pepper haired playwright seems more than pleased to themselves as they nod to each one, "Communal area and kitchen to the right, bathrooms and showers to the left. Feel free to help yourselves to the pantry, our home is your home." With a quick hop and sweep of their sleeve, they call the young red haired man over, "Edgar here will lead you to your rooms and if anything feel free to ask him, Anabella, Amelia, Byron or Priscilla, there's enough space so you all shouldn't need to bunk together." The newly named Edgar nods, a black cat comes hopping and balancing on the seats to settle on the theater's owners shoulders, earning itself an ear pinch before they move on, "All I really ask is that you keep away from the quarters of the crew and my own. Not many of us around today since most have their own places now, but just enough we can probably be nice enough hosts."

"Also keep away from the costumes and prop rooms and the stage", chimed in the other blonde lady, either Amelia, Anabella or Priscilla you guessed, "Byron is downright feral when someone messes with his hard work."

Edgar raised an eyebrow at her, "Downright, Anabella? You'd think he was raised by a pack of Wolfos if not by seeing him with that little village herbalist."

"I HEARD THAT!" Comes the yell from backstage, as a young man with brown hair sends a scatching glare from behind the curtain, the Chain as one jumps, and you thank your lucky stars for their restraint indoors even as you have to half remind yourself not to throw your dagger either. "Costume making with you people is maddening and you know it, no thanks to your stunts! And don't you bring Lynn into this you pompous pri-"

"Alright! Settled down you two!" Raven claps sharply with a stern look, Edgar sneers at presumably Byron while the later growls, they sigh, pinching the bridge of their nose before sending your group an apologetic, tired look you've seen on Time's or First's face many, many times over the course of this adventure, "Apologies about them, things can get hectic some times. Anyway, just don't go to those places uninvited and remember your end of the bargain." Brightening up, they grin, "Nothing like meals and a show during rainy days you know? It will be a nice distraction for us all I'd wager, we'll make sure to call you lot so you can take it in the stands."

"It's alright.", First relaxed, hand that had instinctually gone to the sword at his side falling limp, Time was the second to compose himself fully with a wry sigh, "Trust me, we understand pretty well."

"Thank you so much again for your hospitality." Sky spoke up, smiling warmly, Edgar seemed to blink a few times, Anabella almost dropped a candle she had in hand, while Raven simply smiled, "Don't mention it, really."

"We mean it, it's appreciated." Nodded Warriors, with Twilight right behind him.

They shrug, waving your group off. "It's not much at all, as long as we can tell stories we are satisfied. It's in the theater's and on the lobby's sign and all."

Edgar nods briefly, "All of us fell for the theater at some point due to that. It's only inevitable."

... For some reason, that makes you pause, that prickle of unease rearing it's head. You study them closely, but the director simply shrugs, sweeping sleeves flapping about as they shoo you group off. "Now off you go! You've had a long day, take your time, unwind, and we'll have the stage set properly tomorrow."

With that, you're all lead away. To the second floor and, true to Raven's word. There was an available room for everyone, all of them standard and pretty much the same with a single bed, desk with an unlit lantern, and a simple wooden wardrobe, after showing us all to our rooms, Edgar left swiftly, muttering something about 'needing to redo the scenery'. Tiredness you've barely registered crept onto the edges of your mind, you stifle a yawn and wave to your company, "I think that's my cue, I'm going to take a nice long nap for now."

"First sign of a bed and already trading us for it?", Teased Wild, making you poke his chest and flick a pointy ear, lips pursed so you won't smile at the little twitch, "Of course, just because I travel and adore you lads doesn't mean you're not exhausting to my sanity."

"Ouch." Mock hissed Spirit, Wind from his side hmphing, "I'll have you know we are a delight, thank you very much! If anything being around us is probably better for your health!"

You chuckle, ruffling Wind's hair and patting Spirit's head beneath his hat, ignoring both the indignant squawk and light bat like an annoyed cat, "I know, I know, don't take it personally. I'm really just tired."

"We know, it's been a long day and an even longer week," Sky smiled softly, giving you a gentle push onwards, before stifling a yawn, "Honestly I might follow your example."

"We meet later on for dinner?" Chimed in Wild, shifting in place, "I kind of want to check their pantry before anything else. See what we'll be working with."

Time nodded, addressing the Chain as one, "We'll meet up in the auditorium, you all get some rest until then. It will be a long stay so we may as well get used to this place."

"Don't give any trouble to our hosts, and if any of you notice something off come fetch me or Time." Came from First, you catch the tail end of agreement from the boys as you open and close your door, breathing in deeply.

You still can't push that feeling that something about this is too easy, or that the other shoe is going to drop. But faced with a warm bed and at least somewhere semi-secure from monsters after so long on the road, you can't bring yourself to dwell too deeply on in it, you set your bag on the wardrobe and atop a pile of wooly blankets. Picking one for your own use while you can, take of your boots and set them by the night stand, dim the lantern and then fall back onto the mattress, wrapping yourself comfortably and not forgetting to place the dagger beneath your pillow.

You fall quickly into a warm and dreamless sleep, unaware of a black cat with crimson eyes watching you from above, as the shadows shift unnaturally and the lantern almost goes out, before it slinks away into the shadows, slipping away unnoticed.

_______________________________________________

Long after night fell, dinner had been had along a relaxed retelling about the adventures of a young wooden puppet who became a human and all activity had ceased from most other guests and hosts alike. The darkness and shadows of the corridors shifted oddly, flickering as if someone had set a candle by them when all light have been either dimmed or blow out, they seethed and snapped and twisted as form was given to one of their own even as they hissed at the anomaly, wanting to be set to their natural, usually still and silent state again.

Sadly, they wouldn't be able to return to sleep just yet.

First came legs, then a torso and arms, neck and a head with short chin lenght hair, shades draped upon them in a shape like a tunic's and forming boots at their feet and red, red eyes, a shade bright like rubies found in the Era of Wild, bright even in the dark. Something snapped within the darkness, visibly shifted and cracked itself into place, and the figure stepped out, while once as obsidian as the shadows he was named from, color seemed to flood into the being as the remaining shades melted away, giving way to dark purple hair held back with a black headband, sickly pale skin from being unable to stay in the sunlight, and where there once was only the shape of eyes now there was a sclera.

There in the empty lobby stood a perfect copy of The Hero of Minish, the Shadow behind the Four Sword Wielder.

Shadow stretched, cracking his neck with a relieved sigh, "Now that is much more like it." His crimson eyes surveyed the room almost critically, narrowed and wary, he clicked his tongue with a sigh, wrinkling his nose, the only sound in a theater as quiet as a mausoleum, "Sheesh, no wonder Rainbow was on edge... This place is enough to give even me the creeps." And he had worked under Vaati, yikes. Shrugging, he went forward into the darkened auditorium, footsteps silent as the building, "Let's see what we can find, shall we?"

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

Humming, the masked figure grinned, putting quill to paper from a darkened spot in the balcony, the Director walked away from their room with a candle in hand and a case on the other heading down the stairs, a black cat with blood red eyes stared judgmentally at the masked one's glee, "There you are." They waved the cat off, it rolled it's eyes with a hiss, but melded into the shadows easily enough, the figure leaned comfortably against the balcony railing and got to writing, ink crimson and then back where the quill passed, "First thing most fairy tales and stories teach you: never wander off alone, good intentions or not."

Opening Act, Scene III End.

#linked universe x reader #lu chain #lu x reader #linked universe x reader au #short one this time #no Shadows shall be harmed in the making of next chapter #just arguably traumatized #Dark Link is questioning every single of his decisions at this point #While whoever is behind Raven is practically vibrating as much as I am to get on with the plot #Might put this on ao3 eventually #just so I won't bother Luimagines every post xD

42 notes · View notes

cartoonfanaticmonsterrobotalien · 7 months

Text

Solar Opposites in The Ultra Opposites Episode #3: “Feelin’ The Fire” (for @avaveevo and @crazychanuwu77)

At Jesse and Yumyulack’s bedroom, Yumyulack and Daryl were making out as Jesse walks in.

Jesse: teasingly So, how are things with your boyfriend?

Yumyulack: Aww Jesse, do you really have to walk in?

Jesse: teasingly Just checking…

Yumyulack: Ugh.

Daryl: Man sisters.

Yumyulack: Eh, I know right.

Daryl: Well, at least I am here with you.

Yumyulack: So am I.

Daryl and Yumyulack kiss. Later, they walk around the neighborhood with Jesse. Suddenly, Yumyulack gets hit by a spit ball.

Yumyulack: Ow! falls down

Aidan: Move it Yumyudork! This is our halls!

Daryl: Hey! Leave my boyfriend alone!

Braiden: Well guess what?! Your boyfriend is fucking gross! Especially when he does his weird arm thing with his weirdo sister!

Jesse: Hey! I’m not weird!

Daryl: Yeah! You guys are just being fucking jerkasses to my boyfriend and his sister!

Jayden: Well your boyfriend will never be cool as us! Or extreme as us!

As the Headphone guys laugh, Yumyulack uses his mind reading powers to fool his bullies as he smirk.

Yumyulack: Oh really?! Then what about the time Aidan laugh so hard, root beer spit out of his nose?

Aidan: What?! How does he know that?!

Jayden: I don’t know!

Yumyulack: Or the time Jayden was given a pizza wedgie after he lost a bet?

Jayden: Huh?

Aidan: Shit! He knows it all by himself! Let’s get the fuck out of here!

The Headphone guys run off in a panic as Daryl grew impress by his boyfriend’s strange memory.

Daryl: Damn honey. You were pretty savage. I like it.

Yumyulack: Oh um thanks. blushes

Daryl: How did you know so much?

Nervous, Yumyulack decided to lie as he gulps so his boyfriend won’t find out about his new powers.

Yumyulack: Oh um, I just took uh, psychic lessons…?

Jesse: Wha?

Daryl: Oh that’s nice! See you later babe.

Daryl kisses Yumyulack on the cheek as Yumyulack blushes. But as soon as Daryl left, Yumyulack frowns and looks down depressingly.

Yumyulack: What am I doing?

Jesse: Nice going Yum bear! Do you know how much trouble is gonna… are you okay?

Yumyulack: No. Who am I kidding? What am I doing? I can’t use my new psychic powers. It’s gonna make me look like a freak. I fear it might push Daryl away from me. I gotta be careful. Plus, we promised Korvo to not use our powers. So, I think it’s best if I don’t use them at school. Or anywhere with my boyfriend around.

Jesse: Aw don’t worry Yumbear. I’ll stick by you just in case something bad happens.

Yumyulack: smiles Thanks sis. Let’s head home. I bet Korvo and Terry are started to worry about us.

Yumyulack and Jesse went home but a mysterious shadow is staring evilly at them. Later, at nighttime, Terry started to moan in fear as he began to experience a nightmare about his past. In his nightmare, he sees his parents being murdered.

Terry: No no no!

Baby cries were heard as it was revealed Terry’s parents were murdered when he was a baby.

Terry: Mom… dad…

As the whole nightmare flashes in white, Terry wakes up gasping in horror. He then begins to cry as Korvo wakes up and grows concern over his husband.

Korvo: Sweetie, what’s wrong? Are you okay?

Terry: weeping as tears stream down like a waterfall I just had a nightmare over my parents’ death when I was a baby.

Korvo: What?! Oh honey. There there. kisses him on the forehead It’s gonna be okay. I’m here.

Terry smiles as he snuggles with his husband lovingly. The next morning, Legendary Super Shlorpian and Solar Flare are now trying to defeat a giant robot.

Terry/Solar Flare: Okay honey, I think the weakness is in those laser eyes! Use your ice breath.

Korvo/Legendary Super Shlorpian: On it!

Legendary Super Shlorpian uses his ice breath towards the robot’s eyes.

Korvo/Legendary Super Shlorpian: Now sweetheart!

Terry/Solar Flare: Okay let’s… suddenly started see the traumatic flashback about his parents getting killed by a monster and starts breathing in and out

Korvo/Legendary Super Shlorpian: Everything okay honey?!

Solar Flare gets hit by the robot as he screams and gets knock into a building as he moans.

Korvo/Legendary Super Shlorpian: Hey! No one messes my husband you bitch!

Korvo transforms into his Super Shlorpian form and uses his ice breath to blow up the robot as it explodes. He then picks up Terry and flies home as the town cheers for them. Later back at home, Janiz start putting bandages on Terry as Korvo began to grow concern about his husband.

Korvo: Jesus Christ honey, this is the other panic attack you had in a row. What has gotten into you?

Terry: Oh uh, I don’t know. It was traumatic and hard to erase for me.

Korvo: Terry, I really think you need help. How about you see a therapist or a doctor.

Terry: But, I’ll be fine. See?!

An image of the monster pops out of Terry’s head as he screams. He started to breath in and out. He leaves in a rush. Later, he started to clean the dishes as traumatic attack as Korvo groans once he started to head out the door

Korvo: Okay, I’m gonna go now. I need to-

Suddenly, Terry snapped and grabbed Korvo’s left hand as he gasp.

Terry: snapping DON'T YOU DARE FUCKING LEAVE ME!

Korvo gasp as he started to cry. Terry gasp upon seeing what he did and starts to break down on his knees.

Terry: Oh no. I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry! I’m sorry!

Terry breaks down in tears as Korvo manage to pull himself together and embrace his husband in comfort.

Korvo: Shh shh. It’s okay. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. Shh.

Terry: crying hysterically

Korvo: Oh honey. You’ve been so traumatized. Please, tell me what’s wrong. Let me and Janiz help you.

Terry whimpers. Meanwhile, Ophelia is busy trying to figure out a way to take away the Solars’ powers.

Ophelia: Grr! There has got to be a way to take those fucking aliens’ powers and they can be all mine.

Suddenly, she looks at the crystal ball and it plays a footage of Yumyulack and Daryl.

Daryl: Well, I better home to study. I’ll see you later baby.

Yumyulack: Okay honey see you soon.

Yumyulack kisses Daryl as he left and sighs lovingly at his human boyfriend. The footage and Ophelia grins evilly.

Ophelia: So that’s the young alien’s weakspot. A human boyfriend? This is all too easy. Now grab him for the taking so it can attract the boy and the powers will be all mine! laughs manically

Later, Daryl was studying at home, until a dart went into his throat as he gasp and collapse. Ophelia laughs evilly.

Ophelia: I got a you now! Soon, those powers will be all mine!

The next day, Yumyulack was walking to school while humming. He then notices the newspaper ad as he gasp.

Yumyulack: What the?!

Yumyulack looks closely at the ad as he gasp and the headline says, “Local Teenage Boy Goes Missing” and it shows the picture of Daryl.

Yumyulack: Oh my God! Daryl!

With no time to lose Yumyulack rushes off to find his boyfriend. Later, Korvo help Terry sit down in the couch calmly as Terry started to weep as tears stroll down his eyes.

Korvo: Okay Terry, I got Aisha and Eva here. Tell us what’s wrong.

Aisha: You tell us what’s wrong sweetheart?

Eva: Of course.

Terry sighs and takes a deep breath as he gets ready to talk about his tragic flashback.

Terry: Okay. Here it goes. The flashback plays back on Shlorp where it shows Terry’s adults nurturing baby Terry When I was a baby, my parents have always loved me and took care of me.

Then it cuts to nighttime where it shows a monster attacking Shlorp.

Terry: voiceover But then, a monster came and attack Shlorp.

Terry’s adults then sees an orphanage and got baby Terry to safety as he continues crying. Terry’s mother kiss baby Terry on the forehead.

Terry: voiceover My parents got me to safety, but they didn’t make it because, the monster took their lives.

The flashback ends with the monster murdering Terry’s parents. The scene switches back to the present as Terry then continue to weep.

Korvo: Oh honey. I had no idea.

Terry: tearfully I grew up without any adult supervision and I was placed at a Replicant caring center, where I had no love and care. That was even right before I met you Korvo years later.

Korvo: Oh Terry, I am so sorry.

Terry: Don’t be. Maybe I’m the one who should leave. Maybe I’m the one keeping myself alone.

Aisha: Hey Terry.

Eva: You are not keeping yourself alone. You still got us.

Korvo: Of course. Terry, right now, you have me, and the kids, and Janiz, and Aisha and Eva.

Terry: But, are you gonna leave me too?

Korvo: smiling Of course not honey. I will never leave you. It’s only just in case I need to run some errands. But, I promise you this. I will never leave you Terry. You’re my husband and I love you. I know you grew up without parents but at least you have a family right now. kisses Terry’s cheek

Terry: cheering up Gee, thanks honey.

The two alien husbands starts making out. Then, Terry started to carry Korvo bridal style but then, as the two husband head inside their room and Terry sat Korvo down on his bedside softly, the two husbands then see a note on Korvo’s bedside.

Korvo: Huh? What’s this?

Terry: A note? Who wrote it?

Korvo: What the fuck? How this note get here?

As Korvo picks up the note, it reads as Yumyulack’s voiceover is heard:

“Dear Terry and Korvo,

I'm going to look for Daryl. Don't look for me.

-Yumyulack”

Korvo: Oh my god...

Terry: Holy shit.

Korvo: THAT FUCKING IDIOT!!! before transforming into his Super Shlorpian form and having a tearful breakdown

Terry: Hey, Korv! Calm down!

Super Shlorpian Korvo: crying HOW THE HELL CAN I CALM DOWN WHEN OUR SON IS GONNA KILL HIMSELF?!

Terry: Don’t worry, we just have to go looking for him! Okay? Just breath.

Korvo started breathing in and out and took deep breathes as he calm down and turns back into his normal Shlorpian self.

Terry: Good. Now let’s go find our boy!

As Korvo and Terry rush down the stairs, Jesse and Pupa wonders what’s wrong.

Jesse: Uh, what’s happening?!

Pupa: Yumyulack?

Korvo: Janiz, watch Jesse and the Pupa!

Janiz: Got it!

Korvo and Terry desperately look around the neighborhood as they grow worried about where their son is.

Korvo: Yumyulack?! Yumyulack, where are you?! Come back here right now mister! Yumyulack?!

Terry: Yumyulack?! Yumyulack?! Honey, where are you?!

Suddenly, Korvo began to hear something with his super Shlorpian senses.

Korvo: What the fuck?

As Korvo listens carefully, he could hear Ophelia talking about her kidnapping on Daryl!

Ophelia: voiceover; echoing Now that I have the alien boy’s boyfriend, the Ultra Opposites will surrender to me and their powers will be all mine! laughs maniacally

Korvo gasp.

Korvo: Aw man, I don’t think Yumyulack is gonna like this!

Terry: What? What happened?

As Korvo whispered what happens in Terry’s ear as he panics.

Terry: Oh shit! We have to get there before Yumyulack does!

Korvo: Ultra Opposites, move out!

Korvo and Terry transforms into their Ultra Opposites form as Korvo transforms into his super Shlorpian form and they fly up to the sky towards Ophelia’s fortress. The two Ultra Opposites break in as Legendary Super Shlorpian turns back into his normal while taking deep breaths. Korvo uses his ice breath to blow the doors down as the minions turn and gasp. They got out their weapons and charge towards them. Solar Flare and Legendary Super Shlorpian nod at each other and uses their powers to overpower the guards.

Terry/Solar Flare: Time to play with fire! blast some the guards with his fireballs

Korvo/Legendary Super Shlorpian: You motherfuckers need to chill out! uses an ice blast that froze some of the minions

As Ophelia hear the attack coming from outside, Solar Flare and Legendary Super Shlorpian bust through the lair with death glares towards the vile empress as she gasp.

Ophelia: Solar Flare!

Terry/Solar Flare: Long time! No see bi-atch!

Ophelia: sees Legendary Super Shlorpian What?! There is more of you?! Impossible!

Korvo/Legendary Super Shlorpian: Nothing is impossible ya fuck!

Terry/Solar Flare: Release our son’s boyfriend you monster!

Ophelia growls and lunges towards Korvo as he gasp. Legendary Super Shlorpian starts to transform as the empress grabs him by the throat.

Ophelia: growing intrigued as she senses so much power in Korvo So, you are a Super Shlorpian! So much power! I shall take it for the taking!

Solar Flare gasp as his traumatic shows up but this time with more happy memories of him and his family. He growls as he gets up and punches Ophelia in the face once Legendary Super Shlorpian finishes transforming into his Super Shlorpian form.

Terry/Solar Flare: Nobody hurts my husband you motherfucker!

Ophelia: Why you vile little-

Legendary Super Shlorpian uses his ice breath and blast the empress away as Daryl grows shock.

Daryl: Damn.

Ophelia: Well, guess what? Your super hubby has a flat ass.

Korvo/Legendary Super Shlorpian: scoffs

Terry/Solar Flare: How dare you?! My husband has a thicc ass! slaps Legendary Super Shlorpian’s ass

Korvo/Legendary Super Shlorpian: Ooh. giggles You are one bad Shlorpian, Solar Flare.

Terry/Solar Flare: I’m glad I am.

The two husbands then make out, much to Ophelia’s disgust.

Daryl: Uh, are you guys gonna fight her now?

Terry/Solar Flare: Oh right. Sorry Daryl? Ready babe?

Korvo/Legendary Super Shlorpian: Ready!

The two alien superhero husbands then spring into action as they began to use their powers again and fought with Ophelia. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Yumyulack came home and was busy help cleaning the house roof until he heard Daryl crying out for help with his mind reading power.

Yumyulack: gasp Daryl?! Daryl!

Yumyulack growls and rushes to the fortress where he sees Solar Flare and Legendary Super Shlorpian still fighting Ophelia. He then gasp and sees Daryl lock in a cage.

Yumyulack: DARYL!

Terry/Solar Flare: Huh? Yumyulack?!

Korvo/Legendary Super Shlorpian: Oh shit! Yumyulack! Get out of here!

Ophelia: Grrr! Not you again! What are you doing here?!

Yumyulack: Let go of my boyfriend, you fucking monster!

Ophelia: Oh shut the fuck up! You stupid bitch!

As Yumyulack starts to growl, purple lightening starts to appear all over his body.

Yumyulack: NOBODY MESSES WITH MY BOYFRIEND!

Yumyulack screams as he began to transform:

youtube

Yumyulack, now an Ultra Opposites give the empress a death stare as Solar Flare and Legendary Super Shlorpian gasp with joy in their eyes. Their son is now an Ultra Opposites. Daryl sighs lovingly at his boyfriend.

Yumyulack/Psylock: Prepare to meet the wrath of Psylock!

Psylock uses his brain waves to blast Ophelia as it creates as crater as she screams and falls to the floor. Yumyulack then uses his psychic powers and metalbends the bars as Daryl is released.

Daryl: Wow. You have psychic powers?

Yumyulack/Psylock: Oh shit. Daryl I can explain-

Daryl kisses Psylock as he melts into while Psylock uses his mind reading powers to blast Ophelia away.

Yumyulack/Psylock: I’m sorry I couldn’t tell ya. I was just scared of pushing you away and-

Daryl: Hey. It’s alright. I’m just glad my boyfriend came for me. Oh and don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about your powers.

Yumyulack/Psylock: Thanks sweetie.

Overjoyed to see their son okay, Solar Flare and Legendary Super Shlorpian flies towards Psylock in relief and joy as they embrace their son.

Korvo/Legendary Super Shlorpian: Yumyulack! Sweetheart, you’re okay! We’re so proud of you!

Terry/Solar Flare: Come here, our little boy! I can’t believe you are a super hero now!

Yumyulack/Psylock: Guys! Cut it out. You’re embarrassing me. sighs I guess I’m ground for one Earth month, huh?

Korvo/Legendary Super Shlorpian: Actually I think what you’ve been through today was punishment enough, Psylock. What do you think Solar Flare?

Terry/Solar Flare: I agree. Oh and Daryl, thank you for telling us you’ll keep our identities a secret from everyone else.

Daryl: No problem, Solar Flare.

Ophelia groans as she gets up, only to see the three Ultra Opposites giving her a death glare.

Yumyulack/Psylock: This is for messing with my boyfriend you bitch!

With that, Psylock uses his mind reading powers and blast Ophelia to the ground as she falls unconscious.

Ophelia: moaning I’ll get for this, Opposites…

As Ophelia falls unconscious, the three Ultra Opposites, after Psylock carries Daryl, flies away and heads back home. Later, the three Solars power down back into their normal Shlorpian selves.

Yumyulack: Don’t worry guys, I’ll take Daryl home.

Korvo: You boys have fun.

Terry: Love you sweetheart. So, is there anything I can do to make up for what has happened today?

Korvo: How about a little fun?

Terry: Oh ho yeah. Because, I rather move on from the fuck up traumatic past and focus the present with you.

Korvo: Aw.

Korvo and Terry then proceed to have sex after taking their clothes. Later, Yumyulack and Daryl look at each other lovingly.

Daryl: Well babe, I better get going. But don’t worry, I’m not gonna tell anyone about your powers.

Yumyulack: Thanks honey. Sorry again for lying to you.

Daryl: It’s okay. I’m just glad to be back home with my boyfriend. See you tomorrow for study?

Yumyulack: You bet.

Daryl and Yumyulack kiss as Daryl heads home and Yumyulack watches his boyfriend walking home as he sighs lovingly and smiles.

THE END

5 notes · View notes

emletish-fish · 2 years

Text

Johnny and Daniel and thematic journeys. Daniel vs the monster and Johnny vs the self.

This rant was inspired by a discussion with @arabianflowers on this post.

TV is a visual story-telling method, so lots of hugs/smiles/closeness in one dojo vs lots of solo practice in another dojo is a quick visual short-hand for telling the audience something about the environments/priorities within those dojos. Cobra Kai is trying to tell us something about these two men by framing it this way.

Season 4 makes it clear that these two need to blend their approach and have a lot to learn from each other. Johnny teaches with more physicality and Daniel teaches with more philosophy and the kids need both.

Short answer; I think this plays into the red-oni/blue-oni, hot and cold, red and blue thing they have going on with Johnny and Daniel. Johnny being a warmer sensei vs Daniel attemtping to be coolly logical and philosophical ties into this red/blue theme.

(I do not at all think this is deliberate or intentional on the part of the characters at all. Can you imagine Johnny’s reaction to being told he has the cuddliest dojo and he’s the snuggly sensei?)

Longer answer -

This actually ties into something thematic in their overall arcs so far.

Daniel is on a daniel vs external foe (and evaluating how to fight that foe. eg examining his connection to and understanding of miyagi-do, what he is willing to sacrifice to win, price of victory, nature of evil, what is justice etc etc. All good moral and juicy questions that the show is in the process of answering.)

Johnny however is on an internal quest. It’s Johnny vs Johnny all the way down. Can he overcome his toxic masculinity, overcome his past, and learn from his mistakes? Can he build successful relationships despite past failure. Can he atone? Can he have an improved relationship with his son? Can he break the cycle and be a better teacher/male role model than what he had as a youth?

Daniel’s story is about overcoming a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. Johnny’s story is by nature more interpersonal, so that is why there is probably a greater focus on his interpersonal relationships as a result.

Caveat - it’s much easier to analyse stories when they’ve been completed and you see where all the loose threads end up. Cobra Kai is still in progress, so predictions are all just based on my best guesses.

So yeah, it’s hard to predict where this is going to end up - but two thematic journeys are taking clear shapes.

Johnny and Daniel are mirror characters and foils for each other but they are on very different thematic journeys.

Daniel vs the Monster -

Jee, for someone who idolises a pacifist, Daniel does love to provoke and escalate fights, doesn’t he?

But that is kind of the point.

From season 1, Daniel’s driving action has been geared towards trying to defeat external enemies. First Johnny, then Kreese and now we are entering a new and probably final Daniel Vs Terry arc.

Terry is the ultimate big bad for Daniel.

Terry is the monster lurking in the traumatic shadows of all the things Daniel has suppressed. Terry and the experience of everything that went down in Cobra Kai III are behind Daniel’s trust issues and his less noble actions. Terry is the undertow that pulls him towards escalating conflict.

In season 1, Daniel sees an instant enemy in Johnny NOT when he comes into the dealership. (There, faced with the man himself, Daniel can be magnimous and generous and tactful and kind). No - the second that Daniel decides that Johnny is his ENEMY is when he sees the Cobra Kai sign.

Daniel is really fighting the snake - but it leads him to seeing enemies in people like Johnny and Chozen, when the real monster is just lurking off to the side.

And it’s so interesting that Chozen and Johnny and Daniel are all going to work together in season 5. I’m so curious as to how this dynamic will play out.

The two people who seemed so bad and terrible to young Daniel will actually be his greatest allies and assets if he can learn to work with them. We know that as soon as Daniel stops seeing them as enemies and starts seeing them as people, he can be the open and generous person he is in his heart. He enjoys their company and has fun with him. (We don’t get much carefree daniel). And as of season 4, he’s acknowledged that there are things he can learn from both of them.

Daniel sees that Johnny and Chozen were messed up kids who were subjected to toxic idealogy when they were younger, and not inherently bad people or monsters.

he’s not a monster. he’s just a guy with a lot of demons.

He is much more forgiving of them as individuals - but also much more strident about his mission in ridding the valley of Cobra Kai.

But how much is Daniel willing to sacrifice to win and how far will this take him away from the Miyagi principles?

We see Daniel really lose sight of Miyagi principles in season 4 when he proceeds to do the opposite of what Mr Miyagi would do - all to beat Cobra Kai and Terry Silver.

(And I am predicting that season 5 will take us further down this rabbit hole.)

but this has been a building theme since season 1. Daniel drives all the escalation in season 1 and 2. Aside from the dick graffiti, Johnny doesn’t instigate any of the drama and is much more reactive to Daniel.

Bizarrely, Johnny strike-first Lawrence is also more likely to be the one who reaches for de-escalation. eg the season 2 dojo confrontation and the season 4 battle both have Johnny attempt to diffuse the situation without violence. He’s unsuccessful, because this is not his strong suit, but it is so interesting that the attempt is there.

Anyway, a pattern is forming.

In season 1 Daniel tries to fight Johnny indirectly through various means and close his dojo.

in season 2 he tries to out-karate him and open his own dojo to show everyone a better way.

(teaching karate is almost secondary to the goal of destroying cobra kai though ‘showing them a better way’, which is why Daniel’s storyline is more geared to that, and has more philosophy etc. The focus isn’t on the interpersonal relationships, but on daniel as a teacher.)

In season 3, Johnny is no longer the enemy and new villian has taken centre stage. Kreese is running the dojo, and Daniel tries to fight kreese indirectly and get the dojo shut down through various means.

Season 4, Daniel tries to fight Terry and Kreese by out karate-ing them at the AVT,.

I’m predicting season 5 will have Daniel once more trying to fight Terry through various means, rather than direct karate confrontations. But in each season, the stakes get higher and the villians get stronger/badder/more evil, and Daniel has to make more compromises with himself and his values to confront them and the toll it takes on his family and his life gets bigger.

Daniel is driven to fight the snake, often against his better judgement.

Daniel’s story is all about exploring how to be a pacifist in a violent world with violent foes, and what is the true meaning of justice and honour and mercy?

Daniel fighting an external foe means that he has his eyes on that goal and he loses sight of the bigger picture. Which is why he can use children to further his cause but justify it to himself as being for their own good.

Because Cobra Kai is terrible and Daniel will save them from it by using what saved him.

Miyagi-do.

and Miygai-do is a solo practice for self-betterment, it’s for defense only, it’s good.

and cobra kai is bad.

so the ends justify the means.

I mean, that’s clearly where we are at right now. Daniel is going to be obsessed with taking down Terry next season, and I’m just wondering where that obsession will take him.

I am so fascinated by both Daniel and Sam’s black and white thinking and how it affects their choices. Sam has been able to grow through hers because all the kids are wiser than the adults, and I hope Daniel will follow her footsteps. I am hopeful that through the course of fighting Cobra Kai we will see Daniel eventually reconnect with himself and rediscover a more complete understanding of Miyagi-do.

Daniel’s story is about our connection with our own values and how this is tested by external circumstances.

Daniel’s story is driven by his need to defeat an evil, and that is why we get such a focus on his devastated face at the end of season 4. Because evil won, and he lost and now a snake is going to coil all around the valley and a new generation of vulnerable young people are going to be indoctrinated with poison.

But how does Johnny react to this same loss?

They are on the same team with the same goals at that point, after all.

While Daniel is devastated by this horrendous defeat and what it means for the big picture (Cobra Kais all over the valley and generation lost to a toxic idealogy that he knows destroys lives, Mr Miyagi’s legacy trampled into dust)

... But Johnny’s son is looking sad and lost even after his dojo winning, so you know, Johnny’s much more pre-occupied with that. Plus he’s had a falling out with Miguel, so that’s weighing on him too.

His biggest stake in the AVT are all mostly personal; a knee-jerk desire to get back at Kreese, and prove that he’s equal to Daniel and get Robby out of the crazy dojo are all personal motivations.

He DGAF about the All Valley or the nuances of karate philosophies in a general sense, he only really cares what is going on with the people close to him.

Because Johnny’s story is about connections with people.

Johnny vs Himself

Johnny, at the start of the series, is a very isolated character, but it seems to be largely self-inflicted. He pushes people away. He’s estranged from his son. He has no immediate close bonds with other people.

He’s a trauma-ridden mess. an alcoholic. a loser.

Johnny struggles to genuinely connect with people because he hauls so much baggage into every interaction. But through the simple, surprising state of being NEEDED by Miguel, Johnny begins to change.

(I will also argue that Johnny, even though he didn’t realise it at the time, needed Miguel just as much as Miguel needed him - and that’s a big part of why their relationship has always been on more equal footing than Robby and Daniel’s).

Miguel needs something very simple from Johnny - karate instruction. And karate is something that Johnny feels confident in giving. He is able to give Miguel this piece of himself and it goes well. He isn’t rejected. he feels like he’s helping the kid. and it feels kinda nice, to have someone to help and a reason to get up in the morning. Teaching Miguel becomes a big priority for him.

and once again, karate is kind of secondary.

Daniel teaches karate to fight Cobra Kai.

But Johnny teaches karate to build connections.

In Johnny’s lessons, we get a much bigger focus on the interpersonal relationships between everyone in the dojo, but especially on Johnny’s role as a teacher and how he develops this relationship with his students.

We see him initially copy kreese exactly, but very quickly he learn to soften the drill-sergent nasty stuff and he reaches out them as fellow losers, and take pride in their achievements and stand up for them at all valley committees, and it’s all part of his journey towards being a better sensei/better mentor than the one he had.

He clearly wants to be better than kreese.

And there’s the rub, and the tension.

Because try as Johnny might, he has so many toxic and embedded patterns from his time with Kreese - and sometimes he is not even aware of them until it is too late.

Johnny’s biggest struggles mostly boil down to him trying to break his toxic cycles, move past his inter-generational trauma, and be better that any of his father figures.

And when he succeeds, it’s great. (Back half of season 2, Johnny kicking kreese to the curb because he could see what a negative effect the man had on the kids. the fact that he could do for the kids what he couldn’t do for himself and was finally able to stand up to his abuser because he thought they were being mistreated. Johnny fully breaking with his indoctrination and fumbling to try and show his students a better way, more merciful way - that was peak Johnny for me. A real high point in his journey.)

And when he fails, it’s tragic. (The downward spirals, the season 4 insecurity leading to all manner of poor life choices, and the way his inability to overcome his trauma affects the younger generation, especially Robby and Miguel. These boys both want him, and Johnny wants to rise to the moment and meet both their needs but he often fails and then hates himself for failing and withdraws. but that doesn’t do anything to help either boy.)

This is why Johnny’s biggest foe isn’t an external enemy.

Johnny’s biggest enemy is himself.

His inner kreese, the voice that whispers ‘you lost, you’re worthless, you’re nothing’. The insecurity and toxic masculinity and the need to be tough and the aversion to showing an vulnerability, the hyper-vigilance to threats and the overwhelming need to over-compensate for any weaknesses are all things Johnny learned from Kreese alongside Strike Hard- Strike First - No Mercy. (A philosophy that no doubt has had an irreparably negative effect on Johnny’s life).

Whilst Mr Miyagi gifted Daniel a path to inner peace, what Johnny received from his Sensei was inner turmoil. He needs to constantly fight his inner demons and he doesn’t always win. And listening to his inner kreese causes some of his biggest mistakes with the kids.

But Johnny’s mistakes as a sensei can’t hold as candle to his mistakes as a father.

Robby and Johnny’s desire to connect better with his son has been driving the action in Johnny’s story since we first met the kid back in season 1. I would say most of Johnny’s narrative drive is centred around him trying to improve himself and build better relationships rather than fighting external foes.

Final thoughts:

so yeah, because Daniel’s story is all about how to fight and enemy bigger than yourself and how to stay peaceful in a world of violence and how to find balance - his teachings are much more philosophical to mirror that sort of journey.

But because Johnny’s story is all about moving past inner demons/past experiences to build meaningful connections with others, his dojo has a much heavier emphasis on those interpersonal relationships and more found family vibes - because that is the sort of story that is going on there.

It also leads to this wonderful dictomy, because Daniel is teaching more pacifist teachings whilst engaging in fighting external foes. He’s got a much more active and aggressive character journey. Daniel is much more rigid in his approach to most things, and his attitude to his students is no exception. He needs them to meet the Miyagi ideal because Daniel is fighting a war, and Miyagi- method is the weapon he is sure will win.

(Oh Daniel, what a wild ride this season will be for you!)

Whilst Johnny teaches assertiveness, he’s actually far more passive in his personal life and has to work up the courage to reach out to people. He’s more likely to question his own actions and second guess himself and change his approach depending on the circumstances. He’ll respond if provoked, but we very rarely see him instigate fights (and will only really do so if he has some personal stake. like, the only example I can think of is beating up the sleazy dude who was trash-talking Carmen back in season 2 and the bikers who insulted Tommy). He’s less invested in the karate war as a battle of ideas and much more focus on the people.

Season 5 has set up Johnny taking a break from the karate scene and peacing out from the drama so he can focus on Robby and Miguel, whilst Daniel goes down the fighting-terry rabbit hole.

And I’m excited to see where the rabbit hole goes.

#Cobra Kai #Cobra Kai season five speculation #Cobra Kai meta #Johnny Lawrence #Daniel Larusso #Johnny and Daniel #Their stories overlap #Johnny and Daniel are foils #And you can see one of them do something idiotic and know the other would have handled it differently #like there is a lot they can learn from eachother #But they have something very different happening in their personal journeys #Daniel has to fight an external foe and has all this pyhrric victory and weight of legacy stuff going on #Whilst Johnny's got a working through his trauma so that he can better learn to show up for the people who need him thing happening #and BOTH are interesting stories #but they are different #and some stories will appeal to some people more than others #I do find Johnny's struggles to overcome his worst instincts and his attempts to build stronger relationships with the people he loves #to be an interesting take and sometimes I think the writers are eithe rtrying to lampshade or deconstruct the tough-guy archetype with him #But Daniel #he is mostly secure in his relationships #So he's got bigger evil billionaire shaped fish to fry #Eat The Rich Daniel #it'll feel good #Johnny and Miguel #Johnny and Robby

29 notes · View notes

strangertheories · 2 years

Note

i have my own theory but basically, do you think that will could've manifested the upside down into its current appearance? like with powers

Honestly, this is one of the most likely explanations and I think this makes a lot of sense. Will being a traumatized kid under a ton of stress morphs the Upside Down into his town, freezing it at the moment he got taken. This is also why the Russians couldn't get to the Upside Down there; the Upside Down is only Hawkins. Another possible explanation is that somehow the boundaries between the two got broken and then the UD became half Hawkins half UD, although I feel as though the Will explanation makes more sense. To me, the thing about this is less the what and more the how.

So firstly, maybe Will hopped off of Vecna's powers. We're shown they have a lot in common and based off of other evidence like the static (at Mike's house) which Vecna uses to make a connection with his victims in S4. Vecna gets people's abilities when he creates this connection with them when the portal is made so maybe his connection to Will was so strong when Will came into the Upside Down without a portal, Will ended up absorbing some of his powers. He then used these powers to subconsciously transform the Upside Down into a familiar environment or on the other hand to hide from the demogorgon as it is mentioned that he is good at hiding.

The other possibility is that Will always had powers but repressed them as a child. There are a lot of parallels between him and Creel so I guess this could make sense (being called sensitive, art, etc.). Also because of the fact that Will was clearly targeted by Vecna specifically and wasn't just a random child considering all of the weird events leading up to his disappearance; the static-y TV, flashing lights at Mike's house, the fact he was stalked which the demogorgon doesn't do, how the garage door unlocked the same way Eleven later unlocked a door, the shadow not looking like a demogorgon, etc, etc. Now usually I theorise that's because Vecna sees himself in Will (a sensitive kid shunned for not conforming) and so he targets him to join him, like how he projected onto the only bullied child at the lab. But I don't think the two have to be mutually exclusive.

Originally, I was opposed to Will being especially chosen because I preferred the idea that these people weren't destined to get involved with the Upside Down but instead ended up being involved as a result of their own actions. But the show would make way more sense if Will had powers or a special link to Vecna than if he didn't. His actions still matter as well, as do the actions of the people around him, because they are making the choices because of their characters and not because of Vecna. If they choose to have a twist of "oh Vecna was actually manipulating all of them and knew Mike would find Eleven and Joyce would do what she did" I wouldn't like that, but I don't think that's inherent to Will having powers.

Personally I'm more inclined towards the first theory and I might make a follow up post about it, however I think both explanations could work. There's a lot more thoughts I have on this but I've spoken about that in the past and this post is already quite long. If anyone has follow up asks I'd love it because I have so many thoughts on this for S5 since we know it'll be a main focus. Thanks for the ask! I love theorising about the show and recently I've spoken a lot about the fandom but I would really like to theorise more because I love it a ton. Issue is, it takes lots of time and gets no clout.

#stranger things #byler #will byers #st theory #stranger things theory #will byers has powers #st5 #st5 theory #st5 speculation #stranger things 5 #henry creel #vecna #001

18 notes · View notes

sxugaryx · 2 months

Text

The Lives We Left Behind (Fanfic)

New chapter from my main series 🩷

Eugéne was staring at him in silence.

“I know it’s a lot to process at once, take your time” Haneul knew this was difficult and that he shouldn’t rush her for an answer.

Well, that’s a complete understatement.

She is having a complete rollercoaster of emotions, she can barely remember her family, and she tries and tries but can’t remember him. She wanted to carry out their legacy, wanted to show their capabilities, HER capabilities how she learned that craft and perfected it. So many stalkers come to her store, sure she isn’t famous or anything like that but she finally became successful, she had come to terms with her past and future.

Now this throws everything apart.

Again she keeps trying to remember him, she remembers her parents, she remembers them giving her the book that shows their technique, then they passed away… then she is 12 years old, studying at school, then returning to the orphanage where she lived in, it wasn’t Monad (It’s not as if it was the only orphanage in Krat) she had very few friends, then none when she started to study to become a technician, not many girls choose that profession and the few that were in her class did not like her because of her… roots.

Actually, those two weren’t the only ones, throughout her childhood she heard similar comments from others from time to time, more so when she was a child, because when she was young she couldn’t pronounce certain words properly.

Most of her concrete memories are as a teen and onwards, why can’t she remember well? Was it her parent's death? The bullying? Both? Another traumatic event she can’t recall?

Mainly why can’t she remember a single thing about him?

Someone had to take her to Krat, that was obvious, why didn't she ever think about that? She can’t remember the language she was first taught, only certain words.

Eugéne is learning that she was never abandoned, that there was someone always watching over her. Yet is not as if she adored Alidoro when she was younger, as all of Krat knew about the hound, she saw him as a nice stalker who helped others, it was only when he rescued her that she admired him, was grateful, she owed him her life. Then that admiration stopped when she interacted with him at Hotel Krat, his rudeness, his selfishness.

Then guess what? That wasn’t him that was someone else. She thought the real Alidoro was dead like everyone, so she mourned the man she saw as a hero, not only her hero but the hero of countless of others.

Now he is back again and drops this bomb on her?!

“I need to sit down” Eugéne’s head is starting to hurt, this feels like one of those strange fever dreams.

“It’s okay” Haneul almost helped her sit before she put her hand up to stop him, she needed to think more about him.

She doesn’t know what to say. On one hand, she is extremely happy she has family, that she can learn where she came from. He saved her in that tower but how many other times did he save her and she didn’t know? Like how he helped her recently with that man who tried to steal from her.

He told her that he wanted to make Krat a better place for her, that was the reason he had to leave.

At the same time, she feels… nothing. Is it shock? How is anyone supposed to react to this type of news?

Eugéne takes off her glasses and starts to cry, putting her face on her hands, this was too much.

“Look I don’t expect you to magically love me or pretend we have an unbreakable bond” Haneul took a deep breath; “Only that you know I’m here for you, always”

Haneul is tired of hiding in the shadows, she is his sister, and he needs to act like a brother, not a vigilante.

“Also…” Haneul took another deep breath, as this was something harder, “I think for your sake, that you should leave Krat”

That was a mistake, he was being overprotective when that was the last thing she needed to hear.

“And leave all my family and friends behind?!” Eugéne snapped, “Maybe that was easy for you to do but not for me”

Haneul stayed composed, “I’m only saying because those alchemists are planning something again, you must know because of Pinocchio”

They continued, “The safest choice is to leave before something like the petrification disease happens again”

No, it will happen again, only that this time, they learned from their mistakes, this time they won’t carelessly let those monsters run around to reveal their intentions, his investigation shows that.

“If you want to stay, I won’t stop you,” Haneul was reassuring her this was only a suggestion, “I will only take you out of this place if you want to”

Eugéne began to compose herself, he was trying to protect her, plus he was right about the alchemists.

“I won’t leave” This is her home, as much as she would love to see where she is from, she can’t leave this life behind.

Not after all her effort to succeed, no one is going to take that away from her, not those alchemists or The King of Riddles. They won’t make her run in fear.

“I understand” Haneul replied, no nagging about it, he respected her wishes.

There was a tense uncomfortable silence that lasted for five entire minutes.

“So” Eugéne spoke up, “What happens now?”

“What do you mean?” Haneul was confused.

“You know…” She sighed, “Do we talk about the past? Do we hang out somewhere? Or…”

Oh fuck he didn’t think about that.

“Uh um well” Why didn’t he plan about what happened once he told her the truth?

“Do you want to do anything? Go to a coffee shop?”

“Seriously?” Eugéne laughed, “It almost sounds as if you are asking me on a date.

Haneul laughed, “Yeah that was pretty dumb”

“Also my store is still open, customers will probably arrive sooner or later, you picked a bad time to tell me about my long lost past” Eugéne started to do her routine of taking the dust of weapons, “You could have come by lunchtime or when I closed”

“Am I really that clueless?” Hanuel was looking so forward to revealing the truth to her that he left his common sense behind.

“Don’t worry I’m used to it” Eugéne had finally relaxed, “Pinocchio also tends to lack common sense, although in different ways”

“Common sense is the least common sense” Haneul then started talking about the countless times he had to save someone from danger they caused themselves.

“Sometimes I feel people use stalkers as firefighters” Eugéne has heard plenty of stories, not just from him, about stalkers saving dumb people from their mistakes.

“Oh you have no idea” Haneul rolls his eyes, “Firefighters are also cheaper so I don’t get”

“Yeah but what’s cooler, getting saved by a firefighter or by a stalker?”

They were talking normally, a conversation as if they had been friends for a long time, perhaps it was the unconscious sibling chemistry, or perhaps it was that they both shared many common interests. Whatever it was the conversation went on so smoothly, Eugéne beaming with joy when she finally asked about the weapon, him explaining all about it. Then she showed him his previous katana, the one Pinocchio had gotten from Parrot and given to her.

It’s a long way to go before she truly sees him as a sibling. But so far, it doesn’t seem that it would take as long as it seems.

——

“Gemini, Cecile is weird” Pinocchio left the cathedral, he now is on Rosa Isabelle Street just passing the time in a coffee shop, “She is so kind and somehow so scary”

“There are so many types of people out there pal” Gemini was sitting on his shoulder, “You are going to eventually meet more types, probably even stranger than her”

“I think all the people we know are strange if you think about it,” Pinocchio said.

Venigni is obvious why.

Antonia sometimes has a dark sense of humor, Pinocchio certainly got scared the first time he met her and she joked about having to build a coffin for his father.

Eugéne knows more about weapons than any historian.

Red Fox is so bold yet so elegant, she almost seems to act like a queen at times, Black Cat might be rude but he does have a secret heart of gold, as well as secret street smarts he tells Pinocchio from time to time that leaves him impressed.

His father is also weird, Pinocchio sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night to find his father writing down things for projects he suddenly came up with, but it doesn't bother him as he tends to fall back asleep rather quickly and if it makes his father happy he doesn't mind, still, even if he doesn’t prioritize his work like he used to with Carlo, he still has a weird obsession with it.

“Carlo…” Pinocchio mumbled out loud without thinking.

“Mmm, what about Carlo?” Gemini asked.

“Oh um,” Pinocchio wanted to brush it off.

Gemini on the other hand insisted.

“Do you think he would have built me if Carlo hadn’t died?”

Gemini was silent, he didn’t know what to say, he didn’t expect that question. After a few seconds, he knew what to say.

“What if doesn’t exist Pinocchio, we could be here all day wondering what if of certain things, we are never going to know the true answer”

Pinocchio was silent, looking at the floor, “You know I can’t stand that painting”

Gemini jumped out of Pinocchio’s shoulder and was now touching his hand, he wanted to reassure him that he was there to listen.

“I thought that it was because of what Dorian Gray did, that it was reminding me of how he almost killed me”

Pinocchio started looking uncomfortable, “The more I think about it, the more I realize I hated it from the start”

“I…I don’t know why! I hate talking about my feelings!” Pinocchio shouted, a few people turned to look at him, and he silently apologized for shouting before turning to see Gemini.

“Have you written this down?” Gemini's color had changed to a blue one to indicate his sadness.

“No”

“Then you should, you know that’s how you express your feelings better”

Pinocchio sighed, is this because he feels on edge due to Arlecchino? Whatever the case is, he needs to go to see his mother for another lesson and spend time with her. Then he has to go to the union to protect his father and his uncle.

“I’m sure that if you tell Lady Antonia you are feeling down she will spoil you more than usual” Gemini returned to his cage, “In fact make her spoil you in public so that more people talk about it.

Pinocchio laughed, it was because recently they overheard someone call him “Lady Antonia’s spoiled brat” while spending time with her at an event she hosted.

“Interesting” Sabertooth was spying on Pinocchio with Tiger, they were too close to him but thankfully for them Pinocchio had no reason to suspect them, stalkers are everywhere in Krat.

“I don’t get it, what’s interesting?” Tiger looked at her confused.

“Nothing” Sabertooth smiled, “Just that I know a way to mess with the doll”

——-

“Miss. Cassandra, I must speak to you,” Frederick told her to come in after finishing with a patient, “Unfortunately I must relieve you from your duties”

YES YES YES he is letting me go!

“For some time, I’ll call you once this break of yours is over”

NO NO NO ugh! Fire me already!

“Have I done something wrong, sir?” Blue politely asked, “If that is the case there is no shame in firing-”

“Do not worry, it’s a simple family matter, I will take time off work due to this reason” Frederick looked annoyed despite how he tried hiding it, “My father is unfortunately on his dead bed”

“Oh, I’m so-” The doctor interrupted Blue again.

“Do not apologize, it’s not as if it is your fault, although I appreciate the politeness” Frederick doesn’t want to hear condolences. It was about damn time he died, he is only going to be by his side out of societal expectations, not being by his side would be a scandal, not after all his father had done for others.

All that good mattered none to Frederick, his father deserves to be in agonizing pain, not after he treated her like that.

Blue opened her mouth, the doctor not wanting to hear it.

“I would appreciate it if you could come to clean my office the days I will be absent, I will pay you”

“Doesn’t the hospital have-”

“The hospital cleaners are incompetent, in fact, you seem to be the only other person in Krat with common sense when it comes to cleaning”

“My apologies sir but if I will be off duty then I must tend to other stalker matters, it’s obligatory” It’s not, that’s only if you truly don’t have a client as you are allowed time off during prolonged work periods but she was finally being assertive “As such I cannot do as you asked”

At this point, Blue thinks he sees her as his maid rather than his bodyguard.

Frederick sighed in frustration, “I understand, you have been informed so return to the rest of your duties for today”

Blue waits impatiently outside, she knows the doctor’s schedule it's only a matter of time before he is done, a few nurses pass by from time to time, all the nurses seem to have a high opinion of the doctor although not the usual reasons one would assume, they say how he is “just like them” and after seeing him examining patients from time to time in a strange way they are right, he does tend to act more like a nurse than a doctor in his methods although his behavior is purely professional medical talk. A lot of patients say they always come back to see him not only due to the results but they feel he actually puts an effort into examining them and making them feel better. The man has said before he has experience taking care of those who are bedbound and in critical condition, for Blue, it is hard to imagine the doctor being by someone's side as they are dying but he did say he was going to take care of his father so…

When his last patient leaves she is thrilled until a woman suddenly enters his office, she is so fast that Blue doesn’t even get a glance at how she looks.

“I think I’m pregnant”

Blue was eavesdropping on the conversation, she was half expecting her to say “And it’s yours”, more so because a full minute passed without a word being said. But after that she could hear the doctor asking her normal questions about her symptoms while they talked, it’s odd, Frederick is always so formal when he speaks yet he is speaking so casually to this woman.

“I don’t believe you are, however, it’s been only 5 weeks so I can give you pills to cause an abortion” He then proceeded to explain to her what she needed to do.

Isn’t that illegal? Although Blue shouldn’t complain, not to mention how she feels women should have a choice in the matter.

“No you can’t have sex while you are going through this you filthy degenerate” Frederick huffed at the woman’s question taking a sarcastic tone, “You will be fine in a few days, hopefully, you won't die while waiting that long”

Blue heard the woman laughing, she spoke up again, but Blue couldn’t make out what she said, after that, she left as fast as she came. She only got a glimpse of her long black hair.

Blue entered the room again waiting to be dismissed, as always he asked her to help him clean before leaving. How odd, it almost looks as if he got flustered by whatever she said to him or maybe she imagining things as she wants to finally be free from him.

“Were you spying on our conversation?” Frederick doesn’t look at her as he keeps on cleaning.

“No sir, I-” Blue tries to lie her away out of this, but he is aware that the conversation was loud enough for her to hear it.

“She is a childhood friend, that’s all, I’m only doing her a favor” Frederick rolled his eyes, annoyed that he had to deal with that, “Also, please tell your father on my behalf that I will see how his health is doing after this break”

Right, they are friends, sometimes Blue forgets about that, her father did tell her that Frederick used to be shy, which seems hard to imagine, maybe one of these days she should ask more about when they were younger.

Once Blue finished, she rushed to the offices to report the issue and search for something else to do.

It seems the pride is having an influence on the other stalkers as before they didn’t doubt her capabilities but now they see her as a joke.

“Surely you can help the lovely people that are in the waiting room” Lion had a smirk on her face, as other stalkers watched, “In fact, you are the girl exactly for the job”

“What do they need?” Blue knows something is up.

“They lost their beloved pet, a pigeon I believe”

“Excuse me,” A child who was next to their parents spoke up, “It’s actually a dove”

“I see” Blue smiled at the child, “Can you describe to me your dove? Do you have a picture?”

The other stalkers looked amused as the child described what their beloved pet looked like. Blue will have to tell them that they aren’t animal control, that being a stalker is a serious job and-

“Excuse me for a moment” Blue then opened a window of the offices, put her fingers in her mouth, and whistled loudly.

A falcon suddenly jumped towards the window, it was so fast that it startled several people inside. Blue then gave the falcon a treat she had in her bag, also showing her the picture; in two minutes the falcon was back with the dove in its claws, although it wasn’t hurting the animal.

“My Dovey!” The child beamed with joy, grabbing the dove in her hands who looked happy to see her owner, “Thank you so much, miss stalker!”

It was the same one, first because it was identical to the one in the picture, and second because doves on Krat tend to be rare domestic pets, it is uncommon for them to be in the wild. Blue is glad she got the dove, if left around to roam free and reproduce, it could cause an imbalance in the ecosystem.

The parents thanked her profusely too, they offered her money that she refused.

“It was such a simple task, do not worry about it” Blue smiled, “May I suggest you get her a bigger cage? It’s likely she wanted to fly more often”

With that said the parents left, all those present stunted at the feat.

“Good girl” Blue gave her falcon another treat before sending her back home, “Anything else I can do?”

“Holy shit Blue that was awesome!” One of the stalkers shouted.

A small crowd began to form around her, all asking questions about how she did it, can she call different birds? How can they hear her from so far away?

“Rusty don’t go and ask questions!” Lion grabbed her hand to stop her.

“But I want to know about the cool falcon!” Rusty cried out.

“You have an eagle too?!” Someone else shouted.

“And the cool eagle!” Rusty was now pouting it wasn’t fair.

“Ugh, where is Sabertooth and Tiger anyway?” Lion went back to her office with Rusty in her hand.

“I dunno” Rusty casually said, “Tiger was here a while back, he looked angry at Sabertooth, said something about her being a bitch and that he wasn’t going to do that”

“He is right about the bitch part” Lion then realized what she said, “You better not tell your parents we swear in front of you”

“I won’t” Rusty got out of Lion’s grasp, “I’m not a tattle tale”

“I guess Blue is going to join us tomorrow in the search for Adeline” Lion began to file some paperwork while she was there, “That’s good, the more people looking for her, the less time we will spend”

“You think someone actually hurt her or something?” Rusty was cleaning her weapon, it had gotten dirty on a mission.

“I still think she ran away with some man” Lion wasn’t taking this seriously, “I mean who is going to want to hurt her?”

“Evil people,” Rusty said innocently, “My parents say-”

“What your parents say it’s not real life, rich people don’t get hurt by others, we are different, if you mess with people like us it ends up badly”

“Woah Lion” Rusty was shocked, “You are right but why are you so mean today?”

“Because with those two gone I’m the one stuck with the paperwork” Lion was furious, “Something you can’t help with”

“Excuse me?” Rusty poked Lion to annoy her more, “I had to save you from our mission today, you weren’t fighting seriously”

A petty argument ensued, before Blue left she overheard a little of it, satisfied that they got put in their place.

Getting home she was greeted by her sisters, then her parents. It was good to spend time as a family. Things were looking up for her, she had made up her mind, that when she returned to see Frederick, she would give her notice so that she could quit. Her father might not like it but he has always respected her, this is something that will pass.

With her newfound confidence, nothing can go wrong.

——

Something was wrong when Geppetto and Pinocchio arrived at home.

The front door was wide open.

They were at first worried about it being Arlecchino but Pinocchio scanned the area before entering, whoever it was didn’t realize they left a muddy footprint near the window a rather big boot, meaning that they entered from there, then left the door opened on purpose.

Did someone break in to steal money?

Worse, no one had stolen any money or valuables, in fact, everything was left intact at home, everything except…

“Why would anyone do this?!” Geppetto sobbed as he stared at the now-ruined painting of Carlo.

Someone had grabbed a paint brush and with black paint crossed out Carlo’s eyes and neck.

Geppetto was devastated, Pinocchio couldn’t stand to see his father like that, they did call the police to report the crime, yet they said that since nothing was stolen and it was only petty vandalism other issues take priority.

Meaning: Don’t expect us to actually investigate this, it’s only a painting.

That night was uncomfortable, Geppetto went to bed early, a part of Pinocchio wanted to sleep with his father yet he knew that he probably wanted to be left alone.

“Gemini am I a bad boy?” Pinocchio was in bed hugging a pillow.

“What? No!” Gemini shouted, “What makes you say that?!”

“Because I said I hated that painting and now it’s ruined”

“Pal it’s not your fault”

That didn’t seem to work, Pinocchio put his head on the pillow and gave out faint sobs. He hated that painting, he would look at it and get reminded that he was made to “save” Carlo, that his father loved him more than him.

“I can see memories, your pitiful lies don’t work on me puppet of Geppetto” Simon was saying his last words.

Pinocchio had lied about what happened to Sophia, the man-turned-god didn’t like that.

“And I can see… even now, he isn’t waiting for you, he is waiting for Carlo to come back”

“Why am I so selfish?” Pinocchio mumbled under the pillow.

That was then, his father has changed so much, he is such a loving and caring father, he is always there for him, he gets him anything he wants, and sees him for who he is, and he repays him by being jealous of Carlo.

It’s stupid right? He is jealous of someone he has never met. If anything, if Carlo was alive he would be jealous of him. This is the father Carlo always wanted.

“For a moment you looked just like…” Antonia’s words resonate in his mind.

The message Romeo left behind for Carlo resonates in his mind.

The countless times people have called him his replacement resonate in the back of Pinocchio’s head. The countless times he had overheard others comparing him to Carlo, specially recently with his encounter with those stalkers.

Well, you got what you wanted right? Now you don’t have to look at that painting, now you don’t get a constant reminder about him.

Pinocchio got up, carefully getting the painting, and silently went back to his room to not wake up his father, yet Pinocchio had a feeling his father was still awake, not being able to sleep as him.

He put the canvas in a stand and took out his painting kit, he can fix this painting, the awful man who taught him how to paint made it, and he knows how to replicate the style.

It took him hours but he did it, the painting was back to normal, Pinocchio only needed to wait for the paint to dry.

Pinocchio could feel his heart racing, his gears running faster, he had done it so fast, he was desperately trying to fix it that he didn’t realize he was overheating. He tries calming down by drinking water, then by pouring the glass of water over his head to stop the burning sensation.

He stares at the painting, it’s beautiful, this time it’s something he did, as he added some touch-ups to other places, it truly felt like it was his creation and not one made by Dorian Gray.

“I hate you” Pinocchio began to cry again.

Gemini is next to him, hearing him vent his feelings.

“I hate that I hate you” Pinocchio feels like a bad boy, for being so unjustly mean to his brother.

Pinocchio touched his chest, his heart was pounding… was his heart pounding? Something felt off.

As he looked at the painting, he saw that something was coming out of it, a tear coming out of Carlo’s eye. Not the first time something has come out of that painting, what does it mean this time?

Is his brother upset? He still has a little of his Ergo, did he make Carlo cry? He truly is a terrible boy.

“I’m sorry” Pinocchio whispers to the painting as he wipes away Carlo’s tear.

It’s 5 am, he hasn’t slept at all, he is so tired. Pinocchio now lies in bed again, Gemini being next to him instead of in his tiny home.

“I wish that made you happy” Pinocchio hopes that Carlo liked that he fixed him up.

Pinocchio wakes up until 1 pm, it’s Saturday so he doesn’t need to wake up early. Gemini is still by his side, Pinocchio then looks around the room, the painting isn’t there, did he dream about fixing it?

When he comes out of the room, his father is in the living room, the painting is there, as normal. Geppetto hugged his son thanking him.

“I know it must have been so hard” Geppetto was playing with Pinocchio’s hair. “Specially to change it like that, I’m so grateful”

Change it like what? It’s back to normal, the eyes are fine, the neck is fine, and Carlo is smiling.

Carlo is smiling. He doesn’t smile in the painting, he didn’t like sitting still for the painting, Pinocchio remembers his father told him so, that is why Carlo was making that serious expression.

Geppetto lets go of Pinocchio, telling him that it’s late and that he should eat and drink something so that he doesn’t become more exhausted.

Pinocchio obeys his father before going back to his room. Shortly after Geppetto enters and sits on Pinocchio’s bed next to him.

“Pinocchio how are you feeling?” His father gave him a warm smile.

“I’m fine,” Pinocchio said that he was only tired.

“Son” Geppetto gets a little closer to him, “I know you are lying because you don’t want to worry me”

Pinocchio breaks down in tears, clinging to his father. Geppetto holds his son as he cries.

“Do you still love him more?!” Pinocchio cried in frustration.

Pinocchio feels so stupid, he feels like he is throwing a tantrum, Carlo is gone, and he is competing to be the favorite child with someone who is dead.

Geppetto knows that Pinocchio doesn’t want him to answer, that he wants to vent his frustrations.

“Why do I have to live in his shadow?! Every time someone meets me their first thought is him, how I look like him, or how I don’t act like him!”

“I hate him and I hate you for making me like him!”

Pinocchio keeps crying, it takes him some time to finally calm down until his sobs begin to die down.

“I’m sorry” Pinocchio’s voice sounds weak from all the crying, “I don’t… I don’t really hate him or you, I just…”

Pinocchio lets out a few more sobs.

“Maybe I should go back” Pinocchio is referring to how he took that one therapy session when his father first started seeing one.

“I’ll arrange that” Geppetto plays with his son’s hair, confronting him.

The room is silent for a few minutes, Pinocchio looking away before turning to see his father.

“Can we do something fun today?” Pinocchio is tired of fighting, of constantly being on edge about danger, he knows that won’t stop any time soon.

He wants to help others but now feels selfish for wanting a break. Specially when his uncle Venigni is suffering so much. A part of him is expecting his father to say no, to scold him for even asking. Pinocchio isn’t thinking rationally, being too emotional.

“Of course we can,” Geppetto said, “We can do whatever you want”

“Can we…” This feels so stupid but that makes him feel better, “Can we go get some ice cream?”

Geppetto smiles, “Yes we can, do you want to see Antonia after that?”

Pinocchio nods, he would love to see his mother.

Gemini gets on top of Pinocchio’s head, giving him gentle headpats to cheer up his best friend.

“I’m not a dog Gemini” Pinocchio pouts.

“Oh so when your father does it you love it but when I do it you don’t?” Gemini teases him.

“Father does it better than you” Pinocchio’s mood was improving, “Wait what if someone breaks in again?”

“Don’t worry son, I made sure it won’t happen again” Geppetto ended up booby-trapping the windows and reinforcing the door lock, telling Pinocchio how to properly open them from now on.

“Father, isn’t that illegal?”

“We can worry about that later, let’s hope that never happens again”

Pinocchio laughed, his father really is kind of weird.

“Tomorrow something awful is probably going to happen right?” Pinocchio had a feeling Arlecchino was taking too long in tormenting them.

“Whatever happens from now on, remember I’m always by your side son”

By now they were buying the ice cream. Geppetto takes the opportunity to tease his son.

“What flavor does my little boy what?”

“Father!” Why does he always embarrass him like this? It doesn’t stop him that they are in public.

“I’m your father, is my job to embarrass you”

“Yeah Pinocchio and you are his son so it’s your job to act like a brat” Gemini chirped.

“I’m NOT a brat!” Pinocchio was now red with embarrassment.

Tiger was watching them from afar, thankfully Sabertooth wasn’t with him today, he is starting to think she is a miserable bitch and that’s why she acts that way.

She was always the mean girl, but it was never to the extent of what she did yesterday, Lion has also been more insufferable. All of them used to be great friends, okay fair enough that they were the popular kids and got more attention, and maybe the group was a little entitled towards others, yet this has been an eye-opening experience.

His friends kinda suck.

He feels bad for bringing Rusty along to this mess, his family is friends with her family. They had trained her from a young age to be a stalker, so he is in charge of protecting her, not during the fighting, she is better than him in that department, more so in protecting her from the adults who might have bad intentions, look at that, he already failed in that task.

Rusty has always been a huge brat, now it’s worse, he made her have bad influences.

“Hi Tiger!”

He is snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of Blue’s voice.

“Are you taking a break?” Blue is also taking a break, the sun seems to be shining extra hard today, she got so thirsty and needed to sit down, so she sat next to him.

“Yeah, I’m taking a break too” It’s true, it just so happened that he ran into the two of them, although by now they already left to do something else.

“I take it that the heat is affecting you more since you took off your mask” Blue sat in the chair next to him.

“It’s not that, I took it off to eat the ice cream” Tiger had relaxed, despite the fact he didn’t know why she was talking to him, he thought she hated him.

“I didn’t take you for a guy that liked sweets”

“I mean we are sitting at an ice cream shop”

They were making small talk, to be honest, Blue had only approached him due to being bored, yet she was enjoying the conversation, Tiger wasn’t as rude as she thought.

“Where is the rest of your gang?” Blue got a little curious.

“Sabertooth and Lion are together, Rusty is with her parents”

“Mmm, how come? Does she study on Saturdays?”

“No I mean, her parents might be retired but they are helping with the search”

Adeline Corday has been missing for 2 weeks, not only is her family frantic but also the Opera House, they can’t seem to find a replacement for her. No one has a voice like her, no one has the talent of singing as excellent as the Corday’s.

There is a widespread hunt for her, not only stalkers but the general public, they are offering rewards to anyone that has any useful information. So far, everyone knows she must still be in Krat, as the train station has no reports of her leaving, she is easily recognizable so they would have noticed.

“Then do you want to come with me?” Blue was tired of being alone, the doctor keeps her pretty isolated in that office, “We could investigate together”

Tiger liked that idea, so he decided to tag along, who knows? Maybe they can actually find her.

——

“If something happens to her while I’m not here supervising I will personally kill everyone involved” Frederick had murderous intent, they had their asset, and the possibility of losing her is nonexistent, he won’t allow that to happen.

Everyone understood the message loud and clear, everyone inside that room is filled with dread, knowing that if they screw up a fate worse than death would await them.

Via his orders, they left him alone to keep working on his project, one last adjustment before leaving.

The girl could no longer make a sound, her beautiful voice was damaged beyond repair by now. Not from screaming, Frederick didn't want to deal with that so he removed her vocal cords right away. That doesn’t matter, her hearing is what matters.

“Ergo absorption working as intended,” Frederick wrote down the progress.

Then Frederick began to examine her body, she was only wearing a medical gown, and the adjustments he made were beyond his expectations.

Adeline looks at her body too, her body feels still, and her arms and legs are now purple. They said something about Rigor Mortis, she knows what that means, is she dying? Is she dead already? Her fingers and toes are strange, they have this orange glow attached to them, shining like crystals. She was always a red hair, but now her long red hair was completely the color orange, bright as the glow in her fingers. Something is connected to her veins, yet she cannot make out what it is, the man gets closer to her, his mouth next to her ear.

“You are beautiful” Frederick whispers to her, she truly is, she is his greatest creation.

It took him only a week to make her a listener, and another to make her the perfect vessel. His life goal is in front of him, his wonderful hard work, his masterpiece. He has worked nonstop for this goal all his life, yet as soon as he got his listener in his grasp he knew that he had to show his true devotion to his cause, each day after leaving his duties as a doctor he would come here to work on her. He is sleep-deprived, and he feels tired but that doesn't matter.

Adeline recoils at him injecting something into her, he repeats the process multiple times until he puts aside his equipment.

Frederick takes a look at the table next to him, all the surgical tools he utilized, that was the easy part for him, it was… a little complicated to modify her hearing artificially with technology, thankfully alchemists have secret associates everywhere, including of course the Workshop Union, since he is a smart man, he only needed to carefully analyze those notes, in the end, he did it himself, truly he doesn't trust anyone else to touch her, it is already bad enough that he has to leave his listener behind.

All alchemists in Krat are singing his praises at this moment, however the sense of pride he has in himself is nothing compared to them. His listener, his vessel, his philosopher stone is in front of him.

“Your body from now on will begin to change on its own” Frederick has a twisted smile, “I wish I could stay to see your full metamorphosis, sadly I will miss the beginning of it”

So her torture is only starting? Why? Isn’t he happy about everything he has done to her?

He starts to take off her medical gown, then he grabs a dress, those are not the clothes she had. On any other occasion, she would have found it beautiful.

“I think this will make you look even more beautiful, it suits you well” Frederick starts to change her clothes, “I need you to look prettier”

He treats her as an object, as a cute doll that needs to be shown off. Maybe she deserves this for being so mean to puppets.

Her ears feel heavy, she can’t look at them, she does know that there must be some sort of device attached to them. Adeline can feel strange cables coming out of it. She can hear everything now, from the heartbeat of the man in front of her, from each person who resides in Krat, and she can hear springs, the springs of all the puppets in Krat, all of them who have Ergo. Hearing Ergo…it feels…

Frederick grabs her face, forcing her to look at him “Trust me, when this is done, you will become the most beautiful thing in the world, what I always wished to achieve”

Adeline closes her eyes, he won’t give him that satisfaction.

“I love you”

Adeline knows he isn't talking to her, neither as an individual nor as the creation he sees her as, sometimes he talks to her as if he is talking to someone else, he always does this when the two of them are completely alone.

“If only you were here to see this”

She can hear emotions now too, this man only ever shows pride, hatred, or sadistic happiness at her or his other “creations”, yet at this moment, he sounds sorrowful.

Frederick lets go, reluctantly, he must leave.

Adeline is left alone, finally, she hates him, she hates everyone who did this to her. The only thing she wants is to die.

She closes her eyes, at the very least she is still able to sleep, she should enjoy it while it lasts. Maybe she can go to sleep and never wake up.

#lies of p #lop #liesofp #lies of p game #lies of p fanfic #ao3 link #this is in ao3 too #lies of p geppetto #lies of p pinocchio #lies of p gemini #lies of p eugenie #lies of p original character #lies of p oc

1 note · View note

dorian-gray · 1 year

Note

[ you don't have to answer this, it's not in character I guess, but I'm glad I helped you, you've helped me as well, it's a little pathetic of me I guess to use a ridiculous and annoying character I made up to speak about my own struggles. I think you put alot of your soul in Dorian, it's a level of sincerity I can only aspire to reach with my work to be honest, I really enjoy your writing as well. I'm not strong, I don't know what you've went through and I don't want to pick open old wounds but it was obviously alot more serious that what's going on with me. All this to say you're much stronger and braver than I ever will be, I hope you heal from whatever it is that troubles you. It's a little weird talking to you like a normal person lol, I avoid liking your posts so you don't figure out who I am so it's odd of me to be doing this

Apologies for talking for so long I wish you the best you wonderful person, your blog provides me so much joy and fun and you are a joy to talk to, thank you from the bottom of my heart]

[OOC - I don’t mind talking about what happened. I love bitching about them. It’s a way to take back power, I suppose…It’s really not as bad as you’d think from the way it traumatized me. But I was young, so it stuck.

Trigger warning for description of past emotional abuse.

7th-early 9th grade I dated someone I’ll call X for the sake of this post. (X used he/him while I was dating them but more recent sources have told me that they use she/her, however I’m not in contact with them and don’t actually know what they use right now, so I’m going to use they/them.)

I started dating X in the midst of a horrible depressive state. X was the first and only time I developed a special interest on a real person I knew. To put it simply, they were a dick. They took joy in putting other people down and liked to make the shittiest jokes you’ve ever heard (most of them stolen from tumblr screenshots). Amongst other things, they made fun of all of my special interests, made me feel stupid if I didn’t agree with them on everything, ignored my boundaries, and used me as a therapist.

As an undiagnosed autistic kid with severe anxiety and depression issues, I was very very malleable. I mirrored their personality. I mirrored their sense of humor. I mirrored their beliefs. Quoting my own poetry here, but when I was with them I wasn’t me. I was a shadow of them.

I’ll admit I wasn’t perfect either, but it was my first relationship (≈12-14 years old) and once I realized I was being…silly (realized at like 13), I stopped. X continued their behavior well into high school. After we broke up, X dated and did all they did to me and more to my best friend. That is what I really hate them for.

There’s more that piled on top of all this- with other people’s reactions to them. But I won’t get into that now.

I’m 19 now. I’m about to finish my first year of college. And sometimes it still hurts, but I’m doing much much better than I was.

Trigger Warning End

All that being said, it doesn’t matter what I went through. It doesn’t matter if it was easier or harder than what you went through. It still hurt you, and that is all that matters. You are strong for what you went through no matter what it was.

Comparing trauma does nothing, dear. Not to sound like a shitty high school guidance counselor or a 2016 tumblr post, but someone who drowns in 1ft of water as opposed to 10ft is just as dead.

I’m happy if my silly little role play account has helped you. I know you don’t actually know me, but I’m here if you ever need anything. (And I love your little blondie character btw)

Lots of Love,

Kaz <3]

1 note · View note

epubdlcom · 1 year

Text

Chasing the Boogeyman Epub is a gripping and haunting novel by Richard Chizmar that follows the protagonist, Richard Brennan, as he returns to his hometown of Edgewood, Maryland, after twenty-five years to confront the mysterious "Boogeyman" who terrorized the community during his youth. The novel begins with Richard reflecting on his childhood and the traumatic events that unfolded in Edgewood during the late 1980s. The Boogeyman, a mysterious figure who abducted and murdered several young children, was the source of fear and paranoia for the entire community. Richard, who was just a teenager at the time, became obsessed with the Boogeyman and spent many sleepless nights trying to uncover his identity. Now, years later, Richard has become a successful writer and decides to return to Edgewood to write a book about the Boogeyman and the impact it had on the community. As he delves deeper into the investigation, Richard discovers that there may have been more to the Boogeyman's reign of terror than anyone realized. He begins to uncover a web of secrets and lies that have been buried for decades, and soon realizes that the Boogeyman may still be lurking in the shadows. The novel is structured as a series of journal entries, newspaper articles, and personal accounts, which create a sense of realism and immediacy that draws the reader in. Chizmar's writing style is tense and suspenseful, with plenty of twists and turns that keep the reader guessing until the very end. The characters are well-drawn and relatable, with Richard serving as a compelling and sympathetic protagonist. Throughout the novel, Chizmar explores themes of fear, trauma, and the power of storytelling. The Boogeyman serves as a metaphor for the fears and anxieties that we all carry with us, and the novel raises questions about how we can confront and overcome these fears. It also highlights the importance of storytelling as a means of making sense of our experiences and finding closure. Overall, "Chasing the Boogeyman" is a masterfully crafted thriller that is both chilling and thought-provoking. It is a must-read for anyone who enjoys suspenseful, character-driven fiction that delves into the darker corners of the human psyche. Excerpt As I drove into Edgewood, a wave of nostalgia washed over me. It had been twenty-five years since I'd set foot in my hometown, and yet everything looked strangely familiar. The same houses and storefronts, the same streets and parks. But underneath the surface, I knew that things had changed. The Boogeyman had seen to that. I'd come back to Edgewood to write a book about the Boogeyman, to confront my fears and put the past to rest. It was a risky move, but I couldn't resist the lure of the story. The Boogeyman had been a mystery that had haunted me since my teenage years, and I was determined to uncover the truth. As I began to dig deeper into the case, I realized that there was more to the story than anyone had ever suspected. The Boogeyman had left behind a trail of secrets and lies, and it was up to me to unravel them. But as I delved deeper, I began to realize that the Boogeyman might still be out there, waiting for me. The more I learned, the more paranoid I became. I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching me, following me. I started to see the Boogeyman everywhere I went, in the shadows and in my dreams. But I couldn't stop now. I had to know the truth, no matter what the cost. I had to confront the Boogeyman and put an end to the nightmare once and for all. Download Epub Book Read Ebook Online

0 notes

vizthedatum · 1 year

Text

Things "concerned" healthcare professionals who are your friends should not say to a fat person (or any person) who posts this after clearly having a bad day

On Oct 4, 2022, I posted this: https://www.instagram.com/p/CjTHAXjrpuY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

"CW/TW: body stuff, consumerism, medical things, mention of “fat”

So, like how do you (read: me with a very annoying fear of judgement) post something like this? (I guess I’m just posting this anyway because I’m so tired of giving into my fears anymore)

I had my routine medical treatment appointment thing today and it was just so rough - I’ve been having them on and off for years now and since last August, I’ve been taking it way more seriously. I just want to cry and cry - I know I’m resilient and all that and I’m used to it but it’s still so fucking hard every single time. Jon took me to a pie place afterwards and this is almost all for me (Jon claimed two of the pie slices). Yep: the wine, the two drinks, the three slices of pie, oh! and very likely a lot of medication. It’s hard to post because food posts (esp indulgent ones full of things that might flare you up or cause people to think that you’re being irresponsible) are hard to post when you’re fat and chronically ill. All food posts are hard to post when you’re fat.

Does it matter that I mostly eat very healthy and that I barely drink alcohol and for the past year or so, I’ve been working on my mental and physical health? IDK.

Yeah that’s the post - I am learning to love my body and mind but it’s a new process everyday. I truly feel like I’m a shadow of the person I could be, and all my life, people have put so much expectation on me - I just want to be me from now on, which, by the way, means that I’m going to unapologetically (I will still apologize because society has conditioned me to be traumatized this way - I’m working on it) be a somewhat functional chaotic mess who wakes up every single day intentionally and radically accept their reality for what it is." And then I get a message on social media from someone who doesn't really know me that well saying this:

I debated whether I should even write about this - especially on social media.

But I digress. This post is a serious one, aimed at the well-intentioned who don’t realize the harm they cause.

And… wow.

I think people should know that this is what happens when people open up like this. That this person (who has no idea about the reality that I experience) could step in and say one of the things that people stereotypically say. Like - it’s like if you know, you know… we basically always expect someone (esp a healthcare professional) to say this. It’s honestly almost laughable.

Yeah I indulge myself (LIKE A LOT, in all the ways - it’s self-preservation and it’s what I like. I don’t think it’s a problem, and I see like a fuckton of medical professionals.). I posted what I posted as a sign of rebellion because I didn’t want to feel any shame - I had a really rough morning and (what I didn’t write) my partner took me out to a place we had a really romantic date in several years ago and bought me everything that I liked. Because I was sobbing after my treatment. Because I really realized that I am probably going to have these appointments for the rest of my life because they stave off some very intense and life-altering (at least to me) symptoms for me.

But this person doesn’t know any of that or that I could not even drink any of the alcohol today. Or that I see a nutritionist on and off. Or that I’ve tried elimination diets to see which foods flare me up. Or that I’ve been having so many issues with my appetite lately overall. Or that I am trying actually very hard to eat “right” and not shame myself or whatever - and it is a work in progress. Or that I have had problems with my weight since I was in elementary school because I have PCOS and like a bunch of other things and that I’ve been skinny and fat and everything in between and the constant judging and shaming doesn’t ever stop.

Anyway, I’m posting this because I’m fine. This is what fine looks like in the face of everything: I’m allowed to be upset and frustrated about this. I (and any of us) don’t want unsolicited medical advice or assumptions about my health/body - y’all should know better and if not, then this is your opportunity to learn.

#fat #self indulgent #it's okay to eat food omfg #harm #harm reduction #things people say #unsolicited medical advice #medicine discriminates against fat people #MDs are not taught about proper nutrition anyway #healthcare is a joke sometimes #i was literally expressing myself #eating right #eating healthy #desserts #desserts aren't bad #food #food shame #mental health #i post an indulgent food pic and say that i'm scared of judgment and then someone tells me to consider binge eating disorder wtffffff

0 notes

mad-maximoff · 2 years

Text

If I Can’t Have You, No One Can. Pt 2.

Masterlist

Summary: You are just a civilian and Wanda Maximoff is obsessed with you. Her obsession consumed her and you started to hate her. You go on the run because she went crazy. She finds you, never wanting you to leave her again.

Warnings: Depictions of violence, blood, fighting, death, language, forced sex, enhanced individuals, outdoor sex, fingering (giving), oral (giving)

Word Count: 5,608

(Thank you so much you guys for all the love on Pt 1 of this series!! That part took me forever to create and I was quite nervous about posting it! Thank you so much again! I hope you like this one even more! <3 )

Also btw!!: I wrote this before I watched M.o.M so I kinda guessed from the trailers what would happen because this part happens after.

It’s been two months since you last saw Wanda, you hate to say this, but a lot has drastically changed. You thought S.H.E.I.L.D picked you up from Amsterdam to take you to the secret hideout to see a medic. Though you were wrong. Director Fury's men weren't supposed to pick you up for another hour but they came earlier. They weren't the agents. It was a group of HYDRA soldiers taking you back to their base. The HYDRA scientists performed tests on you to try to create their super soldier that could kill Captain America. They were successful, yet it traumatized you completely. You blamed Fury for not coming sooner, you blamed Wanda for compromising where you were located. You quit being the good guy in every scenario. You were done being used. You quit as a S.H.E.I.L.D agent becoming an uncharted mercenary. Working for people who were on the FBI blacklist, hell, you were on that list now.

After you took the super-soldier serum your injuries from Wanda were fixed instantly. You were somewhat bitter towards her. You couldn't go back to the States after everything you did. So, you were hired on for assassin jobs and to retrieve artifacts for cash.

"I need you to bring me the Eye of Agamotto. Doctor Stephen Strange possesses it. Our supplier will pay us handsomely if we bring it to them. I can't get it, you understand." Baron Zemo sat at a round table speaking to four of his soldiers. They all turned to face each other giving concerned looks. All denied going against Strange. Zemo rolled his eyes looking to the corner of his eye and seeing you hiding in the doorframe.

"Fine gentlemen. If you are too big of cowards to face the Doctor then I will have to send my Red Dragon in to retrieve it." He motioned you to come out of the shadows. You stepped forward seeing all of the elite soldiers stand up backing away from the table. They feared you, and why shouldn't they? You could snap all of their necks with no hesitation.

"Will you go forth my champion? Or will you kneel to modernity?" Zemo picked up his glass of liquor swirling the liquid around. You were already in your suit. They modelled it after the Black Widows' suit. The shape and style yes, but it had to accommodate your toned muscular body that was inside. Zemo did some final touches giving you a mask covering your nose and mouth with a red sown design of a red dragon starting at the middle of your back wrapping its tail along your right thigh. You were Zumo's lucky charm. His Red Dragon.

"Anything for you boss. Hell, I'll go tonight if I have to." You stood in front of your boss ready to take your orders. Zemo rejoiced shooting his drink back, lifting himself out of his chair. "Of course you are! You are my starfighter after all! Your enemies are mine! You make sure to bring me that eye and I may or may not give you a little bonus on that paycheck of yours Y/n." He grabbed your shoulder patting your back. Pulling you into the direction where you were hiding. "By the way, I wouldn't put it past you if you killed Doctor Strange once you have the amulet. We all are thinking about it but you. You can do it."

"I'll try my best Sir." You held out your hand letting the file folder slip through your hands holding it stiffly. You turned your back to Zemo trotting down the dark brick hallway to the jet waiting for you.

You were a mile away from where Zemo told you Doctor Strange would be located. You had the drop on him. Literally, the helicopter was on top of the building hovering over the glass skyline. You geared up throwing two handguns into your holster.

"Alright! You guys stay up in the sky while I go. If I need you I'll page you." You adjusted your mask fitting your face nicely. You flung open the helicopter door open leaping yourself into the air. You ducked your knees to your chin hitting the glass skyline. You let go of your body letting your leg and knee hit the cement floor. The cement exploded around you leaving a huge hole underneath you. You arose searching left and right to see if anyone was around noticing your former S.H.E.I.L.D agents starting to surround you.

"Well..isn't this a surprise. Hello gentlemen. I didn't want this to be our reunion but hey, beggars can't be choosers am I right?" You dusted off the dust you created from your fall.

"Put your hands up! Or we will open fire!!" All of the soldiers became increasingly closer pointing their M4s at you.

"Come on guys! You know me! What are you, trainees?" You lifted your arms taking a few steps towards the group of agents in swat uniforms. One agent looked to have a twitchy finger over his trigger vibrating in his boots when stepped closer. He let out one shot go missing you entirely. You looked over to your right seeing where to bullet hit.

"Oh yeah, your guys are new. This is gonna be easy." You hit your knuckles together clenching your fists. You and the group increased speed finally running into each other. Your left fist connected to the first guy's jaw, he flew 10 feet away from the fight landing himself on the cement banister across the room. The entire group's hands fell seeing one of the agents almost on the brink of death. They all had looks of shock across their faces, they didn't know what to do. They all looked at each other figuring out what to do.

"Come now! You haven't fought a super-soldier before? The party is just beginning gentlemen." You pick one of the agents up throwing him into three more agents making them all fall. There were two more coming for you, they came strong trying their best to either hurt you or stay alive. Could have been both, you had no clue. You gave the guy to your left a swift right hook to his ribs feeling his ribs break against your knuckles. All you heard was his shriek in pain as he fell to the floor rolling to his side. The last guy stood a foot away from you. He was bigger than the 6 of them. He seemed a little cocky scoffing at his team on the floor in shambles.

"So. You're the powerful Red Dragon I've heard about? Not much to show for it. Just another super-soldier. The difference is you have tits. I'm going to enjoy this." He chuckled, flexing his arms and running toward you. You didn't care if he was taller than you. He may have looked stronger than you but you know how to take down bigger men. You used your surroundings as an advantage, jumping to your right and running up the cement balcony leaping higher than his height. You stuck out your legs straight out in front of you letting your boots kiss his forehead. His skull hit the floor hearing the sound create an echo.

"One thing, you go get out of that thick skull of yours is I'm not a super soldier that you're thinking of." You hovered over top of him pulling his head off the floor out of the small pool of blood that has began to form. "I'm not the good guy anymore. I don't kiss the government's ass anymore. I'm certainly not Captain America." Your hands wrapped around his head feeling your fingertips touch the back of his ears.

"No! You're just a chick in a suit! Nothing more!" His teeth bled spitting at you. A splatter hit your new suit. Your fingertips gripped tight around his head lifting his head overextending his neck.

"Oh yeah, you're right! But I'm also the chick who will kill you with no hesitation." With that final breath, you shifted his head feeling the bone in his neck snap. His head fell back moving his face to the other side. You got up seeing all of the agents scattered all over the room. "Wow! Record timing! Fuck yeah!" You cheered running down the hallway the group of agents came from. You thought the direction they were coming from was bound to be where Strange was. The halls were empty. All you heard was your breath with the faint clicking of your boots against the floor. Until you heard a familiar feminine voice in the distance. You followed the sound, quickly creeping into the room on top of the steel balcony. It was her. It was Wanda. Her back was facing you holding her arms in the air holding a door up in the air with her magic.

"Where do you want this Stephen? I can hold this for a little bit but my arms might get tired." Her suit was new. It looked good on her. The dark red looked black to the untrained eye. Her top was a dress in a sense, but it opened at her hips exposing her black pants. You had to stop staring at her, all of those memories of that night washed over you. You are being thrown into a wall; fracturing your spine. Cracking three of your ribs. You hated her every move she took taking advantage of you, but that orgasm made you reconsider.

Reconsider? Really? You thought.

"Throw it behind you, Wanda. I need to open a big enough portal to get the orb out of this multiverse." Strange flicked his hands around the eye around his neck. The orange sparkle illuminated him as a wire circle appeared before him.

"Try not to break the multiverse Stephen. We don't want that to happen again." Wanda's hair flipped as she turned her body around dropping the door on the floor. Stephen cocked his head giving Wanda a smirk and looking back at the portal. "I get it. You saved my ass. Why do you always bring it up?" A blue wave through the circle, his hand pointed taking a few steps towards the portal. She smiled looking over at him. "Just want to make sure never forget." I need that eye before he hops into the multiverse. Better now than later you thought. Who knows what the orb is.

Without thinking you stepped up onto the ledge of the metal balcony dropping down to the main floor. The cement cracked up around you. The noise itself made both Stephen and Wanda look overseeing up and stand straight up.

"Now I'm all for changing this reality, but I'm sorry to say, I need your necklace, Houdini." Your boots scrapped to the cracked floor kicking up shards of the topcoat.

"No way in hell are you getting this sacred talisman. And the name Doctor Strange." He pointed directly at you creating a hole in the floor you almost stepped into, leaping over. "Come now, you give me your necklace. I get paid. And you get to go back to whatever the hell you were doing before. I thought you'd be relieved." Stephen and Wanda stood closer before you. Wanda couldn't recognize you in this stance. You wore a mask and changed your look entirely. That happens when you are forced to take the super-soldier serum. Your hair wasn't soft. It was dark black and roughly cut.

"What makes you think you'll win here? It's two against one. Besides, I can just lift you into the roof." Wanda's mist appeared behind her back. The night she threw you came back. It made your blood boil wanting you to go after her now.

"Alright detka, then you'll just have to break my back again. Cause I'm not leaving here without that eye." Wanda's cocky smirk left her face, dropping her jaw. She was in disbelief.

"Y/n?...it can't be you." She walked over to you being a foot away from you. "What happened to you?..." Her hand stopped glowing red and reached over to graze the mouthpiece of your mask. You caught her hand clenching it hard.

"I'm just doing my new job, Wanda. Stop being so sentimental." You whipped her hand over your head throwing her into the cement slab behind you. The force rattled the entire building.

Wanda fell to her knees groaning in pain putting her hand behind her head revealing her hand covered in blood. "I didn't know what happened to you Y/n. You were gone when I got back into the room." She flicked the blood off her fingertips onto the floor shooting a red fireball at your chest. You were brought back falling onto your back, quickly rising to watch Wanda run to you. You kicked her knee out letting her fall on her other knee. "Yeah well if you didn't assault me I wouldn't have a reason to run away from you." She stood back up, your knee came back up connecting to her stomach. Her whole body lifted in the air for only a moment. You didn't use much strength to hurt her. She hit the floor on her ass first, gasping for air and wrapping her hands around the area that was just hit.

"I did not assault you Y/n! You wanted it just as much as I did. You just needed to remember how much you wanted it." She arose, this time the mist surrounded her picking up the same door she just had throwing it in your direction. You held out your hands stopping the door from direct contact with you. "Is that what we're calling it now? Is that how Sokoivans show their affection? Stalking them for a year? Showing up at their safe house unannounced? Almost breaking my spine and while I was in so much pain you still decided to fuck me?! That's how I remember Wanda?" You kicked the door bending it out of shape, using your right hand to break it in two.

"No! You are twisting what I did! If I didn't hurt you to some degree you would have run away! You love me Y/n! You're too angry to see that now!" Her mist yanked you making you fly into the air. Your body hit the floor landing on your stomach. Your jaw clenched, placing your hands on your stomach while you sat up on your knees.

"Oh no honey, we're way past anger here." You spat tasting blood in your mouth, arising to your feet. You ripped off your mask. You put up your fists looking through the one divot between your knuckles. Wanda tilted her head scanning your body. “What happened to you? You’re not the same anymore. Not the same Y/n I know.” Her eyes had a glaze across them. A singular tear cast down her cheek. She blinked making her mascara leave a smudge under her eye. Wanda’s mist lightened up with her hands opened on either side of her body.

“You happened Wanda. If you weren’t so fucking obsessed with me! Then I wouldn’t have escaped my hiding with S.H.E.I.L.D.! But no, they didn’t find me! Your presence attracted HYDRA! That’s why I turned into this! So I should be saying thank you, Wanda.” Your fist hit the floor. The cement broke underneath you two; rattling the entire building. The floor turned into a wave hitting Wanda’s feet, throwing her through the wall.

“Bye, bye detka.” You caught your breath running over to Stephen, watching him step into another universe.

You stepped into the sparkly hole following after him. “You don’t stop do you Y/n?” He turned, feeling the floor move like a treadmill. You balanced your body calmly making sure to check your surroundings. “Well hey, I learnt it from the best. The infamous ‘Scarlet Witch’! What a joke! I thought you guys were the good guys here. I thought you were good. Why would you want to be paired with her if you knew what she did to me!?” The floor stopped moving, you took this opportunity to face Strange.

“Y/n. It’s not that easy. You’re letting your anger get the best of you. You need to leave it’s not safe for any magic user let alone a new-tech super soldier such as yourself.” His tone was uneasy looking up at the sky turning a different colour, as is if the galaxy passed you by.

“What the fuck does that mean huh Strange? How’s it not so easy for you huh? You had a shit ton of choices! Spider-boy, the guy with the metal arm and a goddamn Asgardian with a beer gut! But no, you had to choose the rapist!”

You felt something you haven’t felt in a long time. You couldn’t remember the last you had this feeling. It wasn’t anger but it wasn’t sadness either. It was a mixture. You haven’t cried in almost a year. Your eyes started to swell up making your vision blurry. You had to stop.

“Y/n. Please understand Wanda has, or should I say had the best intentions. Really, she truly did. Though losing Vision and her children made everything good and bad out of balance. It’s cloudy for her in that mind of hers. I asked her to help me in the multiverse, the darkhold, and her chaos magic took control of her. The variants of her traumatized her.” Your tears pooled around your eyes rushing down falling straight down to your boots.

“Don’t. You. Tell. Me. Who’s traumatized here, Stephen! She had to battle with other enhanced superhero beings! I was normal! You will never! Never! Know how it felt having no control! No, say! You all had powers. I didn’t at the time!” Your fist connected to Strange's chest flying him back a couple of feet.

“I know you are very upset Y/n. You have every right but, you cannot punch your way through your pain. Hurting her and I won’t help you. She still cares for you. It doesn’t seem like it now, but she loves you.” He stayed still on the ground as you stormed over him.

“Well Stephen, you weren’t there. Plus, you won’t be around to see the aftermath.” You bent over ripping off his talisman around his neck. You stored the eye in your pocket walking towards the portal back to your universe. “Bye, bye Doctor. Have fun in hell.”

The center of the necklace glowed green in your pocket closing the portal behind you.

“And Zemo said this would be hard.” The room was destroyed. You left your mark alright. No sign of Wanda to be found. You honestly thought she would’ve given you another good fight. Maybe were stronger than you thought until you made it outside.

Wanda stood in front of you furiously. “Now you have really pissed me off this time detka.” She got ahold of your sides flying you both into the air.

“Great we’re on the same page.” You swung your head back headbutting your forehead to hers. She groaned clenching her face. Her hands got loose, you kicked your knee to Wanda’s stomach drifting her back. You fell straight down landing on your feet rolling down a hill. The contact to the grass left a crater where you landed. “Fuck! That’s gonna leave a bruise.” You rolled onto your back noticing the red flare in the sky getting closer. “Awe shit!” You hurried back onto your feet rushing through a field.

The field was high grass and wheat coming to your hips.

“Fuck, where is she?” You looked around the field only seeing the grass intertwining in the wind. You sat down completely hiding. You saw your shoulder had a hole in your black suit, your skin was burnt with a little blood rushing to the surface. You were too distracted by your injury that you didn’t realize Wanda was behind you looking over you. You let a little sigh of relief finally calming down. Your head felt a sharp sensation moving briskly moving along your scalp. It was nails, Wanda’s nails. You froze, your body tensed up. You straightened your back ready to leap your way out of the situation when her grip tightened around the strands of your hair pulling you up her chest.

“You run, I swear to god I’ll bury you where you stand.” Wanda spat angrily, her body radiated heat profusely against yours. She was out of breath trying to remain some sort of composure.

“That’s not your forte Wanda.” You cocked your head, grazing your lips softly on Wanda’s cheek. Wanda threw your head forward lunging your body to the dirt.

“A lot had changed Y/n. I’m different. You are too, but my love for you hasn’t changed. Give me Strange’s talisman back and I’ll forget this ever happened between us. I’ll forgive you for giving me this huge fucking welt on my forehead and you can do the same if you so choose.” She stepped on top of you pressing her knee to your spine. The same spot she broke. It stung remembering who did all this pain. Deep down it felt amazing in some sick way. To feel her touch again. Her warmth. Your face was pressed firmly on the fresh soil.

"You want me to forget our little fight? Or do you want me to forget you throwing me down on my couch like this-.." Your arm hooked onto Wanda's thigh not on you, flipping her on the ground. Pinning her hands above her head. "Or did you want me to forget how you ripped my clothes off me like this-" Your hand pulled Wanda's pants down to her ankles.

"I didn't do this to you Y/n! I'd never do this to you!" Her sweat beat down from her forehead. Her eyes kept darting down to where your other hand was wondering, meeting your gaze.

"Do you put yourself in your little spell too or are you just this hard-headed all the fucking time?! Stop playing dumb! You know what you did to me! Remember Wanda? Remember what you said? You needed this! So it's my turn princess. It's time to get what I've always wanted! A taste of what you did to me." Your hand stroked the side of her face pushing her crown off her head falling behind her. Your body pulled further down to her level connecting her lips to yours. Wanda's lips were soft. You both glided together so smoothly. Her tension faded for a second.

You both gasped for air having both warmth on each other. "So you think fucking me in this field will even the score?" Your hand traced along her panties feeling her tension build up again.

"Pretty much. You let me have you, and I'll give you the green necklace thingy back. My boss won't like it but I'll enjoy it way better than pay raise." The tips of your fingers slid into the cotton that sent a jolt throughout Wanda. You must have been not paying attention to the fact Wanda had one hand free, latching around your throat. You choked trying to swallow.

"Tell me you love me. I mean it this time. Tell me you really love me and I'll let you do whatever you want with me." Her forehead stuck onto yours. Her eyes were staring deep into yours. No mind games, no manipulation. Just Wanda Maximoff, being herself. Her vulnerable self. Wanda's eyes sparkled, not because of sweat but because of tears forming in her eyes.

The eyes you originally fell in love with when you first met. They were still the same. The same Wanda was in there somewhere. Just lost.

"Yes Wanda, I love you." The lump in your throat was getting bigger once Wanda's grip tightened.

"Do you mean it babygirl?" It's been a long time since you've heard Wanda call you that. You missed it. You would never admit that to her, however. You'd never let Wanda have that satisfaction.

"Yes Wands, I mean it." You grinned only letting one side of your face show it. All of Wanda's tears streamed down her face.

"Then do it then, do it Y/n." Her grip lessened. Though, you still felt her around your neck. It was throbbing, it felt as though your heart was in your throat. Her fingertips glided across where her hand rested, every little touch felt like a feather touching your skin.

With no hesitation, you clawed her red cotton panties down past her kneecaps. You let go of her hand, using your free hand to push away her hair from her face. She used both of her hands to drape around your head to pull you closer to her. She planted little kisses along with your neck, her breath burned with every little gasp she made.

Wanda was waiting for you for a long time, you could tell by how sensitive she was. How wet she was. You didn't have to go very far to feel that, her clit bulged under your fingertip as you dragged along. You felt her facial expressions against your shoulder, her nose scrunched up letting out a high-pitched moan. "Fuck...y/n..." You slid your fingers through her folds slipping ever so slightly in her center. Your other hand ran along her back trying to pry her head away from your body, to see her face.

"I love the way you say my name." You felt like you had to whisper when you two were the only ones in the field.

"I bet you would...now, stop teasing me. Actually, fuck me as you planned." Her eyes became stern, groaning under her breath. You stopped touching her pushing her back firmly to the ground. She gave out a little squeak, as she tried to catch her breath.

"Who the hell is in charge here huh? Cause last time I checked it's me." Your body hovered over Wanda drifting your hands down, hugging either side of her hip bones.

"If you weren't such a pussy then you'd already be fucking me by now." She laughed not-breaking contact with you. "That's why it was so easy for me to fuck you the first time." You couldn't tell if she wanted to get a rise out of you, or if she was just in the moment. All you could tell was it made you pissed, made you determined to show her what you wanted to her since your last encounter.

"Fine. I was trying to take my time, but fuck it. You wanna go, let's go." You cracked Wanda's thighs wide open. Her opening was glistening, it was inviting. You didn't wait for now time to continue what you first started.

You slipped your middle finger in her center, the feeling was soft in your hand. Wanda bit her bottom lip, looking down watching what you were doing to her. She breathed deeply trying to suppress a loud moan coming. You couldn't take it any longer, just watching her wiggle around because of what you were doing to her.

'Could you imagine how she would react to your mouth instead of fingers?' You thought to yourself. She was starting to twitch, you could tell you had some more time.

You pulled your fingers out of Wanda's center, you brought it up to your lips letting your tongue clean the mess. The taste was so sweet, like cherries. You were in awe. You could not wait. Neither could Wanda. She moved her body lower letting her pussy touch your suit in your pelvis. Wanda bucked her hips not wanting to wait.

"Now who's begging Wanda." You chuckled to yourself bending down on your knees. You looked up at Wanda staring from her pelvic bone. Her eyes flickered red, grinning ear to ear. "I will only beg for you Y/n-..." You interrupted her by finally going down on her. Sweet cherries flooded your mouth. The tip of your tongue pressed on her clit roughly. She finally let out all of her emotions gripping your hair. Your scalp burned to have Wanda's nails run through it.

"Fuck! Oh-oh, my god! Go faster! Please!" Her moans became choppy, Wanda was trying hard to talk but all she could do was control her breathing.

As she asks you will give. Your tongue increased in pace, moving in every direction. Wanda's body was melting, she was boiling. She let go of your head, using her hands to touch along her torso; arching her spine. "Keep going! I'm going to cum!" You smirked slipping your tongue deep into her wet middle.

"You must've missed me a lot if you're cumming this quick!" Your two fingers slid into her without ease as you continuously licked Wanda's clit. Her moan turned into a scream going through all the sensations.

"Urgh! Fuck off for a minute Y/n! Just...make me-..cum!" Her back arched again trying to prompt herself on her elbows. She finally adjusted herself sitting up. Strands of her hair stuck to her face beaming in sweat. You latched on your arm around her thigh moving her towards her. She began to grind your face as your fingers were still moving. With every move Wanda's body twitched stronger, making her thighs vibrate against the side of your face.

"Fuck! I'm gonna cum! Y/n I'm going to cum!!" Wanda fell back onto the soil, screaming in pleasure. You held on not giving up until she's kicking you off.

You tasted like her, you could smell Wanda on you. Wanda tilted her head to one side looking firmly into your eyes. You got up stretching your legs, finding Wanda's panties in the tall grass behind you. "Here. I think you were looking for these." You threw it over to her catching it in her mist.

"No Y/n. This wasn't what I was I look for." Wanda caught her breath standing up and putting her panties on. She bent down pulling her leather black pants up watching you move around her. "Then what are you looking for then?" You stumbled standing in front of her, you zipped the rest of your suit not showing off anything you don't have. "I gave you everything you wanted Wanda. What else do you want now?" You went to lean in for a kiss when her red mist hit a barricade.

"Y/n. You made me a promise, you give me the Eye of Agamotto and I let you have me. I held up my bargain. It's your turn." Wanda flicked her wrist attaching a ring of red mist around your throat.

"I'm sorry cupcake. What was it you said to me in Amsterdam? Oh right, we don't always get what we want." You put your hand in front of her lightly pushing her back. "I thought you love me Y/n! You promised! I actually love you!!" Her red mist floated everywhere burning the field.

"I do love you Wands. Honestly, I have a job to do. I can't drop my job or else Zemo will have my head! He won't stop with me." Wanda's mist calmed down seeing more tears fall.

"You leave Zemo up to me if that happens. Just give me the eye, or we both have bigger issues than Baron Zemo." Wanda held her hand out waiting for the necklace. You were about to give her the necklace from your pocket until you both heard a loud noise. Behind the trees came Zemos guys in the helicopter who were waiting for me.

"Red! We gotta go! The authorities are coming in hot! Move your ass!" One of the hitmen throws you a rope to climb up the helicopter.

"Come with me, Wanda. I don't want you to get arrested." Wanda's hand was still out, so you grabbed her hand pulling her near the rope.

"No Y/n, give the necklace! I've gotten better, the darkhold doesn't control me anymore! I'm not evil! Go ahead! Turn your back on me! If you don't want to give me the talisman then I know you don't love me. You just wanted to even the fuck score! Everyone either dies or does that to me! I thought you were different! But I guess I was wrong! You're just like everyone else! Have fun in hell Y/n!" Wanda pulled back walking away. She flew up into the air soaring a couple of feet, landing near an entrance to the woods.

You climbed up the rope seeing her feet touch the ground. The red little light stopped in her tracks. You hopped into the helicopter not taking your eyes off Wanda. You noticed as the helicopter got closer to the woods, you realized why Wanda stopped. She was surrounded by the police or S.H.E.I.L.D.

You felt like shit. It was either steal from Doctor Strange or hide with Wanda for the rest of your life. You can't hide your love for her forever. You have to save Wanda, but you also have to get out of this debt with Zemo. You frankly had no clue what to do at this point.

#wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x reader #lgbt #lesbian #marvel #wlw fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #wlw #avengers #scarlet witch x reader #wattpad #mcu #multiverse of madness #wanda maximoff x female reader #doctor strange in the multiverse of madness #wanda marvel #wanda fanfic #marvel fanfic

89 notes · View notes

daryl-dixon-daydreams · 3 years

Photo

Words: 8,347 Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Reader Reader pronouns: she/her Era: the Greene farm Warnings: Language, violence, gore, attempted sexual assault, discussions of trauma, typical TWD A/N: This is Part 1 of the new miniseries! This should be 2 or 3 parts total, and it's kind of intense and a bit dark at certain points so heed the warnings ya'll. Summary: Y/N is considered quiet, standoffish, and even a bit odd by the group, but Daryl knows how much she does around camp to care for everyone. After a traumatic incident while searching for Sophia, Daryl starts to discover why Y/N is the way she is.

Your name: submit What is this?

The group was all sitting around the low campfire, eating some breakfast. The two Greene girls came out with baskets in hand. Beth approached Rick and held hers out. “We have some more eggs for you all. Our hens lay more than we can eat,” she said.

Rick gratefully accepted them with an earnest look and a nod. “Thank you. That’s very kind.”

“And some potatoes,” Maggie offered. Lori grabbed her basket.

“Really, you all are being so kind. If there’s anything we can do to help around the place just let us know,” she said.

Beth was looking off into the distance at you sitting alone, away from the group, your back to the farmstead. “What’s wrong with her?” she asked, without really thinking.

“Beth!” Maggie scolded her.

“Well, I—I just mean she never eats with ya��ll. She seems like she’s always off on her own,” Beth explained, a little sheepish from her sister’s scolding.

The rest of the group was looking your direction now too, many of them asking the same questions in their minds.

“C’mon, now. That’s enough,” Maggie said. “Daddy needs help with the laundry.”

The group watched them head back to the farmhouse and Shane was the next one to break the silence. “It’s a fair question,” he said, chuckling to himself wryly, glancing back over his shoulder at you before leaning in to grab another helping of breakfast. “She hasn’t exactly meshed into the fabric of the group, has she?”

“Shane, give it a rest,” Lori said sternly.

“No offense meant but I don’t think I’ve ever heard her say more than two words at a time,” Andrea said. “You can’t pretend like there isn’t something… odd there.”

Dale hummed. “Not that it’s really our business, but she’s never said anything about what happened to her before we found her out by the quarry. I’ve tried to ask her about her family, what she used to do before all this,” he shrugged vaguely. “Never got a thing out of her. That’s her right if she doesn’t want to talk about it, but it does seem a little strange.”

“That’s all I’m sayin’,” Shane said. “Somethin’ weird with that girl,” he trailed off.

Daryl stood up, annoyed. “Ya’ll are a buncha busy body gossips. If ya’d open your damn eyes for two seconds you’d realize she does more for this group than most of ya combined,” he growled. “She gathered that wood burnin’ in your fire right there. Them mushrooms mixed in with your damn eggs, who the hell ya think found those? Ya think they just magically appeared along with that stuff you’re usin’ to make tea every night?” He tossed his empty plate down on the grass and scoffed. “People who don’t trust easily usually got a damn good reason. ’M outta here.”

Shane watched him go in slight amusement, but most of the others looked a little ashamed of themselves. Daryl was right, of course. You did do a lot for the group. You just kept to yourself. You didn’t make a big show of bringing back some meat or foraged food. You never complained when Rick or Shane asked you to do something. You took more than your fair share of the night watches. And the fact that no one knew anything about your past, the fact that you didn’t talk much, didn’t need any explanation to Daryl. Based on his own background, he could guess there was a reason you were the way you were.

A short time later, Daryl noticed you gathering up your pack and grabbing your pistol and recurve bow. He wandered over as you were snapping your knife into its sheath at your hip. “Ya headin’ out to search again?” he asked softly. You and him seemed to be the only ones who hadn’t completely given up hope of finding Sophia. You simply nodded once.

“Alright,” Daryl drawled. “What’s your plan?” Asking a question that wasn’t a simple yes or no was always a toss-up with you. Half the time he’d get a short answer, half the time he wouldn’t.

“North side of the ridge,” you said. Your voice was always quiet and measured. The archer usually wished most people would talk less, but with you he always hoped to hear more. The little that you said was purposeful and deliberate. There was no idle bullshit.

He nudged his nose up in a nod at you. “Alright. I’ll start by that creek and work along the south side. We can be close by in case either of us gets into trouble with walkers,” he said.

You simply nodded again and gave him a long thoughtful look. You did that a lot. Daryl had the feeling there was a lot going on behind your eyes, but you never spoke any of it. Surprisingly, he never felt nervous or uncomfortable when you looked at him like that. He just hoped someday maybe you’d open up a little bit more. The next moment you had turned and were heading toward the tree line already. Daryl scrambled to gather his gear and set off after you.

He could see your figure ahead, disappearing into the brush and soon he couldn’t see or hear you at all. He set out along the south side of the ridge as planned, picking his way along the creek, scrutinizing every inch of ground and hoping for a shoeprint.

Along the north side you were doing the same. You frequently knelt to examine some little scrape in the litter or soil and as you went you filled the little cloth bag you carried with edible and medicinal plants, berries, and fungi. The day wore on with no sign of the little girl and your frustration and fear grew even as the sun reached its apex in the sky and started to drift back down toward the western horizon.

You turned and started picking a new path back, heading toward the farm now rather than away. The deepening shadows made detecting print or trail more difficult but you kept your focus sharp on the ground as you moved, your bow slung over your shoulder next to your quiver.

You were becoming tired when you noticed an impression in the mud. You knelt, one knee of your jeans sinking into the damp soil. It was a boot print, but certainly not left by Sophia. You stared at the detail of the sole impression and your brow drew down low immediately. You have everyone’s shoe designs memorized. It wasn’t one you recognized. Your eyes drifted up and you could see a worn trail through the underbrush and more prints, heavy in the mud. There were at least three men who had left this trail, and they weren’t walkers. The path was straight ahead with no stagger and you could tell they were picking their way through the underbrush. You crouched and started to follow the trail. You needed to get eyes on these people. They were awfully close to the farm… Close enough, certainly, to see the smoke rising from the chimney and your fire circles.

You ghosted through the woods following the trail, moving as silently as you could. You’d been on the path for probably ten minutes when you could hear careless, noisy movement ahead. You must have caught up with them. Your heart hammering in your chest, you stayed low and crept closer. As you moved around a partially downed tree you could finally see the shapes of two men ahead. They were scruffy and filthy, clearly living on the move in the woods. You needed a closer look. You wanted to see what kinds of weapons they had on them. If you could scout out the group, you could determine whether something needed to be done about them or not.

As you tried to shift to another patch of concealing cover, you didn’t notice your bow catching on a low hanging dead branch. By the time you felt the resistance it was too late. The whole branch pulled loose with a loud snapping sound as it bent and cracked other dried branches and twigs on its way down. The two men you had been watching spun immediately and had weapons raised, rifles pointed in your direction. You were swearing under your breath and instantly on your feet aiming your pistol right back.

“Well, shit! What the hell do we have here?” one of the men asked, shifting a little to get a better look at you. “You alone out here, sweetheart?”

You fell an immediate swell of anger and dread rising up in your chest.

“What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” the second man asked, grinning and revealing teeth that were tobacco stained and yellow.

“What’s a fine little thing like you doing out here by yourself? Don’t you know it’s dangerous? There are all kinds of monsters in these woods,” the first man said, looking you up and down thoroughly. His companion laughed.

Fuck. This was bad. Why had you pushed your luck and crept in so closely? Now you were outnumbered and you knew there was at least one other man somewhere that you didn’t have eyes on.

Your chest was heaving with anxious breaths from the rush of adrenaline. The first man stepped a bit closer again and you responded by taking a measured step back, your pistol aimed squarely at his chest. Now what? Should you make a run for it? Would they shoot you? Based on the animalistic looks in their eyes you knew things could go very bad, very quickly if you couldn’t get the fuck out of there. Your mind was whirring.

Suddenly, you heard a stick crack behind you and you turned instinctively to see a third man now rushing you. He landed a fist into your jaw and your vision went black as you fell to the ground, holding onto your pistol as tightly as you could. The pain radiating from your jaw into your head was overwhelming. You blinked, willing the darkness to clear, but it lingered as you suddenly felt rough hands on you, rolling you over and ripping both your bow and rifle from your back.

You struggled blindly and managed to get yourself onto your back again as the darkness in your eyes faded instead to the outlines of blurred shapes. You could make out the shape of the man standing over you and you instinctively raised your pistol and squeezed several rounds which sounded like cracks of thunder in the close woods. You missed, the scene still foggy, and you immediately squeezed again and discharged another round but the man leapt down on you with a wild yell, knocking your arm to the side and pinning it into the ground. His weight pressed down on you and you were vaguely aware of an acrid smell filling your nostrils, causing bile to rise up in your throat. He pried your pistol from your hand and tossed it away into the brush.

You writhed beneath him, struggling to get clear of his grasp but he was much bigger than you and soon there was another set of hands on you. You were rolled onto your stomach again and your arms were pulled back behind you and held painfully tight.

“We got ourselves a wild cat here, boys!” one of the men laughed. “Get her up,” he ordered. You were pulled roughly onto your feet, still trying to blink away the remaining fuzziness in your eyes and struggling against your captor.

The first man, who seemed to be the leader, paced over, watching you with a look of satisfaction on his face as you still tried to fight loose. His rifle was now dropped casually by his side. He grabbed your chin cruelly and pulled it up so you looked right into his eyes. His fingers dug into the tender spot on your jaw where the other man had hit you. “Ain’t you a pretty little thing,” he murmured silkily.

You yanked your face from his grasp and he chuckled, glancing back at the other man standing just behind him. “She’s a good one,” he said, a sick smirk on his face. He looked back at you and his eyes roamed perversely over your body. “This’ll be fun.”

He turned violent and grabbed the front of your light cotton shirt, ripping it harshly down off one shoulder, tearing the breezy plaid fabric easily and popping off the first three buttons. The man holding you only tightened his grip. Your throat constricted so tightly it was hard to breathe. You felt like your heart was beating so hard that it would surely burst. You could feel everyone’s eyes on your newly bared skin. Next the leader withdrew a knife and pressed the point into the center of your chest just above your bra. You cringed at the feeling of the biting cold metal pricking your skin.

He stepped close into you and moved the knife up to your throat, pressing it to the side of your neck and drawing it lightly across your skin just enough to cut you. You winced and shut your eyes, trying to keep as still as possible with that blade to your throat and you soon felt a rivulet of warmth rolling down toward your collarbone. You opened your eyes as the knife left your throat and he slipped it under your exposed bra strap, rotating it and lifted up until the fabric started to separate along the sharp edge. Finally, it gave and the strap hung loosely down. He sucked in a hiss of breath through his teeth, his eyes hungry and crazed. “This will be a lot easier on you if you just cooperate. Then again… I like a woman with some fight in her,” he snarled. “Your choice.” His companions let out more appreciative laughter as fear twisted your stomach.

You felt yourself going numb. Suddenly, you couldn’t feel any pain anymore. You couldn’t feel the man’s hands pinning your arms back. You couldn’t feel the blood that was now running down your chest. Your eyes drifted to the leader’s cold, blue blade and then unfocused so the scene simply became a haze. And you suddenly realized that they hadn’t taken your knife. It was still in its sheath on your hip…

A short distance away, Daryl had been thinking that it was probably about time to call it a day and head back when he heard a series of loud gunshots. His body went rigid and he turned frantically, staring off into the brush. He strained his hearing to its limit. They’d definitely come from your direction. Abandoning any other thought, he sprung into motion, racing through the woods as fast as he could in the direction he thought the blasts had come from.

Back in camp, everyone else had heard the shots too. Shane turned and looked at Rick, his gaze intense.

“Were those gun shots?” Lori asked, fear in her voice.

“Yeah,” Rick said, rising to his feet and rushing to grab his gun from the stash of weapons in the RV. “Shane, T, Glenn, let’s go! The rest of you stay here!”

Hershel stepped out onto the porch and watched the group of men racing across the pasture toward the trees. He had a bad feeling in his gut. Maggie and Beth came out, the slamming screen door punctuating the piercing silence that fell after the shots.

Daryl smashed through the brush carelessly, his eyes scanning the ground for a trail, any trail, something to follow. Finally, his eyes locked on boot prints that were surely yours. He vaguely registered that there were much larger impressions in the soil too, several different boots much larger than yours. And they certainly weren’t from walkers.

“Son of a bitch,” he cursed under his breath. He froze and scanned the thick greenery. He strained his hearing again, listening for some sound, anything, to give him an idea of what was happening. Please don’t let me be too late, he thought frantically. He took off again but more cautiously, following the tracks you had clearly also discovered. Probably what had led you right into something…

Rick and the others were well into the trees now but Shane stopped everyone. “Rick, what the hell are we doin’ man? We don’t have a clue where Y/N and Daryl are. We can’t just go blindly crashing through here or we’re gonna end up in a bad spot too.”

Rick’s eyes frantically whirred over the seemingly endless tree trunks.

“Wait—I saw Y/N’s map yesterday. She had the whole thing sectioned out into search areas,” Glenn said. “Most of them were already crossed off.”

“Well, which ones weren’t?” Shane urged, checking to make sure there was a round chambered in his gun.

“Uhh—” Glenn’s mind raced. “I think—I think by that ridge, straight north of here. But I can’t be sure,” he trailed off.

Rick rubbed a hand over his face. They all listened for any sound, but the woods were oppressively silent now. “Shit…” he cursed under his breath.

“It’s the best we got,” T gasped, out of breath from the frenetic dash from camp.

Rick nodded. “Alright. Then we head north. Keep your heads on a swivel and your eyes peeled for any sign of Y/N or Daryl.”

Daryl moved as swiftly along the trail as he could. Suddenly, he spotted something lying on top of the litter out of the corner of his eye. Your pistol. Daryl grabbed it and the muzzle was still warm. Clearly, you’d been the one to fire at least some of those shots. “Fuck. Fuck…” He tucked it into his waistband and moved more cautiously now. His heart was pounding and sweat was pouring down his forehead. His knuckles were white on his crossbow. He rounded a downed tree and froze when he saw a dark shape on the ground ahead. His heart dropped into his stomach. Please don’t let it be Y/N… He was almost paralyzed with fear but he forced himself to take another couple steps. As he rounded the brush and straightened up, he knew it wasn’t you but his apprehension didn’t evaporate. It was a large man, clearly dead, completely covered in blood. The hair on the back of Daryl’s neck suddenly stood on end and he spun around, his crossbow up to his eye, ready to fire. But he dropped it involuntarily as he took in the scene before him, his jaw dropping partially open and his eyes narrowing as he tried to figure out what the fuck he was seeing.

You were standing there in front of him trembling from head to toe, your hands out in front of you with your knife clutched in one like it was a lifeline. Daryl could easily see the shakiness in your hands. You were completely covered in blood. Your clothing and skin were soaked in it, like you’d bathed in a crimson river. There was thick splatter on your face, neck, and chest. Your eyes were wide and fixed and you didn’t show any awareness that he was there in front of you. Daryl registered that your shirt was torn down from one shoulder and your bra strap had been cut. He didn’t need an explanation to know what the fuck had happened and rage swelled in his chest, stoking an intense fire. His eyes drifted down to two more bodies lying at your feet, each with uncountable stab wounds and one with his throat cut, his clothing drenched. The metallic smell of blood was in the air and Daryl could almost taste it on his tongue.

Still you showed no awareness that he was there. You seemed frozen, catatonic. He now registered that you had slash wounds through the fabric of your sleeves and cuts on your arms. Defensive wounds where you had blocked a knife attack. There was a purposeful cut partially up the hem of your jeans at the bottom, clearly from one of the men… It was nearly impossible to tell if you were hurt anywhere else because there was just so much blood…

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he murmured. “Y/N?” He took a cautious step toward you. “Y/N? Can ya hear me?”

Nothing. No reaction at all.

Just then Daryl heard the noise of several people in the woods nearby and he planted himself between you and the sound, raising his crossbow. “Ya better get the fuck outta here unless ya want an arrow between the eyes!” he roared.

Rick straightened up. That was Daryl. “Daryl?!”

Daryl gulped. “…Rick?”

“Yeah, it’s me, Shane, Glenn, and T! We’re comin’ to you! Are you alright?”

Daryl glanced back at you again. You were still just standing there shaking. “‘M fine. Wasn’t me who fired…” Daryl swung his pack off his back and dug inside it.

The men crashed through the underbrush and came into view, taking in the scene. “Oh my God.” The words spilled from Glenn’s lips. They were all glancing from the bloody bodies on the ground to your blood-soaked figure.

“Jesus Christ,” Shane uttered, pacing closer and bending to look at the slash wound in the one corpse’s neck. Daryl finally laid hands on his poncho and yanked it out of his bag. He turned to look at you and began approaching cautiously. “Y/N? It’s Daryl. Can ya hear me?”

Nothing.

Rick was slack-jawed as he looked at the scene. “Daryl… be careful,” he cautioned, eyeing the knife still gripped in your fist.

Daryl glanced back at him. “She ain’t gonna do nothin’ to me,” he drawled.

“Do you see this?” Glenn asked him urgently indicating the bodies. “This is insane. You don’t know that! She looks completely out of it, like she doesn’t even know we’re here!”

Daryl’s jaw clenched and he turned back to look at you again. “Don’t ya fuckin’ see her? She’s terrified. Look at her clothes. They were tryin’ to rape her,” he growled. “They deserve what they got.”

Shane straightened up from examining the bodies, glancing furtively over at you. “Maybe but… on the force, we’d call this ‘overkill’,” he said, backing up and exchanging a glance with Rick.

Daryl ignored him. “Y/N? It’s alright. You’re safe. Nobody is gonna hurt ya. Just lemme take your knife, okay?” There was no recognition on your face, your eyes still wide and fixed, until Daryl’s hand gently closed over yours and started to open your hand around the handle of your knife. He could feel you shaking beneath his fingers. “S’alright,” he said softly as your eyes landed on his face and then locked with his. Your brow drew down low, casting a shadow over the vaguely confused look on your face. As Daryl gently took your knife, he could see there was a very deep gash in your palm. It was bleeding heavily. He guessed it was either another defensive wound from you putting your hands up to stop one of the men’s knives or otherwise your hand, slick with blood, had slipped down onto your own blade when you’d been fighting them. “Glenn, get some gauze out of my pack and bring it over here,” he said. He spoke calmly and softly. He glanced back over at Glenn when he didn’t move from his slack-jawed frozen position. “Glenn. Gauze.” Glenn snapped himself out of it and went to Daryl’s bag. The archer gulped and draped his poncho over you, covering your ripped shirt. “S’alright,” he murmured again.

You didn’t take your eyes off his face. He wasn’t even sure if you realized the others were there. Glenn walked forward and handed Daryl the small roll of sterile gauze before backing up slowly. The look in your eyes was haunted and dazed and it left all of them feeling empty and concerned.

Daryl opened your hand flat and your eyes drifted down to watch him wrap the bandage over the wound on your palm. You couldn’t feel it. You couldn’t really feel anything, except Daryl’s hands on yours.

Shane turned to Rick. “Rick, what the hell are we gonna do about this? We can’t just waltz her back into camp covered in blood. You don’t want the others seein’ this… Carl? Lori? Or Hershel. Look at her. She looks completely unstable. This might be enough for him to kick us out right now.” He looked back at you over his shoulder.

Rick sighed heavily. “So, we’ll get her cleaned up first.”

Daryl was keeping one ear on the conversation going on behind him. “She needs stitches on this hand,” he drawled. “And who knows how else she’s hurt. Can’t see a damn thing on her right now. And since ya’ll are more worried about yourselves than her, I’ll take care of it. Why don’t ya just get the hell outta here,” Daryl growled.

Glenn stepped forward. “We are worried about her. But you have to admit that this is—this is—” He didn’t even know what word to use. Daryl just stared at him. You were hugging your arms around yourself now, still shaking. Your eyes were downcast, staring unseeing at the ground.

“Listen, I don’t give a shit what ya do. I’m gettin’ her outta here and taken care of.” He hastily shouldered his pack and his crossbow.

“Just—Daryl,” Rick started, pinching the bridge of his nose, the situation weighing on him heavily. “Clean her up a bit before you take her to Hershel to be looked over.”

The archer eyed him through a narrow glare for a moment before he nodded. He turned back to you, your frame swallowed up in his poncho. “C’mon. Let’s get ya home,” he said gently. Your eyes snapped up to his face again and you allowed him to lead you back toward the farmstead.

He picked a path carefully and finally the two of you broke out from the edge of the forest. The others back in the camp were staring at the tree line, wracked with nerves. Lori straightened up as she recognized movement. “Dale—someone just stepped out.”

Dale, standing on the RV, raised his binoculars to his eyes. “Oh my,” slipped from his lips.

“What? Who is it?” Carol asked anxiously.

“I think it’s Y/N and Daryl,” Dale said. “I can’t quite tell properly, but I think something is wrong with Y/N.” He squinted into the binoculars again. “My God. Her jeans are covered in blood and it—it looks like there’s blood on her neck, her face…”

Carol pressed a hand over her mouth. “Is she hurt?” she asked anxiously. “Was she bit?”

Dale shook his head, lowering the binoculars again. “They’re too far. I can’t tell what’s going on.”

Daryl looked up to see everyone standing almost in a line watching the two of you as you started across the field. He gulped and then put a hand lightly on your back, nervous and unsure of how you would react to the contact. He guided you toward his camp which was closest and was set apart from everyone else’s.

“C’mon and sit down, alright. We’re just gonna clean ya up a bit and then take ya to Hershel.” The look in your eyes was worrying him immensely but you sat down on a round of wood pulled up near the fire ring. He anxiously chewed on his bottom lip, trying to figure out how he could reassure you. “Hey. S’alright. You’re safe.”

You met his blue eyes and he finally saw some sense of relief in them. His stomach flipped at the way they softened and he nodded. He took in the sight of you in his poncho again and realized you’d need something else to wear to go see Hershel that wasn’t half ripped off you. “I’m gonna, uhh—” he cleared his throat nervously. “I’ll put a clean shirt out on my cot for ya. Ya can change in in my tent and then we’ll just clean ya up a bit, alright?” He knew better than to wait for a response and climbed to his feet and disappeared into his tent to set the clothes out. He dug around in his duffel bag until he found one that was still folded tightly, definitely clean, and he set it out for you. You watched the handsome archer reemerge from inside his tent and nod his head toward it. “Alright. Go ahead. I’ll just be right out here.”

He watched you get up and disappear, zipping the door behind you. He paced in front of the fire circle, rubbing his thumb over his bottom lip thoughtfully as the image of you standing there in the woods, frozen, absolutely soaked in blood with your shirt half torn surged forward in his mind and he felt another sickening swell of anger. Jesus. Things could have gone so bad with those men… and they were fucking lucky they were already dead when he got there.

The soft rustling of the tent fabric interrupted his thoughts and you stepped out in his long-sleeved flannel, looking a bit dazed still but more grounded. He nudged his nose up in a nod. “C’mon and sit down,” he said, gesturing to the round of wood again. You sank down on it. Daryl grabbed a bucket of clean water that had been warming in the sun all day. He grabbed a cloth from inside his tent and caught sight of your bloody and torn shirt discarded on the floor, feeling another tight twist between his lungs, like someone had tugged a knot there.

You watched him kneel down in front of you and sink the cloth into the bucket of water, wringing it out before bringing it close to your face. He hesitated short of touching you. “S’this alright?” he drawled.

You gave him a questioning look but finally nodded, just one slight tip of your chin. You closed your eyes as the fabric came in contact with your cheek and Daryl started wiping away the blood. The cloth stained crimson quickly. He cleaned the splatters from across your forehead and your nose and the spots on the other side of your face. With the red stains gone, Daryl could see the shadow of a deep bruise along the side of your jaw. Without thinking he gently clasped your chin and turned your head so he could examine it, a heavy shadow falling over his blue eyes. He sunk the cloth back into the bucket of water and wrung it out again, this time pressing it to the side of your neck.

Despite how gentle he was being, you involuntarily sucked in a sharp hiss of air through your teeth as the cloth found the cut on the side of your neck from the leader’s knife. Your eyes blinked open through your wince.

“Sorry,” Daryl drawled, pulling back to look at the wound. “Jesus… Those assholes had a knife to your neck?” he asked. It was rhetorical and he didn’t expect an answer. He wiped at the blood spatter and you closed your eyes again, trying to breathe deeply and still the trembling you still felt wracking through you. Daryl could hear a shaky quality in your breathing. Soon, your face and neck were clean and Daryl turned his attention to your hands. Your eyes were still shut as he rinsed the cloth out again in the bucket. “Lemme see your hands,” he said softly. You found the deep gravel of his voice comforting.

Out of everyone in your group, you usually felt like Daryl was the only one who really saw you. You’d wanted to get to know him better, but held yourself back. He seemed to seek solitude like you did, and you didn’t want to force yourself into his world.

He took your hand, your palm resting against his, and he swept the cloth lightly over the back of it and down each finger. The sensation sent goosebumps rising on your skin and you glanced up at the concerned and intent expression on his face curiously. You couldn’t even remember the last time anyone had shown you so much attention and care. He took your other hand in his now, the one with gauze around it and the deep gash in your palm. He rubbed the blood from the back of each finger and then flipped it over in his hand. He frowned as he noticed that your blood had soaked through the bandage. “Probably need stitches on this one,” he murmured softly. The cloth tickled over the underside of each finger now, sweeping off the ends. “Alright. Push up them sleeves,” he said, dunking the cloth into the bucket again for what felt like the hundredth time.

“What?” He was startled by your voice and his eyes snapped up to look at you.

He straightened up, one of his eyebrows quirking down at the question. “Ya had a buncha cuts on your arms. We need to clean ‘em up and check ‘em. See if ya need stitches anywhere else.”

You shook your head.

He gave you a questioning look for a long moment and chewed on his bottom lip. “Alright. Ya can do it. I’ll just go tell Hershel you’re on your way in, alright?”

You stared at him for another long moment as he set the cloth on the edge of the bucket, whose water was now stained a dark pink. You glanced up as he climbed to his feet and nodded.

“Alright,” he said. “C’mon up when you’re done and we’ll get that hand taken care of.”

Daryl started over toward the farmhouse and as he approached Carol rushed up to him. “What happened?” she urged him. “Are you okay? Is Y/N?”

He stopped, his hand on one hip. He glanced back out toward the trees and saw the rest of the group making their way back toward camp across the field. “‘M fine,” he drawled. “Y/N ran into some men out there when we were searchin’.”

“Men? What men? What happened? Is she alright?”

Daryl chewed his bottom lip and shrugged vaguely. “I don’t know how to—how to answer that,” he said truthfully.

Confusion muddled Carol’s expression and she glanced in the direction of you over at Daryl’s camp. “Well, what happened?” she asked again.

Daryl looked at her seriously and shrugged vaguely. “Y/N killed ‘em. Didn’t have no choice.” He continued his path up to the house and bounded up the porch steps, knocking on the front door. Carol stared after him, a bit shocked. Maggie answered, looking worried.

“Were those gun shots earlier?” she asked.

Daryl nodded. “Mhm… Hey, can your dad take a look at Y/N?”

“Of course. What happened?” she asked, holding the screen door open so he could step inside.

Hershel was there in an instant. “Daryl. What happened? We heard those shots.”

“Y/N and I were out lookin’ for Sophia. There were some men. She—she ran into some trouble.”

Hershel took a deep breath and nodded. “Is she alright?”

“I think she needs stitches in her hand. She took a good hit to her jaw too. Might have a concussion. I dunno,” he said. He anxiously chewed on his bottom lip again. “I know she’s got some cuts on her arms, defensive wounds, but she wouldn’t let me look at ‘em. Got a cut on her neck.”

“Oh my God,” Maggie said, her hand flying up to her mouth.

“What happened to the men?” Hershel asked.

Daryl quit chewing the side of his thumbnail. “Dead,” he said, watching the old farmer’s reaction closely, but the man’s face was blank. He simply nodded.

“I’ll get my kit. Have her come on in.”

Daryl headed back onto the porch to see how you were doing and you were on your way over. His eyes caught on the dark splatters and stains of blood on your jeans and the slit at the bottom. His stomach twisted. Maybe he should have had you change clothes completely… You were trying to ignore the eyes on you as you made your way over to the house.

Andrea and Lori exchanged a look at the state of your clothes.

“Come on in here and sit down,” Hershel said kindly. “Let’s take a look at that hand.” You offered up your gauze-wrapped hand and Hershel laid it out on the table, unwrapping the already blood-soaked bandage and taking a look at the deep gash. “Pretty deep cut here. Definitely need stitches.” He grabbed a needle from his kit and pricked the end of each of your fingers. They all twitched in response. “You can feel that?” You nodded. “Good. Looks like we dodged any nerve damage. Much deeper and you would have needed major surgery for a cut tendon and who knows what else. Maggie, dear, would you get the sutures set up while I clean this off?”

Nerve damage. Cut tendon. Daryl shifted uncomfortably in his spot leaned up against the wall. You hardly seemed to react to the news at all.

Hershel swabbed at your hand and you shut your eyes against the bite of the alcohol. “Now, Daryl tells me you took a good hit to the jaw. I’m just gonna check it and make sure nothing is broken.” He palpated both sides of your face, across your cheekbones and up your jawline. “Just a bit swollen,” he said. “Did you lose sight when you were hit?” he asked you, grabbing a small pen light and checking the dilation response of each of your pupils. You gulped and nodded. “Do you remember your name?” he asked you. You nodded again. “I need you to answer my questions verbally. I’m interested in your answers but also your speech.”

“My name’s Y/N.”

“When is your birthday?” Hershel asked.

You stared at him. “No one here knows my birthday. How will you know if I’m right or not?”

A small smile grew on Hershel’s face. “I’d say your speech and cognition are fine. Probably a mild concussion though with your eyesight blacking out. You’ll need to take it easy the next few days, rest and fluids, and let me know if you develop any new symptoms like vomiting or nausea, confusion, a worsening headache. Understand?”

You nodded again. “Yes. I understand.”

“Sutures are ready,” Maggie said.

Hershel put on a pair of clean gloves and prepared. “I’m afraid I don’t have anything to numb you,” he said, propping your hand up on a towel so he could see it better.

“It’s alright. I would have told you to save it anyway,” you said. Daryl straightened up from his place against the wall and came to stand next to you. You could feel his eyes on your face.

“You’re one tough cookie,” Hershel said. “Let’s get this taken care of.” You hardly flinched as he passed the needle through…

Outside, Rick and the others were just arriving back at camp. Everyone gathered around and seemed to read on their faces that they were all unsettled.

“Rick,” Lori said, grabbing him into a hug. “What happened? We saw Daryl and Y/N come back. Her jeans were covered in blood.”

Rick looked down at her. “Nothing to worry about. It’s been taken care of.”

“Well, what was it?” Lori pressed him, her eyes still a bit wide and fearful.

Carol spoke up. “Daryl said she ran into some men and they’re—she killed them.”

Glenn and T were avoiding everyone’s eyes while Shane let out a frustrated sigh and paced away from the group, disagreeing with Rick still about the decision not to tell everyone you had clearly gone slasher on those assholes. Provoked or justified or not, Shane felt like that was something everyone should know. He’d gone far enough to describe you as a serial killer before Rick had stood him down. Rick nodded and looked at his wife and then at Andrea and Dale. “Y/N was attacked and she dealt with it. Hershel is gonna patch her up and there’s nothing to worry about.

“What if there are more of those men?” Carol asked fearfully.

“We only ever saw three different boot prints out there,” T reassured her. “But we’ll keep watch like we always do. We’ll be fine.”

Everyone still looked uneasy, but settled back into their tasks. Lori was about to go fetch some more water when Shane grabbed her arm and tugged her around the side of the SUV. She gave him a stern look and pulled her arm from his grasp.

“What?” she snapped at him, a bit unkindly.

“Rick ain’t tellin’ you everythin’,” he said.

Lori just stared Shane with a guarded expression. “I trust my husband. And you used to, too.”

“Yeah, well… What happened out there today? It should concern everyone.” His expression was dark and Lori felt her sense of unease grow.

Shane rubbed a hand over the stubble on his face. “Y/N just—” Shane let out a sigh that had the edge of a growl to it.

“What are you talking about?” Lori pressed him in an undertone. “Are we in danger?”

Shane straightened up and pressed his lips into a thin line briefly before meeting her eyes. “Honestly? I don’t know. But I’m not taking my eyes off that girl.”

Inside, Hershel tied off the final stitch and snipped the suture. “All done.” He applied a layer of antibacterial ointment and wrapped your hand in a fresh dressing. “Try to keep it dry. And I mean it,” he gave you a pointed look, “take it easy for a few days. Daryl, you hold her to that. Anything else you need me to look at? Your arms? Daryl said—” You shook your head no. “Alright.”

The archer straightened up as you climbed to your feet. “Thank you,” you murmured to Hershel.

Daryl held the door for you and you cringed at how everyone’s eyes were on you immediately as you stepped out onto the porch. You avoided them and started heading in the direction of your camp. Daryl was still in step beside you and you hazarded a glance in his direction.

He could read a question in your eyes. “I’ll keep ya company for a bit if that’s alright... Besides, ya should be restin’ and somebody needs to make sure ya take care of yourself.” You didn’t say anything, but that also wasn’t a refusal. Daryl could tell you were still reeling a bit, and he wanted to be there just in case.

You arrived at your separate camp area and watched as Daryl immediately went and stirred up the coals in the fire, adding more wood and soon having a nice blaze going. You headed for your tent and glanced back over your shoulder at him. “Just gonna change,” you said softly. He nodded and went about heating something for you to eat along with water for tea. He was sure you had collected more ingredients and remembered that your bag was still sitting at his camp. He jogged to grab it and brought it back along with your bloodied and torn shirt, not sure what else to do with it. When he got back, you were sitting by the fire in clean and comfortable clothes, his shirt resting over your lap. You held it out to him as he dropped your pack beside you.

“Thanks,” he murmured. The fabric was still warm from your body. “Dunno what ya wanna do with this,” he said, holding yours out in turn.

You stared at it for a long moment before your fingers closed on it and Daryl watched as you immediately tossed it into the fire. In a moment, it was only ashes and embers. He sank down beside you and felt you studying him. He turned and met your eyes and was surprised when you spoke. “You aren’t afraid of me now? Like the others?” you asked softly.

“Nah. Why would I be?”

Your striking eyes focused back on the crackling campfire and the embers dancing upward on the warm torrent of air. “You saw what I did. Why wouldn’t you be?”

Daryl peered at you curiously for a long moment. “Ya were only protectin’ yourself. Can’t say I wouldn’t have done worse if I’d been there,” he drawled, and you could hear anger in the tension in his voice.

“I blacked out,” you said suddenly.

“When they hit ya? Ya, yer gonna have a good bruise tomorrow.”

“That’s not what I mean.” You cradled your injured hand absently in the other. “The last thing I remember was the one starting to cut my jeans and then—then I was just covered in blood and they were all dead. And next thing I know you were taking my knife from me.” You shut your eyes for a moment. “I don’t remember anything else.”

Daryl considered the regretful expression on your face. “Don’t matter. Yer safe. That’s what counts. Those men? They had it comin’.”

You looked up at him in surprise and he simply nodded and then grabbed a mug and filled it with hot water for you. You accepted it and dug into your bag, pulling out the small sack of foraged herbs from the day. You dropped a few berries and leaves into your mug and cradled it with your uninjured hand.

It was nearly sunset and the quality of the light was cooling, oranges turning to reds and then fading into deep purples and inky blues. You allowed yourself to frequently study the archer as he shoved a bowl of reheated stew into your hands or added more wood to the fire. You felt surprisingly at ease with him there and he didn’t seem at all bothered by the passing of so much silence. Maybe the concussion just had you slightly numb, but you didn’t think so.

“You aren’t going to ask me?” you finally said.

Daryl looked over at you and he felt a stirring in his chest at the way the firelight was catching the shine and colors in your hair and the soft shape of your lips. “Ask ya what?”

“How I—Why I—” You didn’t even know how to phrase it really.

Daryl watched you struggled for a moment. “Ain’t none of my business. But if ya wanted to talk about it, I’ll listen. Not gonna lie and say I haven’t wondered about what came before ya were with the group.”

You had been on the verge of speaking it but suddenly lost your nerve and sipped at your tea again. Daryl watched you withdrawing again and rubbed a hand a bit nervously over the back of his neck. Darkness had fallen completely now. “Well, I’ll leave ya alone. Yer probably sick of me anyway,” he drawled. “Get some rest, alright?” Daryl had climbed to his feet and started to head in the direction of his own tent but your voice froze him.

“It’s not that I want to be alone all the time…” Daryl could hear the crackling of the fire in the silence that followed. “It’s just that alone usually feels safer.”

He glanced back at you, turning partially. “Ya. I know the feelin’,” he said gently, pacing back.

You looked up at him and something about your expression, your wide eyes, went straight to his core. “Stay,” you said quietly. “Please.” You chewed on your bottom lip for a moment. “Being with you feels safer…” you admitted, timidly.

Daryl felt an ache in his chest and nodded. He grabbed a seat beside you again and puzzled over this unprecedented turn of events.

You seemed to come to some decision suddenly and looked over at him intensely. He caught your eyes briefly and then watched as you pushed up your right sleeve. At first all he saw were the knife cuts, crimson against your skin, but you turned your forearm toward him in the firelight. “This is what I didn’t want you to see,” you said. You gulped. You’d never told anyone, never shown anyone, literally never talked about what had happened to you since you got out. You’d vowed that you would just move on, but the longer you suffered in silence the worse it seemed to get, until you felt like it would consume you. And then today, with those men, you’d just completely lost it. It had triggered something, a memory or maybe more like a nightmare, and when you came to you were bathed in blood and didn’t even recognize yourself, couldn’t believe what you’d done. Enough was enough. Maybe if you spoke it, admitted it, dealt with it in some way… maybe it’d get easier.

Daryl stared at a scar on your forearm. It looked like a brand and the skin was still slightly pink, showing that it wasn’t that old. It was four numbers. 1048.

#daryl dixon fanfiction #daryl dixon twd #the walking dead #twd fanfics #daryl dixon drabbles #daryl imagines #daryl dixon x reader #fanfics #writers of tumblr #twd drabbles

1K notes · View notes