#I unintentionally made a double pun in the fic
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Tag 9 people that you want to get to know better
Thank you so much for the tag @uhbasicallyjustmilex 🩵
most recent ship: Do I even need to say it? 👀
(oh god; the way I just fell into that gif hole and couldn't pick and just happily scrolled & scrolled & smiled & scrolled)
ship i’ve read the most of: huh! Hmm. I think it might be them at this point honestly 👀 otherwise - it could've also been Beth Harmon/Benny Watts.
Yes - Queen's Gambit fics... Was a thing in my life. I was in a deep dark hole at the time & that show just hit something in me - I grasped onto it for dear life as a form of escapism for months and it brought me back into fanfics after years & years.
wild card: figure skater ships? i don't wanna get into the specifics though 🙈 things have changed.
first ever ship: oh, we're going there are we 👀 there might've been earlier ones I can't remember. They were probably niche though. So I guess I'll say Skate (Sawyer/Kate from Lost - anyone remember that show?). But I think Suspian (Susan/Caspian from Narnia. Yep.) needs an honorary mention cause it's the first I got involved in to the point of making ship content - even if I didn't know that term yet (wasn't I such a fun kid?).
last song: I wanna be your girlfriend - Girl in Red
last movie: oh I've been bad at watching movies for a while now (shows seem... easier) - so it seems like actual movie-wise that's gonna be Fantastic Beasts: Secrets of Dumbledore a few weeks back (@kiray1991 👀)
currently reading: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (been on my shelf forever & was reminded of it by the trailer coming out. It seems like I've recently been unintentionally catching up on my older fandoms - with this THG prequel & the Fantastic Beasts movies). Also John Lennon: The Life by Philip Norman is one I've started; stopped for a sec and will be coming back to next.
currently watching: in the middle of Get Back - the Beatles docu-series. Had a bit of a break cause I like to craft while watching that one & haven't had motivation to do so lately. But can't wait to get back (pun not intended actually, but I'm still proud of it) into that one.
currently consuming: a bunch of meds, cause I'm sick atm :c. Also coffee.
currently craving: evenings with guitar & singing - cause this cold/tonsillitis thing has made me take a break for the last couple of days 💔 (also TLSP 3 is very much the correct answer here always).
Ah goodness, I feel like a looot of people in my Tumblr circle have already been tagged? I'm going to just try - but I'm so bad with remembering the @'s off the top of my head - also sorry if you get double-tagged:
@kiray1991 @homoirrealis @haemoglobinheights @maybemoonout @mileskanex @inourownshadows @the-thing-about-life-is @the-libertines & YOU. Yes, you. If you're reading this I really wanna see you do it!
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“It’s that bittersweet feeling, something I feel like I really shouldn’t be so used to, but I’ve seen these train tracks one too many times and I can’t help but feel I’ve seen this before. It’s just a shame I’m reliving it with someone I’ve grown rather fond of at this point.”
Just got Photoshop for myself and with the new school I’ve started at I wanted a bit of a warm up! Kind of like the feel I managed to get from it.
Mini-fic under the cut!
Warnings: Mention of death and mourning, mention of illnesses/ deceases, starving, slight mention of immortality
Feel free to tell me if I missed anything.
Pairing: Logince (Romantic or platonic)
Song: Soldier, Poet, King - The Oh Hellos
“There’ll come a soldier, who carries a mighty sword. He will tear your city down, oh lei, oh lai, oh lord.” The words to a song left the mouth of what used to be a prince as he gently walked along the rails of some old train tracks he’d grown all to used to seeing. “Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lord. He will tear your city down, oh lei, oh lai, oh lord.”
A younger boy were walking beside him, focused on keeping his balance on his own rail and not hearing the soft singing from the one beside him. To focused on getting his amputated leg to move smoothly with him, while trying not to fall. “There’ll come a poet, whose weapons is his words. He will slay you with his tongue oh lei, oh lai, oh lord.”
The boy had lost his real leg to a nasty decease a while back. However he had refused excessive help from those around him and when he wasn’t focused on his research, he would go out to challenge the foreign appendage in any way he could. You almost wouldn’t believe him if you heard he had been learning to walk with it for only a couple of months. “Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lord. He will slay you with his tongue, oh lei, oh lai, oh lord.”
Humming along to the parts where he wasn’t supposed to sing, he shut his eyes and let the breeze blow past him, throwing the other boy slightly off balance for a bit, but he got back to where he were quickly. “There will come a ruler, whose brow is laid in thorn. Smeared in oil like David’s boy, oh lei, oh lai, oh lord.” Flashbacks to the day the prince died always came at the same place in the song. In hindsight, the whole event seemed funny to him now, still however, he would forever be sorry for leaving his kingdom behind for his brother to take over. He could only imagine the disaster with how unprepared his twin was for it. If only he could see him again. It had been all too many years, even if they never had the best connection with each other in the first place.
“Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lord.” Though the details of the day of his death had become a forlorn and foggy memory at this point, he could still remember passing through these woods, searching for adventures despite his father’s warnings. In the fit of his braveness, he got caught in an old trap someone forgot they put there and was never able to get out of the hole he’d fallen into, no matter what he attempted. There were a few times he heard some guards pass him by a few days later, calling his name, but his voice had become too weak and nobody ever heard him. More and more days passed, but eventually he became too dehydrated and too starved. His death was slow and almost just like falling asleep when it did approach. His hope had died out a long time ago at that point and the walls around him almost seemed to comfort him in some way. Once he woke up again, he was outside of his own body and had been gifted with mismatched wings. He wondered for a moment if that was just some sick joke.
“Smeared with oil like David’s boy, oh lei oh lai oh lord...” After that, no one ever found the remains of his body.
He paused singing for a while, his eyes opened again. A dry chuckle leaving his lips as he looked over to the boy beside him. Just at that moment, the other’s balance began wavering a bit too much and the prince instinctively reached out to try stabilizing the other again, only to realize that it wouldn’t help anyway. He will never learn how this ghost thing works, will he? Oh well, doesn’t matter, the boy managed to find their balance just fine. the prince couldn’t help but smile a bit. This boy had single-handedly made him smile more than he had with any other passersby’s conversation, who’d most likely just lost their way when traveling through.
He had always been curious as to why this mysterious boy beside him always chose to come here out of all places, surely there had to be other places that he could practice than this abandoned train track that Roman had practically watched as it was built, but no, the boy was persistent about staying here for some reason. He reminded the prince of himself when he was alive. Always searching for something and always challenging what we perhaps shouldn’t challenge.
Meanwhile, the prince could only absently wish to see this new world outside of the forest and all the new things they’d invented and explored, but sadly, he was stuck to the vicinity of the place he died for the rest of eternity.
“It’s that bittersweet feeling that gets me every time, yet I’ve seen these train tracks one too many times and I can’t help but feel I’ve seen this before... This scenario and that same look in one’s eyes. It’s just a shame I’m reliving and seeing it again with someone I’ve grown rather fond of at this point...” He sighed as he let his eyes linger on the one at his side. He decided to finally finish the song off just to perhaps restart it again and his eyes drifted once more. However just as he was about to start singing, the one beside him beat him to it. “Oh lei, oh lai, oh lei, oh lord, he will tear your city down, oh lei, oh lai, oh lord.”
The prince stopped dead in his tracks. Eyes were wide as saucers and his wings fell limply behind him as his mouth opened and closed despite no words coming out. He couldn’t believe his ears. Had he really heard that? Had that boy really heard that? Had they really sung the last part of the song?
The boy in question stopped and stabilized himself where he currently was, then turned around and looked Roman right in the eye. Roman flinched and wondered subconsciously if it was just crazy coincidence or if the other could see him as well as hear him.
The two just stood, looking at each other for a while until the boy, trying to balance himself on the mechanical appendage, spoke up. “My name is Logan. I’ve been seeing you around here every time I come by. Figured now was just about time to finally approach you about it.”
The prince was still staring in utter disbelief. The boy-Logan, had known all along? He’d heard all of the prince’s crazy ramblings? He’d just been holding off on talking until now? Really?!
Roman could feel a few salty tears leave his eyes. Logan looked away a little awkwardly and coughed into his hand, catching the prince back to some of his senses, as he tried to make a coherent sentence. “I-uh... Right. Name’s Roman. How-uh... How are you?” Roman internally cringed at his choice of words for the first interaction he’d had with someone since centuries back at this point.
He saw Logan smile for a bit (and immediately decided that’s something he’d want to see more often) and a curt chuckle left their mouth. “Sure, I’m good. You’re still as dead as usual, I can see.” and Roman only let out a small laugh, a few more tears leaving his eyes. “And I see that you have some humor at least, specs.”
A content silence passed for a while as the situation processed a bit more for Roman. “So you’re the one people used to call ‘the spirit of the brave’ that’s been haunting this forest for so many years. You look rather tame to me, honestly.”
Roman settled for a smile. “Yeah, I suppose I used to be a bit more intimidating back in the day. Time really does something to you, huh?” Logan smiled back at Roman. “Can’t argue with that. I don’t see what’s so intimidating about a spirit singing to themselves by a train track, though.”
“I suppose I don’t either... And thanks.” The smile fell off Logan’s lips for a moment and were replaced by confusion. “Thanks for... Finally talking to me and for... Breaking this endless loop I’ve been in. You always come here and keep fighting despite your circumstances. You’ve helped me find some bravery again.”
#logince#roman sanders#logan sanders#sanders sides#thomas sanders#Fanart#fanfiction#I unintentionally made a double pun in the fic#See if you can find it#Patton would be proud?#About the art tho#Again I like the feel it gives off#But the boards on the rail are bothering me.......#Oh well#This was kind of just a warm up anyway#Sorry Roman?#my art
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How the choco bros would react in the abo universe to an anxious/ depressed omega? All the communication with smells gives you no privacy so it would be hard, if not impossible to hide once you start transforming.
(I understand if you choose not to answer because those are tough issues irl. I just like comfort fics a lot.)
oh trust me I think about these kinds of concepts extensively
Everyone is sitting around relaxing and the boys catch this strong, bitter scent, almost overpoweringly unpleasant, a smell they've come to associate with your fear and anxiety. They all look over to see you with a passive, normal expression, looking at something off in the distance as if you haven't a problem in the world, and when they ask you what has you so stressed out, once they badger you enough to spill the details?
"I was remembering something embarrassing that happened in middle school"
They're just sort of blown away how you've been hiding all these turbulent emotions from them, all your triggers, your traumas, your fears, your breaking points. It turns out there are all sorts of things they do or situations they put you in that unintentionally stress you or trigger negative emotions and you just... haven't been saying anything at all! You've just been smiling and pretending it's all ok! They all feel awful! Why couldn't you trust them? :(
And that's mostly just for things like PTSD or "triggerable" sorts of things! Once they find out you've been, like, chronically, horribly depressed? If it turns out you had issues back home that have made you this way then it really just cements in stone that they can't let you go home, though, to be honest, by the time you begin presenting they've already decided you aren't leaving anyways. Clearly your former home, off in whatever seperate magical dimension or whatever the hell is going on, is some place terrible! You don't deserve to go back to a place that has made you so frightful all the time! Plus, now that you're an Omega, there's no telling that your condition would even go away once you got back home, or how you could even take care of yourself in a society that didn't know what you were. It'd be like releasing an endangered animal into a completely different ecosystem as far as they're concerned: too dangerous! You're staying with them, and that's final
They'll definitely double down on treating you like a pack member, all these friendly touches, sentimental gestures, things to be kind to you, show that they care, that they accept you. They'll try and talk to you about whatever is bothering you although chances are you won't want to and they'll eventually ask you about it to the point you don't want to tell them out of spite or something like that.
Medication is a definite, whether it's a proper prescription or more as-needed sorts of things. Ignis would look into all sorts of things like calming teas and essential oils, schedule your doctor's appointments, hound you to remember to take your pills. Gladio helps you with things like exercise and just encouraging you as a big brother figure/positive male presence. Prompto is always trying to crack lame jokes and puns even if only to get a groan of disappointment out of you, knowing all too well what low self esteem can be like and is constantly on "watch mode" for if you might get sad.
Noctis is the most tricky since he's pretty emotionally constipated and not great at opening himself up, but when he sees that you're, in his eyes, vulnerable and needing help and didn't trust that he could help you? It stings, wounds his pride as future king a bit. Is he not dependable? What is he doing wrong? He may honestly confide in his brothers in arms/pack mates about 'has he done anything to upset you' or 'should he be doing something differently' because... he knows what it's like to feel helpless and alone and as long as you're by his side he wants to make sure you never have to feel something like that ever again 🥺❤
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2017 Fic in Review
total number of stories (completed/WIPs):
13
total word count:
Published: 62,174*
(This is almost double what I had last year!)
*This does not include the first three chapters of Fire and Gold since they were written last year and were counted towards last year’s word count. If they are counted my total published is 77,936.
fandoms written in:
Ghost Hunt and Miraculous Ladybug
looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d expected?
I wrote a lot more than I thought I had. Even though I had a larger “total” last year I was able to put out more publicly which I think is more important.
what’s your own favorite story of the year?
Moving Mishaps... Even though it wasn’t the most successful or well-written, it was one that I had envisioned earlier in the year and it felt so good to finally write it.
did you take any writing risks this year?
Yes. I decided to challenge myself by trying to participate in more exchanges and zines and wrote quite a few things that I’m really proud of!
do you have any fanfic or profit goals for the new year?
I think I’d like to be at least 2/3rds of the way through Fire and Gold. Currently we’re sitting at near the end of the first third so it’d be great if I could tackle this middle portion this year.
A note about last year’s goal. I wanted to be at over 50k by December. I almost got there with what I have published! It is currently at 45,529! (And if we count what I have so far for the next chapter I’m only off by 1,776 words!!) This makes me happy to know that I was so close!
best story of the year?
I Actually have two. For one-shots it is hands down Reunited. I wrote it for an Epiphanies Exchange (where you have like a week to write it) and it was the longest one-shot this year and it came out damn well. It was also well-received and I just... I’m really proud of it.
I think that Fire and Gold should also be a honorable mention for this? It’s not finished so it’s hard to say that it’s “the best” but still... I’m really proud of it and I think that it’s well-polished and well-thought out.
most popular story of the year?
One Shot: No Matter How You Spin It at 4,751
On Going: Fire and Gold at 4,010.
story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:
What Are We Getting Ourselves Into? I’ve actually put a lot of work into it... And I really want to write more, but looking at the numbers (and knowing that it’s not going to get as much attention that an adrinette piece might...) makes me kind of sad. I think I might work on it again soon, though so maybe it’ll pick up next year.
most fun story to write:
Honestly, No Matter How You Spin It. Once I had a clear vision for it I just hit the ground running. Also it was really fun to work at making sure that it was edited down to being 5k and below. It was fun to challenge myself in all aspects of writing it!
story with the single sexiest moment:
I guess Strawberry Lemonade. Thought it’s a stretch because I totally didn’t go as far with that sexiness as it was originally supposed to have. >.>
most sweet story:
Hot Chocolate. Pun intended. :)
”holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you!” story:
Probably Moving Mishaps. It has the raunchiest humor XD
story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters & most unintentionally telling story:
Fire and Gold for both. I had a lot of perceptions on Sabrina going into this year and through the writing that I’ve done they have shifted quite a bit. (Also the shiptease in that story changed because of that sweet girl. Poor Chloe is so clueless. T.T )
hardest story to write:
Fire and Gold. Keeping the candle going is harder than striking a match.
biggest disappointment:
Smile . I think I should have taken more time while writing it. Especially since it was for an exchange. (Also the two mini drabble series that I haven't’ finished yet T.T)
biggest surprise:
I was surprised by how many pieces I was able to publish this year! I honestly thought that I would only focus on Fire an Gold this year, but I think that by pushing myself to do all of these side projects really helped me to stretch and grow.
Also I was very surprised that so many people liked No Matter How You Spin It! It made me really happy to receive so much love and support for it!
taggity tags:
So I decided to bring this back this year! I think this is a really fun way to record long term progress and, since I hadn’t seen it going around yet, I thought that I’d bring it back! Also I’m going to tag quite a few people. I know I don’t interact with all of you a lot and it’s a long post, so if you don’t want to do it that’s totally fine!
@beejinki @tiffotcf @frenchcirce @midnightstarlightwrites @geek-fashionista @djkpopgirl @siderealscribblings @csakuras @alya-bug @breeeliss @bullysquadess @thelastpilot @soulsborne123 @roseandradio @sawadoot @ferisae @tastewithouttalent
Also! I if I didn’t tag you go ahead and steal this! If you do go ahead and tag me ‘cause I’m really interested!
Lastly, I hope everyone has a good 2018!
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For Whom the Bell Tolls: Chapter 15
This was the one I was dreading so. It’s long, it’s action-packed, and it’s bloody enough for me to bump this fic up to an M rating. I’d say this is what everything has been leading up to, but you haven’t seen anything yet ;D
Also on AO3 and will later be on Fanfiction.net!
Summary: When monsters start to invade Mayview, the morality of the connection between a medium and their spirit comes into question. Is killing a spirit any different from taking the life of another human? Relationships between club members become strained, and if Max thought the club was coming apart before, it certainly is now.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" Stephen backed into Johnny, who reached back and gripped his arm in a shaking hand.
RJ whipped beat down a lingering fleshy tentacle down with a bat from the gym broom closet, crouching down just as Ollie swung a net, filled to the brim with soccer balls, over their head. The balls made contact with another tentacle, crushing against the wall under the weight. "What is going on? What are these things?"
RJ straightened up, fixing their hoodie with hands that wouldn't cooperate. "It's something out of every horror movie we've ever watched!" They turned their wide eyes on Johnny, who slammed the door on yet another tentacle inching through the cracked-open door of what would have been Miss Baxter's classroom. "What do we do, Johnny?"
"I don't-!" He swallowed hard. "I don't know!"
What was there to do? Find a way out of the school? That seemed like a good start, but he wasn't entirely sure the… things… hadn't already made it out into the rest of the city. Were his parents okay? He flinched, both hands reaching up and grasping his head. Were his friends' parents okay? "I don't know! I don't f-!"
Something loud and obnoxious revved up, riding fast up the staircase in the distance. RJ and Ollie turned around, and Johnny let his hands fall back to his sides. "What the…?"
One of the clumps of flesh, which had been occupied carrying itself up the stairs, paused in its plight, seemingly as curious as Johnny was about the sudden racket.
Then the thing was nothing but blood, crushed under the weight of a lawn mower pounding up the stairs behind it. Johnny and company watched as it momentarily became airborne, faces contorting in confusion at the sight of the activity club- and the journalism club- latched to the mower with Isaac at the back, spouting wind, and Max at the front with a metal bat.
"WAA HOO!" Max crowed as the lawn mower hit the tiled floor, using his free hand to steer it to the side, heading down the hall. He thought he might have seen Johnny on their way by, but he wasn't too bothered with him at the moment, though it was nice to see somebody he knew hadn't already been sucked up and digested. "Did I tell you this was a good idea or what?"
Ed nearly tumbled off as Spender unintentionally fell a few inches back. He waved his arms around manically until Isabel screeched and reached the hand that wasn't clinging to Spender's waist for dear life to grab him by the collar. "WHAT!"
Max looked over his shoulder. "I said-!"
"I HEARD YOU!"
Spender reached out and grabbed Max's shoulder, nodding ahead. "We're almost to the cafeteria! That should be the center of the school! From there, we'll fan out!"
Max nodded and turned back around, gripping the wheel with more force. "Hey, Isaac! We need some more juice!"
"I'm-!" He grunted from the back, maneuvering himself so that his hands were pushing them more forward as opposed to upward. His efforts nearly sent him falling off, but Dimitri and Collin gripped his bottom half at the last second, Suzy pressing one hand to her mouth to stifle a yelp. He raised one hand to silently thank them before putting it back to work. "I'm trying, okay? This takes more energy than it looks!"
The mower slid into the cafeteria, mowing- pun intentional- down a monster ready to strike a student down. The girl wiped frantically at the tears streaming down her face before crawling away as fast as she could.
The club hopped off, then Collin and Dimitri, who paused and turned around to help Suzy down.
Isaac was the first to charge forward, conjuring a massive bolt of lightning larger than his head, sending it straight into the closest clump of flesh he could find. "Oh my god, dude!" Max gestured to the bloody monster, swaying back and forth, trying to regain its footing. "I thought you said you were running low on energy!"
"Well," he moved out of the way as Ed took out the other half with a painted sword. "Now I'm not."
Max scowled at Isaac, but he shrugged it off.
The rest of the club got to work taking down monsters, Max and Isabel going at a monster with three arms and a sideways, sharp-toothed mouth, Max swinging at its core and Isabel distracting it as best she could with her umbrella. Spender and Ed double-teamed another monster, Spender wrapping a shadow around its only eye as Ed drew up a spear and sent it through the gum-only mouth parting to scream. Dimitri stuck close to Suzy and Collin, driving his hand through everything that so much as tried to peck at them.
Isaac stayed close to them, but was less focused than Dimitri might have been. All he could do was fight, all he could think about was lightning. He grabbed one monster's tentacle near the tip, hand squeezing the eyeball attached as he sent wave after wave of electricity bolting through it. The monster screamed, and though the human-spirit hybrid sound unsettled him, he wouldn't let it distract him. He raised one leg and let wind collect around it, a tornado rolling and growing and roaring around it. It took him more concentration and balance than he had, but with a swift kick to the monster's side, it went flying across the cafeteria and into the wall, stuck in wood and drywall.
"ISAAC, LOOK OUT!"
Straight-faced, he spun around, sizing up the sharp, bloody teeth opening and salivating over him. The mouth was as tall as he was and took up one full side of the monster before him; its jaws parted further and the smell was putrid, something like eggs and feces, overwhelming and nauseating. Isaac nearly puked on the spot, but before he could even raise an arm to his nose, it charged.
Isaac remained where he stood, unflinching.
"Back" Dimitri came down on it from overhead, leg raised and vibrating, covered in orange aura. He cut the mouth straight off the body, sending the rest of its body falling backward, motionless. "Off!" He landed next to Isaac, turning a lidded glare on him before he could even say "thank you". Suzy and Collin, holding onto each other, approached them slowly, leaving what little cover the lawn mower offered them.
"What exactly were you doing?"
"What?" It was less of a question and more of a comment to brush him off.
"You didn't even move! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"No." Isaac raised one hand and set it at his shoulder, rolling it around. Another tentacle approached him, fast as a snake in the grass, and he sidestepped it as Dimitri cut it in half. Their eyes met again, and Isaac turned around. "Just not exactly trying to get out alive."
Dimitri froze, tightened eyes widening, as Suzy and Collin reached him.
Isabel screamed out as a clawed monster got her right in the shoulder, although just barely. She twisted around to get at it when Ed leaped in front of her. The clawed hand reached for her again, but Ed raised his scythe and cut it clean in half. It kept coming, not stopping even when most of it was sliced, until the monster itself came running at them. Ed growled and set his scythe aside, setting it on the ground and leaping to stand atop it so that he was taller than the monster. There he drew a large, sharpened circle and, with great balance, leaped from his perch and sliced the monster right down the middle. Blood and ectoplasm predictably followed, and Isabel had to wipe her face of it. Ed landed on his heel in front of her, immediately turning around and running straight to her. "Izzy! Are you okay?"
"Yeah, Ed. I'm fine!" She smiled at him. "It's just a scratch!"
His sigh was heavy with relief, and so was his smile.
"All right, children, gather round!" Spender raised both hands and gestured for his students to come closer. Each pair made their way over, albeit struggling among the messes they'd made. Suzy stepped in the mucus of a monster on its last legs and squeaked, falling backwards into Collin, who caught her in exasperated arms, and shook her foot clear of it. Undigested students and teachers crawled around in the mush, looking dazed and confused, helping each other up or falling all over the place. Max paused to help a sixth grader up who, though scared and delirious, thanked him kindly for, uh, buying him a cookie from the cafeteria. Max waved him off and approached the growing circle with the rest of the group. "Now, there are a lot of monsters around here, and it'll be awfully difficult for any of you to fight them alone." He glanced at Ed from the side, who reached up and grabbed at his still-healing shoulder. Isabel frowned. "So we'll be splitting into teams. Dimitri, you'll be coming with me." Dimitri nodded, and Suzy and Collin both reached up and grabbed at either of his arms. "Isabel, Ed, you two are together." They looked to each other and nodded. Spender turned on Isaac and Max, both looking deathly serious, as he supposed they should have been. "Max, Isaac… can I trust you two to work together?"
Max looked at Isaac head on, but found his partner only looking at him from the side. Still not up for eye-contact, huh? "Yeah," Max answered for both of them. "We can do that."
The teams split up, Dimitri and Spender (and, of course, Suzy and Collin) heading to the East wing, Isabel and Ed heading for the South wing, and Isaac and Max headed for the West wing. The mood of the room, though initially strong with confidence, had petered out as each group parted. A hint of dread fell in cold air, riding on the coattails of obligation. There were a few uncertain looks back, primarily from the present non-spectrals, but they all had their fair share of uneasy thoughts.
"Dimitri!"
He twisted around at Isabel's voice, one eyebrow raised. She'd paused on their way out the door they'd come in, waving at him from across the cafeteria as Ed pressed passed the threshold. "You're a little rusty from so long outta the game, right? Be safe!"
He blinked, then shook his head and chuckled to himself. With a wave and a grin, he yelled back. "You too! Wouldn't wanna see that pretty smile all torn up!"
Isabel's waving hand dropped instantly, face flushing as red as her aura. He winked at her and continued on his way.
Isaac was terrifyingly brutal, far more than Ed and even laughably more than Isabel. When Max had weakened one monster down, Isaac was ripping them apart like nothing. Max cringed and wiped the blood that'd hit him dead on, raising an eyebrow at the carnage in their wake. "Hey, dude?"
"What?" Isaac was more preoccupied dragging a fist of electricity through a monster than he was answering whatever it was Max was about to ask, the ring of his tone didn't exactly hide that.
Max dodged a tentacle, which he noted with disgust was slick with slime and ectoplasm, and took a swing wherever his instincts led him. Gratefully, his sixth sense knew what it was talking about most of the time, and the hit landed square in the unblinking eye-of-sauron-looking sucker rising on him to his left. "Is there a reason you're blatantly ignoring your own moral code?"
Isaac paused as soon as the monster he'd driven a fist through fell to his feet, unmoving, wiping away the blood at his cheeks, perhaps ineffectually, considering his hand was covered in it up to his elbow. The sideways glance he gave Max wasn't as cold as it had been the weeks leading up to- Max mentally shook the thought off- his betrayal, but it was still distant, like an invisible arm extended, palm upturned. "What do you mean?"
"Well," Max shrugged, pushing down the curiosity urging him to glance around at their torn-apart, ravaged school; Isaac was not only more important, but momentarily more interesting. "You're kinda acting… violent."
Isaac shrugged right back at him, gesturing to his entirety. "You're beating that thing to death with a metal bat, and I'm the one being violent?"
Max glanced down at the monster raising one shaking claw up to his face before taking the final swing and stepping away with a wince. "Right." He'd forgotten, in the adrenaline of it all, that those things weren't just spirits, they were people. They had friends and family, even if they were all long gone, and that thought got to him the worst. They'd been stuck, struggling for dominance of their own body, living with nothing but agony and torture long enough they didn't even have a life to return to. He guessed, by that thought process, that he was releasing them for all of that, but he still wasn't sure the concept sat well with him.
He came to stand by Isaac's side, frowning as they both stopped to take in the scenery. Blood and ectoplasm were all over the halls and lockers, clumps of monster remains littering the hall, looking like hatched monster eggs instead of corpses. The students they'd saved, and presumably their other teammates had saved, wandered around the halls looking lost and horrified. Max got that; they were swallowed whole, after all. People don't usually expect to survive that. Ghosts that had been saved alongside students hugged each other and spun around in glee, though others moved casually along as usual. They must have been used to getting devoured and spit back up. The lights hanging above swung menacingly, blinking on and off, sometimes fizzling out before coming back on only moments later. Some lamps were shattered, but others had just been smacked around. Max side-eyed his shoulder and brushed ectoplasm from it. "Do you think they've gotten out into the city?" His dad and Zoe and Pj and Lefty came to mind. Part of him wanted to leave the school right then, go charging down the hill until he hit home so he could be sure they were completely safe, or he could hide them.
Isaac shook his head. "No. The city was pretty calm on our way back here, remember? These things are attacking the school specifically. I just don't know why."
Max sighed, and Isaac continued on down the hall. He followed him, careful not to trip and slip over the mess that surrounded them.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah?"
Max licked his dry lips, cringing inwardly when they tasted like copper. "Is there a reason you saved us?"
Isaac paused ahead of him, and Max thought he might turn on him and snap, go into hysterics about his reasoning and get all mushy and heartfelt and dramatic.
Instead he huffed.
"I just needed your help. Don't think about it too much."
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and continued on, and Max felt irritation rise as he scurried off after him.
"Why are you being such a jerk?"
"Because you're asking rhetorical questions."
Another monster down, only infinitely many more to go. Spender stood straight and readjusted his glasses, watching Dimitri give the monster they'd tag-teamed a finishing blow. As predicted, it created a mess, and he could hear Suze and Collin shrieking to themselves somewhere behind them. He grimaced. "You know it isn't safe, don't you?"
He couldn't see them with his back turned, but he knew they nodded their heads.
"That's just who they are." Dimitri stood too, vibrating his hand clean of ectoplasm. "Suzy goes running headfirst into danger, and Collin's just along for the ride." He glanced to the side at them and smiled, and Spender could practically feel their moods lifting.
With a sigh, he continued onward. He was worried about them. They weren't spectrals with any powers to speak of, and there wasn't a whole lot to hand them for weapons- anything that'd be effective, anyway. They did have Dimitri, at least, who seemed nothing if not intent on defending them. Even should he fail, he had a feeling Dimitri would pick up more than half the slack in his place.
"They'll be after us now, you know."
Spender raised an eyebrow as they continued down the hallway, silently urging Dimitri to continue his thought. He was always the more serious of his students, and often had a tendency to appear- and to be- more mature than his classmates. Even then, with what were perhaps the most terrifying enemies Spender himself had ever faced (aside from one, he could almost hear Lucifer reminding him), Dimitri seemed cool and collected, eyes focused on the hall ahead of them. "Who will be?"
"The men who arrested us. You think they're gonna just let us go 'cause we happened to escape? With all due respect, sir, they're gonna come after us."
"Maybe if my superiors hadn't predicted something like this would inevitably happen."
Dimitri blinked and looked up to him, and Spender was reminded that he never looked more his age than when he'd been surprised. He smiled back at him. "You have people on the inside?"
"Of course. This isn't the first time the spectral world was in danger of being exposed" He frowned again, humming more to himself than aloud. "Though, it is the first time such a large number of non-spectrals have been in contact with a paranatural entity, and we can't be sure word hasn't spread outside of the city."
"Because of my article?"
Suzy's voice was tentative, but he could hear how ready she was to take responsibility. SHe must have felt some semblance of guilt for the part she'd played in leaving the school defenseless, but he by no means blamed her. Even if she had gone to the authorities, he imagined even an adult unfamiliar with their world might have had the same reaction.
"I doubt your article raised too much suspicion, Suzy. You are, after all, a school newspaper, and as I recall, your organizer hasn't been very good about funding you." Suzy growled under her breath, but he had a feeling it was less directed at him and more the situation at hand. "As true to journalism as you were, I can't help but think the conclusion most would come to was that it was an attention-grab."
"Right."
Dimitri chuckled. "You knew Isaac would come around, didn't you?"
Spender smiled.
The last monster in their wing, at least she was semi-certain of that, hit the ground with a thud and a twitch; Isabel and Ed high-fived. It'd been a little larger than some of the other ones they'd tag-teamed, but still not quite as ferocious as it might have been had they been separated. It was fat and it smelled of stale blood and an uncleaned mouth, stench strong enough they'd both raised a fist to their mouths simultaneously to keep from upchucking right then and there. Its skin perpetually was melting and sinking back into itself- on the bright side, it would often slip over itself. It was easy enough for Isabel to flip it over while Ed sliced it down the middle. "Man," she crowed, setting a hand on her shoulder, rolling it around to stretch it. "It feels good to be your partner again!"
Ed smiled at her, and she smiled right back.
She stopped and looked from him to the ground, fumbling around with the words she wanted to say. Could she just come out and ask him why he'd been lying to her? Would he tell her the truth? Would it be better for her plan if she never confronted him about it and just hoped he'd change his mind? Maybe. But maybe they'd both been dancing around each other, and maybe they both should have been upfront from the beginning.
Maybe she could turn things around by doing what she should have done in the first place.
"Hey, Ed?" She clenched her umbrella in one nervous hand, looking back to him as she began. It was then that she saw his eyes were somewhere behind them, and he didn't exactly look relieved. She turned to face the end of the hallway as he was, and his distracted gaze certainly made sense then.
The monster was larger than every other they'd faced, she could tell even as it slinked around at the end of the hall. It sat so high its head, or what she guessed was its head, brushed against the ceiling, leaving a trail of ectoplasm and blood on both ends. It rammed into the lamps above, bending and snapping them as it passed. When it moved forward, each fell to the floor, hitting the ground and darkening the hallway with a threatening
SMASH… crunch… crunch…
They both took a step back as it approached them, millions of eyes blinking with no coordination, looking at everything and nothing all at the same time. There were thousands of mouths for each eye, some talking, some screaming, some crying.
Some hissed and cackled.
"Help me!"
"What is happening?"
"You'll all get what's coming to you!"
"This body is mine! It's mine!"
All at once, she was reminded that they weren't just fighting normal spirits- these things were human, too, or had been once. Isabel reached out and gripped Ed's arm, and he turned only slightly to look at her, eyes still pasted to the monster approaching. Her eyes were trained to the set settling on them, blinking but never wavering as it grew on them.
He'd knocked down around twenty different attempts on Isaac's life in their time partnering up that afternoon, he was sure of it. Isaac was acting recklessly, tearing through monster after monster with no remorse, though he knew nobody had filled him in on just what the monsters were yet; that might have been a good thing, considering he was sure he'd be horrified with himself if he knew, but it was bad because he wasn't treading as carefully as Max was, and he still had no clue why. They'd just taken another monster down, Max batting a claw with fatal-intent headed Isaac's way, when the urge to say something finally kicked in.
"Isaac."
Max watched him pause mid-step, sighing into the dead air without so much as turning to look at him. They hadn't cleared their wing just yet, but if he didn't say something soon, he had a feeling one of them wouldn't be walking out of Mayview Middle alive. "What?"
"Do you wanna tell me what's been up with you?" He waved a hand to Isaac, who couldn't see the gesture, but he did it anyway. "I've been trying to figure it out since Thursday, and honestly I can't come up with a reason you would have sold us out like that. And then, a day later- almost twenty-four hours on the dot- you break us out! Why? And before you even did all of that, you were avoiding us like we ran your dog over or something! I get that we had a fight, dude, but it wasn't that deep! What is wrong with you? Why are you acting like this?"
The hallway was completely silent, aside from the bouts of confusion that had the wandering student body mumbling amongst themselves. Nobody that passed by paid them any attention, too wrapped up in what just happened to them to acknowledge the only two composed bodies in the wing. Max stared Isaac's back down, hoping he could feel the heat of his glower, sense the boiling irritation seething between them. The light above them flickered on and off, fizzling faintly with life.
Then Isaac clenched his fists and whipped around. "You wanna know what my problem is?" Max took a step back upon seeing Isaac's wide, wild eyes, watching his aura grow and flare each time he blinked. "My problem is you! It's been you this whole freaking time! Wanna know why?" Max might have nodded had Isaac given him time to. "Because I was an idiot and I trusted you! I knew you for all of a week and I trusted you! Completely! Like some stupid little kid!" Isaac laughed to himself then, eyes falling from Max's to his hands- his trembling, open hands. "And look where it got me! I thought you'd be my friend! I thought you'd stand up for me! I thought you'd like me! How stupid is that?" Isaac ran a hand through his spiked hair, and Max noticed it looked duller than it used to. His aura started to die down, leaving only Isaac, who looked so small right then and so, painfully, broken. "All this time I've been holding onto the hope that maybe, just maybe, somebody would swoop in and take my side! That somebody would actually care about me and want me around! But you didn't!" Max flinched. "You betrayed me just like my gut told me you would! I was dumb enough to think that you'd be the first one to care and you just became one of them! I'm such an idiot!" Isaac's eyes found his again, looking bloodshot and glassy and wet, but the tears weren't falling. Isaac was smiling at him, laughing to himself between words, though it was clear neither of them thought anything about the situation was funny. "It's my fault, okay? I screwed up. I wanted you all to care about me, and if you didn't like me, I thought maybe..." He exhaled through his nose and shrugged with an undertone of defeat. "Maybe if I made you guys mad, then I'd be on your minds, you know? You'd think about me. But," Max felt his stomach dropping, feel the familiar sensation of guilt creeping up on him as Isaac shook his head and chuckled again. "But it just hurt worse…"
"Why" the words came out in croaks, so Max cleared his throat. "Why didn't you say anything?" Isaac looked up at him with his head downturned. "If that's how you felt, why didn't you tell us?"
The light above them flickered on. "It's not like you would have listened anyway."
Max paused. That wasn't true- without even thinking, Max knew that wasn't true. He would have listened. He knew what it was like to bottle something up, to feel like he couldn't speak his mind, to be scared he'd just make things worse is he did. Oh.
So that's what Zoe had been going on about…
Max took off his cap and ran a hand through his sweaty hair before setting it back on. "Isaac, listen-"
Then there was a scream, unsettlingly familiar, sounding so agonized Max and Isaac both felt horror settle over them.
The same scream rang through the halls of the East wing. Everyone halted and glanced upwards to the second floor, eyes wide, fear gripping each of them as the last of the scream settled over their heads. Dimitri and Spender were the first to run off down the hall, carrying themselves toward the staircase with such speed and urgency that Collin and Suzy had to mentally play catch up. Suzy, who had wrapped one arm around Collin's as the scream entered the hall, swallowed audibly. "That wasn't…" Collin looked at her, mouth open but never saying a word. "That wasn't Isabel, was it?"
"Isabel!"
Ed lunged after her as she rolled across the hall, grasping at her torn shoulder, the same place she'd told him she'd been bitten a few weeks prior. She came to a stop as he landed on the other side of her, reaching down and lifting her up in his arms. "Isabel, are you okay?" She winced up at him, one hand clutching, with pain and with vengeance, at her bleeding shoulder.
"I'm fine, but I swear I'm going to kill that thing!"
"You're too hurt to move, Izzy!"
"And you're not?" He frowned, nearly reaching up to touch one of the healing bite marks at his side. Instead, he squeezed her side where he lifted her.
"I'm healed enough."
"I can still fight." She sat up in his arms, close enough that their foreheads would have brushed had she moved any closer. Ed set a cautious hand over hers where her wound was.
"Are you sure?"
"As sure as can be."
He helped her to her feet without another word. The monster at the other end of the hall shrieked from all of its mouths, each individual voice ringing in their ears, a wave of sound hitting them with so much force they both stepped back. Isabel took her hand from her shoulder, but kept Ed's in hers; she squeezed him. They looked from the monster to each other, and suddenly everything felt right again.
LIke the old times, like usual, when they were a team, when they were best friends- when nobody and nothing could tear them apart, because they were going to be together for the rest of their lives. Ed found himself grinning again, the way he used to before the train and the last three weeks, and Isabel reflected it with her own bloodthirsty smirk.
"Your love for her will make you stronger. Focus on that."
Then, with a battlecry that rivaled even the monster's screams, they were charging- together, full force, auras melding like fingers intertwining. Green against red, red fixing into the green, braiding to become one with every leap they took towards the enemy. The monster ran at them, knocking out the last of the lights, but their auras lit the way for them, and with another cry, they lunged forward.
Together, they became a bullet, shooting through the monster, taking a huge chunk from the square middle, large enough they left a gaping hole so huge that they could have seen right through it without squinting. The monster roared and lunged forward still, slowing to a stop along the way because its targets had shifted right through it. Isabel and Ed came out the other side, shooting across the hall until Isabel set one foot on the ground below them. Ed followed suit, and they both slowed to a stop.
The first thing they did was glance at each other as their auras faded. He gave her his smallest grin, and she mirrored everything he was feeling in her smile. They turned to look at the monster as it let out another ferocious howl, echoing in the near-empty hallways.
Dimitri had cut right through one of its fleshy arms with his hand, the eyes along the length of it closing for good as the limb hit the ground. Max attacked its other side with a solid hit to three of the eyes, causing the monster to lurch to the side Dimitri was on, squealing in pain. Isaac was next, summoning a storm cloud as he charged forward. Hail rained down on the monster, causing Max and Dimitri to stumble out of the way, Max whining to anyone who'd listen, though primarily whining to Isaac, about how close that'd been. The monster folded back, slinking backwards, towards Ed and Isabel. They both crouched down, ready to form another bullet should they need to.
To their surprise, Spender launched into the air, grazing the ceiling above, and used the shadow of the broken shards of glass on the floor to slice its head clean off, sending it spiraling their way. With a noise of disgust, and a stuck-out tongue on Isabel's part, they moved as it went right by their heads.
On the other side of the hall, they could hear Suzy and Collin screaming and laughing, hugging each other and leaping for joy, though the leaping part was clearly at Collin's expense.
Dimitri met Isabel's gaze and grinned, offering her a simple thumbs up. She grinned from ear to ear and returned the gesture.
#Paranatural#Maxwell Puckett#Isaac O'Connor#Isabel Guerra#Edward Burger#Richard Spender#Dimitri Danger#Suzy Paranatural#Collin Paranatural#maxaac#imaax#edsabel#FWTBT#The Monster Trilogy
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