Has anyone thought about a 2012 apocalyptic future x Rise apocalyptic future crossover? 🤔

I know this fandom goes wild for future Rise boys x present Rise boys ‘crossovers’ and same for 2012 x Rise crossovers but now I’m really curious to see how the adult turtles from 2012 and then Rise would interact and compare notes when sharing war stories…

One of my reactors on Patreon just reacted to the Mutant Apocalypse arc that I have refused to watch again since it came out because ouch trauma, especially since I thought that was supposed to be the actual ending 🥲

But it makes me realizing when comparing that the 2012 boys didn’t even get to stay together like Rise did, and the Kraang successfully killed all the humans in the mutagen explosion.

The Rise guys at least got to stay together until each one died, but they also had to spend the entire apocalypse still fighting. Which makes it seem like 2012’s predicament is less horrible since their main concern is finding resources and survival, but if you think about that too, in Rise, even though they were fighting so long, the chance/opportunity to kill the Kraang and fix everything was actually an option all that time. They had lasting hope, however fragile and wavering. For 2012 all that stuff seemed pretty permanent. The desert wasteland and civilization gone as it once was… Not only that but they already lost the entirety of the human species which could never come back.

And now that I’m really thinking about it, there are no Kraang around in the post apocalyptic desert, so were they somehow destroyed in that mutagen explosion too, or did the remaining survivors of Earth somehow kill off the Kraang at some point? More likely, maybe after seeing the miserable wasteland that earth became, the Kraang left to go back to Dimension X or start over somewhere else with another planet. Unclear whether the mutagen bomb didn’t work how they wanted it to or maybe after the turtles interfering so much they just wanted to destroy the planet completely as vengeance and move on somewhere else

Now, in both worlds it’s mostly yokai/mutants left as the main population, either left fighting the fight or all the mutants just left surviving. The turtles’ kind became the mainstream population which is a lot to unpack. Despite being mutants and turtles living underground their lifestyles are so derived from how humans lived. Both their Splinter’s were once human and now their former species is (nearly) gone…

I also find the differences in how each group progressed in growing pretty interesting. The Rise turtles got to grow how they were supposed to for the most part, save for Mikey’s advanced aging and if you want to include Leo’s prosthetic arm later on. Whereas, the 2012 turtles vary much more differently in physical form than they’re supposed to and in comparison to each other:

Donnie’s a cyborg with only his human brain left, his body still resembling his teenage body rather than his much older current age

Mikey just barely grew at best, and practically mirrors Rise Mikey’s physical state, unfortunately 2012 didn’t keep his sanity 100% in tact though

And Leonardo was almost completely deformed from taking the brunt of the mutagen bomb and becomes absolutely freaking huge. Like probably bigger than Rise Raph huge

Raph seems to be the only one who grew in (comparatively) the least abnormal and most healthy way, resembling what the rest of his brothers would’ve likely grown to appear as had they not had the different health complications/deformities. He also resembles his Rise counterpart’s body build the most. I know many speculate Rise Raph would’ve only kept getting bigger and bigger as they transitioned into adulthood, and it seems 2012 follows that track as well with how large and aged he is

Not to mention their varying mental health… My god. Again, poor Mikey partially lost his mind, and even though he did have Chompy and Ice Cream Kitty to keep him company all those years it still takes a toll on the psyche to not have anyone around to actually converse with for so long. Out of all his brothers Mikey’s definitely seems like the one to need social contact the most for stability.

Raph can’t remember much of anything from their past life because of the mutagen blast. As far as we can tell he remembers enough about his brothers to see them as such, but we also know he doesn’t even remember Master Splinter, his own father who he knew since infancy

Leo completely lost who he was and forgot who his brothers were, not only that but becoming the very thing that is the complete antithesis of who he is: a villain. One that was rather similar to Shredder at that. And we can’t forget yet another parallel where he almost killed his little brother because he didn’t even know/remember who his little brother was

Donnie seems mostly the same at least when it comes to mental health and keeping a grip on reality, but I’d really like to know his true feelings on losing his physical body and becoming an android. They make it seem like it must not bother him much, and teenage Donnie pre-apocalypse might even find the idea really cool, but we saw how it affected Fugitoid and once that becomes a reality it’s a whole unavoidable mind fuck

Ack. Now I can’t get this out of my head. The adult apocalypse versions of these guys would have so much to talk about and honesty I think meeting more counterparts—especially from apocalyptic timelines —would be such a great comfort to both groups. With how much each side has lost having more family that survived would be a welcomed thing.

I’d love to see some other people or artists’ takes on this because holy crap the potential these apocalyptic universes have in meeting each other is freaking atomic, highly flammable, freaking radioactive

OI @jasontoddisbest I DID IT AGAIN

SPOILERS FOR ROTTMNT THE MOVIE

OK ANGST: So you know the scene where Mikey uses his ✨mystic hands✨ to save leo. Well WHAT IF Instead of leo being stuck in the prison dimension, it's the reader. And WHAT IF Donnie and Raph were either too far from him or maybe Raph couldn't reach y/n in time, because Mikey hands just gave out. Imagine Mikey being the last one to see Y/N, and the last thing he sees is their sad but relieved smile before he accidentally closes the portal.

reader pronouns: they/them

Silence. This was what this entire dimension was filled with. Well, silence, multiple floating chunks of debris in slow motion and a devilish Kraang monster that was hellbent on massacring you. The grey landscape could drive someone insane, with the world looking like remnants of a past world, maybe even multiple and now, you were going to be trapped there. Forever. As you lay next to a wall of concrete and looked up to see the space where a portal showcasing a destroyed New York originally was, the monster turned to you with a crazed look in its eye.

“You… you ruined everything!”

“And now, my wrath is going to be reserved for you, and you alone.” the monster sinisterly grinned, clenching its sharpened fist and swinging across your face, leaving a bleeding scratch. As the monster began to yell louder and louder, it kept pummeling your beaten body, punch by punch until the ground underneath you cracked and you fell onto another rocky surface with the monster just above you. The pain was unbearable, don’t get me wrong. It practically ached and wrecked your entire body. However, if it meant that your friends were safe, then every punch was well worth it as the last memory of your happy friends brought a simple smile to your face.

“Wipe that grin off of your face!”

“No, I don’t think I will…” you hoarsely chuckled, the monster’s rage practically bursting out of it as it yanked you from the floor and tossed you into the endless void, making you crash into some of the leftover rubble. At this point, everything in your body was as good as dead including your spirit and ambition. Everything during this entire night has physically and emotionally drained you as the only thing keeping you just a tiny sliver of hope was the thought that all of your friends were safe. Raph, Mikey, Donnie, April, Casey and Leonardo, the last person who would ever see you again. If you’d gone to yourself in three years and told yourself you would be sacrificing yourself to an alien monstrosity to save your city and your mutant turtle friends, you’d probably laugh at yourself and call yourself crazy. Insane, even. Well, fate works in funny ways indeed.

Muffled breathing completely filled Mikey’s ears as Kraang debris began to descend from the sky. He didn’t know what to think. Everyone else didn’t know what to do, what could they do? No matter what they did, it wouldn’t be worth anything. Their friend is gone. Their brother is gone. And they couldn’t do a single thing about it.

Mikey, vision completely overcome by his tears, reached his hands out in desperation remembering what Casey said. Groaning and straining with every last bit of energy he had left, tears overflowing his eyes and hitting the ground.

“Mikey, it’s over.” Raph calmly said, choking back on his own tears.

“No! Y/N never gave up on us! They gave us a chance, I’m gonna do the same!” Mikey yelled, thrusting his hands forward before seeing a faint orange spark ignite from his hands and eyes. Further straining, a faint portal began to open in front of him as his brothers crowded him in support.

“Mikey, whatever you’re doing, don’t stop!”

Mikey kept pushing further and further, the blinding lights from the portal cracking through the thin fabric of reality in front of him combined with the excruciating pain and burning from his hands, slowly fading away and disintegrating his arms until he felt two hands push onto his shoulders, opening it even further.

“We’re here Mikey! Together!”

He kept pushing until a faint image ripped open from the portal that made Mikey tear up even more. It was the sight of their injured friend, barely conscious and the mere sight of the portal made Y/N eyes widen more than anything. Even though the night seemed completely hopeless, maybe this final act, this final rescue will make this night nothing more than a miserable nightmare. A hazy memory that sessions of therapy will hopefully make manageable. As the portal grew bigger and bigger, you heard the raging roars of the Kraang monster leaping straight for you.

“Please help me!” you yelled, as you saw Raph quickly construct a force-field arm and stretch into the portal as Donnie got his mystic drill ready to shoot the monster as you started right at an optimistic Mikey, practically beaming at the mere sight of you, even when you were bloody and bruised to all hell. You beamed a sad yet relieved smile back at the mere thought of escaping this nightmare brought intense waves of relief. You were prepared to go home, to see the rest of your friends, to see April and anticipating passing through the portal until-

“Y/-”

Huh?

You opened your eyes expecting to see the familiar pavement of New York surrounded by your friends but instead, you just kept falling into the infinite abyss that you’ve been trapped in for god knows how long. The overwhelming amount of despair and grief started to set in as the crushing realization hit you harder than a semi-bus. You couldn’t even fully process it before the monster finally caught up with you, clutching you into its grasp and piercing through your heart with its sharp claw.

As you slowly succumbed to your wounds, your consciousness slowly fading in and out, your true final sight being Mikey’s mortified face as the last memory he had of you was your relieved smile before he failed you.

(apologies for any formatting errors, i am tired out of my mind and hopefully you like it!)

2012 Squish Annon: Well I survived. Barely. I'm still crying as I type. I started crying at the part where Raph says " I love you brother" to Leo as he's trying to kill him and just cried harder when it ended with all the young turtles and Splinter together. Poor Leo. He became what he most hated. I'm so glad he came to himself again. I shudder to think what would have happened to Raph without Donnie. Of course Mikey turned into a crazy wise hermit!! I love that neither he nor Leo were surprised by the fact that Donnie managed to turn himself into a robot. I am worried about Donnie though - the episodes made it clear that the turtles are old now... what's going to happen to him when his brothers are gone?

They found each other despite everything. They will always find each other. *sob*

Also I can't believe they turned Casey's skull into a bomb. To be fair, it's what he would have wanted.

I think that, despite the happy ending, this might be my least favourite of the bad futures. I think it's because it can't be fixed or prevented in the same way as SAINW or the ROTTMNT movie. Yes, they found Oasis and I am so glad, but the rest of the world is a hellscape. This is reality now. In a fundamental and big way, the turtles lost. They couldn't stop the bomb. They didn't save everybody. It isn't their fault - saving the world is something they never should have had to do in any iteration, but they always make the choice to try, and this time... they couldn't. It just makes me very sad.

And they were seperated for so long! They were all out there and they could have been together but they weren't because they didn't know. I think I feel worst for Mikey - Raph and Donnie had each other, and Leo didn't remember that he had any brothers... but Mikey was alone apart from Chompy and Ice Cream Kitty. He thought his brothers were dead. He thought he was the last one.

I need to go back and watch some happier episodes and then read some hopeful future fanfics, because my heart is kind of breaking right now.

just gonna promote my own post about the horrors of the mutant apocalypse arc here because i feel you’d appreciate it, squish anon lol

but yeah! you’ve so totally pinned the reason as to why it feels so odd. the fact is that it’s such a depressing fate they find themselves in and NOTHING CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT. that’s just it. they can’t change the fact that their friends are dead. life on earth is pretty much over as they know it. their lives have been changed irreversibly and for the worst. donnie can’t get his body back. raph won’t ever get his memories back. leo can’t be un-double mutated. mikey won’t ever get those years back that he spent totally alone. the damage has been done and thats it. they just have to live with it and make the best out of it. it’s depressing ;___;

it’s a really bitter sweet ending. nice because, yay they found oasis and they found each other and they’re together again! but horrible because oh my god what a miserable existence? just essentially waiting to die???

anyway, he’s a very dark theory i have regarding this episode. enjoy :3

the last shot before the episode closes is when all of them are standing with splinter again and they are their normal selves again. i have a theory that the order in which they appear on screen is the order in which they die.

because mikey is already standing with splinter. smiling and waving his brothers over, i imagine the years of malnutrition from spending alone is what caused his death to be the first. mikey looked… incredibly unwell throughout the arc. he seemed to have aged the most despite being “the youngest” so yeah. mikey dies first and is the only one for a little while to be dead.

second to appear is donnie. ik technically and rather morbidly, he’s already dead. but i flip between to ideas for this: his robot body was destroyed thus his soul and memory was no longer connected and they lost him, or donnie shut himself off after mikey’s death. either way, i think it’s quite fitting that the b-team follow each other into the afterlife. they’d miss each other too much:((

then we have leo. he looks tired:( i imagine the double mutation was probably very unstable, and caused a lot of complications. it’s cruel but i imagine it’s a kinder fate for him.

THEN RAPH IS LAST. i imagine raph is the only one that makes it to old age. turtles live for a long time, so how cruel would it be that raph is the one that lives the longest, without his brothers. the people he wanted to protect and love the most, are gone. and maybe he thinks about *ahem* joining them. but he can’t! why? because he has mira to look out for. he has to love and protect her because if he doesn’t, she’ll be totally alone.

so raph keeps living, not for himself, but for the memory of his brothers.

and then when they are reunited again with their sensei, he’s finally happy again.

Re.Gray 004 - Squared Shoulders, Square One

[ Read on AO3] [ RAW image gallery ]

♦ 113

4th Night - Squared Shoulders, Square One1

♦ 114

Earl: You can see the souls within my Akuma? Earl: You wish to save them? Earl: By all means do so if you're able, ♡ Earl: Exorcist!! ♡

♦ 115

sfx: hyuu [Allen sweeping his arm through the air, knocking all the bullets down] sfx: doba [impact to either side]

Earl: 💔

Allen: The virus didn't work, you really think bullets will do the trick? Allen: Please don't take me so lightly. Allen: I took those first shots because I had to shield Jan. Allen: I won't fall to an Akuma attack of this caliber.

♦ 116

Allen: With my anti-Akuma weapon initialized, my left arm has superhuman strength and speed. Allen: An Akuma's bullets and body armour mean nothing to it. Allen: It exists to destroy these weapons of yours. Allen: God's own weapon.

Earl: Hmm. ♡ Earl: Cheeky boy. sfx: bah [thrusts umbrella up] Earl: In that case— sfx: pikopikopii-n [tip of umbrella flashing brightly]

♦ 117

sfx: zuun [sudden pall over surroundings]

Allen: !?

Earl: Are you familiar with this proverb? ♡

sfx: kira [numerous objects glittering in the sky]

Earl: Affen ettle...

sfx: kiiii [descending whistling sound]

Earl: ...whiles hit. ♡2

sfx: zuzaaaa [rush of crowd of Akuma descending]

Earl: And we have oodles of Akuma. ♡

♦ 118

Earl: Akuma Cannon, fiiiiire!! ♡

sfx: DO [BLAM]

Allen: Jan! Allen: You need to get out of here! Allen: I'll destroy this lot!!

Jan: !

sfx: dah [dash]

♦ 119

Jan: Destroy....

Jan: Akuma are malignant living weapons created by the Earl. Jan: Enemies of humanity. Jan: Things which must be destroyed at all costs.... Jan: I understand that... Jan: ...or thought I did.

Jan: Whoa— Golly, Leo, listen to this: Akuma disguise themselves by wearing the skins of the people they kill.

Leo: Eugh, how grotesque!! Beyond comprehension!! And how did you read that with a straight face!?

Jan: That means you wouldn't know if anyone's become an Akuma, huh....

Leo's family: Leo's mother... Leo's family: It was so sudden....

♦ 120

Jan: Leo... did the shock of losing your mum Jan: open your heart to darkness? Jan: You went on those Akuma patrols with me. Jan: I know you knew the Earl couldn't be trusted. Jan: And yet... Jan: you still... Jan: let him in? Jan: You... Jan: blockhead... sfx: kanya [grip tightening on bars] Jan: Leo, you absolute dolt....

♦ 121

Jan: You missed your mum so much... Jan: you'd make her an Akuma...? Jan: I can't see their souls like Allen can, Jan: so I don't know that she's crying... Jan: I really can't tell, but... Jan: Damn it... Jan: Damn it all!!!

♦ 122

Jan: I'm sorry, Jan: Leo. Jan: I shouldn't have told you anything about the Earl.... Jan: I'm only good with gadgetry. I don't know a damn thing about the human heart. Jan: Destroy it, Allen!!!

♦ 123

sfx: vun [humming swipe of Allen's hand] sfx: GOBU [tearing cut]

Allen: Sleep well.

Allen: I'll lay you all to rest at once.3

♦ 124

sfx: KI [light slicing through Akuma]

♦ 125

Allen: Cross Grave!!!4

♦ 126

sfx: DON [bwooom]

Earl: Tsk. ♡ sfx: bah [umbrella popping open midair, Mary Poppins-style] Earl: It would seem Akuma of this level are indeed insufficient to the task. Earl: We shall do better next time. ♡

Allen: Earl!!

Earl: But you have only witnessed the prologue to this tale.... Earl: All around the world, our Akuma continue to evolve. Earl: Your final act has only just begun. ♡5

sfx: jiriririri [harsh buzzy ring like an alarm clock] Earl: We are the Maker of the Akuma, the Millennium Earl. Earl: We shall exorcise your corrupted "God", and — with our Akuma at our side — direct this world unto its demise.6 Earl: Exorcists, ye apostles of God; Earl: strive and struggle as you might, you cannot save it. ♡

♦ 127

Earl: You haven't a chance. ♡ Earl: Gyahahaha ♡

Allen: Only... Allen: the prologue....

sfx: hero [swoon]

Jan: Allen!?

sfx: dokudokudoku [lifeblood pulsing out]

Allen: Jan... Allen: Apologies, but could I trouble you... to find me a doctor....?

Jan: Dear God, there's so much blood!!

♦ 128

sfx: poku [plip]

Jan: Sniff... Jan: Sniff... Jan: I'll... go fetch a doctor right away.... Jan: So please... just faint for a little bit. Jan: I just need a moment.

♦ 129

Narration: Three days later:

sfx: ga ga ga [tool engraving]

Allen: What are you making there? sfx: jii— [peering]

Jan: Agh! Jan: Don't you knock!? This is my room!

Allen: I did, though? You didn't notice. Allen: A cross...?

Jan: A temporary headstone for Leo. Jan: No one knows he's dead, so they'll assume he's just run away from home. Jan: Someday I'll put up a real one, so this is just for now....

♦ 130

Jan: Are you off to Exorcist headquarters, then?

Allen: Yes. Allen: Timcanpy's getting impatient. sfx: dosa dosa [flap flap] Allen: I'd really best be going.

Jan: Me, too. I'm going to join my dad. Jan: I'll do some more studying, get more capable. I know all too well that I'm no good as I am now.

Allen: Is that so.... Well, then. Allen: Let's both do our best!

♦ 131

ASH ROOM 7 Let's switch the assistants out for D.Gray characters, shall we? ♪

"Allen" = Oi-chan hardcore gamer with a cheery mien

"Reever" = Okei the silent workhorse

"Komui" = Miyazaki-kun well-dressed but messy-desked

"Kanda" = Gunma secretive, prone to destructive impulses sfx: rrrip

"Earl" = Hoshino told Miyazaki-kun he was the Earl

tissue box: DUMBASS

Hoshino!Earl: I~~ saw~~ that~~ ♥ Hoshino!Earl's back: Elekiban LIFE8

MANGA: girl: I love you alien: ACHOO alien: who, me? girl: yes alien, sfx: PYIWW [nopes out in UFO]

Bottom left: ♫ We play nothing but video-game soundtracks on repeat.

♦♥♦

FOOTNOTES

A bit of poetic licence. The title in Japanese is 覚悟と始まり kakugo to hajimari. "Kakugo" is "resolve, determination, readiness" with regards to a challenge you are facing; to "square your shoulders" is an English idiom meaning much the same. "Hajimari" is a noun meaning "beginning, origin", describing the start/initiation of a journey/process; in English, we often call that "square one". Hoshino loves wordplay and I won't be able to translate some of her best directly, so I'm throwing some in wherever I can to compensate. [ ♠ ]

What the Earl said in Japanese is 下手な鉄砲 / 数撃ちゃ当たル heta na teppou kazu ucha ataru, which is literally "shoddy gun, many shots, hit", or "even a shoddy gun will eventually hit the target if you fire it enough / fire enough of them". My translation is a Scottish proverb (pdf, p. 67) meaning "often shoot, sometimes hit" (or "venture often, sometimes succeed"). [ ♠ ]

The verb here, 葬る houmuru, means "to bury, to inter, to entomb". It was also used in Night 1, on the first page, re: why the Exorcists exist: to "bury/inter/entomb" the Akuma. These all end up sounding odd in translation, so I've chosen to consistently translate them as some form of "lay to rest". [ ♠ ]

Kanji: 十字架の墓 juujika no haka, "cross grave" or "grave of/for crosses" or "grave with cross(es)" (the possessive particle is flexible like that). Furigana: クロス•グレイブ kurosu gureibu, "cross grave". That clears it up, thanks. [ ♠ ]

One of Hoshino's beloved punny invented compounds: Written: 終焉劇 shuuengeki. Not a real word. "Shuuen" written this way means "death, demise, end of the road". "Geki" refers to a play, a script, a.... scenario. Homonym: 終演(劇) shuuen(geki). Real word. "Shuuen" written this way means "the end of a performance, curtain-fall", and with "geki", "final act". [ ♠ ]

a.) Yes, you read this right: the Earl says he intends to exorcise God. From the world, and presumably from the Exorcists as well, who have already been heavily hinted to be the victims of divine possession via their anti-Akuma weapons. Whether God is actually corrupt, as he claims, has yet to be seen, but what an interesting thing to say.

b.) This sounds a little awkward, I know, but it's a chewy little sentence: この世界を終焉（です）に導くもの kono sekai wo shuuen (DESU) ni michibiku mono. The brackets are another kanji/furigana mismatch: shuuen (demise) vs. desu ("death" as a loanword in katakana). Already discussed the "shuuen" pun above. The really interesting bit is "michibiku", a verb meaning "to lead, guide, escort, conduct". I chose "direct" to maintain the theater theme and make room for the Earl, as he claims with that "mono" ("the one who") on the end, to be the director of this play. [ ♠ ]

PUNS. The "ash" here is written with the kanji for "ash" as in "what remains after a fire", but it's actually short for アシスタント ashisutanto, the English loanword "assistant". Bit more dignified than the equivalent in English might be (the Ass Room). [ ♠ ]

Elekiban is a brand of magnetic pain-relief patches. Long-time followers know that Hoshino has often struggled badly with repetitive stress and strain injuries; seems like she was already having a hard time even this early on. [ ♠ ]

I love mutual pining.

I know it can get frustrating when dragged along for far longer than it should be - and with ridiculous reasons for WHY these two or more idiots still haven't kissed (wow, it's a miracle that Miraculous Ladybug didn't destroy this trope for me) - but my point is that I like that kind of hopeful, tentative waiting: the stolen glances, the "I want to tell them but what if...?", the hugs that last a bit longer than they should, maybe the surrounding friends and family that are secretly shipping and hoping these two idiots will finally cut the chase...

No wonder then than my own favorite Canon x OC ship ended up going in that direction.

(Yes, this is going to be just me babbling about my own OC, Ginny Truscott, that I ship with my favorite ninja turtle, Leonardo.)

((Yes, I still used the same Picrew image I did for the first post ever where I talked about her, I'm still not an artist and this one is pretty close to how I actually imagine her to look like.))

To start off, I think Leo is particularly well-suited for the pining trope, at least in most incarnations of his character (Rise!Leo, sternly and quietly hiding away his affection, can anyone imagine that? And let's not talk about 2012!Leo, please): he's duty-oriented, the leader of his team - pretty sure future head of the family - and also a mutant turtle that will probably never be able to live like a normal person.

Throw in the possibility for a romantic relationship and the boy would surely go all "I love you but there's too much I can't give you so I will keep it to myself and be your friend and also your guardian angel should you need me". At least if, like me, you pair him up with a regular human person who isn't part of a ninja clan or secretly superpowered or an alien/other mutant.

(There's also the issue of the love interest being possibly put in danger due to their relationship, but that could very well happen also to April or Casey or any other person not just Leo but any of his brothers could bond with even just platonically instead of romantically, so that particular point won't be discussed here.)

Point is, Leonardo is primed for falling in love with someone and deciding to hide his feelings if that someone is just a normal person.

Which is EXACTLY what Ginny is when they first meet.

Phase 1: "We definitely have feelings for each other, but we're stuck in limbo because of very serious reasons"

I never really wrote down the story of these characters, it has always been just in my head with some little ideas written down here and there, but it starts with this: Leonardo saves Ginny from some thugs, accidentally revealing himself to her, and Ginny is starstruck rather than horrified by her savior, which elicits his interest (and also boosts his ego a bit, considering the admiration comes from a pretty girl close to his age).

From here on, everything goes on pretty much like usual for this kind of stories: they become friends, Ginny (and Harper, her cousin, as well) joins the turtles' friend group and there's obviously something going on between her and Leo.

They utterly enjoy each other's presence: Leo loves Coconut - Ginny's dog -, Ginny likes to watch him spare and talks with him about ethics and philosophy, Leo as much as he can likes to meditate while Ginny plays the piano, they have a charged-up basketball match from time to time (which Leo may have tried to subtly lose on purpose). Lots of things pile up and pretty much everyone is aware that these two have the hots for each other, but nothing concrete ever happens, because Leonardo won't make a move (for the reasons above) and Ginny won't either (because she still naively thinks it's up to the guy to make the first move).

((Something she will kick herself for in the future.))

So they're stuck in a limbo and think they have all the time in the world to either get over or work on this blooming thing between them. Point is...

Phase 2: "This is the 2007's movieverse"

Leo has to leave on a pilgrimage, the Five-Fold Path. He has every intention of using this journey to focus solely on becoming a better leader for his brothers.

Knowing she won't get to see him for a very long time, Ginny confesses her feelings to him the night before he leaves and kisses him.

And Leonardo proceeds to pretending all of that never happened: he has to travel, he has to train, he has to get his head in the game... He has to let her go, because he will still be a mutant turtle when he'll get back to New York and she deserves someone who will have a normal life with her. So he writes back, but refuses to acknowledge Ginny's confession, hoping that she will move on.

Ginny, on her side, seeing how Leonardo seems to avoid replying or even just talking about that night, starts having doubts: maybe indeed it wasn't the right time to tell him how she feels, probably she just added another weight to his mind during this journey, she should have thought better, she'll apologize when he gets back.

Except the day when he should have come back arrives and he doesn't. Okay, maybe he couldn't manage. But days pass and he keeps not coming back.

And his letters are filled with apologies, saying that he still isn't ready and his training not finished, and those letters become fewer and fewer...

And Ginny finds herself pissed.

He never replied to her. He isn't coming back.

She's also scared to almost the point of tears at times because what if he's in trouble or what if one day the letters completely stop coming because he's dead?

And then she gets pissed again because Leonardo is making them worry that he may be dead and still this isn't enough for him to come back.

During this time, she surprisingly - maybe not that much - bonds with Raphael as a fellow member of the "we miss that idiot and are dealing with the feeling of abandonment by getting angry" club.

She decides to move on.

Phase 3: "Mamma mia, here I go again!"

Leonardo comes back.

(Pointing it out, both Ginny and Harper are absent during the events of the movie: the first one is away on spring break, the second is in Australia giving the definitive middle finger to her father.)

Ginny gives him the cold shoulder - but due to Raphael (who still feels guilty for the furious fight that caused his older brother to get caught by Winters' stone generals) intervening, she will take time before actually airing all her grievances to Leo.

The rose-tinted glasses they had of each other got shattered: Leonardo stopped being Ginny's perfect knight in a half-shell and suddenly Leo finds that Ginny outgrew the demure and shy angel image in his head.

It takes time for them to recover their bond (as realistically it will take for also everyone else, I really don't think defeating stone immortals was all it took to work on two years of distance) but as they do the find out...

That these changes are not unwelcome at all: Ginny can now see the struggles Leo has to go through and appreciates him all the more for it because she fully realizes how much effort he actually puts in everything; and Ginny has now fully grown in a confident, outspoken and fiercely protective young woman that Leo feels proud of.

Point is: now that they don't idealize each other anymore, they're even more attracted to each other than ever before.

And the idea of possibly starting a romantic relationship pops out again, also because...

Intermission: "While you two were busy being idiots, we were cuddling"

At this point, Donatello and Harper have been a couple for some months already, even prior to Leo coming back from Central America.

Everyone knows these two are together and they're an overtly affectionate couple of brilliant mind who like to work together and are incredibly supportive of each other (in my head I often jokingly call Harper "Donnie's cheerleader", but she actually gets the same level of encouragement back from him, just more quietly). And most of all, they found ways to work around their specie and lifestyle's differences and are happy with each other.

So, if they could do it, why can't Leo and Ginny do the same?

Phase 4: "If we tell anyone, it becomes real"

So, at some point, they slip up.

Meaning, they kiss again and this time the one who doesn't want to acknowledge it is Ginny: last time it happened, Leo left and broke her heart. What if it happens again? Not in the same way, obviously Leo isn't going anywhere anymore for a very long time, but what if one day he just decides again that she's better without him and just leaves her? He may do it with good intentions (as he already did) but that doesn't erase the fact that he would again be choosing for her instead of respecting her decision. And she doesn't know if she trusts him on that regard.

So, the kiss goes unspoken about for a while, because our blue turtle boy actually decides to respect her wishes (also thinking that maybe it was just a fluke, that it happened just because of some leftover tension between them)... But it keeps happening.

The relationship starts up as a secret: Ginny has her trust issues and Leo is still bothered by the same thoughts that stopped him from pursuing her before, but they still start seeing each other behind everyone's backs (and shells).

Point is, they're both "family-oriented" in this: if they reveal whatever they have going on to their families and friends, then it becomes a real relationship and they're still too weighed by doubts and insecurities to take that step. They're basically like Barney and Robin from "How I Met Your Mother" (minus the sex because to know how to make it work properly between them they should ask Donnie and Harper and that would mean basically spilling the beans and end up in a very embarassing conversation).

((They're actually not that good at hiding anything, since pretty much everyone actually has some suspicions.))

(((Raph does confront Leo about it, having grown to love Ginny like a sister, but aside from warning his older brother against breaking her heart again he still decides to let them handle this between themselves.)))

Phase 5: "Finally they get together FOR REAL!"

With the Foot Clan active in New York again and shady activities going on in the city (following events loosely based on the cancelled sequels to the 2007 movie), one night the turtles find themselves facing against their old enemy again and Leo does as all Leo do and ends up seriously injuried.

(Little note here: Rosalyn, Harper's mother and Ginny's aunt and legal guardian, knows about the turtles and, being a surgeon, helps them whenever she can, like in this case.)

Cue in Ginny basically deciding to glue herself to his side until he wakes up (I know, cliché, but hey, I'm a sucker for this scenario), coming to realize, in the days that Leonardo takes to recover, that she almost lost him and that she doesn't want to keep being stuck in a limbo where this could happen again and they never gave their relationship a proper chance.

Leonardo has a similar moment of realization after waking up, especially due to Donatello saying to him (while Ginny finally takes a break) that "no one regrets anything that made them really happy".

(Same words Rosalyn told him when he and Harper first got together to give them her blessing.)

So, once Leo fully recovers, he and Ginny get officially together, with everyone else giving out a collective "FINALLY!".

Wheeeeew, I'm done!!!

I admit it, I wrote this down while having a surge of "I absolutely want to speak about this oc x canon ship of mine", all in one go, and I'm posting immediately before losing nerve, GO!!!

and then on the other hand there's fleo swapping with a completely standard 2012 timeline

the world that was once the chance for the leos to relax and not be the biggest brother for a bit is now suddenly in the middle of an apocalypse they're quickly coming to realise they caused, and then on the other hand they're just supposed to sit there idly by? crazy talk, if you ask either of them

this one also gives some nice potential for how the reveals go down. the leos know that the rottmnt world needs backup and a secure location for retreat and a whole other dimension could definitely provide that.

and just. imagine how those reveals would go down. incredibly.

OK FOR THIS ONE it's 100% tense. Like. Tense. Since the switch reveal in 2012 happened before the Rise apocalypse, the 2012 boys have to watch their brother slowly get destroyed by an imposter's world (since they probably don't ever get to see Leon as theirs because I like to be evil like that)

Everyone blames Leon, except for Leon who blames Leo. And maybe Leo blames Leo too who knows.

Anyway that'd be the excuse to put the whole rescue of the apocalypse off. There'd be a lot of conflict about saving a world that only causes them trouble, and it'd take forever for everyone to come to a decision to just do it. (Which only leads to more blaming)

So I’ve watched a couple of episodes of rottmnt before, and I don’t know a lot about Leo and Mikey(because I was busy focusing on Raph and Donnie) so could you explain to me what these two are like and why you like them?

Okay so

Leonardo is usually the oldest one out of his brothers and the fearless leader in the TMNT franchise, who often gets referred to as Splinter Junior.

BUT,

This is not the case for Rise! This Leonardo is a unique case from the rest! If you watch literally any of the other series (or movies) you will definitely see a big difference with him and his counterparts! First of all, Leonardo is neither the oldest or the leader (for most of the series anyway) so this gives him more room to do what he wants without all that responsibility (which is on Raphs shoulders)

Leonardo is the confident one who likes to joke around, he's the face-man of the crew! But whats a face-man without his smashy guy, his brainy guy and his guy who eats peanut butter with his fingers? Leo wears a mask in more than one way. We see multiple times how low his self-esteem is. How much he would sacrifice for his family. How much he feels like he doesn't matter in the movie.

Leo is shown multiple times to know more about his family than they do about him! He's underestimated because why would Leonardo take this seriously? He's the class clown of the group! We can't trust him with anything! Except that they can. Raph realizes this too during s2.

And despite Leonardo not being the leader for the majority of the show (the very end of s2 and the movie) Leo is leader material and this is not a decision made out of nowhere. He uplifts his brothers so many times throughout the show. He is shown to be more competent as a leader than Raph is. Inspite of his goofiness, Leo is the voice of reason among his brothers. Leonardo was chosen as the leader for a reason, and when you think about it it feels earned, unlike Raph who really just made himself the leader. (This is not a jab towards Raph at all! I'm just stating something intentional by the writers! We have also seen in other iterations how Raph would do as a leader and we know why Leo is the more suitable leader)

And Mikey! Oh this will be shorter than Leo's part but I love Mikey so much!

Mikey is the little brother of the group, but he does not like being babied, which we see in the episode we meet Cassandra... Who is another favorite of mine but I'll talk about her some other time. Mikey is as capable as his brothers, if not even more capable.

He is kind and empathetic, and he's not an angry person, but he's not soft either. Multiple times Mikey isn't afraid to stand up to people and tell it like it is. (Raphael being afraid to upset the chef and Michelangelo doing it for him) (“I'm usually a peaceful turtle but you destroyed my favorite thing in the world...! You will feel pain!”)

Mikey is also forgiving as hell, which is shown in his s2 interactions with Baron Draxum, who becomes a father figure. (Despite his family reasonably not liking Baron, Mikey still wanted to believe he could do better)

Mikey can get disregarded by the fandom sometimes and even treated as weak which is... ridiculous, because are we talking about the same guy? The same guy who THREW A FUCKING BUILDING?? The same guy who just wanted to save his brother, so he kept on doing the thing that could have KILLED HIM and DID IN ANOTHER TIMELINE??? People who underestimate Mikey forget that he's the strongest one out of them all. Even with Raph's strength, Donnie's tech, and Leo's... Leo-ness, Mikey is the glue holding them all together. And I think this is the case for most TMNT Iterations too.

anon who ranted about confession:

i mostly agree and i think it's in character for cas to say not everything is Dean's responsibility, given he says that in 8x07 and spends 11 years trying to handle problems on his own bc he doesn't think they're dean's responsibility or because he thinks dean would do more damage than good.

but also i have an issue with saying deans not responsible for everything SPECIFICALLY after unity bc to me, in 15x17 he gives up the pretense. Chuck says "His sense of duty, his rage winning out in the end." But that's not REALLY what's driving Dean anymore in my opinion. At the very end, he is NOT saying that they have to sacrifice in order to stop Chuck from destroying the last universe. He's saying Chuck has to die because HE can't live under chucks CONTROL. To me, his control issues visibly overcame the complex of responsibility, essentially, rather than just being the underlying motivator. Which I think is like. Revealing to the other characters that if Dean no longer has the justification of saving the world or saving his family, well, that doesn't actually matter to Dean at a certain point.

So i think saying not everything is Dean's responsibility would have done more at addressing a larger arc of complexes Dean has, but with season 15 specifically, his control issues are dominating in a new way that, like, i think the responsibility complex becomes.....less important, next to the something much darker. Especially from the outside, there's literally no way Cas could witness that and think it stemmed from Dean feeling responsible for everyone because Dean is actively saying he doesn't care about everyone else anymore, so why would he think that's what needed to be addressed? Of course, calling him selfless was even LESS relevant and necessary and, I agree, actively detrimental.

Its like, yes that's what dean needed to hear from someone at some point bc that was actively ruining his life but also from Cas after whatever the fuck Unity was? Idk. I almost feel like that loving call-out from Cas would work more effectively around either the Trap OR even earlier around the Michael arc. But also you're right that IF Cas HAS to confess now and die, he might as well do something for the narrative and at least the responsibility complex is usually a driving force behind deans behavior. Idk. Sometimes I feel like Cas needed to kick his ass and call out dean being a selfish piece of shit. Sometimes i feel like Cas needed to extend the love he did in a more targeted way. Mostly i think we deserved a kiss if we're already being toxic.

(re: this)

you know that's fair! i actually had not thought of it that way before but you're right he kind of does give up on justifying his control issues in season fifteen. like, a lot of the individuals stuff kind of struck me as weird and ooc so i discounted it, but once i look at the larger picture through that lens it makes more sense. i hate it, i think it was a bad direction for them to take his character, but it makes more sense. it makes me want the secret better version of the s15 dean character development arc so much more now too, because chuck genuinely wasn't like. threatening anything, actually. all he was threatening was dean's control. and like i find the concept of overthrowing god so sexy and good but i am willing to sacrifice it for better dean character development. also at some point i need to post about my and leo's secret much worse version of the trap from this 'verse.

i think i forgot to post adrian’s final backstory HERE IT IS

Basics: Name: Adrian Code name: Number 914812 Species: Melanistic Sulcata Tortoise Gender: Male Age: 16 Birthdate: 14th December Zodiac: Sagittarius Birthplace: Earth 4 Height: 5'6’’ (1,68 cm) Weight: 85 kg Eyes: Green Family: Unknown Occupation: Adventurer between worlds. Wants to explore and learn new cultures across the universe as much as possible Fears: He has abandonment issues. He grew up being used by his family, so he doesn't really like them. But the moment he gets attached to someone, he fears that they might leave him. Special Abilities: Healer, portal maker, quick learner. Has an interest in astronomy.

Personality:  Optimistic, extroverted character! Feels like there isn’t a place where he feels at home, so he explores the universe to ground himself. Falls easily for people. Intelligent, has strong morals, is curious, and takes a particular interest in how the world around him works. However, is very blunt, has a quick temper, and never takes anything seriously. Great sense of humor, never to anyone’s expenses, enjoys socializing. Has an escapism tendency (runs away from his problems). Relationships: Family: Number 41718 (Grandma) - Adrian's late grandmother. She practically raised him while his parents spent most of their time busy or away, and they were rather close. She would teach him herbal medicine so he could avoid using his own powers and getting himself sick. She also owned a magic pendant -  it allowed her to travel between alternative dimensions. She later gave it to Adrian before passing away. Parents - Adrian's parents were never really present around his early childhood. They are doctors so they spent most of their time working, often neglecting their son and using him as ways to get their own things done Friends : Donatello - Adrian and Donnie's friendship started with quite ease. He had a small crush on Donatello from when they first met, to later really falling in love with the guy; Donnie also taught Adrian the concept of found family and helping others purely for self-contentment, rather than being bossed to do it like Adrian was taught to do. Their relationship is quite fun, as they both love to learn new things, give each other their much-needed space, and are very understanding of one another- However, they are both scared to admit to each other how they really feel; rather, Donnie is very scared to show Adrian his true sentiments and often doesn't understand when Adrian flirts with him. They eventually start dating, though. It is a healthy relationship with lots of communication, however with its challenges: Adrian's dramatic and impulsive self and Donnie's tendency to be extremely aloof and detached. They work it out, though. Raphael - Both Raph and Adrian get along well most of the time. They are both easily angered (Adrian is not as much of a hothead as Raph is, though) and they communicate with each other easily. In fact, Adrian told Raph about his little crush. Not without hearing a threat in case he hurts the other's brother, though. Mizuiro Hasu ( @outofmymilkyway 's OC) - When Adrian noticed Mizu's crush on Leonardo and love for space, he'd immediately took her on a trip to visit a parallel dimension where he questioned her about her little crush and how to deal with a similar crush he as on Donatello. They'd start getting on trips together to talk about their feelings and the respective turtles, being each other's wingman. Adrian feels very grateful to have this human friend and thinks fondly of her. Michelangelo - Mikey loves to show Adrian all of his comics and share jokes. They don't really spend a lot of time together, but when they do, it's either Mikey being obnoxious around him and Donnie, or Adrian daring Mikey to do dumb challenges, usually in exchange for something that matters to the other. Leonardo - They had a rocky start. Leonardo's bushido and family first philosophies did not settle well with Adrian's rebellious, "was hurt by my family so I don't agree that family should go above everything else, instead that should've been you first, the others later" attitude. So they either argue a lot or Leo acts very passive-aggressive towards Adrian, or the latter telling him to get away from him. They eventually cool off and start respecting each other after the events from "Good Genes". Backstory: Adrian comes from another Earth dimension, just like Usagi and the TMNT. For most of his childhood, he lived in peace with his family and friends, but in the year he became 10 years old, a civil war started. Since then, Adrian and his family had to heal many civilians from the fights. The thing is, when they'd heal someone, part of their lifespan and energy would be gone. The bigger the injury, the more energy they'd have to use. And since Adrian was the youngest, they'd make him heal most people because he had the more energy to spare and they were old. So he spent about 5 years doing the most healing, while his family rested. He'd trust his family less and less because he was so, so tired. But they didn't want him to stop, and if he did, most people would perish. One night, he'd overhear his parents speaking on the matter; they'd say it was better for Adrian to do all the healing because they were much older than he was, therefore they wouldn't die so soon. This made Adrian extremely upset and hurt, so he took his late grandma's pendant, stole one of their neighbor's ship, and flew away. So now, Adrian is a traveler between worlds. He mostly does this, not only because he wants to know about the universe around him, but because he never felt quite at home and didn't have enough freedom to do much. During this time, he learned that most aliens had names instead of code numbers, so he changed his name from Number 914812 to Adrian. In a bid for freedom, he also managed to get himself causing a lot of trouble, only because he was forced to help others against his own will. He also sleeps. A lot. He went to watch the Battle Nexus, where he met Donatello and Usagi right after they saved the Damiyo’s life – Adrian had been exploring because he got bored. Right away, he’d recognize Donnie because he was one of the first contestants to lose and immediately mocked him in his mind. However, he felt like it would be a good courtesy to say hello to both Usagi and Donnie. What Adrian didn’t expect was for Donnie, who he thought he was a complete loser, to be so soft-spoken and polite – in fact, his voice immediately caught him off guard. He’d keep talking to both of them while Splinter wasn’t free from the dungeon. Usagi was interesting, but in the end, it ended up being just Adrian and Donnie speaking. Donnie’s charisma had absolutely made him struct by him. Donatello talked about what he does (his inventions) and Adrian talked about the exploration he did across the universe – which left Donnie pretty much interested. It ended up being a quick friendship, with Donnie inviting him to Earth so Adrian could show him the different worlds and they could explore together.   A week later, Adrian showed up, they planned cool planets to visit (that Adrian knew were safe). When out of missions, Donnie would manage to contact Adrian and would spend more free time with him than his family (much to everyone’s annoyance). One of the planets they visited was populated by tiny, cute, fuzzy people. However, in the middle of their trip, they were struck by a hurricane, leaving the tiny aliens' houses mostly destroyed. Donnie immediately offered himself to help, while Adrian kept his distance, questioning why would Donatello help so many people that he didn't know. This ended up with Don explaining to him that it is good to help people in need. It makes them happy and rely on you, and you feel great about your doings, but that if Adrian didn't want then he shouldn't be forced to do it. Seeing all the little aliens happily bouncing around his friend, Adrian, reluctantly decided to help fix a table - which he did an okay job with. Seeing everyone happily thanking him made him realize that maybe... helping others wasn't THAT bad when your health wasn't on the line for your selfish parents. He looked fondly at Donnie - he was so happily helping others that Adrian went from having a crush to completely fall in love with the guy.

Next Yu-Gi-Oh! Crossover – Bonds Beyond Worlds

With so many ideas about what Yu-Gi-Oh! 7 will be about, I wanted ZEXAL/ARC V/VRAINS crossover continuation the most. I’ve already discussed this before Yu-Gi-Oh! Sevens was announced (here it is if you’re interested https://3w-writer-with-wings.tumblr.com/post/189629945740/next-yu-gi-oh-anime-new-series-or-a-crossover ) and despite new series, I’m still hopeful we will be getting a movie at least. Well, even if we aren’t getting it, I’ll write it down anyway. Only once Yuma, Astral, Yu-boys, Bracelet Girls, Yusaku and Ai get a happy conclusive ending will my soul be able to rest.

Still please don’t hate on SEVENS! It’s a nice and funny show and Yuga is a precious little inventor who doesn’t deserve all the hate.

Main cast

So the main cast will be definitely made of the main protagonists aka. Yuma, Yuya and Yusaku and their partner characters aka. Astral, other Yu-boys and Ai. I also want to include Bracelet Girls since they are very closely connected to Yu-boys, though not directly, more like they have a separate, but just as important mission, maybe they even team up with Rio (since she has psychic-like abilities) and Aoi (who learns about world connection from her brother and wishes to help). If it will possible I’ll also include rivals – though more like supporting characters, the same way Signers and professor Banner were used in the movie. For everyone else it would be more or less just minor roles, but still important enough to contribute to the story (Kaito and Arclight brothers guide Yuma through different worlds, Reiji and Yusho investigate strange occurrences in Arc V and Akira, Kusanagi and Ryouken try to find out where Yusaku went and how to help him). Overall, I wouldn’t include too many characters since I really want to give them meaningful roles. 

How it will connect the series?

VRAINS ends with a surprising findings uncovered by Akira – VRAINS got connected to many different worlds and Yusaku is on his way to unknown part of VRAINS in order to find Ai. While first crossover was connected by time (hence the title Bonds Beyond Time), this crossover will be connected by space. First crossover already made a big deal out of time (Atem was an ancient spirit from past and had to travel back in time to regain memories in order to rest in peace, Judai was a reincarnation of a Supreme King and Yusei fought against time-travelling cyborg from the future) and was therefore connected by time, with Yusei using Crimson Dragon to travel to past in order to stop Paradox from destroying it. This time, the new trio of protagonists will have to travel through space in order to meet. Since VRAINS ended so abruptly, with Yusaku travelling towards unknown part of network, this would be the most perfect point to start this new journey. If that part of VRAINS network somehow got connected to another world or more like a dimension, this is how Yusaku finds himself in ARC V dimension after the events of the fifth series – sometime after the four dimensions merged into one again. Yuya and Yuzu get used to their counterparts living in their bodies and Yuya is yet to defeat Yusho at that point.

Goals

In a way all three series share the same theme of protecting the world and changing it in order to save the ones they love, but with each series, less can be done to save it. Yuma used Numeron Code to save the friends he lost, prevented the destruction of Barian world and turned Barian Emperors back in humans. Yuya managed to seal Zarc’s soul in Reira and get Yuzu back and joined all dimensions into one, but he couldn’t save other Yu-boys and Bracelet Girls. Yusaku was unable to save Ai as Ai was never meant to co-exist with humanity. Therefore I believe this chain of events is in a way connected with Numeron Code – with such drastic change in Astral World and Barian World, the change must’ve affected Original Dimension in ARC V and Dr. Kogami must’ve had a reason to create Ignis (in the most far-fetched logic I believe the change awakened Zarc’s rage and convinced Dr. Kogami that the world is ending and humanity needs an immortal successor). Yuma could also feel guilty and selfish to activate Numeron Code, thinking he might’ve been wrong after all and that caused all the suffering Yuya, Yuzu, their counterparts and Yusaku have been through.

But at the same time this doesn’t mean they should just give up Numeron Code to fix everything and rather look for a different way, considering how much damage it has already caused. Maybe the antagonist wishes to have Numeron Code and their first goal is to destroy it or seal it for good and at the same time deal with the fact that it could bring Ai, Yu-Boys and Bracelet Girls back. Yusaku and Yuya don’t blame Yuma one bit and they both ensure him that their friends are still there, they just need to find another way to bring them back home. At one point they will be back either before the climax or during the climax (Yu-boys are pretty much already in Yuya, but it could be that they gain their bodies at the crucial moment when they are protecting Yuya). It would be interesting if Ai actually knew Yusaku was looking for him but was too scared to face him, thinking he’ll lose him (maybe Astral helps him get over it and during the moment where Yusaku is in danger, Ai comes back in a similar fashion as he did during his duel with Ryouken).

Antagonist(s)

It doesn’t necessary need an antagonist, considering the goals the main trio has is already challenging enough, though it would be interesting to have another antagonist. Rather than having a one that thinks they are doing the right thing but are ultimately making everything worse or a character that is outright evil. I prefer to use a very calculating antagonist who has a good reason behind his actions and truly presents a challenge for the new trio. Antagonist like Z-ONE from 5Ds would nicely fit in this story, but like I said, it doesn’t really need an antagonist. It will be also interesting to include a secondary antagonist or antagonists’ right hand against the girl squad. Since I plan to include Numeron Code (I mean it is a literal Infinity Gauntlet, why the hell not?) the main antagonist’s motivation could be something with rewriting reality and space all over again since Yuma and Astral greatly changed it since the end of ZEXAL. The Bracelet girls also have a connection to Ray and En cards that are also a rather powerful element so there would be no need to include more powerful elements, prophecies or ancient grudges against the protagonist trio. 

This might be a bit far-fetched idea too, but I think it would really interesting to use Yusho as antagonist. Not in a willing way of course, just that someone possesses him and through him challenges the new trio to a duel that decides all. A certain fanfic writer has (Frost190 in “Bonds of Pendulum”) already written down the most amazing duel between Yuya and Yusho that fit into the canon story so well that it made me think just what missed opportunity that duel was. Even though ARC V both starts and ends with Yuya’s vow to defeat his father one day, he never really duels him (though considering Yuri was able to defeat him and Yuya defeated Yuri, he could potentially defeat Yusho as well). Then there’s the fact that Yusho and Yuya haven’t really talked things through face to face yet. While it is clear that Yusho had to leave in order to stop Leo, he left right on the day he was supposed to have this big match. He knew Leo was up to no good, but really, really why he decided to leave on that day? He could’ve at least post-phone that match or be done with it in like an hour or so and then leave. This one thing has bothered me for as long as I can remember and that fact that they never point it out is that more frustrating besides the fact that Leo was magically excused of all horrible things he did. Yusho as antagonist (controlled of course, but using Yuya’s and Yusho’s memories to try to manipulate others) would work very well for Yuma and Yusaku too since Yuma also had to deal with the loss of his father and to Yusaku, Yusho could look like Dr. Kogami – a man who traumatized him for life. 

Climax

Like in Bonds Beyond Time, a big duel with protagonists against antagonist is expected to be the main battle of the movie, I would like to spice it up a bit or use entirely different climax scene. I mentioned before that I would love to see Bracelet Girls in action, so what if they get a seperate mission or another antagonist to fight and this is how they find a way to get their own bodies. With this info they have to reach Yu-boys and let them know how to separate them, though again there could be some trouble or something is happening due to disturbance in dimensions and they have to protect people in them. It would be really interesting if they were the trump card or if they would show up at that one moment when they would needed it the most. Another reason of why I want to include them so much is also because only the powers of Yuzu’s bracelet have been partially explained and considering Ray literally split a whole dimension and a demon in four, they must’ve been nearly as powerful as Numeron Code.

I would also love to expose the new trio of protagonists to their worst fears, showing their pieces of vulnerability there. Yuma could relive his duel with III and all the times he lost Astral and his friends. Yuya could go through the time his father was missing and when he hurt innocent people in berserk form. (In a way I would also love to see Zarc and Ray have a role, at least to guide him and encourage him to not to give up.) Yusaku might expect the trauma from Lost Incident, but it turns out to be the fear of truly losing Ai. Another important challenge would be probably temptation to use Numeron Code for their own interests like maybe it could rewrite Yusaku’s life with Lost Incident never happening, but erase all of Yuma’s friends who got revived. Maybe it could bring counterparts back but cause major disturbance in Den City. Overall I wouldn’t go there too much since I know well that Yuma, Yuya and Yusaku are one of the most selfless people and if anything, they would be fine with giving up on their desire for greater good.

Another important climax (in case I go with it), is Numeron Code. With such insane power of literal creation and destruction it could be again connected to ARC V, with the whole theme of Heavenly Dragons and En Powers. Similar themes also appeared in VRAINS, especially regarding the creation and destruction of life. It could also be that protagonists will be struggling with how to use it correctly or if they should use it in the first place. Another solution is also permanent destruction, but again, protagonists aren’t sure how will this affect dimensions and timelines. 

In all ways, climax will be epic and will join all the build up, struggles, fears and action in one scene.

Interactions of those who never met

This crossover will be able to provide a lot of scenes and interactions between characters of those three series. Yuya, Yuma and Yusaku have surprisingly a lot in common, especially their experiences when dealing with loss and fears. For some reason I’m actually seeing Yusaku opening up to them since they could strangely remind him of Ai and that was pretty much the only person besides Kusanagi that Yusaku trusted enough to share his fears. It would be also refreshing for Yusaku to see duelling as fun (I really hoped that would be the case when he duelled Go for the first time) and befriending more people like Ai told him to. Astral and Ai could also share a scene where they are talking about their human partners and the time once their partners will be gone since they are both sort of immortal beings. I strongly believe one of the reasons why Ai sacrificed himself for Yusaku was not only because he saw a future where Yusaku dies protecting him but because he knew Yusaku won’t live forever like him and he couldn’t handle being all alone without Yusaku or other Ignis. Astral who has been alone for thousands of years before meeting Yuma could teach him how to cherish the time with his partner that he still has. 

Conclusion

Like I mentioned it in the beginning – this would more or less be fix-it story. While I’m okay with ZEXAL ending (better than the one in manga at least), ARC V and VRAINS are in dire need for a better ending so overall, the ending conclusion will give the three series a much more conclusive ending. While I love to write a good angst and bitter sweetness for the end, I do no plan to end it this way (especially after binge watching two anime series in a row that had bitter-sweet but hella sad endings). This will have to be a feel-good ending with cheese on top or at least hopeful feel. I’m aiming for similar conclusion as Bonds Beyond Time, with three protagonists parting ways in hopes that they did the right thing and that they can return back to the worlds that they no longer need to fear they will break. 

The endgame will be obviously with Yu-boys coming back, Ai reuniting with Yusaku and Numeron Code being sealed away or if possible destroyed. If I’m going with “Yuma screwed up ARC V and VRAINS with Numeron Code” way, then I’ll really need to find a good reason to get rid of it or at least find a logical way how. Also he will be dealing with massive guilt and responsibility so maybe… Yuma might go Iron Man with it and others will need to stop him (that might lead to a secondary final duel or more like rescue duel, kinda mirroring final duel between Yusaku and Ai).

So yeah there will be a lot of conclusions to go through, especially if I include original antagonists, though I’m not that sure about it yet.

If anyone has any other ideas, suggestions, theories or anything else related to this topic, feel free to leave it below or PM me. I would love to hear your thoughts on this idea and it will really help me gather more ideas and material for this project that I would really love to write, not just for myself but for all other members of Yu-Gi-Oh! fandom as well.

ironwoods tragic fall from grace

comments on youtube

When a hero becomes the villain, all hell breaks loose. Especially when the fallen hero is general of the Atlesian army.

The only thing that I noticed was that Ironwood has constantly grown a Beard as time passes. He's slowly decending towards from Hero to Villain as a "Fallen Hero" Catagory. James Ironwood WAS a good man, utterly dedicated to protecting his people. It was with the best of intentions that he charged down the path he’s taken... but you know what they say about good intentions.

I didn’t think his semblance was much of a factor into his decisions before Vol 7 but now as he’s become more unhinged every chapter, it’s becoming even more strikingly obvious that he’s become a slave to it. The fact that his semblance increases his resolve to go through with bargaining with Watts, willing to blow up Mantle just to save Atlas.

He's like the antithesis of Leonardo Lionheart

You know, this is a really good counter for all those people saying Ironwood is suffering character assassination. He's not. He's giving in to fear and letting his worst aspects take command.

I’m personally asking again why would the writers talk about something like Ironwood’s semblance outside the show when for the most part the majority of people only watches the show, that’s like how the Russo brothers (the writers and directors of Avengers Infinity War and Endgame) choose to answer the hows and why on Twitter when the majority of people are only watching the movies I personally love those movies but it also would’ve been nice to see those things get explained or talked about in the movies just like how it would be nice to at least mention Ironwood’s semblance in the show

Honestly, I love what they're doing with Ironwood. His slow, inexorable descent into extremism is a wonderful exploration of how an idealistic person who believes themself to be the hero can tumble into villainy without trusting others to keep them grounded. It's the very real problem of the philosophy of "The ends justify these particular means;" if you can justify one morally gray decision to achieve a good goal, it gets easier to justify the next, darker gray decision. Without someone outside to call you on your bullshit, you're eventually justifying genocide because it will be for the "greater good."

Ironwood is literally the Darth Vader of RWBY. He starts of as a respectable character, commanding his own army for the good of all. But he gives in to all of his fears, looses a limb or 2, and slowly turns misguidedly evil, willing to kill ANYONE who stands in his way.

I've said before that Team Rwby is a foil to the Headmasters. Ruby keeping secrets like Oz, Leo/Blake, the faunus who ran away when things got hard, and Ironwood's parallel is Yang.

Not just obvious stuff, like both having metal arms. But both of their semblances are double edged sword. Yang get stronger taking damage, but if she leans on it too much, an enemy that takes one hit just destroys her since she can't fight back. Volume 4 has her training with Taiyang to correct this flaw in her thinking, leading to her overcoming Adam in her rematch in V6.

Ironwood's semblance can be incredibly powerful. Just off the top of my head, he basically no sells the Apathy, which is an incredibly dangerous Grimm in a group with other, stronger Grimm. But it has downsides, and we're seeing it. The correct way to use it is after you've made a choice, to focus on the task at hand. But making large choices while under the semblance is not smart. He's too focused on one action to see others that have opened. Atlas has to be raised, because that's what he's already decided to do. The idea that they've made contact with the world and reinforcements might be coming never entered his mind. Similarly, he's so focused on forcing Penny to heel that he's not seeing he has a chance to have her come willingly by aiding in Mantle's rescue.

He's so focused on winning this one battle (Having Penny raise the city to escape Salem immediately) that's he's making choices to doom the larger war (defending the kingdom's people, defeating Salem, reuniting the world).

He clearly knows that it isn't smart to rely on it this way, since he's shown the ability to take criticism and adjust his thinking in Volume 7 (Nora would've been Slate'd if he couldn't). But the combination of Yang/Blake going behind his back to tell Robyn, Ruby/Oscar not telling him the truth, Qrow seemingly killing Clover, and, right when he thought that he'd saved everyone, the idea that every single thing he's done might've been exactly what Salem wanted has fairly understandably shaken his faith in the others around him. He can't rely on them to rein him in, he has to do that... which is exactly the problem with his semblance. If the only person who can stop you is yourself, and you're convinced you're always right, you've doomed yourself.

I'm assuming that he could probably be talked down by Glynda or potentially Oz or Qrow (fat chance of that one) if they can break his aura, but as it stands, unless someone beats him down, he's not going to be able to stop himself.

With Ironwood I am reminded of a very profound quote from CS Lewis, that I feel summarizes him very well: "Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals."Show less

Dude Ironwood didn't have a problem with trusting people and didn't have a mentality of not being able to trust people. He trusted to much and trusted people who both betrayed his trust (Yang/Blake) and didn't reciprocate the trust he gave them (Ruby and the rest of the main cast). Honestly, he would have been perfectly right to have immediately put the relic of knowledge into the vault at the start of v7 and then send the students on their way and have nothing more to do with them.

Ironwood saw Atlas and his fleet as a way to inspire hope. It's ironic that his plan was one of lifting them up so high that nobody would ever be able to see them anymore.

My only criticism with Ironwood is that I really really wish his semblance was brought up in the show. Are they ever going to bring it up? I absolutely LOVE how he has been written and watching his tragic descent into becoming a villain but having his semblance mentioned in show would be great. Is someone going to have to break his aura or something before he or someone else mentions it?

In a way he is. His semblance is a double edge sword, as someone in Ironwood's position is all about making calls. Ironwood was able to climb through the ranks because his semblance allowed him to follow through with his actions to save people (I also still wonder what happend to halve of his body as he already had a metal leg and arm in volume 2, we can asume the paladin project, but some confirmation would be wonderfull). Now he's following through on his words agains Salem, that Ironwood isn't going to let Salem take the relic of creation. Ironwood essentially only has this thought he is focused on and is disregarding everything else. Right now Salem is piecing herself together again and Penny is going to the vault, if Ironwood semblance of Mettle wasn't interfering he would be able to see the bigger picture of let Penny open the vault, take out the staff of cration and chuck whatever goop Salem is right now with the bit of land she is piecing herself on right now and throw that into the vault and close it for good by blocking off the entrance with concrete. Voila. Ironwood doesn't notice at this point his actions as he even thought councilman Slate, who was asking Ironwood to explain his action got put down by Ironwood himself. Same for Marrow later on, but Winter was able to step in. Ironwood needs to be saved from this mindset and I think the team up of Qrow and Robyn (also who ever was on the elevator, I think it was Winter and Marrow as Winter was taking him away to be put in jail) could save Ironwood to the point of breaking his aura that way the influence of Mettle will loosen.

Gonna be honest, I dislike the whole concept of his semblance and it being what's driving him to this is just dumb to me. I loved him as a character and this entire volume feels like every bit that made him an interesting character has been ripped away. It's likely just me, but prior to Oscar using the built-up magic to beat Salem it felt like they had painted themselves into a corner. Either Ironwood was proven right that some sacrifices had to be made for the good of the people, or Salem was going to be beaten and even if she can come back, she no longer feels like a huge threat to me. I loved Ironwood in volume seven and many of team RWBY's choices have infuriated me for how contrived and stupid they manage to be while also contradicting themselves so easily. To be frank, I feel like his semblance was just an excuse for this utterly stupid character assassination they're trying to justify.Show less

I kind of feel like the writers 'forced' Ironwood to become a villain. Some of his decisions just don't make sense.

Emotional anguish list round 4: Percy Jackson. And Annabeth Chase, because we need some girls in here

thanks!!!

Percy

1. okay we’re gonna start off with him not losing the Achilles’ Curse, which I am having 2 thoughts on: either he knows he has it BUT DOESN’T KNOW WHERE HIS SPOT IS, or he does know the spot but being in camp jupiter results in two things. 1) everyone hates his, as they see it, weird annoying disrespectful ass EVEN MORE because he’s fucking invulnerable, and 2) Percy spends every moment there itching with anticipation and hypervigilance that somehow someone will get in a lucky shot and KILL HIM. 

2. I honestly think coming home to find out that Sally is either pregnant or has had a fucking baby would send him spiraling. like. imagine you literally go to hell, you’ve been fighting non-stop for months, the world is narrowly saved from ending and your camp family almost dies. all you want is to go home and have things be normal for a while. but you get there and there’s a fucking baby. Percy “only child for 14 years” Jackson would suddenly……..not get all the attention he used to. and yeah I think he’d be able to be more mature about it than he might have at 14, but he’s traumatized and hurting and he wants his mom but she’s busy breastfeeding! he has to wait until she’s done! I don’t think he’d resent Estelle at all, just that he didn’t get to be there when they found out/all thru the Big Important Moments (instead he was in hell.) and now that he’s not getting what he needs and probably doesn’t feel like he can ask for it

3. Zeus was such a dick in TLT that I wouldn’t put it past him at all to strike down the airplane while Percy was in it, kill everyone on board, and grab his bolt of lightning and fuck off somewhere. I’m including this one bc I’m imagining Percy’s last moments, holding Annabeth’s and Grover’s hands, absolutely terrified and furious and so, so, so worried about his mom :)

4. IMAGINE IF ANNABETH DIED IN TLO. IMAGINE!!!!!!! she’s the tether between him and his mortality. I honestly think he would go crazy and probably kill Luke/Kronos himself. I hate chaos fics with my whole entire being so I feel like he’d probably end up being rude/disrespectful to the gods after the battle ends, and either get turned into a god (whether it happens against his will or not idk) or he’d go home and just. fall into such a depression. he did all that shit for the gods, for the world, he’s fundamentally changed himself FOREVER and yet, he lost one of his best friends, a girl he loved. a girl he loves. how unfair and cruel can life be

5. Percy, miraculously 31 years old, being dragged into ANOTHER war by the gods:

Annabeth

1. she and her dad and step mom having some kind of miscommunication that ends with her running back to camp (or Percy, whatever) thinking that she’ll never talk to them ever again. I’m picturing her being about 15 maybe? I can’t remember all the issues she and her family had in canon but dskjfhdjshafjk if it’s bad enough, what if they don’t talk for years? what if Frederick and Step Mom never find out that she survived the end of the world? what if, when Frederick goes looking for Magnus, he goes looking for her too? he shows up at the Jackson’s door, and whether she’s there or not, hearing that her dad wants her…….that would be A Lot and she’d have to go back and reevaluate the argument that lead to her running away again and just have lots of emotions about it

2. I saw a fic recently where somehow (I didn’t read it :/) Annabeth didn’t end up falling into Tartarus, just Percy did. and I think this would ABSOLUTELY DESTROY HER. that’s her best friend, her boyfriend, her soulmate and he’s down there ALONE, for HER, because of her. who knows how he’s doing, and if he’ll make it out, and also leading a quest without him is super hard and it’s so difficult to sleep knowing he’s literally in hell, and she’s just falling apart with worry and fear

3. tbh after falling into hell, I think any kind of falling would be traumatic. so what if she falls off the lava wall? or like, Jason picks her up and flies? the first has happened a hundred times before & the second has def happened at least once, she shouldn’t be panicking so hard, but she is and she can’t stop it. the feeling of the air all around her just throws her right back into that moment, that gut wrenching agony and anticipation, waiting for the fall, waiting to land and either die or open her eyes in the worst place she will ever possibly be

4. Percy really dies when he blows up the volcano. first of all, the grief of him and what they could’ve had would be terrible and I imagine she would probably feel awful about going to Sally with her emotions, bc Sally lost her son and that has to be way worse. plus it’ll just remind her he’s dead. but even more so, suddenly the only person (that they know of) left to take on the curse is Nico...who won’t be 16 for several years, which they DON’T HAVE TIME FOR. Kronos is definitely rising sooner than that. Annabeth is a natural leader and tho it would probably take a little while for her to get back on her feet, she would take over what she had to/could, and. there are two options here: either Kronos rises and dies in basically the same way (Annabeth gets the Achilles’ Curse but her lifeline, Percy, is dead?????) and neither Annabeth or Nico is the prophecy kid, Jason is. but they don’t know that??? so Annabeth is haunted by this prophecy, wondering what the hell it means, and waiting anxiously until Nico turns 16 and NOTHING HAPPENS??? or, Kronos rises and Annabeth, furious w the gods who are barely helping or almost never saying anything, and also alone and vulnerable to Luke, switches sides :)

5. tbh... moving to New Rome. I don’t think she’d be able to live there without some issues, namely that it would feel wrong????? she’s a Greek? it’s not home? the architecture is off (she could do better, but if she says that, everyone will hate her EVEN MORE.) and there’s either no shrine to her mom, or it’s small and shitty like Neptune’s? plus she’d miss all of her friends and Chiron desperately? she’d be away from Sally and Paul, who are her and Percy’s main support system, and closer to her dad, who she’s not very trustful of? also how is she gonna be there without thinking about Leo accidentally firing on the place, which reminds her of the rest of the quest, which reminds her of falling into Tartarus. ?????????????? going there would do nothing but lead her to a small mental breakdown imo

send me a character and I’ll put them in 5 situations that’ll cause them maximum emotional anguish

The Character Forge: How to Play as Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl in DnD 5e

This is a rather unusual build option, as these aren’t technically characters in the Yugioh series. However, I consider it a fun and unique challenge to try and build them. Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl are the ace cards in the deck of Yami Yugi. Though in season 5 the anime decided they were the spirits of the Pharaoh’s high priests trapped as duel monsters that still serve their king in death. So that’s a fun thing to think about the next time you play one of these cards.

A Heroic Spirit

What race you choose is probably going to depend on which version you want to play. If you want to play who they were before they died, Mahad and Mana were ordinary humans with no superhuman abilities beyond the study of magic. So normal Humans works for who they once were. If you want to play as the duel spirits they became, you could choose Kalashtar because the Dark Magician is the bond of the high priest Mahad with the Illusion Magician spirit. Kalashtar is a race whose body is split between a host and a dream world spirit. Dream world, Duel Monster Spirit World. Close enough. They are also tasked with guarding and serving the Pharoah loyally, which has lowkey guardian angel traits, so Aasimar is a possibility. It’s a bit silly, but they are synthetic beings. Just holograms really. They could be Warforged since they aren’t actually real or alive. Just computer code and projected images of light as duel monsters. They could also be Variant Humans because they’re Shonen anime characters, and the spirits of former humans.

Honestly, they have no alignment and little personality. Make them however you want and go from there. I have never actually seen season 5, so I don’t know the personalities of Mahad and Mana.

For background, Mahad is a high priest and Mana is his pupil. Mahad and Mana are both Acolytes. Dark Magician is the ultimate wizard in terms of attack and defense, so Sage is appropriate, while the obscure (but I think it’s legit?) Student of Magic is great for Dark Magician Girl. 

Powers and Abilities

The Dark Magician’s primary spell is the Dark Magic Attack, and the Dark Magician Girl casts Dark Burning Attack.

As Mahad, he had the ability to summon duel spirits to fight on his behalf, conjuring them through large stone tablets. Mahad also possessed the Millennium Ring, which points you in the direction of whatever you’re trying to find, and lets you place and remove souls from bodies.

Support Cards:

Dark Burning Attack: Destroy all enemy facedown monsters Dark Burning Magic: Destroy all enemy cards. Dark Magical Circle: Add other Dark Magician support cards to your hand. Dark Magic Attack: Destroys all enemy Spells and Traps Dark Magic Expanded: one monster gains +1000 ATK and ignores enemy spells Dark Magic Inheritance: Banish 2 spells to draw 1 DM support card from deck. Dark Magic Twin Burst: DM gains ATK of all DMG on the field and in Graveyard. Dark Magic Veil: Pay 1000 LP to summon a dark spellcaster Dark Renewal: Sacrifice enemy monster and your caster. summon dark caster. Illusion Magic: Sacrifice your spellcaster. Add Dark Magician to your hand. Magic Formula: DM’s Spellbook. Increase DM or DMG ATK by 700 points. Magical Hats: Dark Magician becomes hidden beneath 1 of 4 magic hats. Magical Objection: Counter enemy spell, trap, or effect and destroy that card. Magician’s Circle: when foe summons, you and foe can summon a caster Magician’s Defense: Take half damage while you control a spellcaster. Magician’s Navigation: Summon DM from hand and dark caster from Deck/GY Mystical Box: Dark Magician trades places with another monster. Thousand Knives: Destroys 1 enemy monster

Other Common Cards

Change of Heart: Take control of enemy monster for 1 turn. Dark Hole: Destroy every card on the field. Dian Keto, the Cure Master: Gain 1000 Life Points. Magic Cylinder: Bounce enemy attack at enemy’s Life Points. Magic Jammer: Counter 1 enemy spell card. Mirror Force: Bounce enemy attack, destroy all ATK position enemy monsters. Monster Reborn: Summon 1 monster from either Graveyard. Mystical Space Typhoon: Destroy 1 Spell or Trap card. Negate Attack: Portal sucks up enemy attack, opponent battle phase ends. Raigeki: Destroy all of your opponent’s monsters Reverse Trap: Buffs and Debuffs switch. Buffs weaken, Debuffs strengthen. Spellbinding Circle: Enemy monster -700 ATK. Cannot attack/change positions. Swords of Revealing Light: 3 gleaming swords, enemy can’t attack for 3 turns. Trap Hole: Create pit trap. Destroy monster with 1500 ATK or more.

Class is in Session

Cleric     Arcana: As Mahad and Mana were priests, this is a way to incorporate that religious background with their current powers.

Sorcerer     Divine Soul: Similar to Arcana, Divine Soul blurs the line between magic and religion, and allows Dark Magician to pull power from the holy spirit of Mahad residing within him. Since both Dark Magician and Dark Magican Girl float, the wings this subclass gives at level 14 could be flavored as simply allowing these duel spirits to fly/float without the wings being visible.     Shadow: They are the DARK magicians. Their signature spells are DARK Magic Attack and DARK Burning Attack. Pretty self-evident.

Warlock     Celestial: Again like Divine Soul and Arcana, this option connects Warlock with religion, but the subclass has some Radiant flavor which is a little unusual for the DARK Magicians.

Wizard    Conjuration: When Mahad lived, he used his Millennium Ring and magic powers to conjure the spirits of Duel Monster tablets to play shadow games.     Lore Mastery: He’s “the ultimate wizard in terms of attack and defense”. It stands to reason that his understanding of magic would run so deep that he could alter and bend it to his will. Especially to turn any spell he casts into Necrotic damage for his dark magic attacks.     Theurgy: Mahad was the high priest. So, he could have been a wizard who had studied the religious magic of his day to obtain his powers and to cast both Cleric and Wizard spells with one stat.     War Magic: The ultimate wizard in terms of attack and defense is probably going to be extremely powerful in a fight, so having a build that’s made to fight is right up his alley.

How to Play as Yugi Mutou

Before making this post, I’d tried to make Yugi as a potential build. However, an obstacle I encountered was that I had Yugi as a Conjuration Wizard, and there simply weren’t enough Wizard spells that summoned creatures to fight on your behalf. However, if you combine that summoning focus of Yugi with the magical capabilities of Dark Magician or Dark Magician Girl, and treat them as his Deck Master, they can work together to fill out Yugi’s spell list with DM and DMG spells and fight side by side as effectively one character.

Stats and Proficiencies

In order to be the ultimate wizard in terms of attack and defense, Dark Magician needs the absolute maximum Intelligence and Constitution stats. He needs to be able to deal serious magical damage and shrug off enemy spells. During Yugi and Joey’s duel against Para and Dox, the Dark Magician did a front flip in what seems like medium armor. That shows quite a bit of Dexterity. Beyond that, fill out the other three stats or dump them as you see fit. However, I will admit, the Dark Magician Girl does seem more charming than her mentor, and could be a Sorcerer who casts with Charisma instead of Intelligence.

Arcana Insight Perception Religion

Name: Mahad, the Dark Magician Race: Variant Human Background: Sage Alignment: Neutral Class: War Magic Wizard (20) Base Stats: Strength: 8 (-1) Dexterity: 17 (+3) Constitution: 20 (+5) Intelligence: 20 (+5) Wisdom: 8 (-1) Charisma: 8 (-1) Saving Throws: Strength: -1 Dexterity: +3 Constitution: +5 Intelligence: +11 Wisdom: +5 Charisma: -1 Combat Stats:  HP: 182  AC: 13  Speed: 30  Initiative: +8  Proficiency Bonus: +6  Passive Perception: 15  Dark Vision: 0 feet Proficiencies:    Arcana (Sage)    History (Sage)    Insight (Wizard)    Religion (Wizard) Skills: Acrobatics: +3                  Medicine: -1 Animal Handling: -1          Nature: +5 Arcana: +11                      Perception: +5 Athletics: -1                       Performance: -1 Deception: -1                    Persuasion: -1 History: +11                      Religion: +11 Insight: +5                        Sleight of Hand: +3 Intimidation: -1                 Stealth: +3 Investigation: +5              Survival: -1 Equipment:    Arcane Focus: Staff

Spell Slots 1st (4) 2nd (3) 3rd (3) 4th (3) 5th (3) 6th (2) 7th (2) 8th (1) 9th (1)

Dark Magician’s Spellbook

Cantrips                    3rd Level                                 6th Level    Create Bonfire           Call Lightning                           Arcane Gate    Eldritch Blast             Counterspell                            Globe of Invulnerability    Firebolt                      Dispel Magic                          7th Level    Mage Hand               Fireball                                      Conjure Hezrou    Mind Sliver                Magic Circle                              Mord’s Sword    Minor Illusion             Summon Lesser Demons      8th Level 1st level                     4th Level                                     Antimagic Field    Detect Magic              Arcane Eye                               Dominate Monster    Hex                             Banishment                           9th Level    Mage Armor               Conjure Minor Elementals        Prismatic Wall    Magic Missile             Conjure Shadow Demon    Shield                         Leo’s Secret Chest    Witch Bolt                   Locate Creature 2nd Level                      Phantasmal Killer    Arcane Lock                Summon Greater Demon    Crown of Madness   5th Level    Flock of Familiars        B’s Hand (Arcane Hand)    Knock                          Conjure Elemental    Locate Object              Dominate Person    Magic Weapon            Infernal Calling    Mirror Image                Legend Lore    Misty Step                   Planar Binding    Shadow Blade             Synaptic Static                                        Teleportation Circle                                        Wall of Force

Features:

Arcane Deflection: When attacked, as a reaction, add +2 AC or +4 saving throw, but cast only cantrips next turn. Arcane Recovery: Once per day, after a short rest, restore 10 or fewer level 5 or lower used spell slots. Deflecting Shroud: 3 creatures take 10 force damage after Arcane Deflection. Durable Magic: +2 to AC and saving throws when concentrating on a spell. Magic Initiate: Learn Eldritch Blast, Mind Sliver, and Hex. Cast with INT. Power Surge: You have max 5, each surge adds 10 force damage to a spell. Researcher: You always know where to find information or who to get it from. Signature Spells: Cast Fireball and Dispel Magic without using a spell slot. Spell Mastery: Cast Magic Weapon and Mage Armor without using a spell slot. Tactical Wit: Add your INT mod to your Initiative.

keep in mind, the spell list is not conclusive, it’s a personal choice. I chose to have Dark Magician learn all the spells of the Arcane Cleric, and just tried to pick the standard magic spells, especially about anything with Arcane in its name. Because both Yugi and Mahad summon monsters to fight for them, I decided it was appropriate to give Dark Magician a lot of conjuration spells, but that doesn’t mean you have to use the Deck Master Yugi/Dark Magician build I suggested where Yugi does the summoning and Dark Magician handles everything else. It’s not a perfect build, but then, I never expected it to be. Still, I hope you guys found this to be a fun, quirky DnD concept. Let me know if you’d build this character differently than I did. And as always, thanks for joining me in The Character Forge, where heroes are made.

Fate/EXTELLA ZERO Plot

Original text from http://www.typemoon.org/bbb/diary/log/201611.html

translation from: https://forums.nrvnqsr.com/showthread.php/5875-The-BAMBOO-BROOM-DIARY-%28Nasu-and-Takeuchi-blog%29?p=2540101&viewfull=1#post2540101

Fate/EXTRA/EXTELLA Character Outline ※ There's only one route, so Nero takes the role of saving, guiding, and helping Hakuno grow. Don't forget that this is a boy-meets-girl story. ・ Kishinami Hakuno (Protagonist) The archetypal protagonist who wakes up in SE.RA.PH to find himself caught up as a participant in the Holy Grail War. He has memories of life (daily school life), but no other memories. His abilities are extremely mediocre as a wizard. Fortunately, he has a personality that never gives up, holds no grudges, and always tries to do the right thing. Miraculously, he attains victory. In short, he's someone who can't quit. 　→→ First Spoiler (revealed in the middle and later half of the story) His identity is the same as that of the NPCs on campus, merely "recreated data from past humans." (It is less expensive for the Moon Cell to model NPCs after past humans, but the Moon Cell fundamentally cannot understand humans (intelligent life forms)) He gained a self and passed the preliminary round as a human, so he was registered as a Master. 　→→ Second Spoiler (revealed at the end of the story) The human he was recreated from is in cold sleep on Earth, neither alive nor dead. This is why the NPC managed to gain an ego and autonomy. (This has to do with where souls reside in TYPE-MOON, but that isn't explained in this story.) ・ Saber (Nero) The Servant who was summoned in response to Hakuno's call. (Summoning details are in Material, under Saber's entry.) A female knight who acts as she pleases and whole-heartedly glorifies life. Her speech and attitude are pompous, but at her core, she respects all that is beautiful. She appears condescending, but actually reacts to most things with a "wow, that's amazing. How impressive! But I won't lose, either!" attitude. Her physical abilities are below average for a Servant, but her Skill "Imperial Privilege" is powerful. A true genius displays her talents in all areas. Red Saber's strength can be considered her ability to learn anything that is possible through human levels of effort or talent. Saber is reluctant to reveal her true name. It is not because she wishes to conceal her identity as the infamous tyrant Nero, but because she is afraid that Hakuno will dislike or be disappointed with her if he knows her name. During the fifth round, she moves past this hesitation and reveals it herself. ・ Girl Classmate (Female Protagonist) A girl who occasionally crosses paths with Hakuno, leaving him a casual word of advice. She's always eating a noodle sandwich. She wasn't in the PSP version, so the audience would misread her as "a new heroine!?" 　→→ 　Spoiler (Round 7) The same entity as Hakuno. Personnel data: a NPC created by SE.RA.PH, modeled after Kishinami Hakuno. However, she was configured as a female due to overlapping identity. She gained an ego in connection with the same event for Hakuno, and advanced as a Master. (※ She didn't gain a soul. Hakuno gained a soul, and the aftermath of this awakened her ego.) Because her data was modified further after recreation, she quickly becomes aware that she is not a legitimate being. As a degraded copy, she cannot withstand the installation of an ego (soul), so she is destined to disintegrate. (※ Even if she wins the seventh round, she will then disappear. Only Archer deduces this.) ・Archer (Nameless) The Female Protagonist's Servant. He is a Servant summoned to a Master without a soul, so his summoning circumstances are also irregular. Half of his body is crumbling and burned. Knowing the Female Protagonist's situation, he helps her fight to the bitter end. 　→ Every time Hakuno is alone and in a pinch, Archer saves him. As for why he does this, if Hakuno dies, so does the female protagonist. Archer is trying to give his Master a conclusion where she doesn't lose until the very end, and accepts her end even though she couldn't survive. 　→→ Archer is partially destroyed, so Nero and Tamamo don't recognize him in the world of EXTELLA. Also, the Nameless that appears in EXTELLA comes from a world where the Female Protagonist won. ・ Rin & Rani Fewer appearances than in the PSP version, but their position is unchanged. ・ Leo The heir to the Western European Conglomerate. A perfect prince. The strongest foe in the PSP version. His role is the same in the PSP version, but this time he is defeated in the sixth round. 　→→ Foreshadowing Out of curiosity, Leo talks to Kishinami Hakuno many times, but several of the conversations are inconsistent. "Oh, didn't we talk about this before?" "Yes, I'm interested in you, too." He says things like that, because he's interacted with the Female Protagonist in the same way. Leo loses to the Female Protagonist in the sixth round, so this time, he realizes that the Female Protagonist has the potential to defeat him. ・ Saber (Gawain) Leo's Servant. Unchanged from the PSP version. ・ Julius Leo's older brother. An assassin who handles the dirty work. On Earth, he doesn't have much time left to live. He eliminates Leo's enemies without regard for his own survival. His position is unchanged from the PSP version. He is openly hostile to Hakuno, and is Hakuno's greatest rival. Julius' special animosity towards Hakuno (and the Female Protagonist) is because Hakuno is the same type of person as Julius. On a deeply subconscious level, Julius rejects the notion that a normal person, possessing nothing and chosen by nobody, could rise to become Leo's greatest enemy. It also stems from Julius' irritation that he was unable to do the same. ・ Assassin (Li Shuwen) Julius' Servant. Position is unchanged from the PSP version. ・ Matou Shinji ・ Rider (Drake) The opponent in the first round, which has the theme of fighting a friend. Unchanged from the PSP version. ・ Atrum The opponent in the fourth round. His Servant is Caster (Tamamo no Mae). A new Master for the EXTRA storyline that was reorganized for EXTELLA. A user of sacrificial magic that kills and creates life. Acquainted with Leo on Earth. In the world of EXTRA where fossil fuel resources have run dry, he lacks the cockiness and carelessness of his Fate/stay night counterpart. However, his basic personality is the same. A self-proclaimed feminist, but it's obvious in reality that he views women only as tools. He speaks respectfully to Caster, but also looks down on her. After the Moratorium of Round 4, he sends Caster to seduce Hakuno (to gain his sympathy). "You don't need win the boy over. As long as you can ensnare him, it'll be a windfall for us." "Me? I have things to do. Dirty jobs are a Servant's duty, right?" Casko wearily follows his order, replying "By your command." After dispatching Casko, Atrum accesses a proprietary hidden circuit to Earth to find data on Kishinami Hakuno, but fails to turn up anything. This troubles him. After Atrum loses to Hakuno in their duel, Atrum uses Caster as a scapegoat to avoid the destruction of his own body, and flees. After he escapes from the firewall, he is dealt with by Julius or the Moon Cell. ・ Caster (Tamamo no Mae) Appears as Atrum's Servant. From the start, she is aware that she is expendable to Atrum, but she does not resist fulfilling their pact. (Of course, if Atrum were to sever their contract, it would be a different story.) When she comes to Hakuno on Atrum's orders to seduce him, Hakuno asks, "...Umm, I don't understand why you're doing this," which confuses her. Fox: "I suppose, in short, that my Master's naive strategy is to have me drown you in my charms and end you in your sleep. Failing that, sympathy might still move you to carelessness during your final duel..." Having heard Casko's circumstances and taking issue with them, Hakuno becomes serious. Hakuno: "Have a seat, Caster." Hakuno kneels across from Caster. Casko does the same. Hakuno begins to give her a stern lecture out of concern for her well-being. This is the first event that leads to Caster falling in love. After their duel, Casko burns away, as Atrum's scapegoat. The protagonist then uses his Command Spell to try and save her. Casko is restored, without a scratch. "Ah, I'm finally free!" The way she easily withstands the assault of the firewall is similar to Arcueid's scene. Afterwards, she cooperates with Hakuno as his (self-declared) true Servant. Nero: "Damn you -- who let this raccoon- no, this fox into our den!?" Fox: "That's obvious. As if the curse of a third-rate Master could roast me!" ・ Dan ・ Archer (Robin) The opponent in the second round, which has the theme of defeating one's senior and mentor in life. Position is unchanged from the PSP version. ・ Twice Pieceman The final Master who awaits Hakuno in front of the Moon Cell's core, after the seventh round. Position is unchanged from the PSP version. However, to make his appearance less sudden, he would appear frequently throughout the story. ※ He could also interact with the Female Protagonist instead of Hakuno. PART II Continuing on... 　　◆ ■ Reorganization ※ This is basically  meant to be a shorter version of the plot, so it only contains the essentials. Unfortunately, I have to cut the excess fat. ※ That said, in the end this is a reorganization of the Nero route. There are differences from the Tamamo no Mae and Nameless routes. For example, in the Tamamo route, the event that occurs on the path to the core is completely opposite. ・ Awakening ~ Preliminary Round ~ Servant Summoning From the top... "A girl falls on the water's surface, lying face up. It's the Female Protagonist before she disappears, after losing to Hakuno in the sixth round." This scene would be interesting to include. The audience would be misled to believe she was someone who died in the preliminaries, but the truth would be revealed in after the sixth round. ※ This is just meant to be a surprise scene, without any bearing on the story. It doesn't have to be included. The protagonist notices the incongruity in school life, escapes from the Inside of the World (the Inside of the Texture), fights a doll, and summons a Servant. Unchanged from the introduction to the PSP version. ・ Round 1, Beginning Round 1 begins while the mood is still carefree, while explaining SE.RA.PH., the Moon Cell, the Holy Grail War, and the state of Earth. The atmosphere of Round 1 is "this is a game," "this is a proxy war," and "this feels like a game." The opponent in the first round is announced. Hakuno faces Shinji. → In the PSP version, the opponent in each round was announced on a bulletin board, but if we have the budget, I'd like to make it more flashy this time. We could show the audience the tournament brackets and where each character is. Also, the Masters can casually face off in in the halls, and we can also have Casko smugly appear. ・ Round 1, Conclusion Events from the competition against Shinji, to the elevator ride, until the final duel. Demonstrates that this isn't a game, but rather a ruthless battle for survival. Drake: "Don't you all realize that you were dead as soon as you got here?" They were all a great herd of fools lured in by the colorful promise that their wishes would be granted. Of course, some were staking their lives on the competition, but the majority of them had been deceived. Even Hakuno is troubled. "What reason and wish do I have for fighting in this war for survival?" 　　→→ Point It left a bad taste in his mouth to join this tournament with neither convictions nor goals, and fight his own friend. It struck him that unmindful murder and innocent fights to the death → Real death. Shinji: "I thought it just granted wishes! Why do I have to die!?" Drake: "Look, that's just what it means to live. All people are unaware that they trample on the wishes of others." ・ Round 2 The heartbroken protagonist fights Dan, the old soldier. The old man who fights with regrets about his life, and the Heroic Spirit Robin who died in regret. ・ Round 3 Round 3 is unchanged from the PSP version. After Hakuno wins, his next opponents Atrum and Casko appear to put on haughty airs. "You face us next, oh ho ho." ・ Round 4 Atrum is a character related to both Leo and Earth, so he serves the supporting but important role of explaining much of the setting, such as the state of Earth, and how it ended in the 2030s. Atrum affects goodwill, taking the "you should lose, so that I can live to save the world" approach to sway Hakuno's resolve. Hakuno, who has no identity, hesitates. However, he overcomes Atrum's intimidation by realizing that although Atrum's words are true, Atrum himself is not. They fight as Masters. As a result of the duel against Atrum, Casko decides to help Hakuno while avoiding detection by the Moon Cell. She becomes a useful and helpful friend. Of course, she schemes to defeat Nero and take her place as the main Servant, given an opening. Nero is aware of this, naturally. Casko and Nero share a friendly, combative relationship. →Their relationship is changed from "heroines of different worlds" to "heroines in the same world." ・ Round 5 Hakuno fights Julius in the fifth round. Nero is rendered unable to fight by Assassin's Noble Phantasm. With Casko's assistance, Hakuno challenges Julius and Assassin on his own. Thanks to Hakuno's efforts, Nero recovers, and the story proceeds as it does in the latter half ot the PSP version. After Nero recovers, she tells Hakuno her true name. Her Noble Phantasm is finally unsealed. ・ Missing Chapter This is when CCC takes place. Casko remembers all of it. Nero only remembers, "Elizabeth is my lifelong rival. But which round did we fight in?" ・ Round 6 ~ early Round 7 Rin and Rani are defeated in round 6, and say their farewells. Hakuno anticipates a showdown with Leo next... but Leo is reported to have been defeated. Leo has fallen, but the name of the Master who proceeded to round 7 is hidden by jamming, and the Master is nowhere to be found. Casko and Saber attempt to investigate, but they are unable to either locate the Master or remove the mosaic obscuring its name. In a dramatic development, they realize, "what if they aren't hiding? What if their name was always this way to begin with?" They proceed on the assumption that their next opponent is nameless. They report this irregularity to the priest, but the priest answers, "No. In a sense, your next battle is fair." Hakuno enters the elevator, not knowing who his next foe will be. No one is next to him. When he arrives at the arena, it's a wasteland resembling the Grand Canyon. Hakuno and the Female Protagonist face off, separated by a valley. The enemy Master was his classmate. "Ah, I knew it," Hakuno says in understanding. The girl: "Let's begin, Archer. This is my final fight." Archer appears in response to her order, facing Nero. The girl dispels the texture concealing her true face. There she stands, aloof, her hair blowing in the wind. For a moment, the story switches to the girl's perspective. It's the story of a girl who suddenly woke up like Hakuno did, and strove to move forward in spite of her lack of self and her impending collapse. The Female Protagonist's fight against Leo is the same as Round 7 of the PSP version. → Even though it was against the Female Protagonist, Leo still lost to "Kishinami Hakuno." Round 7 concludes. Archer disappears along with the girl. The Male Protagonist inherits the girl's memories and details of her fight with Leo as his own. ・ End of Moratorium ~ On the way to the core While traveling the path to the core of the Moon Cell, Hakuno is attacked by a debugging program. Its target is Casko, not Hakuno. The Moon Cell is enraged that a Servant which should have been defeated is still intact. → Hakuno parts ways with Casko. The tone is similar to parting with Casko in the CCC Route of CCC. The debugging is powerful enough to actually erase her in CCC, but the debugging is light in this case, so Casko won't disappear. Casko schemes to capture the Protagonist's heart and affections by risking her life (which is in no actual danger) in a heart-rending farewell, after sharing a tender scene with him. Nero sees right through it. "Come back out here!" "I'll beeeeee baaaaaaaack!" "She'll live," remarks Hakuno, as he dons his sunglasses. Hakuno and Saber arrive at the Moon Cell's core. There, they face Twice. ・ Moon Cell Core ~ Savior Hakuno confronts Twice. Twice gives a long speech. ※ The events here are described in the final entry of the Material glossary. His thoughts breaking down, Hakuno has a showdown with Twice. T: "No Servant can reach me. After all, heroes are little more than flowers that bloom in each age. He who saves the world. My answer is he who saves humanity." The Servant Savior appears. The duel against Twice becomes a reflection on human history in the Common Era. "All this consumption and bloodshed, and this is the conclusion we reach?" laments Twice solemnly. "So what!?" roar Nero and Hakuno in defiance. Twice is correct. Humanity is not. Yet, the final role and responsibility to decide and enforce what is right belongs to the people living in the current era. It would be even more unacceptable to have it decreed by a ghost from the past. After Twice is defeated, the ending of the PSP version proceeds to the Saber Route ending of CCC, and the story feels like it connects to EXTELLA. It leads to a new beginning that collects all of the previous components.

Fic: Nightmares and Morse Code

Fandom: Heroes of Olympus (I imagine this happening some time post TBoO. Also, I have not read Trials of Apollo and I don’t know if I ever will so if this fic has some canon divergence, that’s why)

Characters/ships: Leo Valdez/Calypso

Summary: Calypso notices a certain habit of Leo's when she's trying to comfort him after a nightmare.

AO3 link

A/N: I decided to post this fic here too, so if you saw a link earlier, yes it’s the same fic. Anyway, I guess I am now officially writing non FMA content. Heroes of Olympus has pretty much consumed my life for the past few weeks (or even months by now) and while I adore Leo and also Caleo as a ship, I've noticed the fandom doesn't agree with me especially on the latter and there's very little Caleo content anywhere. So, I decided to change that! The idea of Leo saying I love you for the first time through Morse Code had me soft and I just had to write a fic around that. So, without a further ado, please enjoy and don't forget to review especially if you'd like to see me write more HoO content in the future! (And FMA fans, don't worry, I surely haven't abandoned Edwin or my fankids!!)

Genre: fluff, hurt/comfort

Warnings: none?

...

That night was particularly bad. Leo thought that in exchange for the happy moments he spent with Calypso, some evil force had decided to make his dreams double as bad.

Some of them were old, familiar ones. The fire that had killed his mother. Abusive foster families and bullies at schools he had escaped from. The voice telling him that he’d forever be the seventh wheel, his friends smiling and laughing together while he was stuck alone in his bunker. The Argo II group, all except him, getting killed by the giants, because of him.

But there were a couple of new ones too. In the first one he was back in the underworld, feeling that same pain he had back then he had died, positive he was on his way to Tartarus. But he found the second dream worse: Gaea was torturing Calypso, telling Leo that he had to pick from two options: either Calypso would have to die or she’d wake up again and destroy all the life on earth. If Leo had had to pick between himself and the rest of the world, he wouldn’t have had to think long. But… Calypso was just barely starting to learn what living in the real world meant after her 3000 years lasting imprisonment, she was so excited and happy to see new things, and genuinely wanted to be with Leo (despite the constant bickering) for reasons he didn’t quite understand, and… he could not bear the thought of living without her. Finally, he woke up to his own screams as he watched Gaea’s ‘minions’ cut her with a sharp knife yet again.

“Leo?”

It was too dark in his room to see, but he heard fast footsteps approaching him and soon the door was opened and someone switched the light on. He had to squint and protect his eyes from the light before he finally saw the slender figure next to him. Relief flooded into him as he realized that it had all been just a nightmare and Calypso was just fine, although with a very worried expression on her face.

“Hey, Sunshine,” Leo said with a slightly hoarse voice, attempting a lopsided smile but it didn’t reach his eyes. “What’s up?”

“I… heard you screaming.” Calypso replied, suddenly embarrassed about rushing into his bedroom like that.

“Me? Screaming?” Leo sat up and waved his hand, trying to brush it off. “I think your ears are not quite yet used to the mortal world, mi sol.”

“Leo Valdez. I’m serious. I know what I heard.” Calypso glared at him, her beautiful features getting surprisingly scary when she wanted to. However, Leo didn’t budge.

“Sirius? Like Sirius Black from Harry Potter? I thought your name is Calypso,” he attempted, fully aware of how poor his joke was.

“What’s Harry Potter?” Calypso asked with confusion, not yet familiar with the modern popular culture.

“Only the most popular black-haired fantasy hero of our time… After me, of course.” Leo winked, but Calypso wasn’t happy with his answer.

“You’re only trying to make me forget the original topic. Why were you screaming?”

His face fell and he was twitching his hands nervously on his lap.

“Fine. It was a nightmare. But nothing I can’t handle.”

Calypso looked at him sadly, wanting to reach him but not sure if she should. Instead, she said softly: “I know you’re trying to act brave for me, but you don’t have to. I can see that something is hurting you and I want to help you. Like you’ve helped me. Maybe opening up would help you feel better.”

At this point Calypso noticed that Leo seemed to be tapping a certain pattern on the wooden edge of the bed with his fingers. She wanted to ask about it, but decided against it. Instead, she sat down next to him and slowly inched her hand towards his arm, encouraging him to talk.

Leo shook his head to clear his mind. “I… well, in these nightmares, I was reliving some of my worst memories… My mother and stuff… But there was a new dream too.”

“Please. Tell me about it.”

Leo tried to resist but something about Calypso’s calm tone and expression worked like Piper’s charmspeaking and he started babbling so fast Calypso couldn’t keep up with him. “Calm down a bit, Hot Head,” she stopped him. “I only got the part that I was in the dream.”

Leo took a deep breath, trying to focus on his hands that were still tapping against the wood nervously. Then he started in a slower pace: “Yeah… Dirt Face… I mean Gaea…” he added when Calypso raised her eyebrow questioningly, “in this dream, she was trying to wake up again… And she tried to make me choose between you… and the rest of the world… I mean, either you die or them… and I couldn’t.”

Calypso let that information sink in. Trying to hide her emotions, she crossed her arms over her chest and asked: “Are you saying that you would even consider letting me stay alive if you could save the rest of the world?”

Leo probably hadn’t expected that reaction. He failed to recognize that a part of the reason Calypso asked that was to conceal the fact that she was moved, going defensive: “But Cal, remember how she tried to make you kill me in Ogygia. And she could have offered you something much better than I could. But you refused to kill me. You even helped me get off that island even though… you know.” In his mind he added ‘even though it hurt you’. “Do you really think that after all that I could just…”

“Hey, it’s OK. I… think I understand your feeling. But thankfully you don’t have to choose because I’m right here, I’m OK, and she’s gone.” Calypso squeezed Leo’s free hand briefly. After a moment of silence, deciding to change the subject: “That… thing you do with your fingers… Is that a Morse code? Or have you been listening to too much of that rap music you talk about?”

Suddenly Leo’s face went all red. Calypso probably would be weirded out by his habit if she knew the meaning. “You… don’t happen to know Morse code, do you?”

“Not really…” she had to admit.

“That’s… that’s fine. The thing I was doing was just something my mother taught me when I was a kid.” Leo shrugged, trying to look casual.

“Oh… I thought it might mean something.”

“Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. If you want to know, you’ll have to figure it out on your own.” Leo smirked, even though he couldn’t hide his blushing.

“Leo Valdez, so full of mysteries.” Calypso rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help but smile a bit.

“That’s why the ladies love me! Even you fell for my mysterious charm.”

“Uhhuh.” Calypso pushed him back to his bed, sticking her tongue out. Then she spoke with a softer tone. “So, are you feeling better now?”

“I think I am. Thanks. Talking with you made me feel better.” He still looked like something was bothering him, though. In reality, some, annoying part of him tried to tell him to reveal the code.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Calypso replied, reaching to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Um, maybe I should go back to bed. We have some work to do tomorrow.”

“Sure… Well, good night,” Leo answered, looking a bit… disappointed? Before Calypso was out of the room, though, he said with a new determination:

“Hey, Sunshine. I’ll give you a hint. It’s ‘te quiero’ in Spanish.

“What is?”

“The code. And… I mean it. With you.”

“Oh. Okay.” Calypso answered, even more confused than before as she exited the room. She only knew a couple of Spanish swear words (thanks to Leo) so she had no idea what ‘kiero’ or whatever that word was meant. But she decided to find out.

…

A week later, Calypso heard Leo scream again. But this time, instead of waking him up and inquiring him about his dreams, she decided to sit down on a chair next to the bed and hold his hand, hoping it would reach him. She had spent a long time researching on both Spanish language and Morse codes and had finally cracked Leo’s code. Some part of her had already known its meaning but seeing it for real had made her strangely overwhelmed. As she saw him there, whimpering quietly, scrunching his forehead and looking so vulnerable , that exact same emotion he had been expressing struck her with force. This brave, determined, smart (and, she had to admit to herself, sometimes kinda funny) boy had been through so much. Ever since his mother had died, his life had been nothing but a struggle, and even now that they were (relatively) safe, the ghosts of the things he had experienced were still haunting him. She wanted to show him there were still things worth living, worth loving, in this world.

So she started softly tapping on his hand.

.. .-.. --- ...- . -.-- --- ..-

I. Love. You.

It seemed his form relaxed as she reached the end of the code. She waited a bit longer to see if the nightmare had faded away, but when she finally stood up about to leave, his fingers suddenly wrapped up around hers.

“So you figured it out,” a sleepy voice said against his pillow.

“I did,” Calypso admitted.

“Cal.”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t go.”

Calypso wasn’t sure if she had heard right. “Huh?”

“I… I’d like you to stay.” Leo said, sounding unusually vulnerable.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Sunshine.”

“OK. I’ll stay then.”

Leo backed up in his bed to make her space, and she settled down next to him. She didn’t protest when an arm wrapped around his waist after he had put the comforter over them, instead nuzzling closer to him and taking in the warmth that was radiating from him. And gods, he really was warm. The two didn’t say much after that, but Leo’s fingers started automatically tapping an answer to her message against her stomach. Soon enough, both of them started drifting into sleep, this time a much more peaceful one.