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just---keep---simming · 17 days

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The Pancakes - Autumn 2

As we drop in on the Pancakes for their second autumn, we find them kicking things off with an immediate birthday celebration. It's time for Adrienne to become a teenager! While Axel Wood celebrated his teen birthday at the end of summer, Adrienne is the first Sim who was actually born into the Townies save to reach adolescence, so this seems like a bit of a milestone.

And here she is! Adrienne has taken after Bob in her colouring, but I can see some of Eliza in her features for sure. She keeps her childhood penchant for red and goes bold with a dark red lip. She's actually quite an interesting-looking Sim (not conventionally pretty, definitely not ugly) and a dark lipstick really flatters her, so while perhaps unusual for her age, we're going with it. Adrienne adds the self-assured trait to her childhood vegetarian trait - I randomly roll most traits as personality and storyline guidance or prompts, unless I have a specific idea for a Sim I want to follow, so Adrienne turns out to be both confident and moral. I also randomise aspirations for the same reason, although I'll tinker with things if I feel they don't fit, but Adrienne rolled Fabulously Wealthy. Given her mother, Eliza, has a wealth-related aspiration too (Mansion Baron), this felt appropriate.

Having a teenager in the house called for a bedroom makeover. Adrienne's purple, girly kid's bedroom is overhauled into a sunset-coloured retreat.

She's delighted with her new room and thanks her mother with a hug. I wonder if these two will remain close, or if the natural boundary-pushing of adolescence will test Eliza's strictness and need for order?

Rotations start on a Sunday morning for me, so Adrienne takes her one day of weekend and heads to the library in Willow Creek, where she comes across Bjorn. She is blissfully unaware of Eliza and Bjorn's affair prior to her birth, or that her paternity was actually under question for a time, and Bjorn doesn't enlighten her. He simply introduces himself as a good friend of her parents.

Then, Adrienne gets a jumpstart on her homework before her first day at school, and also meets Angela Pleasant.

The next morning, as with Axel in the Zest's last post, we head off to Adrienne's first day of school with her, where she kicks off her high school journey by claiming and decorating a locker. She picks a dark academia theme - girl's a fan of The Secret History, you see.

Class starts and literally every single student is on their phone. I feel like the Sims team is trying to make a very heavy-handed point with the choice to have Sims of all ages obsessively pull out cellphones all the time.

At lunch, Adrienne meets Molly, who she likes, and Wolfgang, who she does not.

Like when she was younger, though, Adrienne proves to be a dedicated, hard-working, and very academic student. This girl will be heading to university for sure! After eating her lunch, she spends the rest of the break time studying for the exams that will take place at the end of the week.

Let's not forget that she also wants to be fabulously wealthy, though. The real progress towards that will start once she graduates university into a prestigious and high-paying job of her choice, but there's certainly no harm in taking some baby steps right away. Adrienne signs up for a barista job that will have her working for two hours every morning before school.

This has been a very Adrienne-focused update, but Bob and Eliza are still here, of course. Eliza has had relationship-related fears ever since her indiscretions with Bjorn, and although Bob doesn't know about that, Eliza is still working hard to try and feel secure in her marriage. She talks her fears over with Bob, which helps, but doesn't dispel them completely. She'll need to keep having these conversations with him regularly.

Conscious of spending a lot of time on her typewriter, working on novels, or in the office doing the same thing, Eliza also takes up a casual jogging habit. She's no fitness guru, but enjoys a light jog around the gorgeous autumn streets of Willow Creek.

The trees are turning red and gold in the neighbourhood, making for a charming scene as the barge chugs past in the canal.

At Adrienne's next day at school, she meets and starts getting to know Darling Walsh.

The two of them hit it off, and Darling joins her at home after school, playing games on Eliza's computer while Adrienne does her homework.

But while Adrienne is making new friends from school, we've not seen anything of Axel! Annoyingly, it looks like you need a mod to choose classmates otherwise teen Sims your Sim already knows won't tend to turn up at school at all. I might get the mod or we might say Adrienne and Axel go to different high schools - regardless, Adrienne fixes the lack of Axel in her life by meeting him at Thriftea. Is it a date? Are they just friends? Adrienne isn't actually sure how she feels just yet, but we do know Axel has a hopeless crush on Marion Sparacinco, so we'll have to wait and see.

When Harvestfest rolls around for the Pancakes, Eliza as always goes all out on the decor.

And Bob goes all out on the food, preparing a tofurkey for Adrienne to enjoy and fruit pie for dessert.

Father and daughter have a good relationship at this stage. Bob is proud of Adrienne's work ethic, even if he feels both Eliza and her have goals in life that are somewhat shallow and materialistic.

Work ethic Adrienne certainly does have though, and if she succeeds in becoming fabulously wealthy, it will be through that hard work. She quickly proves herself one of the top students at her high school, and loves going every day. She aces the exam at the end of the week too, of course.

Axel isn't half so dedicated at school work as she is these days - his attention is far more on the football team than his homework - but she still enjoys his company. They meet at the gym in Oasis Springs after school one day - Axel's choice this time.

A yoga class together could be a date? Or could still be just friends? Axel turns her down for prom, so that might answer that question, although Adrienne may also not give up so easily.

Adrienne heads along to prom alone, perfectly happy in doing so, and dressed the best of any Sim there. Boyfriends can wait - Adrienne is having a great time as a teenager so far without one; she's crushing her school work, she's making loads of new friends, and she loves her part-time job.

Meanwhile Bob and Eliza make the most of an evening home alone!

And that brings us to the end of autumn for the Pancakes! Bob and Eliza continue to work on their relationship, but Adrienne was definitely the star of the show this season. Deservedly so - I think she's a great first child of the save, with a strong and cohesive personality emerging as she's getting older. I wonder what winter will bring for her and her parents?

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inessencedevided · 3 years

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A very overdue cql/mdzs fic rec list

for @accidental-child

I am so sorry this took me so long Axel! The pandemic has really done a number on my time-management skills and things like this often fall behind :/

The fics complied here are the ones i have not recced in the list for @helianthus21 before. You can find that one here, so you can check it out as well :)

The Wei Wuxian makes a wish series by natcat5

My attempt at a summary: this is a madoka magica AU (which i had not watched prior to reading this fic). Cultivators, in this universe, are created when a teenager makes a wish to the creature named Kyubey, which than grants them their wish and the power to fight witches, strange and destructive creatures of despair that lure people into their labyrinths. Wei Wuxian, at the beginning of the story is not a cultivator, but his friends are and so is the mysterious new student at his school, lan wangji, who follows him everywhere and seems to be obsessed with preventing him from making a contract.

My comment: my attempt at a summary does not do this story justice and is really just a setup. Honestly i cannot put into words how much I loved this story. It kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. It made me laugh, it made me cry for entire chapters, it drew me into it's world so much that I freaking dreamed about it! (I'm not kidding, I really did) Honestly, this fic deserves so much more attention than it is currently getting. Not only is the plot expertly crafted, with reveals that shock you and leave you reading, but the author also just gets the characters. The best thing an AU can do, in my opinion, is take familiar characters, put them in unfamiliar situations and then manage to make the way they react believable. And this AU nails that! The conclusion and the choices that Wei wuxian and lan Wangji make in the end felt exactly right. Not to mention, it has a stellar ensemble cast! Everyone is here (except Xichen sadly and I kind of think it is deliberate because without him, Lan Wangji lacks a support system). Again, I cannot recommend this story enough. It is, without doubt, my favourite fic series in this entire fandom. (Caution however: Do read the warnings in the tags and notes and take them seriously. They are there for a very good reason.)

Agapé (home is in your arms) by estel_willow

Author’s summary: Lan Xichen is in isolation. Wei Wuxian visits him. Together they find their way back to happiness, to clarity and to home.

My comment: This one focuses on both Lan Xichen’s and Wei Wuxian’s issues and lets them resolve them together. I am such a fan of their characterisations in this fic, as well as Lan Wangji’s even though he is not the focus. I love it when non-romantic relationships are the focus of fics and especially when they are central to the character’s resolving their own issues and moving forward in life and that is exactly what happens here.

until you're big enough by lostin_space

Author’s summary: Lan Zhan is sad and not hungry; Lan Xichen asks Nie Mingjue to help him.

My comment: This one is a really short and sweet read about how Lan Xichen and Nie Mingjue parent the their younger brothers. I just really liked how the author portrayed todler Lan Zhan, as well as these two teenagers doing their best to be the parents that both he and Nie huaisang lack.

Night Music by Manogahela

Author’s summary: There is a music that plays in the night at Cloud Recess....but there isn't suppose to be. Lan Xichen investigates the mysterious dizi music that can be heard from the Jingshi at night following the Siege of the Burial mounds.

My comment: I absolutely adored this one, mainly for two reasons: 1. I love an outsider perspective and Lan Xichen’s, at this point and with his limited knowledge is absolutely wonderful. First, he isn’t even sure is what he thinks is happening really is happening and when he is sure, his feelings are, understandably very conflicted. 2. The author’s style compliments this fic so well. Since most of it happens at night and Xichen isn’t entirely sure that he can trust his senses, there is a certain dreamlike quality to it that the author writes beautifully. This fic is part one in a series. Part two is a WIP, but also very much worth the read!

Company by WithBroomBefore

My summary: In which Wei Wuxian is whipped within an inch of his life by Madam Yu when he is fourteen and comes to stay at the cloud recesses. He and Lan Zhan become friends.

My comment: My summary once again does not do this fic justice. Because it is so much more than just that. It’s such a beautful exploration of friendship and love and bodily autonomy. Wei Wuxian has a lot to work through in this fic, but really, so has Lan Zhan who has the opportunity to make friends at a much more mellow pace than in the novel/show and panics a little less because of it. The war still happens but has much less dire consequences. All in all, this fic left me with a wonderful warm feeling in my chest.

you are safe / loved / worthy / enough by everythingispoetry

Author’s summary: One of the more timid-looking posts, in pale greens and creams and yellows, says Hello, I'm managing to be fairly high functioning right now but I'm really not doing as well as it may appear, and Lan Zhan feels as if someone sneaked into his mind and read his most secret thoughts, the ones he's never even dared to admit to himself.

(In which Lan Zhan, to his own dismay, finds himself with the help of the most obnoxious, cheerful, cheesy self-care instagram account known to men.)

(And Wei Ying.)

My comment: Listen, I have a complicated relationship with fics that depict mental health struggles in characters. They are all so incredibly valid and I’m glad they exist (every single one of them, no matter if i like them or not) but due to the fact that they tend to come from the author projecting their own issues onto characters (which is NOT a bad thing! that is what fanfic is for!) they are often hit-and-miss when it comes to characterisation. But this story ... it just GETS Lan Wangji. If someone told me a scenario in a modern AU that leads to him developing an anxiety disorder and depression, this is what I would have come up with. Because let’s be real, Lan Wangji is a perfectionist to boot, insanely competitive and needs to live up to his family’s expectations, while also not having much of an emotional support system outside of his brother and uncle. That’s a dangerous cocktail in the modern world and just screams of a burnout waiting to happen. So Lan Wangji, off to university, living alone in a strange city for the frst time, spends all his time in a carefully calculated study routine but slowly realises that the path he set out on was not one he chose because he liked it but simply the one that was laid out for him by his background and family, which then leads to him questioning the reason behind what he does. That reads as incredibly real to me. A good AU, in my opinion, takes the characters and their inherent characteristics and lets them meet new and unique challenges that they never would have encountered in canon, which then leads to new and interesting character developement. And this AU manages that perfectly! (Plus, if you are a university student like me who sometimes suffers from crushing anxiety about the path they chose in life, this is insanely relatable. What? I never said I wasn’t biased :P)

porn (but not actually) and waiting (a lot of it) by hyacinth4maria

Author’s summary: Lan Xichen sighs as he settles into the couch next to Lan Wangji.

"What are you looking at?"

Lan Wangji, without pausing from typing the names Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian in the Love Calculator 3000, says, "Porn."

Lan Xichen chokes.

- Lan Wangji has a crush. Lan Xichen hadn't realized his little brother was growing up.

My comment: this one was hilarious! Just Lan Xichen being both absolutely exasperated and amused by wangxian’s pre-teen drama. I almost choked laughing at the line that coined the title. The author has these characters down to a T and they used their powers to attack my laugh-musccles :D

the field meets the wood by astronicht

Author’s summary: Wei Wuxian is a dark shadow in the barley. Wei Wuxian is sorry for the kind of compassion that he is about to hand out.

(in which Lan Wangji is stolen for salt, and Wei Wuxian unravels the world, a little)

My Comment: HOLY FUCKING SHIT THIS IS SO GOOD. Do you ever read a story and just marvel at the author’s mind? This is one of those. The sheer genius of giving Wei Wuxian the ability to pull entire beings into non-being! The absolute galaxy-brain idea to link the canon mythology to modern astrophysics!!! Wei Wuxian creates a motherfucking black hole in this one!!! And it’s SO well written, too! The author does not shy away from Wei Wuxian’s sharp edges and his darker side but goddamn if he is not still loveable anyway. Just GO READ THIS FIC!

Abandon your post by StarsAlignNomore

Author’s summary: After months as Chief Cultivator and separated from his soulmate, Lan Wangji follows Wei Wuxian out into the world. He searches for him. He finds him. He kisses him. They reunite, they talk, they resolve. Sometimes Bichen lends emotional support. Chenqing bites. Little Apple is there too.

Your typical Post-Canon-Reunion-Fic with much more emphasis on their spiritual weapons than expected.

My comments: This one just left me with a lot of mushy feelings. Also I adore the way the author emphasised the relationship between Lan Wangji and Bichen. And by the end, Wangxian finally figure shit out through actual open communication. Absolutely beautiful!

#cql fic #cql fic rec #mdzs fic #mdzs fic rec #mdzs #cql #wangxian #wangxian fic rec #lan wangji #wei wuxian #lan xichen

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alterrune · 2 years

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Hey, it's IRL!Alterrune here.

The Colorstreak Battalion are currently having some downtime, so I figured I'd do another "alterrambles" post again, this time with 10 fun facts about AtO, the blog itself, and the four protagonists.

The name of the blog, "Alterrune", actually came from a video by PlayXel, a spanish-based YouTuber that makes some great Undertale fan-music. The video, was, of course, of a Deltarune version of Altertale's Dynami, which was called "DynaCrazy" (I'll leave a link to the video in the comments of this post. The video's joke is Axel F. - Crazy Frog, though, and I'm one of the people who can't stand that song, so be wary). It kinda just popped into my head as I was creating my Tumblr account, as it sounded amazing.

The reason this blog came into existence was because I stumbled upon a little animation for @ending-the-cycle-ask on YouTube. I wanted to follow the story, and when I heard it was on Tumblr, I figured, "fuck it, I guess I'm joining Tumblr". I have never felt more proud of that desision in my life.

When I joined Tumblr, my account still had all the stock account icons (which has actually been archived via my very first ask to Ending the Cycle, regarding why EtC!Henry doesn't like the Revenged ending. I still had the stock PFP when I asked the question, which is seen in the photo). I made my current custom banner and PFP myself using a combination of an online logo generator with the Deltarune title font and paint.net, my personal editing software of use (the little hearts in the letters were actually added in paint.net, they were blank beforehand).

When I first made Violet, I heavily based her upon Raven from Teen Titans. Her first appearance in the AtO story (jamming her sword [later revealed to be called "Leadhead"] into the CCC console whilst conceleaed by a cloak) was incredibly Raven-like with her demeanor. Eventually, however, after the Intermission 3 post was made and the Violet Garden was revealed, I gave her a personality of her own, adding in an enviromentalist/botanist side and, of course, giving her ties to Alter via being related to him.

Originally, I was going to have Violet be an ANTAGONIST, who would be a recurring enemy, a lá the Rival Trainers from Pokémon. However, that idea got scrapped when I realized how good Vi would be on Alter's side.

I hinted at this in the scene where Henry goes to his room, but henry took a specific route to get to Toppat King. He went on this path: Lawyered Up - Intruder On A Scooter - Rapidly Promoted Executive - Convict Allies - Toppat King

Timeline-wise, AtO starts a year after CtM's Toppat King ending. When the story starts, the Toppat Clan has become so unstoppable thanks to the launch of the Orbital Station that the Airship could land in a military-only zone and the armies there would be too scared to do anything to them...well, until GEOGRAM came along, that is. 😉

Carol Cross, Alter's mother, is actually a real character from the Henry Stickmin games. She only has some minor background appearances in the CtM story, but she's still a canonical character in the story. Her personality in AtO is also based upon what her bio card in The Henry Stickmin Collection says about her: "One of the higher-ups in the Clan. She is extremely strict and by-the-books. You don't wanna cross her." Her dark green top hat is also something she canonically wears in-game as well. I did add in some of my own tidbits, though, such as her playing favorites with Alter and the rest of her familes, while being strict to everyone else.

Believe it or not, the creation of Jacob Wolfsbane, Violet's younger brother, was actually a total accident. When I made the original post that mentioned him, I was actually thinking of ELLIE by accident. When I noticed the mistake I made, I was about to make some changes...but then I realized I could actually make it work. Vi hadn't said Jacob Rose, she had only mentioned a Jacob, no last name. So I decided to work in a "Jacob Wolfsbane", not only for the sake of fixing my error, but also because I wanted to give Violet a little brother for a long time and that was the perfect excuse for it.

All four members of the Colorstreak Battalion have distinct signatures with an emoji that matches their color, and considering I haven't shown Alter's yet, here they all are:

<Alterrune> 🔺

~Violet Wolfsbane~ 💜

[Henry Stickmin] 🔵

-Ellie Rose- 💕

And there you go. 10 random facts about AtO, the Colorstreak Battalion, and the story behind the blog! Hope you enjoyed.

#alterrambles #altering the outcome

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richincolor · 3 years

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Today is Rich in Color’s eighth anniversary! Can you believe it?

We’ve read so many fantastic books over the years, so our bloggers compiled a list of eight books that we wanted to recommend to our followers. These books are ones that we love and that have stuck with us through the years. How many of them have you read?

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books

In an unforgettable new novel from award-winning authors Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, two teens—one black, one white—grapple with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their school, their community, and, ultimately, the country bitterly divided by racial tension.

A bag of chips. That’s all sixteen-year-old Rashad is looking for at the corner bodega. What he finds instead is a fist-happy cop, Paul Galuzzi, who mistakes Rashad for a shoplifter, mistakes Rashad’s pleadings that he’s stolen nothing for belligerence, mistakes Rashad’s resistance to leave the bodega as resisting arrest, mistakes Rashad’s every flinch at every punch the cop throws as further resistance and refusal to STAY STILL as ordered. But how can you stay still when someone is pounding your face into the concrete pavement?

But there were witnesses: Quinn Collins—a varsity basketball player and Rashad’s classmate who has been raised by Paul since his own father died in Afghanistan—and a video camera. Soon the beating is all over the news and Paul is getting threatened with accusations of prejudice and racial brutality. Quinn refuses to believe that the man who has basically been his savior could possibly be guilty. But then Rashad is absent. And absent again. And again. And the basketball team—half of whom are Rashad’s best friends—start to take sides. As does the school. And the town. Simmering tensions threaten to explode as Rashad and Quinn are forced to face decisions and consequences they had never considered before.

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline Dancing Cat Books

In a futuristic world ravaged by global warming, people have lost the ability to dream, and the dreamlessness has led to widespread madness. The only people still able to dream are North America’s Indigenous people, and it is their marrow that holds the cure for the rest of the world. But getting the marrow, and dreams, means death for the unwilling donors. Driven to flight, a fifteen-year-old and his companions struggle for survival, attempt to reunite with loved ones and take refuge from the “recruiters” who seek them out to bring them to the marrow-stealing “factories.”

Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore Feiwel & Friends

Love grows such strange things.

For nearly a century, the Nomeolvides women have tended the grounds of La Pradera, the lush estate gardens that enchant guests from around the world. They’ve also hidden a tragic legacy: if they fall in love too deeply, their lovers vanish. But then, after generations of vanishings, a strange boy appears in the gardens.

The boy is a mystery to Estrella, the Nomeolvides girl who finds him, and to her family, but he’s even more a mystery to himself; he knows nothing more about who he is or where he came from than his first name. As Estrella tries to help Fel piece together his unknown past, La Pradera leads them to secrets as dangerous as they are magical in this stunning exploration of love, loss, and family.

Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert Disney-Hyperion

Danny Cheng has always known his parents have secrets. But when he discovers a taped-up box in his father’s closet filled with old letters and a file on a powerful Silicon Valley family, he realizes there’s much more to his family’s past than he ever imagined.

Danny has been an artist for as long as he can remember and it seems his path is set, with a scholarship to RISD and his family’s blessing to pursue the career he’s always dreamed of. Still, contemplating a future without his best friend, Harry Wong, by his side makes Danny feel a panic he can barely put into words. Harry and Danny’s lives are deeply intertwined and as they approach the one-year anniversary of a tragedy that shook their friend group to its core, Danny can’t stop asking himself if Harry is truly in love with his girlfriend, Regina Chan.

When Danny digs deeper into his parents’ past, he uncovers a secret that disturbs the foundations of his family history and the carefully constructed facade his parents have maintained begins to crumble. With everything he loves in danger of being stripped away, Danny must face the ghosts of the past in order to build a future that belongs to him.

The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan Little, Brown Brooks for Young Readers

Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird.

Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life.

Alternating between real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a novel about finding oneself through family history, art, grief, and love.

Pride by Ibi Zoboi Balzer + Bray

Zuri Benitez has pride. Brooklyn pride, family pride, and pride in her Afro-Latino roots. But pride might not be enough to save her rapidly gentrifying neighborhood from becoming unrecognizable.

When the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri wants nothing to do with their two teenage sons, even as her older sister, Janae, starts to fall for the charming Ainsley. She especially can’t stand the judgmental and arrogant Darius. Yet as Zuri and Darius are forced to find common ground, their initial dislike shifts into an unexpected understanding.

But with four wild sisters pulling her in different directions, cute boy Warren vying for her attention, and college applications hovering on the horizon, Zuri fights to find her place in Bushwick’s changing landscape, or lose it all.

The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves #1) by Roshani Chokshi Wednesday Books

Paris, 1889: The world is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. In this city, no one keeps tabs on secrets better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier, Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. But when the all-powerful society, the Order of Babel, seeks him out for help, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.

To find the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin will need help from a band of experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian who can’t yet go home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in all but blood, who might care too much.

Together, they’ll have to use their wits and knowledge to hunt the artifact through the dark and glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the world, but only if they can stay alive.

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender HarperCollins

From Stonewall and Lambda Award–winning author Kacen Callender comes a revelatory YA novel about a transgender teen grappling with identity and self-discovery while falling in love for the first time.

Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after.

When an anonymous student begins sending him transphobic messages—after publicly posting Felix’s deadname alongside images of him before he transitioned—Felix comes up with a plan for revenge. What he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario landing him in a quasi–love triangle….

But as he navigates his complicated feelings, Felix begins a journey of questioning and self-discovery that helps redefine his most important relationship: how he feels about himself.

#all american boys #the marrow thieves #wild beauty #picture us in the light #the astonishing color of after #pride #the gilded wolves #felix ever after

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night-time-illusions · 4 years

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Can't sleep so here's the whole of Ienzo's storyline written on mobile from memory.

Ienzo is not originally from Radiant Garden. He has vague abstract memories of hearts but no real strong memories. It's unknown if he lost his parents prior to coming to Radiant Garden or after. It's also unknown if Ienzo's parents are dead or just separated. He just "lost" his parents.

Ienzo was adopted by Ansem The Wise and raised by all the apprentices. Ansem TW and Even doted on him the most with both becoming his main guardians. It's also mentioned that after Apprentice Xehanort arrives Xehanort took Ienzo under his wing as a student.

Ienzo some point after BBS suggests to Ansem The Wise to build the labs and experiment on Xehanort. This leads to experiments on themselves which leads to the apprentices + Lea and Isa falling to darkness. Ansem TW is cast into the realm of darkness. Shortly before this but unclear when, Ansem TW was experimenting on children. It is unclear if Ienzo was one of them or not. Ienzo is still a child during all of this.

Ienzo's heart was cast off and became a heartless but his body remained. It became Zexion who grew up within the Organisation 13. Originally Zexion was second in command to Xemnas outranking Saix. Zexion was questioned by Xigbar over what Xemnas' secret was before being given the information of Ventus being located in Castle Oblivion. Zexion would be later sent to Castle Oblivion to work on the Replica programme and help find the traitors.

At Castle Oblivion Zexion helped create Xion and Replica Riku alongside Vexen and used his scent/serene gaze ability to track everyone in the Castle. It is unknown if he knew DiZ was Ansem the Wise and just omitted the information. Regardless Zexion reported and followed the whereabouts of multiple people. Following the death of his two allies, Zexion decided to confront Riku. He took on the form of Sora and fought with Riku and trapped him in light. Riku almost succumbed to the light which is suggested to not be an illusion before Namine saved Riku and convinced him to accept the darkness. After accepting darkness, Riku wounded Zexion and made his disguise as Sora fall. They fight further and Zexion retreats. Back in the basements of Castle Oblivion as Zexion recovers, Axel appears with Replica Riku and gets Replica Riku to absorb Zexion's power, killing him. It turns out Saix sent Axel as an assassin to kill Zexion so Saix could take his place and get more information on Subject X.

Some point after the events of Kingdom Hearts 2, Ienzo is recompleted. He is now late teens/young adult after his body having grown up as Zexion. He helps get everything back on track and begins taking over Ansem The Wise's role. Ienzo begins helping Sora free the hearts trapped inside of him but omits the information on Ventus' location. If he was aware Apprentice Xehanort was Terra's body like suggested in BBS, he also omits this information. He behind the scenes, with help from Demyx and Vexen, creates replicas for the hearts in Sora to return to.

After the events of KH3 he helps Kairi dive into her memories to find out where Sora is.

#kingdom hearts #Ienzo #Zexion #did I leave anything out?#Ienzo theory

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love-geeky-fangirl · 3 years

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Ranking every Teen Drama I have ever watched

(Updated)

The Secret Life of the American Teenager

+ young Shailene Woodley and Molly Ringwald I guess

- everything else. Even Shailene Woodley's and Molly Ringwald's performances weren't that great because the writing is just oh so bad. The background music is bland and repetative and it sounds like out of some teenager's YouTube chanel. The plotlines are ridiculous and convoluted, which isn't neccessarily such a bad thing, because it is a teen drama show after all, the problem is the show seems to take itself too seriously. Other entries on this list also have ridiculously convoluted plotlines, but I'm ranking them highed because they don't take themselves too seriously and don't claim to be realistic like this show does. Seriously, from the title it suggests like this was going to be a real, uncensored look into high school but it's the furthest thing from it. Not to mention how problematic it is- God forbid someone suggests that a 14-year-old pregnant girl gets an abortion or gives the baby up for adoption without being seen as a terrible and despicable person.

Otp: Marc Molina x a job somewhere far, far away from these kids

Notps: every single pairing on this show

Best moment: literally none

Weirdest moment: "I'm such a whore!" "Well, you're my whore." What were the writers thinking??? Was this supposed to be romantic??

We Children From Zoo Station

+the aesthetic, the casting of Christiane, Detlef and Axel

-this was such a letdown. Honestly I was so hyped for it after seeing the trailer since I've read the book and didn't particularly like the movie- I feel like it's hard to fit all of Christiane's story into 90 minutes. That's why I was so excited about this show. Christiane's story covers so much, so it's easier to make it into a TV show when you don't want to ommit anything and butcher the story. But they somehow managed to do it anyway. They changed so much for no reason and completely erased Christiane's childhood trauma, which was important in the book. Now, I know you can say that it's just a loose adaptation, so it doesn't have to follow the book word for word. But I feel like if you already decided to tell her- a real person's story- you should at least do it authentically. Imo they shouldn't have tried to make the setting vague. It worked with Sex Education because the story of Sex Education is timeless. However, Christiane's story is not timeless. It's a true story set in the 1970s. If they were making a new show from scratch, I would have liked it. But this is an already existing story and they’re supposed to be just retelling it. My last issue is a nit pick but I wish the actresses playing Stella and Babsi were reversed. It just would've fit better.

Otps: all those kids x sobriety

Notp: Christiane x Detlef

Best moment: Christiane's first time in Sound was pretty true to the book

Weirdest moment: when Detlef became a gigolo because he needed money for his dog. Who tf thought of that?

Pretty Little Liars

+ makeup, style, the theme song, the drama and mystery that always kept me guessing, the cliffhangers at the end of each episode that made it so addictive, Emily's coming out story, Hanna and Spencer had some good lines

- the mishandling of some serious issues (namely eating disorders), romantization of student-teacher relationship, the timeline not making much sense, these writers seem to put more thought into the characters' outfits than the storylines

Otps: Emily x Maya, Hanna x Caleb

Notp: Ezria

Best moment: Hanna and Caleb in the shower (the sexual tension was cuttable with a knife)

Weirdest moments: Aria asking Ezra out in the middle of a make-up test (it was supposed to be cute but it was just cringy), Spencer trying to block A's text messages on a laptop, in the middle of a park (what? Spencer, you were supposed to be the smart one!)

One Tree Hill

+ Brooke, the theme song, Chad Michael Murray

- the casual drinking and driving (I mean seriously these kids play a drinking game at a party and then casually hop into a car and drive home??), too much basketball and cheerleading (that's not a bad thing per se but I just don't really care about neither of these things), it just seems too stereotypical and kinda bland?? I couldn't really get into it

Otp: Naley

Notp: Peyton x Nathan

Best moment: Naley by the dock

Weirdest moment: "I guess I'm just a riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside a bitch." It's not really a bad moment but a cringy line. I guess the writers though they were being clever but it just sounded bad.

Dawson's Creek

+ the clothes, the 90s aesthetic, the 90s soundtrack, many movie references, Pacey is a sweetheart, Jen is a feminist icon, dealing with mental health issues through Andie (it's rare to see in shows as old as this)

- the slutshaming of Jen really hasn't aged well, the storyline of Pacey being statury raped by his much older teacher was mishandled (it was either treated as scandalous, cool or in Andie’s case somehow shameful), same goes for Jen’s backstory- it was mentioned she was raped at 12 by an older man and then never brought up again, Dawson is the most unlikable protagonist ever and his friendship/relationship with Joey is codependent and possessive, the dialogue is sometimes pretentious and unrealistic, the timeline doesn't really add up- I can never tell what time of the year it's supposed to be, because it looks like it's always fall for some reason. And how did they sophomore year have two homecomings?

Otps: Pacey x Andie, Pacey x Joey (yes, both at the same time)

Notp: Dawson x Joey

Best moments: Jen helping Joey when that jerk was spreading rumours about her and then Jen and Joey locking Abby in the closet together (I love it when they stick together instead of tearing each other down), Pacey and Joey bickering

Weirdest moments: when Joey was upset because Dawson didn’t want to tell her how often he “walks his dog”, when Jen was about to have a treesome at a party and Dawson walked into the room and carried her out despite her kicking and screaming

Glee

+ funny, Sue Sylvester's iconic, great covers and a way to find new songs, the performances are aesthetically pleasing, lgbtq+ representation, tackling of serious issues, coming out story, a father who’s accepting of his son’s sexuality right away despite not really understanding it (it’s so rare to see, that’s why it’s so refreshing), the plotlines are ridiculous but at least the show doesn't take itself too seriously

-as I already said the 1st season was great but after that it just seemed like the writers made up a checklist of hard issues they should tackle and tried to tackle every single one of them while covering every single song and it just fell flat. Prime example- Quinn ending up in a wheelchair getting into a car crash to warn us from drinking and driving, singing I’m Still Standing and then suddenly being able to walk normally after. a few episodes Rachel and Finn got almost all songs, while other characters were criminally underrated and underused (Tina, Quinn, Mercedes). The teachers are questionable to put it mildly. Cringy moments- Finn singing You're Having My Baby to Quinn in front of her parents when it wasn't even his baby! Also no one except of Kurt looks like they could be in high school. And why are these cheerleaders wearing their uniforms 24/7??

Otps: Brittana, Sam x Quinn, Tina x Artie (unpopular opinion, I know), Mr Schue x unemployment

Notp: Quinn x Finn

Best moments: Quinn giving birth to Bohemian Rhapsody

Weirdest moment: Rachel's gross and painfully awkward crush on Mr Schue, Mr Schue joining the Glee club on the stage for a performance of Toxic and girls in the audience cat calling him (Ewww)

Euphoria

+ Zendaya's and Jacob Elordi's performances, tackling of serious issues such as drug addiction and overdose, anxiety and depression, abusive relationships and abortion in a better manner than most (if not all) teen dramas, the aesthetics, makeup and wardrobe, the musical number in the finale, the special episodes giving us insight into the characters' psychology, toxic relationships not being romanticized (which is sadly rare), teenagers sounding like actual real life teens (no "I reject reality" crap)

- lack of comic relief (why so serious all the time), sexualization of teen characters (I know this is something many teen dramas are guilty of but it's the most evident here), too much nudity (I know some of you are going to come at me with: "But it's realistic!" So what? It is realitic that teenagers get naked when they go into shower but does it mean we have to see it?? It seems to me like this show is trying too hard to be "boundary pushing" at times and ends up being scandalous just for the sake of being scandalous), these characters just aren't believable as high school juniors to me (they sound like high schoolers but they certainly don’t act, look or dress that way). There's no reason this show couldn't have been set in college.

Otps: Rue x sobriety, Nate x prison

Notps: Nate x Maddy, Cassie x McKay

Best moments: "You did this to me!" and the musical number in the season 1 finale

Weirdest moment: the fact that Maddy lost her virginity at 14 to a 40-year-old man being mentioned so casually because apparently she was "totally in control". Excuse me what??

Skins

+ style and makeup- each character has a signature trademark (Sid and his beanie, Effy's eyeliner, Cassie's soft eyeshadow), their British accents, I'm pretty sure this is the only teen drama that follows multiple classes, teenage characters being played by actual teen actors, the characters looking like average people you meet in high school and not as if they just walked off the runway, dealing with serious issues such as drug abuse, eating disorder, parental abandonment etc (yes, some people claim the show romanticized it, but I disagree. It's not the show that romanticized it- it's the fans. The show tried to portray the dangers of drugs as well as possible. Think about it- every time characters used drugs it ended in a disaster. In the pilot they thought that Cassie overdosed and ended up crashing a car while rushing into the hospital. In later season Effy hit her friend in the head with a rock because she was having a bad trip. That's not romanticizing drugs.), Effy is iconic and honestly the first episode was enough to get me hooked

- every single teacher being a creep and having a thing for a student at some point, the show can get too dark and unncessarily dramatic at times. Did that many people have to die? Did Chris's death really have to be this graphic? Timeline doesn't really add up- are 8 episodes supposed to cover the whole year? It would've made more sense if there were more episodes in a season.

Otps: Chris x Jal, Emily x Naomi

Notps: Sid x Michelle

Best moment: ooh baby it's a wild world

Weirdest moment: Chris's graphic death

The OC

+ more grounded in reality than many others on this list, the theme song, the love stories, Seth and Summer are funny, the friendships are believable and the whole group has great chemistry

- too many unneccessary fights, Luke is the worst, everyone is way too casual about drunk driving, these parents are WAAAY too chill (I know this can be said about many teen dramas but it's the most obvious here. How did the Roberts and the Coopers let two 16-year-old girls go to Mexico alone?? With no supervision?? What?)

Otps: Seth x Summer, Ryan x Marissa

Notp: Luke x Marissa

Best moments: the “oh no, there’s only one bed” in the Mexico episode, Seth and Summer's first kiss and that kiss at the yacht, Ryan and Marissa's first date by the pool

Weirdest moment: these parents letting their teenage kids go to Mexico alone. It's irresponsible when they're 16 but apparently they let them go there and party every year. What?

Gossip Girl

+ every episode having a clever title, the style, the makeup, the 00s soundtrack, the glamour of it all (it feels like reading a very gossipy magazine!), all the scandals, this show never pretends to portray the realitic teenage experience so it can pretty much be as far-fetched as it wants to and you can’t question it, it gives you a chance to live the fantasy of being super rich, living with a penthouse, riding a limo to school and going to parties in New York City every night

- the final reveal doesn't make any sense, just like with PLL these writers seemed to have put more thought into the outfits and makeup than into the plotlines, romantization of a toxic relationship, having every two straight characters date or hook up at some point, which just felt forced, mishandling of serious issues (Blair's eating disorder, Eric's suicide attempt and Serena and Jenny's sexual assault from the pilot being brought up when it's convenient but not really dealt with and brushed off at other times), sexualization of teen characters

Otps: Dan x Blair, Serena x Nate

Notps: Chuck x Blair

Best moments: the Thanksgiving flashbacks, Blair and Serena running around New York and taking selfies in stolen dresses, Nate and Serena’s first time (although it was better in the books) and then their kiss at the white party, the sheer scandal of "I killed someone", Dan giving Blair a plastic tiara to make her feel like a princess

Weirdest moments: Chuck's father returning from the death and then dying again, by yeeting himself off the roof

Freaks and Geeks

+ probably the most realistic teen drama there is, the characters dress the way I can see actual teens dressing, funny, but also heatbreaking at times, probably the only teen show that included an intersex character, the characters being a little stereotypical but self-aware at least, young James Franco and Jason Segel

- the bullying being a bit too much at times and it's a bit unrealistic that the teachers would do literally nothing about it, too short- I will never understand why this got cancelled

Otps: Daniel x Kim, Lindsay x Nick, Amy x Ken

Notps: Sam x Cindy

Best moments: Sam breaking down at the end of Garage Door, Daniel and Kim getting back together in the rain

Weirdest moment: Cindy doing a 180 and becoming super mean when she started dating Sam.

Gilmore Girls

+ so many movie, literary and music references, the quotable lines (what a great way to learn about new movies, books and bands! It’s so unique for a TV show to make you smarter), the witty banter, the comfort of the first few seasons (it really feels like wrapping a warm blanket around yourself while holding a hot cup of coffee, I can’t explain why, but it’s such a comfort show), the quirky small town with many unique festivals, many entertaining and snappy fights where everyone has a point, characters dealing with real world problems (seriously, how often do you see a storyline about termites? Or a teenager with zit cream on a teen drama show?), this is also one of the few shows where teenagers are shown to have rules and restrictions and curfews (finally some kids growing up with strict parents representation) and doing homework and studying and not just partying and drinking and having sex all the time and that’s so refreshing

- but while it is refreshing to see teenagers waiting to have sex and not doing it behind every corner, the show is kind of sex negative. Every single time a (female) character loses her virginity it ends in a disaster. Even when she loses it after she’s married! It doesn’t make any sense, unless the writers just really hated women. Also slutshaming (”I got the good kid!”) ewww. The money and budget doesn’t make much sense on the show either and the girls seem immune to calories. I know some people might come at me for this with: “But it’s just a show!” but I think it’s harmful to show beautiful, thin women eat nothing but tons of junkfood all the time and never excersize and then fatshame people who do excersize but aren’t fortunate enough to be blessed with amazing Gilmore genes, and then throw around tactless references to eating disorders.

Otps: Lane x Dave, Jess x Rory

Notps: Lane x Zach, Rory x Dean, Lorelai x Christopher

Best moments: Then She Appeared, Rory’s valedictorian speech, Lorelai’s graduation

Weirdest moment: Lorelai and Christopher getting married in Paris at 4am. That’s not how it works in Europe. Do Americans think every single Europian country works like Las Vegas, where you can just get married whenever you decide??

#teen dramas #these are just my opinions #so don't take it personally #u might disagree #but idrc

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euaxel · 3 years

Text

heyyy, eonia. i’m reid, i’m twenty-three, still can’t read, and all i know about pjo is that it fucking rocks and the protag has the same learning disabilities that i do! also, i picked hypnos for this punk mainly to be mean to him and because in the hades game hypnos bullies me every time i die and i’m kiiiinda into it. hmu on discord one on one for the best plotting experience, but i’ll be around plenty to bug y’all in the gc too. you can read about bastard boy number one right here and under the cut we’ll get down to business.

⟨ ELLIOT FLETCHER. TRANS MALE. HE/HIM. ⟩ though the mist might prevent some from seeing it, AXEL EVERETT is actually a descendent of H Y P N O S. it’s still a question of whether or not the TWENTY-TWO year old VIDEO GAME DEVELOPMENT & COMBAT TACTICS MAJOR from BROOKLYN, USA has taken after their godly parent completely, but the demigod is still known to be quite WITTY & SELF-DEPRICATING.

be advised, axel’s a pretty heavy character. i’m gonna keep it brief for the bio & need-to-knows, tag around the parts with bold applicable triggers so you can skip around as needed, and tag this post accordingly, but just let me know if i miss anything and i’ll fix it & be safe reading. godspeed and i apologize in advance for bringing you all my personal punching bag as my first muse.

the main triggers that are gonna come up are: parental abuse, alcoholism * major, mentions of bullying, drowning * major, religious trauma, and drug abuse with some harder drugs ( particularly, weed, pills and cocaine / nothing with needles. )

general stats.

— full name , axel harley everett. — nicknames/alias , axe, ax, wolverine jr, tyler durden jr, trouble, Who? - every professor he’s ever had. — house, hypnos and mad about it. — age, 22, as of today. also mad about it. — gender, trans male. — pronouns, he/him. — sexual orientation, bisexual with a somewhat heavy masc lean. — d.o.b, january 1st, 1999. ( generally unknown to anyone but maybe siblings, he will probably lie and say Nobody Knows... I Just Am unless he really fucks with you. ) — hometown,

phys.

— height, 5′0ft even. furious about it. — eyes, brown. — hair, brown. — face claim, elliot fletcher.

misc.

— zodiac, capricorn. — alignment, chaotic good. — character inspo, lip gallagher, steve rogers ( young ), ellie from tlou1, logan howlett, stiles stilinski ( if anyone says shit i will scream ), probably someone from euphoria but i’m too scared to watch that, peter parker ( andrew garfield ), shinsou hitoshi, finn mertens, marceline the vampire queen, dipper pines, this is all over the place but it’s there. — most played spotify songs, passion for publication by anarbor, sober haha jk unless by hospital bracelet, nobody by mitski, class of 2013 by mitski, king princess’ cover of monster from adventure time, way too much phoebe bridgers, in love or whatever by future teens, and the entire front bottoms discography but especially in sickness & in flames with the hard way & bus beat well at the top of his loop. — aesthetics, bloody knuckles, left open and tipped over prescription bottles, walking on the carpet with socks to get that tingly feeling, skateboarding inside, dozing off at the bar, tangled legs in messy sheets, ten pillows on a twin sized mattress, laying down in the shower, brian sella’s cracky singing voice.

bio.

— axel was born and raised in brooklyn, new york, and he was claimed at thirteen, on his thirteenth birthday, by hypnos. — the day he was claimed, axel ceased contact with his human mother and his step-dad, and he attended a camp for half-bloods that wasn’t far from home. he spent his adolescence there year round for safety from monsters at home and abroad, then moved on to eonia. — ( parental abuse tw, drowning tw begin ) i don’t want to be too graphic here so i’m going to plainly say that axel’s mother was a very, very bad person, and the man she married was absent at his best, physically abusive at worst. axel’s powers ( hypnokinesis, namely ) were potent and difficult to control at a young age, and as a deeply religious catholic woman, this scared his mother and influenced most of the animosity in their relationship. she was convinced that the defensive visions he created and his ability to put her to sleep ( an attempt to help her, on his end; insomnia plagued her and later, it would him, too ) were of demonic origin, and tried to drown him more than once; cleansing, she claimed. the worst instance was the day he was claimed, actually — new years day, 2012; his life was saved by hypnos, and that was the last he saw of her. ( parental abuse tw, drowning tw end. ) — that said, he’s a little ( very ) hydrophobic. poseidon kids do NOT fucking interact ( i’m kidding. kind of. he Will avoid a little though ) — anyway! moving on. all of this aside, axel did his best to put his past behind him, and he was actually super stoked to learn that his powers came from somewhere good and that there was places out there for kids like him; to learn he wasn’t any kind of monster. ( still working on believing that, though.. marcelines monster.mp3 right here ) — he’s less stoked when he starts having trouble falling asleep, and really, it feels like a more cruel twist than any other fate has thrown at him ( his upbringing was chock full of mean twists, so that’s saying something ); and really, it’s more like insomnia just full on kicks in, but he can put other people to sleep. great, right? whatever, though — combat classes are kickass and he’s surrounded by babes that think he’s hilarious so things could be totally, way worse. — ( bullying tw (brief) ) for the most part, axel was pretty well liked among his peers. he was bullied as a young kid (pre-claim), but he bit back and he bit back hard, and sure, some of that followed him into his teen years but he’s more confident by then; less fun to poke at, and absolutely unhinged when provoked, so people learn better of it. the only real lasting effect was one instant that hit him a little too deep in the inferiority, when he was seventeen — he fell in love with a girl, told her that, and found himself at the end of a very mean spirited prank. he shook it off like he did anything else, or at least — he told himself he did, even if the hurt hit him somewhere a little too deep rooted ( ie. being god’s most unlovable son would naturally land him here, right? ) love’s kinda stupid anyways, so what the hell, right? (bullying tw end.)

— ( alcoholism tw, drug use tw begin ) this is already obscenely long so i’m just going to keep it to the point here and say he began drinking when he was sneaking booze in to camp at fifteen, and it just never stopped there. he’s also a massive stoner, which is all well, harmless and good for the most part; he’s always grinning, half-lidded, and has a room full of smoke at any given time. it’s the pills that do him in, and he did them at first just so he could get some shut eye, and... well. after that, because he’s dependent on them. but he keeps this part under wraps for the most part; it doesn’t have to be anyone’s problem but his, and it’s not a problem until it is one. partying’s fun, so is coke; so is taking a few too many xan’s, mdma. ( alcoholism tw, drug use tw end )

FUN FACTS!!!

— i swear he is not as doom and gloom as he sounds from the bio, and yeah, writing that made me so sad i feel like we absolutely must hone in on the fun and cute things about him!?! — he loves dnd. he can talk about it for HOURS and if you let him, he absolutely will. — adventure time makes him cry. he’s a baby don’t let him fool you. — very into cryptids, aliens, horror stories, conspiracy theories, in love with ryan from watcher, wanna be shane medej. — he loves to draw! the one thing he loves about his power is what it’s done for his imagination, and sure, he mostly draws horror things, but it’s why he went into video game development. he wants to be a concept artist. — his double major is in combat tactics because he loves fighting. he thinks it’s so fun. he’s a little nuts, actually — i mean, get hit in the face and come up grinning. all he’s ever wanted is to run a fight club and be the shortest, baddest little bitch on the planet. — he tends to nod off in weird places because he doesn’t sleep enough at night, which is sad, but; he can seriously fall asleep anywhere. standing up, in a tree, you name it. — he’s a hobby musician! he loves singing and playing guitar. — he’s a huge flirt. — loves to scare people. he’s harmless, though. like, honestly. he might make you think you’re seeing a walking toadstool but he’ll probably apologize later. — he’s very much a singing in the shower type? — clothes thief. friends and significant others beware. — actually, just kind of a thief? but of weird, little things. like, just the left shoe. puts them in a little corner in his room that he has set up like an exhibit. “things you thought you lost lol” is written on the whiteboard on the wall above it. he likes collecting rocks too. he’s a little freak!! — he’s better at the memory retrieval part of his power than the rest. naturally, as this mostly applies for other people.

WANTED CONNECTIONS. im literally so tired of hearing myself talk...

friends/squad. self explanatory!!! he’s friendly, a class clown, and a loyal friend through and through; he’s also adaptable, and his demeanor is very relaxed and inviting. he’s probably gonna have 2-3 people that he’s really close with, and he’d do quite literally anything for them. seriously, don’t tempt him. a best friend. so this is kind of vague but. i’d really love for him to have one person that is just a tier above the rest? they’d know things about him that are like pulling teeth to find out ( aka, anything deeper than his most recommended podcasts and loudmouth opinions on non important things ), someone who will call him on his shit, and maybe take care of his stupid little self when he gets too fucked up, because they’d be someone he trusts enough to let them. enemies? he probably gets along with most people until given a reason not to? but he is a loud mouth and if one of his friends gets into drama, he will stick his nose where it doesn’t belong and he will throw hands, so it could happen.

harmless rivalries. maybe even steamy ones. he’s a little shit and he likes banter so, so, so much? if given the opportunity and if someone rubs him a certain type of way, he’s so not above being a menace, although never super maliciously. just, you know, annoying the shit out of them on purpose, for fun. he’s also not above blowing a few kisses their way.

current hookups. self explanatory too. he’s a little harlot. HFBHVFNJ. it’s gonna be kinda hard to go beyond sex with him because he’s very deep in his own insecurity but he does catch feelings, he’s just mad about it when he does. i’m mostly gonna go off chem for that though! an ex. could be on friendly terms? but, it should be noted that he could’ve ghosted someone too; or pulled from the relationship when things got serious and he couldn’t choke out that ‘i love you’, even if he felt it. worse, if he did choke it out, but they didn’t feel the same way. siblings. hypnos kids he is gonna be so protective of all of u... family is hard for axel, i’m ngl, but he really wants one is the tragedy of it all, i guess? so he just really wants to be a good brother. he thinks hypnos is kind of a dick for making him but he tries not to fault him for his existence. fuck u dad i dont wanna be alive feels a little unfair. HDBHFDSJ. anyways he’s a good brother even if he is absolutely so reckless and terrifying in regards to himself but his siblings. his siblings he will do anything for. ALSO!!! FOUND FAMILY!!!! it would be kinda nice if he bonded with someone a little older maybe, could be outside of the hypnos house even, someone he’s kind of a bratty-little-brother type with.... or bratty older brother that takes your things and makes you laugh, y’know.

PERSONALITY. just tacking this part of the app on at the end too to highlight parts that i think are important for understanding who he is, and just so it’s all in one place!

toothy grins, half-lidded eyes, and keepin’ them laughing is what it’s all about, baby. axel walks with more confidence in his posture than he’s earned ( or claimed, for that matter ), and it’s the backbone of what gets him by. he’s a glowing example of the fake it ‘til you make it mentality, and he knows what he wants, usually how to get it, and doesn’t mind letting you know that. there’s an ever present mischievous glint in his eyes that says more about what to expect from him than he does, and that’s still not much? he likes to have fun, and there isn’t a whole lot of regard for righteousness or responsibility on his end, but hey! it’s usually only ever at his own expense, so what’s the damage? he’s an absolute clown and he knows it.

axel loves people. he does — you might not guess that with how elusive he is, but it’s true. there’s nothing he likes more than a good conversation with someone interesting, or maybe not even then; if there’s a sparkle in you, he’ll see it. ( might even draw it, not that you’d ever know. ) he’s warm, loyal, compassionate, relaxed, and understanding; and none of that is at the cost of being passive, or lacking passion.

as long as the vibes are right, he’s happy to just be; though, he’s known to have a fuse for certain provocations, and will jump readily at chance to fight in someone else’s honor. also, it’s not unlike him to spar for the sake of sparring; but that’s all in good fun, no worries.

there’s no way to sugarcoat it — axel has an inferiority complex. where that stems from is something he’s more self-aware of than he’s willing to admit, but he doesn’t have the patience or the will to dissect it; much less do anything about it, and he’s as bull-headed as they come — especially regarding anything related to the psyche. how much this impacts his demeanor and relationships with others varies on the situation, but one constant is that he’s going to retreat before things get bad; even if ‘things are getting bad’ exists only as his own paranoia-born hypothetical.

things can’t go bad if you don’t let them, and he’s content to keep it that way; even if it means being stuck in the stasis of missed opportunities. it’s when he’s retreating into himself that he can get irritable, anxious, jumpy; secretive, defensive, even. he’s personable until he isn’t, essentially.

#euintro #ik elliots like 5'7 but i've never let this kid be taller than me and i will not start now #parental abuse tw #bullying tw #drug use tw #alcoholism tw #drowning tw #religious trauma tw #jesus christ whats wrong with me #anyway who wants him #Because I Dont #anyway im not fucking proofreading it JBFGHBFJFBDJSKNMA im so sorry this is a monster in length

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snippychicke · 4 years

Text

Aftermath--Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Rating: Everyone

Warnings: Mentions of violence?

Fandom: Umbrella Academy; The Swedes specifically

Note: slight word difference than the AO3version because I did some minor editing and I’m too lazy to update both. Nothing major, this may just flow better.

First | Previous

Otto didn't have anywhere to go anywhere, but even if he did, Otto questioned if he would. Not unless he had his family back.

He missed his brothers and thought of them regularly. Oscar would be giving him such a hard time over everything, from struggling to adapt to having just one eye to how fond he was of his new housemate. There were times first thing when he woke to the subtle smells of breakfast that his hazy mind thought Axel was downstairs cooking. Then Lorelei would chasten one of the cats, and reality would crash down on him.

But for the first time since his childhood, he felt protective of someone outside his family. He wasn't used to it, mostly since she was far more outgoing than his brothers.

Even before The Commission, he had gone through life not caring much about anyone outside his family. All that mattered was family; the rest of the world was not his problem.

Lorelei seemed to think the exact opposite. People drifted to her house for medical advice or just to gossip. Raymond was far from the only person who dropped by just for a cup of coffee on her days off to simply catch up. Despite his uninterest in the gossip, he found himself lingering nearby out of both habit and paranoia.

Such as the Friday night when the quiet evening was interrupted by pounding on the front door again. Soon the living room was full with three teenage boys and two girls; the girls were huddled together on the couch, their makeup running lightly from tears while two of the boys were barely containing their pent-up energy as they paced the living room. The third was sitting backward in the straight-back hardwood chair as Lorelei carefully stitched up the knife wound to his back. (Too shallow to do any damage, Otto mentally scoffed at whoever attacked him. The wound still healing on his leg from Oscar was deeper.)

"We need to go find those punks," one of the two boys finally broke the tense silence. "I'm sick and tired of them damn white boys thinking they can do whatever they please. No offense," he tacked on as Otto shifted from his place leaning in the doorway to the kitchen, feeling on guard with this many people in <strike>their</strike> the house. Especially when the younger men seemed itching for a fight.

Otto just stared at the young boy. The teen quickly looked away, scratching his head as he turned away and drifted back towards his friends. No. There was no way the child would have the strength or guts to act out revenge. His threats were as empty as the food dish once Poyo finished.

"The hell you are," Lorelei apparently agreed as she finished the knot and snipped the string free. "You are all going to go home and stay there. And if you see that gang of punks again, you're going to turn the other way and leave."

"You want us to run away?!" The second boy protested, his eye swelling shut from the black eye since he kept taking the frozen bag of peas away from his face. "They'll really have no respect for us if we do that!"

"If you three get in a fight," she countered as she dabbed away the blood with plenty of hydrogen peroxide, not even bothering to look up, "no matter who started it, and no matter who ended it, you three will be painted as the villains. And it won't help the Movement any either," she continued as the boy opened his mouth to protest, glancing up with a strong look. "Sometimes, you have to lose a battle to win a war."

The teen ground his teeth but kept silent as Lorelei finished her bandage. "Now, all of you, go home. Ask your parents for some aspirin, and then get some sleep. Got it?"

Otto thought for a short moment that things would settle back to normalcy for a short moment after the teens shuffled out the door until Lorelei’s fist slammed on the doorframe as soon as it was closed. "I am going to find those damn brats and give them a piece of my mind!" Lorelei seethed as she glared at the old oak. "Stabbing a boy with his back turned! What kind of yellow belly snake does that?"

The mood whiplash caught Otto by surprise. He tilted his head slightly as he watched her storm back to her workspace and angrily picking up the dirtied rags and instruments. "I'd show those brats. I want to say I'd drag them home by their ears and tell their mothers what they did, but knowing this damned town, they'd probably see nothing wrong with it!"

Otto was rather intrigued by the flare of rage; it was his first time seeing Lorelei angry. It was rather cute seeing the snarl on her lips as she continued to mutter to herself, almost as if she had forgotten he was there.

After a moment, he crossed the room and took the bundle of bloodied rags from her silently. The faint blush on her face as she quietly thanked him proved he had guessed right. She had forgotten he had been watching.

"...why do people hate each other like that?" She whispered as they worked together to handwash the rags in the kitchen sink a few minutes later. "I never understood why skin color made any difference. Nana Chestnut and her family were so much better than my real kin growing up. But people just hate on them without ever even trying to figure out what kind of person they are."

Otto was silent, unsure if there was a right answer, or even if Lorelei was looking for one. And to be honest, he didn't understand it either. He had seen it through the years but had ignored it as another part of the civilian life he would never understand. A part he had no interest in understanding. "I could hunt them down?" He offered quietly, though he highly doubted that's what she really wanted.

Sure enough, the dubious expression on her face confirmed his thoughts. All that anger, but she was far too soft to act against another. Or even have someone else do it for her.

He tried not to think of when he was willing to do something for someone else when there was no benefit for him. Because if Lorelei had said yes, his target wouldn't see the next sunrise.

The frown smoothed away into a slight smile as she shook her head. With her hands covered in red-stained suds, she rested her head against his arm. "...no. But thank you for listening to me crab."

He was silent, but enjoyed the warmth that soaked through his shirt from the contact. Enjoyed the warmth that bloomed in his chest as she smiled up at him.

--+--

"I have so many concerns," Raymond commented the next time he came over and saw not only the cats happily making themselves at home, but Oscar who was once more practicing his aim on the garage, though this time with small hatchets which she wasn't sure where he had found.

"Hey, you were always worried about me living by myself," Lorelei replied as she busied herself with pouring some tea, hoping to drag Raymond away from the kitchen window where he watched Otto. (Partially so she wouldn't be caught ogling the man, stripped to just a simple cotton shirt despite the early December afternoon, sweat sticking to his muscles….)

Raymond opened his mouth, closed it, sighed, and ruffled his short hair as he turned and joined her at the kitchen table. "I was thinking more along the lines of a guard dog, Lei. Or maybe an actual husband. Not a dozen cats and a would-be murderer."

"I think I prefer Otto." She grinned at his dark look. "Look, I get you started on the wrong foot…"

"Attempted murder is hardly the wrong foot!"

"But he's a decent guy, I'm telling you," she continued as if she didn't hear him. "He cleans and does a better job than me. How many men you know are willing to split housework?"

"That's what you're focusing on?" He spluttered while gesturing towards the back yard. "Not him throwing hatchets at your garage? Or the fact he barely speaks English? Are you just going to support him?"

"Just because he's quiet doesn't mean he can't speak our language," she retorted, her eyes narrowing. "And that garage is one good storm away from being a pile of tinder anyways, and it's working on the hand-eye coordination after losing half his vision!"

Raymond gritted his teeth, forcing himself to take a breath. Getting in a shouting match was not good for either of them. "Look. I just worry about you. Can you blame me for not trusting him? After what he did to Allie and me?"

The reminder struck her hard. Otto was someone entirely different for her than who Raymond saw. She couldn't exactly blame him for his feelings of mistrust and suspicion. Yet, at the same time, it was getting harder and harder for her to see Otto as the violent man Raymond saw. Not when she's seen him tugging yarn around for the cats to play with. Or relaxing on the couch with a cat curled on his chest and another on his stomach. Or splitting the clean up after their meal.

Or seen him through the cracked door of his room, holding that milkman hat and looking so absolutely heartbroken. Hearing him waking up from a dead sleep with a shout of fear and grief.

"There's more to him than that," she finally said quietly, looking away.

"But it's still a part of him. Do you even know anything about his past? Why did he and his brother attack us? Where is he even from? Why is he staying with you?"

She stayed silent, eyes focused on her glass of tea. She didn't. She pointedly didn't ask and tried not to wonder.

Raymond sighed as he stood, the chair scratching against the hardwood floor. "I'll be the first to admit that there was a lot to Allie I didn't know. A lot of questions I should've asked but didn't. I wanted to be happy, so I turned a blind eye. And it cost me a lot more than I expected. Are you willing to pay that same price?"

Silence hung in the air once more as she refused to lift her gaze from the table. Raymond sighed again. "Look, I know you're a grown woman, and you want to live your own life, but just… think about it, okay?"

She nodded her head, still unable to look up even as he left, the door sticking as it shut behind him, making the whole house rattle as he forced it close. Only then did she move, standing and wrapping her arms around her. For some reason, her feet lead her to the back door, opening it with a hard pull and stepping out into the chilly air. The steady thunk of a blade against wood was oddly soothing as she settled on the cement step, Raymond's words swirling in her mind.

Who was Otto? Was that even his actual name? What was he doing in Dallas? What was he doing with her? Had she been so lonely that she had just accepted it?

Where did he get the cats from?

She was broken from her thoughts as Otto's well-worn leather boots appeared in her vision. She looked up, meeting his silent but understanding gaze. She rubbed her eyes, knowing it looked like she was on the verge of crying. "Sorry, did I break your concentration?"

He glanced at the improvised target before back to her and offered a hand. She frowned slightly but accepted it, unsurprised about how easily he pulled her to her feet, and more surprised that he led her to where he had the six hatchets laying on an old stump. Wordlessly, he positioned her in the marks in the dead grass made by his boots and put one of the hatchets in her hand.

"What? You're kidding me, right?" She gave a slight disbelieving laugh as he stepped back. "I-I'm not; I can't…"

"Try," he said as she trailed off weakly. She looked down at the tool in her hand; the wood handle still warm from his grasp, the blade polished and sharpened to a fine point (just like every knife in the house now). She looked back at him, a little lost, but he just tilted his head toward the garage.

"This is such a bad idea," she muttered before mimicking a baseball player's stance and giving her best. The hatchet made it maybe halfway before falling onto the grass.

"See, I told you…" she trailed off as he picked up the next one and stepped towards her. He placed it in her hand before silently adjusting her stance. She was pretty sure her face was red as he guided her hips and legs before standing behind her and covering her hands with his.

"Aim like this," he spoke softly, positioning her arm. "Feel how the weapon balances in your hand. Focus it on finding its mark. Inhale," he commanded as he pulled her arm back, and she couldn't help but obey before he gently mimicked a pitch. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she was sure her face was red. She had never heard him talk so much and hadn't quite realized how deep or smooth his voice was until he was all but murmuring in her ear. "And exhale. Now try."

She missed his warmth as soon as he stepped away and automatically looked back at him. He simply gestured towards the garage wall. Lorelei turned around, trying to focus and remember his words and less of his warmth and gentleness.

This time, the blade stuck in the ground less than a foot from the garage's foundation. Seeing the metal buried in the grass sent a thrill of pride as she grinned.

And then Otto gave her another hatchet. “Again.”

---+---

The sun had set below the horizon by the time Otto allowed her to quit. Her arms were sore, and her fingers stiff as she fell back on the cement step, rolling her shoulders tenderly as he settled beside her.

But a single hatchet was buried in the faded white paint wood panel. She hadn't felt that much pride in a long time as when she finally made her mark. Or when Otto gave her a proud smile and clapped her on the shoulder.

"Better?"

"Sorta," she admitted truthfully, though now her body was at rest, her mind started its questions once more. "Can I...Can I ask you a question?"

She hesitantly met his good eye. No matter what they were doing, she inevitably ended up on his good side. Maybe she did it unconsciously, or maybe he planned it that way. Perhaps he didn't trust her enough to leave her in his blind spot.

There was doubt in his expression, but he shrugged slightly anyways. "Were you...were you really trying to kill Ray and Allie?"

His look quickly darkened, the warmth in his expression disappearing as he looked away from her. "...Yes."

Even though she knew the answer, it still felt like a sucker-punch to her gut. "Why?"

"It was our job," he answered simply.

Job? "...Do you still plan on killing them?" She whispered after. A long moment. "Are you...are you just here to try again?" Was she just a pawn? Was she being played like a fiddle after all?

"No." He answered, his hand finding hers as it clutched at her knee, carefully encouraging her fingers open so he could thread his fingers with hers. "I...have no one." He admitted, and this time he was the one unable to meet her gaze but kept his eye focused on their joined hands. "My brothers are gone. But if you want me to leave, I will."

There were tears in her eyes when he did finally look up at her, the hurt she had seen shadows of once more open and bared for her to see.

"Please don't. Don't leave me." She said, echoing the expression written so plainly on his face. "I don't have much. This place is a wreck. And I know we barely know each other, but…"

"I'll stay."

---+---

Icy rain tapped on the window, the aged wood of the house occasional creaking from the chill, lulling him to a semi-sleep. Otherwise, the house was silent, with only the occasional whisper of sound as the cats padded in or out of his room. Not the tiny room on the first floor, but one of the ones upstairs.

It had taken a good couple of days for both of them to sort through the mess of the two spare bedrooms on the second floor, turning one into a proper bedroom and the other an organized storeroom. (Lorelei kept apologizing because of the mess, but he was more distracted by seeing her hair covered by a colorful kerchief, the stray strands sticking to her flushed face, that he barely heard her.)

He slept better on the slightly larger bed. It felt less like a temporary room and something more permanent, though habits were hard to kick. He had his bag still packed with necessities and sitting underneath his bed. But he allowed himself to set the few pictures he had usually carefully packed away to sit on the nightstand in frames Lorelei had found for him.

(No questions were asked when she saw the pictures of him and his brothers, though he could see the curiosity on her face. Someday he wanted to be able to talk to her about them. Share his memories of his family. But the pain was still too fresh, so he was thankful she respected his silence.)

A sharp crack of thunder broke the silence, and the split-second flash of light had given him enough warning not to jump.

It hadn't prepared him for the ear-splitting scream of terror. He had grabbed the gun beneath his pillow in one quick motion and was running across the hall, breaking the door down to Lorelei's room, eye searching the darkness for an intruder.

Instead, it was just her hunched in her bed, hands over her head as she flinched away from him; her hazel eyes widened with fear.

Of him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she gasped as she shook. "I didn't--I didn't…"

He lowered his gun quickly, guilt turning his stomach. "Lorelei," he started, "I--"

"Otto?" She interrupted, relaxing somewhat, the wild look leaving her eyes. "I-I thought…" another flash of light and a crack of thunder, and he watched her turn as stiff and panicked as deer in headlights before shaking herself out of it a moment later with a whimper. '"I'm sorry," she whispered as she turned back to him, "I didn't mean to wake you up."

Otto hesitated before carefully entering, watching her for any signs of fear. Instead, she shifted in her bed to make room for him. The mattress sunk as he settled next to her, giving her room yet close enough to feel her warmth radiating into the cold room.

She wasn't as timid as usual, scooting close enough to press against his side. He could feel her tremble as thunder cracked once more. "I am a grown-ass adult scared of thunder," she spat abysmally. "How pathetic is that?"

He was at a loss for what to do. Fear was not something familiar to him; not personally, and he couldn't recall the last time he saw his brothers scared.

How did someone go about comforting another? If it was his brothers, he would have gone after whatever had dared to frighten them.

Without thinking, he offered the automatic rifle he had brought. She stared at the gun before looking up at him with a quizzical expression. "...I don't think shooting anything is going to help."

"Wouldn't hurt," he countered and earned a slight smile and faint chuckle before she sank into his side. He allowed the gun to rest on the bed and wrapped his arm around her back, holding her to him. They were both quiet as the clock ticked on. Gradually a few of the cats strayed in, looking rather inquisitive. Everytime the thunder cracked and she flinched, his hold would tighten, his thumb rubbing circles on her arm.

"Who were you scared of?" He finally asked the question brewing in his mind. Who had she seen standing in the doorway that terrified her? Who had ingrained in her the need to apologize for screaming out in fear?

Lorelei was silent, though a glance assured him that she understood what he meant. Her expression was drawn as she soothed Nala's thick orange coat as the kitten settled on her lap. "My dad," she finally answered. "He hated it whenever I woke him up. He's been dead for years now, and I still…."

"Good." He said after she trailed off.

"Good?"

He shrugged, "You'd get upset."

She stared at him before realization set in. To his astonishment, she snorted and chuckled. "Is it horrid of me if I said I'd choose you over him?"

Otto felt something twist in his chest at the admission. Family to him was everything. It was nothing more than a hypothetical statement, but… for her to put him before her father meant a lot to him.

She meant a lot to him. He thought back to the terror on her face, the sharp pain in his gut when he thought she was scared of him. He had thought most of that guilt and dread was behind him. Granted, most of the ones he had killed were often less than innocent, but…. "Don't...ever be afraid of me." He said softly as he brushed a stray strand away from her face, carefully tucking it behind her ear.

Her freckled cheeks turned pink as she smiled. "I don't think I could. I know you wouldn't hurt me."

He had lost count of how many people he had killed. There was no way to total the number of bystanders that ended up as casualties because of him. A trail of blood followed him and his brothers wherever they went.

And yet….

His fingers traced the curve of her face, his gaze drawn to her lips as they shifted from a smile to being slightly parted. His nose brushed hers as he leaned down, his eye closing before…

A cold water droplet fell right on his nose.

Both of them jumped back, the moment broken. Lorelei cursed another drop of water fell on her forehead before jumping to her feet and dashing off for a bucket, curses following her down the stairs. Otto glared up at the ceiling where the roof was leaking.

If that wasn't Oscar haunting him, he would eat his boot.

--+--

Back in the hospital, John Doe sneezed.

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actress4him · 4 years

Text

So, this isn’t DoD related, but some of my readers ( @nevquariel and @coolmegan123 , specifically) were interested in hearing more about the other KH project I have in the works. As I mentioned in the comments of my last post, I started writing it while editing Sorrow’s Promise, and have dabbled with it off and on since then, though not for a while. I’m not sure when it will get finished and posted, I may take a break from KH for a little bit after I finish DoD, but we’ll see.

This story is multi-chap but stand alone, not a series. It’s really unlike anything else I’ve written. I generally stick with at least partially canon-verse in my fanfiction, but this one is definitely an AU, and not just by being canon-divergent or having an original character. Nope, this is set in a completely different world, in my own, made-up era, and only the characters (and a few fun parallels to canon here and there) stay the same. I’ve tried to keep everyone in character as much as possible, though Sora is the most changed just because of his circumstances. We see more of the real Sora in the flashbacks at the beginning of every chapter.

TL;DR, aka the tagline for the story -

In which Sora is Roxas, Xemnas is a mobster, Kairi is an actual princess, Axel is everyone's slightly unstable big brother, and Riku just wants to fix his mistakes...but what's new about that?

Starring Sora and Riku, with Axel and Naminé in primary support roles, Xion, Kairi, and Saix in secondary support roles, and pretty much every other KH character you can think of as the ensemble.

And now, because I love to spoil you guys, a sneak peek at chapter 1, below the cut. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Chapter 1

Sora stumbled off of the train car and into Central Station, bumping right into Riku's back. The older boy had halted in his path and was gazing around at the grand building, and Sora followed suite, eyes wide with wonder. There were so many people everywhere. They had never encountered a crowd quite like this one back at home.

As they began moving forward again, Sora reached out and clung to Riku's shirt, afraid that they might get separated. Soon they found themselves being swept out the front door and into the sunshine of Twilight Town. We made it. We're actually here.

“Where do we go now?”

Riku glanced back at Sora, scratching the back of his head. “Uh...why don't we just walk around for a while, get a feel for the place?” To anyone else, he would have sounded like he knew exactly what he was talking about. Only Sora had known him for long enough to detect the hint of nervousness in his voice.

“Yeah, okay.” Sora swallowed, trying not to feel too nervous, himself. This is what we wanted, remember? A new town, new people...anything but what we had.

Riku led the way through the unfamiliar streets, pointing out various shops that they passed along the way, obviously doing his best to make them both feel at ease. Sora tried his best to relax and enjoy the sights, but his rumbling stomach wasn't doing much to help in that area.

“Can we get something to eat? I'm starving.”

Riku stopped walking and turned to face Sora, a frown on his face. “Well, we don't have a lot of munny left.” Digging the pouch out of his pocket, he tugged it open and peered inside. “The train tickets cost more than I thought they would. So, we can get food, but only a little, okay? We've still got to figure out where we're gonna sleep tonight, too.”

Sora nodded. “Yeah, I'm really tired.” He stretched his arms above his head and yawned as if to prove the point. Laughing, Riku knocked Sora on the head. “I told you you should've slept on the train.”

They started to head into a nearby cafe, but were interrupted by someone calling out, “Hey, kids!”

Wrinkling his nose, Sora turned to see a couple of older teens, one with bright red hair and one with blue, walking towards them. “Are you talking to us?” he asked, pointing to his chest.

“We're not kids.” Riku crossed his arms and glared at the newcomers.

“Right, right.” The redhead waved his hands apologetically. “I'm sure you're much older and tougher than you look.”

“I'm Isa, and this is Lea,” the one with the long, blue hair and a strange scar between his eyes spoke up.

“You can call me Axel,” the redhead countered.

Riku studied them for a moment longer before dropping his arms. “Riku. That's Sora.”

“Great. Look, we couldn't help but overhear a little of your conversation,” Axel commented. “You guys new to town?”

“Just got here,” Sora piped up.

“Where are you from?” Isa questioned.

Riku shook his head. “Doesn't matter. We're never going back there.”

Axel and Isa exchanged a look that Sora couldn't read before Axel spoke again. “Listen, if you're looking for something to eat and somewhere to stay, we know a place. There's this guy we work for, along with a bunch of others just like you, and he lets us all sleep and eat at his place, too. It's a pretty good deal...a bit of work for him, in exchange for a bed and free meals.” He smiled earnestly and looked each of the boys in the eye. “What do you think, sound good?”

Sora cut his eyes over to Riku. It sounded great to him, but as the oldest, Riku was always the one to make the decisions. He could tell his friend was mulling over the offer. Finally he nodded to Sora, then smiled at the two older boys. “Sounds good. Lead the way.”

.o.0.O.0.o.

“Hey. Wake up, sleeping beauty.”

A hand was pummeling Sora's head down into his pillow. Instinctively, his fist shot out and made contact with something hard, prompting a stream of curses from the human alarm clock. Much more awake now, Sora rolled over, shaking his hand and glaring at Axel, who had retreated to his own bunk across the narrow room to whimper and rub his jaw.

“Serves you right,” Sora growled.

“Hey, I'm just trying to do you a favor and keep you out of trouble.” Axel gestured towards the rest of the bunks with the hand that wasn't holding his face. “You're the last one up. Again. They're not gonna be serving breakfast for much longer.”

Groaning, Sora pried himself up off the hard mattress and fumbled for his black boots underneath the bed. A moment later, he was up and shuffling sleepily towards the door.

“You know, a 'thank you' wouldn't kill you!” Axel called after him.

The thought of food was enough to prod Sora into a jog as he made his way down first one stark white hallway, then another. When he finally reached the mess hall, the usual din of clanging plates and murmuring voices met his ears. Axel had been right, everyone else was already here. Hurrying over to the kitchen window, Sora cleared his throat to catch the attention of the server. The response was a side eye, a snarl, then thankfully, a piece of bread and a spoonful of mush slapped onto a plate and shoved across the counter towards him. Sora breathed a sigh of relief. Just in the nick of time. I really should thank Axel later.

As Sora turned to look for a place to sit, he found himself face to, well, chest with one of his least favorite people in the world. He lifted his chin to meet Marluxia's stare with a scowl. “What do you want?”

“Heard you had issues in Agrabah yesterday.” The tall, muscular man shook his pink mane.

“What's it to you if I did?”

“Personally, I'm hoping that means you'll get kicked off that mission and I'll get it instead.” This comment came from Larxene, who had walked up just out of range of Sora's peripheral vision. He whirled around to glare at her instead. “I'm getting really tired of Wonderland, after all,” she continued, chewing idly on a piece of bread.

Sora's eyes narrowed. Wait, that bread... It only took him a second to make the connection. “Give it back, Larxene!” He lunged forward to snatch it out of her mouth, not even caring that she had contaminated it.

She ran a few steps back, smirking. “Come and get it!”

He would have done exactly that, had he not felt a pull at the plate in his hand. Marluxia had a hold of it, and though Sora was pretty strong, he was no match for those muscles. The older man wrenched it out of his grasp in a matter of seconds. Gritting his teeth, Sora gave up the mush for lost and chose to go after Larxene instead, hoping to salvage whatever bread might be left. He ran straight into her, tackling her to the floor.

Before either of them could get in any punches, however, a loud voice rang out across the room. “No fighting!”

Eyes going wide, Sora scrambled off of the blonde and stumbled away as fast as he could. No crust of bread was worth getting punished for fighting. His stomach wasn't exactly sure it agreed, however. It protested its emptiness harshly enough to make him grimace as he sank down to the floor in an empty corner of the room, watching with clenched fists as Marluxia and Larxene sauntered away to find their next unsuspecting victim.

“Here.” Sora had been so engrossed in his anger that he hadn't even noticed Axel enter the room and plop down next to him. “Take this. It's from last night. I was saving it for later, but you need it more than I do.”

Sora stared down at the proffered food for a moment, then turned his head away. “I don't need you to take care of me.”

Axel sighed loudly. “No, I know you don't. But you also don't need to go out in the field today not having eaten since yesterday morning. I'm well aware that you didn't get dinner last night because of whatever went wrong in Agrabah.”

“It's not my fault that some towns actually have decent government in place.” Sora shook his head slightly. “People see somebody like us skulking around, they tell the authorities. I'm lucky I saw them coming and got out of there without being questioned or imprisoned.”

“Yeah, you are. I know it's unfair, Rox, you don't have to tell me that.” Catching sight of the daggers that Sora was shooting from his eyes, Axel put up a hand in apology for the name blunder. “I mean Sora, sorry. Now would you just take the food? Neither of us really want to know what the penalty is for passing out and not making it back from a mission.”

Sora snatched the small bundle out of his hand with a grunt. “Fine.” The food wasn't much, but it would certainly be better than nothing. Maybe, if he was lucky, he could pilfer an apple or something while on the job later. “Thanks,” he mumbled with his mouth full.

“No problem.” Axel ran a hand over his wild red hair, the flattened spikes immediately popping back up into place. “Try to play it cool with Saix when you see him. Confident, like you know you're capable of doing the job, but not too cocky. He'll probably dock you down to something more menial than territory expansion, but you'd better not show him one speck of attitude about it or...”

“Or I'll regret it, I know the drill.” Sora finished off the food and licked a crumb from his finger. “You ready? Might as well get it over with.”

“Yeah.” Axel pushed himself up to his feet, then held out a mass of black fabric. “Here, I brought these. You forgot yours in your rush.”

Grunting his thanks, Sora took the cloak and fastened it around his neck. On the other side of the room, most of the other soldiers, as they were unofficially called, were already lining up to receive their assignments. When his turn came, Sora stepped in front of Saix, meeting his cold gaze but trying his best to keep his own expression neutral.

“Roxas.” Saix's eyes flicked down to the clipboard in his hand, then back up to Sora's. “Debt collection. Twilight Town, east side.”

Sora blinked, the familiarity of that name sending a jolt through his brain, but forced himself to nod stiffly and pull his hood up over his face.

“You don't need a portal for Twilight Town,” Saix sneered after a moment of silence. Sora glanced back up at him, and he pointed to the door. “Go.”

Right. Nodding silently again, Sora stepped out of line and headed back across the room and out the door. So, this really was more punishment. Not only was he stuck with his least favorite task of debt collection, but he had also been relegated to the town that was so close by, you could walk to it rather than being sent by portal. A fabulous trek on a nearly empty stomach.

In another half hour, the walls of Twilight Town came into view, with the clock tower in the center of town poking out up above. That jolt ran through him once again. Several years ago, when they had first joined The Organization, he and Riku had often worked Twilight Town together. But that had been a long time ago, back before they had gotten promoted to bigger and better locations. On occasion after that, each of them would work a shift here, but Sora had not been back in a while. Not since Riku...

Shaking his head violently, Sora stamped out those thoughts before they could fully materialize. Stick with the present. Dwelling on the past never gets you anywhere. With a sigh, he walked through the gates of the city and surveyed the quiet streets. Well, this munny isn't going to collect itself.

DO NOT REPOST OR REBLOG WITHOUT CREDIT!

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts fanfiction #kingdom hearts au #fanfic #fanfiction

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alice-in-gingerland · 4 years

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Axel/Roxas - Beauty and the Beast

So, I’ve been out of the writing game for roughly ten years, since university killed my spirit. But lately I’ve had this idea playing around in my head and wanted to see if I could still write. So I am slowly writing my Akuroku retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Posting the first chapter draft of chapter one here and hope people can give some feedback and maybe some ideas. Let’s see what happens!

________________________________________________________________

Namine sighed heavily, torn between slamming her face into her palms or shouting at the ragtag team in front of her.

‘You literally could have just taken a horse each!’

Sora raised his eyebrows in confusion, a cookie still raised partially to his lips.

‘But we only had one rope between the three of us.’

‘Plus, dwarves are too short to ride a full sized horse alone,’ added Riku, gesturing to a nodding Kairi.

‘You didn’t even need a rope once Kairi’s character subdued them,’ Namine exclaimed.

Kairi giggled at her sister’s obvious exasperation but chose not to let it go just yet, ‘but you can’t control a horse like that, it’s not realistic.’

The whole group were beginning to laugh at the absurdness of the situation, even Riku was trembling slightly, trying to hold back his amusement at the normally calm dungeon master who was turning vaguely pink with frustration.

‘Why do you guys always have to make big events out of tiny situations, we’ll never get to the main parts of the quest if you keep doing this.’ She slammed the book in front of her closed with an air of finality, causing Sora to pout.

‘Ah Nams, you never let us mess around, that’s half the fun of DnD!’

Riku tilted back in his chair to check the clock on the kitchen wall, ‘to be fair, it’s getting pretty late. We should probably finish up and head home.’

‘Let's make camp for the night, I’ll tie up the horses. We’re only a few kilometres from the town so will be good to rest up in case there’s a fight,’ said Sora, his eyes darting over the colourful map that covered the majority of the dining room table they sat at.

Namine rubbed her forehead tiredly before beginning to carefully pack away her books and pens.

Sora was decidedly less careful, using his forearm to sweep his dice, notebook and other odds and ends into a waiting cardboard box, causing Riku to wince.

‘Before we head home, what’s the plan for Halloween this weekend,’ Kairi queried. She stretched out her back to loosen her muscles after a few hours being confined to the table, her russet hair almost tickling the small of her back. Namine tapped one of her colouring pens against her dusky pink lips, debating how she would like to spend one of her favourite holidays of the year.

Riku snorted, still leaning back dangerously in his chair and obviously in no hurry to assist with the clean up. ‘Aren’t we getting a bit too old to be trick or treating?’

Sora stuck his tongue out at the older boy, following up with a nudge to his chair. Riku’s azure eyes widened in panic as he struggled to stop from toppling backwards; he managed to right himself and gave Sora a victorious smirk.

‘Just because you turn fifteen soon doesn’t mean the rest of us have to stop enjoying ourselves,’ retorted Kairi, swiftly linking her arm through Sora’s.

The young brunette posed thoughtfully as he lent into his best friends supporting frame.

‘He does have a point though, maybe we could do something a bit more, I dunno, exciting this year?’

Namine’s brow dipped in concern, knowing from experience what Sora meant by exciting. Kairi nudged Sora with her hip.

‘By exciting, I think you mean dangerous…’

The boy glanced to his right, a mock hurt expression crossing his face, ‘ well it doesn’t have to be anything bad, just maybe something scary. You know, to frighten Mr All Grown Up.’

Namine clapped her hands together in excitement, startling the three other teens who turned to her in puzzlement. The young girl’s features were alight with excitement, her usual cornflower blue eyes darkened with intent.

‘I think we should go to the old Wildwood House.’

Sora and Kairi almost bounced in excitement. Sneaking into the old Wildwood House had been a tradition for the teenage population in their town for at least the past two decades. The old manor house had been empty for over one hundred years, allowing multiple rumours to circulate regarding why no one had bought it; tales varying from gruesome murders to alien abduction. It didn’t help that the house sat imposingly upon the tallest hill in the area, surrounded by a dense pine wood that was often enveloped in thick mist due to the multiple hot springs the territory was known for.

Namine beamed at her sister and Sora’s reactions as she began to twirl her ash blonde hair between her finger tips; her usual habit when dreaming up artistic ideas.

‘I’ve wanted to go for a while, apparently the architecture is untouched and even the original furniture and furnishings are unblemished - a paused moment in time. I really want to take some photos and maybe make a few quick sketches, but it’s way too creepy to go alone.’

The petite girl turned her pleading gaze upon Riku, who swiftly noticed all three of his friends were staring at him, silently pleading for his agreement.

‘Well if you three pansies think you’re up for it, why not,’ he shrugged, hooked his arms behind his head nonchalantly.

Sora grabbed Kairi’s hand, which she noticed was trembling slightly.

‘Oh my god Kairi, I can’t wait! Did you hear that the whole family was murdered up there by a wild axeman, and the ghosts still haunt the woods because they are buried in the floorboard.’

Kairi scoffed and argued, ‘don’t be stupid, they would have found the bodies. Everyone knows they made some kind of deal with the fairies for an immortal life and were transported to the faerie plain, they only return once a year to steal souls for the fairies.’

‘I heard that the man who lived there sold his soul to a fire demon for eternal beauty and power,’ retorted Namine. Riku let out a snicker and flicked a stray dice at the blonde. ‘Honestly, that’s the plot from Howl’s Moving Castle, you muppet.’

The youngest girl blushed and the four teenagers continued to bicker until they were interrupted by heavy footfalls and genial masculine voice.

‘Nah, the owner made a wish with a genie to be immortal, but it didn’t pan out quite the way he planned.’

Two young men appeared at the bottom of the stairs, one with a mischievous grin and pushed back dirty blonde hair, the other with an almost cherubic face; almost identical to Sora except obviously older with golden blonde styled locks, instead of a brown unkempt birdnest the younger brother liked to sport.

Roxas pondered for a moment, nudging his friend out of the way so he could grab a crisp from the bowl on the table, ‘that’s not it either, it was a djinn. He was so set on looking for power that he was possessed by a travelling djinn.’ He popped the crisp into his mouth and almost immediately winced, ‘what is wrong with you guys, prawn cocktail, really!’ Roxas grimaced and wiped his fingers on his little brother’s shirt.

Sora visibly bristled, shoving his brother away from the group.

‘What are you two doing down here, go away!’

‘Snacks of course,’ Hayner countered, grabbing a handful of prawn cocktail crisps and winking in Namine’s direction. Riku narrowed his eyes and tugged the younger girl to his side; he didn’t mind Roxas, but his flirtatious friend could often be a little too forward with Kairi and Namine. The girls never seemed to mind, but Riku knew that Hayner was less than innocent and not very faithful at that. He had overheard arguments between the two older boys regarding Hayner’s treatment of women for at least two years. He’d never mention it to Sora but he had accidentally walked in on the pair of them locked in an extremely heated embrace once. The memory of their tongues and roaming hands made him nauseous and caused a shudder to ripple through his body. Hayner obviously didn’t care whose pants he was getting into as long as he was getting satisfaction from them.

Deciding he’d annoyed his brother and company enough, Roxas gestured for his friend to follow him into the adjoining kitchen.

‘Come on, let the kids play.’

Hayner gave a brief wave and grin before accompanying Roxas into the kitchen and closing the door behind them.

‘Ah, that takes me back.’

Roxas raised an eyebrow in question whilst grabbing two cans of fizzy from the fridge, passing one to the other boy. Hayner gratefully accepted the can, popping it open with a satisfying hiss and taking a large gulp before answering, ‘you know, when you, me, Pence and Ollette used to come round here and play a bit of dungeons and dragons.’

Roxas rested his hip against the sideboard, his gaze turning pensive for a moment.

‘Yeah, back before it was cool,’ he laughed, ‘also before we discovered the lure of alcohol.’

Hayner slid forward and lightly caressed Roxas’s forearm, his voice taking on a heated tone ‘before we discovered other things as well.’

Roxas’s eyes flashed with annoyance and he gently but firmly brushed away the offending appendage. ‘Aren’t you seeing that guy Seifer.’

He moved away from his promiscuous friend, putting a bit of distance between them before taking a sip of his drink. Fooling around with Hayner has always been fun, but he worried it was a distraction from him finding a real and meaningful relationship; something Roxas was starting to desire more than simply sexual gratification. He wanted dedication and passion, and was perfectly aware Hayner was not capable of fulfilling those needs. He also wasn’t keen on accidentally becoming ‘the other man’ when his friend inevitably forgot he was in a monogamous relationship.

‘I was only teasing,’ Hayner said, not looking as chagrined as Roxas believed he should be feeling.

“Anyway, me and Seifer aren’t exactly exclusive,’ he continued, picking at the side of his can, ‘pretty sure he’s crashing with Fuu and there’s no way those two are platonic.’

Sensing his friend's discomfort Roxas replied, ‘you don’t know that, you know better than I do that he fights with his Dad on the regular. He probably just needed a safe place to stay and him and Fuu have been mates since primary school.’

A small smile flit across Hayner’s face as he glanced up.

“You’re probably right, always are.’

Roxas gave the taller boy a shove and the two chuckled quietly.

Sounds of giggling and shuffling trickled under the kitchen door as the pair relaxed into an amicable silence.

“Do you remember when we went up to the Wildwood House,” Roxas murmured.

Hayner shifted, leaning back on his tanned arms, ‘yeah, it was creepy man, but only because it was old and dark and we were thirteen.’

Roxas frowned, “what about the figure I saw, and that burning fire?’

Hayner snorted and replied, ‘dude, you freaked out at a curtain, and some group who went up before us must have lit a candle to scare the next visitors. Just don’t say anything to the kids; Sora will get all hyped up then they’ll all be disappointed when it’s just an empty old house.’

Yanking open a cupboard door, Hayner extracted a bag of bacon rasher crisps and a packet of party ring biscuits and gathered them under his arm.

“Come on mate, got your fav biscuits, let’s go destroy strangers on Rocket League.’

The muscular blonde elbowed open the door and strode away, leaving Roxas to his vague memories of a slim cloaked figure reaching out to him with a palm of smokeless flames.

#akuroku #axel #roxas #kingdom hearts #beauty and the beast #teen #hayner #namine and kairi are sisters #djinn #axel and roxas #fanfiction

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kessielrg · 4 years

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[Kingdom Hearts] I Won’t (Let Her) Be Forgotten

Summary: In which Xion, in fear of being forgotten again, becomes a writer. [Post KH3][oneshot]

Rating: K+

Word Count: 2,562 words

If you like the story, please buy me a coffee or reblog!

'A little talent is a good thing to have if you want to be a writer. But the real requirement is the ability to remember every scar.' -Stephen King

. . .

Xion was bored. Axel (Lea? She wasn't sure which name he wanted to keep yet) sat next to her on the couch, mindlessly flipping through some trashy gossip magazine without a hint of interest. Roxas had gone out with Hayner to a new Grandstander game. She wasn't sure, but she believed Olette had dragged Pence to the mall for some shopping. And no one but Axel knew what Siax (Isa?) did when no one was keeping track of him.

“Something on your mind, Xion?” Axel asked, surprising Xion for a moment.

Embarrassed for some reason, Xion looked down at the ground. “There's nothing to do.” she admitted. “I'm bored.”

Axel gave a small snort as he put down his magazine. “Sounds like you need a hobby.” he gently admonished, shaking a finger at her.

Xion looked up at him, tilting her head in curiosity as she repeated, “A… what?”

“Oh boy.” Axel then sheepishly mumbled. “Forgot you're still kinda new at this whole 'free will' thing.” Shaking his head, Axel tried to explain, “Hobbies are something you do when you've got the free time to do 'em. It's usually something you like doing, like painting or sewing. You used to collect seashells back in the Organization- that could be considered a hobby. Collecting stuff, that is.”

She hadn't considered that before. And while it was true that Twilight Town had its own beach, she still needed to money to go. She admitted as much to him not long after. Axel gave a small shrug.

“Then find something else to do.” he said. “Go ask Naminé for drawing lessons, or maybe write a novel or something, I don't know. We all need our hobbies, you know?”

Xion only continued to look at Axel. He hated it when she and Roxas would just look at him with big doe eyes, barely blinking as they waited for him to spit more of his made up wisdom. It made him incredibly uncomfortable (possibly even more so, now that he had his heart back) and there was no stopping them either.

“How about you go for a walk?” he asked, trying hard to not sound too hasty. “Clear your head a bit.”

Another unnerving blink, and Xion gave a small nod as she started to get up. Axel sighed in relief the moment she shut the door behind her.

. . .

Xion wandered the streets of Twilight Town with a faint hint of scrutiny. She didn't mean it maliciously- she was only trying to wrap her mind around the idea of a hobby. Absently, Xion tracked her way up to Sunset Hill; she noticed for the first time just how many painters were set up here. She sat down on one of the hill's benches, and watched as the painters did their best to recreate the sunset.

“Hey Xion!”

Xion turned her head to see Olette coming up to her. The girl put on a wide smile as stood up again, while waving back.

“Hello Olette!” she greeted.

“What'cha doing all the way up here?” Olette questioned, still smiling. “I happened to see you walk by while I was putting my new clothes away.”

“I was bored.” Xion admitted. She frowned for a moment before adding, “Axel says I need a hobby.”

“You could start a diary!” her friend happily suggested. “It's a book where you right down all your ideas and memories so they won't be forgotten. I have one- I like adding photos and small mementos like pressed flowers in it!”

“A diary...” Xion absently repeated. But it wasn't the idea of the diary that sent her into a quiet, contemplative state. It was that word -forgotten- that made Xion's mind reel. Isa had once admitted that the reason why she remembered her was because of Even's research notes. Everyone's memory of her faded when her heart returned to Sora, but the written words about her existence had remained.

A sudden, fearful thought crossed Xion's mind then; what if she was forgotten again?

“I don't have anything to write with.” she admitted, speaking more to herself than to Olette.

“I have a few spare composition books from school.” Olette offered. “I can give you one if you want it.”

Xion's heart leaped into her throat. How did she get so lucky to know so many generous people? In a small, almost needy voice, she asked, “Would you?”

“Sure!” came the happy affirmation. “Wait here, I'll be back in a sec.”

Before Xion could stop her, Olette was already running back to her house. It took more than a second for Olette to come back- more like three minutes, really. But she did good on her promise, presenting Xion with a black composition notebook in a small florish.

“T-thank you.” Xion humbly thanked as she took the notebook from her friend.

“No problem!” Olette grinned. “Just remember, you don't have to share your diary with anyone. It's just about you, your thoughts, and all your favorite memories!”

Xion gave Olette a curious tilt of her head before looking down at the notebook. In a small, thoughtful voice, she murmured to herself, “All my favorite memories...”

. . .

Olette failed to mention that starting to write would be the hardest part. Xion had been staring at the first page for the past five minutes. How did you start a book all about yourself? How do you start a book of all your favorite memories when so many were actually quite sad? The pencil in Xion's hand hovered over the page in anticipation. Slowly, unsure of herself, Xion let the pencil tip touch the paper as she wrote the first sentence.

Hello, I am Xion.

Xion looked at that first sentence and immediately grimaced. She quickly scratched out the sentence- it sounded like she was writing a letter Isa style. How boring. She wasn't like that. Tilting her head to the side -while making a rather disgusted face- Xion tried to start over.

My name is

Nope, that opening was dumb too. It was dumb the moment it was written. Again, Xion scratched out the sentence and started to rack her brain for ideas.

Why was this so hard? They were just words, not some high level Heartless that was terrorizing the town. Jiminy didn't have any trouble writing in his journal. Of course, it was always about Sora and not Jiminy himself, but…

A small jolt shot through Xion in realization. She looked back down at her notebook and bit her lip in thought. With a certain curiosity coming over her now, Xion allowed her heart to write the words for her. Her hand followed without any conscious effort otherwise.

Ebba's mind was blank. If you had seen her, you would have mistaken her for a doll, or a puppet. It is hard to describe Ebba in full- her appearance tended to change. To a stranger, she was a nobody. To her friends? Well, she didn't have any friends at that point. Her mind was still blank. She needed to see the world.

Xion blinked at the words for a moment- slowly realizing that her hand was now faintly in pain from writing so quickly. But something inside of her filled with glee. Not five minutes before, this 'Ebba' girl didn't exist. And now? Now she did. Smiling, Xion continued to write, her hand guided by the words placed in her heart.

Ebba's first memories are filled with a cold, bright light. She was guided, shuffled, around like a mannequin in a department store. She could nod when spoken to and even focus on certain people in an uncanny gaze. It scared her first friend, when they first locked eyes in a circular throne room, but she would not have known that until years after. For now, she was still blank, like a page ready to be written onto.

. . .

Admittedly, Roxas had not seen Xion for a good part of the day. When Axel told him that Xion had found a hobby, a part of the teen could understand. He was the same way when he first discovered skateboarding- although he was really bad at it then. But still, Roxas missed talking to Xion when he came home, so he started his way up to her room.

“Hey Xion,” he called as he knocked on her door. “You in there?”

“Yeah.” came the immediate answer.

“Can I come in?”

There was a small pause before Xion said, “Sure.”

Roxas grinned, opening Xion's door enough so he could slink in. He found her sitting on her bed- nose buried in a composition notebook with her hand writing on its pages in a blind fury.

“I brought you some hot chocolate.” Roxas offered. He held up said drink a bit so she could see it. Too bad Xion didn't even bother to look up.

“That's nice.” she absently told him. She made a vague motion to her nightstand before adding, “You can put in on my nightstand.”

A bit taken aback by her attitude, Roxas did as he was told. He turned to see what she was doing when he heard the sound of a page turn. Curiosity had always been his strongest suit.

“What'cha writin' there, Xion?” Roxas innocently asked, trying to peek over her shoulder. Jumping a few inches in surprise, Xion immediately closed her notebook and gave Roxas a rather ugly glare.

“You can't read it!” she demanded, now hugging the notebook close to her chest.

The teen blinked in surprise. “Huh? Why not?”

“Because...” Xion started but found she couldn't finish. She tried to rack her brain for any answer that could make up for her sudden outburst. “Because it's my private diary that I don't want to share with you. Or anyone. That's just how diaries work.”

“Oh… okay.” he replied. Xion refused to look at his small pout.

“Please Roxas,” she then softly told him, “I just want to be left alone for awhile. Thank you for the hot chocolate.”

Still disappointed, Roxas nodded his head in agreement before heading back out of her room. Xion felt bad, but she couldn't stop her writing groove. The iron was hot and she wasn't going to miss it.

. . .

“Lucas, that's a stick.” Ebba told her friend. Her voice was flat and low. It was still flattering that he was willing to lose his own blade so they could finish the mission, but she didn't imagine he'd do it like this.

Xion snickered to herself. She had been serious when she told Roxas that. In hindsight, it had been pretty funny too, especially with the way she remembered saying it. With a smile, Xion reached for the hot chocolate mug and took a long, peaceful sip. Once she had let her heart do the writing, every word Xion wrote came out easily and with a purpose. To think that Hayner once complained about how hard it was to write an essay for one of his classes. Writing was super easy once you got the hang of it.

The hot chocolate had gone cold now, but Xion didn't exactly like it piping hot anyway. She absently swirled the cup as she read over her last written words. Her handwriting was either getting neater or sloppier- she couldn't decide which right now.

But then a sudden train horn made Xion jump- she immediately lost her grip on the cup, leading it to spill all over her notebook. For a moment, Xion didn't quite register what had happened until she looked at the now ruined pages.

“No!” she immediately screamed before letting out even more frenzied, “No, no, no, no, no, no-no-no-NO!”

Logic would dictate that she should have gotten a towel. But, in her horrified mind, she only thought to try to rub the cooled drink on the notebook. It only made things worse. Xion had been sent into such a panic that she didn't even notice when Axel poked his head into her room.

“Hey Xion, are you o-” he started to say before seeing the mess. As Xion started to dissolve into angered tears, the young man cautiously entered her room a bit more as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. Feeling a bit awkward now, he wondered out loud, “So… Would you like to talk about it now, or do you need some time to cool off?”

But Xion only shook her head. “I can't let her be forgotten!” she told him as she worked to shake the hot chocolate off the book.

Stepping a bit further to help Xion out a bit, Axel ventured to question, “Who?”

“Ebba!” Xion immediately shouted. “I mean, me. I mean… I… I…!” and with that, the girl buried her face in her hands and started to weep. Axl let out a soft groan.

Why did he always get stuck with the icky jobs?

“Xion,” he sighed, taking a spot on her bed that wasn't ruined from the hot chocolate. “You're not going to be forgotten again. We won't let it happen.” He then put a hand to his heart, and the other up in the air. “Scout's honor.”

“That's what you said last time.”

Axel's blood turned to ice. Without saying more than five sentences to him, he already knew why the notebook's loss was making Xion so upset. Even though he knew it wasn't going to help, Axel tried to assure her with a small, “You can write another.”

“It won't be the same.”

Axel absently rubbed his temples in thought. He was starting to get a headache now. Geez, how was he going to phrase this?

“Xion…” he sighed, “Look… No story is told the same way twice. It's impossible. You can write another story about this… Ebba girl- you might not want to hear it, but I think you'll have to. Some times life is just like that; we get started on something great, something bad happens, and then we chose to either redo it or give up. I don't know this Ebba girl very well, but I do know you. Are you really going to let one hang up stop you from writing Ebba's story? Your story?”

Xion did not look Axel in the eye. As much as she didn't want Axel to be right, she knew he had a point.

“No.” she quietly mumbled. “It won't.”

“Good.” Axel nodded. “Now, let me get you some towels so we can clean up this mess.”

Xion only gave a small nod as she turned her attention back to her ruined notebook. Upon closer inspection, a lot of the words were still legible, if only hidden behind a light brown stain. She'd have to separate several pages and use something to make sure they didn't stick together as the paper dried. In all luck, maybe she could rewrite the story almost by verbatim. Besides, there were some parts that she wanted to reword or make clearer to begin with.

Now in a clearer state of mind, Xion smiled as she let out a comforted sigh. Ebba's story would live on, and so would she.

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hubakon1368 · 4 years

Link

DISCLAIMER: This post is not from the author of the fic. If anyone knows the name of the author’s tumblr account (if they have one), would you please tell me? It would be appreciated.

Chapters: 18/? Fandom: Kingdom Hearts Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Kairi & Lea (Kingdom Hearts), Lea & Roxas & Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi & Riku & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Donald Duck & Goofy & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Aqua & Terra & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Mickey Mouse & Riku (Kingdom Hearts) Characters: Lea (Kingdom Hearts), Axel (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi (Kingdom Hearts), Merlin (Kingdom Hearts), Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Donald Duck (Kingdom Hearts), Goofy (Kingdom Hearts), Mickey Mouse (Kingdom Hearts), Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Aqua (Kingdom Hearts), Yen Sid (Kingdom Hearts), Vexen (Kingdom Hearts), Demyx (Kingdom Hearts), Ansem the Wise | DiZ, Ienzo (Kingdom Hearts), Xemnas (Kingdom Hearts), Xigbar (Kingdom Hearts), Saïx (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas (Kingdom Hearts), Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Larxene (Kingdom Hearts), Marluxia (Kingdom Hearts), Leon (Kingdom Hearts), Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Aeleus (Kingdom Hearts), Dilan (Kingdom Hearts), Tron (Kingdom Hearts), Ansem Seeker of Darkness | Xehanort's Heartless, Xehanort (Kingdom Hearts), Terra (Kingdom Hearts), Jiminy Cricket (Kingdom Hearts), Chirithy (Kingdom Hearts), Naminé (Kingdom Hearts) Additional Tags: Friendship, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts III, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Awesome Kairi (Kingdom Hearts), Keyblades (Kingdom Hearts), Training, Magic, Fight Scenes, Guilt, Regret, Protectiveness, Memories, Lost Memories, Parental/Big Brother Lea/Axel, Hearts, Missing Their Friends, Axel Raised Roxas, Past Isa & Lea (Kingdom Hearts) Friendship, Badass Lea (Kingdom Hearts), Lea/Axel Has Issues, Axel Made Mistakes, Worldbuilding, Sora (Kingdom Hearts)'s Heart, Sora (Kingdom Hearts)'s Heart-Guests, Magic and Science, past trauma, Aqua Has Issues, References To Experiments On Hearts, Bad Things Happened In Radiant Garden, Badass Kairi (Kingdom Hearts), Mentions of Blood, Dive into the heart, Stations of Awakening, Serious Injuries, Knives, Burns, Protective Lea/Axel, Platonic Relationships, Near Death Experiences, Badass Donald Duck (Kingdom Hearts), Donald Duck Has Magic, Roxas (Kingdom Hearts) Has Issues, Xion (Kingdom Hearts) Has Issues, Donald Duck (Kingdom Hearts) Actually Uses Cure, Nightmares, Platonic Love, Platonic Cuddling, Hugs, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friends as Family, Canon Temporary Character Death Series: Part 1 of Instinctively Family

Chapter 18: Keyblade Graveyard

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Notes: Sorry that I made you guys wait so long. My brain and inspiration were held hostage by another fandom. Then I got distracted by all the excitement of "ReMind"… before my brain was recaptured by the other fandom again. It's been a bit insane and I do apologize. Thankfully, due to the fact that events have already been altered a bit in this story, I don't have to worry about trying to incorporate everything from the DLC. I might snag some bits and pieces if they would fit in, but there will be no stable time-loop heart-hopping shenanigans in this fic.

I do have some good news. There is a planned sequel for this fic. It'll be titled "Parental Instinct" (with the duology being called "Instinctively Family"). It'll be a bit more domestic with less combat that this one. Mostly it'll be focused on the question of "what now" as Lea, Roxas, Xion, and even Isa try to move forward, building a life outside of the Organization and Keyblade Wars while also dealing with the fallout of everything. That should give you something to look forward to.

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Lea knew what they were doing. The real Organization XIII was doing the exact same thing that Larxene and Marluxia tried a few days ago. They were throwing as many Heartless and such as possible at the guardians in the hopes of wearing them down. And as soon as the guardians of light were exhausted and vulnerable, that was when Master Xehanort's followers would strike.

It was a good plan. Beat them down with sheer numbers. Wave after wave of Heartless, some scattered Nobodies, and the strange creatures that Ventus hurriedly identified as Unversed at one point. Eventually someone would make a mistake. He could see their logic. Lea might have tried the same strategy in their position.

But none of them were giving up yet.

Once more, Lea found himself in the middle of a cluster of protective Keyblade-wielding teenagers. The rest were spread out, but his self-appointed bodyguards kept close. He did appreciate the gesture and help. But mostly he appreciated that he could keep track of them easier that way.

They'd gotten more coordinated on how they split up the job of giving him backup. Xion had perfected a high-level Reflect spell at some point, the transparent shield similar to the one he'd glimpsed Aqua using. Lea kept finding it around him at regular intervals. Xion cast that spell whenever she thought he might get overwhelmed. Kairi's continuous use of Cura helped with the hits that he couldn't avoid and his general strength. As much as he wanted to deny it, he knew that he wasn't up to his normal energy levels. And the larger Heartless never had a chance to get close before Roxas drove it back. The boy channeled all his understandable anger and frustration into every swing. And occasionally the kids would team up together to pull off a combo attack, clearing out large chunks of the enemy from around Lea.

He was mildly surprised when Roxas, Xion, and Ventus worked together on a large clump of Nobodies approaching through the stone chasm. Apparently Roxas had set aside his discomfort with the other boy either temporarily or permanently. Or at least enough of that unease was gone that they could compliment each other's fighting styles. It was honestly a relief. There were enough complicated and uncomfortable issues. It would be far easier if at least some of Lea's various friends could get along.

When they got Isa back, he couldn't imagine how awkward that would be.

When. Not if.

None of them had much of a chance to catch their breaths though. The second wave of Heartless were just as numerous as the first. And Lea doubted that Sora would be able to summon up another magic rollercoaster to tear through them.

Not that Sora wasn't already doing an impressive job. While everyone else focused on the task of maintaining the perimeter and keeping more enemies from spilling over, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were in the center of everything. The trio were dealing with the nightmarish amalgamation.

Lea didn't know of a better way to describe the Demon Tide except as a mass of smaller Heartless clustered together. A swarm of Shadows that travel in waves and narrow twisters that thrash and lash out. It twisted and swirled through the air before diving into the ground through patches of darkness, bursting out somewhere else to attack from a new angle. The thing moved like something between a serpent and a thin cyclone. And Sora, Donald, and Goofy managed to corral the thrashing mass of Heartless while the rest of the guardians remained on the outskirts.

And then Sora's Keyblade turned into a pair of arrowguns. Because apparently that was a trick that he picked up somewhere. Almost like that weird suit of armor turning a Keyblade into a whip.

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terrablaze514 · 5 years

Text

Ionic Victory, Covalent Destiny (1)

A/N: This is the Tumblr version... Because Tumblr will block links to other platforms... [[Cross-posting]]

Disclaimer: I’m just borrowing these characters.

Summary: Four months after the Mariemaia incident, all the pilots turned Preventers share the same living space, keep track of missions, and everything in between. By the time they’ve reached their late teens, they pursue university and they find ways to resolve their frustrations from being unable to fight for so long…Because the only life they knew was war, and as much as they fought to end it, that side to them sparks up. Crimes of all kinds occur in and around campus, so Lady Une assigns each one a mission to fight back against crime. However, The G-Team grew reckless and proposed a deal. This eventually leads to more...

Warnings: Brief mentions of crime, crossdressing.

4K+ words... Shoutout to @quirkypaynesgrey for the graphic!

Gundam Wing - Post-EW - Mature Audiences Only. Lightly edited.

"So… it looks like we're being sent on a team mission."

The computer keys clacked as Heero made mental notes on its requirements and parameters. The rest of the G-Team had either focused on packing, cooking or argued with girls on the phone.

Speaking of the devil…

Relena Peacecraft, Sally Po and Lucrezia Noin appeared on the screen.

Heero set his laptop to answer video calls from a handful of people.

"Hey, Heero! We've received an update on your upcoming mission," Noin began. "I will not place you guys at Marriott Hotels."

Heero cocked an eyebrow in response. "Why?" he asked.

"Because it won't allow you to catch the main target," she said.

"Instead, you will attend the Madison Masters Academy for Girls," Sally chimed in. Before Heero could say anything, she added, "You're all required to fit in. Therefore, Relena will help order your uniforms and have them sent to each of you next week. Remember, this assignment will last for a month - perhaps longer. I encourage everyone to blend in with the rest of the students and take their chosen subjects."

"This will also serve as the best cover, so the suspect responsible for kidnapping these girls won't get off easy," said Noin.

"I will also send you a demo on the feminine ways of thinking," Relena said. "Use it wisely, preferably at 'home'."

The ladies had tried their endeavour best not to break into a fit of laughter. Heero's face was beet-red, his eyes filled with shock. How in the heck do they expect to perform well on this Mission when they must wear dresses and act like women? Oh dear…

"Why must we do things like this?" Heero asked with a hint of worry, despite his hardened features.

"Because it's important," Noin explained. "We need to find out, in the best ways possible, who is the mastermind behind the disappearances of these girls. All five of you are the best choices for this assignment. Remember what you're there for."

"Don't get too distracted by the perky stuff," Relena added. "According to Commander Une, a student is associated with the suspect in this school."

Heero crossed his arms and glared at the ladies on his screen. Good thing it didn't scare them, especially when Duo and Quatre entered the shot.

"Everything is ready," Quatre announced. "We're set to leave tomorrow afternoon."

"For real," Duo said. When he noticed the ladies, he waved at them. "So what's poppin'?"

Sally and Heero responded at the same time. "There have been changes."

"Huh?" Duo scratched his head as Quatre thoughtfully inquired, "What changes? Are we moving to a safe house?"

"Yes, but only so you'll be able to disguise yourselves," said Sally.

"So we have to make a cover…" Duo trailed off.

"Already taken care of," said Noin. "I will send additional tools straight to the address you're heading for."

"As we've already explained to Heero, you're all required to blend in with the students-"

"Cool!" Duo interrupted. "I can't wait to wear my biker's jacket and-"

"Dress up like girls at an all-girls academy," said Sally, who returned the favour when she knew how Duo's loquacious chatter would take off.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

"So…" Quatre's voice trailed off, unable to break away from his shock. His reddened cheeks spoke on his behalf.

"We will do girly stuff?" Duo asked, brokenness clear in his voice. "Please, tell me you're lying. We cannot be girls! It will tarnish our image."

"My thoughts exactly," said Heero. "This is insane!"

Both Sally and Noin straightened and regained their composure. "You have every right to know," Sally spoke. "As we've said before, there's a suspect who serves as a major threat to the student body over there."

"Can we go in there and crackdown, arrest the bastard and leave?"

The ladies shared a sigh on the other end. Duo was on a roll.

"I'm sorry, but I have zero intentions to be surrounded by countless onnas." Now Wufei joined in. "This has got to be the greatest foul on your part." He glared at Sally and Relena in the camera. "And don't talk about my hair length!"

"Too late, my long hair is a dead giveaway." Duo crossed his arms and pouted. His emphasis on 'dead giveaway' silenced the room. It added nothing more to the conversation for the next thirty minutes. This vibe had filled the room with crestfallen, fuming faces until…

"It shouldn't be that hard."

Trowa entered the room with Zechs trailing behind him. "The sooner we head down there and capture both criminals, the better. We shouldn't waste any more time complaining about girls and women. They're already dealing with a lot, especially in this current scenario. A little respect doesn't hurt, so let's man up and get going."

The rest of the group shuddered. Has Trowa lost his mind? According to Duo, he did. That was too much talking for a silent clown.

"Since when were you the type to talk?" Duo asked, albeit condescending. "That's strange. And what's worse is your keen interest in being a girl for a whole month!"

Trowa's neutral expression changed when his eyes flashed with anger. He leapt, with a triple axel and landed right in front of the rude American. He reached in his pockets for throwing knives when Quatre stood between them. Heero held Trowa's wrist in place while Wufei yanked Duo's braid and dragged him away.

"Ow! What the hell, man! All I did was make a solid point."

"Shut up Maxwell!" Wufei snapped. "Because my growing hatred for this cursed mission is clear, he made a solid point. Not you."

As their distance grew, Trowa's features softened a little when Quatre slapped him across the face. Now it was Quatre's turn to harness hardened features; his eyes expressed disappointment. Trowa's face had shock written all over it as he refocused on Quatre.

"Do you have the slightest idea what you almost did?" Quatre asked with a stern tone.

"He threw me off," said Trowa.

"Correction," Heero interrupted. "You almost had one of our team members killed. I know that look well."

Trowa growled. "Let me go."

"No."

"Not until we know for sure you won't pose a threat to us or yourself again," said Quatre. "And you did this in front of the ladies who are still online at the moment."

Shocked for a few seconds, Trowa faced Sally and Noin on the video screen. Relena has already left the room, and Quatre turned to face them.

"We apologize," he said. "We'll patch things up and debrief before our departure tomorrow."

Sally and Noin nodded. "Understood," Noin said as she stepped away from the camera on her end. After a five-minute pause, Sally spoke up.

"I know this has a lot to do with your desires to fight again, correct?" she asked.

The three boys nodded when she crossed her arms and continued.

"Well, besides this upcoming mission, I need the five of you, as a group, to come up with safe words and tactics that warrant a break and recovery period. You've been a team that came together under unexpected, yet gracious circumstances. As bitter as this sounds, the wars are to thank for that."

'She makes a solid point,' thought Zechs, who spent the last fifteen hours observing the dynamics of the G-Team in their shared apartment.

"On that note," she continued, "you all need to come up with an effective backup plan for conflict resolution and dealing with your emotions. Trowa, what you did just now sent Relena running for her life. If I were Duo's mother, I'd stop him in his tracks. Wufei, as well-intentioned, as he is, still doesn't know how to separate nonviolent from violent. And Quatre, as bad as things may get, you were just as impulsive as the others-"

"How?" the blonde asked. "I've blocked him."

Sally nodded, then with furrowed eyebrows added, "You've lost your self-control at the last minute, Quatre. Just because you were all trained to be soldiers at a young age, doesn't excuse the facts. You will always deal with annoyances and frustrations of this nature - some worse than others, in every area of your lives."

"I'm sorry," Trowa said weakly.

With a deep sigh, Sally looked down and shook her head. She crossed her arms. "I don't need an apology, Trowa. The rest of your friends do. All I'm asking is that you all come up with a solid breakout plan when you feel frustrated. This isn't the best approach so far." Looking back at the boys, solemn expressions rested on their faces. Heero no longer had a grip on Trowa's wrist and maintained a safe arm's distance between Quatre and the others. At least she had the chance to talk sense into them.

The only question is, will they follow through? She could only hope, and she didn't care what ideas they came up with as long as it will help them maintain their composures and wellness throughout.

"Thanks, Sally," Heero said.

"No problem. Don't forget what I've told you. Sally signing out!" With a salute, the video call ended.

"Next time, don't yank my hair!" shouted Duo in his room.

"Whatever," said Wufei. "One day, someone's life won't be saved."

"Shut up!"

Wufei spun on his heel to leave when Zechs appeared at the door with crossed arms.

"The ladies expect better from all of you next time," he said. "Otherwise, you guys might not get lucky for future missions."

Wufei heaved a sigh and plopped onto Duo's bed. A triumphant smirk curved Zechs' lips. No one has ever stopped him, yet. Before he could say anything more, Duo blurted.

"We're getting old so fast."

Wufei rolled his eyes from his current position.

"You're fucking 19."

"Poor choice of words, Wu-bun. And who gave you permission to lie on my bed?"

"I thought 'we're getting old so fast,'" mocked Wufei.

"You guys are not 19!" Zechs snapped. He paused, took a deep breath and continued, "You're still sixteen and unrested. The insanity is clear in this apartment, and I know you're capable of handling business like grown-ups. Does that make sense?"

"Yessssss," Duo slurred. Wufei nodded and leaned against the wall.

Zechs shook his head, crossed his arms and aimed his icy glare at Duo.

"Before you grow up fast, smarten up!"

He turned on his heel and left the room, intent on helping the others get organized. An uncomfortable silence graced the atmosphere. Man… this upcoming mission has gotten the best of them. Duo mentally willed himself to ease the tension in the room. From his current position, he shot a glance in Wufei's direction and cleared his throat.

"Wufei?"

His comrade turned to him. "Yes?"

"Sorry about earlier," he began. "I don't like cross-dressing while on duty. I mean, they made Halloween for that. Today is just, not my day."

"I understand," Wufei said. "Today is not my day, either. Sometimes I wish we've had an alternative, aside from fighting."

Duo nodded. "For real. It's like, peacetime has driven us insane. We cannot function without keeping our adrenaline pumping." He moved with fluid grace as his braid swung from side to side. As he sauntered over to the bed, Wufei sat up and stared the other youth up and down like a hawk.

Duo paused his movements and raised his hands.

"Dude, relax. I was aiming for my duffel bag."

"Oh." Wufei grabbed the black duffel and tossed it in Duo's direction. As his comrade caught the bag flawlessly, Wufei resumed his initial position against the wall. Duo scrunched his face; why was Wufei so stubborn?

"I'll go first," Duo said. "Why are you on my bed?"

Wufei rolled his eyes and turned his back on the American youth. "That doesn't matter."

Now it was Duo's turn to roll his eyes. He prodded the other youth's shoulder and made a mental note of Wufei's stiffening muscles. Duo heaved a sigh.

"If we can't get along, I don't know how we'll survive this dreadful mission," he muttered.

Just then, Quatre and Trowa appeared at his bedroom door.

"Hey guys," Quatre began, "we need to talk. It's important."

Huh?

Duo's eyes lit up while Wufei promptly rolled and sat upright on Duo's bed. The American cleared his throat and assumed a seat next to Wufei. "What's up? And shouldn't we wait for Heero, first?"

"He went out with the last set of supplies to load Zechs' car, so he'll be back shortly."

Oh, right… Tomorrow's mission.

"So we're no longer-"

Quatre silenced Duo with his hand in the air. "This matter is different. When Heero makes it back, he'll share the details."

"What details?" Wufei asked, eyebrows raised.

"It's an important matter, considering we might get future assignments that may set our emotions on fire." Quatre entered Duo's room and sat on a red cushion with Tony Stark/Iron Man pictured on it, close to the nightstand. "We need to come up with a game plan and a solution."

"Sally's idea, for the record," Trowa added.

"Well…"

"I'm sorry for what happened earlier," Trowa said, as he made eye contact with Duo. "While you and Wufei were gone, Sally had it out with us. To her, it's disappointing how we cannot get around to resolving our problems."

Duo scratched his head as he pondered on the possibility of failure, either for himself or the Team. It's true; once upon a time, their cognition was put into good use. Now, with the progression of peacetime:

Hormones are raging.

Stress is imminent.

With lesser assignments available (and appealing for the record), tensions had risen high in their shared apartment. Is chaos, uncertainty, the struggle for survival and fights for freedom the only thing that mattered? Their Gundams were already gone. Total pacifism benefited them, only but a short time. The deepest root of their frustrations stemmed from the lack of excitement, with their experience, on non-existent battlefields.

Regardless of their past values and influence, war kept them going. It's gotten harder to adjust to this mockery of wondering where they stood.

At least they have each other.

Heero appeared in the doorway, rubbed his jeans and looked at the others; his thoughts weren't here at the moment. He'd rather rethink what Sally had told them, and a flurry of ideas had flashed in his mind while he assisted Zechs in the parking lot moments ago. Due to pent-up tensions in recent weeks, Heero wasn't so sure he wanted to share. Maybe…

"Is he okay?" Trowa asked, snapping the Japanese youth out of his thoughts. Heero's surprised expression lasted for a few seconds, as he caught Wufei and Duo staring into his soul. They didn't appear uptight or annoyed, but it felt uncomfortable.

Unsettling.

"You don't have to put it all out there," Quatre suggested. "Just focus on the basics, Heero."

As he opened his mouth, the phone rang.

Damn it…

Comrades forgotten, feet shuffled and rushed into the kitchen. A shaky hand picked up the phone; his left ear met a busy signal. Heero rushed to his bedroom, opened his laptop, logged on and entered his e-mail inbox.

Nothing.

With a grunt, he got sleep due to his annoyance. With everything that's been happening between him and his teammates, the Perfect Soldier yearned for the moment the storm will calm down. God, do they have to go on this Mission tomorrow?

They'd better stay focused if they want to survive.

**+**

Two days later, all five boys were decked in women's fashion from head to toe. Some supplies Zechs had brought to the safe house on Hartford Avenue have proven useful. However, with a rented Dodge Caravan, ten encrypted security systems, Relena's makeup tutorial, their Preventer uniforms hung in a closet, and concealed weapons left behind, it set the parameters necessary.

They've spent their first day familiarizing themselves with this town, gathered clues on their main suspect, and organized their things. Quatre shared a room with Duo since his companion needed a responsive listening ear. Trowa, Wufei and Heero shared another bedroom across the hall. Three concentrated minds held each other accountable - and practiced their "feminine roles", thanks to Trowa's superb acting skills and direction.

The third bedroom had security systems hooked up. A third laptop which contained confidential information about the school's faculty and students. A live map of the areas they're targeting (where the predator prefers to show up). Two security camera screens, which mingled with the school's security systems (Heero had successfully hacked) and their safe house.

They set alarm systems near the front door, back door and garage. At Quatre's insistence, the group had installed hidden cameras and mics in the kitchen, hallway, basement and other parts of the house.

In the safe house, they were themselves; the usual warrior-like bunch. On their way to school, well…

"The thought of working with you has started a story in my mind that is still writing itself." Wufei stuck the straw in his mouth as he stared out the window, in his femme fatale attire. Trowa laughed while Heero and Duo raised their eyebrows in the front seats.

"Promise me that story doesn't feature dudes disguised as women."

Wufei shook his head. "It's the exact opposite. I've figured Noin, Sally and Relena can disguise themselves as men set up explosives and watch the target base disappear in flames."

No response, then…

"Sounds like a great plot twist!" Duo exclaimed. One look at Heero's stoic, icy expression removed his smile. "Aw, c'mon guys! Lighten up a little."

The sound of cracked knuckles sent shivers down his spine. From the corner of his eye, he noticed how Wufei twitched and leaned against the window for dear life.

"I want ice cream," said Trowa.

"We'll be late for school if we stop," said Heero. "Wait till the day is over, or until lunch break."

Trowa rolled his eyes, cracked his knuckles the second time around (with pronounced pulls) and leaned closer to Heero's seat. "Ice cream. Now."

Wufei cocked an eyebrow. "We're on a mission here, and you want to stop for ice cream?"

Heero kept his eyes on the road. "No."

In came a heavy sigh, "Fine. Have it your way."

Trowa leaned back against his seat, crossed his arms and aimed a fierce kick at Wufei, who caught his offending foot just in time.

"Calm down, Trowa! You don't want to ruin your tights too soon."

Trowa groaned and rolled his eyes. "I want my ice cream."

Wufei shot him an intense glare. "I get it. You want to get into your role properly, but this attitude won't do."

"Will you let go of my foot now?" Trowa asked.

"Only when you're calm," Wufei said with finality.

"But I am calm!" Trowa snapped.

Duo shuddered as the scene played out in his mind. "Dear God, please let us get to school soon enough. We can't keep Quatrina waiting forever!"

Just then, a hand tapped Duo's arm and gave a light squeeze. Blue-violet eyes stared at warm Prussian blues.

"We'll be fine," said Heero, who paid no attention to the troublesome pair in the back.

"I hope you're right," Duo said. "We haven't started, yet this mission is already messing with our heads."

"It doesn't have to be that way," Heero replied as he made a right onto the school's parking lot. A small smile crept on his lips. "All we have to do is concentrate on our main goal. Don't let some fashion shift rob your abilities."

Duo smiled. There's still hope.

Hope is short-lived when one cannot see far into the future.

"Isn't it funny how, no matter where you go, you keep seeing the one thing you're most afraid of?"

"Blending in, like this? Absolutely."

"I hope someone will keep this out of my obituary!"

"Okay everyone, let's not panic. Don't forget the real reason we're here. If we catch the main suspects soon enough, we don't have to keep doing this any longer."

"Note to self: Tell Commander Une not to send us on a mission like this ever again."

The rest of the G-Team, in their feminine disguises, shot glares in Wufei's direction.

"Note to self: Wufei is not invited to my birthday destination."

"Note to Heero: I don't care."

"Note to Wufei: Shove it!"

"Note to Heero: Make me."

"Note to self: Hit them."

Heero and Wufei shuffled away and disappeared into the crowd in the busy school hall. One calculated hit from Trowa hurts like hell for an entire week. At least they've dodged that bullet.

Here's to hoping they won't pick fights too soon.

Quatre regained his composure and glanced over their class schedules.

"Cool! Duo, myself and the others are in the same classes."

"Sweet!" Duo exclaimed in his girly voice. "But, what about Trowa? I don't see "Trista" listed here at all."

His smile was short-lived since Trowa is not listed in a big chunk of their subjects. The tall youth placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. I'll be fine. We can always meet up for lunch hour."

Quatre's eyes gleamed again. "Yeah, you're right. Then we can discuss our progress further."

"Good. I'll see you guys, later. And make sure the other two are on their best behaviour."

"You can count on it!" asserted Duo.

**+**

"Please, introduce yourselves," said a dainty, short blonde. She wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, red-coloured lipstick, and a coastal blue summer dress with a floral design. This teacher wore a friendly, warm smile as she leaned against her spruce, polished desk.

"I'm Duet," said Duo in his falsetto.

"Kim," said Wufei, in like fashion.

"Quatrina," said Quatre. He'd secretly hoped their disguises won't flop.

"Havannah" said Heero. His voice only went up two octaves.

"Pleased to meet you all," their teacher replied. "Take any seat you want."

Quatrina sat at a free table, close to Havannah while Duet and Kim joined others at a different table. Once they were settled, their teacher proceeded with the lesson in progress. Social Studies had focused on various ideologies and perspectives, regarding peacetime since the wars ended…

What a coincidence! Havannah smirked, knowing full and well that Relena would love to hear her take on it. It wouldn't surprise her if her companion had any connections with the faculty members. If that were the case, then the mission would be tricky with these disguises the G-Team ought to maintain.

By all means necessary.

Quatrina's chin rested on the back of her hand, as she took time to grasp some informative responses shared by the class. Kim maintained a seemingly rude demeanour as she took notes. Peacetime hadn't been the friendliest to her lately. Duet had tried her darnedest not to contribute, yet discussions were a must for her exuberant soul. Here's to hoping she doesn't fall off-track with her voice projection. Rehearsing for two days with a long, braided ponytail and a deceptively slim figure tickled her fancy.

So how's Trista keeping up?

Her green nail polish, misty eyeshadow and royal blue lipstick were on point. Her sleek and smooth uni bang covered half of her face, which increased her mysterious flavour. Her Biology classmates couldn't resist since they glued their eyes on her, not the lesson.

She also sported a biker jacket, fingerless gloves and leather tights beneath a gothic style skirt.

~Owari~

@mikkymi @negasonic-t-warhead @silverlinedmoon-sims @craftssakura @seitou @mskirara @angelsmystique @noirangetrois @cynfinnegan @allaboutthems @darkmaster07 @7daysaweekgeek-blog @murdergiraffe @jennybadt @lessy86 @lemontrash @quirkypaynesgrey

#tb514fanfics #gundam wing #ionic victory #covalent destiny #cross-posting #heero yuy #duo maxwell #trowa barton #quatre winner #wufei chang #sally po #lucrezia noin #zechs merquise #relena peacecraft #lady une #preventers

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nadziejastar · 4 years

Note

It's sort of amazing the difference between the fan interpretation of RAX and how they interact in canon. In Days they're super dysfunctional, border on being toxic, and their friendship was unsustainable from the start even if they didn't realize it. In fanon they're a picture perfect family who can never be torn apart. And the KH3 went with the fan interpretation instead of acknowledging any of their issues.

I totally agree. I think the reason is that the fandom tends to be very young. It’s a big reason why Akuroku became so popular, IMO. Young teens tend to misinterpret unhealthy obsession (like Axel’s) as romance and true love. And the Sea-Salt Trio’s dysfunction also was also overlooked in a similar manner.

I gotta be honest. I feel pretty uncomfortable with the general interpretation of the Sea-Salt Trio in this fandom. It’s just so bizarre to me how Roxas and Xion’s friendship with Axel was put on such a pedestal and how his relationship with Isa was pretty much ignored by almost everyone. It’s just…amazingly unrealistic if you think about it. I think it’s a testament to how young the fans are, in general.

Axel’s relationships truly aggravate me, because he was written a LOT differently than Sora or other simplistic characters. I know that the target demographic for Kingdom Hearts is pretty young. And in the end, I think Axel’s character was a victim of that. Nomura tried to write him very authentically at first.

But his characterization was dumbed down to fit in with a largely tween/teen audience and their preferences. I don’t say that to be disparaging to younger fans or anything. But, had KH3 not been a Disney property, and had it been targeted to a slightly older audience, I think Axel and his relationships would have been handled a LOT differently.

I definitely think the Sea-Salt Trio was VERY misunderstood by the fandom. Axel has known Saïx for at least 10 years. Probably more. Even before their backstory was explained, you could tell they have been through hell together in the organization, without anyone else to trust besides each other. Axel was willing to do all of his dirty work.

Then Axel meets Roxas and Xion. Two kids who—let’s be honest—are about on the level of your average fifth grader. Not a bad thing. They’re just very naive and childlike and he obviously can’t be 100% himself around them. Do people really think Axel is gonna replace his best friend so easily with two kids he’s known for less than a year? Apparently, yes. Let’s look how absurd it is.

Day 75

Inseparable

The Genie we met in Agrabah said he and his friend Al are "inseparable." Axel told us best friends can be inseparable even if they're not always together, but it sounded like he wasn't too sure about it himself. I thought Axel knew everything. Oh well...

At this point, Axel spent quite a while at Castle Oblivion. He hasn’t even gotten to know Roxas that well, and he’s only known Xion for a few days. It’s totally realistic that he’d say he doesn’t have a best friend. He sounds like he knows what it’s like to have a best friend, though. He just doesn’t have one anymore.

Day 96

Roxas: I just…want these days to last forever. Hanging out, the ice cream, the sunsets…

Axel: Nothing lasts forever, man. Least of all for a bunch of Nobodies. But you know, we’ll still have each other…even if things change and we can’t do this anymore.

Roxas: Yeah?

Axel: As long as we remember each other, we’ll never be apart. Got it memorized?

Roxas: Ha ha, wow, Axel. That sounded ridiculous.

Axel: What? I thought it was pretty deep.

Not even two weeks later, he’s acting all touchy-feely about the time they spend hanging out together. Roxas and Xion make fun of him because even they know they’re not really that close, lol. They hardly know each other at this point. If you read between the lines, you could tell that he was thinking about Saïx here, too.

Friends

Author: Axel

I feel like I’ve been spending more time talking to Roxas and Xion lately than my old friend, Saïx. This has to have been what it was like, friendship.

But if that wasn’t obvious enough, the report clears up all doubt. He WAS thinking about Saïx. The message I got was: Lea and Isa had a very close relationship as humans. They were the ones who were really inseparable.

Axel misses that and, the more he remembers it, is desperate to fill the void. Every time he mentions “best friends,” it relates back to this. But this concept went “whoosh” over 90% of the fandom’s head. It baffles me. I really just don’t get it. Again, I have to think it’s due to the fact that this series skews really young.

Day 118

You Changed, Not Me

Author: Axel

Talking to Roxas and Xion always brings back memories of my human life, back when I was a kid. It’s a weird sensation. I ought to be able to share all this with Saïx, but I just don’t feel like it anymore. It’s strange, but I’m content with just missing what’s gone. I’m not the one who changed. You did.

Anyways. Three weeks later. Axel is very hung up on the past. He sounds like a heartbroken lover (because that’s exactly what he is, if you ask me). The reason Axel spends so much time with Roxas and Xion is because Isa changed.

Day 150

Too Precious to Lose

Axel and I talked for a while about the things we can’t bear to lose. Axel thinks that for Nobodies, it’s our pasts, because that’s all we have to remember the pain of losing something. I don’t remember my past, but the idea of losing the present–Axel or Xion–scares me.

A month later. Axel comes back from Castle Oblivion yet again, and he’s even more nostalgic for the past than last time. I bet Axel’s time at C.O was gonna be featured as a blank period in BBSV2. But whatever. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing his memories of the past.

The reason Axel treasured his memories so much was because it’s all he had left after losing something. OBVIOUSLY it’s because of his relationship with Isa. I mean, duh. It implies a pretty special connection between Axel/Lea and Saïx/Isa for him to feel that way, especially considering how mean Saïx is to him.

I’m not trying to trash Axel’s feelings for Roxas and Xion, either, or make them out to be unimportant. They were important to him, for sure. But they absolutely did not reach Isa’s level of importance to him. No fucking way. Not. Even. Close. Especially not on Day 150. By the end of the story, Axel couldn’t bear to lose Roxas and Xion because they were all he had to fill the void of Isa.

That’s not to say that he didn’t care about them as friends, or that he was just using them. It just means that I don’t think Axel really would want to be “inseparable” with Roxas and Xion once he was mentally and emotionally healthy. He’d want to be friends with them, of course, but not hang out every day like Hayner, Pence, and Olette. He’s not on the same level as Roxas and Xion. And that’s fine.

Terra: Protect the things that matter… Right. My friends matter to me, too. So, I still have things that I have to protect.

To use a comparison, Riku was very important to Terra. I LOVED the connection between them. Other than Lea and Isa, one of the things I was most excited to see in KH3 was Riku and Terra reuniting (yeah…). They had a very special bond. Riku helped comfort Terra when he was down. But. Riku was NOT as important to Terra as Aqua and Ven were. Even if Terra had spent a whole year with Riku, he still wouldn’t be as important to Terra as Aqua and Ven.

Roxas and Xion being portrayed as the most important people to Axel is as ridiculous to me as Riku being portrayed as the most important person to Terra. It would be weird if 99% of the fanart out there depicted Riku as Terra’s best friend and Terra’s reunion with Riku got more spotlight in KH3 than his reunion with Ven and Aqua.

That’s how I feel about the Sea-Salt Trio. I really liked it for what it was in Days. A complex, morally grey friendship between an emotionally damaged adult and two innocent kids. But I really don’t like the overly saccharine, cutesy, cuddly, one-dimensional fandom version of it, where Axel is treated like he’s on the same level as the two teens. It’s a testament to how young the fandom is that people really thought Lea would be “meh” about reuniting with his childhood best friend who’s been possessed for 10 years, and be waaaay more excited about getting to eat ice cream with two teens every day once again.

Day 172

What’s Love?

On my mission at Beast’s Castle, Xaldin told me about "love” and the special power it has over people. I tried to ask Axel about it, but his explanation didn’t make any sense to me. Every time I ask him about this kind of thing, he tells me I need a heart to understand. It’s like he’s dodging the questions.

Axel tolerates severe emotional abuse from his possessed best friend because he loved him back when he was normal. He copes by with his extremely shitty life by living entirely in the past, through his memories. Hanging out with two kids helps him remember his old life, back when he was happy. God, he was such a fascinating character. Such wasted potential.

Day 193

Best Friends

Xion's awake now. The three of us were gonna go get some ice cream after our mission, but she passed out again, so we had to take her home. I talked with Axel in her room until she woke up. He said the three of us were best friends—inseparable.

Axel said he had no best friend on Day 75. Now it’s Day 193. That’s only 119 days. That’s less than four months!! He gets in a fight with Saïx, who, once again, says he’s changed. A very sore topic for Axel. Then immediately afterwards, he says these two kids are his best friends.

If I was gonna compare it to real life: Let’s say Lea and Isa were two normal high school kids who were kidnapped and raised in a gang. Axel is a 25/26 year-old former gang member. He’s got blood on his hands. He’s a good person deep down, but he’s seen a lot of shit. Then he meets these two fifth graders. This adult gang member, with tear-drop tats and everything, suddenly starts calling these two fifth graders his best friends. He wants to spend all of his time eatig ice cream and playing Minecraft with them.

If this was real life, would anyone say how cute it is that they are best friends? Two kids who he had to teach the concept of “best friends” to? NO! No, they’d say that’s unhealthy and weird and that the guy needs therapy. Because it IS unhealthy and weird. Perhaps it easier to see that as an adult. Perhaps it’s easier to see it in a romanticized way when you’re young.

The Sea-Salt Trio was, in a way, Axel forcing the label of “best friends” on two kids in an attempt to cope with the heartbreak of his loss of innocence. It did have genuine cuteness and sweetness. Of course it did. Axel was not a predator or anything. Roxas and Xion loved him. Axel loved them. But…it wasn’t as cutesy and wholesome as people make it out to be. At least not from Axel’s end. It wasn’t JUST a cute wholesome trio.

That’s what made it so good. It was complex and grey. Axel never went against the organization, even though he could have if he really wanted to. It got to the point where he nearly killed both Roxas and Xion, just because he couldn’t bring himself to go against the organization. And the reason he couldn’t go against the organization was because of Saïx. Yes. Axel came thiiiiis close to killing both Roxas and Xion for a sociopath who treated him like shit. Their friendship was very dysfunctional and had a lot of kinks to work out.

Again, I’m not trying to denigrate the bond Axel had with Roxas and Xion. It was still genuine and sweet, in a sad and messed up way. I can still appreciate the cuteness of it.

But I hated the Sea-Salt reunion in KH3. Because it only focused on the most one-dimensional, saccharine and cutesy portrayal of them possible. They didn’t have to talk about anything. It was just instant hugging and ice cream, now they’re best friends forever. Everything played up to the max to manipulate people’s emotions. None of their issues were worked out and they had no better understanding of each other than they did at the end of Days. Honestly, even though Roxas and Xion got the red carpet treatment compared to Isa, the resolution to their trio was just as pathetic as Isa/Lea’s duo.

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