#You're looking them in the eye and they're saving your life by performing this impossible feat and neither of you are moving | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nonstoplover · 3 years

Text

happily ending catastrophies ~ Fred Weasley

summary: Fred is accidentally (and fortunately) at the right place in the right time, and is able to save a muggle girl's life.

pairing: Fred Weasley x muggle (female) reader

words: 5K

meaning of: (y/h/c) means 'your hair colour'

(kinda) warnings: (1) this plays after the war and Fred lives, because i refuse to accept anything else; (2) i'm not from the UK so excuse the possible mistakes i made about the underground; (3) also there are a couple time jumps, i didn't want to drag it for too long and had quite a few ideas i wanted to write

a/n: this was an idea born whilst i was studying for this year's most difficult exam at uni lol but i thought it was worth giving a shot so here it goes xx

my masterlist

(y/n) wakes up to the sweet scent of some kind of flower filling up her nose and lungs. Despite the panging in her head she cracks her eyes open to find the source, though as soon as she takes in the totally unfamiliar room around her, the flower immediately gets forgotten.

What the hell?

She frowns, pushing her upper body up on her elbows to get a better look around. She has never seen this room ever before. Or has she? Suddenly she's not so sure as a foggy memory appears in her mind. Her glance travels across the cardboard boxes beside the wall on the floor, piled high on top of each other, then a desk, a wardrobe, arriving to the bedside table that has a lamp and several strange things - looking like some foreign country's small candies in colourful wrapping - on the wooden surface.

Sitting up fully she tries to move her legs to place them on the floor, but finds that it's much harder than it usually is - than it should be. All her attention turn to her legs now and the weird feeling that surrounds her left leg she hasn't noticed before. Carefully she lifts the covers that wrapped her body in a warm embrace to see what's wrong with her leg. A gasp leaves her lungs right away as her eyes fall on the cast wrapped around it from her knees straight to her toes.

In that exact moment the door slowly opens and her eyes snap towards the entering figure - a flaming red haired young man - whilst her fingers scramble to get the blanket back on her lower body, hiding the lack of clothing she's wearing as she's in nothing else but her underwear.

"Ah, you're awake! How are you?" He asks when his eyes connect with hers and slightly widen.

And his voice brings back everything. Literally everything to her mind about how she got here, all the memories flashing by in front of her inner eyes.

- - - - - - - flashback - - - - - - -

Friday the 13th. The day of misfortune and disasters. (y/n) huffs as she makes her way down the street towards the underground station to go back to her apartment. Now she knows this fact from experience.

She woke up a bit late that morning and didn't have time to drink her usual morning coffee in the comfort of her home, so she had to wait until her first break at work to drink one. When she just finished brewing a cup for herself in the small kitchen at her work, the handle of her favourite mug she kept in there broke and the now handle-less mug full of the brown beverage fell to the ground and shattered to a thousand tiny pieces, and if it wasn't already bad enough, the coffee splashed on her white shirt, colouring it light brown and leaving a wet stain behind all across her chest.

After that she managed to get through the day quite normally, right until 3pm, when her boss called her in to his office.

"The company is facing a hard time," his voice still echoes inside her head, making her shiver in sadness and anger. "I'm sorry, (y/n), the performance you showed us in the past two years was truly great, but you gotta understand that I have to decrease the number of employees. And that unfortunately includes you. I'm sorry."

If the way she worked was actually 'truly great', then why do they fire her and not someone else?

Well, probably her boss told the exact same thing to everyone he kicked out today, she thinks, but it doesn't help at all - it doesn't get her her job back.

So half an hour ago she packed everything in a box and set off to go back home, mentally raging about the cursed day. She has never believed in any superstition like this, but today she's changed her mind. Maybe all these things are true.

And that's when the next string of catastrophies starts.

As she's moving along the pavement next to the tracks at the station, the heel of her shoe breaks and she stumbles, her box flying away from her grip, all the contents of it scattering all over the ground. (y/n) tries gaining her balance back, taking a couple steps back, but the pavement disappears from under her feet as she reaches the edge, completely unaware of it.

She falls back, down to the tracks, and an impossible pain shoots up from her left leg as she lands, the air totally knocked out from her lungs. As she tries catching her breath, her hands move to lay flat on the ground so she can push herself up, but the world around her seems like it's spinning and she feels too weak to move a single muscle in her body.

Everything decelerates into slow motion and she glances around to see what she could do when something bright catch her eyes. A shiny warm yellow circle in the distance, getting slightly bigger and bigger with every second. She observes it carefully, thinking about how pretty it looks as she wonders what it might be. It only takes a second or two for her mind to catch up and suddenly she's more than aware that a train comes towards her and she's not capable to do anything to stop the collision from happening.

Friday the 13th.

Out of nowhere she feels a presence next to her, and just as she turns her head that way to see what's going on and her eyes fall on locks of bright red hair and a freckled face, the man has already grabbed her arm and with a fierce pull hoisted her up to a standing position. It feels like her arm is ripped out from her body, for a moment even the unstoppable hurting from her leg fades out to give space for the one in her upper body and she gasps before everything goes black.

- - - - - - - end of flashback - - - - - - -

The following events go by as a dozen of blurry pictures (y/n) can't make out in her mind and she blinks a couple times to get back to the present, to reality. She focuses on the redhead again, the last person she clearly remembers seeing.

"Where am I?" Her voice comes out hoarse and quiet and she clears her throat, waiting for his answer, knowing how she behaves quite rude completely ignoring his question, but she just can't help it.

She hasn't a clue where they could be, she's never seen a place like this in her entire life. It's obvious it's not a hospital. And after what happened it's just as obvious that she needs hospital treatment.

"The Burrow," he replies with a small smile playing on his lips.

And though she thought his answer would help clear some of the fog inside her head, it only confuses her more. Fred bites back the chuckle that threatens to burst from him seeing her cute frowning expression and waits for her to ask again, knowing it'll soon happen.

"The what?" The girl speaks up again, her voice now much clearer.

"My family home."

The confusion still stays on her face, and Fred truly can't blame her for it - who wouldn't be distraught after waking up in a stranger's home? Still, seeing the same expression he first ever saw on her face brings him back to the Tube station in London.

- - - - - - - Fred's flashback - - - - - - -

He's rushing down the stairs to catch the apparently soon arriving underground train, cursing his twin brother under his breath for winning the bet that resulted in the usage of any and every magical thing being forbidden for Fred for this whole week. Now he has to run errands adjusting to the timetables of muggle public transport and he's running out of time. Everything takes so much more time in the muggle world, and in the past few days he's grown to appreciate being born into the world of magic more than ever.

Arriving next to the tracks he catches sight of a dozen or so people there and relief fills his body. So the train hasn't left yet. He slows down to a walking pace and tries to catch his breath, and that's when he notices something weird about the people, something he has never seen in the past days when he used the Tube. They're all moving closer to each other, slowly making a tight circle, all of them looking in the same direction, as if something was on the tracks.

Curiosity rises in Fred and he makes his way to the edge of the crowd, standing on his toes to tower over it and glance down. His eyes immediately fall on a young woman lying there, one of her legs twisted in an abnormal way. She's looking to the side, towards the tunnel from where the train should arrive any minute now. Her expression displays confusion and slight fear, but her breathtaking beauty is still obvious, and it makes his heart skip a beat. His eyes slowly turn to where she's looking and he can see the light that swiftly grows brighter and brighter inside the usually dark tunnel, but his mind can't comprehend what he sees as all his thoughts are still only about the gorgeous woman lying there.

"The train's coming!" Somebody in the crowd shouts and that's what wakes Fred from his daze. His head snaps back and forth from the tunnel to the girl a couple times, so fast it's a miracle his neck doesn't break.

His body moves before he can fully think about his actions and suddenly he's pushing people away to make a path for himself in the crowd and he jumps down to the tracks. He hears a couple gasps from behind him, even a couple voices trying to inform him again and again that the train is actually soon there, but he doesn't care. All he focuses on is the task in front of him.

Squatting down he grabs one of the woman's arms and drapes it around his shoulder, standing up again as fast as he can, pulling her with him a bit harsher than he intended. She lets out a gasp in obvious pain, but he knows there's no time to be more gentle. Both of his arms move around her, one around her shoulder blades and one around the backs of her thighs to lift her up bridal style as he knows one of her legs is broken and she can't stand on it. And he's thankful for his own speed and thoughtful actions as he feels her body go limp as she faints.

The head-splittingly loud sound of a horn fills the air just as he turns around, signalling that they were noticed by the people on the train. As he takes the first few steps back towards the pavement he glances up, seeing two or three men already there bending down with their arms stretching in his direction. Fred quickens his pace as much as he's able to and practically throws the woman in the waiting hands, helping them pull her up by pushing her body from under, the screeching of brakes, iron on iron being the only sound that can be heard.

He stays on the tracks until he's completely sure that she's safe, than he grabs the edge of the pavement and swiftly pushes himself up, crawling on the cold surface until his legs are lying there as well. He feels a breeze moving against his back as the train arrives to the station, but he doesn't care about it, neither the cheering that erupts from the people around him, celebrating his heroic act, not even the burning feeling in his muscles from being strained. He just pushes himself up and stumbles to the woman, falling back down on his knees to be able to get a better look of her.

From up close he can see how she's even younger than he has thought, probably close to his age. She's obviously falling in and out of unconsciousness every other second. The word 'ambulance' enters his ears from the people around them, and he finds himself with a new task ahead of him. Somehow he has to get the girl away from this place and back to the shop so he can take her to the Burrow. Muggle hospital treatment isn't enough now, the wizarding world offered much better methods of healing. His mother will know what to do.

- - - - - - - end of Fred's flashback - - - - - - -

"And why am I here?" (y/n) continues asking.

"You broke your leg."

"Yeah, I figured, but shouldn't I be in a hospital then?" She tilts her head, raising an eyebrow.

"This is better than a muggle hospital," the young man shrugs.

"Mu... a what?"

"Ah, sorry. Slipped out," he let out a small chuckle, scratching the back of his neck in slight embarrassment.

Here comes the moment he dreaded. When he has to explain the existence of magic and the wizarding world to a completely clueless person and trying to do that without making a complete fool out of himself in front of the angel-like girl when she won't believe him - which he's sure she'll do.

"Wait, who are you? I don't even know your name," she speaks up again. "And how could I truly thank you for saving my life if I don't know even that?"

"There's no need to thank me," Fred protests.

"Of course there is!" (y/n) squeals as loudly as her weakened state allows. "Not everyone would jump down to the tracks when there's a train coming to save a complete stranger."

"Yeah, well, true," he mumbles, thinking back to how nobody did anything for her, anger filling his veins. Then he clears his throat, shaking his head to get rid of the negative thoughts and to focus on the girl again. "I'm Fred. Fred Weasley."

"Thank you for all you did, Fred. I'm (y/n) (y/l/n)," she sticks her hand out and a smile makes it's way to Fred face, matching the one on hers as he steps closer to shake her hand.

- - - - - - - 2 months later - - - - - - -

"I'm absolutely fine, Freddie, stop acting like I'm made of porcelain. I'm totally able to walk down the stairs on my own two feet," (y/n)'s giggling voice fills the air on the second floor of the Burrow when the redhead gently pulled her arm around his neck as he's done so many times in the past weeks.

"Alright, alright, I get it," Fred puts his hands up in surrender, backing away as laughter erupts from his throat and he turns his head away to hide the blush forming on his cheeks from the nickname she used.

Unfortunately he only gets completely face to face with his smirking twin brother who winks his way before pushing past him, a knowing chuckle sounding from him as he rushes downstairs, past (y/n), who follows him right away, only a bit slower, with Fred's careful, watching eyes trained on her back.

"See? I told you," the girl glances back at him over her shoulder after arriving downstairs, not stopping on her way to the dining table, only to stumble in a shoe someone left in the way. Fred immediately reaches out to grab her elbow and stop her from falling. From the strength of his attentive pull on her arm, instead of flying to the ground she crashes into his chest.

"I don't know, I'm not so sure," he teases, looking down with a smirk playing on his lips.

(y/n) moves her head up to connect her eyes with his, and Fred glances around her face, taking in the pink colour of her skin on her cheeks caused by the embarrassment of almost falling, then as his eyes reach the sight of her lips, he suddenly becomes almost too aware of how close the two of them actually are, and the breath hitches in his throat.

"Come on, kids, dinner's gonna get cold!" Molly's voice breaks the moment they shared and (y/n) regains balance, then gently pushing the boy away she turns around and limps the rest of the way to the dining table.

All of the Weasleys are already sitting there, watching the two of them appear in sight, and (y/n) has to bite back a giggle, still not used to the seemingly infinite number of redheads, all smiling wide and sweet at her. George pulls the chair she has always sat on ever since she was able to get downstairs out for her, offering a helping hand knowing that it's harder to sit down with only one properly working leg. Fred reaches out for her other arm just as she makes contact with George's hand, and the two of them don't let go until she's stopped moving.

She glances back and forth between the two boys sitting on either side of her, rolling her eyes at how overly protective both of them behave, when she's already told them hundreds of times that she's able to get by on her own.

The meal is delicious and the company is entertaining, just like it has always been since (y/n) stepped foot into the Burrow. Conversation flows without a hitch, only the occasional laughter breaking it for a second or two, and the (y/h/c) girl finds it hard to think about the inevitable - the moment that's coming fast, the moment when she has to leave these people and go back to her normal life. The Weasleys has become like a second family for her, and she fears that if she walks out that door, she'll never see them again. They're living a different life, in a completely different world. Their paths most likely will never cross again. She tries to brush off the sad thoughts, knowing that she'll have all the time to mope and grieve when she's back in her (ordinary and plain) flat on her own.

As she's helping Molly clean the dishes after the family finishes dinner, (y/n) pauses for a moment to glance at the redhaired woman. "Thank you for letting me stay here and for taking such good care of me."

"Oh, sweetie, you're more than welcome. It's our pleasure to have you here."

"That's true," Ginny chimes in with a joyful grin on her face as she places another dirty plate in front of her mother. "Your presence brightened up our boring lives."

"Boring?" (y/n) lets a loud laugh escape her throat. "Your lives are nothing even close to boring. Everything around here is breathtaking and spectacular."

"Is it though?"

"Try living my life for a week or so, and you'll know what boring really means," she shakes her head, the different memories and thoughts swiftly filling her mind as she turns around to lean the small of her back against the counter top, her eyes instantly connecting with Fred's, who's still sitting at the table, shamelessly watching her with searching eyes.

"I still can't believe there's a whole world of wizards and witches that we have absolutely no clue about. It makes me wonder how many things are there that's hidden from us. And it makes me scared how clueless we all are in the muggle world."

(y/n)'s only able to stand the intensity of his gaze for a couple seconds before she has to turn her head away, feeling the blood rush to her cheeks and heat them up. She swallows, only hoping that it stays unnoticed by the boy, but when she finally dares to glance back for the shortest of moments, she catches sight of a small smirk playing on his lips and she knows that nothing has gone unnoticed by him. Clearing her throat she tries to find something else to say, speaking the first words that come to her mind.

The newly learned word still rolls uncertainly from her tongue, not sure if she says it correctly, but when her restlessly moving eyes accidentally catch Fred's again, she sees a new kind of glint sparkling in his eyes, and it's enough to let her know that she used it correctly.

"It's not your fault," Ginny places a hand probably destined to be reassuring on the older girl's shoulder. "We're just too good at hiding it."

The two of them share a laugh, and unbeknownst to (y/n), it turns the shape of Fred's eyes into something that very much resembles a heart. His own heart flutters at the sound, the temperature of the room suddenly feeling too hot for him to bear, and he abruptly kicks his chair back, standing up and swiftly moving out of the house to get some fresh air and somehow try to cool the fire that's burning inside of his chest.

(y/n)'s eyes follow him, an eyebrow raised in question, deep in her thoughts right until the door closes shut again behind the boy. The sudden noise brings her back to the present and she shakes her head to get rid of the things running around in her head.

"Anyway, I gotta go upstairs and pack. I really have to go back home now," she sighs, pushing her body away from the counter.

"I'll come help you," Ginny immediately offers, hurrying after her.

Two and a half hours and a heart wrenching goodbye later (y/n) and Fred come to a stop outside her apartment's door, both of them feeling a previously never felt sadness fill their hearts.

All (y/n) can think of is flashing images of the flaming red haired boy. The way he sat at the edge of the bed she was lying in, telling her everything about the wizarding world. The way he lifted her up so effortlessly as if she weighed nothing to bring her downstairs when she was unable to walk in the first weeks. The way he walked her around the house and the garden, showing her everything and explaining things to her, adjusting to her extremely slow pace without a word. The way he showed her multiple of the products he and his twin brother sell in their shop, sometimes only speaking of their effects, other times even showing her, not caring with the fact it caused something inconvenient for himself as long as he made her laugh - which she did so many times and so hard that it made her sides hurt. The clothes he let her have when winter set in and her own became too thin to keep her warm, and the way the material smelled like him. The lingering touches of his calloused fingertips against the skin of her cheeks when he thought she was fast asleep - when in fact she was completely awake, fighting back the urge to press her face further into his touch.

In the meantime all Fred can think of is flashing images of the gorgeous muggle girl. The genuine curiosity that sparkled in her eyes whenever he told her about the world he's living in, the endless amount of questions she's asked him about anything and everything, the pure interest she showed from the first time he told her about the existence of magic. The way she bonded with each and every member of the Weasley family, finding a common thing with all of them and eventually making them all grow fond of her. The way she told him all about the muggle world and her own life, sharing all the details with him without hesitation - trusting him right away. The way his name rolled from her tongue - even more when she called him Freddie. The bubbling, loud laughter that erupted from her throat when he told her about the shop and all the pranks George and him did back in Hogwarts or when he showed her the products they now sell in the shop, the laugh that always made his heart skip a beat, the laugh he couldn't help but adore along with the fact that she seemingly didn't care the slightest bit how loud she is or how funny her laughter might sound. The way she looked in his clothes, always taking his breath away, making him wish nothing more in the rest of his life than to see that very sight every day as long as he lived - and possibly even after that.

"Well, thanks for getting me home," (y/n) points at the door behind her back as she looks up into his mesmerizing eyes. "And for jumping down in front of a train for me. And for letting me into your family home. And for taking care of me."

"It was the least I could do," Fred smiles sheepishly, his mind spinning, trying to come up with something to say that would keep the girl in his life.

"Bye, Freddie," she hesitates for a moment, then decides it doesn't matter anymore and leans in, pressing a soft kiss on his left cheek.

Fred's eyes flutter closed, heart bursting with the sudden feeling of love from both her lips touching his skin and the oh so loved nickname. He freezes, unable to think anything else than eight very important letters.

The girl moves back, fiddling with her keys to find the correct one, pushing it in the slot and turning it, gently shoving the door until it's wide open. She steps in, her eyes taking in the furniture and decoration she once loved but now finds unbelievably plain and mundane. A sigh escapes her lungs and she turns around to close the door - and wave once more the boy.

Fred still stands in the exact same spot, obviously not moving even the slightest bit since she backed away from him. (y/n) raises her hand to wiggle goodbye with her fingers at him whilst moving to close the door with the other hand, already feeling the tears blur her vision as she tries to take in the sight of him as best as she can to be able to remember him forever.

"Wait!" Fred exclaims, placing a palm flat against the wooden material to stop it before it fully closes.

This time (y/n)'s the one to freeze, hand pausing high in the air and she even holds back the breath in her lungs as she waits for him to continue.

"Can we meet again?"

Her eyes widen in surprise. She always thought that he'd never want to see her again. That he'd be happy to finally get rid of her and be able to continue his life as before. He wants to meet with her again?

"I... y-yes, of course," she stutters, heart stammering inside her ribcage so wild and loud, she's almost sure he can hear it.

The extremely wide smile that splits his face in two hearing her answer makes it impossible for her not to mirror it, her own lips curving on their own accord. Fred, feeling the previous nervous shyness evaporate from his body and the always present confidence fill his vein up again, takes a step closer to her, then another until he's right beside the door, gently pushing it wider open again. (y/n)'s hand on the door handle inside goes limp, and she lets it fall down to hang loose beside her body as Fred steps inside.

When he's so close that she can feel the breath coming from his nose reach the skin of her face, his lips open again to let out a whisper. "Can I kiss you?"

The already abnormal rhythm her heart beats in gets even more uneven, and her head moves in a nod as she breathes out the word 'yes'. Fred's eyes sparkle up even more, and his hands slowly start moving up, one reaching out to gently caress her cheek whilst the other wraps around the small of her back. Slowly, extremely slowly he leans down, pausing for a second just before their lips could touch, and as a wave of impatience rushes through the girl, she raises her head and presses her lips against his.

Fred lets out a muffled chuckle at her eagerness before tilting his head and snaking his arm further around her torso to pull her flush against his own body, his hand that's resting on her cheeks moving slightly further back until his fingers completely disappear in her (y/h/c) locks, his lips moving passionately against hers.

She completely melts into his touch, feeling like she's floating in the air, as if she's only dreaming. But when they both run out of oxygen and pull away to fill their lungs again, their foreheads pressing against each other in search of support and their eyes connecting without problem, looking deep into his beautiful brown orbs (y/n) grows sure right away that it's truly reality, not just a dream.

"I love you," he breathes in-between his quiet pants, but it's enough to make (y/n) totally dizzy as a love-struck grin spreads across her face.

And in that very moment they both know that their story is just starting.

.::the end::.

my masterlist

[wanna be added to my taglist?]

154 notes · View notes

klaussicarus · 4 years

Text

Day Ten: Corruption

Maddy stalked closer to Phantom and glared at him. He was begging for her to stop, for her to think everything over. He was sobbing. Maybe Maddie would've cared, would've seen what she was doing and would've stopped in horror. But all she could see was the unnatural green tint to his tears, further cementing his unnaturalness. His face had a blue shade creeping up his cheek and forehead, his eyes red and glowing, his pupils sharp and one eye was just blankly wide with no sclera to stop the blood crimsom.

Her and her husband had let Phantom be, had set a truce because they had assumed that Phantom would maybe be an outlier, that he would be more useful to them semi-dead than permanently dead. And he was, at least for a little bit. Then he started changing. The Fenton's knew what was going on. His appearance was changing to reflect his true self. He couldn't stay perfectly human forever.

There was a slow decay that ghosts took, and Maddie was just slightly upset that Phantom was decaying faster.

[[MORE]]

Danny felt himself hit the floor and fearfully glanced upward to his Mom and Dad. They were void of their usual antics, Mom had dropped her cheerful demeanor, a cold sneer across her face and his Dad had all but forgotten his facade of bumbling stupidity, instead his gaze was calculating and sharp. They had several weapons that Danny had never seen, impossible, for he had a constant eye on his parents lab through their cameras, deleting condemning footage and watching over every invention and making sure his trigger happy parents didn't have anything too dangerous. But here was over fifteen new weapons and gadgets that didnt even have starting blueprints displaying various ages and intricacies, all looking deadly and dangerous.

What had made his parents so paranoid that they had started making secret weapons? Did they know about Danny's stranglehold on their cameras? Did they know about his destruction of their weapons that went simply too far? Did they know about his alter ego dumping ghosts into the portal?

He didn't know and it was eating him up.

Scrambling back from his Mom as she got a little too close for comfort, her large and almost silly ecto-knife gripped in her hands. At least it would've felt silly if it wasn't covered in his glowing blood, his sides screaming in pain everytime he opened up a rapidly healing scab on his body. A bit of blood gurgled in his throat, spitting out the bright green, once again staining the metallic floor of the lab.

The next time he looks up Dad's gone, his eyes flicking around to try and find him, only to hear movements from behind his back.

'Shit, shit, shit,' Danny jumps up and starts hastily flying out, only for Mom to grab his ankle and to fling him into the wall. A loud crack echoes and Danny muffles a scream. Mom holds him down just barely, only able to pull her ecto-knife out once Jack helps constrict him to the wall. 'Oh god, they're really going to do it this time. They're going to fucking murder me.' He could see it in their determined brows, and cold gazes.

He breaks. He can only try to preserve his life, even if it doesn't preserve his double life.

"Mom! Dad! It's me!" He flickers back to his human self, even the few seconds tainting his blood with flecks of red, shifting back again even quicker to keep his advanced healing up. "I know it's hard to understand, but I'm a half ghost and I'm kinda sorta dead but I'm still the same Danny and I still love stars and the color red and I'm still am the same Danny that you know somaybepleasedon'tkillme!" His breath was coming fast, lungs heaving for unexisting air and heartbeat quickening like a rabbit's.

Mom's face remained the same angry sneer, with Dad only wearing a shade of weariness.

"We've known Phantom. We've known for a real long while. We're not stupid." Mom's grip tightens on his broken ankle, pulling a whine from his throat. "You're corrupted. It was our fault for letting you around those nasty two, who egged you on, and our fault for not locking you out of the lab."

Jack clears his throat, adding on. "We thought that maybe since your accident was different than Vlad's, that you wouldn't decay as he did. His process was slow and tedious, everything about him was decaying at the same high rate-"

Danny gasps, "You guys knew about Vlad?"

Maddie growls and slams his leg into the wall to shut him up. "I know we tend to play dumb, but you think we would really abandon our friend for no reason?" Another eyeroll, "That's practically insulting."

Jack claims the conversation again. "Anyways, we had left him as he was because he was something new, something we thought, that was going to finally bridge the gap between human and ghost. But he got more and more sickly. His mind started breaking, he didnt have enough of a connection to the living world. So me and Madsy decided to try to help. It was agreed, I would get into a bit of a spat with Vlad, and pull away and stop visiting him, while Maddie would play up his crush on her before announcing our now blossomed relationship. It was a perfect recipe for the classic kill-replace-marry obsession. Then we stayed back and waited. But, it seemed he immediately went off the deep end. The only reason we didn't do anything was because we were soft. We felt bad. So we left him and only really checked up on his status intermittently."

Danny stared in horror. They had both manipulated and used Vlad like a puppet. This whole time he was singing and dancing to their tune, and they just let him go rage-drunk and wreck havoc on the human realm due to having an unfulfilled and erratic obsession! It was truly inhumane and disturbing. Every ghost knew to never manipulate someone's obsession, to never mess with it. It was a ghost's tether to the living realm and was the pillar for a ghost's core!

But on went Maddie, unseeing or simply uncaring of Danny's reaction to such statements. "But when we realized what happened to you, we assumed that you would be better. You had immediately changed. You weren't slowly dying, slowly decaying! So we assumed that you were lucky. We went soft, and went easy on you. You even ran around saving the town! You didn't need an obsession to live! You were a perfect halfa. Vlad was just a ball of unhealthy obsessions in every aspect of his life, yet here we had our ultimate halfling, no obsession, no monstrousness, no ghost likely behavior." Maddie seems to perk up talking about his perfections before glowering at him. "But then a month and a half ago, you started a uptick in you passion for space, then adding on an extra obsession for bowling, then everything you ate had to have apples in it, then you stayed longer in your ghost form, performing mindless tricks in front of the crowd when you didnt have heroic duties, then you were missing days of school, coming back with snowflakes on your shoulders and ice on your shoes from the ghostzone. We first thought that this was normal teenage obsessions and rebellions, but then your eyes would flicker red, and your teeth got a little to sharp, then your hair started flickering and your skin got colder and turned more and more hypothermic blues. You were decaying. You are decaying." She bitterly looks away. "A failure. Once we dispatch you, we'll do what we should have done long ago, and track down Vlad to put an end to his miserable half life."

Her knife hovered above the young halfling's throat. His eyes were wide with panic, the emotion fueling his transformations as his skin fully turned blue and his eyes kept flickering between green and red. There were tears in his eyes that shone green and his wide pupils flinched away from her for a second before letting out a melodic pitched scream, his voice not hurting her, but instead filling her head with urgency and an undesirable need to stop what she was doing. Jack lets go of him and Maddie felt herself lower her knife. What was this feeling? Was it like some self defensive ghostly wail?

Danny closes his mouth In shock and scrambles up to cling to some pipes on the wall in a desperate attempt to climb away. When Maddy feels his leg leave her grasp, she shudders and regains her sense of reality.

"GET HERE YOU MISERABLE LITTLE CREATURE! YOU DARE TRY TO FUCK WITH MY HEAD? HOW DARE YOU!" She pulls him back down and slices at his chest. 'Ironic,' she thinks to herself, 'that we brought all this gear yet all we needed was just a silly knife!'

#danny phantom #danny fenton #dannymay #dannymay2020 #phantom #maddie fenton #madison fenton #jack fenton #fenton #corruption #ectoknife ectoblood #tw blood #blood #stab wound #knives #trigger warning

40 notes · View notes

gracie-p8-officialblog · 4 years

Text

Defending Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny

Ah oxymorons, one of my favourite literary devices... If you don't know what an oxymoron is, let me enlighten you: it's a phrase that contradicts itself (kinda like verbal irony), like "jumbo shrimp", "chilled hot chocolate," "clearly confused" or "defending Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny".

Because, you know, Raoul doesn't need much defending. Seriously. If there's going to be any defending going on here, Raoul's the one who does the defending for most of the play (up until Final Lair where the roles are reversed and Christine is now the one who does the defending but more on that later.) Are we clear on that? Good.

And it has come to my attention that Raoul has got a lot of flak from phans for various reasons. And in this post, I'm going to refute the stupidest Raoul bashing arguments.

Also, we're not counting Love Never Dies because I think it's just an alternate universe and that it ruined Raoul's character for the sake of that fanfiction.

It is a truth universally acknowledged (or at least in the wee Raoul Defense Squad Circle) that Raoul is one of the greatest and most underrated boyfriends to ever exist in musical theatre. There seem to be two kinds of people in this world: those who appreciate Phantom of the Opera, and those who don't know what they're missing. The ones who appreciate Raoul as the hero, prince charming and cinnamon roll he is, and then there's the other camp. The ones who villainize Raoul and think he is nothing but a stupid, wimpy, abusive fop who crushed the Phantom (aka. Erik's) dreams and never truly loved Christine. They seem to be laboured under the mistaken delusion that Raoul is a cowardly pretty boy who is pretty much Gaston 2.0. (Technically, there's a third group: those who know nothing about Phantom of the Opera (POTO) but we can only hope that they will come out from under their rocks as soon as possible)

In case if you couldn't tell, I'm Team Raoul. And the bashing he recieves is unfair tbh. This is where I will appreciate and explain why I love him.

First of all, I'd like to combat the theory that he is boring. Ladies, puh-leeze. He's much more relatable than you admit and that we all have a little bit of Raoul in us. Failure to see things staring us in the face, saying or doing the wrong thing at the wrong time, having a 'see it to believe it' attitude when we have little-to-no evidence on something... yeah, don't pretend you don't see a trend. Raoul is relatable whether we want him to be or not.

And just because Raoul has boy-band hair and dresses well, that doesn't make someone a fop. He's a navy man and a nobleman so he is expected to look nice. But Erik is the one who takes it to the extreme. I mean, c'mon, a fedora?

I also noticed that when he asked Christine out for dinner after reuniting with her ruffled the feathers of many phans. What right has Raoul to fall in love with Christine? What does he need from her? He only fell in love with her for her voice and beauty! And he only noticed her when she was in Hannibal! Can't he just go get someone else?

News flash people. It's been YEARS since Raoul last saw Christine. And they were kids when they last saw each other, along with the fact that he travelled in order to train as a navy man! So it's understandable on why he got excited to see Christine again after so long. Plus, his love for her is more than just her voice and beauty. Sure, they have mutual memories and he likes the way she sings, and he likes how beautiful she is. But there's nothing wrong with thinking of how beautiful a girl is AND how beautiful is her voice (within reason).

I admit, Raoul and Christine's relationship at first struck me as being sappy and overdone. You must know that I was only nine or ten when I first discovered POTO, and so excuses must be made. By the time I listened to it again at fourteen, I was completely won over. Raoul fell in love with her because she was a nice, beautiful person (both on the inside and out) and they knew each other since they were kids! His love is genuine AND stable for Christine. He represents everything she needs- stability, protection, a guiding hand and affirmed affection. She represents everything he needs, in turn, someone to show affection to and the woman he has loved since childhood. Plus, he was brave enough to ask Christine to marry him despite their class differences, risking that his family might disown him for being married to someone inferior to his rank. It just shows how strong his love for her is.

And now, let's get this point clear, I believe the claim that he was gaslighting Christine is bogus. He's been raised as someone who doesn't believe in the supernatural and 'phantom' literally means 'ghost'. But here’s the kicker. He doesn’t leave. Like, no matter how much he doubts her love of what she says, he still loves her and stays with her. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with him thinking Christine is a little delusional with all the Phantom stuff. None of it added up to him, and it all seemed illogical. Its natural for any human being to not believe those kinds of things, so stop using that to make him look bad. Plus, if he said something like "Oh Christine, you're SO stupid!" and laughed at her about it, phans could definitely have a valid reason to hate him. But he doesn't do that! Instead, he tries to find the Phantom's voice calling out to her and when he saw nothing, he began to comfort her and was like" There, there, shh... Don't worry... Everything's gonna be alright. I'll help you make all the bad things go away." And due to dramatic irony, he has little-to-no evidence to prove the Phantom's existence compared to the audience who saw it all!

If you still aren't convinced, then listen very closely to what I'm about to say: Here's some 'Raoul's I highly recommend to look up before y'all hate on him.

I highly recommend John Cudia, Michael Shawn Lewis, Jordan Donica and Patrick Wilson who play VERY princely and adorable Raouls. Trust me, their Raouls are IMPOSSIBLE to hate!

One last point before I wrap this up: The only reason Raoul asked her to agree to be the lead is because he realized that if Christine does that, the Phantom would be there. And he knows it's their chance to get rid of this elusive Opera Ghost. And the only reason Christine doesn't want to is because she is afraid of what the Phantom will do. Now this annoys many Raoul-haters and call me a broken cassette tape but... Even though I agree it was a teensy bit callous of him to persuade Christine into performing her stalker's opera, Raoul hoped it would catch the Phantom, and he was willing to do it to get protect Christine from the Phantom in the future. Was his plan risky? Probably. Did he honestly think Christine would be in danger? No! He was going to get all the cops to come and protect her. How was he supposed to know the Phantom had other plans? Plus, running away is a big no-no for Raoul. Because as shown in "Why Have You Brought Me Here/Raoul, I've Been There" and "Wandering Child", whenever and wherever they run to, the Phantom ALWAYS finds them! Therefore, to his naive, young mind, he believed that doing Don Juan Triumphant would stop the Phantom from doing more harm to Christine and the opera house. So stop using this to vilify him!

I should like to also take this time, while I still have your attention (you are paying attention, right? Right? Hey! Wake up!) to point out some other important events that showed Raoul's character and bravery; namely, him fighting his way through the French sewer system (aka. The yuckiest parts of France) to save Christine, he didn't keep his hand to the level of his eyes to comfort a terrified Christine, he dodged some fireballs thrown at him in the graveyard just so he could protect Christine AND last but not least, he nearly died for Christine in order to save her from Stockholm syndrome/an abusive relationship!

In short: Raoul de Chagny is a knight in shining armour who loves Christine more than his own life. He stands by her, fights for her, comforts her AND was willing to sacrifice everything for her! And how the audience writes him off as an one-dimensional bad guy who does not love Christine, I will never know why. Are you convinced yet? If not... *hands list of what are the differences between a healthy and unhealty relationship* Yours, I believe.

#raoul de chagny #Raoul defense squad #phantom of the opera #POTO #just some tea #Defending Raoul de Chagny #no raoul bashing or you get a timeout #spilling tea

21 notes · View notes

two-wrongs-make-a-write-83 · 4 years

Text

A Halcyon Nightscape

Hallie yawns and stretches once again. It feels nice to spend a night out. Far away from the busy hectic city life. No horns, no crowd, no pollution, just peace. And bliss.

She should go out for late night walks more often, Hallie makes a mental note. The two hours long stroll along the logs in the midst of greenery was worth every bit.

The entire area is strangely quiet. People aren't around at this side of the tarn. But at least there is supposed to be sounds made by birds, crickets, squirrels, chipmunks, rats or any other animals likewise. As far as she knows, Jordan Pond doesn't have any presence of carnivorous beasts. So she shouldn't be afraid, right? Well, a black bear might be a rare sight. But still not impossible.

She again checks the Glock 21 in her pocket, just in case. Her dad was the one to teach her marksmanship. Hallie remembers how her dad used to train her every single day from dawn to dusk, not that she ever regretted. Besides the boring homeschooling sessions and day-and-night training, the dynamic father daughter duo also had occasional camping schedules just for fun. Here in this very Acadia National Park. This place was their sanctuary.

She misses him. She misses the times when the two used to come here at the campgrounds and enjoyed fishing and swimming all day in the ocean, having barbeque under the starry night summer sky and munching s'mores in front of the crackling fire. Also, stargazing. Not with open eyes, with necessary equipment, telescope and everything.

Her dad was the one to teach her all about the constellation. He was a walking encyclopedia when it came to guns and stars. Quite contradictory, isn't it?

Hallie and her father considered themselves lucky. Especially after that narrow escape from death, only minutes away from a rockfall accident. But even that luck was not enough to make her dad live longer. Coronary artery complications made him suffer an early death.

Hallie sighs. She feels sad because she misses him, nostalgic because the place reminds her of all those sweet memories.

Conquer your fears, Hale. Don't let them stop you from anything. Listen to your heart.

Those were his last words to her. She still can remember that day so vividly, as if it were yesterday. A sunny, bright and white yet mundane room that smelled sterile and disinfectant. His father, fragile on a cot, yet acting like he's the strongest man on earth. The hero Hallie always saw in him, the hero he felt he needed to pretend.

She wanted to tell her dad to stop trying. It's okay to let go. It's okay to show weaknesses. Her throat tightened, and in the end, no words came out. Only silent tears.

Focus on your target, Halcyon. Tighten your grip. Don't hesitate.

To her dad, she was either Hale or Halcyon. After his departure, she didn't hear either of the two names anymore. She became Hallie, just Hallie. Not so lucky any longer.

She walks up to the lakeshore as she reminisces about the good old halcyon days. It's the first time she came to visit the park after that tragic loss.

Silence seems more prominent around the shoreline. It's a bit chilly here as well. Foggy breeze is blowing gently above the water surface. The air is crisp, cold and earthy. It smells of leaves, bark and grass - somewhat tinged with a bit of melancholy and nostalgia.

Sad or not, the night sure is beautiful. Especially now during the fall, the whole park is covered in vermillion foliage.

Something seems enchanting about the entire atmosphere. And unearthly. Is it because she came here after so long or...

What can it be? It's just another ordinary night.

Nothing is ordinary. Nothing is coincidental.

Her father used to say. She concentrates on warming her hands, rubbing them together continuously.

First the silence and now this outlandish steamy breeze. No, it's nothing unusual. Hallie crouches down near the shore and looks at her own reflection in the water. Under the midnight blue sky, she can see her faint reflection moving in a slow rhythm along with the gentle flow of the lake-water.

The color in the water surface starts to change ever so slowly. Then the pace fastens exponentially. The midnight blue turns into hazy dark mauve, then magenta and then into coral, to the faintest of crimson aiming for a brighter scarlet. It's not even dawn yet. The silence seems to be ceasing as well. At first, the sound was distant. The faint sound is now getting louder and clearer.

Alert, she stands up looking at the sky. No sign of the sun. Instead she catches a shooting star crossing the sky. But... The direction...

Why is it coming down? Is it gonna fall down here? It can't just land here. Or it can...

And once she thought she was lucky to be saved by minutes from a common rockfall. This huge chunk is freaking falling from the sky. Maybe she was destined to die this way. The rockfall accident in the past was only a reminder.

Now, the gun inside her hoodie pocket seems useless. She's surrounded by dark woods, stark mountains and a motionless tarn. Even in this vast space, she's feeling claustrophobic. Perhaps, that's how deaths are - sudden, unpredictable, unapologetic. Will anybody know if she dies here? There are definitely people around a few miles away, probably enjoying dinners in the nearby inns. Closing her eyes, she braces herself and gathers the guts to face her departure.

One second, two seconds, three seconds. Like this another twenty seconds have passed. Nothing happens. Tentatively, she opens her eyes.

Nothing has changed. The reflection on water now dull, the sound no longer audible. Just like before. Of course, the sky is back to its former self, cloudless indigo filled with twinkling stars. No sign of the shooting star or whatever it was. It must've aimed for another galaxy.

All of a sudden, there's this tiniest speck of light just above the centre of the lake. It stayed only for a moment.

"What's going on here?" She says to herself. Her voice echoes in the mountains.

Hallie feels lightheaded. But at the same time, excitement begins to build up inside her. She stands still, waiting for the speck to reappear.

And her wish comes true. The light came back, only wider this time, just a little bit. It's coming closer towards her. One might think of the source to be a firefly but the color is so different. It's not golden, it's more than that. It's all the colors she has witnessed a few moments ago reflected on the lake surface and beyond.

Hallie is so mesmerized by it that she has forgotten to move away. The idea of it being something threatening does not occur to her.

The little circle of brightness begins to dance around her. As if Hallie became its new buddy. Everytime she tries to catch it, it slips away from her. Such a tease. After several attempts, she gives up, tired.

As she's busy panting, the sphere approaches her gingerly, like a child. She understands the ball-like particle is telling her to touch it. Hallie gives it a wry look.

"Now you're telling me? After all the chasing?" She complains, crossing her arms.

The two have been communicating as if both the parties were human beings, not just one. Hallie seems to have forgotten it as well.

She feels curious, but the next moment she's hesitant. Should she touch the ring of light? Won't she get burnt?

Conquer your fears.

Don't hesitate.

Listen to your heart.

The voice in her head is telling her to take a leap of faith. Thus she shakes off her doubts and fears and at last comes to contact with the mysterious luminous little sphere.

At her touch, the sphere acts like it's going to burst. Hallie, long forgotten about the danger, stands there holding her breath. Ready to see what it turns out to be. What it has to offer.

It's like fireworks. Unearthly, eccentric, ethereal fireworks. Shimmery golden hued spots have started to swirl, twirl and waltz around her. It's like the little speck got multiplied into millions. As if the little specks have taken the form of the starlight of the galaxy.

Hallie is gaping at this whimsical but spectacular performance, both marveled and dumbfounded. Is she dreaming?

The colors have started to take a different shade. Now they're no longer golden. It has been divided into shades of blue and red. Just like how the sky was previously. The tiny little particles of light fly altogether up in the sky and accumulate. The colors, the shape, they seem so familiar.

Halcyon.

Just like the bird.

It's her favorite bird. Well, aside from songbirds and kookaburras.

Are they really doing it for her?

"That's impossible," her voice was barely above a whisper.

After the almost shape of a mythical bird has been formed, the cluster flies higher and higher until it disperses and transforms falling down as rain. Rain of stardust.

Hallie has been showered by it. She tries to catch some of the specks. Too bad, she doesn't have a jar with her to contain these. So she rubs her hands inside her pockets hoping the memories would stay there. After she returns home, maybe she might be able to collect them in a container. If she's lucky enough.

She pulls her hands out to inspect them again. Some of the dust is still on her palm. But another peculiar thing occurs, as if the night couldn't get any stranger. Her palms begin absorbing the dust.

There's the earth, the stars and the planets. And there's the human race made from clotted coagulated blood which is actually earth! Honestly Hale, everything is more connected than we can ever imagine.

If only her father was with her tonight. Maybe he is with her. Not in person, but the memories of him are alive in her mind, warm and fresh. Hallie buries her hands around hugging herself, full of gratitude. She hasn't realized it until now, that she's crying.

Rubbing her eyes with her sleeves, she views her surroundings in a new light. As if she's a new person. Different not altogether, the core is still the same. But she's been awakened and enlightened.

The lakeshore looks tranquil and serene. The waves are calm. The sky is clear. The stars are bright, like glittering jewels.

Halcyon.

Placid. Joyful, peaceful, blissful.

She doesn't realize she's been standing in one place all this time. She drops on the ground and stares up at the sky smiling. Inhaling the fresh salty air, appreciating the breathtaking nightscape.

There are sounds of people around. Realizing, she gets up to find the source. She doesn't have to walk very further because people are coming in her direction. Many of them are carrying tripods with cameras, some are holding their phones, some are just chatting.

"Is something about to happen?" She asks one of them. In her mind, she thinks something has happened already. What else could there be?

"Haven't you heard of the news?" The nearby person asks back. When Hallie shakes her head slowly he says, "There's news about the arrival of the Northern Lights. Within a few minutes."

Hallie stares at the dude, brows knitted in concentration. "But I thought if the Northern Lights would be displayed… Shouldn't everyone be here way earlier?"

The guy nods repeatedly, "That's the thing. Nobody knew about it. It's unexpected. We all were in the camp houses when we heard of the news. We got notified half an hour ago. See?" He gestures around. "Everyone came here running."

Hallie acknowledges nodding. She takes in the information.

Within a few minutes, it happens as the news predicted, Aurora Borealis. At first the sky turns gray, there are barely some distinct lines of hazy gray. Then there's a little bit of movement followed by striking green, red, blue, pink and purple layers vibrating beneath one another. They're like rippling curtains. The colorful columns make rhythmic waves. The sky is a literal disco ball. The cloudless sky has turned technicolor, with an eerie glow. The overall feeling is full of magic and charisma.

Everyone is awed. Some may probably have seen it thousands of times but each time the beauty mystifies them. Hallie is no exception. Some are shouting, some are capturing the moments on their cameras. Some are running, trying to follow where the hazy band of light is going towards.

Hallie remembers her father once told her that the excited oxygen atoms are responsible for the green shades while the nitrogen atoms are responsible for the blue and deep red hues.

Just think about it, Halcyon! If the magnetic fields weren't there to deflect the solar storm, we would've been dead!

Magnetosphere saved us from such a catastrophe! And not just that. It tamed the plasma and turned it into this spectacular display! Aren't we so lucky?

"Yes Dad, we're very lucky. You were right, the universe is remarkable indeed." Hallie mutters under her breath. She glances at her side, everyone is busy cherishing mother nature. Her eyes fall on Jordan Pond again. The water is reflecting the colorful carnival. But it's ever calm. Just…

Halcyon.

Hallie is glad once again that she came here tonight. She shoves her hands into the pockets to check the stardusts. They're there. She smiles broadly. It feels like a little secret between nature and her.

Who knew, this fated night would be full of so much serendipity?

#my writing #spilled ink #am writing #greenmarrow83 #two wrongs make a write

1 note · View note