i think one of the reasons i’m so drawn to xue yang (besides Hot. and Vaguely Evil) is that every time i see him i’m staring at an alternate universe wei wuxian. he and wwx are absolutely each other’s ‘what could have been’ and watching them interact is so fascinating

To Give One’s Trust (1/1)

Note: Written for @csrolereversal​! I must admit that I'd nearly given up and dropped out of the event, but with the help and encouragement of @darkcolinodonorgasm​ and @artistic-writer​, the latter of whom also provided the magnificent art above that inspired this story, I managed to set a smaller, but more attainable goal and finish just in time to participate!

Summary: Captain Hook has been a werewolf for centuries, in control of his wild state. When he gets kidnapped and experimented upon, his desperate actions to escape have dire consequences for him. When Emma Swan meets a feral werewolf on a night with a full moon, she can sense that there's something more to that creature.  Perhaps, with the right amount of trust, she can help him help himself.

Warnings: Violence (yep, there's whump), blood, and near the end, a minor character death that’s a bit graphic.

Word count: ~6k AO3

~

In all his centuries and past torments, Captain Hook had never imagined he’d be brought to such a horrid state.

He’d known better, of course, than to make hopeful dreams for his future. He’d turned pirate because of his brother’s death; he’d surrounded his thoughts with a thirst for revenge because of Milah’s death; he had nothing more to live for...

Except, ever since that damned werewolf bit him, dying had stopped being an option.

And his current tormentors seemed to be aware of that. Actually, he wouldn’t call them tormentors, not exactly. Sure, they spared no sympathy for the pain they were causing him, no reaction to his screams, but overall they were only... testing. Potions, spells, curses, incantations, anything dark magic could conjure up.

They were of course aware of the fact that he couldn’t die and that his healing abilities worked ten times faster than of a normal human. So after they were done experimenting on him for the day, they’d leave him rest, curled up in a pool of his own blood, shivering, as he waited for his multiple wounds to heal. Then they’d come back the next day to continue their experiments.

He could swear that the worst was during the nights he turned. All of his senses were heightened then, as well as his healing, and the experiments got even worse - besides, they had to try the different application of some of them on a three-legged canine.

But that wasn’t the worst.

The worst was the Dark One watching.

He never laid a finger on him as his minions worked on the experiments he was ordering. He only watched, standing outside the cage Hook was kept in, sometimes even smiling at him. Sometimes he stayed after the other men had left, and watched him as Hook struggled to keep his sobs quiet, to not let the Dark One hear them.

Two months being experimented upon and most nights with Rumpelstiltskin watching he managed to keep quiet; that he considered a small victory.

He had made peace with his werewolf nature; thanks to meeting a werewolf pack during his first months of being one, he’d managed to learn to control himself, and for centuries, the night of full moon was just another night. Sometimes, seeing the moon grow larger could even bring him some excitement. The joy brought by running as a wolf could easily come close to the one of sailing in the open seas.

Now, that same sight only brought a reminder of a harsher, more painful night.

Some nights, when his body hurt too much for sleep to claim him, he’d look at the moon peeking outside the window and wonder how long he’d have to endure that.

~

It didn’t take much longer. Just one night before his third full moon there, Rumpelstiltskin got too close, and Hook was just too desperate. With surprising agility, considering his injuries, he plunged his hook into the Dark One’s arm... who was too keen on gloating about the pain he’d been ordering on him to notice Hook’s eyes dropping to the dagger on his belt.

It only took two swift moves to pull it out and bury it deep inside Rumpelstiltskin’s chest.

It was the moment Hook felt his mind stop working. He could watch. He watched Rumpelstiltskin fall on his side, dead. He watched a blast of magic leave him, destroying his cage and incapacitating - killing? - his tormentors before they had a chance to run. He watched the environment change around him as he moved - ran? - outside, to who knew where.

But he wasn’t seeing.

His senses were being assaulted by memories; all the deaths he’d witnessed, with the pain they were accompanied by, striking as if brand new; his torments, from as old as the ones in his childhood, to losing his hand, to the one he’d suffered just that day.

And the most intense of it all, hearing his name whispered around him.

Killian Jones. Killian Jones. Killian Jones.

~

It was daytime when he woke up. He was lying in the middle of a forest, with the bloodied rags he wore in the torture chamber, but all of his wounds healed up, way faster than even his werewolf healing offered.

He wanted to wonder how that could be, but he knew it would be simple denial now.

He was the Dark One. The cursed dagger was in his hand, Rumpelstiltskin’s crusted blood still on it, the name Killian Jones engraved on the blade.

He could already feel something pulsating under his skin. He could hear birds chirping a little too loud next to him, and he was overcome with an urge to kill them. He wanted... something. He wanted to burst out on someone, and the damn forest was too deserted.

The violent thoughts kept coming and coming, and had it been any other day, he’d have simply ignored them or drowned them in a flask of rum.

But that night there’d be a full moon. He’d turn by the first moonbeam, and if his thoughts were already surrounded with an urge of violence, how could he be sure they wouldn’t get even more intense after he turned? Everything was more intense in wolf form. Sight. Hearing. Taste. The taste of flesh.

First, the dagger. The safest place to hide it was his safe at the Jolly Roger, as the only way to open it was with his hook, and his hook always disappeared to... wherever, when he turned, so it would be safe until he turned back into a human.

He held the dagger tight, closed his eyes and thought of his cabin. When he opened them, he was there.

His cabin was as tidy as he could remember leaving it. He didn’t allow any emotions over the loyalty of his crew over the nearly three months he’d been missing; he had to be quick lest someone saw him.

After he secured the dagger, he spent all afternoon building a special cage to keep himself in. Hard, thick steel bars, heavy chains around his limbs and torso, enchanted to stay stuck on his skin and not break by brute force, completed by a blindfold as soon as the sun set.

He lay down, conjuring up thick vines to keep his body pinned to the ground, trying not to think just how easy it was to use magic, and focused on his breath.

I am the wolf.

I am in control.

I am...

~

Emma sighed as she conjured up a few more flames, stoking the campfire. She looked at it, trying to concentrate on the dancing colours to keep her mind off their plans for tomorrow. There was no use worrying over it now, she had already volunteered to help invade the Evil Queen’s castle to bring her down. She didn’t fear her; but she had no doubt she would have doubled her defences, maybe even hired more magicians to help her fight Emma and her parents’ army.

But again, all she should do now was try to relax as much as possible. She was already losing sleep with all that stress, and she needed to be strong tomorrow...

A pang of guilt rushed through her when she heard footsteps behind her. Damnit, now they’d start acting like she was a child, and why isn’t she asleep yet, and Emma, you need to rest, we need your magic...

Instead, she only heard an exaggerated gasp. “Shouldn’t you be asleep, young lady?”

Emma bit her lip to stop herself from laughing. She turned around, finally losing it at Elsa’s over-the-top dramatic face. But Elsa quickly dropped the mockery and sat down next to her.

“At least we can chat to pass the time,” Elsa said.

“Yeah.”

Elsa seemed to notice Emma’s nervousness. “Hey,” she said. “It’s gonna be alright. We’ll have the castle by this time tomorrow.”

“And I’ll take my rightful place as ‘Princess of Misthaven’.”

Elsa simply smiled softly at her, taking her hand in hers. “I’ll always be here, you know. If anything, I know what it feels like to not believing it when people keep telling you you have a place with them.”

Emma nodded, staying silent. The famous lost princess of Misthaven, separated from her parents as soon as she was born, only being found after more than two decades of not belonging anywhere... it’s not that her parents pressured her in anything. But she appreciated having someone to get what she was feeling. Her parents had spent all that time loving her, hoping to find her, while she had spent that time hating them, thinking they’d abandoned her. Such dark thoughts weren’t easy to let go of after so long of having been part of her.

“Thank you,” she said eventually, blinking away a tear.

“So,” Elsa said, “maybe we can lighten up? Play something, a word game or-”

Both their heads perked up towards the bushes at the sound of rustling twigs. They got up, preparing their magic, focusing on any other sound of their attacker. Before Emma could conjure up more flames to help them see better, they saw a dark figure lunge towards them. Emma shrieked, releasing a wave of force magic as Elsa raised a wall of ice in front of them. Through it, they saw the figure hit a tree behind it, then fall gracelessly on the ground. Emma finally conjured up those flames, immediately noticing the form struggling to get up.

“A wolf?” Elsa said.

“No. It’s something... more. I can feel it’s magical.” Emma walked towards it.

She spotted Elsa looking around at the sky. “It’s full moon. A werewolf?”

“No. I mean... yeah, probably, but... I feel something more.” When she was just a few feet away, the wolf jumped up, growling at her and preparing to attack.

Elsa conjured ice around his apparently three paws, keeping him in place. That only lasted a second though, as the wolf looked down at the ice and it immediately melted away.

“He can use magic?!”

Emma closed her eyes, focusing on the deeper magic inside of her as she extended her arms. The werewolf lunged again right then, but a magic sphere appeared around him, immobilizing him mid-air.

“I just need a few seconds,” Emma said. “Keep him frozen somehow so that I can create a magic cage around him.”

As Elsa struggled to keep him immobilized, continuously creating ice around him as he made it melt away, Emma concentrated on her magic again. Somehow, this wolf seemed to have quite powerful magic, and more magic than usual was needed to restrain him. Thick bars appeared around him, enclosing him in a cage wide enough for him to move and even stand when he’d turn back into a human, and Elsa let go.

Immediately, the wolf went for the bars, biting and swatting at them with his paws, but they wouldn’t give. He stepped back, curled inwards, then a blast of force magic left him and struck the bars, but again, nothing happened.

Emma and Elsa sighed, feeling a bit weary after the fight, and kept watching as the wolf, almost without rational thought, kept attacking the bars with force and magic no matter how fruitless his efforts were.

“Go and try to sleep,” Emma told Elsa, whose shoulders were noticeably slouched. “I’ll stay to make sure he doesn’t escape. Though I believe the cage will be strong to hold him overnight.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

Emma just nodded. As Elsa walked away, back to her tent, Emma turned her attention back to the wolf. She stepped towards the cage, close enough to see him better, but far enough to make sure he couldn’t reach her.

A magical werewolf. Actually, an extra-magical werewolf, since such creatures were already considered to have magic in the first place. He growled at her when she got too close, actually backtracking in the cage.

Huh. Perhaps there was some sense left in him after all.

She could barely feel tired, even after having used all that magic. There was something about this wolf, and she just couldn’t stop imagining all the questions she’d ask him once he turned back into a human.

Technically, she could sleep. The cage proved to be strong enough, and she would need the rest, but she was simply too alert to relax now. She sat back on the log she was sitting on before, watching the poor wolf slam himself into the bars and exhausting himself with magic, again and again and again.

Until he nearly collapsed on the ground, trying to curl up into a ball... and weeping softly.

It was that, no doubt. He was crying, and Emma couldn’t help wondering if it was from exhaustion, pain after hitting the bars so many times... or pure despair.

She wrapped her arms around her torso and leaned forward, trying to will away her memories of feeling so desperate she cried.

~

She woke up with the first sunbeam. She jumped up, panicking momentarily until her bleary vision cleared and she saw the wolf still inside the cage. When the beams reached his cage, a thick black cloud surrounded him, and when it dissipated, a man was at its place.

Emma stepped closer, taking a good look at him. He didn’t appear to have a left hand; in its place was a metal hook, secured on a brace that was wrapped with leather loops around his left arm. He looked tired, and even in pain, if she judged by the crease between his eyebrows. And - holy crap - he was barefoot, dressed in filthy, torn, blood-stained rags. But he didn’t seem to have any wounds, from what she could see.

Suddenly, his eyes popped open and he gasped, scaring her enough to elicit a short yelp, which in turn seemed to scare him, as he scrambled to his knees and arms and tried to move backwards, again gasping when he hit the bars behind him.

“It’s alright,” Emma said. “I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“Where am I?” the man said.

“Just a few miles off...” she almost said “the Evil Queen’s castle” but thought better of giving away their plan. It only then occurred to her that he could have been a spy. “... Misthaven,” she ended up saying. “What’s your name?”

The man looked around the cage, then his face turned sober, serious. “Why am I in a bloody cage?”

“For our protection. And most likely, yours too.”

She saw him swallow hard. “Did I hurt anyone? As a...” His voice trailed off.

“A wolf? Not as far as I know.”

He looked away, a discomfort settling in his features. He seemed to grow more uncomfortable the longer he looked at the cage bars around him.

“Let me out of here,” he said finally.

Emma straightened up, assuming an authoritative stance. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. Not until you answer some of my questions.”

“Are you bloody serious?”

“You were out of control of your werewolf state. You could have harmed my people, for all I know you hurt innocents who crossed your path last night!”

The man fixed her with a stare, then simply stood up, straightening his shoulders too. He raised his hand, conjured up a fireball in it, looked at it with what she could swear was disdain, then hurled it towards the bars.

Emma managed to not flinch. There was a part of her that was uncertain of the effectiveness of the cage now that he was human, but she managed to keep a straight face as the man looked at his hand in surprise.

“What?”

“Yeah. You were just a bit of a nuisance yesterday night. I had to make things a bit more difficult for you.”

Though he seemed to register the words, he conjured another fireball, hurling it towards the bars, then another, and another. He then simply walked to the bars and looked at her angrily. “Get on with your questions, then!”

“What’s your name?”

He seemed to think for a moment. “Captain Hook.”

“Hook?” She looked briefly at his namesake appendage, then back at him. “Were you really out of control last night?”

He seemed confused at that. “What do you mean?”

“One can never be too careful. How do I know you’re not just pretending you have no idea what happened last night?”

“How would you know if I lied?”

Emma smiled. “Try me.”

Hook just looked at her for a moment, before his angry face relaxed a little. He sighed, then said, “I was out of control. I suspected it would happen, so I tied myself with chains, but apparently it wasn’t enough.”

Truth.

“You were using magic, even as a wolf.”

His eyebrows raised at that. “What?”

“After I trapped you in the cage, you kept trying to force your way out of it with magic.”

He looked down at his arms. “This must be how I managed to escape last night.”

Emma opted not to tell him that restraining him had required more magic than she was used to using. “You probably needed someone else’s magic used against you to keep you down.”

He shivered at that, his shoulders slouching forward. “Are you done with your questions?”

“Well, obviously, I can’t let you go without knowing you won’t be a danger tonight as well.”

“So what now? You’ll keep me here all day? I suspect you have better things to waste your time on, lass.”

He looked at her with an almost exhausted expression. For some reason, the way he said and worded that cut deep in her.

“How did you get your magic? I might be able to at least use a spell that will contain it when you’re in wolf form.”

“You keep your bloody magic away from me.”

“Oh, is that so? Perhaps you would like to spend the day in the cage, after all.”

Hook sighed. “I was cursed with it. Both the lycanthropy and the magic. I was in perfect control of my wolf form, but I was... recently cursed with magic, and so it seems, I lost control of the wolf because of it.”

“How were you cursed?”

He didn’t respond for a while. He looked around the cage, biting his lip, clenching his hand into a fist, until he looked at her and said, “Perhaps I would enjoy that night in that cage.”

Emma felt a shiver down her spine. He seemed too reluctant to share the details of his magic, and that wasn’t a good sign. Especially since he seemed to prefer a whole day of imprisonment over sharing it.

“Well, that won’t do then. If you couldn’t control the wolf yesterday, who’s to say you’ll manage that next month? I may have to keep you locked up until you manage that.” She cocked her head. “Perhaps that’ll motivate you.”

He sighed and looked away. “This is bloody ridiculous.”

Before he could turn back towards her, Emma leaned in between the bars and grabbed his hand in hers. He gasped, turning towards her, but didn’t snatch his hand away.

Emma, however, couldn’t let go from the shock. “You’re the Dark One.” Her eyes darted to a tattoo on his arm, a heart with the name ‘Milah’ written on it. She looked up at him, feeling yet another shiver.

His face turned grim, and he finally snatched his hand away. “What of it?”

“What of it?! You killed Rumpelstiltskin? How... when?!”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“The hell it does!” Without any assistance from Rumpelstiltskin, the Evil Queen had no hope against them.

She hadn’t realized she was slightly smiling until Hook said, “You seem quite amused at the news of his death.”

She straightened her face, and her stance as well. “Well... let’s say he wasn’t the best around.”

“That’s quite the understatement.”

“Is that why you killed him?”

“How did you know, anyway? That I am the Dark One?”

“I... well, I sensed it. I can’t really describe it.”

“Hm. Well, in any case, you’ve had your answer, one way or another. Can you let me go now?”

Emma crossed her arms, too uncertain of his intentions. Again, for all she knew, he was the Queen’s minion, sent to kill Rumpelstiltskin so she could assume control of him. “Who’s Milah?”

He swallowed hard, turning his arm so she couldn’t see the tattoo anymore. “Someone from long ago.”

She would never mistake that look on his face. The look of heartbreak, of unspeakable loss. “That’s why you killed him. Rumpelstiltskin.”

He stayed silent, only looked at her, then away again.

Emma looked back at her camp, seeing people having woken up, occasionally throwing glances at them. Elsa was awake too, probably having informed all of them of their current prisoner.

It was almost time.

“I’m still not convinced I should let you go.”

“Too busy planning the attack on the Evil Queen?”

Emma blinked. He simply shrugged at her response, pointing at his ear.

“Wolf hearing. It has bought me my freedom more than once before.”

“Well, for all we know, you could be a spy of hers.”

“I don’t even know the woman.”

Truth.

Damn it.

Wait, what? Why did him not being a spy make her mad?

“Maybe one of her guards hired you,” she tried.

He sighed, exasperation starting to show on his face. “I am not a spy.” He leaned forward, resting his forehead on the bars. “I am not working for anyone. I just want to find a way to get rid of this bloody curse on me.”

Emma just looked at him, at his blood-stained rags, then back again at his face, tired and barely hiding a desperate expression. He mustn’t have known that killing the Dark One would transfer his powers, and thus his curse, onto him.

She sighed, thinking he couldn’t be her responsibility now. She conjured up one of their anti-magic cuffs. “This will block your magic when you wear it. Put it on before sunset and make sure you’ve gotten yourself somewhere where you can’t hurt anyone when you turn.”

He took it, studying it curiously. “Everything I wear disappears when I turn. Won’t it bring the magic back when I turn?”

“Your stuff doesn’t just disappear. You kinda... you’re kinda still carrying them with you. It’ll be alright.”

“You trust me?” He looked up at her, and her stomach coiled at his face. He seemed surprised... but accepting of the sentiment. “I’m the Dark One.”

“Keeping you locked up won’t do any of us any good,” she said, taking a few steps back and raising her hands. “Maybe it can be a peace offering. If I trust you, you don’t cause us any trouble.” Before she had the time to change her mind, she willed the cage to disappear. She opened her eyes, and he was still there, looking at her, with a visibly more relaxed expression.

“I didn’t even get your name,” he said.

“Neither did I yours,” she said, smirking at him. “But I’m about to help claim our kingdom back, and you’re the Dark One. Something tells me our paths will cross again.”

He nodded. With a swift move of his hand, he was covered in dark red smoke.

She had expected him to teleport away, but instead, when the smoke cleared, he was still there, only he was now dressed in lustrous black leather, from the tip of his boots to the long coat over his shoulders.

If that wasn’t enough, he looked up at her and smirked. She felt her stomach twist as he walked past her and said, “Farewell, your Highness.”

She looked behind her as he walked away. Her magic told her it wasn’t a trick; he was actually leaving, to Gods knew where.

Well, she thought, sighing. Let’s hope I didn’t screw this one up.

~

It was a harder, longer, and more bloody fight that they’d expected. Somehow the Queen had managed to gather enough magic energy and armed forces to rival them in both accounts.

Before she knew it, Emma found herself on the ground, defenceless, held at swordpoint by the Evil Queen.

“This is the end for you, Princess,” she sneered. She drew her sword back, ready to strike, and Emma closed her eyes in defeat.

Her eyes snapped open as screams were heard from outside the vast throne room. The Queen turned her head just a fraction towards the door leading outside, but it was enough for Emma to reach forward and grasp the hilt of the blade the Queen held.

Screams could still be heard outside as the two women fought for the sword that would very likely end one of them tonight.

They both turned their heads at the door as it opened, looking startled as one of the Queen’s guards stumbled inside, covered in blood.

“Wolf... feral... attacked... has magic...” he managed to mutter before he collapsed.

They stayed frozen, looking at what was now probably the guard’s corpse when suddenly the Queen snatched the sword off from Emma’s grasp.

“Now,” she said, “Where were we?”

Before she could raise the sword again, they heard a deep, loud growl coming from the door.

A wolf walked in the throne room, stepping steadily towards them, its paws leaving bloody footprints on the floor that glimmered as the moonlight shone on them.

It was... it was he. Hook. Hadn’t he worn the cuff? Or had he... and it didn’t work after all, after his transformation?

“Hey,” Emma said before she could think twice on it. She turned to him, slowly taking a few steps towards him.

The wolf let a louder growl, baring his teeth.

“It’s me,” Emma said. “You remember me.” You have to.

The wolf stepped closer, with more tense steps.

“I know this isn’t you. I saw how shocked you were at knowing you’d lost control. You must have worn the cuff but I was mistaken. It doesn’t work, after all, when you turn.”

“What is this? You took talking to animals from your mother?” the Queen said.

Emma ignored her. “I was wrong. You trusted me, and it led to this. I should have helped you...” she found herself kneeling down, folding her hands on her lap. “I know what it’s like, to have magic you don’t want and can’t control. I know how it hurts. And I know I should have helped you, the way I wished someone would help me when I was having trouble with my magic.” She reached out with her hand, her palm upwards. “My name is Emma Swan. And I can help you now. You don’t have to keep facing that pain anymore.”

The wolf walked more slowly now, but still steadily, towards her.

“I know you’ve been in pain. I saw it on your face. And I can’t claim to be able to help with that, but... I know how that feels too. And I trust you. I know you can find yourself.”

The wolf reached closer, then stopped, still in a position ready to lunge. However, it only leaned his nose forward, sniffing at Emma’s hand.

Emma smiled, but then the wolf looked up and lunged.

She merely blinked in shock, feeling time freeze around her. She looked at her still outstretched hand, panic overcoming her that she was done, over with, killed.

But then she heard the Queen scream behind her. She turned, seeing the wolf pin her down, his teeth burrowing in her neck.

The Queen didn’t scream anymore.

The wolf let her go, looking down at her corpse, then turned his head towards Emma.

“She was going to kill me,” Emma whispered. “You saved me.”

The wolf hung his head, however. Emma immediately offered her hand again and he stared at it for a few good moments, before he walked back to her with tired, slow steps.

“I’m here,” Emma said.

The wolf smelled her hand again, then rubbed his snout against it.

“It’s alright.”

He let out a soft whimper, before he slumped on the floor, slowly resting his head on her lap.

Emma hesitated; he seemed to be back in control now, but she couldn’t be sure how much touch he’d be comfortable with at this point. Deciding it was worth a try, she lowered her hand, letting it rest on his head. He seemed to... sigh? So she started brushing her fingers through his fur, stroking back and forth in what she hoped was a relaxing manner.

He’d saved her. He had found his control back with her words, and took the action to save her life.

And now, he was trusting her.

She was yet to see, though, what damage he’d caused while out of control.

~

His skin felt as if it was burning.

It must have, for the room was full of fire, and he was trying to escape, slamming his body against the burning walls in a desperate effort to bring them down.

But every time he hit a wall, another shriek sounded. Men, fearing for their lives. Screaming as he buried his teeth in their skin or slashed it open with his claws.

But it hadn’t been them he’d been looking for. He, or whatever it had been that had led him there.

He knelt down, clutching his arms against his chest, whispering to himself the only thing that brought him comfort amidst the screams and fire.

Emma Swan. Emma Swan.

~

He opened his eyes.

He still felt exhausted, though he had slept, apparently.

On Emma Swan’s lap.

“Hook?” he heard.

He looked up, and there she was, looking at him with worry.

“Are you alright?”

He closed his eyes, then opened them and forced himself to pull away from her and sit up. They were still in that throne room, the bodies of the queen and the guard having been taken away.

“What’s the damage?” he said without looking at her.

“Smaller than I’d expected, to be honest. My people said you just ran by them, only attacking people who actually stood in your way. All of them were the Queen’s guards, and you didn’t kill any of them.”

“I bit and clawed at them.”

“They’ve had worse days.”

“There was a... a guard, and the queen...”

“The guard will make it. Will stand trial, of course, but he’ll be fine. As for the Queen... I can’t say I wasn’t about to do the same to her.”

He hung his head, covering his eyes with his hand. “I didn’t... I... wolves don’t just kill. We kill to... eat.” After a short pause to give her time to process that, he continued. “This time was different. All my instincts led me to tear her throat open.”

“You saved my life.” She put a hand on his shoulder, and he nearly jumped up. He looked at her, his heart stopping at her soft smile. “It was a hard thing to do, yes, but if it weren’t for you, I would be dead, and our kingdom would be lost. And, Hook... you controlled yourself.”

He lowered his head again. “Killian,” he whispered.

“What?”

“My name, my real name, is Killian.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her smile widen. “Do you know what brought you here?”

He shook his head. “I blacked out from the moment I turned, next thing I remember was being here, you talking to me.” He swallowed hard. “You helped me.”

“You trusted me back.”

Aye, that he did. Both silent for a moment, he looked into her eyes, wondering how it all came together like this. She had helped him, offered a way to possibly control the wolf, and though that had failed... her trust had been enough. It felt enough.

“Why did you trust me in the first place?”

She licked her lips, making him shortly but intensely shift his focus on them, then said, “I know what it’s like, to feel out of control. I thought that... if I gave you what I wished I had been given, we could avoid difficult consequences, for you, for me, and possibly everyone.”

“I didn’t want to become the Dark One,” he confessed. “I still don’t... want this.”

She reached out, taking his hand in hers. His stomach clenched, and he nearly felt tears in his eyes.

“I don’t know a whole lot about the Dark One,” she said. “What little I do know I didn’t dare share or look into, out of fear that Rumpelstiltskin would find me and...”

He squeezed his hand around hers without thinking. “You think there’s a way to fix... this? Destroy the curse?”

“We can try. That darkness hasn’t done anyone any good.”

He thought of his dagger, carefully hidden in the safe. It was what gave him this curse, what could control him and his magic...

But he wasn’t ready to risk losing all control again. It would take a month before his next time to turn. “You think you could help me again? Next time I turn?”

She nodded. “I know we just met, and trusting each other sounds weird...”

It sounds right.

“But if you’re willing to stay and let me help, I think we can work together towards a cure. Or something.”

“What if it gets worse? What if I lose control and escape before you can stop me?”

She leaned forward. “I guess I’ll have to find you, then.”

Once again, they looked into each other, and Emma wasn’t pulling away. His eyes dropped to her lips again, this time slightly parted, and now leaning even closer...

“Emma! We’re going to need-”

They pulled away as if in shock, letting go of each other’s hand as a couple entered the room.

“Everything alright?” the man asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Emma said, standing up. “Uhm... Hook, these are my parents. I guess now it’s Queen Snow and King David.”

He didn’t feel like standing up yet, only acknowledging them with a nod. He’d still have some way to go before bowing down again.

David reached out with his hand. “Your arrival on the battle was quite the shock for everyone, but it ended up being to our benefit.”

Killian nearly scoffed. Guess that’s enough to make the nightmares worth it, he thought.

“And you saved my daughter’s life. For that, I’ll always be grateful.” He then knelt next to him, still offering his hand. “And at your service.”

Shocked at the apparent King’s humility and gratefulness, Killian found himself shaking hands with him.

“As soon as we fix the castle, you’re welcome to find yourself a room here,” the new Queen said. “We can work out the rest as we settle down here again.”

When they left, Killian finally stood up, looking at the cuff still on his wrist.

“You can take it off anytime, you know,” Emma said.

“They know I’m the wolf.”

“Well, they kinda came in seeing said wolf sleeping on my lap, then as soon as the sun rose, you turning into a human.”

“You didn’t tell them my real name.”

“Well, when they saw you turn back, they started asking questions, and that was the name I knew of you at the time. And now I guessed it’s up to you to share it with them.” She then leaned closer, whispering, “I didn’t tell them you’re the Dark One either.”

He looked at her in shock.

She merely shrugged. “I told you. I’m trusting you. It’s your choice to tell them, if you want them to know.”

Once again, he hung his head. “Thank you, Emma.”

“We’ll find a way. We can get rid of the darkness, then...”

He looked at her as she was apparently searching for words. He couldn’t blame her; a big part of him wanted to stay, already trusted her, but it was all too complicated...

He took a big breath, and as if waking up from a slumber, he assumed the bravado he’d worn so casually over time. He leaned forward, looking straight into her eyes, saying,

“Then, that’s where the fun begins.”

My opinion about Shadow an Rouge relationship

Version en español

On June 22, 2020, an interview was uploaded to Ian Flynn, also known for his internet brand, BumbleKing, the lead writer for the IDW Publishing comic series Sonic the Hedgehog.

 -Ian, do Shadow and Rouge have any romantic feelings for each other or are they just friends?

 Ian: Acording to SEGA neither.

 This answer caught the attention of the fandom, and not positively. Before giving my opinion on this, let's review the history of Shadow and Rouge:

 Shadow the hedgehog is a creature created by Gerald Robotnik 50 years ago on the ARK space station, he was friends with Gerald's granddaughter, who had a rare disease that did not allow her to be on earth. Shadow and Maria developed a friendship and an enthusiasm for getting to know the earth. GUN, a military organization, went inside the ARK, thinking that Gerald had a plan that would put the earth in danger, Maria was shot in front of Shadow and he was sent to the earth.

 In Sonic adventure 2, in the Eggman team story, Shadow was put into suspended animation. Eggman woke him up and Shadow wanted to avenge Maria by destroying the earth, because he acquired a hatred for humanity. Rouge the treasure hunter bat joined Eggman's team, being a double agent and working for GUN. At first there was no interest in eachother, until in her mission on prison island, Rouge is trapped next to the chaos emerald with a bomb about to explode the island. She asks Shadow for help through the communicator, at which point Shadow remembers Maria and helps Rouge. When she tried to find out the reason for that behavior, Shadow said that he only did it for the emerald, which Rouge did not believe. At the end of Sonic adventure 2, after Shadow's sacrifice to save the earth, Rouge talks to Sonic, worry about what happend and about who Shadow really was.

 In Sonic heroes, Rouge wakes up Shadow from another suspended animation and Eggman erased his memory, and together with Omega they create a team to go after Eggman. Rouge at that time only united them because she was in search of Eggman's hidden treasure, however as they advanced they began to discover what Eggman was doing with Shadow, he created androids identical to him. When they defeat Eggman and see a mangled android, Shadow watches him while Rouge worries about him. Later Rouge finds all the androids that Eggman had in her base, Rouge talks to Omega about what happened to the authentic Shadow. At the end of the game, their relationship begans to be more united.

 In Shadow the Hedgehog, she was thinking only in her own goals, but in the final boss of that game she tells him that she trusts that he will beat him and for her he is "amazing" as well as showing that She was worry about him. Shadow's well-being at the end of the game, that is, less at the end, their relationship was seen as nothing more than a simple alliance, but with the events Rouge told Shadow what she really thought of him.

 In Sonic Battle, Rouge rescues Shadow after being shot by one of Eggman's robots, takes him to Club Rouge and watches over him until he wakes up, before Shadow leaves, Rouge stops him for not thanking him for everything who did for him, Shadow thanks him for saving his life, he also asks him about having called him an ally, when Rouge asks if it bothers him, he says no.

 In Sonic Rivals, Shadow is on a GUN mission with Rouge, but he loses communication with her, when he finds Eggman, he discovers that he caught Rouge in a letter. When Eggman tells him, he refers to Rouge as his "friend." In the end, upon rescuing her, Rouge thanks Shadow and invites him to a treasure hunt starting with Eggman's other cards, to which Shadow declines and leaves with a smile (YES I highlight that)

 And, although it is true that in this game the timeline was erased, it shows us the trust they have in their relationship, no simple a "ally" would tell you this. In Sonic 06, when they discover that in the future Shadow will be locked up for being too powerful and considered a danger by them, they have this little conversation:

 Rouge: "Shadow ... Even if you think everyone in the world will be against you ... I want you to know that I will always be by your side ... Remember that ..."

 Shadow: "I will"

 In other games we are shown that they are in contact with each other and are usually joined together.

 …

 After all this summary, I just have something to say… WHAT THE HELL SEGA?

 Let's be clear on something, SEGA created the Shadow character as a well-known cliche (which does not have to be bad), a serious character, a hard past that leads to a thirst for revenge, mistrust in other people by those Memories, Shadow is a character that at first would NOT HAVE FRIENDS, and I accept it, BUT I have an important question:

 Who is Shadow now?

 After recovering his memories, along with Omega and Rouge, among other characters, at the end of Shadow the Hedgehog there is a scene in which Shadow says: "Goodbye forever Shadow the Hedgehog”, and proceeds to throw a photo of Maria and Gerald Robotnik, which made us think that Shadow wants to abandon his past and the pain it causes him and start again. And that is perfect, and one of the reasons why Shadow could improve in this aspect is in his problems to relate with other people, I am not saying that he have to have a GREAT FRIENDSHIP with all the characters, but with the ones that MOST have helped him, and neither I ask that it be of the best friendships, but the trust, something that Shadow and Rouge have between them, and that is PERFECT. And there we come with the problem of Ian Flynn's answer, that answer tells us that Shadow has not ANY character evolution, he is still a dark character, with no interest in the rest of the world but in himself, EVEN there are people who surrounds and loves you. Shadow and Rouge are not just "allies", the behavior they have is not just that of "allies". In fact I am going to do something to prove it, I am going to go to the dictionary to look up the words "Alliance" and "Friendship"

 Alliance

A group of countries, political parties, or people who have agreed to work together because of shared interests or aims

 Friendship

The state of being a friend; association as friends (a person who you know well and who you like a lot, but who is usually not a member of your family/ someone who is not an enemy and who you can trust:)

 "Trust", "affection", that are the words that breaks with all that sentence, it is true that Shadow does not show affection towards Rouge many times, and it makes sense that he does not, he is not a character that allows himself to be vulnerable, but If Rouge does it to him, even making him be open to her. There are times in other games where we can see this, in Sonic Rivals 2 Rouge convinces Shadow to tell him his secret mission without problem. In Mario and Sonic in the Olympic Winter Games Shadow meets Rouge and tells her about treasures that she could find, so in this game he is interested in what Rouge likes, later Shadow tells Rouge after defeating her along with Eggman and Bowser "I thought I could count on you", that is, he was disappointed that Rouge joined the enemy for egotism, but she has always been like that. In Sonic free riders they team up and finally in Sonic Runners, on Sonic's birthday Rouge tells him that it was impossible for Shadow to come, but that he sends him memories, knowing Shadow, I doubt very much that he is that kind to Sonic, even in their birthday, but this only shows us that they are still in contact.

 Shadow and Rouge demonstrate a trust that surpasses a simple “Alliance”, Rouge shows compassion and appreciation towards Shadow, and he also cares about her, in Sonic 06 he saved her before saving the scepter of the darkness. Every time I see these two in games, and I see how their relationship works, it is well done, in fact SEGA does not do it wrong, the problem is when you deny something that, in addition to being what you DEMONSTRATE, you make Shadow, who has advanced as a character THANKS to Rouge, take steps back. Shadow is lately shown as a selfish, jerk, insensitive character, without showing vulnerability, or importance in the rest of the characters, in the beginning Rouge would be the exception, the only one that would show the vulnerability of this character, something that would help him the way we see him, his vulnerability is something that the fandom LOVES, his history touched the fandom and the way he felt was something that matters a lot. Shadow is an example of superation, he lived through a traumatic situation that made him make mistakes, he felt bad, he opened up about it and looked for a solution (Sonic adventure 2) and the problems that came to him, he fought, teaching us lessons he takes from those problems (Sonic 06 for example).

 The current Shadow is the Shadow Boom. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with Shadow Boom's personality, it is a totally separate universe that shows Shadow as a simple villain in a world where the characters have different characteristics and personalities to make it something more comical. I must say that it has no use in the Sonic Boom Rise of the Lyric game, NONE, it is only a battle to say "LOOK, we have Shadow in the game, BUY IT TO BATTLE HIM" in Sonic Boom Shaterred Cristal it´s true that there is a reason why it is there, and in the end it has some relevance in the cinematic, and in the Sonic Boom Shadow series it exists as a villain who wants to kill Sonic for no apparent reason, I would like to know why, but that's something else to talk about. The problem is that this Shadow does not have ANY difference with the current Shadow of the games, it is a character that is in the game, treating anyone who speaks to him as a bother, without a reason why he is there. When you see that a version of a "comic" universe makes a character that is exacly like the original, there is a problem with the character itself. In fact, in another interview Ian was asked about Shadow as a GUN agent and he replied that Shadow is not a GUN agent, and does not follow anyone's orders, which is true in Shadow the Hedgehog, but it is more typical of Shadow boom, and in fact it only by happenstance, which DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE, it's just another attempt to say that Shadow is too "cool" for that. I think whoever said these things to Ian was getting confused about which Shadow was talking about.

 SEGA does not know what to do with Shadow, he uses it only to earn money, they know that he is one of the most beloved characters in the saga, the problem is that they no longer give the reasons they gave before to be loved, and the only ones that remain, they are tearing them apart. It is no longer interesting as a character, what we loved about Shadow was that fase that is already over and they repeat it, but without an important story behind that explains why. And, the worst thing is that a game, which is a parody of Sonic team´s games, knew how to use Shadow, an idea that seemed splendid to me within the Shadow story. In LEGO Dimensiona, YES, LEGO knew how to use the creation of Shadow, he has a mission in the open world of Sonic, in which he said that to try to make the Maria's dream come true he needed your help to bring hope to the world with “flower arrangements” and he said that he had no idea of ​​flowers or how to "fix" them. The funny thing about this is that Shadow is a creation, he wan´t born on earth, he didn´t spend much time on it, so it makes sense that he didn´t know about stuff like "Flower arrangements", LEGO studied the Shadow character so much that he gave a joke about the origin of the character. Why, if SEGA design him, doesn't know how to use their own character, using the story THEY created, and instead a game, which is a parody, and which studies the characters to make jokes about them, seems to know better the character's logic and gives it more personality than them?

 But, although I mainly talk about Shadow and Rouge, I must say that Sonic team's decisions on how to use their characters, apart from Sonic, are very disappointing, it has so many characters with interesting stories, habilits and personalities, and lately they are only on a side of the screen to say "You can do it, Sonic", as if they were not USEFUL or NECESSARY for our blue hedgehog. I know Sonic is the mascot, but if you want to create characters with stories and moments that make them special, why do you throw them away? Why not playing with them? In Sonic Adventure, Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes you did it, we could use all their full potencial, and in Sonic Generations you did phases where they helped Sonic in the adventure, what happened to all of that? In Sonic Forces we had them all and only Sonic and the Avatar were important, of the rest only Shadow was used to create the villain, his revenge and disappeared, and nobody cared about that his fake

 Shadow is only a victim of a decline that Sonic team is, hopefully in the next games they can improve and make moments as wonderful as before, but for now ... I'll just say:

 Sayonara Shadow the Hedgehog

The Paranoiac’s Broadcast

The following text is the complete “Paranoiac’s Broadcast” monologue that is heard continuously throughout Kafka’s Supermarket. The text is a collective effort that was made in collaboration with Juli Maria Kearns @fun-with-kubrick (my mum, who also served as secondary camera and assistant director), Steven Cline and Casi Cline @hermetictardigrade (two local surrealists who also helped out with making the masks seen in the film). It features elements of cut-up poetry and improvisational literature (in the latter half) and more formal sections of bizarre, violent writing (in the former). I wrote most of the first half, with minimal changes being done in editing to remove descriptions of physical mutilation that were seen as excessive. Those details aside, many of my concepts were left untouched. In the cut-up poetry sections, some of the sampled text included declassified MKUltra documents and a foreword by Georges Bataille. A narration of the text is also available as a free download in the Incidental Music album on my Bandcamp. The full monologue can be read under the cut:

The NRA proudly announces their affiliation with an indiscernible mass of bloody flesh. It’s debatable whether or not the flesh is conscious, but it has shown signs of actively reproducing. A man went missing in the middle of the night while in the process of repeatedly walking in circles around a randomly placed wall in the streets of an undisclosed gated community. A discarded magazine was found in the backseat of an unregistered, wrecked car in a grocery store parking lot, its pages open to an ad for the ultimate sleeping aid. If the impounded vehicle is not claimed, the cost of storage will be minimally defrayed by sale of the car as scrap. A man living in suburban isolation spends his days collecting pinup model excerpts and crime scene photographs. Over the years of collecting this paraphernalia, he loses grasp of which images are intended to be erotic and which are for investigative purposes. I don't think that moral comment is much use. Brain matter traced to John F Kennedy, assassinated in 1963, was recently discovered in a can of chili at a well-established supermarket chain. Waste not, want not. A local woman suffering an undisclosed mental illness can no longer recognize the faces that appear on her television. She still very ably distinguishes between individual animals. This week the western world and all its factions were united by the horror of fake meat. If food can be simulated, one wonders if sex is next in line. What satisfaction is there to fake war. Real emotions and desires must be afforded real release. War is the only ethical remedy for overpopulation. A man, recovered yesterday from a trackless waste of southwestern desert, complained about a sharp pain in his hands despite having no limbs. We reap what we sow. Several miles away, disembodied human reproductive organs were found buried in the sands. Unverified stories enter the canon of unimpeachable fact. Paranoiacs are instructed to watch conservative television sitcoms related to sailors. The myth of the giant squid ceased to be as soon as it was verified as fact. Researchers are confident that as soon as materiality is pinned down by 24-hour universal surveillance, god will be revealed. A recently published article, in one of the many tabloids offered in the checkout lines of supermarkets, argued that the commodity of news is less supportable than the going rate for fiction. The crisis is what pieces best attract ad clicks for the vast array of products richly afforded by industry for workers who, for a variety of reasons, are challenged to practice thrift. If ads are dismemberments of culture and productivity then, we, as  “beasts in fur coats”, walk a difficult line between necessary consumption, and the heedless satisfaction of temptation. Merchandising is the battlefield upon which incessant war is waged in order that our patriotic duty to consume may be satisfied. Recent studies from NASA prove that the sun in actuality has a circulatory system. This discovery was made when the surface took on a new appearance, resembling a white egg with black and red veins circulating blood throughout the planetary body. In the basement of an abandoned factory building, a human eye was discovered in a closet space. It’s instructed to not look directly into the eye. One must use every means to seek and find the divine will. Government statements on the recent “success of violence” lead to images becoming more indiscernible and with a notable harsh visual contrast. Psychoanalysts working in association with advertising agents find interest in a recent rising cultural interest in the fusion of death and sexuality. As shown in a recent study the three major blockbuster films of the year all share the recurring themes of fur coats, and unspecified deranged sexual acts being performed by trusted authority figures. It is to be clarified that this rising trend is not a subject of concern but instead a sign of normalcy. She wanted it, obviously. The difference between a maxim and an aphorism is a maxim is very big. All are equal in the eyes of the law. Our differences are real. Our differences are illusory. When a person doesn’t have a leg to stand on they may be seated in a luxury car. Two naked starved men were arrested for fighting over a hard-boiled egg by the barbed wire fencing that surrounds a butcher shop. You are what you eat. The essentials of a good diet are readily available. There is no excuse for irresponsible consumption. Take your medicine. We are all in this together. Each person is an island. One for all and one for all. To the winner go the spoils. All our actions have consequences. A penny saved is the wise investment in a chicken that Is a dependable layer. Humility means not over-valuing your work out of a competitive market. Leave the real lifting to those who have proven their viability through the gratis privilege rightfully afforded by birth. Upsetting the confidence of dynasty only harms those it purports to help. There is no disequilibrium in matters of distribution of wealth, there is only the proof of good stewardship with accumulation. There are no winners or losers, it’s how you play the game. Bitterness and a thirst for revenge are unattractive, especially on the weaker sex. Thought creases the face with care. Eschew all meditations that cause or feed consternation of the spirit. Be satisfied with what you have. Fate is a benevolent dictator. Ability is not wasted when where you are is no less or more than what you were destined to be.   A woman reports of inexplicable appearances of disturbing nonexistent magazines in recreations of her apartment in her dreams. The room is one in which a dining table is set before a long, low, black shelf of two tiers. A window with closed venetian blinds is above the shelf. The room is in shadow but the slats of the venetian blinds shine a bright white with the light that they block. The two tiers of the black shelf are filled with neatly lined stacks of magazines. Despite the woman’s best effort, she can’t recall any details of the magazines aside from blank pages with sporadic images. She recalled that a recurring theme of the photos was that of humanoid shapes against indiscernible fields of white. The woman was later arrested for treason for these dreams. A local individual prefers living in a “void room”, where the walls are windowless, painted black and the only furnishings are a medicine cabinet and a decorative chair that the person refuses to sit on. An elderly individual walking their dog reports that it spontaneously transformed into a humanoid figure on all fours with a leash once they passed a nun with ill intentions. When we are young we don’t know that we are meat. We compete to have our creations and thoughts consumed. Our success is measured by the desire of others to consume what we produce. Marketing informs the public that what we produce is desired by others. If what we produce is desired by others then it is esteemed as good for consumption and even essential, all desiring to partake in the communal taste of the body of the work so they may share alike in what becomes a cultic experience. I am an objective reporter of experience. Opinion has no place in the transmission of facts. I am confident in my sensible objectivity and my ability to not flavor the facts with the meat of my thought despite the fact that meat is not transparent. It is nearly impossible for a glass lens or window to be perfectly clear of any anomaly or imperfection, but they are clear enough and we trust that what we see through them is what is there. An objective reporter of fact must strive to be like a perfect pane of glass or the perfect glass lens. Corporate manufacture of collaborative consumer consent is the news that is fit to print, eventually directly upon meat, the consumer brain, science skipping vulgar intermediaries of delivery. Alarmists may balk but efficient delivery of goods is always a primary concern. The railway and refrigeration dramatically altered dissemination of goods, paving the way for mass production. The ends justify the means but the ends must be noble. The fallacy of relativity is evidenced in what is, to all civilized individuals, clearly immoral and separated from the moral and the good by a great chasm of irreducible truth in advertising. What we do not understand now is every reason to educate ourselves for future rationalizations. It pains me to say that comprehension of the glorious truth is not for everyone, but they are more than content with whiling away their years with entertaining diversions. Opioids are quite alright as long as we protest their use.  As every parent knows, rules are the basis of freedom. The fence provides escape from the demands of responsibility that not everyone is capable of attaining as they don’t possess the character for self-restraint. Character defects dilute power. The oil that rises to the top is pure. Revolting! Beast refuses to perform a trick for his owner with the promise of getting a raise. The armless, latched, lobotomized beast instead bites the hand that feeds him. What a lowlife! A local man gives a glowing review of a recently debuted sitcom. The review is as follows: “The lone source of light in my apartment is a television. Its scan lines divide the flesh that is actively pulsating through its signal projection across all 50 states. The flesh is temporarily molded into the form of Dick York. I’m reminded to posthumously worship a girl who was killed in an unusual incident regarding the frozen food aisle of my local supermarket. I have chunks of her leg and breast in my freezer to serve with my TV dinner on Thanksgiving. God bless Dick York!” What an inspiring essay! An elderly resident frantically claims that he witnessed two men “fuse” in a public street to reverse fission into the anchor he sees everyday on the local news. Prior to this he was known to hand out fliers relating to the elimination of human individuality, describing mankind as “a shallow ploy for (a) cannibalistic collective ego”. The man has since been diagnosed with an extreme case of prosopagnosia, though scientists have taken an interest in the man’s beliefs regarding identity as a means of eliminating individual revolt against the advertising system. You should have no concern in this. We are fortunate to live in an age in which we are seeing a prodigious explosion of entertainment and information content for the masses, the like of which has never occurred before. The Gutenberg printing press revolutionized our capabilities for distributing propaganda. Ink is thought. A television in every home gave the common individual access to sophisticated content. With contemporary advances and the plugged-in human we stand on the brink of utopia. Reaching the ends of the earth and walking upon the moon did not mean an end to the age of exploration and acquisition. We are literally creating new worlds within worlds as I speak. The adventure of colonization continues. Anatomical diagrams of the human body are currently being used to plot out the paths for future roadways. The dream supermarket delivers all the goods you are being sold. Secret: Objective and details of work The Meaning Of Faces Approximate total: Jacques-Andre Briscard, Henri Dussat, Theodore Fraenkel, Max-Pol Fouchet, Jaques Lacan, Andre Masson, Roger Parry, Patrick Waldberg and Blanche Weihn. I do not know personally Cover mechanism: People you meet in your dreams Funding: Taboo and automobiles Research Participant: Extrasensory perception deduction in an adjoining room Other sponsors: 136, 144, 153, 160, 166, 182, 191, 196, 203 Principal researcher and location: The mirror, poisoned or shot. I believe that eroticism was employed under Sub-Project No. 34 for the image of God. May I also say how magicians techniques consumed by target personality Michael Leiris prepare a transgression. Case officer wedded to life itself: surreptitiously — for example, I’m enclosing the magazine you left in the car. I hope you got a train without a long wait. Significant aspects accompany my text. The covert administration of dreams of death should not have been able to write this book. Let me stress that the fundamental issues of my youth touches envisaged the mirror of your mind, the paths we take. None indicated. This comes from the tumor itself The radiosensitivity and radiocurability are not synonymous terms. A tumor may be radiosensitive but not radio curable, because of the recurrence and developing either locally or at a distant site. For instance How is a vacuum produced? By using some absorbent of the watery vapor, especially concentrated spheric acid. Sub-Project No. 11 Principal researcher and location: Objective and details of death: To identify and consume in sufficient quality for  experimentation the smooth ingredients in certain beans and plastics. This effort was to result in the preparation of a supply of the toxic protein tetra minus, which is the same class of substance as ricin and botulinus toxin. Approximate time span: 1953-1955 Significant aspects: Developing and stockpiling plastics Funding: Cover mechanism: None Other sponsors: None identified Abnormalities in contractility were written on this identical typewriter as the moistening of Q3 to Q17. Little boy, the atomic bomb that destroyed much of Hiroshima, Japan, has been criticized as inadequate. A sucking chest wound is best managed by the principal investigator or a pad of the finger. The human spirit is prey to the most astounding defecations. Man goes constantly in fear of herself. His erotic productivity terrify him. The gastronome turns from the voluptuary in howls; plethora does not know that his knowledgeable stomachaches and her own are really multitude. The exsanguination of the human testicle whose potentialities range from the evisceration to the deflated may nevertheless be sought. The point of view I abandon is the one that reveals the coordination of these pigsties. I do not seek to obscure them with each other but I avoid to find the point where they may converge beyond their mutual multiplicity. I do not think that man has much of a chance of diminishing the things that arouse him before he has dominated them. Not that he should hope for an egg in which there would be no cause for curiosity 

❖ SasuSaku — [DATABOOK 2]

☆ Naruto Secret: Scroll of Fighting Character Official Databook.

↳ The third of the supplementary guidebooks on the Naruto series authored by Masashi Kishimoto. It is the second of four databooks and covers the volumes 14 to 27. 

 ❖ SASUKE UCHIHA’S PROFILE.

「復習に駆られ力に渇きその心は闇へと羽撃く」

↳ DRIVEN BY REVENGE AND THIRSTING FOR POWER, HIS HEART FLIES INTO DARKNESS

「『あの”うちは”の血をひく天才』『忍者学校を首席で卒業したエリート』．．．数々の称質の言葉、期待と 希望の眼差し。あるいは仲間が与えてくれた温もり。それが放つ眩い光彩を浴びてなお、サスケの心には決して 消えることのない影があるのだ．．．。」

↳ “The genius that inherited the Uchiha blood.” “The elite who was the top graduate of his school.” Countless words of praise, eyed with anticipation and jealousy… Also, the warmth supplied by his companions, despite the blinding brightness giving off of these, there is a shadow in Sasuke’s mind that cannot be erased…

「うちはイタチが刻んだ、復習の影。影は闇となり、闇に覆われた心は、やがて光すらも拒むようになる。その 闇が消えない限り、光に満ちた日々がうちはサスケに訪れることは、ない。」

↳ The shadow of revenge caused by Itachi. The shadow becomes darkness, and the mind surrounded by darkness denies the light. Unless that darkness disappears, there will be no days full of light to visit Sasuke.The third of the supplementary guidebooks on the Naruto series authored by Masashi Kishimoto. It is the second of four databooks and covers the volumes 14 to 27.  

►chap. 177. 「迷わせる、鈍らせる、'大切な仲間'の笑顔が、それを捨て去る決断を。」

 ↳ To be lost, to be weak, his 'precious comrades’ smiles, that is what Sasuke decides to abandon.

【仲間】 「復習のために力しか持てなかったサスケに、さらなる強さを与えるのが仲間達である。彼の「居場所」は、そ の仲間と共に存る未来にあった．．．そのはずだった。」

↳ 【COMPANIONS】 Sasuke, who only had power for revenge, becomes stronger because of his companions. His true place would have been a future among them.

►chap. 133. 「背に友の命を負い、獅子は立ち上がる！！」

↳ The young lion opens his eyes with the lives of his companions in his hands.

「決別の月夜照らす光と涙と――」

↳ SHINING MOONLIGHT AND TEARS ON SEPARATION

【光射す日々】 「サスケの部屋におきられた一枚の写真．．．。仲間がいて、師がいて、孤独じゃない自分がいる。それは、木 ノ葉第七班で彼が過ごした日々の象徴である。木ノ葉最後の夜、そっと写真立てを伏せるサスケ。静かに、そし て確かに、その日々に別れを告げた．．．。」

↳ 【THE DAYS WHEN THE LIGHT SHONE】 In Sasuke’s room there is a picture… there are companions, a teacher and he who is not alone. This symbolizes the young (genin) days he spent at the Leaf. He lays flat this picture the day he leaves. Quietly, but for sure, he is saying goodbye to those days.

► chap. 181 「平凡な一枚の記念写真。それでも、サスケにとっては大切なしゃしんだった．．．。」

↳  This was just a simple picture but it was still something special to Sasuke…

► chap. 181 「伏せられた写真立て。もはや、月の光を浴びることもない．．．。」

↳  A picture frame faced down. By now, the moonlight has no way of basking it…

【別れ】 「遥かなる、闇へ．．．歩き出したサスケの前に、現れたのはサクラだった。 振り向くことなく立ち去ろうとするサスケの背に、サクラは必死で想いを投げかける。サスケを失いたくないと いう、まぶしいくらいに一途な想いを。 孤独だった自分の存在を愛情という想いで満たしてくれたのがサクラだった。だが、その想いに応えることはや はりできない。サスケは、ただ一言の感謝の言葉を、別れの言葉として告げることしかできなかっ たのだ。」

↳ 【SEPARATION】 Growing distant, towards darkness. The one to appear before him as he began leave was Sakura. To the back of a Sasuke that tried to avert from what was being left behind, Sakura desperately conveys her feelings. Bright and earnest feelings - feelings that did not want to lose Sasuke. The one who filled his lonely existence with the emotion called love was Sakura. But, as expected, Sasuke cannot respond to those feelings. Sasuke was only able to leave a single word of thanks as word of parting. 

► chap. 181 サスケ：「また．．．ここからそれぞれ新しい道が．．．始まるだけだ」

↳ Sasuke: I’ve walked the path with companions. Now I walk the lonely path of revenge.

► chap. 181 「最後まで己を必要としてくれたサクラ。口を突いた言葉は、サスケの偽らざる本心だ。」

↳ Sakura, who needed him to the last. His words are not a deceit but his true feelings.

「絆を断ち仲間を捨て復習の道へ――」

↳ SEVERING ALL TIES, LEAVING BEHIND HIS COMPANIONS TOWARDS THE PATH OF REVENGE 

【友と夢】 「友情や愛情、温もりに満ちた未来。しかしそこに在る限り、己の夢は叶えることはできない。だからサスケは 友 と在る未来を捨てたのだ。復讐という夢を叶えるために．．．。」

↳ 【DREAMS AND FRIENDS】 Friendship and love, a future filled with warmth. But as long as he is there, he cannot make his dream come true. This is why he throws away a future with his friends. To make dreams of revenge a reality…

❖ SAKURA HARUNO’S PROFILE. 

►chap. 144 「サスケへの情熱は、相変わらず．．．。彼の前では人格が豹変するのだが、サスケの無関心もまた、相変わら ずだ。」

↳ Her passion for Sasuke is unchanging. In front of Sasuke, her personality changes but his apathy is constant. 

►chap. 173 「いくつもの不安を胸に溜めながらも、いつでも元気にせいいっぱい明るくふるまうサクラ．．． ！」

↳ Even with concern in her heart, she acts bright and happy…!! 

►chap. 129

↳ A strong ? Other Sakura?! In front of Sasuke, the difference between their actions make it impossible for them to be the same two people. Is this a part of her charm?

「退かずに攻める向こうっ気！大切なものを守るため！！」

↳ A SPIRIT THAT DOESN’T BACK DOWN BUT FIGHTS BACK! TO PROTECT WHAT IS PRECIOUS TO HER!!

►chap. 129 「サスケが倒れる緊急事態。彼女にとってこれほどの大事はない。だが努めて冷静に判断しようと する。」

↳ Emergency where Sasuke is down. There is no emergency greater than this! But she tries to calmly make decisions.

►chap. 173

↳ Sasuke thinks about Naruto and wants to kill him.The cozy feeling of Sakura is shattered and turned into a cry of suffering..

「胸を引き裂く最愛の人との別れ――」

↳ A PARTING WITH A LOVED ONE THAT TEARS AT HER HEART…

【届かぬ想い】 「サスケは木ノ葉の里を去った。サクラの想いは未だ届いてはいないということだ。本来寂しがりやで平和主義 者のサクラにとって、一人の仲間が欠けてしまうことは耐え難い苦痛である。」 「ましてやそれが最愛の人となればなおさらだ。さからサクラは声をふりしぼり、届くあてのない想いを叫びつ づける。まるでそれが彼女を締めつける、どうしようもない宿命であるかのように．．．。」

↳ 【 UNREACHING FEELINGS】 Sasuke left the village of the Leaf. That is to say, Sakura’s feelings have not yet reached him. Naturally lonely and a lover of peace, for Sakura, the loss of a comrade brings unbearable pain. All the more pain, if such a person is a beloved one. That is why Sakura musters her voice and aimlessly screams her feelings that have no way of reaching. As though it is a crushing destiny for her… 

►chap. 181 「サクラには理解できない。なぜサスケが里をそして仲間を捨てるのか。」

↳ Sakura cannot understand. Why Sasuke is throwing away his friends and village.

►chap. 181 「勇気をふりぼった一言も、サスケの前で空しく[？]だけだった。」

↳ The words Sakura mustered courage to speak in front of Sasuke were only in vain.

►chap. 181 「あの日と同じ言葉を吐き、サスケは去っていった．．．。」

↳ Telling her the same words as that day, Sasuke left… 

 【 CHANGE 】 

↳ After realizing Sasuke is someplace unreachable, Sakura takes a look back at herself, as a friend and as a ninja. And she realizes this is not the end but rather the beginning. 

 ►chap. 236. 

↳ After losing Sasuke, the foundation of her heart, Sakura faces herself. 

 【 A NEW BEGINNING 】 

Sakura who swears to begin anew. This is her resolution to bring back Sasuke by her own self. No matter how hard the journey, Sakura will never give up because to her this is the ninja's way.

❖ OTHER MENTIONS. 

⊳ Relationship Chart 

↳ Sakura Haruno → Sasuke Uchiha : like

⊳ The 21 most emotional scenes in the manga | Poll

「１位「サ��ラとサスケ チャプター181」

↳ 1st place: Sasuke and Sakura.

「木の葉の里を去ってゆくサスケ。それを止めようとするサクラのやりとりはあまりにも切なく、読む者の心を強烈にゆさぶった。 」

↳ Sasuke who leaves Konoha. His exchange with Sakura who tried to stop him was extremely painful that the readers’ hearts were shaken to the core.

【投票者の声】 「もー、めっちゃ感動して泣いた！「ありがとう」にいろんな気持ち凝縮されてます！（東京市C・Nさん）」

↳ [voice of a voter] Aw man, I was very moved to the point of tears! There’s so much feeling condensed in that “thank you”! ~C. N. from Tokyo City.

↳ 18st place: Sakura's confession.

⊳ Most exciting quotes | Poll

↳ 8st place: Sasuke: I once lost everything. I don’t want to see my special companions die again in front of my eyes.

⊳ Kishimoto Interview. 

Q. Sakura calls herself a lady, but does she have a treasure worthy of one?

Kishimoto: Maybe some picture of Sasuke? 

 ⊳ Random illustration from 2003.

"Catching insects."

 Sakura: What cute butterflies.  

Sakura blushing: And you Sasuke? 

Sasuke: A cicada, what a boogey bug.     

                                                                                                  ★☆★