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wheresmymilliondollarman · 1 year

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aaron warner x ferrars! reader pt. 3

when omega point falls, you find yourself in need of the supreme commander's son, and discover unresolved feelings along the way.

(taken place during ignite me & hc continuation from part two)

that is literally me in this gif y'all🖤🖤

a/n: hello!! finally back with part 3. i'm sorry for the wait, i wanted to do other requests, but tbh i might focus on this little series so that way it's complete and everyone can read it all together. also idk why i even label it hcs anymore LMAOO like i feel it's progressed to a fic atp, but i'm too stubborn to change my format and titles, so humor me LOL. (maybe i'll turn this into a legit fic when i finish, who knows) pls do not kill me for not including every detail, i tried to highlight the best parts as much as i could. also might seem all sunshine rainbows rn with relationships, but just wait for the next book… 🤞 extra info: kinda change adam's character cus i feel like he was an extra ass at times for no reason in the book?? like trying to kill kenji for no reason?? small redemption arc. kinda slight change to juliette. also, i love making reader, juliette, and kenji a lil trio.

word count: 10.7k (im insane)

warnings: mentions of fights, blood, injuries, and death. use of military time (reader so me fr bc it took me so long to understand that shit), suggestive and matureish content.

the first thing on your mind, when you woke up, is that you had to be dead. if you opened your eyes, you would see the golden gates of heaven or the fiery pit of hell. based on how you lived your short life: you were thinking hell.

you realized you were alive and mostly well from the horrible aching from your body, the bandages wrapped around your chest, and the fact your current surrounding was a bedroom.

"hey, amor, take it easy." a voice said as you attempted to sit up.

by your side was aaron warner, sitting down on a stool next to the bed you laid on. he, uncharacteristically, looked disheveled, his clothes messy, and his eyes anxious.

your panic arose as you remembered events - fighting against the reestablishment, then getting caught, and then being shot in the chest by anderson. and then you recognized the room; it was aaron's bedroom - back at the base.

aaron notices your alarm and grabs your hands to calm you down. "it's alright you're safe here, i'm not gonna hurt you."

it may have been an idiotic move, but you believed his words.

"why are we here?"

"i had no choice. everyone believes your dead, and the base is the best place to keep you hidden."

"i don't understand...i'm not a medic by any means, but shouldn't i be dead?"

"you have sara and sonya to thank for that. they were able to save your heart from stopping before being dragged away by my father. then, i was able to take their energy as my own and heal the rest of you."

you were thankful for his aid in your life being saved, but you were too focused on many other worries to properly thank him. like the state of your friends.

you try your hand at getting up, trying to ignore the dizziness that comes with it. aaron holds you steady to stop you from falling.

aaron protests, "you need to res-" but you interrupt, "i need to go. i-i have to find everyone and help them."

"you can't."

you stop your movement and turn to aaron, "what do you mean? i know i'm in horrible shape, but i have to see juliette and everyone else could be in troubl-"

"it's over."

your face scrunches up in confusion, "what?"

aaron's silent for a few movements; you can't breathe. he looks down, his grip on you tightening, "they're dead. all of them."

you look at him in horror, your mouth open, but no words are released. your knees give out, and Aaron carries your full weight in his arms.

he slowly brings you both down to the ground next to the bed, still holding onto you. "i'm sorry, please believe me when i say that. if there was a way to spare you of this pain i would do it in a heartbeat."

you feel like a shell of yourself, you have no reaction, just an emotionless look on your face.

"what happened?" you say in a monotone voice.

"amor, i think you need to lay down or shower, then eat some-"

"what happened," you repeat with a harsher voice.

"they... overtook your friends, some were taken to be tortured, but most were.. shot dead."

"and omega point?"

"....destroyed. they got the coordinates and bombed the entire foundation."

you feel disconnected from reality; nothing feels real. everything is numb; you can't find it in yourself to let out any sort of emotion.

"so juliette, kenji, adam, james..."

aaron didn't need to answer for you to know. they're gone.

the first thing you did was laugh like a lunatic, aaron likely looked at you like you were mad. then finally, the tears came.

you yelled at aaron to get out, even though it was his room. in hysteria, you started levitating things and throwing them at him until he exited the room.

you don't know how long you spent sobbing on the floor next to the bed. you weren't even sure if you were going to stop.

your voice was sore from the number of times you wailed apologies to juliette for being a bad sister and for not being there to protect your friends.

when the tears finished, you reached denial. you knew your friends - there was no way they were dead. juliette was stronger than you, physically and sometimes mentally, so if you could survive a bullet to the chest, your sister could be alive.

when aaron comes back hours later to check on you, he didn't expect to see you walking around in new attire, packing clothes and items into a bag.

"what are you doing?"

"i have to go back."

aaron was taken aback by your statement, but you claimed there was a possibility there were people who survived. he countered saying he'd seen the damage and it wasn't likely. you didn't listen to him and continued preparing.

"this is unhealthy and possibly delusional thinking."

"well, then put me back in the asylum if i'm wrong. i'm going if you let me or not."

he sighs, and then gives in, not before insisting he comes along with you. now you were the one taken aback. was he actually offering to help you?

"why do you seem surprised? it's not as if i haven't made my care for you quite clear."

"no offense, but you're the most confusing man ever. i want to trust you, i've seen your good-natured side. you even claim to.. love me. but you work for the reestablishment, but then claim to be on my side. don't forget the fact you tried to turn juliette and i into weapons for the reestablishment, held us, hostage, at your base, and put us into a torture chamber. not exactly behavior that screams i want to help you."

at this he laughs then laughs harder and you get annoyed, not knowing what was funny. you were ready to kick him out again until he finally stooped.

"i suppose i owe you a long overdue explanation."

nothing prepared you for his next words. aaron began to retell the events from his perspective. starting with his true intentions of bringing you and juliette from the asylum - to study the both of you.

aaron explained his mother's condition, being unable to be touched - a reverse juliette basically. he sought out her at first, then discovered your existence and became intrigued more.

he invented the guise of using you both for weapons as a way for his father to agree to invest in you both.

as anderson mentioned before, juliette was of special interest because of her ability, and yours wasn't as impressive to him at the time. aaron had to convince the commander that your mind reading ability would be great for spy purposes.

once he brought the two of you to the base, he was ready to face 2 vicious and demented sisters, but it was literally the opposite of that. instead he got stuck with two stubborn and immature, you were offended at that, teenage girls.

"juliette was more of the hard-headed one, you mostly just followed along, i figured that out after the dinner and dress stunt. however, i can't say feeding you myself wasn't pleasurable for myself."

aaron saw your fear of your own ability and had intentions to help you and juliette, in his own way.

his tried various ways to unlock your potential - with juliette he tried anger and bullying and with you he knew you couldn't suppress hearing thoughts, so he figured spending time with you was the best option. but he came to understand how much he loved being around you.

"i was so addicted to being around you, i got sidetracked. but then my worry grew when you both showed no progress on enhancing your ability, so as a last resort, i arranged an experiment."

to your surprise, he revealed it was actually a simulation which was a major relief to you that no one was actually harmed by your powers, well, no one besides warner. but he partly deserved it for putting you through that.

although you were mad he implanted that fear into you, you had to admit. it did work.

"so, instead of finding some way to inform me earlier of all this, you make my sister and i think of you as some supervillain who wanted control of our autonomy." you grab the nearest pillow and launch it at him. "you're an idiot! we were scared out of our minds! juliette and i's last conversation was a fight over that! do you know much much time you could- are you seriously smiling?"

"god, i love it when you yell at me."

now that the ait was clear, you were able to put more of your faith into aaron and his intentions. and not feel bad about kissing him.

the two of you worked together on a plan to get you back to what was left of omega point.

you met an older gentleman by the name of delalieu. he was very sweet, but it got a little vexing every time he jumped to warner's defense whenever you made a remark; even ones said in levity.

a few days later, when aaron deemed it safer, you both set off to leave. although you had the misfortune of having to be stuffed into a cart to avoid being spotted. at least it was better than the body bag you were transported in the first time.

the two of you transported to what was left of omega point in a tank. aaron notably was able to drive to the location with ease. you grew suspicious because one - he told his father he didn't know how to get there and two - he was unconscious the whole time you, juliette, kenji, and adam drove there. you decide to question him on the matter.

"i wasn't completely unconscious on the trip there. i was very conscious when you were touching my hair and tracing my features."

"i knew it! you little faker, you intentionally pushed yourself onto me didn't you!"

when you both arrived, the scene was as horrible as you imagined. - rubbles and dust everywhere and a huge gaping hole miles down. you felt sick thinking about everyone who stayed behind, including james. god, you hoped at least your friends were alright.

you were suddenly tackled to the ground by warner, and the sound of a gunshot followed after. a voice yelled out, and you immediately recognized it - kenji.

you got up instantly and ran to him, attacking him with a gigantic hug, tears brimming at your eyes.

"oh my god, i thought you were dead!"

"i thought you were dead!"

"you almost killed me right now when you shot at us like a lunatic!"

"sorry, i was aiming for warner- where'd he go?"

you change subject, "juliette? is she alright?"

kenji confirms she is alive, and you felt like you could breathe again. you needed to see her as soon as possible.

kenji started looking for warner like a madman, and you, too, were curious about his whereabouts - until he startled you by "showing" up behind you. he had turned himself invisible.

he was ready to take you both back before kenji shot him, but you declined to say you had to see juliette and anyone else that survived. aaron was reluctant but then handed you a pager, not that you knew what it was, and gave you a limit of four hours. you thought it to be ridiculous, but you compromised to ease his worries.

you and kenji ventured back to adam's house, your first time being there since you were unable to the first time around. he, heart-achingly, filled you in on the events, how they searched for you, how many were lost, and who remained. you told your side of the action, including everything with aaron.

kenji did have some judgemental comments, but you understood he was reeling from the shock of everything, especially from the details regarding aaron.

you bite your tongue when kenjii speaks ill of warner. defending him would only make you look naive, plus you couldn't deny the others had their reasoning for disliking the guy. you would end up sounding like delalieu.

"so what, you like the guy now? god, don't tell me your gullible enough to fall for it just because he's the first guy to show interest in you."

his words cut deep into you, but you don't respond and change the subject back to getting to the house. you didn't want to argue after being so happy kenji is alive. but damn did you want to give him a shove with your powers.

your spirits lifted as soon as you reached the destination. you pull kenji to the front door and urge him to open it. he knocks and confirms his identity before it's opened by winston, who was shocked to see you.

you greeted him quickly, feeling bad, but your main focus was your sister. next you see alia, castle, brendan, lily and alia. (all frozen to their spots as soon as they noticed you). when you see james you give him a tight hug, thankful for his well-being.

adam and juliette walked out of the kitchen engaged in conversation, not noticing you at first. then kenji drew their attention with a cough.

both of you were paralyzed at first; you were the first to break and jump at her with tears and an overbearing hug. she was quick to return it, then the both of you started crying in relief to see each other after thinking the other was dead.

"i'm so sorry for how we ended things, you had a right to be upset and i was a bad sister for not taking your feelings into account. "

"no, i'm the one who overreacted. i should've came with you the moment you told me you felt something was wrong."

"okay we get it elsa and anna; you're both very happy to see each other. please, no more tears."

you both pulled away, laughing softly at your dramatics. you turned and gave adam a much quicker hug, him happy to see you breathing.

with greeting out of the way, everyone's attention was turned back to you, particularly how you survived. you took a deep breath, and retold everything you told kenji, leaving out intimate details about aaron and you. everyone reacted similarly to the way kenji had.

the room then filled with different questions and thoughts, all voices one another, reminding you of listening to different people's thoughts at the same time. they all started assuming the worst in warner, and this time you did defend him - but it only made you look guilty.

the subject turned over to what was the next plan of action. castle was out of it, so he provided no help. adam was the first to protest any sort of fight, his concern for james overshadowing. juliette was on the fence about it for adam's sake, but you knew she wanted to fight against the reestablishment like everyone else, if not more. especially after all they had put the two of you through.

the conversation barely got past arguments before the front door was suddenly brought down. everyone, besides you, held up weapons to attack the intruder - you held up your hands, ready to use your power if necessary. but then you recognized the intruder quickly - aaron.

you ran over in front of him and advised everyone to stand down, but they didn't listen, they were too focused on the fact aaron had arrived.

you readied yourself to lower their weapons yourself, but then aaron made a move of his own and flung all the guns across the room with levitation.

"i was gonna do that.." you mumbled quietly to yourself.

"apologies, amor, i'll let you get them next time."

everyone else was stunned, you explained aaron's gift, but it was still a shock to see. a few banters are exchanged, but aaron, uncaring as ever, ignores them and proceeds to grab your arm so the two of you can leave. however, you stop him, not wanting to leave on bad terms.

you informed everyone that aaron was on your side, and they were understandably doubtful to believe it, but as they noticed how he acted with you, it became more believable.

you took the chance to try to persuade everyone to stand up again against the rebellion. juliette and kenji were the first to side with you, and slowly everyone followed along, adam and ian being the ones more reluctant. you could respect adam for thinking of james and juliette, and ian was just an asshole, but he was also mourning. in a turn of events, castle chimed in with his support.

aaron, not thrilled about the new members of your alliance, announced the two of you would be leaving. juliette protested, not wanting to be away from you after she just got you back.

part of you longed to lay on the comfortable bed back at the base, but you needed to stay with your team. so, you made an agreement aaron could return for you the next day.

"so i'll come back for you tomorrow? thirteen hundred hours."

"thirteen hundred hours? like from now?"

"it means one o'clock."

"... one o'clock is not thirteen hundred hours from now."

aaron was holding back a laugh, juliette was just as confused, and kenji physically facepalmed.

aaron eventually left after you reassured him you'd be fine. ian was of no help as he kept insulating it was better if you left. adam stormed off not long after, juliette following to calm him. she returned looking dejected and assumed she and adam fought. kenji suggested the three of you go out for a walk, although it was late.

during the night stroll, all three of you got emotions off your chest. kenji's feelings about the whole situation, juliette's issues with adam (they were still technically broken up) , and your turmoil with warner. kenji was somewhat holding back, but you knew he was just trying to hold up a strong facade.

as you disclosed your confusion and feelings, kenji had many questions, from disbelief, and juliette mainly just patiently listened and remained silent.

"so you like the guy, for what his personality? totally has nothing to do with his looks?

"hey, i'm not shallow! ...aaron just happens to be gifted with excellent looks."

"hearing you call him aaron is so weird. and i'm not judging you if you did. seeing adam shirtless is probably what drew juliette to him at the start."

"hey!"

the light banter made the solemn conversation easier to talk through. it was nice to be always from everything for a bit, and just act like friends.

you three returned back, kenji walked to the door first, and juliette grabbed your wrist to stop you from following him.

"i just want to talk to you alone real quick. about warner,.. or aaron, whatever you call him."

you held your breath, partly ready for her to possibly start another argument.

"i know you're confused about what you feel for him still, but i need you to know if you decide you love him - i'll support you. i don't want it to get in the way our bond. after everything that's happened... i realized there no time to waste on petty little things, especially about guys. all that should matter is we're always here for each other."

you give each other another heartfelt and tearful hug; glad kenji wasn't there to comment on how sappy and emotional it is.

"so, just between us sisters, do you think you love him?"

you laugh, and open the truth of your heart of her.

back inside, you all prepared for him or, as aaron called it a "slumber party." wasn't too far off since everyone besides james, adam, and castle slept on the ground.

your place was between kenji and juliette, each of you having your own pillow and blanket. winston and brendan bantered a bit about kicking faces before the turns finally went out.

"kenji, i know it will be incredibly hard, but keep your hands to yourself."

"you wish. you should be telling your sister that, she's basically all over me every night."

"shut up."

the next day brought a lot of drama. the day started off late, leaving little time to discuss before aaron arrived. another fight between adam and juliette set off. the issue being that aaron was coming back, which adam was completely against. he had been fine with your stay, but he wouldn't compromise for letting him return. adam gave an ultimatum, if you brought warner he would essentially kick you out.

juliette went to your defense and partly aaron's for your benefit. this only set off adam more. kenji tried his hand at intervening but only got backlash from adam, who stormed off outside after. everyone else stayed quiet, but you could tell one or two silently agreed with adam.

you didn't wanna stir any more trouble than needed, so you started preparing yourself to go, clicking the little mechanism aaron gave you a couple times to ensure it worked.

brendan, winston, castle, lily insisted you stay as well. james also gave a small plead for you to remain. juliette believed she could still talk some sense into adam.

it felt great to have their support, but at the same time, you felt bad for having to divide everyone into teams, yours or adam's. instead of building a team, you were tearing one apart.

before you knew it, the newly fixed door was again slammed open by the same intruder from the day before. aaron barged in, almost of breath and distressed. you thought something happened to him because of how disarranged he looked.

he locked his gaze on you and speedily grabbed you in his arms, cupping your face and scanning you up and down for any injuries. you were a bit embarrassed as everyone was a witness to aaron fussing over your well-being.

"did you run here?"

"of course, you beeped the pager."

you assured him you were alright and turned back to everyone with faces of incredulity.

"woah, this is... freaky." winston began.

"i worked for this guy for more than a year and never even saw him smile."

you explained to aaron that you couldn't stay at the house any longer but couldn't leave everyone else either. he offers to have them stay in the training area, but kenji declines, needing a better offer. juliette sides with kenji, the rest don't fully trust warner, so they need reassurance.

you couldn't bare the thought of leaving everyone again, so you pleaded to aaron to give in to their demands, willing to compromise whatever. you were happy and a little shocked, along with everyone else, when he accepted the terms.

"i'll return tomorrow at fourteen hundred ho-" he sees your confused face again, "2 o'clock. i really must educate you on military time, amor"

"or you could just say the time on a clock like the average person."

aaron takes your hand and guides you back to the tank to make your way back to the base before anyone notes his disappearance.

you express your gratitude for his help, and he responds by saying there's not need, he would do whatever to ease your pain. he also partly owed it to you for being so dismissive when you believed your friends were alive.

"i know they all judge you right now, and maybe they always will. but, i do believe you're a good person, and sure, you have flaws, but who doesn't - i am certainly no saint. i don't want to fix you...just want to make you see yourself in a better light like i do." your final words before falling into a slumber against the window.

you return back to the base the way you came in with delalieu's help. your both back in aaron's room, not having said a word to each other since the tank. aaron's started to ask questions about what had happened back at adam's house. you briefly told him about the drama about adam not wanting you there if you were with warner.

aaron became upset, not liking how adam treated you, and reassured you he would harm him if you wanted him to. you quickly assure him that you didn't care about it, you weren't going to beg to stay where you weren't wanted. you were mostly concerned about what it had done to whatever relationship was left between juliette and adam. she obviously loved him, but she couldn't hold herself back for him either.

you go silent at the mention of juliette, remembering your last private conversation. aaron, being able to easily feel your emotions, pick up and it and presses for information.

"it's just.. she asked me if i loved you."

aaron's breath hitches, "what was your response."

"i told her, 'love is a strong word. i'm not even sure i fully understand it. but i think...no i know. i'm falling for him.' "

aaron didn't respond, he got up and went to his office, shutting the door behind him. you weren't sure what it meant. and you didn't see him for the rest of the day.

you couldn't sleep that night; your mind was doing circles in anticipation of the group's arrival tomorrow.

you got up with the intention of solely getting a glass of water, but then heard a loud noise come from the direction aaron's office.

wanting to make sure he was okay, you walked in without notice. the door was already halfway open, so you figured it was alright.

the room was bigger than your childhood home's living room; it was filled with different seats of furniture, books, shelf, etc. aaron was at his large desk - his shirt discarded and only wearing slacks and socks.

aaron's brushes you off, telling you to go to bed, but your focus is on a small jar in his hands. you ask what it is, but he avoids answering, so you grab the object yourself. he attempts to get it from you, but you move away - deja vu to when aaron wouldn't return your journal to you. it felt nice to be on the flip side of it for once.

you read the label and understood it was a medicine. then it clicked; it was for his scars. and he was embarrassed about it. it was kind of cute.

he confirms it's for his back, so you nicely offer to do it for him since he seemed to have trouble reaching it. he was obviously self-conscious no matter how much he denied it, and you told him it didn't matter; you'd already seen them. but he kept turning his back away from you. you were getting suspicious that the scars were only part of the reason he was hiding.

you got annoyed and impulsively used your power to keep him sat and finally make his back face you. you could apologize later.

then you saw it. yes, his scars were still there, but on top of that were your wonky star doodles. the ones you drew in his cells two weeks ago in his cell at omega point.

you were confused about how they were still there, darker than you remember. the pen you used was lousy; you would know since you used it to write and the ink always smudged. the pen ink was also blue, and this was black. the skin around it was also freshly red.

"wait.. is this tattooed?"

his silence confirmed it. you were speechless. he tattooed your silly little doodles. he needed the medicine to numb the pain of the ink.

"why would you do this?"

"figured it your mark was better than the ones my dad left me."

"aaron."

"it was the first time i looked at my back and smiled."

you think your heart burst on the spot.

"god, i would've made them better if i knew you were gonna mark it."

"they're perfect." god, you were ready to melt.

you compose yourself and insist you put on the medicine since it was your tattoo design that's causing him slight pain. he didn't protest this time. you applied it in silence, then worked up the courage to ask about his scars.

aaron was very hesitant, you were ready to be shut down, but then he opened up to you. his scars being a 'birthday gift' from his father. it was heartbreaking to hear and almost brought tears to your eyes, but you knew pity was the last thing he wanted.

"when you saw them back in my cell, i waited to see that look of repulse on your face, but it never came. you observed them so carefully like they were the most interesting thing to you. then you had the gall to say it was similar to abstract art."

"well, it's true. they're not ugly, and you're certainly not repulsive. the scars are like a show of strength for everything you've been through. they're yours; only you decide what they represent. anyone who thinks differently is a total loser."

"please, stop."

"i'm sorry, did i say something wr-"

"i love you. so much that the first thing i did when returning here after escaping omega point was getting delalieu to tattoo my skin because your marks faded. i didn't even let myself wash off in fear they'd disappear before i got a chance to preserve them. i couldn't wipe the smile off my face whenever i looked at it through a mirror. it always reminded me of you. our moments. our last kiss. i burn for you greatly, and you don't even realize it."

"aaron..."

"don't."

"you know how i feel. but i'm still figuring it out, this is all new to me, and i want to get to know you better-"

"please. just go." and you did.

the following day, right on schedule, aaron goes to pick up the group while you stay behind waiting in the training facility that he briefly gave you a tour of.

the group arrived, and you happily greeted them as they looked around the place in awe. aaron began to go over rules and boundaries for the group. after the previous night, you were unsure about where you stood with warner, so you decided to give him some space and stand with the rest of the group. as he spoke, he threw not-so subtle glances your way, making you confused about whether he was upset with you or not.

aaron ventured off, everyone was setting up their items, and you separated with kenji and juliette. they book had look more distressed upon their arrival. apparently, juliette took one last chance to try and convince adam to come along, he didn't budge, saying he had to protect james and encouraged juliette to stay as well. it resulted in an argument; eventually, he respected her decision to fight - but it would mean the end for them. you comforted your sister through her heartbreak, adam had been a big part of her life, even a bit of yours. so to say goodbye must've been hard for her.

kenji also tried to persuade adam, but it escalated, and the two started throwing harsh words at each other. you knew adam was his friends, whether they both acknowledged it or not, and after omega point, you were sure kenji didn't want to lose anyone else. leaving james behind made it worse.

the direction of conversation then turned to you, and you were originally going to deny any conflict, but kenji and juliette picked up on the tension between you and aaron.

juliette starts, "so, what happened with warner?"

"don't know what you mean."

kenji and juliette give each other a mutual glance, " we aren't blind; the guy kept looking at you as if you'd killed his puppy. like seriously, there could've been a rain cloud over him with how much he was sulking."

you opened up to the happenings of last night, leaving out too personal information about warner, and how you weren't sure what to do now. kenji lost his mind at the bit about the tattoo, this new side of warner still weirding him out.

"i thought you were into him?"

"i mean, i am. it's just all so confusing. i'm not trying to string him along, i just want to truly know him before i could want more with him. it feels like he knows every single thing about me, while i'm barely starting to paint a picture. or maybe he only thinks he loves me or he's only interested in me because of my gift."

"dude, everything he has done for us so far is all because of you. what kind of guy tattoo's a stupid drawing someone drew on their back? and i swear he gets cartoon heart eyes when he looks at you too long. i know i called you naive for believing it, but that was before i saw first hand how intimate his feelings are for you."

"he's right, y/n. think about if he only cared about your gift, he would've been treating us the same, after all, he brought both of us in. sure, he acts decent towards me, but i'm pretty sure it has more to do with the fact we're sisters. you don't play nice with someone's family unless you really like them."

you were silent as you absorbed both their perspectives.

kenji sighs, "damn, i need a love life."

"interested in someone else."

"technically single, but i'd choose the asylum over you."

"i'm starting to miss when you both were meek and quiet."

after that friendly therapy session, you regained your focus on the important task, formulating a plan to overtake anderson. you had a few ideas, some you talked about with aaron, but a seventeen-year-old girl can only do so much on her own, so that's why you bring in your sister, who is also seventeen. as the two of you went through essentially the same trauma, she had as much right to be a big part of this as you.

aaron came back hours later, and everyone gathered around and took a seat somewhere. to your surprise, aaron sat down right the to you. the tension is so much worse side by side. knowing aaron could read what you felt didn't make it better.

you began to illustrate the details of the plan, juliette helping fill in and explain points. the goal is to get anderson to sector 45; to do that, you had to take over sector 45. getting people and soldiers to rebel was going to be the trickiest part, and much of the group wasn't on board that it could work.

"we're going to have to show them our strengths, i'll help them see our strength." you explain.

"and if they shoot us?" ian counters..

juliette shrugs, "then don't do it, i'm sure my sister and i are capable of being amazing by ourselves."

"real humble , j."

brendan speaks up, "so, we've got somewhat of a synopsis of juliette's gift, but, no offense y/n, what is it you can do besides read minds?"

it was true; almost everyone wasn't aware of other capabilities you possessed. you didn't like to divulge your gift much back at omega point, kenji, juliette, and castle knowing the most. unlike juliette, who had many different events where she showed her amazing strength, and you were sure they saw more when she practiced at adam's house while you were separated.

you briefly revealed more about your powers, mind-reading, telekinesis, and your ongoing training in telepathic defense. you admitted to losing control a few times as well. the group looked more amazed as you went on.

"prove it."

"yeah, c'mon dude, show us."

everyone else started egging you on to make a show of your powers; you even saw aaron look interested in wanting to see it. you gave in, and asked aaron for permission to throw some objects around, he nodded.

you started levitating different objects and throwing a few around. kenji started begging for you to lift him, so you did - then winston and brendan kept begging to go next. you showcased a small shield of energy you were able to produce. lastly, they wanted to see your telepathic projection, but you explained it would involve harming one of them, so you shut it down.

"so like, you can do all that too right? since you can steal powers?" winston questions warner.

"yes, if i wanted to i could take hers, or any of your powers and use it."

you cough into your hand, "no one's better than the original, though."

"so the two of you together can basically can..."

"take over the world?"

"...was going to say kick serious ass, but you're not wrong."

warner doesn't respond, but you can see him holding back a smile.

the thought of warner taking powers was eerie to the group, but you reassured them of your faith and trust in aaron. then the conversation redirects to the plan. castle questions of what is supposed to happen if you do win, such as who is going to lead.

"i will." juliette pulls you by the arm next to her, "and y/n will help me."

the room falls silent. even warner is still. your head snaps to your sister, that was not a topic the two of you discussed. nor did you know it was up for discussion. you, of course, didn't express your surprise, you couldn't show doubt when this whole meeting relied on trust. juliette's speech on the new world motivated everyone to follow through with the battle plan, you silently supported it, but in your mind, you didn't think it was the best idea for you both to lead a whole country. you think juliette forgets just how young and inexperienced you both are.

but you were sure this was a problem that could be mended later, right?

aaron and you were alone in his room again, the silence so deafening, you mentally cringed. you attempted to start the conversation on his thoughts about the plan, but he began to brush you off. frustrated, you call him out on his recent behavior.

"why is it all or nothing with you? i didn't reject you- all i said was i want to know you better, i saw you in a bad light for a good while. i want to see the positive just as much."

"or maybe you're just expecting too much from me."

"why are you being so stubborn!"

"because you being disgusted with what you learn, would end me."

he walked out after, a common occurrence, it seemed, these past days.

you vented all your frustrations into training the next day. you told yourself you wouldn't focus on warner, no matter how good he looked in sweatpants, and instead use your pent-up energy to master your powers.

it paid off well; you got closer to creating a shield. but maybe a little too well, since you accidentally launched kenji across the room with your energy force. he got you back off, turning invisible and tripping you. juliette concentrated on moving her dumbbell with the force of will, but she struggled. reminded you a lot of your training at omega point. you offered her tips on what worked for you, and kenji coached.

at some point, you went to the back to drink from your water bottle, unintentionally near where warner was bench pressing. then suddenly you heard someone yell 'get down'. it all happened in a flash, you turned around a bit late, and the rock wall behind you came crumbling down at you. you quickly attempted to lift your hands, levitate most of the impact and braced yourself. suddenly, instead of your body colliding with dozen of sharp rocks, you were surrounded in bubbles. you turned the rumble into fucking bubbles.

you stood mouth wide open in shock for a minute, the people around you just as amazed. aaron was the first to run to you, asking if you were alright, and you nodded, still a bit shocked. he expressed his astoundment at your newfound skill.

juliette then came up to you and profusely apologized, and you assured her you were okay and accidents happen.

"i can't count how many times i almost knocked out castle with things during my training. you'll get the hang of it. plus, i'm sure aaron had trouble learning to control power too."

"oh, no. though i've always been very good at everything i do."

you smack his chest, "you are seriously no help."

you continue to train very hard for the rest of the week, your muscle will likely permanently ache in pain.

you and aaron hadn't gotten much better, you really did try to reach out so many times, but if he wasn't going to cooperate, why waste energy.

he made a habit of intentionally putting his focus on things around the base and working late, so he wouldn't see you until you were already asleep.

if things ended badly between you two, i'd be because of his own stupidity, not for your lack of trying nor the judgment of his character.

other than that, all was well. until kenjii decided to casually drop a bomb that adam and james were coming to the base. juliette started freaking out, and you weren't sure where you and adam stood, but you were excited to see james again.

adam arrived, and tensions between the ex-couple were high. they both were cordial but weren't sure how to act around one another. adam went up and apologized to you for his treatment, and you accepted it because he was once your friend, and you hated grudges. james excitedly greeted you, and you gave him a small tour.

then aaron showed up, ignoring adam, but he and james went back in forth in exchanges. it was very entertaining to watch, and aaron pointed out your enjoyment.

"why do you call her amor?"

"it means love in spanish."

"so, do you love her?"

"why, do you?"

"n-no! she's really pretty- i mean, i like her...no, ugh, she's like a million years older than me!"

"hey! i'm not prehistoric!"

you cut the exchange short, grabbing james on the shoulders and dragging him away, "how about we go back t kenji while i explain to you age numbers..."

you and juliette got upgrades in suits. yours similar to your former, but with minor changes. your color was now a darker red with accents of black, your coat was now high to low with slides for the sides of your legs to show, new knee-high combat coots, and new long fingerless gloves. yours and juliette's new material was made to accommodate your powers.

for training, you watched juliette and kenji go back in forth in combat - kenji mostly won due to technique, but juliette overpowered him a few times.

aaron came up to you, and insisted the two of you train in combat together. you rejected his offer; combat was not your forte, you were repeatedly told by kenji many times. so you just stuck to using your powers. but aaron wouldn't back off.

"it's important to learn combat, amor."

"if i run into a bad guy i'll just fling him away."

"and when you can't use your powers, what happens?"

you were going to argue that wouldn't happen, but knew it wouldn't suffice for him, so you just gave in, so he would shut up.

it was no shocker that he easily blocked your punches and stopped any attack. he even had the audacity to be amused at how badly you were doing.

"wow, you are quite terrible."

"okay, i get it i suck. can i go back to my training?"

"c'mon, amor, don't give up so easily. punch me."

as much as you were annoyed, you didn't want to physically hurt him. aaron laughed when you told him that. that itself, ticked you off. and it did not help that now you had an audience invested in the interaction.

you still didn't relent, aaron was a bit disappointed, but he focused on fixing your form.

you don't know if it was the fact aaron laughed, his constant comments, or all your pent-up frustration, but something came over you. while aaron was distracted with giving walking you through hitting an opponent, you hit him - hard. you might've used some of your powers to make the hit stronger, but he didn't need to know that.

aaron staggered back, shockingly caught off guard. you honestly expected him to block it like your other ones; but no you managed to land a hit on his cheekbone area, hitting some of the side of his nose. your poor form made for your knuckles to hurt badly.

everyone stopped what they were doing; even you froze. kenji in the back, trying not to laugh. aaron then recovered, his land touching the side of his face. his face didn't show anger, pain, nor surprise - he was smiling in admiration.

"oh my god, i'm so sorry!"

"no, don't apologize, amor. i'm very content being the first to experience your strength firsthand."

you and aaron ended up cutting practice short and went to the infirmary. you helped treat the large bruise on his face you'd given him as a small apology, and he wrapped your sprained knuckles and partly chasted you for incorrect hand form. was he looking to get punched again?

the following day, aaron woke you up earlier than your normal routine. he mentioned an opportunity for you and juliette to finally get practice outside of the base, and you quickly agreed. you asked why so suddenly, and then he disclosed he was going to visit his mother. it was her birthday, he explained. he didn't say much after that and went over that kenji will keep you and juliette invisible after he leaves.

but you couldn't help your curiosity and asked a little about his mother. hearing the story of his ring broke your heart. the only gifts you got were when you and juliette exchanged homemade gifts for your shared birthday, but the story made you appreciate that tradition much more.

"i think it's good you still visit her."

"is it?"

"it is. knowing you have someone there is sometimes enough. whenever i remembered i had my sister with me, it made the asylum not completely terrible. and around you, i feel like i achieve anything."

juliette, kenji, and you, invisible, met with warner at his tank. you didn't even need to tell him of your presence before he helped you into the tank and got on the driver side to start it.

"how'd you..." you ask, confused.

"i can sense your presences. especially yours."

"woah, freaky. what's mine feel like? peanut better?" he got ignored.

you settled on the opposite window side, juliette next to you, and kenji next to aaron. kenji started shuffling around, uncomfortable.

"dude, y/n, switch seats with me."

"what why?"

"your boyfriend is touching my leg."

"you flatter yourself." aaron interjects.

"c'mon hurry up! i think he's about to knife me..."

"just switch with juliette. it's easier."

"no way, if i'm gonna move, i might as well get the window seat."

you roll your eyes (not that he can see), and the two of you begin a messy movement of bodies to switch seats. poor juliette, stuck in the middle, getting hit by an occasional limb.

"ow, you just hit me in the face-" juliette complains.

"sorry, i'm trying my best-"

"now you just hit me!" you exclaim.

"oh my god, let me just-"

"kenji!"

kenji was the first to get to his new seat, you were situated over both him and juliette. kenji, tired of your leg in his face, shoved you with brief warning. and in an attempt to stable yourself you put your hands out on aaron's lap, but one hand missed. and landed on his groin. aaron visibly flinched and put his lips together in a straight line to contain his painful expression.

you gasped and hastily moved your hands in a panic, then to make matters worse - you fell face first in his lap. you were so happy to be invisible at the moment.

aaron takes a sharp intake of air, and his knuckles turn white from how tight he grips the wheel. you scramble you sit correctly, accidentally putting a hand on his groin again before finally in the seat. the silence was deafening.

aaron promptly dropped you both off at an empty site and bid you goodbye. you gave him some last words for comfort that you noticed he appreciated. then he went off.

sometime later, it was time for the four of you to meet up again. the practice had been somewhat successful. there were many miscalculations with practicing and being invisible. the three of you kept stumbling into each other, having the wrong place meant, and arguing over who was right. but ignoring that, you did get some practice in there.

aaron, however, was unusually late. it worried you. kenji and juliette didn't think much of it. but since you knew his location, you sensed there was something wrong. you asked both of them to check on him to ensure he was already, and you three walked to the house. you avoided mentioning aaron's mother.

you asked juliette and kenji to wait outside as you went inside.knji begrudgingly agreed, ensuring he could keep the invisibility up inside, too. juliette bid you to be careful and return as soon as possible.

you saw a few different pictures of aaron with his mother as a child. you looked through different rooms until you found him. he was sitting on the floor with his knees to his chest, his frame trembling. his mother died; you put together. you quickly knelt down and gave him a hug that he accepted. you let him hold you tightly as he sobs sorrowfully. it was painful to witness, so you let him cry onto your shoulder for however long he needed.

an hour later you returned, kenji and juliette already in the tank, no invisibility. you didn't need for them to say anything to know they had questions, so you avoided their gaze. next to you, aaron held your hand the whole way back

his mother's death reminded you of his family, the unknown fact to him that he shares blood with adam and james. you wanted him to know, but truly, you didn't want any part of that mess. knowing was already knawing at you as it was. juliette disagreed; she thought adam needed to tell aaron.

you thought leaving aaron alone was the best decision. you even planned to spend the night where everyone else was. but as you were packing a bag, he stopped you. aaron grabs your arm and turns you to look at him.

"you're right. i am holding back. i was telling you how much you were in denial, but it was me who was holding back. you've always seen me in a light like no one has. i've never thought of myself as even a decent man until you came around. and it scares me. so much. i'm afraid of disappointing you, and you'll be disgusted with me, see the monster i see every day in the mirror. but if giving more of myself is all it takes to be yours, then it's done. you can learn every crevice of my soul if it means you'll stay with me."

you knew it then, "i love you." you are in love.

he grabs your face and kisses you in less than a second. the kiss being so loving and careful, he takes his time memorizing your lips. he lifts you in the air prompting you to wrap your legs around his waist. from there, the kiss molds into passion and need. before you know it, you're both lying on the bed with him hovering over you.

aaron groans into your mouth, "say it again."

you softly giggle, "i love you."

"god, you have no idea what you just unleashed, amor."

your stomach is doing a million glips. your entire body is in frenzy. you're ready to have a heart attack there and then. it was only just the beginning as well.

"lift your hips for me, amor."

"c'mon, angel, don't get shy on me now."

"i'm afraid you're never getting rid of me now mi amor."

very long night.

you slept through most of the morning, only woken up by aaron laying kissing down your neck. then he started going lower down your body. any sleep you had was now gone.

"aaron.. what are you doing."

"nothing."

"liar."

"shhh.. you just lay there, i'm just going to enjoy my breakfast."

the man was insaitable; you were sure you weren't ever gonna get out of bed that day. but eventually, you did. had to dedicate half an hour to walking properly again.

you went to you rfinal fitting for suits, and the new look was incredible. juliette traded the purple for a new black suit - kenji not liking his color stolen.

"why am i the only one in color now?"

"so, you can get spotted and shot at first while the rest of us get away." kenji answers.

"you're the worst."

aaron walked up behind you and whispered in your ear, "how quickly can you take this off?"

you smack his chest and give a playful disapproving look.

"i mean, it definitely can stay on, too."

"aaron!"

the bliss of everything helped ease your nerves for the following day. you were sat in aaron's room going over the plan for the millionth time. aaron kept reassuring you you'd be perfect and worrying will do nothing but install fear.

"it's just... what if it backfires. what if no one listens or surrenders?"

"it wont and they will."

"you're right. i'll just tell them my scary boyfriend will come after them."

"for you? always." he kisses your cheek, "i like the sound of you saying boyfriend, but scary?"

"well, everyone besides me is pretty scared of you."

"and what about you, what do you think of me?"

"i think you're cute."

"cute? yeah, let me show you just how cute, i can be."

aaron can never take his off of you for too long.

the next day, you, juliette, and the others stood in front of sector 45. both the people and the soldiers gathered there, all of their eyes fixed on your group. it was like the world's largest show and tell.

aaron started it off with a speech, informing everyone of the truth and the fact you and juliette were alive and well. then your sister took over, and directly told the crowd the plan to destroy the reestablishment, you gave a few words of your own, but juliette did most of the talking much to your relief.

then the questions from the crowd starting, so it was time for the group to showcase their powers. finally it was down to juliette and you.

juliette climbed to a building s good hundred feet from the ground, then jumped off and landed - making the ground tremble and shatter beneath her.

"how the hell do i top that?" you whisper to yourself.

with a comforting look from aaron, and a deep breath, you stepped into the front. you looked for a fairly easy but impressive thing to lift and spotted a very tall tower. bingo.

using your ability, you began carefully levitating it above the ground. you closed your hand into a fist, and the tower began breaking into bits. people began to panic as the rubble started coming toward them, but suddenly, you transformed the pieces into butterflies flying around the people. everyone looking around in amazement.

you took the biggest deep breath once you were done. very happy your practice paid off, and you didn't accidentally end up killing a crowd.

the crowd cheered and roared. the presentation proved to be successful because they got on board with destroying the reestablishment. the soldiers surrendered and joined the rebellion.

back in the training room, everyone was overjoyed with the success of overtaking sector 45, but now came the hardest part. winning a war.

juliette ran straight to you, attacking you in a very strong hug. so strong you had to tell her to chill on the power a bit. she apologized and released you. the recent events were still reeling in your mind, not fully comprehended.

"oh my god, juliette what did we just do?"

"we just started a war my dearest sister."

and now you had to wait to face anderson in likely a day or two. he almost killed you last time. but you wouldn't let him get lucky again.

the group, minus aaron, sat in the training room discussing what was next. one talk to another led to the topic of anderson.

"i've never even met the guy. wonder what he's like?"

"he's handsome. it's actually insane how evil, but striking he is." you blurt out.

juliette agrees, but the group looks at you weirdly.

"dude, you just called your boyfriend's dad attractive."

"what? i don't mean it in a weird way."

"hey, at least you've got a backup option if the first anderson doesn't work out. "

you throw a pillow at kenji's head.

then the topic of anderson's name came about, and that's when the trouble began. adam answered his name was paris; but suddenly, aaron arrived in the room, overhearing the conversation.

aaron put him against the wall, interrogated him on how he knew, and adam not saying anything. you couldn't take it anymore, so you yelled out the truth.

"he's your bother!"

aaron didn't believe it. juliette kept pressuring adam until he finally confessed. everyone gave the two of them space to work things out as everyone else busied themselves. when all was on steady terms, aaron sat with you.

"you should've told me."

"i know, i'm sorry. but it really wasn't my secret to tell."

"i had a right to know."

"c'mon, if you had some sort of family secret of mine, would you tell me right away?"

he hesitates, "you're right. you didn't want to get involved, i understand that."

you tell yourself it didn't matter, but you couldn't help but ask, did he deliberately avoid answering. you brush it off, probably nothing.

you returned to aaron's room, you both talked about the brother situation more, and aaron mentioned spending more time with both kent's. you were happy to see he was content to learn about his new family and want to see them more.

"this is great. i'm happy when you're happy. it's deserve more close people in your life."

"but i have you, and that's enough."

"very sweet, but family relationships are different. i was fortunate to have a sister in my life. what if my mother hadn't had the both of us, juliette not being my sister? seems unimaginable.."

aaron goes rigid, being in his lap, you notice immediately, "you alright?"

he relaxes and nods, "this whole situation has me a bit disorientated. enough brother talk. let me remind you why our relationship has much better advantages than other ones.."

a full night of sleep was just a foreign concept at this point.

it took one day for anderson to come to the sector. you all had luckily kind of prepared for it, so there was a plan set that you all were to follow. kenji, juliette, and you were responsible for going to the ship to deal with anderson while the rest took care of the matter on land.

before separating, you said your farewell and good luck to aaron. you tried to cry when saying goodbye to james and promising all would be fine. lastly, you gave aaron a kiss, and you promised each other to be safe.

"i have no doubts that you will succeed. my father can't even fathom the power you possess."

as you three board the port, you notice the massive groups of soldiers. juliette has the idea of you pushing them into the water with your powers, which you do.

you each take turns getting onto the ship, 5-second gap each. however, once you get inside, you can't find neither juliette or kenji. still invisible, you take your chances going through different doors, trying not alert soldiers.

but it fails because bullets began shooting in your direction. you run as fast as you can; unlike juliette, you are not invincible neither was your suit, at least not entirely.

with your invisibility gone, you get cornered with at least 7 soldiers, armed. your instincts kick in, and you start throwing men and attacking them with your energy. one soldier begins shooting at you when you're caught off guard. you hold your hand out as a protection and close your eyes, but you see the bullet is stopped - by your shield. you hadn't even made an effort to create it yet, and it presented itself like it was an automatic presence.

after witnessing that, the guard abandoned the ship and ran off. you couldn't blame him; you doubt he got paid enough to deal with all this.

you attention is shifted when you heard loud crashes and screams. you recognize them as your friend and your sister. you rush toward the room where the sound was originating.

you see kenji on the ground in pain and juliette not too far off; she's crouched down, clutching her head, and struggling to stand. you spot anderson, with another man, who you recognize is causing juliette's pain with his sonic wave gift.

you focus your energy on the boy, focusing on hurting him. then he stops his pressure waves and starts howling in pain, crouching down like juliette had. you were in a trance, channeling all your energy into hurting the guy, then - you snapped his neck.

you ran to juliette first, helping her get up, then you checked on kenji who was in worse shape.

anderson drew his gun, and started shooting bullets at you both, but it simply just bounced off. you and juliette drew your own weapons; you looked at each other and knew what had to happen next.

you focus your energy on anderson, his legs then collapse under him. he starts scrambling on the ground. juliette steps on his hands - shattering his borns with her power.

"remember that lesson on justice getting served?"

you shoot him in the chest, and juliette aims for his head.

4 shots - one for adam, one for aaron, one for juliette, and one for you.

it was a blur after that. sara and sonya were found and attended to kenji who was luckily not in any fatal condition, he would be okay.

it felt like you were experiencing someone out-of-body, unreal. juliette went up to the speaker system, capable of speaking to the entirety of the sector. she announced the end of the reestablishment and its new leader.

he was dead. it was over.

still bloodied and bruised, you stood on the tallest tower of the compound. you hadn't talked to anyone; everyone too busy rejoicing. but you were still digesting everything that had just happened.

you look over the new land and wonder what could be in store next.

you're not surprised when juliette and aaron find you, they know you too well at this point. they don't say anything and each take a side next to you. aaron puts a hand around your waist and tugs you toward him.

"the entire rest of the world is coming after us now, you know."

"i'd love to see them try." juliette says confidently.

"i believe as long as our bonds remain strong, we can overcome anything." though. that wasn't how you really felt.

you didn't want to damper a glorious day. but you couldn't help the pit forming inside of your stomach, telling you this was only the beginning of a treacherous path.

but nothing come could destroy the bonds you forged, right?

@whatsupb18 @letspretendimnottrash @heart-an0n @mrsspector-grant @kikilarast10 @nina357 @lupinswolfsbanes (tysm for the support)

#aaron warner x reader #aaron warner imagine #aaron warner #aaron warner anderson #aaron warner fanfic #shatter me #shatter me fanfic #shatter me series #juliette ferrars #kenji kishimoto #adam kent #x female reader #x y/n #x reader #reader insert #reader imagine #headcannons

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adoreeenina · 7 months

Text

I wanna be yours - Ch. 2

(Recom! Miles Quaritch x Sully! Reader x Recom! Lyle Wainfleet)

(Warning: Polyamorous relationship. Angst. Enemies to Lovers. Slow burn. Falling in love. Redemption arc. Canon deaths (but not really). Romance. Smut. Jealousy. Threesome. Anal(both F & M receiving). Mention of suicide, self harm, depression, anxiety. PTSD. Feelings being revealed. Jake and Neytiri not being good parents to reader. Reader being a motherly figure to Spider.)

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

“Tarsem, I’m fine” Y/n slaps Tarsem’s hands away for the 3rd time.

“I’m sorry, Y/n. I did not know it was Lo’ak that I handed the gun to” Tarsem apologizes. Y/n sighs, visibly irritated. Tarsem hasn’t left her alone all morning, she hates being crowed all the time. She doesn’t need to be cradled to.

“Forgive me, Yawne” Tarsem grabs Y/n’s hand to pull her closer to him. His chest bumping into her’s. Y/n mentally cringed, not liking the close proximity between them. Y/n gently pushes Tarsem away from her.

“Tarsem I-“ movement is what caught Y/n’s attention, she looks over Tarsem shoulder seeing Jake, Neytiri, and Neteyam, looking like they’re preparing to fly.

“Excuse me, Tarsem” Y/n abruptly leaves, leaving him behind.

“Dad, what the hell? You didn’t tell me anything about scouting” Y/n stops in front of Jake. Jake only gave her a glance before checking his comms.

“That’s because I didn’t” Y/n’s jaw clench.

“Y/n” Neytiri softly calls, Y/n turns her head to face her.

“You are hurt, you need rest”

“I’m fine” Y/n snaps. She hates being treated like this.

“No, you’re not” Jake growls, finally looking at his eldest child. “You’re testing my patience, girl. Listen to your mother and rest. Do you understand?”

Y/n shakes her head as she pokes her cheek with the tip of her tongue, trying to fight back any insults she wants to throw at his way.

“I said “do you understand”” Jake demands as he takes a threatening step closer.

Y/n meets his gaze and mockingly salutes.

“Lima Charlie, sir”

•~•~•~•~•~•~•

“I don’t understand why am I being punished for this, dad grounded you, not me” Y/n angerly shoves her bow and arrow onto Rawm’s saddle.

“Easy sister” Lo’ak throws his hands up in surrender. Y/n breathes out a sigh to calm herself, she knows she can’t blame Lo’ak. Y/n wraps the comm around her neck and the earpiece on her ear.

“Why not come with us?” Spider pipes up with a giant grin.

“To one of your stupid adventures? What are you? A “wilderness explorer”” Y/n mocks with her arms cross over her chest.

“Hey! Adventure is out there!” Spider dramatically points, both quoting one their favorite movies, making Lo’ak and Y/n laugh.

“Thanks guys, but I’m going to head out to grab some herbs for grandmother” Y/n bends a knee, placing her foot on Rawm’s harness and pulls herself up, making Tsaheylu as she does.

“Tryna avoid Tarsem again I see” Lo’ak tease.

“Maybe” Y/n smirks.

“Oh can you bring back-“

“Yes Spider, I will bring back Yursyulang for you” Y/n smiles down at Spider. Spider fist bumps the air excitedly.

Yursyulang is a flower that the Na’vi uses to bathe themselves. It’s cleaner and makes your body soft not like what the humans use. Spiders loves the stuff, always ask for it when Y/n leaves to gather herbs for Mo’at.

“I’ll be back, both of you behave. And please for the love of Eywa, stay out of trouble” Y/n practically begs.

“We promise” both boys say sync, making Y/n shake her head with a sigh.

“I wish I could believe you. Radio me if you get into trouble” with that, Rawm flaps his wing as he jumps off the ledge.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

“What is it?” Kiri curiously ask as she watches Lo’ak and Spider crouch down on the floor.

“We’re always supposed to be home by eclipse” Tuk ushers her siblings and Spider. Tuk doesn’t want get into trouble for staying out longer than they should have, and it doesn’t help that they shouldn’t even be near The Shack.

Lo’ak ignores Tuk as he touches a footprint from most likely a boot, the footprint doesn’t look human. Avatar maybe? But no one isn’t allowed near The Shack not even the science guys back in the lab.

“It’s way too big for a human” Lo’ak frowns.

“Avatars?” Spider ask.

“Maybe, but they’re for sure not ours.” Lo’ak stands to follow the footprints, Spider follows close behind.

“What are you doing?” Kiri hisses as she follows her idiot brother and friend.

“Shh, I’m tracking”

The four of them follows the tracks and leads them right into the old battlefield took place.

They crouch down, blending in behind the tall grass, from afar they see Avatars in military gear.

“We are never supposed to come here. Dad is going to ground you…” Kiri warns.

“Shh. Can you stop?” Lo’ak groans quietly, interrupting her

“…For life” Kiri finishes.

“Bro, we have got to check this out” Lo’ak tells Spider with a mischievous glint in his eye. Spider hesitates, he promised Y/n he wouldn’t get into any trouble, but they’ll watch from afar, if things get bad, they could just leave.

“Let’s go” Spider agrees, he gestures his head towards the Shack.

They stall closer in between the trees and hid behind a log, watching as the Avatar explores the campsite. Spider frown recognizing the place.

“Bro, that’s where your dad and my dad…fought” Spider points out quietly.

“That’s your dads actual suit” Lo’ak whispers to Spider enthusiastically.

“Holy shit” Spider chuckles in disbelief.

“Lyle, see if you can pull some data off that dash cam” Quaritch instructs Weinfleet. Weinfleet raises an eyebrow.

“That things deader than shit Colonel” Weinfleet scoffs but none the less listens to his superior and moves to the Ampsuit.

“So were we”

“All right” Lyle shrugs

“I gotta call this in” Lo’ak gulps, he really wishes Y/n had tag along. Lo’ak knew how much trouble he’s going to be in but he knows the avatars aren’t here for the view.

“No, bro, we’re gonna get in trouble” Spider insist. He wasn’t worried about Jake or Neytiri, in all honesty, he was more worried about how Y/n is going to react to his stupidity of going to the Shack.

“Let’s go” Lo’ak motions for Spider to follow him to go back with the two girls they had left behind.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

“Devil Dog, Devil Dog, this is Eagle Eye, over” Lo’ak hesitantly press the comm around throat. His heart beat rapidly, already fearing the wrath that his father will throw his way.

“Eagle Eye. Send your traffic.”

“I got eyes on some guys. They look like Avatars, but they’re in full cam and carrying ARs. There’s six of them. Over.” Lo’ak explains, not taking his eyes off the unknown avatars.

“What’s your pos? Over” Lo’ak gulps as he makes eye contact with Kiri, hearing his father irritated voice through his ear piece.

“Oh…” Lo’ak hesitates. “We’re at the old shack” Lo’ak admits. Spider sighs next to him.

“Who’s we?”

“Me, Spider, Kiri, and… and Tuk” Lo’ak turns to look at his sister, Kiri hugs Tuk closer to her to comfort her.

“Where’s your sister?”

“She’s not with us” Lo’ak makes eye contact with Spider, worriedly. Should they call you? Would you come for them? What would you do if they told you they were at the shack? Probably beat the shit out of them, most likely.

“Son, you listen very carefully. You pull back right now. Do not make a sound. You get the hell out of there. Move! You copy?”

“Yes, sir, moving out” Lo’ak replies as he stands up, motioning the others to follow.

“See, I told you!” Lo’ak rolls his eyes at his sister. “Go, go.”

The four of them makes a get away, to get far away from the shack as possible.

“You’re going to be in so much trouble” Kiri reminds, she mentally curses herself for even coming along and bringing Tuk with her. Tuk running ahead of them.

“Shh! Kiri, stop” Lo’ak replies, already feeling irritated. He didn’t need to be remind of how bad he fucked up this time.

“Guys, come on” Spider calls from in front them.

“It’s almost eclipse, come on” Tuk jogs ahead of them, looking behind her, before shrieking as a female avatar grabs her.

“Tuk” Kiri screams, new avatars that they haven’t seen back in the shack surrounds them as they aim their guns.

“Put it down! Down! Put it down or I shoot you!” one of them yell.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Y/n grabs the last of what her grandmother needs. She walks closer to the stream and grab many Yursyulang for Spider. Once she was satisfied, she imitates a bird call, to call for Rawm.

Rawm flaps his wings with a screech as he lands close by. Y/n smiles as she tosses a fish towards him, Rawm catches it with ease, gratefully swallowing it. Y/n adjust Rawm’s harness and fixes her saddle.

“Black Mamba, this is Devil Dog. Come in Black Mamba. Over.” Y/n hears her fathers voice through her ear piece. She sighs annoyed. What could he possibly want? She wraps her hand around the communication band around her neck and press the button.

“Go for Black Mamba. Over.” Y/n responds before pulling herself up onto Rawm, making Tsaheylu

“What’s your 20? Over.” Y/n frowns, confused by the question, she looks around before replying.

“100 miles out of the Hallelujah Mountains. Over.”

“Listen very carefully. Your brother notified us about avatar soldier”

“Where?”

“The old battle ground, at the shack” Y/n jaw clench. What was the first thing she said? Not to get into trouble, that was the first thing she said. Those idiots promised her.

“Do you copy?”

“Loud and clear. I’m on my way” with that Y/n mentally tells Rawm to fly near the old shack.

“These aren’t normal avatars. They’re trained soldiers. Fall back” Jake demands.

“Negative. I ain’t going to stand by and let my siblings get hurt”

“Y/n-“ Y/n takes out the earpiece and shoved in her bag, not wanting to listen to whatever her father had to say.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

“Kiri!” Tuk cries, feeling frighten, being held in uncomfortable hold, its hurting her.

“Get over here! Come on! Get down! Stop fighting” One of them roughly grabs Kiri, kicking the back of her legs, forcing her on her knees.

“Don’t move!” Spider snarls being manhandled by another Avatar.

“Kiri” Tuk whimpers.

“Tuk, Mawey” (Tuk, be calm) Kiri softly try’s to comfort her little sister.

“Shut up. Don’t move” pulling Kiri back as she tries to reach for Tuk.

“What have we here?” Quaritch and Lyle appears. Quaritch looks between all the children that his squad caught.

Lyle being the nearest to Kiri, glance down at her, noticing her hands. He crouches down and grabs her wrist, forcing her to stand up.

“Hey Colonel” Lyle holds Kiri’s hand out for him to see. “Check it out. four fingers. we’ve got a halfbreed”

“Shit” Spider quietly cursed under his breath.

Kiri grunts being pulled by her braid by Lyle. Quaritch looks at Kiri with a look of familiarity before turning to Lo’ak.

“Show me your fingers” being a smartass, Lo’ak shows his hands by flipping him off, making Quaritch chuckle. “You’re his, aren’t you?” He ask amusingly. Lo’ak snarls at him. “You’re his, all right” he drawled out, before roughly grabbing Lo’ak by his queue and pulling him up, making Lo’ak groan.

“Where is he?” Lo’ak doesn’t respond, making Quaritch tug on his queue.

“ngaytxoa” (Sorry) Lo’ak speaks in Na’vi “oe rä'ä plltxe ìnglìsì… ne vonvä” (I don’t speak English… to buttholes)

Quaritch ears pins flat against his head as he snarls far less fluently,”tsengpe ngeyä sempul?” (where is your father?), he once again grips Lo’ak queue harder, making Lo’ak groan louder as he glaring daggers at him.

“Really? You wanna play it this way?” Quaritch says as he pulls out a huge combat knife from behind him. Quaritch forcefully throws Lo’ak to the ground and walks toward Kiri.

“Kiri! No!” Lo’ak yells for his sister as Quaritch gets closer to her “Stop!”

“Hey! Hey, don’t touch her!” Spider tries to break himself free, trying to get the avatar that’s holding him to let go.

“Hey!” Quaritch tilts his head as he looks at the only human in the group, in curiosity.

“What’s your name, kid?” Quaritch narrows his eyes. Intrigue.

“Spider” Spider huffs out as he glared daggers at the the tall avatar. “Socorro”

A look of realization passes Quaritch face before glancing at Lyle who looks away from Quaritch with a grim look.

Quaritch waves off the solider that’s been holding Spider, a signal to let him go, he slowly kneels in front of Spider.

“Miles?” Spider jaw clench, finally knowing who this man is. The man he hated being compared to. The man who he despise.

“Nobody calls me that”Spider scowls.

“Well, I’ll be damned…” Quaritch mumbles to himself. “Well, I figured they sent you back to Earth” not being able to take his eyes off of predecessor.

“They can’t put babies in cryo, dipshit” Spider snaps back. Spending too much time with Y/n made him a bit of a smartass.

Not taking his eyes off Spider, he flips the combat knife inwards as he stands up, letting the soldier grab Spider once again.

“What are we doin’, boss?” Lyle ask. Not responding to Lyle, Quaritch reach for the comm around his neck.

“Iron Sky, Blue One, Actual. We are standing by for extract, over. Be advised we are bringing’ in high value prisoners”

“Let us go”

“Shut up”

They lead the kids back over near the amp suit. Quaritch stands near his predecessor amp suit, with a datapad in his hand.

“Lyle, get me some audio on this” Lyle walks closer as he leans his chest close to Quaritch shoulder, Quaritch glance at Lyle in the corner of his eye, but Lyle doesn’t pay him any mind.

On the screen, they see Neytiri.

“That’s Sully’s woman”

“She’s an animal”

With the 4 children, Kiri holds Tuk close to her trying to comfort her.

“Kiri, I want Y/n” Tuk whimpers, Kiri whispers comforting words into her ear.

“I know, Tuk, I know. I want her too” Kiri prays to the Great Mother to be saved.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

“Yeah, there’s nothing after that,” Lyle murmured as the last of dash cam footage from Quaritch’s old AMP cut out. Footage of his death.

Spider watches the footage of his fathers death, so Neytiri was the one who killed him. He never knew the story of how his father died, all he knew was he died during the battle.

Lyle takes the datapad as he takes a worried glance at Quaritch, noticing Quaritch’s stoic visage faltered for only a moment before he reached in and plucked the skull, holding it in his massive four fingered hand.

Lyle reaches in to grab his dog tags before pocketing them.“You want us to recover these remains?”

Lyle watches as he grimaced and crushed the skull of his human counterpart. He takes that as a ‘no’.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Y/n growls seeing her younger sibling and Spider being held at gun point. She’s been waiting for her mother and father to arrive for 15 minutes, she can’t wait any longer. Y/n jaw clench as she pulled her drawstring taut until it stretched to her ear.

Y/n froze, hearing her mother calls getting closer. Movement caught her attention. She glance over seeing her mother looking at her.

Not breaking contact with her daughter, Neytiri yips. Y/n yips right behind her, letting specifically Spider know she’s right here. Y/n knows Neytiri would protect her younger siblings with no doubt, it’s Spider that’s she’s worried about.

Hearing Y/n calls, Spider turns to glance over his shoulder at Lo’ak who only nods.

Neytiri signals her to lower her bow before she raises hers to aim at the one holding Kiri and Spider.

Hearing Kiri praying and the soldier tugging on her queue, Neytiri takes a deep breath, firing her arrow snugly between the eyes of the man who held Kiri and Spider at gunpoint.

“Contact rear” Bellowed Quaritch. He shoved Spider and Kiri behind him, opening fire upon Neytiri who narrowly dodged his downpour of bullets as she ducked away.

“Lo’ak!” Neytiri shouts. Lo’ak pulls on the pin of a smoke bomb on Lyle vest, the smoke blinding the soldiers closest to him. Lo’ak sinks his teeth into a man, being let go, Lo’ak reaches for his sister and runs.

“Shit.” Y/N cussed. Y/n throws herself head first from the tree, she lets her body flip forward as she aims her arrow to an avatar with a bandana around his head.

“Ahh” Y/n gasp falling forward, feeling a scorching pain on her left side. She glances down seeing blood, she looks up seeing a bald avatar, making eye contact. He aims at her against, pulling the trigger.

Pushing her legs out from under her, she ducks away to avoid the bullets, scrambling to get out of there. Y/n calls out in pain as a stray bullet graze her left thigh.

“Spider” Y/n calls, seeing him and Kiri run.

“Grab ‘em”

A woman grabs Kiri by her queue. With all her might Y/n kicks the woman away, using her bow, she swings with all her might hitting her straight in the face. The woman calls out in pain, letting go of Kiri’s queue. Y/n goes for another attack before an arrow is shot at the woman’s chest, recognizing the arrow, Y/n turns to grab Kiri and Spider.

“Come on” Y/n pushes them forward. Spider looks over his shoulder, a feeling of relief washes over him.

“Y/n. you’re bleeding” Kiri softly whimpers, worried seeing so much blood on her older sister.

“I’m fine. I don’t even feel it. Adrenaline” Y/n answer when she sees both Kiri and Spider look at her. They continue to run up a tree to get up to high ground.

“What the hell were you thinking” Y/n hisses down at Spider. “What happened to staying out of trouble, huh”

Spider flinch being scolded by Y/n. Kiri runs ahead of them, Spider in the middle and Y/n behind them, keeping them in her sight.

“Go, go, go” Y/n hurries them, hearing projectiles bombs close behind her.

An ear-shattering explosion behind her completely knocked her off her balance. It sent both her and Spider tumbling down.

“Spider” Y/n grabs Spider as they fell, wrapping her body around his as best as she can, to avoid him getting hurt. Y/n grunts feeling her body getting hit in multiple places, she groans feeling her wounds being graze against the rough ground. A hard hit against her head before slamming against the floor, knocking her out. Spider body rolls, seeing Y/n unconscious.

“No” Spider scrambles himself to crawl closer to Y/n, grabbing her jaw to face him.

“Y/n, wake up. Please, we gotta get outta here” Spider desperate please falls on deaf ears. Hearing footsteps coming closer, he snaps his head seeing many of the avatars coming closers, including the clone of his dead father.

“No, get back” Spider hisses. Spider goes for a punch, Quaritch easily dodge before grabbing him and hoisting him over his shoulder, with him kicking and screaming.

“Grab her” Quaritch orders Lyle. Lyle nods as he lets his gun drop to his side before kneeling down, to pick her up as he slung her over his shoulder.

“C’mon buttercup” Lyle lowly chuckles.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

Jake watches as the avatars leave, seeing Neytiri and Kiri run up to them, he breathes a sigh of relief.

“Mom” Tuk whimpers as she hugs her mother.

“That’s it. It’s okay. It’s okay. We’re okay” Jake hugs his two sons

“Oh, thank you, great mother. Thank you” Neytiri praises. Lo’ak looks around noticing they’re missing two people.

“Where’s Spider? Where’s Y/n?” Kiri turn with watery eyes.

“They took them. They took them”

Jake felt his heart stop beating. This is what he was afraid of, if only Y/n listened to him and not to disengage, she wouldn’t have been captured. He knew Y/n acts on impulse to protect the people she adores. He almost lost her once and now he truly did lose her. Now his fear has come true, he lost his oldest daughter. His baby girl. Jake knows his daughter is a fighter, he knows she can protect herself, including Spider, she’d done this before, sha can do it again. He prays to the Great Mother to protect his eldest daughter from the dangers that’s heading her way.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

“Hey! Don’t touch her!”

Quaritch ignores Spider as he cuffs him.

“Make sure she’s sedated, don’t want her to cause chaos on the way there”

“Yes, sir” Ja nods to his superior as he takes out a needle and inject it into Y/n’s neck, despite Spider’s protest.

Masterlist: https://www.tumblr.com/aninelover21-blog/731326408887042048/bound-to-you-masterlist

#miles quaritch x reader #recom lyle wainfleet #sully reader #lyle wainfleet x reader #recom miles quaritch #spider x reader #polyamourous #polyamory #throuple #miles quaritch x reader x lyle wainfleet #I wanna be yours

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canonizzyhours · 4 months

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can we all admit now that pretty much everybody, including the canyon, would have been happier with izzy getting worse and going full villain instead of the redemption arc?

i mean i know lots of people thought they wanted izzy redeemed. but the price of the redemption arc was, first, he would obviously have to die as soon as it was over, because there was no narrative purpose he could fulfill once he'd become a good guy (since that meant discarding basically every personality trait he had other than saying twat all the time), and no reasonable way for him to leave the narrative other than by dying. and the redemption arc also meant sort of glossing over the stuff that motivated him to be a bad guy in s1, rather than digging into it and learning more about him; it all had to be just sort of gotten out of the way as quickly as possible early in the season so he could spend the rest of it doing drag shows etc to prove how much he was a good guy now so his death could be sad. that's especially true for his obsession with ed and his hatred of stede, it all had to be replaced by mild boring friendliness. the opposite of love is not hate but apathy and apathy from izzy toward both ed and stede is what we got.

if he'd gotten worse though? that necessarily would have meant delving more into his psychosexual obsession with ed, which would have given material to the blackhands shippers. and it would have necessarily meant izzy having really intense emotions toward stede too, emotions that would be easy to interpret as erotic love/hate. if the show had gone that direction there would have been real material for the steddyhands shippers to work with, at least on a subtextual level, which is the closest we ever had any chance to get to steddyhands actually being canon. and all of this would have meant digging into izzy's actual motivations and learning why he's like that, in exactly the way we didn't do in the season two we actually got.

i understand why they gave izzy the arc they gave him. izzy's always been there fundamentally to support ed's arc, and having him let go and apologize on his deathbed perfectly served the arc ed had going on this season. but as far as what would be satisfying as an arc for izzy himself, having him get worse would have been more fun for everybody, even and maybe especially the canyon.

#183.

#ofmd #izzy hands #edward teach #edizzy #stede bonnet #canonizzyhours #steddyhands

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bonefall · 6 months

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do you have any plans for willow tail?

No solid plans, just little fragments that I'm fond of.

I do actually like the bunny bone idea, in some ways. I like how it starts. She sees Red Claw just sunbathing on the moor, can't stand the idea of seeing his ugly mug around, and comes up with a way to get him in trouble. It's so petty!!

"Ohh I'll get my revenge on him! First I'll eat my lunch, and then I'll CLEAN my lunch, and put it on the border, and say that he is eating our rabbits. That will make Wind Runner yell at Clear Sky, and he will yell at Red Claw, and he will never sunbathe here again aha HA HA it's BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT, BRILLIANT!" Ok Yzma. I love you.

Mundane bullshit I love it so so much. She just ate her lunch for the drama.

That's such an interesting idea for a conflict, y'know? I love it so much more than "IT WAS ALL FOR REVENGE." What starts as petty, easily resolvable drama escalates because Clear Sky is SO easy to offend, which makes Wind Runner dig her own heels assured that she's right, and then eventually Willow Tail can't back down because it's gone too far and she hates Red Claw too much.

And even Moth Flight. I wish they did more between Willow Tail and her, as friends and allies. They both hate Red Claw for getting people they love killed, it would have been a lot more interesting seeing the two of them commiserate and confide in each other.

(but if moth had friends, then you can't do the stupid celibacy rule because then the clan would. like. help her babysit a little. which they offer to do, btw, canon moth flight is just such a freakazoid that she rejects all help. its a bad book, brent)

It's also interesting the way that Clear Sky is, again, a monster in this book. He clawed her eyes out, for the crime of "stirring up trouble." Then he stepped aside and told Red Claw he could do whatever he wanted with her. It would be a shockingly violent thing even for someone who earned that level of brutality. I really expect no less from the SkyClan tyrant.

(it's not lost on me btw, that the writers will go to bat for Tom the Wifebeater and give him a redemption death but then show Willow Tail suffering and dying slowly on screen for Clear Sky's vindication. They don't see him as the demon they wrote him as.)

Anyway... time for Fragments Proper.

BB!Willow Tail

TO BEGIN WITH: BB!DOTC is the one arc that I have no intention to stay faithful to. I do not value "sticking close to canon" the way I do with the others, it is not a consideration. It's a total overhaul-- with Gray Wing being killed in book 1 and xeir roles taken by Thunder Storm's mother, a language barrier between Park Cats and Tribe Cats, and a totally different order to the formation of the Clans.

Moth Flight's Vision is now Moth Flight's Vow... and there's no room for Willow Tail's bunny bones drama anymore. It's a completely different story with a brand new origin for the Cleric's Vow.

So if the Bunny Bones drama remains, it'll have to go somewhere else

Though I do like it, I'm also nonplussed about losing it.

I feel like the Bunny Bones plot works best with Skystar as the antagonist, because no one else is nearly as easily offended as him... but at the same time, I have a really solid plan for him losing 8 lives to Star Flower's Ritual, and then his final picking a fight with the River Kingdom, winning a significant amount of territory.

But, it would also be VERY cathartic to have Skystar's final death be just after gouging Willow Tail's eyes out, with someone deciding ENOUGH IS ENOUGH and even if Willow Tail did lie, she doesn't deserve to be tortured.

I'd be inclined towards doing the Bunny Bones plot the way I described liking it; as petty drama that got out of hand, but really revealing Skystar's true colors.

Hmm... maybe I'll make it a Tiger Sky novella, and have this be the story about her deciding to leave SkyClan.

(INFO for those who don't recognize the name: Tiger Sky is the BB version of one of the Angel Fetus Children they gave Clear Sky. She is the daughter of Falling Feather, and half-sister of Thunderstar.)

Anyway-- depending on if Willow Tail ends up being a Park cat or a Tribe cat, her name could be very different. The Wind Coalition is Park-culture, so they're born nameless and earn titles over time.

It's likely she won't end up with Willow Tail as her name, but something more like Willowbark Weaver, or Willow Flayed Bare. Willy for short.

Windstar's Revelation, a direction given by Gray Wing the Wise in the aftermath of the First Battle, is to begin innovating and moving away from violence. So I can see Willy earning this title after demonstrating excellent uses for willowbark.

Her childhood name was different. The first name a Park Cat wears is [Mentor]'s Paw, and before that, they have a simple physical descriptor.

So first of all I need to pick a mentor for her, and I'll only figure that out after making a loose allegiance list

And second of all, her baby name was probably Tabby, and her brother's was Mottle.

Speaking of her brother, though...

I don't like how they broke Frog's back and then just had him die on the way home. I dislike the trend in this arc where several cats get disabling injuries (Moon Shadow, Frog, Tiny Branch, Willow Tail), only to die of them shortly after.

So I think I will be keeping Frog alive, especially to point out how they dealt with a paraplegic cat in ancient times in contrast to modern times, with Wildfur and Briarlight.

Which means he will also need a new name and chosen mentor, if he's a Park cat. But anyway...

Their ages might get shuffled, but at their very oldest, I want them to both have been young during the First Battle.

And that's what I've got, so far!

#BB!Willow Tail #Better bones au #BB!DOTC

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nancywheeeler · 11 months

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‘Eddie Munson should have died at the hands of the government instead of the Upside Down’ please expound on this your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

okay, i am finally gonna release from the vault a text post i had drafted months ago about how reductive and bland i find eddie munson's "heroism" arc.

from a characterization standpoint, i totally understand why eddie declares himself a coward for running after witnessing chrissy (and later, patrick) die. his image of himself as a proud outcast willing to brandish a middle finger at societal norms, bolstered by playing a "satanic" game about misfits coming together to bravely face great evils, is completely shattered. however, from our viewpoint as an audience, eddie does what just about any of us would have done after watching someone die in a horrific, unexplainable manner and not knowing if what happened to them is about to happen to us.

...except the show then does this weird thing where it agrees with eddie's warped, guilty view of his actions. eddie is a coward for running. he should have...what? stayed, again not knowing if he would be killed next, tried to explain everything to hawkins pd, and gotten arrested? (which would have derailed the rest of the hawkins plot because, unless dustin & company staged a jailbreak, eddie then would have been in custody during fred and patrick's murders.) the plot demands he run, but to wring any sort of emotional catharsis out of his death, the writers want us to think "look! he's redeemed himself! this time he ran into the danger!" it equates self-preservation with selfishness and cowardice, which certainly isn't a new thing in media but it's boring and doesn't reflect reality.

and when you parallel eddie's death with billy's (and what i imagine steve's death would have been had they gone through with killing him in season one), it paints this uncomfortable picture that redemption can only be found through extreme self-sacrifice and ultimately death. boring! very boring! and again, why are we redeeming a character who doesn't need redemption?

i appreciate (and really like actually!) that the narrative dooms eddie from the beginning. there wouldn't have been a satisfying way to write him out of a triple homicide rap had he lived. that being said, i would have loved to see eddie survive the upside down, get arrested for the murders, and, while our intrepid heroes are expecting owens and his shadowy government contacts to swoop in, be killed by those same shadowy government contacts as a cover-up.

because that is all owens has been doing for the past three seasons: covering things up to save a fringe organization's ass. it's just been convenient for our gang that the cover-ups align with their interests, too, to the point they are over-reliant on owens stepping in with forged birth certificates and mall fires. only, in season four's case, eddie is the most convenient cover story. with owens left for dead in a bunker in the middle of the desert, what loyalty does the rest of this strange government operation have to the gang and to eddie that they would exert any additional effort concocting a more outlandish story than the easy one the town of hawkins has already bought into?

it would have been a great way to add additional stakes going into season five because the gang would have had absolutely no one to rely on or trust but themselves. no more clean-up crew to plant fake stories and file the paperwork. the government has never actually been on their side. it's hawkins against the upside down and the world, baby.

wow, this is so long and i am so sorry. i still have a lot of feelings about this apparently, even after all this time.

#ask #i think the problem with eddie's arc ultimately comes down to framing #what should have been a tragedy of conservative close-mindedness got turned into this weird statement on heroism #commit to the tragedy duffers! make your horror season real horror!#stranger things #for the filters <3

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ficretus · 2 months

Text

There is a take among "fix it" crowd I don't understand and that is "Cinder should have died at the end of V5"

I don't see how that improves story in any shape or form, if anything it actively ruins it.

First of all, you are removing the character that was established as nemesis for both Jaune and Ruby. And while Jaune at least gets an interaction with Cinder in V5, Ruby gets nothing. Character that was suppose to be foil to both gets effectively off screened from their perspective.

Second, fight with Raven doesn't feel like a fitting conclusion to Cinder. It's a villain obsessed with power, her death being to an enemy that also values strength above everything feels like a questionable decision. You are kind of proving her world view right. If it was something like a battle against opponents relying on teamwork or against an opponent with unconventional strength, I could understand it since it would prove Cinder's world view wrong.

Third, it massively deflates tension coming into next story arcs. Salem works as a threat because she has Cinder as an enforcer. Without Maiden vessel, Salem's plan is pointless since she cannot open any Vaults. She'd have to find a new Maiden vessel, which would naturally be weaker villain due to lack of experience as well as having no personal connections to the main cast. Even assuming Maiden power remains in Salem's circle, with lets say Emerald, that doesn't fix the issue. Emerald has neither threat, power, motivation nor strong connections to the main cast to be a major villain. It also kind of undermines Emerald's potential redemption arc since she gets an easy way out since her connection to Salem's faction is gone.

Unless I am missing something, only reason for this change would be "I hate Cinder and I hope she dies horrible death as soon as possible"

Also, why do half of the accounts that deal with "fixing" the story feel like either Adam or Ironwood on alt account?

#cinder fall #rwby cinder fall #rwby #rwby volume 5

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ragingduststorm · 4 months

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Love's not a competition

No, I didn't like Rebel Moon. Yes, I still wrote about 20 pages of self-insert fanfiction. I just love Atticus Noble and Kai too much, so yeah. I don't know if I'll ever post the rest, but I loved this threesome scene from the second to last chapter so much. Enjoy!

What happened so far: Y/N used to be a smuggler and in a relationship with Kai, she got imprisoned by the Imperium and both thought the other was dead. Y/N was later "found" by Atticus, he developed an unhealthy obsession with her, it was all really toxic tbh. A lot of stuff happened, now the war is over, the Imperium is no more, Atticus and Y/N live a quiet life with Kai as a frequent visitor.

Word count: ~2,1k

Warning: absolute smut fest, 18+, threesome, oral (male receiving), p in v, polyamory, a bit of voyeurism, a bit of praise Y/N uses she/her pronouns Atticus Noble post redemption arc so he's actually kinda nice (still a bit obsessive though)

Atticus arrived back at the cottage in a good mood. He’d bartered their excess of eggs and mushrooms away successfully and none of the people in the village had given him a dirty look or a mean comment. The first time in the four months he’d lived on this planet. This way of living, stationary, surrounded by nature and community, was still strange to him but it was necessary. It was either this or a cold prison cell on a distant moon. And this way, at least she was here to greet him when he came back.

His mood soured though as he saw the ship that had landed on the landing strip. Kai was back. Of course, Atticus’ luck had run out. He’d wished so hard for the ship to crash, for Kai to be stranded on an icy planet, freezing to death. But then, Y/N would have been sad and grieving. And as much as he didn’t want the other man here, her happiness was more important to him. He braced himself as he entered through the main door, reminding himself that he’d agreed to this. This way, Y/N was his. It didn’t matter that she also belonged to someone else. What he hadn’t been ready for, were the lewd noises emanating from one of the bedrooms. Moans, wet skin slapping against wet skin, the creak of the bed. At least they’d been nice enough not to use the bedroom he’d shared with her most nights. But now he just stood there, in the middle of the living room, unsure of what to do with himself. Should he just go out, take a walk? What if they still weren’t done when he came back? Atticus remembered the hours upon hours they had spent together. And even when he’d been spent, her ravenous appetite had kept them going until he was ready again. His cock throbbed with the memories.

For a second, he thought about spending the night in the barn. But he had no idea how long Kai was planning to stay before flying off into the universe again and Atticus could hardly sleep with the animals for weeks. Well, he could. He imagined it would be similar to being back in the barracks at the academy. But he really didn’t want to. This was his home too, after all. So, he quietly made his way to his bedroom and sat on the bed. His bed, their bed, it was all still very new and complicated to him. And the bad thing was, he could still hear them going at it. From her hoarse screams he could deduce that she’d come at least once and that she wasn’t anywhere close to being done. He knew that he really, really shouldn’t, but he closed his eyes and imagined she was making those noises because of him. She’d only done it last night, so it wasn’t hard to conjure up the image. When she’d sat on his face and come on his tongue. He’d practically begged her to do it. Nothing compared to her taste. And then she’d slid effortlessly onto him, all wet and tight. With some embarrassment he realized he’d been stroking himself through his pants. Yesterday he’d appreciated these loose garments for how easy they were to take off, now he hated them.

Air. That’s what he needed right now. He stood up a little too fast, too eager to escape these sounds and he felt lightheaded. His cock was still hard and throbbing, but he was determined. Until he left the bedroom and saw that the door at the end of the short hall was slightly ajar. Her screams were now muffled. Was she biting into a pillow? Into his flesh? Atticus touched the bruise on his neck she’d left last night, right at the end. Surely, they were so enraptured with each other, they wouldn’t notice if he took a quick peak. But what was he hoping to see? She would be filled by another. Someone who, admittedly, was slightly larger than he was, in more ways than one. Would he break when he saw Kai thrusting into her, his huge arms wrapped around her? Would he even see her under this hunk of a man? Still, he was curious. To see her taken by someone else. Was she different with him? More demure? Submissive? Or was she unapologetically taking what she wanted?

He'd taken a few silent steps toward the door without thinking. She screamed Kai’s name over and over. She must have been close again. Another two steps and he could see the light through the crack. If he focused hard he could make them out, two shapes made into one, Kai thrusting into her from behind, her face buried inside a pillow. Now he could make out Kai’s grunting and see the glistening beats of sweat trailing down his muscled form. Would he be able to hold on a little longer or would he come? Inside or on her back? Atticus thought of his white ropes on her. Her face, her breasts, her ass. All marking her as his. He had to palm himself through the pants because the aching was unbearable. His cock wanted nothing more than to break out and join. To hammer into her. Y/N came screaming Kai’s name. As she did, she looked up from the pillow. Right into Atticus’ eyes. He'd inadvertently made another step towards the door. He froze, unable to think of anything to do as she held his gaze with a smirk. She licked her lips absentmindedly. Kai followed her eyes as he noticed her attention was no longer on him, not completely at least.

Atticus had expected the man to be angry, to shout at him to leave them alone. Instead, he had the biggest, laziest grin on his face as he slowed his pace, now pounding into her slowly, savouring every movement. “You know you’re free to join us, right?”, he was a little out of breath but his voice was calm, like Atticus hadn’t just interrupted them during the most intimate moment imaginable. Kai’s one hand played with her backside, her ass, the spot where he disappeared into her, her asshole. Atticus felt a pang of rage and jealousy. That sweet spot he’d caressed so many times with his tongue felt, more than any other part of her, like his. Kai’s other hand slowly made its way up her body. Along her smooth skin, now slightly wet, kneading her breasts, caressing her face. Atticus realized Kai didn’t try to be possessive, he was inviting him in, showing him all the places on her that were still empty.

“I…I couldn’t, I”, Atticus stammered eloquently. Never before had he felt so much like a fool. He wanted to run, to hide away from the shame he felt. Until she said his name. “Atticus.” It was barely more than a whisper, but the need in her voice drove him crazy. He'd never been able to say no to her when she’d said his name like that. She could have anything she wanted when she said his name and he would forever give her anything he had, anything he was, just so she’d never stop saying it. “Look at that pretty mouth. All empty.” Kai’s voice was an irresistible purr now. As if in a trance, Atticus walked towards the bed, towards their eager, hungry eyes. Y/N’s gaze darted from his eyes down to the obvious bulge in her pants and she licked her lips in anticipation. She was so hungry, so desperate for him, to fill her up. As he stood at the end of the bed, Y/N reached out to cup him. His eyes closed involuntarily. And when he opened them again, she’d taken him out. His cock looked huge in her small hands and it twitched like a wild animal. He gazed along her body toward where the other man was buried inside her. The gap between them was shorter than he’d anticipated. If he’d wanted, he could hunch over and kiss him. But he lost his train of thought as Y/N’s mouth slowly descended onto him and her hand kneaded his balls. “Oh, you’re going to love this.”, Kai said, as he began thrusting into her. Slowly at first, matching the pace she set working on devouring Atticus’ cock.

He was right. Of course, Atticus has had his fingers in her mouth several times when he’d thrust into her. Or his cock in her mouth as she came on his tongue. But this was something different altogether. This was heaven. He could feel her moans reverberating from his tip all through his body. Every one of Kai’s lazy thrusts sent another wave of pleasure along her and into him. Y/N had always been good at taking him, but now it was like she didn’t even want to breathe. Again and again he hit the back of her throat, burying himself in that wetness, her teeth lightly crazing his sensitive skin. She chased him every time he moved back, her tongue greedily licking his shaft whenever he took a short break. He’d thought she’d been ravenous before, but this was something else. Saliva mixed with his own slick coated her throat, her lips, fell down in drops before she could swallow them. After a while, he realized it wasn’t her setting the pace anymore, neither was it Kai. It was Atticus. Every time he thrust back into her mouth, the other man followed. He wasn’t even sure, if Y/N had any breaks between her orgasms or if she only felt one gigantic bout of extasy. “God, you’re so tight, princess. You’re doing so well.” Kai’s words unexpectedly sent Atticus over the edge. He exploded into Y/N’s mouth before he could stop himself. He couldn’t even scream her name, his thoughts were so jumbled. And she swallowed every last drop of him without complaint. The only thing he could see in her glazed eyes was pure bliss. Once he was completely spent, she let him go with a lewd pop that sent shivers down his spine. But instead of letting him go, she caressed the top of his legs, kissing and biting his abdomen.

“I think our little princess is spent.”, Kai said with a small laugh. Y/N didn’t speak. She just hummed in agreement. Kai stopped thrusting and just stayed inside her. “Don’t you want to-“ Atticus was surprised by how exhausted he sounded. His voice almost didn’t feel like his own. “No need. I’m sure I will have ample opportunity to fill her up over the next two weeks.”, Kai said with a wink and Atticus could feel himself blushing slightly. What? Atticus Noble didn’t blush. Slowly, Kai slid out of Y/N, who commented with a mumble that sounded exhausted, but a little disappointed. “I need a shower. She climbed me the second I got off the ship.” He slapped her ass and she winced. He got off the bed with a groan and Atticus hoped he hadn’t noticed how Atticus’ stare had lingered on his still hard cock for a second. “You take care of her for me until I get back.” Kai patted him on the shoulder hard, like they were the best of mates, like they hadn’t just shared the same woman, and left for the bathroom.

Y/N was on her knees and visibly shaking from exhaustion. Atticus went to the bedside table and gave her a glass of water from the carafe that had conveniently been placed there. “Thanks.”, her voice was so hoarse, he could barely understand her. Then he helped tuck her into the bed since she was shivering. But he didn’t join. That was for Kai to do when he came back. Instead, Atticus went to his knees on the side of the bed and stroked her hair. He pressed a soft kiss on her temple and wiped some of the saliva away that was still coating her jaw. The weak smile she gave him made him want to crawl right up in bed with her. Another time. Still shaky, she put a hand on his cheeks. “I love you, Atticus.” “I love you, Y/N.” She had been right. The first time he’d said these words, they hadn’t been true. He had been obsessed with her and the way she had made him feel. But now, after everything they had been together, the war, the pain, he meant it. If this wasn’t love, then he didn’t want whatever the hell it was.

#rebel moon #atticus noble #kai #smut #atticus noble x reader #kai x reader

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fantastic-nonsense · 3 months

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Hi! I was looking to see if you know of many comics with Batman's villains at the lead!? (Besides Harley and Selina, who've had multiple series and are pretty easy to find). Other than the "Joker" Novel and Penguin: Pain and prejudice, i couldn't find any. Any good suggestions for Joker, Ivy, Two-Face, or any other villian from the Batman universe?

the tldr is that Ivy has several, Two-Face has a handful, the al Ghuls have a couple, and everyone else has had a couple of single issues starring them.

In general, the Batman Arkham series functions as a Batman Rogues Gallery "Greatest Hits" collection. While most of the stories collected in these trades don't feature the rogues as a protagonist, they all explore the characters and their backstories/motivations and feature them in a starring role!

On principle, I generally refuse to recommend Joker comics. Clown man has enough stuff starring him and they're generally easy enough to find without me promoting him more than he already is. Also, to be honest with you I occasionally go out of my way to avoid stuff starring him because he's frankly bored me ever since DC decided to emphasize him as a psychopathic serial killer instead of a funny villain with a clown gimmick.

However, The Joker's Five-Way Revenge (Batman vol. 1 #251) is a fun read, Joker: The Man Who Laughs and Joker's Last Laugh are both good, and Batman: The War of Jokes and Riddles is decent as well. Another fun one that's a little out of the box is Superman: Emperor Joker.

Other than that...I generally recommend the following for Ivy:

Batman Arkham: Poison Ivy (basically an 'Ivy Greatest Hits' collection)

Batman: Poison Ivy (1997)

No Man's Land (yes, it's long. No, Ivy's not a 'lead'. yes, it's also ground zero for Ivy's redemption arc and features her in a major role)

Gotham City Sirens (2009)

Swamp Thing by Scott Snyder (specifically Vol. 2, Family Tree, and Vol. 3, Rotworld: The Green Kingdom)

Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death (2016)

Poison Ivy (2021) by G. Willow Wilson (curently ongoing)

Ivy also pops up in Ram V's Catwoman (2018) run and pretty consistently in Harley's solo books after 2015.

For Two-Face (my beloved), read Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory (which function as a double feature). Then read any of the following:

Batman: Faces (Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #28-30)

Batman: Two-Face (1995)

Batman Annual #14: "Eye of the Beholder"

Gotham Central, which has an extended Harvey-Renee Montoya subplot

Batman/Two-Face: "Crime and Punishment"

Batman/Two-Face: Face the Face (2006)

Two-Face: Year One (2008)

Batman and Robin (2011) 23.1: Two-Face

Detective Comics #1020-1022: “The Ugly Heart”

Two-Face: One Bad Day

And for a couple of stories that aren't Harvey-focused but feature him as a prominent antagonist...read Robin: Year One, A Lonely Place of Dying, and Batman: Prodigal.

For the al Ghuls, apart from the Batman Arkham collections you're primarily looking for Tales of the Demon, the Demon Trilogy (Birth of the Demon, Bride of the Demon, Son of the Demon), Batman: The Chalice, and Batman Annual #26 (the prologue to Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul, which is also fun). Two of Damian's Robin solos (Robin: Son of Batman (2015) and Robin (2021)) also prominently feature Talia. There are...certainly other options, if you want to read about the al Ghuls, but they're rarely well characterized in those (except Talia's LexCorp CEO arc; all hail Talia's Lexcorp CEO arc).

Clayface (the Basil Karlo version) prominently featured as a protagonist in Tynion's Detective Comics Rebirth (2016) run.

Everyone else...apart from stories where they're the prominent antagonist, there were several Villain takeover issues during the period of Batman and Robin (2011) when Damian was dead, Year of the Villain had a few issues focused on the Batman Rogues, and the One Bad Day series focuses each issue on a different Bat Rogue.

There are plenty of other stories centered on various members of Batman's Rogues Gallery, but hopefully this gives you a solid starting place!

#thanks so much for the ask! hope this is helpful #comic masterposts #dc comics #batman #batman rogues gallery #asks #bri's recs #poison ivy #two face #ra's al ghul #pamela isley #harvey dent #talia al ghul

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suzannahnatters · 9 months

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Trope Talk: Villain Romance

So, I was watching a villain romance cdrama again lately (GOODBYE MY PRINCESS) and it has been forcing me to think about what makes some villain romances work for me so well, and others…not so much.

First of all, a lot of my comments on romance at large, and on enemies-to-lovers as the broader trope to villain romance, apply here. For me, GOODBYE MY PRINCESS failed on a few different levels. It failed as a romance because the male lead so rarely, if ever, allowed himself to be vulnerable to the female lead that I couldn't believe either of them could genuinely be falling for each other. It failed as an enemies-to-lovers story because the female lead didn't feel like a match for the male lead in terms either of power or of morals: he was irredeemably awful and held all the power in the relationship, while she was unquenchably pure and naive, holding no power at all. But then, it also failed for me as a villain romance, and because I eat up villain romance with a spoon (WUTHERING HEIGHTS? THE LAST JEDI? LOVE BETWEEN FAIRY AND DEVIL? TILL THE END OF THE MOON? That ONE SCENE in RICHARD III? yess?) I've spent a lot of time thinking about different kinds of villain romance, how some are easier to "sell" to an audience than others - as a convincing HEA, I mean - and how each of them can and can't be made to work.

So far, I think a lot of it has to do with how the villain is built. First off, how does the villain present himself to the audience and other characters? Second, does the villain get a character arc, and is it for the better, or for the worse? Finally, does the villain have genuine feelings for the heroine, and does he achieve a happily ever after with her? Or, in other words: where does your villain come from, where is he going, and how does he get there?

There are a few different choices awaiting the author here, and some of them are, I believe, easier to sell an audience than others. Let's begin with the villain's character arc over the course of the story.

POSITIVE CHANGE VILLAIN This one is the classic: your villain love interest starts out bad, but gets better. See: Erik from THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Kylo Ren/Ben Solo in the STAR WARS sequels, Nux in MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, Dongfang Qingcang in LOVE BETWEEN FAIRY AND DEVIL, Thyme in F4: THAILAND.

Redemption arcs are honestly not easy to write, because they need to satisfy both justice and mercy; and authors, like everyone else, tend to want to prioritise one over the other. It's interesting that of the five examples of this trope I listed above, not one of the three the Western examples end in a HEA; two out of three equate redemption with death. Meanwhile, I could also note how the Asian examples pull their punches when it comes to facing the villain with the consequences of his actions, and these are some of the BEST examples.

Still, audiences can pull for a character who's clearly capable of learning from his mistakes, and we all want to inhabit a fantasy where a terrible man learns better and earns his happy ending. I've written this kind of villain romance a couple of times, notably with Vasily in my gaslamp books. Basically, if you plan to have a HEA as an endgame in your villain romance, a positive arc is the best way to make a longterm relationship convincing.

ANTIHERO WITH IMAGE PROBLEMS This one is a bit more complicated. The love interest starts out well and gets better, but along the way he struggles with a dark side and an unfortunate predilection for angry black clothing and eyeliner. He isn't so much as a villain, as a well-meaning antagonist desperately trying not to live up to his dark reputation. See: Tantai Jin from TILL THE END OF THE MOON, but also Galadriel Higgins from THE SCHOLOMANCE books by Naomi Novik, who is in a very similar predicament though not part of a villain romance.

This one is tricky to write, because there aren't a lot of ways a genuinely well-meaning person is going to convincingly pose as an existential threat to the universe. Both TTEOTM and the SCHOLOMANCE books pull it off by invoking the future, either through time travel or through prophecy: the antihero is going to become the Dark Lord/Lady and destroy the world. This makes them a target in the present, and gives them a threatening dark side to struggle against. In TTEOTM, Tantai Jin is torn between his vindictive impulses to revenge himself on those who have wronged him, and his natural longing for the love of others. In this case, it's not so much that he's a villain intrinsically, as that he plays that role in the heroine's head.

I've never written one of these, except as a stage in a positive change arc, but it's a really fun character type that I'd genuinely love to see more of.

NEGATIVE CHANGE HERO This is another classic: the hero who lives long enough to see himself become the villain. See: Anakin Skywalker from the STAR WARS prequels, Heathcliff from WUTHERING HEIGHTS, or Wang So from SCARLET HEART RYEO. If the Antihero With Image Problems withstands the temptation to become a villain, then this character succumbs with more or less struggle. He ususally also doesn't get the girl. In face, the heroine often doesn't survive this sort of story at all.

Audiences have less trouble with this kind of story, because it can come across as properly cautionary. "If you fall in love with someone who gets a villain arc, you will die, and it is probably your fault." Everyone is happy, except the characters. Personally, I think this is realistic, because I don't think a thorough-going villain CAN be a stable longterm relationship; but just once, instead of dying, I really would like to see the heroine nope out and go to live her life in peace and quiet, as happens in the wonderful Daisy Ridley OPHELIA film.

I've actually never written one of these, either, mostly because I've never been able to bring myself to write a tragedy. But I do love reading them.

UNREPENTANT VILLAIN Or, Bad Man With a Crush. This is another really common iteration of the trope, but it's usually played from the point of view of the male hero, and the heroine usually doesn't reciprocate the villain's interest in any way. The great exception to this, of course, comes in Shakespeare's RICHARD III, where the unrepentant villain convinces the widow of one of his murder victims to marry him because he's THAT GOOD. Watching Laurence Olivier in this role at 13 may have been a formative moment of my life. Other examples are thick on the ground: Frollo from THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, Scarpia from TOSCA, the Darkling in SHADOW & BONE. Heck, I've written at least one of these myself.

Again, audiences expect this kind of villain either not to have his feelings returned or, if they are, to see either the heroine or the villain die by the end. In fact, this villain is the sort most likely not to have genuinely romantic feelings for the heroine at all; it's usually simply lust. The only example I mentioned where the villain arguably does have more complicated feelings for the heroine than a mere appetite for sex and power, and where she is tempted to reciprocate, is the one written by a woman, SHADOW & BONE - because a female writer is going to treat her heroine as a more fully orbed person, and insist on male characters treating her the same way.

The second question to ask when writing a villain romance is: how does the villain present himself to others, including the audience? Again, there are a few options here, but in any case I think one of the most important ingredients, if you're going to make the audience care about the villain, is a sense that the villain COULD be a better person than he is.

SHEEP IN WOLF'S CLOTHING The villain projects a terrifying image, but deep down he has a heart of gold. Note that this is not about character arc (for instance, this describes both Tantai Jin, who is an antihero on a positive arc, and Wang So, who is a hero on a fall arc). Rather, it's about how other characters, and the audience, view the character throughout most of the story.

A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing is easier to "redeem" because half the work is done when you show that after all, the character is better than we thought, and doesn't need as much work to be redeemed. For this reason, it's a really good choice in any sort of villain romance, because you get someone who LOOKS bad but is in fact plausible as someone who IS capable of changing and learning.

Vasily from my Miss Dark series is definitely a sheep in wolf's clothing, which is extremely fun to write. Vasily's had a traumatic change of heart which has taken away his taste for blood, treachery, and power. His habits haven't quite caught up with his heart, yet, and his determination to hold onto a semblance of power and terror makes him desperate to playact as a villainous vampire prince even though he's none of those things any longer.

SHEEP IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING I was nearly not going to include this variant at all, because where's the villainy in that? But then I remembered Anakin Skywalker. Anakin has a dark side, like Tantai Jin, which he gives into on occasion, but the prophecy that he will bring balance to the Force seems to predict a bright future for him. And he genuinely is a well-meaning person, who only wants to protect the people he cares about. For most of the story, Anakin is a good person and an upstanding Jedi with a bright future. This only makes his eventual downfall more tragic.

While how the villain presents himself is not always linked to a particular arc, this one is, since it requires a genuine hero to begin with. As I mentioned above, this kind of fall usually spells death for the heroine. I think this particular villain romance tends to be underexplored, because the freaks who like villain romance aren't into the aesthetic of a genuinely good man being corrupted, while those who write the downfall arc usually aren't into the aesthetic of villain romance. Nobody has ever written a romance about the Macbeths, and this strikes me as a missed opportunity.

WOLF IN WOLF'S CLOTHING This villain is exactly as bad as he appears on the outside, but if he's lucky, big changes are coming for him. In LOVE BETWEEN FAIRY AND DEVIL, Dongfang Qingcang is about to have his cold dead heart magically melted. In FALLING FOR INNOCENCE, Kang Min-Ho is literally given a new one. As a Christian, I love seeing fantasy elements used to explain why the wolf in wolf's clothing is suddenly forced to trade a heart of stone for a heart of flesh, because in Christianity the only way this ever happens is through a literal miracle.

And I do think this kind of villain IS difficult to redeem for his HEA without some kind of miracle, because he's genuinely done some dreadful things, and he's determined not to repent for any of them. Kylo Ren from the STAR WARS sequels is a really excellent example of a Wolf in Wolf's Clothing: when Rey spits at him, "You're a monster!" he responds almost proudly, "Yes, I am." In a way, the Wolf in Wolf's Clothing's honesty is his one redeeming feature: he may be terrible in almost every way, but he never pretends to be a good man. This is something that the next option on the list lacks altogether.

WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING This villain looks like a good and upright person, but it's all a facade. In reality, he's conniving, ruthless, and manipulative, and whether he's a "hero" on a negative arc or a straight-up Unrepentant Villain, the story is about to unmask him as the bastard he is.

Western literature has a whole array of this type of character, and they're usually the smooth hypocrites of the canon: TOSCA's Scarpia, HUNCHBACK's Frollo, MEASURE FOR MEASURE's Angelo, KNIVES OUT's Ransom. There's just something particularly evil about someone who sees and experiences true goodness and sees it as his opportunity to mask his evil deeds, and that's why we recognise such people as irredeemable. This is why BLUEBEARD is one of the trickiest fairytales to retell, at least if you're interested in a HEA - because Bluebeard, unlike the Beast or Hades or any of the other dubious bridegrooms of fairytale literature, commits awful crimes while pretending to be an ordinary, upright businessman.

This is also where we find GOODBYE MY PRINCESS's Li Chengyin, who marries this with a corruption/fall arc. Very early on in the story, we see that although Chengyin has genuine feelings for the heroine, he's fully capable of betraying her and murdering her family for purely political motivations. At first, Chengyin is neither experienced nor hardened in evil, but he absolutely will betray anyone in his path if it will benefit his plans.

This sort of villain is particularly difficult to redeem, because he's someone who has approval and love already but chooses to destroy everyone around him anyway. He is also uniquely enraging, because we've all known people this terrible in real life - from high profile teachers and carers being caught in ongoing sexual predation, to that crumby ex-husband who traumatised your good friend. I don't think I've ever seen a character like this be convincingly redeemed, and while I think it COULD be done - I do have a Bluebeard retelling of my own up my sleeve - I do that, as with the Wolf in Wolf's Clothing, it would have to come with some kind of fantastical/miraculous explanation.

And in the end, let's face it, it's always most cathartic to see this sort of person get their comeuppance.

Third and finally, is your villain romance going to get a happily ever after? I'm one of those people who will get a lot of fun out of a romance that ends badly, like SCARLET HEART RYEO, or even something that isn't a romance at all, like RICHARD III and the ill-fated Anne Neville. But whatever you pick, I'm begging you, be very clear about whether the villain has genuine feelings for the heroine or not, and don't reward some horrible person who's never convincingly expressed care for another, with any kind of romantic validation.

HEA VARIATIONS Maybe your villain and heroine make a match of it. Most of the time this is because the villain undergoes a positive character arc to earn his happy ending, and I've got to say, this is a very sensible choice. I personally do not need to see an unrepentantly terrible person get any kind of longterm romantic relationship, either because he's trapped/deceived the heroine or because he's corrupted her to become as bad as himself; I honestly don't think that terrible people CAN have a successful longterm relationship. That said, I've written a relationship where the villain DOES make the love interest worse, but where ultimately the genuine love, empathy, and trust between them ultimately does drag both of them back to the light.

TRAGIC VARIATIONS There are a great many more options available here. The main thing I would say is that you have to give an ending that is justified by what comes before.

A common choice is to give the villain a positive arc culminating in a heroic death. I've seen this done well (FURY ROAD). I've seen it done terribly (RISE OF SKYWALKER). Personally I feel that unless the themes absolutely demand this, you should avoid it, because too often it comes across as the writers arbitrarily ridding themselves of a character they don't know what to do with.

Another common choice is to give the villain a negative arc culminating in the heroine/love interest's death. I've seen this done in ways I don't hate. In RICHARD III, Richard kills literally everyone he touches. In SCARLET HEART RYEO, death is a realistic result of the heroine's trauma and closes the door definitively on the villain's hopes for reconciliation; but it also returns her to her far better life in the future, so it becomes a glimmer of hope for her (though not quite enough). Too often, however, this choice carries with it sexist overtones. Death becomes the heroine's punishment for the crime of loving a bad man (or something else equally fatuous), while the villain is "punished" only by having to live without her.

What about a negative arc culminating in the villain's death? Well, I strongly disliked the choice made in SHADOW AND BONE, in which the heroine guts the villain while hissing "there is no redemption"; to me it was lacking in either tragic catharsis OR eucatastrophe. I think you CAN have a satisfying ending in which the heroine or somebody else kills the villain, but it needs to be an expression of catharsis or eucatastrophe, and we definitely need to feel that the villain is beyond saving - which, if you've made him a genuine romantic possibility, is often hard to feel.

I love the ending of WUTHERING HEIGHTS, in which the villain dies frustrated after realising that after all, cruelty and abuse DIDN'T have to turn him into a villain; he then reunites with the ghost of his equally terrible love interest. I also love the ending of OPHELIA, in which Ophelia, realising that Hamlet cannot be redeemed from his quest for vengeance, quietly nopes out and goes to live a happy life on her own. And then, there's the gold standard for bittersweet endings, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, in which the villain doesn't get the girl, but neither of them have to die, and her compassion for him causes him to go off and live a better life on his own. I think the thing all these have in common is that even though none of them end with the couple together, they afford the whole story a sense of hope: cycles of abuse are broken, some people get better than they deserve, and even those that don't are doomed by their own actions, rather than being killed off in a way that feels punitive or vindictive. And I feel that this is an essential ingredient of tragedy: that justice arises naturally out of the villain's own actions rather than being imposed by some righteous warrior.

PUTTING IT TOGETHER Some of these options are easier to sell the audience than others. For instance, a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing on an Unrepentant Villain arc is absolutely not good material for a HEA romance, while a Sheep in Wolf's Clothing on a Positive arc is probably your best bet (it's a classic for a reason). Others, like a Wolf in Wolf's Clothing on a positive arc, may require careful handling to ensure that the audience is happy to come along for the ride. Whatever you choose, however, it pays to be conscious of which tropes you're using, where the audience has seen them before, and what they expect to see happen to the characters that enact them. This doesn't mean that you can't defy audience expectations, of course; just that it might take a little more work to bring the audience along with you on the journey that you've planned, and that it might not be wise to pick all the worst possible options and expect the audience to embrace the character in question. (cough Li Chengyin cough).

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